638 



RUSSIA. 



power, will be excelled by the Waryag and Boy- 

 arin, one built in Philadelphia and the other in 

 Copenhagen, which have the same displacement 

 (6,500 tons), a more powerful armament, consist- 

 ing of 12 6-inch, 12 3-inch, and 6 smaller quick 

 firers, and engines of 20,000 horse power, giving 

 a speed of 23 knots, advantages obtained, however, 

 at the cost of the cruising radius. The armored 

 cruiser Kurik, launched in 1892, having a dis- 

 placement of 10,933 tons, is protected at the water 

 line by 10 inches of armor for four fifths of the 

 vessel's length, carries a powerful armament, and 

 has capacity for 2,000 tons of coal, sufficient for a 

 cruise of 20*000 miles at a speed of 10 knots. The 

 Gromovoi, of 12,336 tons, is an improvement on 

 the Rossia, of 12,130 tons, launched in 1896, having 

 most of her guns in armored casemates and a more 

 powerful quick-firing armament, consisting of 20 

 3-inch and 24 smaller guns in addition to the 16 

 6-inch quick firers, which both vessels have besides 

 4 8-inch guns in the main battery. The Bayan 

 and Askold, of 7,800 tons, built in France, resemble 

 the French Desaix, their armament consisting of 



2 8-inch, 8 6-inch, 20 3-inch, and 7 smaller quick 

 firers. A recent type of coast-defense armor clads 

 is seen in Admiral Ushakoff and Admiral Seniavin, 

 of 4,126 tons, having 10-inch armor, a strong bat- 

 tery, consisting of 4 9.4-inch guns and 4 4.7-inch 

 and 36 smaller quick firers, and a speed of 16 knots. 

 The still later General Admiral Apraxin differs 

 only in having 3 10-inch in the place of 4 9.4-inch 

 guns in the turrets. A new ship will be of greater 

 strength, having a displacement of 6,000 tons. A 

 new type of river gunboat is exemplified in the 

 Gilyak, built for service in the Chinese rivers, 

 witli 10 feet draught, carrying 1 4.7-inch and 5 

 3-inch quick firers, and having a displacement of 

 1,300 tons. In the naval budget of 1901, amount- 

 ing to 97,000,000 rubles, about 37,000,000 rubles 

 go for construction and armament. Besides the 



3 battle ships of 13,516 tons, the Borodino, Orel, 

 and Alexander III, ordered to be built at St. 

 Petersburg, a fourth has been authorized, the 

 Prince SuvarofT. A new coast-defense armor clad 

 of the type of the Admiral Apraxin will be built, 

 to have a displacement of 5,000 tons; also a cruiser 

 of 3,000 tons for the Pacific, a coal transport of 

 7,200 tons, a new imperial yacht, and 2 torpedo 

 boats, 60 feet long, for escorting the Czar's yachts. 

 At Nikolaiell', on the Black Sea, will be constructed 

 a first-class cruiser of 6,250 tons and 6 torpedo 

 vessels of 350 tons each; at Sebastopol, another 

 cruiser of 6.250 tons and 12 torpedo boats for Port 

 Arthur. The new vessels will carry 12.4-inch and 

 8.45-inch guns, and numerous 6-inch quick firers. 



Commerce and Production. The crops of 

 cereals and pulse in European Russia in 1898 

 amounted to 2,642,190,000 pouds of 36 pounds, 

 the average for the preceding five years having 

 been 2,737,297,000 pouds. The wheat crop was 

 nearly 10 per cent, above the average, and barley 

 and minor crops were better, but iri rye and oats 

 there was a falling off. The main crop is rye, of 

 which 9S6.970.000 pouds were grown in 1898; of 

 wheat, 555,337,000 pouds; of oats, 496,153,000 

 pouds; of barley, 338,542,000 pouds; of buck- 

 wheat, millet, mixed grain, peas, lentils, and beans, 

 265,188,000 pouds. In Poland, 36,039.000 pouds of 

 wheat, 111.696.000 of rye, 25.S92.000 of barley, 

 49,192,000 of oats, and 16,929,000 of various crops 

 were produced: in northern Caucasia. 86.813.000 

 pouds of wheat, 8,640.000 of rye, 33,372.000 of 

 barley, 11.002,000 of oats, and 29.271.000 of various 

 n.ps; on the steppes, 24.829,000 pouds of wheat, 

 1,247,000 of rye, 3,627,000 of barley, 7,464.000 of 

 -ats. and 10.245,000 of various crops; in Siberia, 

 60,073,000 pouds of wheat, 35,087,000 of rye, 



6,518,000 of barley, 45,420,000 of oats, and 4,107,000 

 of various crops. The total production of wheat 

 for the empire, as shown by these figures, was 

 763,091,000 pouds, compared with an average of 

 701,321,000; of rye, 1,143,640,000 pouds, compared 

 with 1,219,392,000; of barley, 407,951,000 pouds; 

