Oct. 25, 19x3. 
FOREST AND STREAM 
521 
Russian Forests 
Increase of Prices for Timber 
boards dropped to prevent pointing too much 
into the current, the surface of the propelling- 
board is so much increased to the swift current 
that the speed is greatly augmented. By skill¬ 
ful regulation of all the boards in the current 
by an experienced waterman at different angles 
and depths, the boat is sometimes driven through 
the water at a rate that must be experienced to 
be believed. 
Before noon the ladies and most of the 
gentlemen of Andrew’s party visited the fort 
and barracks, where they were entertained at 
luncheon, after which they were taken the 
rounds of the post, later viewing a special ex¬ 
hibition drill of four troops of cavalry. The 
party visited the grave of the daughter of the 
noted chief of the Sioux, “Spotted Tail,” and 
heard the touching story of her death. This 
maiden conceived great love for one of the 
young officers at the fort, who did not recipro¬ 
cate her affections. She was eventually sent by 
her father, Spotted Tail, several hundred miles 
away to cause her to forget the young white 
officer and marry one of her tribe. The young 
woman, however, would not be comforted, and 
brooded and pined away her life while away 
from her love. Upon her death-bed she re¬ 
quested her father to live at peace with the 
whites, and to bury her body at the fort, which 
was done. 
The stay at the fort had been very enjoy¬ 
able to all, and a hearty leave taking was made. 
Late in the day they were escorted to the ferry 
by Colonel Freeman and several members of 
his staff. The colonel promised to forward their 
mail by special messenger to them as soon as 
it should arrive, and offered us an escort to 
Fort Fetterman. We, however, declined the 
escort with thanks, pointing out the effective ar¬ 
rangements for protection had from the fron¬ 
tiersmen of the expedition. It was arranged, 
however, that Colonel Freeman, Major Reno 
and Quartermaster Dandy, a gentleman and 
officer, who had known Andrew’s father during 
the Civil War, should accompany the party on 
a part of the journey next day. 
New Plumage Bills in England. 
Two plumage bills have this year been intro¬ 
duced into the British Parliament. One of these 
proposes to prohibit the sale, hire, or exchange 
of the plumage or skin of any species of wild 
bird, individuals of which have had their habitat 
during the whole or part of the year “within any 
part of His Majesty’s Dominions outside of the 
United Kingdom or in any British Protectorate 
or in the island of Cyprus.” The other, which 
is called the Flobhouse bill, after its introducer, 
and which seems to have been introduced later, 
proposes to prohibit importation of the plumage 
and skins of wild birds, excepting 1 the plumage 
of wild birds ordinarily used as articles of diet 
and imported for that purpose.” 
Non-Importation Law of Australia. 
The Minister for Trade and Customs of 
Australia has instituted inquiries into the en¬ 
forcement of the law prohibiting importation of 
the plumage of certain birds into Australia, it 
having been reported that while every case of 
interdicted plumage goods brought to New South 
Wales is opened by the customs officials, there is 
every indication of laxity in some of the States. 
R USSIA is one of the main timber-producing 
countries of the world. The sources of 
supply are diminishing, mainly owing to 
waste and bad management. The largest demand 
is for pine and fir woods, and these are Russia’s 
main output. Including Finland, Russia is prob¬ 
ably the largest timber-exporting country of the 
world. The Canadian output is large, but not 
equal to the Russian; and of other European 
countries the more important exporters are 
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sweden, Norway and 
Ro.umania in the order named. Both Germany 
and France are noted for their forestry organi¬ 
zation and have enormous areas under timber, 
but the supply is not equal to the local require¬ 
ments, and they are consequently importers of 
timber. 
The forest reserves of Russia are of enor- 
mour extent. They cover an area of seventeen 
hundred million acres, more than three times the 
area of the surviving Canadian forests, and six 
times the area of all other European countries 
combined. The tendency of the timber trade in 
the Eastern Hemisphere will be to become more 
predominantly Russian. It is claimed by Russian 
authorities that its coniferous wealth exceeds 
that of the whole world. Only a very small 
area of the Russian forests are in private hands. 
Over 90 per cent, of the total area belongs to 
the State; that is, including all the regions of 
the far north and of Asiatic Russia. The dis¬ 
tances are so great and the means of communi¬ 
cation and facilities of transport are at present 
relatively so limited that the main portions of 
the large forest areas are still untouched. Regu¬ 
lar State forestry management is now applied to 
more than 50,000,000 acres, and this area is being 
extended every year. 
