CHAPTER II.HEMP[542].

CULTIVATION AND USES OF HEMP BY THE ANCIENTS—ITS USE LIMITED—THRACE—COLCHIS—CARIA—ETYMOLOGY OF HEMP.

[542]According to a statement in the Western (Missouri) Journal, about 7,000 bales of hemp, the crop of 1844, was shipped from that place last spring. It is thought that 20,000 bales will be raised in that neighborhood this year (1845).

The use of Hemp among the ancients was very limited. It is never mentioned in the Scriptures, and not often by the heathen writers of antiquity. It is remarkable, that no notice is taken of it by Theophrastus. It was however used among the Greeks and Romans, for making ropes and nets, but not for sacks, these being made of goats’-hair[543].

[543]See Chap. IV. p.299,301.

The only reason for introducing hemp in this enumeration is, that, according to Herodotus (iv. 74.)garments were made of it by the Thracians. “They were so like linen,” says he, “that none but a very experienced person could tell whether they were of hemp or flax; one, who had never seen hemp, would certainly suppose them to be linen.” The coarser kinds of linen would, it is certain, be scarcely, if at all distinguishable from the finer kinds of hempen cloth.

Hesychius (v.Κάνναβις) quotes the preceding remark of Herodotus, only saying that the Thracianwomenmadesheetsof hemp (ἱμάτια). In substituting these expressions he puts upon the words of Herodotus an explanation derived from his familiar knowledge of Grecian customs. To the present day hemp is produced abundantly in the vicinity of the countries which were occupied by the ancient Thracians. A traveller who has lately visited them, informs us, that “the men who drive thehorses, which drag the boats upon the Danube between Pest and Vienna,now wear coarse tunics of hemp[544].

[544]Travels in Circassia, &c., by Edmund Spencer, 1837, vol. i. p. 13.

Ammianus Marcellinus (xxxi. 2.p.474.), speaking of the Huns, who lived beyond the Palus Mæotis, says,

They cover themselves with tunics made of linen, or of the skins ofwild micesewed together.

Thesetunics, though called “lintea,” may have been the hempen garments, which, according to Herodotus, were scarce to be distinguished from linen.

The next writer, who mentions hemp after Herodotus, is Moschion, rather more than 200 years B. C. He states[545], that the magnificent ship Syracusia, built by the command of Hiero II., was provided with hemp from the Rhone for making ropes. The common materials for such purposes werethe Egyptian Papyrus, the bark of the Lime-tree, of the Hemp-leaved Mallow, and of the Spanish and Portugal Broom, and probably also the Stipa Tenacissima of Linnæus.

[545]Apud Athenæum, l. v. p. 206. Casaub.

Hemp, as well as flax, was grown abundantly in Colchis[546]. It was brought to the ports of the Ægean Sea by the Ionian merchants, who were intimately connected with the northern and eastern coasts of the Euxine through the medium of the Milesian colonies. This fact may account for the cultivation of hemp in Caria. The best was obtained in the time of Pliny (l.xix.c.9.) from Alabanda and Mylasa in that country. Pliny also mentions a kind, which grew in the country of the Sabines, and which was remarkable for its height.

[546]Strabo, l. xi. § 17. vol. iv. p. 402, ed. Siebenkees.

Automedon, who lived a little before Pliny, complains in an Epigram of a bad dinner given him by one of his acquaintances, and compares the tall stringy cabbages to hemp[547]. As this author was a native of Cyzicus, he would probably have abundant opportunities of becoming familiar with the plant.

[547]Κανναβίνη. Brunck’s Analecta, ii. 209.

In the time of Pausanias hemp was grown in Elis. See hisEliaca,c.26. § 4.

Dioscorides (l.iii.c.141.) gives an account of hemp, in which he distinguishes between thecultivatedand thewild. ByWild Hemphe means the Althœæ Cannabina,Linn.[548]. He observes respecting the Cultivated Hemp, by which he meant proper hemp, the Cannabis Sativa,Linn., that it was “of great use for twisting the strongest ropes.”

[548]See Chap. XII.p. 194.

On the whole we may conclude, that hemp was not the natural growth either of Italy, Greece, or Asia Minor, but was confined, as it still is in a great degree, to countries lying further north and having a more rigid climate. The intimate connexion of the Romans with the Greek colony of Marseilles may have brought it among the Sabines, as the active trade between the Euxine and Miletus may have introduced it into Caria. With the material its name was also imported, and this is substantially the same in all the languages of Europe, as well as in many Asiatic tongues[549].

