88 REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. [CH. VI.
From the manner of collection and manufacture, plants of both sexes and
also some flower heads must enter into the product. It is stated by one
witness that the seed is as far as possible separated and rejected. This is
probably correct. Another states that "wild bhang is collected by the people in
Bhagalpur, Monghyr, and Purnea districts in two forms-one consisting of dried
leaves and small stalks, and the other of the flowering shoots; this latter not to
a great extent." This appears to refer to the collection for home consumption,
and not that by the licensed dealers for sale. The flowering shoots here referred
to are probably the female flower heads, in which there is reason to suppose the
resin is occasionally secreted in more than the usual quantity, even when the plant
is uncultivated.
Bhang is gathered from the spontaneous growth for home use wherever that
growth is found. There is considerable conflict of opinion as to the extent of
the practice. The Commission are inclined to accept Mr. Gupta's view that "the
use of untaxed bhang is general," and that, among the rural population at least, the
consumers collect the drug for themselves whenever the plant is at hand. Looking
to the prevalence of the wild growth over a great part of Bengal, and the absence
of any technicality in the preparation of the raw article, any other view would
require to be supported by strong evidence. The leaf is for the most part simply
dried; but Mr. Jenkins, Collector of Dacca, reports that he has been told of a
more costly process, which consists in the leaf being boiled in milk and water
after being sun-dried, and again dried for storage. This is confirmed by a pleader
of Dinajpur, who professes to know the method of preparation of bhang from the
wild plant. He says, probably confusing the sexes, that the female plant is general-
ly used, though the male may be also, and that "after the leaves are dried for
some time, they are boiled in a mixture of from 10 to 25 per cent. of milk and
90 to 75 per cent. of water. After drying the leaves once again, they are fit for
use as siddhi or bhang." It is, however, certain that this practice is uncommon,
and that simple drying is the method by which bhang is almost universally
prepared for keeping.
Preparation of ganja from spon-
taneous growth.
227. It has already been suggested that ganja can be got from the wild plant.
The question is important, and must be examined in
some detail at the risk of the discussion appearing
elementary to many readers. It has been shown that the plant is not wild in the
exact sense of the word, and for present purposes this fact must be emphasized.
The plant is not only an old escape from cultivation, but its tendency to revert to
the uniform characters of a wild species is being constantly checked by contact
with cultivation. Its association with man frequently supplies it with the richest
kinds of food, and with all vegetation this tends to the development of abnormal
characters. The generative functions may thus be affected to the extent of
partial or even complete destruction in individual plants or groups of plants, and
these may be of either sex. It is possible also for the female plant to be
secluded in a variety of other ways. The experience of cultivation justifies the
presumption that if the female plant in healthy growth is prevented from freely
developing its seed, its flower spike will be highly resinous. There appears
therefore to be a strong probability a priori that the spontaneous growth quite-
untended should often produce a flower head which can be converted into ganja.
Evidence is not wanting to corroborate this conclusion, for it speaks
of
wild ganja being collected and smoked; but it is impossible to pronounce posi-