ON HEMP, 



187 



It is left in the water till the bark (which furnishes the fibre) 

 parts easily from the reed, which is in the middle. That you may 

 know when it is sufficiently steeped, you must try some of the 

 stalks from time to time ; and when you find that the bark no longer 

 adheres to the reed, but separates from it without difficulty, the 

 Hemp should be taken out of the water. 



The process of which we now are speaking, effects something 

 more than disposing the fibrous bark of the Hemp to separate 

 readily from the reed : it renders the fibres finer and softer. But 

 to enable the reader to conceive how the water produces this effect, 

 it is necessary he should be acquainted with the organical disposition 

 of a stalk of Hemp, which I shall accordingly endeavour to 

 describe as briefly as possible. 



The stalks of Hemp are hollow within, or only filled with a 

 soft pith. This pith is surrounded by a tender, brittle, woody 

 substance, which is called the reed : over this reed we find a thin 

 bark or rind, composed of fibres extending in a parallel direction 

 along the stalk : this bark adheres pretty strongly to the reed; and 

 the longitudinal fibres of which it is composed, are joined together 

 by a . vesicular or cellular web ; the whole being covered by a very 

 thin membrane, which Botanists call the epidermis. 



The intention of steeping Hemp in the water is, to make 

 its bark part the more easily from the reed, and to destroy the 

 epidermis or outer-skin, and a part of the cellular web, which connects 

 the longitudinal fibres. All this is effected by a very small degree 

 of putrefaction ; so that it is dangerous to let the Hemp lie too long 



b b 2' in 



