12 



ON HEM Pi 



The stalk is thick and ridged, or somewhat angular. It grows 

 from six to twelve feet in height, and taller in warm than cold climates. 



The leaves are divided into five, in the manner of the fingers ; 

 they feel rough, and are notched at the ends. 



It is a plant of the Dioecious class of vegetables. 



The male plants are distinguished from the female in cultiva- 

 tion and management of the crop : but an error has very generally 

 prevailed in calling the really male plants, (those which afford the 

 farina facundans,) the female, and the seed-bearing plant the male.* 

 The male is more forward in its growth, and rises to a great- 

 er height, by about six inches, than the female, whereby the fe- 

 cundating dust or pollen is easily shed on the latter; and the flax, 

 or fibres of the male, are much more delicate and fine than those 

 of the female. 



Sinclair's Essay. 



Hemp is commonly distinguished into two sorts ; one that 

 grows wild, Cannabis silvestris; the other produced by cultivation, 

 Cannabis domestica. This latter is of two sexes; the male, fructi- 

 fera ; and the female, florifera : but both improperly so called ; for 

 it is more natural to call that the female which bears the fruit, than 

 the other that bears the flower. The seed and the root of the wild 

 hemp are like those of the wild mallow ; the stalks are smaller, 



blacker, 



* DuHamel has set this right. The Abbe Brulles and the Editors of the 

 Encyclopaedia Britannica have followed the error. R. W. 



