852 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



ijp distinction made between the male and female plants. But as it is most commonly 

 grown, both witli a view to fibre and seed, the usual practice is to pull the male plants as 

 soon as the setting of the seed in the females shews that they have effected their purpose. 

 As the femate plants require four or five weeks to ripen their seeds, the males are thus 

 pulled so long before them. 



5332. In the operation of pulling the males, the pullers walk in the furrows, between 

 the ridges, and' reach across to the crown of the ridge, pulling one or two stalks at 

 a time, and carefully avoiding to tread down the female plants. The male stalks are 

 easily known by their yellowish hue, and faded flowers. They are tied in small bundles, 

 and immediately carried to the watering pool, in the manner of flax. 



5333. The operation of pulling the females commences when the seed is ripe, which, 

 is known by the brownish or greyish hue of the capsules and fading of the leaves. The 

 stalks aie then pulled and bound up into bundles, being set up in the same manner as 

 grain, until the seed becoines so dry and firm as to shed freely ; great care should be 

 taken at pulling not to shake the stalks rashly, otherwise much of the seed may be lost. 

 It is advised, that, after pulling the seed, hemp may be set to stand in shocks of five 

 sheaves to dry the seed; but, in order to prevent any delay in watering, the seed- 

 pods may be cut off with a chopping-knife, and dried on canvass exposed to tlie air, 

 under some shed or cover. This last method of drying the seed will prove of great 

 advantage to the hemp, as the seed and pods, when green, are of such a gummy 

 nature, that the stems might suffer much by sun-burning or rain ; which will dis- 

 color and injure the hemp before the seed can be sufficiently dried upon the stalks. 

 Besides, the threshing-out the seed would damage tlie hemp in a considerable degree, 



5334. Hemp is watered (provin. water-retted j , bleached (provin. dew-retted), and 

 grassed in the same manner as flax. Grassing is omitted in some places, and dry- 

 ing substituted ; and in other districts watering is omitted with the female crop, which 

 is dried and stacked, and dewed or bleached the following spring. On the conti~ 

 nent hot- water and green soap has been tried, and here, as in the case of flax, it is found 

 that steeping two hours in this mixture, is as effectual in separating the fibre from, the 

 woody matter, as watering and grassing for weeks. 



5335. Although hemp in the process of manufacturing, passes through the hands of the breaHer, heckler ' 

 spinner, whitester, weaver, and bleacher ; yet many of these operations are frequently carried on by the 

 same person. Some weavers bleach their own yarn and cloth, others their cloth only ; some heckle their 

 tow, and put it out to spinning, others buy the tow, and put it out ; and some carry on the whole of the trade- 

 themselves. 



5336. The produce of hemp in fibre, varies from 3 to 6 cwt. per acre ; in seed from 

 11 to 12 bushels. 



5337. The uses of hemp are well known, as well as its great importance to the navy for sails and cordage. 

 Exceeding good huckaback is made from it, for towels and common table-cloths. The low-priced hempen 

 clqths are a general wear for husbandmen, servants, and laboring manufacturers ; the better sorts for 

 working farmers and tradesmen in the country ; and the finer ones, seven-eighths wide, are preferred by 

 gome gentlemen, for strength and warmth. They possess this advantage over Irish and other linens, that 



their color improves in wearing; whilst theirs declines, English hemp, properly manufactured, stands un- 

 rivalled in its strength, and is superior in this respect to the Russian. Considerable quantities of cloth are 

 imported from that country for sheeting merely on account of its strength, for it is coarser at the price than 



other linen. Our hempen cloth, however, is preferable, being stronger from the superior quaUty of the 

 thread, and at the same time lighter in washing. The hemp raised in England is not of so dry and spongy 

 a nature as what we have from Russia and India, and therefore it requires a smaller proportion of tar to 

 manufacture it into cordage. Tar being cheaper than hemp, the rope-makers prefer foreign hemp to ours, 

 because they can make a greater protit 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 sufficient quantity of the latter to unite the 

 fibres. An oil is extracted from the seeds of hemp , which is used in cookery in Russia, and in this country 

 by painters. The seeds themselves are reckoned a good food for poultry, and are supposed to occasion hens 

 to lay a greater quantity of eggs. Small birds in general are very fond of them, but they should be given to 

 caged birds with caution, and mixed with other seeds. A very singular eftect is recorded, on very good au- 

 thority, to have been sometimes producetl by feeding bullfinches, and goldfinches, on hemp-seed alone, or 

 in too great quantity ; viz. that of changing the red and yellow on those birds to a total blackness. 



5338. The hemp has few or no diseases. 



SuBSECT. 3. The Fuller s Thistle, or Teazle. Dipsacusfullonum, L. Tetran- Mon. L. 

 axid Dipsacece, 3 . Chardon afoullon, Fr. ; Jiardendistel, Ger.; Cardencha, Span.; and 

 Dissaco, Ital. {fg. 590.) 



5339. Thefullers thistle is a herbaceous biennial, growing from four to six feet high ; 

 prickly or rough in the stem and leaves, and terminated by rough burr-like heads of 

 flowers. It is a native of Britain, flowers in July, and ripens its seed in September. 

 It is cultivated in Essex, and the west of England, for raising the nap upon woollen 

 cloths, by means of the crooked awns or chafts upon the heads ; which in the wild 

 sort are said to be less hooked. For this purpose they are fixed round the cir- 

 cumference of a cylinder, which is made to turn round, and the cloth is held against 

 them. 



5340. There are no varieties of the cultivated teazle, but the wild species is not ma- 

 terially different from it, and may be used in its stead, though its chaff is not quite so 

 rigid. 



