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MEDICINAL PLANTS OF QUEBEC. 

 John Adams, M.A., Assistant Dominion Botanist, Ottawa. 



The cultivation of Medicinal Plants is a subject that has recently 

 received a considerable amount of attention. This is partly because the 

 collection of wild plants is unsatisfactory, owing to the ignorance of col- 

 lectors in mistaking the genuine plant for a closely-allied species, and partly 

 to the difficulty of obtaining a sufficient quantity of those plants in the 

 wild state, for which there is a considerable demand. Further, the present 

 war has led to a great increase in the price of certain drugs, which are nor- 

 mally imported from European countries. And to this might be added 

 misleading articles of a popular nature which have appeared from time to 

 .time, pointing out the fabulous wealth which was to be secured from the 

 cultivation of a plot of medicinal plants. 



It may be well to point out at the start that the cultivation of medi- 

 cinal plants is not one to be undertaken without counting the cost, else, 

 instead of a profit being realized, it may be found that a loss has been 

 incurred. Unlike the regular field crops, the total amount of any one 

 medicinal plant used in commerce is comparatively small, hence overpro- 

 duction and consequent lowering of price or the absence of a market alto- 

 gether may easily result. Most of the work connected with the handling 

 of drug plants is of such a nature that it niust be done by hand, conse- 

 quently raising the cost of production. Seeds or roots of wild plants must 

 be collected in order to make a beginning, or must be purchased from the 

 dealers who handle these articles, and, in most cases, two or three years 

 or even longer will be required to mature a crop from the time of sowing 

 the seed. The plants after collection must be carefully dried, else they 

 will become mouldy. And finally there is the cost of packing and freight 

 to the nearest buyer. 



As regards soil, it may be stated generally that most medicinal plants 

 may be expected to do well in a soil adapted to ordinary field crops. But 

 it is always advisable to grow plants in soil and conditions resembling, as 

 far as possible, those in which they grow in a wild state. For example, 

 Ginseng, which grows naturally in leaf-mould in a forest, will not succeed 

 if exposed to full sunlight. Nor will a plant such as peppermint, which 

 grows in a damp or peaty soil, do well in a sandy or dry soil that may be 

 suited for carrots or some other crop. In other cases, the presence of a 

 considerable quantity of lime in the soil has a tendency to retard growth. 



