t8 



^\)t laximx's iUontl)li) bisitov. 



if hemp was more aiiiinilaiil, so as to fulfil the 

 wants of tlie goveniiiiiMit and ttie mercliuiits, it 

 woiilil aiipeisede cotinn idiorretlier. Tlie iiianu- 

 fiictiirc of sail duck aijil oouon lia^'giiig is still 

 left in the hands of roceigneij!, whicli we miglil 

 make, and it is ho|.L-il soon will he made, at 

 home. 



During the yeai' ISil, upwards of six millinna 

 seven iiunrlred thousand yards of cotton baggini.' 

 were ini[)orted into tlu.' llnilod Slates, which was 

 mure than in any preceding year. Indeed, it 

 appears that the qnanlity had I'.een, and doubt- 

 less still is, increasing. l"or in the year 1838 the 

 qiianiily was one million si.x hundred and odd 

 thousand yarils, .showing that the niuount more 

 than quadrupled in three years. 



The number of scpiare yards of canvass for a 

 ship of the line of tin-ee decks, is 10,447, and as 

 calculated for the Navy of the United Stales is 

 3fi9,431 square yards. All this is now made from 

 Atnerican materials, anil is of American manu- 

 facture; but the cordage i.s still princii)ally made 

 from Russian hemp. 



The following papers taken from a communi- 

 cation made to Congress at the last session by 

 the Secretary of the Xavy, furnish valuable in- 

 formation upon this subject, embracing also flax. 

 They go to show thai we have only to be more 

 carefid in the preparation of om- hemp and flax 

 when grown, and they will equal any of any 

 country. Nature performs her part; the soil 

 and climate are propilious, and we may perhaps 

 rely upon om- accomplisliing the desired object 

 of supplying ourselves, ii^hen the difference in price 

 shall be deemed of sufficient impotiance to induce the 

 effort, for we lack neither the soil or the knowl- 

 edge. On the rich bottoms of this State, both 

 hemp and flax will thrive, and the coldness of 

 the clliiiate compa]-ed with Illinois and Kentucky, 

 is in our f ivor, ("or it appears that in Russia the 

 best hemp is produced in the most northern 

 gr junds of the hemp region: — 



The following observations relative to hemp 

 are taken from the American Farmer, vol. 5, p. 

 9il, and are said to be approved by the experience 

 of practical men in our own country, particularly 

 Mr. Henry Kip, of Buffalo. 



Frorn the American Farmer, vol. 5. 



Hemj) is a very hardy plant, resists drought 

 and severe frost, is easier cultivated, less exhaust- 

 ing, anil more proliralile than many other crops, 

 with which this does nut interfere in its cultiva- 

 tion (except the tobacco crop) ; it is sown before 

 and gathered after corn, and requires no attentioii 

 when wheat is sown, harvested, or thrashed. It 

 will grow, year .after year, on the same ground, 

 on which, if sutficieuliy rich, it is the surest crop. 

 It is liable to no disease, and injured by no in- 

 sects. 



TIIF. SOIL. 



The soil should be deep, clean, dry, rich, and 

 mellow. The plant has a tap root, which de- 

 scends to a cnnsideiable depth ; and therefore 

 the soil should be deep, and he thoroughly mel- 

 lowed by deep and li-equeiit ploughings. Fall 

 ploughing, and two or three ploughings in the 

 spring, together with the harrowijig, so as to 

 smooth the surface (and thereby enable the seed 

 to be sown even, ami the heiiq> to spring up 

 eqn.illy, and be cut close ;o the roots,) are pre- 

 paratory steps to the putiing ill of the sjed. 



THE SEED WHEN SOWN. 



The seed (to ihe amount of two bushels f)er 

 acre, on middling soil, and three on rich ground) 

 should be sown as early as possible, in the spring, 

 after the groimd hecnmis dry and well prepared. 

 Early sowinir renders the coat heavier and strong- 

 er, enables the hemp to cover the ground early, 

 so as to smother weeds, and, before the sun be- 

 comes powerful, to shade the soil and preserve 

 its moislnre. The sied. .-ifter being cast as even 

 as possible, should he harrowed in, to as equal a 

 depth as may be, that it may all start together; 

 and a lieavy roller should then be |)assed over, or 

 11 brush drawn across to smooth the surface, in 

 order that the hemp may be cut close to the 

 roots, 



RIPENI.NG AND 11 ARVESTI.NG, 



When the hemp becomes fit to be cut, the 



stalks (if the blossm ■ male hemp, turn yellow, 



become a good ileal speckled, and (lro|) most ol 

 their lo.-ives, and, if ihe air is still, a cloud ofdusi 

 arises from the blossom sftilks, and hangs over 

 ihn field. When sown early, it will be fit to cut 



about the first of AugiisL The above appear- 

 ance will become indicative of the jiroper time, 

 and then it should be cut without delay; for if 

 sufl^ered to stand longer, (as about one half of 

 the stocks blossom, and the other half bear seed,) 

 the stocks of the male will wither and blacken, 

 and the coat be of but little value ; and the fe- 

 male hemp, which has stood to ripen the seed, 

 requires a lont'er time to rot than the male, and 

 consequently, both would be thereby injured. 

