It is a plant something like wheat, whose native country is not yet discovered; but is cultivated by most farmers in the United States, and is so generally known that it needs no description.

MEDICAL VIRTUES.

PREPARATION.

Take one pound and anhalf of fresh oats washed clean, and a large handful of the fresh succory root sliced; boil them in six quarts of water down to three strain the decoction through clean linen : to the strained liquor add half an ounce of purified sal nitre, and half a pound of lump sugar, then boil it again for an hour, and after it is cool pour off the clear liquor from the sediment, and put it in close glass bottles: cover it and set in a cool cellar for twenty-four hours, to be used in the following maladies: in all kinds of fevers, cholics, pleurisies, itches, cutanious eruptions, tumours, removing hypocondrical disorders, cleansing the kidnies, and removing obstructions of the viscera, take two tea-cups full twice a day, three hours before and after dinner daily, for two weeks. If the body is costive, a gentle purge should be taken before it is used.

The effects of this medicine in dog days, is very remarkable, and is highly extolled as a preservative if used for two weeks, either in the spring or autumn. The inventor of this decoction, by using it three times a year, viz. in the spring, dog days, and in autumn, is reported on record to have protracted his life, without sickness, to the hundred and twentieth year of his age. After the celebrated doctor Lower had observed its efficacy in the cure of several disorders, he made the preparation public, for the benefit of mankind. It has been found

good to quench thirst in fevers, stops hemorrhages, obstructions of the menses, chlorosis or green sickness in young girls, and is a great purifier of the blood.

N. B. According to Chambers' Universal Medical Dictionary, the decoction must be kept in a cool cellar, and made fresh every week in warm weather. The first inventor of this valuable medi. cine, was the celebrated Johannes de St. Catharina.

The leaves of this tree are narrow, pointed, sharp, serrated, alternate, and grow on foot-stalks: flowers are of a light blush red: stamina conspicu ous, and inserted into the calyx.

HISTORY.

It is a native of Persia, and was first brought to England in the year 1562, and from England it was brought to America during its first settlement, where it may be found in great plenty.

MEDICAL VIRTUES.

The fruit when ripe, is cooling and nourishing; the flowers are good for worms in children, and the

dry leaves have been found effectual in removing obstructions of the urine.

may

PREPARATION.

Boil one pound of the fresh flowers in eight quarts of spring or rain water, to the consumption of four quarts, strain the decoction and put four pounds of lump sugar in it, then boil it to the consistence of honey: from two to three tea-spoonsful to a large table-spoonful, according to their age, be given to children troubled with worms, every morning and at bed time for three days, both before the full and change of the moon, this is a safe medicine for children, and ought to be made by every family when the tree is in bloom, and the sirup kept in a stone pot covered, and put in a cool cellar for use. Persons troubled with obstructions and difficulty in making urine, have found immediate relief by the following infusion: pour one quart of boiling rain water on an handful of the dry leaves of the peach tree, and one handful of goose grass or cleavers: dose, a tea-cup full taken every hour, warm and sweetened with honey: let the patient be bled in the foot, and if costive give him a dose of caster oil, or sal glauber, before using the infusion, for often the suppression of urine proceeds from a stoppage of the customary bleeding piles.