herb and the seeds, which are rich in oil, make a good cattle* 

 food and are so used in Poona. 



.435. All the remarks regarding the cultivation of the 

 jute crop apply to this crop also. The extension of the culti- 

 vation of this crop is an important measure of agricultural 

 improvement. Mr. Benson, Manager of the Shalimar Rope 

 Warks, who buys the mesta pat grown at the Sibpur Farm, 

 speaks highly of it and he pays a higher price for it than for 

 jute.- -The yield of mestdpdt.&i Sibpur came to 15^ maunds 

 per acre in 1898. 



CHAPTER XL VIII. 



Fibre crops^continued. 

 (3) SUNN-HEMP (CROTOI,ARIA JUNCUA). 



'THUS. is the ordinary sunn.but not the true hemp, or Canna- 

 bis sativa, of commerce. Hibiscus cannabinus is also 

 called sunn or Bombay hemp. The Cannabis sativa or bhang 

 plan! is found in the wild state in most parts of India, but the 

 fibre is rarely extracted from the wild or cultivated hemp 

 plant, fexcept by some hill tribes. In fact, the hemp plant 

 does not produce a valuable fibre in the plains of India. The 

 sunn :of India is either Crotolaria Juncea or Hibiscus cannabi- 

 nus. That Hibiscus cannabinus is classed in the Indian 

 markets sometimes with jute and sometimes with sunn-hemp, 

 shows also the greater value of this article than of ordinary 

 jute. The true hemp plant, producing ganja and siddhi, is 

 an excisable article and its cultivation is prohibited by law. 

 This may also account for the non recognition of true hemp 

 as. a fibre-yielding crop in India. 



