CHAPTER VIII. 



CONDITIONS OCCASIONING A DIMINISHED SUPPLY 

 OF WOOD. 



IN view of what has been stated in the immediately pre- 

 ceding chapters, little surprise need be felt that through a 

 lack of sufficient wood for fuel, consequent on an im- 

 poverishment of the forests, the industrial operations 

 peculiar to the district should be in a state of depression. 

 The method of forest exploitation followed that known as 

 La Methode & Tire et Aire like that ofJardinage, practised 

 in the northern Governments of Olonetz, Archangel, and 

 Vologda, is in itself radically defective as a means of 

 securing from forests a sustained supply of produce. 



When in France and in Germany it was carried out in 

 strict accordance with the principle upon which it was 

 based, even then it failed to secure a sustained supply of 

 wood. Here it is not carried out under its normal condi- 

 tions ; and there have been malversations and abuses which 

 have expedited the destruction or impoverishment of the 

 forests. In the Forest Code are given, properly codified in 

 a distinct chapter, the regulations, which have been issued, 

 and are supposed to be still in force, to prevent waste ; but, 

 as has been seen, there are devices by which any regula- 

 tions may have been evaded. 



The prescriptions of the Forest Code, relative to forests 

 supplying fuel for smelting and manufacturing operations 

 in the Ural district, are codified under Nos. 1236-1287 of 

 the V staff Laesnoi. 



Successive chapters in this book embody the general 

 laws in relation to such forests ; those relating to Govern- 



