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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1926-09-16, Page 2.MEDICINAL MARS OF CANADA. The gathering of medicinal plants, back snakeroot which yield Medi - the bark and leaves of trees, does not appeal to the :average Canadian farm- er perhaps because of lack of knowl- edge .of the varieties and parts which may readily be converted into cash. .eines; and,the well known Canada Balsam conies from the resinoips exu- Carloads of Cascara. dation of the Balsam Al', It is, perhaps, not well known that And yet, in many districts, this would carloads of the bark of the cascara prove to be profitable employment far tree are shipped annuel:y from Brit spare time and certain medicinal , ish .Columbia to firms which manufae, plants could be cultivated with profit. ; ture the well known cascara sagrada The ,ginseng plant found in the; medicine from it. The cascara tree woodq of Ontario has for many years r belongs to the northwest coast of Am- been much sought after because of the erica, and British Columbia has the high value of seven dollars or more distinction of being the only portion per pond which the roots command. of the British Empire in which, it is It has been largely exported to China a native. Owing to its rapid deple- where it is prized as a tonic and , tion in the States of Oregon and stimulant by the Chinese. Ginseng ; Washington, manufacturing druggists and mandrake (the May apple or wild are looking to British Columbia for mandrake is a native of the woods of ! further supplies of the bark, but the Ontario and Quebec) are regarded tree is so little known that ih land with much superstition by the Chinese,l clearing operations it is ruthlessly who ascribe to them almost miraculous,/ slaughtered when patches of it might powers. According to an old fancy, be left to yield from time to time the mandrake shrieks when pulled ! profitable crops. Prof. John Davidson from the ground. The resemblance of of the University of British Columbia its commonly forked root to the hu- says that on one lot 140 by 110 feat man body, a resemblanoe also shared by (one-third acre) which came under his the ginseng, is probably the ground of notice, 94 cascara trees were burned. this superstition. .The mandrake has The immediate value of the bark on been regarded as an anthrodisiac, and I these trees he estimated to be worth used in amorous incantations, as a • about $80. A piece of waste land in love amulet; etc. C. Elton, in "Origins cascara trees may be managed to yield of English History," says that the mandrake was found beneath the pub- lic gallows and was dragged from the ground and carried home with many religious ceremonies. When secured it became a fami:y spirit speaking in oracles if properly consulted, and bringing good luck to the house in which it was enshrined. Cure Mankind's ills. Ginseng and mandrake are only two of the many native roots from which medicines having well -understood ef- fects are prepared for modern use in the treatments of the ills of mankind. Among the medicinal plants which grow wild in Canada and for which there is a rcnsiderable demand is gol- den seal, seneca snakeroot or mountain flax and wintergreen. Many other plants of medicinal value native to, Europe, but which have escaped from cultivation, now occur as more or less common weeds in Canada, particularly in the eastern provinces. Included in Oita category are white and black mus-,/ tard, horehound, a rmun• , spearmint, thornapple, and even the dandelion. foregoing ; plaits can be cultivated as well as other varieties of medicinal plants such as coriander, dill, fennel, thyme, j deadly nightshade or belladonna, gar -1 den chamomile, etc. Among the trees or shrubs from which bark is gathered for medicinal! pnrposes are the cascara tree, slippery 1 elm, witch haze, wild black cherry cal rum cherry, prickly ash or toothache tree, burning bush or wahoo. Then* there .is the fruit of the juniper and i Mexican tea, the flowers of the hop 1 and the small roots or rhizomes of , ferns, couch grass, white helebore and TWEel,TY-SEVEN, FOOT BOAT In which six Canadian se�ascouts satied from Montreal to Now York. The oldest is 18. They had some adventures andthey are seen• after arriving at New York. thrllli�ng Mystery.:. The "Golden Step," I : Ascension Island Turtles. The wonderful thing about man is a perpetual crop and new trees may the way he builds his lite on mystery,1 draw& ails inspirations out of mystery, hopes where he does. not know, dreams, where he does not see and believes where he cannot' prove.. Knowledge is i no more than an island here and there, which lifts itself a little way above the waves while the • great ocean of mystery round about lisps all the shores of ,thought. Mute and mum and mystery are companion' words, grown out of the same ancient root and signifying that the world without