The increasing use of Golden Seal in medicine has resulted in a wide demand for information about the plant, its identification, geographical distribution, the conditions under which it grows, methods of collecting and preparing the rhizomes, relations of supply and demand, and the possibilities of its cultivation. This paper with the exception of the part relating to cultivation was prepared (under the direction of Dr. Rodney H. True, Physiologist in Charge of Drug and Medicinal Plant Investigations) by Miss Alice Henkel, Assistant in Drug and Medicinal Plant Investigations; and Mr. G. Fred Klugh, Scientific Assistant in the same office, in charge of Cultural Experiments in the Testing Gardens, furnished the part treating of the cultivation of this plant. In the preparation of this paper, which was undertaken to meet the demand for information relative to Golden Seal, now fast disappearing from our forests, many facts have been obtained from Lloyd's Drugs and Medicines of North America.
Lyster H. Dewey, Acting Botanist.Office of Botanical Investigations and Experiments,Washington, D. C, Sept. 7, 1904.
As in the case of many other native medicinal plants, the early settlers learned of the virtues of Golden Seal thru the American Indians, who used the root as a medicine and the yellow juice as a stain for their faces and a dye for their clothing.
The Indians regarded Golden Seal as a specific for sore and inflamed eyes and it was a very popular remedy with pioneers of Ohio and Kentucky for this affliction, as also for sore mouth, the root being chewed for the relief of the last named trouble.
Barton in his "Collection for an Essay towards a Materia Medica of the United States," 1804, speaks of the use of a spiritual infusion of the root of Golden Seal as a tonic bitters in the western part of Pennsylvania and the employment of an infusion of the root in cold water as a wash for inflammation of the eyes.
According to Dr. C. S. Rafinesque, in his Medical Flora in 1829, the Indians also employed the juice or infusion for many "external complaints, as a topic tonic" and that "some Indians employ it as a diuretic stimulant and escharotic, using the powder for blistering and the infusion for the dropsy."
He states further that "internally it is used as a bitter tonic, in infusion or tincture, in disorders of the stomach, the liver," etc.
It was not until the demand was created for Golden Seal by the eclectic school of practitioners, about 1747, that it became an article of commerce, and in 1860 the root was made official in the Pharmacopoeia of the United States, which place it has held to the present time.
Golden Seal occurs in patches in high open woods where there is plenty of leaf mold, and usually on hillsides or bluffs affording nature drainage, but it is not found in very moist or swampy situations, in prairie land, or in sterile soil. It is native from southern New York to Minnesota and western Ontario, south to Georgia and Missouri, ascending to an altitude of 2,500 feet in Virginia. It is now becoming scarce thruout its range. Not all of this region, however, produced Golden Seal in abundance. Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia have been the greatest Golden Seal producing states, while in some localities in southern Illinois, southern Missouri, northern Arkansas, and central and western Tennessee the plant, tho common, could not be said to be sufficiently plentiful to furnish any large amount of the root. In other portions of its range it is sparingly distributed.
Many common names have been applied to this plant in different localities, most of them bearing some reference to the characteristic yellow color of the root, such as yellow root, yellow puccoon, orange-root, yellow paint, yellow Indian paint, golden root, Indian dye, curcuma, wild curcuma, wild tumeric, Indian tumeric, jaundice root and yellow eye; other names are eyebalm, eye-root and ground raspberry. Yellow root, a popular name for it, is misleading, as it has been applied to other plants also, namely to gold thread, false bittersweet, twinleaf and the yellow-wood. The name Golden Seal, derived from its yellow color and seal-like scars on the root, has been, however, generally adopted.
It is a perennial plant and the thick yellow rootstock sends up an erect, hairy stem about a foot in height, around the base of which are two or three yellowish scales. The stems, as they emerge from the ground, are bent over, the tops still remaining underground, and sometimes the stems show some distance above the surface before the tops are brought out from the soil. The yellow color of the roots and scales extends partly up the stem so far as it is covered by soil, while the portion of the stem above the ground has a purplish color. Golden seal has only two leaves (rarely three), the stem bearing these seeming to fork at the top, one branch supporting a large leaf and the other a smaller one and a flower. Occasionally there is a third leaf, much smaller than the other two and stemless.
The leaves are prominently veined on the lower surface, and are palmately 5 to 9 lobed, the lobes broad, acute, sharply and unequally toothed. The leaves are only partially developed at flowering time and are very much wrinkled, but they continue to expand until they are from 6 to 8 inches in diameter, becoming thinner in texture and smoother. The upper leaf subtends or encloses the flower bud.
