shoots 



615 



the countries where the plant is grown for fibre— Russia and 

 Central Europe chiefly, is a well-known food for birds, poultry, 

 etc. and yield on' expression an oil used for burning and in the 

 manufacture of soft-soap. The oil-cake is used for feeding stock. 



India is the principal source of the drug ; but recently some 

 packages of "American cannabinus," grown in the Carohna 

 Drug Gardens were put on the London :Market with a report 

 and analysis to the eflfect that there was " no diflference between 

 this Oleo Resin and that from ordinary Cannabis Indica " (Mus. 

 Kew). The drug is strongly narcotic and it appears in three 

 forms " Bhang " — dried leaves and flowering 



a resinous substance and " Ganja " — the dried flowering 

 tops of the cultivated female plant. The cultivation and sale 

 in India is carried on under hcense (Watt. Comm. Prod. India) 

 and legal restrictions exist in many other countries— Nif^^ria 

 (Coi: Rep. Ann. No. 821, 1014, p. 6; No. 825, 1913, p. lo— 

 Opium and Similar Drugs), Sierra Leone (Gazette, June 5th, 

 1920), East Africa Protectorate under " Abuse of Opiates Ordi- 

 nance 1913," declaring it illegal to sow, cultivate or otherwise 

 grow Indian Hemp in the Protectorate (Col. Rep. Ann. No. 840, 

 1915, p. 44), in British Guiana the importation of Indian Hemp' 

 including ganja, bhang and charas is forbidden except under 

 license and only 4 oz. can be sold to one person at a time within 

 seven days (Col. Rep. Ann. No. 833, 1915, p. 20) : the cultiva- 

 tion of " Dagga " is prohibited at the Cape (Pharm. Journ. [4] 

 XXV. 1907, p. 493) and in Angola some of the natives cultivate 

 the plant in concealed places (Hiern, Cat. Welw. Afr. PL i. 

 p. 995). Other instances of official control might be given ; 

 but the above may be sufficient to show that cultivation is 



or less inad\'isable. In nearly all parts of Africa the leaves 

 are prepared for smoking by the natives A\ith very demoralising 

 effects. In the Museum at Kew there are various samples as 

 evidence of its use in many parts including " Tangier Smoking 

 Mixture," composed chiefly of Hemp, as sold in the Moorish 

 shops (Balfour, 1896), the drug as used for smoking, W. Africa 

 (Monteiro), "Diamba" as it is sold at Gaboon (Mann, 1861), 



more 



Hemp," from Mozamb ^ ^ ^ „ __. „ 



etc. The importance of the plant as a fibre producer is without 

 question ; but its place in this respect may be readily taken by 

 fibre plants perhaps equally valuable and better suited to the 

 climate . 



. There is a considerable literature of which the follo^ving are 



wide 



Museum at Kew 



• <f 



^^/. — '' Indian Hemp : How 



use in Medicine and as a Stimulant," Mair, in Chemist ^ 



Druggist, July 30th, 1898, pp. 166-168. " Morphology, 



Teratology and Dichnism of the Flowers of Cannabis saiiva/^ 

 Prain, in Sci, Mem. Med. and >San. Dept. India, No. 12, 1904, 

 pp. 1-32,^ ** Note on Cannabis Indica," Holmes, in Pharm. 



