SUPPLEMENTARY NUMBER 
to tHe FIFTY-NINTH VOLUME of tue 
MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 
Vol. 60. No. 418.] JANUARY 1, 1826. [Price 2s. 
Contract-Meerines in Waite Russia. 
ONTRACT-Meetings is the name 
: given to a species of fair kept in 
several towns of the above province of 
the Russian empire. They are now, 
to all intents and purposes, fairs, where 
traders and manufacturers find a ready 
sale for every kind of merchandize; 
although this was not the principal ob- 
ject of their establishment. On the 
contrary, they were appointed by go- 
yernment for the purpose of facilitating 
the legal sales, transfers, mortgagings, 
and lettings of estates among the nobility, 
gentry, and farmers, scattered over an 
' extensive country, which has but few 
towns and little facility for communica- 
tion. It may be supposed that they 
are well attended, since they afford 
the means of uniting business with 
pleasure, for the meeting of distant 
friends, and for the purchase of luxu- 
ries. They are of ancient date; but 
they have become most flourishing 
since the land has been more sub- 
divided, and many wealthy farmers have 
settled in the neighbourhood. There 
are several about the province; for ex- 
ample, at Minsk, in the beginning of 
March; at Nowogrodek, at the end of 
the same month; and at Wilna, from 
the 20th to the 30th of May. But the 
most considerable of all, is that at 
Kiey, founded, or rather transferred 
there from the small town of Dubuo, 
by the command of the emperor Paul, 
in the year 1800. It is held in Ja- 
nuary, and lasts for three weeks. Kiev, 
a very ancient city, which contains still 
many unexplored remains of former 
times, had been fast sinking into decay, 
when it was restored to opulence by 
these meetings, especially since ~ the 
establishment of Odessa as a place of 
trade. Before that epoch, the Ukrain 
(by which are reckoned all the southern 
governments, formerly belonging to 
Poland) had no market for its pro- 
duce; and the inhabitants, therefore, 
grew no more corn than was. neces- 
sary for their immediate consumption, 
the rest of the land being left for 
pasture. Money was then so. scarce 
there, that for one paper rouble might 
Montuty Mac.—Supp. 
be bought a tshetvert of excellent wheat. 
But as soon as that harbour began to 
be visited by foreign ships, and corn 
came in demand, millions of hands in 
this province devoted themselves to 
agriculture, and enriched it by their 
industry. The best years for it were 
those of 1807, 1808, 1815, and 1816, 
when almost all the rest of Europe 
suffered dearth, and the Ukrain farmer 
obtained as much as forty roubles per 
tshetvert. These advantages, however, 
were only enjoyed by small farmers ; 
and the possessors of large unwieldy 
estates, cultivated by unwilling slaves, 
had nothing but loss. This induced 
the Polish nobility to sell their estates 
with the life-stock of men on them, in 
small parcels, and they were greedily 
bought up by farmers from all parts 
of Poland, who were glad of the op- 
portunity of settling on this inviting 
soil. Thus the family of Potozky, for 
‘instance, sold an estate with 120,000 
peasants on it; and the sway of those 
great families who formerly used to 
rule, like petty kings, over several 
hundred thousands of people, is now 
continued by an immense number of 
smaller proprietors and farmers, who 
all made their purchases at the above 
meetings. The family of Branizky 
alone withstood the general mania of 
the nobles, of selling their estates, and. 
by a wise management have improved 
theirs considerably. Others: still con-~ 
tinue selling: however, that reaction 
which was naturally to be expected 
from the English corn-laws on one 
hand, and the improved and increasing 
agriculture over the rest of Europe, in 
Egypt and the United States, on the 
other, has already begun; and scarcely 
the tenth part of the land offered at 
the last meetings has found purchasers. 
Even that would not have been bought 
had not the government, with a view 
of upholding agriculture, prolonged the 
period for which it advances money 
to landholders, Indeed, the necessity 
begins to be felt throughout the pro- 
vince, of turning public attention to the 
improvement of their breed of sheep, 
and the establishment of manufactories ; 
3 and 
