The extracted oil is used in the manufacture of soap, paint, plastics and even fuel oil, while the solid remains, known as oil-cake, are valuable as a food for cattle as well as humans in the form of flour. The leaves of hemp have five to seven leaflets, the form of which is lanceolate-acuminate, with a serrate margin. The loose panicles of male flowers, and the short spikes of female flowers, arise from the axils of the upper leaves. Wild hemp still grows on the banks of the lower Ural, and the Volga, near the Caspian Sea. It extends to Persia, the Altai range and northern and western China.
Wild hemp is, however, of very little use as a fibre producer, although a drug is obtained from it.
It would appear that the native country of the hemp plant is in some part of temperate Asia, probably near the Caspian Sea. It spread westward throughout Europe, and southward through the Indian peninsula. The satisfactory growth of hemp demands a light rich and fertile soil, but, unlike most substances, it may be reared for a few years in succession. The very finest hemp is very similar to flax, and in many cases the two fibres are mixed in the same material. Much of the finer quality is still made into cloth, but almost all the coarser quality finds its way into ropes and similar material.