Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 November 1874 — Ivy Poison. [ARTICLE]

Ivy Poison.

A subscriber to the Register, an intelligent gentleman over eighty years of age, tells us that everybody ought to Jinow a sure and yet a simple cute for persons poisoned with wild ivy; So many people are poisoned annually by the wild ivy vines which grow profusely in our woods and fence rows in lowa that this asserted remedy will be exceedingly useful information to the public. The threeleafed ivy is the poisonous ivy, and the fire-leafed ivy is its antidote. It is asserted that these two vines never grow a stone's throw apart —“ a wise and kindly provision of nature” —and they are frequently seen growing on the same stump and twisting together up. the same tree. When poisoned with the three-leaved vine the bruised leaves of the five-leafed saturated with water or chewed with the teeth and moistened in the mouth will effect almost an immediate cure. If the poison has had a day or two’s start, the leaves will have to be “ steeped” in hot water, but will accomplish the cure in two or three days. Two or three persons on Mr. Settlemeyer’s farm, near Des Moines, who have been severely poisoned the present fall in this way have been cured in this manner. If true this is certainly worth knowing. The three-leaved and the fiveleaved, ivy look very much alike, although the former is generally a ranker and richer green in color. But they can be easily and certainly distinguished by one always having three leaves on the stem ana the other having five. This item will be a good thing to cut out and save for next year.— lowa State Register.