1912. 
TTI-IEO RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
131 
Ruralisms 
GROWING FOXGLOVE FOR MARKET. 
I enclose a clipping from the New York 
Evening Mail that ought to bo entitled 
“What makes the city dreamer go and do 
something foolish.” w. f. m. 
New Jersey. 
The article purports to give a state¬ 
ment by Dr. E. L. Newcomb, of Minne¬ 
sota, who says: 
The return an acre is based on the yield 
of one plant grown in a medicinal plant 
garden under the direction of Dr. New¬ 
comb. The garden, containing approxi¬ 
mately 40,000 square feet, was divided into 
plots averaging 10 by 16 feet. Seven of 
these plots, or 1,120 square feet, were 
sown to different varieties of the Digitalis 
plant, commonly known as foxglove. The 
crop of these seven plots when dried 
amounted to 100 pounds. The “Pharmacy 
Bulletin” lists dried Digitalis at SI.20 a 
pound, making the yield from that small 
amount of ground worth $120. At the 
some rate of yield to an acre, and Dr. New¬ 
comb says that there is no reason why the 
plant grown on a larger scale should not 
be as great, if not greater, the return would 
amount to $4,666.80. 
Foxglove has for some years been 
cultivated as a commercial drug plant in 
several European countries, the natural 
wild supply not being sufficient to meet 
the growing demand. It is a fairly hardy 
perennial plant, familiar for its tall and 
showy spikes of bloom in dooryards and 
old gardens. It is of easy culture, grow¬ 
ing best in rich well-drained garden 
loams, but does not thrive to advantage 
in wet soils or barren, sandy ones. Seeds 
and leaves both contain medicinal vir¬ 
tue, but the latter, carefully dried in 
the shade, to preserve the natural green 
color, forms the only product that is 
now marketable. The current price is 
not $1.20 the pound, but ranges from 11 
to 12 cents per pound, dry weight. The 
most reliable estimates of yield do not 
exceed 600 pounds dried leaves to the 
acre, so it appears that the alluring re¬ 
turn of $4,666.80 per acre must be cut 
down to something like $72! 
Foxglove, even at the latter figure, 
promises a fair return for the cost of 
growing, especially where the care of 
the plants and harvesting of the product 
can be done by home labor, but any 
considerable acreage grown in this coun¬ 
try would quickly overstock the market 
The present drug requirement that the 
leaves be only picked from plants of two 
years’ growth at the commencement of j 
bloom greatly increases the cost of pro¬ 
duction. Careful trials have shown the 
foliage of one-year plants to be fully as 
active medicinally as that of the two- 
year plants, but the U. S. pharmacopoeia, 
our legal standard of drugs, does not 
permit the use of the former. 
In growing foxglove, for drug uses 
it is best to use the typical purple-flow¬ 
ered form of Digitalis purpurea, which 
may be had from most seedsmen, as the 
fancy garden varieties run more to 
bloom than foliage. The seeds are very 
small and need but little covering. They 
may be sown directly in the field at the 
rate of about two pounds to the acre in 
rows three feet apart to admit of horse 
cultivation, or 20 inches apart if hand 
culture is intended. When sowing, the 
ordinary garden seed drill has been 
found effective, but it is best to remove 
all covering attachments, first setting 
the drill-plow to open a furrow not 
more than one-half inch deep. Enough 
fine soil will work in the furrow to 
cover the seeds to the needed depth. 
Plants may also be raised in seed bed 
like tobacco plants and transplanted in 
June during dull weather to the field, 
setting them 12 or 15 inches apart in 
rows two or three feet apart, according 
to the method of culture adopted. 
Whether sown in field or nursery the 
seeds should be put in at the earliest 
practicable moment in Spring that the 
soil can be got in good condition, as 
they are slow in germinating. It is good 
practice to drop an occasional radish 
seed in the rows, as the latter quickly 
come up and indicate the rows so that 
cultivation and consequent weed destruc¬ 
tion may begin before the tiny foxglove 
seedlings appear. The soil should be 
well enriched, plowed, worked and put 
in fine tilth, as for any fine-seeded truck 
or garden crop, and cultivation and 
weed elimination be as thorough through¬ 
out the growing season. In field culture 
the plants should be thinned to stand not 
over 15 inches apart in the rows, as 
soon as they can be well distinguished. 
