206 On Italian Hemp and Flax. 



dicial to them, and their seed, will acquire a more per- 

 fect maturity ; while the male hemp will in this interim, 

 reap the advantage of drying the earth adhering to its 

 roots, which will then be easily shaken off. 



MACERATION AND PREPARATION OF THE HEMP. 



There are several methods for macerating hemp, in 

 order to loosen the fibrous parts of it. This can be done, 

 by exposing the hemp on a meadow, to the influence of 

 the atmosphere, and especially to that of the dews, turn- 

 ing it every day ; and then while still wet with dew, let 

 it be heaped up to undergo some degree of fermentation ; 

 but this practice is not one of the best, because the hemp 

 gets unequally macerated. In countries where there is 

 no water to submerge it, maceration may be effected by 

 putting the bundles in ditches, dug in the ground, put- 

 ting by turns a stack of bundles, and one of earth, co- 

 vering them well with earth. 



The best method of all, is that of plunging the hemp 

 into the water in receptacles made for the purpose, some 

 of which, very large, are to be seen in the territories of 

 Bologna, Arezzo, and Ferrara. Some put the hemp to 

 macerate in the running water of a river, but experience 

 has shewn, that it does better in still water, nay, if possible, 

 in water that has already macerated other hemp. Having 

 chosen the convenient pond, the borders must be raised 

 a little to prevent the rain from carrying any earth in to it. 

 They then prepare the hemp ; v\ell dried, and cleansed 

 from the leaves, they cut off its roots and thinnest extre- 

 miiies, which they put aside to macerate separately. 

 They then make it up in bundles, all of an equal length 

 and size, not too closely bound, and these they dispose in 

 the pond alternately, one opposite to the other, for these 

 bundles being of a shape somewhat conical, they occupy 



