1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



901 



excellent in small-pox, measles, and scarlet fever, 

 and maybe used with advantage in all cases of 

 colds; in nervous headache of femnles, hysterics, 

 and irritability of the nerves. An infusion of cat- 

 nip is often good. Though _a c< niinon article, and 

 by many considered a very simple one, catnip, 

 nevertheless, is a very valuable remedy, and 

 should be used more frequently than it is. In 

 fevers it promotes perspiration without stimula- 

 ting or increasing the heat of the bodj'. It should 

 always be kept on hand where there are children, 

 as a remedy for colic, as well as in fevers and colds, 

 and may always be taken freely. As a poultice it 

 is verj' valuable, applied to painful swellings; and 

 as a fomentation, in combination with other bitter 

 herbs, it is often very beneficial, applied as warm 

 as can be borne, in cases of severe pain and inflam- 

 mation." 



" Pennyroyal— (Hedromn. puieuioidcs).— This well- 

 known herb needs no description; it grows almost 

 everywhere, and is known by everybody. Medical 

 properties and uses: It is a pleasant, aromatic di- 

 aphoretic, diuretic, and emraenagogue. May be 

 used freely in the form of tea, as a sweating and 

 cooling drink in fevers; in diseases of the urinary 

 organs, suppressed menses, and cold generally." 



Many very simple herbs contain the principal in- 

 gredients that compose the best of the powders 

 and compounds used in medicine today. 



Goldsboro, Wayne Co., N. C. A. L. Swinpon. 



I do not know but that I shall have to 

 take back what I said, at least to some ex- 

 tent, friend S.; but I do believe that the 

 superstition inseparably connected with 

 using remedies oftentimes does more mis- 

 chief than all the good that ever comes from 

 taking this, that, and the other, indiscrimi- 

 nately, without the advice of a physician. 

 A few days ago I had a peculiar headache 

 that I was pretty sure would yield to a cup 

 of tea. It stopped it almost immediately, 

 and has so many times that 1 am forced to 

 acknowledge there is some virtue in it that 

 makes it really one of God's blessings. A 

 friend at the Chicago convention was suffer- 

 ing from a severe headache. I advised him 

 to drink a cup of rather strong tea, and it 

 acted like magic, as it does on myself. My 

 plan, however, is to take the tea as a medi- 

 cine, but by no means to drink it every day. 

 May be catnip and pennyroyal have their 

 uses in the same way ; if so, I am v/illing to 

 let them pass ; but 1 expect to fight hum- 

 bugging and superstition in regard to medi- 

 cine, as I always have done. 



CATNIP FOR CATS. 



MKS. HAKKISON GIVES US PRETTY GOOD EVIDENCE 

 THAT CATNIP IS GOOD. 



flUR cat Dot begs leave to differ with you, and 

 presumes aiso to utter a big cat-call to the 

 big medicine-man. Prof. Cook, as to the cura- 

 tive properties of catnip. He thinks the 

 professor may know a good deal about bugs 

 and bees, but little about "yarbs." 



Dot, poor fellow, was sick, poor, and feeble, and 

 wriggled when he walked, and the baby said Dotty 

 could hardly speak above his breath. I said, " It's 

 too bad that we can't keep a cat any more. Now, 

 Pot is going to die. The kittens that I petted all 



winter died in the spring. Peoria is getting to be 

 like Leadville, for few cats can live here." 



I was out driving, and I noticed catnip growing 

 very luxuriantly, and gathered a bunch and took it 

 home. When 1 alighted from the carriage I noticed 

 that Dot was smelling and rubbing against me very 

 affectionately, and trotted along after me, as I car- 

 ried the bunch of catnip. I threw it down on the 

 grass, and thea there was a picnic. He took it in 

 his arms, and, lying on his back, rocked it and then 

 rolled over and over upon it, expressing his joy in 

 every way he could. He nipped off the leaves and 

 ate them with evident relish, and continued to eat 

 them until it was all gone. Dot got well and fat, 

 and caught all the mice around the hives and in the 

 chaff cushions packed awaj' in the barn. I tell 

 you, friends, he has been a bully cat since he ate 

 the catnip. In the fall I gathered catnip seed, and 

 scattered it under the shrubbery, and transplanted 

 some of the roots. In the spring, to make assur- 

 ance doubly sure, I took a spade and lifted careful- 

 ly four large bunches, and set them out carefully, 

 sticking down sticks to keep oft' cats and chickens. 

 Now, Dot, although a good hunter, is a poorgarden- 

 er. He pushed his head in through the sticks, 

 kneaded, danced, and pranced in joy on discovering 

 his favorite, until it was destroyed. I noticed a 

 plant of it growing very near the honey-house, and 

 I said Dot sha'n't roll uiion iliat until he kills it. So 

 I melted out the ends of a tin can, and pushed it 

 down in the ground over it. It flourished for a 

 while, but soon had the appearance of being nipped 

 oft', and finally disappeared. Another large plant, 

 protected by bricks against the side of a hive, grew 

 to be a foot high, and branched out nicely, my joy 

 and pride, when it disappeared during a serenade 

 of neighboring cats, held in the apiary. Dot is a 

 well-behaved cat. He attends to his business strict- 

 ly, and does not wander from home far enough to 

 find catnip growing in the hedges adjacent to the 

 city. If he were a gadabout, out of nights visiting 

 and seranading the neighbors, and calling to his 

 fellows, " How many buttons have you on your 

 coat?" he might find some. 



I've often said, that hot water is the best medicine 

 under the sun, yet at the same time I fully agree 

 with the Indians of North Nipissing with regard to 

 the curative properties of hoarhound and honey. 

 At one time I had a cough for a year. I gathered a 

 big lot of hoarhound and filled the wash-boiler, and 

 let it steep. When I thought it had steeped enough 

 I strained it ott, and boiled it down until there was 

 not more than two quarts of it, and then 1 sweetened 

 it with honey. The doctor said,"It will not cure ypur 

 cough; it may do a little good as a tonic." But I 

 kept eating it until the cough and I had parted com- 

 pany—as it were, dissolved partnership. 



Peoria, 111.. Nov. 7, 1887. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



My good friend, you have given us pretty 

 good evidence to "the effect that cats are 

 fond of catnip, whicli is something that I 

 did not know before ; but it does not seem 

 to be so clear that the catnip was the occa- 

 sion of Dot's recovery ; and in the same line, 

 although the lioarhound and honey was a 

 nice medicine to take,l can not see any very 

 positive evidence that the cough did not 

 leave of itself, without any assistance from 

 the hoarhound. I should be sorry, however, 

 to have hoarhound go out of fashion. When- 

 ever I taste of hoarhound candy it brings 



