PAPAVER 



I'lIK l.ini.K Mil. LET OMNIFERUM 



OPIUM 



mi-t ure, 8'84 per -il . i'57 ; albuminoids, 8'04 ; soluble cbanirtrj. 



cartiohvdrate-. '.".jn ..\ : . .|,|,. nm,, -r.il 



sand ;ind silica. :'.-: 11, K16 ; albn: 



(C7. Agri. 7W,/.. I 1 .*". .W 7 I7'..| 



In the green state it affords excellent FODDER t< and borves, Fodder. 



and in part- uf the I'anjab is sometimes urown for this purpose onlv. 

 The dry straw, called pral or firdli in the M is gome- 



tnne> ji ven to cattle. 



[(7. ( Inin-li. /.c. 4J ; Basu, Ayr- Kanerjei, 



Agri. I'uttnck, is'.W. 7' i ; Lawrence, Valley of Kiuhnnr. Kiee. 



Myeor. 997, L, 117 ; M ik,i|,. Handbook Ind. Ayri.. 1901, 259; MolKson, 



r. t Bomb. Prte.\ Joret, Lt PI. dans L'A> 

 1904, ii., -'45.1 



P. miliare, Lnnk.; Duthie, I.e. 10; Lisboa, I.e. 17; Lattle Millet, Little 

 /. kntki. '/""/" / ". ii'i'/hri, cliika, it-arai, sdva, shamai, nella-shanui, Millet. 

 of the minor millets, smaller in all its parts than the former. 



Of Bengal, Roy (Crops of Bengal, 62) states that this millet is largely 

 cultivated in the Lower Province. No manure is used, and it ma 

 followed in rotation by a rabi crop. The land is ploughed and harrowed 

 from January to March and the seed sown from March to May, at the 

 rate of 18 seers per acre. No further operations are necessary till August 

 ptember, when the crop is cut and threshed like dus paddy. The 

 vield is stated to be 24 maunds per acre. In the United Provinces ito 

 cultivation is confined chiefly to the southern hilly districts. It is sown 

 in June and reaped in October, forming, together with kodoi> r<i*i>'timn 

 nfrnhii-iitiitiini). the crop generally taken from the poorest land in 

 the village. In Bombay, the description from Mollison given under Bombay. 

 /'. ini/iiic'iim applies equally to the present crop. 



[Cf. Church, I.e., 44 ; Basu, Agri. Lohardaga, 1890, pt. i., 65 ; pt. ii., 29-30 ; 

 Mukerji, Handbook Ind. Agri., 1901, 259 ; Mollison, I.e. iii., 61-4 ; Crop Exper. 

 Bomb. Pres. ; Leather, Agri. Ledg., 1901, No. 10, 369 ; Hanausek, Micro. Tech. 

 Prod. (Winton and Barber, transl.), 1907, 352-3.] 



Bengal. 



PAPAVER AND OPIUM ; PAPAVERACE^B. Opium is an in- 

 >|ii>sated juice obtained by scratching the unripe capsules of I'u /Mirer 

 unntnifcriun. Lnn>.. and allowing the milky sap, which exudes there- 

 from, to dry spontaneously. There may be said to be two chief kinds 

 of opium, that used for medicine (produced chiefly in Asia Minor), and 

 that smoked, eaten, etc. (grown in India and China). 



History. Various species of poppy are mentioned by the early Greek writers 

 (H- -siier, etc.) as ornamental garden plants or as attractive-looking weeds of 

 the fields ; the merits of the seed as an article of food and as affording oil were 

 extolled before the discovery had been made of the somniferous property of the 

 capsules, and i ertainly long anterior to the recognition of the value of the milky 

 sap. The capsules, stems and leaves were employed by the Greeks in the pre- 

 paration of an extract called meconium (cf. Hippocrates, Theophrastus, etc.), 

 which was employed as a soporific drug and used in the fabrication of a soothing 

 beverage exactly corresponding to the post of the Panjab to-day and the kukntir 

 of Akbar's time. Lastly came the discovery of the more potent nature of the 

 inspissated sap, the opion of the Greeks, a word that may be spoken of as the 

 diminutive of dwoi the juice. Paparer Momntfrrum was grown in Asia Minor 

 for its capsules, which the Arabs carried all over the East, even to China, some* 

 time before the Greek discovery of the value of the juice. 



The discovery of opium began to attract attention about the 3rd century B.C. 

 Theophraetus was acquainted with it, and describes the method of obtaining it 

 by scratching the green pods. Virgil (Oeorg., iv., 546) speaks of the lethean 

 virtue of the plant. Pliny pays special atteiitmn t<> the medicinal value of 



845 



D.E.P., 

 vi., pt. i., 

 16-106. 

 Opium. 



OU-Med. 

 Capsule*. 

 Milk. 



JJtfonium. 



Pott and 

 Kukn'tr. 



Grk 



.-I-. 



