310 PAPER-MAKING MATERIALS IN RUSSIA. 
considerable. As, however, an export trade would be more lucrative, 
he proposes to enter into engagements with any firms in England de- 
sirous of utilizing the materials for paper now wasted in this country. 
M. Pitancier states that there are other vegetable productions here of 
far greater value to the papermaker than flax, and especially calls atten- 
tion to straw of various kinds, and the leaves of maize. The reeds 
growing on the banks of rivers he has also ascertained by experiment 
yield nearly fifty per cent, of their bulk as material for paper. The 
rush is almost as rich ; and the paper produced from these plants is 
strong, lustrous, and smooth. 
M. Pitancier has drawn up a report on these plants, and has annexed 
samples of the materials he uses, and of the various qualities of paper 
he can produce. 
My inquiries, observes Mr. Consul-General Murray, tend to show that 
Southern Russia grows an immense quantity of flax, which could be 
usefully employed in paper-making. But all my informants combine 
in declaring that it cannot be exported in its natural state ; for it is 
evident that an article must be of great value t o admit of its being sent 
thousands of miles, when only one- sixth part of it is of any use. The 
same argument applies with more or less force to all vegetable produc- 
tions of like nature. These are very plentiful in Southern Russia, but 
under scientific treatment only could they be exported with advantage 
both to producer and to the consumer. 
Mr. Bernstein, one of the most eminent brokers at Odessa, who has 
previously, on several occasions, rendered important services to Her 
Majesty's Government, in similar inquiries to the present, after stating 
the exact quantity of land under flax in the province of Kherson, gives 
some information as to the mode of cultivation of the kind of flax 
grown there, as well as the quantity produced. Mr. Bernstein gives his 
opinion that the flax fibre could be pressed in the same manner as wool 
and cotton, so as to be exported in a small compass ; but I am not in- 
clined to attach the same weight to his opinion on the subject as to that 
of M. Pitancier, although it is just possible that an inventor may be a 
little misled by his own theories. Mr. Bernstein thinks, as is natural, 
looking at the question from his point of view, that British capital 
might be profitably employed to purchase the raw material here, with- 
out reference to M. Pitancier's inventions ; and he adds that it could be 
bought for little more than the cost of transport. He also thinks that 
the erection of a paper-mill here would be a good speculation. I have 
the honour, likewise, to inclose a translation from the German news- 
paper published here, trusting that it may be read with interest. 
In conclusion, I am bound to observe that a reliable estimate of the 
quantity and quality of the fibre which Southern Russia could annually 
export can only be made by an actual survey of the lands under flax, 
and other plants useful to the papermaker. Doubtless, if a sound con- 
clusion were arrived at on this subject, and the result should, as appears 
