PEPPERMINT, ITS CULTIVATION AND PRODUCE. 
239 
the seeds is stopped. The white poppy with black seeds (pavot a 
oeillette) has so thin a pericarp, that by the incision the seeds are 
lost, but the opium obtained therefrom contains the largest pro- 
portion of morphia. 
With regard to the cultivation of opium in France, Aubergier 
further observes, that the expenses incurred by the collection do 
not exceed the fourth part of the value of the crop, and if the 
seeds can be saved, their price will cover the rent and all other 
expenses. Six laborers gathered in 1846 at Clermont, 2,730 
kilogrammes of milky juice=682 grammes, or twenty-two ounces 
and seven-tenths of dry opium. The quality of the opium depends 
on the species of poppy, and in the same variety of poppy, on 
the more or less advanced maturity of the fruit when the opium is 
gathered. The climate has no influence upon the quality of the 
opium and on the quantity of morphia obtained from opium culti- 
vated in France and in Algiers. — Pharmaceutical Journal, May 1, 
from Central Blatt, Dec. 1850, p. 846. 
MITCH AM: ITS PHYSIC GARDENERS AND MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
PEPPERMINT, ITS CULTIVATION AND PRODUCE. , 
(Continued from page 150,) 
Land intended for peppermint, should be of a rich friable soil, 
rather moist, but not stagnant. If poor, it should have about 
twenty tons of manure to the acre, nor less than twelve if previous- 
ly dressed ; if more, the plant is apt to go to leaf at the expense of 
the oil. This should be ploughed under ten inches deep in the 
surface, in the beginning of winter, for although the stolons run 
upon the surface, the main roots descend deep in the soil, and this 
proceeding is requisite to keep the plants in a growing state dur- 
ing the hot part of summer. At the latter end of March, the fur- 
row ridges are harrowed down to make the ground level for the 
planters, who proceed with an instrument resembling a rake, hav- 
ing four large projecting teeth set to the distance the rows are in- 
tended to be apart, which is from four to eight; when eight they 
are one foot apart ; when only four, they are eighteen inches apart, 
and the plants one foot apart in the rows, and between every bed 
