106 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Pari I. 



655. The agricultural products of Russia may be known from its climates. The 

 vegetables of the most northerly region are limited to lichens, some coarse grass, and 

 some birch, abele, and wild pine forests. The animals are the reindeer, bear, fox, and 

 other animals of the chace, or valued for their furs or skins. Some cows and sheep are 

 also pastured in the northern parts of that region during the summer months. 



656. The farming crops of the more southern regions are the same as in similar climates 

 and countries. Winter and summer rye and oats are cultivated in every part of the 

 empire, south of latitude 60^ ; winter wheat only in Russia as far as the Kama ; summer 

 wheat both in Russia and Siberia ; barley and spelt plentifully in Russia. Pease, vetches, 

 and beans are not cultivated in great quantities ; but buckwheat is extensively grown, and 

 there is a large variety, called the tartarian millet ; panicum germanicum, and maize are 

 grown in Taurida. Rice is cultivated in some parts of Taurida, and what is called manna 

 {Festucafiuitans) grows wild in most places that are occasionally overflown with water, 

 particularly in the governments of Novogorod, Twer, Polotsk, and Smolensk. But 

 the grain the most universally cultivated in Russia is rye, which is the bread corn of the 

 country ; next oats, which furnishes the spirit in common use, and then wheat and barley. 



657. The culture of herbage plants^ of grasses, clover, turnips, &c., is rare in Russia. 

 Hay is made from the banks of rivers or lakes ; and pasture obtained from the steppes, 

 forests, grass lands in common, or arable lands at rest. 



658. The clothing and other economical plants in cultivation, are flax, which is culti- 

 vated to a great extent on the Volga; hemp is indigenous, and is cultivated both for 

 its fibre and its seed. From the latter an oil is expressed much used as food during the 

 time of the fasts. Woad is abundantly grown, madder and cotton has been tried in 

 Astracan and Taurida. Hops grow wild in abundance in some parts of Siberia, and 

 are cultivated in some European districts. Tobacco is planted in great abundance, and 

 the produce in the Ukraine is of excellent quality. The potatoe is not yet in general 

 cultivation, but has been introduced in different districts. Water melons, cabbages, 

 turnips, and a variety of garden vegetables, are cultivated in the Ukraine and Taurida. 

 Asparagus is extensively cultivated in the government of Moscow for the Petersburg 

 market, and also turnips, onions, and carrots. Mushrooms are found in great plenty in 

 the steppes and forests. About thirty species are eaten by the peasants, exclusive of our 

 garden mushroom, which is neglected. Their names and habitats are given by Dr. Lyall. 

 {History of Moscow, 1824. ) The common, and Siberian nettle, are found wild on the Ural 

 mountains, and their fibres are prepared and wove into linen by the Baschkirs and 

 Tatars. The rearing of silkworms has been tried in the Ukraine, and found to answer, 

 as has the culture of the caper, and various other plants. 



659. Of fruits grown on a large scale, or plentiful in a wild state in Russia, may be 

 mentioned the raspberry, currant, strawberry, and bilberry. The hazle is so plen- 

 tiful in Kazan, that an oil used as food is made from the nuts. Sugar, musk, and 

 water melons thrive in the open air as far north as lat. 52^. Pears are wild almost every 

 where, and cherries found in most forests. On the Oka and Volga are extensive 

 orchards, principally of these fruits and apples. The apricot, almond, and peach succeed 

 as standards in Taurida and Caucasus, and other southern districts. The quince is 

 wild in forests on the Terek. Chestnuts are found singly in Taurida and districts 

 adjacent. The walnut abounds in most southern districts. Figs and orange trees 

 grow singly in Kitzliar and in Taurida, planted no doubt by the Tatars before they 

 were driven out of that country. Lemons, oranges, and olives, according to Pallas, 

 would bear the winter in Taurida ; and have been tried by Stevens, the director of a 

 government nursery at Nikitka, in that country. The vine is cultivated in the govern- 

 ments of Caucasus, Taurida, Ekatorinoslaf, and other places, and it is calculated that 

 nearly one fourth part of the empire is fit for the culture of this fruit for wine. An 

 account of the products of the Crimea is given by Mary Holderness, (Notes, &c., 1821.) 

 from which it appears that all the fruits of France may be grown in the open air there, 

 and that many of our culinary vegetables are found in a wild state. The Tatar inhabi- 

 tants, who were driven out by the ambitious wars of Catherine, had formed gardens and 

 orchards round their villages which still exist, and present a singular combination of 

 beauty, luxuriance, and ruin. The gardens of the village of Karagoss form a wilder- 

 ness of upwards of three hundred and sixty English acres, full of scenes of the greatest 

 beauty, and through which, she says, it requires a little experience to be able to find one's 

 way. {Notes, Si c, 125 135.) 



660. The live stock of the Russian farmer consists of the reindeer, horse, ox, ass, 

 mule, and camel as beasts of labor; the ox, sheep, and swine, and in some places the 

 goat and rabbit, as beasts of clothing and nourishment. Poultry are common, and 

 housed with the family to promote early laying, in order to have eggs by Easter, a great 

 object with a view to certain ceremonies in the Russian religion. Bees are much attended 

 to in the Ural, in some parts of Lithuania, and in the southern provinces. The Russian 

 working horses are remarkably strong and hardy ; rather small, with large heads, long 

 flabby ears, not handsome, but not without spirit. The best saddle horses are those of the 



