ON  THE  MEDICINAL  PLANTS  OF  CHEROKEE  GEORGIA.  61 
as  cantharides.  It  is  little  if  at  all  used  here.  The  infusion 
gives  rise  to  abortion  in  females.  During  the  hot  summer  months 
it  exhales  a  very  offensive  odor. 
Eupatorium  perfoliatum  is  very  abundant,  and  much  used  in 
domestic  and  steam  practice. 
Fieus.  The  fig  grows  well  with  us  in  some  of  its  more  hardy 
varieties.  Our  cold  winters  occasionally  cut  them  down.  We 
grow  a  fig  which,  although  cut  by  the  frost  nearly  every  winter, 
is  still  of  so  vigorous  a  habit  as  to  spring  up  again  and  bear 
two  crops  of  very  excellent  fruit  during  the  season.  There  are 
many  varieties  cultivated  in  our  State*  During  the  past  spring, 
the  writer  was  presented  with  a  box  of  most  delicious  figs  grown 
and  cured  in  the  lower  section  of  the  State.  More  attention 
should  be  devoted  to  them  as  an  article  of  commerce.  No  attempt 
is  made  to  preserve  them  here,  save  in  syrup  and  as  pickles 
for  the  table,  in  which  forms  they  are  much  esteemed. 
Crentiana  an  article  is  brought  to  us  from  the  country,  which 
is  not  distinguishable  in  the  root,  from  the  officinal.  The  plant 
I  have  not  had  an  opportunity  of  examining ;  we  use  it  in  the  pre- 
paration of  the  officinal  compounds.  It  could  probably  be  ob- 
tained in  quantities. 
Puniea  granatum  is  much  cultivated  in  the  gardens  for  orna- 
ment and  use.  While  in  bloom  the  beautiful  bell-shaped  flowers 
are  quite  attractive.  The  fruit  is  generally  esteemed,  and  its 
rind  as  well  as  the  bark  of  the  root  used  medicinally. 
Hedeoma  pulegioides  covers  our  hill  sides  in  the  open  woods 
and  old  fields.  It  may  be  mown  with  the  scythe  and  raked  like 
hay.  With  apparatus  for  distillation,  the  oil  could  be  obtained 
on  a  large  scale. 
Humulus  lupulus  grows  finely  with  us.  My  garden  supplies 
my  retail  trade  with  a  quality  for  which  I  realize  double  the 
prices  usually  obtained  for  the  commercial  article.  Little  or  no 
attention  is  given  to  their  cultivation  by  our  farmers. 
Linum.  No  attention  is  paid  to  the  growth  of  flax  except 
upon  a  very  small  scale  for  the  seed  used  medicinally.  Oil  is 
not  made  at  all. 
Lobelia  inflata,  although  not  indigenous  to  our  soil,  has  been 
introduced  in  places  among  us,  and  we  are  occasionally  offered 
both  herb  and  seed. 
