Ex Libris C. K. OGDEN THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES BRITISH FORESTRY ITS PRESENT POSITION AND OUTLOOK AFTER THE WAR BRITISH FORESTRY ITS PRESENT POSITION AND OUTLOOK AFTER THE WAR BY EDWARD PERCY STEBBING HEAD OF THE FORESTRY DEPARTMENT, UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH WITH ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. 1916 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED CONTENTS INTRODUCTION PAOB EVELYN'S " SYLVA " AND PRESENT TIMES . . ix PART I A NATIONAL PLANTING SCHEME ARTICLE I. FORESTRY I WHAT IT MEANS TO THE NATION I II. THE POSITION OF THE AFFORESTATION QUESTION IN THIS COUNTRY AT THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR — AND NOW . 13 III. A NATIONAL PLANTING SCHEME . . 27 IV. FINANCE AND PLANTING METHODS . . 37 V. AFFORESTATION AND LABOUR ... 50 PART II BRITISH TIMBER SUPPLIES AND THE FORESTS OF RUSSIA VI. TIMBER SUPPLIES AND FAMINE PRICES . 55 VII. BRITISH TIMBER SUPPLIES AND RUSSIAN FORESTS . . i . 67 v 01 4987 vi CONTENTS ABTICLE **GB VIII. THE FORESTS OF RUSSIA IN EUROPE . 82 IX. THE FORESTS OF FINLAND AND EUROPEAN TIMBER SUPPLIES .... 104 X. THE FORESTS OF SIBERIA AND TURKESTAN . 130 XI. THE CEDAR (CEMBRAN PINE) TRADE OF ASIATIC RUSSIA . ... . . . 154 PART III TIMBER SUPPLIES AND THE WAR XII. TIMBER SUPPLIES AND THE WAR— IMPORTS IN 1913 -. . . . . 160 XIII. EFFECT OF SIX MONTHS' WAR ON THE TIMBER SUPPLIES . . . . .l8l XIV. TIMBER IMPORTS AND EXPORTS IN 1915 . 202 PART IV THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN IN FORESTRY XV. WOMEN AND FORESTRY . ". . . 21 5 XVI. THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN IN FORESTRY —I . . ... .236 XVII. THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN IN FORESTRY -ii . . ... . 247 LIST OF PLATES FRENCH ENGINEERS MAKING A ROAD OUT OF YOUNG SAPLINGS IN ORDER TO TRANSPORT HEAVY GUNS OVER THE RAIN-SOAKED FIELDS . . Frontispiece Reproduced by courtesy of the "Topical" Press Agency. FACING PAGE PLATE I. SCOTS PINE, STRATHORD. LARCH, CRAIG VIVIAN, PERTHSHIRE .... 6 PLATE 2. A FELLED AREA AND NEWLY PLANTED AREA, PEEBLESSHIRE . . . . . 8 PLATE 3. SCOTS PINE, BALUAN, BLAIR ATHOLL . . 1 6 PLATE 4. THIRLMERE, LAKE DISTRICT. TALLA CATCH- MENT AREA, PEEBLESSHIRE ... 22 PLATE 5. PLANTING IN A PEEBLESSHIRE GLEN . . 28 PLATE 6. " HYBRID " LARCH, MURTHLY. JAPANESE LARCH, BLAIR ATHOLL, PERTHSHIRE . 34 PLATE 7. OLD LARCH WOOD, MUCH UNDERSTOCKED, PEEBLESSHIRE 39 . PLATE 8. FELLING OAK COPPICE SCRUB FOR PIT PROPS, HERMITAGE WOODS, DUNKELD. LOADING TRUCKS WITH PITWOOD AT A TEMPORARY SIDING ON THE HIGHLAND LINE . . 40 PLATE 9. OAK NATURAL REGENERATION IN THE QUEEN'S WOOD, FRITH PARK, SURREY . . 42 vii viii LIST OF PLATES FACINO PAGE PLATE 10. PIT PLANTING AND MAtTOCK PLANTING . 48 PLATE II. LARCH INTERPLANTED WITH DOUGLAS, MURTHLY. LARCH UNDERPLANTED WITH DOUGLAS, NOVAR, ROSS-SHIRE . . 52 PLATE 12. LADYWELL FOREST NURSERY, DUNKELD, PERTHSHIRE .... 228 INTRODUCTION EVELYN'S " SYLVA " AND PRESENT TIMES To those who love the beautiful woods of this country or, in fact, any of the open-air pursuits connected with them, Evelyn's classic Sylva will be well known. There is a fascination and at the present time a grave significance for us all in the quaint wording of its title — " Sylva, or a Discourse of Forest Trees and the Propa- gation of Timber in His Majesty's Dominions." Perhaps never since it made its first appearance has the need for pondering over and acting upon the advice of this most remarkable and far-seeing man, as adumbrated in his Sylva, been so urgent as in these early years of the twentieth century. The Sylva was written at the instigation and under the auspices of the Royal Society, then recently founded under the patronage of Charles the Second (in 1662, Evelyn being one of the first Fellows and a Member of the Council). Evelyn is interesting on the objects for which the great Society was inaugurated : " Those who perfectly comprehend the scope and end of that Noble Institution, which is to improve natural know- ledge, and enlarge the empire of operative philosophy, not by an abolition of the old, but by the real effects of the experimental, collecting, examining, and im- ix x EVELYN'S "SYLVA" AND PRESENT TIMES proving their scattered phenomena, with a view to estab- lish even the received methods and principles of the schools, as far as were consistent with truth and matter of fact, thought it long enough that the world had been imposed upon by that national and formal way of delivering divers systems and bodies of philosophy, falsely so-called, beyond which there was no more country to discover ; which being brought to the test and trial, vapours all away in fume and empty sound." Amongst the first of the activities of the Society was the direct encouragement, through the publication of the Sylva, given to planting, then an urgent need of the day for the sake of the Navy. In confirmation of the Society's interest in this matter we read in the opening paragraphs of the Preface to the Reader (4th ed.) : " After what the Frontispiece and Porch of this Wooden Edifice presents you, I shall need no farther to repeat the occasion of this following discourse ; I am only to acquaint you, That as it was delivered to the Royal Society (on the fifteenth day of October 1662) by an unworthy Member thereof, in obedience to their commands ; by the same it is now republished without any farther prospect : And the reader is to know, that if these dry sticks afford him any sap, it is one of the least and meanest of those pieces which are every day produced by that illustrious assembly, and which enrich their collections, as so many monuments of their accurate experiments, and public endeavours, in order to the production of real and useful theories, the propagation and improvement of natural science, and the honour of their institution." PLANTING BY CHARLES II xi As evidence of the King's interest in planting, even when allowance is made for the laudatory language of the age (and Evelyn was no mean courtier), the opening paragraphs of the author's " Dedication to the King's Most Sacred Majesty," 4th edition, dated December 5, 1678, is as worthy of remembrance now as it is impor- tant historically : " For to whom, Sir, with so just and equal right should I present the fruits of my labours, as to the Patron of that Society, under whose influence it was produced, so to whose auspices alone it owes the favour- able acceptance which it has received in the world ? To You, then, Royal Sir, does this Fourth Edition continue its humble addresses, tanquam Nemorum Vindici, as of old, they paid their devotions Herculi <§• Silvano ; since you are our ®eo? v\uc6 THE PLANTING UP OF A GLEN. Young plantations of larch f above the road), Douglas and common spruce (below road), Haystown Estate, Peeblesshire, February 1913. \V. A. Fraser, photo. THE ONLY SAFE COURSE 29 there waiting to be planted. We can no longer shut our eyes to the fact that to leave these derelict areas unplanted any longer will be a national disgrace and at the same time prejudicial to all efforts on the part of the Government to preach a thrift campaign. We are aware that immense destruction amongst young pole crops has taken and is taking place on the Con- tinent within the fighting areas (vide frontispiece). In this country we are perforce sacrificing consider- able areas of young woods and felling old ones of any value, since we must supply the urgent needs of the country. It is impossible to forecast the future, but that the demand for timber materials forty years hence is likely to be larger even than at the present day is at least a strong probability — and prices will be higher. It rests with this generation to say whether they will leave their posterity to face a worse position, if this is possible, than we are in to-day. The only safe course, practically the only course, to follow is to undertake at once the planting up of such parts of our available waste lands as are obviously capable of growing a good marketable crop. The selection of such areas would be comparatively easy once a definite policy were laid down and the campaign properly organised. It would not be advisable or necessary during the first few years to deal with exposed areas or to go up to doubtful altitudes. No heroic measures are demanded or necessary. The country has been already divided up into forest districts, each comprising several counties, to each of which a forestry adviser has been appointed. In these districts the most suitable areas for immediate planting are probably 30 A NATIONAL PLANTING SCHEME already known, or could be quickly ascertained ; the only necessary stipulation being trjat the planting blocks should have a minimum size of, say, 500 to 1,000 acres. The land selected would mostly belong to private proprietors, municipalities, and so on. It would be necessary to come to terms with them. It should prove feasible in certain cases to do this on the lines already laid down by the Development Commissioners on the principle of shared profits, the Government finding the money for planting and fencing up to a certain prescribed sum per acre, and the proprietor of the land and the Government sharing the profits resulting from the crop raised, after the repayment of the loan. The proportion of profits to be shared would naturally vary with the value of the land, and would vary in individual cases. This was the proposal before the war, and as has been shown, was accepted by certain corporations and water trusts. A more recent offer of the Development Commis- sioners differs from the above. To meet suggestions made by landowners it is now considered possible that the latter may prefer to lease areas of considerable size for planting, and to receive the annual rental plus a percentage of the ultimate profits from the woods as afforestation value on renewal of the lease. And this would appear an equally fair arrangement to both parties. Lastly, Government may purchase land for afforesta- tion and become the owner of a certain proportion of the forest area of the country. The question of national afforestation then may be approached in several ways, all of which, with the WASTE LANDS 31 varying conditions obtaining, are worthy of considera- tion. To put them as briefly as possible the methods open to us are : (a) The lease and afforestation of waste lands by Government, the proprietor sharing in the expenses and profits. (b) The lease and afforestation of waste lands by Government. (c) The purchase and afforestation of waste lands by Government. Any one of these methods should produce satis- factory results given a correct choice of method for a particular locality and efficient management. If public funds are to be sunk in this industry, and the war can have left us in no doubt now that a certain sum will have to be allocated for the purpose, efficient manage- ment is a sine qua non. Such management can only be obtained by the establishment of Forestry Branches in the Departments of Agriculture with their own personnel and funds. Commercial forestry cannot come into existence in the absence of such branches, and unless the matter is treated solely from the business and commercial point of view the public money de- voted to it will be wasted. It is unnecessary here to go into the details of what " efficient management " implies. Both Government and public alike may rest satisfied that they have in this country men who are fully capable of carrying out afforestation schemes without the waste of public money entrusted to them for the purpose. It is no longer necessary to go to Germany to seek advice. In fact, Germany has far too long clogged our feet in this matter, both in this 32 A NATIONAL PLANTING SCHEME country and elsewhere, to the detriment of all real progress. We know what we want, we know what we can do, we know what dangers we have to confront : and once we undertake the proper protection of our woods, a branch which has been entirely neglected in the past, if we except the unnecessary extravagance of protection from vermin, e.g. the rabbit, we can show as good financial results as anywhere on the Continent of Europe. All that has to be settled is which of the above enumerated methods for the acquisition of the areas is most suited to the different local conditions pertaining throughout the country. With that de- cided Government should be able to allocate funds for the purpose in view with an easy conscience, for it will prove a paying investment both financially and in the national interests. In connection with the purchase of land by Govern- ment a word may be added. Of course where possible this may be regarded as the best method, since full and permanent control ensues. In this case it has often been assumed that the capital invested in the purchase should be recovered from the proceeds of the woods. This is not the case, however, since it is merely a matter of a permanent investment. The Government con- tinue to own the land and with efficient management the quality of the soil, which may be very poor at the outset, will steadily improve when maintained under a crop of trees. The land will steadily increase in value, i.e. will ultimately pay a higher rate of interest. But however the matter is approached, whether by purchase or leasing in one form or another, the chief desideratum is to get this land planted up. THE FUTURE PROBLEM 33 If the nation is to face the future and retain her position in the world, she will have to husband all her resources. It is no answer that other nations will likewise be crippled with debt. Some, Germany for one, are likely to recover more quickly than we shall, if the past is any criterion to the future. In any event, we shall not be able to afford to pay £42,000,000 for forestry products, the bulk of which could be grown at home, on land at present but little productive ; nor shall we get anything like the same amount of material in the future for this sum. In the national interest it would be a crime to neglect any longer the raising of as much timber as possible, on the areas at present producing little or nothing of use to the community. There appears little doubt that public spirit and patriotism alone will render agreement between pro- prietor and Government on this question easy of adjustment. Added to this there is the unfortunate factor that many who before the war were planting on a certain scale may now find themselves unable to bear the expense of such operations. And this at the very time when, in the interest of the nation as a whole, it is most important that planting operations should be extended and carried out on a commercial scale. The necessity for undertaking planting operations on a large scale having been accepted, the next step will be to ascertain the number of plants it will be possible to obtain for next season's planting work, and to ensure an adequate supply for the following years. Steps have been already taken, to some extent, in this direction. For instance, extra nurseries — 34 A NATIONAL PLANTING SCHEME emergency nurseries— have been instituted in the Crown woods, e.g. at the Forest of Dean, Tintern, Windsor, and elsewhere, where many million plants are being raised for planting out. But many more will be required if planting is to be started on a scale at all commensurate with the nation's needs. A list of nur- serymen in this country should be drawn up, 1 and the amounts of the various commercial species of two, three, and four-year-old plants available in their nurseries be correctly entered. This would give us the number of plants existing in the country, and, therefore, the number of acres which could be undertaken with home produce during the first two years or so of the work. If required — and they probably would be — additional plants could be obtained from certain famous nurseries in the neutral Continental countries. Thus it should be possible, before the next planting season opened, to ascertain definitely the exact area it would be possible to undertake with the plants available.8 We now come to the labour question. The question of available labour is left for a subsequent chapter. A planting campaign such as is here suggested could not be left to individual effort. It would have to be inaugurated by a central organisation, e.g. the Board of Agriculture, who would undertake and control the whole of the supply of labour, as also of plants. For this purpose, the most feasible scheme would probably be to raise a labour corps, preferably embodied in the 1 Since this was written a list has been prepared and the approxi- mate amounts available are known. a It is estimated that 10,000 acres could be planted up now with the available plants. PL. 6. / HYBRID " LARCH PLANTATION, 7 YEARS OLD, MURTHLY, PERTHSHIRE. Photo August 1913. \U>ANESE LARCH PLANTATION, g YEARS OLD, BLAIR ATHOLL, PERTHSHIRE. Photo August 1913. Photos by Author. 34] FINANCE 35 same way as transport and other labourers have been embodied. In the case of the planting corps, it would be possible to include all refugees who had any ac- quaintance with forestry work, and a percentage of women. To these might be well added a percentage of prisoners, so long as the war continues, who were cognisant with forest occupations. Drafts from this corps would be sent to the various centres as demand was made for them. The nucleus of the corps would be permanent or appointed for a term of years. The bulk of the labourers would be engaged for the planting season only. Each draft should be equipped with tools, and the corps could be divided up into sections enrolled in different parts of the country with a terri- torial headquarters under the charge of an officer of the corps. As regards the finance of the scheme, there should be no difficulty. In the Development Commission there exists a Government body, armed with powers to recommend schemes of this nature for Treasury sanc- tion. All that would be necessary, therefore, would be that the Department receiving the grant should appoint an officer to have charge of a national planting scheme, and give him sufficient powers and funds to carry out the work. The existing advisory officers would make recommendations as to areas to be planted, and, if necessary, assist in the negotiations with the proprietor. If found necessary the powers of the Development Commission could be extended by a short Act of Parliament to suit the needs of the case. The advisory officer would determine the species to be used for planting the areas. The 36 A NATIONAL PLANTING SCHEME officer in charge of the planting scheme would then be responsible for supplying the plants and labour. The plantations when formed would remain under the local estate foresters, the advisory officers being responsible that they received proper super- vision and tending to ensure that the objects desired are attained. It is not within the province of this article to discuss the staff which would be ultimately required for the management of the woods so formed. The chief desideratum at present is to plant up avail- able areas of afforestable land within the shortest space of time possible. Experts are well aware that no insuperable difficulties will be encountered in their subsequent supervision. It is suggested that a plan such as is here sketched would achieve the result aimed at in the quickest and most effective manner.1 1 This article and Art. i appeared in The Scotsman, October 19, 26, 1915. They have been slightly revised. IV FINANCE AND PLANTING METHODS THE finance of the afforestation problem may be said to have been the chief stumbling block to progress in the past — finance plus the ignorance and apathy exhibited on the subject by Government and public alike. Reams have been written on this matter of the cost of land, cost of planting, and so forth, but not a single tree has been planted as a result. In fact, since it is always possible to juggle with figures, the affores- tation question has over and over again become safely buried beneath masses of statistics. It is therefore proposed to treat of this part of the subject extremely briefly. In this matter of financing planting operations it may be contended that money will be harder to get now than before the war ; interest will be higher ; 5 per cent, will be now asked instead of 3 per cent. Granted. But with a return of prosperity this per- centage should drop and may even reach 3 per cent, again before the completion of the work. And it must be remembered that the additional cost should be well repaid by the excess price of the wood, which will be, so far as can be foreseen, some 25 to 30 per cent. 37 38 FINANCE AND PLANTING METHODS higher than in pre-war days,1 as the supplies we have depended upon for the last thirty to forty years become cut out. Further, the investment will be a sound one. For when the woods become ready for the axe our children and grandchildren can utilise the considerable sums which such an investment will give them to defray some of the enormous national debt with which the country will be saddled. If from no other point of view the planting of our waste lands at present bringing in from id. to 2s. or so per acre will be a sound invest- ment. To come now to a practical suggestion. Of the 3,000,000 acres of existing woodlands, it is extremely probable that the woods of merely commercial value will have been cut out by the end of the war. These woods are being felled firstly at the instance of the Home Timber Committee, who are purchasing areas of standing woods and converting them by Govern- ment agency, and secondly and to a larger extent by timber merchants. The Government purchases run into 1,000,000 cubic feet a month — approximately 25,000 E.G. sleepers and 250,000 cubic feet pitwood and scantlings. This exploitation by Government agency, amounting to 12,000,000 cubic feet or there- abouts per annum, would be inconsiderable even if only half the area of our 3,000,000 acres of woodlands, that is 1,500,000 acres, were fully productive. This is certainly not the case, however. 1 The great increase in price of materials during 1915 as com- pared with 1913 is discussed in Article XIV. Roughly speaking we obtained 25 per cent, less material and paid 30 per cent, more for the reduced amount than in 1913. PL. 7. OLD LARCH WOOD WITH A FEW SCOTS PINE, MUCH UNDERSTOCKED, PEEBLESSHIRE. W. A. FRASER, PHOTO. [39 UNDERSTOCKED WOODS 39 I saw the other day a claim for compensation owing to a fire having occurred in some woods. The largest item in the claim was for an area of wood said to be of pit prop size, the trees growing on an average at 12 feet apart ! Woods of this nature and age would be no more than half- stocked and the material of very poor quality. There is a good deal of this sort of thing in the country. Similarly the majority of the old woods of commercial value are very open and understocked. If 1,500,000 acres were in full bearing they would give under proper management at 70 cubic feet per acre (50 cubic feet final cut and 20 cubic feet thinnings) 105,000,000 cubic feet of mature timber annually on an eighty-year rotation. As these woods are very far from carrying normal crops per acre, the 12,000,000 cubic feet being cut out yearly by Government — and the total may be larger if all sources of supply are taken into account — together with the far larger annual amounts of wood being felled by timber merchants, must result, if the war is prolonged, in the disappear- ance of most of our home woods possessing a com- mercial value. And we have to add to this large areas of immature woods being felled for the necessary sup- plies for the collieries. The considerable areas which have a value othei than the purely commercial — i.e., which serve for shelter to stock and crops, are intimately connected with the sporting value of estates, or are maintained for amenity purposes — may be taken at about 1,500,000 acres. These will and should be left standing. They are, in the main, of small size, and would not come within the minimum of 500 acre blocks which commer- 5 40 FINANCE AND PLANTING METHODS cial forestry requires if it is to prove successful. There is no reason, however, why the larger areas of this kind should not in the future be managed so as to provide a certain proportion of the large-sized high- quality timber required by our industries — more especially of the hardwoods such as oak, ash, syca- more, elm, etc. The maintenance of such areas for sport, shelter, and amenity purposes (Plate 9) is not incompatible with their treatment on sound sylvicul- tural and commercial lines. These woods are, however, of no considerable importance for our present case. The young commercial woods which have not yet reached felling size must, however, be also included here. The areas which will have been felled (either clear cut or with a residue of worthless trees left on the area), together with the considerable tracts of useless scrub, classed as woodlands, may be taken at 1,500,000 acres. If we add to this area 5,000,000 acres of the poor-class waste lands which could be profitably planted, we obtain an area of 6,500,000 acres which, in the interests of national economy, should be planted up at once. Therefore the planting work resolves itself into : (a) Replanting the areas felled over during the war and the areas at present occupied by worthless scrub (of which there are extensive tracts in Scotland) amount- ing to 1,500,000 acres. (b) Planting up 5,000,000 acres of at present treeless land, selecting in each county the better areas, which will yield a good return for the capital laid out. In view of our growing requirements in timber, it is unlikely that this area of 6,500,000 acres will, when PL. 8. FELLING ROUGH OAK COPPICE FOR PITWOOD, HERMITAGE WOOD, DUNKELD, ATHOLL ESTATE, APRIL 1916. TEMPORARY SIDING ON HIGHLAND RAILWAY NEAR DUNKELD FOR LOAD ING UP OAK PITWOOD, APRIL 1916. LOADING OAK PITWOOD INTO TRUCKS AT A TEMPORARY SIDING ON THE HIGHLAND RAILWAY. Price of the pitwood i8s. per ton loaded in truck. The material was cut within a few hundred ynrds of the siding and was unsaleable belore the war. April 1916. Photos by Author. PLANTING BY COUNTIES 41 it comes into bearing, supply us with more than two- thirds to three-fourths of our needs of the future. But if the woods are scientifically managed, such an area should place us in a position of safety in the case of a sudden national emergency. Under proper management such an area should yield some455,ooo,ooo cubic feet of all classes of timber.1 On the subject of cost, if we take an all-round sum of £3 per acre for the felled-over area, etc., class, and £4 per acre for the waste lands,* our planting cost would come to £4,500,000 and £20,000,000 respec- tively or a total of £24,500,000 sterling — about a week's war expenditure. If 200,000 acres were planted annually, the area would be planted in thirty- two years. A planting plan should be drawn up, county by county, under which the felled-over areas, scrub areas, and the most accessible of the waste lands would be selected, and the order of the planting be laid down so as to ensure a proper arrangement of the woods for felling purposes, etc. It may prove of use here to glance briefly at the nature of the work which has been advocated in the previous articles. It has been shown that our chief imports consist of coniferous timber, pines, and spruces, and that we can grow these species to per- fection in this country. In fact, much of the waste land whose afforesting is being considered will grow 1 We imported 454,000,000 cubic feet of coniferous timber and 14,000,000 cubic feet of pitwood in 1913. * This estimate makes no provision for netting the woods against rabbits. The extermination of this pest is a first necessity in woods managed on commercial lines. 42 FINANCE AND PLANTING METHODS this class of material and probably no other as a successful commercial proposition. The greater bulk of the oak, ash, elm, etc., utilised in this country will, as we have seen, probably be raised in the woods kept either for sport, shelter, or amenity purposes, and may to a great extent be left out of the question. It may be suggested, however, that a certain percentage of the better-class oak soils in England should be confined to the growth of this species as, e.g., in the Forest of Dean, High Meadow Woods, Tintern, etc. England has been famous for its oak throughout the centuries. It is a national tree and it would be a pity to see it disappear from areas which have known it for so long. Beech will probably be more largely used in the future to form a lower storey in woods of light-demanding coniferous species. If therefore we confine ourselves here to the conifer- ous species we may restrict ourselves to those of whose commercial utility in this country there is no doubt, to wit — Tyrolese Larch, Scots Pine, Common Spruce, and Austrian Pine, to which we may add, with less certainty, Douglas, Sitka Spruce, and Japanese Larch. This little work is not intended to be a manual of forestry, but a brief note may be given on planting methods and the difference in cost of such.1 Expert opinion is probably unanimous on the point that the planting methods in force in Britain in the past and even now amongst the older generation of foresters, 1 I have added the following note as the result of a criticism made by a friend interested in planting who had read my MSS., on the absence of all mention of planting methods and their relative costs. PL. 9. YOUNG OAK NATURAL REGENERATION UNDER OAK, ETC., OVERWOOD, QUEEN'S \YOOD, FRITH PARK, SURREY, OCTOBER 1912. W. P. D. Stebbing, photo. YOUNG NATURAL OAK SEEDLINGS ONE YEAR OLD UNDER UNDERWOOD, QUEEN'S WOOD, FRITH PARK, SURREY, OCTOBER 1912. W. P. D. Stebbing, photo. 