From sales of timber, - 36,753 28,591 40,624 62,070 79,299 Sold by reduced scale, - 13,203 14,418 15,617 19,565 17,821 Gratis,.... 3,613 11,023 9,813 12,425 5,941 Received for billets and interest, 649 945 1,258 1,816 2,068 Total revenue from leases and other sources, - - 40,677 31,922 46,641 72,338 102,587
' The government of Volhinia deals principally in produce for abroad; it sends this to Riga and Prussia. The participation of this government in the interior trade with the Dnieper governments having a scarcity of forests is very inconsiderable, which is principally owing to the want of good communication; the land carriage to the governments of Podolia and Kherson is hindered by the dividing ridge between the basins of the rivers Pripet and Bug, but the water communication is much more convenient to Riga and Prussia for timber, and to Warsaw for firewood and ordinary building materials. For the Dnieper the principal wood products of the government of Volhinia is pitch and tar, but of both of these products comparatively little goes. The Kiev-Balta railway, with branches on Berdichov and Volotchisk, will not have any great influence on the sale of the principal mass of Volhinia forests, in consequence of their distance. The branch to Berdichov will have a great influence on the most southern estates of the Gitomir forest district, and the branch to Volotchisk, on the south-western estates of the government of Volhinia. The opening of these railroads will in all probability not take place soon, and until then the sales from the forests of Volhinia will be principally influenced by the state of the wood trade in Warsaw, Danzig, and Riga.
Two Principal Groups of Forests in the Government of Kiev, and their bearing upon the Wood Trade.
'The crown forests of the government of Kiev are divided into two groups in respect to the wood trade, and even in wood growth, viz., — the northern and the southern.
' The northern group of forests in the government of Kiev consists of forest estates of the districts of Kiev, Radomisl, and Vassilkov, and forms, in respect to the wood trade, one whole with the forests of three Oster and one Tchernigov forest districts in the government of Tchernigov, the Pereiaslav forestry in the government of Poltava, and the southern part of the Retchiltza district in the government of Minsk. All this ma s of forests is so disposed round Kiev that it can be considered as one estate, and not as separate estates in different governments. Almost in the middle of this mass of forests the rivers Pripet and Dwina fall into the Dnieper. The junction of these three important floating ways has a great influence in respect to" the wood trade on these forests, because the Pripet, and so likewise the Dnieper and Dwina, before their junction cut through a great extent of forests. Many wood dealers on a small scale, collecting forest materials in places distant from one another, have no idea of the whole mass of wood prepared for floating down the Dnieper. With the opening of the navigation about Kiev the wood dealers from the rivers Pripet, Dwina, and the upper part of the Dnieper, come for the first time into communication between themselves, and here only learn for themselves the real state of the wood markets with regard to the quantity of prepared materials. The fluctuation of prices continues until the last rafts go. Many small wood dealers take the wood only to Kiev; here the forest materials pass into other hands, and go to Ekatherinoslav, and very rarely to Kherson, because the great part of the Kherson rafts have their destination from the starting point, in order not to lose time in Kiev, and not to let slip through this the highest water over the rapids, which facilitate the passage over them. And when it is necessary for the Kherson rafts to winter then they winter principally at Krementebug.
' The wholesale purchases for distant floatage have a great influence on the sale of wood floated down for local use; and this in its turn is greatly dependent on the state of trade generally on the river Dwina. On this river are many fabriques, and many goods are floated down on rafts. The principal employment of these rafts is to carry goods, in consequence of which these rafts can be sold cheaper in Kiev than those that do not carry goods, as the first derive considerable profit from carrying these goods. The number of such rafts, and the character of the forest materials composing them, depends on the demand for fabrique goods, and therefore vary from year to year.
' Under the influence of such different circumstances the prices for forest materials are fixed between the mouths of the rivers Dwina and Pripet, and principally at Kiev; and the state of these prices has an influence on the sale of forest materials from the crown estates concentrated, as stated above, around Kiev.