104 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 



greater part of Europe ; better educated than many of the French, and more engaging in 

 their manners than the Germans, they may be considered among the first gentlemen of 

 the Continent. The Polish peasantry are naturally a much more lively and ingenious 

 race than those of Russia, with whom they are generally compared ; and they will gra- 

 dually participate in the improvement of their masters. 



^ Sect. VII. Present State of the Agriculture of Russia. 



645. The rural economy of the Russian empire was first described by Professor Pallas 

 in his travels to explore that country, made by order of the Empress Catherine. It has 

 also been incidentally noticed by various travellers, as Tooke, Coxe, Clarke, and several 

 French and German authors. From these and other works, and a personal residence 

 which occupied nearly a year, in 1813 and 1814, we shall present a very concise state- 

 ment of the agricultural circumstances of that serai-barbarous country. 



646. IVie territory of Russia which may be subjected to aration, commences at the 

 43'' and ends at the GS'' of north latitude. Farther north, the summers are too short 

 for ripening even barley, and the climate too severe for the growth of pasture or trees. 

 It is a black waste, productive of little more than lichens, and supporting a few rein- 

 deer The southern extremity of Asiatic Russia, on the other hand, admits the culture 

 of Italy, and even the southern parts in Europe, that of the maize district of France. 



647. The climate of Russia has been divided into four regions, the very cold, cold, tem- 

 perate, and hot. The very cold extends from 60 to 78 of N. latitude, and includes Arch- 

 ano-el. In many of its districts there is scarcely any summer ; the spring has in general 

 much A-ost, snow, and rain, and the winter is always severe. In this region there is 

 no agriculture. 



648. The cold climate extends from 55^ to 60 N. latitude, and includes Cazan, 

 Moscow, Petersburg, and Riga ; the summer is short, yet in many districts so warm, 

 and the days so long, that agricultural crops usually come to perfect maturity, in a much 

 shorter space of time than else where. The winters are long and severe, even in the 

 Southern parts of the region. The ground round Moscow is generally covered with snow 

 for six months in the year, and we have seen it covered to the depth of several inches in 

 the first week of June. 



649. The moderate region extends from 50^ to B5 and includes KiofF, Saratolf, Wilna, 

 and Smolensko. The Siberia part of this region being very mountainous, the winters 

 are long and cold ; but in the European part the winter is short and tolerably temperate, 

 and the summer warm and aigreeable. The snow, however, generally lies from one to 

 three months, even at Kioff and Saratolf. 



650. The hot region reaches from 43 to 50**, and includes the Taurida, Odessa, 

 Astracan, and the greater part of Caucasus and the district of Kioff. Here the winter 

 is short and the summer warm, hot and very dry. The atmosphere in all the different 

 climates is in general salubrious, both during the intense colds of the north and the 

 excessive heats of the southerly regions. The most remarkable circumstance is the 

 shortness of the seasons of spring and autumn, even in the southern regions ; while in 

 the very cold and cold regions they can hardly be said to exist. About Moscow the ter- 

 mination of winter and the commencement of sixmmer generally take place about the 

 end of April. There the rivers, covered a yard in thickness with ice, break up at once 

 and overflow their banks to a great extent ; in a fortnight the snow has disappeared, the 

 rotten-like blocks of ice dissolved, and the rivers are confined to their limits. A crackling 

 from the bursting of buds is heard in the birch forests ; in two days afterwards, they are in 

 leaf; corn which was sown as soon as the lands were sufficiently dry to plough, is now 

 sprung up, and wheat and rye luxuriant. Reaping commences in the government of 

 Moscow in September, and finishes by the middle of October. Heavy rains and sleet 

 then come on, and by the beginning of November the ground is covered with snow, which 

 accumulates generally to two or three feet in thickness before the middle of January, and 

 remains with little addition till it dissolves in the following April and May. The cli- 

 mate of Russia therefore, though severe, is not so uncertain as that of some other coun- 

 tries. From the middle of November till April it scarcely ever snows or rains ; and if 

 the cold is severe it is dry, enlivening, and at least foreseen and provided for. Its greatest 

 evils are violent summer rains, boisterous winds, and continued autumnal fogs. Late 

 frosts are more injurious than long droughts ; though there are instances of such hot and 

 dry summers, that fields of standing corn and forests take fire and fill whole provinces 

 with smoke. {Toohe's Vieio of the Russian Empire.) 



651. The surface of Russia is almost every where flat, like that of Poland, with the 

 exception of certain ridges of mountains whicli separate Siberia from the other provinces, 

 and which also occur in Siberian Russia. In travelling from Riga, Petersburg, Wilna, or 

 Brody, to Odessa, the traveller scarcely meets with an inequality sufficiently great to be 

 termed a hill ; but he will meet with a greater proportion of forests, steppes or immense 

 plains of pasture, sandy wastes, marshy surfaces, and guUeys or temporary water 

 courses, than in any olher country of Europe. 



