HEMP HURDS AS PAPER-MAKING MATERIAL. 
water-retted hemp are cleaner and softer than those from dew-retted 
hemp. 
The fiber is sometimes broken from dry hemp stalks without retting. 
The hurds thus produced contain a small percentage of soluble gums, 
chiefly of the pectose series. Comparatively little hemp is prepared 
in this manner in America. 
Process retting by means of weak solutions of chemicals or oils in 
hot water is practiced to a limited extent. The hurds from these 
processes may contain traces of the chemicals or oils and also soluble 
gums in greater degree than those of the dew-retted or water-retted 
hemp. 
PROPORTION OF HURDS TO FIBER AND YIELD PER ACRE. 
The yield of hemp fiber varies from 400 to 2,500 pounds per acre, 
averaging 1,000 pounds under favorable conditions. The weight of 
Fig. 1.— Hemp-breaking machine. The stalks are fed sidewise in a continuous layer 2 to 3 inches thick, 
turning out about 4,000 pounds of clean fiber per day and five times as much hurds. 
hurds is about five times that of the fiber, or somewhat greater from 
hemp grown on peaty soils. A yield of 2| tons of hurds per acre may 
be taken as a fair average. 
HURDS AVAILABLE FROM MACHINE-BROKEN HEMP. 
Hemp hurds are available only from hemp which is broken by 
machines, when the hurds may be collected in quantity in one place 
(figs. 1 and 2). Most of the hemp in Kentucky is still broken by 
hand brakes. These small brakes are moved from shock to shock, so 
that the hurds are scattered all over the field in small piles of less 
than 50 pounds each, and it is the common practice to set fire to them 
as soon as the brake is moved. It would be difficult to collect them 
at a cost which would permit their use for paper stock. 
Where machine brakes are used, the hemp stalks are brought to the 
machine as grain is brought to a thrashing machine, and the hurds 
