578 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March i, 1895. 
Of the Government Agr'cultura' Laboratory to ascer- 
tain and make knowu what the/ are. This work needs 
be done by t'ie slow, fcteady perseverance of a Govern- 
ment Department. It would be easy to : btain t ; e co- 
operation of the leadb g Colo ial agricultur sts, many 
Ot whom probably would be bo h able and willing to 
assist in the invesiigation, not only by fumi hing 
samples of soil, but by preparing and superintendii g 
the cultivation of trial plots, and jarefu ly reporting 
the re ulta ob'ained by each >pecial ctoy grown uhd t 
the different experimen al co ditions. If such a 
system could be orgmised it wou'd not only *iive 
the large experse nec ssary for the upkeep rfa 
farm, bit would offer the gr at advantage of enabling 
trials to be made ;tt p'ace some distance apart where 
there would be different nie'eji jlugical conditions, 
thus eliminating a source of un;er ti ty i s pat 
from tr als made on one f . in). The aualysi • of the 
Boil, ma ures, and crops wou d be do eat the Goven - 
inent laboratory. The pioyre-s of the inveatiga ion 
and the results obtained should be publis 1 e i in. detail 
in a series of yearly reports.— Natal Meraunj. 
PRODUCTION OF JU I E AND SAN FIHUE IN 
INDIA 
Jute is largely cultivated in the northern and ea c tl | p 
districts of Bengal, and, to a smaller extent, in the 
central d stricts of the province. It is grown also 
although not extensively, in Assam. The United 
States Consul-General at Calcutta says that jute 
seems to be capable of cultivation on almost any 
kind of soil. It is 'east successful, ho a ever, upon 
laterite and gravely soils, and most productive upo • 
a loamy soil or rich clay and sand. The finest 
qualities are grown upon the higher lands, ution 
Which rice, pulse and tobacco form the rota ion. 
Tie coirser and larger qualities ore grown chiefly 
upon mul banks and islands formed by the livers. 
When the crop is to be raised on low lands, where 
there is danger of early flooding, ploughing begins 
earlier than upon the higher 'aucU. The pre, araiim 
commences til No ember or December in the low 
lands, and elswhere in February or March; the soil 
is, ploughed from four to six times, the clods pul- 
verised, and at the. fi al ploughing, the weeds are 
collected, dried, and burnel. No special atte itiou is 
paid to good seeds, nor do cultivators buy or sell 
their seed. In thw corner of the fie'd a few plants 
are left to ripen and pioduse the seed that is sown 
broadcast the fo'!o;ving year . The sowings, accord- 
ing to the position and na ura of the soil, begin about 
the middle of March and extend o the end of June. 
The time for ) eaping the crop depends entirely 
on the date of sowing the season c mmoiv ing with 
the eirliest crop about the end of June and . lasting 
until October. The crop is considered to be in season 
whenever the flowers bloom, and to be past the 
season whenever the fruits appear. The fibre from 
plants that have not flowered i< weaker than from 
those in frui' ; the latter, though stronger, is coarser 
and wanting fin gloss. The avera e crop < f fibre 
per acre is over 1,200 lb., b it the yield varies 
considerably, being as high as 4,0:01b. in some 
distric's, and as low as 25 ) lb. in others At pres nt 
as practised by the natives, the fibre is se arated 
from the stems by a process of retting in pools of 
stagnant water. In some dislricts, the crop is stacked 
in bundles for two or three days to give tin* J for the 
decay of the leaves, which are said to discolour tin 
fibre in the retting process; in others the bundles 
are carried off and at once thrown into the water. 
In some districts the bundles of jute stems are 
submerged in rivers, but the common practi .-e seems 
to be in favonr of tanks or roadside stagnant pools. 
The period of retting depends upon th-s nature of 
the water, the description of fibre, and the condition 
of the atmosphere and it varies from two to twenty- 
five days. The operator has, therefore, to vi it the 
tank daily to ascertain if the fibre has begun to 
separate from the stem. This piriod must not be 
exceeded, otherwise the fibre becomes rotten, and 
alri}03t useless for commercial purposes. The bandies 
are made to sink in the water by placing on them 
sods and mud. When the proper stage has been 
r ached, t 1 e resting in rapidly completed. J i. • 
labourer, standing up to bis waist in the w«ter, 
proceed* to remove small portions of the bark from 
the ends next the roots, and grasping them to- 
gethe", strips off the whole from euf to end 
without breaking either stein or fibre. Having 
br. ught a certain quantity into this half-prepared 
state, he next proceeds to wash off, which is done 
by taking a large handful, swinging it round his 
herd, dasuiug it repeatedly against i' e surface of 
the water, and drawing it through the water tow >rd < 
I i tn so as to wash off the impurities; tben with a 
d xterous throw he spreads it out on the surface 
of the watc, aud concludes by carefully picking 
off all reiuaini g black spots. He then wrings it 
. out so as to letuove as much water as possible and 
hangs it up on liues prepared on th* sp^t to dry 
in the sun. There are i i India 2(i jute factories 
8,101 looms, and 101 815 spindle*, which give em- 
pi lyment to 61(915 persons, and consume 2,809,088 
cwts. of jute. Tney are almost exclusively employed 
in the gunnv bag or cloth trade, a few only doing 
business in cordage, floor cloth, or otber manufac- 
tures San or suuu in urown by itself, or at times 
is raised in strips on the margins of fields, mil is 
nev r cultivate I as a mixed crop. It is osaally sown 
in June or at the beginning of the rains, and cut 
at the close of the rain s a on — about the 1st of 
Octobi . It r quires a light, but not necessarily, 
rich soil, tho'-gh it cannot be grown on clay. It is 
believe! by cultivator -i to improve the soil; and as 
it is supposed to tefresli e»nau-ted land, it is con- 
si e-ed a go d prepir torv crop, and is frown 
as such, every Rocotld or third year, in fields required 
for sugar-c ine and tobacco. The ground is roughly 
plpughed twice Mild th ■ seed sown broadcast, and as 
it terminates immediat ly. appearing ab .ve ground 
within 21 hours, no weed ng isrequ ted. Fiom 12 
to ti) lb. of seed are used to ih-j acre, the opinion 
prevai i g, h weve , that thick sowing is more 
de-irable O.- imrily the crop is harvested sfter the 
flowers have appeared, but the plants are frtquently 
left on the field until the fruits have begun to 
form, i nd sometimes until they nro ripe. Tbere is 
a great i ifferenc of O; inion as to whether the 
cro,j should be dried b fore beiu steeped, or carried 
at o' ce to the retting tanks. When stripped of 
the leaves, which ar highly esteemed as manu e, 
the sta ks are made up into bundle and placed 
upright for a ay • r two in water a couple of feet 
deep, si ce the bar* on the bnt's is th'cker and 
more tenacious than th t on the upper portion, 
and, Pier fore, r. quires longer exposure to fermen- 
tation, the bundles are then !ai > down lengthways 
in the water, and kept submer ed by being weigh ti d 
with e irth. It can g>-n erall v b ascertained wben 
the 'et'ing is complet- by r he bark of the lower end< 
of the stems separating ea-il ; but too I >ug fermen- 
tation, while it white s, injures its strength. Having 
discovered ihat the necessary de ree of retting has 
been attained, the cultivator, stmJing in the water 
up to his knees, takes a bundle of the stems in 
his hand and hrashes the water with them until 
the tissu. s give av and the long clean fibres eepa- 
1 rate f n m the centra : canes When the fibre has 
I been sepirattd an th rongh'y wa hed it is the 
usual custom to hang it over bamboos to be d ied 
and bleached |ii the sun. When dry it is c rnbed, 
if required for textile puiposesi-r fo nets a d lines; 
but if for ordinary use ;or rope; i nd twines, it is 
merely s parated and cleaned by the fingers, while 
hanging cv r the bamboo. The output per acr.i of 
san fibre ranges from 150 to l.vOO lb, but the 
estimated average is 010 lb to the acre. The chief 
purpose for which san is utilised at the present day 
is the manufacture of a c arse cloth or canvas, used 
principally for sacking. A large amount of the 
fibre is used in the native cordage tra !e, for which 
it is stated to be well adapted, and considerable 
quantities of the fibre are also con-umed b» the 
European rope makers in India. The waste tow 
and old tnateiials are made into paper. In many 
districts paper is regularly manufactured of this 
