356 NOTES ON THE CULTIVATION OP THE POPPY. 



being a much, stronger plant, it easily overpowers the tender poppy, and so 

 induces premature decay. The poppy plant is subject, in common with 

 other crops, to certain vegetable diseases, the two most common and most 

 fatal are called " Murka and Khurka " in the village vernacidar, the former 

 shows itself among the early sowings ; its ravages are marked by the plant 

 becoming shrunk and stunted in growth, the leaves become sere and yellow, and 

 the plant eventually decays away, affording, if it has lingered awhile, very 

 little (if any at all) of produce. The cultivators attribute this disease to a 

 species of infusorial worm which corrode the tender roots, and not to any 

 agency of the soil, for side by side may be commonly observed two beds, one 

 teeming with luxuriant plants full of rich foliage, whilst the other may have 

 only a few lank diminutive plants, possessing not the slightest shadow of 

 verdure. The " Khurka " occurs late in season, and attacks the plant in its 

 healthiest state, this blight arises from excessive clamp produced by a sudden 

 change of atmosphere, attended with rain and damp wind, especially affect- 

 ing fields which have just before been already seasonably irrigated. There 

 is no mistaking the effect of such a transition ; the bright green colour 

 yields to a dark and sombre tint, which transfuses itself alike over the , 

 leaves, the stalk, and the capsule : a sensible decrease is at once observable 

 in the produce, which before long ceases altogether, for the malady com- 

 pletely saps the vitality of the plant. The other causes which prove 

 injurious to the plant, and materially affect' its productive powers, are 

 either natural visitation, such as a fall of hail, a severe frost, inopportune 

 showers of rain, or excessively strong winds during collections, or the causes 

 may be, as in too many instances they truly are, from a defective system of 

 tillage. 



For preparing the opium from its crude state to the consistency at 

 which it ought to be delivered, the following simple treatment should be 

 attended to ; the drug, as soon as it is collected, should be temporarily kept, 

 as it is usually done, in a shallow brass vessel placed in a slanting position, 

 so that the sediment called Pusseivali (got from dew uniting with the 

 juice which exudes from the incisions) might be detached from the pure 

 drug ; the next day the opium may be transferred to shallow earthen vessels, 

 and the same process repeated on each day the collection is pursued. The 

 drug should be manipulated at least once a week. The Pussewdh which 

 accrues ought to be kept separate in another vessel. By a careful observ- 

 ance of these rules, the opium will be of good colour and quality. Every- 

 thing (we would lay stress on this) depends on the early handling of the 

 opium, and the speedy separation of the Pusseivali before it deteriorates the 

 drug, for it gets so closely combined with it as to become part of the mass, 

 and almost impossible to be disunited. If the Opium be kept in its crude 

 state without being seasonably manipulated, it is apt, especially if the wind 

 has been easterly, to become dull in colour and aroma, and muggy to the touch. 

 Care should be taken to preserve the drug from places where there is much 

 smoke. It should not on any account be exposed to the sun, as the oxygen 

 to be absorbed from it woidd discolour the drug, but a free current of air is 



