Page 748 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

gang of workers to help him, principally of his own
family, became a partner in the cattle-yard. A distant part
of the estate, a tract of waste land that had lain fallow for
eight years, was with the help of the clever carpenter,

Fyodor Ryezunov, taken by six families of peasants on
new conditions of partnership, and the peasant Shuraev
took the management of all the vegetable gardens on the
same terms. The remainder of the land was still worked on
the old system, but these three associated partnerships were
the first step to a new organization of the whole, and they
completely took up Levin’s time.
It is true that in the cattle-yard things went no better
than before, and Ivan strenuously opposed warm housing
for the cows and butter made of fresh cream, affirming
that cows require less food if kept cold, and that butter is
more profitable made from sour cream, and he asked for
wages just as under the old system, and took not the
slightest interest in the fact that the money he received was
not wages but an advance out of his future share in the
profits.
It is true that Fyodor Ryezunov’s company did not
plough over the ground twice before sowing, as had been
agreed, justifying themselves on the plea that the time was
too short. It is true that the peasants of the same company,

747 of 1759