EUCALYPTUS TREES. 357 
be used for the production of opium. The return of 
Poppy-culture, whether for opium or for oil, is within 
i few months. Our milder and somewhat humid 
open forest tracts proved most productive for obtain- 
ing opium from this plant; but itcan be reared also 
in colder localities, good opium, rich in morphia, hav- 
ing even been obtained in Middle Europe and the 
northern United States, the Summers there being suf- 
ficiently long to ripen the poppy with a well-elaborat- 
ed sap. The morphia contents in opium from Gipps 
Land was at an average somewhat over 10 per cent. 
Opium was prepared in our Botanic Garden for the 
Exhibition of 1866; but particularly Mr. J. Bosisto 
and Mr. J. Hood have given to this branch of rural 
industry here commercial dimensions. The Smyrna 
variety is particularly desirable for opium; it enables 
the cultivator to get from 40 pounds to 75 pounds of 
opium from an acre, generally worth 30s. to 35s, per 
pound. The ground for poppy-culture must be natu- 
ruly rich, or otherwise be well- manured; dressing 
with ashes increases the fecundity of the plant. The 
seed, about 9 pounds to an acre, is generally sown 
broadcast, mixed with sand. In the most favorable 
places, as many as three crops are obtained during a 
season. The collecting of the opium, which consists 
merely of the indurating sap of the seed-vessels, is 
commenced a few days after the lapse of the petals. 
Superficial, horizontal, or diagonal incisions are made 
into the capsules as they successively advance to ma- 
turity. This operation is best performed in the after- 
noons and evenings, and requires no laborious toil. 
The milky opium-sap thus directed outward is scraped 
. off next morning into a shallow cup, and allowed to 
