Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/777

Rh Y A R Y A R 731 than the first, draw the rope, thread, or sliver into any degree of fineness which may be required.&quot; Next, to James Hargreaves of Blackburn is clue the first con ception of the famous spinning-jenny, which he devised about 1767 and patented in 1770. In his specification Hargreaves describes his invention as a machine or engine to be managed by one person only, and that the wheel or engine will spin, draw, and twist sixteen or more threads at one time by a turn or motion of one hand and a draw of the other. At the same time the humble barber of Preston, Richard Arkwright, was busily engaged in developing the important series of inventions and adaptations which resulted in the modern throstle spinning- frame. Arkwright s principal patents were secured in 1769 and 1775 ; and in the latter year Samuel Crompton of Bolton brought before the world his mule spinning-frame, in which the drawing rollers of Paul and Arkwright were with happy effect applied to the jenny of Hargreaves. These inventions are at the foundation of all modern systems of yarn-spinning ; details regard ing them are given under COTTON, LINEN, SILK, and WOOL. The various methods by which the sizes or counts of yarn have been fixed in different countries have long been a source of much inconvenience in the international exchange of spun yarns. The methods of estimating sizes or weights of yarn are indeed com plicated in the extreme, for not only has each country different standards, which may locally be disregarded, but for the yarn from each separate fibre there may be different lengths of hank and different methods of estimating sizes. Thus, taking English stand ards, we find that cotton yarns are made up into hanks of 560 &quot; threads&quot; of 1 yards, giving 840 yards per hank, and the &quot;counts &quot; are the number of hanks which go to make lib weight of yarn. For linen yarns there are 2^ yards in a thread, and 120 threads or 300 yards in a lea, and the count is the mnnber of leas per lb. In a hank of worsted or woollen yarn there are 560 yards, and the count similarly is the number of hanks per lb. In Continental countries the length of the hank or its equivalent is different ; the weight by which the count is reckoned also varies ; and, as the weights and measures of the several countries have only the most involved ratio to each other, to estimate comparative sizes complex calculated tables are necessary. Attempts have been made to establish an international standard of numbering yarns based on the French metric system, in which the count is the number of grams which a definite length of yarn 1000 metres weighs. No progress, how ever, has been made in coining to an international agreement in the question. (J. PA.) YAROSLAVL, a government of central Russia, sepa rated from Moscow by narrow strips of Vladimir and Tver on the S., and having Tver and Novgorod on the W., Vologda on the N., and Kostroma on the E., is one of the smallest, but at the same time one of the most populous and industrial governments of Great Russia. It has an area of 13,751 square miles, and the population was 1,118,130 in 1884. It consists of a broad and shallow depression, elongated from west to east, Avhere the Volga ilows at a level ranging from 260 to 230 feet above the .sea, while the surrounding hills rise to altitudes of from 700 to 800 feet. In the west, especially between the Moioga and the Shcksna, the country is covered with marshes and ponds, which become completely flooded when the water rises in the rivers. There is another region of low and marshy tracts in the south, about Rostoff. Gentle sloping hills appear in the north on the left bank of the Slicks na. Jurassic clays, sandstones, and sands cover nearly the whole of Yarosiavl, but they are concealed almost everywhere by thick deposits of Glacial boulder clay, which is regarded by Jiussian geolo gists as the bottom moraine of the great ice-cap of the Glacial period. Triassic &quot; variegated marls,&quot; widely diffused throughout the whole of the middle Volga region, undoubtedly underlie nearly all the Jurassic deposits of the government, but only a few patches come to the surface ; many salt springs exist in these deposits. The Upper Carboniferous limestones come to the surface only in the north-west and towards the cast. 1 The chief mineral products are bog-iron ores, sulphate of copper, and pottery clay. Peat occurs in thick beds. There are also several mineral springs. The soil is mostly a kind of loess of moderate fertility ; sandy tracts are not uncommon ; and wide areas are covered with marshes relics of the great lakes of the Lacustrine period. The chief river of the government is the Volga, which traverses it for 180 miles, making a great bend to the north. The chief towns Rybinsk, Yarosiavl, Motoga, Romanoff- Borisoglyebsk, Uglitch, and Myshkin are situated on its banks, and a brisk 1 Geological Surrey of Russia, sheet 56, by Xikitin (Russian and German), 8t Petersburg, 1S84. traffic is carried on, both by the river itself and by two canals, Mariinsk and Tikhvinsk, which connect it with the Neva through its tributaries the Sheksna and the Moioga. Another tributary