110 



communicated to the West African Colonies, including Lagos, 

 early in 1906 (Colonial Office to Kew, 14th February, 1906). 

 Samples of fibre, subsequently submitted to the Imperial Institute 

 from the Western Province of S. Nigeria, one (green stem) was 

 reported on as being of very good quality — soft, well prepared, 

 lustrous, of good length and strength, and regarded by commercial 

 experts as equal to good medium Bengal jute, and worth £15 to 

 £16 per ton (with " first marks" Calcutta jute at £14 per ton) ; 

 another sample (red stem) was of similar quality, but somewhat 

 darker in colour, valued at £13 to £14 per ton, and said to be 

 saleable in any quantity (Bull. Imp. Inst. 1908, p. 126). 



A sample from N. Nigeria, grown from imported seed, was 

 described as soft, fine, greyish, fairly lustrous, but not well 

 cleaned ; about 4 feet long, worth £24 per ton (with medium 

 jute at £23 to £25 per ton), and regarded as very suitable for the 

 best purposes of jute spinning (I.e. p. 127). 



Jute is manufactured into carpets, carpet backings, tarpaulins, 

 backing for floor cloths, curtains, shirtings, paper (chiefly from 

 the " butts " or fibre from the base of the stem), cordage, an ad- 

 mixture with and sometimes as a substitute for silk ; an admixture 

 with flax goods and hempen goods ; and, perhaps the most 

 important of all its uses, " gunny bags" or " gunnies." Wherever 

 a trade in grain (wheat, rice, etc.) sugar, coffee, ground-nuts, 

 potatoes and other products is carried on, it may in general be 

 taken as the distribution of the gunny bag. Sir Alfred Moloney, 

 under " Staple Articles of Trade," on a visit to the Eastern Limit 

 of the Colony of Lagos (Benin River approximately), in 1881, 

 notes that new or second-hand bags, after a rice voyage to Europe, 

 are used for export of kernels, and that great loss in such bags is 

 at times experienced from the ravages of the forest rats. 



The so-called " jute butts " and the various qualities of cloth 

 made from jute, ultimately find their way into the paper mills. 

 On account of the introduction of other fibrous materials such as 

 brown mechanical wood pulp, wood cellulose, etc., for the manu- 

 facture of wrapping papers, the demand for jute has diminished 

 considerably, although it was formerly very extensively employed 

 as a substitute for manila, which, on account of the extraordinary 

 strength of the fibres, forms a very valuable paper-making raw 

 material, especially for the manufacture of papers in which 

 strength is of primary and colour of secondary importance 

 (Hiibner, in Journ. Soc. Arts, li. 1903, p. 836). 



Amongst other uses to which the jute plant is put may be 

 mentioned the dried leaves used medicinally in India, eaten at 

 breakfast time with rice in cases of dysentery ; the seed when 

 fried yields an oil chiefly used for lighting purposes (Diet. Econ. 

 Prod. Ind.). Three varieties of the plant, Marua, corylifolia, and 

 pyrifolia are eaten as vegetables in India (Burkill & Finlow, in 

 Journ. Proc. As. Soc. Bengal, December, 1907, p. 633). 



The trade in jute in India from 1828 onwards appears to have 

 always been continuous and steady. The beginning was small, 

 the record being 364 cwt. for the imports to this country during 

 the year mentioned, but it soon developed owing to the demand 

 for the manufacture of gunny bags. Dundee wag the chief 



