EASTERN AND NORTHERN BENGAL 



CORCHORUS 



OJLITORIUS 



Jute 



, tn.-f t'.Tms of i . .,,/,.,,/... . These are the Tarla, the Bombay and the Detwal. 

 I'll.- fir.-.! J.M-.IWH tho tallont (10 to 12 feet) while the last attaint! to only 7 feet, ami 



Feet. Tho tarla stands waterlogging bettor, i.e. it does not Tarla. 

 s.i ' r.>t Y " if late in the season there is an accumulation of 4 or 5 feet of 

 r in i In- li.-l.l. Tli" Bombay and deswal both get rooty under these circum- Bombay, 

 noes. The deawal comes to maturity early in July or even late in June, and Detwal. 



hiTcfori-. imr.-h time to get rooty, but it branches freely. The Bombay, 

 10 ugh it pots rooty does not branch much, and bears very little fruit. The 

 <la is tho form preferred where there is liability to much inundation. 

 Habitat Bretschneider (I.e. 441) observes that a species of r.,. ./,,.... is Habitat. 

 m ii tun large extent in tho plain of Ning-po. In China this fibre is used in the 

 lufacturo of sacks and bags for holding rice and other grains. So again, ho 

 juto (* I-<-/IJ-IH M|.) is the most important fibre plant of the plain of Tientsin. 

 grows to a great height. The Board of Trade Journal (Oct. 29, 1903) speaks 



ports of 40,000 cwt. of juto from Tientsin. The specimens in the Kew obioeM. 

 rl>.uiuiii show that the Cnrrharu* of Tientsin is the present species. 

 Roxburgh tolls us that a reddish-stemmed form of *'. i>nniariH had 

 an successfully acclimatised in Bengal, the seeds of which came from Canton, 

 he adds, yields a better quality fibre than the <'. -y<nf-i of Bengal. 

 So far as India is concerned to-day, '. </*" in fin is grown mainly in Eastern Eastern Bengal. 



Northern Bengal and Assam, and thus in a country that possesses many 

 angly Chinese peculiarities : seen in the people who inhabit it, in their articles 

 food and nature of some of their social customs, as also in the climate and 

 of their country (see Boebmeria nivea, p. 148). If, therefore, one were pressed 

 give an opinion, based on botanical data, as to whether or not jute was in- 

 enous to India, that position might have to be conceded for *'. oiltoritin 

 least important of the two jute plants, but very possibly would have to be 

 for <' eaiiHttini-i*. unless an exception were made in favour of Eastern 

 id Northern Bengal, a tract of India with strong Chinese characteristics. In fact 

 least one of the best varieties, t: <-Hi>*niriM, has already been indicated as 

 rived from China, though in connection with the earliest published drawing 

 that species the author (Plukenet) speaks of it as the American plant with 

 ig leaves and striated sub-rotund fruits. 



I have in the Dictionary (I.e. 536) discussed the specimens of this species seen 

 me in the Calcutta Herbarium. It may be useful to give here some par- 

 lars of the examples in the Kew Herbarium. No specimen in either col- 

 stion is stated by the contributor to have been found wild in India, in the Malaya, 

 China, or in Japan. With the exception of a specimen from Natal (of which 

 tie is known) there are no examples of this plant from Africa, Arabia or America, 

 following may be specially mentioned : From India Upper Assam (by 

 3) ; Bengal ; Sikkim Terai, a remarkable example collected by Hooker 

 which has long narrow linear, deeply and uniformly serrate leaves ; other 

 iples of the typical form from Moradabad ; Saharanpur ; Kanara, and 

 )re. From Ceylon a few sheets. Many examples from China, most of 

 =>m stated to be cultivated and one accompanied with samples of the fibre 

 fragments of the textiles made of it, viz. that from Ningpo (Hosie's collec- 

 jn) ; Foochow (Carles) ; Kiu kiang (Shearer) ; Yangtsze-kiang (Faber) ; Hong- 

 ( Champion, cultivated). [Cf. Hemsley, Journ. Linn. Soc. (Bot.), 1886, 

 , 94.] From Japan two samples, one said to be cultivated, the other no 

 jrd. Lastly from Perak, Tonkin (Balansa's collection) ; Sarawak and the 

 bee fairly complete sets, but none of them stated to have been found in a 

 Id condition. 



Not a few authors have, however, affirmed that this plant is wild in China, Not 

 Malaya and India. I repeat there are no botanical specimens either in the Indigenous to 

 Calcutta or the Kew Herbaria to support the opinion that it is indigenous to Ill(Ua> 

 idia, and in my personal experience it nowhere exists there, even in a state of 

 climatisation. It is a cultivated plant of a very restricted area, and one 

 aject to greater racial modification than the next form. 



C. olitorius, Linn., including C. decemanffularis, Roxb., FL Ind., India 

 582 ; Camerarius, Hort. Med., 1588, 47, f. 12 ; Prosper Alpinus, De PL generally. 

 [ jBgypti, 1592, 39 and t.; Parkinson, Theat. Bot., 1640, 309 and fig. ; Plukenet, 

 Aim. Bot., 1696, 17 ; Phyt., 1. 127, if. 3, 4; Forskal, FL Mygpt. Arab., 1775, 

 101 ; Lamarck, EncycL Bot., 1786, ii., 103, t, 478, f, 1 ; Bot, Mag., 1828, iv., 



407 



Herbarium 



Specimens. 



