Medicine - Drugs > Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1894-1895 > Volume III
(248) Volume 3, Page 244
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244 REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. [APP.
the pile a large flat
stone is placed, upon which are piled other stones to weight and
com-
press the heap. The weights remain thus till next morning at about
8 or 9 A.M., when each
layer is taken out separately, broken into small bits, and spread
in the sun to dry. Whilst
spread out thus, the pieces are trampled on with the heel and
turned over from time to time to
secure proper drying. In the evening the pieces are again re-piled
and weighted and next day
again turned out to dry; the process being repeated till the whole
is thoroughly dried.
Great importance is
attached to the thoroughness of the treading, the sufficiency of
the
pressing, and the completeness of the drying; the quality of the
drug being said to depend on
the manner in which these processes are carried out. If the cakes
are not dried sufficiently
they appear green, and are of inferior quality—good ganja being
brown.
When fully cured the
cakes are stored in the ryot's houses, where they are packed in
date
mats in bundles each containing 20 visses (say 60 lb.) and kept
under pressure till sold to
dealers.
Jonna (Sorghum vulgare). |
Coriander. |
Variga (Panicum milia- |
Tobacco. |
ceum). |
Indigo. |
Dry paddy. |
Chillies. |
In the Kistna
District the soil, the conditions under which the crop is
grown, and the
method of manufacture all differ entirely from those described
above, as much as they do from
the practice in Bengal, according to Dr. Prain's description. It is
only in one village, Daggupad,
in the Bapatla taluk, not far from the borders of Nellore, and
about 15 miles from the sea coast,
that any considerable area of the crop is to be found, although a
little is also grown in one or two
of the neighbouring villages. The country is a wide open plain of
black cotton-soil, and from its
appearance badly or poorly drained. The soil is not particularly
stiff for the description con-
cerned, being in fact a good stiff loam, and contains a
considerable amount of kankar. On
the land on which hemp is grown, the common crops with which it
usually alternates are
noted on the margin. The
crop is grown in open
fields, some near to, and some at a distance from
the village, but all reasonably accessible. In some
cases it is cultivated, and handled by the ryot who
owns the land; but more frequently the cultivation of the land, and
all the cattle labour requir-
ed is supplied by the ryot, and the planting and handling of the
crop is undertaken by others—
chiefly Muhammadans, of whom there is a considerable settlement in
this village. Here, as in
Bengal, the plants are raised in seed-beds and planted out, but
except at the time of planting,
no irrigation is resorted to after the crop is put out into the
field.
The seed-beds are usually
made on the bund of a tank, and are 6 feet wide by 60 feet
long.
The soil of these beds is dug up with a crowbar and reduced to a
fine tilth and levelled. Seed
is thus sown at the rate of 4 or 5 sers (of 85 tolahs) to a bed;
two such beds supplying
plants sufficient for an acre of land. The seed is covered with
earth strewn over it by hand.
The bed is then watered by hand and the watering is repeated daily
for about two months as
required. The sowing takes place in August. When the plants are 2
feet high they are lop-
ped off, and in a few days numerous side branches are put out. The
plants are then transplant-
ed into the field.
Land intended for hemp
may have carried a crop of hemp in the previous year—19 out
of
118 acres planted in Daggupad* this year (1893-94) being said to
have carried hemp in 1892-
93—but more usually the crop is alternated with one of those
mentioned above. If it
follows hemp, heavy manuring is necessary. Cultivation of the land
for the crop usually
begins with ploughing in July, and between then and October it is
ploughed about three
times and finally worked with the three-lined grubber
(gorru, or seed drill used without its seed
hopper and tubes). It is then marked off in 2 feet squares with a
marker, similar to the
guntaka, or scuffla worked without its share. At the angles
of each square four or five plants
are dibbled into a hole made with a stick, and then they are
watered to set the plants. The
crop is planted out in October.
The land intended for
this crop is manured either with cattle manure or by
sheep-folding,
the application of manure being considerable when the land carries
hemp successively year after
year.
*The crop records of Daggupad give the following results:—
In 1892. |
In 1893. |
|||||||
ACRES. |
ACRES. |
|||||||
Of the land sown with ganja |
86—29. |
117—84. |
||||||
Carried— |
In 1893. |
In 1892. |
||||||
Ganja |
19.09 |
19 09 |
||||||
Jonna |
1.00 |
25.59 |
||||||
Variga |
23.19 |
20.63 |
||||||
Dry paddy |
3.60 |
8.0 |
||||||
Tobacco |
20.35 |
13.30 |
||||||
Chillies |
2.81 |
2.50 |
||||||
Coriander |
4.72 |
8.27 |
||||||
Indigo |
1.69 |
15.96 |
||||||
Not sown |
9.84 |
4.50 |
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India Papers > Medicine - Drugs > Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1894-1895 > Volume III > (248) Volume 3, Page 244 |
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Description | Volume 3: Appendices. Miscellaneous. |
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