ON THE CULTIVATION OF INDIGENOUS OPIUM. 385 
and almost complete, and to practice it in a direction perpendicular with 
the axis, and about a third of the height of the capsule from the base. 
In this way, much opium may be obtained in a short time, and the 
agriculturist who generally rejects minute work, and dislikes returning 
to go over the same work for hours, will not hesitate to sacrifice each 
year, one whole day that he may double the amount of his harvest. 
It was thus that in 1862, and under my direction M. Nee, Nicolas de 
Leffond (Haute S&one) collected in one day and a quarter of work, 150 
grammes of dry opium, containing 20 per cent, of morphia. 
From the appearance of the first to the last flower I have remarked 
that there are generally twenty-two days; which shows that all the cap- 
sules of one plantation are not equally advanced at the same time. It 
is necessary then, when only one incision is to be made, to seize the 
moment in which the greatest number of heads have arrived at the de- 
velopment fit for the operation; this is generally twenty-five days, or so, 
after the appearance of the ilrst flower in the plantation. 
6. MM. Decharme and Benard say, that the circumstances most 
favourable to the harvest, in giving an abundant produce, are :— The 
warmth of the afternoon, the damp air from the south, south-west, and 
west, as well as slight atmospheric pressure. 
However, M. Aubergier, on his part, maintains that the permanence 
of a high temperature tends rather as an obstacle to the gathering of 
the opium than an advantage, and he adds that in hot countries, the 
gathering of the juice always takes place, before the time of great heat ; 
he recommends only to make incisions in the morning and in the 
evening ; for he adds, the harvest is little or nothing under a burning 
sun. 
If the harvest is considered only with regard to abundance, I should 
not hesitate to join in opinion with Professor de Clermont. But I 
maintain an opposite position when the richness of the opium is consi- 
dered. 
In 1860, a very rainy year, the carnation opium contained here 15 
per cent, of morphia, and in 1861, a very dry year, it furnished 20 per 
cent. It seems then that these numbers fifteen and twenty are the ex- 
treme limits of the ordinary strength of the carnation opium, although 
MM. Decharme and Benard have obtained 23 per cent, in the depart- 
ment of Somine. It appears then that these two years 1860 and 1861 of 
diametrically opposite atmospheric conditions, fortunately succeeded 
each other, so as to enable me to establish an average strength for other 
years, and to prove that the quality of an opium rises with the tempe- 
rature that produces it. 
Furthermore, I have always remarked that incisions made after five 
or six o'clock in the evening, do not give good results, the coolness of 
the night is opposed to the coagulation of the opiate juice in the cap- 
sules, they do not close, and the opium continues to flow in waste until 
morning over the leaves of the plant. 
VOL. VI. M M 
