FIBRES 529 



early races are grown in the more southerly districts, the 

 latest races of all are commonly cultivated here. In 

 Pabna, Dacca, Tipperah, and Faridpur, for instance, a 

 large proportion of the jute is very late, and even so- 

 called aus crops are comparatively much later than the 

 early races of the northerly districts. 



Somewhat similar differences as regards colour and the 

 time of ripening are to be found among the races of 

 C. olitorius; but in this case the cultivation of both early 

 and later races is confined to the Southern districts. 

 Very little C. olitorius is grown north of Sirajganj. 



Recent investigation by the writer has indicated con- 

 siderable differences in the quality of the fibre yielded by 

 different plants of jute. These differences appear to be 

 an intrinsic property of the plant, though the quality of 

 the fibre of all plants also seems to be subject to certain 

 fluctuations due to the effect of environment. Using this 

 property as the basis of selection, it has been found 

 possible to obtain pure cultures of jute which appear to 

 show an average improvement of 10 per cent., and in 

 some cases of nearly 20 per cent., over the average for 

 the parent race from which the original single plant 

 selection was made. The demand for really superior jute 

 fibre appears to be somewhat limited, but the method of 

 selection seems to be of general application, and it may 

 possibly be of considerable use in improving other fibres 

 the quality of which is of more importance than is the 

 case with jute. 



The prepared jute fibre may enter the market in one of 

 several ways. In the early days of the jute trade it was 

 common for the ryot to bring his produce to a large 

 centre and there sell it direct to a big dealer. Nowadays 

 the ryot seldom comes farther than the various country 

 centres or hats, where he sells to the be part, or native 

 dealer. In a large number of cases a small dealer called 

 a faria travels from village to village buying up small 

 quantities of jute, which he ultimately takes by boat, if 

 possible, into the nearest country market. Here he meets 

 both the bepari, or native dealer, and also in recent years 

 the representatives of large European farms. Formerly 

 the beparl used to have the smaller country markets to 



