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Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests,
Medical, Economical, and Agricultural.
Being also a Medical Botany of the Confederate States;
with Practical Information on the Useful Properties of
the Trees, Plants, and Shrubs:
Electronic Edition.

Porcher, Francis Peyre, 1825-1895

Funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services
supported the electronic publication of this title.

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First edition, 2000
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Academic Affairs Library, UNC-CH
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
2000.

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(title page) Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests, Medical, Economical, and Agricultural. Being also a Medical Botany of the Confederate States; with Practical Information on the Useful Properties of the Trees, Plants, and Shrubs
Porcher, Francis Peyre, Surgeon P. A. C. S.
xxv, 601 p., ill.
CHARLESTON:
STEAM-POWER PRESS OF EVANS & COGSWELL, No. 3 Broad Street.
1863.

Call number 3041 Conf. (Rare Book Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

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Library of Congress Subject Headings, 21st edition, 1998

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Illustration

Illustration

RESOURCES
OF THE
Southern fields and forests,
MEDICAL, ECONOMICAL, AND AGRICULTURAL.
BEING ALSO A
MEDICAL BOTANY OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES;
WITH
PRACTICAL INFORMATION ON THE USEFUL PROPERTIES OF THE TREES, PLANTS,
AND SHRUBS.

BY

FRANCIS PEYRE PORCHER,
SURGEON P. A. C. S.

PREPARED AND PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE SURGEON-GENERAL,
RICHMOND, VA.

CHARLESTON:
STEAM-POWER PRESS OF EVANS & COGSWELL,
No. 3 BROAD STREET.
1863.

Page verso

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by
FRANCIS PEYRE PORCHER, M. D.,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Confederate States, for the District of Charleston,
South Carolina. PRINTED BY EVANS & COGSWELL, NO. 3 BROAD STREET,
CHARLESTON, S. C.

Page iii

PREFACE.

MEDICINAL AND USEFUL PLANTS AND TREES OF
THE CONFEDERATE STATES--INDIGENOUS
AND INTRODUCED.

        The following paper is prepared by direction of the Surgeon-General, for which purpose the author was released temporarily from service in the field and hospital.

        It is intended as a repertory of scientific and popular knowledge as regards the medicinal, economical, and useful properties of the trees, plants, and shrubs found within the limits of the Confederate States, whether employed in the arts, for manufacturing purposes, or in domestic economy, to supply a present as well as a future want. Treating specially of our medicinal plants and of the best substitutes for foreign articles of vegetable origin, my aim has been to spare no exertions, compatible with the limits assigned me, to make it applicable as well to the requirements of the Surgeon as of the Planter and Farmer; and I trust that after the war shall have ceased there will still be no diminution in the desire of every one to possess a source from whence his curiosity may be satisfied on matters pertaining to our useful plants. The Regimental Surgeon in the field, the Physician in his private practice, or the Planter on his estate may themselves collect and apply these substances within their reach, which are frequently quite as valuable as others obtained from abroad, and either impossible to be procured or scarce and costly. But information scattered through a variety of sources must needs be first collected to be available in any practical point of view.

        I have, therefore, inserted whatever I thought would throw light upon the vegetable productions of the Confederate States,

Page iv

to enable every one to use the ample material within his reach. I have searched through the various catalogues and systematic works on botany, and noticed in almost every instance the habitat and precise locality of plants, that each one may be apprised of the proximity of valuable species.

        Catalogues of the trees and plants growing in special localities thus become of great service, as they indicate precisely where valuable species may be procured. Those interested may obtain the localities of many plants found in the Confederate States by consulting Elliott's Botany, Darby's, and the recent work by Chapman, of Florida, "The Flora of the Southern United States." Among the catalogues issued at the South are one by Dr. Jno. Bachman of "Plants growing in the vicinity of Charleston," published in the Southern Agriculturist; one by Prof. Louis R. Gibbes of those found in Richland district, S. C.; "Plants found in the vicinity of Newbern, N. C.," by H. B. Croom; an unfinished paper, by W. Wragg Smith, Esq., published in the Transactions of the Elliott Society of Charleston; and "A Medico-Botanical Catalogue of the Plants of St. John's, Berkley, S. C.," by the writer. Also my "Sketch of the Medical Botany of South Carolina," published in the Transactions of the Am. Med[.] Association, vol. ii, 1849, and "Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests," De Bow's Review, August, 1861. The extensive collection in the Charleston Museum by my friend, Mr. H. W. Ravenel, as well as the several publications of himself and Mr. M. A. Curtis, of Hillsborough, N. C., might also be consulted with profit. I have availed myself of Dr. Chapman's work in ascertaining the names of plants added by botanists since the time of Walter and Elliott, and not contained in the catalogues referred to. The plants have been arranged after the Natural system, adopting for the most part the views of Lindley.

        The reference to information contained in books*

        I take this occasion to express my indebtedness to Col. J. B. Moore, of Stateburg, S. C., for the use of a valuable library of agricultural and chemical books, and for many facilities afforded me in the prosecution of this work; also, to Prof. L. R. Gibbes, for the loan of the catalogues in his possession.


serves the purpose of showing those interested in any production or manufacture where fuller details, which are too long to insert, can be procured. It will be seen from inspecting the list of authorities,
Page v

that the labor of searching through the large number of medical and other authorities has been very great. I have not hesitated to draw largely from any quarter, appending the name of the author, whenever I thought the matter applicable to our present condition and requirements. Thus, on the subject of the Grape, Vine, Sugar, Sorghum, Tannin, Opium, Flax, Mustard, Castor oil, Oils, Turpentine, Starch, Potash, Soda, Wood for engraving and for domestic purposes, Medicinal substances, etc., I have been profuse in my selections from a multiplicity of sources.

        I have avoided more than a cursory mention of the Cryptogamic plants, Fungi, etc., as the space occupied would be too great. I would refer the reader to my paper in the Transactions of the Am. Med. Association, vol. vii, on "The Medicinal, Dietetic, and Poisonous Properties of the Cryptogamic Plants of the United States," where the subject is treated in extenso, and a description of several hundred useful or poisonous species furnished.

        The older as well as the more recent works on the Materia Medica, Therapeutics, and Medical Botany--from Johannes Ray and Bergius to Pereira, Griffith, and Stillé--have been consulted. That complete and extensive work, the Dictionnaire de Matière Médicale, by Mérat and De Lens, including the supplementary volume, has been freely translated when necessary. I have also examined the Agricultural journals, the Patent Office Reports, the "Rural Cyclopædia," edited by Wilson, of Edinburgh, and excerpts from the journals and newspapers of the day, which have since the beginning of the present contest been particularly full in information on the economical resources of our Confederacy. From these I have been carefully collecting.

        In our present exigency many topics are approximately introduced which would hardly have place in a strictly medical work.

        Information of this kind is generally referred to under subjects with which it is closely allied. Thus, Potash, Ashes, and Soap are classed under "Carya" and "Quercus" (Hickory and Oak), Soda and Soda Soaps under "Salsola" and "Fucus," Charcoal under "Pinus" and "Salix" (Pine and Willow), Oils under "Sesamum" (Bené), Starch and Arrow-root under "Maranta"

Page vi

and "Convolvulus," etc., as these plants are characteristically rich in such products. The index, however, will contain full references.

        The mode of action of medicinal plants infinitely varies; their selection, consequently, for the several purposes required by the physician is not in my opinion a matter of more accident, the result of guesswork, or of popular reputation. Each is distinguished by the composition of its principal constituents; these are generally astringent principles, narcotics, stimulating vegetable oils, cooling, refrigerant acids, bitter tonics, cathartics, etc., etc. Some, as the Cinchonaceæ and the less active antiperiodics, contain principles still more rarely met with and more obscure in their mode of operation, which have control in warding off the access of malarial attacks. But once in possession of the main active principles furnished by a plant, it is easy to see why it gains credit as a remedy in certain classes of disease. This power it may share in common with many others, and several properties may be combined in various degrees in each, which it is necessary to know, preliminary to a judicious application of them. Many plants, for example, are reputed efficacious in arresting the profluviæ, diarrhoeas, and discharges from the mucous surfaces generally; this should excite no surprise when it is suspected or ascertained that they contain tannin simply. In some others, as in the Uva ursi, for example, the tannin is associated with a stimulating diuretic oil, which further adapts it to the relief of chronic renal affections. So with those which experience teaches us produce a carthartic, emetic, narcotic, sedative, irritant, or vermifuge action on the human system. It is always in virtue of the well known principles they contain that they prove serviceable and are preferred, and chemical analysis subsequently reveals precisely what it is upon which their powers depend. The ignorant, whether credulous or incredulous, know only by memory the name of the plant and the disease which it is said to suit--as in the manner of charlatans and herb doctors.

        In a notice by my distinguished friend, W. Gilmore Simms, Esq., of the article in De Bow's Review, by the writer, published in the Charleston Mercury, Sept. 1861, he speaks thus of the preparations necessary to the great issues then at stake:

Page vii

        "Now is the time when all the art and science that we possess, and all the suggestions that we can make, should be put in requisition, to the great end of our sectional independence. Every citizen who thinks himself in possession of a truth or a fact which he deems to be not generally recognized, should make it public--put it to challenge--that it may be subjected to investigation. In this way, and this only, with our 'Doubts and Queries,' shall we bring about that searching investigation which will develop our sectional resources."

        He refers in discursive language to the "resources of the Southern fields and forests, the natural productions in brief of the South--her resources in the woods, and swamps, and fields, the earth and rocks; for purposes of need, utility, medicine, art, science, and mechanics; hints to the domestic manufacturer; to the workers in wood and earth; and rock and tree; and shrub and flower; hints, clues, suggestions, which may be turned to the most useful purposes; not merely as expedients during the pressure of war and blockade, but continuously, through all time, as affording profit, use, interest, and employment to our people."

        From an inspection of the large amount of material embraced in this volume it will be seen that our Southern Flora is extraordinarily rich.

        It is the teeming product of every variety of soil and climate, from Maryland to Florida, from Tennessee to Texas. The Atlantic slopes with their marine growth, the Mountain ridges of the interior, the almost infra-tropical productions of South Florida, with the rich alluvia of the River courses--all contribute to swell the lists and produce a wonderful exuberance of vegetation. These a bounteous Providence has vouchsafed to a Confederacy of States, starting forth upon their career under new and happier auspices, and with independence and self-reliance forced upon them by an almost sacred necessity.

        I here introduce a notice of upwards of four hundred substances, possessing every variety of useful quality. Some will be rejected as useless, others may be found upon closer examination to be still more valuable. The most precious of all Textile Fibres, and Grains, Silks, Seeds, Oils, Gums, Caoutchouc, Resins, Dyes, Fecula, Albumen, Sugar, Vegetable Acids, Starch, Liquors, Spirit, Burning Fluid, material for making

Page viii

Paper and Cordage, Barks, Medicines, Wood for Tanning and the production of Chemical Agencies, for Timber, Ship-building, Engraving, Furniture, Implements and Utensils of every description--all abound in the greatest munificence, and need but the arm of the authorities or the energy and enterprise of the private citizen to be made sources of utility, profit, or beauty.

Page ix

ALPHABETICAL INDEX
TO THE
"RESOURCES OF THE SOUTHERN FIELDS AND FORESTS."

INDEX TO THE COMMON NAMES OF PLANTS,
AND
GENERAL INDEX.

Page xxi

INDEX
OF THE
BOTANICAL NAMES OF GENERA AND SPECIES.

Page 1

WORKS CONSULTED, AND ABBREVIATIONS USED.

        
WORKS. ABBREVIATIONS.
Catalogus Plantarum Angliæ, cum Observationibus et Experimentis Novis Medicis et Physicis. Londini, 1667. Auct. Johannes Ray. Cat. Plantarum.
English Physician. By Nicholas Culpepper, gent., "Student in Physic and Astrology." "An Astrologo-Physiological Discourse on Vulgar Herbs," etc. Culp. Eng. Phys.
Bulliard, Histoire des Plantes Vénéneuses de la France, 4 vols. Paris, 1774. Bull. Plantes Vén, de France.
Hortus Americanus. By Dr. Barham. Bar. Hort. Amer.
Linnæus, Vegetable Mat. Medica, Translated by C. Whitlaw. Linn. Veg. M. Med.
Démonstrations Élémentaire de Botanique. Containing elem., veg., phys. properties, and uses of plants. With much information concerning the vegetable veterinary practice, etc. By J. Gillibert, Lyons, 1787. Dém. Élém. de Bot.
Plantæ Rariores Hibernia Inventæ, etc. With Remarks on the Properties and Uses. By Walter Wade, M. D. M. L. S. Dublin, 1804. Wade's Pl. Rariores.
Le Médecin Hérboriste. Paris, 1802. Le Méd. Hérb.
New Med. Discoveries, 2 vols. London, 1829. By C. Whitlaw. Whitlaw's New Disc.
Am. Herbal, or Materia Medica. With New Medical Discoveries. By Samuel Stearns, LL. D. Walpole, 1801. Stearns' Am. Herbal.
Flora Scotica. By John Lightfoot. Edinburgh. Fl. Scotica.
Indigenous Botany. By Colin Milne, LL. D., and Alexander Gordon. London, 1793. Milne Ind. Bot.
A New Family Herbal: or, an Account of Plants and their Properties in Medicine and the Arts. By R. J. Thornton. London, 1810. Thornton's Fam. Herb.
Lindley's Natural System of Botany. With the Uses of Important Species in Medicine, the Arts, and Domestic Economy, London, 1836. Lind. Nat. Syst. Bot.
Medical Botany. By W. Woodville, 4 vols. London, 1790. Sec. edition, 1800. Woodv. Med. Bot.
Barton's Med. Botany. Bart. M. Bot.
W. P. Barton's Flora. Philadelphia, 1823. Bart. Flora.
Rafinesque's Medical Flora. Raf. Med. Fl.
Bigelow's Am. Medical Botany, 4 vols. Boston, 1820. Big. Am. Med. Bot.
Barton's Collection towards the Formation of a Materia Medica. Barton's Collec.

Page 2

        
Medical Botany. With the Uses of Important Species in Medicine, the Arts, etc. By R. E. Griffith. Philadelphia, 1847. Griffith's Med. Bot.
Illustrations of Medical Botany. By Joseph Carson, M. D. With Descriptions, etc. Philadelphia, 1847. Carson's Illust. Med. Bot.
Shecut's Flora Carolinæensis; or, a History, Medical and Economical, of the Vegetable Kingdom. Charleston, 1806. Shec. Flora Carol.
Elliott's Sketch of the Botany of South Carolina and Georgia. With Medical Notes. Charleston, 1806. Ell. Bot. Med. Notes.
Drayton's View of South Carolina. Charleston, 1802. Drayton's View.
Chalmer's History of South Carolina. Chalmer's Hist. S.C.
Garden's and Lining's Observations, Physical and Literary. Gard. and Lin. Obs.
Travels in South and North Carolina. By John Lawson, Surveyor-General, 1716. Lawson's S. C.
United States Dispensatory. By Wood and Bache. Philadelphia. 1847. U. S. Disp.
Thacher's United States Dispensatory. Thacher's U. S. Disp.
American Dispensatory. By R. Coxe. Coxe, Am. Disp.
Bergii Materia Medica. E. regno vegetabili, etc.--Stockholmiæ, 1782. Bergii, Mat. Med.
Cullen's Materia Medica. Edinburgh. Cullen, Mat. Med.
Lewis' Materia Medica, 2 vols. London, 1791. Le. Mat. Med.
Pereira's Materia Medica and Therapeutics, 2 vols. Pe. Mat. Med. and Therap.
Practical Dictionary of Materia Medica. By John Bell. Philadelphia. Bell's Pract[.] Dict.
Eberle's Materia Medica and Therapeutics, 2 vols. Philadelphia, 1834. Eberle, Mat. Med.
Edwards and Vavasseur's Matière Médicale. Paris, 1836. Ed. and Vav. Mat. Méd.
Trousseau et Pidoux, Traité de Thérapeutique, et de Matière Médicale. Paris, 1837. Trous. et Pid. Mat. Méd.
Elements of Materia Medica and Therapeutics. By H. R. Frost, Prof. M. M. South Carolina Medical College. Frost's Elems. Mat. Med.
Chapman's Therapeutics and Materia Medica, 2 vols. Philadelphia, 1822. Chap. Therap. and Mat. Med.
Ballod and Garrod's Materia Medica. London, 1846. Ball. and Gar. Mat. Med.
Royle's Materia Medica and Therapeutics. Philadelphia, 1847. Royle, Mat. Med.
Mérat and de Len's Dictionnaire Univ. de Matière Médicale. Paris, 1837, tom. vi. Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd.
Supplementary volume to the above. Paris, 1846. Supplem. to Dict. Univ. de M. Med.
Watson's Practice of Physic. Second American Edition. Philadelphia, 1845. Watson's Pract. Physic.
Southern Agriculturist. Charleston, 1820, '39. So. Agricult.
Matson's Vegetable Practice. 1839. Matson's Veg. Pract.
Imp. System Botanical Medicine. By Horton Howard. Imp. Syst. Bot. Med.

        Pharmacopoeias, Journals, Reviews, Monographs, Inaugural Theses, etc., both American and foreign.

        The Principles of Agriculture, by Albert D. Thaër, translated by William Shaw, Esq., member of the council of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, etc., and C. W. Johnson, Esq., F. R. S. 4th Edition. New York, Bangs, Brother & Co., 1852.

Page 3

        Flora of the Southern United States, containing abridged descriptions of the flowering plants and ferns of Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida, arranged according to the natural system, by A. W. Chapman, M. D. The ferns by Daniel C. Eaton. New York, 1860.

        Rural Economy, in its relations with chemistry, physics, and meteorology, or chemistry applied to agriculture, by J. B. Boussingault, member of Institute of France, etc. Translated by George Law, Agriculturist. New York, C. M. Saxton, 1857.

        Saxton's Rural Hand Books. New York, 1852.

        Thornton's Southern Gardener, and Receipt Book. Camden, S. C.

        Enquire Within; 3,700 facts. New York, 1857.

        The Fruit Gardener. Philadelphia, 1847.

        Downing's Fruit and Fruit Trees of America. New York, 1858.

        The Southern Farmer and Market Gardener, by Prof. F. S. Holmes, Charleston, S. C.

        The Art of Manufacturing Soaps and Candles. By P. Kurten. Philadelphia, Lindsay & Blakiston, 1854.

        Industrial Resources of the South and West, by J. D. B. DeBow. New Orleans, 1853.

        Sorgho and Imphee, the Chinese and African Sugar Canes, by H. S. Olcott. New York, 1857.

        Ure's Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines. From 4th English edition. New York, 1853.

        A New Family Herbal, or popular account of the natures and properties of the plants used in Medicine, Diet, and the Arts, by R. J. Thornton, M. D. London, 1810.

        Chemistry applied to Agriculture, by Count John Antony Chaptal. Boston, 1835.

        Chemical Field Lectures, by J. A. Stockhardt. Translated from German. Cambridge, 1853.

        A Muck Manual, by Samuel L. Dana. New York, 1858.

        The Fruit Garden. A Treatise by P. Barry. New York, 1857.

        Practical Treatise on Culture of Grape, by J. Fiske Allen. New York, 1858.

        Charlton on Culture of Exotic Grape under Glass. New York, 1853.

        Elements of Scientific Agriculture, by S. P. Norton, Professor in Yale College, New York, 1854.

        A Manual of Scientific and Practical Agriculture, for the School and the Farm, by J. L. Campbell, A. M., Professor Physical Science, Washington College, Va. Philadelphia, 1859.

        The American Grape Grower's Guide, intended especially for the climate of America. Illustrated by William Charlton. New York, A. O. Moore, 1859. For full description of best modes of cultivating the grape.

        Sorgho and Imphee, the Chinese and African Sugar Canes. Manufacture of sugar, syrup, alcohol, wines, beer, cider, vinegar, starch, and dye stuffs, with translations of French Pamphlets, etc., etc., and drawing of machinery, by H. S. Olcott. New York, A. O. Moore, 1857.

        Patent Office Reports, Agriculture, 1848, '51, '53, '54, '55, '56, '57, '58.

        Rural Chemistry, by Edward Solly, F. L. S., Honorary Member of Royal Agricultural Society, England. Philadelphia, Henry C. Baird, 1852.

        The Rural Cyclopædia, or a General Dictionary of Agriculture, and of the Arts, Sciences, Instruments, and Practice necessary to the Farmer, etc. Edited by Rev. Jno. M. Wilson. In four volumes. Edinburgh, 1852, A. Fullarton.

        General Directions for Collecting and Drying Medicinal Substances, with a list of Indigenous Plants. From the Surgeon-General's office, 1862. Richmond. A pamphlet.

Page 4

        The following works, published in England, may be referred to in case any are desirous of consulting them:

        Miller's Gardener's Dictionary, Marshall on Planting, Nichols' Planter's Calendar, Pontey's Profitable Planter, Phillips' Shrubbery, Treatise on Planting in the Library of Useful Knowledge, Loudon's Encyclopædia of Plants, Accum on the Adulterations of Food, Babbage on the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures, Thompson's Vegetable Chemistry, Knapp's Technology, Willich's Domestic Encyclopædia. See, also, Treatise by Dr. J. Harris, of Mass., on Insects injurious to Vegetation, and Townsend Glover's papers on same subject in Patent Office Reports.

        Those interested in obtaining foreign seeds, plants, etc., can obtain them by applying to James Carter & Co., and Butler & McCulloch, of London; William Thompson, of Ipswich, England; and Vilmorin, Andreux & Cie., Paris, France.

Page 5

INTRODUCTION.

GENERAL DIRECTIONS
FOR
COLLECTING AND DRYING MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES OF
THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.

DIRECTIONS FOR COLLECTING.

        All leaves, flowers, and herbs should be preferably gathered in clear, dry weather, in the morning, after the dew is exhaled.

        The roots of medicinal plants, although more advantageously gathered at certain periods, to be hereafter specified, do not lose their medicinal virtues in consequence of being dug in mid-summer. It is probable that most of those imported are thus collected by savages or ignorant persons, when the plant is in full leaf, it being then more easily recognized.

        PLANTS, ANNUAL, should be gathered at the time when their vegetation is most vigorous, which is generally from the time they begin to flower until their leaves begin to change.

        PLANTS, BIENNIAL, should, in most instances, be gathered in the second season of their growth, and about the time of flowering.

        ROOTS OF ANNUALS are to be gathered just before the time of flowering.

        ROOTS OF BIENNIALS are to be gathered after the vegetation of the first year has ceased.

Page 6

        ROOTS OF PERENNIALS are to be gathered in the spring, before vegetation has commenced. Roots should be washed, and the smaller fibres, unless they are the part employed, should be then separated from the body of the root, which, when of any considerable size, is to be cut in slices previous to being dried.

        BULBS are to be gathered after the new bulb is perfected, and before it has begun to vegetate, which is at the time the leaves decay. Those which are to be preserved fresh should be buried in dry sand.

        BARKS, whether of the root, trunk, or branches, should be gathered in the autumn, or early in the spring. The dead epidermis or outer bark, and the decayed parts, should be removed. Of some trees (as the elm) the inner bark only is preserved.

        LEAVES are to be gathered after their full development, before the fading of the flowers. The leaves of biennials do not attain their perfect qualities until the second year.

        FLOWERS should, in general, be gathered at the time of their expansion, before or immediately after they have fully opened; some--as the Rosa Gallica--while in bud.

        AROMATIC HERBS are to be gathered when in flower.

        STALKS AND TWIGS should be collected in autumn.

        SEEDS should be collected at the period of their full maturity.

DIRECTIONS FOR DRYING.

        Medicinal products of the vegetable kingdom (as plants, roots, etc.) should be dried as rapidly as is consistent with their perfect preservation, but not subjected to extreme heat.

        Those collected in the warm months and during dry weather may, except in a few instances, be dried by their spontaneous

Page 7

evaporation, in a well ventilated apartment; some--as roots and barks--may be exposed to the direct rays of the sun.

        In spring and autumn, and in damp, foggy, or rainy weather, a drying-house should be resorted to; the temperature to range from 70° to 100° F. There should be an aperture above for the escape of warm, moist air.

        FIBROUS ROOTS may be dried in the sun, or at a heat of from 65° to 80° F. in the drying-room.

        FLESHY ROOTS should be cut in transverse slices, not exceeding half an inch in length, and during the drying process should be stirred several times to prevent their moulding.

        BULBS must have the coarse outer membrane peeled off. In other respects they are to be treated like fleshy roots.

        BARKS, WOODS and TWIGS readily dry, in thin layers, in the open air.

        LEAVES, after separation from the stalks, should be strewed loosely over hurdle-frames, and their position changed twice a day, until they become dry. When very succulent, they require more care to prevent their discoloration. For thin, dry leaves, the heat need not exceed 70° F.; for the succulent, it may gradually be raised to 100° F.

        ANNUAL PLANTS AND TOPS.--If not too juicy, these may be tied loosely in small bundles, and strung on lines stretched across the drying-room.

        FLOWERS must be dried carefully and rapidly, so as to preserve their color. They should be spread loosely on the hurdles, and turned several times by stirring. When flowers or leaves owe their virtues to volatile oils, greater care is necessary.

        A carefully pressed specimen of the stem, leaf, and flower of each medicinal substance collected, whether it be bark, root, or

Page 8

herb, should be obtained and forwarded with each collection, for the purpose of aiding in its identification. From "General Directions" and List of Plants--a pamphlet issued from Surgeon-General's Office, 1862. Consult, also, U. S. Dispensatory.

        The two following papers, contributed by the writer to a periodical during the present war, are introduced before entering upon the systematic portion of the work, because they contain information, in a condensed shape, which may be practically useful:

BRIEF NOTICE OF EASILY PROCURABLE MEDICINAL PLANTS, TO BE
COLLECTED BY SOLDIERS WHILE IN SERVICE IN ANY
PART OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES.

        My attention having been occupied with the subject of the substitutes for imported Medicines, I have thought that if some hints were given the Surgeons and Assistant Surgeons in the field, with respect to the useful properties of a few articles (easily attainable in every part of the country), it would greatly lessen the use of the more expensive medicines. One man detailed from each company, or from a regiment, could obtain a full supply of each substance fresh, for the use of the Surgeon, and this at less trouble and expense than if it was procured by the Medical Purveyors, to be distributed to the regiments. I will mention some of these substances. They are familiar to all, but still, without special recommendation, they are likely to escape attention:

        Sassafras (Laurus).--Whilst engaged in active duties as Surgeon to the Holcombe Legion, whenever a soldier suffered from measles, pneumonia, bronchitis, or cold, his companion or nurse was directed to procure the roots and leaves of Sassafras, and a tea made with this supplied that of Flax Seed or Gum Arabic. Each leaf of Sassafras contains a great amount of mucilage.

        Bené (Sesamum).--The planters and farmers throughout the Confederate States should save and cure all the leaves of the

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Bené now growing, to be used in camp dysentery, in colds, coughs, etc., among our soldiers, in place of Gum Arabic or Flax Seed. One or two leaves in a tumbler of water imparts their mucilaginous properties.

        Dogwood (Cornus Florida).--Since the war, the bark has been employed with great advantage in place of quinine in fevers--by physicians in Sumter district, S. C., and elsewhere--particularly in cases of low forms of fever, and in dysentery, on the river courses, of a typhoid character. It is given as a substitute for Peruvian barks. In fact, in almost any case where the Cinchona bark was used.

        Thoroughwort, Bone-set (Eupatorium perfoliatum).--Thoroughwort, drank hot during the cold stage of fever, and cold as a tonic and antiperiodic, is thought by many physicians to be even superior to the Dogwood, Willow, or Poplar, as a substitute for quinine. It is quite sufficient in the management of many of the malarial fevers that will prevail among our troops during the summer; and if it does not supply entirely the place of quinine, will certainly lessen the need for its use. These plants can be easily procured in every locality.

        Tulip Bearing Poplar (Liriodendron) and the Willow bark supply a remedy for the fevers met with in camp. Cold infusion given.

        Sweet Gum (Liquidambar Styraciflua).--The inner bark contains an astringent, gummy substance. If it is boiled in milk, or a tea made with water, its astringency is so great that it will easily check diarrhoea, and associated with the use of other remedies, dysentery also. The leaf of the gum when green I have also ascertained to be powerfully astringent, and to contain as large a proportion of tannin as that of any other tree. I believe that the Gum leaf and the leaf of the Myrtle and Blackberry can be used wherever an astringent is required; cold water takes it up. They can, I think, be also used for tanning leather, when green, in place of oak bark.

        Blackberry Root (Rubus).--Wherever it can be obtained, a

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decoction will check profuse diarrhoeas of any kind. The root of the Chinquapin (Castanea) is also astringent.

        Gentian.--Our native tonics are abundant. Several varieties of Gentian, Sabbatia, etc., may be added to those mentioned. The Pipsissewa, or Winter Green (Chimaphila), is both an aromatic tonic and a diuretic, and therefore selected in the convalescence from low fevers followed by dropsical symptoms. These, the numerous aromatic plants, etc., are not intended to take the place of mercury, or any other drug which can be obtained and is required. It is not intended that a blind or exclusive reliance should be placed in them--but they are recommended to supply a great and present need.

        Holly (Ilex Opaca).--The bark of the holly root chewed, or a tea made with it, yields an excellent bitter demulcent, very useful in coughs, colds, etc. The bitter principle is also tonic. The Holly contains bird-lime.

        Wild Jalap (Podophyllum Peltatum).--If this can be found it can be used as a laxative in place of rhubarb or jalap, or wherever a purgative is required. Every planter in the Confederate States can produce the opium, mustard, and flax seed that is required, either for the army or for home use.

        I think we stand most in need also of nitrate, chlorate, and bicarb. of potash, as we have no means of supplying these by vegetable substances. It has suggested itself to me that those in charge of our Nitre works might also produce other preparations of potash with very little additional trouble.

        Potash, pearlash, and soda are easily procurable from the ashes of certain plants. Our Salsola Kali, growing on the sea coast, is rich in soda. Consult index for references to more detailed information.

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SOUTHERN TREES ADAPTED TO THE PURPOSES OF THE MANUFACTURER
AND WOOD ENGRAVER.

        A short time since, in answer to an inquiry of a correspondent, I gave the names of several trees growing at the South as probably suited for the purposes of the wood engraver. To these I will now add those noticed by subsequent correspondents, and also call attention to two or three other trees with wood of great fineness and density of structure, which may be tested as substitutes for the wood heretofore imported from the North; and which are also likely to prove serviceable whenever a wood of hard, fine grain is required by the manufacturer.

        Iron Wood, Horn Beam (Ostrya Virginica, Ell. Sk.)--It has often been employed by turners, and wrought into mill-cogs, wheels, etc. The wood is tough and white, and will prove an important acquisition to those interested in machinery, or in the construction of implements, tools, etc.

        White Beech (Fagus Sylvatica). Diffused. This wood is very hard, is capable of receiving a high polish, and should be prized by cabinet makers and turners for manufacturing purposes.

        Sweet Birch, Cherry Birch, Mountain Mahogany (Betula Lenta, Linn.)--Grows in mountains of South Carolina, possesses a fine grain, and also susceptible of a beautiful polish. The Red Birch (Betula Nigra) grows in our swamps in the lower country. The Black Birch is said by Lindley to be exceedingly hard.

        White Oak (Quercus Alba).--One of the best of the Oaks, with the Live Oak, likely to be employed wherever great durability is desirable; these, with the Walnut and Maple, are well known.

        Dog Wood (Cornus Florida).--Much used on our plantations wherever a wood of firmness of texture is required.

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        Persimmon (Diospyros Virginiana).--A very hard wood--in the natural family of plants found under what is known as the Ebony tribe.

        The Holly (Ilex Opaca), the Apple, and Pear are very much esteemed by many; perhaps harder than any of those cited. These may be more particularly adapted to the purposes of the wood engraver.

        The Calico Bush, Ivy Bush (Kalmia Latifolia).--Grows in our middle districts. Wood hard and dense.

        Mountain Laurel Bay (Rhododendron Maximum).--Found in our mountains; said to resemble the Kalmia, and quoted by a writer as adapted to the purposes of the engraver.

        Iron Wood.--Another tree named from its supposed firmness (Bumelia Lycioides Ell. Sk.) I have collected it in Charleston, and forty miles from the ocean.

        Yellow Locust Tree, False Acacia (Robinia Pseudoaccacioe, L.)--In mountains and in lower districts. The grain is fine and compact; the wood, on account of its durability, is much used for treenails in ship building.

        Leather Wood (Dirca Palustris).--Grows in Georgia; is both hard and pliant.

        Arbor Vitoe (Thuja occidentalis).--Grows in mountains. Wood said by Michaux to be the most durable which our forests produce.

        The soft woods are: the Cedar, the Cypress, the Black Spruce, or Fir (Pinus nigra, Aiton); the Pinus strobus (growing in the mountains), and the Spruce tree of our low country swamps, which might well supply the place of our Northern pine. All these, with the Willow (Salix nigra), are used for the timbers and spars of boats. The last is both soft and durable. Mr. Elliott says, in his Sketch of the Botany of South Carolina, that the wood of the Red Mulberry (Morus rubra) is preferred in the building of boats to that of any other, except the Red Cedar.

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        The wood of the Black Gum (Nyssa aquatica), particularly the portion near the ground, is peculiarly white, spongy, and light. It has great elasticity, and a specific gravity almost low enough to adapt it, in the opinion of the writer, to be used as a substitute for the bark of the Cork tree.

        The Poplar is well known also for its qualities of softness and lightness. The Maple less so. The Pride of India is light and durable, and susceptible of polish, with a pretty grain under varnish, adapting it to purposes of the manufacturer. But these do not resist water when submerged, as do the softer woods first mentioned, viz: the Cypress, Cedar, or the Palmetto, which is characteristically soft, porous, and elastic.

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RESOURCES
OF THE
SOUTHERN FIELDS AND FORESTS,
MEDICAL, ECONOMICAL, AND AGRICULTURAL.

CLASS I. EXOGENS; OR, DICOTYLEDONOUS
FLOWERING PLANTS.

SUB-CLASS I. POLYPETALÆ.
NATURAL ORDERS.

RANUNCULACEÆ. (Crow-Foot Tribe.)

        The plants belonging to this order are generally acrid, caustic, and poisonous. It contains some species, however, which are innocuous. The caustic principle is volatile, and neither acid nor alkaline.

        Clematis crispa, Linn. Not of Ell. Sk., which is the C. cylindrica, T. and Gray. Grows in damp, rich soils, and in swamps in the low country of South Carolina, vicinity of Charleston. Dr. Bachman. Newbern, Croom. Fl. May.

        Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. ii, 311; U. S. Disp. 1244; Shec. Flora Carol. 418. This plant is substituted for the C. erecta, mentioned by Storck, and is employed in secondary syphilis, ulcers, porrigo, etc.; given internally,

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with the powdered leaves applied to the sore. It acts also as a diaphoretic and diuretic. Mérat says it possesses the properties of the C. vitalba, which is a dangerous vegetable caustic, used as a substitute for cantharides, and applied to rheumatic limbs, and in paralysis and gout. The decoction of the root is alterative and purgative; and is also said to be valuable in washing sores and ulcers, in order to change the mode of their vitality, and to make them cicatrize. Shecut remarks that "the Spanish or blistering flies are very fond of the Clematis crispa, and it would be well for medical gentlemen in the country to propagate the plant about their residences, in order to secure a constant succession of these valuable insects." See Potato, "Convolvulus." The American species are deserving of particular attention, and we would invite further investigation of them.

        Clematis viorna, L. Traveller's-joy. Grows in middle and upper districts. Elliott. Fl. July.

        Shec. Flora Carol. 489; Griffith's Med. Bot. 86; U. S. Disp. 1244. This, and the following, have also a caustic property, and are employed internally as diuretics and sudorifics in chronic rheumatism; and externally, in the treatment of eruptions, and as vesicants. Shecut says that a yellow dye may be extracted from both leaves and branches; the latter are sufficiently tough to make withs and fagots. The fibrous shoots may be converted into paper, and the wood is yellow, compact, and odoriferous, furnishing an excellent material for veneering.

        Clematis Virginiana, Linn. Virgin's bower. Grows in rich soils; vicinity of Charleston. Fl. July. Wood and Bache, U. S. Disp. 1244; Griffith, Med. Bot. 80. See C. viorna.

        Anemone nemorosa, L.

        Ranunculus phragmites.

        Wood Anemone. Mountains of South Carolina. Fl. April.

        Bull. Plantes Vén. de France; Linn. Veg. M. Med. 109; Fl. Scotica, 287; Chomel, Plantes Usuelles, ii, 376; Dict.

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des Sc. Méd. lxv, 194; Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. i, 292; U. S. Disp. 1228. It is said to be extremely acrid--even small doses producing a great disturbance of the stomach; employed as a rubefacient in fevers, gout, and rheumatism, and as a vesicatory in removing corns from the feet. It is reported to have proved a speedy cure for tinea capitis, and the flowers have been used in violent headaches; Linnæus says that the plant produces a discharge of urine, attended with dysentery, in cattle which feed on it. It contains a principle called anemonin.

        Most of the species of Anemone, says Wilson, Rural Cyc., are acrimonious and detersive. "An infusion of Anemone is said to remove woman's obstructions, and to increase her milk; the bulbous roots when chewed are said to strengthen the gums and preserve the teeth; a decoction of the roots is said to cleanse corrosive ulcers, and heal inflammation in the eyes; the flowers, boiled in oil, are said to have the property of thickening the hair, and Anemone ointment is said to be a good eye-salve, and a useful application to ulcers and external inflammations," all which I introduce for what it may be worth; no doubt the oil furnished by it imparts some property to the plant, and, like tannin in all the astringent plants, accounts for the slight medicinal effect which results from their use. An improved knowledge will, one day, determine the exact position in value of the whole vegetable kingdom, but for a while we must be contented with the publication of much that is vague and uncertain. The unexpected discoveries of Ipecacuanha, Cinchona, Veratrum viride, etc., warn us not to discard, upon a superficial examination, all those popularly considered as of trivial importance.

        Hepatica triloba, Chaix.

        Anemone hepatica, Linn.

        Liverwort. Grows in light soils, upper districts, and in Georgia. Collected by Mr. Ravenel at the Eutaw battle-ground, St. John's, Berkley; sent to me also from Abbeville district.

        U. S. Disp. 368; Raf. Med. Fl. i, 238; Lind. Nat. Syst.

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81. A tonic and astringent, supposed by some to possess deobstruent virtues. It has been used to a considerable extent in hæmoptysis and chronic cough; but Wood says it has fallen into neglect.

        Hydrastis Canadensis, W. Orange-root; yellow-root; turmeric; golden seal. Grows in rich soils, among the mountains of South Carolina. Fl. May.

        Lind. Nat. Syst. 6; Bart. M. Bot. ii, 21; Veg. Mat. Med. ii, 17; Raf. Med. Fl. i, 251; Griffith, Med. Bot. 82. It has a narcotic smell; used in this country as a tonic. The root was known to the Indians, from the brilliant yellow color which it yields. This appears to be permanent, and might be applied in the arts. Martin, in the Trans. Phil. Soc. 1783, in his Observations on the Dyes used by the Aborigines, states, from his own experience, that it was found serviceable in coloring silks, wool, and linen. With indigo, it yielded a rich green. Griffith mentions it as a powerful bitter tonic, much used in the West as a wash in chronic ophthalmia. In its fresh state, supposed to be narcotic. Tincture, decoction, or powder employed. Dose of powder, thirty to sixty grains.

        Caltha palustris, L. Var. parnassifolia, T. & G. Cedar Swamps, S. C., (Pursh); Chap. Flora. The flower buds are pickled for use as a substitute for capers.

        Ranunculus sceleratus, L. T. and Gray. Grows in bogs; abundant around Charleston. Newbern, Croom. Fl. May.

        Bull. Plantes Vén. de France, 143; Dém. Élém de Bot.; Lightfoot's Fl. Scotica, 295; U. S. Disp. 584; Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd, 620, and the Supplem. 1846, 620; Dioscorides, lib. vi, c. iv; Orfila, Toxicol. Gén. ii, 90; Big. Am. Med. Bot. iii, 65; Griffith, Med. Bot. 84.

        The juice possesses remarkable caustic powers, raising a blister if applied topically, and often in doses of two drops exciting fatal inflammation along the whole tract of the alimentary canal. Some, however, say that this property is

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not constant, as it is of a volatile nature, and is dissipated by heat. According to Mérat, the Bedouins use it as a rubefacient, and it is applied in sciatica, forming a substitute for cantharides. Annal. Univ. de Méd. 1843. It has been administered with success in asthma, icterus, dysuria, rheumatism, pneumonia, and fixed pains. When it acts as a vesicant, it has not the disadvantage of producing strangury. Bigelow says the volatile principle may be collected by distillation, and preserved in closely-stopped bottles. Tilebein relates that the distilled water is excessively acrid, and on cooling, deposits crystals, which are almost insoluble in any menstruum. Precipitates are caused by muriate of tin and acetate of lead. The boiled root may be eaten.

