Climate.—Owing to its vast extent, the Russian empire presents great varieties of climate. At Archangel the mean temperature of the year is 32° Fahr.; at Yalta. in the Crimea. 52°: and at Kutais. in the Caucasus. 58°. Consisting of an immense area of dry land, the climate of the empire is essentially continental ; and the climate of local ities in its interior is much more rigorous than that of places on the western shores of Europe in the same latitude. The mean temperature of Edinburgh and Christiana is higher than that of Moscow and Kazan. The rigor of the climate of the empire increases not only with the latitude, hut as you advance eastward; thus, the mean winter tempera ture of the town of Abo, on the gulf of Bothnia, is the same as that of Astrakhan—viz., 23° Fabr.; although the former is in lat. 61°, and the other in lat. 47°, or 14° nearer the equator. The difference of the mean summer temperature under the same latitude is, on the contrary, not very considerable. The isothermal line of Astrakhan (60° Fahr.) passes through Lublin in Poland and Ekaterinoslay. In the e. the maximum heat is even greater than in the w.; and such beat: loving plants as the watermelon are grown more successfully in the s.e. of Russia than in the w. of Europe, under the same latitude.
The dryness of the atmosphere increases in the direction from n.w. to s.e. On the banks of the Baltic the average number of rainy and snowy days is 150, and the annual rainfall is 20 in., while near the Caspian the number of such days is 70, and the rainfall only 4 inches. The climate of Russia is in general healthy; but there are several places where diseases seem to be localized, as the shores of the Frozen ocean, where scurvy is common, the marshes along the Niemen and Vistula, where the plica polonica (q.v.) is the chief disease, and the marshy lands on the Black, Azof, and Caspian seas, where ague always prevails.
industry in Russia may be said to date from the reign of Peter the great. With a view to its promotion, foreign manufactured goods are heavily taxed on importation. In 1870 the number of factories (exclusive of iron-wo•ks and all establishments engaged in the preparation of metals) was 19,431, which employed 410,225 hands, and produced articles amounting to 373,000,000 rubles. Of these fac tories, a half were in the governments of St. Petersburg, „Moscow, and Vladimir. The metallurgical works arc mostly in the government of Perm, and in other eastern gov ernments bordering on the Ural mountains. Small handicraft manufacturing establish ments abound in all the central governments, especially in the neighborhood of Moscow, where whole villages during the winter season are employed in some special industry, as weaving, tanning, fur-dressing, joiners' work, shoemaking, etc. The chief manufac ture is spinning and weaving flax and hemp. Linen is manufactured to the value of 100,000,000 rubles, chiefly in hand-looms; although the finer qualities are manufactured by power-looms, mostly in the government of Jaroslav and Kostroma, and the capitals. Eemp is manufactured into sail-eloth and ropes, which articles are largely exported. Woolen and worsted stuffs are made to the value of 50,000.000 rubles, and the quantity is on the increase. Fine cloths and mixed fabrics are made in the capitals, and in the governments of Livonia and Tchernigov. Silk spinning and weaving are carried on in the factories of Moscow, which is renowned for its 'brocades, and gold and slyer embroi deries. Through the influence of the protective system, cotton spinning and weaving have been of late very rapidly extended. In 1860 there were 158 cotton spinning mills,
producing goods to the value of 53,350,000 rubles; and weaving establishments to the value of 13,000,000 rubles. After weaving, the next most important branch of industry is tanning, the products of which amount to 20,000,000 rubles. The other important branches of industry are cutlery, made in the town of Tula, the Thissian Sheffield, and in the governments of Nijni-Novgorod, 'Vladimir, and Kostroma; and pottery and glass works, the former carried on in the government of Moscow, the latter in that of Vladimir. The produce of the machine factories in 1870 did not exceed 15,000,000 rubles; of the sugar refineries, 27,250,000 rubles; of the paper-mills, 5,750,000 rubles.
Russian empire, including provinces varying widely in their natural and industrial resources, presents an extensive field for internal commerce, while the abundance of its products maintains a vast foreign trade. Of the former, which is by far the more important, the extent and value cannot be given, owing to the want of statistical data. Moscow, in the center of the industrial provinces of the empire, and the great depot for the wares that supply the trades of the interior, is the chief seat of the home-trade. The other large trading towns are chiefly those on the banks of the great rivers. The goods yearly conveyed by the Volga alone amount 200,000,000 rubles. Owing to the distances between the great trading towns, fairs are still of great importance in Russia. The transactions of all the fairs in the empire amount to more than 300,000, 000 rubles, and the chief are those of Nijni-Novgorod (q.v.), Irhit (q.v.), Kharkov (q.v.), Poltava (q.v.), and Kursk (q.v. ).—The foreign trade consists mainly of the export of raw products, and the imports of colonial and manufactured goods. The foreign trade by sea is five times greater than the trade by land; and of the latter, the commer cial transactions with Europe amount in value to ten times the Asiatic trade. One-third of the whole foreign commerce is transacted at St. Petersburg, one-ninth at Odessa, and one-fifteenth at Riira. In 1875 the number of vessels that entered the ports of Russia were 13,527, and of these 2,475 were Russian, 2,339 English, 1652 German, 1471 Swedish and Norwegian, 762 Italian, 684 Dutch, and 1896 Turkish, etc. The following table gives the value of the chief articles of export for the years 1870 and 1871: The chief articles of import are sugar, tea, and coffee, cotton, cotton-yarn, raw silk, iron, (cast and wrought), wine and other liquors, dyes, fruit and vegetables, machinery; cot ton, silk, woolen, and linen stuffs. The total exports amounted in value in 1861 to 163, 721,633 rubles; • in 1875, to 381,592,000 rubles. The imports were in 1861 valued at 144,971,791; iu 1875, at 531,056,000. So that during these fifteen years the trade of Russia with foreign countries has increased to about threefold. The Russian exports to England are greater than those to any other foreign country; while Russia imports most extensively from Germany. In 1875 imports from Germany amounted to 221,442,000 rubles; from England, to 133,704,000. The commercial marine of Russia is at yet not much developed. At the end of 1874 it comprised 2,512 sea-going vessels, of an aggre gate burden of 260,504 lasts, or 521,008 tons, besides 385 trading steamers on rivers and lakes.