Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-04-23

try every year, while millions of pounds
of the home produce waste for want OF
gathering. Dock root is favorite rem
edy for purifying the blood and for va
rious skin diseases. The price Of the
dried roots is from two to eight cents.
Couch, or dog-grass. is another common
weed that is in demand for medicinal
purposes. The United States imports
nearly the whole supply, which amounts
to a quarter-million pounds. Its fluid ex-
tract is widely used in kidney and blad-
der disorders. The price is from three
to seven cents.
Even the unseemly pokeweed has q
commercial value. Both the roots and the
dried berries are salable, the dried roots
selling at from two to five cents a pound,
and the berries at about i've cents IIiay
are used in skin and blood etaezpFss
FOx-glove is a fugitive from the flower
garden, and in many places has lost ttS
caste as a flower by allowing itself TO
associate with weeds. The medical nero=
is digitalis. and IL is widely usee - AZ
fections of the heart. The annual inn
portations of digitalis amount to some
5000 pounds The American product
has been but little used, although ii has
been assayed and found to be fully equal
to the European article.
The despised mullen is always ready to
contribute its share to the relief of the
Ills that beset mankind. II is used In
coughs and catarrh. to quiet nervous ir-
ritation, relieve pain and check infamma-
ton. 1t is said that the dried leaves make
an ideal smoke for nasal catarrh. Most OF
the verbascum, or mullen flowers, which
the druggists sell comes from Germany
The price is variable-rangfng from %
to 70 cents a pound.
Lobelia, tansy. and catnip all have their
medicinal values. Lobelia seeds are worth
from fifteen to twenty cents a pound. and
the dried tops from three to eight cents.
When the physician prescrfbes tanacetunl
the average patient thinks of some rare
drug. Yet it is nothing more than tan
sy, of which some $1,000 pounds are an
nually imported. The price of the dried
tops is from three to six cents a pound.
Catnip tastes better when called ca
taria, and probably has better effect on
the patient. The price paid for its dried
leaves and Towering tops Is from two to
eight cents a pound. Boneset is favor
lite drug when called Eupatoriun. Wear
ing such a high-sounding name it for
gets that IL ever was a weed, and the
older doctors will promptly declare that
1t is about as near an all-round remedy
as medical science knows. From two to
eight cents a pound is the figure there
is in the business Of gathering and dry
ing boneset flowers and leaves. Dried
hoarhound leaves are worth from three to
eight cents a pound, yet America imports
about 10000 pounds a year to supply the
demand.
The yarrow looks like a valuable drug
when wearing it's alias of achillea. 1t is
a stimuIant tonic and is often used.
Blossoming on nearly every farm, 1t yet
requires importations to supply the de-
mand. The blessed thistle is worth as
high as ten cents a pound. 1t is cultiva-
ted in Germany.
jamestown weed is a sort OF Dr.
Jexyll and Mr.. Hyde. AS stranonium II
is one of the most valuable plants in the
pharmacopoeia. 1t is then an honor
to the potato family. OF which 1t IL .
member About 10000 pounds OF its
leaves and 10000 pounds of its seeds are
annually imported. under this name,
When called ''jirnson weed 1t is about
the most !ll-smelling, and pesky OF all
the herbs of the field. From two to sew
en- cents a pound is paid for the dried
leaves and seeds.
In addition to these there are many
other common weeds which have a COM
seed, mustard. poison hemlock. ieabane,
the gum plant and the grindelia. Theirs
are many weeds which are highly pol
sonous. and hundreds of lives are lost
annually as a result of eating them. Even
the ill-smelling rattleweed is poisonous.
Many weeds are prolific beyond express
sion. For instance, 1t is estimated that a
large stalk OF purslaine will have as many
as a million seeds Some have been
hat On orfa ton nH
that. II every seed Of purslaine should
grow into a plant it would be but a
few years until the entire surface of the
earth would be covered with purslaine.
City weeds are usually thoroughly cos
mopolitan. and are globe-trotters. The
great majority OF them began their ca
reer in Asia. From there they were car
ried by the routes Of travel into Europe,
and from Europe they were transferred
to America. It Is said there are many
more varieties of European and Asiatic
weeds near the American seaboards than
in the inland sections.
ses
The remarkable law Of adaptation shows
up with cameo-like clearness among the
weeds. Accustomed to fighting their own
battles, to overcoming the hardest sort OF
obstacles, they have become self-reliant,
and can thrive under almost any kind of
environment. On the other hand, some OF
the staple crops have been coddled and
cosseted so long that they have learned
to lean almost entirely on the support OF
man. 1t is said that beans, tobacco, lentils.
corn, and wheat have reached that stage
where they would become extinct IL man
ceased to cultivate them.
A weed has been called a plant out OF
place. Sometimes it is quite without hon.
or in its own country, yet of the royal
purple in alien lands. New England likes
the little pink-tipped English daisy and
cultivates it with tender hand. Old Eng
land detests II as a troublesome lawn
weed. The American farmer boy who
never brought blisters TO his hands fight
ing mullen was the son of careless
farmer, while in Irish greenhouses that
weed is carefully cultivated as ''the Amer
lean flannel plant" West of the Missisi-
sippi there are places where yarrow is
highly priced under the alias of lace
flower" Yet every eastern farmer is put
to to get rid of it.
Some plants that are highly priced in
one generation are worse than rubbish
in another. Rib grass was brought to
New England as forage. as was also the
Ox-eye daisy. Garlic got its start in