DRUGS. 73 



value of the plant, and to the necessity of introducing 

 it for extensive cultivation into India. A plant was 

 taken thither from Kew in 1866, which plant, however, 

 died in 1868, fourteen plants having been propagated from 

 it in the meantime. In 1871 five of these plants had been 

 increased to 400 ; and during the year 1870 a large number 

 of plants were transmitted to India from the Edinburgh 

 Botanic Garden, as well as from Kew ; and in 1873 the 

 stock had been increased by the method of leaf propagation 

 in Sikkim Himalaya to over 6,000, at which time it was 

 also being experimented upon in Ceylon. The system of 

 propagation by breaking up the rhizome into small portions, 

 from each of which a plant was grown, resulted in increas- 

 ing the number in a comparatively short time to about 

 6.3,000 plants. Time, however, has proved that while the 

 plant can be propagated to almost any extent, it does 

 better under glass or in frames ; and the slowness of its 

 growth, and the consequently small yield of roots, do not 

 recommend it for profitable culture in India. More recently 

 experiments have been made in Sikkim to cultivate the 

 plant in shady places, under trees. In 1876 a quantity of 

 the root was dried and prepared by Dr. King for use in the 

 Medical College Hospital, Calcutta, with the result that its 

 efficacy was proved to be quite as great as the best Brazilian 

 ipecacuanha. 



The cultivation of ipecacuanha has also been attempted 

 in Burmah and Singapore ; and the report of its progress 

 in the Straits Settlements in 1886 was that it grew there 

 " with all the luxuriance of its native country when a 

 proper situation is hit upon," and under these conditions 

 it forms a compact little shrub about eighteen inches 

 high. Plantations containing thousands of plants in ex- 

 cellent health are reported from Johore, and the produce 

 of these plantations has found its way into the London 

 market. 



