No. 7. 



Hemp. 



217 



their g'oods as fast as made. We found Mr. 

 Gill building a new factory, 50 by 20 feet, 

 three stories high, to be filled with power- 

 looms for weaving plain pongees for print- 

 ing. We could hear of no establishment at 

 the West that had failed, or had been sus- 

 .^pended, though many of them had suffered 

 much from the want of more capital. We 

 Jearned from Mr. Fox, at Mount Pleasant, 

 that his sons, at Richmond, Indiana, were 

 going on prosperously. We had similar in- 

 telligence from Nashville, Tennessee. 



In regard to the production of raw silk, 

 the West, especially the valley of the Ohio 

 river and its tributaries, has gone ahead of 

 New England. Much evidence on this 

 point is given in our Report. Mr. Gill 

 there gives it as his opinion, that the crop 

 of the past season in that valley, is sufficient 

 to keep 200 reels in operation through the 

 year. This opinion he repeated to me in 

 conversation. The very rapid increase in 

 that region, and its relative gain upon the 

 East, is to be accounted for as follows : 



The mulberry speculation did not prevail 

 at the West as in the Atlantic States, and 

 of course about all the disastrous conse- 

 quences growing out of that matter, fell 

 upon the Atlantic States, where they be- 

 longed. Western lands are all rich, and 

 mulberry trees, when put out, push forward 

 at once, making a rapid growth of three to 

 six feet by mid-summer. On the other hand, 

 our eastern lands are exhausted, and our 

 trees will do nothing without manure, any 

 more than our corn and other crops. On 

 this point many silk growers at the East 

 have made a sad mistake, and laid the found- 

 ation for their own disappointment, and the 

 discouragement of themselves and others. 

 In this matter the West has precisely the 

 same advantages orer the East, in the silk 

 business, as in other agricultural pursuits, 

 and no more. Western farmers do every 

 thing on a lai^er scale than we do in the 

 East, and they are carrying this charocterLs- 

 tic spirit into the silk culture. Their sum- 

 mers also, are some two or three weeks 

 longer than ours, though not better in any 

 other respects. I think, therefore, that the 

 West and Southwest will take the lead in 

 the growth of silk, just as they now do in 

 corn, and most other agricultural products, 

 and for the same reasons. I am not a pro- 

 phet, nor the son of a prophet; but I ven- 

 ture the prediction, that in thirty to fifty 

 years, the valley of the Mississippi will con- 

 trol the silk markets of the country and of 

 the world. — Silk Growers' Magazine. 



Preserve self-possession, and do not be 

 talked out of conviction. 



Hemp. 



Hemp was, until these last few years, 

 scarcely cultivated any where except in 

 Kentucky, and nearly the whole production 

 was devoted to the manufacture of cotton 

 bagging and bale rope. It was not, we be- 

 lieve, used, or even tested in the manufac- 

 ture of ships' cordage, which is the great 

 source of consumption, and for the supply 

 of which our country has long been depend- 

 ent upon Russia. Our import of hemp 

 amounted in 18.39, to $607,766; in 1840, to 

 fft;686,777; in 1841, to $!609,201; in 1842, 

 to $267,849; and in nine months in 1843, 

 to $228,882. 



The cultivation of hemp having extended 

 into Illinois and Missouri, occasioned a ne- 

 cessity of seeking new modes of consump- 

 tion, and the attention of Government was 

 called to the subject during the session of 

 congress in 1841, asking that the fitness of 

 American grown hemp for use in the naval 

 service, might be fairly tested. The result 

 of various experiments has, we are told, 

 been highly favourable, and we hope that 

 the day is not far distant, when American 

 grown hemp will not only supersede the 

 use of Russian in our own marine, but find 

 also a ready market in Europe. 



The following statement of hemp received 

 at New Orleans, may help to show the rapid 

 increase of the cultivation of this important 

 article; in 1841 and 1842, the entire receipts 

 at New Orleans, were only 1,211 bales; in 

 1842 and 1843, they rose to 15,000 bales ; 

 and in 1843 and 1844, they reached 38,000 

 bales, or about 5,000 tons — the increase 

 being almost exclusively from Illinois and 

 Missouri. 



In the census of 1840, the return was 

 made of hemp and flax together, and the 

 agricultural statistics published by the Pa- 

 tent Office, are made in the same manner; 

 so that they afford no information as to hemp 

 alone. — National Intelligencer. 



We learn from the papers, that two vessels have 

 not long since been freighted at New Orleans, with 

 Hemp, one for Hull, the other for Havre. Thus the 

 hopes of the IntelJigenccr have been realized much 

 earlier than was probably anticipated. A few years 

 a!:o, the shipment of hemp to Europe, in large quanti- 

 ties, was perhaps as little looked for, as was slill fur- 

 tlier back, the exportation of cotton goods to India. — 

 Ed. 



In 1792, the whole cotton crop of the 

 country was only 138,328 lbs. ; in 1795, it 

 was 6,276,300 lbs.; and in 1842, it waa 

 783,221,800 lbs. ! About two-thirds of this 

 immense quantity goes to Europe — the other 

 third being used here. 



