138 THE FOREST LANDS OF NORTHERN RUSSIA. 
are furnaces for rectifying turpentine and for making pyro- 
lignous acid. The latter product is obtained from birch 
wood by a process of dry distillation. The greater part of 
this product is taken to St. Petersburg, but the greater 
part of the red tar commands a sale in the locality. 
‘The following are details relating to the manufacture 
of such articles obtained on the spot. From a cubic fathom 
ef wood are obtained 25 poods of black tar, equal to 900 
lbs. English, and two poods or 72 lbs. of turpentine; and 
in the manufacture they consume half a cubic foot of fire- 
wood, 
‘From a square fathom of birch they obtain 250 [?] 
poods of pyrelignous acid. 
‘ How far these figures indicate the reasonableness and 
propriety of the measures adopted may be determined by 
a comparison of them with results obtained by scientific 
operations, and with the returns made by other works of 
the same kind elsewhere. The proprietor was desirous of 
impressing on me that the establishment is not remunera- 
tive, and hardly returns the working expenditure. The 
quantity of acid manufactured is some hundred tons more 
than suffices to meet the demand for it, and the turpentine 
is scarcely equal in quality to what is required in the 
market, and thus he accounted for the unremunerative 
character of the works.’ 
I have visited this work, and the result of subsequent 
years’ experience seems to have proved that Monsieur B., 
the proprietor, was correct in his views. The place was to 
some extent in ruins; there were piles of pine-tree roots 
for the production of tar, and piles of birchwood for the 
production of vinegar, but no work had been done there 
for years. A solitary workman lived there in charge of 
the place. The apparatus for the manufacture of tar had 
been removed, and the supports for the retorts were in 
ruins, This may also be said of the vinegar works, but 
there was a new retort ready for erection, and it was 
intimated that the proprietor had some intentions of 
