HEMP. 



plants in small hand-bundles of such a size as 

 that each can be conveniently held in one 

 hanid. Before the shocks are formed, the 

 leaves of the plants should be rapidly knocked 

 off with a rough paddle or hooked stick. Some 

 suffer the plants to remain in these shocks 

 until the plants are spread down to be rotted. 

 Others, again, 'collect the shocks together as 

 soon as they can command leisure (and it is 

 clearly best), and form them into stacks. A 

 few farmers permit these stacks to remain 

 over a whole year, before the plants are ex- 

 posed to be rotted. I have frequently done it 

 with advantage, and have at this time two 

 crops in stalks. By remaining that period in 

 stalks, the plants go through a sweat, or some 

 other process that improves very much the ap- 

 pearance, and, I believe, the quality of the lint, 

 and this improvement fully compensates the 

 loss of time in bringing it to market. The 

 lint has a soft texture and a lively hue, resem- 

 bling water-rotted hemp ; and I once sold a box 

 of it in the Baltimore market at the price of 

 Russia hemp. In every other respect, the 

 plants are treated as if they were not kept over 

 a year. 



The method of dew-rotting is that which is 

 generally practised in Kentucky. The lint so 

 spread is not so good for many purposes, and 

 especially for rigging and ships, as when the 

 plants have been rotted by immersion in water, 

 or, as it is generally termed, water-rotted. The 

 greater value, and consequently higher price, 

 of the article, prepared in the latter way, has 

 induced more and more of our farmers every 

 year to adopt it; and, if that prejudice were 

 subdued, which every American production 

 unfortunately encounters, when it is first in- 

 troduced and comes in competition with a 

 rival European commodity, I think it probable 

 that, in a few years, we should be able to dis- 

 pense altogether with foreign hemp. The ob- 

 stacles, which prevent the general practice of 

 water-rotting, are, the want of water at the 

 best season for the operation, which is the 

 month of September ; a repugnance to the 

 change of an old habit ; and a persuasion 

 which has some foundation, that handling the 

 plants, after their submersion in water during 

 that month is injurious to health. The first 

 and last of these obstacles would be removed 

 by water-rotting early in the winter, or in the 

 spring. The only difference in the operation, 

 performed at those seasons and in the month 

 of September, would be, that the plants would 

 have to remain longer in soak before they 

 were sufficiently rotted. 



The plants are usually spread down to be 

 dew-rotted, from the middle of October to the 

 middle of December. A farmer who has a 

 large crop on hand, puts them down at different 

 times for his convenience in handling and 

 dressing them. Autumnal rotting is more apt 

 to give the lint a dark and unsightly colour 

 than winter-rotting. The best ground to ex- 

 pose the plants upon is meadow or grass-land, 

 but they are not unfrequently spread over the 

 same field on which they grew. The length 

 of time they ought to remain exposed, depends 

 upon the degree of moisture and the tempera- 

 ture of the weather that prevail. In a very 

 616 



HEMP. 



wet ami warm spell five or six weeks may be 

 long enough. Whether they have been suffi- 

 ciently rotted or not is determined by experi- 

 ment. A handful is taken and broken by the 

 hand or applied to the brake, when it can be 

 easily ascertained, by the facility with which 

 the lint can be detached from the stalk, if it be 

 properly rotted. If the plants remain on the 

 ground too long, the fibres lose some of their 

 strength, though a few days longer than neces- 

 sary, in cold weather, will not do any injury. 

 If they are taken up too soon, that is before the 

 lint can be easily separated from the woody 

 part of the stalk, it is harsh, and the process 

 of breaking is difficult and troublesome. Snow- 

 rotting, that is when the plants, being spread 

 out, remain long enough to rot (which how- 

 ever requires a greater length of time), bleaches 

 the lint, improves the quality, and makes it 

 nearly as valuable as if it had been water- 

 rotted. 



After the operation of rotting is performed, 

 the plants are again collected together, put in 

 shocks or stacks, or which is still better, put 

 under a shed or some covering. When it is 

 designed to break and dress them immediately, 

 they are frequently set up against some neigh- 

 bouring fence. The best period for breaking 

 and dressing is in the month of February and 

 March, and the best sort of weather, frosty 

 nights and clear thawing days. The brake 

 cannot be used advantageously in wet or moist 

 weather. It is almost invariably used in this 

 state out of doors and without any cover, and 

 to assist its operation, the labourer often makes 

 a large fire near it, which serves the double 

 purpose of drying the plants and warming 

 himself. It could not be used in damp weather 

 in a house without a kiln or some other means 

 of drying the stalks. 



The brake in general use is the same hand- 

 brake which was originally introduced, and 

 has been always employed here, resembling, 

 though longer than the common flax-brake. 

 It is so well known as to render a particular 

 description of it, perhaps, unnecessary. It is 

 a rough contrivance, set upon four legs, about 

 two and a half feet high. The brake consists 

 of two jaws with slits in each, the lower jaw- 

 fixed and immovable, and the upper one 

 movable, so that it may be lifted up by means 

 of a handle inserted into ahead or block at the 

 front end of it. The lower jaw has three slats 

 or teeth made of tough white oak, and the 

 upper two, arranged approaching to about two 

 inches in front, and in such manner that the 

 slats of the upper jaw play between those of 

 the lower. These slats are about six or seven 

 feet in length, six inches in depth, and about 

 two inches in thftkness in their lower edges : 

 they are placed edgeways, rounded a little on 

 their upper eds:es, which are sharper than 

 those below. The labourer takes his stand by 

 the side of the brake, and grasping in his left 

 hand as many of the stalks as he can conve- 

 niently hold, with his right hand he seizes the 

 handle in the head of the upper jaw, which he 

 lifts, and throwing the handful of stalks be- 

 tween the jaws, repeatedly strikes them by 

 lifting and throwing down the upper jaw. 

 These successive strokes break the woody or 



