Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
undertaken by women. Once the yarn is
ready, it is supplied to local weavers who will
turn it into fine canvas (using the fibre of the
female hemp plant). The male hemp plant
produces a coarser yarn that will consequently
produce a coarser cloth. The merchants from
the Departments of the Herault, Tarn and the
Aveyron visit the Spring fairs to buy the
coarse canvas and deliver these to the ports
of Toulon and Marseille where they are sold
to make sails or sailor's shirts. Any surplus is
taken to the Aude, Pyrénées Orientales and
even as far as Spain where the cloth is
similarly used to produce cloth for the people.
This branch of production produces cheap,
affordable cloth for all classes of society in the
Cantal. Few would use manufactured cloth;
the latter is a branch of commerce that
generates hard currency, that meets other
needs, and can even serve to pay part of the
tax bill. It would be a great misfortune if
canvas manufacturers were to become
established in this country even if they were to
produce the same cloth with the same yarn
and sold it at the same price as locally made
cloth. The reason is obvious: the
manufacturer would buy the raw hemp from
the inhabitants and would sell the
manufactured product back to them. In this
way, the local people would be required to
pay the raw cost of the hemp plus labour
charges and would thereby lose the price of
their own yarn in the process.
imposed to the value of 542 handfuls of hemp,
but on only 156 in 1774. In Taizé (in La
Charente), in 1789, it was as high as 2.5 bush-
els of hemp seed and 130 pounds of hemp
fibre. At Vouzon, in the ecclesiastical accounts,
the levy was for 100 pounds of hemp and
6 measures of hemp seed. And then, succes-
sively, hemp appeared in the 'tithed' farm. In
this way, the priest was able to exclude it from
taxation, for it was cultivated in prescribed
gardens and enclosures.
The prices are known: a hectolitre (hl) of
seed, in 1677, was more expensive than
flax. The former cost 7 pounds and 2 sols,
whereas the latter was valued at 5 pounds
and 2 sols.
In 1765, at Angoulême, hemp seed was
priced at 9 pounds and 12 sols; in 1768, at
more than 11 pounds; and it reached
15 pounds and 15 sols in 1797, thus showing
a steady rise in price. With the start of the 19th
century, more accurate statistics become
available and we learn that hemp and flax are
cultivated on just over 1800 ha.
In 1818, in la Charente, the weight of
hemp yarn produced attained 541,350 kg and
was valued at 649,620 francs.
The hemp plant also yields seed. It is
known that during this period 1 ha yields
6 hl of seed, equivalent to 1 hl of oil. For the
whole region, a total of 1800 hl of oil would
have been produced. Hemp cultivation was
therefore very important.
third of whom would have been employed
exclusively in cleaning and collecting the seeds
of hemp. Spinning hemp into yarn also would
have been the responsibility of the women, as
there were no professional spinners or trade of
that name.
During the 19th century, there were some
2028 weavers in la Charente. Of the 496
known weavers in the
arrondissement
of
Angoulême, approximately 6.5% worked
throughout the year. For the remainder, their
work could be broken down as follows:
12 workers for 9 months of the year
Hemp in day-to-day life
CULTIVATION IN THE CHARENTE
.
The bulletin of the
Société Archéologique et Historique de la
by Mme Alberte Cadet, revealing that in
Angoumois and Saintonge, there are no less
than 80 villages whose place names (according
to the village elders) contain
chenevaux
,
che-
nevière
,
chainevars
,
chaînevars
or
chèrues
.
We have a certain Charles de Gorée, who,
on 16 May 1652, wrote to the steward of his
estate of Champagne-Mouton, 'In the mean-
time, spin a further two to three pounds of this
same hemp yarn as we will not have enough
with the 19 pounds requested and they must
not be allowed to whiten'.
Between 1682 and 1789, hemp is regu-
larly listed as an agricultural product subject to
a levy (or tithe). Sometimes, the detail of the
information is surprising. In 1765, levies were
•
•
130 workers for 4 months
•
When there was nothing else to do, they wove
canvas.
84 workers for 3 months
