16 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



inonicnls invosti^alinj^" tliis i^oUl mine in the back yai\l and 

 discovering, if possil)le. jnst how much it assays to the ton 

 and whether there is anything;- in the cultivation of drug plants 

 for one who otherwise might become a plumber or enter some 

 other line of profiteering. 



The prt)perties that give plants their medicinal value, are 

 widelv distributed in nature. Certain kinds, however, are in 

 special favor because they contain a greater amount of the 

 desired principle, or because they yield it with less labor. 

 Manv plants, therefore, are not in demand, simply because 

 better kinds are in tlie market. Those upc^i w-hich the phy- 

 sician and pharmacist have set their approval, are known as 

 "official drugs." Of this class, less than a hundred from the 

 United States, have been admitted into that official "Who's 

 Who" auKnig drug plants the United States Pharmacopeia. 

 Several hundred tethers not so included, are used in the manu- 

 facture of cnls, dyes, tannins and similar substances employed 

 in the arts. It is likely that all the plants used for such pur- 

 poses would number nearly v\(H)0 species. 



Several things combine to reduce the return that might 

 be expected from the growing of drug plants. For one 

 thing, a large number of the most useful, are inhabitants of 

 the warmer parts of the earth and cannot be grown here at 

 all. Others grow in luu'ope as well as in America and are 

 collected and marketed in the Old World at prices that would 

 not attract even the ashman anil the garbage collector here. 

 Of our native plants, those that are abundant in the wild 

 state, are usually collected by children and others who are 

 satisfied with a small return for the spare time spent in the 

 work, b'inall}-. drugs are not usetl like foods. They are 

 prescribed in ever decreasing quantities and a little goes a 

 long way. Ik'llatlonna is a well known and freijuently used 

 drug and yet the anu>unt that can be produced on a single 



