Mischief however of this kind does sometimes occur, and may be the work of various animals, a particular aćcount of which may be met with in the fifth volume of the Transactions of the Linnean Society.

I am informed, that, in India, a circle of Lord Dundonald's coal-tar drawn on the floor round boxes and other furniture, will effectually preserve them and their contents from the depredations of the white ant.

It appears that most insects are fond of sugar and mu cilage; which is the probable reason why that wood is most subject to be penetrated by worms, which is felled when it most abounds with sap. In such cases, it might be well to try the effects of washing the wood, previously to the use of the varnish, with a solution of arsenic in hot water, in the proportion of 1lb. to 10 gallons; or with a strong decoction of coloquintida ör bitter apple, or white hellebore: after which the wood must be compleatly dried before the application of the varnish in the manner before directed. All these preparations are extremely cheap, and are either destruc tive or offensive to insects, and therefore will, probably, be an effectual defence against any injury from that

cause.

Circus, Sept. 30, 1807.

A

On the Cultivation of the Poppy.

By T. COGAN, M. D.

From the LETTERS and PAPERS of the BATH and WEST of ENGLAND SOCIETY.

GENTLEMEN,

ALTHOUGH the ardour with which the British na~ tion pursues whatever promises to be of public utility, is perhaps unequalled by any other, and certainly exceeded by none; yet there is one subject which has hitherto been permitted to escape our attention, and in which several nations upon the continent can not only boast of their superior policy, but are already enjoying considerable advantages from it; I mean the cultivation of the poppy to a great extent for the benefit of its oil, as an article of food; and for other useful purposes.

It will doubtless be remarked, that we ought not to ascribe the neglect of it as an article of food to inattention altogether, but to a superior caution, as the narcotic quality of the poppy renders it totally unfit to be taken inwardly. This, it is allowed, is, in appearance, a very formidable objection; and as it respects the lives of multitudes, it ought not to be treated with levity: the objection itself, and the argument from analogy on which it is founded, ought to be completely confuted, before the article can be recommended to the community in this novel point, of view.

We might observe that the objection is solely founded upon very slight and imperfect analogy. It assumes, that, because some parts of a plant are noxious, the whole must be equally noxious. But this assumption may be confuted in numberless instances. Daily ex

perience

perience testifies that different parts of plants possess not only different, but opposite qualities. Oranges and lemons, which are used in profusion, possess juices that are both palatable and refrigerating; but these are inclosed in a rind, the essential oil of which is extremely acrid and stimulating and it is well known that the bland and nutritive tapioca is the produce of a tree whose roots are highly poisonous. In this case, therefore, the argument from analogy may be considered as a very proper motive for caution; but, if it advances farther, it degenerates into a pernicious prejudice.

There have been, however, many incidental circumstances which have had a partial influence in removing these prejudices. It is well known that compounders of medicine have made a very liberal use of the seeds of poppies, as substitutes for the oil of sweet almonds, without the least detriment to the patient. They have sometimes imputed to it additional virtues, from its being supposed to possess narcotic properties. But that they have erred in their hypothesis is plain, from the practice of many individuals who have made the seeds of poppies a common article of food *.

But it will be the principal object of the following paper to inform the inhabitants of this country, through the medium of your publication, that the above objection has been repeatedly advanced and repeatedly confuted; that experiments, first made with a degree of caution, have finally removed prejudices long and inveterate; and that the white poppy (papaver hortense semine albo) is cultivated to a very great extent in

Sec Prosper Alpinus, lib. iv. cap. i. Geofrey Mat. Med. tom. ii. p. 715. Lewis's Materia Medica, article Papava Album.

France,

France, Brabant, and Germany, and more recently in Holland, chiefly to extract the oil from its seeds; which is found not only to be salubrious, but to be peculiarly: delicate in its flavour. It is now become a considerable article of commerce: the oil of a superior quality, for the use of the table, and the inferior for manufactories. and various other purposes. It is produced not only with considerable profit to the cultivator, but also to the merchant and consumer.

As it is natural to imagine that the prejudices against the common use of poppy oil for culinary purposes, will be very general, since they are apparently sanctioned by prudent caution, it is not expected that the most positive assertions, founded upon the experience of strangers on the continent, would be sufficient to remove them. But a circumstantial narrative of a contest which has already taken place; and of the final triumph of experience over the opposition founded on analogous reasoning; and a particular statement of the advantages which have accrued to the cultivator, merchant, and consumer, may perhaps attract the attention of some agriculturists in our own country, who may thus be encouraged to make similar experiments: and as the issue must be the same, they will be able to produce absolute demonstration that the oil is totally destitute of the noxious qualities that have been ascribed to it; and finally convince the public that it may become a cheap and useful substitute for the olive oil, and a very beneficial article of commerce.

- For this purpose I shall state to the agriculturist a succinct account of the rise and progress of the cultivation of the poppy, in order to express the oil from the seed; the manner of cultivating it, and the emoluments

which have been received by the cultivator, from au thentic documents in the Dutch and German languages which are in my possession."

In the year 1798, the Society established at Amster dam for the encouragement of agriculture, being informed that the oil of poppies was cultivated in several parts of France, Flanders, and Brabant, thought it an object of sufficient importance to make more particular inquiry; and they learned from indubitable authority, not only that it was generally used in the place of olive oil, but that several thousand casks of it were exported annually, a large quantity of which was imported into Holland, and sold under the name of olive oil, or mixed with it in considerable abundance; and they appealed to several merchants who were members of the Society for the truth of this assertion, without being contradicted.

These facts induced the Society to propose three premiums, consisting of a silver medal and ten ducats each, which were divided into the three following classes.

The first to the husbandman who should sow not less than half an acre of a clayey soil with poppy seed; the second on a sandy ground; and the third on turf or peat land.

"They also offered to the person who shall have cultivated the largest quantity of ground, on the two first species of soil, in the most masterly and advantageous manner, a gold medal, value fifty ducats, or that sum in money, in lieu of the above premiums.

The candidates were to give an accurate statement of the quantity of seed sown per acre; the time of sowing, and of gathering the poppies; the quality of the soil; the manner of procedure in every part of the process;

the