Wine made of cowslips was believed to cure a pain in the head.
A mixture made of lump sugar, rind of three lemons, a gallon of yellow petal rings and a gallon of water. Then put into a barrel and stir every day for a week was also a cure for a pain in the head.
Sweets made of coltsfoot were considered a good remedy for coughs.

Long ago people used herbs for all their medicinal purposes. Here are some of the most common ones which they believed to have cures and they were also used for other purposes.
Dandelion is good for the liver and consumption. It was boiled in milk and drank, but if it was not drunk before a certain time it would not cure.
It was also used for making wine.
The coltsfoot is good for lungs and burns.
The bordock is good for

supposed to be a great cure for consumption.
From the dandelion whose yellow flowers are seen in nearly every field the wine is made from the flowers and the leaves make food, medicine and a vegetable.
Nettles are useful vegetables and medicine and are used for food for young turkeys.
The dock though hated by the farmer had many uses in medicine and also a cure for the sing of a nettle.
The ragweed seems to have no use whatever.
Coltsfoot

lodges in it is a cure for warts, or another cure is to get a snail and hang him up ion wire until he withers and then rub him on the "warts".
Nettles when boiled are a great blood purifier and it is said that the person that eats three meals of nettles in March will not need a doctors bottle for the year.
House leek is a cure for sore eyes and to get ten gooseberry thorns and point nine of them to your eyes and throw away the tenth is a cure for a sty.
Coltsfoot when boiled with water is a cure for a Winters cold.
Mrs Cox Croghan has a cure for scurvy.

If the summer is going to be a fine one, it is said that the rooks will build their nests very high in the tree-tops.
There is also a belief that when the coltsfoot comes out in flower. Winter frosts are over.
Clouds, if they are the best weather guides and prophet. Small and fleecy, with irregular borders, they foretell. Large deep-toned clouds with clean-cut edges mean coming rain, and strong colours herald both wind and rain.
Indoors, in the early morning , if there is a mist on the bedroom windows, if the soap is dry, and if the bubbles rising from lumps of sugar in tea or coffee rise quickly and break against the side of the cup . The day will be fine.

It grows in pastures and also in crops. It spreads rapidly. Long ago the landlords used to travel the land which their tenants had and if they found three buacalláns in any farm they used to take the farm from that tenantDandelion is a common weed with a yellow blossom. It grows in good soilColtsfoot which is known as Spune, grows in tillage and pastures. It has large soft leaves.Nettles grow in all sort of soil They are covered with coarse hairs which sting sharply. They are cut up small and given to turkeys

The most harmful weeds growing in my father's farm are : - The Creeping Crowfoot, Bulbous buttercup, Fumitory, Shepherd's Purse, Charlock, Ragged Robin, Curn Cockle, Silver Weed, Field Scabious, Ox-eye Daisy, Coltsfoot (sponck), Ragwort, Knapweed, Thistle Nipplewort, Dandelion, Chickweed, Foxglove, Dock and Nettles. Some of these, namely, Silver Weed, Thistle, Dandelion, Dock and Nettles, are very harmful because they spread very rapidly. Land where Docks, Thistles and Nettles grow is supposed to be very rich. Ox-eye Daisies, Nipplewort and Knapweed are a sign of poor pastures. Much use is made of Centuary by those who suffer from rheumatism. The roots are cleaned and boiled in

Bronchitis and AsthmaPut a handful of Coltsfoot leaves into a quart of water and simmer till reduced to a pint. Strain and pour while hot into a jug where you have placed a sliced lemon. Sweeten to taste with honey or brown sugar. A wineglassful to be taken three or four times a day in all chest of throat troubles.
Gin and OnionCut a fair sized onion into slices and cover with unsweetened gin. Leave at least for a day before using, do not strain. Brush the hair each night and massage a little of the mixture into the roots with the tips of the fingers. If there is any life in the scalp at all,

Local Cures.Before doctors' treatments came into use, people used to make up medicines from herbs and plants. These medicines were used for curing diseases, but are not used too much now-a-days, owing to the development of doctor's and hospital treatment.There are numerous herbs which grow in our ditches and meadows which were very valuable to our grandmothers or greatgrandmothers in days of old. They are used in some medicines of course, but the medicines which were made at home are much purer, and valuable nowadays. I, myself know some herbs which ere used, and I will quote a few. Jesters, the little green cup-shaped leaves are a cure for the jaundice.Cough-grass for a cold. Buttercups for a complaint known as heartburn. Chickweed for a swollen joint. House leek for sore eyes. Marshmallow for cattle with swollen udders. Coltsfoot for sore throats. These medicines are used

