Medicinal Plants in the United States. 135 



research. In another direction, also, the study of the variation of the 

 active principle among: different species of a genus, or even among dif- 

 ferent individuals of the same species, affords great possibilities. The 

 work on belladonna now being conducted by Mr. Sievers, of this office, is 

 an illustration of this type of research, oppoi'tunities for which are 

 practically without number, and many of which may be evident to your 

 students through their medicinal plant gardon. By this means not only 

 will the effectiveness of the teaching be increased, but the interest and 

 appreciation of students in this line of work will be aroused and held, 

 and both of these factors are quite in harmony with the higher interests 

 of the University. The institution will also gain credit from a considera- 

 tion of ten points mentioned in the following paragraph: 



"The establishment of a medicinal plant garden in connection with 

 the college of pharmacy of your University is of direct value to the 

 people of your state in many ways, a few of which may be briefly set 

 forth : 



"It will furnish information regarding the medicinal plants which 

 are adapted for cultivation in Kansas, and thus provide a body of 

 information invaluable as a guide to the agricultural population of 

 the state. Such information will be of especial value in the immediate 

 future, owing to the recognized necessity for wider diversification of the 

 agriculture of this region. 



"This garden, pi'operly directed, will point the way to new agricultural 

 industries' which, though relatively small as compared with staple crops, 

 yet contribute to a diversified agriculture, and afford opportunities for 

 an individual here and there to add to his income or better utilize the 

 agricultural facilities which he already possesses. 



"By more widely diffusing knowledge respecting medicinal plants, this 

 garden should lead to a fuller utilization of natural resources of the state, 

 and should be the means not only of ti-aining the students who are to be 

 pharmacists along these lines, but also of inculcating a wider interest in 

 these resources and the dissemination of knowledge regarding them and 

 their inherent possibilities. 



"If the garden is conducted on a sufficiently large scale it will furnish 

 data on the production of drug plants which when properly prepared and 

 disseminated will safeguard the people of the state from loss through ill- 

 considered ventures in drug-plant cultivation. This country is full of 

 talk about enormous profits to be made from growing medicinal plants, 

 all of which means nothing if it cannot be supported by positive con- 

 crete evidence of profits realized. Thus the medicinal plant garden, 

 working perhaps along lines somewhat similar to those now being fol- 

 lowed by the Bureau of Plant Industry, would collect trustworthy data 

 •n the cost of production and possible profits to be realized under the 

 specific conditions existing in yqur state." 



I have stated that other states have led in this enterprise, 

 while Kansas has been apathetic. The schools of pharmacy of 

 Philadelphia, Montana, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, etc. 

 have made this medicinal plant culture a very important 



