88 PRODUCTION 



SURPLUS-PRODUCING REGIONS. 



(h) SIBERIA. 1 



Siberia has been the latest of the existing large surplus- 

 producing countries to be opened up to international trade, 

 and the process is still in progress. The Jarea of land available 

 for agriculture is apparently enormous, and the population still 

 scanty in most parts, so that an increasing surplus of agricul- 

 tural and pastoral produce may be exported thence in the future. 

 These surplus exports fall under three heads, namely : cereals for 

 human consumption ; animal feedstuffs ; and animal produce, 

 including butter, eggs, pig-meat, and beef and beef -cattle, sent 

 either to Russia or to foreign countries. 



The area of fertile land favoured with temperate climate con- 

 ditions is not more than 500,000 square miles, 2 of which about 

 200,000 square miles are in Western Siberia. The progress of 

 settlement since the year 1900 has been rapid in Siberia, though 

 droughts in that country and economic changes in Russia have 

 combined to check the stream of new arrivals. 3 The above esti- 

 mate concerning the area of available agricultural land must be 

 considered with reserve in view of the facts ; first, that much of 

 the unoccupied land is now covered with forest, 4 which hinders 

 rapid settlement, however productive the land maybe ; 5 and second, 

 that most of the land near the railways and navigable rivers has 

 already been taken up, 6 and land lying more than 100 to 150 miles 

 from these lines of communication is, generally speaking, except 

 perhaps for the winter transport of butter, beyond reach of the 

 world's markets. 7 . 



1 In practice it is not always easy to distinguish Siberian exports from the 

 Russian. Siberian butter, eggs and pork generally pass through Russian 

 Baltic ports and are apt to be included with Russian figures. 



2 Encyclopedia Brit., 1911 Edition. However, a German investigator 

 (Clemens Brandenburger, in Angewandte Geographie, 1905) estimates the 

 area at about 800,000 square miles : " The agricultural belt of Siberia con- 

 tains about 4.2 million square kilometres, of which at least one half is capable 

 of profitable cultivation." Russisch-Asiatische Verkehrsprobleme, p. 5. 



3 F. Nansen, Through Siberia, p. 386 and p. 295. 



4 F. Nansen, Through Siberia, 1914, p. 239 and p. 301. 



5 The following table, showing the number of dessiatines of arable and 

 pasture land per family in Siberia at the end of 3 and 19 years in different 

 parts of the country, illustrates this point : 



FERTILE WESTERN RICH FOREST NORTHERN FOREST 

 PLAIN STEPPES IN EAST PLAIN 



At end of 3 years 17'8 8'0 4'9 



At end of 19 years ... 183 13*3 7'1 



Internat. Agric. Inst., Bulletin of Social and Economic Intelligence, May, 

 1915, p. 105. 



6 F. Nansen, Through Siberia, p. 286. 



7 Angewandte Geographie, 1905, " Russisch-Asiatische Verkehrsprobleme " 

 by Clemens Brandenburger, p. 6. " Settlements lie within the sphere of 

 influence of the railway or of the navigable streams. This sphere of influence 

 in view of the bad condition of the roads is strictly limited." 





