The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1909-12-02
NATURES DOCTOR
IN THE WOODS

u otU.
The golden hush OF autumn lies !
heavily on the woods and thickets OF
Virginia. In the back counties, amid
the dropping leaves. those who are out
after the earliest rabbits are likely to
encounter silent, lonely men and boys.
some white and others black, seeking
out the delicate. sweetly aromatic wild
cherry trees.
They are natures doctors, ~despoiling
her woodlands for the wild cherry bark
used in medicine, and most valuable in
the fall. when it contains its greatest
percentage Of hydrocyanic acid.
1t must be procured fresh every year.
for 1t deteriorates with age. 1t brings
from l to 6 cents per pound, the young
thin bark constituting the green layer
underneath the outer husk being the
the United States pharmacopeia, and
is priced also for its properties as a
sedative.
The woodland medicine which is ripe
just now, and one Of the most delicious
in its perfume, wild cherry bark, is but
of remedies for human ills that nature
provides in her gracious woodlands,
n there is no country on earth which
is endowed with SO vast a variety, to
be had, in many districts for the taxi
ing.
ooh, such n pain in my head, dcar!"
What, the DID headache again?"
Yes; as bad as ever. l just know
that nothing viii; do it 4 bit OF good
except witch hazel"
So you hurry for the familiar bottle,
as you do when it is rheumatism, or q
sprain or any of the dozen other
things witch hazel Is good for.
1t hasn't been many years since
witch hooo1 holoc rod avo1l.Civnlv IN
those grandmother remedies whose
gradual disappearance We have learned
to deplore, in this land of the magic
tablet and the perennial pill.
Today it plays a prominent part In
the medicine chest of nearly every
household. and represents many thou
sands Of dollars in invested capital.
Its traditional importance goes even
further back than any white grand
mothers VINO ever lived in this vest
ern hemisphere. The Indians knew it's
value long before the white man came,
and they had it at their service all the
way from New Brunswick to Florida
n from Minnesota TO Texas.
In New England the farmers reckon
on their witch hazel crop as a regular
brush, from which the local distillers
extract the essential properties, by the
car load. The bark brings from l to 4
cents per pound.
1t is, properly classified, a shrub. al
though it has been known to grow to
characteristic it possesses is that 1t
flowers very late In autumn
There is another woodland product
that is important in incidence: but 1t
was dearer to the lips of childhood, q
generation ago, than any other treas
ure of the wild, except, probably, the
spruce gum that is now so rare that
only millionairesses can afford it.
The Joys of slippery elm are almost
forgotten to modern childhood, al
though medicine still prizes 1t highly
for the relief OF colds and the allaying
of infiammations.
The slippery elm tree is a tree, IN
deed, growing from 40 to 20 feet in
height, with a trunk 2Aa feet thick. The
outer bark Is rossed, Or shaver off, and
cut in long strips. is dried under pres
sure in order to keep it fiat.
1t brings from 3 to 10 cents per
pound. relatively a high return, but not
excessive when 1t is recalled that the
dried bark is remarkable for its small
proportion of weight to bulk.
The white pine, which plays such a
prominent role in building industries.
is almost equally conspicuous among
the trees possessing medicinal proper
ties.
A noble evergreen. sometimes zoo
feet high and 4 feet through, its inner
bark sells at prices ranging from 4
cent to 3 cents per pound, and consti-
tutes n of the major ingredients of
white pine syrup. used as an expec-
torant in coughs and colds.
These four are among the best
known and most widely used OF
natures remedies growing wild in the
woods; but there are many more, of
all kinds II utiltties-the tamarack
and the aspen, 10th of them esteemed
as tonics; the white willow, a tonic, a
f%ebrifuge and sometimes used for
rheumatism: the butternut, whose bark
serves as a tonic and a mild cathartic;
sweet birch. best known for that relief
Of temperate spirits. birch beer; the
white oak, whose astringent bark is
worth from 1 to 3 cents per pound:
and, perhaps as popular as any bark
that grows, ~sassafras, worth from 2
to 10 cents per pound.
There are. in all, seventeen 'of1cial'
bar1ks In the pharmacopeia: a round
dozen OF them grow in the United
States. But we are using them in such
enormous quantities now thai before
long we will have to plant the trees
that furnish them as a regular crop.
a Ma A. n NAS-.A> 80 "H