The flowers of the poppy plant grown in Turkey are usually of a purplish
color, but are
sometimes white, and the seeds, like the petals, vary in tint from dark
violet to white. The cultivation was carried on, both on the more
elevated and lower lands, chiefly by peasant proprietors. A naturally
light and rich soil, further improved by manure, was necessary, and
moisture was indispensable, although injurious in excess, so that after a
wet winter the best crops were obtained on hilly ground, and in a dry
season on the plains. The land was ploughed twice, the second time
crosswise. The crop was very uncertain owing to droughts,
spring frosts and locusts, and, in order to avoid a total failure and to
allow time for collecting the produce, there were three sowings at
intervals from October to March
But
notwithstanding these precautions quantities of the drug were wasted when
the crop was a full one, owing to the difficulty of gathering the whole
in the short time during which collection is possible. The first sowing
produced the hardiest plants, the yield of the other two depending
almost entirely on favorable weather. In localities where there was hoar
frost in autumn and spring the seed was sown in September or at latest in
the beginning of October, and the yield of opium and seed was then
greater than if sown later. After sowing, the land was harrowed, and the
young plants were hoed and weeded, chiefly by women and children, from
early spring until the time of flowering.
In the plains the flowers
expanded at the end of May, on the uplands in July. At this period gentle
showers were of great value, as they caused an increase in the subsequent
yield of opium. The petals fall in a few hours, and the capsules grew so
rapidly that in a short time, generally from nine to fifteen days, the
opium was fit for collection. This period was known by the capsules
yielding to pressure with the fingers, assuming a lighter green tint and
exhibiting a kind of bloom called cougak, easily rubbed off with the
fingers. The incisions were
made by holding the capsule in the left hand and drawing a knife
two-thirds round it, or spirally beyond the starting-point, great care being taken not to let the incisions penetrate to the
interior lest the juice should flow inside and be lost. The operation
was usually performed after the heat
of the day, commencing early in the afternoon and continuing to
nightfall, and the exuded juice collected the next morning. This done by scraping the capsule with a knife and transferring the concreted
juice to a poppy-leaf held in the left hand, the edges of the leaf being
turned in to avoid spilling the juice, and the knife-blade moistened
with saliva by drawing it through the mouth after every alternate
scraping to prevent the juice from adhering to it.
When as much opium
has been collected as the size of the leaf will allow, another leaf was wrapped over the top of the lump, which is then placed in the shade to
dry for several days. The pieces varied in size. The capsules were generally incised only once but the fields
were visited a second or
third time to collect the opium from the poppy-leafs subsequently
developed by the branching of the stem. The whole of the
operation must, have been completed in the few days during which the capsules
were capable of yielding the drug. A cold
wind or a chilly atmosphere at the time of collection lessens the yield,
and rain washed the opium off the capsules. Before the crop was all
gathered in a meeting of buyers and sellers takes place in each
district, at which the price to be asked is discussed and settled, and
the opium handed to the buyers, who in many instances advanced
money on the standing crop. When sufficiently solid the pieces of opium
were packed in cotton bags, a quantity of the fruits being thrown in to prevent the cakes from adhering together. The
bags were then sealed up, packed in oblong or circular baskets and sent
to Smyrna or ether ports on mules.
On the arrival of the opium at its
destination, in the end of July or beginning of August, it was placed in
cool warehouses to avoid loss of weight until sold. The substances used to adulterate
opium are grape-juice thickened with flour, fig-paste, liquorices,
half-dried apricots, inferior gum tragacanth and sometimes clay or
pieces of lead or other metals. Turkey opium was principally used in medicine
on account of its purity and the large percentage of morphia that it
contains, a comparatively small quantity being exported for smoking
purposes.
About three-quarters of the opium prepared in Turkey was produced in
Anatolia, and was exported by way of Smyrna, and the remainder was
produced in the hilly districts of the provinces near the southern coast
of the Black Sea.
The Turkish government encouraged the development of the
industry by remitting the tithes on opium and poppy-seed for one year on
lands sown for the first time, and by distributing printed instructions
for cultivating the poppy and preparing the opium. In these directions
it was pointed out that the opium crop is ten times as profitable as that
of wheat. Four varieties of poppy are distinguished - two with white
flowers, large oval capsules without holes under their combs and bearing respectively yellow and white seed, and the other
two having red or purple flowers and seeds of the same color, one
bearing small capsules perforated at the top, and the other larger oval
capsules not perforated. The white varieties were recommended as yielding
a more abundant opium of superior quality. The yellow seed was said to
yield the best oil; that obtained by hot pressure was used for lamps and
for paint, and the cold pressed oil for culinary purposes.