458 
NOTE  ON  FRENCH  OPIUM. 
this  cultivation,  were  it  only  for  their  own  consumption  ?  For 
mj  part,  I  set  to  work  and  have  obtained,  as  you  see  below, 
various  satisfactory  results.  I  began  my  experiments  in  1857, 
and  repeated  them  in  1858  and  1859.  It  is  the  brown-purple 
poppy  that  I  cultivate,  as  yielding  opium  in  which  the  pro- 
portion of  morphia  varies  the  least,  and  also  that  in  which  the 
proportion  is  similar  to  that  which  the  best  foreign  opium  used 
in  pharmaceutical  preparations  should  contain.  Here  is  the 
summary  of  my  proceedings  : — 
In  soil  well  manured,  in  March,  from  the  1st  to  the  15th,  I 
sow  in  rows,  25  centimetres  apart  (nearly  10  inches),  my  poppy- 
seed  mixed  with  a  little  sand;  I  then  roll  it,  and  when  the  plant 
is  well  up,  that  is  to  say,  in  about  four  or  five  weeks,  the  weeds 
which  have  sprung  up  between  the  rows,  and  which  must  injure 
the  development  of  the  young  plant,  are  cut  away  ;  a  little  later, 
towards  the  15th  of  May,  it  is  necessary  to  weed  with  the  hand, 
an  operation  which  not  only  destroys  the  weeds,  but  also  helps 
to  thin  the  poppy  plants,  for  these  latter  are  always  too  thick, 
whatever  precaution  may  be  taken  in  the  process  of  sowing.  The 
weeding  ended,  nothing  remains  to  be  done  until  the  time  for 
collecting  the  opium,  which  takes  place  generally  from  the  8th 
to  the  15th  of  July. 
Moreover,  if  it  is  important  not  to  wait  until  the  capsules  begin 
to  turn  yellow  before  the  incisions  are  made,  it  is  equally  so  not 
to  begin  on  capsules  yet  too  green,  unless  you  wish  to  see  the 
juice,  yet  too  thin,  run  down  and  partly  be  lost.  Experience  will 
very  soon  show  when  it  is  time  to  begin  the  work  ;  but  at  this 
point  the  operations  must  be  conducted  judiciously,  for  when  the 
poppies  begin  to  turn  yellow,  the  juice  flows  scarcely  at  all.  The 
laticiferous  vessels  being  at  the  circumference  of  the  capsules,  a 
superficial  incision  is  sufficient  to  reach  them,  whilst  an  incision 
which  would  penetrate  within  the  capsule  would  permit  a  por- 
tion of  the  juice  to  flow  into  it,  and  would  thus  diminish  by  so 
much  the  produce.  More  than  this,  it  would  cause  a  disappoint- 
ment in  the  loss  of  some  of  the  seeds  when  the  capsule  was  ripe. 
The  incisions  should  be  circular  rather  than  perpendicular.  The 
same  capsules  may  be  incised  two  or  three  times,  with  an  inter- 
val of  twenty-four  hours,  and  will  supply  each  time  a  fresh 
quantity  of  opium. 
