174 JouKNAL OF THE MiTCHELL SociETY yFehruary 



bj the United States Department of Agriculture have shown that in 

 that locality Cannabis indica (Indian hemp), of a somewhat high 

 degree of potency, can be cultivated. The development of the tea 

 industry in South Carolina is one of the most creditable pieces of 

 work of the National Government. Bulletitn No. 234 of the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry, on the "Cultivation and Manufacture of 

 Tea in the United States," should serve as an inspiration to anyone 

 contemplating drug culture. If a plant of this kind can be grown 

 successfully here and the technique of manufacture developed to 

 such an extent that the cultivation in South Carolina has become 

 remunerative, there is no reason why the majority of the drug 

 plants — except the strictly tropical ones — cannot be successfully 

 grown in the United States, and 75 per cent of these in North 

 Carolina. Experience has shown that cultivated crops command a 

 higher price than the drugs obtained from wild plants, even though 

 their superiority cannot always be demonstrated by analytical 

 means. The improvement of a plant from the standpoint of the 

 active matter which it contains may be effected by continually 

 selecting for propagation such plants as conform most closely to the 

 ideal sought, by the selection of spontaneous variations or sports, 

 and by hybridization. Breeding, or cultivation, has been slow be- 

 cause of ignorance upon the part of the grower, upon the quality 

 of drug plants sought, and, also, because not many people possess 

 knowledge of what drugs are required or what kind of soil and 

 climate is best adapted to the different species. 



The time allowed for the presentation of this paper permits a dis- 

 cussion of the cultivation of only two important drugs, Hydrastis 

 and Belladonna. 



HYDRASTIS. 



(Synonyms: Golden Seal, Yellow Puccoon, Indian Dye or Tur- 

 maric, Jaundice Root, and Orange Koot.) 



Golden Seal, so called by reason of the yellow seal-like scars on 

 the fleshy rhizomes, was once abundant in wooded portions of Ohio, 

 Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia, and, to a less extent, was 

 found in the western part of this State. Its natural location is in 

 nch, open woods where leaf mold is abundant. The drug was dis- 

 covered in 1793 and was made official in the United State Pharma- 

 copoeia of 1860. Its original cost was 10 cents a pound; it now 



