WORMWOOD. 147 



WORMWOOD. 



Artemisia absinthium. — Absinthe^ Fr. — Wermuth, Ger. 

 It is a hardy perennial, and may be propagated by slips, in 

 March or October, or raised from seeds sown after they are 

 ripe. The leaves have a strong, offensive smell, and a very 

 bitter, nauseous taste ; the flower equally bitter, but less nause- 

 ous. Wormwood is a moderately warm stomachic and corrob- 

 orant, and for these purposes it was formerly in common use, 

 but it has now given place to bitters of a less ungrateful kind. 

 Wormwood was formerly much used by brewers instead of 

 Hops, to give the bitter taste to their malt liquors, and to pre- 

 serve them. This plant very powerfully resists putrefaction, 

 and is made a principal ingredient in antiseptic fomenta- 

 tions. 



APPLICATION OF OUR REMARKS TO VARIOUS PARTS OF 

 THE UNITED STATES. 



The word Spring, when applied to the Season, is everywhere 

 known. When thus applied by us in the preceding pages, it 

 is intended to convey to the reader the period of the year 

 when the buds of the earliest trees appear green. Early m 

 Spring is indicated by the buds on the trees beginning to 

 swell. Late in Spring, when the leaves have put forth. 



About Philadelphia, Spring generally begins from the 10th 

 to the 15th of March. 



In South Carolina, the northern parts of Georgia and Ala- 

 bama, Spring begins five weeks earlier .than it does with us. 



In the southern parts of Virginia and Kentucky, Spring 

 generally opens about the 20th of February. 



In Massachusetts and 'the upper part of New York, Spring 

 opens from the 25th of March to the first of April. 



By these observations being kept in view, the details of this 

 work may be made applicable to any part of the United 

 States. 



