HEMP by E. Fairbanks cont. [Letter from Henry Clay cont] One ton was manufactured into rigging for the North-Carolina 74, prior to her late voyage to the Mediterranean. Upon her return her rigging looked well in its external appearance, but on subjecting it to an analysis, it was discovered that the interior part of the cordage was in a state of decay, resembling the rot in the wood. I considered that experiment as decisive against the use of the article when not submitted to the action of water, as that had not been; but I cannot perceive any reason why the hemp should not be as good when it is rotted after separating the lint from the stalk, as if both were rotted together. The new method therefore which is practised in your neighborhood must answer all the purposes of the old, whilst it has the strong recommendation, of essentially diminishing labor. Mr. Smider has prepared hemp in the same way, but I am not informed as to the degree of success he has had. Upon my return to Kentucky in the spring, I mean to make the preparation of hemp an object of particular enquiry and attention; and if I should obtain any information worth communicating to you, I will take pleasure in transmitting it in compliance with your request. I should be glad to be made acquainted with the price of the machine constructed under the patent of Messrs. Hines & Bain, and what I could get one delivered at upon my farm near Lexington, to be paid for on the delivery, & after it was ascertained upon experiment that it would answer its intended purpose. I am with great respect, your ob't serv't. ADONIJAH EMMONS, ESQ. H.CLAY. ------------------------------------- [FROM THE AMERICAN FARMER] Cultivation and Preparation of Hemp as practiced in Kentucky. The most fertile of our lands are selected for the production of hemp, and that which has been used as meadow or pasture for a long time, is preferred to any other, experience having proved that it is best adapted to the purpose. This (if practicable) is ploughed late in the autumn, and exposed, untrodden by stock, to the frosts of winter; ploughed again immediately preceding the sowing of the seed. Great care is taken to harrow the ground until the clods are completely broken, and to give it as even a surface as can be produced by the use of the common harrow. The seed is sown from the 20th of April to the middle of May, (after spring is over,) at the rate of from a bushel and a fourth to a bushel and a half per acre, and twice harrowed. The crop then requires no further attention until it is cut. Its fitness for the knife must be determined by the appearance of the hemp, and not by the length of the time it has been growing, or the season of the year. The indications of a fitness for cutting are a change in the colour of the leaf from a deep green to a yellow, and the rising, upon the least agitation, of vegetable dust from the hemp. The ripening of the crop is generally partial and unequal in different parts of the same field, and regard ought to be paid to that circumstance in cutting it, taking such portions of it first as give the strongest indications of ripeness. It is not necessary or proper to wait for decided change of color in all the leaves, before the harvest commences; on the contrary, it is more advantageous to commence when the change is only partial, and as soon as the dust spoken of begins to rise, or is produced by agitating the hemp with a stick or the hand. In Kentucky, the practice of cutting hemp has in a great measure superseded the old practice of pulling it by the roots, and is found to be generally preferable, being less laborious, and rendering the hemp better and easier to handle. The operation is performed with a knife, (commonly called a hemp hook,) made somewhat in the shape of a sickle, but heavier and not so long, and having a smooth and sharp edge. As the hemp is cut, it is spread upon the ground from which it is taken, and permitted to remain there until the leaves are well wilted, and will easily separate from the stalks. It is then gathered into sheaves, but not bound, and the leaves beaten off with a stick, and immediately immersed, if water rotting is intended; if not it is set up in stacks of from three to five feet in diameter at the ground and tied closely together at the tops so as to prevent it from falling; the middle of the stack is left hollow to give it air near the earth. It is then suffered to stand until perfectly dry, when it is separated and bound into small sheaves, and put into stacks or ricks, and secured by a covering of boards or straw, to secure it from getting wet in the interior of the stack. It can, however, be so stacked as to be secured from water without any other covering than a thatch of hemp, but some skill to be acquired only by practice is necessary to do it well. It remains in the stack until the season for rotting arrives; it is then taken down and spread out (on grass if to be had,) as equally as possible, and exposed to the weather until it is found to be ready for the brake. (Our western autumns and winters are attended with so little snow as to give us a choice of time from September until