PHARMACAL PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE. 11 



thium, rosemary, and many others, should not be very profitably 

 cultivated on a large scale. Insect flowers (Pyrethrum), lavendula, 

 hops, and others are now being grown very successfully in the State. 



Inasmuch as the work is very largely in the experimental stage, it is 

 desirable to begin with perhaps five or six different species of medicinal 

 plants. In the course of a few years it will be found which plants are 

 best suited to the particular soil, climatic condition, and temperature, 

 and finally the grower will, in all probability, limit himself to those 

 species giving the best promise as to net earnings or gain, per acre. It 

 will be necessary to develop the most suitable methods of cultivation, 

 fertilization of soil, rotation of crops, collecting, garbling, drying, and 

 marketing. Each species of medicinal plant will require its special care 

 and attention, just as with the different field, orchard, and garden plants. 

 For detailed and specific instructions the available literature should be 

 consulted, and, for the rest, experience must be the guide. 



6. General Suggestions on the Cultural Methods. On looking over 

 the existing agricultural, horticultural, and arboricultural resources of 

 the State, one is astonished at the variety of crops grown successfully. 

 AVith few exceptions the plant-cultural enterprises are conducted on an 

 enormous scale as compared with similar European efforts, or even with 

 those of the Eastern and Southern States. This brief statement should 

 serve as a significant hint to those who have the ambition and courage 

 to begin the cultivation of medicinal plants in California. 



Random, unintelligent, illy-considered attempts are to be discouraged, 

 as they lead to mistaken conclusions and to failures. Excepting perhaps 

 in a few instances, it is not advised to grow medicinal plants as a side 

 line or "small crop," nor is it advised that those unfamiliar with field 

 cultural operations, chemistry of soil, the chemistry, constituents, and 

 physiological action of vegetable drugs, should initiate or superintend 

 such cultural efforts. 



In order to avoid the unprofitable preliminary experimenting above 

 hinted at, it is very strongly urged that beginnings be made with 

 well-known and highly important medicinal plants, as digitalis, aconite, 

 belladonna, scopola, rheum, golden seal, and others. While it is pos- 

 sible to get valuable information from books, correspondence, and 

 hearsay, with regard to the desirable cultural methods, and, accordingly, 

 to make fairly successful beginnings, it would nevertheless be very 

 desirable to send qualified men to countries where these various plants 

 are being grown successfully, with instructions to remain at least several 

 months, to work in the fields and to collect concise and reliable data with 

 regard to the most successful and most profitable methods employed. 

 On returning, these observers should be placed in charge of the field 

 work, with specific instructions to adopt, to the best of their ability, the 

 foreign methods to American ( Calif ornian) conditions and require- 



