Health and Woodland Medicine 



317 



Tonic: An infusion or tea of black alder bark is a 

 wonderful tonic, and a healer of the skin, inside and out. 

 Boil a pound of bark in a gallon of water till a quart is 

 left. Take half a cupful four times a day. This is a 

 bracer for the feeble constitution. 



Tonic: A fine tonic is made from the twigs of sweet 

 birch, by boiHng two pounds of twigs in a gallon of water, 

 till it makes about a pint of strong brown tea, which should 

 be sipped, about half a pint a day. 



Sumac. 



Tonic: A decoction, or boiled in water extract, of almost 

 any part of the red sumac tree, is a powerful tonic. Make 

 it of two pounds of sumac in a gallon of water boiled to a 

 pint. Take a big spoonful twice a day. 



Wash for sore throat: Inner bark of hemlock is a power- 

 ful astringent and good as a throat wash. A pound of 

 bark in a gallon of water is boiled to a quart. 



Worms: The berries of black alder used as tincture 