February for rotting.) Care must be taken to take the hemp up as soon as it is fit for the brake, or a loss will be sustained. (If, however, it should be found at any time to be injured by too long exposure, it is not thrown away, but again stacked, and brought to the brake the succeeding year, when it will be found to have regained its strength, if not absolutely rotted before it was taken up.) When ready for the brake, we take it from the ground and stack it in small stacks, as in the first instance after cutting, and then proceed to break it, on brakes made on the plan of a common flax brake, but much larger, say from five to six feet in length, having the slats much deeper and wider apart, and wider in proportion at the head of the brake than the flax brake. With such a brake, a good laborer will break 100lbs. in a day in February, and some will break double that quantity. The seed is raised by planting in hills like Indian corn, planting four or five seeds and pulling all out but the most thrifty plant. A single acre of rich land has been known to produce 60 bushels of seed. We are very little in the habit of water rotting our hemp, but what has been thus prepared is found to be equal to the best Russian hemp; from three to five days, in a very warm season, is found to be sufficient for this process, if the water be stagnant; longer if running. An opinion prevails where the cultivation of hemp is not common, that it is a very exhausting crop. The fact however, is otherwise, and we cultivate three sucessive crops on the same land with less exhaustion than is occasioned by either the corn or wheat crop; and no crop leaves the ground so light as to entirely destroy the production of weeds. A KENTUCKIAN. -------------------------------------- METHOD OF HARVESTING FOR THE SEED AND LINT. The following letter on the subject of harvesting hemp, for seed or lint, is well entitled to the particular attention of hemp growers in this section, -- where but little practical knowledge exists as to this important article. The value of Mr. Hines' remarks will be obvious to every experienced farmer, and when he perceives the ease with which hemp is cultivated and looks to the extensive home market secured to it by the tariff, he can no longer hesitate as to the policy of turning his attention to the production of an article for which there must always be a high demand. "There is no invariable rule as to the time of cutting hemp planted for seed, by the general complexion of either the male or female; but particular care must be had to the colour of the seed, when the hull that encloses it is taken off. The seed should be generally changed to a grey or brownish cast. If two-thirds of the seed wear that appearance, the sooner you cut the better. It should be bound in small bundles immediately after cutting, and set up in small stacks, -- from four to six bundles in a stack -- binding in all the branches, by putting three bands round the same near the top of the shocks or stacks. It may stand in this situation until dry enough to thresh, -- say five or ten days, as the weather may be for drying. "The seed may be threshed in the field on sheets made of strong cloth, or on a floor. Great care should be used in moving the hemp to the place of threshing. If threshed in the field, it should be moved on a cloth attached to two poles, to save the loose seed. If removed to a barn, it should be done on a cart or wagon, with a cloth or tight box. "We clean with a common fanning mill, taking care to give the proper speed, and to gauge every part to suit the weight of the seed. "After the seed is cleaned and put into bins or casks, it will be well to shovel it over, to prevent it from heating. I am quite sure that seed kept from heating and from wet will be good as long as three ;years, if kept cool in the summer. "If your hemp is sown broadcast, and you design to save the seed, cut it when about half the seeds have begun to change their colour, and proceed as above directed -- only you will thresh it in four fair days, without breaking the bundles, and put the hemp under cover to completely cure, -- and when thoroughly cured, you may thresh again, breaking the bands as other grain. "Mr. Lewis Buffett, of Schaghticoke, the last year, sowed five bushels of seed on two and a half acres of land. -- He cut his hemp with a cradle, and practised as here directed. He saved sixty-six bushels of seed, of a good quality; and his share of the hemp sold for seventy-two dollars, after paying for the dressing in hemp. -- Total value of the lint, one hundred and eight dollars. Such hemp, when broken in an unrotted state, and subjected to a water process after breaking, and properly cleaned, will equal the best Russian hemp. "We use the common corn cutter for cutting planted hemp; but use it carefully, so as not to jar off the seed. "In all cases where you wish to save the lint, you will be careful to put the stem under cover as soon as you can, to prevent it from being stained by the weather. I am, in great haste, your obd't serv't. JOSEPH HINES." Stillwater, N.Y. Aug.21, 1828. ----------------------------------- [From the Sandy-Hill