NETTLES AT £50 A TON

Timaru Herald, Volume CL, Issue 22063, 9 September 1941, Page 7

NETTLES AT £50 A TON

WEEDS TURN INTO DRUGS LONDON, July 12. From England’s shady woodlands and sun-drenched fields, Boy Scouts, Girl Guides and voluntary groups of women are gathering an unusual wartime harvest. They are picking stinging nettles, dandelion roots, meadow saffron and othei- herbs contaning useful medicinal drugs. Nettles are wanted for fibre extraction and green pigment (chlorophyll); dandelion roots contain digitalis; meadow saffron, colchicum.

Before the war most of such drugs were imported. To-day, skilled gatherers can earn considerable sums by clearing the countryside of what to the farmer and the gardener are just weeds. For example, dried nettles fetch £3O to £5O per ton; dandelion roots as much as £5 per cwt. Hundreds of tons are urgently required. The Medical Research Council has drawn up a schedule for chemists and manufacturers of drugs suitable for production in England. The Kew authorities (Royal Botanical Gardens) are issuing instructions to the squads and battalions of herb gatherers. The whole country has been divided into areas for the reception of the crops for drying and preparation for the laboratories, and County School authorities are giving a one-day course of instruction in the proper methods.