The morning call., 1892-08-14
PEASANT RUSSIA.
A Look at HUSC0Vg'S Half Million
Small Villages.
How the People Really Govern Themselves
and Their Wonderful Communal
System.
Correspondence of THE MORNING CALL

i write this letter in the heart of the great
black plain of Russia. l am two days ride
by rail south Of Moscow, in the ragged little
city OF Tamboff. and have been travelling
for days through some of the richest lands
on the face of Gods green earth This
black plain extends from Poland far into
Siberia. 1t is as flat as a floor. as rich DIS
guano and as black as your hat. Its soil Is
made up Of decompOsed vegetable matter,
and it makes me think of the richest fields
OF Kansas, which Senator ingalls, once told
NE were so good that you could thrust your
arm down into them up to your shoulder
and pull out from the bottom handfuls OF
black earth as rich a that of the valley OF
the Nile. This soil of the black plain Is
an almost natural manure 1t pulyerizeS
easily and it ranges all the way from three
10 five feet deep. 1t is the garden OF
Russia. and it has been called the grsnary
of Europe. For hundreds Of years it
has produced the richest of crops with no
scientific farming. and to-day it is loaded
with grain which has been produced by
sowing the seed after merely scratching its
surface with wooden plows This plain is
OF vast extent, and it could, if half-cultl-
waited, supply all Europe with food, and it
forms the greatest competitor OF the United
States in the markets of the world to-day.
square miles, or more than twice the area
OF the Atlantic States from Maine to Flor
ida, and more than the aggregate area of
OHIO, Indiana, Illinois. Michigan, Wiscon-
sin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North aud
South Dakota, Nebraska. Kansas and Ken
lucky. At present only small proportion
OF IL Is faTmed, and the great Russian en-
pire is by all odds the most undeveloped
country on the earth to-day. If the con-
ditons here were the same as they are in
To ynxylr
and the rights OF property all the emigra-
tion OF Europe would pour into Russia and
Siberia. and the markets and financial con-
dition of all the world would be changed.
In order TO get any Idea OF the Russian
empire and its people one must get out OF
the cities and travel off into the country.
The Russia of to-day is an agricultural
country, and it is among the peasants that
yon md the elements that are TO affect the
world IN the future. There are more than
loo, co., 900 OF these peasants, and il is an In
teresting study to look at them and the vast
areas OF land they have to work with.
Russia in Europe is an empire In Itself. |
have already travelled weeks in going over
a small part OF 1t. and its magnificent dis
tances are like those of the United States.
1t has about two-thirds as much land as the
whole United States, and this land is a
vast plain hemmed in by the Ural Noun
talns on the east. running from the Baltic
Sea to the Black Sea and the Caspian,
and nowhere having any hills more than
HOO feet high Such hills as there are are
few. and they lie north of the center of the
country and make watershed, so that from
them by the most gradual fall the water
runs from these both north and south.
Russia Is well watered. and great rivers cut
their way through the land, giving her irri-
CATION and transportation facilities. The ir-
rigatlOn is as yet only begun, but the rivers
and canals have for generations formed al
most the only means OF shipping goods
throughout the country. IL is wonderful
how cheap freightS are and how far reach
ing this water communication is. Tie
Nolga is as big as the Mississippi, and it is
2300 miles long 1t runs through the
eastern part Of European Russia. and
1t has such branches that ID forms IA
trade artery for Central and South Russia
AID Siberia. IL Is connected by canal with
the NeEa, aud goods can be taken by water
from Astrakhan 10 ST. Petersburg, and by
hundreds of its branches and connections
can be shipped from the Baltic to the most
out-of-the-way regions OF ths country. The
Don. which hOas into the Black Sea, runs
Tor part OF its course not far from the
Noiga, aud there are haif-GOzen navIgarH
rivers which go into the Black Sea. North
North Russia is filed with lakes and
streams, and il is only in the south that the
lack of water is felt. Here in the great
great black plain drought causes bad crops,
and it was q series Of droughs that brought
about tine famine of this year. This, how
ever, might have been avoided by deeper
plowing, for l am told that wherever the
farmers plOwed as deep as we do they had
had excellent crops.
This part of Russia is known as the black
land zone, and one gets some idea of the
country In looking at II in such divisions
There is as much difference in the climate of
this land as there is difference in that Of the
various parts of the United States, and in
81. Petersburg L wore two suits of under
clothing and an oveTcoat, while here / am
roasting in my shirt sleeves. Northern
Russia is covered with forests, and the
Gar has probably more wood than all tho
rest OF Europe put together. From the Bal
tic to Moscow there is little else than forests
There are vast woods through which yoa
might wander fer hundreds and hundreds
of miles and never find any signs of habita-
tlons and which are not penetrated by