HEMP. 



415 



Hemp is likewise raised in various parts of 

 France, Spain, Denmark, and Sweden, in Wal- 

 lacliia and Moldavia, and in several of the Italian 

 states; but with the exception of Italy, which 

 affords a trifling' export, and of Wallachia and 

 Moldavia that supply the Turkish fleet with 

 cordage, none of these countries produce it in 

 sufficient abundance for their own consumption. 

 Among the Italian states the kingdom of Naples 

 is very productive of this useful vegetable sub- 

 stance. 



A very considerable quantity is grown in the 

 Terra di Lavora and the districts in the imme- 

 diate neighbourhood of the capital of that king- 

 dom. In 1827 there were many fields of im- 

 mense extent lying a little in the rear of the 

 swampy shore, that extends between the mouth 

 of the river Voltumus and Cape Misenum, de- 

 voted to this produce. On account of the very 

 disagreeable effluvia proceeding from the hemp 

 while macerating, and from an idea that it is 

 noxious both to the water and the atmosphere, 

 the Neapolitan government has appointed the 

 Lago d'Adnano (a smaU lake beautiftilly situated, 

 about a mile in circumference, and between three 

 and four miles from the city of Naples) for this 

 purpose; nor are the growers allowed to steep 

 their hemp in any other place. Those who hap- 

 pen to raise the plant in thinly inhabited places 

 where there is water at hand, as near the swampy 

 shore we have mentioned, put it through the 

 process of maceration on the spot; but the pro- 

 hibition by law extends to all places within a 

 circuit of many miles, except the Lago d'Agnano. 

 To reach that lake the greater part of the hemp 

 has to pass through the city of Naples, and as 

 the cars on which it is transported are of great 

 magnitude, and many streets of the capital are 

 narrow, and all of them crowded, the cars are 

 not permitted to enter the town until one or two 

 hours after midnight. Every person who has 

 resided at Naples during the summer must have 

 been made sensible of the very considerable 

 quantity of hemp grown in the neighbourhood, 

 by seeing, day after day, the long lines of cars 

 laden with it stationed at three of the four great 

 avenues to the city waiting the appointed hour; 

 and by having his rest broken night after night 

 by the rumbling noise made by these numerous 

 and heavy vehicles as they roll over the lava- 

 paved streets of the town towards the grotto of 

 Posilippo and the lake. In the long subterran- 

 ean road or tunnel of Posilippo, through which 

 also they must of necessity pass, there being no 

 other communication, the noise they make is 

 astounding. What with going and returning 

 after the hemp has been macerated, the inhabi- 

 tants of a considerable part of the city of Naples 

 are regaled with this nocturnal music for more 

 than two months every year.* 



* Library of Useful Knowledge. 



The grand mart howeyer for hemp, as an 

 article of commerce, is Russia, where it is grown 

 in immense quantities, and of the best quality. 

 The' principal places of its cultivation are in the 

 southern and western provinces bordering upon 

 Poland, and in the provinces of Poland which 

 belong to Russia. The plants even grow wild 

 in some parts of Russia. In Siberia and about 

 the river Volga it is found flourishing in natural 

 vigour near spots where towns have formerly 

 stood. The Cossack and Tartar women gather 

 it in considerable quantities in autumn, when it 

 has shed its seed and begins to die away. It is 

 not, however, collected by them for its fibres, 

 but is used, as by some other eastern people, as 

 an article of food, for which it is prepared in 

 various ways.* 



Much anxiety was evinced some years since 

 in this country that we should obtain supplies 

 of hemp from our own dependencies, and its 

 cultivation was very much encouraged in Canada. 

 The attention of the planters being strongly 

 called to it, several samples of hemp of Canadian 

 growth were sent home. These were placed 

 under the examination of the best judges, by 

 whom they were considered defective, rather 

 from the faulty mode of preparation than from 

 any inferiority in the material itself. Some was 

 found to be of as gTeat a length as the Italian 

 hemp, which is longer than that from the Baltic, 

 but the whole was mixed together without any 

 regard to length or quality. The Petersburgh 

 hemp, on the contrary, is always carefully as- 

 sorted into different classes, distinguished in 

 commerce as "Clean, or best staple hemp," "best 

 shot," which is rather inferior to the first; and 

 "half clean," which is much inferior. These 

 classes of course obtain very different prices in 

 the market. It was supposed that the Canadian 

 planters would have readily attained to better 

 methods of preparing and assorting, but they 

 have not yet been able to compete -with the 

 Russian cultivators, who still exclusively supply 

 our market. At the latter end of the last cen- 

 tury, in consequence of our extensive warfare, 

 the importation of this article into England 

 very much increased. For the five years ending 

 with 1776, the average annual quantity was 

 246,673 cwt.; in the same number of years end- 

 ing with 1799, the annual average is found to be 

 more than double that quantity, being 573,358 

 cwt. It is calculated that the sails and cordage 

 of a first-rate man-of-war require 180,000 lbs, 

 of rough hemp for their construction. 



From the Annals of Agriculture, it appears 

 that in the year 1785 the quantity of hemp ex- 

 ported from Petersburgh to England alone, 

 amounted to 353,900 cwt.; and assuming that it 

 requires five acres of ground to produce a ton of 



* Pallas' Travels. 



