39§ 



NA TURE 



[August 2i, 1884 



administrative and commercial results, in themselves ot great 

 value, many facts are elucidated which bear upon the natural 

 history of the countries under discussion. The Duchy of Gotha 

 contains a forest area of 32,054 hectares, of which at least 94 

 per cent, are massed together in the Thuringian Forest, whilst 

 the remainder cover the height above the plains, at an elevation 

 of about 900 metres above the sea. The geological formation of 

 these heights is for the most part Lower New Red interspersed 

 with thick veins of porphyry, while that on which the plain 

 forests are situated is limestone. At least S5 per cent, of the 

 Gotha trees are pine, the remainder consisting of larch, oak, 

 maple, ash, birch, and elm. The Duchy of Coburg does not 

 possess half the forest area of Gotha, there being only 15,718 

 hectares altogether, of which 86 per cent, is pine. Considering 

 the minuteness of information which is gathered together by 

 most of the German Departmental Bureaus, it is surprising how 

 difficult it is to obtain statistical knowledge on the subject of 

 forests, the reason being that each State has its own Department 

 of Agriculture, quite irrespective of the Imperial Administration. 

 Prussia, however, seems to have been more awake than the 

 others, to the desirability of attempting to cultivate other than 

 indigenous trees in the kingdom ; and in the Budget for 1S80, 

 no less than 50,000 marks (2500/.) was set aside for the purpose. 

 The following list was made out of new trees, but as there has 

 not been any further mention of their introduction in subsequent 

 Reports, it is uncertain how far the proposal was really carried 

 out. The trees were as follows : — 



Finns rigida 



Juglam n 



1 alba 

 C. amara 



ualica 

 C. tovientosa 



rcina 

 Querela 



tlui monilifera 



. L ■ ■ ■ .' 



Junipeiii' Virg 

 I 1 .\ : .'1111 w 

 A. S'tcchai ••ins 

 A. dasycarpum 

 Be tula lentil 

 Abies Nordman 

 Pinus Laricio 

 Pieea sitchensis 



North America, eastern portion. 



North America, western 



Caucasus. 

 Southern Europe. 



Japan. 



The estimated area of forest land in European Russia is about 

 146,460,000 dessiatines (1 dess. = 2'69 acres), or 33 per cent, 

 of the total area of the country, compared witli which Austria 

 has 29 per cent., Germany 26, France 19, Italy 18, ami Turkey 

 14. It is a drawback to Russia that her forests are so unevenly 

 concentrated, at least three-fifths being situated in four Govern- 

 ments, leaving but two-fifths to the other forty-five. As a rule, 

 the further one travels south in Russia the less forest is met with, 

 the Governments of Archangel, Wolgoda, Olonetz, and Perm 

 possessing 60 per cent., while in those of Poltawa, Bessarabia, 

 and the country of the Don Cossacks, there is not more than 

 4 per cent. It is an undoubted fact that Russian timber is on 

 the decrease ; and ten years ago M . Aschakow in his evidence 

 before a Commission to inquire into the condition of the forests 

 in the Ufa, stated that the whole of that part of the country 

 was threatened with an absolute want of wood, hundreds of 

 thousands of trees being stripped for the sake of the bark and 

 the roots. Naturally the evil does not stop here ; but the cli- 

 mate also shows a considerable change — the rivers, such as the 

 Bielaia, showing each year a smaller volume of water. Floods 

 are more frequent, property is destroyed to an alarming extent, 

 the beds of the rivers silt up, and the navigation becomes annu- 

 ally more and more uncertain. From observations made at 

 Kieff, the winter lasts longer, and the harvests are not so pro- 

 ductive as of yore ; while Dr. Grimm notes that rivers which 

 once had a reputation for abundance of ft h, the banks of their 

 rivers being well covered with timber, are now as deficient as 

 formerly they were rich, and he attributes the change to the 

 dearth of insects, whose larva furnish food for the fish. Another 

 evil arising from the destruction of the forests is the much greater 



liability to hailstorms ; and in this respect the same complaint 

 comes from France, Germany, and Switzerland. Indeed, dis- 

 tricts that were once wooded, rarely, if ever, suffered from hail- 

 storms ; and the converse his been noted that, where new trees 

 have grown up, the storms have been less and less severe. 



So general has been the conviction that this forest destruc- 

 tion is causing serious damage to the country, that a society 

 has been formed at Moscow to consider the question, and engi- 

 neers have been sent with a view of ascertaining the height of 

 the wder in the rivers during the spring, the changes in the 

 number and size of the lakes, the changes which have taken 

 place in the character of the summer and winter seasons, par- 

 ticularly as affecting the vegetation and the growth of plants. M. 

