CHAPTER VIII
ASSISTANCE TO FARMING
Difficulties of the Problem.
ArProxIMATELY one-half of all sums allocated by the provincial
and district zemstvos in aid of soldiers’ families was devoted to the
work of assisting their farming establishments, which the mobiliza-
tions had deprived of the necessary labor. But these sums were very
far from satisfying the actual wants. Moreover, even those appro-
priations which had been made available were not always fully uti-
tized as they should have been.
The zemstvos, in order to relieve the situation to the best of their
limited means, increased the number of harvesting machines in their
agricultural depots, from which they were issued to the peasants
sither free of charge or at a very low rental. The zemstvos also
stored supplies of seed selling them on credit, on very favorable and
2asy terms, to the families of the mobilized men. Lastly, the poorest
peasants were assisted with money, to help them pay the wages of
the labor they hired.
The attempts to come to the aid of agriculture met with almost
insurmountable obstacles. It was not always possible to obtain a
sufficient number of the required machines; or again, the peasants
found themselves absolutely incapable of operating them and, be-
sides, the compulsory rotation of crops due to communal tenure and
scattered strips placed obstacles in the way of the efficient use of
steam plows, harvesting machines, binders, and other agricultural
‘mplements. Expensive and heavy machines were of little use on the
narrow strips of land owned by soldiers, which were simply lost
amidst the strips belonging to the other peasants of the village. The
distribution of seeds and money to pay the wages of hired labor re-
quired individual attention, in addition to a very thorough knowl-
adge of the situation of each family and of its needs and resources.
Numerous objections were brought against the idea of monetary
assistance, and even some of the zemstvo agronomic experts who, as
L Up to June, 1915, there had been assigned for the relief of such estab-
iishments: 1,472,906 rubles by the district zemstvos and 1,704,088 rubles by
;he provincial zemstvos.
