HEMP. 471 



be well to soak the seed about twenty-four hours in tepid water before sowing, to hasten 

 germination. After the seed is in the ground, the crop requires but little or no attention 

 until harvested. Being a strong, thrifty plant, of rapid grcrwth, it will generally soon 

 smother the weeds and take care of itself, unless the land is very weedy, and the seed does 

 not start well. 



Cut-worms are often troublesome, but if the blackbirds and crows are encouraged on the 

 hemp-field, they will do valuable service for the farmer in exterminating them. When hemp 

 is cultivated for seed, it requires a richer soil than when grown for the fiber alone. It is 

 frequently cultivated on good corn ground, well manured. In England the culture for seed 

 and fiber is the same, but in this country, when seed is the object, the culture is similar to 

 that of corn, the hills being from three and a half to four feet apart, according to the fertility 

 of the land. In planting, a dozen or more seeds are deposited in each hill. When the crop 

 is first hoed, the plants are thinned out to five or six in a hill. During the subsequent culti 

 vation given, this number should be reduced to three or four to the hill. The cultivation 

 should be sufficient to keep down the weeds. 



Hemp belongs to that peculiar class of vegetable growths having the fruit- bearing, or 

 what is termed female blossoms, on one plant, and the sterile, or male plants, on another. 

 The difference between the two is determined when they are sufficiently developed to make 

 preparation to blossom. The latter, which are known by their getting ready for blossoming, 

 are then generally nearly all cut out, a few only being left to furnish pollen for the fertiliza 

 tion for the seed crop. The rule is to leave one of the best male plants for this purpose in 

 every other hill, of every other row. When these male plants have blossomed, and shed 

 their pollen (the yellow dust that falls from them when shaken), they are then cut out to 

 leave more room for the other plants to grow. 



Harvesting. The time of harvesting hemp that is grown for the fiber principally, is 

 when the blossoms begin to turn yellow and drop. This will be in about three or three and 

 a half months after sowing, according to the soil, season, and other conditions. If it should 

 stand a week or more later than this period, no serious detriment will result to the crop, the 

 only objection being that the process of rotting will not be as uniform, and the breaking will 

 be a little more difficult, the stalks being more woody and hard. 



Formerly, this crop was pulled by hand, but cutting is now almost universally practiced. 

 The harvesting of this crop is the most difficult part in its management and the chief objec 

 tion to its culture, being a slow, laborious task. When the hemp does not grow more than 

 seven feet high, it may be cut with a heavy scythe, or a strong cradle, such as that used for 

 grain, except it must be much stronger, as the stalks are hard and tough. 



By this method of harvesting, it is estimated that one man may cut an acre per day. A 

 good machine, sufficiently strong for cutting, would greatly lessen the labor and encourage 

 its more general cultivation. When it attains the height of more than seven feet, a stronger 

 implement is required, which is generally a kind of hook, similar to a bush-scythe, or sickle. 

 Only about half an acre per day is considered a good day s work for one man with one of 

 these implements. After two or three days drying, it is bound and stacked. 



The seed-hemp is cut before the heads are sufficiently dry for the seed to shell out of itself 

 and be wasted. It is stacked in the field until dry, and then threshed out, after which it is 

 carefully winnowed, and spread in thin layers in a warm, airy place to dry. Unless 

 thoroughly dried before being stored, it will heat badly, and the quality thus become greatly 

 injured. f 



After-Management. When the weather becomes sufficiently cool in the autumn, the 

 hemp is either spread out on the ground to be rotted by the dew, or it may be put in vats or 

 pools of water for this purpose. When dew-rotting is practiced, it must be occasionally 