The following are the most harmful weeds and herbs growing on our farm;- the nettle, the thistle, the plaintain, the spurge, the sherpherd's purse, the ground sel, the chickweed, the carpenders leaf, the dock leaf, the ragweed, the buttercup, the freshia, the watercress, the wild retch, the travelours joy, the scutch grass, the dandelion, the burdock, the robin run the hedge, the colts foot, the buacalán buide, the mint, the rose noble, the thyme, the horse leaf, the dog leaf, the crows foot, the wild pansy, the wild poppy, the blood weed, the fox glove, St Patrick's leaf.
The thistle and the coltsfoot are the most common weeds which harm the corn fields.
The Nettle. The nettle is a very common weed. It is usually found growing in rocky ground. It is also used by many for flavouring broth.
The Dock - leaf. The dock leaf is very common. It is not harmful. If it is rubbed on the sting of a nettle it cures it. The juice is good to

176
Local Cures
Eczema. Coltsfoot a wild herb common to most places is used locally for this disease. The roots of this plant are washed and boiled into a jelly. Black soap and sulphur are added and the mixture is applied with a feather. It is applied everyday and prayers are recited while doing so, no washing of the face or affected part, is allowed and the person with the disease must not remain away from mass while getting the treatment. This cure is a family one and the secrets of some herbs used, are only known to one member of the family. Before this person dies, he or she tells the secret to some remaining member.
Annie Costello St VI
My Mother told me this

The most harmful weeds growing on a farm are ragwort, docks and thistles. The ragwort spreads rapidly. The docks also spread quickly and the thistle. The docks impoverish the soil. Clover only grows where the land is good. Thistles are found on only poor land. Rushes also grow on poor wet land.
Thyme is very good for asthma. The tea is made from ordinary garden thyme, either fresh or dried. The tea is made in the following way. The leaves are gathered and put into a saucepan and allowed to simmer for three hours.
Mint tea is very good for a headache. The leaves of the mint are gathered and put in a saucepan to boil. A pound of sugar is added and stirred frequently till all the sugar is dissolved.
Coltsfoot tea is very good for sore throats or asthma. Put a handful of leaves either fresh or dried into a quart of water and simmer till reduced to a pint, strain and while still hot pour into a jug, where you have placed a sliced lemon and

Coltsfoot a herb with a broad green velvety leaf, the shape of a colt's foot. It is also used to heal a varicose ulcer.
Nettles: Nettles are a troublesome herb about the hedges, ditches and field, but are most useful. They were commonly used as a soup in olden times to purify the blood in the Springtime and took the place of our new-fashioned medicine.
The Spring-time Electuary. Nettle broth or nettle tea cleared the skin of pimples, blackhead and chilcorns.
Dandelion: This weed from whose hollow shaped stem milk ouses is also used in making wines now-a-days. In olden times though the tea made from Dandelion leaves and flowers was also used as an inow [?] tonic and was one of Dr. Button's remedies for jaundice or sluggish liver troubles.

Dockens and Benweeds are the most harmful weeds which grow on our farm at home. There weeds are harmful because they spread rapidly over the land [sic] Where the land is very wet these weeds will not grow. Many of these herbs have medicinal properties. Nettles, Ripple-grass, Coltsfoot, and Dockens and many other herbs are used for diseases. Nettles are used for curing measles. Dockens are a cure for the sting of a nettle. Ripple-grass is a cure for a cut. The nettles are boiled and made into tea. The person that has the cut chews the grass and puts it on the cut.

The most common herbs in this district are dandelion, nettle, dock, redshank, geel, thistle, benweed, yarrow, mugweed, pirl, cratae, daynettle, skellig, peppermint, coltsfoot, chickenweed, houseleek, and groundyarg.
The thistle, dockweed, and nettle spread mostly in land where potatoes and corn are growing. They often grow so thickly as to smother up the crops. Geel and yarrow often grow where corn has been sown, and they make the ground poor and the crop very light.
Bogbean is used in the springtime for medicine. It is gathered and stewed, and people take half a glass every morning. It purifies the blood and is very good for the system.
Chicken-weed roasted is an old cure for sprains. Parsley is stewed and drunk is a splendid cure for kidney trouble.

