90
REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94.
[APP.
for the drug, and it will be gathered from what has been said above that the farm for the
whole district being as a rule disposed of to a single vendor, the single shops are not sold by
auction. In a few districts, however, the practice has been to sell single shops by auction,
an upset price being fixed, but that practice has been stopped, and for the future the farm
for the whole district will be sold to a single contractor. There is no fixed rule as to "local
option." In some districts it is attended to carefully, in others the Collector uses his discre-
tion according to the information he possesses as to the demand, but in all, any representation
by the inhabitants for or against the establishment of a shop would have full consideration.
Such representations, however, have seldom been made.
12. Point (h).—No rate is fixed for the sale of the drug by the wholesale to the retail
vendors. That is matter of arrangement between the cultivator who sells his crop and the
contractor who buys it. This may perhaps be a suitable place to describe the process of culti-
vation and manufacture of the plant, and in describing what takes place in Nasik, it will be
seen on reading the report of Mr. R. C. Artal, mentioned in paragraph 3 above, that it closely
corresponds to the description given thereof in a district so far removed from it as Bijapur.
The seed is sown in July or August in black soil land, which is manured. Before sowing
the land is ploughed once and harrowed, and during growth the plants are watered and weeded
three or four times. Some plants, which apparently are males, seed when they are about a
foot high. These have at once to be pulled up, or the whole crop would be rendered useless.
Experts are required to distinguish between the male and female plants. The crop is ripe in
November-December, and the leaves and flowers are then cut and placed by women on clean
threshing floors, where, for 4 or 5 days in succession, they are carefully trodden flat by men,
women not being strong or heavy enough for the work, after which process they are packed
and ready for sale by the cultivator to the retail vendor. It is very difficult to say accurately
what is the average retail price for consumers, as it varies considerably in the different dis-
tricts, and even in talukas of the same district according to the supply of and demand for the
drug. But the following statement compiled from the reports I have received gives such
information as is available:—
Rs. A. P.
Ahmedabad
Ganja
1 2 0 per lb.
Bhang
0 6 0 "
Thana
Ganja
0 1 0 per tola.
Kaira
Ganja
1 0 0 per lb.
Bhang
0 4 0 "
Surat
Ganja
1 0 0 per seer of 37 tolas.
Bhang
0 6 0 " " "
Panch Mahals
Ganja
1 10 0 " of 80 "
Bhang
0 10 8 " " " "
Broach
Ganja
1 2 0
"
37 "
Bhang
0 5 0
"
"
"
Nasik
Ganja
2 0 0 "
80 "
Bhang
2 0 0 "
"
"
Poona
Ganja
1 8 0 per lb.
Bhang
1 8 0 "
Ahmednagar
Ganja
0 12 0 "
Sholapur
Ganja
1 0 0
Sholapur
to "
Bhang
1 4 0
Ganja
2 8 0 "
Khandesh
Ujjaini Bhang
2 8 0 "
Local
1 4 0 "
Satara
Ganja
0 3 0 "
Bijapur
One paisa equivalent weight of ganja or bhang.
Dharwar
Ganja
1 0 0 "
Bhang
1 0 0 "
Ganja
1 4 0
Bel gaum
Bhang
to
per seer of 80 tolas.
1 8 0