the Economic Products of India.
45
PAPAVER
Cultivation of Poppy in Bengal.
somniferum.
Preparation of the Land & Methods of Cultivation.
I.—PATNA AND BENARES AGENCIES.
In these agencies the opium year is considered to commence in Sep-
tember It is customary to follow poppy cultivation after Indian-corn
as a kharif crop, the soil being at once prepared after the collection of
the corn. This is done by passing the plough and hingah (clod-crusher)
over it, at intervals of a week or ten days, till the middle of October,
when the earliest sowings commence. The sowing may, however, be
extended to the middle of November. Land in the immediate vicinity of
the villages is generally selected for the poppy on account of its being more
highly manured. A soil which might be described as a sandy-loam is
considered the best. The seed is generally that saved from last year's
crop, but care is taken to select for this purpose the healthiest and most
productive capsules. In some cases the rayats, however, recognise the
advantage of getting seed from districts remote from their own, and indeed
the seed from certain parts of the country they recognise as of special
merit.
Manure.—In the words used by Dr. Eatwell it may be said that the
poppy lands are "manured to the extent which the means of the cultivator
will admit." Mr. Gennoe suggests as one of the best of manures that
goats and sheep should be penned in the fields, " as the manure thus
obtained operates favourably on and is peculiarly invigorating for the soil."
He also speaks of the poppy lands being highly manured. Mr. Scott devotes
Chapters V., VI , and VII. (þþ. 14 to 41) of his Opium Husbandry to the
subject of manures. He there furnishes a useful essay on the principles of
scientific manuring and the different kinds of manure, but has little to say
either as to the native methods of manuring the poppy fields or the system
which he regards as the best. He occasionally speaks of certain manures
as useful. For
example, of green manures he urges the superior merits of
sani ( Crotolaria juncea ), and he commends the value of the water in which
both san hemp and jute have been retted. The poppy stalks, he says,
would naturally be expected to prove valuable. but unfortunately they are
far too often used as fuel and only return to the ground in the form of
ashes. Of oil-cakes, he says, castor oil has perhaps a more immediate
action than any of the others. Ashes (rakh), he remarks, are peculiarly
valuable as a poppy land manure, provided the potash has not been allowed
to be washed out of them through carelessness. Nitrate of potash
(shorah) in Mr. Scott's opinion is one of the best mineral manures for poppy
and may either be applied as a top-dressing at different stages of the crop
or scattered over the field after the sowing and first watering of the seed.
It may be applied at from one to four maunds per bĺ g h á .C
o m m e n t i n g
on top dressing he says :—" It is to be observed that the main object in
view in the manurial top-dressing of the opium plant is to supply direct to
the leaves certain compounds which, under atmospheric action, may be
induced to afford, in a readily available form, materials likely to promote
the secretion and enrich the quality of the drug in the plant." For this
purpose he suggests the following as the best top dressings :—
(1st) Oil-cakes —These should be applied as a first top-dressing when the
plants have been finally thinned. Cowdung, he adds, in a fresh state dried
and broken up with ashes, makes an excellent top-dressing.
(2nd) Shorah 40 seers, lime 160 seers, with 20 maunds of nonimatlee, to
be applied after the flower-buds make their appearance.
(3rd) Khareenoon 40 seers, lime 160 seers, mixed with 20 maunds of
nonimattee and applied as in No. 2.
CULTIVATION
in
Bengal.
BENGAL.
Manure.