352 Dr. W. F. JIume — Wotes on Russian Geology — 



basis, it is too wide a conclusion, being founded merely on a study 

 of the Nijni-Novgorod government, and that the watersheds of the 

 country are very far from possessing the coarse-grained soil that 

 Professor Kostitch expects. Also the woods do not themselves 

 always follow the watersheds, but, on the contrary, are very 

 frequently quite absent at such points. 



Mr. Eodway, reviewing the American aspect of the case, intro- 

 duces another agency. With him water becomes a most important 

 agent in the distribution of trees, and he adduces examples of the 

 results of inundations in this respect. Trees are not found in treeless 

 regions, because water has never transported them thither, and they 

 never were there, because no trace of their existence can be found. 



The general result thus stated may be freely admitted, but at the 

 same time it is very obvious, in Russia at any rate, that there is 

 some special difficulty as regards tree-growth on the steppe. The 

 precautions taken in cultivating trees in gardens and on the steppe 

 is a case in point. The grass has to be carefully removed, and a 

 little trench dug round the plant, to enable it to obtain the necessary 

 water-supply. Whether it be that the grass itself absorbs the 

 moisture, or that the soil is too fine for free percolation, is a question 

 an answer to which it is not easy to obtain. Small trees have to be 

 planted very thickly to prevent wind drying up the moisture. 



Professor Dokoutchaiefif has given expression to the following 

 views : " The low-level districts of the Poltava government are 

 devoid of woods, at the same time being rich in salts. The higher 

 parts are, however, wooded, and the ground has but few salty 

 constituents." In his opinion absence of tree-life and presence of 

 salts are in close connection. 



Streams, draining the upper parts of the government, carry down 

 the salts in solution, depositing these in marshes or giving rise to 

 salt-springs, when the lowlands are reached. As salt is a deadly 

 enemy of tree-life, and as the lowlands being strongly alkalized do 

 not admit of forest-growth, steppes are produced in such localities. 

 Especially is this the case in the lowest parts, where the largest 

 amount of salt is concentrated. These statements are practically 

 the application of Lesquereux's views to the South Eussian area. 



As far as my own experience goes, I must agree with Professor 

 Krasnov, that this theory appears untenable when applied to the 

 South Eussian Black Earth region as a whole, though it may be of 

 great importance in its relation to individual districts, and especially 

 to that area which lies immediately south of the distinct glacial 

 boundary. Owing to the great extent of the Eussian empire, and 

 the broad regions over which its various deposits are spread out, 

 there is a natural danger of the formation of separate schools of 

 thought, each basing itself on the peculiarities existing in special 

 districts, and raising local features to the rank of far-reaching 

 generalities. Only after prolonged and friendly discussion will it 

 be possible to establish those wider principles which must form the 

 foundations for true progress in the subjects under discussion. 



The facts on which such wider conceptions are based come out 



