THE BLACK SOIL REGION, including the fertile steppes, is the great agricultural area of Russia, and its western section is the most densely populated part of the country with the exception of Poland and the district round Moscow. The fertility of the soil, the facility with which it can be cultivated, and the favourable climate, have led to the large production of wheat in this region, which may be divided into three belts, running from south-west to north east. In the most northerly belt the area under wheat is less than that under all other crops, which include beet (chiefly in the west), barley, oats, and rye. The central zone, including the governments of Kherson, Ekaterinoslav, Don Territory, and Samara, devotes about one-half of its cultivated area to wheat ; while the southern belt, in which are the governments of Kuban, Stavropol, Astrakhan, and Orenburg, has wheat on 60 per cent. of its cultivated land. The dry, warm climate of the south-east of Russialis obviously one reason for the concentration of wheat in this region ; but, although it is grown under favourable conditions, the yield per acre is low, and for the ten years, 1901-10, the average did not exceed ten bushels. The reasons for this must be sought for in a variety of conditions which affect Russian agriculture generally. One-third of the land is held by the mirs, or village communities, and the arable parts of it are subject to re-allocation from time to time among the individuals or families constituting the mir. Such a system is absolutely antagonistic to the practice of sound agricul ture ; and it is satisfactory to note that it is gradually becoming less general, as a result, partly of the wealthier farmers opposing re-allocation, partly of arrangements having been made by which government permission may be given to individuals to withdraw from the mir, and partly of the extension of agriculture into regions, especially in the south-east, where the mir does not exist.
The three-field system of agriculture, which is the most prevalent in Russia, is also unfavourable to the full development of the land. Under it a winter crop, such as rye, is sown one year, a spring crop, such as wheat or oats, the second, while during the third the ground lies fallow. In the less densely populated parts of the Black Soil region a method analogous to the forest system of the north is pursued, the steppe being ploughed and continuously cultivated for several years till the land is exhausted, after which it is allowed to become derelict. With the gradual increase of population, these systems, both of which are exceedingly wasteful, are steadily being replaced by one of rotation of crops.
When the poverty of the peasant, the primitive implements to which his poverty condemns him, and his ignorance of sound agricultural methods, are taken into consideration, it is not a matter of surprise that the yield from the lands of the peasantry is lower than from the lands of the Crown, the nobles, and the towns. On the other hand, within recent years, the Zemstvos (provincial and district assemblies, constituted on an electoral basis) have done much to enable the peasants to buy agricultural machinery and to teach them modern methods of husbandry. It is probably due in part to their influence that the export of wheat from European Russia, which for a time showed signs of rapidly declining, has risen again to its former level and during the years 1906-10 averaged over 3,700,000 tons per annum. The greater part of this export took place from ports on the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, to which the wheat was brought by river, railway, and sometimes even by wagon.
Among other crops of the Black Soil region are maize and beet, grown chiefly in the south-western governments, where there is sufficient precipitation. Rye and barley also cover considerable areas.