58 



THE NEW GENESEE FARMER, 



Vol. 3 



Ti) ihc iiiqaiiiee ol T. li.. B. in rpgnid to the ciil- 

 tivuUoii ol Hemp, we ore happy vciy I'ully to respoiiil 

 in this miniber of the Former; in a way wh:ch, we 

 trust, will be EOtisfnctory to him. 



Toe report of the Commissioner of Patents gives 

 the amount of flax and hemp produced in the United 

 Stntoa as amounting to 101. ISI^ tons. Bat it is a 

 curious circumstance and adapted in some degree to 

 abola our conlidenco in these tables, that in the re- 

 turns obtained by the Uniicd Slates census, in the 

 first place the two articles ore not distinguished one 

 fro'm the other, so that there is no possibility of deter- 

 mining how much of fla.^ or how much of hemp was 

 roised ; and in the next " the amount is sometimes 

 given in tons and sometimes in pounds, so that it is 

 irot always easy to diecriminnte between them ;" that 

 is, as we nnderstind it, it is not known whether the 

 figures of the Morshnls mean pounds or tons, which 

 to be sure would make Bomc little difference in the re- 

 sult. OiTi^-ers empl-oyed by the government and paid 

 forobiaiiiing returns, who have not knowledge enougli 

 or care enough to distinguish between Ions and 

 pou'.iilj, certainly deserve a vote of thanks from Con- 

 gress with brasd collars for their exactness. The 

 Commissioner says that probably more than half the 

 whole amount must be allotted to fla.t, as but litllc 

 he.np, comparatively, is known to be raised. He snys 

 again " that some of the amounts should rather have 

 been credited to pounds for flax than to tons, as more 

 nearly corresponding to the actual condition of the 

 crops in cur country." 



lUaJJs, that " Kentucky probably ranks the high- 

 est with respect to the production of hemp. The 

 crop of ISIU was a great failure, and that of the past 

 year also sutferoi from the dry weather. There is not 

 BO much attention paid to the culture of this aiticle as 

 )ta importance demands; yet there is every grounl 

 ol encourage. .lent for increased enterprise in the pro- 

 duction of hemp from the supply required in our own 

 country. The difficulty most in the way of its suc- 

 cess, hitherto, lias been the neglect either from ignor- 

 nnce, inexperience, or some other cause, properly to 

 prepare it lor use by the beat process of water-rotting. 

 The agriculturists of our country seem, in this respect, 

 to have ton soon yielded to discouragement. The de- 

 sirablenees of siime new and sitijtactory results on 

 this subject will be seen floin the fact that it is stated 

 the annual consumptionof hemp in our navy amounts 

 to nearly two thousand tons ; besides which, the de- 

 mand for the rest of our shipping is not less than 

 n'lout eleven thousand tons more ; making an aggre- 

 gate ol nearly thirteen thousand tons — the price of 

 which is put at from $220 to ijp'iSfl, and by some even 

 03 high as $'280 per ton, together with other and in- 

 terior qualit es, which are used to supply the deficien- 

 cy of the better article. Our hemp, it is further stat- 

 ed, on high authority, when properly watcr-rotled, 

 prove), by actual experiment, to bo onc-tourth stron- 

 ger than Russia hemp, to take five feet more run, and 

 to 6,)in twelve pounds more to the four hundred 

 pounds. When so much is felt and said on the in- 

 crease of our navy prospectively, it is an object wor- 

 thy ol a'.teiition to secure, if possible, the production 

 of hemp in our own country, adequate to all our de- 

 mands. The introduction, too, ol gunny bags, and 

 of S.:otch and Russia bagging, andiron hoops tor cot- 

 ton, renders this direction ot the hemp product mote 

 necessary and important. It is hoped that some pro- 

 cess of water-iotting, which will prove at once both 

 cheap and satisfactory, may yet be discovered." 



