AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS CENTURY, 7 
Sunn Hemp in India. In a pamphlet, published anonymously 
in 1806, ‘ On the Sunn Hemp of Bengal,’ p. 11, as well as in 
Macpherson’s ‘ History of European Commerce with India,’ 
p. 242, we are told that great losses were sustained in the years 
1796, 1797, and 1798, by the East India Company, and “ that 
their expenditure upon that object exceeded the amount of 
the sales by more than £45,000, and that all such imports were 
discontinued until the year 1800, when differences again oc- 
curred with the Northern Powers of Europe.” But we learn 
from a letter of Dr. Roxburgh, dated 24th Dec., 1799, that the 
Court of Directors had sent out Mr. Sinclair to establish the 
cultivation of hemp; but he having died shortly afterwards, 
the experiment was continued by Mr. T. Douglas, and, ac- 
cording to Dr. Roxburgh, in a most expensive manner. 
The Lords of the Privy Council for Trade and Foreign 
Plantations, in a letter dated the 4th of February, 1803, 
recommended to the Court of Directors of the East India 
Company, to encourage as much as possible the growth of 
strong hemp in such parts of their dependencies as might be 
best suited to the production of that article. On the 23d of 
the same month, the Court replied, that they would take the 
needful measures for accomplishing the object of their lord- 
ships’ wishes (v.‘ Product. Resources of India,’ by the author), 
Farms were accordingly directed to be established for the 
cultivation of hemp and of substitutes for it. Dr. Roxburgh, 
Superintendent of the Botanic Garden at Calcutta, was ap- 
pointed to the charge of one of them. As above stated, he 
cultivated a great variety of the fibrous plants of India, made 
experiments with the fibres, and sent specimens of them to 
this country. Though Dr. Roxburgh published no separate 
work on the subject, he wrote letters and reports, and included 
detailed descriptions of the plants in his botanical works. His 
separate papers were collected together at his death into a 
small volume, entitled, ‘Observations, &c., on the various 
specimens of Fibrous Vegetables, the produce of India, which 
may prove valuable substitutes for Hemp and Flax on some 
future day in India” Dr. Roxburgh’s exertions were acknow- 
ledged by the Society of Arts by the award of their gold 
medal. 
Among the fibrous plants which Dr. Roxburgh submitted to. 
