THE HISTORY OF CANNABIS IN CANADA
Page 5: Early bounties and promotion of cannabis.

To encourage more cannabis farming in the New World, the French and British governments offered bounties and distributed cannabis hemp seed to settlers. Some taxes could be paid with hemp stalks, and farmers who didn't grow enough of it were punished.

The name of many towns and regions that still exist today were originally derived from this main crop, producing Hemphills, Hempsteads, Hemplands and Hempfields.

Cannabis was a valuable crop, but it took a lot of physical labour to prepare it for use. The long outer fibers of the cannabis stalk need to be physically separated from the inner pulpy hurds. This time-consuming process is called "retting" or "breaking" the hemp. Settlers usually preferred to grow food crops so they wouldn't starve.

FOOTNOTES