HEMP 195 



leaflets, the edges of which are indented like the edges of 

 a saw. The flowers are pale yellow. 



The fibre obtained from the stalks is exceedingly strong, 

 and is used for making ropes, and twine, and sailcloth, and 

 other materials of great strength and durability. Old hempen 

 ropes pulled to pieces are called oakum ; this is used for 

 caulking ships, that is, stuffing up the crevices between 

 the boards. 



Hemp, like flax, grows in temperate as well as in warm 

 climates, and, though frost kills it, it can be cultivated in 

 places where the winter is very severe, because it grows 

 quickly, and forms its seeds before the frost comes. 



SOURCES OF SUPPLY. Russia, at present, is the great hemp- 

 producing country of the world, and we buy large quantities 

 from her, especially for use in the navy. Italy, however, 

 produces the best hemp, and during the war our imports from 

 her have increased. 



The seeds of hemp, which are about one-twelfth of an inch 

 long, are of a pale brownish-grey colour, and are used for 

 feeding birds. When pressed they yield an oil, which is used 

 in making varnish. 



We also buy large quantities of hemp from India, but it 

 is another kind, known as Bengal hemp ; its fibre is not so 

 strong as that of Cannabis sativa. Still another kind is that 

 obtained from the M usa textilis, a plant allied to the banana, 

 growing in the Philippines ; it is called Manila hemp, and our 

 imports of it are even greater than those of Russian hemp. 



SISAL HEMP, or SISAL (Agave sisalana) is often called 

 the American aloe, though it is not really an aloe at all. Its 

 original home is Yucatan, where it grows in great profusion ; 

 indeed its name sisalana was given to it because it was first 

 exported from Sisal, a town on the coast of Yucatan. 



The plant has a short trunk, and all round this great leaves 

 grow out, like iris leaves in shape ; they vary in length from 

 three to six feet. Sometimes it continues to grow for seventy 

 years without blooming, and then, at last, from the middle 



