396 
Rhamnus  Purshiana. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\  September,  1914. 
during  the  next  few  years.  The  following  table  presents  data  on 
prices  and  annual  production  of  the  bark  for  the  last  decade,  as 
compiled  from  the  files  of  the  Oil,  Paint  and  Drug  Reporter  by 
Rodney  H.  True  (The  Pharmaceutical  Era,  January,  1913,  p.  9)  : 
Year. 
Highest  price 
Lowest  price 
Estimated  quantity 
per  pound. 
per  pound. 
of  bark  peeled. 
  5-5 
cents 
4-5 
cents 
500-600  tons. 
1902  
  6.0 
cents 
4.75  cents 
450  tons. 
1903. • •  •  
  22.5 
cents 
10.0 
cents 
1000  tons. 
1904  
  17.00  cents 
7.0 
cents 
750-1500  tons. 
1905  
  7-0 
cents 
5.5 
cents 
850  tons. 
IOX)6  
  11.0 
cents 
5.5 
cents 
200  tons. 
I907  
  10.5 
cents 
8.5 
cents 
250-600  tons. 
1908  
  9-5 
cents 
6.5 
cents 
I909  
  8.5 
cents 
7.0 
cents 
I9IO  
  7-5 
cents 
7.0 
cents 
550-^600  tons. 
I9II  
  90 
cents 
7.5 
cents 
1000-2000  tons. 
1912  
  10.5 
cents 
8.0 
cents 
500  tons. 
Stewart  &  Holmes  Drug  Company,  of  Seattle,  Wash.,  states 
that  the  average  price  of  the  bark  on  the  Pacific  coast  for  1913  was 
5  cents  per  pound,  and  the  yield  was  estimated  at  1200  to  1500  tons. 
It  is  estimated  that 'about  50  per  cent,  of  the  annual  yield  is  ex- 
ported to  Europe,  the  remainder  being  shipped  to  eastern  drug 
manufacturers  of  the  United  States. 
Future  Supply. — Cascara  dealers  have  been  predicting  for 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  that  the  supply  would  soon  be 
exhausted,  but  each  year  the  yield  is  sufficient  to  meet  the  demand. 
The  greater  portion  of  the  easily  accessible  trees  have  been  cut, 
therefore  the  collectors  must  find  new  fields,  which  are  naturally 
more  remote  from  transportation. 
Collectors  usually  leave  standing  trees  under  four  inches  in 
diameter,  because  of  the  thin  bark,  which  insures  reproduction  on 
cut-over  areas.  The  vast  holdings  of  large  timber  companies  con- 
tain thousands  of  tons  of  cascara,  but  they  will  not  permit  the 
peeling  of  these  trees.  This  fact,  together  with  the  fact  that  new 
trees  are  growing  on  tracts  that  have  been  peeled  once  or  twice 
before,  insures  a  supply  of  bark  for  many  years. 
Description  of  the  Cured  Bark. — It  is  usually  in  flattened  or 
transversely  curved  pieces,  occasionally  in  quills  two  to  ten  centi- 
metres long,  and  three  centimetres  in  diameter,  bark  one  to  three 
millimetres  thick;  outer  surface  dark  brown  or  brownish  red,  fre- 
quently completely  covered  with  grayish  or  whitish  lichens,  several  of 
