ON HEMP. 



205 



be found to accelerate the dissolution of the gummy cement, which 

 combines all together, much more than a weak one.* 



In a postscript, he cites the authority of the Abb6 Brulles, to 

 prove that the plant ought to be watered when green; as Hemp thus 

 produced is finer, than when prepared from the plant after being 

 previously dried. It is allowed by all, the liner the fibre the 

 greater the strength. When the fibre is forced off the plant before 

 it is steeped enough, the Hemp proves coarse, stubborn, and elastic, 

 which to an unexperienced observer passes for strength ; but is only 

 so in appearance. He submits a sample made from the plant, 

 which had been steeped three days and three nights, which was 

 hardly sufficient : it is as strong as any that was ever seen. 



By the trial thus made, it is self-evident, that drying the 

 plant before putting it into the water will not do, nor will the 

 fibres separate with the plants remaining forty hours in water : 

 three days and three nights are barely sufficient without drying 

 it first. 



The fibre is separated from the reed in two modes : the one is 

 performed in the water, the other on land. When done in the wa- 

 ter the fibre is full of the reed ; but when on the land, scarce any 

 thing is to be seen. 



The Hemp, the Sunn, and the Paut, are different plants, and 

 each requires a management peculiar to itself. The Hemp can 

 never do with from six to eight, and even more than ten days* 



watering, 



* Does the Crotolaria Juncea give out the same qualities on infusion as the 

 Cannabis sativa f R. W. 



