488  The  Names  of  Medicinal  Plants,  etc.     { ^o&^SS!"' 
N.  C. ;  Hickories  8,  and  6  in  N.  C;  Magnolias  7,  and  7  in  N.  C. 
As  to  the  first  and  most  important  group  of  the  list,  attention  is 
called  to  the  fact  that  there  are  more  species  of  oaks  in  North  Caro- 
lina than  in  all  the  States  north  of  us,  and  only  one  less  than  in  all' 
the  Southern  States  east  of  the  Mississippi. 
Perhaps  it  would  not  be  amiss  here  to  state  that  North  Carolina 
enjoys  the  peculiar  distinction  of  being  the  only  State  in  the  Union 
that  fills  completely  every  blank  in  the  returns,  as  sent  out  by  the 
Department  of  Agriculture  at  Washington. 
Of  the  182  official  galenical  drugs  of  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia, 
94  are  of  foreign  growth,  and  of  the  balance,  indigenous  to  the 
United  States,  all  but  one  are  found  in  North  Carolina. 
Glancing  over  a  price-list  of  one  of  the  largest  of  our  fluid  extract 
manufacturers,  comprising  328  varieties  of  drugs,  foreign  and  do- 
mestic, I  find  that  of  the  latter  more  than  90  per  cent,  are  indigen- 
ous to  North  Carolina. 
I  think  that  I  am  within  the  bounds  of  truth  when  I  say  that  the 
firm  doing  the  largest  business  as  herbalists  in  the  world  is  in  North 
Carolina.  The  amount  of  business  done  by  them  may  be  illustrated 
by  the  following  extract  taken  from  their  order-book,  covering  one 
month's  sales :  50,000  pounds  Mandrake,  5 ,000  pounds  Black  Cohosh, 
12,000  pounds  Wild  Cherry  Bark,  8,000  pounds  Red  Clover  Blos- 
soms, 1 2,000  pounds  Pennyroyal,  9,000  pounds  Catnip,  8,000  pounds 
Stramonium  leaves,  8,000  pounds  Witch-hazel,  8,000  pounds  Yellow 
Dock,  6,500  pounds  Stillingia,  8,000  pounds  Unicorn  Root,  etc. 
They  have  taken  a  single  order  from  one  firm  for  as  much  as  half 
a  million  pounds  of  drugs.  Beginning  in  a  small  way  some  thirty 
years  ago,  this  firm  has  gradually  increased  its  business  until  they 
now  employ  more  than  three  hundred  agencies,  and  ship  millions  of 
pounds  of  drugs,  consisting  of  more  than  2,300  varieties.  There 
are  other  smaller  concerns  in  the  State  doing  a  less  amount  of  busi- 
ness, confined  to  about  one  hundred  varieties. 
Ginseng  is  one  of  the  most  valued  of  the  indigenous  drugs  of  our 
State,  commanding  as  much  as  $3  to  $4  per  pound.  Thera- 
peutically, it  is  of  no  value,  except  in  the  eyes  of  the  Chinese,  by 
whom  it  is  greatly  esteemed,  and  to  whom  it  is  all  sent.  Efforts  to 
cultivate  it  have  proved  unremunerative ;  but  so  eager  are  the  col- 
lectors to  obtain  it  that  it  is  frequently  dug  before  the  seeds  are  fully 
matured,  necessitating  the  passage  of  a  law  by  our  Legislature  pre- 
venting its  collection  before  September. 
