224 Bussia. 



FoTccl, the increase of forest area in the poorly wooded 

 districts by sowing oak, etc., was also inaugurated; and 

 this planting was made obligatory, not only on the 

 administration of crown forests, but also upon private 

 owners, who in ease of default were to lose their land and 

 have it reforested by the forest administration. 



These restrictions of private rights and the tutelage 

 under the forest admrnistiation were abolished in 

 toto by Catherine II, in 1788, and although it was 

 reported by the admiralty, concerned in shipbuilding 

 materials, that as a consequence the cutting, especially 

 of oak timber, was proceeding rapidly, no new restrictive, 

 but rather an ameliorative policy was attempted, as, 

 for instance, prizes for plantations were offered in cer- 

 tain localities by provincial governors. 



With the abolishment of the serfdom of the peasants 

 in 1861, under Alexander II, these had lands allotted 

 to them, and in the partition in some parts as much as 

 25 to 50% of the forest property was handed over to 

 them. Immediately a general slaughtering, both by 

 peasants and by the private owners, who had suffered by 

 losing the services of the serfs, was inaugurated, leading 

 to wholesale devastation. 



Servitudes or rights of user also prevailed in some 

 districts and proved destructive. 



By 1864 complaints in regard to forest devastation had 

 become so frequent that a movement for reform was 

 begun by the Czar which led to the promulgation of a 

 law in 1867, followed by a number of others during the 

 next decade, designed to remedy the evils. This was 

 to be done by restricting the acreage that might be felled, 

 forbidding clearings and giving premiums for good 



