Hemp from

Abaca. The abaca fiber is obtained from the leaves of the banana-like plant (same genus) Musa textilis (banana family, Musaceae). The fiber is also called Manila hemp from the port of its first shipment, although it has no relationship with hemp, a bast fiber. The mature plant has 12—20 stalks growing from its rhizome root system the stalks are 2.6—6.7 m tall and 10—20 cm thick at the base. The stalk has leaf sheaths that expand iato leaves 1—2.5 m long, 10—20 cm wide, and 10 mm thick at the center the fibers are ia the outermost layer. The plant produces a crop after five years, and 2—4 stalks can be harvested about every six months. 

When treated with iodine and sulphuric acid, they become blue in the body of the walls, but the surface exhibits a thin lignified cuticle which is coloured yellow, so that the resultant colour of the whole fibre is greenish. The yellow cuticle is clearly seen when the cross-sections of the fibres are treated with this reagent. This character, which serves to distinguish hemp from flax, gradually disappears in fibres subjected to wear or to bleaching and washing. 

Even with the hemp from his own vast farmlands, Carter did not have enough hemp to suit his needs. In 1775, he bought five hundred pounds from his stepbrother. In 1776, he bought two tons more. Much of this hemp was spun into osnaburg, a coarse fabric used to make shirts and trousers for workmen and the Revolution s soldiers. 

The reason hemp was more valuable than cash was simple. Paper money had no value in the colonies. A thousand dollars in Virginia currency, for example, was only worth one dollar in silver. Because of the lack of faith in paper money, the American economy operated on the barter system. And because of hemp s "comparitive uniformity, its comparative freedom from deterioration, the universal and steady demand for it, and its value, which exceeded all other raw produce", it "was recognized as the standard commodity for the first three or four decades" of the new American republic. Anything and everything could be bartered for hemp, from the local newspaper to the services of stud racehorses. 

Not suprisingly, northern manufacturers and shipbuilders were opposed to these tariffs. Through Daniel Webster, their spokesman in Congress, they demanded an unrestricted supply of cheap raw hemp to make rope and cordage, and since they refused to use southern hemp because of its poor quality, they had to rely on imports. Placing a tariff on hemp from abroad hurt their business and they pressured their own congressmen to vote against the tariffs. But, more often than not, Clay and his supporters won out over Yankee business interests. 

The earliest record of hemp in France foes back to around 200 B.C., when the Greeks brought hemp from the Rhone Valley to outfit their ships. The manufacture of French fabrics made from hemp is almost as ancient. 

The export of hemp abroad began around the fifteenth century. By the sixteenth century, France was said to possess "two magnets" which attracted the wealth of Europe. One of these was wheat. The other was hemp. The yearly exports to England alone between 1686 and 1688 were over two million pounds. It was not without reason that the English complained so bitterly about the draining of the economy as a result of their imports of hemp from France. 

Around the same time Germanic tribes were also cultivating hemp. The Celts had known hemp since the Hallstatt period (700-450 BC). In the 3rd century BC, the Gauls in the Rhone valley used hemp to manufacture ropes and clothing. Hiero II (308-215 BC), the tyrant of Syracuse, Sicily, imported hemp from there for the production of marine ropes. In Roman literature, hemp is first mentioned by Gains LucUius (180-102 BC). 

Sansevieria. This genus of the Agavaceae is a perennial also known as bowstring hemp from its use in bow strings. The plant is native to tropical Africa... 

Globulins. Proteins insoluble in water, soluble in dilute salt solutions. They include such proteins as myosin from muscle, fibrinogen from blood and edcstin from hemp. 

Mauritius. Mauritius hemp, also called piteina, is obtaiaed from the Furcraeagigantea also a member of the Agavaceae. The plant is mostly grown on the island of Mauritius, but is also harvested ia Brazil and other tropical countries. The leaves are longer and heavier than those of the agaves. 

