[STRAMONIUM.]
Stramonium, Jamestown weed, or jimson weed (Datura stramonium), is a poisonous annual of the nightshade family, which occurs as a common weed in almost all parts of this country except the West and North. The leaves and seeds are used medicinally.
Although stramonium grows wild on a variety of soils, it thrives best under cultivation in rich and rather heavy soils which are fairly well supplied with lime. It grows readily from seed, which may be sown in the open early in the spring in drills 3 feet apart and barely covered. When the plants are well established they are thinned to stand 12 to 15 inches apart in the row. The plants can be readily transplanted, and gaps occurring in the rows may be filled in with the plants removed in thinning. Cultivation sufficient to keep the soil free from weeds is necessary for good growth.
Cultivated plants are frequently attacked by leaf-eating insects, especially in the early stages of growth, and it is often necessary to use lime or other insect repellents to prevent the destruction of the crop.
The leaves, which are collected when the plant is in full bloom, may be picked in the field, but time will be saved if the entire plant is cut and dried in an artificially heated curing room at a temperature of 100° to 110° F. When the leaves are dry they can be readily stripped from the stems, and should be baled for shipment. Such seed as is ripe may be easily thrashed out of the capsules after the leaves have been removed from the stems.
Yields of dry leaf at the rate of 1,000 to 1,500 pounds per acre have been obtained. The yield of seed is much more variable, and is estimated to range from 500 to 2,000 pounds per acre. The prewar price for the leaves varied from 2 to 10 cents and for the seed from 3 to 7 cents a pound. The price in June, 1920, for the leaves was 22 cents and for the seed 12 cents a pound.
[TANSY.]
Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) is a European perennial plant, long cultivated in this country in gardens, from which it has escaped, and it now occurs as a weed along fence rows and roadsides. The leaves and flowering tops are in some demand for medicinal purposes. The herb also yields a volatile oil, for which there is a small market.
Tansy grows well on almost any good soil, but rich and rather heavy soils well supplied with moisture favor a heavy growth of herb. It may be propagated from seed, but is more readily propagated by division of the roots early in spring. The divisions are set 18 inches apart in rows 3 feet apart. Seed may be sown very early in the spring in the open or in seed beds, and the seedlings later transplanted to the field. Such cultivation as is usually given to garden crops will be sufficient.