82 NOTES OX THE AGRICULTURE, 



As is known opium is often sold in Manchuria mixed 

 with bread, oil, etc., and this method of adulteration is very 

 common. According to analysis made in Berlin and Moscow, 

 Manchurian opium contains 14-15^ per cent, of morphia, but 

 when adulterated only half the quantity. 



The capsules aiter the juice is drawn ripens at the 

 beginning of August and the seeds are used for extracting 

 oil. The oil is used both for cooking and medicine. The 

 seeds of the Manchurian poppy are dark in colour. 



The reasons, why the poppy cultivation has spread in 

 North Manchuria, in spite of the edicts and strict laws of 

 the Chinese Republic, can be divined at once by anyone who 

 examines the conditions of life in the Eastern part of the 

 C. E. E. Stations. Here all the poppy fields are situated 

 on Chinese territory. At present poppy cultivation and 

 the preparing of opium is openly and largely indulged 

 in by the merchants and farmers and it is fostered under 

 the protection of the local Chinese military, quartered along 

 the railway line. 



Every Chinese who has a poppy field registers it with 

 the soldiers and pays a standing contribution after which his 

 field is guarded and defended against robbers. 



As must be expected, many thousands of coolies yearly 

 come here from the South and West to collect the juice 

 from the poppy capsules. 



The poppy cultivation in North Manchuria does great 

 harm to< the Chinese Eastern Railway Company as during 

 the season thousands of Chinese workmen leave the Railway 

 works. Sometimes the Chinese soldiers desert and make 

 for the mountains to re-appear as Hung Hu Tzu. 



The poppy cultivation does great damage to local agricul- 

 ture and gardening. The peppy plant exhausts the ground 

 and the flowering poppy does much damage to the bees, in 

 the raising of which the Russians in the Eastern part of the 

 C. E. R. are largely interested. 



XL. — The Mountain Rice of North Manchuria. 



Mountain rice (Oryza montana L) is cultivated in Man- 

 churia since the time of Chinese emigration from North 

 China. It is planted here not in paddy fields as in other 

 countries, but is grown on dry land like other cereals. 

 It is sown in April and harvested in September. 



It is cultivated by the Chinese more especially in the 

 Kirin, and partly in the Helungkiang provinces. In the 

 district of Harbin which lies 45,045' N. L., mountain rice is 

 grown in the Ashiho river valley and in stretches near 



