sStember%r8?"}    Earl)'  Botanical  and  Herb  Gardens.  425 
books  on  gardening  and  agriculture,  at  that  time.  Bernard  Mc- 
Mahon,  in  his  "American  Gardener's  Calendar,"  devoted  much 
attention  and  an  unusual  amount  of  space  to  the  consideration  of 
the  most  advantageous  methods  of  caring  for  and  cultivating  medic- 
inal plants.  He  enumerates  upwards  of  sixty  different  plants  that 
can  be  grown,  in  temperate  climates,  and  in  addition  gives  detailed 
as  well  as  general  directions  for  collecting,  drying  and  preserving 
all  kinds  of  medicinal  herbs,  seeds,  barks  and  roots. 
McMahon  was  born  in  Ireland,  about  1775  ,  he  arrived  in  Philadel- 
phia in  1796,  and  about  1S09  founded  a  botanic  garden  which  he 
named  Upsal.  During  its  existence  this  garden  was  usually  enu- 
merated among  the  interesting  sights  of  Philadelphia,  and  is  fre- 
quently mentioned  by  the  writers  of  that  period.  McMahon's  varied 
knowledge  of  botany  and  gardening  won  for  him  the  friendship  of 
Thomas  Jefferson  and  of  others  who  were  interested  in  botany  and 
the  natural  sciences.    He  died  about  1830. 
So  far  as  known  the  most  extensive  growers  of  medicinal  plants 
in  this  country,  at  any  time,  were  the  Shakers.  They  began  the 
cultivation  of  medicinal  plants,  at  the  parent  settlement  at  Mount 
Lebanon,  N.  Y.,  as  early  as  1800,  and  soon  established  a  large  and 
lucrative  business  in  this  line.  The  cultivation  of  medicinal  plants 
was  subsequently  taken  up  at  several  of  the  other  Shaker  settle- 
ments, particularly  at  Union  Village,  O.,  and  continued,  with  varied 
success,  for  a  number  of  years. 
At  Mount  Lebanon,  the  parent  settlement,  located  near  New 
Lebanon,  in  Columbia  County,  N.  Y.,  the  annual  output  of  medicinal 
roots,  barks  and  herbs  averaged  upwards  of  40,000  pounds. 
The  Shakers  were  the  first  to  adopt  the  now  widely  used  com- 
pressed package,  for  their  medicinal  herbs,  and  they  are  no  doubt  to 
be  credited  with  at  least  suggesting  the  now  all  too  popular  com- 
pressed pill  or  tablet.  About  1830,  or  1832,  at  the  suggestion  of 
Dr.  Whitlaw,  the  Shakers  began  the  manufacture  of  medicinal  ex- 
tracts. This  portion  of  their  business  also  progressed  rapidly  and 
in  this  particular  line  they  are  said  to  have  reached  an  annual  output 
of  upwards  of  23,000  pounds. 
•The  large  herb  house  of  the  Shakers  was  destroyed  by  fire  in 
1875,  and  since  that  time  they  have  confined  their  business,  in  the 
line  of  medicinal  products,  almost  entirely  to  a  limited  number  of 
