..,,^^ >. S' -r- ^■.. .^^' oo^ •'^o^ A> -^V ,0^.0 ... -o:^- " o^- s^ •^, .0 o '^>.<^^' * -^•^. A'^ .^^ '^ -^y^ V^ "^' •/^ ^-^'^ % :/.-;,'*:''i'" -0' . '9^ * .^-^ -^^^ ,0 .v -.S^ %:. •-^^ O O •^. C -•^-^ -x-^^' v^-' ""'>. "oo^ a\-' '^^ ' o ' ^ r/ate 1'. Ihnelics nf Wh-ai uith (hf most destructive Enemies See Kvc^lnnatiort- o/'Flate^f. THE 0^ FARMER'S AND PLANTER'S ENCYCLOPJIDIA OF RURAL AFFAIRS; EMBRACING ALL THE MOST REGENT DISCOVERIES IN SUITED TO THE COMPREHENSIUiN OF UNSCIEiNTIFIC READERS. •y BY t^UTHBERT w/jOHNSON, Esq., F.R.S. WITH EXTENSIVE ADDITIONS ADAPTING THE WORK TO THE UNITED STATES, AND NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS OF ANIMALS, IMPLEMENTS, AND OTHER SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH AGRICULTURE. BY GOUYERNEUR EMERSON, M.D., ItZMBEB OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, PENNSYLVANIA ACADEMY OP NATURAL SCIENCES; UNITED STATES AORICULTUEAL SOCIETY, ETC., ETC. Scuisd (tiximx of 1868. ^^ ^ ' ^ " ,,f^/ ©f Conn., *- PHILADELPHIA: ^ o^ VVashxt^*^ J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 1868. Entered according to'Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by GOUVERNEUR EMERSON, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. s-^^ > c i PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION OF 186 M. F. Le Plat, — one of the closest observers of the age, distinguislaed by his capacity to lay aside all prejudice and pride of opinion, and found his conclusions upon evidence derived only from the most exact and reliable data, — one whose active and well adjusted rmind has long been devoted to investigations connected with the conditions and developments of all the great branches of industry, — the imperial counsellor and com- missioner-general, charged with the organization and direction of the several Universal Expositions held in Paris from 1855 to 1867, — thus expresses his views of the important position to which Agriculture is entitled among the diversified branches of industry.* The agricultural product superior to all others is wheat, which, next to milk, contains most of the indispensable elements required to sustain the human body. Wheat takes from the earth a large amount of phosphorus, the essential element for the formation of bones, although in most soils hardly a trace of it is perceptible. This wonderful concentration in wheat of the materials of the human body, — the mysteries of which science has only begun to reveal, — evidently furnishes the primary foundation for the grandest developments of population and the highest achievements of civilization. ■ ' . Agriculture holds out to families the most permanent prospect of em- ployment and subsistence. It adapts itself with admirable pliancy to all the relations of industry, whether on a limited or extensive scale. It organizes itself spontaneously in accordance with the intellectual or moral condition of families and the diverse circumstances under which these may exist. It establishes between the family, the soil, the plants, and * La R^forme Sociale en France — Deduite de I'observation compar^e des peuples Euro- p^ens. Par M. F. Le Play, Auteur des OuTriers Europeans, Commissaire General aux Ex- positions Universelle de 1855, de 1862, et de 1867. (iii) IV PREFACE. animals, a harmony wticli serves to perfect the pleasures of the domestic circle, and develop in the human breast an attachment to the birthplace. It furnishes mankind with nearly all things necessary to existence, and thus secures true independence, affording a protection from the corrup- tions which so often prevail among the inhabitants of cities. In a word, the interest of the land-owner is so intimately identified with the general interests of the country at large, that the most worthy rural proprietors everywhere constitute the class best fitted to direct public affairs. Under all these considerations, agriculture offers to the human race the chief means for its multiplication, independence, and moral progress. More than any other active branch of industry, it gives character to national life. In the order of the material world and the province of labor, it is the power which best carries out the objects of creation. The preeminence, of agriculture over other arts has been so often pro- claimed among the ancients as .well as the moderns, that it maybe regarded as an axiom. Even in the eighteenth century, in France, a melancholy epoch charged with so many vices proceeding from the influence of courtesans cor- rupted by luxury and idleness, the administrators of public affairs were obliged to make an official acknowledgment of their respect for agri- culture.. "Among the useful arts," says Cicero, "there is none superior to Agriculture, none more fruitful, none more agreeable, none more worthy of a freeman." — De Officiis. EXPLANATION OF PLATES. V PLATE 1. li^.Zff Short-Horned Cows. PLATE 2. p. 1117. Varieties of IVheat, with the most destructive Ene- mies. a, Summer or Spring Wheat. b, Winter or Lammas Wheat. c, Effyptian Wheat d, Turgid Wheat. e, Polish Wheat. /, Spelt Wheat. g. One-grained Wheat. h. The Wheat Fly of Scotland, New Eng- jand, &c., the larva or worm of which destroys the grain in the head or chaff. • i, One of the Worms magnified. k. The Hessian Fly, which attacks the stem near its root. I, A portion of Wheat Straw affected with Rust, magnified, to show the parasitic plant or fungus giving rise to the disease called Rust, Blight, and Mildew. m, Another portion of a Diseased Stem in a green state, and before the fungus is quite ripe. M, The small portion marked 1 (Jt) is still more strongly magnified. 0, p, q, r, s, t, u, Very highly magnified repre- sentations of the Fungus Parasite in different stages of growth and maturity. 0, Showing it in the young state; p, full- grown ; q, two plants bursting and shedding their seeds when under water in the micro- scope ; r, two plants bursting in a dry place ; «, apparently abortive ; t, seeds in a dry state ; M, a small part of the bottom of a pore with Bome of the parasitic fungi growing upon it. V PLATE 3. p. 139. Barley, Oats, Buckwheat, and Millet. a, b, c, d, Varieties of Barley. t. White, or Common Oat. /, Siberian or Tartarian Oat g, Common Buckwheat. h, Tartarian Buckwheat, i, Emarginated Buckwheat. k, German Millet. 1, Commrn Millet m, Italian Millet n, Polish Millet o, Indian Millet PLATE 4. p. 1044. Rice, Sugar, Tobacco, ^c. a. Canary com. b. Rice Plant c. Wild Rice. d. Sugar Cane. e. Indigo Plant /, Virginian Tobacco Plant g. Common Green Tobacco. h, Havanna Repanda Tobacco. {, Quadrivalvis Tobacco of the Rocky Mo in* tains. k, Mana Tobacco of the Rocky Mountains. PLATE 5. p. 575. Hay-Grasses adapted to particular Soils and Situa- tions. The first group exhibits the Tall Hay-Grasses of temporary duration ; the second group, Tall Hay-Grasses of permanent duration ; the third group. Grasses adapted to particular soils and situations. a, Ray or Rye-Grass {Lolium perenne). Pe- rennial Darnel, Perennial Rye-Grass. b, Orchard Grass, or Cock's-foot (Dactylis glomerata). c, Woolly or Creeping Soft Grass (Holcut mains'). cc. Tall Oat-like Soft Grass, Andes Grass (JHolcus avenaceus). d, Meadow Barley-Grass {Hordeum pratense). dd. Meadow, or Fertile Fescue {Festuca pra- tensis). e, Tall, or Infertile Fescue (Fesiuca elatior). /, Spiked, or Darnel Fescue Grass {Festuca loliacea). g, Meadow Foxtail (^Alopecurus pratensis). h, Great, or Smooth-stalked Meadow Grass, Spear-Grass (Poapratensis). i. Rough-stalked Meadow Grass {Poa in- vialis). k, Timothy, or Meadow Cat's-tail {Phleum pratense'). I, Floating Fescue (Festuca fluitans). m. Water Meadow Grass {Poa aquatica), n. Florin (^Agrostis stolonifera). . PLATE 6. p. 576. Grasses. The first group exhibits the Early Pasture Grasses ; the second and third groups Pastuw V EXPLANATION OF PLATES. Grasses adapted to particular soils and situa- tions. a, Sweet-scented Vernal Grass {Anthox- anthum odoralurn). b, Downy Oat-Grass (Avena pubescent). c, Annual Meadow Grass {Poa annua). d, Fine Bent (.^grostis vulgaris vmtica). c, Narrow-leaved Meadow Grass (Poa' an- guili folia). /", Dog's-tail Grass (Cynosunts cristatui). g. Hard Fescue (Fesluca duriuicula). h, Smooth Fescue (Festuca glabra). i, Long-awned Fescue (^Fesluca hordeiformis). k, tSheep's Fescue (Festuca ovina). I, Alpine Meadow Grass (Poa alpina). VI, Turfy Hair Grass {Aira ccespitosa). n, Common Quaking Grass, or Ladies' Tresses (Briza media). ' PLATE 7. p. 577. Grasses, ^c, found in Fields and Meadows. a. Field Brome Grass (Bromus arvensis). b. Soft Brome (Bromus mollis). c. Darnel (Lolium temulentum). The Chess or Cheat of Europe. a. White Darnel {Lolium arvense). e, Welsh Fescue (Fesluca Cambrica). f, Crab, or Finger Grass {Dig^itaria sanguir nalis). g, Red Top (Tricuspis). h. Blue Grass (Pou compressa). i, Creeping Soft Grass, or Couch Grass. k, Creeping Dog's Tooth (Cynodon dactylon). /, Upright Sea Lime Grass, Star, or Bent {Elynius arenarius). tn. Matt Grass (Psamma arenarium). n, Gama Grass. 0, Scotl's Grass {Panicum hirtellum). p, Guinea Grass {Panicum poly gamum). q. Cow Wheat (Mclampyrum pratense). r. Tare, or Common Vetch {Vicia saliva), s, The Lentil {Ervum lens), t, Chick-Pea {Cicer arictinum). u, Spanish Lentil {Lathyrus sativus). V, Canadian Lentil (Vicia pisiformis). w, White Lupine {Lupinus albus.) ^ PLATE 8. p. 339. Plants cultivated for Hay or Herbage. o, White,or Creeping Clover (Tn/b^iMOTrepcns). b. Common Red, or Biennial Clover {Trifo- lium pratense). c. Meadow, or Cow Clover ( Trifolium medium). d. Yellow, or Shamrock Clover (Trifolium procumbcns). e. Lupuline Clover (Medicago Itipulina). /, Flesh-coloured, or Roussillon Clover (Tri- folium iticnrnattim). g, Saintfoin (the Bourgogne or Esparcette of the French). h, Lucern (Medicago saliva). i. Yellow Lucern (Medicago falcata"). k. Long-rooted Clover (Trifolium macro- 'Xizum). PLATE 9. p. 619. Inferior Herbage, Plants occasionally cultivated. a, Burnet (Poterium Sanguisorba). b, Spurty (Sper^la arvensis). c, Furze or Whin (CTIfx Europeeus). d, Common Broom (Spartium scoparum). e, Spanish Broom (Spartium junceum). f, Parsley (jlpium pelrosilinum). g, Bird's-foot Trefoil (Loins comiculatu,t). h, Lotus Tetragonolobus (Lotier culliva, Ft.). i. Ripple Grass, or Ribwort Plantain (Plan- tago lanceolata). k, Yarrow (Millefeuille, Fr.). V PLATE 10. p. 1108. Weeds and Plants troublesome to the Farmer. a, Cockle, or Corn Campion (Agrostemma Githago). b, Mellilot Clover (Trifolium officinalis). c, Tares. Smooth Tare . (Ervum tetrasper- mum). d, Black Bindweed (Polygonum Convolvulut). e, Dodder (Cusmla Europcea). f, Mellilot trefoil of Switzerland. g, Charlock, or Wild Radish (Raphans Ror phanislrum). h, HarifT, Cleavers, &c. (Galium Aperine). i. Couch Grass (Triticum repens). k, Rest Harrow (Ononis spinosa). I, Colt's-foot (Tussilago Farfara). m, Corn Mint (Mentha an'ensis). n. Black Foxtail (Alopecurus agrestis). 0, Wild Carrot (Daucus Carota). p, Hedge Parsley, or Dill (Torilis iiifesta). q. Fool's Parsley (JEthusa). r, Bawd-Money. Fennel. (Meum bwnias). s. Corn Poppy (Papaver Rhaeas). t, Buttercup (Ranunculus Imlbosus). u, Blue Bottle. Ragged Robin. (Centaurea Cyanus). V, Mayweed. Stinking Chamomile. (An- themis Cotula). V, V, St. John's Wort (Hypeiicum). w, Ox-eye Daisy (Chrysantliemum Leucanths' mum). w u'. Chamomile Feverfew (Matricaria Cha- momilla), X, Common Fumitory (Fumaria officinalis vel vulgaris). X X, Yellow Toad-Flax (Linaria vulgaris). y, Cinquefoil (Polentilla Pennsylvanica). y y. Soap Wort. Bouncing Bet. (Suponaria officinalis). •' PLATE 11. p. 628. Russian Bee-Hive and Echium vulgare, called in Russian Ciniak. 1, The Hive with the upper door removed so as to show the interior, and arrangement of the honey frames, a. Movable doors; b, wooden pegs ; c, movable pieces on which the doors are supported; and are found even in 50°. Rice has traveled from the tropics to 36°, and that of Novth Carolina now promises to be better than that of more southern countries. The grape has reached 50°, and produces good wine and fruit in Hungary and Germany. The orange, lemon, and sugar-cane, strictly tropical, grow xyell in Florida, and up to 31^°, in Louisiana, and the fruit of the former much larger and better than under the equator. Annual plants grown for roots and vegeta- bles, and grain, go still farther north in pro- portion, than the trees and shrubs, because their whole growth is matured in one summer ; and we know that the developement of vegeta- tion is much quicker when spring does open i in countries far to the north, than in the tro- pics. In Lapland and on Hudson's Bay, the full leaf is unfolded in one or two weeks, when spring begins, although it requires six or eight weeks in the south. Nature makes up in despatch for the want of length in her seasons, and this enables us to cultivate the annual plants very far to the north, in full per- fection. The beans, pumpkins, potatoes, peas, cabbages, lettuce, celery, beets, turnips, and thousands of others, seem to disregard climate, and grow in any region or latitude where man plants and cherishes them. The fig is becom- ing common in France ; the banana, pine- apple, and many other plants, have crossed the line of the tropics, and thousands of the plants valuable for food, clothing, and medicine, and such as are cultivated for their beauty, fra- grance, or timber, are extending their climates, and jiromise much comfort and resource to man. Plants lately introduced, whose cultiva-' tion has not run through many ages or years, have acquired but little latitude in their growth, and show but little capacity to bear various climates, because time has not yet habituated them to such changes, and human cares have not imparted to them new habits and new powers. Nothing can be effected by suddenness in acclimating plants ; too quick a. transition would shock them ; it must be a very gradual process, embracing many years, and many removals. The complete success that has at- tended the plants first named, the earliest com- panions of man, proves this. In the more recent plants, success is exactly in proportion to the length of time that a plant has been in a train of experimental culture. The most sti'iking method of testing the effect of climate on plants, is to carry suddenly back to the south, such as have been extended far, and become habituated to a northern cli- mate. Such plants have so much vigour, and the habit of a quick and rapid growth so firmly fixed on them, by a long residence in the north, that when suddenly taken to the south, al- thqugh the season be long and .ample, they Continue, from habit, to grow and mature quick, and obtain the name of rare-ripe ; be- cause they do not take half of the time to. mature, that those of the same family require, which have never been so changed. Garden- ers give us early corn, peas, fruit, and turnips, by getting seed from places far to the north ; and cotton growers renew the vigour of the plant by getting the most northern seed. This practice is common in the case of most plants, and is founded on the sitpposition that plant'* do. and can acquire habits. The fact supported in the first number of the American Journal of Geology and Natiirai Science, "that plants are most productive near the northern limit in which they will grow," that they bear more seed ^r fruit, and have more vigour of constitution, offers much en- couragement to agriculturists. This proves that it is not a meager, stinted existence, de- void of profit or productiveness, that we give to plants, by pushing their culture far north, but a strong and healthful growth, one that repays the labour and attention, by a grfati"- 2' ACER. ACIDS. pr id act than belongs to more southern situ- ations. Every view that we can take of this interesting subject, every fact wnthin bnr knowledge, whether drawn from the actual state of cultivation, or from physiological in- vestigations into the habits, nature, and con- struction of plants, goes to show that plants do become acclimated, both in the natural and artificial Avay, to a great extent. Enough has been witnessed to prove that plants have a phy- sical conformation, that does accommodate itself to circumstances, and have capacities more extensive than are generally ascribed to them : enough has been realized to encourage farther efforts, and to give us hopes of much future benefit." As allied to this subject see Climate, influ- ence of, on the Fruitfulness of Plants.] Accounts, Farm. See Faum accounts. ACER. The Roman name for a genus of trees, comprehending different species of the large deciduous kind, as the sycamore, &c. See Maple Tree. ACETIC ACID, and ACETUM, terms em- ployed to signify Vinegar, which see. ACETOSA. See Sorrel. ACHILLEA. A genus of plants consisting of sixty or seventy species, found exclusively in the colder climates of the northern hemis- phere. They are all herbaceous, perennial weeds of little importance, except to botanists, and are only seen in cultivation in the collec- tions of the curious. ACIDS (Lat. acefum ,- Goth, aceit ,- Sax. aeceo). Liquids and other substances are called acids, which commonly, but not always, affect the taste in a sharp, piercing, and pecu- liar manner. The common way of trying whether any particular liquor hath in it any acid particles is by mixing it with syrup of [blue] violets, when it will turn of a red colour ; but if it contains alkaline or lixivial particles, it changes that syrup green. [The blue liquor obtained by steeping purple cabbage leaves in hot water, is also a convenient test liquor for acids as w:ell as alkalies.] They comhine with various earths, alkalies, and metallic ox- ides, and form the peculiar class of bodies .called salts. (Todd's Johnson.) [In agricultural chemistry, the acids are di- vided into the inorganic and organic. The first kind, or inorganic, are derived from sources wholly mineral. The second kind, or organic, are derived from animal or vegetable orga- nized substances. The sulphuric acid, or oil of vitriol, is one example of a mineral or in- organic acid. It exists abundantly in nature, combined with mineral bases, as in plaster of Paris, where it is combined with lime, forming the sulphate of lime, or gypsum. Muriatic acid is another very abundant inorganic or mi- neral acid, and abounds in sea-salt, combined with soda, forming the muriate of soda or com- mon salt. Nitric acid, or aquafortis, is another of this class of acids, existing abundantly in the well Icnown substance called saltpetre, or nitrate of potash. The^e three constitute the principal inorgatiic or mineral acids. As all veg-etables contain acids, these may In- regarded as essential to their life. But these acids do not always exist in a free state, beiri§ generally combined with some of the alkalies or alkaline substances, such as potash, soda, lime, and magnesia. "These bases evidently regulate the formation of the acids, for the diminution of the one is followed by a decrease of the other : thus, in the grape, for example, the quantity of potash contained in its juice is less, when it is ripe, than when unripe ; and the acids, under the same circumstances, are found to vary in a similar manner. Such constituents exist in small quantity in those parts of a plant in which the process of assimilation is most ac- tive, as in the mass of woody fibre ; and their quantity is greater in those organs whose of- fice it is to prepare substances conveyed to them for assimilation by other parts. The leaves contain more inorganic matters than the branches, and the branches more than the stem. The potato plant contains more potash before blossoming than after it. "Now, as we know the capacity of saturation of organic acids to be unchanging, it follows that the quantity of the bases united with them caiinot vary, and for this reason the latter sub stances ought to be considered with the strict- est attention both by the agriculturist and physiologist. " We have no reason to believe that a plant in a condition of free and unimpeded growth pro- daces more of its peculiar acids than it re- quires for its own existence ; hence, a plant, on whatever soil it grows, must contain an in- variable quantity of alkaline bases. Culture alone will be able to cause a deviation. "In order to understand this subject clearly^ it will be necessary to bear in mind, that any one of the alkaline bases may be substituted for another, the action of all being the same. Our conclusion is, therefore, by no means en- dangered by the existence of a particular al- kali in one plant, which maybe absent in others of the same species. If this inference be cor- rect, the absent alkali or earth must be sup- plied by one similar in its mode of action, or in other words, by an equivalent of another base. "Of course, this argtiment refers only to those alkaline bases, which, in the form of organic salts, form constituents of the plants. Now, those salts are preserved in the ashes of plants, as carbonates, the quantity of which can be easily ascertained. "From these considerations we mustperceive, that exact and trustworthy examination of the ashes of plants of the same kind growing upon different soils -would be of the greatest import- ance to vegetable physiology, and would decide, whether the facts above mentioned are the re- sults of an unchanging law for each family of plants, and whether an invariable number can be found to express the quantity of oxygen which each species of plant contains in the bases united with organic acids. In all proba- bility, such inquiries will lead to most import- ant results ; for it is clear, that if the produc- tion of a certain unchanging quantity of an organic acid is required by the peculiar nature of the organs of a plant, and is necessary to its existence, then potash or lime must be ta- ken up by it, in order to form salts with this acid ACIDS. At.IDS. that if these lo not exist in sufficient quantity : in the soil, other bases must supply their place ; and that the progress of a plant must be Avhoily arrested when none are present. " Seeds of the Sakola Kali, -when sown in common garden soil, produce a plant contain- ing both potash and soda; -while the plants grown from the seeds of this contain only salts of potash, with mere traces of muriate of soda. \ (Cadet.) I "The existence of vegetable alkalies in com- j bination with organic acids gives great weight to the opinion, that alkaline bases in general are connected with the developement of plants. ; " If potatoes are grown where they are not supplied with earth, the magazine of inoi'ganic bases, (in cellars for example,) a true alkali, called Solanin, of very poisonous nature, is formed in the sprouts which extend towards the light, while not the smallest trace of such a substance can be discovered in the roots, herbs, blossoms, or fruits of potatoes grown in fields. (Otto.) " When roots find their more appropriate base in sufficient quantity, they will take up less of another." — (Liebig's Organic Chem.)] Vegetable acids abound in most plants ; thus, the Acetic acid (vinegar) is found in the chick pea (Cicer arietinum), in the elderberry (Sam- hucus nigra), in the date palm tree (Phoenix dacti^Ufera), and in numerous others. The Oxalic acid is found combined with potash in the Oxalis Acetnsella, or wood-sorrel (whence its name), and many other plants ; united with lime, it is detected in the root of the rhubarb, in parsley, fennel, soapwort, squills, &c.; and in an uncombined state in the liquid which exudes from the Cicer arieti- num, [chick pea, or Spani/th Garbanza.] Tartaric Acid [or Cremor tartar] is com- monly procured from tartar or tartrate of pot- ash (whence its name). It has been detected in many plants, stich as in grajies, tamarinds, bilberries, white mulberries, the Scotch fir, couch grass, dandelion, &c. &c. Citric Acid has been found in oranges and lemons, cranberries, red whortleberry, bird- cherry, woody nightshade, the hip, and the onion. Malic Acid is the only acid existing in the apple, [pear,] barberry, plum, sloe, elder, ser- vice, &c. It is found with the citric acid in the gooseberry, currant, bleaberry, cherry, strawberr)', raspberry, &c. ; combined with lime, it is found in the house-leek, wakerobin, &c. ; and with potash and lime, in rue, garden purslane, madder, spinach, lilac, mignionette, &c. Benzoic Acid. — This acid is found in ben- zoin, balsam of Tolu, storax, &c. ; and in marjoram, clar}', chickpea. Tonkin bean, &c. The Pnissic, or Hydrocyanic Acid, exists in laurel leaves, peach blossoms, bitter almonds, flowers of the sloe, leaves of the bay-leaved willow, &c. ; there is little doubt but that all the bitter almond kernels contain this acid. Gallic Acid abounds in the barks of many plants, such as the elm, oak, chestnut, beech, willow, elder, plum tree, sycamore, birch, cherry tree, sallow, mountain ash, poplar, hazel common ash, sumach, &c. These are the chief vegetable acids. There are others which have been detected occa- sionally ; such as the moroxylic, in the Mortis albi/, or white mulberry ; the boletic, in the Boletus pseudo-igniarius ; [a species of mush- room,] the meconic, in opium ; tho kinic, in the bark of the Cinchona officinalis ,- the cam- phoric from camphor; the suberic from cork, &c.; but none of these are of that importaiice to the cultivator to require a particular notice in this place. The composition of the princi- pal vegetable acids is much more similar than the intelligent farmer might be inclined to suspectj as will be readily seen from a com parison ol the following table of their composi- tion, chiefly by M. Berzelius : — Acetic acid Oxalic acid Tartaric acid Citric acid Benzoic acid Gallic acid Hydrogen. . 6-35 • 0-244 ■ 3-951 • 3-SOO ■ 5 16 . 5-00 Carbon. 4683 33-222 36-167 41 369 74-41 56-64 OxT^en. 46'82 66-534 50-8b2 54-831 2043 38 36 {Thomson's Chem.) [The organic acids of animal origin are, like those obtained from vegetables, very numerous. As examples, there are, the formic acids, first obtained from ants, but now ascertained to exist in sugar and some other vegetable sub- stances : Lactic acid, obtained from milk; — Uric acid, procured from human urine, and Hippuric acid, from the urine of the horse and other animals when stall-fed : Margaric and Stearic acids from fat, etc. The Phosphoric acid, though found combined with minerals, is very abundant in the animal system, being combimed with lime to form the bones, and ex- isting in the urine and other fluids and solids, in union with alkaline bases, forming phos- phates of soda, potash, lime, and magnesia. Phosphoric acid has also been found in all plants, the ashes of which have been examined by chemists, always, however, in combination with potash, soda, magnesia, or lime. Most seeds contain certain quantities of the phos- phates formed by the union of phosphoric acid with some one or more of the alkalies just named. In the seeds of differ""' !::nds of grain, there is abundance of phosphate of magnesia. Phosphoric acid, in one or other of its com- binations, plays indeed an important part in agriculture, and is an indispensable constituent of all good land. " The soil in which plants grow furnishes them with phosphoric acid, and they in turn yield it to animals, to be used in the formation of their bones, and of those constituents of the brain which contain phosphorus. Much more phosphorus is thus afforded to the body than it requires, when flesh, bread, fruit, and husks of grain are used for food, and this excess in them is eliminated in the urine and the solid excrements. We may form an idea of the quantity of phosphate of magnesia contained in grain, when we consider that the concre- tions in tht toecum of horses consist of phos- phate of magnesia and ammonia, which must have been obtained from the hay and oats cou sumed as food. Twent3'-nine of these stone< were taken after death from the rectum cf h horse belonging to a miller in Eberstadt, th^ total weight of which amounted to 3 lbs. 2.^ ACINUS. ACORNS. "It is evident that the seeds of wheat could not be formed without phosphate of magnesia, which is one of their invariable constituents ; the plant could not, therefore, under such circum- stances attain its proper developement, so far as its fructification was concerned."] The Crenic, is another organic acid lately dis- covered by Berzelius. From its containing ni- trogen and being a constituent in all fertile soils, it is believed to exercise a beneficial action on vegetation. It is always accompanied by the Apocrenic acid, changed from the crenic by oxy- dation. ACINUS. The stone of any berry. ACONITE. See Wolfsbane. ACORNS. The seed or fruit of the oak ; Rcejin, Saxors, from ac, an oak, and copn, corn or grain ; that is, the grain or fruit of the oak. The Greeks had a tradition, that the oak was the first created tree; and hence, having a similar idea as to the Arcadians being the first created men, they compared them to the oak. Virgil tells us to " Thresh the wood, For masts of oak, your father's homely food." And Ovid corroborates their use : — " Content with food which nature freely bred, On wildings and on strawherries they fed, Cornf^ls ami bramble berries gave the rest, And fallen acorns furnish'd out a feast." Turner, Avho is the earliest English author on this subject, writes, " Oke, whose fruit we call acorn, or an eykurn (that is, the corn or fruit of an cyke), are hard of digestion, and nourish very much, but they make raw hu- mores. Wherefore, we forbid the use of them for meates." They were long the food of the early Greeks, as they are of the lower order of Spaniards, even to this day ; but then it must be remembered, that the acorns of Spain are more sweet and nutritious than those of England. And yet the early Britons certainly eat them : their priests, or Druids, taught them, that every thing that was produced on the oak, even to the parasitical mistletoe, was of hea- venly origin, a superstition which was com- mon, also, to the Persians and the Massagetce. The Saxons valued them chiefly for fatten- ing swine. Their king Ina, in the seventh century, gave them a law, respecting the fat- tening of their swine in the oak woods, which privilege was called a pawnage, or pannage. The oak is often mentioned in Holy Writ, as the oak of Ophra, Judges vi. 11 ; of Shechem, Gen. XXXV. 4 ; and of Deborah's Grave, Gen. XXXV. 8. See 0.\k. Although acorns are said to have been the primitive food of mankind, at present they are only used in raising young oaks, or for the purpose of fattening deer and hogs, for M^hich last they are said to be a very proper and use- ful kind of food. In Gloucestershire, according to Mr. Mar- shall, they are in high esteem among the far- mers, who seem to be as anxious about them as their apples. They consider them as the best means of fatting hogs, and think they make the bacon firm, and weigh better than bean-fed bacon. The price of acorns there is from Is. dd. to 2s. per bushel, according to the season and the price of beans. Few are sold, 24 however; every farmer collecting his own, or letting his pigs feed upon them. Some care is necessary to be taken when hogs are fed upon acorns, for otherwise they will be subject to constipation, and the disease called the garget. TheSe may, however, be avoided, by mixing laxative substances with them, and not allowing them to have too many at a time ; at first a few, twice a day is often enough ; afterwards three times a day. The hogs, while they eat this food, should not be confined to the stye, but be suflTered to run at large ; for if their liberty be too much abridged, they never thrive well, or grow fat on this sort of food. In Hertfordshire, and the New Forest in Hampshire, it is no uncommon thing, with the management above directed, and the assistance of a little wash, and a few grains now and then, for a farmer to kill several hogs in a season, which weigh from eight to ten score, and sometimes even more. Hogs fed in this way make very good well-flavoured meat ; but it is not thought by some so fine as when they are taken up, and four or five bushel of pease or barley-meal given to each to complete their fattening. " The pigs are gone acorning," is a very com mon provincialism (see Mr. Wilbraham's Che- shire Glossary) ; and the expressioii is also con- firmed by Shakspeare's " hiW-acorn'd boar." Acorns are sometimes given to poultry, and would be found an advantageous food for them, when dried and ground into meal. Tusser, speaking of acorns, says, " Some left among bushes shall pleasure thy swine, For fear of a mischief, keep acorns from kmo " They are considered injurious to cows, because they swell in their stomachs, and will no; come up to the cud again ; which causes them to strain as it were, to remit, and to draw their limbs together. In medicine, a decoction of acorns is reput- ed good against dysentaries and colics. Pliny states, " that acorns beaten to powder, and mixed ■with hog's lard and salt, heal all hard swell- ings and cancerous ulcers ; and when reduced into a liniment, and applied, stays haemor- rhage." (Philip's Fruits.) When employed for raising oak timber from, the method of planting the acorns, which is practised by some, is to make holes to receive them, at the distance of 12 or 15 inches from each other, in an oblique direction, so as to raise up a tongue of turf under which they are to be deposited, and where they require no farther kind of nursing. In the course of from twenty to thirty years, in this mode of planting, the spot, it is said, will be fit to be coppiced, that is, partially cut down as underwood, leav- ing the most healthy plants. The thinnings may be sold for railing, and generally fetch a good price. A better m-^thod is, however, to dibble them on land that has been properlj prepared by ploughing or digging, which maj be done by women, three or four within a square yard; or they may be sown broad-casi, when the surface is fine and moist, and rolled in with a light roller. The former is probably the better practice. They may likewise be sei about the middle of November, by a land chain, ACORUS. ACRE a quarter of a rod asunder, and six inches apart in the rows; dibbling them in, zigzag, alternately on either side a line stretched tightly on the surface, with blunt-pointed dib- bles, letting a little mould fall down to the bottoms of the holes, to prevent water lodging round them, and burying them about two inches beneath the surface. Each square rod, when planted in this way, takes 132 acorns, nearly a pint, when they are middle-sized, which is equal to two statute bushels and a half on an acre. The expense, in England, of planting acorns in this manner is about 5s. an acre. See Planting. ACORUS, from the Greek a., privative, and (tigx, the pupil of the eye. The botanical name of a plant of the thistle kind, that pr.oduces the drug called in the shop Calamus aromaticus. It is found abundantly in the neighbourhood, of freshwater marshes. The ancient practice of B'rewing the floors with the leaves of these sweet rushes is still kept up in some of our cathedral churches upon certain high festivals. The plant, which belongs to the natural order Aroidew, flourishes luxuriantly in loose, moist soils, and sends forth many deep-green, long sword-shaped leaves from its perennial, creep- ing, and horizontal stems. It seldom flowers, but the blossoms which it sends forth are of a greenish colour. The root, or more properly the stem, is the part which, when dried, is used medicinally, occasionally as a stimulant. It is slightly acrid and aromatic. (Thomsim's Dispensary.) ACRE (aecpe, Sax. Acre, Lye -says, is common to all the European languages. Sax. Die.). He might have added further, that it is an Eastern word ; and that agr, akoro, and akko- ran, denote in the Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic, a field, a husbandman. So the Saxon aeccen- mon, a husbandman. Wachter, in his Glos- sary, gives ukerman, a day-labourer. {Tudcfs Johnson.) In Shakspeare's King Lear, we have — " Search ev !ry acre in the high grown field, And bring him to our eye." The prevai Ing and standard measure of land in Britain. Vn acre in England contains 4 square rood: ; a rood, 40 perches, rods, or poles, 5^ yar Is, or 16^ feet each, according to the statute ir the act passed in 1824, for the equalization of weights and measures through- out the United Kingdom, which is in this in- stance contirraatory of the old law of England. But in some parts of England there are other measure's under the same designation of acre. For example, in Devonshire, and part of So- merset, 5 yards (instead of 5^) have been reckoned to a perch ; in Cornwall, 6 yards (anciently called the Woodland pereh) ; in Lancashire, 7 yards ; in Cheshire and Stafford- shire 8 yards ; in the Isle of Purbeck, and 5ome parts of Devonshire, 15 feet and 1 inch. In the common fields of Wiltshire and the neighbouring counties, 120 poles, or 3 roods, were reckoned to an acre. The Irish acre is 7840 square yards, and is equal to 1 acre, 2 roods, and 19 poles, nearly, of English measure. The Scofch acre contains 5760 square Scotch 4 Equal to 100 staflfic acres. ells, and is equal to 1 acre, 1 rood, 2 polei nearly, of English measure. The following Table shoM's tjie comparative quantity of each of the above measures : — A. R. P. 120 3 20 Devonshire customary measure, 119 2 26 Isle of Purbeck, ditto, 84 4 Cornish or Woodland ditto, 61 2 37i Lancashire or Irish ditto, 47 1 2j Cheshire and Staffordshire ditto, 133 2 Wiltshire tenantry ditto, 79 1 6j Scotch measure, The French acre, or arpent, according to Mr. Greave's calculation, consists of 100 perches of 22 feet each, amoiinting to 48,400 squar French feet, which are equal to 51,691 square English fleet, or very near one acre, and three quarters of a rood, English measure. The Strasburg acre is about half an English acie. Table exhibiting the Number of Plants luhich may be raised on a Perch uf Land, at different distances : — In a perch are 272^ square feet, or 39,204 square inches. A perch will contain .Trees or Plants. 2450 1960 1633 1069 816 612 490 392 272 261 Inches Number of Inches Square Inches over. asunder. to each. 4 12 36 36 4 4 36 54 4 by 4 5—4 6—4 6—6 8—6 8—8 10 — 8 10 — 10 12 — 12 15 — 10 10 20 24 36 48 64 80 100 144 150 An acre will contain Trees or Inches Number of feet Square feet Plants. over. asunder. to each. 108 360 20 400 160 16^ 272i 134 144 18 324 302 72 12 144 435 60 10 100 680 40 8 64 888 48 7 49 1 1089 8 by 5 40 1210 6 36 1361 8 8 —4 32 14.52 6 —5 30 1555 20 7—4 28 1815 ■ 6 —4 24 2178 5 —4 20 2722 8 4—4 16^ ; 2904 5 —3 15 3630 4—3 12 4840 3—3 9 5445 4 —2 8 7260 3 —2 6 8712 2^ — 2 5 10,890 2 —2 4 19,305 H-H H 1 21,780 2 — 1 2 43,560 I 1 1 ACRE. ACRE. A Table for reducing Square Yards into Acres, Hnods, and Perches. S^. Yds. 30 60 91 121 151 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1,000 1,100 1,200 1,300 1,400 1,500 1,600 1,700 1,800 1,900 2,000 2,100 2,200 2,300 2,400 2,500 2,600 2,700 2,800 2,900 3,000 3,100 3,200 3,300 3,400 3,500 3,600 3,700 3,800 3,900 4,000 4,100 4,200 4,300 4,400 4,500 4,600 4,700 4,800 4,900 5,000 A. B. P. 1 2 3 4 5 7 00 10 13 17 20 23 26 30 33 36 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 6 10 13 16 20 23 26 29 33 36 39 3 6 9 13 16 19 22 26 29 32 36 39 2 6 9 12 16 19 22 25 29 32 35 39 2 5,100 1 9 5,200 1 12 5,300 1 15 Sq. Yds. 5,400 5,500 5,600 5,700 5,800 5,900 6,000 6,100 6,200 6,300 6,400 6,500 6,600 6,700 6,800 6,900 7,000 7,100 7,200 7,300 7,400 7,500 7,600 7,700 7,800 7,900 8,000 8,100 8,200 8,300 8,400 8,500 8,600 8,700 8,800 8,900 9,000 9,100 9,200 9,300 9,400 9,500 9,600 9,700 9,800 9,900 10,000 10,100 10,200 10,300 10,400 10,500 10,600 10,700 10,800 10,900 11,000 1 19 1 22 1 25. 1 28 1 '32 1 35 1 38 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 5 8 12 15 IS 21 25 28 31 35 38 1 ■ 5 8 11 15 18 21 24 1.2 34 38 1 4 8 11 14 18 21 24 27 31 34 37 1 4 7 11 14 17 20 24 27 30 34 37 1 1 4 Sq. Yds. 11,100 11,200 11,300 11,400 11,500 11,600 11,700 11,800 11,900 12,000 12,100 12,200 12,300 12,400 12,500 12,600 12.700 12,800 12,900 13,000 13,100 13,200 13,300 13,400 13,500 13,600 13,700 13,800 13,900 14,000 14,100 14,200 14,300 14,400 14,500 14,600 14,700 14,800 14,900 15,000 1.5,100 15,200 15,300 15,400 15,500 15,600 15,700 15,800 15,900 16,000 16,100 16,200 16,300 16,400 16,500 16,600 16,700 16,800 7 10 14 17 20 23 27 30 33 37 3 7 10 13 17 20 23 26 30 33 36 3 .6 3 10 3 13 3 26 3 29 3 33 3 36 13 16 19 22 26 29 32 36 39 12 16 19 22 25 29 32 35 Sq. Yds. 16,900 17,000 17,100 17,200 17,300 17,400 17,.500 17,600 17,700 17,800 17,900 18,000 18,100 18,200 18,300 18,400 18,500 18,600 18,700 18,800 18,900 19,000 19,100 19,200 19,300 19,400 19,500 19,600 19,700 19,800 19,900 20,000 20,100 20,200 20,.300 20,400 20,500 20,600 20,700 20,800 20,900 21,000 21,100 21,200 21,300 21,400 21,500 21,600 21,700 21,800 21,900 22,000 22,100 22,200 22,300 22,400 22.500 3 1 39 3 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 2« Walerson^s Manual of Commerce. ACRIMONY. AEROLITES. Table of Land Measure. In an acre are 4 roods, each rood forty perches. 160 perches, sixteen feet and a half each. 4,840 square 5'ards, nine feet each. 43,560 square feet, 144 inches each. 174,240 squares of six inches each, thirty-six inches each. 6,272,640 inches, or squares, of one inch each. ACRIMONY (Acrimonia, Lat.). A»sharp property in some plants and vegetables, by which they excoriate and blister the tongue, mouth, or other parts of the body, on being applied to them. The nature of this sort of acrimony has not yet been sufficiently exa- mined by chemical investigation. It seems to differ in some measure according to the nature of the plants ; as in the common onion, water- cresses, cabbages, &c., a part of their acrimony is lost, bj^ their being exposed to a boiling heat ; while other kinds, as ginger, capsicum, arum, &c., do not become much milder by undergo- ing that process. The juice of the fungous excrescences of some trees possess so much acrimony as to be capable of blistering; and some kinds of fungi contain a juice or liquor of a very cor- rosive quality ; and it is probably on this ac- count that man}"^ of those which are commonly procured disagree so much with the patient, when made use of as articles of diet. By being more perfectly stewed, or otherwise pre- pared by means of heat, they might most likely be rendered safe and nutritious. Much caution should, however, be used, even when thus prepared, in eating such kinds as are un known. "There be some plants," says Bacon, in his Nat. Hid., "that have a milk in them when they are cut ; as figs, old lettuce, sow- thistles, spurge. The cause may be an incep- tion of putrefaction : for those milks have all an acrimony, "though one would think they should be lenitive." ADAPTER (Adiipfo, Lat.). In the manage- ment of bees, is a board used to place the hives or glasses upon. ADDER (Aecreji, aetrop, nattr)rie, as it seems, from pi^tep, Sax. poison; Moes-Goth. narfr, vipera ; Teut. adder). A viper, a poison- ous reptile, perhaps of any species. In com- mon language, however, adders and snakes are not the same, the tefm adder being generally understood to imply a viper. See Animal Poisoxs. ADKPS. In veterinai-y science, animal oil' or fat. The fat differs in different animals ; and hence it has received different names. In the horse it is called grease ; in the ox and sheep, tallow, fat, suet ; and in the hog, hog's lard. At a low temperature all these possess various degrees of consistence ; but in the living ani- mal, the)- all exist in a fluid state, and are dis- tributed over various parts of the bod}'. An immense qna-ntity of fat is often found in the belly, all deposited in extremely small cells, which have no communication with each other. No fat is ever found within the skull. Fat performs important functions in the animal economy. When the supply of ali- ment, for example, is greater than the demand; the surplus is stored away in the form of fat; and when the demand, either from deficiency of food, over-exertion, or disease, becomes greater than the supply, then the absorbents carry the fat into the circulation, and thus, for a time, the evils that would very soon arise from a defect in the quantity of blood are pre- vented. Some animals accumulate fat more readily than others. Health, a round chest, a short back, and tranquil temper are highly favourable to its formation ; and when to these qualities are added inaction, clean litter, and a plentiful supply of nourishing food, the animal is soon fit for the butcher. A warm atmo- sphere, provided it be a pure one, is also favourable to fattening. [See Lard Oil, &c.] (Miller's Dictionary). AERATION. The process by which the soil is exposed to the air and imbued theje- M ith, air being indispensable to the healthy growth of plants. When a flower-pot is filled with rather dry earth, if it be plunged under water a profusion of air-bubbles will be seen to rise, owing to the water penetrating between the particles of the dry earth, and forcing out the air previously lodged there. As the more loose and porous a soil is, the greater quantity of air it will contain, it will follow, that the more a soil is ploughed and harrowed, or dug and raked, the better it will be aerated — one of the chief beneficial effects of frequently repeating these opera- tions. Besides the direct influence of the atmo- sphere, the agency of water is all-important in the process of aeration. All water openly ex- posed contains more or less atmospheric air; and, in consequence of this, it acquires an agi-eeable taste, always destroyed by boiling, which renders it vapid and disagreeable, by expelling the air. The importance of air con- tained in water to the growth of plants appears from water being found beneficial in propor- tion as it has had opportunities of becoming mixed with air. But the best water, with re- spect to the properties of the air it contains, is rain, which, falling in small drops, often tossed about by the wind, has an opportunit}'^ of col- lecting a large proportion of air, and, accord- ing to Liebig (Organic Chem.), ammonia, during its descent to the earth ; and hence the smaller the bore of the holes in a garden water- ing-pot, the better; and the more minutely the garden-engine scatters the water, the more ad- vantageously, so far as the air is concerned. There is another point of view in which aeration appears beneficial, arising from the excrementitious matters thrown into the soil by growing plants, as ascertained by M. Ma- caire; for as these matters become decora- posed in the processes of fallowing, irrigation, and draining, the gases there produced would not so readily be carried off from the soil, but for a due circulation of the common air through the earth. See Gases, their use to vegetation. (Miller's Dictionary). AEROLITES (From the Greek a^e. air, and ?v/9if, a stone). Meteoric stones, bodies that fall from the heavens. The .origin of these remarkable bodies is still a mystery. 87 AFRICAN MARIGOLD. AFTER-GRASS. AFRICAN MARIGOLD (Tugltes erecla, f,in.). A favourite hardy annual, which does roi come from Africa, as its name would indi- cate, but from Mexico. See Marigoid. AFTER-GRASS, or AFTERMATH. The second crop of grass, or that which springs after mowing, or the grass cut after some kinds of corn crops. The composition of the after-grass generally varies considerably from that of the first or spring crop. The nutriment of the latter, from most of the grasses, is materially less than that of the former. This was clearly ascer- tained by the elaborate experiments of the late Mr. G. Sinclair, the results of which are dis- persed throughout his valuable work on the Grasses. To give a few instances only — First Crop. Second Crop. gr- dr. gr. 64 dr. of rouiid-panicleii cock's-foot grass afforded of nutritive matter 2 1 12 Meadow fo.\-lail grass - - 3 1 2 l-arger-leaved creeping bent-crested dog's-tail grass ... 41 22 Hard fescue grass - . . 3 2 11 Welch fescue grass - - 2 1 11 Vcllow oat grass ... 33 11 And the same remark applies to the rye-grass (Lolium perenne), not only of upland pastures but of meadows. Thus, Sinclair found (Hm-t. Gram. Wob. 384) that this grass when flower- ing, taken from a water meadow that had been fed off with sheep till the end of April, yielded of nutritive matter 72 grs. But the same grass from the sajne meadow which had not been fed off, yielded 100 grs. The same weight of this grass, from a rich old pasture that had been shut up for hay at the same time, yielded of nutritive matter 95 grs. But the grass from the same field, which had not been depastured, yielded 120 grs. Some of them, however, contain exactly as much nutritive matter in the aftermath as in the first crop : thus, 64 drs. of the First Crop. Latter Crop, dr. gr. dr. gr. 4 1 4 1 13 13 2 2 2 1 2 1 12 12 Sweet-scented soft grass yielded Smooth-stalked meadow grass Short blue meadow grass Cow grass - - Creeping fescue and one or two were found to contain more nutritive matter in the aftermath than in the first ciop : thus 64 drs. of the First Crop. Latter Crop- dr. gr. dr. gr. Sweet-scented vernal grass yielded 13 % I In the vicinity of London most of the after- grass, or second crop, was formerly made into hay, and was considered of considerable value for the ewes of suckling lambs, and milch cows ; but in harvesting this crop, so as to make it sell well, great nicety is requisite, the nature o^ after-grass being more soft, spongy, and porous than the first growth, and conse- quently more liable to be hurt by rains. The practice is therefore on the decline. In the midland counties their management of the feeding off the after-grass is in general judicious. It is commonly suffered to get up /o a full bite before it is broken, and not turned in upon as .