AGRICULTURE. 



459 



who are obliged to sell their i^roduce in autumn to pay the taxes, and are then 

 without the means of purchasing fresh supplies in spring. The most o-eneral 

 cereal crops are rye and oats, and next to them wheat, which in the north is 

 replaced by rye and barley. 



For flax and hemp Russia takes the first rdace, her flax-fields exceeding in 



Fig. 24.5. — L1.MITS OF Cekeals and the Vine ix Russia. 

 From a Map iniblishcd by the Ministpi- of Crown T-ands 



extent those of all the rest of Europe, and yielding about half as much as the 

 whole continent.* The governments of Pskov, Smolensk, and Yiatka produce 

 each over 16,000 tons of fibre, and in the south large quantities are grown for the 



* Area and produce of flax, 1877 :— Russia, 1,930,123 acres yield 211,071 tons; rest of Europe, 

 1,590,000 acres yield 2-iô,903 tons. 



