Kherson, Tauiida, and the Don region. This soil is noted for its black 

 color, especially when moist ; when dry, it generally becomes gray, but 

 some varieties retain their deeper tinge throughout. This color is due 

 to the decomposition of vegetable matter. It has been ascertained that 

 in Ssamara 10 per cent, of the soil is composed of organic matter, and 

 in Kiasan from 8 to 8J per cent. But the fertility of the soil dei)ends 

 not on these elements, but in a very strong mixture of mineral sub- 

 stances, indispensable to vegetation, which, having several times entered 

 the composition of plants, have returned to the soil in a more assimi- 

 lable form. These mineral elements do not embrace more of phosphoric 

 acid or potash than less fertile soils, but they contain a larger proportion 

 of soluble silicates. Partially-decomposed rock is also a prominent ele- 

 ment in the soil. 



This region embraces deposits of fossil phosphate of lime, some of 

 which are remarkably rich in fertilizing elements. These deposits are 

 scattered over a triangular region, of which the apex is at St. Peters- 

 burg and the other angles at Odessa and Orenbnrg. They lie, gener- 

 ally, in from one to three beds, though in some cases amounting to 

 seven, with a variable thickness. Sometimes they crop out upon the 

 surface, and again they are buried many feet. In some cases they 

 occur in thick slabs, and in others in massive blocks; in still others 

 they exhibit a nodular form. The principal deposit of Central Eussia 

 is in Koursk, where it forms a basin nearly one hundred miles long. 

 The phosphate is here eligibly arranged for working in large slabs, 

 about 6 or 7 inches thick, with kidney-shaped nodules on the under 

 side penetrating the ground for several inches. In some portions of 

 this region the practicable yield of phosphate of lime is estimated as 

 high as 10,000 tons per acre. Analyses at different points show that 

 from 30 to 60 i^er cent, of the soil is composed of this material. Other 

 deposits, scarcely less rich, are noted in different portions of this 

 region. It is estimated that the central zone of this region, running 

 through Smolensk, Orel, Koursk, and Voronege, averages not less than 

 from 6,000 to 8,000 tons of phosphates per acre, while the Tamboff de- 

 posits run from 12,000 to 24,000 tons. The exploitation of these depos- 

 its, as yet scarcely commenced, opens a wide field of industrial enter- 

 prise, promising incalculable results to Eussian agriculture. 



Yet, with these splendid natural resources, agriculture in this country 

 is anything but prosperous. The soil, ever since the emancipation of 

 the serfs, is still held in large bodies by a small number of proprietors, 

 the large proportion of whom are but little alive to their social respon- 

 sibilities, and most of them are destitute of capital sufficient for the 

 proper cultivation of their estates. The price of land, except along 

 railway lines, is extremely low. On the Volga Eiver, about sixty miles 

 from a railway terminus, farms may be purchased at less than $1 per 

 acre. More favored localities command as high as $25 to $30 per acre. 

 The poverty of the peasantry is another barrier to agricultural progress. 

 Their lack of capital forbids their occujiancy of farms from year to year, 

 with a systematic and recuperative culture, and hence they engage 

 mostly as day -laborers or share-farmers. Leases of nine years are very 

 rare; they seldom exceed two or three years. Arrangements for such 

 a tenure must be provisional and temporary, looking to the realization of 

 speedy returns of profit to meet the high rental. It is needless to say 

 that such a system takes no cognizance of exhaustion of the soil. 



De Foutenaye, a French traveler in Eussia, states i:hat in 1S6S the 

 black land of Ssamara yielded as high as 50 hectoliters per hectare, 



