Book VI. HEMT. 851 



machine equally simple, the flax may be brought to any degree of fineness, equal to the best used in 

 France and the Netherlands, for the finest lace and cambrick. The original length of the fibre, as well 

 as its strength, remains unimpaired ; and the difference of the produce is immense, being nearly two. 

 thirds ; one ton of flax being produced from four tons of stem. The expense of working each ton ob- 

 tained by this method is only five pounds. The glutinous matter may be removed by soap and water 

 only, which will bring the flax to such perfect whiteness, that no further bleaching is necessary, even 

 after the linen is woven ; and the whole process o|" preparing flax may be completed in six days. 



5322. The produce of flax in seed is generally from six to eight, sometimes as high as 

 ten or twelve, bushels per acre ; and the price depends, in a great measure, on that 

 of foreign seed imported ; as, when sold to oil-makers, it is generally about one half of 

 that of Dutch seed sold for the purpose of sowing. The price of home-cultivated linseed 

 is considerably advanced of late in some of the southern and western counties of the 

 kingdom, in proportion to what it is in those of the northern, owing to the circumstance 

 of its being much used as food for fattening cattle. The average price of the linseed 

 cultivated in the kingdom at large, cannot, it is supposed, be rated higher than from three 

 to four shillings the bushel. The seed is separated into three qualities ; the best for sow- 

 ing ; the second best for crushing for oil ; and the inferior for boiling or steaming for cattle. 



532S. The produce of flax in flbre varies exceedingly. Before being sorted, the gross 

 product of fibre varies from three cwt. to half a ton per acre. 



5324. The use of flax in the linen manufacture is well known. The seed is crushed 

 for oil, which is that in common use by painters ; the cake or husk which remains, after 

 the expression of the oil, is sold for fattening cattle, and in some places as a manure ; and 

 the inferior seed not fit to crush, is boiled and made into flax-seed jelly, esteemed an ex- 

 cellent nutriment for stock. 



5325. As the making of flax-seed jelly is an agricultural operation, we shall here de- 

 scribe it. The proportion of water to seed is about seven to one. Having been 

 steeped in part of the water eight-and-forty hours, previous to the boiling, the re- 

 mainder is added cold, and the whole boiled gently about two hours, keeping it in 

 motion during the operation to prevent its burning to the boiler ; thus reducing the 

 whole to a jelly-like, or rather a gluey or ropy consistence. After being cooled in tubs, 

 it is given, with a mixture of barley -meal, bran, and cut chaflT; a bullock being allowed 

 about two quarts of the jelly per day, or somewhat more than one quart of seed in four 

 days: that is, about one- sixteenth of the medium allowance of oil-cake. 



5326. The diseases of flax are few, and chiefly the fly, which sometimes attacks the 

 plants when young, and the mildew and rust. 



SuBSECT. 2. UemP' Cannabis sativa, L. Dieecia Pentandria, L. and Urticece, J. 

 Chanvre, Fr. ; Hanf, Ger. ; Canomo, Span. ; and Canajm, Ital. 



5327. The hemp is a plant of equal antiquity with the flax. It is supposed to be a 

 native of India, or of some other Asiatic country, being too tender to be even natu- 

 ralized in Europe. It is one of the few plants employed in British agriculture, in which 

 the male and female flowers are in different plants, a circumstance which has some influ- 

 ence on its culture and. management. It grows to a great height on good soils, some- 

 times to six or seven feet in this country, but in Italy generally Iiigher ; and Crud states 

 that he has seen it fifteen feet eight inches high in the Bolognese territory, and a friend 

 of his eighteen feet six inches : in both cases the fibre being of remarkable beauty. This 

 luxuriance ofthe hemp in warm countries may be one reason why it has never been -much 

 cultivated in England. In the isle of Axholme, in Lincolnsiiire, jt has been cultivated 

 from time immemorial, and also for some centuries in Suffolk, but cHiefly for local ma- 

 nufacture. The culture, management, and uses of hemp, are nearly the same as of 

 flax. When grown for seed it is a very exhausting crop ; but when pulled green, i is 

 considered a cleaner of the ground, and is said to have the property of preserving from 

 insects any crop whicli it may surround. The objections to this crop are, that its coming 

 in the midst of harvest is embarrassing; and that the attention it demands in every state 

 of its progress is too great, where it is only a secondary consideration. 



5328. The soils most suitable for hemp are those of the deep black putrid vegetable 

 kind, which have a situation low, and somevvhat inclined to moisture, as well as the deep 

 mellow loamy or sandy sorts. But the quantity of produce is in general much greater 

 on the former than tiie latter ; though, according to some, of an inferior quality. Mel- 

 low rich clayey loams do well ; and nothing better than old meadow land. 



5329. The preparation of the soil, and place in tlie rotation, are the ^me as for flax. 



5330. The season, of soiuing is towards the end of April, when there is no longer any 

 danger of frost injuring the rising plants. The quantity of seed is from two to three 

 bushels, according to the quality ofthe land. In quality the seed must be fresh, heavy, 

 and bright in color. Broad-cast is the universal mode of sowing, and the only after- 

 culture consists in keeping off birds when it is coming up ; in weeding, and sometimes 

 in supporting the crop by cross rods or lines, as in the case of flax. ;5G02. ) 



5331. In taking the hemp crop, two methods are in use according to the object 

 in view. When the crop is grown entirely for the fibre, it is pulled when in flower, and 



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