i;ls 



THE GENESEE FARMER 



July 30, 183J 



Winter hemp, the former being dry, and ra- 

 ther of a withered appearance, the latter 

 more moist, and of a fine brownish green 

 color, containing more of the vegetable oil, 

 and, therefore, the most apt to heat, though 

 if not shipped at St. Petersburg or Riga be- 

 fore September, there is not much risk of 

 its heating any more on board the ships, es- 

 pecially on short voyages, as to England, 

 and are the best fit for cables. If it be inten- 

 ded that the hemp should be early ready for 

 the market, it is made into Winter hemp by 

 the following process: On being taken out 

 of the water, it is left suspended in the open 

 air for a fortnight, when it is put into the 

 kiln for twenty-four hours, after which it is 

 broken by means of a hand-mill, and the 

 husk is then beaten oft' by striking the heads 

 obliquely with iron and wooden instruments 

 of the shape of a large two-edged knife ; 

 lastly, to unravel it, it is drawn through a 

 wooden comb, or card, with one row of wide 

 wooden teeth, fixed perpendicularly. 



The hemp is then laid up or suspended in 

 sheds, and is fit to be sorted, bound into 

 bundles, and loaded into the barks. 



The hemp to be prepared as Spring hemp 

 is allowed to remain suspended and expo- 

 sed to the weather the whole Winter, until 

 it be dried by the sun in the Spring, when it 

 is broken and cleaned in the same manner 

 as the Winter hemp. 



As the greatest part of the summer elap- 

 ses before it can be made fit for the market, 

 none of this hemp reaches St. Petersburg 

 until the following spring, that is two years 

 after it was sown. 



The hemp is sown in the same manner as 

 linseed, rye, or wheat. Land of a sandy 

 soil may also be employed for it, but it must 

 be strongly manured ; otherwise it will be 

 too short, and a fiat country should always 

 be preferred. 



THE SEED WHEN SOWN. 



The seed (to the amount of two bushels 

 per acre, on middling soil, and three on rich 

 ground,) should be sown as early as possible 

 in the Spring, after the ground becomes dry 

 and well prepared. Early sowing renders 

 the coat heavier and stronger, enables the 

 hemp to cover the ground early, so as to 

 smother weeds, and, before the sun becomes 

 powerful, to shade the soil and preserve its 

 moisture. The seed, after being cast as even 

 as possible, should be harrowed in, to as e- 

 qual a depth as may be, that it may all stait 

 together; and a heavy roller should then be 

 passed over, or a bush drawn acro=s, to 

 smooth the surface, in order that the hemp 

 may be cut close to the roots. 



RIPENING AND HARVESTING. 



When the hemp becomes fit to be cut, the 

 stalks of the blossom, or male hemp, turn 

 yellow, become a good deal speckled, and 

 drop most of their leaves, and, if the air is 

 still, a cloud of dust arises from the blossom 

 stalks, and hangs over the field. When 

 sown early, it will be fit to cut about the 1st 

 of August. The above appearance will be- 

 come indicative of the proper time, and then 

 it should be cut without delay; for, if suf- 

 fered to stand longer, (as about one half of 

 the stalks blossom and the other half bear 

 seed) the stalks of the male will wither and 

 blacken, and the coat be of but little value ; 

 and the female hemp, which has stood to ri- 

 pen the seeds, require a longer time to rot 

 than the male, and, consequently, both would 

 be thereby injured. Tin best way to get seed 

 ivould be to sow some thinly in a separate 

 patch. The mode of cutting is preferable 

 to that of pulling ; a man will cut half an 

 acre per day, and a quarter, pulled, is said 

 to be a day's work. By the former practice, 

 lithe inconvenience of dust and the dirt, at- 

 tached to the roots, will be avoided. Cut 

 One chetwirt of seed commonly yields! hemp will be worth ten dollars a ton more 

 25 loads (upwards 36 pounds English) of ithan the pulled. Knives and hooks, for that 



hemp, -and twelve chetwirts of hemp seed. 



B. 



The following observations, relative tn 

 hemp, are taken from the American Far- 

 mer, vol. 5. p. 90, and are said to be approved 

 by the experience of practical men in our 

 own country, particularly Mr. Henry Kip, of 

 Buffalo. 

 Taken from the American Farmir, Vol. 5. 



Hemp is a very hardy plant, resists drought 

 and severe frosts, is easier cultivated, less 

 exhausting, ami more profitable than many 

 other crops, with which this does not inter- 

 fere in its cultivation, (except the tobacco 

 crop.) It is sown before, and gathered af- 

 ter, corn, and requires no attention when 

 wheat is sown, harvested or thrashed. It 

 will grow, year after year, on the same 

 ground, on which, if sufficiently rich, it is 

 the surest crop. It is liable to no disease, 

 and injured by no insects. 



