CHA.IIA.CTEBISTICS AND DESCRIPTION. 119 



because they can make a better profit in working it; but 

 cordage must certainly be stronger in proportion as there 

 is more hemp and less tar in it, provided there be a suffi- 

 cient quantity of the latter to unite the fibres. Von 

 Thaer mentions, in terms of strong praise, Strasbourg 

 hemp, which is grown in Alsace, and which attains, he 

 says, the height of eight feet ; but this is still very much 

 less than that of the sort called Piedmont hemp, of all 

 countries the most renowned amongst continental 

 agriculturists. In the districts of which Bologna and 

 I^errara are the capitals, sixteen-feet hemp is not un- 

 usually tall, while the fibre remains unsurpassed in 

 beauty. This power of luxuriant growth has been 

 ingeniously taken advantage of by persons who, re- 

 marking that Piedmont hemp, sown upon strong and 

 well-manured land, became too tall and coarse (for 

 clothing purposes), sowed it therefore on inferior soils, 

 giving it little or no manure, and thus obtained, from 

 comparatively unproductive ground, hemp as good as the 

 usual local variety proves on lands of the very first 

 quality. The advantage of this plan is evident, it often 

 saves a great part of the expensive manure which hemp- 

 fields require, provided, always, that the seed of Piedmont 

 hemp be renewed every other year, for in the third year 

 its vegetative vigour is found to be diminished when it 

 is gathered from plants produced from the original stock, 

 if they grow on less fertile land than their native valleys 

 of Piedmont. The best way to save the trouble of 

 making such frequent re-importations, and also to prevent 

 the seed from degenerating too rapidly, would be to sow 

 separately a small crop on a piece of the best land, and 

 to maintain the peculiar merits of the variety for the 

 longest possible period. It is sometimes profitable to 

 cultivate hemp in this way for the sake of the seed only, 

 leaving the fibre out of the question. In such cases, it 

 ought to be sown in drills, from a foot and a half to two 

 feet apart, in order to admit plenty of air and light, and 

 to allow the opportunity of giving the crop one or two 

 weedings. In the Jura it is the custom to sow hemp 