Herald.] CULTURE OF HEMP. Hemp designed for the seed, to produce the best crops should be planted in drills, three feet apart, so as to give an opportunity of running a plough or corn cultivator between the rows. The plants should stand about eight inches apart. It is in ordinary seasons, considered the best time to plant between the 15th of May and the middle of June. The hemp should be kept free from grass or weeds, in the same manner as corn; although it will not require as much hoeing, unless the ground should be very foul. Hemp when sown broadcast for the lint, directly rises above the weeds and so shades and covers the ground as to prevent the growth of any thing else. As to the time of harvesting the hemp planted for the seed no precise rule can be given, it must depend much upon the judgment. The seed comes to maturity very unequally -- so that you will find the seed ripe on the lower branches and the lower part of each branch when the top may be in the blow. it should be cut at that time which will secure the greatest quantity of ripe seed. As a general rule, however, it should not stand so long to ripen the latest, that the earliest will begin to fall -- fir if it be suffered to stand until all or the greatest portion of the seed is ripened, or tuned a dark brown, you will lose more in gathering, than is lost by the light and imperfect seed when cut earlier. It should be carefully cut with a sickle or hemp hook made for the purpose, great care should be taken not to shell the seed in cutting and securing it. It will well pay for the additional labor to give it a light threshing when it is first cut and before it is bound -- for this purpose a canvass of about three or four yards square should be taken into the field and the hemp within a convenient distance, as it is cut, should be carried to it, and lightly beat with a wythe or small pole, so as to dislodge all the loose seed, which would be exposed to shell and waste in handling or moving. it may then be bound in small bundles of 8 or 9 inches in diameter and set up in stooks to dry. At this time it would be advisable to move the hemp, where it was designed to thresh and secure it, as it could then be done with less waste than after it had become dried -- when it has stood in the stook a sufficient time to cure and perfect the unripened seed, it should again be threshed or beat out either on the canvass as before or on a bed upon the ground (as buck wheat is threshed) or it may be threshed on the barn floor, but as it is a very soft seed it is exposed to much injury upon the floor. It will be found very little labor to thresh out the seed, and the greatest care is necessary to prevent it from shelling and waste, in cutting and securing it -- hence the plan of double threshing is thought on the whole to be the most economical. A wythe or small pole is the best instrument to beat out the see, -- The seed should not be put together in large quantities, but requires to be spread and exposed to the air until it is thoroughly dried else it will heat and spoil. Hemp sown broad cast and designed for the lint, if the object be to secure the best crop without regard to the seed, should be cut about the time the seed begins to ripen, most of it is then in the blow: to look through a field of hemp at this time, in the sun shine, the stalk exhibits a transparent appearance; by cutting at this time, the male hemp is preserved in a perfect state, and becomes injured if suffered to stand until the seed is ripened. But as long as seed shall be valuable as it has been heretofore, the crop is considered the most profitable to cut it when about one half of the seed becomes ripened, in this way you will save a considerable portion of the male hemp (which bears no seed.) And the lint of the female hemp, nearly in perfection, and secure from 8 to 10 bushels of seed to the acre. Hemp sown for the lint should be cut with a strong cradle made for the purpose. Some of the hemp growers in Dutches County use an instrument they call a hemp hook, with which they cut it rather closer to the ground, unless the land be very smooth, than they can with the cradle, but with much less expedition. After cradling it should be exposed to one days sun in the swath and then bound in small bundles and put together in stooks of about 10 or 12 bundles well secured at the top with bands, and suffered to remain so long only, as will be sufficient to cure and dry the hemp and perfect the seed, when it should be threshed and secured from exposure to the weather, which soon blackens the coat and injures its value in the market. -------------------------------------- WATER ROTTING. -- Extract of a letter from Mr. Naman Goodsell to Mr. Samuel Swartwout, April 1823, taken from the American Farmer. vol. 5. "I am prepared to show that water rotting, in all cases where it can be done, is, most unquestionably, to be preferred. 1st. It is more durable for all the purposes to which it is applied -- a fact perfectly well known to those who manufacture sack and cordage. 