CH. V.] REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94.
71
The first two are the best; the last is too stiff if the season happens to be very
wet. The seed is specially cultivated in fields apart from the ganja, and in this
the practice differs from that of Bengal, where the seeds which fall from the ganja
in the process of preparation are kept for sowing. The seed of Dhakalgaon, a
village in Indore territory, is considered the best, and fetches double the price of
other seed. It gives a stouter and more branching plant than the local seed.
The same fields are used year after year for hemp cultivation, and it is thought
sufficient to manure heavily once in three years. Here again the practice
differs essentially from that of Bengal, where the land will only grow hemp
every three years, and heavy manuring is required each time it is sown. The
manure used in Khandwa consists of household refuse, cow-dung, and ashes,
and is given to the land at the rate of sixteen to twenty cartloads per acre. The
crop is sown about fifteen days after the first good fall of the south-west monsoon,
i.e., in June or July. If the field is not under any crop, it is ploughed in
January or February, and in any circumstances it is thoroughly worked up in April
or May. The latter is the season for manuring if it is the turn of the field to be
manured, and two ploughings and two applications of the bakhar—an instrument
which serves the purpose of a harrow—are considered necessary between this time
and the sowing. The seed is sown on a sunny day by means of a bamboo drill
(sarta), which is used in combination with the bakhar. The seed germinates within
a week, and in twenty days the plants have reached the height of about nine
inches. The spaces between the furrows are then cleaned with the bullock hoe
(kolpa), and between the plants in each row with the gardening hand-implement
called khurpi, the plants being thinned out at the same time, so that they shall
stand six or nine inches apart. The weeding process goes on for a month, and
during it the lower leaves of the plants are removed. There is no transplantation
at any time.
The detection and removal of male
plants.
186. About six weeks after sowing the examination (parakhai) for eradication
of male plants begins. The first plant to be detected
and uprooted is the pure male called naria or bhang-
ra. The cultivators recognise a variety of the male plant which they call sheoria,
and this is treated like the naria. The male plant, either bhangra or sheoria,
occasionally bears some female flowers, and is then called adnaria, with the addi-
tion of bhangra or sheoria according as it is supposed to belong to either variety.
Naria of course means male, and adnaria half-male. It is to be noted that no
mistake is made about the true sexes of the plant by the cultivators of Khandwa.
So clearly do they understand the distinction that when asked the reason
for removing the male plants, a cultivator replied by asking what would hap-
pen if a ram were let loose amongst a flock of ewes. The cultivators them-
selves undertake this eradication, and no specialist is required. But it is not
done very perfectly, for when the Commission visited a ganja field on the 9th
September male plants in full blossom were discovered without much difficulty.
In September or October the field begins to be irrigated. It will be noted
that the south-west monsoon has now nearly ceased, and that rain is hence-
forward harmful, as it washes off or otherwise dissipates the resin which has
begun to accumulate in the female flower spikes. The crop ripens about the
middle of November, maturity being indicated by a brownish appearance in the
flower spikes.