CULTIVATION  OF  THE  OPIUM  POPPY  IN  AUSTRALIA.  551 
The  farmers  in  Victoria,  for  a  good  many  years,  have  been 
touched  with  a  desire  to  try  new  crops  and  new  industries. 
Among  the  many  ventures,  suitable  or  unsuitable,  was  the  culti- 
vation of  the  poppy  and  the  production  of  opium,  which  has 
been  tried  with  varying  success  for  the  past  four  or  five  years. 
I  have  felt  some  interest  in  this  subject  and  have  collected  ^ 
many  samples  from  various  districts,  and  also  performed  some 
rather  crude  experiments  myself  on  the  growth  of  the  poppy, 
which  I  beg  to  submit.  I  feel  that,  perhaps,  my  conclusions  may 
be  of  little  value,  but  as  I  propose  extending  my  investigations 
annually,  I  hope  eventually  to  arrive  at  the  best  means  of  pro- 
ducing the  greatest  amount  of  opium  together  with  richness  in 
morphia,  from  a  given  quantity  of  poppy  plants. 
The  first  opium  produced  in  any  quantity  in  Victoria  was  at 
Sunbury,  a  village  about  twenty-two  miles  from  Melbourne.  Soil 
strong,  rich,  volcanic.  It*  was  a  good-looking  opium ;  on  ana- 
lysis it  only  yielded  some  2  per  cent,  of  morphia,  but  contained 
an  abnormal  amount  of  other  opium  constituents,  notably  narco- 
tine,  of  which  there  was  about  8  per  cent.  I  sent  samples  of 
this,  and  other  opium  from  about  the  same  locality,  to  T.  N.  R». 
Morson,  Esq.,  who,  as  reported  in  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal 
for  January,  1869,  stated,  It  was  of  great  beauty  as  far  as 
external  characters  were  concerned,  it  had  the  perfect  odor  of 
good  opium,  and  it  dissolved  with  the  Persian  character,  but, 
singular  to  say,  it  contained  very  little  morphia,  but  a  great 
abundance  of  the  other  principles  known  to  exist  in  opium." 
This  opinion,  from  so  well  known  an  authority  on  all  con- 
cerned with  opium,  of  course  reached  Melbourne,  and  was  pub- 
lished here  with  the  effect  of  greatly  discouraging  the  industry. 
However,  a  few  did  continue  to  plant  and  produce,  and  this  last 
season  probably  a  hundredweight  and  a  half  were  brought  into 
the  market  here,  where  it  realized  about  thirty  shillings  (30s.) 
per  lb.,  as  it  proved  to  be  a  very  good  opium,  containing  from  8 
per  cent,  to  10  per  cent,  of  morphia. 
Mr.  Morson's  opinion  being  so  much  thought  of,  I  sent  him 
samples.  His  report  being  a  favorable  one,  I  had  it  published 
in  the  agricultural  papers,  and  now  some  attention  is  again  given 
*  Sample  1. 
