. 182 ON HEMP. 



preparation, was least upon the whitest Hemp; but that which had 

 been steeped in standing water yielded a greater quantity of fine fibres, 

 and the great losses in point of quantity fell only upon the first 

 dressing. 5. The Hemp, which was judged to be the best before 

 it was heckled, did not always preserve its superiority when heckled: 

 that which was at first looked upon as of a middling, or even an 

 inferior quality, proved to be the finest and best after it was heckled. 

 This observation is of great importance, especially when the Hemp 

 is intended for naval uses. 



" We shall not," add these truly intelligent patriots, "limit 

 our inquiries to a bare repetition of these experiments: we purpose 

 to extend them farther, in order to have facts which may be entirely 

 relied on. We shall cause the best and best-prepared of each differ- 

 ent kind of Hemp to be spun, by the same hand, into as small and 

 fine thread as the Hemp is capable of affording, that so we may 

 judge, to which of the different manners of steeping this plant the 

 preference is due, by the greater division of which its fibres may 

 be susceptible. These threads shall be exactly weighed, and shall 

 undergo similar preparations, in exactly similar leyes ; after which 

 they shall be weighed again, in order to judge of their goodness, 

 by the diminution which each shall have suffered in the leyes, and 

 by the degree of whiteness which each of them shall acquire. 

 These experiments, though extremely useful in themselves, are 

 however only introductory to a greater enterprise. They will lay 

 a sure foundation for the improvement of every manufacture of 



Hemp, 



