OPIUM AND THE POPPY-SPIED. 51 



the Bengal and Agra Presidencies, in our East Indian possessions, and the Independent 

 States of Malawa, and others in the south of India. It is the produce of the white 

 poppy (Papaver somniferuir), almost exclusively, in our Indian territories ; hut in the 

 Independant States it is also obtained from the dark-red and other varieties of 

 poppy. 



The poppy-seed is sown in the months of October and November, in shallow beds 

 of about seven feet square, and the plant is thence regularly irrigated throughout the 

 season. The capsules (ovaries) are ready for bleeding, or patching, as it termed, about 

 the end of January, when this process commences, and proceeds during the whole of 

 the month of February. It is effected by making incisions into the poppy-head at about 

 four o'clock P.M. daily, and allowing the milky juice to exude and thicken by evapora- 

 tion upon the capsule during the night. The next day it is scraped off, placed in porous 

 earthen vessels, and allowed to inspissate further. In this crude state, it is carried to 

 the factory, where the drying process is carried on until the opium has attained a cer- 

 tain standard of spissitude, when it then retains from 25 to 30 per cent, of water. It 

 is then made into large round balls, technically termed cakes, each ball being enveloped 

 in a case composed of the petals of the poppy, cemented together by means of thin crude 

 opium in lieu of paste. When the balls have become hard they are ready for the 

 market ; forty of them constitute a chest of opium, and weigh about 160 Ibs. The 

 produce of one agency, that of Patna, in 1853, was 35,000 chests, or about five and 

 a-half millions of pounds. 



The East Indian Company exercise no control whatever over the growth and pro- 

 duction of opium in the Independent States, but impose a tax upon it on its exporta- 

 tion to Bombay. In the territories of the Company, however, the government not only 

 watches over its production, but are, in fact, the sole growers of the drug. Any indivi- 

 dual growing opium is bound to deliver it to the government agent at a fixed sum per 

 pound ; and upon his undertaking to do so, the government makes advances of money 

 from time to time to enable him to prepare the ground, and to plant, irrigate, and 

 gather the crop. In this mode a great many thousands of persons become the servants 

 of the Company, not by compulsion, but from the greater profit attending upon 

 this, than upon other agricultural produce. The opium thus delivered to the Com- 

 pany is in a crude state, and still requires much attention before it is fitted for the 

 market. No fewer than 1,200 persons are engaged in the Company's factory at Patna 

 alone. 



The opium, when packed in chests, is offered to public sale by auction for exporta- 

 tion, and is purchased by dealers of all nations, but chiefly with a view to the supply 

 of the Chinese market. The profit made upon this one Indian production is the most 

 important element in the income of the East Indian Company. 



[We are indebted for the above account to Colonel Rowcroft and Dr. James Corbet, 

 both distinguished officers of the E. I. C. Dr. Corbet for some years held an appoint- 

 ment at the Patna opium factory, in the province of Bekar]. 



Sugar. Sugar is not exclusively a vegetable production, since it is found abun- 

 dantly in honey and in milk, both of which are natural animal products, and in the blood 

 and excretions in certain instances of disease. It is, however, chiefly obtained from 

 vegetables, and always so when it is separated from all other substances and made 

 marketable. 



Vegetables yield it largely in their fruits, as those of the grape and apple ; and 

 many in their sap ; but as an article of commerce it is obtained from three sources : 



