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HEMP SOURCE MATERIAL - Edited by Kind Bud of Colorado
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This file contains the following:
o 1. June 1991 article from Pulp & Paper Magazine, "It's Time To
Reconsider Hemp," by Technical Editor.
o 2. May 2, 1991 Wall St Journal front page article about hemp.
o 3. Feb 1938 Popular Mechanics article "New Billion Dollar Crop"
o 4. Nov 1980 New Scientist article about French hemp industry.
o 5. Excerpts from U S D A bulletin 404 on hemp
o 6. Transcript of 1942 USDA film: "Hemp For Victory!" urging
American farmers to grow hemp for the war effort. For years, the
USDA denied the existence of this film.
Additional free information about the many uses of hemp can be
had by calling (303) 470-1100 from a touch tone phone. This is the
Colorado Hemp Information Hotline. When connected, punch in ext 477 to hear
a 10 minute recording of Hugh Downs' ABC 20/20 program on hemp. You
may leave a message if you chose.
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Contributor's note: the following is a reprint of an article
which appeared in PULP & PAPER Magazine written by technical editor
Jim Young. Pulp & Paper is a woodpulp industry trade journal.
-=]*]=-
IT'S TIME TO RECONSIDER HEMP
By Jim Young
Let me say up front that I have never smoked a commercially
made cigarette, much less that devil weed with roots in hell.
Passed through the '60s without a single pair of tie-died bell-
bottoms. Identified more with Merle Haggard's "Okie from Muscogee"
than Jim Morrison's "Light My Fire."
Yet, I believe that Indian hemp (Cannabis sativa--yes, that
Cannabis) has more to offer the paper industry than we are taking
advantage of (or more correctly, we are ALLOWED to take advantage of.)
Tradition, if not federal law, is on the side of hemp,
starting with Ts'ai Lun himself. According to the book, THE EMPEROR
WEARS NO CLOTHES, by Jack Herer, from 75% to 90% of the world's
paper manufactured before 1883 was made from Cannabis hemp fiber,
including the Gutenberg Bible and the first two drafts of the
Declaration of Independence. Augmenting the tradition of hemp
fiber, the USDA in 1916 predicted a papermaking future for
nonfiberous portions of the hemp stalk in its Bulletin No. 404,
HEMP HURDS AS PAPER-MAKING MATERIAL. Hemp hurds are 0.5-in. to 3
in. pieces of the woody inner portion of hemp that have separated
from the fiber. Hurds contain more than 77% cellulose.
Reporting on papermaking tests with hemp hurds, the bulletin
concluded, "Hemp-hurd stock acts similarly to soda-poplar stock,
but will produce a somewhat harsher and stronger sheet and one of
higher folding endurance...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."
A long-awaited mechanized breakthrough in removing the fiber-
bearing cortex from the rest of the hemp stalk "without a
prohibitive use of human labor" was described in a three page
article in the February 1938 issue of Popular Mechanics entitled
"The New Billion-Dollar Crop." Written at the time of the passage
of the federal Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, the article included the
challenge, "If federal regulations can be drawn to protect the
public without preventing the legitimate culture of hemp, this new
crop can add immeasurable to American agriculture and industry."
This was not to be, however. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Tax
Act uprooted the billion-dollar crop (1938 dollars) before it could
be planted.
It is the dried flowers and top leaves of the female Cannabis
sativa, of course, that constitute marijuana. Without opening the
debate on its legalization or the psychotropic effects of its
delta-9 tetrahydrocannibal (THC) content, it is worth noting that
interest in papermaking from hemp continues as our fiber, energy,
and environmental concerns increase.
The '70s was a decade of intensive study of Cannabis
papermaking, particularly in Italy, France, Spain, and Holland.
papermaking applications, depending on the cooking process and end
use of the pulp. Concurrent research and selective breeding reduced
THC content. In France, farmers must obtain low-THC Cannabis seed
directly from the National Hemp Producers Federation, inform the
Ministries of Health and Agriculture of their intent, and have a
guaranteed purchaser of their crop.
The high cost of limited production currently restricts hemp
to specialty use such as European and Asian cigarette papers.
Cannabis Hemp can probably be pulped in existing kenaf-pulping
equipment, but it will take more than imported stock to make it
economically feasible.
Hemp is the world's primary biomass producer, growing ten
tons/acre in approximately four months. It can produce four times
the amount of paper than 20-year-old trees can and will grow in all
climatic zones of the contiguous 48 states.
Pyrolysis of hemp can be adjusted to produce charcoal,
pyrolytic oil, gas, or methanol with a claimed 95.5% fuel-to-feed
efficiency. Pyrolytic fuel oil has properties similar to Nos. 2 and
6 fuel oil. Burning charcoal does not cause acid rain.
U.S. hemp-growing restrictions were set aside to meet material
shortages during World War II. They should now at least be modified
to meet pending shortages of fiber, energy, and environmental
quality.
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END
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Contributor's note: The following is reprinted from the Thursday,
May 2, 1991 issue of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. It is a front page
article by Sonia L. Nazario, Staff Reporter of The Wall St.
Journal.
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WHAT IS AS VERSATILE AS THE SOYBEAN BUT ILLEGAL ANYWAY?
Hemp Plants Yield Marijuana But Guru Jack Herer Sees Lots of Commercial Uses.
Marijuana isn't just for smoking anymore. The hemp plant has
about as many uses as the soybean.
It can be made into a food something like tofu, or into a
fabric not unlike linen. It can fire the pistons in your Ford. It
can be made into plumbing and paper. It has medicinal properties.
Indeed, the many real and conceivable uses of hemp strike some
people as new and sufficient grounds to legalize marijuana. More
than 20 years of failed efforts to legalize the drug call for new
tactics, enthusiasts say.
Time has pretty much passed the legalize-pot movement by.
Alaska, which decriminalized the possession for personal use of
small amounts of marijuana in 1975, decided last fall to
recriminalize. As of March 3, possession isn't legal any longer in
the 49th state; it's a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in
jail and a $1,000 fine.
BUDDING RENAISSANCE
But Jack Herer, leaning back in his Venice, Calif. bungalow to
light his marijuana pipe, continues to believe in hemp. He as much
as anyone else is responsible for its budding renaissance. Mr.
