1 6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



tudes of life on the Russian plain, of its contact with nature, its aloof- 

 ness from artificiality, and its call upon the people for suffering and 

 passive resistance. 



Though again and again led by autocracy into wars of aggression, the 

 Russians have shown an inaptitude for positive aggressive strategy. 

 They have lacked the punch. Apparently invincible, as Napoleon, 

 Frederick the Great and Charles XII. discovered, when resisting attack, 

 they have so far failed in the offensive. Whether this is due to infe- 

 rior military organization or to a national characteristic induced by 

 environment, and described by Turgeniev, as a weakness of the will 

 among individuals, is hard to determine. Both factors doubtless play 

 their part. It took over an hour to add an extra coach to the night ex- 

 press on which I was traveling from Moscow to Nijni last July, and 

 then a score of people were without accommodation and had to wait 

 till the following day. And that was at Moscow, the principal rail- 

 road center of the country. 



Another important fact in Russian development has been the pre- 

 dominance of agriculture over every other occupation. There has not 

 been sufficient seaboard for a great commerce, and as yet, industrial 

 development though fraught with great promise, is for the same reason 

 in its beginnings. Of the 175,000,000 Russians, 125,000,000 are en- 

 gaged in agriculture. A population of peasants ! Indeed one is 

 tempted to say an empire of peasants. The soil of the country as well 

 as the climate varies so greatly that almost anything can be raised in 

 Russia from the furs of the government of Archangel to the teas of the 

 Crimea and the cotton of the Trans-Caucasus. In Russia's report 

 for the Glasgow Exposition some years ago occurs the sentence: 



We possess a whole assortment of climates, ranging from that of the Polar 

 regions, which is suitable to fur farming, to the sub-tropical in which may be 

 cultivated for commercial purposes such plants as mandarines, tea and bamboo. 



Across the northern portion of the country tundra prevails, but it 

 is not for that reason worthless, for it contains some of the most valu- 

 able peat bogs in Europe, second only to those of the central provinces. 

 South of the tundra lies a broad forest belt of pine and birch, with 

 clearings on which flax, rye and oats are grown. Further south still is 

 oak, beech and lime with large clearings for wheat and hemp. Next to 

 this forest zone with its untold wealth in timber is the wide strip of 

 rich vegetable soil which has given to the region the name of the Black 

 Earth Belt. It stretches from the Carpatliians to the Urals and even 

 beyond into Asia. The area is covered with a rich deposit of black 

 soil, varying in depth from 12 inches to 12 feet, which rivals the black 

 loam of the Mississippi in its natural fertility, despite the fact that it 

 has produced its crops since the days of Pericles. It awaits only the 

 introduction of more intensive farming and up-to-date machinery to 

 increase its productivity still more. 



