CH. V.] REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94.
67
and the soil must be light. Early in June the field is cleaned of all rubbish
which is burnt upon it. It is ploughed immediately after a good downfall of
rain. In the beginning of July the seed is sown; and this must be done on a
fine day, for the seed will not grow if sown in the wet. Chaff is then scattered
over the field to protect the seed from the birds. In eight days the seed germin-
ates, and fifteen days afterwards the crop is carefully hoed so that the plants
are not injured. After another fortnight the field is weeded a second time.
No other operation is described till September (Bhado), when the plants have
grown up, and some have begun to bear seed. These are called "sujango."
or "kalango" (according to Duthie "gul bhang"), and are the female plants.
Some do not bear seed, and are called "phulango" (according to Duthie "phul
bhang"), and they are the male plants. These latter are plucked up and laid
in the sun for a few days to dry, and are then manufactured into fibre. The fibre
from the male plant is superior. The female plants have meantime been growing
up to a height of some ten feet, of which the upper third is full of leaf and seed.
In (Kartik) November the female plants are cut down from the root, and
spread in the sun for twenty-four hours to dry. The charas is then got from the
plants by rubbing the heads between the hands. This description gives the
female plant a life from germination to harvest of little more than four months.
Duthie and Fuller put the sowing in May, and this gives a longer life, more
nearly approaching the period of growth, about six or seven months, in the ganja
tract of Bengal. The latter is probably the more correct.
Class of cultivators: Cultivation
is not reputable.
174. Duthie and Fuller write that hemp growing is restricted to the lowest
classes of cultivators, being considered beneath the
dignity of the higher castes. So much is this the
case that the phrase "May hemp be sown in thy house" is one of the commonest
of abusive imprecations. Mr. Dharma Nand and other witnesses corroborate this
account. The principal cultivators appear to be the Khasias or Tabhilas, a class
of people above the Domes and below Rajputs in the social scale, who do not
wear the sacred thread. If a Brahman or Rajput wishes to cultivate hemp, he
engages a Khasia or Dome to work for him; but, after the crop is taken off, he
has no prejudice against making charas or separating the fibres from the stalks.
Dr. Prain (page 48) has traced the contempt in which the hemp cultivator is
held to the original motive of the cultivation, viz., the production of fibre, and
points out that the cultivators of other fibres, such as sann (Crotalaria), are simi-
larly regarded. Mr. Cockburn (34) confirms this explanation, suggesting that
the offensiveness of the operation of rotting the stalks is the origin of the dislike.
Unfortunately Mr. Dharma Nand from direct knowledge contradicts this, which
might have been a reasonable solution of the question; for he says that the higher
classes have no objection to this operation. The origin of the prejudice is prob-
ably to be sought in very early social institutions.
The seeds are, next after the fibre, the important part of the products of
Himalayan cultivation. They are eaten, and yield oil. The seed of the unculti-
vated plant is very inferior in size, and is not therefore used for sowing.
The regular cultivation of bhang.
175. There is very little information about the methods employed in the regular
cultivation of bhang in the districts of Farakhabad
and Hardoi. The crop must be grown in fairly large
plots or fields, for it is capable of being measured, and the Agricultural Depart-
ment apparently keeps a record of the area. The seed would seem to be sown at