Estimated consumption of jute 1906-1907. In Europe Bales per annum. Scotland . 1,250,000 England 20,000 Ireland 25,000 France 475,000 Belgium .... 120,000 Germany 750,000 Austria and Bohemia 262,000 Norway and Sweden 62,500 Russia .... 180,000 Holland 25,000 Spain . . 90,000 Italy . . 160,000

- 3,419,500 bales

In America . 600,000 600,000, , In India- Mills 3,900,000 Local 500,000 Statistics of consumption 4,400,000 H 8,419,500 bales of jute, rejections and cuttings. f 1894. 1904. 1906. C0“SumPt10n~ Bales Bales Bales United Kingdom 1,200,000 1,200,000 1,295,000 1 Continent 1,100,000 1,800,000 2,124,500 America .... 500,000 500,000 600,000 Indian mills .. 1,500,000 2,900,000 3,900,000 1 Local Indian consumption 500,000 500,000 500,000 Total jute crop consumption 4,800,000 l 6,900,000 | 8,419,500 N white to grey. Naraingunge is a strong fibre; possesses good spinning qualities, and is very suitable for good warp yarns. Its colour, which is not so high as Serajgunge, begins with a cream shade and approaches red at the roots. All the better class yarns are spun from these two kinds. Daisee is similar to Serajgunge in softness, is of good quality and of great length; its drawback is the low colour, and hence it is not so suitable for using in natural colour. It is, however, a valuable fibre for carpet yarns, especially for dark yarns. Dowrah is a strong, harsh and low quality fibre, and is used principally for heavy wefts. Each class is subdivided according to the quality and colour of the material, and each class receives a distinctive mark called a baler's mark. Thus, the finest fibres may be divided as follows:- Superfine first marks. Extra fine first marks 1st, 2nd and 3rd numbers. Superior first marks 1| H 11 YY YY lf YY 1| 17 11 H I' I 1? I 77 YY Good second, ,, ,, ,, , Ordinary, , 17 !Y The lower cLualities are, naturally, divided into fewer varieties. Each baler as his own marks, the fibres of which are guaranteed equal in equality to some standard U7 H A number of experiments in jute cultivation were made during 1906, and the report showed that very encouraging results were obtained from land manured with cow-dung. If more scientific attention be given to the cultivation it is quite possible that what is now considered as 100% yield may be exceeded. Characteristics.-The characters by which qualities of jute are judged are colour, lustre, softness, strength, length, firmness, uniformity and absence of roots. The best qualities are of a clear whitish-yellow colour, with a fine silky lustre, soft and smooth to the touch, and fine, long and uniform in fibre. When the fibre is intended for goods in the natural colour it is essential that it should be of a light shade and uniform, but if intended for yarns which are to be dyed a dark shade, the colour is not so important. The cultivated plant yields a fibre with a length of from 6 to IO ft., but in exceptional cases it has been known to reach 14 or IS ft. in length. The fibre is decidedly inferior to flax and hemp in strength and tenacity; and, owing to a peculiarity in its microscopic structure, by which the walls of the separate cells composing the fibre vary much in thickness at different points, the single strands of fibre are of unequal strength. Recently, prepared fibre is always stronger, more lustrous, softer and whiter than such as has been stored for some time-age and exposure rendering it brown in colour and harsh and brittle in quality. ]ute, indeed, is much more woody in texture than either fiax or hemp, a circumstance which may be easily demonstrated by its behaviour under appropriate reagents; and to that fact is due the change in colour and character it undergoes on exposure to the air. The' fibre bleaches with facility, up to a certain point, sufficient to enable it to take brilliant and delicate shades of dye colour, but it is with great difficulty brought to a pure white by bleaching. A very striking and remarkable fact, which has much practical interest, is its highly hygroscopic nature. While in a dry position and atmosphere it may not possess more than 6% of moisture, under damp conditions it will absorb as much as 2 3 % Sir G. Watt, in his Dictionary of the Economic Products of India, mentions the following eleven varieties of jute fibre: Serajganji, Narainganji, Desi, Deora, Uttariya, Deswal, Bakrabadi, Bhatial, Kanmginji, Mirganji and ]ungipuri There are several other varieties of minor importance. The first four form the four classes into which the commercial fibre is divided, and they are commonly Known as Serajgunge, Naraingunge, Daisee and Dowrah. Serajgunge is a soft fibre, but it is superior in colour, which ranges from mark. It would be impf>ssibl;: £0 /4 give a 1st o the -f-Q, '?, ,», ,, different marks, for 7, there are h un- , jilf V dreds, and new I marks are con- -:fb, ., , . Hg s t a n t l y b'e i n g I j" limi ' ' '; added. A list of W ' " all the principal of ""~ f', § ', l'f;;., ,. marks is issued in book form by the V f 1.151 C a l c u t t a J u the, " /, ,' f' f$i, l'J'til, Q> W ;{ Baler's association. I;/;;, .I§ ffl* 'gi 'yifltiu f The relative,4@fV[, - mllll, W-ll.;, W , hx prices of the dif- Qliflfti T, “, ~i;, f'il'“wf;=,1, , #4 ferent classes de- qlfll *il pend upon the ij, *il crop, upon the de- is N "~, ':, flt K l, t., ,§ =~ », mand and upon gilt; /V the quality of the till mf” ' }i, ,“lll§ fibre; in 1905 the ~, ml prices of Daisee gs; flflfé* ffl = t lil' ' 'r 'tically the same, if f "'- although the for- Milli i, mer is always con- ilu- V sidered inferior to ", f, ;, ll5' 1;, ', the latter. It does ll ' »' = not follow that a M111 large crop of jute ll, 1;- will result in low it '5 prices, for the year 1906-1907 was not only a record one for crops, but also for prices. R. F. C. grade has been as high as £40 per ton, while its lowest recorded price is £12. Similarly the price for First Marks reached £29, 15s. in 1906 as compared with £9, 5s per ton in 1897. FIG. 2.-Corchorus olitorius. The following table shows a few well-known grades with the average prices during December for the years 1903, 1904, 1905 and 1906. Class. Dec. 1903. Dec. 1904. Dec. 1905. Dec. 1906. £ s. d. £ s. d. s. d. £ s d. First marks - 12 15 o 16 0 0 15 0 27 15 0 BlackSCC II 2 6 14 5 0 15 0 20 15 0 RedSCC 12 0 0 14 17 6 15 0 23 15 0 Native rejecti0ns 8 2 6 - 10 0 15 17 6 S 4 group - 10 0 33 0 0 R F block D group - - - 36 0 0 R F circle D group 14 IO 0 16 15 0 IO' 0-R F D group II 15 0 14 2 6 12 6 22 0. 0 NBgreenD 14 5 0 - o 0 32 o 0 HeartT4 14 12 6 17 10 0 10 0 34 0 0 HeartT5 .. 14 12 6 17 IO 0 0 0 31 0 0 Daiseez . 12 17 6 - 15 0 25 10 0 Daisee assortment 12 IO 0 14 17 6 5 o-Mixed cuttings 4 5 0 — 0 0 10 0 0 Jute M anufaclum-Long prominent place amongst the textile fibres before jute came to of Europe, it formed

occupy a