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Effects of Fertilizers on Yields and Breaking Strengths of American Hemp, Cannabis Sativa 1
Author(s) -
Jordan Howard V.,
Lang A. L.,
Enfield George H.
Publication year - 1946
Publication title -
agronomy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1435-0645
pISSN - 0002-1962
DOI - 10.2134/agronj1946.00021962003800060010x
Subject(s) - agricultural experiment station , agriculture , political science , engineering , management , forestry , agronomy , geography , biology , archaeology , economics
A hemp, Cauuabis sativa, became a strategic crop with the outbreak of war. Production was increased from a prewar average of about 2,ooo acres to ~75,ooo acres in ~943, and approximately 52,ooo acres were grown in ~944The prewar production centered largely in Wisconsin and Kentucky; and the acreage was increased in those states as well as in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Minnesota. The experience of prewar producers served as a general guide to production practices, but widely differing soil and climatic conditions presented many problems in the newer areas. This stimulated considerable research in production and processing methods. This paper describes experiments in which the effects of fertilizers on yields and breaking strengths of hemp fiber were studied. The fiber of American hemp is a bast fiber, or soft fiber, and it has many desirable characters. When well retted, it is soft and readily spinnable. Acre yields are about twice those of flax, which is the other principal domestic soft fiber. Another important quality of hemp is its high breaking strength. Since adequate harvesting machinery and processing facilities are now available these characters may permit hemp to retain a more important place among the domestic fibers than it occupied in the prewar period. Such a result may well be predicated on improvements in production and processing methods which will result in larger yields of better quality fiber.