RP MUST sell his position on Legalizing Hemp to other farming states!

[Antonius Stone]

IMO the biggest silent issue that could have hands-down won us Iowa is the legalization of industrial hemp. As far as I know none of the other GOP candidates care about Hemp but RP introduced a bill to legalize.

this is HUGE- if you know anything about hemp then you know that it is an ABSOLUTE BOOM for any and all American farmers and for all domestic manufacturing. This is practically a miracle plant that needs almost no fertilizer, no pesticides/herbicides, increases the yields of other plants when used in crop rotation, replenishes the soil of resources and can quite literally be used to make 80% of all products in the market- You can bet that American farmers will vote hemp and will vote Ron Paul. I think we could have won Iowa if we'd sold the hemp issue as being third most important after Foreign Policy and Fiscal Conservatism.

But we still have a chance. The entire breadbasket might be up for grabs and you know that if we sell our position on hemp, there will be an increase of Paul support. CA, the two Dakotas, Virginia and Kentucky have been trying to legalize hemp for AGES now (I'm sure that there's a bunch of other states i'm missing as well) but the DEA and the republican establishment have been stepping all over them. We need to sell our position on this issue to win votes.

[Antonius Stone]

bump. this is something important to consider

[romeshomey]

Agreed....

Another thing to note is, that when farmers grow hemp, it ruins outdoor marijuana crops by causing them to seed. So not only would they be gaining the ability to farm and sell industrialized hemp, but they would be battleing the growing of real outdoor marijuana at the same time.

The pollen from industrialized hemp can ruin an outdoor marijuana crop up to over 5 miles away depending on the wind and outdoor conditions by causing it to seed. In doing so, people wouldn't want to plant marijuana outside because they would know the industrialized hemp crops would ruin their yield.

So +1 for hemp famers, -1 for pot growers.

Also, note to farmers that industrialized hemp is a far better source for alternative fuel than corn.

[romeshomey]

bump

[Joe3113]

yep

[Antonius Stone]

Agreed....

Another thing to note is, that when farmers grow hemp, it ruins outdoor marijuana crops by causing them to seed. So not only would they be gaining the ability to farm and sell industrialized hemp, but they would be battleing the growing of real outdoor marijuana at the same time.

The pollen from industrialized hemp can ruin an outdoor marijuana crop up to over 5 miles away depending on the wind and outdoor conditions by causing it to seed. In doing so, people wouldn't want to plant marijuana outside because they would know the industrialized hemp crops would ruin their yield.

So +1 for hemp famers, -1 for pot growers.

Also, note to farmers that industrialized hemp is a far better source for alternative fuel than corn.

QFT QFT QFT QFT QFT QFT

RUN THAT EVERYWHERE

[Antonius Stone]

willie nelson on hemp

I think we should try to sway Willie to support RP based on the Hemp position.

blimp.

[fj45lvr]

I 100% guarantee you that the HEMP issue is a HUGE detriment to PAUL because of ignorance.

very stupid marketing ploy to use that issue IMHO

[Antonius Stone]

I 100% guarantee you that the HEMP issue is a HUGE detriment to PAUL because of ignorance.

very stupid marketing ploy to use that issue IMHO

a Hemp legalization bill passed the CA legislature fifty-something to thirty in both houses. only reason it didnt become law is because schwegger didn't sign

Kentucky, Virginia and both Dakotas have been trying to legalize hemp for ages. the knowledge is out there and people are not as stupid as the once were when it comes to hemp because they BUY hemp clothes all the time.

the creation and processing of hemp foods is a multimillion dollar industry and it survives off of imported raw hemp from canada alone

also, how is Hemp advocacy any more detrimental than paul saying on national television that he wants to end the war on drugs?

[slamhead]

Fringe issue..not important. They and read about it in the canabis magazine.

[Oliver]

I already imagine O'Reilly's memo ... putting nails into FOX's RP-coffin.

[fj45lvr]

I already imagine O'Reilly's memo ... putting nails into FOX's RP-coffin.

