In latitude the country is unfortunately situated. North of the latitude of St. Petersburg the climate is too cold to grow bread-stuffs; a large part of the country is, therefore, unproductive. The central belt is forest-covered; the southern part, or "black earth" belt, comprises the greater part of the productive lands, and this region is the chief granary of Europe.
Russia is an agricultural country. Maize and rye grown for home consumption, and wheat for export, are the chief products. Flax is a leading export product, and the Russian crop constitutes about four-fifths of the world's supply. Lands too remote from markets for grain-growing produce cattle and sheep, which are grown mainly for their hides and tallow. The wool of the Don is a very coarse textile that is much used in the manufacture of American carpets; that of the arid plateaus of the southern country is a fine rug wool.
Agriculture in Russia is on a much lower plane than in western Europe. Most of the land is owned in large estates. Individual farming is rare, land tillage being usually a community affair. A village community rents or purchases a tract of land, and the latter is allotted to the families composing it, a part of the land being reserved for pasturage. The business is transacted by "elders," or trustees, who exercise a general management and supervision over the "mir," or community.
The methods of farming are not the best, and an acre of land produces scarcely one-third as much as the same area is made to yield in other states. The farming class, or peasantry, was in a condition of serfdom until within a few years. Poverty unfits them to compete with farmers of western Europe; moreover, the laws of land ownership and tenure also serve to discourage farming.
The metal and mineral resources are very great. Iron ore is abundant, and the yearly output of both is greatly increasing. There are extensive deposits in southern Russia, in the Ural Mountains, and in Poland. Coal of good quality is plentiful, and coal mining is encouraged by a heavy tariff on the foreign coal that enters regions where the home product is available. The most productive coal-fields are those of the lower Don River and of Poland.
Gold is obtained in various parts of Siberia and in the Ural Mountains, but scarcely enough is mined for the requirements of coinage. Copper is also mined in the Ural and Caucasus Mountains. More than nine-tenths of the world's supply of platinum is also obtained in the Ural Mountains. The petroleum fields of Transcaucasia have a yearly output a little greater than those of the United States.
The forest area is surpassed only by the timber belt of North America, both of which are in about the same latitudes. This area, within a very few years, is destined to be the chief lumber supply of all Europe. Moreover, the forests, the grain-growing lands, and the iron and coal constitute national resources which are surpassed in no other countries save the United States and China.
The Russian Government has done much to encourage manufactures. Steel-making in the Ural district, in Poland, and in the iron regions of the Don has progressed to the extent that home-made railway material and rolling stock are now generally used. Farming machinery is made in the cities of the grain-growing region. The manufacture of cotton, woollen, and linen fabrics has developed to the extent that the state is becoming an exporter rather than an importer of such goods.
Railway building has progressed under government aid, and about two-thirds of the 37,000 miles of track are owned by the state. The Transsiberian Railway connecting Vladivostok with the trunk lines of Europe was built by the state both for strategic and economic purposes. Large bodies of emigrants are carried into Siberia at nominal rates and are settled on lands that are practically free. The return cargoes consist of Chinese products—mainly silk textiles and tea—destined for western Europe.