CHAPTER IV. 



FORESTS. 



IN a preceding chapter mention has been made of the 

 extent and character of the forests of the Urals, and of the 

 form of exploitation carried out in these being determined 

 largely by the demand for timber and firewood required 

 by the mining and metallurgical works of the district. 



Many of these manufactories, while in the hands of the 

 Government, were subsidised by grants of lands, of serfs, 

 and of forests or of forest rights. The administration of 

 all such forests is kept apart from the administration of 

 the Crown forests by the Minister of Imperial Domains ; 

 and it, together with the administration of the forests in 

 Poland, is placed under the supervision of the Minister of 

 Finance. 



By an English engineer, who had been employed in 

 connection with ironworks in the interior, to whom I 

 applied for explicit information, I was informed that if in 

 any Government it was desired to erect works for the 

 smelting or manufacture of iron the proposal was sub- 

 mitted to the Governor of the province, who, after an 

 official inspection and report, granted permission for the 

 erection of the works, and for the felling of trees to be 

 used as fuel in accordance with prescribed conditions, 

 including provision for Government inspection, and provi- 

 sion for replenishing the forest, the felling of which was 

 limited to something like a twenty-fifth part annually. 

 He could not say whether the proportion related to the 

 area, or to the cubic contents of the forest, but considered 

 it more likely to be the former. 



The wood is required in smelting, and melting, and 

 casting and manufacturing much of the metallic produce 



