Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 2, 1802).djvu/489

Rh gentleman received some seeds from the Secretary of the Society, in 1786, which were sown on the 17th day of May, and the plants appeared on the 6th day of June. They were few, and sickly; and, notwithstanding several favourable showers, they continued to languish so much, that the experiment was entirely abandoned, and buck-wheat was harrowed into the ground for a fallow-crop. In the beginning of October, however, the persons employed in cutting the buck-wheat, discovered some seed in the heads of a few straggling hemp-plants, which had been suffered to grow among the crop; and which, after being carefully threshed, produced three pints of tolerably good seeds. On the 10th of May, 1787, they were sown on a small piece of good soil: in the course of nine days the young plants came up, and were suffered to grow till August, when they were pulled. The produce of pure hemp weighed at the rate of 95 stone 7 pounds and 12 ounces per acre, beside three bushels, two pecks, and half a pint of seeds that were saved; which is upwards of one-third more than the best crops of English hemp have ever been known to yield.

In the Eastern climates, hemp-leaves are used like opium, and possess similar intoxicating properties. The Russians and Poles, even of the higher classes, bruise or roast the seeds, mix them with salt, and eat them on bread.—Birds, kept in cages, are likewise fond of this oily seed; but they should not be indulged in its constant use, which is apt to render them prematurely old, blind, and at length consumptive.

Hemp being an article of extensive utility, various vegetables have been discovered, which may serve as substitutes. Among these are the Canada Golden-rod, or Solidago Canadensis, a perennial plant, that might be easily cultivated in Britain: its stalks are numerous, straight, and grow above five feet in height; they afford very strong fibres, if treated in the same manner as hemp. The sun-flower, or Helianthus, L. also affords single filaments or fibres, which are said to be as thick, and in all respects as strong, as small pack-thread.—See also.  HEN, the female of the (Phasianus Gallus), an useful domestic bird which lays eggs, and produces one, and sometimes two broods of chickens in one year.

If well fed, and allowed to roam in a farm-yard, a good hen will deposit, in the course of twelve months, above 200 eggs. She prepares her nest without any care, either among bushes, or by scratching a hole in the ground; the time of hatching is preceded by a clucking noise, and the animal's discontinuing to lay eggs. Ten or twelve chickens being the greatest number that a good hen can rear and clutch at a time, various methods have been devised for obtaining young broods by artificial means, of which we have already treated under the article.

Capons may easily be taught to clutch a fresh brood of chickens: First, the fowl is made so tame, as to feed from the hand; on the approach of the evening, the feathers are plucked off his breast; the bare skin is rubbed with nettles; and the chickens are then placed beneath him. This expedient is repeated two or three nights in succession, till the animal conceives an affection for the young birds thus committed to his charge: when one