2dly, it is more easily bleached; and 3dly, it will yield a greater quantity of fibre from a given quantity of the plant. My own experiments with respect to the superior durability of water prepared flax, were very satisfactory. I placed on the ground a quantity of flax that had been sufficiently water rotted for dressing, by the side of an equal quantity of unrotted flax, and turned them once in three days, until the new flax was sufficiently rotted for dressing, also; and upon examination, I found that which had been previously water rotted, had lost none of its strength, and that it had not altered in any respect, except in its color, which was a little brighter than when laid out; both parcels were now suffered to remain upon the ground, until the dew-rotted became worthless, when the water rotted was found to be still strong and good. "I repeated these experiments with dressed flax, and with the plant, and found the result the same. This, in my mind, fully established the very important fact, that water rotted flax or hemp is infinitely superior to that which is dew-rotted. "I made an attempt next to ascertain the proportionate loss in weight, in each process of rotting, and found them both nearly equal, viz; about twenty-five per cent; but I found, at the same time, that the produce of this equal quantity of plant differed materially in weight. When it came to be dressed, the dew or land rotted averaged from 12 to 16 pounds of fibre only, whilst the water prepared gave from 16 to 25 per cent. The difference in weight, I consider to be quite sufficient to defray the extra expense of water rotting, whilst the value of the article would be enhanced one third more. My strong desire to investigate this subject fully induced me to make other trials, by boiling and steaming, in order to avoid the rotting process altogether, but I did not succeed in any of them sufficiently to warrant their recommendation to the public. On the contrary, I became convinced that neither would answer. ------------------------------------ [FROM THE ST. ALBANS REPERTORY FEB. 26.] We have just had a conversation with an intelligent farmer from Washington county, N. Y. upon the subject of growing Hemp. He says that he sowed upon wet, marshy land,nine acres to hemp; but owing to the extreme wetness of the season, but five acres of it was considered worth preserving. He sold the lint or stalk of the five acres, in the stack, for $160, and saved 75 bushels of seed, for which he has refused $300. He further says, that the labor bestowed upon the land was but a trifle more than would have been required for Indian corn. He intends sowing twenty acres the next season. By the following extract of a letter from an intelligent farmer of Springfield Mass. to a gentleman in Washington County, N. Y. on the subject of the culture, cleaning and price of hemp, it will be seen by this branch of agriculture has already become systematized in that section of the country: "As to the present price of Hemp, I can only say, that the Connecticut Company, who own and carry on one of Hines & Bain's machines for cleaning hemp and flax, at Long-Meadow, pay us at the rate of twelve dollars per ton for the stem from the field, when thoroughly dried. They hire it stem-rotted at about three dollars per ton. As to the labor and cost of growing a crop, it may be reckoned at something like that of a crop of oats or spring wheat. Our lands produce from two to four tons of stem per acre; thus affording us not only a living but liberal profit. The seed saved from the lint will pay all expenses of tilling the land, harvesting and transporting the crop -- say if within ten or fifteen miles of the machine. Seed is now high, but the present price cannot be relied on, as the country will be supplied. -- Hemp seed, however, is worth as much for OIL as flax seed." -------------------------------------- HEMP AND FLAX MACHINE. The Machine for breaking Hemp and Flax, either rotted or unrotted, invented by Joseph Hines, and William Bain, (the right of using which, is secured to them by patent,) may be seen at Stillwater Village, Saratoga county, New-York, where it has been in successful operation since the last season. This laborsaving machine surpasses any yet offered to the public for the purpose intended, not only in America, but it is believed throughout the world. It is so constructed as to operate one hundred and twelve times on every inch of the stem; and when running at full speed, rising of two hundred thousand flutes operate on hemp or flax per minute, in sufficient force to crack and dislodge the stem, and at the same time preserve unimpared the coat or fibre. When well tended the Machine will break three hundred weight of hemp or flax in an hour. The Machine in this village is driven by steam power; and the shives which are made in breaking hemp serve as fuel both for the engine and drying-house, in all cases producing an excess of at least one half for other uses; thus saving an expense to the proprietors of two cords of wood per day. Experience has proved that the shives may be used as fuel in distilling and for other steam power to equal advantage. This machine may be worked either by steam or water power, as may best suit the convenience of those interested. Those who wish occular demonstration of the correctness of this statement, are desired to call and examine for themselves. All persons are forbid using this Machine without license from the patentees. The subscriber offers for sale the right to use the machine in any territory of the United States, not before sold on reasonable terms. Communications in writing, post-paid, will be promptly attended to.