Russian Prints.—This class of fabric does not differ materially from any other print. They originate in Odessa, whence they come by steamer to Chinese ports or to Vladivostock, from which points the majority are brought overland into Manchuria. Many of the designs on Russian Prints are similar to those on American prints. Measuring 24/25 or 26 inches wide, 88 by 68 or 88 by 64 ends and picks, and 30 yards per piece, they are generally packed 30, 40, and sometimes 60 pieces to a bale. On the whole, Russian Prints are not a high-grade material.
Samples and their Classification.—Unless some definite system, which provides means for ready reference to any of the individual samples forming part of the collection, is adopted from the very start, sample collections are of comparatively small value. The successive pasting into a book of samples which represent fabrics of different materials, different weaves, and different finishes—and under the heading "finishes" would be included dyeing, printing, embossing, etc.—is of no great value, for it becomes impossible after a time to readily turn up any given sample. Even with an index to the collection so formed it is only possible to turn up a sample of material the name of which is known. A person wishing to turn up in such a collection a sample of a certain type of fabric the name of which he did not know at the time could not do so, and the more specimens or samples were added to the collection the more difficult it would become to turn up a given sample, and the value of the collection would lessen instead of increase.
If fabrics are divided into 17 headings representing the main divisions into which they may be classed, and each division or section is subdivided into numbered sub-sections, the task becomes simpler, and there results therefrom a series of key-numbered collections each containing samples of fabrics of a similar type but of varying quality and value. Each collection (or sub-section) becomes known by a combination of two numbers, one of which is the main division or section number and the other the number of that particular sub-section. These numbers precede the name of the division and the name of the subdivision.
The 17 main divisions or groups, together with their respective subdivisions, which will in practice be found to be ample are as follow:—
Whether the loose-leaf system with folders to contain the samples is used or whether they are entered into special books is a matter for the individual, but the loose-leaf or card-index system with folder is infinitely preferable, admitting of the removal of any given sample for reference or comparison. The index to such a collection of samples would be alphabetical (even though not absolutely so), and if a sample of Italian (of the plain variety) were added to the collection, it would be added under section 4, Dyed Plain Cottons. If the sample of Italian thus added to the collection was the fifth sample of Dyed Plain Cottons (with finish), it would appear in the index to the sample collection under 1 and would be entered as follows:—
| Name of Fabric. | Section | Sub-section | Sample |
| Number. | Number. | Number. | |
| —— | —— | —— | —— |
| Italian | 4 | 2 | 5 |
A sample of Bunting, on the other hand, would be filed under section 14, sub-section 2; and if it were the thirty-first sample filed under that sub-section, it would be indexed under the letter B as Bunting, 14: 2: 31.
This decimal system of numbering and classifying samples lends itself to a refinement of subdivision unattainable in any other.