Early in spring, about April or May, the flower appears, but few ever see it as it lasts only five or six days. It is greenish-white, less than half an inch in diameter, and has no petals, but instead three small petal-like sepals, which fall away as soon as the flower expands, leaving only the stamens — as many as 40 or 50 — in the center of which are about a dozen pistils, which finally develop into a round, fleshy, berrylike head. The fruit ripens in July or August, turning a bright red and resembling a large raspberry, whence the common name ground raspberry, is derived. Each fruit contains from 10 to 20 small, black, shining, hard seeds.
If the season has been moist, the plant sometimes persists to the beginning of winter, but if it has been a dry season it dies soon after the fruit is ripe, so that by the end of September no trace of the plant remains above the ground. In a patch of Golden Seal there are always many sterile stems, simple and erect, bearing a solitary leaf at the apex but no flower.
Mr. Homer Bowers, of Montgomery county, Ind., who propagated Golden Seal from the seed for the purpose of studying its germination and growth, states that the plant grown from naturally sown seed often escapes observation during the first year of its existence owing to the fact that in this entire period nothing but two round seed leaves are produced and at this stage the plant does not look materially different from other young seedings. During its second year from seed one basal leaf is sent up, followed in the third year by another smaller leaf and the flower.
The rhizome (rootstock) and rootlets of Golden Seal, or hydrastis, as it is also known in the drug trade, are the parts employed in medicine. The full-grown rhizome, when fresh, is of a bright yellow color, both internally and externally, about 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches in length, and from one-fourth to three-fourths of an inch in thickness. Fibrous yellow rootlets are produced from the sides of the rhizome. The fresh rhizome contains a large amount of yellow juice, and gives off a rank, nauseating odor. When dry the rhizome measures from one to two inches in length and from one-eighth to one-third of an inch in diameter.
It is crooked, knotty, wrinkled, of a dull brown color outside, and breaks with a clean, short, resinous fracture, showing a lemon-yellow color if the root is not old. If the dried root is kept for a long time it will be greenish-yellow or brown internally, and becomes inferior in quality. On the upper surface of the rhizome are several depressions, left by former annual stems, which resemble the imprint of a seal; hence the name Golden Seal.
The fibrous rootlets become very wiry and brittle in drying, break off readily and leaving only small protuberances, so that the root as found in commerce is sometimes almost bare. The dried rhizome has also a peculiar, somewhat narcotic, disagreeable odor, but not so pronounced as in the fresh material; an exceedingly bitter taste; and a persistent acridity which causes an abundant flow of saliva when the rhizome is chewed.
The root should be collected in autumn after the plants have matured. Spring-dug root shrinks far more in drying and always commands a lower price than the fall-dug root. After the roots are removed from the earth they should be carefully freed from soil and all foreign particles. They should then be sorted and small, undeveloped roots and broken pieces may be laid aside for replanting. After the roots have been cleaned and sorted they are ready to be dried or cured.
Great care and judgment are necessary in drying the roots. It is absolutely necessary that they should be perfectly dry before packing and storing, as the presence of moisture induces the development of molds and mildews, and of course renders them worthless. The roots are dried by the exposure to the air, being spread out in thin layers on drying frames or upon a large, clean, dry floor. They should be turned several times during the day, repeating this day after day until the roots are thoroughly dried. If dried out of doors they should be placed under cover upon indication of rain and at night so that they may not be injured by dew. After the roots are thoroughly dried they may be packed as tightly as possible in dry sacks or barrels and they are then ready for shipment.
Altho, perhaps, in some secluded localities Golden Seal may still be found rather abundantly, the supply is rapidly diminishing and there is a growing scarcity of the plant thruout its range. With the advance of civilization and increase in population came a growing demand for many of our native medicinal plants and a corresponding decrease in the sources of supply. As the rich forest lands of the Ohio valley and elsewhere were required for the needs of the early settlers they were cleared of timber and cultivated, and the Golden Seal, deprived of the shelter and protection necessary to its existence, gradually disappeared, as it will not thrive on land that is cultivated.
Where it was not destroyed in this manner the root diggers, diligently plying their vocation, did their share toward exterminating this useful little plant, which they collected regardless of the season, either before the plants had made much growth in the spring or before the seeds had matured and been disseminated, thus destroying all means of propagation. The demand for the root appears to be increasing, and the time seems to be not far distant when this plant will have become practically exterminated, so far as the drug supply is concerned.