speaks no language that man can clearly understand, while the world within, also is without the power to utter its .hidden meanings; and both fade away into dim frontiers where mystery sits in voiceless silence with. her fingers on her lips. Religion, of course, has been man's greatest adventure in_ mystery. But philosophy has followed close behind, while all the arts have found in it their fruitful source and inspiration. Music, architecture, poetry and paint- ing derive all their glow and rapture from the subtle and mysterious forces which move invisibly_behind the face. of things, beyond the reach of sense, and work their magic upon the spirits of men. But, stranger than all these exploits of imagination and dream and love and hope is the way the solid and prac- tical adventurers of business and poli- tics and all the purely physical labors be easily started from seed. Cascara grows both in tree form and as spread- ing shrubs, and harvesting of bark may begin when the trees are eight or ten years old. The climate of many parts of Brit- ish Columbia, as the Natural Re- sources Intelligence Service points out, is particularly favorable to the growth of drug yielding plants, but one drug is not sufficient for the establishment of a manufacturing industry and so Professcrs J. Davidson and R. H. Clark, of the University of British Columbia, have been making an in- vestigation, with financial assistance granted by the National Research Council, to determine whether or not other trees, herbs and plants' can be grown to advantage. The results have been very encouraging. It has been found that not only the bark of the cascara tree but also its wood posses- ses active medicinal properties. The British Columbia foxglove has been h found of the drug stramonium similarly good results have been obtained from the thornapple which grows wild in many parts of British Columbia. The spotted hemlock was found to contain a higher percentage of alkaloid than the average found elsewhere. The investigations commenced in British Columbia might well be car- ried on in other parts of Canada. The medicine -man's drug chest must con- tinuously have its - stock replenished and why not with medicines made in Canadian factories from home-grown plants? to y, p ppe t All of thesef r g found to be equal or superior in con- tent of the drug digitalin tot at oun elsewhere, while for the production of Kind But Firm Discipline. Not all parents or guardians are able to manage or control a vigorous, self-willed chi! d from nine or ten years upwards, writes J. J. Kelso. It happens frequently that boys and girle are sent to Reformatories simply for the -lack of firm discipline in their own homes. Recently an urgent re- quest was made to have a young girl sent to a Reform School owing to her wilful conduct. The matter was de- layed until at length a home was found for her with people spoken of as being "firm and exacting but just in their demands and ready to show appreciation when it is deserved.;' The girl was placed with them and under their guiding care the necessity for commitment to a Reformatory ,has apparently disappeared. It is homes of this description that many of our wayward and homeless young people require, and when par- ents fail we should make every pos- sible effort to find people who .will recognize this opportunity to help in the training of a boy or girl who otherwise might be sent off in disgrace to a public institution. The Christian name of Isabel is a corruption of Elizabeth. It was first corrupted as a compliment to Queen Elizabeth who was cal'ea aEdizabeala. Afterward Use for Slag. Even slag from the steel furnaces has many economic uses. Two of its major uses are as a basis for' cement and as a fertilizer. Soil requiring lime and phosphoric acid are improv- ed by the addition of crushed or screened slag and some 15,000,000 barrels of Portland cement are being made each year in the United States with slag as an ingredient. In Nova Scotia slag is used in road construc- tion and as railway ballast. Just as the presence of certain base metals in ore used to make the ore undesirable to handle, but now through new pro- cesses of recovery represent values sufficient to provide a profit, so, too, some day, the slag may prove a source of additional *revenue to'Canadian steel companies. of life root themselves defiy in the same world of mystery. How is all this enchantment of weaving and sew I can hear.the stalwart sailors singing chanties As they weigh the dripping anchors at your bow. The tropic suu's aglare upon your mainsail And the spray is flashing up betbsre •:tbe prow. Ascension see in t 'Atlantic and is supposed to have taken its name from' the suddenness of its Iarrival on this planet. It was said to have shot up in a night. It wart used he middle of th as•'a naval depot, and here we came for stores. IA peculiar thing oboist this island