

DETERIORATION OF THE FIBRE 



CORCHORUS 



Investigations 



to-day. The cry of deterioration, as already hinted at, is largely, in fact, 

 a scapegoat. Ki-rr remarked : " I believe I am justified in inferring that 

 in proportion to the increase of the cultivation, the quantity of medium 

 ami inferior jute has been greater season after season. When the demand 

 at and the price high, as they have been for some time, people find a 

 ready market for whatever they can produce, and naturally become care- 

 \\hereas a glutted market leads to the rejection of inferior articles, 

 and consequently cultivators are driven to the necessity of care in improving 

 t he quality of their goods." There would seem very little more to be said 

 to-da\- on this subject except to make the commonplace observation (true 

 ol all branches of trade) that, whenever an attempt is made to "corner" 

 a particular article, a rise of price must be closely accompanied by a fall 

 in quality. Some few years ago (1887-8) my attention was specially 

 directed to the subject of jute deterioration, and I accordingly took steps 

 to have samples of the jute plant collected from all the districts of India 

 where the plant was grown for its fibre. These came to hand during 1901-3, 

 and may be now regarded as fairly complete. My object was primarily 

 to discover if the recognised trade qualities could be traced to racial forms 

 I the plant, or to climatic and soil conditions, or to methods of separation 

 lid drying of the fibre. It seemed probable there were two explanations 

 f deterioration, assuming for the moment that the trade is correct in 

 rmiim deterioration, viz. (a) substitution of a prolific though poor stock 

 plant, and (b) actual deterioration through exhaustion of soil. Since my 

 departure from India many experiments and investigations have been 

 continued by the Inspector- General of Agriculture, by the Superin- 

 tendent of the Royal Botanic Gardens, by the Agricultural Chemist, 

 by the Director of Agriculture, Bengal, and by the Reporter on 

 Economic Products, in co-operation with the Committee of the Baled 

 Jute Association. There have been brought together in consequence 

 an extensive series of botanical specimens, of fibres, of soils on which 

 the plant is grown and of waters used in retting, and these have all 

 been critically examined and analysed, with the result that no direct con- 

 firmation has been obtained of a deterioration attributable to the culti- 

 vators. Moreover, the existence of botanical varieties under C. caftsn- 

 luris and C. ol i tori us has also been denied: the distinctive features 

 based on colour of sterns, etc. (upheld by agriculturists) have been 

 viewed as alone justifying their acceptance as crosses, sports or races, not 

 varieties. In passing it may be here repeated that Roxburgh says the 

 .dish-stemmed forms of C. capsalaris were imported from Canton, 

 and then gave a superior fibre to the Bengal forms of that plant. 



A feature of considerable importance in the controversy of deterioration 

 has been established, namely that over and above occasional flooding of 

 the markets with waste (that formerly would have been regarded as having 

 no market value), the fibre is often nowadays deliberately damped in order 

 to increase its weight. This would seem to be done by the middlemen 

 (beparis), and not by the cultivators. N. G. Mukerji and R. S. Finlow, in a 

 joint note on a tour of inspection, say " the raiyat produced good dry jute, 

 ut the article never reached Calcutta or Dundee as it was produced. The 

 bepari would not buy damp jute." Nothing could be more injurious ; for, 

 once dried, if subsequently moistened, the fibre rapidly loses both strength 

 and colour and has its value thus materially lowered, besides necessitating 

 its having to be opened out and dried before it can be baled with any 



419 



- ij.-Vi it. 



Drink Demand 



ai'l i '.iri-li- 

 Preparation. 



Trade 



Qualities and 

 Racial Forma. 



No 



Deterioration 

 attributed to 

 the Cultivators. 



Sports, not 

 Varieties. 



Fibre 



deliberately 



damped. 



Nothing could 

 be more 

 Injurious. 



