92 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



tioual fact that she lias abunclant supplies of pure soft water for steeping in the 

 rotting jirocci^ij ; and the same is true of the Russian production. 



The soil of Kentucky is as well adapted to the growth of this plant as any 

 in Europe or America, but tliere her adaptation ends ; her general tempera- 

 ture is too high, and she is entirely destitute of water of the proper quality for 

 the steeping process ; hence all attempts to furnish our navy from this State 

 have been failures, notwithstanding that department has offered great induce- 

 ments to her growers to water-rot. 



Iowa has, with a climate much colder than Kentucky, and pure soft watei 

 in her small lakes and streams, a soil certainly equal in fertility to any on the 

 globe ; why may not, then, her enterprising people reach forth their hands and 

 lay hold of this prize, so well adapted to her soil, climate, and situation 1 In 

 the process of dew-rotting, the fibre, especially in warm climates, is materially 

 deteriorated, and in some cases so far injured as to produce a very low grade 

 of lint, unfit for anything but the coarsest and lowest kinds of bagging. This 

 is especially the case when exposed to the dew process in open, wet Avinters in 

 Kentucky, thus proving that the true hemp latitude is north of this State. 



Cold, snowy winters, on the contrary, universally produce an improved 

 quality of lint, always brighter and stronger. 



CULTURE OF SEED. 



The first step in hemp culture is the production of good, sound, plump 

 seed. Land intended for seed must be in good tilth and well prepared by early 

 corn planting ; it should be laid off in straight rows, four feet apart each way, 

 and planted in hills seven or eight seeds to the hill ; the same rules observed 

 for cultivating com will apply in the after culture of hemp seed ; when the 

 plants reach the height of six or eight inches, they should be thinned to from 

 three to four plants. 



Hemp plants are divided into male and female, the fonner producing the 

 pollen or impregnating powder, the latter bearing the seed. A very little ob- 

 servation will enable th^ grower to distinguish between them. As soon as the 

 distinction can be made, the male should be drawn up by the root, except here 

 and there a solitary one left that the female plant may be properly impreg- 

 nated ; the female is to be retained until its seeds are perfected, when it is to 

 be harvested by cutting at the ground and removal to cover ; when cured, 

 detach the seed with a stout stick of convenient length, winnow and put up in 

 barrels or sacks, perfectly dry, and out of the way of rats and mice. 



PREPARATION OF LAND. 



The soil for hemp must be a strong, calcareous, deep, warm, loamy, and 

 perfectly dry one, deeply and thoroughly prepared by ploughing and cross- 

 ploughing, until a fine state of tilth is produced, more or less, according to its 

 previous condition. 



PUTTING IN THE CROP. 



The ground having been faithfully prepared, the grower must hasten the 

 operation of seeding with the utmost despatch, as, generally, the earlier the 

 seeding the heavier the lint of the plant. Mark off the land with a small 

 plough, and very shallow furrow, or it may be marked off by a drag made of 

 a small log of wood — anything to make a line to guide the sower accurately ; 

 then proceed by hand to broadcast your seed evenly at the rate of fifty pounds 

 of seed per acre as the minimum, or even up to seventy povmds as the maxi- 

 mum quantity, varying with the strength of the land, the object being to pro- 

 duce as thick a growth of plants as the land v/ill sustain. If set too thin on 



