The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-05-01
DRUG FARMING
NEW INDUSTRY
Cultivating Essential Plants to
Maintain the
Supply.
FORMERLY GREW WILD
NATURAL SOURCES OF MEDICINE
DRAINED.

DRAINED.
Philadelphia, Pa, April A.-Drug farm
ing is a brand-new industry and q most
profitable one. 1t will pay any one with
a common sense knowledge of the science
OF making the earth bring forth her In
crease or even with plain. common sense
sans knowledge Of farming, to try raising
plants for medicinal Use. The time is
ripe, for the continual draining Of the re-
| sources Of field and swamp for material
to alleviate human ills has resulted at
last in a drug famine, and the plants that
have heretofore grown wild must now be
cultivated
The pioneer in this new farming industry
is a weather-beaten little man who will
answer to the name of HeIerman, but
who has done enough for suffering hu-
mainly to entitle him to the fun benefit
OF mis- complete patronymic of Lewis Ell
wood Hellerman. His drug farm Is at
Fox Chase, near here, and to this novel
culture establishment journey medicine
men and druggists in quest Of material
for their indictments and also with roots
and seeding plans for experimental pur-
poses
The experimental drug plants are in
trusted to the care Of the drug farmer,
who knows exactly where to give them
their start in life, whether they need
shade or sun for their continued well-be-
ing and where and under what conditions
they are likely to reach the stage where
1t is profitable to return them to the dis
penser Of medicines.
It is a curious looking farm. like no
other agricultural reservation familiar to
rural eyes Row after row of strange
plants inspire the inquisitive visitor to
question the drug farmer concerning the
purpose of their culture. Helierman is al
ways glad to give information.
Rows of Strange Plants.
There" said he. pointing to a long row
of the most deadly poison known to the
druggist. Never mind the Latin name
The popular name is hemlock, and 1t will
cure human ills for good and all with
the expedition of a rattlesneke's bite. 1t
poisons in the most violent manner, pro-
ducing death from paralysis in paricu-
lar ugly form Socrates. wasn't it, who
committed suicide with hemlock? Yet, like
many deadly poisons. in the proper hands
and administered In minute doses, 1t is
valuable remedy. Hemlock is a profitable
drug to cultivate, as II is not plentlfui
and the prices obtained are high.
"A novelty over in that corner is To-
bacco. I grow it solely for medicinal pur-
poses A small quantity IS all that Is
occasionally asked for it and don't want
to be shy Of any drug plant required by
my customers Here is drug that L am
cultivating to take the place of aconite
Its full name IS too long to repeat on
warm day like this, but 1 call 1t angus
tifOla, which is near enough for the oc-
casion. This also is four-year plant
It's g long time between crops, L ADMIT,
but what do you think Of ginseng, which
takes eight years to bring to maturity?
With plants as slow as that in reaching
fruition it's time drug farms were started
everywhere TO save the inevitable famine
in material for medicine
Just to give you some slight idea of
the enormous increase in the value Of
drugs, owing to the growing scarcity OF
wild material, take the hydrastis. 1t
seems impossible to find any more grow
ing wild, and the price has advanced from
25 cents a pound to the enormous sum OF
$3.50 a pound, with the demand still ex-
caeding the supply. II is difficult TO Guilt
waite hydrastis. The conditions of soil.
temperature. etc. must be just right
Fat Prices Are Paid.
Some experiments with drug plants have
proved a total failure in this country.
We have never been able to get the seed
Of the aconite bryonia TO germinate here
There are climatic reasons why 1t refuses
to thrive 1t can be grown from bulb, but
not from seed, and this restriction has
prevented our adding 1t to the rest of the
happy family of domestic drug plants IN
the little farm.
Most of the plants you see growing
here sell for 10 cents pound, and l find
the profit well repays the trouble of Gull
tivation Some sell for more satisfactory
prices. For instance, there Is that bed of
pUdsatills, q remedy that is used to ale
waite catarrhal troubles. II sells for 30
ing market for it as the natural supply
gets scarcer. Over there is some felix
mass, a drug used for tapeworm- 1t is
practically extinct in a wild state in this
country and should be raised profitably
in all the states. Also the spigella mar
ilGndica, most valuable drug, which we
are trying to cultivate here. 1t has ceased
to exist in a Wild state The botanists
who hunt drugs for the market have root
ed out about the last plant, and it's worth
no ones while to search for 1t any more
r-e-r
have to find a substitute for 1t in COM
pounding prescriptions
THAT pretty little row Of white-leaved
plants is silver cinceraria. 1t is native
of South America, but takes most kindly
TO the climate of Pennsylvania. 1t IS used
in optical troubles largely.
Bugs are our chief bugaboo. On &C
count of the slowness of the plants in
reaching maturity. the natural enemies OF
plant life have unusual opportunity to get
in their destructive work. Then the drug
plants seem TO attract them in some
strange way. They appear to have an es-
pecial Hiking for the very material that
the human family detests. and will onl.
take when ordered to by medical man.
Possibly the drug plants are beneficial
to the insect world also. and the pests
that are the chief drawback to success in
drug farming are sick bugs drawing on
natures remedies for ailments. What is
good for men, women and children ought.
I suppose. to be good for bugs.
But I'm not growing drugs for bugs.
although the two words seem to have an
affinity. and II I knew how to cultivate
the plants IN way that would save them
from an attack Of insect enemies would
be happy.
About two acres is sufficient for drug
farm. Some Of the plants require shade
and some thrive best In the sun. With the
former II Is well to plant some corn to
shelter them from The suns rays There
is no guidebook to drug farming that I
know of. The prospective drug farmer
must learn which plants Ike shade and
which Ike sun by practical experience, as
I did.
Druggists and botanists bring their
seeding plants here and leave them with
me. I am continually experimenting in
this way with new drug plants. Drug
gists are alive to the imminent danger
of q famine in medicinal plants. and there
is a keen desire to learn which of the
vegetable remedies can be cultivated sue
cessfully
I'm a few years I suppose drug farmers
will be common all over the country, for
the plants must be cultivated, and the
demand will soon bring the supply. IT
should always be a profitable as well as
a most interesting industry.
CATTIEMAN KILLED.