received by the Volga within the government is the Kotorost, which has many manufactories on its banks and is navigated, especially in spring. The Kostroma ilows along the eastern border and is a channel for the export of timber and fuel. Small lakes are numerous, the chief being Lake Nero or Rostoff. The forests, which consist chiefly of fir and Scotch pine, cover one-third of the aggregate area ; but they are rapidly being destroyed. The flora of Yarosiavl, although similar to that of Moscow, bears a northern stamp owing to the presence of the dwarf birch, liubus arcticus, and Linnsea borealis. The climate is as continental as that of middle Russia generally. The average temperature at Yarosiavl is 36 7 Fahr. (January 6 5, July 61 5) ; the prevailing south-western and western winds render it moister than in central Russia ; and the average number of days with rain or snow is 114 The rivers remain frozen from 118 to 183 days every year. The population is thoroughly Great Russian. The aboriginal Meryas have been completely Russified ; and traces of the Karel- ians, who immigrated in the 17th century, can only be discovered in the names and features of some inhabitants on the Siti river. There are moreover some 1000 Tartars, 2100 Jews, and about 500 Gipsies. Leaving out of account some 2700 Catholics and Protest ants, the population belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church or is llaskolnik. Although Yarostavl is one of the chief manufacturing govern ments of the empire, its inhabitants have by no means abandoned agriculture, 27 per cent, of the total area being under crops (36 per cent, under forests and 8 per cent, untillable) ; on the lands of the peasantry the percentage is still greater (from 46 to 58 per cent.). Rye, oats, and barley, with some wheat and pease, are the chief crops, and in good seasons Yarosiavl has even a surplus of corn, which is either sent to the distilleries or exported. The average crops of 1883-85 were 960,100 quarters of rye, 36,000 of wheat, 97,400 of barley, 1,097,100 of oats, 19,600 of other grain, and 6,992,800 bushels of potatoes. Nearly 40,000 cwts. of flax are cropped every year. Market-gardening is largely engaged in and the Yarostavl gardeners have a wide repute throughout Russia. Chicory, sweet pease, cucumbers, apples, and berries are exported. Although there is no want of meadows, cattle-breeding is not greatly developed. In 1882-84 there were 178,370 horses, 260,000 cattle, 188,700 sheep, and 4700 pigs. One-third of the peasant households had no horses. Cheese-making on the co-operative principle has spread extensively of late, owing to the efforts of the zcmstw ; 93 associations have a yearly production to the value of 12,700. Domestic trades are carried on in great variety in the villages, including the making of linen cloth, boots, gloves, sheepskins, knitted wares, clothes, felts, all kinds of wooden wares, pottery, and a variety of metallic goods. The total production is very consider able, although no details are available. The manufactures are growing rapidly, the yearly production of 1708 establishments being estimated at 2,210,000 in 1884. Cotton and linen are the chief items (nearly 1,000,000); flour-mills, distilleries, and tobacco works come next ; and these are followed by chemical works and workshops for machinery, metallic wares, and so on, which are rapidly developing. The trade of the government is very active both on the Volga and on the two railway lines, one of which connects Rybinsk with the St Petersburg and Moscow line and the other connects Yarosiavl with Moscow and Vologda. Rybinsk and Yarostavl are the chief commercial centres, but Rostolf, Moioga, Romanoff, and Poshekhonie also carry on an active trade in corn, timber, and manufactured wares. The total merchandise shipped or discharged to and from the towns and villages of Yarosiavl is estimated at 1,600,000 tons annually, one-half by rail. One of the most distinctive features of Yarostavl is the large numbers of its male population who annually leave their homes in order to work all over Russia as locksmiths, masons, plasterers, waiters in restaurants, greengrocers, tailors, gardeners, carpenters, joiners, pilots, or boatmen. Many of these employments have been specialties of the population of Yarostavl from a remote antiquity, and the native of this government can easily be distinguished by his enterprising spirit, keen air, and energetic and nervous temperament. In Moscow and St Petersburg together there are about 76,400 employed in the above capacities, and it may be estimated that as many as 100,000 persons annually leave their homes in this way. The educational institutions were represented in 1884 by a lyceum (197 students), six gymnasia (569 boys and ]219 girls), a military school (492 boys), a seminary for teachers (81 students), and 745 elementary schools (25,780 boys, 10,140 girls). Yarostavl is divided into ten districts, the chief towns of which, with their population in 1884, are YAROSLAVL (see below), Daniloff (5780), Lubim (31^0), Moioga (6360), Myshkin (2390), Poshekhonie. (5990), Romanoff- Borisoglyebsk (5300), Rustoff (12,450), Rybinsk (19,900), and Uglitch (11,930). Petrovsk (1760) has municipal institutions.