Read Ebook: The Native Soil by Nourse Alan Edward

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Production of crude drugs 3

Some drug plants suitable for cultivation in the United States 4

General cultural suggestions 5

Harvesting 8

Distillation 9

Yield 11

Marketing 11

Commercial prospects 12

The cultivation and handling of drug plants 14

PRODUCTION OF CRUDE DRUGS.

Interest in the possibility of deriving profit from the growing of drug plants is increasing yearly. The clearing of forests, the extension of the areas of land under tillage, and the activities of drug collectors threaten the extermination of a number of valuable native drug plants. Annually, large sums of money are expended for crude drugs imported from countries where they are grown under conditions of soil and climate resembling those of many localities in the United States. As a means of guaranteeing the future supply of crude drugs and of lessening the dependence on importations, attention is now being turned to the cultivation of drug plants with a view to increasing domestic production.

The problems presented by the cultivation of drug plants are not less difficult than those encountered in the production of many other crops. Drug plants are subject to the same diseases and risks as other crops and are similarly affected by variations in soil and climatic conditions. They require a considerable outlay of labor, the same as other crops, and likewise require intelligent care and handling. They are subject to the same laws of supply and demand, and, like other products, must conform to the consumer's fancy and to definite trade requirements.

A number of common medicinal plants have long been cultivated in gardens in this country, either as ornamentals or as a source of herbs used in cookery and as domestic remedies. A few of these plants, such as goldenseal, wormwood, wormseed, and peppermint, have been grown commercially for sale as crude drugs; but the acreage devoted to their production has been relatively small and for the most part restricted to certain localities. Other drug plants which occur as common weeds in many places may prove to respond to cultivation; experiments should then be undertaken to determine whether it is profitable to grow them. In this connection it should be remembered that the soil type very often is an important limiting factor in propagating different kinds of plants. Some plants grow best in well-drained loam, some prefer a marsh, some require soils rich in lime, while others thrive only in acid soil. The soil requirements of all plants are not understood; in fact it is not improbable that better comprehension of the soil, climatic, and cultural conditions adapted to the different kinds of plants will enable the successful propagation of species now regarded as unsuited to cultivation. In undertaking the growing of medicinal plants, therefore, it is essential to know that the species selected for cultivation will do well under the conditions of soil and climate existing where the planting is to be made. When necessary, this should be determined on small experimental plats before undertaking commercial plantings.

Assuming that the soil and climate of the situation selected are suitable for the growing of drug plants, it does not necessarily follow that they can be produced at a profit. The cost of production and marketing may be greater than the amount received for the crop when it is sold. Some drug plants not well suited for cultivation on a large scale may be found profitable when grown on small areas as a side line. On the other hand, some may be produced more cheaply when cultivated on a scale large enough to warrant the use of labor-saving devices than when grown on small areas with the aid of hand labor alone. The value of land, the cost and availability of labor, and the possible returns from other crops are all factors to be considered carefully. On account of the variation in these factors according to locality, the same crop might prove to be profitable in one location and unprofitable in another. It is for these reasons that unqualified statements concerning the ease and profitableness of drug plant growing should not be taken too seriously.

SOME DRUG PLANTS SUITABLE FOR CULTIVATION IN THE UNITED STATES.

The number of drug plants which may be grown in the United States is large, although the same plants are not equally adapted to the conditions of soil and climate prevailing in different sections. Often the most suitable plants for a particular locality can not be foretold, especially in those situations where no attempts have yet been made to grow them. In such cases it is well to select for cultivation plants which thrive elsewhere under conditions most closely resembling those of the new situation in which it is proposed to grow them. The success with which ordinary field or garden crops can be grown will in general indicate the possible suitability of a given location for growing many medicinal plants. Since a number of native medicinal plants which in their wild state are restricted to certain localities have been successfully cultivated in situations far beyond their natural range, there are good reasons for believing that many such plants will thrive in sections where they are not now grown. However, good results can scarcely be expected unless the plants are placed under conditions similar to those in which they normally thrive.

In suitable soil and under favorable weather conditions the following drug plants have been found to thrive well under cultivation in numerous places in the Central and Eastern States and will probably be found suitable for cultivation in many other situations if the difference in climatic conditions is not too great:

Anise. Conium. Elecampane. Sage. Belladonna. Coriander. Fennel. Stramonium. Camomile. Digitalis. Henbane. Tansy. Caraway. Dill. Horehound. Thyme.