[549]Sanscrit,Goni,Sana, orShanapu; Persic,Canna; Arabic,Kanneh, orKinnub; Greek,Κανναβις; Latin,Cannabis; Italian,Cannapa; French,Chanvre, orChanbre; Danish and Flamand,Kamp, orKennep; Lettish and Lithuanian,Kannapes; Slavonian,Konopi; Erse,Canaib; Scandinavian,Hampr; Swedish,Hampa; German,Hanf; Anglo-Saxon,Haenep; English,Hemp. Our English wordCanvass(French,Canevas,) has the same origin, meaning cloth made of hemp (Canav).Hemp is comparatively rare in India, as well as flax; and, as flax is there only used for obtaining oil, so hemp is never used for making cordage or for weaving,but only for smoking on account of the narcotic qualities of its leaves. (Wissett on Hemp, p. 20, 25.) Its nameSana,Sunu, orGonu, is given also to the Crotalaria Juncea, which is principally applied by the Indians to the same uses as hemp in Europe. See Chap. XIII.p. 202.If we compare flax with other spinning materials, such as wool and cotton, we shall find it to possess several characteristic properties. While cotton and wool are presented by nature in the form of insulated fibres, the former requiring merely to be separated from its seeds, and the latter to be purified from dirt and grease before being delivered to the spinner, flax must have its filaments separated from each other by tedious and painful treatment. In reference to the spinning and the subsequent operations, the following properties of flax are influential and important:—1. The considerable length of the fibres, which renders it difficult, on the one hand, to form a fine, level, regular thread, on the other, gives the yarn a considerably greater tenacity, so that it cannot be broken by pulling out the threads from each other, but by tearing them across.2. The smooth and slim structure of the filaments, which gives to linen its peculiar polished aspect, and feel so different from cotton, and especially from woollen stuffs, unless when disguised by dressing. The fibres of flax have no mutual entanglement, whereby one can draw out another as with wool, and they must therefore be made adhesive by moisture. This wetting of the fibres renders them more pliant and easier to twist together3. The small degree of elasticity, by which the simple fibres can be stretched only one twenty-fifth of their natural length before they break, while sheep’s wool will stretch from one fourth to one half before it gives way.Good flax should have a bright silver gray or yellowish color (inclining neither to green nor black); it should be long, fine, soft, and glistening, somewhat like silk, and contain no broad tape-like portions, from undissevered filaments. Tow differs from flax in having shorter fibres, of very unequal length, and more or less entangled. Hemp agrees in its properties essentially with flax, and must be similarly treated in the spinning processes.The manufacture of linen and hemp yarn, and the tow of either, may be effected by different processes; by the distaff, the hand-wheel, and spinning machinery. It will be unnecessary to occupy the pages of this volume with a description of the first two well known domestic employments. Spinning of flax bymachineryhas been much more recently brought to a practical state than the spinning of cotton and wool by machines, of which the cause must be sought for in the nature of flax as above described. The first attempts at the machine spinning of flax, went upon the principle of cutting the filaments into short fragments before beginning the operation. But in this way the most valuable property of linen yarn, its cohesive force, was greatly impaired; or these attempts were restricted to the spinning of tow, which on account of its short and somewhat tortuous fibres, could be treated like cotton, especially after it had been further torn by the carding engine. The first tolerably good results with machinery seem to have been obtained by the brothers Girard at Paris, about the year 1810. But the French have never carried the apparatus to any great practical perfection. The towns of Leeds in Yorkshire, of Dundee in Scotland, and Belfast in Ireland, have the merit of bringing the spinning of flax by machines into a state of perfection little short of that for which the cotton trade has been so long celebrated.For machine spinning, the flax is sometimes heckled by hand, and sometimes by machinery. The series of operations is the following:—1. The heckling.2. The conversion of the flax into a band of parallel rectilinear filaments, which, forms the foundation of the future yarn.3. The formation of a sliver from the riband, by drawing it out into a narrower range of filaments.4. The coarse spinning, by twisting the sliver into a coarse and loose thread.5. The fine spinning, by the simultaneous extension and twisting of that coarse thread.All heckle machines have this common property, that the flax is not drawn through them, as in working by hand, but, on the contrary, the system of heckles is moved through the flax properly suspended or laid. Differences exist in the shape, arrangement, and movements of the heckles, as also in regard to the meansby which the adhering tow is removed from them. The simplest and most common construction is to place the heckles upon the surface of a horizontal cylinder, while the flax is held either by mechanical means or by the hand during its exposure to the heckle points. Many machines have been made upon this principle. It is proper in this case to set the heckle teeth obliquely in the direction in which the cylinder turns, whereby they penetrate the fibres in a more parallel line, effect their separation more easily, and cause less waste in torn filaments. To conduct the flax upon the cylinders, two horizontal fluted rollers of iron are employed, which can be so modified in a moment by a lever as to present the flax more or less to the heckling mechanism. The operator seizes a tress lock of flax with her hand and introduces it between the fluted rollers, so that the tips on which the operation must begin, reach the heckles first, and by degrees the advancing flax gets heckled through two thirds or three fourths of its length, after which the tress or strick is turned, and its other end is subjected to the same process. By its somewhat rapid revolution the heckle cylinder creates a current of air which not only carries away the boomy particles, but also spreads out the flax like a sheaf of corn upon the spikes, effecting the same object as is done by the dexterous swing of the hand. The tow collects betwixt the teeth of the heckle, and may, when its quantity has become considerable, be removed in the form of a flock of parallel layers.Flax has been for a long period spun wet in the mills; a method no doubt copied from the practice of housewives moistening their yarn with their saliva at the domestic wheel. Within a few years the important improvement has been introduced of substituting hot for cold water, in the troughs through which the fibres in the act of spinning pass. By this means a much finer, smoother, and more uniform thread can be spun than in the old way. The flax formerly spun to twelve pounds a bundle is, with hot water, spun to six. The inconvenience of the spray thrown from the yarn on the fliers remains, aggravated by increased heat and dampness of the room where this hot process goes on. Being a new expedient, it receives daily changes and ameliorations. When first employed, the troughs of hot water were quite open; they are now usually covered in, so as almost entirely to obviate the objections to which they were previously liable. With the covers has been also introduced a new method of piecening or joining on any end, which may have been run down, namely, by splicing it to the adjoining roving, whereby it is carried through the water without imposing a necessity on the spinner to put her hand into the water at all. In some places she uses a wire, for the purpose of drawing through the end of the roving to mend a broken yarn.This may be considered the inherent evil of flax-spinning,—the spray thrown off by the wet yarn, as it whirls about with the flier of the spindles. A working dress, indeed, is generally worn by the spinners; but, unless it be made of stuff impermeable to water, like Mackintosh’s cloth, it will soon become uncomfortable, and cause injury to health by keeping the body continually in a hot bath. In some mills, water-proof cloth and leather aprons have actually been introduced, which are the only practicable remedy; for the free space which must be left round the spindles for the spinner to see them play, is incompatible with any kind of fixed guard orparapluie.

