54 Report of the BritiJJj Confultn Pnijfiay Jan. 



25th May and loth June, to the reaping, &c. of the flax in 

 the end of Auguft, and the hemp in the end of September : 

 Hence it appears, that the flax is three, and the hemp about 

 four months, in a ftate of vegetation. 



4. The dilTerence, if any, between thefe two articles them- 

 felves, as alfo, between them and barley, in refpc£t to the de- 

 gree to which crops of them impoverifli the foil, is held to be 

 very trifling ; becaufe, as already obferved (§ 2.), though no 

 iort of grain can be fown immediately after a ciop of flax, un- 

 lefs the land has been again dunged, yet after one of hemp, 

 any other fort, and even hemp itfelf, may be fown without 

 pre\*ous manuring. This dijfercfice, feemingly fo material, 

 would yet — (when it is, on the other hand, confidercd, that 

 the field deftined for a crop of hemp is, while that intended 

 for a crop of flax, is not, previoufly manured ; and that hfcmp, 

 though it thus requires the aid of manure, while flax does not, 

 killo or fufi:ocate3 all forts of weeds •, — thereby, in fome mea- 

 fure counterbalancing, by the cleannefs which it leaves, the 

 greater degree of ftrength which its vegetation may be fup- 

 pofed to require ; and, lajlly, that neither article is fuppofed 

 to jmpoveriih the foil more than barley), — inflead of being 

 realized, ultimately refolve itfelf into the eilablifliment of 

 this very material fa6t, that flax and hemp may be, and are, 

 cultivated in thefe climates, without any greater prepara- 

 tion or prejudice of the foil, if the farmer only ranks his 

 crops according to its primitive ftrength, than wiU arife, or be 

 neceflary, for the grovi'th of any fort of grain adapted to its 

 then actual or temporary (late of cultivation ; nay, even, that 

 a foil which is foul, or infcclcd with weeds, may, by a crop 

 or two of hemp, be cleaned, and of confcquence greatly im- 

 proved. 



5. That hemp killing or fuffocating (chiefly through its fud- 

 den growth, and the exchifion of the free cijculatlon of tlie 

 air, occafioned by the largencfs of its leaves) ail forts ol weeds 

 or undefgvowth, there is no trouble of this kind with it j but 

 that flax is, in general, weeded once or twice before it blooms. 



6. That, in the ordinary courfe of cultivation, the flax is 

 plucked, when tlie itnlk has become yellowiih, the pods brown, 

 and the feed bard and full-bodied. Itjs then perfe£lly ripe, and 

 the feed of fuch crop is fit for the purpcfe of fowing. But 

 thofe who ,refine, or are defirous of gaming a fupericr, or tlie 

 finefi: pofhble quality of flax, from one and the fame feed and 

 field, pluck it earlier, viz. while the flalk is yet green, the 

 pods only beginning to change colour, and the feed grains quite 

 flat 5 and this being done before it is ripe, the harl of the flax 



proves 



