You can catch cold on a fine summer day just by taking a dip and then having a drink of ice-cold water.

There are some time-tested remedies of folk medicine.

Potatoes: They must be cooked with their skins until the skin split. strain off the water and breathe in the steam through the narrow opening of a paper cone for 10-15 minutes. two or three  of such inhalation sittings will bring you relief from cough. In the night, before going to bed, drink a glass of hot milk, adding to it a spoonful of honey.

mustard plasters  are very good for cold and should be applied to both the chest and the back. In olden times mustard plasters used to be made of mustard flour mixed with water until it got the consistency of a thick porridge.

Garlic: It's bactericidal properties were discovered hundreds of years ago. Begin by chewing a small piece of garlic, thus sterilising your mouth. Cut another piece into thin blades and smell them. If you have no garlic ready, take an onion, grate it, squeeze out the juice and soak  some cotton-wool and smell it for 15 minutes.Repeat this three times a day and your cold will be relieved.

Onion: It is an effective remedy for cough. cut half a kilo of onions. add 50 grams of honey and 400 grams of sugar and heat the mixture in one litre of water for three hours. Take six tablespoonfuls of it every day.

If the cough is dry, there is another tested remedy which may prove very effective. It is granulated sugar. Heat it in a teaspoon until it becomes brown. Suck the piece every time. you feel an urge to cough.

Raspberries: Keep raspberry jam ready. It is added to hot tea and drunk before going to bed to get relief from cold.