The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1903-04-23
HOMESIDE OF WARTIMES.
Continued from first page. J

| tAOHLlHUeu from UISU PAGE.
called by the learned "Podophyllium
Peltatum. - It's Bible name is IMAM
drake some times called wild lem
on, .duckspout, etc. The fruit is said
to be good to eat, the leaves are pois-
onous, the root only is valuable.
We would put the bark Of dogwood,
poplar and wild cherry into cold water
and let it stand few days and drink
it as tonic,. Water drank off Of
fresh tar was good for lung trouble;
willow and dogwood bark boiled down
to the consistently of a gum, was
made into pills, with a little coperas
added, and taken to tone up the system
in a general way. Sassafras was good
for cleansing the blood, and when
mixed with the SalsapaIila was an
ex cellent substitute for coffee, as well
as remedy. The oil of sassafras is
good for rheumatism. The James
town weed, sometimes called tile
'Thornapple, or "stinkwoed, - was
good for imam and beast, the seed can
be given to stock and the leaves b1uis-
ed are good for scalds, hurts and sores.
This weed was first discovered at
jamestown, Va, hence its name. 1t
is said that the British soldiers boiled
some for green's, and it produced
partial insanity; they cut al sorts Of
capers, barking, grining, blowing
feathers into the air, pulling off their
clothing, and the like. 1t took them
ten days to gain their equilibrium.
1t was however used, according to
some authors, as treatment in in
sanity afterwards; the dry leaves
smoked in a pipo is good for asthma.
The tobacco plant was good i'll treat
ment of horses for collie and for stings
and bites Of insects. For stopping
blood we applied cobweb, alum and
SCOT, the last mentioned was good also
for collie in children. Blackberry root
made into strong tea was used for
bowel trouble, as we'll as stepped red,
white or postoak bark. Slippery elm,
Tansy, Horse Radish all had their
special places in our rebel" drug
store; China root in good whisky was
great medicine in some cases; Spice
wood, Rue, Pennerapal, were all good
medicines, and our mother knew how
TO use them and had better success
than some of the medical quacks.
'Puccoon root" or ''Indian paint"
was good for old ulcers. Group and
dropsy of the chest, the last disease is
called by the profession Hydrothorat;
the root given i'll powders was a fine
emetic, and for tetterworm The but-
terfy weed, or pleurisy weed, was
beautiful plant when in bloom, and
was used for sweating and puIging.
Cornshuck tea was used to sweat off
fevers. Indian turnip, horse mint,
and various other plants had their
place IN our field and gardens, and
was useful in the treatment of the
various ills and complaint of the
S outhern people. could extend this
letter to greater length, but deem the
above suffieiency to give an idea of
war TIME remedies. However, before
closing,I will mention the 7-year itch
that made the 'Frebels sore. . 1t was
an army relic and brought homo to US
by some soldiers on furlough, or dis
charge, and when it got hold on you,
there was trouble to the flesh, and a
ready demand for gIeese and sulphur;
you had to greese nine days without
changing clothes, and you may be
assured that a gourd patch would have
given off a smell more agreeable than
your sulphuric lard mixture. You
might scratch and Ie-scratch, but the
more you ''strove against its power
you felt it still the more; it stuck
''closer than brother to you all day
and when you got warm in bed it re-
vlved and stayed with you in earnest
till day light, and if two slept to-
gether they would keep the bed cover
off all night changing sides in order
to get an allround scratch; in fact it
just did you lots of good to dig at it.
Some one suggested that a sorry
man ought not to have it because
it would afford him such sluxury;
one man let it die on him for lack of
it was said, being too lazy
to scratch.
For sore eyes we would use slippery
elm, or weak coperas water. For
the removal of warts we would get
some witch or old fogy to conjure
them away, or take an old bone and
rub each wart nine times, and then
bury the bone; or take little rocks and
rub each wart with rock and then
tie them up in rag and throw them
IN public place, the first one who
united the rag would get the warts.
Now will close this letter for fear