April 7, 1863, The Charleston Mercury
I have been instructed by the Surgeon General of the Confederate States Army to induce you to interest yourselves in the culture of the GARDEN POPPY, and thus render the Confederacy an essential service.
The Garden Poppy is a valuable as well as ornamental plant, and thrives well in our climate. The juice which exudes from the incised capsules or pods, when sufficiently hardened, should be collected, carefully put up and forwarded to me, or the nearest Medical Officer in the Confederate service. A few seeds carefully cultivated this year will be sufficient to yield a thousand plants for the next. Let me urge on parents, who have a few feet of uncultivated lands in their gardens, to encourage their children, however young, to cultivate a plant or two. To the families of our soldiers now fighting for our liberties, the cultivation of the Garden Poppy will afford a profitable income. Any persons having seeds to spare will oblige me to forward them to my address, in order that they may be distributed to any one who may desire to plant them.
THOMAS LINING,
Charleston, March 27, 1863. Medical Purveyor.