        Ranunculus repens, Linn.

        Nitidus, Ell. Sk.

        Grows in shady woods, and among the mountains of this state. Fl. Aug.

        U. S. Disp. 584. This has also a rubefacient and epispastic operation. Big. Am. Med. Bot. iii, 65. Very similar to the above in its mode of action.

        Delphinium consolida, L. Larkspur. Becoming naturalized. The plant has astringent properties, and its flowers yield a fine blue dye.

        Cimicifuga racemosa, Torrey.

        Aclæa racemosa, L. & Willd.

        Black snake-root; Cohosh; grows in the upper districts, and in Georgia. Fl. July.

        Linnæus, Veg. Mat. Med. 102 (see Actæa). The root is used in the debility of females attendant upon uterine disorder; and, in its action, is thought to have a special affinity for this organ. It has also a decided effect upon some nervous affections, especially chorea. See Journal Phil. Coll. Pharm. vi, 20, and Dr. Young's notice of it in the Am. Journal Med. Sc. v, 310. "We have administered this medicine in chorea with complete success, after the failure of purgatives and metallic tonics; and have also

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derived the happiest effects from it in cases of convulsions recurring periodically, and connected with uterine disorder." Wood, U. S. Disp. The powdered root is employed, a teaspoonful three times a day. It is a stimulating tonic, increasing the secretion of the skin, kidneys, and lungs. Mérat, in the Dict. de Mat. Méd., adds the authority of Dr. Kirkbride in support of the efficacy of this plant in chorea, who advises that a purgative be premised, when it may be given for several days, and then discontinued, to be resumed again; frictions should at the same time be made upon the surface with the tinct. See the Supplem. 1846, to the Dict. de. M. Méd. cit. sup. Dr. Hildreth has found this plant, in combination with iodine, very advantageous in the early stages of phthisis. Am. Journal Med. Sc. Oct. 1842. The decoction is the most useful form; one ounce of the bruised root is boiled in a pint of water, of which a half pint to one pint may be taken during the day. Dr. Physick also had known it to cure cases of chorea; and Mérat and de L., in the 1st vol. of op. cit. p. 67 (see Actæa), say that it partakes of the properties of A. brachipetala. According to Chapman, it produces free nausea, with abundant expectoration, succeeded by nervous trembling, vertigo, and a remarkable slowness of the pulse. Dr. Garden administered the tincture for phthisis. London Med. Journal, li, 245. Barton employed it as an astringent, which property it owes to the gallic acid it contains. He also gave it in putrid sore throat. In New Jersey, a decoction of the root is said to cure itch; and in North Carolina, it is given as a drench for cattle, in the disease called murrain. Shec. Flora Carol. 91; Carson's Illust. Med. Bot. i, p. 9, 1847. See Annal. in Am. Journal Pharm. vi, 20, 1843. According to Mr. Tilghman, it contains gum; starch; sugar; resin; wax; tannin; gallic acid; salts of potassa; lime; magnesia; iron, etc. The ethereal extract contains most of its virtues. See, also, Jones, in the Journal de Pharm. x, 670; and Journal Phil. Coll. Pharm. vi, 14; Griffith, Med. Bot. 92. He remarks that its greatest efficacy has been exhibited in rheumatism; the power of

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the root appearing to depend on the volatile oil and bitter resin, both of which are soluble in alcohol, and partially so in water.

        Zanthorrhiza apiifolia, L'Her. Yellow root. Upper, and mountainous districts. Fl. April.

        U. S. Disp. 745; Bart. Med. Bot. ii, 203; New York Med. Repos. 291; Lind. Nat. Syst. 6; Griffith, Med. Bot. 95; Elliott's Bot. Med. note i, 376; Stokes, Med. Bot. ii, 194.

        The bark possesses pure bitter tonic properties, closely analogous to those of colombo and quassia. Dr. P. C. Barton thinks it a more powerful bitter than the former of these. It was given by Dr. Woodhouse in doses of forty grains in dyspepsia; a decoction is also employed. The shrub contains a gum and resin, both of which are intensely bitter. Alcohol is the best menstruum. Its tinctorial powers were known to the Indians. It yields plentifully a coloring matter, a drab being imparted by it to wool, and a rich yellow to silk; without a mordant it does not affect cotton or linen; with Prussian blue it strikes a dull olive green color.

        Jeffersonia diphylla, Pers. Twin-leaf. Rich shady woods, Tennessee.

        The decoction of this plant is used by the vegetable practitioners and Indian doctors as a diuretic in dropsy, and as an external application to sores, ulcers, etc.

        Podophyllum peltatum, L. Wild jalap; May-apple; wild lemon; duck-weed. Diffused in rich swamp lands; grows in Abbeville and Sumter districts; collected in St. John's, Berkley; vicinity of Charleston, Bach.; Newbern. I saw it at Portsmouth, Virginia. Fl. March.

        Pe. Mat. Med. ii, 749; Bell's Pract. Dict.; Drayton's View S. C. 73; Royle, Mat. Med. 573; Frost's Elems. 137; Eb. Mat. Med. i, 205; Ed. and Vav. Mat. Méd. i, 514; U. S. Disp. 556; Big. Am. Med. Bot. ii, 34; Bart. Med. Bot.

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i, 9; Journal Phil. Coll. Pharm. iii, 873; Med. Record, iii, 332; Ball and Gar. Mat. Med. 193; Schoepf, M. M. 86; Mér. and de L. Dict. de Mat. Méd. v. 207; Chap. Mat. Med. and Therap. 209; Coxe, Am. Disp. 478; Lind. Nat. Syst. Bot.

        Bigelow says it is a sure and active cathartic: "We hardly know any native plant that answers better the common purposes of jalap, aloes, and rhubarb." The Shakers prepare an extract, which is much esteemed as a mild cathartic. By the experiments of Dr. Burgon, in the Am. Med. Recorder, it is useful in combination with calomel; ten grains of the latter with twenty of the podophyllum. In bilious affections it usually supersedes the necessity of an emetic previous to a cathartic; and by this means two desirable effects are produced by one agent. Big. Appendix, iii, 187; Griffith, Med. Bot. 116. It has been recommended in dropsy, from the abundant evacuations which it produces. According to Staples, it contains resin and starch; and Dr. Hodgson has given the name podophylline to the peculiar substance it contains. See Journal Phil. Coll. Pharm.; Carson's Illust. of Med. Botany, pt. i. An officinal extract is prepared, given in doses of 5-15 grains. The leaves are purgative, and sometimes produce nausea in irritable stomachs; the fruit is eatable. It was employed by the Cherokees as an anthelmintic; a few drops poured into the ear are said to restore the power of hearing. The plant has also been found to afford speedy relief in incontinence of urine. Dr. McBride made great use of it during his practice in St. John's, Berkley, S. C.; he said that it answers all the purposes of the officinal jalap, "producing copious liquid discharges, with no griping". The powdered root is applied as a dressing for ulcers; it is said to restrain excessive granulations, sprinkled over the surface. In a communication from Dr. Douglass, of Chester district, S. C., his correspondent, Mr. McKeown, considers the root too drastic as a purge; he adds that the powdered root, mixed with equal parts of resin, acts as a powerful caustic, and is used by farriers for escharotic purposes. We have employed

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this plant among negroes as a substitute for jalap and the ordinary cathartics, and find that it answers every purpose, being easily prepared by the person having charge of them. Thirty grains of the root in substance were given, or an infusion of one ounce in a pint of water, of which a wineglassful three times a day is the dose; employing the Liriodendron tulipifera as a substitute for quinine during the stage of intermission of all mild cases of intermittent fever. We would invite the particular attention of planters to the extensive use of these medicines upon their plantations. We have caused them to be used on one on which upward of a hundred negroes resided, and we found that during a period of seven months, including the warm months of summer, they were used in all cases, and apparently fulfilled every indication. No detailed statement of these could be obtained, as it was administered by one of their own number; but large quantities of them were required. The soft pulp contained within the rind of the fruit has a very peculiar musky taste, which is relished by many persons. The pulp is squeezed into a wineglass, and with the addition of a little old Madeira and sugar, it is said to be equal to the luscious golden granadilla of the tropics. Am. Farmer, vol. 14; Farmer's Encyc.

PAPAVERACEÆ. (The Poppy Tribe.)

        Narcotic properties generally prevail throughout this order. Seeds are universally oily--seldom narcotic. Europe is the principal seat of the papaveraceæ; but several species included under it are found in North America, beyond the tropic. Most of them are annuals, the perennials being chiefly natives of mountainous tracts.

        Papaver Somniferum. Opium Poppy. Thaër, in his Principles of Agriculture, in speaking of the cultivation of the poppy as an oil-bearing plant, says: "The color of the flower is unimportant. The seed is either white or black. Some persons think that the black-seeded variety is more

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productive, others give the preference to the white in this respect. The white seed is the more agreeable to the taste, as likewise the oil expressed from it. That variety of poppy is preferred whose heads or capsules when ripe assume a slightly bluish tinge. The structure of the capsules is of more consequence; for there is a variety in which the envelope of the capsule dehisces spontaneously when ripe, so that the seed is easily shed; and another, in which the seed remains enclosed within the capsules, which must be opened in order to extract it." "The poppy may become one of the most profitable crops, if we have the means of disposing of the seed, or if we knew how to extract the oil. By proper cultivation it may be made to produce from nine to ten bushels of seed per acre, and one bushel yields twenty-four pounds of good oil. This oil, especially the first portion, which is cold-pressed, and mixed in the mill with slices of apple, is doubtless the purest kind of oil for the table, and the most agreeable that is known. It is inferior to none, excepting the finest Nice or Lucca oil. It is preferable to the second-rate oil of those places, and the peculiar taste of olive oil may be imparted to it by the addition of a small quantity of that oil of superfine quality." Principles of Agriculture, 457.

        The oil of the poppy is bland, and not narcotic. "It is used both for food and light, and is considered a fifth more valuable than that of the colza. The cakes remaining after the expression of the oil are valuable for the fattening of swine; and the stalks for fuel. The ashes which remain after burning it are of the best kind of manure. If the seed be pressed in a mill used for the colza, or other oil, the greatest attention must be paid to cleaning it. The oil expressed in cold weather is much superior in quality to that obtained in warm weather, and the two must not be mixed." "Henry Colman's European Agriculture," vol. ii, 538, Boston, 1849. See his "Report on Flemish Agriculture, for method of growing the Poppy, Colza, Flax, Hemp, Hop, Mulberry, Beet, Olive, Grape," etc., also "Thaër's Treatise on Agriculture."

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        In Thornton's Family Herbal a very full and interesting account can be read of the cultivation of poppy in England, with the successful production of opium in considerable quantity. Forty pounds were made in one season by one person. Boys and girls were employed in incising the bulbs and gathering the gum. See Bené (Sesamum) for oils and their expression.

        A variety of the "common" or "opium poppy" (P. somniferum), indigenous to the warm and temperate parts of Europe and Asia, has been introduced, and a brief notice is contained in Patent Office Report, 1855, p. xxi: "It has proved itself susceptible of easy cultivation on very rich soils. It is well adapted to the climate of the Middle and Southern states. The flowers of the 'white poppy' (Papaver s. alba), the variety with which the experiment was made, may be either entirely white or red, or may be fringed with purple, rose, or lilac, variegated and edged with the same colors, but never occur blue or yellow, nor mixed with these colors, each petal being generally marked at the bottom with a black or purple spot. The seeds are black in the plants having purple flowers, and light-colored in those which are white; although the seeds of the latter, when of spontaneous growth, are sometimes black. The largest, heads which are employed for medical or domestic use, are obtained from the single flowered kind, not only for the purpose of extracting opium, but also on account of the bland, esculent oil that is expressed from the seeds, which are simply emulsive, and contain none of the narcotic principle. For the latter purpose, if no other, its culture in this country is worthy of attention. Certainly, it is an object worthy of public encouragement, as the annual amount of opium imported into the United States is valued at upward of $407,000." If this was true some years since, how much more essential to us is its production now (1862), when gum opium and morphine are so very difficult to obtain. Occupied in researches upon these subjects during the month of June, under the order of the Surgeon-General, I was enabled to collect, in a few

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days, more than an ounce of gum opium, apparently of very excellent quality, having all the smell and taste of opium (which I have administered to the sick), from specimens of the red poppy found growing in a garden near Stateburgh, S. C. I have little doubt that all we require could be gathered by ladies and children within the Confederate States, if only the slightest attention was paid to cultivating the plants in our gardens. It thrives well, and bears abundantly. It is not generally known that the gum which hardens after incising the capsules is then ready for use, and may be prescribed as gum opium, or laudanum and paregoric may be made from it, with alcohol or whisky.

        The poppy, it is said, produces better when planted in the fall.

        I quote the following from paper cited above:

        The successful cultivation of the plant, however, requires the provision of good soil, appropriate manure, and careful management. The strength of the juice, according to Dr. Butler, of British India, depends much upon the quantity of moisture of the climate. A deficiency even of dew prevents the proper flow of the peculiar, narcotic, milky juice which abounds in every part of the plant, while an excess, besides washing off this milk, causes additional mischief by separating the soluble from the insoluble parts of this drug. This not only deteriorates its quality, but increases the quantity of moisture, which must afterward be got rid of. The history of the poppy, as well as that of opium--its inspissated juice--are but imperfectly known. The oldest notices of this plant are found in the works of the early Greek physicians, in which mention is also made of the juice; but opium does not appear to have been so generally employed as in modern times, as the notices respecting it would have been numerous and clear. In the manufacture of opium in Persia or India, the juice is partially extracted, together with a considerable quantity of mucilage, by decoction. The liquor is strongly pressed out, suffered to settle, clarified with the whites of eggs, and evaporated to a due consistence--yielding a fifth of the weight of the

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heads of extract, which possesses the virtues of opium in a very inferior degree, and is often employed to adulterate the genuine opium. The heads of the poppies are gathered as they ripen; and, as this happens at different periods, there are usually three or four gatherings in a year. The milky juice of the poppy in its more perfect state, which is the case only in warm climates, is extracted by incisions made in the capsules, and simply evaporated into the consistence in which it is known to commerce under the name of opium.

        In Turkey, the plants during their growth are carefully watered, and manured if necessary; the watering being more profuse as the period of flowering approaches, and until the heads are half grown, when the operation is discontinued, and the collection of the opium commences. At sunset longitudinal incisions are made upon each half-ripe capsule, not sufficiently deep to penetrate the internal cavity. The night dews favor the exudation of the juice, which is collected in the morning by scraping it from the wounds with a small iron scoop, and depositing the whole in an earthen pot, where it is worked in the sunshine with a wooden spatula, until it acquires a considerable degree of thickness. It is then formed into cakes by the hands, and placed in earthen pans to be further exsiccated, when it is covered with the leaves of the poppy, tobacco, or some other plant.

        In obtaining gum opium, the capsules are cut longitudinally only through the skin, though some advise that it should be done from below upward. I find longitudinal incisions the most economical. This is generally done late in the afternoon, the hardened gum being scraped off early next morning. Boys or girls can easily attend to this. If the capsules are cut only on one side, the same operation may be repeated on the other side, and a fresh supply of opium obtained. A knife with three or four edges, cutting about the twelfth or fourteenth part of an inch, is sometimes used. If the incision is too deep the juice passes within the poppy head.

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        Prof. Alston, of Edinburgh, long ago, says Thornton, ascertained that opium of good quality could be obtained in Great Britain, "having all the color, consistence, taste, smell, faculties, phenomena," etc., of opium. It has been calculated by Mr. Ball that more than fifty pounds of opium may be collected from one statute acre. Mr. Jones, in 1794, in the county of Middlesex, England, presented twenty-five pounds of opium to the Society of Arts, made by himself, which was ascertained, by chemical examination, to be equal to the imported drug. The reader interested in the culture of the poppy, can find in Thornton's New Family Herbal, p. 516, a pretty full statement of the method of culture, the collection of the gum, etc., employed by Mr. Jones. In Love's report to the Society, he says: "Having a tap root, their size will, consequently, be proportioned to the depth of earth they are enabled to penetrate. Hence the necessity of land that will admit of deep ploughing. The fineness of the surface, too, is very essential. As the seed is small, and the plants on their first coming up so exceedingly tender, the bush harrow should always be used after those which are commonly employed." They should be so cultivated that the gatherer may not disturb the plants in collecting the juice. Mr. Jones is also in favor of autumnal sowing, planting in the month of September, by which means the plants attain sufficient size to endure the cold of winter; these were also found to produce more opium than those planted in March. The scarifications are described, Thornton's Herbal, 517, but any one can devise a knife for the purpose.

        Argemone Mexicana, Linn. D. C. Prodrom. Devil's fig; prickly poppy; Mexican poppy; thorn apple; yellow thistle. Charleston district, grows around buildings in rich spots; vicinity of Charleston; Newbern. Fl. July.

        Mér. and de L. Dict. Univ. de M. Méd. i, 395; Journal de Pharmacie xiv, 73; Bull. des. Sci. Méd. de Fér. viii, 210; De Cand. Essai, 116. The oil is said by some to be as active as that of the Croton tiglium; see the Supp. to Mer.

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and de L. 1846, 57. In Brazil, the leaves are employed as a cataplasm for driving off ulcers. The infusion is used in Mexico for its marked sudorific powers; the juice is found serviceable in chronic maladies of the skin. In Java, they employ it in inveterate cutaneous diseases, and as a caustic in chancres. Lind., in his Nat. Syst. Bot. 8, says that the seeds are narcotic, and are smoked with tobacco; Gardener's Mag. vi, 315. It is administered in the West Indies as a substitute for ipecacuanha, and the juice of the plant is considered by the native doctors of India as a valuable remedy in ophthalmia, either dropped in the eye or rubbed on the tarsus; it is also considered purgative and deobstruent. Ainslie, M. Med. Ind. 243; Prince Maximil. Travels, 214; Aublet, Hist. Guiane. Mérat, in the Supplem. 1846, says that, in Brazil, in the Isle of France, and in India, the oil is regarded as a purgative, not unlike castor oil, but more active--not, however, being attended with griping; thirty drops were found equivalent to one ounce of castor oil. They applied it in tinea capitis, and as an external application in headache occasioned by exposure to the rays of the sun. See Dr. Schort's examination of it. Dr. Muddie asserts that it induces anodyne effects; so much so, as to relieve, in an instant, the pains of colic. Med. Bot. Soc. London, 1830; Griffith's Med. Bot. 129. The plant abounds in a viscid, milky, acid juice, which, exposed to the air, becomes yellow, resembling gamboge. The flowers are said by De Candolle, Essai, 14, to be employed in Mexico as a hypnotic. A thorough examination of this plant might well repay the labor bestowed upon it. It is, apparently, native in South Florida. Chapman. "Its seeds are said to yield a narcotic substance as powerful as opium. A milky, glutinous juice flows from the whole plant; turns by exposure to the air into a fine bright yellow; and when reduced to the consistence of a firm gum, is not distinguishable from gamboge, and has, we believe, been brought into the market under the name of that drug. It has similar properties to gamboge, both as a medicine and as a pigment; and it has been administered in very small doses

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in cases of dropsy, jaundice, cutaneous eruption, and some other diseases." Wilson, Rural Cyc.

        I collected a large number of the seeds of this plant near Charleston, and experimented with the oil and tincture, but with no definite results. A long paper on the medical properties of the argemone can be found in the Charleston Medical Journal, among the extracts. I cannot, at present, cite the volume, but it was during the editorial management of Dr. Cain and myself. The tincture was particularly recommended for the relief of colic and pain.

        Sanguinaria Canadensis, Linn. Ell. Sk. Puccoon; blood-root. Diffused; vicinity of Charleston, Abbeville, Richland, and Fairfield districts; collected in St. John's. Fl. March.

        Drayton's View of S. C. 72; Bell's Pract. Dict. 404; Eberle, Mat. Med. 95; Lind. Nat. Syst. 8; U. S. Disp. 627; Royle, Mat. Med. 273; Pe. Mat. Med. and Therap. ii, 722; London Med. Chirurg. Trans. vol. i; Bart. M. Bot. i, 30; Ann. Lyceum Nat. Hist. New York, ii, 250; New York Med. and Phys. Journal, i, No. 2; Am. Journal Med. Sci. N. S. ii, 506; Journal Phil. Coll. Pharm. iii, 95; Ball and Gar. Mat. Med. 208; Big. Am. Med. Bot. i, 75; Schoepf, Mat. Med. 85; Barton's Collec. 28; Trans. Lond. Med. Soc. i, 179; Thacher's Disp. 331; Cutler, Mem. Am. Acad. i, 455; Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. vi, 208; Bull. des Sci. Méd. Fér. vi, 71; Edinb. Med. Journal, vii, 217; Shec. Flora Carol. 153; Carson's Illust. Med. Bot. i, 18, 1847. The root is narcotic, emetic, and purgative in large doses; stimulant, diaphoretic, expectorant, and tonic in small. Dr. Dana found a peculiar principle in it, called sanguinarina (Ann. Lyceum Nat. Hist. New York). According to the experiments of Dr. Donney, of Maryland, in his inaugural thesis, twenty-grain doses of the root induced nausea and vomiting, attended with heat of stomach, acceleration of pulse, and sometimes slight headache; the leaves are said to be endued with similar powers. "The seeds exert a marked influence on the nervous system, occasioning

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torpor, languor, disordered vision, and dilatation of pupil." Dr. Bard, of New York, confirms this in his Inaug. Diss. It is an acrid narcotic, producing vomiting, and given in all diseases of the mucous membranes; employed in catarrh, typhoid pneumonia, croup, hooping-cough, and in arresting the progress of phthisis, and also in inflammatory rheumatism and jaundice. It was known to Schoepf; and Mérat states that it was serviceable in gonorrhoea. Dr. Israel Allen, of New York, says it acts with all the good effects of digitalis, in affections of the lungs--the infusion being preferred in these, as the tincture does not afford the active principle sufficiently strong; he adds, also, that it powerfully promotes diaphoresis in inflammatory rheumatism. Bigelow mentions it as an acrid narcotic, in small doses lessening the frequency of the pulse, somewhat analogous in its operation to that of digitalis--this, however, being its secondary effect. In still smaller doses, it is a stimulating tonic. The powdered root, snuffed up the nose, is powerfully sternutatory; it is applied as an escharotic to fungous flesh; and several polypi, of the soft kind, were cured by it in the hands of Dr. Smith, of Hanover. Dr. Shanks, of Tennessee, also destroyed a gelatinous polypus with sanguinaria, after extraction had twice failed. Am. Journal Med. Sci. Oct. 1842. The decoction has also been used as a wash to ill-conditioned ulcers. Dr. McBride employed this plant to some extent, in his practice in St. John's, Berkley, S. C., in jaundice, in doses of two to six grains of the root. He did not trust to it exclusively, but found it most effectual in those cases characterized by torpor of the liver, attended with colic and yellowness of the skin. See his letter to Dr. Bigelow. He gave, too, with success, in hydrothorax, the tincture in doses of sixty drops, three times a day, increased until nausea followed its employment. Eberle, in his work on Diseases of Children, p. 97, says that the powdered root is an excellent escharotic in ulceration of the umbilicus. Griffith's Med. Bot. 127. It is observed by some that the seeds are more narcotic than the root,

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inducing symptoms resembling those produced by stramonium. The dose of powder as an emetic, x-xx grs.; as a stimulating expectorant, iii - v grs.; or an infusion of one-half ounce of the root to one pint of water--dose, a tablespoonful; of the tincture, it is one-half a drachm; a larger quantity acts as an emetic. The tincture is made by adding two ounces of the bruised root to one pint of alcohol. Macerate fourteen days. It is expectorant and alterative. Dr. Donney says the leaves are administered in veterinary practice in Maryland, to produce sweating, and to facilitate the shedding of hair in the spring. Dr. Griffith is convinced of its efficacy in this respect, and he has also given the fresh root mixed with the food, at intervals, to destroy bots in horses--one or two roots proving sufficient. In a communication from Dr. Branch, of Abbeville district, S. C., he informs me that he has for many years employed the decoction of the root in croup; he prefers it to any other single remedy; and, by persisting in it till emesis is produced, he is of the opinion that it prevents the formation of the diptheritic membrane. From his own experience, he considers it a specific in the early stages of the disease, preferring, for infants, the infusion to the tincture, as the difficulty of exciting vomiting frequently renders it necessary to give more of the alcohol than would be prudent. He finds it convenient, when called to a case of croup, to add to thirty grains of the powdered, or bruised root, a teacupful of boiling water, allowing it to steep for ten or fifteen minutes over the fire, when it may be given in teaspoonful doses, frequently repeated, until vomiting is induced; if the patient is relieved, continue it in doses short of the emetic point, every hour or two, increasing it in frequency and amount should the symptoms require it. Dr. B. is of the opinion that it owes its value to three qualities combined: an acrid, an emetic, and a deobstruent property--the latter acting on the glandular system. It possesses, also, the peculiar advantage of not producing bad effects by accumulation; a teacupful not debilitating any more than a smaller quantity, and neither

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inducing prostration, which, in the disease in question, is an important consideration. If the patient's skin is hot and dry, the addition of a few grains of ipecacuanha is advised. The experience of Dr. Branch corroborates that of others respecting the value of the tincture, in doses of ten to fifteen drops, given three or four times a day, as an expectorant in chronic cough. In emetic doses, it proves a useful promoter of expectoration in pneumonia. The decoction of the root, taken in small doses, may be used wherever a nauseant and expectorant is required, and will aid in preventing the advance of colds, croup, pneumonia, etc. The juice of the root was used by the Indians as a red pigment, and it has been applied to the arts. Dr. Donney says that the sulph. of alumina will partially fix the color in woollen stuffs, and the murio. sulph. of lead in cotton and linen. The stain, applied to the unbroken skin, is not indelible. Lawson, in his account of Carolina, says, that the Puccoon is Batschia canescens (Lithospermum canescens), growing in upper districts. See Pursh's Flora and Croom's Catalogue.

        The above was contained in my report on Med. Botany of S. C., published in 1849. Since that period, I have used the tinct. of sanguinaria largely during five years attendance upon the Marine Hospital, and in private practice. I employ no vegetable substance so constantly, as an addition to cough mixtures, and as an alterative and tonic, when I think the functions of the liver not sufficiently active. We must avoid adding too much of the tincture to any mixture, lest it convert it into a nauseant or emetic. Without being able to state precisely why, I can only say that it has proved a highly satisfactory agent in my hands as a tonic, alterative, and expectorant. Though paying some attention to medicinal plants, I use habitually very few of them, viz: the sanguinaria, hoarhound, blackberry root, and a few others. My endeavor is not so much to avoid a great multiplicity of agents, as to do no injury with any. The more full and accurate our knowledge, the more skilful is

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our application, whether the substances used be vegetable or mineral.

        Fumaria officinalis, Linn. Hook. Fl. Bo., Fumitory. Natural, says Elliott, on John's island, and at Mr. Middleton's on Ashley river.

        This plant received great attention in former times, and was almost universally employed. Pliny speaks of it, lib. 25, c. 13. According to Hoffman and Boerhaave, the juice taken in large doses is diuretic and laxative. Great confidence was placed in its virtues by Cullen. Mat. Med. ii, 77. In the Dém. Élém. de Bot., it is referred to as a diuretic and detersive aperient, employed as a purifier of the blood in scrofulous and cutaneous diseases. It was administered in amenorrhoea, loss of appetite, and hypochondriacal affections; Fl. Scotica, 379. Boerhaave frequently prescribed it in jaundice and bilious colics. Thornton, in his Fam. Herb. 628, asserts that he had experienced its value in cutaneous diseases. Its acrimonious property is volatile; hence, it should be given in whey. Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. iii, 310; Fl. Méd. iv, 153. "A marked bitter, which increases on being dried." A popular depurative remedy, which augments the action of the organs, and therefore useful in the diseases specified. Mérat says, it was very generally allowed to be a specific in elephantiasis, acting without any evacuation or appreciable effect. Barbier, M. Med. 381; U. S. Disp. 1254. An extract of the expressed juice, or a decoction, throws out upon its surface a copious saline efflorescence. "The plant indeed abounds in saline substances." Griffith, Med. Bot. 118. It is still employed in France; given in the form of decoction, extract, syrup, or expressed juice.

        In observing the enormous amount of potash said by Ure to exist in the ashes of this plant (fourth London edition, 1853), I can now well understand some of the statements made above, which I had published several years since in my report to the American Medical Association. It is

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another evidence of the light thrown upon any subject by facts gathered from different sources and by independent inquirers. See article "Potash." Wormwood, artemisia, tobacco, corn and rice stalks, etc., contain potash in large proportion. The two first mentioned in enormous amount relatively.

NYMPHÆACEÆ. (The Water Lily Tribe.)

        This order is generally considered antaphrodisiac, sedative, and narcotic. Their stems are bitter and astringent; they contain a considerable quantity of fecula, and, after repeated washings, are capable of being used for food.

        Nymphæa odorata, Ait. Kew. and Ph. Sweet-scented water-lily; pond-lily. Diffused in lower country of South Carolina; roots immersed. Newbern. Fl. April.

        U. S. Disp. 1280; Mat. Veg. Pract. 201; Thompson's Steam Pract. Big. Am. Med. Bot. 132; Cutler, Am. Trans. i, 456. "An antaphrodisiac." The root possesses a high degree of astringency, containing, according to Dr. Bigelow, tannin and gallic acid. It is a popular remedy in bowel complaints; and is used as an astringent in gleet, fluor albus, etc. It also forms an excellent demulcent poultice for ulcers. Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. iv, 643; Bull. des. Sci. Méd. iii, 74. Ainslie, in his Mat. Med. Ind. ii, 381, says that, in India, they prepare with it a refreshing liniment for the head. Thompson employed this plant in the steam practice, and Matson recommends it as a gargle in sore throats.

CEPHALOTACEÆ.

        We insert this order, the properties of which are unknown, merely to introduce the non-medicinal, but very remarkable plant, the

        Dionoea muscipula, Ellis, L. Venus fly-trap. Gen. C. C. Pinckney informed Mr. Elliott of the only locality of this

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interesting plant in this state, viz.: on the margin of the Santee river, between Lynch's ferry and the sea, particularly at Collins' and Bowman's bridges. Newbern. Fl. May. Its leaves possess great sensibility, and are prehensile: closing up and confining insects and any foreign body which comes in contact with it. See Curtis, in Bost. Journal Nat. Hist. i, p. 123, the article "Sarracenia" infra, and authors passim. "Miraculum naturæ! folia triloba, radicalia, ciliata, sensibilia, conduplicanda, insecta incarceranda. Ellis, Epist. ad Linnoeum. Croom's Cat.

MAGNOLIACEÆ. (The Magnolia Tribe.)

        This order is characterized by the possession of a bitter tonic taste, and fragrant flowers; the latter generally producing a decided action upon the nerves.

        Magnolia glauca, L. Bay; beaver tree; swamp-laurel. Diffused in damp pine lands. Charleston; Newbern. Fl. June.

        Big. Am. Med. Bot. ii, 67; Bart. i, 77; U. S. Disp. 442; Pe. Mat. Med. ii, 733; Royle, Mat. Med. 248; Ball and Gar. 189; Michaux, N. Am. Sylvia, ii, 8; Kalm's Travels, i, 205; Humphries, Med. Comment. xviii; Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. iv, 193; Marshall's Arbust. 83; Bart. Mat. Med. 46; Price, Inaug. Diss. Phil. 1812; Lind. Nat. Syst. 18; Am. Herbal, 200; Griffith, Med. Bot. 97. It is a stimulant, aromatic tonic, with considerable diaphoretic powers. The leaves, steeped in brandy, or a decoction of them, are valuable in pectoral affections, recent cold, etc. The tincture, made by macerating the fresh cones and seeds, or bark of root, in brandy, which best extracts its virtues, is much used as a popular remedy in rheumatism; and, according to Barton, in inflammatory gout. Lindley refers to it as a valuable tonic, but it is said to be destitute of tannin or gallic acid. The bark of the root, according to Griffith, was employed by Indians to fulfil a variety of indications; the warm decoction acts as a gentle laxative,

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and subsequently as a sudorific, whilst the cold decoction, powder of, or tincture, is tonic. These have proved very beneficial in the hands of regular practitioners in the treatment of remittents of a typhoid character. It is supposed by many residing in the lower portions of this state that this tree prevents the water of bogs and galls from generating malaria. It certainly seems that the water is much clearer in which the bay tree grows.*

        In that old work on Herbs, entitled the "English Physician," by Nicholas Culpepper, gentleman, "Student in Physic and Astrology," we have met with a great deal concerning the employment of herbs in medicine; but, from the absence of botanical terms, it is impossible to ascertain, in many cases, what species are intended. In order to show the surprisingly superstitious credence then attached to the influence of astrology, in determining the virtues of, and the times proper for gathering plants, and also the diversity of qualities attributed to them, we will extract a portion of what Culpepper says of the "Bay Tree." "Government and Virtues.--That it is a Tree of the Sun, and under the celestial Sign Leo, and resisteth Witchcraft very potently, as also all the Evils old Saturn can do to the Body of Man, and they are not a few; for it is the Speech of one, and I am mistaken if it were not Mezaldus, that neither Witch nor Devil, Thunder nor Lightning, will hurt a Man in the Place where a Bay Tree is. Galen said that the Leaves or Bark do dry and heal very much, and the Berries more than the Leaves; the Bark of the Root is less sharp and hot, but more bitter, and hath some Astriction withal, whereby it is effectual to break the Stone, and good to open Obstructions of the Liver, Spleen, and other inward Parts, which bring the Dropsy, Jaundice, etc. The Berries are very effectual against all poison of venomous Creatures, and the Sting of Wasps and Bees, as also against the Pestilence, and other infectious Diseases, and therefore put into sundry Treacles for the purpose. They, likewise, procure Women's Courses, and seven of them given to a Woman in Sore Travel of Child-birth do cause a speedy Delivery, and expel the after-birth, and therefore are not to be taken by such as have not gone their Time, lest they procure Abortion, or cause Labour too soon. They wonderfully help all cold and rheumatic Distillations from the Brain to the Eyes, Lungs, or other Parts, and being made into an Electuary with Honey, do help the Consumption, Old Coughs, Shortness of Breath, and thin Rheums, as also the Megrim. They mightily expel the Wind, and provoke Urines, help the Mother, and kill the Worms. The Leaves also work the like Effects; a Bath of the Decoction of the Leaves and Berries is singularly good for Women to sit in that are troubled with the Mother, or the Diseases thereof, or the stoppings of their Courses, or for the Diseases of the Bladder, Pains in the Bowels by Wind, and stopping of Urine; a Decoction, etc., settleth the Palate of the Mouth in its Place. The Oil made of the Berries is very comfortable. All Cold Griefs of the Joints, Nerves, Arteries, Stomach, Belly, or Womb, and helpeth Palsies, Convulsions, Cramps, Aches, Tremblings, and Numbness in any Part, Weariness also, and Pains that come by Sore Travelling. * * * * Pains in the Ears are also cured by dropping in some of the Oil, or by receiving into the Ears the Fume of the Decoction of the Berries through a Funnel. It takes away the Marks of Bruises; it helpeth also the Itch, Scabs, and Weals in the Skin," etc.


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        Magnolia grandiflora, L. Magnolia. This magnificent tree grows abundantly along the sea-coast, and in the streets of Charleston. Found sparingly in St. John's, Berkley, forty-five miles from the ocean; grows in Georgia also. Fl. May.

        Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. iv, 193; Pe. Mat. Med. and Therap. ii, 734; U. S. Disp. 444. The medicinal and chemical properties of these plants are supposed to be identical. See M. glauca. Mr. Proctor, in his analysis, Am. Journal Pharm. xiv, 95, and viii, 85, found in this species volatile oil, resin, and a crystallizable principle analogous to the liriodendrine of Prof. Emmet, obtained from the L. tulipifera growing in this state (vide L. tulip.) Mérat says that in Mexico the seeds are employed with success in paralysis. Loc. sit. sup.

        Magnolia acuminata, Linn. Mich. Cucumber tree. Mountainous districts; grows in Georgia also. Fl. July.

        U. S. Disp. 443; Mx. N. Am. Sylvia, ii, 12; Lind. Nat. Syst. 16. Lindley speaks particularly of the cones of this species being employed in the form of a spirituous tincture in rheumatic affections. Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. iv, 193; Griffith, Med. Bot. 98. Used as a prophylactic in autumnal fevers.

        The wood is soft, fine grained, and susceptible of a brilliant polish. It is sometimes sawed into boards, and used in the interior of wooden houses.

        The flowers of most magnolias exhale a strong aromatic fragrance; the bark of all possesses a combination of bitter and hotly aromatic properties, without astringency, and that of many acts as a powerful medicine, in a similar way to Peruvian bark and Winter's bark. Wilson's Rural Cyc.

        Magnolia umbrella, Lam.

        Magnolia tripetala, Linn, and Ell. Sk.

        Umbrella tree. Rare. Grows on the sea-coast in rich soils; Newbern. Fl. June.

        U. S. Disp. 443. It has a warm, aromatic odor, and is possessed of similar properties with the above. Mx. N.

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Am. Sylvia, ii, 19; Lind. Nat. Syst. 16. According to De Cand. and Mérat, Dict. de M. Méd. iv, 193, it acts so powerfully on the nerves as to induce sickness and headache.

        Magnolia macrophylla. Mx. and Ell. Sk. Grows on the mountains of South Carolina. It possesses the most magnificent foliage and flowers of any of our forest trees; the former are a foot or two in length; and the latter one foot in diameter. For its medicinal properties, see M. glauca. See, also, Griffith's Med. Bot. 98, and Ell. Sk. of Bot. of S. C.

        Illicium Floridanum and parviflorum. Anise seed tree. These plants have the smell of anise seed, and should be examined.

        Liriodendron tulipifera, L. Tulip tree; white wood; poplar. Grows in swamps; diffused. Collected in St. John's, Charleston district; Columbia; Newbern. Fl. June.

        Eberle, Mat. Med. ii, 308; U. S. Disp. 432; Rush, in Trans. Phil. Coll. Phy. 1798; Pe. Mat. Med. ii, 743; younger Michaux on Forest Trees of N. America; Clayton, Phil. Trans. 8; Carey's Am. Museum, 12; Barton's Collec. Form. Mat. Med. 14; Thacher's U. S. Disp.; Big. Am. Med. Bot. ii, 107; Barton, i, 92; Ball. Gar. Mat. Med. 190; Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. iv, 130; Annal. de Chimie, lxxx, 215; Lind. Nat. Syst. Bot.; Rogers' Inaug. Diss. 1802. This plant is tonic, diuretic, and diaphoretic, and is generally considered one of the most valuable of the substitutes for Peruvian bark. It has been employed as a warm sudorific in the treatment of chronic rheumatism and gout; and Bigelow thinks it valuable as a stomachic. It was administered by Dr. Young and himself, combined with laudanum, in hysteria, and the former says that in all the materia medica he does not know of a more certain, speedy, and effectual remedy for that disease. See his letter to Governor Clayton. "He has never known it to fail in a single case of worms." Am. Museum, xii; Griffith,

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Med. Bot. 98. Rafinesque says the seeds are laxative, and the leaves are used as an external application for headache; they are washed and applied to the forehead. Mérat states that it is useful in phthisis, and he also refers to its vermifuge properties; employed in relaxed states of the stomach (relâchemens) and in the advanced stages of dysentery; this is corroborated by Thacher, Anc. Journal de Méd. lxx, 530; J. C. Mayer, Mém. on L. tulipifera, in the Mém de l'Acad. de Berlin, 1796; Ruch. Mém. sur le tulipier, Tilloch's Magazine; Hildebrande, Essai sur un nouveau succédané du quinquina in Ann. de Chim. lxvi, 201; Carminati sur les propriétés médicinales de l'écorce de tulipier. Its analysis, etc., in the Mem. of Roy. Inst. Lombardy, iii, 4; in the Supplem. to Mér. Dict. 1846, 436. M. Bouchardat advises, as the most preferable mode of exhibiting it in fevers, the wine of the tulip, made with the bark in equal parts of alcohol, to which he adds of white wine seven or eight times the amount of the alcoholic infusion. Bull. de Thérap. xix, 246; S. Cubiere's Hist. Tulip. Paris, 1800; see Tract. of Bouchardat in Ann. de Thérap. 75, 1841. Dr. J. P. Emmet, in his Analysis in the Phil. Journal Pharm. iii, 5, announced the discovery of a new principle in it--the liriodendrine. This is solid, brittle, and inodorous at 40°, fusible at 180°, and volatile at 270°. It is soluble in alcohol, thought to be analogous to camphor, and to the principle found in the magnolia grandiflora, and to consist of a resin and a volatile oil; hence the alcoholic tincture is preferable. The powdered bark in syrup is given to children who are liable to convulsions from worms, to promote their expulsion, and to strengthen the tone of the digestive organs. The bark should be pulverized and bottled. We have employed a strong infusion of the bark and root of this plant as an anti-intermittent, among a number of negroes, and are much pleased with its efficacy. See the Podophyllum peltatum, in conjunction with which it was usually given. In Virginia, the decoction of the bark, with that of the Cornus Florida (dogwood) and the Prinos verticillatus, is given to horses affected with the bots. The

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poplar bark powdered is a valuable remedy as a tonic for horses. An infusion may be given to a horse, or the bark placed in his trough to be chewed. It gives tone to the digestive organs when they are "off their feed," in veterinary or jockey parlance. This tree I notice in unusual abundance along the line of railroad from Kingsville to Columbia, S. C.; also in Spartanburg district, S. C., on the banks of streams. Dose of bark xx-xxx grs. It is a stimulant tonic, slightly diaphoretic. The infusion or decoction is made in the proportion of an ounce to a pint of water; dose one or two fluid ounces. Dose of the saturated tincture a fluid drachm. The wood is durable when not exposed to the weather--it is smooth, fine grained, and flexible; employed for various mechanical purposes--for carving and ornamental work; for making carriage and door panels, chairs, cabinets, etc. Mx. Forest Trees of America.

