October 1, 1870.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
273 
beauty as far as external characters were concerned, it 
had the perfect odour of good opium, and it dissolved 
with the Persian character, but singular to say it con¬ 
tained very little morphia, but a great abundance of the 
other principles known to exist in opium.” 
This opinion, from so well known an authority on all 
concerned with opium, of course reached Melbourne, and 
was published here with the effect of greatly discouraging 
the industry. However, a few did continue to plant and 
produce, and this last season probably a hundredweight 
and a half were brought into the market here, where it 
realized about thirty shillings (30s.) per lb., as it proved 
to be a very good opium, containing from 8 per cent, to 
10 per cent, of morphia. 
Mr. Morson’s opinion being so much thought of, I 
sent him samples. His report being a favourable one, 
I had it published in the agricultural papers, and now 
some attention is again given to the opium culture, and 
I expect that sufficient will shortly be made to enable a 
trial shipment to be made to London, as from the high 
price ruling for opium and its preparations it is vory de¬ 
sirable that new sources of supply be discovered. With 
the beautiful climate and fine soil of Australia eminently 
adapted for poppy-growing, enough opium should be 
produced to make a marked influence on the price in 
the European markets, as the growers here will be well 
paid at from ten to twelve shillings per pound; but as our 
consumption here is enormous, owing to the great num¬ 
ber of Chinese colonists, it will probably be some years 
before the supply greatly exceeds the local demand. 
I send herewith samples of opium from various loca¬ 
lities, produced in 1867-8, 1868-9 and 1869-70. 
The poppy is sown here in the months of June, July 
and early part of August, the opium being collected in 
the summer months of January, February and March. 
Most of the seed was obtained from Smyrna, and pro¬ 
duces plants from five to seven feet high, each bearing 
three or four flowers of four large white petals. There 
is also some East Indian variety cultivated with double 
purple or black flowers, but it is not popular, as it only 
has one flower on each plant and yields but little opium. 
In 1868 I was desirous of ascertaining whether special 
manures or manner of culture had any influence on the 
amount of opium yielded and its richness in morphia, 
and, to determine it, made the following experiments:— 
I took six plots of virgin ground and treated them as 
follows:— 
Nos. 1 and 4 were manured with well-decayed stable 
manure. 
Nos. 2 and 5 were entirely without manure. 
Nos. 3 and 6 were manured with spent lime from soft- 
soap works, containing about 3 per cent, of potash and 
with Peruvian guano. 
Each plot was the same size, and was drill-sown with 
the same lot of seeds on the following dates:—• 
Nos. 1 and 2, sown on June 13th. 
Nos. 3 and 4 ,, July 1st. 
No. 5 „ „ 12th. 
No. 6 „ „ 20th. 
The plants were all above ground about ten days after 
each sowing, and about a fortnight after I thinned them 
out, leaving 150 plants on each plot. Plots 1, 3, 4 and 
6 received no artificial irrigation, but depended for 
moisture entirely on the rainfall, while Nos. 2 and 5 
were watered well every week until just before flower¬ 
ing. When ripe, I carefully cut the heads and collected 
the opium, obtaining the following yields:— 
No. 
Yield of Opium in Grains. 
1 
153 
2 
177 
3 
159 
4 
171 
5 
189 
6 
203 
The greatest yields were from Nos. 5 and 6, the last 
planted. Nos. 2 and 5, which were without manure, 
but with plenty of moisture, yielded much more than 
Nos. 1 and 4, those manured with stable manure. The 
opium was of the ordinary consistence, and, as far as 
possible, free from leaves or accidental impurities. Now, 
as to the richness of the samples in morphia. 
On assay from one hundred grains of each sample, well 
dried, I obtained :— 
No. 
Grains of Morphia. 
1 
4t*o 
2 
6uj 
3 
6^j 
4 
4t 6 u 
5 
6-n> 
6 
7 iV 
I also obtained a notable quantity of morphia from the 
aqueous extract of the bruised green heads from which 
the opium had previously been as far as possible ex¬ 
tracted. 
As the same seed, differently treated, gives plants which 
yielded opium of different values, I naturally infer that 
manures, nature of soil, want of moisture, or excessive 
supply of water, and general manner of cultivation, have 
a great influence on the value of the opium produced. 
Last season (1869-70) I performed the same experiments 
with relatively the same results. This year I hope to 
extend my operations and try many other manures, and 
have requested all who are growing opium to favour me 
with all particulars respecting manures, soil, mode of 
culture and collection and yield, and, if possible, a sample 
of the opium. 
I cannot imagine my experiments as at all conclusive, 
as the differences might have occurred on different parts 
of the same ground; but if I find that treatment with 
stable manure, as a rule throughout the colony, gives a 
worse yield than if manured with guano, I may then 
reasonably think that Peruvian guano is more fit for 
manuring poppies than stable manure; and so on, until 
I arrive at the best manure and best method of cultiva¬ 
tion of the poppy, so as to obtain the greatest and most 
valuable yield of opium. 
Samples of opium accompanying this paper :— 
No. 1. Produced in 1867-8, from 80 poppies, at Sun- 
bury, twenty-two miles from Melbourne. 
No. 2. Produced in 1869-70, near Gisborne, thirty-two 
miles from Melbourne, on a river-flat of rich alluvial 
soil; yield 84 lbs. per acre. 
No. 3. From near Bairnsdale, Gipp’s Land, in a very 
cold climate, yield over 60 lbs. per acre. 
No. 4. From near Gisborne, 1867-8; yield 50 lbs. per 
acre. 
No. 5. Grown in 1868-9, at Soh Yarra, near Mel¬ 
bourne, collected and dried on tin-plates, so that it is the 
pure juice dried. 
No. 6. Grown in 1868-9, at Dromana, on the shores of 
Port Phillip Bay, in very sandy soil; the produce of 420 
plants. 
Mr. Dymond (Birmingham) observed that the plan 
adopted by the author of cutting off the poppy capsules, 
and then extracting the opium from them, was not that 
practised in the East. He had made experiments with 
garden poppies. 
Mr. Sutton (Norwich) said that some years ago a 
medical gentleman in his neighbourhood grew a consi¬ 
derable number of poppies, and extracted opium by inci¬ 
sion from day to day, but the air-dried gum contained 
less than 2 per cent, of morphia. The season, however, 
was damp and somewhat cold, and this he (Mr. Sutton) 
believed was detrimental to the production of any large 
proportion of morphia. The question was really very 
little understood, but from experiments in various parts of 
