Pacific service magazine . lar toa barley drill, and requires careful irri-gation. It grows ordinarily to a height ofsix to twelve feet, but in some casesreaches a height on these rich peat landsof eighteen feet, but ten to twelve feet ismore desirable. It is cut with a specialreaper. If it is to be water-retted, it must besoaked in tanks of water before the ac-tion of the weather rets it. If it is to beweather-retted it is allowed to lie on theground until the rain and dews degumit and loosen the bark from the stalk. The fiber is the bark of the Americanplant, while Manila hemp is from theinn
Pacific service magazine . lar toa barley drill, and requires careful irri-gation. It grows ordinarily to a height ofsix to twelve feet, but in some casesreaches a height on these rich peat landsof eighteen feet, but ten to twelve feet ismore desirable. It is cut with a specialreaper. If it is to be water-retted, it must besoaked in tanks of water before the ac-tion of the weather rets it. If it is to beweather-retted it is allowed to lie on theground until the rain and dews degumit and loosen the bark from the stalk. The fiber is the bark of the Americanplant, while Manila hemp is from theinner part of the plant which is of thebanana family. Sisal hemp is from a kindof century plant and is grown mostly inYucatan, Mexico. After the weather has done the ret-ting, the stalks are taken up and stood inshocks, when it is ready for the break-ing or decorticating. This is done insome places by hand, but here we do itwith a machine; but there has not yetbeen produced a perfectly satisfactory 44 Pacific Service Magazine. Views of Middle River, in the Delta region of Central California. The center picture shows thePacific Service electric substation at Middle River. The picture at the top is of the sub-station from the Santa Fe railroad; next come, in order, the Rindge Companys potatoflour mill; the Pacific Service fleet; road leading up to the substation. Pacific Service Magazine 45 machine, so far as I know. The rettingand breaking are the difficult parts of theindustry and many costly mistakes aremade in the breaking, In this climate the retting is usuallynot done before January, but this de-pends upon when the rains come. Thebreaking is usually done the followingsummer. If the weather is damp, thestalks or straw have to be put in a com-partment and dried artificially to makethe stalks brittle. It is usually broken and marketedduring the year following the growing ofthe crop. It is therefore a long time be-fore the farmer gets his money out ofthe crop. It also requires a g
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