Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1895-05-15
THE TAR-HEEL STATE.
An InexhaustibIe Supply of Medicinal
Plants Selling at the Lowest Rates.

An MISUNDERSTANDING supply Oh
Plants Selling at the Lowest Rates.
There are two wholesale houses in the
city which make a speciality of the trade
in American roots, herbs and banks, and
there are several which deal in these for
eign products. Formerly the industry of
gathering for the New York market oc-
cupied many women and children in the
states within radius of a few hundred
miles of this city; now, however, the bulk
of the dealings of the two firms men
toned is with North Carolina. Up in
the mountains of the Tar-heel state,
where nothing else of any Importance
will grow, there seems to be an mex
haustible supply of medicinal plants, of
the best quality and selling at the lowest
rates, labor there being much cheaper
than in any of the Northern states. An
other reason for the low price of these
products is found in the fact that they
come into the hands of the country store
keepers almost entirely in the way of
barter; for the amount Of money seen by
the average mountaineer in the course of
his life is not enough to set him seriously
thinking upon the currency problem. AS
consequence, herbs for which the Jer-
sey and New York collectors used to get
10 cents a pound must now be sold for D
cents, or even less, and the picturesque
Northern industry is practically killed.
Very few consignments are now received,
the dealers say, even from the Shakers
of New Lebanon, who were formerly
large producers, their sales now being
limited almost entirely to fluid extracts
of the simples they used to sell in crude
form. The New York dealers generally
buy directly of the Carolina storekeep-
ers though some of the latter send their
goods to commission houses. All are
dried and prepared before being sent to
the wholesalers. The latter keep them
crude, cut and crushed, for sale IN bulk
or pressed in paper packages of various
weights. Many of them are also sold in
powdered form. The manufacturers of
patent medicines are the heaviest buyers,
although druggists also purchase to some
extent.
Among the domestic products which
come from other parts of the country
than North Carolina are mustard seed.
from California; sassafraS, from the Vir
ginia swamps prickly ash bark, from
Florida and the West: wild or choke"
cherry bark, gathered by the Indians on
the Western and Central New York res
ervations, and the slippery elm bark,
from the Western states. Hoarhound
and sweet marJoram are brought from
France; sage and thyme from Germany,
and caraWay, aniSe, cOriander and fennel
seed are also foreign importations. Here
are some of the curious remedies you
may find in a Well-stocked botanic de-
pot:' Apple-tree bark, asparagus root,
beech bark, Canada thistle root, burdock
SeeuS, Teu anu Wulle Clover ueduS, eluer
flowers, fower-de-luce, mistletoe peach
pits, pumpkin seed, pussy willow and
strawberry vines. Even the golden rod,
the hollyhock, the pond lily, the violet
and the delicate maidenhair fern are
pressed into service. while the uses of
medicine do not scorn even the dreaded
poison oak.
Banks, to be at their best, should be
stripped from the tree in the early spring.
when the sap has spread through all
their woody cells and they will peel off
easily. The season for gathering leaves
and flowers is the blossoming time, when
they have arrived at maturity Roots
are dug in the fall, when the leaves and
stalks have died down and the juices
of the plant have withdrawn under
ground.
Despite the fact that popular faith in
simples has been weakened of late years,
the sale of them has rather increased
than diminished. This is owing chiefly
to the extensive manufacture of patent
medicines, and the growing demand for
the ingredients of these mixtures has
compelled dealers to keep in stock double
the amount of goods required twenty
years ago. The last day of the herb
gatherer is not yet.-New York Tribune