AGRICULTURAL MUSEUM. 509 



by a liook formed for the purpose, of the best steel, and 

 as broad as a sickle, but not so crooked, and the edge 

 smooth, with a set of about an inch just where the shank 

 is formed that luns into (he handle, which sets the edge 

 lower, and prevents the necessity of stooping too much 

 in cutting the Ilernp. In gathering, it is supported by 

 the left arm and knee, and spread regu}a{ iy on the 

 ground, as is done with flax. In about six or eight 

 days, if the weather prove dry, it is bound up in bundles, 

 and carefully preserved Irom the vvea;her, either in 

 sheds or stacks, unii! about the middle of December ; 

 tiien carefully s})read out on grass land. 'I he time ibr 

 rotting will depend on the weather. In an open and 

 mild season it will be sooner affected, and should be ex- 

 amined towards the middle or end of February. When 

 sufficiently rotted, it should be set up in stacks in the 

 field ; and when perfectly dry the hemp brake should be 

 brought, and as one stack is broke it should be carried 

 to another: this biake is generally about four feet and 

 an half long ; the pieces in front being about four inches 

 apart, and an inch beliind : As the Hcni|> past:es through 

 this brake it should be carried home, where it must pass 

 through a flax brake ; when, after the shives are clear- 

 ed oft', it is rolled or twisted up in handsfull, turning in 

 the loose ends, and bound up strongly in tvA o or three 

 places into bundles of fifty or sixty pounds ; then it is fifc 

 for market. 



A top dressing of ashes or plaister will prove of coij- 

 siderable advantage to the crop. 



The best and most convenient mode of raising seed is 

 to drop a few grains in hills, about five or six feet apart, 

 which may be done in the hills along with corn in plant- 

 ing. They should afterwards be thinned, eaving three 

 or four in a hill ; and when the male plants begin to de- 

 cay, they should be cut out. 



P?pe Creek, Ulh March, 1811. 



