NATURAL HISTORY OP COMMK 



113 



NATURAL HISTORY OF COMMERCE. 



CHAITI-ii: IX. (continued). 

 yOBKION PBODUCK EUBOPK. 



Productions of Countries oomprUed by the Zono of Wheat d 

 Northern Gruiuu. 



RitHtia. Entering Russia through the plains of 

 Northern Germany i Prussia), it, is a, n-p titiun of the 

 picture with tin- feat arcs eiilarL'<-d. Tin- S.ii'in.i! 1:111 plain 

 reaches to the Urals, without an elevation to reduce the 

 ocean-like level. Tho Valdai Hills, the feeble watershed 

 of Kui-opeaii Russia, liinit tins plain to the north, and the 

 < 'arpat hian plateau to the south. Through those flats 

 llow various noble ri MTS and their tributaries, crowded 

 \\ith sturgeon productive of shagreen and isinglass, 

 and, i'rom the roe, of caviare. The Volga meanders 

 \\earily for 2,-tOO miles, with a fall of three inches to the 

 mile, till it Hows into the Caspian. This river is the 

 grand waterway for the produce of the Urals and Central 

 Russia, and for the commodities interchanged at Nijni 

 Novgorod, the great centre of inland trade, where mer- 

 chandise to the amount of many millions is sold during 

 th-' two months of August and September, while that mart 

 is open. Well-laden barges float as far as the angle where 

 the river bends abruptly towards its delta in the Caspian. 

 Fora thousand miles of its lower course the Volga runs 

 at the base of a cliff, facing the east, and ranging from 

 200 to 500 feet high the sea-wall of a pre-historic and 

 vaster Caspian. This elevation of the right bank of 

 the Volga renders canal communication with the Don 

 impracticable, though but a short distance off, and the 

 barges are lifted bodily at the most convenient spot on to 

 a t ramway, and transferred to the Don, whence they 

 reach the Sea of Azof and the Black Sea. Hero their 

 freight is sold, and the vessels are broken up for fire- 

 wood, their value being greater in the treeless steppes, 

 where dung and turf are commonly used for fuel, than 

 would bo the case if they were sent back empty to the 

 forest-lands where they were rough-hewn. 



Peter the Great, to whom Russia owes its impetus in 

 civilisation, was the first to perceive the facilities of the 

 country for a system of waterways, and he connected 

 the basin of the Volga by means of canals with the Baltic 

 and Arctic drainage. This scheme has since been deve- 

 loped, until an uninterrupted communication now exists 

 between the Arctic and Baltic, and Black and Caspian 

 Seas. For land carriage the finest highway in the 

 world is probably that from St. Petersburg to Mos- 

 cow, which is twice as wide as our English highways, 

 macadamised throughout, and lined with trees marking 

 the number of versts.* Several other fine roads exist, 

 and the principal cities are now being connected by 

 magnificent lengths of railway. Still, as a rule, the 

 cross-roads are bad, consisting of mere tracks, and 

 markets are so difficult of access, that much wealth is 

 wasted, and corn is frequently two years in reaching its 

 outport. The boundless southern flats, not composed of 

 marsh or arid steppes, or waving with grain, are produc- 

 tive of every kind of root-crop, and of hemp and flax. 

 Russia thus is enabled to provide the nations which she 

 partly feeds with the raw material for linen for their 

 clothing, and sacks in which to carry their corn. 



Upon thcso plains, too, multitudes of horned cattle are 

 reared, as well as millions of sheep, from which are 

 obtained the wool, hides, and tallow that figure so 

 largely amongst Russian exports. Beeves swarm over 

 the Sarmatian government of the Ukraine in huge herds, 

 whence came, it is generally believed, the cattle disease, 

 from which our dairies so terribly suffered ; innumerable 

 borses likewise exist. 



The central territory is covered with forests. Woods 



A Russian versi equals about three-fourths of aa Euglish mile. 



