The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-07-30

4
| amount necessarily shows how muca
tho demand in this country exceeds
/ the supply. and, therefore how mucn
room there is for an increase OF pro-
tductton. HoEehound L. : medicinal
i herb. the cultivation OF which has
been strongly recommended as prof
| table side line for farmers and gar
jdenerss Under good conditions a ioz
of the dried herb may De producec
upon an acre. The annua imlporsa-
ton of dried horehound seldom ez-]
ceeds. sixty, or seventy tons In
lword, IL sixty or seventy acres fn4tnsSl
country were planted In horehounc
the demand wouldobe fully supplied.
Thus, one fair-sized farm is about al;
that the trade would support, While
i two or three of them would flood the
merket until the plant could not be
Eraised at profit at ALL.
Unmatched Chickens.
The belief that fabulous prices are
lpaid for dried drug plants is respon-
Esib1e for many of the hopeless ven
lures in drug farming. Thus 1t may
be correctly stated that from two
cents to four dollars pound Is
tpaid for drug plants, and that many
of them may be produced at the rate
Eof a ton to the acre. Naturally, the
irrespective investor calculates that
Ishe. will raise the more expensive va
isrieties and get at least two or three
dollars a pound. Counting chicke5
before they are hatched is not in 1t
[as fascinating occupation compared
with figuring the possible profits
from ansacre in medicinal plants.
H. a glance at the price list Of any
fdealer in crude drugs reveals the in
terestfng fact, however, that about
ksix or seven cents is the average
price per pound paid to collectors for
crude drugs, and that these prices
ere subject to the most remarkable
be bringing high price per pound
because of its extreme scarcity in
the market, but the arrival of single
lshipload of that drug from Europe
might force the market down fifty
4 per cent, while If number of people
Ebegan the cultivation of it, few
years would suffice to swamp the
market.
Furthermore. the prospective drug
farmer should take into account in
raining drug plants that he is
competing with cheap labor both in
Europe and in this country. In Eu-
rope, drug plants can be raised at a.
much lower cost than Is possible in
this country; while in the United
States there is a reliable source of
supply of large number of crude
drugs in the mountain regions of
INVEST Virginia, Tennessee and the
\ Carolinas where the wild herbs are
gathered by the mountaineers.
Women and children extensively en-
Egage in the work. 1t is difficult for
la farmer, paying high rates for his
labor, to compete with these gather
ters of wild herbs. AS soon as the
IIsupply exceeds the demand the far
mer will necessarily be undersold.
One Woman's Experience.
Considerable experience is neces-
Esary both to find and to identify the
herbs that can be profitably gathered
I'm the wild states, and after they are
gathered finding good market is not
an easy matter. The propaganda for
the production Of medicinal plants in
this country led many persons to be-
ilieve that they had fortunes growing
wild upon their farms. The burdock.
a common weed growing wild In
many parts of the United States, has
a certain amount of medicinal value.
IA lady in New England, who owned
q large country place, wrote to the
department of agriculture about her
Experience in trying to place burdock
upon the market. She read in vari-
GUS publications about the high
m edicinal value of this herb which
grew wild upon her farm in large
tquaities. Determined not to neglect
what seemed an easy opportunity,
she wrote to several manufacturers
who used burdock in their product
and to one man who advertised the
crude drug for sale. Both of the
manufacturers replied that they OBJ
Etained their material in an advanced
Estate of preparation and were not in
lterested In the collection of the
hcrude drug. The third man, who
elived in nearby city, replied that
he obtained all of the plants which he
Fcould use from convenient source
land was not in the market to pur-
Echase any. Further investigation OF
this dealer revealed the fact that he
Elived not far from the lady's farm
land was, in fact. accustomed to gath
Eering his burdock in her back pas.
ture.
Only Conrmon Plant.
In one article son drug farming,
ESi1ver Cineraria. was described as
tdrug plant which was a native Of
lSouth America, but which thrives in
this country, especially in Pennsylva-
mia. It was represented as a drug
FUSED largely by eye specialists. and
the Implication was that this use ere
lated a steady demand for the plant.
silver cinerarta. as a matter of fact,
Is rather common ornamental plant
In this country, generally known az
l"dusty miller" AS a. drug 1t has
fallen almost entirely into disuse,
being employed only to very linn
tied extent by homeopathists. Each
fall enough of It is cut and thrown
away by the park gardeners OF many
cities to supply the demand for sever
al years.
PVSH. a. Il ~ Il ~ aNA