IS ON THE CULTIVATION OF OPIUM IN ARMENIA. 
the opium from those incised the day previous ; this he 
does by drawing his knife over the line of the incision 
where the matter is collected; he thus collects on the knife 
the matter from one or from several heads, and deposits it 
on a leaf of the poppy ; some use the leaf of the grape vine 
or other plant, although this practice is not generally ap- 
proved. When he has collected a sufficiency, he wraps and 
compresses it in the leaf. The leaves that are used should 
be yellow, as the green leaf blackens the opium. It is also 
necessary to have the precaution not to use leaves which 
are so much dried as to break up when used. If the second 
day of the incision is foggy, the opium does not become 
dry, and is notcollected till the following day, unless it should 
rain. Although the fog blackens the exudation, it does not 
injure its quality. 
When gathered in very fine weather, the opium is in den- 
ticulated tears of a red colour. This is Kez Jifioni^ (the 
opium of the family,) produced only by four species of seed. 
The principal circumstance which contributes to the excel- 
lence of this opium, is the serenity of the weather, though 
a red soil and careful tillage contribute toward the produc- 
tion of a good article. The most favourable localities for 
opium are those which are the least foggy, by reason of 
constantly prevailing winds. Such are Emide and Giurez, 
and hence the fame of the opium of those countries. 
Laborers who have not been accustomed to incising and 
collecting the juice, after being engaged at it some hours be- 
come intoxicated ; cases of this kind are numerous and re- 
markable; it is observed also of infants at the breast, who 
are carried by their mothers to their work, that though 
placed at a distance from the field, and only occasionally 
visited and nursed by them, they often fall into a state of 
drowsiness, and sleep till night from the odour of the opium 
upon the clothes of the mother. These children sometimes 
grow up dull and stupid from the opium being too freely 
employed by their mothers when desirous of leaving them 