Hemp is comparatively rare in India, as well as flax; and, as flax is there only used for obtaining oil, so hemp is never used for making cordage or for weaving,but only for smoking on account of the narcotic qualities of its leaves. (Wissett on Hemp, p. 20, 25.) Its nameSana,Sunu, orGonu, is given also to the Crotalaria Juncea, which is principally applied by the Indians to the same uses as hemp in Europe. See Chap. XIII.p. 202.

If we compare flax with other spinning materials, such as wool and cotton, we shall find it to possess several characteristic properties. While cotton and wool are presented by nature in the form of insulated fibres, the former requiring merely to be separated from its seeds, and the latter to be purified from dirt and grease before being delivered to the spinner, flax must have its filaments separated from each other by tedious and painful treatment. In reference to the spinning and the subsequent operations, the following properties of flax are influential and important:—

1. The considerable length of the fibres, which renders it difficult, on the one hand, to form a fine, level, regular thread, on the other, gives the yarn a considerably greater tenacity, so that it cannot be broken by pulling out the threads from each other, but by tearing them across.

2. The smooth and slim structure of the filaments, which gives to linen its peculiar polished aspect, and feel so different from cotton, and especially from woollen stuffs, unless when disguised by dressing. The fibres of flax have no mutual entanglement, whereby one can draw out another as with wool, and they must therefore be made adhesive by moisture. This wetting of the fibres renders them more pliant and easier to twist together

3. The small degree of elasticity, by which the simple fibres can be stretched only one twenty-fifth of their natural length before they break, while sheep’s wool will stretch from one fourth to one half before it gives way.

Good flax should have a bright silver gray or yellowish color (inclining neither to green nor black); it should be long, fine, soft, and glistening, somewhat like silk, and contain no broad tape-like portions, from undissevered filaments. Tow differs from flax in having shorter fibres, of very unequal length, and more or less entangled. Hemp agrees in its properties essentially with flax, and must be similarly treated in the spinning processes.

