148 
Some Minor Farm Crops. 
the stems were turned frequently so as to secure a uniform 
product. Sometimes the watering was entirely omitted ; 
especially w r as this the case when dealiug with the female 
stems. These were more frequently kept in a well-thatched 
rick until the following February when they were grassed in 
the manner described. When a stage in this process had been 
reached at which the fibre could be readily separated from the 
interior of the stem, and the stems w r ere dry and brittle, they 
w T ere gathered up and stored under cover until the fibre could 
be cleaned. 
The final cleaning of the fibre and its preparation for 
market w T ere performed in a manner very similar to that adopted 
with flax except that the implements used were more suited to 
the coarser nature of the material in that they were of heavier 
construction. The dried retted stems were passed between 
fluted rollers or drawn beneath a grooved lever w T hich broke 
the brittle central part of the stems into small pieces without 
damaging the fibre. These pieces were then removed by a 
beating process knowui as swingling or scutching ; small 
handfuls of the broken hemp being held over an upright post 
and then beaten in a downward direction with a wooden 
blade, or by some automatic device, so as to knock out the 
broken pieces of wood. 
Various methods have been adopted for separating the fibre 
from hemp, one being to peel off the outside bark in ribbons 
while the stems are still wet from the retting pit, or the inside 
rod w 7 as withdrawn from the stem leaving the fibre in the 
remaining tube of soft bark. The fibre separated by these 
means was then beaten, washed, and dried. At the present 
time in England no attempt is made to decompose the resinous 
materials which hold the fibres to the w r ood : the retting 
process is entirely omitted. As soon as the hemp is dried in 
the field after being harvested it is removed to a depot w^here 
it is thoroughly dried, the seed is taken off, and the stems 
are then passed through breakers, the fibre being afterwards 
scutched automatically. The fibre prepared in this manner is 
known as “ green hemp,” and at present finds a ready market 
in this countrv. 
«/ 
J. Vargas Eyre, M.A., Ph.D. 
S.E. Agricultural College, 
Wye, Kent. 
