PAPAVER 

 VARIETIES AND RACES OMNIFERUM 



Cultivation 



Opium Husbandry, 1877), appears to have given the subject serious at- 

 tention, and tin- m. Tit- <>f tli.- opium of Ih'im have become an accepted 

 axiom, without the endeavour having been made to trace out how 

 linn h depends on climate, soil, stock of pl.-u.t. system of agriculture 

 or purity of manufacture. Kvi-u uhm cultivated -i.| t - l>v side in the 

 liiirdfii. Scott noted that the various races which he found in the 

 hands of the cultivators, or which he was able to select and perpetuate, 

 yielded materially different n->ults in |uuntity and oualitv of the druu'. 

 Nevertheless it is freely admitted that the highly valm-d mcdi< innl 

 of opium obtained from Asia Minor is the produce of a special variety puntot 

 known to botanists as vlnln-n. At present we possess no evidence ** * Uaor - 

 as to whether that particular plant exists in India or could even be culti- 

 vated there. While the opium used medicinally in Europe is obtained 

 to-day, as it appears to have been centuries ago, from Asia Minor, the 

 opium used medicinally in India is the Indian grown and specially pre- MUc*ni 

 pared drug obtained from var. tilhti. While in many respects the pr P <fttaB - 

 chemical nature of the two would seem widely different, Indian medical 

 men claim that, given in the same doses, the Indian is in no way 

 inferior to the European. [('/. Heuze, Les PL Indust., 1895, iv., 91-105, 

 357-60 ; Kew Mus. Guide, 1907, 13.] 



Area and Yield. In modern language, *' Bengal Opium " means Area. 

 opium manufactured at the factories of Patna and Ghazipur, and there- BngL 

 fore grown in the provinces of Bengal, Agra and Oudh. Then again, 

 " Malwa Opium " means opium grown in Central India, Rajputana and MJW. 

 certain other Native States. The former class of opium is exported from 

 Calcutta and the latter from Bombay. The area devoted to Bengal opium 

 is accurately known ; that devoted to Malwa can be ascertained only 

 approximately, namely by estimates based on the annual exports to 

 foreign countries. In the former, the cultivation is directly controlled by control. 

 Government a State monopoly; in the latter, by export duties only. 



During the years 1872 to 1892 the area under the poppy in the British ARM in 

 districts (Bengal opium) averaged 515,000 acres. The following were {^J^ 

 the areas returned officially as devoted to the crop for the five years ending 

 1901-2 : British districts, in 1897-8, 592,232 acres ; in 1898-9, 602,975 ; 

 in 1899-1900, 640,263 ; in 1900-1, 621,891 ; in 1901-2, 607,418. Since 

 1902 the net area in the Ganges valley, excluding areas on which the crop 

 was sown but failed, has been : 1902-3, 582,807 acres ; 1903-4, 642,831 ; 

 1904-5, 587,140 ; 1905-6, 654,928. In 1906-7 it is stated that the 

 Government of India have decided to reduce the area to about 562,500 

 .acres. [Cf. Moral and Mat. Prog. Ind., 1905-6, 75.] In the Native States NtiT sut. 

 for which agricultural returns are available, the average has been about 

 70,000 acres. Of the British districts, approximately 200,000 acres are 

 in Bengal, the same in Agra, and a little less in Oudh. The cultivation 

 beyond these provinces is insignificant, and can be described as a con- Conctooito 

 session practically to ancient usage or aboriginal tribes. In the Panjab, ' 

 Ajmir-Merwara and Upper Burma, for example, there have been on an 

 average about 6,000 to 7,000 acres between them under the crop, mostly in 

 the hill districts (Karnal, Ambala, Kangra, Shahpur, etc.). Of the Malwa 

 production, the Native States of Gwalior, 36,378 acres ; Tonk, 9,733 acres ; 

 Kotah, 31,166 acres; and Jaipur, 3,077 acres, are the published returns for 

 1904-5. Others, such as Baroda, Indore, etc., do not furnish particulars. 



Production and Profit. The cultivator of opium, in the monopoly Production. 



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