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MANCFACTUliB^ FIlOM ITETTLE FIBBftS. 16) 



The tirae required Yof steepinoj them is from five to 'eight Steeping, 

 days; but it is better they sljotald remain rather too long in 

 the water than too short a time, yet great care should be 

 taken that they are not overdone. When the fibre approaches 

 to a pulp, and will easily separate from the reed, and the reed 

 becomes brittle and assumes a white appearance, this opera- 

 tion is finished, 



^;. The bundles should then be taken o'nt singly, very care- Grassing. 



^IPfully, to avoid damaging the fibres, and be rinsed as they 

 are taken out of the water to cleanse them from the filth 

 they may have contracted ; they must then be strewed very 

 thin upon the grass, and be gently handled. When the 

 surface of them is become sufficiently dry, and the harl has 

 obtained a degree of firmness, they should be turned repeat- 

 edly, till they are sufficiently grassed ; the time required U 

 known only by experience, so much depends on the state 

 of the weather during the process; when they are suffici- 

 ently done, the harl blisters, and the stems become brittle; 

 they must then be taken up and made into bundles, and 

 secured from the weather. 



The harl is now to be separated from the reed, after the Separation of 

 manner practised on flax and hemp, either by manual ]a- ^^^ ^"^* 

 bour or machinery now in use in those manufactories. This 

 operation was performed in my experiments by hand, and 



, with implements constructed by myself, but which I con- 

 sider too simple here to describe, . 

 The harl being separated from the reed, it requires next Dressing. f 

 to be beaten, that it may become more ductile for the ope- 

 ration of dressing, which may be performed with such im- 

 plements as are used for dressing flax or hemp. 



This operation being accomplished, the produce of the Spinning, 

 nettles is arrived at a state ready for spinning, and may be 

 spun into various qualities of yarn, either by hand, or by ijjf 



machinery constructed for the purposes of spinning flax or ' ^ 



hemp; and this yarn may be successfully substituted for m 



the manufacturing every sort of cloth, cordage, rope, &c., ^' ^ 



which is usually made from hemp or flax, and is particu- ', {? 



larly calculated for making twine for fishing-nets equal to Twine for fish- 

 ^be Dutch twine imported for that purpose, the fibres of the '"8 nets. 



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