42] ARTIFICIAL PLANTING 43 that is planting by the notch system, have had at least as much to do with the subsequent poor develop- ment of the crops and the catastrophic windfalls (which have been the usual results of bad storms in the past) as either the soil, species used, or other local factors. Of course the haphazard methods of felling and planting, with no reference to wind and the direction of the prevailing storms, under which woods, which have grown up in the shelter of neighbouring ones, are suddenly exposed by the removal of the latter, are also a fruitful source of windfalls. The plantations will be mostly formed artificially, i.e. by planting in the plants, although there is no doubt that in some parts of the country woods under proper scientific management could be obtained by natural regeneration (vide Plate 9). Artificial planting is usually done by one of four methods: (a) Dibbling, (b) Notching, (c) Pit planting, and (d) Mattock planting ; and tools of a varying nature are used for the purpose. (a) Dibbling. — This method can only be adopted for very small plants which have not as yet produced strong side roots. A peg or dibbling iron is pressed into the soil and moved backwards and forwards in one plane to make a wedge-shaped hole in which the plant is inserted, the peg then being pushed into the soil at an angle a few inches away, and levered up so as to force the wedge-shaped mass of soil thus disturbed into the hole occupied by the roots of the plant, which thus becomes filled up. The peg is then with- drawn, the empty hole filled up by pushing the soil into it with the boot or peg, and a fresh plant put in at the planting distance. 44 FINANCE AND PLANTING METHODS (b) Notching. — Notching with the heavy wedge- shaped spades which may be regarded as glorified dibbling pegs or irons is undertaken in a similar fashion to that already described above. A larger wedge-shaped hole is made and therefore a larger plant can be made use of ; but even here the plant should not possess large side roots, as these will be doubled up against the walls of the hole and arrest the develop- ment of the young tree and of its root system. The common notch planting in force throughout this country is done, however, with an ordinary spade. Conifers up to four years of age are " notched in " by methods which only differ in the shape of the notch, and are one and all equally pernicious. The methods are as follows : The common spade is used to make a notch in the ground of one or other of the following shapes : -r notch. — The spade is inserted perpendicularly first at A and then at B ; the blade is kept in at B and the handle pressed downwards so as to raise the turf, with the result that A opens out. The plant is then inserted in the opening at the top of the blade of the spade and slipped along until it reaches the foot of the T. The spade is then removed, the turf being pressed down with the foot so as to close up again in a natural manner. Double T notch. In this the vertical limb of the T is divided into two by another horizontal cut. In other respects the method is the same as the one already described. H notch. — This is only a modification of the T notch. PIT PLANTING 45 L notch. — Is similar to the T notch, except that an L is formed instead of a T. The T notch system and its modifications are cheap and quick, but destroy the root system of the plants, which are necessarily bent to one side with the roots knotted into a ball. Plants put in in this fashion are greatly checked in their growth and may on poor soils show scarcely any height growth or development for several years after planting. They are also much more susceptible to wind damage (this latter danger increasing instead of decreasing with the growth in height and age of tree), insects and fungi. The system and its modifications are probably one of the chief causes of the heavy windfall damage experienced in these islands and especially in Scotland. As will be shown in a comparison of first costs of planting work, it is at least not cheaper than one of the forms of pit planting. It has therefore nothing to recommend it and should be discontinued. (c) Pit Planting. — This method is adapted to plants of all sizes. The tools which may be used for the work are the common spade, cylindrical spade, semi-circular and semi-conical spades, trowel, and the spiral spade. The object of pit planting is to place the plant in an enlarged hole or pit with its root system in a natural position. The various methods in force fulfil these conditions. The common spade, and various modifications in the shape of the tool, is used to make a hole of sufficient size to take the roots of the plant either naked or with a ball of earth. The hole should be made of the same width at the bottom as at the top in order that the 46 FINANCE AND PLANTING METHODS roots may have room to hang freely when held in the hole, and not be twisted up at the bottom. This hole will ordinarily be about 2 feet square and 2 feet deep. The turfs cut off the surface should be placed to one side of the hole, and the finer soil from the top below the turfs be also set by itself to one side. This soil is first filled in upon the roots when the plant is held in position in the hole, the poorer soil being added on top of this till the hole is full. The plant is then pulled up to a position slightly higher than it will occupy when the operation of planting is complete. This raising of the plant draws out the roots so that they occupy a natural position in the pit. The planter holding the plant firmly in his hands then presses down the soil all round with his feet, thus lowering the plant to its proper position, adds the remaining soil and presses this and places the top turf, cut into two pieces, on the surface of the filled-in hole on either side of the plant, if the surface vegetation is not of a rough character. Should it be so the turf is left off. If the pits are made some time before planting the rotten turf is placed in it. The plant is held in the hole before planting by a boy or by the plant-holder. The cylindrical, semi-circular and semi-conical spades. — Planting by means of these spades is very similar to the methods employed with the common spades. The holes are made with the spades, the plant held in position, and the earth filled in with a trowel. The size of the hole made depends upon the size of the plants. The semi-circular spade is undoubtedly one of the best tools to use for planting four-year-old conifers, MATTOCK PLANTING 47 especially in old agricultural land which has gone out of cultivation. This method of planting is the only one employed on the Murthly Estate in Perthshire and gives excellent results. It is also used to a certain extent on the neighbouring Scone Estate. The figures of cost for planting with this spade at Murthly are given in a statement of relative costs inserted at the end of this section. The spiral spade is used to slacken up the soil in the hole. The soil is then taken out with the trowel or other tool, and the plant put in and the soil filled in as already described. (d) Mattock Planting. — This method consists of a combination of notching and pitting, and is a useful one for planting up stony hillsides. The planting mattock, a tool which is a combination of pick and a mattock, is used, and is infinitely superior to the ordinary pick. A smaller tool like a small half-mat- tock, the iron portion resembling the flat part of the mattock, is also required. To plant with the mattock : The turf is first pared off the surface with the flat- tened end of the tool, the pointed end being then used for loosing up the soil. The flattened end then again comes into play, the soil and stones being extracted so far as possible from the hole by means of it ; should the soil be full of bracken roots, and so on, the flattened end is also used to break up these and remove them. The turf and stones may be placed on the lower edge of the hole (on a hillside) to serve as a trap for snow and water. The plant may be notched in to the hole with the spade or preferably be planted by means of the small 48 FINANCE AND PLANTING METHODS tool described above, which is used to draw the re- mainder of the soil from the hole. The plant is then placed in the soil and the tool used to fill in the soil on to the roots. As regards the above methods spade planting is costly ; the semi-circular spade gives equally good re- sults and is far less costly. Mattock planting is confined to stony ground for which the spades are unserviceable. RELATIVE COSTS OF PLANTING J Cost per i ,000 plants for labour alone in the first planting . Daily labour wage per day of 10 hours : For a man 35. 6d. per day ; a boy 15. 8d. per day. Man. Boy. Notching . . . 45. od. + is. lid. =» 55. nd. Dibbling without previous preparation = 45. 6d. Mattock planting . . 45. zd. + 25. od. «= 65. 2d. Pitting— With common spade . 95. 6d. + 6s. od. * 155. 6d. Semi-circular spade . . $s. 6d. to 6s. 6d. LABOUR REQUIRED Notching . .,. . i man or i man and i boy. Dibbling . . . i man or i man and i boy. Mattock planting . . i man and i boy or 2 men. Spade planting . . i man and i boy or, less quickly, i man and the plant-holder. Semi-circular spade . . a men and 3 planters work as a squad together. This has been found the best number for a squad at Murthly. 1 Tile figures here given are those in force in parts of Perthshire. They are based on practical experience and were obtained for me by Mr. J. M. Murray, B.Sc., Assistant in the Department of Forestry, University of Edinburgh. PL. 10. MATTOCK PLANTING, TALLA CATCHMENT AREA, APRIL 1914. The squad of men ahead are preparing the holes whilst those behind are putting in the plants. PIT PLANTING. Edinburgh University students digging pits into which four-year-old Douglas are to be planted, Craig Vivian, near Dunkeld, Perthshire, March 1914. Photos by Author. 48] RATE OF PLANTING 49 The following has been done at Murthly, with well- trained men using the semi-circular spade : * Two men make 2,400 holes per day of 10 hours. Three planters (boys) put in 2,400 plants per day of 10 hours. Therefore total cost for 2,400 plants =* 125. On very free soil one man can make 1,000 holes a day and together with the planter will put in 1,000 plants. The man making the holes finishes the 1,000 soonest, and then helps the planter with the remainder of the 1,000 plants which are also finished in the day. The total cost in this case comes to 55. 2d. or cheaper than notching. 1 Mr. A. Murray, Chief Forester, Murthly, also gives me th« following illustration : On Kingswood Moor, Murthly, two years ago we averaged about 900 per man per day of 8 to 10 hours and this may safely be taken as a fair average. AFFORESTATION AND LABOUR IN previous articles the question of the labour supply has been touched upon. The war has brought about such a complete change in labour problems generally that old-time ideas upon this subject are now anti- quated shibboleths. The whole question of employ- ment and labour is undergoing revision in our minds, slow it may be, but still revision. And perhaps in no direction is this revision of pre-war ideas more promi- nent than in the question of the employment of women on the land. It is for this reason that I have included in this book articles I have published on this subject with reference to the employment of women in forestry. It has been pointed out to me that these articles, if left without their complement, may seem to give an undue prominence to this question and seem to convey an idea that forestry work and operations could be chiefly undertaken by women. This is far from my meaning. Forestry is pre-eminently a man's work — necessitating as it does in all its varying branches an open-air life and considerable exposure, in fact, a life of " roughing it" For this very reason it proves an ideal existence for those of good physique who are at the same time lovers of nature in some of its finest WORK FOR INCAPACITATED WARRIORS 51 phases. The main difficulty in the past has been to obtain sufficient labour in the woods. Or perhaps it may be better expressed by saying that sufficient labour has not been utilised in the woods. Woods — commer- cially grown woods — require constant supervision. It is not sufficient to plant them and then go away and leave them to shift for themselves up to such period as it may be possible to make a thinning in them which will prove saleable. These old-time methods, combined with others, have brought us to our present position. If we are to maintain in the future that area of woods which our requirements have shown us should in the interests of national economy and safety be kept up in this country, and if we are to make them pay, they will have to be grown properly and given constant attention. For this work both men and women can be employed, in their several departments, with advantage. We are only con- cerned here with the employment of men. One of the results of the war will be the necessity of providing work for partially incapacitated soldiers and sailors. They could be utilised in a certain amount of the light forestry work which does not require the services of able-bodied men. There will also be the question of employment for the numbers of young men who, leaving their former sedentary occupations, have gone out to fight for the country. On their return these young men are likely to look with distaste at their former work. They will ask for a more active life. If that life cannot be pro- vided for them in this country they will emigrate. And yet, if a campaign to plant up our waste lands, the 52 AFFORESTATION AND LABOUR present position of which is economically a disgrace to the nation, and one very far removed from the thrift and conservation and rehabilitation of the national resources which is now being so strongly advocated — if, I submit, a campaign of sufficient magni- tude is undertaken to plant up these derelict acres which could grow so much of what we want, we should be able to provide employment for these young men ; as also for our partially incapacitated soldiers and sailors. One of the reasons why the recommendations of the Coast Erosion Commission were not acted upon was said to be the impossibility of employing the townsman in planting work owing to his inability to stand the strain and exposure of working on the soil, and his ignorance of the use of the spade and pick. That this was a fallacy the war has proved. Modern warfare entails the constant use of both these implements. In fact, they are probably used as much as the rifle, if not more so. The men of the towns have stood their training in the use of these tools, and numbers of youngsters, having a thorough acquaintance with them, and also hardened to exposure, should be available for afforestation work. Without undue optimism it may be considered then that a large planting scheme should no longer present any difficulties on the score of labour once the war has come to an end — in fact, the drafting of men willing to take on such work into one or more Planting Corps when the disbandment takes place at the peace will provide one source of employment for the men who gave up their jobs to join the armies which would PL. ii. LARCH INTERPL ANTED WITH DOUGLAS, ROHALLION PLANTATION, MURTHLY, PERTHSHIRE, AUGUST 1913. The larch were given a three years' start. LARCH UNDERPLANTED WITH DOUGLAS, NOVAR, ROSS-SHIRE, JUNE 191 Douglas five-year-old. Larch 28-year-old. The larch were attacked by larch canker and heavily thinned before being underplanted. Photos by Author. 52] EDUCATION AND TRAINING 53 prove most serviceable to the country. But to enable such corps to be immediately formed, without that inevitable friction and delay which is so apt to ruin schemes of this nature, a cut-and-dried plan should be drawn up beforehand ready to be at once put into force when the moment arrives, and this plan should be on a sufficient scale to ensure the adequate realisation of the objects aimed at. As regards education and training. It has been shown that every soldier nowadays knows how to use the spade and pick. Therefore with supervision there should be no difficulty in getting the planting work done satisfactorily. The education in forestry of those who elect to take to a forestry life should also present no difficulties. There are forestry classes for wood- men in the Agricultural Colleges throughout the country and there is an excellent Woodmen's School at the Forest of Dean, a fine new building, up-to-date in all respects, having been completed just before the outbreak of the war. Selected men from the Planting Corps could be sent to these schools in the summer season when forestry work is slack to take the wood- man's courses. In this way a trained subordinate forest staff would be built up ready for employment in the supervision of the large areas of commercial woods which the country would possess. The higher training for the gazetted ranks who would be responsible for the scientific management of the woods on strictly commercial lines likewise offers no difficulties. Many of the most important Universities of the country now possess Forestry Departments in which students, as the result of a three years' course, 54 AFFORESTATION AND LABOUR take either a degree of B.Sc. in Forestry or a diploma in Forestry. These men would proceed to the woods in the first instance as assistants to the officers in charge of the different areas, ultimately looking to obtaining a charge themselves when they possess sufficient practical know- ledge of the work. In this direction therefore a career presents itself for young officers who at the close of the war will wish to follow a life which will have plenty of the open air about it with a minimum of the office stool. The courses for the Forestry Degree given by the University of Edinburgh are fully described in Article XVII (p. 249) under " Employment of Women in Forestry " and need not be recapitulated here. As one who has had plenty of experience of the glorious " freeness," combined with the considerable responsibility, of a forester's life, the writer can assure all those who wish to, comparatively speaking, remain their own masters and live in the open air that there are few occupations to rival it. PART II BRITISH TIMBER SUPPLIES AND THE FORESTS OF RUSSIA VI TIMBER SUPPLIES AND FAMINE PRICES WHAT are we going to do about timber supplies both in the near future and a more distant one ? This is one of the war problems which has received but little attention until quite recently. We have so long been accustomed to get all the timber we required without trouble that we had come to forget that it was practically all imports and that we grew but little of the timber of commerce ourselves. And yet, as will be shown, this material has come to be one of the necessities of the warfare of the present day. In obtaining the supplies we have required we can- not even be said to have " muddled along " satisfac- torily, for we are simply living a hand-to-mouth existence ; have been doing so for months ; and it is proving a most costly experience. And there is every probability of the position assuming a graver com- plexion. It has been recently asserted by a prominent expert in the timber trade that if the present demand 6 55 56 TIMBER SUPPLIES AND FAMINE PRICES continues a timber famine in this country may be expected. We do not know what this may mean. We have never experienced such a thing. It is doubt- ful whether the world has ever seen a famine of this nature. On what is the assertion based and what are the steps which should be taken to avert such a calamity ? Prices, we all know, are preposterously high. What can be done to bring them down to a more normal level ? Before the outbreak of war there had been a con- siderable stringency in the timber market, and at the beginning of August 1914 the prospects of the market in this country were most gloomy. For two or three years antecedent to this date difficulty had been experienced in obtaining loans, and as a consequence the house building trade was in a depressed state. Then came the war and with it a quite novel demand for timber materials from an unexpected quarter, viz. the Admiralty and War Office. Hutting accommoda- tion, timber and props for trench construction, railway sleepers, barbed wire entanglements, waggons, entrench- ing tools, and so on were all required on a large scale and at short notice. Within a very short time it was dis- covered that the stocks of timber in this country were quite inadequate to supply the demands. Our chief source of supply, our Ally Russia, who sent us before the war about half of our imported European timber materials, to a great extent failed us at a very early stage, since the exports from Petrograd, Riga, and the Finnish ports were closed. As is well known, this closure, with the stoppage of fellings in the French pit- wood areas, at once reacted on the pitwood supplies in CHAOS IN BUYING 57 this country, and the collieries were faced with a difficult problem during the earliest days of the war. Of course this could not have been foreseen and the Cabinet had its hands very full at that period. The mine-owners to a great extent had to settle the matter for themselves. The English Board of Agriculture issued within a few months a pamphlet which was of considerable assistance. It might have been antici- pated, however, that the pinch which was at once felt on the score of pitwood would have opened our eyes to the other directions in which a shortage was likely to make itself felt. We had been too long spoon-fed, however, and the reverse was the case. No efforts were at once initiated to place the whole matter of the timber supplies of the country on a firm basis under a central and business-like control. Different interests competed the one against the other, and in this laisser faire policy the most powerful, because backed by unlimited funds, were the Admiralty and War Office. Orders were placed right and left and prices were of little account. These prices, with the dearth of freight steamers, added to the later activities of German sub- marines, jumped up and continued to do so. In the haphazard manner in which the whole business was approached there was nothing to prevent merchants from asking what price they pleased. True the Govern- ment put on an adviser, paying him an enormous commission. But he was in the trade himself ! The Swedish merchants who, with the closing of the Russian ports, were quick to perceive their opportunity, took full advantage of our predicament. Prices went higher and higher until they now stand at two and a half to 58 TIMBER SUPPLIES AND FAMINE PRICES three, and even more, times the ordinary pre-war figures. Millions of pounds sterling must have been thrown away in the purchase of timber, the ordinary common timbers of everyday use, which could cer- tainly have been saved had matters been placed on a business footing. It is useless to cry over spilt milk, but had the matter been entrusted to a man, not connected with the trade, who understood the princi- ciples of scientific forest management and had himself been in charge of large areas of State forest, very different results would have been obtained. And we are in no better case at the present moment. The Home Timber Supply Committee has been already alluded to. Its chief raison d'etre is to obtain supplies of timber for the Government needs. It is doubtful whether it will be able to do much to stay unnecessary fellings made to take advantage of a high market. And in any event it has no hold over timber merchants — no more than Government can exercise at present any control over the market and prices. Nor do these fellings affect the matter, for the amounts of timber available in this country are so small that their influence on the market so far as the future is concerned is insig- nificant. Far bigger issues are at stake than can be settled by the comparatively small area of woods, prac- tically all privately owned, standing in Britain. In the meantime the home timber trade is doing well. Pro- prietors have offered their woods freely and they have been as quickly taken up by the home merchants and also by colliery proprietors. In fact these latter were on the scene, as has been stated, very early in the war days, for they were compelled to turn to home-grown wood, ASH 59 rough and heavy as it was, since the foreign pitwood market was failing them. A remarkable feature of this home trade has been the demand for ash. In England five to six times the amount of ash (numbers of trees) has been sold in the past year than in any previous year and the price has risen from is. 6d. to 35. (and even as high as 45.) per cubic foot for the trees standing in situ. The wood of this tree has been largely used by the naval and military authorities for all sorts of transport appliances. In the Lake district and elsewhere the wood has been fashioned in the local saw mills into handles for entrenching tools and grenades. In the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries Report " On the Supplies of Home-Grown Pitwood " above referred to, which was issued on November 30, 1914, the following extract indicates the position of affairs in this connection in this country at that date based on a careful estimate made by the Board's officers : " Assuming the volume of ' extraordinary ' fellings " ("emergency fellings" would perhaps have been a better term ) "to be the same per acre in Scotland as in England (and it is probably considerably greater) there would be approximately 1,600,000 tons of pit- wood ; possibly 2,500,000 tons would be a better estimate. If the volume of the ' extraordinary ' fellings for England and Wales, viz. 3,410,000, be added to this amount, a total of nearly 6,000,000 tons is reached, and it is a fair assumption that the addition of supplies from Ireland would give a total equal to one and a half years' total consumption for the collieries. It would appear, therefore, that the position, while it requires rational handling, is by no means disconcerting." 60 TIMBER SUPPLIES AND FAMINE PRICES It was thought at the time that the war would be over by the following summer. The comfortable assur- ance of November 1914 has quite another aspect in May 1916. That home timber can be made to, in some small degree, supplement even temporarily the great scarcity is of importance and value, but it will not help the nation at large to face the position at the end of the war and a more distant future. This is the much larger question before us. Suppose that the war lasts another year, or even longer. What is going to be done about the timber supplies ? Are the Allies — is this country going to make no effort to place the matter on a basis which will at least give some stability to prices and prevent the wasteful, the criminally wasteful, extravagance of the past twenty months. At the beginning of the past season the bulk of the timber supplies for war purposes was procured from the port of Archangel, but where future supplies are to come from appears to be a grave problem in the eyes of prominent timber merchants. It is said that there will not be sufficient supplies from Archangel to meet the demand. Should Germany succeed in restricting the shipments from Sweden or manage to torpedo the boats carrying timber cargoes, it is probable that there will be something of a timber famine in this country provided the present demand is maintained. And as long as the war continues there is no guarantee that the demand and prices will not remain at a high level. The Home Timber Committee will see that we get all that is possible from home woods. But the Board THREE POINTS 61 of Agriculture Report fairly indicates the limitations in this direction. They will not meet the demand. Three points present themselves for serious con- sideration: (i) Freights, (2) Other sources of supply, (3) Prices. (i) Freights. — At the beginning of last season, as we have seen, the bulk of the supplies for war purposes were procured from Archangel. Freights were sup- posed to open at about 6os. to 705. per standard (165 cubic feet), but shippers, realising the scarcity there would be in tonnage, held out for 8os. to gos. which was gradually increased until it reached the figure of £9 IDS. per standard in November 1915, as against 30$. to 455. in pre-war times. Even in September 1914 the highest freight paid to this country would not exceed 655. per standard, which was considered a high rate. Much could have been done at that time had Government been wide-awake enough to have placed the matter on a business-like footing. Last September shippers were ready to pay £8 155. to £9 los. and even £10 for ship room. In February 1916 shippers were quoting for the present season at £10 per standard from Archangel to this country. Last spring (1915) battens were £11 per standard f.o.b. They had to carry a £9 los. freight with in addition about 305. insurance, freight and insurance being equal in value to the f.o.b. article ! The trade remarked that the like has never been known before from the Baltic and White Sea ports! That some one has blundered, and blundered badly, is only too obvious. We are simply throwing away good money owing to our complete ignorance as a 62 TIMBER SUPPLIES AND FAMINE PRICES nation of everything connected with forestry— what it means, what it supplies, and how these supplies are marketed. The question of the want of vessels for freight purposes has been receiving considerable attention in the Press and need not be entered into here. That vessels are required and will have to be made avail- able for the carriage of certain classes of timber to this country appears now to be a matter of considerable urgency. We can do without mahogany and other foreign valuable timbers. We need not import oak or elm, etc., which can be obtained from our own woods. It is the coniferous timber — pines and spruces — which will be required in large amounts. (2) Other Sources of Supply. — Are we envisaging this question in the most economic fashion in depending upon neutrals for our supplies ? The trade say that if the demand continues on past lines we cannot obtain sufficient supplies from Archangel. Since we took no steps at the commencement of the war to ensure supplies from other Russian ports, this is more than probable. Of neutrals Sweden has taken advantage of the high prices to send us timber, but she is a doubtful supplier for several reasons which are well known. America, and our own people in Canada and Newfoundland, have greatly benefited by the great rise in prices and huge quantities of timber have been imported from these countries. This is satisfactory for the present. We should have been hard put to it without them. But it must be remembered that they are coming in, to a considerable extent, as the result SOURCES OF SUPPLY 63 of the ruincus rates in force. With a fall iir.prices, which, in the interest of national economy, must be brought about in one way or another, can we depend on these supplies reaching us ? And in any event for how many years could they be maintained? It is well known also that Canadian and American spruce is not in as much favour with the trade as the Baltic material, as the former is soft and mild (probably owing to its quicker-grown character) and is by no means as durable as the close-grained article from the Baltic and White Sea. And even if the material were as good we should be chiefly concerned to lower the prices in force, and that cannot be done by making one of our chief sources of supply in countries several thousand miles distant, and which moreover have already in past years cut out much of the timber accessible at ordinary market rates to these islands. The problem before us is to obtain a definite source of supply at a reasonable rate. Having achieved this, the present ruinous market prices will drop to a more normal level. Some increase, of course, must be expected but not the present famine rates, which should never have been incurred. In peace times our main source of supply in Europe was Russia, more than half our European imports coming from that country. This one fact, had it been realised early in the war, might have opened our eyes. Russia is our ally. Russia has enormous tracts of unexhausted forests. Russia has a huge population. A year ago it would have been possible to make arrangements in Russia which would have resulted — and this is not written at random — arrangements could 64 TIMBER SUPPLIES AND FAMINE PRICES have beea made which would have resulted in the saving of large sums of money to this country. We should not have had to pay in cash, in gold, for this Russian timber. It could have been set against the equipment, shells, etc., which Russia has received from the Allies and the matter would have been subsequently adjusted. Instead we have preferred to pay out gold into the pockets of neutrals. And yet we are urgently called upon by the Government to restrict all imports ! Presumably imports from neutrals chiefly. The timber industry has proved a necessary part of the provision required for the furtherance of the war. The problem, commencing with the mines, has been acute from the start. It is still more acute to-day, and in order to guarantee supplies and to put an end to the hand-to-mouth policy, it has become essential, if we are to stop the present appalling extravagance in the nation's timber bill, to face this urgent problem and make arrangements which will increase our timber supplies in the future. This problem is considered in the next article. (3) Prices. — Prices since the commencement of the war have been entirely influenced by the action or want of action on the part of the Allies in this timber matter. It is imperative that the ridiculous prices now being paid by our Government and by ourselves (for the public has been hit badly in this matter, as the family household knows), for our essential requirements in timber, should cease at as early a date as possible. The following table shows the present rates being paid for home timber materials as compared with pre- war prices. The table was prepared in February 1916 : COMPARISON OF PRICES PRE-WAR PRICES COMPARED WITH PRESENT PRICES Pre-War Rates per Cubic Foot TIMBER Present Rates per Cubic Foot TIMBER Larch . . lid. — i/- Larch . . if i/i Scots Pine . $d. — 6d. Scots Pine . 