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.