212 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



the market value of his crops, will find a surer return in the product of 

 ramie fields. t 



As has already been said, the two annual crops which are certain under 

 the least favorable circumstances of climate as to warmth, show a gross 

 return of $170 per acre at the lowest calculation. In the southern States, 

 three to four crops every year may be relied on. Is there any other cultiva- 

 tion which gives such handsome profits? 



Fourteen of the United States are perfectly adapted, in climate and tem- 

 perature, to the cultivation of ramie and jute: California, Arizona, New 

 Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, 

 South Carolina, West Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana. 



JUTE. 



The specific name of jute is corchorus olitorus, of the teliacea tribe, and 

 family of linden blooms. The fiber of jute is not as fine as that of ramie, 

 but it can be applied to so many uses, and the plant reaching a height of 

 ten or twelve feet, the product of one acre of jute nearly equals that of one 

 of ramie, especially as only the expenses of one crop have to be made. It 

 must be added, at the same time, that the jute must be planted from seed 

 anew and yearly. 



Jute requires a warm and damp climate, with an alluvial soil, moist, and 

 half sandy. 



As well as for ramie, the ground must be well plowed; then sow in drill, 

 thick, one foot apart. One acre requires twenty-five pounds of seed. For 

 the first year the planter will have to procure seed, but in the years follow- 

 ing, he will find, in the production of his own field, all the seed needed for 

 future years. 



The best month for sowing jute is the month of March, for you harvest 

 then in July, when the plant is in bloom. The fiber at this time is softer 

 and less ligneous. The seed ripens one month after the flowers bloom, but 

 then the fiber becomes somewhat ligneous and loses some of its commercial 

 value. One acre of jute sown as above, will give, on the average, with ten 

 feet stalks, about 3,500 pounds of rough bark, worth three cents a pound; 

 and, consequently, a gross return of $105 per acre. 



Jute must be cut with the same knife as used for the sugar cane. It 

 must remain afterwards two days in the field, so as to permit the leaves to 

 drop. It will then be transported to the decorticating machine, which 

 works in the same manner as for ramie, with the exception of a change of 

 grooved rollers for rollers with longer grooves. The fiber being heavier and 

 the stalks longer than those of ramie, the same machine will pass one hun- 

 dred jute stalks in one minute and fifteen seconds. A hundred stalks of 

 jute give three pounds of crude bark. One acre of jute should yield net, 

 excepting the first year, on account of the cost of seed, from $65 to $70. 

 • In case you adopt the cultivation of ramie or jute, and for all informa- 

 tion, please communicate with J. Juvenet & Co., 34 St. Charles Street, New 

 Orleans. 



