103 



HEMP, 



THE MANNER OF GATHERING WHEN RIPE. 



The way of gathering Hemp, is by pulling the plant up by 

 the root, after which it is bound up in handfuls or bundles. 



The first season for pulling is about the middle of August, 

 when they begin to pull the male or fimble Hemp : but Mr. Miller 

 says, it would be better to defer this for a fortnight or three weeks 

 longer, till the male plants, which contain the farina fcecundans, 

 have shed their dust, without which the seeds all prove abortive, 

 produce nothing if sown the next year, and fetch no price at the 

 oil-mills, because they are only empty husks without any kernel for 

 yielding the oil; but they begin to decay after having shed their 

 farina. The remaining plants, which are the female Hemp, 

 are to be pulled a little after Michaelmas, when the seeds are 

 ripe. 



Chambers's Dictionary. 



As there are two kinds of Hemp, the male and the female, of 



which 



