368  Pbppy  Culture  in  Australia.  {Ama^iot2.m" 
gather  the  following  interesting  facts.    About  a  drachm  of  the  seed, 
which  was  that  of  the  white  variety,  was  sown  in  the  early  part  of 
August  along  each  of  three  drills,  86  feet  long  and  two  feet  apart, 
and  were  lightly  covered  with  small  firewood,  bark  and  sand.  The 
land  was  rather  heavy,  and  mixed  with  a  good  deal  of  quartz.  It  had 
been  well  manured  and  broken  up  ;  grape  vines  had  been  grown  on  it 
for  a  succession  of  years.    On  the  18th  day  after  sowing,  the  young 
shoots  were  visible,  looking  like  fine  blades  of  grass,  and  they  contin- 
ued to  grow  pretty  well.  When  between  five  and  six  inches  high  they 
were  weeded  out,  and  several  were  transplanted,  but  all  the  latter 
died,  in  consequence,  probably,  of  insufficient  watering  and  the  heat 
of  the  weather.    By  the  20th  November  the  others  were  flourishing 
"  like  great  cabbages."  These  began  to  flower  pretty  freely  by  the  first 
week  in  December,  by  the  time  the  plants  were  about  five  feet  or  five 
feet  eight  inches  high.  The  capsules  produced  varied  in  size  from  one 
inch  to  two  and  a  half  inches  in  diameter.  After  the  petals  had  fallen 
off,  and  while  the  stamens  were  still  clustering  round  the  neck  of  the 
capsules,  horizontal  incisions  half  round  the  heads  at  the  lower  part 
were  made.  A  creamy  juice  exuded  from  these  cuts,  which  were  made 
in  the  afternoon,  and  it  soon  became  pinkish,  and  by  the  following 
morning  brownish  red,  and  of  a  tenacious  consistence,  when  it  was 
scraped  off  with  a  sharp  straight  knife,  and  collected  on  the  edge  of  a 
small  tin  cover,  which  plan  is  recommended  as  being  less  troublesome 
and  not  so  wasteful  as  the  usual  one  of  gathering  the  opium  upon  the 
poppy  leaf.    Each  poppy  head  did  not  yield  more  than  equal  to  the 
bulk  of  a  small  pea,  and  from  all  the  plants  raised  from  the  drachm 
of  seed  250  grains  of  opium  were  collected  ;  but  it  must  be  borne  in 
mind  that  many  plants  were  entirely  lost,  and  others  not  matured. 
The  opium  collected  was  considered  to  be  of  very  good  quality. 
The  conclusions  arrived  at  from  this  experiment  are  that  the  poppy 
requires  a  certain  amount  of  careful  nursing  and  a  pretty  liberal  sup- 
ply of  water.  The  distance  between  the  rows  should  be  three  feet,  to 
allow  of  the  full  growth  of  the  leaves  and  room  to  pass  between  the 
plants  when  collecting  the  juice.  A  sheltered  aspect  should  be  chosen, 
so  as  to  protect  the  plants  from  strong  wrinds.  Finally,  the  writer 
says, — "  The  collection  of  the  product  is  not,  to  say  the  least,  very 
agreeable  ;  and,  from  the  length  of  time  occupied  by  it,  the  labor  must 
be  very  cheap  for  the  crop  to  pay.  Perhaps  the  plant  might  be  cul- 
tivated with  profit  near  industrial  schools.    In  conclusion,  I  think  the 
