77 6 Tlie Journal of Forestry. 



when the seeds are ripe. This karle hemp is tied up in bundles of a 

 foot in diameter, which are laid in the sun a few days to dry, and 

 then stacked up, or housed, to keep it dry till the seed can be thrashed 

 out. An acre of hemp on a rich soil will produce close on three 

 quarters of seed, which, with the unwrought hemp, is well worth the 

 attention of the farmer. Hemp should never be allowed to remain 

 ungathered till the seeds are fully ripened, as the texture becomes 

 coarse, and can never be got to the same degree of fineness and quality 

 as that of hemp gathered before being fully ripe. Therefore to obtain 

 good seed a piece of ground should be selected, and the plants left 

 two feet apart each way, and allowed to stand till fully ripened ; the 

 " fimbe " hemp being allowed to stand likewise till fully matured, so 

 as to shed its farina over the female or seed-bearing plants, when the 

 yield of seed will be much superior in all respects. 



Hemp growers, as a rule, leave the flowers, leaves, and roots on the 

 ground to enrich the next crop. D. D. 



Deep Soil.— The soil of Nebraska, according to President Furnas, is of a 

 remarkable character, three-fourths of the whole State resembling alluviou* 

 varying in depth from 5 feet to 150 feet— rarely less than 40 feet deep. Four- 

 fifths of its ingredients are fine silica, and the remainder consists largely of 

 carbonate and phosphate of lime, requiring little or no drainage, and at the 

 same time so retentive of moisture as not to be affected by drought. ^ 



ExTEXsivE Estates in America.— Probably the largest landowner in America 

 is ex-Governor Abner Coburn, of Maine. Incredible as it may seem, he is the 

 owner of not less than 593,000 acres, divided as follows :— Maine, 150,000 

 acres ; Canada, 135,000 ; Wisconsin, 35,000 ; Dakota, 35,000 ; Michigan, 20,000 ; 

 Minnesota, 18,000. His latest purchase is that of the tract in Dakota, and was 

 taken of the Northern Pacific Kailroad in lieu of stock, in which road he 

 invested some 60,000 dols. A Maine paper says, " His agent, Mr. Whipple, 

 has just returned from the West, whither he has been to look after Mr. 

 Coburn's interests and see about the last purchase. He reports the land in 

 Dakota as among the finest held by the governor. He says it is well adapted 

 to growing cereals, and fine crops of wheat have been harvested in the vicinity 

 the present season. One of the causes of the failure of the Spragues was 

 land speculation. They purchased from Mr. Coburn six years since a tract in 

 Maine for which they were to give 1,400,000 dols., and upon the same advanced 

 600,0(.Kj dols. The land was well timbered, but the Spragues could not keep 

 it, and Mr. Coburn has now come into possession again, while the Spragues 

 are out the amount advanced. The governor is said to be besieged with 

 beggars of both high and low standing, and there is scarcely a day passes 

 but he receives letters asking aid to help build seminaries, churches, and 

 charitable institutions. He is reported as giving away upwards of 100,000 

 dols. per annum. Mr. Coburn is probably worth 6,000,000 dols."— Lu/^Z/ec- 