NO kidding!!!

the hemp issue is certain death.


and those "blinded" by it why don't you throw up some numbers that prove that it is actually a multi-million dollar industry in Canada or anywhere else (I think that is smoke and mirror claims...if it were true there should be some proof to show).

[Antonius Stone]

NO kidding!!!

the hemp issue is certain death.


and those "blinded" by it why don't you throw up some numbers that prove that it is actually a multi-million dollar industry in Canada or anywhere else (I think that is smoke and mirror claims...if it were true there should be some proof to show).

its not a multi million dollar industry in canada

its a multi million dollar industry HERE. WE, AMERICANS are the major market for most all hemp goods
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kZTLHEPrMc

the only thing stopping it from becoming a multi BILLION dollar industry is the fact that we have to import the raw mats from canada. by not getting involved in this business, we are in fact throwing the industry away (like we are currently throwing away all our industries) to the chinese

and as I said. Ron Paul has already said he wants to end the war on drugs. how can hemp advocacy be any more "damaging" than saying you want to end the war on drugs on national TV?

let Bill-O attack us on Hemp. american and canadian farmers will then join in on the already massive chorus that laughs its head off at his bull $#@!

[Trassin]

If you sign up to be a precinct captain at Voters.RonPaul2008.com and take the necessary actions it calls for, you won't need Ron Paul to sell anything to the farmers because you will have already done it yourself!

[Antonius Stone]

If you sign up to be a precinct captain at Voters.RonPaul2008.com and take the necessary actions it calls for, you won't need Ron Paul to sell anything to the farmers because you will have already done it yourself!

excellent point and i've already signed up, but i'm in metropolitan los angeles, far far away from most potential farmers. Also, almost all California farmers are already sold on legalizing hemp so I might as well be preaching to the choir.

over the past 3 years, hemp food sales have averaged a 41% growth rate. click
I'd expect that figure to be close to 75% if american farmers were allowed to grow it themselves. the industry is currently limited by canadian farmers

[Oliver]

NO kidding!!!

the hemp issue is certain death.

I guess even the dutch Ron Paul supporters would
agree on this one - given the US moral circumstances.

[fj45lvr]

let Bill-O attack us on Hemp. american and canadian farmers will then join in on the already massive chorus that laughs its head off at his bull $#@!

I'd have to see that to believe it. I'd believe much more strongly that BO would have the majority of the public laughing at you.....just tell me what product people are using right now commonly that is made with HEMP??? (and don't think for a minute that COULDS or WOULDS are going to sway anybody).

Like I said before if you could show on paper where the Canucks are raking it in from the industry then that is something CONCRETE instead of the "pie in the sky" pipedream (and the "pipe" part of it is the focus).

Paul understands that the FEDS have no business in the Drug BIZ/enforcement Biz but don't ever think for a moment that he condones or advocates use (quite the opposite, he's just not "down" with violating the constitution and wasting a PILE of money while doing it when the STATES can handle it (which they already do).

PAUL should press the ECONOMIC/monetary policy issue WAY WAY more important than hemp in farming communities and the whole country for that matter.

[romeshomey]

I'd have to see that to believe it. I'd believe much more strongly that BO would have the majority of the public laughing at you.....just tell me what product people are using right now commonly that is made with HEMP??? (and don't think for a minute that COULDS or WOULDS are going to sway anybody).

Like I said before if you could show on paper where the Canucks are raking it in from the industry then that is something CONCRETE instead of the "pie in the sky" pipedream (and the "pipe" part of it is the focus).

Paul understands that the FEDS have no business in the Drug BIZ/enforcement Biz but don't ever think for a moment that he condones or advocates use (quite the opposite, he's just not "down" with violating the constitution and wasting a PILE of money while doing it when the STATES can handle it (which they already do).

PAUL should press the ECONOMIC/monetary policy issue WAY WAY more important than hemp in farming communities and the whole country for that matter.

Hemp isn't marijuana. It does not produce enough THC to produce medicine or get a person high.

[Oliver]

Hemp isn't marijuana. It does not produce enough THC to produce medicine or get a person high.

This is true - but the subliminal tone in this thread surely has
nothing to do with "Hemp clothes" or something similar ...

