254 farmers' and mechanics' journal. 



hemp to <he place of tlneshing. If threshed in the fielcl. it should 

 be liiovcd on a cloUi attached to two poies. like hay-poles, to save 

 the loose seed. If removed to a ham, it should be done on a cart 

 or wai^^on, with a cloth or tight box. 



We clean with a common fanning-mill, taking care to give the 

 the |)roper speed, and to guage every part to suit the weight of the 

 seed. 



After the seed is cleaned and put into bins or casks, it will be 

 well to shovel it ov^r. to prevent it from heating. I am quite sure 

 that seed kept from heating and from wet will be good as long as 

 three years, if kept cool in the summer. 



If your hemp is sown broadcast, and you design to save the seed, 

 cut ii when about half the seeds have begun to change their color, 

 an i proceed as above directed — only you will thresh within four 

 fair days, without breaking the bundle, and put (he hemp under 

 cover to completely cure, — and when thoroughly cured, you may 

 thresh again, breaking the baiuls as other grain. 



Mr. Lewis Buffet, of Scaghticoke. the last year, sowed five bush- 

 els of seed on two and a half acres of land. He cut his hemp with 

 a cradle, and practised as here directed. He saved sixty -six bush- 

 els of seed, of a good quality ; and his share of the hemp sold for 

 seventy-two dollars, after paying for the dressing in hemp. Total 

 vaUie of the lint, one hundred and eight dollars. Such hemp, when 

 broken in an unrotted stale, and' subjected to a water process after 

 breaking, and properly cleaned, will equal the best Russian hemp. 



We use the common corn-cutter for cutting planted hemp ; but 

 use it carefully, so as not to jar off the seed. 



In all cases where you wish to save the lint, you will be careful 

 to ^u( (he stem under cover as soon as you can, to prevent it from 

 being stained by the weather. 



N. B. Use the common flail for threshing. 

 1 am in great haste, 



Your obedient servant, 



Joseph Hines. 

 Stillwater, A*. Y., Aug. 21, 1828." 



The hemp, when cut, should be suffered to dry a day or two, 

 then bound up in small bundles and shocked together, or housed 

 until it is put into the water to rot. 



Rotting. — This is performed in various ways : 13y water — by 

 exposure to the dews — by steaming, &c. &;c. The object of it is, 

 to separate the lint from (he epidermis, or outer skin, and also 

 from the inner part of the stalk, to which it adheres, by means of 

 mucilaginous or other matters. The lint also probably contains 

 some coloring, extractive and other vegetable matters, whicii must 

 be cleared away ; and (he more perfectly this is done, witliout in- 

 juring the texture and strength of the fibre, the whiter and better 