-oon as the hay is off, or suffered to stand unti. much of it becomes improper for 'Jie food of animals. Farmers, however, make 28 a point of saving autumnal grass for spring feed, and contend that it is the most certain, and, on the whole, the best spring feed yet known. This would seem to be a wasteful practice, at least in respect to the more for- ward after-grasses. These ought certainly to be broken sufficiently early to be eaten, without waste, before winter sets in ; and the latest, that is to say, the shortest, may be shut in for spring feed. If after-grass be too long and gross, it is apt to lodge, and rot upon the groun4fc»in winter; therefore, on rich lands, it ought always to be more or less off before Mi- chaelmas, in order to prevent its being wasted or lost in the winter. It is remarked by the author of " Practical Agriculture," that, " In some districts much of the after-grass is frequently cut and made into a green soft sort of hay, as has been already mentioned ; but in others it is fed off by live stock in the autumn." And that " both modes may be useful under different circumstances. In situations where plenty of manure can be procured, as near large towns, and where the chief dependence is upon the sale of hay, or where lamb-suckling prev^ails, it may fre- quently be a beneficial practice to take a se- cond crop of hay, as the first may by that means be more fully spared for sale, the after- crop supplying the cows or other cattle that may be kept on the farm. But in cases where manure cannot easily be obtained, and there is no local practice carried on which requires such sort of hay, it is better to let it be fed off by stock than run the risk of exhausting and injuring the ground by taking off repeated crops. There is also another circumstance," he says, "to be considered in this business, which is, that of the state of the land in respect to dryness, as where it is low, wet, and very retentive of moisture, it may be often more hurt by the poaching of the cattle in feeding off the herbage than by a second crop of hay." But that, " independent of these considerations, it may, in general, be a more safe and usual practice to eat off the after-grass by stock, and only take one crop of hay, as by such means a more abundant annual produce may be afford- ed, and the land sustain less injury." It is, however, added, that " where a crop of rowen is made into hay, the most profitable application of it is probably in the foddering of such cows as are in milk ; as it is well suited, by its grassy quality, and its not heat- ing so much, when well made, as other sorts of hay in the stack, to afford a large flow of milk. It is this reason that induces the cow farmers to cut their grass so many times in the summer. Another beneficial application of this hay is, as has been seen, in the feeding of such ewes as are employed in the suckling of house-lambs during the winter season ; the intention in this case is the same as in that of the preceding instance. There is another ad- vantageous use to which this sort of produce may be applied, which is that of supporting young calves, and all sorts of young cattle that are kept as store stock." And that, " where sheep require the support of hay in the winter season, it is also well adapted to that use.'' In the manner of feeding after-grass, there is AGAftiC OF THE OAK. also much variety in different districts. " It has," the same author says, "been observed by a farmer in Middlesex, that the condition on which he rents his farm is that of taking out the cattle at Michaelmas, but that sheep remain till February." In that county the practice is to turn on the cattle immediately after mow- ing ; but in the northern districts, this grass, to which they have given the name o( eddish, is kept till November, or even a later period, for tlie purpose of furnishing fat stock, or for the pasturage of milch cows, from which a supe- rior quality of cheese is made, and by which time it has attained a considerable head : how- 'cver, this latter practice would seem to be attended with some los's, as has been shown from its being trodden and trampled under foot. In the stocking of after-grass, Marshall found the midland graziers of opinion, that one cow to an acre, on well-grown after-grass, was an ample stock. Good grass-land may, how- ever, admit something more ; and instead of pasturing of rowen, or after-grass, by heavy cattle in the autumn, to avoid poaching the ground, particularly at a late period in that or the winter season, it has been recommended by Dr. Wilkinson, "to confine the consumption of this grass principally to the support of sheep, unless in very favourable seasons, or where the soil is uncommonly dry ; in which cases milch cdws, or other heavy cattle, may be admitted without inconvenience." In some places it is the practice, as " where there is a great scarcity of spring feed, to re- serve after-grass in the autumn for spring use." Some, on the basis of experience, con- tend that it is the most certain, and, on the whole, the best spring feed yet known. It would seem, however, as has been shown, to be a wasteful practice, at least in respect to the more forward after-grasses. The for- wardest ought certainly to be eaten without waste before winter sets in ; and the latest, that is, the shortest, be shut up for spring feed. Arthur Young, it is stated, found, from i-epeat- ed experiments, as suggested above, " that old after-grass feeds sheep that give milk better Uian turnips, which are more adapted to the fattening of stock ; and thafthis grass holds to a period, if wanted, when most other resources fail, the last half of April and the first half of May — periods always of want and difficulty, where rye-grass is not sown." Marshall also assures us, that as a certain and wholesome supply of food for ewes and lambs in the early spring, the preserved pasture is to be depended on as " the sheet anchor, in preference to tur- nips, cabbages, or any other species whatever, of what is termed spring feed :" and the same thing has been experienced by IJr. Wilkinson, who has observed, that " this food with him afforded a more nutritive and healthful quality of milk from the ewes to their tender lambs than turnips, even in their best state." But however useful after-grass pastures may be under this management, there is evidently a great loss of food incurred by it, especially in severe winters. (Sinclair's Hort. Gram. ; Lowe's Frac. A^r.) AGARIC OF THE OAK. [Spunk, or touch- t ood.] In farriery, a substance sometimes AGE OF ANIMALS. employed for restrainingthe bleeding of s the Fabii, Pisones, Lentuli, Cicerones, and the like. (Pliny, xviii. 1.) In those days, "when they praised a good man, they called him an agriculturist and a good husbandman: he was thought to be very greatly honoured who was thus praised." (Cato, in Prsef.) As the limits of the empire extended, and its wealth increas- ed, the estates of the Roman proprietors became very greatly enlarged ; and, as we shall see more particularly mentioned in our historical notices of gardening, attained to a value of 80,000/. (Plutarch in vit. Marius et Lucullus.) Such extensive proprietors let portions of their estates to other citizens, who, if they paid for them a certain rent, like our modern tenants, were called Coloni (Columella, i. 7; Pliny, Epist. X. 24) and PoUtores, or Partlarii, if they shared tlie produce in stated proportions with the proprietor. (Pliny, Epist. vii. 30, and ix. 37, &c.) Leases were occasionally granted, which appear to have been of longer duration than five years. (Ibid. ix. 37.) 2. Distinction of Soils. — Soils were charac- terized by six different qualities, and were described as rich or poor, free or stiff, wet or dry. (Colum. ii. 2.) The best soil they thought had a blackish colour, was glutinous when wet, and friable when dry ; exhaled an agreeable smell v.'hen ploughed, imbibed water readily, retaining a sufficiency, and discharging what was super- fluous ; not injurious to the plough irons by causing a salt rust; frequented by crows and i rooks at the time of ploughing; and, when at rest, speedily covered with a rich turf. ( Virg. Georg. ii. 203, 217, 238, 248 ; Pliny, xvii. .5.) Vines required a light soil, and corn a heavy, deep, and rich one. (Virg. Georg. ii. 29; Cato, vi.) 3. Manures. — The dung of animals was par- ticularly esteemed hy the Romans for enrich- ing their soil. " Study," says Cato, " to have a large dunghill." (Cato, v.) They assidu- ously collected it and stored it in covered pits, so as to check the escape of the drainage. (Colum. i. 6; Pliny, xvii. 9, and xxiv. 19.) They sowed pulverized pigeons' dung and the like over their crops, and mixed it with the surface soil by means of the sarcle or hoe. (Colum. i. 16 ; Cato, xxxvi.) They were aware of the benefit of mixing together earth of oppo- site qualities (Ibid.), and of sowing lupines and ploughing them in while green. ( Varro, i. 23.) They burnt the stubble upon the ground, and even collected shrubs and the like for the similar purpose of enriching the soil with their ashes. (Virg. Georg, i. 84; Pliny, xvii. 6, 25.) Pliny also mentions that lime was employed as a fertilizer in Gaul, and marl in the same country and Britain ; but we can only surmise hence that they were also probably employed by the Romans. (Pliny, xvii. 8, and xvii. 5.) 4. Draining. — The superfluous water of soils was carried off by means both of open and covered drains. (Colum. ii. 2, 8 ; Pliny, xvii. c. ; Virg. Georg. i. 109.) Cato is very particu- lar in his directions for making them. (Cato, xliii. clx.) 5. Crops. — They cultivated wheat, spelt, barley, oats, flax, beans, pease, lupines, kidney- beans, lentils, tares, sesame, turnips, vines, olives, willows, and the like. To cite the au- thorities who mention each of these would be needless, for they are noticed in all the Roman writers upon agriculture. Of the relative im- portance or proportion in which the crops were profitable to the Romans, we have this judgment of Cato : — " If 3^ou can buy 100 acres of land in a very good situation, the vineyard is the first object if it yields much wine ; in the second place, a well-watered garden ; in the third, a willow plantation ; in the fourth, an olive ground ; in the fifth, a meadow ; in the sixth, corn ground; in the seventh, an underwood, a plantation yielding stout poles for training the vine ; and in the ninth, a wood where mast grows." (Cato,i.) They made hay, and the process appears to have been the same as in modern timts. After being cut it was turned with forks, piled into conical heaps, and finally into stacks or under cover. But the mowing was imperfectly per- formed ; for, as soon as the hay was removed from the field, the mowers had to go over it again, (l^urro ; Cohnn. ii. 22.) 6. Implements. — The plough consisted of s D 37 AGRICULTURE. AGRICULTURE. veral parts : the beam to which the yoke of the oxen was fastened ; the tail or handle termi- nated in a cross bar, with which tlie ploughman guided the instrument; it had a ploughshare, the share-beam to which it was fixed, and two mould-boards, a coulter, and a plough-staff for cleaning the ploughshare. {Ovid. Pont. i. 8, 57 ; Virg. G, i. 170 ; Pliny, xvii. 18, 19.) Some of their ploughs had wheels, and some were without coulters and earth-boards. Besides this, they had spades, rakes, hoes, with plain and with forked blades, harrows, mattocks, and similar implements. 7. Operations. — Ploughing was usually per- formed by two oxen, though three were some- times employed. They were yoked abreast, and trained when young to the employment. {Cicero, in Verr. iii. 21 ; Col. vi. 2, 10 ; Pliny, xviii. 18; Virg. G. iii. 163, &c.) They were usually yoked by the neck, but sometimes by the horns. {Pliny, viii. 45; Colum. ii. 2.) There was but one man to a plough, which he guided, and managed the oxen with a goad. {Pliny, Epist. viii. 17.) They sometimes ploughed in ridges, and sometimes not. They did not take a circuit when they came to the end of the field, as is our practice, but returned close to the furrow. They were very particular in drawing straight and equal sized furrows. ( Pliny, xviii. 1 9, s. 49.) They seem to have ploughed three times al- ways before they sowed ( Vurro, i. 29) ; and to stiffsoils even as many as nine ploughingswere given. C Virg- G. i. 47 ; Pliny, xviii. 20 ; Pliny, Epist. v. 6.) The furrows in the first plough- ing were usually nine inches deep. When the soil was only stirred about three inches, it was called scarification. {Pliny, xviii. 17 — 19.) They usually fallowed their land every other year. {Virg. G. i. 71.) Sowing was performed by hand, from a bas- ket ; and that it might be performed regularly, the hand moved wi>h the steps. {Colum. ii. 9 ; Pliny, xviii. 24.) The seed was either scat- tered upon the land and covered by means of rakes and harrows, or more commonly by sow- ing it upon a plain surface, and covering by a shallow ploughing, which caused it to come up in rows, and facilitated the operation of hoeing. {Pliny, xviii. 20.) They were particular as to the time of sowing, the choice of seeds, and the quantity sown. ( Varro, i. 44 ; Pliny, xviii. 24, s. 55 ; Virg. G. i. 193, &c.) Weeding was performed by hoes, hooks, and by hand. In dry seasons the crops were watered. {Virg. G. i. 106.) If they appeared too luxu- riant they were fed off. {Ibid. 193.) Reaping and mowing were the usual modes of cutting down the corn crops, but the cars were sometimes taken off by a toothed machine, called batilium, which «eems to have been a wheeled cart, pushed by oxen through the corn, and catching the ears of corn between a low of teeth fixed to it, upon the principle of the modern daisy rake. In Gaul, the corn was cut down by a machine drawn by two horses. t^Varro, i. 50; Virg. G. i. 317; Colum. ii. 21; Pliny, xviii. 30.) They do not seem to have ver bound their coin into sheaves. {Colum. 10 o8 Threshing was performed by the trampling of oxen and horses, by flails, and by means of sledges drawn over the corn. {Pliny, xvii. 30; Colum. i. 6; Virg. G. iii. 132; TibuUus, i. 5, 22 ; Varro, i. 52.) The threshing-floor was circular, placed near the house, on high ground, and exposed on all sides to the winds. It was highest in the centre, and paved with stones, or more usually with clay, mixed with the lees of the oil, and very carefully consoli- dated. ( Colum. i. 6 ; Varro, i. 2 ; Virg. G. i. 178 ; Cato, xci. and cxxix.) Dressing was performed by means of a seive or van, and by a shovel, with which it was thrown up and exposed to the wind. ( Varro, i. 52; Colum. ii. 21.) It was finally stowed in granaries or in pits, where it would keep fijTty years. (P/iny, xviii. 30 ; ^rro, i. 57.) 8. Animals. — Oxen, horses, asses, mules, sheep, goats, swine, hens, pigeons, pea-fowls, pheasants, geese, ducks, swans, guinea-fowls, and bees, are mentioned by various authors as products of the Roman farms. Directions for breeding many of* these are given in the third and fourth books of the Georgics. Such is an outline of the Roman agriculture ; and in it our readers will doubtless find sufli- cient evidence to warrant them in agreeing with us, that it was but little different from that pursued by the present farmers of England. We are superior to them in our implements, and consequently in the facility of performing the operation of tillage ; we perhaps have su- perior varieties of corn, but we most excei them in our rotation of crops, and in the ma- nagement of stock. We differ from them, also, in not practising the superstitious rites and sacrifices which accompanied almost all their operations (see Cato, cxxxiv. c.) ; but of the fundamental practicesof agriculture, they were as fully aware as ourselves. No modern wri- ter could lay down more correct and compre- hensive axioms than Cato did in the following words ; and whoever strictly obeys them will never be ranked among the ignorant of the art; " What is good tillage T" says this oldest* of the Roman teachers of agriculture ; " to plough. What is the second ? to plough. The third is to manure. The other part of tillage is to sow plentifully, to choose your seed cau- tiously, and to remove as many weeds as pos- sible in the season." {Cato Ixi.) Such is an epitome of their agricultural knowledge ; a knowledge which has since in- creased, and can only in future be added to by attending to this advice of another of their writers. " Nature," he observes, " has shown to us two paths which lead to a knowledge of agriculture — experience and imitation. Pre- ceding husbandmen, by makmg experiments, have established many maxims ; their poste- rity generally imitate them ; but we ought net only to imitate others, but make experiments, not directed b}^ chance, but by reason." {Varro, i. 18.) • IV. The Aghiculture of Exglaxd. The historian of English agriculture has not the least trace of authority from which he can obtain information of its state beyond the pe AGRICULTURE. AGRICULTURE. riodM-hen the Romans invaded this island, and the annals of even that period are meager and unsatisfactory. When Coesar arrived in England, about 55 B. c, he describes the Cantii, or inhabitants of Kent, and the Belgoe, inhabiting the modern counties of Somerset, Wilts, and Hants, as much more advanced than the rest of the peo- ple in the habits of civilized life. They culti- vated the soil ; employed marl as manure ; stored their corn unthreshed, and freed it from the ch?ff and bran only as their daily demands required. The interior inhabitants lived chiefly upon milk and fle:,h, being fed and clothed by the produce of their herds. " The country," adds Csesar, ■*' is well-peopled, and abounds in buildings resembling these of the Gauls, and they have a great abundance of cattle. They are not allowed to eat either the hen, the goose, or the hare, yet they take pleasure in breeding them." (Cffis. v. c. 10; Strabo, iv. 305; Diodor. Sic. V. 301 ; Pliny, xvii. 4.) Cicero, in one of his letters, says, " There is not a scruple of money in the island ; nor any hopes of booty, but in slaves; (Lib. iv. Ep. 17) ; a description, that the industry and intelligence of succeed- ing ages has rendered singularly inapplicable. The first steps in that improvement were owing to the Romans themselves. Rutilius has ele- gantly and correctly said, that Rome filled the world with her legislative triumphs, and caused all to live in one common union, blending dis- cordant nation^) into one country, and, by im- parting a companionship in her own acquire- ments and laws, forraed one great city of tire world. Agricola was the chief instrument in impart- ing to the Britons the improved arts and civi- lization of the Romans. "To wean them from their savage habits, Agricola held forth the baits of pleasure, encouraging the natives, as well by public assistance as by warm exhorta- tions, to build temples, courts of justice, and commodious dwelling-houses. He bestowed encomiums on such as cheerfully obeyed ; the slow and uncomplying were branded with re- proach ; and thus a spirit of emulation diflTused itself, operating like a sense of duty. To es- tablish a plan of education, and give the sons of the leading chiefs a tincture of letters, was part of his policy. By \^ay of encouragement he praised their talents, and already saw them, by the force of their natural genius, rising su- perior to the attainments of the Gauls. ^ The consequence was, that they who had always disdained the Roman language began to culti- vate its beauties. The Roman apparel Avas seen without prejudice, and the toga became a fashionable part of dress. By degrees, the charms of vice gained admission to their hearts ; baths, porticos, and elegant banquets grew into vogue ; and the new manners, which ■in fact served only to sweeten slavery, were by the unsuspecting Britons called the arts of polished humanity." (Tacitus, Agricola, xxi.) Thus eloquently does Tacitus describe the dif- fusion of the Roman arts among the early na- tives of England ; and that agriculture was one of those in which they so rapidly improved, is attested by the fact that in the fourth century the Emperor Julian, having erected here gra- naries in which to store the tributary corn that he exacted from the natives, at one time sent a fleet of 600 large vessels to convey away the store they contained. Julian himself particu- larizes the transaction. " If," says Gibbon, " we compute those vessels at only seventy tons each, they were capable of exporting 120,000 quarters ; and the country which could bear so large an exportation must have attained an improved state of agriculture." (Dec. and Fall of Rom. Emp. c. xix.) Possessing this improved agriculture, Eng- land was successively subdued by the Saxons, the Danes, and the Normans ; but as these all came to improve their fortunes, and to win the comforts of life, agriculture continued to flou- rish : her operations were interrupted, her pro- ducts destroyed, in whichever direction swept the tide of war; but no sooner was peace re- stored than the inhabitants, though of varied extraction, united their knowledge in the pur- suit of this art, on which not only their com- fort, but their existence chiefly depended. A similar summary observation applies- to all succeeding ages ; and our agriculture has con- tinued slowly to improve in spite of every ob- stacle that has occasionally delayed, or that has permanently retarded its advance. 1. Tenures — Size of Estates. — The native Britons, it is very certain, appropriated but small portions of the land for raising corn, or other cultivated vegetables, and the rest of the country was left entirely open, afl^ording a common pasturage for their cattle, and pa?i- nage for their swine. Under the Roman government, we have seen that the extent of cultivated ground must have considerably in- creased, yet the oldest writers, agree, that by far the greatest proportion of the country was occupied by heaths, woods, and other unre- claimed wastes. When the Saxons established themselves in the island, an almost total revolution in the proprietorship of the lands must have occur- red. The conquest was only accomplished after a bloody struggle ; and what was won by the sword was considered to possess an equitable title, that the sword alone could dis- turb. In those days it was considered that the lands of a country all belonged to the king ; and on this principle the Saxon monarchs gave to their followers whatever districts they pleased, as rewards for the assistance afforded in the conquest, reserving to themselves cer- tain portions, and imposing certain burdens upon each estate g'ranted. (Coke's Littleton, 1. 58. 2 ; Blackstone's Conim. 45, &c.) This was only a continuance of that feudal system that prevailed upon the Continent. As this feudal system declined, and was- finally extinguished in the twelfth year < f Charles II., so proportionally did the landed interest increase in prosperity. Freed from the burden of furnishing a soldier and hi- armour for every certain number of acrf*, and all restrictions as to lands changing hands being removed, and (he numerous impositions being got rid off, with which the lords op. pressed their sub-infeudatories, it soon became a marketable species of propeuy; and, a* money and merchandi&i increased, and the 39 AGRICULTURE. AGRICULTURE. proprietor lived less upon his estate, it soon became the most eligible plan for both landlord and tenant, that the whole rent should be paid in money. Of the size of these early farms we have no precise information ; but, from the laws of Ina we may perhaps conclude that a hide of land, equal to about 100 or 120 acres, was the customary size ; for, in speaking of the pro- duce to be given to the lord for ten hides, the law speak'i of the smallest division of each county of which it M^as particularly cognisant; namely, of ten families, or a tithing, as they were collectively called. Again, Bede. ex- pressly calls a hide of land fumilia, and says it was sufficient to support a family. It was otherwise called mausunt, or manerium, and was considered to be so much as one could cultivate in a year. War succeeded war, and chivalry and the chase were the engrossing occupations of the landed proprietors during the whole of the middle ages; yet amid all these convulsions, and all this neglect, agriculture continued to obtain a similar degree of attention, and its practitioners to occupy a similarly humble, yet more independent station of life. Bishop Latimer flourished in th<3 first half of the six- teenth century ; and Lis father was among the most respectable yeomen of his time, yet his farm evidently did not exceed 100 acres. "M}^ father," says Latimer, "was a yeoman, and had no lands of his own ; he had only a farm of thi-ee or four pounds by the year, at the utmost; and hereupon he tilled as much as kept half a dozen men. He hat! a walk for 100 sheep ; and my mother milked thirty kine," &c. (Latimer's Sermons, p. 30.) But that this class of society was then not very refined, is proved by Sir A. Filzherbert, in his Book of Husbandry, declaring, "It is the wife's occtipa- tion to winnow all manner of corn, to make malt, to wash and wring, to make hay, to shear corn, and in time of need to help her husband to fill the muckwain, or dung-cart ; to drive the plough, to load corn, hay, and such other; and to go or ride to the market ; to sell butter, cheese, milk, eggs, chickens, capons, hens, pigs, geese, and all manner of corn." This race of farmers, and this extent of farm, continued much the same till the closing years of the eighteenth century. The wife, indeed, had long previously ceased to partici- pate in the above-mentioned drudgery, but she still attended the dairy, and sold its products at market, as her husband «6ti 11 participated in the usual labours of his farm ; but in the latter half of that century, and thence to the present time, a different class of men have engaged in .the cultivation of the- soil. The accumulation of wealth from the vast increase and improve- ment of manufactures and commerce, the diffusion of better information, and the in- creased population, have all contributed to this clTect. Individuals engage in the pursuit whose education and habits require a larger income for their indulgence than can be oiTorded by the profits of a small farm ; and, consequently, in districts having the most fer- ine soils, farms of from 300 to 500 acres are ■'£.-y common ; whilst in less productive dis- 40 tricts they extend even to 1000 ah"- ^000 acres. Witli the present expenditure of rent, tithe, taxes, rates, and labour, and the reduced prices of agricultural produce, farms, even of those extents, cannot yield a profit sufficient to support the farmer of refined habits. And if the present artificial system of corn laws is removed, we do not see any possible result but a refurn to smaller farms, and a more labour- ing class of tenants; for it admits of perfect demonstration, that small" farms, having that manual labour, and that careful tillage w^hich small plots obtain, return a more abundant produce than those which are too .large to be so attentively cultivated. Enclosure of Lund. — It is a rule, founded upon general observation, that the most en- closed country is always the best cultivated : for, as Sir Anthony Fitzherbert observed, in the reign of Henry VIII., live stock may be better kept, and with less attendance, closes be better alternately cropped, and the crops better sheltered in inclement seasons, "if an acre of land," he concludes, "be worth six- pence an acre before it is enclosed." We have seen, already, that hedges, ditches, and other fences, marked the boundaries of the early Saxon estates ; and these were cer- tainly not adventitious distinctions, for they are mentioned in most of the Saxon grants of which we are aware, and are strictly regulated and protected by law. If a tenant omitted to"^ keep his farm enclosed, both in winter and summer, and to keep his gate closed, if any damage arose from his hedge being broken down, or his gate being open, he was declared to be legally punishable. ( Wilkins, Leges Sax. 21.) If a freeman broke through another's hedge he was fined 6s. {Ibid.) As woollen manufactures improved, the de- mand for broad cloths became excessive, not only in England but in the continental na- tions; and the consequent consumption of wool was so large, and the price was so en- hanced, that self-interest dictated to the landed prpprietors, even in the reign of Henry III., that the enclosure of their manorial wastes, on which to feed sheep upon their own account, or to let out as pasture farms, would be a source of extensive emolument. The statutes of 20 Hen. 3, 13 Edw. 1, and others, were con- sequently passed for sanctioning and regu- lating the practice. The demand for woollens continued, and became so great, that rapidity of manufacture was the chief consideration. "Yet as ill as they be made," says King Ed- ward VI., in his private journal, " the Flemings do at this time desire them wonderfully." The consequences are depicted by the same genuine authority. "The artificer will leave the town, and for his mere pastime will live in the coun- try ; yea,- more than that, will be a justice of the peace, and will scorn to have it denied him, so lordly be they now-a-days ; for they are not con^ tent with 2000 sheep, but they must have 20,000, or else they think themselves not well. They must have twenty miles square their own land, or full of their farms : four or five crafts to live by is too little. Such hell-hOunds be they." (Edward the Sixt/i's Remains, p. 101.) The rents of land were consequently enormously AGRICULTURE. raised, and the corn farmers were ruined. "They everywhere," says Roger Ascham, "la- bour, economize, and consume themselves to satisfy their owners. Hence so many families dispersed, so many houses ruined, so many tables common to every one, taken away. Hence the honour and strength of England, the noble yeomanry, are broken up and destroyed." (Asckam's Epistles, 293 — 295.) Bishops Story, Latimer, and others, raised their voices in their behalf, and hurled their invectives from the pulpit upon those who op- pressed them. "Let them," said Latimer, in a sermon preached before the king, " let them have sufficient to maintain them, and to find them in necessaries. A plough land must have sheep to dung their ground for bearing corn ; they must have swine for their food, to make their bacon of; their bacon is their veni- son, it is their necessary food to feed on, which they may not lack ; they must have other cattle, as horses to draw their plough, and for carriage gf things to the markets, and kine for their milk and cheese, which they must live upon, and pay their rents." The short-sighted executive of that period endeavoured to prevent these enclosures by a prohibitory proclamation, as the legislatiire had done by the statutes 4 Hen. 7, c. 16, 19. There doubtless was great distress, and always will be upon any sudden change in the direc- tion of the national industry, and in none more extensively than in the return from an agri- cultural to a pastoral mode of life. But, as is observed by one of the most impartial of our historians, "every one ^s a legal and social right of employing his property as he pleases ; and how far he will make his use of it com- patible v/ith the comforts of others, must be always a matter of his private consideration, with which no one, without infringing the com- mon freedom of all, can ever interfere. That no national detriment resulted from this exten- sive enclosure — no diminution of the riches, food, and prosperity of the country at large, is clear to every one who surveys the general state and progress of England with a compre- hensive impartiality." {Turner's History of Edward the Sixth, &c.) " The landlord," he further observes, " advanced his rent, but the farmer also was demanding more for his pro- duce." The evil of converting arable to pasture land cured itself. The increased growth^of wool in other countries, and the improvement of their manufactures, by degrees caused the production of it in England to diminish : and as dearths of corn accrued, and the consequent enormous increase of its value rendered its growth more lucrative, pasture-land gradually returned to the dominion of the plough. Since that period enclosures have gone on with various, but certainly undiminished, de- grees of activity. More than 3000 enclosure bills were passed in the reign of George III. The land so enclosed was, and is, chiefly dedi- cated to the growth of corn; but since the field culture of turnips was introduced in the seven- teeth, of mangel wurzel in the nineteenth cen- tury, and other improvements in agricultural practice, every farm is enabled to combine 6 AGRICULTURE. the advantages of the stock and tillage hus- bandry. Iinpkmenls. — It is very certain that the state of any art is intimately connected with that of its instruments. If these are imperfect it'can- not be much advanced ; and this is so univer- sally the case, that agriculture, of course, is no exception. 1. Norman plough, with the halchet carried by tl'.e plnuyhiiian for breaking Ihe cloiis. 2. Sowing, as re- presented by Striitt. 3. Reaping. 4. Threshing. 5. Whet- ting. 6. Beating hemp. We find, in the earliest of our national records, that the plough,, the most important implement of husbandmen, was then of a very rude construction. In general form it rudely resembled the plough noAV employed, but the workmanship was singularly imperfect. This is no matter of surprise ; for among the early inhabitants of this country there were no arti- ficers. The ploughman was also the plough- wright. It was a law of the early Britons that no one should guide a plough until he could make one ; and that the driver should make the traces, by which it was drawn, of withs or twisted willow, a circumstance which affords an interpretation to many corrupt terms at present used by farming men to distinguish the parts of the cart harness. Thus the womb withy has degenerated into loambtye or wantye; withen trees into whipping or Whipple trees ,• be- sides which we have the tail withes, and some others still, uncorrupted. (Leges WuIUcpe, 283 — 288.) We read, also, that Easterwin, Abbot of Wearmouth, not only guided the plough and winnowed the corn grown on the abbey land.'', but also with his hammer forged the instru- ments of husbandry upon the anvil. {Beds, Hist. AIjTj. Wearnioth, 296.) Whether the early British or Saxon ploughs had wheels is uncer- tain, but those of the Nomuans certainly hail such appendages. Pliny says that wheels were first applied to ploughs by ihe Gauh d2 4' AGRICULTURE. AGRICULTURE. The Britons Avere forbidden to plough with any other animal than the ox; and they attached any requisite number of oxen to the plough. The Normans had been accustomed, in their light soils, to employ only one, or at most two. {Leges Widlicas, 288; Monffaucon's Monumens de Monarchic Frungois I. Plunche, 47 ; GiralJus Ca>nbrensls,c. 17.) The gigantic and universal impulse that seemed simultaneously to aflect the human mind in the sixteenth century, tended to the improvement of sciences which could not be benefitted without agriculture sharing in the ood. Metallurgy and its subservient arts, and pplied mathematics, were thus assistant to mproving the plough. It received the first improvement among the Dutch and Flemings in the sixteenth century ; and still more so in Scotland in the following one. The common wooden swing-plough is the state to which it was brought in the last-named country, in the eighteenth century, and still is known in many countries, as the improved- Scotch plough. The first author of the improved form is differently stated. A man of the name of Lummis has by one writer this credit as- signed to him, though he learned the improve- ment in Holland. He obtained a patent for his form of construction ; but another ploughman, named Pashley, living at Kirkleathem, pirated his invention. The son of Lummis established a manufactory at Rotherhara in Yorkshire, whence it is sometimes called the Rotherham plough ; but in Scotland it was known as the Dutch or Patent Plough. On the other hand, tlie Rotherham plough is said to have been made at that town in 1720, or ten years before Lummis's improvements. The grandmother of the Earl Buchan, Lady Stewart of Goodtrees, near Edinburgh, is also named as an improver. She invented the Rutherglen plough, formerly much employed in the west of Scotland. Mr. Small, in 1784, and Mr. Bailey, in 1795, pub- lished upon the proper mathematical form of this implement. In the fourth volume of the Transactions of the Highland Society, and in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture for February, 1829, there are also two valuable Essays upon the same subject. In 1811 this plough came very generally to be made of cast iron. {Amos's Essay on Agricultural Machines, Survey of W. Riding of Yorkshire, &c.) Wheel ploughs have been commensurately improved. The objects to be attended to in the formation of a plough, and that is the best which attains to them most effectually, are, ^st, that it shall enter and pass through the oil with the least possible resistance ; se- condly, that the furrow-slice be accurately turned over; and, thirdly, that the moving power or team shall be placed in the most beneficial line of draught. Scarifiers and horse hoes are implements which were unknown till within about a cen- tury ago. Hoeing by manual labour had, in very early ages, been partially practised ; for the earliest writers, we have seen, recom- mended particular attention to the cutting down and destroying of weeds. But to Jethro Tull, is indisputably due the honour of having first demonstrated the importance of frequent hoeing, not merely to extirpate weeds, but for the purpose of pulverizing the soil, bj» which process the gases and moisture of the atmos^ phere are enabled more freely to penetrate to the roots of the crop. The works of TuU^ap- peared between the years 1731 and 1739. Drills. — We noticed, when considering the Roman agriculture, that the Romans endea- voured to attain the advantages incident to row-culture by ploughing in their seeds. A rude machine is described in the Transactions of the Board of Agriculture, as having been used immemorially in India for sowing in rows. The first drill for this purpose intro- duced into Europe seems to have been the in- vention of a German, who made it known to the Spanish court in 1647. (Harte's Essays on Husbandry.) It was first brought much into notice in this country by Tull, in 1731 ; but the practice did not come into any thing like ge- neral adoption till the commencement of the present Century. There are noAV several im- proved machines adapted to the sowing of corn, beans, and turnips. See Drills. Draining, as we have seen, was attended to by the Romans, and it was unquestionably practised in Britain during the middle ages ; for where lands were too retentive of moisture, or abounded in springs, the obvious remedy was to remove it by drains. This, however, and far simpler operations, are seldom per- formed in the most correct mode without a knowledge of the sciences connected with their success. Di-aining was never correctly understood till the scientific observations of Dr. Anderson, and th« practical details of Mr. Elkingtoh, about the year 1761, placed it upon a more enlightened and correct system. The important benefits that have arisen from the adoption of this system are very extensive ; and the acknowledgment of 1000/., voted to Mr. Elkington, was a just testimony that the landed interest appreciated the boon, and that the benefiter of this country is duly estimated by its legislature. , There are numerous kinds of drain ploughs. The mole plough was invented by a Mr. Adam Scott, and improved by a Mr. Lumley of Gloucestershire during the present century. The past and the present century have also given birth to machines totally unknown in previous ages ; of these are rollers, machines for haymaking, reaping, threshing, and dress- ing; and if to these be added the immense im- provement that has taken place in the form and quality of all other agricultural imple- ments, the saving of labour, and the power to pursue the necessary operations neatly and well, will be found to be incalculably pro- moted. Crops. — It is probable that wheat was not cultivated by the early Britons ; for the cli- mate, owing to the immense preponderance of woods and undrained soil, was so severe and wet, that in winter they could attenapt no agri- cultural employments ; and even when. B^de wrote, early in the eighth century, the Anglo- Saxons sowed their wheat in spring. (Bede's Works, p. 244.) The quantity cultivated in the reign of Henry III. does not appear to have exceeded the quantity necessary for the year's AGRICULTURE. AGRICULTURE. consumption; for in a very wet, inclement year, 1270, wheat sold for six pounds eight shillings per quarter, which, calculating for the difference of the value of money, was equal to twent3r-five pounds of our present cur- rency. It continued an article of comparative luxury till nearly the 17th century commenced ; for in the household books of several noble families it is mentioned that manchets, and other loaves of wheat flour, were served at the master's table, but there is only notice taken of coarser kinds for the servants. That the cultivation of wheat was very partial in the reign of Elizabeth is ^.ttested by TusSer, who, writing at that period, says, — "In Su.Tolk again, whereas wheat never (rrew, Good husbandry used, good wheat-land I knew." As the climate has improved by the clearing and drying of the surface of the country, so proportionally, has the cultivation of wheat extended. * It was probably owing to the fickle and in- clement climate of England rendering the successful completion of harvest a much rarer and more hazardous event than now, that our forefathers made on the occasion such marked and joyous festivities. We do not know the motive that actuated the farmer, but no dread of an uncertain harvest could have made him more prompt and vigorous, who", in 1289, cut and stored 200 acres of corn in two days. "i'hf account is given in " The History of Haw- stead." About 250 reapers, thatchers, and others, were employed during one day, and more than 200 the next. The expenses of the lord on this occasion are thus stated : — Nine- teen reapers, hired for a day at their own board, 4rf. each; eighty men one daj% and kept at the lady*s board, 4rf. each ; 140 men, hired for one day, at 2d. each ; wages of fhe head reaper, 6s. 8(/. ; of the brewer, 3s. 4c?. ; of the cook, 3«. 4(/. ; thirty acres of oats, tied up by the job, Is. 8c/. ; three acres of wheat, cut and tied up by the job, Is. \\d.; five pair of gloves," &c. Barley is probably the grain which was most cultivated by the early Britons. The re- presentation of it occurs upon their coins. {Camden's Britannia, by Gibson, Ixxxviii.) It was not only the grain from which their pro- genitors, the Cymri, made their bread, but from which they made their favourite bever- age, beer. Oats being well-known and cultivated by the Germans and other continental nations when Pliny wrote, they were probably known also to this island in the earliest ages. In all periods, even to the present time, bread made of oatmeal has been a very prominent part of the food of the inhabitants of the northern parts of Britain. "In Lancashire," says Gerarde, in 1597, "it is their chiefest bread-corn, for jamrocks, haver-cakes, thorffe-cakes, and those which are called generally oaten-cakes ; and for the most part they call the grain haver, whereof the} ,lo likewise make drink for want of barley." It is so hardy that it is admirably calculated for a cold" climate, and there is si arcely any soil in which it will not be pro- ductive. In southern climates it will not flourish. "Rye," sa3's Gerarde, gr^weth very plenli- fully in the most parts of Germany and Polo- nia, as appeareth by the great quantity brought into England in times of scarcity of corn, as happened in the year 1596; and at other times, when there was a general want of bread-corn, by reason of the abundance of rain that fell the year before, whereby great penury ensued, as well of cattle, and all other victuals, as of all manner of grain. It groweth, likewise, very well in most places of England, especially towards the north." Its hardiness probably rendered it a prin- cipal grain with the early Britons ; but as it is a great impoverisher of the soil upon which it grows, and the grain makes very inferior bread, it is now cultivated to a very small extent. Peas have been extensively cultivated in England from a very early period ; but they have been much less since the bean has be- come a more general field crop, which it did not till within the present century. Lentils were brought to England about 1548. Gerarde says he had heard they were cultivated as fod- der- near Waterford. Maize, or Indian corn, was tnade known in England in 1562. It is commonly cultivated in the south of France as a field crop, and for the same pui'pose was tried in England in 1828, at the recommenda- tion of Mr. Cobbett, but it has not succeeded. Tares, in 1566, according to Ray, were grown as a seed crop, and given to horses, mixed with oats and peas, though they were some- times cut green as fodder. This is now their chief use. Potatoes were introduced from South Ame- rica, by Sir Walter Raleigh, about 1586. Sir Robert Southwell, President of the Royal Soci- ety, informed the Fellows, in 1693, that his father introduced them into Ireland, having received them f;om Sir Walter. {MS. Jourtiai of Royal Society.) It long continued to be neglected by gardeners. In '1663, however, attention was drawn to its extensive culture. But notwithstanding the exertions of the Royal Society to effect this purpose, potatoes did not become a field crop till the early part of the last century. They became so in Scotland about 1730, a day-labourer of the name of Prentice having the honour of first cultivating them largely two years previously. Every county of England now grows them exten- sively, ancashire and Cheshire are particu- larly celebrated for them. In the counties round London, especially in Essex, about two thousand acres are annually cultivated for supplying the metropolis with this root. Turnips and clover, though known in Eng- land during time immemorial, were never much cultivated in the field before the early part of the seventeenth century, and we men- tion them together, because their introduction among the farmer's crops caused the greatest improvement in the art that it ever received. In 1684, it is observed as a modern discovery, " sheep fatten very well on turnips, these prov- ing an excellent nourishment for them in hard winters, when fodder is scarce ; for they will not only ?at the greens, but feed on thp roots in the ground, scooping them out even AGRICULTURE. AGRICULTURE. lo the very skin." This is the first notice we have of feeding off turnips ; and the same authority adds, " ten acres sown with clover, turnips, &c., will feed as many sheep as one hundred acres would have done before." (Houghton's Collections on Hushandry, &c., iv. 142 — 144.) Brown, Donaldson, and all other writers upon agriculture, agree, that the intro- duction of the improved mode of cultivating these crops revolutionized the art of hus- bandry. Previously, light soils could not be cropped with advantage ; there was no rotation that the judgment could approve. Tusser, in the sixteenth century, in the following homely lines, tells us that two corn crops were grown consecutively and then a fallow ; and many authorities could be quoted to show that some soils were fallowed on alternate years, so that they afforded only one crop in two years. " First rie and then barlie, the champion saies, Or wheat before barlie, be champion vvaies : But drink before bread-corn, with Middlesex men, Then laie on more compas, and fallow agen." But now, by the aid of green crops, a fallow usually occurs but once in four years. " Clo- ver and turnips," it has been observed, " are the two main pillars of the best courses of British husbandry; they have contributed more to preserve and augment the fertility of the soL for producing grain, to enlarge and improve breeds of cattle and sheep, and to afl'ord a regular supply of butcher's meat all the year, than any other crops." It was pre- viously a difficult task to support live stock through the winter and spring months ; and as for feeding and preparing cattle and sheep for market during these inclement seasons, the practice was hardly thought of, and still more rareljr attempted. Mangel wurzel has only been cultivated by the farmer for a few years past Its chief ad- vantage is, that as it will succeed upon tena- cious soils which will not produce turnips, it enables farms in which such soils predomi- nate to support a larger quantity of live stock. Its cultivation seems on the increase, its fat- tening qualities being good, the produce heavy, and liability to failure small. Hops, although indigenous to England, were little attended to, and never employed in brew- ing till the sixteenth century ; and then, when they began to be more used, the citizens of London petitioned parliament to prevent them as a nuisance. " It is not many years since," says Walter Blith, writing in the year 1653, " the famous city of London petitioned against two nuisances, and these were Newcastle coals, in regard of their stench, &c., and hops, in regard they would spoil the taste of drink a.nd endanger the people." (English Improver Improved, 3d ed. 240.) There are many other crops occasionally cultivated by the farmer which may be enu- merated here, and most of them first exten- sively cultivated within the last 150 years, but which in this place will require no further notice — such as the artificial grasses, rape, mustard, caraway, coriander, flax, hemp, buck- A'heat or brank, teasel, madder, saintfoin, jnceme, cabbage, carrots, and others. General cullivution.