ADe'imbeJ!hi9oT'}      Conservation  and  Cultivation  of  Plants.  569 
country  may  seem  to  be  a  new  problem,  yet  in  going  over  the  lists 
of  native  plants  that  are  cultivated  for  ornamentation,  we  find  that 
probably  more  than  half  of  them  are  of  economical  importance,  and 
that  about  200  are  of  medicinal  value.  The  cultivation  of  medicinal 
plants  having  thus  been  carried  on  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  the 
experience  gained  will  be  of  great  value  in  their  cultivation  on  a 
larger  scale.  Furthermore,  the  cultivation  of  medicinal  plants  is  not 
a  new  question,  as  this  industry  has  been  practised  on  a  small  scale 
since  the  coming  of  the  early  colonists.  Even  in  remote  country 
places  to-day  nearly  every  farmer  devotes  a  small  plot  of  his  garden 
to  the  cultivation  of  certain  of  the  medicinal  plants,  such  as  anise, 
balm,  sweet  basil,  bene,  boneset,  borage,  caraway,  castor-oil  seeds, 
catnip,  coriander,  cumin,  dill,  sweet  fennel,  horehound,  lavender, 
pennyroyal,  peppermint,  rosemary,  rue,  saffron,  sage,  summer  and 
winter  savory,  sweet  marjoram,  tansy,  tarragon,  thyme  and  worm- 
wood,  all  of  these  being  listed  in  the  nurserymen's  catalogue  at  the 
present  time.  In  this  way  many  of  the  valuable  European  plants 
have  in  addition  become  distributed  and  naturalized  in  this  country, 
as  inula,  hyoscyamus,  Symphytum,  coltsfoot,  stramonium,  cheli- 
donium,  etc.,  so  that  we  have  a  peculiar  flora  representing  plants  of 
the  old  and  the  new  world.  Considering  the  varieties  of  soil,  latitude 
and  altitude,  it  seems  that  the  feasibilities  of  the  cultivation  of 
medicinal  plants  in  his  country  are  unlimited. 
There  are  some  who  are  impatient  with  the  spirit  of  wastefulness 
and  destructiveness  in  the  American  people.  But  it  is  important  to 
remember  that  it  has  been  natural  for  Americans  to  secure  the 
largest  prizes  of  our  resources  first.  Many  of  the  earlier  workers 
as  they  bored  the  soil  struck  veins  of  ores  and  metals  of  untold 
riches,  while  others  as  they  tapped  the  earth  secured  never-ending 
streams  of  fuel;  and  still  others,  as  they  scoured  the  fields  and 
mountains,  returned  with  plants  of  unprecedented  virtues.  As  one 
region  is  exhausted  new  localities  are  discovered,  and  we  have  been 
inclined  to  believe  with  the  great  Huxley  that  man's  efforts  of 
replacement  are  futile  compared  to  nature's  own  resources.  But  we 
are  confronted  with  a  fact,  not  a  theory,  and  we  believe  that  Ameri- 
cans will  be  as  successful  in  the  conservation  of  their  forests  and 
wild  plants  and  animals  as  they  have  been  original,  fearless  and  for- 
tunate in  the  discovery  of  her  treasures  and  the  development  of  her 
resources. 
