Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/833

JUTE 799 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 relatively greater size attained by C. capsularis. The FIG. 1. Capsules of Jute Plants, a, Corchonis capsularis ; b, C. olitorius. capsules or seed-pods in the case of C. capsularis are globular, rough, and wrinkled, while in C. olitorius they are slender quill-like cylinders, a very marked distinction, FIG. 2. Corchorus olitorius. as may be noted from fig. 1, in which a and b show the capsules of C. capsularis and C. olitorius respectively. Fig. 2 represents a flowering top of C. olitorius. The two plants are thus botanically defined : Corcliorus capsularis. Annual ; 5-10 feet; calyx deeply 5-cleft; petals 5; leaves alternate, oblong, acuminate, serrated, two lower serratures terminating in narrow filaments ; peduncles short ; flowers whitish-yellow, in clusters opposite the leaves ; capsules globose, truncated, wrinkled, and inuricated, 5-celk d ; seeds few in each cell, without transverse partitions ; in addition to the 5-partitc cells, there are other 5 alternating, smaller and empty. Corchorus olitorius. Annual; 5-6 feet; erect; leaves alternate, ovate-acuminated, serrated, the two lower serratures terminated by a slender filament ; peduncles 1-2 flowered ; calyx 5-scpalled ; petals 5; capsules nearly cylindrical, 10-ribbed, 5-celled, 5-valved; seeds numerous, with nearly perfect transverse septa ; flowers small, yellow. 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 use of C. olitorius for the latter purpose dates from very ancient times, if it may be identified, as some suppose, .with the mallows (H-IPO) mentioned in Job xxx. 4, "Who cut up mallows by the bushes." It is certain that the Greeks used this plant as a pot-herb ; and by many other nations ,around the shores of the Mediterranean this use of it was, and is still, common. Throughout Bengal the name by which I he plants when used as edible vegetables are recognized is nalitd ; when on the other hand they are spoken of as fibre-producers it is generally under the name pat. Both species are cultivated, on account of the fibre they yield, in the greater part of Bengal. The cultivation of C. capsularis is most prevalent in central and eastern Bengal, while in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, where, however, the area under cultivation is limited, C. olitorius is principally grown. In 1872, a year which showed an extraordinary development of the cultivation, there were returned 921,000 acres as under jute in Bengal, to which Pubna contributed 122,000, Dinajpur 117,000, and Rang- pur 100,000 acres respectively. Hitherto jute has not been cultivated to any considerable extent in localities other than Bengal. From remote times it has been grown in the Hankow district of China, but not largely. In the United States of America the cultiva tion of the plants has also been introduced, but it has not made much progress. Recently considerable attention has been given to the culture of the plant in Egypt, and in the Dundee trade report of the 23d March 1881 there occurs the following statement : " Some samples of jute grown in Egypt are being shown here. Reports on quality are varied, but, considering it is a first attempt, on the whole satisfactory. It proves beyond a doubt that Egypt is capable of producing this material, and for the trade of the district this is a matter of great importance, as having the fibre grown near at hand will enable our manufacturers to compete more successfully in all markets with the Indian mills." A hot moist climate with abundant rainfall and rich alluvial soil appear to be the conditions most favourable for the successful cultivation of the jute plants. The land requires to be well tilled and abundantly manured, and, the ground being so prepared, the general time of sowing the seed throughout northern and eastern Bengal extends from about the middle of March to the end of May. The ssed is sown broadcast on the prepared ground, the young plants are thinned out to 6 inches apart, and the ground carefully weeded. The stalks are ready for cutting down between the middle of August and the middle of October. As a rule the plants are cut down close to the root with a kind of bill-hook or sickle, and the fibre is obtained best in quality when the crop is secured in the flower. It is, however, common to allow the crop to run to seed and even to ripen seed before cutting, a practice which renders the resulting fibre hard and woody, thus intensifying one of the principal drawbacks of the jute fibre. The fibre is separated from the stalks by the process