A burlap sack or gunny sack, also known as a gunny shoe, hessian sack or tow sack, is an inexpensive bag, traditionally made of fibres which are also known as "tow," such as hessian fabric (burlap) formed from

jute Jute is a long, soft, shiny bast fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from flowering plants in the genus ''Corchorus'', which is in the mallow family Malvaceae. The primary source of the fiber is ''Corchorus olit ...

hemp Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial or medicinal use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest growing plants o ...

or other natural fibres. Modern-day versions of these sacks are often made from synthetic fabrics such as

polypropylene Polypropylene (PP), also known as polypropene, is a thermoplastic polymer used in a wide variety of applications. It is produced via chain-growth polymerization from the monomer propylene. Polypropylene belongs to the group of polyolefins and ...

. The word ''gunny'', meaning coarse fabric, is of Indo-Aryan origin. Reusable gunny sacks, typically holding about , were traditionally used, and continue to be to some extent, for transporting grain, potatoes and other agricultural products. In Australia, these sacks, made of Indian jute, were known traditionally as 'hessian sacks', 'hessian bags' or 'sugar bags'. The term ''tow sack'' refers to their being made of tow,

spun ''Spun'' is a 2002 American black comedy crime drama film directed by Jonas Åkerlund from an original screenplay by William De Los Santos and Creighton Vero, based on three days of De Los Santos's life in the Eugene, Oregon, drug subculture. The ...

broken fibres of hemp or other plants. Gunny sacks are sometimes used as

sandbags A sandbag or dirtbag is a bag or sack made of hessian (burlap), polypropylene or other sturdy materials that is filled with sand or soil and used for such purposes as flood control, military fortification in trenches and bunkers, shielding gl ...

for

erosion control Erosion control is the practice of preventing or controlling wind or water erosion in agriculture, land development, coastal areas, river banks and construction. Effective erosion controls handle surface runoff and are important techniques in ...

, especially in emergencies. Up until the latter part of the twentieth century, when they became less common, the sacks were one of the primary tools for fighting grass fires in rural areas, used while soaked with water when available. Gunny sacks are also popular in the traditional children's game of sack racing.

Size

A gunny sack holds approximately of potatoes. Although gunny sacks are no longer used to carry them, the common

measurement unit A unit of measurement is a definite magnitude of a quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law, that is used as a standard for measurement of the same kind of quantity. Any other quantity of that kind can be expressed as a multip ...

of potatoes is still the "sack" among farmers in

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

.South, David B
"Protect Your Potatoes"
Accessed 2015-06-10. Thousands of bean bags

Cultural references

* Referred to as a "tow sack" in "

Polk Salad Annie "Polk Salad Annie" is a 1968 song written and performed by Tony Joe White.
Its lyrics describe t ...

" by

Tony Joe White Tony Joe White (July 23, 1943 – October 24, 2018), nicknamed the Swamp Fox, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for his 1969 hit "Polk Salad Annie" and for "Rainy Night in Georgia", which he wrote but which was first ma ...

. * Referred to in the lyrics of Chuck Berry's " Johnny B. Goode" - "He used to carry his guitar in a gunny sack". Indicative of the character's poverty. * In "

Wizard People, Dear Reader ''Wizard People, Dear Reader'', released in 2004, is an unauthorized alternative soundtrack to ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'', written by Brad Neely, a comic book artist from Fort Smith, Arkansas. ''Wizard People, Dear Reader'' is a n ...

", the package containing the

Philosopher’s Stone The philosopher's stone or more properly philosophers' stone (Arabic: حجر الفلاسفة, , la, lapis philosophorum), is a mythic alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold (, from the Greek , "gold", a ...

is referred to as a "silly little gunny sack" by

Brad Neely Brad Neely (born October 26, 1976) is an American comic book artist and television writer/producer known for his work on television series such as '' South Park'', ''China, IL'' and '' Brad Neely's Harg Nallin' Sclopio Peepio,'' the web series '' ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunny Sack Bags Food packaging Jute

Size

See also

Cultural references

References