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Vegetable-culture is very slightly developed in the
Ukraine. Beyond the little vegetable gardens about the
houses and the melon-patches in the steppe we see no
developed vegetable culture even in the neighborhood of
large cities. It is worthy of mention only in the Chernihiv
and Odessa regions, as well as in the old Zaporog country
on the Dnieper (Oleshki, etc.). Here vegetables are
harvested twice a year, in the early summer for exportation
and in the fall for home use. The South Ukrainian melon
plantations (bashtani) annually yield great masses of sweet
melons, watermelons, pumpkins and cucumbers. Here
there has even arisen a special class of bashtanki, who rent
pieces of land for melon patches.
Fruit-culture is much more highly developed in the
Ukraine. The love of the Ukrainian people for trees favors
the planting of orchards. The ignorance of progressive
fruit-culture, owing to illiteracy, as well as the exploitation
of the fruit growers by middlemen is hindering the develop-
ment of Ukrainian fruit-culture, which, nevertheless, has
a great future before it, and even now plays an important
part in the economic life of the Ukraine.
The greatest amount of space is taken up by orchards
in Bessarabia (40,000 hectars), where the more delicate
kinds of apples, pears, plums and walnuts, almonds and
apricots are raised. In Podolia the orchards of the peasants
alone comprise more than 26,000 hectars. Besides apples,
pears and plums, great quantities of cherries are raised here.
The orchards usually lie in the deep river-valleys. The yar
of the Dniester, between Khotin and Yampol, produces
annually half a million metric hundredweights of fruit.
From Podolia and Bessarabia over 800,000 q. of fresh
fruit, 100,000 q. of dried fruit and 20,000 q. of nuts and
almonds are exported annually. The most luxuriantly
growing orchards are those of Tauria, which cover over
7000 hectares on the northern declivities of the Yaila
Mountains. The annual production exceeds 160,000 q. of
fruit and 40,000 q. of nuts. In this region the tenderest
species of apples, pears and plums flourish, besides apricots
(4,000 q. a year) and peaches. About the middle of May the
cherries ripen here. In the middle of June the apricots;
at the end of June plums and early pears; about the middle
of July peaches and early apples; in August we have autumn
pears and apples, and in the first half of September, the
winter apples.
Beyond these districts, fruit-culture is practised on a
large scale in the Kiev region and in Volhynia. Here,
above all, the hardier northern species of apples and pears
are raised, as well as cherries. In Kherson and Kateri-
noslav, too, fruit-raising flourishes; especially in the
Dnieper valley, where apricots also thrive. In the Poltava
country fruit-culture is still important enough, while
in the districts of Kharkiv, Voroniz, Kursk and Chernihiv
it is much less significant, altho we find, even here, a few
centers of intensive fruit-growing; for instance, in the
vicinity of the cities of Kharkiv, Okhtirka, Bohodukhiv.
In Galicia fruit-growing is not especially developed, except
in Pokutia, the vicinity of Kossiv, and the Podolian yari-
valleys, where (near Zalishchiki) even apricots and grapes
are grown.
There is a certain connection between fruit-growing
and viniculture. The northern boundary of the grape in
the Ukraine, coincides approximately with the May iso-
therm of +16° and reaches the 49th parallel. This boundary
line may be drawn from Zalishchiki, past Kamianez and
Katerinoslav, to Astrakhan. In places, however, the
northern boundary of the vineyards extends beyond the
50th parallel; for example, near Bilhorod, in the Govern-
ment of Kursk. Thus, the entire southern part of the
Ukraine may be considered a favorable vine-growing
region. But vine-culture has not developed in the entire
great expanse of the Southern Ukraine; it is confined to
only a few centers. In Galicia the vine is cultivated only
in Zalishchiki, in Russian-Podolia only in a few river-
valleys. Somewhat greater is the wine-production of the
old Zaporog district, where both inclines of the Dnieper
valley are planted with grape-vines. In the Kherson
region the vineyards cover about 7000 hectares. The most
important wine-producing district of the Ukraine is
Bessarabia, where the vineyards take up 75,000 hectares,
that is, a third of the entire Russian wine-country, and
yield over 2J/? million metric hundredweights of grapes
annually. From this amount usually 870,000 hi. of wine
are obtained, which, despite its fine quality, is so cheap, as
a result of the poor organization of the wine trade, that the
barrel often costs more than its contents. Vine-growing
is but slightly developed in the Don region, where 33,000
q. of grapes are obtained every year, and the familiar
sparkling wines are manufactured. In the Government of
Stavropol we find large vineyards only in the Kuma
and Terek valley. In Ciscaucasia, the vineyards cover
about 19,000 hectars, and nearly 200,000 hi. of wine (of
very good quality) are obtained annually. Grapes nourish
very luxuriantly in the Black Sea region and in Tauria.
Many vineyards are found in Melitopol and Berdiansk,
but the most successfully flourishing vines are those of
Crimea, where tender French and Spanish varieties are also
cultivated. Wine-growing has become an important
branch of industry for the population here. Tauria yields
only 250,000 hi. of wine annually, because of the exclusive
use of raw grapes for medicinal purposes.
