'^"'FeCissIf.'^"^}    ^ome  American  Species  of  Artemisia.  69 
My  experience,  at  this  time,  in  the  preparation  of  plasters,  was  of 
great  service  to  me  in  after  years,  as  it  led  me  to  contrive  a  plan  (suc- 
ceeded, hou^ever,  by  the  invention  of  another)  which  enabled  me  to 
produce  plasters  superior  to  any  spread  by  hand.  From  1838  to  1850 
I  manufactured  large  quantities,  enjoying  almost  a  monopoly  of  the 
business.  In  some  weeks,  I  find,  we  spread  as  many  as  5,000  plasters. 
But  now,  with  improved  machinery, ^the  preparation  of  plasters,  porous 
and  others,  has  become  an  important  industry.  I  have  no  means  of 
learning  the  number  produced  annually,  but  from  the  great  and  con- 
stantly increasing  demand  it  must  be  enormous. 
l^OTE  ON  SOME  AMERICAN  SPECIES  OF  ARTEMISIA. 
By  John  M.  Maisch. 
Nearly  eight  years  ago("Amer.  Jour.  Phar.,"  1872,  p.  196  and  295) 
I  called  the  attention  to  Arteinisia  Ludov'ic'iana^  Nuttall,  which  was 
recommended  as  a  hair  tonic  and  as  a  febrifuge,  for  both  purposes  to  be 
used  in  the  state  of  infusion.  From  the  interesting  paper  by  Dr.  E. 
Palmer  {Ibld.^  1878,  p.  590)  we  learn  that  the  Pah-Utes  use  strong 
tea  of  the  same  plant  to  assist  childbirth,  and  wads  of  the  fresh  plant 
£0  stop  hemorrhage  from  the  nose  ;  even  the  fruit  is  employed  by  these 
Indians,  ground  line,  made  into  a  mush  and  eaten.  The  species  which 
belongs  to  the  section  Abrotanum^  which  has  the  flower-heads  heter- 
ogamous,  but  all  florets  fertile,  is  found  in  Wisconsin  and  Illinois  and 
westward  to  California  and  Arizona. 
Recently  I  obtained  a  specimen  of  a  plant  sent  from  Arkansas,  near 
the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  where  it  was  stated  to  have  made  its 
appearance  after  a  freshet  in  1876,  having  been  previously  unknown  in 
that  section.  Although  accompanied  with  but  few  leaves,  the  plant 
was  recognized  as  Artemisia  dracunculoides^  Pursh,  and  this  was  verified 
by  comparing  it  with  the  specimens  in  the  College  herbarium.  The 
plant  is  said  to  produce  irritation  when  bruised,  and  a  tea  of  it  to  be 
diaphoretic.  Dr.  Palmer  reports  the  fruit  to  be  used  by  the  Pah-Utes  as 
food  in  the  same  manner  as  the  preceding  species.  The  plant  grows 
in  western  Illinois  and  westward,  is  common  throughout  Nevada,  and 
extends  southward  to  Arizona,  west  of  the  Sierras  to  California  and 
northward  to  Oregon.    It  grows  from  2  to  4  or  5  feet  high,  is  some- 
