RH A 
but if any perfons will follow the dire&lofts hereafter 
given, I can from experience promife them much 
better fuccefs. 
As the Weld will grow upon very poor foil, yet the 
crop will be in proportion to the goodnefs of the land ; 
for upon very poor ground, the plants will not rife 
more than a foot high, whereas upon good ground I 
have meafured them upward of three feet, and the 
(talks, leaves, &c. have been in proportion •, fo that 
the better the foil is upon which it is fown, the greater 
will be the produce. 
The bell v/ay to cultivate this plant, is to fow it 
■without any other crop •, if the ground is ready by 
the beginning or middle of .Auguft, that will be a 
good feafon ; the land fhould be well ploughed and 
harrowed fine, but unlefs it is very poor, it will not 
require dung ; when the ground is well harrowed 
and made fine, the ieeds fhould be fown ; one gallon 
of the feeds is fufficient to fow an acre of land, for 
they are fmall. If rain falls in a little time after the 
feeds are fown, it will bring up the plants, and in 
two months time they will be fo far advanced as to 
be eafily diftinguifhed from the weeds ; then they 
fhould be hoed in the like manner as Turneps, al- 
ways obferving to do it in dry weather, for then the 
weeds will foon die after they are cut up •, at this 
time the plants may be left about fix inches diftance ; 
if this is done in dry weather, and the work well 
performed, the plants will be clean from weeds till 
the fpring •, but as young weeds will come up in 
March, fo if in dry weather the ground is hoed again, 
it may be performed at a fmall expence while the 
weeds are young, and then they will foon decay ; and 
if after this there fhould be many more weeds appear, 
it will be proper to hoe it a third time, about the be- 
ginning of May, which will preferve the ground 
clean till the Weld is fit to pull. The befl time to 
pull the Weld for ufe, is as foon as it begins to flow- 
er, though moft people flay till the feeds are ripe, 
being unwilling to lofe the feeds but it is much 
better to fow a fmall piece of land with this feed, to 
remain for a produce of new feeds, than to let the 
whole ftand for feed ; becaufe the plants which are 
permitted to ftand fo long will be much lefs worth 
for ufe, than the value of the feeds ; befides, by 
drawing off the crop early, the ground may be fown 
with Wheat the fame feafon ; for the plants may be 
drawn up the latter end of June, when they will be 
in the greateft vigour, fo will afford a greater quantity 
of the dye. 
When the plants are pulled, they may be fet up in 
fmall handfuls to dry in the field, and when it is dry 
enough, it may be tied up in bundles and houfed dry, 
being careful to flack it loofely, that the air may pafs 
between to prevent its fermenting. 
That which is left for feeds fhould be pulled as foon 
as the feeds are ripe and fet up to dry, and then beat 
out for ufe ; for if the plants are left too long, the 
feeds will fcatter. The ufual price of the feed is ten 
fhillings a bufliel. 
RHABARBARUM. See Rheum. 
RH A BAR BA RUM MONACHORUM. 
See Rumex. 
RHAGADIOLUS. See Lapsana. 
RHAMNOIDES. See Hippophae. 
RHAMNUS. Tourn. Inft. R. H. 593. tab. 366. 
Lin. Gen. Plant. 235. the Buckthorn; in French, 
Nerprun . 
The Characters are. 
It hath male and female flowers on different plants -, 
thefle have no empalements according to feme, nor petals 
according to others . The cover of the flexes is flunnel- 
Jhaped , and cut into flour parts at the top , which fpread 
open. ’The male flowers have five ftamina the length 
of the tube, terminated by fmall fummits. The female 
flowers have a roundiflo germen , fupporting a floort ftyle , 
crowned by a quadrifid ftigma. The germen afterward 
becomes a roundiflo berry , inclofing flour hard feeds. 
This genus of plants is ranged, in the firft fedtion 
of Linnaeus’s fifth clafs, which contains thofe plants 
R H A- 
whole flowers have five ftamina and one ftyle •„ but ac- 
cording to his fyftem, it fhould be placed in the firft 
fedlion of his twenty-fecond clafs -, but as he has 
joined to this genus the Frangula, Paliurus, ATater- 
nus, and Ziziphus of Tournefort, fo to comprehend 
them all he has placed them in his fifth clafs, which 
had much better be kept feparate. 
