76 
Cultivation  of  Licorice  Root. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\  February,  1S95. 
resorted  to,  the  expense  would  be  more,  and  some  other  mechanical 
means  would  have  to  be  used,  as  a  plow  or  digger.  All  the 
world  over,  digging  by  shovel  and  pick  is  the  usual  method ;  one 
reason  for  this  is  because  labor  is  very  cheap,  and  another  is,  the 
plants  grow  in  patches  often  widely  apart,  and  individual  plants,  so 
scattered  over  such  an  extensive  area  that  no  other  plan  is  possible, 
while  in  the  field,  as  proposed,  the  plants  would  be  in  rows  and  an 
acre  very  thickly  grown. 
An  acre,  with  the  rows  30  inches  apart  and  the  plants  in  the  rows 
6  to  8  inches  apart,  would  contain  20,000  plants,  and  narrower  rows 
and  closer  planting  is  permissible,  so  that  many  more  than  20,000 
plants  can  be  grown  to  the  acre.  I  prefer  to  take  20,000  plants 
per  acre  as  a  unit  for  calculation,  to  allow  for  loss  in  many 
ways  of  a  liberal  percentage,  say  one-third,  by  failure  to  grow 
and  by  dying  after  starting,  etc.  The  growth  each  year  is 
not  so  much  in  weight  as  one  might  be  led  to  think  by  reading 
what  has  been  written  on  this  subject ;  but  so  far  as  I  have  been 
able  to  ascertain,  there  is  nothing  at  all  definite  and  specific  pub- 
lished. The  information  herein  is  of  my  own  investigation  and 
experiment,  and  is  only  offered  as  approximate,  as  indeed  the  whole 
subject  must  be  considered  as  still  in  an  experimental  stage,  but,  in 
my  opinion,  full  of  promise  if  properly  entered  upon  with  a  view  to 
making  it  a  commercial  success. 
By  obtaining  plants  from  the  growers  of  one,  two,  three  and  four 
years'  growth  drying  and  weighing  them,  I  get  the  following 
results :  plants  of  three  years'  growth  will  average  when  dried  four 
ounces,  equal  to  eight  ounces  fresh  ;  or  to  an  acre  of  20,000  plants 
10,000  pounds  as  the  crop  at  the  end  of  the  third  year,  costing, 
according  to  my  estimates  for  growing  and  harvesting,  $15  for  the 
crop  of  10,000  pounds  of  fresh  root,  at  the  end  of  the  period  of 
three  years. 
I  have  not  given  the  weights  of  the  other  root,  as  three  year  root 
is  the  basis  on  which  I  am  working  ;  four  year  growths  would  show 
much  larger  results,  and  younger  roots  are  too  immature  to  dig. 
Allowing  a  loss  in  various  ways  of  one-third  the  plant,  leaving 
1 3.300  yielding  y2  pound  each  of  fresh  root,  or  6,650  pounds  at 
the  end  of  the  third  year  at  a  cost  of  $15,  or  even  $20,  and  the 
enterprise  would  be  profitable.  The  6,650  pounds  of  fresh  root 
represents  one  and  a  half  tons  dry,  and  the  lowest  price  at  which 
dry   Russian   Root,  or  Asiatic,  can  be  laid  down  in  the  United 
