200 



ON HEMP. 



are pulled up, without previously drying them in the sun, and by 

 letting them remain so long a time in the water, the strength of the 

 fibre is much diminished ; but the Natives use it to save trouble, as 

 the fibres, in this way, separate easily from the stem, without re- 

 quiring to be bruised or heckled. 



Instead of putting the plants into the water immediately after 

 they are pulled up, they should be previously dried in the sun for 

 two days ; after which they should be steeped, but not allowed to 

 remain in the water above forty hours. Mr. Fleming. 



After drying the plants, they should be steeped in water about 

 forty hours, according to the state of the plants, which is known by 

 the manner in which the fibre parts from the stalks. This is to be 

 found by frequent examination while the plants are in the water. 



The fibre of the Sunn is injured by the Natives watering it too 

 much. Mr. Douglas.— Bengal Cons. 5th May, 1801. 



Commercolly. — When the plants of Phool-Sunn are pulled 

 and tied in bundles, they are immediately carried to the water, and 

 there for a day or two kept standing on their roots in an inch or two 

 of water, which allows the fibre to obtain a proper degree of firmness, 

 without suffering it to be parched by the heat of the sun. The next 

 day they are laid in the water, with a quantity of grass or mud over 

 them, to keep them down ; in which situation they remain for 

 three or four days, when a man, conversant in the business, attends 

 to see if they are soaked enough, as too little or too much soaking 

 injures the quality of the Sunn. When the bundles are taken out 



of 