The cultivation of golden seal seems now to have become a necessity in order to meet the demand and save the plant from extinction. Prior to 1900 there seemed to be no one, so far as the Department of Agriculture could ascertain, who had ever attempted the cultivation of golden seal for the market. From that time on, many inquiries were directed to the Department by persons who were quick to note the upward tendency of prices for golden seal and there are now several growers in different parts of the country who have undertaken the cultivation of golden seal on a commercial scale.
The United States Department of Agriculture has been carrying on experiments in the cultivation of Golden Seal on a small scale at Washington, D. C., since the spring of 1899, in the hope that methods might be worked out according to which this valuable wild drug plant could be grown on a commercial scale. In these experiments the aim has been to imitate the natural conditions of growth as closely as possible. The results that have thus far been obtained, while not as complete in some respects as would be desirable, seem to justify the conclusion that Golden Seal can be successfully cultivated. The methods of operation described apply to the conditions at Washington, and the treatment may need to be somewhat modified under other conditions of soil and climate.
The soil conditions should imitate as closely as possible those seen in thrifty deciduous forest. The soil should contain an ample supply of humus, well worked into the ground, to secure the lightness and moisture-retaining property of forest soils. The best form of humus is probably leaf mold, but good results may be obtained by mulching in the autumn or early winter with leaves, straw, stable manure, or similar materials.
After the soil has been prepared and planted, it is well to add a mulch in the fall as a partial protection to the roots during the winter, and the decay of this material adds to the value of the soil by the time the plants appear in the spring. The forest conditions are thus imitated by the annual addition of vegetable matter to the soil, which by its gradual decay accumulates an increasing depth of a soil rich in materials adapted to the feeding of the plants and to the preservation of proper physical conditions.
The growth of the weeds is also hindered to a considerable extent. If sufficient attention is given to the presence of this mulch, the nature of the underlying soil is of less importance than otherwise. In the case of clay the thorough incorporation of a large amount of decayed vegetable matter tends to give lightness to the otherwise heavy soil, facilitating aeration and drainage. Since the roots of the Golden Seal do not grow well in a wet soil, thorough drainage is necessary. A lighter, sandy soil is improved by the addition of humus, since its capacity to hold moisture is thereby increased and the degree of fertility is improved.
The looser the soil, the easier it is to remove the roots in digging without breaking or injuring them. Before planting, the soil should be thoroughly prepared to a depth of at least 6 or 8 inches, so as to secure good aeration and drainage. The good tilth thus secured will be in a degree preserved by the continued addition of the mulch. A further advantage of a careful preparation is seen in a decrease in the amount of cultivation required later.
Since the Golden Seal grows naturally in the woods, it must be protected from the full light of the sun by artificial shade. That used in connection with the experiments of the Department was made of ordinary pine plastering lath, nailed to a suitable frame elevated on posts. The posts were of cedar 8 1/2 feet long, set 2 1/2 feet in the ground in rows 11 feet apart, and 16 feet distance from each other in the rows. Supports 2 by 4 inches were set on cedar blocks 2 feet long sunk below the soil surface in the middle of the 16-foot spaces. Pine pieces 2 by 4 inches were nailed edgewise to the tops of the posts and supports. The posts were notched to receive the 2 by 4-inch sticks. Pieces 2 by 4 inches were nailed across these at intervals of 4 feet. The laths were nailed to these, leaving spaces about an inch wide.
This shade has been found to be satisfactory, as it is high enough above the ground to allow such work as is necessary in preparing and cultivating the land. If the lathing is extended 2 or 3 feet beyond the posts on the sunny sides, injury from the sun's rays at the edges of the area will be prevented. The sides may be protected by portable board walls about 2 feet high set around the edges. Protection from injury by winds when the tops are large may be thus secured. Too much dampness should be guarded against in the use of the board sides, since conditions might be developed favorable to the damping off fungus and to aphides during the hot, rainy periods.
Trees may be used for shade, but this is in some ways to be regarded as unsatisfactory. When the shade produced is of the right density, the use of the moisture and raw food materials of the soil by the trees is an undesirable feature.
The cultivation of Golden Seal is simple. Having secured a deep, loose soil, rich in humus, renewed annually by the application of a new mulch, the removal of weeds is the chief care. The soil, if properly prepared, will tend to maintain itself in good condition. The manner of treatment is very similar to that required by Ginseng, which is also a plant of moist woods. If the ground is thoroughly prepared, beds are not absolutely necessary. The plants may be grown in rows 1 foot apart and 6 inches apart in the rows. Beds may be thought by some to be more convenient, enabling the grower to remove the weeds and collect the seed more readily. If beds are used, they may be made from 4 to 8 feet wide, running the entire length of the shade, with walks from 18 inches to 2 feet wide between. Boards 6 or 8 inches wide are set up around the sides of the beds, being held in place by stakes driven on each side of the board in the center and at the ends. These beds are filled with prepared soil, and the plants are set 8 inches apart each way.
