( 36 )
Moreover, it is evident that the 'twig' is also inessential, since much, of the
'flat' gánjá especially, is every year deliberately converted into chúr, which is
simply flowering-tops divested of twig.
The reasons why all gánjá is not every year converted into chúr are :—The
difficulty of handling the broken gánjá, and the fact that being loose and
more exposed to atmospheric influences, the flowering-tops lose their power
more readily as chúr than if they are permitted to remain on the twigs as
' r o u n d ' o r ' f l a t . ' I f t h e s e o b j e c t i o n s c a n b e me t , t h e r e i s n o r e a s o n wh y a l l
g ánjá should not be at once divested of stock and twig. And I have endeav-
oured to show that the flower-tops so separated may be by mechanical pres-
sure converted into solid cakes that admit of being easily handled, and in
which the component flower-heads are in such close contact that there is no
possibility of any atmospheric action affecting more than those on the outside.
These cakes have the further advantage of readily disintegrating when exposed,
and thus becoming once more converted into chúr .. There is every reason to
expect that the chúr composing the cakes will at the end of a year be found to
be of better quality than the flower-heads of 'round' or 'flat ' g á n j á
s t o r e d i n
the ordinary way. Since, however, some of the dealers and cultivators have
expressed the opinion that the gánjá will become bad by having been pressed, it
has been necessary to store some of these cakes in the golahs at Calcutta, in
order that they may be examined a year hence. It is therefore necessary to
defer the expression of a final opinion on these experiments till April
1894.
The resulting reduction in bulk, should this mode of preserving gánjáp r o v e
advisable, will be very considerable. All sorts of gánjá will under this system
uniformly occupy a space of only 2½ cubic feet per maund in place of the present
space of 6½ cubic feet occupied by 'large flat,' 5¾ cubic feet by 'flat twig,'
39/10 cubic feet by ' round, ' and 5¼ cubic feet byc h ú r
.
The cakes made have been of round. shape; this has been shown to be
an inconvenient form owing to the resulting loss of space in storing ; if the
making of cakes should be conducted on a large scale, it would be necessary to
have them made square.
3. I was instructed to try experiments as to the best means of preserving the
flower-tops.
In connection with first point of enquiry I have had occasion to express
my belief that the best means of preserving the flower-tops so as to pre-
vent waste is to allow the plants to remain in the field till they have reached
a stage of over-ripeness. The flower-tops can then be easily removed from the
stock, and at the same time divested of leaves, subjected to mechanical pressure,
and converted into homogeneous cakes which do not disintegrate like those
made from Chúr, and may be dried in the sun till they present the appearance
and possess the characteristic odour of gánj ám a d e i n t h e o r d i n a r y
w a y .
T h i s
would also be the most convenient way to preserve gánjá from the points of
view of handling and storage. It is not, however, necessary to manufacture
gánjá in this way; the ordinary gánjá, if converted into chúr and then compressed,
may be equally easily dealt with.
As it seems probable from the changes that occur in gánjá by keeping,
that it is to the influence of the atmosphere that the deterioration which
takes place in it is due, there would appear to be no means of completely check-
ing the action short of sealing up the substance in tin cases. However, it is
equally clear that if the flowering-tops can be made to lie so closely together as
to prevent air from reaching any but the outside ones, it should be possible to
prevent much of this alteration without actually incurring the expense of tin-
ning the gánjá up. And there is no way in which this can be so effectually done
as by subjecting the flower-heads deprived of stock to considerable mechanical
pressure. In order, therefore, to test this point, a number of the cakes mentioned
were sealed in tins, and a number were packed in straw and gunny as ordinary
gánjá is packed, in order that the relative merits of the two modes of storage
may be assessed after the lapse of some time.
For his reason it will, as in the last case, be impossible to express an
opinion on the result till April 1894, and, in this case it will also be advisable