560 MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



die States. It may be sown at any time during the month of 

 April, or the first week in May. The best method of culti- 

 vating the plant is in rows two feet and a half apart ; and, on 

 the poppies attaining a few inches in height, they are hoed 

 out to a distance from one another of six or eight inches. 



" Opium is obtained from the capsules or heads of seed, 

 and is extracted after they are fully formed, but while yet 

 green. The process is simple, and may be taught to children 

 iu an hour. 



" Two or more vertical incisions are made in the capsule 

 with a sharp knife or other instrument, about an inch in 

 length, and not so deep as to penetrate through the capsule. 

 As soon as the incisions are made, a milky juice will flow out, 

 which, being glutinous, will adhere to the capsule. This may 

 be collected by a small hair-brush such as is used by paint- 

 ers, and squeezed into a small vessel carried by the person 

 who collects the juice. The incisions are repeated at inter- 

 vals of a few days all round the capsule, and the same process 

 of collecting the exuded juice is also repeated. 



" The juice thus collected is Opium. In a day or two, it is 

 of the consistence to be worked up into a mass. The nar- 

 cotic matter of the plant may also be collected by boiling ; but 

 it is only the exuded juice that forms pure Opium. 



" In the opium countries of the East, the incisions arc 

 made at sunset by several-pointed knives or lancets. On the 

 following day the juice is collected, scraped off with a small 

 iron scoop, and deposited in earthen pots, when it is worked 

 by the hand until it becomes consistent. It is then formed in 

 globular cakes, and laid in small earthen basins to be further 

 dried. After the opium is extracted from the capsule, the 

 plant is allowed to stand, and ripen its seeds. 



" The seeds of the Poppy have nothing of the narcotic 

 principle, and are eaten by the people of the East as a 