Herer, 51, has inspired more than 20 grass roots across the country
that proselytize hemp. Cannabis Sativa, hempsters say, can "save
the world" and thus should be legalized. The flowering tops and
leaves are the parts of the hemp plant people smoke.
Mr. Herer spent 17 years researching the uses of the fibrous
stalks and oily seeds of the plant native to Asia, which
historically has been used to produce fiber and pulp for cordage,
canvas and paper. It still is cultivated legally in such countries
as Italy and Yugoslavia. Mr. Herer has documents purporting to
prove that the real reason the U.S. outlawed marijuana in 1937 was
that a new hemp-harvesting machine had so enhanced the plant's
commercial possibilities that it threatened the politically
powerful producers of wood pulp.
During one of his eight stays in jail (a two-week sojourn in
1983 on a civil-disobedience charge), Mr. Herer turned his body of
hemp lore into a 181-page manifesto, "THE EMPEROR WEARS NO
CLOTHES," which since its 1990 reprinting has sold 35,000 copies at
$12.95. He also has filed 36,000 signatures on petitions to get a
hemp initiative on the California ballot next year. (Needed:
385,000 signatures by July 20.)
2nd part of front page article...POT GURU JACK HERER HAS NEW
REASONS TO PROMOTE THE HEMP PLANT: FOOD, FUEL AND FASHIONABLE ATTIRE
In recent months hemp groups inspired by Mr. Herer have begun
turning up on college campuses, trying to rework hemp's image.
"We realized that smoking pot [while] dressed in tie-dies in
front of the White House wasn't getting us anywhere," concedes
Chris Conrad, founder of the Business Alliance for Commerce in
Hemp.
Believers in San Francisco scrawl "burn pot, not oil"
graffiti, even though the line has a whiff of the '60s about it.
And from Washington to Los Angels, activists hoist "Hemp for Fuel"
signs at rallies. Kentucky lawyer Gatewood Galbraith, a professed
prolific pot smoker, hopes to ride his Hempmobile, a 1980 Mercedes-
Benz that runs on hemp seed oil, to victory in this month's
Kentucky Democratic gubernatorial primary. He isn't expected to
win.
Country star Willie Nelson, before his recent "HempAid"
concert for Mr. Gailbraith in Louisville, remarked:"It's a shame
farmers can't grow hemp." He says he's concerned about the family
farm.
The hemp lobby reveres history. Columbus trusted hempen sails.
The founding fathers did their rough drafts of the Declaration of
Independence on hemp paper. Hemp "is as much a part of the human
condition as walking upright," insists Ronald Miller, a tool
grinder in the aerospace industry who greases his long gray hair
with oil pressed from hemp seeds.
Advocates calculate that by planting 6% of the U.S. in hemp,
enough oil could be produced to meet the country's energy needs.
Hemp "tofu" ["hempfu"] and hemp gruel could help end world hunger.
Hemp-based paper could save entire forests. (The argument here is
that hemp plants yield four times the pulp of forested acreage.)
Kimberly-Clark Corp. confirms that its French unit harvest hemp to
make paper for Bibles and cigarettes.
Experts in fuel and fiber (unlike enthusiasts) aren't all that
high on hemp, however; they say it costs too much to use. Fiber
importer says that hemp costs three times as much as wood pulp for
paper production.
But Mr. Herer, calling himself a "hemp savant," in his book
offers $10,000 to anyone who can prove him wrong about Cannabis.
SOURCE OF FINANCING
In the 1970s Mr. Herer sold his Los Angeles sign-lighting
maintenance business and opened and acquired two head shops, stores
that sell drug paraphernalia. He used some of his profits to
finance never successful attempts in California and Oregon to
legalize marijuana.
Mr. Herer, who says he smokes four joints a day, has protested
marijuana laws by smoking grass outside the Los Angeles offices of
the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement
Administration. He and fellow advocates march in parades wearing
tri-cornered hats and playing fife and drum to recall Colonial days
when hemp was freely grown.
Some of Mr. Herer's friends defected along the way, but he has
remained true to his cause. Take, for instance, the matter of "Hemp
for Victory," a 1942 film produced by the Agriculture Department
that urged patriotic farmers to cultivate hemp for wartime
(nonsmoking) uses. When the USDA a few years back denied that any
such film existed, Mr. Herer journeyed to Washington and found an
uncataloged copy at the Library of Congress.
READING MATTER
"This is a bigger cover-up than Iran-Contra," growls artist
Genie Brittingham-Erstad, a husky-voiced San Gabriel, Calif.,
hempster sitting outside the main federal building in downtown Los
Angeles at a table heaped high with Hungarian hemp twine and copies
of Mr. Herer's book.
Mr. Herer has some authoritative backing when he talks up the
medicinal benefits of marijuana, which have nothing to do with drug
abuse. Cancer specialists say that tetrahydrocannabinol, the active
ingredient in marijuana, can be helpful in treating nausea and in
stimulating patients' appetites. According to a survey reported
this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine, nearly half of
doctors polled said they prescribe marijuana if it were legal.
(There are rare legal exceptions.)
HEMP SHIRTS
Hemp has so many commercial possibilities. Sativa Creations
Inc., of Vancouver, sells Stoned Wear shorts and shirts, in the
popular 45% cotton, 55% imported hemp blend. They come with or
without the marijuana leaf logo prominently displayed, for
customers who do or don't wear their sentiments on their sleeves.
"Wrap yourself up in marijuana legally," the company advertises.
Theodora Kerry, a California masseuse who says she has smoked
bud and leaf for 25 years, is another die-hard, still optimistic
about legalization. Her town, Santa Cruz, was once "hemp ignorant,"
she says. So she helped found Cannabis Conversations and the Holy
Hemp Sisters, which sponsored the recent Great Santa Cruz Hemp
Revival and Community Extrava-Ganja.
Hundreds of locals gathered in the town community center,
forming a sacred circle as the Holy Hemp Sisters, beat drums and
recited the virtues of hemp in producing food, fuel and clothing
for a cold and hungry world.
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END
Contributor's Note: The detractors in the above article claiming
that hemp is not an economical alternative to wood pulp are basing
their claim on the price of IMPORTED hemp-hurds, not U.S. grown
hemp!
