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THE PXOBIST AND TOM OLOGXST. 



WEEDS. — Part II. 



The Nettle grows on waste and neglected places, flourishing alike on 

 open commons and in dirty ditches of the suburbs of towns. The Nettle 

 has neither beauty nor fragrance to recommend it to the ordinary observer ; 

 yet it is well worth careful inspection on account of the beauty of its structure. 

 Then it has a sting if handled gingerly, but seize the plant heartily, and it will 

 give you little discomfort. 



The Nettle is a very common, low-bred, vulgar plant; but, nevertheless, 

 in its family^ and alliances may be found some of the noblest members of the 

 vegetable kingdom ; such are the Bread-fruit tree, the Mulberry, the Hop, 

 the Banyan, and the deadly Upas. It is not for its botanical beauty or re- 

 spectable connections that I wish to put in a word for the Nettle, but for its 

 uses, which are too much overlooked. Although growing everywhere, it is 

 very partially appreciated, and then only by the economical. As an old 

 woman's remedy, and a good one too, it is used in scurvy, gout, jaundice, 

 hemorrhage, paralysis, &c. Nettle-tea, were it generally used as a spring 

 drink, would frighten the proprietors of that much-advertised sarsaparilla of 

 old Dr. Jacob Townsend. The expressed juice makes a permanent green dye 

 for wool. The root boiled with alum yields a good yellow dye. And yet 

 not for these uses, but more especially for its qualities tor humans do I wish to 

 say a word in favour of the poor Nettle ; and as the time is at hand I hope the 

 word may be in season. 



It is as a pot-herb that I would advocate its use, and the spring is the best 

 time for gathering Nettles for that purpose. When dried and used as fodder 

 they are capital for cows, increasing the quantity and improving the quality of 

 their milk. The stalks of the old Nettles are little inferior to flax for making 

 linen cloth, being used for that purpose in America, Germany, and formerly in 

 some parts of England and Scotland. The famous Indian Grass-cloth Chu-Ma 

 is woven from the fibres of a Nettle. 



The numerous species of Grasses which grow on roadsides are distinguished 

 alike by their elegance and their importance in agriculture. The Quaking- 

 grass and Hair-grass are among the most beautiful, and are culled as ornaments 

 for chimney-pieces. Common Bye-grass is the chief ingredient in hay. 

 Yellow Oat-grass yields excellent straw for bonnets ; and the awn, or bristle, 

 of the common Wild Oat forms a good hygrometer, to determine the quantity 

 of moisture which exists in the atmosphere. The seeds of the Floating Sweet- 

 grass^ which grows in watery places and ditches by the wayside, possess 

 nutritive qualities, and are commonly sold under the name of Manna Croup. In 

 some of the Grasses we observe a wise provision of nature to insure their 

 propagation. The common Sheep's Fescue-grass, which forms a fine turf on 

 all hilly pastures, when it grows on the plain produces plenty of ripe seeds 

 which vegetate easily ; but when it grows on the mountains where the seeds 

 are not likely to come to maturity, it becomes viviparous, producing shoots or 

 germs, which ultimately detach themselves from the plant, fall to the ground, 

 and become separate and independent plants. The seeds of the Groundsel and 

 Greater Plantain, two most abundant weeds, are used as food for birds. The 

 root of common Yarrow is employed medicinally as a stimulating tonic, while 

 its flowering- tops are used as tea in Orkney. The seeds of Goose-grass, as a 

 blooming plant met with in all hedges, are roasted as a substitute for coffee. 

 Common Hemlock yields a valuable medicine, administered for the relief of 

 pain in many diseases. The young shoots of Goose-foot when peeled and 

 boiled, are eaten as Asparagus, while the wild Carrot gives origin to the 

 culinary vegetable cultivated in our gardens. The root of the Silver-weed, 



