Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 64, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 November 1916 — WEED INDUSTRY IN ENGLAND [ARTICLE]

WEED INDUSTRY IN ENGLAND

Herbs Neglected for Generations Now Carefully Garnered. London, October 24 (by mail). — Under the caption “Neglected Weeds Make a Rich War Harvest,” the British intelligence service recently issued a story dealing with the renewed use to which various herbs • long neglected in England are now being put, particularly those with medicinal qualities.

“The .great war,” the story reads, “is teaching England anew the value of many natural possessions neglected for generations. When Shakespeare wrote ‘Small herbs have grace’ small herbs had also a great value in. the national economy of England; they provided the only medicines that cured the ills of the flesh, they helped to keep the vigorous yeomen of England in health and sturdiness. In modern times the English herb garden has been preserved much as a curiosity. The garden around Shakespeare’s house at Stratford-on-Avan is a typical example.

“Except in country places the practical use of herbs in England hag almost entirely ceased. Every hedgerow, every piece of waste land was full of 'growths of commercial value, and t'he people of England for want of instruction neglected them—medicinal compounds could 1 be bought so cheaply from/- Ger-1 many! But the war having cut off' the German supply England i 3 turning to its own herb supplies again, and this-summer has seen a wonderful development of herb collecting ay a new industry 'in country places. Old people, children and wounded soldiers are doing the collecting, and centers for accumulating the harvest, cleaning and drying it are springing up everywhere. Here is a description of one of them. “Hidden from the country road in one of the prettiest districts of the eastern counties is a three-storied mill, centuries old, picturesque and strangely silent, though its wheels remain in contact with the river. The mill seems only a relic of old England and the more prosperous days of fanning. It is really a drying station of the new medicinal 'herb industry.

“A glance through the open door shows what transformation is necessary to fit a mill for drying herbs. Bunched leaves of nearly every English variety of medicinal herb hang in row after row from the heavy beams, drying in the breeze from the open door. Biscuit tins all over the floor store the smallest plants; daisy-headed camomile, colchicum seeds, the fly-devouring sundew-, and many others. “There are different rooms in the building for the various processes of the industry. One department, set apart as a kiln, in which is maintained a.heat of 120 degrees, is hung with burdock roots. .. On the

ground floor is ‘the steep,’ whera plants are washed before being hung from the rafters of the biggest loft. In every room are large sacks on the floor awaiting either the herb collector or some one deputed to dispatch them to a London dealer. “Not far from the mill are small plots where garden plants are grown for test experiments. These plots yield valuable infopmation, and prove that some of the most needed herbs can be grown on soil insufficiently fertile for ordinary cultivation; belladonna, henbane, datura, peppermint, meliot, pennyroyal, woodruff, agrimony, and yarrow thriv& where other plants wither. The difficulties in the cultivation of belladonna have been overcome in i East Anglia by interspersing plants I with rows of scarlet runners which, I shading the poisonous herb, cause ! it to grow rapidly, j “The herb industry, though re-

stricted to the cultivation of herbs, j has become associated with several I industrial and social problems. For instance, it can give employment to the wounded. Some convalescent soldiers staying in the neighborhood of the East Anglia branch of the herb industry volunteered to collect herbs, and from the hedges they brought all sorts of plants to the drying station; a small party 6f men j lately collected three hundredweight ,of foxglove leaves during one expedition.

“This occupation, undertaken voluntarily, showed the Herb Growers’ association that the men would find herb growing a congenial form of livelihood, aAd a scheme will be discussed at a conference to make the project practical. The branches of the industry employ all ages and classes and appeal to all sorts of people. Children bring their little contributions; farmers, amused and interested that their weed pests are valuable, send the weeds from their cornfields, and paid experts utilize them in a building voluntarily provided by the local landowner, who on a reserved plot experiments with the cultivation of digitalis and other poisonous plants to the benefit of the nation.”