30 REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. [CH. III.
Khairpur.
68. The hemp plant does not appear to grow
spontaneously in the Khairpur State.
Berar.
69. Under the regulations in force in Berar, the village officers are held
responsible that all ganja of spontaneous growth is
uprooted, and the cultivation of the plant is only
allowed after license has been obtained. By these arrangements the spontaneous
growth appears to be successfully kept under; for only one witness out of 38 can
be found to say that it exists, and it may be doubted if he refers to the same
plant.
Ajmere-Merwara.
70. There appears from the memorandum of the Commissioner, Ajmere-Mer-
wara, to be no spontaneous growth of any importance
—"Here and there a few plants grow spontaneously."
The witnesses do not speak of any such growth. Plants that spring up in this
way are up-rooted or made over to the contractor. There is evidently no dense
growth of a wild character.
Coorg.
71. The Commissioner of Coorg is "doubtful whether wild hemp is actually
found, but hemp springs up in the coffee gardens,
near coolie lines, and near the huts of the wild tribes,
and no one owns to its cultivation. A coolie in weeding the coffee will try to
avoid pulling up the plant unless his master happens to be looking."
The evidence of two witnesses describes a growth round about huts whose
spontaneous character is doubtful, for it seems to be generally tended. A few
chance plants may spring up of themselves in such places as are indicated above,
but there is no wild growth of the dense character known in the north of India.
Quetta-Pishin.
72. No wild or spontaneous growth is reported from any part of Baluchistan.
The witnesses do not know of its existence.
Burma.
Absence of wild growth remark-
able.
73. Ganja was made contraband in Lower Burma in 1872-73. In that year
large seizures of ganja illicitly brought from Upper
Burma were made, and witness (19) states that
Upper Burma was the chief source of supply in those days. This being the case,
with the known tendency of the plant to run wild, the apparent suitability of Upper
Burma to the growth of the plant, and the fact that the ganja-supply has by no
means totally ceased notwithstanding the prohibition, it is remarkable that the
evidence of the existence of the spontaneous growth should be so uncertain as
to make it doubtful if it is to be found in any of the settled districts except as a
very occasional weed.
Evidence regarding wild growth.
74. The Deputy Commissioner of Mergui alone mentions any extensive
growth, and there are internal reasons for distrusting
his statements. He no doubt made the acquaint-
ance of the plant during his service in Kumaon, but he seems to have left that
district over fifteen years ago, and his memory may not have served him. He talks
unscientifically of the indigenous wild plant, which shows that he cannot claim
to have made any study of the plant. The Burmese name he gives to the plant,
"pi-san-bin," the literal translation of which is apparently "net-rope plant,"
is not used by any other witness. A rich alluvial loam, a climate hot and damp,
and a low level are not, as far as the information given to the Commission teaches,
conditions favourable to the spontaneous growth of hemp or to the develop-
ment of its fibre. In his second paper he writes that the Siamese use the