CULTIVATION OF HEMP. 



333 



and impede the growth : there should never be a smaller interval than 

 a foot between each plant. Three bushels of seed is the ordinary- 

 allowance for an acre, when sown broad-cast, this quantity being more 

 or less, according to circumstances- If sown in drills, a bushel and a 

 half is found sufficient. After the seed has been sown, great vigilance 

 is required to keep off the birds. After this period, the hemp-ground 

 requires very little care or labour till it is fit for pulling. This plant 

 is never overrun with weeds^ but, on the contrary, has the remarkable 

 property of destroying their vegetation. 



Agriculturists sometimes take advantage of this well-known fact, 

 and by sowing a crop or two of hemp on the rankest soils, they subdue 

 all noxious weeds and entirely cleanse the ground from these trouble- 

 some intruders. The male hemp comes to maturity three weeks or a 

 month earlier than the female. It is known to be ripe by the flowers 

 fading, the farina falling, and the stems turning partially yellow. 

 This period is usually about thirteen or fourteen weeks after sowing. 

 It is the frequent practice to pull these before they are quite ripe, for 

 after having arrived at their full maturity, the fibres adhere so tena- 

 ciously to the reed as not to be readily separated without injury. The 

 Suffolk cultivators gather both male and female plants at the same time, 

 reserving a small part for seed. In Lincolnshire and on the Continent, 

 they gather the male plant a month earlier than the female, and there- 

 fore small paths are made at intervals through the field, in order that 

 the persons employed may pluck the plants which are ripe without 

 trampling down those which are to remain. 



The ripeness of the female hemp is known by the same indications 

 as that of the male, and also by the calyx partially opening and its 

 seed beginning to change colour. They are both less injured by pull- 

 ing too soon than too late, but when very young, though the fibres 

 are more flexible and fine, the ropes which are made with them are 

 found not to be so lasting as when the plants are gathered in a more ma- 

 tured state. Hemp is never suffered to remain ungathered till the seed is 

 perfectly ripe, as at this period the bark becomes woody, and so coarse 

 that no subsequent process can reduce its fibres to a proper degree of 

 fineness. Some plants should therefore be preserved for seed. These 

 require no particular cultivation ; but the male hemp is likewise left 

 rather longer than usual, that it may attain to maturity, and shed its 

 farina upon the seed-bearing plant. Forty plants raised in the com- 

 mon way yielded only a pound and a half of seed, whereas from a 

 single plant which grew by itself seven pounds and a half were ob- 

 tained. 



When the hemp is pulled it is taken up by the roots, and, before the 

 plants are taken from the field, the leaves and flowers, and sometimes 

 the roots, are taken off with a wooden sword ; these are left on the ground. 



