ON HEMP. 



18* 



*iemp to be pulled in different parts of the Province of Britanny, 

 and in different states of growth. Some was pulled before it was ripe,- 

 some exactly when it was ripe, and some several days after it was 

 ripe. Each of the parcels of these three sorts of Hemp was divided 

 into two equal parts, one of which was laid to steep in running 

 water, and the other in standing water. They were afterwards 

 heckled with very great care, and examined with the most scrupu- 

 lous attention by a person thoroughly acquainted with the defects 

 and good qualities of this commodity. 



Minute accounts of every circumstance attending these experi- 

 ments, and of their resulf, were sent to the office at Rennes ; and 

 the Society, sensible of the vast importance which the ascertaining 

 of this point may be of in many respects, desired that they might 

 be repeated, in one and the same year, on the Hemp of all the 

 districts of the province. Unfortunately, these trials were not made 

 when the Britanny Society did me the honour to send me a copy 

 of their valuable Observations for the years 1759 and 1760. In the 

 mean-time, the result of their first experiments was as follows. 



1. There was a sensible difference between the same Hemp 

 pulled in the three states before-mentioned. 2. The Hemp which 

 was pulled before it was ripe acquired the greatest degree of white- 

 ness. 3. All the Hemp that was steeped in running water, was 

 incomparably whiter than that of the same quality which was 

 steeped in standing water. 4. The whole of the loss of substance, 

 upon summing up the waste occasioned by each particular 



preparation j,. 



