266 
would therefore be better to call this fibre simply “China jute. 
There is a fibre yielded by a species | of Abutilon, but this appears to 
come from Northern China. 
Sir Villiers Lister, K.C.M.G., (Signed). sen iam 
Foreign Office, S.W. 
Acting Consul HOSIE to FOREIGN OFFICE. 
My Lorp, Chefoo, Septembe er 5, 1891. 
WITH reference to the enclosure in your lordship’s despatch to 
me of June 5th last, wherein the Assistant Director of the Royal 
Gardens, Kew, mentions a plant grown in North China which yields a 
A eases i in the London market as China jute, I have the honour to 
forward herewith a brief report on the cultivation of the plant in 
question, and on the method of extracting the fibre 
I am sending direct to Kew, by parcel post, ¢ dried flowering and 
fruiting specimens of the plant, a packet of seed, and a sample of the 
fibre. [These were subsequently shown to be derived foi Abutilon 
Avicenne. ] 
The only other plant cultivated in this neighbourhood for its fibre is 
Cannabis sativa or Russian hemp. 
(Stoned) a's, Host 
The Marquis of Salisbury, K.G., Acting Consul. 
Foreign Office. 
{ Enclosure. | 
REPORT on the CULTIVATION ot a FIBRE-YIELDING PLANT at 
CHEF 
This plant, known in the North a China as Ch’ing Ma, or more 
briefly Ch’ing, yields the fibre, also called Ch’ing, which appears as 
“ jute” in the export returns of the Imperial Maritime Customs. It is 
annual. The seedsare sown towards the middle of April in land that 
has previously been well worked and manured, several seeds being sown 
her at intervals of about a foot apart, and not more than an inch 
under the surface. Unless, nowsver, the soil is rich, only one of the 
seedlings is allowed to mature. In years of normal rainfall the stems 
esa are branchless wit th ee te large smooth serrated ovate 
minate green leaves with long leaf-stalks, attain a height of eight to 
ten feet. They are green and supple throughout, with a circumference 
