The following is taken from the Trade Report for 1879 by the Commissioner of Customs at Amoy, (Mr. H. E. Hobson) Information as to the actual yield of the poppy fields in what may be styled the Amoy district—i.e. in regions adjacent to the port, and which draw the bulk of their other supplies hence—is difficult to arrive at; but investigations recently instituted in the interior go to prove that poppy culture has received attention for over 30 years, seed in the first instance having been Been Targely extended during the last few roctired from Singapore, The culture has
seasons, until $800,000 is now spoken of as about the value of the annual supply of native drug. The mode of cultivating the poppy plant and collecting and manipulate ing the juice is similar to that obtaining in the other producing districts in China, particulars as to which have on more occasions than one been furnished in previous Trade Reports, The Amoy drug when ready for uso is of a decided! inferior quality, and is distributed throug! interior markets and the seaboard towns lying immediately north of the port, but little, if any, finding its way here. The ipal_ producing places are within an area of some 35 Kanlanling, in Tunggan-hsien, than 302 villages being enumerated, the arable land in the vicinity of which, to the extent of from one-half to one-tenth, is, it is asserted, annually under poppy culture. The inhabitants of these villages are members of powerful clans, and are spoken of as turbulent in disposition, and apt to resent any interference with their proceedings. Hence it is argued that prohibitions against poppy culture have proved futile, but it is greatly to be feared that in reality, here, as elsewhere, proceedings are simply winked at by petty officials and their underlings in consideration of the bribes they receive, and that no real repressive measures have ever been attempted. As to the profit accruing from poppy. cultivation, it may be observed that the yield of a poppy patch measuring 70 feet square is estimated to realise from $8 to $12, according to the nature of the soil and the care taken in tending the plants and manipulating the "juice collected: whereas the same area of land cropped with rice, ground-nuts, or sweet potatoes would only yield $5 worth of the first-named products, and but $3 worth of the latter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.