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Contributor's Note: The following is the famous
February, 1938 article which appeared in POPULAR MECHANICS.
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NEW BILLION DOLLAR CROP
American farmers are promised a new cash crop within annual
value of several hundred million dollars, all because a machine has
been invented which solves a problem more than 6,000 years old. It
is hemp, a crop that will not compete with other American
products. Instead, it will displace imports of raw material and
manufactured products produced by underpaid coolie and peasant
labor and it will provide thousands of jobs for American workers
throughout the land.
The machine which makes this possible is designed for removing
the fiber-bearing cortex from the rest of the stalk, making hemp
fiber available for use without a prohibitive amount of human
labor.
Hemp is the standard fiber of the world. It has great tensile
strength and durability. It is used to produce more than 5,000
textile products, ranging from rope to fine laces, and the woody
"hurds" remaining after the fiber has been removed contain more
than seventy-seven per cent cellulose, and can be used to produce
more than 25,000 products, ranging from dynamite to Cellophane.
Machines now in service in Texas, Illinois, Minnesota and
other states are producing fiber at a manufacturing cost of half a
cent a pound, and are finding a profitable market for the rest of
the stalk. Machine operators are making a good profit in
competition with coolie-produced foreign fiber while paying farmers
fifteen dollars a ton for hemp as it comes from the field.
From the farmers' point of view, hemp is an easy crop to grow
and will yield from three to six tons per acre on any land that
will grow corn, wheat, or oats. It has a short growing season, soil
that it can be planted after other crops are in. It can be grown in
any state of the union. The long roots penetrate and break the soil
to leave it in perfect condition for the next year's crop. The
dense shock of leaves, eight to twelve feet above the ground,
chokes out weeds. Two successive crops are enough to reclaim land
that has been abandoned because of Canadian thistles or quack
grass.
Under old methods, hemp was cut and allowed to lie in the
fields for weeks until it "retted" enough so the fibers could be
pulled off by hand. Retting is simply rotting as a result of dew,
rain and bacterial action. Machines were developed to separate the
fibers mechanically after retting was complete, but the cost was
high, the loss of fiber great, and the quality of fiber
comparatively low. With the new machine, known as a decorticator,
hemp is cut with a slightly modified grain binder. It is delivered
to the machine where an automatic chain conveyor feeds it to the
breaking arms at the rate of two or three tons per hour. The hurds
are broken into fine pieces which drop into the hopper, from where
thy are delivered by blower to a baler or to truck or freight car
for loose shipment. The fiber comes from the other end of the
machine, ready for baling.
From this point on almost anything can happen. The raw fiber
can be used to produce strong twine or rope, woven into burlap,
used for carpet warp or linoleum backing or it may be bleached and
refined, with resinous by-products of high commercial value. It
can, in fact, be used to replace the foreign fibers which now flood
our markets.
Thousands of tons of hemp hurds are used every year by one
large powder company for the manufacture of dynamite and TNT. A
large paper company, which has been paying more than a million
dollars a year in duties on foreign-made cigarette papers, now is
manufacturing these papers from American hemp grown in Minnesota.
A new factory in Illinois is producing fine bond papers from hemp.
The natural materials in hemp make it an economical source of pulp
for any grade of paper manufactured, and the high percentage of
alpha cellulose promises an unlimited supply of raw material for
the thousands of cellulose products our chemists have developed.
It is generally believed that all linen is produced from flax.
Actually, the majority comes from hemp--authorities estimate that
more than half of our imported linen fabrics are manufactured from
hemp fiber. Another misconception is that burlap is made from hemp.
Actually, its source is usually jute, and practically all of the
burlap we use is woven by laborers in India who receive only four
cents a day. Binder twine is usually made from sisal which comes
from Yucatan and East Africa.
All of these products, now imported, can be produced from
home-grown hemp. Fish nets, bow strings, canvas, strong rope,
overalls, damask tablecloths, fine linen garments, towels, bed
linen and thousands of other everyday items can be grown on
American farms. Our imports of foreign fabrics and fibers average
about $200,000,000 per year; in raw fibers alone we imported over
$50,000,000 in the first six months of 1937. All of this income can
be made available for Americans.
The paper industry offers even greater possibilities. As an
industry it amounts to over $1,000,000,000 a year, and of that
eighty per cent is imported. But hemp will produce every grade of
paper, and government figures estimate that 10,000 devoted to hemp
will produce as much paper as 40,000 acres of average pulp land.
One obstacle in the onward march of hemp is the reluctance of
farmers to try new crops. The problem is complicated by the need
for proper equipment a reasonable distance from the farm. The
machine cannot be operated profitably unless there is enough
acreage within driving range and farmers cannot find a profitable
market unless there is machinery to handle the crop. Another
obstacle is that the blossom of the female hemp plant contains
marijuana, a narcotic, and it is impossible to grow hemp without
producing the blossom. Federal regulations now being drawn up
require registration of hemp growers, and tentative proposals for
preventing narcotic production are rather stringent.
However, the connection of hemp as a crop and marijuana seems
to be exaggerated. The drug is usually produced from wild hemp or
locoweed which can be found on vacant lots and along railroad
tracks in every state. If federal regulations can be drawn to
protect the public without preventing the legitimate culture of
hemp, this new crop can add immeasurably to American agriculture
and industry.
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Popular Mechanics Magazine can furnish the name and address of the
maker of, or dealer in, any article described in its pages. If you
wish this information, write to the Bureau of Information,
inclosing a stamped, self-addressed envelope. [offer made in 1938]
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END
Contributor's Note: The decorticator mentioned in the article
promised to make hemp so cost-effective that its cultivation was
seen as a threat by petrochemical, textile, paper, and other
interests. With the ready assistance of the Hearst newspaper chain,
a program of disinformation and hysterical propaganda was foisted
upon the public, culminating in the passage of the Marijuana Tax
Act of 1938: Marijuana Prohibition had begun.
.................................................................
Contributor's Note: The following article is from NEW SCIENTIST
(British) 13 November 1980....written by Tim Malyon (previous
coordinator of the Legalize Cannabis Campaign), and Anthony Henman,
author of Mama Coca (Hassle Free Press, London, 1980) Also note:
One hectare=10,000 sq. meters.
