294 



HEMP. 



Next in importance to the cultivation of Flax, would be tha of Hemp, 

 which is very largely imported into England, Nine-tenths of the whole 

 quantity come from the Russians alone, who take nothing in return 

 from the British farmer. Large tracts of marshes, and lands situated 

 near marshes, even in Norfolk, that bear but a scanty herbage, 

 would undoubtedly produce rich crops of hemp. I insert the follow- 

 ing information on the subject, with the hope that it may conduce to 

 a more extensive growth of this highly productive and valuable plant 

 in England. 



Hemp, or Canabis sativa, is an annual plant, usually rising to tlie 

 height of five or six feet. In some situations it is, however, capable of 

 attaining to a much larger growth. The flowers and fruit grow upon 

 separate plants. Those bearing the flowers are called male hemp ; 

 those bearing the fruit or seed, the female. The fruit grows in great 

 abundance on the stem of the female hemp. This seed is not preceded 

 by any corolla ; a membranaceous hairy calyx, terminating in long 

 points, encloses the pistil, the base of which becomes the seed. 



The male is quicker in its growth than the female, and generally 

 rises half a foot higher, by which provision of nature the farina from 

 the stamina, or the fecundating dust which conveys fertility to the 

 seed, is readily shed on the lower plant. 



Most soils may be made fit by good manuring for the cultivation of 

 hemp, but rich moist earth is considered the most favourable to its 

 growth. It seldom thrives on a stiff clay soil. A poor land will 

 yield but a scanty crop, the quality, however, will be proportionably 

 finer ; while a strong rich land produces a greater quantity, but this 

 will be coarse. Cultivators are therefore regulated in their choice of 

 soil by the description of hemp which they wish to raise. 



In Lincolnshire, where strong and heavy hemp is grown, the hemp- 

 gardens are small, and near the houses of the growers. These gardens 

 absorb vast quantities of manure, and produce hemp every year, with- 

 out any alternation of the crop, or any change except that, in years 

 when the hemp is pulled early, a few turnips are sown for a stubble 

 crop. When the hemp is required for cordage, it should be sown in 

 drills, as a stronger and coarser fibre will be produced. 



When it is wanted for purposes of weaving, then broad-cast is the 

 best method, as the stems rise more slender and fine in proportion to 

 their proximity, provided they are not so near to each other as to choke 



