74 DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



Cultivation. — A hot, moist climate, an abundant rainfall, and a rich, alluvial 

 soil appear to be the conditions most favorable for the successful cultivation 

 of the jute plants. The land nuist be well tilled and abundantly manured. 

 The time for sowing the seed in India extends from about the middle of March 

 to the end of May ; the seed is soAvn broadcast in the prepared ground, the 

 young plants are thinned out to 6 inches apart, and the ground is carefully 

 weeded. The stalks are ready for cutting down between the middle of August 

 and the middle of October. 



Use. — The fiber of the jute is long, hard, coarse, and glossy, but much infe- 

 rior to hemp and flax in point of strength. It is cultivated in Southern and 

 AA^estern Asia and in the Grecian Archipelago, and in Central and North- 

 ern Africa. In the Levant the C. olitorius is grown for a pot-herb, and 

 eaten for a vegetable with meats. The fiber is obtained by steeping the 

 plant and rotting it, in the manner described for preparing hemp; the fiber 

 is hard and woody. AYhen used to manufacture wearing-apparel, it is worked 

 through a machine and treated with fish oil, which in a measure remedies 

 the evil. 



It is used in the manufacture of coarse cloth, gunny bags, sails, and cordage 

 for vessels. It is employed in the adulteration of hemp, and of late years has 

 been applied to the adulteration of silk. 



The pulverized bark is an active purgative, and is employed by the Hindus 

 for that purpose. The Hindus also manufacture paper of jute. Theatrical 

 wigs, switches, Avater-falls, fronts, backs, and bangs are also made of the fiber 

 of this plant. 



Statistics. — Jute ranks in commercial and economic importance, as a tex- 

 tile, next to flax, cotton, and hemp. Great Britain imports large quantities 

 annually, the greatest supply, over 500,000,000 pounds, coming from India. 

 Dundee, in Scotland, is the center of jute manufacture. 



Order XII. LINAGES. 



Calyx of 5, rarely 4, parts, imbricate in the bud. Petals as numer- 

 ous as parts of calyx, hypogynous, twisted. Stamens equal in number 

 to petals, and alternate with them. Ovary 5-4 celled : cells 2-ovnled ; 

 or ovary spuriously IO-8-celled. Styles 3-.5, free. Flowers perfect, 

 regular, in terminal racemes or corymbs. Fruit a globular capsule. 

 Seed compressed. Stem herbaceous, sub-woody. 



Herbs. Number of genera, about 14. 



IINTJM, L. (Flax.) Calyx .5-parted, persistent. Petals, stamens, 

 and styles in 5's, alternating with each other. Seed-vessel .5-celled, 

 each cell partly or entirely separated into 2 cells by a false parti- 

 tion, thus forming 10 imperfect cells ; true cells mostly 2-seeded ; 

 seeds flattened. Leaves sessile, entire, simple, alternate, occasionally 

 opposite, exstipulate. Herbs. Annual. 



I. L. usitatissimum, L. (Common flax.) Stem about 3 feet high, slender, 

 tapering, smooth. Leaves alternate, linear-lanceolate, acute, an inch to an 

 inch and a half long. Flowers in a corymbose panicle ; sepals ovate, acute ; 

 margins membranaceous. Petals subcrenate, large, blue, with a purple tinge, 

 caducous. Seeds compressed, ovate, smooth, and shining, mucilaginous. 

 Annual. 