was that the people didn't refer to the Historical Sites Bowl Reports Progress; At the annual meet ug of the Ffife toric Sites and 1Vfonuznents Board cif Oanada, held. recently in Ottawa, it was reported that 180 styes. hag been re eloWed 'during the' year anti, hat"iniael dit1'ori to the s�evera<'1 sites previo{zsrly reoommonded for commemoration U others were selected as being of » tional importance. The Board, which is an honorary body comprised of re. cogarizeci historianau, acts in an advisory capacity, to th.o Dominion Government on historic cites matters, The admin.. istration of` historic sites set aside on the recommendation of the Board is carried out.by the Department of the Interior through its Canadian National Parks Branch; Brigadier -General E. A, Crulekshauk presided at the meeting and the other members in attendance were: Dr. J. C. Webster, representing New Bruns- -wick; Dr. 3. H. Coyne, representing Ontario; His Honor Judge F. W. Ho - way, representing Western Canada; Mr. J. B. Harkin, Commissioner of Canadian National Parks, representing the Department' of the Interior; and Major A. A. Pinard, secretary. The more important of'the places and events selected for commemora> tign at this year's meeting of the Board include, Louisburg, 1 .S.; the naval battle of the Shannon and Chesapeake at Halifax, N.S.; the York- shire settlement, Chighecto, N.S.; Port Lennox on Ile -aux -Noll, near St. Johns, Que.; Fort Three Rivers,' at Three Rivers, Que.; Fort Frontenac, King- ston., Ont.; the embarkation point of Brock's troops to capture Detroit in 1812, near Sandwich, Ont.; the west- ern terminus of Sir .Alexander Mac. There's a pungent smell of tar upon' seasons as Spring, Suminer,- Autumn kenzie's farthest .point west, near Bella your rigging I and Winter as we do, but as the Egg, Goole.; B.C.; and the old Hudson's Bay And elle salt of seven seas—if all the `.Curt1•e, the Fish and the Vege- company's posts of Fort Augustus and were.tald— 1 table seasous. Great flights of Wide -Fort Edmonton, near Edmonton, Al - While the air is heavy -sweet above the • awakes, a bird about the size of a sea.- berta. In addition to' the above sites, hatches gull, came to lay their eggs in such it was also decided that the eminent With the perfume of the spices in droves that sometimes they actually public services of the fallowing out - the hold. . hid the sun,. while the air was raucous standing personages in Canadian his- • with their cries. They dropped their ' tory ghouid be ouitably "coznmemor- 'Tis thus I see you sailing out of Malta eggs on a 'wide plain called Wldaawak® aced; Nicholas. Denys, at Bathurst, With your black hull eager for the Fair, which in the -season looked like N.B.; Joseph Wallet des. Barres, at spray. a field of snow Huge marine tor- Sydney, N.S.; Sir Howafd Douglas, at How can it be you're just a dusty toia•es,cam,e in swarms to lay their Fredericton, NB.; Bishop Alexander model eggs. 1 MacDonell, at St, Raphael, Ont.; and In an antique shop, I saw the other Mother turtle would waddle up the Sir Charles Begot and Lord Sydeuliam, day? beach, her faithful mate failowieg,' at Kingston, Ont, —Anne Robinson, in "The Singing scrape a hole in the sand, deposit her'. The work of selecting for commem- trecruces, cover them up ill 3.little oration historic sii9s of national ire- unoand, and then rraake for the water portance is steadily growing and, as the again. Tire beach would be lined recommendations are approved the with th a •egg -mounds, and it was sites are being acquired by the De - fascinating to watch the little turtle i partment of the Interior. Eventually appear when" the sun had hatched i it is 'repot! that every historic site of hire. If you had the time and the Ph- ' national importance and interest in tience to wait, or better st U the soled `the Dominion will be marked to be fortune to be en the spot at the right , handed clown to future generations moment to witness that sight -then you , and keep green the stirring romance i_�"� , considered.yourself lucky! Tire mound : of Canadian history. would seem to enlarge, the, sand slip, ! --- - +r� -- anrl. the first layer of eggs come ' to i Blue. Why He Looked Stuck Up. light. Suddenly out would ,pop- a' small ung and dressing and decoration which TV11y are you looking so- stuck sip black head from a shell, a wee neck makes all the business in the world to , vouud crane, and you would see the be accounted for except by some mys- tc«I've a right to. Don't you see those head elow•ly rotate, taking a first, long,.1 terious elements of desire and delight, 1 two pretty girls kava tlr•eir eyes glued wondering view of its new surround -1 within which sdience so far has been on me?" Inge, A short pause would ensue. totally unable to define or even to say where they reside or how they go • and whence they come? And here is the mystery within the mystery: Man lives