8d.— 8±d. Spruce . . 4d. — 6d. Spruce . . Sd.— 8±d. Oak . . 1/3— 1/6 Oak . . 1/3 —i/9 Ash . . 1/6 Ash . . 2/3 — 3/- Elm . . i/- Elm . . i/- Birch (bobbin wood) 26/- ton DD Birch (bobbin wood) io/- ton Beech (rough, bobbin Beech (rough, bobbin) io/- „ wood) 24/- „ „ „ (clean) . 1/2 (clean) . 1/2 Sycamore (rollers Sycamore (rollers bobbins) . 28/- ton bobbins) . a8/- ton. Sycamore (large Sycamore (large timber) . . 2/6 — $/- timber) . . 2/6 — 5/- COLLIERY WOOD COLLIERY WOOD Pitwood per 100 lineal feet DD. Pitwood per 100 lineal feet DD. Pit Props: Pit Props: Scots Pine (3* top diam.) 4/6 Scots Pine (3* top diam.) 16/6 „ (4* „ ,, ) 6/- „ (4* „ „ ) 22/6 ,, M (5* „ ,. ) 91- „ ,, (5' ,, .. 28/6 „ (6* „ „ ) I2f- ,, (6* ., „ 33/6 Larch . (3* „ „ ) — Larch . (3* ,, „ 16/6 . (4' ,, „ ) I8/- . (4' ,, ,, 22/6- » • (5' ,, ,, ) 26/- ,. . (5* „ .. 3*/- „ • (6* „ „ ) 32/- „ - (6* .. ,. ) 38/- Oak Scrub . . — Oak Scrub per ton de- livered on railway loaded in trucks . . i8/- Pit Sleepers, per 100 : Pit Sleepers, per 100 : (3' x 5* x 2*) . . 12/6 (3' x 5* x 2*) . . 261- (3' 6* x 5* x 2*) . 14/9 (3'6*x s'x 2*) . 3i/- (3'9*x 5*X2") . i8/- (3' 9" x 5* x 2*) . 36/- RAILWAY SLEEPERS RAILWAY SLEEPERS Pine .... each 3/6 Pine .... «ach 5/9 66 TIMBER SUPPLIES AND FAMINE PRICES Comment on the above figures is scarcely necessary. They are a direct outcome of two facts — the first, an almost total lack of interest on the part of the nation as a whole in all pertaining to the economic questions involved in commercial forestry and the maintenance in these islands of that acreage of woods managed commercially which our population and industries demand ; and, secondly, to the failure on the part of the Governments of the past fifty yars, to go back no farther, to realise the position in this respect which would confront the nation in the event of just such a European conflagration as has taken place. The Government existing in this country 250 years ago was more clear-sighed. True, it may be said that out " wooden walls " of that day and the necessity for maintaining them were factors which both Govern- ment and the public could more easily grasp. But no Government of the present day would care to shelter itself behind such a plea. Our economic needs in timber are far greater now. We have only to look at the gigantic imports — they rose by £12,000,000 in the four years from 1909 to 1913 — to realise this. The next four articles are devoted to pointing out the manner in which it should prove possible to bring down these prices and to ensure our timber supplies in the future. VII BRITISH TIMBER SUPPLIES AND RUSSIAN FORESTS IN previous articles brief allusions have been made to the forests of Russia, the very considerable impor- tance they have enjoyed in the past in the European timber markets, and the immensely larger influence they are likely to exert in the future. The question is one of very serious moment to this nation. How serious and how important it is the aim of this and succeeding articles to demonstrate. It has been already mentioned that our timber, etc., imports increased by £12,000,000 between 1909 and 1913.' A more significant factor than even the rapid increase in the imports is the fact that 67 per cent, of them came from European countries, chiefly Russia, Sweden, and Norway. France sent us annually considerable amounts of pit props for the collieries, the cutting off of which supply so seriously hampered us during the first few months of the war. The produce from the other European countries is negligible for our present purpose. The Board of Trade Returns show that Russia sent us about £15,000,000 of timber and other products during 1913, or approximately 35 per cent, of our whole i This subject is fully dealt with in Article XII. 67 68 TIMBER SUPPLIES AND RUSSIAN FORESTS imports. The materials sent were chiefly conifer logs, dressed and undressed timber, pit props and pit wood, wood manufacures and smaller amounts of wood pulp, oak logs, tar, pitch, and oil of turpentine. How is the war going to affect our timber supplies from Russia ? We need not consider the amounts at present coming in. We are all aware of the various reasons for the shortage. It is the position as it will arise at the end of the war, and for some years subse- quently, that requires our most careful consideration. Can we hope that conditions at the end of the war will be the same as before its outbreak ? That Russia will be in a position to send us the same or increasing amounts of forest materials ? Will the markets be in the same condition ? Their present position with the great upheaval of pre-war conditions which we are witnessing can scarcely lead us to form so optimistic an opinion. What then should be the policy of this country ? So far as the past and recent trend of events in this matter enables a j udgment to be formed, it would appear (and the statement also applies, though perhaps to a smaller extent, to our Allies) that there are two clear and separate issues upon which a decision should be arrived at in this timber supply problem. (1) The arrangements to be made to cope with the position which will face ourselves and our Allies at the end of the war. (2) An arrangement under which our timber supplies during the next forty to fifty years may be ensured. As introductory to a detailed description of the forests of Russia, both in Europe, Finland, and THE TIMBER MARKET 69 Siberia, our position under these two distinct counts should be clearly understood ; so far, that is, as it can be estimated from data collected on the resources of the existing forests of the world from which the timber markets have been drawing their supplies in the past. The present position of the timber market is admittedly abnormal. In the last article the prices existing in February 1916 were contrasted with the market rates in force just previous to the outbreak of war. It has also been shown that we are now com- mitted to a policy of felling in our own woods which probably will leave us with little of commercial value at the close of the war. It becomes apparent then that the urgent points for consideration now before the nation are those embodied in the two heads above stated. That we should make such arrangements as shall ensure supplies of an adequate nature becoming available as soon as the war ends, or as soon as the trend of the fighting shall have opened ports now closed, in order to supply in the cheapest manner the enormous demand which will exist ; and secondly, that such steps shall be taken as shall ensure our needs in timber, pit props and wood pulp, etc., being satisfied at reasonable rates during the next forty to fifty years. (i) The arrangements to be made to cope with the position which will face ourselves and our Allies at the end of the war. — Where are we and our Allies going to look for the large supplies of timber, etc., which will be required at the close of the war ? The present high prices and the large demand for materials which 70 t!MBER_SUPPLlES AND RUSSIAN FORESTS will be required for rebuilding the devastated areas have been already alluded to. Is the end of the war going to witness a ruinous competition between the allied countries in the timber markets of Europe ? And are colossal sums to be spent, colossal fortunes to be made, in rebuilding the houses, etc., in the areas destroyed by war ? It is difficult to see, unless the Allies come to an early and definite understanding on this head — it is difficult to perceive how matters can be otherwise. When all allowances have been made for America, Canada, and Newfoundland continuing the imports they have been sending us or increasing them, will there be sufficient to meet the enormous demand ? And will these latter imports bring down prices. As has been stated elsewhere, a considerable proportion of the amounts reaching us are a direct outcome of the prevalent high prices. To have to continue paying the present exorbitant prices or even prices double pre-war rates will be suicidal and a most unstatesman- like policy. It cannot be maintained that war time is not the time to consider these matters. If there is one thing certain it is that the termination of the war will be too late. We had not the foresight to grasp what would happen at the outbreak of this colossal war. Let it not be said of us that its termination found us in the same state of unpreparedness. My proposition is that it will be imperative that the Allies should be in a position to control the European timber market at the end of the war, to exercise in fact a State control over prices for a time, as the only effective means to lessen the enormous RESOURCES OF THE ALLlfiS ?i cost of the reconstruction work which will otherwise result. It is no plea that such a thing has never been done before. The end of the war will find us, the war itself is finding us, doing a good deal we never thought to have to do. First then we want to place our finger on accessible supplies in large quantities and owned by the Allies ; and, secondly, to come to an agreement by which these supplies can be made available at the earliest possible moment with the object of bringing down the present preposterous rates. If we examine the forestry resources of the Allies the one great fact which immediately becomes apparent is the gigantic area of the forests in Russia, the Land of Forests, as it has been called. For some years past I have made some study of the forests of European Russia and also those of Finland and Siberia, and the following three articles serve to indicate to some extent the great value of these forests. It is a most unfortunate thing for this country that we have known so little of Russia in the past, of its enormous possi- bilities and potentialities and its great value in many ways to this country. Germany discovered it. Russia is honeycombed with Germans and German enterprises, in no wise conducted for the welfare of Russia or in the interests of Russia and her people, but for the furtherance of German Empire objects and of those alone. Even in the matter of forestry imports Ger- many was undermining our previously unquestioned supremacy in the Russian timber markets. Germany has vast forest resources in her own country, a consider- able proportion of which is afforested, and not only afforested but with the woods managed on the highest 7 72 TIMBER SUPPLIES AND RUSSIAN FORESTS commercial basis possible. And yet in recent years her imports from Russia have increased rapidly, the increase being greater in proportion than the increase to Great Britain. And she has been importing from elsewhere also. Why ? Was it because she really required the materials, or is the reason to be found in the fact that she has been deliberately storing up her woods, undercutting in them, with a set purpose in view. Did her wonderful organisation for the World War and her deliberate intention to make it as fright- ful as possible foresee the enormous damage that would be done to towns and the enormous demand which would exist for timber at the close of the war ? During the war we know that she has been cutting down the woods in the territory she has occupied and either utilising the materials for trench construction or other purposes or storing them up for the great demand she expects at the peace ! We know how Belgium is suffering in this respect. In a recent Foreign Office Memorandum it was stated that in one month from October 26 to November 25, 1915, the Germans ex- ported from Belgium into Germany by one route alone, amongst other things, 340 tons of pit props cut from promising young woods. To return to Russia. From Russia we imported 35 per cent, of our timber supplies in 1913. In Russia the Allies have for the purpose here con- sidered a source of supply which should fulfil the objects required. Russia in Europe has an area of 447,500,000 acres of forests, Finland another 62,800,000 acres, and Siberia and Turkestan the gigantic total of 853,000,000 acres more. Now much RUSSIAN POSSIBILITIES 73 of this area in Russia and Finland and Western Siberia produces the very materials which will be required in such enormous quantities at the close of the war. Had we been far-sighted enough, had we shown a tithe of the resource and organising powers of the Germans, we should have long ago arranged for tapping these Russian resources in the event of war on a previously formed plan. But this is in the past. These enormous areas of Russian forests contain large amounts of unexploited timber. If we take Russia in Europe to commence with. A few years ago it was officially recorded by the Russian forestry authorities that they were cutting far below the possibility, in other words, that the annual incre- ment put on was greater than the volume of timber taken out of the forests. Also that large areas of old woods had almost ceased putting on increment and were going back, i.e. losing their sale value. At that time the Government estimated that the fellings made were something under 50 per cent, of the possibility. Matters have altered somewhat since then. But Russia, with its immense forests, scanty population (in the afforested areas), and want of communications, cannot move quickly in such matters, and there can be little doubt that there is a great margin to work upon. For instance, the larger portion of the State forests are in the north in the Governments of Archangel and Vologda, areas we are most interested in, since much of our imports came from this region. These forests are difficult to work owing to the deficient communi- cations. Consequently only 7 cubic feet of timber per acre were felled out of a prescribed 7 cubic feet 74 TIMBER SUPPLIES AND RUSSIAN FORESTS per acre or about 10 per cent. The averages have been higher more recently but are still a long way below the possibility. We come now to Finland with its long stretch of sea-washed coast-line and its excel- lent system of internal waterways offering the cheapest and easiest method of transporting timber and other forest produce. A perusal of the article on these forests will show that here also there are large areas of unexploited material of the kinds, Scots pine and spruce, we import so much. The export trade from Finland, although it has made some progress in recent years, is still far from having reached its maximum. On the subject of the State forests figures for 1908 showed that whereas the mean annual incre- ment of wood put on per acre was valued at 21 cubic feet for the whole country, the total amount sold from the State forests was only 3^4 cubic feet per acre. Moreover, as a result of a partial enumeration of the growing stock on some areas it was estimated that there were something over 21,000,000 trees of approxi- mately 10 in. diameter and over at chest height standing in the State forests, and it is considered prob- able that at least this number, and probably a larger one, also exist in the areas of privately owned forests in the country. On the subject of the gigantic area of forests in Siberia it is very difficult to form an estimate of the amounts of timber they contain, owing to the fact that only about a fourth of the area has been ex- plored by the Forest Department. Want of demand, a sparse population, and absence of communications have preserved these forests so far from the lumberer. Only in the dry steppe region and parts of Turkestan, FUNDS AND ORGANISATION 75 with which we are not concerned here, is there a scarcity of wood. In these Siberian forests, therefore, even in those of which something is known, one would expect to find that the fellings were far below the esti- mated possibility of the areas. And this is borne out by such figures as are available. For instance, according to estimates framed in 1911 it was shown that no less an amount than 1,800,750,000 cubic feet of timber were available from the State forests. Of this amount 171,500,000 cubic feet only were disposed of, or something under 10 per cent. In some forests, viz. in the Government of Enessey, the percentage sold was only 5. And these figures apply only to such of the areas of State forests as have been explored and organised ! Russia has then these large areas of unexploited accessible forests or forests which can be made acces- sible by a not very heavy expenditure. She has also a very large population which can be drawn upon to provide labour. Under the existing methods for exploiting this forest wealth there exist throughout the country over 2,000 saw-mills. How then can this great store of timber be most easily and expeditiously opened out in order to place in the hands of the Allies the large amounts of materials which these areas contain and which will be in such great demand at the close of the war ? The difficulties confronting this problem do not appear insuperable. The first necessity would be the provision of funds and the second organisation. My suggestion is that Russia should be asked by the Allies, by the British Government, if necessary, since we are very deeply concerned in this matter, as, unlike 76 TIMBER SUPPLIES AND RUSSIAN FORESTS our other Allies, we have no forest resources of our own at our back, to institute fellings on a large scale in those of her forests which are adjacent to the most suitable ports. Every saw-mill in these regions should be set to work converting timber at high pres- sure, the materials being stacked in suitable depots for transport to the areas required at the earliest possible moment. A definite scheme for the freight vessels necessary should be drawn up and the tonnage re- quired be earmarked for the purpose for which it is to be employed. As soon as the ports or any port of supply becomes open a part of this tonnage should be made available to start bringing the materials ready to the spots arranged upon. This question of freight vessels has been very much before the public latterly. In itself it has of course greatly enhanced timber prices. The maintenance of the present prices is no more to Russia's advantage than ours or any of the other Allies, since we all have to foot the bill. To undertake the above sketched scheme money will be required to finance the saw-mills, open up inaccessible areas, pay the sawyers and so forth, and my suggestion is that the British Government advance the sum which will be required for the purpose ; whatever the sum neces- sary, it would be a mere bubble in the enormous present expenditure, and the savings which would result would several times over recover the amount spent. It would be money well laid out. All that is required is a practical working scheme. So far as a study of the question has enabled a con- clusion to be formed it appears that the one practical possibility is to be found in Russia and Russia alone. TO BRIDGE THE INTERVAL 77 It appears to be inadvisable to depend on the possibility of obtaining the materials to any great extent from the forests of the Central Powers. We have got to beat them first. No one doubts that we shall, but no one knows how long the war will be prolonged. We should face the position as it now is and make arrangements which will depend for their fulfilment on the Allies alone and on their resources. A brief outline of a suggested scheme is only attempted here. A perusal of the following three articles will, it is trusted, indicate that it is based upon some considerable foundation. We now come to the second point which requires consideration : (2) An arrangement under which our timber require- ments during the next forty to fifty years may be assured. — If Great Britain takes up the afforestation question on the scale now so urgently demanded we shall have to wait thirty-five to forty-five years (save in exception- ally favourable areas when the period may be shorter for some species) before we obtain a yield of pitwood and a longer period for timber of larger dimensions. To bridge this interval therefore we should make suitable arrangements in order to ensure supplies reach- ing us at a price at which, economically speaking, it will pay us to take them. A survey of the regions from which such supplies are likely to be available during the next forty years is by no means reassuring. It is scarcely possible to credit that some of the countries on whom we have drawn so largely in the past or are so heavily indenting upon at the present moment, and to whom we are paying preposterously high rates for the materials received — it is scarcely possible to 78 TIMBER SUPPLIES AND RUSSIAN FORESTS believe that these countries will be able to continue to satisfy our requirements during the next forty to fifty years. Take the countries across the Atlantic in the first instance. Is it likely that America, with her own colossal demand for timber of all classes and her rapidly diminishing area of, for our purpose, acces- sible forest, will be able to supply the European market for many more years ? Canada again is a country with a rapidly increasing population. She has extensive forests. But a great part of the more accessible areas have been cut out. It is not easy to estimate how long she could help the Mother Country with supplies, but it is difficult to perceive how, with her own growing requirements, she could do so for anything like this period. And in each case the cost of transit of the raw material, as the more accessible forests are cut out, will increase and must inevitably react on the prices and keep them high. The controversy which arose a few years ago over the question of Canada granting America a preferential tariff for wood pulp must be fresh in the minds of many. And how long in any event are these countries likely to be willing to export raw materials as against manufactured articles ? Our industries require the raw materials. It cannot pay us to import manufactured ones. A tariff on raw material would kill our industries. Newfoundland may help us for a time with wood pulp, but that is only one item of our requirements. Turning to Europe, the countries from which we have mainly drawn our supplies in the past are Norway, Sweden, and Russia. It is difficult to credit that any one who has any acquaintance with the position of the DEPENDENCE ON RUSSIA 79 woods of the first two of these countries would be prepared to say that either will be in the position to send us during the next forty years the same amounts of timber we have received annually during the past decade. And if the past is any criterion to the future, we shall require more ! Both of these countries have been carrying out heavy fellings to supply the Euro- pean timber market — not merely the British one — and it would be folly to rely upon or expect that the inten- sity of these fellings can be maintained for anything like the period to which we are here limiting ourselves. And this period, remember, leaves out the question of large timber for sleepers, etc., altogether ; for it will take us seventy to eighty years to grow that. A careful examination of this problem will, it is suggested, show that, omitting the Central Powers — and even if they are included the position would scarcely be very much better for Great Britain — but leaving these Powers out of the question, it can be shown that it is to Russia and Russia alone to whom we must look for the bulk of the supplies which we shall need, and must consequently obtain from somewhere, during the next forty years. Russia has large forests, how large and how rich in materials it is the aim of the following three articles to indicate. These enormous forest areas contain large quantities of the very materials, pines, spruces, and firs, which will be so much needed in the years to -come. Vast areas of forest in this gigantic country lie un- tapped owing either to the paucity of the population or to their inaccessibility owing to the absence of roads and other export facilities. They contain large 8o TIMBER SUPPLIES AND RUSSIAN FORESTS amounts of mature timber — timber which requires felling and marketing before it decays and becomes worthless. In drawing attention to these valuable forests there is no intention on my part to suggest any- thing in the nature of the ruthless exploitation which, for instance, has taken place under the aegis of great lumber companies in the countries of the New World. Such exploitation in the past has resulted in the total disappearance of the forest in the areas subjected to this treatment. The removal of the surplus growing stock in primeval forests as yet untouched and unex- ploited by man is a very different affair. Under such treatment not only is the surplus harvested before it decays, thus yielding a perfectly legitimate revenue, but the forests are improved by its removal and proper plans for their future management can be drawn up. The accounts of the forest areas in Russia in Europe, in Finland, and in Siberia which follow will, I think, show without question that they do contain a surplus stock of old material which it will be to the interests alike of the forests themselves and the Russian Govern- ment to market. And a unique opportunity has un- doubtedly arrived for marketing them. Great Britain more than any other of her Allies is totally dependent on supplies from without and must inevitably remain so for another forty to fifty years, even if she starts planting on an adequate scale at once ; for the small stock of commercial woods she had at the commencement of the war will be practically ex- hausted at its close. It is with Russia then that our Government should cometo an agreement — an agreementwhich should have LEASE OF AREAS 81 as its outcome the certainty that a proportion of the annual amounts of timber, etc., which we require should reach us from Russia during a definite period of years. It might be suggested that the most feasible arrange- ment, for there are several ways of dealing with this matter, would be to lease a considerable tract, 'or several tracts, of forest for a period of years and exploit them ourselves under such conditions as regards restocking felled areas, etc., as might be agreed upon. We have leased oil areas in Persia. There does not appear to be any reason why we should not assure our timber supplies for the next few decades in the same fashion. Du reste, there is a precedent of a kind ; for the Govern- ment of India leased the valuable deodar forests in the Western Himalaya from their local chieftain owners and exploited them. And this exploitationwas commercially most successful both from the Government of India's point of view and that of the chieftains themselves. It should, it is submitted, prove quite feasible to arrange for the lease of areas in European Russia, in Finland, and in Western Siberia of sufficient size to guarantee our requirements or the greater portion of them so far as they can be at present estimated for this period of forty to fifty years. For such a length of time must elapse between the afforestation of, we will say, 5,000,000 acres of the afiorestable derelict lands in this country, provided this work is taken in hand at an early date and on an adequately large annual scale, and the period at which the woods so planted will become exploitable. 