Some perennials, such as belladonna and digitalis, are only partly hardy and would be subject to winterkilling in the colder sections. Such plants as aconite, arnica, lovage, poppy, seneca, valerian, and wormwood seem to thrive best in the northern half of the United States in situations where the rainfall is well distributed throughout the growing season. On the other hand, cannabis, licorice, and wormseed are better suited to the warmer climate of the southern half of the United States. Aletris, althaea, angelica, calamus, orris, pinkroot, peppermint, serpentaria, and spearmint are adapted generally for situations in which the soil is rich and moist, but lavender and larkspur are partial to well-drained sandy soil. Ginseng and goldenseal occur naturally on rich soil in the partial shade of forest trees and can be cultivated successfully only when planted in woodlands or in specially prepared soil under artificial shade .

GENERAL CULTURAL SUGGESTIONS.

The special details of cultivation for each of the medicinal plants mentioned are given under the discussion of the individual species. Suggestions which are of general application, however, are here brought together, in order to avoid unnecessary duplication.

Seeds of the better-known varieties of medicinal plants are regularly listed in the catalogues of numerous seed houses, and those which are less common can usually be obtained from dealers who make a specialty of one or more of these species. Plants can frequently be obtained from nurseries or from dealers in hardy ornamentals. The catalogues of a number of dealers should be consulted and the varieties for propagation carefully selected. In ordering, the medicinal variety should always be called for, since many of the related ornamental forms which are listed are of doubtful, if any, medicinal value.

These publications can be obtained free of charge upon application to the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.

The preparation of the soil is of prime importance, whether the sowing of the seed is made in the open or under cover. Many seeds, especially those which are very small, do not germinate well in heavy soils or in those which are cloddy and coarse in texture. A seed bed prepared by thoroughly mixing equal parts of garden soil, leaf mold, well-rotted manure, and clean sand will be suitable for the germination of most seeds.

The depth of sowing is largely governed by the size of the seeds and the character of the soil. In general, the smaller the seed the less the depth of sowing. Seed should be covered more deeply in light sandy soil than in heavy clay soil. Fall-sown seeds also require a greater depth of covering than those sown in the spring. The exact quantity of seed which should be used for sowing a given area can not be definitely stated. The same kind of seed will be found to vary widely in its power to germinate; hence, the percentage of germination should be ascertained in advance of sowing and the quantity regulated accordingly. In general, the heavier the soil the larger the quantity of seed required. If the plants are to be thinned out or transplanted, or if they are especially subject to the attacks of insects, the free use of seed is usually advisable.

When plantings are made in open ground it is preferable to sow the seed in rows or drills, in order that cultivation of the soil may be possible. A shallow furrow may be opened with a rake or hand hoe and the seed sown by hand. The rake or hoe may then be used to cover the seed with the required depth of soil. It is much more satisfactory to use seed drills, such as are commonly used by market gardeners, than to sow by hand, since with the drill the depth of sowing is more uniform and the soil is compacted over the seeds, thus favoring good germination. The distance between the rows is determined in part by the size which the plants attain at maturity, but depends chiefly upon the method of cultivation to be used. A spacing of 9 to 16 inches between the rows will readily permit hand cultivation, but the rows should be about 3 feet apart if horse-drawn implements are employed.

HARVESTING.

Drug roots are usually harvested in the fall or at the end of the growing season of the plant, but they may also be harvested early in the spring while still dormant. Roots collected during the growing season often shrink excessively in drying and so do not form the most desirable product. On small areas either a spade or a potato fork is a suitable tool for digging most roots; but if the area is large, labor will be saved by using a plow to turn out the roots, especially with such crops as belladonna or burdock. Most roots require thorough washing, and when the quantity is large this may be easily done if the roots are placed on a frame covered with wire mesh and water is applied by means of a garden hose.

All roots must be thoroughly dried. Large or fleshy roots are usually split or sliced, spread in thin layers on clean floors, and stirred or turned frequently. Good ventilation is essential, as several weeks usually elapse before the roots are dry enough to be stored with safety. The proper point of dryness is indicated when the roots break readily on being bent. The time of drying may be reduced to a few days by the use of artificial heat. For this purpose the walls of a well-inclosed room are fitted with racks or shelves to receive the roots, or large trays with bottoms made of slats or wire screen are suspended one above the other from the ceiling. The room is heated by a stove, and the temperature maintained between 125? and 150? F. Ventilators must be provided at the top of the room to carry away the moisture which is driven off from the roots. Ordinary fruit driers have been used successfully in drying roots on, a small scale, but special drying houses or kilns will be necessary for successfully handling crops grown on an acreage basis.

