The mills of Dundee consume a larger propor tion of this useful fibre than any other in Great Britain,—it is believed nearly one-half of the quantity imported ; and yet its introduction in the trade of Dundee is, comparatively speaking, of recent date. About 1830, a well-known mer chant brought a small quantity, and wished the spinners to make a trial of it, but he could not prevail upon them to do so. He then employed a person in the neighbourhood to tease it down, at the now fabulous cost of from £4 to £5 per ton, and then induced a spinner to mix it sparingly amongst tow ; but it was not till the expiry of years that it was manufactured to any extent by itself. A process was subsequently invented by Mr. Clausen (a Dane), by which flax, hemp, jute, and other substances were converted into a substitute for cotton. The invention seemed to work well, but the Manchester people at that time would have nothing but American cotton on any terms, and the invention fell valueless. He cleaned the fibre from the straw by crushing and beating. The fibre was then steeped in a strong solution of bicarbonate of soda, and afterwards in water acidulated with sulphuric acid, which, combining with the soda, set free the carbonic acid with which the fibre was saturated. The liberated gas split the fibre into a material as fine as floss silk. It was then bleached by being steeped in a solution of chloride of magnesium, then dried and cut into lengths of the required staple, or rather longer, as the staple was ground down during the carding. It then passed to the carding machines, and was treated precisely as cotton, and it was said at the time that it worked perfectly in the ordinary cotton machinery. Jute is easily spun, and is much used to mix with cedilla. It is made into gunny cloth (tnegili), cordage, and paper, and damask cloth made of jute is said to be more durable than that fabri cated from cotton. The fibres are subdivisible into very fine fibrils, which are easily spun ; they are long, soft, and silky, and, under the microscope, cannot be distinguished from those of flax to all the purposes of which the jute fibre is applicable.
At Dundee the yarn is spun very fine, and used for bags and handsomely-coloured carpets, and also interwoven with silk, linen, and woollen threads into cheap cloths, and it is largely made up into paper. An old papermaker writes in the American Paper Journal, that after several years' experience in using bagging and jute in all its various forms, he is satisfied that it is the cheapest, cleanest, and easiest wrought of any substitute for raga, and possesses the desirable qualities that give to the manufactured article all the qualities of rag-paper, at much less waste and cost. The cuttings and rejections can be reduced by boiling with lime into matter as easily operated on as ordinary rags, and more easily bleached than many of the imported rags.
In its culture the land is prepared as for rice, the plants are weeded when a foot and a half high, and it is cut close to the roots when it has flowered, and before the seeds are ripe, a few plants being left to allow the seeds to come to maturity.
After the Corchorus olitorius plants come to maturity, which is generally considered to be the time when they begin to ripen seed and the lower leaves in the stems begin to turn yellow, or about the second week in October, the whole are simultaneously cut down,—no matter if all have grown uniformly in size or not, or whether the plants be good, indifferent, or bad, the whole is reaped off. After the whole is cropped off, it is staked in bundles of about 200 to 250 sticks in each, and then put down in any convenient place to undergo the process of fermentation, which is generally done within three or ten days, according to the temperature of the weather. The stalks are then immersed in water, keeping the bundles down by any convenient means at disposal, but it is chiefly done with clods of earth, which are most conveniently obtained. The steeping process, if performed in a stagnant pool or pond, decom poses the vegetable matter within eight or ten days, but if it be done in clear water, or a running stream, or in a tank of ordinary depth, having clear water, then the period of time is about seventeen to twenty days. When decomposition approaches completion, a man generally goes down and examines the fibres once a day, and at its close both morning and evening, to see if all is perfected, and this is done by simply feeling the stalks with the thumb and forefinger, to which it readily yields. When the whole is known to be completed, he goes down about knee-deep in water, and takes a handful of the stalks, hold ing the same with his left hand over the surface of the water, and in his right hand holding a small palmata or a piece of flat wood or plank, with which he gently strikes towards the stem of the stalks, and whilst he does so lie whirls the whole, repeating the strokes with the palmata as he does so, which at once separates the fibre from the stalk, or as much of the parts as is struck, which is generally from 15 to 18 inches in length from the lowest end ; the whole is then broken, the parts adhering with fibre are then held with the left hand, and with the right the part where the stalks are broken is held, and the whole immersed perpendicularly about 9 or 10 inches in water, and a few jerks are then given in rapid succession, which admits of complete sepa ration of the fibre from the broken stalks ; but if any still adhere, the same is gently taken off with the right hand. When this is done, the extracted fibre is then held with the right hand, wrapping a portion round the palm of the hand, and with his left the operator holds the stalk a little under water parallel to him ; he again gives a few slight jerks from and towards him. He also uses his left band in pushing the stalks forward when drawing towards him. This manipulation can only be done with facility by those who are used to it. The whole of the fibre at once easily separates from the entire stalk and immediately floats up ; the fibre is then washed to take off its refuse, and the whole is then wrenched off, and taken up to•be dried in the sun.