Herbs and roots were widely utilized in olden days and during slavery and early reconstruction.  The old slave has brought his practices to this era and he is often found gathering and using them upon his friends and neighbors.

George Pretty knows that black snake root is good for blood trouble for he has used it on many a person with safety and surety.  Sasafras tea is good for colds; golden rod tea for fever; fig leaves for thrash; red oak bark for douche; slippery elm for fever and female complaint (when bark is inserted in the vagina); catnip tea is good for new born babies; sage tea is good for painful menstruation or slackened flow; fig leaves bruised and applied to the forehead for fever are very affective; they are also good to draw boils to a head; okra blossoms when dried are good for sores (the dried blossoms are soaked in water and applied to the sore and bound with clean old linen cloth); red shank is good for a number of diseases; missing link root is for colds and asthma.  George said this is a sure cure for asthma.  Fever grass is a purgative when taken in the form of a tea.  The blades are steeped in hot water and a tea made.  Fever grass is a wide blade grass growing straighter than most grass.  It has a blue flower and is found growing wild around many places in Florida.  It is plentiful in certain parts of Palatka, Florida.

Riding vehicles in early days were called buggies.  The first one George remembers was the go cart.  It had two wheels and was without a top.  Only two people could ride in a go cart.  The equilibrium was kept by buckling the harness over and under the horse’s belly.  The strap which ran under the belly was called the belly girt.  There was a side strap which ran along the horse’s side and the belly girt was fastened to this.  Loops were put to vantage points on the side strap and through these the shafts of the cart were run.  The strap going under and over the horse kept the cart from going too far forward or backward.

During George’s early life plows looked very much like they do today.  They had wooden handles but the part which turned the ground was made of point iron, (he could not describe point iron.) Plows were not made of cast iron or steel as they are today.

Two kinds of plows were used so far as George remembers.  One was called the skooter plow and the other the turn plow.  The skooter plow he describes as one which broke the ground up which had been previously planted.  When the earth needed loosening up to make more fit for planting, this plow was used over the earth, leaving it rather smooth and light.  The turn plow was used to turn the ground completely over.  Where grass and weeds had grown, the earth needed turning over so as to thoroughly uproot the weeds and grass.  The ground was usually left a while so that the weeds could die and rot and then men with hoes would go over the ground and make it ready for planting.