British opium. : The sum of thirty guineas, being the premium offered in the year 1822, was this session given to Messrs. Cowley & Staines, of Winslow, Bucks, for cultivating 12 acres of poppies, ...

Date:
1824
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: British opium. : The sum of thirty guineas, being the premium offered in the year 1822, was this session given to Messrs. Cowley & Staines, of Winslow, Bucks, for cultivating 12 acres of poppies, ... Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    found to afford sufficient room for the people, but not to such an extent as to encourage any further reduction. One of the greatest obstacles to the cultivation of opium is obviously the rainy weather which generally prevails during the season for its collection. In the last season we had scarcely a day without frequent showers, which of course carried off a considerable quantity of opium. As a preventative from some of the ill effects of the weather, we derived much advantage from an alteration in the position of the blades of the scarificator from the perpendicular to an angle of forty-five degrees, the object of which was to prevent the rain from lodging upon or entering the inci¬ sion. This intention it was found to fulfil, by forming the upper side of each incision into a sort of flap for the pro¬ tection of the lower side. We also perceived that it was a considerable improve¬ ment to operate upon alternate rows: we mean, for instance, to scarify and scrape the first, third, fifth, &c. rows through¬ out the field, and then to proceed with the second, fourth, sixth, &c. This was found completely to obviate the wasteful consequences of the rows being wiped by the clothes of the collectors. For the encouragement of those who may be deterred from cultivating opium by a want of resident labourers, we beg leave to state, that we last year employed, by way of experiment, six migrating Irish, all of whom were docile, peaceable, and industrious: they were paid one shilling per day, to work eleven hours. We also solicit permission to add, by way of a general guide to such as may wish to know how far the cultivation of the poppy can be extended at any particular place, that our population consists of about eleven hundred persons, of whom the female poor are all
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