ANONACEÆ. (The Papaw Tribe.)

        The plants of this order generally possess a powerful aromatic taste and smell in all the parts.

        Uvaria triloba, T. and Gray.

        Anona triloba, Linn.

        Asimina triloba, Ell. Sk.

        Papaw; custard apple. Grows in rich soils along streams. We have observed it in Fairfield and Spartanburg districts, S. C., and collected it in St. John's; Mr. Elliott says it is found at Beck's ferry, Savannah river. Fl. May.

        Dict. de Mat. Méd. par Mér. and de L. tom. i, 311. The rind of the fruit of the A. triloba of Linn. possesses a very active acid; pulp sometimes employed as a topical application in ulcers. Lind. Nat. Syst. Bot. 69. "Juice of unripe fruit is a powerful and efficient vermifuge; the powder of the seeds answers the same purpose; a principal constituent of the juice is fibrine--a product supposed peculiar to animal substances and to fungi." "The tree has, moreover, the property of rendering the toughest animal substances

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tender by causing a separation of the muscular fibre--its very vapor even does this; newly killed meat suspended over the leaves, and even old hogs and poultry, when fed on the leaves and fruit, become 'tender in a few hours!' " Lind. loc. cit. The sap (of Papaw tree, Carica papaya), which is extracted from the fruit by incision, is white and excessively viscous. In a specimen from the Isle of France, Vauquelin found a matter having the chemical properties of animal albumen, and lastly, fatty matter. Boussingault. This tree can be found in many parts of the state, and we would invite examination into these very curious properties. For an excellent description of the papaw, see Hooker in the Bot. Magazine, 898. At Pittsburgh, a spirituous liquor has been made from the fruit. Michaux notices that the cellular integument of the bark, and particularly that of the roots, exhales, in summer a nauseous odor so strong as to occasion sickness if respired in confined air. Am. Sylva.

UMBELLIFERÆ. (The Umbelliferous Tribe.)

        This order is nearly related to the Ranunculaceæ, and is generally found in cold countries, and on the mountains of tropical regions. The plants belonging to it are often poisonous, some virulently so; others are nutritive and wholesome; of the former, the hemlock is an example; of the latter, the celery and parsley.

        Hydrocotyle umbellata, L. Grows in bogs and wet marshes; collected in St. John's; vicinity of Charleston; Newbern. Fl. May.

        Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. tom. iii, 560. Employed with great efficacy in Brazil against hypochondriacism. According to one author, the root is so valuable in diseases of the kidney as not to be replaced by any other medicines. It is emetic, diuretic, and vulnerary. We see no mention of it in the English or American works.

        Sanicula Marylandica, L. Sanicle. Diffused; grows in shady spots; collected in St. John's; vicinity of Charleston; Newbern. Fl. July.

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        Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. vi, 201. The Indians used it as we do sarsaparilla in syphilis, and also in diseases of the lungs.

        Eryngium aquaticum, L. (E. Yuccoefolium of Mx.) Button snakeroot. Damp pine lands; diffused; collected in St. John's; Charleston. Fl. July.

        Coxe, Am. Disp. 268; Ell. Bot. i, 343; Barton's Collec. i, 3; Frost's Elems. 280; U. S. Disp. 318; Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. iii, 145; Shec. Flora Carol. art. Button snakeroot, 310, 545. The decoction is diaphoretic, expectorant, and sometimes emetic. Elliott says it is preferred by some physicians to the seneka snakeroot. Barton, in his Collections, states that it is allied to the contrayerva of the shops. This plant is possessed of undoubted diuretic powers, and in combination with the Iris versicolor (blue flag), was much employed by Dr. McBride, of South Carolina, in dropsy. (See I, versic.) Great use is frequently made of them in popular practice. Shec. in his Flora Carol. 310, states that the decoction and tincture are given with benefit in pleurisies, colds, and most of the inflammatory diseases of the mucous passages. It is also said to act as an escharotic--keeping down fungus flesh, and preventing mortification. The root, when chewed, sensibly excites a flow of saliva. The E. aromaticum, an aromatic species, grows in East and South Florida. Baldwin in Chapman's Flora. The E. maratimum, of England, penetrates the soil to the depth of twenty feet.

        Eryngium foetidum, L. Fever weed. Elliott is doubtful whether this plant comes within the limits prescribed to us; it has, however, been noticed by writers as a S. C. species, and Michaux found it in Florida. T. and Gray are of the opinion that it is not a native of the United States. Vicinity of Charleston, Bachman; Shec. Flora. Carol. 54. "An admirable febrifuge." Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. iii, 145; Aublet, i, 284. Rotboll says it is a sedative, alterative, and febrifuge. Sprengel, Hist. de la Méd. v,

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467; Lind. Species, Pl. 336. Not included in Chapman's Flora.

        Aconitum uncinatum, L. Aconite, monks-hood, wolfsbane. Shady banks of streams among the mountains of Confederate States, and northward.

        Most of the aconites, particularly those with blue flowers, are highly poisonous. This species should be carefully experimented with, as it may be made to supply the tincture of aconite and aconita for medicinal and chemical purposes. The active principle is "the most virulent poison known, not excepting prussic acid, as prepared by Moison, of London. 1-50 of a grain has endangered life." Wilson's Rural Encyc. See also works on Materia Medica. "The 1-100 part of a grain has produced a feeling of numbness, weight, and constriction, which has lasted a whole day." The tincture of aconite is more manageable, and is useful as an external anæsthetic in frontal neuralgia, local pains, etc. No remedy, save chloroform, equals it when applied locally for the relief of pain. The tincture may be combined with oil and chloroform, as a liniment in rheumatism.

        Cicuta maculata, L. Walt. Fl., Carolina. Am. hemlock; snake-weed; beaver poison. Grows in bogs and inundated land; collected in St. John's; Charleston; Newbern. Fl. Aug.

        U. S. Disp. 1242; Barton's Collec. 1846; Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. ii, 282; Big. Am. Med. Bot. i, 125; Schoepf, M. Med. 36; Stockbridge, N. England Journal, iii, 334; Mitchell, Ely, and Muhlenburg, Med. Repos. xvii, 303; Stearns, Am. Herbal, 172. The leaves, flowers, and seeds are resolvent, powerfully narcotic, sedative, and anodyne. It resembles conium in its effects, and is used as a substitute for it. "It relieves pain from cancer more powerfully than opium;" employed in ill-conditioned ulcers, gleets, painful uterine discharges, venereal ulcers, epilepsies, and convulsions; it promotes perspiration and urine,

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and, externally applied, discusses hard tumours. It is closely analogous to the European species, the C. virosa; Bigelow says identical with it. The dose of the leaves in powder is one to two grains three times a day, in infusion, or one grain of the extract, increasing it as the system becomes tolerant. This plant has repeatedly occasioned the death of those mistaking it for others. An active emetic, to which an infusion of galls may be added; will generally give relief. The vegetable acids, lemon juice, and vinegar, neutralize its effects; and strong tea and coffee are the best antidotes for the stupor which follows its employment.

        Apium graveolens. Celery. Ex. cult. Milne, Ind. Bot. 420. The fresh roots, observes Dr. Lewis, when produced in their native water soil, are supposed to partake of the ill quality of those of the hemlock kind, and to be particularly hurtful to epileptic and pregnant women. So that we have here a striking evidence of the excellence of the Nat. Syst., as it may be remembered that, in describing the characteristics of this order, this plant was alluded to as forming an exception.

        Apium petroselinum. Parsley. Ex. cult. Leaves aromatic and slightly diuretic. See authors.

        Discopleura capillacea, D. C. and T. and Gray.

        Ammi majus of Walter.

        Bishop's weed. Grows in damp soils. Fl. July. Shec. Flora Carol. 136.

        Sium nodiflorum, Walt. and Ell. Sk.

        Helosciadium of Koch.

        "Probably introduced; abundant around Charleston." Ell.

        Thornton's Fam. Herbal, 297; Ray's Cat. Plantarum, 213; Dict. de M. Méd. It is recommended in cutaneous eruptions. Withering relates the case of a young lady, who was cured of a very obstinate attack by taking three large spoonfuls of the juice twice a day; "and I have repeatedly seen," says Thornton, "two ounces administered every

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morning, with the greatest advantage." It is not nauseous, and children take it readily, mixed with milk. When it is prepared in this way it is not disagreeable, and does not affect the head, stomach, or bowels. U. S. Disp. 1296. The juice has also been employed in scrofulous swellings of the lymphatic glands, and is considered diuretic. Mér. and de L. Dict. 369; Bull. des Sc. M. de Férus. xviii, 420 and xx, 421.

        Foeniculum officinale. Fennel. Introduced from Europe; cultivated.

        Seeds of fennel are well known; employed in flatulent colic for their carminative and stimulant properties. The oil of fennel is also used for the same purpose, and to correct the taste of medicine. See authors.

        Angelica lucida, Ell. Sk.

        Archangelica of some.

        Angelica. We have collected it in Fairfield district; also in upper St. John's, Charleston district. Fl. July.

        Pe. Mat. Med. and Therap. ii, 469; Ed. and Vav. Mat. Méd. 276; Le. M. Med. i, 85; Woodv. Med. Bot. 86; U. S. Disp. 98; Journal de Pharm. 3e sér. 2; Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. i, 296; Shec. Flora Carol. 167. The root is edible, and possesses more aroma than any of our indigenous plants. It is used in spasmodic vomiting, flatulent colics, and nervous headaches; some say it is powerfully emmenagogue. The vittæ of some species are filled with a pungent oil. A candy is sometimes prepared with the roots boiled in sugar. The great fragrance of this root has caused it to be used for many purposes by the confectioner and others; the tender stalks also are candied. The seeds are cordial, tonic, and carminative; and the plant was in repute at one time as a preventive of pestilence to those who bore it about them. "The pulverized root, in doses of a drachm, is said to be very useful in pestilential fevers and diseases of the liver; and a paste of its root and vinegar used to be carried and smelled at by physicians during the prevalence of epidemics, as a preventive of infection."

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Wilson's Rural Cyc. "Angelica" is stated in some tables to yield more potash even than wormwood or fumitory. See "Chenopodium" and "Fumaria" in this volume.

        Anethum foeniculum, L. Dill. Introd. cult. in South Carolina.

        It is employed in flatulent colic as a carminative and antispasmodic. The oil has been given in hiccough. Milne, in his Ind. Bot. 404, says: "The herb, boiled in broth, has been used with great success in preventing obesity." See authors.

        Daucus carota, Tourn. Carrot. Completely naturalized, says Elliott, in South Carolina and Georgia. Collected in St. John's; Charleston. Fl. April.

        Woodv. Med. Bot.; Royle, Mat. Med. 401. Root and seeds stimulant, carminative, and eminently diuretic; employed with great success in strangury, anasarcous swellings of lower extremities, in suppression of urine, and painful micturition. Eberle on Diseases of Children, 110; Am. Herbal, 92; Frost's Elems. Mat. Med. 298. Dr. Chapman used a strong infusion in gravel. Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. 299; Flora Méd. ii, 99; see Chemical Anal. by Bouillon Lagrange, in the Journal de Pharm. i, 529. Britanet and himself wrote a book on the plant (which may be seen in the New York Hosp. Lib.) Root contains some volatile oil, a large proportion of pectin, a peculiar coloring principle called carotin, and sugar. Griffith, Med. Bot. 337. The authors alluded to above contend that the plant acts as a sedative, even topically applied. In the form of a poultice, it calms pain, is antiseptic, and corrects the intolerable fetor arising from internal diseases--as of the ear, for example. Dr. Geo. Wilkes, ophthalmic surgeon, New York, informs me that he finds it invaluable in this respect. Mém. de Muséum, iv, 102; Suppl. to Mér. and de L. 1846; Vauquelin upon the Pectic Acid in the Root of the Carrot, Journal de Pharm. xv, 340. The essential oil is regarded as emmenagogue and antihysteric.

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Ancien Journal de Méd. xxiv, 68. In Germany, it is considered vermifuge. Crantz, Mat. Med. i, 23. Shecut, in his Flora Carol., alludes to its employment in gravel, and in expelling a species of tape worm. A syrup similar to treacle has been obtained from it, and by distillation, a liquor nearly equal in flavor to brandy. Much use is made of this plant in popular practice as a diuretic.

        Daucus pusillus, Mx. Wild carrot. Grows on the Savannah river; collected in St. John's; Charleston. Bach.

        Eberle, Mat. Med. and Therap. ii, 318; Bell's Pract. Dict. 162. Seeds contain more volatile oil than the other species. It, however, possesses nearly the same properties. Used as a diuretic in calculous diseases, suppression of urine, etc.

ARALIACEÆ. (The Aralia Tribe.)

        Panax quinquefolium, L. Ginseng. Rich soils in the mountains of South Carolina. Fl. May.

        Am. Herbal, 157, by Stearns. In China they drink an infusion of the root instead of tea, and it is well known that they have recourse to it as a last resort in all diseases: Dr. James says, more especially in all cachectic and consumptive cases, and in those arising from debility of any kind. Dr. Healde also alludes to their great confidence in it as a restorative after great fatigue, as an antispasmodic in nervous affections, in coma, and as an aphrodisiac; one hundred and twenty grains of the sliced root are boiled in a quart of water, and two ounces of the decoction, or twenty grains of the root in substance is employed. Jartoux, in the Phil. Trans. xxviii, 239, states that, after being fatigued by travelling three days, he employed the decoction of the leaves internally, and as an application to the feet, and was satisfied of its utility, being completely revived by it. Dr. Wood, in the U. S. Disp. 530, says, it is very little more than a demulcent; but Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot. 25, thinks that there is no reasonable doubt of the ginseng having an invigorating and stimulant power, when

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fresh. Big. Am. Med. Bot. ii, 82; Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. iii, 356, and iv, 176; Flor. Méd. iv, 185; Kaempher, Amoen. Academicæ, v, 218; Histoire du Japon, vi, 218; Burmann, Flora Ind. tab. 29, i; L'Encyclop. Chînoise, lxcii; Flora Cochine, 806; Lafitteau, Descrip. du Ginseng, Paris, 1718, i, 12. Dr. Sarrazin introduced it into notice in Europe. Trans. Roy. Acad. Sci., Bartram Com. 61, 1741; J. P. Bregnius, Diss. Med. de Radice Ginseng, 1700; Coxe, Am. Disp. 434. Cullen, in his Mat. Med. 270, refers to its efficacy in increasing virility. See Mérat, loc. cit. "J'avoue qu'un individu qui en avait fait usage dans cet dernière intention, pendant long temps, n'en obtint absolument aucun résultat." S. Vaillant in Acad. des Sci. 1718; Bourdelin, Hist. de l'Acad. 1797; Lafitteau, Mem. concernant la précieuse plante de Ginseng, Paris, 1788; Kalm. Travels, iii, 114; Osbeck's China, 145; Heberden, Med. Trans. iii, 34; Fothergill, Gent. Mag. xxiv, 209; loc. cit. sup. The root is thought to resemble liquorice, and may partially supply the place of that article: see report from Surgeon-General's office, 1862.

        Glycyrrhiza glabra; liquorice. Exotic. I am uncertain as to the position of this genus in the natural system. This plant is said to be well adapted to the southern states of the Confederacy. It has been grown in Texas. Information as to the best mode of planting and culture can be found in a paper in Patent Office Rep. 1854, p. 359. I append the following practical remarks: "The sooner liquorice is sold the heavier it weighs; and the greener it is the more virtue it contains. It is sold in three distinct forms, viz: in the roots, in powder, and in its inspissated juice. The first of these needs no explanation. The second is prepared by cutting the small roots into small pieces, drying them in an oven or kiln, and grinding them in a mill. The third kind is prepared by pounding the smaller roots and fragments with cold water for nearly two days; after which the pulp is to be squeezed, and the juice boiled down in an iron pot to a pitchy consistence, and then rolled

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or stamped into sticks or cakes, which are sometimes sold under the name of 'Spanish Liquorice.' Liquorice roots will keep a year if laid in sand, and stored in a cool, dry cellar; and if the sets, or runners, or buds, are cut ready for planting, tied in bundles, and sent by land carriage, they will keep a fortnight. If packed in sand, and sent by water, they will keep some three or four months, especially the more hardy buds." In the Patent Office Reports for 1854, '55, the cultivation of a number of medicinal plants is described, particularly those yielding aromatic oils.

        Aralia spinosa, L. Toothache bush; Angelica tree; Prickly ash. Collected in St. John's; rich soils along fences; Charleston. Plant often confounded with the Xanthoxylon; properties somewhat similar. See X. fraxineum. Ell. Bot. 373; Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. i, 379; Coxe, Am. Disp. 100; Shec. Flora Carol. 191; Frost's Elems. 20; Griffith, Med. Bot. 345. It is a stimulating and very certain diaphoretic, "probably to be preferred to any emetic yet discovered among our native plants." The infusion of bark of root is used in chronic rheumatism and cutaneous eruptions, also employed in lues venerea. Pursh states that a vinous or spirituous infusion of the berries is remarkable for its power in relieving rheumatic pains, and the tincture is also given in Virginia in violent colics. See Dr. Meara's experiments. Mérat says, it has been used to allay pain caused by carious teeth. Dose, of the saturated tincture, a tablespoonful three times a day. A decoction is often preferred in rheumatism, made by boiling an ounce of the bark in a quart of water: taken in divided doses several times a day. In South Carolina, this plant is the rattlesnake's master par excellence, according to the negroes; they rely on it almost exclusively as a remedy for the bite of serpents. I am informed that they use the bark of the fresh root in substance, taken internally, also applying it powdered to the wounded part. Dr. Meara advises that the watery infusion, when employed as a diaphoretic, should be made very weak, as it is apt to excite nausea, and cause irritation of the salivary glands.

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        Aralia racemosa, L. Spikenard. Grows, according to Dr. McBride, in the mountains of South Carolina.

        Ell. Bot. Med., note, i, 373. The decoction of the root is much esteemed by those residing in the mountainous districts as a remedy in rheumatism; no doubt possessed of stimulating properties. Michaux cites it as a sudorific. The root, when boiled, yields a gummy substance. A tea, syrup, or tincture, may be made of the roots or berries. It is given in coughs, asthma, and diseases of the lungs. Also given as a stimulant in menstrual obstructions; said to be in high repute among the Indians. See the "Indian Guide to Health." Dr. Sarazzin informs us that it is very useful as a cataplasm in inveterate ulcers; generally adapted to similar purposes with the A. nudicaulis. Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. i, 376; U. S. Disp.; Am. Journal Med. Sci. xix, 117.

        Aralia nudicaulis, Mx. Wild sarsaparilla; wild liquorice. Mountains of South Carolina. Fl. June.

        Raf. Med. Flora, i, 53; U. S. Disp. 116. A gently stimulating diaphoretic; thought to be alterative, and used in popular practice in rheumatism, syphilis, and cutaneous affections. Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. i, 375. Dr. Meara records the roots as possessing the virtues of sarsaparilla. Mus. Med. Philos. iv. An excitant, diaphoretic, and entrophic, like mezereon, guaiac, sarsaparilla, and sassafras. The infusion has been employed with success in zona, and as a tonic in debility of stomach (les relâchemens d'estomac). Coxe, U. S. Disp. 99; Lindley's Nat. Syst.; Griffith, Med. Bot. 344; Phil. Med. Mus. ii, 161. Administered in domestic practice, in pulmonary disease, where inflammation does not coexist.

BERBERACEÆ. (The Berberry Tribe.)

        Berberis vulgaris, Walt. Fl. Carol.

        Berberis Canadensis, Ph. and Ell.

        American Barberry. Grows wild in St. John's, Berkley, near Woodlawn, Pl.; upper districts of Georgia, Carolina, and northward. Fl. May.

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        Shec. Flora Carol. (see B. vulgaris), 268; Lind. Nat. Syst. Bot. 30; U. S. Disp. 1233, Appendix. The B. vulgaris of Europe, with which this plant is not identical, though differing from it but slightly, if at all, in medicinal properties, has received considerable attention. They are used as a domestic remedy in jaundice, and in dysentery and diarrhoea; it is supposed that the acid is specific. From analysis by Buchner and Herberger, it is shown that the root contains a new principle called berberine, which acts like rhubarb, and with equal promptness and activity. Griffith, Med. Bot. 113; Journal de Pharm. 1233; Trans. Phil. Soc. 1834; Analysis in Journal de Pharm. xxiv, 39; Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. Supplement, 1846, 101. From the berries a syrup is obtained which is adapted to putrid fevers, and those of a low type; a cooling drink is also made with them, and given in similar cases. The root boiled in lye imparts a yellow color to wool. It was said to have a singular effect upon wheat growing near it, turning the ears black for some distance around; but this, however, is doubted. We have observed the remarkable irritability of the stamens in the species growing in South Carolina, which, when touched, instantly spring down upon the stigma, and in this way communicate their pollen to it. The berries are acid. The English barberry (B. vulgaris) has attracted much attention; its fruit is edible, and much discussion has been excited whether or not it produces smut in wheat or corn when planted near it. Experiments touching this peculiarity should be performed with respect to our barberry. For a full statement of the merits of the above question, see Wilson's Rural Cyc. Art. Barberry. Thaër, in his "Principles of Agriculture," p. 409, says: "One very extraordinary fact is that the barberry bush will produce smut, or something very similar to it, in all corn growing within a considerable distance of it. This is a fact which has been confirmed by numerous observations and experiments in almost all countries. But it has never yet been clearly and satisfactorily ascertained in what manner the barberry produces this effect. My friend

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Einhoff has made several experiments on the possibility of communicating oecidium (a parasitical fungus) to cereals by cutting branches from the barberry, which were quite covered with it, and shaking them over the corn, or else planting them in the midst of it; but he never succeeded in thus producing the disease; therefore it would seem that it is not the communication of this dust, but the vegetation of the barberry in the vicinity of the cornfield, which engenders the disease. Nor will it attack crops planted near young and newly made barberry hedges; but as these latter grow up, the disease will appear until these hedges are rooted up. As soon as the barberry has been thoroughly extirpated, the evil disappears." Thaër considers mil or mel-dew a disease of the skin of plants. See this work for information on diseases affecting the cereals--on irrigation, etc. Translated by William Shaw and C. W. Johnson. New York, 1852. It is believed by some in this country that the pokeweed (Phytolacca), if allowed to die in a cotton field, will produce rust. This is quite unlikely.

SARRACENIACEÆ

        The species of this order are exclusively confined to the bogs of this country. Lindley thinks it should also comprehend the Dionæa, which grows in this state, and which also possesses the power of entrapping insects. See D. muscipula.

        Sarracenia flava, L., and variolaris, M. Fly-catchers; side-saddle flowers. Diffused; grow in bogs; Charleston; Newbern. Fl. June.

        See Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. vi, 226, where the Diss. of Dr. McBride, of South Carolina, in the 12th vol. Trans. Linnæan Soc., is referred to. We have read this description of one of our native botanists, and allude to it with pleasure. We are informed by several gentlemen of this state that these plants are used in dyspepsia with great service. The roots are undoubtedly possessed of bitter,

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tonic, and stomachic properties; and we are credibly assured of a number of cases in which relief has been experienced from them. The taste is disagreeable to those using them for the first time, but eventually it becomes pleasant, as we have ourselves experienced. An infusion might serve as a useful substitute for bitters.

        In an article on the medicinal and chemical properties of these plants, published by me in the January number (1849) of the Charleston Medical Journal, the attention of the profession is for the first time invited to their reputed value in the treatment of dyspepsia. Several cases are there detailed, illustrating the employment of the sarracenia. It is supposed by many to relieve most of the distressing symptoms of this affection, among which may be cited: gastralgia, pyrosis, acidity, and the general feeling of malaise, so frequently attendant upon it. In some it induces considerable diuresis, and in others soreness of the mouth. In experiments made upon my own person, to ascertain its physiological effects upon a healthy individual, it exhibited a tonic, stimulating influence upon the digestive organs, producing some cerebral disturbance, when persisted in. On one occasion 320 grains of the dried root, in the form of pills, were taken during the course of twelve hours. From the examination made for me by Prof. C. U. Shepard, it contains besides lignin, coloring matter, and traces of a resinous body, an acid, or an acid salt, and also an astringent property, due neither to tannic nor gallic acid, "and a salt of some alkaloid, related perhaps to cinchonia, which, should it prove new, may be called sarracenin." We ascertained the existence of starch in some quantity in the cold infusion and in the decoction, not discovered in the boiled alcoholic solution, which, however, contained some gluten. "In its exhibiting in moderate quantities no very decided nor violent effects upon the animal economy in disease consists its excellence. And its peculiar action on the stomach, we think, is the result of a happy combination of elements, which renders it appropriate to the relief of an affection like dyspepsia. Its acid prevents or

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corrects the undue formation of alkalies, or supplies its own deficiency, the existence of either condition having been assumed as explaining the true pathology of the disease. Its power of neutralizing or correcting acidity was obvious. Its bitter property, which is abundant, is tonic and restorative; its resinous portion may supply the proper cathartic stimulus, the too inordinate action of which is corrected by the astringent; and this being neither that of the tannic nor gallic acid found in other vegetable tonics, may be superior. Should dyspepsia be a gastric neuralgia, or consist, as Parry thinks, in a condition of hyperæmia; or as, according to Wilson Philip, a chronic gastritis, its relief may be accounted for, by a narcotic principle contained in the plant; the cerebral disturbance, one of its physiological effects upon our own person, giving some color to the suggestion." (See Art. cit. sup.) A bit of the fresh or dried root of either species may be chewed, and the juice swallowed, during the day before each meal; it may be given powdered in the form of pill, with a little rhubarb if necessary, or a tincture may be made by pouring a pint of brandy over several ounces of the root, of which half an ounce, diluted, may be taken three times a day. I have lately had cases reported to me, of its marked success in the relief of chronic diarrhoea and dysentery, and I am pleased to learn that it is now widely used in other portions of this state, and in Georgia, with very general approbation.

RHIZOPHORACEÆ. (Mangrove Tribe.)

        Rhizophora mangle, L. Mangrove. This plant is found in South Florida. Chapman. An introduced species is used in India for yielding a black dye.

ONAGRACEÆ. (The Evening Primrose Tribe.)

        OEnothera biennis, Linn. Scabish. Grows in dry pastures; diffused; collected in Charleston district; Newbern.

        Journal Phil. Coll. Pharm. iv, 202; Lind. Nat. Syst. Bot. 36; U. S. Disp. 1281; Dém. Élém. de Bot. ii, 444; Griffith,

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Med. Bot. 304. The root and herb have been employed in cutaneous diseases. Dr. Griffith has used it with success in tetter, applying the decoction to the affected part several times a day, and giving it internally at the same time. He has been successful with it in subsequent trials. The plant should be gathered about the flowering season. The young sprigs are mucilaginous, and can be eaten as salad. Lindley. The leaves of the OEnothera expand in the evening, and continue open all night. Pursh states that, even of a dark night, it can be seen at some distance, owing, he supposes, to some phosphoric property. Its roots have a nutty flavor, somewhat similar to those of rampion, and are used in Germany and some parts of France, stewed and raw, in salads, with mustard, oil, salt, and pepper, like common celery. The ancients thought the plant possessed the power of allaying intoxication and calming the most ferocious animals. It is doubtful whether this is the oenothera of the ancients. Wilson's Rural Cyc.

        Jussioea grandiflora, Mich. Grows in bogs; "common around Savannah, and in ponds four miles from Charleston." Dr. J. Bachman informs me that he has seen it in abundance around Charleston for the space of ten miles, from which locality I have specimens. Fl. July. Dr. S. A. Cartwright, of Natchez, asserts that this plant has the power of preventing the development of malaria in regions peculiarly adapted to its generation. He affirms that it "purifies all stagnant water in which it grows--that of the lakes and bayous inhabited by it being as pure to the sight, taste, and smell, as if it had just fallen from the clouds"--ascribing to the presence and peculiar "hygienic or health-preserving properties of this plant" the remarkable exemption of the inhabitants of lower Louisiana from "malarious or miasmatic diseases." "The fact," he adds, "that the region of country in which this aquatic plant abounds is exceedingly healthy, can be established beyond cavil or dispute; it nevertheless contains more stagnant water and swamps than any other inhabited district of the

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same extent in the United States." He is quoted in the notes appended by the American editor, to Watson's Pract. Physic, p. 465; and Dr. Wood, in his late work on the Practice of Physic, also makes use of these assertions as if they were established. Dr. C. must seek for the exemption of this section of country from these diseases in other causes, as this plant is abundant around the cities alluded to above, in situations where it is well known that fevers of malarious origin are continually prevailing. I have recently observed this plant growing profusely around Charleston Neck, where intermittent and remittent fevers are notoriously prevalent.

        The genus Jussiena has its roots distended into vegetable swimming bladders. The curious can examine the J. grandiflora to observe this peculiarity, like that in our beautiful Utricularia inflata.

        Typha and Nymphoea (water lily), and Sagittaria, "display myriads of air chambers in the solid stem." See Wilson, "Aquatic plants."

        Ludwigia alternifolia, L. Grows in Charleston district; Elliot says rare; seven miles from Beaufort, and at Savannah; collected in St. John's. Fl. Aug.

        Mérat, in the Dict. de M. Méd. iv, 154, says that in America a decoction of the root is employed as an unfailing emetic.

MELASTOMACEÆ.

        In this order, a slight degree of astringency is the prevailing characteristic; though a large one, it does not contain a single unwholesome species.

        Rhexia glabella, Mx. Deer grass; Sorrel. Grows in moist pine lands, vicinity of Charleston; collected in St. John's. Fl. July.

        The leaves of this plant have a sweetish, acid taste; and are eaten with impunity. Deer are said to be fond of them.

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MYRTACEÆ. (The Myrtle Tribe.)

        Punica granatum. Pomegranate. Cultivated with success in this state. The bark of the root is a well known astringent; employed in dysentery and diarrhoea; one scruple of the powder may be given at a dose, or a decoction may be used if this is too strong, as it acts on the nervous system. Carson, in his Illust. Med. Bot. i, 1847, states that it has also been employed with success against tænia. A correspondent of the "Mercury," 1862, says that the rind of the fruit yields a jet black fluid, which writes very smoothly and retains its jetty hue." "F. J. S."

HAMAMELACEÆ. (The Witch-Hazel Tribe.)

        This order, remarks Lindley, is found in the northern parts of North America, Japan, and China. In my examination of the various authorities on the subject before me, I have frequently been struck with the correspondence prevailing between the species found in this state and those of Japan, and this respects only the medical botany of the two; should the flora of each be compared, a still more universal relation might be established. Professor Agassiz has noticed something of the same kind existing between the fossil botany and the fauna of each.

        Hamamelis Virginica, L. Witch-hazel. Grows along pine land bays; collected in St. John's, Charleston district; vicinity of Charleston, Bach.

        Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. iii, 452; Coxe, Am. Disp. 310; U. S. Disp. 1258; Matson's Veg. Pract. 201; Griffith's Med. Bot. 350; Rafinesque, Med. Flor. i, 227. It is said to be sedative, astringent, tonic, and discutient. The bark was a remedy derived from the Indians, who applied it to painful tumors, using the decoction as a wash in inflammatory swellings, painful hemorrhoidal affections, and ophthalmias. A cataplasm, and a tea of the leaves, as an astringent, were employed in hæmatemesis. The steam practitioners also administer it in irritable hemorrhoids,

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and during the bearing-down pains attending child-birth. No analysis has been made, but as it probably contains sedative and astringent principles, attention is directed to it. The curious reader may consult, besides the paper in Hutton's "Mathematics," on the wonderful properties of the witch-hazel in detecting water, a recent one in Patent Office Report on Agriculture, p. 16, 1851. This is from Prairie du Chien, by Mr. Alfred Burnson, and contains some remarkable statements of the certainty of finding water by the divining rod. Some electrical and telluric influences are hinted at--Credat Judoeus! Persons living in the upper districts of South Carolina assume to use the rod with success.

CORNACEÆ. (The Dogwood Tribe.)

        Cornus Florida, L. Dogwood. Well known; diffused in rich shady lands; Newbern; Va.

        Drayton's View S. C. 63; Bell's Pract. Dict. 152; Barton's Collec. 12; Eberle, Mat. Med. 303; Chap. Therap. and Mat. Med. ii, 438; Ell. Bot. i, 208; Pe. Mat. Med. ii, 753; U. S. Disp. 277; Ed. and Vav. Mat. Méd. 197; Am. Journal Pharm. vii, 114; Royle, Mat. Med. 422; Ball. and Gar. 310; Mér. and de L. Dict de M. Méd. iv, 436; Big. Am. Med. Bot. ii, 73; Shec. Flora Carol. 449; Thacher's Disp. 203; Walker's Inaug. Diss. Phil. 1803; Lind. Nat. Syst. Bot. 49; Frost's Elems. Mat. Med. This well known plant possesses tonic and anti-intermittent properties, very nearly allied to those of cinchona; in periodic fevers, one of the most valuable of our indigenous plants. "Dr. Gregg states that, after employing it for twenty-three years in the treatment of intermittent fevers, he was satisfied that it was not inferior to Peruvian bark." Generally given in conjunction with laudanum. It also possesses antiseptic powers. In the recent state, it is less stimulating than the cinchona bark, but it affects the bowels more; the dried bark is the preferable form. The fresh bark will sometimes act as a cathartic. It is more stimulating than thoroughwort (Eupatorium), and, therefore, is less applicable

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during the hot stages of fever. According to Dr. Walker's examination, the bark contains extractive matter, gum, resin, tannin, and gallic acid; and Dr. Carpenter announces in it a new principle, cornine. Dr. S. Jackson also, from experiment, is satisfied that it contains a principle analogous to quinia. It has been exhibited by Dr. S. G. Morton in intermittent fever, with success. Griffith, in his Med. Bot. 347, mentions that the infusion of the flowers is useful as a substitute for chamomile tea; for analyses, see Am. Journ. Pharm. i, 114; and Phil. Journal Med. and Phys. Sci. xl. Dose of the dried bark in powder, is twenty to sixty grains; the decoction is made with one ounce of the root to one pint of water, or the extract may be employed; alcohol also extracts its virtues. The ripe fruit, infused in brandy, makes an agreeable and useful bitter, which may be a convenient substitute for the article prepared in the shops. Barton says, in his Collections, that the bark is valuable in a malignant disorder of horses called yellow water; from the gallic acid it contains a good writing ink may be made, and from the bark of the fibrous roots the Indians extracted a scarlet color. Lindley mentions that the young branches, stripped of their bark, and rubbed against the teeth, render them extremely white. It is often employed by the common people in South Carolina for this purpose.

        In our present need of astringent antiperiodics and tonics, the dogwood bark powdered will be found the best substitute for Peruvian. Internally and externally, it can be applied wherever the cinchona barks were found serviceable. The dogwood bark and root, in decoction, or in form of cold infusion, is believed by many to be the most efficient substitute for quinine, also in treating malarial fevers; certainly, it might be used in the cases occurring in camp, to prevent the waste of quinine, as it can be easily and abundantly procured.

        Dr. Richard Moore, of Sumter district, informs me that he not only finds it efficient in fevers, but particularly useful,

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with whisky or alcohol, in low forms of fevers, and dysentery occurring near our river swamps.

        During convalescence, where an astringent tonic is required, this plant supplies our need. See Eupatorium (boneset) and Lirodendron. These, with the blackberry and chinquapin as astringents, the gentians and pipsissewa as tonics and tonic diuretics, the sweet gum, sassafras, and bené for their mucilaginous and aromatic properties, and the wild jalap (podophyllum) as a cathartic, supply the surgeon in camp with easily procurable medicinal plants, which are sufficient for almost every purpose. Nitrate and bi-carbonate of potash are most required, and with calomel, may be procured from abroad. Our supply of opium can be easily procured by planting the poppy, and incising the capsules. Every planter could raise a full supply of opium, mustard, and flax seed. The wood of the dogwood, like the willow, is preferred in making gunpowder. See Salix. A tonic compound, as advised by the herbalists, is made with the bark of the root of dogwood, colombo (Frasera), poplar, each six ounces; bark of wild cherry, six ounces; leaves of thoroughwort, four ounces; cayenne pepper, four ounces--sifted and mixed. Dose, a teaspoonful, in warm or cold water, repeated. It is stated in the "Newbern Progress" "that a ripe dogwood berry taken three times a day, before meals, will cure ague and fever.

        My friend, Professor "F. A. P.," contributes the following to the Charleston Courier. The Dogwood bark, powdered, may be used in place of the Peruvian mentioned:

        Dutch Remedy for Fever and Ague.--As quinine is very scarce, it may not be unprofitable, both to our armies and to private families, to revive the memory of an ancient remedy, which was in almost universal use before the introduction of the former drug. It was known by the name which heads this article, and has been used from time immemorial among the Huguenot families of the Santee, among whom there is a tradition that it was brought to this country by the ancestor of one of the families, who was a

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physician. The remedy quoted below is copied from an old receipt book. Though not a professional man, I can vouch for its efficacy when it was in vogue.

        The Recipe.--Two ounces of Peruvian bark, two ounces of cream of tartar, sixty cloves.

        Manner of Using It.--These ingredients are to be rubbed together in a mortar. The mixture to be divided into twenty-four doses, four of which (mixed in water) are to be given the first day, four on the second, and two on every succeeding day, until the whole shall have been taken. It is probable that the disease will be arrested on the second or third day, but the object in taking the whole prescription is to complete the cure by its tonic property.

        The berries of the dogwood have also been highly recommended--given as a remedy for fever in place of quinine (1862). One or two given in the form of pill.

        The wood is compact, heavy, fine grained, and susceptible of a brilliant polish. It is used on our plantations wherever a hard wood is required, as in making wedges, the handles of light tools, mallets, plane stocks, harrow teeth, hames, horse collars, etc. Michaux states that the shoots, when three or four years old, are found proper for the light hoops of small portable casks. In the Middle states the cogs of mill wheels are made of dogwood. The branches of the tree are disposed nearly in the form of crosses. N. Am. sylva. Farmer's Encyc. I have used the dogwood for engraving. See "Amelanchier" in this volume.

        Cornus sericea, Ph. Red willow; swamp dogwood. Elliott says it grows in the mountains of South Carolina; sent to me from Abbeville district, by Mr. Reed. Fl. June.

        Griffith, Med. Bot. 349. It possesses properties quite similar to those of the C. florida, but it is more bitter and astringent. Mr. R. informs me that it is employed to a great extent in domestic practice in Abbeville. According to B. S. Barton, the bark was considered by the Indians a favorite combination with tobacco for smoking. The

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young shoots were used to make coarse baskets; and they extracted a scarlet dye from these and the roots.

        Cornus sanguinea, L. Grows, according to Elliott, in the valleys among the mountains. Fl. May.

        Dict. de Méd. de Férus. ii, 737; Mathiole, Comment. ii, 119; Journal de Chim. xxxviii, 174, and xl, 107. See, also, Journal de Pharm. for an account of the oil extracted from it. M. Murion says they afford one-third of their weight of a pure and limpid oil, used for the table and for burning. A case of hydrophobia was said to have been cured by it. Griffith, Med. Bot. 349. There also exists in this, as in the others, a red coloring principle, soluble in water alone.

        Cornus stricta. Grows in swamps near Charleston; Newbern. Shec. Flora Carol. 449.

