510  Cultivation  of  Medicinal  Plants.  {Am"octu,ri8Sarm' 
THE  CULTIVATION  OF  MEDICINAL  PLANTS  IN 
CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 
By  E.  M.  Holmes,  F.L.S.,  Curator  of  the  Museum  of  the  Pharmaceutical 
Society  of  Great  Britain. 
Having  been  informed  that  a  portion  of  the  aconite  leaves  used  in 
commerce  is  grown  in  Cambridgeshire,  and  being  desirous  of  deter- 
mining how  far  the  plants  grown  in  the  same  district,  as  well  as  in 
different  counties,  vary  in  character,  I  obtained  permission  from  Mr. 
W.  Moore,  of  Foxton,  who  is  apparently  the  largest  grower  of  this 
plant  in  Cambridgeshire,  to  examine  the  plant  grown  by  him,  when 
in  blossom.  On  arriving  at  Foxton,  I  found  that  besides  aconite, 
belladonna  and  henbane  are  also  grown  by  Mr.  Moore ;  only  seven 
acres  out  of  a  large  farm  being  devoted  to  these  three  medicinal 
plants,  the  usual  proportion  being  about  three  acres  each  of  henbane 
and  belladonna,  to  one  of  aconite.  A  little  foxglove  is  also  grown. 
The  cultivation  has  now  been  carried  on  at  Foxton  for  about  thirty 
years.  The  soil  is  apparently  a  mixture  of  chalk  and  gravel,  with  a 
little  clay. 
Aconite. — This  is  planted  in  rows  about  two  feet  apart,  and  about 
one  foot  between  each  plant.  The  fresh  plantations  are  generally 
made  in  March  soon  after  the  leaves  appear,  when  the  young  plants 
are  divided  and  planted  out.  Mr.  Moore  assures  me  that  young 
plants  are  formed  on  the  rootlets,  as  represented  in  Bentley  and  Tri- 
men's  illustration,  and  also  at  the  bases  of  such  stems  as  lay  on  the 
ground.  This  prolific  formation  of  new  roots  may  possibly  arise 
from  the  fact  that  the  aconite  is  usually  cut  down  in  the  middle  of 
June,  when  the  flowers  have  begun  to  open,  and  the  store  of  nourish- 
ment that  would  have  gone  to  form  seeds  is  probably  diverted  to 
forming  roots.  There  does  not  appear  to  be  any  regular  demand  for 
aconite  root  of  English  growth,  and  to  meet  such  demand  as  exists, 
a  few  roots  are  dug  up  in  autumn,  generally  in  October,  and  dried. 
At  the  time  I  visited  Foxton  the  plants  were  in  perfection,  about 
half  of  the  flowers  being  expanded.  The  leaves  were  of  a  full  dark 
green,  and  the  flowers  of  a  deep  blue  color.  The  helmet  was  not 
quite  so  semicircular  as  in  the  typical  Aconitum  Napellus,  and  the 
inflorescence  showed  a  general  tendency  to  branching.  The  whole  of 
the  plants,  however,  manifested  a  remarkable  uniformity,  were  of 
very  robust  growth,  and  were  flowering  at  the  proper  date,  and  the 
leaves  possessed  the  characteristic  taste  of  aconite.    This  uniformity 
