Book I. AGRICULTURE IN RUSSIA. 107 



676. For clothing and other economical purposes the plants in cultivation are flax, which 

 is cultivated to a great extent on the Volga ; and hemp, which is indigenous, and is culti- 

 vated 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 have 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 potato 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. 

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

 the Ural mountains, and their fibres are prepared and woven 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. 



677. Hemp and flax are extensively cultivated, and form the principal article of exportation. There 

 is nothing very peculiar in their culture ; the soil of the Ukraine is in general too rich for hemp, until 

 reduced by a series of corn crops. Wheat, rye, barley, and oats are succeeded by one or two crops of 

 hemp, and that by a crop of flax ; the whole without any manure. The time of sowing is from the 25th 

 of May to the 10th of June, and that of reaping from the end of August to the end of September. In 

 general the flax is three, and the hemp about four, months in a state of vegetation. The pulling, water, 

 ing, drying, and other processes, are the same as in Britain. 



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

 mentioned the raspberry, currant, strawberry, and bilberry. The hazel 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 suc- 

 ceed 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 (Ifotes, 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 inhabit- 

 ants, 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 wilderness 

 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, 125 — 136.) 



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

 mule, and camel, as beasts of labour ; 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 Cossacks and Tatars in the Crimea. The horned cattle of the native breeds are 

 small and brisk ; the cows give but little milk, which is poor and thin : a Dutch breed 

 was introduced by Peter the Great, near Archangel, and do not degenerate. Oxen are 

 much less used than horses, as beasts of labour. The original Russian sheep is distin- 

 guished by a short tail about seven inches in length : the Merinos, and other breeds 

 from Germany, have been introduced in a few places, and promise success. The great 

 graziers and breeders of horses, cattle, and sheep, in Russia, are the Cossacks of the Don, 

 the Kalmucks, and other nomadic tribes. These supply the greater part of the towns 

 both of Russia and Poland with butcher's meat ; and with the hides and tallow that 

 form so material an article of export. In the northern districts of Russia and Siberia, 

 the chase is pursued as an occupation for a livelihood or gain. The chief object is to 



