THE LENINGRAD REGION AND THE KARFLIAN ASSR AGRICULTURE

It is easy to distinguish on the general maps the zones oi specialized agricultural production to be developed in the Second Five-Year Plan Period, as well as the dot-points indicating the great agricultural units, i. e., soviet farms and cooperative village farm consolidated into trusts or boards. The soviet farms and the cooperative village farms are denoted by circles of different colours, according to the kind of production they specialize in. Next come the experimental stations denoted by circles with blank centres and of a colour corresponding to their speciality.

The new conditions due to technical reconstruction are symbolized on the map by a network of machine and tractor stations, represented by 'red squares, the repairing shops of these stations being figured by red lozenges.

The industrialization of agriculture is reflected on the map by a system of mecanized enterpises, which use agricultural produce as their raw material. These are in their turn divided into two categories, viz., a) factories dealing with vegetable produce, such as flax dressing mills, linseed oil mills, fruit and vegetable preserving plants; and b) factories dealing with animal produce, such as: meat factories, slaughterhouses, butter making establishments and dairies. All these establishemenis are. represented by triangles of a colour in accordance with the .general scheme of colours adopted for denoting various branches of specialized agricultural productions.

Appended to thea general map are a number of cartograms and diagrams illustrating the collectivization of peasant farming, the present-day farming conditions, such as the comparative acreage occupied by various kinds of land (forests, arable land etc.), the acreage of various crops; the yield of the principal field crops, and the use of tractors both in agriculture generally and by soviet farms, collective farms and individual farmers respectively.

In accordance with rhe injunction of the Communist Party and the Government, he Leningrad Region is being transformed from a consuming into a self-suporting province; it is successfully creating a stable base for its own food supply and the supply or animal fodder, both for the city and the tegion of Leningrad. For this purpose, the field crod acreage is being extended, the cultivation of spring and winter whear is being introduced, the areas under vegetable crops have been greatly extended, and everything is being done to improve the quelity and increase the quantity of live stock.

With a view to a better attanment of these objects, the Presidency of the. Regional Committee has subdivided the specialized agricultural production of the Leningrad Region into a number of zones, according to a scheme worked out by the Institute of Economic and Organization of Socialist Agriculture.

As may be seen from the general map. the first zone, i. e. the dairv-vegetable (potato) zone, lies round Leningrad, within a radius of 150 200 km and over, from the Moscow railway and extends right down to the boundary of the Moscow Region. A distinct part of this zone is the suburban sub-zone wiih its vegetable aud small fruits culture und fresh milk supply. The main object of the zone as a whole is to supply vegetables and fresh milk to the population of the city of Leningrad and to the local industrial centres.

The second zone lies in the south-western part of the- region and comprises flax-growing and stock-breeding. The staple’ industry of this zone is flax growing
combined with stock-breeding, and the growing of corn and of fodder which comprises stock-breeding and com growing, occupies the remaining (ihe north-eastern) portion of the region. Especially prominent in th zone " the group (sub-zone) of the northern districts, where, »n addition to forestry attempts are being made to introduce the scientific cultivation of corn

The aim of the general map of Karelia is to convey an idea of the changes, both social and industrial, that have taken place in the agriculture of the country.
The geographical distribution of specialized' agricultural production is s own by the speciafization zones mapped out by the People's Commissariat the Karelian Republic.

agriculture is being organized on socialist lines, and, in spite of the rigour of climatic conditions, it has valiantly assumed such a task as would have been altogether beyond the scope of individual farming. The development of vegetable cultures both in coveredP ground (hotbeds and hothouses) and in open ground, as well as of dairy-farming with home-grown fodder, suffice to illustrate the grea victories fcM ved by socialist construction in the Far North. Further victories including the development of deer breeding, are ensured by the growth of socia ist agriculture The number of soviet farms, cooperative village farms and collective farms h s areatly increased since 1931. The largest among them are the soviet farms Industria "Arctica" and „Olenevodsovkhoz“, the former two being mainly engaged dairying am vegetable growing. Tbe collective farms tn this cone a,a erther purely deer-breeding, or partly deer-breeding and partly dairying farms.