“The plants which yield the richest and strongest bast fibers were the earliest materials used in Chinese papermaking known to us. The major varieties of the bast-yielding group are hemp (Cannabis sativa), known in Chinese as ta ma, jute (Corchorus capsilaris) or huang ma, flax (Linum perenne), ya ma, and ramie or China grass (Boehmeria nivea), chu ma. They were grown in all parts of China, especially in the northern and western regions. Ancient Chinese documents refer to all of these varieties as ma, which has generally been rendered as hemp. This was probably the earliest fiber plant used for clothing in China.”2  True hemp (Cannabis sativa) is a truly fascinating plant with a long history. It is thought to have originated somewhere within the wide area that reaches from Siberia to the Caspian Sea to the Himalayas. Hemp was the major fiber used by the ancient Chinese for cloth. It dominated Chinese textile manufacture up until the introduction of cotton, during the Northern Song dynasty (960 to 1127 CE). Analysis has determined that hemp fibers were used to make the oldest known paper. One piece was found in a tomb near Xi'an in Shaanxi province, dating from 140-87 BCE. Another, known as Ba Qiao paper, was made during the Western Han dynasty (206 BCE to 24 CE) and was also unearthed near Xi'an.3 Cannabis sativa has been grown for thousands of years in Asia and Europe, and for centuries in North America (where it is known in the wild as "ditch weed"). It has been used primarily as a source of textile fiber and oil (from the seed), but is also grown as an intoxicant. The term "hemp" has typically been used to refer to the fiber, seed, and oil derived from the plant, while "marijuana" is the common term used for the drug.  Papermaking from rags may have originated with the Arabs in about the eighth century CE and was practiced in the Islamic world of the middle East and North Africa before reaching Europe centuries later. Dutch paper scholar Aliza Thomas has recently shed light on the issue, via meticulous translation of relevant early Arabic manuscripts.4  A nineteenth century historian, Joseph von Karabacek, believed that early Arabic papers were made from hemp, but not directly from the plant. Rather, rope was made from the plant fiber. When the ropes were no longer usable, they were bleached in the sun, rinsed with water, boiled in a mixture of lime and water, and left to ret before they were beaten for papermaking.5 Because hemp fiber was used for textiles in Europe, it was also used to make paper (from hempen rags).6 However, it is hard to tell what percentage of early European paper was made from hemp. Early papers and textiles made from hemp are often difficult to accurately distinguish from those made from flax (linen rags). In early Western papermaking, rags were sorted according to quality and color. Because they were similar in these respects, hemp and linen would have inevitably been mixed together in some measure, in the sorting of rags, in the retting of those rags, in the stamping of the fibers, and in the furnish of the paper vat. Early European papers were often a blend of hemp, flax, and perhaps some cotton, as recent research shows: …microscopic analyses … of paper specimens made in Europe between 1400 and 1800 generally show mixtures of hemp and flax fiber with higher concentrations of hemp (e.g., 75%) during the earlier dates. While cotton, or cotton containing fabrics, were available in Europe during this period, their use was not common enough to generate substantial cotton rag raw material for papermaking until the nineteenth-century. Cotton fiber is therefore rare in papers before 1800…7 Specialization of the hemp plant for particular purposes has led to cultivation techniques that yield unique qualities. For fiber, tall, unbranched plants with limited seed production work best.8 Such plants are extremely low in THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana, and produce a bad headache rather than a feeling of euphoria if tried as a drug. The distinction is measurable: THC had been the undoing of the North American hemp fiber industry, at least until recently. In the 1930’s, American and Canadian lawmakers banned the growing of Cannabis sativa, and for over 60 years, the hemp industry has been, in the words of Canadian plant researcher Gordon Scheifele, a 'sleeping giant.' …In 1971 Dr. Ernie Small of Agriculture Canada Grew 350 strains of Cannabis on the experimental farm in downtown Ottawa. Dr. Small found there were very different varieties of Cannabis, classifying them as fiber and narcotic types. The point of distinction was set by the level of THC in the leaves and flowers, and Dr. Small concluded that varieties containing less than 0.3% THC were suitable only for industrial applications such as fiber and seed.9 During a visit with master hand papermaker Douglass Howell, in