£$4 CULTURE OF THE POPPY FOR OIL.. 



on analogous reasoning; and a particular statement of the 

 advantages which have accrued to the cultivator, merchant, 

 and consumer, may -perhaps attract the attention of some 

 agriculturists in our own country, who may thus be en- 

 couraged to make similar experiments: and as the issue must 

 be the same, they will be able to produce absolute demon- 

 stration, that the oil is totally destitute of the noxious quali- 

 ties, that have been ascribed to it; and finally convince the 

 public, that it may become a cheap and useful substitute for 

 the olive oil, and a very beneficial article of commerce. 

 Hiseand pro- For this purpose I shall state to the agriculturist a succinct 



gress of its account of the rise and progress of the cultivation of the 

 cultivation. . . , , ,- , , , 



poppy, in order to express the oil from the seed; the manner 



of cultivating it, and the emoluments which have been re- 

 ceived by the cultivator, from authentic documents in the 

 Dutch and German languages which are in my possession. 



Oil of poppies. In the year 1798* the Society established at Amsterdam 

 for the encouragement of agriculture, being informed that 

 the oil of poppies was cultivated in several parts of France, 

 Flanders, and Brabant, thought it an object of sufficient im- 

 portance to make more particular inquiry; and they learned 

 from indubitable authority, not only that it was generally 



Made in large used in the place of olive oil, but that several thousand casks 



grammes and f j t were exported annually, a large quantity of which was 

 imported into Holland, and sold under the name of olive oil, 

 or mixed with it in considerable abundance; and they appealed 

 to several merchants who were members of the Society for 

 the truth of this assertion, without being contradicted. 



Premiums pro- These facts induced the Society to propose three premiums, 



posed by a So- cons j g j;j n g f a silver medal and ten ducats each, which were 



ctety at Am- & 



sterdam. divided into the three following classes. 



The Jirst to the husbandman who should sow not less than 

 half an acre of a clayey soil with poppy seed; the second on 

 a sandy ground; and the third on turf or peat land. 



They also offered to the person who shall have cultivated 

 the largest quantity of ground, on the two first species of 

 soil, in the most masterly and advantageous manner, a gold 

 medal, value fifty ducats, or that sum in money, in lieu of 

 the above premiums. 



The 



