28 
MITCHAM I ITS PHYSIC GARDENERS AND PLANTS. 
ries' Hall, while the double sort finds a ready sale at the Chemists' 
and physic shops. 
On inquiry we find that the Apothecaries' Company still ex- 
clusively keep the single sort, believing it to be the one intended 
by the College of Physicians. The Company purchase it of Mr. 
Moore. 
It is very desirable to ascertain by direct experiment the actual 
quantity of oil yielded by single and double flowers respectively ; 
and we should be glad to receive from any of our readers the re- 
sults of their experience on this point. Mr. Brande states, that 
lOOlbs. of dried flowers yield, upon an average, two pounds twelve 
ounces of oil, and three pounds four ounces of pharmaceutical ex- 
tract. We presume this is the experience of the operators at the 
Hall, where single flowers only are employed. 
At Mitcham two kinds of double chamomiles are distinguished, 
one yielding the ordinary yellowish oil, the other, which is called 
a new sort, a blue oil. The samples of each kind, which have 
been furnished us by Mr. Arthur, of Mitcham, by°whom they are cul- 
tivated, are not distinguishable, except from a slight difference in 
the leaf, which in the new sort is more developed. The oil is 
generally distilled from the entire plant, not from the flowers only, 
as directed in the Pharmacopoeia. By keeping, this blue oil* 
changes its color, and becomes the usual yellowish or brownish 
yellow color. The flowers which yield it, although fine in appear- 
ance when fresh, are liable to change color by keeping. They 
are therefore less adapted for sale in the market than they are for 
distillation. 
2d. Cw/fo'^a^'oTi.^-Stevenson says that " The soil best adapted 
for chamomile is a dry sandy loam ; the sets are planted about 
nine inches from each other, on beds of four feet wide, with alleys 
of eighteen inches between them. The culture is very similar to 
that of peppermint ; viz. constant attention to weeding, principally 
with the hand ; the digging of the intervals at the beginning of 
winter, and covering the exposed and loose roots of the plants 
with fresh mould." 
* The okum chamomile of continental writers is blue, and is sometimes 
termed oleum chamomillce caruleum. It is the produce of Matricaria Chamo- 
mtllu, Linn. 
The oleum chamomillce romana of the same writers, is the produce of Anthe- 
mis nobitis, Linn. 
