THE UTILIZATION OF WOOD

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80T00246A002800010007-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
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• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Sequence Number: 7
• Content Type: REPORT

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C. The Utilization of Wood
1. Resources
a. European Russia as of 1899 (including the Duchy of
Finland) had 228,000,000 hectares of forest.
Average forest density was 37% and there were
1.8 hectares of forest area per member of the
population. On an average the state owned 65%
of the forests, the private owners 26%, the
peasants 6%, and the crown 3%.
b. In Lithuania as of 1911 (all subsequent data on
Lithuania in this section is for this year), wood
production compared to population density and need
was not favorable, as shown in the table following
this page.
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Govt
area
%
Forest
Production
Average
Value of
Supply per
Area
in
of
Area
(Felt Meters)
Price
Production
Person
b
Hectares
Population
Forest
Ru
les
---
Density
Ownership
Hectares
%
Total
On
Total
On
Hectares
Fest
1
1
Meters
Hectare
Hectare
K
A
State
158,300
25.52
898,175
6.3
783,005
5
U
Private
460,100
74.18)
N
3,982,000
1,660,900
15.8
Peasant
-
- )
924,000
2.0
739,200
1.65
A
Other
1,900
.03)
S
Total
620,300
100
1,822,175
2.9
0.8
1,522,205
2.45
0.38
1.1
V
State
285,800
28.15
1,268,883
4.7
1,512,689
5.9
I
Private
707,300
69.68)
L
Peasant
20,100
1.97)
1,458,800
2.0
1,746,760
2.5
N
4,221,000
1,770,300
29.0
Other
2,000
0.2 )
0
Total
1,015,300
100
2,727,683
2,7
1.2
3,259,449
3,2
0.57
1.5
U
State
180,600
81.5 )
V
Private
35,000
15.8 )
A
1,241,000
625,600
14.1
Peasant
1,300
0.6 )
L
Other
4,600
2.1 )
K
Total
221,500
100
604,933
2.7
2.6
1,620,7?4
7.4
0.33
1.0
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c. In Lithuania, as in the rest of European Russia where
no working plan was enforced, a moderate cutting rate
was considered to be about 2.1 fest meters per year.
This corresponded to annual production in the state
forests of Vilno and Suvalki in 1903.(1) As seen in
the table on the previous page, the average production
was about 2.8 fest meters per hectare in 1911. The
extra cutting was of surplus stock in the state forests.
(By 1914, all forests in Lithuania were managed under
work plans, some of which had already been revised once
and even twice.) Highest production which was acceptable
to the Russian forestry administration in surplus areas
was 3 fest meters per hectare per year. Cutting rates
in other areas (private and peasant forests) were much
lower, not over 2 fest meters.(2) Normally, growth
rate averaged about 2.7 fest meters per hectare per year.(3)
2. Quality and Utilization of the Yield
a. From 1890-1903, the ratio of dead to living timber
varied from 27-40% but averaged out to 30% dead wood
and 70% growing wood. 4) In the state forests, wood
suitable for structural purposes made up 14% of the
total quantity of wood cut in those forests in 1867,
30% in 1888, and 58% in 1898. The increase points up
the heavier cutting in these forests from the surplus
ripe stocks. The ratio was reversed in the private
forests where fuel wood made up 58% of the quantity
and structural woods 42%. In Lithuania from 1918-1940,
the ratio was fuel wood 70% and structural wood 30% of
the total quantity. This is a normal ratio Which should
remain about the same indefinitely.(5)
b. In 1893, wood production in all European Russia by tree
type was pine 36%, spruce 30%, other evergreens 1%,
oak 7%, beech 4%, birch 9%, ash and maple 1%, other hard
woods 1%, other deciduous 11%, and miscellaneous 4%.
The total showed a production composed of 67% evergreen and
33% deciduous trees. A somewhat similar production was
obtained in Lithuania from 1918-40 as follows:
Pine
24%
Ash and Maple
4%
Spruce
37%
Birch
11%
Oak
3%
Other Deciduous
Beech
1%
Total
100%(6)
In 1937, Lithuania produced 1,200,000 fest meters of
structural and export quality wood (21%) and 4,459,000 fest
meters of fuel wood (79%), a total of 5,659,000 fest meters. (7)
c. European Russian state forest products were utilized as
follows in 1893:
Native industry
- 56,000,000 fest meters
12%
Fuel for industry
. & Transport
- 10,700,000
it
2%
Peasant & Home
Consumption
- 359,300,000
it
75%
Export
- 11.8,600,000
It
-11%
474,600,000
IT
100%0
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d. The supply of wood annually available in the Lithuanian
Republic (approximately half the size of the former
Lithuanian Province) from 1918-19+0 was roughly
estimated as:
Structural wood - 300,000 cu meters
11%
Fuel - 1,700,000 "
11
63%
Export - 500,000 "
19%
Spoilage - 200,000
2,700,000 "
It
100%(8)
3. Supply and Demand
a. Domestic Demand
(1)
The demand for wood and wood products can be
expressed by showing how much was used per
person per year in fest meters. The expression
"fest meters per inhabitant per year" (F.I.Y.)
is variable since it depends on the standard of
living, and material and cultural progress of
the country. Thus, in ancient times the in-
habitant was almost entirely dependent on wood.
