CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 173 



tors tie the plants in small hand bundles of such a size as that each can be con- 

 veniently held in one hand. 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 exposed to be rotted. I have frequently done it wxta advantage, and have 

 at this time two crops in stacks. By remaining that period in stacks, the 

 plants go through a sweat, or some other process, that improves very much the 

 appearance, 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 tex- 

 ture and a lively hue, resembling water-rotted hemp; and I once sold a box of 

 it in the Baltimore market at the price of Russia hemp. In every other re- 

 spect, 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 prepared is not so good for many purposes, and especially for the 

 rigging of ships, as when the plants have been rotted by immersion in water, 

 or, as it is generally termed, water-rotted. The greater value, and conse- 

 quently 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 introduced and comes in competition with a rival European 

 commodity, I think it probable that, in a few years, we should be able o dis- 

 pense altogether with foreign hemp. The obstacles which prevent the gene- 

 ral 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 cai ly 

 in the winter, or in the spring. The only difference in the operation, per- 

 formed 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 dress- 

 ing them. Autumnal rotting is more apt to give the lint a dark and unsightly 

 colour than winter rotting. The best ground to expose the plants upon is 

 meadow or grass land, but they are not nnfrequently spread over the same 

 field on which they grew. The length of time that they ought to remain ex- 

 posed, depends upon the degree of moisture and the temperature of the 

 weather that prevail. In a very wet and warm spell five or six weeks may be 

 long enough. Whether they have been sufficiently rotted or not is determined 

 by experiment. 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 lonsr, the fibres lose some of their strength, tnough a few days 

 longer than necessary, 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, 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 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 brake and dress them immediately, 

 they are frequently set up against some neighbouring fence. The best period 

 for breaking and dressing is in the months 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 



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