Page:Russian Realities and Problems - ed. James Duff (1917).djvu/85

 used for food by the inhabitants of the temperate zone who belong to European culture, Russia produces more of these—speaking absolutely and not relatively—than any other country in the world. In respect of maize, which is mainly used as fodder, Russia, of course, falls short of the United States. In respect of potatoes, Russia again takes second place to Germany. But in any case Russia is responsible for more than one-fifth of the world's total production of wheat, rye, barley, maize, and oats. Russian agriculture, being distinctively extensive as opposed to intensive, offers possibilities of enormous further development, starting from its present enormous absolute dimensions. I shall note only three more facts in this connection.

1. Russia is the greatest flax-producing country in the world;

2. Russia is one of the world's greatest producers of sugar-beet, although her climatic conditions are less favourable for this branch of agriculture than those prevailing in Central Europe;

3. The forest wealth of Russia is undoubtedly greater than that of any other country.

Taking these facts into account, even without any exhaustive survey of the agricultural production of Russia—a survey which I cannot give at present—it is evident that Russia occupies a very important place amongst nations producing food-stuffs and vegetable raw material, standing in this respect, generally speaking, on a level with the United States and in many cases even in advance of that country.

There is, however, one peculiarity of Russian economic life, which, although it is almost certainly of