I make money okay with alchemy - A half hour or so of farming herbs easily can make me about 30g in healing/mana potions.  They are the only potions I attempt to sell, but I have never had one last longer than a couple of hours on the AH.  They always sell, and they always sell quickly.  Potions like greater agility are a little more difficult to sell, so I usually stick to the basics.

I also make decent money in transmutes, whether it be primal mights, earthstorm diamonds, skyfire diamonds or converting primals to other primals... Yes, you can only do one a day what with the 24 hour cooldown, but the higher priced items sell for at least 90g.

I wouldn't call alchemy a cash cow, but using primarily alchemy, I made the 5000g for my riding skill in about a month without consistent playing...