Siberian Butter Industry. 



37i 



Altogether, from ,£2,600,000 to ,£3,200,000 worth of butter is 

 now exported annually from Siberia, or more than twice the 

 value of the wheat export of 1900, the last favourable harvest 

 year. 



There is nothing remarkable in the breed of cattle, which are 

 of average size, and, though this may be but temporary, seemed 

 in June at least in poor condition, having suffered from insuffi- 

 cient and inferior food during the winter. The Siberian cow 

 yields little milk, but the quality is notable for richness, and it 

 is just this inherent fatty quality which enables the butter, not- 

 withstanding the conditions under which it is made, to bear the 

 long summer journey to Western markets. About 19 pounds 

 of milk in winter, and 22 in summer, are sufficient to make 

 one pound of butter, while in Denmark some 28 pounds are 

 needed. 



The supplies of milk depend, of course, on the stocks of 

 cattle, while the latter, in their turn, depend on the chances and 

 fluctuations of the harvest ; for, if the latter fail, the peasants 

 are constrained to some extent to kill off their surplus stock, or 

 reduce it to a minimum, from want of sufficient fodder in the 

 winter. The progress developed by the butter industry since 

 the construction of the railway has doubled the number of 

 milch cows, in spite of crop failures in the last three years. 

 The butter-making industry has already spread east to the Obi, 

 and is now extending further towards Krassnoyarsk and the 

 Yenesei, while but a few years ago it was confined to the 

 Kourgan and Omsk districts. 



The general stock of meat cattle shows no corresponding 

 increase. 



The dairies, or " works," as they are termed in Russian, have 

 little in common with the ordinary conception of the word 

 dairy, or of its accompaniments and surroundings, as under- 

 stood in Western Europe, except that they are places where 

 butter is made. Beyond this, the comparison could not be 

 carried. 



They have been hitherto mainly owned and worked by indi- 

 vidual peasants, though in some cases the Danish and other 

 export offices have bought up existing works or started new 

 ones of their own. 



F F 2 



