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To fuch ns wifh to have this plant flower with them in perfection, I would recommend the following mode #f 

 cultivation : collect the roots of the plant either in fpring or autumn, put them in a large pot (having a hole at 

 the bottom) filled with bog earth, immerfe the pot about two-thirds of its depth in water, in wTiifcfr'it mould 

 Continue ; the advantage of this method is, that when the plant is coming into flower it may be brought into 

 any room and placed in a pan of water, where it will continue to bloflbm for two or three weeks. A fmgle root 

 which I treated in this manner, planted in the fpring, produced the enfuing May eight flowering (terns, many of 

 which had fifteen or fixteen bloffoms on them. 



Linnjeus, in his invaluable Flora Lapponica, has feveral curious obfervations on the Buckbean, he informs us 

 "that the inhabitants of feme parts of Lapland, and alfo of Wejlrobothnla, draw out the roots, which grow plenti- 

 fully in the rivulets, and for want of other fodder give them to their cattle, who confume them entirely; alfo 

 that, in times of fevere fcarcity, the milerable inhabitants mix the powder of the dried roots with a fmall quan- 

 tity of meal and convert them into bread, which, he oblerves, is very bitter and extremely naufeous ; that it was 

 a general practice with the peafants of Wejlrogothia, in brewing, to fubflitute the bitter leaves of this plant for 

 the hop, and that they were equally efficacious in preventing the beer from becoming four ;— he concludes his 

 remarks by obferving, that Bartholin, Simon Pauli, and others, have exclaimed much on the fcurvy of the 

 northern regions, arifing from cold, and of the profufion of antifcorbutic plants to be met with in thofe countries, 

 among which they enumerate the Buckbean as a principal one ; Linnjeus however afferts, that out of the great 

 number of Laplanders he had feen not one was affected with that difeafe, although they lived in the coldeit ha- 

 bitable climate, and ufed no vegetable for their ordinary food, not even bread. On the contrary, he had obferved 

 the fcurvy to be one of the moll common difeafes of thofe who inhabited the countries adjacent. 



Many phyficians have a high opinion of its medical virtues. 



" It is of fubtle penetrating parts, a good diuretic and antifcorbutic, whence it is alfo of great life to people 

 " afflicted with rheumatic pains. An infufton of the dried leaves may either be drank like tea, or they may be in- 

 «' fufed in white wine. It is a very intenfe bitter, and at firft not very agreeable. Dr. Deering Cat. Stir p. 



" Marm- trefoil is an efficacious aperient and deobftruent, promotes the fluid fecretions, and, if liberally taken, 

 *'« gently loofens the belly. It has of late gained great reputation in fcorbutic and fcrophulous diforders ; and ips 

 " good effects in thefe cafes have been warranted by experience ; inveterate cutaneous difeafes have been removed 

 « by an infufion of the leaves drank to the quantity of a pint a day, at proper intervals, and continued fom£ 

 " weeks." Lewis s Difp. p. 242. 



It is alfo extolled for its efficacy in removing a variety of other difeafes, as the periodical head-ach, aft-hma, 

 protracted intermittents, jaundice, dropfy, wandering gout, worms, &c. — but we forbear faying more of it on 

 this head, leaft its real virtues mould be called in queftion. 



Dr. Tancred Robinson afferts, that fheep are cured of the rot by being driven to feed in marfhes where this 

 plant abounds ; this, if true, would prove a moft valuable difcovery. 



