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Raising and dressing of HEMP. 



2(58: 



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 5. 



which mufl: be particularly and exadlly attended to, fince 

 the fuccefs of the crop greatly depends upon it. Sometime 

 in May, the ground being nioiftand In a vegetating ftate 

 but by no means wet, it muft be well ploughed, the fur« 

 .rows clofe and even, the foil lying light and mellow it 

 muft be fowed very even with two bufliels of feed upon 

 one acre; a man with an iron tooth harrow follows the 

 iower, and harrows in the feed with two horfes without 





balks. 



any baiks, for the lefs the ground be trampled the better;, 

 if harrowing one way be not fufficient to cover the feed,. 

 though it would be beft if that could be done, it muft be: 

 crofs harrowed. The ground being moift as I faid before,- 

 but by no means wet fo as to clod, which would ruin the 

 crop, the feed will all ftart and come up together, which; 

 is a fure figa of a good crop, and nothing after that, but 

 too much wet, will hurt it; for hemp thus come up, bids 

 defiance to weeds and grafs of every kind; its growth is fo 

 quick and it fo efFed:ually fliades the ground, that nothing 

 below can rife or fliew its head, and it fo preferves all the 

 moifture below, that the hotter and dryer the w^eather the 



fafter it grows. Whereas if the feed be fown, when the 

 ground is dry, the feed that lies deepeft where the moifture 

 is, will come up firft, and thefe will Ihade and ftarve thofe 

 that come after, by which means the firft comers will be 

 too large, and the laft will be much too fmall, fo that the 

 crop will be greatly damaged every way : So much depends 



upon this one circumftance, of fowing the feed when the 

 ground is moift and fit to receive it: The crop thus rightly 

 managed will ftand as thick as very good wheat, and be 

 from four to fix feet high, according to the ftrength of the 

 ground; and the ftems will not be thicker than a good 

 wheat ftraw; by this means the hemp will be the finer, it 

 will yield the greater, quantity, and it may be plucked 

 from the ground like flax, which will be a very great fav- 

 ing: But if It be fowed thin, that is one buftiel to an acre, 

 which is the common practice, it grows large, the hemp 

 is harfh and coarfe, and then it muft be cut with hooks, 



which 





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