290 CULTURE OF THE POPPY FOR OIL. 



Method of har- Panesfr In the beginning, middle, or end of August, ac- 

 cording as the time of sowing has been earlier or later, and 

 the season propitious, the seeds are ripe for gathering the 

 poppy heads. Several methods have been recommended to 

 harvest the crop. At first, the heads or balls were broken off 

 from their stems, gathered together in large quantities, and 

 deposited in a barn, or any other convenient place, in large 

 heaps, in order to dry them. This method was not only te- 

 dious but injurious; some of the balls becoming musty, com- 

 municated a disagreeable taste to the seeds, and consequently 

 to the oil. Mr. Poske, of Zell, in the electorate of Hanover, 

 prefers the following method. He draws the entire plants 

 out of the ground ; binds a sufficient number of them at each 

 extremity, and places them against each other in the manner 

 of wheat-sheaves ; and lets the whole remain in the field for 

 eight or ten days, until they are perfectly dry. It was cus- 

 tomary to cut open the capsulum with a, knife; he prefers 

 hacking it in two or three places with a bill-hook, and asserts 

 that one person may in this manner do more work than ten 

 times the number of hands in the former manner; and that 

 the seeds are more easily evacuated from their cells. But 

 the most convenient and expeditious method is to cut off the 

 poppy heads, as they stand in the field : the reapers having 

 an apron before them, tied up at the corners. In this they 

 collect as large a number as is convenient, and empty them 

 into bushel baskets placed upon a cloth ; by which a consider- 

 able quantity of seed is saved. The heads are afterwards put 

 into corn sacks, in a competent number to be trodden by 

 men or children in sabots, or to be bruised by a mallet or flail: 

 by these means the heads are confined from flying from the 

 stroke, and the seeds preserved from being scattered, and 

 afterwards passed through a sieve of a proper size. 



Extraction of T n extracting the oil, it is of the utmost importance that the 

 mill,press, and bags be perfectly clean and pure. New hags are 

 necessary, as those used for linseed, rape, or any other seed, 

 will communicate aiv unpleasant taste to the oil. It is ad- 

 viseable to extractjthe oil as soon after the harvest as possible,, 

 as the seeds will yield a larger quantity than if deferred till 

 the spring. 



The 



