134f HEMP. 



yellow at the top and white at the root, and by the general 

 tendency of the whole plant to wither. Those who are 

 over anxious about the quality of their fibre are apt to 

 pull the male plants too green. In this state, they pro- 

 duce a sample which is excellent for the manufacture of 

 cloth ; but if the hemp is to stand for seed, it is better 

 to let the male plants remain till they have shed their 

 dust, without the influence of which the seed will prove 

 abortive, and remain worthless both for the oil-mill and 

 for birds'-food. An acre of hemp on rich soil will pro- 

 duce something like three quarters of seed, a matter of 

 some importance. If the crop be destined to make thread 

 only, without any regard to the seed, the male and female 

 plants are pulled together as " maiden hemp, 5 * about 

 thirteen or fourteen weeks after seed-time ; the plan has 

 this advantage, that the crop comes off the ground suffi- 

 ciently early in many seasons for turnips to follow it, or 

 better, that the farmer is allowed full leisure to make due 

 preparation for a crop of wheat. The separation, how- 

 ever, of the male and female plants is not universally, 

 though it is generally observed. It is sometimes neg- 

 lected, partly from the fear of the injury which the pullers 

 would do to the remaining plants by crushing and break- 

 ing them when they stand thick, and also because the 

 vrork has to be done at a busy time of year, when there 

 are plenty of other things to think of. The time of the 

 general maturity of the crop depends very much upon 

 the season ; the wetter the summer, the longer the hemp 

 has to stand, and it bears a dry year better than a wet 

 one. "When allowed to ripen the seed, it sometimes has 

 to remain on the ground till after Michaelmas. When 

 the hemp is pulled, it is bound in small bundles of such 

 a size as may be grasped in both hands, and tied together 

 with bands, at each end ; they are then set leaning head 

 to head against each other in the field to dry. In the 

 Pas-de-Calais, the female or seed-bearing plants when 

 gathered after the males are disposed of, have their heads 

 knotted into wisps to keep the seed from falling off 

 (which it is very apt to do), and also to make it heat 



