The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1883-10-05
Common Weeds.

Common Weeds.
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| Many years ago we had not as many
doctors as we have now. The road,
were bad, and people lived at great
distances 1t was then that herbs oi
''simples, as they used to call them
were in great demand, and the good
housewives and mothers learned to be
very skillful, in cases of sickness, in the
art of making healing drinks and oint
ments, which were of great efficacy
And what do you think they were
made of ? Why, only the simple wild
flowers or roots that grew all around
their very doors. But except in re
mote country places, where they sci
dom drop old customs, these simple
medicines have gone quite out of fash.
ion, and nowadays people when they
are ill send tor physician, take just
what he gives them and pay him a tre-
mendous fee, when at the same time
they do not dream that they are often
receiving from him as simple remedy
as their great grandmothers took, years
and years ago, for the very same dis.
ease---only the name has been changed
in these later days. For instance, il
you go into a drug store and look
among the long row OF labelled bottles
you will find one marked 1drdrdcuDs.
Now this is hard Latin name, and
perhaps you have no idea what it
means. You will find it to be a very
old friend of yours, perhaps the very
comnonest in the lane where you walk
every day.-the dandelion l.! An
other fanciful label is Iussilago .terfa-
ra, which is nothing more nor less than
coltsfoot,-so called from the form
and size of the leaves, which are
round and as large as the palm of the
hand-a marguerite of brilliant vel.
low, the rays as fine and slender as
hairs. From the time of Hippocrates
this flower has been supposed to have a
salutary influence on the lungs, and
has long been employed to soothe irri-
tation of the air passages in cases Of
asthma. The cotton of the leaves,
wrapped in rag in solution of salt.
petre and dried in the sun, made an
excellent tinder In past times, when we
had no lucifer matches.
Liquorice is another of the plants
which is Glycyrrhiza g1obra, very
hard name that botanists have given
to this simple plant-but botanists are
fond of hard names
The DigitaIis that exercises such a
dangerous influence over man, imped-
ing the circulation of the blood, and
which no animal ever touches, is the
foxglove with its stem of rose-colored
flowers, tiger spotted, and white with
in, abundantly skirting the woods in
whose shade and GOODNESS it delights.
Who would have thought that Nab
ulus AlbuS was only the common
white lettuce, or that Hydrastis Can
odensts was the little lilac -colored flow
er of the colchicum which enamels the
meadows in the autumn, coming with
out leaves or supports
Many plants such as hoarhound, an
gelica and others, do not seem to be
recognized as plants at all. They are
sweet stuff Hoarhound, with its
many stalks cubit high, covered over
with thin white down, is cultivated
for the sake of the extract, and made
into candies and other forms. While
the peppermint, with its pretty purple
flowers, is sold to the druggists, and
distilled for oil. We are all apt to
look upon the nettle, the very disagree
able, singing plant, as good for moth
ing, but to be rooted up whenever it is
found but if this poor despised plant
can cause pain by its sting, it can also
relieve pain, for if you were to make
drink, by boiling its roots i'll water, it
would entirely remove the irritation of
the skin, caused by that painful COM
plant, the ''nettle rash," while the
fresh juice will take away the marks of
a bruise and if we were to 90 on and
tell how many insects make their meal
off the nettle, and live on it as a home,
or of the beautiful lace that has been
made from its 6bers, you would not re,
gard it as entirely useless-but now
we are only speaking of the medical
properties of the plant.
You have taken severe Geld, and
as you go home along the lane,
does it ever occur to you that several
remedies are growing close beside you7
Take the white hoar-hound, which,
from its usefulness, has in many small
places, found its way from the lane to
the herb bed or, if you like another
remedy, there is the little cup moss,
growing so freely all about you or
still another, the mallow. All country
children have played with the seeds Of
the mallow, and called them "cheeses "
There are several kinds, but the marsh
mallow is the one mostly used. Then
there is the pretty plant so valuable for
inflammation of the skin, called "Poor
Robin" or "Herb-robert,' which il
nothing more than the wild geranium.
We all know 1t, for it grows every,
where, under bush, high up on a
wall, in the lane, or hidden away in the
woods ! The small flowers are pink,
and the leaves, which have a very
strong smell, turn red in the autumn,
and are of great benefit in cases of in
| tlammation
In this short article we have seen
how useful some of oul commouest
plants are, and that everything has its
appointed place in the world. Who
can doubt the existence of superin-
tending and all designing Creator, who
has disposed every part in relation to
the great whole, making even the little
leaf of the most insignificant herb Of
the field an essential member of the
grand scheme of the universe speak
ing to all who have ears to hear, the
lessons of love and wisdom These
characters of Nature which every
where meet the eye, are not common
but sacred writing, for they are the
very hieroglyphics of God"
COOKING PoTAToEs,-A favoritt
way to cook potatoes now is to boi
them in their jackets until they ar,
tender, and then dry them off in a ho
oven, Sweet potatoes are excellent
also cooked in this way. Of cours,
| ooca ,nuct ha FABIAN to rap,oyo tho pota