COHTBIYAKCES TO SUPERSEDE EETTIN0. 155 



same when the operation is performed with the little 

 routoir ; but if a good-sized cauldron and wooden tubs, 

 like those we have just mentioned, be employed, the ex- 

 pense will be reduced by more than one half. In fact, 

 the items of the former, or water-retting, are made up of 

 the carriage of the hemp to be steeped, the time em- 

 ployed in making the bundles of hemp into a sort of rafts 

 to make them sink, in loading them with stones, turf, 

 clods of earth, and even mud, to keep the rafts steadily 

 at the bottom by means of stakes that are driven into 

 it, a long and troublesome operation ; for it is only able 

 to effect the immersion of ten pounds of hemp-stalks by 

 applying a weight of from fifteen to twenty pounds, 

 besides having the task, after the steeping is complete, 

 of removing all this weight of ballast, and taking the 

 bundles out of the water and washing them. The ex- 

 penses of the new plan consist principally in the cost of 

 the solvent and the fuel employed. But supposing the 

 expense of each mode to be the same, it cannot be denied 

 that the new method merits the preference over the old 

 one, inasmuch as it renders the manual labour much more 

 light and expeditious. Fifthly, eight pounds of hemp- 

 stalks steeped by the new process produce generally two 

 pounds of pure fibre by means of wet-scutching ; whilst 

 hemp water-retted according to the old plan and firaqned, 

 afterwards, gives a considerably smaller portion of fibre. 

 The dry-scutching of hemp steeped in the old way does 

 not produce the same quantity as when the fibre is re- 

 moved in a state of humidity. The breaking of the stalk 

 in several places causes a greater waste of the fibre. 

 Prom eight pounds of hemp-stalks there have been ob- 

 tained by the new method two pounds of fibre, one pound 

 of which was of first-rate quality ; a result unknown to 

 be obtained by any plan of manipulation hitherto practised. 

 Sixthly, people dwelling in valleys and on the banks of 

 rivers are at present almost the only persons who are able 

 to cultivate hemp profitably. They owe this privilege to 

 the vicinity of water and to the moisture of the soil. By 



