WOOU INDLSTKY. I l' 1 



1 arsliine high, 1 arshine in diameter at the top. and three-quarters of an arshine 

 square at the bottom. A 2-vershock log of the same lengtli will make 2 such 

 baskets. They cost 20 kopecks apiece. Linen baskets 1 arshine long, 6 versliocks wide 

 at the bottom, and 12 vershocks at the top cost from 7 to 10 kopecks. In many 

 parts of the government of Viatka very elegant baskets, vases, sugar basins and 

 other articles are made of the roots of young fir trees. Besides tliis, fishing and hand 

 baskets are made there of straight willow shoots, also flat baskets for cairying 

 fuel, snow, manui'e and refuse, are made of willow branches and young stems, also 

 tarantass and sledge frames of thin cherry stems. 



The preparation of lime bark is a peculiar and considerable industry, especially 

 that of the internal or bast layer. Stems from one-half to one and one-half ver- 

 shocks thick are used for making lime bast. They are felled in spring, in the sap, 

 and the bark is removed by means of an iron hook; the outer layer of bark is 

 peeled off with a knife and the soft, thin bast is cut into ribbons one-half a ver- 

 shock wide. The work of stripping the lime bast is generally done in the woods, 

 but sometimes the peasants take the stems home and strip off the bark in doors. 

 The stems are sometimes, although rarelj'', cut in winter and are then steamed in 

 the warm cottages. The lime bast is tied into bundles for sale and sold by the 

 bundle, which generally contains 60 pieces or sometimes 100 of the finer or 

 only 30 of the coarser sort, although such a half-bundle will cost more than an 

 ordinary one of 60 pieces. The pieces are mostly 3 arshines in length; longer pieces 

 are rare and are sold singly. The lime bast is used for platting shoes ; each pair 

 takes 12 pieres and as each sapling only yields 3 or 4 pieces every pair of shoes 

 requires 3 or 4 saplings. These shoes are worn by most of the inhabitants of north- 

 ern and eastern Eussia, so that the consumption of lime bast is indeed enormous. 

 The greater part of these shoes are made at home by those who require them, and 

 for the most part by the oldest members of each peasant family, incapable of any 

 other work. Sometimes, however, this industry is concentrated, as for instance, in the 

 village of Smirnov in the Ardatov district of the government of Nizhni-Novgorod 

 where about 300 men are exclusively engaged in it; each man is able to make 400 

 pairs in a winter. The goods made by the peasants of the villages of Nouchi and 

 Ouzhovka in the same district are sent to the governments of Tula and Voronezh. 

 The village of Semenovsk near Kineshma manufactures 100,000 roubles worth o1 

 bast shoes, which are sold over all Eussia. The lime bast trade in the Mordos villages 

 in the Shouisk district is very considerable as from one settlement alone, called Myt, 

 500 thousand pairs of bast shoes are sent to Moscow. Other lime bast goods, such as boots 

 and hats, are manufactured in the government of Kazan where the village workmen 

 are noted for their great skill, their goods being bought up very readily on the 

 local markets. 



The larger sized trees are taken for making bast wisp. For this purpose they 

 are felled in late spring or early summer when the warmth of the air and the 

 juiciness of the cambium tissue facilitates the removal of the bark. The tree is 

 felled and placed across two logs, circular incisions are then made in the bark at a 

 distance of 6V4 arshines apart, the usual length of the bast wisp. Longitudinal in- 

 cisions are then made in each division and the bark is removed either by hand or 

 with a sharp wooden trowel about two vershocks wide. One man is able to strij) 



