Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
August,  1921.  ) 
Elder  Flowers. 
557 
ELDER  FLOWERS  * 
By  Bi  M.  Holmes,  F.  L.  S. 
July  is  the  month  when  the  elder  is  in  full  blossom,  and  attention 
may,  I  think,  be  reasonably  directed  at  the  present  moment  to  the  im- 
portance of  this  abundant  shrub  for  the  herb  industry.  It  is  surpris- 
ing how  little  attention  is  paid  to  the  cultivation  and  propagation  of 
this  plant  in  Great  Britain,  whilst  the  flowers  dried,  or  salted  fresh, 
as  well  as  dried  berries  and  the  juice  of  the  fresh  berries  are  imported 
by  the  ton.  This  may  possibly  be  because  the  price  of  Continental 
produce  is  less  than  that  of  this  country.  Whether  this  is  due  to  la- 
bor being  cheaper  abroad,  or  to  the  collection  of  material  being  facili- 
tated abroad  by  methods  of  collection  with  less  expenditure  of  time 
and  labor,  I  have  at  present  no  evidence.  I  have,  however,  frequently 
been  asked  to  procure  elder  flowers  salted  by  the  ton,  and  elderberry 
juice  by  the. gallon,  and  dried  elderberries  and  fresh  leaves  by  the 
hundredweight.  Dried  elder  flowers  are,  I  know,  imported  by  the 
ton  from  the  Continent,  of  good  color  and  free  from  stalks,  at  half 
the  price  that  the  English-grown  flowers  cost  in  this  country,  al- 
though the  Continental  article  has  to  pay  freight  in  addition  to  the 
cost  of  collection. 
The  question  therefore  arises  whether  anything  can  be  done  to 
lower  the  price  of  the  English  produce  so  as  to  enabe  it  to  compete 
with  the  foreign  article.  I  venture  to  offer  (for  the  consideration  of 
the  Royal  Agricultural  Society)  some  suggestions  with  this  point  in 
view.  The  elder  tree,  which  is  allowed  to  grow  in  the  wild  state 
here  and  there  in  hedges  all  over  the  country,  necessitates  a  consid- 
erable waste  of  time  and  labor  in  going  from  place  to  place  and  in 
trying  to  pull  down  the  branches  that  are  out  of  reach,  and  there  is, 
therefore,  a  tendency  to  pick  all  the  bunches,  whether  the  flowers  are 
fully  out  or  not.  This  labor  and  time  might  be  saved  by  cultivating 
the  bush  as  a  hedge  around  gardens  and  fields,  pruned  after 
fruiting  is  over  down  to  about  six  feet,  so  that  the  flowers  and  fruit 
may  be  within  reach.  At  present  hedges  are  allowed  to  be  formed 
of  many  useless  plants,  and  the  space  so  wasted  might  be  utilized  also 
by  forming  hedges  on  chalk  or  limestone  soils  of  female  buckthorn 
plants,  the  berries  of  which  there  is  the  same  difficulty  in  collecting. 
There  are  other  points  in  connection  with  the  elder  to  which  atten- 
*Reprinted  from  the  Pharm.  Journ  and  Pharm.,  June,  1921. 
