which the following is a translation, and which being from the pen of a Russian country gentleman, may be relied on as giving an authentic account of the position and revenues of the landed proprietor, and the condition and occupations of the peasant.

LETTER FROM M. DE SABOUROFF.

Tamboff, February 14th, O. S. 1838.

You have paid me the compliment of applying to me for some information on the subject of our rural economy, and it is with the greatest pleasure that I sit down to furnish you with it to the best of my ability. As a resident landed proprietor, I am not unacquainted with the subject on which I now enter, first bespeaking your indulgence for a composition which is not written in my native tongue.*

I think the end in view will be best answered, by a summary description of an estate of moderate size, with all the details of its cultivation and general management. Knowing one, you will know all, for in our system of husbandry there is little variety. From habit and circumstances we follow a general routine, the exceptions to which are rare, and attributable rather to the fancies of individual proprietors than to any other cause.

We reckon our estates by the number of souls

* The letter was written, for my benefit, in French, to which this unnecessary apology alludes.

upon them, taking into account the male serfs only. This is an ancient custom, derived from the old times, when our revenues depended upon the number of hands at our disposal. At present the case is changed; the land is the source of our profits, while our serfs are often a dead weight upon us. The more so, that they stand by no means on the footing of slaves in ancient times, but they are possessed of rights, some granted by law, and others which have crept in by custom. The law places at their disposal three of the working days of every week, and Sundays and holydays in addition. Their master is obliged to supply them with food and all other necessaries of life, and if the serf becomes a beggar, the master is liable to a fine.

The custom of the country is to allot to the peasants the half of the land which belongs to the owner of the estate, to defend them against all aggression and ill-treatment at the hands of strangers, and strictly to respect their property. The exceptions to this conduct are rare, and when they occur, are quoted with indignation and pointed to with contempt; so that on this point public opinion supplies the place of law. We have even, from a regard to their feelings, adopted for our peasants the very appellation, viz., that of Christians, which they have given themselves.

With these means, and this order of things, our peasant is by no means in a bad condition. His

habits and desires are, owing to his want of civilization, simple in the extreme. But were his wishes enlarged, he could easily gratify them; land, and the time to cultivate it, are at his disposal. Our peasant works hard, sleeps but little, is satisfied with the coarsest food, and is by no means an habitual drunkard, though he now and then breaks the monotony of his existence by a fit of brutal intoxication. But even in this state his natural good humour shows itself, the quarrels which these occasional revels produce, though noisy enough, never lead to bloodshedding. Of this, indeed, the Russian peasant has a horror, and murders are extremely rare. Let him be oppressed, and he will contrive to revenge himself by a short, but biting sarcasm. He is deeply imbued with a reverence for religion, and is not so much superstitious as thoroughly ignorant. He kisses the hand of his parish priest, but he laughs at his failings, and is quite able to make the distinction between the individual and the office. Of this I can give you a very characteristic anecdote. Passing one day near a large group of peasants, who were assembled in the middle of the village, I asked them what was going forward?

"We are only putting the Father (as they call the priest) into a cellar.”

"Into a cellar," I replied; "what are you doing that for ?"

"Oh," said they, "he is a sad drunkard, and has

been in a state of intoxication all the week; so we always take care, every Saturday, to put him in a safe place, that he may be fit to officiate at church next day; and on Monday he is at liberty to begin drinking again."

I could not help applauding this very sensible arrangement, which was related to me with all the gravity in the world.

But to return to our system of husbandry, of which I think I have explained the character of the principal elements, viz. the tillers of the soil, who are by no means the mere machines which they are commonly supposed to be. To govern them, a little order in the arrangements, a certain degree of tact, and, above all, impartial justice, are the chief requisites.

A village of two hundred souls (i. e. male peasants of all ages) possesses usually two thousand acres of productive land. The crown, or imperial acre, which is employed in all public transactions, contains two thousand four hundred square sagines,* or thirteen thousand and sixty-six square yards. The common acre, which as more convenient, is in ordinary use, contains three thousand two hundred square sagines, or seventeen thousand four hundred and twenty-two square yards. Two hundred souls are usually reckoned to furnish eighty labourers, women and men, for the wives toil as well as their husbands.

* 1 sagine 7 feet.

These work three days in the week for their master, who gives up to them, in return, the half of his land.

The system of agriculture is triennial, with fallows; that is to say, the land bears two crops in three years. Each married couple receives two acres in each of the three portions, i. e. winter corn, spring crop, and fallow, into which, by this system, the arable land is divided, so that they have, in all, six acres, in addition to an acre of meadow and an acre of pasture; besides this, they have the ground for a house, garden, and outbuildings: by way of rent for their allotment, the peasant and his wife are required to cultivate as much more for their master. The quantity of land thus apportioned to each peasant, would appear enormous in any other country of Europe, but with us it is not too much, for we do not manure * our land, and our only agricultural instruments consist in a very light plough, and a wooden harrow, either of them drawn with ease by a single horse. The fine season being very short, the operations of husbandry are performed with surprising activity. The vast tracts covered by abundant crops, are quickly bared, and the produce is heaped up in open barns. In winter, the grain, consisting of rye, (the staple food of the country,) wheat, barley, oats, pease, millet, and buck-wheat, is threshed, usually with the flail, but sometimes with a Scotch threshing machine: and it is then transported

* That is to say, in the Government of Tamboff, and some other southern districts. In Russia in general, manure is highly necessary.