LORANTHACEÆ.

        Bark usually astringent; berries contain a viscid matter; plants possess the power of rooting in the wood of others.

        Viscum verticillatum, L. The V. verticillatum of Ell. Sk. is not that of Linn T. and Gray; N. A. Flora. Mistletoe. Diffused; grown on oaks; Newbern. Fl. May.

        Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. vi, 860; Lind. Nat. Syst. Bot. 50; Le. Mat. Med. ii, 456; Journal de Méd. lxx, 529; Eberle, Dis. of Children, 522. Dr. Barham, in the Hortus Americanus, says that the fruit of the mistletoe cures epilepsies, pleurisies, coup de soleil, etc. Dém. Élém. de Bot. iii, 556; employed in paralysis. Thornton's Fam. Herb. 333. Fothergill, Dr. Wilson, and Gilbert Thompson use it "with great effect in epilepsy." So, also, Dr. Fraser, who published a work on it. Wade's Pl. Rariores, 82. Eberle, "Dis. of Children," alludes to its employment in infantile epilepsy. Some writers refer to the European species; but this is supposed to be identical with it. The

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seeds contain a viscid substance resembling bird-lime in appearance, which is insoluble both in water and in alcohol. In Dr. Hunter's edition of Evelyn's Sylvia, it is said to prevent the rot in sheep. Bird-lime was formerly made from the berries of the mistletoe of oak, which were first boiled in water, then pounded, and the water poured off in order to carry away the seeds and rind. For process, see "Holly" (Ilex opaca); also, Wilson's Rural Cyc.: "Bird-lime" and "Bird catching."

CUCURBITACEÆ. (The Gourd Tribe.)

        This order is closely allied to the Passifloraceæ, and is found in most abundance in hot countries. Most of them are valuable articles of food, but are pervaded by a bitter laxative quality, which in the colocynth gourd becomes an active purgative principle.

        Cucumis citrullus. Watermelon. The juice of the melon by boiling may be converted into a palatable syrup for table use, and one of the best substitutes for molasses. No doubt, like the ripe fig, beet, and other saccharine substances, it may easily be converted into vinegar, and should be added to the vinegar cask. The diuretic properties of the seeds of the watermelon are well known--almost the same may be said of the pumpkin, which is used as an article of food for man and beast in many of the Confederate States. The harder portions of both melon and pumpkin are used in making preserves by our Southern matrons.

        Cucumis pepo, W. Pumpkin. Cultivated very successfully in South Carolina.

        Shec. Flora Carol. 488. The seeds afford an essential oil, which might be made of some value; when triturated with water, they furnish a cooling and nutritive milk, and when boiled to a jelly, they are said by Bechstein to be a very efficacious remedy for retention of urine. The fruit is

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much used on the plantations in this state, as an article of food both for men and animals; pies and preserves of an agreeable flavor are made of it. See Stille's Mat. Med., and recent medical works for the singularly useful qualities of the seeds, as recently applied by Johnson and others, in medicine. The fruit which should have been dried as a winter provision for our army, has been converted into brandy, and dried fruit will probably be very scarce. An excellent substitute may be found in the pumpkin. Cut into slips and dried either in the sun or in a dry room, it is said to be little inferior to dried apples. The muskmelon (Cucumis melo) and cucumber (C. sativus) are also cultivated in South Carolina.

        Cucurbita lagenaria, L. Gourd; calabash. Grows in cornfields, and along fences; vicinity of Charleston; Richland. Gibbes. Collected in St. John's. Fl. May.

        Linn. Veg. Mat. Med. 180; Ed. and Vav. Mat. Méd. 563; Le. Mat. Med. i, 379; Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. ii, 492. An infusion has been found useful in inflammation of the urinary passages, and the seeds have been employed in rheumatism, strangury, and nephritis. Shec. Flora Carol. 479. "Water, which has lain for some time in the fruit of this plant, becomes violently emetic and cathartic." The shells of the dried fruit are sometimes so capacious as to contain four gallons of water; convenient receptacles, water-flasks, dippers, milk-pans, etc., are made of them. They must first be deprived of their acrid principle by boiling; moulds for buttons are fashioned out of them, and they are much used for these purposes by the negroes on the plantations. The watermelon (C. citrullus) grows luxuriantly in South Carolina. It is well known that the juice of the latter is diuretic, and the seeds, by trituration, or by being boiled in water, afford a demulcent and diuretic drink. The various species of squash are likewise cultivated here.

        Melothria pendula, L. Creeping cucumber. Grows in rich,

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shaded soils; collected in St. John's, Charleston district. Fl. June.

        Journal de Chim. Méd. iii, 498; Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. iv, 322; Griffith, Med. Bot. 311. The seeds act as a drastic purgative--a half a one is a dose for an adult. Martius states that three or four will act powerfully on a horse. Journal de Chim. loc. sit. sup.

CACTACEÆ. (The Indian Fig Tribe.)

        Fruit very similar in its properties to that of the currant tribe; often refreshing, sometimes mucilaginous and insipid.

        Opuntia vulgaris, Mill. T. and Gray.

        Cactus, opuntia of Ell. Sk. May.

        Grows in dry pastures; Newbern. Fl.

        Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. vi, 11. The fruit is said to be eatable; the leaves cut transversely are applied to tumors as a discutient; the decoction is mucilaginous, and I am informed that it is much used in Alabama as a demulcent drink in pneumonic and pleuritic inflammations. Its cultivation has been recommended on account of the cochineal insect, which is said to feed on it. Mr. Wm. Summer, of South Carolina, contributes the following to the list of our "expedients":

        TO MAKE HARD TALLOW CANDLES.--To one pound of tallow take five or six leaves of the prickly pear, (Cactus opuntia,) split them, and boil in the tallow, without water, for half an hour or more; strain and mould the candles. The wicks should have been previously dipped in spirits of turpentine and dried.

        If the tallow at first is boiled in water, and the water changed four or five times, it will be bleached and rendered free from impurities. Then prepare, by frying with prickly pears, to harden it.

        In this way we have made tallow candles nearly equal to the best adamantine, and, at the same time, have the consolation

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of knowing that we are independent of the extortioners, who are next of kin to the villainous abolitionist makers of stearine candles in the North.

        The prickly pear has been used (1862) for hardening tallow by the ladies of St. John's, S. C., with satisfactory results. One pound is added to four of tallow; a larger quantity makes the candles too brittle. It takes the place of wax.

        Cactus cochinilifer. Elliott says that it is probable that other species exist, but he does not include this in his Sketches of the Bot. of South Carolina. Shecut, however, in his Flora Carol. 319, remarks, that "we are indebted to Dr. Garden, of South Carolina, for the discovery of this tree here," well known as the one upon which the cochineal insect feeds. T. and Gray, however, do not include it in their N. A. Fl. The fruit tinges red the urine of those who eat it; and the leaves, rubbed up with hog's lard, are useful as a topical application to prevent mortification.

CRUCIFERÆ. (The Cruciferous Tribe.)

        Lindley states that the universal characteristic of this order is the possession of antiscorbutic and stimulant qualities, combined with an acrid flavor. The species contain a great deal of nitrogen, to which is attributed their animal odor when rotting.

        Lepidium Virginicum, L. Peppergrass; Virginian cress. Wet places. Common.

        It is suitable to be used in winter and early spring salads, but is far less in request than some of the other cresses. Sowings should be made in light, dry earth, the beds protected with dry litter during severe winter. Rural Cyc.

        Camelina sativa, Crantz. Gold of Pleasure. Referred to in Chapman's Botany of Southern states, p. 30, as introduced, growing in cultivated fields.

        Paper in P. O. Report on Agriculture, 1851, p. 51, on the

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"Camelina sativa--a new oil plant." In some parts of the world it is cultivated for its stems, which yield a fibre applicable for spinning, and for its oleiferous seeds. Mérat says cultivated for this purpose in Flanders.

        Mr. Wm. Taylor, F. L. S., has recently drawn the attention of agriculturists and others to this as an oil plant, adapted for feeding cattle, and for other purposes. He says that the soil best adapted for its cultivation are those of a light nature, but a crop will never fail on land of the most inferior description. It has been found to flourish this year on sandy soils, where no other vegetable would grow, and independent of the drought, the plants have grown most luxuriantly, yielding a large and certain crop. When grown upon land that has been long in tillage and well farmed, the crop will be most abundant. The best time for putting in the seed is as early as possible in the spring months, say from the middle of March or the middle of April to June, and for autumn sowing to August; and the quantity per acre required, fourteen pounds; and may be either drilled or broadcast, but the drilled method should be preferred. If drilled, the rows must be twelve inches apart. As soon as the plants have grown five or six inches high, a hand or horse hoe may be used to cut up the weeds between the rows, and no further culture or expense will be required. If sown early, two crops may be frequently obtained in one year, as it is fit for harvesting in three months after the plant makes its first appearance. Or another important advantage may be obtained: if seed is sown early in March, the crop will be ready to harvest in the beginning of July, and the land fallowed for wheat or spring corn; also when barley or small seeds cannot be sown sufficiently early, this may be put in with great success. It is a plant that may be cultivated after any corn crop, without doing the least injury to the land, and may be sown with all sorts of clover; the leaves of the gold of pleasure, being particularly small, afford an uninterrupted growth to every plant beneath it, and the crop being removed early, the clover has time to establish itself.

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        The grower of this invaluable production is in all seasons secure of his crop, inasmuch as it is not subject to damage by spring frosts, heavy rains, and drought, and, above all, the ravages of insects, more particularly the cabbage plant louse (aphis brassica), which so frequently destroys rape, turnips, and others belonging to the cruciferæ order, when coming into blossom. The seed is ripe as soon as the pods change from a green to a gold color. Care must then be taken to cut it off before it becomes too ripe, or much seed may be lost. When cut with a sickle, it is bound up in sheaves, and shocked in the same manner as wheat. The process of ripening completed, it is stacked or put in a barn, and threshed like other corn. The expense of these crops cannot be very great, either in the preparation and culture of the land or in the management in securing the produce afterward; but when grown with care and in good season, the produce will mostly be very abundant--as high as thirty-two bushels and upward to the acre.

        The cultivation of this plant for the seed would repay the farmer; an abundance of chaff would be produced, which would be of infinite service for horses or for manure. In a grazing country like England, where vast sums are annually expended for foreign oil cake, the gold of pleasure will soon be found an excellent substitute under manufacture, and consequently a grower would find a good remuneration in cultivating the seed. The plant may be considered a valuable production of the earth. A fine oil is produced for burning in lamps, in the manufacture of woollen goods, in the manufacture of soaps for lubricating machinery, and for painters. The oil cake has been found highly nutritious in the fattening of sheep and oxen, as it contains a great portion of mucilage and nitrogenous matter, which, combined together, are found very beneficial in developing fat and lean. From the experiments above related, it is abundantly proved that it does not suffer from the severest frosts, its foliage not being injured. It is not infested by insects, nor does it exhaust the soil.

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        The gold of pleasure has been cultivated by several practical agriculturists, who highly approve of the new plant. For all these reasons it is hoped that every farmer will avail himself of this valuable discovery as a remunerating rotation crop. Mr. Taylor adds that one acre cultivated with these plants yield thirty-two bushels of seed, from which five hundred and forty pounds of oil are obtained; so that the camelina seems to exceed the flax in its produce of seed, oil, and cake per acre. The seed is extremely rich in nutriment. I know of no seed superior to it for feeding cattle. The oil obtained by expression is sweet and excellent, especially for purposes of illumination. From the very small quantity of inorganic matter in the seed, it will be evident that the seed cake must be of a very nutritious character, being merely the seed deprived of a portion of its water and oily matter. We have examined some of the oil obtained from the seed of the camelina sativa, and which has been recently sent to several medical men by Mr. Taylor, under the belief that it possesses valuable medical properties. It is of a yellow color, and smells something like linseed oil. Finding it of service in relieving the incessant cough of a cat, Mr. Taylor has extended the use to the human subject, and states that it has cured several persons affected with diseased lungs and asthma.

        In a brief notice, P. O. Reports, 1850, is the following statement: "Camelina sativa (Miagrum sativum) an annual from France, produces a finer oil for burning than rape, having a brighter flame, less smoke, and scarcely any smell. It succeeds well in light, shallow, dry soils; and in our Middle and Southern states it would probably produce two crops in a season. Besides the use of the seeds for oil, the stems yield a coarse fibre for making sacks and a rough kind of packing paper, and the whole plant may be employed for thatching. The culture is similar to that for flax." See "Linum" in this volume.

        Capsella Bursa-pastoris, Moench and T. and G.

        Thalspi. Linn. and Ell. Sk.

        Grows in damp pastures; collected in St. John's; Newbern. Fl. May.

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        Ray's Cat. Plantarum, 47; Bergius, Mat. Med. ii, 389; Le. Mat. Med. i, 243: Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. vi, 732. It astringes and constipates; hence employed in dysentery, diarrhoea, and bloody urine; the juice placed on a piece of cotton, and inserted in the nostril, will arrest hemorrhage. "Externe vulneribus solidandis adhibieter nec sine successu." Fl. Scotica, 342; Linn. Veg. M. Med. 128.

        Sisymbrium nasturtium, L. and Ell. Sk.

        Erysimum of Bot.

        Cress. Nat. in the upper part of this state; vicinity of Charleston. Bach. Fl. March.

        Fl. Scotica, 351. The young leaves furnish an agreeable salad; the plant was esteemed useful as an antiscorbutic, and was employed in removing obstructions of the liver, viscera, jaundice, etc. Thornton's Fam. Herb. 618. The juice acts as a stimulant and diuretic. Haller says: "We have seen patients in a deep decline cured by living almost entirely on these plants." According to Tournefort, the juice, snuffed up the nose, cured cases of polypus of that organ. See Edinburgh New Disp., Flora Med. iii, 138; Pliny, lib. xix, chap. 8; xx, chap. 13. Hoffman and Cullen spoke highly of it as furnishing a mucilaginous application for the heads of infants affected with eruptions. It was acknowledged to have an effect upon maladies of the skin, engorgement of the abdominal viscera when the blood is depraved, in feeble digestion, etc. U. S. Disp. 1226. This plant is also vaunted in incipient phthisis, in chronic catarrhs, in maladies of the bladder and kidneys, and in hysterical affections. It contains a very bitter and odoriferous essential oil--the seeds yielding 55 per cent. of fixed oil. See de Cand. Phys. Veg. i, 298; Journal Gén. de Méd. xxviii, 136; Barbier, M. Méd. 242. Moreau asserts that vertigo and discoloration of the face are produced in those eating this plant; but this is an effect unnoticed by others.

        Sisymbrium officinale, Fide Gray.

        Erysimum officinale, Lin. and Ell. Sk.

        Hedge mustard. This is not included by Mr. Elliott in his Sketches of

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the Plants of South Carolina. It was one of the specimens sent to Professor Gray, and determined by him; collected in St. John's, Berkley; Charleston district. The herb is said to be diuretic and expectorant: the seeds possess considerable pungency, and have been recommended in chronic cough, hoarseness, and ulceration of the mouth and fauces; the juice of the plant in honey or the seeds in substance may be used.

        Sisymbrium amphibium, L. Water radish. Rare; roots immersed; collected on causeway near Brunswick; Pl. T. W. Peyre's, in St. John's; vicinity of Charleston.

        Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. vi, 365. Recommended for tænia by Didelot, and in the old works as an antiscorbutic. Mérat says the "young leaves are eatable in the spring; probably possessed of similar properties with the S. nasturtium."

        Nasturtium officinale, R. Br. Water cress. Introduced. Ditches Florida, and northward. Chap.

        This plant came into pretty high favor about a century ago as a spring salad; and it soon obtained preference to all other spring salads on account of its agreeable, warm, bitter taste, and for the sake of its purifying, antiscorbutic, and diuretic properties. It was greedily gathered in all its natural habitats within some miles of London for the supply of the London market, and eventually became an object of regular, peculiar, and somewhat extensive cultivation; see methods, etc., Wilson's Rural Cyclopædia.

        Sinapis nigra. Mustard. Cultivated in South Carolina. Therapeutic virtues well known.

        Mustard is a hardy annual, cultivated as a small salad for greens, and for the seed, which are extensively employed for medicinal purposes. The demand for the production of this plant, on account of the value of the seeds as a local irritant, should induce every planter and farmer to grow it. Enormous quantities are required to supply the armies;

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besides that, it is largely consumed in every household. The white mustard I have seen cultivated on our plantations, and, maturing early in June, is fully equal in strength to the imported article. At the present time (June, 1862) the seeds are sold for more than a dollar a pound. It is very easily ground or powdered, and used like English mustard.

        The common table mustard is prepared from the flour of the seed. For salad, it is sown thickly, and used like common cress. "Sow early in the spring in two feet drills, and thin to six inches. The crop must be gathered before it is fully ripe, on a cloudy day or early in the morning, to prevent the seed from shelling out."

        The "white" is usually prepared for salad, and the seeds are eaten whole as a remedy for impaired digestion. The leaves of this are light green, mild and tender when young; the seed light yellow. The "black" or "brown" is a larger plant, with much darker leaves. "Seeds brown, and more pungent."

        For the medical uses of these plants, any of the works on the materia medica will supply information under the head "Sinapis."

        Mustard seed oil, says Ure, in his Dict. Arts and Sciences, p. 285, concretes when cooled a little below 32° Fahrenheit. The white or yellow seed afford thirty-six per cent. of oil, and the black seed eighteen per cent.

        The reader interested in the culture of mustard can find some information in Wilson's Rural Cyc. He quotes from a prize essay by T. C. Burroughes in 7th volume Royal Ag. Soc. The field culture of both the white and black mustard is practised for the production of their seeds, with a view either to the expression of oil from them, similar to that of cole, and rape, and poppy, or to the obtaining of oil cake for the use of cattle, or to the grinding them into the well known condimental and medicinal flour of mustard, or to several other economical and pharmaceutical purposes. The crop is reaped, and tied in sheaves like wheat, and is afterward threshed out upon cloths in the

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field in the same manner as cole. White mustard is generally laid in handfuls on the shuttle, and not tied up. The black mustard is hardier than the white. The quantity of oil obtained from any given weight of black mustard seeds is greater than that obtained from the same weight of coles; but the oil cake is slightly purgative, and requires to be given to cattle with caution, and is commonly ground and sprinkled on their chaff. Wilson also states that the flour of mustard from the seeds of black mustard is much more pungent, and of much finer quality than that from the seeds of white mustard. It is still the kind most commonly used in France; but it requires to be manufactured by a nice mechanical process of removing the outer skins of the seeds, or else it has a grayish or very dark color; and, in fact, it is never so prepared as to be entirely freed from its grayishness. The flour of white mustard is generally used in Britain in consequence of its fine color, and the superior facility of manufacturing it. It is often mixed with the black. Rural Cyc. The method of depriving the black mustard seed of its envelope I have been unable to obtain. Warm water is always the best addition to mustard to elicit the volatile oil. Vinegar lessens its pungency. See Trousseau's Experiments. Mustard has been highly recommended as a substitute for the spring colza and other plants, to be used in the production of oil. "Both species," white and black, yield oil, Thaër says in his Principles of Agriculture, "which is well adapted for burning; and also, when well purified, for the use of the table. A quintal of mustard seed yields from thirty-six to thirty-eight pounds of oil. The biting acridity of the seed exists not in the oil, but in the integument; and the English mustard, which is celebrated for its strength, is said to be made from cakes from which the oil has been expressed." Among the plants mentioned by Thaër as valuable for the oil in their seeds, are the oily radish (Raphanus chinensis oleiferus), the sunflower, and the common poppy, Papaver somniferum; the oil from the white-seeded variety is preferable on account of its taste. See Thaër

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also, for descriptions of the cultivation of flax seed, hemp, hops, madder, beets, etc. Many plants, the seeds of which yield oil, are used in making oil cake for agricultural purposes, and as food for animals. The sunflower, which yields a large quantity of seed to the acre, will, it is said, furnish one gallon of oil to the bushel. See "Cotton," "Flax," etc., in this volume.

CAPPARIDACEÆ. (Caper Family.)
CAPPARIS SPINOSA. (Caper Tree.)

        This plant, cultivated in Greece, Ionian isles, France, Italy, etc., has also been introduced into this country. The flower buds are collected and put into salt and vinegar. See Patent Office Report, 1855, p. 285, for a brief notice of the cultivation and preparation. In the Confederate States we have the C. Jamaicencis, Jacy, and C. cynophallophora, L. growing in South Florida. It is possible that they may be used as substitutes for the foreign caper.

VIOLACEÆ. (The Violet Tribe.)

        Roots more or less emetic; a property which prevails to a greater extent in the South American species, which are generally less herbaceous.

        Viola pedata, Mich. Found in the upper districts; sparingly in the lower; Richland. L. Gibbes. Fl. May.

        U. S. Disp. 753; Griffith, Med. Bot. 140. The roots of nearly all the species of this genus possess a nutritive and an emetic principle, called violine, allied to that of ipecacuanha, but more uncertain in its operation. This is said to replace the European plant, and, according to Dr. Bigelow, is valuable as an expectorant and demulcent in pectoral affections.

        Viola arvensis, D. C.

        Griffith, Med. Bot. 141. This and the V. tricolor have received considerable attention from European writers,

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especially the German. Strack made them the subject of a discussion in 1776, and since then the observations of Metzer, Cloquet, and others have shown that they are possessed of much efficacy in the treatment of cutaneous diseases, and especially of that obstinate and unpleasant eruption, crustea lactea. The fresh plant, or its juice is to be used, as drying destroys its active qualities. Strack states that, when the remedy has been given for some time, the urine becomes extremely fetid, smelling like that of the cat; op. cit. supra. Attention is invited to it. See V. tricolor.

        Viola tricolor, Linn. Heartsease. Cultivated in gardens. Fl. May.

        Trous. et Pid. Traité de Thérap. et de Mat. Méd. ii, 15; U. S. Disp. 743; Le. Mat. Med. ii, 453; Griffith, 40; Thornton's Fam. Herb. 731. It was formerly considered a valuable remedy in epilepsy, ulcers, and scirrhus. See Störck de V. tricolor, Erlang. 1782. Metzer de crustea lactea infantum, ejusdem que remedio præmio coronavit. 1776. Lond. Med. Journal. A handful of the fresh, or one ounce and a half of the dried herb, was boiled in milk, which was taken twice a day; bread soaked in this was also applied to the affected parts. It was much boasted of as a remedy in the latter disease; see Mér. and de L. and the Art. V. arvensis. Bergius, speaking of these two, says that half an ounce in twelve of water produces a consistent and valuable demulcent jelly.

        Viola palmata, Linn. Hand-leaved violet. Collected in St. John's; vicinity of Charleston; Newbern. Fl. March.

        Ell. Bot. 300, Med. Notes. The plant is very mucilaginous. It is employed by negroes for making soup, and is commonly called wild okra. The bruised leaves are used as an emollient application.

        Viola cucullata, Ait. Common blue violet. Grows in damp pine lands; collected in St. John's; vicinity of Charleston. Fl. May.

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        Le. Mat. Med. i, 223. Probably possessed of similar properties with the others; a decoction is given to children in eruptive diseases. These plants might very conveniently be used in domestic practice, and we would invite attention to their further employment.

DROSERACEÆ. (The Sun Dew Tribe.)

        Plants generally slightly acid; acrid and poisonous to cattle.

        Drosera rotundifolia, Linn. Sun dew. Grows in damp spots in the low country of South Carolina; Richland; collected in St. John's; Newbern. Fl. June.

        Bull. Plantes Vén de France. Vicat mentions it as an active and corrosive plant: the liquor which exudes from the hairs destroying warts, corns, etc. Dém Élém. de Bot. ii, 334. M. Geoffroi asserts that it is a valuable pectoral, employed in ulcers of the lungs, asthma, etc.; the infusion being generally used. The juice has been recommended in hydrops, diseases of the kidneys, ophthalmias, etc. Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. ii, 690. Shec., in his Flora Carol, 519, confirms the opinion in reference to the corrosive property of the juice, and adds that, with milk, it furnishes a safe application for removing freckles; any part of it will curdle milk. Fl. Scotica, 109. It is thought to be very injurious to sheep, producing in them consumption or rot. M. Berlace affirms (Esquiss. Hist. Bot. Aug.) that cattle avoid it on account of an insect (Hydra hydatula) which feeds on it. This plant is quite diminutive, and has heretofore received very little attention; we see no mention made of it in our Am. Disps.

PASSIFLORACEÆ. (The Passion Flower Tribe.)

        Passiflora lutea and incarnata, Linn. May apples; passion flowers. Grow in pastures.

        The fruit of these beautiful climbing plants contains a sweetish, acid pulp, and is eatable. Several of the species are employed in medicine; but these have received no

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attention, being more remarkable on account of the structure of their flowers. One is quite diminutive.

HYPERICACEÆ. (The Tatsan Tribe.)

        The juice of many of the species is slightly purgative and febrifugal.

        Ascyrum Crux Andreoe, W.

        Ascyrum multicaule, Mx.

        Peterwort. Collected in pine land soils; St. John's; vicinity of Charleston; Newbern. Fl. July.

        The infusion of the bruised root and branches of this plant was used by an Indian with success in the case of a female, under our observation, with an ulcerated breast, which had resisted all other attempts at relief. We have since seen it employed with entire satisfaction, on the person of an infant, having a painful enlargement of the submaxillary gland. No further opportunity has been afforded of ascertaining its properties with certainty; but it seems to be possessed of some power as a resolvent in discussing tumors, and reducing glandular enlargements; given internally, and applied topically. The taste is somewhat acrid. We would invite further examination.

        Hypericum perforatum, L. St. John's-wort. Sparingly naturalized in Confederate States.

        It was greatly in vogue at one time, and was thought to cure demoniacs. The decoction also given in hysteria and suppressed menstruation. Thornton's Family Herbal, 67. The coloring matter gives a good dye to wool.

        The plant called St. John's-wort, which I think is Ascyrum cruxandreoe, growing abundantly throughout our country, is popularly regarded as of great value, bruised and applied in the healing of wounds, and as a discutient.

        Wilson states that its leaves and flowers are strongly resiniferous or oleiferous, and emit a powerful odor when rubbed; it bleeds under very slight compression or wounding, and imparts a blood-red color to any spirituous or oleaginous substance with which it is mixed, and was formerly

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supposed to possess the power of healing wounds, bruises, and contusions. It is the Fuga Doemonium, he adds, of old herbalists, and was formerly held to influence conjurations and enchantments. It yields a good yellow dye to woven fabrics, from its flowers, and a good red dye from its leaves. The juice of the hypericums are often exceedingly similar to gamboge. Rural Cyc. The plant has a resinous odor, and Dr. Darlington says is believed to produce troublesome sores on horses and horned cattle, especially those which have white feet and noses. The dew which collects on the plant appears to become acrid. Flora Cest. Farmers' Encyc. I found the same impression prevailing in Powhatan county, Va. A tincture of the flowers and leaves are used in stomach complaints.

        Hypericum sarothra, Mich., T. and G.

        Sarothra gentianoides Linn. and Ell. Sk.

        Pine weed; orange grass. Grows in dry pastures; collected in St. John's; vicinity of Charleston; Newbern. Fl. July.

        Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. vi, 226; Journal de Méd. lxxx, 360. It is employed as an aperient in inflammatory affections.

ACERACEÆ. (The Sycamore Tribe.)

        Acer rubrum, Linn. Red maple. Diffused.

        Shec. Flora Carol. 80. The wood is much used in the manufacture of Windsor chairs, gun-stocks, etc.; the grain is sometimes beautifully curled. In a communication received from I. Douglass, M. D., of Chester district, S. C., his correspondent, Mr. McKeown, states that the country people consider a strong decoction of the bark, with white sugar, used as a wash, a safe and certain cure for ordinary ophthalmia. Some of the inhabitants of the Western states make sugar by boiling down the sap of the white maple, which, however, like that of the red maple, yields only half the proportion of sugar obtained from the juice of the sugar maple. Farmer's Encyc.

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        Acer saccharinum, Linn. Sugar maple. Var. Floridanum, found in South Florida. Chap. Diffused, but more abundant in the upper districts; found sparingly at the head waters of Cooper river; St. John's, Berkely; Newbern. Fl. Feb.

        Shec. Flora Carol. 90. Pure flake manna has been discovered in this species. Sugar extracted from it is an article of trade; it is employed medicinally also. The wood is esteemed in the manufacture of saddle-trees. The grain of the wood is fine and close, and when polished it has a silky lustre.

        The timber of old trees is extensively used in America for inlaying mahogany; and it possesses, in an eminent degree, the same kind of bird's-eye markings which distinguish the timber of the Norway maple. The wood is heavy and strong, but not durable. The ashes are very rich in alkaline matter, and furnish a large proportion of the potash which is imported to Europe from New York and Boston. Rural Cyc. I have seen the sugar maple boxed as low down as Middle Virginia, but have never heard of any sugar being made from the tree in states south of Virginia. Maple and sweet gum barks, with copperas, will dye a purple color; maple, red oak bark, and copperas to fix it, will dye dove color; maple, with bark of black walnut (Juglans nigra), gives a brown color; sweet gum, with copperas, yields a color nearly black. See, also, "Quercus," "Hopea," etc.; see Boussingault's Treatise, "Rural Economy, in its Relation to Chemistry, Physics, etc.," p. 125, for valuable instruction on cultivation, production, etc., of sugar from maple, beet, etc[.]; also, Ure's Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines, article "Sugar, beet, etc." Wilson, in his Rural Cyc., article "Acer," which the reader may consult, states that the sap of the maple also contains ammonia, and has, therefore, all the conditions for forming the nitrogenous components of the branches, leaves, and blossoms; and in proportion as these parts of the tree are developed, it gradually loses its ammonia, and when they are completely formed it ceases to flow. Rural Cyc. Liebig discovered

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that ammonia was emitted from this juice when mixed with lime. The sugar crystallized spontaneously. The American practice with the sugar maple is to bore two auger holes, three-fourths of an inch in diameter, and half an inch deeper than the bark, in an obliquely ascending direction, on the south side of the tree, at the height of about eighteen or twenty inches from the ground, in February or March, while the snow is on the ground, and the cold is still intense, and to insert into the holes elder or sumac tubes, partially laid open, eight or ten inches in length, and three-fourths of an inch in diameter, communicating at the lower end with troughs of two or three gallons in capacity, for the reception of the sap. Four gallons are usually sufficient to yield one pound of sugar; and eight to sixteen gallons are usually obtained in a season from a single tree--this must depend upon the locality. Op. cit. I insert the following from Farmer's Encyc.:

        "In a central situation, lying convenient to the trees from which the sap is drawn, a shed is constructed, called a sugar-camp, which is destined to shelter the boilers and the persons who tend them from the weather. An auger, three-fourths of an inch in diameter, small troughs to receive the sap, tubes of elder or sumac, eight or ten inches long, corresponding in size to the auger, and laid open for a part of their length, buckets for emptying the troughs and conveying the sap to the camp, boilers of fifteen or eighteen gallons capacity, moulds to receive the syrup when reduced to a proper consistency for being formed into cakes, and, lastly, axes to cut and split the fuel, are the principal utensils employed in the operation. The trees are perforated in an obliquely ascending direction, eighteen or twenty inches from the ground, with two holes four or five inches apart. Care should be taken that the augers do not enter more than half an inch within the wood, as experience has shown the most abundant flow of sap to take place at this depth. It is also recommended to insert the tubes on the south side of the tree; but this useful hint is not always attended to.

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        "A trough is placed on the ground at the foot of each tree, and the sap is every day collected and temporarily poured into casks, from which it is drawn out to fill the boilers. The evaporation is kept up by a brisk fire, and the scum is carefully taken off during this part of the process. Fresh sap is added from time to time, and the heat is maintained till the liquid is reduced to a syrup, after which it is left to cool, and then strained through a blanket, or other woollen stuff, to separate the remaining impurities.

        "Some persons recommend leaving the syrup twelve hours before boiling it for the last time; others proceed with it immediately. In either case the boilers are only half filled, and by an active, steady heat the liquor is rapidly reduced to the proper consistency for being poured into the moulds. The evaporation is known to have proceeded far enough when, upon rubbing a drop of the syrup between the fingers, it is perceived to be granular. If it is in danger of boiling over, a bit of lard or of butter is thrown into it, which instantly calms the ebullition. The molasses being drained off from the moulds, the sugar is no longer deliquescent, like the raw sugar of the West Indies.

        "Maple sugar manufactured in this way is lighter colored, in proportion to the care with which it is made, and the judgment with which the evaporation is conducted. It is superior to the brown sugar of the colonies, at least, to such as is generally used in the United States; its taste is as pleasant, and it is as good for culinary purposes. When refined, it equals in beauty the finest sugar consumed in Europe. It is made use of, however, only in the districts where it is made, and there only in the country; from prejudice or taste, imported sugar is used in all the small towns, and in the inns.

        "The sap continues to flow for six weeks; after which it becomes less abundant, less rich in saccharine matter, and sometimes even incapable of crystallization. In this case it is consumed in the state of molasses, which is superior to that of the islands. After three or four days

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exposure to the sun, maple sap is converted into vinegar, by the acetous fermentation. The amount of sugar manufactured in a year varies from different causes. A cold and dry winter renders the trees more productive than a changeable and humid season. It is observed that when a frosty night is followed by a dry and brilliant day the sap flows abundantly; and two or three gallons are sometimes yielded by a single tree in twenty-four hours. Three persons are found sufficient to tend two hundred and fifty trees, which give one thousand pounds of sugar, or four pounds from each tree. But this product is not uniform, for many farmers on the Ohio do not commonly obtain more than two pounds from a tree. Trees which grow in low and moist places afford a greater quantity of sap than those which occupy rising grounds, but it is less rich in the saccharine principle. That of insulated trees, left standing in the middle of fields or by the side of fences, is the best. It is also remarked that, in districts which have been cleared of other trees, and even of the less vigorous sugar maples, the product of the remainder is, proportionally, most considerable. 'Having introduced,' says a writer, 'twenty tubes into a sugar maple, I drew from it the same day twenty-three gallons and three quarts of sap, which gave seven and a quarter pounds of sugar; thirty-three pounds have been made this season from the same tree, which supposes one hundred gallons of sap.' It appears here that only a little more than three gallons was required for a pound, though four are commonly allowed."

SAPINDACEÆ. (Soapberry Tribe.)

        Sapindus marginatus. Willd. Soapberry. Florida and Georgia, near the coast.

        The skin of the fruit of S. emarginatus is said to be used in India for the same purposes as soap. That of the S. saponaria, which grows in the West Indies, is employed for washing linen, but when employed often is apt to burn and destroy it; the nuts are very smooth, and of a shining black color, and were formerly imported to England and

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manufactured into buttons, which were sometimes tipped with silver, and always very durable. Wilson's Rural Cyc. Our species should be examined. It will be observed that it is very nearly related to the buckeye (Æsculus), the roots of which are also used for washing woollens. See, also, "Saponaria," in this paper.

ÆSCULACEÆ. (The Horse Chestnut Tribe.)

        The seeds contain a great quantity of a nutritive starch; also a sufficient amount of potash to be useful as cosmetics, or as a substitute for soap.

        Æsculus pavia, L. Horse chestnut; buckeye. Diffused. I have observed it in Greenville, Fairfield, and Charleston districts; vicinity of Charleston, Bach. Fl. May.

        Shec. Flora Carol. 105; Griffith's Med. Bot. 214. The fruit is about the size of a small lemon, and of a beautifully polished mahogany color externally; it contains a great deal of starch. Dr. Woodhouse prepared a half a pint from the nuts, which retained its color for two years. It is superior to the famous Portland starch, and does not impart a yellow color to cloth. It is said that the washing from this is narcotic and poisonous. Dr. McDowel tried the powder of the rind, and states that ten grains were equivalent to three of opium; a strong decoction is recommended as a lotion to gangrenous ulcers. A strong decoction of the root is said to relieve toothache when held in the mouth. The fresh kernels, macerated in water, mixed with wheat flour into a stiff paste, and thrown in pools of standing water, intoxicate fish, so that they float on the surface, and may be taken; reviving, however, when placed in fresh water. I am informed that large quantities were formerly caught in this way in the swamps along the Santee river. See, also, Ell. Bot. Med. Notes. The roots are preferred even to soap for washing and whitening woollens, blankets, and dyed cottons--the colors of which are improved by the process. Satins washed in this manner, and carefully ironed, look almost as well as new.

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POLYGALACEÆ. (The Milkwort Tribe.)

        Bitterness in the leaves, and milk in the roots, are their usual characteristics.

        Polygala Senega, L. Seneka snakeroot; mountain flax. Mountainous districts of S. C. Fl. July.

        Thornton's Fam. Herb. 629. An active stimulant, increasing the force of the circulation, especially that of the pulmonary vessels; hence, found very useful in typhoid inflammation of the lungs. Dr. Brandreth, of Liverpool, has derived great service from its employment, in cases of lethargy, in the form of an extract combined with carb. ammoniæ. It has been given in hydropic cases, and as it sometimes provokes plentiful discharges by urine, stool, and perspiration, it is frequently the means of removing the disease after the ordinary cathartics, diuretics, and hydragogues have failed. The Indians used it in snake bites; given internally and applied topically; if beneficial, it only acts as a diffusible stimulant; it is administered, also, as a gargle in croup. A principle called senegin has been discovered in it; and one by Reschier, called polygalic acid. Anevenne is also said to have detected two: polygalic and Virgineic--the first of which will unite with bases; the second volatile, oily, nauseant, and emetic in small, diaphoretic, expectorant, and diuretic in large doses. Stephens & Church, 103. See Analysis in Journal de Pharm. xxii, 449. One of the principles referred to is said not to differ from saponine. Supplem. to the Dict. de M. Méd. by Mér. and de L. 1846, 578; M. Guibourt, in his "Abridged Hist. of Simple Drugs" (in French); Carson's Illust. Med. Bot. 1847, pt. i; L. Feneulle's Annal. Journal de Pharm. ii, 430. It has been employed in pleurisy. See Tennent's Essay on that disease; Duhame, Mém. de l'Acad. de Paris, 1739, 144; McKensie's Med. Obs. and Enquiries, ii, 288; De Haen. Ratio Medendi: F. d'Ammon "sur l'emploi et l'utilité de la racine du P. sénéga dans plusieurs mal de l'oeil"; Annal. de Chim. de Heidelberg. Dr. Ammon, of

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Dresden, in his paper, employs it in ophthalmias, after the inflammatory stage is passed; it is said to prevent the formation of cataract, and to promote the absorption of pus in hypopium; he reports two cases; it is adapted, in fact, to all cases of exudation, by its power of promoting discharge. Suite des Expériences in Bull. des Sci. Méd. xx, 241. Bretonneau gave four to five grains, every hour, in croup; it opposes the formation of the diphtheritic membrane. Bull. des Sci. Méd. de Férus. xi, 61; Mém. sur le Sénéga, Acad. des Sci. See Mérat, loc. cit. Dr. Milne spoke highly of the decoction, joined with bitartrate of potash, in dropsy. Dr. Percival administered it in hydrops pectoris. If the decoction causes vomiting, some aromatic, angelica, calamus, or fennel, may be added. It is prescribed as a drink in pneumonia, pleurisy, and typhoid fever. Linnæus, in his Veg. Mat. Med. 137, speaks of this plant as a specific in croup (specificum in phlogose hinc officinis nostris dignissima). Lind. Nat. Syst. Bot. 87. Stimulant, diuretic, sialagogue, expectorant, purgative, emetic, sudorific, and also emmenagogue. U. S. Disp. 649; Big. Am. Med. Bot. ii, 27; Bart. M. Bot. ii, 111; Mér. and de L. v, 424; Dict. des Sci. Méd. li, 1; Journal de Chim. Méd. ii, 431; Journal Analyt. i, 339. Employed in nervous affections, and hectic fever; in hydrothorax, from its stimulating effect on the kidneys, and in diseases of the lungs, from its augmenting the absorbent forces. Anc. Journal de Méd. lxxvi, 53; Detharding, Diss. de Sénéga, 1749; C. Linn. Diss. upon the Root of the Senega, Argentorati, 1750; Kielhon, Diss. Frankfort, 1765; Helminth, at Edinburgh, 1782; G. Folchi, "Rech. chimico Thérap. sur la racine du polygala du Virginie." In pneumonia, after bleeding, and in the typhoid stage, it is one of our best remedies for promoting expectoration; at an earlier period, it is too stimulating. Much use is made of it on the plantations in South Carolina for this purpose. According to Dr. Bree, it is eminently useful in the asthma of old people, and in the latter stages of croup. It has been employed successfully in chronic rheumatism, and Dr.