Bee-culture has, since ancient times, been carried on in
the Ukraine in very close connection with fruit-growing.
It is very popular thruout the Ukraine, and in some districts
of the country we rarely find a peasant farm without
several beehives. Yet the almost fabulous wealth of
honey which the Ukraine originally possessed is steadily
declining. Deforestation has limited the original forest bee-
culture to the Polissye only. The continued assimilation
of meadows and steppes for agriculture has greatly in-
jured the Ukrainian bee industry, and progressive bee-
culture is spreading very slowly among the Ukrainians,
due to the lack of education and instruction. The chief
producing centers of honey in the Ukraine are Kuban
(326,000 bee-hives), Poltava (305,000 bee-hives), Chernihiv
(283,000 bee-hives), Kharkiv (246,000 bee-hives), Kiev
(242,000 bee-hives), Volhynia and Podolia (each 206,000
bee-hives). The total production of honey of the Russian
Ukraine, in 1910, amounted to 125,900 q., wax 13,700 q.
(38% and 34% respectively of the total production of the
Russian Empire). In Galicia, in 1880, the number of
bee-hives was still as high as 300,000, in 1900 only 210,000.
Nevertheless, the land produced one-half of the honey and
one-eighth of the wax of the entire Austrian production
(25,000 and 350 q. respectively). The damp, cool summers
of the past decades have greatly injured the Galician bee
industry, but, in very recent years, progressive bee-culture
has begun to develop strongly here, and to increase the
honey and wax production of the land.
Silkworm-culture is very slightly developed in the
Ukraine, altho the mulberry trees thrive almost everywhere
in the country, and silkworm-culture requires no great
outlay in money and labor. Attempts are being made in
the Don region, Tauria, Bessarabia, Kherson, Katerinoslav,
Kharkiv, Kiev, Poltava and Chernihiv, but the silk output
is still very small. In the Government of Kiev, in 1907,
barely 1,300 q. of cocoons were obtained.
Cattle Raising
Cattle-raising thruout the Ukraine is closely joined to
agriculture. Only in the Pontian steppes the remains of
the originally extensive cattle industry are left today.
With the prevailing shortage of land, cattle- raising is a
source of industry of the greatest importance to the
Ukrainian peasantry, the most important source of ready
money with which to pay taxes and to invest in farm im-
provements. Unfortunately, the Ukrainian peasantry is
only beginning to understand the importance of progressive
cattle-raising and to introduce it. In Galicia, this move-
ment has already had a good start. In the Russian Ukraine,
only the large landowners (and they but rarely) are carrying
on progressive agriculture. On the other hand, it should
be noted that only extensive cattle-raising pays the large
landowner, hence, cattle-raising by the peasants is of
incomparably higher importance in the life of every
cultured nation. For this reason, cattle-raising in the
Ukraine gives promise of a splendid future, once it is
carried on by an enlightened peasant class.
The total number of cattle in the Ukraine can hardly be
estimated, even roughly. At any rate it is considerably
more than 30 million, of which approximately four million
belong to the Austrian Ukraine. Compared to the adjacent
countries, the Ukraine is very rich in cattle. The Russian
Ukraine, which comprises not quite a sixth part of European
Russia, possesses fully a third of the Russian stock of
cattle; that is, about double the amount it should have
according to the size of the territory. In like manner, the
Austrian Ukraine is important for its exports of cattle to
Western Austria and Germany.
Of all the districts of the Ukraine, the relatively smallest
stock of cattle is found in Galicia, for here there are only
723 head of cattle (116 horses, 372 horned cattle, 60 sheep,
172 hogs) for each 1000 inhabitants. The proportions are
greater in the Russian Ukraine. For every 100 of the
population Volhynia has 19 horses, 32 steers, 18 sheep,
17 hogs. The corresponding numbers for Podolia are 16, 19,
17, 11; for Kiev 13, 18, 17, 10; for Kherson 29, 24, 16, 11;
for Chernihiv 21, 25, 33, 16; for Poltava 14, 22, 27, 11; for
Kharkiv 17, 27, 23, 10; for Katerinoslav 25, 26, 21, 12; for
Tauria 30, 28, 61, 11; for Kuban 34, 54, 80, 21.
We shall begin our survey of the cattle industry with
a consideration of horse-raising. The Ukrainian breed of
horses is widely distributed thruout the entire Dnieper
region, its Chornomoric variety in the Kuban region, its
Don variety in the eastern border districts of the Ukraine.
