' In the government of Ekatherinoslav the competition of different substitutes for wood has attained greater development than in other governments: stone buildings, huts built of clay and kizik (cow's dung), lougia, reeds, dry frass (called burian), straw, coal, and anthracite, and nally with a long and hot summer, and winters not cold, these are competitors with forest materials in this government. But notwithstanding this competition the prices of forest materials are constantly rising. Although in the eastern part of the Ekatherinoslav government, and the parts joining it of the land of the Don Cossacks, there are, as is generally known, beds of coal and anthracite, and the working of the last has received in these places greater development than in other governments; still, the prices of wood materials here attain their highest delelopment. In Taganrok, Rostov, and Nachitchevan, lying not far from the centre of the coal district of Russia, the price of firewood varies between 25 and 36 roubles, and the rise of price in Taganrok to 36 roubles took place in the last year, notwithstanding that in the neighbourhood the coal industry was developing itself.
' The crown forests of the government of Ekatherinoslav are divided into the following forest districts: —
Forest On Ground of Appurten- Waste area. lease. foresters ances. land.
Desatins. Desatins. Desatins. Desatins. Desatins. (Basin of Dnieper.)
Ekatherinoslav, - 4,364 3,717 226
Verchnedreoposk, - 4,924 180 432 2,918
(Basin of Don.)
Slavianoserbsk, - 4,364 288 226
Velikoanadolsky, - 1,746 2000 60 447 39
' In the government of Ekatherinoslav there are in all 101,147 desatins of forest, but in this amount the crown forests are entered entire — that is, with their lease grounds, lands of foresters, &c. The same must be said of private estates, in which are included the commons on which trees grow.
' Many of the crown estates, by their small size — a few square fathoms — have no importance in the wood trade, and are incapable of repaying the expenses of watching. The same must be said of the forest plantations on which up to this time trees have been planted. The following is the revenue from the great estates —
Sold for,.... Disposed of at a reduced tax, Given gratis, - From leases and sundry, - Received arrears,
,, duty for billets,
,, interest,
Roubles.
Roubles.
Roubles.
Roubles.
1 The smallness of the revenue from the sale of wood is principally because the greater part of the wood is destined to be given to the peasants at a reduced price, in consequence of which there is not a proper state of affairs in the wood trade on the local markets. As a characteristic of the difference between the sales at a reduced price and free sales, I adduce the following ciphers: —
1 From the sales at a reduced price or tax in 1866 was received 20,181 roubles, which, with the total area of forests of 48,496 desatins, makes for each desatin 41 kopecs income; but from sales much more was received:
' For instance, in the Rostov forest district there is a crown estate, Leontiev-Boerak, of which the area is 1,064 desatins, and the revenue received from it was —
From sales,
2 per cent, money,
Stamp duty,
Fines,
For illegal felling,
3,179 roubles, 52 kopecs. 64
3,354 roubles, 434 kopecs.
That is, more than 3 roubles per desatin, or eight times more than where the timber is given at a reduced rate.
Remarks on the Wood Trade of Kherson Government.
'The government of Kherson belongs to those few governments which receive the wood required for local purposes from beyond the frontier; bat in the government of Kherson foreign wood is used only in small quantity, while the Dnieper private forests are not quite exhausted. Forest materials are brought into the government of Kherson by three ways —by the Dnieper to the eastern part of the government, by the Dwina to the west, and principally to Odessa from the government of Podolia and from Galicia, by land from the governments of Volhinia and Kiev to the ncrth-western part of the government, to Odessa and Nicolayev by water from Kherson and from the mouth of the Dwina.