There are three possible ways of propagating the plant: (1) by seed; (2) by division of the rhizomes; (3) by means of small plants formed on the stronger fibrous roots. Thus far no success has been attained in growing Golden Seal from the seed. The second and third methods have given better results.
Seeds just after ripening were planted in sandy soil mixed with well rotted stable manure and mulched lightly with manure. Other lots were kept over winter in a dry condition and planted in the spring in potting soil in a greenhouse. No seedlings have appeared, but a long rest period may be demanded and the seed may yet germinate.
In the spring of 1902, 40 plants were secured and planted under a shade of temporary character, but the season was too far advanced to permit of much growth during that year. In 1903, proper shade was supplied, all other conditions were better, and the plants made a good growth. The crop was dug about the middle of November 1903; the roots were weighed and divided. They were again planted and in May, 1904, there were found to be 150 strong plants and a few smaller ones as a result of this division, an increase of 275 per cent.
This method of propagation seems to be the most important and the other two of second importance. The processes are simple and no skill is needed. The plant dies down in late summer and the stem decays, leaving a scar in its place on the rhizome. Two or more buds are formed on the sides of the rhizome and these accumulate energy for growth the following spring. If the root is cut in as many pieces as there are buds, giving each plant a portion of the rhizome, some fibrous roots, and one or more buds, the number of the plants can be doubled. The roots are planted and mulched and the process is complete. The rains pack the soil around the roots and they are ready to grow when spring comes. The process may be repeated every year and the number of roots increased indefinitely.
The stronger fibrous roots of the larger plants dug in the autumn of 1903 were formed from a few inches to a foot from the rhizome. Some were about half an inch long, but the majority of them were smaller. The larger ones need no special treatment and may be planted with the main crop. The smaller ones should be planted in boxes or beds of well prepared soil, at a distance of about 3 inches apart, mulched with a thin coating of leaf mold or similar material, and grown in shade until large enough to transplant to the shelter with the larger plants. They will probably require at least three years to reach their full development.
If they could be left undisturbed in the beds where they are formed they would receive nourishment from the older rhizomes and perhaps grow faster, but it is probably best to divide the older roots every year where propagation alone is desired, planting the smaller roots and the plants made by division of the rhizomes. The larger roots are marketed to more advantage than the smaller ones, so it is best to have the surplus consist of the larger roots. The frequent working of the soil allowed by this treatment will keep it in better condition than if left undisturbed for a longer period.
The yield from the small plant grown by the Department was 4 pounds of green roots to an eighth of a square rod of soil, or 5,120 pounds per acre. This, when dried, would give about 1,500 pounds of marketable roots. The conditions were not very good, the shade being too close to the plants and the plants being set too far apart. The yield will probably be larger with the shade now in use. The 150 roots obtained by dividing the above crop now occupy less than one-fourth of a square rod and are set in rows one foot apart and 6 inches apart in the rows.
The number of years necessary to produce the largest crop has not been definitely determined, but the roots begin to decay after the fourth year and the central and largest part of the root decays at the oldest scar, leaving two or more plants in place of the old one. No advantage can be gained by growing the plants more than three years and probably very little by growing them more than two years. For propagation alone, one year will give good results, while for maintaining a constant area and producing a crop, two or three years, depending upon the growth made, will give a good crop of large, marketable roots.
Golden Seal is a root the price of which has fluctuated widely, because of the alternate oversupply and scarcity, manipulation of the market, lack of demand, or other influences. High prices will cause the diggers to gather the root in abundance, thus overstocking the market, which the next season results in lower prices, at which diggers refuse to collect the root, thus again causing a shortage in the supply. Lack of demand usually brings about a shrinkage in price, even tho the supply is light, while an active demand will cause prices to advance in spite of a plentiful supply.
The arrival of spring dug root has a weakening effect on the market, altho the fall dug root is always preferred. For the past few years, however, high prices have been steadily maintained and there appears to be but one cause for this and that is, as already pointed out, that the forests no longer yield unlimited quantities of this valuable root, as in former years, and the scant supply that can be had is inadequate to meet the constantly increasing demand.
