Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1916-07-28
The Comeback OF Hemp.

R. 7. Gum in The Country Gentleman.
Hemp is no longer war baby; it is a
war man." Russia and Italy are fast
consuming their own hemp. and their ex-
ports are so interfered with that the Ameri-
can manufacturer has turned to his own
country to buy hemp. Demand has become
so great that prices have simply scared,
doubling in year.
Last September eight dollars hundred
pounds was paid, and this advanced to ten
dollars before the year was out New
Year of 1916 saw hemp selling at twelve
dollars and fifty cents at Lexington. and
hemp seed for the 1916 crop selling at the
unheard-of price of 20 dollars bushel.
Seed is hard to secure even at that price,
and the mills will get very little relief this
year if the war continues. The mills can
blame themselves for not paying better
prices and encouraging the production of
American hemp.
The hemp grower is not specializing this
year; he is plainly gambling, betting that
the war will last year longer, for he can
not brake out and market his hemp until
the winter of 1917
The element of chance should be re-
moved or minimized in hemp as II is in
other products. and shall endeavor later
to suggest remedy.
Originally hemp was raised in India for
the narcotic contained in the seed. II is
now raised for its fiber in a small section
of the Central States in this country. and
in Russia and Italy.
II is a heavy crop, growing ten TO fifteen
feet high in good Kentucky blue grass soil,
and covering the ground almost as thckly
as wheat
Under present methods of production,
hemp requires great amount of manual
labor, the Kentucky method being little or
no better than the foreign Ground pre-
pared with plows and rolled about like
wheat land is made ready for drilling, but
most hemp is sown in the old way-by
hand.
Hemp requires no cultivating 1t either
dies young on account OF a parasite called
broom rape" or grows so thick and fast
that 1t kills every kind of vegetation. A
good crop will free the ground Of weeds
absolutely.
II is cut by hand with hemp hooks. An
lrishman once said 1T Is as easy as cut
ting corn. but ten times as hard" After
cutting, the hemp is handled four times
in drying. putting in shocks and respread-
ing for rotting in fall rains-before il is
ready for the hand brake.
After the fiber is free from hards or pith
ii is sent to handwriting plants. where 1t
is made ready for the mills which make ii
into rope cables, twine and hemp packing
for engines; II is used also in carpet, rugs,
linens and numerous other products. Hand
labor is required from start to finish TO
make the finished product.
In Kentucky hemp laborers. mostly ne
groes, get about twenty cents an hour
American hemp has had a peculiar his
tory. Before the Civil War, when half the
worlds supply was raised in Kentucky alone
with slave labor, great deal of money
was made in hemp The foundations for
the fortunes made in Central Kentucky was
hemp.
The general public Of the United States
knows little or nothing Of hemp. The aver
age citizen Of the East or extreme West or
South never saw hemp, and doesn't know
what il is, much less its value.
A fact that is not generally known is
that inside of four months from planting,
hemp will grow the strongest and longest
known fber-a single fiber twelve feet
long
There is no other plant like il. The fiber
bleaches 10 a pure white, Il is first-class
product and enters into the manufacture
Of only first-class articles. Jute and other
] fibers have been tried as substitutes. but
nothing supplants hemp. The war in Eu-
rope has pretty well eliminated the idea
that imported articles are better than those
of our own make. and the American peo-
| Pile should be educated up TO the point Of
buying only American factory products,
made Of homegrown raw materials.
The American farmer must get the cost
J Of production lower. lie must cut Out the
excessive use Of manual labor. and this