Forest Conditions. 219 



6.3 millioii square miles,- there exists a vast forested area, 

 almost unknown as to its extent and contents, or value. 

 TMs latter area is mainly located in Siberia, and al- 

 though its extent is known to exceed 700 million acres, it 

 is also known that its character is very variable, and 

 much of it is "taiga'' or swamp forest, much of it devas- 

 tated, and much of it in precarious condition, fires 

 having run and still running over large portions, destroy- 

 ing it to such an extent that in several of the provinces 

 within the forest belt, the question of wood supplies is 

 even now a troublesome one. The natives are especially 

 reckless and devastation difficult to control. The rail- 

 road has only increased the evils. 



Here, in Siberia, the first attempt at a management 

 was made in 1897 in the government forests which are 

 estimated at over 300 million acres; in addition about 

 400 million acres have been declared reserved forests. 



In European Russia the 'population is over 110 mil- 

 lion (nearly half only since 1861 escaped from serfdom), 

 so that on the average the forest area per capita is only 

 slightly over 5 acres, not more than in the United 

 States, half of what is claimed for Sweden and Xorway, 

 although seven times as large as that of Germany or 

 France. 



It will be seen, therefore, that Eussia, although still 

 an exporting country, has reasons for a conservative 

 policy, even if only the needs of the domestic population 

 are considered, which alone probably consumes more 

 than the annual increment of the whole forest area ; and 

 the consumption is growing with the growth of civiliza- 

 tion as appears from the increase of wood consuming 

 industries, which in 1877 showed a product of 8 million 



