528  Cultivation  of  Medicinal  Plants.       { ^NoveS^rf mT* 
funds  were  available  and  hence  nothing  apparent  was  accomplished 
at  this  time  at  the  college,  but  Dean  WuUing  started  a  garden  on 
a  small  scale  at  his  home,  which,  however,  he  soon  after  abandoned 
principally  because  of  lack  of  time  and  area.  In  the  fall  of  1910  an 
appropriation  was  secured  for  the  establishing  of  a  medicinal  plant 
garden  and  late  this  spring  the  ground  which  had  been  granted 
some  fourteen  years  ago  was  plowed  for  the  College  of  Pharmacy 
and  actual  work  begun. 
The  garden  is  admirably  located  and  of  about  forty  thousand 
square  feet  in  area  immediately  adjoining  the  building  occupied 
by  the  College  of  Pharmacy.  It  represents  part  of  the  University 
campus  which  some  time  ago  was  a  shallow  basin,  but  which  has 
been  filled  in  during  the  past  few  years.  On  this  account  the  soil 
is  quite  varied,  consisting  mostly  of  light  sandy  loam  with  a  coating 
of  peat.  The  plot  is  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  buildings*  which 
afford  considerable  protection.  After  the  ground  had  been  plowed 
and  thoroughly  harrowed,  it  was  staked  out  into  plots  of  convenient 
size  and  shape,  for  the  most  part  10x18  feet.  A  few  beds  of 
more  ornamental  design  were  prepared  as  the  garden  was  to  occupy 
a  rather  conspicuous  location  on  the  campus. 
The  question  which  has  frequently  been  asked  in  connection 
with  medicinal  plant  cultivation  is,  Where  can  the  seed  or  plants 
be  obtained  to  make  the  start  ?  "  Many  of  our  medicinal  plants  are 
used  as  ornamentals  and  hence  American  and  European  seed  dealers 
are  able  to  supply  a  certain  amount  of  the  desired  seeds.  In  case 
the  drug  consists  of  the  seed  or  fruit  this,  if  not  too  old,  may  furnish 
a  very  valuable  means  of  starting  the  work  of  propagation.  Samples 
were  taken  from  the  drug  collections  at  the  College  of  Pharmacy  of 
some  fifty-eight  different  drugs  and  of  these  thirty  germinated, 
giving  in  a  short  time  a  supply  of  plants  yielding  these  drugs.  This 
experiment  disclosed  a  rather  valuable  test  for  the  identification 
of  certain  seed  drugs.  A  sample  of  Delphinium  consolida  on  two 
germination  tests  showed  the  presence  of  ten  per  cent,  of  the  seed 
of  an  entirely  different  plant.  So  close  was  the  similarity  of  the 
two  seeds  that  the  adulterant  would  go  undetected  unless  a  micro- 
scopic examination  was  resorted  to.  The  reason  for  the  germina- 
tion of  only  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  various  seeds  tested  was  probably 
due  to  either  or  both  of  two  causes :  first,  the  age  of  the  seed  and 
second,  injury  to  the  vitality  in  preparation  of  the  drug. 
Among  the  seed  taken  from  the  drug  collection  which  grew 
