178 On Hemp. 



wrong. Let hiiiij when he thinks the retting has gone far 

 enouo^h, take out of the water a glean from the middle, from 

 which take out a stem, then hold the stem by the root end, and 

 draw the thumb-nail up the stem to the top ; if the fibre slip up 

 the stem, it will be sufficiently retted ; if not, it will require another 

 day, or perhaps more ; also spread the glean on its side on the 

 land to dry, it will do so in the course of the day ; if the stem 

 then breaks freely, and the fibre leaves it easily, it will have got 

 a good ret, as it is called. When thus far finished, the sods must 

 be taken off, and two men will be required to take out the gleans ; 

 one to lift them partly out of the water with a fork, root first ; the 

 other taking them from him with a fork ; and thus, with the 

 assistance of the bottom man, the gleans are lifted on to the 

 ground, and form a couch, and so proceed until finished. The 

 next day, as if suffered to remain longer in the couch it heats and 

 rots immediately, it is carted out, care being taken that it is laid 

 straight in the cart and taken to grass-land that has been mown 

 and the hay taken therefrom for some time, so that a considerable 

 quantity of new grass or eddish may have grown, in which case 

 the worms do not take in the fibre so much.* After it is laid 

 out on the eddish it should be spread by women very evenly in 

 rows, at I5. 6d. per day and their diet with beer. The hemp will 

 require to lie on the eddish perhaps three weeks or more to 

 bleach and the fibre to get free ; it will require turning over with 

 a light long pole, putting the pole underneath the top part and lift- 

 ing it over ; this must be done very evenly every three or four days : 

 this labour is done by women. 



To ascertain when it has lain long enough on the grass to 

 bleach, the cultivator must after ten days or less, if there have been 

 heavy dews, examine the stems in different parts of the field ; and 

 if he discovers any pink spots on the stems, it will be sufficiently 

 bleached, if not it must lie longer; there is no fear of the fibre 

 deteriorating until the pink spots appear : that perhaps by fre- 

 quent turning may be three weeks ; the hemp must then be 

 gathered and tied into bundles, and set up in stooks to dry (the 

 stooks consisting of ten or twelve bundles each), and tied from the 

 middle bundle of each side to each end, to keep the wind from 

 blowing it over. When perfectly dry, it must be carried from the 

 field and placed in a barn or ricked in some exposed part with 

 cullis roof, where it will keep dry. The scutching has next to be 



* When hemp is spread on summer-eaten grass-land, the worms will 

 draw a considerable quantity of the fibre into their holes; there requires 

 a good portion of grass after mowing to prevent them (the worms) from so 

 doing; — the stumps and new grass prevent the worms destroying the fibre, 

 provided proper attention is paid to the turning. 



