19 



at not less than one million dollars in value annually, has induced some 

 of our woollen factories and the cotton factory to turn their attention to 

 the manufacture of burlaps and other bagging material from flax and 

 hemp straw, and that the latter is now offering twenty dollars per ton 

 for the straw of the farmer. At these prices, then, land may be made 

 to yield at the rate of over one hundred dollars per acre. This branch 

 of agriculture has been sadly neglected. From official reports we learn 

 that the value of flax and hemp, and goods manufactured from them, 

 imported into the United States in eighteen hundred and sixty-six, was 

 twenty-four million one hundred and fifty-nine thousand one hundred 

 and eighty-nine dollars. This is about the average of the annual impor- 

 tation," and it does not show well for a country of unsurpassed natural 

 advantages for the culture of these products and their manufacture. As 

 a redeeming feature, however, thei*e was in the same year imported 

 machinery expressly for the manufacture of these articles, of ninety- 

 seven thousand four hundred and twenty-one dollars in value. While 

 this machinery should also be made in the United States, as it will be, 

 still it shows that the industry is commanding increased interest 

 throughout the country, and we hope the farmers of California will give 

 it their attention. 



CASTOR OIL BEAN. 



The soil and climate of our State is peculiarly adapted to the growth 

 of the castor bean. The plant here, in good localities, becomes a peren- 

 nial tree, bearing its annual crop like our fruit trees, and the average 

 yield per acre, by the actual experiment of the few who have engaged in 

 the business, is from one thousand five hundred to two thousand pounds 

 per annum. The oil factory at San Francisco pays for the beans four 

 cents per pound, making the crop average from sixty dollars to eighty 

 dollars per acre. The small bean only should be planted. The tree of 

 the large bean grows too large for gathering the crop, and is not so good 

 a bearer. 



RAMIE OR CHINESE GRASS. 



This is a fibrous plant of the nettle species. There are a number of 

 varieties, known by different botanical names, natives of China and other 

 countries and islands in the south of Asia. Grass cloths have long been 

 manufactured by the Chinese, from the different varieties of these plants 

 or grasses. Eamie, or the variety botanically named Bochmeria tenacis- 

 sima, was introduced into Calcutta from Bencoola, as early as eighteen 

 hundred and three. In eighteen hundred and fourteen it was experi- 

 mented on in England to a considerable extent, and with favorable 

 results as to the beauty and strength of its fibre. The difficulty of sep- 

 arating the fibre from the gummy substances prevented its boing used 

 for practical manufacturing purposes to any extent, until eighteen hun- 

 dred and fort}'-nine. At that time a process was discovered, of soaking 

 the stalks in cold and tepid water, and then boiling them in a solution of 

 alkali for twenty-four hours, and again washing in cold water and sub- 

 jecting to a high pressure of steam. This discovery removed, to a great 

 extent, the difficulty of practically using the fibre in manufacturing, and 

 since that time it has been used to a considerable extent in some of the 

 factories of England, in connection with cotton. With cotton it makes 

 a fine, lustrous, silky cloth, strong and durable. In eighteen hundred 

 and sixtj'-seven, the British imports of this fibre equalled sixty-five 

 thousand two hundred and eight pounds, and it was worth nineteen 



