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GENERAL REPORT OF THE JUDGES OF GROUP IX. gg The ordinary silk fabrics exhibited by Russia were of high excel lence. Among those deserving special mention are Sergius Zoobkof, of Khomootovo, Moscow, for rich colored failles; Alexis Fomitchef, Moscow, for rich figured failles and silk cashmeres; Kondrashef Brothers, Grebenevo, Moscow, for plain black and colored failles and upholstery damasks; Emilianoff & Rochefort, and Zolotaref & Ribakoff, Moscow, for silk and wool dress goods; Shelaief Brothers, Moscow, for black and colored satins. Mr. A. Neboltine, a Russian statistician, says, “We commenced in the last century to manufacture silk in Russia; but it is only during the present century, and above all since 1830, under the influence of a protective tariff, that this fabrication has become developed, or ac quired any considerable importance.” He shows that in 1872 there were 460 silk-factories, 15,800 workmen, and an annual production of 10,300,000 roubles, including the production of trans-Caucasia, which is more of a domestic than manufacturing character; and that the importation of foreign silks in 1871 was of a value of 6,293,935 roubles, or a little more than half that of the national fabrication. SWITZERLAND. Returning to the more prosaic regions of the European silk-manu- facture, we find that Switzerland best represents the fabrication adapted to the ordinary commercial demands of modern times. Zurich, the chief centre of the fabrication, occupies the same position in the silk-manufacture that Bradford does in the worsted and Venders in woolen industry. She manufactures for export and for the million. Economy of production is the first object. Although provided with very cheap labor, Switzerland has led other nations in the application of labor-saving machinery, and she has chiefly furnished the models for the best machinery used in this country, both in the manipulation and dyeing of silk. She excels in the combination of cheaper mate rials, such as cotton with silk; the silk being thrown upon the sur face, and the cotton forming the back, as in cotton-backed satins and marcelines. Although producing the higher classes of dress silks, black and colored, in great perfection, as evinced in the beautiful ex hibit of Baumann, Aelter, & Co., of Zurich, the characteristic of the Swiss manufacture is the adaptation, for popular consumption, of fabrics which are made attractive by taste in design, excellence in execution, and reasonableness of price. An interesting evidence of the confidence of the Swiss manufacturers in holding their own ground against foreign rivals is the circumstance that the Swiss Commis sioner, alone among foreign representatives, caused a series of albums,