doubt the bef means of performing the work, provide d 
HEM 
ruption which they are apt to throw in the way of other forts 
— care be taken to guard againit accidents while it is of wor 
going 
As - as the hemp has been completely broken, andthe: 
eperation becomes neceflary, which is ufually denominated 
Jfwingling, or feutching, the intention of which isto feparate 
the reed rom the hem 
This is executed chiefly i in two different methods. The 
firft isby the labourer taking a handful of pet in his left 
hand, and while holding it over the fharp e a board, 
ftriking it with the fine edge of a long flat Straight piece of 
wood, ufually termed a {winele hand, or fcutcher, This 
method is, however, both laborious mee tedious in its per- 
ormance ; of courfe others have been had recourfe to, {uch 
as mills moved by water, having a number of feutches fixed 
upon the fame axle-tree, and which move with great velo- 
city. The work is in this cafe executed with great expedi- 
tion and far lefs fatigue to the workmen, but there isa 
great walte of hemp, in confequence of the prodigious velo- 
city by which the mill is moved. 
‘Before the hemp, prepared in this ——- is pari to 
the heckle, it moitly undergoes another which is 
termed beetling 3 by which the fibres of she orien become 
more loofened and divided.’ ‘The beetles employed in this 
intention are moved either by the power of the hand or that 
of water, which is by much the be 
Produce.— The quantity of produce in crops of this na 
ture is extremely various according to the goodnefs of the 
land, and that of the crepes hich is beitowed upon it. 
In fome diltriéts, as that of k and fome others, it is 
faid frequently to rife to fore y-Ge: or — ftones, and fome- 
times more u on the acre ; while i ie eee oes 
: acters the produce and prices are i 
— county. 
nding for fd the remit is hare eee or 
thine buthels the acre, and the: piney’ commonly from 4s. 
to 6s. the bufhel. 
However, though the expences oF the cultivation of hem 
crops are very coniiderable, on of the foil, labour, 
and trouble which they require, the sere which ag afford 
m the produce, moltly repays! thofe w railing 
them ina pretty am 
the writer of one of th 
Tt cannot be doubted, from what has been ftated above, 
but that hemp may be grown in many dillricts of this 
country with great profit and advantage; and that the ex- 
tenfion of its TeuilGvation would be of vaft national benefit. 
This cannot however. be. accomplifhed while the price of 
wheat keeps up to its Shei ren unlefs proper encou- 
ragement were gi s of bounties. But if this 
were the cafe, it i in all ae ility, be much had re- 
courfe to, as it is to afford an excellent preparation for 
wheat crops. This Pout unqueflionably take place, if fuch- 
encouragements were held out for any fuitable length of 
time. In places where its cultivation is carried on to the 
greateft extent, it has been confefledly found of much amg 
to the poor, in eon them with full and copeant,, eme 
ploy ment. An all fituations wee there is much 
fity for fail-cloth, "bordgh netting, &c. its 
be of vatt benefit, i 
poets which is paid for thefe articles from going out of the 
country. 
The eae of attending more fully to the culture of 
lemp crops in this kingdom, is indeed rendered more Hpper 
rious by the sec | difficulty of obtaining orei {up- 
plies, as wellas by t the eadey of the various fubiti- 
tutes which have been adopt 
It does not appear that the ancients were acquainted with 
the rife of hemp, in refpeét of the thread it affords. 
who ord s of 
cap. 2 this ; contenting aig ay. with 
extolling the virtues of its ftem, nc aera n effect, 
what fome writers of the Roman antiquities isa viz, 
that the hem ait waits ie i of war was all flored up 
in two cities of the weft t Ravenna and 
Vienne, under the direétion soe tS has pelbecrbily called pro- 
curatores linificii, mult be underftood of linum, or flax. 
Bee oy ty Baftard. See AGrnaTuM, Datisca, and Ga- 
see bie Evparonium. 
fs ded Baflard. See Acrratce. 
aed. See VERBESIN Ap 
Hemp, Virginia. See Acyipa. 
 HEMPFIELD, in Geography, the name of two towne 
fhips of America, in Pennf fylvania, one in Lancafter county, 
‘a_painter, who 
nT, in Biography, 
P exhibited ‘mych frolic of “A fancy in the tabjecte he chofe for 
cecuti | 
his peneil, and vigour of execution in the completion of his 
pictures. He was born at Haerlem in 1645, and was a dif- 
he for that of . 
ee er Grebber, whofe manner he left 
Brouwer. 
In his own time Fon eam ge caught the attention of 
: , of their hu- 
duly Cae raed in preventing the: 
e 
