' In the meantime the planting of forests in this country has brought to it a practical and very palpable benefit. In this respect the first place is occupied by the small forest near Odessa, on the Peresif, planted in 1831 and 1834< on 130 desatins of salt soil, to defend <)dessa from the wind, which brought clouds of sand into the town. This planting was made on the idea of the former chief ot OdeR&a, Leoshin, and it is known by the name of the Leoshin plantation. Since then these plantations have increased, and one must remark that planting of trees on the Peresif, composed of.sea drifts of sand and closely packed shells, with a salt soil, and want of water, was difficult, but it proved to the inhabitants of Odessa the possibility and utility of plantations, and from that time the suburbs of Odessa, little by little, have begun to clothe themselves with green trees; but they are very sickly, and short lived, because the heat, dust, hardness of soil, want of water, and frequent droughts, do not give the trees a possibility to develop themselves properly, and only those trees which are protected from all sides, at least from winds, the drying nature of which forms the greatest danger to vegetation, grow pretty satisfactory.
' The Leoshin plantations had the same importance as the great Anadol plantations in the government of Ekatherinoslav; in both cases they were designed to prove the possibility of making forest plantations. The difference between them is, that the Leoshin plantations were called for by necessities of the town, and have brought to it a practical benefit by defending Odessa from sand carried by the wind. Besides this, many capitalists of Odessa were so carried away by this example that forest planting was for some time fashionable; they used to boast of it, and planted trees on estates without any views as to the income and economical significance of their planting — there was only one object in view, the so to say climatic influence of these plantations on the neighbouring estates: and of the climatic influence the inhabitants of Odessa are strongly persuaded, because the summer heats and neighbouring steppes frequently remind them of this.
' Forests could counteract droughts, because their influence on the winds in the steppes is very visible; roads and ploughed fields under the influence of wind soon dry; but the drying proceeds much more slowly, not only if the soil be defended by forests, but even if it be so by burian or high grass. When we see thousands of desatins of ploughed land loosened for several vershocks in depth, and very rapidly drying under the influence of strong winds, then we have a visible indication of what immense stores of water the soil must have in order to satisfy on one side the rapidity of this evaporation, and on the other side the demands of the future vegetable life. The rapid movement of the layers of atmosphere nearest the surface must have great influence on the moisture of the soil.
' There is not much wood in the governments of Ekatherinoslav and Kherson, compared with other governments; but for that the demands for forest materials are very limited, and these are used very economically. Mr Konoplin, talking of the wood trade in Prussia, held up as an example the economy in the useof forest materials shown by Prussians; but this economy in the governments of Ekatherinoslav and Kherson is perhaps greater than that of the Prussians: here you will not only not see any log or piece Q£ timber lying about, but even chips and bark remaining from the logs in landing them is carefully collected from the mud of the Dnieper by the poor inhabitants, amongst whom there is a lively trade in this material. The Jewish population employ part of the materials received in this way for manufacturing different small goods from wood; the sawdust goes for fuel; brushwood is strictly sorted in Odessa, and it is partly employed in making baskets, which in many cases replace tubs, which are very dear in this town. With the above retail sales of firewood, in Odessa firewood is subjected to the most careful sorting, the size of the billet, thickness, state of rotteness, dampness, straightness of grain, everything is taken into account, and expressed in kopecs.
'The very construction of wooden buildings is done most economically; in most cases farmers of the middle class use in building houses of medium size, being in length 9 to 12 archines, in breath 7 to 8 archines, the following quantity of forest materials: —
' For posts in the walls, for ties between the posts, and for the beams of the ceiling, 10 pieces of 9 archine beams, 5 vershocks thick; for truss pieces, 20 pieces of 9 archiue beams of the thickness of 3 vershocks; to the length beams they attach crossings of perches, and to the truss pieces split perches, 50 pieces of 9 archine beams, 2 vershocks thick.
1 Further, for the making of doors and windows, about 5 beams, 9 archines long, by 4 vershocks thick; boards, 7 archines long, by 4 vershocks broad, 8 pieces; deals, 15 pieces, and some pieces of slabs, and two loads of brushwood. Neither deals or boards are used for the floor, ceiling, or roof. Beams for walls are likewise not often used. Such examples of economy will probably not frequently be met with even in Prussia.