 The best way to s;el seed would be to soiv some tliinh/ 

 in a separate patch. The uioileof cutting is prel- 

 erable to that of pulling, a man will cut half aii 

 acre per day, and a quatter pulled, is said to be a 

 day's svork. By the Ibrmer jiractice, the incon- 

 venience of dust, and the dirt attached to the 

 roots, will be avoided. Cut hemp will be worth 

 ten dollars a ton more than the pulled. Knives, 

 or hooks, fur that purpose, limy be obtained for 

 about $1 25 each. When cut, spread the hemp 

 a day or two, to dry it, then bind it and put it up 

 in shocks. 



WRETTING (or rotting ) 



As soon as harvested, in order to prevent the 

 rains from discoloring it, proceed, as early as 

 convenient, to wret it, by placing it in clean, pure 

 writer, formed by a stream spring, or clear pond. 

 If rotted shortly after cutting, about five days 

 are generally required for the purpose. Yon 

 will be able to judge, by taking out a liaudful 

 and drying it, and if the stalk of sheaves will 

 shake out and separate easily from the bark, 

 leaving it clean and entire, the process of wret- 

 tiiig is completed. The bark, or Hut of liem[i, is 

 connected with the sl;ilk, by a substance which 

 must be either wreited or dissolved, before they 

 will sejiarate ; produce the separation, and the 

 work is accomplished. Ex|ierieiice will be the 

 best criterion. The water in wbicli it is rotted 

 should not run rapidly, as it would in that case 

 wash away the coal. You may have three or 

 four wagon loads ol' hemp, to the depth of three 

 or tour feet, sunk at a time, but it should be com- 

 pletely submerged, though not suftered to touch 

 the bottom. If separate quantities are put in on 

 several successive days, the days and quantities 

 should be noted, tiir tlie purpose of ascertaining 

 which becomes first wretted, and which should, 

 therefore, be first taken up; for, if left in the 

 water a day or two too leng, the hemp will bn 

 materially injured. 



DRF.SSl.NG A.VD SEtUEING. 



When rolled, open anil spread it, that it may 

 dry soon. The process for breakintr and swing- 

 ling is the same as that for flax. When it grows 

 too long for dressing, (say from 8 to 10 ti^et,) it 

 may be cut into two equal parts without any 

 injury. Be very particular in keeping the long 

 and short liemp separate, and not have the seed 

 and butt ends jjut Ingether; be also careful to 

 dress it clean. When dressing it, put twelve 

 haiidliils ill one head, laying them straight, the 

 length of the hemp. The handfuls must not be 

 lied, but bind the heads light v\ith a small band, 

 about one foot from the bnit end ; it will then be 

 ready to be put into such sized bales as may be 

 suitable. Some hail it into a box, across the bot- 

 tom of whicli four ropes are laid to tie the hemp 

 when pressed into it. When packed, it should 

 be perfectly dry, otherwise it will rot. 



The following remarks from the " Plough Boy," 

 on the subject of water-rotting in preference to 

 dew-rotting, coincide with the opinion of experi- 

 enced cultivators: '"If the crop is to he dew- 

 rotted and got out by hand, ils profits must be 

 comparatively small, because it cannot be thus 

 pre|)ared to command the highest price in mar- 

 ket, compete in quality with the Ru-'sia hemp, 

 much less drive it from oiir market.s. But, if the 

 .'\meiican hemp planter be prepared with proper 

 inacluiieiy to dress and prep.ire it, we ought not 

 Id doubt, much less to despair, of his ultimately 

 arriving at a perfection in the production and 

 dress of the article, to equal, if not excel, the 

 best sani|iles of Russia hemp," 

 Extract of a letter from Mr. A'lini'Oi Gosdsell to 



Mr. S^imuel Swartwout, ^Ipril, \SH, taken from 



the .liinerican Farmer, vol. 5. 