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NO MARIHUANA: PLENTY OF HEMP
French farmers are doing well out of the growing market for
hemp fibres. British farmers could face 14 years in jail if they
followed suit...
Eight thousand hectares of EEC-subsidised cannabis growing in
France--it seemed inconceivable. Our source of information,
however, left little doubt as to its accuracy. The neat scientific
pamphlets of the Federation Nationale des Producteurs de Chanvre
(FNPC) could hardly be accused of pandering to the pot culture.
Anxious to confirm the fact at first hand, we hopped on the early
morning train out of Paris's Gare Montparnasse, and two hours later
were met in Le Mans by the research officer of the FNPC. It was
early in September, just as the harvest was getting into full
swing. With a justified pride in his achievement, our contact
showed us out to the experimental fields, where acre upon acre of
the French type of monoecious hemp (with male and female flowers on
the same plant) vied with the trial introductions of five-metre
dioecious plants (only one sex per plant) from Italy, and thick-set
Lebanese bushes of the kind normally used for producing hashish.
Apart from these latter plants--a mere dozen or so, grown
exclusively for "comparative purposes"--we were assured that the
rest of the crop had been subject to selective breeding which
reduced the levels of THC--the psychoactive ingredient of cannabis-
-to virtual insignificance. On collecting a few "female flowering
tops" and smoking them in Paris later that same evening, we were
forced to concede the truth: French hemp is useless as a drug
plant, and the smoking of even large quantities of it succeeded
only in giving us a mild but irritating headache...
Hemp's history of service to human culture is as long as it is
diverse. The Neolithic "yang Shao" culture of China (4000 BC) is
believed to have used the long fibrous strands on the outside of
the cannabis stalk for rope and cloth. According to Professor Hui-
Lin Li, an economic botanist at the University of Pennsylvania,
cannabis seeds rich in protein, "were considered, along with
millet, rice, barley and soybean, as one of the major grains of
ancient China." The first paper was made of hempen rags, while the
earliest pharmacopoeia in existence, the Pen-ts'ao-Ching, states
that "the fruits of hemp...if taken in excess will produce
hallucinations [literally seeing devils.] If taken over a long
term, it makes one communicate with spirits and lightens one's
body." Writing in the 5th century BC, the Greek historian Herodotus
describes how the Scythians would purge themselves after funerals
by inhaling the smoke of hemp seeds thrown onto hot stones. "The
Scythians enjoy it so much that they howl with pleasure..."
Linguistic evidence indicates that in the original Hebrew and
Aramaic texts of the Old Testament the "holy anointing oil" which
God directed Moses to make (Exodus 30:23) was composed of myrrh,
cinnamon, cannabis and cassia.
PRECIOUS PLANTS
Up to the middle of the last century France alone was
cultivating more that 100,000 hectares, whilst so precious was the
plant in Tudor England that Queen Elizabeth I exacted a bounty of
5 gold sovereigns on any farmer who did not cultivate it. The
reason for such a penalty was simple: hemp fibre is the strongest
vegetable fibre known to man, and can be grown easily and in a
single six-month cycle from April to September. Before the
introduction of tropical sisal and Manila hemp, it was essential
for the rope and canvas (the very word derived from cannabis,
according to the OED) used to outfit the Navy. An American
commentary on the 1764 Hemp Law governing importation from "His
Majesty's colonies into Great Britain" notes the necessity to
"render their mother country independent of certain northern powers
(mainly the Baltic States) upon whom her former dependence, for a
supply of naval stores, has been frequently very precarious."
This strategic aspect of cannabis as a basic fibre source
reappeared for a short while during the Second World War. In the
wake of Pearl Harbour and the Japanese invasion of the Philippines,
the US was cut off from its supplies of Manila rope and twine, and
made considerable efforts to revive its by then sagging hemp trade.
Planters' manuals were rapidly reprinted, and the estimated area
under cultivation increase from 585 hectares in 1939 to 59,500
hectares in 1943. By 1946 the total had dropped back to 1950
hectares and the industry was on its way to extinction in the
industrial West.
A number of factors combined to bring about this state of
affairs. The production of high-quality hemp fibre is a labour-
intensive business. The hemp stalks must be dried in the field,
then transported to a "retting pit" where they are left in water
for several days to start the process of separating the fibre from
the woody core (known as hurds) of the stalk. The retted plants are
then taken back to the farm to be dried out in buildings similar to
hop oast houses. The stalks are passed through what is essentially
a large mangle separating fibre from broken hurd. The hurds are
then shaken out, and after "scutching and heckling" (a process of
cleaning and separating individual strands) the long, strong fibres
are ready for spinning and weaving. In a pre-industrial society,
the bulk of this work could be carried out during the winter when
farmers had little to do. With the importation of cheap tropical
fibers and the demise of the sail, however, such labour-intensive
work no longer proved financially viable. A mechanical hemp
"breaker" was introduced in the early 1900s, but it had arrived too
late to save a trade which by then was having to cope with
international cannabis prohibition and a new image for the plant,
from essential crop to assassin of youth.
Synthetic textiles also helped hasten hemp's decline, as so,
too, did the 19th century introduction of the chemical woodpulping
process. As already mentioned, hemp textiles were one essential
source for rag paper. After the Second World War, for instance,
Robert Fletcher and Sons, the paper manufacturer owned by the
Imperial Tobacco Group, brought up large stocks of Nazi
concentration camp uniforms made from hemp, which it converted into
paper. Since then, Fletchers has stopped using textiles for paper
because it is almost impossible to obtain them free of synthetic
materials which wreak havoc on the machinery. It now imports raw
hemp fibres from France.
For, curiously enough, as wood-pulp paper replaced rag paper
and hemp textile products disappeared from the market, a new
process was being developed in France that used the raw hemp fibres
for the production of high-quality, strong papers. The fibre is
extremely resilient and ideal for the manufacture of cigarette
paper, which must combine high tensile strength with extreme
lightness. Fibre for paper is cheaper to produce than fibre for
textiles, because it needs neither to be as long nor of such high
quality. Paralleling the growth in the consumption of illicit,
high-THC forms of cannabis, the new hemp cigarette paper industry
was launched in the early 1960s in France, and established its
present prominence in the halcyon years between 1967 and 1971.
