CULTIVATION OF THE POPPY, ETC 
121 
dry) blows violently, the exudation is sparing. Whilst these ef- 
fects are well marked and traced to meteorological influences, the 
causes of variations in the chemical constitution of the products 
are more obscure ; but it is probable that the causes mentioned in 
connection with variable soils, are chiefly influential. 
Dr. O'Shaughnessy found the morphia in eight specimens of 
Behar opium to vary from If to 3J per cent, and the narcotina 
from J to 3| per cent., the consistence of the opium varying from 
75 to 79. Opium from the Hazareebaugh district yielded 4J per 
cent, of morphia and 4 of narcotina, (the consistence being 77,) 
whilst a specimen of garden Patna opium afforded lOj per cent, 
morphia and 6 per cent, of narcotina, the consistency being 87. 
It is to be regretted that the soils which produced these specimens 
were not analysed. The climate in which the garden Patna opium 
was produced, was precisely the same as that influencing the pro- 
duction of the poorer specimens, and therefore could not have ex- 
erted much influence in their variations. 
The white poppy only is cultivated in the Benares and Behar 
plantations. In situations favorable to its growth, it vegetates 
luxuriantly, attaining usually a height of four feet. The stem is 
branched and terminated by from two to five ovate globose cap- 
sules, averaging in size a duck's egg. (See fig. 2.) The plant 
requires 3J months to reach maturity, and is exclusively cultivated 
in the cool season from November to March. The seed are changed 
every two or three years, and certain districts that produce them 
of superior quality, yield supplies to less favored localities. 
The soil having been prepared as described, the seed are sown 
broad-cast between the 1st and 15th of November. In three or 
four days the land is ploughed to bury the seed and then rolled. 
The whole surface is then divided into squares of ten feet, be- 
tween which are channels for irrigation. In ordinary seasons two, 
and in dry seasons five or six irrigations are necessary. Germina- 
tion ensues in ten or twelve days, and after the plants are two or 
three inches high, they are carefully weeded and thinned. The 
growth of the poppy is liable to injury from frost, from being 
stunted owing to late re-planting, or from excessive heat and de- 
ficient moisture. Blight and parasitical plants, (especially the 
Orobanche Indica,) also in some cases cause injury. 
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