554     CULTIVATION  OF  THE  OPIUM  POPPY  IN  AUSTRALIA. 
formed  the  same  experiments  with  relatively  the  same  results. 
This  year  I  hope  to  extend  my  operations  and  try  many  other 
manures,  and  have  requested  all  who  are  growing  opium  to  favor 
me  with  all  particulars  respecting  manures,  soil,  mode  of  culture 
and  collection  and  yield,  and,  if  possible,  a  sample  of  the 
opium. 
I  cannot  imagine  my  experiments  as  at  all  conclusive,  as  the 
differences  might  have  occurred  on  different  parts  of  the  same 
ground ;  but  if  I  find  that  treatment  with  stable  manure,  as  a 
rule  throughout  the  colony,  gives  a  worse  yield  than  if  manured 
with  guano,  I  may  then  reasonably  think  that  Peruvian  guano 
is  more  fit  for  manuring  poppies  than  stable  manure  ;  and  so  on, 
until  I  arrive  at  the  best  manure  and  best  method  of  cultivation 
of  the  poppy,  so  as  to  obtain  the  greatest  and  most  valuable 
yield  of  opium. 
Samples  of  opium  accompanying  this  paper : 
No.  1.  Produced  in  1867-8,  from  80  poppies,  at  Sunbury, 
twenty-two  miles  from  Melbourne. 
No.  2.  Produced  in  1869-70,  near  Gisborne,  thirty-two  miles 
from  Melbourne,  on  a  river-flat  of  rich  alluvial  soil ;  yield  84 
lbs.  per  acre. 
No.  3.  From  near  Bairnsdale,  Gipp's  Land,  in  a  very  cold 
climate ;  yield  over  60  lbs.  per  acre. 
No.  4.  From  near  Gisborne,  1867-8 ;  yield  50  lbs.  per  acre. 
No.  5.  Grown  in  1868-9,  at  Soh  Yarra,  near  Melbourne, 
collected  and  dried  on  tin  plates,  so  that  it  is  the  pure  juice 
dried. 
No.  6.  Grown  in  1868-9,  at  Dromana,  on  the  shores  of  Port 
Philip  Bay,  in  very  sandy  soil ;  the  produce  of  420  plants. 
Mr.  Dymond  (Birmingham)  observed  that  the  plan  adopted 
by  the  author,  of  cutting  off  the  poppy  capsules  and  then 
extracting  the  opium  from  them,  was  not  that  practised  in  the 
East.    He  had  made  experiments  with  garden  poppies. 
Mr.  Sutton  (Norwich)  said  that  some  years  ago  a  medical 
gentleman  in  his  neighborhood  grew  a  considerable  number  of 
poppies,  and  extracted  opium  by  incision  from  day  to  day,  but 