- — We have no informa- tion as to whether the early inhabitants of Britain varied their modes of ploughing with the nature of their soil. They sometimes ploughed with two oxen, sometimes with more ; some ploughmen, represented in very old pic- tures, evidently drove the team as well as guided the plough ; but it was usual for them to have a driver. There is a very old Saxon dialogiie extant, in which a ploughman, in stating his duties, says, " I go out at day-break, urging the oxen to the field, and I yoke them to the plough — the oxen being yoked, and the share and coulter fastened on, I ought to plough cme entire field or more. I haVe a boy to threaten the oxen with a goad, who is now hoarse through cold and bawling. I ought, also, to fill the bins of the oxen with hay, and water them, and carry out their soil." (Tur- ner's Anglo-Saxons, ii. 546, ed. 5.) Repeated ploughings and fallowings, to prepare the soil for wheat, was the common practice ; for GiraU dus Cambrensis, speaking of the Welsh, says, with astonishment, " they ploughed their lands only once a year, in March or April, in order to sow them with oats ; but did not, like other farmers, plough them twice in summer and once in winter, to prepare them for wheat." (Descrlpt. Cambrise, c. viii.) In a law tract, called Fleta, and written early in the fourteenth century, are given several agricultural directions, especially upon dress- ing and ploughing fallows. In summer, the ploughing is advised to be only so deep as to bury and kill the weeds ; and the manure not to be applied till just before the last ploughing, which is to be deep. (Fleta, lib. ii. c. 73.) Sowing was anciently performed in all cases by hand. In the famous antique tapestry of Bayeux, a man is represented sowing. The seed is contained in a cloth fastened round his neck, is supported at the other extremity by his left arm, and he scatters the seed with his right hand. All agricultural writers, from the earliest era to the present, have recommended the seed to be soaked in some medicament or other previously to sowing. Virgil recommends oil and nitre for beans ; others direct the employ- ment of urine ; and Heresbachius, who wrote in 1570, mentions the juice of the houseleek. " Sow your ridges," says the same author, " with an equal hand, and all alike in every place, letting your right foot, especially, and your hand go together. Wheat, rye, barley, oats, and other large seeds must be sown with a full hand, but rape seeds only with three fingers." (Googe's Heresbachius, 246.) The tapestry of Bayeux, already mentioned, represents a man harrowing ; one harrow only being employed, and one horse. In the time of Heresbachius, though harrowing was the usual mode of covering the seed, yet he f-ays, " in some places it is done with a board tied to the plough." Rakes seem to have been employed by the Anglo-Saxons ; for the accu- rate researches of Mr. Turner do not appear to have discovered any mention of otlier im- plements that were employed by them for ';he purpose. (Hist. Anglo-Sax. ii. 544.) We find no very early mention made of hoeing by any English agricultural writer AGRICULTURE. AGRICULTURE. Though there is generally some directions for "plucking up the naughty weeds." Heresba- chius is the first that we have met with who notices the advantage of loosening the surface of the soil about growing crops. " Sometimes," he says, "raking is needful, which, in the spring, loosens the earth made clung by the cold of winter, and letteth in the fresh warmth. It is best to rake wheat, barley, and beans twice. Moreover, they break asunder with a roller the larger and stiffer clods." {Guoge's Hereshachius, [printed in 1578,] 256.) It was not till the time of TuU, 1731, that the due im- portance of this was appreciated. Of the other operations of agriculture, as reaping, mowing, stacking, and the like, there seems no need of making mention: they were •performed much in \he same way as now. " Corn," says the author last quoted, " should be cut before it is thorough hard ; experience teacheth that if it be cut down in due time, the seed will grow to fulness as it lieth in the barn." (Guoge's Heresbuchius, 406.) According to Henry, the practice with our ancestors was for the women to thresh and the men to reap. {Hist, of Britain, vi. 173.) Irrigation seems to have been practised in a few places in Britain from the time of the Ro- mans, there being meadows near Salisbury which have been irrigated from time immemo- rial. Lord Bacon mentions it as a practice well understood in his time (1560 — 1626) ; and at the same period, 1610, appeared a work by Robert Vaughan, detailing the mode of " sum- mer and winter drowning of meadows and pastures, thereby to make those grounds more fertile ten for one." It was not, however, till the close of the last century that the attention of agriculturists was much aroused to the sub- ject. The writings of Boswell, Wright, West- ern, and others, between the years 1780 and 1824, partially awakened the farmers to the importance of the practice. The best exam- ples of it are to be observed in Gloucestershire and Wiltshire ; but it is now one of the prac- tices of farming that is the most undeservedly neglected. Mr. Welladvise was its great pro- moter in Gloucestershire. Live Stock. — Cattle and sheep were the chief riches of the Britons when they became first known to the Romans (Cassar, v. c. x.), and they are still a great source of our agricultural riches. Sheep. — In a very early Anglo-Saxon MS. a shepherd is represented as saying, " In the first part of the morning I drive my sheep to their pasture, and stand over them in heat and in cold with dogs, lest the wolves destroy them. I lead them back to their folds, and milk them twice a day ; and I move their folds and make cheese .in.i butter." {Turner's Anglo-Sax. ii. 546.) This attention to sheep was attended with so • mach success that they became an object of acquirement by the continental nations ; and in the reign of Edward IV. at the time a treaty of peace was concluded with Spain (1466), a license was granted by that monarch " for cer- tain Cotcswold sheep to be transported to Spain, as people report, which have there so multiplied ani increased, that it hath turned the commodity of En gland much to the Spanish profit, and to the no small hinderance of the gain which was beforetimes in England raised of them." {Hall's Chrunide, 266. HoUnshed, 668.) The sheep thus exported were probably improved by attention and climate till they had become that breed of Merinos M'hich was re imported to this country early in the present century. The statute 3 H. 6, c. 2, forbids the exportation of sheep. The fears which old chroniclers may have ignorantly entertained, that the exporting of sheep would be injurious to our native commerce, have in all succeed- ing years been proved to be fallacious. The demand for our wool was so large, and the consequent increase of the breed of sheep was so great, that an impolitic legislature in 1533 endeavoured to check it. The preamble of the act states, that " divers of the king's subjects, to whom God of his goodness hath disposed great plenty and abundance of moveable sub- stance, now of late, within few years, have daily studied, invented, and practised ways and means to accumulate into few hands, as well great multitudes of farms as great plenty of cattle, and in especial sheep, putting such lands as they can get to pasture and not to tillage, whereby they have not only pulled down churches and towns, and enhanced the old rates of the rents, and that no poor man is able to meddle with it, but also have raised the prices of all manner of corn, cattle, &c., almost double above the prices accustomed, to the great injury, &c., of his majesty's sub- jects ; and as it is thoiight that the greatest occasion of this accumulation is the profit that Cometh of sheep, which now be come to a few persons' hands of this realm, that some have 24,000, some 20,000, &c., by which a good sheep for victual, that was accustomed to be sold for 2s. 4rf., &c., is now sold for 6s., &c. ; which things thus used be principally to the high displeasure of Almighty God, to the decay of the hospitality of this realm, to the diminish- ing of the king's people, and to the let of cloth- making," &c. It then enacts, that no one snail have more than 2000 sheep ; though, as a sub- sequent section declares every hundred to con- sist of six score, the limited number was 2400. And it further enacts, that no man shall have above two farms. (25 H. 8, c. 13.) Harrison, who died in 1593, describes our sheep as very excellent, " sith for sweetness of flesh they pass all other. And so much are our wools to be preferred before those of Milesia and other places, that if Jason had known the value of them that are bred and to be had in Britain, he would never have gone to Colchis to look for any there." {Description of England, prefixed to HoUnshed, 220.) Heresbach, -,vho was a contemporary, gives such a description of the best form and qualities of sheep, that u is evident that the excellence of the breed was not the mere effect of chance. {Googe's Htres- bach. 1376.) From that period till the latter half of the eighteenth century, we are nci ac- quainted with any efforts further to improve it. This last-mentioned period was .he era of the improvements effected by Mr. Bakewell and his pupils, the Messrs. Culley. Bakewell was born in 1726, at Ditchley iu 15 AGRICULTURE. AGRICULTURE. Leicestershire', and about the year 1755 com- menced those experiments which finally effect- ed a greater improvement in our sheep than was ever effected in any species of agricultu- ral produce by the exertions of one individual. He travelled over England, Ireland, Holland, and other places, for the purpose of examining the various breeds of cattle, and by careful se- lections, and judicious crosses, succeeded in procuring a stock that obtained for the Ditch- ley sheep a previously unheard of excellence. Fortunately the English agriculturists appre- ciated the importance of his success ; and it is a fact that, in 1789, three of his rams, the pro- duce of one birth, were let for the breeding season, for 1200 guineas, and the whole pro- duce of his letting was at least 3000 guineas. One of his rams obtained for Mr. Bakewell, in one season, 800 guineas ; and when it is taken into the calculation, that the same animal served for his own flock, it produced for its owner in that year 1200 guineas. Mr. Bake- well died in 1795. Messrs. Culley introduced these improve- ments into Northumberland, and the other northern counties of this island. Wiien they first settled in that district, the sheep kept there were large, slow-feeding, long-wooUed animals ; and a breed between those and the Cheviot sheep. These breeds rarely became fat before they were three years old ; but the Leicesters introduced by the Messrs. Culley were sold fat at little more than a year old. They at first met with much opposition ; but as it was soon seen they were improvers, and not mere inno- vators, the flocks have generally been made to improve by their example. They became the general patrons of improvement, and their great attention to minutiae, unremitting indus- try, and siiperior cultivation, gave birth to a spirit of emulation, and their own merits were rewarded with a liberal success. For several years they occupied farms to the amount of about 8000/. per annum. They had pupils with liberal premiums from all parts ; and these again were the means of m.aking known, not only their enlightened husbandr)^ but the encouraging illustration they afforded of in- dustry, economy, and intelligence duly re- warded. Merino sheep were imported by George III. in the years 1788 and 1791. This breed at- tracted much attention in 1804, when his majesty commenced his annual sales. Dr. Parry, Lord Somerville, and others have paid considerable attention to them; but the climate of England has a considerable effect in deteriorating their fleeces, and the flesh is too indifferent to permit them to be much en- couraged in a country where mutton is so considerable an article of food. (Hunt's Agri- atltnral Memoirs ; Gent's Magazine,- Enc. Brit.) Mr. Ellman, of Sussex, during an enlight- ened practice of more than fifty years has brought the South Down variety of sheep to a ^tate of the highest improvement. Perhaps the best description of the varieties of the -heep reared in England has been written by this gentleman for " Baxter's Agricultural Li- l-rary." Cattle, ar, we have already noticed, have al- 45 ways been a prominent production of Great Britain. They were mentioned by Csesar, Strabo, and other ancient writers. They have ever since continued, more or less, particularly to engage the attention of the husbandman, not only for the dairy and the plough, but also as a source of food. The breeding of cattle, how- ever, had been so much neglected for the more profitable pasturage of sheep, tnat in 1555, an act of parliament was passed to remedy the evil. The preamble states that, " For- asmuch as of late years a great number of persons in this realm have laid their lands, farms, and pastures, to feeding of sheep, oxen, runts, scrubs, steers, and heifers, &c., having no regardor care to breed up youngbeasts or cattle, whereby is grown great scarcity of cattle and victual ;" and, therefore it is enacted that a, cow shall be kept wherever are sixty sheep, and a calf reared where there are one hundred and twenty, (fee. (2 & 3 Phil. S( Mary, c. 3.) Many other legislative enactments occur in the records of that and contiguous periods ; but reason and interest are better promoters of im- provement than acts of parliament. A due at- tention to the breedingof cattle was first aroused by Mr. Bakewell, who has just been mentioned as an improver of sheep. He let bulls for 150 guineas during four months, and 5 guineas per cow was no uncommon charge. Pedigrees have been preserved of different animals with as much care as those of race-horses. The attention and care that have thus been paid to their breeding have met with an appropriate recompense. In no other country is there to be found such breeds of cattle ; and that none are so highly estimated, is proved by the prices that have been given for individuals. (Mar- shuWs Midland Counties, i. 334 ; Parkinson on Live Stock, ii. 469.) Horses. — That the ancient Britons had horses Avith which they impelled their war chariots, we know upon the authority of those M'ho had seen them — Caesar, Strabo, and others. In the epitome of Dion Cassius, by Xiphelin, those horses ai'e described as small and swift. They appear not to have been usually employed in the operations of agriculture ; and their em- ployment was not considered desirable ; for in the old Cambrian laws, oxen are exclusively directed to be employed. (Leges Wallicae, 288.) Under the Saxons, and still more under the Normans, who flourished here in an age that, from its excelling in noble horsemanship, has been distinguished as the chivalric, the breed of horses was undoubtedly improved. " Richard De Rulos, Lord of Brunne and Deeping, was much addicted to agriculture, and delighted in breeding horses and cattle." (Ingulphus's Chron. lib. i.) In the year 1494, the exportation of horses was so extensive, and the price of them so much enhanced, that an act of parliament or- dained that none should go out of the realm Avithout the king's license (2 H. 8, c. 6 ; 32, c. 13 ; 33, c. 5) ; but these being evidently intend- ed for the improvement of war horses, " for the defence of the realm," would only collaterally benefit those employed by the husbandman. Ii was provided by the second of the acts jusi quoted, tnat no stallion should be Icept that did AGRICULTURE. AGRICULTURE. not measure fifteen hands from the sole of the hoof to the highest part of the wither ; each . hand to be four standard inches. We find, however, that at this period draught horses were flue and powerful animals, for Harrison, who lived at this era, and whose appendix to Holinshed we have before quoted, after ex- pressing his admiration of them, says, that five or six of them would draw with ease three thou- sand weight of the greatest tale for a long journey. We must remember, too, thai in those days the roads were totally different from what they are at present. It is within the me- mory of persons still living in the hundreds of Essex, that no more than a load of wheat was ever sent out in a wagon, the roads there being, until within less than a half a century, exceedingly bad. We have already noticed that in the tapestry of Bayeiix a man is represented harrowing with a horse. This tapestry was woven in the year 1066, and this representation is the first notice, of which we are aware, of the horse being employed in agriculture. The first attempt that historians notice, to improve the breed of our husbandry horses, was in the reign of King John. Tyrant and despot as he was, yet his evil qualifications gave two bene- fits to England. His tyranny gave birth to Magna Charta ; and his pride, rendering it hateful to him to see foreigners surpass him in the excellence of their horses, induced him to import 100 stallions from Flanders; and from that era may be dated the improvement of our draught horses. His object did not entirely succeed ; for a century subsequentl}^, in the reign of Edward II., we find that horses were still imported from Lombardy and Flanders. We have already noticed some of the enact- ments to improve the breed of horses, but these shared the fate of most other compulsory measures ; for when Elizabeth summoned her forces to defend her realm, in the prospect of a Spanish invasion, she could obtain no mote than 3000 cavalry. Sir A. Fitzherbert, wIk) wrote in the reign of Henry VIII., says, in his Boke of Husbandry, — " A husbande may not be without horses and mares, and specially -if he goe with a horse- plough, he must have both; his horses to droive, and his mares to brynge colts to up- holde his stocke, and yet at many times these may droive well if they be well handled." The roguery of horsedealers was an early sin ; for one of the old Cambrian laws provides, that the purchaser of a horse shall have three nights to ascertain whether he is infected with the staggers ,- three months to prove his lungs ,■ and twelve months to discover whether he is infected with the glanders. For every blemish not discovered before purchasing, if it was not in the ears or tail, one third of the price was to be returned. (Laws of Howell D/iu.) The deceptions practised by the dealers in horses IS still proverbial ; and there does not appear with their fraternity to have been any interme- diate age of innocence ; for Sir A. Fitzherbert says, " Thou graj'ser, that mayest fortune to be of myne opinion or condytion to love hortes, and young coltes and foles to go among thy cattle, take hede that thou be not beguilttd as I have been a hundred times and more. And first, thou shall knowe that a good horse has fifty-four properties ; that is to say two of a man, two of a badger, four of a lion, nine of an oxe, nine of a hare, nine of a fox, nine of an asse, and ten of a woman." Since the days of Elizabeth, every variety of horses has been . gradually improving, in England, and four kinds, the Suffolk Punch, the Cleveland bays, the Clydesdale, and the Lincolnshire or dray, are surpassed by no country in the world. The numerous can stallions attending every market town during the covering season, is an attestation thai this care is not on the decrease. It is stated, as a further proof, that a few years since a Suflblk cart-mare and her offspring sold at Woodbridge Lad3'-day fair for 1000/. Pigs have been among the usual animals fostered by the farmer in times at least as early as the Anglo-Saxons. In those days they were evidently the most numerous of their live stock ; scarcely an estate is mentioned without its being stated that it afforded pan- nage, or mast in its wood, for such a number of swine. They were a very prominent por- tion of the'ir wealth ; and, indeed, a chief ne- cessary, for they were in winter obliged to use almost exclusively salted meat, and the great preponderance of woodland supported best this kind of stock. (Turner's Anglo-Saxons, iii. 22.) Heresbach is particularly earnest in commending the pig ; and after mentioning it as abominable to the Jews, says, with a boast- ful feeling thai made him forget its impiety, " I believe, verily, the)' never lasted the flitches of Westphaly." Enactments occur in our statute book, in 1225 and 1534, regulating the pannage of swine. There are now a great many varieties of pigs, eveiy district of Englancf'varying in the size and qualities of those it prefers. Some attention has of late years been { aid to im- prove the stock, but in general they have been too much neglected. We have not particu- larized the progress of husbandry jn Scotland, because previously to the time of its union with this country. Lord Kames and Mr. Fletcher agree that its agriculture was deplorable ; and since then the improvement of the art in that most generally enlightened part of tiie island has, in many districts, outstripped, and, in most, at least kept pace Avith that of E^ngland ; and its future atlvance will probably surpass that of England, because good education is more completely diffused among its inhabi- tants. Ireland is in general deplorably behind in all the arts of life ; nor will this be obviaied until the effect of education and wealth is more generally felt and appreciated by its gimerous and hospitable, but far from wealthy iiliabi- tanls. Wales, for the most part, has an agriculture as bad as that of Ireland ; and we cannot have much hope of its improvement, when Mr. Adam Murray, in his evidence before the Com mittee of Agriculture in 1833, stated that the Welsh have a great antipathy againsi lu- ar AGRICULTURE. AGRICULTURE. Saxons, or Sassenachs ,- and that they take every advantage of any Englithman that settles among them. V. Continental Aguicultuiiiv. We have now brought to a conclusion our sketch of the progress of agriculture. The limits of our work preclude us from giving here iuore of the ample details that have come under our notice in the research for the ma- terials, of which we have given the abstract. We have not withheld our attention from the husbandry of other nations, but have found little concerning the history of their progress in the art ; and the examination of their present operations made it so apparent, that with the exception of Flanders, they were all so much behind in general practice, that the conviction is forced upon us, that little instruction could be obtamed from its detail. Several of them, however, excel us in some particular points : and in noticing these we shall avail ourselves of the opportunity to enfore the importance of extra attention to them upon our own agricul- turists. Flanders. — This country was certainly the first of modern countries to improve th.e prac- tice of agriculture. Its farmers -were the first tutors of England ; and from the time of Sir Richard Weston, who published an account of their husbandr)% in 1645, till that of the Rev. T. Radclitr in 1819, the Flemish husbandmen have continued models of neat and economi- cal farming. In tliis respect we fall short of them. It is a leading principle with them to make their farms closely resemble gardens. Consequently, to elTect this, they have small farms, and devote their efforts to these three grand points — the accumulation of manure — the destruction of weeds — and the frequent and deep pulverization of the soil. We recom- mend for the perusal of our readers the work (Tour 171 Flanders) published by Mr. Radcliff, and the Flemish Husbandry of the Societj' for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and we are convinced that they will benefit by the time so occupied. We do not expect that they will induce them to try to cultivate a large surface of land with the minute accuracy of a garden ; hut it might pursuade them to adopt that more cleanly system of cultivation which is the only one that is permanently profitable. We shall only remark more particularly upon the assiduous care the Flemish farmers bestow upon the collection of manures. They were the first among the moderns to raise crops for the sake of ploughing them in whilst growing; and they continue it more ex- tensively uian any other nation. This prac- tice, we may say, is entirely neglected by our farmers ; but if they knew sufficient of che- mistiy to understand how much fertilizing ma- terials such green crops impart to the soil, it irould ue a practice more extensively adopted. Every fragment of animal and vegetable mat- ter is preserved by the Flemish farmers for the fertilizing of their lands ; and the ready sale which all such decomposable substances meet, is one cause of the broom and the bar- v snccetding in keeping their town so scru- 48 pulously neat. Saw-dust, chips, and similar refuse all tend to increase their composts ; and on their barren lands trees are frequently planted for the purpose of creating in time a fertile soil by the agency of their falling leaves. Their dunghills are so constructed that all the drainage is collected in cisterns, with which liquid is mixed the emptyings of privies, pulverized rape cakes, and the like ; and this most fertilizing compound is conveyed to their fields by means of barrels fixed on wheels, and is spread by means of a scoop, 2840 gal- lons per acre being allowed for their flax crop. {Johns, on Lig. Manure.) The slovenly management 6f his dunghill is one of the most general specimens of the ignorance or carelessness of a farmer. He allows the most soluble and valuable portions to drain away ; and treats with ridicule the idea of carrying out manure in a liquid form. As this arises from ignorance and bigoted at- tachment to old practice, it should excite our pity more than our anger. Liquid manures, notwithstanding stupidity and prejudice, are amongst the best of fertilizers, and will, in a coming age, be generally employed, since it is a fallacy to argue that they cannot be employed on a large scale ; for the comparative expense of preparation and application is unquestiona- bly smaller on a large scale than on a less. Holland. — The husbandry of this country is almost exclusively confined to the dairy and to stall feeding. There are two points in their practice in which other farmers would do well to imitate them. It is a common prejudice that a cow for the dairy should never be fat. This is thus far true, namely, that if a cow inclines to fatten easily, she does not yield so much milk as one that generates fat less readily. But a good dairy cow, that is, one that secretes milk abundantly, will not fatten whilst in that con- dition, and therefore the abstaining from giving them nutritive food is an erroneous conclusion. The Hollanders know that the contrary is the correct practice, and once a day, or oftener, they give their cows rape cake, and other nu- tritious preparations. The ignorance of the common English practice is evident from this fact, that without one exception, other ani- mals, when suckling, are always kept much higher than at other periods. The other point of their practice that merits imitation is the cleanliness with which they keep all their animals. It will excite a laugh with some of our agricultural readers, when we recommend not only the most scrupulous daily cleaning and washing out of cow-sheds, pig-styes, and the like, but that the animals themselves should be cleaned. This, however, is not a mere speculative precept, for the na- tional example of Holland attests its utility. We have known the beneficial effects of such treatment upon the health of cows and pigs in this countr}'. But in the absence of all facts, if the farpier would but allow his own common sense to direct him ; if he would but reflect that no animal will thrive that is not healthy; that his horse becomes diseased if not kept clean ; and that by no possibility can it be AGRICULTURE. AGRICULTURE. otherwise but that fetid stenches, and encum- bering filth must tend to breed disease, he would not allow so baleful a neglect to con- tinue. It is futile to urge that where stock is large, the attendance to such treatment is im- possible ; for if it is beneficial it will pay to adopt it ; and no one should engage in a larger concern than he can manage in the most bene- ficial mode. Gennany. — The inhabitants of the different districts of this extensive empire pay particu- lar attention to the cultivation of timber trees. The number of German books on the subject is excessive. It is a subject which has of late years been gaining much attention also in England, and planting will probably be still further extended over many of the poorer soils that at present will not pay whilst producing corn. The careless and ignorant manner in which the labourer is allowed to mutilate timber trees that grow upon most farms, cannot be too se- verely deprecated. To train trees correctl}^, requires as much judgment as any operation in which the gardener or forester is concerned. Not an unnecessary wound should be inflicted upon them ; for the process of healing each wound not only deducts so much from the growth of the tree, but is usually the intro- ducer of decay. Yet the hedger, with no other instrument than his bill, is generally allowed an unguided use of so unfit and mutilating a tool. Lombardy. — In this, and most of the other Italian states, all rivers, and in some, even all springs, are considered to be the property of the government, for they are the source of a considerable revenue. Any one desiring a canal from a river has to pay for it to the government ; and he may cut it through an- other person's ground without the latter having the power to prevent it, upon paying the value of the land. Such canals are considered as im- proving the value of an estate, for they irrigate not only their grass lands, but their corn, vines, and other crops, numerous little channels being cut for the purpose down the ridges. The water from a river is purchased at a certain price for so many hours' or days' run in the year, through a sluice of a stated dimension. Arthur Young mentions that the fee-simple of an hour's run per week through a particular sized sluice at Turin, sold in 1788, for 1500 livres. Watered lands usually let for one third more than lands that are unwatered. We have already noticed, and shall again have to recur to the subject of irrigation; but we could not but notice the above national evi- dence in favour of what we know to be one of the most beneficial practices neglected by our agriculturists. Tuscany. — Sismondi informs us that it is the practice in this countr)^ where he was himself for five years a cultivator, to trench one-third of the farm every year with the spade, bring- ing the lower soil to the top. This mode of culture bringing a new soil for the promotion oi' vegetation, for it has been in a manner Iving two years fallow, is sanctioned by reason a.f well as confirmed by practice. We are not tnt" adA-^ocates of a general system of spade 7 husbandry. There are objections to it tha> at present are insuperable. But we do recom- mend, and that from our own experience, its partial adoption. There is no parish in Eng- land in which many of the labourers are not out of employ during a considerable portion of the year. Perhaps the average of the poor's rates were 10s. in the pound upon the farmer's rental ; and this might have been reduced more than one half, if every farmer had em- ployed one man in spade husbandry for every thirty acres he cultivated. Thus he would have had some return for the money he ex- pended ; and the saving of horse labour, and the benefit of the extra cultivation, would have turned the balance in his favour, and he woul I thus have got rid, in a great degree, of the, worst of all outlays — an outlay without a pos- sibility of a return. I have searched various statements of the agriculture of the other European countries ; but though I am gratified by the conviction that they are all more or less improving, yet in almost all their practices, except the culture of the vine, they are very far behind England. For that reason I leave them unnoticed, be- cause there «s no instruction to be extracted from a detail of deficiencies that have already been overcome. Upon a revision of the whole, I may remark that agriculture, in common with all other kinds of knowledge, is always flourishing, in proportion to the freedom of the people. Spain, subjugated by its despotis monarchy and priesthood, has an agriculture imperfect and degraded beyond that of any other European nation. Flanders has always had a liberal government, and its agriculture improved before our own, and is its equal noAV. By freedom, I mean security of propert}' and person, unrestricted discussion of every virtu- ous opinion, and an untainted distribution of justice. With us, the era that introduced such freedom into England was that of the Reform- ation, confirmed and strengthened by the ex- clusion of the Stuarts in 1688. The introduction of the scholastic philoso- phy, which revived that activity of mind which the Grecian vanity had so much abused, and the Romans, by their gross habits, had so long paral}fsed ; the mathematical sciences which the Giecians had imported from Alex- andria and had forgotten ; that natural and experimental knowledge which neither the Grecians nor Romans had ever much or per- manently pursued ; the reformation of religion, which removed from the mind that incubus that forbad man to trust to his own reason, but made it the bond-slave of interested ignorance • the invention of printing, -w^hich became the mighty engine of diffusing accumulated know- ledge ; were all events that preceded the seven- teenth century, and rendered it an era splendid by the general improvement which it afforded m all the arts and sciences. These have justly been represented as forming a circle, for they are so united, so blended together, and so co- assistant, that one cannot be improved without the benefit being shared in some way by the others. Agriculture participated in the general pm E 49 AGRICULTURE. AGRICULTURE. pr»5S : and the impetus that was given to the hurnan mind, tutoring it to follow reason rather than habit, was felt by the cultivators of the soil. The eighteenth and present centuries have been those in M'hich the improvement has been marked, and the instances of which have already been noticed. The reason of this is to be found in its having then very generally engaged the attention of a more en- lightened class of society. The noblemen, the t gentry, and even the monarch of England, be- came practical agriculturists ; and under the patronage of George III., the Duke of Bedford, Lords Sheffield, Suffield, and Albemarle, Coke, Western, and many others, it was sure to ob- tain tjie benefit of all the improved knowledge ^ of the day. In 1723 was instituted the Society of Improvers in the Knowledge of Agriculture in Scotland; in 1749, the Dublin Agricultural Society; in 1777, the Bath and West of Eng- land Society; in 1784, the Highland Society of Scotland; in 179.3, the London Board of Agriculture, and the Royal Agricultural So- ciety of England in 1838. The last chiefly through the exertions of Mr. W. Shaw and Mr. Handley, Lord Spencer and the Duke of Richmond. This, although supported entirely by voluntary subscriptions, promises to be of the highest advantage to agriculture, and by its excellent arrangeraenlj, of which carefully avoiding all political discussions is a promi- nent feature, it now includes in its copious list of members, men of all parties, who are united not for the sake of indirectly forwarding party objects, but for the improvement in all its im- portant branches of practical agriculture. The fate of the Board of Agriculture, which expired about the year 1812, from the with- drawal by government of the annual parlia- mentary grant for its support, should operate as a warning to all other agricultural societies ; for this society failed, not from a want of talent or of industry, but from its efforts being paralysed, and its resources curtailed by its being considered the society of a party, and made the arena for the discussion and promul- gation of political doctrines. From none of these have arisen any splendid discoveries, for such are not to be made in agriculture : there can never arise, so far as we can foresee, any Newton or Watt in this art ; but they have effected and are accomplishing all that such associations can be expected. They have oc- casioned the collision of opinion, they have stimulated the desire of improvement, and tiiey have promoted the general communica- tion of its acquirements. The general im- provements introduced into agriculture, under the auspices of these valuable societies, have been, amongst several others, 1. The general introduction of green crops ; 2. The improve- ment of agricultural machinery, such as the drill, the thrashing-machine, the plough, &c.; 3. Better breeds of all kinds of live stock ; 4. Better and more numerous varieties of seeds. Of the benefits conferred by other sciences upon agriculture, by chemistry, botany, and physiology. I shall hereafter have much to say. They are branches of knowledge hitherto too seldom combined with practical skill to 50 have yet accomplished much ; but of what they are capable of achieving, an estimate may be form.ed from the perusal of De Can- dolle's Physiologic Vegetale. " It is certain," as the writer of this has elsewhere observed, "that a cultivator of the soil should have a knowledge of botany and of chemistry. With- out the first he will be unable to understand terms and observations that must occur in every well-written work on his art; unable to comprehend the nature and habits of the ob- jects of his culture, or to render observations which he makes intelligible to others or even to himself. Chemistry is of as much, if not greater, importance to him. The nature of soils, of manures, of the food and functions of plants, would all be unknown but from the analyses which chemists have made. Science can never supersede the dung-hill, the plough, the spade, and the hoe ; but it can be one of their best guides — can be a pilot even to the most experienced." (Baxter's Agricultural Li- brary, 140.) Of the literature of agriculture, I have little to say in this place. From the days of Hesiod until the sixteenth century, the authors upon this art were very few; but from that period to the present, they have continued to increase; and its literature, if now collected, would form a copious library. There have been professorships of agricul- ture for some time proposed at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. There was one appointed at Edinburgh in 1790, and the chair is now (1841) filled by Mr. Low; another at Oxford in 1840, of which Mr. Daubeny is the present holder. A prejudice too generally existed amongst farmers against the agricultural knowledge contained in books ; but now they are gene- rally better educated, this prejudice will cease. Ignorance is always bigoted and obstinate , and it is the same mental sterility which made thf m jealous of all new practices, that made the Irish persist in fastening their horses to the plough by their tails, until it was absolutely prohibited by the government. The Irish said in defence of their practice what some English farmers say in defence of theirs, however erro- neous, " My grandfather did well enough this way." Such foolish observations amount to no more than this, " We will not try to im- prove." This race of stagnant cultivators is gradually disappearing; and those who are succeeding them, we see reason to believe, are more enlightened, and consequently more ready to adopt improvements. We most heartily rejoice at this ; and we hope to see them more and more a class of reading men. Practice must ever be their chief tutor, as in all other arts ; but likewise, as in all other arts, that practice will always be the most coi'- rect in its details which is founded upon scientific knowledge. (G. W. Johnson. Miller's Gard. Did. by Orr ^ Co.) [Agriculture in the United States. A glance into the agricultural history of the United States has been given in the introduc' tion to this work. It will not therefore bo AGRICULTURE. AGRICULTURE. necessary' to say much upon that topic here, where the agricultural resoiirses of the Re- public will be mainly dwelt upon. Notwithstanding the desolation to which a scourging course of tillage has reduced so many of the once rich acres in the Atlantic states, the agricultural productions of the country are exceedingly abundant. Until very recently, the value of these products has been a subject for conjecture and approximate com- putation. The act of Congress for taking the Census of 1840, provided that the persons en- gaged in enumerating the population, should collect facts so as to show the amount of the products of husbandry, as well as of every other branch of industry pursued throughout the country. A fund of axxthentic information of the highest interest has been thus obtained, exhibiting not only the aggregate value, but the relative proportions the several pi'oducts of agriculture, commerce, the forests, and the manufactures, bear to each other. As the agriculture of the country yields the immediate means of subsistence, so does it furnish the basis .of commerce, and the various branches of industry, all of which must prosper or languish according to the good or bad suc- cess attending rural affairs. " Land and trade," says a quaint old English writer, " are twins, and ever will wax and wane together. It cannot be ill with trade but lands will fall, nor ill with lands, but trade will feel it." {Sir Jvseph Child.) " In the pursuit of agriculture," says a sen- sible writer in Hunt's Magazine, " we are, in effect, advancing the other great interests of the country, a fact which Ave are too apt to forget in discussing any single interest with ex-parte views. We will take the mere subject of commerce, which is supposed to be inimi- cal to the other interests of the nation, and what a mighty spring is given to the internal trade of the country by agricultural enterprise, looking at the actual condition of the trans- portation of agricultural products upon the principal lines of commercial communication, both at the east and wer;t. How large a por- tion of the freights is furnished by the agricul- ture of the south to the ships which are con- tinually plying from its ports to the inland ports of our own territory, and to the prominent cotton markets abroad. Of the vessels that are daily taking in their cargoes in the harbours of Charleston and New Orleans, and the inter- vening ports, it is safe to say that the princi- pal portion of those freights is derived from the cotton, sugar, tobacco, and rice, as well as the other agricultural staples of the surround- ing territory. The same is the case with the commerce of the Mississippi : and we find the numerous steam ships and flat boats which pi}' upon that river during the season of navi- gation, are laden with the agricultural products of the states that border its banks, or that are sent down through the interior by the Ohio. The commerce of the lakes is maintained, more- over, in a great measure by the transportation of the agricultural produce of the great states of Ohio, Illinois and Michigan, lying upon their borders, to the eastern matkets : and the same may be said of the can-j,l and rail-road trans- portation of the greater number of the states as well as our coastwise trade. Furthermore, if we examine the decks and holds of the ships which are constantly setting sail from cur commercial towns both at the east and south, we find that agriculture supplies the great bulk of the cargoes which are exported abroad. It is agriculture indeed which gives life-blood to the trade and commerce of the country, and is doubtless as important to the solid vigour of commercial enterprise as nutritious food to the health of the human body. Withdraw this re- source from our commerce, and the veins and arteries of the commercial system would sink into a state of collapse, exhilDiting the cadave- rous and pallid hue of disease and starvation. Of the amount of the several species of agri- cultural products yielded by the country, we are furnished with the following statements. An estimate of the products of labour and cap- ital in the U. S., for the year 1848. is given, as a means of comparison with more recent statements which foll'ow. Agricultural Pro- ducts. Wheat (a) Indian corn Barley Rye Oats , ... Buckwheat Potatoes Beans Flaxseed Hay Hemp and Flax. . Tobacco Cotton Rice Sugar (including maple) Silk cocoons. ... Hops Beeswax (6) Honey Molasses (c) .... Wine Pasturage, annual value - .. . Value of the residu- «w of crops: straw, chaff, &c. (rf). . Manure («) Products of orchards Value in 1840 Increase 25 per cent Products of gardens Number estimated at 3,000,000 ... Products of nurseries Value of in 1840 . .. Increase 25 per cent. Live stock and its products. Sheep, No. in IS-IS . Wool, pounds .... Neat cattle, number in 1848 Swine, number in 1848 Bushels. 126,364,600 583,150,000 6,222,0.30 32,951,500 185,.500,000 12,523,000 114,475,000 10,000,000 20,000,600 1,600,000 Tons. 15,735,000 100,000 Pounds . 218,909,000 1,066,000,000 119,199,500 275,000,000 400,000 1,566,301 789,525 23,685,750 Gallons. 9,600,000 500,000 Dollars. 7,256,904 1,814,226 Anmidt value, i^xtiniated at 15 dolls, per garden 8 00 ISO 00 04 07 03 05 2 00 09 21 10 28; 1 00' 593,534 148,383 25,000,000 60,000,000 18,714,482 35,000,000 Dollars 145,319,290 344,058,500 4,044,332 21,418,475 64,925,000 6,260,500 32,342,500 10,000,000 17,500,000 1,920,000 125,880,000 18,000,000 8.756,360 74,620.000 3,575,985 13,750,000 800,000 140,967 165,800 2,363,575 2,736,000 500,000 60,768,1.36 100,000,000 60,000,000 1,119,866,420 9,071,130 45,000,000 741,917 54,813,047 18,000,on(] 51 AGRICULTURE. AGROSTIS. Estimate — continued. Butchers' meat (g) including mutton, beet', & pork, lbs. Value of hides, pelts and tallow -- Increase of neat cat- tle in 1848, estima- ted at 3 per cent. sincelS47, innum- ber 449,147, at $10 per head Horses, mules &■ asses Number in 1848 Value of incr'se (la-j bour not estimated Poultry. Value in 1840 Increase 25 percent. Eggs, No. consumed Live geese feathers lbs. Products of the dairy. Value in 1840 Increase 25 per cent. Milk, value of Products oftheforest, including lumber, furs, and skins. .. Firewood, No. c'ds Products of the fishe- \ ries, including whale, cod, mack- erel, and all other fi,sheries Capital employed in co^nmerce, trade, f internal transport- ation Profits at 6 per cent. Manicfactures. Products, value of. Mines. Products of, inclu- ding iron, lead, gold, silver, mar- ble, granite, salt, coal, &c. &c Banking and insu- rance. Bank capital Capital of insurance companies .... iProfits of I Money loaned at inte- rest. Profits of ....^ . I Rentals. Of houses and lands I Professions. Profits "of 3.604,934,000 5,419,586 9,344,410 2,336,102 l.OS'4, 300,000 2,000,000 33,787,008 8,446.750 20,000,000 400,000,000 Dollars 04 cent 50 Dollars 146,597,360 20,000,000 4,401,470 8,129,350 11,680,512 5,421,500 1,000,000 42,233,^58 20,000,000 277,553,950 22,250,000 1 50 I 37,500,000 59,750,000 17,581,339 24,000,000 550,000,000 75,000,000 20,000,000 20,000,000 50,000,000 50,000,000 2,323,564,756 {a) The estimates above given by the Commis- sioner of Patents, for 1848, are founded upon the bases furnished in the census returns for 1840, with the addition of 22 per cent., that being the computed increase of population since that period. The prices are generally the average prices of the different articles in the New York market. The quantities and values of hemp, flax, hops, beeswax, molasses, wine, products of orchards 52 and nurseries, have 25 per cent, allowed foi increase, except where later information justifies a departure from this rule. {b) The census of 1840 contains no returns of honey. Bevan estimates 30 pounds of honey for each pound of wax produced, and this is taken as the basis of the present estimate. (c) A little more than 45 gallons of molasses are allowed by authors treating on the subject of sugar-growing and manufacture, for every 1000 lbs. of cane sugar. {(l) In France 11| per cent, upon the value of the products of the land and forest is allowed for the refuse of crops. From the returns of estimates made by farmers in various parts of the Union in 1848, it appears that many allow 1 ton of straw to 20 bushels of wheat and other small grain produced, and 1 ton of fodder for about 25 bushels of Indian corn. The straw is valued at $2.50, and the fodder at $2 per ton: very low prices. If to 'hese be added the refuse of the cott6ii, sugar, rice, and other crops, it will make the total value exceed $100,000,000. In England, the annual value of straw alone, used for thatching, &c., is estimated at about $40,000,000. (e) The average price of manure in the pre- sent estimate is 6G| cts. per cord. The value of the manure produced in England was com- puted, in 18.35, at 329,300,000 loads, valued at about $295,000,000, exclusive of the droppings, from grazing stock, equal to about § more. {g) See Food and Ventilation. [AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS, Consump- tion OF. To one who examines statements of the agricultural products of various kinds every year yielded in such immense quantities, it seems, at first glance, difficult to imagine how these can all be consumed, before fresh crops would glut the markets and do away, for a time, with the labours and profits of the hus- bandman. It is, however, only necessary for one to inquire into the consumption of the pro- ducts of the soil constantly going on in some of the most populous countries and cities, to give him courage to persevere in his productive ef- forts, even with renewed ardour. It has, for example, been estimated that the daily con- sumption of corn in England and Ireland, is, 1,238,096 bushels of wheat and barley; besides annually, 100,000 bags of rice, and 450,000,000 lbs. of sugar. The immediate products of the grasses, which, consumed by animals, forms the food of man, constitutes an amount almost inconceivable. In London alone there is an- nually consumed 155,000,000 lbs. of butcher's meat. Of cheese, another production of grass, 11,500 tons are annually introduced into Losi- don, from Cheshire, about 20,000 tons from Warwickshire, besides that imported from many other countries. Of butter, the annual con- sumption is about 50,000,000 lbs., the produce of 300,000 cows; and in London^ between 9 and 10,000 cows are kept for the supply of milk to the inhabitants, which produce annually about 30,000,000 qts. {Johnson^s Lectures on Botavy.)'] Agricultural Products of the U.S. in 1860, made from Census returns. Column A in- cludes 28 Eastern, Northern, Middle, and West- ern States ; Column B includes the Southern States of Virg., Tenn., N. Car., S. Car., Georg., Flor., Alab., Missis., Louis., Tex., and Ark. AGRICULTURE. AGRICULTURE. Products. Horses, numbers. Mules do Cattle do Sheep do Swine do Wool .pounds. Cheese do. Butter do. Wheat ....bushels. Rye do... Indian corn, do... Oats do... Barley do... Buckwheat. ..do... Potatoes do... Peas & beans, do... Hops pounds. Hay tons. Tobacco, pounds. Cane sugar ...do... Maple sugar..do... Cane mo- lasses. ...gallons Maple mo- lasses do... Sorghum molasses ...do... Rice pounds. Cotton, bales, 400 pounds. Wine gallons. Clover seed,bnshs. Grass seed. ...do... Value of market gardens Value of orchard products Value of home manufactures... Value of live stock Value of slaugh- tered animals... Value of farm im- plements and machinery Value of farms.... 5,277,950 390,457 16,675,107 17,198,219 19,180,379 50,183,626 104,996,049 399,76.3,525 138,809,133 18,792,013 547,029,514 152.168,687 15,433,297 17,114,949 107,372,255 3,544,140 10,993,807 18,004,443 230,343,321 37,772,717 1,631,832 5,860,801 1,639,197 881,868 791,698 $13,209,603 16,839,327 9,8&4,161 707,900,731 130,549,754 162,1,31,142 4,767,474,851 B. Total. 1,980,357 7,258,307 881,384 1,271,841 12,080,208 28,755,315 6,097 ,.587 23,295,806 16,780,.?12 35,960,691 9,748,702 59,932,328 792,603 105,788.652 59,909,127 459,672,652 31,366,894 170,176,027 2,173,033 20,965,04& 280,665,014 827,694,52^ 19,920,408 172,089,095 180,292 15,613,589 536,112 17,651,061 44,287,432 151,639,687 11,555,606 15,099,746 16,018 11,009,826 1,069,283 19,073,726 199,021,430 429,364,751 301,922,000 301,922,000 ■ 1,090,851 38,863,568 16,313,903 16,313,903 312,467 1,944,299 1,315,241 7,176,042 187,320,581 187,320,581 5,192,746 5,192,746 211,622 1,850,819 46.931 928,799 108,170 899,868 $2,091,288 $15,300,885 2,857,015 19,696,342 14,362,300 24,226,461 390,962^274 1,098,863,005 81,482,301 212,032,055 83,993,793 246,124,935 1,870,938,920 6,638,413,771 The territory of the United States, in 1867, contains 2,936,166 square miles, or 1,879,146,- 240 acres. When the late Russian possessions are added, the total will be 3,491, 553 sq. miles, of 640 sq. acres each. (For further particulars of States and coun- ties, see Census of U. S. for 1860, and sum- mary in the Report of the Commission of Patents for 1862.) Valuation of Taxed Property. In 1791, estimated $750,000,000 1816, estimated 1,800,000,000 1850, Official valuation 7,135,780,228 1860, " " 16,159,616,068 Showing an increase in the last decade alone of $9,023,835,840, equal to 130 per cent, for last 10 years. A very satisfactory explanation of this sud- den and surprising development of prosperity 83 perhaps furnished by the completion of ca- nals and railways on which the products of vast tracts of fertile Western lands have been brought to the sea-board. During the ten years ending in 1860, the sum of $413,541,510 was expended within the interior central group, known as the " food-expoi-ting States," in constructing 11,212 miles of railway. The total number of miles of railroad in the U. S. amount, in 1867, to 40,000. The public lands belonging to the govern- ment amounted in 1862 to 964,901,625 square acres. The quantity surveyed and ready for sale was 135,142,999 acres. This land is granted'gratuitously to actual settlers, or sold at prices not exceeding $1.25 per acre to others than settlers. Population of the U. S. from Census returns made in 1850-60, showing the increase. States. California Connecticut Delaware Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Maine Massachusetts Maryland Michigan Minnesota Missouri New Hampshire.. New Jersey New York Ohio Oregon , , Pennsylvania Rhode Island Vermont Wisconsin Total 15,793,308 92,597 370,792 91,532 851,470 988,416 192,214 982,405 583,169 994,514 583,034 397,654 6,077 682,044 317,976 489,555 ,097,394 ,980,329 13,294 ,311,786 147,545 314,120 305,391 365,439 460,147 112,216 1,711,951 1,350,428 674,913 107,206 1,155,684 628,279 1,231,066 687,049 749,113 172,123 1,182,012 326,073 672,035 3,880,735 2,339,551 52,465 2,906,115 174,620 315,098 775,881 22,030,199 Per cent, increase. 