6 METEOROLOGY. 



rain water and as easily dried up by evaporation. This is, of course, an impediment to culture in 

 countries where droughts are so frequent and of so long duration that it is nothing uncommon for 

 twenty months to pass without a single copious shower of rain. It is not so bad as this in all 

 the steppes, but such is at least their predominant character in several governments of the 

 south and east. This infrequency of rain, joined to the want of reservoirs, forms notoriously 

 one of the chief drawbacks of the country; but the vegetation of that part of the Steppes which 

 is used merely as pasture possesses a peculiar character, by which the deleterious influence of 

 drought is diminished. 



"Nature here exhibits her wonderful variety of resource. Spring vegetation generally lasts 

 in these countries for about three months; if this period pass without a sufficiency of rain the 

 herbage does not attain its natural height; it is dried up whilst its sap is still in full vigor, and 

 in this state it affords a substantial food for cattle for the space of nine months. These pastures 

 are particularly suitable for sheep. When on the other hand the spring rains happen to be in 

 excess, the vegetation becomes too rank, the herbage attains four times its usual height, the 

 pasture at the same time becomes less wholesome and nourishing, so that by a strange anomaly 

 in this country, where the general complaint is of drought, those proprietors who possess heavy 

 stocks of sheep prefer a dry season to a superabundance of moisture. 



"The vegetation of the pasturage steppes presents another peculiarity, namely, that it is not 

 equally spread over the surface of the soil, but is found scattered as it were in little islands. A 

 continuous sward is to be met with only in very low valleys." 



In reading this account the traveller who has been across Nebraska must be struck with the 

 similaritv of the general character of both countries; but it remains for more complete surveys 

 to determine what proportion of the countrj'^ will be found to be "perpetual plains," (that is, 

 those in which cultivation is difficult, and the culture even of fruit trees requires incessant 

 attention,) and what portions will admit of general cultivation. 



The statistics of two years' cultivation of one of the estates situated in a pcrpetval steppe in 

 the Crimea shows the average returns of wheat and rye to be 6, barley 7, and millet 23. Some 

 years there was a return of 16 from rye, 15 from wheat and barley, and 64 from millet, but 

 there was one year when the harvest was a complete failure, and others when it barely returned 

 the seed. Simferopol, which has about the same moisture as Fort Pierre, is in this region, but 

 its temperature approaches nearest to that of Odessa and Fort Laramie. 



Another author quoted by Tegoborski classifies the empire of Russia in regard to physical 

 culture in eight zones, as follows: 



1. The icy zone. 2. The marshy zone; both inhabited chiefly by Laplanders. 



3. Zone of forest and of cattle rearing; the northern part inhabited by Nomades, and the 

 southern only showing any (mltivation. 



4. Barley zone, where, from the shortness of the summer, only this grain, potato, and a few 

 garden vegetables can be cultivated, extending south to latitude 63°. 



5. Zone of rye and flax, which are the most successful crops, extends south of latitude 51°. 

 G. Zone of wheat and garden fruits, extending south to Ekatherinoslaw, or to the 48th degree, 



and including Kusok, thus entering the region which we have compared with Nebraska as to 

 soil and climate. "The provinces which it embraces supplj' the provisions of St. Petersburg 

 and of a great part of the army, besides furnishing cereals in considerable quantities for 

 exportation. The culture of tobacco begins to acquire importance, and is much more extensive 

 than in other parts of the empire." 



