For most of the company history, it was common practice for Upjohn employees to bring back soil, plant and seed samples from the places that they vacationed at in the US and in other countries. The research department hoped to isolate substances that could be medically beneficial and possibly become new Upjohn products. This article in the May 1962 Upjohn News issue states how soil sampling kits will be available to any employee to use on their summer vacation. Microorganisms in soil produce antibiotics and Upjohn had so much experience with antibiotics at that time they could quite easily evaluate and grow new ones. When I started at the company in 1980 this program had been discontinued.