Statistics show a decline in the area of French cannabis sown for
textiles from 1084 hectares in 1961 to 147 hectares in 1968, the
last year for which official records of this type of cultivation
exist. In contrast, areas dedicated to paper production increased
from 61 hectares in 1961 to 3181 hectares in 1968, peaking at
10,595 hectares in 1977.
The growth of this new market for the plant in France was
accompanied by a radical restructuring of the economics of the hemp
business. Though a few farmers grow the crop principally for the
sake of the subsidies they receive (1405 francs per hectare last
year), the bulk of current production comes from mechanised
concerns with high levels of productivity. One of the great
advantages of hemp for farmers lies in its use as a rotation crop,
breaking up the soil with its deep root system and also eliminating
weeds, thus leaving the land ready for the direct sowing of a
winter wheat crop before the arrival of the first frosts. An
enthusiastic response to this potential has brought about the
large-scale introduction of hemp into areas where it was not
traditionally cultivated, and in Bar-sur-Aube, for instance, 200 km
south-east of Paris, a flourishing cooperative has been established
to represent the interests of part of the new hemp agribusiness.
There, 93 farmers helped finance their own breaking mill which in
1978 was processing 2500 hectares of hemp.
STREAMLINED MECHANIZATION
A certain amount of trade secrecy surrounds the exact
mechanical process involved in "breaking" the dried hemp stalks and
separating bast fiber--the phloem fibres, most suitable for paper
production--from the woody hurds. The director of the Bar-sur-Aube
cooperative politely refused us saying that as he sold 20 per cent
of his product to England, he did not wish to encourage "English
competition." The De Mauduit mill likewise refused to receive us,
even though the FNPC intervened on our behalf.
Their reticence is understandable. It is streamlined
mechanisation in the breaking mills which has made the production
of crude bast fibre for paper much more cost-effective when
undertaken on a large industrial scale. Not surprisingly this new
system has led to an ever-increasing centralisation of the hemp
business. Various small mills were involved in the early 1960s, but
in the past decade the field has narrowed to two major concerns,
besides the Bar-sur-Aube cooperative. One is the relatively
traditional Job cigarette paper company in Toulouse, and the other
giant De Mauduit factory in Quimperele, which has prevailed over
all its competitors in the main hemp-growing areas of central and
north-eastern France. Its aggressive business acumen--De Mauduit is
actually a subsidiary of the US paper multinational Kimberly-Clark
who makes Kleenex tissues--is based upon a fine understanding of
the profitability of the trade: French farmers receive 435 francs
per tonne for the dried hemp stalks and De Mauduit charges 2500
francs for the prepared bast paper fibre, for which the British
paper maker ends up paying 650 Pounds per tonne. De Mauduit's
treated paper fibre, hemp pulp board, costs an astonishing 6500
francs per tonne.
Since the break mills have a virtual monopoly, the FNPC in Le
Mans is looking for ways of diversifying the market for the hemp
its members produce. Research is being undertaken into the
possibility of including a proportion of hemp in various coarser
grades of paper, including wrapping paper, as a means of
increasing strength. Some printing paper manufactures, including
the company that produces the glossy pages of Paris Match, are
considering introducing a proportion of hemp into their paper pulp.
So far the only indication that British companies other than Robert
Fletcher and Sons are actively researching hemp's paper potential
comes from the Manchester University's Department of Paper Science,
which refused to divulge information on recent work in this area
because what information it had was a "trade secret."
Further potential for hemp in paper manufacture involves
utilising the plant's woody core, the hurds. While the average
fibre yield per hectare is approximately 185 kg, fully two-and-a-
half tonnes of hurds are produced from the same area. These are now
being sold for animal bedding and for producing building boards
with good sound-proofing properties. As far back as 1916, however,
the US Department of Agriculture carried out a number of semi-
commercial tests on the use of hurds for paper production and
concluded:"After several trials, under conditions of treatment and
manufacture which are regarded as favourable in comparison with
those used with wood pulp, paper was produced which received very
favourable comment both from investigators and from the trade and
which according to official tests would be classed as No.1 machine
finish printing paper." Not only could hemp hurds compete with wood
pulp on cost and quality, but they were also found to be far more
economical in terms of land use. "Every tract of 10,000 acres which
is devoted to hemp raising year by year is equivalent to a
sustained pulp producing capacity of 40,500 acres of average pulp-
wood lands." Despite a 1977 Italian study which found that this
usage remained commercially viable, paper companies are apparently
disregarding the potential for hurds, even though paper production
from hurds is much less polluting than from wood-pulp. Hemp hurds
contain on average 4 per cent lignin, as opposed to 18-30 per cent
in wood, and it is the effluent resulting from washing out the
lignin that causes the most serious pollution in the chemical
pulping process.
Some thought is now going into researching non-paper
applications for hemp products. At present seeds (farmers receive
10 francs per kg; average yield is 50 kg/ha) have a limited use,
being sold mainly as animal feed, bird food and anglers' bait.
However, cannabis seeds contain 30-45 per cent high protein oil,
which is edible, or may be used in future in paint production.
The French hemp industry is of course entirely disregarding
cannabis' textile potential, despite the fact that in Brittany some
small farmers still produce hempen sheets and other hard-wearing
cloth for their own use. We were informed in France that the
production of the high quality fibres required for textiles remains
prohibitively costly and that rope and sacking are imported from
Eastern Bloc countries where labour costs remain lower. Scottish
hemp fiber importers obtain a large percentage of their material
from Poland. According to our research, the finest hemp cloth has
always been produced by the Chinese and Italians, and Yugoslavia,
India and Japan are still producing hemp textiles, the latter in
combination with synthetic fibres.
