34 REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. [CH. III.
ranges. It may very well be doubted if without these aids the plant would long
survive in the low country under the vicissitudes of the Indian climate and
seasons. The plant appears to be very hardy when it is once well established,
but it is clear from the distribution of the wild growth in India that the conditions
of soil and climate under which it can attain full growth are limited.
Conditions favourable to the
wild growth.
86. It will be seen from the description of cultivation in Bengal that the seeds
will only germinate properly if the nursery is kept
thoroughly dry and the rainfall is not excessive.
And throughout the growth the plant prefers a light, permeable, well drained soil.
Similar evidence is furnished by the facts connected with cultivation in the
Central Provinces and Bombay and the direct testimony of witnesses in
answer to the latter part of the Commission's question 13. The soil need not
be rich for the mere growth of the plant, for it will be found on a ballast heap as
well as a dunghill. The essential conditions noted above are present in the
Himalayas with the additional encouragement of a moderate temperature. If
the rainfall should sometimes be tropical and excessive, it is carried off rapidly, and
the seed or seedling has every chance of surviving it. The seed seems to germin-
ate at the elevation of Simla in May and June, and it has five or six or seven
months to grow and ripen its seed before the frosts come upon it. In the Hima-
layan submontane tract the seed germinates in November or December, i.e.,
after the excessive moisture of the monsoon has sunk away from the surface soil,
leaving it light and friable. The growth is favoured by the light cold weather
rains, and does not meet with any very trying conditions unless it wanders very
far from the shelter of the mountains. If it does, it will in all probability be
burnt up by the fierce dry heat of the months from March to May or June.
Protected by the mountain and forest air, it survives to ripen its seed, or perishes
with the advent of the monsoon. The plant is not regular as to the time of
germinating, and it seems to be later in the Assam Valley than in Hindustan. But
in the same patch of growth plants will be found in all stages from the seedling
to the flower, if not the seed bearer.
Conditions unsuitable to the wild
growth prevailing in other parts of
India.
87. It is evident that throughout India outside the demarcated region there
must be conditions unfavourable to the spontaneous
growth. They may be conditions of permanent
unsuitability or recurring vicissitudes. Probably both operate to keep the growth
in check. In a very general way may be indicated heavy soils, short seasons
with severe alternations of dryness and moisture, extreme drought as in Baluchis-
tan, Sind, and Rajputana, excessive and continuous rain as on the Western Ghâts,
and seasons of abnormal drought or abnormal moisture. Where, as in Travancore,
the plant is alleged to reproduce itself, an unusually wet season may operate as
a very effectual check to extension of the growth, either eliminating it for the
time, or thrusting it back into a few well-drained localities.
Areas where the spontaneous
growth may be important outside
the region of wild growth.
88. South of the demarcated boundary of wild growth will be seen on the
map (Vol. III Appendices) two areas in lighter
shading. One includes the central belt of spontane-
ous growth in the North-Western Provinces; the
other the country between the Ganges and Bhagirathi on the one side and the
Eastern Hill Tracts on the other stretching down to Calcutta. In these areas the
spontaneous growth may under favourable conditions of site and season attain
some importance.