Crowfoot, spurey, coltsfoot, and rag-weed grow on the farm. They are said to be harmful because they spread rapidly. Groundsel grows on good land. Rushe's " and "ragged robin" grow in bad swampy land. This is a story of how the daisy got a blush on its petals: Once a fairy slept on a daisy which closed over her and she was warm. In the morning early it opened and she was cold and very angry. The daisy blushed and she stuck it with her wand and left the blush in it.

The most harmful weeds growing on the farm are ragweed and praiseach, clapóga and thistles. The ragweed which grows in pasture impoverishes the soil and it also spreads rapidly. Praiseach is to be found growing in oats and it does a great deal of harm to the crop. The clapóg is harmful to potatoes as it smothers the young stalks when they are coming up. The thistle spreads very rapidly and therefore it does much harm.
A weed called coltsfoot is found only in good land and a little weed known as

The roots of comfrey if boiled and chopped fine and used as a poultice is a cure for swollen or painful joints. The stone crop that grows on the top of the walls if chopped fine and mixed through bread or vegetables and given to young dogs suffering from worms is a cure. Coltsfoot is a composite plant with a yellow flower. It grows in moist clayey soil. The leaves when dried and smoked like tobacco will cure asthma. Garlic is a cultivated herb. If sowed on a Good Friday it has a cure for many diseases. Consumption is one of the diseases Garlic will cure. To drink goats milk and Garlic and sleep over horses is known to have cured the most hopeless cases. Hemlock is a poisonous herb.

stomach". Watercress, which grows in limestone springs, was considered good for the blood. Bog bean which grows in marshes was highly valued as a "Spring medicine". Watercress was eaten raw with salt. Camomile and bog bean were used in decoctions. Slan lios (slob grass) was much used as a healer for cuts. It was prepared by being chewed, or brused between two flat stones. Thistles, docks and raweed (bouchalan buide) are very injurious, both to crops and pastures, because they are strong - growing, and they spread rapidly, both by seeds and roots. Charlock preshaugh is very injurious to cereals, because it is difficult to weed it out, without injuring the crop. Coltsfoot is considered a very bad weed. It grows mostly in poor soils. Crowfoot, groundsel and chickweed are very troublesome in gardens.

There are many weeds growing on our farm. The names of these are thistles, wild daisy, dandelion, whins, coltsfoot, red shanks, white ash, sit fast and day nettles. These are all harmful because they spread so quickly and make the soil poor. In poor land heather is mostly found. Some herbs have medicinal properties. The names of them are fox gloves, dandelion and nettles. The fox glove is a cure for a weak heart. Nettles are good for purifying the blood and dandelion is a cure for kidney and liver disorder. The herbs were very much used in older times for cures.

One of the most harmful weeds growing on our farm is Coltsfoot which spreads rapidly over the whole ground covering it over, with its broad leaves, smothering the crop especially the potato crop and by its impoverishment of the soil rendering the potato crops very light.
Another very injurious weed not altogether so bad is what is called in this part of the country the Day Nettle or Dead Nettle. This plant is very hard to get rid of because its roots divide rapidly and easily in the ground and when the ground is being cultivated these roots break into small pieces or sections

The most harmful weeds growing on our farm are - pirl, thistles, coltsfoot, dey nettles, ground yare and nettles.
These are all harmful because they spread rapidly and impoverish the soil.
Benweeds are supposed to grow on good land, and the old people say that they are very bad for horses to eat.
Geelgowans, pirl and redshanks are to be found on poor land.
A good cure for measles was believed to be - nettles stewed and the juice drank.
Chickenweed was used for sprains. It was put in boiling water, and when it was in the water a little while it was taken out and put round the sprain.
The leaves of coltsfoot burnt on coals and the fumes inhaled was believed to sure a cold.
If anybody got stung with a nettle they got a dock leaf and rubbed the sting with it and said "Dock in and nettle out."
a "dey nettle" sting is very dangerous and it may cause blood poison if it is not seen to in time.

The most harmful weeds growing near my home are Benweeds, Chicken weed, Gilgowns, Praiseach, Coltsfoot, Yarr, Nettles, Thistles, Dock leaves, Pirrel, Sullugs, Ox-eye-daisies, Foxglove, Sheep [?] Birds-Foot-Trefoil, Yarrow, Horspipe[?], Groundsel, Redshanks, Cratac, Common Fumitory, Dandelion, Seven Sisters,
Some of the weeds spread rapidly and they are bad for the soil. Chicken weed spreads rapidly and destroys the potatoes. The yarr destroys the young turnips, Thistles and gilgowns are bad for the corn. Benweeds and

346
Luibheanna
There are some herbs that do a great deal of harm on the land.The most harmful are -Thistle ,Dock, Ragweed ,Nettle, Bracken,or Fern,Rushes, Chickweed Coltsfoot.
They use up the plant food ,make the land poor and crowd out the crops and grasses.
Chickweed grows in boggy lands and destroys vegetable crops potatoes etc.
Clover Thistles, Nettles Meadow Fescue ,Cocksfoot, Dock,grow in good land.
Rushes ,heather mosses coltsfoot,ferns grow in bad land.
There are many herbs that are cures for certain diseases .
Garlic,eaten raw or boiled in milk is a cure for chest and lung troubles, coughs ,bronchitis.
The leaf of the dock cures the sting of a nettle.A herb called lion's paw cures warts and corns.Dandelion leaves ,plant and roots are picked ,washed and crushed ,then put to simmer gently in water for a few hours.The water is then drunk and cures chest and lung troubles and bad coughs.
The Male Fern cures kidney troubles.
The Female Fern cures whooping cough .
Both Male and Female fern cures fluke in sheep and cattle

The following herbs were told to me by Con Melly, Tullycleave, Ardara aged 50 years.
Good Herbs Bad herbs
Caísearaban Redshank
Farban Yellowgaban
Darcan Spirry
Nettles Benweed
Chickenweed Hemlock
Coltsfoot Mugweed
BurdockColtsfoot is a remedy for a cough.Burdock is good for kidney trouble.The bark of an oak tree is good for sore throats.The bark of the birch tree is good for skin diseases.

