Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/409

* EUSSIA. 369 KUSSIA. drainage works are grailually rcclaiminj; them. About 38 per cent, of the eultivable area is occu- pied by forests, and about lli per cent, by pas- tures and meadows. About 900.000,000 acres are cultivable, of which ^^.'j.OOO.OOO consist of the celebrated black earth, which is naturally the richest wheat land in the world. Owing to the small density of the population, however, only about 215.000,000 acres are usually luiiler crojis. Some of the evils to which farming in Russia la subject are only partly remediable. The long winters and short, hot summers force grain rapid- ly to maturity and compress into a few weeks an amoimt of work to which the farmers of Western Europe can give as many months. Tlnis more men and horses are needed in a few critical weeks than can be utilized at other periods of the }-ear. The scanty rainfall also is in some years more meagre than in others, and periods of drought and severe famine ensue, the evil be- ing intensified by the fact that most of the ])eas- ants are poor and do not carry reserve supplies of food over from one year to another. The Government in 1S99 adopted new regulations for the more thorough distribution of relief supplies in these periods of distress. Farming is still generally conducted bv very primitive methods. English farmers raise from two to four times as much grain to the acre as Russian farmers. The tenant system on the enormous estates of the great landowners results in wasteful and careless methods of tillage. Thei'e are no well-cultivated detached small farms, most of the peasantry liv- ing in communes (mirs) going out to till lands that are not theirs, but are owned by the com- munity, though the product belongs to the indi- vidual cultivator. (See MiR.) Landownership among the peasantry is. however, rapidly in- creasing. Agricultural development is also hin- dered, of course, by the ignorance of the lower classes, a difficulty which the Government is try- ing to remedy by the opening of schools of hus- bandry and model farms. Agricultural machin- ery is scarcely employed excepting on the large estates. In spite of these drawbacks, however. European Russia produces about two-thirds of the oats and half the rye of Europe, and more barley than an3' other European State; is surpassed only by the United States in its wheat crop ; and raises more flax and hemp than any other country in the world. These cereal and fibre crops, together with potatoes, beet root, and tobacco, are the great agricultural products of Russia. The chief place is taken by cereals. Rye (rep- resenting over one-third of the ground sown) is the best crop. It is the leading breadstuff for home consumption and the quantity raised is more than double that of wheat. But wheat is the most important export crop, being grown chiefly in the black earth region of South Russia. In good seasons Russia exports about 100.000.000 bushels, being second only to the United States as a seller of this cereal, and supplying three- fourths of the export wheat of Europe. The yield is on an average only about 9 bushels to the acre, or only about two-thirds of that in the United States. Oats, barley, and rye are raised chiefly north of the great wheat area, and maize is grown in the southwest. Until 1877 Russia surpassed the United States in the production of cereals. The average annual output of cereals for five years from 1896 to 1900, inclusive, for the empire (including Poland, the Caucasu.s, Si- beria, and Central Asia) was (in bushels): Wheat, 419.000,000: rve. .SO2.OO0,000; oats, 800,- 000,000; barley, 2.52,400,000. Rice is an increasing crop in the Caucasus, Si- Ix'ria (Transbaikalia), and Turkestan, and is now largely used by the peasants throughout the empire. The crop of Transcaucasia alone amounts to about 50,000 tons a year and is shipped all over Russia through the Volga and Black Sea jjorls. The beet industry is one of the most important Inanches of agriculture and manufacture in Russia. Domestic beet sugar supplies the entire dennrnd of the empire, and furnishes enormous <|uantities for export. Russia being the chief .source of sugar for all the Black Sea territory and Persia. The excess over the home demand is forced out of the country ami sold abroad at a price below that prevailing at home. More than 1.000,000 acres, mainly in the black earth region and South Poland, are given to sugar-beet culture. In 1899 4.004,042 acres in European Russia, in- eluding Poland, were in flax and yielded .■ir>7,3(t9 tons of fibre and 17,.'i04,:i.')7 bushels of linseed. Russia supplies nearly four-fifths of the flax tow consumed bv all countries. The product is not of superior quality, but its export is a source of great wealth. It is grown in Poland, the Bal- tic Provinces and the region of the L'jiper Volga for tow and in the more fertile black-earth lands for linseed. Hemp is grown in the same districts and also in the central governments of Orel, Tula. Kaluga, and others. In 1899 the crop yielded 217,380 tons of fibre and 19,075,202 bush- els of hempseed from 1,813.034 acres. Xext to grain, flax and hem|) form the principal exports of Russia. The cnlton-raising districts of the empire are in Russian Turkestan and Transcau- casia, the largest sujiply, averaging about 800,- 000,000 pounds annually, coming from Ferghana, most of it raised from seed of American up- land. The cultivation of potatoes has doubled in the past quarter of a century and the tubers are largely used in the manufacture of spirits. Russia ranks after Germany and Austria-Hungary in tobacco culture, producing about 100,000,000 |)ounds a year in Bessarabia. Little Russia, and South Russia, much of it of superior quality. Transcaucasia adds to the supply. Viticulture has made much |)rogress in the southwest and south (Bessarabia. Kherson, Podolia, and the Crimea). Bessarabia has about 200.000 acres of vineyards. The best red wines now- compare faviuably with good French wines and are cheaper, and the champagnes of Odessa compete successfully in Russia with the French vintage. Fruit is grown in the south. Forests. Wood is used in Russia on a most wasteful and extravagant scale both for indus- trial purposes and as fuel. Though the wealth of European Russia in timber alone is surpasserl only by the forests of Canada and the l"nited States, and the forests of the emi)ire jjrobably surpass those of any other country in extent, the .science of forestry is almost non-existent. In parts of the north the superabundant woods are utilized only to produce potash, resin, tar, and turpen- tine, while the south sulTers for want of timber. Russia exports timl)er to the value of from .'i!30.- 000.000 to .$.50,000,000 a year. The forests in Russia proper cover an area of about 475,000.000