Fun facts of the week: Hemp

Fun facts of the week: hemp

• All schoolbooks were made from hemp or flax paper until the 1880s.
• From 1631 until the early 1800s, it was legal to pay taxes with hemp in the U.S.
• You could go to jail in the U.S. if you refuse to grew hemp from 1763 to 1769.
• Benjamin Franklin owned one of the first paper mills in America.
• The War of 1812 was fought over hemp.
• For thousands of years, 90% of all ships’ sails and rope were made from hemp.
• Until 1820 when cotton gin was introduced, all textile, fabric, cloth, linen, drapes, bed sheets, etc, were made from hemp.
• Oldest known records of hemp farming go back 5000 years in China.
• The first crop grown in may state was hemp.
• In 1850 was a peak year for Kentucky producing 40,000 tons.
• Henry Ford’s first Model-T was built to run on hemp gasoline and the car itself was constructed from hemp!
• Hemp is the number one biomass producer on planet earth