H2-A-.K. 



stretch from St. Petersburg to Moscow almost without a 

 break, and the peasantry used to say that a squirrol 

 might paH from the one city to the other without touch- 

 ing tho ground. The largest forests in Europe are round 

 the sources of the Volga. The government of Perm 

 has but an eighteenth of its soil uncovered by trees, 

 Limes abound, but beech, oak, elm, maple, ash, willow, 

 uld'-r, and other deciduous trees are represented; 

 while, towards the north, the growth of birch and pine 

 prevails over all tho rest. Uni,-iinli.:rcd swine range 

 those forests, which also harbour th-: bear and wolt, 

 The peasants, who till the lute emperor's reign were 

 serfs of the great proprietors, and fold with the estates, 

 have always Ixjen allowed a pecuniary interest in the herds 

 of swine, saving tho bristles for itinerant nn-n-hanu, 

 and feeding upon tho flesh. The freedom granted 

 them by the Emperor Alexander will, no doubt, stimu- 

 late their industry and thrift, and lead them on in the 

 path of civilisation. Bees in tho same districts feed 

 upon the multitude of wild summer flowers blooming in 

 every open part, and build their hives in hollow trees. 

 Prodigious quantities of honey and wax are produced, 

 many Russians having thousands of hives, the care of 

 which is their chief vocation. 



Timber is the bulkiest, as well as one of the most 

 valuable constituents of the raw produce of Russia, but 

 it is far from being the only wealth of the forest. Tar, 

 pilch, resin, turpentine, spruce beer, potash, are all 

 useful commodities; and wood for fuel, in a climate so 

 rigorous in winter, is invaluable. 



Minerals. Iron is obtained from the Valdai Hills ; 

 copper in the hills to the north of Lake Onega; 

 marble from Finland, and salt from the salt lakes in 

 the south-east. The precious metals are found in the 

 Urals, but on the Asiatic slope. The mineral wealth 

 of Russia is thus chiefly in the highest parts of the 

 climatic zone. 



The limit of wheat-growth is the northern boundary of 

 the zone wo have been studying. Wheat struggles to 

 maintain its supremacy, but with an ever feebler force, as 

 it penetrates the higher latitudes. It succumbs in the 

 British Islands at 58^, in the vicinity of Inverness. In 

 Norway, wheat ripens at Drontheim in lat. 64; the 

 limit descending thence to St. Petersburg in lat. 60, 

 and still further south in the Russian interior. 



Barley, oats, and rye, with favourable aspects, mature 

 as far north as lat. 70, and are used as descriptives of 

 tho next climatic division of Europe, that is to say 



The Zone of Northern Grains. 



This region severs the north Scottish highlands from 

 Great Britain, takes in the greater part of the Norso 

 peninsula, and, in an irregular line, crosses Russia to 

 the Urals. Tho southern limits are comparatively mild; 

 tho northern limits are perpetually frozen ; and the chill 

 shade deepens as it travels from the one to the other 

 extreme. An Arctic vegetation is all that the Scotch 

 hills possess, although the Gulf Stream keeps the western 

 channels free from frost. Norway enjoys the liko immu- 

 nities; its inlets and fiords, from tho Naze to North 

 Cape, are clear of ice, and vessels can steer round 

 Margerbo all tho year. Yet on tho mountain ridge, a 

 Little distance inland, tho snow line descends to the 

 lowest elevations, and glaciers glide to the very verge of 

 the frozen Baltic. 



Arctic Jhwsia. The shores of Arctic Russia shelve, 

 cliffless, down to the ocean, descending like the snow- 

 drift direct into the water. Without a rampart from th& 

 polar blasts, there is an intensity of cold in these low- 

 lands, not counterbalanced by genial winds. 



The Baltic. The shallow and tideless Baltic ha* 

 scarcely a sounding that could conceal St. Paul's Cathe- 

 dral, and the pine-trees around would show their crowns 

 if planted in any other part than the Gulf of Bothnia. 



