98 



OPIUM POPPY. 



C. E., Liberty County, Georgia. I have reason to believe that the opium poppy 

 will do well here, and would try it if I had enough seed of the right variety to make 

 a plantation of several acres. Can you furnish seed or procure it for me at my ex- 

 pense ? 



I should be obliged for any information in regard to its culture, and how best to 

 get the opium from it. 



Answer. So far as climate is to be considered the poppy plant will grow in Georgia, 

 and, indeed, in most of the United States, and seed can easily be secured, and the plants 

 are easily raised. The soil should be very finely pulverized on the surface, and the seed 

 sown in shallow drills, or rather mere marks. The seeds are very minute and should 

 be mixed in fifty parts of dry sand, then sand and seed sprinkled thinly on the sur- 

 face and covered simply by passing a light roller over them. These drills may be 2 

 feet apart, and when the plants appear they are thinned out so that they will be 

 from 6 so 8 inches apart. 



It is highly improbable that it can be profitably produced in this country, as may 

 be gleaned from the details of collecting the juice. 



When the seed pods are properly matured the milky juice is obtained by making 

 incisions in the pods with small lancets. This requires great care, so that the incis- 

 ion is not made through the entire substance of the pod ; the surface is only scari- 

 fied. The cutting being performed in the afternoon, the opium is allowed to exude 

 and remain on the pod till next morning, when it is scraped off, drop by drop, and 

 thus collected in a small cup. Successive incisions are required to secure complete 

 exudation. 



It is thus seen that the process is slow and tedious, and it is stated that the average 

 pay of the operators does not reach 10 cents per day. 



The factory operations in preparing the article for commerce are also tedious and 

 complicated, involving much manual labor, which is cheaply procured in Asiatic 

 countries. 



CAMPHOR TREE. 



J. S. R.^Hernaudo County, Florida. A camphor tree received from your Depart- 

 ment 6 years ago has grown up into a fine tree some 15 feet in height. It is a beau- 

 tiful ornamental tree, and is valuable on that account alone, but if this is the tree 

 from which the camphor of trade is obtained I would be obliged if you can inform 

 me how to get it. I have tried cutting the bark, but could not see any exudation 

 of gum. 



Answer. The camphor tree (Camphora officinarum) is a native of China and Japan, 

 and yields the camphor of commerce. 



Camphor is obtained by chopping the wood into small pieces and boiling them 

 with water in an iron vessel till the camphor begins to adhere to the stirring utensil; 

 the liquor is then strained, and the camphor concretes on standing. It is afterwards 

 mixed with finely powdered earth and sublimed from one metallic vessel into an- 

 other. 



In Japan the chips are boiled in a vessel to which an earthen head containing 

 straw has been fitted, and the camphor sublimes and condenses on the straw. Crude 

 camphor very much resembles moist sugar before it is cleaned j it is refined by sub- 

 limation, an operation which requires care and experience. 



E.S., Putnam County, Florida. I have seen a statement that the Bahia orange, 

 as seen in the greenhouse in Washington, has no pollen on its blossoms, and that is 



