s. A well-trimmed
hedge around a fruit-orchard will keep out all fruit-thieves. The great
difficulty is the _unwillingness_ of cultivators to cut off, so short
and so frequently, _the fine growth_.

Shear off the first year's growth (_a_) within three inches of the
ground (_b_). Cut the vigorous shoots that will rise from this shearing,
four inches higher, about the middle of July, and similar and successive
cuttings, each a little longer, in the two following years; these will
bring the hedge to a proper height. The form of trimming shown in end
view of properly-trimmed hedge, protects the bottom from shade by too
much foliage on the top: the effects of that shade are seen in neglected
hedge in the cut.

HEMP.

This is one of the staple articles of American agriculture. It is much
cultivated in Kentucky and other contiguous states. Its market value is
so fluctuating that many farmers are giving up its cultivation. The
substance of these directions is taken from an elaborate article from
the pen of the honorable Henry Clay. Had not the length of that article
rendered it inconsistent with the plan of this volume, we should have
given it to the American people as it came from the hand of their
greatest statesman, who was so eminently American in all his sentiments
and labors.

_Preparation of the Soil_--should be as thorough as for flax;--this can
not be too strongly insisted on. Much is lost by neglect, under the
mistaken notion that hemp will do about as well on coarse, hard land.
Plants for seeds should be sown in drills four feet apart, and separate
from that designed only for the lint. The stalks should be allowed to
stand about eight inches apart in the rows. Plants are male and female,
distinguished in the blossoms. When the farina from the blossoms on the
male plants (the female plants do not blossom) has generally fallen,
pull up the male plants, leaving only the females to mature. Cut the
seed-plants after the first hard frost, and carry in wet, so as to avoid
loss by shelling. Seed is easily separated by a common flail. After the
seeds are thrashed out, they should be spread thin, and thoroughly
dried, or their vegetative power will be destroyed by heat or decay.
They should be spread to be kept for the next spring's planting, and not
be kept in large bulk. Their vegetation is very uncertain after they are
a year old. Sow hemp for lint broadcast, when the weather has become
warm enough for corn-planting.