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Chapman also found it very efficacious in recent cases of amenorrhoea. Frost's Elems. 258; Griffith's Med. Bot. 225; Archer's Med. and Phys. Journal, i, 83; Bree on Asthma, 258; Massie's Inaug. Diss. Phil. 1803; Thacher's Disp. 319; N. Eng. Journal, vii, 206. In croup, it is often given in the form of hive syrup; the best form, however, is a decoction made by boiling one ounce of root in one pint and a half of water, till it is reduced to a pint, the dose of which is a tablespoonful; thirty grains of the powdered root may be given in substance. This plant is employed by the steam practitioners. See Howard's Syst. of Bot. Med. 343.

        Polygala sanguinea, L. Nutt. Grows in flat, pine lands; abundantly near Pittsburg; sent to me from Abbeville by Mr. Reed; vicinity of Charleston. Bach. Fl. June.

        Lind. Nat. Syst. Bot. 86; Barton's Med. Bot. ii, 17. A stimulating diaphoretic, similar, it is supposed, in properties to the above. Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. v, 424; Griffith, Med. Bot. 225.

        Polygala paucifolia, Willd. Grows in the mountains of South Carolina. Fl. August.

        Griffith, Med. Bot. 227. Rafinesque, in his Med. Flora, says it is possessed of active properties; the root having a sweet, pungent, aromatic taste, similar to that of the wintergreen (Gaultheria procumb.); he thinks it milder than the P. senega, and, therefore, adapted to cases in which that is inapplicable. Griffith does not agree with him, attributing to it merely tonic and bitter properties.

        Polygala polygama, Walter. Vicinity of Charleston. U. S. Disp. 558.

CEDRELACEÆ. (Mahogany Tribe.)

        Swietenia mahagoni, L. Mahogany. South Florida. Chap. So. Flora.

        This tree is cut down in August. See description of method pursued in Honduras, Wilson's Rural Cyc.

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        The uses of the wood are so well known as to need no farther description.

        The bark may, it is said, be used as Peruvian bark. I do not know that the tree is "exploited" in Florida.

LINACEÆ. (The Flax Tribe.)

        Linum usitatissimum. Flax. Cultivated in South Carolina.

        It is cultivated here pretty much on account of the seeds, which are well known for their valuable demulcent properties, and for the linseed oil which they afford. Immediate attention should be paid to raising on a very much larger scale both this plant, the mustard, and the castor oil. Flax matures well in this latitude. For much useful information in reference to the economical application of this plant, see Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. Sup. 1846, 435.

        Among the thread plants may be mentioned Flax (Linum usitatissimum), Perennial flax (Linum perenne), Hemp (Cannabis sativa), Virginian silk (Asclepias syriaca), Common nettle (Urtica dioica), and the Rosebay willow herb (Epilobium angustifolium). The three latter are all found growing wild in South Carolina. The asclepias was planted for the purpose in Germany, but is an imperfect substitute for hemp or flax. See A. syriaca in this volume. The stem of the hop has also been used for the production of thread. They require farther examination. See Thaër's work, "Principles of Agriculture," p. 461. Hemp seeds also yield oil.

        The best drying oils, Chaptal states ("Chemistry applied to Agriculture," p. 145), are those of flax seed, nuts, and poppies. Linseed oil will dissolve at boiling temperature one-quarter of its weight of that oxide known in commerce by the name of litharge. It becomes brown in proportion as the oxide is dissolved; when saturated with the oxide it thickens by cooling, and it is necessary to render it liquid by heat at the time of using it. Linseed oil saturated with the oxide and applied with a brush to any substance, hardens

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readily and forms a coating impervious by water, and much resembles gum elastic; linen or silk prepared with it is flexible without being adhesive. A cement of this oil, prepared with the oxide and mixed with the refuse or broken fragments of porcelain or well baked potter's ware, is used with great success in uniting the tiles upon roofs, and in cisterns and reservoirs. To form this cement the pulverized fragments are thoroughly incorporated with the heated oil, and applied by the trowel while in that state. When linseed oil is to be used in painting, one-twentieth, or at the most, one-tenth of litharge is sufficient to render it drying.

        With linseed oil and common glue, a water-proof material is made, which may prove of great use in preparing garments for our soldiers. Immerse common glue in cold water until it becomes perfectly soft, but yet retaining its original form; after which it is to be dissolved in common raw linseed oil, assisted by a gentle heat, until it becomes entirely taken up by the latter; after which it may be applied to substances for adhesion to each other, in the way common glue is usually applied. It dries almost immediately, and water will exert no action upon it. It has more tenacity than common glue, and becomes impervious to water. It may be used also for furniture, and two layers of cloth may be glued together to form a water-proof garment. Glue dissolved in vinegar also makes a very tenacious substance in place of the prepared glues. See plates of machinery for pressing linseed and other oils, Ure's Dictionary of Arts, article "Oils;" also Wilson's Rural Cyc., articles "Flax" and "Linseed." The processes are described with plates. Those interested may find there a full statement of the method of gathering, planting, uses, etc. See also "Olea," in this work. Flax seed intended for planting should not be gathered too quickly. Flax seed was largely made in western New York. The yield is from ten to fifteen bushels per acre. It is sown early in the spring. If raised merely for the seed, it is harvested and thrashed like other grain. But when the stalk is used, it is pulled

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up by a machine as soon as the seed begins to ripen, and bound in small bundles, the seed stripped off by a machine, and the stalks spread out and dew rotted; it is then sold to the hemp makers for seven or eight dollars per ton. The farmer sells the crop at one dollar per bushel for the seed, which is sent to the oil-mill.

        The reader interested in the preparation and cleaning of the fibres of textile plants, will find a paper upon the subject, condensed from the Singapore Free Press, in the P. Office Rep. 1854, p. 174. A description of the simplest and most economical modes of cleaning them is given. The plantain, agave, and aloe are planted in India, and the fibre exported for twine, paper, etc.--bringing from sixty to two hundred dollars per ton. I do not know that these plants are used in our West India islands or in Florida for these purposes. The ordinary mill used in pressing sugarcane can be used in cleaning the fibre. See article cited.

        Wilson's Rural Cyc., article "Bleaching," furnishes a practical explanation of the methods of bleaching flax, hemp, etc. See also Ure's Dictionary.

MALVACEÆ. (The Mallow Tribe.)

        They abound in mucilage, and are totally destitute of all unwholesome qualities.

        Malva rotundifolia, L. Low mallows. Naturalized; grows around buildings; Richland; vicinity of Charleston. Fl. June.

        U. S. Disp. 444. A substitute for M. sylvestris, which possesses valuable demulcent properties. Woodv. Med. Bot. 554, tom. 197. It is very emollient, and is employed in catarrhal, dysenteric, and nephritic diseases, and wherever a mucilaginous fluid is required. It is administered in the shape of emollient enema, and it forms a good suppurative or relaxing cataplasm in external inflammations. Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. ii, 207. It was highly regarded by the ancients. "Pythagore regardait leur usage comme propre à favoriser l'exercise de la pensée."

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Hippocrates employed it as we do, for gargles and collyriums, as an application to heated and inflamed parts, as a vehicle for pectoral and anodyne medicines, and for those administered in diseases of the urinary passages.

        Abutilon Avicennoe, Gærtn., T. and G.

        Sida abutilon, Linn. and Ell. Sk.

        Indian mallows. Grows at Granby, in Richland district, and in Georgia; vicinity of Charleston. Bach. Newbern. Fl. July.

        Lind. Nat. Syst. Bot. 96; Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. vi, 338. The plant is said to be cultivated in China as a substitute for hemp. The flowers are employed as an ingredient in emollient applications.

        Abutilon and Sida. Species of these two genera have been used in medicine. S. abutilon is cultivated in India for the fibre, and somewhat extensively introduced into field culture in Italy. See Rural Cyc., Chap. So. Flora. Our Abutilons should be examined; several grow in South Carolina.

        Hibiscus Moscheutos, L. Marsh mallow. Collected in St. John's; vicinity of Charleston; Newbern.

        Bergius, M. Med. ii, 629. This also is possessed of demulcent properties; a convenient substitute for the above.

        Hibiscus esculentus. Okra. Introduced from Africa.

        The fruit and pods afford the well-known valuable vegetable, so largely used in the Southern states in combination with tomatoes in making soup. It is very mucilaginous, and, infused in water, forms a suitable vehicle for medicines prescribed in diseases of the mucous passages, for enemata, etc. Some information on this plant may be obtained in the Journal de Pharm. vi, 383. The parched seeds afford a tolerably good substitute for coffee; the difference can with difficulty be detected. It is sometimes used for this purpose among the negroes on the plantations of South Carolina.

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        This well-known vegetable contains an enormous amount of albumen--so much, that Chaptal says that in St. Domingo it is employed in clarifying liquors. In Guadeloupe and Martinique they use the bark of the slippery elm for this purpose as white of egg elsewhere. It would be a matter of importance to ascertain whether or not vegetable albumen would be useful in clarifying sugar. In employing albumen for clarifying fluids the following method is adopted, according to the writer just mentioned. I would refer the reader also to Ure's Dictionary of Arts and Manufactures. The albumen, generally white of egg, is diluted with water, and then mixed with the liquid which is to be clarified; the whole is then heated to 65° or 70° Fahr., and stirred carefully so as to distribute the albumen equally among all its particles; by increasing the heat the albumen is made to coagulate, when it rises to the top of the vessel, carrying with it all the particles which render the liquid turbid or cloudy; the thick foam which this produces, when cooled, may be taken off with a skimmer, and the liquid be afterward filtrated, to remove any remaining particles from it. The same writer says that animal albumen, mixed with quick-lime, finely powdered and spread upon strips of linen, makes an excellent lute, to be applied over the joints of vessels for distilling, to prevent loss of gas or vapor.

        The Sesamum indicum, Bené, is another plant cultivated on our plantations which has a very large amount of mucilage.

        The okra plant has been recommended to be planted for the fibre as a textile substance. Even the cotton plant, if not allowed to come to maturity, and planted closer, like flax and hemp, might furnish an inner bark suitable for twine or cloth. The Urtica dioica, nettle, and Apocynum cannabinum, Indian hemp, and several species of asclepias, or silk weed, may, by improved cultivation, give a useful fibre; see index. Dr. G. C. Shaeffer, the author of a paper in P. O. Rep., 373, 1859, on "Vegetable fibre," states that the fibre of the silk or milk-weed (A. cornuti) "was nearly if

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not quite as strong as the hemp." In this article, the mode of preparing textile fibres is treated of, and also the best materials for paper making. A curious work, by Dr. J. C. Shaeffer, 1765, is referred to, in which experiments were long since performed upon innumerable substances suited to the making of paper. The latest work of consequence has been published by L. Piette, 1838. Piette gives specimens of good, strong, white paper made from straw. Paper in the United States was also made from wood, sawdust, and shavings, in 1828 and '30. Ure's Dictionary of Arts may also be consulted for machinery, etc. Bark of linden is used in Prussia. See Tilia. And the palmetto, agave, and yucca of the South furnish a long fibre. When necessary, the intercellular substance may be dissolved out by strong alkalies--the lye from the ashes of plants, etc. For material for paper making see "Cotton."

        The New Orleans Crescent says of coffee:

        The supplies of many articles of consumption are running very low. In the meantime substitutes have been proposed, among which is named the okra seed. As regards this, the thought of its becoming a substitute may as well be laid aside at once, for there are not twenty-five sacks of the seed available. The chief substitute will have to be rye. This cereal was used during the war of 1812. In fact, half of the ground coffee which has been sold in New York and Boston for the last twenty-five years was composed chiefly of rye.

        Gossypium herbaceum, Linn. Cotton. A native of tropical America. The long staple, including the varieties of sea-island, black seed, and mains, grows best in the lower country; and the short, or green seed, in the upper districts. Prescott states that the Spaniards found it in Mexico. See "Conquest of Mexico."

        Mér and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. Supplem. 1846. This was the plant known to the ancients as the Byssus of old writers. Herodotus, t. iii, 134, of Durger's Ed.; Chateaubriand, Journal to Jerusalem, 1777; see Révue Médicale,

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Feb. 1845, 225, for Observations on the Employment of the Cotton Fibre in Dressing Wounds; Ann. de Chimie, 427, 1845; Binol's Letters on the Cultivation of Cotton in India; C. Delasterie on the G. herbacea and its Cultivation, Paris, 1808; Lessier sur la Culture du Coton en France; Gerspach, Considérations sur l'influence des filatures du Coton sur la santé des ouvriers, Paris, 1827; Obs. on the Employment of Cotton in the Treatment of Blisters, 1830; Some Reflections by F. T. Saint Hilaire on Wounds, and their Treatment with Cotton (in French), Montp. 1830; Sicand, Obs. on the Employment of the Cotton Fibre in Surgery, and a Memoir on the different Species cultivated in Naples, op. cit. sup.; Griffith, Med. Bot. 163; Dr. MacFayden (Fl. Jamaica) considers the species only as varieties. Humboldt saw them growing in Central America at an elevation of nine thousand feet. The flowers are emollient like mallows, and used for similar purposes; the roots are used in India in diseases of the urinary organs. See Ainslie. In Brazil, a decoction of the leaves steeped in vinegar is said to relieve hemicrania. According to Martin, the seeds, which afford much oil, are emollient, and are employed in emulsions, injections, and diseases of mucous passages. The oil is afforded by the seeds in sufficiently large quantities to be exported. It might be made a useful article on the plantations, as it does not deprive the seeds of their valuable properties as a manure. When boiled, they furnish an excellent food for cattle, but are poisonous to hogs when eaten in the raw state. Much use is made of the roots in this state, in the treatment of asthma--a decoction being employed. It appears to have, moreover, a specific action on the uterine organs. Dr. Ready, of Edgefield district, informs me that his attention was called to its emmenagogue properties by an article which appeared in a journal published some years since. (New Orleans Med. Journal.) He has since used it in suppression of the menses, but more particularly in many cases of flooding, with entire success. It seems to produce as active contractions of the uterus as ergot

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itself. Three ounces of the root are infused in one pint of boiling water, of which from three to four ounces are taken internally every fifteen minutes. More extended experiments with this remarkable plant, in cases of this description, might furnish very valuable results, and I would invite particular attention to it. See also Pe. Mat. Med. ii, 568; Med. and Surg. Journal, xiii, 215; U. S. Disp. 357; Lond. Med. Gazette, Nov. 8, 1839; West. Journal Med. and Surg. 1840; Royle, Illust. 84, and Mat. Med. 288; Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. iii, 409; Marcgrave's Brazil, 60; Dict. des Sc. Nat. xxxiv, 15; and Gov. W. B. Seabrook's (of S. C.) paper on the cotton plant.

        The fibre of our great staple is applicable to many purposes in surgery, in dressing burns, preserving the temperature of the extremities in depressed conditions of the system, and also for stuffing and padding in the application of fracture boxes; but it is not, as has been confidently stated, a substitute for lint in any sense of the term. On account of the oil which it contains, it cannot absorb pus or liquids from wounds, unless it has been previously prepared. This, indeed, is a peculiarity of cotton fibre in its natural state: water or fluids will roll from it; the slightest experience or observation would convince any one of this; and yet it has been extensively distributed as a substance for dressing wounds, which it only tends to render hotter and more inflamed.

        The plant has also been highly recommended as a substitute for quinine in intermittent fever. I will refer the reader to some of the later volumes of the Charleston Med. Journal and Review. I have not my volumes at hand to refer to. It has been used with great confidence by many persons throughout the South and West. I introduce the following slip from a newspaper (1862) in default of more precise information from the medical authorities who have used it.

        H. D. Brown, of Copiah county, Mississippi, communicates the following notice of the use of cotton seed tea as a substitute for quinine:

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        "I beg to make public the following certain and thoroughly tried cure for ague and fever: One pint of cotton seed, two pints of water boiled down to one of tea, taken warm one hour before the expected attack. Many persons will doubtless laugh at this simple remedy, but I have tried it effectually, and unhesitatingly say it is better than quinine, and could I obtain the latter article gratuitously, I would infinitely prefer the cotton seed tea. It will not only cure invariably, but permanently, and is not at all unpleasant to the taste."

        The seeds of the black seed cotton, parched and ground, are considered by many as one of the best substitutes for coffee, both in smell and taste. In a paper by G. C. Shaeffer, on the cotton fibre, Patent Office Report, Agriculture, 1854, p. 181, he says: "Still, in the present scarcity of paper making material, it may be well to look to the bark of the cotton plant as a partial supply for the common kinds of paper. Fermentation, or any of the known methods of separating the wood, may be employed." If the cotton is gathered, the plant has then become too woody. See, also, Okra (Hibiscus esculentus.) Governor W. B. Seabrook, of S. C., has written perhaps the most full description of the cultivation of cotton, in a pamphlet published a few years since.

        Townsend Glover, entomologist, employed by the Patent Office, describes the diseases incident to the cotton plant in his successive papers, in the volumes of the Patent Office Report for 1855-'7, "On the Insects frequenting the Cotton Plant." These papers contain a good deal of information on the character and habits not only of insects infesting cotton, but many other plants, with illustrations on wood. He describes the rust, rot, and blight, and devises methods for preventing their spread. The English use cotton dipped in a solution of saltpetre as a moxa; see "Helianthus." "Gun cotton" is also a well known explosive agent, prepared by means of nitric acid.

        Cotton Seed Soap. The following I obtain from the

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Charleston Mercury: Put cotton seed into a large and strong iron pot, in small quantities at a time, mash them well with a wooden pestle, and then pour in a certain quantity of common lye, and boil thoroughly; strain in an ordinary sieve, and proceed in the usual way in drying and cutting into cakes. The oil is thus yielded, and saponified.

        Machines are now manufactured in this country for decorticating the cotton seed, in manufacturing the cake. It is thus much improved as an article of food for cattle, not being near so liable to injure the animals. It brings a high price in England. Mills for the preparation of the cake have been established in Rhode Island. Strange that nothing of the kind has existed in Charleston, where the seed can be so easily obtained. The great value of the seed as a manure may account in part for the indifference of the planter. The seed has been pressed in New Orleans. The oil is said to be "unsurpassed for dressing leather and lubricating machinery, and as an illuminator affords a clear and brilliant light"--as good as spermaceti, when refined. See also a paper on cotton seed oil, Southern Cultivator, p. iii, vol. 3. He states that there are thirty bushels of seed to every bale of cotton; each bale will yield at least fifteen gallons of crude oil, and three hundred and sixty barrels of oil cake. "No difficulty exists in hulling, tempering, or expressing the oil," and the huller of Follet and Smith, of Petersburg, is referred to: hulling at the rate of a basket of kernels in four or five minutes. The machinery employed in French Flanders for rape seed, answers perfectly for cotton seed.

        Cotton Seed Oil. A good deal has been said of late in the Cincinnati and New Orleans papers on the subject of cotton seed oil and cake; and if the half of what is published shall turn out to be true, we have reached the beginning of a new era in the cotton culture, not unlike that which marked the invention of the cotton gin. Mr. William R. Free, of Cincinnati, has invented and constructed a cotton seed huller, which entirely separates the hull, and

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the little lint that adheres to it, from the meat part of the seed. The huller is said to be simple in construction, is made entirely of iron, and is easily kept in repair. It requires a two-horse power to drive it, and two hands to tend it--one to feed the mill, and one to remove the hulls from the screen. It will hull and screen one ton, or two thousand pounds, per hour, ready for the press--fifty per cent. of which is kernels, or the meats of the seed, from which forty gallons of oil may be obtained. This machine must be exceedingly valuable to prepare seed for all feeding purposes on the farm where no oil is expressed, as the hulls and lint are altogether undesirable as food. Hulls and cotton seed, and cut straw or corn stalks, boiled together in large iron boilers, or steamed in big tubs or vats, will make a superior stock feed. But as a gallon of this oil is cheap at a dollar, and enough seed to make forty gallons can be hulled in an hour, it is far better to feed the cake after most of the oil is taken out, steamed with straw or stalks, than to feed this precious oil to live stock. After cotton seed is hulled, a good cotton press for baling cloth will press out most of the oil in the kernels. Perhaps they may require beating, as in pressing flax seed. The art is very simple. Instead of sending cotton seed to distant markets, where the producer will lose the cake for feeding; and as a fertilizer, we earnestly recommend to each large plantation (or where their operations are small, for several to unite), to purchase a hulling machine, and, if necessary, construct or buy an oil press for home use. According to the data furnished by the Cincinnati operators, four thousand pounds of common cotton seed will turn out fifty dollars worth of oil; and every planter knows that in case he should wish to mix the hulls with the cake in feeding it, or as a manure, he can do so after the oil is expressed. The oil is nearly valueless as a fertilizer, being nothing but carbon and the elements of water, while in skilful hands it is worth some forty to fifty cents a gallon for making fat hogs, sheep, cows, and steers; but more for burning, and lubricating machinery.

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At this time we would gladly pay twenty dollars per one thousand pounds for cotton seed cake, to feed cattle, sheep, and hogs. It is worth more than corn or wheat, pound for pound, to feed mules and hogs on a cotton plantation. It contains more of the muscle, sinew, and bone forming matter. It has less starch than corn, but is a healthier food than either peas, beans, wheat, or maize. If the hulls were in the cake, the result would be quite different. In flax seed cake the hull of the seed is not removed. It is owing to the richness of the clean meats of cotton seed that straw, or coarse forage of some kind, should be fed with the cake, except to hogs.

        Consequent upon the increased amount of cotton raised in the Southern states, and the great bulk of the seed, there had been several establishments in operation before the war for economizing the oil. At one in New Orleans, driven by a thirty-five horse power steam-press, five hundred gallons of oil and five tons of oil cake a day were prepared. It required for the day's work, as is stated in the Southern Farmer and Planter, about fifteen tons of cotton seed to produce this amount of oil and cake, each ton of seed yielding about forty gallons of oil and seven hundred or eight hundred pounds of cake. The proprietor shipped eight hundred tons to England, where it was used by the farmers, who are extensive importers of linseed oil cake. The cotton seed cake "is highly esteemed for fattening cattle and sheep." In Memphis, Tenn., it was also made in very large quantities. The oil, refined by a secret process, is made of two qualities--"the best used for illuminating and lubricating purposes, as well as for currying leather, etc. The inferior is found to answer the purpose of soap making equal to palm oil, making soap of every quality, even to the most refined toilet soap." Cotton seed cake might be used as a substitute to a certain extent for corn for fattening stock. "Cotton seed meal and corn meal, if applied directly to the hay that is fed in fattening animals, instead of the latter being fed alone and dry, and the corn unground, would add vastly to the profits of fattening."

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Cotton seed cake sold at the mills for about the same price that flax seed cake sold for.

        Browne, in his "Field Book of Manures," New York, 1853, says of the cotton seeds: "They abound in a mild oil, and are accounted very nutritious (as manures) after the oil is expressed. A bushel of seed weighs thirty pounds, and yields two and a half quarts of oil, and twelve and a half pounds of fine meal. The oil cake is very brittle, and breaks down much more readily than linseed oil cake. Its taste is not unpleasant, and it is stated that it can be employed with success in fattening stock."

        In the Patent Office Report, 1855, p. 234, are some "Chemical Researches on the Seed of the Cotton Plant," by Prof. C. T. Jackson. In this article a patent is referred to as having been taken out by D. W. Mesner for "separating the hulls from the cotton seeds." The yield of the unprepared and woolly seeds is very small, in comparison with what is obtained from those which have been hulled. Analyses are given of the oil, the seed, the cake, etc. Prof. Jackson says: Separation of the oil: In order to separate the fixed oil, pure ether was employed, and it was found that one hundred grains of the dried pulverized seeds yielded in one experiment 39.7, and in another 40 per cent. of pure fatty oil. By pressure, I was able with a small screw-press to obtain only thirty-three per cent. of oil; but I have no doubt a more powerful one would have given a larger yield. The specific gravity of the oil which I obtained from the ethereal solution was 0.923--water being unity. This is also the specific gravity of purified whale oil. Cotton seed oil is stated by Dr. Wood to be a drying oil, but that which I have obtained does not appear to possess drying properties, serving perfectly well for the lubrication of machinery, and for burning in lamps, as well as for making soap. It will also serve as a substitute for olive oil in many cases, and perhaps may be eaten as a salad oil, for it has no disagreeable odor or taste.

        Chemical examination of the oil cake: Linseed oil cake is well known both in Europe and in this country as valuable

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food for cattle, and as an excellent fertilizer--worth from forty to fifty dollars per ton for the latter purpose. On examining my cotton seed oil cake, I found it possessed a sweet and agreeable flavor, and was much more pure and clean than linseed oil cake. One hundred grains of the seed leave sixty grains of oil cake. This cake, examined for sugar, was found to contain 1.1 grains, and for gum, thirty-five grains were obtained. Iodine gave no proof of the existence of any starch in cotton seed, nor in the oil cake. Alcohol dissolves out the sugar, which is like that obtained from raisins, and is grape sugar. Boiling water dissolves the gum, and becomes very mucilaginous. The gum is precipitable from the water by means of pure alcohol.

        Maclura aurantiaca. Osage Orange. N. America. Not included by Chapman in his Flora of Southern United States; position irregular.

        From the Patent Office Report, 1848, an article taken from the Prairie Farmer, by Prof. J. B. Turner. The osage orange, the favorite hedge plant of the United States, has already become too well known to need any particular description. It grows in the wilds of North America, in regions further North than New York, and further South than the Carolinas. It is usually in this country from ten to fifteen feet in height, though, like the English thorn, it is said sometimes to attain in its native soil a height of fifty and even sixty feet. Its utility as a hedge plant is no longer an experiment. Hedges of the rarest beauty and excellence have been growing in Boston, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati; in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Northern Missouri; and, in short, in all the Middle and Southern states. Some of these hedges have been standing for ten or twelve years; they were planted by gentlemen of wealth and taste around their favorite walks and grounds at a time when the plants sold at the rate of five dollars per thousand. Among all who have written on the subject, no unfavorable account has come to my knowledge. Great losses have been incurred

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with the seed, as might be expected, but the plant and hedge are universally admired and commended, and it is confidently believed by the best judges that it will double the real value of any farm it surrounds. Recent writers enumerate thus its many advantages: First--its tenacity of life is scarcely equalled; it is a native of the prairies, and will grow on any soil where common prairie grass will grow. Overflowing the land does not harm it. It will live for weeks and months entirely under water. The dead wood is exceedingly hard and durable, and fresh shoots from the stumps soon supply the place of all which have been killed by fire or cutting. Second--its protection is perfect. It is armed with a very sharp, stout thorn under each leaf. Its dense iron branches soon become so interlocked, that no domestic animal, and not even a common bird, can pass through it. Both its thorns and its acrid, bitter juice prevent all animals from browsing or feeding on its branches. Its seed is like the orange, and its roots like the hickory, consequently it can never spread into the field, either from the seed or root, but keeps its own place, growing stronger and thicker year by year. It thus perfectly secures orchards, fruit-yards, stables, sheepfolds, and pasture grounds from all thieves, rogues, dogs, wolves, etc., and one good gate, well locked, makes a whole farm secure from all intruders of whatever description. It may be trained so high as to afford shelter to stock, and break off the rough prairie winds from all grounds needing such protection. Plants may also be prepared so that it can be set in the open prairie without fence with perfect success. See also in Patent Office Report, 1854, p. 419, an article on the best mode of cultivating the osage orange for hedges, and 1855, p. 315, on "Live fences." The insects which feed on it are described, viz: a "chinch-bug," and the mole known as the gopher in Southern Illinois. In Illinois contractors set out and tend the hedge at one dollar a mile, till a good fence is produced. See Cerasus Caroliniana. The juice of the osage orange, says Wilson, is exceedingly abundant, and flows freely from incisions, and quickly separates

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into a feculant matter, and a supernatant, clear liquid. The wood is uncommonly fine and elastic, and is used by the American Indians for making their bows. It seems well adapted to many purposes of turners. It is said to equal fustic as a yellow dye stuff, and may be much more easily produced. Rural Cyclopædia.

        The Cherokee rose forms a most valuable hedge plant. A writer praises highly the "cabbage tree." See also "Cratægus;" in this volume.

TILIACEÆ. (The Linden Tribe.)

        They have all a mucilaginous, wholesome juice.

        Tilia Americana, Linn., T. and G.

        Tilia glabra, Vent. and Ell. Sk.

        Lime tree. Bass wood. An ornamental tree, found in the mountain valleys of South Carolina; Florida to North Carolina; Newbern.

        Ell. Bot. 22. The bark, when macerated, forms a strong cordage, used for domestic purposes. The wood is white and soft, and is used by carriage and cabinet-makers.

        The inner bark of the European linden (T. Europea), forms a strong cordage. Doubtless our American species are also thus distinguished. The plants or branches may be steeped in water for three months, dried, and stripped; for every purpose of cordage on the plantation or garden, this material will be found useful. It forms throughout England the material for "bass," and is used by the horticulturist. The flowers of our American tilia, sent to me from Pendleton district, S. C., I find quite as useful as the imported "Tilleul," a material for quieting, antispasmodic teas, so much employed in France. It is particularly grateful and soothing to lying-in women: quieting nervous excitement, and pleasant to the taste. I would particularly recommend a larger use of these flowers in the Confederate States. It can be used wherever tea is required. Honey dew is generally most abundant on lime, sycamore, and beech trees; on the cotton plant also. The above remarks apply to T. pubescens also, which is indigenous.

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The wood of the T. Americana is white and soft. In the Northern states, where the tulip poplar does not grow, it is used for the panels of carriage bodies and the seats of Windsor chairs. It is, however, apt to split, and is not considered equal to poplar for such and other useful purposes. N. Am. Sylva.

CAMELLIEÆ.

        Thea viridis. The introduction of the tea plant into the Confederate States is so important that I will, at any rate, endeavor to give all suitable references to sources of information concerning its culture, preparation, etc. See a pretty full account of the history of its production in the United States in Patent Office Report, 1855, p. 42. The best mode of growing the plant, drying and preparing the leaves, is also described.

        For some account of the experiment in the cultivation of foreign tea in South Carolina by Dr. Junius Smith, see P. O. Report, 1848, p. 168, and 1859, p. 6. See also vol. for 1857, p. 167, for article on "Practicability of the Tea Culture in the United States." A description is given of the varieties of soil and climate adapted to the growth of tea, its cultivation and preparation, with a notice of the plants set out in Washington. This communication should be read by any one who proposes entering upon the business of raising tea plants; also vol. 1859, p. 5, et. seq., containing successful experiments in Brazil. See Ceanothus Americanus, red-root, New Jersey tea tree, as a substitute.

        Among our indigenous plants, the Gardenia (S. pubescens and lasianthus, growing from Florida to North Carolina), belongs to the same natural family, Camellieæ, as the tea plant, and it should be experimented with. Our Linden tree (Tilia Americana), the flowers of which are used in making an antispasmodic tea, is closely related to Gardenia and Thea; so the botanical relationship and the natural properties are again substantiated. See Tilia. It

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is said that a pleasant tea can be made likewise from the Holly (Ilex opaca).

        The introduction of both coffee and tea into Brazil was at first very slow, but was subsequently successful.

        A writer in the "Country Gentleman" makes this statement: "A few days ago I drank a cup of real American tea, from the Chinese tea plant, of which Dr. J. P. Barrett, near New Market, S. C., has a fine shrub, about four feet high, which has borne fruit during several years. By its side was a thrifty specimen of the Olea fragrans, or Chinese olive, with which the tea is scented." I have seen a plant of the Thea growing out in the open air, near Stateburgh, South Carolina. In the cultivation of the tea in China, "the lower slopes of the hills are preferred, at 1,000 feet above the level of the sea. In India, from 2,000 to 6,000 feet. The best description of soil for the tea plant is a light loam, well mixed with sand, and enriched with vegetable matter, moderately moist, but neither wet nor sour. Sloping or undulating land of this kind, on which good crops of millet or Indian corn may be produced, is likely to be suitable. Any aspect will do, but east or west is preferred. The tea plant will not flourish in a wet or stagnant soil. * * * When produced from seeds, the tea plant first flowers in the second year. The usual period of flowering is in November, and the seeds ripen the next autumn. The ground is prepared for planting by being dug or trenched in the usual ways. Manure is rarely used in tea culture in China; but where the land is poor, stable-litter and sewage of all kinds are sometimes applied indiscriminately, in moderate quantities, and a top dressing of rich loam is considered valuable. The best time to apply manure is in the spring, before the plants begin to grow, or during mild weather in winter. * * * When the plant is about 18 inches high the leading shoots are pinched off, and the shrub is forced to throw out laterals. Naturally, it has a tendency to grow tall and straggling, with few side shoots. * * * As the leaves used in making tea are produced yearly at the ends of the shoots, the object of

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this system of treatment is apparent. * * * A small crop of leaves may be gathered the third year after planting. In the eighth or tenth year, the product may be considered at its maximum. About ten pounds to an acre is produced in China the third year, sometimes three hundred pounds in the tenth year." Art. cit. sup.

MELIACEÆ. (The Bead Tree Tribe.)

        Bitter, astringent, and tonic properties characterize the species of this order. Some of them are active and dangerous.

        Melia Azedarach, Linn. Pride of India. Nat.; diffused; grows in the streets of Charleston. Fl. May.

        Chap. Therap. ii, 70; Ell. Bot. 475; Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. iv, 290; U. S. Disp. 135; Royle, Mat. Med. 308; Bell's Prac. Dict. 87; Eberle, Mat. Med. 207; Frost's Elems. pt. 1; Archives Générales de Méd. xvii, 112; Lind. Nat. Syst. 102; Coxe, Am. Disp. 128. Barton considered it our most active anthelmintic. It is also a febrifuge, adapted to verminous fevers, where no worms are voided. Dict. des Drogues, par Chevallier, iii, 27. Tournon relates a case where a little girl was thrown into convulsions by eating three of the seeds. Mérat also mentions cases. Journal Gén. de Méd. xlviii, 25; Gazette de Santé, Mars, 1824. We have frequently seen them eaten by children in South Carolina, with no bad effect. As an anthelmintic, four ounces of the bark of the fresh root are boiled in one pint of water, till it becomes of the consistence of coffee, of which from one ounce to half an ounce may be given every two hours; it may be drunk sweetened, and should be followed by a cathartic. The dried berries, in spirits, have also been employed against ascaradides, tænia, and verminous maladies generally. According to Thacher, the pulp of the berry, stewed in lard, is used advantageously as an ointment in tinea capitis. The decoction of the leaves is regarded as astringent and stomachic, and Dr. Skyston says he uses it with success

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in hysteria. This plant is employed in Java and Persia. See Rév. Médicale, iv, 82. The tree is planted around stables, in order that horses, by eating the berries, may be prevented from having "bots." The leaves and berries of the Pride of India, packed with dried fruits, will preserve them from insects. It is much valued in this state as a shade tree, growing equally well in dry pine land residences, and in cities; during the expansion of the flowers, however, it gives out a disagreeable odor. It is easily blown down, and is not long-lived. The wood is beautifully grained, and adapted for table-covers, drawers, etc., never being injured by worms.

        A solution or decoction made with the berries of the Pride of India (to a half bushel of the berries put into a barrel add fifteen gallons of water, and let them soak one or two days), and sprinkled with a water-pot over the plants, will, in most cases, prevent the depredation of the black grub or cutworm. The elder (Sambucus canadensis) is also said to be excellent, used in the same way. F. S. Holmes' So. Farmer. The oil from flax seed (Linum) will also destroy all kinds of animals infesting quadrupeds, when rubbed into the skin.

        A soap is made from the berries of the Pride of India, which is called "Poor man's soap."

AURANTIACEÆ. (The Orange Tribe.)

        Citrus aurantium, W. Orange. This well known tree is cultivated in Charleston, and grows abundantly in Beaufort district, on the sea-coast; also in Florida, and coast of Georgia. I will refer to the Lemon, also, in this connection.

        To obtain the fragrant essences from the fresh rinds of lemons, oranges, etc., the rinds are rubbed against large lumps of loaf sugar until the yellow rind is completely absorbed. Those parts of the sugar which are impregnated with the essence, are, from time to time, to be cut away with a knife, and put into an earthen dish. The whole being thus taken off, the sugared essence is to be closely pressed, and

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put by in pots, where it is to be squeezed down hard, have a bladder over the paper by which it is covered, and tied tightly up. It is at any time fit for use, and will keep for many years. Exactly in the same manner may be obtained and preserved, at the proper seasons, from the fresh roots, the essences of the rinds of bitter or sweet oranges, lemons or limes, bergamots, etc., some of which are often unattainable in a fresh state at any price. Thornton's Herbal, p. 659. By this simple means those who have, or can obtain lemons, may preserve the essence for the preparation of cooling, acidulous drinks at any time. Wine may also be made from the orange. Thornton, in his medical work, gives the method as follows: Put twelve pounds of powdered sugar, with the whites of eight or ten eggs, well beaten, into six gallons of spring water, boil them three quarters of an hour; when cold, put into it six spoonfuls of yeast and the juice of twelve lemons, which, being pared, must stand, with two pounds of white sugar, in a tankard, and in the morning skim off the top, and then put it into the water; add the juice and rinds of fifty oranges, but not the white or pithy parts of the rinds; let it work all together two days and two nights; then add two quarts of Rhenish or white wine, and put it into a vessel.

        In P. O. Rep. 1859, p. 106, is a communication on the products of the Ionian islands and Italy. The following may be useful to those in Florida who raise the lemon in quantity: At Agrami, "the most considerable, and sometimes the most valuable portion of the fruit is Scarito, or that rejected as unfit for exportation, from which the essential oil contained in the rind, and the juice, or citric acid, in the pulp, are extracted. The essential oil is expressed by the hand, in a room from which the air is carefully excluded, as, owing to its highly volatile nature, the oil produced would be greatly diminished by currents of air. The skin cut from three sides of the lemon is pressed between the thumb and finger, and ten or twelve ounces may be expressed in a long day by an expert workman. The oil thus expressed is put into large receivers, whence

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(after remaining some days to deposit the extraneous matter that comes off with the oil) it is transferred to copper bottles for exportation.

        "The juice, or citric acid, is obtained by submitting the pulp to a powerful press, which, though rustic in construction, is efficient. This is worked during the season night and day. The quantity of juice produced from one press during twenty-four hours averages 126 gallons. * * Lemon juice intended for exportation is put into well seasoned oak casks, and filled to the bung, so as entirely to exclude the air. When of a good quality, and the filling of the cask is completed, the article may be kept in a cellar or cold place for any reasonable time." Lemon juice, used for calico printing, was afterward boiled down, or evaporated, in leaden pans, over steam, to a certain consistency--the citric acid and mucilage only remaining in a highly concentrated stage. Consult Mulberry (Morus rubra, in this volume. See P. O. Rep. 1858, p. 257, for Mr. Glover's report on the insects feeding upon it, and a history of the tree in Florida. See also Ure's Dictionary of Arts, article Citric Acid. To prevent attacks of the "scale," an insect, hot water or steam is the best remedy. The Persian powder (see P. O. Rep. 1857, p. 129) is also advised (Pyrethrum caucasicum)--allied to the ox-eyed daisy (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum) growing in the Confederate States.

RHAMNACEÆ. (The Buckthorn Tribe.)

        Ceanothus Americanus, L. New Jersey tea tree. Red-root. Two varieties exist in this state. Diffused in dry pine barrens; Richland; collected in St. John's; vicinity of Charleston; Newbern. Fl. July.

        Lind. Nat. Syst. Bot. 108; Ferrein, Mat. Med. iii, 338; U. S. Disp. 1240; Ell. Bot. Med. Notes, 291; Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. ii, 165; Boston Med. and Surg. Journal, 1835. See also the Supplement to Mér. de L. Dict. de M. Méd. 1846, 155. This plant possesses a considerable degree of astringency, and has been used in gonorrhoeal

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discharges. It is applied by the Cherokee doctors as a wash in cancer, and may be used wherever an astringent is likely to be useful. The Indians employed it in lues venerea, preferring it to lobelia; if the case was violent, the root of the blackberry (Rubus villosus) was mixed with it. Stearns' Am. Herbal, 97. Referring to its antisyphilitic powers, Ferrein says: "Elle guerit aussi en moins de quinze jours, les vénériens les plus invéterés." It is not now supposed to be endowed with any very decided virtue in this respect. Dr. Hubbard prescribes it with advantage in the aphthous affections of infants, in malignant dysentery and in other maladies dependent upon debility; he usually combines with it a little borax. See Journal de Pharm. xxiii, 354. Mr. Tuomey, State Geologist, informs me that much use is made of it in domestic practice in Chesterfield district. An infusion of the leaves was employed during the Revolutionary war as a substitute for tea. We have experimented with the leaves, and obtained a liquor somewhat resembling common tea both in color and taste. It imparts to wool a fine, persistent, cinnamon, nankeen color.

