192 FORESTRY IN LITHUANIA. 



4. Statements of means employed for obtaining revenue 

 from them, &c. 



5. Financial accounts. 



The laws and regulations relative to the conservation 

 and exploitation of the state forests have been codified, 

 and published under the title Ystav Laesnoi ; and at 

 irregular intervals of one, two, three, or more years there 

 are issued alterations and additions to the code, or revi- 

 sions of the code, stating what laws or regulations have 

 been confirmed, abrogated, or altered. In Lithuania, as 

 elsewhere throughout Russia with the exception of the 

 northern forest zone, in which the demand for timber for 

 exportation in the extreme north, and the demand for 

 wood in large quantities for mining operations, and per- 

 haps the government of Tula, where there is a like 

 demand for manufactories of metal wares, has given special 

 characters to forest exploitation the principal demand 

 for forest produce is to supply what is required within 

 the district, and in accessible districts within the empire, 

 for building purposes, carpentry, and fuel. In meeting this 

 demand the government comes into competition with 

 private proprietors of forests. These are under great in- 

 ducements to sell expeditiously all that their forests pro- 

 duce ; but the state can afford to delay felling more than 

 is necessary to meet existing requirements beyond what 

 can be so met ; and by acting on this principle the sub- 

 sequent well-being of the community, in so far as this is 

 involved in the conservation of the forests, can be secured 

 without interference with private property. It is exten- 

 sively held by students of forest science, that it is only in 

 forests belonging to the state that the full benefit of forest 

 possessions can be secured to a country. The lifetime of 

 a man is not yet equal to the life of a tree; and in many cases 

 it is only by allowing a tree to attain its maturity that 

 the best results can be obtained. A man may be willing 

 to plant and to incur trouble and expense in the main- 

 tenance and conservation of a wood in view of the 

 prospective good which may be reaped from this by his 



