HEM 



HEM 



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of hedges. Some advise to cut off 

 the tops or head them down to 

 about three feet, or three feet and 

 an half from the ground, when the 

 plants are about four years old. 

 Others direct to saw ofifthe plants 

 when the hedge has completed its 

 second year, and ihey are about 

 the size of a man's thumb to 

 within about an inch or an ii.chand 

 an half of the surface, and rely on 

 the shoots. It is likewise advised 

 to place poles or rails along the top 

 of the plants, and fasten the ends 

 together by withes or some kind of 

 pliant bark. See Farmer''s Assist- 

 ant, Transactions of the Philadel- 

 phia Agricultural Society, and Dr. 

 Willicfi's Domestic EncyclopiBdia, 

 HEMP, a plant with a tough fi- 

 brous coat, which answers the satne 

 purposes as flax, but is coarser and 

 stronger. 



The plant is tap rooted, and 

 therefore does best in a deep and 

 free soil. It is luxuriant, and quick 

 in its growth, and therefore requires 

 a rich, and well prepared soil. — 

 The soils which have been found 

 to suit it best, are a rich gravelly 

 loam, or a loose black mould, which 

 is dry and deep. It is an error to 

 think that it needs a wet soil, for it 

 bears drought almost equally with 

 any plant that we cultivate. 



Mr. Eliot found by experiment, 

 that it answered very weli on a 

 drained swamp : And he tells of a 

 man in the Jerseys, who raised as 

 much hemp yearly, on half an acre 

 of such land, as brought him tifty 

 pounds York money. It is not un- 

 common for one acre to yield half 

 a ton, which will sell for twenty 

 pounds in cash, at the lowest. And 

 25 



I am told by one who is much ac- 

 quainted with it, that it is more ea- 

 sily broken and swingled than flax ; 

 and that, oftentimes, the brake will 

 do all that is necessary in cleaning 

 it. 



To prepare land for a crop of 

 hemp, the laiid should be plough- 

 ed to a good depth in the fall of 

 the year preceding. If it be green- 

 sward land, it should be ploughed 

 as early as August or September, 

 that the sward may be perfectly 

 rotten. And if it were ploughed 

 in ridges it would be the better,and 

 tit for sowing the earlier. And by 

 cross ploughing and harrowing in 

 the spring, it should be made ex- 

 tremely fine and mellow. A little 

 dung should be applied, if the land 

 be not in the best heart ; and the 

 fall is the best time to apply it. — 

 But if composts are used, they 

 should be laid on just before sowing. 

 The time of sowing the seed is 

 as early in the spring as the soil can 

 be got into good order, as it is a 

 plant that is not easily injured by 

 frost; but the middle of May will 

 not be too late. 



The seed for sowing should be 

 of the last year's growth, as older 

 seed is not wont to come up at all. 

 I once sowed seed which was 

 brought from England. It looked 

 as well as any I ever saw ; but not 

 one in ten thousand ever sprouted. 

 The quantity of seed for an acre, 

 in the broad cast way, is three 

 bushels ; but half that quantity, in 

 the drill method, will be enough. 

 If the land be poor,a smaller quan- 

 tity of seed will serve. The ground 

 should be watched after sowing, 

 that birds do not take away the 

 seeds. 



