and of preparing opium fvem il. 171 



six bolls per acre. Although the potatoes will be ready for im- 

 mediate use before the gathering of opium commences, the whole 

 crop will not be entirely ripe for lifting till after the opium is col- 

 lected. The early potatoe gives out but a small stem • but where 

 the soil is rich, some of them may spread in the areas ; yet they 

 can be easily pushed over to one side, so as to allow the opium 

 gatherers to walk along the areas without trampling upon them. 



The distance between the poppy plants being wider than last 

 year, upon an average they produced four full grown capsules 

 each, and some of them produced seven or eight capsules ; and 

 I gathered this season at the rate of two drachms of solid opium 

 in one hour, while, by the same method of gathering, I could not 

 collect more than one drachm in the same time last year. 



Supposing one acre had been cultivated in the same manner as 

 that piece of ground on which my experiment was made, the pro- 

 duce in that case would have been equal to 57 lb. 9oz. 4 dr. and 

 48 gr. of solid opium, which is just twice as much as I collected 

 the year before. But the season of 1818 being so much more 

 favourable than the preceding year, will in a great measure ac- 

 count for the success of this experiment. Therefore the quan- 

 tity of opium thai maybe collected depends greatly upon the sea- 

 son ; yet the comparative view of the result of the experiment 

 made in 1817, although the season was extremely unfavourable, 

 is sufficient to prove that my method of extracting and gathering 

 opium has a decided advantage over any other that has been re- 

 commended. 



As my poppies were sown about the middle of April, they were 

 ready for bleeding about the middle of July. 



The instrument which I used for making the incisions con- 

 ahted of two convex-edged scalpels, the blades of which were 

 covered with sealing-wax, except about one-sixteenth part of an 

 inch of the edge, and being wound round the handles with waxed 

 thread, the two were fastened together with other thread twisted 

 round them, and thus held at the distance of about half an inch 

 Jjetweeneach blade, (PI. III. figs, 6 and 7)- It is obvious that 

 the blades are covered with sealing-wax for the purpose of pre- 

 venting the knife from penetrating the cavity of the capsules ; and 

 it can be easily removed and applied again, when the knives re- 

 quire to be sharpened: or the blades may be mounted with a 

 metal sheath or guard for this purpose. 



With this instrument I make one or more double incisions, ac- 

 cording to the size of the head, at first longitudinally, and aitcr- 

 \vaid< f»bliqncly upward? from the stalk, (fig. 10.) 



V/hpu ilip capsule is sufficiently scarified in the manner dc- 

 rribcd, 1 tlicn cut cfi", with a .'liarp scalpel, the capitcllum or 



star, 



