Plate XXTHE LARCH1. Larch Tree2. Leaf Tufts3. Stamen Catkins4. Seed Catkins5. Young Cone6. Ripe Cone
Plate XX
THE LARCH1. Larch Tree2. Leaf Tufts3. Stamen Catkins4. Seed Catkins5. Young Cone6. Ripe Cone
In Sweden the berries are eaten to breakfast; sometimes they are roasted and ground into coffee.
The wood and its berries may be burnt in sick-rooms to purify the air and refresh the patient. Country people believed that burning sprays of Juniper kept away witches, and the smoke was supposed to drive away serpents, as well as to destroy any germs of plague or other infectious disease.
In Scotland the smoke from a Juniper fire is used for curing hams.
In Lapland the peasants make ropes from the Juniper bark, and they tell you that if a bit of Juniper wood is lighted and then carefully covered with ashes it will keep alight for a whole year.
The trunk of the Juniper tree is too small and slight to be very useful as timber; but good walking-sticks are often made from the branches and young stems.