CANNABIS 



SATIVA 



Hemp 



THE HEMP PLANT 



lilianga. 



Male and 

 Female Plants. 



" Charle " 

 or "Steele." 



" Fimble 

 Hempe." 



Bemoval of 

 the Males. 



Oil. 



Winter Hemp. 

 Summer Hemp. 



Season of 

 Maturity for 

 Fibre. 



Double Crop, 



forms, known as bhang, charas, and ganja, and which chemically consists 

 of a resin and a volatile oil. 



The word bangra is given in Nepal to a coarse cloth made from the nettle 

 Girardlnia- heteropiiyiin and in Sikkim a similar textile bears the name gunnia, 

 while in Burma the name gun or gwon denotes -Bnefcmerta tiivea, and in 

 Bengal the fishermen's nets made of rhea fibre are called gangajalu. A coarse 

 cloth made in Mysore from Crotainria is also named gun). It is thus somewhat 

 surprising that in India the best-known nettle fibres, including hemp, bear 

 names that have the sound of bhcmga or ganja (though possibly quite uncon- 

 nected). Christopher Acosta (Tract, de las Drogas, 1578, 359-61) figures and 

 describes the " Bangue." Mandelslo (Travels, 1662, 37) speaks of " Bengi," 

 a drug made from hemp. Fryer (New Ace. E. 2nd. and Pers., 1672-81, 126) 

 mentions " a Fakier drunk with Bang " whom he saw in Surat. On the 

 Himalaya, where Cunnnitis sntivn is grown for its fibre, the male plant is 

 called phul bhdng and the female gul or gur-bhdnga. At Indore the male plant 

 is hari and the female bhamgera. Very nearly throughout the world wherever 

 hemp is cultivated the larger and more prolific plant has been taken as the male 

 (though as a matter of fact it is botanically the female). Prain informs me 

 that he believes, with the Mongolian races, the sexes are not as a rule reversed. 

 The names given to the two forms or sexes are therefore interesting. From 

 Gerarde (1636) we learn that in his time English writers spoke of the one plant as the 

 " Male " and called it " Charle " or " Steele Hempe " (p. 1083), or " Winter Hempe," 

 and of the other as the " Female " (or, as he calls it, Femeline, botanically the 

 male), the "Barren Hempe "or " Summer Hempe," and by more recent writers 

 " Fimble Hempe." Gerarde makes an interesting observation in this con- 

 nection : " There is another, beeing the female Hempe, yet barren and without 

 seed, contrarie unto the nature of that sex ; which is very like to the other 

 beeing the male, and one must be gathered before the other be ripe, else it will 

 wither away and come to no good purpose." The corresponding German names 

 are Fimmel (male) and Maschel (female). It is, however, significant that in 

 none of the prehistoric remains of Europe has hemp been found, though flax 

 is frequent. [Cf. O. Schrader, Reallexicon, etc., 330-1.] 



But Gerarde's observation regarding the necessity to remove the male plants 

 (the "females," as he calls them) because otherwise the crop may come to no 

 good, is curiously suggestive of the Bengal practice, that will presently be 

 explained. As a matter of fact, however, it is the general custom in Europe to 

 remove the male (or, as it is called, "female ") plants some 20 to 40 days before 

 the female (male) is harvested, the reason being that after the dissemination of 

 the pollen the male plants rapidly mature, so that long before the females have 

 formed their seeds the fibre in the male stems has been ruined. Similarly, if 

 the seeds be allowed to ripen, the fibre of the female plants will also be ruined. 

 It accordingly is the custom to harvest the female crop when in a half-ripe 

 condition, that is to say, the seeds have not been fully matured but they are 

 at that stage rich in oil and thus afford a by-product of no small importance. 

 Still further, it seems the custom, in some parts of Europe, to store the stems 

 for a time before separating and cleaning the fibre. The fibre cleaned in winter 

 is accordingly called Winter Hemp and that retted in spring and cleaned finally 

 in summer is described as Summer Hemp. But like the names " male " and 

 " female," the terms " summer " and " winter " are often inverted. Lastly, 

 the greatest possible confusion exists in the literature of this subject as to 

 whether or not the botanically male plant yields a fibre, and, if it does, its 

 relative value to that of the female. , [(7/. Crawford, Indust. of Russia, Agri. 

 and Forest, 1893, 139-43; Wiesner, Die Rohst. des Pflanzenr., 1903, i., 520, 

 ii., 300.] Wilson (Farm Crops, 1859, ii., 325-43) gives what is doubtless the 

 complete statement when he observes that the plants flower in about twelve 

 weeks after the date of sowing, " and then is seen the peculiarity of the 

 cultivation of hemp as compared with other crops. If the crop be intended 

 for fibre only, the harvesting generally takes place as soon as the process of 

 flowering is completed, and both male and female plants are pulled at the same 

 time and treated in the same manner. When, however, the double produce of 

 fibre and seed are desired, a different method is pursued, by which the full produce 

 of the crop is secured." The male plants are pulled up by the roots, care being 

 taken not to injure the female, which are left on the field for a further period. 

 " The male plants are collected and tied in small sheaves, and either left standing 

 in a convenient place till dry or at once taken to the retting vats." Morria 



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