A bad cold. Turnip water is a cure for a bad cold.
Rheumatism - The dandelion is supposed to be a cure for rheumatism
Ringworm - The coltsfoot is a cure for ringworm

There are many weeds which are destructive to the crops. The aineach, samsog, dock, thistle, coltsfoot, nettle and chicken weed are the commonest. All these spread rapidly and choke up the plant. Others are poisonous like the hemlock eaten only by goats and ragwart eaten by sheep.
The uses obtained out of plants and herbs were many. Nettles, cut up were given to young turkeys. Beer was also made out of them. Docks were cut up, boiled and given to pigs. They are also useful for stopping the pain of the nettle's sting. The dandelion, a little yellow flower was used for curing headaches and other minor complaints.

The weeds which do great harm to the land are ivy and coltsfoot and the capóg and the chicken-weed. The harm they do is they take away the manure from the plant. The ivy will twist around the oats on the stalk and will not let them grow. Capógs grow in rich soil and thistles grow in rich soil. The (rav) raithneach grows in poor soil and the clúdhán.
The Hemlock. This plant is used for curing a broken bone. This is how it is used. It has to be broken up and boiled and this has to be put up to the

Herbs
The most harmful weeds growing on the land are Thistles, Crowfoot, Docks and Coltsfoot. The Thistles and the Docks grow on good land. There are no herbs (ground) growing in the ground but are used as cures for various diseases. The dandelion cures a cough. The seed of the Dock will also cure a cough. The nettles are used for feeding turkeys and hens. The Foxglove is poison. It is called Throatwort because when it is made into broth and used as medicine it is believed to cure a sore throat.

The "healing Leaf" or Greater Plantain is used for both drawing wounds and healing them. The leaf is plucked fresh and the underneath part is applied to the wound when we wish to draw the matter from it. A fresh leaf is applied every day until all the matter is drawn out. When we wish to heal a wound the upper part of the leaf is applied. The leaf is held in position by means of a small bandage.
The leaves of the Coltsfoot are dried and smoked in a pipe as a cure for Asthma. The smoke should be inhaled.
The roots of the Yarrow or Milfoil

before baking makes it very tender.Watercress we scarcely ate at all. It has been credited from time to time with wonderful medicine properties and is said to contain, iodine, iron, phosphates and other things. It has all the necessary vitamins for the human frame, so that it is good for the blood, for the stomach, and even for the brain. Recently the Cancer Research Committee have discovered in it some, marvellous qualities in it. It may help in the prevention, or cure of that dreadful disease and have bought it up by the ton.
There is no better cure for a winter disease cold or cough than Coltsfoot wine.

in green fields and it spreads very rapidly. The farmers cut them in order to prevent them from spreading.
Prosach is a very harmful weed which grows in oats. It has a yellow blossom and it spreads very rapidly.
Coltsfoot is a weed that grows in turnips. It is the shape of a colt's foot and that is how it got its name.

Thistles, ragweed and rushes the most harmful of all weeds growing on my farm at home. Some are harmful because they spread rapidly, and others because they impoverish the soil. Rushes grow where the land is bad, and the thistle and ragweed where it is good.
Chicken-weed, rose-noble, tansy, slanlis, ivy, bogbean, dandelions, violets wormwood, nettles, meadow-sweet, lemon balm, horehound, water-cress, broom, coltsfoot, orange lily roots, garlic; are some of the local herbs.
Chicken-weed boiled is good for a strain. Ivy roots are good for cancer. Dandelions keep the blood pure. The leaves are given to hens and chickens.

The most important herbs that the people of this district know to damage the land are: thistles, nettles, docks, red-shanks, garkan, slanlus leaf, fearbán and chicken-weed. Chicken-weed, fearbán and red-shanks generally grow through crops when they are not properly manured.
Thistles and dandelions (gerall) generally grow on good soil. The principal ones which grow on good or bad soil, spinny, cliúne dearg, and brioseán. The following are a few of the herbs which cure diseases and which are used in the form of tea. Nettle tea is a cure for the whooping cough, balm for fevers, coltsfoot an effective cough remedy, feverfew and golden rod cure diseases of the stomach, home hound useful for colds, meadowsweet is good for kidney trouble, peppermint for vomiting, sorrel for fevers, clover for coughs, lady's slipper for headaches, and fairy thimble leaves are used as poultices for purulent tumours.

In olden times the old people used herbs in many ways. Amongst the herbs generally used were the following; docks, nettle, horsethistle, briar, whin, buachlinn buidhe, bog cotton, coltsfoot. Some of these herbs were used as poisons to kill pain, such as stings and cure bruises. In other cases a mixture of herbs was used to cure headaches, diarrhea, jaundice and even consumption.
In addition to these herbs were also used as a dye for colouring cloth, wool, yarn, leather and other materials. These herbs were also used for curing diseases in animals such as dogs, horses, cows, sheep and goats. At present herbs are used to cure cancer, but the name of these herbs used in curing of cancer is a secret which is only knowing to one family and his name is Patterson and he lives a few miles outside Letterkenny.