CH. IV.] REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. 47
restrictions may have reduced the cultivation which serves the markets, but
must encourage the home growth, which is not illegal, for private con-
sumption. Several other witnesses infer that there must be increase of
cultivation from the spread of the taste for the drugs. One of the most
definite statements of the last class is that of the District Forest Officer,
North Malabar, that, "owing to the greater demand for ganja from the
coast, cultivation as described above is slightly increasing year by year."
Another witness states that in Ganjam the cultivation is increasing in
the Agency tracts while it is declining in the plains. Reference may be made
to another specimen of the arguments to shew increase. After quoting the
returns of cultivation in the Bapatla taluk, which show steady decrease, as the
only ones available, the Acting Sub-Collector at Guntoor writes: "As far as
Baposia taluk is concerned, the figures given above seem to indicate that the
area under hemp cultivation is gradually decreasing. But I am inclined to think
that these figures are not reliable." And, after alluding to the introduction of
excise arrangements and increase of revenue, he proceeds: "This shows that
there is a possibility of large future developments in the trade in hemp drugs,
and the hypothesis that the cultivated area is gradually decreasing must neces-
sarily be wrong." Being ignorant of the method of keeping agricultural statistics
in the Madras Presidency, the Commission are unable to judge how far the Sub-
Collector is justified in mistrusting the figures he quotes. That some ground
exists is shown by the admission of the Secretary to the Board of Revenue quoted
above. But, taking this for granted, the arguments cannot be accepted, for there
are other sources of ganja supply besides the Kistna district, and the expansion
of the revenue does not necessarily imply an increase of production or even of
consumption.
The extent of home cultivation.
123. There is not after all any great body of evidence to show increase of
cultivation, and the increase indicated is not very
decided, except perhaps in the case of Angappa
Gonuden (189), who says: "Hitherto cultivation of the ganja plant was
very rare. But it has now considerably increased, since more people resort
to its use now than before." This witness is worth quoting, because his
answers are generally sensible, and he appears to be in the habit of culti-
vating the plant himself. But it is advisable to guard against an apparent
tendency to exaggeration. His description of the extent of cultivation in Salem
may be quoted here with the above reservation as probably typical of several
localities in the Presidency: "There is little of the ganja plant cultivation
in my district of Salem. They are all for the production of ganja alone.
One-fourth of the houses in Salem have on an average half a dozen plants
in each backyard. The same number of plants can be found in at least 2
per cent. of the fields in the villages of Salem, Ather, and Namakul taluks."
In most districts the extent of backyard cultivation falls short of this descrip-
tion. In Cuddapah and Coimbatore the state of things would seem to resemble
Salem, with the addition that there are probably some small patches of field
cultivation grown for profit. In the hill tracts of Ganjam, Vizagapatam, and
Godavari, and to a very much less degree in the Wynaad and the Nilgiris, the
home cultivation seems to be carried on for the market, the produce being
used for barter or sale to licensed dealers. There is no formal restriction
on cultivation, and the cultivators are allowed to sell the produce to the licensed