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Article LIIL 



On the Growth and Applicatiotrrf Rhubarb. 



[By a Gentleman near Norwich,] 



. Gentlemen, 



T Herewith inclofe you an account of the growth 

 "*• and application of fome Rhubarb, fent to me 

 by a particular friend, who is a phyfician of very 

 extenfive pra6bice, and on whofe accuracy and in- 

 tegrity I can fully rely ; in which you will perceive 

 Ills experiments, as to the weight and fize of the 

 roots, entirely militate with the idea one of your 

 correfpondcnts adopted ; ' that in confequence of 



* the annual decay of that part of the root which 



* correfponds with the flowering ftem, the roots are 



* in fad never more than four years old, that being^ 

 "- the ufual time of their flowering/ 



For this diflx^rence of opinion, if I may hazard a 

 conjedure, I flioul^ endeavour to account, by fug-* 

 gelling, that although that part of the buj[b or root 

 from which the flower-fl:em arifes may decay, yet 

 that the fangs or tap-roots of t;he plant do not de^ 

 ^ay with it, but increafe annually for leveral years/ 

 \/[y friend the phyfician has, you will obferve, an 

 Vdca of its becoming ufeful as a dye, which is, I 

 Q ^ b^licve^ 



