1912.] 



Notes on Agriculture Abroad. 



living in one village. The villages were in consequence large, and 

 the distances between them very great and devoid of dwellings. For 

 those peasants whose holdings were situated at a distance from the 

 village the time thus wasted in going to and from their work was 

 enormous. 



This drawback is now disappearing, and the face of the country 

 is gradually undergoing a change. With the peasant secured in his 

 tenure, he is beginning to live on his holding, and between the large 

 parent villages houses may now be seen dotted over the steppe. Thus 

 not only is time economised, but also, with the owner on the spot, 

 more constant care is possible, and the subsidiary occupations of a 

 farm life are to a much greater degree open to the wife and family. 



The advantages of this change are obvious, and its effects, in 

 conjunction with those of the institution of the small proprietors created 

 with the aid of the land banks, far reaching. 



Another factor in the new policy is the existence of a body of agri- 

 cultural experts, stationed throughout the country under the supervision 

 of the Zemstvos — the equivalent of our county councils — to advise and 

 counsel the peasants and farmer on all matters of cultivation. The 

 Zemstvos also maintain experimental farms where the peasants see the 

 concrete results of better farming and of better seed grain. Seed is 

 now sold by the Zemstvos where formerly the peasants used their own 

 inferior grain for seed. Seed-cleaning and sorting machines are sup- 

 plied to villages on hire. Lectures, frequently with limelight pictures, 

 teach peasants how to increase the yield of their farms, show them 

 the advantages of the five years' rotation of crops instead of the 

 wasteful three years' rotation of winter grain, oats, and fallow, and 

 teach them the use of better types of implements and the proper 

 cultivation of the soil. 



Government aid is also given in the shape of credits furnished to 

 groups of peasants, on the joint responsibility of the group. Amongst 

 the functions of these small credit associations is the advancing of cash 

 against grain, for the purchase of implements, seed grain, and other 

 requisites. These credit associations are gradually extending the scope 

 of their functions, and in many villages stores have been opened. At 

 these stores all the requisites of a peasant's existence can be procured, 

 so^fnat he is now no longer obliged to go into the towns for every small 

 purchase. 



The Imperial Bank has of late also adopted a new policy, and now 

 participates actively in the realisation of the crops. Advances on grain 

 are granted at 4^ per cent., which is for Russia an extremely low rate. 

 A question at present being considered by the bank is the establishment 

 of granaries at various centres. One effect of this new policy of the 

 Imperial Bank, in so far as it regards the advances on grain, has been 

 to make the Russian peasant a speculator on the world's grain market. 

 Placed in a position of being able to obtain cash advances on his grain 

 at 4^ per cent., the peasant frequently refuses to sell except at his own 

 price. To what extent he will prove himself a wise speculator is a 

 moot question. Much will depend on his ability to take a comprehensive 

 survey of the world's supply and demand. 



In this connection mention should not be omitted of the greater 

 knowledge possessed now by the peasant of the world's daily prices, 



4 C 2 