At the approach of severe freezing 
weather a mulch of strawy manure or 
litter free from seeds of troublesome 
weeds will lessen the danger of winter- 
killing. The plants bloom in June of 
the second year, when the leaves should 
be stripped and cured for market. Fox¬ 
glove should be grown as a biennial or 
two-year crop. Individual plants occa¬ 
sionally live several years, but so many 
die after blooming that it is scarcely 
possible to maintain a stand over the 
second year. The growing of medicinal 
plants is a legitimate and useful occupa¬ 
tion, and in conservative hands may 
often yield fair returns. It is a pity 
that this commendable pursuit should be 
so misrepresented by ignorant or un¬ 
scrupulous press writers. v. 
Lime and Apple Orchards. 
I noticed the little article on page 6 
entitled “Lime in the Apple Orchard,” 
by A. D. B. He says: “Apparently it 
seems to me that the most famous apple 
regions are where limestone most 
abounds.” We do not find those condi¬ 
tions. This is recognized as a good 
apple country, and we are devoid of 
limestone. In fact, limestone is rarely 
found in eastern Washington, where 
most of our best fruit is grown. Your 
reply: . “Naturally the apple appears to 
thrive in a soil too sour to grow good 
clover or Alfalfa.” Conditions appear 
to be very different here. On any of 
the land where the apple grows here, 
and I may say that it grows well and 
successfully on any of it where a suffi¬ 
cient supply of moisture is had, the 
same land appears to be the natural 
home of Alfalfa. It starts without lim¬ 
ing and without inoculation. There is 
very little trouble to get a good stand 
where a sufficient supply of moisture, 
either naturally or artifically, is provided 
to secure germination. Many of our 
apple growers are growing Alfalfa in 
their orchards and with success. I am 
mentioning these matters simply to show 
that success is possible with very differ¬ 
ent methods in widely separated sections 
of our great big country, r. w. starr. 
Washington. 
“KANT-KLOG”^ Sprang 
SPRAYERS ..fT • Gu,de Fres 
Something New 
,Gets twice the results— P * 
with same laborand fluid. 5ss tf5 ’'"" 
Flat or round, fine or coarse sprays \\ 
from same nozzle. Ten styles. For /V 
trees, potatoes, gardens, whitewashing, 
etc. Agents Wanted. Booklet Free. U '/ 
Rochester Spray Pump Co. 
DEFEND YOUR TREES 
from Scale and Fungus dis¬ 
ease with a DEFENDER 
SPRAYER. Powerful 
two-line apparatus. Made 
of Brass. Perfect construc¬ 
tion, easy working; 15 out¬ 
fits to select from. Satisfac¬ 
tion guaranteed. Descrip¬ 
tive circulars and prices 
free. C. S. HARDER, 
liox 75, Catskill, N. Y. 
STANDARDS 
Spray Pump^i 
S PRAYS the tallest fruit tree 
from the ground. Does the 
work in half the time. Sprays 
whitewash and cattle “dip.” 
Used with bucket, barrel or knap¬ 
sack. Always ready. Made of brass. 
Nothing to wear out or make trouble. 
Warranted for Five Years 
Write for special offer or send 
$4.00. Expressage prepaid. Money 
refunded if not satisfactory. 
The Standard Stamping Co. 
f42 Main Street Marysville. Ohio 
This handsome new 
edition of our complete 
spraying guide is free to 
our customers. Shows all 
the different insect and fungus 
pests and tells what to use for each. Gives 
method of preparing twenty or more of the 
most effective insecticides and fungicides. 
The most complete book of its kind ever issued. 
Full information on spraying every fruit or vege¬ 
table that needs spraying—from apples to water¬ 
melon. It is the result of our long study of 
spraying conditions, and is a practical book easily 
understood and helpful in a way not duplicated 
in any other guide. If you have any spraying to 
do, you ought to have this book. Send for our 
catalog telling more about it and how we ship 
HURST 
Spraying 
Guide 
FREE 
ON FREE TRIAL 
Absolutely no money in advance, no bank de¬ 
posit, no note. We manufacture all kinds of 
sprayers, from the small hand outfits to the 
power sprayers shown below—a sprayer for 
every need. All Hurst Sprayers have brass 
ball valves, brass plungers, 
packing bauds, etc. In fact, all the work¬ 
ing parts that come in contact with the 
solution are brass. They develop high 
pressure, are easy to operate and have 
thorough agitation. Quality the highest 
and price the lowest is our motto. 
We will ship you any kind ot a sprayer you want 
on free trial—if it don’t suit you, send it back ;if you 
keep it, you can pay cash or we’ll wait till next fall 
for our money and the extra profit from spraying 
will more than pay for it. We pay the freight and 
guarantee our sprayers for five full years—that 
shows that they are maderlght. Write to-day for 
our big free catalog and condensed spraying guido 
and get our special offer of a Free Sprayer to the 
first in each locality this season. Be first and 
save money. 
