Spring Beer Recipe

Take a small bunch of all, or part of the following: Sweet fern,

sarsaparilla, winter-green, sassafras, prince's pine, and spice wood.

Boil them with two or three ounces of hops to three or four gallons of

water, and two or three raw potatoes, pared and cut in slices. The

strength of the roots and hops is obtained more thoroughly by boiling

them in two waters--for, when the liquor is strongly saturated with the

hops, it will rather bind up the roots than extract their juices. The

roots should be boiled five or six hours--the liquor should then be

strained, and a quart of molasses put to three gallons of the beer. If

you wish to have the beer very rich, brown half a pound of bread, and

put it into the liquor. If the liquor is too thick, dilute it with cold

water. When just lukewarm, put in a pint of fresh lively yeast, that has

no salt in it. The salt has a tendency to keep it from fermenting. Keep

it in a temperate situation, covered over, but not so tight as to

exclude the air entirely, or it will not work. When fermented, keep it

in a tight keg, or bottle and cork it up.