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.