ii 



that at the proper feafon you may reach the female hemp, 

 which you will have occafion to pull out, v;ithout tramp- 

 ling on the male, which mufl (land at leafl a month long^ 

 er to ripen its ieed. The female hemp, (which is that 

 which bears only flowers and no feedj is known to ba 

 ripe by the flowers fading, the farina foecundas falling, 

 &nd fame cf the ftems turning yellow. You mull then 

 draw out carefully the whole of the female hemp, breaking 

 as lirt'e as poliiblc the flems of that which you take, or 

 that which you leave. 



Immediately as it is gathered, take it in as large hand- 

 fuls as you can, and either cutting the roots ofF, or leaving 

 them on, as you like befl; (I prefer cutting them off) hold 

 the root end uppermoft, and with a v/ooden fword drefs 

 eft the flowers and leaves, which you leave in the field, 

 jfince they ^iui\ in manuring ; pick out any weeds or Ipoilt 

 plants ; put twelve handfuls, or gripes, together to make a 

 fcundlr ; then lay the bundles in water ; it is much the 

 ■befl to be a running and clear water, and if fhaded and over- 

 hung with trees the better ; lay poles, or planks, or whatever 

 elfe you have that is fuitable, acrofsa large number together, 

 fo as to keep them at lea ft two inches under water. Take 

 particular notice which you lay in firft, and how you lay 

 the bundles, in order that you may be able to. get them 

 out again fuccefiively as they were laid in, without 

 breaking or tangling. At the end of fix days, vitlt the 

 hemp, and fee whether the ieed will draw out from fome 

 of the bundles. The time required for foaking <iepends 

 very much onth'e irature of th^e hemp, the weather, and of 

 the water it is foaked in — from fix days to nine, or even 

 to eleven. It is a trouble that is not ill be flowed to fort 

 the hemp for foakiiig, if it is of unequal fizcs, the flender- 

 eft generally requiring moftfoaking. 



When you find any quantity fufficlently foaked, take 

 it with care, putting the hands under it to prevent break- 

 age, and tranfport it to a trough or to a table ; for there 

 are tv/o methods of working it. If you woik it in a 

 trough, you mult be provided with orae fomewhat longer 

 than any hemp that you mean to work in it — twelve, or 

 fourteen inches deep, and of what width you think proper 

 according to the number of perfons you employ at it, as 



one, 



