49 



THE JUTE FIBRE OF COMMERCE. 



BY ARTHUR ROBOTTOM. 



There is 110 production of India that is so generally distributed over 

 the world as jute, and a few remarks as to its culture and uses may 

 not be uninteresting to the readers of the Technologist, especially as 

 inquiry has been more directed to this staple since the great fire at Cotton's 

 Wharf, where so much was consumed, the public generally having little 

 idea what it is. No plant is more extensively cultivated throughout Bengal 

 than jute ; but it is oidy within the last twenty-five years that this pro- 

 duct has formed such an extraordinary item in our imports from the 

 East, or I may say from Calcutta, as the whole of this fibre is shipped 

 from that port. In a paper like this, I must as far as possible dispense 

 with minute details, as a large volume might be written upon this very 

 important fibre. 



The name jute is said to be derived from the Bengalee term Choti, 

 which means false or deceptive — on account of the fibre having the 

 appearance of beautiful silk when it is exposed to the sun for drying. 



One plant which furnishes the jute of commerce is the Cor chorus 

 capsularis of botanists. This species is distinguished from all others 

 by the capsules being globular, instead of cylindrical. An illustration is 

 given of this plant, and of that which furnishes the Sunn hemp of com- 

 merce. 



Another species cultivated in Bengal is C. olitorius. The fibres of its 

 bark are also employed for making the coarse kind of cloth known as 

 gunny (a corruption of Goni, the native name for the fibre on the 

 Coromandel coast), as well as cordage for agricultural purposes, for boats, 

 and even paper. This species is called in Bengalee, Blunjee pat; the 

 other, Ghinatita pat. There is a wild variety called Bun pat. The fibre 

 is long and fine, and might well be generally substituted for flax. 



For the following account of the culture, I am chiefly indebted to an 

 article on the Agriculture of Hindostan, in 'Simmonds's Colonial 

 Magazine,' vol. ii., p. 284. 



The ground is ploughed from the middle of February until the close 

 of April, the operation extending to five or six double ploughings if the 

 soil is aluminous, or only to three or four if silicious. Sowing is per- 

 formed broadcast some time at the end of April or early in May, if 

 sufficient rain has fallen to moisten the ground, which is generally 

 flat. Two hoeings are necessary if the soil is light, but more if it is 

 tenacious. As soon as the plants have flowered, in July or the beginning 

 of August, being then from 4 to 13 feet high, they are cut. After the 

 plants are cut down, their tops are clipped off, and 50 to 100 in number 

 are bundled together, and tied round in lots ; ten to fifteen of these lots 

 are laid afterward in a shallow tank or reservoir, like rafts, over which 

 a quantity of turf and clods of earth is placed to make it sink under the 



VOL. II. E 