Almost all construction, even bridges, was
wooden. In 1817, of 1,000 structures in
Lithuania, only five were of stone or brick.(9)
In 1930, 91.5+% of all structures in Lithuania
were wooden, and as late as 1938, almost 100%
of the fuel consumed was wood.(10) The rural
population used large amounts of wood for cooking,
baking, cooking for domestic animals, and corn
drying. Wood served in ancient times as torches
to illuminate dwellings and barns and was used
for this purpose even during World War I when
petroleum was scarce.
(2) An average Lithuanian farm of 10 hectares
populated by five persons consumed in a year
as late as 1942 10 raummeters(I,) or seven fest
meters of wood, an average of 1. fest meters per
person.(12) The city dweller used a little less,
the larger farms a little more, but the overall
average was 1.5 fest meters per person per year.
Primitive stoves of clay used since ancient times
required a great deal of fuel. In the early 1890s,
a stove came into use with special cheap brick walls
and heating ducts which saved a great deal of fuel.
This saving was countered somewhat, however, by
the introduction after 1900 of wood shingles in
place of rye straw thatching. The shingles were,
in turn, succeeded on the homes of the prosperous
by sheets of tinplate.
(3) The average 10 hectare farmstead had buildings
about 90 cu meters in volume. The rapid rate
(50 years) at which these buildings rotted away
because of their lack of a real foundation has
already been discussed. Concrete foundations were
not widely used in Lithuania until after World War I.
Formerly, only brick buildings were built on solid
foundations (usually field stones joined with mortar).
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As a result of the rapid deterioration, a
farm annually needed an average of 1.8 fest
meters of structural wood or 0.36 Pest meters
per person. (Five people per farm average.)
Fences and other minor uses required another
0.14+ Pest meters per person and the total
required per person per year around 1911 for
all uses (including fuel) equalled 2.0 Pest
meters. Average demand per person per year
from 1795-1830 for all uses had been about
3 Pest meters. Russian statistics for 1857
showed that demand in the Lithuanian Province
was 4.85 F.I.Y.(13 For all of European Russia
it was figured as 3.2 F.I.Y. The former figure
is exaggerated; the latter is probably close to
reality. The figures of Captain Afanasyev of
the Russian General Staff show a consumption of
2.53 F.I.Y. (14)
(4) The average F.I.Y. steadily declined as concrete,
brick, and iron came more widely into use.
Before World War I the figure was about, but
not below, 2 F.I.Y. The subsequent rise in
living standards raised wood consumption again
for materials like paper, plywood, matches,
furniture, textiles, and export, and this
factor kept the demand figure fairly constant.
Thus, in 1928-29 the Latvians used 2.82 F.I.Y.,
the Estonians 2.78, the Swedes 4.61, and the
Germans 0.98. The Lithuanians used only 0.72 F.I.Y.
indicating that supply was short.
b. Foreign Demand
At the beginning of the Czarist occupation, the require-
ments of industry were negligible and may be ignored.
The export market for timber and lumber was steadily
brisk. As the best timber disappeared from the Lithuanian
forests, prices rose and the supply for the foreign
market dropped off. Most timber went to Prussia, floated
down on the rivers and concentrated at Jurbarkas, the
border river port. In 1817, the Prussian market capacity
was about 120,000 fest meters; in 1878, 330,000; and by
the last years before World War I, it had reached
1,000,000-2,000,000 per year .(15) The export demand
for wood rose steadily and Li huanian timber, as well
as Polish and White-Ruthenian, contributed to the trade
Lsee end of report for availability of a sketch showing
Russian timber export through the Lithuanian Provinc 7.
c. The Supply
(1) In general, the wood supply in Lithuania was
insufficient. The abandonment of control over
the private forests forced the state forest
managers to tighten up their policy and wood did
not flow freely from these forests until the early
1890s. This policy caused the private owners to
cut their forests freely in an attempt to fulfill
the demands of their own estates, the peasants, and
the export trade. The supply in 1899 for domestic
and foreign sale was 2.10 F.I.Y. and in 1911 only 1.3.
