108 USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



not contrary to the law of rotation, as by deep plowing and the annual use of an 

 abundance of fertilizer the ground is kept sufficiently enriched for the demands which 

 are made upon it. If the soil is not sufficiently rich in phosphates or the salts of 

 potassium, these must be supplied by the use of lime, marl, ground bones, animal 

 charcoal, or ashes mixed with prepared animal compost. Even hemp cake, the leaves 

 of the plant, and the "shive/' or "boon," maybe returned to the land with benefit. 

 This high fertilizing is necessary, as the hemp absorbs the equivalent of 1,500 kilos 

 of fertilizers per every hundred kilos of fiher obtained. In Japan, where most excel- 

 lent hemp is produced, the ground is given a heavy dressing of barnyard manure 

 before it is plowed in November. After the soil has been well pulverized and reduced 

 to fine tilth, the seed is drilled and the land given a top dressing composed of one 

 part fish guano, two parts wood ashes, and four parts animal manure. The propor- 

 tions and the quantities used differ, of course, upon different soils. In New York, 

 where hemp was formerly grown, barnyard manures or standard fertilizers were used, 

 as it was considered essential to put the soil in good fertility to make a successful 

 crop. A Kentucky practice is to burn the refuse and spread the ashes over the land. 



As in flax culture, a careful and thorough preparation of the seed bed is important, 

 for the finer and more mellow the ground the better will be the fiber. Soil prepara- 

 tion in the blue- grass region of Kentucky consists in a fall or early spring plowing, 

 and a short time before seeding, which, in general terms, is about corn-planting time, 

 the ground is thoroughly pulverized by means of an improved harrow, such as the 

 disk harrow, after which it is made smooth. The date of planting varies according 

 to whether the soil is wet or dry and may range from the last week in March to the 

 last week in April, or even the 1st of May. In Shelby County, Ky.. the ordinary 

 gram drill is used for broadcast seeding. The rubber pipes are removed from the 

 drill, and a board is attached directly beneath the hopper. The seed falling upon 

 the board is scattered in front of the drill hoes, which do the covering. A light drag 

 passed over the field levels and evens the surface, after which nothing is done until 

 the hemp is ready for the harvest. 



The quantity of seed sown to the acre varies in different practice from 33 pounds 

 to 1 to 1^ bushels. In New York 1 to 3 bushels have been sown, 1 bushel giving bet- 

 ter results than a larger quantity. In Illinois it varies from 1 to 2^ bushels. In 

 France a difference is made regarding the use to which the fiber will be put, a third 

 more seed being sown for spinning fiber than for cordage fiber. On a farm in Sarthe, 

 visited by the writer, a little less than 3 bushels to the acre was the usual quantity 

 sown, but as high as 4 bushels are sown on some farms. There will be little trouble 

 with weeds if the first crop is well destroyed by the spring plowing, for hemp gen- 

 erally occupies all the ground, giving weeds but little chance to intrude. For this 

 reason the plant is an admirable weed killer, and in llax-growing countries is some- 

 times employed as a crop, in rotation, to precede flax, because it puts the soil in good 

 conditiou. 



In Kentucky the hemp stalks are considered ready to cut in one hundred days, or 

 when the first ripe seed is found in the heads. The cutting is usually done with a 

 hooked implement, or knife bent at right angles about 24 inches from the hand. In 

 recent years, however, the work is sometimes done by machines adapted to the pur- 

 pose, and particularly when the stalks are slender. The fore i-.n practices relating 

 to the harvesting differ materially from those usually followed in this country. They 

 are fully described, however, in Report Xo. 8 of the Fiber Investigations series issued 

 by the Department, to which the reader is referred. 



In this country when the stalks arc cut they are laid in rows, even at the butts, 

 and are allowed to remain on the ground not over a week to dry— only long enough, 

 a- one correspondent expresses it, to get a rain on the leaves, so that they will drop 

 off readily. When the rain is too long deferred, however, the hemp should be put 

 in shocks, or small stacks, having been iirst made into bundles of convenient size for 

 easy handling. Hemp is usually dew retted— that is, spread evenly over the ground 

 to undergo the action of the elements which dissolve or rot out the gums holding 



