At this time, under the influence of a German “forest expert,” _Fokel_, the increase of forest area by sowing oak, etc., in the poorly wooded districts, was also inaugurated; and this planting was made obligatory, not only on the administration of crown forests, but also upon private owners, who in case of default were to lose their land and have it reforested by the forest administration. To Fokel’s initiative is also to be credited the celebrated larch forest on the Gulf of Finland. These restrictions of private rights and the tutelage exercised by the forest administration were abolished _in toto_ by Catherine II, in 1788, and although it was reported by the admiralty, concerned in the supply of shipbuilding materials, that as a consequence the cutting, especially of oak timber, was proceeding rapidly, no new restrictive, but rather an ameliorative policy was attempted, such as, for instance, the offering of prizes for plantations in certain localities by the provincial governors. Upon the abolishment of the serfdom of the peasants, under Alexander II, in 1863, lands, both farm and woodlands, were allotted to them, and in this partition, in some parts as much as 25 to 50% of this forest property was handed over to them. Immediately a general slaughtering, both by peasants and by the private owners, who had suffered by losing the services of the serfs, was inaugurated, leading to wholesale devastation. Servitudes or rights of user also prevailed in some districts and proved extremely destructive. By 1864, complaints in regard to forest devastation had become so frequent that a movement for reform was begun by the Czar, which led to the promulgation of a law in 1867, followed by a number of others during the next decade, designed to remedy the evils. This was to be done by restricting the acreage that might be felled, by forbidding clearings, and by giving premiums for good management and plantations. Finally, in 1875, a special commission was charged with the elaboration of a general order which, after years of hearing of testimony and of deliberation, was promulgated in 1888, a comprehensive law for the conservation of forests, private and otherwise, which in many respects resembles the French, in other respects the Swedish conservation laws. The devastation and its evil consequences on waterflow and soil conditions had been especially felt in the southern districts adjoining the steppe, and these experiences were the immediate cause for the enactment of the law, which, however, was framed to apply conditionally to the entire European Russia.