SIDE AKMi« AND CUTLERY. 



153 



Side arms and cutlery; niPLEMEXTS for working various 

 materials; scythes and sickles. 



The articles of this category belong mainly to the household industry; even 

 the factories, particularly those of the cutlers, do not manufacture articles in their 

 entirety, especially the cheaper grades. 



The making- of side arms and all sorts of cutlery is one of the most ancient 

 industries of Eussia. At the Courts of the Princes of old Russia separate blacksmith 

 shops for the production of such arms were established, using imported iron; steel 

 arms, then only used by the hoyars or noblemen, were wholly brought from abroad, 

 and eastern blades were prized above all others. Even as the manufacture of iron 

 spread in the different localities of Eussia the production of side arms increased with 

 that of other wares; after that time Tula and Moscow were conspicious as the most 

 important points of this industry; already in the sixteenth century there were many 

 good smiths manufacturing even steel blades. 



The making of side arms, as exclusively required by the army and rarely 

 needed by private customers, attracted always the attention of the Government which 

 often induced experienced makers to come from abroad in order to develop the in- 

 dustry and perfect the quality of this class of wares. The manufacture of side arms 

 in Eussia became firmly established in 1816, when the Kniase-Michailovsk factory 

 was founded in the Urals at Zlatoust, and foremen were brought from Solingen in 

 Prussia who were especially skilled not only in the manufacture of side arms but 



* Herein are included 4,812 pouds, to the value of 50,000 roubles, imported from 

 Finland. 



** Hereia as well as in the total of 1892, according to the customhouse data, side 

 arms are included. 



*** The large sums of export for the two adjoining years relate chiefly to firearms 

 imported to Vladivostok. 



