3-24 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch.XXVIT. 



an uncommon practice to break up a stubble late in the autumn, and after 

 it has had the benefit of the winter fallow, twenty to twenty-five loads of 

 spit dung are laid upon the land, which is then sown with hemp, after three 

 ploiighings. In the following year an excellent crop of wheat is generally 

 obtained, and in the next a good crop of barley or flax, after which hemp 

 is again sown, with a similar dressing*. 



The dressing of the land is the same as for flax. The time of sowing 

 is, however, rather later, as the young plants are more susceptible of injury 

 from frost ; the seed should, tlierefore, not be put into the ground until the 

 latter end of April in our southern counties, and may be deferred without 

 danger until the middle of May in those of the north, or, in fact, until no 

 risk of real frost need be apprehended ; but when the plants have once 

 fairly sprung up, nothing is to be dreaded from the effects of white-frost. 

 The earlier it can be sown, however, the better will be the quality of the 

 liemp. 



The seed is large, rather soft, and so oily, that large quantities of oil are 

 expressed from it in the crushing mills, for the use of painters and soap 

 manufacturers ; the refuse being made into oil-cake. In choosing it, the 

 heaviest, the brightest-coloured, the smoothest, and the roundest, is to be 

 preferred ; and, if purchased from a dealer, its being of the last year's 

 growth should be guaranteed, in the same manner as that of flax ; for the 

 seed of the second year is not so good, and that of the third will oftentimes 

 not vegetate. The Riga seed is ])referred, and it is " bracked," or marked 

 with a brand by surveyors, in the same manner as that of flax. 



The quantity sown is usually from nine to twelve pecks, varying with 

 the strength of the soil and the custom of the country ; but the most com- 

 mon practice is about three bushels per acre, and the mode of sowing is 

 commonly broad-cast. Drilling in rows, at thirty inches, has been recom- 

 mended, as presenting the advantages of allowing the intervals to be well 

 tilled, and of admitting air to the plants ; but this renders the hemp 

 coarse ; and as the rapid growth of the plants smothers that of all other 

 vegetable matter, weeding is very seldom resorted to t, though the plants 

 should be hoed out when they stand too thick. 



The harvesting of the crop, if the seed be not taken, occurs about 

 thirteen or fourteen weeks after the sowing of the seed, and commences in 

 August; but the stalks which bear the flower containing the pollen, ripen 

 nearly three weeks sooner than those which contain the seed, — their ripeness 

 being known by their turning yellow at the top, and white at the root ; the 

 flowers also fall, and the leaves begin to wither. This sort should, therefore, 

 be pulled separately, and, indeed, while it is yet somewhat green, as the 

 fibres will be thereby more easily separated, and rendered more suitable to 

 the manufacture of cloth. This separation of the male and female species, 

 — or the " femble " and the " seed-hemp," as they are in some places deno- 

 minated — is carefully attended to in the Fens of Cambridgeshire, but in 

 other places it is frequently neglected, either in consequence of the other 

 occupations of the harvest, or from fear of the awkwardness and inattention 

 of the pullers injuring the plants ; indeed, when the crop is thick, it would 

 be attended with no small difficulty|. The maturity of the seed-bearing 

 species may be ascertained by the same signs as that of the male ; as well 



* See Appendix to Wissett's Treatise on Hemp, No. iii. 



■j- Survey of Suffolk, 3rd edit. p. 142 j of Cambridgeshire, p. ICl ; of Liiicohishire, 

 p. 183. 



X Suffolk Report, 3rd edit, p. 155. 