1 This suggestion was first publicly put forward in a paper I read before the Royal Society of Arts in March 1916. VIII THE FORESTS OF RUSSIA IN EUROPE1 OWING to the disafforestation which the last few centuries has witnessed in Europe it was held com- paratively recently that amongst European States Russia, Sweden, Norway, and Austria alone possessed areas of forests in excess of their requirements which enabled them to be exporters instead of importers of timber and other forest produce. Our Board of Trade Returns show that so far as Russia, Sweden, and Norway are concerned, the same held good up to the outbreak of the war in August 1914. That Austria was also in the same position there is little doubt, although, owing to her geographical situation, her imports to us were small, consisting principally of oak timber. Russia has been termed the " Land of Forests " and she well bears out the name, for her woods in Europe are of enormous extent, embrace a variety of soil, climate, and species of tree, and where they exist are very intimately bound up with the welfare of the population. Of their importance and influence on the national life the following is rather 1 The information contained in this article is based on observa- tions made and statistics collected during a visit to Russia, and on publications of the Russian Government. It formed part of an article published in the Nineteenth Century for March 1916. 82 FORESTS IN EUROPEAN RUSSIA 83 a striking illustration : Only some 4 per cent, of Russian houses are built of stone ; 30 per cent, have plank roofs, 70 per cent, thatch or wooden tile roofs, and only £ per cent, have iron or metal roofing ! The forests in European Russia and the Caucasus have been demarcated approximately and their con- tents ascertained. Those in her Asiatic territories, which are still vaster, are but little known. In their eastern parts and in portions of Western Siberia, investigations have been made to determine the extent and contents of the forests. But much remains to be explored. In the Caucasus 16 per cent, of the total area is under woods, these latter covering approxi- mately 19,354,000 acres. The greater part of these forests extend along the Black Sea region, half of the area of the two Governments of the Black Sea and Kontais being afforested. In European Russia 510,300,000 acres are afforested, representing 39 per cent, of the whole country or, omitting Finland (which has 63 per cent, of its area under woods), there 13 still 37 per cent, of European Russia under forest. If the large lakes, marshes, etc., are excluded 33 per cent, of Russia in Europe may be taken as afforested — a high percentage. As regards the distribution of Russia's European forests, the north is well wooded, whilst the steppes of the centre are nearly free of woody vegeta- tion. The south is less well wooded than the north, its average being about 20 per cent. In the north two-thirds of the forests are principally found in the following seven governorships — Archangel, Vologda, Olonetz, Novgorod, Kostroma, Viatka, and Perm. The Governments of Archangel and Vologda alone cover 84 THE FORESTS OF RUSSIA IN EUROPE an area of 1,041,096 square versts (a square verst — 281 acres), equal to the area of Germany and Austria together. In the south the forests are to be found in the ten Governments comprising the Vistula basin, Volhynia, Kiev, Tchernigov, Orel, Riazan, Tambov, Penza, and Orenburg. For forestry purposes Russia as a whole has been divided into the following thirteen zones, each zone having the same lines of export for its materials: 1. North. — The Governments of Archangel and Vologda, served by the ports on the White Sea. 2. North Baltic. — Comprising the Governments of Olonetz, Novgorod, Petrograd, served princi- pally by the ports of Petrograd and Cronstadt. 3. South Baltic. — Governments of Esthonia, Livonia, Courland, Pskov, Smolensk, and Vitebsk, served by the important port of Riga. 4. Basin of Niemen. — Governments of Kovno, Vilna, and Grodno. The Niemen river is used to float timber exports into Germany and down to Konigsberg. 5. Basin of Vistula. — Six Governments served by the Vistula, and via Germany to the port of Dantzig. 6. Dnieper Basin. — Governments of Mohilev, Minsk, Volhynia, Kiev, Tchernigov, Podolia, Bess- arabia, Poltava, Ekaterinodar, Kherson, and Taurida. Produce exported to Central Russia by way of Kiev, Kherson, and Odessa. 7. Mineral Region of the Ural. — Governments of Perm, Oufa, and Orenburg. Most of the pro- THIRTEEN ZONES 85 duce of the forests of these governments is used locally in the mineral workshops, etc. 8. Upper Volga Basin. — Governments of Tver, Jaroslav, Kostroma, and Viatka. 9. Middle Volga. — Governments of Vladimir, Nijni- Novgorod, and Kazan. 10. Lower Volga. — Governments of Simbirsk, Sam- ara, Saratov, Don, and Astrakan. 11. Central Russia. — The Governments of Moscow, Kaluga, Riazan, Penza, Tambov, Orel, Toula, Kojelsk, Veronega, and Kharkov. The produce from the forests of these regions is disposed of in the markets of Moscow. 12. The Caucasus. 13. Siberia and Turkestan. The bulk of the forests in European Russia belong to the State. There are, however, both private and communal forests in existence, some being State-aided, as will be subsequently shown. It is well understood that industrial operations are developed as a direct outcome of the presence of fuel and combustible resources in a country. Russia is well off in these factors. In the north, Ural, and the north-east the factories are supplied with wood fuel, in Donetz and the Vistula basin by oil fuel, in Moscow by naphtha. Each of these forms of industry is more or less intimately connected with economic forestry. Sport and the collection of the seed of the cembran pine, important as the latter is in the winter to the population in Siberia, take only a secondary place to the real forestry industry, which, with the develop- 86 THE FORESTS OF RUSSIA IN EUROPE ment of the nation and the growth of industries depen- dent on large areas of forests, is taking a preponder- ating place in the national .economy. Throughout the empire the forests play a varying and important part. In the industrial regions large amounts of timber and fuel, etc., are required in work connected with ship- building, railways, engineering works and chemical works using wood. In the agricultural areas sylvi- culture enables the more sterile parts of the tracts to be planted up, as also the fixation of the moving sands (to prevent the engulfing of valuable lands) and of hills subject to erosion, ravines, etc. Protective belts are planted to afford protection against cold and drying winds and shelter to cattle ; also to provide fuel which is preferable to straw or cattle dung. In the neighbourhood of large forest areas the agricultural population work in the forests in winter to supplement their incomes. The forests are also made use of for grazing herds of cattle, and are also essential to their protection throughout the long rigorous winter period. The Kirghiz of the Asian steppes, for instance, find shelter in the winter in the forests both for themselves and their animals ; the woods also provide timber to construct their houses and fuel for burning. To the fishing industry the forests furnish material for the construction of ships and boats and also prevent the silting up of the rivers by maintaining a cover to the soil of their catchment areas, thus preventing erosion and denudation in the hills. Finally the large export trade of forestry materials from Russia makes con- siderable demands on her forests, in the management and upkeep and exploitation of which a large popula- SPECIES OF TREES 87 tion finds employment. The forestry labourers proper supplement their incomes during the long dark hours of the winter by toy-making from materials obtained in the woods. The greater number of the known European com- mercial timber species of trees are to be found in Russia in Europe, viz. Conifers — Spruces, Pines, Larches, Silver Firs; Broad-leaved trees — Birch, Aspen, Oak, Beech, Black Alder, Lime, Ash, Maple, Plane, Elm, Willow, Black Poplar, Box, Walnut. The chief species are found either as pure woods (of one species only) or in mixed woods, the latter being the commoner. Two-thirds of the total domanial forests of the empire consist of conifers. The most extended of these are the mixed conifer woods in which spruce predominates ; then come the pure spruce woods. The fir mixed woods follow in which the firs form the chief species, then the pure fir woods. A fifth of the total domanial forests are mixed woods of conifer and broad-leaved trees, the former predominating. The common spruce (Picea excelsa) is the most widely spread species, forming the chief tree of Northern Russia and of Siberia. P. ajanensis also occurs. P. orientalis is the Caucasian species and P. schrenkiana is the Thian Shan. The spruce grows to a fine size, and is exceed- ingly valuable. The Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) comes next in extended distribution ; it spreads farther down towards Central Russia than the spruce. In the Ural and Siberia the pine present is the Cembra (P. cembra), valuable in Siberia for its seeds. In the mountains of North Siberia the species present is Pinus pumilio. In the Crimea P. taurica occurs and in the 8 88 THE FORESTS OF RUSSIA IN EUROPE Caucasus the Scots pine and P. halepensis. In this latter region the pines are, however, of secondary im- portance, spruces, firs, beech, and oak being the most valuable species. The pines occur as pure woods covering large areas. The birch forms a natural mixture with the pine and is the most extended of all the broad-leaved species in Russia. It is also found in pure woods which are of great value in the steppes of Western Siberia where it is accompanied by the aspen, and is used for a variety of purposes. With its light seed easily wind borne and its great adaptability it spreads itself easily, occupying areas newly felled over or burnt, etc. The birch grows to a large size, as visitors to Petrograd and elsewhere in Russia must be well aware. The tree in Russia pre- sents very little of the appearance we are accustomed to in these islands. As widespread as the birch is the aspen, which covers large areas as pure and mixed woods both in European and Asiatic Russia. The areas of this species, like the birch, are increasing owing to the extreme ease with which it reproduces itself. It replaces the spruce in the north and the oak in the south. On suitable soils it reaches a large girth and height. The oak is far less widespread than the above species. It is not found in the north nor beyond the Urals. It is at its best in the south, where it forms fine forests. Both European species, Q. pedunculata and Q. sessiliflora, occur. In the Caucasus there are several other species, Q. pubescens, Q. castanecefolia, Q. armenica, Q. macr anther a, and Q. mongolica in the Amur region. The larch takes a considerable place LARCH AND FIR 89 in the forests of the north. The European species (Larix europcea) grows in the extreme west on the confines of the Carpathians and in the southern portion of the basin of the Vistula ; the Siberian species (L. sibirica) is widely spread in the forests of Western Siberia and is also found in the north-east of Russia in the forests of Archangel, Vologda, Perm, and in parts of Viatka and Kostroma ; in Eastern Siberia the L. daurica replaces the other species of larch. This conifer only occurs pure over small areas. It is chiefly found in mixture with other conifers, chiefly pines. The common silver fir (Abies pectinata) occurs in fine extensive pine forests in the Western Vistula basin, the tree here growing very fast and reaching a great size with a high quality of timber. In the north-east of European Russia it is replaced by the Siberian fir (A bies sibirica), which here stretches into the larch zone, crossing the Urals and spreading into the Siberian forests, where it is usually found in mixture with spruce covering extensive areas as yet little exploited. The well-known Nordmann's silver fir is found in the wooded mountain ; of the Caucasus, where it forms pure woods in which the tree is found of large size with re- markably fine timber of high value. The beech occurs in the south-west of the Vistula as also in the Crimea and the Caucasus. In the Vistula basin it is usually found mixed with fir, but it occurs as extensive pure woods in the Crimea and especially in the Caucasus. The tree reaches great size with a fine timber greatly sought after for furniture making. The old beech of the Vistula is disappearing, but the Caucasian forests are still almost intact. The black alder is fairly widely 90 THE FORESTS OF RUSSIA IN EUROPE spread in damp localities, forming areas of pure woods remarkable for their straight boles and the consider- able height of the trees. The lime ha 3 a wide distribu- tion, outside the northern regions, over nearly the whole of Russia in Europe and Western Siberia. It is not often found pure, but rarely with oak, and usually occurs as scattered trees in mixture with two or more species. In the broad-leaved forests of Middle and South Russia, the following species are found in mix- tures : ash, maple, plane, pedunculate elm, common elm, and willows, various osiers, aspen, and black poplars in the lowlands near rivers. Of these the black poplar grows with great rapidity and is becoming of some importance. In the Caucasus there are a large number of woody species, over three hundred having been enumerated. In the west the box occurs growing as a lower storey beneath broad-leaved species. The wood fetches more than a rouble the pood (i pood = '32 cwt.). In the forests of Turkestan the walnut has a particular value. It produces knobs and excrescences of large size which sell at as much as 20 roubles the pood. The present development of the Russian forests may be told in a few words. Strict protective measures were inaugurated towards the end of the seventeenth and commencement of the eighteenth centuries. In order to safeguard the timber for the purposes of naval construction, Peter the Great instituted restrictions on fellings in privately owned forests in order to enhance the value of the State-owned property of this nature. The lines on which this policy proceeded were somewhat similar to those instituted on private forest property STATE ORGANISATION 91 by Colbert in France. The Acts of Colbert in this respect were abolished during the Revolution. But before this (about 1788) Catherine II in Russia had eased the restrictions on privately-owned forest property instituted by Peter the Great. From that date the economic forestry problem as it affected the empire occupied the attention of Russian statesmen. These efforts resulted at length in the law of April 4, 1888, in the reign of Alexander III, under which a proper system of forest conservation was inaugurated. Forests which were being overcut were placed under restrictions and valuable woods, as yet untouched, were opened out by the improvement of communica- tions. The law also made express provision for the planting up of areas of moving sand threatening to engulf valuable agricultural land, for the protection of hillsides from erosion and the catchment areas of the great rivers, so important for the floating of timber and for fishing purposes, etc. A Forest Department was created with its central administration under a Director-General of Forests with two Assistant Directors placed under the Minister of Agriculture. The headquarters of the Department, presided over by the Director-General, is divided into ten sections. Purely technical forestry questions are settled by a forestry committee of professional experts to which is attached a Forestry Bureau. The work of this bureau is to examine the whole forestry problem of the empire, both from an economic and general point of view ; to decide upon the value of new suggestions for working particular forests, and to report on forest inventions and special points or questions submitted 92 THE FORESTS OF RUSSIA IN EUROPE for consideration by local administrations or private persons. Joint Forestry Advisers are maintained by the State, each with his own area of operations, to advise private proprietors as to the management of their properties and to aid them in preparing plans of management for these areas. Seed and young plants are sold to private owners at reduced rates. Expert foresters engaged by private proprietors to manage their woods have been placed on a similai scale of salary and promotion to that enjoyed by State forest officers and are rewarded in the same manner with State honours and distinctions. Forestry Institutes and Colleges are maintained for the proper training of the upper and lower forestry staffs. The Forestry Institute at Petrograd for the training of the upper controlling staff, a magnificently equipped forestry building, the largest in Europe, has been in existence for over a century. Research work is carried out at experimental stations, and several Forestry Societies are in existence. The first systematic plans of exploitation of the forests of Russia were made for those in the mineral districts in 1840. Since then very large areas of woods have been brought under proper forest management. The general rotations are from 80 to 100 years for high forests, and 30 to 60 for coppice. Where possible felled areas are naturally regenerated, i.e. restocked from seed falling from a few trees left stand- ing per acre for the purpose. Latterly, however, artificial re-stocking by planting up with young plants or by sowing seed direct upon the area is being more and more resorted to. Considerable attention is being MATERIAL AVAILABLE 93 given to the planting of areas of waste land in popu- lated districts poor in forest and in planting shelter belts for stock and the protection of the crops ; also, as already mentioned, in the planting up of shifting sands and areas subject to erosion in the hills. The next point of importance, a most interesting one to Great Britain, is the question of the amount of materials available for felling and more especially for exportation in the Russian forests. A few years ago it was officially recorded by the Russian forestry authorities that they were cutting far below what is called the possibility ; in other words that the in- crement put on in the woods each year was far in excess of the amount of increment, i.e. the volume of timber, taken out. Also that large areas of old woods which had practically ceased putting on increment and were going back, i.e. losing their sale value, remained standing owing to the impossibility of selling and felling them. The Government estimate of the fellings was that they were removing something under 50 per cent, of the possibility. Matters have altered somewhat since. But there would appear to be a considerable margin to work upon. Of course the chief deterrents to heavier fellings have been scanty population, absence of industries requiring wood, and want of communications, roads, etc., the latter the chief and greatest obstacle. The following example will render this obvious. The larger portion of the State forests are found in the north in the Governments of Archangel and Vologda. Owing to imperfect com- munication these forests are difficult to work. Conse- quently whereas the annual fellings laid down were 94 THE FORESTS OF RUSSIA IN EUROPE 7 cubic feet per acre, the amounts actually felled were only 7 cubic feet per acre or about 10 per cent. Out- side these two Governments the fellings to be made in the State forests were fixed at 22 cubic feet per acre. Only 13 cubic feet per acre were actually felled, or about 60 per cent, of the prevision. The Vistula basin, where the highest prices were obtained, and the less wooded areas of Central Russia showed better returns, only 6 per cent, of the prescribed cuts remaining unfelled. The Governments of Poltava, Veronega, Lublin, and Radom gave returns of 81 cubic feet per acre of the afforested area. The prices obtained for the various forestry produce naturally vary greatly in different parts of the country. It would not serve any useful purpose to consider this here. Nor need we pause to deal with the fellings made in the private and communal forests of which the returns available are doubtful, since the exact amounts of the fellings and prices obtained are difficult to ascertain. The trees in the State forests are usually sold standing on sealed tender, or by auction, the buyer felling and transporting the produce. State fellings and conversion of the material is only undertaken in rare instances. One of these was during the construc- tion of the Siberian Railway and the installation of the Settlements. Fellings take place between the middle of October and the middle of March. In the north labour is plentiful, the forestry industry being the chief source of livelihood of the population. In Central Russia and in the west there is also no labour difficulty, since the winter puts an end to agricultural activities and the MEANS OF TRANSPORT 95 people are available for forestry work. Work is usually paid by the piece. Wages are cheapest in the scantily populated areas in the north and east. For the initial transport of the felled material from the forest horses are generally used to convey it either to the river, railway station, or the nearest local market. The transport is done in winter, snow and frost being counted upon to give the otherwise impracticable roads a hard even surface and render them negotiable. Streams, rivers and canals are the most practical, as they are the most used of all communications for the transit of the forest produce to the distant markets, and Russia is well off in all of these. The rivers, of which we daily read so much in the newspapers, are put to a very different purpose in peace time. Then you may see great rafts of timber, floated many miles from the forests in which it was cut, proceeding silently down-stream to some distant market. The length of floatable water is thus estimated — 69,000 versts (a verst = about two- thirds of a mile) floatable, 83,000 versts navigable for boats, and 50,000 versts navigable for steamers. It is estimated that European Russia possesses 25,000 versts of river exclusively reserved for the floating of large rafts of logs, etc., 1,500 used by the timber boats of wood merchants, 38,500 versts of double tow paths, together with 26,000 versts navigable by steamboats. There are only about 2,000 versts of canals. The most important river is the Volga, and tributaries connected by canals with the Neva and the Northern D wina ; then comes the Dnieper, Western Dwina, Niemen, and the Vistula. The period during which the rivers, which are free to all for this purpose, 96 THE FORESTS OF RUSSIA IN EUROPE may be used for floating is the " open " season, i.e. when they are not ice-bound, and the same applies to the streams (five to eight months). In some Govern- ments, Archangel, Vologda, etc., permission, which will usually be granted, must be first obtained from the Government. The railways also help, to a smaller extent, in the carriage of the produce of the forests, but the freights are of course much higher than for water-borne materials. We now come to a consideration of the wood indus- try itself. This industry has made the most extra- ordinary development in recent years. In 1877 its total value was only about 17,000,000 roubles. In 1897 it had reached 103,000,000 roubles. It is now nearer 200,000,000 roubles (£21,667,000). The chief branches of this industry are the saw-mills, of which there are some 2,000 in the country. The most important are to be found in the Governments of Archangel, Livonia, and Petrograd. The materials sawn up in these mills are mainly exported, the greater part to Great Britain. Elsewhere the chief mills are situated at the mouths of the Volga, Dnieper and the Don, and in the Governments of Orel, Saratov (especi- ally the town of Tsaritayne), Volhynia, Petrokov, Kherson, Smolensk, Kiev, Novgorod, Olonetz, Jaro- slav, and Keletz. The companies which own and run these mills are well-known commercial undertakings and in some cases are very intimately concerned with the forestry materials exported from Russia to this country. In fact, the saw-mills may be considered to be one of the SUBORDINATE INDUSTRIES 97 most important factors connected with the foreign export trade. Next to sawn timber conies furniture making, which is an important industry. The chief factories are to be found in the Governments of Petrograd and Moscow. Cooperage also employs a considerable amount of labour in the Governments of Astrakhan, Kherson, Kontais, and Jaroslav. Amongst subsidiary forestry industries are those of the wheelwright and coach- builder, which chiefly flourish in the Governments of Petrograd, Moscow, and Kiev. The match-making industry is spread throughout the forest regions. The industries of wood pulp and cellulose manufac- ture are still in their infancy, though both are now developing with some rapidity. The dry distillation of wood is another industry which has a future before it. Tar, pitch, and oil of turpentine are all produced in Russia, but in compara- tively small amounts considering the enormous area of the woods. The industry is, however, developing. It will be now of interest to glance at the exports of forestry produce from Russia. A very large amount of the materials from the vast forests is of course used in the country, the chief means of transport being the rivers, down which the materials are floated. Of these the chief are the Volga and tributaries, the Dnieper and the Vistula. A smaller proportion is carried by railway, more especially in Central Russia. The material thus transported is used in the industrial and populous centres of the country. In the northern provinces, in the Governments of Archangel and Vol- ogda, forestry materials are scarcely required in the 98 THE FORESTS OF RUSSIA IN EUROPE country owing to the scanty population and to the absence of industries requiring wood. This area is exclutively an exporting one. The chief Russian forestry exports are : (a) Logs, poles, faggots, fascines. (b) Squared timbers, posts, manufactured wood. (c) Planks, laths, shingles. (d) Pitch and tar from conifers and the birch, oil of turpentine, turpentine. (e) Walnut wood, palm tree wood, and oak bark. These may be divided into five classes of exports ; (1) Raw materials. (2) Dressed materials. (3) Wrought or worked up (planed) materials. (4) Products of dry distillation of wood. (5) Products of wood. The chief countries to which Russia exports forestry materials are Great Britain, Germany, Holland, and France. The first two take over one-fourth of her total exports. In recent years her imports to Germany have increased rapidly, the increase being greater in proportion than the increase to Great Britain. In Great Britain Russia finds as rivals in the timber markets Norway, Sweden, Canada, and the United States of America. In Germany her rivals are Austria, Sweden, and North America. Next to Great Britain and Germany, Holland occupies the third place as a buyer of wood from Russia, Sweden being a competitor. Lastly comes France — Russia's competitors in this market being Sweden and North America with Austria, who sends her oak. A large proportion of the wood is exported by sea EXPORTING CENTRES 99 transit from the ports of Riga, which is the chief Russian port for this produce, Petrograd, Cronstadt, and Archangel. The exports to Germany are princi- pally floated down the Niemen to Konigsberg and down the Vistula to Thorn, Schulitz, Dantzig, etc. So far as the values of the exports are concerned, Riga holds the first place as an exporting centre, from whence we get the trade name of " Riga pine." The chief materials are planks, sleepers, squared timbers and dressed timber and pit props, of which several millions are annually exported abroad. Great Britain takes the greater part of the Riga exports. Much of this material holds a high place in the timber markets, owing to its great excellence. Petrograd and Cronstadt take second rank as exporting centres. The material consists chiefly of sawn timber (planks), of which spruce planks are the chief. Over 60 per cent, of these exports come to Great Britain (Hull and London), 20 per cent, to Holland (Dordrecht and Rotterdam), 10 per cent to Germany, and the rest to France and Belgium (latter 2 per cent. only). Archangel takes the third place, planks being the chief material exported, three-fourths of which are sent to Great Britain, the remainder to Holland, France, and Belgium. Tar, pitch, and turpentine are also exported from Archangel in barrels, the greater part coming to Great Britain, the remainder going to Holland and Germany. On the White Sea after Arch- angel comes the port of Onega, which exports abroad considerable amounts of sawn timber. On the same sea other ports of export are Kem and Kovda, Soroka and Keret. ioo THE FORESTS OF RUSSIA IN EUROPE On the Baltic, after Petrograd, Cronstadt, and Riga come the ports of Narva, which exports annually large amounts of logs and planks, Libava (dressed wood materials), and Windaw and Pernau (the jfime). On the Black Sea Odessa is the most important port, dressed and squared timber being the chief exports, principally sent to Great Britain. Oak timber is also sent to France and Algeria. Novorosiiske is also a rising timber-exporting port on this sea. In the Caucasus Batoum is the chief port, exporting walnut wood and palm wood. On her western continental frontier Russia's chief exports of forestry materials go to Germany. These are cut in the wooded provinces through which flow the Niemen and Vistula, the mouths of which are both in Germany. The material is principally exported as logs or roughly squared timber floated down the rivers in rafts. On the Vistula some of the material is sawn up in saw-mills situated at the Russian frontier. It is important to note, however, that all this material is not taken by Germany. A considerable amount is floated down the German portions of these rivers to the ports of Konigsberg and Dantzig, both of which are important ports for the Russian timber trade, and is sent to Great Britain and Holland, etc. At this juncture this is a point worth remembering. In spite of its great richness in forest materials, owing to inadequate development of its forest property and the poor state of communications Russia herself imports forest products, to certain of her unwooded centres, of the kind she exports from her afforested areas. Her imports consist of logs, poles, billets, IMPORTS TO BRITAIN tot faggots, squared timber, planks, laths, tar, turpentine, cellulose, wood pulp, valuable exotic woods, oak bark for tanning, cork, etc. These imports could all be obtained at home either in Russia in Europe or in her Asiatic domains, except perhaps one or two of the more valuable exotic timbers, and in the last few years she has made great strides in developing her forests. How far she will be able to maintain or increase her exports from the European part of her dominions in view of the growing needs of her immense population is a matter which remains, perhaps, in some doubt. Unquestionably, however, there are still large amounts of exploitable timber in North Russia, Finland, and Western Siberia. It is a matter in which we, more than any other nation, are supremely interested. A glance may now be taken at the Russian imports to Great Britain for the last year of which we have record before the war burst on Europe, i.e. for the year 1913. The materials received may be divided into six classes of produce, consisting of conifers, i.e., pines, firs, larches ; and hardwoods — oaks and other broad- leaved species, as follows : (1) Logs, sawn, split, and planed. (2) Pit props and pitwood. (3) Wood pulp. (4) Oak logs. (5) Wood manufactures, furniture, etc. (6) Foreign hardwoods. The amounts in loads and values in pounds sterling of these materials received during the year in question were as follows : s III -fil l $ . S W I? § -i i -o i. 42 a « rr * ! 