Stories of Russian Folk-Life

Russia is not only the largest but is also one of the flattest countries in Europe. An impression of its flatness is obtained from the statement that the projected canal to connect the Baltic and Black Seas would require only two locks, and yet be deep enough for the greatest vessels afloat. In this vast and monotonous land, where even a small hill seems imposing, the surface features are all on a big scale. There are great stretches of forest; the northern port of Archangel, for instance, draws supplies of timber from a forest as large as Ireland. There are immense marshes, wide barren areas, great stretches of fine pasture land, and of most fertile soil well cultivated. Mighty rivers intersect the vast Russian plain. Europe's longest river is the Volga, which has a course of about 2400 miles, and pours its waters into the Caspian Sea through some seventy mouths. It is connected by canals with the Black, Baltic, nd Polar Seas. Steamers ply up and down it for hundreds of miles, and it can be navigated by barges to its source, a small lake situated to the east of the low Valdai hills. The construction of canals in connection with the rivers has done much to promote the agricultural and other industries. Russia has within its borders over 100,000 miles of navigable water-ways. There are sharp changes of climate in the various areas and during the different seasons. Over the greater part of the country the winter is severe, and, of course, lasts longest in the north. When the snow melts in the Valdai hills, which form the chief watershed in Russia, the rivers are flooded and overflow their banks, just as the Nile overflows in Egypt, and large tracts of country lie under water for several weeks. The summer is hot and dry. At the northern port of Archangel, for instance, where the sea is frozen over for six months, the summer heat is much greater than in Great Britain, and the fish-curers of Archangel have to use refrigerators to store the fish. In the southern agricultural districts the crops often suffer from summer drought. This drawback, however, is being gradually overcome by the construction of irrigating canals, and it is calculated that, eventually, when the Russian rivers are con-trolled like the Nile, the annual yield of wheat will be doubled, if not trebled.