204 RURAL CALIFORNIA 



Arizona where long-staple cotton is grown exclusively, 

 beginning in 1917 and increasing rapidly. 



The production of cotton in California includes 

 many economic and cultural problems and policies 

 and the rapid advance recently made is largely attrib- 

 utable to cooperation among growers in financing 

 and constructing gins and oil-mills and in protecting 

 their industry from all oppressive encroachments. 

 The labor question which harassed the pioneers has 

 not been eliminated but is being progressively reduced 

 by dependence on white labor, an advantage being 

 found in the fact that the dry frostless autumn allows 

 the work to be done after most harvesting of other 

 crops is finished. 



In the search for vegetable fiber, ramie produc- 

 tion has been promoted as a great new field for enter- 

 prise and investment. In 1870 John S. Finch exhib- 

 ited ramie stalks and fiber at the State Fair and a 

 special gold medal was recommended for his display. 

 The plant was introduced and grown by him at 

 Haywards, Alameda County. About that time a 

 great prize was offered by the government of or for 

 India for a machine which would successfully displace 

 hand labor in extraction and processing of ramie 

 fiber for manufacturing. In 1874 Finch and others 

 associated with him constructed an elaborate combina- 

 tion of rollers and dipping tanks through which the 

 ramie stalks were passed in series by a succession 

 of belts and carriers. This machine was started for 

 India to be entered in the competition and to give 

 an exhibition in the Hawaiian Islands en route. It 



