308 
PAPER-MAKING MATERIALS IN RUSSIA. 
Inquiry having been made on the subject of the available raw ma- 
terials for paper (especially from the flax plant), through the Foreign 
Office, some interesting information is furnished thereon in several of 
the recent Consular reports. 
Mr. Stevens, the British Vice-Consul at Kherson, writes in the in- 
closed despatch that he made inquiries as to the possibility of selecting 
flax-stems for exportation so far back as 1859, but found that the 
expense of conveyance to a port for shipment would be too costly. He 
adds that, although there are more than 200,000 acres of land under* 
flax in the government of Kherson, very little is grown in the immediate 
neighbourhood of the Black Sea ; and, as it is only sown on virgin soil, 
its cultivation is annually falling back farther into the interior. A great 
deal ol flax is grown on the banks of the Dnieper, between Nicopol and 
Ekaterinoslav, but the means of river-transport are insufficient, and 
freights are too high to make it worth the attention of commerce. The 
plants are not burned, but the best stems are pulled and selected for 
making a coarse kind of linen. It is only the refuse of the crop that 
is either burnt or employed in thatching. There is a kind of rush, he 
states, very plentiful near Kherson which might be worthy the attention 
of the paper manufacturer. 
One of the largest landowners in Southern Russia, says that the 
flax-plant is extensively cultivated in New Russia, Bessarabia, Kherson, 
and Ekaterinoslav. Odessa alone annually exports more than 140,000 
quarters of linseed. 
While these provinces continue to be thinly populated, he thinks 
that the cultivation of flax will increase, as it is less troublesome and 
expensive to produce than cereals ; but, if the population increases, the 
land under flax must decrease, as it requires virgin soil, which will 
become scarce. 
The plant is now cultivated chiefly for the seed. No care is taken 
to grow good stems ; and this country being subject to drought four 
years out of five, the want of moisture renders the stems of little value, 
though it does not affect the seed. When a season, however, has been 
wet, the peasants convert the stem into flax for linen. It is only when 
the stalk is worthless for manufacturing purposes that it is burnt. If 
the person desirous of employing the stem in paper-making could pay 
from 3s. 6d. to 4s. 6d. per Russian poud — say 36 lbs. English, delivered 
at a seaport ready for shipment, the landowner is of opinion that they 
could be supplied with a large quantity from this country ; and, if 
encouragement of a ready market were offered, the cultivation of the 
plant' for the stem would immediately occupy the attention of growers. 
The chief of an eminent commercial firm, which may be considered 
at the head of the trade of Southern Russia, considers the exportation 
of the flax-plant from that country could not be made profitable. The 
