332 THE HEMP CROP. 



obnoxious to the white cabbage butterfly, and thus acting 

 as a preservative of the cabbage crop. 



The last week in April or the first week in May is 

 considered the best time in ordinary seasons for getting 

 the seed in the ground. If sown earlier, it is liable to 

 injury from the late frosts of our springs ; and if sown 

 later, the early growth is too rapid, and the plants shoot 

 up spindly and weak. The season and the state of 

 preparation of the land must of course determine this 

 point. With all crops, it is better to delay sowing a few 

 days than to get them in under unfavourable conditions, 

 either of weather or soil. From 2 to 4 pecks of good seed 

 is ample for an acre ; where more is used, it is impossible 

 that the plants can have proper access to air and light, 

 Jind their natural healthy development must be checked. 

 It is, however, a matter of importance to see that the seed 

 be good, as the seed used is always of foreign growth, 1 

 and being only a produce of secondary importance to the 

 grower, it is too generally harvested and stored in a 

 careless and negligent manner. Unless it had been fully 

 matured in the pod at the time of harvesting, or been 

 carefully exposed to the air and dried after being sepa- 

 rated from the stem, it is, like other oily seeds, very 

 liable to heat in the mass, and its germinative powers to 

 be either partially or completely destroyed. The quality 

 of the seed is generally indicated by its appearance. If 

 it be of a bright shiny gray colour, plump and bold 

 in appearance, of good weight, and of a sweetish taste, 

 with a greenish yellow colour when crushed by the teeth, 

 we may receive it as well matured and harvested, and fit 

 for seed. If, on the contrary, these external indications 

 be wanting, and the seed be of a dark colour and bitter 

 taste when broken, it is most probable that it has been 



1 Riga seed is always considered the best for seed purposes. 



