

THE BROOM. 27 



The twigs infused, are a very popular remedy for 

 dropsy ; and are admitted into the Materia Medica, 

 and prescribed by our physicians as a valuable di- 

 uretic. The seeds are said to possess emetic, as well 

 as cathartic, properties. The branches have been 

 used for tanning leather, which, of course gives proof 

 of the presence of an astringent principle. The 

 flower-buds, just before they begin to shew the 

 yellow, are pickled in imitation of capers, and the 

 seeds, according to M. Pagot des Charnes, make an 

 excellent coffee. The wood, when it is suffered to 

 attain to a sufficient age, is much prized by cabinet- 

 makers, who employ it in veneering. The twigs are 

 used for thatching cottages and ricks. The fibres 

 were formerly converted, in this country, into a 

 strong cloth, just as they are at the present day by 

 the peasants of Lower Languedoc, and especially of 

 Lodeve, where the broom furnishes almost all the 

 linen in domestic use ; while the refuse from the 

 manufacture supplies the manufacturers with firing.* 

 These fibres also make an excellent paper; and 

 finally, the whole plant, when reduced to ashes, 

 yields a serviceable, and very pure, alkaline salt. So 

 that, certainly, the broom must not be considered 

 useless in its beauty. 



The mention of the cloth produced from its fibres 

 will naturally draw our attention to the names by 

 which our broom is known. Many botanical works 

 still refer it, with Linnaeus, to Spdrtium^ a name 

 signifying cordage (o-Traprov), which was applied by 

 the Greeks to a plant, considered to be the Spanish 



* Beckman's " Hist, of Inventions." f S. scoparius. 



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