Fibres. 



10 



[January, 1910. 



other parts of India. The results of the 

 experiments indicate that jute might be 

 grown in — 



(a) The Deltas of the Godavari and 

 Kistna, Madras (with irrigation). 



(&) The Malabar Coast, Madras. 



(c) The Chhattisgarh and Nagpur 

 Divisions of the Central Provinces (with 

 irrigation). 



In the Madras Presidency, a number of 

 private landowners are trying jute in 

 small areas on the Malabar Coast 

 districts. Experiments in the Kavery 

 delta have been abandoned, as want of 

 skill on the part of the cultivators and 

 the remunerativeness of paddy augured 

 no success. The same causes will pro- 

 bably hinder progress in the Godavari 

 and Kistna deltas. In the Central 

 Provinces, the crop will continue to be 

 grown on demonstration plots. Its 

 cultivation will probably be limited to 

 tank-irrigated areas where it may 

 possibly alternate with wheat, the latter 

 being a dry rabi season second crop. In 

 Bombay, the experiments were not 

 successful, aud the crop is not likely to 

 be introduced on a large scale anywhere 

 in the Presidency. It is not likely that 

 Jute can be profitably grown in the 

 irrigated districts of the Punjab, unless 

 practical arrangements can be made for 

 retting the crop. Artificial tanks filled 

 from the canals would as a rule be 

 required. In the United Provinces of 

 Agra and Oudh there does not seem to 

 be, at average prices, much room for this 

 crop in the districts served by the 

 canals, and if the crop is grown to any 

 extent, difficulties many arise, as in the 

 Punjab, in making proper arrangements 

 for retting. Jute has been successfully 

 cultivated in the lands belonging to the 

 Maubin Jail in the lrrawaddy Delta for 

 a number of years; but although this 

 success has been duly advertised and 

 quantities of seed have, from time to 

 time, been distributed to other parts of 

 Burma, the experiments have failed to 

 induce general cultivation. The crop 

 has not become popular in Burma pro- 

 bably on account of the deamess of 

 labour and the extra trouble involved 

 in its cultivation as compared with 

 paddy ; but a number of private indi- 

 viduals have taken up jute cultivation 

 in an experimental way. The suitability 

 of the crop for Lower Burma will be 

 particularly studied at the Hmawbi 

 Agricultural Station, especially iu regard 

 to the right times of sowing, the varie- 

 ties which can be most profitably grown 

 and the possibility of growing rice aud 

 jute on the same laud in the same year. 

 It is believed that the development of 



jute cultivation, on any commercial 

 scale, will depend on the erection of a 

 Jute Mill in Rangoon or any other 

 convenient centre, but the cost of labour 

 iu Burma, as compared with India, may 

 form a serious commercial disadvantage. 



Hibiscus cannabinus (Ambadi, Mesta- 

 pat, Gogu, Sankukra). — This plant is 

 cultivated in many parts of India as a 

 mixed crop, but rarely as a pure crop 

 excepting on the East Coast of Madras, 

 aud, to some extent, in the jute-growing 

 districts of Bengal. It grows excellently 

 on well-drained land in a wet climate, 

 such as may be found in the jute dis- 

 tricts ; but it is capable also of thriving 

 under conditions which would not suit 

 jute without irrigation. In this last, 

 fact lies the importance of the plant. 

 There is no advantage to be got by 

 extending its cultivation where jute 

 will easily thrive ; but in regions of 

 more moderate rainfall the cultivation 

 of Hibiscus cannabinus might profitably 

 be extended. In Madras, its cultivation 

 is firmly established in Vizagapatam and 

 Guntur, which include 6/7ths of the 

 total acreage of the crop in the 

 Presidency (68,000 acres in 1906-07). In 

 1907-08, when the total acreage was 

 71,476, it was, in these two districts 

 60,620 acres. It has been suggested that 

 the quality of the fibre has deterior- 

 ated, but enquiries made on the spot in 

 1906 indicated that the alleged deterior- 

 ation is due to fraudulent watering and 

 to carelessness in preparation owing to 

 high prices, rather than to any actual 

 deterioration of the plant. Prices have 

 recently been low. A mill for spinning 

 this fibre and manufacturing it into 

 gunnies has been worked for some 

 years at Bimlipatam, which probably 

 accounts for the considerable area under 

 the crop in the Vizagapatam District. 

 Another mill has recently been opened 

 at Ellore in the Kistna District and 

 may encourage extended cultivation. 

 The total acreage under this crop in 

 1906-07 in the Bombay Presidency was 

 said to be 145,623, but for 1907-08 only 

 97,821 acres are recorded. It is generally 

 mixed with other kharif crops, and the 

 fibre is used chiefly for well ropes and 

 for other home purposes. In the Cent- 

 ral Provinces, it is grown in mixed 

 crops. Its fibre is considered inferior 

 to that of Sann (Crotalaria juncea) ; the 

 general opinion being that Sann gives a 

 better outturn of fibre and a greater 

 profit per acre when each crop is plauted 

 alone. The extent to which Hibiscus 

 cannabinus is grown as a mixture with 

 other crops in the United Provinces is 

 not known. It is usually grown as a 

 border crop, and calculations regarding 