* JOSEPH HINES. Stillwater Village, July 12th, 1828. * E. & T. FAIRBANKS of St. Johnsbury, and Col. ELLIS COBB of Barton are appointed agents for vending the right to use this machine in the Counties of Orange, Washington, Caledonia and Essex in Vermont. Since it has been ascertained by experiment that Hemp and flax can be divested of its glutenous or vegetable substance, after breaking with less expense and greater safety than before, by the simple use of water -- the above machine is increased in value, to the public and those engaged in the culture and manufacture of hemp or flax -- inasmuch as these important articles of American growth and consumption, can now be manufactured at home of as good a quality, and at a much less expense than in any other country. The undersigned have fully tested this newly discovered and highly improved mode of rotting and cleaning hemp and flax; and with confidence recommend its adoption to the public. Three days immersion in still or running water is sufficient to cleanse the fibre of its vegetable substance. After which it will only require to be dried in the sun, or the drying house; and again run through the machine, to render it ductile and fit for use. Any information respecting this process, or the use of the Machine, as well as the culture or manufacture of hemp or flax, will be readily imparted on application to the subscribers, or either of them. JOSEPH HINES, JAS. W. STRANAHAN, S. P. HINES. Stillwater Village, July 12th, 1828. --------------------------------- The following certificates from Messrs. Cookes of Ohio will be read with interest, as they are gentlemen of extensive acquaintance, highly respected for their intelligence and practical knowledge in agriculture, particularly in culture and manufacture of hemp. One of them has been a member of the Legislature of that state, and the other is, and has long bee, Post-Master of the village in which he resides, and extensively engaged in mercantile and agricultural pursuits:-- "We hereby certify that in the autumn of 1824, we established in Huron County Ohio, one of Mr. Hines' Machines, (called Hines and Bain's Machine for breaking flax and hemp,) and that since that period we have kept the same in constant and profitable operation. There have been several machines, made in that country, embracing in part the same principle, but varying in their construction from that of Mr. Hines, in order to evade his patent; all of which have proved unprofitable to the owners, and highly injurious to the general character of hemp prepared by machinery. -- We have observed these failures and attempts at evasion with regret; and having thoroughly tested, by long experience and observation, the decided superiority and preeminent practical utility of Mr. Hines' Machine, compared with others, we are fully satisfied, that it is altogether the most perfect Machine for the purpose now in operation. And we are equally well satisfied, from much observation and reflection upon the principles of its operation, and the nature of the plan upon which it is designed, to operate that no other machine different from his is principle can ever be invented, to supersede it. An experience of four years has confirmed us in the opinion we had long entertained, that there is no branch of agriculture that will afford as great a profit, or contribute so vastly to advance the wealth and prosperity of the country, as that of the culture of hemp, aided by said Machine, and that without such aid the great labor and expense of preparing it for market, would continue, (as heretofore) to discourage its cultivation. We are therefore, clearly convinced that the invention and introduction of this Machine by Mr. Hines, in a national point of view, will ultimately confer the most lasting and important benefits upon his country, and, at no distant day be looked upon as constituting the brightest Era in the history of American Agriculture. So far as we are individually concerned, Mr. Hines has our most sincere thanks for the very great benefits we have received through his improvement, and whatever may be the pecuniary rewards of his enterprise, they can never equal the fame which awaits him at the hands of his country." E. & E. COOKE. Four Corners, Huron Co. Ohio, June 20, 1828. STILLWATER, August 7th, 1828. P.S. I have this day seen and examined Mr. Hines' Machine, now in operation, by steam power, at Stillwater, Saratoga Co. New York. The only fuel used, is the shives it makes in breaking the hemp, only one half of which is required to keep it in constant operation. It performs its work with great facility, and in my opinion, the heat after creating the steam, by passing through a flue nearly horizontal, will be fully sufficient for a