August 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
183 
Calcutta, and seeing that the south-west side of the 
island is specially recommended, we would suggest 
that the " New Products Company" and their enter- 
prising manager, Mr. Dobree, should be first in the 
field in giving the new product a fair trial. As 
some help to intending cultivators, we take over what 
is said of the genus to which the Jute plant belongs 
in the " Treasury of Botany " : — 
" Corciiouus. — This genus of TiUiaeece contains between 
forty and fifty species of herbaceous plants or small 
shrubs, with simple leaves, inhabitants of both hemi- 
spheres, but seldom found for beyond the trop- 
ics, Their flowers are produced either singly or 
in clusters opposite the leaves. They have a calyx 
of five deciduous sepals, and a corolla of live petals, 
with numerous stamens, a very short tubular style, 
and from two to five stigmas. Their fruit is long 
and pod-like or roundish, and splits when ripe into 
live divisions, each of which has numerous seeds 
arranged in rows on either side of a longitudinal 
partition. 
" C. Oapsularis is an annual Asiatic plant, growing 
about ten or twelve feet high, and having a straight 
cylindrical stem as thick as tho little finger, and 
seldom branching till near the top. Its leaves are 
about six inches long by one and a half or two 
broad towards the base, but tapering upwards into 
a lone sharp point, and having their edges cut into 
saw like teeth, tho two teeth next the stalk being 
prolonged into bristle like points. The flowers are 
yellow, and produoeed in clusters of two or three 
togotber : they are succeeded by a small almost 
globular but flat- topped fruit. This species, as well 
as C. olilorius, yields the exceedingly valuable fibre 
known uuder the name of Jute. Only twenty years 
ago, Jute was hardly heard of out of India, where 
it had long been in u e amongst the natives for 
making cord age and cl'>th, but it now forms a very 
important article of commerce ; no less than 73S.0S5 
cwt„ valued at G19,6b8/., having been imported to 
this country alone in 1S58. The plant is largely 
cultivated in India ; als oby the Malays and Chinese. 
The fibre is separated hy the ordinary process of 
steeping in water. It is frequently as much as 
twelve foet in Jength, very soft. silky, and separable 
into fine filaments, which arc easily spun. Jute is 
much used in the manufacture of carpets, and some 
kinds of clotli ; but is not suitable for cordage, as 
it will not bear exposure to wet. Its most important 
Use, however, is for the manufacture of the gunny 
bags, ro extensively used for packing cotton, rice, 
and other dry goods, enormous quantities of them being 
exported from India to tho United States for that 
purpose. Very good paper i9 made from the refuse 
fibre, and also from worn-out gunny bags; and a 
kind of whisky, resembling corn-spirit, has been 
distilled from tho waste cods of tho stems. 
" 0. olitorius, is a native of India, but is now na- 
turalised in all parts of the tropics, and extends 
as far north na the shores of the Mediterranean. It 
is an annual plant muoh resembling C. cnpmlaris, 
the principal difference existing in the fruit, which 
in this species is two inches long, almost cylindric- 
al, and about tho thickness of a quill. The young 
shoots <if thi" Bpeciea aro commonly used as a pot- 
herb in tropical countries, as are those of C. cap/ml- 
I oris; it is much grown for this purpose in Egypt 
and Sn .i,,d being u <d by tho Jews, it Ins ob- 
| taiued the n-uuo of Jews' Mallow. It yields part 
I I of tho J inn of commerce. 
H " C. titiipumt*, a common spicies in the West lu- 
ll dies and tropieal Ain-rica, is an horbaceons plant 
ihont two or three feet high; its leaves differ from 
I those of the two last in not having bristles on tho 
l! two bottom teetii, and there i» usually n lineofmin- 
|l Uto bairn ulong tho stem. Tho negroes in 1 lie West 
II Indies uso it for making besoms, and tho inhabitants 
of Panama drink an infusion of the leaves as a sub- 
stitute far tea: hence they call it tc. [\. S.]" 
It will be observed that the Dundee reviewer says 
four months is sufficient to prove whether the culti- 
vation of jute is likely to be a succe-s or not. 
"Quick returns" would bo the rule, and the pro- 
spect of from £10 to £20 an acre of gross value ought 
to be an incentive to coconut and cinnamon planters 
as well as to planters of now products to givo the 
plant a fair trial. 
THE CEYLON DIRECTORY AND HANDBOOK. 
The Planting Depression in Ceylon — "New 
Products ": Jute. 
(From the Dundee Advertiser ) 
Of all Colonial Directories commend us to the Hand- 
book published periodically by the Messrs. A. M. & 
J. Ferguyon, of Colombo. Two years ago we had 
pleasure in noticing an interesting and highly useful 
volume from their hands relating to Ceylon, and now 
we have before us a still more ambitious and success- 
ful effort, entitled The Planting Directory for India 
and Ceylon (I), containing 1,500 page, treating folly 
on all the chief agricultural industries of our great 
Eastern possessions, and we have little hesitation in 
s'ating that all who wish information or. tropical mat- 
ters can scarcely do better than consult this very 
reliable source. The Messrs. Ferguson are practical 
planters, as well as the successful editois of one of the 
oldest and best conducted newspapers in Asia. The 
various "new products" treated of, such as cinchona, 
cocoa, tea, Ltbcriau coffee, cardaroons, &c, now being 
successfully cultivated in Ceylon have all been in- 
troduced and fostered under their own immediate 
observation. It is true, agriculturists in the land 
"where every prospect pleases" have not of late 
been enjoying uninterrupted prosperity any more 
than their brethren in the "Land of Cakes," and 
it may not bo uninteresting nor unprofitable to 
glance for a moment at the chief cause of the 
present troubles of our friends in the East, 
who, situated though they be far beyond the reach 
of North American competition, are yet as depressed 
as agriculturist-, in England or Scotland, and landed 
property has declined equally as much in value as it 
undoubtedly has with us. Amongst the immediate 
causes which have led to this decline must be men- 
tioned the "leaf fungus'' on coffee, a calamity similar 
to what overtook our potato in 1S46, but this is by 
no means the chief cause, which we regret to trace 
to financial parasites, who are ever ready to follow 
in the wake of a promising enterprise and to encourage 
unhealthy speculation. In place of legitimate plant- 
ing, "bogus Companies'' have arisen like mushrooms, 
while bastard brokers have profusely bled the unsus- 
pecting sons of the soil. A few years ago few coun- 
tries stood in a better position financially than this 
model colony. Every planter was looked upon as on 
the highway to fortune, while to have a share in 
a " coffee wattie " was untold wealth : Now all is 
changed ; to be a planter is to be pitied ; to be 
a proprietor a misfortune. A few yens ago, 
when tho price of coffee rapidly rose from 60s 
to 100s per cwt. planters, flushed with success, 
as rapidly extended their acreage ; and, as tho fame 
of their fortune reached their native laud, eager 
adventurers were ready to join their nuk--. F.ist sons 
of well-to-do fathers and fo ld • scions of aristocratic 
families impetuously rushed into coffee, uot. by the 
old-fashioned method of first serving an apprenticeship, 
but arriving with money, at ouco became iull- 
blowu proprietors. That advautago wa» takeu of brain- 
less young capitalists need not occasion much surprise. 
For a timo the demand for young estates knew no 
bounds, and young " estates " were, alas ! rapidly 
manufactured to meet tho demand. Indeed, it is no 
