Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

400 CAMPING AND WOODCRAFTfrom the leaves of chicory, ginseng, dittany, thr.sweet goldenrod {Solidago odora), and cinquefoil.Other plants used for the purpose are Labrador tea,Oswego tea, and (inferior) New Jersey tea. Ourpioneers also made decoctions of chips of the arbor-vitae(white cedar) and of sycamore, the driedIcuves of black birch, and the tips of hemlock boughs,sweetening them with maple sugar ; but here we approachthe list of medicinal teas, which is well-nighendless. The Indians made a really good "mapletea" by boiling sassafras-root bark for a short timein maple sap.Agreeable summer drinks can be made by infusingthe sour fruit of the mountain ash {PyrusAmericana)^ from sumac berries (dwarf and stag"-horn), and from the fruit of the red mulberry.The sweet sap of both hard and soft maples, boxelder, and the birches (except red birch) is potable.Small beer can be made from the sap of black birch,from the pulp of honey locust pods, the fruit ofthe persimmon, shoots and root-bark of sassafras,and the twigs of black and red spruce. Ciderhas been made from the fruit of crab-apples andservice-berries.CONDIMENTSVinegar can be made from ma2le or birch sap, orfrom fruit juices, by diluting with water and addin}?:a little yeast. The very sour berries of sumac turncider into vinegar, or they may be used alone.Our fields and forests afford many pleasant condimentsfor flavoring. Sassafras, oil of birch, wintergreen,peppermint and spearmint will occur to everyone. Balm, sweet marjoram, summer savory andtansy are sometimes found in wild places, wherethey have escaped from cultivation. The rootstockof sweet cicely has a spicy taste, with a strong odorof anise, and is edible. Sweet gale gives a pleasantflavor to soups and dressings. The seeds of tansymustard were used by the Indians in flavoring dishes.Wild garlic ("ramps"), wild onions, peppergrass,snowberry and spicewood may be used for similarpurposes.Perhaps the greatest privation that a civilized manBuflfers. next to having no meat, is to lack salt anH