The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-11-07

: SNAA4to DNSiAJ CAiSo vi
the last stages of the production of
another book, and, having inquired
where l was staying, at once offered
me his rooms near ty.
He also asked one of his staff, DR..
Rol, who, like the Professor, knows
English thoroughly, to show me
whatever I wished to see and to look
Tfter me so long as 1 cared to stay
in Leningrad. Such hospitable treat
ment of an obscure English agricul-
turist was typical of the reception l
was to meet everywhere.
1t hardly needs to be pointed out
that Russia is predominantly an
agricultural country. Eighty per
cent of the people are engaged in
the cultivation o. the soil. If, how
ever, we remember that it was as
recently as 1861 that serfdom was
legally abolished we cannot fail to
realize that the agriculture is in an
entirely backward state.
''Three-Field" System
The "three-field system" of which
in this country only few traces
survive, is in Russia the chief ode
of cultivation.
A great part of the cultivated
area is still divided into the strips
which 200 years ago were also char
acteristic of England. Add to these
facts two others-only one twentieth
of the area oflthe U. S. S. R. is cul
tivated and only one-fifteentn is in
habited, and it will be seen at one,
the enormous scope for improvement
in agricultural production. At tn,
same time the magnitude of the .asl
can be appreciated.
Communism is essentially the re
suit of the application of scientific
method to the analysis of society, an,
tits natural therefore for the Com
munist Government to have enliste,
! the aid of Russian agriculture
scientists in the solution of the man
enormous problems.
Professor Vavilov's Work.
Professor Vavilov is the head O
, two institutions in Leningrad; tn
All-Union Institute of Applied Be
tany and the State Institute of Ez
3 detrimental Agronomy. The Stat
Institute dates from Tsarist day
. but is now being improved and ez
. tended; the All Union Institute is
: recent institution, and is in a stag
of active growth.
A few enthusiasts, about 1872
. urged upon the government the nee
for such a centralized station, an
= in 1924 it was established unde
J Vavilov (who was already in chare
: of the thirty-year-old State Inst
;, tute). Last year it's budget amounte
: to 100000 roubles (about 100000
f The primary object of the Al
1 Union Institute is the betterment {
+ ell kinds of agriculture crops: i
secondary object the introductio
r and testing of new ones.
). The work is proceeding {
n thorough lines. For example: the d
r rartment dealing with wheat h
IS twenty specialists, and has &C
lected 10000 specimens, probably Il
best collection in the world.
The varieties are being fully
scribed and monographs prepared.
n great deal of other research wor
Il chemical, botanical, and genetical,
70 also in progress. Some of it is "fin
70 research, some of direct practic
II Importance.
S. New Cultures.
$ The Department for the Introdu
/ ton of New Cultures l found pa
$, ticularly interesting as it seem
l typical of the Russian outlook.
III In such a huge territory as
OF U.S.S.R. there are examples of eve
es kind of climate with the sole exec
ton of the extreme tropical (there
lie nothing to compare with Ceylon)
a. Accordingly it should be possil
ne in some parts of Russia to grow
at most every kind Of plant.
at Expeditions therefore are bel
sent by the State Institute of Ag
e. cultural Botany to Abyssinia a
$, South America for the purpose
at collecting agricultural plants.
I'd These are then distributed in 8
IN propriate areas of the U. S. s.
n (areas of analogous climatic &C
in ditions) in order to test their pos
N bilities in Russia.
at The Institute is in contact wi
he other Russian stations and ma
lie foreign ones.
Or Apart from politics, therefore,
Y Russian worker by the very size a
geography of his country is reed
itake world outlook.