Part 2

Dry hemp stalks should be tested when possible to determine the degree of retting. Three to six stalks are taken in both hands and bent back and forth to perform the break test. If properly retted, the fiber should not break when the woody core breaks. The hurds should fall free of the fiber in the breaking and shaking between one's hands. If the hemp is only partly retted, some hurds will adhere to the loosened fiber. Unretted hemp fiber is usually green or light yellow. Dew-retted hemp is usually slate gray or black.

After the fiber is broken free, its strength should be tested by breaking a small strand between the fingers. A small strand of fiber not twisted and about 3/32 inch wide should break with great difficulty and with a decided snap. If it is very weak and breaks with little or no snap the hemp is probably badly overretted or may have been grown under unfavorable cultural conditions. (See p. 5.)

All indication that the retting end point is near is that the hemp makes "bowstrings." In a small percentage of the stems, less than 1 to 5 percent under certain conditions, the middle of the stalks appears to ret first. The fiber comes free from the middle and forms a string fastened at the top and bottom of the stem, not unlike a bowstring. If bowstring stems are found, a sample of the hemp should be taken to the hemp-mill superintendent as soon as possible for verification of the retting end point. The bowstring condition is only a supplementary aid in determining when to stop the retting, and it may or may not occur in properly dew-retted hemp.

Some experienced hemp producers use the peeling test for determining the degree of retting. This is accomplished by peeling the fiber away from the butt ends of the stems. If properly retted, the fiber should peel freely from the woody core of the stem. If the hemp is not sufficiently retted, the fiber will break after a few inches have been peeled. This free-peeling stage is desirable for breaking hemp on hand breaks. Where hemp is to be processed by machinery the retting need not progress quite so far as is necessary for hand breaking.

_Picking Up the Retted Stalks_

Hemp stalks may be picked up by hand. This method has been used from early times and is satisfactory where labor is plentiful. However, in this country it is being replaced by machine pick-up binders.

In picking up the straw by hand, small sticks about 3 feet long with a single steel or wooden hook on the end are used. The hemp is raked into bunches with these implements, and usually tied. Hemp-fiber bands are used in tying the bundles. An inexpensive "buck" (see above) may be used to bunch the hemp, or it may be bunched with a pitchfork.

The most efficient method is to use the pick-up binder. These machines, drawn by tractors, cover about an acre an hour. They pick up the retted hemp stalks and tie them into bundles in one operation. The machines are part of the modern hemp-mill equipment and are rented to farmers.

Dew-retted hemp is usually shocked after being picked up. The hemp remains in the shock until it is transported to the mill.

_Extra Care Insures Extra Profits_

The farmer's job is done when he delivers the hemp to the mill. All further processing to prepare the fiber is part of the milling operation. However, it is of interest to both farmers and mill operators to attempt to keep the hemp stalks and fiber well butted. This means keeping the butt ends of the stalks or fiber in a bundle all even. Every time the hemp stalks are handled, care should be taken to see that this is done. If the hemp stalks are well butted in the bundle when processed, the milling operations can be carried out more economically. Tangled, uneven bundles are more difficult and require more time to handle. The yield of high-value long-life fiber is much greater if the stalks are well butted.

Hemp stalks are considered most desirable if they are less than half an inch in diameter. The thickness of a pencil is frequently used to illustrate the size of desirable stalks. The larger diameter stalks have a lower percentage of fiber than finer stems, are harder to break, and produce more tow fiber.

Hemp stalks grown on unproductive soil usually contain a lower percentage of fiber, and this fiber may be coarse, harsh, and of low strength, so that it breaks into tow in milling.

Stalks underretted frequently must be run through the mill breaker a second or third time to remove the remaining hurds. This increases the milling labor costs, and the resultant fiber may be reduced to a low grade. On the other hand, overretted hemp must be milled as little as possible, with less pressure exerted on the rollers and a slower speed of the scutcher wheel to keep from making an excess amount of tow fiber.

_Yields_

Hemp yields have been extremely variable when this crop has been planted in new areas by inexperienced farmers. In Wisconsin and Kentucky, where only experienced farmers have grown the crop in recent years, the yields have not varied a great deal. The crop has been reasonably dependable and has not often been injured by storms or droughts.

The average yields per acre for experienced farmers are approximately 2-1/4 to 2-1/2 tons of air-dry retted hemp stalks; 850 pounds total fiber. Under the Wisconsin machine-milling system the yields may average 450 pounds line fiber and 400 pounds tow fiber; under the Kentucky hand-breaking system they may average 775 pounds Kentucky rough and 75 pounds tow.

If hemp is planted for seed production, the average yields per acre are approximately 15 bushels or 660 pounds, on bottom land, and 12 bushels on uplands.

U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1952

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D. C. -- Price 10 cents

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Transcriber Note

Illustrations were moved so as to not split paragraphs. Minor errors were corrected. The Contents was added for ease of locating sections of interest. This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive.