3i6 
Sumbul  in  England. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharnv 
June,  1897. 
rootlets,  and  will  then  bear  digging  up  and  transplanting  without 
injury,  the  tuberous  root  sending  out,  in  the  following  early  spring, 
new  rootlets. 
In  February,  or,  in  late  winters,  in  March,  as  soon  as  the  ground  is 
no  longer  hard  from  continued  frost,  the  sumbul  plant  sends  up  one 
or  more  young  leaves.  These  may  be  a  little  injured  if  exposed  to 
hard  frost,  although  not  injured  by  white  frost,  but  as  a  rule  new 
leaves  come  on,  and  the  plant  stands  our  winters  as  well  as  most 
indigenous  plants  of  the  same  natural  order.  The  fully  developed 
leaves  appear  in  April,  and  continue  to  grow  until  July,  when  they 
turn  yellowish  and  gradually  wither.  The  root  increases  in  size 
every  year,  retaining  its  oval  form,  presumably,  until  it  attains  a 
sufficient  reserve  of  nutrition  to  enable  it  to  throw  up  a  large  fruiting 
stem.  The  inflorescence  of  the  specimen  that  flowered  in  the  Kew 
Gardens  some  years  ago  attained  a  height  of  about  8  feet,  and 
the  plant  then  died. 
To  secure  the  healthy  growth  of  the  plant,  it  is  necessary  to  give 
it  plenty  of  water,  and  a  little  weak  manure  water,  during  the  grow- 
ing season,  from  April  to  July.  A  mulch  of  well-rotted  manure 
around  the  plant  in  the  autumn,  taking  care  to  protect  the  crown  by 
a  covering  of  clean  sand,  also  helps  its  growth.  My  plants,  which 
are  now  about  six  years  old,  have  not  flowered,  but  the  root  of  one, 
which  I  took  up  a  few  days  ago  for  transplanting,  measured  about 
6  inches  long  by  3  y2  broad,  and  had  a  strong,  persistent  musky 
odor  where  injured,  exuding  abundance  of  white,  milky  juice.  The 
roots  are  somewhat  twisted,  and  spread  nearly  horizontally  below 
the  ground.  It  is  obvious  from  the  shape  that  such  a  root  might 
furnish  two  tapering  and  one  cylindrical  sections  of  the  thickness  of 
the  old-fashioned,  but  that  it  could  not  furnish  the  cylindrical  pieces 
2  or  3  inches  long,  of  small  diameter,  that  occur  in  the  drug 
of  the  present  day.  Provided  that  good  seed  could  be  obtained, 
there  is  little  doubt  that  sumbul  might  be  cultivated  in  temperate 
or  mountainous  districts  in  the  colonies,  or  in  ordinary  gardens  or 
fields  in  this  country  without  any  difficulty. 
The  chief  difficulty  in  obtaining  good  seed  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
in  this  country  the  fruit  are  apt  to  be  ruptured  by  the  rains.  In  their 
native  country,  the  fruits  are  produced  in  the  hot  weather.  In  this 
country,  therefore,  it  is  necessary  to  protect  the  ripening  fruits  from 
rain. 
