82 
ENGLISH MEDICINAL RHUBARB AND HENBANE. 
and not only is it consumed in considerable quantities in this country, but it is exported 
largely to various parts of the civilized world. The origin of the plantations of rhubarb 
in my possession, and now extending over forty acres, will be best traced by the follow¬ 
ing extracts from the “ Transactions of the Society of Arts.” In 1789 :—“ The Society, 
in consideration of his merit, and to promote as much as in them lies the growth and 
cultivation of so valuable a drug, voted their silver medal to Mr. Hayward, as a bounty.” 
In 1794:—“ The following accounts and certificates respecting the growth and cure of 
rhubarb having been received, the gold medal, being the premium offered for cultivating 
the greatest number of plants, was adjudged to Mr. William Hayward, of Banbury.” 
The following is the testimony of Dr. Pereira:—“In 1789 Dr. Hayward obtained a 
silver medal, and in 1794 a gold medal, from the Society of Arts, for the cultivation of 
English rhubarb. Dr. Hayward died in 1811, and the plants were purchased by Mr. P, 
Usher.” 
As a proof that even at this early period of its cultivation English rhubarb had obtained 
the confidence of scientific men, it may be stated that, in 1798, rhubarb of British growth 
was used at St. Bartholomew’s, St. Thomas’s, and Guy’s Hospitals, and was being ex¬ 
perimented on at several others. According to the testimony of Sir Alexander Dick 
and Dr. Hope, of Edinburgh, in 1784, but little rhubarb was used by the apothecaries 
of that city but what was produced in Scotland, and it was considered in no respect 
inferior to Bussian. About the same time English rhubarb was put to a severe test at 
Bath, by Drs. Falconer, Parry, and Fothergill, all of whom attested its merits. Dr. 
Falconer remarked that two of the specimens submitted to them answered in external 
marks to the character of the foreign ; that they were rather inferior in delicacy of taste 
to the Turkey, but superior in other respects to East India. In 1810, Dr. Thornton, 
then lecturer on botany at Guy’s Hospital, referring to the encouragement given to the 
cultivators by the Society of Arts, makes these remarks:—“ This account may serve to 
show both the ardour of this respectable Society in encouraging the growth of this 
useful article and the persevering industry of some gentlemen in overcoming all the 
difficulties attendant on introducing a new plant into cultivation—finding out the means 
of curing it as an article for extensive sale, and overcoming the prejudices of such as 
cannot persuade themselves that a drug of British growth can bear competition with 
what is seut us from foreign countries.” 
If at a later date the prejudice against English rhubarb having increased, there must 
have been other causes than those existing in the first introduction of the plant. One 
cause of the subsequent change in public opinion may have arisen from the partial 
introduction of new varieties of the plant. From the earliest period in its history there 
appears to have been a confusedness in the evidence as to its real character; and whether 
foreign rhubarb is produced from the Rheum palmatum or the Rheum undulatum, yet 
remains an unsettled question. As far as this question relates to rhubarb grown in 
Great Britain, the stronger probability is, that, after it was imported, several varieties 
were produced by repeatedly propagating from seed, when a discrepancy was observed, 
at variance with the earliest descriptions recorded. To show the extent of those changes, 
I may remark that in the last instance in which I noticed the effect of seedling cultiva¬ 
tion, about thirty years since, I found the stalks and leaves more than double the size 
of those produced from offsets—a circumstance sufficient to account for the introduction 
of such varieties as the Victoria and other large sorts now so common in our gardens, 
and which, when propagated from seed, still keep working change upon change. So 
convinced have I been for a long time of the injurious tendency of this system, that I 
have studiously avoided the use of seed altogether; and the plant has so far receded to 
its original type, that not one has produced ripened seed during the last twenty years. 
It is a fixed trait in the cultivation of medicinal rhubarb, as it is in most bulbous plants, 
that if produced from offsets only, it ceases to produce seed, and if raised from seed, 
each succeeding generation produces seed also, adding variety to variety almost in¬ 
definitely. Assuming, as an incontrovertible fact, that the plant has now for such a 
lengthened period been propagated from offsets as to be incapable of bearing seed, it 
will guarantee the conclusion that if, during a number of years, when its cultivation was 
pursued by a large number of growers, for the purpose of making experiments, and each 
one, in haste to enlarge its growth, resorted to seed propagation, it degenerated from 
external causes, it is equally logical to infer that, the causes having ceased which led to 
its deterioration, it has now regained its specific distinctiveness, and is not likely to 
