1916] Cultivation of Crude Drug Plants 173 



both ginseng and Hydrastis, one-year-old plants are frequently sup- 

 plied by growers, and while, everything considered, this is not de- 

 sirable, yet for experimental purposes this method may be em- 

 ployed. 



collection and drying 



The season at which drug plants are collected varies with each 

 particular plant. It is important for the grower to determine the 

 proper season for collection, since the active matter contained 

 therein is present in small quantities at certain seasons and in max- 

 imum amounts at others. For instance, experiments thus far seem 

 to show that belladonna leaves collected in July and August show 

 a higher alkaloidal per cent than those gathered in September or 

 October. The United States Department of Agriculture will supply 

 information as to the proper season for collecting the important 

 drug plants. 



Too much attention cannot be given to the proper methods of 

 drying, especially with the root and fleshy fruit drugs. This must 

 generally be done in a specially prepared room, which can be 

 equipped at small cost. 



relative value of drugs from cultivated and wild plants 



It has long been questioned whether the activity of drugs derived 

 from cultivated plants is equal to that of those derived from wild 

 plants. Some foreign pharmacoposias require that the wild plant 

 of digitalis and belladonna be used, the inference being that the 

 wild are preferable to the cultivated. However, in 1907, Mr. Rip- 

 petoe's experimental work in Virginia showed that cultivated plants 

 of belladonna yielded both leaves and roots which were equal, if not 

 superior, to the average drug on the market. These results were 

 published in the American Journal of Pharmacy for N'ovember, 

 1907. Carr (Amer. Jour. Phar., December, 1913), has shown, also, 

 that cultivated belladonna has a greater toxicity than the wild 

 plant. Carr states that nitrogenous manures tend to lower the 

 percentage of alkaloids, and Miller reports (Amer. Jour. Phar., 

 July, 1913) having grown belladonna plants with commercial acid 

 phosphate and obtained a yield of alkaloids as high as 0.9 per cent. 

 He has obtained similar results with wild and cultivated plants of 

 stramonium. The experiments conducted in Suramerville, S. C, 



