RECEIPT BOOK. 207 



siderablv lessened, but its quality greatly injured 

 by beinor rendered less durable. 



After being thiis pulled, it is tied up in smedl 

 parsels, or what are sometimes provincially terme-d 

 baits. 



Where crops of this kind are intended for seed- 

 mrr^ they should be suffered to stand ttil the seed 

 becomes in a perfect state of maturity, which is 

 easily known by the appearance of it on inspec- 

 tion. The stems are then pulled and bound up, 

 as in the other case, the bundles being set up in 

 the same manner as grain, until the seed becomes 

 so dry and firm as to shed freely. It is then ei- 

 ther immediately thrashed out upon large cloths 

 for the purpose, in the field, or taken home to have 

 the operation afterwards performed. 



Process of grassing hemp. 



The hemp, as soon as pulled, is tied up in small 

 bundles, ferquently at both ends. 



It is then conveyed to pits, or ponds of stagnant 

 water, about six or eight feet in depth, such as 

 have a clayey soil being in general prefered, and 

 deposited in beds, according to their size and 

 dejith; the small bundles being laid both in a 

 straight direction and cross-wise of each other, so 

 as to bind perfectly together; the whole being loa- 

 ded with timber, or other materials, so as to keep 

 the beds of hemp just below the surface of the 

 water. 



Jt is not usual to water more than 4 or 5 times 

 in the same pit, till it has been filled v»ith water. 

 Where the ponds are not sufficiently large to con- 

 tain the whole of the produce at once, it is the 

 practice to pull the hemp only as it can be admit- 