According to the market reports contained in the Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter, the year 1904 opened with a quotation of 74 to 75 cents, will soon advance (in one week early in February) from 76 cents to 95 cents. A still further advance occurred about the end of February, when the price went up from $1.00 to $1.25 per pound. In March the market was almost destitute of supplies, but lack of interest brought the price down to $1.10. In May the price again advanced to $1.25 and it was stated that the local supplies were being held by a small number of dealers, altho it was believed that together they held not more than 1,000 pounds. About June 1st the arrival of spring dug roots caused the market to sag, prices ranging from $1.10 to $1.18 during that month and in July from 90 cents to $1.10.
In August the lowest price was $1.15 and the highest $1.50, no discrimination being made between the fall dug and the spring dug roots. From September 1st to October 15th, 1904, the price of Golden Seal varied but little, $1.35 being the lowest and $1.40 the highest quotation. No supplies worth mentioning can be obtained in the West; the stock in New York is short and the demand, especially for export, is increasing. It is impossible to ascertain the exact annual consumption of Golden Seal root, but the estimates furnished by reliable dealers place these figures at from 200,000 to 300,000 pounds annually, about one-tenth of which is probably used for export.
It will be observed that the price of this article is very sensitive to market conditions and it seems probable that the point of overproduction would be easily reached if a large number of Golden Seal growers were to meet with success in growing large areas of this drug.
By Alice Henkel, Assistant, and G. Fred Flugh,Scientific Assistant, Drug and Medicinal Plant Investigations.U. S. Department of Agriculture.
Considerable has been said the past few years concerning Hydrastis (Golden Seal) and I do not wish to enter on a long article describing this plant, but will make the facts brief and narrate some of my experiences with the plant under cultivation.
The scientific name is Hydrastis Candensis, the common name Golden Seal, yellow root, puccoon root, Indian tumeric, etc., according to the section in which it is found. It is a perennial plant with an annual stem same as Ginseng, and appears above ground in the spring at the same time and manner. The stalk coming thru the ground bent and leaves folded. It has from one to three palmately five to nine lobed leaves, uneven and sharply toothed.
The fruit or seed grows from the base of one of these leaves. Flower is first whitish green producing the fruit red and resembling a strawberry, maturing last of July and the first of August.
The berry contains from fifteen to twenty small oval black shinny seeds. Only a portion of the stalks ever bear seed. From the middle to the last of September the stalks die down and when winter comes on the hydrastis bed appears the same as a Ginseng bed.
The root stalk or rhizome is thick, rough covered with rounded indentations or eyes, dark yellow in color and having many long threadlike bright yellow fibres branching in all directions. It has one and sometimes as many as four buds which will produce the next season's stalks. Besides these there are many latent buds and little plantlets on the runners of fibrous roots.
The root and all of its fibres is the part used in medicine.
I presume it will be difficult to fix a date when this plant was first used in medicine. But it is known that the Indians used it in healing diseases and in preparing stains and paints when first observed by the white man. Dr. Rafinesque first makes mention of it in a medical work in 1828 and the elective physicians adopted it in their practice in 1847. The Pharmacopoeia of the U. S. in 1860 made Hydrastis an official drug and described the manufacture of different preparations.
It has since gained in favor and in extent of application until at present it is almost the specific in the treatment of certain catarrhal conditions. Thousands of pounds being used by the physicians in different parts of the world variously estimated from 200,000 to 300,000 pounds annually, more extensively, as you see, than Ginseng.
The price has advanced as given by the Drug Reporter, from 1894 of 18 to 23 cents a pound, to 1903, of 52 to 75 cents a pound, since 1903 to 1906 it has advanced to $1.10 to $1.30 a pound. The figures representing the highest and lowest quotations of those years. The price of the plant has advanced first because investigation has proven the value of the plant as a drug in the healing art increasing its consumption, second the consumption of and destruction of its habitat is limiting its supply. It is used in all countries, but not found in all countries in its wild state. The United States supplies the majority of the root.
Its cultivation is very promising and profitable because only very few have entered the industry yet, the wild supply is becoming exhausted, the drug trade demands it and its consumption depends upon a sound demand.
There is a promising opportunity in this industry and when I am speaking I am not offering inducements to get the rich quick individual, but to the careful, painstaking, plodding individual who is willing to give at least some labor for a handsome compensation. I have been one of the pioneers to begin the investigation and cultivation of this plant, and shall tell some of my experience in handling the plants.
