“Perennial hemp.  Cultivation.—­Affects wet mellow land, but may be cultivated with advantage on upland black mould or loam, if moist and of middling good quality.  Manure will assist the produce.  It may be planted from the beginning of October to the latter end of March, in drills about fifteen inches asunder and nine inches distance in the drills.

“Propagation.—­Sow the seeds in a bed in the month of March, and transplant the roots next autumn twelvemonth, as above directed; or divide the old roots, which is the quickest way of obtaining a crop.

“Time of Harvesting.—­If a fine quality of Hemp is desired, mow the crop when it is in full bloom; but should a greater produce of inferior quality be more desirable, it should stand until the seeds are nearly ripe.  It should remain in the field about a week after it is mown, and when sufficiently dry gathered in bundles and stacked as Hemp.

“Separation of Hemp from the Pulps.—­Rot it in water, as practised with Hemp.

“The Perennial Hemp grows to the height of from four to six feet.

“The root inclines horizontally with numerous fleshy fibres at the extremity.

“The buds many, and resembling the buds of the Lily of the Valley.

“It is the Urtica canadensis of Kalm, one of which was brought over and planted by the side of this plant, and we could not find any difference.”

60.  Lapsana communis.  Nipple-wort.—­This plant is considered by the country people as a sovereign remedy for the piles.  The plant is immersed in boiling water, and the cure is effected by applying the steam arising therefrom to the seat of the disease; and this, with cooling medicine and proper regimen, is seldom known to fail in curing this troublesome disease.

61.  Daphne laureola.  Wood laurel.—­The leaves of this plant have little or no smell but a very durable nauseous acrid taste.  If taken internally in small doses, as ten or twelve grains, they are said to operate with violence by stool and sometimes by vomit, so as not to be ventured on with safety, unless their virulence be previously abated by long boiling, and even then they are much to precarious to be trusted to.  The flowers are of a different nature, being in taste little other than mucilaginous and sweetish, and of a light pleasant smell.  The pulpy part of the berries appears also to be harmless.  The bark macerated in water has of late been much employed in France as a topical application to the skin for the purpose of excoriating and exciting a discharge.

62.  Rumex acutus.  Sharp-pointed dock.—­The root of this plant has long been used in medicine, and considered as useful in habitual costiveness, obstructions of the viscera, and in scorbutic and cutaneous maladies; in which case both external and internal applications have been made of it.  A decoction of half or a whole drachm of the dry roots has been considered a dose.—­Lewis’s Mat.  Medica.