the Economic Products of India.
Diseases of the Poppy Plant.
61
PAPAVER
somniferum.
injury to which the China opium cakes are liable. It appears to destroy
the aroma and other physical qualities of the opium if allowed to affect it
seriously. With regard to the conditions favourable or otherwise to this
mould on the cakes, Dr. Du rant remarks :-. I am much inclined to
attribute it to the use of an undue proportion of l e w a
, as it is a well known
fact that all adulterated opium of the kind and quality generally confiscat--
ed as unfit for use, if kept for a short time, will generate this fungus to any
extent. This fungus also may be seen to perfection during the rainy
season on the surface of all contraband opium classed as fourth quality,
which, as a rule, is chiefly composed of foreign extracts, and is kept in
large wooden boxes until destroyed. The only remedy for infected cakes
is to strip off at once all affected parts of the shell, and to replace it by a
new one well smeared with fresh lewa.' A moist and hot atmosphere is
peculiarly favourable to its development and rapid extension, and really the
only practical mode of suppressing it, for example, in our opium godowns,
as in other closed structures, is to supplement free ventilation with a per-
-
fectly dry atmosphere—conditions which, throughout the rainy season at
least, could only be secured by introducing hot air pipes or other heating
apparatus into the godowns. The black mould is of that class technically
called hysterophytes, which chiefly affects dead or decaying matters, and
like many others characterised by a high selective power, absorbing and
assimilating nutritious and rejecting noxious matters, so as to flourish
amongst the most poisonous of chemical substances, if not of a corrosive
nature. It is thus useless to attempt its suppression by the artificial ap
-
plication of mineral salts, &c., to its nidus "
3rd, Mechanical Injuries.—Mr. Scott devotes some six or seven pages
of his Opium Husbandry to this subject. Space cannot be afforded
to deal with all the insects, birds, &c., which he alludes to. Suffice it to say
that several caterpillars are very destructive, but that these are greedily
devoured by the crow and the mina. Crickets often do considerable damage
to the young poppy plants A hemipterous insect known to the cultivators
as Lhi is often destructive during dry weather. Similarly, during dry
weather a mite does harm by spinning its web over the surface of the poppy
leaves. The seed reserved for next year's crop is also attacked by various
species of mites, beetles, and grubs; for these pests Mr. Scott recommends
the use of camphor in the vessels used for storing the seed. (For further
information on Insects destructive to the Poppy crop and to Opium, see
the article Pests below.)
Of birds Mr. Scott specially mentions the parrakeet (totha or soogha)
which feeds on the seeds in the capsules. To get at these it slits open the
capsules and does much harm to the opium crop. If disturbed, it dex
-terously darts down from a height and nips off a capsule, the seeds of
which are devoured leisurely on a neighbouring tree. Mr. Scott never
observed the white-ants to eat opium, and thus disbelieves in the common
report that they do so.
In many of the reports which the writer has consulted a further enemy, to
the poppy crop, is said to exist in monkeys, who eat the leaves but do more
damage by breaking down the plants than by their removal of the leaves.
CULTIVATION
Diseases.
Mu cor.
Mechanical
Injuries.
EXTRACTION OF CRUDE DRUG FROM_THE
POPPY AND MANUFACTURE OF OPIUM, MORPHIA, &c.
The cultivation of the poppy yields to the rayat several substances, from
each of which he obtains a pecuniary return for his labours. These may
briefly be said to be the (a) inspissated sap of the unripe capsules—opium
— i n i t s c r u d e f o r m ;
( b )
t h e m o i s t u r e a n d s o l u b l e i n g r e d i e n t s k n o w n a sp
a s e w a
which drain from the opium ; (c) poppy petals (technically known as
MANUFAC-
TURE.