ON  AMERICAN  OPIUM. 
51 
this  opium,  but  there  was  only  a  small  quantity  made,  not  more 
than  eight  or  ten  ounces,  and  not  more  than  one  hour's  time  was 
occupied  every  morning  for  about  three  weeks." 
"  I  can  form  no  reliable  opinion  as  to  how  much  an  acre  would 
yield,  from  the  fact  that  only  a  small  piece  of  very  rich  land 
(formerly  an  asparagus  bed)  was  used,  and  the  poppies  did  not 
come  up  at  all  regularly,  nor  was  all  the  opium  made  that  might 
have  been." 
"  The  seed  should  be  drilled  in  rich  land,  in  August  or  Sep- 
tember, leaving  room  for  a  person  to  pass  between  the  rows,  and 
the  plants  to  be  thinned  out  in  the  spring  so  as  to  stand  about 
eighteen  inches  or  two  feet  apart."       *       *       *  * 
In  relation  to  my  experiments,  I  have  to  regret  at  the  outset 
that  I  had  not  in  the  first  instance  more  fully  considered  my  sub- 
ject, and  divided  the  small  amount  of  material  at  hand  into  seve- 
ral portions,  with  a  view  of  not  only  repeating  the  process  used, 
for  the  extraction  of  the  two  important  alkaloids  referred  to, 
with  certain  modifications,  so  as  more  correctly  to  ascertain  the 
true  percentage  of  these,  but  also  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining 
the  relative  proportion  of  these  yielded  by  each  year's  product ; 
the  quantity  of  soluble  matter  yielded  by  each  to  different  men- 
strua, and  other  minor  points  of  interest  in  connection  with  the 
investigation  of  a  substance  of  so  much  importance  as  opium  pro- 
duced under  the  circumstances  of  these  specimens. 
It  was  not,  however,  until  after  1  had  nearly  completed  my 
experiments  that  I  took  this  view  of  the  subject,  which  was  then 
too  late  for  my  purpose,  having  already  submitted  the  quantity  I 
received  to  the  two  processes  about  to  be  described. 
The  opium  in  question  presented  physically  the  appearance  of 
a  good  article  as  compared  with  the  best  varieties  of  the  imported 
drug,  not,  however,  possessing  the  characteristic  odor  in  so 
marked  a  degree.  I  would  here  observe  that  the  sample  of  opium 
marked  as  being  made  in  1864,  possessed  not  only  the  peculiar 
smell  of  opium  in  a  higher  degree  than  the  sample  made  in  1865, 
but  also  a  nearer  approach  in  color  to  that  most  highly  esteemed 
in  the  foreign  drug. 
One  of  the  specimens  being  received  in  the  form  of  powder,  I 
dried  the  other  and  likewise  pulverized  it,  and  thoroughly  mixed 