I procured four years ago several pounds of green Hydrastis root from a digger and set them out in three different patches. One in the open garden, one in an inclosure shaded in the garden, and one bed in a grove. I had the beds made the same as instructions had been given me for making beds for Ginseng. Ground loose and mellow, I selected only roots with buds formed, and set an inch under ground and six inches apart.
This was in June. All the plants came up and all made a good growth except those in the open, the leaves on these remained small and pinched about two to three inches from the ground. In digging them I found that they had thrown out a number of fibrous roots. In the fall I procured and set several thousand roots in the woods.
The next fall I set many more, but this time I cut the roots into three or four pieces and planted. All came the next summer, some not appearing above ground until June. I have had no success in planting seeds, so do not use this means of raising the plants. The method I use now is to cut the roots across so a latent bud will be on one piece, all small pieces broken and the fibers for some of these grow a plant.
After preparing the beds loose I lay little trenches across and drop the pieces in these every two or three inches apart, then cover about an inch with loose dirt, then leaves and mulch. The best time I have found to plant is in September, the earlier the better, for the buds then form before freezing up and are ready to come in the spring early.
They grow larger and thriftier if well rotted manure is in the ground and this does not interfere with the quality of the root. The largest roots I have seen grew in a hog lot supplied with hog manure. In three or four years I dig the roots, using a manure fork, the largest ones I wash and dry; the smaller ones and pieces I use for planting.
I am arranging a barrel shaped affair closed at the ends and covered around with wire to wash the roots. The method is to put a rod thru with handles on ends and rest on grooves on posts immersed half way of barrel in running water and revolve. In this way I believe the roots can be washed readily by splashing and falling in the water, and tons of the roots easily handled and washed clean with little help.
I have dried them by spreading on racks to dry in the sun. In bright sun it requires two or three days. As they wilt, I place on paper in order to save the fibres that break off. When making a business of growing these roots and having good, fresh roots in considerable quantity, a better price can be commanded by dealing direct with the drug mill. A great many of the roots when dug will weigh one ounce or more and the roots lose in weight about the same as drying Ginseng.
Dr. L. C. Ingram, Wabasha County, Minn.
There has never been a time in the history of this country when the cultivation of certain medicinal plants, as Golden Seal, Ginseng, Seneca and others appealed so much to those interested in such things as the present.
Many of these plants have hitherto been found growing wild in our woods and fields, and along our road sides and waste places, and have usually been gathered in an immature state and out of season, washed and cured in a slovenly manner and bartered at country stores for coffee and calico and other commodities. In this way the drugs and drug trade of the country have been supplied. I think it is very evident to the casual observer that this manner of supply is nearing its close finally and forever.
The merchant who handles the stock may not know as yet the great and growing scarcity of almost all our medicinal plants. But the digger who has stood at the first end of the drug trade, in touch with the natural supply, knows that the fountains are dried up, in great measure, and that the streams of the trade must necessarily soon cease to flow or be supplied by artificial means. In most cases medicinal plants grow naturally in the best soils, the sandy, loamy, moist north hill sides, the rich, black coves at the heads of our small streams and in the rich alluvial bottoms along our larger creeks and small rivers. They will not grow in wet lands or on south hill sides. This should be remembered by the would-be culturist and the natural whims of the plant attended to, else failure and disappointment are sure.
What I have said is peculiarly the case with Golden Seal, the yellow root of our locality, the ground raspberry of another, the yellow puccoon of another and probably bearing other local names in other localities. The natural habitat of Golden Seal has been cleared up for farming or grazing purposes, while the keen eyed "sanger" has ferreted out every nook and corner adapted to the growth of this plant and then ruthlessly dug it, little and big, old and young, until today it is a very scarce article.
The Indians regarded Golden Seal as a sure remedy for sore and inflamed eyes, sore mouths, old sores, wounds, etc., and first taught the whites its use as a remedy.
The pioneers used it as teas, washes and salves years before it became known to the medical fraternity. It did not become an article of commerce in any way until about the year 1847, and then it was so plentiful and so little used that the trade was supplied at 3 cents per pound for the dried root. I dug it myself, when a boy, as late as 1868, and received 5 cents per pound for the dried root, in trade, at a country store. I found it plentiful in patches in open woods where the ground was rich and favored the growth of paw paw, dogwood, walnut, elm, sugar maple, etc. It grew best in land well drained and full of leaf mold. Remember this, ye planters.
Well, the demand has rapidly increased, and the supply, from the causes afore mentioned, has more rapidly decreased, until the price has risen from 3 cents to $1.50 per pound. Golden Seal was originally found growing in favorable localities from Southern New York west to Minnesota, thence south to Arkansas and east to Georgia and the hill regions of the Carolinas. Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky have been by far the greatest Golden Seal producing sections.
