The fiber is mostly derived from Corchorus capsularis and from Corchorus olitorius.

extract the fiber of jute, or flax, and this is accomplished by placing the stems in water, which rots out the fleshy part of the stem, leaving the fiber. Some notion of the difficulty of this task in such plants as jute is gained by realizing that over twelve million bales of finished fiber are produced each year, and that the retting may take from two days to a month. The retting process is aided by certain organisms of decay in the water, by the temperature, and by some other factors not yet understood. The process is allowed to go on only long enough to separate flesh from fiber, which makes frequent inspection of the bundles in the filthy water an absolute necessity. At the proper time the natives are able to split off the bark, which contains the fiber, from the stem, and while standing up to the waist in the water, he picks or dashes off with water the remaining impurities. The fiber is then dried on racks and subsequently, under enormous pressure, packed in bales of four hundred pounds each. An average crop would be about two and one-half bales from an acre of jute, so that in India there must be considerably over five million acres devoted to the cultivation of the plant. While for many years this tremendous output of fiber was sent to England for manufacture, power looms were set up in India about the middle of the last century. There are now over three-quarters of a million spindles there, and some jute is sent to the United States for manufacture here.

Next to cotton jute is probably the most important fiber plant in the world. For hundreds of thousands of people in India and in England it is the only source of livelihood. To the inventor who can eliminate or reduce the costly retting process of jute, or of flax, which goes through essentially the same operation, there is waiting a golden future, for it is largely the cheapness of labor and willingness of its natives to stand in the retting pools that has made India the jute region of the world.

Lack of space forbids mention of the many other fiber plants, some of which, like flax, are of large importance. Their fibers are used in a variety of ways and are found in different parts of the plant. A few of these, together with the names of the plants and the regions where they are native, are as follows:

NativeProductName of Plant
Bowstring hemp. Sansevieria,
several species. 		Bowstrings and cordage.Tropical Africa and Asia.
Coconut palm. Cocos nucifera.Coir.Tropical America (?)
Flax. Linum usitatissimum.Linen.Europe and Asia.
Kapok. Eriodendron anfractuosum.Kapok, for stuffing.India.
New Zealand flax. Phormium tenax.Cordage.New Zealand.
Paper mulberry. Broussonetia papyrifera.Paper pulp in Japan.Japan.
Pita. Bromelia Pinguin.Pita fiber, fabrics.Tropical America.
Queensland hemp. Sida rhombifolia.Jute substitute.Tropical regions.
Raffia. Raphia ruffa.Cloth and for tying.Madagascar.
Ramie. Boehmeria nivea.Ramie cloth.Tropical Asia.
Rattan cane. Calamus rotang.Rattan, cordage, and coarse cloth. India.
Rush. Juncus effusus.[2]Matting in Japan.North temperate regions.
Sedge. Carex stricta.Rugs and mattings.Northern North America.
Spruce. Picea rubens, canadensis, etc.Paper pulp.Northern North America.
Willows. Salix, many species.Basketry.Temperate regions mostly.

No mention can be made here of the hundreds of fiber plants used by the natives of various parts of the world, some of them probably having great commercial possibilities. The extraction of these fibers by machinery or chemically will open up a large commerce in such plant products, the value of which is now unsuspected or ignored. While the value of cotton, jute, and Manila hemp is reckoned in the hundreds of millions, some of these native fibers are found in plants whose wild supply is almost inexhaustible, and some of which are quite as capable of cultivation as the better known fiber plants. Few fields of inquiry offer greater possibilities to the economic botanist than fibers.