ON THE CULTIVATION OF INDIGENOUS OPIUM. 329 
5. Preparation of the Soil, Sowing, and Care of the Young Plant. 
Soon after the harvest of cereals (wheat, barley, &c), it is good to 
till the soil, and leave it to rest until October or November. 
At this period the ground should be well manured (about thirty 
cubic metres to the hectare), this should be followed by deep trenching 
the poppy being an exhausting plant. 
In the month of January or February, if the weather permit, or in 
autumn in warmer countries, it is harrowed twice and in dry weather 
the seed is sown in lines (about five litres to the hectare), and a light 
roller is passed over them. 
But it must be borne in mind that the month of April and the end 
of March being almost always very dry, germination could not take place 
and the seed would experience an irreparable delay, if the last sowing in 
our country (France) were not terminated by the 15th of March. 
It may, however, be delayed in land where the subsoil is marly or 
clayey, or on hillocks facing the north, and hastened, on the contrary 
in dry land, in plains, and in aspects exposed to the south. 
The carnation poppy may also be sown in autumn in still warmer 
climates, Professor Aubergier having proved that the sowing of this 
season gives the best results, and better than those of spring, but in 
Haute Saone the sowings in autumn have never succeeded, the soil 
freezes there easily. 
This shows that the sowing must depend upon climate and the aspect 
of the soil. 
With regard to the disposal of the plants, I cannot do better than re- 
produce here the mode of planting indicated by M. Decharine, in his 
treatise upon indigenous opium in 1855. 
" Two rows of poppies are to be planted," he says, " so that the 
plants may be at a distance of twenty centimetres, one from the other, 
then, besides that of those two rows, an interval is to be left ot sixty 
centimetres, according to the length of the field, so that the circle of 
the field may be easily taken to incise the capsules right and left of the 
plants that border the same walk." 
I think, however, that I must in some degree modify this practice ; 
for the plants not being distant enough become less vigorous in growth, 
the capsules not so large or so numerous as when at a greater distance. 
I think it useful to place the poppies so that the rows may be at a 
distance of forty centimetres from each other, at the same time leaving 
sixty centimetres in breadth for the walks. 
In this way, 71,500 plants of poppy per hectare may be counted, and 
the plants will acquire enormous dimensions. It is thus that in the 
plantation of M. Arbeltier, at Grand champs (Haute Marne), I counted 
in 1862, as many as forty heads on one stalk. It would be possible by 
leaving a sufficient interval between the rows (say, Om. 50c), to subs- 
titute for digging, which is always very slow and expensive, the 
employment of the horse hoe, which, by abridging the work, and per- 
