FOUR MAIN REGIONS 135 



cover the enormous area of some 853,200,000 acre^ ; 

 that is, a total area greater than that occupied by 

 either the forests of Canada (which cover 799,200,000 

 acres), or those of America (604,800,000 acres). 



The areas of State forest containing exploitable 

 material for export purposes vary considerably in 

 size in different parts of Asiatic Russia. It has been 

 shown that the country is divided into four main 

 regions, namely the Western region of Siberia, the 

 Eastern Siberian region, the Steppe region, and 

 Turkestan. The amounts of *' rich forest soil " in 

 each of these regions are as follows : 



The above table shows that the largest areas of 

 forests are in the Western and Eastern regions of 

 Siberia, the acreage in the two being nearly equal ; 

 that the afforested areas in the Steppe region are very 

 small, whilst those of Turkestan are equal to about 

 two-sevenths of the Eastern Siberian region. 



Before dealing with other important aspects of 

 these forests, it will be necessary to give some general 

 account of the pecuHarities of the forest flora of the 

 different regions. The tract from the Ural Mountains 

 to the Ochotsky and Yellow Seas will be first dealt 

 with. As may be inferred from the vast area under 

 II 