THE SOIL. 



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

 mellow. The plant has a tap root, which 

 descends to a considerable depth, and there- 

 fore the soil should be deep, and be thor- 

 oughly mellowed by deep and frequent 

 ploughings. Fall ploughing, and two or 

 three ploughings in the spring, together with 

 harrowing, so as to smooth the surface, (and 

 thereby enable the seed to be sown even, and 

 die hemp to spring up equally, and be cut 

 close to the roots,) are preparatory steps to 

 the putting in of the seEri. 



purpose, may 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 Older to prevent 

 the rains from discoloring it, proceed, as ear- 

 ly as convenient, to wret it, by placing it in 

 clean, pun ira.ter, formed by a stream, spring, 

 or clear pond. If rotted shortly after cut- 

 ting, about five days are generally required 

 fur the purpose. You will be abe to judge, 

 ! by taking out a handful 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 wretting is 

 completed. The bark, or lint of hemp, is 

 connected with the stalk by a substance 

 which must be either wretted or dissolved, 

 before they will separate — produce the sepa- 

 ration, and the work is accomplished. Ex- 

 perience will be the best criterion. The wa- 

 ter in which it is rotted should not run ra- 

 pidly, as it would, in that case, wash awayj 

 I the coat. You may have three or four wa- 

 gon loads of hemp, to the depth of three or 

 four feet, sunk at a time, but it should be 

 completely submerged, though not suffered 

 to touch the bottom. If separate quantities 

 art put in on several successive days, the 

 days and quantities should be noted, for the 

 purpose of ascertaining which becomes fust 

 wretted, and which should, therefore, be first 

 taken up: for, if left in the water a day or 



two too long, the hemp will be materially in- 

 jured. 



DRESSING AND SECURING. 



When rotted, open and spread it, that i' 

 may dry soon. The process for breaking 

 and swingling, is the same as that for flax 

 When it grows too long for dressing (say 

 from 8 to 10 feet) it may be cut into two e- 

 qual parts without any injury. Be very par- 

 ticular in keeping the long and short hemr. 

 separate, and not have the seed and but ends 

 put together; be also careful to dress it clean 

 When dressing it, put twelve handfuls in 

 one head, laying them straight, the length 

 of the hemp. The handfuls must not be 

 tied, but bind the heads tight with a small 

 band, about one foot from the butt end ; it 

 will then be ready to be put into such sized 

 bales as maybe suitable. Some bale it into 

 a box, across the bottom of which 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 pre- 

 ference to dew-rotting, coincide with the o- 

 pinion of experienced cultivators. "If the 

 crop is to be dew-rotted and got outby hand, 

 its profits must be comparatively small, be- 

 cause it cannot be thus prepared to com- 

 mand the highest price :n market, compete 

 in quality with the Russia hemp, much less 

 drive it from our markets. But, if the A 

 merican hemp planter be prepared with pro- 

 per machinery to dress and prepare it, we 

 ought not to doubt, much less to despair, of 

 his ultimately arriving at a perfeotion in the 

 production and dress of the article, to equal, 

 if not excel, the best samples of Russia 

 hemp." 



C. 

 Extract of a letter from Mr. JY. Goodsell l*. 

 Mr. Samuel Steartwout, April, 1823. ta- 

 in n from the American Farmer, vol. 0. 

 "I am prepared to show that water-rot 

 ting, in all eases where it can be done, is, 

 most unquestionably, to be preferred. 1st. 

 It is more durable for all the purposes to 

 which it is applied — a fact perfectly well 

 known to those who manufacture sack and 

 cordage. 2dly. It is more easily bleached ; 

 and, Sdly, it will yield a greater quantity ol 

 fibre from a given quantity of the plant. — 

 My own experiments with respect to the su- 

 perior durability of water-prepared flax, 

 were very satisfactory. I placed on the 

 ground a quantity of (lax that had been suf 

 iiciently water-rotted for dressing, by the 

 side of an equal quantity of unrotted flax, 

 and turned them once in three days, until 

 the new (lax was sufficiently rotted for dress- 

 ing also, and, upon examination, I found 

 that that which had been previously water- 

 rotted, had lost none of its strength, and 

 that it had not altered in any respect, ex- 

 cept in color, which was a little brighter 

 than when laid out; both parcel-, wen now 

 suffered to remain upon the ground, until 

 the dew-rotted became worthless when the 

 water-rotted was found to be still strong and 

 good. 



I repealed these experiments withdressefl 

 flax, ami with the plant, and found the re- 

 sult the same. This, in my mind, fully es- 

 tablished the very important fact, that wa- 

 ter-rotted fiat or hemp is infinitely superiof 

 to that which is dew-rotted. 



I made an attempt, next to ascertain the 

 proportionate loss in weight, in each pro« 

 cess of ruttingr ami found fhetn both nearl* 



