The Harvester World: Volume 2, number 15, December 1911

              THE    FOREIGN    FIELD

BUMPER CROPS AND CROP FAILURES IN RUSSIA

By A, H. Schwarzenbach, Manager Samara Brancti
This subject seems the most appropriate just at tliis time for the reason that, in 1910, we had good crops in a large part of our territory, while in 1911, the crops are practically a failure in nearly all of our territory.
In Russia, as elsewhere, a bumper crop means pros¬ perity, and especially so to the implement dealers, as then it is usually only a question of whether the supply of harvesting machines is sufficient to meet the demand. I dare say, that should there be in any one year bumper crops in all of Russia, including Siberia, there would not be anywhere near enough machines to supply the demand. So it was with us in 1910. We did not have machines enough to supply the demand, but were lucky enough to be able to obtain additional machines from other territories in Russia, where crop conditions were not so good. Naturally, this is the same the world over; the onlv difference is that in Russia the distances are so great, and the railroad facilities so poor, that we often have great trouble in getting the machines to the proper places in time. For instance, we have to get machines by railroad from the Baltic ports, a distance of 1,300 miles, so that it takes from eleven to sixteen days for a car or a train load to reach Samara, and then we have territory where the machines have to be hauled by horses and camels, from 600 to 1,000 miles.
The agents in our territory naturally do not order anywhere near the supply of machines needed for a bumper crop, because crop failures have been quite frequent. It is therefore necessary for us to manage so that we can ship machines quickl}' from our warehouses.
It is no trick to sell machines when a bumper crop is in sight, as when he has once made up his mind to buy a machine, the Russian peasant will, if necessary, wait a week in town for its arrival. To illustrate how badly they want the machines, we had a case in the city of Samara where we have six agents. None of them had any machines left except the Deering agent who had two binders. Three men came to our office begging for machines, although they knew that we do no retail business here. We told them that the Deering agent, located in the Panskaja street, had two binders left, and it was a sight to see those three farmers start out from our place running a foot race, each anxious to get one of those two binders.
Another case which I will never forget, is that of a peasant who was going to buy a machine from one of our agents in Samara. He had only two horses and a small wagon, his intention being to take the machine home with him set up. As the wagon would not hold an entire binder, and the agent was out of transports, he came and begged us to furnish him a transport so that he could take his binder home. When we told him that it was impossible as we had none, he threw him¬ self on the ground and kissed my shoes, begging me for the transport. We finally managed to make a shift and obtained a transport from another farmer.
One rich estate owner told me last year, after having lost 2,000 acres by hail, that he would be perfectly satis-
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fied if this would happen each year, provided each crop would be as good as in 1910. This man owns about 100,000 acres. Another large estate owner living in Samara has each year about 150,000 acres in crop and uses only thirty-five binders, but hires about 3,000 men and women when there are good crops, to cut aud bind his grain.    A good many times the large estate owners,
Lunch time at a tractor trial near Samara, Russia
although they have binders, do not use them for the reason that help is cheaper than the cost of twine to bind the grain. This is not the case when there are bumper crops, as then help is scarcer and wages higher. The wage is always so much per acre or rather dessja- tine, which is about two and two-third acres.
The Russian farmers, that is, the peasant farmers, are beginning to use harvesting machines to a greater extent each year. They are also beginning to use drills to sow the grain with, all of which will tend to better the conditions, so that we believe the crop failures will not be as frequent in the future as they have been in the past. The continued hot and dry weather this year was exceptional. Had it been two weeks shorter we would have had fair crops in this territory, as the grain sown with drills withstood the drought two weeks longer than the grain sown by hand. The farmers have noticed this, and we believe that from year to year, as they can afford it, they will buy mo'/e drills aud dis¬ continue sowing the grain by hand.    With this end in