504 Agriculturai. Population of Russia. 



tion of these districts from the ordinary resources at the dis- 

 jjosal of the local authorities, the Government was obliged to 

 vote considerable sums, amounting in all to £3,755,000? 

 to alleviate the distress caused by the scarcity. This feature 

 of the situation is one which, in the opinion of the Minister 

 of Finance, deserves serious reflection. Apart from the finan- 

 cial considerations, which are in themselves of sufficient 

 gravity, inasmuch as provision has to be made by the nation 

 for an extraordinary expenditure which has long ceased to 

 appear in the Budgets of the countries of Western Europe, 

 the more pressing question which should occupy the atten- 

 tion of the Government is, it is pointed out, the general 

 instability of the economic environment of the rural popula- 

 tion : an environment which renders necessary the provision 

 for such extraordinary expenditure. In a country like 

 Russia, where the system of cultivation is extensive rather 

 than intensive, agriculture is particularly exposed to'seasonal 

 vicissitudes beyond the control of those engaged in the 

 industry, alternations of abundant and scanty harvests are 

 inevitable, and consequently the calculations of the farmer 

 should be based not upon the harvest of a single year but 

 upon the a^verage results of a series of harvests, or on the 

 average production of his farm. It is evident, however, that 

 this important factor in the rural economy of the country is 

 not generally recognised by the agricultural population, 

 particularly in the central and eastern governments, when it 

 is remembered that the occasional occurrence of a really 

 deficient harvest reduces a considerable section of those 

 occupied in the cultivation of the soil to such depths of 

 poverty that they are unable to extricate themselves w^ithout 

 public assistance. 



In some quarters the distressed circumstances of certain 

 sections of the Russian peasantry are regarded as a manifesta- 

 tion of what is called the agricultural crisis, or, in other i^rords, 

 the fall in price of cereals on international markets. But, 

 although this would be true in cases where large amounts of 

 capital are invested in the Droduction of grain for sale, it 

 does not apply so much to the Russian peasant, wliose 

 transactions take place for the most part in kind," and 



