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to be submerged during the period of its growth. Very fine 
jute is grown on lands which never go under water; it is 
indeed only during the later stages that even the more resis- 
tant of the two commonly grown varieties is capable of with- 
standing heavy flooding without serious damage. It is a 
rapidly growing crop, commonly sown in April and reaped at 
the end of July or beginning of August, which may produce 
20 tons of green matter per acre in about four months; and 
it is, therefore, no matter for surprise that cultivation which 
may be described as intensive gives the best results. Usually 
cow-dung or castor cake or similar general manures are the 
fertilizers which produce the best results, but in some tracts 
the land is acid and the Bengal Agricultural Department has 
shown that lime is capable of materially increasing the crop. 
Apart from preparation of the land and sowing of the seed the 
important operations in connection with the crop are:— 
(a) Weeding and thinning. 
(6) Cutting, steeping (?.e., immersion in water), and retting 
(rotting). 
(c) Stripping the fibre from the retted stem, washing, and 
drying. 
A well-grown crop may be 12 ft. high or even higher, and 
the yield of fibre may be from 30 maunds (over a ton) per acre 
in exceptional cases to 10 matinds or even less. The Govern- 
ment standard of 15 maunds (3 bales) per acre seems to be a 
fair approximation to an average yield for the whole tract. 
The jute grown in Bengal has been carefully classified. 
There are two botanical varieties, viz. :— 
(a) Corchorus olitorius (long-fruited jute), locally known as 
““desi’’ or ‘‘ tosha.’”’ 
() Corchorus capsularis (round-fruited jute). 
The former is more commonly cultivated in the districts 
round Calcutta; it is a heavy yielder, but its fibre is slightly 
coarser than that of C. capsularis; it does not thrive on lands 
which become deeply submerged, but its cultivation is on the 
increase on high land farther north. 
C. capsularis forms the bulk of the jute crop, being prac- 
tically the only kind grown over the whole of the great 
northern tracts of Purnea, Rungpore, Mymensingh, etc. If 
it reaches the height of about 5 ft. before the soil becomes 
submerged it will continue to thrive even though the water 
becomes several feet deep. 
Included in each of the two species named above are 
numerous varieties, viz.:— 
(a) Red-stemmed and green-stemmed. 
(b) Early and late. 
(c) Tall and short. 
