56 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Moreover, the French and German Pharmacopoeias have retained until 

 now many herbal remedies, and the French and German pharmacies 

 which can be found in most of our large cities and seaside resorts must 

 be supplied with them. Until quite recently most of these herbs have 

 been imported from Germany and France, where labour is so much 

 cheaper that it did not pay to collect them in this country. But the 

 indifferent character of the herbs supplied, and the constant admixture of 

 other plants either as cheaper substitutions or arising from the carelessness 

 of the collectors, has led on the part of one of the large wholesale herbalists 

 concerned to the cultivation in this country of several of those in great 

 demand, and they find they can thus supply these herbs in a better 

 condition and freer from admixture than when imported from abroad. 



It is significant of the advantage of cultivation over collection, that 

 such common plants as the mallow and nettle should be amongst the 

 plants now cultivated, a list of which is here appended : 



Balm (Melissa officinalis). Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca). 



Celandine (Chelidonium majus). Nettle (Urtica dioica). 



Comfrey {Symphytum officinale). Bue (Ruta graveolens). 



Feverfew (Chrysanthemum Par- Santolina (Santolina chamcecypa- 



thenium). rissus). 



Germander (Teucrkim Chamce- Savin (Juniperum Sabina). 



drys). Skullcap (Scutellaria galericulata). 



Horehound (Marrubium vulgar e). Stramonium (Datur a Stramonium). 



Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis). Tansy (Tanacetum vulgar e). 

 Mallow (Malva sylvestris). 



The herbs most commonly used for domestic medicines are agrimony, 

 horehound, yarrow, hyssop, centaury, bogbean, feverfew, vervain, clivers, 

 coltsfoot, fumitory, ground pine, meadowsweet, pellitory of the wall, 

 wood betony, woodsage, mugwort, and wormwood ; but about ninety 

 others are still sold by herbalists in this country, exclusive of a number of 

 American herbs that have been introduced during the last fifty years, 

 chiefly by two "doctors" bearing the extraordinary and somewhat 

 ominous names of Skelton and Coffin, whose works on herbal practice 

 have had an extensive sale among the working classes. 



Besides the cultivation of medicinal plants at home, there has sprung 

 up in the Colonies, during the last half-century, an extensive cultivation 

 of some of the more important medicinal plants. This has been due 

 largely to the endeavours of medical men engaged in practice abroad, or 

 having charge of botanic gardens. This undertaking has arisen from the 

 careless destruction of the plants in the countries where they grow, and 

 the consequent rise in price of the drugs obtained from them. 



Thus it was Dr. J. F. Royle, a surgeon of the H.E.I.C. Medical 

 Service in Bengal and curator of the Botanic Gardens at Saharunpur, 

 who pointed out in 1839 that cinchona could be successfully cultivated 

 in the Neilgherry Hills ; Dr. Karsten, who brought seeds of Cinchona 

 lancifolia ; and a Dr. Weddell, who in 1848 brought seeds of Cinchona 

 Calisaya to Europe. In 1861 a plantation was started in Ceylon, and in 

 1866 there were one and a half million of young trees planted in the 

 Neilgherry Hills, and the same number were permanently planted out at 



