*  Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  { 
November,  1914.  j 
Medicinal  Plant  Gardens. 
509 
drug  plants,  otherwise  the  whole  movement  will  sooner  or  later  be 
discredited.  Recently  a  reputable  pharmaceutical  journal  published 
an  article  in  which  the  writer  set  forth  at  some  length  the  possibili- 
ties for  the  commercial  production  of  a  certain  drug  plant  in  the 
Southwest.  A  request  for  further  information  brought  forth  from 
this  writer  the  astounding  statement  that  he  had  no>  personal  knowl- 
edge of  conditions  in  the  Southwest,  but,  having  grown  this  plant  in 
one  of  the  northern  States,  he  saw  no  reason  why  it  should  not  be 
profitably  grown  in  the  Southwest,  "  on  rocky  and  otherwise  unprofit- 
able land,  on  hillsides  or  arid  desert  soil."  In  this  case  the  motive  was 
evidently  merely  the  arousing  of  interest,  and  the  writer  mentioned 
displayed  a  fine  disregard  for  the  practical  difficulties  attending  the 
growing  of  the  plant  in  question,  which  sharply  localize  the  areas  on 
which  it  may  be  economically  produced. 
The  time  is  certainly  ripe  for  injecting  into  discussions  and  recom- 
mendations regarding  the  cultivation  of  medicinal  plants  some  of 
the  sanity  and  discrimination  which  characterizes  conservative  busi- 
ness operations.  Such  a  course  is  necessary  if  the  interest  already 
aroused  is  to  be  retained  and  directed  along  lines  productive  of 
beneficial  results.  It  should  be  remembered  that  the  expense  of 
agricultural  operation  varies  widely  according  to  location.  In  some 
localities  the  outlay  for  farm  labor  will  be  three  and  one-half  times 
as  much  as  in  others.  Sometimes  we  find  a  low  expense  for  labor 
associated  with  a  heavy  outlay  for  fertilizers,  sometimes  heavy 
expense  for  both  labor  and  fertilizers,  and,  again,  low  expense  for 
both.  The  complications  introduced  by  these  factors  alone  render 
it  practically  impossible  to  make  any  safe  general  statement  as  to 
the  profitableness  of  drug  growing.  Furthermore,  two  localities 
separated  by  a  distance  of  less  than  fifty  miles  may  present  a  totality 
of  conditions  so  different  that  a  drug-growing  enterprise  which  could 
probably  be  conducted  at  a  profit  in  the  one  would  with  equal  proba- 
bility fail  absolutely  in  the  other. 
I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  taking  the  position  that  there 
is  no  opportunity  in  the  cultivation  of  medicinal  plants,  for  I  have 
abundant  evidence  that,  given  the  necessary  favorable  conditions,  a 
fair  return  may  be  expected  from  several  drug  crops.  On  the  other 
hand,  I  also  have  abundant  evidence  that  hundreds  of  persons  have 
received  the  impression  that  drug  crops  can  be  grown  by  anybody 
anywhere  at  a  profit  far  in  excess  of  that  to  be  obtained  from  ordi- 
