' Of the estates of the government of Orel deserving notice from the value of the yearly clearings, the first one is not far from Orel, the crown estate Poslovskaio, of the extent of 236 desatins 1740 fathoms. In this estate there are 221 desatins of forest area, and 15 desatins of waste land. Of the forest land 113 desatins are under pine trees; the remainder is under oak growth. With regard to age 40 per cent, are mature, 40 per cent, are young plantations, and 20 per cent, are of medium growth. There is one desatin sold yearly from this estate, at the price of 400 to 500 roubles. This valuable estate remains until now not organised, and it is guarded by foresters. There is no word yet about artificial renewing of the estate, notwithstanding its great revenue. The income from this estate is appropriated to the Alexandrina Female Institution.
' The greatest number of estates in the government of Orel, giving an annual income from the sale of yearly fellings, are concentrated in the first Briansk forest district. Of the general area of the forest estates of this forest district of 61,399 desatins 2,230 fathoms, the estates having a full sale cover 59,365 desatins 1,012 fathoms. In this area are included the crown estates: — Souponev, 7,927 desatins 660 fathoms; Soensk, 7,485 desatins 2,251 fathoms; Koulnev, 16,819 desatins. 2,364 fathoms; Koritchijko- Krilov 3,576 desatins 2,209 fathoms; Vorpomorsky, 13,513 desatins 1355 fathoms. In these estates there is of forest 41,249 desatins, of which there are under pine, 18,414 desatins; under fir, 7,616 desatins; mixture of coniferous and broad-leaved trees, 8,386 desatins; under broad leaf, 5,167 desatins. In eacli of these estates some parts of them lie at 5 and 10 versts from the most convenient roads for sales; other parts of the same estates lie still further, so that the division of the mass of wood by estates, as it exists at present, is not satisfactory either with regard to forest trade or economy. With regard to trade in wood, since into one whole are joined parts differing between themselves as to expense of cartage of timber, this is inconvenient in making estimates in an economical point of view, — because being in contact with each other these estates require their boundaries to be cleared, whereas if the whole area of these estates were taken as one economical unit then all the trees of the same section by one numeration could be divided according to convenience of cartage; and then the boundary lines would be changed for division lines, which would give great convenience in making the estimates, and in an economical point of view would require less labour in clearing the cuttings.
' Above we have remarked that the annual sales are preferable to the contract sales for cuttings for a series of years, and we adduce in confirmation of this the following: — In the first Briansk forest district is situated the Polpinsky crown estate, which is on lease; its total area is 4,652 desatins 760 fathoms; of this area their are under wood 4,016 desatins; annual cuttings, 58 desatins; giving a gross revenue of 676 roubles, 46 kopecs, or 11 roubles per desatin; whereas the average value of a desatin of clearings in the government of Orel, as we saw above, was from 30 to 50 roubles; moreover, this average price is rapidly increasing, and the lease rent remains for a number of years the same. In this forest district there is likewise the estate of Koritchijko-Uralov (in the management of the Briansk forest officials) of 2,850 desatins 1,835 fathoms. Besides the crown estates there are peasant estates, the total area of which is 4,474 desatins 396 fathoms.
* The first Briansk forest district is the principal one in the government of Orel, as well from its present condition, as from the future which it will have with the opening of the Smolensk-Orel railway, which runs through it for several versts. From the value of the cuttings in the above-mentioned estates of this forest district Koulkovsky is remarkable. The average price per desatin on this estate is 87 roubles, but frequently their are parts where the price per desatin is above 100 roubles. One meets likewise on the Soensk^estate with desatins much above the average price per desatin in the government. In this estate some desatins attain sometimes to 140 roubles. The Soensk and Koulkovsky estates are also known under the names of first and second parts of Polninsky estate.
' The Karatchev forest district has almost like importance with the first Briansk, because from most of the estates of this forest district there is a possibility of transporting forest materials by railway (not over 80 versts), with a cartage of 5 to 20 versts. Besides the district town, Karatchev is a local consumer, and is situated at a distance from the principal mass of forests of about 20 versts.