16G On cullivating m Gheal Bnlain the Papaver sommferumf 



But the opium used in Britain is principally supplied from Tur- 

 key. The gross amount of duty upon opium imported intoGreat 

 Britain in the year 1S16, was only 2,65\l. \3s., while the aver- 

 age quantity consumed in Britain is 14,400 lb., which is charge- 

 able with a duty of 8s. 8d, per pound. There are, besides, from 

 230 to 300 chests of opium imported from Turkey, and lodged in 

 bond warehouses for exportation, each chest containing from 

 150 lb. to 200 lb. of opium. This statement is from a member 

 of the Turkey Company in London. 



As the method of gathering opium, about to be proposed, dif- 

 fers materially from any other hitherto in use, it may be proper 

 to observe, that Mr. Ball, who obtained a premium of fifty gui- 

 neas from the Society of Arts, collected his opium according to 

 the Bengal method, which is accurately described by Mr. Kerr*, 

 who was an ocular witness, and,'by A. W. Davis f, whose accounts 

 agree with that given by KaempferJ respecting the mode of col- 

 lecting opium in Persia. The seeds, according to Mr. Kerr, are 

 sown in quadrangular areas, the intervals of which are formed 

 into aqueducts for conveying water into each area. The plants 

 are allowed to grow six or eight inches from each other, and are 

 plentifully supplied with water till they are six or eight inche/S 

 high, when a nutrient compost of dung, ashes, and nitrous earth, 

 13 laid over tlie areas. A little before the flowers appear, they 

 are again well watered till the capsules are half grown, when the 

 watering is stopjied, and they begin to collect the opium. Thi* 

 they eflfect by making, at sunset, two longitudinal incisions from 

 below upwards, v/ithout penetrating the cavity, with an instru- 

 ment that has two points as fine and sharp as a lancet. The 

 incisions are repeated every evening, until each capsule has re- 

 ceived six or eight wounds, and they are then allowed to ripen 

 their seeds. The juice which exudes is collected in the morning, 

 and being inspissated to a proper conj^^istence, by working it in 

 an earthen pot in the sun's heat, it is formed into cakes for sale. 



In this manner Mr. Rail collected four ounces of opium froir. 

 one fall and twenty-eight squRre yards of ground, which is at the 

 rate of 221b. 8oz. per acre. But, in another place, he observes, that 

 by a calculatioii which he made, supposing one poppy growing in 

 one square foot of earth, and producing one grain of opium, more 

 than 50 lb. will be collected from one statute acre of land^. But 

 if I take his proposition, and calculate by the rule used by land- 

 measurers, the produce in that case would only be 5 lb. 11 oz. and 

 1 dr. per acre. If Mr. Ball's assertions with respect to the pro- 

 bable produce had been concct, there can be no doubt that opium 



* Medical Observations and Inquiries, vol. v. art. 28. 

 f Transactions of Society of Arts, vol. xvi. p. 273. ^ 



X Amccmtaies Ex0ti«<e,iA:\v. 3. ob». 15. 

 , would 



