194 



ON HEMP. 



some days too long, with less damage to the fibre than will happen 

 in as many hours in India. I am therefore directed to call the at- 

 tention of the Court of Directors to this point, and to recommend 

 to them to give orders to the English Hemp-dressers, in-order to as- 

 certain the best mode of practice for retting in the different seasons 

 in which the Hemp-harvest of India may be collected. 



Letter from Mr. Fawkener, Secretary to the Lords of the Privy 

 Council for J he Affairs of Trade, to the Court of Direc- 

 tors of the East India Company, 4th February, 1803. 



In Russia, Sweden, and Livonia, where there is much snow, 

 they rot the Hemp in winter under the snow. After the first fall, 

 they spread the Hemp (which has been dried in the sun or other- 

 wise) on the snow, and leave it there to be covered with other falls 

 of snow until spring, when it is usually found to be sufficiently rot- 

 ted. They then collect it into handfuls, for breaking, or peeling 

 by the hand, or for breaking by mills where the quantity is great.* 



BENGAL, 

 Hemp. — Cannabis sativa. 

 The Hemp, after being exposed a day or two to the sun, and tied 

 in bundles, should be steeped in water from forty to fifty hours, ac- 

 cording to the state of the plant, which may be known by examin- 

 ing when the fibre parts easily from the stalk. 



Mr. Douglas. — Bengal Cons. 5lh May, 1801. 



* I was favoured with this information by the kindness of Sir John Sin- 

 clair, Bart. 



