NAT. ORDER. PAPAVERACE^E. .135 



and often succeeds in producing sleep, where opium fails. It is 

 more especially adapted to children. White Poppy heads are 

 also used externally, in fomentations, either alone, or more (re- 

 qaeuilj added to the decoctufn pro fo?nento. 



Opium, as we have already observed, is obtained from the 

 heads or capsules of this species of Pojjpy, and is imported into 

 Europe and the United States from Persia, Arabia, and other warm 

 regions of Asia. The manner in which it is collected has been de- 

 scribed long ago by Koempfer and others ; but the most circum- 

 stantial detail of the culture of the Poppy, and the method of 

 procuring the opium from it, is that given by Mr. Kerr, as practised 

 in the province of Bahar. He says : — " The field being well pre- 

 pared by the {)lough and harrow, and reduced to an exact level 

 superfice, it is then divided into quadrangular areas of seven feet 

 long, and five feet in breadth, leaving two feet of interval, which 

 is raised five or six inches, and excavated into an aqueduct, for 

 conveying water to every part, for which purpose they have a well 

 in every cultivated field. The seeds are sown in October or No- 

 vember. The plants are allowed to grow six or eight inches dis- 

 tant from each other, and are plentifully supplied with water. 

 When the young plants are six or eight inches high, the}^ are 

 watered more sparingly ; but the cultivator strews all over the 

 areas a nutrient compost of ashes, and nitrous earth, scraped from 

 the highways, and old mud walls. When the plants are near 

 flowering, they are watered profusely, to increase the j nice. When 

 the capsules are half grown, no more water is given, and thev be- 

 gin to collect the opium. 



At sunset they make two longitudinal double incisions with a 

 fine-pointed knife upon each half-ripe capsule, passing from below 

 upwards, and taking care not to penetrate the internal cavity of 

 the capsule. The incisions are repeated every evening, until each 

 capsule has received six or eight wounds. They are then allowed 

 to ripen their seeds. The ripe capsules afford little or no juice. 



