JUTE MANUFACTURES.
The use of jute as a textile fibre, though known ages since in India, is only of recent introduction into this country. After the manufactures of India had been made familiar to the English public, attention was turned to the raw products of the country, amongst which the numerous indigenous fibrous plants engaged a great share. The use of jute for the manufacture of gunny-bags, canvas, carpets, and various other purposes, by the Hindoos, suggested its adaptability for similar textures at home. Towards the close of the last century, small lots of the fibre were imported into this country, and also to Hamburg and America, with the view of introducing it to manufacturers. But it was not favourably regarded, and, though for several years afterwards the E. India Co. repeated the experiment, the fibre continued in neglect, and remained comparatively unknown. Abingdon, in Oxfordshire, noted for its manufactures of woollen carpets, canvas, tunics, and similar fabrics, received some of these first importations ; and here the first serious attempts were made to test its utility. Some of the fibre having been spun by hand, the yarn produced was discovered to possess some resemblance to woollen yarn, which led to its being dyed, and manufactured into carpets. This was probably between the years 1820-5. Tentative efforts continued to be made throughout the following 10-15 years. These took place chiefly at Dundee, at that time one of the principal seats of the linen manufacture. The fib•o was tried in hand spinning, shed-spinning, and upon power flax machinery, which last was then beginning to be introduced into the trade. There was, however, much prejudice against it, and great reluctance to devote either money or effort to the experiments. The unsatisfactory results of previous trials of unknown Indian fibres engendered considerable distrust concerning all similar articles from that country. But it was not manufacturers alone who looked askance at the fibre : merchants, dealing in the classes of goods into which it was proposed to introduce it, refused to have anything to do with it, and required guarantees that the fabrics they purchased should contain none of it. Yet notwithstanding these
obstacles, experiments were repeated in various directions, though on the smallest scale ; and here and there, such results were obtained as encouraged persistence in the efforts to obtain something useful from it. From 1832, may he dated the practical success of these endeavours. At that time, Mr. Watt, a linen merchant, more far-seeing than most of his competitors, perceived its adaptability for several of the fabrics manufactured in the locality, particularly cotton-baggiug, then rising into great demand. The length of the fibre, however, as compared with others in use, was a great drawback. Watt therefore got an old breaker card erected, and passing the jute through this, reduced it to a manageable length. The results of attempts to spin it in this form must have been more satisfactory, as Watt's difficulties diminished rapidly, several of the leading spinners becoming free purchasers of the raw material. From that time, its progress has been one of steady growth in public favour, until it has attained the important position it now holds amongst the textile industries of this country.
The jute consumed in ourmanufacturee is chiefly imported from Bengal, where it is largely grown. After being assorted into different qualities, it is packed in bales containing about 400 lb.
each, and exported to the principal centres of consumption, the seaports nearest thereto, and often to other places, such as London and Liverpool, being a convenient return cargo.
The processes of manufacture which jute undergoes in the first division, are :—Softening, carding, drawing, roving, and spinning. These leave it in the form of yarn.
to the harsh character of the fibre, which renders it ill adapted for spinning, and which was one of the greatest difficulties encoun tered in the first experiments with it, the raw material requires to be subjected to the process of " softening." After being taken from the bale, the fibre is passed be tween a series of heavy fluted rollers, which crush and crimp it so that it be comes much more amenable to torsion than before.