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The average annual growth increment in Lithuania
is approximately 2.7 fest meters per hectare and
the demand was about the same. As the population
grew, the supply became progressively less adequate.
(2) The demand for wood was, and still is, partially
eased by the use of old wood (fences, old buildings,
etc) as fuel, and by wood substitutes. Fuel wood
was in short supply before World War I and in many
districts (Siauliai, Marijampole, and Telshe
Counties) was insufficient as early as 1857.
The demands of the sawmill industries in Kaunas
and Yanava were supplied somewhat by considerable
quantities of excess saw logs which were taken
from rafts made up in the Polish and White
Ruthenian forests and reconstructed at Kaunas
and Yanava. Peat has been cut in many sparsely
forested areas of Lithuania since ancient times,
and many landowners raised such fast growing trees
as willows, alders, and aspen along roads and in
swamps (especially in Marijampole and Vilkaviskis
Counties) for use as fuel wood. Individuals
frequently supplied themselves with wood, especially
during periods of unrest, by theft from the forests
and a considerable amount of wood was lost in this
way. The wood shortage did not become acute in
Lithuania prior to World War I because forests were
being steadily converted to agriculture, the peasant
forests stripped of their trees, more peat was being
used, a little wood was being imported, and the state
forests were being stripped of their surplus.
4. The Assortment
a. In European. Russia in 1897 a total of 485,000,000 fest
meters of wood were used by:
Industry -
4+,500,000
9.2%
Transport -
10,x+00, 000
2.2%
Farm & Cottage
Industry -
359, 300, 000
74.0%
Fuel (Industrial) -
12,x+00, 000
2.5%
Export
11.8, x+00, 000
10.0%
Other
10,000,000
2.1%(16)
The percentage of the various uses is very close to
that of Lithuania from 1918-39 and may be considered
typical. It has been shown previously that the ratio
of structural wood to fuel wood was about 44 to 56.
The ratio changed later (1918-39) in favor of fuel
wood.
b. The assortment of wood required for domestic use
did not change appreciably during the Russian occupa-
tion. The assortment for export to Europe in 1890
consisted of:
Sawed Products - 57%
Hewed - 3%
Round timber and other
wood - 25%
Other structural wood - 9%
Cord (fuel) wood -
100%(17)
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The forests and wood industry of European Russia
produced the following for export:
(1) Pre-fabricated material for homes (walls,
doors, roof, etc.)
(2) Paper Pulp
(3) Naval stores (tar turpentine, etc.)
(4+) Sawed Lumber. (Planks, battens, and boards
differing in dimension. Planks were not
less than 3" x 9"; battens not less than
2" x 411; and boards not less than 1/2" x 4".
Most planks were 15-16' long and boards were
14-15'. Sawed lumber was valued according to
its quality in four grades. In 1898, European
Russian lumber production consisted of 20%
first grade, 4+5% second grade, 20% third grade,
and 15% fourth grade. The sawed lumber was
produced according to English measurements,
sold by the Russian standards (165 cu ft), and
priced by an average length of 8'.)
(5) Hewed Wood. (Various beams which were primarily
fabricated in the forests. They included English
and Dutch beams, Plancons, and wainscots. Di-
mensions varied and lots were sold and shipped
in units of 50 cu ft.)
(6) Round (rough) Timber. (The bark was not removed
and dimensions varied. Primarily pine and less
spruce was sold in this manner. Mast timber of
the greatest length was sold this way as were
posts which came in 3-9' lengths with a thickness
of 3-7" on the upper section. Standard pulp
wood (mostly spruce) was sold in logs about two
meters long.)
(7) Oak Staves. (Came in various dimensions.)
The most popular export woods in Lithuania were pine
and spruce timber, pulp wood (since 1870), staves,
mine timber, and hewed products (e.g. ties). Very
little sawed lumber was exported because of the
prohibitively high Prussian tariff against it. The
export of fuel wood grew larger every year.
c. The high Prussian tariff caused the Russian government
to turn in 1910 to the construction of the Venta-Dubysa
Canal at the expense of the Farm Bank of Russia. The
canal was begun a kilometer north of lake Rekijavo
(Siauliai County), and ran along the Siauliai-Radviliskis
railroad for 17.5 kilometers, thereby connecting the upper
Dubysa (a tributary of the Nemunas River) with the upper
Venta. The Russian government hoped to avoid floating
timber to Prussia and to divert timber from the Nemunas
to Vindava in Latvia, then a Russian Baltic Port.
