mechanical industry, is that of hemp, which, in 

 all its states, indeed, bears an almost perfect 

 analogy to the growtli and preparation of Flax. 

 During the war, when access to the Baltic, 

 whence the great supply of Hemp is drawn, -wsls 

 difficult, tliis plant was cultivated in this coun- 

 try with some success. Tlie ci-op appears to re- 

 quire a good soil, and in its preparation a degree 

 of care which the general run of farmers ^vere not 

 capable of applying to it, and hence, since that 

 period, the attention of agriculturists having been 

 exclusively fixed on corn and other food crops, 

 its cultivation has been totally abandoned. 



The constitution of the Hemp plant is almost 

 exactly like that of Flax. It is pulled, with 

 suitable care in regard to the ripening of the 

 seed, which its dioecious structure requires. 

 The plants are steeped, until the gummy mate- 

 rial which connects tlie fibres is softened and 

 rotted off, and then, after drying and a certain 

 amount of bleaching on green land, the fibrous 

 skin is peeled from the stems, and the fibre ob- 

 tained clean by scutching with appropriate in- 

 struments. The Hemp fibre, like the Flax 

 fibre, consists of purely woody matter, having 

 the chemical composition of Ci8 H12 O12, and 

 contains neither nitrogen nor saline matters. It 

 is hence formed in the plant by the agency of 

 the atmosphere alone, and the materials ^^■hich 

 the plant extracts from the soil, or from the ma- 

 nure used in its cultivation, are found, not in the 

 fibre, but in the waste of the processes of its 

 preparation. The water in which it had been 

 steeped, the chaff which remains when the fibre 

 is cleaned off, contain various .substance.*, which, 

 when properly returned to the soil, give it back 

 all that the plant in growing had removed from 

 it, and hence would restore its original condi- 

 tion of fertility. In this way the Hemp may, 

 like Flax, be rendered one of the least exhaust- 

 ing crops, and the profit on its cultivation in- 

 crea.sed, of course, in the same proportion. 



In order to establish these principles b}- chem- 

 ical analyses, I instituted an examination of the 

 Hemp plant and its products, analogous to that 

 which has been already noticed regarding Flax. 

 The following were the results. The Hemp 

 plant consists of : The Sum. The Leaves. 



Carbon 39-94 40-50 



Hydrocen 5-06 5-98 



Oxygen 48-72 29-70 



Nitrogen 1-74 1-8-2 



Ashes 4.54 2-200 



Total .100-00 10000 



The ashes of the plant (stem and leaves), con- 

 sist&tl of: 



Silica 6-75 



Phosphoric acid . . . 3-22 



Sulphuric acid 1 10 



Chlorine 1-53 



Cai-bonic acid 31-90 



Potash 7-48 



Soda -72 



J.ime 42 05 



Magnesia 4-88 



Alumina and oxide 



of iron -37 



Total 100-00 



When the Hemp is steeped, the water ac- 



qaiies very strongly narcotic properties and a 



disagreeable odor. On dn,-ing it down a brown 



extract is obtained, which was composed of: 



Carbon 2828 or 55-66 



Hydrogen 416 or 821 



Nidocen 3-28 or 645 



Oxygen 1508 or 29-68 



Ashe's 49-20 Without the ashes 



Total 100 00 100-00 



This material contains so large a quantity of 

 nitrogen, as well as of saline matters, as to show 

 that when it iiad decompcsed it should become 

 a most valuable fertilizer. 

 (16) 



The steeped Hemp stem, as it remains after 

 pulling oft' the loose fibrous coat, is little more 

 than ordinary wood. It contained : 



Carbon 56-80[Oxygen 



Hydrogen 6-48 Ashes 



Nitrogen 0-43| 



Total 100-00 



The cultivation of the Hemp is not likely to 

 be in future as important as hitherto itha.sbeen. 

 The substitution of iron for Hemp in the stand- 

 ing rigging of ship.s, and the introduction of 

 coarse Egyptian Flax in the manufacture of 

 various fabrics where previously Hemp had 

 been used, will probably limit very much its 

 consumption. It is only from its close analogy ( 

 to the Flax, and the identity of principle by < 

 which so much economy may, as I believe, be ( 

 introduced into the cultivation of both, that I 

 have here noticed it, even thus briefly. 



I have endeavored, in the foregoing obsen-a- 

 tions, to notice briefly the questions regarding 

 Iri.sh Agi-iculture, vv^hich appeared to me mo.st 

 intimately connected with its position as an im- 

 portant branch of industry. It has been shown 

 that the amelioration of the proces.ses of culti- 

 vation requires a very extended knowledge of 

 chemical and mechanical science. That hus- 

 bandry as an art, so far from presenting tlie mo- 

 notonous and almost passive routine in which 

 rustic existence has been dreamed away, re- 

 quires to be placed parallel with the other great 

 departments of human occupation, in the amount 

 of intelligence which its successful practice calls 

 into play. 



Until, by suitable education, the minds of the 

 agricultural population of all classes are awak- 

 ened to a knowledge of \\-hat their art really 

 depends upon, all secondary exertions for its 

 improvement must be completely futile. 



There exist in Ireland millions of acres of 

 land perfectly w-ell adapted for cultivation, bnt 

 which have never yet supplied a morsel of food 

 for man. 



It is well established that on the lands actn- 

 ally cultivated there might be raised three times 

 the amount of food that is now produced, were 

 a suitably improved system of Agriculture 

 brought into general use. 



And yet iliere exists in Ireland a population 

 starving and unemployed, wearing out a mis- 

 erable existence on the cliarity of those only a 

 degree less wretched than themselves, or sap- 

 ported by a tax levied on the industry of the 

 more energetic and more in.structed cla.=so.s. 



Were the true conditions of agricultural sue 

 cess generally understood, such could not be 

 the case. The cultivation of these wastes, 

 which, as evidence of the most deci.sive and 

 practical ch.iracter has .>;hown, can be ea.sily and 

 economically reclaimed, w^ould give remunera- 

 tive occupation to hordes oftho.se who now arc 

 among the weightiest burthens of the land. The 

 productiveness of the soil being augmented by 

 proper drainage and deep working, and the 

 pastoral system replaced by the turnip and 

 green crop husbandry, by v\-hich so much more 

 food is raised and so much more employment 

 given, it would be found that, so far from the 

 existing numbers of tiie people being too great 

 to be supported by the soil, the new conditions 

 of agricultural activity would provide means of 

 profitable occupation for a much greater num- 

 ber than that proportion of our population 

 which can, even now, be considered as depend- 

 ent on it for the means of fife. 



