140 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



The poppies stood on the stalks until they began to turn 

 yellow (Aug. 18,) they were then pulled and laid in rows on the 

 land, and, when sufficiently dry, the heads were gathered, 

 thrashed, and the seed separated by coarse riddles, and cleaned 

 by fine sieves and a fan. The seed amounted to 13 cwt., and 

 was expected to produce 714 gallons of oil. The oil-cake 

 was given to pigs with great advantage, and also to stall-feeding 

 cattle. An extract may also be made, by cold infusion, from 

 the capsule of the poppy, eight grains of which are equal to one 

 of opium; an acre produces 80 lb. of it. The poppy straw 

 when well trodden in the yard, and laid in a compact head 

 to ferment, makes excellent manure. 



The quantity of opium consumed in this country is supposed 

 to amount annually to about 50,000 lb., exclusive of e-xportations. 

 This quantity (say Messrs. Cowley and Staines), our experiments 

 have convinced us, could be easily raised in many parts of 

 Great Britain, where good dry land and a superfluous popula- 

 tion exist together. On the moderate calculation of 10 lbs. per 

 acre, that quantity would only require 4 or 5000 acres of land, 

 and from 40 to 50,000 people. The employment would be 

 given to such persons as are not calculated for common agri- 

 cultural labour, and at a time when labour is wanted, namely, 

 between hay-time and harvest. — Trans. Soc. Arts, xl. 9. 



9. British Indigo. — A discovery has been recently made, 

 which promises the most important consequences in a commer- 

 cial and agricultural point of view. About two years ago, 280 

 acres of land near Flint, in "Wales, were planted with the com- 

 mon hollyhock, or rose-mallow, with the view of converting it 

 into hemp or flax. In the process of manufacture it was dis- 

 covered that this plant yields a beautiful blue dye, equal in 

 beauty and permanence to the best indigo. — New Monthly Mag. 

 ix. 22. 



We should be glad to have this confirmed. 



10. Preservation of Grain, Sfc, from Mice. — Mr. Macdonald, 

 of Scalpa, in the Hebrides, having some years ago suffered con- 

 siderably by mice ; put at the bottom, near the centre, and at 

 the top of each stack, or mow, as it was raised, three or four 

 stalks of wild mint, with the leaves on, gathered near a brook, 

 in a neighbouring field, and never after had any of his grain 

 consumed. He then tried the same experiment with his cheese 

 and other articles kept in store, and often injured by mice ; and 