his Oyster Bay, New York, studio in 1967, and in subsequent correspondence with him, it became clear to me that in order to be in direct control of paper one must become deeply involved in the process of making the paper by hand. Howell had tried growing flax on Long Island and obtained raw fiber from the flax industry in Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, and Belgium. His most successful creative three-dimensional paper artworks stemmed from his experiments in pulping raw fiber flax. So it was that I came to grow my own flax and hemp, and to design and build my own Hollander beaters. Visits to Japan and, even more so, China helped open my eyes further to the vast new worlds that could unfold with controlled growing, processing, and innovative application of useful plants for papermaking. My interest in growing things came quite naturally, as I grew up on a farm in Western Canada. My father, although primarily a wheat farmer, also grew some flax. In 1976 I grew several small fields of fiber flax in Ontario, through the cooperation of friends. The following year I sought the help of the University of Western Ontario’s Plant Science’s field station; for a quarter century now, we have co-operatively grown experimental plots of different varieties of fiber flax, from registered seed imported from Belgium. In the mid-1970s I met Roddy Heading, one of the first individuals to seriously lobby the Canadian Government, and agricultural and industrial interests, to legalize the growing of hemp for the industrial use of fiber, seed, and resin. In comparing hemp and wood for papermaking, he believes that hemp is superior in all cases: fiber length, longevity of paper made, flexibility, and strength.10 In 1993, before anyone in Canada was able to legally grow industrial hemp, I mentioned to my colleagues at the field station that it would be nice if we could experimentally grow some. One of them suggested I contact Geof Kime, who was seriously working on obtaining legal permission from the Canadian Government to experimentally grow industrial (low THC) hemp in a tobacco growing area. Kime's effort was successful and the following year Hempline Inc. planted five varieties of industrial hemp near Tillsonburg, Ontario, with a special permit from Health Canada. I became a part of that experimental group. In 1998, Health Canada agreed to let all Canadian farmers grow hemp again. That summer about five thousand acres of hemp was planted throughout the country.11 The political vision of a few countries, including the United States, remains so blind that it is still illegal to grow the industrial hemp plant there. Hemp, along with other useful bast fiber plants, such as fiber flax and kenaf, offers a viable alternative to the massive onslaught on the world’s fast diminishing stock of trees. All this to feed the insatiable appetite of the gigantic pulp and paper industries? Most tragic of all is the accelerated loss of indigenous old growth forests, and the ensuing catastrophic loss of habitat of countless plant and animal species, in some cases to the point of extinction. Is this not part of an inverse equation, to attempt to eradicate one plant, when in truth that plant could be, in part, the instrument of saving increasing numbers of plant and animal species that are being driven toward extinction? Paper industry research notes that hemp bast and hurds have very different qualities and might best be used separately, for different types of paper.12 Bast hemp is used now by the industry mostly to make specialty papers: cigarette paper, bible paper, and bank notes. Al Wong, the president of Canadian Flax Company, in Vulcan, Alberta, has had some concrete experience in producing machine-made paper from sundry non-tree alternate plant fibers. He remains cautious about the immediate future of using hemp for machine-made paper, either hemp bast (line and tow) fibers or hemp core (shive) fibers, or in combination. He bases this hesitation on economic experience and sheer practicality. Before this can happen the man-on-the-street needs to decide he is willing to pay more for an “environmentally friendlier” paper. In my application to obtain a 1994 research license for growing hemp I noted that I had been growing and hand processing fields of flax for more than two decades and that I had carried out extensive research with the flax plant's bast fiber. As hemp is also a bast fiber and very close in character to flax, I knew that much of my research with flax would be immediately relevant to growing and processing hemp. I wanted to utilize select hemp bast fibers for making the highest quality handmade paper, for use in creating new innovative paper art works, much as I was then doing with processed flax. Over the years, I have researched how hemp has been processed, starting with the Chinese: "The hemp plant when ripe