328 QUALITY AND COST OF HEMP IN THE HIMALAYAS. 
elevations of from 8000 and 4000 to 7000 feet—Hemp is cultivated by the 
Hillmen, though chiefly for their own use, the plants growing to eight or 
ten, some say twelve or fourteen, feet in height. They sow about the 
month of May, carefully prepare, and usually manure the ground, weed and 
thin the plants to within three or four inches, and cut the male plants, 
‘ phoolbhanga, which flowers, but has no seed,’ a month or six weeks before 
the female plant, ‘goolanga, or goolbhanga, which has seed,’ the latter 
being harvested about the end of September. The stems, when cut down, 
are dried in the sun, and then steeped in water for three or more days. 
Beaten with wooden mallets, the fibre is then stripped off, and again beaten. 
In some places it is said to be boiled with wood ashes—that is, potash,—and 
sometimes bleached before being spun into thread. The stalks are made 
into torches. The culture is described to be the most profitable of any, as 
the churrus and ganja, different forms of bhang, are said of themselves to 
pay the expenses of culture. The Hemp they sell among themselves for Rs. 2 
a maund—that is, 4s. for about 82 lb. The seed is even roasted and eaten, 
or expressed for its oil, and the oilcake given to their cattle. The culture 
is not much extended, for it is more laborious than they like, and there is 
said to be a prejudice among the Brahmins and Rajpoots against the culti- 
vation of this plant, which is therefore confined to the Doom class. But 
there is no doubt that the culture could be immensely extended if the in- 
ducements of price were greater.” 
There being no doubt of this being the genuine Hemp plant, the next 
point to ascertain is the quality of the fibre which the Hillmen produce with 
their own unaided efforts. On this point the information is most satis- 
factory. Mr. Hodgkinson, a Calcutta merchant, who was well acquainted 
with this staple, and had personal knowledge of the produce on the Con- 
tinent, pronounced some Hemp sent from the Deyra Doon to be “ equal in 
colour, cleanness, length, and strength to the best Russian.” 
Mr. Deneef, a Belgian farmer, sent to India by the Flax Experiment Com- 
pany, said: “Ces échantillons ‘sont de vrai Cannabis sativa, pareil 2 celui du 
nord de Europe. J'ai été enchanté de voir une si charmante vegetation de 
cette plante produite dans l’Inde; mais cet article n’est pas preparé comme 
on le desire dans les marchés Anglais; d’abord chanvre male et chanvre 
femelle ont été coupés ensemble, et ensuite dressés dans l'etat_ humide d’apres 
la methode des Indiens. S'il était dressé & la maniére des Européens du 
nord, qui consiste & tirer le chanvre male, cing semaines avant celui qui 
produit la sémence, 4 ne rouir que bien peu chaque genre séparément, la 
chanvre male ne pouvant pas séjourner dans l’eau aussi longtemps que 
l'autre; ensuite & ne Je dresser que quand il est bien sec et lorsque les 
fibres se separent aisément; il formerat une belle matiére premiére pour les 
cordages solides. Au contraire, dressé et rincé dans l’eau il perd’une cer- 
taine graisse qui lui est naturelle, et qui est cause que la poix s’imbibe plus 
facilement avec lui, ce qui le rend fort contre la pluie et la chaleur, et fait 
en méme temps bénéfice du manufacturier, qui sait si bien distinguer la 
différence de la préparation.” (‘Journ. Agric. Soc. of India,’ i, p. 46.) 
Some specimens of Hemp from the Himalayas recently tried in this 
country have been found to bear a greater weight and strain than the best 
Petersburgh Hemp. Some of it is also very fine and soft, more like Flax 
than Hemp. 
There is little doubt, therefore, of the good quality of this Hemp, even 
without any improvement from European instruction. It is a not less im- 
portant point to ascertain the price at which it could be brought to this 
' In preparing Hemp for the European market, care should be taken not to twist 
or tie the ends together, but having laid the fibres parallel to each other, simply to tie 
them together near the thicker end, so as to form heads, as seen in Petersburgh Hemp. 
‘eT 