By far the greater number of the Ukraine horses, however,
are a mixed breed, of small stature, and, despite great
powers of endurance, not particularly strong. Of the differ-
ent breeds of small horses, only the Hutzulian mountain-
breed are important, because of their fine qualities. The
remaining millions of small horses rather mark the low
grade of horse-breeding than real value for the population,
which, in proportion to its economic resources, keeps
entirely too many horses. Very little is being done to
raise the standards of horse-raising in the Ukraine. Breed-
ing-studs are kept up by the large landowners only for
the breeding of race-horses, while nothing at all is done for
the breeding of work-horses. Only in Voroniz a breed of
strong draught-horses is produced (bitiuhi), and a little is
accomplished also by the breeding-studs of Novo-Alex-
andrivsk (Kharkiv region) and in Yaniv (in the Kholm
country). In the Austrian Ukraine the war-department
takes care of the breeding of the Hutzulian breed of horses
with great success.
Horned cattle are of much greater importance to the
Ukrainian people than horses, and the breed is relatively
much better. Thanks to the general distribution of the
native gray breed, the addition of the red Kalmuck breed
of cattle in Eastern Ukraine, and the frequent crossing
with Western European breeds accomplished thru the
agency of the large landowners, the governments and the
agricultural organizations, cattle-breeding in the Ukraine
appears much more advanced than horse-breeding. On the
other hand, dairying in the Ukraine is barely in its be-
ginnings. Only in Galicia has a dairymen's organization
been formed by the Ukrainian peasants, which produce
million kilograms of butter a year.
Sheep-raising in the Ukraine decreased considerably
within the last decades of the 19th Century, as a result of
Australian competition. Formerly, the Southern Ukraine
was one of the most important wool producing regions of the
world. The decline of the sheep-raising industry has been
accelerated a great deal by the transformation of the
steppes into farmland. The immense flocks of sheep
which roamed the Ukrainian steppes under the care of
semi-nomadic shepherds are a thing of the past. Never-
theless, about 10 million sheep can still be found in the
Ukraine. The greatest part of them is raised in the Don
region, the Kuban region, Tauria, Katerinoslav and Bess-
arabia. Just as in the other branches of live-stock-breeding,
so also in the matter of sheep-raising, the most important
part is performed by the peasant. The peasants breed
chiefly coarse-wooled sheep of various breeds. These
sheep can graze three-fourths of the year out in the steppes.
The large landowners raise far less sheep, but these belong
to the fine-wooled Merino breed, the raising of which is
more expensive, but also more profitable. In very recent
years the peasants have at last begun to engage in breeding
the fine-wooled varieties. Sheep-raising is very important
in the districts of Chernihiv, Poltava and Kharkiv, where,
in the year 1900, there were 2>y 2 million sheep (3 million
of which belonged to peasants). Here the greatly renowned
Reshetilov breed of sheep is raised. The remaining
districts of the Ukraine carry on very little sheep-raising.
Only in the Carpathians is it an important branch of
industry of the population. Here the coarse-wooled
mountain-sheep graze in the mountain pastures, and bring
almost greater profit thru their dairy products and skins
than thru their wool.
Goats are found very rarely in the Ukraine, almost
exclusively in the Carpathian, Yaila and Caucasus Moun-
tains. Hog-raising, however, is perhaps the most important
source of income of the poorer Ukrainian peasantry, and
as such it is common everywhere in the Ukraine, most of
all in Chernihiv, Volhynia and Kuban. Besides sty-
breeding, extensive breeding is carried on in some districts.
On the lower Dnieper and Dniester large droves of swine
remain in the plavni all summer and fall. Improved breeds
of English hogs (Yorkshire, Berkshire, etc.) are not common
in the Ukraine and easily degenerate, while the most
common breeds, the Russian, the Polish and the southern
curly-haired variety, are very hard to fatten.
Camels are kept only in the southeastern steppes of the
Ukraine (Tauria, Don region, Stavropol), buffaloes only in
Bessarabia, asses and mules in Bessarabia and Tauria.
Having reached the end of our survey of cattle-raising
in the Ukraine, we must turn to poultry-raising, which
constitutes one of the most important sources of the money
income of the peasantry. In view of the truly Spartan
mode of life of our peasants, very little poultry is consumed
by the breeder himself, most of it being sold to the dealers
or in the cities. The balance of the production over the
local consumption is so great that the entire Ukraine has
become an exporting region for poultry, eggs and feathers
to the other districts of Russia, to Western Austria, Ger-
many, England, etc. From the nine governments of the
Ukraine, in 1905, over 600,000 q. of eggs were exported,
90% of which went over the border. These Ukrainian
governments yielded 40% of the total Russian exportation
of eggs, Kharkiv alone giving 8%, Kiev 5%. If we con-
sider the remaining Ukrainian districts of Russia, we can
say, without fear of error, that all the, Russian territory
together that is inhabited by Ukrainians produces more
than half the Russian output of eggs and poultry. Podolia
alone, in 1908, sold nearly 3J^ million fowl, Kharkiv
(1906) \% million. Galicia, about the year 1903, exported
annually eggs to the value of 35 million crowns*, feathers to
the value of 3 million, and poultry to the value of 1J^
million, of which, at least, two-thirds must be credited to
the Ukrainian part of the land.
Every farmer in the Ukraine raises live-stock. The
percentage of exclusive breeders of live-stock is very small ;
in the Russian Ukraine, in 1897, it was hardly 0.4%.
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