18 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
ten made out of an old scythe, resembling a 
sickle, though not so long, but broader. This 
knile is applied much in the same v/ay as the 
sickle, except that the laborer stoops more. 
■Whether pulled or cut, the plants are care- 
ftilly laid on the ground, the evener the better, 
to cure ; .which they do in two or three days, in 
dry weather. A light rain tailing on them 
whilst lying down is thought by some to be 
beneficial, inasmuch as the leaves, of which 
they should be deprived, may be easier shaken 
ofl^ or detached. When cured, the plants are 
set up in the field in which they were produced, 
in shocks of convenient size, the roots or butt 
ends resting on the ground, and the tops united 
above by a band made ol the plants themselves. 
Previous to putting them up in shocks, most 
cultivators tie the plants in small hand bundles 
of such a size as that each can be conveniently 
held in one hand. Before the shocks are form- 
ed, the leaves ol the plants should be rapidly 
knocked ofiT with a rough paddle or hooked stick. 
Some suflfer the plants to remain in these shocks 
until the plants are spread down to be rotted. 
Others, again, collect the shocks together as 
soon as they can command leisure, (and it is 
clearly best,) and lorm them into stacks. A 
few farmers permit the slacks to remain over a 
whole year, before the plants are exposed to be 
rotted. I have frequently done it with advantage, 
and have at this time lu’o crops in stalks. By re- 
maining that period in stalks, the plants go 
through a sweat, or some other process, that im- 
proves very much the appearance, and, I be- 
lieve, the quality of the lint, and this improve- 
ment fully compensates the loss of time in bring- 
ing it to market. The lint has a soft texture 
and a lively hue, resembling w'aier rotted hemp; 
and I once sold a box of it in the Baltimore mar- 
ket at the price of Russia hemp. In every other 
respect, the plants are treated as if they were not 
kept over a year. 
The method of dew rotting is that which is 
generally practised in Kentucky. The lint so 
spread is not so good for many purposes, and 
especially for rigging and ships, as when the 
plants have been rotted by immersion in 
water, or, as it is generally termed, water rotted. 
The greater vaiue, and consequently higher 
price, of the article prepared in the latter way, 
has induced more and more of our farmers every 
year to adopt it; and if that prejudice were sub- 
dued, which every American production unfor- 
tunately encounters when it is first introduced 
and comes in contact with a rival European 
commodity, I think it probable that in a lew 
years we should be able to dispense altogether 
with foreign hemp. The obstacles which pre- 
vent the general practice of water rotting are, 
the want of water at the best season lor the ope- 
ration, which is the month of September; a re- 
pugnance to the change ol an old habit ; and a 
persuasion, which has some foundation, that 
handling the plants after their submersion in wa- 
ter during that month is injurious to health. 
The first and last of these obstacles would be 
removed by water rotting early in the winter, 
or in the spring. The only difference in the 
operation, performed at those seasons and in the 
month of September, would be, that the plants 
would have to remain longer in soak belore 
they were sufficiently rotted. 
The plants are usually spread down to be dew 
rotted from the middle of October to the middle 
of December. A farmer who has a large crop 
on hand puts them down at dififerent times for 
his convenience in handling and dressing them. 
Autumnal rotting is more apt to give the lint a 
dark and unsightly color than winter rotting. 
The best ground to expose the plants upon is 
meadow or grass land, but they are not un fre- 
quently spread over the same field on which 
they grow. The length of time they ought to re- 
main exposed depends upon the degree of mois- 
ture and the temperature of the weather that 
prevail. In a very wet and warm spell five or 
six weeks may be long enough. 'Whether they 
have been sufficiently rotted or not is determined 
by experiment. A Kandful is taken and broken 
by the hand or applied to the brake, when it can 
be easily ascertained, by the facility with which 
the lint can be detached from the stalk, if it be 
properly rotied. If the plants remain on the 
ground too long, the fibres lose some of their 
strength, though a few days longer than neces- 
sary, in cold weather, will not do any injury. 
If they are taken up too soon, that is, before the 
lint can be easily separated from the woody 
part of the stalk,*it is harsh, and the process of 
breaking is difficult and troublesome. Snow' 
rotting, that is, when the plants, being spread 
out, remain long enough to rot, (which however 
requires a greater length of time,) bleaches the 
lint, improves the quality, and makes it nearly 
as valuable as if it had been water rotted. 
After the operation of rotting is performed, 
the plants are again collected together, put in 
shocks or stacks, or, which is still better, put 
under a shed or some covering. When it is de- 
signed to break and dress them immediately, 
they are frequently set up against some neigh- 
boring fence. The best period for breaking and 
dressing is in the months of February and 
March, and the best sort of weather frosty 
nights and clear thawing days. The brake 
cannot be used advantageously in wet or moist 
weather. It is almost invariably used in this 
State out of doors and without any cover; and 
to assist its operation, the laborer often makes 
a large fire near it, which serves the double pur- 
pose of drying the plants and warming himself 
It could not be used in damp weather in a house 
without a kiln or some other means of drying 
the stalks. 
The brake in general use is the same hand 
brake which was originally introduced and has 
been always employed here, resembling, though 
longer than, the common flax brake. It is so 
well known as to render a particular description 
of it, perhaps, unnecessary. It is a rough con- 
trivance, set upon four legs, about fwo and a 
half feet high. The brake consists of tw’o jaws 
with slits on each, the low'er jaw fixed and 
immovable, and the upper one movable, so 
that it may be lifted up by means of a handle 
inserted into a head or block at the front end of 
it. The lower jaw has three slats or teeth, 
made of tough white oak, and the upper two, 
arranged approaching to about two inches in 
front, and in such manner that the slats of the 
upper jaw play between those of the lower. 