The manufacture of linen and hemp yarn, and the tow of either, may be effected by different processes; by the distaff, the hand-wheel, and spinning machinery. It will be unnecessary to occupy the pages of this volume with a description of the first two well known domestic employments. Spinning of flax bymachineryhas been much more recently brought to a practical state than the spinning of cotton and wool by machines, of which the cause must be sought for in the nature of flax as above described. The first attempts at the machine spinning of flax, went upon the principle of cutting the filaments into short fragments before beginning the operation. But in this way the most valuable property of linen yarn, its cohesive force, was greatly impaired; or these attempts were restricted to the spinning of tow, which on account of its short and somewhat tortuous fibres, could be treated like cotton, especially after it had been further torn by the carding engine. The first tolerably good results with machinery seem to have been obtained by the brothers Girard at Paris, about the year 1810. But the French have never carried the apparatus to any great practical perfection. The towns of Leeds in Yorkshire, of Dundee in Scotland, and Belfast in Ireland, have the merit of bringing the spinning of flax by machines into a state of perfection little short of that for which the cotton trade has been so long celebrated.

For machine spinning, the flax is sometimes heckled by hand, and sometimes by machinery. The series of operations is the following:—

1. The heckling.

2. The conversion of the flax into a band of parallel rectilinear filaments, which, forms the foundation of the future yarn.

3. The formation of a sliver from the riband, by drawing it out into a narrower range of filaments.

4. The coarse spinning, by twisting the sliver into a coarse and loose thread.

5. The fine spinning, by the simultaneous extension and twisting of that coarse thread.

All heckle machines have this common property, that the flax is not drawn through them, as in working by hand, but, on the contrary, the system of heckles is moved through the flax properly suspended or laid. Differences exist in the shape, arrangement, and movements of the heckles, as also in regard to the meansby which the adhering tow is removed from them. The simplest and most common construction is to place the heckles upon the surface of a horizontal cylinder, while the flax is held either by mechanical means or by the hand during its exposure to the heckle points. Many machines have been made upon this principle. It is proper in this case to set the heckle teeth obliquely in the direction in which the cylinder turns, whereby they penetrate the fibres in a more parallel line, effect their separation more easily, and cause less waste in torn filaments. To conduct the flax upon the cylinders, two horizontal fluted rollers of iron are employed, which can be so modified in a moment by a lever as to present the flax more or less to the heckling mechanism. The operator seizes a tress lock of flax with her hand and introduces it between the fluted rollers, so that the tips on which the operation must begin, reach the heckles first, and by degrees the advancing flax gets heckled through two thirds or three fourths of its length, after which the tress or strick is turned, and its other end is subjected to the same process. By its somewhat rapid revolution the heckle cylinder creates a current of air which not only carries away the boomy particles, but also spreads out the flax like a sheaf of corn upon the spikes, effecting the same object as is done by the dexterous swing of the hand. The tow collects betwixt the teeth of the heckle, and may, when its quantity has become considerable, be removed in the form of a flock of parallel layers.

Flax has been for a long period spun wet in the mills; a method no doubt copied from the practice of housewives moistening their yarn with their saliva at the domestic wheel. Within a few years the important improvement has been introduced of substituting hot for cold water, in the troughs through which the fibres in the act of spinning pass. By this means a much finer, smoother, and more uniform thread can be spun than in the old way. The flax formerly spun to twelve pounds a bundle is, with hot water, spun to six. The inconvenience of the spray thrown from the yarn on the fliers remains, aggravated by increased heat and dampness of the room where this hot process goes on. Being a new expedient, it receives daily changes and ameliorations. When first employed, the troughs of hot water were quite open; they are now usually covered in, so as almost entirely to obviate the objections to which they were previously liable. With the covers has been also introduced a new method of piecening or joining on any end, which may have been run down, namely, by splicing it to the adjoining roving, whereby it is carried through the water without imposing a necessity on the spinner to put her hand into the water at all. In some places she uses a wire, for the purpose of drawing through the end of the roving to mend a broken yarn.

This may be considered the inherent evil of flax-spinning,—the spray thrown off by the wet yarn, as it whirls about with the flier of the spindles. A working dress, indeed, is generally worn by the spinners; but, unless it be made of stuff impermeable to water, like Mackintosh’s cloth, it will soon become uncomfortable, and cause injury to health by keeping the body continually in a hot bath. In some mills, water-proof cloth and leather aprons have actually been introduced, which are the only practicable remedy; for the free space which must be left round the spindles for the spinner to see them play, is incompatible with any kind of fixed guard orparapluie.

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