414 



FOREIGN OFFICE REPORTS. 



[March 1897. 



land bore far more than its fair share of taxation, and this was 

 the reason which had led him to combat the proposed income-tax, 

 which he maintained would only be effective in the case of land, 

 as the latter was a possession that could not be hidden. 



The various items of the estimates were finally passed, with- 

 out material alterations, as suggested by the Budget Committee, 

 the total sum demanded being 1,661,7651. 



Cultivation of Wheat in South Russia. 



According to a report supplied to the Foreign Office by Colonel 

 Stewart, Her Majesty's Consul-General at Odessa, it would 

 appear that even the rich soil of the governments of Southern 

 Russia is unable to go on producing corn crops year after year 

 without manure. 



Not only is manure seldom applied, but the peasants declare 

 that it is positively harmful, and that on ground richly 

 manured, especially with horse dung, the crops in the long dry 

 summers are burnt up, and that manuring is only of use in a 

 wet summer, which is unusual in the Odessa district. 



Large deposits of phosphate of lime occur in many parts of 

 Russia which would be very valuable manure, but it is little 

 used. There are some exceptions where a more enlightened 

 system prevaiJs, but they are few, and until lately the necessity 

 for deep ploughing and manuring had not made itself felt. 



The report, which is dated 23rd November 1896, states that 

 the prices of food grains had risen very much since harvest, and 

 if the prices then existing could have reached the hands of the 

 cultivators they would not be badly off, even with the smaller 

 quantities reaped, but speculators bought up the crops when 

 prices were low, and the peasants and farmers were suffering both 

 from short quantity and from low prices. 



Not much grain of the past harvest had been exported from 

 Odessa, firstly, on account of the excessively high freights 

 charged in October when the first grain of the season could have 

 been shipped, and also because the news received of locusts 

 in Argentina, the famine in India, and high prices prevailing 

 for wheat in the United States gave hopes of still higher prices 

 later on. 



Freights had been as high as 21s. 6d. per ton to the United 

 Kingdom, and although they had fallen considerably they were 

 still somewhat higher than usual, averaging about 14s. per ton 

 for grain cargoes. 

 [Foreign Office Report, Annual Series, No. 1832. Price Id.] 



