i;8 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



suited to the purpose is available. The freshly deseeded straw 

 is then spread thinly over the ground so as to allow alternate 

 dew, sunshine and rain to carry the process of decomposition 

 far enough to allow the fibre to be detached from the woody 

 part of the straw. The very nature of this process, depending 

 as it does upon favourable weather conditions, often gives rise 

 to a product of very low quality : nevertheless, in many parts 

 of Russia, this method of retting is the only one available and 

 enormous quantities of " dew-retted" flax are annually prepared. 



Following a crop or two of rye, oats or barley, flax is often 

 raised year after year on the same land until the soil becomes so 

 impoverished that scarcely anything will grow on it. The land 

 is then allowed to lie fallow during a number of years, after 

 which the scrub is burnt off and the process repeated on the 

 freshly broken land. 



Better conditions prevail in the western provinces, especially 

 in the Baltic Provinces of Livonia and Esthonia, a territory 

 which came under Russian authority at the beginning of the 

 eighteenth century. These provinces are inhabited principally 

 by Letts, who like the Esthes of Esthonia are in reality Finns 

 and are people possessing some energy and determination. 

 The usual practice among farmers in those districts is to autumn 

 plough, then sow winter grain and in the spring to sow and 

 harrow in the best grain. As a rule, the peasant grows what he 

 requires regardless of all other considerations ; consequently 

 the rotation adopted depends less upon his knowledge of matters 

 agricultural than upon his personal requirements. Only on 

 the larger estates — apparently those over a hundred acres — is 

 any regular course of rotation adopted ; judging from numerous 

 inquiries the following is accounted the best practice — fallow, 

 rye and clover, barley, flax, oats and fallow. 



There is a growing belief that agricultural progress will depend 

 not so much on an increase in the acreage under cultivation 

 as on improvements in method being effected ; the feeling after 

 progress noticeable in the Baltic Provinces receives considerable 

 stimulation from the strong German and British community of 

 business people in Riga. 



The good harvests of the last two or three years have put many 

 of the small farmers in a position to purchase modern implements 

 and at present there is a large demand for iron ploughs, small 

 winnowing machines and harvesting machines. The importation 



