APPENDIX. 



283 



fields for about a week (in fine weather) to dry : afterwards removed under 

 shelter, and peeled by women. The price of labour is about seven-pence pet- 

 stone. After peeling, the stalks are formed into bundles of the size of a common 

 faggot, and sold for one penny per bundle as fuel, which purpose they answer 

 extremely well. There is also another way of making Hemp, called breaking, 

 which is performed by a machine named a Hemp-break ; this method, however, 

 is but little used at Crowland, except for the small stalks, which it would be tedious 

 to peel. The Hemp by breaking is rendered finer and more fit for the manu- 

 facture of linen ; for this purpose, however, it should be pulled before it ripens, 

 and thus the profit arising from the seed is lost. 



The wages for breaking are from eighteen-pence to one and ten-pence 

 per stone, whereas peeling is performed for seven-pence per stone. After 

 breaking, the Hemp undergoes several other operations, as heckling, &c. 

 By this mode of management, therefore, an additional degree of trouble and 

 expence is evidently introduced, which, in the opinion of the cultivators, the 

 increased value of the article will not compensate; hence this practice is generally 

 disused. 



Land fit for growing Hemp lets from eight to ten pounds per acre. One 



crop of Hemp is not supposed to impoverish the soil materially. Rye is found 



the most advantageous grain to succeed it. An acre of good land will produce 



about three quarters of seed, and about forty stone of Hemp. Seed, at present, 



sells at fifty-six shillings per quarter, and Hemp at seven shillings per stone ; 



therefore, the present profit of an acre of Hemp may be thus computed : 



£. s. 



3 quarters of seed, at 56s. per quarter - - 8 8 



40 stone of Hemp, at 7s. per stone - - 14 



£22 8 



To this must be added, the profit of the peeled stalks. An acre produces 

 about four hundred sheaves, a bundle for firing contains about five of these 

 sheaves ; hence this part of the profit amounts to eighty pence, or six and 

 eight pence, making the whole profit of the acre £22, 14s. 8d. It is to be 



observed , 



