Jute

JUTE, a vegetable fibre now occupying a position in the manufacturing scale inferior only to cotton and flax. The term jute appears to have been first used in 1746. Importations of the substance had been made at earlier times under the name of pat, an East Indian native term by which the fibre continued to be spoken of in England till the early years of the 19th century. The modem name appears to be derived from jhot or jhout (Sansk. jhat), the vernacular name by which the substance is known in the Cuttack district.

Different

fibre is obtained from two species of Corchorus (nat. ord. Tiliaceae), C. capsularis and C. olitorius, the products of both being so essentially alike that neither in commerce nor agriculture is any distinction made between them. These and various other species of Corchorus are natives of Bengal, where they have been cultivated from very remote times for economic purposes, although there is reason to believe that the cultivation did not originate in the northern parts of India. The two species cultivated for jute fibre are in all respects very similar to each other, except in their fructification and the rel atively greater size attained by C. capsularis. They are annual plants from 5 to 1 of t. high, with a cylindrical stalk as thick as a man's finger, and hardly branching except near the top. The light green leaves are from 4 to sin. long by I lin. broad above the base, and taper upwards into a fine point ; the edges are ser rated ; the two lower teeth are drawn out into bristle-like points. The small whitish-yellow flowers are produced in clusters of two or three opposite the leaves.

The capsules or seed-pods in the case of C. capsularis are globu lar, rough and wrinkled, while in C. olitorius they are slender, quill-like cylinders (about 2in. long), a very marked distinction, as may be noted from fig. 1, in which c and d show the capsules of C. capsularis and C. olitorius respectively. Fig. a represents a flowering top of C. olitorius.

Both species are cultivated in India, not only on account of their fibre, but also for the sake of their leaves, which are there extensively used as a pot-herb. The ci4ltivation of C. capsularis is most prevalent in central and eastern Bengal, while in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, where, however, the area under culti vation is limited, C. olitorius is principally grown. The fibre known as China jute or Tientsin jute is the product of another plant, Abutilon Avicennae, a member of the Mallow family.

Cultivation and

have been made to grow the jute plant in America, Egypt, Africa and other places, but up to the present the fibre has proved much inferior to that obtained from plants grown in India. Here the cultivation of the plant extends from the Hugli through eastern and northern Bengal. The successful cultivation of the plant demands a hot, moist climate, with a fair amount of rain. Too much rain at the be ginning of the season is detrimental to the growth, while a very dry season is disastrous. The climate of eastern and northern Bengal appears to be ideal for the growth of the plant.

The quality of the fibre and the produce per acre depend in a measure on the preparation of the soil. The ground should be

ploughed about four times and all weeds removed. The seed is then sown broadcast as in the case of flax. It is only within the last two decades that any atten tion has been paid to the selec tion of the seed.

The time of sowing extends from the middle of March to the middle of June, while the reap ing, which depends upon the time of sowing and upon the weather, is performed from the end of June to the middle of October. The crop is said to be ready for gathering when the flowers begin to fade; if gathered before, the fibre is weak; while if left until the seed is ripe, the fibre is stronger, but is coarser and lacks the characteristic lustre.

fibre is sepa rated from the stalks by a pro cess of retting similar to that for flax and hemp. In certain dis tricts of Bengal it is the practice to stack the crop for a few days previous to retting in order to allow the leaves to dry and to drop off the stalks. It is stated that the colour of the fibre is darkened if the leaves are allowed to remain on during the process of retting. It is also thought that the drying of the plants before retting facilitates the separation of the fibre. Any simple opera tion that improves the colour of the fibre or shortens the operation of retting is worthy of consideration. The benefits to be derived from the above process, however, cannot be great, for the bundles are usually taken direct to the pools and streams. The period necessary for the completion of the retting process varies accord ing to the temperature and to the properties of the water, and may occupy from two days to a month. After the first few days of immersion the stalks are examined daily to test the progress of the retting. When the fibres are easily separated from the stalk, the operation is complete and the bundles should be with drawn. The following description of the retting of jute is taken from Royle's Fibrous Plants of India: "The proper point being attained, the native operator, standing up to his middle in water, takes as many of the sticks in his hands as he can grasp, and removing a small portion of the bark from the ends next the roots, and grasping them together, he strips off the whole with a little management from end to end, without breaking either stem or fibre. Having prepared a certain quantity into this half state, he next proceeds to wash off ; this is done by taking a large handful; swinging it round his head he dashes it repeatedly against the surface of the water, drawing it through towards him, so as to wash off the impurities ; then, with a dexterous throw he fans it out on the surface of the water and carefully picks off all remaining black spots. It is now wrung out so as to remove as much water as possible, and then hung up on lines, prepared on the spot, to dry in the sun." The separated fibre is then made up into bundles ready for sending to one of the jute presses. The jute is carefully sorted into different qualities, and then each lot is subjected to an enormous hydraulic pressure from which it emerges in the shape of the well-known bales, each weighing 400 lb.