Book I. AGRICULTURE IN RUSSIA. 105 



cow, Petersburg, and Riga ; the summer is short, yet in many districts so warm and 

 the days so long, that agricultural crops usually come to perfect maturity in a much 

 shorter space of time than elsewhere. The winters are long and severe, even in the 

 southern parts of the region. The ground round Moscow is generally covered with snow 

 for six months in the year, and we have seen it covered to the depth of several inches in 

 the first week of June. 



667. The moderate region extends from 50 to 55 and includes KiofF, SaratofF, Wilna, 

 and Smolensk. The Siberian part of this region being very mountainous, the winters 

 are long and cold ; but in the European part the winter is short and tolerably temperate, 

 and the summer warm and agreeable. The snow, however, generally lies from one to 

 three months, even at KiofF and SaratofF. 



668. The hot region reaches from 43 to 50, and includes the Taurida, Odessa, 

 Astracan, and the greater part of Caucasus and the district of KiofF. Here the winter 

 is short and the summer warm, hot, and very dry. The atmosphere in all the difFerent 

 climates is in general salubiious, both during the intense colds of the north, and the 

 excessive heats of the southerly regions. The most remarkable circumstance is the 

 shortness of the seasons of spring and autumn, even in the southern regions ; while in 

 the very cold and cold regions they can be hardly said to exist. About Moscow the ter- 

 mination of winter and the commencement of summer generally take place about the 

 end of April. There the rivers, covered a yard in thickness with ice, break up at once 

 and overflow their banks to a great extent ; in a fortnight the snow has disappeared, the 

 rotten-like blocks of ice dissolved, and the rivers are confined to their limits, A crackling 

 from the bursting of buds is heard in the birch forests ; in two days afterwards, they are 

 in leaf; corn which was sown as soon as the lands were sufficiently dry to plough is now 

 sprung up, and wheat and rye luxuriant. Reaping commences in the government of 

 Moscow in September, and is finished by the middle of October. Heavy rains and sleet 

 then come on, and by the beginning of November the ground is covered with snow, which 

 accumulates generally to two or three feet in thickness before the middle of January, and 

 remains with little addition till it dissolves in the following April and May. The climate 

 of Russia, therefore, though severe, is not so uncertain as that of some other countries. 

 From the middle of November till April it scarcely ever snows or rains ; and if the cold 

 is severe, it is dry, enlivening, and at least foreseen and provided for. Its greatest evils 

 are violent summer rains, boisterous winds, and continued autumnal fogs. Late frosts 

 are more injurious than long droughts ; though there are instances of such hot and dry 

 summers, that fields of standing corn and forests take fire and fill whole provinces with 

 smoke. ( Tooke's View of the Russian Empire- ) 



669. The surface of Russia is almost every where flat, like that of Poland, with the 

 exception of certain ridges of mountains which separate Siberia from the other provinces, 

 and which also occur in Siberian Russia. In travelling from Riga, Petersburg, Wilna, 

 or Brody, to Odessa, the traveller scarcely meets with an inequality sufficiently great to 

 be termed a hill ; but he will meet with a greater proportion of forests, steppes or immense 

 plains of pasture, sandy wastes, marshy surfaces, and gulleys or temporary water-courses, 

 than in any other country of Europe. 



670. The soil of Russia is almost every where a soft black mould of great depth, and 

 generally on a sandy bottom. In some places it inclines to sand or gravel ; in many it 

 is peaty or boggy from not being drained : but only in Livonia and some parts of Lithu- 

 ania was it inclined to clay, and no where to chalk. The most fertile provinces are 

 those of Vladimir and Riazane, east of Moscow, and the whole country of the Ukraine on 

 the Black Sea, and of the Cossacks on the Don. In Vladimir thirty-fold is often pro- 

 duced, and still more in Riazane. In many parts of the Ukraine no manure is used ; 

 the straw is burned ; successive crops of wheat are taken from the same soil, and after a 

 single ploughing each time, the stalks of which are so tall and thick that they resemble 

 reeds, and the leaves are like those of Indian corn. 



671. Landed property in Russia is alipost everywhere in large tracts, and is either 

 the property of the emperor, the religious or civil corporations, or the nobles. There 

 are a few free natives who have pui'chased their liberty, and some foreigners, especially 

 Germans, who have landed estates ; but these are comparatively of no account. In the 

 Ukraine, within the last thirty years, have been introduced on the government estates a 

 number of foreigners from most countries of Europe, who may be considered as pro- 

 prietors. These occupy the lands on leases of a hundred years or upwards, at little or no 

 rent, on condition of peopling and cultivating them and residing there. In the country 

 parts of Russia, there is no middle class between the nobles, including the priests, and 

 the slaves. Estates are, therefore, either cultivated directly by the proprietors, acting as 

 their own stewards ; or indirectly, by letting them to agents or factors, as in Poland and 

 Ireland, or by dividing them in small portions among the peasantry. In general, the 

 proprietor is liis own agent and farmer for a great part of his estate j and the rest he lets 



