Imperial Valley press., 1927-12-14

cicty of Agricultural Engineers for
, tie betterment of farming, was one
I requesting that encouragement be
given to the development of farm
products for industrial uses.
1t is long period of time and a
stretch of many thousands of miles
from the first record of hemp in
asia to its present cultivation in
l Imperial Valley. Many centuries be-
fore the beginning of the Christian
era the hemp plant was utilized for
its extremely strong, tough and
weather resisting fibre and from this
f.tre was manufactured the fine lin
. cts worn by the Raiahs, as well as
the coarse ropes which their slaves
used in placing the massive blocks
# marble when building their tenn
pcs.
1t is only during the past century
that the use of hemp began to di-
minish and this falling-off in de-
mand was not due to mankind haT-
ing discovered superior fibre. The
increasing cost of labor and the lack
of available machinery to economic
allv break the tough hemp stalks
and strip the fibre was responsible
for commerce turning its attention to
inferior vegetable fibres, ones that
did not require the labor that hemp
did, and which also could be manip-
ulated by machinery at present in
use.
But now that machinery has been
invented to swiftly and economically
decorticate the hemp straw, the
story of hemp from the agricultur-
ist s standpoint becomes as interest
ing as does the cultivation of am
other form of plant life.
The Imperial Linen Products Cor
poration, California company, of
which Alfred Stahel Jr., is president.
with a factory under construction in
San Diego, expects to get its supply
of raw material, the hemp straw
from Imperial Valley, at which
place several hundred acres were
PLANTED this fall and are now being
harvested.
Seed Declared Pure
It being very essential that the
hemp plant raised for fibre should be
be of the species known as long
line FIBRE the Corporation secured
a carload of seed from Kentucky, in
, which state practically all of the
hemp seed for use in agricultural
purposes in the United States is
raised. With the shipment came a
i certificate from the agricultural de-
partment of the state of Kentucky
! certifying that the seed was 80 per-
cent pure and had passed 81 per,
cent termination test. This purity
! Of the seed was confirmed by an ex-
animation made by the agricultural
commissioner of Imperial county
who on the arrival of the shipment
l testified that it was as clean lot
of seed as had ever been shipped In
! to Imperial county.
The Imperial Linen Products Cor
oration appointed Mr.. A. B. Blod-
eett as its field representative in
Imperial county. Mr. Blodgett, in
addition to being a practical agri-
rulturist, had been sOjOurner for
many years in Imperial Valley, AMI
is thoroughly familiar with the soil
and climatic conditions there, as
we'll as being favorably known by
and acquainted with the citizens
of the valley. In September the
Corporation, being sure that its mo-
chinerv would be ready to operate
shortly after the first of the year,
decided to see if hemp could not be
grown with fall planting. Although
It was impossible to secure any defi-
mite information in regard to what
might be expected from this expert
ment, yet Mr.. Blodgett was success
ful in securing the cooperation of
Messrs, j. 2. Evans, J. C. Rouser, a.
T. Sprague, L. s. Handley and
Charles Wargele, II. A. Wenz, +. H.
Woodward, L. Mcconnell and C..
| Adair who agreed to make the ex-
pertinent.
/ The woes, trials and tribulations
cf the farmer and the forces beyond
| his control were never better dem
onstratcd than by the story of what
| happened. In some of the fields, as
the tender shoots of hemp came
through the ground, the crickets,
which at that particular time were
exceptionally numerous and noisy,
thought the citizens had prepared
special banquet for them and the ir
rigation water at that season, be-
ing exceptionally full Of silt, depoa-
tied over the fields covering whicn
when baked by the sun, made it ex
tremely difficult for the plant to
push its way through; but in spite of
these two serious obstacles, the
crickets and the silt, on several hun
dred acres the plant demonstrated
its hardy characteristics, growing al
most as rapid as Jack the Giant Kill
cr's famous bean stalk. Mr.. Rouscr
states that on his ranch, by actual
measurement, it grew at the rate of
three inches in "a hours, and now
less than ninety days after being
.Jwn it is ready for the harvester,
which is special machine manufac
tured for this purpose by the Inter
national Harvester Company.
Organizations Interested
The hemp growing has been watch
Cd with a great deal of interest by
fine heads of the Imperial Valley
| Farm Bureau, Chambers of Corr
nerce and other organizations, as
those with the interest of the Valley
3t heart know that it means another
profitable crop. and next spring,
which is the right time for sowing,
lany thousands of acres will be
planted to hemp as the Corporation S