4 BULLETIN 404, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
accumulate in large piles, being blown from the machine by wind 
stackers. 
Machine brakes are used in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, and Califor- 
nia, but to only a limited extent in Kentucky. Five different kinds 
of machine brakes are now in actual use in this country, and still 
others are used in Europe. All of the best hemp in Italy, command- 
ing the highest market price paid for any hemp, is broken by machines. 
The better machine brakes now in use in this country prepare the 
fiber better and much more rapidly than the hand brakes, and they 
will undoubtedly be used in all localities where hemp raising is intro- 
duced as a new industry. They may also be used in Kentucky when 
their cost is reduced to more reasonable rates, so that they may 
compete with the hand brake. Hemp-breaking machines are being 
Fig. 2.— Machine brake and hemp hurds. Hemp hurds from machine brakes quickly accumulate in 
large piles. 
improved and their use is increasing. The hemp-growing industry 
can increase in this country only as machine brakes are developed to 
prepare the fiber. A profitable use for the hurds will add an incentive 
to the use of the machine brake. 
PRESENT USES OF HEMP HURDS. 
Hemp hurds are used to a limited extent for barnyard litter and 
stable bedding, as a substitute for sawdust in packing ice, and, in 
rare instances, for fuel. They are not regarded as having a commer- 
cial value for any of these uses, though they are doubtless worth at 
least SI per ton on the farm when used for stable bedding. They are 
a waste product, without value for other purposes which might com- 
pete with their use for paper stock. 