dry-house. I have also seen samples of hemp that were broken in an unrotted state, and afterwards, water-rotted, which I thing to be fully equal if not superior in quality to the best of Russian Hemp. E. COOKE. ------------------------------------- The following is an extract of a letter from Joel Buttles, Esq. Post-Master of Columbus, (Ohio) dated July 24, 1828, to Joseph Hines the patentee on the subject of his machine for dressing hemp and flax: -- "Thomas Carpenter's Machines turn out about as you predicted they would -- they do but little, and that but poorly, There are other machines introduced into the northern part of this state, none of which do well. I sold one of your machines last week, to put up on Huron River, instead of one which had been in use for some time (the kind I do not now recollect.) The purchaser said his would clean hemp and flax -- still he is willing, it would seem, to throw it by, and purchase yours with the right to use it, and be at the expense of transporting it one hundred and twenty miles by land. There have been a great many machines tried here, but none of them answer the expectation, or recommendation, nor does any one of them clean near as well, or as fast as yours." ---------------------------------------- [FROM THE SANDY HILL SUN.] The following is an extract of a letter from Joseph Hines, Esq. the patentee of the only Hemp machine in successful operation in the United States, to the Editor, under date of 20th August.-- "Samples of Duck, manufactured from Hemp rotted in our newly discovered mode, may be see here next week. The principal of the factory informs us that our hemp works finely, and it will make duck of a better quality than the best of flax. This too is hemp you must know that stood for the seed to get ripe. We have commenced making Bale-Rope." --------------------------------------- [From Niles' Register] IMPORTANT INVENTION. The Editors of the New York Statesman have recently seen in operation in that city a most ingenious and valuable machine for spinning flax and hemp, invented by Dr. Bell and Mr. Dyer, two intelligent and highly respectable gentlemen from New England. The following is a description of this machine, as far as the editors have been permitted to speak of it. "It is constructed on an entirely new principle, having no analogy to the process for the cotton, woolen, worsted, or other manufacture. The quality of yarn produced is pronounced by competent judges, to surpass other linen upon the present improved machinery, are superior to those wrought by hand. The size of the thread can be varied to any extent, from that of cambric to that of the rope yarns used in the manufacture of cordage. In the degree of velocity its operation is limited only by the quickness which the spindle's fliers are capable of supporting. The instrument now in operation produces about the same quantity of thread pr. spindle, fineness being equal as the throstle spindle in cotton manufacture. The whole formation of the thread from dressed flax is complete at one operation. The material laid on the machine is wound upon the spools ready for the loom, without the intervention of any assistance; the whole being effected by the rotary motion communicated from drums. Indeed all the motions of the instrument are of a circular kind." In relation to its advantages the editors remark: "So far as our observation of knowledge extends, this invention is entirely original, and nothing of the kind exists in the work-shops of the United States or Europe, where fabrics from flax are entirely wrought by hand. The manufacturers of linen will now be placed upon the same ground and enjoy the same facilities as cottons. It has been estimated that upon moderate calculations two millions of dollars may be saved annually to this country by the reduced expenses of linen fabricks, effected by this invention. If it be not introduced abroad, and foreign prices thus diminished, the products of our own looms will supply our markets and prevent importation from maintaining competition. -- Such is our impression of the importance of this machine." ------------------------------------- [From the Vergennes Aurora] MANUFACTURE OF HEMP. The Spinning Machine erected here under the direction of an ingenious English artist, opens a fair prospect for a home market of hemp and flax, for the protection of American industry, by the exclusion of European linen fabrics. This curious piece of mechanism is so constructed that by first separating the flax into small parcels it is then drawn out with a slack twist and fitted upon spools which are removed and placed ready to receive a compressure from several pairs of rollers, which is at last received upon the flyers and is formed to that size and twist the manufacturer chooses. The frame is constructed with thirty-two spindles, that require the attention of one girl to tend three frames, and one person will rope upon the machine as much as three persons will want to run through the day. Yarn enough to make fifty yards of four quartered cloth can be spun in one frame in day, and this is all done by the labor of one girl, from the flax. -- Much