AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Mat, 
186 
in bundles, and steeped in water for 10 to 20 days, 
during which time all but the fibrous bark is so far 
Fig. 1 . — the jute plant ( Corchorus capsutaris.) 
decayed that it separates when beaten, leaving the 
fibre clean ; it is then put up for export in bales of 
about 300 lbs. each. As with other fibre-yielding 
plants, the quality of Jute is greatly affected by the 
rapidity of growth, the nearness together of the 
plants, the time of cutting, etc., the finer kinds 
being very bright and glossy, and soft to the touch. 
The great consumption is for the making of bag¬ 
ging material, especially that known as “gunny;” 
it is used for coarse cloths, carpets, and for cordage, 
though not sufficiently durable, when exposed, for 
the latter purpose. The finer kinds are used to make 
coat-linings and other fabrics, and are mixed with 
cotton, woollen, and even silk, in certain styles, its 
employment having greatly increased within recent 
years. In some parts of India the natives are wholly 
clothed in cloth made from Jute. The thick ends 
of the stems, known as “Jute Butts,” and refuse 
of the gunny factories, are used as a paper stock. 
The Agricultural Society of South Carolina is doing 
much to encourage the culture; the Secretary has 
published directions for its cultivation, and has or¬ 
dered from India a new supply of seeds for distri¬ 
bution to the members. Last year seeds were dis¬ 
tributed to 85 farmers, mostly residing in the sea¬ 
board counties, and the results reported by them 
are very encouraging. The larger share of these 
persons cultivated this first crop for seed rather 
than fibre, and it is expected that a large breadth will 
be sown this year. Jute succeeds best on rather 
clayey land, neither very wet nor very dry; it flour¬ 
ishes perfectly well in the immediate vicinity of the 
sea, and even where the water is brackish from its 
influence. The land being well prepared by plow¬ 
ing and harrowing, the seed is sown broadcast from 
April to June, using 15 to 20 lbs. to the acre, and 
brushed or harrowed in. Nothing is done to the crop 
until it is ready to cut, which is in 100 to 120 days 
from sowing. It is cut for the fibre when in flower, 
but if seeds are desired, the plants are left later, 
as the seeds begin to ripen soon after the first 
flowers fall, and continue to do so until frost. 
Last year the first roll of bagging from Jute of 
American growth was exhibited at the S. Carolina 
State Fair. Recently there has been some talk about 
“AMERICAN JUTE,” 
a subject that comes up in the papers every few 
years, and it appears to be discussed to no other 
purpose than to allow a few speculators to sell at 
a high price the seeds of a common wild plant 
under a name that does not properly 
belong to it. This so-called “Ameri¬ 
can Jute” is the Swamp Rose-Mallow 
—Hibiscus Moscheutos. It has a large 
perennial root, with stems 3 to 6 or 
more feet high, broad pale green leaves, 
and numerous large, pink, hollyhock¬ 
like flowers, which in late summer 
brighten the brackish marshes all along 
the coast. Like all other plants of the 
Mallow family, the stem of this has a 
strong fibrous inner bark, which, could 
we not do better, might be made useful. 
We feel very sure that this “Ameri¬ 
can Jute,” admitting the excellence of 
its fibre, can never become a profit¬ 
able crop, for two principal reasons: 
its stems can not be produced in suf¬ 
ficient abundance on a given area for a 
large yield, and its perennial character ; 
the ground once filled with these roots, 
it would cost about what the land is 
worth to clear it; if kept long on the 
same land, heavy manuring will be re¬ 
quired, and crowding the stems, often 
necessary with fibre-plants, is not practi¬ 
cable. We are not averse to trials with 
this or the dozen other native plants 
that produce fibres, but we insist that 
there shall be no mystery or false re¬ 
presentation, but the plant shall be dis¬ 
cussed and offered as just what it is, and 
under the name by which it has long 
been known through a wide district. 
The “American Jute” fever was at 
its greatest higlit in 1863, when, to show 
what the plant was, the engraving here 
given (figure 2) was presented. While it is much 
under size, it gives a good idea of the flower. 
The Old and New in Potatoes. 
There appears to be several objects that, no mat¬ 
ter how often we may name and describe them, 
continue to come with the request for the informa¬ 
tion we have given again and again. The “ Oyster- 
shell Bark-louse ” is one of these perennial queries ; 
Katy-did’s eggs, another; and the blue-bird does 
not any more surely mark the advent of spring 
than does the arrival by mail and otherwise of the 
old potato with the new one attached—or often 
found within what remains of the old. The en¬ 
graving was made from a specimen which showed 
new tubers both on the outside and within. The 
phenomenon is so striking that we do not wonder 
that it excites a desire to know something about it, 
though, as intimated, it is very far from rare. The 
potato—the tuber—is a short underground stem, 
thickened out of the shape of ordinary stems by a 
large deposit of starch. If the potato be placed 
in a warm place, vegetation is excited, and its dor¬ 
mant buds, or “ eyes,” will soon push and elongate 
into stems, provided it is free to do so ; these stems 
are often in the aggregate several feet long. If we 
place the tuber in a warm place, and at the same 
time quite in the dark, where the stems have no room 
to push, as at the bottom of a barrel—where these 
strange potatoes are usually found—vegetation is 
excited as before, but as long stems can not grow, 
short ones are formed—that is small tubers. The 
growing shoot, being prevented from lengthening, 
and forming the ordinary kind of stem, makes- 
NEW POTATOES PROM OLD. 
another kind—the underground form of stem— 
the tuber. These young tubers—or new pota¬ 
toes—have grown at the expense of the old, as 
that will be found shrunken and wilted. This 
tendency was formerly employed in Europe to pro¬ 
duce new potatoes in winter. Potatoes of the pre¬ 
vious year were found to be best; these were kept 
all through the summer by spreading in a. cool 
place, and removing such sprouts as appeared. At 
the approach of winter these were placed in boxes 
of earth, stacked one upon another—darkness 
being essential—in a warm place. In due time that 
which we have described took place; new potatoes 
appeared, small and of poor quality, but still new. 
Root Crops.— The season for sowing roots, lasts 
from May to September, and during the four months 
intervening a variety of crops may be sown. The 
first in the season is mangels, of which there are 
several varieties. The smaller kinds of these, al¬ 
though they do not yield so heavy a crop as the 
larger kinds, are more desirable on account of their 
higher feeding value. Several yellow-fleshed va¬ 
rieties of mangels, have been introduced of late, 
which are very promising for our climate. Webb’s 
Yellow Kinver Globe, and the Yellow-fleshed Tank¬ 
ard, are the most popular varieties of these. The 
flesh of these is less watery and more solid than 
that of the Mammoth Red. Sugar beets furnish the 
second crop, and may be sown as late as June, of 
these, Lane’s Improved, and Vilmorin’s Improved 
Sugar, are the leading varieties. Red or Blood beets 
may also be sown in June, and furnish an excellent 
food for milch cows, as they have the effect of con¬ 
tributing some of their high color to the cream and 
butter. Carrots and parsnips will be rarely grown, 
on account of the expense of harvesting them, 
while beets, sugar beets, mangels, and other shallow 
rooted bulbs, can be grown with less labor and 
greater profit. After beets, ruta-bagas may be sown 
in June and early in July, and in August white tur¬ 
nips may follow. With so large a choice of roots, 
there is no reason why press of work should come in 
the way of growing this valuable crop. When roots 
have once been grown successfully, there is no need 
for advice to raise them, but only to mention the 
newer or improved varieties. Where as yet they 
have not been grown, a trial of an acre or less, 
with good care, will surely be well repaid, and 
will serve to establish the practice for the future. 