        The above was included in my report on the Medical Botany of South Carolina, published in 1849. Since the beginning of the war I called the attention of our citizens to this plant as a substitute for foreign tea, in a brief communication to the Charleston Courier (Oct. 1861), having again collected and used it, and induced others to do the same. I quote from this article: "Without any desire to exaggerate, I commend the substitute. It grows abundantly in our high pine ridges. The tea prepared from this shrub, drawn as common tea, is certainly a good substitute for indifferent black tea. Properly dried and prepared, it is better than none. I am glad to report it as a most excellent article to be used in war times in place of a high-priced commodity, which in every respect it closely resembles, if it does not equal." Dr. John Bachman, also, at a later period (1862) directed attention to the plant, stating that he had used it for two months in his own family. The leaves should be carefully dried in the shade.

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EUPHORBIACEÆ. (The Euphorbium Tribe.)

        The general property, according to Jussieu, is an excitant principle, residing principally in the milky secretion, and proportioned in its strength to the abundance of the latter.

        Buxus sempervirens. Box. Ex.; cultivated in gardens.

        Bergii, Mat. Med. ii, 799; Ed. and Vav. Mat. Méd. 512; Le. i, 244; Griffith's Med. Bot. 602. The leaves have been affirmed to be violently purgative, and are employed as a substitute for guaiacum. Dém. Élém. de Botanique, iii, 434; Bull. Plantes Vén. de France. A fetid oil is obtained from it, and the wood is prized by engravers for their blocks.

        The timber-bearing box tree is planted in England from the seeds to great profit. Besides being ornamental, its timber is very valuable. It attains a great height in Turkey and Asia Minor, and the wood is used by the engraver, and for the manufacture of combs, and musical and mathematical instruments. It will grow on poor lands. The garden box is always dwarfish.

        Croton balsamiferum. Willd. South Florida.

        This plant, C. maratimum, Walt., and several other species, natives of the Confederate States, should be examined on account of their alliance with C. tiglium, which produces croton oil. Cascarilla bark, and a dye, are obtained from the genus Croton.

        Ricinus communis. Castor oil plant. Ex; grows luxuriantly in rich spots. This valuable plant thrives so well in this state, that it might be made a source of profit. On some of the plantations the seeds are boiled, and the supernatant oil given as a cathartic. It might with great advantage be more generally used. See authors passim.

        It is believed by some that one variety of the castor oil bean hulls itself spontaneously. I remember no distinction

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of this kind mentioned in Pereira's lengthy description of the plant. I have been applied to to ascertain the relative value of the small and large-seeded variety. Pereira states that the oil is equally good and abundant in each. See also the Dictionnaire de Mat. Médicale.

        It is being planted extensively by planters for home use in the Confederate States; and at present, 1862, the oil sells at from eight to eleven dollars a gallon. As it is important that this plant should be largely grown, on account of its great value and enormous consumption, I will be at the trouble to insert all the practical information at my disposal.

        A brief paper can be found in the Patent Office Report, 1855, p. 27. The writer says that the Palma Christi "has proved itself well adapted to the soil and climate of the Middle and Southern states, and were its culture extended for the manufacture of castor oil, there is no doubt it would be profitable under improved methods of extracting it, and we should no longer be dependent upon other nations for a supply. At present we annually import an amount of this article exceeding in value $30,000."

        Although an annual, herbaceous plant in the gardens of the cooler parts of Europe and the United States, within the tropics, and the warm climates adjacent thereto, the Palma Christi becomes a tree of several years standing, often having a woody trunk of the size of a man's body, and fifteen or twenty feet high. This plant thrives best in a light, sandy loam, although it may be cultivated with success in almost any soil tolerably fertile, or in any climate or soil where Indian corn will thrive. In the cooler parts of the Union it may be planted in hills two feet by three apart, two seeds in a place, as early in the spring as the warmth of the ground and the season will admit; but in the South, where the season is longer, and the plant assumes the character of a tree, the hills should be six or seven feet in one direction, and three and a half feet in the other, receiving one seed to a hill, covered to the depth of two inches. The culture is so simple, that it only requires to

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keep the plants free from weeds, with a small, flat hill to each. The only difficulty to contend with is, that in saving or harvesting the beans, the outward coats, as they become dry and elastic, fly off the plants to a considerable distance, causing the seeds to drop to the ground. In order to prevent this, it has been recommended to cut off the branches from the plants, as soon as the pods begin to explode, and spread them on the floor of a close room; and after the beans and their shells have parted, to separate the husks from the seeds with a fanning-mill, as with wheat, or try the common riddle and a draught of air. The seeds of this plant furnish the well known medicine, castor oil, which is obtained both by decoction and expression. The former method is performed by freeing the seeds from their husks, which are gathered upon their turning brown, and when beginning to burst open are first bruised in a mortar, afterward tied up in a linen bag, and then thrown into a large pot with a sufficient quantity of water, and boiled until the oil has risen to the surface, when it is carefully skimmed off, strained, and preserved for use. In extensive operations, a mill should be provided, moved by the agency of animal power, water, or steam, for bruising the seeds; and the other apparatus used in obtaining the oil should be of appropriate dimensions. The oil thus obtained, however, has the disadvantage of becoming rancid sooner than that procured by expression. The best mode, therefore, is to subject the seeds to a powerful hydraulic press, in a similar manner to that in which the oil is extracted from almonds and cotton seeds. The seeds yield about one-quarter of their weight in oil.

        The reader interested in the varieties, mode of pressure, etc., of castor oil seeds, may consult with profit Mérat and De Len's Dict. de Mat. Méd., Pereira's Mat. Med., the U. S. Disp., and in addition the material included in this paper; also, Ure's Dict. of Arts, article "Oils," and Wilson's Rural Cyc.

        The oil may be extracted from the seeds (see U. S. Disp.)

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in three ways: by decoction, expression, and by the agency of alcohol.

        The process by decoction consists in bruising the seeds, previously deprived of their husks, and then boiling them in water. The oil rising to the surface is skimmed or strained off, and afterward again boiled with a small quantity of water, to dissipate the acrid principle. To increase the product, it is said that the seeds are sometimes toasted. The oil is thus rendered brownish and acrid, and the same result takes place in the second boiling if care is not taken to suspend the process soon after the water is evaporated. hence the color of the West India oil, where this method is pursued. "The oil obtained in this country is by expression. The following, as we have been informed, are the outlines of the process usually employed by those who prepare it on a large scale. The seeds having been thoroughly cleansed from the dust and fragments of the capsules with which they are mixed, are conveyed into a shallow iron reservoir, where they are submitted to a gentle heat, insufficient to scorch or decompose them, and not greater than can be readily borne by the hand. The object of this step is to render the oil sufficiently liquid for easy expression. The seeds are then introduced into a powerful screw-press. A whitish, oily liquid is thus obtained, which is transferred to clean iron boilers, supplied with a considerable quantity of water. The mixture is boiled for some time, and the impurities being skimmed off as they rise to the surface, a clear oil is at length left upon the top of the water--the mucilage and starch having been dissolved by this liquid, and the albumen coagulated by the heat. The latter ingredient forms a whitish layer between the oil and water. The clear oil is now carefully removed, and the process is completed by boiling it with a minute proportion of water, and continuing the application of heat till aqueous vapor ceases to rise, and till a small portion of the liquid, taken out in a vial, preserves a perfect transparency when it cools. The effect of this last operation is to clarify the oil, and to

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render it less irritating, by driving off the acrid, volatile matter. But much care is requisite not to push the heat too far, as the oil then acquires a brownish hue, and an acrid, peppery taste. After the completion of the process, the oil is put into barrels, and is thus sent into market. There is reason, however, to believe that much of the American oil is prepared by merely allowing it to stand for some time after expression, and then drawing off the supernatant liquid. One bushel of good seeds yields five or six quarts, or about twenty-five per cent. of the best oil. If it is not very carefully prepared, it is apt to deposit a sediment upon standing; and the apothecary frequently finds it necessary to filter it through coarse paper before dispensing it. Perhaps this may be owing to the plan just alluded to, of purifying the oil by rest and decantation." A large proportion of oil was obtained through New Orleans from Illinois. The American castor oil, says Wood and Bache, is also prepared by mere expression, rest, and decantation. See Bené ("Sesamum") for oils and method of expression.

        Doctor John Bachman ("J. B."), who has exhibited the character of the true patriot during our present struggles, communicates the following on the castor oil plant:

        MODE OF CULTURE.--Break up the land with a plough, and lay it off in rows six feet apart, each way. The best time to plant is from the middle of April to the second week in May. Drop three seeds in each hill. Half a bushel of seed will plant ten acres. Treat the plant in the same manner as corn. Be careful in looking after the cutworm, which gives it the preference to corn. When the plants are six inches high, they should be thinned to one stalk in a hill. New lands, broken up the same season, are not suited. One hand can tend five acres. In a good, dry soil, the yield will be from fifteen to twenty bushels per acre, each bushel yielding seven quarts of pure oil.

        GATHERING THE SEED.--About the middle of August the seeds begin to ripen, and will continue until checked by the frost. A writer in the Western Plough Boy, of 1832,

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says: "Previous to the ripening of the seeds, the yard for spreading them on should be prepared. It should be made on ground of a gradual descent, open to the sun, and made very smooth and firm. The first and second parcels that ripen must stand till the pods on the ear begin to crack, otherwise a part of the bean will be imperfect. Later in the season, when the stalk is more mature, they must be cut when two or three pods begin to open, or they will waste. They are laid in the yard one ear deep. In warm weather a layer will pop out in three days. When all have opened the stems are raked off. The hulls are swept off with a broom made with naked switches; which, if carefully done, will not leave more than one bushel of hulls in eight of beans. They may be cleaned with a common wheat-fan, with a riddle suited to the size of the bean."

        MODE OF EXTRACTION.--The oil is obtained both by coction and expression. The former method is performed by tying up the seeds, previously broken and bruised, in a bag, which is suspended in boiling water till the oil is extracted and rises to the surface, when it is skimmed off. This is the usual mode adopted by farmers. The smallest quantity of water, however; remaining in the oil, causes it to become rancid. The "cold expressed oil" is preferable, and will continue pure for a long time. The process is easy and simple. The screw and the lever used in baling cotton will express the oil from the beans. The capsules, or unopened beans, are to be moderately heated in a furnace, not so hot as to be distressing to the naked hand. Under the screw is fixed a strong iron cylinder, into which the beans are put, and covered with an iron follower, of diameter proportioned to the cylinder. The oil is now fit for use. I have seen it stated that "a Southwestern planter began with making 500 gallons of oil in 1825, and in 1831 he produces 13,000." It was then a profitable business at one dollar and fifty cents per gallon.

        I trust our planters will see the necessity of preparing to plant the castor oil bean extensively. The great value of the oil as a purgative is the mildness and rapidity with

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which it operates. It is much needed by the brave defenders of our soil. It has saved thousands of lives; and if we cannot obtain it, thousands must perish by our inattention to the production of this necessary medicine. That the profits, under moderate prices, are greater than the production of any other article, I am fully aware.

        N. B.--Planters should be encouraged to plant largely of the ground-nut--it makes an admirable oil; so does the bené. Oils are needed not only for table use, but on our machinery of every description.

        Mr. W. Toney, a writer in the Southern Field and Fireside, says "there are several varieties, all yielding castor oil, but only one kind which is self-hulling, and this is the true, genuine oil-bean." If this is so, I am not aware of it. I have only seen a large and a small seed variety, and no writer refers, so far as I am aware, to any other distinction. The writer referred to says that, for the common varieties, some machinery, like the cotton seed huller, is necessary to decorticate them.

        A recent writer says that when the capsule is about to expel the bean it is ripe; the ripe bunches should be removed from the stalk with a knife, and laid thinly over a hard and dry floor of earth, plank, etc., on a hot and sunny day, when the heat of the sun will cause the capsules to expel the contained beans. Now rake away the straw, and winnow away the chaff.

        The cleaned beans are now to be beaten in a mortar with a pestle, or ground in a mill to a good degree of fineness. The mass may then be made to give out the contained oil, either by decoction or by expression.

        The beaten beans may be used as a purgative, but an overdose is sure to act powerfully as a cathartic, and often as an emetic. Three beans (a little more or less) are generally enough for a dose.

        The castor oil bean, after being exposed in the sun, may be thrashed with a flail, or slightly pounded in a mortar, to loosen out the seeds. I would suppose that the best plan would be to winnow out the seeds from their coverings.

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To purify the oil of mucilage, which will render it rancid, the oil should be boiled in a little water; the mucilage being insoluble in the water, may be skimmed off. Any water remaining with the oil should be evaporated, taking care not to burn or overheat the oil in the process. Soubeiran considers that all processes in which heat is employed are objectionable, as a quantity of fatty acids is produced, which renders the oil acrid; only, too high a temperature should be avoided. Pereira says that in England the oil is expressed either by Bramah's hydraulic press, or by a common screw-press, in a room artificially heated. It is purified by rest, decantation, and filtration. It is bleached by exposure to light on the tops of houses. In Calcutta it is prepared as follows, Pereira adds: The fruit is shelled by women, the seeds are crushed between rollers, then placed in hempen cloths, and pressed in the ordinary screw or hydraulic press. The oil thus procured is afterward heated with water in a tin boiler until the water boils, by which the mucilage or albumen is separated as a scum. The oil is then strained through flannel, and put into canisters. The small seed variety is supposed to yield the most oil. Beans of ricinus are said by Boussingault to be about four times more rich in oil than either flaxseed, olives, or sunflower seed. He says that 62 pounds of oil can be procured in 100 of the castor oil bean. It is stated that in Jamaica castor oil is often obtained by simply bruising the seeds in a mortar, and boiling them in bags under water--the oil rises to the surface, is skimmed off, strained, and bottled for use. This was the plan used on the plantations in South Carolina during the war of Independence. It would not do for operations on a large scale. See also Encyc. Britannica, art. "Ricinus." The oil is considered good for illuminating purposes. A writer in the Southern Cultivator, p. 29, vol. 7, refers to the discovery of a process for separating stearine from the pure oil in the seeds, and making the former into candles.

        The cake left after the expression of castor oil is very advantageously applied to land as a manure for wheat and

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other crops. An interesting communication upon this subject may be found in the first volume of the Farmer's Register, from T. G. Peachy, Esq., of Williamsburg, Va., the results of whose experiments show the great value of the article. In one experiment he applied from fifty to sixty bushels per acre on seven and a half acres of land sown with ten bushels of wheat, and the product was twenty-six bushels of wheat per acre. In this case the land was so poor that not over five bushels could be expected from it without dressing. He recommends about forty bushels as an ordinary dressing. Mr. Peachy does not think the common impression correct, that the chief efficacy of the cake resides in the portion of oil which it retains. His press, he says, "is a very powerful one, and leaves a very small portion of oil in the cake. There is, moreover, other refuse matter in such an establishment as ours, which contains a vast deal more oil than the cake, which I have used as manure, and been uniformly disappointed in its effects. Accident has enabled me, I think, to solve the difficulty, and to declare my belief that the fertilizing qualities of the oil cake reside chiefly in the farina it contains. Some time last year, a vessel laden with flour was stranded near Jamestown, and the flour ruined. Mr. John Mann, who owns a farm in the neighborhood, took two or three of the barrels, and top-dressed a small portion of his wheat with it. I was not an eye-witness of its effects; but I was informed that it produced as great an increase of that portion of his crop as my oil cake would have done.

        "By experiment, I find that fifty bushels of the cake will weigh 1,800 pounds; and of this quantity I have discovered that ten-eighteenths is farina or flour--equal to five barrels of flour. The cotton seed, I fancy, contains more farina, in proportion to the oil, than the castor bean, and, I believe, would produce as great an effect after being deprived of its oil as it would do in its original state."

        Jatropha stimulosa, Mx. Stinging nettle. Grows in dry

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pine land; vicinity of Charleston; collected in St. John's; Richland, Dr. L. Gibbes; Newbern. Fl. Aug. The leaves are prickly, and highly irritating when applied to the skin. It might be employed like the nettle (Urtica), as a counterirritant in epilepsies, and diseases requiring stimulating applications.

        Acalypha Virginica, L. Grows in dry, fertile lands; vicinity of Charleston; collected in St. John's, Berkley; Newbern. Fl. Sept.

        Ell. Bot. Med. Notes, ii, 645. Said by Dr. Atkins, of Coosawhatchie, to be expectorant and diuretic; he has employed it successfully in cases of humid asthma, ascites, and anasarca.

        Hippomane mancinella, L. Manchineel. South Florida. Chap.

        I find it closely related to Stillingia (queen's delight), and it belongs to the Euphorbiaceoe. Wilson describes it as a poisonous, evergreen, tropical tree, of the spurge family. It attains a height of eighty feet, and was esteemed a great curiosity in the hot-houses of Britain. The fruit is the size of an apple. A milky, caustic juice abounds in every part of the tree, and if it touches the human eye, is in danger of causing blindness; and if it falls on any part of the human skin, will blister it; if upon linen, it will make it black, and afterward eat a hole through it; yet this forms, adds the author from whom I quote, some of the well known caoutchouc of commerce. The timber of the manchineel is very durable, and takes a fine polish, and is much esteemed for various kinds of cabinet-work; but the woodsmen require to dry and consolidate it by surrounding it with artificial fires before felling the trees, else they might be blistered and blinded by its juice. And the cabinet-makers must cover their faces with fine lawn while working it, else they might get their eyes inflamed, and temporarily blinded, with its exhalations and sawdust. The

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fruit violently inflames the mouth and throat of any person who tastes it, and it is exceedingly dangerous. Any available part of the plant is so dreadfully active that it cannot, even in the smallest doses, be safely introduced into medicine. A notion prevails among the Americans that the dew which falls beneath the tree is inflammatory and blistering; but this seems to be, the author adds, an absurd exaggeration. The name Hippomane signifies horse-madness, ascribing to the tree a maddening effect upon the horse. Rural Cyclopædia. Its resemblance to our Stillingia, which is a mere shrub, is close, and the tree wants a careful investigation at the hands of those living in Florida. I have collected the milk from the Euphorbia and Asclepias, and hardened it, though not in sufficient amount to test its qualities.

        Stillingia sylvatica, L. Queen's delight. Collected in the pine barrens of St. John's, Berkley, in great abundance; Richland; vicinity of Charleston; Newbern. Fl. Aug.

        U. S. Disp. 687; Frost in So. Journal Med. and Pharm., Oct. 1846; Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. vi, 535. This plant exudes a milky juice, very pungent to the taste, and flowing in great abundance from the bruised surface. It is used to some extent in this state, as an alterative in scrofula, in syphilis, in cutaneous diseases, in chronic hepatic affections, and in the composition of diet drinks; it adds to the efficacy of sarsaparilla. We are informed by a physician residing in South Carolina, that he has treated syphilis successfully with it. It is believed to be possessed of valuable properties, and greater attention should be paid to it by those living in the country where it is easily obtained. A tincture is made with the root two ounces, of diluted alcohol a pint. Dose a fluid drachm. A decoction is made of the bruised root one ounce, water one and one-quarter pints. Boil to one pint. Dose, one or two fluidounces several times a day; an overdose is cathartic or emetic. The milky juices should be examined. I have inspissated that from the Asclepias and Euphorbia. See these genera.

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        Stillingia sebifera, L. Tallow-tree. Nat. from China; collected in St. John's, forty-five miles from the ocean. I have seen it growing abundantly near Charleston, on the King street road.

        Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. ii, 476; see Croton sebif. of Mich. An ointment made from this is applied in nocturnal fevers. The Chinese, according to Thunberg, employ the concreted oil extracted from the plant, in manufacturing candles. The Reporters of the Patent Office, for 1848, speak very favorably of it, and recommend its introduction, seeming not to be aware of its being already found here. See their method of extracting the oil.

        In my report on the Medical Botany of South Carolina to the American Medical Association, in 1849, I had, as above, reported the fact of this tree being already naturalized. I have recommended it particularly to the soap manufacturers of Charleston and the Confederate States, as a rich material for oil. The seeds, when burned, give out a great deal of light. It could be planted with profit. In the Patent Office Report, 1851, p. 54, there is also a paper on the uses of the S. sebifera, with a notice of the Pe-la, or Insect Wax of China. By D. J. Macgowan, M. D., dated Ningpo, August, 1850. In this article, it is stated that the Encyclopædia Americana refers to its being grown along our coast. "Analytical chemistry shows animal tallow to consist of two proximate principles--stearine and elaine. Now, what renders the fruit of this tree peculiarly interesting, is the fact that both these principles exist in it separately, in nearly a pure state." "Nor is the tree prized merely for the stearine and elaine it yields, though these products constitute its chief value: its leaves are employed as a black dye; its wood, being hard and durable, may be easily used for printing-blocks, and various other articles; and, finally, the refuse of the nut is employed as fuel and manure." Dr. Roxburgh, in his Flora Indica, had condemned the plant as of little value, because, in simply crushing and boiling the seeds, the two principles referred to as existing together are not properly separated. I had myself,

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long since, in my report, published in 1849, and also in my paper in DeBow's Review, August, 1861, recommended this plant to the candle and soap manufacturers for the large amount of oil it contained, and because of its abundance around Charleston. I also gave some of the seeds to a manufacturer of castor oil, to experiment with, in 1851. I will now quote from the paper mentioned, and also refer the reader to a paper on the subject in the Charleston Medical Journal, by H. W. Ravenel.

        "The Stillingia sebifera is chiefly cultivated in the provinces of Brangsi, Kongnain, and Chekkiang. In some districts near Hangchan, the inhabitants defray all their taxes with its produce. It grows alike on low, alluvial plains, and on granite hills, on the rich mould, at the margin of canals, and on the sandy sea-beach. The sandy estuary of Hangchan yields little else. Some of the trees are known to be several hundred years old, and, though prostrated, still send forth branches and bear fruit. Some are made to fall over rivulets, forming convenient bridges. They are seldom planted where anything else can be conveniently cultivated--in detached places, in corners about houses, roads, canals, and fields. Grafting is performed at the close of March, or early in April, when the trees are about three inches in diameter, and also when they attain their growth. The Fragrant Herbal recommends for trial the practice of an old gardener, who, instead of grafting, preferred breaking the small branches and twigs, taking care not to tear or wound the bark. In midwinter, when the nuts are ripe, they are cut off, with their twigs, by a sharp, crescentic knife, attached to the extremity of a long pole, which is held in the hand, and pushed upward against the twigs, removing at the same time such as are fruitless. The capsules are gently pounded in a mortar, to loosen the seeds from their shells, from which they are separated by sifting. To facilitate the separation of the white, sebaceous matter enveloping the seeds, they are steamed in tubs having convex open wicker bottoms, placed over caldrons of boiling water. When thoroughly heated, they are reduced to a mash in

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the mortar, and thence transferred to bamboo sieves, kept at a uniform temperature over hot ashes. A single operation does not suffice to deprive them of all their tallow; the steaming and sifting are therefore repeated. The article thus procured becomes a solid mass on falling through the sieve, and, to purify it, is melted and formed into cakes for the press. These receive their form in bamboo hoops, a foot in diameter, and three inches deep, which are laid on the ground over a little straw. On being filled with the hot liquid, the buds of the straw are drawn up and spread over the top, and when of sufficient consistence, are placed with their rings in the press. This apparatus, which is of the rudest description, is constructed of two large beams, placed horizontally, so as to form a through capable of containing about fifty of the rings, with their sebaceous cakes. At one end it is closed, and at the other it is used for receiving wedges, which are successively driven into it by ponderous sledge-hammers, wielded by athletic men. The tallow oozes in a melted state into a receptacle below, where it cools. It is again melted, and poured into tubs smeared with mud, to prevent its adhering. It is now marketable, in masses of about eighty pounds each, hard, brittle, white, opaque, tasteless, and without the odor of animal tallow. Under high pressure it scarcely stains bibulous paper; melts at 104° Fahrenheit. It may be regarded as nearly pure stearine; the slight difference is doubtless owing to the admixture of oil expressed from the seeds in the process just described. The seeds yield about eight per cent. of tallow, which sells for about five cents per pound. The process for pressing the oil, which is carried on at the same time, remains to be noticed. It is contained in the kernel of the nut--the sebaceous matter which lies between the shell and the husk having been removed in the manner described. The kernel, and the husk covering it, are ground between two stones, which are heated to prevent clogging from the sebaceous matter still adhering. The mass is then placed in a winnowing machine, precisely like those in use in western

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countries. The chaff being separated, exposes the white, oleaginous kernels, which, after being strained, are placed in a mill to be mashed. This machine is formed of a circular stone groove, twelve feet in diameter, three inches deep, and about as many wide, into which a thick, solid stone wheel, eight feet in diameter, tapering at the edge, is made to revolve perpendicularly by an ox harnessed to the outer end of its axle, the inner turning on a pivot in the centre of the machine. Under this perpendicular weight the seeds are reduced to a mealy state, steamed in the tubs, formed into cakes, and pressed by wedges in the manner above described; the process of mashing, steaming, and dressing being repeated with the kernels likewise. The kernels yield about thirty per cent. of oil. It is called ising-yu, sells for about three cents a pound, answers well for lamps, though inferior for this purpose to some other vegetable oils in use. It is also employed for various purposes in the arts, and has a place in the Chinese pharmacopoeia because of its quality of changing gray hair black, and other imaginary virtues. The husk which envelops the kernel, and the shell which encloses them and their sebaceous covering, are used to feed the furnaces--scarcely any other fuel being needed for this purpose. The residuary tallow cakes are also employed for fuel, as a small quantity of it remains ignited a whole day. It is in great demand for chafing-dishes during the cold season, and, finally, the cakes which remain after the oil has been pressed out are much valued as a manure, particularly for tobacco fields, the soil of which is rapidly impoverished by the Virginia weed. Artificial illumination in China is generally procured by vegetable oils; but candles are also employed by those who can afford it, and for lanterns. In religious ceremonies no other material is used. As no one ventures out after dark without a lantern, and as the gods cannot be acceptably worshipped without candles, the quantity consumed is very great. With an unimportant exception, the candles are made of what I beg to designate as vegetable stearine. When the candles, which are made by

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dipping, are of the required diameter, they receive a final dip into a mixture of the same material and insect wax, by which their consistency is preserved in the hottest weather. They are generally colored red, which is done by throwing a minute quantity of alkanet root (Anchusa tinctoria), brought from Shangtung, into the mixture. Verdigris is sometimes employed to dye them green. The wicks are made of rush coiled round a stem of coarse grass, the lower part of which is slit to receive the pin of the candlestick, which is more economical than if put into a socket. Tested in the mode recommended by Count Rumford, these candles compare favorably with those made from spermaceti, but not when the clumsy wick of the Chinese is employed. Stearine candles cost about eight cents per pound.

        Euphorbia corollata, L. Wild hippo; wild ipecac. Collected in St. John's, Berkley; Charleston district; in dry soils; vicinity of Charleston; Newbern. Fl. Aug.

        Frost's Elems. Mat. Med. 82; Bell's Pract. Dict. 199; Am. Journal Med. Sci. xi, 22; U. S. Disp. 321; Big. Am. Med. Bot. iii, 119; Royle, Mat. Med. 542; Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. iii, 179; Clayton's Phil. Trans. Abridg. 331; Zollickoffer, Mat. Med. 1819; cit. in Bart. loc. sup.; Coxe, Am. Disp. 272; Griffith, Med. Bot. 593. It is emetic, diaphoretic, and cathartic. Dr. Zollickoffer thinks that, as a diaphoretic, combined with Dover's powder, it is not inferior to ipecacuanha. He tried it in seven cases. Twenty grains of the powdered root would produce emesis, sometimes followed by hypercatharsis. Dr. McKeen states that twelve grains of the root in substance have double the purgative power of an equal quantity of jalap. "Combined with opium and the sulphate of potassa, an excellent diaphoretic in dropsy." See Dict. de Mat. Méd. Dr. Frost, Prof. Mat. Med. South Carolina Med. Coll., thinks it quite as active as the ipecacuanha, and fully entitled to the consideration of the profession, he having used it with benefit in his own practice. "Even should they not be employed, every physician should be instructed in their properties,

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and, when occasion requires, know the substitute he can apply to in case of need." Op. cit. 82. A drachm to eighty or one hundred grains may be added to a half pint of hot water, which may be given in tablespoonful doses every five or ten minutes till vomiting is induced. This is a convenient mode of administration. According to experiment, the contused root will excite vesication and inflammation if applied to the skin. Maj. John Leconte, of New York, informs me that he has been much pleased with its effects as a sudorific. Dose as an emetic, twenty grains; as a cathartic, ten grains; as a diaphoretic, four grains. This plant is easily obtained, and can be conveniently prescribed. It should be used with caution in cases of insensibility of the stomach.

        Euphorbia ipecacuanha. Carolina hippo. Grows in Abbeville, Edgefield, and Colleton districts; Newbern. Fl. June.

        U. S. Disp. 223; Barton's Med. Bot. 120. An energetic and tolerably certain emetic; but liable sometimes to produce excessive nausea by accumulation; hence, thought by some writers "wholly unfit to supersede the officinal ipecacuanha." This opinion, however, has been questioned by Hewson, Royal, and others. Barton said it was equal, and in some respects superior. Lind. Nat. Syst. Bot. 114; Shec. Flora Carol. 555; Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. iii, 182; Coxe, Am. Disp. 272; Schoepf, Mat. Med. 74; B. S. Barton, Collec. 26; W. P. Barton, Veg. Mat. Med.; Griffith's Med. Bot. 592; Frost's Elems. 81. It sometimes has its action extended to the bowels, and operates with a considerable degree of activity. Dose as an emetic, fifteen to twenty grains; as a diaphoretic, five grains. Bigelow notices among its constituents caoutchouc, resin, mucus, and fæcula. Am. Med. Bot. ii, 109. It is evident, from the variety of opinions expressed in relation to this plant, that it should be given with caution. Both species are considered to be more active than the imported ipecacuanha.

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        Euphorbia hypericifolia, L. Spurge; eye-bright. Grows in the upper district, according to Elliott; vicinity of Charleston, Bach; Collected in St. John's; found by Dr. Boykin, in Georgia. Fl. July.

        U. S. Disp. 321. Highly recommended by Dr. Zollickoffer, of Baltimore, in dysentery, after due depletion. In diarrhoea, menorrhagia, and leucorrhoea, a half ounce of the dried leaves is infused in a pint of boiling water, of which a fluid half ounce must be taken every hour in dysentery, and the same quantity after every evacuation in diarrhoea, and two ounces morning, noon, and night, in amenorrhoea, fluor albus, etc. See, also, Mér. and de L. Supplém. to the Dict. de M. Méd. 1845, 282, where Dr. Zollickoffer's success in twelve cases is referred to; also, Am. Journal of Med. Sci. Nov. 1832; M. and de L. iii, 181. It possesses some narcotic power, also, which contributes to render it peculiarly applicable in these diseases. Journal Méd. de la Gironde, 161, 1825. Martius says it has the same properties as the E. linearis the milky juice of which is used in Brazil in syphilitic ulcers. He had often tested its value in ulcers of the cornea. Journal de Chim. v, 427. The juice applied to the eye causes severe smarting, and it is thought to cause the severe salivation to which grazing horses are subject. From several of the spurge tribe a gum (euphorbium) is obtained by incision, which concretes by exposure to the air. It is a dangerous irritant, and has to be handled with caution. Mixed with starch to weaken it, it may be used externally. Our Euphorbias should be examined for caoutchouc, and the juice investigated carefully and cautiously; so, also, the juice of the Stillingia.

        Euphorbia maculata, L. Cultivated soils; vicinity of Charleston; collected in St. John's. Fl. July.

        Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. iii, 184; Ainslie, Mat. Med. Ind. ii, 76. Juice employed with great success in cleansing the cornea of the spots and pellicles (les pellicules) following small pox. Mérat says the ancients recommended these plants in diseases of the eye. Dr. Zollickoffer

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speaks of this species, also, as possessing valuable properties. All are endowed with some emetic power.

        Euphorbia helioscopia. Grows near the Horseshoe bridge, Ashepoo, and on Hutchinson's island. See Ell. Sketches. Fl. May.

        Dém. Élém. de Botanique, ii, 21. "A valuable purgative." According to Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. iii, 181, it is useful in spyhilis when mercury is contraindicated. Dr. Nonne assures the profession of its utility. See Bull. des Sci. de Fér. ii, 354.

        Euphorbia thymifolia, L. Included by Thomas Walter, in his Flora Carolina, among the South Carolina species. Mich. says it grows on the Mississippi. Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. iii, 188. In India, the powder is administered in the verminous disorders of infants. Ainslie, Mat. Med. Ind. 275.

        Mercurialis annua. Grows around Charleston. Introduced.

        A poisonous, narcotic plant, with emetic properties, but less active than the M. perennis. Seeds purgative. It partakes, to a certain extent, of the acrid qualities of the Euphorbiaceæ.

CELASTRACEÆ.

        De Cand. says an acrid principle has been detected among the species.

        Euonymus Americanus. Rare; grows in swamps; collected in St. John's, Berkley. Fl. May.

        Griffith's Med. Bot. 220. Emetic, discutient, and antisyphilitic. It is also thought to be narcotic. The seeds are said to be nauseous, purgative, and emetic, and are used in some places to destroy vermin in the hair. Leaves are poisonous to cattle.

        Euonymus atropurpureus. Possesses properties similar to the above.

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STAPHYLEACEÆ. (Bladder-nut Family.)

        Staphylea trifolia, L. Three leaved bladder-nut. Damp woods North Carolina, Tennessee, and northward (Chap).

        The nut of our tree resembles closely that of the S. pinnata, which is used in Catholic countries for making rosaries. Rosaries are also made of the seeds of the Pride of India tree (Melia). The nuts of the S. trifoliata resemble a large, inflated bladder.

        Cyrilla racemiflora, Walter. Grows in swamps, and inundated lands; collected in St. John's, where it is found in abundance; vicinity of Charleston; Newbern. Fl. July.

        Ell. Bot. Med. Notes, i, 295. The outer bark of the oldest shrubs, near the root, is extremely light and friable, and absorbs moisture. It has been used with advantage as a substitute for agaric and other styptics. I learn that it is much confided in for this purpose by those living in Darlington district, South Carolina. When rubbed on the hand, it produces a sensation similar to that produced by the application of an astringent fluid. It has also been applied to ulcers when the indication is to cicatrize them. This plant merits further attention.

        Cliftonia ligustrina, Banks. (Mylocarium, Willd.) Titi. Pine-barren ponds and swamps, Florida, and lower districts of South Carolina and Georgia.

        Mr. Johnson, of Beaufort, S. C., informs me that the stems, when dried, are found to suit admirably for pipestems--a heated wire being passed through the pith.

CLUSIACEÆ. (Balsam Tree Family.)

        Clusia flava, L. South Florida.

        Wilson, in his Rural Cyclopædia, says that the balsam tree, Clusia rosea, grows in Carolina and West India islands. "A balsam resembling turpentine exudes from every part of the tree, and has been much used as a plaster for the cure of sciatica. The West Indians call this balsam hog

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gum, from a belief that wild hogs rub themselves against it to obtain a cure of their wounds."

        Canella alba. Swartz. South Florida. Chap.

        This is an aromatic tree, bearing black berries.

PORTULACACEÆ. (The Purslane Tribe.)

        Portulaca oleracea, Walter. Garden purslane. Grows in yards and rich soils; vicinity of Charleston; collected in St. John's; Newbern. Fl. Aug.

        Linn. Veg. M. Med. 88; Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. v, 458. It is antiscorbutic, diuretic, and anthelmintic, and vaunted as an antidote for poisoning from cantharides. According to Linnæus, the herb was used in strangury. It will coagulate milk. The American dispensatories do not vouchsafe it the same notice that it has received in various parts of Europe. It has long been used as a salad and potherb. The young shoots are gathered when from two to five inches long. Rural Cyclopædia. A blue color is obtained from this plant. The following is given by an agricultural journal: Boil a bushel of garden parsley or purslane till soft in an iron pot or kettle, and strain off the liquor; boil a pound of logwood, also in iron, for two hours, strain off the liquor, and mix the purslane water; then dissolve half a pound of alum in soft water, sufficient to cover three pounds of yarn; put it in a brass or copper kettle, and simmer the yarn in it for three hours; then wring and put into the dye; simmer this three hours, with frequent stirring. The depth of the color may be varied by varying the quantity of the logwood. A very desirable blue dye is obtained. See Ohio and Southern Cultivator.

SILENECEÆ. (The Dianthus Tribe.)

        Uniformly insipid.

        Silene Virginica, L. Grows on the margin of roads; vicinity of Charleston; collected in St. John's. Fl. June.

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        Griffith, Med. Bot. 188; Barton's Collec. i. 39; U. S. Disp. 1296; Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. vi, 342; De Cand. Essai, 94; Lind. Nat. Syst. Bot. 125. The decoction of the root acts as an anthelmintic.

        Saponaria officinalis, Linn. Soapwort. Nat. in upper districts; Newbern. Fl. Aug.

        U. S. Disp. 1293. This plant imparts to water the property of forming a lather, from a principle it contains called saponine, which is allied to the active constituent of sarsaparilla, and as a substitute for which it is frequently used. This is obtained by treating the watery extract with alcohol, and evaporating. It has been used in Germany in visceral and scrofulous affections, cutaneous eruptions, and by some is thought superior to sarsaparilla in efficacy. The decoction or the extract may be given. Audry said the inspissated juice would generally cure gonorrhoea in two weeks, without any other remedy. Op. cit. Wade's Pl. Rariores, 32; Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Med. vii, 220; Flore Med. vi, 311. It is regarded as diuretic, aperient, and sudorific, recommended in engorgement of the abdominal viscera, stomach, intestines, lymphatic glands, and in icterus, cachexy, etc. On account of its sudorific properties, it is advised in syphilis, rheumatism, and gout. Perrihle gave it combined with mercury; while fresh, administering it in doses of one-half ounce of the decoction, or from twenty-four to forty-eight grains of the extract. Journal de Chim Méd. vi, 747, and vii, 710; Ludolff, Diss. de Rad. Sap. Offic. Erfordiæ, 1756; J. F. Cartheusen, Diss. de Sap. Frankfort; Amielhon, "Si le Struthium des anciens est véritablement la saponaire des modernes." Mém. Nat. des Sci. et des. Arts, i. 587.

        A decoction of this plant has been used in some countries as a substitute for soap, and is well capable of cleansing woollen fabrics; the leaves were considered laxative. Wilson's Rural Cyc. Consult "Sapindus" and "Æsculus," in this paper, for other plants used as substitutes for soap. The Sapindus (soapwort) also furnishes one species, S.

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marginatus, which may be useful. Found in Florida and Georgia, near the coast.

        Salsola soda. Barilla plant. I would particularly advise the planting in the Confederate States of this plant (cultivated so largely in Spain, Sicily, and Sardinia), on account of its great value in the ready manufacture of crude soda--which is now supplanting, on account of its cheapness, the use of potash in the manufacture of soap. Beside, soda gives a hard soap. According to the analysis of Uŕe, "good barilla contains twenty per cent. of real alkali, associated with muriates and sulphates of lime, soda," etc. Caustic lyes made from it are used in the finishing process of hard soap manufacture.

        The Salsola kali, L. Saltwort. S. Caroliniana of Walt. It grows in Georgia, and northward; and I have little doubt is rich in soda, and may be made of great use to us in the production of this most important product.

        The barillas, Ure says, "always contain a small proportion of potash, to which their peculiar value, in making a less brittle or more plastic hard soap than the fictitious sodas, may, with great probability, be ascribed."

        I will give the method of preparing soda from the Salsola: "Of manufactured soda, the variety most anciently known is barilla, the incinerated ash of the Salsola soda. This plant is cultivated with great care by the Spaniards, especially in the vicinity of Alicant. The seed is sown in light, low soils, which are embanked toward the sea-shore, and furnished with sluices for admitting an occasional overflow of salt water. When the plants are ripe, the crop is cut down and dried; the seeds are rubbed out, and preserved; the rest of the plant is burned in rude furnaces, at a temperature just sufficient to cause the ashes to enter into a state of semifusion, so as to concrete on cooling into cellular masses, moderately compact," etc. "Another mode of manufacturing crude soda is by burning sea-weed into kelp." Ure. Now, crude soda, and the

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soda ash of commerce, are made altogether by the decomposition of sea salt. I am not aware whether our native Salsola kali grows in abundance upon the coast of the Carolinas and Georgia. See "Corn" (Zea mays) for economical mode of making soda from corn-cobs.

        DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING "HOME-MADE" SODA.--The Richmond Dispatch publishes the following: "The preparation more closely resembles saleratus than soda, and is a comparatively pure article for making bread. It is more valuable in view of the scarcity and high price of soda in our drug stores. After making a strong lye from ashes, boiling down to dryness, and burning till white, take the residue and add its own weight of cold water, set in a cool place for several days, say a week, stirring frequently; then strain through a fine cloth, and boil down again to dryness, stirring frequently, and, finally, cork up the powder so obtained in a bottle. These operations should all be conducted in an iron vessel, not in glass or stoneware."

