METEOROLOGY. 323 
rain water and as easily dried up by evaporation. Thisis, of course, an immense 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. 
‘t 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, во 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. 
“Тһе 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 
similarity of the general character of both countries; but it remains for more complete surveys 
to determine what proportion of the country 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 ten years’ cultivation of one of the estates situated in a perpetual 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 а 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 ісу 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 cultivation. 
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°. 
6. Zone of wheat and garden fruits, extending south to Ekathérinoslaw, or to the 48th degree, 
and including Koursk, thus entering the region which we have compared with Nebraska as to 
soil and climate. ‘‘The provinces which it embraces supply the provisions of St. Petersburg 
besides furnishing cereals in considerable quantities for 
and of a great part of the army, é 
rtance, and is much more extensive 
exportation. The culture of tobacco begins to acquire impo 
than in other parts of the empire." 
