640 



HEMLOCK SPRUCE 



HEMP 



The ornamental plant, the so-called Giant Hemlock, 

 which in good rich soil reaches a height of 12 to 15 

 feet in three months, is not really a hemlock at all, 

 but a giant Cow-parsnip ( q. v. ). 



Hemlock Spruce. See FIR. 



Hemorrhage. See BLEEDING. 



Hemp (Cannabis), a genus of plants of the 

 natural order Cannabinacese (q.v.), having the male 

 and female flowers on different plants ; the male 

 flowers with five-partite calyx and five stamens ; the 

 female flowers with a spathe-like calyx of one leaf; 

 rolled round the ovary and partially split along one 

 side, and two threadlike stigmas. There is only 

 one known species ( C. sativa), varying considerably, 

 however, from soil, climate, and cultivation. It is 

 an annual plant, a native of the warmer parts of 

 Asia, but has been cultivated in Europe from the 

 earliest historic times, and is now naturalised in 

 many parts of Europe and America. Like flax, it 

 adapts itself wonderfully to diversities of climate, 

 and is cultivated equally under the burning sun of 

 the tropics and in the northern parts of Russia. 



Common Hemp (Cannabis sativa), male plant. 



It is, however, readily injured by frost, particularly 

 when young ; and in many countries where it is 

 cultivated it succeeds only because the warmth of 

 the summer, though of short duration, is suffi- 

 cient for its whole life. Hemp varies very much 

 in height, according to the soil and climate, being 

 sometimes only 3 or 4 feet, and sometimes 15 or 20 

 feet, or even more. Notwithstanding the coarse- 

 ness of its leaves, it is an elegtirit plant, and is some- 

 times sown on this account in shrubberies and large 

 flower- borders. The stem is erect, more or less 

 branched ; the leaves are five to nine fingered. The 

 flowers are yellowish-green, small, and numerous ; 

 the. male flowers in axillary racemes on the upper 

 parts of the plant ; the female flowers in short 

 axillary and rather crowded spikes. The female 

 plants are higher and stronger than the male. 

 The stem of hemp is hollow, or only filled with a 

 soft pith. This pith is surrounded by a tender, 

 brittle substance, consisting chiefly of cellular 

 tissue, with some woody fibre, which is called the 

 reed, boon, or shove of hemp. Over this is the thin 

 bark, composed chiefly of fibres extending in a 

 parallel direction along the stalk, with an outer 

 membrane or cuticle. 



Hemp is cultivated for its fibre in almost all 

 countries of Europe, and in many other temperate 

 parts of the world, most extensively in Poland, 



and in the centre and south of European Russia, 

 which are the chief hemp-exporting countries. 

 French hemp is much esteemed in the market, as 

 is also that of England and Ireland, of which, how- 

 ever, the quantity is comparatively inconsiderable. 

 Bolognese Hemp and Rhenish Hemp are varieties 

 remarkable for their height ; and a fibre of very 

 fine quality, 8 or 9 feet long, is known in commerce 

 by the name of Italian Garden Hemp. In the 

 United States most of the hemp is grown in 

 Kentucky. In 

 England the 

 cultivation of 

 hemp is almost 

 confined to Lin- 

 colnshire, Hold- 

 erness in York- 

 shire, and a few 

 other districts, 

 of which the 

 moist alluvial 

 soil is particu- 

 larly suited to 

 it. In cultivat- 

 ing hemp it is 

 very necessary 

 to have the soil 

 so rich, and to 

 sow the seed at 

 such a season, 

 that the plants 

 shall grow 

 rapidly at first, 

 as they thus 

 form long fibres. 

 A crop of short 

 scrubby hemp is 

 almost worth- 

 less. The finer 

 kinds of hemp 



Common Hemp, female plant. 



are used for making cloth, the coarser for sail- 

 cloth and ropes. Hemp sown thin produces a 

 coarser fibre than hemp sown thick. Something 

 also depends on the time of pulling, for the crop 

 is pulled by the hand. When a rather fine fibre 

 is wanted, and the seed is not regarded, the whole 

 crop is pulled at once, soon after flowering ; other- 

 wise, it is usual to pull the male plants as soon 

 as they have shed their pollen, and to leave the 

 female plants to ripen their seed, in which case 

 the fibre of the female plants is much coarser. The 

 treatment of hemp by retting, &c. is similar to 

 that of Flax (q.v.). Ihe fibre of hemp is generally 

 used for coarser purposes than that of flax, par- 

 i ticularly for sailcloth, pack-sheet, ropes, and the 

 caulking of ships. 



The seed of hemp is produced in great abund 

 ance. It is commonly sold as food for cage-birds ; 

 and birds are so fond of it that not only the ripen- 

 ing fields, but the newly-sown fields, must be care- 

 fully guarded against their depredations. A fixed 

 oil, oil of hempseed, is obtained from it by expres- 

 sion, which is at first greenish-yellow and afterwards 

 yellow, and has an acrid odour, but a mild taste. 

 This oil is used in Russia for burning in lamps, 

 although the wick is apt to get clogged, also for 

 making paints, varnish, and a kind of soft soap. 



Hemp is cultivated in warm countries not so 

 much for its fibre as for a resinous secretion, 

 which has narcotic or intoxicating qualities (see 

 HASHISH). Hemp is also used as a therapeutic 

 agent under the name of Indian Hemp, or Bhang, 

 and may be administered in the form of resinous 

 extract or of tincture ; and it is usually prescribed 

 (like opium) for its hypnotic, anodyne, and anti- 

 spasmodic properties. Although less certain in its 

 action than opium, it possesses these advantages 

 over that drug that it does not constipate the 



