FOREST EXPLOITATION. 199 



of the Limari, an immense embouchure of the Dnieper, 

 which is here four miles broad, where, when as is frequently 

 the case, its numerous shoals are covered with water, but 

 when the shoals are exposed, the breadth of the river 

 itself is not more than one verst, or two-thirds of a mile. 



It is an emporium for the equipment and armament 

 of the fleet of the Black Sea, timber being brought by the 

 Dnieper both for its own supply and that of Nicolaiev and 

 Odessa. There is a fine basin cut out of the limestone 

 rock. During the spring flood of the river vessels built 

 here can be transported to the Black Sea upon ' camels,' 

 as they are called, and much of the produce of the 

 interior is brought here, and taken to Odessa in lighters. 



The St. Petersburg Vedomosti gives particulars of the 

 reclamation of a vast track lying between the rivers 

 Dnieper, Pripet, Beresina, and Ptitshja, known as the 

 Polessje region, which has been hitherto useless and in 

 great part impassable. The works began in the year 1874, 

 and by the end of last year a canal system of about 1,695 

 versts (1,130 miles) had been completed, which had 

 already drained 1,141,000 desatins (over 5000 square 

 miles.) Nearly one-sixth of this vast track, which had 

 previously been an impenetrable morass, has been changed 

 into meadow land. An area of over 1,250 square miles of 

 forest, which was totally useless, being traversed by a 

 network of swamps, has been thoroughly drained, the 

 lines of swamp being cleared, deepened, and converted 

 into drainage canals, which, unfortunately, can have only 

 a very slight fall. Another large piece of forest, over 750 

 square miles in extent, hitherto practically inaccessible, 

 has been opened up by canals and made available for 

 useful purposes ; and the remainder, amounting to about 

 740,000 desatins (over 2,800 square miles) has been 

 drained and brought into a condition fit for cultivation or 

 pasturage. The work is said to have been executed at an 

 annual expenditure of 2b'5,000 roubles, or a little less than 

 40,000. 



