THE CHERNOZOM, OR BLACK LANDS. 269 



Dnieper south of Jitomir, and beyond the Dnieper to the Sea of Azov, from which 

 it is separated by a narrow belt of soft tertiary sandstone. East of Jitomir this 

 granitic zone, 480 miles in length, scarcely crops out anywhere above the surface. 

 The relief of the land has naturally had much to do with the distribution of 

 plants and animals as well as with the vicissitudes of the surrounding populations, 

 though their destinies have been chiefly affected by the nature of the soil. Much 

 of the large river basins and their affluents belongs to the Chernozom zone, the 

 general aspect of the country differing entirely on each side of its limits. In the 

 north stretches the region of erratic boulders, of forests, lakes, and marshes ; in 

 the south lies the "black land," w^here timber is cultivated. 



The " Black Lands." — The Steppes. 



The black lands are normally composed of three- fourths or four-fifths sand, 

 containing, besides the alkalies, ammonia, potash, soda, phosphoric acid, a large 

 proportion of organic matter, amounting to one-tenth in the upper layers, but in 

 Poltava and some other places as much as 17 per cent., gradually diminishing 

 lower down to about 5 per cent. The Chernozom is composed entirely of 

 vegetable humus, nor have any salt or fresh water shells been found which 

 might suggest the presence of alluvia. About Sednev, near Chernigov, there are 

 scattered some 800 funereal mounds consisting of pure sand, yet already covered on 

 the surface with a layer of black earth 6 to 8 inches deep. These moimds 

 date traditionally from the destruction of Chernigov by Baty Khan in 1239; but 

 the remains show that they are at least three hundred years older. Hence over 

 nine hundred years have been required to develop the layer of vegetable matter 

 now covering them. Allowing a similar rate for the plains, the Chernozom layers 

 from 2 to 5 feet deep would have taken from three to six thousand years in their 

 formation. But however this may be, the black earth is sharply limited south 

 and east by the old marine beds, and near the Sea of Azov and the Euxine the 

 thickness of the strata is in direct relation with the elevation of the land above 

 sea-level. The vegetable humus increases in depth the longer the coast has been 

 upheaved. In the south-east and east its limit is marked by the shores of the 

 steppes formerly flooded by the Caspian, and in the north by the lacustrine and 

 marshy region strewn with erratic granite boulders brought down by the glaciers 

 from Finland and Scandinavia. The belt of black land thus stretches south- 

 west and north-east like an isthmus between the Carpathians and Urals, and 

 through it Western Europe was formerly connected with Asia. North of it 

 there are a few isolated patches of black soil in the governments of Viatka, 

 Kazan, Vladimir, and Chernigov. 



The black region comprises about one-third of European Russia, with an 

 approximate area of 235,500,000 acres, and the same formation stretches westwards 

 into Moldavia, Hungary, and especially the Banat, though it is nowhere more 

 extensive or deeper than in the Dnieper basin. Herrmann has compared these 

 deposits of black earth to the English coal measures, with the advantage of lying 



