Tjhe  RURAL,  NEW-YORKER 
473 
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Hemp  Culture  in  California 
Some  time  ngo  I  wrote  you  of  this 
country  and  my  hemp  raising  along  the 
reclaimed  swamp  lauds  on  the  lower  San 
Joaquin  River.  I  also  wrote  of  the  lack 
of  drainage  and  consequent  loss  of  crops 
in  wet  seasons.  I  then  said  I  had  de¬ 
vised  a  mole-plow  making  a  hole  about 
2y>  feet  deep  below  the  surface  of  the 
soil,  to  take  the  place  of  tile  as  used  in 
the  Eastern  States.  The  land  is  peat  and 
entirely  composed  of  dead  tales  and  vege¬ 
tation.  The  hole  keeps  its  shape  quite 
well.  The  10-inch  mole  T  use,  leaves  a 
six-inch  hole.  We  make  the  holes  every 
50  feet,  apart. 
In  the  Winter,  or  wet  season,  the  own¬ 
ers  of  the  reclamation,  pump  out  the  sur¬ 
plus  water  on  our  island  with  a  200- 
hnrse-power  pump.  The  land  is  all 
laid  off  in  about  50-acre  cheeks,  and  a 
main  drainage  ditch  three  feet  deep  and 
four  feet  wide  surrounds  the  50-acre 
cheeks.  We  use  the  mole  plow  to  make 
the  small  drains  every  50  feet  across  the 
cheeks  into  these  larger  ditches.  These 
mole-plow  holes  are  used  to  irrigate  the 
crop  in  Summer  which  is  always  dry  iu 
California.  ' 
Our  average  rainfall  is  about  15  inches 
for  the  year.  This  has  been  a  wet  Win¬ 
ter:  10  inches  of  rain  has  fallen  at  this 
writing,  February  S. 
We  are  sowing  1,000  acres  hemp  this 
Spring,  plowing  the  land  now  about  10 
inches  deep,  having  previously  run  the 
mole  holes  through  the  land.  Last  season 
we  had  400  acres  of  hemp  sown,  1015, 
previous  year,  200  acres.  Prices  are  very 
good  for  the  fiber.  We  got  an  average  of 
nine  cents  per  pound  at  station  in  Stock- 
ton,  Cal.,  last  year.  The  European  war 
boosted  the  price  from  a  previous  price  of 
G!4  or  seven  cents  per  pound.  We  have 
to  pay  .$15  per  acre  rent  in  California. 
We  do  not  try  to  keep  the  fiber  straight 
as  they  do  in  Kentucky.  We  make  it  all 
into  tow.  We  have  extra  strong  fiber,  no 
doubt  on  account  of  the  long  season  of 
growth,  nearly  seven  months.  We  use  a 
machine  to  clean  the  fiber.  The  machine 
costs  about  $(100  here  and  will  clean  3,000 
pounds  per  day.  The  main  value  of  hemp 
(the  way  we  handle  it)  is  the  fact  that  it 
takes  almost  none  of  the  fertility  away 
from  the  soil.  When  we  cut  the  hemp  in 
October  we  let  the  straw  lie  on  the  land 
where  grown,  until  it  gets  about  five 
inches  rainfall.  The  rain  rots  or  rusts 
and  loosens  the  fiber  on  the  stalk.  We 
then  take  up  and  stack  in  convenient 
place  to  mill,  and  run  through  mill  at 
convenience.  We  sell  direct  to  the  man¬ 
ufacturers  and  get  the  producer’s  dollar, 
especially  when  they  are  short,  of  raw 
material.  They  have  a  “combine,”  how¬ 
ever,  and  beat  the  producer  when  they 
can,  which  is  quite  often.  They  have  a 
large  factory  in  Oakland,  Cal.  They  in¬ 
formed  me,  one  time,  they  could  use  4.000 
tons  per  year.  It  costs  about  $40  per  acre 
to  raise  hemp  and  pay  rent  and  bale  the 
fiber.  Good  land  will  produce  from  1,200 
to  2,000  pounds  per  acre.  The  people  of 
Kentucky  are  extending  their  acreage 
largely  the  last  two  years. 
California.  joax  iieaney. 
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