182 On Hemp 



Products. 



60 stones of hemp, at 4*. 6c?. . . . 13 10 



20 bushels of seed, at 4/f. 6c?. . . . 4 10 



18 



Add thereto 10^, as value of dressing to grass- 

 land or eddish, and for value of husks, &c., 

 as feed for cattle, say 5s. . . . . 15 



18 15 

 Deduct expenses . . . . . 18 7 6 



Balance per acre in favour of the farmer . 7 6 



When it is taken into consideration that hemp-culture is wholly 

 different from the ordinary crops grown by farmers, and requires 

 at particular seasons a great amount of labour and attention, I do 

 not think it probable that its culture will ever be much practised. 

 The prices for hemp and seed in the above account are certainly 

 less than the present market price of both; good hemp will pro- 

 bably bring 5^. per stone, and good seed 55. per bushel, or 

 perhaps 5^. 6d. per bushel. I have, however, in the above only 

 drawn an average. 



Mr. Way, of Bridport, obtained, in the year 1811, the thanks 

 of the Society for promoting Arts, and for his communication on 

 the culture of hemp ; and he mentions that the rotation practised 

 in Somersetshire, Dorsetshire, &c., at that period was, on ground 

 well manured, hemp, wheat, barley or oats ; clover with the pre- 

 ceding wheat, barley, or oats; ground well manured, hemp, but 

 sometimes they dress the ground well for hemp every third year. 

 Hemp, like flax, should have a change of seed every second year. 

 Mr. Way mentions that in America, in the neighbourhood of 

 Boston, a favourite practice was to get oft" an early crop of tares, 

 and follow with hemp pulled for the " white," and succeeded by 

 turnips. 



IX. — On the Tussac Grass. To Mr. Matheson, M.P., from 

 Mr. ScoBiE, in the island of Lewis. 



Sir, — You wish me to send you a note of the culture of 

 Tussac Grass in the Lewis. The seeds which you sent me in 

 1844 were sown in the following spring in various parts of 

 the island, viz., Coll, Holm, Linshader, Galson, &c. ; of all 

 these the two former were the only places where this valuable 

 grass appeared, and of these two Holm was the most successful 

 and vigorous, being sown in a square plot of deep brown moss of 