"lam prepared to show that Hta/er-ro/dng-, in 

 all cases where it can be done, is, most unques- 

 tionably, lo be preferr.ed. 1st. It is more durable 

 for all the purfioscslo which it is applied— a fact 

 pertc'Ctly well known to those who maiiufacture 

 sack and cordage. 2dly. It is more easily bleach- 

 ed ; and. Silly, il will yield a greater quantity of 



fibre from a given quantity of the plant. My 

 own experiments with respect to the superiur 

 durability of water-prepared fla.x, were very sat- 

 isfactory. I placed on the ground a quantity of 

 flax that had been sufliciemly water-rotted, for 

 dressing, by the side of an equal quantity of tin- . 

 rotted flax, and turned them once in three days, 

 until the new flax was siifliciently rotted for 

 dressing also; and, upon examination, I found 

 that ihat whicli had been inevioiisly water-rotted, 

 had lost none of its strength, and tliat it had not 

 altered in any res|)ect, except in ils color, which 

 was a lillle brighler llian when laid out: both 

 parcels were now siifli;red to remain upon the 

 ground, until the dew-rotted became worthless, 

 when the water-rotted was found to be still strong 

 and good, 



"I repeated these experiments with dressed 

 flax, ami with the plant, and found the result the 

 same. This, in my mind, fully established the 

 very im|iortaut fact that lonter-rottcd flax or hemp 

 is infinitely superior to that which is dew-rotted. 

 "I made an attempt next to ascertain the pro- 

 portionable loss in weight, in each process of 

 rotting, and found them bolli nearly equal, viz: 

 alintit twenty-five per cent,: but I Ibunil, at the 

 same time, liiat the produce of this equal quanti- 

 ty of plant difliereil materially in weight. When 

 it came to he dressed, the dew or land-/o/(erf 

 averaged from 12 to 16 pounds of fibre only, 

 while the water-prepared from 16 to 25 per cent. 

 This ditterence in weight I consider to be quite 

 sufficient to defray the extra expen.se of water- 

 rotting, while the value of the article would be 

 enhanced one third more. My strong desire to 

 investigate this subject fully, induced me to make 

 other trials, by boiling and steaming, in order lo 

 avoid the rotiing process altogether; but I did 

 not succeed in any of them sutficieuliy to wsir- 

 rant their recommendation to Ihe public : on the 

 contr.iry I became convinced that neither would 

 answer. 



'•My next investigation was an attempt to as- 

 certain the nature of tlie substance in which the 

 fibre lies imbedded, and found it to consist of 

 glim, mucilaginous luatfer, and a peculiar kind 

 of vegetable extract, containing a small quantity 

 of tar. These substances were precipitated from 

 their solutions by means of re-agents, when, af- 

 ter drying, the gum liore a greater resemblance 

 to gum lac lliau to any other snbslance, and was 

 perlectly soluble in solulious of potash, whether 

 caustic or carbonated, and also capable of being 

 dissolved in alcohol. The other jiarts, as mu- 

 cilage and extractive matter, were .-ioluble in 

 water; hence, I conchiile, that polash is the 

 cheapest sokent for cleiinsing flax, and that this 

 can best applied when it has been cleansed from 

 the woody [larl, and manufactured into cloth. 



" In the management of hemp and flax I would 

 recommend the liillowing method, because ii 

 saves labor, and is more convenient lo dress. 

 When the plants are pulled, care should betaken 

 lo sort ihem, by putting the longest lengths by 

 themselves; and, for Ihe purpose of tiicilitating 

 the handling of it at the machine, it is well to 

 put about one pound of the plant inio a bundle, 

 as soon as the seed is threslied ; which is done 

 with exceeding expedition by the machine. Let 

 it be put to rot in water, the surface, alter the 

 plant is immersed, to he covered with boards or 

 straw, or anything else, to exclude the sun's rays, 

 which will cause the whole to have the same 

 color. If troughs or vats are made use of (I 

 would certainly recommend them where the tlir- 

 mer can possibly procure them,) after the |dant 

 has been forty-eight hours in water it should he 

 drawn otl' when the water will be found to lie 

 excecdinglv discol.ired, and this should be re- 

 peated ; after which, let the plant remain im- 

 mersed until it be siillicienlly rotleil, which must, 

 of course, be determined by experience and 

 judgment. 



"The disagreeable smell, so much dreaded and 



deprecated, will, by this process, be greatly di- 



miiiished. When tlie weather and the water 



were both warm in summer, I have known them 



lot in seven days: in oilier instances, in cold 



weather, lliave known them to lie buried for 



iiiiiely days, without injury." 



Extracts of a report made hj "Peter Besnard, Esq., 



Inspector General for Leinstcr, Munster, and 



Connaiin-M, to the Trustees of Ihe Linen Board, 



London,'" bt/ whom Mr. Beignard was appointed to 



proceed to Holland and the .Melherlands for Ihe 



