60 SIBERIA 



in Siberia the cows usually live to the age of ten 

 years, the extra two years, no doubt, helping the 

 cattle to increase in number. The meat is too lean 

 to be exported in any considerable quantities, and 

 of too poor quality to render its exportation a profit- 

 able undertaking. Owing, to its exceptional richness, 

 19 lbs. of Siberian milk in winter, and 22 lbs. 

 in summer, are sufficient for the manufacture of 

 I lb. of butter, whereas in Denmark 28 lbs. of 

 milk are required to produce the same quantity. 

 This exceptional richness, moreover, renders the 

 milk peculiarly suitable for the production of butter 

 by means of the hand-separator. The owner of 

 cows is able to make a good average profit on each 

 animal, by selling its milk to a creamery. If he is 

 not a landowner himself, he can hire grazing ground 

 from the village council. The rent for such grazing 

 ground averages 7s. 6d. to 8s. 6d. per acre, per 

 month. If he owns grazing land he pays a tax 

 upon it amounting to about 4d. per acre per annum. 

 During the famine the monthly rent of grazing 

 ground rose to about 17s. per acre, and the price 

 of a cow was then from 21s. to 32s. ; but after 

 the famine, and during the good harvest of 1903, 

 the rent was only 8s. 6d., while the price of a 

 cow advanced to £3 and £4. The Siberian peasant 

 can make better butter in his dairy than a Dane 

 settled in Siberia, a fact which was confirmed to 

 me by several Danes. This may probably be due 

 to the circumstance that the Dane is accustomed 

 to machinery driven by steam and is not at home 

 with the hand-separator, while the reverse is true 

 of the peasant. Whatever the reason, however, we 

 have here one of those combinations which, with 

 very cheap labour, is bound to work wonders in 

 the prices of dairy produce. 



Cheap and abundant labour is one of the essentials 



