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The Palmetto Plant.The palmetto is a wonderful plant. There is no part of It that has not its use. Tannin is in the root, fiber in the leaf and medicine in the fruit. Florida is covered with palmetto from one end to another, and some years hence, when the full value of the plant is known to the world, a demand will be created for its products that will be worth millions to this state.Probably the best posted man in Jacksonville is J. W. Wellington, who manufactures wines and tonics from the berries. Mr. Wellington says:i r- ft -i“This plant is especially vigorous along the shores of the Indian River •and on the bodies of streams and inland lakes of Florida. The palmetto and its congeners are among the most useful plants known, and their products have a mercantile value equaled by few. The entire plant makes an excellent fertilizer—equal, if not superior to many of the commercial kinds sold. From the root and trunk of the saw palmetto can be gotten ais an excellent glue, starch, tannin, alkali, a stomachic and an astringent. From the spa the (the undeveloped flower stalk) palm wine can be obtained, th.e distillate making arrack. From the flowers the bees collect a large quantity of excellenthoney.“It is, however, from the drupe that important preparations havebeen made of late years which are in demand on acount of their curative value. Though the plant has been known for a long time (it is, comparatively but recently that it has had an acknowledged therapeutical value. The drupe (commonly called the berry) contains sugar, glucose gum starch, a saline matter, resin, potash, a coloring matter, a volatile oil and a fixed oil has a curative value affecting beer can be made from the drupes, which is a stimulant to the stomach and exhilarating to the nerves—the distillate of this beer is excellent brandy. The sugar and glucose make a syrup which is very sweet, and does not readily granulate or ferment. The ashes of the seed can be used as a substitute for salt. The seeds burn readily, and can be used as a substitute for coffee, which (in odor at least) it strongly resembles. The volatile oil has a powerful effect on the brain and nerves, producing dizziness when one is exposed to the direct fumes; the fixed oil has a curative valut affecting the mucous membranes of the entire body. The starch and gum are very fattening, will increase the flow of milk, and have been used as a substitute for cod liver oil in consumption. An acquired taste is formed for the ripe berries, which are tonic and fattening. They taste at first sweetish, followed by an astringent feeling. Thisrngum whichthe drupes (giving a detailed method for the manufacture), advising ihe use in catarrh, and as a substitute for cod liver oil in consumption, upon which many medical men have ae+ed with excellent results. More and stronger articles have been written in California and by practitioners of the northern states, and which are be:t-ter adapted to a medical journal than a family newspaper. Nearly every writer claims a rejuvenation from continued use by old people ,and that a very small amount of the fluid extract will completely cure nervous prostration. It was noticed by the Indians and early settlers that during the season when palmetto berries were ripe the wild animals would leave their range and travel miles to reach those places where the fruit was plentiful and that they grew very fat and active. Again, it was found thatthere were places where the surface water and shallow wells were healthy to drink, though much discolored (being a reddish brown), the people being exempt from fevers, although the surroundings were such that fevers would seem to be endemic. The probable reason for this phenomena is that the water contains a decoction of palmetto, and thus an antidote to febrile affections and is a blood purifier and liver regulator. The beer made from the berries by maceration in water is very fattening, stimulating and even intoxicating, and has a marked effect in rejuvenating emaciated and worn out people of both sexes, and is especially beneficial in that mental depression and nervous prostration so peculiar to women who have lived so long a time in a tropical climate. This beer, for some strange reason, seems unknown to most people living in places where palmetto is plenty.44 rnThe fixed and volatile oils of che drug have a tonic effect upon the mucous membrane of the alimentary canal and air passages, also a recuperative power that is well marked, relieving catarrh and bronchitis, stimulating the stomach, increasing the appetite and digestive power, augmenting the peristaltic action of the intestines (thus aiding nature in curing diarrhoea and constipation), also by tonic and discutient, properties, expelling morbid accumulations of pus and mucous, often giving instantaneous relief.“Catarrh of the bladder, leucorrhoea and kindred ailments succumb readily to the use of some of the preparations.