is pulled up with the root and then dried in the sun. After it has been thoroughly dried out, the stem is broken near the root, when, because the core adheres to the root, the stem rips open along its whole length.”13 Another effective, traditional Chinese method of directly retrieving the fibers involves stripping the green fiber free in ribbons. One more Chinese method follows water retting: the stalks are partially dried and then stripped of their fibers by hand.14 A Korean method is to steam the fibers for two to three hours after which the bast fibers can be ribbon stripped from the stem. Since 1994, I have retted hemp in a number of different ways, by dew retting directly on the earth of the field, dew retting on short cut grassy slopes, water tank retting, retting in constantly flowing water, retting in heated tanks, and over-winter, snow retting (with sun bleaching). Pond retting takes one or more weeks and will only work when the water temperature is between 11° and 28° centigrade. I have also used traditional Chinese methods. In the summer and autumn of 1998, I experimented with industrial hemp. Diny Warren, a professional spinner and weaver, and I worked tirelessly on a joint industrial hemp research project at Environmental Sciences Western. We documented twenty-two variations in retting, drying, and processing both male and female plants, each process lasting from one day (stripping and air-drying) to eight weeks (grass retting). Diny noted that hemp absorbs color well and is an excellent fiber for dyeing. She anticipated promising results from further research, using different dye methods, types of dyes, and mordants. That autumn we rented from Hill Agra Inc.15 a machine to decorticate most of the retted and dried hemp plants. This machine was good at preserving the length of the fiber, most valued for spinning and weaving. Two alternate tools I use for decorticating the retted plants for handmade paper are a wooden hemp or flax brake and a set of fluted rolls. I set the fluted rolls up not unlike an old-fashioned, hand crank–operated washing machine wringer. The fluted rolls are identical to the ones used in large Belgian flax decorticating factories and work extremely well. For further processing the fiber, I have a collection of beautiful antique flax or hemp heckles with square tapered steel needles. Also I have constructed an effective hardwood scutching board and knife, for removing the last traces of shive or hurd material. In 1999, from the summer and autumn harvest, I hand processed quantities of hemp in a variety of ways, including: hand-pulling while green or cutting with a mower; retting in standing or slowly running water; drying and sun bleaching until tinder dry; and ribbon stripping the fiber from the hurd stalk by hand. This intensive work helps one appreciate what hand labor really means.  In 2000 I grew six hemp plots, each six by six meters, to test different concentrations of seed, from four hundred to nine hundred per square meter. The plants in each of the plots were hand-pulled green at an early stage, when the plants reached about four feet, a fraction higher than fiber flax. The object was to obtain an ultra-fine fiber. When either hemp or fiber flax plants are grown in close, concentrated proximity to one another, they all strive to reach the sunlight, similar to the canopy of a rain forest, and grow a fine straight set of fibers. In 2001, several fields of hemp were pulled at the stage when the male plants were beginning to pollinate the female plants. Normally the plant grows from two meters up to five meters high and is a dioecious annual (i.e., the female and male flowers are borne on separate plants). The male flowers ripen several weeks in advance of the female. There is a larger proportion of female plants to male, but the fibers of both female and male are of similar quality if harvested early. In ancient China the male plants were hand-pulled separately and, after water retting and ribbon stripping the fibers, they were used for spinning and weaving into cloth as the fiber was found to be finer. The female plants were usually harvested later, when the plant was mature, in order to also harvest the valuable hemp seed. The fiber could then be used for cordage, nets, or ropes.16 This year I continued to experiment. Eight plots of hemp and fiber flax were grown to test the effect of different fertilizers in halting extraneous growth by or before ninety to one hundred days. I am concerned about excess build up of pectins and lignins. Because hand pulling hemp plants, as with fiber flax, is hard, back-breaking work, today industrial hemp plants are almost invariably cut by machine, except in China. It took me two to three hours per kilo to individually hand pull the green retted plants, sort out the sizes, and then semi strip the emerging flower, seed, and leaf clusters. This was followed by the preparation of the running water tank, monitoring it and removing the retted plants, semi-draining the soaked bundles of retted plants, and then setting the semi-drained, semi-dried bundles in cone shaped shocks or lean flat layers at an angle against a support to completely air dry and be rinsed clean by the rain.  