100 SIBERIA 



averaged 1,935 tons, and is valued at £179,900, 

 while the quantity of down exported amounted to 

 129 tons, valued at £31,760. It will be seen there- 

 fore that the feathers and down are more valuable 

 than the birds themselves. These figures include 

 the exports from European Russia, as there are no 

 separate customs returns for Siberia. 



Next day two dairy instructors drove us out in a 

 sledge to the Kainsk Dairy School, which is situated 

 about four miles from Kainsk. . The dairy school was 

 like a small village, and I was surprised to find myself 

 confronted by a group of well-laid-out buildings. 

 The Agronom's house adjoined the creamery, so that 

 he could always be on the spot. The creamery 

 itself was very clean, and the butter of the finest 

 quality. The next building we inspected was the 

 cattle department. The cows are scientifically stall- 

 fed and bred from certain well-known breeds, while 

 the pigs are crossed by our famous Berkshire breed, 

 which I found is well known even in the most remote 

 parts of Siberia. All the buildings are of brick, and 

 their appearance reflects the utmost credit upon the 

 Government. 



Before this dairy school was established cows were 

 always kept in the open, although the temperature in 

 N^ovember and December frequently falls below 1 1 o 

 degrees of frost. This not only froze some of the 

 poor (beasts to death, but, owing to the excessive 

 cold, all the food they could procure was used up in 

 creating warmth to keep them alive instead of beijig 

 converted into milk, and in consequence they gave less 

 milk. This state of things has improved since, but I 

 saw several cows with the half of their tails frozen 

 off wandering about the streets in a most neglected 

 fashion . 



There are many drawbacks to living at Kainsk. 

 The drainage is very bad ajxd small-pox is preval^t, 



