WOOD IXDrSTRY. 1 1 7 



of wash tubs, baskets of linden bark, all being about equally profitable, the daily 

 work of each cooper being represented by goods to the value of 50 to GO kopecks. 

 After subtracting a few kopecks for material, the clear profit amounts to about 

 2 roubles a week. The village of Yaltyrev in the Borovitchevsk district of the 

 government of Novgorod also produces a large quantit}' of vari-ius utensils, such as 

 tubs, ladles, kegs, pails et cetera, these goods being famed not only for their 

 strength and neatness but even for their artistic disigns. The pails at 20 kopecks 

 a pair, and ladles at 5 and 10 kopecks apiece, are much admired with their juniper 

 wood hoops and attractive appearance. The Valtyrev utensils are made of fir wood, 

 brought down by floatage and purchased in logs on the river Msta at a distance of 

 5 versts from Valtyrev. A log, 3 sagenes long and 5 vershocks thick at the top 

 end, costs 75 or 80 kopecks and is sufficient for making 5 tubs 1 arshine high 

 costing 65 kopecks apiece. Pine logs cost about the same as fii*. 



The wooden ware manufactured in Eussia is of many kinds and many of the 

 articles are necessary for the other village industries. Many districts, for instance, 

 manufacture large quantities of reeds, the Pashinkovsk group of villages in the 

 Egorevsk district of the government of Riazan alone produces as many as half a 

 million birchwood reeds a year. In the government of Tver in the villages of Kou- 

 shalin, Xaidensk and Yelshin there are about 240 households can'ying on the trade. 

 The reeds are made of wood, which is purchased in loads, of logs 1.5 arshines 

 long. In a good load, costing 2 roubles, there is sufficient material for making 250 

 reeds. At the present time the middlemen pay from 5 to 20 kopecks per reed accord- 

 ing to the make, but the average price is from 12 to 14 kopecks. The reed makers 

 do not work more than six months in the year, and a man wiU make about 200 

 per winter. They are also made in the village of Okhlopkov in the Arzamask district 

 of the government of Xizni-Xovgorod and in many other places ; they always meet 

 with a ready sale as they are indispensable to the village weavers. 



The production of spinning combs is also considerable and principally centred 

 in the manufacturing governments, especially in that of Vladimir, although the mapk' 

 wood out of which they are made is brought from the forests of Kalouga and often 

 even from the western governments. In the Shonisk district more than 250 men are 

 engaged in making these combs, the yearly production being about 70 paii-s per 

 workman. Spinning wheels are made in the Medynsk district of the government o: 

 Kalouga and the local sheepskin dressers, of which there are about 10,000 men, when 

 setting out to work in the Crimea or the Caucasus, take a large number of spin- 

 ning wheels with them in pieces. The skiUful artisans of the village Velikoe in the 

 district of Yaroslav are famed for their spinning wheels; their production amounts 

 to over 1,500 wheels a year. The manufacture of weaving looms is also carried ou 

 here and in many other places. In the village of Leytnevo in the Shouisk district 

 there are twenty-five households engaged in the manufacture of harrows, their pro- 

 duction amounting to 3,000 pieces a year : they are made of fir wood, with juniper 

 rings and oakwood teeth. 



Wooden packing cases form one of the principal specialities in joinery: they 

 are generally made of alder wood, on account of its lightness, and are much used 

 for packing goods to be sent to the far East. To facilitate the transport of the 

 empty cases, they are usually made of diflerent sizes to fit into one another. The 



