66 



PAPAVER SOMNIFERUM. 



Seasons. 



Soils and manuiing. 



Tillage. 



Sowing. 



Irrigation. 



Harvesting. 



and owes his very name to the process of scraping the juice off the capsules {hdchna), which 

 is one of the most distinctive features in opium growing. The cultivation has now, how- 

 ever, extended to Kurmis and Lodhas in equal proportion with the Kachis, and is gradually 

 spreading to the higher castes, even Thakurs and Brahmins occasionally taking to it. 



In the hills of Jaunsar the opium season is from February to June, but in the plains 

 it is from October to March, and the poppy may therefore be classed as a rabi crop. If 

 grown on very highly manured land, it often follows a crop of maize or millet in the 

 preceding kharif, which by exhausting some of the richness of the soil prevents all risk 

 of the poppy running unduly to stalk and leaf. It is most commonly grown alone, but 

 occasionally lines of spinach, cress, or safflower are sown amongst it, which are reported 

 to be of service in attracting the attacks of insects which might otherwise injure the 

 poppy plants. 



A strong loam is preferred, and the field invariably lies in the highly manured circle 

 round the village, known as goind ox gauhdni, receiving from 150 to 200 maunds of 

 cattle dung to the acre each year. In Fatehpur the land is often manured by herding 

 sheep or goats on it, the dung of which is supposed to be of peculiar value. The plants 

 benefit greatly if they are irrigated from a well the water of which is impregnated with 

 nitrates (Jchdri), and as in the case of tobacco, the selection of a field for opium cultiva- 

 tion is greatly dependent on the accessibility of any well of this description. Earth 

 impregnated with saltpetre {nona mitti) is also extensively used, chiefly as a top dress- 

 ing after the plants have come up (Mainpuri), in which manner too well rotted cowdung 

 and ashes are often applied. 



A finely powdered tilth is absolutely essential, and opium land is ploughed as many 

 times as the cultivator has leisure for. 



The seed is sown in October, broad-cast, at the rate of about 3 lbs. to the acre, 

 having been mixed with earth to assist in its even distribution, and the log clod crusher 

 is then run over the ground. 



The ground is almost always prepared for sowing by a watering, and in the drier 

 portions of the Provinces the plants are irrigated once in every fortnight or three weeks 

 between germination and harvest time. In the Benares Division four or five waterings 

 are generally sufficient. 



If the crop can be irrigated with water containing nitrates so much the better, but 

 it is above all things important that the waterings should be timed exactly to the re- 

 quirements of the plants, and opium cultivators in consequence are shy of the canal. Tha 

 field is kept scrupulously free from weeds, at least three weedings being as a rule given. 



The plants make but slow progress during December and January, but with the 

 commencement of warm nights in February they make very rapid growth, and are in 

 full flower by the end of that month. The harvest commences by collecting the petals 

 as they fall, or in gently detaching them when about to fall, since they are made into 

 cakes (by being pressed together over the warmth of a fire), which the Opium Depart- 

 ment purchases for packing purposes. "When the capsules are full swelled, opium collec- 

 tion commences by making small scratches or incisions in the rind through which the 

 opium exudes. For this purpose an instrument is used called a cheni or naharni, which 

 is practically a four toothed comb. It is often made of four small lancets bound to- 