310.37 42.10 22.60 101.06 36.63 256.64 17.64 7.74 23.79 17.84 73.30 2.55 37.27 25.28 18.14 294.65 25.71 18.35 0.31 12.29 Population o/ll Southern States. 771.623 209,897 87,445 906,185 517,762 606,526 869,039 668,507 1.002,717 212,592 1,421,661 964,201 435,450 140,425 1,057,286 708,002 791,305 992,622 703,708 1,109,801 604.215 1,596,318 24.96 107.46 60.59 16.67 36.74 30.47 North Carolina South Carolina 14.20 5.27 10.68 Texas 184.22 12.29 Total 7,273,954 9,103,333 The increase of population since the estab- lishment of the goverumenfc has been as fol- lows: — 3,929,827, 5,305,937, increase 35.02 per cent. 1790, 1800, 1810, 1820, 7,239,814, 9,638,191, 1830, 12,866,020, 1840, 17,069,453, 1850, 23,191,876, 1860, 31,445.080, 56.45 33.13 33.49 32.67 35.87 35.59 The increase from foreign emigration has been a yearly average, for 40 years, of 126,- 560, and for the 10 years previous to 1860 270,761. Of 5,062,414 arrivals from foreign countries in 40 years, from 1820 to 1860, there were from Ireland 967,366 England 302,665 Scotland 47,800 Wales 7,935 Great Britain and Ire- land 1,42.5,018= e2 r2,750,784 53 AGRICULTURE. AGROSTIS. Germany 1,546,976 Sweden 36,129 Denmark and Norway .. 5,540=1,588,645 France 208,063 Italy • 11,302 Switzerland 37,732 Spain.,.. 16,245 British America 117,142 China, (in California al- most exclusively,) ... 41,443 . All other countries, or ' unknown 291,558= 723,485 5,062,414 The increase of the whole population of the United States in the seven decades, from 1790 to 1860, is very nearly at the rate of 33 J per cent, for 10 years. Though a very few years have elapsed since the hitherto almost mythic land of California came into possession of those capable of de- veloping its extraordinary resources, surpris- ing progress has already been made. To say nothing of its almost intinite mineral wealth, its agricultural advantages are incalculable, and the cereal products are perhaps eclipsed by those of its fruit-growing capacities. Es- pecially is its soil and climate adapted to the vine and the production of wines, which even now rival the best vintages of Europe, and will doubtless soon eclipse them in the markets of the world. They are recommended not only by their general purity and grateful qualities, but by their being more readily digested and freed from excess of acids and other offensive qualities which often render European wines' irritating and unwholesome. This remark is particularly applicable to the Sonoma hocks, and to the Angelica and other wines of Los Angelos. Some of the red wines, misnamed Port, rival the Burgundy and Hermitage of Southern France in their rich violet bou- quet. AGROSTIS. The bent grass. An exten- sive genus of grasses, which from their gen- eral character of, thriving best on marshy or wet soils, are of comparatively little value to the farmer. In America they have obtained little notice; but in England they are often made of considerable account, and the follow- ing varieties are noticed. Agrostis alba, or white bent, smaller than other varieties, with roots difficult to extir- pate in clay soils. Late, unproductive, and but little nutritive. A great exhauster of the soil. Agrostis canina, var. mutica. A useless va- riety of brown bent, or Creeping-stalked brown bent. Common in deep bogs. A diminutive plant. Worthless. Agrostis canina capillaris. Fine-panacled brown bent, or tufted bent. Common in old pastures, or poor and moist clay soils. Called winter fog, in England. Of no value. Agrostis lobata. Lobed, or sea-side bent. Agrostis nivea. Snowy bent, or straw-col- ored bent grass. Agrostis Palustris, or marsh-bent. See Fio- REN Grass and Aorostis Stolonifera, p. 577. Agrostis Mexicana. Naturalized in England, 54 where it grows best in calcareous and clay soils. Hardy, but without superior nutritious properties. Agrostis ramorissima, lateral-branching bent grass. Nearly allied to the A. Mexicana. Re- markable for the number of branches that issue from its joints, and woody nature of its stem. Agrostis repens, creeping rooted bent, or white bent. This is a species of couch grass ?ery difficult to eradicate, the roots striking eeper than the plough, and shooting up from the least particle left in the ground. Hand- picking is the most effectual means of de- struction. The Agrostis stolonifera, (var. Latifolia,) or long-leaved creeping bent, or Jioren, is repre- sented in Plate No. X. of the Hay-grasses, n. It appears to be much superior in point of productiveness and nutritive qualities to the other varieties of Agrostis stolonifera, from which it differs so little in appearance as to make it difficult to discriminate between them. This variety appears to be confined to rich old pasture land, whilst the others are found in different soils, the olays, light sands, moors, bogs, marshes, bottoms of ponds and ditches, etc. Several years ago the Agrostis stoloni- fera was introduced into England by Dr. Wil-. liam Richardson, under the name of Fio- ren. He published an account setting forth its characteristics, with experiments showing its nutritive qualities, from which it would appear to be a valuable grass for some situa- tions, at least in the moist climates of England and Ireland. The variety which has been called by bota- nists Agrostis vulgaris, is common in fields laying out in grass, and has doubtless given the name to the genera, derived from the Greek word Agros, a field. The well-known Herds, or Red-top of the Middle and Northern States be- long to this family, and has received the name of Foul 3Ieadoic Grass from the difficulty with which it is eradicated when it has once ob- tained a footing. Another variety is called White-top. There has been much prejudice existing against the ditTerent species of Agrostis in gene- ral ; but let the proprietor of a rich ancient pasture divest a part of it of this grass entirely, and the value of the plant will be demonstrated in the comparative loss of late and early herb- age. The cock's foot grass is superior to the larger variety of the creeping bent, in the pro- portion nearly of 11 to 9. The meadow fescue is also superior to florin in nearly the like pi«o- portion as cock's foot. The meadow fox-tail grass is inferior to florin in the proportion nearly of 6 to 7. When cultivated separately, for the purpose of green food or hay, florin requires to be kept perfectly clear of weeds, its couchant habit of growth affording great encouragement for the health of upright growing plants — under this circumstance, weeds. It flowers in England about the second and third weeks of July, and the seed is ripe about the second and third weeks of August. The mode of convert- ing florin into hay, duiing the winter months, is amply detailed in Dr. Richardson's publica- tions on Fiorin. Full information will there AGROSTIS. AGROSTIS. be likewise found on the productive powers, uses, modes of cultivation, &c., of this grass, deduced from the Doctor's own experiments. Agrostis itricta. Rock bent; upright bent. Trichodlum rupestre (Schrader). This species being inferior to the common bent in most points, its value to the agriculturist can be but little. The only property that renders it worthy of notice is, the small degree in which it im- poverishes the soil : v.'hen cultivated on a poor, silicious, sandy soil, the produce, though some- what inferior, continued for six )'ears, without diminishing in the yearly quantity, and without any manure being applied ; a circumstance which was not manifested in any other species of grass. Agrostis vulgaris canina. Awned fine bent. (Brown bent, or Agrostis canina, Wither. Arr. Smith's Engl. Flora. Agrostis vulgaris var. 0. Do. var. 1.) As this is a much less common plant than the variety of Agrostis vulgaris before described, and as it ditfers so much from that variety in the properties which constitute the farmer's distinguishing charac- ters of grasses, the name caninu'is here added. The vulgaris mutica is more common to sandy soils ; the v. canina to clayey soils. The weight of nutritive matter in which the produce of one acre of the awnless variety of Agrostis vulgaris canina exceeds that of the awned va- riety is 151.8. The comparative merits of the Agrostis vulgaris exceed those of the Agrostis vulgaris canina nearly as 2 to 1. The crop of the awnless variety is greater than that of the awned, but it is much less nutritive, being as 10 to 7; the spring and autumn produce is likewise superior. Neither of these varieties appears to be of much value to the farmer. The rusl attacks the culms and leaves of both varieties which gives the plants a dirty brown appearance ; the Agrostis vulgaris is always free from this disease. The brown bent flowers in the second and third weeks of July, and ripens the seed in the end of August. Agrostis vulgaris mutica. Common bent; fine bent grass. [See Plate 6, d, of Hay Grasses.] This species has four varieties, according to Dr. Schrader. The first is distinguished by being awned (see Agrostis vulgaris canina, and Trichodlum caninuni) ; the second by awnless and diseased flowers (see Agrostis pumila of Willd. Spec. Plant, i. p. 371) ; the third by its diseased awned flowers ; the fourth, by having the flowers viviparous, Agrostis sylvatica. The common bent is one of the earliest of the bent grasses ; in this respect it is superior to eveiy other of this family ; but inferior to several of them in the quantity of produce it affords, and the nutritive matter it consumes. It is the most common grass on natural sandy pastures ; and even on more tenaceous soils, that are elevated and exposed, it is fre- quent. It flowers from the third week of June till the second week of July, and the seed is ripe the beginning of August. The following tabular arrangement shows at a glance the proportional value of the seve- ral varieties of Agrostis, in seed and in flower, and their yield per acre of green and dry pro- duce on various soils, and comparative quali- ties of nutrition. Agrostis alba, in flower, ... - - — canina, in flower . . - . canina, when seed ripe - - palustris, in flower ... - palustris, wlien seed ripe ... repens, in flower, .... itolonifera aristata, in flower stolonifera arigtata, in December stolonifera avguslifdia, when seed ripe stolonifera angustifolia, in December - canina capillarix, in flower . - - canina fasicularis, in flower canina fasicxdaris, in s&eA . - - mexicana, in flower . . - - • nivea, in flower . . - - nivea, when seed ripe - ramosissisima, in flower ■ stolonifera latifolia, in flower - stolonifera latifolia, seed ripe ■ lobata, in flower ■ lubata, seed ripe ... • stricta, in flower • stricta, seed ripe — vulgaris mutica, in flower vulgaris mutica, in seed vulgaris canina So'I. Green Pro Dry Produce Produce per Acre duce per Acre. per Acre. of Nutrive malter. lbs. lbs. lbs. Clay 8,167 8 3,471 3 2,255 3 12 Bog 5,445 1,497 6 148 14 — 6,125 10 2,603 5 239 4 8 — 10,209 6 4,534 3 438 10 — 13,612 8 5,445 584 14 Clayey loam 6,125 10 2,679 15 6 287 2 Bog 8,648 4,210 12 368 10 — 10,209 6 4,594 3 8 438 10 15 — 16,335 7,350 12 765 11 ■ - 17,015 8,507 8 930 8 Sandy --^am 4,764 6 1,310 3 148 14 Sandy 2,722 8 680 10 85 1 4 — 4,083 13 1,429 5 239 4 .("Rich, blaclf, silici-'* \ ous, sandy j V9,057 8 6,670 2 595 8 12 Sandy 6,125 10 2,603 6 4 239 4 8 -^ 4,764 6 1,310 3 4 148 14 3 Strong clayey loam 28,586 4 n 1. 434 893 5 Peat 17,696 4 7,742 1 12 967 12 3 — 19,057 8 8,575 14 1,042 3 5 1 Silicious sand 6,606 4 3,403 2 319 11 — 6,125 10 2,'679 15 6 287 2 3 Bog 9,528 12 4,764 6 251 3 15 — 7,486 14 2,713 15 14 175 7 9 Silicious sand 10,209 6 4,594 3 8 531 11 3 — 9,528 12 4,764 6 251 3 15 Sandy loam 6,125 10 2,603 6 4 239 4 8 This family of grasses has been held in little esteem by farmers, principally on account of their lateness of flowering. (Sinclair's Hort. Gram. ,• Smith's Eng. Bot.) [Several of the species thus enumerated, as existing in England, have found their way to America, doubtless introduced mixed in grain and grass seeds. The)^ are, however, so dry and wiry as to be esteemed of little or no value to the farmer. Among these are, the — A. vulgaris, which Pursh, the celebrated botanist, says, is common in all grassy field.., flowering in July. This is doubtless the species which gives name to the genera, dt rived from Agros, a Greek word signifying a field. Dr. Darlington says it is the grass ex tensively known in the Middle States as Herih j or Red-top, and sometimes in the Eastern State.»- AIR. AIRA. called Foul Meadow Grass. The last name being evidently derived from (,h6 great difficulty with M'hich it is eradicated when it has once obtained a footing. The gra;is called while-top, appears, to be a variety of Herds. There seems to be considerable obscurity and confu- sion in the descriptions given of this grass. The commoii characteristics of the plant, as seen in the meadows of Pennsylvania, Dr. Darli) gton says, resemble those of the A. alba, the W hite or Yellow Tops of the Eastern States. It alT'/fds a tolerably good pasture for cattle, and i'. valuable in swampy grounds, which its roo.f: 'end to consolidate; but it is not much estfi? Jaed for hay, and is now seldom, if ever, an cbject of special cultivation in the Middle Sta^-Rs. The Pennsylvania farmers are so op- posed to having Herds grass rooted in their fidds and meadows that they reject clover and every other grass seed in which the least Herds appears. Among the species found in the United States, are the following — A. pungens, or VirginianAgrostis, frequenting dry, sandy banks, and road-sides, flowering in ihe southern part of Pennsylvania, in August. This species differs much, in habit, from most others. A. cinna, common on rivers and islands be- low tide-water, from Canada to the Carolinas, flowering in June, &c. A. juncea, found in barren, sandy places, from New Jersey to Florida ; flowering from July to August. -1. latenfvlia, found in rich soil on the edges of woods from New York to Florida, especially in the western countries, where it appears to be of more value. In the southern parts of Pennsylvania it affords an indifferent pasture in ihe latter part of summer, but is not regarded as of much consequence, which may indeed be said of most, if not all, of the Ame- rican species of agrostis. The late Judge Peters introduced the florin into Philadelphia county, in 1812, by import- ing a quantity of the strings or layers from which it is always propagated in Ireland. For some reason its cultivation has not been kept up, and at present it is difficult to be found in America. When once it has obtained a foot- ing in a suitable soil, it is scarcely to be eradicated, for which reason it is not adapted to the alternate system of husbandry.] AIR {Air, French, aer, Lat). The element or thin medium in which terrestrial animals move and breathe, and which surrounds the earth to a considerable height. See Atmo- sphere and Gases. . AIRA. A genus of grasses, of which there are but few species capable of being cultivated to advantage as field grasses. Aira aqudtica. Water hair-grass. This plant is an aquatic, found naturally growing in the mud of standing pools, or running waters in England. It is, therefore, unfit for cultivation. Mr. Curtis says, that it is the sweetest of the British grasses; but there are several species which contain more sugar, in proportion to the other ingredients which compose their nutri- tive matter, as the Ghjceria Jluitans, Elynuis nronarius. Poa nemorulis var. angnstlfuliu, Poa vqUatica Aira csespHosa. Turfy hair-grass ; hassock grass. [See Plate 6. of Pasture Grasses, m.] This grass is of a very innutritions nature; but even if it had greater nutritive powers, the extreme coarseness of the foliage would render it unfit for cultivation. It delights in moist clayey soils, where the water stagnates ; but is found in almost every kind of soil, from the diy sandy heath to the bog. It forms dense tufts in pastures very disagreeable to the sight, which are termed hassocks, bull's faces, &c., by farmers. It is a most difficult plant to ex- tirpate, when in considerable quantity. Some persons, to get rid of it, dig up the tufts, and fill up the holes with lime compost ; this, no doubt, would answer the end, at least for a few years, if all the roots were destroyed ; but this is never the case : a circle of roots is left, which, in one or two seasons, produce larger hassocks than before ; and besides, when the hassocks are numerous, the expense attending this process is considerable. Others depend on occasional mowings to keep the hassocks under; but this is productive of little good, particularly if the mowing of the tufts- be de- ferred till the autumn, which I believe is the common practice. I have found no treatment weaken or retard the growth of grass so much as cutting it closely, before and after the first tender shoots appear in the spring. But the only effectual and most profitable mode of ex- tirpating this grass is by first paring and burn- ing the surface of the land, and by making proper drains, to correct, as much as possible, the tenacious nature of the soil ; in this case surface-drains are as necessary as those termed hollow. Sand should likewise be ap- plied during the course of crops taken previous to returning the land again to permanent pas- ture, if such should be desirable, from its local situation ; as that, for instance, of a park or policy. This grass flowers about the third week in July, and the seed is ripe towards the end of August. Aira cristata. Crested hair-grass. Poa cris- fata. Crested meadow-grass. Host. ii. p. 54, t. 75. This native grass was formerly ranked by botanists under the genus Poa, but has since been referred to that of Aira, to which it is more closely allied. The produce of this speQies, and the nutritive matter it affords, are equal to those of the Festuca ovina at the time the seed is ripe ; they equally delight in dry soils, though the Aira cristata will thrive well and remain permanent in soils of a moist and clayey nature, which is different from the Fes tuca ovina. The greater bulk of the produce of the Aira cristata, in proportion to its weight, makes it of inferior value to the Festuca ovina. In some parts of the country it grows on dry pastures plentifully, where it appears to be but sparingly eaten by cattle, particularly if the pasture be not overstocked. Rye-grass (I/O- Uum perenne), sheep's fescue {Festuca ovina), yellow oat-grass {Avena Jlavescens), crested dog's tail {Cyfjnosurus teia have been very numerous. The clergy nave been especially promoters of this system. Where this system, well regulated, has been tried, and the experience is now very exten- sive, the results have been most happy. The condition of the poor has been ameliorated; by rendering them more independent, they have become more contented and more careful ; bet- ter as citizens, and better as individuals. If the allotments much exceed a quarter of an acre, or in any way approach to the nature of cotter farms, a proportionate blow is made at that employment of capital and talent in agriculture which has raised it to its presenl improved state. " The advantages attending this system," says a clerical writer in the Christian Oh- server for 1832, "besides the comfort of the poor man, are the diminution of the poor's rate, and the moral improvement of the la- bourer. Since this plan has been in opera- tion, the poor-rate has been steadily declining from about 320/. to about 180/. per annum, with the prospect of still further diminution. When the farmer's work is scarce, the poor man finds profitable employment on his pa.tch of ground, which if he had not to occupy him, he would be sent to idle upon the roads at the expense of the parish. "The system has the further and very important effect of improving his character. When the labourer has his little plot of ground, from which he feels he shall hot be ejected as long as he conducts himself with propriety, he has an object on which his heart is fixed; he has something at stake in society; he will not hang loose on the community, ready to join those who would dis- turb it; so much so, that in the late riots, no man in the parish showed any disposition to join them." From the year 1828 to the present time, nu- merous pamphlets upon this subject have ap- peared, and for further information readers are referred to those of Dr. Law, and of Messrs. Scobell, Scrope, Banfill, Denson, Blackistcn, Withers, &c. ALLOWANCES TO TENANTS. Such as are agreed to be made to them on their quitting farms, or under any other circumstances. See Customs of Counties and Appraisement. ALLUVIUM, or ALLUVION (from the La- tin Alluvio, "an inundation"), is a term which, in the English language, has no very defined meaning. Some authors use it to designate all those rocks which have been formed by causes now acting on the surface of the earth, includ- ing those of volcanic origin ; while others, ad- hering to the literal meaning of the original term, confine its application to deposits, what- ever be their character, that have resulted from inundations. Neither of these definiti ns convey the same meaning as is usually at- tached to the word, the one including tow much, the other too little. The term has been badly selected, but is used in its proper appli- cation to designate all those deposits recently formed, or now forming, by the agency of wa- ter, whether from an uninterrupted and con- stant stream, or from casual inundation. All streams, lakes, rivers, seas, and tlie fi7 ALLUVIUM. ALLUVIUM. ocean itself, hold a large quantity of earth)'- matter in mechanical solution, which they de- posit in their beds. The character of the sedi- ment is governed by the nature of the rocks over which the waters flow ; and the quantity depends partly upon the constitution of the rocks, and partly upon the power of the water. If the rock be easily destroyed, and a large body of water flow over it with a considerable velocity, the destructive effect will be great, and much M^orn materials {detritus) being formed", the streafn will have a thick and tur- bid appearance. The same effect is frequently produced by the discharge of a number of tri- butary streams into a river, all of which accu- mulate a greater or less quantity of the earths over which they flow. The distribution of water at the present time, and I more particularly refer to rivers, is very different from that of former periods. The majority of the valleys through which rivers are now flowing, have been produced by the action of water, which, running from higher lands, has not only scooped them out, but has spread over them the worn material which it accumulates in its passage. By the operations which have since been going on, the waters have been collected together in comparatively narrow channels of consider- able permanency. On this account, the influ- ence of water that flows over the portions of the earth inhabited by terrestrial animals is great- ly restricted ; and the production of new beds of rock or soil is rather an accidental than a necessary consequence. But, although the influence of water has been thus confined, all lands, and especially the surfaces of mountainous districts, are un- dergoing change, and the superficial covering of one district is conveyed to another. The showers of heaven are constantly sweeping away the soil and decomposed rocks of the uplands into the valleys, over which they are transported by streams and rivers, the larger and heavier particles falling to the bottom, the smaller being united with the water in mechani- cal mixture. That portion of earthy matter which is carried aM^ay from a district by the running water, is, as far as the district itself is concerned, the most valuable, being the superficial covering or soil, and would be for ever lost to that portion of the earth inhabited oy man, were it not anested in its passage to the ocean, by deposition in the bed of the river, or on those lands which the waters may happen to overflow. It is well known to those who have visited elevated districts, that many mountains are already deprived of their soils, and are but the skeletons of the earth, without covering or life. By this action the valleys are in the process of elevation, and the mountains of depression ; and if we could conceive it to proceed without limitation, we may imagine a time when all the varieties of elevation and depression, which now give beauty to the surface, will be de- stroyed, and an entirely difi'erent condition of Ihe distribution of land and water will be established. But, at the same time, it cannot be denied that these changes, as far as they (lave hitherto proceeded, have been advanta- fi8 geous to man, whatever might be their result under the conditions to which we have alluded. The mountainous regions are, from their ele- vation, less suited to the progression of so- ciety, so intimately connected with agricultu- ral prosperity, than the plains. As we rise above the level of the sea, the atmosphere be- comes more rarified, and the cold more in- tense, both of which are injurious to vegeta tion in general, and unsuited to promote the comfort of animal life. The plains are, there- fore, preferred by men when they congregate together, and form societies. It cannot be considered an unwise or unfit result, that the lowlands should be enriched with alluvial soils, produced bj' the destruction of the rocks and natural soils of mountainous regions. It is reported of Dioclesian, that he told his col- league, Maximilian, he had more pleasure in the cultivation of a few potherbs which, in the gardens of Spalatro, grew in the soil that on the top of Mount Ha»nius had only produced moss and dittany, than in all the honours the Roman empire could confer. From the defini- tion I have given of the word " alluvium," I must include the gravels and sands that are of recent formation among the alluvial deposits ; but our attention is chiefly directed to the soils, or those beds which are suited to sustain vege- table life. It is true that the gravels may be made available for the cultivation of some plants, but the beds which are so used belong rather to that class of rocks denominated dilu- vial by geologists, than to the deposits of which we are speaking. If we trace the circumstances under which alluvial soils are formed to their cause, we shall find that they have their origin in the fall of heavy rains, and the melting of snows, in mountainous regions. The water, in its pas- sage to the valleys, collects the superficial soil and decomposed earthy material that lies in its path, and transports them into the channels to- wards which it flows. The streams that are formed on the mountain slopes are generally united together before they reach the plains, and form impetuous torrents, overcoming all obstacles, until their velocity is lost, when, in their winding courses, they meet each other, and form rivers. . Rivers, in every part of their course, are subject to inundation ; when, throwing their waters over a considerable space, they deposit the earthy materials they have accumulated. If such inundations had not occurred, the ac- cumulated worn materials T^rff'Jrjs) would have been deposited in the bed of the river, or car- ried into the lake or sea where the waters themselves are discharged. There are abun- dant instances on record of the filling up of rivers by the worn materials (detritus), which have been carried into their courses; and any river of our own country will afford a limited example of this result. Many rivers and es- tuaries, which a few years since were navi- gable, have ceased to be so on account of the large amount of alluvial matter deposited in their beds ; and many of our towns, which were once populous and wealthy, have on this account become poor and almost deserted. If we would see the effect of the transport of worn ALLUVIUM. ALLUVIUM. materials into lakes, we cannot have a more favourable opportunity than in Switzerland. Many of the lakes of this sublime and majestic country are rapidly filling from this cause ; and in some of them water plants are seen above the surface of the water. But when a river suffers inundation, the earthy matter, which is held in mechanical mixture, is ar- resJ.ed, and deposited on the land that is over- flowed, and a richly productive soil is formed. One or two examples may illustrate these re- marks. The Ganges annually overflows its banks, and deposits a rich alluvial soil over the country it inundates. This magnificent river was supposed to take its rise on the northern side of the Himalaya mountains, until it was proved, in 1819, by Lieutenant Webb, that all the streams which unite to give its existence, take their rise on the south side of the Hindoo Coast, or Snowy Mountains. The melting of the snows, and the heavy periodical rains aug- ment the volume of the water, and by the end of June, before the rainy season has com- menced in the low country, the river has ge- nerally risen fifteen feet; but after the rains in Bengal it usually attains a height of thirty-two feet above its ordinary level. By the end of July all the low countries adjoining the Ganges and the Burrampooter are overflowed, and no- thing but houses and trees are seen for many miles inward. The province of Bengal is divided into two nearly equal parts by the Ganges ; and as a large portion of the country on the banks of the river is low, it is especially exposed to inundation, from wdiich circum- stance it probably derives its name, such dis- tricts being called beng. A deep bed of rich soil is deposited during the period of the over- flow, and the vegetable productions are of the most varied and luxuriant character. Rice, wheat, barley, tobacco, indigo, cotton, the mul- berry, and the poppy, are all cultivated with success on the alluvial soils. It is well known that Egypt has been from time immemorial indebted to the overflow of the Nile for a rich alluvial soil, as well as for the means of irrigating the land. The an- cients seem to have been altogether at a loss to account for the periodical overflow of this river ; and when we consider the appearances before them, we are not surprised at the diffi- culties they experienced. They observed it in a country that was not moistened by a drop of rain, and where it was unaided by a single stream, and yet, at its stated -period, it began to lift its waters from their bed, and rising higher and higher, overflowed its banks, and spread itself like a sea over Lower Egypt, re- freshing the parched earth with moisture, and aiding its productiveness with the formation of a superficial covering of rich loam. The philosophers speculated without success upon its cause ; but while they were disputing as to the origin of the phenomenon, year by year the Nile rose, and left the evidence of its be- neficial sway in the richness of the crops and the luxuriance of the country. From the in- vestigations that have now been made, we know that the rise of the Nile is occasioned by the rains which fall on the high mountains in the interior and tropical regions, and not, as many of the ancients supposed, from the Ete- sian winds, which, blowing periodically iVom the north, prevent the waters from reaching the sea. The great importance of rivers, as agents in the production of alluvial soils, cannot be more strongly proved by any positive evidence than by a consideration of the state of Austra- lia, a country remarkable for the fewness of its rivers, and the general poverty of its soil Contrary to all precedents, the richest soils ir this land, excepting the alluvial, are found on the summits of hills. The fires which so fre- quently happen on the plains, the peculiar character of the vegetation (chiefly consisting of ever-greens), and the sparing distribution of water, are the principal causes of the steri- lity of this otherwise desirable country. There are, however, spots which, covered with allu- vial soil, can rival the richest and most culti- vated districts of England ; and the compari- son of these with other lands impresses the observer the more strongly with the great im- portance of the natural provision for the resti- tution of that portion of the earth inhabited by man, by the deposition of new earthy matter and a virgin soil. The alluvial flats of the Nepean, the Hawksbury, and the Hunter rivers, are spoken of by all writers as remark able for their fertility. The rich valley in which the Lake Alexandrina is situated may be noticed as another example of the influence of alluvial soils. The country around this lake appears to be one of the most beautiful and fertile in Australia ; and a glance at the map will immediately inform the inquirer of the cause. It is so situated as to receive the worn materials of the mountain chain that ranges along the promontory of which Cape Jervis is the soiithern point, and also to obtain moisture at all times from the lake, and a re- novating soil whenever it may overflow its banks. Alluvial soils are produced by the discharge of mountain streams into valleys, as well as by the overflow of rivers. We have already ex- plained the manner in which they collect the superficial covering of mountainous districts, and being charged with earthy matter, bring it into the plains. This may be deposited before the streams are united together in an individual channel as well as after, and should this be done, the valley may be covered with alluvial products. The formation of a river is a pro- cess which requires time, and many changes must happen before the flowing waters can form for themselves a local habitation ; obsta- cles must be removed, a bed must be scooped out, and an outlet must be formed, in the per- formance of which earthy matter must be ac- cumulated, and extensive deposits be formed. A third cause in the production of alluvial deposits may be mentioned. The sea is mak- ing great inroads upon many of its shores, carrying on a destructive war against the cliflTs that vainly endeavour to oppose its force; while on the other hand it is in some instances receding from the shores against which it once beat ; and thus, as though to recompense man for what it takes away, gives to him a portioj> 6) ALLUVIUM. of its own tcrritor)^ Those districts which are thus ^d'ic',1 to the land are usually superposed by a tine rich alluvial soil, as also are those which have at a former period been covered by the sea, and would be at the present day, were it not for the ingenuity and works of man. The districts in which are situated New Or- leans in America, and Missolonghi in Greece, are chietly alluvial, and nearly the whole of Holland has the same character, and can only be described as a district of which man has robbed the ocean. That part of the coast of Germany which is bordered by the North Sea is alluvial, and additions are constantly made to the shores by the gradual tlepositions of earthy matter upon the immense tlats which extend along them. The first sign of vegeta- tion on these lands is the appearance of the saltwort (Salicornia maritima), which is suc- ceeded by the sea grass (Pod maritima), and when the land is very rich, by the marsh star- wort {Aster Tripolium). The land is after- wards d3'ked, and used as pasture for sheep and cattle ; so that the spot over which the sea has perhaps for ages exercised an undisputed control, is brought under the power of man in a state most admirably adapted to suit his wants. In Lincolnshire and other parts of the Eng- lish coast, where the land is beneath the level of high-water mark, luifruitful districts are often restored to a state of fertility by the re- moval of the artificial banks that prevent the sea-water from flowing over it. In this way the land is thrown open to the sea, and as the tide rises, it is covered by water, which, being overcharged with earthy matter, deposits in two or three years a bed five or six feet thick of rich soil, which may be brought under cultivation by the exclusion of the agent that was instrumental in its produc- tion. (See WARPiNrr.) But it may be asked, whence does the sea obtain the earthj' matter with which it abounds 1 Rivers discharge themselves into the ocean, and it has been already stated that their waters are charged, more or less, with the superficial soil of mountainous countries, and the de- stroyed materials of rocks. A part of this may be arrested by occasional or periodical inundations, and by deposition in the bed of the river, but a large quantity must still be ca,rried into the ocean. It must also be re- membered that the water which is conveyed in a channel is constantly endeavouring so to arrange its course as to suffer the least possible resistance. In this attempt, it attacks the banks that confine it, and widens its Course, precipitating much earthy matter into the stream, to be removed by the flowing water. It frequently happens, and especially after the fall of heavy rains, that the water at the mouths of rivers is thick and turbid from the quantity of alluvial matter it holds in solution, and very many large rivers are rendered unsafe for na- vigation by the existence of large bars of sand ur clay at their outlet. But the sea is not mere.y a passive recipi- ent of the product of destructive causes, but IS itseL a cause. Sea coasts are constantly sufl'ering depredation by the action of the •vaves that beat upon them. Whether we look 70 ALLUVIUM. at the soft and almost unresisting rocks i)f the eastern coast of England, or the hard primary rocks of Devonshire, Cornwall, and the Shet- land Isles, the same results will be observed. During the stormy months of winter, when the waves are tossed upon the coasts with an almost uncontrolled violence, no rock is suffi- ciently hard to resist its energy, and when un- ruffled by a passing breeze in the months of summer, its influence upon the softer rocks is hardly less destructive, though more insidious, for it then attacks the base of the cliff's, and removing the support of the superincumbent mass, causes the precipitation of large portions into the sea. By these two causes the sea is provided with the materials for the formation of alluvial soils. Some estimate may be formed of the violence and extent of these causes, by an examination of the present state of the German Ocean, one fifth of which is covered by banks that appear to have been produced in the same way as the alluvial soils on the northern coast of Germany. Water, then, is a most powerful agent in the destruction and production of rocks, and were there no conservative principle, the changes that are going on would be more extensive than they are in the present day. The floods to which some rivers are subject are so impe- tuous that they frequently sweep away all op- posing objects, and involve an entire district in ruin. These eff'ects, however, are much more common in countries that are thinly covered by vegetation than in those where it is luxuriant, for it acts as a conservative agent, increasing the power of the resistance, by binding the soil more closely together. This, therefore, will account for the diminished influ- ence of floods upon lowlands, and for the fre quent deposition of rich and fertile alluvial soils. The composition of the alluvial soils that have been brought under cultivation is exceed- ingly various ; but they are generally re- markable for their fertility, and are admirably suited for pasture lands. "In general," says Sir Humphry Davy, "the soils, the materials of which are most various and heterogeneous, are those called alluvial, or which have been formed by the deposition of rivers ; many of them are extremely fertile. I have examined some productive alluvial soils, which have been very different in their composition. A specimen from the banks of the river Parret in Somersetshire, afforded me eighty parts of finely divided matter, and one part of silicious sand ; and an analysis of the former gave the following result ; Carbonate oflime ----- 3fiO parts. Aliiniina ---..--25 Silica 20 Oxide of iron ...... 8 Vegetable, animal, and saline matter - - 19 " A rich soil from the neighbourhood of the Avon, in the valley of Evesham, in the Wor- cestershire, affordeil me three-fifths of fine sand and two-fifths of impalpable matter. This last consisted of — Alumina -------41 parts. Silica 42 Carbonate oflime ----- 4 Oxide of iron --.-.- 5 Vegetable, animal, and saline matter - fl ALMOND. ALMOND. " A soil yielding excellent pasture, from the valley of the Avon, near Salisbury, afforded 07ie eleventh of coarse silicious sand, and the finely divided matter consist-ed of — AUimina ..--.--7 parts. Silica 14 L\irbonate of lime ----- 63 Oxiiie ol'iron ------ 2 Vegetable, animal, and saline matter - 14." Another striking cause of the fertility of al- luvial soils will come more properly under Ir- niG ATioN. — {Miller's Dictionary.) ALMOND, Silver-leaved (Lat. Amygdaltts ar- gentea), A beautiful shrub originally from the Levan:. It grows from eight to ten feet high, and blows rose-coloured flowers in April. Its leaves are covered on both sides with a sil- very-coloured down, but they do not appear till the floAvers are gone. All the almond tribe are hardy, and will bear any situation, if the soil is tolerably good. Propagate by grafting upon the bitter almond or a plum stock. The double dwarf almond, Lat. Amygdalus pumila, is a smaller shrub, with pale, rose-coloured double flowers, blowing in May, and again in September. The common dwarf almond, Lat. Amygdalus nana, grows only three feet high, and is a native of Russia. It blows its pink flowers in March and April. Propagate by seed, or grafting upon the bitter almond or plum stocks. Trim away dead wood, but prune seldor.t , they rarely require pruning. (L. Johnson.) ALMOND TRUE (Amygdalus, Linnaeus ; amandjFr.). Derived by Menage from amandala, a word in low Latin ; by others from Allemand, a German, supposing that almonds came to France from Germany. But the Spanish have almendra ; and perhaps amand, amandola, and this, are all referable to amygdalum, as that is to a(j.uyi-jLKUi. {Tudd's Johnson.) More than one specie*, and several varieties of this well known genus are cultivated in England, chiefly for the beauty of their early spring flowers. The common almond tree {Amygdalus com- munis, Linnaeus) is a native of northern Africa, and so late as the time of Cato had not been introduced into Italy, as he calls the fruit Greek nuts {ntices Grsecx). It was introduced into Britain about 1548. It will grow to the height of twenty or thirty feet, dividing into a head of numerous spreading branches. The leaves very much resemble those of tlie peach, but they proceed from buds both above and below the flowers. There are also small glands on the lower saw-toothing of the leaves. The form of the flowers is not very different from those of the peach, but they come out usuallj' in pairs, and vary more in their colour, from the fine blush of the apple blossom to a snowy whiteness. The chief obvious distinction is in the fruit, which is flatter, with a leather-like covering, instead of the rich pulp of the peach, and the nectarine, and it also opens spontane- ously when the kernel is ripe. The shell of the almond is never so hard as a peach stone, and is sometimes even tender and exceedingly brittle. It is flatter, smoother, and the furrows or holes are more superficial than those of the peach stone. Varieties of the common almond. — 1. The nuts about an inch and a quarter long, with a hard smooth shell ; the kernel not valuable. The seedlings are used in France to bud peaches upon. 2. Bitter : fruit of a large size. 3. Bitter: with a tender shell; fruit of a large size. 4. Bitter : with a hard shell ; fruit of a laige size. 5. Sultan : fruit of a small size. 6. Grand Sultan : fruit of a small size. 7. Sweet : with a tender shell, or tender- shelled Sultan; fruit of a moderate size. 8. Sweet : with a half hard shell. 9. Sweet: with a hard shell. 10. Long-fruited: hard-shelled; fruit of a lai'ge size. 11. Pea(jh almond: fruit of a large size. 12. Brittle : fruit of a moderate size. We are not certain whether the French va- rieties, called, 1. Amande douce a coque dure ; 2. Amande douce a coque tendre ; 3. Amande des dames ; and 4. Amande princesse, coincide with an)'' of the preceding^ The whole of the varieties generally pro- duce a profusion of blossoms, which vary a little in colour from a fine rose to a pale blush. They closely resemble each other in foliage, the principal distinction being in the fruit, which differs either as to its form, its sizo, or its taste. In the south of Europe, as in France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy, the almond is cultivated very extensively as a standard fruit tree, the varieties there being veiy numeroiis. They export the fruit to every quarter of the globe. The kernel of the almond is the part used, and when it is green, ripe, or dried, it funiiohes a most agreeable addition to the dessert. It is also'used to a very great extent in confection- ary, perfumery, cookery, and medicine. The general purpose of introducing the tree into gardens and pleasure grounds in England is for the great beauty of its blossoms, which are not only handsome, but being produced in such profusion as they usually are at_^so early a period of the spring season, before the foliage appears, become extremely conspicuous and higWy ornamental ; a circumstance which renders the tree a most desirable shrubby plant. The common almond, and its varieties, blos- som earlier than the dwarf kinds, from which circumstance the blossoms of the latter are very rarely damaged b}^ spriTig frosts, but the other kinds, when planted in situations shel- tered from the east winds, are generally pre- served from sustaining damage. Propagation. — All the species and varieties are propagated by seeds, budding, grafting, layers, and occasionally they will produce suckers, which may be successfully planted out. When stocks for budding or grafting upon are wanted, or new varieties desired, these are obtained by sowing the fruit stones, though they may be budded or grafted on mussel-plum stocks. The stones of the last season's produce should be soM^n in October, upon a bed of light rich soil, about three inches apart, and cuverei. four inches deep with fine soil. This is indis pensable ; for when the soil is left in lumps, th' 7' ALMOND. ALOPECURUS. shoots are often forced into a crooked direc- tion, and this causes the trunk to be de- formed, and unfit to become a fine tree. When the surface of the seed-bed has been smoothed, a covering of rotten tanner's baric, or leaf mould, to the depth of two inches, must be laid iipon it, M'hich being light, pre- vents the frn it-stones from being damaged by any severity of winter. At the beginning of May this covering of bark or leaves must be raked clean off the bed. The stones might be reserved till spring, and be sown at the end of March, but the plants do not come so cer- tainly as when sown in autumn. An addi- tional advantage of an autumn sowing is, that the plants come up about six weeks or two months earlier than those sown in spring ; consequently the plants become vigorous and well rooted the first year, and thereby not liable to be thrown out of the ground by thaws suc- ceeding frost in the following winter. During summer, care must be taken to pull up all weeds, when very young, for if they be allowed to. get strong before pulling out, this operation is apt to injure the roots of the almond plants. "When almond stones have been sown in spring, it will be necessary at the approach of the succeeding w"inter to have the beds covered with rotten tanner's bark, or leaf mould, scat- tering it an inch deep, or more, amongst the plants, a covering which will tend to prevent the plants being injured or thrown out by frost. In the second spring after the sowing, the plants should be taken up, carefully preserving all the fibroiis roots, a care which, as they are but sparingly produced, will be essentially ne- cessary. The plants must be transplanted in rows, at two feet apart, row from row, and a foot and a half distant in the rows. Here they may be trained to form standards, half stand- ards, or dwarfs, and be regulated and prepared either for wall training or shrubbery planta- tions. For both purposes, attention will be requisite dui'ing summer and winter, to thin out the branches, reserving only a suitable number* for the future limbs of the tree, and these so far apart that they may not, in any future stage of growth, be liable to rub against each othei', which standard trees would be liable to ; for if this be not avoided, gum would be exuded at such injured parts, and the speedy decaj' of the tree be the conse- quence. -J Almond plants intended for training against walls should have some stakes fixed in the form of a trelis, to which the branches should .be secured in a proper form, so that they may be suited to the position of the wall on their final removal. (Miller's D'ctionary.) [In many parts of the Middle and Southern United States, the climate admits the almond tree to mature its fruit. The kind with a hard and smooth shell will ripen ir New Jersey and the southern part of Pennsylvania, n*ar Phila- delphia. A communication published in the I5th vol. of the American Farmer states that the more tender and valuable soft-shell kind have been brought to perfection at Cambden, Kent County, Delaware, which is about eighty Tiiles south nf Philadelphia.] , 72 ALOPECURUS. A genus of grasses of the foxtail kind, of which there are several species, some of which may be cultivated to advantage in the field. Alnpecurus agrestis. Slender foxtail-grass. (Aloptcurus myosuroides, Curt. Lond.) One ol the most inferior species of this grass. The herbage it produces is comparatively of no value whatever. It appears to be left un- touched by every description of cattle. The seed is produced in considerable abundance, and is eaten by the smaller birds, as well as by pheasants and partridges. This annual species of foxtail-grass is distinguished from the perennial meadow foxtail {Alupeciirus pra- tensis) by the total want of woolly hairs on the spike, so conspicuous in that of the A. pra- te?isis. The Rev. G. Swayne observes, that it is a very troublesome weed in many places among wheat, and execrated by farmers under the name of black bent. " I have always," says Mr. Sinclair, " found it prevalent in poor soils, particularly such as had been exhausted by avaricious cropping. It is most difficult to extirpate when once in possession of the soil ; for it sends forth flow- ering culms during the whole summer and autumn, till frost arrests it; so that it can bear to be repeatedly cut down in one season, with- out suffering essentially by the process. In- deed, it will be found a vain and unprofitable labour to attempt the removal of this grass by any other means than the opposite to that which gave it possession o^the soil, which is judicious cropping. To return land, in this state, to grass, in the hope of overcoming this unprofitable plant, will be found of little avail. I have witnessed this practice, and the slender foxtail, instead of disappearing in these in- stances, re-appeared with the scanty herbage, and in greater health and abundance. The soil must first be got into good heart by very moderate and judicious cropping, which in- cludes the proper application of manure, a skilful rotation of crops, and the most pointed attention to the destruction of weeds ; which last can only be effected, in this sense, by adopting the drill or row culture for the crops After this the land may be returned to grass for several years with every prospect of suc- cess. It flowers in the first week of July, and successively till October. Alopecurits arundinaceus. Reed-like foxtail- grass. The substance of the culms and leaves of this grass is coarser than that of the Alope- curus pralensis ,■ and the root is so powerfully creeping as to render its introduction into arable land a matter of great caution. The' produce and nutritive powers are very consi- derable : it is an early grass, producing culms at an early period of the spring, and continu- ing to vegetate vigorously through the summer and autumn. It cannot be recommended as a constituent of permanent pasture ; but as a grass to cultivate by itself, to a certain extent, for green food, or for hay, it offers advantages in the superior produce and nutritive powers above stated. It grows stronger, and attains to a greater height, than the A. Taunt oni cnsi s i but, owing to the roots spreading wile, being large, and requiring a consequent greater sup ALOPECURUS. ALOPE GURUS. pi/ of nourishment from the soil, the produce stands thinner and proves less weighty than the Qrops afforded by that variety. It flowers in April or early in May, and continues to pro- duce flowering culms until the autumn. Alupecurus biMosus gcniculatus. Bulbous- rooted, knee-jointed, foxtail-grass. The pro- duce and nutritive powers of this perennial grass are so inconsiderable as to justify a con- clusion that it is comparatively of no use to the agricultiuist. I have found it but seldom in a wild state. It grows on a soil of a drier nature than the fibrous-rooted variet}', to be spoken of hereafter. When raised from seed on a moist soil, it still retains the bulbous root, which goes the length to prove, that if it is not a distinct species, it is at least a permanent variety. Alopecurus genkulatus. Knee-jointed, foxtail- grass. There are two varieties of this species of foxtail-grass : the present, which is by far the more common, is distinguished from the other by its fibrous root and greater size ; the less common variet}'' has a bulbous root. The A. bulbosus may be distinguished from the bul- bous-rooted variety of the knee-jointed species, by its upright ctilnis, which want the knee- jointed form so conspicuous in the culms of the former. {Sm. Engl. Flora.) It is a peren- nial, and grows commonly in surface drains, and at the entrance of cattle ponds, particu- larly where the soil is clayey. It does not appear to be eaten with much relish by either cows, horses, or sheep. Its nutritive powers are not considerable, and its sub-aquatic natural place of growth excludes any recommendation of it for cultivation. Flowers in the first week of June, and during the summer. [This species is designated by Professor Dewey as the true foxtail-grass, which in Massachusetts grows in wet, muddy bottoms, flowering in July.] Alopecurus prafensis. Meadow foxtail-grass. [See Plate 5, of Pasture Grasses, g.] This grass is a native of Britain and most parts of Europe, from Italy, through France, German)-, Holland, to Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Russia. Under the best management, it does not at- tain to its fullest productive powers from seed till four years; hence it is inferior to the cock's-foot grass for the purposes of ultimate cropping, and to many other grasses besides. The herbage, however, contains more nutritive matter than that of the cock's-foot, though the weight of grass produced in one season is con- siderably less. It thrives well under irrigation, keeping possession of the crowns of the ridges ; and is strictly permanent. Sheep are very fond of it ; when combined with white clover only, the second season on a sandy loam, it is sufficient for the support of five couple of ewes and lambs per acre. As it only thiives in per- fection on lands of an intermediate quality as to moisture and dryness, and also being some- what longer in attaining to its full productive state tlian some other grasses, its merits have been misunderstood in many instances ; and in others, as in the alternate husbandry, it has I en, by 9ome persons, set aside altogether. 