The Species are, 
1. Rhamnus ( Catharticus ) ftoribus axillaribus, foliis 
ovato-lanceolatis ferratis nervofis. Buckthorn with 
flowers proceeding from the fides of the branches , and 
oval, fpear-Jhaped, flawed, veined leaves. -Rhamnus ca- 
tharticus. C. B. P. 478. Purging or common Buck- 
thorn. 
2. Rhamnus {Minor) floribus axillaribus, foliis ovatis 
acuminatis nervofis integerrimis. Buckthorn with 
flowers proceeding from the fides of the branches , and oval, 
acute-pointed, entire leaves , having veins. Rhamnus ca- 
tharticus minor. C. B. P. 478. Smaller purging or 
common Buckthorn , commonly called Dwarf Rhamnus. 
3. Rhamnus ( Longifolia ) foliis ianceolatis, floribus ax- 
illaribus. Buckthorn with fpear-Jhaped leaves , and flowers 
growing from the fides of the fialks. Rhamnus cathar- 
ticus minor, folio longiori. Tourn. Inft. 593. Smaller 
purging Buckthorn with a longer leaf. 
4. Rhamnus (. Africana ) foliis cuneiformibus confertis 
perennantibus, floribus corymbofis alaribus. Buck- 
thorn with wedge- fo aped evergreen leaves growing in cluf- 
ters, and flowers growing in roundiflo bunches from the fides 
of the branches. Rhamnus Afer, folio pruni longiore 
fubrotundo, flore candicante, fpinis longifiimis. Boerh. 
Ind. alt. 2i2. African Buckthorn with a longer roundiflo 
Plum leaf, a very white flower, and long fpines. 
The firft fort grows naturally in the hedges in many 
parts of England ; it rifes with a ftrong woody ftalk 
to the height of twelve or fourteen feet, fending; out 
many irregular branches the young fhoots have a 
fmooth, grayifh, brown bark, but the older branches 
have a darker and rougher bark, and are armed with 
V— • 
a few fhort thorns. The leaves ftand upon pretty 
long flender foot-ftalks they are of the oval fpear- 
fhape, about two inches and a half long, and one 
and a quarter broad, (lightly fawed on their edges, of 
a dark green on their upper fide, but of a pale or 
light green on their under, having a pretty ftrong 
midrib, and feveral veins proceeding from it, which 
diverge toward the fides, but meet again near the 
point of the leaf. The flowers come out in clufters 
from the fide of the branches -, thole of the male have 
as many ftamina as there are divifions in the petal 
thofe of the female have a roundifh germen, which 
afterward turns to a pulpy berry of a roundifh form, 
inclofing four hard feeds. It flowers in June, and the 
berries ripen in autumn. 
The berries of this are ufed in medicine-, for with them 
there' is a purging fyrup made, called Syrupus e fpina 
cervina, or fyrup of Buckthorn -, which is reckoned 
a good medicine to purge watery humours, and 
againft the dropfy, jaundice, itch, and all manner 
of eruptions on the (kin : of late years, the people 
who fupply the market with thefe berries, have mix- 
ed feveral other forts with them, fo that when the 
fyrup is made by perfons who have not (kill to diftin- 
guifh the berries, it is often very bad ; fo that two 
ounces of the fyrup of one (hop will not purge fo well 
as one from another, which has brought this medi- 
cine into difrepute with many perfons. Thefe ber- 
ries may be eafily known by examining their feeds, to 
fee if there are four in each, and alfo by rubbing the 
juice upon white paper, which it will ftain of a green 
colour. 
From the juice of thefe berries is made a very fine 
green colour, called by the French Verd-de-veflie, 
which is much efteemed by the painters in miniature. 
The fecond fort grows naturally in the fouth of 
France -, this is an humble (hrub, feldom rifing more 
than three feet high, fending out many irregular 
branches, covered with a dark brown bark, garniflied 
with oval leaves ending in acute points they, are 
about three quarters of an inch long, and half an inch 
broad 
