The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-08-08
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
Blu RE AU
FREDERIC J. HASKIN, Director,
Washington. D. c.
NO DRUG FARMERS NEEDED.
Washington. D. c.

NO DRUG FARMERS NEEDED.
Washington, D. c.. August 5.-Not
long ago some articles appeared in
the public prints. telling of the scare
ity of drugs occasioned by the war,
and calling upon all patriotic Ameri-
cans to relieve the shortage by growS
ing drug plants in their back yards.
The owners of greenhouses, especially,
were offered this excellent opportun-
ity for patriotic service. They were
told to get in line and come to the
rescue of their country-perilously IN
need of digitalis. belladonna and GER
tain other drugs.
Many people took this advice to
heart. Doctor Stocz<berger, the drug
expert of the bureau Of plant industry
of the department of agriculture, is
| still getting rises" from would-be
drug farmers. only a week after its
| publication the doctor was visited by
delegation of wealthy American
! women, who announced that they
would be delighted to turn their
| greenhouses over to the government,
or, if possible. they would grow the
drugs themselves. Reluctantly, Doc
tor Stockberger explained that the
government was not in need of green
| houses, and that said ladies could rem
der a much more valuable service by
growing vegetables than they could by
growing drugs.
The truth of the matter is that a
| few hundred acres of land suffice to
raise all the medicinal plants that this
country needs, but the bureau of plant
| industry has never been able to con-
vince American journalists of this. At
intervals, just as surely as the COM
| ing of rain after a prolonged dry spell.
! comes an article about the need for
| more American drugs; about the mon
! ey to be made in growing them, or
about the delightful occupation to be
| had in their culture. DR.. Stockberger
! has a scrapbook with dozens of
| printed heads pasted in it, which he
charishes as specimens. not of drug lit
erature but of the American imagina-
ton running on all six cylinders. Mil
lions to be made in growing weeds"
reads one of these heads; Large prof
its in drug-growing" another an
nounces, and Doctor makes $4,000
by growing weeds reads a third. One
page, evidently clipped from some
Sunday supplement, contains not only
an imaginative text but imaginative
sketches of particularly startling
character. One of these shows drug
plant, unknown to science, starting
life as the humble occupant of some
ones backyard, Immediately flourish
| ing all the way across the page and
finally entering a little boys sick
room.
At first, these articles used to an
noy Doctor Stockberger, because he
had evidence that so many people be-
lieved them. After each one appeared
the bureau of plant industry would be
| kept busy answering letters from en-
thusiastic individuals in all parts of
the country. eager to begin at once
the remdnerative pursuit of drug
farming. Now the bureau has a cir
cular letter arranged SO as to answer
all inquiries, a1tho occasionally spe-
ciaI letters are required for persons
| y7r IlaN irNr1 Tor Lot fto,- I,.a
ing made their initial investment. For
| example, a letter was recently re-
ceived from an old la 1y in the middle
west who, at an expenditure of over a
hundred dollars, nad planted an acre
or two in belladonna- Upon trying
! to sell -Ier plants to drug manufac-
turers, however, she was informed
that they were worthless-that they
did not come up to specifications.
Had the old lady investigated the
matter before rushing into the drug
business, she would have found that
the belladonna plants bought by the
drug manufacturers are no common
weeds growing gratuitously wherever
planted. They must be grown from
seed sown in the greenhouses during
the middle of the winter and trans
planted INTO small pots. very much the
same as tomato plants are treated, so
that they may be placed in the field
I
in the spring. Statistics have never
been gathered as to the exact guam
tlty of belladonna used in the United
States, but drug men estimate it at
. approximately 100000 pounds At this
rate, since the average yield is 500
pounds of leaves to he acre, 500 acres
would more than fill the demand.
Since the war has cut off all importa-
lions of this drug. it has been neces-
sary to plant few more acres, and
this has been done chiefly by drug
manufacturers themselves, who are in
q very good position to keep track of
| the demand
A few persons, Of course, have made
money in growing belladonna, espe-
cialy since the war. They are indi-
VloualS VINO have raised it for wears:
, nave made a special study of the drue
i4-arket' and know its requirements
IN the same way. a few persons have
also made money in growing digitalis
out only few. Many more are ex-
perlencing bitter disappointment, hav-
ing planted large crops of this drug
plant during the East year, which they
t are now unable to Sell At the begin.
nlng of the war there was a scarcity
OF digitalis, which sent the price Of
y the drug way up, but, inasmuch as the
t plant grows wild over extensive area.
of Oregon and Washington, the scar.
city was soon relieved and the price
again dropped.
I Time was when drugs were a par
); OF every American garden like fruit.
. ! and vegetables. Then every housewife,
). was a sort of combination sorcerel
l and trained nurse, who grew her owl
: mysterious healing herbs and brewet
= them. Later. the early apothecarie
held local monopolies in drug-growing
. With the development of foreign com
: merce, however. it became possible t,
= obtain supplies of crude drugs from
Europe at prices much less than i
cost to produce them at home.
Il And that is how the situation stand
e today. American drug manufacture
7 car still buy their srnplies of herb
, from Europe much cheaper than the.
Il can grow or buy them at home. Il
d Europe wages are much lower. Won