XVI INTRODUCTION. 



cultural activity. An obvious proof of this statement is the rapid growth of cotton 

 planting in the warm regions of Russia, as explained in Volume I of this work 

 and in Chapter I, of this volume. 



A proof of the growth of the chemical industry in Eussia, due to the applica- 

 tion of protection, is to be seen in the establishment of the soda industry, the man- 

 ufacture of bleaching powder, and in the increase of every kind of chemical works, 

 taken place in the last few years. Among the fresh successes of manufacturing in- 

 dustry must be reckoned, above and beyond the increase in the total production, the 

 growth in the export of cotton goods, now accompanied by return of the customs 

 duties ou cotton and dyes, the extension of silk growing, the establishment of silk- 

 tlirowing machines, and the rapid increase in the production of vicuna and similar 

 warm fabrics, containing wool and cotton. 



The metallurgical movement shows not only a rapid growth in the production 

 of iron, which has already put a stop to the importation of rails, but in the increase 

 of production of all sorts of machines, the development of the getting of mercury, 

 copper, lead and zinc in regions like that of the Donets, where formerly no in- 

 dustries of the kind existed, and where the abundance of coal especially favors it 

 The spread of phosphate mills, answering to the plentiful finds of beds of phosphate 

 rock in many places will assist in increasing the abundance of the harvests, while 

 the development of works for the construction of agricultural machinery, which has 

 ah'eady begun, will facilitate and cheapen all kinds of agricultural labours. At the 

 same time they will, like all development of manufactories and mills, furnish wages 

 to the masses of the population and local buyers for the products of agriculture. 

 All these and many other kinds of manufacturing activity in Eussia are, however. 

 now only passing through the initial period of their origin, and therefore still en- 

 counter many obstacles of various kinds. Thus, many forms of fiussian industry 

 should now be regarded as seeds sown at the right moment in an economical soil 

 favom-able for growth, demanding the blessed rain of government measures, now 

 pouring down upon them, necessary for quick fruit, as appears from the case of the 

 above mentioned rapid development of the Caucasian naphtha industry. It is neces- 

 saiy to bear this consideration always in view on making acquaintance with the 

 descriptions. set forth in this book of the various kinds of Eussian manufacture. 



Secured with an immense extent of fertile lands capable without extraordinary 

 effort of feeding the people, even if increasing at the most rapid rate possible, pos- 

 sessing the climatic conditions necessary for the yielding of the most various pro- 

 ductions of the vegetable and animal kingdoms, containing in her bowels, almost 

 imtouched, every possible kind of ore and stone beginning with the most abundant 

 coal beds and ending with inexhaustible stores of scarcely touched native gold, finally 

 as a territory, having in many parts already a dense population and situated midway 

 between even more thickly populated regions of Europe and Asia, Eussia as a country 

 enjoying peace and order, determined by the absolute unity of the will and desires 

 of the Emperor and of the whole people, aspii'ing with all the fire of youth to 

 receive the blessings of enli:;-htenment, has now reached the period at which the 

 already existing germs of manufactui-ing industry must inevitably develop with tre- 

 mendous pace. 



But as a country of immense extent, Eussia exhibits the greatest variety of 



