January, 1910.] 



17 



Fibres. 



areas and outturn are very uncertain. 

 The fibre obtained in the east of the 

 United Provinces is perhaps of better 

 quality than that grown in the west. 

 It occupies in the Punjab an insigni- 

 ficant area. It is frequently grown as a 

 border crop round sugarcane, cotton 

 and maize, as a protection against stray- 

 ing cattle, It is never grown in separ- 

 ate plots. The produce is chiefly used 

 locally. It is cultivated, to some extent, 

 throughout Upper Burma ; but it is not 

 likely, in the near future, to have any 

 particular commercial importance. The 

 total area is at present about 10,000 

 acres. 



Crotalaria juncea. — The fibre of this 

 crop does not compete with jute as does 

 that of Hibiscus cannabinus ; but in 

 market value it is superior to both. 

 Sann-hemp can best be grown in dis- 

 tricts of moderate rainfall, and, there- 

 fore, does not compete with rice. It is, 

 in some parts of India, frequently grown 

 as a green manure crop before rice, and 

 in others as a second crop in the same 

 year after early rice for fibre. This 

 rotation is advantageous, because Sann 

 is a leguminous crop. The total acreage 

 under the crop in the Bombay Presi- 

 dency in 1906-07 was 23,700 acres and in 

 1907-08, 25,470 acres. It is chiefly grown 

 as a kharif crop f or fibre, but also to a 

 considerable extent as a green manure 

 crop. In the Thaua District it is grown 

 as rabi crop, in succession to early rice, 

 for fibre, which is used by fishermen in 

 making twine for nets. The returns for 

 Madras give a total of over 300,000 acres; 

 but it is known that only a very small 

 proportion of this — less than 20,000 

 acres —is grown for fibre. It is most 

 extensively cultivated for fibre in the 

 Northern Oircars, chiefly in the Amala- 

 puram and Narsapur Taluks of the 

 Godavari and Kistna Districts. In the 

 rest of the Presidency, with the excep- 

 tion of the Tiunevelly District, where 

 some fibre is manufactured into ex- 

 tremely durable gunny bags, the culti- 

 vation of the crop is confined to the 

 production of fodder. In Eastern Ben- 

 gal and Assam this crop is largely 

 grown in the Serajganj sub-division of 

 the district of Pabna, where the esti- 

 mated area is 33,900 acres, and where it 

 is generally grown, in the cold weather, 

 on land which bears a jute crop in the 

 same year. The area in Ohittagong, 

 where it is also grown as a rabi crop 

 decreased from 7,900 acres in 1906-07 

 to 1,600 acres in 1907-08. The total esti- 

 mated area in Eastern Bengal and 

 Assam is about 42,000 acres, and the 

 estimated export of the fibre is 30,000 

 maunds. In Eastern Bengal jute is 

 much more important, but it is possible 



that the cultivation of Sann-hemp can 

 be somewhat extended with profit, 

 though as the water-supply for retting 

 is limited in February and March, the 

 months of its cutting, this would only 

 be along the banks of rivers. In the 

 Serajganj sub-division it is only grown 

 for fibre quite close to water. 



A note by Mr. Clouston, the Deputy 

 Director of Agriculture in the Central 

 Provinces, on the cultivation of fibre 

 plants in the Central Provinces, was 

 published in the Agricultural Journal 

 of India (April, 1908). The total area 

 under Sann in the Central Provinces 

 was 55,400 acres in 1907 which increas- 

 ed in 1908 to 85,044 acres. In Berar 

 the acreage was 32,360 in 1907 and 

 35,484 in 1908. It is always grown as 

 a pure crop and is cultivated for 

 its fibre chiefly ; but the seed is a valued 

 cattle food. It is generally believed that 

 only one variety of Sann is grown 

 throughout the Central Provinces and 

 Berar. Retting costs a good deal, and a 

 suitable cheap machine to extract the 

 fibre might be advantageous in extend- 

 ing the cultivation. The area in the 

 Central Provinces has nearly doubled 

 duriug the last ten years, where Sann 

 cultivation is so profitable that the crop 

 has been largely substituted for wheat. 

 The cultivators understand that this 

 crop is a hardy one and improves the 

 condition of the land. It is grown to a 

 small extent as a green manure crop, 

 particularly for irrigated wheat and 

 sugarcane. In the cotton tracts no 

 extension of this crop can be expected, 

 as cotton pays better. In the rice tracts, 

 Sann could probably be profitably grown 

 on much of the land which is planted 

 with other second crops. The total 

 quantity of Sann-hemp exported from 

 the Province and the value of the same 

 from 1904 to 1906 are shown below :— 



Year. 



1904- 05 



1905- 06 



1906- 07 



1907- 08 



Maunds. 

 226,7^1 

 201,402 

 168,096 

 271,727 



Value. 

 12,18,783 

 10,82,534 



9,03,513 

 14,60,532 



In the Punjab there were 57,000 acres 

 under Sann-hemp in 1906 and 52,400 acres 

 in 1908. The sub-montane tracts showed 

 the greatest area, very little being 

 grown in the south-west of the Province. 

 Throughout the Punjab, the crop is 

 usually sown in very small plots, and 

 very little is marketed. The crop is 

 sown almost solely for fibre, but in the 

 Hoshiarpur District, it is estimated that 

 l-10th of the crop was grown for green 

 manuring. The practice of green manur- 

 ing with Sann is rare at present. The 

 retting and cleaning of the fibre are 

 regarded as being tedious and expensive, 



