HEMP. 



HEMP. 



to produce lint, are usually thrown away ; they 

 may be profitably employed in making char- 

 coal for the use of powder-mills. In Europe, 

 where the male and female plants are promis- 

 cuously grown together in the same field, both 

 for seeds and for lint, the male stalks are first 

 gathered, and the female suffered to remain 

 growing until the seeds are ripe, when they 

 are also gathered, the seeds secured and lint 

 obtained, after the rotting, from both descrip- 

 tions. 



After the seeds are thrashed out, it is advi- 

 sable to spread them on a floor to cure properly 

 and prevent their rotting, before they are finally 

 put away for use the next spring. Seeds are 

 not generally used, unless they were secured 

 the fall previous to their being sown, as it is 

 believed they will not vegetate, if older; but it 

 has been ascertained that, when they are pro- 

 perly cured and kept dry, they will come up 

 after the first year. It is important to prevent 

 them from heating, which destroys the vegetat- 

 ing property, and for that purpose they should 

 be thinly spread on a sheltered floor. 



The seeds whether to reproduce seeds 

 only, or the lint are sowed about the same 

 time. Opinions vary as to the best period. It 

 depends a good deal upon the season. The 

 plant is very tender when it first shoots up, and 

 is affected by frost. Some have sowed as early 

 as the 1st of April; but it is generally agreed, 

 that all the month of May, and about the 10th 

 of it especially, is the most favourable time. 

 An experienced and successful hemp-grower, 

 in the neighbourhood of Lexington, being asked 

 the best time to sow hemp, answered immedi- 

 ately before a rain. And undoubtedly it is 

 very fortunate to have a moderate rain directly 

 after sowing. 



["Would it not be well to soak the seed in 

 water a few hours previous to sowing] We 

 have found this to answer nearly as good a 

 purpose as rain after sowing, with all seeds 

 with which we have tried it. The vegetation 

 of mangle-wurzel is wonderfully accelerated 

 by it." Ed. An\. Farmer.] 



When the object is to make a crop of hemp, 

 the seeds are sown broadcast. The usual 

 quantity is a bushel and a half to the acre ; but 

 here again the farmers differ, some using two 

 bushels or even two and a half. Much depends 

 on the strength and fertility of the soil, and the 

 care with which it has been prepared, as well 

 as the season. To these causes may be as- 

 cribed the diversity of opinion and practice. 

 The ground can only sustain and nourish a 

 certain quantity of plants; and if that limit be 

 passed, the surplus will be smothered in the 

 growth. When the seeds are sown, they are 

 ploughed or harrowed in ; ploughing is best in 

 old ground, as it avoids the injurious effect of a 

 beating rain, and the consequent baking of the 

 earth. It would be also beneficial, subse- 

 quently to roll the ground with a heavy roller. 



After the seeds are sown, the labours of the 

 cultivator are suspended, until the plants are 

 ripe, and in a state to be gathered every thing 

 in the intermediate time being left to the ope- 

 rations of nature. If the season be favourable 

 until the plants are sufficiently high to shade 

 the ground (which they will do ia a few weeks, 



at six or eight inches height,) there is a strong 

 probability of a good crop. When they attain 

 that height, but few articles sustain the effect 

 of bad seasons better than hemp. 



It is generally ripe and ready to be gathered 

 i about the middle of August, varying according 

 ' to the time of sowing. Some sow at different 

 ! periods, in order that the crop may not all 

 j ripen at the same time, and that a press of 

 labour, in rearing it, may be thus avoided. The 

 maturity of the plant is determined, by the 

 evaporation of the farina, already noticed, and 

 the leaves of the plant exhibiting a yellowish 

 hue : it is then generally supposed to be ripe, 

 but it is safest to wait a few days longer. Very 

 little attentive observation will enable any one 

 to judge when it is fully ripe. In that respect 

 it is a very accommodating crop : for if ga- 

 thered a little too soon, the lint is not materi- 

 ally injured, and it will wait the leisure of the 

 farmer some 10 days or a fortnight alter it is 

 entirely ripe. 



Two modes of gathering the plants are 

 practised; one by pulling them up by the 

 roots, an easy operation with an able-bodied 

 man, and the other by cutting them about two 

 inches (the nearer the better) above the sur- 

 face of the ground. Each mode has its parti- 

 sans, and I have pursued both. From a quar- 

 ter to a third of an acre, is the common task of 

 an average labourer, whether the one or the 

 other mode is practised. The objections to 

 pulling are, that the plants with their roots 

 remaining connected with them, are not after- 

 wards so easily handled in the several opera- 

 ting which they must undergo; that all parts 

 of the plant do not rot equally and alike, 

 when exposed to the dew and rain ; and, 

 finally, that before you put them to the brake, 

 when the root should be separated from the 

 stalk, the root drags off with it some of the linU 

 The objection to cutting is, that you lose two 

 or three inches of the best part of the plant 

 nearest the root Pulling, being the most an- 

 cient method, is most generally practised. I 

 prefer upon the whole, cutting and I believe 

 the number who prefer it is yearly increasing. 

 When pulled, it is done with the hand, which 

 is better for the protection of an old leather 

 glove. The labourer catches 20 or 30 plants 

 together, with both hands, and, by a sudden 

 jerk, draws them without much difficulty. The 

 operation of cutting is performed with a knife, 

 often made out of an old scythe, resembling a 

 sickle, though not so long, but broader. This 

 knife is applied much in the same way as the 

 sickle., except that the labourer stoops more. 



Whether pulled or cut, the plants are care- 

 fully laid on the ground, the evener the better, 

 to cure which they do in two or three days, 

 in dry weather. A light rain falling on them 

 whilst lying down is thought by some to be 

 beneficial, inasmuch as the leaves, of which 

 they should be deprived, may be then easier 

 shaken off or detached. When cured, the 

 plants are set up in the field in which they 

 were produced, in shocks of convenient size, 

 the roots or butt-ends resting on the ground, 

 and the tops united above by a band made of 

 the plants themselves. Previous to putting 

 them up in shocks, most cultivators tie the 



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