TEMPERATE SURPLUS-PRODUCING REGIONS 87 



The whole region under consideration has a more or less con- 

 tinental climate, in which the regular mild oceanic rainfall that 

 characterises North- Western Europe, is absent. In general, the 

 active growing period during the late spring and early summer 

 months under the stimulus of summer rainfall, and the almost 

 complete cessation of plant growth during five or six winter months, 

 make this region more suitable to cereals than to domestic animals. 

 Natural pastures may be very luxuriant during a few months in 

 the year, but, owing to the dryness and heat of the late summer 

 and the intense cold of the winter, may be quite deficient during 

 the rest of the year. Without shelter and stall-feeding for many 

 months in each year, it is impossible to raise first-class animals, 

 and these methods are more or less unknown, simply because land 

 can be put to readier uses, under the present economic conditions 

 of the people, in growing cereals and rearing poultry. When these 

 peoples have reached a much higher standard of life than at present, 

 and intensive methods of cultivation, the utilisation of machinery, 

 and the science of animal husbandry are much better understood, 

 there may be changes in the direction of a greatly increased surplus 

 of meat and dairy produce. Europe between the Urals and the 

 Carpathians is still largely undeveloped and progress in agriculture 

 awaits further railway construction and technical developments. 



On the other hand, such progress will probably mean some 

 increase in the standards of consumption among the population, 

 which are at present low. The Russians are said to be fond of 

 meat, 1 and any improvement in their economic position would 

 probably be reflected in an increased meat consumption per capita. 

 The supply of river fish, an important source of food in Russia, is 

 said to be declining, owing to pollution of the waters by factories, 

 and this, if continued, will bring increased pressure on the meat 

 supply. Moreover, population increases rapidly. 



The question of the possible future meat supplies from Eastern 

 Europe is thus seen to be complicated. 2 On the balance, however, 

 there does not seem to be much likelihood of any notable surplus 

 in ordinary meats during the next two decades. Poultry and egg 

 production, already considerable, will probably advance, and 

 dairying may soon become a much greater industry than at present. 

 There is not much doubt that Eastern Europe will continue for 

 some time to be one of the world's great sources of surplus wheat 

 and feedstuff s. 



amounted to 41,000 tons in 1912. 



Cf. also the folio-wing : " Very little is being done to increase the quality 

 of either the breeds of sheep or the classes of wool and both are gradually 

 depreciating from in-breeding. . . . The hard winters and the short herbage 

 of the steppes render it necessary to have only the hardiest breeds." British 

 Cons. Kept., Moscow, 1913 (Cd. 7620-25), p. 27. 



1 Bonmariage, La Russie d' Europe, p. 522. 



8 Hooker, Statistical Journal, June, 1909, p. . " The future of Russia 

 as a purveyor of meat is an unknown quantity." 



