Am.  Jour.  Phartn.l 
December,  1903.  / 
Conservation  and  Cultivation  of  Plants.  565 
simaruba  bark  (Simaruba  arnara) ;  sarsaparilla  (Smilax  medica  and 
other  species  of  Smilax)',  strophanthus  {Strophanthus  Kombe  and  .S. 
hispidus) ;  ignatia  {Strychnos  Ignatii)  \  Hoag-nan  (Strychnos  malac- 
censis);  nux-vomica  {Strychnos  Nux- vomica);  chirata  (Swertia  Chi- 
ratd) ;  tolu  [Toluifera  Balsamum);  balsam  of  Peru  (Toluifera  Perei- 
rce)\  damiana  (Turner a  diffusa)  )  gambir  (  Uncaria  Gambir)  \  ginger 
{Zingiber  officinale). 
From  the  several  classifications  of  plants  yielding  drugs  which 
are  used  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  at  the  present  time,  which  I 
have  made,  including  those  (1)  that  are  cultivated;  (2)  that  grow 
wild  in  this  country;  (3)  that  might  be  cultivated  or  introduced  into 
this  country  ;  and  (4)  plants  that  might  not  be  readily  cultivated,  we 
have  the  following  approximate  but  interesting  figures  : 
1  Cultivated  medicinal  plants  in  the  U.  S  ,  .  190 
2  Wild  indigenous  or  naturalized  medicinal  plants   178 
3  Foreign  medicinal  plants  that  might  be  cultivated   56 
4  Foreign  medicinal  plants  uncertain  as  to  cultivation   75 
These  figures,  while  more  or  less  approximate,  show  that  about 
three-fourths  of  all  the  medicinal  plants  are  growing  either  wild  or 
in  cultivation  in  this  country ;  and  that  of  the  remaining  one-fourth, 
probably  one-half  of  these  could  be  grown  in  this  country,  leaving 
but  a  comparatively  small  number  of  plants  that  might  not  yield 
immediate  returns;  but  even  of  these  it  would  not  be  surprising  if 
there  are  a  number  of  plants  which  might  be  introduced  with  more 
or  less  success,  as  the  plants  yielding  Jalapa,  Columbo,  etc. 
There  are  some  plants  the  cultivation  of  which  is  probably  alto- 
gether out  of  the  question  for  the  present,  as :  Chondrus  crispus, 
Fucus  vesiculosis ;  and  Quercus  lusitanica,  producing  Aleppo  galls 
There  are,  however,  several  species  of  quercus  of  the  south  as  Q. 
coccinea  and  Q.  imbricaria  which  produce  galls  rich  in  tannin. 
The  cultivation  of  chondrus  and  fucus  would  probably  mean  a 
great  outlay  of  money  and  considerable  ingenuity  in  the  develop- 
ment of  methods.  As  to  the  propagation  of  ergot,  ustilago,  agaric, 
etc.,  it  would  probably  be  undesirable  to  have  this  done  without 
special  care  and  restrictions,  as  otherwise  more  damage  would  result 
than  benefit. 
