122 
THE TPvOPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Acfii'ST 1, 1898. 
operation, and waa confirmed in his plan to extend 
tlie scheme all over llussia. It ia declared ihat 
the better ijualities of the liquor and the decrease 
of druukenuess have produced a reform whoise 
j;ood i3 already apparent. The unofficial newspaperB 
(5f the oiniiire do not altogether share this admir- 
ing and hopeful view of the new syBteni. They 
declare that tlie government got a profit of fifty 
per cent on the capital invested in the new enter- 
prise, and argne that this came out of increased ex- 
cise rates, so that it is clear that there is the 
opposite of reform in the drinking habits of the 
people. Where the new sy.stem has bf-en longer 
iu operation it ia asserted that the Temperance 
Committees have failed to appropriate Bofificient 
money to make the tea-shops attractive, and they 
are a failure. A serious loss to the unfortunate small 
farmer has come from the closing of the local dis- 
tilleries — abandoned because of tlie advantageB ee- 
cured by the largo ones under government control. 
The little distilleries afforded convenient markets 
for the sale of farm products, and produced a watte 
that was utilized to feed cattle and enrich the 
land. A considerable decline in cattle-brooding has 
followed the new system, and very email agricnl- 
tural communities have suffered other losses which 
to them are very severe. 
The muzhik is still being bled by the liqnor- 
sellers. Even the Government admits that under 
the new system the licensees, though obliged to sell 
vodka cheaper than under the old plan, still manage 
to get more from him lhan the former price of the 
liquor by charging for the use of the glasses, cork- 
screws, and whatever the poor peasants need in con- 
nection with this liquor, and by exacting high prices 
for the relishes sold at the b.ir.s. These evils, being 
understood, are lo be dealt with by law. 
The muzhik, who possess-es self or popular Gov- 
ernment in its purest and simplest form in the man- 
agement of his village — which is oil the world to 
him — has always shown remarkable .^kill and moder- 
ation in tl'e use of this right. He has seen his own 
and his village rights shorn and invaded from time 
to time in ways and to an extent which must have 
seemed monstrous : but then, as always, he has 
proved himself the patient, amiable, simple, and 
docile creature that he is. He believed, for instance, 
from the beginniugs of his nationality that, though 
he was a chattel of the nobles, yet the land was hia 
irrevocably. But when serfdom was abolished the 
land was partitioned, and the villagers got only a 
portion, which is now seen to be generally less than 
ia actually necessary for the support of the inhabi- 
tants whose numbers have greatly increased. New 
abuses have crept in, owing to the muzhik's sim- 
Ijlicity, his lack of ambition, and the vices of drink, 
gaming, laziness, and aboiigiual disregard for the 
morrow, so that the nihilist writers declare his pre- 
sent state as a freeman is worse and more hopeless 
one than his former serfdom. And the calmest men 
■ — even in official life — admit that condition of agri- 
culture is desparately bad. V/ith characteristic re- 
bound into despoudenoy that is a Slav trait, the 
journals which have recovered from their jubila- 
tion over the proposed reform of the drinking habits 
of the people now declare that there is no hope for 
reform by the Government, and that the muzhik can 
only be turned from drunkenness by multiplying the 
primary schools and spreading education among the 
masses. 
Of course this is true, and it is the hostility of 
the Government to the spread of enlightenment by 
schooling, by travel, and by the introduction and 
multiplication of serious literature, that renders 
impossible a valuation of Russia's future based upon 
European comparisons. For myself, I cannot foresee 
the consequence of a long continuation of present 
Kussian methods in Europe, because I cannot begin 
by conceiving their durability ; and yet the 
Eussians tell me that these must be maintained, 
that the self-interest of those who govern Eussia 
demands the maintenance of present conditions, 
that with enlightenment must come rebellion, un- 
rest, reforms in the direction of a constitutional 
povernment— and with (his latter alone most eonie 
the breaking up of this huge feudal Imidlcrd't 
estate. 
Uis govcromeut of bis villages eugeests the capa- 
city the RuEsian peasant poseeseea, sadly rude and 
undeveloped as it is. His " artelB " prove Ihat 
this capacity is stioug enough for him to govern 
hinisi'lf, v\hicb we ore taught is a juiphtier thing 
than the taking of a city. They thow that he can 
make himself induEtrious, Lonest, thrifty, far- 
sighted, reepon^^ible, nearly everything, in fact, that 
he is not— until such co'ubiuatiou gives Lim the 
chance to redeem himself. 
]*LANTIN(; NOTES. 
Acmcui/ruRAL Station's.— According to i^oiiie 
statistics piven in the BotnuirnI Gazette (here 
are in the United States iifiy-one Si.itc Kxperi- 
iiieut-stat ion«, Conned lent and New Verk having 
two each. On the wiiole, theie are about 50 
trained botanists scattered over the land, acting 
either as botanists, or as entoniologistp, bacteiio- 
logists, iiiycolofjistK, Ste. I'p to recently we liad 
none, bur tlie ('onnly ("ouncils have in many caRea 
aeconiitli^lied that, tlie necessity for which we so 
often pointed ont. 
The Paduy Wk.evil — The attention in drawn 
of our pflddy-growinf; (riends to llie corre-pfnnlence 
pnbli.^ihcd liy the (iovcrn?iient Agent for the West- 
ern Province on damaged paddy. In connection 
with tliat report Mr. E. Green, the (Government 
Entomologist recounts some interesting ex- 
jieiiments, wliich he has made by jdacing insects 
among sonnil grains of paddy and lie says he was 
surprised to lind them after several days remained 
untouched. It seems to be the opinion of (he 
Mudaliyars in the Western Province that weevil 
is disappearing, pnd that it is less frcfjuenily 
found in jilaces free from damp. Commenting 
on tliese facts Mr. Willis, of t lie Peradeniya (iar- 
dens, things that tlie ]iest will disajipear uniil such 
time as the people ag.iin become careless a« 
to drying tlieir grain after a damp season, be- 
fore storage. 
Cloves. — The clove question which was exciting 
the London market three months ago was still 
being discussed in Zanzibar when the last mail 
left, The Shamha lepuuts a C. ^ />. editorial 
on the subject, and adds. " Another view on the 
clove question " — viz., its own — and it is a good view 
on the ivhole. The opening Eentencee of the 
Shamha's article are soothing ; there is no need 
for excitement, says the writer, there h<ive been 
short crops of cloves before now, and there will be 
again. It is difficult— nay. almost impossible — to say 
what next season's crop of cloves will be, because 
travellers rarely visit the clove districts, and native 
leports are not in the least to be relied upon. Still the 
Shantha's inquiiies have resulted in the discovery 
that the ne%¥ crop promises favourably. Many Arab's 
say that the rains have made the trees throw out buds 
even more freely than last year, and that looks well. 
Then our contemporary proceeds to indulge in spec- 
ulations as to what the Arabs will do if there happens 
to be a big crop. Some of them are hopelessly 
involved with Indian money-lenders, and all have to 
conform to the new slave regulations, which give 
these persons an extra day per week, so that they 
only work four days now, so tluit "if the coming 
season s' ould produce a 500,000 fi-asila crop only 
400,000 frasilas would be gathered," but '■ there are 
a multitude of small holders who can be relied upon to 
pick all they can find. Many of the plantations in Pemba 
are in the hands of small Indian traders, who employ 
the Wa-pcmba to gather iu the crop on the co- 
operative sj'stem of one-third to the labourer and 
two-thirds to the owner, or, in the case of short years, 
half and half. There are no cloves left cn the trees 
where this system prevails."— C/(eHiis< and Di-uggist, 
June 25, 
