A guide to the cultivation, harvesting, and use of medicinal plants from 1876. The use of plants for healing purposes can be traced back to the earliest layers of Babylonian, ancient Egyptian, Indian, or Chinese texts, as well as the explicit cultivation of medicinal herbs. While the gathering of medicinal herbs was a fundamental part of subsistence economies in earlier times, the use of medicinal plants as remedies is still relied upon worldwide, particularly in economically disadvantaged areas. The organic farming movement has also revived the popularity of medicinal herbs. Medicinal plants for pharmaceutical needs in pharmacies are cultivated under as controlled conditions as possible. However, they are also collected from the wild or grown in home gardens to be available as home remedies for prevention or treatment of illnesses.