10 In many rich natural pastures, it co;istii.uea the principal grass. Though not st) well adapted, therefore, for the alternate husbandry, it is one of the best grasses for permanent pas- ture, and should never form a less pruporiion than one-eighth of any admixture of different grasses prepared for that purpose; its merits demand this, whether in respect to early growth, produce, nutritive qualities, or perma- nency. It has been observed by the Kev. Mr. Swayne, (in his Gramina Pascua, a work which contains much valuable information on the subject of grasses), that nearly two-third of the seed is constantly destroyed by insects according to my experiments, this evil may be almost entirely obviated by suffering the first culms of the season to carry the seed. It flowers in April, May, and June, according as it may have been depastured earlier or later. Seed ripe in June and July, according to the season of flowering. The meadow-foxtail constitutes part of the produce of all the richest pastures I have examined in Lincolnshire, Devonshire, and in the vale of Aylesbury. In Mr. West- car's celebrated pastures at Creslew I found it more prevalent than in those of Devonshire and Lincolnshire. Experiments tend to prove that there is nearly three-fourths of produce greater from a clayey loam than from a silicious sandy soil, and that the grass from the latter soil is of comparatively less vahie in the proportion of 3 to 2. The culms produced on the sandy soil are deficient in number, and in every re- spect smaller than those from the clayey loam ; which satisfactoril}^ accounts for the difference in the quantitv of niitritive matter afforded by eqttal quantities of the'grass. It is not the strength and rankness of the grass that indi- cates the fitness of the soil for its growth, but the number and qttality of the culms. The proportionate value in which the grass of the latter-math exceeds that of the flowering crop is as 4 to 3 ; a difference which appears extra- ordinar}' when the quantity of floAvering culms is considered. In the Anthnxanthum odoratiim the proportional difference is still greater, the latter-math being to the flowering crop in nu- triment nearly as 9 to 4. In the Poa trivialis they are equal ; but in all the later-flowering grasses that have culms resembling tho. e of the meadow-foxtail and sweet-scented vernal, the greater proportional value is. always, on the contrary, found in the grass of the flowering crop. Whatever the cause may be, it is e\i- dent that the- loss sustained by taking these grasses at the time of flowering is consider able. In ordinary cases, this seldom happens in practice, because these grasses perfect their seed about the season when hay-harvest gene- rally commences, unless where the pasture has been stocked till a late period in the spring, which cannot, in this respect, be productive of any ultimate advantage, but rather loss. The proportional value which the grass, at the time the seed is ripe, bears to that at the time of flowering is as 3 to 2. The superiority j of the produce from a light loam over thai I from a claj^ey soil is as 4 to 3. I Alopecurus Tauntonensis Taunton's meado G 73 ALPACA. ALPACA. foxtail-grass. This holds a middle station be- tween the Aliipecurus prutensis and Alopecurus arundinaceus. The produce and nutritive powers of the se- veral species of Alopecurus, may eas \y be seen b)' a reference to the following analytical classification (Sinclair's Hurt. Gram.) : — . Description of Grass. .Alopecurus agrestis, in flower .. .4. bulbosiis genictilatiis, in flower A. pratensis, m Apri\, ■ , in flower, , in flower \ , seed ripe Sandy loam Clayey loam Silicious sand Clayey loam lbs. 8,167 8 5,445 5 9,528 12 20,418 12 8,507 13 12,9.31 14 Dry ProJu 3,104 14 1,089 6,125 10 2,552 5 5,819 5 Ids. 223 5 4 85 1 483 14 478 9 132 14 5 454 10 2 ALPACA. A peculiar breed of Peruvian sheep, for whose introduction into England considerable efforts have been recently made. A very excellent "Memoir" upon these inte- resting animals has recently (1841) been pub- lished by Mr. William Walton, from whose work are gathered the following interesting facts : — " When the Spanish adventurers under Pizarro crossed the isthmus of Panama and reached the sh-ircs of the Pacific, they bent their steps " /tards Peru, and arriving there found the inhabitants in possession of two do- mestic animals, the beauty and utility of which excited their admiration. They also ascer- tained that two others, alike in species, al- though varying in properties, existed in a wild state. Struck with the analogy, and always disposed to see objects of comparison with the productions of their own land, the Spaniards called this new breed of cattle Cameras de la tierra, or country sheep, and in their use of them imitated the natives. Acosta, one of the earliest naturalists who embarked for the New World, wrote an accoimt of these; inte- resting animals, derived from personal obser- vation ; and that account, which made its ap- pearance in 1590, is perhaps the best ever penned. He says (Histnria Natural y Moral de los Indias, lib. iv. c. 41), "There is nothing in Peru more useful, or more valuable, than the country sheep called llamas, and they are as economical as they are profitable. Fnnn them the natives obtain both food and clothing, as we do in Europe from sheep, and besides use them as beasts of burden. They require no expense in either shoeing, packsaddles, bridles, or even barley, serving their masters gratui- tously, and being satisfied wiih herbage picked up on the wastes. Thus did Providence pro- vide the Peruvians with sheep and beasts of burden united in the same animal, and on ac- count of their poverty, seems to have wished that they should enjoy this advantage, free from expense, as pastures in the highlands are abundant. These sheep are divided into two kinds ; the one called paco bears a heavy fleece of wool, while the others have only a short coat, and are better adapted for carrying burdens. They have a long neck, similar to the camel, and this they require ; for being tall and up- right, they stand in need of an elongated neck to reach their food. The colours of both ani- mals varv, some being entirely white, others entirely black, and occasionally particoloured. The meat is good, that of the fawn is best and nost delicate, although the Indians use it spa- 74 ringly, their principal object in rearing this breed of cattle being to avail themselves of its wool for clothing and of its services to carry loads. The wool they were accustomed to spin and weave into garments, one of their kinds of cloth, called huasca, being coarse and in more general use ; while the other, known by the name of cumhi, was of a finer and more delicate quality. Of the latter they still make mantles, table-covers, quilts, and various arti- cles of ornamental dress, which are durable, and have a gloss upon them, as if partly made of silk. Their mode of weaving is peculiar to themselves, each side of the web being alike j nor in a whole piece is it possible to discover an uneven thread or a knot. The Peruvian incas, or emperors, kept experienced masters to teach the art of making the cumbi,ox superfins cloth, the principal part of Avhom resided iq the district of Capachica, where they had pub- lic establishments, and with the aid of plants gave to it various colours, bright and lasting. The men and women in the highlands were mostly manufacturers, having looms in their own houses, which precluded the necessity of going to market to purchase clothing." "The Indians still possess large droves, con- sisting of 400, or 1000 head each, which they load, and M'ith them perform journeys, travel- ling like a string of mules and carrying wine, coca, corn, chuiio (a nutritive food made from potatoes, first frozen, and afterwards reduced to powder), quicksilver, and other articles of merchandise, and more especially that which, of all others, is the most valuable, viz., silver, ingots of which they bear from Potosi to Arica, a distance of seventy leagues, as they formerly did to Arequipa, more than twice as far. Oftem have I been astonished at seeing these droves carrying 1000 or 2000 ingots, valued at more than 300,000 ducats, journeying slowly on with no other guard than a few Indians, who chiefly served to load and unload, or, at mo.' t, two or three Spaniards. They sleep in the open country ; and though the journey is long, and the protection afforded so extremely weak, no part of the silver is ever missing. The load usually carried by each animal is from four to six arrohas, (each arroba has twenty-five lbs.) ; and if the journey is long they do not travel beyond three or four leagues per day. The drivers have their known resting-places, where the^^ find pasture and water, and on arriving there, unload, pitch their tents, light a fire and dress their own food, while the bearers of their burdens are turned out loose." ALPACA. ALPACA. He further remarks that the flesh of these animals was jerked and made into cusharqui, or, as the Spaniards call it, cecina, which kept good for a consideiable time, and was in very- general request. " Both species," he says, " are accustomed to a cold climate, and thrive best in the highlands. Often does it happen that they are covered with snow and sparkling with icicles, and yet healthy and contented." Speak- ing of the vicunas, the same author observes that they are wild and timid, inhabiting the punas, or snowy clilfs, and are aifected by neither rain or snow. To this he adds that they are gregarious, extremely fleet, and that on meeting a traveller, or beast of the forest, they fly away, collecting and driving their young before them. He further affirms that the vicuna wool is as soft as silk, made into fme stuffs, and requires no dyeing ; adding, that many persons also considered it medici- nally useful in cases of pains in the loins and other parts of the body, in consequence of which they had mattresses made of it. Inca Garcilasso de la Vega, a native of Peru, was the next Spaniard of note who described the Cameras de la tierra, and subjoined are his leading remarks: — "The domestic animals which God was pleased to bestow on the In- dians, congenial to their character and like them in disposition, are so tractable that a child may guide them, more particularly those accustomed to bear burdens. Generally they are called llamas, and the keeper llama-michec. As a distinction, the larger kind is called hu- anacu-Uama, owing to its resembling the wild one of that name, from which it only differs in colour, the tame breeds being seen of all hues, whereas the wild ones have only one, and that is a light brown. The height of the domestic breeds is that of a deer, and to no animal can they be likened so justly as the camel, except- ing that they are smaller and have no hunch on the back. The skin was anciently steepei in tallow, in order to prepare it, after which the Indians used it for shoes, but the leather not being tanned, they were obliged to go bare- footed in rainy weather. Of it the Spaniards now make bridles, girths, and cruppers for saddles. The llama formerly served to bear loads from Cusco to the mines of Potosi, in droves of 800 or 1000, each animal carrying three or four arrobas. The paco was chiefly valued for its flesh, but more especially for its wool, long, but excellent, of which the natives made cloths, and gave to them beautiful and never-fading colours." The Peruvian sheep are peculiar to that part of South America, bordering on the Pa- cific, which extends from the equator beyond the tropic of Capricorn, that long and enor- mous range of mountains known as the Andes Cordilleras. Along this massive pile every imaginable degree of temperature may be found in successive;gradation. Below stretches a narrow strip of land, washed by the sea, where the heat is intense and it never rains, but where, owing to heavy dews and filtration from the mountains, vegetation is luxuriant and an eternal spring reigns. As one ascends, the aspect of the country changes, and new plants appear; but no sooner are the middle summits gained, and the sun has lost his power, than those cold and icy regions rise up, one above the other, called by the natives punas, which are again crowned with rocky crests, broken by deep ravines and rugged chasms, and presenting a wilderness of crags and cliflTs never trodden by the human footstep, and never darkened, except by a passing cloud, or the eagle's wing. In this land of mist and snow, or rather in the hollows which sur- round it, feed ihS guanaco and vicuna, at an elevation of 12,000 or 14,000 feet above the level of the sea ; while in the lower regions, stretching immediately under the snowy belt, and where the Indian fixes his abode at a height from 8,000 to 12,000 feet, may be seen pasturing those flocks of llamas and alpacas which constitute his delight, and at the same time the principal part of his property. Here, amidst broken and precipitous peaks, on the parapets and projecting ledges, slightly covered with earth, or in the valleys formed by the mountain ridges, like the Pyrenean chamois, the llama and alpaca pick up a pre- carious subsistence from the mosses, lichens, tender shrubs, and grassy plants which make their apppearance as the snow recedes; or, descending lower down, revel in |he pajonales, or, as they are called in some parts of the countr)'', ichuaks — naliiral meadows of the ichu plant, the favourite haunts of the tame and wild kinds. Thus the hand of man never pre- pares food for either species — both readily find it on their native mountains. Besides the ex- tremes of cold, these animals have equally to endure the severities of a damp atmosphere, for while below it seldom rains, in the summer months, when evaporation from :he sea is abundant, clouds collect, and being driven over the loAver valle)'s bj^ strong winds from the south and west, and condensed by the cold, bitrst on the highlands, where the rain falls in torrents, amidst the most awful thunder and lightning. However bleak and damp the situation, little does it matter for an animal requiring neither fold nor manger, and living in wild and deso- late places, where the tender is often obliged to collect the dung of his. flock to serve as fuel for himself. Although delicate in appearance, the alpaca is, perhaps, one of the hardiest ani- mals of the creation. His abstinence has already been noticed. Nature has provided him with a thick skin and a warm fleece, and as he never perspires, like the ordinary sheep, he is not so susceptible of cold. There is, therefore, no necQgsity to smear his coat with tar and butter, as the farmers are obliged to do with their flocks in Scotland, a process which, besides being troublesome and expen- sive, injures the wool, as it is no longer fit to make into white goods, nor will it take light and bright colours. In the severest winter the alpaca asks no extra care, and his teeth being well adapted to crop the rushes and coarse grass with which our moors abound, he will be satisfied with the refuse left upon them. In a word, he would live where sheep must be in danger of starving. The importations of sheep's wool from Peru into Liverpool, principally alpaca, have st^ad 75 ALPACA. ALTITUDE. ily advanced since the article became known to the manufacturer, — the best proof" of its «rorfh. In 1835 they amounted to 8,000 bales ; in 183fi, to 12,800 ; in 1837, to 17,500 ; in 1838, to 25,765; in 1839, to 34,543; and in 1840, to 34,224 — more than quadrupled in six years. In the Custom House I'etarns, it is to be re- gretted that alpaca wool is not distinguished from the ordinary kinds arriving fKiti Periu The total imports for the last five years of all sheep's wool, distinguishing from Peru (includ- ing alpaca) and other parts, and also of red, or vicuna wool, together with raw and thrown silks, and goat's hair or wool, and mohair yarn, are here subjoined : — Sheep's wool : From Peru Other parts Total Red Wool : From Peru Other pans Total Raw silk Tlirown silk Goat's hair or wool Mohair yarn 1836. 1837. 1638. 1839. 1840. 1 •lbs. 953,974 63,284,677 lbs. 1,914,137 46,464,957 lbs. 2,303,794 60,289,846 lbs. 2,145,106 55,228,349 lbs. 2,762,439 46,630,638 64,238,651 48,379,094 52,593,640 57,373,455 49,393,077 1,248 78 614 294 421 4,465 2,003 7,940 34,377 42,317 1,326 614 715 6,468 4,453,081 396,690 1,117,629 89,298 4,146,481 231,203 602,373 29,199 3,458,959 265,130 942,770 20,546 3,746,248 225,268 992,188 13,645 3,758,841 288,994 989,257 2,664 With regard to ihe number of these sheep now in England, and their capability of being naturalized, Mr. Walton adds, "Mr. Bennett, of Farindon, had a pair of llamas sent to him from Peru ^'enty years ago, and fed them as sheep are usually fed, with hay and turnips in the winter. From his own experience he found that they are particularly hardy and very long-lived. He increased his stock, and has actually had six females at a lime which have had young ones. Of these very few have died. The number of Peruvian sheep in the kingdom at present (July 1841) [is short of lOft, chiefly distributed in parks]. The exist- ence of this number among us, supported by their healthy appearance, as reported to me from every quarter where I have been able to institute inquiries, is a better proof of the ca- pacity of Andes sheep to adapt themselves to our climate, than any further arguments or elucidations M^hich I could adduce." [The demand for alpaca wool in England, which the table indicates is rapidly increasing, certainly shows that it is well worthy the atten- tion of North American farmers to make the ex- periment of raising Penivian sheep. At a late meeting of the British Association for the Ad- vancement of the Arts and Sciences, Mr. Daw- son made a communication on the subject of the introduction into England, of a species of Aucheniu, or Llama of South America, and presented specimens of alpaca wool, in its na- tural and manufactured states, resembling silk, and without being dyed, as*black as jet. Na- turalists distinguish five species of the llama, all of which afford wool. But the alpaca alone has fine wool, from six to twelve inches long, and the vicuna wool, like the fur of the beaver, at tne base of its coarser hair. It is capable (tf tiie finest manufacture, and is especially adapted to such fabrics as the finest shawls. The yarns spun in England are mostly sold in France for the shawl trade, at from $1.50 to |3.50 per pound, according to quality, the price of the wool in a natural state being about fifty (»« ts per pound. This wool is naturally free from grease, in which respect it differs materi- 76 ally from that of common sheep, and the ani- mal requires no washing before shearing. Mr. Dawson remarked, that it was not certain whether the alpaca could be made to thrive in Great Britain. The last remark might raise a doubt whether it could be raised to advantage in the United States. Should it be proved that the alpaca was not adapted to any part of Great Britain, it would furnish no solid argu- ment against their adaptation to the climate of the United States, especially the Northern States, and the mountainous districts ever}''- where. An interesting account of this animal will be found in the third volume of the Ameri- can Farmer.] ALTERATIVE MEDICINES. In farriery, are such medicines as possess a power of changing the constitution, without any sensi- i)le increase or diminution of the natural ALTERNATE HUSBANDRY. That sort of management of farms, which has one part in the state of grass or sward, while the other is under the plough, so as to be capable of being changed as there may be occasion, or as the nature of the land may require. This sys- tem of management is supposed to lessen the expense of manure, and keep the land more clean. (See Husbandry.) ALTITUDE (Lat. alitudo, from altus, high). In vegetable physiology, altitude or elevation of surface above the level of the sea is equiva- lent to a receding, whether north or south, from the line of the equator, 600 feet of altitude being thought to be equal to a degree [of lati- tude.] Hence it follows that all varieties of climate, and consequently all varieties of vegetable habitat, may exist even in the same latitude, merely by means of variety in the altitude of the spot. This was found by Tourne- fort to be literally the fact* during his travels in Asia. At the foot of Mount Ararat he met- with plants peculiar to Armenia; above these he met with plants which are found also in France ; at a still greater height he found him- self surrounded with such as grow in Sweden, and at the summit, with such as vegetate in ALTITUDE. the pdlar regions. Baron Humboldt, in his Personal Narrative, gives ns a similar account of the several zones of vegetation existing in a height of 3730 yards on the ascent of Mount TejierifTe. The first zone is the region of vinos, extending from the shores of the ocean to a height of from 400 to 600 yards, well culti- vated, and producing date trees, plantains, v'lives, vines, and wheat. The second zone is the region of laurels, extending from about 600 to iSOO yards, producing many plants with showy ilowers, and moss and grass beneath. The third zone is the region of pines, com- mencing at 1920 yards, and having a breadth of 850- yards. The fourth zone is the region Retania, or broom, growing to a height of nine or ten feet, and fed on by wild goats. The last zone is the region of grasses, scantily covering the heaps of lava, with cryptogamic plants in- termixed, and the summit of the mountain bare. This accounts for the great variety of plants which is often found in no great extent of country; and it may be laid down as a botani- cal axiom, that the more diversified the surface of the country, the richer it will be in species, at least in the same latitudes. It accounts, also, for the want of correspondence between plants of different countries, though placed in the same latitudes ; because the mountains* or ridges of mountains, which may be found in the one and not in the other, will produce the greatest possible difference in the character of the genera and species. To this cause Ave may ascribe the diversity that often actually exists between plants growing in the same country and in the same latitudes ; as between those of the north-west and north-east coasts of North America, as also of the south-west and south-east coasts ; the former being more mountainous, the latter more flat. Sometimes the same sort of diflference takes place between the plants of an island and those of the rteigh- bouring continent ; that is, if the one is flat and the other mountainous ; but if they are alike in their geographical delineation, they are generally alike in their vegetable productions. [Meteorologists generally compute, that as land rises above the IcA^el of the sea or tide- water, the temperature of its climate grows colder at the rate of 1° Fahrenheit, for every 300 feet or 100 yards of elevation. It has however been found that the decline of tem- perature on rising above the common level of the sea, is less where large tracts of country rise gradually than when the estimate is made either by balloon ascension, or scaling the sides of isolated and precipitous mountains. A striking illustration of this is offered by the ridges and valleys of the great Himmaleh mountains of Southern Asia, where immense tracts, which theory would consign to the dreariness of perpetual congelation, are found richly clothed in vegfetation and abounding in vegetable and animal life. At the village of Zonching, 14,700 feet above the level of the sea, in lat. 31° 36 N. Mr. Colebrook found flocks of sheep browsiing on verdant hills ; and at the village of Pui, at about the same eleva- tion, there are produced, according to Captain Gerard, the most luxuriant crops of barley. ALUMINA. wheat, and turnips, whilst a little lower the g^imd is covered with vineyards, groves of apricots, and many aromatic plants. The elTecis of gradual elevation in lessening the falling off of temperature, is manifested upon a moderate scale in our own country. The [annual] meati temperature of Eastport, Me., for example, is 42°.95, whilst that of Fort Snelling in the same latitude, but far in the interior, with an elevation of some 600 or 800 feet above the sea, is 2°.88 higher, namely, 4!J°.83, instead of being two or three degrees colder, to correspond with the law of eleva- tion. (Amer. Med. Jour. .July, 1842.)] ALUM ' (Lat. Alumen). The sulphate of alumina and potash of the chemist, [or com- mon alum], is composed, according to the ana- lysis of Berzelius {Ann. de Chim. 82 — 258), of Sulphuric acid - - . . . 3423 Alumina - 10 86 Potash - 981 Water ...... 45oe In veterinary practice, alum in powder is sometimes used externally for destroying trifling excrescences, arresting bleeding, &c. A little, very finely powdered, is occasionally blown through a quill into the eye for the pur- pose of removing specks of long standing. Alum lotion is prepared by dissolving from six to eight drachms of alum powder in two pints of water. This forms an inexpensive and tolerably efficacious application for mild forms of grease, cracks in the heels of horses, and for superficial sores of all kinds. It should not be used till the surrounding inflammation has been subdued by time or proper remedies. In its weakest state, the alum lotion is service- able in the cankered ear of dogs, and wounds or ulcers of the mouth in any animal. • Alum ointment is composed of one drachm of the powder to one ounce each of turpentine and hog's lard, incorporated by heating. This supplies the place of the lotion when the sores are apt to become dry and hard. It is, how- ever, very little used. Burnt alum is made by boiling a solid piece of the salt on an iron plate over a fire till it becomes quite dry and white, taking care not to make the heat so strong as to decompose it. This, in powder, is sometimes used for specks in the eye. {Miller's Dictionary.) ALUMINA. The pure earth of clay, was so named from having been obtained in a state of the greatest purity from alum, in which salt it exists combined with sulphuric acid, and potash. This earth when pure has but little taste, and no smell. The earthy smell which clay emits when breathed upon, is owing to the presence of oxide of iron. Its specific gravity is 2-00. When heated it parts with a portion of water, and its bulk is consi- derably diminished. Hence most day lands are apt to crack, by their contraction in dry weather. There is little doubt, from the expe- riments of Davy, but that alumina is the oxide of a metal, which has been denominated aluminum, although he did not succeed in pro- curing it in a separate state. Of all the earths alumina is found in plants in the smallest proportions, 32 ounces of \h<: g2 77 ALVEARIUM. AMERICAN BLIGHT. seeds of wheat only contain 0-6 of a grain, and tliose of the barley and the oat only about 4 grains. If some clay be dissolved in water, and soHie aqua ammonia (hartshorn) be added to it, the mixture will assume a milky whiteness, and if left to stand awhile, a white substance will be precipitated, called in chemical language alu- mina. Prof. J. F. W. Johnston does not regard this as a nourishing element to plants. Its use in soils he considers entirely mechanical, bind- ing the other materials together by its tenacity, so as to furnish that degree of stiffness necessary for the support of plants. Liebig takes a differ- ent view of the subject. " It is known," he says, " that the aluminous minerals are the most widely diffused on the suface of the earth, and, as we have already mentioned, all fer- tile soils, or soils capable of culture, contain alumina as an invariable constituent. There must, therefore, be something in aluminous earth which enables it to exercise an influ- ence on the life of plants, and to assist in rlieir developement. The property on which this depends is that of its invariably containing potash and soda. " Alumina exercises only an indirect influ- ence on vegetation, by its power of attracting and retaining water and ammonia ; it is itself very rarely found in the ashes of plants, but silica is always present, having, in most places, entered the plants by means of alkalies." {Lie- big.)'] (See Earths ; their use to vegetation.) {Davy, El. Chem. Phil. ; Thoinso7i's System ; Pruf(:ss(yr Schiibkr, Jour. Roy. Ag, Soc. vol. i. p. 177 ; [Lieljig's Organic Chem.]) ALVEARIUM. A term sometimes employed to signify a bee-hive. AMAUROSIS. In farriery, is a total blind- ness, without any altered appearance in the eye. [This irremediable affection proceeds from a paralysis of the rierve of sight, or optic nerve.] AMBLE. In horsemanship, is a peculiar kind of pace, in whicK both the horse's legs of the same side move at the same time. In this pace the horse's legs move nearer to the ground than in the walk, and at the same time are more extended : but what is most extraor- dinary in it is, that the two legs of the same side, for instance, the off hind and fore leg, move at the same time ; and then the two near legs, in making another step, move at once ; •the motion being performed in this alternate manner, so that the sides of the animal are alternately without support, or any equilibrium between the one and the other, which must necessarily prove very fatiguing to him, being obliged to support himself in a forced oscilla- tion, by the rapidity of a motion, in which his feet are scarcely off the ground. For if in the amblf he lifted his feet as in the trot, or even in a walk, the oscillation would be such, that he could not avoid falling on his side. Those who are skilled in horsemanship observe, that horses which naturally amble, never trot, and that they are considerably weaker than others. Colts often move in this manner, especially when they exert them- .selves, and are not strong enough to trot or gallop. Most good ho'-ses, which have been over-worked, and r*n the decline, are also ob- served voluntarily u. amiile, when forced to a 78 motion swifter than a walk. The amble may, therefore, be considered as a defective pace, not being common, and natural only to a very few horses, which, in general, are weaker thai-, others. Add to this, that such amblers as seem the strongest are spoiled sooner man those which trot or gallop. AMEL-CORN. A diseased sort of grain, [resembling spelt.] AMELIORATING CROPS. In husbandry, are such as are supposed to improve the lands on which they are cultivated. Carrots, turnips, artificial grasses, such as contain a large pro- portion of nutritious materials, and many other green vegetable products, especially if fed off, [or ploughed in,] are considered as ameliorat- ing ; but all kinds of crops, earned off the land, are in some degree or other exhausters of the ground; and green crops, such as have been just mentioned, are only less so than crops of grain or other ripe vegetables. The improve- ment of lan*ls, therefore, by what are commonly termed ameliorating crops, depends, in a great measure, upon the culture which the ground receives while they are growing, and the returns which they make to it in the way of manure, after being consumed by animals. AMELIORATING SUBSTANCES. In agri- culture, are such substances, as, when applied to land, render it more fertile and productive. AMERICAN BLIGHT. [A popular, but very inappropriate name used in England to designate the injurious effects upon apple trees caused by a species of plant-louse or Aphis, (the Eriusoma mali, of Leach, and the Aphis lanigera, of Illiger.) Its American origin is rendered doubtful from the fact that nurser}'- men in the Middle States have never witnessed the mischievous effects described as common in Europe from this kind of blight.] A de- tailed account of the insect is given in the Journal of a Nalurulisl, which, with the correc- tion ef a few errors and oversights of the author, we shall now follow. Early in summer, and even in spring, about March, a slight hoariness is observed upon the branches of certain species of our orchard fruit. As the season advances this hoariness increases, and becomes cottony ; and toward the middle or the end of summer, the upper sides of some of the branches are invested with a thick, downy substance, so long as at times to be sensibly agitated by the air. Upon exa- mining this substance, we find that it conceals a multitude of small, wingless creatures, which are busily employed in preying upon the limb of the tree beneath. This they are well enabled to do, by means of a beak terminating in a fine bristle ; this being insinuated through the bark, and the sappy part of the wood, enables the creature to extract, as with a syringe, the sweet, vital liquor that circulates in the p.ant. This terminating bristle is not observable in every individual, from being usually, when not in use, so closely concealed under the breast of the animal, as to be invisible. In the younger insects it is often manifested by pro- truding, like a fine termination, to the vent (r/7ius) ; but as their bodies become length- ened, the bristle is not in this way observable. The pulp wood {alburnum) being thus wound- AMERICAN BLIGHT. AMERICAN CRESS. ed, rises up in excrescences and nodes all over the branch, and deforms it ; the limb, deprived of its nutriment, grows sickly ; the leaves turn yellow, and the part perishes. Branch after branch is thus assailed, until they become leafless, and the tree dies. IMant lice (Aphides), in general, attack the \o inger and softer parts of plants ; but this ::;• ect seems easily to Avound the harder bark of the apple, and does not ahvays make choice of the most •.ender branch. They give a pre- ference to certain sorts, but not always the most rich fruits, as cider apples, and wildings, are greatly infested by them ; and from some unknown cause, other varieties seem to be exempted from their depredations. The Wheeler's russet, and Crofton pippin, have never been observed to be injured by them; and the insect is so fastidious in its selections, that it will frequently attack the stock or the graft, leaving the one or the other untouched, should it consist of a kind not to its liking. This insect is viviparous, or produces its young alive, forming a cradle for them by dis- charging from the extremities of its body a quantity of long, cottony matter ; which, be- coming interwoven and entangled, prevents the young from falling to the earth, and completely envelopes the parent and the offspring. In this cottony substance, we observe, as soon as the creature becomes animated in the spring, and as long as it remains in vigour, many round pellucid bodies, which at the first sight look like eggs, only that they are larger than we might suppose to be ejected by the animal. They consist of a sweet glutinous fluid, and are not the eggs but the discharges of the in- sects. In the autumn, the winds and rains of the season partly disperse these insects ; and we observe them endeavouring to secrete themselves in the crannies of any neighbour- ing substance. Should the savoy cabbage be near the trees whence they have been dis- lodged, the cavities of the under sides of its leaves are commonly favourite asylums for them. Multitudes perish by these rough remo- vals, but numbers yet remain ; and we may find them in the nodes and crevices, on the under sides of the branches, at any period of the year, the long, cottony vesture bting nearly all removed; but still they are enveloped in a fine short downy clothing, to be seen by a mag- nifier, proceeding apparently from every suture or pore of their bodies, and protecting them in their dormant state from the moisture and frosts of our climate. This insect in a natural . state, usually awakens and commences its labours very early in the month of March ; and the hoariness on its body may be observed in- creasing daily; but if an affected branch be cut in the winter, and kept in water in a warm room, these creatures will awaken speedily, spin their cottony nests, and feed and discharge as accustomed to do in a genial season. [For further particulars relating to the habits of these and other similar insects, see Aphis and Aphidians.] Remedies. — A considerable number of me- thods have been proposed for getting rid of the insect in question. White-washing, or wash- ing with lime-water, has been tried, but is not so efficacious as thp application of any gluti- nous substance, which may cover the insects and dry over them. Double size or glue, liquefied by heat, and applied by means of a brush, particularly in March, when the insects begin to show more cottony than in winter, is a very effectual remedy, if no crevice of a tree is left unsized. This, however, may be dis- solved by the rain, and therefore a varnish is recommended by Mr. Knapp, as follows : " Melt about three ounces of resin in an earthen pip- kin, take it from the fire, and pour it into three ounces of fish oil ; the ingredients perfectly unite, and when cold, acquire the consistence of honey. A slight degree of heat will liquefy it, and in this state paint over every node or infected part in your tree, using a common painter's brush. This I prefer doing in spring, or as soon as the hoariness appears. The sub- stance soon sufficiently hardens, and forms a varnish, which pievents any escape, and stifles the individuals. After this first dressing, should any cottony matter appear round the margin of the varnish, a second application to these parts will, I think, be found to effect a perfect cure. The ppevalence of this insect," adds this author, "gives some of our orchards here the appearance of numerous white posts in an extensive drying ground, being washed with lime from root to branch ; a practice, I appre- hend, attended with little benefit. A few of the creatures may be destroyed by accident ; but as the animal does not retire to the earth, but winters in the clefts of the boughs, far be- yond the influence of this wash, it remains un- injured, to commence its ravages again when spring returns." All oily or resinpus substances, ho\vever, being prejudicial to trees, Mr. George Lindley recommends vinegar as a wash for young trees ; and, as less expensive for old trees, a sort of paint, composed of one gallon of quick- lime, half a pound of flowers of sulphur, and a quarter of a pound of lamp-black, mixed with boiling water to the consistence of whitening for white-washing, and laying it on rather more than blood warm with a brush. This should be done in March, and again in August when the winged insects spread from tree to tree. Mr. Couch, as a cheap and certain remedy, recommends three quarters of an ounce of sul- phuric acid [oil of vitriol], by measure, to be mixed with seven ounces and a half of water. It should be applied all over the bark by means of rags, the only par^s excepted being the pre- sent year's shoots, which it would destroy. This destroys moss and lichens, as well as in- sects ; and if applied in showery weather, will be washed into every cievice in which they can harbour. AMERICAN CRESS {Lepidinm vtr^ini. cum). From as^tk, a scale, on account of the form of the seed-vessel. For the winter stand- ing crops, a light dry soil, in an open but warm situation, should be allotted to it, and for the summer, a rather moister and shady border is to be preferred. In neither instance is it re- quired to be rich. It is propagated b) seed, which must be soM^n every six weeks f'-om March to August, for summer and autumn, but 79 AMERICAN GRASS. AMMONIA. only one sowing is necessary, either at the end of August, or beginning of September, for a supply during winter and spring. It may he sown broadcast, but the most preferable mode is in drills nine inches apart. Water may be given occasionally during dry weather, both before and after the appearance of the plants. If raised from broadcast sowings, the plants are thinned to six inches apart ; if in drills, oflly to three. In winter they require the shelter of a little litter or other light covering ; and to prevent them being injured b)'' its pres- sure, some twigs may be bent over the bed, or some light bushy branches laid amongst them, which will support it. The only cultivation they recjuire is to be kept clear of weeds. In gathering, the outside leaves only should be stripped off, which enables successional crops to become rapidl}' fit for use. When the plants begin to run, their centres must be cut away, which causes them to shoot afresh. For the production of seed, a few of the strongest plants raised from the first spring sowing are left ungathercd from. They flower in June or July, and perfect their seed before the com- mencement of autumn. {G. W^ JohnsorCs Kit- chtn Garden.) [This plant in America is commonly called wild pep])er-irrass. It is frequent in fields and on roadsides in the Middle States.] AMERICAN GRASS. A term sometimes applied [in England] to a species of agrostis. AMMONIA. The name given by chemists to the volatih; allcali, from its being first pre- pared in the East from camels' dung near to a temple dedicated to Jupiter Ammon. It is known in commerce under the name of harts- horn, ml volatile, &c., and is prepared by the dry or destructive distillation of animal sub- Ftances. It is formed also most commonly M'herever animal substances undergo putre- faction. It is composed of Hydrogen A/.ote or nitrogen 125 1-75 Ammonia is usually produced in the state (>f carbonate of ammonia, or united with car- bonic acid gas, and in this state, or in fact in combination with most other acids, it forms salts, which possess peculiarly fertilizing pro- perties. This alkali fulfils, there is little doubt, a very impurlant part in many organic ma- nures. It is a very universally diffused sub- stance, has been detected in rain-water and even in snow, and there is little doubt but that it exists, and prejudicially too, to the health of the inhabitants, in the atmosphere of many places crowded with animal life. (Lieh{s:;'s Ors;nnic Chein. 