234 Russia. 
time independent, but about 1875 was reorganized and 
placed under the central bureau at St. Petersburg. Al- 
though the forests of Poland are the most lucrative to 
the government and, with good market and high prices 
for wood which are now rapidly increasing, would allow 
of intensive management, the stinginess of the adminis- 
tration, the low moral tone of the personnel and long 
established bad practice have retarded the introduction 
of better methods. The private forests of Poland com- 
prise over 4.5 million acres, and are mostly not much 
better treated than the State forest: in the absence of 
any restrictive policy they have diminished by 25% in 
the last 20 years. 
Considerable efforts have been made towards reforest- 
ing the steppes in southern Russia, first as in our own 
prairies and plains by private endeavor, but lately with 
more and more direct assistance of the State forest ad- 
ministration. 
Since 1843 the government has had two experimental 
forest reserves in the steppes of the governments of 
Ekaterinoslav and Tauride, on which some 10,000 acres 
have been planted; the originator of this work being 
von Graff, a German forester, whose plantations, made 
with 8,000 plants to the acre, are still the best. Later 
the number of plants was reduced to one-half, and the 
results have not been satisfactory. At present the 
policy is not to create large bodies of forest, but to 
plant small strips of 20 to 80 yards in squares in regular 
distribution, which are to serve as windbreaks, and the 
result has been satisfactory, especially in the govern- 
ment of Samara. There are now annually 2,000 acres 
added to these plantations. 
