Early in February and March the bleeding process commences. Three small lancet-shaped pieces of iron are bound together with cotton, about one-twelfth of an inch of the blade alone protruding ; and this is drawn sharply up from the base to the summit of the pod. The sets of the people are so arranged that each plant is bled all over once every three or four days, the bleedings being three or four times repeated on each plant. This operation always begins to be performed about three or four o'clock in the afternoon, the hottest part of the day. The juice appears almost immediately on the wound being inflicted, in the shape of a thick, gummy milk, which is quickly covered with a brownish pellicle. The exudation is greatest over-night, when the incisions are washed and kept open by the dew. The opium thus derived is scraped off next morning with a blunt iron tool resembling a cleaver in miniature. If the scraper be passed heavily over the seed-pod, so as to carry with it a considerable portion of the beard or pubescence, it contaminates the drug and increases its apparent quantity. The work of scraping begins at dawn, and must be continued till ten o'clock ; during this time a workman will collect seven or eight ounces of what is called 'chick.' The drug is next thrown into an earthen vessel, and covered over or drowned in linseed oil, at the rate of two parts of oil to one of chick, so as to prevent evaporation. This is the second process of adul teration,—the ryot desiring to sell the drug as much drenched with oil as possible, the retailers at the same time refusing to purchase that which is thinner than half-dried glue. One acre of well cultivated ground will yield from 70 to 100 pounds of chick. The price of chick varies from three to six rupees a pound, so that an acre will yield from 200 to GOO rupees' worth of opium at one crop. Three pounds of chick will produce about two pounds of opium, from the third to a fifth of the weight being lost in evaporation. It now passes into the hands of the Banya, who prepares it and brings it to market. From twenty-five to fifty pounds is tied up in parcels in double bags of sheeting cloth, which are suspended from the ceilings so •as to avoid air and light, while the spare linseed oil is allowed to drop through. This operation is completed in a week or ten days, but the bags are allowed to remain for a month or six weeks, during which period the last of the oil that can be separated comes away ; the rest probably absorbs oxygen and becomes thicker, as in paint. This process occupies from April to June or July, when the rain begins. The bags are next taken down, and their contents carefully emptied into large vats from ten to fifteen feet in diameter, and six or eight inches thick. Here it is mixed together and worked up with the hands five or six hours, until it has acquired a uniform colour and consistence throughout, become tough and capable of being formed into masses. This pro cess is peculiar to Malwa. It is now made up into balls of from eight to ten ounces each, these being thrown, as formed, into a basket full of the chaff of the seed-pods. It is next spread out on ground previously covered with leaves and stalks of the poppy ; hero it remains for a week or so, when it is turned over and left further to consolidate, until hard enough to bear packing. It is ready for weighing in October or November, and is then sent to market. It is next packed in chests of 150 cakes, the total cost of the drug at the place of production being about fourteen rupees per chest, including all expenses. Manipulations so numerous, complex, and tedious as those de scribed, give the most ample opportunities for the adulteration to which the nature of the drug tempts the fraudulent dealer.
British India Process.—In the British provinces the culture of the poppy is carried on solely for its opium product, and is more of a horticultural than an agricultural undertaking ; and the goind or gauhani lands near villages are, as a rule, always chosen. It is grown for opium in Bengal, the N.W. Provinces, and Oudh, and has always been a Government monopoly. It can be traced back to the 16th century. Under the British Government,
it was originally in the hands of contractors, who monopolized the manufacture, but in 1797 the management of it was entrusted to a covenanted civil servant. In that year the total area of culti vation amounted to 9460 bighas ; but it Ims steadilyincreased, and in 1878-9 it reached 928,241 bighas. From August to the end of October, the Government enters into agreements with the cultivators, through the agency of one of their number, whom they themselves select, and he receives a licence and is responsible for bal ances and any shortcomings, and the cultivators receive advances ranging from Rs. 4 to Rs. 6 per bigha. On the completion of the agreements, the fields are roughly measured, and sowings commence about the middle of November, and are continued till the first or second week of Decem ber ; and on completion, the fields arc accurately measured, and the name and caste of every culti vator, and the area of his field, are enterec. in the licence. During the cold-weather inspection tours, opium officers and their establishments examine the crop and estimate the out-turn.
The poppy seed germinates in from 10 to 15 days, and when about 2 inches high the fields are carefully weeded, watered, and thinned, those to be retained kept 3 or 4 inches apart from each other. After two weeks, these field operations are repeated, all sickly plants and all foreign herbs are carefully removed, and vigorous plants only left standing, at distances of 7 or 8 inches from each other. Watering and weeding are carried on until the plants commence to flower, which they do about the beginning of February, the time varying according to the time of sowing ; and a good cultivator will sow portions of his field at intervals of a week, so that the whole of- the plants may not become ready to have the drug extracted at the same time.
A short while after the plants have commenced flowering, the petals are carefully watched and collected, in the following manner :—Theforefinger and thumb encircle the stein just beneath the pod, and with the other fingers drawn inwards, a kind of tube is formed. This tube is then raised straight over the pod, and if the petals are matured, they come off ; they arc never plucked off, as that would injure the pod. The petals thus obtained aro formed into platters (patti) for wrapping round the opium cakes or balls. On the removal of the petals, the pods ripen rapidly, and when they become hard in February and March they are lanced with a three-pointed lancet ; a milky juice immediately exudes, and oozing out slowly, the fluid portion evaporates ; the outer portion of the tear hardens and assumes a rose red appearance, the inner, semi-fluid part being of a pinkish hue. The incisions are made in the capsule wall in the afternoon, and if the night be still and dew fall, the yield of opium is full. The tears of opium are carefully scraped off in the morning with a small spoon-shaped iron or shell scraper, and the finger or thumb is run over the incisions to close them. The tears thus collected are placed in an earthen vessel, slightly tilted to drain off the dew. A single healthy plant, under favourable circumstances, yields about 75 grains of opium in from 5 to 8 scarifications. The number of scarifications needed for all the juice to exude ranges from 1 to 8 and even 10. The above operations are carried on every second or third day, according to the time of collection, whether late or early in the season, or condition of the plant, whether sickly or healthy, until all the opium has been extracted from the pods. When the whole of the 'drug has been collected and treated separately as above described, it is carefully manipulated and put into a new earthen pot (kora), and set aside in some well-ventilated and safe place. Should the opium be of low spissitude, it is exposed in some shady place, very carefully turned over, so as not to spoil the grain (dana), and is so treated till it reaches the required consistency (jharti), and remains in the custody of the cultivator until weighed by the opium officers.