VERMONT  OPIUM.  217 
VERMONT  OPIUM  AGAIN. 
What  has  already  been  published  in  this  Journal,  in  January 
and  March,  may  be  sufficient  to  exhibit  the  true  character  of  this 
false  opium  ;  but  in  order  that  other  evidence  beside  our  own  may 
appear,  of  the  details  of  Mr.  Wilson's  process  as  given  by  himself, 
we  reprint  an  article  w^hich  appeared  in  the  semi-weekly  N.  Y. 
Tribune  of  March  5th,  1869.  There  are  some  points  of  the 
process  and  apparatus  not  before  noted.  It  must  be  evident  to 
every  pharmacist  that  the  result  is  a  mixture  of  extract  of  poppy 
leaves  and  stalks,  with  a  little  true  opium  juice,  very  variable  in 
composition  and  wholly  unfit  to  replace  the  foreign  drug  except 
in  very  large  doses. — Editor  Amer.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Home  Made  Opium. — W.  0.  Wilson,  of  Uxbridge,  Yt.,  addressed  the 
club  on  the  advantage  of  raising  our  own  poppies.  He  has  been  engaged 
in  opium  growing  for  five  years,  and  has  derived  great  profit  from  it.  He 
says  a  farmer  can  raise  from  300  to  400  pounds  per  acre,  worth  in  the 
drug  stores  from  $1,500  to  $3,500.  In  1867  he  planted  three-eighths  of 
an  acre  with  poppies,  and  made  147  lbs.  of  opium,  and  sold  it  for  $9  a 
pound.  Another  year,  from  a  space  of  ten  paces  by  five,  he  took  $68 
worth.  He  gives  the  following  rules  to  guide  those  who  wish  to  go  into 
the  poppy  business  : 
I.  Plant  in  rows  30  inches  apart,  and  drop  the  seed  8  or  10  or  12  inches 
apart,  from  three  to  six  seeds  in  a  hill ;  then  do  not  cover  more  than  an 
inch  deep. 
II.  Then  hoe  them  once  before  you  weed  them  ;  the  second  time  hoe 
them — hoe  them  close  as  possible  with  a  sharp-cornered  hoe  ;  then  weed 
the  third  time  ;  you  will  not  want  to  weed  the  fourth  time  ;  dress  over ; 
yoQ  will  need  to  watch  a  little  for  worms. 
III.  The  next  in  order  is  to  get  ready  to  manufacture  the  crop  into 
opium.  Get  your  mill  and  press  in  good  order,  then  get  your  vat  to  hold 
the  pumice,  have  it  lined  with  tin  or  brass  ;  then  your  plates  to  dry  the 
milk  on  ;  get  your  sifter  to  cleanse  in,  and  your  alcohol  to  prepare  the 
milk  to  eat  off  the  morphine  (!)  from  the  pumice.  This  will  help,  in  drying, 
to  prevent  souring  and  to  give  the  odor  of  foreign  opium. 
IV.  When  you  commence  cutting  the  plant,  you  will  see  there  are 
some  plants  that  are  more  forward  than  others ;  sort  them  out  and 
cut  them  first,  just  before  the  buds  begin  to  ripen — you  must  not  let  them 
ripen  ;  the  seeds  want  to  be  full  grown  ;  keep  sorting  every  day,  until 
you  get  through,  so  as  to  have  them  uniform.  The  main  thing  to  get  the 
matter  right  is  to  put  half  a  pint  of  alcohol  to  every  fifty  pounds  of  the 
pumice,  then  let  it  be  stirred  well  together  before  pressing;  then  set  a 
