Am.  Jour.  Pharm.l 
January,  1901.  J 
Drug  Culture. 
*5 
time  become  reliable  sources  of  supply.  For  indigenous  plants  the 
wild  plants  themselves  will  furnish  the  seed  required. 
The  effects  of  cultivation  upon  medicinal  plants,  while  of  deep 
significance,  are  beyond  the  scope  of  this  paper.  The  words  of  Dar- 
win should  be  kept  in  mind :  "  Changes  of  any  kind  in  the  condi- 
tions of  life,  even  extremely  slight  changes,  often  suffice  to  cause 
variability."  Changes  of  food,  climate,  changes  of  any  of  the  con- 
ditions of  environment,  have  a  modifying  effect  upon  colors,  propor- 
tions, details  of  structure,  etc. 
Under  cultivation,  the  growth  of  tubers,  roots,  stalks,  leaves,  etc., 
changes.  Thus  it  may  be  expected  that  the  plant  functions  from 
which  arise  the  odorous,  alkaloidal  or  other  active  principles  will 
also  vary  between  wild  and  cultivated  plants.  As  to  the  nature  and 
extent  of  the  effects  of  cultivation  upon  the  production  of  these  me- 
dicinal principles,  we  have  no  tangible  knowledge.  My  impression 
is  that  in  our  first  attempts  we  shall  do  too  much  cultivation. 
The  most  virile  drug  plants  that  we  know  are  for  the  most  part 
wild.  They  live  a  savage  life.  Their  vital  force  is  the  accumula- 
tion of  ages  of  struggle  in  the  winds  and  storms  of  the  wilderness ; 
rooted  in  the  black  mold  rich  in  the  decay  of  countless  preceding 
generations,  a  change  from  barbarism  to  civilization,  from  the  for- 
est to  the  conservatory,  must  cause  a  marked  reaction. 
Weeds  are  always  stronger  than  the  cultivated  plant.  Thus  it 
seems  to  me  that  when  we  bring  wild  medicinal  plants  from  another 
country  to  our  own,  we  had  best  plant  them  out  in  the  fields  under 
as  nearly  as  possible  the  same  surroundings  as  were  experienced  in 
their  habitat.  In  other  words,  let  them  grow  as  weeds.  It  may 
be  that  in  this  way  we  can  utilize  some  of  our  fallow  lands  and  waste 
ground. 
Every  pharmacist  can  do  his  part  to  help  along  the  cause  of  drug 
culture.  The  Michigan  University,  with  a  few  acres,  and  Frederick 
T.  Gordon,  with  a  garden  bed,  have  given  us  helpful  examples. 
Every  college  of  pharmacy  should  have  a  college  farm.  Through 
the  aid  of  this  farm  and  the  college  laboratory  the  question  of  soil, 
climate  and  fertilization,  as  well  as  other  influences  upon  the  plant 
constituents,  can  be  studied. 
In  England  many  country  chemists,  and  on  the  Continent  the 
rural  Apotheker,  give  considerable  attention  to,  and  derive  a  profit- 
able income  from,  the  cultivation  and  gathering  of  medicinal  plants. 
