CHAPTER III
THE LESSONS OF ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
SUCH are the teachings of physical geography. Let us consider what are the lessons of economic geography.
I
Leaving aside the frozen marshes of the extreme north only inhabited by the Laplander and the reindeer, and the salt deserts of the extreme south only crossed by the nomadic tribes and the camel, European Russia is divided into three zones or regions (see map facing page three): the region of primeval forests in the north, the region of the grassy steppes or prairies in the south, and the intermediate region of arable land, that famous "black soil" of inexhaustible fertility, which it is only necessary to scratch for the harvest to burst out as by enchantment. Although those three regions are clearly characterized and distinct, they are
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