OIL-PRODUCING SEEDS: HEMP

Hempseed oil comes from an annual plant of the nettle family (Cannabis
sativa), which is indigenous in central Asia and the East Indies. It is
cultivated in India, Persia, China, North America, Germany, and, more than
anywhere else, in Russia. It grows from 4 to 8 feet high in waste and
cultivated ground. The odor of the fresh leaves sometimes produces
headaches, while the celebrated narcotic, hashish, is prepared from a
gelatinous resin contained in the leaves and stems. The latter also furnish
the well-known fiber used for cloth and cordage.

The male and female flowers are borne on different plants. The nut-like
fruits, commonly called seeds, are used in great quantities in bird food.
They are nearly egg-shaped in outline, flattened at the margins. Color,
dark gray, with fine, net-like, whitish markings on the smooth and shiny
surface. Each fruit is completely filled with the seed proper, which is of
the same shape and about 4mm. long by 3 mm. wide and 2 to 3 mm. thick. The
seeds contain no endosperm, but are filled with a whitish embryo which
yields 30 to 35 per cent of a peculiar-smelling, mild-tasting oil, greenish
yellow when freshly pressed, becoming brownish yellow with age. Hempseed
oil is used to a considerable extent in the preparation of paints and
varnishes, although it does not dry as readily as linseed oil. In Europe
it enters largely into the composition of soft soaps. Sometimes it is used
in the Old World as an illuminant and, rarely, for food.

Hemp will thrive in most parts of the United States, and is said to produce
from 20 to 40 bushels of seed to the acre, worth about $2.50 per 100
pounds. With extra good care and soil the yield may reach 50 to 60
bushels. The seed should be planted in drills, early in April in the
South, two weeks later in the North. The young plants are thinned out when
a foot high, and must be kept free from weeds. The male plants should be
pulled as soon as they have shed their pollen, so as to allow the
seed-producing plants plenty of room and all of the available soil food.

Hemp should be harvested promptly as soon as the seed begins to drop, which
always takes place after a sharp frost, if not before. The seeds scatter
easily; hence hemp should be cut early in the morning when the dew is on,
and great care exercised to prevent waste. When cut, hemp should be set up
in loose shocks to dry, a sheet being placed under each one, and some
protection afforded from birds, as they are fonder of this seed than almost
any other. Drying is completed by spreading the plants out on a tight barn
floor, where they are thrashed by hand.

Hempseed, notwithstanding its oily content, loses its germinative power
quickly, usually by the end of one year; hence only fresh seed should be
sown. Neither cracked nor dull-looking seed will germinate well. Hemp
culture in America is mostly confined to Kentucky and Missouri, principally
the former State. The value of hemp for fiber, birdseed, and oil would
seem to make its cultivation a very profitable one.

Checked-by: Richard Lake