FLAX AND HEMP 69 



"Hemp has been cultivated all over Europe for 

 many centuries. It is an annual, of a strong, nau- 

 seous odor, with little; green, dull-looking flowers, 

 whose stem, of the thickness of a quill pen, rises to 

 about two meters. It is cultivated, like flax, both for 

 its bark and for its grain, called hemp-seed." 



"That is the grain, I think, " said Emile, "we give 

 the goldfinch, which it cracks with its beak when it 

 breaks the shell to get out the little kernel. M 



Yes, hemp-seed is the feast of little birds. 



"The bark of the hemp has not the fineness of flax. 

 The fibers of this latter plant are so fine that twenty- 

 five grams of tow spun on the spinning wheel fur- 

 nishes a thread almost a league long. The spider's 

 web alone can rival in delicacy certain linen fab- 

 rics. 



"When hemp and flax reach maturity, they are 

 harvested, and the seeds are separated by thrashing. 

 The next operation, retting, then takes place, its 

 purpose being to render the filaments of the bark, or 

 the fibers, as they are called, easily separable from 

 the wood. These fibers, in fact, are pasted to the 

 i and stuck together by a gummy substance that 

 is very resistant and prevents separation until it 

 is destroyed by rot. They sometimes do this retting 

 by spreading the plants in the fields for a couple of 

 weeks and turning them over now and then, until the 

 tow detaches itself from the woody part or hemp- 

 stalk. 



"But the quickest way is to tie the flax and hemp in 

 hi indies and keep them >ul, 1 in a pond. Tin-re 



soon follows a rot which gives out intolerable smells; 



