124  The  Laboratory  in  War  Time.  {^eblulry^giT' 
to  be  made  in  the  cultivation  of  drugs ;  fraudulent  and  irresponsible 
statements,  much  more  detrimental  than  helpful,  appeared  in  public 
journals.  With  the  source  of  many  crude  drugs  absolutely  cut  off, 
many  manufacturers,  through  their  laboratories,  were  forced  back  to 
the  land. 
Since  the  beginning  of  the  war  much  interesting  work  has  been 
done  in  the  cultivation  of  such  drugs  as  belladonna,  digitalis,  hy- 
drastis,  stramonium,  aconite  and  others.  It  has  not  been  an  easy 
matter  to  make  drugs  grow  in  a  climate  and  in  a  soil  under  conditions 
far  removed  from  that  which  obtains  in  their  habitat.  Little  if  any 
relief  could  be  expected  from  the  agricultural  interests,  for  drug 
crops  are  a  specialized  crop  in  comparison  with  food  products,  and 
are  limited  in  demand.  The  user  found  himself  forced  to  raise 
supplies  to  suit  his  own  needs,  irrespective  of  any  consideration  of 
the  cost  or  yield.  This  is  exactly  what  has  happened.  A  few 
manufacturers  here  and  there  have  fostered  the  growing  of  certain 
drug  plants  with  interesting  and  most  satisfactory  results. 
I  can  speak  specifically  only  in  regard  to  the  cultivation  of  bella- 
donna. Upon  this  plant  much  work  has  been  done;  many  experi- 
enced horticulturists  and  agriculturists  have  in  a  small  or  a  large 
way  tried  their  hand;  a  number  of  manufacturers  who  use  bella- 
donna have  put  in  a  varying  number  of  acres  and  for  this  and  for 
some  other  drugs  they  have  succeeded  in  preventing  an  actual  famine. 
In  belladonna  cultivation  very  extensive  observations  have  been  made 
with  a  view  of  increasing  the  alkaloidal  content,  in  other  words,  in 
producing  a  strain  carrying  a  high  percentage  of  alkaloid,  and  this 
has  actually  been  accomplished  in  a  limited  degree. 
In  the  writer's  experience,  however,  a  feature  of  our  attempts 
along  this  line  has  been  the  careful  selection  by  assay  of  individual 
plants,  collecting  the  seed  from  those  which  attained  a  high  percent- 
age of  alkaloid — in  some  instances  specimen  plants  have  reached 
as  high  as  one  per  cent.  This  selected  strain  can  be  carried  along 
for  a  few  years,  possibly  three  at  the  most,  when  it  will  revert  back 
to  a  type  giving  a  lessened  amount  of  alkaloid. 
Drug  cultivation,  to  be  carried  on  successfully,  must  be  under  the 
control  of  and  in  conjunction  with  the  laboratory,  in  fact,  it  is  my 
opinion  that  the  whole  question  of  the  cultivation  of  medicinal  plants 
is,  and  will  be  for  some  time  to  come,  a  laboratory  problem.  Study 
and  investigation  is  needed  upon  the  adaption  and  acclimatization 
of  medicinal  plants.    The  culture  must  be  studied.    Questions  as 
