IHO MANUi-ACTUKES OF RUSSIA. 



The latest statistics from private sources tend to show that in some parts f>i' 

 Lvussia the village leather trade is being- absorbed gradually by the manufacturing 

 industry', for instance, in the governments of Tver and Moscow such has been thi- 

 tendency during the last 30 or 40 years, as that far back the production of the vil- 

 lage trade greatly exceeded that of the manufactories, whilst at present it is just 

 the reverse. Eecognizing the importance of developing, improving and strengthening 

 the village industries of Eussia, the Government and private institutions have con- 

 tinually studied the question and have instituted measures to raise and foster the 

 village haudiciafts. As an example of efforts taken in this direction may be cited. 

 the museum of village trades work, organized some years ago by the country states. 

 in Moscow in connection with which there are also ambulating workshops for instruct- 

 ing adult village craftsmen; as additional evidence to the same end, may be cited 

 artisan classes attached to the rural schools, kept up at the expense of the Ministry of 

 Public Instruction for propagating mechanical knowledge among the rural population. 



Tanning is carried on as a village industry in the governments of Saratov, Perm. 

 Kazan, Penza, Tver, Poltava, Chernigov, Viatka, and in the Terskoi and Kuban dis- 

 tricts of the Caucasus. The extent of the trade varies greatly in the above men- 

 tioned localities ; thus for instance, in the government of Saratov there are 240 tan- 

 ners, in the colonies of the Kamyshinsk district there are 165, whilst in the govern- 

 ment of Perm there are 500 village tanners, with a yearly production amounting to 

 200,000 roubles; and in the government of Viatka, although the trade has been of 

 late years developing into a manufacturing industry, the village tanners produce 

 leather goods to the value of 4,000,000 roubles a year. 



In the government of Tver there are 166 village tanyards with 350 workmen. 

 By comparing the number of village tanyards with that of the large tanneries together 

 with their respective productions at the present time and 30 years ago, it may be 

 at once seen that the village industry is merging into the manufacturing trade, espec- 

 ially in the governments of Tver and Moscow. The village of Kimry in the Kor- 

 chevsk district, is a great shoemaking centre, and uses the hides tanned in the sur- 

 rounding districts. In the village itself and in its immediate neighbourhood the trade 

 has however passed from the village industry to the manufacturing stage. Within 

 the precincts of the village there is a small manufactory belonging to Rybkin and 

 lately in the neighbourhood a large manufactory has been built by Potapenko who 

 makes, in addition to other kinds of leather, horse leather by a special Hamburg 

 lirocess hitherto only employed in Poland. 



In the governments of Poltava and Chernigov the village leather trade has 

 not developed much in quantity, nevertheless the absence of leather manufacturing 

 in the former and in the southern portion of the latter, combined with the scarcity 

 of land and dense population have given rise to the establishment of a village tan- 

 ning trade, the raw material consisting of the skins of domestic animals. The prin- 

 cipal centres of the trade are Olishevka, Novysenzhary and Sidnev. At Olishevka the 

 tanning business is carried on in 200 households, and in the other two places, in 

 about 50 or 60 families each. The sale of the hides is somewhat hampered by their 

 inferior quality and they are only suitable for local consumption. The village crafts- 

 men of Sidnev supply the shoemakers in the town of Berezna in the Chernigov 

 district with hides. 



