364      CULTURE  AND  COMMERCE  IN  OPIUM  IN  ASIA  MINOR. 
entail  more  trouble,  and  perhaps  loss  of  time,  they  pretend  that, 
unless  saliva  is  used,  the  Opium  would  turn,  or  ferment. 
As  soon  as  a  sufficient  quantity  of  the  juice,  or  Opium,  is  col- 
lected to  form  a  ball,  it  is  wrapped  in  poppy  leaves,  and  put  to 
dry  in  the  shade  for  a  short  time  only.  There  is  no  given  size 
for  cakes  of  Opium  and  they  vary  very  much,  being  from  a  few 
ounces  to  two  or  more  pounds,  but  in  some  villages  they  are 
made,  on  an  average,  larger  than  in  others. 
Short  as  is  the  time  between  making  the  incision  and  collect- 
ing the  Opium,  it  is  still  the  most  precarious  o/ie  of  all,  for  either 
a  shower,  by  no  means  an  unusual  thing  at  that  time  of  the 
year,  a  heavy  dew,  or  a  strong  wind  would  suffice  to  destroy  the 
crop  of  all  those  fields,  that  the  day  previous  had  been  prepared 
for  collecting. 
As  a  rule,  every  poppy-head  is  only  cut  once,  but  as  each 
plant  produces  several  heads  which  don't  arrive  together  at  ma- 
turity, the  operation  of  the  incision  and  gathering  of  the  juice 
is  generally  gone  over  twice,  or  thrice,  in  the  same  field,  when 
the  opportunity  is  taken  of  recutting  such  heads  as  exceed  the 
usual  size. 
Amongst  the  peculiarities  of  the  poppy  there  is  this,  that  its 
yield  does  not  entirely  depend  upon  its  condition,  the  amount  of 
dew  falling  the  night  after  the  incision  is  made  having  the  great- 
est influence  on  both  quantity  and  quality.  The  heavier  it  is, 
as  long  as  it  is  not  so  heavy  as  to  wash  away  the  milk,  the 
greater  the  yield,  but  in  proportion  to  this  increase  is  also  the 
weakness  or  inferiority  of  the  production  ;  this  accounts  for 
the  greater  proportion  of  inferior  Opium  usually  found  in  large 
crops. 
The  Opium  grower  is  generally  a  small  land  proprietor,  who 
cultivates  as  much  as  his  own  family  circle  can  attend  to  ;  nor 
would  it  be  possible  for  large  land  holders  to  grow  this  article 
on  a  large  scale,  owing  to  the  want  of  hands,  but  supposing  even 
that  laborers  could  be  obtained,  such  would  be  the  necessary  ex- 
penditure for  the  same,  that  it  is  very  questionable  whether  it 
would  pay. 
From  the  grower  the  Opium  passes  into  the  hands  of  the 
merchants  of  the  interior,  who,  after  collecting  it  together,  pack 
