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 of
clayey loam at a depth of about an inch in rows 5 or 6 feet apart. The
seeds may be dropped every two or three 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 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.