270 Short Vkiv of Agriculture in Ruffla. July 



of corn, over all, is by the common flail ; in fome places, by 

 the ftill more rude method of treading it out with men, or 

 with horfes, and this on the ice as well as the barn floor. 



It does not appear, that artificial graflcs, of any kind, are 

 fown ; but nature, in foinc fort, precludes the necelhty, by the 

 immenfe produ6l of the meadow hay. 



Rotation of crop, in the view of melioration, appears alfo 

 to be unknov/n. The crop is indeed changed from one kind 

 of corn to another j but the green crops, or thofe which fer- 

 tilize the foil, bear no proportion to the ivhite, or thofe which 

 tend to ilerility j yet fo boimtiful is nature in defiance of 

 this treatment, that, in the words of the intelligent author, 

 " there is no country in Europe, where agriculture is con- 

 ducted with fuch negligence, and yet yields fo great a re- 

 turn. " 



In the management of cattle, the Rufs is perhaps not 

 behind moft of the European nations : with regard to num- 

 bers, he is better provided than any. Almoft every peafant 

 has his horfe, befides other cattle. The very beggars have 

 their milch cow. The number of live flock polTefl^ed by 

 fome rich individuals, among the Tartaric nations in the 

 fouthern quarter of this empire, is almoft beyond belief. 

 Fifty thouland fheep are ftated as belonging to one perfon. 

 Another has 10,000 horfes, 300 camels, 3500 black cattle, 

 20,000 fheep, and 1000 goats. The patriarch Job would not 

 have been reckoned the greateft man of the Eaft, in this 

 country. 



Befides all forts of cattle common to the rdft of Europe, 

 there are fome which feem peculiar to the Ruflian empire. 

 Thus, the DJhiggetei and the Khulan^ not afcertained whether 

 they btlong more to equine or to the afline fpecies, are met 

 with in vaft droves, in the forefts to the northward of the 

 Cafpian. Nothing can exceed them in fwiftnefs, nor in 

 their fierce and untameable difpofition. There is likewife a 

 beautiful race of wild horfes, of a bay colour, in the v/ilds of 

 the Ukraine, that hardly yield to the foregoing in any of the 

 above qualities. Camels are native in the fouthern provinces, 

 as likewife buffaloes, both fubjedled to the rule of man. In 

 tht. north, the rein deer of Lapland are trained to the yoke of 

 tiie Rufs ', while in the eaft, by Kamtfchatka, dogs are applied 

 to the fame purpofe. To conclude. The View of the Rufjian 

 Empire^ by Tooke, from whence the above fhort notes are 

 feleded, is a worl; that cannot fail to be interefting to read- 

 ers 



