14 



ON HEMP. 



looks like a little tree. * If it is of that sex which produces seed, 

 it will yield a great many grains, and those very beautiful ; but, its 

 bark being too hard and thick, will not be very fit for manufactur- 

 ing. On the contrary, seeds sown in a field that is properly pre- 

 pared for the purpose, and where the plants rise close to*each other, 

 produce stalks that are straight, smooth, without branches, softer 

 and more tender than the former; and the bark of such being 

 smooth, fine, and soft, is much valued for several uses. The leaves 

 grow in pairs, opposite to one another : they are divided into many 

 segments, being narrow, oblong, sharp-pointed, jagged, full of 

 veins, of a deep-green colour, rough to the touch, and of a strong 

 smell that affects the head. 



The flowers that grow on the female stalk, as it is commonly, 

 but erroneously, called, issue from the alas of the leaves, on a pedi- 

 cle of four little clusters, lying in the form of a St. Andrew's Cross. 

 They have no petals, and consist of five stamina, with yellowish 

 summits, in a calix of five leaves of a purple colour without and 

 whitish on the inside. These flowers are not followed by any fruit ; 

 and on the other hand, the fruit on the stalks that produce it is never 

 preceded by any flower. 



Whatever the order of nature maybe in the vegetation of this 

 plant, both the male and the female stalks are produced indiscrimi- 

 nately 



* Quod ad proceritatem attinet, roseClna agrt Sabini arborum altitudinem 

 sequat. Plin. 1. xix, c. 9. 