[romeshomey]

This is true - but the subliminal tone in this thread surely has
nothing to do with "Hemp clothes" or something similar ...

What lines are you reading between?

This thread is about farming industrialized hemp for alternative fuel and nothing else. There are no lines to read between.

Here is some information on the subject.

We can be energy independent, without nuclear power.
Biomass is the term to describe all biologically produced matter. World production of biomass is estimated at 146 billion metric tons per year, mostly as wild plant growth. Biomass conversion to fuel has proven economically feasible in laboratory tests and continuous operation of pilot plants since 1973. It has a heating value of 5000-8000 BTU/lb, with virtually no ash or sulfur produced by combustion.

About 6% of contiguous U.S. land area cultivated for biomass could supply all our current demand for oil and gas. This is the basis of the emerging concept of "energy farming," wherein farmers grow and harvest crops for biomass conversion to fuels.There is one farm crop that can fill all our energy needs. Hemp is the only biomass resource capable of making America energy independent. Both Thomas Jefferson and George Washington grew hemp. But, under pressure from the oil and timber industries, our government outlawed it in 1938.

Hemp biomass technology can meet our energy needs.
Pyrolysis is the technique of applying high heat to organic matter (lignocellulosic materials) in the absence of air or in reduced air to produce charcoal, condensable organic liquids (pyrolytic fuel oil), non-condensable gasses, acetic acid, acetone and methanol. The process can be adjusted to favor charcoal, methanol, pyrolytic oil or gasoline, at 95.5% fuel-to-feed efficiency. It uses the same technology now used to process crude fossil fuel oil and coal.

Pyrolytic fuel oil has similar properties to #2 and #6 fuel oil and can be transported economically by trucking, creating even more jobs for Americans. Pyrolysis charcoal has nearly the same heating value in BTU as coal, with virtually no sulfur. Charcoal can be transported by rail to power plants generating electricity.

Clean energy for America.
When we use sulfur free charcoal instead of coal, the problems of acid rain will begin to disappear. And when the energy crop is growing it takes in CO2 from the air, and releases oxygen, so when it is burned the CO2 released creates a balanced system. Global greenhouse warming and adverse climactic change will automatically diminish.

Farms -- a natural resource.
Farmers must be allowed to grow an energy crop that produces at least 10 tons per acre in 90-120 days, and grows in all climactic zones in America. Hemp is drought resistant, making it an ideal crop in the dry western regions of the country.

Hemp is one of the best biomass producers on earth: up to 10 tons per acre in about four months. Hemp is pest resistant and can be grown in rotation with food crops or on marginal land,. where food production is not profitable. This energy crop can be harvested with equipment readily available. It can be "cubed" by modified hay cubing equipment, and the cubes are ready for conversion with no further treatment.

Real National Security:
By the year 2000, America will have exhausted 80% of her petroleum reserves. Will we go to war with the Arabs for the privilege of driving our cars? Will we stripmine our land for coal, and poison our air so we can drive our autos an extra 100 years? Will we raze our forests to make fuel? Or will reason prevail? The main argument against using hemp does not hold up to scrutiny: Hemp grown for biomass will not make you high if you smoke it. The 20 to 40 million Americans who smoke pot would loath to smoke such hemp, so the crop is worthless as an intoxicant. In the former Soviet Union, where farmers are free to grow hemp, they tell of students who sneak into the fields to steal some hemp branches. "But they never come back for more."

Only certain strains of hemp, grown under special conditions can produce 'marijuana.' There is virtually THC-free hemp to be grown, but even that is blocked.

During World War II, our supply of hemp for industrial feedstock was cut off by the Japanese. The federal government solved that emergency by suspending marijuana prohibition. Patriotic American farmers were encouraged to apply for licenses to cultivate hemp, and responded enthusiastically. Hundreds of thousands of acres of hemp were grown, without any problems-just benefits.

It is time for our leaders to end our national energy/economic emergency as they once stopped Hitler: Permit our farmers to grow hemp, so America can once again become energy independent and smog free.

http://www.equalrights4all.org/bach/Fuel.html

[Oliver]

I fully agree with you. But that surely isn't an important topic in the US right
now and in the debates, is it?