The Prussians lowered their tariff and canal construc-
tion slowed down. Export of sawed lumber rose 30% in
1913. The beginning of World War I interrupted work
on the canal. It was renewed in 1918 but for drainage
purposes, not for floating timber. There was no longer
any point in the project for its original purpose, since
the Nemunas' outlet to the Bay of Kuronia and the Baltic
Sea now belonged to Lithuania.
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5. Industrialization
a. The most heavily industrialized district of the
northern portion of the former Polish Kingdom was
the area later included in the government area of
Grodno, but even here there were only such small
establishments as wooden saw frames working off
the water-driven power of corn mills. They produced
only for home consumption and not for sale. Saw
mill production in all of European Russia did not
amount to more than that in Grodno until the 1850s.(18)
In the 1860's, regular saw mills with English
frames were introduced, and planing and groove benches
came into use in the late 1890s. By 1887, there were
567 saw mills in European Russia with 15 thousand
laborers, and a production valued at 17,000,000 rubles;
in 1897, 1,266 with 42 thousand laborers, which produced
materials valued at 70,000,000 rubles.
b. In 1887 shops to manufacture fabricated materials
(doors, frames, etc) and packing cases numbered 133
with 5,530 laborers and production of 7,000,000 rubles
worth of goods; in 1897, 431 shops employed 20,493
persons and produced 16,000,000 rubles worth of
material. Other shops producing such items as wheels,
cars, wooden nails (for shoes), excelsior, reels, etc,
numbered 75 in 1887 with 2,215 laborers and a produc-
tion worth 2,000,000 rubles; and in 1897, 195 such
shops employed 625 people and had a production worth
5,000,000 rubles. There were 80 barrel shops in 1900
with 3,037 laborers producing three million rubles worth
of barrels. Other industrial installations included:
Type
Date
No.
Laborers
Production
Pulp shops
1887
19
437
500,000 rubles
1897
26
487
1,000,000
1903
48
1,762
1,400,ooo
Match Shops
1887
64
4,694
500,000
1897
111
11,273
200,000
Wood Distillation
Shops
1887
240
1, 208
600, 000
1897
246
1,301
1,000,000
Bark Mills
1887
6
35
30,000
1897
8
47
60,000
Charcoal Shops
1887
9
192
20,000
1897
11
167
20,000
Cellulose Shops
1903
7
2,023
1,800,000
c. There were no cellulose shops in Lithuania until 1914;
only a few mills which produced wrapping paper and
cardboard from pine pulp. In the three government
areas of the Lithuanian Province the following forest
industries were operating as of 1908:
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Kaunas
Vilno
Suvalki
No.
Pro-
No.
Pro-
No.
Pro-
of
due-
of
due-
of
duc-
Em-
tion
Horse
Em-
tion
Horse
Em-
tion
Horse
ploy-
in
Power
ploy-
in
Power
ploy-
in
Power
Enterprise
No.
ees
Rubles
Used
No.
ees
Rubles
Used
No.
ees
Rubles
Used
Cardboard
Shops
67
73,100
271
156
165,400
600
Paper Mills
13
627
1,357,000
64
Saw Mills(~9)
24
367
386,700
735
17
428
952,300
573)
11
228
155
-
Furniture
Shop
1
40
35,000
12
117
86 loo
6
Excelsior
)
Shop
1
15
2,900
15
1
79
34,900
110
Match Shop
2
202
116,300
14
1
28
12,500
10
TOTAL
31
691
624,000
1,017
40
1,435
2,608,200
1,946
11
228
155
-
Combined match production in Kaunas and Vilno
with only three small shops rose in 1912 to
3,307,400 units (pocket size packets). The
lumber most valued by the forest industries
was pine.
6. Commerce
a. Producers and Their Prices
(1) State forest production was most important
and valuable during the last years of the
Czarist occupation. State forest products
were priced according to the price schedule
of the territorial bureaus. These schedules
were graded according to the forest loca-
tion and had three levels: high, medium,
and low. For example, the prices of a
cubic foot of solid wood at the stump was
as follows:
Pine (Grodno & Vilno): High quality 17 kopeks
Low 7
Spruce (Kaunas &
Vilno) : High quality 7-10 kopeks
Low 2-4
Oak (Grodno & Vilno) : High quality 16-29 kopeks
Low t- 4 "
Birch Fuel Wood : High quality 3-4 kopeks
Low it 1 "
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By way of comparison, average prices in
Prussia and Bavaria from 1850-55 for a
Pest meter (35.3 cu ft) of solid wood were:
1872-1875
Prussia
6.6 marks
Bavaria
7.4
1880-1886
Prussia
6.5
Bavaria
7.1
1902
Prussia
7.8
Bavaria
9.9
As mentioned above, all purchases were
accomplished by contract. In general, it
was difficult for a small purchaser (peasant
or small merchant) to buy from the state forests
because of the large land units involved (the
result of the lack of personnel in the forestry
service).
