606 KEPOET OP THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



So a conflict rages between jnte and flar, and so evenly balanced are 

 the forces, that flax is able to compete for a portion of the cotton baUng ; 

 yet jute has a slight preponderance, perhaps altogether due to the ad- 

 vantage of larger capital, and better organization and division of labor, 

 and therefore the jute manufacture is successful, and flax milling com- 

 paratively depressed. It is a conflict between the seaboard and the in- 

 terior ; between the heavy manufacturer on the one side, and the smaU 

 manufacturer and the farmer on the other. The flax men have logically 

 the better position, if they can make good the promise of a full and 

 cheap supi)ly; the jute men have the advantage of having produced 

 substantially a supply, while it is not proved that their opponents are 

 able to make good their promise. 



Hemp culture may likewise be extended, for with the demand for 

 finer grades of fiber for spinning purposes, for twine, for grain binders, 

 and for cordage, the States at present producing it will hardly furnish 

 a supply. As in the culture of flax, however, better methods must bo 

 adopted, and more careful treatment given the crop, that it may, in one 

 sense, make its market through superior quality. 



APPENDIX I. 



THE CULTIVATION OP AEUTILON AVICENIT^ IN NEW JERSEY,* WITH 

 LETTER OF PROF. SYLVESTER WATERHOUSE. 



In the general dovolopment of tlie fibrous industry, "vre liave mado very decided 

 progress this year. Thero really need be no difficulty in growing jute-producing 

 plants, t the material point being to ascertain the best conditions under which to con- 

 vert hitherto uncultivated plants into those of future industrial significance and profit. 

 Any experienced farmer, from his observation of these eeli-propagating " weeds," can 

 as reacUly achieve good results in their cultivation as he can in hie first attempts at 

 growing for profit peaches, pears, grapes, or any other untried crop. Ha h.os a gen- 

 eral knowledge of their requirements, and his success at the outset will be in propor- 

 tion to his professional knowledge and theoretical dexterity. There being no question 

 respecting the cultivation of jute, the remaining problem concerns the obtaining of 

 the fiber from the bark, and the industrial purposes of which it is susceptible. Jute, 

 in its ordinary marketable condition, is chiefly adapted to coarse but useful fabrics 

 and cordage, but through the api^liances of ekiU and science, it has unquestionably a 

 range of usee still to bo discovered, and it is our aim to discover those hidden qual- 

 ities. 



In all our efibrts to promole the fibrous industry, we have had the intelligent co- 

 operation of Mr. Lefranc. He has given his whole attention this summer, at Camden, 

 to the discovery of new methods of treatment of the outward coating of the plant, 

 with a view of imparting new value to the fiber derived from it. These efi'orts are in 

 harmony with the widely extending conviction that the highest industrial progress 

 which this nation is destined to achieve is inseparable from the utmost diversity of 

 industries, and an augmented proportion of skilled and artistic pursuits to the un- 

 skilled. In pursuance of this idea, Mr. Lefranc confidently believes he has discovered 

 a combined chemical and mechanical process, by which the intrinsic and industrial 

 value of jute can be greatly enhanced, at comparatively smaU cost. » * » if thig 

 newly discovered property in domestic jute (Abutilon avicennce) is confirmed by subse- 

 quent experience, it will impart an unanticipated significance to the fiber industry 

 throughout, since ramie find, the whole range of developed and undeveloped long 

 staples can be brought under the same treatment with like results.- 



We feel assured tbat the steeping or rettiog process, which, until o^uite recently, wa.s 

 deemed indispensable, has b.';m overcome, and that in growing these products the 

 labor of the farmer will tLerel>y be greatly diminished, and only equivalent to that 

 incident to the growth of whrnt ;iud rye. Sowing, cutting, and carting in the green 



* From the Second Annual Report of James Bishop, chief of bureau of statistics, 

 labor, and industries, of New Jersey, for the year 1879. 



t Plants bearing a fiber similar to the jute of commerce (Corchorua), which may 

 be used aa a substitute in thia country for that fiber. 



