44 



M.VXUFAtTUKES OF KUS.SIA. 



A considerable amount of raw material, imported into Russia, is used for the 

 spinning- of combed m'OoIs. The principal part of this is received in the combed state, 

 the quantity of late years being about 160.000 pouds, which is equal to 475,000 

 l^ouds of unscoured merino wool, and the remainder is received uncombed. The 

 import of foreign raw material is accounted for in the following manner: merino 

 wool of medium tineness is produced in Russia in quantities considerablj' above the 

 demand for home manufacture. In the combing-wool industry a fibre from two to 

 three inches long is required, of which a sufficient quantity is found in the regions 

 of the Don. "Wool in the Kharkov government is finer than that of the Don, but 

 is too short in staple and is more suitable for carding than combing. But notwith- 

 standing the considerable production of merino wool it is partly imported, the reason 

 assigned being the more rapid development of the spinning than of the combing depart- 

 ment, in consequence of which there arises a necessit}^ for foreign combed wool. 



The impossibility of procuring fine classes of wool in the Empire obliges 

 Russian manufacturers to refer to foreign markets, notwithstanding that a consid- 

 erable duty has to be paid on imported material. Although Russian combing wools 

 from the districts of Rostov-on-Don and Novorossisk, and also wool from several 

 noted sheep farmers, may be with justice acknowledged as first class products, at the 

 same time generally speaking they cannot be classed higher than second quality, 

 as the first sort AAA is not met with; and for the manufacture of yarns of first 

 (juality Russian manufacturers are obliged to have recourse to foreign products 

 It should be stated that fine wool, AAA and AA, required for combed wool 

 spinning, is three to four time less than the classes A, B and C. Consequently' 

 Russian sheep are in a position to supply the greater part of the home demand. 

 ^Vools are received from Buenos Ayres and from the colonies Sydney, Adelaide and 

 Port Plfilip. The quality of colonial raw material in general must be aknowledged 

 to be higher than Russian in respect to fineness; also each of the large number of 

 different kinds of colonial wool has its own distinct and constant type, whereas several of 

 the Russian kinds, often in consequence of incorrect farming and breeding, vary in qnalit^'. 



Of the qualit}' of raw material used in Russian manufactories a clear insight 

 may l)e obtained from the interesting statistics, given by one of the large Russian 

 woollen spinneries and fully substantiating the above mentioned position ; this mill 

 during three years bought in the Don district about 300,000 pouds of unscoured merino 

 wool, which after sorting gave the following results : 



* By waste is understood, wool which is unfit for combed spinning ; it is s jIcI at 

 a low price to woollen mills. 



