426  Early  Botanical  and  Herb  Gardens. 
extracts,  made  exclusively  for  two  or  three  large  manufacturers  of 
proprietary  remedies. 
The  success  of  the  Shakers,  with  medicinal  herbs,  induced  others 
to  venture  into  the  same  field.  At  New  Lebanon,  N.  Y.,  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  the  Shaker  community,  Tilden  &  Co.  had,  at 
one  time,  a  tract  of  upwards  of  forty  acres  planted  in  medicinal 
herbs.  In  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy,  for  185 1,  1852 
and  1855,  will  be  found  several  interesting  articles,  written  by  Prof. 
William  Procter,  Jr.,  on  the  "  Herb  Gardens  of  the  Lebanon  Valley." 
These  articles  record  Professor  Procter's  visit  to  this  section,  and  in 
them  he  gives  quite  an  exhaustive  account  of  the  extent  and  variety 
of  herb  culture,  as  carried  on  by  Tilden  &  Co.  and  the  Shaker  com- 
munity. 
From  these  articles  it  would  appear  that,  at  that  time,  upwards 
of  forty  varieties  of  medicinal  herbs  were  being  cultivated  in  Columbia 
County,  N.  Y.,  and  that  upwards  of  100  acres  were  annually  planted 
in  medicinal  herbs. 
A  recent  communication  from  the  successors  of  Tilden  &  Co. 
states  that  they  discontinued  the  cultivation  of  medicinal  herbs  some 
fifteen  or  eighteen  years  ago  and  were  not  at  present  engaged  in  this 
particular  line. 
Among  medicinal  plants  that  have  received  more  special  attention 
in  this  country,  the  cultivation  of  hops  is  the  most  widespread. 
Hundreds  if  not  thousands  of  acres  in  the  States  of  New  York, 
Washington,  Oregon  and  California  are  annually  devoted  to  this 
particular  crop.  It  should  be  added,  of  course,  that  but  an  infini- 
tesimally  small  amount  of  the  total  annual  yield  is  used  in  medi- 
cine.   Nevertheless,  the  hop  is,  strictly  speaking,  a  medicinal  plant. 
The  cultivation  of  opium  has  been  tried  at  various  times  and  under 
differing  circumstances.  During  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  again 
during  the  War  of  18 12,  when  supplies  of  foreign  drugs  were  scarce 
and  hard  to  get,  considerable  opium  was  produced  in  this  country. 
The  same  is  true  of  the  Southern  States,  where,  during  the  War  of 
the  Rebellion,  a  considerable  amount  of  excellent  opium  was  pro- 
duced. That  the  production  of  opium  has  not  developed  as  a 
permanent  industry  is  entirely  due  to  the  relatively  high  cost  of 
labor. 
The  cultivation  of  peppermint,  largely  for  the  essential  oil,  was 
introduced  into  Wayne  County,  N.  Y.,  about  18 16.    For  many 