102 NEED OF A NATIONAL PROGRAMME 163 No acetone, a material of such importance at the present moment owing to its use in the manufacture of munitions, was imported from Russia during 1913. As may be known, wood yields 2 to 6 per cent, of its weight in pure acetic acid, which is extensively used for making vinegar. In wood vinegar there is always some acetone, which is a combustible liquid in which oils, resin, and gun-cotton are very soluble. Acetone is now, of course, used in the manufacture of propul- sive powders. It would appear that Russia equally with ourselves was far from appreciating the importance of this pro- duct of wood or the danger of allowing Germany to retain a practical monopoly of it. With our extensive and valuable Indian forests and those in the Colonies we could have supplied our own needs in this material, and doubtless those of others also to some extent, at this juncture. Russia with greater ease than ourselves could have provided from her vast European forest resources all that was needed. But factories and plant are required and organisation, and all this takes time, and is difficult to arrange for in actual war time. We are getting to work now in this direction, but a more general appreciation of the need of a national afforestation programme and the economic importance to a nation of maintaining a certain percentage of its lands under woods worked on a commercial basis would have prevented our present dangerous position. IX THE FORESTS OF FINLAND AND EUROPEAN TIMBER SUPPLIES l THE Great War has given rise, in certain parts of Europe, to almost unprecedented demands for various classes of timber. The materials have been utilised in a variety of ways, outside their ordinary peace-time usages ; for the flooring, walling, and roofing of trenches and dug-outs, the hutting of troops in training, the pre- paration of barbed wire entanglements, the handles of entrenching tools, and for many other purposes, both naval and military, which are better perhaps left undisclosed. It was estimated the other day that there were some 2,000 odd miles of trenches on the Western and Eastern fronts. To construct these an enormous amount of wood has been needed. The whole of this material is lost to the world, for what remains of it at the end of the war will never prove serviceable. This excessive consumption of wood, outside its legitimate purposes, has rendered necessary the institution of a very careful inquiry into the sources of present and future accessible supplies and 1 Atlas de Finlande. Articles by Prof. A. K. Cajander, P. W. Hannikainen (Director-General of State Forests), and A. B. He- lander (Inspector of Forests). Helsingfors : Geogr. Society of Finland, 1911. 104 FUTURE GREAT DEMAND 105 into the probable amounts available in the forests of the allied countries situated in Europe. Urgent as this problem has already become to some of the Allies, ourselves for instance, the question will be still more acute at the close of the war. A previously undreamt- of demand must inevitably make itself felt with the advent of peace. It is becoming therefore an impera- tive duty — and each month that passes adds to the urgency of this duty — that the Allies should place themselves in a position to deal with the question in the least wasteful and most efficient manner possible. Owing to our insular position, we are, or should be, even more concerned in grappling with this problem than those of our Allies who will have forest resources of their own to fall back upon. Competition in the timber markets at the close of the war between coun- tries now fighting as close allies will on the one hand be playing into the hands of the Central Powers, and on the other be alike fatal to true economy and to rapid progress in the rebuilding of the towns, villages, and homesteads which have practically ceased to exist within the areas devastated by the operations of war. And this great demand, even in the absence of such competition, must, it is to be feared, react unfavour- ably on industries dependent on wood for their raw material. The economic questions involved require to be carefully thought out and a settled plan of action determined upon between the Allies now. The great forests of some of the European nations and their contents, both in volume of timber, sizes and classes of materials, and estimated values, are more or less well known. For instance, the fine forests of io6 THE FORESTS OF FINLAND the Central Powers and their prospective value and importance when peace comes can be more or less correctly estimated. The same may be said for the forests of France and of some other western European nations. Norway and Sweden, as is well known, have continued to supply, down to the commencement of the war, and in fact to the present time, large amounts of materials of the classes here under consideration. It is difficult, however, to forecast the extent to which they will be able or prepared to assist us in meeting the infinitely greater demands which must arise in the near future. They have been taking advantage, Sweden especially, of the high prices now existing. But are they prepared to continue to do so and can their forests stand the strain ? Sweden has been cutting very heavily in her northern forests for several decades past, large tracts of which were leased about the middle of last century to big saw-mill companies. There appears little reason to expect, or even, in the future interests of the countries themselves, to hope, that the Scandinavian Governments will continue to consent to the exhaustion of their forests even to take advantage of an excessive inflation of prices. It has also become the duty of the countries most directly concerned to endeavour to prevent such an inflation of prices as would be the immediate outcome of direct competition amongst themselves in the timber markets. At the same time, it is a first necessity in the interests of future generations that the forests of Europe should be so managed that as little interference as possible may take place in the existing plans of management of the woods. Such SOURCES OF SUPPLY 107 plans are primarily based on the removal of the normal increment ; or, to put it in more popular language, on the removal of the annual interest, while the capital is left behind intact. Over-cutting means trenching upon the capital, interference with the supplies of the future, and is financially unsound in the case of large areas of forest managed by the State on commercial principles in the interests of the community. It is admitted that to some extent it should be possible for America and Canada to assist us in this matter. They have, in fact, been taking advantage of the high market rates, but it is these rates which it is imperative should be brought to a lower level at the close of the war, and if possible before this proble- matical date. This problem, in its main issues, is one for the Allies alone, and they will certainly be called upon to solve it for themselves. The sources of supply fortn the first point for con- sideration. It becomes necessary to ascertain whether there exist in Europe accessible areas, or areas which can be made accessible with comparative ease and at a remunerative outlay, of commercially exploitable forest which can be utilised to supply the heavy demands which will exist. There are other matters of urgent importance, such as the afforestation through- out Europe of all land which in the opinion of experts will prove financially sound in the interests of the several communities. This and other problems which will arise have to some extent been already dealt with. Having settled upon the source of supply, the next point to ascertain is whether the commercially exploit- able forests referred to above contain an excess of old io8 THE FORESTS OF FINLAND growing stock, i.e. whether, owing to insufficient demand in the past, or to a scanty population, to their inaccessibility, or the existence of forests in the country with better export facilities, these forests have been left unexploited up to now. It is forests of this nature which the world has been busily cutting out for over a century, and more especially since the advent of steam communication. The greater part of them have been already exploited or ruined by fire and other causes. Tracts of considerable size and practically untouched do, however; exist ; and Russia probably owns the greatest area of them in Europe. A considerable portion of these forests are managed by the State Forestry Department of the country, and, save in the more densely populated parts, the fellings made annually in these areas have been far below the possi- bility ; in other words, want of demand or of export facilities have rendered it impossible to remove the annual amount of timber which proper forest conser- vancy and a correct management of the areas on finan- cial lines would indicate and justify, Russia proper has been already dealt with. There remain Finland and Siberia, both of which contain vast tracts of such forests, some more accessible than others. It is pro- posed here to confine ourselves to a consideration of the forests of Finland, which, owing to their proximity to the sea and their comparative accessibility, should, if the matter is managed on statesmanlike lines, prove of incomparable value to the Allies in the near future. Finland forms the N.W. corner of Russia in Europe ; it is bounded on the south by the Gulf of Finland ; the lower half of its western shore is washed by the FRESH WOODS 109 Gulf of Bothnia, while the upper half is bounded by Sweden. From time immemorial the forests of Finland have played a very important part in the development of the country. In the distant past, when the popula- tion lived a nomadic existence, they hunted in the forests to supply themselves with food. With the advent of agriculture, the forests still continued to play an integral part in the life of the people. Areas were felled and burnt to provide additional room for the raising of crops, the ashes of the burnt materials forming a valuable manure for the new fields. The method is still practised in Eastern Finland, economi- cally wasteful as it is. Materials for building purposes, heating and cooking, agricultural implements and so on, were all derived from the forests. But except to provide the local needs of the population the forests had little other use. Until comparatively recent times there was no export of forest produce, nor were the forests conserved in any way. Small beginnings were made in 1862-3 with the establishment of a Forest Service and a forest school at Evo. But progress languished. It was thought that agriculture would pay better ; and for years subsequently all efforts were concentrated upon this business. It was grad- ually perceived, however, that the high hopes placed on successful agricultural development were to be dis- appointed ; exports of agricultural produce remained small, while, so late as 1907, Finland was importing over £4,000,000 worth of cereals, grain, etc. On the other hand, during this period, the value of the forests gradually increased. The exports of timber, from no THE FORESTS OF FINLAND being negligible, amounted in 1907 to nearly £9,500,000 sterling, or 70 per cent, of the total exports of the country. And this in addition to providing all the wants of the local population. The greater part of Finland, with the exception of the coastal regions, where the soil is argillaceous and more or less fertile, and the great prairies stretching along the rivers of Ostrobothnia, is a forest country. The soil is poor and stony and the climate cold — both factors more adapted to tree growth than to agricul- ture. Other points favourable to the maintenance of the forests of the country are the ease with which they can be renewed naturally by seed falling from parent trees, thus eliminating the expenses of planting ; the small snowfall, which does not impede felling and extraction operations in the winter ; the abundance of water transport, which forms a net-work of excellent communications ; and the amount of available water- power for driving saw-mills, etc. The State owns about 36 per cent, of the area of Finland, or 32,804,695 acres, excluding some small areas purchased by the State for various purposes. Of the above area 32,078,457 acres are covered by Government forests, the remaining 726,238 acres com- prising chiefly farms and other Government enterprises. This large area was constituted a State forest in olden times, as in so many other countries, when forests were not considered to possess any economic value, all land not at the time under private ownership, or occupied by villages, becoming crown property. At this period the area was considerably larger than 36 per cent, of the whole country, large grants having APPROXIMATE AREAS OF FOREST in been made from time to time for extending cultivation and other purposes. Even at the present day such grants continue to be made, but only after a careful examination of the areas to ascertain whether they can be put to better economic use than by the growth of trees ; for the economic value of the forest, in the interests of the people and the country at large, is now fully recognised. Accordingly, the Government has within the last few years extended the forest area in the south and centre of the country by purchasing extensive areas of privately owned forests. The following table shows the approximate areas of forest in the eight Govern- ments of Finland : Estimated approximate areas, in acres. Name of Area, including Cultivated lands. Government. water, in acres. Tilled land. Meadows and burnt areas. Best quality forest soils. of marsh and fenland. Water. Nyland . 6,662 8-J IQO 4.755 I.I32 500 Abo . 368,467 3,187 8,030 174.237 I73."7 9,875 Tavastehus Viborg . 249.757 624,132 3.530 365 5,837 4.832 146,815 322,317 84,420 260,835 9,145 35.682 St. Michael 102,627 537 680 64,412 31,462 5,535 Kuopio 1,318,197 1,425 7.552 668,242 597.847 43,130 Vasa 1,034,430 4,715 13,332 527,700 465,155 23,527 Uleaborg . 28,374.562 6,242 110,977 11,814,245 15,294,147 1,148,950 TOTAL . 32,078,834 20,086 151.430 13,722,723 16,908,115 1,276,344 The above figures show that forest soils of the best quality occupy an area of only 13,722,723 acres, or 43 per cent, of the total forest area. Bog or fen areas of the better class (16,908,115 acres) are either covered with forests or are rocky and bare areas of little forestal H2 THE FORESTS OF FINLAND importance. A portion of the good quality forest soils are situated in the far north, and the forests on them are chiefly maintained for protective purposes. There remains, however, a large area of State forests con- taining merchantable timber of good quality. But this does not by any means exhaust the forest resources of the country. In 1899 (the last valuation made) it was computed that there existed 24,688,677 acres of private forests occupying best quality forest soil, and 4,597,235 acres of afforested bog and fen land. These figures include areas of forests on Government farms, ecclesiastical farms, and communal forests. The communal forests, belonging to towns and villages, are of interest. For instance, the town of Kajana, which owns the largest forest estate, possesses an area of 24,192 acres ; the town of Tornea about half this amount, Kuopio nearly a third, and so on. Timber- working companies also possess forests of their own amounting to 1,421,847 acres, managed for purely commercial purposes. No less than 55 per cent, of the country which has been cadastrially surveyed is in the hands of private proprietors, who thus own the greater part of the private forests. These areas, in consequence, play an important and, so far, a not un- successful part in the economic forest policy of the country, although their sylvicultural treatment leaves much to be desired. So far as their exploitation goes, i.e. their conversion into cash, the private properties have been the chief source of timber export in the past. In 1906 only about 13 per cent, of the raw material used by the saw-mills came from the State forests, and in 1907 only 16 per cent. In 1907 Finland ex- NATURE OF THE TREES 113 ported one million cubic metres of pit-timber and 420,000 cubic metres of wood for paper-making, while in that year all the State forests only yielded 78,000 cubic metres of these materials. There is practically no restriction to fellings made in areas of forest owned by timber companies and private persons ; and conse- quently their methods of working are usually wasteful and extravagant. There exists a law under which the owner is bound to take measures to reaff orest all areas of above twelve acres in extent which he clears, but it is a dead letter. The future of the country, so far as its forestry resources go, will depend more and more upon the State forests, unless the forest laws are revised and drastic measures taken to enforce them. Here, however, we are more concerned with the timber export possibilities of the country at the present time ; and in this connection the whole area of forests, State and private, requires careful consideration. The history of the forests of Finland and their nature may be told in a few words. When man first made his appearance in Finland the whole country was a vast forest. The chief trees were the Scots pine and the spruce. The pine had originally formed vast pure forests, but on the better classes of soil it was giving place to the spruce, which had come in from the East. The areas on the shores of the Arctic Ocean and the elevated mountains were bare. Between the barren area (tundra) along the Arctic Ocean and the forest zone proper stretched a narrow band of stunted birch. In the south, especially to the south-east and south- west, groves of oak occupied the more fertile soils in the plains and on the lower slopes of the hills. On ir4 THE FORESTS OF FINLAND similar soils in other parts of the country mixed woods probably existed, containing in the centre and south, amongst other species, the maple, ash, elms, lime, etc. The water-courses were bounded by meadows and fringed with narrow belts of birch and alder. This period was followed by the drying-up of the lakes and the flooding of the forest soil by water which gave rise to vast marshes. The peat areas grew stunted pines, the swampy ones spruce or birch, or, in places in the south, the glutinous alder. Man has since then considerably modified the nature of the forests, the marked transition following the period at which he settled down on the soil in organised com- munities. Fire played an important part in the change. There are probably few of the afforested areas in Fin- land which at one time or other have not been ravaged by fire. For example, fires destroyed either wholly or partially 160,752, 135,557, and 168,905 acres of State forest in 1868, 1883, and 1894 respectively. These fires have considerably altered the distribution of the pine and spruce. The former, having a thick bark and deep-going roots, is easier able to resist fire than the thin-barked, shallow-rooted spruce. Also the young pines suffered less from frost and drought, and were thus able to occupy, with greater ease, the burnt, ex- posed and dried-up areas. The more often fire passed over an area the quicker was the disappearance of the spruce from the locality, the species only remaining in deep damp hollows into which the fire could not pene- trate. In areas which suffered in this way in the past, the drier sandy soils are now occupied by forests of pure pine, the more fertile soils being covered with birch. SPRUCE 115 This latter species, owing to its very light seed, easily wind-borne, and to the fact that it seeds abun- dantly every year, while the pine in Central Finland only produces a seed-crop every seventh year, quickly invades burnt-out areas. The year following a fire will see the birch beginning to appear. The great stretches of birch forest existing in Lapland and Northern Finland arose in this fashion. Other great tracts of poor soil existing in Finland, now absolutely devoid of tree-growth, are also chiefly the result of incendiarism, and, to a less extent, of the wasteful devastation by man of the previously existing forests. With the protection of the forests and the rarer occur- rence of fires the distribution of the species again began to change. Starting from the swampy lands and damp hollows where it had held its own, the spruce invaded the pine and birch forests, forming at first an under- wood. With the development in height and crown extension of this spruce underwood, it in time came to form a high forest, from which the old pine or birch gradually disappeared. Owing to the thick shade which the spruce throws on the forest floor below, no young pines or birches — both species requiring light to enable them to develop — could grow. Young spruce, on the other hand, are able to develop in the shade of their parent trees ; and, owing to this peculiarity, the species gradually took possession not only of all the soils on which it was able to grow to perfection, but also of others less well suited to it, which, from a com- mercial point of view, were better occupied by the pine. In the coastal regions of Nyland and the Governments of Abo and Vasa the spruce is already Ii6 THE FORESTS OF FINLAND more widespread than the pine. In other parts of the country, such as Ilomantsi and Korpiselka, great stretches of spruce forest exist ; and here, doubtless owing to the presence of extensive swamps and deep ravines, fire was never able to spread to any great extent, so that the spruce forests were never destroyed by this agency. Another agency, probably even more destructive than fire, was the pernicious custom of " shifting cultivation." A patch of forest was felled ; the felled trees were fired, and the burnt ashes strewn over the area ; and one or more successive agricultural crops were then raised upon it. As soon as the area no longer yielded a satisfactory crop without under- taking a more intensive cultivation of the soil, the cultivator moved on to another patch of forest, which he treated in the same fashion. The spruce forests were the first to be dealt with in this fashion, because they occupied the best soil. When the cultivator left the area, it was seized upon and rapidly covered by the light-seeded birch. Where the cultivation had taken place on drier areas of poorer soil, the pine subsequently appeared. Of all methods of cultiva- tion this system is the most pernicious. But the birch forests were not the only result of treating areas of better-class soil in this fashion. When, in course of time, the birch forests were in their turn felled and burnt for a like purpose, the birch gave place to forests of white alder ; and the more often the burning took place on such areas, the purer became the resultant alder forest, owing to the fact that the alder reproduces itself by sucker and coppice shoots, and that these grow quicker than seedling birch, and ALDER 117 thus in the struggle for life killed out the latter. The extensive forests of alder which exist round the villages in Carelie, in the Savolaks, and in parts of Tavastland, originated in this manner. The system, which is still practised in the east of the country with Government consent, has caused the disappearance of great areas of valuable forest in Finland. Already, in parts, efforts have been made to ameliorate the con- dition of affairs by burning areas of pure alder and sowing pine seed on the resultant bed of ashes. The one favourable feature of the alder forests in the past was the fact that, owing to the open nature of the woods, a fine crop of grass grew up which was used for pasturing cattle. But, as has been shown above, most of these areas would carry a much more valuable conifer forest. Large areas of privately owned " forest/' if it can be given the name, consisting mostly of birch and scattered alder, are also used as cattle parks, a most wasteful method of utilising good forest land where national economy is considered. In the north of Finland and in Lapland the custom of reindeer breeding is also destructive to the forests, by rendering it almost impossible to raise young crops of trees. Since the reindeer lichen, which grows on the moors, is not nearly sufficient for the great herds reared, the shepherds fell large numbers of spruce covered with lichens (Alectoria, etc.), upon which the reindeer, in the absence of a sufficiency of the other plant, have to feed. The State suffers considerable losses owing to illicit fellings made for this purpose in areas where the forests are very large and the protec- tive staff too small to stop these wholesale thefts. Ii8 THE FORESTS OF FINLAND The distribution of the various species of tree in the forests of Finland is a point of considerable interest at the present time. The Scots pine (P. sylvestris) is the dominant species over the greater part of the dry moorlands and areas of pure sand. It also occupies, practically alone, the numberless peaty areas. Mixed with other species, it covers the slightly better class of soils, although here the spruce is usually present as an underwood. On all these classes of soil, both favourable and unfavourable, the pine in Finland develops a fine straight stem which always finds a ready market. The spruce (Picea excelsa and P. obovata with inter- mediate forms) covers the greater part of the swampy soils. It also forms the dominant species on the more fertile soils which have not been subject to bad fires. It is for this reason that the spruce is commoner than the pine in Finland proper, the sea-coasts of Western Nyland and the Government of Vasa, and the northern parts of Car61ie in the direction of the Russian frontier. In the State forests in the north and m the regions adjacent to Suomenselka the spruce occupies areas in which, from the commercial forestry point of view, it is not the species most suitable to the soil. It is also present in nearly all the mixed forests which grad- ually pass into pure spruce areas. The birch (Betula vermcosa and B. odorata) forms the chief species on the extensive tracts of Lapland and North Finland which have been subject to incendiarism. It also forms more or less extensive forests in all parts of the country which have been subject to fire, or to the pernicious system of shifting cultivation in which fire BIRCH, ALDER, OAK 11$ plays so important a part. Cattle parks are often chiefly covered with birch. It is also present in the mixed forests and in the areas which have been long worked irregularly to furnish the domestic require- ments of villagers and private proprietors. The two species are found generally together, B. verntcosa pre- ferring the drier and B. odorata the moister localities. The white alder (Alnus incana), originally only exist- ing as a fringe to the water-courses (with the exception of the coast in the south-west of Finland), has become, as a direct outcome of the system of shifting cultiva- tion, the chief species over great tracts in Carelie, the Savolaks, Tavastland and the regions beyond Kajana. The glutinous alder (A. glutinosa) forms narrow pure woods along the shores of the lakes, especially in the south-west of Finland. In the south it spreads over the marshy lands, where it occasionally forms pure woods, as, for instance, in the coastal regions. The oak (Quercus pedunculata], which formerly, in the " oak period," held a place of considerable import- ance amongst the forest species in the south, is now only found in small isolated woods in the extreme south. The aspen (Populus tremula) is widespread, and is found on the fertile soils as well as on the driest of the sterile moors, but only reaches consider- able dimensions on the former soils, where it occa- sionally forms small pure woods. Larch (Larix sibirica and L. europaa) has been introduced and some of the plantations formed have done well. The oldest, of L. sibirica, was planted between 1738 and 1820 and shows excellent results. Willow, maple, ash, lime, and elm occur sparingly in the south. 