SCHOPF AMERICAN TRAVELS. 



pressed and a large spoonful of the juice given daily. Two spoonfuls 

 are said to be sufficient for a cure. The herbs and roots, after ex- 

 pressing or boiling, are laid upon the wound, or as a substitute a leaf 

 of tobacco steeped in rum. Both of these plants are of European ori- 

 gin, and grow in America as aliens, only in the settled parts and not 

 in the wilds. How the negro got a knowledge of them is not certain; 

 perhaps through some European for both plants have been of old 

 praised and used in the treatment of wounds, and, besides, one of 

 them, the Hoarhound (Marrub.) has been greatly commended for 

 the bite of noxious animals and mad-dogs. 



Among all the remedies used exteriorly the most effective and 

 reasonable are : the application of a ligature immediately above the 

 wound ; the sprinkling on of salt and pepper, gunpowder or tobacco ; 

 timely and repeated cupping ; the searing of the wound, on the spot 

 or as soon as ever it can be done : these remedies are now and again 

 used with good results by the country people or by surgeons. 

 And the fat of the rattlesnake is at times rubbed over the wound, 

 but from this very little indeed should be expected. 



[I, 545-547.] Several plants are grown here which farther to the 

 north are scarcely seen. Cotton-wool (Gossypium herbaceum) and 

 sweet potatoes {Convolzidus Battatas) are raised by each family suf- 

 ficiently for its needs. The blacks raise 'Been-nuts' (Arachis hypo- 

 gaea) ;* this is a pretty hardy growth, which at all events stands a 

 few cold nights without hurt. The thin shells of the nuts, or more 

 properly the husks, are broken, and the kernels planted towards the 

 end of April in good, light soil, perhaps a span apart. They must 

 then be diligently weeded, and when tliey begin to make a growth of 

 stems, all the filaments or joints are covered with earth. After the 

 blooming time the pistils and young seed-cases bury themselves in 

 the ground and mature under the earth which is continually heaped 

 upon them. The kernels have an oily taste, and roasted are like cacao. 

 With this view the culture of them for general use has been Ions: rec- 

 ommended in the Philosophical Transactions, and the advantages of 

 making this domestic oil plainly enough pointed out, but without the 

 desired result. 



Virginia. 



[II, 1 14-120.] The James River tobacco is reckoned the best sort 

 which Virginia produces, and keeps its price pretty well unchanged 

 at 6 Span, dollars the hundred. For smoking one finds the coarse 



* This plant, with a few others of the same class, has the rare property of burying its 

 seed-pods in the earth. The bloom appears far down on the stem, and inclines towards the 

 earth, in which the pistil buries itself and matures round husks with 2 3 seeds, which are 

 dug out for u=e. . . . It is believed to be originally an African plant which was brought to the 

 American colonies, particularly the sugar colonies, by the negro slaves; the blacks are very 

 fond of them and plant them industriously in the West Indies, in the little patches of land 

 left for their use. . . In some parts they are called also "ground-nuts" and "ground-peas." 



17 



