AND RURAL ECONOMIST. 97 



plant is very tender when it first shoots up, and is affected 

 by frost. Some have sowed as early as the first of April ; 

 but it is generally agreed, that all the month of May, and 

 about the 10th of it especially, is the most favorable time. 

 An experienced and successful hemp grower, in the neigh- 

 borhood of Lexington, being asked the best time to sow 

 hemp, answered, immediately before a rain. And undoubt- 

 edly 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 broad-cast. 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 maybe ascribed 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 wdll 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 subsequently to roll the ground Avith a heavy 

 roller. 



After the seeds are sown, the labors 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 operations of nature. If the season be favorable un- 

 til the plants are sufficiently high to shade the ground, (which 

 they will do in a few weeks, at six or eight inches' height,) 

 there is strong probability of a good crop. When they at- 

 tain 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 labor in 

 rearing it may bs thus avoided. The muturity of the plant 

 is determined by the evaporation of the farina, already no- 



* [Would it not be well to soak the seed in water a few hours previous 

 to sowins^ ? 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 vege- 

 tation of mangel-wurtzei is wonderfully accelerated by it. — £d. Am. 

 Farmer.] 



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