Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
February,  1895.  J 
Cultivation  of  Licorice  Root. 
75 
root;  but  the  duty  on  it  of  five  cents  per  pound  restricts  largely  its 
importation,  while  the  root  is  free. 
The  thought  I  have  in  mind,  in  introducing  the  growing  of  licorice 
here,  is  very  much  on  the  same  lines  as  sugar  is  now  made  from 
cane  and  beets ;  that  is,  to  have  large  tracts  of  land  devoted  exclu- 
sively to  the  growth  of  the  plant,  with  the  factory  for  making  the 
extract  from  the  fresh  root  in,  or  near,  the  fields.  The  present 
sugar  factory,  too,  could  easily  be  adapted  to  the  manufacture  of  the 
licorice  extract,  the  apparatus  required  being  simply  suitable 
crushers  or  shredding  machinery,  the  diffusion  battery  and  vacuum 
pans  for  evaporating.  Sugar  factories,  too,  could  be  utilized  when 
not  running  on  sugar,  as  the  proper  time  for  digging  the  root  is 
from  October  to  April,  and  if  the  root  is  not  needed  one  year,  it  can 
be  left  in  the  ground  until  the  next,  not  only  without  deterioration, 
but  to  its  increased  value  in  weight.  It  is  not  well,  however,  to 
allow  the  root  to  exceed  five  years  in  growth  ;  three  or  four  year 
root  is  the  richest  in  extractive  matter ;  as  it  becomes  older  it 
becomes  more  fibrous.  Frost  or  drought  do  not  injure  the  root 
when  once  well  established ;  young  and  tender  plants  in  the  first 
year  might  be  injured.  The  elaborate  and  expensive  methods  of 
culture,  followed  by  the  gardeners  of  Europe,  would  be  entirely 
unnecessary  here  on  a  large  scale.  After  selecting  a  suitable  tract 
of  land,  having  the  necessary  requirements  of  soil,  location,  etc. 
(prairie  land,  because  it  is  open  and  easily  tilled,  would  be  my 
choice),  it  need  only  be  plowed  once  to  turn  down  the  grass  and 
weeds,  harrowed,  then  laid  out  in  furrows  about  25  to  30  inches 
apart,  and  the  buds  or  cuttings,  set  in  the  rows  6  or  8  inches  apart, 
and  covered  by  a  plow,  throwing  a  furrow  over  the  buds  from  each 
side,  or  even  cover  them  3  or  4  inches  with  a  hoe  ;  this  is  all.  From 
time  to  time,  during  the  growing  season,  a  cultivator  should  be  run 
between  the  rows  to  keep  down  weeds  or  grass.  The  tops,  at  the 
end  of  the  growing  season,  should  be  cut  off;  this  could  be  done 
with  the  mowing  machine.  The  second  and  third  year  the  treat- 
ment would  be  the  same.  In  the  fall  of  the  third  year  the  crop 
would  be  ready  to  harvest.  The  cost  of  harvesting  would  be  the 
most  expensive  part  of  the  business,  and  thus  far  I  am  unable  to 
give  any  exact  figures,  but  up  to  the  point  of  harvesting,  the  cost  of 
planting  and  cultivation  would  not  exceed  $4  per  acre  per  annum, 
or  $12  for  the  three  years,  including  interest  and  taxes.  As  the 
root  grows  to  a  great  depth  in  a  light  soil,  if  digging  had  to  be 
