112 GOLDEN SEAL. 



PART IV. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

 GOLDEN SEAL. 



Golden Seal (Hydrastis Canadensis) is another medicinal 

 plant, which, on account of the rapid increase in prices paid for 

 the root during late years, has attracted the attention of people 

 who are inclined to embark in freak farming. While in 1895 the 

 price paid was only 17 cents per pound, the prices have steadily 

 increased since that time, so that in the fall of 1911 $4.50 per pound 

 was paid for the article, and indications are favorable that still 

 higher prices can be expected, as the wild supply of the forest 

 decreases. 



Experiments as to the possibility of growing the plant, 

 have been made at the Government Experiment Station, as well 

 as by individuals in different parts of the United States, and it 

 was found that it could be successfully and profitably grown even 

 in 1906, at a time when the price was only $1.25 per pound. 



One grower, known to the author to be conservative in his 

 statements, wrote in 1906 that, according to his experience at the 

 then prevailing prices ($1.25 per pound), a man with good soil can 

 expect with a good degree of certainty to clear $1000.00 a year 

 from an acre of golden seal by letting it grow three years after 

 setting out small rootlets, or a total of $.3000.00 profit from one 

 acre in three years time; or, if left to grow five years, a total pro- 

 fit of $5000.00 over and above all cost. This man stated that an 

 acre of ground would yield 4000 pounds of dry roots in three 



