8o TIJVIBER SUPPLIES AND RUSSIAN FORESTS 



amounts of mature timber — timber which requires 

 felling and marketing before it decays and becomes 

 worthless. In drawing attention to these valuable 

 forests there is no intention on my part to suggest any- 

 thing in the nature of the ruthless exploitation which, 

 for instance, has taken place under the aegis of great 

 lumber companies in the countries of the New World. 

 Such exploitation in the past has resulted in the total 

 disappearance of the forest in the areas subjected to 

 this treatment. The removal of the surplus growing 

 stock in primeval forests as yet untouched and unex- 

 ploited by man is a very different affair. Under such 

 treatment not only is the surplus harvested before it 

 decays, thus yielding a perfectly legitimate revenue, 

 but the forests are improved by its removal and proper 

 plans for their future management can be drawn up. 



The accounts of the forest areas in Russia in Europe, 

 in Finland, and in Siberia which follow will, I think, 

 show without question that they do contain a surplus 

 stock of old material which it will be to the interests 

 alike of the forests themselves and the Russian Govern- 

 ment to market. And a unique opportunity has un- 

 doubtedly arrived for marketing them. 



Great Britain more than any other of her Allies is 

 totally dependent on supplies from without and must 

 inevitably remain so for another forty to fifty years, 

 even if she starts planting on an adequate scale at once ; 

 for the small stock of commercial woods she had at 

 the commencement of the war will be practically ex- 

 hausted at its close. 



It is with Russia then that our Government should 

 cometo an agreement — an agreementwhich should have 