76, 77.) Wherever this alkali is detected in a substance, such as it commonly is, for instance, in urine, gas-water, &c., the most excellent eifects may be anticipated to vegeta- tion by its use. Fresh urine contains phosphate of ammonia, m.uriate of ammonia, and lactate of ammonia, and there is perhaps no fertilizer more powerful in its effects than this. [One of the most important discoveries bear- ing upcm agriculture perhaps ever made, is that just promulgated by Liebig, of the exist- ence in the atmosphere of ammonia. Davy and other chemists of the highest celebrity had ftO analyzed the air collected from the most sicklv locations where impurities might certainly be expected to e«ist, but with their nicest tests and best conducted experiments they failed tc detect any essential difference in the composi tion of the insalubrious air taken from the deadly coast of Africa, and that collected from the most elevated and healthy parts of Europe, The analyses of the air of the different places all gave the same proportions of the gaseous constituents, namely, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbonic acid. It was evident, therefore, that if other matters, in addition to the gases named and Avatery vapour, existed in the air, some other means must be found to demonstrate their presence ; and happily, the genius of Liebig devised a plan by which this has been effected so far as the presence of ammonia is con- cerned. He knew that ammonia had a strong affinity for water, by which it is promptly ab- sorbed, and that although it could be diffused through such a great bulk of air as to be placed beyond the reach of chemical tests, it might nevertheless be taken up by rain-Avater, and washed down in sufficient quantity to be- come apparent. Experiments made, in his laboratory at Geissen, with the greatest care and exactness, fully confirmed his views, and placed the presence of ammonia in rain-water, and consequently in the atmosphere, beyond a doubt. It had hitherto escaped detection be- cause no one thought of searching for it in the same way. A single pound of rain-water con- tains as much of the gas of ammonia, as is diffused through 28,800 cubic feet of air, namely, only one-fourth of a grain. "All the rain-Avater employed in this inquiry," says Liebig, " Avas collected 600 paces south- Avest of Geissen, whilst the Avind Avas bloAving in the direction of the toAvn. When several hundred pounds of it Avere distilled in a copper still, and the first tAVO or three pounds evapo- rated with the addition of a little muriatic acid, a very distinct crystallization of sal-ammoniac Avas obtained ; the crystals had always a brown or yelloAV colour. " Ammonia may likcAvise be always detected in snoAv-water. Crystals of sal-ammoniac Avere obtained by evaporating in a vessel with muri- atic acid several poimds of snoAV, Avhich were gathered from the surface of the ground in March, Avhen the snoAv had a depth of ten inches. Ammonia Avas set free from thes« crystals by the addition of hydrate of lime. The inferior layers of snoAV, Avhich rested upon the ground, contained a quantity decidedly greater than those Avhich formed the surface. " It is Avorthy of observation, that the ammo- nia contained in rain and snow-water pos- sessed an offensive smell of perspiration and animal excrements, — a fact which leaves no doubt lespecting its origin. "Any one may satisfy himself of the presence of ammonia in rain, by simply adding a little sulphuric or muriatic acid to a quantify of rain Avater, and eAraporating this nearly to dryness in a clean porcelain basin. The ammonia remains in the residue, in combination Avi"n the acid employed; and maybe detected either by the addition of a little chloride of plat'nr.i, , or more simply by a little powdered lime, wbvi. AMMONIA. AMMONIA. separates the ammonia, and thus renders its peculiar pungent smell sensible. The sensa- tion which is perceived upon moistening the hand with rain-water, so dilTerent from that produced by pure distilled water, and to which the term softness is vulgarly applied, is also due to the carbonate of ammonia contained in the former. A small quantity of ammonia water, added to what is commonly called hard water, will give it the softness of rain or snow- water. "The ammonia which is removed from the atmosphere by rain and other causes, is as constantly replaced by the putrefaction of ani- mal and vegetable matters. A certain portion of that which falls with the rain evaporates again with the water, but another portion is, we suppose, taken up by the roots of plants, and, entering into new combinations in the different organs of assimilation, produces al- bumen, gluten, quinine, morphia, cyanogen, and a number of other compounds containing nitrogen. The chemical characters of ammo- nia render it capable of entering into such combinations, and of undergoing numerous transformations. We have now only to con- sider whether it really is taken up in the form of ammonia by the roots of plants, and in that form applied by their organs to the production of the azotized matters contained in them. This question is susceptible of easy solution by well-known facts. "In the year 1834, I was engaged with Dr. Wilbrand, professor of botan}^ in the univer- sity of Giessen, in an investigation respecting the quantity of sugar contained in the different varieties of maple trees, which grew upon soils which were not manured. We obtained cr}-stallized sugars from all, by simply evapo- rating their juices, without the addition of any foreign substance ; and we unexpectedly made the observation, that a great quantity of ammo- nia was emitted from this juice, when mixed with lime^and also from the sugar itself during its refinement. The vessels, which hung upon the trees in order to collect the juice, were watched with greater attention, on account of the suspicion that some evil-disposed persons had introduced urine into them, but still a large quantity of ammonia was again found in the form of neutral salts. The juice had no colour, and had no reaction on that of vegetables. Similar observations were made upon the juice of the birch-tree ; the specimens subjected to experiment were taken from a wood several miles distant from any house, and yet the clari- fied juice, evaporated with lime, emitted a strong odour of ammonia. "The products of the distillation of flowers, herbs, and roots, with water, and all extracts of plants made for medicinal purposes, contain ammonia. The unripe, transparent, and gela- tinous pulp of the almond and peach emit much ammonia when treated with alkalies. {Rohiquet.) The juice of the fresh tobacco- leaf contains ammoniacal salts. The water, which exudes from a cut vine, when evapo- rated with a few drops of muriatic acid, also jields a gummy deliquescent mass, which evolves much ammonia on the addition of lime. Ammonia exists in every part of plants, 11 in the roots (as in beet-root), in the stem (of the maple-tree), and in all blossoms and fruit in an unripe condition. "The juice of the maple and birch contain both sugar and ammonia, and therefore afford all the conditions necessary for the formation of the azofized components of the branches, blossoms, and leaves, as well as of those which contain no azote or nitrogen. In proportion as the developement of those parts advances, the ammonia diminishes in quantity, and when they are fully formed, the tree yields no more juice. " The employment of animal manure in the cultivation of grain, and the vegetables which serve for fodder to cattle, is the most convinc- ing proof that the nitrogen of vegetables is derived from ammonia. The quantity of gluten in wheat, rye, and barley, is very different; these kinds of grain also, even when ripe, con- tain this compound of nitrogen in very differ- ent proportions. Proust found French wheat to contain 12-5 per cent, of gluten; Vogel found that the Bavarian contained 24 per cent. ; Dav}' obtained 19 per cent, from winter, and 24 from summer wheat; from Sicilian 21, and from Barbary wheat 19 per cent. The meal of Alsace wheat contains, according to Bous- singault, 17'3 per cent, of gluten; that of wheat grown in the "Jardin des Plantes" 26-7, and that of winter wheat 3-33 per cent. Such great differences must be owing to some cause, and this we find in the different methods of cultivation. An increase of animal manure gives rise not only to an increase in .the nxim- ber of seeds, but also to a most remarkable difference in the proportion of the gluten which they contain. " Animal manure, as we shall afterwards show, acts only by t||p formation of ammonia. One hundred parts of wheat grown on a soil manured with cowdung (a manure containing the smallest quantity of nitrogen), afforded only 11*95 parts of gluten, and 64*34 parts of amylin, or starch ; whilst the same quantity, grown on a soil manured with human urine, yielded the maximum of gluten, namely 35*1 per cent. Putrefied urine contains nitrogen in the forms of carbonate, phosphate, and lactate of ammonia, and in no other form than that of ammoniacal salts. " Putrid urine is employed in Flanders as a manure with the best results. During the putrefaction of urine, ammoniacal salts are formed in large quantity, it may be said exclu- sively ; for, under the influence of heat and moisture, urea, the most prominent ingredient of the urine, is converted into carbonate of am- monia. The barren soil on the coast of Peru is rendered fertile by means of a manure called Guano, which is collected from several islands on the South Sea. It is sufficient to add a small quantity of guano to a soil, which con- sists only of sand and clay, in order to procure the richest crops of maize. The soil itself does not contain the smallest particle of or- ganic matter, and the manure employed is j formed only of urate, phosphate, oxalate, and 1 carbonate of ammonia, together with a few I earthy salts. (Boussingau/t, Aim. de Chim, ei I de Phys. t. Ixv. p. 319.) AMMONIA. AMMONIA. " Ammonia, therefore, must have yielded the nitrogen to these plants. Ghiten is obtained not only from corn, but also from grapes and other plants ; but that extracted from the grapes is called vegetable albumen, although it is identical in composition and properties with the ordinary gluten. " It is ammonia which yields nitrogen to the vegetable albumen, the principal constituent of plants ; and it must be ammonia which forms the red and blue colouring matters of flowers. Nitrogen is not presented to wild plants in any other form capable of assimila- tion. Ammonia by its transformation, fur- nishes nitric acid to the tobacco plant, sun- flower, Ckenopvdium, and Boragn (officinalis, when they grow in a soil completely free from nitre. Nitrates are necessary constituents of these plants, which thrive only when ammonia is present in large quantity, and when they are also subject to the influence of the direct rays of the sun, an influence necessary to effect the disengagement within their stem and leaves of the oxygen, which shall unite with the am- monia to form nitric acid. " The urine of men and of carnivorous ani- mals contains a large quantity of nitrogen, partly in the form of phosphates, partly as urea. Urea is converted during putrefaction into carbonate of ammonia, that is to say, it takes the form of the very salt which occurs in rain-water. Human urine is the most pow- erful manure for all vegetables containing nitrogen ; that of horses and horned cattle con- tains less of this element, but infinitely more than the solid excrements of these animals. In addition to urea, the urine of herbivorous ani- mals contains hippuric acid, which is decom- posed during putrefaction into benzoic acid and ammonia. The latt*' enters into the com- position of the gluten, but the benzoic acid often remains unchanged ; for example, in the Anthoxanthum odorutum. The late Professor Gorham obtained from Indian corn a substance to which he gave the name Zeine, according to whose analysis it contains no nitrogen; but ammonia has since been obtained from it." It has always been a popular opinion among husbandmen, that snow contained some fertilizing salts, as winter crops were gene- rally observed to thrive best after being long covered with snow. Common observation is here fully sustained by science, since ammo- nia, one of the greatest of fertilizers, may always be detected in snow-water, the inferior layers next the ground containing the largest proportion. The following interesting calculation is given by Liebig. " If," says he, " a pound of rain-water contain one-fourth of a grain of ammonia, then a field of 40,000 square feet must receive annually upwards of 80 pounds of ammonia, or G5 pounds of nitrogen; for, by the observations of Sckiibler, which were for- merly alluded to, about 700,000 pounds of rain fall over this surface in four months, and con- sequently the annual fall must be 2,500,000 pounds. This is much more nitrogen than is coniaintd in the form of vegetable albumen and giuten, in 2,650 pounds of wood, 2,800 pounds of hay, or 200 cwt. of beet-root, which 82 are the yearly produce of such a field, but it is less than the straw, roots, and grain of corn which might grow on the same surface would contain." As to the source from which .the ammonia diffused in the atmosphere is derived, it is suf- ficient to refer to the fact that ammonia is the last product of the putrefaction of animal bo- dies, all of which, whether large or infinitely small, yield their nitrogen to the atmosphere in the form of ammonia. This cannot remain long in the air, as every shower of rain must absorb and convey it to the earth. " Hence also, rain-water must, at all times, contain ammonia, though not always in equal quantity. It must be greater in summer than in spring or in winter, because the intervals of time between the showers are in summer greater ; and when several wet days occur, the rain of the first must contain more of it than that of the second. The rain of a thunder-storm, after a long protracted drought, ought for this reason to contain the greatest quantity which is con- veyed to the earth at one time." Is it asked what direct proof exists that ammonia acts so favourably in promoting vegetation? The answer is furnished in the results of experiments made by Sir Humphry Davy, in which the beaks of retorts containing fermenting manures were introduced into the soil among the roots of grass, which was thus made to grow more luxuriantly than that in other places. The gases emanating from re- torts containing similar manure were exa- mined and found to consist chiefly of ammonia. Sir Humphry considered such results as prov- ing conclusively the advantage of applying manures to soils in a recent and fermenting state. (See Azote or Nitrogex.) Dr. Liebig's discovery of the great fertilizer ammonia in rain-water has led to a most sim- ple and beautiful explanation of the manner in which gypsum or plaster of Paris acts in pro- moting the growth of plants, a matter which has been a subject of great speculation and controversy, but which would seem to be fully settled at last. "The evident influence of gypsum upon the growth of grasses, — the striking fertility and luxuriance of a meadow upon which it is strewed, — depends only upon its fixing in the soil the ammonia of the atmosphere, which would otherwise be volatilized with the water M'hich evaporates. The carbonate of ammonia contained in rain-water is decomposed by gyp- sum, in precisely the same manner as in the manufacture of sal-ammoniac. Soluble sul- phate of ammonia and carbonate of lime are formed; and this salt of ammonia possessing no volatility is consequently retained in the soil. All the gypsum gradually disappears, but its action upon the carbonate of ammonia continues as long as a trace of it exists. The action of gypsum as well as that of chloride of lime (bleaching salts) really consists in their giving a fixed condition to the nitrogen, or ammonia which is brought into the soil, and which is indispensable to the nutrition of plants. " Water is absolutely necessary to effect the decomposition of the gypsum, on account of its AMYLACEOUS. ANALYSIS. difficnlt solubility (1 part of gypsum requires 400 parts of water for solutioh), and also to assist in the absorption of the sulphate of am- monia by the plants ; hence it happens, that the influence of gypsum is not observable on dry fields and meadows. "The decomposition of gypsum by carbonate of ammonia does not take place instantane- ously ; on the contrary, it proceeds very gradu- ally, and this explains why the action of the g}'psum lasts for several years." (Org. Ckem.)] 'amylaceous, a term applied to such farinaceous seeds, grains, and roots, as contain much of the fine flour from which starch is made, and in which chiefly consists their nu- tritive principle. ANALYSIS (Gii.i.vd\uo-i;). Li a general sense, signifies the resolution of compound bodies into their original or constituent principles. Analysis of Soils. — The means of ascertain- ing the nature, properties, and proportions of the different materials of which they are com- posed. The chemical examination of the soil afl^ords perhaps more certain and more valua- ble information to the farmer, for the impro%^e- ment of its fertility, than any other mode of investigation. The apparatus and the experi- ments, necessary for even the most accurate experiments, are by no means so difficult as it is often believed is the case. It is, in fact, a very erroneous conclusion, that an extensive or an expensive apparatus is necessary to carry on even the most valuable chemical researches. The laboratory of one of the most celebrated chemical philosophers of his day, that of Dalton of Manchester, contained appa- rently but a poor collection of glass bottles, re- torts, crucibles, fragments of wine-glasses, &c. The following descriptions of the philoso- phically-accurate mode adopted by Sir Hum- phry Davy for the analysis of soils, [and of the more easily repeated plans of the Rev. W. Rham, of England, and Dr. Dana, of Massa- chusetts, are given nearly in their own words. The first is taken from his Elements of Agri- cultural Chemistry, the second from the first volume of the Journal of the Royal Agricul- tural Society of England, p. 46, and the last from Professor Hitchcock's Report of the Geologi- cal Survey of Massachusetts.] It may be well to premise that four earths are almost always the chief constituents of all cultivated soils, viz., silica (flint), alumina (clay), c^-bonate of lime (chalk), and carbonate of magnesia. These are mixed together in an endless variety of proportions, and are interspersed with ani- mal and vegetable remains, salts, &c., to an equally varying extent. It is to asceitain the presence and the extent of these substances that the analysis of soils is so necessary and ."o valuable to the farmer. ' "The instruments required for the analysis of soils," said the illustrious Davy, " are few and but little expensive. They are a balance capable of containing a quarter of a pound of common soil, and capable of turning when loaded with a grain ; a set of weights from a quarter of a pound troy to a grain ; a wire sieve sufficiently coarse to admit a mustard- b^eed through its apertures ; an Argand lamp and stand ; some glass bottles ; Hessian cruci- bles ; porcelain or queen's ware evapora/ing basins; a Wedgewood pestle ani mortar; some filters made of half a sheet of blotting- paper, folded so as to contain a pint of liquid, and greased at the edges ; a bone knife, and an apparatus for collecting and measuring aeriform fluids. " The chemical substances or re-agents re- quired for separating the constituent parts of the soil are muriatic acid (spirit of salt;, sul- phuric acid (oil of vitriol), pure volatile (ammonia), dissolved in water, solution of prussiate of potash and iron, succinate of am- monia, soap-lye, or solution of potassa, solu- tions of carbonate of ammonia, of muriate of ammonia, of neutral carbonate of potash, and nitrate of ammonia. " In cases when the general nature of the soil of a field is to be ascertained, specimens of it should be tak'en from different places, two or three inches below the surface, and exa- mined as to the similarity of their properties. ]i sometimes happens that upon plains the whole of the upper stratum of the land is of the same kind, and in this case one analysis will be suffi cient ; but in valleys, ■ and near the beds ot rivers, there are very great differences ; and it now and then occui's that one part of a field is calcareous, and another part silicious, and in this case, and in analogous cases, the portions different from each other should be separately submitted to experiment." Soils, when collected, if they cannot be im- "mediately examined, should be preserved in phials quite filled with them, and closed wim ground glass stoppers. The quantity of soil most convenient for a perfect analysis is from two to four hundred grains. It should be col- lected in dry weather, and exposed to the at- mosphere till it becomes dry to the touch. The specific gravity of a soil, or the relation of its weight to that of water, may be ascer- tained by introducing into a phial, which will contain a known quantity of water, equai quantities of water and of soil, and this may be easily done by pouring in water till it is half full, and then adding the soil till the fluid rises to the mouth ; the diff'erence between the weight of the soil and that of the water will give the. result. Thus if the bottle con- tains 400 grains of water, and gains 200 grains when half filled with water and half with soil, the specific gravity of the soil will be 2-, that is, will be twice as heavy as water; and if it gained 165 grains, its specific gravity would be 1825% water being lOOO-. It is of im- portance that the specific gravity of a soil should be known, as it affords an indication of the quantity of animal and vegetable matter it contains ; JJiese substances being always most abundant m the lighter soils. The other physical properties of soils should likewise be examined before the analysis is made, as they denote to a certain extent their composition, and serve as guides in directing the experiments. Thus silicious soils are generally rough to the touch, and scratch glass when rubbed upon it; ferruginous soils are of a red or yellow colour, and calcareous soils ar« soft. 1. Soils, though as dry as they can be mad 83 ANALYSIS. ANALYSIS. by cc'tinued exposure to air, in all cases contain a considerable quantity of water, which adheres with great obstinacy to the earths, and animal and vegetable matter, and can only be driven off from them by a consi- derable degree of heat. The first process of analysis is to free the given weight of soil from as much of this water as possible, without, in other respects, affecting its compo- sition, and this maj^ be done by heating it for ten or twelve minutes over an Argand lamp in a basin of porcelain to a temperature equal to 300° Fahrenheit; and if a thermometer is not used, the proper degree may be easily as- certained by keeping a piece of wood in con- tact with the bottom of the dish ; as long as the colour of the wood remains unaltered the heat is not too high, but when the wood begins to be charred the process must be stopped. A small quantity of water will perhaps remain in the soil, even after this operation, but it always affords useful comparative results ; and if a higher temperature were employed, the vege- table or animal matter would undergo decom- position, and, in consequence, the experiment be wholly unsatisfactory. The loss of weight in the process should be carefully noted, and when in 400 grains of soil it reaches as high as 50°, the soil may be considered as in the greatest degree absorbent and retentive of water, and will generally be found to contain much vegetable or animal matter, or a large proportion of aluminous earth. When the loss is only from 20° to 10°, the land may be con- sidered as only slightly absorbent and retentive, and silicious earth probably forms the greatest part of it. 2. None of the loose stones, gravel, or large vegetable fibres should be divided from the pure soil till after the water is drawn off; for these bodies are often themselves highly ab- sorbent and retentive, and in consequence in- fluence the fertility of the land. The next process, however, after that of heating, should be their separation, which may be easily ac- complished by the sieve, after the soil has been gently bruised in a mortar. The weights of the vegetable fibres or wood, and of the gravel or stones, should be separately noted down, and the nature of the last ascertained ; if calcareous, they will effervesce with acids ; if silicious, they will be sufficientl)^ hard to scratch glass ; and if of the common alumi- nous class of stones, they will be soft, easily cut with a knife, and incapable of effervescing with acids. 3. The greater number of soils, besides gravel and stones, contain larger or smaller proportions of sand, of various degrees of fineness; and it is a necessary op||ation (the next' in the process of analj^sis) to detach them from the parts in a state of more minute divi- sion, such as clay, loam, marl, vegetable and animal matter, and the matter soluble in water. This may be eflected in a way sufficiently ac- curate, by br>iling the soil in three or four times its weight ot water, and when the texture of the soil is broken down, and the water cool, by agitating the parts together, and then suffering them 10 rest. In this case, the coarse sand will CPnerally separate in a minute, and the finer in 84 two or three minutes, whilst the hij^hly divided earthy, animal, or vegetable matter will remain in a state of mechanical suspension for a much longer time; so that by pouring the water from the bottom of the vessel, after one, two, or three minutes, the sand will be princi- pally separated from the other substances, which, with the water containing them, must be poured into a filter, and after tiie water has passed through, collected, dried, and weighed. The sand must likewise be weighed, and the respective quantities noted down. The water of lixiviation must be preserved, as it will be found to contain the saline, and soluble ani- mal or vegetable, if any exist in the soil. 4. By the process of washing and filtration, the soil is separated into two portions, the most important of which is generally the finely di- vided matter. A minute analysis of the sand is seldom if ever necessary, and its nature may be detected in the same manner as that of the stones or gravel. It is always either silicious sand, or calcareous sand, or a mixture of both. If it consist wholly of carbonate of lime, it will be rapidly soluble in muriatic acid, with effervescence ; but if it consist partly of this substance, and partly of silicious matter, the respective quantities may be ascer- tained by weighing the residuum after the ac- tion of the acid, which must be applied till the mixture has acquired a sour taste, and has ceased to effervesce. This residuum is the silicious part ; it must be washed, dried, and heated strongly in a crucible : the difference between the weight of it, and the weight of the whole indicates the proportion of calcareous sand. 5. The finely divided matter of the soil is usually very compound in its nature ; it some times contains all the four primitive earths or soils, as well as animal and vegetable matter- and to ascertain the proportions of these with tolerable accuracy is the most difiicult part of the subject. The first process to be performed in this part of the analysis, is the exposure of the fine matter of the soil to the action of muriatic acid. This substance should be poured upon the earthy matter in an evaporating basin, in a quantity equal to twice the weight of the earthy matter, but diluted with double its volume of water. The mixture should be often stirred and suffereAto remain for an hour or an hour and a half before it is examined. If any carbonate of lime, or of magnesia, exist in the soil, they will have been dissolved in this time by the acid, which sometimes takes up likewise a little oxide of iron, but very seldom any alu- mina. The fluid should be passed through a filter, the solid matter collected, washed with rain- water, dried at a moderate heat, and weighed. Its loss will denote the quantity of solid matter taken up. The washings must oe added to the solution, which, if not sour to the taste, must be made so, by the addition of fresh acid, when a little solution of prussiate of potassa and iron must be mixed with the whole. If a blue precipitate occurs, it denotes the presence of oxide of iron, and the solution of the prus- siate must be dropped in, till no farther effect ANALYSIS. ANALYSIS. ;s produced. To ascertain its quantity, it must be collected in the same manner as other solid precipitates, and heated red; the result is oxide of iron, which may be mixed with a little oxide of manganese. Into the fluid freed from oxide of iron a solution of neutralized carbonate of potash must be poured till all effervescence ceases in it, and till its taste and smell indicate a consi- derable excess of alkaline salt. The precipi- tate that falls down is carbonate of lime : it must be collected on the filter, and dried at a heat below that of redness. The remaining fluid must be boiled for a quarter of an hour, when the magnesia, if any exist, will be pre- cipitated from it, combined with carbonic acid, and its quantity is to be ascertained in the same manner as that of the carbonate of lime. If any minvite proportion of alumina should, from peculiar circumstances, be dis- solved by the acid, it will be found in the pre- cipitate with the carbonate of lime ; arid it may be separated from it by boiling it for a few minutes with soap-lye, sufficient to cover the solid matter: this substance dissolves alu- mina, without acting upon carbonate of lime. Should the finely divided matter be sutfi- ciently calcareous to effervesce very strongly with acids, a very simple method may be adopted for ascertaining the quantity of carbo- nate of lime, and one sufficiently accurate in all common cases. Carbonate of lime (chalk) in all its states contains a determinate proportion of carbonic acid, I. e. nearly 43 per cent. ; so that when the quantity of this elastic fluid given out by any soil during the solution of its calcareous matter in an acid is known, either in weight or measure, the quantity of carbonate of lime may be easily discovered. When the process by diminution of weight is employed, two parts of the acid and one part of the matter of the soil must be weighed in two separate bottles, and very slowly mixed together till the eff"ervescence ceases. The difference between the weight before and after the experiment denotes the quantity of carbonic acid lost: for every 4^ grains of which 10 grains of carbonate of lime must be estimated. 6. After the calcareous parts of the soil have been acted upon by muriatic acid, the next process is to ascertain the quantity of finely divided insoluble animal and vegetable matter that it contains. This may be done with suf- ficient precision, by strongly igniting it in a crucible over a common fire till no blackness remains in the mass. It should be often stirred with a metallic rod, so as to expose new sur- faces continually to the air : the loss of weight that it undergoes denotes the quantity of the substance that it contains destructible by fire and air. It is not possible without very refined and difficult experiments, to ascertain whether this substance is wholly animal or vegetable mat- ter, or a mixture of both. When the smell emitted during the incineration is similar to that of burnt feathers, it is a certain indication of some substance, either animal, or analo- gous to animal matter, and a copious blue flame at the time of ignition almost always de- notes a considerable proportion of vegetable matter. In cases when it is necessary that the experiment should be very quickly performed, the destruction of the decomposible substances may be assisted by the agency of nitrate of ammonia, which at the time of ignition may be thrown gradually upon the heated mass, in the quantity of 20 grains for every 100 of residual soil. It accelerates the dissipation of the animal and vegetable matter, vi'hich it causes to be converted into elastic fluids, and it is itself, at the same time, decomposed and lost. 7. The substances remaining after the de- struction of the vegetable and animal matter are generally minute particles of earthy matter containing usually alumina and silica, with combined oxide of iron or of manganese. To separate these from each other, the solid mat- ter should be boiled for two or three hours with sulphuric acid, diluted with four times its weight of water ; the quantity of the acid should be regulated by the quantity of solid residuum to be acted on, allowing for every 100 grains two drachms, or 120 grains of acid. The substance remaining after the action of the acid may be considered as silicious, and it must be separated and its weight ascertained, after washing and drying in the usual manner. The alumina, and the oxide of iron and man- ganese, if any exist, are all dissolved by the sulphuric acid : they may be separated by succinate of ammonia added to excess, Avhich throws down the oxide of iron, and by soap-i3^e, which will dissolve the alumina, but not the oxide of manganese : the weights of the ox- ides ascertained after they have been heated to redness will denote their quantities. Should any magnesia and lime have escaped solution in the muriatic acid, they will be found in the sulphuric acid : this, however, is rarely the case ; but the process for detecting them and ascertaining their quantities is the same in both instances. The method of analj'sis by sulphuric acid is sufficiently precise for all usual experiments ; but if very great accuracy be an object, dry carbonate of potash must be applied as the agent, and the residuum of the incineration (6.) must be heated red for half an hour, with four times its weight of this sub- stance in a crucible of silver, or of well baked porcelain. The mass obtained must be dis- solved in muriatic acid, and the solution evapo- rated till it is nearly solid ; distilled water must then be added, by which the oxide of iron and all the earths except silica will be dissolved in combination as muriates. The silica after the usual process of lixiviation must be heated red : the other substances may be separated in the same manner as from the muriatic and sulphuric solutions. This process is the one usually employed by chemical philosophers for the analysis of stones. 8. If any saline matter, or soluble vegetable or animal matter, is suspected in the soil, i will be found in the water of lixiviation used for separating the sand. This water must be evaporated to dryness in a proper dish, at a heat below its boiling point. If the solid matter obtained is of a brown colour and inflarama H 85 ANALYSIS. ANALYSIS. ble, it may be considered as partly vegetable ex- tract. If its smell when exposed to heat be like that of burnt feathers, it contains animal or albu- minous matter; if itbe white,crystalline,andnot destructible by heat, it may be considered prin- cipally as saline matter. The saline compound^ contained in soils are very various. The sul- phuric acid combined with potash or sulphate of potash is one of the most usual. Common salt is also very often found in them ; likewise phosphate of lime, which is insoluble in water, but soluble in muriatic acid. Compounds of the nitric, muriatic, sulphuric, and phosphoric acids, with alkalies and earths, exist in some soils. The salts of potash are distinguished from those of soda by their producing a pre- cipitate in solutions of platina; those of lime are characterized by the cloudiness they occa- sion in solutions containing oxalic acid ; those of magnesia by being rendered cloudy by so- lutions of ammonia. Sulphuric acid is detected in salts by the dense white precipitate it forms in solutions of baryta ; muriatic acid, by the cloudiness it communicates to solution of nitrate of silver ; and when salts contain nitric acid, they produce scintillations by being thrown upon burning coals. 9. Should sulphate or phosphate of lime be suspected in the entire soil, the detection of them requires a particular process upon it. A given weight, of it, for instance, 400 grains, must be heated red for half an hour in a cruci- ble, mixed with one third of powdered char- coal. The mixture must be boiled for a quarter of an hour in a half pint of water, and the fluid collected through the filtre and exposed for some days to the atmosphere in an open vessel. If any notable quantity of sulphate of lime (gypsum) existed in the soil, a white pre- cipitate will gradually form in the fluid, and the weight of it will indicate the propnrtion. Phosphate of lime, if any exist, may be jeparated from the soil after the process for gypsum. Muriatic -acid must be digested upon the soil in quantity more than sufficient to sa- turate the soluble earths : the solution must be evaporated, and water poured upon the solid matter. This fluid will dissolve the com- pounds of earths with the muriatic acid, and leave the phosphate of lime untouched. It will not fall within the limits assigned to this article to detail any processes for the detection of substances which may be accidentally mixed with the matters of soils. Other earths and metallic oxides are now and then found in them, but in quantities too minute to bear any relation to fertilit)^ or barrenness, and the search for them would make the analysis much more complicated, without rendering it more useful. 10. Where the examination of a soil is com- pleted, the products should be numerically arranged and their quantities added together, and if they nearly equal the original quantity of soil, the analysis may be considered as ac- curate. It must, however, be noticed that when phosphate or sulphate of lime are discovered by the independent process just described (9), a correction mnst be made for the general pro- cess, by subtracting a sura equal to their weight fr.-m^the quantity of carbonate of lime 86 obtained by precipitation from the muriatic acid. In arranging the products the form should be in the order of the experiments by which they were procured. Thus I obtained from 400 grains of a good silicious sandy soil from a hop garden near Tonbridge Kent, — Grains. Of water of absorption ----- 19 Of loose stones and {jravel, principally silicious 53 Of undecomposed vegetable fibres - - - 14 Of fine silicious sand ...... 212 Of minutely divided matter, separated by agitation and filtration, and consisting of Grains. Carbonate of lime (chalk) - - 19 Carl)onate of magnesia - - - 3 Matter destructible by heat, princi- pally vegetable - - - - 15 Silica 21 Alumina ------ 13 Oxide of iron ----- 5 Soluble matter, principally common sail and vegetable extract . - 3 Gypsum ------ 2 — 81 Loss - - - - 21 400 The loss in this analysis is not more than usually occurs, and it depends upon the im- possibility of collecting the whole quantities of the different precipitates, and upon the pre- sence of more moisture than is accounted for in the water of absorption, and Avhich is lost in the different processes. When the experimenter is become acquaint- ed with the use of the different instruments, the properties of the re-agents, and the rela- tions between the external and chemical quali- ties of soils, he will seldom find it necessary to perform, in any one case, all the processes that have been described. When his soil, for instance, contains no notable proportions of calcareous matter, the action of the muriatic acid (7.) may be omitted. In examining peat soils, he will principally have to attend to the operation by fire and air, and in the analysis of chalks and loams, he will often be able to omit the experiment by sulphuric acid (9.). In the first trials that are made (adds Davy) by persons unacquainted with chemistry, they must not expect much precision of result; ma- ny difficulties will be met with ; but, in over- coming them, the most useful kind of practical knowledge will be obtained ; and nothing is so instructive in experimental science as the de- tection of mistakes. The correct analyst ought to be well grounded in general chemical information; but perhaps there is no bettei mode of gaining it than that of attempting original investigations. In pursuing his ex- periments, he will be continually obliged to learn the properties of the substances he is employing or acting upon ; and his theoretical ideas will be more valuable in being connected with practical operations, and acquired for the purpose of discovery. Such were the excellent rules for analysis prescribed by Sir Humphry Davy. With the still more simple directions of the Rev. W. Rham, I shall conclude this paper. A portion of the earth to be analysed may be dried in the sun or near a fire until it I'eels quite dry in the hand. It is then reduced to powder by the fingers, or by rolling it on a deal board with a wooden roller, so as to sepa- ANALYSIS. ANALYSIS. rate the particles, but not to grind them : any- small stones above the size of a pea must be taken out. If these form a considerable part cf the soil, their proportion must be ascertained by weight; their nature and quality may be afterwards examined : this being a very simple operation, and obvious to the sight, need not be described. Where the stones and pebbles are evidently accidental, they may be over- looked, as having little influence on the ferti- lity : the dry earth, cleared from stones, should be accurately weighed; and it is convenient to take some determined quantity of grains, as 1000, 500, or 250, according to the accuracy of the instruments at hand. This portion should be put into a shallow earthen or metal vessel, and heated over the fire, or a lamp, for about ten minutes, stirring it with a chip of dry wood ; the heat should not be so great as to discolour the wood. It m.ay then be allowed to cool, and be weighed again ; the loss of weight indicates the water which remained uncombined after the soil appeared quite dry. This is the first thing to be noted. The power of retaining water without any external appear- ance of moisture is greatest in humus (a mo- dern term for very finely divided organic matter), next in clay, both of which readily absorb it from the atmosphere; carbonate of lime does so in a less degree, and silicious sand least of all. This moisture occupies the pores of the soil, and is very different from the water, which is combined with clay as a part of its substance, and to which it owes its ductility ; for when this last is expelled by a great heat, the clay loses its quality, and ap- proaches to the nature of sand. Pounded brick will not bind with water, and porcelain reduced to fine powder has all the properties of silicious sand in the soil. The finer the division of the particles of the soil, the greater will be its power of absorbing and retaining water ; but in^ soil where clay greatly predominates, the lumps sometimes become sp hard and baked b}' tne sun that the moisture cannot penetrate ; and in this case the power of absorption is much diminished. Hence loams in which there is a good proportion of humus have a greater power of absorption than the pure earths. Taking all circumstances into consi- deration, it will be found that the soils which most readily absorb moisture are also the most fertile, and therefore it is important to ascer- tain their power of absorption. This can be found by comparison. Equal portions of dif- ferent soils, dried as before, are placed in the opposite scales of a good balance, and left ex- posed for some time to a moist atmosphere ; that which preponderates has the greatest power of absorption ; the degree is measured by the difference of the acquired weights. Another important circumstance is the specific gravity of a soil. The different earths have very different specific gravities; and humus being lighter than any mineral earth, the lightness of the soil is a sure indication of its richness, excepting where this lightness is occasioned by an excess of undecomposed vegetable matter, or peat. Humus, when nearly pure, has specific gravity varying from 1-2 to 1"5; fine porcelain clay, 2; chalk, about 2-3; silicious sand from 2-5 to 2-7; mixed soils have specific gravities varying according to the proportions of their component parts. ThQse in which clay, chalk, and humus abound, and which are generally the most fertile, are the lightest. The sandy soils are heavier, and the more so if they contain oxides of iron, or of other metals ; and it is well known that the ferruginous sands are the most barren. The common expression of light, when applied to a sandy soil, has no reference to its specific gra- vity, but merely to the force required to plough it. No carrier would say that a loose sandy road was a light one. The easiest and readiest method of determining the specific gravity of earth, or any substance which is of a loose texture, is that described by Dr. Ure in his Philosophy (if Maniifadures (p. 97), as employed by him to ascertain the specific gravities of cotton, wool, silk and flax. It is as follows : — Take a narrow-necked phial, capable of hold- ing four or five ounces of water; mark a line round die middle of the neck with the point of a diamond, or a file ; fill the phial up to the mark with river or rain water, and poise it with sand, or any other substance, in a scale ; then put 1000 grains' weight in the same scale i,vith the phial, and pour out water till the equilibrium is restored. In the vacant space, which is evidently equal to the bulk of 1000 grains of water, introduce the soil till the water rises to the mark in the neck ; then put into the opposite scale grain weights sufficient to restore the equilibrium. The number of grains required for this purpose will denote the specific gravity of the soil compared to water as 1000. Suppose, for example, that silicious sand, which is 2*7 times denser than water, is poured into the vacant space, it will require 2-700 grains to fill the space occupied by the 1000 grains of water ; and thus we have the specific gravity without any calculation. If, instead of 1000 grains, we use only 500, or 250, the result will be the same, if we multiply the grains in the other scale by 2 or 4. We Avill give a few examples of soils, of which the specific gravity has been carefully determined. A rich garden soil, which contained, per cent., — Clay . . . Pilicious sand Calcareous sand - Carbonate of lime Humus had a specific gravity of 2-332. A good loam, consisting of— Clay . - - Silicious sand Calcareous sand - Carbonate of lime Humus 52-4 36-5 1-8 20 7-3 511 43-7 0-4 2-3 3-4 Humus - - had a specific gravity of 2-401. A poorer soil, of which the component \ arts were/ — Silicious sand Clay - . - Calcareous sand Carbonate of lime - Humus - 640 - 323 - 1-2 - 12 - 1-8 had a specific gravity of 2-526. These examples suffice to show that the «"e- cific gravity of a soil is some tolerable ind a- 87 ANALYSIS, ANALYSIS. tiou of its fertility. It cannot, however, be entirely relied upon in the absence of other proofs ; for there may be many difi'erent mix- lures of earths which will have the same spe- cific gravity, although they may difler greatly in their fertility ; bu. n will facilitate the analysis, and often deteci mistakes in the pro- cess, if the result does not au-ord with the spe- cific gravity found. We proceed now to the analysis. The portion of soil which has been deprived of all its water, as described above, must be sifted through metallic sieves of dif- ferent fineness ; the first is made of a perforated tin plate, the holes of which are about one- twentieth of an inch in diameter : whatever does -not go through this is put by. The re- mainder is successively passed through two or three more sieves, increasing in fineness to the last; which is of the finest wire-cloth, having from 150 to 170 threads in an inch: whatever passes through this is an impalpable powder. Thus we have already a division of the soil, according to the size of its particles: — 1, the coarse grit left in the first sieve ; 2, the finer grit in No. 2 ; 3, fine sand in No. 3 ; and 4, im- palpable powder, which has passed through the last sieve. To facilitate this part of the operation, the sieves may be made so as to fit into one another, like the filterers in a co/fee- biggin, the last fitting into a tin pot which will hold about a pint of water ; a cover being iH«,de to fit on the top sieve, the instrument is complete. (See fig.) Thus, all the sifting may be done at once without any loss. Any lumps which are not tho- 1 roughly pulverized must be broken. The coarser sand left in the sieve. No. 1, must 2 now be washed with pure water, to detach any fine dust adhering to it ; what runs 3 through may be used to wash No. 2, in the same manner; and then may pass through No. 3 to the impalpable mat- ter which passed through all 4 the sieves. A sufficient quan- tity of water must be used to render the whole of this last nearly fluid. There will then be three different portions of the washed soil left in the sieves, and a por- tion of impalpable matter diffused through the water in the lower division of the instrument. This last is the principal object of analysis, and that to which Sir Humphry Davy usually confined his attention, merely noticing the pro- portion of coarser sand in the soil. It contains, no doubt, the great princijile of fertility and nutrition ; and the effect of the coarser parts may be considered as chiefly mechanical ; but they may much affect the fertility of the finer parts, and are of the greatest importance to the sc»i.i in which they are blended : the/ con- sequently deserve a more minute examination, to which we will return. In the mean time, our attention shall be di- 1 ected to the composition of the finer earth in No. 4, which is mixed with water in a semi- fluid state. This is well shaken, and suddenly o8 poured into a deep glass vessel, and allowed to settle for a few minutes, when the heavier earth, which is sand, will be deposited, and the lighter may be poured off suspended in the water. It requires some little practice to effect this at once, but a few trials will soon enable any one to ^o it. This operation may be re- peated until all sand, of which the particles are visible to the naked eye, is separated. The earth and water decanted out of this last vessel are now poured into a glass tube, eighteen inches long, No. 1, the bore of which is less than an inch ; one end is stopped with a cork fitted into it, and the other has a small lip for the convenience of pouring out the contents. In a short time, there will be a further deposi- tion of earth, which will be principally alu- mina. What remains suspended in the water over it is gently poured oft' into another similar tube (No. 2) ; this will contain nearly the whole of the humus, which will take some hours to be deposited in the form of a fine brown mud. The contents of the tube No. 1 may now have a little more water added to them: after being well shaken, the tube may be set upright, and left for half an hour to settle : what remains suspended in the water after this, must be added to the humus in the tube No."2. After some time, this will also be deposited, and the clear water may be decanted ofl'. The mud which remains is put on filtering paper in a glass funnel; and when all the water has drained from it, it is dried over the fire, and weighed. This is the most important portion of the soil. The fine earths deposited in the tube No. 1 will consist of very fine particles of sand, clay, and perhaps carbonate of lime. The sand will appear deposited in the bottom of the tube. The clay may be easily diffused in the water above it, by stirring it carefully with a small rod, without reaching the sand. It may then be decanted with the water i»to another tube (No. 3), and allowed to settle. This part of the operation may be carried to much perfection by great care, and by examin- ing the results occasionally with a small mi- croscope; but for all common practical pur- poses it is sufficient to separate the vegetable earth from the mineral, and the particles of sand from the finer. The contents of No. 1 having been collected, as well as those of No. 3, are dried- over the fire, and accurately weighed. The same is done with the earth which remains on the sieves. All the water in which the earths have been diffused and washed is collected and passed through filter- ing paper, and then set over the fire in a com- mon saucepan. It is boiled away gently, until it is reduced- to a small portion, which begins to look turbid. The complete evaporation is finished in an evaporating dish as slowly as possible ; and the residue is the soluble matter contained in the soil. It will be sufficient to dry and weigh this, as its further analysis would require more skill and chemical know- ledge than we suppose in the operation. Salts may be detected by the taste, or by the crystals formed in the evaporation ; but unless there is a decided saline taste, the whole may be consi ANALYSIS. ANALYSIS. dered as soluble humus, and the immediate fertility of the soil depends greatly on the quantity of it. To recapitulate what has been obtained, we shall have the coarse grit in sieve No. 1 ; the sand in Nos. 2 and 3; the fine earth separated in the tubes, Nos. 1 and 3; the humus in tube No. 2, and on the filtering paper, and on the soluble parts in the evapo- rating dish. All these substances must be well dried over the fire, as was done with the soil at first, and each separated part accurate- ly weighed: the sum of them ought to be equal to the original portion of soil subjected to analysis after the Avater was drawn off"; but "^y lime or alkalies, and brought into a stale there always is a loss, even with the most ex perienced analyser ; this loss will be princi- pally in the finer parts which are dissipated in the operation. But the analysis is not yet completed : we have separated the sand, clay, and humus, but there may be a portion of car- bonate of lime in the form of sand, or of finely divided earth mixed with the other earths. To ascertain this, each portion, excepting the hu- mus, is put into a separate cup, and a little muriatic acid, diluted with four times its own weight of water, is poured on it : if there is any effervescence, it shows the presence of carbonate of lime ; diluted acid is then added gradually, as long as the effervescence is re- newed by the addition. When this ceases, and the water continues to have an acid taste, more pure water is added, and each portion separately filtered, dried, and weighed. The loss of weight in each of these gives the quan- tities of carbonate of lime dissolved by the muriatic acid, and which has passed with the water in the form of muriate of lime. The different weights being now collected, the re- sult of the operations may be set down. There may be many mineral substances in the soil, which this mode of analysing Avill not detect ; and some of these may materially aflfect the fertility. In most cases there will be some- thing to indicate the presence of metals. Iron abounds in most soils : when the quantity is ' considerable, it will be detected by pouring a decoction of gall-nuts into the water which has washed the earth ; it will immediately be- come of a bluish dark colour. The other me- tals are not of frequent occurrence. Sulphate of lime or gypsum, and also magnesia, are found in some soils; but the separation of them can only be effected by those who are well acquainted with chemistry: they fortu- nately occur very seldom, and the places where they are found are generally well known. For all practical purposes it is suf- ficient to ascertain the proportion of sand, clays, carbonate of lime, and humus, which any soil contains. Many soils which have been highly manured, contain portions of un- decomposed vegetable substances, and fibres of roots : these will be found mixed with the coarser earths separated by the sifting: not being a part of .the natural soil, they need not be taken into the account ; but they may be separated by washing the earths, as they are much lighter, and will come over in the first Recantations They may be dned and weighed, 12 and the quantity set down in the result, if it is desirable. Some very barren sands, contain- ing very little argillaceous earth or humus, may readily be known by the copious sandy deposit which they rapidly make when dil- fused through water. Good natural loams are not so easily judged of; but the preceding mode of analysis will in general detect their intrinsic value. When a soil contains peaty matter, it is easily discovered by the irregular black particles which are visible in it. Peat differs from humus only in being in a different state of decomposition, and containing a con- siderable portion of tannin : when acted upon of greater decomposition, it is not to be dis- tinguished from humus in its qualities. The only instruments absolutely i-equired for the foregoing analysis are, in the first place, two good balances, one capable of weighing a pound and turning with a. grain, and one weighing two ounces and turning with the tenth part of a grain. Next, the combination of sieves which we have described, and which may easily be made by any tinsmith. But any sieves of the required fineness, whether of metal, horse-hair, or silk, provided they be of the proper texture, will answer the purpose for a trial. Some earthen or glass jugs, and two or three glass tubes, 18 inches long, open at both ends, which may be obtained at any glass-blower's or chemist's, a glass funnel, and some filtering paper, will complete the apparatus. The only chemical substance in- dispensable to the analysis is some muriatic acid, commonly called spirit of salt. A little test-paper to detect acids in the water with which the soil has been washed, and an infu- sion of gall-nuts to ascertain the presence of iron, may be useful. A small glass phial will serve for the specific gravities. The whole of these instruments and materials may be procured for a very small sum. If the fore- going process is carefully followed, any per- son, however unaccustomed to chemical ope- rations, will soon be enabled to satisfy him- self as to the composition of any soil of \^'hich he desires to know the comparative value. He must not be disheartened by a few failures al first. However simple every operation may appear, it requires a little practice and much patience, if we would come to a very accurate result. Every portion must be dried to the same degree before it is weighed : minute por- tions which adhere to the vessels when dried must be carefully collected by scraping and brushing ofl' with a feather : pieces of filtering- paper and linen must be weighed before they are used, that small portions of matter adher- ing to them may be ascertained by the in- crease of weight. By attending to these par- ticulars, it is surprising how nearly the whole original weight is accounted for in the sum- ming up of the separate parts. If this mecha- nical analysis should be thought lightly of by experienced chemists, let them only carefully analyse a portion of soil by this process, and then another by any more perfect mode, and compare the importance of the results as re- gards' practical agriculture. The object is to u 2 8*- ANALYSIS. ANALYSIS. ascertain the productive powers of the soils ; and for this purpose the separation of the dif- ferent earths is sulhcient, in the present im- perfect state of our knowledge of the m)rsteries of vegetation. The process Avhich we have described, simple as it is, may yet be too te- dious for the farmer who is desirous of speedily comparing different soils ; and we will indicate a still simpler method of ascertaining, nearly, the composition of a soil, and a simple instru- ment by which it may be done. Take a glass tube, ^ths of an inch in diameter, and three feet long; fit a cork into one end and set it j upright ; fill it half full of pure water ; take [ nearly as much water as has been poured into* the tube, and mix with it the portion of soil which is to be examined, in quantity not more than will occupy 6 inches of the tube ; pour the mixture rapidly into the tube, and let it stand in a corner of a room, or supported upright in any way; in half an hour it may be examined. The earths will have been de- posited according to the size and specific gra- vity of their particles. The portion still sus- pended in the water may be allowed to settle ; and there will appear in the tube layers of sand, clay, and humus, which may be mea- sured by a scale, and thus the proportion nearly ascertained. When a farmer is about to hire a farm of which the quality is not well known to him, he may be much assisted in his judgment by this simple experiment, if he has no time or opportunity for a more accurate analysis. For the glass tube may be substituted one of tin or zinc two feet in length, with a piece of glass tube a foot long joined to it by means of a brass collar or ferule with a screw cut in it, which is cemenied to the glass, and screws on the metal tube ; and thus the instru- ment may be made more portable. When the water has been poured off, and the earths only remain, the cork may be taken out and the contents pushed out on a plate, by means of a rod and a plug which exactly fits the inter- nal diameter of the tube. They may thus be more particularly examined. The result of various accurate analyses of soils shows that the most fertile are composed of nearly equal quantities of silicious and argillaceous earths in various states of division, and a certain proportion of calcareous earth, and of humus in that state in which it attracts oxygen and becomes soluble, giving out at the same time some carbonic acid. No chemist has yet been able to imitate the process of nature in the formation of this substance ; and the circum- stances which are most favourable to it are not yet fully ascertained. Here is the proper field for the application of science and accu- rate chemical analysis. As an example of an ana'ysis will be useful to those who may ae- sirc to try the proposed method, we will add one actually made under very unfavourable circumstances, and without any apparatus ; the onlv instrument at hand were scales and weights of tolerable accuracy, three glasses a foot long, and 1^ inch in diameter, belonging lo French lamps, a tin coffee-strainer, a piece of fine gauze, and a very fine cambric pocket- nandkerchief. A little muriatic acid was ob- 90 tained at the apothecary's. The soil to be analyzed was taken from a piece of good arable land on the south side of the slope of the Jura mountains ia Switzerland. Its spe- cific gravity was taken as described before, and found to be 2-358 nearly. 