Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
when the latter became scarce. The oil was
also used for lighting (with hemp fibre being
used as the wick material), as well as in the
preparation of paints and soap.
Hemp seed was also used as a feed for
farmyard animals.
The inventories after death also provide
us with details of the amount of land under cul-
tivation of hemp.
In 1760, hemp growers had properties lit-
tle bigger than gardens. In the first quarter of
the 19th century, the area under cultivation
increased, although this was reduced by the
sale of 17 hemp fields. A further sale in 1894
brought the average area of a property down
to 36 m
2
.
The end of the century saw hemp produc-
tion fall. It is possible to conclude, therefore,
from the reduction in the area under cultivation,
that each peasant farmer was growing only
what he needed for his own family.
The region of the Perche appeared to
have resisted this decline and continued
to produce hemp longer than other regions.
The eco-museum situated between
Bellême and Nogent le Rotrou (at Ste Gauburge
in Saint Cyr la Rosière) provides some inter-
vated on small plots of land, close to the farm
so that children could chase away the birds
that landed on the newly seeded ground, and
again, later, when the crop had matured!
Legend tells how Saint Martin, feeling
sorry for hemp growers, sent them a bird of
prey to chase away the thieving birds. To thank
him, after each harvest, one or two male hemp
plants were left in the ground. This led orni-
thologists to name the prettiest of these birds
of prey
le Busard Saint Martin
, otherwise
known as the hen harrier (
Circus cyaneus
).
A few further observations illustrate how
hemp was viewed by those who farmed it:
By contrast, the retting ponds produced a
pestilent odour. This led some local authorities
to pass orders that required retting to be under-
taken in the river, using free-flowing water.
And finally, some expressions of apprecia-
tion for hemp cloth:
There were jobbing men who produced hemp
cloth: they made sheets. Our grandmothers
would have rolls of cloth. There would always
be some stored in the cupboard but . . . we used
it as little as possible . . .
My mother had large shirts; they were as stiff as
the law. I still don't know how she managed to
put them on like that.
But unanimously, for all these hemp workers:
It was good, good value, but it was bad!
Or again:
It was the most profitable of all, and we also
had a bonus . . .
It was the cultivation that was most profitable.
of the rural textile proto-industry in the Perche,
in the 18th century.
This provides new insights into the sub-
ject of hemp. Towards the end of the 18th
century, hemp farming increased. Hemp fields
of 1 ha or less became rare, as the demand
for textiles from the New World was felt. This
coarse cloth was used to dress slaves. The
coarser canvas was used to package cotton
and coffee. With colonial expansion and the
growth of the
economie de traite
(extracting
the raw product and exporting it from a col-
ony) heavily protected by the strict exclusivity
that characterized France's trading practices
with its colonies, the manufacture of hemp
canvas soared throughout the 18th century.
During this time, the hemp industry would
acquire certain characteristics of the wool
industry. Technical organization and changes
appeared as it sought to modernize.
Three categories can be distinguished:
weaving apprentices and artisans (who
depended on the merchant manufacturers);
independent manufacturers (whose significance
varied with the number of looms and the stock
of hemp yarn); and, finally, the merchant man-
ufacturers who engaged with the first group
It left the earth impeccable. There was never
any grass or weeds amongst the hemp.
It was hard. If ever it was dry when the time
came to pull the plants up, we would hurt our
hands.
Hemp, just before it was harvested would
produce a strong odour that could produce,
especially amongst women, a drunken state
with loss of balance.