"Coltsfoot," thistles, "pirl grass" and switch grass" are the most harmful weeds that grow on our farm. They spread rapidly and impoverish the soil."Crawtoe" grows in good land and "Bathrom and "Bog Beam" grows on bog land."Billar" is a plant that is found in streams and very damp places. It can be eaten with salt. It is very good for the blood."Nettles are boiled and the soup is drunk. The soup of nettles is good for the measles."Bathrom" is got in bog and damp places. "Bathrom" is boiled. Then half burned lime is mixed with it. Then it is strained and put into bottles One spoonful is taken at a

The farmers are the constant enemies of the harmful weeds. Some weeds are harmful because they spread rapidly, grow strong quickly, and thus smother the seedlings which the farmers sow. Other impoverish the soil by using up all the manure set out for other plants, to strengthen themselves. Many of such weeds are not to be found in poor soil as they require nourishment which is not to be found in poor land.
I've heard my father speak of such weeds as the Praiseach Bhuidhe or Charlock, the Buachallan or Ragweed, Sponnc or Coltsfoot, the Feócadán or thistle, the Cupóg or Dock-leaf, the Cois Phréacháin or Crowsfoot, Glúineach; Clúbán; An Géasadán, Broim-fhéar, The Sheep Sorrel; Chickenweed, The Black Buttons; The Cockle Yarrow, Rib-leaf, Grounsel.
Glúineach: -
is said to be so called because of the knots on the stem resembling knees.

They herbs that do most damage to land are Dock-leaf, blackhead, thistle, samsog, chickweed, crowsfoot, coltsfoot, spearmint, wild carrot and parsnip, glarawn, slachtown, St Patrick cabbage, horehound, awna, mousearor, blisgawn, diarean, buachalawn or keeldock, dodder, poison ivy, peas or vetches and brawsga.
The first 12 grow in poor land and the remainder in rich land. The herbs that have cures are:-
Dock-leaf: for a sore throat or cracked lips and burns.
Samsag - for asthma.
Spearmint: for applying to cuts.
A weed called "barnwort" has a cure for swine fever.
Another weed called "buachaill a'tige" has a cure for boils and ringworms. This weed grows on the walls of houses Tehre is a weed growing in sandy places, the juice of which, if applied to cuts, soon heals them.

in the fairies.
The cumfree (lus an ionáimh)?? has a strong underground stem. It was a healer for cuts. It was scraped and made into a pulp and put to the cut as a healer. The leaves and ?? made excellent fodder for horses.
Glasra Coille (The Wood Plant) was used as an ointment. It was boiled with unsalted butter, a daisy and primrose. It made a kind of ointment which was rubbed of a child as a preventative against a skin disease such as Fealamha
The nettle (neantóg) was a cure for hoarseness. It was boiled and the juice given to the person as a cure. It was also used as a purifier in the spring. Nettles boiled with bacon were often used as a vegetable when other vegetables were scarce.
The Coltsfoot (earoine) has

The farmers do not like thistles, duckweeds, ragworth, crowfoot, chickweed, coltsfoot, groundsel, nettles or dandelion for they either choke or smother the useful plants or they extract from the soil the food which should feed his plants. These weeds are either cut or pulled before they grow too strong. Rushes, sedge (a sort of coarse grass), 'Flagger' (Iris), 'purple flower' grow on poor wet marsh land and stock refuse to eat them.
'Blackheads' and 'bóhalán' are injurious plants and cattle do not eat them. The farmer likes to see clovers or trefoil growing in his pastures and meadow lands. These grow only on good dry land.
Leaves of docks, nettles, chickweed, and bóhaláns' are plucked, cooked mixed with meal and are given to pigs and fowl in summer. Dandelion leaves are given to young pet rabbits.
Herbs were very much used to cure ailments in former times. In almost every garden garlic was grown. It was boiled and the water in which it was boiled was drunk by delicate people or people suffering from bad coughs. It was also given to farm animals when they were suffering from colds or coughs. The bulbs were cut up and tobacco leaf was mixed with them. A sort of paste was the result and calves were 'vaccinated' on the tails with this. It was thought to be a protection against "blackleg" - a fatal disease in young stock. Formerly when Veterinary Surgeons were not to be got some knowledgable man who was generally a herd and had experience of cattle, sheep, horses etc. was called on to treat diseases in those animals. "Doctors", called quacks made use of herbs, such as ivy leaf to cure ailments. The country people believed they could cure them and they used buy bottles of medicine from them.