CHAPTER III.
THE EXISTENCE, PREVALENCE, AND CHARACTER OF THE SPONTANEOUS
GROWTH.
Bengal.
The wild growth not found over
the whole province.
25. The Commissioner of Excise, Bengal, says in his memorandum that
"the wild plant is found in nearly every district, and
it grows abundantly in several places." The evid-
ence enables the facts to be stated more definitely;
and it will be seen that over a large part of the province the spontaneous growth is
not so common or abundant that it can with any propriety be called wild.
The Patna Division north of the
Ganges.
26. The Terai region of Bengal appears to resemble that of the North-West-
ern Provinces in having a luxuriant growth of hemp.
Beginning from the frontier of the North-Western
Provinces, the evidence leaves no doubt that the spontaneous growth is extremely
common and plentiful in that part of the Patna Division which lies north of the
Ganges. The only witness who raises any doubt on this point is Mr. Williams,
Collector of Darbhanga; and he describes the growth as much less common than
in Assam, though plentiful on the borders of Nepal. The evidence generally,
however, cannot justify any exception being made of the Darbhanga district.
The Bhagalpur Division.
27. Eastward from Patna lies the Bhagalpur Division, the region from which
the bhang supply of Calcutta is brought. A special
inquiry was made in this tract, North Bhagalpur and
Purnea, by Mr. B. C. Basu, Assistant to the Director of Land Records and Agri-
culture, at the request of the Commission. Mr. Basu does not seem to have
explored the waste lands of the Terai; his inquiries relate solely to the populous
parts of the country. He says that the growth as a rule "is confined to land
in the immediate vicinity of raiyats' holdings. Such land is usually called
dihisar in Purnea and Bhagalpur, and is naturally the richest in the village."
He says further on that these lands are used as standing ground for the cattle,
and that "the washings from them flow over the alleys and ditches in the
village; and as there is little or no cultivation at any time of the year, every
bit of bare ground which is otherwise suited is covered with a luxuriant mass
of wild hemp as soon as the cold weather has set in." The Commission
would have been glad to learn more about the lands at a distance from
houses.
The Collectors of Purnea and Bhagalpur, while confirming Mr.
Basu's account, report that the growth springs up notwithstanding that the
lands may have been flooded for 3 or 4 months in the rains. It is not confined
to waste lands, but comes up with the crops which are sown after the inundations
have subsided. It is specially abundant within the influence of the floods of the
Kosi river. It is clear then that the growth about homesteads and cultivation is
extremely plentiful; and, looking to the whole evidence, the probability is that
towards the Terai the wild growth is found in less close association with man, and
in great quantity in suitable positions and soils. The Collector of Bhagalpur
reports that in the Banka Sub-division, which lies on the south of the Ganges, the
growth is not so plentiful, and is found principally on homestead lands.
The Rajshahi Division.
28. In the Rajshahi Division the Terai is still credited with heavy growth, and
the northern parts of the Dinajpur and Rangpur dis-
tricts are specially mentioned; but elsewhere evidence
as to abundance has a more uncertain sound. Babu Abhilas Chandra Mukharji