STALKING THE HEALTHFUL HERBS

Have you ever treated your face to a witch hazel freshener? taken a coltsfoot cough drop? applied a compfrey poultice? dined on violet jam, mint aspic? sipped catnip tea, sage wine, white pine whiskey or rose water? Euell Gibbons, who uses the great outdoors as his larder, will tell you how in his ""do it yourself herbal."" He'll have you setting aside your Milltown for wild lettuce, and actually eating the common stinging nettle and chickweed that's such a nuisance in the garden. He himself hasn't quite got the hang of cooking skunk cabbage yet, but the Indians did, so he's still trying. The author of Stalking the Wild Asparagus and Stalking the Blue Eyed Scallop writes engagingly for the nature-lover who's game for wild fare that is not always gourmet but is often very healthful (the dandelion is the best known source for Vitamin A among green vegetables). He charts the composition of various wildings, fruit and vegetable and makes an agreeable case for agreeing edibles.