FIBRES 



519 



that the price of jute varied between As. 8 and Rs. 2 per 

 maund. Even in those days apparently there were con- 

 siderable fluctuations in the price of the fibre, but the 

 general level of the values was obviously low enough to 

 excite the envy of modern jute manufacturers. 



In 1828 a separate head was assigned to jute in Customs 

 House records, and it was introduced to Dundee about 

 1830. At first spinning experiments with jute in Dundee 

 do not appear to have been successful, and it was not 

 for some years that it was manufactured tO' any extent 

 by itself. At this period its admixture with other 

 material gave rise to the significant phrase " Warranted 

 free from Indian Jute " in contemporary market quota- 

 tions (vide Wallace, " The Romance of Jute," Calcutta, 

 1909). About the year 1838 the spinning difficulties 

 appear to have been surmounted, and jute began to 

 take its place as the cheapest material for the manu- 

 facture of sacking and of common wrappers. From that 

 time onwards the rapidity with which exports of jute 

 from Calcutta increased was remarkable. In 1829 only 

 about 380 cwt. were dispatched. This increased to 

 i, 800 cwt. in the following year; while the average 

 annual export in the period 1828 to 1833 was 11,800 cwt. 



Period 



1828-33 

 1838-43 

 1848-53 

 1855-56 

 I 860-6 I 



1874-75 

 1878-79 

 1882-83 

 1897-98 

 19II-J2 



TABLE I. 



EXPORT OF JUTE FROM BENGAL. 



Annual export 

 of jute. 

 Cwt. 

 1 1, 800 

 117,047 



439,350 



882,700 



1,074,320 



5,493.957 



6,021,382 



10,348,909 



15,000,000 



16,150,000 



The Crimean War and the consequent temporary 

 shutting off of the Russian exports of flax and hemp, 

 the most serious competitors of jute in the gunny market, 

 gave jute an impetus which it has never lost. 



The export of jute touched 15,000,000 cwt. in 1898, since 



