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There is a slight excess revenue derived from 'flat twig' gánj á, b u t t h e
amount thus received is trifling compared with the loss that occurs with 'round'
gánjá and with both kinds of chúr. And, as is seen, the mere accident of a bad
crop, increasing as it does the amount exported as chúr, upon which the duty
levied is relatively inadequate, increases this loss. Thus in 1891-92 Government
lost more than twice as much as it did in 1890-91. And the relative loss with the
rates to be enforced from April 1st, 1893, must be still greater, as their relation
to the natural standard is less satisfactory than the former one was.
In connection with this subject may be mentioned the degree of variation
that occurs in the case of 'round' gánjá in the number of bundles per maund.
Theoretically, each bundle is 20 tolas weight, and 160 of these accordingly are
supposed to make a maund. I noticed, however, that at the beginning of the
present season the 1892-93 crop baled at 179-226 bundles per maund, though
the higher number, it may be remarked, was only seen once. The records of the
gánjáo f f i c e w e r e a c c o r d i n g l y e x a m i n e d , a n d i t w a s f o u n d t h a t t h e a v e r a g e n u m b e r
of bundles per maund in 1890-91 had been 156, while in 1891-92 it had risen to
204. The difference admits of a simple explanation; the crop of 1890-91
was of good quality, and each twig therefore had over the average number
of flowering-tops; while that of 1891-92 was one of the poorest crops on
record, and the number of flowering-tops — which, owing to the resin they
contain, arc heavier bulk for bulk, than the dry inert twigs,—being less numerous
than in ordinary years, the individual bundles were lighter. At the beginning
of each season a few cultivators find purchasers early in the season for fresh gá njá,
and to meet this demand they make use of plants that are not quite mature, with
the same result. The increased number of bundles per maund, therefore, does
not imply the same loss of revenue to Government as the excessive export
of chúr.
CHAPTER XI.—MODIFICATIONS OF THE PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE.
Simultaneously with the experiments mentioned in Chapter IX, others were
initiated for the purpose of ascertaining whether it might not be possible, in
growing gánjám e r e l y a s a m e d i c i n a l s u b s t a n c e , t o m o d i f y t h e p r o c e s s o f
manufacture employed by the cultivators.
For this purpose a small plot, part of a gánjá-field, was purchased, and fresh
plants were employed throughout the experiments.
In conducting the experiments it was borne in mind that in preparing the
drug it is essential that it be dried and compressed, and in using the drug that it
be broken first into chúr and then into powder. Drying and compression go on
side by side, and it became therefore of importance to see whether mechanical
pressure could not be used in place of pressure by the hands and feet of the
cultivator, and. whether the separation into flower-heads or even the breaking into
powder might not accompany the other processes. If it was impossible to
perform all or any of these acts with fresh plants, it became of importance to
see whether they might not be performed at some of the intermediate stages of
manufacture as practised by the cultivators.
To obtain mechanical pressure both weights and the screw-press were
employed, and in order to accomplish in the green plant what is best performed
in manufactured gánjá with a pestle and mortar, a mincing-machine was
obtained which answered admirably the purpose for which it was intended.
It was found, however, after a series of trials, that it was not advisable to combine
the process of disintegration with that of drying and pressure. If the plant
was quite fresh a fermentation process appeared to be set up in the cake of
disintegrated vegetable tissue during drying, and afterwards it fell to pieces.
Minced at later stages, the fermentation did not occur, but the particles com-
posing the cake could not be made to adhere. It may therefore, I think, be con-
sidered decided that the process of manufacture cannot be combined with that of
breaking up the gánjá into powder. Cakes of powdered manufactured gánjá,
though theoretically the best form in which to store the drug, since all the
wood, even the ends of twigs forming the cores of the flowering-tops, are
removed, are open to the same objection. A number of them were made at
the same time and were found to fall to pieces soon after pressure was removed.