What might be the future for a revitalised hemp fibre industry
in the UK? Certainly, the British paper-makers could not but
welcome any attempt to undercut prices they pay for imported hemp,
but in order to achieve this, considerable capital must be invested
in British breaking mills. However, what is possibly of more
interest than the now established use of fibre for high-quality
paper is the future of hemp fibre in textiles. Given careful
preparation, high-quality hemp cloth can be produced in Britain
that is both comfortable and more durable than any other natural
textile. A hemp/wool mix was once widely used in France, being
known generically as berlinge. Demand is growing for durable
natural fibre products where the public will pay a somewhat higher
price for a superior product. Certain clothing manufacturers in the
US have expressed an interest in hemp jeans (Levi Strauss's
original jeans were made from hempen sailcloth,) while the outdoor
equipment industry is also returning where possible to natural
fibres, and hemp might be ideal in, for instance, specialists
mountaineering backpacks. Given the mess in which the British
textile industry finds itself, such innovative ideas could well
bear fruit, particularly if the technology can be developed from
the existing machinery in the linen industry to keep the cost of
preparing weaving quality hemp fibre within reasonable limits.
All this, of course, presumes a more sensible government
attitude to British cultivation laws. (Cannabis stalks and seeds
are already legal, and can be safely imported.) While international
law governing cannabis cultivation makes a specific exemption for
industrial uses, no such exemption exists in British law, and
growers must obtain a special license from the Home Secretary. The
only farmer to apply for such a license in 1980 was refused. In
France, the law is more flexible, but no less precise. Farmers must
have a guaranteed purchaser of their crop and must obtain their
official, low-THC seed directly from the FNPC, informing the
Ministries of Health and Agriculture of their intentions. Such a
model could easily be introduced into this country in conformity
with the Common Agricultural Policy. Since the rapid expansion of
the French industry furnishes proof of profit potential, British
farmers might be justifiably annoyed at being threatened with a 14
year jail sentence for growing a plant, generously subsidised by
the EEC on the continent, from which their French neighbours are
making good money. Or perhaps Her Majesty's government should sue
the EEC commissioners for conspiring to aid and abet a criminal
offence?
-=[*]=-
END
.................................................................
Contributor's Note: The following article is provided courtesy of
the Business Alliance for Commerce in Hemp (BACH), Historic Reprint
Series.
-=]*[=-
--Excerpted From U.S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin #404--
By Jason L. Merrill
US Dept. Of Agriculture Paper-Plant Chemist
October 14, 1916
INTRODUCTION:
Page 7
Since hemp hurds are to be treated in this report as a raw
material for the manufacture of book and printing papers, the
qualities, supply, probable future, and cost of the material will
be considered in comparison with wood in which it must compete.
There seems to be little doubt that the present wood supply can not
withstand indefinitely the demands placed upon it and ;, with
increased scarcity, economy in the use of wood will become
imperative. This effect is already apparent in many wood-using
industries.
COMPARISON TO WOOD:
Page 24
The most important point derived from our calculation is in
regard to areas required for sustained supply, which are in the
ratio of 4 to 1.
Every tract of 10,000 acres which is devoted to hemp raising
year by year is equivalent to a sustained pulp-producing capacity
of 40,500 acres of average pulp-wood lands. In other words, in
order to secure additional raw material for the production of 25
tons of fiber per day,m there exists the possibility of utilizing
the agricultural waste already produced on 10,000 acres of hemp
lands instead of securing, holding, reforesting and protecting
40,500 acres of pulp-wood land.
The annual growth per acre, although decidedly in favor of
hurds, has little bearing on the project, because the utilization
of the hurds is subordinate to the raising of hemp, and the paper
manufacturer probably could afford to use only hurds resulting from
the hemp industry.
ADVANTAGES OF HEMP HURDS:
Page 9
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 happened 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 over-
cropping, which has contributed so much to the present high hand
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, the competition would be
strongest from the eastern mills. In fact, the hurd stock might
very possibly meet with favor as a bookstock furnish in the
Michigan and Wisconsin paper mills, which are within the sulphite
fiber-producing region, where a considerable extension of the hemp
industry is anticipated.
CONCLUSIONS:
Page 25
There appears to be little doubt that under the present system
of forest use and consumption the present supply cannot withstand
the demands placed upon it.
By the time improved methods of forestry have established an
equilibrium between production and consumption, the price of pulp
wood may be such that a knowledge of other available raw materials
may be imperative.
Semi-commercial paper-making tests were conducted, therefore,
on hemp hurds, in cooperation with a paper manufacturer. After
several trials, under conditions of treatment and manufacture which
are regarded as favorable in comparison with those used with pulp
wood, paper was produced which received very favorable comment both
from investigators and from the trade which according to official
test would be classed as a No.1 machine finished printing paper.
TECHNICAL REPORT ON OPERATIONS INVOLVED IN PERFORMING A TEST:
Page 13
A complete test on hurds comprises seven distinct operations,
and the method will be described, operation by operation, in the
order in which they were conducted.
SIEVING:The hurds for the first test were not sieved to remove
sand and dirt, but the resulting paper was so dirty that sieving
was practiced in all subsequent tests. The hurds were raked along
a horizontal galvanized iron screen 15 feet long and 3 feet wide,
with 11 1/2 meshes per linear inch, the screen being agitated by
hand from below.
Various amounts of dirt and chaff could be removed,depending
on the degree of action, but it was found that if much more than 3%
of the material was removed it consisted chiefly of fine pieces of
wood with practically no additional sand or dirt' in most of the
tests, therefore, the material was screened so as to remove
approximately 3%. It became apparent that a finer screen would
probably serve as well and effect a saving of small but good hurds.
COOKING: Cooking is the technical term for the operation by
which fibrous raw materials are reduced to a residue of cellulose
pulp by means of chemical treatment. In these tests, about 300
pounds of hurds were charged into the rotary with the addition of
a caustic-soda solution, such as is regularly employed in pulp
mills and which tested an average of 109.5 grams of caustic soda
per liter, or 0.916 pound per gallon, and averaged 85% causticity.
Sufficient caustic solution was added to furnish 25% or 30% of
actual caustic soda, calculated on the bone-dry weight of hurds in
the charge.
After closing the rotary head, it was started rotating at the
rate of one-half revolution per minute, and in about five minutes
steam at 120 pounds per square inch was admitted at such a rate
that the charge was heated in one hour to 170 C, which is the
theoretical equivalent of 100 pounds of steam pressure per square
inch. It was found, however, that when the temperature reached 170
C the pressure was usually 115 or 120 pounds instead of 100 pounds,
due to air and gases closed in the rotary. At this point the rotary
was stopped and steam and air relieved until the pressure dropped
to 100 pounds, or a solid steam pressure.