“As a substitute for cod liver oil, the wine of palmetto is a boon to con-I sumptives.44The extracts leave on the brainand nerves such a decided and lasting action that it must be considered a nerve food and a tonic that will grow in usefulness as it becomes betteris suiperseded by a smoothness extend- known. In nervous prostration, gening from the nose to vue throat, re lieving catarrh and bronchitis. Per-nsons who drink the beer or eat manyof the seeds have a happy feeling; are*relieved of mental depression and insomnia; their appetite is increased and they have increased vitality.“The literature relating to this drug s very limited, and confined to desultory articles written for the medical journals, nearly all within the last »alf of the present century, and most of ,the knowledge of the merits and usefulness has been discovered and published within the last twenty-five vgars. Dr. Reed, of Savannah, recommended the trial of preparations fromera! debility of the old and the weak, and in impaired activity of vital forces, it is beyond doubt a reliable remedy. It is the only known remedy that is useful in enlarged prostate gland, and as a majority of men past middle life have an affection of this gland, and until the use of fluid extract of sabal was tried there had been no known remedy which was even palliative, and as a judicious use will not only relieve but permanently cure this disease, we must consequently give this drug an important place. Cases of cure are too numerous to be overlooked or ignored.its action, which is merit long sought among drugs, as heretofore nothing reliable has been known but has a reaction and diverse action that is detrimental.”—Times-Union.Such a Climate!Yesterday a snowsquall visited Orange, N. J., a suburb of New York City. Ten months ago human beings and horses were dying by the scores in the streets of that city from the effects of the intense heat and even those who fled to the summer resorts were not much better off. Within the next seven weeks such scenes may be repeated.Yet the amount of commisseration wasted on those who dwell in the truly temperate state of Florida in the summer b3r the residents of the intemperate zone is something sad to contemplate. i.. man who freezes on the 1st of June and rightly fears sunstroke or heat prostration on the 1st of August will tell the Floridian that nothing could induce him to risk a summer inthis state.The man who leaves the Land of .Flowers this summer for the north, except when business compels him, deserves the fate which lurks for him in that region of perpetual temperature changes.—Citizen.Killarney boasts an echo that reports a cornet note nearly twentytimes.The pursuit ofQney tempts many a man to neglect his health, with the result that he soon loses both money and health, and finds himself doomed to an untimely death. A man should remember when he is tempted to over-work himself, neglect his health, and devote insufficient time to eating, resting, and sleeping, that death is the tempter that holds out money as a bait. If a man will take proper care of his health, he will feel like work, and will find that he can do all the work that he cares to do withinworking hours.Dr. Pierce’s Golden Medical Discovery gets a man into working shape and keeps him there. It invigorates the liver, keeps the digestion in working order, the appetite hearty and keen. It keeps the blood pure and plentiful. It keeps out and drives out impurities and disease-germs. It wards off nervous and wasting diseases. It curesc8 per cent, of all cases of consumption. It is the product of the life-work of an eminent and skillful specialist, Dr. R. V. Pierce, for thirty years chief consulting physician to the Invalids’ Hotel and Surgical Institute, at Buffalo, N. Y. Druggists sell it.Mrs. I,. F. Coates, of Blythebourne, Kings Co., N. Y„ writes: “Three years ago, I was so sick I could not eat, sleep or walk, for I coughed all day and night. My weight was reduced from 150 to 127 pounds. The first night that I slept for hours at one time, was after I had taken three doses of Dr. Pierce’s Golden Medical Discovery. The offensive matter expectorated grew less every day and when I had taken the whole of one bottle I could sleep all night without coughing, and have been well ever since and weigh 178 pounds.”A good, practical, medical book is worth more in a home than a thousand novels. Dr. Pierce’s Common Sense Medical Adviser is that kind of a book. It contains 1,008 pages and over 300 illustrations. A new edition given away absolutely free. If you want a paper-covered copy send 21 one-cent stamps (the cost of mailing only), to World’s Dispensary Medical Association, Buffalo, N. Y. For cloth binding, 31 stamps.Practical Weather.44Are the most accurate ever pre-sented to the (public. Invaluable to the Agriculturist, Horticulturist, the Merchant and everybody. An 8-page monthly. Price $1.00 per year in advance. Send 10 cents for sample As an aphrodisiac it is positive in copy. Address,
Newspaper Details
Deland Florida Agriculturist
Deland, Florida, US
Wed, Jun 16, 1897
Page 12
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
CA, USA 14 Mar 2023
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