500 grains of the dry soil were stirred in a pint of water, and set by in a basin. To save time, 500 grains more of the same soil were weighed, after having been dried over the fire. It was well pulverized with the fingers, and sifted through the coffee-strainer, then through gauze, and, lastly, through the cambric handkerchief. Some portion was left behind at each sifting. The two first portions were washed in the strainer and the gauze. The residue was sand of two different degrees of fineness, which, when dried, weighed, the coarser, 24 grains, the next, 20 grains. The earth and water which had passed through the strainer and the gauze were now strained through the cam- bric, and left some very fine sand behind, which, dried, weighed, and added to what had remained on the cambric, when sifted in a dry state, weighed 180 grains. All that which had gone through the cambric was mixed with water in a jug and stirred about. The heavier earth subsided, and the lighter was poured in one of the lamp-glasses, which had a cork fitted into it, and was placed upright. In about two minutes there was a deposit, and the lighter portion was poured into a similar glass, where it was left some time to settle. In this a slower deposition took place, and in about a quarter of an hour the muddy water was poured off into the third glass. The three glasses were placed upright, and left so till the next day. In the first glass was some very fine earth, apparently clay; in the second the same, but more muddy; and in the third no- thing but thin mud. The contents of No. 2 were divided between No. 1 and No. 3, by pouring off the muddy part into No. 3 after some of the pure water had been poured off, and the remaining earth into No. 1; they were then left to settle. As much water as appeared quite clear over the sediment was decanted ofT. The sediment was poured on a plate by taking the cork out of the tube, which was cleaned with a piece of fine linen, which had been carefully dried and accurately weighed. The plates were examined, and some of the lighter part, which floated on the least agitation, was poured from one plate to another, until it was thought that all the humus had been separated. Most of the water could now be poured off the earths, by inclining the plates gently, without any muddiness. It was, however, passed through a piece of filtering-paper, which haa been previously dried and weighed. The earth was slowly dried, by placing the plates on the hearth before a good fire, until they were quite dry, and so hot. that they could not be easily held in the hand. The deposit left in the jug was poured on a plate, and a little muddy part, which was observed, was poured off with the water on another. This was again transferred, and the finer added to that which was in the second plate. Collecting now all the separate portions, there were found ANALYSIS. Grains Of coarse sand ... - . - 24 Finer sand .-.-.. 20 Very fine sand ------ 180 Clay deposited in the jug, and first plate dried 240 Deposit in the second plate - - - 24 — on the filtering paper . - . Ji — on the linen rag - . - . 0^^ 490 Leaving 10 grains to be accounted for. Each portion, except the three last, was now put into a cup, and diluted muriatic acid poured over them* an effervescence appeared in ail of them, which continued on the addition of diluted acid, and when the contents of the cups were stirred with a piece of tobacco-pipe They were left till the next day, when all effer- vescence ceased, and the calcareous part seemed entirely dissolved : pure water was added to dissolve all the muriate of lime which had been formed. After some time, the clear liquor was poured off, and the remainder was strained through filtering-paper, and dried on plates before the fire. The earths were now found to weigh, respectively, 20, 17, 162, and 182-5 grains, having lost 4, 3, 18, and 57-5 grains of calcareous earth dissolved by the acid. The soil and water which had been put by in a basin were now repeatedly stirred, and poured into a filter, and more water was passed through the earth to wash out all the soluble matter: all the water was boiled down and evaporated, and left two grains of a substance which had the appearance of a gum with a little lime in it. Thus the loss was reduced to eight grains, a very small quantity, consi- dering the means used in analyzing the soil. The corrected account, therefore, is as fol- lows : — Silicious sand. Calcareous sand. Impalpable earth. ANALYSIS Specific gravity, 2-358. r Coarse < Finer - - - (.Very fine - r Coarse ■i Finer (_Very fine - relay - ■< Carb. of lime (.Humus Soluble matter Loss - - - 20 I 17 VI 162 i 183 25 182-5 57-5 26 2 8 500 Or, in round numbers, — 40 per cent. Sand. 36 — Clay. 17 — Calcareous earth. 55 — Vegetable earth, or humus. 0-5 — Soluble matter. From the composition of this soil, it is evi- dent that it is a most excellent loam, capable of pi"oducing with good tillage and regular manuring every kind of grain, artificial grasses, and roots commonly cultivated. The field from which the "soil was taken was always considered to be of superior quality. This simple rule will suffice to enable any one to analyze any soil of which he desires to know the component parts, so far as they aftect the general fertility. To ascertain minute por- tions of salts or metals, or any peculiar im- pregnation of the waters, must be left to practical chemists. To those who may be in- clined to try the analysis of soils, it may be interesting to compare the results of their own experiments with some which have been ob- tained with great care. Thaer in his very ex- cellent work on Rational Husbandry, yvviilen in German and translated into French, has given a table in which different soils analyzed by him are classed according to their compara five fertility, which is expressed in numbers, 100 being the most fertile. No. Clay. Sand. Carb. of Lime. Finely divided Organic Matter, or Humus. 1 74 10 4 Hi 3 81 6 4 8J 3 79 10 4 6i 4 40 22 36 4 5 14 49 10 27 6 20 67 3 10 7 58 36 2 4 8 56 30 12 2 9 60 38 r ' oi 2 10 48 50 * 6 2 n 68 30 2 12 38 60 3 13 33 65 2 14 29 70 >.2 2 15 23i 75 a o li 16 m SO L>-=J u lOOT 95 I 96 f 90j Rich alluvial soils. f The value of this could not be fixed, as it wag \ grass land ; perhaps bog-earth Good wheat and barley lands. Barley land not fit for wheat. Poor sand, fit only for oats or buckwheat. The above table is the result of very patient investigation; the natural fertility of each soil being ascertained by its average produce With common tilla-.e and manuring. [In describing his new method of analyzing soils. Dr. Dana, the distinguished American chemist, sets out by stating that geine consti- tutes the basis of all the nourishing part of vegetable manures. By the term geine, he means all the decomposed organic matter of the soil, chiefly derived from decayed vegetable matter. Animal substances, he says, produce a simi]?r compound containing azote or nitro- gen. There may be undecomposed vegetable fibres so minutely divided as to pass through the sieve, but as one object of this operation is to free the soil from vegetable fibre, the por- tion will be quite inconsitierable, and can only affect the amount of insoluble geine. When so minutely divided, it will probably pass into soluble geine in a season's cultivation. Geine, or the vegetable nourishing matter of soils, exists in two states, in one of which it is solu ble in water, &c., whilst in the insoluble state it resists the solvent power of water. Soluble geine he considers the immediate food of gro^w- 91 ANALYSIS. ANALYSIS. inij plants, whilst insoluble geine becomes food after sufficient exposure to air and mois- ture. Hence the reason and result of till- age. Rules of Analysis. — " 1. Sift the soil through a fine sieve. Take the fine part ; bake it just up to browning paper. "2. Boil 100 grains of the baked soil, with 50 grains of pearl ashes, saleratus or carbonate of soda, in four ounces of water, for half an hour; let it settle ; decant the clear; wash the grounds with four ounces boiling water ; thrcAv all on a weighed filter, previously dried at the same temperature as was the soil, (1) ; wash till colourless water returns. Mix all these liquors. It is a brown-coloured solution of all the soluble geine. All sulphates have been converted into carbonates, and with any phos- phates, are on the filter. Dry therefore that, with its contents, at the same heat as before. Weigh — the loss is soiuble geine. " 3. If 3^ou wish to examine the geine ; pre- cipitate the alkaline solution with excess of lime-water. The geate of lime will rapidly subside, and if lime-water enough has been added, the nitrous liquor will be colourless. Collect the geate of lime on a filter ; wash with a little acetic or very dilute muriatic acid, and 3'ou have geine quite pure. Dry and weigh. "4. Replace on a funnel the filter (2) and its earthy contents ; wash with two drachms muriatic acid, diluted with three times its bulk of cold water. Wash till tasteless. The car- bonate and phosphate of lime will be dissolved with a little iron, which has resulted from the decomposition of any salts of iron, beside a little oxide of iron. The alumina will be scarcely touched. We may estimate all as salts of lime. Evaporate the muriatic solution to dryness, weigh and dissolve in boiling water. The insoluble will be phosphate of lime. Weigh — the loss is the sulphate of lime ; (I make no allowance here for the dif- ference in atomic weights of the acids, as the result is of no consequence in this analysis.) ".5. The earthy residuum, if of a grayish white colour, contains no insoluble geine — test it by burning a weighed small quantity on a hot shovel — if the odour of burning peat is given off, the presence of insoluble geine IS indicated. If so, calcine the earthy resi- duum and its filter — the loss of weight will give the insoluble geine ; that part which air and moisture, time and lime, will convert into soluble vegetable food. Any error here will be due to the loss of water in a hydrate, if one be present, but these exist in too small quan- tities in 'granitic sand' to affect the result. The actual weight of the residuary mass is ' granitic sand.' " The clay, mica, quartz, &c., are easily dis- tinguished. If 3rour soil is calcareous, which may be easily tested by acids ; then before proceeding to this analysis, boil 100 grains in a pint of water, filter and dry as before, the loss of weight i= due to the sulphate of lime, even the sulphate of iron maj b** so consider- •^ ; for the ultimate result in cultivation is to r.onverl this into sulphate of lime. " Test the soil with muriatic acid, and having ihus removed the lime, proceed as before, to 92 determine the geine and insoluble vegetable matter. " In applying Dr. Dana's rules given in the text, to the soils of Massachusetts, I found it necessary to adopt some method of carrying forward several processes together. I accord- ingly made ten compartments upon a table, each provided with apparatus for filtering and precipitations, also ten numbered flasks, ten evaporating dishes, and a piece of sheet-iron pierced with ten holes, for receiving the same number of crucibles. I provided, also, asheet- iron oven, with a tin bottom large enough to admit ten filters, arranged in proper order, and a hole in the top to admit a thermometer. The sand bath was also made large enough for receiving the ten flasks. In this manner I was able to conduct ten processes with almost as great facility as one could have been carried forward in the usual wa}^" As before stated, Dr. Dana regards geine as the basis of all the nourishing part of vegetable manures. The relations of soils to heat and moisture, he says, " depend chiefly on geine. It is in fact, under its three states of ' vegetable extract, geine, and carbonaceous mould,' the principle which gives fertility to soils long after the action of common manures has ■ ceased. In these three states.it is essentially the same. The experiments of Saussure have long ago proved that air and moisture convert insoluble into soluble geine. Of all the pro- blems to be solved by agricultural chemistry, none is of so great practical importance as the determination of the quantity of soluble and insoluble geine in soils. This is a question of much higher importance than the nature and proportions of the earthy constituents and soluble salts of soils. It lies at the foundation of all successful cultivation. Its importance has been not so much overlooked as under- valued. Hence, on this point the least light has been reflected from the labours of Davy and Chaptal. It needs but a glance at any analysis of soils, published in the books, to see that fertility depends not on the proportion of the earthy ingredients. Among the few facts, best established in chemical agriculture, are these : that a soil, whose earthy part is com- posed M^holly, or chiefly, of one earth ; or any soil, with excess of salts, is always barren; and that plants grow equally well in all soils, destitute of geine, up to the period of fructifica- tion, — failing of geine, the fruit fails, the plants die. Earths, and salts, and geine, constitute, then, all that is essential ; and soils will be fertile, in proportion as the last is mixed with the first. The earths are the plates, the salts the seasoning, the geine the food of plants The salts can be varied but very little in theii proportions, without injury. The earths admit of wide variety in their nature and proportions. I would resolve all into ' granitic sand ;' by which I mean the finely divided, almost impal- pable mixture of the detritus of granite, gneiss, mica-slate, sienite, and argillite ; the last, giving by analysis, a compound very similar to the former. When we look at the analysis of vegetables, we find these inorganic prin- ciples constant constituents — silica, lime, mag- nesia, oxide of iron, potash, soda, and sulphuric ANALYSIS. ANALYSIS. and phosphoric acids. Hence, these will be found constituents of all soils. The phosphates have been overlooked from the known diffi- culty of detecting phosphoric acid. Phosphate of lime is so easily soluble when combined with m^jcilage or gelatine, that it is among the first principles of soils exhausted. Doubtless the good effects, the lasting effects, of bone manure, depend more on the phosphate of lime, than on its animal portion. Though the same plants giowing in different soils are found to yield variable quantities of the salts and earthy compounds ; yet I believe, that ac- curate analysis will show, that similar parts of the same species, at the same age, always contain the inorganic principles above named, when grown in soils arising from the natural decomposition of granite rocks. These inor- ganic substances will be found not only in constant quantity, but always in definite pro- portion to the vegetable portion of each plant. The effect of cultivation may depend, there- fore, much more on the introduction of salts than has been generally supposed. The salts introduce new breeds. So long as the salts and earths exist in the soil, so long will they form voltaic batteries with the roots of grow- ing plants; by which, the 'granitic sand' is decomposed and the nascent earths, in this state readily soluble, are taken up by the ab- sorbents of the roots, always a living, never a mechanical operation. Hence, so long as the soil is granitic, using the term as above defined, so long is it as good as on the day of its depo- sition ; salts and geine may vary, and must be modified by cultivation. The universal diffu- sion of granitic diluvium will always aflbrd enough of the earthy ingredients. The fertile character of soils, I presume, will not be found dependent on any particular rock formation on which it reposes. Modified they may be, to a certain extent, by peculiar formations ; but all our grantic rocks afford, when decomposed, all those inorganic principles which plants demand. This is so true, that on this point the farmer already knows all that chemistry can teach him. Clay and sand, every one knows : a soil too sandj% too clayey, may be modified by mixture, but the best possible mixture does not give fertility. That depends on salts and geine. If these views are correct, the few properties of geine which I have men- tioned, will lead us at once to a simple and accurate mode of analyzing soils, — a mode, which determines at once the value of a soil, from its quantity of soluble and insoluble vegetable nutriment, — a mode, requiring no array of apparatus, nor delicate experimental tact, — one, which the country gentleman may apply with very great accuracy ; and, with a little modification, perfectly within the reach of any man who can drive a team or hold a plough."] ANALYSIS OF VEGETABLES. The pro- cess or means by which such bodies are re- solved into their constituent or elementary principles. (See Chemisthy, or Vegetable Chemistrt.) CONCENTRATED FERTILIZERS have of late years come into almost universal use among farmers in Europe and the United States, and have contributed to resuscitate worn-out farms and double and quadruple the products of land in many impoverished neighbourhoods to which more bulky manures could not formerly be transported at a reasonable rate. Hence it be- comes of the highest importance to the agri- cultural interests that farmers should have some means of ascertaining their composition and estimating their commercial value, and this can only be accurately determined through analysis. The chief substances classed as artificial manures have been most ably examined by Professor Samuel W. Johnson, Agricultural Chemist in Yale College, from whose published Essays we take the following estimates of their respective values in their different forms and conditions. Comparative commercial value of manures. The commercial value of a manure may be quite independent of its real agricultural value, though it usually depends considerably on its rejmted agricultural value. The scarcity of a substance, the cost of preparation and trans- portation, the demand for it on account of other than agricultural uses — all these considera- tions of course influence its price. It is com- mercially worth what the dealer can get for it, so much per bushel or ton. Valuation of manures. — What substances are to be regarded as commercially important in costly manures. In any fertilizer which is sold as high or higher than half a cent a pound, there are but three ingredients that deserve to be taken account of in estimating its value. These are ammonia, phosphoric acid, and potash. Every thing else that has a fertilizing value may be more cheaply obtained under its proper name. If the farmer needs sulphuric acid, he pur- chases gypsum: if he needs soda, common salt supplies him. Everything but these three substances may be procured so cheaply, that the farmer is cheated if he pays ten dollars per ton for a manure, unless it contains or yields one or all of these three substances in considerable proportion. Mechanical ccmdition of manures. Nothing is so important to the rapid and economical action of a manure as its existing in a finely pulverized or divided state. All costly fertilizers ought to exist chiefly as fine, nearly impalpable powders, and the coarser portions, if any, should be capable of passing through a sieve of say eight or ten holes to the linear inch. The same immediate bene- fits are derived from two bushels of bones rendered impalpably fine by treatment with oil of vitriol, ten bushels of bone-dust, and one hundred bushels of whole bones. Fine- ness facilitates distribution, and economizea capital. Chemical condition of manures — State of solubil- ity, S^c. — Ammonia, potential and actual — Phos- phoric acid, soluble and insoluble. The solubility of a manure is a serious question to be considered in its valuation. We are accustomed to speak of ammonia as existing in two states, viz., actual and poten- tial. By actual ammonia, we mean ready- formed ammonia ; by potential ammonia, that 93 ANALYSIS. ANALYSIS. which will result by decomposition or decay — " that which exists in possibility, not in act." Now the former is almost invariably soluble with ease in water, and is thus readily and immediately available to plants ; while the latter must first become "actual" by decay, before it can assist in supporting vegetation. In Peruvian guano, we have about half of the ammonia ready formed, and easily soluble in water; the remainder exists in the form of uric acid, which yields ammonia by decay in the soil, but may require weeks or months to complete the change. In leather shavings or woollen rags the ammonia is all potential ; and as these bodies decay slowly, they are of less value than guano as sources of ammonia. Oil- cake (linseed and cotton seed) contains much potential ammonia, and in a form that very speedily yields actual ammonia. We do not know with what precise results the process of the decay of ammonia-yielding bodies is accomplished in the soil. Out of the soil, such bodies do not give quite all their nitrogen in the form of ammonia : a portion escapes in the uncombined state, and thus becomes unavailable. Phosphoric acid may occur in two different states of solubility ; one readily soluble, the other slowly and slightly soluble in water. The "former we specify as soluble, the latter as insoluble in phosphoric acid. In Peruvian guano we find 3.5 per cent, of soluble phos- phoric acid, existing there as phosphates of ammonia and potash. The remaining 10 to 12 per cent, is insoluble, being combined with lime and magnesia. In most other manures, genuine superphosphates excepted, the phos- phoric acid is insoluble. Among those phosphates which are here ranked as insoluble, there exist great diflfer- ences in their availability, resulting from their mechanical condition. The ashes of bones, and the porous rock-guano, when finely ground, exert immediate effect on crops, while the dense, glassy, or crystallized phosphorite of Hurdstown, N. J., and the fossil bones (so- called coprolite of England )j are almost or quite inert unless subjected to treatment with oil of vitriol. The reasonable price of phosphoric acid, ammo- nia, and potash. Insoluble phosphoric acid. — There are several substances now in market, which, as fertil- izers, are valuable exclusively on account of their content of phosphoric acid ; which, moreover, are at present the cheapest sources of this substance that possess the degree of fineness proper to an active fertilizer. These substances are the phosphatic guanos, (from the Gulf of Mexico, &c.,) and the refuse bone- black of the sugar refineries. From them we can easily calculate the present lowest com- mercial value of phosphoric acid. If we di- vide the price per ton of the guano, $35, by the number of pounds of phosphoric acid in a ton, which, at 40 per cent., amounts to 800 pounds, then we have the price of one pound as nearly 4J cents. Refuse bone-black may be had for $30 per ton ; it usually contains 32 per cent, of phos- phoric acid. The same division as above 94 gives us 4f cents as the cost of phosphoric acid per pound. In this report I shall adopt the average of these figures, viz. 4J cents, as the reasonable price of insoluble phosphoric acid. Phosphoric acid is much cheaper in crushed bones ; but this material is not in a suitable state of division to serve as the basis of a fair estimate. Soluble phosphoric acid. — This is nearly al- ways the result of a manufacturing process. Professor Way, chemist to the Eoyal Agricul- tural Society of England, estimates its worth at lOj cents per pound. Dr. Voelker, of the Royal Agricultural College of England, and Dr. Stoeckhardt, the distinguished Saxon Agricul- tural Chemist, reckon it at 12 J cents per pound. They have deduced these prices from that of the best commercial superphosphates. In this report the price will also be assumed at 12j cents. This, I believe, is considerably more than it is really worth, but is probably the lowest rate at which it can now be pur- chased. Actual ammonia. — One of the cheapest sources of this body is Peruvian guano. Al- though it contains several per cent, of poten- tial ammonia, yet the latter is so readily con- verted into actual ammonia, that the whole effect of the manure is produced in one sea- son, and therefore we may justly consider the whole as of equal value with actual ammonia. Good Peruvian guano contains : 2 per cent., or 40 pounds per ton, of potash ; 3 " " " 60 " " " soluble phosphoric acid; 12 per cent., or 240 pounds per ton, of insol- uble phosphoric acid; and yields 16 per cent., or 320 pounds per ton, of am- monia. If we add together the values of the potash and of the phosphoric acid, soluble and insol- uble, and subtract the same from the price of guano, we shall arrive at the worth of the am- monia — namely, $45.10 per 320 lbs., or about 14 cts. per pound. This price, 14 cents per pound, will be em- ployed in these estimates. Potential ammonia, (flesh or other animal matter. ) The value of this varies so greatly, being, for example, as uric acid in guano, not inferior to actual ammonia, while in woollen rags it is not worth more than one-half as much, that we can fix no uniform price, but must decide what it shall be, in each special case, separately. Potash. The value of potash is diiEcult to estimate, because it may vary exceedingly ac- cording to circumstances. Wood ashes are its chief sources ; these are poor or rich in pot- ash according to the kind of tree that yields them, and the soil on which it has grown. It may vai-y from five to twenty per cent. Stoeckhardt, who estimates the value of am- monia at twenty cents, makes potash worth four cents per pound. The price of potashes cannot serve as a guide, for they are never used for agricultural purposes. Four cents is certainly high enough for this country if it is correct for Germany. ANALYSIS. ANALYSIS. Potash may he usually neglected. Most concentrated manures contain very little or no potash. In guano it rarely ex- ceeds three per cent. Superphosphate of lime can contain none of consequence. Potash cannot be economically added to manufactured manures, because nearly pure potash, or even the raw material from which it is extracted, viz. wood ashes, has a higher commercial value for technical than for agricultural pur- poses. Besides, potash is not generally de- ficient in soils, and therefore farmers do not wish to pay for it as an ingredient of costly manures. It is only when a manure is pro- fessedly sold as containing much potash, that this ingredient deserves to be taken account of in its valuation. Computing the money-value of concentrated ma- nures. In what immediately precedes, is contained the data for calculating approximatively the price that can be afforded for a high-priced manure, if we have before us the results of a reliable analysis. The actual calculation is very easy, and has been illustrated already in deducing the value of ammonia from Peruvian guano. We give here a resume of the prices adopted in this report, viz.: Potash, per pound 4 cts. Insoluble phosphoric acid, per pound, 4^ " Soluble " " " 12^ " Actual, and some forms of potential ammonia 14 " As a further example of the calculation, here may follow the details of the valuation of a superphosphate of lime. Analysis gave the following percentages : Actual ammonia 2. 39, say 2.4 Potential " 1.06, " 1.0 Soluble phosphoric acid ... 2. -56, " 2.6 Insoluble " " ...22.98, " 23.0 Multiplying the percentage of each ingre- dient by its estimated price, and adding to- gether the products thus obtained, gives the value of one hundred pounds; this taken twenty times, gives us the worth of a ton of two thousand pounds, namely 36.80 per ton. In the case before us, the quantity of po- tential ammonia is so small that we may reckon it with the actual ammonia without materially influencing the result. Lime. — Its agency in liberating potash, soda, &c. Burned lime, while in its caustic state (freshly slaked or hydrate), exerts great activity in decomposing the insoluble organic as well as inorganic constituents in any soil. This is demonstrated by the chemist who, wanting to separate potash and soda from a portion of earth, heate this red-hot, in a cru- cible, with a portion of lime. After cooling, all the potash and soda contained in the por- tion of earth can readily be washed out by simply passing water through it. Carbonate of lime added to a soil will also eflfect the liberation of potash, soda, and am- monia present, but it will require considerable time. Caustic lime produces these eS'ects at once. Hence the great advantage of applying lime to land in a caustic state — when a com- paratively small portion will do the work for which a very large quantity of eifete carbonate of lime would be required. As a matter of economy, this knowledge is of the greatest consequence. Another important agency of lime is in de- composing the insoluble silicates, phosphates, etc., and rendering these soluble so as to be readily absorbed by the roots of growing plants. Oyster-shells. — 100 parts, according to Kane's analysis, contain Carbonate of lime 98.5 Phosphate of lime 1.0 Animal membrane 0.5 100.0 From this it would appear that 100 bushels of oyster-shells would contain 1 bushel (say 75 or 80 lbs.) of phosphate of lime — in ad- dition to 98J bushels of carbonate of lime. Gas Lime, or refuse lime from gas-works. This has been analyzed and found to vary in its constituents in the various places, accord- ing to the composition of the lime employed and other causes. The following analysis, reported by Professor Johnson, of England, shows results obtained from this refuse from the gas-works of Edinburgh and London. Edinb. London, EUinb, London. Water and coal tar 12,91 9,59 12.91 9,59 Carbonate of lime 69.04 58,88 67.39 56.41 Hydrate of lime, (caustic,) 2.49 5.92 Sulphate of lime, (gypsum,) 7.33 2.77 16.45 29.32 Sulphite and hypo- sulphite of lime 2.28 14,89 Sulphuret of cal- cium 0.20 0.36 Sulphur 1.10 0.92 Prussian blue 2.70 1.80 2.70 1.80 Alumina and oxide of iron 3.40 3.40 Insoluble matter, (sand, &c.) 0.64 1,29 0.64 1.29 98,69 99.82 100.00 101.81 From the above analysis it appears that the two most noxious constituents — sulphite and hyposulphite of lime — constitute 14 per cent, and more in the sample from the London Gas AVorks, whilst it only makes about 2 per cent, of the sample from Edinburgh. As these forms of lime are pernicious to vegetation, un- favourable results might be reported from the gas lime in which they most abound, which would be contradicted by those who used the lime from places where these constituents were present in minute proportions. Hence the great importance of determining the qualities or constituents of gas lime before making use of it. In Philadelphia the gas lime is made from oyster-shells. In other cities, stone lime is employed in the gas-works. Any danger from the noxious ingredients often contained in gas lime may be removed by composting with muck, peat, or barn-yard manure, and suffering to remain long enough to admit of the noxious substances being converted into 95 ANDES GRASS. ANDES GRASS. harmless compounds through sufficient expo- sure to atmospheric and chemical agencies. There are many different opinions among farmers in regard to the agricultural value of gas lime, some preferring it to ordinary car- bonate of lime, while others believe it greatly inferior, and even pernicious to vegetation. In some parts of England the farmers will not haul it away when given to them. Gas lime contains a considerable portion of sulphur. When exposed to the atmosphere, this must combine with oxygen and form sul- phurous acid, the union of which with the lime and ammonia generally present, form sul- phates of lime and ammonia, both valuable fertilizers. The amount of the sulphate of lime thus produced must often be very large. [ANDES GRASS. The Holcua avenaceus of some writers, and Avena elatior of others. Oat Grass, and sometimes Tall Meadow Grass. (Plate 5, ee.) A perennial cultivated grass, flowering in the Middle States in May, and ripening its seeds in July. {Flor. Cestrica.) Its name would imply that it came originally from the mountains of South America, whereas the English botanists treat of the Holcus avena- ceus, or Avena elatior, as a native of Britain. The Andes Grass was introduced to the notice of American farmers several years ago, when its merits were perhaps too highly extolled, wdiich has contributed to its being now esti- mated much below its real worth. Perhaps, too, that those who have reported unfavour- ably of the value of Andes Grass, have mis- taken some other plant for it, a very common occurrence, leading to great discrepancy of opinion. This grass is certainly highly prized by many persons in the Middle States, where, especially in the state of Delaware, it is fre- quently, though not very extensively, cultivat- ed. It grows luxuriantly in soils of clay loam, even of a very light description, affording very early as well as late pasture. Even an open spell in winter, with a few warm days, will start this grass to vegetating so rapidly as to furnish a good bite to cattle. The grass grows very tall, and the hay, if left too late before cutting, is coarse. It grows in tufts, is very durable, and extremely difficult to eradicate from the soil when once well set. This last circumstance perhaps constitutes the most common objection to its introduction into fields and meadows. It stands drought well, and would pnobably be found a highly valu- able grass for southern pastures. It certainly deserves more attention than it now receives, and is, we think, destined to be much more ex- tensively cultivated as a permanent pasture grass. Its durability renders it unfit for alter- nate husbandry. From Colman's Foui ch Report of the Agri- cultui-e of Massachusetts the following pas- sage is extracted. " Tlie tail meadow oat {Avena elatior) has been cultivated in the county. This grass is not familiar to our farmers, but the success which has aUended its cultivation encourages its ex- tension. A Virginia farmer of the highest authority speaks of it, after fifteen years' ex- perience, as a hardy plant, bearing drought and frost, heat and cold, better than any other 96 grass known to him. A Pennsylvania farmer pronounces it of all other grasses the earliest, latest, and best for green fodder or hay. It blossoms about the middle of June, and is preferred to all others by horned cattle. It must be cut seasonably or it becomes hard like straw. A Middlesex farmer, who has cul- tivated it several years, and whose authority is of the highest character, confirms the above statements of its excellence both for grazing and hay. He says, from its early flowering it is adapted to be sown with red clover, and is fit to be cut about the first of June. His own account is as follows : " ' In the spring he sowed with barley a field of four acres, and put on 2^ bushels of oat- grass seed, 5 lbs. of red clover, and 2 lbs. of white clover seed, to the acre. The soil was thin, and had been exhausted by long crop- ping. On the 3d of June in the following year it was cut, and gave two tons to the acre of the finest and best hay, either for cattle or horses, he ever had in his barn.' " He thinks three bushels of seed should be sown to the acre. It is well adapted for graz- ing on poor and exhausted lands, as well as on those of a richer quality. It is a fortnight earlier than the common grasses, and through- out the dryest weather exhibits a green ap- pearance. From three-fourths of an acre,- in good condition, he obtained over 20 bushels of well-cleaned seed. " The late John Lowell, a man behind no other in his intelligent, successful, and disin- terested efforts to advance the cause of an im- proved agriculture in Massachusetts and New England generally, says that, 'under his cul- tivation, it has proved a most valuable grass, and fully sustained its high character. It is a very early and tall grass, yielding a good bur- den. It will start rapidly after cutting. It is a perennial and enduring grass, and on his first experiment it lasted seven years without the necessity of renewal.' " A farmer in Waltham objects to sowing the tall meadow oats and the herdsgrass (Timothy) together, as they do not ripen at the same time. The tall meadow oats, when I visited him, would be ready for the scythe in ten days, or about the middle of June, while the herds- grass, at the same time, had not begun to show its head. " ' This grass — Avena elatior, tall oat grass — sends forth flower-straws during the whole season ; the latter math contains nearly an equal number with the flowering crop. It is subject to the rust, but the disease does not make its appearance till after the period of flowering. It aflects the whole plant, and at the time the seed is ripe.the leaves and straws are withered and dry. This accounts for the superior value of the latter math over the seed crop, and points out the propriety of taking the crop .when the grass is in flower. The nu- tritive matter afforded by this grass, when made into hay, according to the table is very small.' {Geo. Sinclair.) "J. Buel speaks of his 'field experiments with this grass not being so successful as he expected — owing partly to the seed not vege- tating well ; and partly, he supposed, to the ANETHUM. ANIMALS. soil (a light sandy loam) not being sufficient- ly strong and tenacious.' " Taylor, o-f Virginia, says that, ' according to his experience, it will not succeed in lands originally wet, however well they are drained.' "The opinion of the farmers generally in this county is in favour of cutting herdsgrass (Timothy) early rather than late ; perhaps for the reason that the hay is then of a bright green, and on this account commands in the city market a higher price. If we can rely upon chemical examination in determining the nutritive properties of grasses, it will be found that the grain in this respect, in cut- ting herdsgrass when its seed is ripe over cut- ting it when in flower, is as 86-1 to 37-2."] ANETHUM. See Dill and Fennel. ANEURISM. In farriery, a throbbing tu- mour, produced by the dilatation of the coats of an artery in some part of the body of an animal. Aneurisms in the limbs may be cured by making an incision, exposing the artery, and t3'ing it above and below the tumour with a proper ligature. ANGELICA (Angelica Archangelicd). This plant was formerly blanched and eaten like celery ; but at present its tender stalks are the only part made use of, which are cut in May for candying. It grows in gardens, and also wUd. It flowers in July and August in England, and the roots perish after the seed has ripened. This plant grows as high as eight feet ; the stalks robust, and divided into l)ranches. The flowers are small, and stand in large clusters of a globular form. Two seeds follow each flower. It may be grown in any soil and exposure, but flourishes best in moist situations ; conse- quently the banks of ponds, ditches, &c., are usually allotted to it. It is propagated by seed, which is to be sown soon after it is ripe, about September, being almost useless if pre- served until the spring, as at that season not one in forty will be found to have preserved its vegetative powers ; if, however, it be ne- glected until that season, the earlier it is in- serted the better. It may be sown either broadcast moderately thin, or in drills a foot asunder, and half an inch deep. When arrived at a height of five or six inches, they must be thinned, and those removed transplanted to a distance of at least two feet and a half from each other, either in a bed, or on the sides of ditches, &c., as the leaves extend very wide. Water in abundance must be given at the time of remov?il, as well as until they are establish- ed; but it is better to discontinue it during their further growth, unless the application is regu- lar and frequent. In the May or early June of the second year they flower, when they must be cut down, which causes them to sprout again ; and if this is carefully attended to, they will continue for three or four years, but if permitted to run to seed, they perish soon after. A little seed should be saved annually as a re- source in case of any accidental destruction of the crop. {G. W. Johnson's Kitchen Garden.) Angelica is fragrant when bruised, and every part of it is medicinal. The bruised seeds are the most powerful. They are cordial and su- 13 dorific. Three table-spoonfuls of the distilled " water is a remedy for flatulence and pains in the stomach. A paste of the fresh root of an- gelica, beaten up in vinegar used to be carried by physicians in times of great contagion, to apply to the nose. Some preferred holding a dry piece in their mouths, to resist infection. It has always been celebrated against pestilcfi tial and contagious diseases. The stalks of the angelica candied are much esteemed in winter desserts as a s^veetmeat in England. The Laplanders boil or bake the stalks till ex- tremely tender, and eat them as a delicacy. The seeds bruised are cordial, stomachic, and sudorific. (L. Johnson.) ANGINA. In farriery, a name sometimes applied to the quinsy, or what in animals is termed anticor. ANGLE-BERRY. In farriery, a sort of fleshy excrescence, to which cattle and some other animals are subject under different circum- stances ; and are supposed to proceed from a rupture of the cutaneous vessels, which give vent to a matter capable of forming a sarcoma, or fleshy excrescence. They frequently appear upon the belly and adjacent parts, hanging down in a pendulous manner. ANGORA GOAT. A particular species of goat. ANIMAL. A creature that is endowed with life, and commonly with spontaneous motion, though in some cases without it. They are distinguished in general from vegetables by having motion, though this gives us no perfect definition, as there are entire classes of ani- mals which are fixed to a place, as the litho- phytes and zoophytes, which are produced and die upon the same spot; and on the other hand, certain vegetables have as much motion in their leaves and flowers as certain animals. However, by attending to the most general characters, they may be defined to be bodies endued with sensation and motion necessary to preserve their life. They are all capable of reproducing their like : some by the imion of the sexes, produce small living creatures ; others lay eggs, which require a due tempera- ture to produce young ; some multiply without conjunction of the sexes ; and others are re- produced when cut in pieces like the roots of plants. See Botany. For periods of Breeding and Hatching, with other interesting facts con- nected with the subject, see Gestation and In- cubation. ANIMALS, DANGEROUS, See Nuisance. ANIMALS, WILD, STEALING OF. In England no larceny at common law (says Mr. Archbold in his Crim. Law, p. 165) can be committed of such animals, in which there is no property either absolute or qualified ; as of beasts that are ferse naturae, and unreclaimed, such as deer, hares, and conies, in a forest, chase, or warren ; fish, in an open river or pond ; or wild fowls, rooks for instance {Han' man v. Hockett, 2 B. & C. 934; 4 D. & R. 518) at their natural liberty. {\Hule,b\\; Fast. 366.) But if they are reclaimed or confined, and may serve for food, it is otherwise ; for of deer so enclosed in a park that they may be taken at pleasure, fish in a trunk or net, and pheasants or partridges in a mew, larceny ma I 97 ANIMALS. ANIMAL MANURES. be committed. (1 Hale, 511 ; 1 Hawk. c. 33, s. 39.) Swans, it is said, if lawfully marked, are the subject of larceny at common law, al- though at large in a public river (Dalt. Just. c. 156) ; or whether marlred or not if they be in a private river or pond. {lb.) So, all valuable domestic animals, as horses, and all animals domilse, naturae, which serve for food, as swine, sheep, poultry, and the like, and the product of any of them, as eggs, milk from the cow while at pasture (Foster, 99), wool pulled from the sheep's back feloniously (R. v. Martin, 1 Leach, 171), and the flesh of such as are ferae ridturas, may be the subject of larceny. (1 Hu/e, 511.) But as to all other animals which do not serve for food, such as dogs, fer- rets though tame and saleable {R. v. Spearing, R. & R. 250), and other creatures kept for whim and pleasure, stealing these does not amount to larceny at common law. (1 Hale, 512.) But now, to course, hunt, snare, or carry away, or kill or wound, or attempt to kill or wound, any deer kept or being in the enclosed part of any forest, chase, or purlieu, or in any enclosed land wherein deer are usually kept, is felony, punishable as simple larceny; and if committed in the unenclosed part of any forest, chase, or purlieu, the first offence is punishable upon summary conviction by fine not exceed- ing 50/., and the second after a previous con- viction is felony, and punishable as simple lar- ceny. (7 «& 8 G. 4, c. 29, s. 27.) Summary punishment may also be imposed by fine, not exceeding 20/., upon any person who shall have in his possession, or upon his premises, with his knowledge, any deer, or the head, skin, or other part thereof, or any snare or engine for the taking of deer, without satisfactorily ac- counting for such possession (7 «fe 8 G. 4, c. 29, s. 27) ; or who shall set or use any snare or engine whatsoever for