I 



Chap. Vir. FLAX AND HEMP/. 33 1 



up, to hoe them in the fame manner as is pradifed for 'tumeps, 

 leaving the plants of flax at about ten inches diftance from each 

 other, and thofe of hemp a foot or fixteen inches a-part. Great 

 care (hould be taken to deflroy all the weeds, which twice hoeing 

 in dry weather will effeft, and be fullicient culture till the plants are 

 ripe. 



Flax begins to ripen towards the latter end of Auguft, when care 

 muft be taken not to let it grow over ripe. It fliould therefore be 

 pulled up as foon as the heads begin to grow brown and hang down- 

 wards; otherwife the feeds will foon fcatter and be lofl. If the flax 

 is pulled when it firfl: begins to flower, it will be whiter than when 

 it ftands till the feed is ripe; but then the feed will be lofl:, and the 

 thread made of it, tho' of a fiirer colour, will not be fo ftrong as 

 when the plants are fuffered to ftand longer. 



There are two feafons for pulling hemp. The firfl is ufually 

 about the middle of Augufl:, when they begin to pull what is called 

 the fimble hemp, which is the male plants: but Mr. Miller thinks 

 it would be much better to defer this a fortnight or three weeks 

 longer, until the male plants have fully flied their dufl:, without 

 which, the feeds will prove abortive, produce nothing if fown the 

 next year, nor yield any oil. 



.. The fecond pulling is a little after Michaelmas, when the feeds 

 are ripe. This is commonly called Karle Hemp, and is the fe- 

 male plants, which were left at the time when the male were 

 pulled. 



An acre of hemp, on a rich foil, will produce, in the common 

 hulbandry, near three quarters of feed, which, together with the 

 unwrought hemp, is worth from fix to eight pounds. The quantity 

 of flax feed annually imported into Scotland and Ireland, from the 

 Eafl: country, and particularly from Riga, amounts to many thou- 

 fand pounds flierling, which might be faved the public, by properly 

 encouraging the culture of thefe plants in the northern colonies of 

 America. 



The quantity of food which flax and hemp require, feems to 

 fecure their fuccefs in the new hulbandry. M. Duhamel gives up 

 the following experiments made on them in that method, as a fpe- 

 cimen of what may be hereafter expedled. ,i 



M.de Chateau-vieux divided a field into 12 beds, 53 toifes and 



two feet long, and feven feet wide. The middle of each bed was 



caifed high, that there might be a greater depth of mould under the 



^ U u 2 plants. 