        I insert the following from a journal of the day, hoping that they may prove useful:

        SOAP RECEIPTS.--In these times of war and blockade, when our people are thrown almost entirely upon their own resources, every item looking to domestic economy and home production should be carefully observed. Our people are passing through a trying ordeal, but they are learning lessons which will be of practical utility in after times. Habits of economy, and elements of self-reliance, which have been pushed aside by the pressure of an extravagant sentiment, by an increasing love for easy and luxurious living, and by the versatility of Yankee genius in supplying our almost every want, are now, from the influences of necessity, being resumed, while they are found to embody all of practical utility which they possessed in days of yore.

        Looking to the general principle of domestic economy and home effort, we annex the following receipts for making soap, which we find in the Wilmington Journal. One

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of these receipts has been patented at the North. If tried, they will no doubt be found valuable at this time:

        To Make Family Soap.--Take six quarts of soft water, six pounds of bar soap, one-quarter of a pound of sal-soda, three teaspoonfuls spirits turpentine, one and a half teaspoonful hartshorn, one teaspoonsful of camphor, two teaspoonfuls of salt. Cut the soap up fine, boil the water, and add all the ingredients, and boil thirty minutes; take off, and pour into shallow vessels to cool and harden.

        Another.--Five pounds bar soap, four pounds sal-soda, two ounces borax, and one ounce hartshorn. Dissolve in twenty-two quarts of soft water, and boil fifteen or twenty minutes.

        To Make Jelly Soap.--After pouring out of the vessel the above soaps, pour in water enough to wash off the sides and bottom, and boil twenty minutes. Then pour off to cool, and you have excellent jelly soap for washing clothes, etc.

        To Make Soft Soap.--Take ten pounds potash well pulverized, fifteen pounds grease, and three buckets boiling water. Mix, and stir potash and water together until dissolved. Then add the grease, stirring well; put all into a barrel, and every morning add two buckets cold water, stirring it well each time, until the barrel is nearly full, or mixed to the consistency of soft soap.

        Consult hickory, Carya, for manufacture of potash and potash soap from ashes.

        Spergula arvensis. Walt; Linn. Spurrey. Grows in cultivated lands, lower country of South Carolina; vicinity of Charleston; collected in St. John's.

        Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. vi, 497: "Cows which feed on it give milk of a richer quality, and in larger quantities." The seeds of a variety of this plant growing in Germany continue green during fall and winter, are far superior to pasture grasses, and yield an oil suitable for lamps upon expression. They are also ground up with rye, and used for making bread. Poultry eat spurrey in any

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form, and are thought to become very prolific of eggs when fed upon it. Rural Cyclopædia, and Thaër's Agricultural Chemistry.

        Stellaria media. Smith. Chickweed; stitchwort. Introduced. Yards and gardens.

        The herbage is greedily devoured by hogs, and is said to be nutritive, and suitable for being boiled and eaten in the manner of spinach. It has the reputation, when boiled in vinegar and salt, of possessing virtue to cleanse eruptions of the hands and limbs. The flowers serve in some degree as a natural barometer; for when rain is approaching they remain closed, and in dry weather they are regularly open from about nine o'clock in the morning till noon. Wilson's Rural Cyclopædia.

XANTHOXYLACEÆ.

        The species belonging to this order are generally aromatic and pungent.

        Xanthoxylum.

        Americanum, T. & Gray.

        fraxineum, Willd.

        ramiflorum, Mich.

        Clava Herculis, Linn.

        Prickly ash; toothache bush.

        Barham's Hortus Americanus. The scraped root is applied to ulcers in order to heal them. The plant possesses stimulating powers, and is a "powerful sudorific and diaphoretic;" remarkable, according to Barton, for its extraordinary property of exciting salivation, whether applied immediately to the gums, or taken internally. It is reported to have been used successfully in paralysis of the muscles of the mouth, and in rheumatic affections. Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. vi, 179; Journal Gén. de Méd. xl, 226. Dr. Gillespie asserts that it is a good tonic and febrifuge. According to Cam, the Indians employed the decoction as an injection in gonorrhoea: "Voyage to Canada." It has been given in syphilis as a substitute for

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guaiacum, and also for mezereon. See Anc. Journal de Méd. ii, 314. A peculiar principle, xanthopierite, is afforded by it. See also X. fraxineum, with which this plant is frequently confounded, as well as with the Aralia spinosa. U. S. Disp. Its acrimony is imparted to boiling water, and to alcohol. According to Dr. Staples, besides fibrous substances, it contains volatile oil, a greenish, fixed oil, resin, gum, coloring matter, and a peculiar crystallizable principle, which he calls xanthoxylin. Journal Phil. Coll. Pharm. i, 165. It is stimulating: producing, when swallowed, a sense of heat in the stomach, arterial excitement, and a tendency to diaphoresis. It enjoys considerable reputation in chronic rheumatism. Dose of powder from ten grains to half a drachm. It has been tried by many with advantage in this disease. Barton's Collec. i, 25, 52; Thacher's Disp. sub. A. spinosa; Big. Am. Med. Bot. iii, 162. In rheumatism an infusion is given, made of one ounce of the bark to one quart of boiling water; one pint to be administered in divided doses during the twenty-four hours. Rep. from Surgeon-Gen. Office, 1862.

        X. Carolinianum, Lam. and T. and G. tricarpum, Ell. Sk.

        This species is supposed to be possessed of similar properties with the above. It is the prickly ash of the Southern states. T. and G.

        Chapman, in his Flora of Southern states, does not include X. Americanum (toothache bush, Hercules' club) among our Southern plants.

        These plants have the reputation in America of being powerfully sudorific and diaphoretic, and excite copious salivation, not only when made to act directly on the mouth, but when taken internally, and have been found highly efficacious in paralysis of the muscles of the mouth. Rural Cyc. This may account for their utility in toothache.

SIMARUBACEÆ. (Quassia Family.)

        Simaruba Glauca. D. C. Quassia. South Florida. A large tree. Chap.

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        This species of quassia, though not the officinal, should be examined for any bitter tonic properties it may contain.

GERANIACEÆ. (The Geranium Tribe.)

        Characterized by an astringent principle, and an aromatic or resinous flavor.

        Geranium maculatum, Linn. Cranesbill; crowfoot; alum root.

        Lind. Nat. Syst. Bot. 137; Coxe, Am. Disp. 304; Eberle, Mat. Med. i, 382; Bell's Pract. Dict. 218; Big. Am. Med. Bot. 189; Thacher's Am. Disp. 224; U. S. Disp. 350; Royle, Mat. Med. 73; Bart. M. Bot. i, 140; Pe Mat. Med. and Therap. ii, 751; Am. Journal Pharm. iv, 190; Journal Phil. Coll. Pharm. i, 171; Ed. and Vav. Mat. Méd. 135; Schoepf, Mat. Med. 107; Barton's Collec. 7; Cutler, Mem. Am. Acad. i, 469; Mér. and de L. Dict. de Mat. Méd. iii, 369; Journal Pharm. xiii, 287. It is a powerful astringent, adapted to passive hemorrhages, chronic diarrhoea, and cholera infantum. It is injected with advantage in cases of gleet and leucorrhoea, and is used as a wash for old ulcers. Bigelow speaks of it as a very powerful astringent, very similar to kino and catechu, and a useful substitute for the more expensive articles. It forms an excellent local application in sore throats and ulcerations of the mouth, and is adapted to the treatment of such discharges as continue from debility after the removal of their exciting causes. Colden and Schoepf also speak highly of the root in dysentery; and Dr. B. S. Barton, in cholera infantum, used the decoction in milk. Eberle was successful with it, in his treatment of aphthous affections of the mouth, and of ulcerations of the fauces and tonsils. Griffith, Med. Bot. 209. By Staple's examination, Journal Phil. Coll. Pharm. i, 171, it contains tannin, gallic acid, mucilage, a small proportion of amadin, and red coloring matter; from the bark, a small quantity of resin and a peculiar crystallizable principle.

        Dose of the powdered root in substance, is twenty to

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thirty grains, one to two ounces of the tincture, and ten to fifteen grains of the extract. The decoction is made by boiling one ounce of the root in one pint of water, the dose of which is one to two tablespoonfuls. The extract is said to be the best form; alcohol and proof spirits, however, readily dissolve the active principle, and the tincture keeps best.

BALSAMINACEÆ. (The Balsam Tribe.)

        According to De Cand., the species are diuretic. They are chiefly remarkable for the elastic force with which the valves of the fruit separate at maturity, expelling the seeds. Lind.

        Impatiens

        pallida, Nutt.; T. and G.

        noli me tangere, Ell. Sk.

        Touch-me-not; jewel-weed. Grows in inundated swamps; vicinity of Charleston; collected in St. Johns. Fl. July.

        Bull Plantes Vén. de France, 166: "The whole plant is very acrid, and is used as a cataplasm." Élém de Bot. iii, 58. Six grains of the dried leaves will produce nausea. The U. S. Disp., 1264, speaks of it as a dangerous plant, possessed of acrid properties; when taken internally, acting as an emetic, cathartic, and diuretic.

OXALIDACEÆ.

        Leaves generally acid.

        Oxalis acetosella, L. White wood-sorrel. Mountains of North Carolina, and northward. Chap.

        The plant is a very agreeable and wholesome salad, and possesses refrigerant, antiscorbutic, and antiseptic properties. The juice coagulates milk, and precipitates lime from solution. When boiled in milk, it gives off its acidulousness to the whey; and either this whey, or the expressed juice of the plant, much diluted with water, may be used as a good refrigerant drink in fevers. Rural Cyc. The herb is powerfully and most agreeably acid, making a refreshing

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and wholesome conserve with fine sugar; its flavor resembles green tea.

        Oxalis violacea, L. Wood-sorrel. Grows in rich soils; vicinity of Charleston; collected in St. John's. Fl. May.

        U. S. Disp. 66. It contains the oxalate of potash, which imparts to it its pleasant, acid taste.

        Oxalis corniculata, L.

        Oxalis furcata Ell. Sk.

        Vicinity of Charleston; similar in properties to the Ox. violacea.

ROSACEÆ. (The Rose Tribe.)

        None of the species are unwholesome; they are generally characterized by the possession of an astringent principle. The sub-order, Amygdaleoe, are better known for yielding Prussic or hydrocanic acid.

        Potentilla (canadensis?). Grows in meadows, in lower and upper districts; St. John's, South Carolina.

        Dr. Richard Moore, of Sumter district, South Carolina, informs me that this plant, on account of its bitter, mucilaginous qualities, has been found, by repeated experiment, to be a most efficient and useful remedy in the treatment of chronic colds, threatening phthisis. The decoction is used. He refers to the plant as the P. reptans (?).

        Rubus villosus, Ait. High bush blackberry. Diffused; observed in Fairfield district; collected in St. John's; vicinity of Charleston; Newbern. Fl. May.

        Eberle, Mat. Med. i, 386; Pe. Mat. Med. ii, 453; Ed. and Vav. Mat. Méd. 134; Royle, Mat. Med. 374; U. S. Disp. 603-4; Ball. and Gar. Mat. Med. 267; Big. Am. Med. Bot. ii, 160; Chap. Therap. and Mat. Med. ii, 474; Thacher's U. S. Disp. 341; Lind. Nat. Syst. 144; Barton's Collec. ii, 157; Griffith, Med. Bot. 270. Bigelow considers it a powerful astringent, and is satisfied of its efficacy, administered both internally and externally, in a variety of cases admitting of relief from this class of remedies. Dr. Chapman

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also speaks highly of it in the declining stage of dysentery, after the symptoms of active inflammation are removed; he asserts that nothing in his hands had done so much to check the inordinate discharges in cholera infantum--two or three doses sufficing to bind up the bowels. The decoction is made of one ounce of the root in a pint and a half of water, boiled down to one pint, of which the dose for a child is two or three teaspoonfuls; for an adult, a wine-glassful several times a day; orange peel may be added. Dose of the powdered root, twenty or thirty grains. No analysis has yet been made. In the old work on "Herbs," by Nicholas Culpepper, gentleman, "Student in Physic and Astrology," the author observes of one of the genus Rubus: "Either the decoction or powder of the root being taken, is good to break or drive forth gravel, and the stone in the reins and kidneys." "The berries, and the flowers, are a powerful remedy against the poison of the most venomous serpents."--p. 48.

        Rubus trivialis, Mich. Low bush dewberry; creeping blackberry. Diffused; vicinity of Charleston; collected in St. John's; Newbern. Fl. April.

        Watson's Pract. Physic, 820; U. S. Disp. 603; Pe[.] Mat. Med. and Therap. ii, 543; Royle Mat. Med. 375; Chap. on Dis. of Thorac. and Abdom. Viscera, 279; British and For. Med. Review, Jan. 31, 1845; Ball. and Gar. Mat. Med. 268. This is, no doubt, possessed of astringent properties similar to the above; a decoction of the root is said to be a safe, sure, and speedy cure for dysentery--a remedy derived from the Oneida Indians.

        As Blackberry wine is much used as a substitute for more costly foreign wines, I will introduce the following receipt for making it, communicated by Mrs. Summer, of South Carolina, which was said to have been introduced from Virginia by the Rev. Richard Johnson. Blackberry wine, as well as cordial made from the wild cherry, is a pleasantly stimulating beverage, useful as a cordial, capable of being medicated, and very serviceable in families, as well as in

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camps and hospitals. It can easily be made with whisky, or this may be omitted. It is only strange that so useful and pleasant a drink, and one within the reach of every one, should, until recently, have been so little made: "To every three pints of berries, add one quart of water; suffer it to stand twenty-four hours, strain through a colander, then through a jelly-bag, and to every gallon of the juice add three pounds of good brown sugar, the whites of three eggs beaten to a froth, and stirred in the juice; a little spice, with two dozen cloves, beaten together, and one nutmeg grated, should be put in a small linen bag and dropped in. After all are mixed, put it in a stone jug, filled up, and kept full with some of the same juice, reserved for that purpose, until it is done working, which will be in two or three weeks. Cork it tightly, and keep it in a cold place for three or four months, then pour it off into bottles, with a little loaf sugar in each bottle; cork, and seal close. If the wine is kept for twelve months, it will be still better." It is not easy to overvalue the great utility of so mild an alcoholic drink, combining slightly astringent vegetable properties, and which may be placed within the reach of almost every one. I have seen this wine of such an agreeable flavor and taste as to be preferred to more valued wines. Cheap good wines are certainly the greatest boon that could be conferred on any country. See "Grape," Vitis.

        The following is an approved method of making Blackberry wine, in vogue in St. John's, Berkley, South Carolina. I insert it in a work of this kind for its general utility, and as it forms an approved liquor which "cheers but not inebriates." Blackberries, six quarts; boiling water, two quarts; brown sugar, two pounds. The whites of six eggs frothed, added when the jug is nearly full. Mash the berries, pour in the water--let it remain twenty-four hours. Strain through a hair sieve, and add the sugar. Leave the jug open for two weeks, until fermentation ceases--then you may add a glass of alcohol. ("P. S.") See "Cerasus," for manufacture of "blackberry cordial."

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        A correspondent in the Mobile Register gives the following method of making blackberry cordial:

        CORDIAL FOR SICKNESS IN THE ARMY.--To alleviate the sufferings, and perhaps save the lives of many of our soldiers, whose sickness may be traced to the use of unwholesome water in limestone regions, I recommend the use of blackberry cordial. The following is a good recipe: Bruise the berries, and strain the juice through a bag; to each quart of the juice allow a half pound of loaf sugar, a heaped teaspoonful of powdered cinnamon, the same of powdered cloves, and a grated nutmeg; boil these ingredients fifteen or twenty minutes, skimming them well. When cool, stir into each quart a half pint of brandy; then bottle, and cork well. In case brandy and loaf sugar cannot be had, substitute good whisky and sugar-house molasses. Avoid plantation molasses, brown sugar, and bad whisky. So much for the cure.

        To prevent the disorder, boil the water of the country before drinking it. The process of boiling precipitates the impurities, and when cool, the water may be poured from the sediment and used.

        COMPOUND SYRUP OF BLACKBERRIES.--MEDICATED BLACKBERRIES.--Useful as a drink in diarrhoea, and to supply soldiers in camp, either as a remedy in mild cases of diarrhoea or as a vehicle for medicines. To two quarts of the juice of blackberries, add half an ounce each of cinnamon, allspice, and nutmegs, and one quarter of an ounce of cloves, well pulverized. Boil them together for fifteen to twenty minutes in a preserve pan or kettle, to get the strength of the spices; strain through a piece of flannel, then add loaf sugar to make very sweet, and while still hot add to every two quarts of the juice one pint of Cognac brandy. The dose of this for an adult is about two tablespoonfuls repeated. One-fifth portion of the mixture is brandy. The blackberry root is an easily obtained and valuable astringent. A decoction acts as an astringent, and will check diarrhoea. The rind of pomegranate, which is easily portable, boiled in milk, is an excellent remedy in

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diarrhoea in the army, to be used during scarcity of medicines. The tree grows abundantly in the Confederate States; all parts of it are medicinal.

        From frequent trials, I know of no remedy for diarrhoea and dysentery of teething children, superior to the decoction of the blackberry root; also, during the convalescence from dysentery in adults.

        The leaves of blackberry and raspberry are recommended as substitutes for foreign tea.

        Rubus occidentalis, Linn. Virginian, or wild raspberry. Grows in the upper districts; collected in St. John's; Newbern.

        Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. vi, 131. Properties identical with the above. It is thought to be a specific in dysentery.

        Fragaria vesca. Ex. cult. Strawberry.

        Flore Med. iii, 169; Griffith Med. Bot. 277. Gesner speaks of the good effects of the fruit in calculous disorders, and Linnæus extols its efficacy in gout, having, he says, prevented paroxysms of it in himself by partaking of this fruit very freely. They are also supposed to possess vermifuge properties, and to be useful in phthisis. The leaves are astringent, and are recommended in bowel complaints; and the roots are much used in Europe as diuretics; frequently given in dysuria, in infusion, made with an ounce to the pint of water. Op. cit. Lallemand, in his work on Spermatorrhoea, p. 310, states that strawberries are quite serviceable in relieving irritable conditions of the bladder and urethra.

        Fragaria Virginiana, Erhart. Scarlet Virginian strawberry. Rich woods; Florida to Virginia. Chap.

        It was introduced into England in 1629, and possessed a fame equal to the hautbois. The pulp has a fine flavor. Rural Cyc. This plant is well known, and its economical value and application require no description. The use of

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the fruit often acts beneficially upon dyspeptics, who are benefited by acids. The celebrated Rousseau was always relieved of a calculous affection by eating this fruit. See his Confessions. "The old Carolina strawberry is a well known and much esteemed variety. The pulp is colored and juicy, and has a fine vinous flavor." By pinching off all the first flowers of early bloom varieties, the flowers will appear and fructify the present autumn. Rural Cyc. They require constant watering to bear almost constantly.

        Geum Virginianum, Linn.

        Geum Carolinianum, Walt.

        White avens.

        Griffith, Med Bot. 279; Raf. Med. Fl. i, 220. This plant is possessed of tonic and astringent properties, recommended by Ives and Bigelow in dyspepsia, and debility of the viscera; employed, also, with success in leucorrhoea and chronic hemorrhages. It is not supposed, however, to be possessed of much power; one drachm of the powdered root may be used, or a decoction made by one ounce to one pint of water, of which the dose is one ounce several times a day. In domestic practice, it is given in the shape of a weak decoction, as tea.

        Agrimonia Eupatoria, L. Agrimony; cockle burr. Diffused in cultivated lands; Newbern. Fl. July.

        Parr's Med. Dict. art. A, Sup.; Pe. Mat. Med. and Therap. ii, 76; Le. Mat. Med. i, 1251; Royle, Mat. Med. 602; Hoffman's Obs. Phys. Chim. i; Obs. i; Ell. Bot. Med. Notes, i, 403, note; U. S. Disp. 145; Ed. and Vav. Mat. Med. i, 281; Ball and Gar. Mat. Med. 431; Bergii, Mat. Med. 287; Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. i, 63; Woodv. Med. Bot.; Ann. de Chim. lxxxi, 332; Coxe, Am. Disp. 18; Shec. Flora Carol. 96; Dém. Élém de Bot. i, 442. The root and leaves, before the flowers are produced, are acrid and astringent, and are serviceable in passive hemorrhages, diarrhoea, leucorrhoea, and gonorrhoea, and are highly recommended as a deobstruent in obstructions of the spleen, and in diseases arising from torpor of the liver,

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as hydrops, icterus, etc. The roots and leaves have been found efficacious in involuntary discharge of urine (enuresis). Ray's Cat. Plantarum; Am. Herbal, by I. Stearns, 89; Lightfoot's Fl. Scotica. It is styptic; it strengthens the tone of the stomach, and it has been employed in chronic diarrhoea. The plant, digested in whey, affords a very grateful diet drink. See Linnæus Veg. M. Med. 88. The Indians used it in intermittent fever. Colonel Seaborn, of Pendleton district, S. C., writes me word that he has known the plant, boiled in milk, given successfully in snake bites, and injuries arising from the stings of spiders. The dose of the powder is one drachm; of the infusion of six ounces of root in one quart of boiling water, the dose is one ounce. In popular practice, the leaves are applied as a cataplasm to contusions and fresh wounds. It is used by the steam practitioners. See Howard's Imp. Syst. Bot. Med. 284. The leaves and stalks impart a beautiful and permanent gold color to animal wool, previously impregnated with a weak solution of bismuth, and the flowers are employed by tanners for curing soft and delicate skins.

        Spiræa trifoliata and stipulacea. See Gillenia.

        Spiræa tomentosa, Linn. Hardhack; steeple-bush. Grows in the upper districts, and in Georgia; Newbern. Fl. July.

        U. S. Disp. 682; Raf. Med. Fl. ii, 91. A valuable tonic and astringent; administered in diarrhoea, cholera infantum, and other complaints where medicines of this class are indicated. Wood says it is peculiarly adapted, by its tonic powers, to cases of debility, as it does not disagree with the stomach; but it should be avoided during the existence of inflammatory action or febrile excitement. It was employed by the Indians, and brought to the notice of the profession by Dr. Cogswell, of Conn. Dr. Ives is of the opinion that the root is the least valuable portion: tannin, gallic acid, and bitter extractive are among its constituents, and its virtues are extracted by water. Mér. and de L.

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Dict. de M. Méd. vi, 507. According to Mead's Thesis, it is given with success in the second stages of dysentery and diarrhoea, having virtues attributed to it analogous to those of quinine. See, also, Journal Univ. des Sci. Méd. xxiv, 238, and Thesis in New York Med. Repos. (Mérat, op. cit.) The extract is said to be fully equal to catechu, and might very well take its place. As it does not disagree with the stomach, it is considered a very valuable addition to the materia medica. Griffith, Med. Bot. 280. From five to fifteen grains of extract may be taken, or two ounces of the decoction, prepared by the addition of one ounce of the plant to one pint of water. The extract is preferable; made by evaporating the decoction of the stems, leaves, or root. This is taken cold, and repeated several times during the day. Great use might be made of this plant, particularly by practitioners residing in the country. In a communication from Dr. S. B. Mead, of Illinois, he informs me that he has employed it in obstinate diarrhoeas in place of opium.

        Spiræa opulifolia, Linn. Nine-bark. Grows along streams.

        Griffith's Med. Bot. 282. This is not so astringent as the S. tomentosa, though Rafinesque (Med. Flora) says it is possessed of similar properties. It has an unpleasant odor, which renders it objectionable as an internal remedy. It is, however, much employed as an external application, in the form of fomentation, or as a cataplasm to ulcers and tumors. The seeds are extremely bitter, and are said to be tonic.

        Gillenia trifoliata, Nutt.

        Spiræa, Linn.

        Indian physic. Grows in the upper districts; also in Geo. Fl. July.

        Big. Am. Med. Bot. iii, 10; Bart. M. Bot. 165; U. S. Disp. 353. It is a mild emetic according to some writers; largely employed as a substitute for ipecacuanha. Bigelow thinks it is not a certain emetic, but Zollickoffer, Barton, Eberle, and Griffith unite in testifying to its value;

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the latter entirely disproves Baume's unfavorable report. In small doses, it acts as a gentle tonic, especially in torpid conditions of the stomach. According to Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. 509 (see Spiroea trifol.), its properties partake also of a stimulating character. Coxe, Am. Disp. 305; Carson's Illust. Med. Bot. pt. 1st, 40, 1847. Shreeves (Ex. in the Am. Journal Pharm. vii) found in it starch, gum, resin, wax, fatty matter, red coloring matter, and a peculiar principle, soluble in alcohol and dilute acids, but insoluble in water and ether. According to the statement of Dr. Staples, it contains no emetine. It may be conveniently given as an emetic, by boiling the root and giving one or two ounces of the decoction at a dose till vomiting is induced. "The tincture of the root is an infallible remedy for milk sickness." Cherokee Doctor. The dose of the powdered root is thirty grains, persisted in till vomiting takes place; two to four grains act as a tonic, and sometimes as a sudorific. The infusion will occasionally produce hyperemesis and catharsis. Lind. Nat. Syst. 144; Frost's Elems. 80; Inaug. Diss. of Dr. De La Motta, of Charleston, published in Philadelphia; Schoepf, M. Med. 80; Bart. M. Med. 26; Griffith's Med. Bot. 283; Griffith, in Journal Phil. Coll. Pharm. iv, 177.

        Gillenia stipulacea, Nutt.

        Spiroea of Mich.

        Grows on the Saluda mountains. Fl. July.

        Lind. Nat. Syst. Bot. 144. It is emetic, and probably tonic, and is possessed of properties similar to those of the S. trifol., though it is said to be more certain in its effects, and not to have been deteriorated by cultivation. U. S. Disp. 353; Griffith's Med. Bot. 284.

        Cratoegus crus galli. Grows in swamps.

        Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. ii, 460. Dr. Darlington regards it as one of the best thorn plants for hedges; it is much used in Delaware. Fl. Cestrica. It is better than the Washington thorn, C. cordata.

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        Pyrus coronaria, Linn. Crab-apple. Newbern. Fl. May.

        It is not employed medicinally. The fruit is very acid to the taste, and is often made into preserves. The bark, with that of the white hickory, gives a yellow dye. Alum must be used as a mordant. The yarn should first be boiled with soap and water, then wrung out, and boiled in the preparation.

        Pyrus malus. Cultivated. The apple, pear (P. communis), and quince (P. cydonia), grow very well in the Confederate States. The pulp surrounding the seeds of the latter is often dissolved in water, and used as a mucilage. See authors.

        Perry from pears is made very much like cider. Hitt's method of keeping pears and apples is described by Wilson in his Rural Cyc. Art. "Fruit storing." Having prepared a number of earthenware jars, and a quantity of dry moss (different species of hypnum and sphagnum), he placed a layer of moss and of pears alternately, till the jar was filled; a plug was then inserted, and sealed around with melted rosin. These jars were sunk in dry sand to the depth of a foot--preferring a deep cellar for keeping them to any fruit room. Millar's plan is also described. After sweating and wiping, in which operation great care must be taken not to bruise the fruit, the pears are packed in close baskets, having some wheat straw in the bottom and around the sides, to prevent bruising, and a lining of thick, soft paper, to hinder the musty flavor of the straw from infecting the fruit. Only one kind of fruit is put in each basket. A covering of paper and straw is fixed on the top, and the basket is then deposited in a dry room, secure against the access of frost; and the less air is let into the room the better the fruit will keep. Some preserve apples and pears in glazed earthenware jars, with tops, by placing dried sand between each layer of fruit--the jars to be kept in a dry, airy situation, secure from frost.

        The gum exuding from the apricot tree dissolved in water acts as a substitute for gum arabic, as an adhesive

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agent; see, also, Bletia aphylla. I find that from the wild orange, in boiling water, acts admirably as a glue for paper. The wood of the pear and apple is very hard, and will probably supply some of our best material for wood engraving; see Amelanchier, with which it is closely related. The pear and apple are employed to make wooden type for mammoth letters. The apple is the best material for plane stocks, as it becomes harder and more polished the more it is used. A species of wine is made from apple cider by adding sugar and alcohol. Cider may be kept by digging under ground dry cellars, and covering from the sun. Vinegar made from cider is of the best quality. It is easily made in a warm place by adding a little mother of vinegar to the sour cider in a barrel. It is ready for use in a few weeks. The strength and purity of vinegar, as determined by the framers of the United States Pharmacopoeia, is as follows: "One fluidounce is saturated by about thirty grains of crystallized bicarb. of potassa. It affords no precipitate with solution of chloride of barium, and is not colored by sulphohydric acid."

        The bug, or plant louse, which in the shape of a hoary covering destroys the apple tree, is generally an aphis or an eriosoma; see Wilson's Rural Cyclopædia, a full account; also, papers on the "Insects destructive to Trees," in Patent Office Report on Agriculture. In these the remedies are given. "The best of the methods, as to at once cheapness, cleanliness, and efficiency, are syringing with soap suds and tobacco water, minutely brushing with spirits of turpentine, brushing with a mixture of soap lees and one of oil of turpentine, and brushing with brown, impure, pyroligneous acid." Wilson. See "peach," "pear," mode of keeping, etc. Planting apricots near by will divert the insects to their fruit. Turning hogs in orchards, which consume the fallen fruit, is one of the best means of destroying the larvæ, which produce the fly of the next season.

        Good cider is deemed a pleasant, wholesome liquor during the heats of summer; and Mr. Knight has asserted,

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and also eminent medical men, that strong, astringent ciders have been found to produce nearly the same effect in cases of putrid fever as Port wine.

        The unfermented juice of the apple consists of water and a peculiar acid called the malic acid, combined with the saccharine principle. Where a just proportion of the latter is wanting, the liquor will be poor and watery, without body, very difficult to preserve and manage. In the process of fermentation, the saccharine principle is in part converted to alcohol. Where the proportion of the saccharine principle is wanting, the deficiency must be supplied either by the addition of a saccharine substance before fermentation, or by the addition of alcohol after fermentation; for every one must know that all good wine or cider contains it, elaborated by fermentation, either in the cask or in the reservoirs at the distillery. The best and cheapest kind is the neutral spirit--a highly rectified and tasteless spirit, obtained from New England rum. Some, however, object to any addition of either sugar or alcohol to supply deficiencies, forgetful that these substances are the very elements of which all wine, cider, and vinous liquors are composed.

        The strength of the cider depends on the specific gravity of the juice on expression: this may be easily ascertained by weighing, or by the hydrometer.

        Newark, in New Jersey, is reputed one of the most famous places in America for its cider. The cider apple most celebrated there is the Harrison apple, a native fruit; and cider made from this fruit, when fined and fit for bottling, frequently brings ten dollars per barrel, according to Mr. Coxe. This and the Hughs' Virginia Crab are the two most celebrated cider apples of America. Old trees, growing in dry soils, produce, it is said, the best cider. A good cider apple is saccharine and astringent.

        To make good cider, the first requisite is suitable fruit; it is equally necessary that the fruit should be not merely mellow, but thoroughly mature, rotten apples being excluded; and ripe, if possible, at the suitable period, or about the

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first of November, or from the first to the middle, after the excessive heat of the season is past, and while sufficient warmth yet remains to enable the fermentation to progress slowly, as it ought.

        The fruit should be gathered by hand, or shaken from the tree in dry weather, when it is at perfect maturity; and the ground should be covered with coarse cloths or Russia mats beneath, to prevent bruising, and consequent rottenness, before the grinding commences. Unripe fruit should be laid in large masses, protected from dews and rain, to sweat and hurry on its maturity, when the suitable time for making approaches. The earlier fruits should be laid in thin layers on stagings, to preserve them to the suitable period for making, protected alike from rain and dews, and where they may be benefited by currents of cool, dry air. Each variety should be kept separate, that those ripening at the same period should be ground together.

        In grinding, the most perfect machinery should be used to reduce the whole fruit, skin, and seeds, to a fine pulp. This should, if possible, be performed in cool weather. The late Joseph Cooper, of New Jersey, has observed emphatically, that "the longer a cheese lies after being ground, before pressing, the better for the cider, provided it escapes fermentation until the pressing is completed;" and he further observes, "that a sour apple, after being bruised on one side, becomes rich and sweet after it has changed to a brown color, while it yet retains its acid taste on the opposite side." When the pomace united to the juice is thus suffered for a time to remain, it undergoes a chemical change; the saccharine principle is developed; it will be found rich and sweet. Sugar is in this case produced by the prolonged union of the bruised pulp and juice, which could never have been formed in that quantity had they been sooner separated.

        Mr. Jonathan Rice, of Marlborough, who made the premium cider so much admired at Concord, Massachusetts, appears so sensible of the important effects of mature or fully ripe fruit, that, provided this is the case, he is willing

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even to forego the disadvantage of having a portion of it quite rotten. Let me observe, that this rottenness must be the effect, in part, of bruises by improper modes of gathering, or by improper mixtures of ripe and unripe fruit. He always chooses cool weather for the operation of grinding; and, instead of suffering the pomace to remain but twenty-four hours or forty-eight hours at most before pressing, as others have directed, he suffers it to remain from a week to ten days, provided the weather will admit, stirring the mass daily till it is put to the press. See his communication in vol. vii, p. 123, N. E. Farmer.

        The first fermentation in cider is termed the vinous; in this the sugar is decomposed, and loses its sweetness, and is converted into alcohol; if the fermentation goes on too rapidly, the cider is injured; a portion of alcohol passes off with the carbonic acid.

        The design of frequent rackings is principally to restrain the fermentation; but it seems to be generally acknowledged that it weakens the liquor. It is not generally practised, although the finest cider is often produced by this mode. Various other modes are adopted with the view of restraining fermentation--one of which is the following: After a few gallons of cider are poured into the hogshead into which the cider is to be placed when racked off, a rag six inches long, previously dipped in melted brimstone, is attached by a wire to a very long, tapering bung; on the match being lighted, the bung is loosely inserted; after this is consumed, the cask is rolled or tumbled till the liquor has imbibed the gas, and then filled with the liquid. This checks the fermentation; yet the French writers assure us that the effect of much sulphuring must necessarily render such liquors unwholesome.

        Black oxide of manganese has a similar effect; the crude oxide is rendered friable by being repeatedly heated red hot, and as often suddenly cooled by immersion in cold water. When finely pulverized, it is exposed for a while to the atmosphere, till it has imbibed again the oxygen which had been expelled by fire. An ounce of powder is deemed

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sufficient for a barrel. If the cider is desired to be very sweet, it must be added before fermentation, otherwise not till afterward. Mr. Knight, from his long experience and observation in a country (Herefordshire, England) famous for its cider, has lately, in a letter to the Hon. John Lowell, stated that the acetous fermentation generally takes place during the progress of the vinous, and that the liquor from the commencement is imbibing oxygen at its surface. He highly recommends that new charcoal, in a finely pulverized state, be added to the liquor as it comes from the press, in the proportion of eight pounds to the hogshead, to be intimately incorporated; "this makes the liquor at first as black as ink, but it finally becomes remarkably fine."

        Dr. Darwin has recommended that the liquor, as soon as the pulp has risen, should be placed in a cool situation, in casks of remarkable strength, and the liquor closely confined from the beginning. The experiment has been tried with good success; the fermentation goes on slowly, and an excellent cider is generally the result.

        A handful of well powdered clay to a barrel is said to check the fermentation. This is stated by Dr. Mease. And with the view of preventing the escape of the carbonic acid, and to prevent the liquid from imbibing oxygen from the atmosphere, a pint of olive oil has been recommended to each hogshead. The excellent cider exhibited by Mr. Rice was prepared by adding two gallons of New England rum to each barrel when first made. In February or March it was racked off in clear weather, and two quarts more of New England rum added to each barrel. Cider well fermented may be frozen down to any requisite degree of strength. In freezing the watery parts are separated, and freeze first, and the stronger parts are drawn off from the centre. I finish by adding the following general rules--they will answer for all general purposes; they are the conclusions from what is previously stated: 1. Gather the fruit according to the foregoing rules; let it be thoroughly ripe when ground, which should be about the

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middle of November. 2. Let the pomace remain from two to four days, according to the state of the weather, stirring it every day till it is put to the press. 3. If the liquor is deficient in the saccharine principle, the defect may be remedied in the beginning by the addition of saccharine substances or alcohol. 4. Let the liquor be immediately placed in a cool cellar, in remarkably strong, tight, sweet casks; after the pulp has all overflown, confine the liquor down by driving the bung hard, and by sealing; a vent must be left, and the spile carefully drawn at times, but only when absolutely necessary to prevent the cask from bursting. The charcoal, as recommended by Mr. Knight, deserves trial.

        Fresh and sweet pomace, directly from the press, and boiled or steamed, and mixed with a small portion of meal, is a valuable article of food, or for fattening horses, cattle, and swine.

        Sour casks are purified by pouring in a small quantity of hot water, and adding unslacked lime; bung up the cask, and continue shaking it till the lime is slacked. Soda and chloride of lime are good for purifying. When casks are emptied to be laid by, let them be thoroughly rinsed with water and drained, then pour into each a pint of cheap alcohol, shake the cask and bung it tight, and it will remain sweet for years. Musty casks should be condemned to other uses. Cider should not be bottled till perfectly fine, otherwise it may burst the bottles. The bottles should be strong, and filled to the bottom of the neck. After standing an hour, they should be corked with velvet corks. The lower end of the cork is held for an instant in hot water, and it is then instantly after driven down with a mallet. The bottles must be either sealed or laid on their sides in boxes, or in the bottom of a cellar, and covered with layers of sand.

        Most of the above information relative to cider making is derived from the American Orchardist, by W. Kenrick, of Boston, Massachusetts, whose list of apple and other nursery trees comprehends almost every kind desirable for any purpose.

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        The reader will find very explicit instructions for the manufacture of cider in the Penny Cyclopædia, vol. vii, p. 161; in the Lib. of Useful Know.; British Husb. vol. ii, p. 364; Low's Pract. Agr. p. 379; Croker, On the Art of Making and Managing Cider; in the Quart. Journal of Agr. vol. viii, p. 332, by Mr. Towers; and in Baxter's Agr. Lib. p. 135, by Andrew Crosse, Esq., of Somerset. The following instructions for making cider are by a Devonshire lady: Gather the fruit when ripe; let it remain in a heap till the apples begin to get damp, then grind them in a mill (similar to a malt mill); take the pulp and put it into a large press like a cheese press, only on a much larger scale; place a layer of reed in the bottom of the vat and a layer of pulp alternately until the vat is full. The vat is square, and the ends of the reed must be allowed to turn over every layer of pulp, so as to keep it from being pressed out at the sides. The layers of pulp must be five or six inches thick. When you have finished making your cheese, press it as hard as you can, and let it remain three or four hours; then cut down the corners of it, and lay them on the top with reed as before; then press it again, and allow it to remain for another three or four hours. Repeat this process as long as necessary, or until the cheese is quite dry. It takes seven bags of apples for one hogshead of cider, and the vat ought to be large enough to make from three to four hogsheads at a time. The best sort of apple to make mild cider is the hard bitter-sweet. Any sort of sour apple will do to make the harsh cider. The liquor must be strained through a fine sieve into a large vessel, and allowed to ferment for three or four days, taking off the scum as it rises; then rack it, and put it into casks stopped down quite close. Before the cider is put into the cask, a match made of new linen, and attached to a wire, is lighted and put into the cask, and the bung is put in to keep the wire from falling into it. After a few minutes the match is removed, and the cider poured into the cask while yet full of the smoke.

        A person would require three or four years experience

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before he would be qualified to superintend the making of sweet or made cider. Much depends on the year, or rather on the ripening of the apples; it should be the second, not the first falling; and the "green bitter-sweet," and the "pocket-apple," are the best for making it. After pounding, isinglass and brimstone are used to sweeten and fine it, and many other ingredients.

        The sweet cider, above described, is distinct from the other two kinds of cider (the harsh and mild). Cider, according to Brande, contains about 9/87 parts per cent. of alcohol. It is a wholesome beverage for those who use much bodily exercise. Willich's Dom. Enc.; McCulloch's Com. Dict.

