228 GENERAL REVIEW. 



Continental gardens, the colour varying from white to dark- 

 blue (see ' L'Horticulture Beige,' 1875, p. 241). 



THE HOP AND HEMP FAMILY (Cannabinacece). 



A small order of herbaceous plants, mostly natives of 

 temperate parts of the" Old World, and represented in our 

 gardens and fiejds by the common Hemp -(Cannabis sativa\ 

 a well-known fibre - producing plant and the Hop plant 

 (Humulus lupulus), a graceful climbing plant, from the bracts 

 and seeds of which Hops used by brewers are prepared. 

 Hemp is an annual plant very easily raised from seeds sown in 

 heat in March, or in the open air in May or June. Hops are 

 readily multiplied by division. The plants in this order bear 

 male and female flowers on separate individuals, so that 



Common Hop {male and female). 



both sexes must be grown in close proximity if fertile seeds are 

 desired. In rare instances, however, the common Hop plant 

 produces male and female flowers together, being then monoe- 

 cious instead of dioecious, as is normally the case ; and it has 

 been suggested that by saving seed from these monoecious 

 plants, a race bearing male and female flowers together might 

 be obtained. The following interesting allusion to this subject 

 is from a recent number of the ' Gardeners' Chronicle : ' 



" I enclose a specimen of the male Hop with apparently 

 female flowers at the tips of the branches. 



" There are other male plants in the same ground, but I 

 have not seen any other instance of this peculiarity. The 



