METEOROLOGY. 



"7. Zoue of maize and of the vine. This zone embraces Bessarabia, New Russia, the country 

 of the Don Cossacks, the government of Astrakhan, the provinces of the Caucasus, and the 

 Crimea. Independently of all the productions of the preceding zones, the vine is cultivated 

 with success in several parts of this region, and the culture of maize is widely diffused." 

 Locusts (grasshoppers) and droughts are, as in Nebraska, the chief obstacles to cultivation in 

 Kherson and Ekatherinoslaw, and pasturage of cattle occupies more and more of the steppes 

 in going east. Even in Astrakhan, which presents but a meagre pasturage, the soil is tolerably 

 well adapted to the culture of the vine." "The cultivation of gardens and the rearing of 

 sheep are carried on to a considerable extent in this zone, but this part of Russia is essentially 

 deficient in forests. More care ought to be devoted to the working of coal, of which extensive 

 strata have been discovered." 



Thus it appears that these very provinces, in spite of their arid climate, arc the most pro- 

 ductive portions of Russia in Europe. 



The following table gives the population in 1851 of these provinces, and their number per 

 square mile: 



Provinces. 



K-Oursk 



Stavropol 



EkatheriQoelaw 



Kherson 



Bessarabia 



Don Cossacks 



Taurido. 



Astrakhan 



Total 



Population, 

 1851. 



1,728,000 

 1,004,000 

 994,000 

 919,000 

 902,000 

 798,000 

 665,000 

 207,000 



7,217,000 



Per square 

 mile. 



98 



IT. 6 



38.8 



32 



49.8 



12.6 



26.6 



Mean 35. 5 



The area of these provinces is 262,000 square miles, or a little more than two-thirds of the 

 area of the country compared with it. Now we may see what amounts and what kinds of 

 products are actually raised by these inhabitants from this area. It must be observed that the 

 author classifies only the first of these as "exceedingly well peopled," or with more than 65 

 to the square mile, while three are of medium population, (over 32.5 to the square mile,) and 

 the other four "weakly peopled," (with less than 32.5 to the square mile.) They are also the 

 provinces which are attracting most attention, and whose population is increasing most rapidly 

 by immigration from the more northern and barren regions. 



Grain. — Of the provinces above mentioned, five produce more than they consume, two 

 only sufficient for home consumption, and only one, Astrakhan, imports it. The average return 

 for the same provinces is six times the amount of seed sown, while for the whole empire it is 

 only four. Wheat is cultivated to some extent, but rye is more common, while barley, oats, 

 buckwheat, and maize or Indian corn are abundant, the latter being found only in these 

 provinces. 



Potatoes are less cultivated than towards the north, apparently from prejudice, but the 

 amount raised in the five provinces bordering on the Black sea in 1847 was 2,108,160 bushels. 



