The purest opium is said to be collected at Ushak. Bogaditch, and Simav ; but the pieces are small and stick together, which makes them unsightly. The Karahissar produce is reckoned not so good, and the pieces are larger. The fancied superiority of the article from certain districts is proved to be only partially correct by the fact that the quantity sold under these particular names is often 3-4 times as great as the localities could produce. Formerly the only opium-growing districts in the interior were Karahissar, Konieh, Yerli, Bogaditch, and Balikesri, and the crop was usually about 2500-4000 baskets. The crop of the Karahissar district was estimated to fluctuate between the following figures, representing a " good fair " and a " full " crop respectively :—Kasahissar, 400-500 baskets ; Afion Cassaba, 50-100 ; Sandukii, 200-250 ; Sitchanli, 60-80 ; Kararnuk,'25-30 ; Tzai, 30-40; Bolavadin, 50-60; Ushak, 250-400; Ishikli, 100-200; Ekmd, Takmak, Coullah, 100-200 ; Tzal, Baklan, 80-100 ; Simav, Ghediz, Enebvassi, Taouchanli, 200-250 ; Kutayah, 40-50 ; Boladitch, Eskihissar, 30-50 ; Ak Shair, 250-300 ; Yalavatch, 250-300 ; Karagatch, Sparta, Bourdroun, 150-200; total, 2265-3110. The largest quantities arc now produced in the north western districts of Karahissar Sahib, Balahissar, Kutaya, and Kiwa (Geiveh), the last on the river Sakariyeh, running into the Black Sea. These centres send a superior quality by way of Ismid to Constantinople, the best it would seem from Bogaditch and Balikesri, near the Susurlu river. The chief northern centres are Angora and Amasia. In the centre of the peninsula, Usliak and Afion Karahissar are important localities, as well as Isbarta, Buldur and Hamid farther south ; the product of these places is concentrated at Smyrna. The export of opium from Smyrna was 5650 cases, value 784,5001., in 1871. Samsoon, in 1878, exported 19,865 kilo., value 31,7841., to Turkey (Constantinople), and 1667 kilo., value 3000/., to Great Britain. The crop of 1879 was an average one, amounting to about 5200 chests in Asia Minor. The cultivation has extended into several new districts in Anatolia ; also in Thessaiy, where very superior qualities are produced.
The names and qualities of opium as classified at Smyrna are as follows :—Bogaditch, Yerli, Karahissar, common, talequak, and chiquinti. It is bought and quoted at so many piasters ("good money," i. e. in silver medjidies at 20 p.) the chequi". The approximate relative values may be given as :—" Karahissar," last year's crop, 250 p. a thequf ; yoghourma, good quality, 225; yoghourma seconds, 210 ; talequale and chiquinti, mixed, 220. Since 1868, when the crop was very short, the demand has rapidly increased ; in 1877-8, the consumption in• America and on the Continent reached 6900 baskets, and in 1878-9, 6300. This fact has induced a widely augmented cultivation. The production in baskets, and price (min. and max.) in piasters a chegur, during the last 10 years, have been as follows :-1870, 4500, 250-285 ; 1871, 8500, 130-200 ; 1872, 4400, 160-220 ; 1873, 3200, 165-260 ; 1874, 2500, 130-274 ; 1875, 6300, 122-145 ; 1876, 3250, 137i-190 ; 1877, 9500, 122i-138 ; 1878, 6100, 120-145 ; 1879, 4200, 135-250.
The first baskets of opium reach Smyrna at about the end of May or beginning of June, but it is not safe to effect any shipments before the month of August, for the following reasons :—(1) too fresh opium is liable to get heated, (2) the chiquinti is not so easily detected, and (3) it suffers a loss of weight. Apart from agricultural causes, the crop of opium depends in a great measure upon the
prices ruling at the close of a season, which influences the area of land sown ; after a large crop, with low prices, a small crop, with high prices, is almost sure to follow, and vice versa. The best time for purchasing is, as a rule, at the commencement of a season ; with a small crop, however, the chances are often most in favour of the buyer at the end of a season, prices being affected towards the close by the coming crop.
" Turkey," " Smyrna," or " Constantinople " opium, the produce of Asia Minor, occurs in com merce in the form of indefinite masses, which, according to their softness, become more or lees flattened, many-sided, or irregular, by mutual pressure in the packing-cases. The most usual weight is lb. but it is governed by no rule, and varies from 1 oz. to more than 6 lb. The exterior is coated with fragments of poppy-leaves, and strewn with the dock chaff before mentioned, and is thus rendered sufficiently dry to bear handling. The consistence is such that the substance can be readily cut by a knife and moulded by the fingers. The interior is moist and coarsely granular, varying in colour from light-chestnut to blackish-brown. Fine shreds of the epidermis of the head are easily visible. The odour is peculiar, but not disagreeable ; the flavour is bitter.
In Persia.—The variety of Papaver somniferum grown in Persia is 7. album (P. officinale), having ovate-roundish heads, containing white seeds. It is cultivated principally in Yezd and Ispahan, and partly in the districts of Khorasan, Kerman, Fars, and Shuster. The opium produced in Yezd is considered better than that obtained in Ispahan and elsewhere, owing to the climate and soil of the former place being better adapted for the growth of the drug. But the district of- Yezd, not withstanding the existence of a large cultivable area, is not capable of any considerable extension of the cultivation of opium, owing to the insufficiency of the means, both natural and artificial, of irrigation. Ispahan, however, differs from Yezd in this latter respect, as it abounds in streams and rivers, and is capable of greater extension of the cultivation of the drug. But the cultivation of cotton and cereals takes up a large part of these resources, and tends in no small degree to reduce the culture of opium. A few years ago, the profits of opium having attracted the attention of the Persians, almost all available or suitable ground in Yezd, Iapahan, and elsewhere, was utilized for its cultivation, to the exclusion of other produce. It was then supposed that opium cultivation would be indefinitely extended in Persia, but circumstances eventually showed that such could not be the case. These attempts, combined with drought and other circumstances, resulted in the famine of 1871-2. The costly experience then gained has made the Persiana more careful in appropriating space for the cultivation of opium, yet it is being yearly extended to fresh districts, and about Shiraz and in Behbehan is now occupying much of the land.