 Wagner, in an article in the havoc Vremya, 1SS2, considers 

 that the systematic forest waste will lay Western Russia open to 

 tin- action of the south-cast wind, and thus bring undue dryness 

 and contagion from Central Asia ; and according to the latest 

 accounts of the advance of the Siberian plague, M. Wagner's 

 prognostications seem in a fair way of fulfilment. 



The climatic conditions of Russia are such as to allow a great 

 variety of trees to flourish. If a line be drawn from Orenburg 

 towards the west, through the Governments of Samara, Pensa, 

 and Tamboff, as far as Tula, and 1 hence to Lharkoff, Kieff, and 

 Volhynia, the deciduous trees will be found to predominate to 

 the south, and the coniferous trees to the north. As far as 67 

 N. lat. Pinus silvestris is the most universal tree, being found in 

 the south, indeed, only in isolated patches. It extends north- 

 wards as far as 70 N. lat., and eastwards as far as the Petchora, 

 its southern boundary being at 44^°, though, passing over the 

 steppes, it isagain seen in the Caucasu 1' to 43". 



Isa is the next common, being found in Finland as far 

 north as 6SJ°, while in the east the predominating tree is A. 

 obovata, A. sibirica extends to 64", and not further south than 

 Nijni Novgorod. The larch (Lat lis only met with 



in Poland, though L. sibirica inhabits the Government of 

 Olonetz, Nijni Novgorod, and the Ural as far as the river Sak- 

 mara (513°), and is in high repute for ship-building purposes. 

 The cedar (Pinus cembrd) extends north-east to 64V, and also 

 in the northern part of Orenburg to 51". There are large forests 

 of this pine in Perm and Volgoda, and an extensive trade is 

 carried on in the exportation of cones. As to the deciduous 

 tiw-., the birches (Betula alba, I', pubescent, P. verrucosa, B. 

 fruticosa, and B. nana) arc very general throughout Russia, 

 being found on the Petchora in 67° N. lat., as well as in the 

 11 '1 the Caucasus. The oaks (Quercus ptdunculatd) have 

 the same range southward, but are not met with on the north 

 further than St. Petersburg!) and Southern Finland, and not at 

 all east of the watershed of the Ural. The variety known as 

 Q. peduncula/a tardiflora grows in the Governments of Kieff, 

 Poltava, Charkow, and Voronetz, and is the only oak that 

 flourishes in the Crimea. Q. robur and the beech (Fa 

 vatica) have their homes in Poland, Podolia, Volhynia, Bess- 

 arabia, the Crimea, and the Caucasus. The aspen (Populus 

 tremula) is found all over the land as far as 66°, and is a valuable 

 industrial tree, being used in paper-making. The lime-tree 

 also ( Tilia paivifalin) is valuable in the bast manufactories and 

 for making matting, and is found from 64" as far as Volgoda and 

 Perm and in the Governments of Kostroma, Kazan, and Sim- 

 brisk. The red beech flourishes at heights varying from 1500 to 

 4000 feet above the sea-level, and, with the white beech (Car- 

 pinus betulus), is chiefly found in the south-west of the Empire, 

 and also in the Caucasus and Crimea. There are large forests 

 in the neighbourhoad of Kieff and Poltava, entirely composed 

 of this tree. The elms (Ulmus effusa, U. eampesltis, and c7. 

 • nbe osa) usually frequent the south, though not in profusion ; 

 but the ash (Fraxinus excelsior^ is much more plentiful, and is 

 particularly valuable, as affording shelter for the Spanish fly, the 

 exporting of which is a somewhat extensive industry. The 

 maples (Acer platanoides and .-/. /atari :11m) are tolerably plenti- 

 ful in all parts, though not as forest trees. The same maybe 

 said of the alder (Alims incana), the willow, wild apple, pear, 

 and plum. 



The average annual produce of the Russian forests is about 

 6co,ooo,ooo cubic feet, at which rate the yield of a dessiatine is 

 not more than six cubic feet, a poor result when compared with 

 other countries, Prussia giving at the rate of 847 cubic feet a 

 year, Bavaria 131, and Saxony 165. It is singular, however, 

 that where the extent of productive forest in Russia is smaller, 

 the yield per dessiatine is greater, the average of the central 

 provinces being 60 cubic feet, and in the south 37, while in the 



