Already in the year 1919, in some of the towns, the agricultural sections of the soviets were successfully engaged in market gardening, and were securing supplies of vegetables sufficient for the population of these towns throughout an entire year. Further advance must be made along such lines. Every town must have at its disposal for market gardening an area large enough to supply the whole population of the town with kitchen-garden produce. Furthermore, it is essential that every town should have a large dairy-farm supplying at least enough milk for all the invalids and children in the town, and therefore having a sufficiency of land to provide fodder for the cattle. If the municipalities conduct their agriculture properly, they can supply the urban workers, not only with potatoes and cabbages, but also with meal (buckwheat, millet). In this way every town will be enabled to provide out of its own resources for the feeding of all the town’s horses, which will make it easier to arrange for the nationalisation of the transport system. If we leave the two capital cities out of account, the experience already accumulated has shown that within the next year the practical realisation of such a scheme is possible for all the towns of the republic — provided they do not attempt to realise the utopian design of supplying their own inhabitants with corn.
Municipal soviet agriculture is of great importance for two additional reasons. The first of these is that it provides opportunity for the better utilisation of the enormous quantity of manure produced in every town in the form of street and household refuse, stable manure, and nightsoil. At present, the greater part of such manure is simply wasted. The second is that it provides for a better association of manufacturing industry with agriculture. Next year it will be possible for a definite proportion of the urban population to participate (without any interference with manufacturing industry) in agricultural production, by working in the large-scale market gardens adjoining the towns.