186 THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR
3,000,000 puds of cereals by October, 1915. The zemstvos of Tver,
Urzhum, Konstantinograd, Alexandria, Vologda, and many others
collected large quantities of hay and had it baled.
The zemstvos also undertook more complicated work in connec-
tion with the provisioning of the army. Thus, the provincial zemstvo
of Poltava as early as 1915 entered into a large contract for the de-
livery of pork and bacon, at the request of the Government. The dis-
rict zemstvo board bought live pigs and delivered them to the
slaughterhouses which were established throughout the province
under the supervision of zemstvo experts, and the pickling of meat
and bacon was carried out on a very large scale. Many zemstvos
for instance Moscow, Kharkov, and Nizhni-Novgorod undertook to
preserve vegetables for the needs of the army. Vegetable plots
would be leased, sometimes as many as 300 to 600 deciatines in one
district, and all vegetables grown on this land would be sent to
drying plants specially built by the zemstvos. Thus, the district
zemstvo of Volchansk had at its disposal about 800 deciatines of
such vegetable farms, opened fourteen drying plants, and supplied
1p to 50.000 puds of dried vegetables a year.
Army Equipment.
It has been pointed out previously that the Central Committee of
‘he Union was compelled from the outset to organize the purchasing
of supplies on a vast scale. At first it had in view solely the needs of
its own institutions, but later found it necessary to come to the as-
sistance of the Army Supply Department. In accepting important
and urgent orders for underwear, warm clothes, and boots, the Cen-
tral Committee confidently expected the cooperation of the zemstvo
boards and of the local committees of the Union. In these expecta-
sions it was not disappointed, and it received every possible assist-
ance.
Altogether, twenty-one zemstvos took part in helping the Union
to supply the army with winter boots, peltry, woolen and cotton
iderwear, homespun linen made by the peasants, and other arti-
cles. The part of some zemstvos consisted in helping to assemble
what had already been purchased by the Union. Some zemstvos
bought articles of clothing at the request of the Union and also or-
ganized the local production of fur coats, wadded blouses, and
boots. The district boards of Shuya and Kovrov, for example, or-
