232 MANlTFACTmiES OF RUSSIA. 



were everywhere fluctuating; and there was such an over-production in Western 

 Europe that the fall of prices was excessive, and the customs tariff only gave feeble 

 help to the youug Russian works in their struggle with the over-stocked European 

 markets. 



Soda was then only produced in small quantities in Eussia, for example from 

 the seaweed of the Caspian near Baku, or more frequently as a by-product in 

 the manufacture of nitrate of potassium by the double decomposition of sodium nitrate 

 and potash. Only in the depths of Siberia at Barnaoul, Mr. M. B. Prang took ad- 

 vantage of the native sulphate of sodium, which he converted into soda to supply 

 an inconsiderable local demand. When in 1880 the excise dues were completely removed 

 from salt, and protective duties were placed upon soda, and its cognates, it became 

 possible for the Russian soda to compete with the foreign, but as this required the 

 circulation of large capital, without which it was impossible to hope for success, so 

 this competition did not commence before the close of the eighties. And now the 

 result of this competition is visible in advance, because the imports are distinctly de- 

 creasing ; for example, that of soda has fallen from 739 thousand pouds in 1890 to 

 440 thousand pouds in 1891, and of caustic soda and potash, from 1,043 thousand 

 pouds in 1890, to 916 thousand pouds in 1891 ; while in 1892, for which there are 

 no data beyond November, the proportion of the import has further fallen by about 

 200 thousand pouds a year, so that it can be asserted with great probability that 

 the import will entirely cease after the space of ten years, and that after fifteen 

 years Russia will be in a position to export soda, owing to the advantageous con- 

 ditions which it possesses for this industry, especially near the shores of the Black 

 Sea, where the Batalpashinsk lakes present a direct source of sulphate of sodium, and 

 where the Donets coal basin offers an association of coal pyrites, rock salt, limestone, 

 fire clay and manganese ore, that is, of all the most important raw materials neces- 

 sary for a vast development of the chemical industry, and where the abundance of 

 grain and cheap labour, and a direct sea roiite, give the sure possibility of competing 

 with other countries. When once the industry has taken root, it will develop itself so 

 rapidly that it will overstock the home markets, and require an external trade, just 

 as was the case with the naphtha industry. 



Among the most important chemical products, the third place is necessarily 

 occupied by nitric acid and its products, especially those used in the preparation of 

 gunpowder, such as nitre and the nitro-compounds. The fundamental material of 

 nitre, or nitrate of potassium, was for a long time, and is even now, extracted from 

 the nitre heaps in the south and east of Eussia where, owing to the great fertility of 

 the soil, the manure has no economical significance for fertilizing the fields. Native 

 nitre occurs in the Caucasus, in Daghestan, and in the Transcaspian provinces, but it 

 is only exploited on a small scale for local wants, and thus the import of sodium nitre 

 ff-om Peru and Chili gives the cheapest material. Its import into Russia is limited to 

 from two to three hundred thousand pouds annually. It is mainly used for the prep- 

 aration of potash nitre for ordinary black powder, or of nitric acid for the prep- 

 aration of nitro-compounds for making smokeless powder. Tliese manufactures are 

 not only carried on by the Government and private powder mills, of which there are 

 three each, but also by chemical works, all the more so as nitric acid, or aqiia fortis, 

 is used for many technical purposes. 