Golden Seal is a perennial plant, the gnarly, knotty root of which is the part used in medicine. These knotty roots send out in every direction many long, slender, bright yellow, fibrous roots. Each root in spring early sends up one to six hairy stems six inches to fifteen or twenty inches in height, each stem supporting at the top one, or if a seed yielding plant, two large leaves, in shape somewhat resembling the leaf of the sugar maple, but thicker and more leathery. At the base of each stem are two or three scale like leaves starting from the root, around the stem and extending to the surface of the ground. These scales are yellow while the leaf stems are somewhat purplish in color. The seed bearing stocks fork near the top of the plant, each stem supporting a leaf, the smaller leaf enclosing a flower bud at the base and at the top of the leaf stem. The plants that are not of seed bearing age and size do not fork and have but one leaf. The flowers are greenish, about an inch in diameter and open, here, about the first of May. Then continue open about five days when the petals fall and the development of the seed berry begins.
This berry ripens in July. When ripe it is red in color and resembles a large raspberry and contains about 20 to 30 small, round, black, shiny, hard seeds. These seeds, if stratified at once and kept in moist, sandy loam, will begin to open by the first of February, each seed showing a beautiful, bright, shiny, golden bud. The seeds should be planted very early. When it comes up the young plant has two leaves and does not develop any further leaf or stem growth during the first summer. The first two leaves do not look at all like those that follow. So, be careful or you will destroy your plants for weeds.
Plants may be readily propagated by cutting up the roots into pieces, say 1/4-inch long and placing these root cuttings in boxes of loamy sand in the autumn. By spring each root cutting will have developed a fine bud and be ready for transplanting, which should be done as early as possible. The plant also propagates itself by sending up suckers from the fibrous roots.
As to culture, I would say, follow nature. Do not plow and hoe and rake and make a bed as for onions. Just simply select a piece of virgin soil, if possible, and make rows, say one foot apart and set the plants about three or four inches apart in the rows. All the culture needful is to pull out the weeds, and, if the trees in the patch be not sufficient to furnish a good leaf mulch in the fall, attend to this by mulching with a good coat of forest leaves.
My Golden Seal garden is in a locust grove that is rapidly growing into posts, so, you see, I am getting two very profitable crops off the same land at the same time. The plants should grow in a bed of this kind until it becomes full of roots, which will require three to five years. It is all the better if they are allowed to grow longer. The whole patch should be dug in the fall when the tops die down. The large roots should be carefully washed and cleansed of all foreign roots and fibers and dried on clean cloths in the shade, when it is ready for market and should be shipped in clean, new bags to some reliable dealer in the larger cities. There are plenty of them and I would advise that you write to several of them, telling them just what you have before you ship.
I know from actual experience that good money may be made by the right party in the culture of Golden Seal. If a young man would start a garden of medicinal plants and attend to it at odd times, studying the nature of the plants and carefully save all seeds and add them to his stock, in a few years he would have a garden with a large sum of money. I have estimated an acre of Golden Seal at full maturity and as thick on the ground as it should be grown to be worth $4,840, or one dollar per square yard. It will not take a very great while to fill an acre with plants. Besides, if the land is planted in locust trees it is yielding two crops of wonderful value at the same time.
One young man from Virginia says: "I have a piece of new ground just cleared up which I think would be just the thing, and then I could set out short stem red cherries to shade and cover the ground. Please let me hear from you at once." Well, if this piece of ground is on the right side of the hill, that is, the north or northeast or west slope, and is rich, loose and loamy, full of leaf mold and naturally well drained, it is all right for Golden Seal, but would it suit cherries? Cherries might do very well for shade, but I would prefer catalpa or locust or some other quick growing timber tree to any sort of fruit tree.
One reason is that in gathering the fruit and in caring for the trees I think the Golden Seal would be trampled upon and injured, also the ground would be trampled and compacted and thus rendered unsuitable for this plant. The ground in which Golden Seal grows should be kept in its "new state" as much as possible. However, my Virginia friend may succeed well with his cherries and Seal. He must keep up the primitive condition of the soil and keep out weeds and grass.
Another question, "How long will it take it to mature?" As to its "maturity," it may be dug, cleansed, dried and marketed at any time and in any stage of its growth. But I think that a setting of Golden Seal should be dug in the fall three or four years after planting; the large roots washed and cleansed and made ready for market, while the smaller roots should be used for resetting the bed. You will have enough small roots to set a patch ten or twelve times the size of the one you dig, as each root set will in three or four years produce ten to fifteen good plants besides yielding a lot of seed.
