CROTALAR1A 



JUNCEA 



Separation 



THE SAN-HEMP PLANT 



Harvest. 



Pulled up by 

 the Boots. 



Left to Dry. 



Withering. 



Not practised 

 in Bengal. 



Separation 

 of Fibre. 



Five Days' 

 Betting. 



Stagnant 

 Water. 



Salsette 

 Method. 



Stacking till 



Convenient 



Season. 



Stripping and 

 Washing. 



across the field. The drill coulters" are 12 to 14 inches apart, and the 

 double drilling secures even distribution of the necessary heavy seed rate 

 (about 70 Ib. per acre). If the seed germinates properly, no further 

 culture is required until the crop is ploughed in as green manure or reaped 

 for fibre." 



Diseases and Pests. Very little is known regarding the enemies of 

 this plant. Maxwell-Lefroy (Agri. Journ. Ind., i., pt. iii., 187-91 ; also 

 Memoirs, Deft, Agri, Ind,, 1907, i., 158, etc.) gives particulars of three 

 moths, the caterpillars of which often do much harm to the crop. 



Harvest. It is customary to read that the crop is harvested after the 

 flowers have appeared, but in certain localities the plants are left on the 

 field until the fruits have begun to form, and in some instances even until 

 they are ripe. " The finest, strongest and best fibre may possibly be got 

 from plants which are not dead ripe, but very good fibre as well as seed 

 are got from a ripe crop " (Mollison). In most cases the plants are 

 pulled up by the roots, in others the stems are cut with a sickle close to 

 the ground. They are left on the field for a few days to allow of withering, 

 and are then stripped of their leaves ; these are regarded as a necessary 

 return to the soil. The stems are tied into neat bundles that may be 

 easily handled, each containing not more than 100 stalks. The bundles 

 are then preserved for two or three weeks until they are thoroughly dried, 

 and the remaining leaves and seeds are thereafter thrashed out. But as 

 with jute so with san fibre, much difference of opinion prevails regarding 

 the nature and extent of withering necessary before subjection to retting. 

 Mukerji (Handbook Ind, Agri., 307) says that in the damp climate of 

 Bengal stacking before retting injures the fibre. Stacking is therefore 

 very little practised in that province. 



Separation of Fibre. The dried bundles are tied into larger bundles, 

 then placed in pools of water and weighted with stones or logs of wood, 

 until they are completely submerged, much after the fashion detailed 

 regarding jute, only that since the steeping takes place usually in the 

 hot months, a period of five days is ordinarily sufficient, but in cold weather 

 eight or nine days may be required. In some instances retting in damp 

 mud on the margins of tanks or lakes seems to be the system followed ; 

 in others complete submergence in water is deemed essential. By some 

 writers stagnant water is condemned as destroying the colour and lustre of 

 the fibre, running water being advocated as preferable. But this seems 

 a mistake, as longer retting would certainly be required in running water. 

 It is also sometimes customary to set the lower and thicker ends of the 

 stems into water for twenty-four hours, so as to secure for these a longer 

 retting than is necessary for the upper portions. In deep water longer retting 

 is required than in shallow. In Salsette there is said to be very little retting, 

 and this circumstance is claimed as the reason of the superiority of the 

 fibre there produced. In many localities the complaint is made that 

 sufficient water does not exist at the harvest season to allow of an extended 

 production. This difficulty, it would seem, might be easily and conveniently 

 disposed of by drying the stems and stacking them till a more convenient 

 season. Districts with a limited supply of water are those where stacking 

 would be easy. The stacking of hemp is moreover believed, if anything, to 

 improve the fibre, and should be tested with saw-hemp. 



The process of stripping and washing the fibre is very similar to that 

 pursued with jute, but more difficult and laborious. The strips of fibre 



434 



