The New International Encyclopædia/Jute

​JUTE (Beng. jūț, from Skt. jaṭā, matted hair). A fibre produced from two tropical species of Tiliaceæ, the Corchorus olitorius and Corchorus capsularis, two plants alike in qualities, though slightly different in appearance, and sown indiscriminately. From the fibre, which is the cheapest known, are produced gunny bags, gunny-cloth, and cordage; and from the finer qualities carpets, shirting, coat-linings, etc., are made. It is extensively used for mixing with silk, cotton, flax, and woolen fabrics, but, owing to its inferiority, such use of it is a fraud. India is the largest jute-growing country. The plants grow in most climates and on all kinds of soil, but rich alluvial lands, and lands subject to salt-water tidal influences, particularly favor its production. It thrives in the Gulf States, but its production in America has not been successful, owing to a lack of machinery adapted to its manufacture. It is an exhausting crop for the soil. The plant, if weeded once, requires no more attention till cutting time. Its single stalk grows to a height of 12 feet without branches or leaves till near the top. In India the plant is cut while in flower, about three months after sowing. Cut close to the ground, stripped of leaves and branches, it is tied in bundles and steeped from 10 to 20 days in water, to loosen the fibre by rotting the outer bark. After steeping, the stalks are beaten till only the fibre remains. This is cleaned, dried, and made into ‘drums’ of 70 or 80 pounds. If for exportation, it is pressed into bales of 300 pounds and upward. Fine jute has a beautiful glossy golden appearance, and is soft and silky to the touch. Great importance attaches to length and strength of fibre. See Plate of Fibre Plants under Hemp.

Jute Manufactures Jute is spun by processes similar to those employed for flax, but as it is from 10 to 15 feet long, it is necessary to cut it into three-foot lengths before it can be heckled. The fibre, which is obtained by maceration from the inner bark, also requires to be saturated with whale oil and water, so as to soften and render it more elastic, preparatory to spinning. Heckling is the first of the spinning operations, and its object is to remove the coarser portions of the jute, and lay the fibres in parallel order. The heckle is a kind of comb, with sharp-pointed steel teeth, from one to two inches in length. Formerly the work was done by hand, but now heckling-machines are used. Recently the heckling process has been omitted and the jute has been spun directly without heckling off the tow. The heckled strips are next taken to the spreader, or first drawing-frame, where they are spread upon an endless creeping-sheet, so as to supply the jute continuously to another part of the machine, where, by a peculiar arrangement of rollers, it is drawn out, through combs of closely ranged steel pins, into a continuous ribbon, called a sliver. A number—say 14—of these slivers are then taken to another drawing-machine, with steel combs, and drawn out into one. In like manner some twenty of these slivers are again drawn into one. The first sliver, from the spreader has thus, so to speak, been drawn out 280 times its original length; and by continuing this doubling and drawing, the fibres become thoroughly parallel and equalized. The sliver from the last drawing-frame is still further drawn out, and at the same time receives a slight twist in the roving-frame. Finally the bobbins of ‘rove’ are taken to the spinning-frame, and spun into yarn upon the ‘throstle’ principle. See Spinning.

Just as in the case of flax, the jute tow from the heckling process is also spun into yarn, in which case it is first carded by means of a ‘breaker’ and ‘finisher’ card, and then drawn, roved, and spun, as above described.

The larger portion of jute fabrics is woven from yarn of the natural color; but for some purposes it is bleached; and when used for carpets, it is dyed various colors. It bleaches with difficulty, but is easily dyed. Jute fabrics are not nearly so durable as flax, the jute being more brittle and more easily affected by water.

Jute has been manufactured on hand looms by the natives of India for centuries. They made not only the coarse fabric known as gunny, but a fine material which they used for clothing. They also have made a coarse paper, by beating the fibre into pulp, drying it in sheets, sizing it with rice starch, and polishing it with a stone or shell. Since 1857 there have been a large number of jute-mills fitted up with modern textile machinery, and driven by steam, the number in 1899 aggregating 33.

The first mention of the word jute is in 1796, in the manuscript commercial index of the court of directors of the East India Company. It is the Bengal name used by the natives of Cuttack and Balasore, where the first European manufactories were established in the middle of the last century. In 1829 the total export from Calcutta was 20 tons, value £60. In 1833 it had increased sixteenfold, and about 1864-65 the increased demand caused jute cultivation to extend to other districts, the exportation in 1879-80 reaching 4,626,710 hundredweight. In 1897-98 the amount of raw jute exported was 15,000,000 hundredweight, while the exports of jute cloth have increased in ten years from 37,000,000 to 307,000,000 yards.

England, Bombay, and America originally divided the exports of jute, and up to the time of the Civil War North America took the largest share of the gunnies. (See Gunny.) Jute and ​gunnies are now exported from Bengal to all parts of the world.

Until 1870 the entire cotton crop of the United States was baled in gunny-cloth imported from Calcutta. Gradually, however, an increasing amount of jute product has been made in the United States. According to the census of 1880 there were only four establishments in the United States making a specialty of this manufacture. In 1900 the number had increased to 18. They employed on the average 450 hands, and the value of their annual product was $5,383,787. The kind, quality, and cost of the materials used in jute manufacture in the United States in 1900 is shown in the following table:

The kind, quantity, and value of the produce of jute manufactures for the same year is given below: