The inner surface of the hurds usually bears a layer of pith, consisting
of thin-walled cells nearly spherical or angular, but not elongated.
They are more or less crushed and torn. They are probably of little
value for paper, but they constitute less than 1 per cent of the weight
of the hurds. The principal weight and bulk consist of slender elongated
woody cells. The outer surface is covered with fine secondary fibers
composed of slender elongated cells, tougher than those of the wood but
finer and shorter than those of the hemp fiber of commerce. No method
has been devised thus far which completely separates from the hurds all
of the long fiber. From 5 to 15 per cent of the weight of the hurds
consists of hemp fiber, in strands from 3 inches to 8 feet in length.
Some fragments of the bark, made up of short cubical cells, usually dark
in color, cling to the strands of fiber.


=CHARACTER OF HURDS AFFECTED BY RETTING.=

Nearly all of the hemp in the United States is dew retted. The stalks
are spread on the ground in swaths as grain is laid by the cradle. The
action of the weather, dew, and rain, aided by bacteria, dissolves and
washes out the green coloring matter (chlorophyll) and most of the gums,
leaving only the fibrous bark and the wood. The plants in this process
lose about 60 per cent of their green weight, or about 40 per cent of
their air-dry weight.

The stalks are sometimes set up in shocks to cure before retting, and
after retting they are set up in shocks to dry. Each time the stalks are
handled they are chucked down on the ground to keep the butts even. In
these operations sand and clay are often driven up into the hollow at
the base of the stalks, and this dirt, which often clings tenaciously,