The Honble Henry Knox Esquire Secretary at War New York [Editor’s Note: The following is written upside down in the lower right hand corner of the document, underneath a stamped letter “A”] In the cultivation of Hemp - [Editor’s Note: The “H” in Hemp is scribbled out and an undecipherable symbol is written underneath it] from John Read Esqr 3d January 1789 answered by a letter of Thanks the 11th Jany 1789 XXIII - 54 2998L Boston January 3d1789 Jno Read Esq Sir Your polite and obliging letter of the 9th Ulto is now before me; I observe your desire is, to be inform’d of the whole process of raising and fitting Hemp for use: I shall readily inform you of my own method in the cultivation of this usefull plant, and shall be happy if you are gratified, and any person benefited thereby.— The soil I choose for raising Hemp, is a light rich mould, as free from stones or gravel as possible, and not any way impregnated with Clay; Care is taken to have the soil thoroughly manured & once well ploughed in the fall of the year. In the Spring the soil is ploughed two or three times more, and as often harrowed with an Iron toothed harrow, in order to separate the particles of Earth, and leave it as light as possible; Then a light Brush harrow is drawn by one horse over the ground, by which means is is leveled so as to receive the seed equally; after which it is marked out for sowing in the same manner that Barley & oats are generally sown, Calculating if the soil is very good at three bushels pr acre, if but middling good at two & an half bushels pr acre; the seed is always harrowed in (immediately after harrowing[?]) [undecipherable] with a fine Iron toothed harrow, and nothing is suffered to pass over it afterwards, last by treading or otherways it might be injured — The seed must be of the last years growth, and will be benefitted by laying in the Cellar a few weeks previous to its being sowed. — In general I sow my seed about the middle of May (being governed by the season I a little sooner or later will do — my Hemp is commonly fit to pull by the 8th or 10th of August, which is known by the male hemp turning whitish just at the time when the Farina passes off, this is easily discover’d by its smoaking when agitated by the wind, or jared by a stick— After the Hemp is pulled, it is spread on the ground where it grew, about one Inch thick, and what that will not receive is carried off to other ground, and after laying two or three days, is turned with a small pole about six feet long; then receiving one or two days more sun, it is bound into Bundles of about fifteen or eighteen inches in circumference, and immediately housed from soil[?] untill convenient time offers to put it into theater for retting, which is done as soon as other business will admitt. — There being a small stream of water that runs through my farm, I have erected a Dam which enables me to flow a pond about five or six feet high, wherein the Hemp is Laid (much in the same manner that flax is laid for retting) and after covering it with straw to [Undecipherable] its [Undecipherable] the plant & stems being placed placed thereon, the Dam gate is shut down, and the Hemp being overflowed remains till it is properly retted, which is done in six or seven days, if put in the latter end of August or begining of September — The weather being generally warm at that season of the year. If put into the water, the latter end of September or begining of October, I have lat it lay Twelve days, If the latter end of October or begining of November Twenty days, unless the weather should be uncommon warm for the season. In that case I have found it necessary to be removed sooner — but have made a point of attending to the heat or cold of the weather, as when the water is warm the Hemp will get a proper ret much sooner then when it is otherways. My practise has been to draw the water from the Hemp Twenty four hours before the taking it up, leaving the weight on the Hemp, in order that it may be well draned, as in that case it is much better handled; then it is removed to a dry piece of ground and spread about two inches thick, and after remaining a week or ten days in that situation, it is turned over: and in eight or ten days after taken up, tyed in bundles & removed into the Barn; where it remains ’till I have leisure time to treat & swingle it out, for which purpose have found clear cold weather to be the best. — My Hemp is broke & swingled much in the same manner that Flax is done, excepting excepting that the first breaking is done in a coarse break the teethe or flatts being nearly four Inches apart; then a common flax break answers well, & being carefully Swingled is fit for use. A man that understands the breaking & swingling Hemp, will clean me 50lbs pr. day — My practice for raising seed hath been to set apart some of my best grown hemp for that purpose, then pull up the male & female Hemp for about 18 Inches in width so that a man may pass through, leaving the other Hemp in beds about six feet in width, that two men (one on each side) may reach on their hands and pull up all the male, without injuring the seed bearing Hemp. This process is performed when the general pulling is done in August — the female Hemp must stand till the seed is fully ripe, which is known by its turning brown: in wet weather I have been obliged to let it stand till the middle of October before it was fit to pull — after it is pulled it must be tied up in Bundles like the other Hemp, and carefully layed up against a fence, or if that is not convenient it may be layed on the ground and after one or two days sun it may be beat out in the same manner that flax seed is beat out, striking it lightly, then expose the other side to the sun one or two days, after which give it a thorough beating, and spred the seed with all the leaves &cc in a dry place for some days, then thrash it with a light flail, or rest[?] it XXIII -54 Boston Jany 2 1789 John Read 5136 by hand, either way till the seed is all out, and after winnowing, put it in a dry place for sowing the next year — The seed bearing Hemp requires a few days longer to rot then the other, owing to the thickness of the Bark and the greater quantity of glutinous substance occasioned by its longer standing. You wish to know what manure is best, I have always prefer’d the old to the new, more especially if horse of cow Dung, but new will do, and much the better if ploughed in, in the fall. With regard to the quantity of Hemp raised on an acre of ground — it varies from six to twelve Hundred weight, mush depending on the quality of the soil and the manner of preparing it — I have this last season tryed the experiment of raising Hemp on a peice of dyked Marsh, the salt water having been kept out better than one year, I had a small part dug carefully, & manured with some old Dung that was well mixt with sand, the Hemp grew to full height and proved to be of the best kind: this encouragement has occasioned my preparing a larger peice for further tryal the next year. — You enquire the expense of cultivating an Acre of Hemp &cc This is not in my power at present to ascertain, great part of the business being done at leisure & when the time could be be best spared, I would just observe that I can raise two or three acres yearly on my small farm without interfering much with other Business. — The price of Hemp her is Fifty five pounds pr. Ton, the Bounty given by the State to encourage the culture of this usefull plant is Twelve pounds, making in the whole better than Two Hundred & Twenty Dollars per Ton — the high price of hemp together with the bounty, bids fair to establish its growth here; and I am fully Satisfied from my own experience, that at the present day no branch of agriculture (where land is found suitable) can be carried on to so great advantage as that of raising Hemp, and I have no doubt that our farmers will soon be convinced of the truth of this observation — it having been found by experience both in Europe and America that the growing of Hemp rather enriches the soil then otherways, this also will have its weight. — Several experiments will be made on cultivating and cleaning Hemp the next year; if any advantage accrues therefrom, I shall do myself the honor of communicating it to you as early as possible. In the mean time beleive me to be with great esteem — Your mo. obt. huml. Sert. John Read

The Honble General Know Esqr —