Ordinary stable or barnyard manure plowed in deeply is better for use as a fertilizer than commercial preparations and may be safely applied at the rate of 20 tons per acre. However, good results may be obtained with commercial fertilizers, such as are used for truck crops and potatoes, when cultivated in between the rows at the rate of 500 or 600 pounds per acre.
When the female plants reach maturity, a sticky resin forms on the heavy, compact flower clusters, and harvesting may 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 of artificial heat, not to exceed 140° F.
For several years cannabis of standard (U. S. P.) quality has been grown on a commercial scale in this country, chiefly in South Carolina and Virginia. After the flowering tops are harvested they are thoroughly dried under cover, then worked over by hand, and all the stems and large foliage leaves removed. This process gives a drug of high quality but greatly reduces the net or marketable yield per acre, which usually ranges from 350 to 400 pounds. Some growers do not remove the stems and leaves, thus increasing the acreage yield but reducing the market value of their product. The quality of cannabis can be determined only by special laboratory tests, which most dealers are not equipped to make; consequently, they are usually unwilling to pay growers as high prices as they would if the low-grade cannabis were kept off the market.
The market price in June, 1920, for tested (U. S. P.) domestic cannabis was 30 to 35 cents; for nontested, 20 to 25 cents a pound.
[CARAWAY.]
Caraway (Carum carvi) is a European biennial herb of the parsley family. It grows and fruits well over a considerable portion of the United States, especially in the North and Northwest, but its cultivation in this country seems never to have assumed commercial proportions. The seeds are used medicinally, but are mainly utilized for flavoring cakes, confectionery, and similar products. On distillation with steam, the seeds yield an aromatic oil, which is more used in medicine than the seed itself.
Soil of a somewhat clayey nature and containing a fair proportion of humus and available plant food is particularly suited to caraway, but the plant generally grows well in any good upland soil which will produce fair crops of corn or potatoes. Seeds should be sown in early spring in drills about 16 inches apart, and from 6 to 8 pounds of seed are sown to the acre. Frequent shallow cultivation throughout both growing seasons is desirable in order to keep the soil mellow and free from weeds, as a weedy crop at harvest time usually means a product inferior in quality.
As soon as the oldest seeds ripen, which is usually in June of the second year, the crop should be harvested. The plants may be cut with a mower and should be left in the swath until they have lost most of their moisture, when they may be built up into small cocks, or they may be brought in from the field and the curing finished in a barn loft. If on handling in the field the seeds shatter extensively, the crop should be brought in in tight wagons. When drying is finished the seeds are thrashed out, cleaned, and stored in bags which contain about 100 pounds each.