64 REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. [CH. V.
in the Darjeeling district for fibre. From the evidence relating to other parts of
the Himalayas, it is improbable that such cultivation does not exist.
Irregular cultivation. It may
yield ganja, but probably does not
often do so.
166. Though there is not any great amount of illicit cultivation, it will be
interesting to note the information furnished by re-
ports and evidence as to the methods employed in it.
Mr. Basu, Assistant to the Director of Land Records
and Agriculture, reports that he observed signs of the spontaneous growth where
it was not plentiful being looked after with some degree of care. Talking of
Bhagalpur and Purnea, he says: "As a rule the people of these districts could not
distinguish between male and female plants, the leaves of both being used as a
bhang; but one man pointed out to me a plant which was a female, and said
that this class of plants produced the best drug. It is not uncommon to see a
few selected plants, mostly females, left on the ground; these acquire a more
bushy appearance not unlike that of the ganja-bearing plant. All this made me
suspect that the people knew a great deal more about the bhang plant than they
were willing to avow." This would lead to the belief that the secret cultivator not
unfrequently succeeds in producing smokable ganja. An Excise Deputy Collector
describes one method by which the plant is not only concealed from view, but
which may result in effectually secluding the female plant. When the plant is
a foot high, an inverted earthen pot is placed over it supported by pegs fixed in
the ground. The confined growth takes the form of a cabbage-flower (sic), and
would in all probability retain the resin in more than common quantity. A
Burmese witness has described a similar method as being the regular practice
in the Shan States. The Registrar of Calcutta (98), enquiring from fakirs and
religious mendicants, learns that the wild plant is made to produce ganja for
smoking by lightly rolling the flower spikes of the growing plants between the
hands, thereby causing the component parts of the spike to stick together, and
preventing the access of the pollen. "This treatment, repeated several times,
converts the spikes into what is commonly called jata, which gives the matted
appearance to the article." Witness (53) states that he has seen ganja plants
cultivated illicitly from the twigs of which ganja as good in appearance as excise
ganja can be prepared, but the flavour of it is alleged to be inferior. There is not
in the evidence, however, any general confirmation of the supposition that the
illicit cultivation produces the stronger form of the drug. The matter will be
further examined in dealing with the preparation of the drugs.
There are not, however, sufficient grounds for supposing that the homestead
cultivation or the fostering of the wild plant is carried on on any extensive
scale. It is not often that either practice produces anything superior to
bhang, and where there is an unlimited quantity of good bhang growing
wild, there can be little inducement to illicit cultivation with its attendant
risks. No information has been given of occupants ever being paid for allowing
the bhang growing on their lands to be collected, and that incentive to fostering
the plant appears to be wanting. It will be seen also that where the wild plant
does not prevail, the licit consumption of ganja is comparatively small, and the
consumers are therefore few.
Tributary Mahals.
167. The Tributary States of Orissa after the Ganja Mahal contain the most
extensive and important cultivation in the Province
of Bengal. This cultivation has never been made