^m'Sim™m'}        Cultivation  of  Medicinal  Plants.  511 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  Mr.  Moore  never  sows  the  seed,  but  always 
divides  the  root.  Indeed,  the  plant  is  cut  for  making  extract  while 
still  in  flower,  and  therefore  before  the  seed  is  formed.  Mr.  Moore 
does  not,  however,  make  the  extract  himself,  but  sends  the  fresh  plant, 
packed  like  faggots,  to  London,  The  aconite  is  usually  cut  overnight 
and  sent  off  by  an  early  morning  train,  so  as  to  prevent  as  far  as  pos- 
sible any  withering  by  exposure  to  the  hot  sun. 
Although  the  plant  is  slightly  divergent  from  the  typical  A. 
Napellus,  is  possesses  the  great  advantage  of  uniformity,  and  the  root 
obtained  from  it  would  be  therefore  far  more  dependable  than  the 
foreign  root  either  for  use  in  medicine  or  for  chemical  analysis. 
Henbane. — This  is  sown  in  March  or  in  the  beginning  of  April, 
and  is  cut  about  the  middle  of  June  in  the  next  year.  For  drying 
only  the  flowering  tops  are  collected,  not  the  stem  leaves,  and  are 
rapidly  dried  in  hot  air  in  a  kiln,  in  which  about  2  to  4  cwt.  can  be 
dried  in  two  days.  The  soil  does  not  appear  so  well  suited  for  hen- 
bane as  the  deep  rich  fen  land  of  Lincolnshire,  and  the  plant  is  fre- 
quently attacked  in  dry  seasons  with  a  fungus  which  causes  wrinkling 
and  discolored  spots  on  the  leaves.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  henbane  is  a 
very  uncertain  crop,  three  out  of  five  seasons  usually  failing  to  afford 
a  profitable  return.  The  plant,  beside  being  attacked  by  the  fungus, 
has  its  leaves  riddled  with  a  little  beetle  resembling  the  turnip  flea, 
and  in  the  autumn  a  voracious  grub,  apparently  that  of  Mamestra 
brassicce,  eats  out  the  central  leaf  bud  of  the  plant,  so  that  they  do 
not  come  up  the  second  year.  In  the  autumn  the  large  root  leaves 
are  sometimes  collected  and  dried,  and  are  sold  under  the  name  of 
"  First  cutting  of  biennial  plant,"  at  a  lower  price  than  the  flowering 
tops  of  the  second  year. 
The  variety  cultivated  at  Foxton  was  obtained  from  wild  plants 
found  near  Foxton,  and  has  the  broad  leaf  so  characteristic  of  the 
wild  henbane,  as  distinguished  from  the  narrow  thistle-like  form  cul- 
tivated in  some  counties.  No  use  is  made  of  the  henbane  roots, 
although  it  is  hardly  conceivable  that  they  should  not  contain  a  suffi- 
cient amount  of  alkaloid  to  pay  for  extraction. 
Belladonna. — This  is  grown  from  seed  which  is  drilled  in  during 
the  spring.  The  ground  suits  the  plant  admirably,  being  chalky,  and 
although  level  is  sufficiently  porous  to  ensure  the  requisite  drainage. 
It  is,  however,  exposed  to  the  full  force  of  east  winds,  and  hence  the 
frosts,  if  late,  are  apt  to  injure  it  in  spring,  when  it  is  about  1  ft.  or 
