184 DEFECTIVE PREPARATION OF INDIAN FIBRES. 
“This Hemp, when prepared with the patent liquid, became 
soft, white, and so fine when hackled, as to bear the closest 
comparison with Flax at £80 per ton. It is better than any 
Russian Flax for fine spinning.” 
Practical men alone can judge of practical questions, when 
they have made careful experiments on new products, and have 
laid aside all prejudices in favour of old ones, The Author can 
only vouch, as he has already done, that he was surprised with 
the improved appearance and fineness of many of the coarse- 
looking Indian fibres; though he ought not to have been so, 
from what he had previously seen of some of these fibres, 
This more especially, as there is no rational reason why the 
varied soil and climate of India should not produce as finely 
divisible fibres as any produced in the short, but warm and dry 
summers of Russia. These fibres would, moreover, look as 
well in the market, if the natives of India would take the 
same trouble with their preparation as is done in Europe with 
Flax and Hemp. 
This appears a favorable opportunity for calling attention 
to the little justice which the natives of India do to the pro- 
ducts of their own country; for most of their fibres, like 
their cotton, come to market intermixed with much dust; 
some, moreover, almost in the state of bast, upon which freight 
and charges have to be paid before they can be used either for 
cordage or for textile purposes. Manufacturers, therefore, 
give a lower price for them than would be the case if they 
reached this country in a clean and workable state. 
A considerable loss is likewise sustained, by what is very 
unusual, that is, the extra care bestowed on some of these fibres 
in different parts of India. Some are twisted into rope-like 
bundles; others are plaited into the form of Chinese pigtails, 
or tied together with knots at the ends. In this case, these 
ends must at once be cut off, and the fibres thus much short- 
ened, before they can be used. When twisted or plaited, boys 
and girls are obliged to be employed in untwisting and opening 
them out, in order to bring them to a state from which they 
have been needlessly removed. All that is necessary is that 
the fibres should be tied in convenient-sized bundles; and 
retained in the state in which they are removed from the 
plant, and that in which they must be when undergoing the 
