258. _MASTIC is a resinous substance, obtained from a low tree or shrub_
(Pistacia lentiscus) _which grows in the Levant._
_It has alternate winged leaves, consisting of several pairs of
spear-shaped leaflets, and spikes of very small flowers, which issue from
the junction of the leaves with the branches._
The mode in which this resin is obtained is by making incisions across the
tree in different parts. From these the juice exudes in drops, that are
suffered to run upon the ground, and there to remain until they are
sufficiently hard to be collected for use. The season for this process
commences in the dry weather at the beginning of August, and lasts until
the end of September. The best mastic is that imported from the island of
Scio. We receive it in semi-transparent grains of yellowish colour. These
emit an agreeable smell when heated; and, when chewed, they first crumble,
and afterwards stick together, and become soft and white like wax.
With the Turkish women it is customary to chew this resin for the purpose
of rendering their breath agreeable, and under a notion also that it tends
to make their teeth white, and to strengthen the gums. They also mix it in
fragrant waters, and burn it with other odoriferous substances, by way of
perfume. It was formerly much used in medicine, as a remedy against pain in
the teeth and gums; and, dissolved in spirit of wine, as a relief in
obstinate and long continued coughs: but it is now almost wholly disused
for these purposes; and is chiefly employed in the composition of varnish,
and by dentists, for filling up the cavities of decayed teeth.
The _wood_ of the mastic-tree is imported in thick knotty pieces, covered
externally with an ash-coloured bark. This wood is accounted a mild,
balsamic astringent; and a preparation of it, under the name of _aurum
potabile_, is strongly recommended, by some of the German writers, in
coughs, nausea, and weakness of the stomach.
259. _HEMP is the fibrous part of the stalks of a plant_ (Cannabis
sativa, Fig. 82) _which grows wild in the East Indies, and is much
cultivated in different parts of Europe._
_It has the lower leaves in slender finger-like divisions; the male
flowers in small loose spikes, at the end of the stem and branches; and
the female flowers single, at the junction of the leaves and stem._
The principal country for hemp, as an article of commerce, is Russia, few
other countries of Europe growing a quantity sufficient for their own
consumption. It is cultivated in some parts of Britain, but particularly in
the counties of Suffolk and Norfolk. The soil best adapted to it is a moist
but loose sandy loam, or the black mould of low lands near water. The seed
is sown in April or May; and the plants, which attain the height of five or
six feet, are in a state to be pulled up in three or four months; the male
plant, or _fimble hemp_, as it is called, being ready some time before the
female plants, which have the name of _karle_ or _seed-hemp_.
As soon as the hemp is pulled, it is tied in bundles and set up to dry;
and, at the end of about ten days, the bundles are loosened at the top, and
the heads are held upon a hurdle by one person, whilst another, with a
small threshing-flail, beats out the seed.
In the preparation of hemp for the manufacturer two modes are pursued. One
of these is to spread it out on stubble or pasture ground, that the fibrous
parts may be rendered separable by the gradual operation of the weather;
the other is to immerse the bundles, for some days, in stagnant water. The
next process consists in separating the bark, or hemp, from the stalks:
this is effected either by pulling out the stalk with the hand, or by
machinery similar to that adopted in the preparation of flax (97). After
some other operations the hemp is beaten in mills, and then combed or
dressed by drawing it through instruments called _hackles_, which are
somewhat similar to the combs of wool-manufacturers.
Thus prepared, the hemp is spun into thread, which is made into twine,
ropes, and cordage of every description; and woven into canvas, and strong
cloth of various kinds. Indeed so great is the importance of this
production, particularly for the cordage, cables, and the rigging of ships,
that, to encourage its growth, an act of parliament was passed in 1783,
directing a bounty of three pence per stone to be paid on all hemp raised
in Great Britain; and imposing heavy duties on hemp imported from foreign
countries.
From _hemp-seed_ a valuable kind of _oil_ is procured, by pressure, which
is peculiarly adapted for burning, as it is perfectly limpid and without
smell: it is also used for making the soap called green soap. The seeds
themselves are sometimes employed in the feeding of poultry, from a notion
that they cause the hens to lay a greater number of eggs than they
otherwise would do. They are also given as food to singing birds; but, if
in great quantity, they are supposed to injure the plumage. The _stalks_,
after the hemp is taken from them, afford an excellent fuel. The water in
which hemp has been soaked is in a high degree poisonous.
260. _HOPS are the dried flower-buds of a climbing British plant_
(Humulus lupulus, Fig. 81), _with a rough and angular stem, and leaves
generally in three or five lobes or divisions, and serrated._
Although hops grow wild, in great abundance, on hedges in several parts of
the south of England, there is reason to suppose that their use was first
made known from the Continent in the reign of Henry the Eighth.
A hop plantation requires the growth of some years before it is in
perfection. The plants begin to push up their young stems about the month
of April. When these are three or four inches above the ground, poles about
twenty feet high are driven in to support them during their growth. The
season for picking hops usually commences about the middle of September.
This work is performed by men, women, and children. Proper baskets, bins,
or cribs being in readiness, the plants are cut off close to the ground,
and the poles are drawn up. These are placed upon the bins, with the plants
upon them, and three or more persons on each side, pick off the hops. After
this they are dried in a kiln, and, when dry, are carried into, and kept,
for five or six days, in an apartment called the stowage-room, until they
are in a state to be put into bags. This is done through a round hole, or
trap, cut in the floor of the stowage-room, exactly equal in dimensions to
the mouth of the bag, and immediately under which this mouth is fastened.
In each of the lower corners of the bag a small handful of hops is tied;
and a person, called the packer, places himself in it, and, by a heavy
leaden weight, which he constantly moves round in the places where he is
not treading, presses and forces the hops down, in a very close manner,
into the bag, as fast as they are thrown to him by another labourer. The
work thus proceeds till the bag is quite full, when each of the upper
corners has a few hops tied in it, in the same manner as those at the
bottom. These serve as handles for moving the bags. The bag is then taken
away, and its mouth is properly sewed up and secured.
The hops of finest colour and best sample are put into bags of finer
manufacture than the others, under the denomination of _pockets_; and the
inferior sorts are packed in canvas of coarser kind, called _bags_.
When the hop-picking is completed, the poles are cleared from the binds or
plants which adhered to them, and are stacked or piled together. The
_binds_, when perfectly dried, are either stacked or placed in sheds, to be
used as fuel in ovens, or otherwise. Sometimes they are burnt upon the
land, for the ashes to serve as manure, trodden in the farm-yard, or
allowed to be taken away by the labourers for their own use.
As the hop-plants are liable to be injured in various ways during their
growth, they are considered a very precarious crop. They suffer from the
attacks of insects, from honey-dew, from blight, from hot sunny weather
after rain, and by winds and storms.
The principal _use of hops_, in brewing, is for the preservation of malt
liquor, and to communicate to it an agreeably aromatic bitter flavour. The
best hops are used for ale and the finer kinds of malt liquor, and inferior
kinds are used for porter. The odour of hops hung over a bed, or a pillow
stuffed with hops, has been said to promote sleep, after the application of
opium has failed. The _young shoots_ and tops are often gathered from the
hedges, by poor people, and boiled and eaten in the manner of asparagus. Of
the woody part of the _hop-binds_, after having been steeped in water, and
worked into a pulp, a coarse kind of paper may be made.