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the woody stalk. After its removal the inner bark is stripped of its 

 rind, freed from all woody adhesions, and thoroughly washed and 

 dried. It then readily separates in minute fibres, and is ready for 

 market or for domestic spinning. No portion of this substance is 

 wasted. The leaves and ashes are used for manure, the stalks for 

 baskets and fuel, the seeds for oil and oil-cake, the roots for fuel and 

 paper, and the silky floss, which escapes from the fibres in the process 

 of manufacture, is wrought into hats. Until recently the Govern- 

 ment of India has never fostered the cultivation of jute, but without 

 its patronage this industry has, within the last half century, risen to a 

 world-wide importance. 



THE NEW INDUSTRY AT THE SOUTH. 



Under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture, the experi- 

 ments in growing jute have been successfully tried in a number of the 

 Southern States. These trials have been sufficient to establish the 

 fact that wherever in the Southern States there is a hot, clamp cli- 

 mate, and a moist soil of sand-clay, or alluvial mould, jute can be 

 profitably raised. Indeed, the condition of the soil and climate, and 

 the practical test of experiments already made, have been so favora- 

 ble as seriously to alarm the Government of India. The official 

 report of an Indian commission, appointed by the State, has expressed 

 a grave apprehension of American competition in the cultivation of 

 jute. 



According to the estimates of practical experience, Professor Water- 

 house says that jute butts can be produced in the United States for 

 three cents a pound in currency, and the fine fibre for eight cents. 

 The average price of India butts in this country is three and four 

 cents in gold, and the fine yarns are worth eight or ten cents a pound 

 in gold. The difference between the cost of Indian and American 

 jute is not, however, the only source of profit. There is a relative 

 economy in the cultivation of this plant. According to Southern 

 testimony it is four times as productive as cotton or flax, while at the 

 same time it does not require one-tenth of the labor to raise it. In 

 the manufacture of hemp and flax there is a loss of fifteen or twenty 

 per cent, of the material, while the loss in working jute is only about 

 nine per cent. Another promise of success in this new industry is 

 that the labor of the South is far more intelligent than that of India, 

 and is generally under skillful guidance. In India the best soil is 

 usually devoted to raising jute for market, and the poorer land is left 

 for the production of seed. In the United States, on the contrary, a 

 portion of the best land has been reserved for seed, and the result is 

 a signal improvement in the quality of the seed, American seed being 

 one-sixth heavier than that of India. Then, too, the broadcast sow- 

 ing of Bengal is uneven and wasteful. Our patent drills save ten to 

 fifteen pounds of seed to the acre, do the work with far greater rapid- 

 ity and equality of distribution. The efficacy of our agricultural 

 machinery promises to neutralize the seeming advantage which India 

 possesses in the cheapness of its manual labor. 



Dr. A. S. Heath said that jute is a very successful crop in Louisi- 

 ana, where the imported seed make a very strong plant, growing in 

 some localities as thick as wheat. It can also be profitably raised in 

 other Southern States, where wet, moist soils and a mild climate pre- 

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