^04 on the poppy plant. ^prili^. 



Me likewise proposes to publilh in a separate work his 

 cbservations in botany, and the discoveries he made in that 

 science in the course of his travels. 



THE USES AND CULTURE OF THE POPPY, 

 AND MODE OF OBTAINING OPIUM FROM IT IN EUROPE. 



It is an advantage for the farmer to have his choice of as 

 great a variety of plants to cultivate as pofsible, because he 

 may thus adapt his conduct to suit the peculiarities of sea- 

 sons and circumstances, on many occasions with great pro- 

 priety. If the season of sowing one crop prove unfavour- 

 able, that crop may be abandoned without lofs, as another 

 equally advantageous may be substituted in its stead. He 

 may adapt his crop on many occasions to suit the cir- 

 cumstances of his situation. If he be near a great mar- 

 ket, bulky articles which cannot be brought from a dis- 

 tance but at a great expence, will afford him a very abun- 

 dant return. If he be at a great distance from that mar- 

 Jket, he may have profit in cultivating articles that are ve- 

 ry light, and of great value. The carriage of a crop of weld. 

 for twenty miles, might cost more than the whole prime 

 cost of the crop j the produce of an hundred acres of opium, 

 might perhaps be transported on one horse ; therefore It 

 could admit of being cultivated, with nearly equal profit, 

 in the wildest part of the highlands of Scotland, at perhaps 

 the distance of an hundred miles from any market, as at 

 the gates of the most populous city. Were we acquainted 

 with several other articles of the same kind, it is hard to 

 .say what a spring it might give to the industry of this 

 country. 



It has been long known that opium is an inspifsated 

 juice obtained from the poppy ; no plant admits ot being 

 more easily cultivated in Europe than the poppy ; yet we 



