84 Industrial Experiments in Colonial America. 



the best quality of product than those of any of the other colo- 

 nies/ Aside from the requirements of soil and climate, hemp 

 requires great care in planting, gathering and preparing for 

 market ; and, even with the printed rules sent over for their 

 guidance, the people had not practical skill needed to bring the 

 cultivation of the plant to perfection. Even if they had pos- 

 sessed the skill, there was scarcely any seed in the country, and 

 the planters were too poor to buy. The surveyors and the 

 governors suggested that the government should send over 

 enough of the best Riga seed to set the people on the cultivation 

 of a product which would be very profitable, if once brought to 

 perfection." A good deal of seed was distributed, but, as 

 Joshua Gee pointed out, there was great risk in sending seed by 

 a long water journey, unless it was properly packed. "Some, 

 indeed," he said, "have carried over several parcels in order to 

 sow it, but their unskillfulness in the nature of seeds made their 

 trial and experiments unsuccessful, for they shipped it of? and 

 put it in the hold, where it heated, which rendered it altogether 

 useless; for seed is a thing of that tenderness that if once heated 

 and afterwards sown, it will not grow.'"^ Another discourage- 

 ment, according to Thomas Coram, was the fact that the pre- 

 mium went to the importer, and not to the planters who took 

 the risks and expended time without getting any particular 

 benefit. 



Attempts were made in several provinces to provide more 

 direct encouragement for the producers by bounties granted by 

 the local assemblies, and, during the period of the great depre- 

 ciation of the currency, by allowing hemp to pass as money. 

 Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut granted 

 bounties, and Maryland allowed hemp to be received in part 



^At the present time the great hemp producing states are Ken- 

 tucky and Missouri. 



^Letter from Mr. Bridger to the Board of Trade, New Eng., W: 69, 

 and letter from Lieut. Gov, Wentworth, X: 68, Report of Board of 

 Trade to Privy Council, B. T. Entry Bk. L., June 12, 1735. 



3Gee's Memorial, B. T. Plants. Gen., L: 24. 