The temperature was maintained at this point for the number of
hours required to reduce the hurds, which was found to be about
five, after this, the rotary was stopped and steam relieved until
the pressure was reduced to zero, the head was removed and the
stock was emptied into a tank underneath, measuring 5 1/2 by 2 feet
deep, where it was drained and washed.
Samples of waste soda solution, or 'black liquor,' which were
taken from some of the 'cooks' for analysis, were drawn while the
stock was being thus emptied into the drainer.
DETERMINATION OF YIELD: For determining the yield of cellulose
fiber, the water was sucked from the stock in the drain tank by
means of a vacuum pump communicating with the space between the
bottom and the false perforated bottom, leaving the fiber with a
very uniform moisture content throughout its entire mass and
weighing for a yield determination. Tests have shown that it is
possible to sample and calculate the yield of bone-dry fiber within
0.05% of the actual amount.
It has been found that stocks from different materials vary
greatly in their ability to mat in the drain tank, thereby enabling
a good vacuum to be obtained, some stocks permitting a 25-inch
vacuum to be obtained, while others will not permit more than five
inches. For this reason, the moisture control of the stock will
vary from 65% to 85%.
WASHING AND BLEACHING: Washing and bleaching were performed
for the purpose of bleaching the brown colored cooked stock to a
white product, since it was regarded as highly probable that the
fiber would be suitable for book-paper manufacture.
The colored stock was charged into a 400-pound beating and
washing engine of regular construction and washed about one hour,
the cylinder washer being covered with 60 mesh wire cloth in order
to remove fine loose dirt and chemical residues.
The washer was then raised, the stock heated by steam to about
40 C, and a solution of commercial bleaching powder was added in
the quantity judged to be as necessary, after which the stock was
pumped to a large wooden tank, to remain and bleach overnight. If
the stock was bleached sufficiently white it was drained and washed
from bleach residues. If not, more bleach was added until a good
color was obtained.
The bleaching powder used was estimated to contain 35% of
available chlorine, as this is the commercial practice, and the
amount required was calculated to the bone-dry weight of the
unbleached stock. More bleach is required for undercooked stock
than for stock which is properly cooked or overcooked; therefore,
the percentage of bleach required is an indication of the quality
of the cooked stock.
Since bleaching is usually more expensive than cooking it is
desirable to cook to such a degree that consumption of bleach will
be held within certain limits, depending on the raw materials used
and the quality of the paper to be produced. In these tests it was
desired to cook the hurds so that consumption of bleach would not
be over about 10% of the fiber.
FURNISHING: Furnishing is the operation of charging the
beating engine with the desired kind or kinds of fiber in the
proper proportion and amount and the adding of such loading and
sizing agents as may be necessary.
As shown in the record of results, the furnish in these tests
consisted of hurd stock alone and of various proportions of hurds,
sulphite fiber and soda fiber. The percentages to be given in the
record of the furnishes refer to the percentage of the total fiber
furnish, and this likewise applies to the loading and sizing
agents. In case sulphite or soda fiber was used, the commercial
product in the dry state was charged into the beating engine and
disintegrated, after which the hurd stock was added in the wet
condition.
BEATING: Beating is that operation concerning which the paper
makers often say "there is where the paper is really made."
Although the statement may not be literally true, it contains a
great deal of truth. It is the operation whereby the fibers are
separated from each other, reduced to the proper lengths, and put
in such a physical or chemical condition that they felt properly
and form into a satisfactory sheet.
It is probable that the quality of the sheet depends more upon
the proper beater action than upon any other single operation. The
action consists in drawing a water suspension of the fiber between
two sets of rather blunt knives, one set being located in the
bottom of a circulating trough and the other set on the periphery
of a roll revolving just above the former set of knives. It is
during this operation that the loading and sizing agents are
incorporated and the whole furnish is tinted either to produce a
satisfactory white or the desired color.
PAPERMAKING: The term "papermaking," as used in this
publication, means the operation of forming the finished sheet of
paper from stock which has been furnished and prepared in the
beater. In these tests, a 30-inch Fourdrinier machine of regular
construction was used-a machine which is often used for the
production of paper for filling regular commercial orders. The
machine is designed to cause the water suspension to fibers to flow
on to a traveling wire cloth, whereby the water drains away. More
water is removed by passing the wet sheet through a series of press
rolls, after which the sheet is dried on steam-heated drums and
passed through polished iron rolls, which impart a finish to the
sheet. A Jordan refining machine was employed in conjunction with
the machine to improve further the quality of the fiber, and a pulp
screen was used in order to remove coarse and extraneous materials
from the fiber.
-=]*[=-
This condensation presented as a public service by:
BUSINESS ALLIANCE FOR COMMERCE IN HEMP
For more on the many uses of hemp, send $1 & a large, stamped self-
addressed envelope. For a catalog of documents, send $2 to
BACH, POB 71093, L A, CA 90071-0093 213/288 4152
-=]*[=-
END
.................................................................
Contributor's Note: The following is a Transcript of the Original
Film "HEMP FOR VICTORY!" produced by the U S Department of
Agriculture in 1942 to encourage American Farmers to grow hemp for
the War Effort...for years the USDA denied the existence of this
film. It was uncovered in the Library of Congress by Mr. Jack Herer
while doing research for his book :"The Emperor Wears No Clothes."
...
-=[*]=-
Long ago when these ancient Grecian temples were new, hemp was
already old in the service of mankind. For thousands of years, even
then, this plant had been grown for cordage and cloth in China and
elsewhere in the East. For centuries prior to about 1850 all the
ships that sailed the western seas were rigged with hempen rope and
sails. For the sailor, no less than the hangman, hemp was
indispensable.
A 44-gun frigate like our cherished Old Ironsides took over 60
tons of hemp for rigging, including an anchor cable 25 inches in
circumference. The Conestoga wagons and prairie schooners of
pioneer days were covered with hemp canvas. Indeed the very word
canvas comes from the Arabic word for hemp. In those days hemp was
an important crop in Kentucky and Missouri. Then came cheaper
imported fibers for cordage, like jute, sisal and Manila hemp, and
the culture of hemp in America declined.
