324 METEOROLOGY. 
“7. Zone 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 Ekathérinoslaw, 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. “Тһе 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, are 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: : 
CEN E Population, | Per square 
1851. mile. 
Koursk 1,728,000 98 
Stavropol 22222 1,008, 000 17.6 
E OT 994, 000 38.8 
Kherson . 919, 000 32 
Bessarabia 902,000. 49.8 
Don Cossacks 798, 000 12,6 
Tauride 665, 000 26. 6 
Astrakhan | 207, 000 8.8 
Total | 7,217,000 | 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. 
ain.—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 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 гуе 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. 
