in Western Europe, yielding, with very imperfect cultivation, from 30 

 to 35 bushels of wheat per acre. With improved processes of culture, 

 and an extension of railway communications, these vast capabilities of 

 production will yet make themselves felt upon the markets of the globe. 



The climate of Kussia, however, is much more severe than in the same 

 latitudes of Western Europe. Its extremes of temperature are very 

 trying to all except the most robust forms of organic life. AVidely 

 separated from the Atlantic Ocean, exposed to north winds from the 

 Arctic, to northeast winds from Siberia, and, in the south, to the dry 

 winds from Central Asia, none of which bring a supply of rain, the 

 country is exposed to frequent droughts which very greatly restrict cul- 

 tivation. The new conquests south of the Caucasus Mountains, and 

 portions of the Crimean region, are exceptions to the above stateuaents^. 

 enjoying a regular and temperate climate. 



The vast extent of Russia renders the gathering of reliable statistics- 

 a matter of great difficulty. Yet, for several years, a statistical com> 

 mittee has been systematically at work, with headquarters at St. Pe- 

 tersburg. From its patient statistical labor it appears that the ag- 

 gregate area of European Russia is about 1,801,459 square miles, or 

 1,191,333,701 acres. Prom this area deducting 340,926,492 acres, the 

 estimated surface covered by buildings, roads, lakes, rivers, swamps, 

 heaths, commons, and waste-lands generally, there will remain 850,407,209 

 acres available for production, about 71 per cent, of the whole. This 

 residue includes 468,627,502 acres of forest-lands, 241,382,474 acres of 

 arable land, and 140,397,173 acres of grazing land. 



The forest area, in regions accessible to general markets, has already 

 suftered depletion to an extent affecting the moisture of the atmosphere, 

 and efforts are being made to restore the balance of nature by replant- 

 ing woodlands and by restricting the cutting of timber. The great mass 

 of the Russian forests is found in the governments of Archangel, 

 Vologda, Olonetz, Kostroma, Perm, Viatka, and Orenburg. These 

 north and northeast departments, whose united surface is about half 

 that of European Russia, are, for the most part, covered with forests. 

 Some of these wooded regions, especially in Archangel, have been but 

 partially explored. A considerable portion is known to be swampy and 

 but little capable of cultivation. The grazing-lands are found mostly in 

 the south and southeast. Here stock-raising will find its greatest exten- 

 sion. The cultivated lands are mostly in the central governments and 

 the region south and southeast of Moscow. In Koursk, Toula, Vorouege, 

 Tamboff', Kieff, Kowno, Podolia, Riasan, and Kalouga, arable lands con- 

 stitute from 50 to 70 per cent, of the whole area. 



The leading crops grown on the arable lands are the cereals, epecially 

 wheat and millet. The other crops next in importance are the sngar- 

 beet, hemp, flax, tobacco, and grapes, but all these occupy but a limited 

 acreage ; sugar-l3eets cover about 272,000 acres ; hemp and flax, 2,470,000 

 acres ; tobacco, 86.450 acres, &c. The vine is cultivated only in the 

 South, and on the banks of the Don. Most of the arable land is very 

 fertile, about 98 percent, being designated as black land, {tscliernozieme ov 

 tchernozeme ;) without fertilization it yields from fifteen to twenty times 

 the seed sown. This black land i^roduces seven-tenths of the grain-crops 

 of the country. From late researches by Prof. P. A. Ilyenkow, of the 

 Agricnltural and Forest Academy of Petrowsky,near Moscow, it appears 

 that this kind of land composes the north half of the government of 

 Ssamara ; the half of those of Ssimbirsk, Tamboff, and Riasan ; the 

 whole of those of Ssaratoff, Pensa, Vorouege, Kharkow, Poltawa, Ye- 

 kath^rinosslaw, Kieff', and Podolia ; and, finally, the larger portion of 



