Am.  Jour.  Pharm 
November,  1907 
Drugs  Collected  from  Cultivated  Plants.  523 
SOME  ASSAYS  OF  DRUGS  COLLECTED  FROM  CULTI- 
VATED PLANTS. 
By  John  R.  Rippetoe,  P.D. 
Owing  to  the  increasing  scarcity,  higher  prices,  and  the  poor 
quality  of  many  of  the  wild  medicinal  plants,  any  data  as  to  their 
cultivation  for  commercial  purposes  is  usually  looked  upon  with 
interest. 
For  the  past  few  years  the  supply  of  belladonna  has  been  steadily 
decreasing,  and  at  the  same  time  it  has  become  poorer  in  quality. 
Formerly  the  chief  supply  was  collected  in  England  and  Germany 
from  wild  plants,  and  judging  from  the  macroscopical  examination 
of  samples  of  the  root  from  German  markets,  they  were  collected 
irrespective  of  the  season  or  age  of  the  plant.  The  alkaloidal  content 
of  the  root  upon  assaying  seldom  averages  over  -4  per  cent, 
mydriatic  alkaloids,  some  averaging  -30  per  cent.,  and  in  one  sample 
as  low  as  -20  per  cent.  About  10  to  15  per  cent,  of  the  samples 
run  as  high  as  -5  per  cent.,  one  sample  being  received  that  assayed 
•61  per  cent.,  possibly  from  cultivated  plants  properly  collected. 
The  leaves  usually  are  of  better  quality,  the  average  yield  of  total 
alkaloids  of  ten  samples  being  -35  per  cent.  Leaves  procured  in 
the  English  market  assay  very  good,  one  sample  received  assaying 
•76  per  cent. 
The  cultivation  of  belladonna  has  been  undertaken  at  various 
places  in  this  country  and,  according  to  reports,  with  very  good 
success.  Last  year  (1906)  I  undertook  the  cultivation  of  a  few 
plants  as  an  experiment  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley  of  Virginia,  and 
the  results  so  far  have  been  quite  satisfactory. 
The  seed  was  planted  in  hot-house  boxes  about  February  1st,  and 
the  plants  were  transplanted  several  times  before  finally  setting  them 
out  in  the  open,  which  was  in  the  middle  of  June.  The  young 
plants  are  very  tender,  and  the  loss  in  handling  from  the  first  box 
to  the  field  is  usually  very  great. 
By  September  1st  the  plants  were  18  to  30  inches  high,  the  season 
up  to  this  time  being  very  wet,  raining  almost  every  day.  By  Oc- 
tober 1st  several  of  the  plants  were  40  inches  high,  and  a  sample 
of  leaves  collected  at  this  time  assayed  -32  per  cent,  mydriatic 
alkaloids. 
About  two-thirds  of  the  plants  withstood  the  winter,  and  with  the 
first  signs  of  spring  began  to  grow.    Last  year  each  root  produced 
