84
REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. [CH. V
323 a description by Mr. Hodgson of the cultivation for fibre. He states that
the cultivation is peculiar to the northern districts of Nepal. These districts,
"popularly called Cachar, are nevertheless the prime seats of culture, and there
alone is the plant manufactured into rope or cloth, though the edible extracts are
sometimes prepared nearer to and around Katmandu." Regular cultivation
for fibre is therefore confined to the northern districts. The season of sowing
is from March to April. The season is earlier, but the course of cultivation
is much the same as in Kumaon. Mr. Hodgson states that "damp soils,
comprising black earth, are fittest for this crop." This description does not
agree with other information on the subject. The plants flower and fruit
in July, and are in their full growth at the beginning of August.
While
yet succulent and in flower they are cut, with the exception of some seed
plants, which are not to be reaped till October. It is the bark of the young but
full grown July plants which is soft that is used for making cloth. That of the
old or October plants is hard and not suitable for manufacture. Mr. Hodgson
says nothing in the extract made by Dr. Royle, if there is anything to be said,
of the processes adopted for developing the narcotic in the growing plant. The
fibre cultivator of Kumaon does not apparently do anything with this special
object, and yet his female plant yields charas. It is probable that the early
removal of the males may have the tendency in both places.
Information furnished by the Dar-
bar.
219. The Darbar answers say nothing about the fibre cultivation, but they con-
tain some information regarding the scattered cultiva-
tion for narcotics. The following morsels may be
quoted: "When the plants put forth fine down, the tip of the plants is cut off,
and the big leaves are plucked off, and the plant is shaken from time to time so that
the down may fall off. This causes a large number of branches and fine leaves to
be produced, and the latter, getting twisted and stuck together, are called in
Nepalese lata." "The plant which produces much seed is no good; that which
produces little seed is good." "Some persons in the hills plant a few trees which
are to be had growing wild." "By slitting the stem of the plant and inserting a
piece of opium or clove or bhiroza wood and tying up the part with a string the
ganja becomes somewhat more intoxicating. This is done by those who know
about it, and is not the work of any particular class." "The male plant of the
ganja is solid; the female one is hollow. The male plant is more intoxicating
than the female. When the plant has attained a height of two or two-and-a-half
feet, it is slightly slit, and ascertained whether it is a male or female."
From these extracts it may be gathered that the wild seedlings are transport-
ed and planted in suitable places, and that every endeavour is then made to en-
courage the secretion of the resin in the female (called male) plants. Probably
the cultivators know the effect of exterminating the male plant, and follow the
practice, though this is not expressly stated.