So I tend to think that those who endorse the Hemp-Issue, are rather
pushing their own agendas than taking a plausible stance concerning
the Issues that are important to most Americans - am I wrong?

[Danny]

I'm not completely against this idea, but I can see how it could backfire.

What % of people are actually interested in becoming a hemp farmer? Extremely small. What % of people hear "legalize hemp" and believe that means legalize drugs (which RP is also for)? Probably quite a few.

[fj45lvr]

Hemp isn't marijuana. It does not produce enough THC to produce medicine or get a person high.

I know and I don't disagree that it could have some good things.


It is however POLITICAL SUICIDE. and further I have not seen a shred of evidence that it is going to become a MORE PROFITABLE enterprise for American farmers.


The thread was about GAINING support.....this would have the OPPOSITE effect guaranteed whether you or I like it or NOT.

[romeshomey]

I fully agree with you. But that surely isn't an important topic in the US right
now and in the debates, is it?

So I tend to think that those who endorse the Hemp-Issue, are rather
pushing their own agendas than taking a plausible stance concerning
the Issues that are important to most Americans - am I wrong?

It isn't? How much are you paying for gas while the world is saying oil supply is running thin.

Energy isn't an issue when the Northeast is struggling to pay to heat their homes and people can't afford to pump gas into their transportation?

We don't have an environmental issue with carbon gases being emmited into the atmosphere? Deisel fuel made with hemp emits only 1/3 of the pollutants as that of petroleum deisel.

Hemp could save the farmers from having to sell their land to developement or from losing their farms to government forclosure, save our dependancy on foreign petroleum, save people from high heat and travel expenses, and save the environment ALL IN ONE SHOT!

Farmers could make their own deisel fuel to run their machinery if they were allowed to grow hemp. It isn't a difficult process.

[romeshomey]

I know and I don't disagree that it could have some good things.


It is however POLITICAL SUICIDE. and further I have not seen a shred of evidence that it is going to become a MORE PROFITABLE enterprise for American farmers.


The thread was about GAINING support.....this would have the OPPOSITE effect guaranteed whether you or I like it or NOT.

What? Hemp was the MOST profitable crop for farmers before it was outlawed and was the most profitable farmed crop in Canada in 2006.

-------------

The Manitoba Co-Operator has declared industrial hemp (seed) to have "a better profit outlook than any other crop in 2006." With the breakeven yield for hemp seed at 388 pounds per acre, farmers feel there is plenty of risk buffer, given average Manitoba harvest yields of over 500 pounds per acre. Coupled with the fact that many of region's staple crops are projected to "under-yield" in 2006, this could be industrial hemp's biggest season ever.

http://www.hemperfi.com/2006/04/indu...ofitabl_1.html

[romeshomey]

John Ackland sits inside his automotive shop in Craik, Saskatchewan, snacking on an energy bar - made with hemp seeds.

Ackland says the energy bar is chockful of hemp seeds, naturally containing Omega 3s, 6s and 9s in the correct balance for optimal health, as well as the essential nutrient gamma linolenic acid.


"It's very healthy - people eat them for high energy," Ackland said, pointing to the many other hemp products he sells, including flour, heating oil, shampoo, salves, ointments and the "softest hand lotion you've ever put on your hands."


He may sound like a salesman, but he's really a hemp producer, and knows very well how high maintenance a hemp crop can be, particularly at harvest time.


But he also knows it's a very good cash crop that can be processed into a multitude of consumer products that are in demand all over the world - and that's the main reason he continues to grow it.


"In Canada, it's the most profitable crop I can grow, but it's not an easy crop to harvest," Ackland says.


Hemp in Canada currently brings about $10 a bushel, but four years ago the price was higher, Ackland said. His yields have averaged 20 bushels/acre but have been up to 32 bushels/acre on the high end.


Ackland has been farming with his son, Brian, in the Craik region since 1972. After a HempOil Canada farm meeting with Kevin Friesen, the Acklands decided to add hemp to their small grain operation.


