226 
Correspondence. 
Am.  Jour.  Pliarou 
May,  1904. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
February  25,  1904. 
Prof.  Henry  Kraemer. 
Dear  Sir  : — I  was  very  much  interested  in  your  article  in  the 
December  number  of  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy  on 
"The  Conservation  and  Cultivation  of  Medicinal  Plants." 
You  mention  the  fact  that  the  supply  of  drug  plants  is  becoming 
exhausted,  and  that  they  will  have  to  be  supplied  by  cultivation* 
I  wish  to  make  a  few  statements  of  my  observation  of  the  medici- 
nal plants  growing  in  California.  As  we  have  in  the  State  nearly 
all  conditions  of  climate  and  soil  that  can  be  found  in  most  any  part 
of  the  north  temperate  zone,  I  think  the  State  is  capable  of  produc- 
ing any  plant  found  in  the  same  zone  and  a  great  many  of  the 
torrid  zone. 
Plants  that  are  brought  into  the  State  and  transplanted  in  the 
proper  places,  where  conditions  are  favorable,  seem  to  thrive  as  well 
and  oftentimes  better  than  in  their  native  soil.  The  eucalyptus  in 
the  South  grows  well  and  very  rapidly;  it  is  planted  around  fields  for 
wind-brakes  and  sometimes  in  groves  for  fire-wood.  A  grove  of  four 
years'  growth  will  furnish  cord-wood — hardly  long  enough  for  an 
eastern  tree  to  obtain  a  growth  sufficient  to  be  transplanted.  The 
Phytolacca  also  obtains  a  larger  size  here  than  in  the  Eastern  States. 
This  plant  was  evidently  brought  out  by  early  settlers,  but  at  the 
present  time  is  growing  wild.  The  castor-oil  plant  also  attains  a 
large  size  here. 
As  to  the  conditions  existing  here,  in  the  South  we  have  the  hot, 
sandy  desert,  well  adapted  to  the  cactus  and  to  any  of  the  Cucur- 
bitaceae,  as  the  colocynth.  At  Indio,  in  the  dry  sea  bed,  musk- 
melons  and  watermelons  thrive  when  irrigated.  Near  the  mouth  of 
the  San  Joaquin  River,  is  light,  sandy  soil  suitable  for  such  as  the 
sassafras,  while  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  Humboldt  Bay  it 
is  always  cool  and  damp;  it  is  so  wet  that  grain  cannot  be  ripened, 
but  the  dairymen  grow  green  fodder  for  their  stock  every  month  in 
the  year. 
In  this  valley  we  occasionally  have  a  freeze ;  at  the  present  time 
it  is  quite  pleasant  here,  the  grass  and  grain  being  quite  green,  while 
six  miles  above  here  there  are  4  inches  of  snow.  We  also  have  the 
high  mountain  ranges,  with  an  occasional  frost  in  the  valleys  and 
snow  nearly  all  the  year  on  the  peaks.    Along  the  coast  is  the  sea 
