8 
PHARMACAL PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE. 
were abundant. Thus, carload lots of cascara bark have been supplied 
through him to Eastern and foreign manufacturing houses. 
The general conclusions which are deduced from these conversations 
with Mr. Week are as follows: 
The wholesale dealers, as well as wholesale manufacturers, give little 
heed to the commercial source of the drug, manner of collecting, drying, 
etc. They desire a clean, neat-looking article at the very lowest figure. 
If an English house can supply digitalis leaves, horehound, and mint 
more cheaply than a California house, then these articles will be 
imported, even though they may have been rendered comparatively 
inert through careless packing, storing, age, etc. A San Francisco 
house will import horehound from England, though that commodity 
is a common weed throughout the State. It appears that in order that 
a drug may be profitably procured in the United States, there must 
first be a large and reliably constant demand, and the drug must be 
collected on a large scale with the aid of suitable mechanical appliances 
and machinery. Collecting on a small scale is not profitable. Drying 
must be done in the open and the drug shipped in bulk, in boxes, barrels, 
in sacks or wrapped in burlap. Large shipments of herbs may also be 
baled like hay and wrapped in burlap. Ounce, pound, and larger 
retail amounts of herbs and leaves may be pressed in paper packages. 
4. What Drugs May Be Collected Profitably.— From what has been 
said it is evident that even though a medicinal plant is very common in 
the United States, marketing the drug may not be profitable because 
of the high cost of labor and of other conditions. This is made clear 
in a bulletin issued by the United States Department of Agriculture on 
the common medicinal weeds of the United States. (Alice Henkel: 
Weeds Used in Medicine, Farmers’ Bulletin No. 188, U. S. Dept. Agr., 
3904). In this report the suggestion is made that the medicinal weeds 
mentioned might be collected and marketed by the farmer. To this end 
certain directions are given as to time of collecting, part of plant used, 
curing, garbling, etc. This plan, it was hoped, would not only rid the 
farm of the objectionable weeds, but would at the same time be a 
source of revenue, slight though it might be. It does not seem wise 
to give these suggestions, for several reasons : The farmer is chiefly 
interested in his crops and other farm products, knows little or nothing 
about drugs, can not always take the time to collect the drug at the right 
time, and can not take the time to collect, garble and cure it properly. 
The attempt would simply result in a poor quality of drug being placed 
on the market. Drug-marketing should be done by those who understand 
it and are ready to make a business of it. On studying the market 
value of the medicinal weeds mentioned, it will be found that the average 
price per pound of roots and leaves is from five to seven cents, a sum 
