CULTURE  AND  PRODUCTION  OF  ELATERIUM. 
163 
siderable  reputation  throughout  all  Columbia  ;  its  aqueous  in- 
fusion is  used  inwardly  in  diarrhoea  and  as  a  vermifuge,  while 
the  alcoholic  tincture  is  employed  externally  in  rheumatism.  Its 
application  for  these  purposes  is  extolled  by  both  the  medical 
profession  and  the  public.  It  is  said  also  to  have  proved  useful 
in  the  treatment  of  cholera. 
[In  the  United  States,  it  is  said  to  be  largely  used  for  the 
adulteration  of  ground  spices.  D.  H.J — London  Pharm.  Jour. 
Dec.  1859. 
CULTURE  AND  PRODUCTION  OF  ELATERIUM  AT  HITOHIN, 
ENGLAND. 
Till  within  the  last  few  years  the  cultivation  of  the  wild  or 
squirting  cucumber  (Ecbalium  offieinarum  Rich.,  Momordica 
elaterium  Linn.)  was  almost  entirely  cnnfined  to  Mitcham,  in 
Surrey,  and  Ampthill,  in  Bedfordshire.  Its  cultivation  is,  we 
believe,  given  up  at  the  latter  place,  at  least  for  commercial  pur- 
poses ;  for,  upon  making  inquiries  there,  we  can  obtain  no  in- 
formation respecting  it.  At  Hichin,  however,  it  is  now  culti- 
vated to  some  extent  by  Mr.  Ransom,  Pharmaceutical  Chemist, 
of  that  town.  We  may  conclude,  therefore,  that  Mitcham  and 
Hitchin  are  at  the  present  time  the  only  districts  in  which  it  is 
grown  for  commercial  purposes.  Its  cultivation  at  the  former 
place  has  already  been  described  in  this  Journal  (vol.  x.,  p. 
168)  ;  we  propose  now  to  allude  to  it  at  the  latter. 
At  Hitchin,  the  plants  are  either  raised  from  seeds  or  by 
division  of  the  roots.  When  raised  from  seeds,  these  are  sown 
in  the  spring,  usually  about  the  end  of  March  or  early  in  April ; 
the  seedlings  are  then  allowed  to  remain  in  the  ground  where 
they  have  sprung  up,  the  soil  having  been  previously  highly 
manured  with  stable  manure.  A  large  number  of  plants  are 
always  self-sown.  (The  practice  thus  adopted  at  Hitchin  is,  in 
in  some  respects,  different  from  that  carried  out  at  Mitcham, 
for  here  it  is  customary  to  sow  the  ground  about  March,  and  to 
plant  out  the  seedlings  about  June. — Pharm.  Journ.,  vol.  x.,  p. 
168.)  When  the  plants  are  raised  by  dividing  the  roots,  this 
operation  is  performed  in  the  spring,  the  plants  employed  for 
the  purpose  having  remained  in  the  ground  during  the  preceding 
