PLOCK (Plotsk), a government of Russian Poland, on the right bank of the Vistula, having the provinces of Western and Eastern Prussia on the north, and the Polish provinces of Lomza on the east and Warsaw on the south; its area is 4200 square miles. Its flat surface, 350 to 500 feet above the sea-level, gently rises towards the north, where it merges in the Baltic coast-ridge of the Prussian lake district. Only a few hills reach 600 feet above the sea, while the broad valley of the Vistula has an elevation of but 130 to 150 feet. In the west—district of Lipno— broad terraces covered with forests, small lakes, and ponds, and very poor in vegetation, descend from the Baltic lakedistrict towards the plains of Ptock; and in the central district of Mtawa extensive marshes cover the upper basin of the Wkra. The Vistula borders the province on the south, almost from Warsaw to Thorn, receiving the Skrwa and Wkra, which last rises on the Prussian frontier, and, flowing south-east, joins the Narew close to its confluence with the Vistula, in the south-eastern corner of Ptock. The Drwçca, or Drewenz, flows along the north-west boundary of Ptock, while several small tributaries of the Narew water the north-eastern district of Ciechanow. Petty lakes and ponds dot the plains in the west, and the whole country bears traces of a very wide extension of lakes during the post-Glacial period. Peat-bogs, used of late for fuel, and marshes containing bog-iron, fill many depressions in the north, while the more elevated parts of the plains are covered with fertile clays, or a kind of “black-earth.” Lacustrine post-Glacial deposits cover all depressions in the thick sheet of boulder clay, with Scandinavian erratic boulders, which extends everywhere over the Tertiary sands and ...marls,—these last containing masses of silicated wood and lignite. Layers of gypsum are found in the hills on the Vistula. The soil is very fertile in several parts of the province, especially in the district of Lipno and closer to the Vistula, and agriculture is the chief occupation of the inhabitants even in the towns. The chief crops are, however, rye, oats, and barley; but wheat gives good crops in some parts of the province; beet-root is also cultivated for sugar, especially on the great estates of the west, where machinery finds application to agriculture on a large scale; in the north the property is much divided, and the szlachta- landholders, very numerous in Ciechanow, are far from prosperous. The average crops of late years may be valued at 1,700,000 quarters of corn and 1,575,000 quarters of potatoes. The forests, which formerly covered very extensive tracts, are much destroyed now, but still Ptock is one of the best wooded provinces of Poland.
The population of the province of Ptock, which was but 490,950 in 1873, reached 538,150 in 1881, and must be now about 557,000. It is Polish throughout, but contains a large admixture of Jews (more than 11 per cent.) and of Germans, the number of whom is yearly increasing. Besides agriculture, the inhabitants find a per manent source of occupation in shipping on the Vistula, some mining, and various domestic trades, such as the fabrication of wooden cars, sledges, and wheels, and textile industry. The whole value of manufactures in 1879 was £211,000 (flour mills £68,900, saw-mills £17,500, sugar works £45,700, and iron works £32,200), and 1750 hands were employed. There is some export trade, especially in the Lipno district; but its development is limited by the lack of facilities of communication, the best being those offered by the Vistula. The railway from Warsaw to Dantzic, via Ciechanow and Mtawa, will now help the eastern part of the province.
Since the Prussian occupation, and perhaps under the influence of Prussian neighbourhood, the province of Ptock is somewhat better supplied with primary schools, especially in its northern districts, than other provinces of Poland; still there are only 272 primary schools (exclusive of the Jewish heders), with 15,000 scholars. There are two colleges for boys and girls, and one seminary for teachers at Wymysty.
The province is divided into eight districts, the chief towns of which are Ptock (22,140 inhabitants), Ciechanow (5800), Lipno (5650), Mtawa (10,050), Plonsk (6350), Przasnysz (7200), Rypin (3350), and Sierpce (6850). Novogeorgievsk, or Modlin, on the Vistula, 12 miles below its confluence with the Narew, is a fortress of the first rank; Wyszgorod (4400) has considerable trade in com.
History.— After the second dismemberment of Poland in 1793, what is now the government of Ptock became part of Prussia. It fell under Russian dominion after the treaty of Vienna, and, in the division of that time into five provinces, extended over the western part of the present province of Lomza, which was created in 1864 from the Ostrolenka and Pultusk districts of Ptock together with parts of the province of Augustowo.
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