or 153 per cent.: our chief supplies are from Turkey, Italy, and France. The following table of these imports, distinguishing countries, presents the average of the quinquennial period 1847-51: As Russia abounds in grain more than in any other production of the soil, it is only in seasons of defective harvest that the importation of this article can be very large. It is moreover subject to a very heavy duty rye paying 2 roubles, wheat and dry legumes 3 roubles, and oats and buckwheat 11 rouble per tchetwert. These duties, which in the tariff of 1851 have been modified only as regards importations by sea from Prussia*, come to 40 or 60 per cent. or more upon the value. In ordinary times rice is the only grain imported to any great extent, and is imported at present to the value of about 400,000 roubles. But there occur years of scarcity in which cereals are imported in no inconsiderable quantities; as, for instance, the year 1834, in which the importation of grain of all descriptions attained the value of 21,538,000 paper (= 5,966,000 silver) roubles; and 1835, when it still amounted to 1,664,500 silver roubles. As the official tables of our foreign commerce are incomplete in regard to the quantities of grain imported, we must here confine ourselves to a recapitulation of the mean annual value of this importation by quinquennial periods, commencing with the year 1824: On comparing the last period (triennial) with the quinquen * Grain imported from Prussia by sea pays only the half, and by land only the tenth of these duties. Exclusive of importation into the kingdom of Poland, the value of which during 1851-53 averaged 67,000 roubles. nium 1824-28 we find that the importation has more than quintupled, but it is rice that forms the main item of the increase. Salt. We possess salt springs and salt lakes in such abundance that we could supply with salt more than double the present population of the empire; but the greater part of those are concentrated at the eastern extremity and in the south of European Russia, especially in Bessarabia, the Crimea, and the governments of Saratow, Perm, Astrakhan, and Orenburg, which six provinces furnish nearly nine-tenths of the total quantity of salt won throughout the whole European and Asiatic possessions of the empire. This distance from the sources of supply with the attending difficulty and expense of transport make it impossible for the Baltic provinces and several of the western governments to do without foreign salt. We have already (Vol. I. p. 213.) estimated the amount of salt won in Russia at about 30 millions of poods; and as the average importation during the period 1847-51 amounted to about 4,972,700 poods, we obtain a total consumption of about 35 millions of poods, which, for a population of 60 millions (including Asiatic Russia, but exclusive of Finland and the kingdom of Poland), gives 23-3 lbs. Russ. per head. In Prussia the mean consumption is 22 lbs. Russ. per head*, in Austria 20.5 lbs., and in France 16 lbs. Russ. Thus the relative consumption of Russia is the largest of the four, which proves the general moderation of the price. The expense of winning is small, and the excise is tolerably light. Dearness occurs only in some districts situated at a great distance from the place of production; and the consumption would be still larger than it is if the state of inland communication were more satisfactory. Foreign salt forms but a fifth of the total consumption; but on the other hand the kingdom of Poland and Finland draw their supplies almost entirely from abroad, their own production being insignificant. The duty on foreign salt is high, with a view to protect the excise and the crown magazines: it amounts in the ports of St. Petersburg, Reni, and Ismaël in Bessarabia, and at all land custom-houses with the exception of those along the Prussian frontier, to 40 kop. per pood, which is equivalent to from 200 to 300 per cent. ad valorem; in the other Baltic * 16.8 Zollverein lbs. for the consumption of man, and 12 ditto for the consumption of cattle and for industrial purposes: total 18 lbs. Zollv. 22 lbs. Russ. per head. = ports it is 29 kop.; by dry frontier on the side of Prussia, 32 kop.; and in the ports of the government of Archangel, 20 kop. To protect the fisheries, which form one of the main industrial resources of that government, salt for curing is admitted duty free; but the importation for that purpose does not exceed 21,000 poods. In the ports of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azow importation is prohibited. The average annual importation of salt into the empire taken by triennial periods, since 1824, was as follows: We perceive from this table that the increase of importation of this article has been considerable. The last triennium compared with the first exhibits an average increase of 2,291,900 poods, or about 61 per cent., in the course of twenty-seven years; besides which a goodly quantity is smuggled along the Baltic coast. The foreign salt consumed in the empire arrives chiefly from England, Prussia, Spain, and Portugal, as appears from the following table, which is referable to the quinquennium 1847-51: The Spanish and Portuguese salt is chiefly used in curing provisions. The kingdom of Poland derives almost its whole supply from Austria, from the mines of Bochnia and Wïelitschka; in 1851 the quantity imported from that source amounted to 2,369,856 poods, or more than 31 per cent. of the total importation into the empire and the kingdom together during that year. The importation of this article must, as in the past, continue to increase, for, barring the discovery of * Besides an average importation into the kingdom of Poland of 2,197,417 poods. † Partly composed of Liverpool salt come to Prussia as ballast. mines in those provinces where they have hitherto been wanting, it will always be difficult to supply with home-won salt those districts which are at a great distance from the place of production. Moreover, we shall always require foreign, and especially Spanish and Portuguese, salt for curing provisions; and this demand will increase when the salt provision trade attains the importance which it is one day destined to acquire in the south of Russia (see antè, Vol. I. p. 287.). Fish. Salt fish, especially herrings, constitute a considerable branch of our imports, at present amounting to the value of 2 millions of roubles. During the quinquennium 1847-51 the mean value of the importation (oysters included) amounted to 1,897,100 roubles, of which salt herrings formed about 85 per cent. Fish form one of the most moderately taxed articles of our tariff, the duties being Smoked herrings Salted herrings from England or Scotland, 1 roub. 30 kop. per barrel = Holland, 2 roub. 85 kop. per barrel= Anchovies and pilchards All other sorts of fish salted, smoked, dried, or otherwise cured P 0 0 14 0 313 10 2 These duties are not so high as to impede a fair importation. The following is a table of the importation of fish of all sorts taken by triennial periods: * Exclusive of importation into kingdom of Poland, averaging 414,100 roubles. We here perceive that the importation of fish has been largely progressive, the last triennium presenting, as compared with the first, an increase of 1,418,900 roubles, or 261 per cent.; but as prices vary according to the goodness or badness of the fishing season, the increase of value does not afford a perfect index to the progress of consumption. Herrings constitute the great bulk of the import; but in our tables of commerce down to 1846 they are slumped along with fish of all descriptions. M. Nebolsine gives, from data published in the Commercial Gazette, the quantities of herrings imported into the ports of Riga and St. Petersburg from 1837 to 1846 inclusive; and to this partial indication we are obliged to confine ourselves, bringing down the period to 1851. The average annual importation was On comparing the last quinquennial period with that of 1837-41 we find the importation into the port of St. Petersburg increased by 10,054 barrels, or nearly 22 per cent.; and that into Riga by 11,175 barrels, or 25 per cent. The cipher of importation varied during the first period, for the port of St. Petersburg, between 35,300 and 61,800 barrels, and for that of Riga between 27,900 and 74,500 barrels; during the second period, for the port of St. Petersburg, between 36,500 and 72,500, and for that of Riga between 43,200 and 82,500; and during the third period, for the port of St. Petersburg, between 40,100 and 67,400 barrels, and for that of Riga between 23,000 and 83,300 barrels. These great fluctuations show that this branch of importation greatly depends on the result of the fisheries in foreign countries, and the thence resulting variations of price. In the White Sea ports there is also a considerable importation of dried and salted cod-fish in exchange for grain, rye-meal, and other articles of export: this forms one of the principal branches of the trade carried on between the people of Archangel and those of the neighbouring districts of Norway. The average annual value of fish of every description imported during the period 1847-51 was contributed by countries as follows: |