AmbJe0cU,r'I87h7!rm•}        Medicinal  Plants  at  Hhchin.  605 
which  show  large  leaves  and  grow  rapidly  the  medicinal  properties  are 
less  powerful  in  proportion,  even  the  odor  of  the  plant  being  weaker. 
This  is  somewhat  analogous  to  what  is  known  of  the  cinchona  trees, 
in  which  as  a  rule,  the  smaller  the  leaves  the  larger  the  yield  of  alka- 
loid. About  five  pounds  of  extract  are  obtained  from  one  cwt.  of 
herb. 
Hemlock. — Very  little  hemlock  is  grown,  the  wild  plant  being  pre- 
ferred. It  is  said  to  be  plentiful  in  the  neighborhood,  nearly  twenty 
tons  of  it  being  sometimes  made  into  extract  in  one  year  by  Mr, 
Ransom.  From  four  to  six  pounds  of  extract  are  obtained  from  one 
cwt.  of  herb. 
Squirting  Cucumber. — Only  two  to  three  acres  of  this  plant  are 
grown  every  year,  there  being  comparatively  little  demand  for  elaterium 
in  this  country.  The  plants  are  earthed  up  in  winter  like  celery  and 
require  plenty  of  manure  applied  annually.  The  yield  of  elaterium 
depends  much  upon  the  weather,  very  little  being  obtained  in  a  wet 
season.  If  the  month  of  August  is  fine  and  dry  the  yield  is  not  only 
larger  but  of  superior  quality.  The  drug  as  prepared  by  Mr.  Ransom 
is  of  a  fine  ash  green  color  and  comparatively  sweet  odor.  This  result 
is  obtained  by  pouring  off  the  supernatant  liquor  as  soon  as  possible 
after  the  elaterium  has  deposited.  If  this  be  not  done,  fermentation  is 
soon  set  up  and  the  product  depreciated  in  quality.  Although  Mr. 
Ransom  probably  grows  more  than  any  one  else  in  England,  the 
demand  is  so  small  that  some  wholesale  houses  have  often  not  pur- 
chased more  than  two  ounces  in  twelve  months.  That  which  is  exported 
goes  chiefly  to  Russia. 
Henbane. — About  five  or  six  acres  of  the  biennial  plant  are  grown 
on  the  average  ;  but  the  quantity  varies  very  much,  being  almost  a 
total  failure  in  some  years.  Mr.  Ransom's  experience  corresponds  with 
that  of  Mr.  Usher,  of  Banbury,  as  regards  the  uncertainty  attending 
the  appearance  of  the  plant  from  the  seed.  Indeed  in  one  of  the  fields 
at  Hitchin,  in  which  lavender  plants  two  years  old  were  in  blossom  at 
the  time  of  my  visit,  only  the  biennial  henbane  had  come  up,  which 
had  been  sown  before  the  lavender  was  planted  there. 
A  small  quantity  of  marshmallow  is  also  grown  by  the  riverside, 
where  it  does  well. 
The  above  are,  I  believe,  the  leading  medicinal  plants  which  are 
grown  in  the  neighborhood  of  Hitchin. 