"How much will it cost to plant one-eighth of an acre?" One-eighth of an acre contains twenty square rods, and to set one square rod, in rows eighteen inches apart would take 363 plants, and twenty square rods would take 20 times 363 plants, or 7,260 plants, which at $10.00 per thousand, would cost $72.60. But I would advise the beginner to "make haste slowly" in trying new things. A thing may be all right and very profitable if we understand it and give it proper culture, while it is very easy to make sad failure by over doing a good thing. So let the beginner procure a thousand or so plants and start his garden on a small scale, and increase his plantation from his own seed bed as his knowledge of the plant and its culture increases. A very large garden may be set in a few years from 1,000 plants.
"Should the seed be sown broadcast?" To be successful with the seed requires great patience and pains. I make a large flat brush heap and burn it off in the fall. I then dig up the ground to the depth of three or four inches and place boards edgewise around this bed, letting them down into the ground two or three inches. These boards are to keep out mice and to prevent washing. I then sow the seeds in little trenches made with a hoe handle about six inches apart and pretty thick in the trenches and smooth over and tramp solid.
Then sow a few handfuls of bone dust mulched with forest leaves and cover with brush to keep the leaves from blowing away. You are done now until spring. In the early spring, after freezing weather is over, carefully remove the brush and the mulch of leaves. Remember this must be done early as the plant wants to come up early. Watch for your young plants and carefully pull up every weed as soon as it shows itself. Mulch again in the fall and remove as before the next spring. Keep down weeds as before, and by fall you will have a fine lot of No. 1 two-year-old plants, which may be transplanted to the garden at once or early the next spring.
I should have stated that Golden Seal seed should not be allowed to dry after gathering. They should be placed in layers of sand in a box and kept moist until planting time. They begin to germinate very early, and if you delay planting until spring you are nearly sure to lose them.
As to the "profits," I want it distinctly understood that I do not think that every one who starts a bed or patch of Golden Seal will be a millionaire in a few years. But I do think, and in fact I know, that considering the land in cultivation, the time and expense of its culture, it is one of the most profitable crops that can be grown in this latitude.
Lee S. Dick, Wayne County, W. Va.
The following is from a bulletin issued by the U. S. Department of Agriculture — Bureau of Plant Industry — and edited by Alice Henkel:
Pharmacopoeial Name — Hydrastis.
Other Common Names — Yellowroot, yellow puccoon, orange-root, yellow Indian-paint, turmeric-root, Indian turmeric, Ohio curcuma, ground raspberry, eye-root, eye-balm, yellow-eye, jaundice-root, Indian-dye.
Habitat and Range — This native forest plant occurs in patches in high, open woods, and usually on hill sides or bluffs affording natural drainage, from southern New York to Minnesota and western Ontario, south to Georgia and Missouri.
Golden Seal is now becoming scarce thruout its range. Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia have been the greatest Golden Seal producing states.
Description of Plant — Golden Seal is a perennial plant belonging to the same family as the buttercup, namely the crowfoot family (Ranunculaceae). It has a thick yellow rootstock, which sends up an erect hairy stem about 1 foot in height, surrounded at the base by 2 or 3 yellowish scales. The yellow color of the roots and scales extends up the stem so far as it is covered by soil, while the portion of the stem above ground has a purplish color. The stem, which has only two leaves, seems to fork at the top, one branch bearing a large leaf and the other a smaller one and a flower. A third leaf, which is much smaller than the other two and stemless, is occasionally produced. The leaves are palmately 5 to 9 lobed, the lobes broad, acute, sharply and unequally toothed; they are prominently veined on the lower surface and at flowering time, when they are very much wrinkled, they are only partially developed, but they continue to expand until they are from 6 to 8 inches in diameter becoming thinner in texture and smoother. The upper leaf subtends or incloses the flower bud. The greenish white flower appears about April or May, but it is of short duration, lasting only five or six days. It is less than half an inch in diameter, and, instead of petals, has three small petal-like sepals, which fall away as soon as the flower expands, leaving only the numerous stamens (as many as 40 or 50), in the center of which are about a dozen pistils, which finally develop into a round fleshy, berry-like head which ripens in July or August. The fruit when ripe turns a bright red and resembles a large raspberry, whence the common name "ground-raspberry" is derived. It contains from 10 to 20 small black, shining, hard seeds.