284 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



PEBRl^ARY 0, 1S33, 



The see,d plants are generally cut after the first 

 smart frost, between the 25th September and the 

 middle of October, and carried to a barn or stack- 

 yard, where the seeds are easily detached by the 

 conimon thrail. They should be gathered after a 

 slight, but before a severe frost ; ami, as they fall 

 out very easily, it is advisable to haul the plants on 

 a sled, and, if convenient, when they are wet. If 

 transported on a cart or wagon, a sheet should be 

 spread to catch the seed as tliey shatter out. After 

 the seeds are separated, the stalks which bore 

 thera being too large, coarse, and liarsli, to pro- 

 duce lint, are usually thrown away : they may be 

 profitalily employed in making charcoal for the 

 use of powder mills. In Europe, where the male 

 and female plants are promiscuously grown to- 

 gether in the same field, both for seeds and for 

 lint, the male stalks are first gathered, and the 

 female suffered to remain growing until the seeds 

 are ripe, when they are also gathered, tlie seeds 

 secured and lint obtained, after the rottiug, from 

 both descriptions. 



After the seeds are threshed out, it is advisable 

 ^o spread them on a floor to cure jirojierly and 

 prevent their rotting, before they are linally put 

 away for use the next spring. Seeds are not gen- 

 erally used, unless they were secured the full pre- 

 vious to their being sown, as it is believed they 

 will not vegetate, if older; but it has l:eeu ascer- 

 tained that wlien they are properly cured aud ivei)t 

 dry, they will come up after the first >ear. It is 

 important to prevent them from heating, which 

 destroy tlie vegetating property, and for that pur- 

 pose they should be thinly spread on i sheltered 

 floor. 



The seeds — whether to reproduce seeds only, 

 or the lint — are sowed about the same time. 

 Opinions vary as to the best period. It depends 

 a good deal upon the season. The [)laut is very 

 tender when it first shoots up, and is affected by 

 frost. Some have sowed as early as the first of 

 April ; but it is generally agreed, that all the 

 month of 3Iay, and about the 10th ofit especially, 

 is the most favorable time. An experienced and 

 successful hem])-grower, in the neighborliood oi' 

 Lexington, being asked the best time to sow hemp, 

 answered immediately before a rain. And un- 

 (iouljtedly it is very fortunate to have a moderate 

 rain directly after sowing.* 



UTien the object is to make a crop of hemp, 

 the seeds are sown broadcast. The usual quan- 

 tity is a bushel and a half to the acre ; but here 

 again the farmers difl^er, some using two bushels 

 or even two and a half. Much depends on the 

 strength and fertility of the soil, and the care with 

 whicli it has been prepared, as well as the season. 

 To these causes may be ascribed the diversity oi 

 opinion and practice. The ground can only sus- 

 tain and nbnrish a certain quantity of plants; and 

 if that limit be passed, the surplus will be sinotli- 

 ered in the growth. When the seeds are sown, 

 they are ploughed or harrowed in ; ploughing is 

 best in old ground as it avoids the injurious eftect 

 of a beating rain, and the consequent baking ol 

 llie earth. It would be also beneficial, subse- 

 quently to roll the ground with a heavy roller. 



After the seeds are sown, the labors of the cul- 

 tivator are suspended, until the ])lants are ripe. 



[•Would it not be well to soak the seed in water a few hours 

 previous lo sowing? We have (bund this lo answer nearly as 

 good a purpose as rain after sowing, wilh all seeds wilh wliich 

 SVC have tried it. The veeclatioii of mangel wurtzel is wonder- 

 fully accelerated by it, — Ed. Am. Fanner.] 



and in a state to be gathered — every thing in the 

 intermediate tiine being left to the operations of 

 nature. If the season be favorable until the plants 

 are sufliciently high to shade the ground (which 

 they will do in a few weeks, at six or eight inches 

 height,) there "is strong probability of a good crop. 

 When they attain that height, but few articles sus- 

 tain the etiect of bad seasons bettor than hemp. 



It is generally ripe and ready to be gathered 

 about the middle of August, varying according to 

 the time of sowing. Some sow at different pe- 

 riods, ui order that the crop may not all ripen at 

 the same time, and that <i press of labor, in rearing 

 it, may be thus avoided. The maturity of the 

 plant is determined, by the evaporation of the 

 farina, already noticed, and the leaves of the plant 

 exhibiting a yellowish hue: it is then generally 

 supiwsed to be ripe, but it is safest to wait a few 

 days longer.' Very little attentive observation will 

 enable any one to judge when it is fully ripe. In 

 that respect it is a very accommodating crop : for 

 if gathered a little too soon, the lint is not mate- 

 rially injured, and it will wait the leisure of the 

 farmer some ten days or a fortnight after it is en- 

 tirely ripe. 



Two modes of gathering the plants are prac- 

 tised, one by pulling them up by the roots, an easy 

 operation with an able bodied man, and the other 

 by cutting them about two inches (the nearer the 

 belter) above the surface of the ground. Each 

 mode has its partizans, and I have pursued both. 