(2) Wood from private forests was priced in
accordance with that from state forests but
was generally cheaper. Large sales were by
written contract but smaller ones by verbal
agreement and there were seldom any auctions
of private forest stock. Terms for the buyer
could be arranged. At one time, owners fre-
quently borrowed money from the lumber companies
to be repaid later in lumber but this practice
died out. Fuel wood from the private forests
was often more expensive than that from the
state forests. Structural wood was cheaper
since that available in the private forests
was limited and of lower quality. In general,
it was easier to purchase wood from the private
forests because they were willing to sell an
individual tree. It should be recalled that
private forest cutting was controlled after 1888.
(3) Peasant forests of lower quality (sparsely forested
with young growth) were never controlled. The
peasants usually used their timber for their own
purposes or sold it as fuel to nearby towns.
They seldom sold wood to merchants. Some towns
in 1880-90 received 100% of their wood supply
from peasants. Some of the wood supplied by
the peasants was purchased by them in the state
forests for resale. Their prices included the
cost of transportation and sometimes amounted
to a ruble or more for one Raummeter of wood.
The trade in fuel wood was always an important
source of income for the peasant and he played
an important role in the economy of the towns
as the deliverer of their fuel. When wars and
other unrest cut off these deliveries, the towns
frequently found themselves in a critical situation.
The peasants paid no taxes on the income from the
wood they sold.
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b. The Merchants and the Wood Trade
(1)
Three types of merchants participated in
the domestic wood trade. The small operators
bought wood (primarily fuel), transported
and stored it (at railroad stops, on river
banks, or near towns), and sold it to in-
dividuals or institutions within the towns.
They paid taxes as established merchants and
ran their businesses on small capital and
limited credit; the more successful merchants
operated with larger capital and longer credit
arrangements, and usually ran a saw mill. They
participated more in the trade in structural
wood and also handled fuel wood. There were
usually a couple of these merchants in each
county seat and more of them in the larger
cities; a few merchants operated on a large
scale within the country. They bought and
sold large quantities of wood wholesale for
both domestic and foreign consumption. The
merchants were all in close contact and fre-
quently served as agents for another merchant
or for a foreign concern. Most of them were
Jews. They had a good organization with
mutual credit and support, and they profited
as the wood business continued briskly. Their
commissions as agents usually ran 2-3% but were
sometimes as high as 5%. Many of them had sub-
agents, and hired personnel as well. Business
methods were generally primitive except in
the case of the largest merchants who did
business in the millions of rubles and were
well organized. (2 The bookkeeping of the
small operators was minimal. An individual
might not even get a receipt if the trans-
action was small.
(2) Best profits were obtained in dealings with
the state or with public institutions. The
prices obtained by the merchants varied a
great deal, depending on type, quality and
distance delivered. Fest meter of structural
timber delivered from the forests to Kaunas
in 1914 cost 5-6 rubles. A Raummeter of fuel
wood under the same conditions cost 1.5-3 rubles.
(3) The following prices on export timber were in
effect in Riga in 1903:
(a) Pine beams - hewed, 24-27 foot lengths,
1 English cu ft = 50 kopeks
(b) Spruce beam - same in 27-28 foot lengths
33 kopeks
(c) Pine timber - 20-22 foot length, 11 inch
diameter, 1 Dutch cu ft = 16.5 kopeks
(d) Spruce timber - same = 16.5 kopeks
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(e) Ties - 19 foot length, 10 inch diameter,
1.59 rubles
(f) Oak Staves - 1 2 1/2" x 5" x 42", 29.8 kopeks
1 3" x 6" x 42" 32.0
1 2 1/2" x 5" x 72" 65.0 "
1 311 x 611 x 72" 100.0 11
1 3" x 6" x 966" 111.0.0 It
After 1890, prices rose steadily, on an average
20-25%. In Jurbarkas a boundary port oil the
Nemunas, the average price for a fest meter of
pine or spruce was 6.7 rubles. (22)
(4) Prices in London in 1903 for wood exported from
Russia ran as follows:
(a) Boards of Riga, first and second
quality, apiece
(b) Boards of Canadian quality, apiece
1st
2nd
3rd
(c) Pine beams - per fathom
(d) Staves of Memel Crown Quality,
apiece
75.2 kopeks
24.24
197.5 11
121.8
47.29 rubles
212.8 kopeks
(5) Prices in Hull in 1903 for Russian wood were:
(a) Pine timber - for 1 cu ft,
Memel lst quality 89.9 kopeks
it 2nd 73.3 If
(b) Pine boards - 3" x 9" x 11 1/2",
lst quality 191.6 kopeks
2nd 164.3 it
(c) Spruce boards (same size)
Riga lst quality 89.5 kopeks
(d) Staves - apiece
Memel Crown Quality 196.3 kopeks
Lithuanian lumber exports went mainly to
southern Russia.(23)
7. Labor(24)
a. Labor forces were almost always recruited from the
peasant population, hired on a verbal agreement, and
paid at piece-work rates (seldom by the day). Pay-
ments were made in three installments; one-third
at the time of agreement, one-third after hauling,
and one-third after floating was ccupleted. Piece
work was figured according to the cubic foot, cord,
or piece. Daily earnings in 1908 for a worker without
transport varied from 30-125 kopeks and averaged 55-65.
