FAMILY herbal: 257 



fitit. The wood is not very firm^ and wlicn ciit^ 

 yields a milky juicCj of a yerj disagreeable Israeli. 



The wood and the seeds are used ; and they 

 have both t!ie same violent operation by vomit and 

 •tool ; but the wood given in infusion, and in a 

 moderate dose^ only purges, and that, though brisk- 

 ly, without any danger. It is good in dropsies, 

 and irf other stubborn disorders ; and it is excel- 

 lent against rheumatic pains. Some recommend 



fi 



The seeds are 



^hat are called grana tiglia ; but though much 

 poken of by some writeKs, they are at this time 

 ^cr? little used in the shops. 



■ r 



The Peach Tree. Pcrsica malus. 



A TREE very frequent against our garden waifs. 

 The truiik is covered with a brown oark. The 

 branches grow irregularly. The leaves are beauti- 

 ful ; they are lon>, narrow, and elegantly serrated 

 at the edges. The blossoms are large, and of a 

 pale red. The fruit is too well known to need 



much description : it consists of a soft pnlpy mat- 

 ter, covered by a hairy skin, and inclosing a hard 

 itone^ in which is a kernel of a pleasant bitter taste. 

 .The flowers are to be used. A pint of water 

 IS to be poured boiling hot on a pound weight of 

 peach blossoms ; when it has stood four and twenty 

 hourSi it is to be poured off, through a sieve, w ith- 

 ont squeezing, and two pounds of loaf sugar is 

 to be dissolved in it, over the fire : this makes an 

 excellent syrup for children. It purges gently, 

 and sometimes will make thorn puke a little. They 

 have so frequent occasion for this, that people 

 who have children^ have continual use for it. 



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