( 43 ) 



HEMP. 



Preparation of soil. 



Harvest, cutting, &c. 



Varieties. None. 



Hemp requires a light good soil. Stiff clay gives a short stalk, and hemp 

 is not sown in it. Jn better soils hemp is sown in 

 rows round fields of cotton or jwar ; in light soils it ia 

 sown thick, unmanured. 



Ploughing' One ploughing is enough. 



So win g Seed is sown broadcast and ploughed in. 



Intermediate operations. None. 



At beginning of Kdtik the heads are cut and given to cattle, and the plant 

 is cat a few inches above the ground and tied into 

 bundles which are stood up in ponds (the lower part 

 of the stem is thicker than above ; if the bundle were at once laid down this part 

 would rot later). Green hemp, if not exposed to wet, will keep for several 

 days before being soaked. In hot weather it takes about four or five days to rot, 

 and six or seven days in cold weather. For this it is laid down flat in the water 

 and kept down by earth dug from the pond itself. About the fourth or fifth 

 day it ia tested. 



The fibre is threshed out of the stalks by men holding handfuls at a time. 

 It is severe labour, hence a man can only work three 

 hours at a time, in which time he will thresh out five 

 bundles, each bundle being 50 or 60 Ibs., giTing only 3 Ibs. fibre per bundle, or 

 inall!51bs. The stalks when white with fibre are stood up to dry in a stack 

 (kondar]. The whole process must begone through in one day or the fibre 

 knots and breaks. When threshing it is usual to strip a few inches of the stalk 

 clean, so that the fibre peels off easily. 



$.B. If cut for fibre, it is cut when it flowers ; if for seed, when they 

 ripen in Aghan. 



Threshing. 



