544 FIBRES 



into Bengal, which is the home of jute. There are, 

 however, two fibre plants to be met with in cultivation 

 in nearly every part of India. Of these, Hibiscus canna- 

 binus produces a fibre which is very similar in many 

 respects to jute, although, naturally enough, it is not 

 looked upon with favour in Calcutta. It is, nevertheless, 

 especially certain varieties of it, a stronger, and probably 

 a more durable fibre than jute, and for this reason alone, 

 if for no other, its cultivation is worthy of encourage- 

 ment. It is produced on a considerable scale in Madras, 

 where there is a fluctuating area of between 50,000 and 

 80,000 acres in the East Coast districts. A gunny mill, 

 whose annual consumption is said to be about 25,000 

 bales, has existed for many years at Bimlipatam, and it 

 was proposed to erect another one at Ellore, in the Kistna 

 district. It is worth noting, too, that some spinners in 

 this country who are in the habit of using Bimlipatam 

 jute also speak well of it. H. cannabinus is cultivated 

 throughout Bombay, and especially in Bihar and the 

 United Provinces, so that a comparatively small per- 

 centage increase over such a large area would have a very 

 considerable effect on the aggregate supply of fibres of 

 the jute class. 



The different races of H. cannabinus have been investi- 

 gated, and the seed of those producing the best fibre has 

 been selected for multiplication, so that the Agricultural 

 Department is now practically ready to supply pure seed 

 of the best kinds in large quantities to the cultivator. It 

 is important to observe that, apart from gunnies and cloth 

 manufactured in Bimlipatam, there is a considerable 

 export from India of hibiscus fibre under the names of 

 Bimlipatam jute, Deccan hemp, etc., to London, where 

 it is a recognized item in the market, and where it is 

 bought for purposes for which jute would otherwise be 

 required. The buyer of jute is thus relieved of a corre- 

 sponding amount of competition. Any prolonged short- 

 age in the supply of true jute i;s fairly certain to cause 

 a considerable development in the cultivation of H. 

 cannabinus. 



We thus see that each of the three methods of 



