The Cultivation of Hemp— Cannabis Sativa. 



Hk'SW is an annual plant, growing from six to eight feet high on good 

 soils, and in some parts of the Continent to twelve and fifteen feet. 

 Tt is grown cliiefly for its fibre, which is employed in the manufac- 

 ture of cordage, cloth, &c., and the seeds produce an oil which is used 

 in medicine. A deep, rich soil is essential to the growth of hemp, 

 such as is to be found in Holland, the fens of Lincolnshire, Tsle of 

 Ely, Norfolk, and Suffolk. It is a good eradicator of weeds, which 

 it effects by robbing them of their nourishment, although some 

 cultivators attribute this property to some poisotious quality in its 

 roots. It will not thrive in a cold, stiff clay soil. The land upon which 

 hemp is intended to be sown should be heavily manured at the rate of 

 25 to 30 tons per acre, dug or ploughed deeply, and raked or 

 liarrowed say five times before sowing, which should be done about 

 the middle of April, that being the best season. It should be sown in 

 drills eighteen inches apart. Six pecks will sow an acre by drilling, 

 whereas three bushels would be required if sown broadcast, and 

 thinning and pulling are much facilitated by drilling, besides a 

 large saving of seed is gained. In the choice of seed the heaviest 

 and brightest coloured should be preferred, particular attention 

 being given to the state of the kernel, and some of them should be 

 cracked to see if they have the germ or future plant perfect, as in cer- 

 tain cases the male plants have been drawn out too soon, i.e., before they 

 have impregnated the females with pollen ; in which case, though the 

 seeds produced by these female plants look well, and seem fair to the 

 eye, yet they ,will not grow, a fact well known to the hemp growers 

 of Lincolnshire and the Eastern Counties, where hemp is most 

 cultivated, and who have paid for their experience on that score. 

 The male plant ripens before the female, and is pulled a month sooner, 

 from the middle of July to the middle of August. 



The first pulling is called the "fimlc hemp," by being gathered 

 before the plants are quite ripe, and have shed their farina or pollen 

 dust over the fiowers of the female plants, or, as they are called, " kar/e 

 hemp," without which the seeds will pro^'e abortive and produce 

 nothing if sown the next year. Nor will those concerned in the oil- 

 mills give anything for them, as they are only empty husks without 

 any kernel to produce oil. 



The second pulling takes place a little later, about Michaelmas, 