10 120 THE FORESTS OF FINLAND The oldest fellings in the forests of Finland were made for what may be termed purely domestic require- ments, such as firewood, charcoal, timber for building, household and other purposes, for small enclosures, and for obtaining tar. The fellings were undertaken without system, the best materials for the purpose in view being selected and the remainder left standing on the ground. In this fashion, in the neighbourhood of villages and townships, the forest gradually became open and honeycombed with holes and glades in which birch, alder, and aspen made their appearance. The trees were also topped and hacked about to provide litter or fodder for cattle and sheep. When an out- side demand for timber sprang up and made itself felt in the country, the really destructive fellings began ; and certain of the privately owned forests have been more effectively ruined by the methods of felling employed than by all the previous damage they suffered from fire, shifting cultivation, and cuttings made to supply local requirements. The sales from private forests commenced with the introduction of the saw-mill industry in the middle of last century. At first only material for the mills was required, and the damage done was not of great con- sequence. But soon the demand arose for pitwood, wood pulp, etc. ; and private forests were felled whole- sale. Great stretches of them were often sold standing to the timber merchants, who cut everything on the ground which could be sold, what was left on the areas being worthless. Thus considerable areas of privately owned forest were ruined. In the State forests, on the other hand, the management went to the other extreme. UNDERFELLING 121 The only fellings undertaken were made on what is known as the selection system. Only sound logs were sold, the oldest trees being selected here and there in the forest for the purpose. Only small openings were made in the canopy by the removal of these trees ; the forest was thus kept too dense, and young trees, with the exception of spruce, had not sufficient light to enable them to develop and take the place of the old ones removed. Under the system the spruce came in and occupied soils which should have been confined to the Scots pine only. The idea underlying this method of felling was c< to spare the forest," i.e. that to underfell was good sylviculture ; whereas, to carry over from year to year a preponderance of mature and over-mature growing stock is neither good sylviculture nor sound forest finance. Recently this system has been modified by the order that cleanings should be made in the cutting areas when the old trees are selected and felled. The chief point for our pur- pose in this management of the State areas is that, as the forests have been admittedly underfelled in the past, they must contain a considerable preponder- ance of old growing stock, i.e. of mature timber ready for the axe — timber which it would be in the interest of the forests themselves to remove, and which should prove a great asset to the Allies at this juncture. The Finland Forestry Department was created in 1863, but owing to the almost total absence of timber sales from the forests the progress of the new Depart- ment was very slow. The protection of the forests formed its chief work and proved most necessary. The people, as has been the case in most other coun- 122 THE FORESTS OF FINLAND tries, looked upon the forests as their own to enter and cut timber, etc., at their will ; and the forest officials had for years to face open hostility on the part of the public in carrying out the new regulations. The staff was far too small to undertake the work entrusted to it ; and the revenue realised from the sales of timber, in the absence of all knowledge as to the contents of the forests, did not even cover until 1872 the expendi- ture of the Department. From that year a surplus, which gradually increased in amount, was realised ; but the excess of receipts over expenditure only showed a notable increase (with small drops) from the year 1890 onwards, as the following table exhibits : Year. Receipts in £• Expenditure Tn£. Deficit in £. Surplus in £. Expenditure in % of receipts. 1861 5-064 18,247 13,183 360-33 1870 10,242 21,389 ",H7 208-84 1880 49,337 33.898 15-439 67-70 1890 108,332 39,126 69,205 36-I2 1900 244,900 47,884 197,015 I9"57 1901 176,973 45,619 131,354 2578 1902 185,108 50,548 134,559 zrsi 1903 326,660 74-54° 252,120 22-82 1904 306,606 72. "5 234,491 23-51 1905 240,775 88,859 I5L9I5 36-91 1906 349,790 90,752 259,037 25-94 1907 496,717 "1,253 385,463 22-40 1908 463,396 147,421 315.974 31-84 1909 464,089 189,529 278,559 40-80 I9IO1 660,000 195,000 465,000 29-00 These figures prove two things : (i) a satisfactory pro- gress in the exploiting of the Government forests be- tween the years 1900 and 1910 ; and (2) that the additional expenditure for additional staff, opening 1 Approximately. TABLE OF EXPENSES 123 out of communications, and so forth, led to a satisfac- tory increase of receipts, a result well understood by the forestry expert. The receipts and expenditure and free grants of forest produce for the State forests of Finland between the years 1861 and 1910 may be diagrammatically shown as follows : / 700 If JU If, C7t - C00 II !/ s T/T r ) I IK nj /[/) L • 100 / it J '. 1 I / /^ / ] .. \l |-i| - I ^ 't ', ,C T .' __ __ _,_/ 5"S5.|!L. I. • 100 / V •t'l III".. ^s '-^yte^1? ^^ ^ J ^ _ .-g ?. .- 5 • • j'^'ls:"'!? ^ - 0 "--->,,.-* - 5t \W 1865 1870 1875 I860 1885 1890 1895 1800 1905 I9K)~~ I24 THE FORESTS OF FINLAND The work of enumerating the contents of the State forests was commenced in 1904, and some progress has been achieved in this direction, the object being to draw up plans of working for periods of ten years, under which a regular system of fellings and regenera- tion of the areas cut over will be undertaken. These enumerations of the standing crop in the various forests brought out the pleasing fact that the number of trees of timber size proved to be considerably greater than had been anticipated, especially in the northern dis- tricts. The work is still uncompleted, and the Forest Department are as yet unable to definitely state the numbers of trees of timber size ripe for felling. The following table based upon actual enumerations of some forests has been drawn up for the ten Forest Districts in the country which are in the charge of Chief Forestry Inspectors : District. Stems with a diameter of 30 cm. (n}j inches) or more at a height of 4' 3* from ground level. Stems with a diameter of 23-30 cm. (9i-i i|| inches) at a height of 4' 3* from ground level. Total. Govt. Abo-Tavastehus Dist. Evo-Vesijako . Govt. of Viborg-St. Michael Joroinem District Govt. of Kuopio Govt. of Vasa . Ulea Lake Ii 2,628,824 78,192 2,701,818 4L520 5,290,605 2,622,760 4.787.587 5,887,168 3,539.383 319,914 4,803,933 352,270 7,580,420 4,439,4M 7,349,668 10,438,643 6,168,207 398,106 7,505,751 393.790 12,871,025 7,062,174 12.137,255 16,325,811 13,129 964 26 QOQ 064. 17,974,086 31,431,219 TOTAL 51,365,607 69,927,695 121,293,302 AUCTIONS 125 Some 121,000,000 trees, of approximately 10 inches diameter and over, at 4 feet 3 inches above ground, therefore exist ; and, in the present exceptional cir- cumstances, considerable fellings could be made to remove old growing stock, ripe or over-ripe. Its removal, with the additional transport facilities which would doubtless in places require to be created, should place the Department in a far better position, and in a far shorter period of time than could have otherwise been hoped, to take up the many interesting sylvi- cultural questions which demand attention in these forests. The trees in the State forests are usually sold by auction standing, chiefly by the stem, but also by volume. A deposit must be previously made by bidders, which is forfeited if the bid is not completed. The bids are submitted to a higher authority and may be refused or accepted ; in the latter event the bidder completes his payment before felling and extracting the trees. These auctions for the big timber are carried on in August at large centres. Smaller auctions, at which the smaller material is disposed of, are held locally as may be required. Even here the offers have to be submitted to the district forest authority before they can be accepted. The chief difference between the two auctions, omitting the size of the timber, is that for the small material one year only is allowed between purchase and its removal from the area, whereas for the larger timber two or more years may be granted to the contractor to fell and extract the trees purchased, these trees having previously been marked by the forest staff. Latterly the Department has been working depart- 126 THE FORESTS OF FINLAND mentally, i.e. felling and converting the trees in the forest itself and selling the converted material on the spot to purchasers. The D epartment appears to favour this method. But, except in abnormal circumstances, experience has shown, in other places where the method has been tried, that the trouble entailed usually so ties the hands of the staff that necessary inspection and protective work and the proper sylvicultural care of the forests are sacrificed, to the ultimate detriment of the woods themselves, although doubtless at the time a greater revenue is made. The departmental work in this instance is undertaken to supply Govern- ment Railways with sleepers and fuel for the engines, and with material for the three existing Government saw-mills. The following table for the twelve years 1898 to 1909 shows the numbers of stems sold at the main public auctions, the sales at these furnishing the best indica- tion of the prices obtained for large-sized timber and of the increased demand during the period : Year. Number of stems sold. Mean price per stem in shillings. 1898 . 1899 . 1900 1901 1902 1903 • 816,962 1,306,344 933,848 1,306,483 1,568,746 996,889 4'12 4'13 5'l6 4-62 4-29 5-78 4'2I 1905 . 1906 1907 . 1908 1909 . 1,868,331 2,205,166 2,392,579 2,874,037 3,395,042 5-03 5'39 4'75 3-60 3'53 FIGURES OF EXPORTS 127 The drop in the mean price is explained by the fact that in 1908, 1909 the chief fellings were made in the great forests in the north, where prices always rule lower than in the centre and south of the country ; it was also to some extent attributable to the fact that the marking of trees for sale is now done on better sylvi- cultuial lines, the selection not being made only amongst the finest stems, as was formerly always the case ; the system of cleanings having, as has been already stated, come into operation. In 1908 the total timber sold from the State forests amounted to 0-24 cubic metres per hectare (2^ acres) of dry forest soil. The mean annual increment of wood put on per hectare has been valued at i '5 cubic metre for the whole country. There should therefore be, and in fact is, a considerable excess of mature timber in the State forests. The figures of exports from Finland in 1907 show the following forest produce exported from the country : Net measurement in cubic metres. 215,727 1,135,008 640,892 1,113 234,200 45,382 TOTAL ..... 2,272,322 In the same year industries absorbed the following amounts : Saw mills . . . . . . . 5,169,025 Bobbin mills (in 1906) approximately . . 177,559 Paper pulp mills (mechanical and chemical), ist class 704,975 Paper pulp mills (mechanical and chemical), fuel approx. . .... . . 350,000 Wheels, blocks, rollers, etc. . : •« V- . 13,500 Charcoal making .... ..» ,> . 33,718 Distillation of tar. . . . V"' '. 79,721 TOTAL . , « » . 6,528,498 Poles, stems and logs . . '-'-.. •>• Pitwood and wood for paper pulp . Fuel Beams, approx. in the round Spars, squared, approx. in the round Sleepers, approx. in the round . 128 THE FORESTS OF FINLAND Added to this were the amounts of wood utilised on lines of communication steam-boats, which consumed 250,000 cubic metres rough measurement. Railways absorbed in 1908 a total of 9,000,000 cubic metres as fuel and for other railway work ; and telephones and telegraphs another 10,000 cubic metres. In round figures it way be said that in 1907 industries and exports utilised about 10,000,000 cubic metres of wood net measurement. Now of this total only 1,303,582 cubic metres was of State forest origin. The remainder, a total of 8,500,000 cubic metres net measurement, came from the privately owned forests of the country. This is an important point, for these private forests are by no means yet exhausted ; and therefore to the estimated total of 121,000,000 trees with a diameter of approximately 10 inches and over at 4 feet 3 inches above ground existing in the State forests must be added a total probably as large, and in all probability far larger, standing in the privately- owned forests. It has been estimated that the domestic requirements of the population absorb 13,186,452 cubic metres net measurement, in addition to the amounts given above. These materials are, however, of small size and do not affect the question from the point of view here con- sidered. It is the commercial timber which exerts the chief influence on the exploitation of the forests; for it is the timber markets which demand the finest timber, the local requirements being satisfied with inferior qualities. It is the big markets which attract the private owners of woods, as also, to a considerable extent, the Government owner ; since it is in these markets that the best prices are obtainable for the AN OPPORTUNITY 129 larger material which they are in a position to supply. An endeavour has been made to point out in this article l that in the forests of Finland there exists one direction at least to which the devastated countries may look to obtain materials at a reasonable price with which to repair the destruction wrought by the Great War. Those industries in the Allied countries which depend upon timber for their raw material may also hope to obtain a part of their requirements from these forests. But both these possibilities remain possi- bilities only. It will depend on the Government being sufficiently far-seeing to come to some definite working arrangement between themselves and Russia before the war closes, if advantage is to be taken of existing opportunities. And the Finland forests, with their easy export facilities offered by their numerous water- ways and available timber of the kinds which will be most in demand, Scots pine and spruce, present one of these opportunities. Are we in Great Britain going to see that it is taken in time ? 1 This article was published in the Quarterly Rtview for April 1916. THE FORESTS OF SIBERIA, INCLUDING TURKESTAN IN two previous articles, the forest resources of Euro- pean Russia and of Finland have been dealt with, and some indication has been given of their undeniable importance to the Allies in a near future. A review of the forest resources of Russia would not, however, be complete without a survey of the enormous forest tracts existing in Asiatic Russia : for portions of the great Siberian forests hold a place which cannot be neglected in the Western European timber markets, e.g. in that of Great Britain — a position which is likely to increase in value in the years to come. As yet, however, in spite of the valuable work that has been already accomplished in the exploration and survey of these regions, it is too soon to say definitely how great will be the influence of these Asiatic Russian forests on the world's markets. The areas are so enormous that the forestry resources, that is the number, species, and value of the trees covering a very considerable tract, still remain unsurveyed. In the year of the outbreak of the Great War, the Chief Department of Agriculture published a volume 130 ASIATIC RUSSIA 131 entitled Asiatic Russia, with an accompanying hand- some volume of maps. One of the sections of this important work deals with the " forest wealth " of this enormous stretch of country. It is written by V. V. Faas, and its appearance at the present time must be looked upon as most opportune. From this and other sources open to me, it has been possible to form a very fairly accurate idea of the position, probable yield capacity and importance, both present and prospective, to the world's timber markets of these forests of Asiatic Russia. The area of country now being dealt with stretches from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific, including Siberia, the Steppe region, and Turkestan. Lake Baikal divides Siberia into two almost equal parts, western and eastern. The western half comprises the Governments of Tobolsk, Tomsk, Enessey, Irkutsk, and the districts of Turgai and Uralsk ; the eastern half has the Transbaikal, Sea-coast, Amur, and Sachalin districts. That vast tract, the Steppe region, com- prises the Semipalatinsk and Akmolinsk districts, and in addition there are the great stretches of Turkes- tan. As will be understood, the climate, or various climates, of this extensive country vary greatly from arctic to hot, and this variation in climate is accom- panied by a considerable divergence in character of the forests occupying different parts of the region. The forests of Asiatic Russia are very unevenly distributed throughout the different Governments of Siberia, the Steppe region, and Turkestan, and, owing to the sparse population inhabiting these tracts in the past, very little attention has been paid to 132 FORESTS OF SIBERIA AND TURKESTAN the woods or to their possible economic value. The scanty population was allowed to treat them pretty well as it liked. They took what they wanted from the forests, practised shifting cultivation after the fashion already described in the Finland article, or set fire to large areas annually to get up new grass on which to pasture their cattle. The building of the Siberian Railway and the influx of population from European Russia has had, it is true, some effect on portions of the forests, but the areas are so vast that it appears probable that they will be capable of furnishing materials for export for a considerable period of years. Roughly speaking the forests owned by the State predominate throughout Asiatic Russia, the area amounting to the gigantic total of 642,600,000 acres, or about two-thirds of the total State forests of the Empire. The forests occupying such extensive tracts naturally vary considerably in quality, but 249,750,000 acres or 39 per cent, of the whole area is classed as rich forest soil. This percentage is small when com- pared with the 80 per cent, in European Russia and the 63 per cent, in the Caucasus. It must, however, be borne in mind that in the area under consideration, especially in the zone bordering on the tundra (Siberian swamp), vast tracts exist covered with a poor scrub forest with no exploitable trees in it ; the areas of value being confined to the southern hill slopes, or to the valleys sheltered from the cold north winds. Large tracts of fen-land, marshy lake areas, and great stretches of burnt-over forest lands also exist in Siberia, and go to swell the total of " poor forest soil." TABLE OF DISTRICTS 133 The following table shows the distribution of the State forests in the Governments or Districts of Asiatic Russia, and also the numbers of forest divisions and forest estates in each division. The Russian word here translated into "division" is lesnitchestvo. It may be that our technical forest term of " circle " would more nearly express the meaning, but division will perhaps be more readily understood. The Russian word datcha means an " estate," and it is left at that. Technically, we should probably call it a district, or if " circle " were used for the larger area, a division. The table is as follows : Governments and Districts. Number of Forest Divisions Number of Forest Estates. Areas in acre*. Total Area. Area of rich forest soil. Uralsk Turgao I 6 22 72 79,944 1,434,677 48,575 982,675 Tobolsk 33 497 170,808,917 45,563,156 Tomsk 27 190 92,857,876 22,047,425 Enessey 23 113 23,021,571 20,394,063 Irkutsk 17 324 23,795.051 17,191,272 Semipalatinsk II 190 9,255,254 5,818,675 Akmolinsk 15 302 6,130,293 1,119,344 Transbaikal 5 15 79,893,000 7,989,300 Amur 8 7 94,070,700 31.839,75° Sea-coast . 15 17 93.025,800 59,312,385 Sachalin . I 10,530,000 6,750,000 Semirechensk 8 61 3,445,726 3,445,726 Syrdariansk 7 179 23.050,664 17,996,350 Samarkand 6 31 10,567,484 7,672,001 Fergan 9 45 2,593,876 1,609,880 TOTAL 192 2,066 644,560.833 249,780,582 Thus there are 2,066 forest estates having an average 134 FORESTS OF SIBERIA AND TURKESTAN area of 311,850 acres apiece; whilst the average acreage of the forest division exceeds 3,356,100 acres. That is, the average forest division in Siberia is greater than the total acreage of the woods in Great Britain, which amounts to 3,030,000 acres ; or had that area at the commencement of the Great War. Of course all these forest divisions have not this excessive area. The average is high, owing to the enormous extent of a few in Northern Siberia, such as, e.g., one in the Government of Tobolsk which covers a tract of 81,000,000 acres. Of the total area of 642,600,000 acres of State forest, 297,900,000 acres or 40 per cent, have been constituted regular State Reserves, the remaining 345,600,000 acres being still subject to the elimination of areas as allotments to settlers, or for increasing the agricultural holdings of the existing population. To the 642,600,000 acres of forest under the administra- tion of the State have been recently added 118,800,000 acres of newly explored forest in parts of the Yakutsk district, and about 10,800,000 acres of forest of com- paratively small value in the Transcaspian district, giving the total area of State forests in Asiatic Russia as approximately 772,200,000 acres. These do not, however, form the sole existing forests in the country. Next to the State, the greatest forest owner in the country is the Crown, which possesses some 54,000,000 acres of forest land (chiefly on the Altai), whilst the Cossack population of the Amur district possess about 27,000,000 acres of forest on the left bank of the Amur. Thus those of the forests of Asiatic Russia which are more or less well known FOUR MAIN REGIONS 135 cover the enormous area of some 853,200,000 acres ; that is, a total area greater than that occupied by either the forests of Canada (which cover 799,200,000 acres), or those of America (604,800,000 acres). The areas of State forest containing exploitable material for export purposes vary considerably in size in different parts of Asiatic Russia. It has been shown that the country is divided into four main regions, namely the Western region of Siberia, the Eastern Siberian region, the Steppe region, and Turkestan. The amounts of " rich forest soil " in each of these regions are as follows : Region. Acres. Per cent. I. The Western region of Siberia II. The Eastern region of Siberia III. The Steppe region .... IV. Turkestan 106,227,169 106,091,435 6,938,019 30,723,958 42'5 42-4 2-8 12-3 TOTAL 249,980,581 lOO'O The above table shows that the largest areas of forests are in the Western and Eastern regions of Siberia, the acreage in the two being nearly equal ; that the afforested areas in the Steppe region are very small, whilst those of Turkestan are equal to about two-sevenths of the Eastern Siberian region. Before dealing with other important aspects of these forests, it will be necessary to give some general account of the peculiarities of the forest flora of the different regions. The tract from the Ural Mountains to the Ochotsky and Yellow Seas will be first dealt with. As may be inferred from the vast area under ii 136 FORESTS OF SIBERIA AND TURKESTAN consideration, the climatic conditions in different parts vary considerably. There are also considerable differences in the nature of the surface formation and soil. The character of the forests is, therefore, ex- tremely varied. THE SIBERIAN REGIONS The great region bordering on the Arctic Ocean and stretching from the Ural Mountains to the Bering Strait is designated the Arctic tundra (swamp). There are no real forests in this belt, but the area is covered more or less densely with bushes and dwarf forms. As is the case in the Government of Arch- angel in European Russia, patches of tall trees are found here in the far north encroaching upon the tundra. In this way small forests are to be seen even along the rivers Kolima and Anadir. In 1909 the Chukotsky expedition discovered woods in sheltered valleys at the source of the Great River (Bolshaya) and even near Cape Dezhneff. Owing to these inroads of the forest into it the southern boundary of the tundra runs in a zig-zag fashion, gradually passing into the forest zone. Next to the tundra comes the forest zone, termed taiga,1 which stretches right across Siberia to the Pacific Ocean, and occupies the tract between the tundra and the Steppe region, an area of from 1,000 to 2,300 versts broad and 7,000 versts long. This zone is very varied in character, and does not consist of uninterrupted forest. The belt is 1 Taiga — the word applies literally to the vast marshy forests of Siberia. WESTERN SIBERIA 137 constantly broken by vast fens and areas of burnt- over forest where only patches of the old woods exist, the rest of the tract being covered with a scmb of raspberry bushes and other shrubs. This is often the aftermath of fire, either due to incendiarism or applied in the interests of a shifting cultivation. On its northern limits the taiga first appears as separate clumps and patches of trees on the slopes of ravines and river valleys. The fir (spruce) tribe predominate in the taiga, but there are many other species of trees. This great forest zone is subdivided as follows : Western Siberia. — From the Ural Mountains to the lower reaches of the Enessey and to Lake Baikal : This area is divided into a dry zone and a swampy zone. In the dry zone the predominating species are the so-called Siberian " cedar " or cembran pine (Pinus cembra), a valuable tree which furnishes both timber and an edible seed ; the much-prized Siberian " fir " or spruce (Picea obovata), the Siberian Pichta or silver fir (Abies sibirica), and the still more valuable Siberian larch (Larix sibirica). On sandy soils pine woods are occasionally found. In the swampy zone the character of the forest changes. The larch disappears, and the spruce predominates with an admixture of deciduous species such as the birch, aspen, and alder. The most wide-spread type of forest in Western Siberia is a mixture of common and Siberian spruces. This type is interrupted here and there by the so-called urmani, a local name for mixed deciduous and non-deciduous forest in which the spruce and cembran pine predominate. In the Government of Tobolsk this urmani type of forest 138 FORESTS OF SIBERIA AND TURKESTAN occupies vast tracts chiefly on the right bank of the Irtish river, and also on the Ob river. Generally speaking in the Government of Tobolsk the upper parts of the hills are occupied with pine, the pine being mixed on the lower slopes with spruce, larch, cembran pine, and sometimes birch, spruce and cembran pine predominating on the lowest levels. The larch is seldom found pure in this Government, as the pine takes possession of all the drier areas. Eastern Siberia. — East of the lower reaches of the Enessey and Lake Baikal : A considerable change takes place in the character of the taiga in this region. The Siberian larch is replaced by the daur larch (Larix daurica}. The daur birch also appears, with the fragrant poplar, and in the south in addition to such Western Siberian forms as alder, bird-cherry and mountain ash, the tamarisk and the rhododendron appear ; further east the Mongol oak, wild apple, and the walnut commence to come in. Eastward to the Amur and Sea Coast Districts and southward to the Manchurian forests : The further east and south we proceed the greater becomes the change in the character of the forests. The daur larch is still present, but the Siberian fir (spruce) is replaced by the Ayansk fir (Picea ajanensis), which is very wide-spread, forming thick forests in places ; the ordinary birch is replaced by the Betula Ermani. The Manchurian pine (Pinus mandshurica] of great height-growth and fine quality timber appears. Pinus funebris occurs along the river Ussuri. Two silver firs are found, Abies nephrolepsis, growing in both the Amur and the Sea-coast districts; and the Abies SIBERIAN AND STEPPE REGIONS 139 holophylla, which occurs in the south Ussuri region. A yew, Taxus cuspidata, occurs in the forests of the Sea-coast district, its timber being of little value, however. As regards deciduous species, the Amur district is very rich, the forest flora of the Sea-coast district resembling in many respects the forests of Korea, and, in part at least, of Japan. Among the chief deciduous species are two oaks, Quercus mongolica, found along the middle course of the Amur and in the south of the Sea-coast district, and Quercus grosse- serrata in the Ussuri district ; two species of ash — Fraxinus mandshurica, distributed almost throughout the Amur and the sea-coast districts except in the extreme north, and Fraxinus rhynchophylla, found in the