Am* jfi?yr"i9i5arm" }    Utilization  of  Our  Own  Resources.  305 
the  root  used  as  an  anthelmintic.  The  leaves  were  said  to  prevent 
"  botts "  in  horses,  and  were  used  to  pack  with  dried  fruits  to 
preserve  them  from  ravages  of  insects.  A  soap  was  made  from  the 
berries,  called  "  poor  man's  soap." 
The  ox-eyed  daisy  was  used  in  place  of  Persian  insect  powder — 
an  insecticide  used  as  far  back  as  1857.  ^n  the  country,  fresh  elder- 
berry leaves  were  laid  near  the  head  of  a  bed-ridden  person  to  keep 
away  flies. 
Some  Common  Remedies. 
It  was  quite  an  industry,  I  was  told  by  an  Atlanta  lady,  Mrs. 
Marcus  A.  Bell,  for  the  country  people  to  raise  castor  oil  beans.  The 
crushed  beans  were  boiled  and  the  oil  skimmed  off.  She  said  that 
the  grandmothers  of  those  days  revived  the  traditions  of  colonial 
times.  They  made  their  own  dyes  and  coloring  matters  from  the 
roots  and  barks  of  native  woods.  Dogwood,  sumac,  and  the  roots 
of  pine  trees  were  largely  used,  and  indigo  was  cultivated  in  the 
gardens.  Instead  of  paregoric,  fennel-seed  tea  was  given  to  babies. 
For  rash  they  used  red-oak  bark  and  alum.  Goose  grease  and 
sorghum,  or  honey,  was  a  standard  remedy  for  croup,  backed  up 
with  turpentine  and  brown  sugar.  Sassafras  tea  was  given  in  the 
spring  and  fall  as  a  blood  medicine.  Adults'  colds  were  doctored 
with  horsemint  tea  and  tea  from  the  roots  of  broom-sedge.  For 
eruptions  and  impure  blood,  spice-wood  tea  was  given.  Wine  was 
made  from  the  berries  of  the  elder  bush.  For  diarrhoea,  roots  of 
blackberry  and  blackberry  cordial ;  and  so,  also,  was  a  tea  made 
from  the  leaves  of  the  rose  geranium.  Mutton  suet,  sweetgum,  and 
the  buds  of  the  balm  of  Gilead  were  a  standard  salve  for  all  cuts 
and  sores.  Balsam  cucumber  was  widely  used  as  a  tonic,  and  was 
considered  a  specific  remedy  in  burns.  Catnip,  elecampane,  and  com- 
frey  root  and  pennyroyal  were  in  every  good  housewife's  pantry,  in 
which,  also,  was  the  indispensable  string  of  red  peppers,  a  bag  of 
sage  leaves  and  of  "  balm."'  Calamus  root  for  colic  in  babies  was 
a  common  dose.  The  best  known  standard  Georgia  tonic  was  dog- 
wood, poplar,  and  wild-cherry  barks,  equal  proportions,  chipped  fine 
and  put  in  whiskey  and  taken  a  wineglass ful  at  meal  times ;  it  is 
still  used  in  large  quantities  from  "  Yamacraw  to  Nickajack."  In 
hemorrhages,  black  haw  root  was  commonly  used.  All  the  white 
mustard  they  had  was  raised  in  their  gardens. 
Interviewing  one  of  our  old  Confederate  surgeons,  he  said : 