Russia has benefited by the rise in the price 
of timber, which has become particularly appre¬ 
ciable during the last decade. This increase- has 
been caused not only by the larger demands for 
export, but also by the rapidly growing require¬ 
ments of the home market. The very noteworthy 
extension of the larger towns in Russia during 
recent years, involving- a constant and rapid de¬ 
velopment of the building trade, is an important 
factor which has tended to raise prices. The 
northern capital, Petersburg, falsely styled 
“Saint,” may be taken as an example, both be¬ 
cause it is an export center and is also the 
largest consumer of timber among Russian 
towns. Prices there during the last ten years 
have increased 80 to 100 per cent, for logs; 60 
to 80 per cent, for sawn wood, and 80 to 100 per 
cent, for firewood. 
Forestry development in European Russia is 
undoubtedly progressing. An important sub-sec¬ 
tion are the so-called “protective forests,” which 
are reserved for special purposes of local im¬ 
portance, for instance to act as screens to pro¬ 
tect agricultural ground against shifting sands 
and also to prevent the silting up of rivers. The 
forestry maHagement is under expert control the 
most approved and up-to-date system is enforced, 
which is not much behind that of the best in the 
West of Europe. The areas in which the most 
perfect forestry may be seen are in Poland, in 
the Baltic Provinces, in districts round Peters¬ 
burg and Moscow, Kazan and others. They are 
the models on which the others will be developed. 
The Government encourages enterprise and 
good management in a variety of ways, it offers 
aid to- the owners of large estates by granting- 
betterment loans for forestry improvement, 
drainage works and plantations, and also be¬ 
stows medals and prizes to those practically en¬ 
gaged in the industry. An interesting and im¬ 
portant development indicative of the hold the 
industry has obtained on the public mind is fur¬ 
nished by the great increase in the number of 
students who- annually enter the forestry schools. 
The rapid development of Russia’s timber re¬ 
sources offers them a desirable career. In order 
to encourage this demand, the Government has 
within the last few years established forestry 
schools under expert control in several important 
centers, such as Ekaterinoslaf, in the Urals and 
elsewhere. During the two decades, 1886-1906, 
the gross revenue of the Russian State forests 
increased from $7,200,000 to $29,000000, while on 
the other hand the expenditure fell from 4- 2 P er 
cent, to only 18 per cent.; that is, that with the 
smaller income it was $2,880,000; with the in¬ 
creased revenue it only became $4,800,000, the 
net amount being $4,320,000 in 1886 and $24,200,- 
000 in 1906. Obviously the industry was being 
starved. Compared with an expenditure of 18 
per cent, in Russia, the corresponding outlays on 
the forestry services of Germany and France are 
45 per cent, of the gross income In 1908 a new 
policy was commenced in Russia, a more liberal 
system was inaugurated, and the proportion of 
expenditure to gross revenue rapidly increased, 
it now exceeds 30 per cent. Thus, in 1906 the 
credit allowed by the Central Government for 
forestry improvements was only $384000; during 
last year it reached $2,640,000, while for the cur¬ 
rent year $3,120,000 has been scheduled for the 
industry. The gross revenue last year reached 
$36,480,000, and for this year it has been esti¬ 
mated to reach $40,320,000, an increase of no 
less than $11,320,000 over 1906. 
The initiative for the new policy was taken 
in the Duma. Four years ago, toward the end 
of 1908. it insisted that all the State forests of 
European Russia and the Caucasus should be 
prospected during the next ten years, and the 
forests of Siberia and Central Asia within the 
next two decades. It was also decided to re¬ 
organize the forestry staff, to largely increase 
it and to pay a higher scale of salaries. To give 
effect to these proposals, the Department of 
Forestry has elaborated an extensive plan of 
reforms to be carried out and completed by 
1928, involving the prospecting of about fifteen 
hundred million acres of forest land at an esti¬ 
mated cost of $33,600000, including $9,600,000 
for the staff, which will include 2.670 officers, 
6,500 valuers and over 15,000 surveyors. During 
recent years the staff has been extremely re¬ 
stricted and quite unable to grapple with the 
work of the Department. There are altogether 
1.240 forestries, of which 998 are in European 
Russia, 87 in Caucasus and only 155 in Asiatic 
Russia. The area under the charge of each of- 
