The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1895-04-05
HERB AND ROOT DIGGERS.
GATHERING NATURES REMEDIES
FOR THE MEDICINE MAKERS.
Why Many Tennessee Moonshiners
Were Changed Into ssDlggers"-
Sarsaparilla In Wild Profusion


and gathering leaves, barks, nuts and
berries for the great pharmaceutical
laboratories. They are known as the
''diggers" of the State The~men and
women engaged in the business know
very little about pharmacy or the way
science distils the secret juices of
what they gather, but tho business
pays them.
Nature hid thousands of her secrets
in the flora of the South, and the dis
titled extracts or powdered forms OF
her roots, bsrks, leaves and herbs en-
ter into many thousands of prepara-
tions in the big laboratories of the
manufacturing pharmacists. The
rnnk weeds. grasses, flowers and shrub
berry that grow wild in every county,
and that other men crush under their
feet are worth much money to the
diggers, who can never hope to gather
thousandth part of the plants nature
has provided 80 lavishly. The digger
Is pretty shrewd fellow about nature
He was q weather prophet, q woods.
man and n natural astronomer from
infancy, and the encouraging pay OF
the pharmacists made him a mixture
OF business man, herb doctor and bot
anist. Diggers work in every part OF
the State, In the lowlands, in tho
swamps, along the rivers in the big
woods, in the mountains and in the
outskirts of the towns and cities.
| When they are away from home ON a
collecting expedition they are pro-
vided with tents-outdoor life is typ
pical Of the business and they wear
overalis and heavy shoes, for most OF
the work is in the dirt. Generally the
diggers begin at the head of small
river and move slowly down it until
they have gathered thousands of
bushels of roots and herbs and many
pounds of bark. They use spades aud
trowels, and the use of the spade is q
| science with them.
There are squads and companies of
them in the employ of the laborator-
les of New York, Chicago, st. Louis,
Cincinnati, and other big cities all the
year round. Those who are not con-
| nected with the laboratories keep we'll
informed about prices, the demands
of the pharmacists, and those articles
which can be collected in season. One
thing they gather is sarsaparilla, which
grows wild in profusion, and is used
| in great quantities by medicine manu-
factdrers. Alkanet root gives fine
| red tinge to oils, fats, wax. tIrDen.
tine, spirits and essences, and is also
used to color pomade, ointments, hair
oils and varnishes. The spirituous so.
luton stains marble deep red, and
wax tinged with alkanet and applied
to warm marble leaves beautiful
flesh color. The roots of golden seal,
yellow dock, and gold thread are val
liable to the chemist. The stalk of
rhubarb makes excellent pies, and it's
root is used incidentally. The common
plants that grow wild and are used in
medicinal preparations are manifold.
Blue flag grows by the brink of rivers,
In swamps and meadows; burdock,
! used in blood medicines; sassafras,
fennel, mullen, elderhowers, cotton
root, all sorts of berries, buchu leaves,
prickly ash. snake root, castor beans,
ginseng, horehound, sweet ferns, and
mandrake are other herbs gathered.
The trees drop berries, nuts and
seeds, useful for oils and extracts, and
there is always brisk demand for
such things. The seeds of the cones
OF the mountain pines are sold for So
a pound, and are gathered from the
trees. The long bean of the catalpa
tree is very valuable for its seed. and
q bushel of shellod seed brings as
much as $50. The seeds bring big
prices in sections where shade trees
are scarce, and the demand from Texas
alone takes all that is gathered. The
collectors in climbing the trees of the
pine and catalpa oftentimes finds rivals
In the little squirrels that hasten to
pick the seed out Of a cone or bean as
soon as it ripens. Canaigre, which
grows wild, is species of dock, valua-
bic for the tannic acid contained in it.
The diggers know how to treat barks,
roots, leaves, berries, and herbs. The
outer bark is never used, for they
know that nature provides for getting
rid of the bark of trees as the trunk
grows. Barks are preserved by hang
ing them in paper bags in the dry and
airy part of the herbarium. When
gathered, roots are washed to get rid
OF the dirt and part of the mucous sub
stance that would otherwise render
them mouldy. The larger ones are