- The first recorded planting of hemp by a colonial power
in the New World took place in 1545, by Spaniards in Chile. Less
than a hundred years later the Pilgrims followed suit in New England. Hemp
was an essential item, and was quick to take root in North and South America.
-
- However, these were not the first plantings of hemp,
as many history textbooks claim. Jack Frazier, in "The
Great American Hemp Industry, cites several early writings describing hemp
growing naturally without any European influence:
-
- John de Verrazano "we found these folkes to be more
white than those that we found before, being clod with certaine leaves
that hang on the boughs of trees, which they sewe together with threds
of wilde hemp.
-
- Thomas Hariot "The truth is, that of hempe and flaxe
there is no great store in any one place together, by reason it is not
planted but as the soule doth yield of itself.
- Lord Delaware "The country is wonderful fertile
and very rich, Hempe better than English growing wilde in abundance.
-
- Du Pratz "I ought not to omit to take notice, that
hemp grows naturally on the lands adjoining to the lakes on the West of
the Mississippi.
-
- Frazier further notes evidence of pre-Columbian voyages
to the New World, quoting Cyrus Gordon, whose book Before Columbus, links
between the Old World and Ancient America, documents of such voyages to
531 BC. Gordon brings to light the discovery of a Hebrew inscription
found at Bat Creek, Tennessee in 1890. The inscription, dated
to 35 AD, in conjunction with Bar Kohbu coins of 135 AD in Kentucky, strongly
supports the possibility of a Jewish settlement in the New World shortly
after the Diaspora. Another writer who Frazier cites is Henriette Mertz,
who discusses Asian voyages to the West Coast, in "Pole Ink, Two Ancient
Records of Chinese Explorations in America. It is just possible
that the original Indians, reached North America in this fashion, and brought
with them hemp seeds. Such voyages may not have in fact been possible without
hempen ropes and sails, which were of so much a necessity to Europe that
hemp was mandated in the New World.
- In the Spanish colonies, such orders were taken seriously,
with the viceroy of the New World colonies encouraging hemp cultivation
by providing seed to settlers. The chief areas of production
were Chile, Mexico, and California. In 1795 Spain opened up
the Mississippi to international trade to encourage hemp exports, some
of which was actually transacted using hemp as barter. With greater access
to trade routes, California increased its hemp production, going from 12,500
pounds in 1807 to over 220,000 pounds in 1810. Much of Latin
America has a Mediterranean climate, and hemp was of easy cultivation. Remnants
of these plantings still thrive, especially in the Valparaiso district
of Chile, where it has had the most continuous cultivation anywhere in
the New World.
-
- France also looked across the Atlantic for hemp. When
French merchants heard that hemp was growing wild in the New World they
sensed an opportunity for enormous profits. After the first
disappointments subsided, the French thought they could still make a profit
in hemp if they could simply persuade the settlers in New France to cultivate
cannabis as a crop. To this end, Samuel Champlain, the great
explorer and coloniser, brought hemp seeds along on his early expeditions
to New France. By 1606, hemp was growing in Port Royal in Nova
Scotia under the supervision of botanist and apothecary, Louis Herbert. Both
the French and the British had difficulty in finding enough laborers to
cultivate the hemp as the early settlers were busy trying to grow food
to eat. Jean Talon, the finance minister of Quebec, provided
seed free to farmers which they were to plant immediately and return with
seed from the following years crop. He also confiscated all
the thread in the colony agreeing only to sell it in return for hemp.
-
- This forced the settlers to grow hemp so that they could
barter or sell it for thread so that they could clothe their children. By
this rather unorthodox method, Talon succeeded in increasing the production
of hemp to the satisfaction of the French government. The French
traded hemp cloth with the natives in the Louisiana territory, and a French
settlement wrote a treatise describing hemp,s importance. However,
there were times as early as 1721 when France, in order to protect its
home industries, discouraged production in its colonies. Generally
this was not the case; the Governor of Louisiana who was told to increase
production by offering free hemp seed to the colonist. Towards
the end of the eighteenth century New Orleans had a hemp factory which
provided ample cordage for ships which docked there. By 1763
French interests in the New World wer e to subside, as the Treaty of Paris
gave up Quebec.
