Am.-lour.  Pharm  \ 
August,  1883.  J 
Cultivation  of  Pojypy  in  Turkey. 
413 
THE  CULTIVATION  OF  THE  POPPY  IN  EUROPEAN 
TURKEY. 
The  following  is  a  translation  of  instructions  as  to  the  cultivation  of 
the  poppy  and  the  method  of  extracting  and  preparing  opium,  which 
have  been  drawn  up  under  the  authority  of  the  Turkish  Government, 
and  distributed  throughout  the  agricultural  districts  of  Macedonia, 
with  a  view  to  promote  the  development  of  the  opium  industry  in 
that  province : 
"If  we  take  into  consideration  the  fact  that  poppy  seed  is  capable 
of  yielding  6  okes  (22 J  Ibs.)^  of  opium  and  10  kilos  of  seed  to  every 
dunum  (100  sq.  metres)  of  land  sown  ;  that  an  oke  of  opium  realizes 
400  pias  (£3  12s),  and  a  kilogram  of  poppy  seed  40  pias,  and  there- 
fore that  altogether  a  dunum  of  land  sown  with  poppy  seed  may  be 
Avorth  as  much  as  2,640  pias  (£23  15s) ;  if  at  the  same  time  we  bear  in 
mind  that  a  dunum  of  land  sown  with  wheat  seed  yields  at  most  10 
kilos  of  wheat  and  2,000  okes  of  straw,  and  that  with  wheat  realizing 
25  pias  the  kilogram,  and  with  straw  being  only  worth  30  pias  per 
200  okes,  the  total  possible  value  of  a  dunum  of  land  sown  with  wheat 
is  280  pias  (£2  10s.),  we  see  at  once  that  in  comparison  with  wheat 
and  other  similar  products  the  cultivation  of  the  opium  poppy  is  a 
most  lucrative  industry. 
"  Seeing  then  how  productive  of  wealth  the  cultivation  of  the  opium 
poppy  has  been  to  the  agricultural  population  of  the  sandjak  of  Broussa 
the  following  is  a  short  treatise  supplying  information  on  this  point. 
"  l^he  Various  Species  of  Poppy  Seed  and  the  Proper  Season  for 
Sowing. — Poppy  seed  is  also  sometimes  styled  ^Khashkash^  seed.  It 
is  very  small  and  it  is  of  two  kinds.  One  is  white  and  the  other  is  of 
a  darker  hue,  both  being  contained  within  shells  or  pods,  which  are 
sometimes  termed  cocoons.  These  cocoons  are  globular  in  shape^and  of 
the  size  of  a  Jerusalem  artichoke,  having  on  the  upper  side  a  roundish 
mark  which  is  termed  the  ^  comb.^  ' 
The  darker-hued  seed  is  of  two  species.  The  outer  shells  or  cocoons 
of  the  first  species  are  small,  and  may  be  distinguished  by  a  row  of 
small  holes,  through  which,  if  great  attention  be  not  paid,  as  soon  as 
the  outer  shells  are  fully  matured  and  ready  to  receive  the  produce  of 
the  seed  the  latter  drops  and  is  lost.    The  flowers  of  this  first  species 
^  The  figures  between  parentheses  are  inserted  as  approximately  correct. — 
Ed.  Ph.  J. 
