Although generally considered a noxious weed, the nettle is a plant of extensive utility. By the country people the young and tender leaves and tops are boiled for food, and are eaten as a substitute for greens and other pot-herbs. Asses eagerly devour the leaves of nettles; and if these be boiled, and mixed with other food for poultry, they are said to promote their laying of eggs. A kind of rennet is made in the Highlands of Scotland, by adding a quart of salt to three pints of a liquor produced by the boiling of nettles. A tablespoonful of this is said to be sufficient to coagulate a bowl of milk. From the fibrous stalks of the nettle, dressed in the manner of flax or hemp, cloth and paper may be made. The manufacture of these has been pursued with success in some parts of the Continent; and in our own country a coarse kind of canvass has been produced from them. The roots, when boiled, communicate a yellow colour to woollen cloth, linen, and cotton.
It must be remarked that the stings of nettles, when examined by a microscope, are shown to be extremely curious objects. They consist of a slender, tapering, sharp, and hollow substance, with a minute hole at the point, and a bag at the base. When the sting is pressed, it perforates the skin, and the same pressure forces up from the bag, into the wound, a corrosive liquor, which forms there a blister, and excites a burning and painful inflammation. If the nettle be suddenly and strongly grasped, the stings are bent or broken, and, in this case, occasion no pain.
In consequence of their stinging quality, nettles have been employed, with advantage, in restoring sensation to paralytic limbs, by whipping them with these plants. They were formerly much used as a styptic; and are said to have been found useful in jaundice, scurvy, gout, and other complaints; but most of the accounts that have been given of their great medicinal virtues have now little credit. The flowers and seeds are said to have been tried in Italy, and found an efficacious substitute for Peruvian bark ([62]) in agues and other complaints. A leaf of the nettle put upon the tongue, and then pressed against the roof of the mouth, is stated to be a remedy for bleeding at the nose.
231. The MULBERRY-TREE (Morus nigra, Fig. 72) is a native of Italy, and is known by its heart-shaped and rough leaves, and its large juicy berries, each consisting of several smaller ones.
The flowers of the mulberry appear in June, and the fruit becomes ripe in September, the berries continuing to ripen in succession for about two months. These, if eaten before they are ripe, are astringent; but, when ripe, are pleasantly acid, though of very peculiar flavour. An agreeable syrup, made from the juice of the ripe fruit, is kept in apothecaries' shops for medicinal uses. The juice itself is employed to impart a dark tinge to liquors and confections; and, when properly fermented, it becomes a pleasant wine. In cider counties it is not unusual to mix mulberries with the apples destined for cider, by which is made a delicious beverage called mulberry cider. Mulberries stain the fingers, as well as linen, cotton, or woollen, of a red colour, which is difficult to be extracted; but which may be removed by verjuice, or the acid of lemons.
In Italy, and other countries where silkworms are bred, the leaves of the mulberry-tree, but particularly those of the WHITE MULBERRY, which is distinguished by its having obliquely heart-shaped and smooth leaves, are requisite for the feeding of these insects; and they are very extensively cultivated for this purpose. The wood is hard and of yellow colour; and is applied to numerous uses in carving and turnery. The bark is so fibrous that it may be manufactured into cordage, ropes, and coarse paper; and that of the root has an acrid and bitter taste, is powerful in its effects, and has been successfully used as a remedy against worms, particularly the tape-worm. Mulberry-trees flourish best in a light and rich soil, and in open situations.
232. The BOX-TREE (Buxus sempervirens) is a shrubby evergreen tree, twelve or fifteen feet high, which has small, oval, and opposite leaves, and grows wild in several parts of Britain.
It has been remarked that this tree was formerly so common in some parts of England, as to have given name to several places, particularly to Box-hill in Surrey, and Boxley in Kent; and, in 1815, there were cut down at Box-hill as many of these trees as were sold for upwards of 10,000l., a circumstance perhaps unparalleled in their history. The box-tree was much admired by the ancient Romans, and also by our own ancestors, on account of its being easily clipped into the form of animals, and other fantastic shapes. In the South of Europe it is cultivated in gardens, and kept in flower-pots, with as much attention as we bestow upon myrtles.
The wood is of yellowish colour, close-grained, very hard and heavy, and admits of a beautiful polish. On these accounts it is much used by turners, by engravers on wood, carvers, and mathematical instrument makers. Flutes and other wind instruments are formed of it; and furniture made of box-wood would be valuable were it not too heavy, as it would not only be very beautiful, but its bitter quality would secure it from the attacks of insects. In France it is much in demand for combs, knife-handles, and button-moulds; and it has been stated that the quantity of box-wood annually sent from Spain to Paris is alone estimated at the value of more than 10,000 livres.
An oil distilled from the shavings of box-wood has been found to relieve the tooth-ache, and to be useful in other complaints; and the powdered leaves destroy worms.