PAP AVER 



Seed and Oil 



THE OPIUM POPPY 



Poppy Seed 

 and Oil. 



duty at the maritime customs. The imports, in short, are believed to have 

 remained stationary, and that there has only been a transfer from the 

 Native to the Maritime Customs. 



Persian Opium. The Persian production of opium and traffic with China is seemingly 



assuming considerable proportions. It is grown in the central provinces 

 and carried via Bokhara, Khokan and Kashgar, and also, more recently, 

 by sea. The Kermanshah opium is in consequence being frequently 

 alluded to in Consular Reports, The shipments in 1895 were 2,440 chests, 

 and in 1903 they had become 4,859 chests. While often much adulterated, 

 Persian opium has a good name in Hongkong. 



Poppy Seed and Oil. Buchanan- Hamilton (Journ. Mysore, etc., 

 1807, i., 295-6) observes : " The poppy (Papaver somnifer-um) is 

 plentifully cultivated both for making opium and on account of the seed, 

 which is much used in the sweet cakes that are eaten by the higher 

 ranks of the Natives." The seeds form a valuable article of food in the 

 districts where poppy cultivation occurs. They have no intoxicating 

 properties, but are better flavoured and richer in oil when taken from 

 capsules that have not been tapped. The seeds are exported from the 

 districts of production all over India, and are extensively employed by 

 the sweetmeat makers or in the manufacture of certain curries. The oil 

 obtained from the seeds is largely used for culinary purposes, the lowest 

 grades being employed for lubrication or burning. The cake is said to 

 be a wholesome food often resorted to by the poor, and is remarkably 

 sweet and nutritious, and accordingly is greedily eaten by cattle. In India 

 the oil is expressed by the cold process, the yield being about 30 per cent. 

 In France three stages are observed : 1st, cold expression a very 

 superior oil used for table purposes and in the manufacture of very high- 

 class paints ; 2nd, cold expression a lower-grade edible oil used also for 

 paints and in illumination ; and 3rd, hot expression a much inferior oil 

 to either of the others used chiefly in soap-making. The oil is rendered 

 perfectly colourless by exposure to the sun. It is accordingly peculiarly 

 suitable for mixing with paints ; with white lead, for example, it forms 

 a paint that does not readily tarnish. The price of the oil is the chief 

 reason of its not being more extensively used in paint-making, as it is 

 moreover a good drying oil. It is largely used by artists. Mixed with 

 strong sulphuric acid, the rise in temperature is from 88 to 90 C. It 

 takes about 19 per cent, of caustic potash to saponify it, and absorbs 

 about 134 to 137 per cent, iodine. 



Leather (Agri. Ledg., 1903, No. 7, 153, 180), in an article on Indian 

 food-grains, gives the chemical composition of the poppy seed, in which 

 he shows it to contain 48-95 of oil, 4-07 moisture, 17'75 albuminoids, 

 16*99 soluble carbohydrates, 5-09 woody fibre, 6 '85 soluble mineral 

 matter, 0-30 sand, 2*97 total nitrogen, and 2-84 albuminoid nitrogen. 



Price. The average wholesale price does not appear to have changed 

 materially for some years past. In Benares, for example, it was Rs. 47-21 

 per ten maunds, and in 1904 it stood at Rs. 35-6 for the same quantity. 

 In Oudh, similarly, it was Rs. 45-57 in 1897, and Rs. 37'78 in 1904. In 

 Ajmir it was Rs. 66'57 in 1897, and Rs. 66'56 in 1904. In Lahore.. Rs. 

 56-08 in 1897, and Rs. 53-01 in 1904. These are fairly representative 

 quotations the price is higher in non-producing than in producing 



Trade in centres. 



Seed. Trade in Seed and Oil. Perhaps the most significant feature of the foreign 



860 



Seeds Eaten. 

 Oil. 



Cold Expression. 

 Yield. 



Bleached. 

 Paint. 



Drying Oil. 



Poppy Seed 

 as Pood. 



Prices of Seed. 



