Kept under at least one foot of water, the fila ment is disintegrated by the dissolution of the gums or resins which united it in a sort of ribbon. That process of fermentation or rotting takes about a week in summer. With care and atten tion to the proper degree of rotting the fiber comes out almost white, lustrous, and fine like flax. The disintegration is known to be com plete when the fiber assumes a pasty character. Then the rotted hanks are withdrawn, carefully washed in clear water, and hung up to dry in the shade. Care must be taken that the filament he well covered with water during the ferrnent ing period, because atmospherical agencies tend to communicate to it a brownish color. After a few days of goodweather it is ready to be shaken and twisted for baling like other textiles. That new- process of rotting the separated filament instead of whole stalks combines different profit able results—the advantages of economy in labor, in value, and also in the integrity of product. Planters in the South should persevere in experi menting with this crop. If it can be proved that the plant is adapted to the soil and climate, American ingenuity will soon invent rnachinery for preparing the fabric cheaply. Jute is the fourth in point of export, of the commodiiies of Inffia, only cotton, opium, and rice exceeding it in importance. The statistics of the develop ment of the jute culture in India are very suggestive. In 1862, India exported 10,000,000 pounds of fiber and rope, and 300,000,000 yards of gunny cloth. In 1863, Great Britain employed raore than 30,000 spindles in spinning 80,000,000 pounds of Indian jute. Some of the Indian factories are immense. There is an estab lishment at Barnagpoor, uear Calcutta, which employs more than 4,500 workmen and annu ally manufactures more than 30,000,000 pounds of jute. In 1872, the total exportation of Indian jute was 700,000,000 pounds, of which Great Britain received upward of 395,000,000 pounds.
In the same year more than 900,000 acres were devoted to the cultivation of jute in India; and in the thirteen provinces in which jute is princi pally raised, out of a population of 15,725,000, more than 1,350,000 were wbolly or partially engaged in this occupation. These figures con clusively show the vast mag-nitude and impor tance of this industry to India. -Why should not American talent and enterprise make its success certain here. According to the Department of Agriculture reports, for 1876, jute is mixed with cotton, linen, and silk. It is a material part of twilled stair carpeting and low-priced broadcloth. In combination with other textiles, it imitates the gloss of Irish linen, the luster of French silk, the beauty of Turkish rugs, and the splendor of Axminster, Kiddermi nster, Brussels, and Venetian carpets. Single or mixed, it enters into the manufacture of a thousand articles of commerce. In 1872, there were in Dundee about one hundred jute mills, employing upward of 20,000 work men, and manufacturing more than 180,000,000 pounds of jute annually. In the same year, nearly 50,000,000 gunny bags—most of which were made in Dundee—were exported from. Great Britain. Of the 300,000,000 pounds of jute that were manufactured in the United King dom in 1876. 200,000,000 pounds were woven in the mills of Dundee. The annual value of the flax, hemp, and jute manufactured in Dundee is now $15,000,000. Experiments in the culture of jute have been successfully tried in South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. These trials conclusively established the fact that, wherever in the Southern States there is a hot, damp climate, and a moist soil of sandy clay or alluvial mold, jute can be profitably raised. The plant matures in this country in about the sarne tinae that it does in India.