80
REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION 1893-94.
[CH. V.
south-west monsoon, sown in June, and gathered in November. It must be
protected by a well in case of failure of timely rain. The official report says:
"If
the rains fall favourably, no irrigation is required till about October, when
the plants are maturing, when apparently they always require to be watered."
The cultivation of Berar does not differ materially from that of Khandwa, whence
the seed seems to be imported. There is one curious practice which the Com-
mission have not heard of elsewhere. The seed which is sown with the drill is a
mixture of Cannabis and Hibiscus cannabinus.
When the seedlings are a
fortnight old, the Hibiscus plants are weeded out. One witness explains this
practice as being due to the fact that hemp seed will not germinate by itself.
The official explanation, which is probably correct, is that the hemp seed is by
this means economised, the necessary space between the plants being secured at
the expense of Hibiscus seed. The male plants (bhangra) are picked out after
the crop has reached one-and-a-half feet in height. One witness (9) states that
the malis who carry on the cultivation are able to distinguish the sexes, and one
other (7) that the services of experts are required. The others are silent on the
point. Witness (14) mentions the practice of opening the lower part of the stem,
inserting opium, and binding the part up very tightly to increase the narcotic quality
of the drug. The same witness moves on the date of sowing to the Punarvasu and
Pusha nakshatras, July-August, which is the sowing time in the Bombay Deccan.
Witness (11) states that under native rule the plant was cultivated by consumers
in the yards of houses. It was watered, and when it had grown sufficiently to
allow the sex to be discovered, the ganja smokers uprooted and threw away male
plants. There is no particular class of cultivators, unless it be that the malis pre-
ponderate among them for the reason that their vocation is cultivation by means
of well irrigation.
Ajmere.
208. In Ajmere there is but a small amount of desultory cultivation by the
Brahmins of Pushkar, malis, and sadhus. The plant
may be occasionally tended with some care when it is
grown in the garden of a mali or near the hut of a sadhu; but there is some evid-
ence that it is generally allowed to take care of itself. Mr. White King's report
of 1886 says: "Even in Pushkar, however, it is grown only in small quantities on
the edges of fields and along the banks of water-channels," and this seems to be
the most considerable cultivation in the province. This report does not indicate
any great care in the cultivation. The produce, according to the same report, is
merely bhang. The evidence does not furnish any details whatever of the method
of cultivation.
Coorg.
209. In Coorg the methods of desultory homestead cultivation may be em-
ployed by some low class coolies. A witness talks of
the seeds being "sown broadcast in rich soil mixed
with burnt clay, and afterwards transplanted in good rich soil;" but it is not clear
that this method is in vogue in Coorg. Some Madras witnesses gave information
of the same kind.
Baluchistan.
210. There is no information from Baluchistan.
Burma.
211. Mr. Bridges (3) and the ex-Sawbwa of Nyaungwe State (50) are the
only witnesses who give any details of the cultivation
in Burma. The Shans and the Danu people appear
to rear the plant for the drug in their homestead land; the Kachins, Palaungs,