132 HEMP. 



and leaving the latter in the ground till the seed is ripe. 

 And not only is the sterility of the male plant the reason 

 of its being gathered first, but in order that the rind may 

 be more productive of fibre, than if it were left standing 

 to harden. On the other hand, waiting for the seed to 

 ripen causes the rind of the female to be harder than it 

 otherwise would. Plucking it from the ground is the 

 fashion of gathering hemp, as vegetables are plucked, 

 with the additional proceeding of sowing turnip-seed 

 amongst it, which, being favoured by rain falling soon 

 afterwards, or by waterings by hand, cannot fail to 

 fructify, in land which has been so well prepared by the 

 hemp, whose strength will have killed all noxious plants 

 and insects. S"o further trouble need be taken about these 

 turnips than to throw the seed over and amongst the 

 hemp before pulling it ; for in the act of gathering, the 

 earth is raised, which is all the tillage the turnips will 

 require, if, after the hemp is pulled, the surface of the 

 ground is smoothed with a rake. And although the 

 whole hemp-field is not cleared at once, the female 

 standing longer than the male, that is of no consequence, 

 because more turnips or radishes can be sown when the 

 female is pulled afterwards. In this way you will have 

 turnips and field-radishes of diverse ages, and, in the long 

 run, better than if they were sown at one single time, 

 both in respect of the quality of the produce and its 

 abundance. Add to this, that seasons are not all alike, 

 but it almost always happens that, if the first sowing does 

 not take, the second will succeed, or vice versa. By 

 ordering in this way, it would appear that a failure is 

 impossible. 



"When the male hemp is pulled, it will be tied in 

 bundles, and immediately carried to the water to steep, 

 which will be jone in seven or eight days, more or less, 

 according to the nature of the water and the heat of the 

 weather necessary for the preparation. On this account, 

 a spot is selected where the sun, striking the water all 

 day long, hastens the work ; for the same reason, this 

 process is hastened for fear that, the convenience of sum- 



