utilized as a paper stock. In these
cases the cost of the whole material would probably be somewhat higher
than that of the hurds, because either all or part of the cost of
harvesting and the total cost of breaking would have to be borne by the
paper maker. Moreover, the quality of this material would be so very
irregular and the supply so uncertain that it probably would not appeal
to the paper manufacturer.

Without doubt, hemp will continue to be one of the staple agricultural
crops of the United States. The wholesale destruction of the supply by
fire, as frequently happens in the case of wood, is precluded by the
very nature of the hemp-raising industry. Since only one year's growth
can be harvested annually the supply is not endangered by the pernicious
practice of overcropping, which has contributed so much to the present
high and increasing cost of pulp wood. The permanency of the supply of
hemp hurds thus seems assured.

The favorable location geographically of the hemp regions in relation to
the pulp and paper industry is a factor of considerable importance. The
Kentucky region is not at present in a position to supply hurds, as
machine methods have not been adopted there to any appreciable degree.
The Ohio and Indiana region, which at present has the greatest annual
tonnage, with the prospect of an increase, is situated south of the
Wisconsin and Michigan wood-pulp producing region and at a distance from
the eastern wood-pulp producing regions; therefore, it is in a favorable
position to compete in the large Ohio and Indiana markets. Since, as
will be shown, the hurd pulp acts far more like soda poplar stock than
sulphite stock, competition would be strongest from the eastern mills;
in fact, the hurd stock might very possibly meet with favor as a
book-stock furnish in the Michigan and Wisconsin paper mills, which are
within the sulphite fiber-producing region. Because of its very close
proximity to paper mills, this latter possibility applies with far
greater force to the Wisconsin hemp region, where a considerable
extension of the hemp industry is anticipated.

[Illustration: FIG. 3.--A representative sample of hemp hurds, natural
size, showing hemp fiber and pieces of wood tissue.]

=CHARACTER OF THE MATERIAL.=

As received from Pierceton, Ind., the hurds consisted of a mixture of
tangled hemp bast fibers and pieces of broken wood of the hemp stalk.
(Fig. 3.) No reliable data were secured as to the