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A worker with a horse cart could earn 50-200
kopeks and average 120-140 a day. The piece
rates for felling a pine tree were 1-5 kopeks;
and for removing the bark 4-10 kopeks. Rates
for spruce logging were lower; those for oak
and ash logging were higher. Payment for forming
ties was 5-15 kopeks apiece. A similar amount
was paid for hewing each meter of a beam. A saw-
mill charged 3-4 kopeks for each cubic foot.
The cost of producing one raummeter of cord wood
was 12 kopeks.
b. Labor was always abundant and, thus, poorly paid.
By way of comparison, in 1911 the annual wages of
industrial workers in Lithuania were:
minimum 219 rubles
average 431 rubles
maximum 54+3 rubles(25)
Thus, laborers in the wood industry worked at a
rate near the minimum wage. Logging technique
was described above and did not change except
that wire was introduced to tie rafts together
at a saving of wood. The relation between
employer and employee was regulated by Russian
laws which were far from perfect but which were
adequate for the time.(26)
8. Transportation and Its Cots
a. Transportation by road did not change from 1795-
1915, and afterwards. It was essentially by
horsecart, which changed only by the introduction
of steel axles. In 1908, to transport a fest
meter of wood in one meter lengths cost, depending
on the distance:
0-5 km 10 kopeks
6-1o km 17 "
11-15 km 25
16-20 km 30
For the same distances, ties were charged for at
rates of 5, 8, 10 and 12 kopeks, and for "slippers"
(larger ties) 7, 10, 15 and 20 kopeks. A raummeter
of cord wood could be transported 5 km for 30-40
kopeks. Drivers, carts and horses were in abundant
supply.
b. There was a total, in 1901+, in European Russia
(excluding Finland) of 129,203 kilometers of
navigable rivers. Of this total only 147 thousand
kilometers were suitable for floating logs. In
the Baltic Provinces, the Nemunas and western
Daugava were the most important rivers suitable
for floating logs. The Nemunas had 2,000 km of
water suitable for this purpose but only 100 km
which were adequate for floating loaded barges
(below Kaunas) (kih) The Daugava, which had a total
length of 6,600 (including its tributaries), had
3,300 km suitable for floating logs but only
330 km adequate for loaded barge traffic.
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Floating conditions on the Nemunas were
discussed above for the period 18+8-1856.
For the period 1892-1901, the average annual
number of log rafts (one raft equals 100-150
fest meters) on the Nemunas totalled 14 thousand,
with a weight of 900 thousand metric tons and a
value of 1+,000,000 rubles. Rafts grew in size
to include an average of 100-600 cubic meters
of wood when iron wire became available with
which to fasten the logs. Crews were usually
paid on a monthly or weekly basis, seldom daily.
Monthly salary, depending on a worker's experience
was 7-25 rubles. Piece work rates based on deliver-
ing a 100 log raft from the upper Vilija to Kaunas
were 1+0 rubles and from Kaunas to Tilsit, 30 rubles.
To build a raft cost 60 kopeks a log. The trip
from Vilno to Kaunas took three days and from Vilno
to Koenigsburg took six days if conditions were good.
c. A small portion of the timber from Lithuania was
floated from the districts of Vilno and Kaunas
along the tributaries of the Daugava to Riga.
There it was fabricated for export to Europe,
primarily as saw lumber. The product was known
as Riga ware and had a good reputation through-
out Europe. The larger part of the Lithuanian
exports and of the White Ruthenian and Polish
exports were floated on the Nemunas and its
tributaries to Prussia. For a long time all
wood went to Koenigsberg and Danzig where a brisk
trade in wood had existed since 1800 with England
and other western European countries. The first
saw mills to produce lumber for export were
established in these ports. For a long while,
Klaipeda was a transit point for timber coming
down the Nemunas consigned to Koenigsberg.
