RUSSIA 



5116 



RUSSIA 



Russia and the United States 



Russia and Canada 



COMPARATIVE AREAS 



EUROPEAN RUSSIA AND THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA COMPARED 

 If Siberia were added to the black area the vast combined sweep of Russia would be over twice as 

 great as the area of either of the grreat American democracies. 



coast and the Caspian Sea and rivers flowing 

 into it are the chief sources of the industry, 

 and the annual catch from all sources amounts 

 to over 1,500,000,000 pounds. 



Agriculture. Agriculture is the chief occupa- 

 tion of about seven-eighths of the population 

 of European Russia. The variation in tem- 

 perature and rainfall over so wide an extent of 

 territory makes a variety of agricultural inter- 

 ests necessary. In the extreme north agricul- 

 ture cannot be practiced, but elsewhere crops 

 can be grown. In the region of the great forest 

 there are but few farms, but throughout the 

 great area south of an east and west line pass- 

 ing through Petrograd most of the land not 

 forested is under tillage. In the southeast is 

 the great black-earth region, constituting one of 

 the greatest wheat countries in the world. It 

 is from this region that Russia exported under 

 ordinary conditions about 100,000,000 bushels 

 of wheat each year, making it second only to 

 the United States as a wheat-exporting country. 



Next to wheat the most important crops are 

 rye, barley, sugar beets, flax and potatoes. 

 Russia formerly raised more than one-half the 

 rye grown in Europe, and it produced more 

 barley than the United States. 



Before the war the live-stock industry was 

 especially profitable in the south, where the 

 animals go without shelter throughout the year. 

 Russia produced in normal times more and bet- 

 ter horses than any other country in Europe. 

 It had more swine than any other European 

 country except Germany, and large numbers of 

 cattle, sheep and goats. After the revolution all 

 lines of agriculture declined. 



Until recently the land was all in large 

 estates ; these were rented in small divisions to 

 peasants who live in community villages, or 

 mirs. The proprietors have never resided upon 

 the land, and the methods practiced by the 

 tenants have been wasteful in the extreme. 

 American machinery and implements have 

 been introduced to a considerable extent into 

 the black-earth region, and these have had 

 their influence in improving methods of tillage 

 and harvesting, but elsewhere throughout the 

 country primitive methods and implements 

 long since out of date are employed. In 1906 

 a new land law became effective whereby large 

 areas of land were to pass into the hands of peas- 

 ant proprietors. This movement was encour- 

 aged by the peasant land bank, which extended 

 to the purchasers loans on easy terms of pay- 

 ment. Since the revolution the peasants have 

 taken over all the land, and the old agrarian 

 system has been abolished. Because of lack of 

 tools, implements, seed, fertilizer, etc., and the 

 breakdown of transportation, production in Rus- 

 sia is far below normal. The richest grain sec- 

 tion, the Ukraine, is in a state of turmoil, owing 

 to conflicts between Bolshevik and anti-Bo I sin - 

 vik factions. 



Forests. Russia has the most extensive for- 

 ests of any country except Canada, and the 

 felling and shipping of timber formerly pro- 

 vided a comfortable living for a large number 

 of people. During the winter thousands who 

 would otherwise be idle worked in the forests. 

 Wood is the chief fuel; coal is beyond the 

 means of the peasants. Little or no attention 

 is given to the preservation of forests, and the 



