64 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



and the leaves of poppies, by expression, 

 and then reduce it to the thickness of an ex- 

 tract by fire : others draw the milky juice 

 by decoction, and which is afterwards in- 

 spissated. 



Mr. Young, who has successfully and lu- 

 cratively cultivated British opium, says, in 

 a communication to the Society of Arts, 

 " Last summer (1820) I produced 19i 

 pounds of opium, 25 gallons of poppy-oil, 

 and at the rate of 40 bolls of early potatoes, 

 from 129 falls 18 yards, being 30 falls less 

 than one acre of ground, by the mode of cul- 

 tivating communicated to the Society of Arts, 

 and afterwards more particularly detailed in 

 the second and third numbers of the Edin- 

 burgh Philosophical Journal, with this differ- 

 ence, that the gatherers collected the milky 

 juice with their thumbs instead of brushes, 

 which I consider to be a material improve- 

 ment in the mode of gathering; and although 

 I had from twelve to twenty boys, from 

 twelve to fourteen years of age, employed 

 during the season, only two were affected 

 with drowsiness, and I could not be certain 

 whether this was the effect of the absorption 

 of the opium, or of the extreme heat of the 

 weather. By this new mode of gathering 



