]34 FOEESTRY IN EASTERN RUSSIA. 



principle honestly carried out. I believe matters are 

 somewhat better than they were, but it is too late locking 

 the stable door when the horse is gone. And I am of 

 opinion from what I have seen wherever I have been, that 

 since the introduction of steam-power the consumption of 

 firewood is very much more rapid than the growth, for 

 they are now cutting down young timbers, where there 

 are any to cut, in a shameful manner which it is heart- 

 rending to see.' 



In a preceding chapter I have given details of the de- 

 pressed condition of many smelting and manufacturing 

 establishments in the district. 



No one need be surprised to learn that in such circum- 

 stances, as have been mentioned, the supply of wood is 

 failing, that prices are rising, and that works are being 

 closed. And what I have reported is only in keeping with 

 everything I have heard in Russia, in regard to doings of 

 government officials in every department of the service. 



I have obtained much information in regard to great rises 

 in the price of firewood in different parts of Russia, and in 

 regard to the difference of expense in using coal and fire- 

 wood in manufactories in St. Petersburg. When in the 

 country in 1882 I applied for, and had posted for me 

 shortly after my return to Scotland, a report on the 

 difference of expense of using coal and firewood in the 

 metallurgical works in the Ural, a matter fast becoming 

 one of pressing importance. It never reached me. I 

 reported the case to the post-office in Edinburgh. All 

 proper inquiries were made, but in vain. I wrote to my 

 correspondent informing him of my want of success. The 

 following was his reply : ' I don't expect you will ever get 

 it. I don't believe that it ever left Shuvalova. Countess 

 F. and I took it to the office. We went in and had it 

 weighed; then purchased the necessary stamps and 

 attached them. Unhappily I did not register it, but put 

 it at once into the box. But in Russia you cannot be 

 assured of even registered letters and parcels reaching their 



