120 MANUFACTURES OF RUSSIA. 



3Ialmyzhsk districts of the government of Viatka. Very fine toned instrnments of 

 this kind called fis-harmoniums, with as manj'- as 22 notes, are made in the villages 

 of Istobensk and Khlimovka; they cost about 40 roubles and the Viatka merchants 

 sell them as foreign goods at 150 roubles apiece. Organs and violins are made in 

 the village of Velikoretsk in the government of Viatka. 



Very original and quaint looking objects are made from the excrescences of 

 birch which have a very pretty undulatory or veined section with a pearly or rain- 

 bow like lustre. The excrescences of the birch trees alone are used as they are the 

 toughest and most beautiful, and also the most easily worked. These goods are only 

 made in considerable quantities in two places, one in Slobodsk and the other at 

 Viatka. The hinges made whole for box lids and cigarette cases are very curious 

 and are much appreciated at home and abroad by amateurs of this peculiar kind of 

 carved wooden Avork, which is also remarkable for its cheapness. 



The basket-making trade is considerably [developed in many parts of Eussia. 

 Quantities of baskets are made of willow twigs in the Tauride, Tver, Kazan, 

 Iviev and other governments; in many other places, as for instance, Strelitsa in the 

 Vessieghonsk district of the government of Tver pine splints are used for the purpose. 

 This industry is frequently met with on the banks of the Dneiper in the government 

 of Kiev, and as a supply of willow twigs can be obtained without much difficulty 

 and the baskets are in great demand for transporting the local garden produce, the 

 trade is very likely to thrive and is quite in accord with the character of its 

 surroundings. The willow groves along the banks of the Dnieper are regarded as 

 the common property of the peasants, and the rural authorities do not demand any 

 payment from those who collect the boughs, but at the same time excercise strict 

 control over this precious raw material, forbidding it to be cut dui'ing certain 

 periods of the j'^ear and posting keepers round about it in summer, charged to 

 watch over the interests of the community. The gathering time on the meadows 

 and islands by the Dnieper generally commences on the 15th of July, when all the 

 basket makers of the district set out to cut boughs, which they immediately peel 

 and tie into bundles, each man being able to cut and peel about 3 to 4 thousand 

 pieces per day. These sticks are then taken home, placed in rows, dried in the sun 

 and put away in barns or storehouses. The basket makers, principally women and 

 lads, are able to make about 4 large baskets a day, and earn about 30 kopecks. 

 The trade is principally located in the villages near Kiev, but is rapidly spreading 

 to other parts. The production ot the basket-making industry in the government of 

 Kiev is not only sufficient for conveying fruit to the northern parts of Eussia but 

 also for supplying the government of Bessarabia for the transport of garden 

 produce. 



Baskets are also manufactured of pine splints in the village of Ilmovits in 

 the government of Novgorod. These splints are chipped from the butt logs, 

 12 or 13 quarters long, cut from 2 to 4 vershock pine trees, felled in woods belong- 

 ing to the peasants. The butt logs are used, as they give clean wood free from 

 knots, and small sized trees are selected as the larger sizes are used for building 

 purposes, and would be too expensive for basket making. As soon as the logs are 

 brought from the woods they are split into four pieces and rived while fresh into 

 splints. One 4-vershock log. 13 quarters long, is sufficient for making 6 baskets 



