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AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION
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DRUGS AND NARCOTICS
The following table gives the talukawise area in acres under drugs and narcotics, in Satara district in 1958-59: —
TABLE No. 23.
ACREAGE UNDER DRUGS AND NARCOTICS (TALUKA-WISE) IN.
SATARA DISTRICT, 1958-59.
|
Taluka or peta |
Tobacco |
Betel-leaves |
Total |
Jaoli |
1 |
-- |
1 |
Karad |
1,790 |
189 |
1,979 |
Khandala |
-- |
6 |
6 |
Khatav |
60 |
45 |
105 |
Koregaon |
112 |
139 |
251 |
Man |
31 |
-- |
31 |
Patan |
42 |
6 |
48 |
Phaltan |
22 |
2 |
24 |
Satara |
51 |
8 |
59 |
Wai |
1 |
5 |
6 |
|
Total |
2,110 |
400 |
2,510 |
Tambakhu.
Tobacco (tambakhu) occupied an area of 2,110 acres in 1958-59,
85 per cent. or which was to be found in Karad taluka. Tobacco
seed is sown in the seed beds during the first week of July and the seedlings are transplanted by about the second or the third week of August. Seedlings are considered to be ready for transplantation when they have tour leaves and are four inches high from the ground. They have to be carefully protected from the caterpillars. Seedlings are raised in quantities larger than the actual requirements of the cultivator, as very often a part thereof becomes out of use. Besides they have to be guarded from the sun by covering them usually with straw. The crop is seldom watered but generally manured. It becomes ready for harvest by the end of December or by the first week of January. The cut plants are kept for sun-drying for one week. After sun-curing, the plants arc powdered by hand and the tobacco called motipuda is collected which is purchased by merchants for preparing jarda. The tobacco is smoked and chewed, by all classes and is also made into snuff.
Betel-leaf.
Betel-leaf (nagvel or pan), a garden crop, occupied an area of 400 acres of land in 1958-59. The cultivation was concentrated in
Karad and Koregaon talukas. The crop needs abundant supply of
water. In order to support the vines, numerous trees such as shevri (sesbania aegyptiaca), pangara (erythrina indica), hadga (sesbania grandiflora) and shevga (moringa pterygosperma)
are planted. The garden is planted in October with cuttings obtained from the
best shoots of the older plants. Hoeing, weeding and manuring is repeated after
every three or four months. Leaf-picking is generally commenced at the end of the second year. The usual practice is to pick after every fourth month. The vines continue to bear for twenty or thirty years, if they are properly maintained. The cultivation of betel-vine (pan) is very costly and hence requires adequate finance. The entire garden has to be sheltered from the sun and wind by high hedges or screens of grass or mats. Betel-leaf is chewed by all classes of people with betel-nut, lime and catechu and sometimes with tobacco and aromatics like cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, etc.
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