72 



IRISH GARDENING. 



Correspondence. ' 



TO THE EDITOR OF IRISH GARDENING. 



Dear Sir, — The question "Does herb-growing 

 pay? " arises so often that I think it may interest 

 some of your readers — chiefly nursery gardeners — 

 to hear my experience of one aspect of it. 



I started my herb-growing in INfarch 1916, in 

 one perch of land in half of which were planted 

 Gooseberry and Currant bushes and two or three 

 rows of young forest trees. My expenditure on 

 stock was as follows : — Six old Belladonna 

 plants, 9s. ; about 1 oz. Belladonna seed, Is. 2d. ; 

 4 lbs. Garlic (Allium sativum) conns, 6s. : 1 packet 

 Camomile seed, 

 Is. 3d. : 1 packet 

 Datura Stramonium 

 seed. Is. : 50 old 

 Double Camomile 

 plants, 14s. Total, 

 £1 12s. .''jd. 



The Garlic corms 

 were planted be- 

 tween the Goose- 

 berry bushes, and 

 some of the Camo- 



mile plants between 

 the rows of young 

 trees, so there was 

 real econon^y of 

 space ! The ground 

 was just ordinary 

 garden soil , and 

 none of these herbs 

 were nianured or 

 treated in any 

 special way. They 

 all grew exceedingly 

 well, and the Datura 

 was over 5 feet high. 



The crop of 

 Datura leaves was 

 unfortunately 

 wasted, because, 



when they should 

 have been ha r- 

 vested, I was away 

 from home an d 

 could make no 

 arrangements about 

 drying them. 



The rest of the 

 herbs. Belladonna 

 seedlings. Bella- 

 donna seed. Camomile runners, Datura seed 

 and Garlic corms are all sold and have brought 

 me in in all £44 6s. 6d. (forty-four pounds six 

 shillings and sixpence). 



If you work this out to a larger scale, you will 

 see that if an acre of these herbs had been grown 

 and sold at that rate, thev would have fetched 

 about £6,924 for the acre. ' 



I do not suppose that anyone will believe this 

 but I am really an averagely truthful individual, 

 and have a detailed account of all my sales. 



It sounds, I know, a niost tempting form of 

 gardening, but I do not recommend anyone who 

 may try it to hope for anything like that profit 

 this season. 



I shall not do it agaiii. I know it cannot be 

 repeated. I was just lucky in hitting on herbs 

 which would be in great demand, as my stock, 



,'0 and I feel convinced, judging by the amount of 

 Camomile runners I have sold, that it will, I 

 think, be impossible for the cultural sale to be 

 large again, and that the main trade must be in 

 flowers to druggists. 



My Camomile .seed threw single flowers — • 

 every one — and I gave away all the plants. This 

 is a proof of the inadvisability of growing Camo- 

 mile from anything but runners from guaranteed 

 dou))le plants. 



Tlie prices of these Medicinal Herbs, both in 

 1916 and 1917, have been quite abnormal, 

 because of the scarcity and the increasing demand. 

 Sonie of the seeds and plants are now almost 

 unobtainable, and the would-be growers who 



don't trouble to 

 order seeds or 

 plants till the time 

 w hen they are 

 ready to sow them, 

 wi 1 1 have to do 

 without and grow 

 a difi:erent crop. 



I should like 

 here to ask 

 Botanists and 

 Members of the 

 Irish Herb Associa- 

 tions to gather and 

 re-sow seeds of 

 some of the more 

 valuable wild 

 herbs, such as 

 Henbane, Bella- 

 donna. Agrimony, 

 &c. 



The plants, 

 which niust be 

 gathered as a 

 " whole herb " — 

 that is, cut off 

 above the I'oot — 

 just as they are 

 coniing into flower, 

 will be c o m e 

 scarce, as they 

 have no chance 

 of ripening the 

 seed and per- 

 forming their 

 natural function. 

 An ounce or two 

 of seed of each 

 carefully gathered 

 and dried, and re- 

 sown every season in different localities, will 

 prevent their becoming extinct. 



*' M1M0.SA " Acacia dealbata. 



Yours truly, 



Muriel E. Bland, 



Hon. Cultural Sccrclary, 



Leinster Herb Association. 



A Correction, 



In an interesting letter from the Hon. Vicary 

 Gibbs, published in our last issue, an unfor- 

 tunate error occurs. In mentioning the hardest 

 frost of January, 1895, the author gave 3° below 

 zero as the lowest reading, which unfortunately 

 appeared as 30° below zero. 



