In 1903, the Orlov Province of the Russian Empire was a predominantly agricultural region with a growing industry; agriculture was at a low level of development, and peasant farms suffered from a working system and ransom payments. The Orlov Land, which began operating in 1866, worked actively to improve agriculture despite conflicts with the local administration and the royal government. ==History==In the western counties, the huts concentrated mainly in the areas of pepper, alcohol and brewery, mills, shoring workshops and other small businesses, and in the early part of the XX century, the county industry employed about 40.6 thousand workers. However, during the 1900-1903 crisis, 73 of the 254 factory-type enterprises were closed down and 4,300 workers were unemployed. In those years, heavy machine production declined markedly, and some of the factories began to shift to agricultural tools and machinery.