The
Herb
So long as herbs grow in Jackson
County, there will be an herb woman,
so thinks Aunt Sadie Bryson, who for
some forty years has been helping the
sick get well by means of herbs.
"One doctor, making his calls on
horseback, couldn't get to all the sick
people, and that's how I got started
in the herb business." explains Aunt
Sadie. "1 learned about them from peo¬
ple before me. and then a little in¬
vestigating on my own part." It’s re¬
markable how much she knows about
the uses of fruits, leaves, stems, roots
and barks of plants. Like pharmacists,
when she speaks about an herb she re¬
fers to any plant or plant part which
has medicinal properties.
Now a great many people admire
Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina) for
its ornamental purposes, but not so
Aunt Sadie. To her, the red fruit,
known as a drupe, is precious for draw¬
ing out poisons. "Crush the berries,
add a little water, then stew for a
while. To this add a little corn meal,
and make a poke out of it," says she.
"This makes the best poultice ever.
Last fall a man had the worst ul¬
cerated tooth I ever did see. In ten
minutes with this poultice I had it
drawed to a head and it broke."
Aunt Sadie has plenty of proof for
the drupe's value. "Not so long ago
Ralph Bumgarner got a big dead chest¬
nut splinter into his arm. It began to
swell something terrible. I made this
poultice, put it on one night, the next
morning an inch of the splinter had
come out. I put on another fresh
poultice, and by doing this three times
in less than five hours, the remainder
of that 4-inch chestnut splinter had
come out of his arm. and his pain
was eased."
Perhaps Aunt Sadie cures more peo¬
ple for poison oak and poison ivy
than any other one thing these days.
The remedy is simple, too. All you do
is pick some fresh Touch-Me-Not (Bal¬
sam). Crush these succulent stems and
leaves between your palms and then
rub them over infected parts. Do this
at least three times daily so long as
the itch continues which is usually
about five days.
Her old smokehouse might be called
a yarbhousc. so packed is it with
Pennyroyal. Burdock. Buglcwecd. Wild
Mustard. Peppermint. Boneset. Fox¬
glove. Lady Slipper. Golden Rod, and
Golden Seal, besides a lot of other
plants. The leaves, and sometimes the
stems of these plants are brewed, then
used as a tea. Pennyroyal is given to
babies as a cold and cough medi¬
cine. They like it. especially if a little
honey or sugar is added.
“Now most people will wonder how
that good-for-nothing Burdock can be
any good." says Aunt Sadie with a
merry twinkle in her eye. "Just ask
Lindon Holden and he’ll tell you how
after drinking two teacups a day of
Burdock tea for several days his boils
disappeared."
By
.Mathilda Newman Reed
Woman
Buglcwecd is good for Bright's dis¬
ease. Instead of drinking water, drink
the tea from it and you’ll get well.
"How do you know when a body has
Bright's disease. Aunt Sadie?” "Easy
to tell. If the person has swelling legs,
and hands, and bags under his eyes,
and a sore back across his kidneys,
you can be pretty sure he has Briglit’s
disease."
Wild Mustard is used for dysen¬
tery. Peppermint for a sick stomach,
and Boneset for the old time grip and
fever. Foxglove or Digitalis causes the
heart to become more regular and
stimulates the cardiac muscles. "And
a good nerve tonic, well there's none
better than the tea brewed from the
Lady Slipper — something like Geri-
tol. a builder-upper was known long,
long ago — only it was made from
the Golden Seal (Hydrastis cana¬
densis) and drunk as a tea once or
twice a day.”
In the smokehouse you’ll also see a
group of plants valuable for their roots,
such as the Milkwort. Ginseng. Sassa¬
fras. Poke Weed, and Spiccwecd. Milk¬
wort tea is used for side pleurisy and
coughs. Ginseng is truly the "elixir of
life" having saved many a life in the
Cullowhce Mountain area. People with
heart trouble often keep part of a
root in their pocket so if an attack
comes on they can chew a little of this
and swallow the juice.
There’s nothing better to break out
measles than Spiccwood tea (Benzoin
acstival) and along with this drink
some Sassafras tea, which is good for
the eyes.
This little yarb woman even has a
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THE STATE. July 26. 1958
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