Poppies Description

Opium Poppy Garden

A complete guide to cultivating and harvesting the beautiful opium poppy. The opium poppy is a potent plant that has been cultivated and used for thousands of years to alleviate suffering. The use of plant substances as alternatives to synthetic medicines is resurging due to their beneficial properties and less-toxic side effects. For example, many cancer and HIV sufferers are growing opium for personal use. Opium Poppy Garden is the only book available that describes the cultivation, harvest and pharmacology of opium in a format that combines literary and instructional writing. The heart of the book is the tale of Ch'ien, a young Chinese man who travels from Costa Rica to Columbia to grow an opium garden in the manner his Taoist grandfather taught him. The story, in conjunction with "The Cultivator's Diary" and the technical appendix, provide the reader with a working knowledge of this plant.

Alsike Clover

"Alsike clover is most at home in northern latitudes or at high altitudes. It thrives best in a cool, moist climate. In the Ohio Valley alsike clover is especially adapted to low, wet, fertile land. On such land it will yield heavy crops of first-class hay and will make more than one crop in a season. This crop will grow on "sour" land on which red clover will not thrive. Where it is not possible to apply lime and so insure a stand of red clover, alsike clover may be used. Mixed with red clover on uplands, alsike clover insures a stand on spots where red clover does not catch. Alsike clover is used mostly in mixtures with timothy or other grasses. In such mixtures it improves the hay and increases the yield. The grasses serve to support the clover and make it easier to cut and cure. Alsike clover will endure overflow that would kill most crops. It has been know to grow a year in water-soaked and water-covered soil and make a heavy growth. In the South it is recommended for creek bottoms and other wet lands. It is a good clover to seed in swales or on wet, natural meadows. It volunteers readily and ill spread in such places. Its disadvantages are: (1)On uplands alsike clover grows short and does not make a mass of growth equal to that of red clover. (2)Alsike clover makes no second crop except on low, rich land. (3)On uplands the pasturage after cutting for hay or a seed crop is too small to be useful. (4)There appears to be some danger to horses and mules of a little-known disease said toe result from eating alsike clover."--P. [2]

Farmers' Bulletin