We subjoin first a letter from John Wilson of Deer- 

 field, Mass., on whose intelligence and experience, 

 eo far as it has gone, entire reliance may be placed ; 

 and I have great pleasure in adding a letter from 

 Henry Clay, of Kentucky, on the same subject, with 

 which I have been recently honored. Mr. Clay has 

 ever dibtinguisocd himself as the devoted and inflex 

 ible friend of domestic industry in all its departments ; 

 and his own improvements in agricullure and his en- 

 lightened zeal and labors for the advancement of this 

 great interest, are not among the least substantial ben- 

 efits which he has rendered to his country, in a lile de- 

 voted 10 her,honor and prosperity. 



Lttter I.- 



Froni .JohiJ Vvilson. 



Dcajldil, rcb. 11, 18J2. 

 Mr. Colman — 



My Estkkmed Friend — Your letter of'the 5th came 

 10 hand yesterday : with pleasure I will answer yc.ur 

 inquirieo in relation to the culture of hemp, so far as 

 I am able. I thought I could find my memorandum on 

 the subject of hemp, by the help of which I should 

 have been able to give you much valuable informa- 

 tion on the subject, but I cannot find im I must there- 

 fore, do as well as 1 can from recollection. Not hav- 

 ing expected to have my ntlcntion called to the sub- 

 ject again, I have forgotten much that might now be 

 useful, though I should feel a confidence in myself to 

 manage its culture in all its parts, were I to go into 

 tiie business as I once did. In 1830 1 was very large- 

 ly interested boih in raising the crop and purchasing 

 hemp in the stalk by the ion," for letting and dres- 

 sing by a machine for market ; this then being a new 

 business, wo suffered much and learned much, which 

 might he turned to a good account now were I in the 

 business. 



I will proceed te answer your questions. Ist, What 

 is the proper soil ? Perhaps no soil in the world is 

 better adapted to the growth of hemp than the tillage 

 land in the meadow in iront of your house at Meadow 

 Banks, or much of the rich lilLige in Deerfield mead- 

 owe, or on my old farm on the Connecticut. The 

 soil on the Genesee River I should consider well adapt- 

 ed to bemp; in short it wants a warm, deep, rich loam, 

 just suited to the grov.-th of Indian corn. What are 

 the necessary preparation, manure, &c. ? That land 

 which has been in Indian corn, potatoes, or any other 

 spring crop the last year, may be prepared for hemp. 

 The land should be well manured with any kind 

 suitable to plough in for corn, (I never saw too much 

 put on) the land should be ploughed and harrowed 

 two or three limes, to reduce it to a fine tilth — rolling 

 is very useful to crush the lumps. 



The time of sowing, quantity of seed, preparation 

 of seed, drills, hilli or broad cast ? From 20th of 

 May to 1st of June (here). I suppose your seasons 

 will not vary much from ours. Two bushels to th 

 acre is the usual quantity of seed, and it should be of 

 thelast year's growth— try it before sowing, old seed 

 will not vegetate well — very rich land will require 

 moie ; no preparation of seed required. Sow broad- 

 cast, and he sure that the seed isequally distributed 

 over the surface, 1 have practised sowing a part of 

 the seed one way, and the remainder crosswise. The 

 seed should be covered with a light harrow, and were 

 it not that the hemp pulls harder, I should prefer roll- 

 ing cfter sowing. 



The after culture, and whether the male plants are 

 gathered before the female plants, &c. ? The male 

 plants are not gathered before "the fema'.e plants, for 

 the fibre ; both are palled together soon after the male 

 easts its farina, before the seed is ripe ; the male ri- 

 pens first ; when the male stalk turns yellow and 

 drops it leaves, both are in a fit stale to pull. For rais- 

 ing seed a piece should he set apart expressly for that 

 purpose. I practiced sowing in drills; rows about two 

 feet apart, three or four inches between stalks I should 

 think a proper distance : they Should be hoed ; the 

 male stalks should be taken out after casiiiig the far] 

 na ; in this open culture the female plant grows very 

 large nnrl blanching ; before it begins to cast its seed 

 it should be tut by the grov.nd, and after lying long 

 enough to wilt, should be tied in small bundles and a 

 few set together, open like shocks of corn, to dry ; 

 when dry let it be carefully carried to a threshing 

 floor on the ground or to thcbarn, where, ill's dry day, 

 it should be threshed. Fitty bushels of good seed are 

 sometimes produced to the acre ; after cleaning the 



bced ill u winnowing mill, it should te spread in a loii 

 to dry. 



