Herb -Cures
Herb remedies are endless. Every old country-woman once had her own pet cures. Nettle .beer was for the blood, hops for the pillow of those who could not sleep, elderflowers for rheumatism, ragwort for colds and black currant for a sore throat. I found myself thinking of these things after my small son had got himself stung by nettles. The anti- dote is the leaf of the dock, as everyone knows. The old herbalists had remedies for all ills, and gathered them-in the fields. The hair could be blackened with a brew of blackberry leaves, it was believed, and the midwife favoured raspberry-leaf tea for her charges. An old herb-list recommends ash-leaves for my gout and broom for my fiver, while if my family has a fever I must pick yarrow or the leaves of the sorrel- plant. Often when I was in the fields in my childhood, I stayed my thirst with sorrel-leaves. We called it sourrock, and sour it is, stimula- ting the glands of the mouth and promoting saliva so that the throat does not seem quite so parched.
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