Rostov

4046

Rotch

two old palaces. Rostov has fisheries and
market gardens. It is an icon-manufacturing
center; makes candles, wax, tallow, linen,
vinegar, soap, leather, white lead, treacle, and
sweetmeats; p. 14,342.

Christina Georgina Rossetti.
(Photo by Elliott & Fry.)

Rostov-on-Don, tn. of Don Cossacks ter-
ritory, S, Russia. After Odessa it is the best-
built city in S. Russia. It has a cathedral and
a fine town hall (1897-99). There are large
local fisheries. It exports cereals, wool and
tallow. The port is ice free for 258 days a
year. It was the scene of fighting in the
World War; was capital of the Don Cossack
Republic of White Russians, of brief exist-
ence; was occupied by the Germans in 1918;
p. 20,864. Under the Soviet Five-Year Plan,
Rostov became a key industrial center. In
1942 Rostov was once more in the territory
attacked by the Germans.

RosytK Castle, ruined castle (1561), on n.
shore of Firth of Forth, Fifeshire, Scotland.
Here the British. Government acquired shore
lands for a naval base, much used in the
World War. The castle is connected by a
causeway with the shore at low water. It is
referred to in Scott's Abbot.

Rota, a court of appeal in the organization
of the Vatican administration of justice, cor-
responding to a supreme court. The name
may have come from the arrangement of
judges' seats in the medieval court. The
Council of Trent substituted committees of

cardinals, but in 1908 the ancient court was
reestablished by Pope Pius x.

Rotary Clubs, community organizations
established for the promotion of the highest
ideals in business, the professions, and public
service, created under a national and interna-
tional association with which each club is
affiliated and according to the standard pat-
tern of the organization. Membership in
each town or city is limited to one repre-
sentative of each business, profession, or in-
stitution on the approved list. By weekly
meetings the clubs promote good fellowship
and lend their support to civic and national
causes in accord with their aims. There are
annual international conventions, with an at-
tendance of 8,000 to 9,000 members and their
families, representing the 5,000 clubs.

Rotation of Crops is the practice of grow-
ing different crops on the same fields from
one season to another in a regular succes-
sion. This succession of crops allows a con-
venient arrangement of the farm work, tends
to increase the fertility of the soil by the in-
troduction of leguminous crops and green
manuring, and conduces to the destruction of
weeds and insects which may infest the land,

Rotch, Abbot Lawrence (1861-1912),
American meteorologist, born in Boston,
Mass., established at his own expense the
Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory, Mil-
ton, Mass. He made the first measurements
in America of the heights of clouds, and their

Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

velocities, and was the first to employ kites
for suspending self-recording instruments in
American meteorological experiments. IJis
publications include: Observations and Inves-
tigations at Blue Hitt, published since 1887 in