THE H. L. HURST MANUFACTURING COMPANY 
2818 North Street, Canton, Ohio 
'he Bidwell Automatic Sprayer 
Combines efficiency with economy of labor and materials. Strong, high-grade, brass and 
copper, portable, with pressure guage. Same pump for ' 
one pumping discharges, entire contents. Produces a 
less materials, and is equipped with our 
high-grade, brass and + WlVir I 
both air and liquid; xWC» ’’"W/kl 
finer spray and uses 'V | g-j- X | 
WINKLE MIST NOZZLE 
the celebrated power sprayer nozzle, which distributes the spray more evenly than 
any other nozzle on the market—and cannot clog. Try Winkle Mist Nozzles 
on your power sprayer. Write for FREE Catalog and Booklet on spraying. 
Agents 
WcAn/ted 
TYLER MANUFACTURING CO. 
70 Cortland Street, - . . ROCHESTER, N. 
Y. 
*Ozz\$, 
Sample 75P 
Y ou get all the high-efficiency of the 
biggest and most powerful spray¬ 
ing outfits in the medium-priced 
EUvtDX POWER SPRAYER 
High-Pressure, Large Capacity, Light Weight, Low Center of Gravity 
Write to-day for our new catalog, sent free. Fine big 
illustrations, full descriptions and price-lists of our complete line of 
hand and power-sprayers, nozzles, accessories, etc. The greatest 
improvements ever made in spraying outfits are described in this 
book. 
THE BEAN SPRAY PUMP CO. 115 Front St., BEREA, OHIO 
WESTERN FACTORY, SAN JOSE. CALIFORNIA 
CDPATc ^ 6 Make 
Orl' fl '.?K 5 -gKdv 
Bucket, Barrel, 4-Row Potato Sprayers, 
Power Orchard Rigs, etc. 
There’s a field sprayer for every need pro¬ 
nounced by all experts the world’s best line. 
^ THIS EMPIRE KING 
leads everything of its kind. Throws 
fine mist spray with strong force, no 
clogging, strainers are brushed and 
l kept clean and liquid is thoroughly 
agitated automatically. 
Spraying Calendar Free. Write for di¬ 
rections and formula. Also catalog on 
entire sprayer line. We have the sprayer 
to meet your exact wants. Address 
FIELD FORCE PUMP CO., 
2 I 1th St., Elmira, N. Y. 
Spray 30 Acres a Day 
Potatoes, Small Fruits, Vines 
Spraying that counts. 6 rows at a time with force to do 
work right. Foliage sprayed all over, under as well 
as on top. The Perfection Sprayer is also great at or¬ 
chard work. Spray trees by hand. Easy to maintain 
100 pounds pressure with two nozzles going. Strong 
60-gallo n tank, perfect agitation, absolutely best spray 
pump made. Spray pipes fold up—you can 
drive close to trees and in narrow places. 
Nearly 26 years sprayer builders. We know 
requirements, and know the Perfection is 
■ .right. Nearly 8000 now In 
use. All giving sat- 
isfaction. Write for 
vir -iIvW il Il^B^Trce Catalog. Don’t 
ij. 11 ii Jiuy any sprayer 
Sgj till it comes. 
THOMAS PEPPLER 4 SON 
Box 45 , Hlghtstown, N. 3 . 
LIME-SULPHUR HYDROMETER 
Pric* By Mail With TeU»| 
Jar «nd Instruct Iona— V i 
Agents Wanted Everywhere 
ive Fruit-Crowere 
—V’VYT ’ 
CARBONDALE INSTRUMENT CO.. Carbondale, Pa. 
What Sprayer? 
Use the sprayer that does the most/ 
work most thoroughly at the lowest cost. 
Brown’s Auto Spray 
No. 1 fitted with Auto Pop Nozzle—mos 
powerful and efficient hand outfit. Cap 
acity i gallons. For large sprayers— 
Brown’s Non-clog Atomic Spray Write' 
for low prices and Free Spraying Guide 
The E. C. Brown fo., 
Our No. 190 Horizontal Barrel 
r Sprayer, solidly built on skids, is shipped 
ready for work in orchard, garden or field. 
Pump outside —all parts easy to get at. No 
waste of time r no unpleasant work with tha 
hands in the solution trying to fix valves or 
packing. No corrosion. Heavy pressure. 
Thoroughly serviceable and satisfactory. 
Four row attachment. 
You must see this sprayer to know it* 
value. Ask your dealer to show 
f it. Write us for special book¬ 
lets. Complete line of 
farm, garden and or¬ 
chard tools backed by 
76 years' experience. 
k! 
Bateman M’Pg Co., 
Box, 102-H Grenloch, N.J. 
