70
REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. [CH. V.
takyas and dharamsalas, especially by Sikhs. Witness (74) states that trans-
planting is practised, and that the cultivators are the fakirs and keepers of dharam-
salas and consumers generally. Witness (67) gives three seasons for cultivation,
probably the times of sowing, October-November, February-March, and July-
August, and states that the plant is sometimes manured after it has grown a foot
or two high. Witness (19) gives the season of sowing as from October to January
and the harvest time as March, and states that the crop is cultivated like other
chahi-hatri crops on chahi, hatri, or sailaba lands. The crop is cut at night to
prevent the loss of seed that would otherwise occur. But this witness has not
seen the cultivation. Witness (36), Civil Surgeon of Jhang, a native gentleman,
has made direct enquiries in his district. The male plant is, he says, extirpated
in February and March, and the rest are gathered in April, the cultivators are of
the ordinary class, but are in the employ of the fakir consumers, for whom they
grow the drug. Witness (24), Excise Officer, states that the seed is sown in
November at the same time as wheat. The field is well drained, cleaned, and
manured. The bhang seed is soaked in cow's milk and water the night before
sowing. It is sown broadcast. The crop is watered. In March-April the male
plant called kera, which is smaller than the female and bears a flowery head, is
eradicated. The female plants are cut with the wheat in May. The cultivators
are for the most part fakirs, Hindus and Muhammadans, and the products are bhang
and ganja. Mr. Dames (9), Deputy Commissioner of Dera Ghazi Khan, states
that the land is well watered before sowing between the months of June and
September. The seed is sown between October and January, and the crop
gathered in March and the beginning of April. Frequent waterings are required,
and the crop must be gathered in at night, or it looses much of its value.
It may be concluded that the crop is generally grown in the rabbi season,
though occasionally in the monsoon; that it requires high tilth, including a liberal
supply of manure and irrigation; that transplantation and the extirpation of the
male plant are sometimes practised; that the cultivation is for the most part
carried on by consumers, of whom a very large proportion are fakirs and religious
characters.
Punjab States.
183. The evidence from the Punjab States supplies nothing new regarding the
cultivation. From Bahawalpur there is corroboration
of Mr. Dames's statement that in the processes pre-
ceding the sowing of the seed the land is watered.
Central Provinces.
184. The cultivation of the Khandwa tahsil has been described by the Deputy
Commissioner of Khandwa and the Excise Commis-
sioner. These papers, with the Commission's notes,
furnish materials for the following account.
The regular cultivation.
185. The average rainfall of the tract in which ganja is cultivated is 33 inches.
The soils which are considered most suitable to the
crop are—
Pandhar, or white soil—land near the village site which is largely mixed
with ashes and sweepings from the village;
Mand—a light yellow alluvium pervious to moisture;
Kali—black soil or regur.