238 THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR 
carrying out the work in the fields, large zemstvo forces were or- 
ganized to cultivate derelict lands and help with sowing and har- 
vesting. On the southwestern front some 50,000 deciatines®® were at 
one time cultivated by labor of this kind. 
In general, it should be pointed out that the directors of the 
zemstvo were confronted with an entirely different set of problems 
at the front during the second half of the War. The first year of the 
War was taken up mainly with the care of the sick and wounded, 
the struggle against infectious disease, and sanitary and preventive 
measures. This involved the mobilization and application of the 
medical resources of the Union. After the middle of 1915, however, 
but more particularly in 1916, it was the turn of the technical and 
engineering forces of the zemstvos to assume the leading role, and 
these were now called upon to take vigorous measures for the benefit 
of the army. Every central institution of the Union now organized a 
technical and engineering section or board, whose expenditure and 
work were constantly growing and expanding. Some idea of the 
scope of this work may be obtained from the following data on the 
building activities of the zemstvo on the western front.** During 
that year the Union erected 2,034 buildings and 805 other struc- 
tures, such as bridges, wells, etc., at the cost of 8,000,000 rubles. At 
the close of 1916 the technical board of the western front was spend- 
ing about 3,000,000 rubles a month on the purchase of building 
materials. 
The Organization of the Union at the Front. 
The organization of the Union of Zemstvos developed gradually 
as circumstances required. As a general rule, the presiding board of 
the committee of the front was appointed by the Central Committee 
of the Union. It was composed of all the commissioners of the Union 
working at the front in question.*® The committees used to hold con- 
ferences and endeavored to lay down general rules for the settlement 
of all the general problems arising in the course of their work. In 
88 One deciatine — 2.7 acres. 
39 Izvestia (Bulletin), No. 48, pp. 150-155; Nos. 52-58, p. 263; Nos. 64- 
66, pp. 104-105. 
0 The organization of the Union of Zemstvos coincided with the main 
military divisions; that is in Europe the northern, western, southwestern, 
and later, the Rumanian fronts, and in Asia, the Caucasian front.