Industrial hemp was reintroduced as an alternative crop to Canadian farmers in 1988 after 60 years of being banned from the country. Nearly 40,000 acres of hemp was grown in Canada in 2006, with farmers finding contracts to grow mostly hemp seed.


"There's no place in North America where you can sell the straw," he said, adding the markets are for the seed and oil. Plants in Craik and Manitoba are going up within the next year, so Canada is working with farmers to obtain the most value from the crop.


Markets will remain a problem, Ackland said, because farmers do not want to keep their hemp seed in storage too long. Last year, he added, it took him 14 months to get rid of the previous year's crop.


North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson said one future market opportunity for hemp may be in renewable fuels plants. Proposals for ethanol plants that use cellulose are out there, and the hemp stalks would be an excellent source, Johnson said.


Ackland does sell a small amount of hemp fibre to an individual in the area who uses it to make durable, long-lasting counter tops too.


"Hemp is the second toughest fibre in the world," he said.


Ackland's uncle in Illinois grew 100 acres of hemp for the war effort in 1942, so he said he was aware of what producing a successful crop took before he started.


He doesn't recommend putting the seed into the ground until a contract is in place with a reputable and proven buyer. Winnipeg farmers had a bad experience a few years ago with an American buyer who contracted with producers for the hemp fibre, took their money and "left them high and dry," Ackland said. "This first situation soured everybody on hemp for a time," he added.


"It's important to have the infrastructure in place before you begin growing it. We've been working on the infrastructure for 10 years," Ackland said, adding that agencies such as the DEA have to be on board, too, as well as markets. "You have to be careful. Everybody is out there scrambling for dollars and cents."


Ackland says he doesn't mind sharing a few pointers with prospective producers, even though Canadian farmers will be in direct competition with North Dakota farmers.


"Of course, we would just as soon you not grow it," says Ackland, pointing out how lucrative the crop has been for the country's producers.


His input costs each year are about $35 an acre for seed, and $50 an acre for fertilizer, as well as transportation costs. He hauls his harvested seed by semi 500 miles to market in another province, and it takes him several trips to get it all there.


Farmers in Canada who grow hemp also need to apply for a license, just as they will in North Dakota. They are also required to purchase their seed on an annual basis from a certified seed dealer.


According to the Saskatchewan Hemp Association, some of the seed varieties grown include Fasamo, Finolo and FIN 314. Significant research into varieties is ongoing in Canada.


Ackland said the fields where hemp will be grown need to be fertilized beforehand with anhydrous or other chemical providing nitrogen and phosphorus. "It takes a lot of nitrogen to grow it," he said.


"I do not recommend growing hemp in fields where you have had wild oats. Hemp will not tolerate wild oats. Other than that, it'll outgrow every weed," Ackland said.


Hemp, he added, is the "fastest growing crop" he's ever seen. "On the average, hemp grows a foot a week."


The planting and harvesting window depends a lot on the climate in the growing region.


"I am planting on the 51st parallel, and the hemp crop grows better in the northern regions," he says.


That would make it perfect for North Dakota producers.


In his region, the planting window is between May 15 and June 15, Ackland said.


"Even though it is listed in terms of days to maturity, that isn't how it matures," he said. "It's a photosensitive plant, so if you seed it too early, you just end up with an awfully tall plant.


"These industrial hemp varieties don't grow as well in hot weather," he continued. "And too much daylight, such as you have in the southern parts of the U.S., can trigger the plant to go to seed." Then the seed can only be sold as bird food, he added.


In Saskatchewan, the hemp goes to seed around the end of September. Harvesting for seed occurs 4 to 6 weeks after the last pollen is shed from the plant, and fibre is harvested earlier.


"Our harvest period up here is different than yours in North Dakota. Some guys (in Canada) just got their sunflowers off," Ackland said, adding they've been known to still be harvesting some crops in December.


Harvesting the crop takes work, and hemp is hard on farm machinery, Ackland said.


"In most cases, hemp must be straight combined, and I really recommend an International combine," he said, adding that the hemp fibers tend to continually wrap around the external shafts of the combine, and need to be pulled off.


