CULTURE AND PREPARATION OF HEMP IN EUROPE. 38385 
end upppermost, and with a wooden sword dress off the flowers and leaves, 
as they assist in manuring the land. They are then bound in small bundles 
with bands at each end, of sucha size that you can grasp with both hands, 
or sometimes into bundles of twelve handfuls each, and arranged along the 
borders of the field. If not done before, with a fork knock and shake off 
the soil from the roots, and scrape off the undergrowth of leaves. It is 
then set up like wheat in shocks, for a week or so. The stalks which 
form each handful should be as nearly as possible of an equal length, and 
the roots in particular should be placed as even as possible, If the crop is 
kept till spring, it is tied in larger bundles, and stacked and thatched. 
Gathering Seed— When the female Hemp is gathered, it is allowed to 
stand eight or ten days in the air, to allow the seed to dry and ripen; the 
tops being covered with undergrowth, to keep off the birds. After which, 
they cut off the heads, or gently beat out or thrash them to get out the 
seed, on a cloth. Care must be taken in conveying the bundles of seeded 
stems, as by passing a rope round the bundles and under the heads, and 
dragging the rope over the shoulder. The seed which remains after this 
operation, is got out by combing the heads on the teeth of a ripple; but the 
seed is inferior to that which first falls out, and is unfit for sowing. The 
female plant is generally stacked during the winter, and not steeped till the 
spring. 
P prying —When the Hemp has been pulled, it ought, according to some 
authorities, to be dried in the sun for one or two days, but Du Hamel 
observes, that it isa matter of doubt whether the plant should be dried before 
it is steeped; so Mills, in his ‘Husbandry,’ like the natives of India with 
their Sunn (v. p. 274), thinks that this drying appears needless trouble. 
So Marcandier directs, that when the Hemp is perfectly ripe, it must be put 
into the water as soon as it is pulled out of the ground; and Sinclair says, 
that Hemp should be watered as soon as possible. In this state, it is said to 
require only four days, but, when it has been dried, eight days of steeping. 
The time must, moreover, depend a good deal on the temperature of the 
water. 
Steeping —The steeping of Hemp, called Water-retting, is a very important 
part of its preparation, and is to be distinguished from another method, which 
is called Dew-retting. ‘The steeping places are often only ditches, three or 
four feet deep, varying in breadth and length, dug for the purpose on the 
margins of rivers. The bundles of Hemp are laid at the bottom of the water, 
and covered with straw, and sometimes with sods, and loaded with pieces of 
wood and large stones to keep them down. The object, as in the case of 
Flax, is by a slight degree of fermentation to enable the epidermis, or outer 
skin, to separate readily from the bark, and this from the boon or reed. 
This is readily ascertained, by taking out one of the steeped stems and 
holding it by the root end, and drawing the thumb-nail up the stem-to the 
top. If the fibre slip up the stem, it is a proof that it has been sufficiently 
retted. 
Du Hamel, having steeped Hemp in different sorts of water, observes, 
that the fibres steeped in putrid standing water were softer than those which 
had been steeped in running water. But in water which does not run, the 
fibres contract a disagreeable colour : they are, however, notwithstanding this, 
easily bleached ; it 1s desirable, however, to make a small stream of water 
pass through the steeping place. 
Du Hamel, referring to the common opinion, that Hemp intended for fine 
cloths should be retted more than that for coarse cloths, and that for making 
of ropes should be steeped least of all, observes, that though there may be 
some truth in this, it is in vain to hope greatly to improve, by this process, 
fibres which are naturally coarse. A fine fibre cannot be obtained without 
