A P P E N D I X II. 335 



the declivity of a rock ■•, covered with one foot of good 

 mould, mixed with an equal quantity of fand and gravel. 

 If the fummcr proved dry, the plants were left in the 

 ground ; but if the feafon was rainy, after drawing 

 out the roots he left them for fome days in the fliade 

 to dry, and then replanted them. By this method of 

 cultivation he produced in feven or eight years very large 

 and found roots, which the rock had prevented from pe- 

 netrating too deep; and when they were properly dried, the R^Rh^po^. 

 one fcruple was as efficacious as half a drachm of Tarta- ^'"bntbarum, 



equal in their 



rian rhubarb. {f^'f' '" ''■<= 



KhuUrh. 



From the foregoing obfervations it follows, that there 

 are other plants, befides the Rheum Palmatum, the roots 

 whereof have been fovmd to be fimilar both in their ap- 

 pearance and efte6ls, to what is called the heft rhubarb. 

 And indeed, upon enquiries made at Kiachta concerning 

 the form and leaves of the plant which produces that 

 drug, it feems not to be the R. Palmatum, but a fpecies 

 with roundifli fcolloped leaves, and moft probably the 

 R. Rhaponticum : for Mr. Pallas, when he was at Kiach- 

 ta, applied for information to a Bucharian merchant of 

 Selin-Chotton, who now fupplies the crown with rhu- 



* In order to fuccced fully in the plantation of rhubarb, and to pro- 

 cure found and dry roots, a dry, light foil with a rocky foundation, where 

 the moifture eafily filters off, is eflentially neceflary. 



X X 2 barb J 



