Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Thus wrote Chrétien de Troyes (1130-1183)
in
Le chevalier de la charrette
.
5
fibre) and tow, he says, 'Please require these to
be spun more finely'.
These examples showed that hemp was
not a new plant, however. Unlike maize and
the potato, hemp was not a plant that had
arrived suddenly from the Middle East or
from the newly discovered New World, but
was already well established in European
culture.
. . . Nos chers frères Sachets on fait monter le
prix de la mèche de chanvre, chacun d'eux
semble un vacher . . .
wrote Rutebeuf, a
trouvère
of the 13th
century.
6
And another of the 16th century:
. . . Sa mère qui lui fait la tache Le
chanvre qu'elle attache à sa quenouille de
roseaux . . .
2.4.2
Hemp in all its forms
Wars and the constant conflict that ravaged
towns and villages throughout France in the
16th century resulted in the burning and disap-
pearance of a great many legal archives.
Sources from the 17th century onwards are
better preserved. References to hemp are
found in property inventories of the dead (both
peasant and noble), in tithe inscriptions -
livres
de raison
- and in other diverse accountancy
records. Such documents are a trove of data
on the place of hemp in traditional French
domestic life.
. . . Ou d'une bergère
Dont le cœur innocent eut contenté mes
vœux d'un bracelet de chanvre avec ses
cheveux . . .
During the same later, period (1583), Olivier
de Serres, a gentleman of the Vivarais, who
was widely recognized by agronomists as
the father of modern agronomy, wrote
Le
théâtre d'Agriculture et mesurage des
champs
, in which he recommended growing
hemp in the garden, together with flax and
other plants.
The 17th century French fabulist, La
Fontaine, drew his inspiration from Aesop
(4th century), who in his original
Fables
mentions 'flax' on three occasions. But in
Les
Hirondelles et les Petits Oiseaux
(The
Swallows and the Little Birds, 1668), La
Fontaine replaces this with 'hemp' (
chanvre
):
Cultivation becomes more widespread
The word 'hemp' appears in various forms,
as we have seen already, across many areas
of France. Each example draws attention to
the importance of hemp. This is further evi-
dent in administrative reports. Furthermore,
each commune boasts proudly of its hemp
and the profit that derives from it, while those
who have no hemp bemoan its absence.
8
The 18th century historian of naval riggings
and author of agricultural texts, Duhamel
du Monceau, was amazed on seeing a hemp
plant measuring some 12 feet high (approxi-
mately 4 m) and 3 inches (approximately
8 cm) in diameter! The hemp grown in the
Auvergne region of France, by comparison,
generally averaged only 3.5 feet in height,
was soft, full of trash and judged unsuitable
for the navy. Burgundy hemp - whitish, hard
and friable - was of a much lower quality,
mixed as it was with approximately 50%
of hemp
de Bresse
, a hemp of decidedly
inferior quality.
. . . Il arriva qu'au temps que le chanvre se
sème . . .
. . . Quand la chènevière fut verte . . .
. . . Le chanvre étant tout a fait crue . . .
Meanwhile, we find the suggestion of one Rétif
de la Bretonne (1740-1806) that, in certain
meals, hemp - the seed, we assume - makes
an excellent dessert.
In 1854, the poet Alfred de Vigny,
writing to the steward of his property at Maine
Giraud, remarks, 'Madame you recommended
that Jeanette be told to spin the hemp that she
was left'. And in 1856, he writes, 'Madame,
please add this note on the hemp. She wishes
that, with this year's strands
. . .
'. Then, in 1857,
on the subject of strands (finely hackled hemp
