Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 2, 1802).djvu/420

388&#93; 3*>S] GOU three ounces of the juice -of this plant, taken twice a day in wine, have been found singularly benefi- cial as an aperient and diur< tic in incipient dropsies. Its greatest ef- ficacy, however, is said to be evi- dent in scorbutic complaints, for the cure of" which a tea-cupful of its expressed ju;ce is to be taken every morning*, lor nine or ten days. When the fresh plant cannot be procured, the dried leaves may be infused and drunk like tea. The branches of this vegetable are employed by the Swedes, as substitutes for a hair-sieve to strain milk. Young geese are exceed- ingly fond of the leaves ; and the whole plant is eaten by horses, cows, sheep and goats. — If is re- markable, that the bones of poultry feeding on the roots of goose-grass, acquire a red colour. There is another species of this plant, namely, the Cross-leaved, Goose-grass, Bed-straw, or Cross-woht Madder, Galium l-orcalc, L. which grows on moun- tains, rocks, and in gravelly places in Westmoreland and Wales ; its stalk attains a height of from one to four feet, and its beautiful white flowers appear in July and August. ■ — In Sweden, the root of this ve- getable is known bv the name of inattara, and is generally employed for dyeing wool of a fine crimson colour. — According to Bech stein, this herb affords a very grateful and wholesome food to cattle. Gorze. See Fckzl. GOURD, or Cmurtitu, L. a ge- nus of exotic plants comprising nine species, of which the follow- ing are the principal : 1. The Uii'Liunia, or Buttle Gourd, a native of both Indies, where it grows on the- banks pf ii- Tcrs : i'. has thick, trailing, downy GOU stalks, extending from 10 to 10 feet, and producing large white flowers, which are succeeded by long incurvated fruit of a whitish yelimv colour, from 2 to 5 or (} feet in length, and from g to 24 inches in circumference. 2. The. Tcjto, Pompion, or Com- mon Gourd, which is cultivated in various parts of Germany, but the native soil of which is unknown. — It produces fruit of various shapes and sizes, frequently tS inches in diameter, and its culture in a to- lerable land exposed to the rays of the sun, requires but little trouble. The pulp of the fruit is eaten as an ingredient in puddings 3nd pan- cakes. But the most economical use of this bulky vegetable produc- tion, is that of fattening pigs, as well as carp when thrown into fish-ponds. For these purposes, extensive field- are devoted to the growth of the Common Gourd in Bohemia, Saxony, Thuringia, S:c. climates which coincide with many parts of Britain, so that this plant certainly deserves to be more ge- nerally reared in this country. — ■ Besides, its numerous seeds afford an unusual proportion of express- ed oil, amounting to one half of their own weight : when triturated with water,, they yield a cooling and nutritive milk ; and boiled in- to a jelly, they are said by Bf.ch- stein to be a very efficacious re- medy for curing a retention of urine. > 3. The verrucosa, or Warted Gourd, which is reared in America as a culinary vegetable : its young fruit is eaten boiled, and frequently mixed with wheaten flower in the baking of bread, to which it im- parts a yellow colour, but an agree- able taste. A. The M&pepo, iircct Gourd, or