Variation in the Price and Suppli/ of Wheat. 
205 
that sLovtly British machinery and implements will ha widely employed, in 
this portion at least of the Russian empire, to the great beuclit of tlie 
country, 
A very surious obstacle to the development of this country exists in 
want of means of commnnication. Not a single road has been constructed 
throughotit the South of Ilussia. Produce is dragged in clumsy carts to tlic 
sea-ports over plains which are difficult to traverse from the dust into wliich 
the soil of this country changes during the hot weather, or from the mud in 
wet seasons, which in many places puts a stop to all communication. It thus 
happens that to transport grain over a few miles to the shipi)ing ports generally 
costs more per quarter than the freight to England. Indeed, the cost of trans- 
port altogether is about double the price paid for corn to the farmer. 
A railway running from Odessa to some of the grain-producing districts in 
its neighbourhood was projected two years since, and its contractors conftdently 
assert that it will be completed by next winter. If their anticipations prove 
correct it will be of great benefit to the country, especially if it is followed u]) 
by branch lines opening up the corn-growing districts generallj% Grain will 
then, it is believed, be shipped at less than one quarter its present cost, and 
Odessa will become one of the chief granaries of Europe. 
The Russian Government seem, till very lately, hardly to have been aware 
of the value of Odessa as a sea-port. The works of public utility, which 
would soon render her one of the great cities of Europe, have been neglected, 
though their cost, when compared with the results, would be insignificant. 
These important undertakings have at length been pointed out, their useful- 
ness and their advantages have been demonstrated to the Government, and 
their projectors have succeeded in awakening those in power. 
ODESSA. Report by Mr. Coxsul-General Grenville Murray, 1865. 
— Crops of 1865 generally bad and poor. Grain is the chief produce ol' the 
country. Three-quarters of the land continues to be waste, owing to the 
scarcity of hands to cultivate it, the want of money to purchase machinery, 
and the intelligence to manage it properly. Vegetable produce of all kinds is 
scarce, owing to the dry nature of the soil. 
The quantities of wheat exported from Odessa to all parts of the world were, 
in — 
Quarters. 
IS-t: 2,01G,OOo/"'?P^,^''"'^^'^*J prices high 
(in the west. 
1851 719,000 
iQ-o 1 Qc/i nnn/of which, 570,000 to the 
( united Kingdom. 
1863 1,147,500 
1861 1,595,300 
1865 
TAGANROG. Report by Mr. Consul Carrutiiees, 1861.— The country 
is scantily peopled. With water communication (which might be easily 
obtained), and practicable roads, this port would command the most fertile 
provinces of the empire, and but for the cost of transport the accumulation of 
grain might be ample, if not inexhaustible. 
These provinces might soon outstrip the Northern ports in commerce and 
wealth. There will probably be one-third less land sown next season than 
usual, owing to the transition from serfdom to free labour, and the perturbed 
state of agriculturists. 
* This large exportation, with that from Taganrog, was distributed chiefly 
among the Mediterranean ports. Marseilles was the principal customer. England 
took 463,000 quarters in 1847 from the southern ports of Russia. 
