I 227 ] 
the coiimon practice, one third of the seed at least 
never comes to maturity. 
<( It is well known to every farmer, that in the 
three bread colonies at least, the spring and suni- 
Mer seasons are of late years become very dry ; so 
that a crop of flax is become very precarious,, 
scarcely one year in seven producing a good one ; 
This is a constant compkiot in the mouth of every 
husbandman : Now hemp does not require half the 
rain that flax does ; this is a circomstiince that is 
well worth the notice and attention of every farmery 
and therefore, by his raising hemp in the manner 
before directed, and by preparing it in the best 
manner for spinning and weaving into good clotb., 
he can, with greater certainty, supply all the neces¬ 
sary uses of his family ; and by selliiig the overplus 
he can purchase such things as his wife and daugh¬ 
ters m.\v think convenient on extraordinary occa;* 
sions. This however need not hinder him from rais¬ 
ing some flax every year : But I think that it is -mare 
for his interesL to fix ins chief dependence upon his 
crop of hemp, as that is more sure, and every way 
more profitable, the general rim of seasons consi¬ 
dered. And let him not be disgusted, and think 
that I am about to persuade him, his wife and 
daughters to wear oznabrigs, for I can assure him 
that I have seen dowlass, which is made of hemp, 
worth five and six shillings the yard, which no 
farmer need be ashamed to wear. 
