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be performed in'autumn. The Poppies are not only generally larger, but 
even, when this is not the case, I know from experience, that they will yield 
a much larger proportion of Opium; for it seldom happens that a spring 
Poppy will bleed, as we term it, more than twice, while the others will bear 
scarifying till they are nearly ripe. This I imagine can only arise from the 
length of time the one has been in the ground in comparison with the other. 
Indeed the difference is so striking, that if the present winter destroys my 
plants, I shall be almost tempted to dispose of my spring-sowing to other 
purposes. In drilling, the necessity of covering the seed by harrowing is 
suspended by the operation of the machine; and, in the broad-cast method, 
a shower of rain will have all the effect without further trouble or expence. 
Excepting great additional care, turnip and poppy hoeing are similar, 
and in every respect may be conducted in the same manner. I believe the 
turnips are rather benefited, they certainly are not injured by being shaken, 
and will recover from the effects of a wound; but if the Poppies are acci¬ 
dentally touched, they will either exhaust themselves by bleeding, or dwindle 
so as to be of no value. But it is high time to proceed to the last point I 
proposed to consider, namely, the production and preparation of Opium. 
In ordinary seasons, the heads or capsules of the autumnal Poppies will 
be large enough for our purpose in the month of June; for $t this time they 
will have attained about half their growth, or to be equal in size to a small 
tea-cup. I have invented a variety of instruments as scarificators; but as 
only two kinds were actually used, X am unwilling to trouble the Society 
with a description of any other.* 
Seven, and sometimes eight boys, were employed, from eight to twelve 
* Mr - Jones lias since added the following description of the instruments, and their mode of 
application. They remain in the Society’s repository. 
The first of these instruments consists of two thin steel blades, fixed by a wedge in a wooden 
handle, so as to make incisions about one fourth of an inch from each other. 
The other is made entirely of steel, and resembles in form the tuning-fork of an harpsichord. It 
consists of four bars, proceeding from a handle of a convenient length, a quarter of an inch wide, and 
two and a half long, each terminating with a bolster, through which a screw passes that fixes the 
seaiificators. The centre bars should be so elastic as to yield to the curvature of the capsule, upon 
the outer ones being pressed by the finger and thumb; and by this means four incisions are made at 
once, at equal distances. This instrument is an inch and three quarters in width; but, from the two 
outer blades, only an inch and a quarter. The bolsters are a quarter of an inch in diameter, and the 
scarificators a proportionate length, namely, three eighths. The wedge in the former, and a longi¬ 
tudinal aperture in the scarificators, or blades, of the latter, will regulate the depths of the incisions, 
at the will of the operator. It is of the utmost importance that these should not be made through 
the inner corner of the capsules. to 