That is why modifications to the combine are recommended. The farm dealership in Craik, Harvest Services, has developed a different type of rotor for the combine that uses a 360 degree screw, and Ackland said it works well for harvesting hemp. "There are other rotors with 180 degree screws, but they don't work as well," he added.


When harvesting, Ackland said farmers are cutting the top 18 inches to 2 feet of the plant and leaving the rest behind.


"When you take the crop off, you have to take it off tough. It's not a crop you can go out and combine 150 acres a day, because you couldn't handle the seed coming off," he said. "You have to air it down, you have to dry it."


This year, he eventually harvested the whole crop, but it was a difficult time.


"The end of September, it got very wet, rained a lot. We had trouble getting all the crops off in Saskatchewan," he said.


At one point Brian was in one field operating the combine while Ackland followed in the next field with the truck. Ackland said it was beginning to rain, and he had to keep jumping in and out of the truck to run over to continually pull hemp fibers from the external shaft on the combine so the work could be finished and the crop taken off as quickly as possible.


"We only got half the crop off before the the weather turned bad," Ackland said.


He puts the crop in the bin at 16 to 22 percent moisture, and airs it down or uses a grain dryer quickly "before it goes rancid." Ackland said if the seed goes slightly rancid, the oil will have a more sour taste.


One reason hemp sells so well as oil in the marketplace is because of its "nutty" taste that many people prefer.


Ackland plans to continue growing hemp in spite of marketing difficulties and harvesting struggles.


"It's one of the most usable crops in the world," he said. "And right now, it's a profitable crop for me."

http://www.voiceyourself.com/article...more=1&id=3803

[fj45lvr]

What % of people hear "legalize hemp" and believe that means legalize drugs (which RP is also for)? Probably quite a few.

Nearly ALL of the Republican base.

and technically Paul doesn't believe in the FEDERAL DRUG LAWS (unless they were passed by an amendment to the Constitution like prohibition was but I doubt he would vote for that ammendment)....that however does NOT mean that he is for DRUG USE (which I believe he would warn against for non-medicinal purposes and feels like alcohol abuse could become a sickness that warrants "treatment"). There is a big difference between what is "legal" and what is "beneficial" just as we know now that DOUBLE WHOPPERS w/ CHEESE are "legal". People are at LIBERTY to make their own "moral" determinations to ruin their own lives and bodies but it makes much more sense to get them treatment rather than slap them in a prison cell. (dealers may be a different story though without the "blackmarket" the profits might not be there to keep them in the "biz").

[romeshomey]

February 1938: Mechanical Engineering Magazine
"THE MOST PROFITABLE & DESIRABLE CROP THAT CAN BE GROWN"

Modern technology was about to be applied to hemp production, making it the number one agricultural resource in America. Two of the most respected and influential journals in the nation, Popular Mechanics and Mechanical Engineering, forecast a bright future for American hemp. Thousands of new products, creating millions of new jobs, would herald the end of the Great Depression. Instead, hemp was persecuted, outlawed and forgotten at the bidding of W.R. Hearst, who branded hemp the “Mexican killer weed, marihuana.”


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As early as 1901 and continuing to 1937, the U.S. Department of Agriculture repeatedly predicted that once machinery capable of harvesting, stripping and separating the fiber from the pulp was invented or engineered, hemp would again be America’s number one farm crop. The introduction of G.W. Schlichten’s decorticator in 1917 nearly fulfilled this prophesy.

The prediction was reaffirmed in the popular press when Popular Mechanics published its February, 1938 article “Billion-Dollar Crop.” Because of the printing schedule and deadline, Popular Mechanics prepared this article in Spring of 1937 when cannabis hemp for fiber, paper, dynamite and oil, was still legal to grow and was, in fact, an incredibly fast-growing industry.

Mechanical Engineering published an article about hemp that same month. It originated as a paper presented a year earlier at the February 26, 1937 Agricultural Processing Meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Reports from the USDA during the 1930s, and Congressional testimony in 1937, showed that cultivated hemp acreage had been doubling in size in America almost every year from the time it hit its bottom acreage, 1930 - when 1,000 acres were planted in the U.S. - to 1937 - when 14,000 acres were cultivated - with plans to continue to double that acreage annually in the foreseeable future.

