202 
RHUBARB CULTIVATED NEAR BAN BURT. 
years, the sale of the leafstalks formed a part of the trade, 
but it can scarcely be said to do so now. Wine has been 
occasionally made of them, but not to any important extent. 
Curious housekeepers here and there make a little to in" 
crease the variety of the table at the village " wake." The 
leaves were some years ago in demand (as I have reason to 
think) for the adulteration of "tobacco, or the manufacture 
of cigars, but are not at present. 
7. The principal, and with a small exception, the only 
mart for English rhubarb root is London. It is there pur- 
chased by the wholesale druggists, who would probably 
state that a great part of it is subsequently exported. Some 
of it is sold no doubt to the Jews and Turks as English,bx\t 
I strongly suspect that a much larger portion is sold to the 
Christians as foreign. 
The " cuttings" make, I dare say, a very decent powder, 
mixed according to conscience with East India Rhubarb. 
The price is variable, and though I have often in the course 
of the last ten years heard it quoted, I cannot trust my me- 
mory for a figure.* The "trimmed" is of course the highest 
— from two-thirds more to double the price of the "cuttings." 
I have heard it stated on computation that not less than 
about twenty tons, are, in the various forms described, an- 
nually sent into the market. 
8. I know of no other place in which rhubarb is grown 
for medical purposes in a wholesale way. A field of rhu- 
barb when in flower — the stalks from six to ten feet in 
height — has a very striking appearance, and cannot be 
passed without observation. 
The leaf-stalk grown in private gardens is not unfre- 
quently preserved with sugar, and is recommended in that 
form by Dr. Kerr, of Northampton as a laxative. — Pharm. 
Journ. 
* The large pieces fetch more, in proportion to their sizes. The 
prepared root is rubbed over with powder, and sometimes when damp 
with ochre. 
