178 STUDIES IN INDIAN FIBRE PLANTS. 



' ' The total acreage under the crop in the Bombay Presidency 

 in 1906-07 was 23,700 acres, and in 1907-08, 25,470 acres. It is 

 chiefly grown as a kharif crop for fibre, but also to a considerable 

 extent as a green manure crop. In the Thana District, it is grown 

 as a rahi crop in succession to early rice for fibre, which is used in 

 making twine for nets by the fishermen. 



'' The returns for Madras give a total of over 300,000 acres ; 

 but it is known that only a very small proportion of this — a few 

 thousand acres — is grown for fibre. It is most extensively cul- 

 tivated for fibre in the Northern Circars, chiefly in the Amalapuram 

 and Narsapur Taluks of the Godavari and Krishna Districts. Id 

 the rest of the Presidency with the exception of the Tinnevelly 

 District, where some fibre is manufactured into extremely durable 

 gunny bags, the cultivation of the crop is confined to the produc- 

 tion of fodder. 



' ' In Eastern Bengal and Assam this crop is largely grown in 

 the Serajganj sub-division of the District of Pabna, where the 

 estimated area is 33,900 acres. Generally it is grown in Serajganj 

 on land which bears a jute crop in the same year. The area in 

 Chittagong, where it is also grown as a rahi crop, decreased from 

 7,900 acres in 1906-07 to 1,600 acres in 1907-08. The total esti- 

 mated area in Eastern Bengal and Assam is about 42,000 acres, 

 and the estimated export of the fibre is 30,000 maunds. In this 

 Province jute is much more important, but it is possible that the 

 cultivation of Sann-h.em.-p can be somewhat extended with profit, 

 though as the water-supply for retting is limited in February and 

 March, the months of its cutting, this would only be along the 

 banks of rivers. In the Serajganj sub-division it is only grown 

 for fibre quite close to water. 



" A note by Mr. Clouston, the Deputy Director of Agriculture 

 in the Central Provinces, on the cultivation of fibre plants in the 

 Central Provinces, has been published in the Agricultural Journal 

 of India (April 1908). The total area under Sami in the Central 

 Provinces was 55,400 acres in 1907, which increased in 1908 to 

 85,044 acres. In Berar in 1907 the acreage was 32,360 and in 

 1908, 35,484. It is always grown as a pure crop and is cultivated 



