Poke Root, like dandelion, will lost its virtue in drying. The dried root is inert and void of its original medicinal properties. Poke Root is a plant that grows in many parts of the United States. The young shoots in spring are used for greens, as kale or cabbage sprouts. The root should be dug in the months of July and August, and the tincture made from it while it is in its green state. The berries have also an important medical property.

Medical properties and uses. -- The tincture of Poke Root is one of our finest herbal alteratives, and has been regarded by eclectics as a reliable remedy for the treatment of scrofulous diseases. I have used it in sore throat or diphtheria with satisfactory results. It is certainly, or I regard it such in my own judgment, a specific for all glandular troubles, and has no equal in subduing swollen glands when their condition is of a sympathetic character.

It is almost certain to relieve mammary troubles. When the mammary glands are swollen and threatened with abscess, if the green root is roasted as you would a sweet potato, and mashed into a poultice and applied to the breast, and the tincture be given internally, an avoidance of the abscess and a cure is almost certain. I have used it in many cases of rheumatism, in combination with Rattle Root and Prickly Ash, with the best results. The berries possess, beyond question or doubt, marked alterative properties. I have known the tincture of the berries to cure the worst of cases of anthrodial or joint rheumatism when many other remedies have failed to produce any effect.

Mode of preparation. -- Dig the green root in July or August, wash clean, cut in fine pieces, and fill a pint or quart bottle one half full, add diluted or weakened alcohol, shake every day, and in fourteen days you have a pure tincture. Dose, from three to ten drops three or four times a day. Prepare the berries the same way, mashing the berries before adding the diluted alcohol. Dose, teaspoonful four times a day. Indicated in rheumatism, especially when the person is of a scrofulous nature.