Cultivation of Hemp.—Anthracite Coal Aabtei 
hemp should be considerably damp, when 
taken up, the shocks should be left untied at 
the tops until they have time to dry. If 
shocks are not well put up, they are liable to 
blow down by a strong- wind. To guard 
against this, it is desirable, when commenc¬ 
ing a shock, to tie a band around the first 
armful or two that may be set up, and then 
raise up the parcel so tied, and beat it well 
against the ground so as to make it stand 
firmly, in a perpendicular direction. The 
balance of the shock should now be set regu¬ 
larly around the part as herein directed. If 
hemp be carefully shocked, it will receive 
little or no injury till the weather becomes 
warm. In the mean time it should be broke 
out as rapidly as possible. If the operation 
he completed by the middle of April, no ma¬ 
terial loss will be sustained. If delayed to a 
later period, more or less loss of lint will be 
the consequence. Cool, frosty weather is 
much the best for hemp-breaking. In that 
state of the weather, if the hemp is good, 
first-rate hands on the common hemp-break, 
will clean two hundred pounds per day upon 
an average. Two of my best hands, during 
the past season, for every day they broke, 
favorable and unfavorable, averaged one hun¬ 
dred and eighty-six pounds. Two others, 
who are young men, and not full hands, ave¬ 
raged one hundred and forty-four ponds. The 
ordinary task for hands is one hundred pounds. 
Overwork is paid for at the usual price of 
breaking.” 
Hemp-break .—The hand hemp-break is 
made precisely like that for flax, only much 
larger; the under slats on the hinder end 
are 16 to 18 inches apart, at the fore-end 
they approach within 3 inches of each other. 
The slats in the upper jaw are so placed as 
to break joints into the lower one, as it is 
brought down on to the hemp. It is a ma¬ 
chine so common, however, that we deem 
further description unnecessary. After break¬ 
ing out the hemp, it is twisted into bunches, 
and sent to the press-house to he baled, and 
is then transported to market. 
Water Rotting .—Of this process we gave a 
full description in October No. of this peri¬ 
odical. Some recent improvements, it is 
said, have been made in water rotting, and a 
new discovery of rotting by steam, which 
we are informed, accomplishes the process 
in a few hours. We are somewhat doubtful 
on this point, and have instituted inquiries 
regarding it, which, if of any practical utility, 
we shall immediately make them known. 
We desire greatly to see our country an 
exporter rather than importer of this valua¬ 
ble product, and with her boundless regions 
of fertile soil she may be. The value of hemp 
and hempen manufactures of all kinds, im¬ 
ported into this country for the five years end¬ 
ing 30th Sept., 1841, was about $10,000,000 
value here. It would be a pretty item of Na¬ 
tional wealth to reverse the tables, and make 
our exports of the same articles equally large. 
ANTHRACITE COAL ASHES. 
We are glad to find a satisfactory answer 
to our inquiry as to the effects of an applica¬ 
tion of anthracite coal ashes. We have 
not for many years been engaged in farm¬ 
ing occupations, in the region of the con¬ 
sumption of anthracite coal, and of course 
have not had an opportunity of testing the 
value of the ashes from personal observation, 
and having noticed they were universally 
wasted in our city, we made many inqui¬ 
ries as to experiments with them, and of 
some sustaining a high reputation as agricul¬ 
turists, and the reply was universally, their 
effects were not known, but they are believed 
to be prejudicial. Entertaining an opinion 
just the reverse, we made a public call for 
information, and we give below the substance 
of a reply from the editor of the Am. Farmer. 
<c In the spring of 1836, we had a small piece of ground 
bordering on the main road, which was separated from 
the field by a run. It contained 1 acre and 10 perches 
of as hard, elastic, ungainly clay as Christian man 
ever undertook to improve. Its situation was a west¬ 
ern exposure, rising gently to the east, so as to form a 
kind of inclined plane. The eastern part of it was a 
tenacious white clay, bordering on fuller’s earth ; the 
rest a red clay, equally hard, and the whole worn out 
by that improvident system of culture, which looks to 
taking all out and putting nothing in. As it was lo¬ 
cated on the public road, we were not a little ambitious 
to get it in good tilth, so as to relieve us from so burn¬ 
ing an eye-sore. From its indurated condition we felt 
conscious that before we could bring it to a condition 
of creditable fertility, it w'ould be necessary to change 
the texture of the soil, in order to give play to the ac¬ 
tion of the atmosphere. Had a sand bank been acces¬ 
sible to us, we should at once have covered it with 
sand, at the rate of a hundred cart-loads to the acre, 
so as to break down its tenacity, and admit the air. 
But having no such resource at hand, we determined 
on applying what we believed would be a good substi¬ 
tute, and accordingly procured gas house cinders, which 
we intended applying at the rate of twenty double-horse 
cart loads to the acre. As the westernmost part of the 
ground lay convenient to the entrance, the cinders were 
spread thereon first, but as we could get but twenty 
loads, only one acre was furnished with them, so that 
the upper part of the piece, consisting of the white clay, 
and containing 10 perches, was left uncovered. After 
spreading these cinders, we put on and spread stable 
manure at the rate of twenty double-horse loads to the 
acre. The manure was plowed in as spread, the 
ground then rolled to break down the clods, harrowed 
twice lengthwise, and once crosswise, which brought 
it but to a tolerable state of pulverization. We then 
