ON HEMP. 



193 



sufficiently steeped, the bundles must be taken out, one by one, 

 and washed, to separate the filth and loose particles. It should then 

 be set on the root-ends to drain, the bands be untied, and the Hemp 

 placed against a fence exposed to the sun and air, that it may be 

 thoroughly dried. 



Where the convenience can be had of filling a pond with 

 water, and letting it off at pleasure, such a situation should be pre- 

 ferred, but otherwise a common pond will answer. 



In warm weather, this operation of the water-steep may be 

 performed in four or five days ; in colder weather, it will require 

 eight or ten ; and in very cold weather, eighteen or twenty days 

 may be necessary. 



The intent of this process is, by a gentle fermentation, to se- 

 parate the gummy and mucilaginous matters from the fibres of the 

 Hemp, with which they are intermixed, and to occasion the bark 

 or rind on the outside of the fibres to be more easily detached by 

 the brake. Taylor's Instructions. 



It appears certain, that the process of watering or retting 

 Hemp in India has a material influence upon the quality of its fibre. 

 In a hot climate, where the whole time in which the process is per- 

 formed does not amount to one-fourth of what is necessary in a cold 

 one, it is evident, that it must be infinitely more difficult to ascer- 

 tain, with accuracy and precision, the actual moment when the 

 bark is sufficiently rotted, and the fibre still uninjured. In Europe, 

 it is probable that the period of this process may be continued for 



c c some 