-
- British settlers were encouraged to grow hemp in all
the colonies, which was done in Canada by land grant. Perhaps
the first orders to cultivate hemp were made at Jamestown, Virginia, which
Jack Herer, in his 1985 book "The Emperor Wears no Clothes, notes
as the nations first marijuana laws, in 1619. Massachusetts and Connecticut
followed suit by mandating cultivation in the 1630,s. A more positive approach
was to allow its use for payments of taxes, as in Virginia where hemp could
be used to pay the poll tax, or, even as legal tender as a statute of 1682
shows. A 1685 account notes both New Jersey and Pennsylvania as good for
growing hemp, that much was shipped to England, and that a receipt for
hemp from the store house register was as good as money Subsides also worked,
as Massachusetts law decks record; in 1701 such a subsidy was enacted,
giving farmers a farthing per lb. of hemp, which then went for four and
a half pence per lb. Virginia was a steady producer of this
staple; one 1649 account mentions "an old planter of over 30 years
standing who sows yearly of hemp and flax, and causes it to be spun. In
1723 South Carolina encouraged the production of hemp by offering a bounty
and in 1733 Richard Hall was paid by the state to write a book in order
to promote the production of hemp and flax. He travelled to
Holland to study European practices and returned with hemp seed to plant.
-
- Ultimately the colonies were to become independent, starting
with the United States. Independence, however, did not curtail
hemp production; in many areas production increased, particularly in the
United States, where the founding fathers were passionate hemp advocates.
-
- Benjamin Franklin, as the leading paper manufacturer
in the colonies, noted the raising of it in his state, of which he was
in support. Thomas Paine noted hemp as a strength of the colonies, citing
it as evidence of self-reliance that made the revolution plausible. George
Washington grew it on his estates, and took an interest in its uses stopping
on one occasion to visit a hemp paper factory in Hempstead, N.Y.
-
- Thomas Jefferson even took a stand in favour of hemp
versus a native plant, tobacco. He voices his opinion in The
Farm Journal of March 16, 1791, stating that tobacco required much more
manure, employed less people, and did not contribute to the wealth or defence
of the state. He also compared hemp favourably to flax, and
invented a method for breaking, which involved a thrashing machine moved
by a horse; this was to be the new nation,s first patent.
-
- John Quincy Adams wrote of Russian hemp cultivation which
was printed into government records. Little did he imagine the
future governments anti-hemp activists would view these activities as subversive
and un-American, or that the very substance of the paper on which the constitutions
were written would be a matter of controversy.
-
- After independence, there was new pressure on the young
nation to produce hemp, as the need for defence and trade fell solely on
their shoulders. Ironically, while great amounts of hemp were
grown, they were not water retted, and thus the United States, like other
nations, sent to Russia for its supplies. At one stage Yankee
ships carried hemp not only to Boston and New York, but also to London
and Liverpool, acting as agents for the British whom Napoleon tried to
force out of the Baltic. Many Americans voiced concern over
the amount of imported hemp, and two ideas were put forth: tariffs, which
were unpopular with the merchants, and subsidies to farmers producing water-retted
hemp. While much debate was heard on these proposals, Russian
hemp continued to be the choice of the Navy, and sold for 100% more than
American dew-retted hemp, which was used for other purposes; bagging cotton,
ordinary ropes, clothing and oil. In 1824 the Plymouth Cordage
Company was founded in Plymouth, Mass. This firm used Russian
hemp, despite a tariff rise of 4 cents a pound that same year. Bourne
Spourner, Plymouth,s founder, was an abolitionist, and his dislike of slavery
put him off to using the products made by such means. Despite
paying higher prices for hemp, the company prospered to become the largest
cordage company in the world by 1950.
-
- The above table shows that Kentucky and Missouri had
become the centres of production, while the North-eastern States had by
1850 just about abandoned hemp growing.
-
- Mechanisation and westward expansion were two forces
behind this shift, but much was due to the soil and climate in Kentucky
being especially favourable to cannabis cultivation. The first
recorded crop of hemp grown in that state was by Archibald McNeil of Clark,s
Creek, near Danville in 1775. The "Blue Grass region especially
attracted hemp farmers, and was for over a century to remain the largest
growing area of hemp in all of North America. Its fertile soil,
formed by the disintegration of lower Silurian limestone was especially
rich in mineral deposits.
-
- Early hemp cultivation in Kentucky was hampered by the
scarcity of seed and its consequential high price. By 1790 the
situation was different because it was noted in the Kentucky Gazette that
hemp was "the most certain crop and the most valuable commodity" The
exportation of hemp products from Kentucky was hampered by the difficulties
of transport and its consequent costs. As new settlers moved
west, crossing the mountains, new trade opened upssissippi was
the means by which goods could be transported. At that time
the lower reaches of the river and New Orleans were Spanish possessions.
-
- In order to boost trade the Spanish in 1788 opened up
the Mississippi Basin to trade giving special privileges to such men as
General James Wilkinson. In 1795 the Pinckney Treaty concluded
with Spain gave Americans free navigation on the Mississippi and a deposit,
in New Orleans to land and store goods. The latter was revoked
in 1803 for a few months, which caused some inconvenience and a reduction
in the export of hemp. However, due to the Louisiana Purchase,
in 1803, the export market was reinvigorated, and Kentucky was
able to send hemp and produce to the southern markets at will. The
wars in Europe in the early part of the nineteenth century helped the cultivation
and manufacture of Kentucky hemp. During the wars, importation
of European hemp products and hemp fibre was curtailed which meant Kentucky
took up the slack with exports to the East and the South. After
1815 European imports resumed with the eastern states resuming their trade
with European countries. In 1839 Kentucky,s hemp crop was badly
damaged by drought, but it was able to satisfy its own needs by imports
from other states such as Illinois, Missouri, and Minnesota.
