552         ENGLISH  MEDICINAL  RHUBARB  AND  HENBANE. 
probability  is,  that,  after  it  was  imported,  several  varieties  were 
produced  by  repeatedly  propagating  from  seed,  when  a  discre- 
pancy was  observed,  at  variance  with  the  earliest  descriptions 
recorded.    To  show  the  extent  of  those  changes,  I  may  remark 
that  in  the  last  instance  in  which  I  noticed  the  effect  of  seedling 
cultivation,  about  thirty  years  since,  I  found  the  stalks  and 
leaves  more  than  double  the  size  of  those  produced  from  offsets 
— a  circumstance  sufficient  to  account  for  the  introduction  of 
such  varieties  as  the  Victoria  and  other  large  sorts  now  so  com- 
mon in  our  gardens,  and  which,  when  propagated  from  seed,  still 
keep  working  change  upon  change.    So  convinced  have  I  been 
for  a  long  time  of  the  injurious  tendency  of  this  system,  that  I 
have  studiously  avoided  the  use  of  seed  altogether  ;  and  the  plant 
has  so  far  receded  to  its  original  type,  that  not  one  has  produced 
ripened  seed  during  the  last  twenty  years.    It  is  a  fixed  trait  in 
the  cultivation  of  medicinal  rhubarb,  as  it  is  in  most  bulbous 
plants,  that  if  produced  from  offsets  only,  it  ceases  to  produce 
seed,  and  if  raised  from  seed,  each  succeeding  generation  pro- 
duces seed  also,  adding  variety  to  variety  almost  indefinitely. 
Assuming,  as  an  incontrovertible  fact,  that  the  plant  has  now 
for  such  a  lengthened  period  been  propagated  from  offsets  as  to 
be  incapable  of  bearing  seed?  it  will  guarantee  the  conclusion 
that  if,  during  a  number  of  years,  when  its  cultivation  was  pur- 
sued by  a  large  number  of  growers,  for  the  purpose  of  making 
experiments,  and  each  one,  in  haste  to  enlarge  its  growth,  re- 
sorted to  seed  propagation,  it  degenerated  from  external  causes, 
it  is  equally  logical  to  infer  that,  the  causes  having  ceased  which 
led  to  its  deterioration,  it  has  now  regained  its  specific  distinct- 
iveness, and  is  not  likely  to  diverge  again  into  any  transition 
from  its  central  type.    It  is  thus  quite  possible  to  account  for 
the  previous  deterioration  of  the  plant  for  medical  uses,  which 
caused  the  strong  prejudice  existing  for  many  years  against  it, 
and  some  remaining  doubts  are  still  expressed  respecting  the 
real  properties  of  English  rhubarb  ;  but  that  a  powerful  reaction 
has  taken  place  in  its  favor  since  the  plant  has  been  restored,  to 
its  primitive  form  of  development,  there  is  most  ample  testimony, 
not  only  in  the  increased  demand  for  it  at  home  and  abroad,  but 
in  the  evidence  of  eminent  medical  practitioners.    In  addition  to 
