ON HEMP. 



217 



where the stubble still remains standing. This stubble will keep it 

 hollow, and it will dry the sooner. Some dry their Hemp by- 

 spreading it out and setting it upright against a sunny wall, or by 

 laying it along the side of a ditch. Grass is not fit for lay- 

 ing it on, because there will arise from thence a moisture which will 

 rot the Hemp : for this reason it is, that the place where Hemp is 

 spread to dry should be as free as possible from every kind of damp. 

 When the Hemp is thoroughly dry, it is bundled up again and 

 carried home, where it should be kept in a very dry place, till it is 

 wanted for peeling or braking. 



When but a small quantity of Hemp is to be dried, an oven is 

 doubtless the safest method ; and when the Hemp is dressed at 

 home, it may perhaps be dried as fast by this mean, as the other 

 avocations of the family will admit of its being wanted. The only 

 attention requisite in this case is, that the oven be not so hot as to 

 endanger the fine and tender fibres of the Hemp; for too great a 

 heat may not only scorch them, but likewise so parch the oil in the 

 Hemp, as that the Hemp will afterwards remain harsh and dry, and 

 not be so easily whitened as it might otherwise be. 



Where the quantity of Hemp is greater than can be managed 

 with an oven, it is dried on a kiln ; and this is a good method, pro- 

 vided the fire here be also very moderate, and made of such ma- 

 terials as do not blaze or sparkle, because of the great aptness of 

 dry Hemp easily to take fire. Coke is, perhaps, the very best fuel 

 that can be used for this purpose. Mills's Husbandry. 



f f The 



