SIEDLCE (Russ. Syedlets ) , a government of Russian Poland, between the Vistula and the Bug, having Warsaw on the N.W., Łomza on the N., Grodno and Volhynia on the E., Lublin and Radom on the S. Its area is 5535 square miles. The surface is mostly flat, only a few hilly tracts appearing in the middle, around Biała, and in the east on the banks of the Bug. Extensive marshes prevail in the north and south-east. Chalk, Jurassic, and Tertiary deposits cover the surface, and are overlain in their turn with widely spread Glacial deposits. The valley of the Vistula is mostly wide, with several terraces covered with sand-dunes or peat-bog. Siedlce is watered by the Vistula, which borders it for 50 miles on the west; the Bug, which is navigable from Opalin and flows for 170 miles on the east and north-east borders of the province; the Wieprz, a tributary of the Vistula, which is also navigable, and flows for 25 miles along the southern boundary; and the Liwiec, a tributary of the Bug, which is navigable for some 30 miles below Wengroff....
Of the total surface of the government only 184,760 acres are unproductive; 695,420 acres are covered with forests; 1,703,100 are under crops, and 611,260 under meadows and pasture land. The population only increases at the rate of 0∙75 per cent. a year, and in 1884 numbered 630,240; of these Poles constituted 39∙7 per cent., Little Russians 43∙1, Jews 151, and Germans about 2. According to religious belief they were distributed as follows:— out of 616,649 inhabitants in 1882 there were 367,187 Catholics, 142,945 Orthodox Greeks, 96,764 Jews, 8892 Protestants, 505 Baptists, and 356 Mohammedan Tatars. Agriculture is the chief occupation; in 1881 the crops yielded 1,531,400 quarters of corn and 10,988,400 bushels of potatoes. Cattle-breeding is in a relatively flourishing state, there being (1881) 57,500 horses, 292,670 horned cattle, 461,700 sheep, and 194,100 pigs. Manufactures are insignificant (2270 workmen); their aggregate production, chiefly from distilleries and breweries, was valued at £394,820 in 1881. Trade also is insignificant, although Siedlce has four railways, one of which, from Warsaw to Brest-Litovsk, crosses it from west to east. There are two gymnasia for boys (at Siedlce and Biata), one gymnasium for girls, one seminary for teachers (at Biata), and about 240 primary schools with 11,260 scholars. The government is divided into nine districts, the chief towns of which, with their populations in 1882, are—Siedlce (see below), Biała (19,435), Constantinoff (3200), Garvolin (14,620), Łukoff (11,030), Radzyn (4440), Sokotoff (6300), Wengroff (8140), and Włodawa (17,985). Janoff (3030), where a state stud is kept, has also municipal institutions.
SIEDLCE, capital of the above government, is situated 57 miles east-south-east of Warsaw, on the Brest-Litovsk Railway. It received municipal institutions in 1547. The Oginskis, to whom it belonged, have embellished it with a palace and gardens; but it is still nothing more than a large village, where the provincial authorities have their seat. Its population was 12,950 in 1882.
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