184 FARMER'S ASSISTANT- 



c I have tried both Fall and Spring-ploughing, and am in- 

 clined to prefer the latter, as I have generally found that) 

 by midsummer, the sod was as well roted in the one as the 

 other, and have experienced much less trouble from the 

 rising of grass, than when the ground was ploughed in the 

 Fall. 



* The farm is a thin gravelly loam, with a mixture of clay; 

 and, being in a progressive state of improvement, I have 

 not planted corn a second time, in the same field, subse- 

 quent to liming. The average crop may be rated at forty 

 bushels per acre ; but with a light dressing with stable-ma- 

 nure I have raised sixty. The dung should be turned 

 down in the ploughing. 



' In order to be somewhat particular in the account I 

 have given you, I may, perhaps, have failed in rendering 

 the description sufficiently intelligible ; but you will please 

 to accept it as it is, with my wish that the method I have 

 practised may be tried by others ; as I believe a saving of 

 labor would not only be gained by its adoption, but also an 

 increase of crop, from ten to twenty per cent, and in seasons 

 of drought to a much greater amount.' 



INDIAN HEMP (dfiocynum Cannabinum.) This 

 plant is quite similar to the milkweed, having a similar pod 

 of vegetable silk, but smaller. It differs most essentially 

 from that plant in the superior strength of the coat of its 

 stem. 



( I caused (says Mr. Genet} to be water-roted a consider- 

 able quantity of it, in 1814, and obtained an excclent hemp, 

 as while as snow, remarkable for its strength, which proved 

 to be double that of common hemp. 



* Several of my Neighbors (says he) have assured me, 

 that the ropes and yarn made from the fibres of that plant 

 were far superior, for strength and durability, to those 

 made of flax or hemp. 



That sort bf apocynum, being perennial, could be culti- 

 vated and multiplied with the greatest advantage, and, being 

 more natural to low and overflowed lands, could render 

 profitable certain pieces of grouud which are now totally 

 unproductive.' 



This plant, < growing in its natural state, on swards and 

 in bogs, is lower than the milkweed; but, cultivated, it 

 would probably grow larger, and liberally reward the atten- 

 tion paid to its improvement.' 



Mr. Genet also supposes its leaves to be equally useful? 

 with those of the milkweed, for the purpose of dying, 

 See MILKWEED. 



