a Fibrous Sttbstancs from Bean Stalks, 183 



are to be thrashed in a mill : the bcarrs should be put to the 

 rnill, not at right angles^ but on a parallel., or nearly so, 

 with the rollers, eli?e the stravt', particularly it" the beaiis 

 are very dry, is apt to be much cut. If the straw \s not 

 to be steeped, on putting the beans to be thrashed at right 

 angles, or nearly so, with the rollers of the mill, a certain 

 proportion of the fibres, or hemp, may easily be got from the 

 , straw, these being in general not so much cut as the straw ; 

 but often f/uid torn off and hanging about it like fine sew- 

 ing threads. The hemp thus taken off, though its lying 

 under waier for months would do it no harm, requires only 

 to be steeped a few minutes, drawn through a hackle and 

 washed, previous to its being laid up for use. If ihc hemp, 

 or fibres, collected in this way (which is a fine light busi- 

 ness for children, and such as are not able for hard work, 

 and which requires no ingenuity), are intended only for 

 making paper, they require -neither steeping nor hacklings, 

 but only to be put up into parcels and kept dry till sent off 

 to the manufacturer. 



The straw of beans contains a saccharine juice, and is 

 highly nutritive, perhaps more so than any other; and, like 

 clover, the prunings of the vine, the loppings of the fig- 

 tree, &c. produces a rich infusion, and commonly fine 

 table-beer, as well as an excellent spirit by distillation. It 

 is the hemp or fibres that prevents cattle from eating it. 

 These, like hairs in human food, make cattle dislike it. 

 The collecting of it, therefore, should never be neglected, 

 nor the boys and girls in workhouses and other places be 

 permitted to be idle, while business of this kind would evi- 

 dently tend both to their own and their employers' ad- 

 vantage. 



It is a fact, that about the generality of mills for beating 

 and dressing hemp and flax, a large proportion, in some in- 

 land places both of Great Britain and Ireland, ajiiounting 

 nearly to one-half of what is carried thither, is either left 

 there to rot, under the name of refuse, or thrown away as 

 of no use, because too rough and sho^t for being spun and 

 converted into cloth. Now, from the experiments I have 

 tried, and caused to be tried, I have uniformly found, that 

 though too rough and short for being convened into cloth, 

 even of the co^irsesi kind, the refuse of hemp and flax, on 

 being beat and shaken, so as to separate the strawy from the 

 stringy particles, which can be done in a few minutes by a 

 mill or hand labour, as is most convenient, becomes thereby 

 a« soft and pliable, and as useful for making paper, as the 

 longest, ancl what is reckoned the most valuable part of the 



M 4 plant. 



