Four varieties of poppy are culti vated—two with white flowers and large oval capsules without holes under their "combs" (stigmata), and bearing respectively yellowish and white seed, and the other two having red or purple flowers and seeds of a slate colour with a reddish layer under the surface, one bearing small capsules perforated just below the top and the other larger capsules not perforated. The white varieties are recommended as bearing more abundant opium of superior quality. The yellow seed is said to yield the best oil; that obtained by hot pressure is used for lamps and for paint and the cold-pressed oil for culinary purposes.
The poppy grown in India is usually the white-flowered variety, but in the Himalayas a red-flowered poppy with dark seeds is cultivated. The land intended for poppy culture is usually near villages, in order that it may be more easily ma nured and irrigated. On a rich soil a crop of maize or vegetables is grown during the rainy season, and after its removal in Septem ber the ground is prepared for poppies. Under less favourable circumstances the land is prepared from July till October by ploughing, weeding and manuring. The seed is sown between Nov. I and 15, and germinates in I o or 15 days. The fields are divided for purposes of irrigation into beds about I o ft. square, which usually are irrigated between November and February; but if the season be cold, with hardly any rain, the operation is repeated five or six times. When the seedlings are 2 or 3 in. high, they are thinned out and weeded. The plants during growth are liable to injury by severe frost, excessive rain, insects, fungi and the growth of a root-parasite (Orobanche indica). The poppy flowers about the middle of February, and the petals, when about to fall, are collected for the purpose of making "leaves" for the spherical coverings of the balls of provision opium, or cannon ball opium as it is popularly called.
The variety grown in Persia appears to be var. album, having roundish ovate capsules. Several forms of this variety are grown. The best quality of Persian opium is said to be derived from the white-flowered form, which is the earliest to flower and most widely grown ; a second quality from a bizarre flower with deeply cut petals and a central band of bluish-purple flanked with rich magenta; a third quality from a white flower with broad margins and an apex of salmon pink and magenta ; a fourth from a dark scarlet flower with a central band of bluish purple to within a fifth of the apex of the petals; a fifth from a dark bluish purple flower; a sixth from a lilac flower suffused with faint purple colour, which is considered to yield a very poor quality indeed. The more fully exposed the plants are to the
sun the finer the crop.
Experiments made in England, France, Italy, Switzerland, Greece, Spain, Germany, and even in Sweden prove that opium as rich in morphia as that of Eastern countries can be produced in Europe. In 183o, Young, a surgeon at Edin burgh, succeeded in obtaining 56 lb. of opium from an acre of poppies, and sold it at 36s. a pound. In France, the cultivation has been carried on since 1844 at Clermont-Ferrand by Aubergier. The juice, of which a workman is able to collect about 9.64 troy oz. in a day, is evaporated by artificial heat immediately after collection. The juice yields about one-fourth of its weight of opium, and the percentage of morphia varies according to the variety of poppy used, the purple one giving the best results. By mixing assayed samples he is able to produce an opium con taining uniformly I o% of morphia. It is made up in cakes of 5o grammes but is not produced in sufficient quantity to become an article of wholesale commerce. Some specimens of French opium have been found by Guibourt to yield 22.8% of morphia, being the highest percentage observed as yet in any opium. Experiments made in Germany by Karsten, Jobst, and Vulpius have shown that it is possible to obtain in that country opium of excellent quality, containing 8 to 13% of morphia. It was found that the method yielding the best results was to make incisions in the poppy-heads soon of ter sunrise, to collect the juice with the finger immediately after incision, and evaporate it as speedily as possible, the colour of the opium being lighter and the percentage of morphia greater than when the juice was allowed to dry on the plant. Cutting through the poppy-heads caused the shrivel ling up of the young fruit, but the heads which had been care fully incised yielded more seed than those which had not been cut at all. Newly manured soil was found to act prejudicially on the poppy. The giant variety of poppy yielded most morphia.