8/11/2019 Grow Hemp USDA Manual

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Grow hemp USDA manual

1915 USDA Farmers Bulletin:Cannabis Cultivation

Colorado hemp historian, Julian Alexander III, re-discovered this long-lost bulletin on how to grow cannabis,prepared by the USDA in 1915. The USDA estimates a farmer can expect to yield "400 to 500 pounds of dried topsper acre".

An excerpt of the text is re-produced below.

United States Department of AgricultureFarmers Bulletin #663Revised EditionWashington, D.C.June 5, 1915

Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry, Wm. A. Taylor, Chief

DRUG PLANTS UNDER CULTIVATION

By W. W. Stockberger,

Physiologist in Charge of Drug-Plant and Poisonous-Plant Investications

Excerpt from section titled, "The cultivation and handling of drug plants: Cannabis", p. 19.

The drug cannabis or Indian hemp (Cannabis sativa), consists of the dried flowering tops of the female plants. Itgrows well over a considerable portion of the United States, but the production of the active principle of this plantis believed to be favored by a warm climate. For drug purposes, therefore, this crop appears to be adapted to theSouthern rather than to the Northern States.

Cannabis is propagated from seeds, which should be planted in the spring as soon as conditions are suitable, in

well-prepared sandy or clayey loam at a depth of about an inch in rows 5 or 6 feet apart. The seeds may bedropped every 2 or 3 inches in the row or planted in hills about a foot apart in the row, 6 to 10 seeds beingdropped into each hill. Two or three pounds of seed per acre should give a good stand. About half the seeds willproduce male plants, which must be removed before their flowers mature; otherwise, the female plants will setseed, thereby diminishing their value as a drug. The male plants can be recognized with certainty only by thepresence of stamens in their flowers.

Ordinary stable or barnyard manue plowed in deeply is better for use as a fertilizer than commercial preparationsand may be safely applied at the rate of 20 tons per acre. However, good results may be obtained with commercialfertilizers, such as are used for truck crops and potatoes, when cultivated in between the rows at the rate of 500or 600 pounds per acre.

When the female plants reach maturity, a sticky resin forms on the heavy compact flower clusters, and harvestingmay then be begun. The tops of the plants comprising the flower clusters are cut and carefully dried in the shade

to preserve the green color as far as possible. Drying can best be done, especially in damp weather, by the use ofartificial heat, not to exceed 140 deg F.

Returns from experimental areas indicate that yields of 400 to 500 pounds of dried tops per acre may be expectedunder good conditions. Although some American-grown cannabis is found in the crude-drug trade, a definitemarket for this product is not yet established. Those who contemplate the commercial production of this cropshould therefore carefully investigate market possibilities before making any extensive plantings.