Among the branches of industry in which mineral substances are used, pottery takes first rank. Thanks to great deposits of splendid pottery clay, the Ukrainian pottery industry developed very early and now stands upon a very high plane. Its products usually have fine form and beautiful ornamentation. Pottery is best developed in the Poltava region, especially in the Districts of Mirhorod, Sinkiv (well-known center of Oposhnia), Romen and Lokhvitzia. In the Chernihiv country pottery is almost as important, especially in the vicinity of Horodnia, Krolevetz, Hlukhiv (Poloshki and Novhorod Siversky). In the Kharkiv region we find large pottery works in the regions of Valki, Lebedin, Okhtirka, Bohodukhiv, Isium; in the Kiev country about Chihirin, Uman, Cherkassia, Svenihorodka, Kaniv, in Podolia about Mohiliv, Ushitza, Yampol, and Letichiv. In Galicia the Rostoche region (Potilich, Hlinsko, etc.), Podolia (Chortkiv, Borshchiv, Kopichintzi, etc.), and especially the Hutzul country (Kolomia, Kossiv, Pistin, Kuti) are renowned for pottery products. In other regions of the Ukraine pottery is less developed. The brick-making industry is actively growing all over the Ukraine, and the introduction of tile-covered brick buildings has led to the formation of numerous peasant organizations, for the purpose of making these building-materials. The stone-cutting industry is carried on on a large scale only in the region of Odessa, Olexandrivsk (Kamishevakha) and Bakhmut. The metal-working industry is, in general, not highly advanced. Only the blacksmith trade is carried on everywhere and shows a fine development, especially in the Southern Ukraine. In the village smithies in Kherson, Katerinoslav and Tauria, even complicated agricultural machines are often made. The production of iron ploughs [287]has for its centers the districts of Starobilsk (the village of Bilovodsk produces on the average 3½ thousand ploughs a year), Isium and Valki of the Kharkiv country, in the Chernihiv country (districts of Starodub and Sosnitza), in the Poltava country (Zolotonosha and vicinity). Artistic brass-work is made by the Hutzuls of the Kossiv region (Brusturi, Yavoriv, etc.).