VOL. LXXII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 181 



pointing in different directions, and so on to the top, the bottom branches of 

 some measuring more than 5 feet, the others decreasing gradually in length 

 towards the top, so as to form a beautiful cone when in flower, which were 

 unluckily nipped by a few nights frost that happened to be pretty sharp towards 

 the end of the month; and the plants began to droop at the beginning of 

 November, at which time I had them pulled up by the roots. 



As I was but little acquainted either with the cultivation of the seed, or pre- 

 paring the plants afterwards for the production of hemp, and as these plants 

 were very different in their size from any I had ever seen, the best method that 

 occurred to me was, that of steeping them in water, where I let them remain 

 for a fortnight, and then placed them in an upright position against a south wall 

 to dry and bleach. On trying whether the hemp could be easily separated from 

 the woody part, I was agreeably surprized to find, that on peeling a few inches 

 longitudinally from the root, the whole rind, from the bottom to the top, not 

 only of the stem but also of all the lateral branches, stripped off" cleanly, with- 

 out breaking any one of them. The toughness of the hemp seemed to be 

 extraordinary, and on drying and beating divides into an infinity of tough fibres. 

 The plants when stripped are quite white, and when the lateral branches are cut 

 off, appear like handsome young poles. They are perforated in the middle, but 

 the perforation is not larger than that of a goose quill, in a stem of more than 

 2 inches diameter. The woody part seems pretty substantial, and if they should 

 be found of any duration, might be applied to many useful purposes; or if not, 

 I should imagine they would produce plenty of good ashes by burning. The 

 rough hemp that has been pealed from the 32 plants, when thoroughly dried, 

 weighed 3 pounds and a quarter; but I do not think it had come to full matu- 

 rity, though I can hardly doubt but the plants would have come to perfection if 

 the seed had been sown in the proper season. The summer was remarkably 

 dry, notwithstanding which, though the situation they were placed in was 

 very warm, and the ground not rich, I found, on measuring the plants at dif- 

 ferent times, that they had grown nearly 1 1 inches per week. 



As the culture of so valuable a kind of hemp, as this promises to produce, 

 appears to be of consequence to a maritime and commercial kingdom, 1 have 

 applied to the directors of the East-India Company, to give proper orders to 

 their factors and super-cargoes in China, to procure some of the best seed that 

 can be obtained; and send even a small parcel, by each of their returning ships, 

 which they have very obligingly promised; and from what has already appeared, 

 there can be no doubt of its continuing in a state fit for vegetation for a much 

 longer time than is usually required for that voyage. 



If the seed should arrive in safety, I can hardly doubt of obtaining the 

 assistance of the society established for the encouragement of arts, manufactures, 