southern Ussuri district ; the walnut (Juglans mandshurica) occurring in the Amur and the central and southern parts of the Sea-coast district ; the Dimorphantus mandshurica, which furnishes a beautiful veneer ; and two species of lime (Tilia amurensis and Tilia mandshurica). Generally speaking, both in the Amur and the Sea-coast districts coniferous forests predominate in the north, covering the mountain slopes, leaving the lower ground to the deciduous species. THE STEPPE REGION The Steppe region lies to the southward of the above-described zone. In its westward part there is a marked change in the character of the forest from that of the taiga. In the south of the Government of Tobolsk, and still more so in the Semipalatinsk and 140 FORESTS OF SIBERIA AND TURKESTAN Akmolinsk districts, the taiga gradually yields to the steppe vegetation, and meadows and feather grass ap- pear, occasionally penetrating far into the forest, or elsewhere completely enclosing patches of forest. In the two districts above mentioned, the forests occupy scarcely 2 per cent, of the whole area. In the forest-steppe tracts in these last two districts, how- ever, islands (kolki) of forest of varying size, some being considerable, occur, consisting chiefly of deciduous species. Birch and aspen are the most numerous, followed by the black alder, bird-cherry, mountain ash, black and white poplar, and acacia. Birch and aspen kolki are chiefly found in the north of the Akmolinsk district adjacent to the Government of Tobolsk, whereas the pine and the juniper occur scattered throughout this Government. In the Semi- palatinsk district the Western Siberian species of pine, spruce, silver fir, and larch occur, but they are not equally distributed in all parts. Also in this part of the forest-steppe shrubs such as the sallow-thorn (Alaternus), hawthorn, raspberry, elder, white hazel, medlar, occur, and, amongst others, the dwarf almond, spiraea, and several kinds of roses. The forest-steppe region extends as far as the Transbaikal district, where it gradually merges into the black-earth steppe which possesses no forest on it, being covered with feather grass and other steppe plants, interrupted by salt marshes and sands. THE TURKESTAN REGION The Turkestan deserts are situated to the south, and here the shrub known as the saksaul (Halaxylon THE TURKESTAN REGION 141 ammodendron) forms the chief tree species. This species grows freely over the wide tract from the Caspian Sea to Lake Balcash, in spite of the bad treatment it receives from man and the constant damage done to it by cattle. There are consider- able forests on the Turkestan plateau, though here again grazing cattle do a great deal of damage, as also do fires. Many tree species are present in these forests in the Fergen, Samarkand, Sirdarya, and Semirechensk districts, the chief being the spruce (Picea schrenkiana), which forms the principal species in the Semirechensk district ; the archa (a species of juniper) ; the walnut, maple, poplar, birch, and ash. In addition in the hill forests of Turkestan, the wild apple, almond, plum (uruk), apricot (caragach), etc., are commonly found. The Transcaspian Forests. — Finally a few words may be added on the species found in the fairly extensive but as yet scarcely explored Transcaspian forests. These forests play an important part in the Transcaspian district, as they keep the sands from shifting — that ever-present danger in a desert region — and help to form fertile oases. They also render possi- ble cattle-breeding. A considerable proportion of the species growing in the forests are of the desert type, and similar to those occupying the Turkestan deserts, e.g. the saksaul, etc. In addition, the acacia occurs, here called suzem, and reaches a height of 21 feet with a dia- meter of 7 inches at the surface of the ground. About 1,350,000 acres of the Transcaspian forests are situated in the hills, including those in the valleys of Murgab, Fedzhena, and along the smaller rivers in the rural 142 FORESTS OF SIBERIA AND TURKESTAN district of Karacalin. In these hill-forests the archa (juniper) appears, and is often of considerable size, 58 feet high and 2 feet n inches in diameter at the surface of the ground. The mountain maple, noted for the hardness of its wood, also occurs. In the Merosk and Tedzhensk districts copses of pistachio- nut trees exist. On the banks of the rivers, which overflow in the spring-time, forests of poplars and tamarisks help to keep the banks stable, and are thus of considerable importance. Having regard to the extensive area over which these Asiatic Russian forests are spread, it will be of interest now to glance briefly at the nature of the staff and present organisation and protection afforded to the areas. Up to January I, 1912, the State forests were divided, for administrative purposes, into 192 divisions (lesnitchestva) under the control of 9 Boards of Agriculture and State Lands : viz. those of Tobolsk, Tomsk, Enessey, Irkutsk, Amur, Omsk, Turkestan, Uralsk, and Turgai. According to the estimate for 1914, the staff of the local forest administration was to consist of 583 officials, namely 35 forest inspectors, 222 foresters, 68 assistants, and 258 forest guards — a staff which cannot be said to err on the liberal side, and will need a great deal of strengthening when the work of exploiting the forests is commenced on a large scale. In addition it was laid down for 1914 that another 170 officials were to be employed on the work of exploring and organising the forests. These additional DANGERS FROM FIRE 143 officials were to comprise 4 inspectors of forest organ- isation, 15 head-taxators, 45 under- taxators, and 106 surveyors. With the above quite inadequate staff, even when supplemented by two to three thousand extra guards and fire patrols, the latter being, by the way, unpaid, it is not surprising that the protection it is possible to give the forests is very inefficient, and that one of the greatest dangers to which they are subject is fire. On the subject of fire, and the appalling damage it causes in forest lands, the people are apparently quite ignorant, and wilful incendiarism is as common as used to be the case, and still is in parts, in India. The points of greatest danger, the dry areas, are exactly those in which the forests have the greatest local value, because so scarce ; e.g. in the Steppe region and parts of Turkestan and in some districts of the Tobolsk and Tomsk Governments a scarcity of wood is already being felt by the local population. The chief causes of fires are the burning of the dry grass in the hot season in order to get up an earlier crop of new young grass for grazing purposes with the arrival of the first rains. The fires are allowed to " run," that is, no effort is made to restrain them, and they spread into the neighbouring forests; the drier and more windy the weather, the greater the area of the latter consumed. Camp fires made by travellers and left alight after their departure are also a fruitful source of forest fires. Indian forest officers are well acquainted with this form of forest devastation, which was of annual occurrence throughout the afforested areas in India in olden times. A forest 144 FORESTS OF SIBERIA AND TURKESTAN staff and careful organisation in the latter country have done much to mitigate this, the greatest enemy of the forests during the hot dry periods of the year. When one finds that in these Asiatic Russian forests a single forest guard may be in charge, for protective purposes, of an area which runs from 30,000 to 250,000 acres of forest, there can be little real pro- tection from fire save on paper. It is stated that recently, just before the outbreak of the war, larger sums were being allocated for the purpose of pro- tection, and certainly in the interests of the community and the future welfare and prosperity of the country, for these forests are a very valuable, an increasingly valuable, property, expense should not be spared in ensuring their safety. As a result of the forest fires, which are said to rival those of Canada and America in size, considerable areas of country are covered with shrubs of little value or with grass and moss, the latter preventing the growth of young seedlings of fir and spruce, etc., which may germinate from seed fallen from the scatter-ed trees standing on the area. The fires also seriously interfere with hunting, which forms an important trade in parts of Siberia. As long ago as 1774 the Government were awake to the serious nature of these fires, for in that year a law was passed forbidding " the burning of the forests in the Siberian Government in which the sable was hunted." With a staff inadequate to enforce the law it practically remained a dead letter. Considerable progress has been made with the work of investigation into the resources of the large INVESTIGATION 145 area of forest in Asiatic Russia, and more especially has this been the case in the Western Siberian region, in which we in this country are perhaps more deeply interested. A plan was drawn up by the Forest Depart- ment under which the exploration work was to be completed in the year 1928. The object of this inves- tigation work is to ascertain the distribution of the various species of tree over the different areas of forest, the approximate amounts and quality of the old mature timber standing on the ground, the pro- portion of woods of the younger ages in existence, and the amount of increment in wood being put on in the forests. For on this latter becoming known, it is possible to fix the amount of timber which can be safely cut out annually. In old primeval forests which have never been felled in, it is usual to find standing on the ground an excess of old growing stock, and it is desir- able on all counts that this excess should be cut out before it decays and thus becomes valueless. The investigations of the forest areas being undertaken by the department ai'm at ascertaining as nearly as possible the amount of this old growing stock standing on the ground. The organising and exploration work carried out by a portion of the trained staff may be divided into two classes. Firstly, detailed and closer investigation work in the areas containing the more valuable and accessible forests combined with an enumeration, to a certain extent, of the growing stock standing on the ground, in order to ascertain the numbers of existing mature trees ready for felling. Work of this nature has been carried out in the Western Siberian areas. Secondly, work of the nature of 146 FORESTS OF SIBERIA AND TURKESTAN flying surveys having for its object to ascertain the nature of the forests, species and relative abundance of each, with an approximate estimation of the pro- portion of old growing stock, and so forth. This work is simpler, not so accurate or expensive to undertake, and is applied to areas which for various reasons are not at present workable. The more detailed work of investigation and enumeration in the forests enables the department to fix the varying amounts of exploitable timber, i.e. the number of trees which can be felled yearly, and the information already compiled on this head for the great forests of Western Siberia has shown that there exists a very considerable excess of growing stock to come out. In the Forest Department Report for the year ending January i, 1912, out of the total area of 624,000,000 acres of State forests, 8,300,871 acres had been subjected to the detailed investigations, and 67,914,917 to the operations of the flying survey, giving a total of 76,215,788 acres, or about 12 per cent, of the whole forest area. But the work, with the increased estimates sanctioned, has since proceeded at a greater pace, with the result that an area of 44,055,900 acres was subjected to detailed or partial investigation in 1912 and 1913, and 22,182,200 acres in 1914. By the beginning of 1915 the Department had organised either by detailed or partial investiga- tions an area of 143,100,000 acres, or approximately one-fourth of the total area of the State forests in Asiatic Russia. A good and most useful piece of work. SANDY WASTES 147 Other directions in which calls will undoubtedly be made upon the scientific abilities of the forest staff will be the necessity for grappling with the planting of the great sandy wastes which have resulted from the destruction of forests in the past, and which now threaten to engulf valuable agricultural lands. This problem is already receiving considerable attention in European Russia, as has been shown in a previous article. It will certainly demand skilful treatment in her Asiatic dominions. From the descriptions already given of this great area of forests, it will be realised that they form a source of immense wealth, a wealth which for the most part is as yet untapped. It has been shown that in the drier parts of this tract the percentage of forest is very small, and that in these regions, owing to the bad treatment, in former times, of such forest as there was, it is now reduced to small areas insufficient for the requirements of the population. But although this is true enough in the case of the Governments or parts of Governments concerned, e.g. the Steppe region and Turkestan, it does not apply to the bulk of the great forest areas. These, in spite of fire, in spite of the war waged against them by man either for the purpose of extending agriculture, or from thoughtlessness, ignorance, or for the mere pleasure of being wastefully extravagant — in spite of all they have suffered in the past and suffer at the present time, these forests still cover an enormous extent of country, and contain a vast amount of unexploited timber and other forestry materials. In the past the conditions which would have enabled them to be 148 FORESTS OF SIBERIA AND TURKESTAN worked or which would have justified their being exploited — to wit, favourable communications and a demand — have been absent. The forests have been for the most part untouched. For instance, according to the framed estimates in 1911, no less an amount than 1,800,750,000 cubic feet of timber were available for sale from the State forests. Of this amount 171,500,000 cubic feet only were disposed of, or some- thing under 10 per cent. In some parts as, e.g., in the Government of Enessey, the percentage sold was as low as 5 -i. As has been shown, the population is very sparse, and in many parts owned areas of forest sufficient for its requirements, and so had no reason or necessity for having recourse to the State forests. Of export trade until recently there was none. There appears to be little doubt that one of the chief sources of the wealth of Asiatic Russia will be found in its forests, and will be reflected in its export trade. Already such a trade has developed, and these forests are taking a place in the international timber markets of the world. Up to the outbreak of the Great War, Russia's chief competitors in the timber markets were Austria-Hungary, Sweden, and Norway, and the United States and Canada. Already, however, Russia was looking to taking a bigger place in the competition with her rivals, and so far as Great Britain was con- cerned, she out-distanced them all, since we took about 35 per cent, of our total imports from Russia. To maintain the position in the markets she has already acquired, and the greater one she must inevitably take in the future as the exports from her rivals diminish DIFFICULTIES OF TRANSIT 149 with the cutting-out of accessible stocks, Russia will have to draw upon her vast Siberian forests. When all is said that can be said on the subject of past destruction and so forth, they remain, if not inexhaust- ible, at any rate of so vast a size that with proper management they should prove an extremely valuable asset and serve Russia's purpose for many years to come. The fact that facilities for the export of timber from these areas are bad or totally wanting has been already alluded to. A certain amount of wood from the Tomsk and Tobolsk Governments has been exported within the last few years via Archangel and Petrograd, but the material requires to be first class to pay for the long transit. The following illustration on the subject of export difficulties places the present position in this respect in a nutshell : The export of wood by the rivers Ob and Enessey, i.e. by water carriage, would enormously facilitate and promote the timber trade in the Governments of Tobolsk, Tomsk, and Enessey. Some ten or twelve years ago an attempt was made by a private agency to export timber from the Enessey district to London, but it ended in failure, although a considerable portion of the timber did reach Galchika, a village at the mouth of the Enessey river. The late General Makaroff undertook to place the timber on the steamer for shipment to England, but his attempt was thwarted, as ice prevented the ship from entering the mouth of the river. A few years later a flotilla of ships, equipped by the Ministry of Ways and Communications, suc- ceeded in entering the Enessey, but were unable to 150 FORESTS OF SIBERIA AND TURKESTAN return the same year and had to winter there. The steamer on which the famous traveller, Fritiof Nansen, arrived in Siberia in 1913 also succeeded in entering the Enessey river. Thus it has been proved that it is possible for ships from the west to enter the Enessey river. But this is not sufficient. The timber markets of Western Europe would require the organisation of a regular service of timber steamers plying during the open season. Only with such a service would it be possible to undertake fellings on a large scale and the conversion of the material in saw-mills ready for transport to the western markets. As sawn or other- wise prepared timber cannot be kept lying up in- definitely without risk of spoiling, in the absence of guaranteed export facilities merchants have not in the past been ready to risk their capital in this business. The war has considerably altered the position, how- ever, and there is little doubt that these rich Siberian forests will be able to furnish very considerable sup- plies of the timbers which, at the close of the war, will be so largely in demand. Owing to the absence of waterways and railways, the timber export trade from the forests of Turkestan is as yet wholly undeveloped. Until comparatively recently, walnut, on account of the beautiful patterned veneer the burrs yielded, was exported in considerable amounts from Turkestan to Western Europe. The demand for the veneer has, however, fallen off of late years, and the considerable profits of yore have dwindled. Vast and valuable forests are to be found in the Irkutsk Government and the Transbaikal and Yakutsk districts, but owing to the absence of con- THE FAR EAST 151 venient waterways no exports of timber have yet been made from this centre. As regards the forests in the Far East, the export problem is far less complex. The Amur and other rivers flow through the country into the Pacific, thus affording cheap communication by waterway. Owing to this fortunate position, a great and increasing export trade in timber from the Pacific ports has developed. According to statistics issued by the Vladivostok bureau, the timber exports from Vladi- vostok in 1910 amounted to 6,446 tons, increasing to 15,310 tons in the following year. The more valuable kinds of timber exported go to Western Europe, chiefly to Great Britain, whilst the inferior kinds are taken by Japan and China. In the same year about 110,000 cubic feet of cembran pine and spruce wood were exported from Ferney Bay to Australia, and from the Gulf of St. Olga 374,000 cubic feet of mine props. In the same year exports were started from Pasietta, about 100,000 cubic feet being sent away. With this extensive and rich area of forests at their back, a very considerable and valuable export timber trade is likely to develop, and we should make it our business in this country to become thoroughly acquainted with it, and ascertain exactly what classes of timber and what amounts it will pay us to secure from this region to supplement supplies obtained from Russia in Europe, Finland, and Western Siberia. China will not interfere with the supply of our demands. China is a large con- sumer of timber, and Russia in this quarter have their eyes upon the Chinese trade. Mr. Wilks investigated 12 152 FORESTS OF SIBERIA AND TURKESTAN the Chinese timber market in 1911, and his figures showed that about 16,000,000 roubles' worth of timber, in the raw state and converted, was imported into China, the greater part being supplied by Japan and the United States. With better organisation, how- ever, it should not be difficult for the Amur region to compete with the above-mentioned countries, more especially as the Chinese market is not particular about the quality of its timber, cheapness being the first desideratum in the eyes of the Celestial. Second- or third-class timber, and even the material obtained from the crowns of the trees, the " tops " of the forester, is said to be good enough for this facile market. Cer- tainly no more convenient market could exist, since it should enable the forest officer to clear his forests of all inferior material, and get paid for doing so into the bargain — a most enviable position. Apparently the greatest difficulty to be faced in organising the Amur timber trade is the labour one. The State, for various reasons, has set limits to the employment of Chinese labour, and owing to the sparse population it is extremely difficult to obtain Russian labourers locally. The heavy expense con- nected with importing labour from great distances makes a large hole in the profits from the timber business. It is anticipated that this difficulty will disappear, as, owing to the rich nature of the Amur district, the population is likely to increase rapidly. The revenue obtained from the State forests of Asiatic Russia is as yet insignificant when compared with their unquestioned value. As we have shown, the forests have been scarcely touched as yet. PROFITS 153 The total profit for the three years 1910-1912 was as follows : Year. Roubles. 1910 ..... 4,234,000 1911 ..... 4,079,000 1912 ..... 4,259,000 The profit from the forests varies in different dis- tricts, as would be expected, since in areas like parts of the Steppe region we have seen that wood is of comparatively high value. For instance, in 1912 in the Akmolin district the better-class forest soil gave a return of 33 kopeks per acre, whereas in the Tobolsk Government it was just under 2 kopeks per acre, and in Tomsk about 2\ kopeks. In other forest divisions in the Tobolsk Government where exploitation is easier, the profit is higher, amounting to 55^ kopeks per acre of good forest soil. Such profits, however, from fine forests containing large amounts of over-ripe timber, strongly emphasise the backwardness of the areas in communications and export facilities. With the extraordinary en- hancement of timber prices which the war has brought about, and which its termination will not see lowered unless very careful steps are taken, there should be a considerable future before these valuable forests of Asiatic Russia, especially in Western Siberia and in the favoured Amur region. XI THE CEDAR (CEMBRAN PINE) TRADE OF ASIATIC RUSSIA WHEN considering the Siberian forests from the stand- point of their trade value and as a source of income to the Government, it will be necessary to glance briefly at the important " Cedar" trade as it is called, i.e. the collection and sale of the seed of the cembran pine (Pinus cembra). The trade is a local one, but contributes greatly to the welfare of the local popu- lation, as the seed is widely eaten throughout the Russian empire. The pine is widespread throughout Asiatic Russia, the Pinus cembra being the commonest species ; on the Altai and Sachalin, however, the P. cembra var. pumilla occurs. Both trees produce the edible seed so well known and valued in the Russian market. The trade in this commodity is chiefly carried out in the Governments of Tobolsk, Tomsk, and Enessey, and especially on the Altai, where there are still beautiful and as yet untouched pine forests and groves. In other parts of Siberia the cembran pine forests have suffered as badly from fire and the axe as has been the case with the other species — spruces, firs, larch and so forth. The gathering of the seed of the cembran pine, or 154 PRIMITIVE METHODS 155 " the cedar harvest " as it is called, commences about the middle of August. At this period the local popu- lation and the " cedar " merchants proceed together to the cembran pine woods and groves to collect the seed. The method of collection, as also the tools used, is most barbarous and would appear to inflict the maximum amount of damage to the trees from which this source of profit is derived, and whose preservation, it would be thought, should be the first object of the harvesters. This is a common characteristic of the Asiatic races. In North Baluchis- tan and in Southern Afghanistan a pine known as Pinus Gerrardiana, the chilgoza or silver-barked pine, occurs in small forests clothing the steep mountain sides and crests. The seed from the cone of this pine is collected for sale, and is widely eaten throughout the Punjab. The methods in force in collecting it, as will be shown, have a curious parallel with those used in harvesting the cembran pine seed in Asiatic Russia. The tools used in Siberia are extremely primitive, consisting of axes, sieves, bark ladles, graters for the cones, mallets, poles, bags, etc. The gathering of the cones is effected by climbers — men and boys who climb up into the trees and knock or pull the ripe cones off the branches. As these branches also contain the young cones of next year's crop, the primitive methods of harvesting usually result in a number of these being knocked off in addition to the ripe ones, thus diminishing the harvest of the following year. This method of collection usually results in numbers of branches being broken off the trees, their future bearing capacity being permanently reduced. 