256 BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 
of the plant to such familiar esculents as rhubarb (Rheum raponti- 
cum)* and sorrel (Rumex acetosa). For statements of the im- 
portance of the latter as a vegetable proper, see Burr, F., ‘** The 
Field and Garden Vegetables of America,” Boston, 1863, pp. 304— 
309. According to Loudon, in his ‘* Encyclopedia of Plants,” 
p. 294: ** All domestic cattle eat this sorrel and most other species 
of the genus.” And Sprengel} asserts that it affords a very 
healthy nourishment to all grass-eating animals. Sprengel ft states 
furthermore that the common sheep-sorrel also (R. acetosella) is 
readily eaten by cattle, so long as the plants are young, and that 
it affords tolerably good nourishment for cows and sheep. The 
significance of sheep-sorrel as forage in this country has been in- 
sisted upon by a writer in the ‘‘ New England Farmer” for 1859 
and 1862 (vol. 11, p. 290, and vol. 14, p. 242). According to 
his testimony, a hay that has considerable value, and which is 
eagerly eaten by sheep and horses, may be obtained by cutting 
sorrel when it is green and succulent and before the seeds have 
scattered out. In order to cure the sorrel without loss, it should 
be mown in the early morning and raked into small bunches or 
cocks as soon as the dew has left it. It should be allowed to dry 
in these cocks with as little exposure to the sun as possible. 
According to the U. S. Dispensatory of Wood & Bache, 1867, 
p. 718, the leaves of sorrel quite lose their agreeable sour taste 
in drying. 
It is to be remarked, however, that neither dock nor milk-weed 
* Tt is to be noted in this connection that statements are upon record to the 
effect that the leaves of rhubarb, as distinguished from the leaf-stalks, may 
sometimes be hurtful. One report of this kind will be found in the ‘‘ New 
England Farmer” for 1845, 23. 20, and in Taylor ‘‘ On Poisons,” Phila., 
1859, p. 292, to the effect that a family of four persons, after eating very 
freely of the leaves of the domestic rhubarb or pie-plant, boiled and served 
as greens, were all of them shortly afterwards seized with severe vomiting. 
In one of these persons the attack was followed by gastritis; but the others 
recovered soon after the vomiting. Another instance is cited in the ‘‘ Report 
of the U. S. Commissioner of Agriculture ” for 1869, p. 418, in the following 
terms: ‘‘ Mr. Passmore of Pennsylvania wrote that he prepared for market 
twenty-five bunches of common rhubarb by stripping the leaves from the 
stalks. ‘These leaves were thrown to the hogs. The result was that five out 
of nine of the animals died, three were convalescent at the date of the letter, 
and the other was in a doubtful condition. Those that died gave every 
symptom of having been poisoned.” 
+ Erdmann’s ‘‘ Journal tech. und wk. Chemie,” 1830, 9, 2. 
t Ibid., 1829, 5. 74, and 1831, 10. 65. 
