MINOR PRODUCTS OF THE MOUNTAINS 



437 



in the United States and Canada. Before the war they 

 were even sent to Europe. They may serve to Hghten 

 the gloom at the funeral of some departed New Englander 

 or to heighten the festive appearance of some gay Christ- 

 mas scene in Philadelphia, besides providing corn bread 

 and coffee and perhaps gingham aprons and tobacco for 

 the inmates of some mountain cabin. 



In the higher altitudes grows a tree known as the 

 cherry birch but which the mountain people call mahog- 

 any. From this comes a product which many of our 

 readers have tasted, probably never guessing the source 

 of the flavoring in their favorite lozenge. The bark 

 is stripped from this birch when the sap is up and dis- 

 tilled in a wooden still with a metal bottom. This "sure 

 'nough" birch oil brings two dollars a pound and is used 

 as a substitute for wintergreen. As a rule no attemprt 

 is made to utilize the wood of the denuded tree, so this 

 is rather a wasteful method of acquiring a few extra 

 dollars. 



Large quantities of tan bark obtained from the hem- 

 lock and chestnut oak are also shipped from the moun- 

 tain country. 



I wonder whether folks ever feel any curiosity as to 

 where the materials come from for drugs and medicines. 

 Many of these, of course, are imported, but large quan- 

 tities of medicinal herbs are gathered in the mountain 

 lands of the south. The area producing these herbs has a 

 much lower altitude than the birch tree heights, varying 



facturers. McGuire and Company, of John City, Tennes- 

 see, have a price list of nearly two hundred medicinal 

 roots and herbs, covering a territory that reaches as far 



BIRCH OIL STILL WITH "PROPRIETOR" 



The shed covers the bark just stripped from trees and also the 

 vat from which a trough and pipe conduct the heavy oil to 

 the half gallon glass jar towards right of picture. 



from one thousand to three thousand feet in height. Here 

 many varieties of medicinal plants are found. They are 

 gathered mostly by women and children and carefully 

 prepared and taken to the local merchant and exchanged 

 for merchandise. They are passed on to larger dealers 

 in botanical drugs who dispose of them to the manu- 



NEARER VIEW OF BIRCH OIL STILL AND OWNER 



This shows waste bark at the foot of the tree and a jar of oil at 

 the right. 



south as Florida and as far west as Iowa and Michigan. 

 These vary in price from cherry bark at two cents a 

 pound to wild ginseng at eighteen dollars a pound. 



It may be added that Mrs. Mountaineer does not forget 

 the home needs when she is preparing her herbs, but in' 

 many localities keeps a generous supply on hand for 

 cases of sickness. Butterfly root, or pleurisy root, as it is 

 sometimes called, is one of her favorite remedies. "What 

 is it good for?" I asked an old woman, a fellow passenger 

 on a mail coach, and she told me of its virtues. "Good for 

 a heap of things," was the answer, and went on to tell 

 me it had a "powerful purty" blossom and she had made 

 "many a dollar" gathering it. 



I know a grandmother of the highlands who moves 

 softly down the declining years, gently dispensing healing 

 medicines among her own people. She knows the healing 

 powers of the black snake root and sassafras bark, and it 

 is well she does for she is many miles of rocky road from 

 the nearest physician. If her little grandson has an attack 

 of the "whelky hives," she straightway prepares a healing 

 draught that may have as much potency as many of the 

 powders and pills in the pharmacopoeia helping at the 

 same time, to save the pocketbook from a state of collapse. 



Still another tree product made by the thrifty moun- 

 tain housewife is the willow basket. She gathers and 

 peels the willow withes in the springtime when the bark 

 is easily removed and weaves them at her leisure into 

 baskets that are both useful and ornamental. Many of 

 these are eagerly bought by tourists. In some places 

 this industry is encouraged by welfare workers and the 

 baskets are purchased from the makers in the mountains 

 and sent to the cities in the north and middle west for sale. 