After 1810, the Minge Canal was cut, thereby
allowing timber rafts to avoid the dangerous
Bay of Kuronia. As a result, Klaipeda steadily
grew in importance as a lumber port. The first
saw mills were established there in 181+0. They
were wind driven and utilized heavy, slow-moving
wooden saw frames. These were later changed to
iron frames but speeded up very little since the
iron frames were even heavier. The mills worked
mainly during the winter months and effected a
fairly clean cut on the material. By the end of
the 19th Century, Klaipeda was the main center
manufacturing lumber from Lithuanian wood.
d. While transporting wood in rafts was cheap, the
value of wood transported this way dropped 30%.(28)
Wood carried by railroads did not lose its value,
but Russian railroads in the middle of the 19th
Century were very limited and very expensive (three
times the cost of floating wood). Railroads did
not become practical for wood shipments until the 1880s.
Then their use enabled a merchant to turn over his
capital three to four times faster.(29) Railroad
lines in Russia in 18+0 totalled 30 km; in 1850, 1+18 km;
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in 1860, 2410 1cm; in 1870, 11,707 km; in
1880, 24,397 1m; in 1890, 33,328 km; and in
1900, 52,900 km. In 1913, the Lithuanian
Province had the following'railroad lines
(Russian gauge):
Area
Length
Density Per
1000 Sq Km
Length Per
1000 Inhabitants
Kovno
606 km
14.1
33.7
Vilno
1,184
26.4
60.4
Suvalki
243 "
19.0
36.3
e. Main loads carried by railroads in Russia in
1897 were 8,400,000 tons of corn products;
8,200,000 tons of coal; 6,100,000 tons of wood
products; and 3,700,000 tons of oil products of
a total of 111,700,000 tons. The load limits
of wood for one railroad car were:
Hardwood 12 metric tons
Birch
Pine, Spruce,
Aspen & Alder 10 " it
A single car of 10 metric tons capacity carried on
an average 78 raummeters of fuel wood (2 meter logs).
After 1896, transport prices were lowered and railroad
transport of wood rose considerably. In 1893, loads
totalling 5,000,000 tons were transported; in 1896,
6,000,000 tons; and in 1899, 8,000,000 tons. In
1890, 2,250,000 metric tons of wood alone were
shipped; in 1891, 2,000,000; in 1896, 3,000,000;
and in 1899, 4,200,000. The rise was steady.
f. Wood transported in 1902 included structural and
fuel wood; soaked bast (linden); bark products;
charcoal; fabricated materials; and materials for
match production in a ratio of 313:244:4:4:10:11:3.(30)
Most of the wood products shipped by railroad came
from the peripheries of European Russia to the central
Russian government centers or toward the southern
centers of Tsaritsyn (Stalingrad), Taroslav,
Ekaterinaslav (Krasnodar), and others. Fuel
wood was shipped shorter distances for local
consumption. Prices on Russian railroads were
in three categories: sawed wood, staves, and long,
round timber; materials, including ties, which
were not listed in the first and third categories;
and fuel wood, posts, and other wood of secondary
importance. As an example, the cost structure for
the first category materials ranged from 1/30 kopek
for each Km. Sixteen Kg was transported up to 440 Km.
From 440 - 1320 Km. The cost for 16 Kg was 8 kopeks
plus 1/200 kopek for each kilometer.
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g. In 1912, the following wood products passed
through six railroad stations (Mazeikiai,
Kalkuny, Molodechno, Lida, Grodno, Virbalis)
on the eastern boundary of the Lithuanian
Province:
Items
Total
Exports
Tons
Total
Imports
Tons
To Prussia
Tons
From Prussia
Tons
Corn Products
80,000
33,000
28,000
33
Salt
7,115
13,540
328
Oil & Petroleum
13,100
25,426
500
70
Coal
16,230
67,400
50
33
Fuel Wood.
55,380
100,000
1,700
-
Structural Wood
222,400
70,000
38,200
-LO
394,225
309,366
68,778
186
(31)
h. In 1910, 277,780 tons of wood and wood products
were exported by railroad from Lithuania of
which 170,000 tons were imported from Poland,
and White Ruthenia and were merely in transit.
The difference of 100,780 tons was native
Lithuanian production. During the same
year, 1,000,000 tons were transported by water.
9.
i. The railroads were important consumers of fuel
wood as well as of coal and oil. in 1890,
39% of the fuel on the railroad was wood, but
by 1903 it had dropped to 12% as coal and oil
became more important.(32)
Customs(33)
a. Imported wood was assessed a tariff as follows:
(1) Birch, beech, elm, oak, spruce, willow,
maple, linden, larch, alder, aspen, fir,
pine, poplar and ash -
(a) In fascines, chops, or as fuel
wood -- no duty.
