84 PRODUCTION 



vated soils, better weather conditions, more intelligent methods of 

 cultivation, more live stock per acre, and better means of communi- 

 cation, which make the carriage of fertilisers possible at reasonable 

 rates. 



It is quite certain that the Black Earth soils will soon show 

 signs of exhaustion, unless different methods are followed. 1 The 

 capital store of fertility in the form of humus cannot last there 

 any more than has been the case in North America. The mere 

 cultivation of these powdery soils allows the rains to wash out some 

 of the fertility in the form of fine particles. The Russian peasant, 

 but recently set free from the common-field system under the Mir, 

 has not yet learned to take a personal interest in the preservation 

 of fertility. Moreover, he is poor in resources, burdened with 

 debt, a prey to middlemen, ignorant, and unacquainted with the 

 more intensive methods of cultivation. The return in crops is 

 a measure, therefore, not so much of the infertility of the land, as 

 of the inefficiency of the cultivators. 



There is evidence to show that, if the Russian soil is properly 

 handled, it is still capable of great productivity. It is significant 

 that the yield from the large estates is higher per acre than that 

 from the peasant holdings. 2 The opinion that higher permanent 

 yields are possible seems to be shared by Bonmariage 3 in the work 

 already quoted. In any case, agriculture is likely to remain the 

 most important industry in Russia for many years to come, 4 and 

 the country as a whole will probably produce and export cereals 

 up to the margin of its capacities. It should be remembered that 

 the town population has been increasing more rapidly than the 

 agricultural, but the ratio of the former to the latter is the lowest 

 in Europe. While industrial populations in Russia are likely to 

 increase in the future with the development of its mineral resources, 

 it is nevertheless quite possible that increased yields under more 

 intelligent methods of cultivation, especially with the aid of 

 machinery, will enable it to maintain, and possibly to increase, its 

 surplus for export trade. Some internal changes in the distribution 

 of Russian agricultural industries may lead also in this direction. 

 Dairying is making progress ; 5 land is being sown to grass as a rota- 

 tion crop 5 ; and less flax and hemp are being cultivated in the 

 north and north-west. 5 Much may be expected from Government 

 educational propaganda among peasants, and still more from the 



1 Dr. A. Bonmariage, La Russia d 'Europe, 1903, p. 317. " It will soon be 

 necessary to modify these methods of exploitation (on the Black Earth), if 

 one does not wish to ruin completely this land, so rich and so fruitful." 



2 J. Mavor, op. cit., Vol. II., p. 283. 



3 Bonmariage, op. cit., p. 316. " Under more intelligent methods of culti- 

 vation and a more rational system of exploitation the Black Earth alone 

 could provide sufficient food for the whole of Russia." 



4 Bonmariage, op. cit., p. 508. " Agriculture will be for a long time to come 

 the principal source of the Empire's riches." 



5 Report of British Consul at Moscow for the year 1913, pp. 16, 17. 



