42 The Ottawa Naturalist. [June-July 



Sagrada is obtained. In certain localities these drug plants mav 

 be sufficiently abundant to make the collection of them remunera- 

 tive, although in most cases the plants are specially cultivated 

 for the preparation of a drug on a commercial scale. In such 

 cases it is necessary to reproduce as nearly as possible the natural 

 environment of the plant. While there is a considerable demand 

 for drug-plants on the part of many wholesale firms and druggists, 

 it may be said that with the present high price of labor in Canada 

 the cultivation of drug plants is not likely to prove very re- 

 munerative, and the collecting and drying of the wild plants is 

 in most cases a somewhat precarious source of income. In 

 addition to these plants of established medicinal value we have 

 in our native flora plants belonging to the same genera as certain 

 drug plants of the Old World, e.g. Arnica, Aconitum, and some 

 of these may be found to be of value for the same purposes, 

 while again, other drug plants of foreign origin as the Henbane 

 (Hyoscyamus niger L.) and the Thorn-apple (Datura Stramonium 

 L.) have become established in certain localities. In connection 

 with medicinal plants mention must be made of the Ginseng 

 (Panax quinquefolium L.). This plant is not now valued A T ery 

 highly by the medicinal practitioner of western countries, but 

 is regarded as possessed of almost supernatural virtue by the 

 Chinese, with whom there is an extensive demand for it at verv 

 high prices. It is a native of the rich, cool woods of Eastern 

 Canada, but owing to its scarcity and slowness of growth those 

 who wish to profit by its high market value will find it necessarv 

 to cultivate it. 



Honey Plants. As the desirability of bee-keeping as a 

 source of income receives greater recognition, the subject of 

 honey-yielding plants becomes one of importance. While there 

 are probably no wild plants in this country which occur in such 

 masses as to influence the location of apiaries in the same way 

 as the Heather moors do in Britain, the Basswood (Tilia 

 americana L.) is exceedingly valuable and so to a less degree 

 arc the Maples (Acer), and an adjacent "bush" of this kind is a 

 valuable adjunct to an apian-. The planting of these, trees for 

 ornamental and shade purposes where bee-keeping is followed 

 can. therefore, be recommended. The Boneset (Eupatorium 

 perfoliatum L.), a common plant of swampy ground, is a very 

 heavy yielder of honey, and its growth in such places should be 

 encouraged, but although many other wild plants are valuable 

 ources of honey it is probablv not worth while to cultivate or 

 encourage the growth of them in preference to such plants as 

 white clover, buckwheat or orchard trees and bushes which are 

 of so much more use in other ways. 



