Elderberry Wine, &c.

To each gallon of berries, put one of water; mash them in a tub, and leave them two days, stirring them frequently; then strain them, and to each gallon of juice put three pounds of brown sugar, and to every five gallons, two ounces of bruised ginger, and one of cloves, which tie up in a bag, and boil in the wine for an hour, and put it in a cask; when it is nearly cold, put in two spoonsful of lively yeast; let it ferment two days, and put in a pint of spirits with the bag of spice, and close it up. This is excellent as a medicine for delicate or elderly persons.

Fill a bottle with elderberries, with a dozen cloves, and fill it up with spirits. It is good to give children that have the summer disease; mix a tea-spoonful of it with sugar and water for a child, or a table-spoonful for a grown person.

Source: Domestic Cookery, Useful Receipts, and Hints to Young Housekeepers, Elizabeth E. Lea

Boils

One or two tablespoonsful of brewers’ yeast taken daily is an old-fashioned, but useful remedy.

Source: Fray’s Golden Recipes for the use of all ages, E. Fray

A Carrot Poultice

Boil washed carrots, and pound them to a pulp with a wooden pestle; add an equal quantity of wheaten meal, and 2 table-spoonsful yeast, and wet it with beer or porter. Let it stand before the fire to ferment. The soft part to be made into a poultice with lard.

Source: The English Housekeeper, Anne Cobbett

For Burns

Let the clothes be taken off with great care and tenderness, and then apply spirits of turpentine, or lay on a thick plaster of fresh yeast, renewing it as often as it becomes hot or dry; or dash the part with cold water in which some yeast has been stirred, or with vinegar, or with strong brine, or with the liquid which runs from potatoes sliced thin and sprinkled with salt; or cut a large cucumber in slices and lay it on the part.

Source: Audel’s Household Helps, Hints and Receipts

Dropsy, Common Herb Remedy for

“One gallon white beech bark, after the rough bark is removed, good big handful of blackberry root, cut fine, and also of sassafras root. Cover with cold water and steep to get the strength; then strain. When cool, not cold, add one pint bakers’ yeast and one cup of sugar. Let it stand twenty-four hours in a warm place. Then strain and set in a cool place. Take a wineglassful three times a day before meals. This has been highly recommended to me by a friend in Kalkaska, Michigan.”

Source: Mother’s Remedies: Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remidies from Mothers of the United States and Canada, T. J. Ritter