146 FOKBSTKY IN EASTERN RUSSIA. 



I have spoken of the method of exploitation followed as 

 being inherently defective as a means of securing a sus- 

 tained supply of produce from a forest. 



In a preceding chapter I have referred to modifications 

 of it which have been adopted with advantage under other 

 designations in other parts of Russia and elsewhere. And 

 the necessity for this speaks of some defect of it in its 

 normal condition. But here the method has not, through 

 malversation and abuses, had fair play ; it has not been 

 carried out in its entirety, and in accordance with the 

 principles upon which it was based. 



It may seem to be a truism to say that if more be taken 

 from a forest in any specified time — a year, a decade, or a 

 century — than is produced in it by growth or vegetation 

 in the same period, the forest will beimpoverished, and will 

 ultimately perish, though if no more be taken from it than 

 is produced it may continue to flourish and bring forth 

 abundantly. Thus, apparently, is it here. I say appar- 

 ently, because, while I have learned enough to justify me 

 in concluding that it is so, I have not learned so much as 

 to warrant me, fearless of contradiction, to allege that such 

 is actually the case. 



It is the case that the actual condition of the forests, 

 compared with what is reported to have been their con- 

 dition previous to the introduction and development of the 

 local industry, is itself evidence that more has been taken 

 from the forests than the equivalent of what has been 

 produced within the time during which this has been 

 done. But more is required. I have already attributed 

 this in part to abuses and malversations. It would be 

 difficult, without additional information, to demonstrate 

 that these are the causes of which this is the effect, but with 

 such abuses and malversations going on as those which I 

 have narrated, and of which I have been credibly informed, 

 it seems to be natural and not unjust to conclude that 

 they are one cause of the disappearance of forests within 

 so short a period, But while they may be one cause of 



