370 



THE SIBERIAN BUTTER INDUSTRY. 



The following particulars of the development of the dairy 

 industry have been prepared by Mr. H. Cooke, who recently 

 undertook a commercial mission to Siberia on behalf of the 

 Advisory Committee on Commercial Intelligence of the Board 

 of Trade : — 



Prior to 1893 no butter was produced in Siberia for export. 

 The first to engage in butter making by modern methods in 

 Western Siberia was an Englishwoman married to a Russian, 

 whose dairy-farm at Chernaia Reitchka (in 1886 the only one 

 in Siberia), in the district of Tiumen, is still a well-known 

 model of its kind. In 1893 a Russian opened near Kourgan 

 the first dairy producing butter for export abroad. The pro- 

 gress made since has been extraordinarily rapid, so that it is 

 now the main industry of the country, from the point of view 

 of international trade. It is the chief resource of the peasants, 

 who, but for the income thus derived, would depend solely on 

 the fluctuations of the harvest, and during the last three years 

 the harvest has been disastrous. 



The following figures point to the advance made of recent 

 years in this new Siberian industry : — 



Year. 



Number of Dairies. 



Export in Cwt. 



1898 



140 



48,360 



1899 



334 



86,730 



1900 



1,107 



354,670 



1901 



1,800 



599,720 



1902 



2,035 



685,500 



The Barnoul, or Altai region, has particularly increased its 

 output. Ob station, or Novo-Nikolaievsk, serving this district, 

 despatched but 6 truckloads, containing 738 cwt., in 1899, while 

 in 1902 its export amounted to 995 loads, or 161,000 cwt. 



