There have been rumours among the people that opium is to be banned. Tt fs well known that the Communists suppress the drug wherever they get power. So the farmers were ina quandary whether they should risk planting Boppy. think some of them have planted more wheat and less poppy than sua, ut for the most" par they have done as usual, stuck poppy seed to it limit of labour and fertilizer. This. year's. cro} been a disappointment, and wer slowly at very low price. Bus, of course, they hope it will he better next year. Most families want a ood deal of the stuff for their own use. Town and country alike are enslaved by the habit. There scarcely a store or stall of merchandise there which does not "deal in something connected with the opium business. If no opium itself then pipes, lamps, glasses, cups needles, trays or other parphernall And the offer of a smoke to quests as universal as the offer of a cup of tea, Beyond question the emblema-te flower of Kweichow is the poppy.
Foodstuffs are cheaper this year than for a Tong time. Corn was a ood crop, rice better, and beans way above all recent records. This vicinity can show a wonderful variety of grains and seeds, 1 have nowhere else seen such a variety as appears on our market place on a brisk market day. Beans especially are abundant and various. Tt must be admitted our rice ts not up to the mark in quality, but it does not lack in nutritive value. One thing we do lack is the vegetable olls which are to much used. Not near ly enough of any kind to supply mand, so the price is higher than It should be. There is no reason for tis except just opium. People wont bother planting trees which require Jsome years for producing when they can plant poppy in October and sell opium in May.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.