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? Area: FidoNet - Marijuana Chat ?????????????????????????????????????????????
Msg#: 1688 Date: 06-09-93 22:24
From: Northcoast OH NORML Read: Yes Replied: No
To: All Mark:
Subj: Fairbanks Comp. #4
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[...continued from previous posting]
It may be asked, why not transport it to the place of rotting and immerse
it in the water, immediately after it is pulled, or as soon as it is dry, and
save the trouble of securing it from the weather? I am not prepared to say that
this cannot be done with safety, under vigilant care and attention. It is
believed, however, that it would be exposed to greater hazard of loss, than at
a later period. At the time of pulling, the weather is hot, and the water warm.
Putrefaction proceeds with great rapidity. If the hemp should remain in the
water a little too long, or if, after it is drawn from the water, there should
be a long rain, or a continuance of damp weather to prevent its drying, it
would be rotted too much, and the fibre would be materially injured, if not
destroyed. But when the hemp is immersed later in the season, after the weather
and water have become cool, there is no risk in suffering it to remain in the
water a short time longer than is necessary. It is also supposed that when the
hemp is rotted in hot weather, there will be a greater proportion of tow -- and
after it is drawn from the water, the bands must be opened and the hemp spread,
in order that it may dry quickly. It is also a busy season with the farmer, and
he can attend to it at a later period, with less interruption to other branches
of husbandry. These are the reasons which have induced our farmers to postpone
the rotting till the latter part of October. As I have never tried any
experiments in reference to this part of the process, and indeed have had but
little experience in the culture of hemp on my own farm, I will not give an
opinion whether their reasons are well founded or not. I have not undertaken to
point out the best method, in relation to any part of the process, but only to
describe the course pursued in my own neighborhood.
It has sometimes been made a question, whether running or stagnant water
was to be preferred. The former has been universally applied here. -- A place
is selected near the margin of some brook or small stream, which will afford a
basin in which the hemp can be deposited, and where by erecting a dam across
the stream, the hemp can be covered with water.
to prevent it from floating. Having deposited the hemp and secured it from
rising, the gateway may be closed and the water raised upon the hemp. It will
be observed that the level of the hemp must be lower than the gateway, so that
the whole body may be immersed in water, and continued so, until it is rotted.
The length of time necessary to complete the rotting process depends much
upon the weather, and the temperature of the water. It may be ascertained
whether it has lain in the water long enough, by taking out one of the bundles,
drying and breaking it. If the stem cracks easily, and the rind and harl
readily separates from the wood, it is sufficiently rotted. So also, if while
it lies in the water, the roots will twist off easily. Hemp put into the water
the last week of October, will generally require about three weeks. When put in
later, I have known it lie seven weeks. If put into stagnant water, soon after
it is pulled, five or six days is enough.
When the hemp is rotted, open the gateway and drain off the pond. The hemp
must then be removed to a piece of grass land -- the bundles laid upon the
ground singly, and, after two or three days, turned over. When partially
dried, it is carried and set up, inclining, against a fence where it remains
until it is fit for the brake. It may then be carried to the building or shed
where it is to be dressed; or the brake may be carried to the hemp, as is
generally the case here, and after it is broken, it is removed to the barn for
the finishing process -- or if the weather is not too severe, it may be dressed
where it is broken.
A cheap vehicle or sled, for the removal of the hemp from the pond, may be
made of two pieces of slit work, about 9 feet in length, with three cross beams
of the same material. The stakes driven closely through each beam and runner,
will serve the double purpose of holding the sled together, and keeping the
hemp from falling off. No tongue will be necessary. It may be drawn with
chains. If however the grass ground is at any considerable distance from the
pond, wheels may be necessary.
In dressing, two brakes are used. The first, coarser than a common flax
brake, the second, as fine as a flax brake, at the head, with one additional
bar in each jaw. If the hemp is well rotted and faithfully broke, but little
remains for the swingling board. A man accustomed to the business, will brake
and dress from 50 to 75 lbs per day.
The labor required to prepare a crop of hemp for market, is not
considerable. But it will be observed, that but a small portion of the labor
comes at a season, when the farmer is most busily occupied in gathering and
securing his other crops. The pulling comes on soon after the hay and grain
are secured. The rotting does not commence till after Indian harvest, and the
winter grain is sown. The dressing is wholly done in cold weather, when the
farmer has little occupation besides that of taking care of his stock and
providing fuel. Every considerable farmer who has land suitable for hemp,
might raise a few acres, without greatly interfering with his ordinary course
of husbandry.
The average crop is six or seven hundred to the acre. I have raised nine
or ten -- but this is an unusual crop. The land was strong, and in very fine
tilth. The hemp grew to a great height and was very uniform throughout the
piece. The price of hemp in market has varied, of late years, from $10 to
$12,50 a hundred. Scarce any crop of field culture can be put upon the land,
which will produce so great a result.
It is not uncommon for the farmer to let out his land upon shares. In that
case, the usual terms are, that the owner of the land prepares the ground, and
furnishes one half the seed. The occupant furnishes the other half of the seed
and performs all the labor, after the seed is harrowed in, and returns to the
owner one-half of the seed, and one-half of the hemp, prepared for market. In
one instance, I have received, for the use of my land, more than forty-five
dollars an acre, clear profit. The moiety of the seed returned tome, was amply
sufficient to pay my part of the seed furnished, and the labor of preparing the
ground.
QUALITY.-- The hemp grown in this neighborhood, when well dressed, commands
the highest price of the best Russia hemp, and is readily purchased by the
manufacturers of cordage. Our farmers sometimes mistake their own interest, by
neglecting to hatchel out the tow, through fear of too much diminishing their
weight. An experiment was made in 1824, by direction of the Commissioners of
the Navy, to try its strength in comparison with the Russian. "Two ropes, 2 1-4
inches in circumference, one made of hemp grown in this town, broke with 3209
lbs. The other made of clean St. Petersburg broke with 3118 lbs." I mention
this fact for the purpose of satisfying the doubting -- if any such there are
-- that our soil and climate are as well adapted to the cultivation of this
article, as those of Russia, and that no one need be deterred from entering
upon its cultivation, under any apprehensions that his crop, if rightly managed
and well prepared, will be of inferior value.
At a time when the supply of the ordinary products of the farm exceeds the
demand, and consequently the price is so low as almost to discourage
agricultural enterprise, it deserves the consideration of farmers in different
parts of the country, whether their interest does not require them to turn a
part of their land and to apply a portion of their labor, to the cultivation of
hemp. The annual import from Russia does not probably fall short of half a
million of dollars. This amount might, in a short time, be brought to market,
from our own soil. In addition to this, we annually import in duck, and other
manufactures of hemp, exclusive of cordage, to the amount of more than a
million and a half of dollars. These manufactures might be carried on in our
own country, as well as those of cotton and woollen goods. The present rate of
duty on imported hemp is $45 a ton, which is sufficient to afford adequate
protection, to the extent of the demand. If the continuance of this duty
should not come within the rule prescribed by our present chief Magistrate,
which "requires that the great interests of agriculture, commerce, and
manufactures should be equally favored," it may perhaps come within his
exception to the rule of giving "peculiar encouragement to any products of
either of them, that may be found essential to our national independence."
I am yours, &c. SAM. LATHROP.
West Springfield, March 16, 1829.
[Continued on next posting...]
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