Fibers (see Fibers, survey) used in textile production can have a wide variety of origins plants, ie, ceUulosic fibers (see Fibers, cellulose esters) animals, ie, protein fibers (see Wool) and, in the twentieth century, synthetic polymers. Depending on the part of the plant, the ceUulosic fibers can be classified as seed fibers, eg, cotton (qv), kapok bast fibers, eg, linen from flax, hemp, jute and leaf fibers, eg, agave. Protein fibers include wool and hair fibers from a large variety of mammals, eg, sheep, goats, camels, rabbits, etc, and the cocoon material of insect larvae (sUk). Real sUk is derived from the cocoon of the silkworm, Bombjx mori and for a long time was only produced in China, from which it was traded widely as a highly valuable material. 

Fishbum et al. (1981) used the HEMP-code of Giroux (1971) to simulate gas dynamics resulting from a large cylindrical detonation in a large, flat, fuel-air cloud containing 5000 kg of kerosene. Blast effects were compared with those produced by a 100,000-kg TNT charge detonated on the ground. 

Seventy years ago, nearly all resources for the production of commodities and many technical products were materials derived from natural textiles. Textiles, ropes, canvas, and paper were made of local natural fibers, such as flax and hemp. Some of them are still used today. In 1908, the first composite materials were applied for the fabrication of big quantities of sheets, tubes, and pipes in electrotechnical usage (paper or cotton as reinforcement in sheets made of phenol- or melamine-formaldehyde resins). In 1896, for example, airplane seats and fuel tanks were made of natural fibers with a small content of polymeric binders [1]. 

Group of compounds which naturally occur in the hemp plant, Cannabis saiiva. Most of them are unsoluble in water. The most abundant cannabinoids are A9--tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), its precursor cannabidiol and cannabinol, which is formed spontaneously from THC. Cannabinoids exert their effects through G-protein coupled cannabinoid receptors (CBi/CB2). 

C. sativa is cultivated for several purposes. Actually, the main legal purpose is the production of hemp fibers and pulp. From these materials paper, clothes and ropes are made [12] and several Western coimtries have already legalized the cultivation of C. sativa for these purposes. In research, the drug-type of C. sativa is also cultivated, however, only for the investigation and determination of forensic studies for chemotype separation. The growth for medicinal purposes is hardly performed, hi the Netherlands C. sativa is cultivated for medicinal purposes under strictly controlled regulations by the company Bedrocan. In this chapter we discuss basic aspects of the cultivation of C. sativa and the optimization of THC content in the plant. 

As discussed, the cultivation of C. sativa with high content of A9-THC (drug-type) is not allowed in many coimtries. Because of this, there is no opportunity to harvest a high amoimt of the medicinally important substance A9-THC directly from plant material. In the synthesis route for semisynthetic A9-THC, natural CBD from fiber hemp plants is employed. It can be extracted with non-polar solvents such as petroleum ether and purified by recrystalUza-fion in n-pentane. This procedure avoids the formation of abnormal CBD and gives the opportunity to produce A9-THC from fiber hemp. Semisyn-fhetic A9-THC is disfinguishable from the synthetic compound because it contains, besides the major product, small amounts of A9-THC-C3 and A9-THC-C4, which are not available in the synthetic product. 

CBD was first isolated from C. sativa in 1940 [139]. Unlike the resinous air-sensitive THC, CBD is a crystalline stable substance. Its plant precursor, the carboxylic acid CBDA can be isolated from fiber hemp by extraction and shows potent antibiotic activity. Upon heating it decarboxylates to CBD. 

In the United States, more than 700 species of plants are known to be poisonous. On occasion death occurs from eating poisonous plants, berries, seeds, or tubers. It has been estimated that 75,000 cases of plant poisoning occur annually with children being the prime victims. Adult poisoning often results from the consumption of therapeutic teas or use of toxic weed, such as hemp, as hallucinogens and mind-altering drugs. 

Paper and board are composed of cellulose obtained by the mechanical or semi-chemical treatment of vegetable fibers (pulp) derived from various sources like wood, hemp, cotton, etc. In some cases waste and regenerated paper is used. 

Production of pulp from textiles (e.g., rags), cotton linters, flax, hemp, tobacco, and abaca to make cigarette wrap papers and other specialty paper products... 

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