FIBRES 531 



" root " already referred to in describing the preparation 

 of jute is cut off before baling. In this state it is known 

 in the trade as " jute cuttings." Shortness in the supply 

 of raw material, aided by improved preparing machinery, 

 is causing an increasingly large use in the mills of what 

 used to be disposed of as " cuttings and rejections." The 

 balance is exported for the manufacture of paper. 



The increase in the number of jute press houses has 

 been considerable in recent years, both in the neighbour- 

 hood of Calcutta and in the mofussil, as the following 



figures show : 



TABLE II. 



STATEMENT SHOWING THE NUMBER OF JUTE PRESSES 



FROM iSgi-IQlO INCLUSIVE. 



Year 



1891 



1901 

 1902 



1903 

 1904 

 1905 



1906 



1907 

 1908 

 1909 

 1910 



It is clear from these figures that the number of press 

 houses has more than doubled in the last ten years. The 

 increase is very large in the mofussil, especially in 

 Eastern Bengal, where small presses pressing from i to 

 3 maunds are often encountered in the most out-of-the- 

 way places. Considering the convenience with which 

 baled jute can be handled as compared with the loose 

 fibre, the popularity of the baling press is not to be 

 wondered at. 



The total estimated area under jute in 1901-02 was 

 given as 2,339,100 acres, and the out-turn as 7,000,000 

 bales. Table III gives the estimated acreage in each of 

 the years 1902-12 inclusive, together with the out-turn, 

 according to trade statistics. The figures show that 

 there has been a very considerable increase in acreage 

 approaching 50 per cent, in the course of the last 



