491 



oil ; she then placed another layer over that and sprinkled it in the same manner and 

 80 piled up layer upon layer. This sprinkling was before the fiber was spun. 



An extract from the reply above mentioned is given, as follows : 



The quantity of jute and seed produced to an acre depends greatly on the richness 

 of the land it is planted on. Serajgnnge, Narauogunge, Dacca, and other northeastern 

 districts, where about four-fifths of the total crop are raised, produced from 2,000 to 3,000 

 pounds of jute on an average ; in some cases, however, as much as 4,000 pounds are 

 produced. The yield of seed is about 1,000 to 1,200 pounds per acre. In the coun- 

 try fifty miles around Calcutta, the production of which is called dessee or country 

 jute, the yield is smaller, being only about 600 to 1,000 pounds of fiber, and more seed, 

 nay 1,500 to 1,600 pounds per acre; but on rich, damp lands the product is almost as 

 much as ip. the northeastern provinces. The dessee description was used only for 

 local consumption until about five years ago, when shipments of it to England began, 

 and both the shipments and production of it are increasing every year. Jute is sown 

 broadcast, and about 22 to 28 pounds of seed are required to an acre. In the north- 

 eastern provinces it is planted in February and March, and is cut about the end of 

 June and beginning of July ; the dessee is sown in July and cut in August and Sep- 

 tember. On rich land it grows and ripens qviicker. In the northeastern districts, 

 when grown on rich soil, the diameter of the stalk at the bottom is from three-quar- 

 ters of an inch to one and a quarter inches, and the length from 7 to 10 feefc, and some- 

 times, but rarely, longer and thicker. The country jute is 4 to 7 feet long and one-half 

 to three-quarters inch in diameter. The plants are cut about 3 inches above the 

 ground, excepting dowrah, which is uprooted. The butts are cut at the time of baling 

 the jute for export in Calcutta. When the stalks are cut they are covered with a green 

 bark, which, after going through certain processes, becomes fiber. The planters can- 

 not tell at the time of cutting the stalks whether any, or how far from the bottom any 

 will be hard. The stalks are cut about a month before the seed ripens, and the poorer 

 plants are generally let go to seed. Jute made out of the plants producing seed is 

 hard and barky. The unripe seed cut with the stalks is of no use. It grows best on 

 rich, moist ground, but not on low ground. Castor-oil cake is the best for it, and nest 

 to that cow-manure; but the country planters, as the ground is naturally rich, use no 

 manure whatever. An acre of cotton costs much more than an acre of jute. Jute and 

 cotton do not interfere with each other in the least. Cotton grows in the northwest- 

 em provinces, Central and Soxitherh India, while jute is raised in Bengal. The little 

 cotton that Bengal produces, and the little jute the cotton districts produce, are of 

 poor quality, and only raised for local cousumjjtion. For the last few years jute has 

 been encroaching on the linseed-crop, as the same ground is suitable for both. • 



The statements above answer, in part, the inqniiies in tlie subjoined 

 communication addressed to this Department by William M. Hazzard. 

 of Georgetown, South Carolina : 



The cultivation of rice is attended with so many difficulties and risks, and s«ch aa 

 outlay of money, with little or no remuneration, that we shall be obliged to abandon 

 our lands, or introduce some plant less liable to the disasters to which a rice-crop is 

 exposed. From experiments I have seen made I am satisfied that our lands are well 

 adapted to the growing of jute. This plant, whenever tried in the rice-fields, has grown 

 most luxuriantly. I have thus far failed in my efforts to obtain seed enough to plant 

 three or four acres the coming year. I should be glad to obtain all the information the 

 Department of Agriculture sau furnish in reference to the time of planting, mode of 

 cultivation, time for cutting, and mode of curing and preparing for market. 



A correspondent at Charkston, South Carolina, reports that he planted 

 jute-seed June 10, on very poor land, and October 1 the plants had grown 

 to g, height of 6 feet. That it can be raised at the South with success 

 and large profit he has strong faith. 



The following extracts from correspondents give the results of their 

 own experiments in growing it : 



Orange County, Florida. — I plowed np and thoroughly prepared a half acre of 

 medium grade pine-land, and sowed the jute in drills May 23. It came up well, but 

 owing to the excessively hot, dry weather it all dried up. On thesame day sowed a small 

 plat in a bay-head. It came np and grew finely. I am now gathering the seed. Some of 

 it is 12 feet high, and all as high as I can reach, showing that on damp, rich soil it will 

 here succeed finely. This bay-head is muck, several feet deep, which I cleai'ed off and 

 limed two years ago. Upon it bananas grow from 12 to 1.5 feet high. 



Muscoge-e County, Georgia. — I consider the experiment in jute-raising a success. 

 The cultivation [is siifiple and the cost of production small. I had seeds 



