Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-07-30

drugs in TIER back yards. or even by
gathering weeds on their farms. ana
| who will probably be sadly disilusloned
by the smalness of the returns which
they will receive for their labor
| II cannot be too strongly emphasized
that the demand for most crude drugs
is EXTREMITY linn
Demand for Crude tied, as com
| pared with other
Drugs Is Limited. agricultural
products: that wide technical knowl-
edge and great care are necessary Tor
their successful production, and that,
for all these reasons, the opportunity
which is narrow in any case, is one FOR
organized enterprise rather than Tor
the small producer, seeking a profitable
side line.
| AS result of the propaganda for the
raising of drugs in this country Whlch
| followed the outbreak of the European
| war, thousands of letters have reached
the Department of Agriculture from
/ persons who wished to enter upon the
cultivation of drug plants, usually on
a small scale and side line. Yet, II
| is estimated that if two men in each
state in the Union were successful in
| raising almost any one OF a number or
| common drug plants, the demand for
| them would be fully supplied
The best index to the demand for any
| given product is the amount of 1t that
| is annually imported. This amount
necessarily shows how much the de-
mand in this country exceeds the sup
ply, and. therefore. how much room
| there is for an increase of production.
Horehound is a medicinal herb the Gull
| tivation of which has been strongly
| recommended as a profitable side line
for farmers and gardeners. Under good
conditions, a ton of the dried herb
may be produced upon an acre. The
annual importation of dried horehound
| seldom exceeds sixty or seventy tons.
In word, if sixty or seventy acres in
| this country were planted in hore-
hound the demand would be fully sup
piled. Thus, one fair-sized farm is
| about all that the trade would support,
| while two or three of them would flood
| the market and lower the price until
the plant could not be raised at a profit
at all.
The belief that fabulous prices are
paid for dried drug plants is RESPONSE
BILE for many of the hopeless ventures
in drug farming. Thus it may be cor
pound is paid for drug plants and that
many of them may be produced a the
rate of a ton to the acre. Naturally,
| the prospective investor calculates that
ties and get at least 81 or IS pound.
| Counting chickens before they are
| Matched is not in it as a fascinating
| occupation compared with figuring the
possible profits from an acre in medici-
nal plants.
A glance at the price list of any
dealer in crude drugs reveals the in
teresting fact,
Six or Seven Cents however. that
Is the Average Price. csnts 10 tho
average price per pound paid to COL
lectors for crude drugs. and that these
prices are subject to the most remark
able fluctuations. Thus a drug plant
might be bringing a high price per
pound because of its extreme scarcity
in the market, but the arrival of a
single shipload of that drug from Eu-
rope might force the market down SO
per cent, while if a number of people
began the cultivation of it few years
would suffice to swamp the market.
Furthermore, the prospective drug
farmer should take into account in
raising drug plants that he is compel
ing with cheap labor both in Europe
and III this country. In Europe drug
plants can be raised at much lower
cost than is possible in this country
| III Tic CHllcO tueTe is q
reliable source of supply of large
number of crude drugs in the noun
tain regions of West Virginia, Tennes-
see and the Carolihas, where the wild
herbs are gathered by the mountain
GERS. Women and children extensively
engage in the work. 1T is difficult for
farmer, paying high rates for his
labor, to compete with these gath
erers of wild herbs. AS soon as the
supply exceeds the demand the farmer
will necessarily be undersold.
Considerable experience is necessary
both to find and to identify the herbs
that can be proftably gathered in the
wild state, and after they are gathered
finding good market is not an easy
matter The propaganda for the pro-
duction Of medicinal plants in this
country led many persons to believe
that they had fortunes growing wild
upon their farms. Thus burdock, a
common weed growing wild in many
parts of the United States. has Ger
ia lin amount OF medicinal value. A lady
in New England, who owned a large
country place. wrote to the Depart
ment of Agriculture about her expert
ence in trying to place burdock upon
the market She read in various pub
locations about the high medicinal
value of this herb, which grew wild
termined not to neglect what seemed
eral manufacturers who used burdock
in their product and to one man who
advertised the crude drug for sale
Both of the manufacturers replied that