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to be submerged during the period of its growth. Very fine 

 jute is grown on lands which never go under water; it is 

 indeed only during the later stages that even the more resis- 

 tant of the two commonly grown varieties is capable of with- 

 standing heavy flooding without serious damage. It is a 

 rapidly growing crop, commonly sown in April and reaped at 

 the end of July or beginning of August, which may produce 

 20 tons of green matter per acre in about four months; and 

 it is, therefore, no matter for surprise that cultivation which 

 may be described as intensive gives the best results. Usually 

 cow-dung or castor cake or similar general manures are the 

 fertilizers which produce the best results, but in some tracts 

 the land is acid and the Bengal Agricultural Department has 

 shown that lime is capable of materially increasing the crop. 

 Apart from preparation of the land and sowing of the seed the 

 important operations in connection with the crop are : 



(a) Weeding and thinning. 



(b) Cutting, steeping (i.e., immersion in water), and retting 

 (rotting). 



(c) Stripping the fibre from the retted stem, washing, and 

 drying. 



A well-grown crop may be 12 ft. high or even higher, and 

 the yield of fibre may be from 30 maunds (over a ton) per acre 

 in exceptional cases to 10 maunds or even less. The Govern- 

 ment standard of 15 maunds (3 bales) per acre seems to be a 

 fair approximation to an average yield for the whole tract. 



The jute grown in Beng'al has been carefully classified. 

 There are two botanical varieties, viz.: 



(a) Corchorus olitorius (long-fruited jute), locally known as 

 "desi" or " tosha." 



(b) Corchorus capsularis (round-fruited jute). 



The former is more commonly cultivated in the districts 

 round Calcutta; it is a heavy yielder, but its fibre is slightly 

 coarser than that of C. capsularis; it does not thrive on lands 

 which become deeply submerged, but its cultivation is on the 

 increase on high land farther north. 



C. capsularis forms the bulk of the jute crop, being prac- 

 tically the only kind grown over the whole of the great 

 northern tracts of Purnea, Rungpore, Mymensing-h, etc. If 

 it reaches the height of about 5 ft. before the soil becomes 

 submerged it will continue to thrive even though the water 

 becomes several feet deep. 



Included in each of the two species named above are 

 numerous varieties, viz.: 



(a) Red-stemmed and green-stemmed. 



(b) Early and late. 



(c) Tall and short. 



