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make the surface firm. The plants are trimmed
of their lowest twigs and branches. They are
examined and the males destroyed. The land
is irrigated.
December.—The
trenches between the ridges
are ploughed and harrowed. The ridges are rebuilt
with cowdung and oilcake powder mixed with
fresh earth. The land is irrigated. The male
plants are destroyed.
January.—The
land is irrigated. The male
plants are destroyed.
February.—The plants are cut and manufactured.
10. They are of the same classes as the other
agricultural cultivators.
11. I am not aware of any instance of ganja
plants ever raised from seeds of wild hemp.
12. I know of no place where the wild hemp is
specially cultivated for the production of ganja.
13. Under certain rules the cultivation of the
hemp plants for ganja is carried on in the tract of
land called the "ganja mahal." It is restricted,
I believe, in other parts of Bengal. This tract
lies partly in the district of Rajshahi, partly in
Bogra, and partly in Dinajpur. It is included
now within a radius of about fourteen miles.
In
1876, when the ganja inquiry was made by Babu
Hem Chander Kerr, the extent of the tract was
larger, the radius being about sixteen miles; and
ten years before that, about twenty miles. The
gradual reduction in the extent of the tract was
due to the fact that by the removal of jungles in
the villages not far off Naogaon, more lands be-
came gradually available for cultivation, and more
ganja was produced. Purchasers having ganja
near Naogaon do not naturally like to go to dis-
tant villages for their supplies. So the cultivators
of the villages in the remote north, south and east
of the tract, failing to find purchasers to sell their
drug, have ultimately given up the cultivation
and betaken to the cultivation of onion, sugar-
cane, jute, etc., which are not less profitable.
Why were they selected?—This tract was not at
first selected deliberately for the cultivation of
ganja. The cultivation commenced here acci-
dentally, and certain combination of circumstances
made it flourish here. I learn that, so far back
as the middle of the 18th century, the cultivation
began in the adjoining villages, Balubhara in the
Bogra district, and Moradpur in Rajshahi. The
cultivation proving remunerative was gradually
extended to other villages of those districts, as
well as to some of the Dinajpur District bordering
on them. The cultivation attracted the notice of
the Sarkar subsequently, and Abkari Division was
opened at Naogaon in 1845, and the existing
ganja supervisors' office in 1854, The cultiva-
tion went on unrestricted until the enactment of
Act II (B. C.) of 1876.
Climate.—Dry
climate is necessary for the cul-
tivation of ganja.
Soil.—Lands
are always selected for the culti-
vation of ganja after looking into the convenience
of irrigation. High and dry lands are necessary
for cultivation. Low and swampy lands are unfit
for it. Poli soil or light sandy loam is the best.
The plants on the poli land grow very big, be-
come sufficiently bushy, and bear forth thick
stout ganja yielding flowers. The cultivation
of ganja is mostly carried on on this kind of land.
Kheary or clayey soil is not so good for ganja
cultivation as poli. Kheary land is hard and
dry. It requires more frequent ploughing and
constant irrigation. The plants on the kheary
land become generally of stunted growth, slender,
and bear forth short, thin and scattered flowers.
The colour of the ganja manufactured from them
lends a reddish shade, and is liked by purchasers.
Very little kheary land is cultivated, because the
cost of cultivation becomes greater.
Rainfall.—Moderate rainfall at all stages of
cultivation from the transplantation of seedlings
in September or October, to the flowering of the
plants in December, is highly beneficial. But rain
on the day of transplantation or the day following
and after full flowering of the plants in December
is baneful.
I do not know in what part of Bengal the culti-
vation of ganja is impossible.
14. (a) Yes.
(b) No.
(c) No.
Ganja is prepared in the ganja mahal. It is
prepared from 7,000 to 9,000 maunds.
15. I know the particulars regarding the
methods of the preparation of the Naogaon ganja
from the cultivated plants, which is used for smok-
ing.
Three kinds of ganja are prepared at
Naogaon, viz., flat, round and chur. The method
of preparing the flat is different from that of the
round; chur ganja has no separate process of
manufacture.
The blades of ganja that drop
down at the time of the manufacture of flat or
round are collected as chur ganja. Chur is also
nowadays deliberately made by breaking twig ganja.
Flat ganja
manufacture—1st
day.—For
the
manufacture of the flat sort of ganja the plants are
cut in the morning, and carried to the chatar (manu-
facturing yard), which is held in an open grassy
field, with a hut or two raised therein for accom-
modation of men and protection of the drug
(manufactured). The plants are laid out to the
sun on the grass of the chatar till about 1 or 2
o'clock in the afternoon. They are taken up one
by one, and cut to the lengths of one to two
feet. The non-ganja bearing twigs and bare stalks
are now thrown away, and only the ganja bearing
twigs or the selected stalks are laid on the chatar
yard for exposure to dew.
2nd day.—At
about noon, or when the twigs
have assumed a withered-up appearance, the
twigs are collected and formed into bundles of five
to ten twigs, and placed in a single layer in a cir-
cular form over a durma mat spread on the chatar
yard, with the top of the plants or twigs pointing
to the centre and overlapping each other. The
circle formed is generally of about 14 feet in cir-
cumference. On this three or four men ascend,
holding each other by the hands, and commence
treading and trampling upon the twigs. They
stamp and press down the twigs with one foot,
while they hold them with the other. The press-
ing is continued for about five minutes, or to the
time the ganja bearing flowers on the twigs do
not assume a flat shape. A man places a fresh
layer of bundles over the first layer, and trampl-
ing goes on. When the second layer is comple-
tely pressed, a third to the fifth or sixth layers are
placed and trampled on till the stack rises to the
height of about 2 feet. The men get down, and
a mat or two are spread on it. Two or three
men sit on the stack, or some heavy weights are
placed thereon.
About half an hour after, a man spreads two or
more mats close to the stack. One or two men
take out the twigs or bundles by twos from the
stack, and holding one in each hand beat against