Leaves and herbs are usually harvested when the plants are in flower. Picking the leaves by hand in the field is a slow process, and time may be saved by cutting the entire plant and stripping the leaves after the plants have been brought in from the field. If the entire herb is wanted, it is preferable to top the plants, for if they are cut too close to the ground the herb will have to be picked over by hand and all the coarse stems removed. As a rule, leaves and herbs may be dried in the same manner as roots, but almost without exception they are dried without exposure to the sun, in order that the green color may be retained so far as possible.

Some flowers are gathered while scarcely open and others as soon after opening as possible, and in general they should be carefully dried in the shade to prevent discoloration. Hand picking is very laborious, and mechanical devices similar to a cranberry scoop or seed stripper may often be used to good advantage. A homemade picker may be constructed as follows: From a stout wooden box, about 10 inches wide, 14 inches long, and 6 inches deep, remove one end and connect the opposite remaining sides at the top with a stout strip, which will serve as a handle. Drive long, slender wire nails through an inch strip of wood at quarter-inch intervals, thus forming a "comb" the teeth of which should be about 2 inches long. This comb is fastened to the bottom of the box in such a manner that the teeth will project outward through the opening left by the removed end. On swinging this device, teeth forward, through the flowers, the heads will be snapped off by the comb and will fall into the box, from which they may be emptied into suitable containers.

Seeds are harvested as soon as most of them have ripened and before the pods or seed capsules have opened. Seedlike fruits, such as anise, coriander, fennel, and wormseed r are harvested a little before they are fully ripe, in order that they may retain a bright, fresh appearance, which adds to their market value. The machinery used for thrashing and cleaning ordinary seed crops will frequently serve a similar purpose for seeds of medicinal plants, provided the proper adjustments have been made. Most seeds must be spread out to dry and turned at intervals until thoroughly dried before they can be stored in quantity.

DISTILLATION.

The volatile oil obtained from many aromatic plants by steam distillation is often their most valuable product. The equipment necessary for distilling volatile oils consists essentially of a steam boiler, a retort, and a condenser. A constant supply of cold water must also be available. A common type of retort consists of a circular wooden vat, about 6 feet in diameter and 8 to 10 feet deep , fitted with a removable cover, which can be made steam tight. Metal retorts made of boiler iron three-sixteenths of an inch thick and jacketed with wood to prevent the radiation of heat are also used. A pipe leads from the steam boiler to the bottom of the retort and another from the top of the retort to the condenser, one form of which consists of a coil of tin-lined or galvanized-iron pipe inclosed in a jacket through which cold water is kept flowing when the still is in operation.

When the retort is filled with aromatic plants and steam is admitted through the pipe from the boiler, the volatile oil is extracted in the form of a vapor, which is carried over with the steam to the condenser, where both are condensed to liquid form. The oil and water together flow from the condenser into the receiver, one type of which is constructed like an ordinary milk can and is fitted with a siphon leading from the bottom, through which the water is drawn off to prevent the receiver from overflowing.

Many volatile oils will float on the water and may be drawn off from the top of the receiver at will. Other oils, such as sassafras and wintergreen, are heavier than water, and should be collected in a receiver provided at the bottom with an outlet tap through which the oil may be drawn off.

The cost of setting up a still will depend upon what facilities are already at hand and upon the size and efficiency of the apparatus installed. It may easily range from a small sum to several thousand dollars.

YIELD.

The yield that can be obtained from drug plants in different localities will naturally vary according to the suitability of the situation for the plants selected for cultivation. Even in the same locality wide variations in yield will result from differences in the lay of the land and in soil, drainage, and seasonal conditions. The skill of the grower and the degree of care and attention which he bestows upon his crop are also factors affecting yield.

Many of the drug plants mentioned in this bulletin have not been grown on a scale large enough to give a very satisfactory basis for calculating yields. Acreage yields calculated from the product of small garden plats are generally untrustworthy, since in such plats the plants are usually more favorably situated with respect to soil and are given better culture than when under field conditions. Moreover, as the area increases, it becomes more difficult to maintain an approximately perfect stand and to protect the crop from the ravages of insects or other destructive agencies. The returns from small experimental areas can at most be regarded as only an indication of the yield that may be expected under favorable conditions, and the prospective grower will do well to proceed cautiously until he has determined for himself the possibilities of yield in his particular location.