The newly mechanized cannabis hemp industry was in its infancy, but well on its way to making cannabis America’s largest agricultural crop. And, in light of subsequent developments (e.g., biomass energy technology, building materials, etc.), we now know that hemp is the world’s most important ecological resource and therefore, potentially our planet’s single largest industry.

The Popular Mechanics article was the very first time in American history that the term “billion-dollar” was ever applied to any U.S. agricultural crop!

Experts today conservatively estimate that, once fully restored in America, hemp industries will generate $500 billion to a trillion dollars per year, and will save the planet and civilization from fossilfuels and their derivatives - and from deforestation!

If Harry Anslinger, DuPont, Hearst and their paid for politicians had not outlawed hemp - under the pretext of marijuana - and suppressed hemp knowledge from our schools, researchers and even scientists; the glowing predictions in these articles would already have come true by now - and more benefits than anyone could then envision - as new technologies and uses continue to develop.

As one colleague so aptly put it: “Those articles were the last honest word spoken on hemp’s behalf for over 40 years...”

----------------------

The following is Mechanical Engineering’s February 26, 1937 article:
"THE MOST PROFITABLE AND
DESIRABLE CROP THAT CAN BE GROWN"
FLAX AND HEMP: FROM THE SEED TO THE LOOM
By George A. Lowe

This country imports practically all of its fibers except cotton. The Whitney gin, combined with improved spinning methods, enables this country to produce cotton goods so far below the cost of linen that linen manufacture practically ceased in the United States. We cannot produce our fibers at less cost than can other farmers of the world. Aside from the higher cost of labor, we do not get as large production. For instance, Yugoslavia, which has the greatest fiber production per acre in Europe, recently had a yield of 883 lbs. Comparable figures for other countries are Argentina, 749 lbs.; Egypt 616 lbs.; and India, 393 lbs.; while the average yield in this country is 383 lbs.

To meet world competition profitably, we must improve our methods all the way from the field to the loom.

Flax is still pulled up by the roots, retted in a pond, dried in the sun, broken until the fibers separate from the wood, then spun, and finally bleached with lye from wood ashes, potash from burned seaweed, or lime. Improvements in tilling, planting, and harvesting mechanisms have materially helped the large farmers and, to a certain degree, the smaller ones, but the processes from the crop to the yarn are crude, wasteful and land injurious. Hemp, the strongest of the vegetable fibers, gives the greatest production per acre and requires the least attention. It not only requires no weeding, but also kills off all the weeds and leaves the soil in splendid condition for the following crop. This, irrespective of its own monetary value, makes it a desirable crop to grow.

In climate and cultivation, its requisites are similar to flax and, like flax, should be harvested before it is too ripe. The best time is when the lower leaves on the stalk wither and the flowers shed their pollen.

Like flax, the fibers run out where leaf stems are on the stalks and are made up of laminated fibers that are held together by pectose gums. When chemically treated like flax, hemp yields a beautiful fiber so closely resembling flax that a high-power microscope is needed to tell the difference - and only then because in hemp, some of the ends are split. Wetting a few strands of fiber and holding them suspended will definitely identify the two because, upon drying, flax will be found to turn to the right or clockwise, and hemp to the left or counterclockwise.

Before [World War I], Russia produced 400,000 tons of hemp, all of which is still hand-broken and hand-scutched. They now produce half that quantity and use most of it themselves, as also does Italy from whom we had large importations.

In this country, hemp, when planted one bu. per acre, yields about three tons of dry straw per acre. From 15 to 20 percent of this is fiber, and 80 to 85 percent is woody material. The rapidly growing market for cellulose and wood flour for plastics gives good reason to believe that this hitherto wasted material may prove sufficiently profitable to pay for the crop, leaving the cost of the fiber sufficiently low to compete with 500,000 tons of hard fiber now imported annually.