 of oats, 609,231,000 pouds; of various and mixed 

 grains and pulse, 325,740,000 pouds. The crop of 

 potatoes in 1898 was 1,037,358,000 pouds in Euro- 

 pean Russia, 384,589,000 in Poland, 22,599,000 in 

 northern Caucasia, 20,279,000 in Siberia, and 

 1,838,000 on the steppes; total, 1,466,663,000 pouds, 

 compared with an average of 1,335,077,000 for the 

 five years last preceding. In 1899 there was a 

 wheat crop of 500,869,000 pouds in Russia proper, 

 33,015,000 in Poland, and 84,533,000 in north Cau- 

 casia; a rye crop of 1,170,698,000 pouds in Russia, 

 110,814,000 in Poland, and 9,705,000 in north Cau- 

 casia ; a barley crop of 247,911,000 pouds in Russia, 

 25,892,000 in Poland, and 26,461,000 in north Cau- 

 casia. The crop of flax in Russia iri Europe for 

 1898 was 694,348 tons, and of linseed 27,655,500 

 bushels on 5,173,000 acres; of hemp, 221,000 tons 

 of fiber and 13,293,500 bushels of seed on 1,904,300 

 acres; of hops, 1,936 tons. The crop of hay was 

 33,912,000 tons in Russia, 1,911,000 tons in Poland, 

 4,975,000 tons in northern Caucasia, 6,670,300 tons 

 in Siberia, and 2,262,400 tons on the steppes; total, 

 49,730,700 tons, from 92,994,000 acres. The wine 

 made in Transcaucasia in 1899 was 17,043,000 gal- 

 lons from 250.675 acres of vineyards, and 10,265 

 acres there yielded 3,392 tons of tobacco in 1897, 

 while in Kuban 29,400 acres yielded 12,830 tons. 

 There are large plantations of tea in Transcau- 

 casia, and silk is also produced. In Transcaucasia 

 20,400 tons of cleaned cotton were produced in 

 1898. The Ministry of Agriculture has 68 experi- 

 mental farms in different parts of the empire. 

 More than a third of the area of European Russia 

 is covered with forests, which have an extent of 

 422,307,000 acres, while in Poland there ar 

 6,706,000 acres. Finland has 50,498,000 acres, ane 

 Caucasia 18,666,000 acres. The total forest are 

 under the management of the Government in 18S 

 was 306,739,983 acres in the European dominions 

 and 326,981,305 acres in Asiatic Russia. In Euro- 

 pean Russia 96,873,300 acres of forest have beer 

 declared to be preservative of rivers, and in sucl 

 areas the Government allows no felling of timber 

 that can diminish their protective value. About 

 20,000,000 acres of Siberian forests are to be ex- 

 ploited for the Government, and at the mouth of 

 the Ob a port will be established for the shipment 

 of the timber from these Crown forests, which ar 

 in Tomsk and Tobolsk. Manufacturing Industrie 

 have made rapid strides in some parts of Rus-i; 

 and in Poland, especially the iron, cotton, naphtha, 

 and sugar industries, and the manufacture 

 paper, leather, various textiles, ceramics, chemicji 

 products, tobacco, wood wares, spirits, beer. etc. 

 There were 39,232 industrial establishments re- 

 ported in 1896, employing 1.742,181 work people. 

 and producing goods valued at 2.745,149,000 rubles 

 a year. The production of refined sugar in 

 was 754,758 tons. 



The imports of Russia in 1898 had a total value 

 of 562,013,000 rubles; exports, 709.984,000 rubles. 

 The imports of food substances were valued at 

 69,803,000 rubles, and exports at 433,496,000 ru- 

 bles; imports of raw and partly manufactured 

 articles at 302,134,000 rubles, and' exports at 238,- 

 397.000 rubles; imports of animals at l.r.ll 

 rubles, and exports at 16,848,000 rubles: imports 

 of manufactured goods at 188.565.000 rubles, and 

 exports at 21.243.000 rubles. The exports of wheat 

 were 57.047.4(54 hundredweight: of rye. 2I..VX71S 

 hundredweight; of barley, 34,108,714 hundred- 





