JUTE GROWING IN WEST AFRICA 143 



be produced in the country, but they were on too 

 small a scale to show whether a successful industry 

 could be established on commercial lines. In 1905, 

 in consequence of the increasing utilisation of jute 

 in India and the consequent difficulty experienced 

 by the jute spinners of Dundee in obtaining adequate 

 quantities of their raw material, the Dundee Chamber 

 of Commerce endeavoured to introduce the cultiva- 

 tion into British West Africa. Early in the year 

 1906, arrangements were made by the Colonial Office 

 with the Government of India for a supply of Indian 

 jute seed for distribution in the West African Pos- 

 sessions, and a Memorandum on the cultivation and 

 preparation of the fibre drawn up by the Inspector- 

 General of Agriculture, India, was communicated to 

 these countries. It was proposed that experiments 

 should at first be carried out on a small scale in order 

 to ascertain the adaptability of Indian jute to West 

 African conditions. 



Gambia. An experimental trial was made in the 

 Gambia in 1897. The fibre produced was strong, of 

 good spinning properties, well prepared, and was 

 classed as being of medium quality and quite market- 

 able ; it was rather short, however, on account of 

 the season of growth having been exceptionally dry. 



Further experiments were made in 1907 at Kotu, 

 and several samples of the fibre examined at the 

 Imperial Institute were found to be of good service- 

 able quality. The yield per acre, however, was too 

 small and the cost of production too great for the crop 

 to prove remunerative. 



Sierra Leone. Considerable attention has been 

 devoted to jute growing in Sierra Leone, and much 

 interest has been taken in it by the Government of 

 that Colony. A specimen of fibre, probably derived 

 from Corchorus capsularis, grown in the Ronietta 

 district, was examined at the Imperial Institute in 

 1905, and was found to resemble Indian jute in both 

 chemical and mechanical properties. A specimen of 

 the fibre of C. capsularis grown at Kangahun was 

 composed of fine, soft, silky, lustrous fibre, of good 

 colour, but poor strength, and was valued at 22- 