MARKETING.

The commercial grower of drug plants can not give too much attention to the problem of securing a satisfactory market for his product. Growers who live near the cities in which dealers in crude drugs are located or in sections where wild medicinal plants are collected may be able to find a local market, but in many situations the local marketing of crude drugs in quantity will not be possible. In such cases the grower should send samples of his product to dealers in crude drugs or to manufacturers of pharmaceutical preparations and request them to name a price at which they would purchase his crop. The material for the samples should not be specially selected or so prepared as to represent a quality higher than that of the whole lot, since this would give the purchaser just cause for making a reduction in price on delivery or for rejecting the whole shipment. It is well to send samples to a number of dealers, since their prices will be found to vary with the stock on hand and trade prospects. Before selling, the state of the wholesale drug market should be learned. The prices to producers are, of course, always lower than the wholesale price; nevertheless, the grower who is informed in respect to the wholesale market will be in a position to judge of the fairness of the prices offered for his crop by dealers.

COMMERCIAL PROSPECTS.

At the close of the year 1919 there existed a general and widespread shortage in botanical crude drugs, and prices in consequence had reached unusually high levels. The demand in other lines for unskilled labor at high wages has attracted elsewhere many persons who were formerly engaged in the collection or production of botanic drugs in this country. It is therefore probable that prices for most crude drugs will remain at a high level until the prices of other commodities undergo a general reduction and the present supply of labor greatly increases.

Although the average value of crude drugs, expressed in terms of money, has more than doubled since 1913, it does not follow that their production offers a corresponding increase in profit to the producer. The prices of food and clothing, labor, and supplies of all kinds have for the most part more than doubled in the same time and the prospective producer of crude drugs will do well to consider carefully the comparative prices of the necessities of life which he must purchase before he engages in this enterprise. The unusually high prices now offered for many crude drugs are due to the underproduction, which has resulted largely from labor conditions and do not necessarily indicate any large increase in the demand for consumption. In view of the present disturbed economic conditions and the uncertainty as to the future course of prices, the general stimulation of drug growing in this country does not appear to be the best policy at this time.

However desirable it may be to increase the available supply of crude drugs or to diminish the amount of money now sent to foreign countries for these products, the most important consideration for the American farmer who would grow drug plants is the probable profit to be derived from such an enterprise. Many statements to the contrary notwithstanding, the commercial production of crude drugs does not normally present unusual opportunities for quick returns and large profits. Knowledge respecting the cultivation and handling of medicinal-plant crops is far less widespread than in the case of such generally distributed crops as fruits, vegetables, and cereals, and certain individuals have taken advantage of this lack of information to lead the public to believe that extraordinary profits may be realized from growing medicinal plants, even in a situation no more promising than the average city back yard. Such persons are interested usually only in the sale of the plants and seeds for propagation or the questionable directions for their cultivation, and the extravagant claims often set forth in their alluring advertisements are not only misleading, but frequently have little basis in fact.

The market demand for any given crude drug is naturally a large factor in determining the prospects for its commercial production under cultivation. The demand for a number of drugs is quite variable or exceedingly limited, and hence insufficient to make it advisable to raise them on a large scale. In the case of other drugs, although the demand is fairly constant and steady, it could probably be fully satisfied by the product of a very few acres of good land. It is evident that the cultivation of any considerable acreage might easily result in overproduction, with a consequent decline in market price to a point where production would not be profitable.

The cultivation of drug plants, to be successful in this country, will probably require the introduction of improved methods and the extensive use of machinery to replace hand labor so far as possible. Growers of mints and numerous other plants yielding essential oils will find it desirable to equip themselves with a suitable distilling plant, although the latter can not be operated most economically when only a small quantity of material is available for distillation. The natural tendency will be to increase the acreage in the interest of more efficient operation, but here again there is danger of overproduction, and prospective growers should thoroughly acquaint themselves with market conditions before bringing very large areas under cultivation.

He slammed out the door and started across to his quarters, waders going splat-splat in the mud. Half a dozen Mud-pups were following him. They seemed extraordinarily exuberant as they went diving and splashing in the mud. Kielland turned and roared at them, shaking his fist. They stopped short, then slunk off with their tails between their legs.

But even at that, their squeaking sounded strangely like laughter to Kielland....

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