78
REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. [CH. V.
Cultivation in Gujarat.
199. About the cultivation in Gujarat the information is that loamy or
sandy soils are suitable, and that black soil is
not; that the crop takes six or seven months
to mature; that it can be raised either as a monsoon crop or as a cold-weather
crop; that the former yields the stronger narcotic; that the males are extirpated;
and that irrigation is not required. There is no information about the employ-
ment of the parakhai, and it is probable that in this cultivation for bhang
the moderate skill possessed by the cultivators themselves answers all purposes.
Both in the Deccan and Gujarat the cultivators are of the ordinary class;
the industry is not confined to any caste or grade among them. The cultivators
in Ahmednagar are sometimes Brahmins.
Bombay States.
200. The description of the cultivation given above applies to the Southern
Maratha Country Agency and all the States in the
Southern and Central Divisions where they have any
cultivation at all. The following agencies have not any regular cultivation:
Kathiawar, Cutch, Palanpur, Mahi Kantha, and Rewa Kantha. Such cultivation
as there is consists in the rearing of a few plants which have often sprung up by
accident by water-courses in gardens and in fields, generally irrigated fields,
such as those where sugarcane is grown. There is no information as to whether
the male plants are eradicated, or of any peculiar methods employed in the culti-
vation. The cultivators are either consumers, often fakirs and bairagis, or, if not,
ordinary husbandmen who nurse a few plants to provide themselves with an
article that will be an acceptable present to such people. The drugs appear
to be very rarely sold.
Aden.
201. There is no cultivation of any kind in Aden.
Sind.
202. There appear to be two methods of cultivation in Sind, as stated by
witness (5)--one by well irrigation, and the other by
artificial inundation or flooding. In the latter case it
would seem that the preliminary flooding has to suffice for the whole growth of the
crop. The best descriptions are given by witnesses (2) and (14).
The regular cultivation.
203. In cultivation by well the area is generally smaller than in
the other process (2). This would be expected,
for the former involves a greater amount of labour
in the preparation of the land, systematic sowing in ridges, and periodical water-
ing. Mr. Giles' account apparently describes the cultivation under wells, which
he states to be the more general. High tilth and manuring are required, goats'
dung being the manure preferred. The seed is sown even as late as the beginning
of January. It is put in by pinches of five or six seeds at a time on ridges. The
crop is gathered in April and May. The male plants are rooted up and thrown
away as useless. When the crop is ripening, some of the flower-heads are cut off
and preserved separately. These are called ghundyun, and are said to be more
intoxicating than the rest of the plants. Small pieces of ghundyun, which fall off
apparently in the drying of the rest of the crop, are called dodo or dodi, and are
preserved with the ghundyun.
Witness (14), in describing cultivation by period-
ical irrigation and not mere flooding, states that the seed is sown broadcast;
that after a preliminary soaking the ground has to be worked up, the seed sown,
and the ground again turned over and levelled in one day. Manuring, says this