Peter Alexeivitch Kropotkin and John Thomas Bealby

“ A distinctive feature of Vladimir is the great variety of petty trades carried on by peasants who still continue to cultivate their allotments. While in some villages almost all the male population leave their homes and travel all over Russia as carpenters, masons, iron-roof makers, or as pedlars or travelling merchants, other villages have their specialties in some branch of manufactured produce. Nearly 30,000 carpenters leave Vladimir every year. Whole villages are engaged in painting sacred pictures or ikons ”

“ Building, smith-work, fishing, shipbuilding, distilleries, glass and match factories, sawmills and a variety of domestic industries give occupation to about 40,000 families. Hunting is still profitable. But most of the inhabitants are dependent on the river-boat traffic; and nearly one-fourth of the able-bodied males are annually driven to other parts of Russia in search of work. The Novgorod carpenters and masons have long been renowned. Trade is chiefly in grain and timber, and in manufactures and grocery wares from St Petersburg. ”

“ In other villages some 1200 men are employed in making sickles, knives and locks. Wooden vessels, boxes and baskets, lapti (shoes made of lime-tree bark, which are worn in Great Russia and are produced by the million) , wheels and sledges, sieves, combs, woollen stockings and gloves, sheep-skins and sheep skin gloves, felt toys, earthenwear and all kinds of woven fabrics, are specialties of other villages. In these petty trades Vladimir occupies the first rank in Russia, the annual production being one-third of the total output for the whole country. ”