igoG.] 



Wheat Cultivation in Russia. 



545' 



of acreage are available for twenty-two years, and show that 

 the wheat area has extended from 28,944,000 acres in 1 881, to 

 45,635,000 acres in 1904. The greatest increase has taken 

 place in the south and south-east. In the three regions of 

 New Russia, Middle Volga, and Lower Volga, 14,122,000 acreS' 

 have been added, which equals 85 per cent, of the additional' 

 area devoted to wheat production in European Russia during 

 the twenty-three years. The wheat area, nevertheless, has grown! 

 wherever climate and soil admit of wheat culture, and much, 

 more rapidly than the rye area. To a large extent the 

 increase is explained by the additions, amounting to 22,800,000 

 acres, to the arable land in European Russia, the gains having 

 been largest in the newer regions, such as New Russia and the 

 Eastern Governments. 



Production. — This extension in area has also been accompanied' 

 by an increase in production, but notwithstanding the excep- 

 tional fertility of the black-soil region, the average yield remains 

 at probably a lower level than in any other country. Taking- 

 winter and spring wheat together, the average is about 

 g\ bushels per acre. To some extent this low figure is due to 

 the large proportion of spring wheat, which gives a lower yield 

 than the winter variety, largely owing to the fact that hardly 

 any manure is used in the cultivation of spring wheat. 



On the whole, the statistical evidence shows (i) that wheat 

 growing has been much more rapidly increasing than that of 

 other cereals, (2) that rye growing has been almost stationary 

 and has declined in some localities, (3) that the wheat area 

 shows a strong tendency to move southward and still more 

 eastward, and (4) that the average yield of wheat in Russia is 

 considerably lower than in any other wheat-growing country. 

 The marked oscillations in the average yield, characteristic 

 of countries with deficient agricultural methods, are especially 

 noticeable in Russia. An explanation of these characteristic 

 phenomena must be sought for in the peculiar conditions of 

 Russian agriculture^ which are primarily dependent on the 

 system of land tenure. 



Land Tenure. — A detailed account of the ownership of land 

 in Russia is given in the Bulletin above mentioned. Briefly, it 

 may be said that in 1 861, at the time of the emancipation of the. 



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