Some Minor Farm Crops. 
145 
by adopting such a three-course rotation as potatoes, hemp, 
wheat — hemp taking the place of fallow. 
Very great importance is attached to the choice of seed, and 
it is essential to procure fresh seed only, which should be 
bright, heavy, and plump, possessing a slightly sweet nutty 
taste and brownish-grey colour. When the seed is dull and 
the outer shell cracks by lightly rubbing in the hand and the 
taste is somewhat bitter, the seed is old and will be of poor 
germinating capacity. Hemp seed is difficult to harvest and 
keep in good condition owing to the large quantity of oil 
which it contains and which soon becomes rancid, a fact which 
makes it almost imperative to sow only seed which is but one 
year old. It was formerly the practice in this country to save 
seed for the following year as is customary at the present day 
in Italy, Russia, Hungary, and elsewhere ; later, however, 
better seed was procured from Riga than was saved from the 
home-grown crops, and at the present time the hemp crops 
which are raised in this country come almost entirely from 
seed imported from Southern Russia. Such seed is preferred 
to either Manchurian or Italian, since with the latter varieties 
the seed does not come properly to maturity in this country, 
and so a valuable asset is lost. With the Russian variety 
some eight or ten bushels of seed per acre may be obtained the 
value of which almost completely covers the cost of producing 
the crop. 
The proper time to sow hemp is during the latter part of 
April or the beginning of May. The seed is either sown 
broadcast or is drilled, and then lightly harrowed in. The 
quantity of seed sown per acre depends not only upon the 
germinating capacity of the seed, but also upon the manner of 
sowing (drilling requiring less seed than broadcast sowing) 
and upon the purpose for which the crop is raised. If it is 
grown for the production of fine fibre suitable for spinning 
and weaving, upwards of three bushels per acre may be sown 
broadcast, the plants being subsequently thinned out by hoeing. 
When, however, the crop is for use in the manufacture of 
coarse articles such as cordage, one and a half to two bushels 
of seed per acre are found to be sufficient. After some four 
or five days have elapsed the plants make their appearance 
above ground and soon afterwards they must be thinned out 
by hoeing to about eight to ten inches apart, or to a greater 
distance if the crop is grown for cordage purposes. 
At the present time hemp is drilled in precisely the same 
manner as wheat, two bushels being sown to the acre, and it 
frequently happens that no other cultivation is necessary than 
to remove The larger weeds, although sometimes the crop is 
thinned by horse-hoeing across the drills. 
