r M9 i 



of expence, they will be disposed to acknowledge it to be correct, 

 at least I can say, that it is drawn from my own experience of its 

 truth. 



HEMP. 



THE culture of Hemp and Flax agrees in many respects ; but in 

 their nature, and form, they are widely different. In flax, the 

 male, and female embrio, are lodged in the same flower ; but in 

 hemp the male is found on some plants, and the female on others ; 

 they are therefore called male, and female hemp ; that which has 

 only flowers is the »«?/?, and that which has seeds the female hemp. 

 The male is ripe five or six weeks before the female, and they both 

 arise from the same seed. 



It requires a deep rich, dry, sandy loam, and abhors a cold, wet 

 clay; a piece of woodland grubbed up generally answers well, fresh 

 land, good tillage, but no dung : even land exhausted with other 

 crops, if well tilled, will produce good hemp, and if properly ma- 

 naged, will leave the land as clean as a garden. 



The quantity of seed per acre about three bushels, and time of 

 sowing April or May ; great care must be taken to keep off the 

 birds, for they are very fond of the seed, and their time of feeding, 

 is principally before sun rise, and within half an hour of sun set. 

 compleat weeding is as necessary for hemp, as flax. 



About the beginning of August the male hemp will be ripe, and 

 great care should be taken that the pullers do not trample, and injure 

 the female hemp left standing. It must be gathered into small 

 bundles, and nothing more is necessary than to dry it in a proper 

 manner, so as to make it fit for working. 



In managing the female hemp particular regard is to be had to 

 the seed ; care therefore must be taken in drying it. After it is 

 tied up in bundles about the size of a yard round, it should be set 

 up in the sun for three or four days, but if the weather be difficult, 

 it may be stacked in small mows of about a waggon load each, 

 where it may remain till it is thoroughly dry and fit to be housed ; 

 a little wet does not injure the stalk, but it greatly damages the 

 seed. An acre of land will produce from twenty to thirty bushels 

 of seed, and the stalk of the female hemp is more valuable than the 

 stalk of the male. The watering, braking, and dressing of hemp, 



U is 