The time and mode of harvesting ^ As before 

 stated, when the stalk of the male hemp begins to 

 turn yellow, after casting its farina and its leaves prin- 

 cipally thed, the hemp is in a proper state to pull ; 

 this is done in the same manner as of pulling flax, 

 each hand taking a woik wide enough to spread hia 

 own hemp on after him ; the hemp, after lying a day 

 or two in good weather, should bo taken up and bound 

 with stray.' in email bundles, and set up in fmall open 

 bunches to dry, the sheaves should be well bound or 

 by ofien handling they will get loose and open ; after 

 the hemp is perfectly dry, it should be either housed 

 or well stacked in the field for retting. Standing 

 out exposed to dews and bad weather, gives the bemp 

 a dark color and is not so good. 



Ifow rotted and broken and prepared for market * 

 About the l3t of September,'" the hemp should bia 

 packed down in a pond, and boards or rails pnt across 

 the bundles with sufficient weight on them to keep 

 the hemp under water, here it is to remain till it iS' 

 sufficiently rotted to separate the fibrous from the lig- 

 neous part of the stalk; ffohi 4 to 6 weeks, according to 

 the tempeiature of the water, will complete the pro- 

 cess. To know when it is in a proper state to take 

 from the water, small parcels should be repeatedly 

 taken out, dried and put under a break like flax; when 

 it is found to be in a proper state, the water should be 

 drawn ofi"and the hemp drawn out on sleds and set up 

 against fences or poles, put Up on crotches, to dry ; 

 here it may stand without injury during the winter, 

 or be dressed out like fiax at any time when it can be 

 dried ; if it is to be dressed by hand, which I should 

 prefer tb any machine that 1 have seen, it requires »• 

 break much coarser than for flas, l>rcaking the woody 

 part of the stalks coarsely, they separate from the fibrf 

 in dressing much easier thon if broken fine ; aftei 

 breaking and shakinR out what sbives will coir.e oiii 

 readily, it is put on to a perpendicular board like fla-r, 

 but does not require that quick powerful use of th( 

 swingling knife as fiax; a light slow brush of the knift 

 downward on the hemp, will separate the wood frotr 

 the fibre better than a quick motion, and with Icsi 

 waste to the hemp ; I would premise that the end 

 before swingling should be cleaned by a coarse beckl? 

 AAer the hemp is cleansed, two or three handfull 

 should be put together, twisted a little and laid a 

 length on the floor, and when a bundle or ball ofgoO' 

 size is so piled,, it is bound firmly tog&lher in tbrc 

 places with handfulls of the same hemp or with 

 rope. 



The average yield per acre 7 The expense of cu! 

 livation ? The value to the grower when prepare 

 for market 7 How disposed of? Objections to i' 

 culture, '&c. ? The avera'ge yield i'5 from 4 to 80 

 pounds per acre ; the expense of cultivation depend 

 on the quantity of manure,number of ploughingsnn 

 harrowings in the first place. It is a day's woik 1 

 pull a quarter of an acre of good hemp. After pu! 

 ling, the carting and retting will depend very much o 

 the situation of the pond, whether it be near or dii 

 tant ; as to dressing, I believe a man can break an 

 cleanse 00 pounds of good hemp in a day. The pric 

 of hemp in market varies like other productions 

 though good walev-retled American hemp I consii 

 er equal to good P..ussi'in, yet I believe it does m 

 ueually sell quite so high— the price ranges from 10 

 lo cents per pound I should think that in your cei 

 tion of country mnch of the hemp that might be lai 

 ed there would find a home raaiket, to be manufa 

 tured into cordage for various usee. I know of i 

 objections to its cultivation ; it leaves ihe soil in a fii 



«I tliink we paiil 1-2 or S13 per ton, ilelivere.l at the pond, 

 for dry lienip in the stalk. 



le loo esrly, llie wcatlicr should 

 t of llie water to prevent fenceal 