156 THE CEDAR TRADE OF ASIATIC RUSSIA But worse damage than this, serious as it is, takes place. " Rather often," as it is expressed by a Russian writer on the subject, " wholly inadmissible and barbarous methods are employed, whole trees being cut down or large branches cut off." The folly of thus " killing the goose " must seem incredible to those who have no acquaintance with the peculiar point of view of the wilder and ignorant portions of the Asiatic peoples. The cones are collected and placed in bags by old men, women and children, and are carried to the camp where the cedar merchants have made their temporary headquarters, or taken direct to the village. The extraction of the seeds from the cones is now undertaken. For this purpose the cones may be simply dried, when the scales open and the seeds fall out, or the latter are extracted by means of a grater and a roller. The seeds are then sifted by being passed through a coarse sieve and winnowed in the wind. The seed, if these processes have been carried out by the collectors themselves, is then disposed of to the buyers — the cedar merchants — who themselves undertake the further operations of cleaning and drying it. The drying is done throughout the autumn, and the seed is then stored. The mer- chants usually build and own barns and store-houses in which to store the dried seed as conveniently adjacent to the pine forests and groves as possible. On the Altai there is a large centre of this nature in the Bezelbeke meadow not far from the confluence of the Hara and Sasacockshee. In the following January the seed is taken from the store-houses and dispatched • by the buyers to the \arious market3. DESTRUCTIVE PRACTICES 157 It will be of interest to contrast the above method of collecting and dealing with the seed with that in force in the wild border land of North Baluchistan, Afghanistan, and the frontier to the west. The seed is collected by the tribesmen of these parts, who regard it as a right, and in fact consider the forests to be their own property. They fully recognise the value of refraining from felling the trees, except when absolutely required to obtain timber for building purposes, etc., but their regard for the trees goes no farther. The forest has an extremely ragged appear- ance, and this is in part due to the methods of collec- tion, this work being carried out in the summer time. To obtain the seed, men climb the trees, and by means of long poles to the end of which a hook is affixed, they wrench from the boughs the seed-bearing cones. The wrench invariably breaks a portion of the branch, with the result that a tree from which the cones have been recently stripped bleeds from numerous places, and is in a condition most sus- ceptible to attack by insect and fungus pests. The attention of a Political Officer of these regions was drawn to the fact that, owing to the greed of the tribesmen, in addition to the injury done to the trees scarcely a cone was left upon them to produce seed for the natural regeneration of the forests, i.e. the production of a new crop of trees. This must be an equally vital point in the parts of the Western Asiatic forests which are subject to the collection of the seed of the cembran pine. In the case of the chilgoza pine the cones after collection are gathered together in heaps, and the heaps fired whilst 158 THE CEDAR TRADE OF ASIATIC RUSSIA the cones are still green. The heat forces open the cone scales, and the seed is then picked out. This is the common procedure adopted, and when marching through these forests in the autumn, heaps and mounds of empty cones collected in the centre of some small glade are often met with. At the request of the Political Officer, a note was pre- pared laying down some simple rules for the improved collection of the cone harvest in the interests of the preservation of the trees themselves. We had a solemn jirgah in the forest one day. The heads of the local villages and so forth attended and received the explanations of the proposed future procedure with no great enthusiasm, but with promises to see that it was carried out. They are childishly difficult, not to say dangerously difficult, people to deal with in these parts, and as they burnt down the Political Officer's summer head-quarters rest-house, situated in these forests, the following year, it is to be feared that the rules for the collection of chilgoza cones have not yet been introduced very effectively. To return to the cembran pine of Asiatic Russia. The yearly collection of seed is said to amount to several tens of thousands of poods (i pood equals •32 cwt), the average wage of each workman being from six to nineteen roubles a season; or when the work is undertaken by the Labourers' Association (artel) each member of the Association who takes up the work makes from thirty to forty roubles during the season. As a popular dainty the cembran pine seed is much appreciated both throughout Siberia and European THE CEMBRAN PINE 159 Russia. The seeds also yield the "cedar" oil. To obtain it the kernels are extracted from the seed, the husk being stripped off, and ground into a powder. The powder is put into pots covered with water, and placed in slightly heated stoves. The oil from the seed rises to the surface and is poured off into vessels ready for use. It has been necessary to glance briefly at this trade in the seed of the cembran pine since it naturally affects the exploitation of the forests of this species as also the felling arrangements in mixed forests containing this pine in any abundance. A tree which has a value other than for its timber alone owing to the fact that it produces a minor product of marketable value in addition to the major one — timber — must necessarily be subject to a different form of treatment to that applicable to the purely timber-yielding species. And this fact has to be borne in mind when considering the exploitation of the Pinus cembra woods of Siberia and their possibilities as regards supplying material to the timber markets of Europe. PART III TIMBER SUPPLIES AND THE WAR XII TIMBER SUPPLIES AND THE WAR * IMPORTS IN 1913 FOR a considerable number of years past the possi- bility of the occurrence of a wood famine has been discussed — a famine, that is, unprecedented in the history of the world. Many have scouted the idea of such a proposition as a fantastic chimera, pointing to the vast forest resources still existing on the surface of the globe. Others, with a more intimate knowledge, perhaps, of the real position of affairs, have persis- tently sounded the note of alarm. They have drawn attention to the enormously increased de'mand for forest produce of all kinds which the past half-century has witnessed ; to the great destruction of forests which has taken place in the opening out of the coun- tries of the New World during the same period ; to the wasteful and extravagant utilisation of these 1 This article was written in September 1914, and published in The Nineteenth Century and After in February 1915. DISADVANTAGES AT HOME 161 resources largely through fire by an ignorant popula- tion allowed to pursue its own way by an apathetic Government ; and, finally, to the fact that the markets of the world have for some time been supplied with large quantities of material at a low and more or less fictitious price — material that was easily accessible, which paid, for the most part, a very small royalty or none at all — material, in other words, which had cost man nothing to produce and therefore could undersell in every country a similar article which had been grown by man himself. True, in this country we had our own special troubles. A better class of material than we had produced in the past in our own woods on soil and in a climate at least as favourable as that from which the imported articles came, easily ousted the home-grown produce, the position being aggravated by the high railway freight rates in force in these islands. Amongst European States, of course, the importance of the forest received recognition several centuries ago, as soon, in fact, as the pressure and needs of the growing population came to be felt upon the forest lands. These were only saved by closure and the enactment of forest laws protecting both State and privately owned woods. With the increase in popu- lation came the timber market, the enhanced value of forest products, and the raising of new crops to take the place of those felled over for sale. But this recognition of the value of forests was confined to Europe or the more densely populated parts of it. Elsewhere wasteful utilisation held sway. Gradually, however, expert opinion in this matter during the 162 TIMBER SUPPLIES AND THE WAR latter part of last century came to receive a certain meed of attention from the Governments of the States of the world. One of the more recent and notable recognitions took place in America under the Roosevelt regime. That great and far-seeing statesman studied the question, became convinced of its importance, and set himself to put a stop to what may be said to have been one of the most notorious instances of wasteful utilisation of forest material in any country. Roose- velt took up the question in his own vigorous fashion, preached the conservation of the natural resources of his own country, helped to create a Bureau of Forestry, and by all the means in his power encouraged a forestry opinion and a forestry knowledge amongst the people. The crusade resulted in the creation of large forest reserves, in large plantings, and the enlistment of the great lumber interests in checking forest fires, which were imperilling the future material prosperity of the nation, and in replanting areas they had felled over. The energetic action of America in the direction of forestry caught first the imagination and then the attention of the world. Outside Europe, India, long years before, had recognised the importance of con- serving her vast forest area, and under that able administrator, Lord Dalhousie, a permanent policy for forest administration was laid down in 1855 ; a work which, subsequent to the Mutiny, with its imme- diate after-result of rapid railway building, was to be greatly accelerated by the formation of an Imperial Forest Department. But India does not advertise. The officials carry on their work in an almost total CONSERVATION OF FOREST RESOURCES 163 obscurity so far as the outer world is concerned, and it was many years before the existence of the fine Indian department was to win recognition throughout the world, or even within the British Isles. Many British Colonies — notably the Cape and Canada — soon followed the Indian and American lead, in many instances borrowing men from India to start their forestry work or advise in the matter. At the present day most of the British Dominions, Colonies and Protectorates have a forestry department in being or are laying the foundations of one. In other words, the conservation of their natural forest resources in the interests of their present and future populations has become a recognised branch of the administration of all States, although in many cases much remains to be done before such administration can be con- sidered efficient. Turning now to our own country, the British Isles may be said to be the last to enter the arena of forest production and conservancy. Not that forestry as a science and a source of revenue had not been pursued for a long period in this country. It had ! But the position has been far different from that existing on the Continent of Europe. These islands started, as did many other now densely populated parts of the world, with primeval woods covering the greater part of them. These, with an increasing population, were mostly wantonly wasted by fire and axe, considerable areas formerly covered with pine remaining bare at the present day, witness the Scottish Highlands. The areas still under wood — such as, e.g., the New Forest in Hampshire and the Forest of Dean in Gloucester- 164 TIMBER SUPPLIES AND THE WAR shire — owe their preservation to the fact that they were maintained as Royal shooting forests in the olden days. But forestry, in areas of privately owned woods, was understood in England and dates back a long way. In 1543 a Statute of Woods was enacted. Under this it was decreed that all woods should be enclosed for four, six, or seven years after each cutting over of the coppice for different rotations, and that at least twelve standards per acre should be reserved or left on the area to grow into timber of a certain girth or age. These standards were to be oak, if possible, or elm, ash, aspen, or beech, these being the timbers most in demand, whilst the coppice consisted of chestnut, hazel, ash, oak, willow, birch, etc. The object of this and subsequent enactments was to ensure the maintenance of a supply of suitable timber of the requisite size for shipbuilding, both for the Navy and the merchant-vessel classes. The success which attended Evelyn's planting campaign in the reign of Charles II has been commented upon. This practice of forestry, which came to be known as British forestry, remained in force for a long period, and supplied the country with the bulk of its timber requirements in the direction of home-grown materials. It was successful as long as, and only as long as, it had its home market. The introduction of the steel vessel, the abolition of the import duties on Colonial timber in 1846, and for all other foreign timber in 1866, sounded the death-knell of British forestry methods as at the time practised. And not only this. These methods unfortunately came to be positively injurious. The requirements of the old shipbuilding RESULTS OF IGNORANCE 165 trade necessitated the production of large branches, crooks, and curved timber on the trees. In order to produce these it was essential that each tree should be given a great deal of growing space, the result being loss of height-growth, short bole, and large branches. As soon as these latter no longer found a market for which they were grown, forestry operations resulted in a loss, the only saleable part of the tree being the bole, of greatly curtailed length. This was bad enough, but worse was to follow. Plantations were formed of other species, especially conifers, to which the old principles and methods of thinning were applied, or something having a close resemblance to these old methods. Consequently the new woods were systematically over-thinned, the trees branched low, the bole was stunted and full of knots, the volume of timber realised per acre was much below what it should have been — all witness to the impracticability of applying a perfectly correct sylvicultural system for one class of material to the production of a different one. The results of the past half to three-quarters of a century have not been due so much to a decadence of British forestry as to an unfortunate want of know- ledge of the methods to be employed to produce the classes of material imported in large quantities from the Continent, classes which have easily and success- fully competed with the home-grown article. A golden opportunity would now seem to have arrived to rectify matters. With this brief summary we will now turn to a survey of the present production of forestry materials (timber, pit props, and wood pulp, and so on) and 166 TIMBER SUPPLIES AND THE WAR their imports into this country from various parts of the world. It will then be possible to consider the position, so far as forest imports are concerned, in which the sudden incidence of a general European War has placed us. It will be pointed out how, whilst helping to the utmost extent of our resources the mine- owner, builder, and other trades employing wood, an admirable opportunity has arrived for clearing off a number of wrongly formed and badly grown planta- tions and of starting afresh. A study of the imports for 1913, which will be now proceeded with, will sufficiently support this contention. The United Kingdom buys nearly half the timber exported from all countries, and the prices ruling in British markets affect the world ! With a war of the present magnitude on our hands this state of affairs appears worthy of some consideration. An investigation of the Board of Trade Returns for 1913 shows that the value of wood and timber and manu- factures thereof imported into this country amounted for that year to £37,300,000, as against £25,600,000 in 1909. For the same years the value of imported wood pulp, including millboard and wood-pulp board, was £5,425,000, as against £4,135,000. The rise in each case over a period of four years only is note- worthy. The chief exporting countries in Europe are Russia, Sweden, Norway, Germany, France, and Austria-Hungary, the three first being the most import- ant. Outside Europe the United States of America and Canada send us large amounts of wood material. OUR IMPORTS 167 The chief supplies of fir (coniferous wood — hewn, sawn, and planed — other than pitwood) come from Russia, Sweden, Norway, Germany, United States, and Canada, the total values of the imports from these countries for 1913 being £16,000,000 from Europe and £6,500,000 from the United States and Canada. The Russian imports were £10,330,000, as against a total of £5,700,000 from Sweden, Norway, and Ger- many, the totals from the United States and Canada being £3,383,000 and £3,150,000 respectively. Russia again is the chief pit prop and pitwood supplier, £2,400,000 worth of this essential com- modity for the mines of the country being imported in 1913 (as against £1,400,000 in 1909, an increase of a million !). The next important supplies came from France, £830,000 ; Sweden, £560,000 ; Portugal, £280,000 ; and Norway, £200,000 ; Germany, Spain, and other foreign countries sending together £154,000. No pitwood came from British possessions during 1913. The importance of the position revealed by these figures can scarcely be exaggerated. Wood pulp, of which a shortage has probably already made itself felt, to judge from the dwindling in size as also in quality of the paper in use by many of the daily papers and the weekly and monthly periodicals, is shown in the Board of Trade 1913 Returns under five heads : Chemical dry, bleached and unbleached ; chemical wet ; mechanical dry and wet. Of the first named, Norway is the largest importer into this country (£136,000 in 1913), with £23,000 from Sweden. The largest amounts of unbleached came from Sweden (£I»945»000)' Norway (£377,000), Russia (£329,000), 13 168 TIMBER SUPPLIES AND THE WAR and Germany (£322,000). Chemical wet came chiefly from Sweden (£37,000), mechanical dry from Russia (£22,000), and mechanical wet from Norway (£701,000), Sweden (£281,000), Canada (£156,000), and New- foundland (£123,000). The greatest quantities of oak in 1913 were im- ported from the United States (£1,134,000), Russia (£186,000), Germany and Austria-Hungary (£273,000), and Canada (£85,000). The chief amounts of teak came from India (£752,000), Siam (£119,000), and Java (£40,000). The mahogany came from French West Africa (£344,000), Southern Nigeria (£226,000), Gold Coast (£198,000), British Honduras (£135,000), United States (£115,000), Cuba (£72,000), and German West Africa (£52,000). The largest amount of furniture and cabinet ware came from France (£106,000) and the United States (£104,000), with £60,000 from Germany and £58,000 from Belgium. House-frame fittings and joiners' work came from Sweden (£71,000) and the United States (£40,000). Wood ware and wood turnery from the United States (£1,392,000), Russia (£806,000), Germany (£364,000), Sweden (£85>ooo), France (£70,000), and Canada (£53,000). The chief imports of staves were sent from Russia (£481,000), United States (£266,000), Sweden (£120,000), Germany (£64,000), Norway (£46,000). Chip boxes to the value of £38,000 were imported from Sweden, and half a million pounds' worth of matches from Russia (£21,000), Sweden (£292,000), Norway (£38,000), Netherlands (£22,000), and Belgium (£134,000). Cork to the tune of £895,000 was imported from Portugal and Spain. CLASSIFICATION OF TIMBERS 169 Turning now to the classification of timbers. In commerce timbers are classified into two chief groups : softwoods and hardwoods — a purely arbitrary classi- fication. The former are practically all conifers, pines (red and yellow deal), spruces, and firs (white deal), and the larches. The timber of these species is com- paratively light, strong, and easy to work, and is extensively used by all trades, and generally for building purposes. Coniferous timber is imported as logs, deals (thick planks), and boards. It is logged and sawn up from selected well-grown clean stems, free as possible from knots. Pit-props are cut from thinnings in middle-aged woods, from the tops of older trees which have been logged, and from stunted growth which will yield material of the requisite size. Wood pulp is preferably made from trees of 4-inch to 8-inch diameter, and is largely used, of course, for the manufacture of the cheaper classes of paper. With the exception of oak and a few other species, the imported hardwoods do not grow in these islands. Even in the case of oak the foreign timber of this species is preferred to the indigenous, as it is less hard and easier to work. The foreign imported hardwoods are used for veneering, panelling, flooring, furniture, and wood turnery, etc. They are usually heavy woods and difficult to work, and consequently more costly. The imports of wood and timber received into this country may be divided according to the Board of Trade Returns into six divisions as follows, taking hewn (i.e. logs) and sawn, planed, and dressed coni- ferous material as one division : iyo TIMBER SUPPLIES AND THE WAR Division. Classification. Value. I 2 3 Conifers (firs in Board of Trade Returns) — Logs, sawn or split, planed or dressed Conifers — Pit props and pitwood Conifers — Wood pulp .... i 22,8oo,OOO 4,400,000 5,425,000 5 6 Wood manufactures — House frames, furni- ture, joiner's work, staves, turnery Hardwoods — Teak, mahogany, veneers, and other foreign furniture wood . 4,600,000 3,800,000 TOTAL ...... An analysis of the above six divisions of the imports of wood and timber into this country brings into prominence several important and interesting features. The first four, involving a sum of £34,325,000, comprise materials obtained from coniferous species and oak, all of which can be grown in this country. For the manufactured articles in division five both conifers and hardwoods are employed, the sixth division being confined to purely foreign exotic timbers. A second point is the steady rise in the imports under all the divisions during the past four years, the increase for 1913 over 1909 being nearly £12,000,000. From the above rough classification it can be seen that the pinch is likely to be early felt in the imports of pitwood, wood pulp, and building timbers. It will be useful, therefore, to tabulate the amounts of materials in our divisions coming from the various countries. These latter may be divided into three distinct categories of States: (I.) European ; (II.) Non-European States and Foreign Colonies ; (III.) British Possessions, including Protectorates. TABLE OF VALUES 171 VALUES IN STERUNG OF IMPORTS UNDER THE DIFFERENT DIVISIONS Country. Div. i DIV. 3 Div. 3 Div. 4 Div. 3 Div. 6 Conifers : I 8 | oo •* m o>ix «o M °. *0 t 1 ^ ".^ ^ m 1 Si $ « - - 1 rf- * .j- 1 I ~ S 111,1111 1 J .0 COW « tx« ** • 0«0> -*0 «00 0 OOtx 0*txo> 0 fej ! rf^l^M- 1 01 m q_ | M_ 2_ o_o_ « R i prl!i 1 Irt ti 3 ov t? « ?> S> ? m» « o oo w mo txoo >o O « «XO ? h 0. i I5!-!!!1! 1 <-3 1 a rt 1°°. "1 <^1°. 'O ^i *i 1 !! i rfwSSrfrflrJ o i < 1 to Oi Oi d\O mo *x O O OMO O^coro 0_« 0_« txO_tvoO__ 1 Si > siaaas's.s 1 > 0 0\00 mix 0>O OV -,« » ,° llflfllj I Totals for first six war compared ^ six months of it Russia Sweden Norway Germany United States British East India Canada Other Countries H Totals for first six war compared \ six months of 15 PIT PROPS AND PITWOOD 189 price per load from £i8'6 to £19'!. From " Other Countries" in this group there was a considerable increase during the first three months of the war, followed by a drop in each of the subsequent months. The quantities for the war period more than doubled — 15,000 to 33,000 loads, valued respectively at £194,000 and £261,000, a most satisfactory item to the credit of the account. Group II., Pit Props and Pitwood, has been already dealt with, each month showing a decrease, as is indicated by the following figures for the periods : II. PIT PROPS AND PITWOOD. Totals for first six months of war com- pared with same months of 1913-14 There was a slight increase in price per load (from £1-36 to £i'54). In view of the fact that our chief supplies of pit materials come from Russia, who sent us £2,400,000 worth during the year 1913, and from France (£830,000 in 1913), it is to the good that supplies have been as well maintained as the above figures indicate. The third group consists of sawn or split, planed or dressed timber, including sleepers, which the J3oard of 2 alSSIS I •^t-u-ivo o\ a\ t*?1*^*: i &\ MOO fs.00 1 M M COVO M »ntx o co u->ts. . •£ : 1 . 1 § I COCO M 2*£0 £J clvd' uo co coocT r Countries tries Unen Sleepers* Unit Cana Othe j§5o 1?J3 190 RESULTS 191 Trade now show separately in its returns. With the omission of India and Germany, the countries from which the imports come are primarily the same as those of Group I. The table on p. 190 shows the variations in the imports for the two periods under review. Under this group we have a very heavy de- crease in Russian imports, from 2,013,000 loads to 683,000, valued at £5,894,000 and £2,150,000 respec- tively, a decrease of value of approximately three and three-quarter million pounds. Sweden exhibits a better position, there being a decided recovery and increase in imports during September and October of 1914, resulting in a balance on the right side for the six months, the figures being 826,000 loads (as compared with 769,000 for 1913-14), valued at £2,776,000 (compared with £2,190,000), an increase of half a million. Norway also conies out with a satis- factory rise on totals for the six months of the war, whilst at the same time showing a consistent increase for each month over the imports for the similar months of the previous year. The totals come to 171,000 loads (compared with 114,000), valued at £694,000 (against £417,000). Similar results cannot unfortunately be recorded for the United States of America, there being a decrease on imports for every month except August 1914, the total values being £640,000 for the war period, as against £1,028,000 for the previous year. Canada, on the other hand, after a considerable drop in imports during August and September of 1914, showed a consistent increase for the remaining four months of the war period. The totals for the whole period, however, did not reach those of the previous ^ s §3 X Z ° l 3 § . £ S^N- 2 "1 1 1 ** e£ " i i 1 i c£ I 1 1| i 1 * 8 1 § oo ^co 1 i Iff 1 i i I | 1 i III | M « * B s 2 jt 1 g "** o\ c? 1 fc ^r> o CO 0? o ? 1 1 fx ' S i ! I ! i I 1- i 1 "I" § '§ ' ' °fl ' i! l.jj.. a?f 1 l>,l ill 2 « 8 M§ a 0 I1!^! H |la WOOD PULP 193 year — 530,000 loads to 572,000, valued respectively at £1,819,000 and £2,034,000. There was also a small decrease of about £62,000 sterling under the head of " Unenumerated Countries " for this group. Group IV. consists of miscellaneous products, in- cluding mahogany, staves, etc. The details of the imports for the six months' period are given on p. 192. The imports of staves, as shown by the table, have dropped to exactly one-third during the past six months — 33,000 to 99,000 loads, valued at £237,000 and £547,000, the price having risen from £5*5 per load to £7*1 per load. As was to be expected, the imports of mahogany decreased from 92,000 tons to 42,000 tons, valued at £805,000 and £315,000. A point of interest about these figures is that the price of this fine timber dropped during the period from £87 per ton to £7*5 per ton. The " Unenumerated " materials in this group also show a decrease of nearly a quarter of a million pounds sterling. Our last group, Group V., consists of wood pulp and mill-board and wood-pulp board. It is a group possessing peculiar interest at this juncture. Setting aside the question of the daily Press, which is so de- pendent upon this material, we should all of us find it difficult to get on without the cheaper forms of paper, even in our domestic life. Perhaps the most significant feature of the imports of this product of wood lies in the fact that whilst the imports during the war period actually rose to a slight extent, the price has also risen as compared with the same period during the previous year. This increase must presumably be attributed to the rise in shipping freights. The price rose from -oo mo. ^-H <^»n oo •t 5* o_ * Russia Sweden Norway . Germany . Canada Other Countries Unenumerated Countries Une Mill-board an S'gT ' -^s oo 2; 00 1 I oo 8 M *S * i CO > J | 1 i I "£. S o 1 en 1 159,752 1 i 1 1 1 CO s; ^ 1 iS ^ »Ti ^ *§ ff M M ij d •n M rs, & 1 1 1 rf 3 M i i E 1 1 1 1 CO i H *>. s eo M » } E 00* d 3 vo" o. 1 1 N * S" VO K | % o CO ^ .g1 ^ 581 s S 1 CO IN. s M d vo" § tC V0_ 1 1 % 5 M s "2 !« § 1 1 s £ % fO £-2 S s S I? i » 0 $•§ CO R 5: 0 rt ^ "2 J 1 i o. oi.S vo 21 CO 00 i i Pit Props and Pitwood . Sawn or Split, Planed or Dressed, in- eluding Sleepers Miscellaneous —Staves, Furniture woods, Ven- eers, Maho- gany Wood Manu- factures Wood Pulp and Pulp Board M s 5 5 > > 206 I « 1 s. « £ vo' pj ^ £ if « i * s fe w> 8 a M . i I 2 I 1 | g 1 Jo ^ 1 »£> 5 1 CO 1 K 1 1 I € 1 n v-i oo I 1 i 1 i 1 1 5! OO ^1 i m * 5 3 i oo" 00 1 CO CO I m R CO I « m I I 00 oo 1 1 00 s ?? I 2 M 2 ! 1 CO » § s 0 1 5 I M | 1 ft 1 1 4 j M y 8 VO i m 0? 1 Jo •s M * M. M 3 q. •s S a \0 & $ I 1 tC 00 I 1 1 Hewn Timber —Fir, Oak, Teak, etc. . r 1! s^ il Miscel laneous — Staves, Furni- ture woods, Veneers, Ma- hogany J jj 1 M K HH > > > 207 > ts. 1 § *o 1 i "§, 5 »£> I d W d< VO tC 9 "2 1 i 1 V> > 445,745 ft I 1 <£ m 1 dt I 479,341 s 1 i 1 > | £ I VO CO i i 1 V0~ 3" i ~ di •s tC 1 t i 1 g >' *n 1 I i s d 1 | ! i 1 > ! t & i ^. | >> dt OS in *O 1 rC c\ i ! ^ ro S^ >-2 U"> 6 o 1 1 3 E 1 g i?^ §5 8 ^ i i 5 ! I. Hewn Timber —Fir, Oak, Teak, etc. . II. Pit Props and Pitwood . III. Sawn or Split, Planed or Dressed, in- c lud i ng Sleepers . IV. Miscellaneous — Staves , Furniture Woods, Ven- eers, Maho- gany. ji > VI. Wood Pulp and Pulp Board 203 m ***j •3 ' till f 209 210 TIMBER IMPORTS AND EXPORTS IN 1915 a rise in price of £67 to £8*4 per load. With the essentials for war operations becoming more and more difficult to supply we still continued to import ma- hogany, veneers and other unnecessary materials of this nature ! It would be ludicrous were it not so disastrous. Lastly in Group VI. (Wood Pulp) the imports in 1915 were a little less than in 1913 (2,167,032 as compared with 2,296,835 loads), whilst the price rose slightly (£5,979,486 compared with £5,283,716). The table on pp. 206-9 shows the amounts of forestry materials imported and their values month by month for the years under review. Under Group I. it is observable that the amounts imported month by month during 1915 were only about one-third to a half of those imported in 1913. As regards prices the rise between January 1915 and December 1915 was £i'i per load (12,956 loads @ £101,739 to 20,709 loads @ £185,609). In Group II. (Pitwood) the increase between January and Decem- ber 1915 was greater. In January 117,755 loads cost £188,046, whereas in December 140,192 loads cost us £461,632, an increase of from £r6 to £3^2 per load. In Group III. (Sawn and Planed) there was also a rise, the price going from £3^5 per load in January to £5 in December (167,625 loads @ £669,466 to 265,287 @ £1,340,931 in December). In Group IV. (Miscellaneous) staves fell from £9*4 per load in January to £5^9 in December ; whilst mahogany, other foreign hard- woods, and veneers rose from £6 '3 per ton to £8 '6 per ton (11,280 tons @ £71,963 to 16,221 tons @ £140,085 in December). The imports of wood manu- EXPORTS OF TIMBER 211 factures (Group V.) rose from £107,767 in January to £239,512 in December. This group includes furniture and cabinet ware, house frames and fittings, chip boxes, woodware and wood turnery. The import of some of these articles has been now prohibited, a step which might preferably have been undertaken a year ago. Lastly, Group VI. (Wood Pulp, etc.) exhibits a rise in price of from £5*9 per ton to£6'8 per ton in December, the amounts imported showing an increase (62,583 tons @ £373,989 as compared with 92,603 tons @ £636,610 in December). Our exports of timber, etc., materials during the past year exhibit decreases as compared with 1913. They consisted of wood and timber (rough hewn, sawn, planed) and wood manufactures, including furni- ture. In the first group there is a drop on the year from 47,363 loads @ £340,745 in 1913 to 28,260 loads @ £198,322 for 1915. In Group II. the price realised for wood manufactures fell from £2,041,640 in 1913 to £1,041,755, a decrease of exactly a million pounds sterling. These figures can only be accepted on the supposition that the export of this class of materials is now almost confined to Government war necessities, the export of all others having been stopped owing to want of tonnage. If this explanation is incorrect it would appear that Government timber exports, sleepers, posts for wire entanglements, etc., are not shown in the Board of Trade Returns. That enormous quanti- ties of these materials are being used in the war areas we know. We are also aware that we are intimately concerned in their supply— probably to a greater extent now than during 1915. « R i I? • | M 5 f 0 " dt 1 1 ! . £ £ m CO S i d 1 i ^ > 5 $ 1 ^ 8 01 I i 1 $ 1 £ Z $ c/3 H ex \ 1 H « <% § g S K cx X ? (4 j a 1 J 1 s SU ^ ^ 1 5 ^ ^.S 'S £ £ " | ! 1 1 "8 • II r || « "" •a * I. I D I. Wood and Timber — bewn, sawn, or split etc. C:H I8 £i o Jin II. Wood Manufaclures ing furniture) . 01 o> 1 « j ? 1 1 £ a 1 z •0 ! 1 ? s j I i o n ?; < * ! 1 rs I i 1 1 ! CO t 1 1 fi' "O ' I A'. 5 a H- If jii IJ ^ 8 » i vg 1 i