But now with Philippine and East Indian sources of hemp in the
hands of the Japanese,and shipment of jute from India curtailed,
American hemp must meet the needs of our Army and Navy as well as
of our industry. In 1942, patriotic farmers at the government's
request planted 36,000 acres of seed hemp, an increase of several
thousand percent. The goal for 1943 is 50,000 acres of seed hemp.
In Kentucky much of the seed hemp acreages is on river bottom
land such as this. Some of these fields are inaccessible except by
boat. Thus plans are afoot for a great expansion of a hemp industry
as a part of the war program. This film is designed to tell farmers
how to handle this ancient crop now little known outside Kentucky
and Wisconsin.
This is hemp seed. Be careful how you use it. For to grow hemp
legally you must have a federal registration and tax stamp. This is
provided for in you contract. Ask your county agent about it. Don't
forget.
Hemp demands a rich, well-drained soil such as is found here
in the Blue Grass region of Kentucky or in central Wisconsin. It
must be loose and rich in organic matter. Poor soils won't do. Soil
that will grow good corn will usually grow hemp.
Hemp is not hard on the soil. In Kentucky it has been grown
for several years on the same ground, though this practice is not
recommended. A dense and shady crop, hemp tends to choke out weeds.
Here's a Canada thistle that couldn't stand the competition, dead
as a dodo. Thus hemp leaves the ground in good condition for the
following crop.
For fiber, hemp should be sewn closely, the closer the rows,
the better. These rows are spaced about four inches. This hemp has
been broadcast. Either way it should be sewn thick enough to grow
a slender stalk. Here's an ideal stand: the right height to be
harvested easily, thick enough to grow slender stalks that are easy
to cut and process.
Stalks like these here on the left yield the most fiber and
the best. Those on the right are too coarse and woody. For seed,
hemp is planted in hills like corn. Sometimes by hand. Hemp is a
dioecious plant. The female flower is inconspicuous. But the male
flower is easily spotted. In seed production after the pollen has
been shed, these male plants are cut out. These are the seeds on a
female plant.
Hemp for fiber is ready to harvest when the pollen is shedding
and leaves are falling. In Kentucky, hemp harvest comes in August.
Here the old standby has been the self-rake reaper, which has been
used for a generation or more.
Hemp grows so luxuriantly in Kentucky that harvesting is
sometimes difficult, which may account for the popularity of the
self-rake with its lateral stroke. A modified rice binder has been
used to some extent. This machine works will on average hemp.
Recently, the improved hemp harvester, used for many years in
Wisconsin, has been introduced in Kentucky. This machine spreads
the hemp in a continuous swath. It is a far cry from this fast and
efficient modern harvester, that doesn't stall in the heaviest
hemp.
In Kentucky, hand cutting is practicing in opening fields for
the machine. In Kentucky, hemp is shucked as soon as safe, after
cutting, to be spread out for retting later in the fall.
In Wisconsin, hemp is harvested in September. Here the hemp
harvester with automatic spreader is standard equipment. Note how
smoothly the rotating apron lays the swaths preparatory to retting.
Here it is a common and essential practice to leave headlands
around hemp fields. These strips may be planted with other crops,
preferably small grain. Thus the harvester has room to make its
first round with preparatory hand cutting. The other machine is
running over corn stubble. When the cutter bar is much shorter than
the hemp is tall, overlapping occurs. Not so good for retting. The
standard cut is eight to nine feet.
The length of time hemp is left on the ground to ret depends
on the weather. The swaths must be turned to get a uniform ret.
When the woody core breaks away readily like this, the hemp is
about ready to pick up and grey. The fiber tends to pull away from
the stalks. The presence of stalks in the bough-string stage
indicates that retting is well underway. When hemp is short or
tangled or when the ground is too wet for machines, it's bound by
hand. A wooden bucket is used. Twine will do for tying, but the
hemp itself makes a good band.
When conditions are favorable, the pickup binder is commonly
used. The swaths should lie smooth and even with the stalks
parallel. The picker won't work well in tangled hemp. After
binding, hemp is shucked as soon as possible to stop further
retting. In 1942, 14,000 acres of fiber hemp were harvested in the
United States. The goal for the old standby cordage fiber, is
staging a strong comeback.
This is Kentucky hemp going into the dryer over mill at
Versailles. In the old days braking was done by hand. One of the
hardest jobs known to man. Now the power braker makes quick work of
it.
Spinning American hemp into rope yarn or twine in the old
Kentucky river mill at Frankfort, Kentucky. Another pioneer plant
that has been making cordage for more than a century. All such
plants will presently be turning out products spun from American-
grown hemp: twine of various kinds for tying and upholster's work;
rope for marine rigging and towing; for hay forks, derricks, and
heavy duty tackle; light duty firehose; thread for shoes for
millions of American Soldiers; and parachute webbing for our
paratroopers. As for the United States Navy, every battleship
requires 34,000 feet of rope. Here in the Boston Navy Yard, where
cables for frigates were made long ago, crews are now working night
and day making cordage for the fleet. In the old days rope yarn was
spun by hand. The rope yarn feeds through holes in an iron plate.
This is Manila hemp from the Navy's rapidly dwindling reserves.
When it is gone, American hemp will go on duty again; hemp for
mooring ships; hemp for tow lines; hemp for tackle and gear; hemp
for countless naval uses both on ship and shore. Just as in the
days when Old Ironsides sailed the seas victorious with her hempen
shrouds and hempen sails. HEMP FOR VICTORY!
-=]*[=-
END
Contributor's note: This film can be view in the reading room area
of HEMPware, etc, 1090 S. Wadsworth, Unit D, Lakewood CO. HEMPware,
etc is Colorado's first hempery, carrying a variety of legal, non-
smoking hemp products such as clothing, hemp-seed oil, etc. They
also carry "The Emperor Wears No Clothes!" by Jack Herer...this is
the "bible" of the contemporary hemp movement.
Colorado, as well as several other states, will be attempting
to re-legalize hemp in 1992 by Citizen's Initiative Ballot Access.
Signatures of 50,000 registered voters are required during the
petitioning process. To learn more, call 303-470-1100 via touch-
tone-phone for free recorded information. Feel free to leave a
message.
-=]*[=-