442 SAMBUCUS. [CLASS v. ORDER HI. 



of tea, which is gently aperient ; the dried flowers are also used as tea, 

 to make fomentations, and distilled with water, which has the fragrance 

 of the flowers. It is considered a pleasant and good wash for inflamed 

 eyes; made hot, and with the addition of a little sugar it is taken at 

 bed time to produce perspiration, for the relief of colds, coughs, &c. ; 

 they are also made into ointment in the same way as the bark, and 

 considered excellent in dispersing of tumors, the healing of wounds, &c. 

 The dried flowers are also used to flavour vinegar, and the French 

 scatter them amongst their heaps of apples, or pack them up with 

 their fruits, to communicate to them an agreeable flavour. The ripe 

 berries have a sweetish but rather sickly taste, and yield upon pressure 

 a h'ne purple juice ; when boiled with spices and sugar, and fermented, 

 it forms an excellent kind of wine, much esteemed : taken hot before 

 going to bed, with toasted bread, it is a very favourite remedy with 

 the country people, both as a preveutative and cure for colds, and 

 is frequently of great use, as it produces perspiration, and mostly 

 acts as an aperient; it is far from being to most persons an unpleasant 

 remedy. The juice fermented with a small portion of sugar, and 

 treated in the ordinary way of making wine, is by no means despisable ; 

 after it has been kept in bottles for some time it deposits part of its 

 colouring matter, with a portion of salt, and has much the appear- 

 ance of port wine. The berries are also boiled with sugar into 

 a kind of preserve, and thought to be very useful in sore throats, 

 coughs, and colds; but they are said to be deleterious to poultry, 

 especially to turkeys, if they are, we presume they very seldom eat 

 them, for no trees are more common than the elder in farm yards and 

 hedges in almost all parts of the country, and we know not of any 

 circumstance that has led to the belief of their causing any injury to 

 the poultry which are daily picking about them. 



The elder is not much esteemed as an ornamental shrub ; it is 

 showy both in flower and fruit : and will grow in almost all situations 

 in the close smoky recesses of towns, as well as in the country, but is 

 heavy looking in its foliage. The variety with lacinated leaves, or 

 the parsley leaved elder, as it is called, is far less objectionable, and 

 there are some very pretty kinds occasionally met with having varie- 

 gated leaves, which look very pleasing amongst other plants in plan- 

 tations and shrubberies ; but it is liable to lose its variegated appearance, 

 if planted in too good soil, the whole leaves become green. 



Paper stained with the purple juice of the berries, is a good test to 

 ascertain the presence of acids in making chemical experiments. 



