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The World's Commercial Products 



Hemp 

 Many fibres are known commercially as " hemps," e.g., Sisal Hemp, Manila Hemp, and 

 Bowstring Hemp, but the true hemp is the bast fibre of Cannabis -'saliva, a plant native to 

 western Asia, and belonging to the stinging-nettle family. (Uflicaceae). Like flax it was 

 -cultivated for centuries before the Christian Era, and next to flax was the most important 

 vegetable textile material before the introduction of the cheaper cotton and jute. The 

 principal hemp-growing countries are Russia, Austria, Italy, Turkey, China, Japan, and 

 the United States. Throughout the -East the plant is cultivated chiefly as a source of the 

 intoxicating drug known as " bhang." 



The plant reaches a height of from four to ten feet, and under especially favourable circum- 

 stances a height of twenty feet is not uncommon. Some of the finest grades of hemp 



.' come from Italy, where the plant is largely 

 cultivated,- and an account of the Italian 

 methods of cultivation and preparation will be 

 of interest. Great care is taken in preparing 

 the fields for the seed, and manuring is very 

 thoroughly carried out. The crop is considered 

 ready for harvesting when the tops of the 

 plants begin to turn yellow, and the male 

 plants, which yield the best fibre, are always 

 cut before the" female. The stems are then 

 gathered in bundles and placed on trestles to 

 dry, when they are ready for the next process, 

 viz., that of retting in water. After the retting 

 is complete the stems are carefully dried, either 

 in the open air, a method which results in a 

 fibre of superior colour, or else by artificial heat 

 in ordinary bread ovens. Drying in the open 

 air takes from three to six days, and a great 

 point in favour of the employment of artificial 

 heat is the rapidity with which the drying can 

 be effected. The next process is the removal 

 of the external bark from the stem, and this 

 decortication, as it is called, is carried out in 

 various ways, either by hand-beating or by 

 the employment of very simple and primitive 

 contrivances. 



The best varieties of hemp are creamy- 

 The fibre furnishes a satisfactory substitute for 

 flax, and, except for the finer linens, is employed for medium grades of nearly all goods 

 commonly made from flax. It is also very largely used for cordage, ropes, and fishing-lines, 

 and is extensively employed in the carpet and rug trades. 



Photo by W. G. Freeman, Esq. 



BORASSUS PALM 



white in colour, lustrous, soft, and pliable. 



Jute 



Jute is said to be yielded by several species of Corchorus, but only two species, C. capsularis 

 ■and C. olitorius, are cultivated for their fibre. The plants are regarded as natives of India, 

 where they are extensively grown, especially in the province of Bengal, and they are also 

 cultivated to a limited extent in China, Malaya, and Formosa. 



Corchorus is a genus of the Tiliaceae (Lime tree family), and the two fibre-yielding species 

 are annual plants growing to a height of from five to ten feet with a round stem about three- 

 quarters of an inch in diameter. C. capsularis and C. olitorius are very similar in habit of 



