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 tops
per acre".
An excerpt of the text is re-produced below.
United States Department of Agriculture
Farmers Bulletin #663
Revised Edition
Washington, 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. It
grows well over a considerable portion of the United States, but the production of the active principle of this plant
is believed to be favored by a warm climate. For drug purposes, therefore, this crop appears to be adapted to the
Southern 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 be
dropped every 2 or 3 inches in the row or planted in hills about a foot apart in the row, 6 to 10 seeds being
dropped into each hill. Two or three pounds of seed per acre should give a good stand. About half the seeds will
produce male plants, which must be removed before their flowers mature; otherwise, the female plants will set
seed, thereby diminishing their value as a drug. The male plants can be recognized with certainty only by the
presence of stamens in their flowers.
Ordinary stable or barnyard manue 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 deg F.
Returns from experimental areas indicate that yields of 400 to 500 pounds of dried tops per acre may be expected
under good conditions. Although some American-grown cannabis is found in the crude-drug trade, a definite
market for this product is not yet established. Those who contemplate the commercial production of this crop
should therefore carefully investigate market possibilities before making any extensive plantings.