THE NETTI^E. 



419 



may receive the full benefit of the sun. About 

 four feet above the floor, bars of wood are fixeS 

 across this cavern, on vpliich the hemp is laid six 

 inches thick. Under the hemp so placed, a small 

 fire is kindled, which is usually fed by the frag- 

 ments of the reeds of plants, which have been 

 already peeled; this is tended by a careful person, 

 who must always be on the alert to replenish 

 the fire, for the fuel used quickly consumes, and 

 a constant and regular heat should be kept up 

 in the cavern or oven, while very great caution 

 is required to prevent the flame from reaching 

 the hemp. During the process this is turned 

 from time to time, that it may be equally dried 

 throughout. 



After it is dried the hemp is usually broken 

 by the hand-break or by mills; when the former 

 is used it is reckoned that one woman can break 

 twenty or thirty pounds during the day. Some 

 cultivators adopt another method for separating 

 the fibres. This is done by simply breaking off 

 a piece of the stalk at the lower end, and peeling 

 the bark from the reed in ribands. It is so simple 

 of performance, that the children, the aged, and 

 the infirm, can be advantageously employed in 

 the task; and where there is a large family, and 

 some hands which would be otherwise useless, 

 this method may be pursued with a good result, 

 but it would be very unprofitable work for an 

 active labourer. Besides which it is not as ef- 

 fectual as the use of the break in separating the 

 fibres. The peeled hemp comes off with much 

 of the useless membranes adhering, and it is not 

 disengaged from any of the dirt, which it may 

 have contracted in the stagnant pools where it 

 has been watered; these circumstances render the 

 after processes with the peeled hemp more diffi- 

 cult than with that which is broken. 



The Abb^ Brulles recommends another manner 

 of accomplishing the same thing, and which he 

 tenns reeding the plant. For this purpose a 

 trough is provided, twelve or fourteen inches 

 deep, and somewhat longer than the hemp under 

 process; to this trough are fitted two pieces of 

 wood, a foot in length, set on one side with brass- 

 wire teeth. The trough being filled with water, 

 and the hemp laid evenly along, these pieces of 

 wood are placed over the hemp, one at the end 

 and the other in the middle of the stalks, serving 

 thus the double purpose of keeping them straight, 

 and of retaining them in the water. 



Immediately that the hemp is found to be 

 sufficiently macerated, it is transferred to the 

 trough without any previous drying; there it is 

 gently rubbed, to promote still farther the separ- 

 ation of the bark from the reed. The bark is 

 then disengaged from the stem at the root end; 

 keeping the hand and the reed under water, and 

 laying hold of the stem, it is readily drawn out 

 from the bark, like a sword from its scabbard. 

 In this way a skilful operator may draw out six 



or more reeds at once. Should any of the reeds 

 be broken, then the board is taken off at the 

 upper end, and the remaining pieces are drawn 

 out at that side. 



When the fibres are thus freed from the reeds 

 they are readily disengaged from the remaining 

 parts, now macerated into a jelly, which is re- 

 moved by washing and rubbing, care being taken 

 not to twist or displace the threads. 



After the fibres have been disengaged by either 

 of the foregoing methods, the operation of scutch- 

 ing commences; this has been already described. 

 The usual allowance for waste' in Russian hemp, 

 under this process, is estimated at four pounds 

 per hundred weight. A good workman can 

 scutch from sixty to eighty pounds of hemp per 

 diem. Those fibrous parts which are beaten out 

 are carefully collected and scutched separately, 

 and the smaller pieces which are shaken out from 

 the coarse tow used for caulking ships, making 

 flambeaux, mops, and various other articles. 



Before the hemp is heckled it is usually made 

 to undergo a previous operation called beetling. 

 This is performed by beating it with heavy 

 wooden mallets, in order still more completely 

 to separate the fibres, and to make them finer 

 and softer. The motion is given to the mallets 

 either by hand or by water, or by other motive 

 power. When a machine is used, the hemp is 

 constantly turned by a boy, in order to change 

 the surface, that every part in turn may receive 

 the strokes. It is then consigned into the heckle. 



The heckles used for hemp are somewhat 

 coarser than those for flax. The teeth of the 

 coarsest are usually about an inch in circumfer- 

 ence at bottom, diminishing gradually to a sharp 

 point, and they are set about two inches apart 

 from each other. 



The produce of an acre of land sown with 

 this plant usually averages from four to five 

 hundred weight of cleansed hemp, and from six- 

 teen to twenty-foiir bushels of seed. The cul- 

 ture of hemp is considered to be very profitable, 

 and many attempts have been made to encourage 

 its farther growth in England; but a great pre- 

 judice formerly existed against this crop, and it 

 was supposed to exhaust the land to such a de- 

 gree, that many landowners inserted in the leases 

 granted to their tenants^ covenants prohibiting 

 its cultivation. 



Hemp is admitted from all countries under 

 a nominal duty of one penny per cwt. ; its pre- 

 sent price, varying according to its quality, is 

 from ^21 to £28 per ton. 



The Nettle (urtica.) This genus, belonging 

 to the same natural family as hemp, also affords 

 a fibre tenacious enough to be manufactured into 

 cloth. The urtica dioica grows a weed in almost 

 every region of the globe. This species, as well 

 as u. urens and piluUfera, have the singular pro- 

 perty of being furnished with a poisonous juice. 



