VOIi. XI. NO. 30. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



are taken up too soon, that is before the lint can 

 be easily separated from the wootly part of the stalk, 

 h is harsh, anil the process of breaking is difllciilt 

 and troublesome. Suow rotting, that is when the 

 >)lants, being spread out, remain long enough to 

 rot, (which however 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 

 jilaufs are again collected together, jiut 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 agahist some neighboring fence. The best 

 j>erio(l for breakhig and dressing is in the months of 

 February and March, and the best sort of weather 

 fi-osty nights and clear thawing days. The brake 

 •cannot be used advantageously in wet or moist 

 ■weatlier. It is almost invariably used in this state 

 out of doors and without any cover, and to assist 

 its operation, the laborer 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 liouse 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 :u each, the 

 lower jaw fixed and innnovable, and the upper 

 one movable, so that it m.iy be lifted up byaieaiis 

 of a handle inserted iuto a head 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 thickness in their 

 lower edges: they are placed edgeways, rounded a 

 little on their upper edges, which are sharper than 

 those below. The laborer takes his stand by the 

 side of tiie brake and grasping in hisleft hand as 

 many of the stalks as he can conveniently 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 between the jaws, repeatedly 

 strikes them by lifting and throwing down the up- 

 per jaw. These successive strokes break the 

 woody or reedy part of the stalks into small pieces 

 or shoes, which fall oif during the process. He 

 assists their disengagement by striking the handful 

 against a stake, or with a small wooden ))addle, 

 until the liiit or bark is entirely clean, and com- 

 pletely separated from the woody particles. 



After the above operation is ])erformed the 

 hemp may be scutched to soften it, and to strength- 

 -en the threads. That process, however, is not 

 thought to be profitable, and is not therefore gen- 

 erally perforjned by the grower, but is left to the 

 manufacturer, as well as that of beating and heck- 

 ling it. Scutching is done by the laborer taking 

 in his left hand a handful of the lint, and grasping 

 it firmly, then laying the njiddle of it upon a semi- 

 circular notch of a perpiudicidar board of the 

 scutching frame, and striking with the edg<> of the 

 scutch that part of the lint which hangs down on 

 die board. After giving it repeated strokes, he 



shakes the handful of lint, replaces it on a notch, 

 and continues to strike and turn all parts ofit, un- 

 til it is sufficiently cleansed, and the fibres appear 

 to be even and straight. 



The usual daily task of an able-bodied hand at 

 the brake is eighfy pounds weight, but there is a 

 great diflerence not only in the state of the weath- 

 er, and the condition of the stalks, produced by 

 the greater or less degree in which they have been 

 rotted, but in the dexterity with which the brake 

 is employed. Some hands have been known to 

 break from 150 to 200 pounds per day. The la- 

 borer ties up in one common bundle the work of 

 one day, and in this state it is taken to market 

 an<l sold. From what has been mentioned, it 

 may be inferred, as tlie fact is, that the hemp of 

 some growers is in a much better condition than 

 that of others. When it has been carelessly hand- 

 led or not sufficiently cleansed, a deduction is 

 made from the ])rice by the purchaser. It is 

 chiefly bought in our villages, and manufactured 

 into cotton bagging, bales, and other kinds of un- 

 tarred cordage. The price is not uniform. The 

 extremes have been as low as three, and as high 

 as eight dollars, for the long hundred — the cus- 

 tom.ary mode of selling it. The most general 

 price during a term of many years, has been from 

 four to five dollars. At fi"e dollars it compen- 

 sates well the labor of the grower, and is consid- 

 ered more profitable than any thing else the far- 

 mer l.as cultivated. 



The most heavy labor in the culture of hemp, 

 is pulling or cutting it, when ripe, and breaking it 

 when rotted. This labor can easily be performed 

 by men. Various attempts have been made to 

 improve the process of breaking, which is the 

 severest woi-k in tlie preparation of hemp. A 

 newly invented machine was erected for that pur- 

 pose oa my farm six or eight years ago, to dress 

 hen)p by dispensing with rotting altogether, simi- 

 lar in structure to one which was exhibited about 

 the same time at Columbus, during the sitting of 

 the Ohio legislature. It was worked by horse 

 power, and detached the lint tolerably well, pro- 

 ducing a very fine looking article, equalling in ap- 

 pearance Russia hemp. A ton of it was sold to 

 the navy department, which was manufactured 

 iuto rigging for the ship of the line, the North 

 Carolina, prior to her makiug a voyage of three 

 yc^ars in the Mediterranean. Upon her return, the 

 cordage was examined and analyzed ; and although 

 its exterior looked very well, it was found, on 

 opening it, to be decayed and affijcted somewhat 

 like the dry rot in wood. I considered the ex- 

 periment decisive; and it is now believed that the 

 process of water or dew-rotting is absolutely ne- 

 cessary, either before or after the hemp has been 

 to the brake. There is a sajipy or glutinous prop- 

 erty of which it should be divested, and that is 

 the only process that has been hitherto generally 

 and successfully employed to divest it. 



