Cultivation of Medicinal Plants. 



enjoy only a precarious success to give competitors the benefit 

 of an expensive knowledge practically acquired. Mr. E. M. 

 Holmes, the Curator of the Pharmaceutical Society, has, how- 

 ever, contributed to the Journal of that Society several short 

 papers dealing with the cultivation of medicinal plants in the 

 following localities : — Banbury, Lincolnshire, Hitchin, Brighton,, 

 Bedfordshire, Suffolk, and Surrey. 



With regard to Digitalis, there is only one species used in 

 medicine, namely, Digitalis purpurea (Linn). The British 

 Pharmacopoeia authorises the use only of the dried leaves 

 collected from plants commencing to flower. The plant is 

 abundant in a wild state in the South of England and in. 

 Central Europe. It does not flower till its second year — a 

 matter for serious consideration by the would-be cultivator — 

 and the drying of the leaves must be done immediately after 

 collection. One hundred pounds of the fresh leaves yield about 

 eleven or twelve of dried, and as the finished article only fetches 

 about 34s. per cwt., the commercial attractiveness of this 

 particular cultivation does not appear to be great. British 

 growers cannot compete with German in regard to this article,, 

 the collecting in Germany being so inexpensive and labour of 

 a sufficiently skilled character for the subsequent processes of 

 drying being plentiful and cheap. About nine-tenths of the 

 leaves used in medicine are stated to be of German origin, and 

 although there is some reason to suppose that the English 

 leaves are of a better quality and fetch a higher price, there is 

 practically little to justify any marked preference. It is simply 

 a question of price ; and the cost of labour here appears to 

 determine the matter in favour of Germany. 



Practical growers have found the results in regard to the 

 cultivation of Henbane to be very disappointing. As in the 

 case of Digitalis, two years are required to raise one crop, and 

 the market price seldom allows of a remunerative yield per 

 acre when cost of cultivating, tending, collecting, and preparing 

 has been deducted. Attempts have been made to develop a 

 business in 'first year' or 'annual henbane,' but the leaves 

 are almost valueless, and are not recognised officially. 



The cultivation of Belladonna {Atropa belladonna) is aiso 

 carried on in Germany, and the foregoing remarks largely apply 



C c 



