26 ilANUFACTUIlES OF RUSSIA. 



the value of both these branches was 2,871,000 roubles, out of which about 

 "->00,000 roubles represent the share of the flax spinning; whilst in 1879 it rose to 

 13,100,000 roubles, and the linen industry only increased to 11,230,000 roubles, that 

 is to say, that flax-spinning- by machinery preponderates. Tliis is due to the fac 

 that, besides the linen factories, the villag-e weavers after 1860 also adopted niachine- 

 uiade yarn. In an}' case the figures which have been quoted sliow that the develop- 

 ment of the linen manufacture for the given period was by no means inconsiderable. 

 In 1856 lnrg-e linen factories, producing- 300 thousand to 500 thousand roubles Avorth 

 of goods, were exceptional; in 1879 there were several which turned out more than 

 a million i-oubles worth. However, as the production increased the total number of 

 mills decreased, the large factories supplanting the smaller ones. 



The Eussian linen goods also greatly improved in quality, as shown by the 

 Industrial Exhibition of 1870. although most of the mills manufactured the lowest 

 and medium numbers of yarn, up to K« 40, yet many spun Nos. 50 to 80, and two 

 mills even made .M' 160. namely those of Grribanov and Hill & Ditrich. Besides this, 

 it was shown that considerable progress had been made in dressing linen and 

 chlorine bleaching was widely diftused. These improvements were important, because 

 after the Ci-imean war a new kind of sackcloth and packing cloth, manufactured 

 from jute, made its appearance on the foreign markets, and due to its cheapness soon 

 tiiok the place of the linen and hempen goods previously used for that purpose, so 

 that the demand for the rough kinds of linen and hempen cloth still further 

 decreased. 



By examining the exports of hempen j^arn, ropes and string from 1855 to 

 1888, as representing the most reliable data for judging the degree of development 

 of the hemp tnide during that space of time, it may be concluded that the export of 

 hempen goods increased all the time up to 1870, but thereafter began to fall oft, 

 but only as regards the expyrt of rope, as that of hempen yarn continued to 

 inciease. 



This historical sketch terminates prior to 1880 and the condition of the trade 

 in flax, hemp and jute goods during the last fifteen years may now be investigated. 



The quantity of materal used and its properties. 



The flax crop of the Eussian Empire is on the average 17,500,000 pouds ; during 

 a good harvest, it reaches 20 million and during a bad harvest declines to 15 million 

 pouds, that is, about 56 per cent of the total amount cultivated on the earth's sui-face. 

 After subtracting from this the quantity sent abroad, which from 1887 to 1891 

 averaged about 10,900,000 pouds per annum, the amount used within the limits of the 

 Eussian Empire will be found to be 6,600,000 pouds, of which about 1,800,000 pouds 

 go to the spinning works, the remainder being used by the village workmen, although 

 at present the latter prefer to make linen from machine-spun yarn. 



The quantity of hemp produced in European Eussia may be taken as 8,500,000 pouds. 

 or about 40 per cent of the whole amount gathered in Europe. Subtracting the quan- 