prosperity may be anticipated from manufacturing of linen. ------------------------------------- The following letter from Gen. Barnum to the compiler, dated 3d of August 1829 will correct any erroneous reports which may exist as to the present state of the hemp business in the vicinity of Vergennes. "DEAR SIR -- I have received yours of the 29th ult. and in reply have to inform you that the Hemp Machine erected at this place last season (after the Model of Hines' patent) was kept in operation until June, and finished breaking most of the hemp raised in this region of country, excepting a few small lots, which will be brought in this fall. The performance of this machine has in every respect equalled the expectation of the proprietors. "Several experiments have been made in this neighborhood to build machines less expensive, which it was hoped might perform equally well; and I am sorry to add, that the projectors and builders have been disappointed in their expectations. The proprietors of two of these Machines reserved a quantity of Hemp for the purpose of dressing in theirs. They have both tried the experiment, and have since applied to the agent of this machine to have their hemp thus reserved, broken out as early as the machine commences operation for the fall business, which will be in the early part of September. I look for no improvement in the principles of the machine -- Its performance is satisfactory on rotted hemp or flax, and none other ought to be taken to any machine. A scotching machine, or dresser may be justly considered a useful appendage. It can be built with trifling expense, and is necessary to disengage the shives from the coat and prepare it in first rate condition for market. In consequence of the unfortunate error into which all our hemp growers were led in this country last season, to wit: the belief that the process of water rotting hemp was unnecessary, many of our farmers have been deterred from making a further attempt this season. Others who attributed the partial failure to the proper cause, have doubled their diligence, and will, I have no doubt, be abundantly remunerated. I consider it decidedly the most profitable crop our country produces, on lands well adapted to its growth. It is true that yankee enterprize and perseverance has overdone almost every thing in which they have been spiritedly engaged. With this article however, I believe for the next five or six years at least, the increased home consumption, the foreign demand, and the falling off of importations will afford abundant scope for the full exercise of all their energies. Your obedient and very humble servant. A. W. BARNUM. ------------------------------------- The following is a copy of a letter from Horace Wheeler Esq. agent and proprietor of the Vergennes Machine to A. Emmons Esq. another of the proprietors, dated April 22, 1829. DEAR SIR, Agreeable to your request I forward you the cost of our machine -- the quantity of Hemp dressed per day, the expense of tending it &c. Cost of Machine - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - $1500 Deduct for Tools, shop to build in &c.- - - - 300 ---- 1200 Cost of buildings - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1000 ---- $2200* *Gen. Barnum in his estimate has taken into the account the right of running the machine. Our machine works well, and has in some instances dressed one and a half Tons of lint per day --say between sun and sun. Much depends on the quality of the stem -- middling sized stem, produces most hemp and is easiest broken. I have run the machine when it did not dress more than half a Ton a day; but I consider a fair average per day -- say month in and month out, from 12 to 15 hundred weight. The number of hands employed in and about the machine is seven and distributed thus: Three men at the head of the machine; one boy to take hemp off the apron; one man to prepare it for baling; one man to tend drying house, and one boy to run on errands &c. I have found this number of hands to be necessary in order to work the machine to advantage, whether the hemp be rotted or unrotted. A greater quantity of hemp may be dressed after rotting than before. Our machine is perfect -- I have run a quantity of dew rotted Hemp, and it takes the shives out perfectly clean, except some few which are easily divested from the lint by shaking it. It dresses Flax equally well and without waste. Our business is improving -- All that is wanting, or has been, to make it profitable is funds to carry it on. Our hemp is nearly all prepared for market, and will be shipped, in a few days; and poor as it is (owing to the uncommon wet season -- having all stood for seed to ripen -- and all unrotted) will command, as I am informed by Mr. Wells, the great Hemp dealer in New-York, one hundred to one hundred and twenty dollars per ton. He writes me that he sold American water rotted hemp last week -- rather inferior quality -- at two hundred dollars per ton. He quotes it from two hundred to two hundred and fifty. We are making preparations for water rotting all our hemp the coming season. Respectfully yours, *c. H. WHEELER." A. EMMONS, Esq.