Hemp being from two to three times as strong as any of the hard fibers, much less weight is required to give the same yardage. For instance, sisal binder twine of 40-lb. tensile strength runs 450 ft. to the lb. A better twine made of hemp would run 1280 ft. to the lb. Hemp is not subject to as many kinds of deterioration as are the tropical fibers, and none of them lasts as long in either fresh or salt water.

While theory in the past has been that straw should be cut when the pollen starts to fly, some of the best fiber handled by Minnesota hemp people was heavy with seed. This point should be proved as soon as possible by planting a few acres and then harvesting the first quarter when the pollen is flying, the second and third a week or 10 days apart, and the last when the seed is fully matured. These four lots should be kept separate and scutched and processed separately to detect any difference in the quality and quantity of the fiber and seed.

Several types of machine are available in this country for harvesting hemp. One of these was brought out several years ago by the International Harvester Company. Recently, growers of hemp in the Middle West have rebuilt regular grain binders for this work. This rebuilding is not particularly expensive and the machines are reported to give satisfactory service.

Degumming of hemp is analogous to the treatment given flax. The shards probably offer slightly more resistance to digestion. On the other hand, they break down readily upon completion of the digestion process. And excellent fiber can, therefore, be obtained from hemp also. Hemp, when treated by a known chemical process, can be spun on cotton, wool, and worsted machinery, and has as much absorbance and wearing quality as linen.

Several types of machines for scutching the hemp stalks are also on the market. Scutch mills formerly operating in Illinois and Washington used the system that consisted of a set of eight pairs of fluted rollers, through which the dried straw was passed to break up the woody portion. From there, the fiber with adhering shards - or hurds, as they are called - was transferred by an operator to an endless-chain conveyor. This carries the fiber past two revolving single drums in tandem, all having beating blades on their periphery, which beat off most of the hurds as well as the fibers that do not run the full length of the stalks. The proportion of line fiber to tow is 50% each. Tow or short tangled fiber then goes to a vibrating cleaner that shakes out some of the hurds. In Minnesota and Illinois, another type has been tried out. This machine consists of a feeding table upon which the stalks are placed horizontally. Conveyor chains carry the stalks along until they are grasped by a clamping chain that grips them and carries them through half of the machine.

A pair of intermeshing lawnmower-type beaters are placed at a 45-degree angle to the feeding chain and break the hemp stalks over the sharp edge of a steel plate, the object being to break the woody portion of the straw and whip the hurds from the fiber. On the other side and slightly beyond the first set of lawnmower beaters is another set, which is placed 90-degrees from the first pair and whips out the hurds.

The first clamping chain transfers the stalks to another to scutch the fiber that was under the clamp at the beginning. Unfortunately, this type of scutching makes even more tow than the so-called Wisconsin type. This tow is difficult to reclean because the hurds are broken into long slivers that tenaciously adhere to the fiber.

Another type passes the stalks through a series of graduated fluted rollers. This breaks up the woody portion into hurds about 3/4 inch long, and the fiber then passes on through a series of reciprocating slotted plates working between stationary slotted plates.

Adhering hurds are removed from the fiber which continues on a conveyor to the baling press. Because no beating of the fiber against the grain occurs, this type of scutching makes only line fiber. This is then processed by the same methods as those for flax.

Paint and lacquer manufacturers are interested in hempseed oil which is a good drying agent. When markets have been developed for the products now being wasted, seed and hurds, hemp will prove, both for the farmer and the public, the most profitable and desirable crop that can be grown, and one that can made American mills independent of importations.

Recent floods and dust storms have given warnings against the destruction of timber. Possibly, the hitherto waste products of flax and hemp may yet meet a good part of that need, especially in the plastics field which is growing by leaps and bounds.

http://digitalhemp.com/eecdrom/TEXT/page1.htm

[SilentBull]

This is a great point! Can someone please contact the campaign?? Why haven't they thought of this?

[romeshomey]

This is a great point! Can someone please contact the campaign?? Why haven't they thought of this?

Ron Paul has, he is the sponser of the Bill thats sitting on the House floor to legalize the industrized farming of hemp.

http://www.votehemp.com/PDF/Hemp_Farming_Act_2007.pdf