158
It grows abundant all over Bengal.
24-Parganas.—Specially in the Basirhat Sub¬
division.
Nadia.—Meherpur (Chuadanga) and Kushtia
Sub-divisions.
Khulna.—Sadar and Satkhira Sub-divisions.
Jessore.—Magura, Narail, Jhenida, and Sadar
Sub-divisions.
It grows most abundant in the Jessore District.
Rajshahi Division.—The wild bhang grows
largely. No duty-paid bhang is consumed in any
district in the Rajshahi Division. It grows most
luxuriantly all over the division. Even on the
sides of the railway line (Northern Bengal State
Railway) passing through the districts of Rajshahi,
Bogra, Dinajpur, Rangpur, and Jalpaiguri.
Dacca District.—Hemp plant grows sponta¬
neously all over the Dacca District, and specially in
the Manikgunge Sub-division (at Lasragunge,
Jhitka, Jaffergunge, Gheore, etc.), on the banks
of rivers at Toke, and on low lands adjoining
people's houses.
Below is given the names of places in which it
grows abundantly in the Mymensingh District:—
(a) On the slopy banks of the rivers Brahma¬
putra and Kansa.
(b) Sadar Sub-division.—Essurgunge
Thana,
Muktagatcha, Fulberia Thana, Fulpur
Thana, Saltia (old Indigo Factory), Biru-
nia (old Indigo Factory). It affords
shelter to tigers.
(c) Netrokona and Kissoregunge Sub-divi¬
sions.—East Mymensingh.
Jariar Banda.—In the Durgapur Thana (about
thirty miles from the town of Mymen¬
singh) bhang plants grow wild over an
area of twenty square miles. The land
is covered over with long grass and bhang
plants, and the tract is inhabited by wild
buffaloes.
From Hosseinpur to Kissoregunge Sub-
divisional Head-Quarters the hemp plant
grows wild on both sides of the road.
It grows wild on the sites of abandoned
indigo factories in that Sub-division at
Darinagar, Badia, Kotiadi, Matkhola,
and Bazidpur.
(d) Jamalpur Sub-division.—In the Jamalpur
Sub-division at Baliajuri (several acres
of land are covered with the wild hemp
plant). It also grows on the banks of
the river Brahmaputra and on lands
adjoining abandoned indigo factories at
Bagunbari, Nandina, etc.
(e) In Tangail Sub-division it grows abun¬
dantly at Kagmari, Jamurki, Elunga,
Sealkole, Soya, Tangail town, Subarno-
kali, Patal, Nagarpur, Bhadra, etc.
4. The wild plant is known by the name of—
Siddhi.
Bhang
Bhang.
Ganja
Ganja.
Bhang Bhanger pata.
Ganja
Siddhi.
Patti.
Siddhi and ganja are synonymous terms for
ganja in Dacca, Mymensingh, Faridpur, Backer-
gunge, Khulna, etc.
Jata bhang, siva jata bhang:—the flower of this
kind of bhang is whitish; it grows luxuriantly,
and the plants are of a larger size than the
ordinary wild hemp plant. The flowers resemble
ganja flowers. The flowers and leaves agglutinate
naturally and look like siva jata (cluster of hair
of the god Siva, from which it derives its name).
Its intoxicating properties are less than those of
the Rajshahi ganja. The flowers are collected and
smoked just like ganja. It grows along with
other hemp plants rather scantily. It grows
near Toke and in some parts of the Manikgunge
Sub-division of the Dacca District.
In Mymensingh there are two varieties of
bhang plants,—one with whitish stem, and the
other with reddish stem. The leaves are green.
The different terms used for bhang plants refer to
exactly the same plant.
5. For the growth of the wild hemp the special
conditions necessary are—
Climate.—The wild hemp plant grows in damp
and moist (as in river districts) climate.
Soil.—It grows luxuriantly in moist, sandy
soil richly manured with decomposed vegetable
matter. It grows in damp, loose, soft soil,
neither high nor low, and where it grows wild,
the soil shows a natural disposition to produce it.
It grows in soft, damp soil near cowsheds, where
cowdung is deposited or thrown, and on low,
damp, fallow lands attached to people's houses.
In old abandoned houses and on the sites of old
and abandoned indigo factories it grows dense.
Where the ashes are thrown, and where vegetable
matters decompose and are converted into manure,
it grows luxuriantly. Sandy soil or soil covered
over with silt after the subsidence of the floods
(on the banks of rivers) contributes much to a
rich growth of the plant. In 1890-91 there was
a great flood in the ganja mahal, and more than
1,000 bighas of land were submerged, and
plants mostly destroyed. But the surviving
plants grew very luxuriantly, and the average
outturn of ganja was 4 maunds 23½ seers per
bigha, and the quality of the ganja was exception¬
ally good.
Rainfall.—In
years of excessive rainfall the
plants are destroyed. If the roots remain under
water for a few days, the plants die. In the
rainy season the growth is rather stunted, and
plants are destroyed altogether if there is accumu¬
lation of water at their roots.
Elevation, etc.—Wild bhang growing on elevat¬
ed places is not so luxuriant as in low lands. It
is stunted. Leaves of plants growing on elevated
and sunny places have more intoxicating proper¬
ties. Bhang does not grow luxuriantly in the
high lands of the Bhawal pargana in Dacca.
6. The plants grow spontaneously in November
and December; they bear seed in March and
April, and the seeds fall off in May. The leaves
which become partially dry fall off as soon as the
rains set in in June. The people collect the
leaves on the last day of the Bengali year (Chai-
tra Sankranti), and in March and April before
the rains set in. The dried bhang plants grow¬
ing near people's houses are used as fuel by the
poor. The seeds that fall to the ground germi¬
nate, and small plants again grow in the rainy
season, but they die out as soon as the rain water
collects at their roots.
The wild hemp plant ordinarily grows dense,
and it is not scattered.
7. Cultivation of the hemp plant—
(a) The extent of the ganja cultivation in
1892-93 is shown below:—
Districts.
Thana.
Number
of
villages.
Number
of
cultivators.
Area
in bigha
cultivated.
Rajshahi.
Naogaon
95
1,922
2,278
Bogra
Adamdighi,
Nawabgunge
68
468
479
Dinajpur
Mahadebpur
35
489
579
TOTAL
198
2,879
3,336