Connecticut western news., 1889-06-19
HERB STORES.
One of the Curious Industries of
 the Metropolis.
Selling Vegetable Remedies. In
 Their Natural State.

Selling Vegetable Remedies In
 Their Natural State.
 Down in quaint old Varick street and over on East Broadway, on the very first blocks on Sixth and Third avenues, are depots" is what the directory says. Few, indeed, nowadays are the believers in the old country women's remedies of bottling and brewing. The city man or woman of today rushes off to g, doctor at the first ache or pain. His prescrip- tion, it is quite likely, is some herbal extract, for doctors do not always give mineral remedies. But he uses those herbal extracts prepared by the large drug firms, and presc,ibes them under their long Latin names-so people won't know. If questioned very closely he is likely to acknowledge this, but he will add: 'sNot in their raw state. They are first chemically prepared, refined and purified" But the old fashioned woman will shake her head, declare that nature is good enough for her, she'd rather trust it anyway than the princi- ples on commercial preparation, and that 'there s an herb for every pain. :" But the doctor sugar coats his pills nicely, and the herb remedies are often of very nasty taste. And then few drops of an extract will suffice, while of decoctions and infusions of the herbs themselves quantities and cupfuls must be taken.
 Still there are enough herb people in the town to keep four shops running, and the customers are mostly of the bet ter class. Poor people are the readiest to turn doctorward.
 The little shop of the herbist looks for all the world like that of an ordina- ry apothecary, but that the glass bottles of the windows and shelves are replaced by tin and wooden boxes and drawers, and the classical titles of the drugs by very rural-sound1ng names. The col orcd window lights are also absent. ''The herbs,' remarke herbist, ''daily called for are principally these: Hoar- hound, sarsaparilla, catnip, camomile flowers, yellow dock, burdock, sassafras, mandrake, cherry bark, stillinga and wintergreen. All in all, there are about two hundred and fifty varieties which must keep in stock"
 ''Do you gather them yourselfa"
 "No. It doesn' t pay for the trouble. The wholesale druggists of the city keeI them in this raw state, and I can buy them very cheaply in quantities. With in few years, however, Ihave gathered several varieties on Man hatten Island and others at Greenville, down on the upper bay. A lot of the herbs now in use are imported. Most of the others come from the Carolinas.
 Herbs are prepared for the dosing ir two ways: by decoction-that is, boiling this applying only to roots and herbs, and by infusion, which consists in the pouring on of hot water and letting the st uff stand and steep. Of the latte, class are plants and leaves. There is also another method-that of soaking in cold water-such as goose grass, of 6 hay-like appearance and smell, dropsy remedy, and quassia, the inner bark o1 a West Indian tree, clipped into bits SC that it looks for all the world like pine shavings. This is used as tonic.
 The bugle weed, low growing plant, the whole of which is made use of, is highly esteemed among herbists as g consumptive remedy. Taken in an in fusion it is spoken of as excellent to pre- vent bleeding at the lungs. Red clover is most effectual for relieving the pair of cancer, but the wise old country women, sagely holding their heads ir the chimney corner, never found any remedy for that disease, any more than the most expert M. D. Wormwood is the arnica of the herbalist. Moistened with hot water, mixed with salt, and laid on flannel for poultice, the her. bists say it will take down swelling quicker than any arnica can. Lobelis is the all-powerful emetic. Coltsfoot il the we'll l-known cough and cold remedy, and an infusion of hemlock leaves-the non poisonous variety-a remedy fol rheumatism. Catnip, the cats natura remedy, is rather aptly termed the cat'' "opium," so stimulating is its effect. Sumac berries are used as gargle fol sore throat and also as tonic. Int other 24O odd varieties of herbs are usco singly and in combination for the cure of almost every known disease.-Neat Fork Maiz and Express.
 Florida's Annual Cornucopia.
 Florida annually produces $50, 00( worth of honey, $40,00o worth O. strawberries, $50, 900 worth of hogs