The use of the elm as timber is chiefly confined to rough and inferior work. Implements of husbandry are almost wholly made of it; and it is employed for waggons, carts, mill-wheels, water-pipes, low-priced chairs, blocks for hat-makers, and various other purposes; and among the lower and middling classes, almost exclusively, for coffins. The preference which it has obtained for the latter purpose, is supposed to have originated in its peculiar durability in moist situations.
Some of the northern writers state that, from the inner bark of the elm, if stripped off in the spring, and boiled in water, a very palatable kind of beer may be brewed; and that this bark, dried and ground to powder, has, in times of scarcity, been mixed with meal to make bread. It is occasionally administered as a decoction for obstinate cutaneous complaints; and it has been proposed for use in rheumatism, dropsy, and other diseases. The young leaves may be used for the feeding of silk-worms.
Few trees are better adapted than the elm for planting in hedge rows, along the sides of roads, and along shady walks; but in the latter case the numerous suckers which grow up from its roots give much trouble to keep the ground clear.
84. GENTIAN is a bitter drug, the dried root of a plant (Gentiana lutea) which grows wild amongst the Alps, and in other mountainous parts of the Continent.
The flower-stem of the gentian is two or three feet high, strong, smooth, and erect. The leaves which grow upon its lower part are spear-shaped and ribbed, and those on the upper part are concave, smooth, and egg-shaped. The flowers, which are large and yellow, grow round the upper part of the stem on strong footstalks, and are divided at the edge into five or more segments. The calyx is a kind of sheath.
Gentian is one of the principal bitters that are now used in medicine; and is of considerable service in fevers, and in such complaints as arise from weakness of the stomach. It is externally of a brown colour, and internally yellowish or bright red. Its taste is at first sweetish, but immediately afterwards bitter and pungent. As a simple bitter, it is rendered more grateful to the stomach by the addition of some warm aromatic; and, for this purpose, orange-peel is commonly employed. An extract of gentian root, boiled with water till it has nearly the consistence of honey, is kept in the shops.
85. GARDEN CARROT (Daucus carota) is a plant too well known to need any description.
In few vegetable productions are the effects of cultivation more conspicuous than in the carrot. The wild plants, which are common in most parts of England, have a root so small and woody, that no one could suppose they had any alliance whatever to the large and succulent root of the garden carrot.
The various uses of the carrot in cookery are well known. But, although it contains much nutriment, this root is difficult of digestion; particularly if eaten raw, or imperfectly boiled. Carrots are an excellent fodder for cattle and horses, either alone or mixed with hay; and, if given to cows, in winter or the early part of spring, they are said to cause a great increase of milk. If carrots be boiled with their wash, hogs will thrive well upon them. In some parts of England this vegetable has been cultivated as a winter food for deer; and the leaves have sometimes been made into hay. Carrots contain a large proportion of saccharine matter, and various but unsuccessful experiments have been made to extract sugar from them. They have, however, been more advantageously employed in distillation. Ten pounds' weight of carrots will yield about half a pint of very strong, ardent spirit: and the carrots (twenty tons in weight) produced by an acre of ground, have been known to produce 240 gallons of spirit. A syrup made of these roots, and clarified with the white of eggs, has been found useful for many purposes. An infusion of the seeds and the expressed juice of the roots, are said to afford relief in fits of the gravel. A marmalade of carrots has been used with success in sea-scurvy, and a poultice prepared from them is sometimes employed in cancerous ulcers. Crickets are so fond of these roots that they may easily be destroyed by making a paste of flour, powdered arsenic, and scraped carrots, and placing this near their habitations.
86. ROCK SAMPHIRE (Crithmum maritimum) is an umbelliferous plant, with fleshy, spear-shaped leaflets, and small but regular-shaped white flowers.