Beyond these vast districts, the area under poppy cultivation is comparatively small,[224] yet it appears to be on the increase. Stewart[225] reports (1869) that the plant is grown (principally for opium) throughout the plains of the Punjab, but less commonly in the north-west. In the valley of the Biās, east of Lahore, it is cultivated up to nearly 7500 feet above the sea-level.
The manufacture of opium in these parts of India is not under any restriction as in Hindustan. Most districts, says Powell (1868),[226] cultivate the poppy to a certain extent, and produce a small quantity of indifferent opium for local consumption. The drug, however, is prepared in the Hill States, and the opium of Kūlū (E. of Lahore), is of excellent quality, and forms a staple article of trade in that region. Opium is also produced in Nepal, Basāhīr and Rāmpūr, and at Doda Kashtwar in the Jammū territory.[227] It is exported from these districts to Yarkand, Khutan, Aksu, and other Chinese provinces,—to the extent in 1862 of 210 maunds (= 16,800 lb.). The Madras Presidency exports no opium at all.
The opium districts of Bengal[228] are divided into two agencies, those of Behar and Benares, which are under the control of officials residing respectively at Patna and Ghazipur. The opium is a government monopoly—that is to say, the cultivators are under an obligation to sell their produce to the government at a price agreed on beforehand; at the same time it is wholly optional with them, whether to enter on the cultivation or not.
The variety of poppy cultivated is the same as in Persia, namely, P. somniferum, var. γ album. As in Asia Minor, a moist and fertile soil is indispensable.[229] The plant is liable to injury by insects, excessive rain, hail, or the growth on its roots of a species of Orobanche.
In Behar the sowing takes place at the beginning of November, and the capsules are sacrificed in February or March (March or April in Malwa). This operation is performed with a peculiar instrument, called a nushtur, having three or four two-pointed blades, bound together with cotton thread.[230] In using the nushtur, only one set of points is brought into use at a time, the capsule being scarified vertically from base to summit. This scarification is repeated on different sides of the capsule at intervals of a few days, from two to six times. In many districts of Bengal, transverse cuts are made in the poppy-head as in Asia Minor.
The milky juice is scraped off early on the following morning with an iron scoop, which as it becomes filled is emptied into an earthen pot carried by the collector’s side. In Malwa a flat scraper is used which, as well as the fingers of the gatherer, is wetted from time to time with linseed oil to prevent the adhesion of the glutinous juice. All accounts represent the juice to be in a very moist state by reason of dew, which sometimes even washes it away; but so little is this moisture of the juice thought detrimental that, as Butter states,[231] the collectors in some places actually wash their scrapers in water, and add the washings to the collection of the morning!
The juice when brought home is a wet granular mass of pinkish colour; and in the bottom of the vessel in which it is contained, there collects a dark fluid resembling infusion of coffee, which is called pasēwā. The recent juice strongly reddens litmus, and blackens metallic iron. It is placed in a shallow earthen vessel, which is tilted in such a manner that the pasēwā may drain off as long as there is any of it to be separated. This liquor is set aside in a covered vessel. The residual mass is now exposed to the air, though never to the sun, and turned over every few days to promote its attaining the proper degree of dryness, which according to the Benares regulations, allows of 30 per cent. of moisture. This drying operation occupies three or four weeks.
The drug is then taken to the Government factory for sale; previous to being sold it is examined for adulteration by a native expert, and its proportion of water is also carefully determined. Having been received into stock, it undergoes but little treatment beyond a thorough mixing, until it is required to be formed into globular cakes. This is effected in a somewhat complicated manner, the opium being strictly of standard consistence. First the quantity of opium is weighed out, and having been formed into a ball is enveloped in a crust of dried poppy petals, skilfully agglutinated one over the other by means of a liquid called lēwā. This consists partly of good opium, partly of pasēwā, and partly of opium of inferior quality, all being mixed with the washings of the various pots and vessels which have contained opium, and then evaporated to a thick fluid, 100 grains of which should afford 53 of dry residue. These various things are used to form a ball of opium in the following proportions:—
| seers. | chittaks. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Opium of standard consistence | 1 | 7·50 | |
| ” contained in lēwā | 3·75 | ||
| Poppy petals | 5·43 | ||
| Fine trash | 0·50 | ||
| 2 | 1·18 | = about 4 lb. 3½ oz. |
The finished balls usually termed cakes, which are quite spherical and have a diameter of 6 inches, are rolled in poppy trash which is the name given to the coarsely powdered stalks, capsules and leaves of the plant; they are then placed in small dishes and exposed to the direct influence of the sun. Should any become distended, it is at once opened, the gas allowed to escape, and the cake made up again. After three days the cakes are placed, by the end of July, in frames in the factory where the air is allowed to circulate. They still however require constant watching and turning, as they are liable to contract mildew which has to be removed by rubbing in poppy trash. By October the cakes have become perfectly dry externally and quite hard, and are in condition to be packed in cases (40 cakes in each) for the China market which consumes the great bulk of the manufacture.