PREPARATION OF JUTE 137 



a thick plank or heavy piece of wood held firmly in 

 position by posts driven into the bed of the pond is 

 recommended as facilitating the washing process by 

 offering something more resistant than water to dash 

 the root-ends of the plant against, these being less 

 perfectly softened by the retting than the upper parts. 



These primitive methods yield an exceptionally 

 pure product, and the retting accomplishes the 

 separation of the strands of bast fibre. Great care is 

 required in the retting operation. If under-retted, 

 the fibre is gummy and in the form of ribbons, whilst 

 if over-retted the product is weak and deficient in 

 lustre. The process has not yet been superseded by 

 machinery. The average yield is a little over 1,200 Ib. 

 per acre, but double this quantity is sometimes 

 obtained. * 



When thoroughly dry, the jute is made up in bunches 

 of as much as can be conveniently held in one hand ; 

 these are doubled in the centre and taken in bundles 

 to the market, where they are sorted according to 

 quality and colour, and then packed in bales for 

 export. The best portions of the crop are exported 

 as " jute proper, 11 the lower grades of the fibre are sold 

 as " rejections," and the hard woody root-ends are 

 known as " cuttings." In Calcutta the bales for 

 export are made by means of hydraulic presses and 

 weigh about 400 Ib. each. 



CHARACTERS, STRUCTURE AND USES OF JUTE 



Jute consists of strands of fibre varying from 5 to 8 

 feet in length. It is usually of a pale yellow or 

 yellowish -brown colour and possesses an excellent 

 lustre. Each strand is composed of a large number 

 of ultimate fibres, varying from 2 to 5 mm. (0*08 to 

 0*2 inch) in length and from about 0*02 to 0*025 nun. 

 (0*0008 to 0*001 inch) in diameter. A transverse 

 section of a filament of jute shows from about 8 to 20 

 ultimate fibres of more or less polygonal outline . These 

 ultimate fibres are thick-walled but have a fairly 

 wide lumen. Their surface is smooth and free from 

 transverse markings such as are borne by flax fibres. 



