CHAPTER XV 



DRUG PLANTS 



A SOURCE of profit from land to which little attention has 

 been given in the United States is collecting or raising plants, 

 some part of which may be used for medicinal purposes. 

 We condense from Farmers' Bulletin No. 188, United States 

 Department of Agriculture : 



Certain well-known weeds are sources of crude drugs at 

 present obtained wholly or in part from abroad. Roots, 

 leaves, and flowers of several of the species most detrimental 

 in the United States are gathered, cured, and used in Europe, 

 and supply much of the demands of foreign lands. Some of 

 these plants are in many states subject to anti-weed laws, and 

 farmers are required to take measures toward their extermi- 

 nation. 



The prices paid for crude drugs from these sources save in 

 war time are not great and would rarely tempt any one to 

 this work as a business. Yet if in ridding the farm of weeds 

 and thus raising the value of the land the farmer can at the 

 same time make these pests the source of a small income in- 

 stead of a dead loss, something is gained. 



One rather alluring fact contained in an article by Dr. 

 True, is that a shortage has become keenly felt in " Golden 

 Seal," which the early American settlers learned from the 

 Indians to use as a curative for sore and inflamed eyes, as 

 well as for sore mouth. The plant grows hi patches in high 



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