Aiv ingenious and enterprising gentleman in the 

 neighborhood of Lexington, has been ever since 

 the erection of the above mentioned machine, 

 trying various experiments, by altering and improv- 

 ing it, to produce one more perfect, which might 

 be beneficially employed on rotted hemp, to dimin- 

 ish the labors of the l)rake. He mentioned the 

 other day tliat all of them had failed; that he had 

 returned to the old hand brake, and that he was 

 convinced that it answered the pur|)ose better than 

 any substitute with which he "was acquainted. 1 

 observe Mr. H. L. Barnum has recently advertised 



a machine, which he has constructed for breaking 

 and dressing hemp and flax, which can be pro- 

 cured at the establishment of Mr. Smith, in Cin- 

 cinnati. I most cordially wish him success: but 

 the number of failures which I have witnessed, du- 

 ring a period of thirty years, in the attempt to su- 

 persede tnanual labor by the substitution of that of 

 machines, induces me to fear that it will be long 

 before this desideratum is attained. 



The quantity of net hemp produced to the acre, 

 is from 600 to alOOO weight, varying according to 

 the fertility and preparation of the soil and the 

 state of the season. It is said that the quantity 

 which any field will produce, may be anticipated 

 by the average height of the plants throughout the 

 field. Thus — if the plants will average eight feet 

 in height, the acre will yield 800 weight of hemp, 

 each foot in height corresponding to a hundred 

 weight of the lint. 



Hemp exhausts the soil slowly, if at all. Aii 

 old and successful cultivator told me that he had 

 taken thirteen or fourteen successive crops frond 

 the same field, and that the last was the best. 

 That was probably however owing to a concurrence 

 of favorable circumstances. Nothing cleanses and 

 prepares the earth better for other crops (especially 

 for small grain or glasses) than hemp. It eradi- 

 cates all weeds, and when it is taken ofl^, leaves 

 the field not only clean, but smooth and oven. 



The rich lands of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, 

 arc, I have no doubt, generally well adapted to 

 the cultivation of this valuable plant; and those 

 states enjoy some advantages for the cultivation of 

 it, which this does not possess. Their streams do 

 not dry up as nuicli as ours, and they consequent- 

 ly employ better than we can, the agency of wa- 

 ter, in the preparation of it. Their projected ca- 

 nals, when completed, will admit of its being car- 

 ried to the Atlantic capitals at less expense in the- 

 transportation than we can send it. On the other 

 hand the unfortunate state of slavery among us, 

 gives us, at present probably a more certain com- 

 mand of labor than those states have. 



I am, with high respect, your obedient serv't. 

 Henry Clay. 



Distinction between Invention and Discovery. The 

 object of the former is to produce something 

 which had no existence before: that of the latter, 

 to bruig to light something which did exist, but 

 which was concealed from common observation. 

 Thus we say. Otto Guericke, invented the air- 

 pump ; Sanctorius invented the thermometer, New- 

 ton and Gregory invented the reflecting telescope ; 

 Galileo discovered the solar spots and Harvey dis- 

 covered the circulation of the blood. It appears, 

 therefore, that improvements in the arts are prop- 

 erly called "inventions," and that facts brought to 

 light by means of observation, are properly culled 

 "discoveries." Dufcald Stewart. 



We find the following paragraph Lu the Globe 

 of Saturday ; it is worthy of special observation. 



" Deception is one of tyranny's most efficient 

 weapon.'*. When bad men seek to gain the ascen- 

 dency, they begin by misleading the people. Hav- 

 ing thus obtained power, they turn it upon those 

 who have been deluded into bestowing it, and re- 

 duce them to slavery, or a condition of depen- 

 dence and suflering little superior to it." 



CoTETouSNESs, by a greediness for gelling, deprives ilself 

 of ihe Hue cud of gelling — it wreslelh enjoyment of what it lialb 



