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fided. It is not to be denied but there are some 

 existing difficulties to be removed before the 

 cultivation of hemp can be made generally 

 agreeable to all persons interested in the agri- 

 cultural produce of the province; but as the 

 chief of these arise from the discountenance the 

 clergy might shew to its introduction on an ex- 

 tensive scale, from a supposition that it would 

 interfere with raising wheat and other grain 

 upon the lands now in tillage, and thereby 

 somewhat diminish their revenues, may they 

 not be surmounted b}^ making it a tythable 

 article, and fixing the rate to be paid as it is 

 in England, namely, five shilhngs per acre, or 

 otherwise in the same proportion as the con- 

 tribution of grain is at present taken by them, 

 a 26th part? Under such a regulation the eccle- 

 siastical body would consult its own interest by 

 promoting the increase of this production, a 

 measure which could be easily accomplished 

 by the powerful influence that body possesses 

 in all the concerns of the country people, whe- 

 ther temporal or spiritual. I have been un- 

 equivocally assured by a gentleman who has 

 devoted the greatest part of his life to the im- 

 provements of growing and dressing both hemp 

 and flax, that he has carefully examined several 

 parcels of the former, sent some time ago from 

 CaiUt Ja to London, and is decidedly of opinion 



