.RUR.^^1, iXOXOMICS 1 171 



solute aTid unassailable judgment. Under these circumstances the valua- 

 tion can test the accuracy of its judgments by comparing its own estimate 

 with other similar valuations in like cases, but it must do this carefully, 

 given the extreme difficulty of establishing a perfect comparison between 

 different cases. 



Valuation should not resort to other methods than the analytic except for 

 rough estimates, and should always maintain some doubt as to the accuracy 

 of the results if they are not corroborated by a thorough examination, the 

 direct consequence of which is to lead to an anah'sis. If it be borne in 

 mind that analysis is, and should always be, the means by which the results 

 are obtained or checked in the course of time, it may be doubted whether 

 there really exist any other methods of valuation than the analytic method. 



906 - Cost of Production of the Principal Cereals in European Russia. — kotelnikov v. 

 in Cejhrhof Xo.iffncineo u .'TrocnsoOcineo, .iivifjyHa.ih MiiHKciiwponea Sc.u.u'dio.iifi 

 {Agriculture and- Sylviculture, review published by the Ministn- of Agriculture). Vol. CCL,, 

 Year lyXXVI, pp. 451-459. Petrograd, March 1915. 



The section of Rural Economy and Agricultural Statistics of the Minis- 

 try of Agriculture recenth^ published the results of an enquir^^ into the 

 cost of production of the principal cereals in European Russia, namely, 

 winter rye, oats, spring wheat, winter wheat and barley, and the profit 

 furnished by each of these crops. The investigation is based on the replies 

 given by farmers who are correspondents of the Section, and some institu- 

 tions and persons interested in agriculture, to a list of questions addressed 

 to them. The number of replies was 5 i6q, of which 3 y^y related to pea- 

 sant farms and i 442 to those of large landowners. 



The material collected in this way contains data concerning winter 

 r3'e and oats in 60 governments, barley in 52, spring wheat in 47 and winter 

 wheat in 47 governments. The governments of the kingdom of Poland are 

 excluded from the enquiry. The data are grouped according to the govern- 

 ments and principal agricultural regions. The publication dealt with by the 

 writer will be followed by two others, one of which will contain monographs 

 and analytical data regarding individual farms, and the other the special 

 local enquiries to be carried out by some zemstvos, with the financial assist- 

 ance of the Section, in governments more or less typical for each of the 

 different regions. 



The data collected are digested similarly to the cereals under study ; 

 they are regrouped for the governments according to the area of the farms. 

 The first group contains farms with an area up to 154 acres ; the second, 

 farms with between 54 and 135 acres; the third those from 135 to 

 540; the fourth, those from 540 to 1350 and the fifth, those of 1350 

 acres and upwards. Three averages arc made : one for farms u]) to 135 

 acres, another for those with more than 135 acres and the third for all 

 the farms in the government. 



Without dwelling on the details of treatment of the statistical data col- 

 lected, we pass on to the data relating to the great agricultural regions of Rus- 

 sia, which data have been combined by the writer in a somewhat different 

 way as compared with the publication of the Section, inasmuch as in determin- 



