ELDER. 125 



The younger branches contain a great quantity of 

 pith, which, being very light, is made into balls for elec- 

 trical experiments. 



It has been said, that insects in general have so great a 

 dislike to the Elder, that if turnips, cabbages, fruit-trees, 

 or corn, be whipped with branches of it, or if a gate 

 stuck full of them be drawn over the crops, no insects 

 will attack them ; and that an infusion of the leaves is 

 useful to sprinkle over such beds as the gardener may 

 wish to preserve from small caterpillars. It is thought 

 even to be sufficiently powerful to drive away the mole, if 

 laid in his subterranean domains ; yet the Elder has its own 

 aphis, and, according to Evelyn, a very troublesome one. 



The flowers are considered poisonous to turkeys, and 

 the berries to poultry in general ; cattle mostly refuse the 

 Elder, sheep are fond of it, and it is supposed healthful 

 for them. 



The wine made by housewives from the elder-berry is 

 well known, and by many persons esteemed, though some 

 think it nauseous ; the juice is also used to colour raisin 

 and other wines, and to give a flavour to vinegar. 

 Elder-flower water is frequently used in this country as 

 a cooling lotion for the skin. The Russians and the 

 missionaries at the Cape use an infusion of these flowers 

 as a sudorific in colds*. 



" This tree,"" says Miller, " is as it were a whole maga- 

 zine of physic to rustic practitioners ; nor is it quite 

 neglected by more regular ones." Evelyn says, if the 

 medicinal properties of the Elder, " leaves, bark and 

 berries, were thoroughly known, I cannot tell what our 

 countryman could ail, for which he might not fetch a 



* Latrobe's South Africa, p. 388. 



