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HEMP, 



METHOD OF SCUTCHING IT. 



Scutching is an operation calculated to clear the Hemp from 

 the small particles of the reed, leaves, weeds, dust, and the grossest 

 parts of the broken or entangled fibres, which adhere thereto after 

 Braking, called toppets or tow ; as also to divide the longitudinal 

 fibres, which by their adhesion form a kind of ribband. 



In the place where the scutching is performed, the cieling 

 should be lofty, and the windows large, that the dust occasioned by 

 the operation may the more readily escape.* 



The workman takes in his left hand a handful of Hemp, weigh- 

 ing about half a pound, and grasping it firmly, lays the middle of 

 it upon the semicircular notch of the perpendicular board of the 

 scutching-frame, and strikes with the edge of the scutch that part of 

 the Hemp which hangs down on the board. After giving it several 

 strokes, he shakes the handful of Hemp, replaces it on the notch of 

 the perpendicular board, and continues to strike it till it becomes suf- 



l 1 2 ficiently 



* M. du Hamel has given minute instructions for forming the implements 

 used in this operation, which I shall omit, and in lieu thereof introduce a plate, 

 that will give the reader a more correct idea of them than can be afforded by the 

 most laboured description. R. W. 



