520 FIBRES 



when the figures have remained, on the whole, about 

 stationary. In the meantime the great increase in the 

 production of jute has been almost entirely absorbed by 

 the Indian mills, which have practically doubled their con- 

 sumption of fibre. About the year 1855 the first Indian 

 jute mill was established. To-day there are forty-five 

 mills in Bengal, employing over 200,000 people, and con- 

 suming, on an average, fully half of the total quantity of 

 jute produced. 



Jute can be grown in almost any type of soil which 

 has the necessary depth, provided fertilizing material is 

 available ; as well as sufficient water, either in the form of 

 rainfall or of irrigation, to keep the soil moist. Its 

 experimental cultivation in different parts of India has 

 dissipated the idea, long held by nearly all who are not 

 well acquainted with the practical details of its cultivation, 

 viz., that a swampy soil and an excessively damp atmo- 

 sphere are necessary for its successful growth. As a 

 matter of fact, the finest jute is grown on land which 

 never goes under water, and the quality of the fibre 

 produced with irrigation under the almost arid atmospheric 

 conditions prevailing in the Punjab left nothing to be 

 desired. The best crops of jute cannot be raised on 

 shallow stony land or on the acid red laterite soils which 

 are to be found in the " Bahrind " and Madhupur jungle 

 tracts in Bengal, Chota Nagpur, and Orissa. Outside 

 these tracts the crop thrives well in most parts -of Bengal 

 and Assam, but best of all perhaps on the rich alluvial 

 areas in Eastern Bengal, which are renewed every year 

 by the silt brought by the floods from the rivers which 

 inundate them. On lands which receive such an annual 

 deposit of silt the cultivators are in the habit of using 

 little or no manure, and yet, provided weather conditions 

 are favourable, they reap large crops every year. On 

 lands which are not submerged by river floods fairly heavy 

 manuring is necessary, for the green weight of a good 

 crop of jute may be anything from 15 to 20 tons (say 

 400 to 600 maunds). As practically the whole of this 

 growth takes place within three months, it is obvious that 

 plenty of easily available plant food is necessary. The 

 whole question of the manuring of jute is under investi- 



