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own, beside her more northern districts, and her immense possessions in Asia. The character of that portion of Russia in Europe which lies north of the latitude of Great Britain, and also that of her Asiatic dominions, may be understood. by Americans, if compared with our own country. In this comparison, it must not be forgotten that the climate of Europe is milder than in the corresponding latitudes in America. The opening of the spring, the time of the autumnal frosts, and the beginning of winter, will furnish proper points for such a comparison. It would probably be very near the truth, if the average time for the opening of the navigation of the Hudson is fixed at or near the 1st of April. The ice in the Penobscot, as was stated, began to move this season (1855) on the 14th of April. At St. Paul, Minnesota, the navigation of the Mississippi opens from the 1st to the middle of April, and up to this time, also, the ice usually remains in the harbors of our western lakes. The period for the closing of these rivers and lakes, in the autumn, is from the middle of November to the first of December-the Hudson alone excepted, which often remains open until the last days of December. Throughout the Northern States, the time for planting Indian corn is between the first and 12th of May, and it reaches maturity, with a profitable yield, in regions so far north that the planting is delayed until June, while there, also, rye, oats, flax, barley, potatoes and other roots, as well as a great variety of fruits, grow in perfection. Now when it is considered that the most flourishing portion of our country is that where the commencement of spring ranges from the middle of April to the middle of May, and where the autumnal frosts begin about the 1st of October, it is surely a somewhat hasty conclusion that a country of Europe, possessing a similar climate, must be regarded as doomed to perpetual sterility, as a mere frozen waste. The ice on the Neva, at St. Petersburgh, is usually broken up about the 18th of April, while it again becomes stationary about the 1st of December. Vegetation commences by the 1st of May, and proceeds with a rapidity that outstrips the

growth of more southern climes, and fully compensates for the later opening of spring. By an examination of the reports of various travelers, but especially the descriptions of the accurate and scientific German tourist, Erman, we learn that if we travel eastward from St. Petersburgh, through Russia in Europe, and Siberia, to the Pacific Ocean, we shall find that through all these immense regions, to within a short distance of the arctic circle, the climate corresponds in general with that of the northern portions of the United States, and the British American provinces; that the commencement of winter and the beginning of spring, and the range of the thermometer, are nearly the same on both the eastern and western continents. It would therefore be wrong to conclude that any portion of Russia, either in Europe or Asia, south of sixty-two degrees north latitude, may not support a dense population, when we have before our eyes New England, northern New York, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Canada, with a climate essentially the same, yet evidently possessing all the elements of rapid growth and national greatness. In regard to the productiveness of the soil of Russia, our conclusions rest partly upon conceded facts, and partly upon inferences. Little need be said concerning the whole vast territory which lies opposite to the main portions of western Europe, embracing eighteen degrees of latitude, for although much has been said of the inhospitable and even uninhabitable steppes of the southern portion of this region, Americans have learned that a prairie land is capable of supporting an exceedingly dense population, and the "detestable black dust" mentioned by travelers in the Russian prairies, indicates, in a manner not to be mistaken, the fertile character of the soil. This region, then, lying side by side with western Europe, and almost equal in extent to that part of the United States which lies between the Atlantic and the Rocky Mountains, may, perhaps, be considered as equal in productiveness to the remainder of Europe. We have then to consider, in addition, the more northern portions of Russia, both in Europe and Asia. Here the winters are severe, and the

summers are short; and, although the capabilities of the soil have scarcely been tested at all, it is probable that cultivation must cease at a point about one hundred miles south of the arctic circle. This opinion is founded chiefly upon the observations of Erman, who found that the grains of Europe had been brought to perfection within about this distance of the frigid zone, and even in places where the ground is perpetually frozen, a few feet below the surface. These northern regions, moreover, abound in immense forests, particularly of pine, and soil which is capable of supporting the growth of large forest trees will, by suitable culture, produce food for man. These forests form no inconsiderable portion of the wealth of Russia, and will materially contribute to her future growth; and the truth of this will readily appear when we remember that the snows of the winter, and the countless streams in the summer, furnish precisely the means of transport for lumber, which has been found so efficacious in America.

Some idea may be formed of the value of the forests of Russia, from the following statements which are found in Allison's History of Europe: "The cold and shivering "plains which stretch toward Archangel and the shores "of the White Sea, are covered with immense forests of "oak and fir, furnishing at once inexhaustible materials. "for ship-building, and supplies of fuel, which for many "generations will supercede the necessity of searching in "the bowels of the earth for the purposes of warmth or "manufacture, for the inhabitants of the empire." He then quotes the following from "Trans de l'Academie "Imperiale, de St. Petersburgh; Malte Brun and Bremner's "Russia":

"The extent of the forests in the northern provinces of Russia is almost inconceivable. From actual measurement it appears that in the three governments of Vologda, Archangel, and Olonitz alone, there are 216,000,000 acres of pine and fir, being about three times the whole surface of the British Islands, which contains 77,000,000. In one government alone there are 47,000,000 acres of forest.

It appears from M. Herman's calculations, that there are in thirty-one governments in the north of Russia, 8,195,295 firs well adapted to large masts, each being above thirty inches in diameter-a number more than sufficient for a long supply of all the fleets in the world, besides 86,869,000 fit for building houses. In twenty-two governments only, there are 374,804 large oaks, each more than twenty-six inches in diameter, and 229,570,000 of a smaller size." A country thus supplied with such magnificent forests of timber, for ship-building, the construction of dwellings, and all the purposes of the arts, and so abundantly furnished with the means of transport by her net-work of rivers, may not be carelessly described as a mere frozen, barren waste; for these forests when they disappear, as the population increases, and civilization advances, will be succeeded by grain fields, and orchards, and prosperous communities, in the same manner in which we have seen the change wrought on American soil. It is doubtless true, that there is much waste land even within the lim'ts of what has been designated as the agricultural district of the Russian Empire, and the northern portions of her territory, even within the temperate zone, can not be considered productive when compared with the Danubian provinces, or with the valley of the Mississippi; but then it should be remembered what large tracts of land are found unfit for cultivation in every country. How large a portion of the whole surface, for instance, in New England, is occupied by mountains and rugged hills that the plow can not visit; yet these very mountains, covered with forests, sparkling with streams, and filled with mineral wealth, afford the means of sup porting an exceedingly dense population. The capabilities of Russia have evidently been too hastily judged; her rapid growth, unequalled except by our own, would indicate that no unusual proportion of her territory is waste and sterile, and there are many proofs that the Russians are subduing a continent, expanding themselves on every side, and redeeming the wilderness, after the manner of the Americans here.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE RELATIVE POSITION OF RUSSIA.

Whatever may be the extent of a nation's territory, or the productiveness of its soil, it can have no extended growth, or permanent greatness based on its own independent resources, if it is either hemmed in by other powerful nations, or excluded from adequate communication with the ocean. A nation thus situated can become great only by conquest or peaceful acquisition, thus securing to itself advantages which did not belong to its original domain. Russia has thus extended herself with astonishing rapidity; but this enlargement of her dominion has been not so much by overrunning contiguous countries as by the expansion of an internal life, which has sought space wherein to grow; and it is her present position, and what seems to be her immediate and inevitable future, that is presented for consideration here. Perhaps Americans may perceive in the picture enough of resemblance to our own position. to awaken in them a new interest in regard to this European America, and to inquire whether two great nations now facing each other on the opposite shores of the Pacific, are not hereafter to be brought into more intimate association.

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