TECHNICAL NOTE ON HEMP PAPER

Hemp (Cannabis sativa). The fiber is prepared by retting, from filaments, which run the entire length of the stem. The ultimate fibers composing these filaments vary from 5 to 55 mm. and average about 22 mm. long by 0.022 mm in diameter, the ratio of length to diameter therefore about 1000. The fibers have very thick walls, which are not very lignified. The ends are large and sometimes flattened and the central canal is almost obliterated. In microscopic appearance the fibers are very similar to those of flax; they show the same knots of thickenings and the same striae, but they differ from linen in having more ability to break down into fibraillae during the mechanical processes of paper making.

Chemistry of Pulp and Papermaking, Edwin Sutermeister, 1929