41  o  Medicinal  Plants  at  Banbury.  {Km'tlx;^™' 
me  that  in  one  field  sown  with  henbane  none  of  the  seed  came  up  and 
the  field  was  again  sown  with  other  crops,  and  it  was  not  until  nine 
years  afterwards,  during  which  period  the  field  had  been  several  times 
ploughed,  that  it  yielded  a  good  crop  of  hanbane  quiet  unexpectedly, 
and  without  any  more  henbane  seed  having  been  sown.  This  uncer- 
tainty seems  to  depend  upon  the  weather  being  dry  soon  after  the  seed  is 
sown.  If  the  weather  is  damp  immediately  after  sowing  the  seed,  it 
usually  comes  up  at  once. 
The  cultivation  of  the  plant  is  beset  with  difficulties.  In  the  first 
place,  it  grows  very  slowly  when  young,  and  is  soon  hidden  by  weeds 
of  more  luxuriant  growth,  so  that  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  mix 
some  rapidly  growing  plant,  such  as  mustard,  with  it  in  order  to  indi- 
cate where  it  is  sown.  It  also  requires  shelter  when  young.  This 
difficulty  Mr.  Usher  has  obviated  by  sowing  it  in  rows  between  beans 
so  that  it  may  be  protected  in  its  early  stage.  As  soon  as  the  young 
leaves  are  fully  formed  the  turnip  fly  attacks  them;  when  the  autumn 
leaves  of  the  first  year  have  decayed  a  white  slug  eats  away  the  central 
bud ;  and  if  it  still  manages  to  live  a  wire  worm  attacks  the  root 
during  the  winter.  It  will  be  easily  understood,  therefore,  why  the 
fields  of  henbane  often  present  very  large  bare  patches,  and  why  the 
price  of  the  drug  is  so  high.  The  plants  are  collected  for  drying 
about  the  third  week  in  June.  The  upper  leaves  are  deprived  of  the 
midrib,  and  these  as  well  as  the  flowering  tops  are  dried,  and  form  the 
best  biennial  henbane  of  commerce.  The  lower  eaves  and  stems  are 
used  for  preparing  extract,  for  which  purpose  they  are  crushed  under 
an  edge  runner,  and  the  juice  squeezed  out  by  hydraulic  pressure  and 
then  evaporated  down  to  a  proper  consistence.  It  is  obvious  that  an 
extract  prepared  in  this  way  on  the  spot  by  the  grower  is  likely  to  be 
better  than  when  prepared  from  the  herb  sent  to  a  distance  by  rail,  for 
these  plants  become  heated  in  twenty-four  hours  when  packed  closely. 
The  leaves  and  flowering  tops  are  dried  in  malt  kilns,  of  which  seven 
are  in  use  at  once.  The  leaves  are  spread  thinly  at  first  and  are  turned 
over  about  three  times  a  day,  and  as  they  become  somewhat  dry  are 
collected  closer  together  into  rows  or  heaps  on  the  kiln  floor.  As  one 
lot  becomes  partially  dried  it  is  removed  to  another  kiln  until  quite  dry, 
which  usually  happens  in  about  three  days,  and  a  fresh  lot  takes  its 
place. 
There  are  one  or  two  points  with  regard  to  the  flower  which  are 
