USEFUL WILD PLANTS 



monly known as Lemonade-berry, and R. integri- 

 folia is also sometimes called "mahogany" because 

 of its hard wood, dark red at the heart. The Spanish 

 people call it mcmgla, a name they give to some other 

 sumacs as well. 



The berries of the Manzanita, a Pacific coast shrub 

 that was described in an earlier chapter, make an 

 exceptionally agreeable cider. This is one of the 

 harmless beverages of Indian invention, and I can- 

 not, perhaps, do better than to quote the method that 

 Chesnut describes in his treatise on the "Plants 

 Used by the Indians of Mendocino Co., California." 

 Eipe berries, carefully selected to exclude any that 

 are worm-eaten, are scalded for a few minutes or 

 until the seeds are soft, and then crushed with a 

 potato masher. To a quart of this pulp an equal 

 quantity of water is added, and the mass is then 

 poured over a layer of dry pine needles or straw 

 placed in a shallow sieve basket and allowed to drain 

 into a vessel beneath; or sometimes the mass is 

 allowed to stand an hour or so before straining. 

 When cool, the cider, which is both spicy and acid, 

 is ready for use without the addition of sugar. A 

 better quality of cider is said to result if the pulp 

 alone is used. The dried berries, in the latter case, 

 are pounded to a coarse powder, and then by clever 



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