AND RURAL ECONOMIST. 99 



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 are formed, the leaves of the plants should 

 be rapidly knocked off Avith 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, be- 

 fore the plants are exposed to be rotted. I have frequently 

 done it with advantage, and have at this time two crops in 

 stalks. By remaining that period in stalks, 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 texture and a 

 lively hue, resembling water rotted hemp ; and I once sold a 

 box of it in the Baltimore market at the price of Kussia 

 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 prac- 

 t " -ed in Kentucky. The lint so spread is not so good for 

 iiiany purposes, and especially for rigging and ships, as when 

 the plants have been rotted by immersion in water, or, as it 

 is generally termed, water rotted. The greater value, and 

 consequently higher price, of the article prepared in the lat- 

 ter 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 contact with a rival Euro- 

 pean commodity, I think it probable that in a few years we 

 should be able to dispense altogether with foreign hemp. 

 The obstacles which prevent the general 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 submer- 

 sion in water during that month is injurious to health. The 

 first and last of these obstacles would be removed by water 

 rotting early in the winter, or in the spring. The only dif- 

 ference in the operation, performed at those seasons and in 

 the month of September, would be, that the plants would 