Some workable formulas for processing industrial hemp for hand papermaking can be gleaned from Tim Barrett’s two publications, Japanese Papermaking and "Early european papers/contemporary conservation papers."17 Winifred Lutz's appendix to Barrett's book includes a description of her experiments with flax fiber, which can be adapted for use with hemp. Lutz includes a formula for retting or fermenting bast fibers using buttermilk. Formulas for retting and gentle chemical processing of fibers can also be unearthed in old books on the textile industry and historical technical accounts. These classic texts describe fine processing with gentle lime or wood ash, soap, buttermilk, and sun bleaching with ultraviolet rays. I remain fascinated not only by the potential of hemp for application in handmade paper and paper artworks, but also by the history and technology of these fibers from earliest times. From a wealth of available information, it is necessary to sort out fact from fiction, all the more so in view of the confused picture often projected in the last century. May the truth prevail. Long live hemp. Notes1.      Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed. 1910-1911.2.      Tsuen-Hsuin, Tsien. Science and Civilization in China, Paper and Printing, Volume 5 Part 1, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 1985. P. 485.3.      Lu, Xiaozhai, and Robert C. Clarke. "The cultivation and use of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) in ancient China," Journal of the International Hemp Association, Vol. 2 No 1, 1995.4.      Thomas, Aliza. "Manuscripts in Holland," IAPMA Bulletin, No. 16, June 1994. p. 48.5.      von Karabacek, Joseph. Arab Paper. Vienna. 1887. Translated by Don Baker and Suzy Dittmar, London. p. 90.6.      I do not think Dard Hunter was fully aware that hemp cloth and cordage was an important part of the recycling of used cloth for papermaking in Europe.7.      "Early european papers/contemporary conservation papers, a report on research undertaken from fall of 1984 through fall 1987," Timothy D. Barrett, The Paper Conservator, Journal of the Institute of Paper Conservation, Volume 13, 1989.8.      The Biology of Canadian Weeds, 2002.9.      Postlethwait and Hopson. EXPLORE LIFE. Thomson Books/Cole. 2002.10.  "Dr. Sumach's Hemp Report." Heading, Roddy.1970.11.  http://www.hempline.com12.  Riddlestone, Sue and Pooran Desai. Bioregional Fibres, BioregionalDevelopment Group. 1994. P. 111.13.  Hommel, Rudolf P. China at Work, an illustrated record of the primitive industries of China’s masses, whose life is toil, and thus an account of Chinese Civilization. John Day Co., New York. 1937. Pp. 167 and 366.14.  Clarke, Robert C. "Hemp Cultivation in the Tai'an District of Shandong Province, People's Republic of China." Journal of the International Hemp Association, Vol.2 No. 2. 1995.15.   The machine, available from Hill Agra Sales (www.hillagra.com/fiberx.htm) is called a Fiber-X, Portable Fiber Extractor.16.  Baines, Patricia. Linen Hand Spinning and Weaving. B.T. Batsford Ltd., London. 1989. P. 208.17.  Barrett, Timothy. Japanese Papermaking, Traditions, Tools, and Techniques. Weatherhill Press, New York. 1983. Selected Bibliography (see also sources mentioned in notes)§         Azzam, J.; Gordon, I.A.; Lemay, M.A. Canadian Hemp: Bibliography and Resource Guide. Brock University, March 2000.§         Bell, Lillian. Plant Fibers for Papermaking. Liliaceae Press, McMinnville, Oregon. 1992.§         Bray, Francesca. Science and Civilization in China, Volume VI Part II: Agriculture. Cambridge. 1984. p. 724.§         Herer, Jack. Hemp and the Marijuana Conspiracy: The Emperor Wears No Clothes. AH HA Publishers, Van Nuys, California. 1991.§         Hunter, Dard. Papermaking, The History and Technique of an Ancient Craft. Knopf, New York. 1943.§         Kolander, Cheryl. Hemp for Textile Artists. “Mama D.O.C.” Inc., Portland. 1995.§         Krotov, V.S. "Use of AAS pulping for flax and hemp shives." Journal of the International Hemp Association. Vol. 3, No. 1, 1995. Pp. 16-18.§         Pan, Jixing. Hemp Papermaking in China, White Hemp Papermaking in Fenxiang County, Shaanxi Province, Northwest China. Cannabis Press, Kasama, Japan. 1981. §         Warren, Diny, Hemp, a Classic Revisited, London, 2001. (An in-depth study for a Master’s Certificate in Spinning).§         See also these web-sites: myprofile.cos.com/beckerh00, http://www.hemphasis.com, http://www.ontariohempalliance.org/ , www.tree.org/epp.htm, and http://www.hempreport.com/