 From a ([uarter to a third of an acre, is the com- 

 mon task of an average laborer, whether the one 

 or the other mode is practised. The objections to 

 pulling are, that the plants with their roots re- 

 maining connected with them, are not aflerwiuVis 

 so easily handled in the several operations which 

 they nmst undergo ; that all parts of the plant do 

 not rot equally and alike, wlu'n exjiosed to the 

 dew and rain ; and, finally, that before you put 

 them to the brake, when the root should be sepa- 

 rated from the stalk, the root drags off with it 

 some of the lint. The objection to cutting is, that 

 you lose two or three inches of the best part of the 

 plant nearest the root. Pulling, being the most 

 ancient method, is most generally practised. I 

 prefer, upon the whole, cutting — and I believe 

 the ninribcr who prefer it is yearly increasing. 

 When pulled, it is done with the haiul, which is 

 better for the protection of an old leather glove. 

 The laborer catches twenty or thirty plants to- 

 gether, with both hands, and by a sudden jirk, 

 draws them without mucli diffieidty. The opera- 

 tion of cutting is performed with the knife, often 

 made out of an old scythe, resembling a sickle, 

 though not so long, but broader. This knife is 

 applied much in the same way as the sickle, ex- 

 cept that the laborer stoops more. 



Whether pulled or cut, the plants are carefully 

 laid on the ground, the evener the better, to cure 

 — which they do in two or three days, in dry 

 weather. A light rain falling on them whilst lying 

 down is thought by some to be beneficial, inas- 

 nmch as the leaves, of which they should be de- 

 prived, may be easier shaken off or detached. 

 VVhen cured, the plants are set up in the field in 

 which they were produced, in shocks of convenient 

 size, the roots or butt ends resting on the ground, 

 and the tops united above by a band made of the 

 plants themselves. Previous to putting them up 

 in shocks, most cultivators tie the plants in small 

 hand bundles of such a size as that each can be 

 conveniently held in one hand. Before the shocks 



me ii)rmed, the leaves of the plants shouW be 

 rapidly knocked oft" with a rough paddle or hooked 

 stick. Some suffer the plants to remain in these 

 shocks until the plants are sj)read down to be 

 rotted. Others, again, collect the shocks together 

 as soon as they can command leisure, (and it i» 

 clearly best) and form them into stacks. A few 

 farmers permit these stacks to remain over a 

 whole year, before the plants are exposed to be 

 rotted. I have frequently done it with advantage, 

 and have at this time two crops in stalks. By re- 

 maining that period in stalks, the plants go through 

 a sweat, or some other process that im|uoves very 

 much the appearance, and, I believe, the quality 

 of the lint, and this improvement fully compen- 

 sates the loss of time in bringing it to market. 

 The lint has a soft texture and a lively hue, re- 

 sembling w.nter 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 ])ractised in Kentucky. The lint so 

 spread is not so good fm- many purposes, and espe- 

 cially for rigging and ships, as when the plants 

 have been rotted by inunersion 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 ado])! it; and, 

 if that prejtidice were sidjdued, which every Ameri- 

 can production unfortunately encounters, when it 

 is lirst introduced and comes in rotuact with a 

 rival Etropean commodity, I think it probable 

 that, in a few years, we should be able to dis])ense 

 altogether with foreign hemp. The obstacles, 

 w hich prevent the general practice of water-rotting, 

 arc, the want of water at the best season for the 

 0|)er6tion, >yhich is the month of Scqitcmbcr ; a 

 repugnance to the change of an old habit ; and a 

 persuasion which has some foundation, that hand- 

 ling the plants, after their sidiinersion in water 

 dm'iog that month is injiu'ious to health. The 

 first and last of these obstacles woidd be removed 

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

 spring. The only difference in the operation, 

 performed at those seasons and in the mouth of 

 Septenber, would be, that the (ilants would have 

 to remlin longer in soak before they were suifi- 

 cientlyrottcd. 



The|{)lants are usually spread down to be dew- 

 rotted It-om the middle of October to the middle of 

 Dccenjper. A farmer who has a large crop on hand 

 |)Uts tlpin down at different limes fur his conve- 

 nience in handling and dressing them. Autumnal 

 rottindis more apt to give the lint a dark- and un- 

 sightlycolor, than winter rotting. The best ground 

 to cxplse the plants upon is meadow or grass 

 land, Uit they are not uufrequently spread over 

 the sane field on which they grew. The length 

 of lime they ought to remaiu exposed, depends 

 upon tic degree of moisture and the temperature of 

 the weither that prevail. In a very wet and warm 

 spell ive or six weeks may be long enough. 

 Whethir they have been sufficiently rotted or not 

 is detertniued by experiment. A handful is taken 

 and brffceu by the hand or applied to the brake, 

 when i: can be easily ascertained, by the facility 

 with wkich the lint can be detached from the stalk 

 if it be properly rotted. If the plants remain on 

 the groind too long, the fibres lose some of their 

 strengtl^, though a few days longer than necessary, 

 in cold iveather, will not do any injury. If they 



