DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 



107 



ferent about the fiber. The raw hemp produced in Japan is usually sold in the form 

 of ribbons, thin as paper, but as smooth and glossy as satin, a light straw color, the 

 frayed ends showing a fiber of exceeding fineness. Beautiful samples of this hemp 

 were secured by the Department at the World's Columbian Exposition, together 

 with many samples of manufactures. The fiber is largely grown in Japan for the 

 manufacture of cloth and the industry is very old, as prior to the introduction of 

 silk weaving it was the only textile fabric of the country. 



Uses. — Largely employed in the United States for small twines and cordage, bind- 

 ing twines, etc. Formerly large areas were devoted to the cultivation of the plant 

 in the United States, and thirty-five years ago nearly 40,000 tons of hemp was pro- 

 duced in Kentucky alone, while now hardly more than a fourth of this quantity is 

 produced in the whole country. 

 There are several reasons for the 

 decline in production in the 

 United States, but it dates back, 

 primarily, to the decline in Amer- 

 ican shipbuilding and to the in- 

 troduction of the Philippine Is- 

 land hemp (Musa textilis), the 

 manila hemp of commerce, and 

 later to the large importation of 

 jute. Quite recently there has 

 been a further falling off in pro- 

 duction, and it is worthy of note 

 that this is largely due to the 

 overproduction of this same hemp 

 of Manila, brought about by the 

 high prices of the latter fiber in 

 1890-91, a direct result of the 

 manipulation of the fiber market 

 by certain binding-twine manu- 

 facturers. In past years the hemp 

 of Kentucky was not only used 

 for the rigging of vessels, and in 

 twines or yarns, and bagging, but 

 it was spun and woven into cloth, 

 just as to-day it is manufactured 

 into fabrics in portions of Brit- 

 tany. 



Culture. — As in Breton 

 France, so in Kentucky, limestone 

 soils, or the alluvial soils, such as 

 are found in the river bottoms, 

 are best adapted to this plant. 

 The culture, therefore, is quite general along the smaller streams of Brittany, where 

 the climate is mild and the atmosphere humid; and in Kentucky the best lands only 

 are chosen for hemp, and the most favorable results being obtained where there is 

 an underlying bed of blue limestone. As a general rule, light or dry soils or heavy, 

 tenacious soils are most unfavorable. 



Hemp is not considered a very exhaustive crop. It is stated by a successful Ken- 

 tucky grower that virgin soil sown to hemp can be followed with this crop for fifteen 

 to twenty years successively; alternating then with small grain or clover, it can be 

 grown every third year, without fertilizers, almost indefinitely. In France a rotation 

 of crops is practiced, hemp alternating with grain crops, although competent authori- 

 ties state that it may also be allowed to grow continuously upon the same land, but 

 not without fertilizers. Regarding this mode of cultivation, they consider that it is 



Fig. 37.— The Hemp plant, Cannabis sativa. 



