12 REMARKS ON AGRICULTURE 



After the earth is properly ploughed, cleansed, 

 and pulverized, the seeds of these plants are sown 

 very thickly. The natives say that they should be 

 sown so close together that a serpent cannot creep 

 between them. This prevents the plants from throw- 

 ing out blanches, which would be highly injurious 

 to the fibre. 



As the growth of these plants is exremely rapid, 

 the crops suffer but little from weeds ; if the weeds 

 however should be numerous, they must be extir- 

 pated by the hand. 



When the Sana* has done flowering, and the seed 

 vessels have nearly attained their full size, sometime 

 before the seeds ripen, it is cut down, and tied in 

 small bundles, each containing ten or a dozen plants. 

 The bundles are then set upright in water (about a 

 foot or a foot and a half of the lower part of the stalk 

 being immersed) and continue in that situation one 

 day ; by this means the upper, and comparatively 

 tender, part of the stalk is somewhat dried. This oc- 

 casions a greater similarity in the quality of the fibre 

 taken from different parts of the same plant. 



After the Sana has thus stood erect for one day, 

 it is steeped in a pond, or some other receptacle of 

 water, to promote the separation of the fibre from 

 the stalk. This process is as follows : a number of 

 the small bundles abovementioned are laid one upon 

 another, so as to form a heap five or six feet wide, 

 on each side of which three or four stakes are previ- 

 ously set, to prevent its falling down. A quantity of 

 cow-dung is then spread over the heap, about two 



* Crotalaria juQcca. 



