DEPENDENCE ON RUSSIA 79 



woods of the first two of these countries would be 

 prepared to say that either will be in the position to 

 send us during the next forty years the same amounts 

 of timber we have received annually during the past 

 decade. And if the past is any criterion to the future, 

 we shall require more I Both of these countries have 

 been carrying out heavy fellings to supply the Euro- 

 pean timber market — not merely the British one — and 

 it would be folly to rely upon or expect that the inten- 

 sity of these fellings can be maintained for anything 

 like the period to which we are here limiting ourselves. 

 And this period, remember, leaves out the question of 

 large timber for sleepers, etc., altogether ; for it will 

 take us seventy to eighty years to grow that. 



A careful examination of this problem will, it is 

 suggested, show that, omitting the Central Powers — and 

 even if they are included the position would scarcely be 

 very much better for Great Britain — but leaving these 

 Powers out of the question, it can be shown that it 

 is to Russia and Russia alone to whom we must look 

 for the bulk of the supplies which we shall need, and 

 must consequently obtain from somewhere, during the 

 next forty years. 



Russia has large forests, how large and how rich in 

 materials it is the aim of the following three articles 

 to indicate. These enormous forest areas contain large 

 quantities of the very materials, pines, spruces, and 

 firs, which will be so much needed in the years to come. 

 Vast areas of forest in this gigantic country lie un- 

 tapped owing either to the paucity of the population 

 or to their inaccessibility owing to the absence of roads 

 and other export facilities. They contain large 



