786 



RUSSIA. 



In the St Petersburg Agricultural Gazette, an 

 article is given on the varieties of climate and pro- 

 ductions in the Russian empire, which has been 

 translated by Mr James Heard. The author, who 

 is said to be an eminent Russian statesman, divides 

 Russia into the following climatic regions. 1st, 

 The region of ice. 2nd, The region of moss. 

 3d, The region of forests and pasturage. 4th, 

 The region of barley, and the beginning of agricul- 

 ture. 5th, The region of rye and flax, or of set- 

 tled agriculture. 6th, The region of wheat and 

 fruit. 7th, The region of maize and the vine. 

 8th, The region of the olive-tree, the silk-worm, 

 and the sugar cane. 



In adopting this division of climatic regions, it 

 must be remembered, that they do not run exactly 

 parallel to the equator, but decline to the south, 

 in proportion as they extend eastward, without 

 noticing those more minute varieties of tempera- 

 ture produced by accidental causes, which carry 

 these imaginary boundaries sometimes more to the 

 south, at others more to the north, as, for instance, 

 on the summits of the Ural Mountains, where the 

 cold is severe, or in some sheltered spots on the 

 rich soil of the government of Vologda, where it is 

 unnaturally genial. 



1. The region of Ice. The icy region may be 

 considered as including Novaya Zemlia,* part of 

 the Kolskaya district, and the extreme northern 

 points of land which project into the Frozen 

 Ocean. This region is distinguished by a night of 

 three months' duration, and its total destitution of 

 vegetable productions, which circumstances render 

 it unfit for the permanent habitation of man and 

 domestic animals. The seal, the walrus, and fish 

 of various descriptions which abound towards the 

 pole, supply the only means of sustenance for man, 

 the polar bear, and its inseparable companion the 

 fox ; except on Novaya Zemlia, where multitudes 

 of a peculiar kind of mice breed, and lay up heaps 

 of roots for their winter store. These mice serve, 

 in their turn, as food for the bears and foxes. 



The maritime enterprizes undertaken by the 

 commercial house of Brandt in Archangel, may 

 probably furnish us with more authentic informa- 

 tion concerning these parts. They have been 

 conducted with as much courage as perseverance, 

 and although the profits arising from them may in 

 some measure supply the place of agriculture, yet 

 they cannot be said in any way to be connected 

 with it. 



2. The Mossy Region, where the ever-frozen 

 ground is covered with a kind of grayish moss, and 

 towards the boundaries of the following region, 

 with a kind of dwarf brush-wood and fir. This 

 tract is endowed by nature with an animal that 

 alone makes it habitable for man, the rein-deer. 

 Its vast deserts stretch from Archangel, along the 

 shores of the White Sea to the Eastern Ocean, 

 peopled by thinly scattered nomadic tribes of Lap- 

 landers, Samoyades, Ostiaks, and other aborigines, 

 whose numbers are gradually decreasing as they 

 come in contact with civilized nations. Besides 

 the resources derived from the milk and flesh of 

 the rein-deer, a considerable portion of the popula- 

 tion is supported by fish.f The chase of marine 

 animals, and such as furnish valuable furs, affords 

 the principal employment of the inhabitants. 



Or the New Land, incorrectly marked on the English 

 globes ad maps Kitea Zembla. 



t To counteract the ravages of the scurvy the inhabitants 

 employ a kind of cochlenria. 



Besides which, innumerable flocks of swans, wild 

 geese, and other aquatic birds of passage, visit 

 them during their short summer, and form an im- 

 portant part of their sustenance. Lastly, in this 

 region, adjacent to the Frozen Ocean, at the mouth 

 of great rivers, and near certain islands, are found 

 those astonishing remains of antediluvian animals, 

 particularly of the mammoth, and here was dis- 

 covered that enigma for naturalists, the bones of 

 one of those monsters, still covered with flesh and 

 skin. 



3. The Region of Forests and Pasturage By 



degrees the dwarf trees and brushwood of the 

 mossy region increase in size, until we come to 

 those immense forests, where the hand of man has 

 not yet disturbed the majestic operations of nature. 

 Along the banks of the rivers, and in other spots 

 unincumbered with wood, the grass shoots up with 

 astonishing rapidity; but the lingering frosts of 

 spring, and the early appearance of those of autumn, 

 prevent the cultivation of corn. For this reason 

 the inhabitants of the northern part of this district, 

 are principally occupied with the chase, especially 

 that of the squirrel, an animal that seems to be 

 indigenous there, and which forms the principal 

 inducement for man to take up his abode in this 

 inhospitable clime. The abundance of grass in the 

 southern part affords the means of keeping cattle, 

 while in some sheltered spots appear a few corn- 

 fields, as it were, the outposts of agriculture. 

 The northern and eastern parts of this region are 

 inhabited by nomadic tribes, then follow the Finns 

 or Finlanders, a settled people chiefly dependent 

 on pasturage for support. It would be difficult to 

 mark with precision the southern boundaries of 

 this region, as it falls gradually into the next. 



4. The Region of Barley, and the beginning of 

 Agriculture On account of the shortness of the 

 summer, and the early autumnal frosts, barley is 

 the only grain successfully cultivated here, but, 

 with great care, several kinds of vegetables may 

 be brought to maturity, and possibly potatoes 

 might thrive. The inhabitants are Russians, 

 Finns, Zirians, and others having settled habita- 

 tions ; but from the insignificance of their agricul- 

 ture, they have recourse to grazing, fishing, and 

 the chase, floating of timber, &c. In some parts, 

 however, of the governments of Archangel and 

 Vologda, are to be found a very superior breed of 

 horned cattle. The southern limits of this region 

 may be said to extend nearly to the town of Yar- 

 ensk in the government of Vologda, and the parts 

 of a corresponding degree of latitude, viz. the 63. 

 Nature here assumes an imposing aspect ; immense 

 forests, vast rivers, beautiful meadows, flourishing 

 in all the unexhausted luxuriance of primitive 

 vegetation, make an impression on the traveller 

 that can only be adequately conceived by those 

 who have wandered through the unexplored forests 

 and beheld the majestic streams of the New 

 World. 



5. The Region of Rye and Flax, or of settled 

 Agriculture, extends from the limits of the for- 

 mer, southward to the middle of the government 

 of Tchernigov, or to the 51st degree of northern 

 latitude, and the districts on the corresponding 

 line to the eastward. It would be superfluous to 

 enter into a minute description of this vast region, 

 which comprises the principal part of the Russian 

 empire; we shall therefore content ourselves with 

 a few partial observations. It will readily be con- 

 ceived, that the southern part has some advantages 



