160 



ON HEMP. 



slowly and more unequally and the fibres contract a hardness, which 

 the steeping afterwards will not easily correct. 



Mills's Husbandry. 



In some places, after binding the small bundles with the worst 

 stalks of Hemp, they expose them to the sun, to dry the leaves before 

 the Hemp be watered ; and when they are dry enough, they cause 

 them to fall off, by striking every bundle against a wall or tree, or 

 the ground. But this does not appear to be the best method, because, 

 besides that it multiplies toil and labour, it also exposes the Hemp to 

 many accidents when the season happens to be rainy. The water 

 which falls on the Hemp before it is dry makes it of a blackish 

 colour, and full of spots. This inconvenience may be avoided, by 

 observing a method, which to us appears to deserve the preference. 

 When the Hemp is perfectly ripe (for this is a circumstance abso- 

 lutely necessary to attend to), it must be put into the water as soon 

 as it is pulled out of the ground : its gum, which then is in some 

 respect in a state of fusion, will consequently be the more quickly 

 dissolved. In this condition it will not require to be more than four 

 days in the water ; whereas, when it is not watered till after it is 

 dry, it is a matter of much greater difficulty to dissolve it, and it 

 must be in the water eight or ten days, and sometimes more, ac- 

 cording to the seasons. Warm water forwards the effect of watering, 

 and cold retards it. Marcandier. 



After 



