The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1911-10-26

the work Is certain to improve. There
Is also a nourishing potash industry.
In Russia there are grown immense
quantities OF sunflowers. The seeds
are sold as a poor mans luxury. IL
is as common to see teeth working on
them and lips mechanically rejecting
the husks as II is to see jaws chewing
gum in the United States. The stalks
are burned. and from the ashes potash
is obtained. largely for export TO Great
Britain. Another product OF this part
of the country Is oiIcake for cattle.
Every town has its own brick works
q favorite drink in Russia now.
Nearer to Novorossisk Is JekRterin-
odar, another town which Is growing
at a great pace. owing its prosperity
mainly to oil. There IS a pipe line
from Maikop to Jekaterinodar which
has just begun to work. A first con-
signment OF 10000 tons had come
through and been shipped from Novo-
rossisk to Odessa the week before I
was there. The pipe line discharges
into twenty-four huge reservoirs, like
gasometers. They are building new
ones as fast as they can. and the re-
larging their plant. When the new
port at Touapse is ready this Will
probably take most of Maikops OIL
1t will have its own railway and it's
own pipe line, too, and 1t is to be
hoped this latter Will be better con-
structed than the one from Baku to
Batoum, which leaks a good deal.
Not much oil goes through II now,
and as a consequence Batoum is not
making progress. However, IL the
tea plantations in it's neghborhood
thrive and spread, as they are ex-
pected to, ii viii begin TO look up
again. The climate is excellent for
the tea plant, and the Cinnamon inn
ported TO cultivate II are quickly maxi
ing the natives expert as they are
tn emselves.
The Touapse undertaking is In the
hands of French contractors. One eff
feet of it has been to stimulate the
manufacture of cement. At Novoros-
sisk there are big cement works. For
merly these used to export largely to-
the United States. Now Russia takes
the whole output, and some new
works have started down the coast
Near the cement factory are the re-
fineries Of the Russian Standard OIL
Company Ono connection with Mr..
Rockefeller).
Has Immense Grain Elevator.
Most OF the oil from Crosby is sent
here. Even more prominent than the
oil works is grain elevator, one OF :
the largest in the world. II is an
enormous building of brick, but II
cannot house nearly all the grain
which comes down to the port for
shipment. great deal OF it has to
lie out under tarpaulins, a very waste
full plan. More elevators and more
sheds are badly needed. and the Quays
Will soon have to be extended as well.
Much OF the grain shipped at Novo-
rossisk comes from Siberia; that is, II
we rule out Rostov-on-the-Don, the
nearest seaport to the great wheat
fields OF that second Canada. And
Rostov must be ruled out, fear, for,
to begin with. Il is not really sea
port at all, being some miles from
the Sea of Azov: while to continue,
the Sea of Azov is growing shallower,
and IL is quite possible that naviga-
ton up the Don may before very long
be impossible. Sebastopol would be
prosperous port IL II were not closed
to all except warships. Nicolaieff is
doing well, but Il is not so we'll stu
ated as Novorossisk. Small wonder.
then, that last year the shipments OF
grain at this latter port totaled over
q million tons.
And these are bound to grow larger
In Russia itself the wheat fields have
extended in area from $4,000, 900
acres to nearly 5000. 600 acres in the
course OF fifteen years. In Siberia the
proportionate increase Is even more
rapid. With wheat and oil both pro-
Viding outward cargoes, and with a
demand for all sorts OF heavy ma
chinery (oil pumps and engines and
machinery parts as we'll as farm i'm
plements) TO keep the balance even,
Novorossisk has a great future. So all
the foreigners in the place declare
with conviction in their tones. Even
the Russians will begin to see II in
time