-
- North Americans tried to raise the best crops they could,
and this meant constant revision and a willingness to try new methods. However,
Russian, Italian, and Dutch hemp continued to be the most desirable, largely
due to the centuries of experience that these nations possessed. In
Europe and Russia there was much literature available and superior seed
stocks, It was apparent to some producers and distributors of hemp that
the Kentucky seed was in need of improvement, and importation of quality
seed was encouraged. Bologna Hemp, grown from imported Italian
seed was being cultivated with excellent results. Its white
colour, strength and fineness were much admired and appreciated. A
Dr. Spurr even suggested that the navy should obtain seed from Russia or
Italy and supply Kentucky farmers so that they produce better hemp.
-
- In 1851 L. Maltby of Mason County, having learnt
of So-ma, hemp variety, while travelling in France, brought back some of
these seeds, some of which were planted successfully in Louisiana. Other
varieties included Russian hemp but these were not always successful since
some of the seeds were more adapted to Northern European latitudes than
the southern States such as Kentucky. That is not to say that
there were not successful plantings. A French colleague of William
L. Vance, a hemp farmer, gave him some Chinese seed similar to So-ma with
excellent results. This variety was from then on to be known
as the "Vance Seed.
-
- Other factors figured into the equation, such as sorting. Francis
Campbell in 1845 laments the fact that while Canadian hemp was of good
quality, it was never sorted properly, and could not be relied upon. But
the biggest factor was in processing, as U.S. farmers favoured dew retting;
however, the more desirable fibres were obtained from the water retting
method. Consequently few Kentucky farmers ever achieved top
prices for their hemp.
- In 1842 the Frankfort Commonwealth newspaper urged farmers
to water-ret most of their crop because of the higher prices they could
achieve. The crop that year was expected to be the largest ever
recorded. Some farmers did follow this advice. However,
despite a growing interest they were still a minority.
-
- Only when the price of dew retted hemp fell to
that of half water-retted hemp did farmers change their age-old practices. Water
retting was a time consuming business, which the farmer was not prepared
to do unless there was extra financial benefit. Until the Civil
War the Kentucky farmer continued to depend for the most part on the manufacture
of bail rope and bagging to consign his hemp fibre. The quality of dew
retted cordage was not of an acceptable quality for the American Navy or
merchant fleet. The United States navy saw the strategic importance
to have a home grown supply of cordage and canvas and therefore tried to
encourage the growth of superior hemp equal to that of Russia,s. Previous
attempts were made in 1810, an account of which is as follows: "In
the years 1809 and ,10, Russia hemp being scarce and very high, we urged
on Messrs. Caruthers, of Lexington, Virginia, (large dealers in the article,
and living in the neighborhood of the best hemp country) the advantage
and necessity of improving it, and contracted to give them $290 per ton,
for 70 to 80 tons, to be clear and well prepared.
-
- Mr. W. Caruthers paid particular and personal attention
to it and it proved, (with some exception) of excellent quality. This
was all grown in Rockbridge, Botetourt, and Montgomery counties, on the
James, the Jackson, and Cowpasture rivers, and this has hitherto been the
part of the State where it was grown to any extent, the three counties
then producing 50 to 100 tons each annually. Knowing that the practice
of preparing it was by dew, or air-rotting, which is very tedious, it lying
out for months, exposed to all the vicissitudes of weather, and is often
thereby injured in strength, always in color, in the year 1810, Mr. Theo.
Armistead, who was Navy Agent here, and also had a rope walk, and who was
very zealous in the improvement of country hemp, with our establishment,
held out strong inducements to have the hemp water-rotted, in place of
the usual mode, but so difficult is it to change old habits, that only
in one instance did we succeed. Colonel Wilson C. Nicholas,
of Albemarle county, and formerly Governor of Virginia, water-rotted his
crop; and, to encourage and extend its mode, we gave for the part of it
we got, (a few tons) $360 per ton; the quality was excellent, color much
improved, and we believe, the fibre also, in strength and fineness, though
it was not so well cleaned or prepared as it might have been. The
experiment seems satisfactory that it was capable of improvement by proper
management.
