THE HEMP INDUSTRY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1381, 1 April 1915, Page 3

THE HEMP INDUSTRY.

Encouraged by the improved market position of phoruiium-hbre an increased number o[ mills have been in operation—in fact, nearly every stripper in the country has been occupied except those in a few districts where the natural supplies ol water having failed, owing to the prolonged dry spell, milling has been impossible. With the good rains generally experienced Ibis mouth, however, these mills should be now in operation. A considerable increase in the fibre-output will probably therelore be recorded when this month’s figures are available. This season's output will not, o! course, compare with that of some past seasons, due largely to the poor market values ruling in the earlier part ol the season, and in a minor degree to several disastrous Jires in flax areas which took | place in the summer months. The quality of the hemp milled in February was on the whole very satisfactory. The larger mills maintained a good standard, but the work of some ot the mills which recently resumed operations was responsible for a decided increase in low-pointed fair parcels, these mills having apparently not yet got into their stride. The majority of stripper-keepers have been doing fairly good work, but with the sound leaf generally available there should be a much higher percentage of the higherquality grades. Colour has been weak in many cases, especially in the lower grades, occasioned probably by poor bleaching-conditions or by the tendency to rush the fibre through the bleaching process, thereby not giving it sufficient time to bleach effectively. With the excellent prices now offering for fibre there is a common tendency to aim at quantity rather than at quality. It is the low market that encourages good mill-ing-work rather than the high one. —Mr W. H. Ferris in the current number of the Journal of Agriculture.