JUTE-CULTUEE. 293 



by following a single employment. The urgent need of the South to- 

 day is a wide range of industries. It ought to superadd manufactures 

 to a larger variety of agricultural productions. Then the competition 

 of the different occupations would impart activity to business, give more 

 employment to labor, create better local markets, raise the -prico of agri- 

 cultural and manufactured products, increasing the profits of workmen, 

 planters, and manufacturers, and promote the well-being of the entire 

 community. 



The introduction of the growth and manufacture of jute presents a 

 new opportunity for diversifying the industries of the Southern States. 

 If the experiments which have been already tried in the South are a safe 

 guide, then the profits of jute-culture would amply reward the American 

 planter. 



According to the estimates of practical experience, jute-butts can be 

 produced in the United States for 3 cents a pound in currency, and the 

 fine fiber for 8 cents. The average price of Indian butts in this country 

 is 3 or 4 cents a pound in gold, and the fine yarn is worth 8 or 10 cents 

 a pound in gold. Nor is the difference between the cost of Indian and 

 American jute the only source of profit. 



There is a relative economy in the cultivation of this plant. Accord- 

 ing to southern testimony, it is four times as productive as cotton or llax, 

 while at the same time it takes not more than one-tenth as much labor 

 to raise it. In the manufacture of hemp and flax there is a loss of 15 or 

 20 per cent, of the material, while the loss in working jute is only about 

 9 per cent. In our markets jute-bags are worth from ^ to J a cent, a 

 yard more than flax-bags. Hemp rots much quicker than jute does. 

 The superior cheapness and durability of jute are rapidly displacing 

 flax and hemj) in low-priced manufactures. 



There are also important incidental advantages of this tillage. The 

 vigorous, luxuriant growth of the jute almost exterminates weeds from 

 the soil in which it is sown, while the bitterness of its juice repels the 

 attacks of insects, It has been found that cotton-fields surrounded by 

 a belt of jute were exempt from the depredations of the caterpillar, while 

 unprotected fields in the same neighborhood suffered from its ravages. 



The profits of the domestic manufacture of jute are not unworthy of 

 the attention of capitalists. Eighteen hundred and seventy was a year 

 of exceptionally high prices. In that year the i^rofit on the home manu- 

 facture of 19,000,000 pounds of jute was more than $2,000,000. Of jute 

 fiber, butts, and rejections,* the total consumption in the United States 

 in the last three years was over 300,000,000 pounds. At present, the 

 average cost of jute-butts, delivered in Saint Louis, is 3 or 3|- cents, gold, 

 per pound, and the ruling rate of the jute-baling manufactured in this 

 city is now 12J cents a yard in currency. From these data practical 

 men will be able to form just estimates of the cost and profits of this 

 manufacture. Imported gunny-eloth, generally of an inferior quality, 

 now commands an average price of 9 or 10 cents a yard in currency; 

 but domestic bagging, although somewhat more expensive, is, in conse- 

 quence of its better quality and make, usually preferred. The home 

 manufacture of jute-baling has already become an important industry. 

 In 1870 the mills of Saint Louis alone manufactured 6,000,000 yards of 



* These are technical terms. lu the language of trade, "jute-butts " are sections, 12 

 or 15 inches iu length, of the lower end of the plant. These coarser xjortions arenaade 

 into heavy baling and bagging. The " fiber" is the long silliy yarn, which is woven 

 into finer fabrics ; and the " rejections " are parts of the " fiber," which, in consequence 

 of being stained, tangled, or woody, are unfit for delicate manufactures. " Rejections " 

 are commonly worked up with the butts. 



