240 poppy. 



I make one or more double incisions according to the size of tlie head, at 

 first longitudinally, and afterwards obliquely upwards from the stalk. This 

 operation commences about a week after the flowers fall, when the capsules 

 discover to the pressure a proper degree of hardness. When the capsule is 

 sufficiently scarified in the manner described, I then cut off with a sharp 

 scalpel, the capitulum or stigma, with a thin slice of the external rind 

 round it, and by this last incision I obtain more juice than from a scarifi- 

 cation upon the side of the head. 



" For collecting the juice from the capsules, I used a small common hair 

 brush, known to painters by the name of a sash-tool. When the brush is 

 sufficiently charged with juice, I scrape it off upon the edge of a tin flask 

 fastened to the breast of the gatherer, and capable of holding more than a 

 day's gathering. The gatherers follow the bleeders immediately. One 

 bleeder will occupy two, and if very expert three gatherers ; and they may 

 collect the opium at the rate of two drachms in an hour. The juice is 

 afterwards formed into cakes, or balls, by spontaneous evaporation, in 

 shallow earthen dishes, placed in a close room, stirring it occasionally during 

 the evaporation of its watery part ; to be afterwards kept in bladders. 



" The operation of gathering cannot be repeated with advantage oftener 

 than three times a week, upon the same capsules. One acre will keep 

 twelve gatherers and six cutters constantly employed. That number can 

 only gather a third part of an acre in one day, and by the time they have 

 gone through the crop, the capsules at that place where they began will be 

 ready for the operation being repeated. So that when the milky juice ceases 

 to flow, five operations, as already described, will have been made upon 

 each capsule. Supposing twelve gatherers to work ten hours in the day, 

 and that each gathers as much juice as will make two and half ounces 

 of solid opium, in thirty days they will gather fifty-six pounds of 

 opium from one acre. One acre of poppies cultivated according to my 

 method, will yield 1000 lbs. of seed, which afford by expression 375 lbs. 

 of oil." 



Mr. Young's calculation of the expense and profit is as follows : — 



£ s. d. 



56 lbs. of opium at 36s. per lb 100 16 



36 bolls of early potatoes, at 24s 43 4 



250 lbs. of oil, cold drawn, at Is. (id 18 15 



125 ditto warm, at (id. 3 2 6 



500 oil-cakes, at 18*. per 100 4 10 



170 7 6 

 Expenses 60 



Profit £110 7 6 



Supposing this to be over-rated by one-third, it is not a bad return. The 

 coldness and variableness of this climate, however, is a great drawback to 



