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CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 



the most favourable time. An experienced and successful hemp-grower, in the 

 neighbourhood of Lexington, being asked the best time to sow hemp, answer- 

 ed, immediately before a rain. And undoubtedly it is very fortunate to have 

 a moderate rain directly after sowing. 



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 far- 

 mers 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 ascribed the diver- 

 sity of opinion and practice. The ground can only sustain and nourish a cer- 

 tain quantity of plants; and if tnat limit be passed, the surplus will be smother- 

 ed 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 bene- 

 ficial subsequently 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 interme- 

 diate time being left to the operations of nature. If the season be favourable 

 until the plants are sufficiently high to shade the ground, (which they will do 

 in a few weeks, at six or eight inches height,) there will be a strong proba- 

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

 labour, in rearing it, may be thus avoided. The maturity of the plant is de- 

 termined 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 gathered a little too soon, the lint is not materially 

 injured, and it will wait the leisure of the farmer some ten days or a fortnight 

 after 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 cut- 

 ting them about two inches (the nearer the better) above the surface of the 

 ground. Each mode has its partisans, and I have pursued both. From a 

 quarter 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 operations 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 beforeyou put them to the brake, when the rootshould 

 be separated from the stalk, the roots drag off with it some of the lint. 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 ancient 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 

 twenty or thirty plants together, with both hands, and, by a sudden jerk, draws 

 them up, without much difficulty. The operation of cutting is performed with 

 a knife, often made out of an old scythe, resembling a sickle, though not quite 

 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 carefully 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 bene- 

 ficial, 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 cultiva- 



