Note 33 — Chapter II · THE STEPPES OF RUSSIA.

This account is taken from a paper by M. Teetzmann, steward of the estates of the Duke of Anhalt-Köthen, near Bereslaf. See Tegoborski, vol. i. p. 38.

M. Teetzmann says, that on his domain, in the 10 years from 1832 to 1841, rye and wheat produced on the average 6 times, barley 7 times, and millet 23 times the amount sown. In this time there were some years when the rye gave 16 times, wheat and barley 15 times, and millet 64 times the amount sown; but there was also one year when the crops entirely failed, and others when they did not give more than the amount sown. This was in a country which M. T. ranks among the “Eternal Steppes.”