(b) Timber - 100 kg = 18 kopeks
(c) Unplaned lumber - 100 kg = 54 kopeks
(d) Planed lumber - 100 kg = 90 kopeks
(2) Other wood - logs - 100 kg = 234 kopeks
(3) All veneer or plywood sheets - 100 kg = 1188 kopeks
(4) Cork bark - 100 kg : 90-594 kopeks
(5) Fabricated wood
(a) Plain 100-306 kopeks
(b) Excelsior - 100 kg = 306 It
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(c) Staves - 100 kg = 414+ kopeks
(d) Quebrankh - no duty
(e) Pulpwood - 100 kg = 108-360 kopeks
(f) Turpentine - 100 kg : 648 kopeks
(g) Calaphony - 100 kg = 360 kopeks
(h) Tar and Resin - 100 kg _ 540 kopeks
(i) Methyl - 100 kg = 360 kopeks
b. The German authorities charged the following duties
on Russian wood (mainly from the Lithuanian Province):
Round timber -- 100 kg = 9 kopeks
Sawed lumber -- 100 kg : 36 kopeks (34)
Thus, one cubic meter of lumber imported into
Germany paid 2.10 rubles duty and a fest meter
of timber 52 kopeks.
10. Results of Russian Utilization of the Lithuanian Forests
a. At the beginning of World War I, the forest
economy of the Lithuanian Province and the
related industries had an increasing potential
and a fairly advanced silviculture. The state
forests, maintained by trained, college-educated
professionals, had improved greatly on a serious,
scientific basis and were continuing to improve.
They contained a great deal of valuable, tall
timber in sufficiently large, ripe stands. Almost
all state forests were run according to work plans;
there was no excess cutting and some surplus of
ripe timber was built up. Artificial reforestation
was steadily increasing but was still insufficient.
The number of forestry personnel was growing, forestry
districts decreasing in size, and forest protection
was adequate when World War I began. The supply of
wood from state forests was as much as twice as
large by 1913 as it had been in 1850, and the
income from a single hectare had increased 10 times.
The income from forests in all of European Russia
grew steadily. In 1907, it was 59,982 rubles;
in 1910, 71+,976,1+99 rubles; and in 1913, 96,350,330
rubles.
b. Private forest stands also improved and the law
of sustained yield in 1888 (which did not affect
property rights) brought increasing production
in the private forests, and growing income (mainly
from pulp and fuel wood). The supply of ripe
wood in the state forests helped to ease the demand
on the private forests and to restore their normal
balance of timber. In conclusion, forestry in
Lithuania in 1914 was about on a normal, healthy
basis, although there were still problems to be
solved.
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PART II
CHAPTER I
PARAGRAPH C
F O O T N O T E S
(1) Surozh, 1908, III/6
(2) Author's estimate
(3) Ibid
(4) Surozh, 11/35
(5) Author's opinion
(6) "Musy Girios", 1933, p 274
(7) Ibid, p 484
(8) Ibid, p 477
(9) Lachnicki, 1817, p 39
(10) Viliusis, J, "Lietuvos gyv. Aprupinimas Misku", "Musu Girios",
194, p 546
(11) A Raummeter is used in measuring cord wood. It is 70% of a cubic meter.
(12) Author
(13) Surozh, 1908, 111/14
(14) "Kovenskaya Gubernia", 1861, p 391
(15) Braun, J, "Forests and Forestry in Poland and Lithuania", 1878, p 248
Pesotskii, "Inzhenernyi Spravochnik", 1924, p 480
Surozh, 111/113
Lachnicki, p 72
(16) Surozh, 111/13
(17) Ibid, 1I1/12
(18) Ibid, 111/22
(19) The first steam driven saw mill was established in Kaunas in 1870,
Skerys, p 40
(20) "Statistines Zinios Apie Lietuva iki", 1914, p 140
(21) Afanasyev, p 425
(22) Bilder von Litauen, 1917
(23) Rimka, A, "Lietuvos Ukio Statistika
(24) Surozh, III/45
(25) "Statistines-Zinios, etc", 1920, p 140
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(26)
(27)
(28)
(29)
(30)
(31)
(32)
(33)
(34+)
"Svod Zakonov Russiskoi"Imperii", Vol X. Part I, Art 2201-2290
Surozh, 111/62
Ibid, 111/75
Ibid, 111/80
Ibid, 111/81
Rimka, A, 1922, 77
Surozh, 111/15
Ibid, 111/87
Ibid, 111/88
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