far more by what he doesn't know than by what he does know. The known grows stale and commonplace. It is the unknown that lures and beckons. Wasn't Ambitious. "How high are we now?" asked the timid aeroplane passenger. "About four thousand feet," said the pilot, "I haven't started to climb yet." "I don't know whether I mentioned it before we started," quavered the pas= senger, "but I'm not at all ambitious. When washing flannels, never let them lie long in' the water. They s the first syllable was should be washed and hung out to dry dropped.as •.. . This Tickled Jeff's Funny Bone. quickly as possible Iris. • Then you 'would see a convulsive • h,.ave, a wriggle, and out from the egg 1 would flop master turtle, sit upon the ; Now iris, like a flock of birds, • 1 sand for a minute, as if taking the ale! Down to the pool's green water flies, and then make a bee -line for the water. Sunning small, lovely, curving wings As you saw the little creature breast: . And radiant, scented dyes. the first wavelet licking the shore, yeti' As in a mirror, on the poo The gold and purple lies. • e Classified. said to yourself in the words of the The Ot'J Crow --"You don't look like : psalmist, "Bow Wonderful are Thy much of a mime" I waited, hoping for a song, works, 0 Lord!" 1 The Scareeraw---"I':m not, I'm juut ?� I saw the tall leaves bend and swing, 1 liked coming to Ascension, there the common or garden variety." A 1 t It seemed to me some violet throat 'were sof many interesting things about PP a Ex art • Export shipments of "'apples from the Okanagan Valley, British Colum- bia for the past season, included the following: 65 cars to Scandinavian. countries, 8 cars to China, 29 cars to Germany, 4 ears to Newfoundland, 18 cars to South Africa, 42 cars to- New Zealand, 55 cars to the United States and 405 cars to Great Britain. In. ad- dition, 108 cars were shipped to On- tario and Quebec, which :lire often con-. sidered as export markets. Distance is apparently no handicap, when high -class products are for sale: Might open presently and sing, 1 it -the "blow holes" out of which, far - But they were still as b Each with his bead beneath his wing. j fountains twenty feet high or so and .. break lute spray; then the most beenti- Iris at night, 1 inland, the sea _water would spout like Profitable Side Line. ful "rainbows" you could imagine would form amid the spray, hang in It is estimated that less than half • the air a ,minute or so, then vanish:; ofour maple 'trees are tapped each : the strange rock -formations, and crab.' year. The menufactaire of maple pro -1 err ful of dark, motionless water. ducts is olio of the most profutalrle side It wet-. like a trip to the moon.—From m Noble, able Beaman," an Auto - lines a farmer can develop when one "Sa considers the shortness of the season . lrrc';;u'aphy required and the fact that trees may be used as fug when they pass ma- An Education Thrown Ip. ri V Th f ma :e rodnets "Can you read that bottom line?" Winter Field. Sorrow on the acres, 'Wind in the thorn, An old man plowing Through the frosty morn. A flock of dark birds, Rooks and' their wives, Follow the�plow team The old man drives; end troops of starlings, A tittle -tat and prim, Fo.lcw the rooks That follow him, is much less than the demand and this "leo, suh," ---A. E. Coppard. is a situation that will become iuucreas- 1 "These glasses will fix your so tbat Polite. zngly apparent when the people of you can read it," declared the opU lan Little Emily had been to church for the first time, On her •rettirn her grandmother asked if she hads been a good` little girl. "Yes, Grandma," she said. "A man even offered me a plate full of money, and I. said, `No, thank you.' " , other countries '.earn of the delicious co flavor of maple syrup. er brightened up 1 +2 [The negro custom at this. • Before you use a new toothbrush, ! 'Days =reel what 1 expected, soak it in hot salt water. This not boss," said he. "An eddication and a• only nleansas it, but makes it last pair ob glasses, all for five ailing. I ice as ion: nelber learned to read." tw g • Nis Reason. Wife --"I want you to tell me, Harold, Why, when T start to sing, you always go out into the garden. Don't you care to hear me? t-iushand--"It isn't that I don't want the neighbors to think. I am beating you." MUTT AND JEFF -By Bud Fisher. .alMurt., MY bagttlect`\ Meet's ak A S A CAT wRose FuR is The coeoR OF A CREf2RY, AND $GING Beo%C- t SE WAKA'S To sFl. tr. Foca ciale burr:: trace cr: {{Circ: Z fGeL So(aWY Foie P(Nitus! I"LL TA KC- The cAT of F pus RANDS: You 132tN6 ST Neo.c! / 77( A cAr wrttl CNC.R y'.\ Coaoree e . euR, t dLl. (vel' Me A Foal -UNE. A5 A fIseekte %lac -s Now iT a.Vtt.t PAtic Them s�+: TNPT cAT'S Fu(z' AIN'T c•HcROY Coa-cl2et BL AC'k' /J gvite So l3u•(` Dibe'T You guEce, ttEAre o F j3 LAct< ctd<hi1Cs 7 • 4fr°* ter. lialeeekieleeleeeiSaiiiseariseeseseee..-seges: ,. , , „ 1.11..0