JUTE CULTIVATION 133 



yields, but it is said that the stems do not ret uniformly. 

 Sandy soils produce coarse fibre. Rich loams, that 

 is, rich mixtures of clay and sand, seem the best. 

 In India, the finer varieties are cultivated on the 

 higher lands on which rice, pulses, vegetables and 

 tobacco are grown ; such crops are often rotated with 

 the finer qualites of jute. The coarse and larger 

 varieties are grown on alluvial deposits and islands 

 formed by rivers, and also on the lowlands liable to 

 inundation. The plant also grows on salt-impreg- 

 nated soils, such as those of the Sunderbans. 



CULTIVATION 



The soil is broken up thoroughly and finely pulver- 

 ised, heavy or clayey soils requiring more ploughing 

 than lighter or alluvial soils ; the more thorough the 

 ploughing the better the yield. In India, 4-12 

 ploughings are given with the primitive ploughs of the 

 country, and at the last ploughing all weeds are 

 collected, dried and burned. The land is sometimes 

 hoed instead of being ploughed. The soil is also 

 harrowed or the clods are broken up with a mattock. 

 Manures are sometimes used when the seed is sown 

 early. On lands, such as the rich alluvial areas in 

 Eastern Bengal, which receive a deposit of silt each 

 year from the rivers that inundate them, manuring 

 is not usually necessary. In other cases, however, 

 the continuous growth of the plant on the same soil 

 renders it liable to become much branched, and this 

 leads to a diminution in the length of the fibre. Jute 

 is a somewhat exhausting crop, but the exhaustion 

 can be remedied by manuring, by fallowing, or by 

 rotation with other crops, such as mustard, rice, and 

 pulses. The manures used are cowdung, oil-cake, 

 rice-crop stubble, and ashes. Cowdung gives the 

 best results, and should be applied in quantities of 

 25 tons per acre. The manure is spread on the 

 land as evenly as possible and ploughed in before 

 sowing. The return of the jute stems to the soil after 

 the fibre has been extracted is of value as affording 

 additional organic matter. Green manuring with 



