107 



By this statement it appears, that the increase of 

 Grain is somewhat less than four for one. 



The province of Grodno, which also has access to 

 the Sea by the Niemen, appears to be so equal in 

 fertility to that of Wilna, that a return of the sowing 

 and harvesting of the same year give results differing 

 only by a small fraction. 



The terms of distinction, Winter Corn and Summer 

 Corn, instead of Autumn and Spring Corn, which we 

 use, are descriptive of the climate. The violent heats 

 and severe colds succeed each other with so much 

 rapidity, that they scarcely leave any interval for 

 Spring or Autumn. 



The only accounts I was able to procure of the 

 quantities of Corn brought by the Niemen, compre- 

 hend merely the three years 1816, 1817, and 1818. 

 No others were to be found in the office of the 

 minister for internal affairs at Berlin, and I did not 

 go to Schmalleninken, where the transit duty is 

 collected. The year ]816 was one of moderate 

 production and demand, till after the state of the 

 harvest was known, when it was too late in the sea- 

 son for the navigation of these northern rivers. The 

 trade of that year may therefore be considered a fair 

 average, and likely to produce annually ] 0,000 quar- 

 ters of Wheat, and about 40,000 quarters of other 

 Corn, chiefly Rye. The two following years, when 

 the exportation was excessive, produced but 38,700 

 quarters of Wheat, and 276,000 quarters of other 

 grain. 



From some parts of the two provinces of Wilna 

 and Grodno, the communication by the Duna to Riga 

 is easier than by the Niemen to Memel; and it is 

 hence probable that the largest share of their produce 

 in Corn finds a market in that direction. It is shown 

 by the Returns from Riga (see Appendix, No. 8), 

 that in the last twelve years, the exportation of Wheat 

 from that port has only been 256,658 quarters, or, on 



