Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-07-31
K0VN0| IS RAILROAD KEY
TO NORTHWEST RUSSIA
Has Important Metal Industries and
Is Gate for Agricultural
Supplies.

Kovno. the key to the railroad sys-
tenn of northwestern Russia. behind
which the Germans are endeavoring
TO strike the great interior lines, is
described as follows in a primer on
graphic Society:
"Kovno is the central fortress in the
Russian northwestern chain of from
tier strongholds 1t stands at the con-
luence of the Niemen and the Viliya
rivers, east of central East Prussia.
Petrograd lies $50 miles by railroad
to the northwest while behind Kovno,
and between this fortress and Petro-
grad. the Russian plain is strewn as
thickIy with lakes as fallow meadow
lands with July and August daisies.
Mitau, kovno, Grodno and Lemberg
lie nearly in the same line. north and
south. and kovno forms the northern
termination of the line of the Bug
to which the Russians may retreat, and
of which BreSt Lftovsk forms the CEN
trail fortress.
The railway from Eydtkuhnen. East
Prussia. to Wilma runs through kovno,
and. at its terminus. joins the trunk
line between Warsaw and PetroSrad
which the Germans are endeavor1nS
to sever Kovno is a fortress of the
first class. and has been considerably
strengthened in recent years. Its main
forts. surrounding the town In an
are with a radius of about two and
one-half miles. The fork of the river
junction is an important feature of
the ceity's strength Here 1t is guarded
by three forts in the direction of Wilma.
one of which commands the Wilma
bridge The fortress is fifty-five miles
from the East Prussian border.
Kovno's Industries.
"Kovno has shared in the expansion
caused by the demands of the present
generation of Russians for home in
dustry of sufficient development to
hasten the supply of the young nation
with the material elements of modern
civilization. 1t has developed several
important metal industries, and has
large factories producing nails. wire,
barbed-wire and machines. 1t has also
developed large commission business
and was an important entrepot for
timber, cereals. fax, flour, spirits, fish,
coal and building stone, products of
trade between western Russia and
Prussia. 1t has population of about
$4,000. Kovno was founded in the
eleventh century, and between 1884
Teutonic Knights
The government is primarily agri-
cultural. 1t has an area of 1866 square
miles, much of which is taken up by
grain, fiber. potato and stock farms.
The chief crops are rye, oats, wheat,
barley. buckwheat, peas, potatoes, fax
and hemp. The potato crop is used, in
part, for the manufacture Of alcohol
This Is carried on in numerous distil-
1erieS within the government. The fax
and hemp find their disposition in home
factories. in the factories of LODI and
in export.
Great Gooseherds.
Geese-probably the distinctive prod
uct of Russian Poland, and one which
in the past has taken a valiant part in
supplying the German empire with its
untold tons of goosefesh and its acres
of goosefeather bedding-are found in
countless white and grayish-white
herds throughout Lomzha. Bee keep
ing is also a profita BILE part of Lomzha
farming
THE country in the Lomzha govern
ment is mostly fat, monotonous or
slightly undulating, except in stretches
in the north and southwest Except for
river crossings and forest belts, it is
open for the passage of troops. It's
roads. as are all roads in Poland and
In Russia. are very bad. In the east
OF the government and stretching away
to the fortress of Osowiec in the gov
eminent of Grodno are heavy forest
tracts. There are no rail communica-
tons In. the government, except that
which connects the fortress Ostrolenka
with the main line between Warraw
Grodno and Wilma"