-
- In 1824 the navy desired American hemp to be used on
the ship the North Carolina so as to compare it side by side with Russian
hemp. Not enough American water-retted could be procured, so
the experiment was delayed and took place some months later on board the
Constellation. The conclusion made was that the Russian hemp
was superior for maritime purposes. A further attempt to use
domestic cordage took place in 1841 when the navy contracted to buy 500
tons of water-retted hemp from David Myerle of Kentucky. Myerle
delivered twenty tons to the Charleston, Massachusetts shipyard for inspection,
where it was not accepted; tests showed his product to be stronger than
the best Riga Rein, but the amount of tow and waste caused the inspectors
to reject it under the terms of the contract. This act of rejection of
domestic hemp in favour of imported hemp sparked off debates for years,
with allegations of corruption voiced in Congress. Commodore
John Nicholson sided with Myerle, telling him "you have been damned
badly treated, and your hemp should never have been rejected.26Sympathy,
however, did not prevent Myerle from bankruptcy. His hemp was
seized by creditors, who in turn suffered a loss, as they were not adept
in the handling of its sale.
-
- Over the years tariffs have been enacted against Russian
hemp, starting in 1792 with the tax of $20 per ton, rising to $60 in 1828,
then falling back nearer to original levels until abolished in the twentieth
century.
-
- Another attempt at using American hemp failed completely
in which unretted hemp was used. It fermented, putting paid
to many attempts to use unretted cordage.27 In 1906 hemp was successfully
water retted in Northfield, Minnesota, produced in cement tanks with water
circulation and temperature carefully controlled. The resultant
fibre was similar to Italian hemp in quality.
-
- At that time prices were coming off their highs caused
by the wars in Europe, when hemp was fought over. War was the
main cause of scarcity and price increase; but other factors had an effect
as well, such as drought. Many prominent families in Kentucky
grew hemp and were effected by the changes, such as the Speeds and the
Todds. The latter were a major force in the hemp industry, and
of some historical interest as Mary Todd was to marry a then unknown lawyer
by the name of Abraham Lincoln.
-
- In 1873 Kentucky produced 10,687 tons, 8,975 of which
were from the countries of Bourbon, Foyette, Jossamine, Scott, and Woodford.28
This figure is well off previous highs from before the Civil War. The
war caused great disruption; hemp growing came to a standstill and did
not ever recover to its previous levels. One interesting use
of hemp that the war occasioned was that of movable defences-Secessionist
soldiers rolled wetted bundles of hemp towards the Union Army, thus able
to fire upon their enemy from behind movable cover. By such
means was the battle of Lexington, Missouri, decided.
-
- By 1879 total hemp production had been reduced to 5,025
tons with Kentucky producing 4,583 tons, the remainder coming from Missouri,
Michigan, Kansas, Illinois, Minnesota and North Carolina.
-
- The decline in the hemp industry was one of many adversities
suffered by both sides in the war, and in 1882, an organisation was founded
to address this loss The American Flax and Hemp Spinners and Growers Association.
In 1889, Edwin Willits, then Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, noted
the decline in the yearly report and exhorted his countrymen to extend
the culture of hemp. Noting that its production is an industry
that dates back to the earliest history of the United States, and acknowledging
the great changes in the manufacture and economics of hemp, he looks ahead,
hoping that the "energy for which the American people are noted and
"data concerning economical production would encourage cultivation.
-
- In the future, hemp was to decline and be revived in
the 1930s, when Henry Ford was set to use hemp as a fuel for cars. Other
uses of hemp were discovered, and the American farmer was to find that
he would be able to sell even the hemp wastes at a profit. However, special
interest groups cut down this hope, and hemp was outlawed just as it was
set to revive the US economy.
-
- It was not until the 1980s that major interest was revived,
when Jack Herer and others started to write on the subject and make the
facts known. Today many US businesses are selling hemp, although it can
not be grown legally in the US; ironically, arrests are being made as farmers
try to get their rights, and recently Woody Harrelson was arrested for
sowing the seeds of hemp in his hope state, Kentucky. In New York City,
Galaxy Global Eatery serves hemp foods for breakfast, lunch, and dinner,
ever struggling with the attempts to outlaw hemp foods in the US. John
Roulac in California sells hemp oils and seeds out of his company, Nutriva,
and is that same state the environmentally aware are buying their threads
from Mina Hegaard at her Minawear outlet, Nirvana Ranch.
-
- Below is a list of outlets in the US where hemp products
can be legally purchased.
-
- GALAXY GLOBAL EATERY
- 15 IRVING PLACE
- NEW YORK, NY
- 10003
- 212 777 3136
- www.galaxyglobaleatery.com
-
-
- UNCLE ZACH,S FRIENDLY EARTH
- 4314 SE HAWTHORNE
- PORTAND, OR
- 97215
-
- MINAWEAR/NIRVANA RANCH
- 1842 ABBOTT KINNEY BLVD.
- VENICE, CA
- 90403
- 310 306 1958
- mina@minawear.com
-
- CULTURE SHOCK
- 7 BOLINAS ROAD
- FAIRFAX, CA
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