NOTES ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE POPPY. 355 



the roots thus imbibe moisture, and the plant springs up large and luxu- 

 riant. 



In the process of irrigation, care should be taken not to allow the 

 water to exceed one inch in depth, or, in other words, the entire seedling 

 should not be under water. It is very necessary that irrigation should 

 be pursued at stated intervals of time until the collections begin. 



When the plants have been in bloom for some time, the green capsules 

 become slightly coated over with a fine, transparent, white-coloured 

 surface, and the pods become less yielding to the touch when pressed ; 

 when this change presents itself, the cultivators at once perceive that the 

 plant has arrived to maturity, and is fit for incision. Another means for 

 recognising this is, when juice exudes on breaking off the series of stig- 

 mata formed on the apex of the pod. 



When the incisions commence, the process should be carried on 

 regularly every third day, and according to the time of collection, whether 

 late or early in season, or the condition of the plant, whether sickly or 

 healthy, from 2 to 7 incisions might be expected. It is to be noted that 

 there is a wide difference between the produce of the earlier, compared 

 with the later sowings ; the former is of lower spissitude but more abun- 

 dant in bulk, whilst the latter is just the reverse, poor in quantity, but 

 of higher and more superior consistence. 



Gentle westerly winds are most favourable for our opium collections, 

 as also for inspissating the drug when collected. Opium gathered in 

 during the prevalence of easterly winds is scanty, because the juice does 

 not exude freely from the incisions, and the opium collected is somewhat 

 darker in colour from the atmospheric humidity with which it gets im- 

 pregnated. The incisions should invariably be made in the afternoon, 

 and the operation of collection the next morning. 



It will be necessary now to enumerate a few of the causes which con- 

 tribute to the falling off of produce, or tend to the entire destruction of the 

 plant. " Bhur Bhar," a prickly plant, is very destructive to the poppy, 

 absorbing the nutritive qualities of the ground intended for the latter 

 alone : these ought to be steadily rooted up wherever they make their 

 appearance. Insects are apt very often to attack the crops. When this 

 occurs among the early sowings, the best plan is to persevere and re-sow, 

 but when they begin their ravages after the plants have germinated and 

 attained to some size, the following bait may be used with very great 

 success — viz., to cut gourds or castor-oil leaves into pieces and strew them 

 over the fields. The next morning they will be covered over with the 

 insects, as they readily forsake the poppy for the more palatable food 

 offered to them ; thus, they can easily be removed and destroyed in a collec- 

 tive mass. The process of irrigation, too, offers a good opportunity for the 

 insects to be destroyed by birds. There is a parasitic shrub called by the 

 natives " Tokra? which is very detrimental to the growth of the poppy ; it 

 completely entwines itself round the root of the poppy, and gradually 

 injures and chokes up the absorbing pores of the little poppy spongelets ; 



dd2 



