493 



Mr. H. H. Stevens, of Webster, Worcester Couuty, Massachusetts, a mau- 

 ufacturer of jute imported from India, to whom this Department sent a 

 aample of that grown in Louisiana for examination, reports that iu 

 length, strength, and color it is fully equal to India jute. He adds : 



The Department should do all iu its power, aud, if necessary, ask of CoiigreHS more 

 power and more money, to extend the culture of this fiber iu the country. Twenty 

 (•even years ago, iu Dundee, Scotland, the question was, whether there was any value 

 in jute. To-day, of an export from Calcutta of nearly, if not quite, 3,000,000 bales per 

 annum, Dundee consumes a largo share. 



The Department has received from gentlemen in Louisiana and Geor- 

 gia very encouraging accounts of their experiments, together with speci- 

 mens of the jute-fiber which they have produced. Mr. Thomas H. 

 Dunham, of Boston, to whom a sample was forwarded, writes as follows : 



The quality is very superior. The market is just now depressed very much. Some 

 parties here have lost heavily on imported jute-butts, and this season (before the fire) 

 India goods w-cre imported at immense loss. The present rate is 6 to 8 cents a pound , 

 (gold;) the usual rate 10 to 13 cents, (gold.) Your sample is very superior, and at 10 

 cents (gold) it would bo safe to quote. 



You will understand that our merchants do not favor home-growth of jute, or rather, 

 make light of it ; but my advice to you is, leave no step possible to push the jute- 

 growth ; make every effort to get it raised here. Beyond and above all obstacles push 

 it on. The country will sustain this to any extent. The motive is greater than you 

 can have any idea of The moment you get the growth started, you will be fully as- 

 sured, as capital will follow quickly, as in cotton. 



Suppose it were a new growth of cotton, no one would doubt the success, or the aid 

 ueeded. Our growth of jute will nearly equal half the cottou-crop. We can cut off 

 India supplies, as we have done in cotton. 



The interests of our merchants are so interwoven with India importations that they 

 will (as they do) say, "You will never get any quantity grown," and make light of 

 it. But your sample shows that its cultivation is feasible, and it must paywhen the 

 market changes. All orders to ludia are stopped now, and the revulsion will bring 

 jut»i higher here, within the next year, than it has ever been. 



COTTON-RAISING IN CALIFORNIA. 



Reference has hitherto been made to attempts at cotton-growing iu 

 California, the results of which, during the last two seasons, seem to 

 indicate that the climate and soil of the southern counties do not offer 

 any insuperable obstacle to the production. The small crop of 1871 found 

 a ready home market, being found to possess a remarkable fitness for 

 combination with wool iu various fabrics. The wool manufacturers ab- 

 sorbed the proditct of Merced Couuty, paying 23 cents per pound, and 

 jnade further inquiry throughout the State for " California cotton." 

 The crop of 1872 has been variously estimated by parties whose facili- 

 ties for obtaining information entitle their opinions to respect. Mr. 

 Charles S. Capp, in an elaborate paper published iu the "Eesources of 

 California'' for Nov^ember, gives the entire acreage in cotton during the 

 past season at 800 to 900, averaging from three-quarters to a bale per 

 acre. The San Fraucisco Commercial Herald, of a later date, gives the 

 entire crop at 1,500 bales. Local estimates fixed the area planted#in 

 Kern County (part of which failed) at 500 acres, and the average yield 

 of Merced, Fresno, Tulare, and Kern Counties at a bale per acre. Some 

 isolated" experiments, on a small scale, are reported in other counties. 



In Merced County, near the villages of Snellings and Hopetou, on 

 the Merced River, several enterprises in cotton-culture were inaugu- 

 rated. Of these the largest plantation was that of Buckley & Brother — 

 250 acres. These gentlemen, in 1871, raised over 20,000 pounds on 51 

 acres, an average of 400 pounds per acre. They claim for their crop of 

 thLs year a far more promising and profitable character. Near them 



