12 CORDAGE FIBRES 



In Nebraska there are two centres of hemp cultivation, 

 viz., Fremont and Havelock. In California, hemp is culti- 

 vated at Gridley, in Butle County. Trials of hemp cultivation 

 have also been made on Ryer's Island, near Riovista, in the 

 Sacramento Valley, in San Benito County, and also near 

 Houston, Texas, where, with improved methods of handling 

 the crop, it seems probable that it may become a profitable 

 industry in that region. Hemp has been grown in the vicinity 

 of Champaign and Rantoul, in Eastern Illinois, and along the 

 Missouri River, between St. Joseph and Kansas City, but its 

 cultivation in these localities has been almost discontinued, 

 except at Rantoul, where about 400 acres are still cultivated 

 each year. 



In Kentucky, as stated, hemp is cultivated most success- 

 fully in the blue grass region, where the soil is chiefly a yellow 

 clay loam, or a rich, sandy loam, rather firm in texture, and 

 usually underlaid with a subsoil of yellow clay. The land is 

 gently rolling, affording excellent drainage. Exceptionally 

 fine crops are produced on the bottom lands along the Ken- 

 tucky River and its tributaries, although it is regarded as risky 

 to cultivate it where it is subject to overflow. A good stand 

 of well-developed hemp plants is rarely obtained in undrained 

 hollows in the uplands, although the soil in these hollows 

 seems more fertile than that on the surrounding hillsides. 



ln_Nebraska, hemp is cultivated on rich, black, friable loam, 

 comparatively loose and light in texture, and lying high, with 

 good drainage. Repeated efforts to cultivate hemp on the 

 " gumbo" and other low-lying soils there have demonstrated 

 that, while these soils may produce some large hemp plants, it 

 is practically impossible to secure on them a good, even stand 

 of hemp stalks of the proper size for fibre. In Texas, good 

 crops of hemp have been produced on rich, dark, prairie soil, 

 but on upland soils, subject to drought, the crop has proved 

 a failure. In California, hemp is grown on alluvial soils in the 

 bottom lands along the rivers. 



