18
9. The land generally selected is near Abadi.
10.
Rich black soil is not suited when the rains are
11.
heavy; a little hard soil is preferred. The land
12.
requires good manuring. Dung manure is pre-
13.
-
ferred. The land before sowing is ploughed up three
14.
or four times to prevent any weeds getting root;
15.
sowing is made at the end of June. When seed
16.
begins to germinate, great care is taken to watch
17.
the field, otherwise birds destroy the seed when
18.
germinating. Weeding is done like ordinary
cotton-fields. When plants are about six inches
high, thinning goes on; where the plants are
many they are uprooted; one span is left between
each plant. When the plants are about two feet
high, leaves are removed from plants one foot high
from the ground. This is done to encourage the
growth of the plants. Separation of male plants
is the principal care; this is done to prevent the
plants producing seed. The male plants are rooted
out three times or even four times; this process
goes on at an interval of 8 or 10 days—in the
month of October generally. If there be no rain
the plants are watered. This is done two or three
times, and then the crop is ready for cutting
,
which commences in the beginning of November
.
10. Hemp-growers do not form a separate
class; ordinary cultivators grow it.
1 1 . N o .
1 3 . G a n j a c u l t i v a t i o n i s n o w r e s t r i c t e d
to
Nimar.
14. Ganja is prepared from the hemp plant in
the Nimar district. Charas is not collected, and
its use is almost unknown. Bhang is imported
from Rajputana (Marwar) and North-Western
Provinces. Cultivation of the hemp plant for ganja
is confined to about 100 villages in the Khandwa
tahsil. The area under cultivation last year was
940 acres
.
15. As I have said before, wild hemp is unknown
here. The preparations for smoking, eating, and
drinking are of the cultivated plant.
Ganja is used for smoking. Its process is very
simple. The flower which the consumer obtains
from the retail vendor is soaked in water and
allowed to remain for some time. It is then
washed, and, having been placed on a piece of cloth,
the water is drained off. It is then placed in a
chilam (native pipe). It is, however, mixed
with tobacco
.
Ganja is used in preparing majum. It is well
boiled in ghee and its essence is extracted; then it
is mixed with sugar, and when dried it is cut in
cakes.
Bhang is used in drinking. It is the foreign
bhang whi ch i s used. I t i s soaked i n wat er and
then well powdered on a flat stone. The several
ingredients, to which I will refer further on, are
powdered and mixed up with water. It is strain-
e d o n a p i e c e o f c l o t h .
Bhang is imported from North-Western Prov- -
inces and Marwar. It is not locally manufac--
tured from the plant.
17. Ganja for sale is prepared by the cultiva- -
tors themselves.
18. Ganja keeps good with ordinary care for
two years, and after that it loses its effect, as the
flower gets dry and it becomes dusty. Bhang
keeps good for four years.
1 9 . G a n j a i s a l m o s t a l w a y s u s e d f o r s m o k i n g .
Charas is almost unknown in this province.
2 0 . G a n j a s m o k i n g i s n o t r e s t r i c t e d t o a n y
particular caste.
The following classes generally smoke ganja:—
I.—Labourers, including dâk-runners, fisher-
men, palki-bearers, and agriculturists.
I I . B a i r a g i s g o s a i n s , f a k i r s , a n d o t h e r m e n -
-
dicants.
III. A few of the better classes who have
imbibed the habit as a luxury.
I am unable to give any percentage of the
ganja smokers. Ganja smoking is not confined
to any particular locality.
21. Flat ganja is only used in this province;
others are unknown.
22. Charas is unknown, The only instance I
am aware of was of illicit importation from the
Punjab. It was in Narsingpur that this article
was found with a contractor when his house was
searched.
23. Bhang is not used for smoking.
24. Bhang is used for drinking purposes by
Marwaris, better classes of Hindus from North-
Western Provinces. The men of the province,
well-to-do persons, also occasionally indulge in
drinking bhang, and the lower classes of the
people sometimes drink bhang. This is drunk o
n
Hindu festivals (such as Holi and Shivaratri) and
sometimes on marriage occasions. It is often
when young friends meet in any garden they
prepare and indulge in this drink. It is very
difficult to give the proportion of the people drink--
ing bhang, but from the quantity of bhang con
-
sumed as shown in the excise returns (l3½ maunds
last year), the number cannot be large. This
quantity would suffice for one day's drink for
about 175,000 persons
.
2 5 . T h e q u a n t i t y o f g a n j a s o l d h a s s o me wh a t
increased, It was 940 maunds in 1888-89, and it
is now 1,194, and this would lead one to suppose
that the use is on the increase. The province is
surrounded by Native States where there are not
such restrictions on the use of ganja, and there
were many opportunities for smuggling of foreign
ganja; but gradually these sources of illicit supply
are on the decrease, and this accounts for the in--
crease in the consumption of the locally-manufac--
tured article.
The quantity of foreign bhang used has also in--
creased from 10 maunds in 1888-89 to 13½ maunds
in 1892-93. This increase is also slight. I have
no reason to consider that the number of ganja
smokers has to any appreciable extent increased.
2 6 . O f t h e t h r e e c l a s s e s m e n t i o n e d b y m e i n
answer to question No. 20, the first or labouring
class falls under class (a), habitual moderate con
-
sumers of ganja.
Class second I class as habitual excessive con--
sumers, and third class as occasional moderate con--
sumers. Those who use bhang as drink are oc--
casional moderate consumers.
the labouring classes. There is an impression that
smoke of a chilam will take away the fatigue,
and they generally smoke ganja to take away the
fatigue. The habitual excessive smokers are the
class of mendicants and fakirs whose wandering
life makes them indifferent to the worldly affairs.
They are often beggars, and as their wants are
satisfied by the charitable public, they do not care
what amount they spend. The life they lead is
peculiar; they are idlers, and they associate with
them such reckless characters that when they
assemble and begin to smoke they go to excess;
they thus form this habit of excessive smoking.