        Under this genus, I insert the following from Chaptal's Chemistry Applied to Agriculture, as the subject of the manufacture of Liquors from fruits, grain, etc., is important in the present exigency: "Good water is undoubtedly the most wholesome drink; but man has almost everywhere contracted the habit of using fermented liquors, and this habit has created in him a want of them; so that if he be deprived of their use, he loses his strength and energy, and becomes less able to work. The best fermented drink is wine; but excepting the wine countries, where the low price of ordinary wine renders the use of it common, the laborer has seldom the means of procuring it daily. It is, therefore, necessary that its place should elsewhere be supplied by such other liquors as will produce nearly the same effect, and this is done by the fermentation of grains, fruits, milk, the sap of trees, etc., from the product of which there is formed in Europe a great variety of liquors; some of these have become very important articles of consumption and of commerce. The peasants, in the greater part of our districts, have acquired the habit of preparing their liquors from the fermentation of most of these substances; and as the only object I have in view is to furnish information in regard to extending and perfecting these processes, I shall confine myself to pointing out such methods as are easily executed, and which require the employment

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of such substances only as are everywhere in the hands of the agriculturist:

        "All mucilaginous fruits, all fleshy stone fruits, excepting those which yield oil, all grains which contain gluten, sugar, or starch, are capable of undergoing the spiritous or alcoholic fermentation.

        "The expressed juice of saccharine fruits may be made to ferment by exposure to a sufficient degree of heat. The method most commonly pursued is that of crushing or grinding the fruits, and thus fermenting the pulp with the juice; in this manner are treated apples, pears, grapes, cherries, etc.

        "For such fruits as are not very juicy, but contain, however, some sugar and mucilage, and for such as can be made to keep better by being dried, some water is employed to mix and dissolve the fermentable principles. In this class of fruits may be placed those of the service tree, the cornelian cherry, the medlar, the mulberry, the privet, the juniper, the Neapolitan medlar, the thorn apple, the wild plum, etc., and with them the dried fruits of the plum and fig tree, and some of the other trees and shrubs before mentioned.

        "To produce the development of the saccharine principle in bread corns by germination, they must be moistened with water; the spiritous fermentation is afterward excited in them by immersing them in water containing the yeast of beer, or leaven made of wheat flour. The operation of germination may even be suppressed by mixing the meal with a portion of leaven and of lukewarm water. This dough may be allowed to ferment for twenty-four hours, and may then be gradually diluted with water; fermentation will take place in a few hours, and will go on regularly during two or three days. As directions for the manufacture of cider, perry, and beer for general consumption are much less necessary here than those for procuring for farmers (or soldiers, I add,) wholesome liquors at a trifling expense, I shall confine my observations to this object. Grapes furnish the best liquor,

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and that in the greatest quantity; but when this is drunk clear, it serves but little purpose for quenching thirst; when made use of in large quantities, it impairs the strength. The liquor called piquette, which is manufactured by our farmers, supplies advantageously the place of wine, serving as a tonic, and at the same time quenching thirst. Piquette is made from the pressed and fermented mash of red grapes, by means of water filtrated through it till it acquires, in some degree, the color and appearance of wine; it is, even in this state, a better drink than water, inasmuch as it is slightly tonic; its good qualities may, however, be much increased by fermentation. Piquette can be kept but a short time unchanged, and, from this tendency to sour, it is necessary that it should be made only in such quantities as are immediately wanted, and that the manufacture of it should be continued at intervals throughout the year. For this purpose the pressed mash of red grapes is put into a cask, care being taken to crowd it in till the cask is completely full, after which it is hermetically closed, so as to exclude air and moisture, and set in a cool, dry place. When the piquette is to be prepared for use, the head is taken out of the cask, and water is thrown upon the mash until the whole mass is moistened with it, and the water stands upon the top; fermentation soon takes place, as becomes evident by the light foam which arises; it is completed by the end of the fourth or fifth day; from this time the liquor may be drawn off for daily use--the place of the portion removed being supplied by an equal quantity of water thrown in upon the top of the mash. In this manner a cask of mash, of the capacity of sixty-six gallons, may furnish about four gallons of drink per diem, and will continue to yield it for about twenty days.

        "As the mash of white grapes cannot be made to ferment with the juice, this last is separated and put into casks to ferment by itself, and the piquette is then made by adding to the mash the necessary quantity of water. This liquor is more spiritous than that made from red grapes, and

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keeps better; it is therefore reserved for use during the latter part of the summer. If instead of throwing pure water upon the mash as is everywhere done, this liquid should first be slightly sweetened and heated, and then receive the addition of a little yeast, piquette of a very superior quality would be obtained. In the absence of yeast or leaven, the scum which arises upon wine, especially white wine, during fermentation, may be used for the same purpose; this foam or scum may be dried, and thus preserved for use without undergoing any change.

        "Well made piquette is a very wholesome drink for country people, for its tonic properties, as well as its power of quenching thirst; it is far preferable, as a daily drink, to wine; but this resource is only local, as in most countries that are most fruitful in grapes, if the harvest fall short, there can be but little piquette made; it is necessary then to be able to supply its place from some other source, and this is done by the fermentation of certain fruits.

        "Apples and pears, as being the fruits that are most abundantly produced, are the most valuable for the purpose of manufacturing liquors. A mixture of the two produces a more wholesome article of drink than does either treated separately. The juices of plums and other fruits may likewise be added, as their astringency renders the liquor more tonic. Excellent liquor may be produced, both from apples and pears, by following the well known method of making cider, which consists in grinding the fruit with a millstone, and fermenting the pulp and juice together; but upon farms, where we seldom find the means of preserving liquors unchanged, it is necessary that the processes be simple, and such as can be made use of for preparing them as they are needed. I shall, therefore, recommend the following method: Begin to collect the apples and pears which fall from the trees toward the end of August, and continue to do so till they have arrived at maturity; cut them in pieces as fast as they are gathered; dry them first in the sun, and afterward in an oven from which the bread has been drawn. If the fruit be well

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dried in this manner, though it may grow dark colored, it may be kept unchanged for several years. When drink is to be prepared from these dried fruits, put about sixty pounds of them into a cask, which will contain sixty-six gallons; fill the cask with water, and allow it to remain four or five days; after which, draw off the fermented liquor for use. The liquor thus prepared is very agreeable to the taste; when put into bottles it ferments so as to throw out the cork as frothing Champagne wine does. Though wholesome and agreeable, it may become still more conducive to health by mixing with the apples and pears one-twentieth of the dried berries of the service tree Amelanchier canadensis (Aronia botryapium, Ell. Sk., which grows in Carolina), and one-thirtieth of juniper berries; from these the liquor acquires a slightly bitter taste, and the flavor of the juniper berries, which is very refreshing, and it is besides rendered tonic and antiputrescent. The use of this drink is one of the surest means that can be taken by the husbandman for preserving himself from those diseases to which he is liable in autumn, and for the attacks of which he is preparing the way during the greatest heats of summer.

        "After the spiritous portions of the liquor have been drawn off, very agreeable piquette may be made from the pulp which remains in the cask; for this purpose it is only necessary to crush the fruit, which is already soft, and to add to it as much lukewarm water, to which a small quantity of yeast has been added, as will fill the cask, fermentation commencing in a short time, and terminating in three or four days. To flavor this liquor and render it slightly tonic, there may be added to it before fermentation a handful of vervain, three or four pounds of elder berries, and of juniper berries.

        "Cherries, and particularly the small bitter cherries, when ground and afterward fermented in a cask, in the same manner as the mash of grapes, and then pressed to separate the juice from the pulp, furnish a liquor containing much spirit. The wine made from cherries, when distilled, affords

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an excellent liquor, which, although not exactly the same as the good Kirschwasser of the Black Forest, is yet a valuable drink, and is sold in commerce under the same name.

        "The berries of the service tree, dried in an oven, and put into a cask in the proportion of about sixteen or eighteen pounds of fruit to twenty-six and a half gallons of water, furnish, after four or five days fermentation, a very good drink. Plums and figs, dried either by the sun or in an oven, may be made use of for the same purpose. In order to render the liquor more wholesome, or more agreeable, several kinds may be mixed together, and thus the defects of one kind may be compensated for by the good qualities of the other. A few handfuls of the red fruit of the bird-catcher service tree counteract the flat, sweetish taste of certain other fruits.

        "In our farming districts the berries of the juniper are carefully collected and fermented, in the proportion of about thirty pounds of berries to thirty-eight and a half gallons of water. The drink procured from these is one of the most wholesome possible, but it requires a little use to reconcile one to the odor and flavor of it; those, however, who drink it, prefer it after a short time to any other liquor. The juice of the juniper contributes so much to health that I cannot too strongly recommend its being mixed, in greater or less quantities, with all fruits which are to be subjected to fermentation; its flavor alone will disguise the taste of such liquors as, without being unwholesome, are flat, sickish, or otherwise unpleasant. Count Chaptal probably refers here to the juniper growing in Holland, from which gin is procured. Our common red cedar, growing in South Carolina (Juniperus Virginiana), is closely related to the European juniper, and the berries, perhaps, may be used in flavoring drinks, and the leaves employed in place of savin. See Juniperus.

        "The rinds of oranges or lemons, aromatic plants, angelica roots (grow in South Carolina), peach leaves, etc., may likewise be mixed with any of these fruits which are

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naturally too sweet, and thus serve to raise the flavor of the fermented liquor, and render it more strengthening and efficacious in preventing the attack of disease.

        "I do not doubt but that by the application of the true principles of science, and by employing only those products which nature yields us abundantly and without expense, we can procure from the husbandman a variety of drinks more healthy, more agreeable, and better adapted for quenching thirst than the weak and imperfectly fermented wines made from green grapes.

        "I have limited myself to pointing out the simplest methods in which such articles as are within the reach of every peasant may be made use of; if such liquors as are more spiritous be wished, they can be obtained by dissolving from four to six pounds of the coarsest kinds of sugar in from five and a half to ten and a half gallons of warm water, and throwing the solution upon the mash when the cask is filled with it, supposing the cask to contain sixty-six gallons. To this may be added any number of pounds of raisins.

        "Liquors suitable for drinking may likewise be manufactured from the sap of several kinds of trees. In Germany, Holland, and some parts of Prussia, as soon as the returning warmth of spring begins to cause the ascent of the sap, holes two or three inches deep are bored with a gimlet in the trunks of the birch trees; through the straws which are introduced into the gimlet holes there flows out a clear, sweet juice, which, after having been fermented for a few days, becomes a sprightly liquor, that is drunk by the inhabitants of those countries with much pleasure. It is thought by them to be very serviceable in counteracting affections of the kindneys, stomach, etc. A single tree will furnish a quantity of drink sufficient to last three or four persons a week. The natives of the Coromandel coast fabricate their calore from the sap of the cocoanut tree. The savages of America prepare their chica from the juice of the maize, and the drink of the negroes of Congo is made from the juice of the palm tree.

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        "It cannot be doubted that the sap of all those trees which afford a saccharine substance can be made to yield a spiritous liquor, but I mention only these few as instances, because our own wants may be abundantly supplied from our fruits and grain.

        "The fermentation of rye and barley has afforded, from time immemorial, a liquor which has supplied the place of wine for the use of the common people in nearly all those countries in which the vine cannot be made to flourish; in those where wine is made abundantly the use of beer is still very extensive, both on account of the nutritive qualities which it possesses in a high degree, and its power of quenching thirst. Though beer may be brewed upon so small a scale as to supply the wants of a single family, I shall enter into no explanation of the process. In Russia a wholesome drink called quass is made. One-tenth part of the rye to be employed in its manufacture is steeped in water till it becomes soft; it is then spread thinly upon planks, in a place warm enough to produce germination, and it is there sprinkled occasionally with warm water. The remainder of the rye, after having been ground, is mixed with the germinated grain, and the whole is diluted with two gallons and a half of boiling water; the vessel is then set into an oven, from which bread has just been drawn, or exposed to an equivalent degree of heat, during twenty-four or thirty hours; if the vessel be put into an oven which it is necessary to heat every day, it may be removed during baking, and returned again after the bread is taken out. After this first operation, the fermented substance is diluted by mixing with it two and a half gallons of water at the temperature of 12° or 15°. (If of the Centigrade, 53° to 59°; if of Réaumur, to from 59° to 65°.) This mixture is stirred for half an hour, and then allowed to settle. As soon as a deposit is formed and the liquor becomes clear, it is then thrown into a cask, where fermentation takes place; this is completed in a few days, when the cask is removed into a cellar, and the quass soon becomes clear. It is in this state that it is drunk by the peasants; but it is

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much improved by being drawn off in jugs as soon as it has formed its deposit in the cask, and bottled, after having been preserved in these vessels till it has become clear. The liquor prepared in this manner has a vinous and sharp flavor, which is not unpleasant. The color of it is not very precise, being of a yellowish white. The imperfections of quass might easily be remedied by adding wild apples, or pears, or juniper berries, to the fermented substances. The fermented liquor might be racked off several times from its less, and clarified by the same process which we use for wine. The different deposits which are formed during the manufacture of quass are entirely of malt, and afford a nourishing and fattening food for animals." The reader is referred to same authority for other methods of manufacturing drinks, beverages, etc., from articles furnished on our farms.

        On the subject of fermentation, Chaptal gives the following hints, which may avail us in our experiments upon the production of wine. It seems to me that they convey some doctrines similar to those brought forward by Professor William Hume, of South Carolina, in his ingenious essay:

        "Generally speaking, the French grapes, when ripe, contain such proportions of sugar and the vegeto-animal principles as are well adapted for producing the vinous fermentation; but when the summer is cold or damp the proportion of sugar is less, and the predominance of the mucilage (it is from this mucilage that vinegar is formed) renders the liquor weak. In this case the small quantity of alcohol which is developed is not sufficient to preserve the wine from spontaneous decomposition, and at the return of heat a new fermentation takes place, the product of which is vinegar. This evil may be easily obviated by artificial means; it is only necessary to add to the liquor such a quantity of sugar as would naturally have been found in it under usual circumstances." Professor Hume advises the addition of alcohol, I believe, to preserve the wine from the acetic fermentation. See also "Treatise on Rural Chemistry,"

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by Ed. Solly, F. R. S. From Lond. ed. Philada. 1852; articles on manufacture of wine, brandy, etc., from fruits and vegetables. Several articles on manufacture of wine can be found in Patent Office Reports. See "Grape."

        A harvest drink is made by adding ten gallons of water to half a gallon of molasses, a quart of vinegar, and four ounces of ginger. Let the water be fresh from the spring or well; stir the whole well together, and a refreshing drink is obtained.

        Pyrus communis. Pear.

        Fruit trees, particularly the pear, were formerly introduced into hedge-rows. It was objected that depredations would be made upon the hedge. Gerard, who wrote on this subject three hundred years ago, said: "The poore will breake downe our hedges, and wee have the least part of the fruit. Forward, in the name of God; grafte, set, plant, and nourish up trees in every corner of your ground. The labor is small, the cost is nothing, the commodity is great; yourselves shall have plenty, the poore shall have somewhat in time of want to relieve their necessity, and God shall rewarde your good mindes and diligence." See paper on "Best trees for hedges," in Pat. Office Reports, 1854, p. 416. To manufacture perry, cider, etc., consult Wilson's Rural Cyc.; Ure's Dictionary of Arts, etc.; see, also, "Apple."

        Dr. John Lindley has written a most instructive article on fecundation in plants, physiological principles, and methods upon which fruits are produced. See his "Guide to the Orchard and Kitchen Garden," and a condensation in Patent Office Reports, 1856, p. 244. He says that some fruits of excellent qualities are bad bearers, and recommends the following modes of remedying these defects: 1st, by ringing the bark; 2d, by bending branches downward; 3d, by training; 4th, by use of different kinds of stocks. All these practices are intended to produce the same effects by different ways: "Physiologists know that whatever tends to cause a rapid diffusion of the sap and

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secretions of any plant, causes also the formation of leaf buds instead of flower buds; and that whatever on the contrary tends to cause an accumulation of sap and secretions, has the effect of producing flower buds in abundance;" so that a flower bud is often only a contracted branch. By arresting the motions of the fluids and secretions in a tree, we promote the production of flower buds. See, also, same volume, for mode of preservation and transportation of seeds, with the longevity of seeds, their utility, and germinative powers. A long list is given of the length of time which seeds can be preserved.

        Pyrus Americana, D. C. (Sorbus microcarpa, Ph.) Highest mountains of North Carolina. Fruit acid.

        This plant yields malic acid. I insert the following from Ure's Dictionary (Farmer's Encyclopædia):

        Malic acid. This vegetable acid exists in the juices of many fruits and plants, alone, or associated with the citric, tartaric, and oxalic acids; and occasionally combined with potash or lime. Unripe apples, pears, sloes, barberries, the berries of the mountain-ash, elder-berries, currants, goose-berries, strawberries, raspberries, bilberries, bramble-berries, whortleberries, cherries, ananas, afford malic acid; the house-leek and purslane contain the malate of lime.

        The acid may be obtained most conveniently from the juice of the berries of the mountain-ash, or barberries. This must be clarified by mixing with white of egg, and heating the mixture to ebullition; then filtering--digesting the clear liquor with carbonate of lead till it becomes neutral; and evaporating the saline solution till crystals of malate of lead be obtained. These are to be washed with cold water, and purified by recrystallization. On dissolving the white salt in water, and passing a stream of sulphuretted hydrogen through the solution, the lead will be all separated in the form of a sulphuret, and the liquor, after filtration and evaporation, will yield yellow, granular crystals, or cauliflower concretions, of malic acid, which may be blanched by redissolution and digestion with bone-black, and recrystallization.

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        Malic acid has no smell, but a very sour taste, deliquesces by absorption of moisture from the air, is soluble in alcohol, fuses at 150° Fahr., is decomposed at a heat of 348°, and affords by distillation a peculiar acid--the pyromalic. It consists, in 100 parts, of 41.47 carbon, 3.51 hydrogen, and 55.02 oxygen; having nearly the same composition as citric acid. A crude malic acid might be economically extracted from the fruit of the mountain-ash (Sorbus acuparia), applicable to many purposes; but it has not hitherto been manufactured upon a great scale.

        Pyrus Americana, D. C.

        Sorbus Americana, Willd.

        Sorbus acuparia, Mx.

        Sorbus microcarpa, Ell. Sk.

        Mountain ash. Grows on the highest mountains of South Carolina. Fl. July.

        Dém Élém de Bot. 655. The flowers are purgative. The oil from the young branches is caustic, and is employed against ringworm.

        Amelanchier canadensis, L. (Aronia botryapium of Ell. Sk.) Wild currant; shade trees; service tree. Upper country; Sarrazins; St. John's, S. C.; woods Fla. to Miss., Chapman; Newbern; Croom's Catalogue.

        Upon examining with a sharp instrument the specimens of various Southern woods, deposited in the museum of the Elliott Society by Professor L. R. Gibbes, Dr. A. M. Foster, and W. Wragg Smith, Esq., I was struck with the singular weight, density, and fineness of this wood. I think I can confidently recommend it as one of the best to be experimented with by the wood engraver. It is also, it will be observed, closely allied to the apple, pear, etc., which are all hard. From my brief examination of the excellent and useful collection above referred to, I would arrange the hard woods as follows, those just cited taking the first rank: next in order, Dogwood, Farcleberry (Vaccinium arboreum), Redberry, (Azalea nudiflora), and Kalmia latifolia. The Holly (Ilex opaca) I find to be quite hard when well dried. The beech (Fagus sylvatica), the hornbeam (Ostrya

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Virginica), indigenous plants, have all been recommended for the purposes of the engraver.

        While engaged in completing a number of wood engravings for my prize Essay for the South Carolina Medical Association, I used a piece of well seasoned dogwood, and obtained a very good impression from coarse figures cut with the graver's tools. I find that none, so far experimented with, equal the boxwood, but I have not yet fully tested the woods put to season.

        See Kalmia, etc.

        See apple (Pyrus malus) for stimulating beverages made from the fruit of the service tree.

        Prunus Virginiana. See Cerasus. Several South Carolina species furnish fruit, which is eatable, and often employed for various domestic purposes.

        Cerasus serotina, T. & Gray.

        Prunus Virginiana, Ell. Sk. Newbern. Fl. May.

        Wild cherry. Diffused in upper and lower districts;

        U. S. Disp. 576; Journal Phil. Coll. Pharm. x, 197, and xiv, 27; Eberle, Mat. Med. 300; Bell's Pract. Dict. 389; Pe. Mat. Med. and Therap. ii, 538; Le. Mat. Med. ii, 487; Phil. Trans. 418, and Michaux, N. Am. Sylva, ii, 205; Ball and Gar. Mat. Med. 273; Cullen, Mat. Med. 288; Lind. Nat. Syst. Bot. 147; Woodv. Med. Bot.; Griffith, Med. Bot. 288; Carson's Illust. Med. Bot. pt. 1. This is undoubtedly one of the most valuable of our indigenous plants. The bark unites with a tonic power the property of calming irritation and diminishing nervous excitability, "adapted to cases where the digestive powers are impaired, and with general and local irritation existing at the same time." It is peculiarly suited to the hectic fever attending scrofula and consumption, owing to the reduction of excitability which it induces, it is supposed, by the hydrocyanic acid contained in it. Eberle states that the cold infusion had the effect of reducing his pulse from seventy-five to fifty strokes in the minute. In a case of hypertrophy

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with increased action of the heart, I tried the infusion of this plant, taken in large quantities, according to Dr. Eberle's plan, but without very satisfactory results. It was persisted in for three weeks; the patient, a gentleman aged twenty-five, of nervous temperament, drinking several ounces of it three times a day. The force of the circulation was at first diminished; but the abatement was not progressive; the individual was not made any worse by it. Tincture of digitalis had been likewise used with no beneficial effects. Dr. Wood speaks of the employment of the wild cherry in the general debility following inflammatory fever. It is valuable, also, in dyspepsia, attended with neuralgic symptoms. Mér. and De L. Dict. de M. Méd. v, 159; Bull des Sci. Méd. xi, 303. The bark is indicated whenever a tonic is necessary, from impairment of the constitution by syphilis, dyspepsia, pulmonary, or lumbar abscess, etc. I am informed by a correspondent that he finds equal parts of this bark, rhubarb, and the gum exuding from the peach tree (Amygdalus communis), which likewise affords Prussic acid, when combined with brandy and white sugar, an excellent remedy in dysentery and diarrhæa; one ounce of each is added to one pint of brandy, with a sufficient quantity of white sugar, a tablespoonful of which is taken every half hour. The sensible, as well as the medicinal properties of this plant, are impaired by boiling; cold water extracts its virtues best. The inner bark is officinal. The bark of all parts of the tree is used, but that from the root is most active. Bark stronger, if collected from the root in autumn. Deteriorates by keeping. Tonic, sedative, expectorant. Infusion officinal. Thus made: bark bruised, half an ounce; one pint water (cold). Macerate for twenty-four hours. Dose, two or three fluidounces three or four times a day. Syrup officinal: Take of wild cherry bark, in coarse powder, five ounces; sugar, refined, two pounds; water, sufficient to moisten the bark thoroughly. Let it stand for twenty-four hours in a close vessel; then transfer it to a percolator, and pour cold water upon it

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gradually until a pint of filtered liquor is obtained. To this add the sugar, in a bottle, and agitate occasionally until it is dissolved. Dose, one-half fluidounce. By Proctor's analysis, it contains starch, resin, tannin, gallic acid, fatty matter, lignin, salts of lime, potassa, and iron, and a volatile oil associated with hydrocyanic acid. This proved fatal to a cat in less than five minutes. See Journal Phil. Coll. Pharm. vi, 8; Am. Journal Pharm. x, 197. The leaves, also, are sedative and antispasmodic; used in coughs, angina pectoris, etc. The dose of the powdered root is from twenty grains to one drachm. The infusion is the most convenient form. A syrup is also made; beside several secret preparations.

        Method of making "Cherry" cordial by the Southern matrons in the lower country of South Carolina (Saint John's)--a most delectable drink at all times, but particularly valuable in the present emergency: Fill the vessel with cherries (not washed, if gathered clean.) Cover with whisky. After several weeks pour off all the clear liquor and press the cherries through a sieve. Put into the juice thus pressed out five pints of brown sugar, and boil with syrup enough to sweeten the whole demijohn. Pour five pints of water on the thick part; boil and strain to make the syrup with the sugar. "Blackberry cordial" is made in the same way; or it can be stewed, strained, sweetened, and whiskey added. In the above, the sugar is to be boiled in the water which is obtained from the thick part, as directed. ("I. S. P.")

        The wood of this tree is highly valuable, being compact, fine grained, and brilliant, and not liable to warp when perfectly seasoned. When chosen near the ramifications of the trunk, it rivals mahogany in the beauty of its curls. Farmer's Encyc.

        Cerasus Carolinana, Mich.

        Prunus Carolinana, L. Ell. Sk.

        Wild orange; Fl. March.

        This is one of the most ornamental of our indigenous evergreen trees; and is planted around dwelling-houses.

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The berries, bark, and leaves possess in a high degree the taste characterizing the genus. It deserves an analysis.

        This tree, the flowers of which are much frequented by bees, grows abundantly on the sea-coast of our states, and is certainly one of the most beautiful and manageable evergreens that we possess. It can be cut into any shape, and is of a most attractive green color. It forms an impervious hedge, and grows rapidly. The black, oval berries contain an abundance of Prussic acid, as does the whole tree; but I do not know of any use to which it is applied. Dr. Thompson has found great use from Prussic acid, largely diluted, as a local application in impetigo. He used the infusions of bayberry; no doubt the infusions of the wild orange would be equally useful. In the Patent Office Reports, Agriculture, 1854, '55, p. 376, are papers on "Live fences," or the planting and management of quick-set hedges. In this the reader will find a most full and satisfactory account of the desirable plants for hedges, both American and European. This is not the place for a full description of these plants and shrubs; but I will at any rate give a list of some of them, and refer the reader to the article. All are of course not adapted to our climate. The English sloe, or black thorn (Prunus spinosa), the hawthorn (Cratoegus oxyacantha), and the buckthorn (Rhamnus catharticus) have been planted in this country with indifferent success on account of the intense heat of our southern sun. "The 'Washington Thorn' (C. cordata), growing in mountains of Georgia, was also brought into notice as a hedge plant toward the close of the last century, and was subsequently employed for that purpose in various sections of the Union; but owing to improper management, and the tendency to disarm itself of its spines after a certain age, it has been discontinued. Similar results have attended the adoption of other species of thorny trees and shrubs in this country, with the exception of the 'Osage orange,' the 'Spanish bayonet' (Yucca), and the 'Cherokee rose.'" These are natives of this continent. See "Osage Orange." See article for modes of management, planting, etc., of

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hedges, with illustrations on wood. The arbor vitoe (Thuja occidentalis), one of our native plants, growing only in the highest mountains, is said to be "indigenous, and to grow abundantly on the banks of the Hudson, making the finest ornamental hedge known to this climate." The holly (Ilex opaca) and the hemlock spruce (Abies canadensis) should be mentioned; also the willow box (Buxus sempervirens); prickly ash (Xanthoxylum fraxineuma); honey locust (Gleditschia triacanthus)--all these are either natives or are cultivated in the Confederate States. See Willow and Osage Orange.

        Amygdalus. The peach produces abundantly in the Confederate States. The root, leaves, and kernels are sometimes employed in medicine, and in seasoning drinks, condiments, etc.--being indebted for any virtues which they possess to the hydrocyanic acid contained in them. A tea of the leaves is a favorite domestic palliative in whooping-cough, and in most pectoral affections. A tea made with either the bark, leaves, or flowers, will act freely as a purge. Dose for a child, a teaspoonful repeated every half hour till it operates. A syrup may be made by adding honey. The gum of peach or pear dissolved in water acts like gum arabic. The kernel is used in seasoning, and in making the cordial known as ratifia; also in adding to tonics. The leaves are used in seasoning creams in imitation of vanilla bean. Leaves put in layers with cotton, and boiling water poured over, will dye yellow. The cotton or thread should first be boiled in a solution of alum. The leaves of artichoke (Cynara) also dye a yellow color: see "Rhus." Sassafras roots with copperas yield a drab. Fumigation with tobacco smoke, syringing with tobacco water, and washing with strong lime water are requisite for destroying aphides whenever these exist in such swarms as to make a copious discharge of honey dew. See Wilson's Rural Cyclopædia, Art. Aphis.

        Drying Peaches. Several modes of effecting this are pursued. When done in-doors, furnaces should be placed in

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the cellar, from which the heated air may rise into the building suitably provided with shelves, etc.

        In some of the Southern states, says Mr. Kenrick, the process is facilitated by a previous scalding. This is effected by immersing baskets of the fruit a few minutes in kettles of boiling water. They are afterward halved, the stones separated, and being laid with the skins downward, the drying is effected in the sun in three days of good weather. They then may be stored in boxes.

        In France, as we are informed, peaches and other fruits are thus dried whole. The peaches or other fruits, being pared, are boiled for a few minutes in a syrup consisting of one pound of sugar dissolved in three quarts of water, and after being drained, by being laid singly on board-dishes, they are placed in the oven after the bread is taken out, and when sufficiently dry they are packed in boxes. The following is the mode of drying practised by Mr. Thomas Bellangee, of Egg Harbor, New Jersey: He has a small house provided with a stove, and drawers in the sides of the house lathed at their bottoms, with void intervals. The peaches should be ripe, and cut in two, not peeled, and laid in a single layer on the laths, with their skins downward, to save the juice. On shoving in the drawer, they are soon dried by the hot air produced by the stove. In this way great quantities may successively, in a single season, be prepared, with a very little expense in the preparation of the building and in fuel.

        Shepardia magnoides, N. Buffalo-berry tree. Mo. Nuttall. I do not know the family of the plant.

        The fruit, resembling currants of a fine scarlet color, and growing in clusters, have a rich taste, and are considered valuable for making into tarts and preserves. Farmer's Encyclopædia.

LEGUMINOSÆ, or FABACEÆ. (The Bean Tribe.)

        The sub-orders are distinguished by nutritive, purgative, and astringent properties.

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        Cladrastis tinctoria. Raf. (Virgilia lutea Mx.) Yellowwood. Hill sides Tennessee and Kentucky.

        The wood is yellow, and dyes a beautiful saffron color.

        Piscidia erythrina, L. Jamaica dogwood. South Florida. Chap.

        The piscidia is said to be used in America for stupefying fish, which are taken as readily by this means as with nux vomica. Wilson's Rural Cyclopædia.

        Baptisia tinctoria, Ell. Sk. Wild indigo. Grows in rich, shaded lands; vicinity of Charleston; collected in St. John's; Newbern. Fl. July.

        Barton's Med. Bot. ii, 57; Lind. Nat. Syst. Bot. 153. Its virtues reside in the cortical part of the root. In large doses, it operates violently as an emetic, cathartic, and subastringent antiseptic. It is said to have proved useful in scarlatina, typhus fever, and the condition attendant upon mortification and gangrene. Dr. Comstock found it useful in the latter state, used both externally and internally. Eclectic Repert. vi; U. S. Disp. 1231. It was employed by Dr. C. not only in existing, but as a prophylactic in threatened mortification and gangrene. Dr. Thacher speaks highly of its efficacy as an external application to obstinate and painful ulcers, and Eberle (Diseases of Children, p. 98) used a decoction with advantage in the aggravated cases of ulcerated umbilicus, so frequently met with in infants. It may be employed topically, in the form of a cataplasm. The young shoots may be eaten as asparagus; but after they assume a green color, they act as a drastic purgative. Griffith, Med. Bot. 232. The decoction, made with one ounce of the recent root to one pint of boiling water, is given in doses of a tablespoonful every three or four hours. The ointment, prepared by simmering the fresh root in lard, is applied to ulcers and burns.

        B. leucophoea, Nutt. bracteata, Muhl. Cat.

        Grows in dry soils; found in Georgia also. Fl. April.

        Sent to me from Abbeville district, by Mr. Reed, by whom

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I am informed that a decoction of the leaves and branches is considered stimulant and astringent, and was used by Dr. Branch, of that district, with great satisfaction in all cases of mercurial salivation.

        Medicago lupulina, L. Yellow clover; lucern; nonesuch. Introduced. Waste places Florida, and westward.

        It has been planted extensively as a clover, but is not so valuable as other species--the M. sativa, for example. See Wilson's Rural Cyclopædia for long article on "Clover," and "Lucern."

        Melilotus officinalis, Ph. Melilot; sweet clover. Completely nat. says Elliott, around Charleston.

        Dém. Élém. de Bot. iii, 37. The infusion of the flowers is emollient and anodyne, and is employed in inflammation of the intestines, retention of urine, tympanites, etc. Am. Herbal, 222; U. S. Disp. 1275. It is thought to be possessed of very little efficacy in medicine, but is used as a local application, in the form of decoction or cataplasm, in inflammatory diseases. Lind. Nat. Syst. Bot. 153; Journal de Pharm. xxi, 152. A principle called coumarin exists abundantly in the flowers of the melilotus, and it possesses an odor which is attributed to the presence of benzoic acid. See Vogel's Anal. Nouv. Journal de Méd. viii, 270; Mér. and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. iv, 293; Flore Med. iv, 229; Aublet, Voyage, ii, 454; Haller, Hist. Stirp. Helv. 362. The flowers are employed in flatulent colic, and in rheumatism, and the decoction for fomentations. Several species of it are used to flavor Chapziger cheese. Wilson states that it is used in making the famous Gruyère, or Schabzieger cheese, and is the cause of its peculiar flavor--the flower and the seeds in a dried state being bruised or ground, and mixed with the curd before pressing. Any mixture of the seeds with bread corn renders the latter very disagreeable. Melilot, Wilson adds, was long used in making a blister plaster which bore its name, and acquired from it a green color and a disgusting smell, and was of exceedingly little value. Rural Cyc.

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        Trifolium pratense, L. Red clover. Vicinity of Charleston; Newbern.

        Dém. Élém. de Bot. ii, 36. All the species contain a mucous, nutritive principle. In Ireland, when food is scarce, the powdered flowers are mixed with bread, and are esteemed wholesome and nutritious. Fl. Scotica, of Lightfoot. Some are said to produce vertigo and tympanites in cattle which feed on them.

        Trifolium arvense, Linn. Rabbit-foot; field clover.--"Grows sparingly in the upper districts." Collected in St. John's; Charleston district; Newbern. Fl. April.

        Wade's Pl. Rariores, 56. Dickerson observes that the dried plant is highly aromatic, and retains its odor. It has been used in dysentery. Withering, 636; Fl. Scotica, 406.

        Trifolium reflexum. Wild buffalo clover. Upper districts; vicinity of Charleston; collected in St. John's.

        It affects very sensibly the salivary glands. In horses, this may frequently be noticed.

        Trifolium repens, L. White clover. Vicinity of Charleston; collected in St. John's; Newbern. Fl. May.

        Ell. Bot. ii, 201. This also affects the salivary glands, sometimes producing complete salivation. Fl. Scotica, 404. Its leaves are a good rustic hygrometer, as they are always relaxed and flaccid in dry weather, but erect in moist and rainy.

        Astragalus. Milk-vetch.

        There are five species of this genus within our limits. I refer to them because the seeds of A. boeticus, planted in Germany and England, are found to be the very best substitute for coffee yet tried, and so used--roasted, parched, and mixed with coffee. Our species of Vicia, tare, vetch, and Lathyrus should also be tried.

        Psoralea esculenta. Edible psoralea.

        The bread root, growing in Missouri, is eaten by the

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inhabitants of the plain, and the Rocky mountains. Rural Cyclopædia.

        Indigofera Caroliniana. Walt. Grows in dry soils; vicinity of Charleston; collected in St. John's, Berkley; Newbern. Fl. May.

        Not inferior, says Nuttall, to the cultivated indigo. It does not, however, possess so much coloring matter. The decoction of the leaves is said to act as an emetic when given in large quantities; in smaller doses it is cathartic. "F. I. S." a correspondent of the Charleston Mercury, says: "Our country ladies gather wild indigo, and ferment from it a blue powder equal to the commercial indigo, which dyes a beautiful and lasting blue. A solution of this powder in water is a speedy and certain relief for cramp and asthma. The red sumach dyes a rich dark or light purple, as is required."

        Indigofera tinctoria. Indigo. Once cultivated in South Carolina to a large extent; see Indigofera anil. Collected in St. John's, Berkley. Fl. June.

        Drayton's View of South Carolina. Mérat and de L. Dict. de M. Méd. iii, 601. According to Laennec, the decoction of the root possesses the property of action against poison, and is useful in nephritic diseases. In Jamaica, it is employed to destroy vermin. The leaves are alterative, and are given in hepatic disorders. Ainslie, Mat. Med. Ind. i, 180; ii, 33; Journal de Botanique, v, 11; Ann. de Chim. lxviii, 284; M. and de L. Supplem. 1846, 383; Martius, Syst. Mat. Med. 126; Perollet, Mém. sur la culture des indigofères tinctoriaux, Paris, 1832; L'Herminier, Résumé des obs. faites sur plusieurs espèces indigofères de Guadeloupe: see Journal de Pharm. xix, 257; A. Saint Hiliare, "Hist. Indigo, from the first account of it till the year 1833" (Ann. des Sci. Nat. vii, 110); Mem. on Indigo, in the Comptes Rendus Hebdom. of Acad. Nat. Sci. 19th Dec. 1836, 445; Dumas' Mem. upon Indigo, its Composition, etc., in the Journal de Chim. Méd. iii, 66, 1837; D. Erdmann,

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Rech. upon Indigo (in French, also), in the 26th vol. Journal de Pharm. 460, 1840; and the report upon the proposed extraction of indigo from the Polygonum tinctorium. See Journal de Pharm. xxxvi, 274. The remains of the indigo plantations, with the vats in which indigo was prepared, are still to be seen in the lower districts of South Carolina, bordering on the Santee river. Since the introduction of cotton and rice it is cultivated, though not very largely.

        On the cultivation, preparation, etc., of indigo, Woad (Isatis tinctoria), see Chaptal's Chemistry applied to Agriculture, p. 295; Ure's Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines, articles "Indigo," "Calico Printing;" also, Penny Cyclopædia. I must content myself simply with a reference to the source of information. The I. anil is also used for the production of indigo. The So. Cultivator, vol. ii, p. 58, contains a full account of the preparation of indigo. To avoid the deleterious effects of fermented indigo, Dr[.] Roxburg, of India, states that he succeeds perfectly by the "scalding process." This is doubted. See also, Southern Cultivator, p. 15, vol. 6, report of a Committee of Georgia Agricultural Association. They recommend the Indigofera argentea, or wild indigo of Georgia. I insert the following:

        "The directions for preparing I obtained, many years ago, from an old and respectable planter in South Carolina. The manuscript which he delivered to me was from the pen of one who had been extensively engaged in the cultivation and preparation of indigo for market, before the Revolution. It has never been published; and may, therefore, impart information on a process little known by the present generation.

        "The pigment, or dyeing substance of the indigo, is obtained from the leaves. There are several species of this plant. The Indigofera tinctoria, or French indigo, yields the greatest quantity, and is cultivated in India; but the quality is inferior to the Indigofera argentea, or wild indigo. The former is distinguished by its pinnate leaves, the

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smaller ribs expanding from the principal rib like the feathers of a quill, similar to the leaves of the pear and of the lime-tree, and by a more slender, ligneous stem. It rises, in a rich soil, and when well cultivated, to the height of six feet.

        "The seeds are sown as early in the spring as the climate and season will warrant. In the West Indies, the planting commences in March, in trenches about a foot asunder; and the weed is cut down in May. In South America, six months elapse before it can be cut. In the former, generally four cuttings are obtained of the same plant in the course of a year; but in the latter, never more than two, and often only one. The cutting takes place when the plant is in blossom, and is done with the sickle. Fresh plantings of the seed are required yearly.

        "Commence the cutting of the weed in the evening, in time to have the steeper set before it is dark. The plants are laid in strata, and pressed down by weights. When a sufficient quantity of them are laid, pour in water to the height of about four inches above them. One inch and a half above the surface of the water bore a hole through the side of the vat, and directly over the trough which is to convey the liquor into the beater. When the fermentation has commenced the liquor will rise and run over. Let it remain until the stream has ceased, or nearly so. This, in hot weather, will be from ten to fourteen hours after the water has been poured upon the weed, or on the following morning. Immediately draw off into the beater, and commence the agitation. Continue this for about twenty minutes, and then let in the lime-water until you have plenty of grain, but not very coarse. The agitation must be carried on, and frequent use be made of the plate. As soon as a change in the color is perceived, from a muddy green to a purple or blue, the beating should cease. This operation usually requires an hour. There can be no certain rule as to the quantity of lime-water to be used, or the length of time for continuing the agitation. If the indigo be not sufficiently steeped, it will require more lime-water,

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and longer beating, and vice versa. Having obtained the fine blue tint you wish, stop the agitation, and pour in an additional quantity of lime-water, which will cause the grains to collect and settle in a short time. Be careful, however, not to add so much as to give the liquor a yellow or red tinge: it should be of a clear, but pale green. As the sediment subsides, commence drawing off the water through the upper plugs, and so on to each successively, until the mud alone rema