AmAu°g"'Xh7arm'}        Medicinal  Plants  at  Banbury.  407 
do  not  appear  to  be  deciduous  as  in  R.  undulatum.  It  would  thus 
appear  to  be  a  hybrid  between  the  two  if  indeed  the  two  species  are 
really  distinct. 
When  in  blossom  the  panicle  is  at  first  deecidedly  spreading,  so 
much  so  as  to  present  an  appearance  totally  different  to  that  it  offers  at 
a  later  stage,  when  its  branches  become  quite  erect.  Indeed,  had  I 
not  found  the  two  stages  proceeding  from  the  same  root,  I  could  hardly 
have  believed  that  there  were  not  two  species  growing  in  the  same 
field.  On  closer  inspection,  however,  the  character,  leaves  and  leaf- 
stalks convinced  me  that  only  one  species  was  present. 
The  soil  on  which  the  plant  is  chiefly  cultivated  is  a  rich  red  friable 
loam,  which  appears  to  suit  it  well,  although  in  some  spots  where  the 
soil  is  damp  the  root  decays  and  the  plants  gradually  disappear.  Mr. 
Usher's  experience  with  regard  to  this  plant  is  as  follows  :  Up  to  three 
or  four  years  of  age  the  plants  flower  rather  freely,  but  after  that  time 
they  rarely  produce  inflorescence.  Singularly  enough,  for  many  years 
past  no  fruit  has  been  ripened,  the  little  that  is  formed  falling  off  soon 
after  "  setting,"  so  that  it  would  seem  as  if  the  plant  had  already  ac- 
quired a  tendency  to  become  a  root-producing  rather  than  a  fruit-yield- 
ing form. 
The  rhubarb  plant  does  not  appear  to  be  much  attacked  by  insects 
or  by  fungi.  After  about  eight  or  nine  years  the  soil  becomes  exhausted, 
and  rotation  of  crops  becomes  necessary.  The  exhaustion  of  the  soil 
is,  however,  in  some  degree  counterbalanced  by  the  matter  returned  to 
it  by  the  leaves,  which  are  allowed  to  decay  on  the  ground,  and  even 
those  which  are  taken  up  with  the  root  are  afterwards  returned  in  the 
form  of  manure. 
The  young  plants  are  not  obtained  from  seed,  but  are  always  propa- 
gated from  the  lateral  shoots  of  plants  about  four  years  old,  at  which 
period  the  shoots  are  more  vigorous  and  produce  finer  plants  than  if 
obtained  from  older  ones.  The  petioles  are  never  gathered  for  food, 
because  it  has  been  found  that  so  doing  injures  the  size  and  quality  of 
the  root.  The  young  plants  are  set  at  distances  of  three  feet  apart,  and 
the  root  is  not  fit  for  collecting  until  the  plants  are  about  four  years  old. 
From  that  period  up  to  nine  or  ten  years  of  age  the  root  improves  in 
size  and  quality.  Plants  of  different  ages  are  of  course  cultivated  in 
different  fields  so  as  to  secure  a  succession  of  harvests  each  year.  Plants 
