204 SIBERIA 



6d. per cwt. more ; from Barnoul 1*. 6d. per cwt. 

 more, and so on, these low freights being, of 

 course, fixed by the Government for the express 

 purpose of facilitating the export of the produce. 

 From Riga to London direct, including all 

 wharfage and landing charges, the freight works 

 out at between 2s. and 2s. 6d, per cwt. So the 

 butter purchased at Omsk at the rate of, say, 11 

 roubles per pood, or £3 12s. 9d. per cwt., costs 

 £4> 2s. 3d. by the time it reaches London. The 

 total distance from Omsk to London is 3,600 

 miles. 



Two qualities of butter are exported from 

 Siberia — table butter and cooking butter ; and 

 there is a special reason why much of the latter 

 quality — as well as a good deal of the former — 

 should be consigned to Denmark for consump- 

 tion in that country, Great Britain and Den- 

 mark being, in fact, the two chief importers of 

 Siberian dairy produce. Prior to the introduc- 

 tion of the co-operative dairy system the butter 

 made by the Danish peasants was mostly of 

 an uncertain type ; but when the peasants left 

 off producing each his own little lot, and butter 

 was made only in large quantities of uniform 

 quality, the inferior kinds disappeared. There 

 was, however, a commercial demand for these 

 inferior, and consequently cheaper, kinds. The 



