Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1895-05-02

icd IN Baltimore Med. College E.c-
Member Mdryldnd Acddenly of
Sciences; tdte S,TgeOn 3lSt Va. m
Jdntry, e. s. H.; tate Resident PIN.
sicidn TO Green6rier UHHe tSMph,U
Springs; Member baltimore Micro
scOpicdL Society; Member Of the
ROydi Victoria Society, LOnIOn =;
and Hon. Member OF f.SOciety Of Lit
erdt,re, Science and Art, LondOn.
Truly has the poet said, "no tree
in all the grove but has its charms. :"
Man makes few uses of flowers, but
gentle woman wears them next her
heart, carries their semblance in her
hat, twines them in her hair, and
friends cover the casket of loved
ones with bright flowers, emblcms
of immortality, tokens of their love
and loss, and scatter them over the
little green mound Gin the corner
obscure and alone"
A year ago the floral world lost its
best friend by the death of George
w. Childs, who contributed so much
to the progress of Horticulture
Shakespeare knew flowers well, even
before the days Of botany, and he
made Friar Lawrence to say:
. mickle is the powerful grace that
lies
In herbs, plants, stones and their true
qualities"
The study of plants is healthful,
and the student will not find sermons
only but uses and lessons too in fruits,
leaves, roots, books and tlowers-as
we find in the berries of the common
Poke-root, (PhytClaced,) } which cure
rheumatism and fatten robbins and
whose Juice reduces excessive flesh,
besides serving, in its early spring
leaves as a salad, and decoction OF
the root serving during the late wal
to cure camp-itch where everything
else had failed.
Many pleasant recollections cluster
aronnd the fields and woods. and ouI
forefathers depended on them fol
their remedies in fevers and diar
rhnas, and we may truly say tha
each disease has its cure provided By
the Great Creator in the leaves, roots
seeds and flowers of the plants Ht
has given us. We see even the squir
rel, bitten by the rattlesnake, seel
out the ash and devour its leaves a.
an antidote to the reptile poison.
We are told in Genesis /, %" BE
hold I have given you every herb
hearing seed, and every tree in whici
is the fruit of tree yielding seed
to you il shall be for meat" an(
"to every beast Of the earth and Il
every fowl of the air and to every
thing that creepeth upon the earth
wherein is life, | have given y0'
erery green her6 for meat"
There are over seven hundred Wlit
flowers in the United States, as W.
find in the " Wild Flowers Of Amer
!. ica.n by Mr.. &. II. Busk, a bool
/ which fills a long felt want, and o
which Mr.. VIM. l.. Wilson, Of whom
,, every West Virginian is proud, says
"the illustration Of Wild Flower
by Mr.. Busk is happy idea" W.
have among the medicinal plants tn
gentle winter green, the princes
nine. the modest violet, the snow
ball. the barberry, the bitter sweet
and even the well known poke root
whose extract is so well known as al
I ingredient in the famous rheumatl
elixir of the Three Iodides prepared
hy q well known drug house OF LOUIS
O Vile. We find remedies in the bone
: oct the willow, the chestnut TN
d horebound, the sage, sumach, cherry
vo,nut and even in the acorn ant
hork of the white oak, while TN
= hickory, the maple, the hydraS.'
torange root the purslane' the "'i'
indigo, the myrtle and many o'ner
. Give rs dyes of various colors' W.
find in the little winter green N'm
tea berry, of the glades the sa'ioy'