TAETOUS MODES OF STEEPING. 137 



will do him serious injury. In one respect hemp gives 

 more trouble than flax, and requires a greater variety of 

 management, according as it is of more or less gigantic 

 stature. "When hemp is of the tallest kind, the plan of 

 pulling it ought to be rejected, because the fibres of the 

 root are coarser than those of the stem. In that case it 

 is absolutely necessary to mow it, to avoid spoiling the 

 sample by the admixture of root fibres. 



VA.EIOTTS MODES OE STEEPING HEMP. 



Eor hemp, as for flax, the most usual, and the best 

 mode of steeping, or roitissage, is to immerse the plant 

 in flowing or in standing water. In some few places, 

 and mostly under the compulsion of adverse circum- 

 stances, the retting is effected by spreading it on a 

 meadow, and turning it frequently, till the rains and 

 dews have completed the putrid decomposition of the 

 gummo-resinous substance contained in the bark, and 

 the fibres separate with ease. This method, which is 

 even more rarely employed with hemp than with flax, is 

 known in Trance by the special term rorage, or dew- 

 retting. And lastly, on still more uncommon occasions, 

 the eflects of steeping are arrived at by burying the 

 hemp in trenches, and covering it with earth, without 

 the intervention of water. Attempts have also been made 

 to supersede both steeping, dew-retting, and dry rouissage, 

 by the agency of chemical and mechanical means. But in 

 whatever way the object is attained, the utmost care 

 ought to be taken to make the putrid fermentation pro- 

 gress uniformly throughout all the stems, and to stop it 

 at the very moment w T hen the gummo-resinous matter is 

 completely decomposed ; for if the process is allowed to 

 go beyond this point, the fermentation acts upon the 

 fibre itself, and greatly impairs its strength and quality. 



The usual mode of water-retting (the plan which is 

 mostly adopted), is to tie up the hemp-stalks in small 

 bundles or sheaves, and so to immerse them in the water, 

 after having cut off the roots. The bundles ought to be 



