Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  i      Cultivation  of  Medicinal  Plants. 
Angust,  1915.     J  J 
355 
of  these  plants  is  that,  prior  to  the  present  disturbance  of  trade,  many 
of  the  drugs  were  imported  and  sold  at  prices  so  low  that  it  would 
be  impossible  to  compete  with  them  in  this  country.  Unless  the 
agriculturist  can  be  assured  of  a  margin  of  profit  at  least  equalling 
that  which  he  can  obtain  from  other  crops,  he  cannot  be  expected  to 
give  serious  attention  to  the  growing  of  medicinal  plants. 
Dr.  Stockburger  holds  strongly  to  the  consideration  of  the  desira- 
bility of  manufacturers  interesting  themselves  directly  in  the  produc- 
tion of  medicinal  plants,  and  of  the  necessity  of  recognizing,  in  a 
substantial  way,  the  efforts  which  may  be  made  in  the  production, 
under  cultivation,  of  drugs  of  a  high  quality. 
The  Work  of  Manufacturers. 
A  number  of  manufacturers  in  recent  years  have  given  consider- 
able attention  to  the  problem  of  the  cultivation  of  medicinal  plants. 
As  reported  to  the  writer  these  manufacturers  include  Eli  Lilly  & 
Company,  of  Indianapolis,  Ind. ;  H.  K.  Mulford  &  Company,  of  Phila- 
delphia, Pa.,  and  Johnson  &  Johnson,  of  Xew  Brunswick,  X.  J. 
Eli  Lilly  '&  Company — 
The  work  of  Eli  Lilly  &  Company  has  been  most  painstaking  and 
interesting.  In  the  year  1914  they  attempted  the  commercial  culti- 
vation of  stramonium  and  American  cannabis.  These  were  the  out- 
come of  some  years  of  experiment  in  the  way  of  selection  and  breed- 
ing, and  in  an  effort  to  increase  the  quality  of  the  resulting  product. 
They  state  the  results  have  shown  that  it  will  be  possible,  through 
the  use  of  modern  breeding  methods,  to  increase  both  the  quantity 
and  the  quality  of  these  drug  plants,  but  unless  this  plan  is  followed 
the  success  of  any  plant  growing  in  this  country  seems  to  be  doubtful. 
One  of  the  problems  that  must  be  overcome  is  the  high  cost  of  labor 
necessary  in  handling  crops  of  a  special  nature.  They  believe,  how- 
ever, that  the  improvement  in  the  quality  of  the  drugs  would  tend  to 
offset  the  increased  cost  of  labor. 
In  respect  to  stramonium — they  have  found  that  it  responds  very 
readily  to  different  soil  conditions,  and  that  on  certain  types  of  soil  it 
would  be  impossible  to  grow  the  plant  with  profit.  They  believe  that 
this  same  condition  exists  with  numerous  other  medicinal  plants. 
They  state  that  they  do  not  feel  they  are  ready  to  make  positive 
recommendations  for  the  growing  of  medicinal  plants  unless  one  is 
prepared  to  carry  on  considerable  experimental  work,  and  is  prepared 
