, 2 44 ° N HEMP. 



we have found means easily and without expence to give it those 

 qualities that are natural to it, and the uses whereof were not hither- 

 to known. 



The water that has already had power to separate the bark 

 from the stem, serves also to divide, without trouble or hazard, the 

 fibres from one another, by a total dissolution of the gum that re- 

 mains in them. For this purpose, the Hemp intended to be put 

 into the water is divided into small parcels : these are taken by the 

 middle and laid double, twisting them slightly, or tying them softly 

 with a piece of strong packthread, that so they may be stirred and 

 managed easily without mixing. After they have all imbibed the 

 water, they must be put in a vessel of wood or stone, in the same 

 manner as thread are stowed in a ley-tub. The vessel is then filled 

 with water, in which the Hemp is left for some days to moisten, as 

 far as is necessary for dissolving the gum. Three or four days are 

 sufficient for this operation ; and if one has leisure to press every 

 parcel of Hemp, to stir it, and work it often in the water, which 

 it would be necessary also to renew, this dissolution might be at- 

 tained more expeditiously, and twenty-four or thirty hours would, 

 in that case, be sufficient for the operation. 



When you see that the Hemp is sufficiently penetrated by the 

 water, and cleared from the coarsest part of its gum, it must be 

 taken out by single parcels, wrung, and washed in some river, to 

 purge it, as much as possible, from the muddy and gummy water 

 that remains in it. After it is thus cleared, it must be beat upon a 

 board, to divide farther the parts that may still remain too gross ; 



then 



