l80 STUDIES IN INDIAN F(BRE PLANTS. 



present. Tlie retting and cleaning of the fibre are regarded as 

 very tedious and troublesome processes. Having regard to these 

 troubles, the crop is considered to be less remunerative than some 

 other crops. The imports of >S:mn-hemp fibre into the Punjalj 

 in 1906-07 were 15,382 maunds and in 1907-08, 20,984 maunds, 

 almost entirely from the United Provinces. The exports 

 amounted to only 4,078 maunds in 1906-07 and 2,584 maunds in 

 1907-08. 



"The returns of the United Provinces show an area in 1906-07 

 of 133,000 acres of hemp, which include both Hibiscus cannahinuH 

 and Sann-\\QTLV^ : and in 1907-08 of 158,000 acres. Practically 

 the whole of this area is devoted to /Sawrt-hemp. It is grown for 

 fibre and almost universally as a border crop with kharif crops, 

 the produce being worked up by cultivators into ropes for home 

 use. The export is, therefore, a small part of the produce. The 

 trade returns of the United Provinces for 1906-07 show practically 

 no imports of the hemp, but exports aggregating 400,000 maunds, 

 valued at 22 lakhs of rupees, and in 1907-08 of 409,800 maunds, 

 valued at Rs. 26,17,000 ; most of this is ASa^m-hemp. There is a 

 steady trade to Calcutta and a very fluctuating trade to Bombay. 

 The crop is a well-recognized feature of the local agriculture, and 

 the trade in fibre is an organized one. The area generally responds 

 to the prices offered. 



" This crop does well in the Tavoy District of Tenasserim. It is 

 grown there after paddy. The estimated area is about 400 acres 

 in Lower Burma. The fibre is used for fishing nets. It is very 

 doubtful whether there will be any great development of this crop, 

 unless the Department of Agriculture, Burma, succeeds in introduc- 

 ing it for green manuring." 



The export trade in Sann-h.emjp fibre appears to be most im- 

 portant in the United Provinces, the amount exported in 1907-08 

 being valued at twenty-six lakhs of rupees. 



Considerable attention appears to have been paid to Scinn- 

 hemp in India towards the close of the eighteenth and the begin- 

 ning of the nineteenth century by several writers, including Rox- 

 burgh and Wisset, and the earlier information on the subject is 