These slats are about six or seven feet in length, 
six inches in depth, and about two inches in 
thickness in their lower edges; they are placed 
edgewise, rounded a little on their upper edges, 
which are sharper than those below. The la- 
borer takes his stand by the side ol the brake, 
and grasping in his left hand as many of the 
stalks as he can conveniently hold, with his 
right hand he seizes the handle in the head of 
the upper jaw, which he lifts, and throwing the 
handful of stalks between the jaws, repeatedly 
strikes them by lifting and throwing down the 
upper jaw. These successive strokes break 
the w'oody or reedy part of the stalks into small 
pieces or shoes, which fall off during the pro- 
cess. He assists their disengagement by stri- 
king the handful against a stake, or with a small 
wooden paddle, until the lint or bark is entirely 
clean, and completely separated from the woody 
particles. 
Alter the above operation is performed, the 
hemp may be scutched, to soften it, and to 
strengthen the threads. That process, however, 
is not thought to be profitable, and is not there- 
fore generally performed by the grower, but is 
left to the manufacturer, as well as that of beat- 
ing and hackling it. Scutching is done by the 
laborer taking in his lelt hand a handful of the 
lint, and grasping it firmly, then laying the mid- 
dle ol it upon a semicircular notch of a perpen- 
dicular board of the scutching frame, and stri- 
king with the edge of the scutch that part of the 
lint which hangs down on the board. After 
giving it repeated strokes, he shakes the handful 
of lint, replaces it on a notch, and continues to 
strike and turn all parts of it, until it is suffi- 
ciently cleansed, and the fibres appear to be even 
and straight. 
The usual daily task of an able-bodied hand 
at the brake is eighty pounds’ weight; but there 
is a great difference not only in the state of the 
weather and the condition of the stalks, produ- 
ced by the greater or less degree in which they 
have been rotted, but in the dexterity with which 
the brake is employed. Some hands have been 
known to brake from one hundred and fifty to 
two hundred pounds per day. The laborer ties 
up in one common bundle the work of one day, 
and in this state it is taken to market and sold. 
From w'hat has been mentioned, it may be in- 
ferred, as the fact is, that the hemp of some 
growers is in a much better condition than that 
of others. "When it has been carelessly handled 
or not sufficiently cleansed, a deduction is made 
from the price by the purchaser. It is chiefly 
bought in our villages, and manufactured into 
cotton bagging, bales, and other kinds ol uniar- 
red cordage. The price is not uniform. The 
extremes have been as low as three and as high 
as eight dollars for the long hundred, the cus- 
tomary mode of selling it. The most general 
price during a term of many years has been 
from four to five dollars. At five dollars it com- 
pensates well the labor of the grower, and is 
considered more profitable than anything else 
the farmer has cultivated. 
The most heavy labor in the culture of hemp 
is pulling or cutting it, when ripe, and breaking 
it when rotted. This labor can easily be per- 
formed by men. Various attempts have been 
made to improve the process of breaking, which 
is the severest work in the preparation of hemp. 
A newly invented machine was erected for that 
purpose on my farm six or eight years ago, to 
dress hemp by dispensing with rotting altogether, 
similar in structure to one which was exhibited 
about the same time at Columbus, during the sit- 
ting ol the Ohio Legislature. It was worked by 
horse power, and detached the lint tolerably well, 
producing a very fine looking article,equalling in 
appearance Russia hemp. A ton of it was sold 
to the navy department, which was manufac- 
tured into rigging for the ship of the line the 
North Carolina, prior to her making a voyage 
of three years in the Mediterranean. Upon her 
return, the cordage was examined and analyzed ; 
and although its exterior looked very well, it 
was found, on opening it, to be decayed and af- 
fected somewhat like the dry rot in wood. I 
considered the experiment decisive ; and it is 
now considered that the processor water or dew 
retting is absolutely necessary, either before or 
after the hemp has been to the brake. There 
is a sappy or glutinous property of which it 
should be divested, and that is the only process 
that has been hitherto generally and successful- 
ly employed to divesi it. 
An ingenious and enterprising gentleman in 
the neighborhood of Lexington has been, ever 
since the erection of the above mentioned ma- 
chine, trying various experiments, by altering 
and improving it, to produce one more perfect, 
which might be beneficially employed on rotted 
hemp, to diminish the labors of the brake. He 
mentioned the other day that all of them had 
failed; that he had returned to the old hand 
brake, and that he was convinced that it answer- 
ed the purpose belter than any substitute with 
which he was acquainted. 1 observe Mr. H. 
L. Barnum has recently advertised a machine 
which he has constructed for breaking and dres- 
sing hemp and flax, which can be procured at 
the establishment of Mr. Smith, in Cincinnati. 
I most cordially wish him success; but the 
number of failures which 1 have witnessed, du- 
ring a period of thirty years, in the attempt to 
supersede manual labor by the substitution of 
that ol machines, induces me to fear that 
it will be long before this desideratum is attain- 
ed. 
The quantity of net hemp produced to the 
acre is from six hundred to one thousand weight, 
varying accoraing to the fertility and prepara- 
tion ol the soil and the state of the season. It is 
said that the quantity which any field will pro- 
duce may be anticipated by the average height 
of the plants throughout the field. Thus, if the 
plants will average eight feet in height, the acre 
will yield eight hundredweight of hemp; each 
