June 1896.] 



CATTLE-RAISING IN RUSSIA. 



II 



must not, however, be supposed that cattle-raising is entirely- 

 neglected. According to the official estimates for 1888, the 

 number of cattle of all kinds in European Eussia, exclusive of 

 Poland and Finland, was 24,609,000, while in 1856 it was 

 21,351,000. Nearly the whole of the increase shown by a 

 comparison of these estimates took place between 1876 and 

 1888, the estimate for the latter year having been 2,800,000 

 in excess of the 21,857,000 head returned in 1876. From an 

 official statement published in 1893, it is possible to add to 

 the figures of 1888 the estimated number of cattle in Poland, 

 Finland, Siberia, and the Khirghiz Steppes, amounting to over 

 8,200,000 head, which brings up the total for the Empire to 

 32,880,000. 



Taking the numbers of cattle relatively to the density of the 

 population of the various provinces, the first place belongs to 

 the district of the Don, which is followed by the governments 

 of Astrakhan, Bessarabia, and Esthonia, whilst the smaller ratios 

 are found in the north-western governments and in Little Russia. 

 In general, it may be said that the frontier governments of the 

 Empire are richer in cattle than the central. 



A writer in the Tidshrift for Landdkonomi gives the ratio of 

 cattle to the population of European Eussia, exclusive of 

 Finland and Poland, as 33*4 to every 100 inhabitants The only 

 countries in which the ratio is lower, according to the same 

 authority, are England, France, Belgium, Greece, Spain, and 

 Italy, while in the remaining countries of Europe the proportion 

 of horned stock to the population exceeds that of Eussia. But 

 while the number of cattle in the latter country is not great 

 relatively to the population and area, it is to be observed that 

 the consumption of meat in Eussia is also small compared 

 with that of most other countries. The peasants are practically 

 vegetarians. Among the inhabitants of the villages and the 

 poorer classes of the towns, meat is a luxury enjoyed only on 

 fete days and ceremonious occasions. Their principal diet 

 consists of vegetable food, chiefly bread, gherkins, and cabbages, 

 * the latter being salted and pickled for use in winter, while 

 potatoes are also a popular article of food. It appears that a 

 further element affecting the consumption of meat is the fact that 

 the peasant, as a rule, strictly observes the numerous fast days 

 which are imposed upon every orthodox member of the Greek 

 Church. It has been urged also in this connection that some 

 allowance must be made for habit ; the peasant is accustomed to 

 vegetable food, as were his forefathers before him, and he does 

 not readily take to a meat diet. 



In the northern and central governments the peasant keeps 

 cattle mainly for the purpose of fertilizing the soil, the oxen are 

 rarely used for draught purposes, and in the case of cows, the milk 

 is largely regarded as a by-product, which is generally consumed 

 by the family of the owner, except in cases where the holding is 

 situated in the neighbourhood of a large town. Little care is f 



