SOME WEEDS USED IN MEDICINE. 20 



everything that can be turned into an honest penny is put to ac- 

 count, these weeds are gathered in large quantities and to the value 

 of hundreds of thousands of dollars, are shipped to America each 

 year. Here the same weeds are allowed to encumber the farm and 

 impoverish the farmer, whereas they might be made sources of 

 profit. 



Among the more common weeds growing in Indiana which, for 

 drug purposes have a value sufficient to justify their gathering are 

 the couch-grass, curled and broad-leaved docks, black mustard, 

 pokeweed, wormseed, poison hemlock, pleurisy root, silkweed, In- 

 dian tobacco, catnip, mullen, two kinds of jimson-weeds. dande- 

 lion, bonesct, white snakeroot, horse-weed or fleabane, elecampane, 

 tansy, burdock and yarrow. Many a dollar can be earned by farm 

 boys and girls in gathering and properly preparing the parts of 

 these weeds used in medicine. Markets for them will be found at 

 Madison, Terre Haute, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis and 

 other cities where buyers of roots and herbs are in business. Sulzer 

 Bros., of Madison, who are the largest dealers in roots and herbs 

 in the State, bought in 1911, 114,000 pounds of the medicinal parts 

 of the above weeds, paying therefor about $3,600. The price paid 

 for them is not large but the collecting can mostly be done in late 

 summer at a time when farm work is not pressing. The small in- 

 come thus derived will be so much gained while the farm is at the 

 same time being cleared of the weeds. Under the name of the 

 weed, in the list which follows, the part used of each of those above 

 mentioned is given in proper order, and brief directions are also 

 given for its collecting and curing. In general it may be said that 

 whatever the parts gathered, they should be thoroughly dried in 

 the shade on clean floors, racks or shelves, being spread out thinly 

 and turned frequently. If dried out of doors they should be pro- 

 tected from dew at night and at all times from rain. Roots should 

 be throughly cleaned, washed and, if too large, sliced. Much care 

 should be taken to have all parts free from foreign matter, espe- 

 cially earth and fragments of other plants, and the leaves and 

 stems, when dry, should retain their bright gre?n color. 



When ready for sale the name of the nearest dealer should be 

 obtained and a few ounces of each part, properly labeled, sent him 

 as a sample. State the amount on hand and how soon it can be 

 supplied. In shipping, the crude drugs should be tightly packed 

 in clean dry barrels or gunny sacks, and plainly marked or tagged, 

 both with the name of the sender and the person to whom they are 

 consigned. 



