CONTEITANCES TO SUPERSEDE BETTING. 153 



hemp is moist or dry. It scutches perfectly in either 

 state. The upper part of the handful of wet-scutched 

 hemp is tied in a knot ; it is then laid out oil the grass, 

 and turned. In six or seven days it is ready to be taken 

 up and carried to the warehouse. It is equally requisite- 

 to expose on the grass the handfuls of steeped and flat- 

 tened hemp which it is wished to break and scutch in a 

 dry state. Such exposure is absolutely necessary to 

 bleach the fibre and facilitate its separation from the 

 stalk. By making use of a portable steeping-vessel, it 

 is easy to operate upon different quantities of hemp, to 

 vary at pleasure the temperature of the soapy liquid, 

 and to watch the state of the hemp during the course of 

 each operation, the duration of which has been purposely 

 more or less prolonged, in order to ascertain, First, the 

 temperature which the liquor ought to have before the 

 hemp is immersed in it ; Secondly, the time necessary 

 to effect a complete steeping at a given temperature ; 

 Thirdly, the quantity of soap absolutely necessary for a 

 given weight of hemp-stalks weighed before immersion. 



The result of a great number of experiments is ; First, 

 that the water in which the quantity of green soap 

 directed by M. Bralle for a given weight of hemp has 

 been dissolved, effects the steeping perfectly. 



Secondly, that steeping is more rapidly completed in 

 proportion as the liquor is nearer to the boiling point at 

 the moment when the hemp is immersed in the vessel. 



Thirdly, that if the hemp is kept in the vessel more 

 than a couple of hours, the time mentioned by M. Bralle 

 as sufficient to complete the steeping, the fibre separates 

 equally well from the stem, but acquires a darker tinge 

 and loses a portion of its strength. 



Fourthly, that if the hemp is plunged into the soapy 

 liquor while cold, and the two are then heated together, 

 the steeping is not effected so thoroughly, to whatever 

 degree of temperature the liquor is made to rise, and 

 whatever may be the duration of the immersion. 



Fifthly, that the bundles of hemp when plunged verti- 

 cally into the vessel and kept there in an upright posi- 



