Cultivation  of  Hydrastis. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
April,  1913. 
garding  the  use  of  commercial  fertilizers  in  this  new  industry,  only 
as  I  have  observed  their  workings  upon  gardens  other  than  my  own. 
I  have  been  successful  in  growing  both  golden  seal  and  ginseng, 
and  have  never  had,  so  far  as  I  know,  any  disease  infest  my  garden, 
or  failure  in  any  way  so  far  as  disease  is  concerned,  having  employed 
the  above  enrichments  exclusively,  because  they  are  to  my  mind, 
more  natural  to  the  growth  of  the  plant.  Here,  let  me  give  the 
prospective  grower  a  word  of  caution ;  some  growers  advise  the  use 
of  hen  manure,  lime,  wood  ashes,  etc.,  etc.,  etc.,  but  I  do  not ;  the 
writer  experimented  with  these  during  the  past  season,  upon  a  small 
bed,  and  one  experiment  will  be  sufficient,  for  if  there  are  any  of  the 
beautiful  plants  left  after  such  a  holocaust,  it  will  be  a  miracle.  The 
nearer  to  nature  the  plants  can  be  produced,  the  more  satisfactory 
will  be  the  results  to  the  grower;  remember  that  these  are  wild 
plants  and  they  are  not  to  be  domesticated  in  a  day  or  in  a  season ; 
their  nature  is  wild  and  their  growth  is  slow,  and  any  thing  which 
tends  to  thwart  or  interfere  with  nature, — in  other  words,  forcing  or 
"  hustling  "  them,  to  "  get  the  money," — usually  works  disaster  both 
to  plants  and  grower. 
Plants  and  Setting. 
I  aim  to  set  all  plants  that  I  possibly  can  in  the  spring,  so  soon 
as  I  can  find  them;  the  month  of  May  is  the  banner  month  with  me, 
for  this  work,  although  I  have  set  plants  from  early  spring  to  late 
fall  with  fairly  good  results ;  the  month  of  May  I  find  by  experience 
the  best,  as  above  stated,  for  it  is  then  that  the  soil  works  best, 
there  is  just  the  right  amount  of  moisture  in  the  soil,  and  the  weather 
is  also  right  for  the  plants  to  grow  and  to  keep  on  growing  the  whole 
season  through,  very  few  of  them  wilting  after  being  set,  and  what 
few  do,  most  always  recover  in  a  short  time  and  grow. 
I  grade  my  plants  into  large,  medium  and  small,  or  into  grades 
of  three,  two  and  one  years ;  proceeding  to  set  the  largest  and  best 
ones  first,  and  so  on  down,  by  so  doing  I  save  all  pieces  which 
become  broken  in  handling,  which  are  also  valuable,  these  are  set 
with  the  small  and  one  year  roots  and  often  grow  into  good  plants 
later.  Golden  seal  roots  may  be  broken  up  and  planted  the  same  as 
the  potato  is  cut  and  planted,  only,  if  a  piece  is  minus  an  eye,  an 
eye  will  almost  invariably  form  and  produce  a  plant.  I  have  found 
plants  growing  from  the  thread-like  rootlets  left  in  the  ground  where 
