SET STOCK LAMBS. [ AUG 



arise from their hemp being coarser, and the stalks 

 larger. To attempt it, says a manufacturer, in 

 Suffolk, would be, I think, unprofitable, if not 

 impracticable. 



Hemp. left for seed, is seldom water- 



retted, from the additional trouble and expence ; 

 but it would be better if so done. It is generally 

 stacked and covered during the winter, and is 

 spread upon meadow-land in January or February. 

 If the season suit (particularly when covered with 

 snow) it will come to a good colour, and make 

 strong coarse cloths. It is much inferior to hemp 

 pulled in proper time, and water-retted. 



PULL FLAX. 



This also is the season for pulling flax : it i* 

 bound in small sheafs, and conveyed to the steeping- 

 pit, where it remains about ten days on an average, 

 and is then grassed. To name the time of the 

 chief works on this crop is sufficient : flax draws 

 the land, and returns no more to it than hemp. 

 I cannot advise the young farmer to have any 

 thing to do with it. If from singular circum- 

 stances he is inclined to try it, he should procure a 

 man accustomed both to the culture and dressing. 



SET STOCK LAMBS. I 



Fairs for the sale of lambs in several sheep dis- 

 tricls take place in August ; and it. is, upon the 

 whole, as proper a season as any other, when the 

 whole are collected, to draw into different parcels, 

 is a convenient moment for separating that portion 

 which is meant to be kept for the farmer's own 



use. 



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