the purpose of taking or killing deer in any part of any forest, chase, or purlieu, whether enclosed or not, or in any fence or bank dividing the same from any land adjoining, or in any enclosed land where deer are usually kept, or shall destroy any part of the fence of any land where deer are then kept. (7 & 8 G. 4, c. 29, s. 28.) To take or kill hares or coneys in the night-time, in any warren or ground lawfully used for the breeding or keep- ing of the same is a misdemeanor ; and to take and kill them in any warren or ground in the day-time, or at any time to set any snare or engine for the taking of them, is punisha- ble upon summary conviction by fine. (7 & 3 G. 4, c. 29, s. 30.) Stealing dogs, or any beast or bird ordinarily kept in a state of con- finement, not being the subject of larceny at common law (7 & 8 G. 4, c. 29, s. 31) ; know- ingly being in possession thereof, or of the skin or plumage thereof (7 & 8 G. 4, c. 29, s. 32); killing, wounding, or taking any dove- house pigeon, under such circumstances as shall not amount to larceny at common law (..ee R. V. Brooke, 4 C. & P. 131 ; 7 & 8 G. 4, c 29, s. 33), is punishable upon summary con- viction by fine, imprisonment, and whipping, according to the nature of the offence. So, to take or destroy any fish in any water which ^ihall run through, or be in any land adjoining or Delonging to the dwelling-house of any per- 98 son, being the owner of such water, and having a right of fishery therein, is a misdemeanor; and to take and destroy fish in any other water, being private property, or in which there shall be any private right of fishery ; and to destroy fish by angling, in the day-time, in either de- scription of water is punishable upon summa- ry conviction by fine, varying according to the nature of the offence. (7 & 8 G. 4, c. 29, s. 34.) And, lastly, to steal any oyster or oyster brood from any oyster bed, laying, or fishery, being the property of another, and sufficiently marked out or known as such, is larceny ; and to use any dredge or any net, instrument or engine whatsoever within the limits of such oyster fishery for the purpose of taking oysters or oyster brood, although none be taken, or to drag upon the soil of any such fishery with any net, instrument, or engine, is a misde- meanor. (7 & 8 G. 4, c. 29, s. 36.) ANIMAL CHEMISTRY. See Chemistry. ANIMAL MANURES. For the information I have to furnish with regard to animal ma- nures, I must refer the farmer to other heads of this work, such as Farm-tahd Manure, Night-soil, Bones, Liaum Manure, Fish, &c. A very'elaborate paper by Dr. C. Spren- gel, translated by Mr. Hudson, will be found in the Journal of the Roi/. Ag. Soc. of Eng., vol. i. p. 455, and to that I am indebted for most of the general observations on animal manures in this article. The excrements of animals vary with the age of the animal, its food, &c. That of young animals is poorer than that of the aged, for the young and growing animal requires, for its nourishment and increase in size, a greater proportion of the phosphate of lime, and other solid ingredients of its food, than the more aged animal, because the excre- ments or refuse matters of the vegetables con- sumed are proportionately diminished in quan- tity and in richness. The richer the food, too, the better is the quality of the manure. That from animals fed upon oil-cake is the richest ; then that from corn-fed animals ; then that from green crops, hay ; and, lastly, that from straw-yard cattle is decidedly the poorest. Then again the water consumed by animals to some extent influences Ifae quantity of their manure. In the water usually drank by. an ox, amounting daily to about 80 lbs., is often found from half an ounce to an ounce of sa- line matter. These consist of gypsum, com- mon salt, carbonate of lime, and carbonate of magnesia. " It may be always regarded," as is observed by M. Sprengel, " as an indication that the excrements of animals contain many powerfully manuring substances when they pass quickly into the putrefactive state, and develope a large quantity of the offensive gases, ammonia; for in such cases they contain not only much sulphur, phosphorus, and nitrogen, but an abundance also of chlorine, soda, pot- ash, lime, and magnesia, the whole of which are so much the more important in vegetation, as the soil manured with the excrements is deficient in these particular substances." The mode in which animal fertilizers ope- rate, varies, however, according to their chemi- cal composition. Some are enriching from possessing peculiar saline substances, which ANIMAL POISONS AJOU CABBAGE. are direct food for plants. Thus bones abound u'ith phosphate of lime. Night-soil and urine do the same. Farm-yard compost contains all the essential ingredients of the farmer's crops, and they all copiously yield, by their decomposition, the gases of putrefaction, such as the carburetted hydrogen, and car- bonic acid gas, as well as various easily decomposible salts of ammonia ; all of which are found to be highly nourishing when applied to the roots of the plants, or even to their leaves. And, in fact, some of the most powerful of the animal fertilizers, such as train-oil, whale-blubber, &c., can yield the plant nothing else : they do not contain either saline or earthy matters. It is their gaseous elements only, therefore, which, when applied to the roots of vegetables, produces such a rankness of growth, such a dark green, as the farmer invariably finds to follow in moist sea- sons from their use. The quantity of animal manures employed in England besides that produced by the farmer's live stock, is annually increasing, and it is a happy circumstance that it is so. Not only are sprats and other cheap fish bought up in every direction, but all northern Europe, and even the South Sea, is searched for bones ; refuse train oil, and greaves are, to a conside- rable extent, also used, and there are several manufactories in the metropolis for the prepa- ration of manure powders of an animal de- scription, such as the urate of the London Ma- nure Company, and the disinfected night-soil of M. Poitteviii. These are both, especially the first, powerful enrichers, and are admirably adapted for application by the drill. ANIMAL POISONS. Several animals are furnished with liquid juices of a poisonous nature, which, when injected into fresh wounds, occasion the disease or death of the wounded animal. Well known examples are furnished by the sting of serpents, bees, scorpions, spi- ders, &c. The poison of the viper is a yellow liquid, which lodges in two small vesicles in the animal's mouth. These communicate by a tube with the crooked fangs which are hollow, and terminate in a small cavity. When the ani- mal bites, the vesicles are squeezed, and the poison forced through the fangs into the wound. This poisonous juice occasions the fatal effects of the viper's bite. If the vesi- cles be extracted, or the liquid prevented from flowing into the wound, the bite is- harmless. It has a yellow colour, resembling gum, but no taste ; and when applied to the tongue occa- sions numbness. The poison of the viper, and of serpents in general, is most hurtful when mixed with the blood. Taken into the stomach, it kills if the quantity be considera- ble. Fontana has ascertained that its fatal ef- fects'are proportional to its quantity compared with the quantity of the blood. Hence the danger diminishes as the size of the animal increases. Small birds and quadrupeds die immediately when they are bitten by a viper ; but to an adult the bite seldom proves fatal. " Sweet oil," says Mr. Beckford, " has long been esteemed as a certain antidote to the bite of a viper ; some should be applied to the part, and some taken inwardly ; but the common cheese-rennet, externally applied, is asserted to be a more efficacious remedy than oil. Ammo- nia, or spirits of hartshorn, has also been pro- posed as an antidote. It was introduced in con- sequence of the theory of Dr. Mead, that the poison was of an acid nature. The numerous trials of that medicine by Fontana robbed it of all its celebrity ; but it has beeii lately re- vived and recommended by Dr. Ramsay as a certain cure for the bite of the rattlesnake." {Phil. Mag. vol. xvii. p. 125.) The venom of the bee and the wasp is also a liquid contained in a small vesicle, forced through the hollow tube of the sting into the wound inflicted by that instrument. From the experiments of Fontana we learn that it bears a striking resemblance to the poison of the viper. That of the bee is much longer in drying when exposed to the air than the venom of the wasp. The sting of the bee should be immediately extracted ; and the best applica- tion is opium, and olive oil ; one drachm of the former finely powdered, rubbed down with an ounce of the latter, and applied to the part affected by means of lint, which should be frequently renewed. (See Bee.) The poison of the scorpion resembles that of the viper. But its taste is hot and acid, which is the case also with the venom of the bee and the wasp. No experiments upon which we can rely have been made upon the poison of the spider tribe. From the rapidity M'ith which these animals destroy their prey, and even one another, we cannot doubt that their poison is sufficiently virulent. {Mead and Fontay^a on Poisons,- Thomsoii's Chem. vol. iv. pp. 531 — 533.) [Soft poultices of fresh flesh, bread and milk, or in the absence of these, even mud, are excel- lent applications to stings of insects and even the bites of the most venomous snakes. The vaunted specifics recommended in such cases for internal use, are not to be compared in effi- cacy with the timely application of a poultice of the flesh of a chicken or other animal recently killed. The flesh of the rattle-snake itself is in some parts of America reckoned to possess spe- cific virtues, and doubtless will answer nearl)^ if not quite as well, as any other good soft and moist poultice, which will seldom fail to effect a cure when promptly applied and frequently renewed. In this way the irritation and in- flammation induced by the poison in the part bitten is often arrested at once, and prevented from extending to vital parts. These conclu- sions are the results of experiments made with the poison of the rattle-snake, in which the most celebrated Indian and other specifics were used with little if any advantage.] ANJOU CABBAGE. An excellent vege- table both f^r the kitchen and the food of cattle. The great Anjou cabbage, said the Marquis de Turbilly, is one of the most useful legumin- ous plants for country use. It will grow iri almost any soil, not excepting even the most indifferent, provided it be sufficiently dung>'d. The seeds of this cabbage are commonly sown in June, in a quarter of good mould, in the kitchen-garden, and watered from time to time in case of drought. The plants will rise pretty speedily, and should be thinned soon after Q9 ANNONA. ANNOTTA. trherevei they stand too thick. The next care is to keep them free from weeds whilst they continue, by hoeing the ground between them. About the first of November (probably Sep- tember or October would be better in this cli- mate), they should be transplanted into the field where they are to remain. They should be planted there in trenches dug with a spade, pretty deep ; that is, they should be buried almost up to the leaves. The distance between them should be two feet or two feet and a half every way, according to the soil. Particular care should be taken never to plant them with a dibble, as gardeners plant other sorts of cab- bages. A layer of dung should be spread along the bottom of the trench, and the roots of the transplanted cabbages covered therewith. The mould taken out should then be returned back U]jion the dung ; and, as the trench will then no longer hold it all, there will remain a ridge between each row of cabbages. Towards the middle of the ensuing May, the ground should be well stirred between the plants with a spade, or some other proper instrument, and its whole surface laid quite level. After this, nothing more remains to be done, except pulling up the weeds, from time to time, as they appear. In the month of June, such of these cabbages as are already large, and do not turn in their leaves for cabbaging, but still continue green, begin to be fit for use, and soon arrive at their full perfection, which they retain till the next spring, when they begin to run up, and after- wards blossom. Their seeds ripen towards the end of July, and what is intended for sow- ing should then be gathered. In Anjou, when these cabbages are entirely run up, they gene- rally grow to the height of seven or eight feet ; sometimes they reach to eight feet and a half, or nine feet ; nay, some have even been seen of a greater height. From the month of June, when these cabbages begin to be fit for use, their leaves are gathered from time to time, and they shoot out again. They are large, excellent food, and so tender that they are dressed with a moment's boiling. They never occasion any flatulencies or uneasiness in the stomach ; and are also very good for cattle, which eat them greedily. They likewise greatly increase the milk of cows. Such are the properties of this kind of cabbage, which is greatly esteemed in the districts formerly denominated Anjou, Poitou, Brittany,Le Maine, and some other neighbouring provinces. In the first, farmers were formerly bound by their .leases to plant early a certain number of these cabbages, and to leave a certain number of them standing when they quitted their farms. ANNONA {Triloba). The North American Papaw. This is the only sort which will grow in the open air in England. [See Papaw.] ANNOTTA, or ARNOTTA (Fr. rocou .■ Ger. orkan ,- It. oriana). In rural economy, anatto or arnatto, for it is written in various ways, is a colouring substance, or dye, ob- tained from the skin or pulp of the kernel of the Bixa orellana of South America and the West Indies. Of the preparation of this matter from the red pulp which covers the seeds, Mr. Miller gives the following account : — -The contents of 100 the fruit are taken out and thrown into a wooden vessel, where as much hot water is poured upon them as is necessary to suspend the red powder or pulp, and this is gradually washed off" with the assistance of the hand, or of a spatula, or spoon. When the seeds appear quite naked, they are taken out, and the wash is left to settle ; after which the water is gently poured away, and the sediment put into shal- low vessels to be dried by degrees in the shade. After acquiring a due consistence, it is made into balls or cakes, (which are known in com- merce as the Jliig, or cake, and roll arnotta, aftd comes chiefly from Cayenne,) and set to dry in an airy place until it be perfectly firm. Some persons first pound the contents of the fruit with wooden pestles ; then, covering them with water, leave them to steep, six days. This liquor being passed through a coarse sieve, and afterwards through three finer ones, it" is again put into the vat or wooden vessel, and left to ferment a week ; it is then boiled until it be pretty thick, and when cool spread out to dry, and afterwards made up into balls, which are usually wrapped up in banana leaves. Arnotta, when of good quality, is of the co- lour of fire, bright within, soft to the touch, and capable of being dissolved in water. But the substance commonly met with under this name is a preparation made by the druggists, iii which madder is probably a principal ingre- dient ; it is of a brick colour, and a hard com- pact texture. Arnotta is much used in Glou- cestershire, and other cheese counties, and in the butter dairies. The method of using the soft, or genuine sort, is simply by dissolving such a quantity as is necessary in a small por- tion of milk ; allowing such particles as will not dissolve to settle to the bottom. The milk thus coloured is then poured off, and mixed with that which is to be made into cheese. But when the hard preparation is used, pieces of it are frequently under the necessity of being rubbed against a hard, smooth, even-faced pebble, or other stone, being previously wetted with milk to forward the levigation, and to collect the particles as they are loosened. For this purpose, a dish of milk is generally placed upon the cheese-ladder ; and, as the stone be- comes loaded with levigated matter, the pieces are dipped in the milk from time to time, until the milk in the dish appear to be sufficiently coloured. The stone and the " colouring" being washed clean in the milk, it is stirred briskly about in the dish ; and, having stood a few minutes for the suspended particles of colouring-matter to settle, is returned into the cheese-cowl ; pouring it off" gently, so as to leave any sediment which may have fallen down in the bottom, of the dish. The grounds are then rubbed with the finger on the bottom of the dish, and fresh milk added, until all the finer particles be suspended : and in this the skill in colouring principally consists. If any fragments have been broken off" in the opera- tion, they remain at the bottom of the dish : hence the superiority of a hard closely-textured material, which will not break off" or crumble in rubbing. The decoction of arnotta has a peculiar smell and a disagreeable flavour. An ANNUAL MEADOW-GRASS. ANTHOXANTHUM ODORATUM. ounce of arnotta will colour about twenty cheeses of 10 or 12 lbs. each. The rolls usually weigh 2 or 3 oz. each. In Gloucester- shire, it is usual to allow 1 oz. to a cwt. of cheese ; in Cheshire, 8 pennyweights to a cheese of 60 lbs. By the Spanish Americans, it is mixed with their chocolate. The average annual import of arnotta [into England] in the three years ending in 1831, was 128,528 lbs. (Comp. Farm, , M'Cu/luch's Com. Did. ,■ Gray^s Supplement ; Loudon^s Encyc. ,• Thom- son's Chem.) ANNUAL MEADOW-GRASS. See Poa Annua. ANNUAL PLANTS. Such as are only of one year's duration, or which come up in the spring and die in the autumn. They are fre- quentl)^ denominated simply annuals. Wheat, oats, barley, beans, peas, &c., are of this kind. ANNULAR. Having the form or resem- blance of a ring. This appearance is observed in the wood of some kinds of trees after the)' have been cut down ; and in the horns of cattle and sheep, by which their ages may in some measure be ascertained. ANODYNE. In farriery, a term applied to such medicines as ease pain and procure sleep. ANOREXY. In farriery, a term applied to a want of appetite. ANT. A sort of insect, extremely injurious to pasture lands and gardens ; in the former by throwing up hills, and in the latter by feed- ing on the fruit, &c. The best methods of keeping them from trees, are those of having the earth round them constantly dug up, and the application of saw-dust, coal-ashes, or other matters of the same kind, about their roots. The same purpose may be effected by covering the bottom part of the trees with tar ; but, as it is prejudicial to the trees, night-soil may, perhaps, answer better ; as it is found to destroy them when spread upon or put into their hills. A liquor, prepared by boiling rain- water with black-soap and sulphur, has been made use of for destroying those animals, it is said, with considerable success. Where this liquor is employed, care should be taken that the ground where they inhabit be perfectly saturated with it. ANT-HILLS. The habitations of ants, con- sisting of little eminences, composed of small particles of sand or earth, lightly and artfully laid together. These hills are very detrimental to the farmer, depriving him of as much land as the hills cover, which may often be com- puted at a tenth part, or more, of his grass- lands. And in some places, where negligence has suffered them to multiply, almost half of it has been rendered useless, the hills standing as thick together as grass-cocks in a hay-field : and what is very surprising is, that, by some, this indolence is defended, by affirming, that the area or superficies of their land is thereby increased ; whereas it is well known that very little or no grass ever grows thereon ; and, therefore, if the surface be increased, the pro- duce is proportionably decreased. In order to remove the hills, and destroy the insects, it has been a custom in some places, at the beginning of winter, and often when the weather was not very cold, to dig up the ant- hills three or four inches below the surface of the ground, and then to cut them in pieces, and scatter the fragments about. But this practice only disseminates the ants, instead of destroy- ing them, as they hide themselves among the roots of the grass for a little time, and then col- lect themselves together again upon any little eminence, of which there are great numbers ready for their purpose, such as the circular ridges round the hollows where the hills stood before. It is, therefore, a much belter method to cut the hills entirely off, rather lower than the surface of the land, and to let them lie whole at a little distance, with their bottom up- wards : by this means the ants, who continue in their habitations until the rains, running into their holes of communication, and stag- nating in the hollows formed by the removal of the hills and the frosts, which now readily penetrate, will be destroyed. If a little soot is sown on the places, it will contribute to the intended effect. The hills, when rendered mellow by the frosts, may be broken and dis- persed about the land. By this method of cutting off the hills, one other advantage is gained : the land soon becomes even and fit for mowing, and the little eminences being re- moved, the insects are exposed to the rain, which is destructive to them. In wet weather these insects are apt to accumulate heaps of sandy particles among the grass, called by labourers sprout-hills, which quickly take off the edge of the scythe. These hills which are very light and compressible, may be removed by frequent heavy rolling. ANTHELMINTIC. In farriery, a term ap- plied to such remedies as are supposed to destroy or carry off the worms which lodge in the intestines of an animal. ANTHOXANTHUM ODORATUM. The sweet-scented vernal grass. [See Plate 6, a.] This grass constitutes a part of the herbage of English pastures on almost every kind of soil, attaining its greatest perfection on the deep and moist, loving shady places, such as the skirts of woods. Its very early growth and hardiness, with the sui^erior nutritive pro- perties of its latter-math, give it high claims in the composition of all permanent pastures. In England it comes into flower about the mid- dle of April, and in Pennsylvania about the middle of May, the seed ripening in both coun- tries about the second week in June. In the moist climate of England it continues throw- ing up flower stalks till the end of autumn, but in Pennsylvania the efflorescence is con- fined to spring. AVhen properly combined with other grasses, and mown at maturity, it gives to the hay a peculiarly delightful fragrance. The cause of the high flavour for which Phi- ladelphia " May butter" is so highly celebi'ated, has hitherto been a matter of vague speCiila- tion. This superior flavour, like that distin- guishing the Epping and Cambridge butter of the London market, has very naturally been ascribed to something eaten by the cows ; but this something has never yet been defined oi* specified so as to enable persons in other locali- ties to avail themselves of it for the improve ment of their own pastures and dairy products 1 2 lOi ANTICOR. APHERNOUSLI. The Atuerican editor of the Farmer's Ency- clopaedia claims to have traced the som-ce of the peculiar flavour of Philadelphia " May but- ter" to the sweet-scented vernal grass natural- ized and abounding in the pastures within max-keting distance of the city. He assigns the following reasons for this conclusion. 1. In the dairy region around Philadelphia the vernal grass, with its vanilla fragrance, consti- tutes the predominant spring herbage on all pasture-fields and meadows left several years unploughed. The older the pasture the greater the proportion of the vernal grass, and the higher flavoured the butter. 2. The flavour continues during the development of this grass, and invariably declines with its seeding, after which the cattle push its dry stems aside in search of fresher herbage. 3. The sweet- scented vernal grass is shown by chemical ana- lysis to contain an aromatic essential oil, the basis of which is benzoic acid or flowers of ben- zoin. This is abundant, and can be distilled so as to furnish a delightful perfume. As the milk of animals is so very susceptible of ac- quiring disagreeable tastes from substances fed upon, it is natural to infer that it may be im- bued with agreeable flavours could the propet agents for this purpose be presented in their food. That the benzoic acid is the proximate cause of the peculiar fine flavour of butter made from pastures where the sweet-scented vernal grass abounds, he has shown by several experiments made in difi"erent places where the flowers of benzoin given to cows produced the characteristic flavour. From 20 to 30 grains of the benzoin was administered twice a day, previously mixed with a little rye or wheat flour, then stirred up with some hot water and mingled with the customary mess. Hitherto, but little, if any, exact knowledge has been acquired in regard to the elfects of particular grasses in improving the flavour of dairy products, or the meat of animals. The abundant presence of the sweet-scented vernal grass in pastures will, it is believed, not only contribute a rich flavour to dairy products, but to the mutton and beef of cattle and sheep pastured upon it. [See Dr. Emerson's communication to J. S. Skinner, on the subject of Philadelphia butter, originally published in the Farmer's Librarj for April, 1846.] Uescriptioa of Grass. Anthoxanthum odoratum, on 1st April , in flower - -, seed ripe - -, latter-math Soil. Brown sandy loam Green Produce per Acre. lbs. 3,488 7,827 3 6,125 10 6,806 4 Dry Produce per Acre. Produce per Acre of Nutritive Matter. 2,103 8 14 1,837 U 95 122 311 239 ANTICOR. In farriery, a disease among horses, arising from an inflammation in the gullet and throat, or a kind of quinsy. The swelling sometimes extends as far as the sheath; and is attended with fever, great de- pression, weakness, and a total loss of ap- petite. ANTIDOTE. See Poison, and Animal and Vegetable Poisons. ANTIMONY, SULPHURET OF. In far- riery, a mineral substance, of a shining, stri- ated appearance, hard, brittle, and very heavy. It is employed as a remedy in many diseases of horses and other animals, and is said to have been given to fattening cattle and hogs with advantage. An ounce is the common quantity for a full-grown animal, which may be repeated according to circumstances. It is composed according to Dr. J. Davy {Phil. Trans. 1812, p. 231), of Antimony Sulphur 100 34-960 ANTISEPTIC SUBSTANCES. In agricul- ture, are such substances as have a tendency to resist the putrefaction and decay of animal and vegetable matters. ANTISPASMODICS. In farriery, are such medicines as are suited to cure spasmodic af- fections. Opium, assafoetida, and the essential oils of many vegetables, are the most powerful remedies of this kind. ANTLER (Fr. andouiller). . Properly the first branches of a stag's horns ; but, popularly and generally, any of his branches, and so used, by poetic license, in all our modern authors. 102 AORTAL ARTERIES, of vegetables. The large vessels destined to convey the elaborated juice or blood of plants to the leaves and ex- tremities, are so denominated by Dr. Darwin. APERIENTS. In farriery, are such reme- dies as are calculated to keep the bowels of animals in a gentle open state. APHERNOUSLI, or ARKENOUSLL A species of fir, pine, or pinaster, which grows wild on the Alps. The timber of this tree is frequently large, and has many uses for internal work. The branches resemble those of the spruce-fir: but the cones are more round in the middle, being of a purplish colour, shaded with black. The bark of the trunk, or bole of the tree, is not reddish like the bark of the pine, but of a whitish cast like that of the fir. The husk, or sort of shell, which encloses the kernels, is easily cracked, and the kernels are covered with a brown skin, which peels ofi"; they are about as large as a common pea, triangular like buckwheat, and white and soft as a blanched almond ; of an oily agreeable taste, but leaving in the mouth that small degree of asperity which is peculiar to wild fruits, and is not unpleasant. These kernels sometirhes make a part in a Swiss dessert ; they supply the place of mushroom-buttons in ragouts, and are also recommended in consumptive cases. Wainscoting, flooring, and other joiner's work, may be made with the planks of apher- nousK, which is a wood of a finer grain, and more beautifully variegated than deal, and the smell is more agreeable. The aphernousli is a tree of a healthy, vigorous growth, and will bear removing when it is young, even in dry APHIDIANS. APHIDES. warm weather. From this tree is extracted a white odoriferous resin. The wood also makes excellent tiring in stoves, ovens, and kilns. ' [APHIDIANS. A group of minute insects, which includes those commonly called plant- lice. Some of these insects have the power of leaping, like the leaf-hoppers, from which, how- ever, they differ. These hoppers are by no means so prolific as other kinds of plant-lice, since they produce only one brood during the year. They live in groups, composed of about a dozen individuals each, upon the stems and leaves of plants, the juices of which they im- bibe through their tubular beaks. The young are often covered with a substance resembling fine cotton arranged in flakes. This is the case with some which are found on the alder and birch in the spring of the year. Another tribe of aphidians called Thrips, are very small and slender insects, exceed- ingly active in their motions. They live on leaves, flowers, buds, &c. Their punctures appear to poison plants, and often occasion deformities in the leaves and blossoms. The peach tree sometimes sufl^ers severely from their attacks, as from those of the true plant- lice ; and they are found beneath the leaves, in little hollows caused by their irritating punc- tures. The same applications that are em- ployed for the destruction of plant-lice may be used with advantage upon plants infested with Thrips. {Dr. Harris's Report on Destructive Insects.)] [APHIDES, or plant-lice, as they are com- monly called, are found upon almost all parts of plants, and there is scarcely a plant which does not harbour one or two kinds peculiar to itself. They are exceedingly prolific, and Reaumur has proved that one individual, in five generations, may become the progenitor of nearly six thousand millions of descendants. It often happens that the succulent extremi- ties and stems of plants will, in an incredibly short space of time, become completely coated with a living mass of little lice. These are usually wingless, consisting of the young and of the females only ; for winged individuals appear only at particular seasons, usually in the autumn, but sometimes in the spring, and there are small males and larger females. After pairing, the latter lay their eggs upon or near the leaf-buds of the plant upon which they live, and, together with their males, soon afterwards perish. The genus to which plant- lice belong is called Aphis, from a Greek word signifying to exhaust. They hatch out in the spring and immediately begin to pump up sap from the tender buds, stems, and leaves, in- crease rapidly in size and quickly come to ma- turity. "Plant-lice seem to love society, and often h;rd together in dense masses, each one re- maining fixed to the plant by means of its long tubular beak ; and they rarely change their places till they have exhausted the part first attacked. The attitudes and manners of these little creatures are exceedingly amusing. When disturbed, like restive horses, they be- gin to kiak and sprawl in the most ludicrous manner. They may be seen, at times, sus- pended by iiieir beaks alone, and throwing up their legs as if in a high frolic, but too much engaged in sucking to withdraw their beaks. As they take in great quantities of sap, they would soon become gorged if they did not get rid of the superabundant fluid through the two little tubes or pores at the extremity of their bodies. When one of them gets running-over full, it seems to communicate its uneasy sen- sations, by a kind of animal magnetism, to the whole flock, upon which they all, with one ac- cord, jerk upwards their bodies, and eject a shower of the honeyed fluid. The leaves and bark of plants much infested by these insects, are often completely sprinkled over with drops of this sticky fluid, which, on drying, becomes dark coloured, and greatly disfigures the foliage. This appearance has been denominated honey- dew ; but there is another somewhat similar production observable on plants, after very drj weather, which has received the same name, and consists of an extravasation or oozing of the sap from the leaves. We are often ap- prized of the presence of plant-lice on plants growing in the open air by the ants ascending and descending the stems. By observing the motions of the latter we soon ascertain that the sweet fluid discharged by the lice is the occa- sion of these visits. The stems swarm with slim and hungry ants running upwards, and others lazily descending with their bellies swelled almost to bursting. When arrived in the immediate vicinity of the plant-lice, they greedily wipe up the sweet fluid which has dis- tilled from them, and, when this fails, they station themselves among the lice, and catch the drops as they fall. The lice do not seem in the least annoyed by the ants, but live on the best possible terms with them ; and, on the other hand, the ants, though unsparing of other insects weaker than themselves, upon which they frequently prey, treat the plant-lice with the utmost gentleness, caress- ing them with their antennae, and apparently inviting them to give out the fluid by patting their sides. Nor are the lice inattentive to these solicitations, when in a state to gratify the ants, for whose sake they not only seem to shorten the periods of the discharge, but actu- ally yield the fluid when thus pressed. A sin- gle louse has been known to give it drop by drop successively to a number of ants, that were waiting anxiously to receive it. When the plant-lice cast their skins, the ants in- stantly remove the latter, nor will they allow any dirt or rubbish to remain upon or about them. They even protect them from their enemies, and run about them in the hot sun- shine to drive away the little ichneumon flies that are forever hovering near to deposit their eggs in the bodies of the lice." Plant-lice differ much in form, colour, length of tubes, &c. The Rose-louse (Aphis Rosas) has a long tube. The cabbage-louse (Aphis Brassicse) has also long honey-tubes, its body being covered with a whitish mealy substance. This species is very abundant on the lower side of cabbage-leaves in the month of Au- gust. The largest species of plant-lice ob- served by Dr. Harris, he found in clusters- beneath the limbs of the pig-nut hickory. He 103 APHIDES. APHIDES. also found another large species living on the under side of the branches of various kinds of willows, and clustered together iii great numbers. This species, the Doctor thinks, cannot be identical with the willow-louse de- scribed by Linnffius. When crushed, it com- municates a stain of a reddish or deep orange colour. Some plant-lice live in the ground, and de- rive their nourishment from the roots of plants, which they often exhaust and destroy. Indian corn crops frequently suffer severely from their depredations, especially when the soil is light and reduced. They are generally of a white colour, and are closely clustered to- gether on the roots. Dr. Harris, from whose Report all the information upon this subject is obtained, says that he never has been able to ascertain whether these are of the same spe- cies as the root-lice described by European writers. It is stated by those great entomolo- gists, Kirby and Spence, that ants bestow the same care upon the root-lice as upon their own offspring, defending them from the attacks of other insects, bringing them in their mouths to the surface of the ground to give them the advantage of the sun, &c. The sweet fluid which exudes from them whilst pumping in the sap of the roots, forms the chief nourish- ment of the ants and their young. " The injuries occasioned by plant-lice are much greater than would at first be expected from the small size and extreme weakness of the insects ; but these make up by their num- bers what they want in strength individually, and thus become formidable enemies to vege- tation. By their punctures, and the quantity of sap which they draw from the leaves, the functions of these important organs are de- ranged or interrupted, the food of the plant, which is there elaborated to nourish the stem and mature the fruit, is withdrawn, before it can reach its proper destination, or is conta- minated and left in a state unfitted to supply the wants of vegetation. Plants are differently affected by these insects. Some wither and cease to grow, their leaves and stems put on a sickly appearance, and soon die from ex- haustion. Others, though not killed, are great- ly impeded in their growth, and their tender parts, which are. attacked, become stunted, curled, or warped. The punctures of these lice seem to poison some plants, and affect others in a most singular manner, producing warts or swellings, which are sometimes solid and sometimes hollow, and contain in their interior a swarm of lice, the descendants of a single individual, whose punctures were the original cause of the tumour. I have seen reddish tumours of this kind as big as a pigeon's egg, growing upon leaves, to which they were attached by a slender neck, and containing thousands of small lice in their in- terior. Naturalists call these tumours galls, oecause they seem to be formed in the same way as the oak-galls which are used in the making of ink. The lice which inhabit or pro- duce them generally differ ft-om the others, in having shorter antenna , being without honey- lubes, and in frequently being clothed with a 104 kind of white down, which, howev er, disappears when the insect becomes winged. " These downy plant-lice are now placed in the genus Eriosoma, which means woolly body, and the most destructive species belonging to it was first described, under the name of Aphis lanifreru, by Mr. Hausmann, in the year 1801, as infesting the apple-trees in Germany. It seems that it had been noticed in England as early as the year 1787, and has since acquired there the name of American blight, from the erroneous supposition that it had been import- ed from this country. It was known, however, to the French gardeners for a long time pre- vious to both of the above dates, and, accord- ing to Mr. Rennie, is found in the orchards about Harfleur, in Normandy, and is very de- structive to the apple-trees in the department of Calvados. There is now good reason to believe that the miscalled American blight is not indigenous to this country, and that it has been introduced here with fruit-trees from Eu- rope. Some persons, indeed, have supposed that it was not to be found here at all ; but the late Mr. Duel has stated that it existed on his apple-trees, and I have once or twice seen it on apple-trees in Massachusetts, where, how- ever, it still appears to be rare, and conse- quently I have not been able to examine the insects sufficiently myself. The best account that I have seen of them is contained in Knapp's 'Journal of a Naturalist,' from which, and from Hausmann's description, the follow- ing observations are chiefly extracted. " The eggs of the woolly apple-tree louse are so small as not to be distinguished without a microscope, and are enveloped in a cotton-like substance furnished by the body of the insect. They are deposited in the crotches of the branches and in the chinks of the bark at or near the surface of the ground, especially if there are suckers springing from the same place. The young, when first hatched, are covered with a very short and fine down, and appear in the spring of the year like little specks of mould on the trees. As the season advances, and the insect increases in size, its downy coat becomes more distinct, and grows in length daily. This down is very easily re- moved, adheres to the fingers when it is touched, and seems to issue from all the pores of the skin of the abdomen. When fully grown, the insects of the first brood are one tenth of an inch in length, and when the down is rubbed off, the head, antennae, sucker, and shins are found to be of a blackish colour, an the abdomen honey-yellow. The young are produced alive during the summer, are buried in masses of the down, and derive their nou- rishment from the sap of the bark and of the alburnum or young wood immediately under the bark. The adult insects never acquire wings, at least such is the testimony both of Hausmann and Knapp, and are destitute of honey-tubes, but from time to time emit drops of a sticky fluid from the extremity of the body. These insects, though destitute of wings, are conveyed from tree to tree by means of their long down, which is so plentiful and so light, as easily to be wafted by the winds of APHIDES. APHIDES. autumn, and thus the evil will gradually spread throughout an extensive orchard. The nume- rous punctures of these lice produce on the tender shoots a cellular appearance, and wher- ever a colony of them is established, warts or excrescences arise on the bark ; the limbs thus attacked become sickly, the leaves turn yellow and drop off; and, as the infection spreads from limb to limb, the whole tree becomes diseased, and eventually perishes. In Glou- cestershire, England, so many apple-trees were destroyed by these lice in the year 1810, that it was feared the making of cider must be abandoned. In the north of England the apple- trees are greatly injured, and some annually destroyed by them; and in the year 1826 they abounded there in such incredible luxuriance, that many trees seemed, at a short distance, as if they had been whitewashed. " Mr. Knapp thinks that remedies can prove efficacious in removing this evil only upon a small scale, and that when the injury has existed for some time, and extended its influ- ence over the parts of a large tree, it will take its course, and the tree will die. He says that he has removed this blight from young trees, and from recently attacked places in those more advanced, by painting over every node or infected part of the tree with a composition consisting of three ounces of melted resin, mixed with the same quantity of fish oil, which is to be put on while warm with a painter's brush. Sir Joseph Banks succeeded in extir- pating the insects from his own trees by re- moving all the old and rugged bark, and scrub- bing the trunk and branches with a hard brush. The application of tlje spirits of tar, of spirits of turpentine, of oil, urine, and of soft soap, has been recomjjiended. Mr. Buel found that oil sufficed to drive the insects from the trunks and branches, but that it could not be applied to the roots, where, he stated, numbers of the insects harboured. The following treatment, I am inclined to think, will prove as success- ful as any which has heretofore been recom- mended. Scrape off all the rough bark of the infected trees, and make them perfectly clean and smooth early in the spring ; then rub the trunk and limbs with a stiff brush wet with a solution of potash, as hereafter recommended for the destruction of bark-lice ; after which remove the sods and earth around the bottom of the trunk, and with the scraper, brush, and alkaline liquor cleanse that part as far as the roots can conveniently be uncovered. The earth and sods should immediately be carried away, fresh loam should be placed around the roots, and all cracks and wounds should be filled with grafting cement of clay or mortar. Small limbs and extremities of branches, if infected, and beyond reach of the applications, should be cut off and burned." Dr. Harris found in Massachusetts several other species of Eriosoma or downy lice, in- habiting various forest and ornamental trees, some of which he thinks may have been in- troduced from abroad. Remedies. With regard to the best means of destroying plant-lice, Dr. Harris recom- mends as follows : " Solutions of soap, or a 14 mixture of soap-suds and tobacco water, used warm, and applied with a watering pot or with a garden engine, may be employed for the de- struction of these insects. It is said that ho' water may also be employed for the same pur- pose with safety and success. The water, tobacco-tea, or suds, should be thrown upon the plants with considerable force, and if they are of the cabbage or lettuce kind, or other plants whose leaves are to be used as food, they should subsequently be drenched tho- roughly with pure water. Lice on the extre- mities of branches may be killed by bending over the branches and holding them for seve- ral minutes in warm and strong soap-suds. Lice multiply much faster, and are more inju- rious to plants, in a dry than in a wet atmo- sphere; hence in green houses, attention shoulc* be paid to keep the air sufficiently moist ; and the lice are readily killed by fumigations witl tobacco or with sulphur. To destj-oy subter- ranean lice on the roots of plants, I have founi' that watering with salt water was useful, if the plants were hardy; but tender herbaceous plants cannot be treated in this way, but may sometimes be revived, when suffering, from these hidden foes, by free and frequent water- ing with soap-suds." A solution of whale oil soap, in the propor- tion of two pounds of soap to fifteen gallons of water, is recommended as the best known means of destroying plant-lice, and other in- sects injurious to plants, flowers, and fruits. It was first made known by Mr. Haggerston, of Boston, who desij led it originally for the destruction of the rose slug, and received a pre- mium of $125 from the Massachusetts Horticul- tural Society for his discovery. In preparing the solution of soap, the weight required for use is to be taken and dissolved in boiling water in the proportion of a pound to a quart. Strain this strong solution through a fine wire or hair sieve, which takes out the dirt, and prevents its stopping the valves of the engine, or rose of the syringe. Then add cold water to bring it to the proper strength, namely, about two pounds of the soap to fifteen gallons of water, and apply to the rose bush, or other plant, with a hand engine or a syringe, using as mucn force as practicable, saturating every part of the foliage. What falls on the ground will not be lost, but do much good in destroying worms and enriching the soil. From its trilling cost, it can be used with profusion, a hogshead of 136 gallons costing only about 45 cents. The soap sells for about 6 or 7 cents per pound. Early in the morning, or in the evening, is the proper time for making the application Among other insects mentioned by Mr. Hag gerston as destroyed by the solution of whale oil soap, are the Aphis, or plant-louse, which goes by the name of the brown fly; an insect not quick in motion, very abundant on, and destructive to, the young shoots of the rose, peach trees, and many other plants ; and tht black fly, a very troublesome and destructive insect, that infests the young shoots of the cherry and the snowball tree. " I have never," he says, "known any positive cure for ihu insect until this time." Ui!) APIUM. APPRAISEMENT. "Two varieties of insects that are r'estriic- tive to and very much disfigure evergreens, the Balsam or Bahn of Gilead fir in particular; one an aphis, the other very much like the rose-slug. "The above insects are all destroyed by one application, if properly applied to all parts of the leaves ; the eggs of most insects continue to hatch in rotation during their season; to keep the plants perfectly clean, it will be ne- cessary to dress them two or three times." As every plant has its insect destroyers, so have these their created enemies to keep them in check. If this was not so, the astonishing fecundity of plant-lice would make them far more formidable than at present. Indeed it is diflicult to say where the plague might end. The destroyers of plant-lice described by Dr. Harris are of three kinds. — The first are the young or larvae of the hemispherical beetles -""amiliarly known by the name of lady-birds, and scientifically by that of Coccinella. These little beetles are generally yellow or red, with black spots, or black, with -white, red, or yellow apots ; there are many kinds of them, and they are very common and plentiful insects, gene- rally diffused among plants, living upon plant- lice, and thus performing a great service to the husbandman and gardener. The second kind of plant-lice destroyers are the young of the golden-eyed lace-winged fly (Chrisopa perla), a fly of a pale green colour, with four wings resembling lace, and eyes of the brilliancy of polished gold, as its generic name implies. But, notwithstanding its bril- liancy, it is extremely disgusting, from the offensive odour it exhales. It makes great havoc among the plant-lice. The third and last enemy are the maggots or yoiing of various two-winged flies belonging to the genus Si/rphus, many of which flies are black, with yellow bands on their bodies. The eggs are laid and the destructive maggot hatched immediately among the sluggish lice which become its victims. The more minute account given by Dr. Har- ris, of the nature and habits of all these in- sects, is extremely interesting. (See his Report upon Dentructive Insects submitted to the legis- lature of Massachusetts in 1841.)] APIUM. See Celery and Parsley. APOPLEXY. In farriery, is a disease which is often called the staggers, to which horses and other animals are subject, and by which they drop down suddenly, without sense or motion, except a working of the flanks. (See Sheep, Diseases of.) APPETITE. Horses, more than most other creatures, are subject to diseases of the sto- mach, parucularly to a want of appetite, and a vitiated or voracious appetite. Want of appetite is when a horse feeds poor- lj% and is apt to mangle his hay, or leave it in the rack, and at the same time gathers little fip..h, his dung being habitually soft, and of a pale colour. This state of the stomach evi- dently arises either from some error in respect of diet and management, want of grass, or from II relaxed constitution, in which the stomach lOfi and bowels are more particularly affected with debility. This weakness of the digestive or- gans may be either accidental or constitution- al ; and it may proceed from the use of food administered in an improper state, such as too much scalded bran, or hot meat of any kind, which relaxes the tone of the stomach and bowels, and ultimately produces a weak di- gestion, and consequently a loss of appetite. The best method to strengthen and recover horses in this state, is to give them gentle exercise in the open air, especially in dry weather; never to load their stomachs with large feeds ; and to keep them as much as possible to a dry diet, indulging them now and then with a handful of beans among their oats. But where the disorder has been caused by over-feeding with dry food, and the neglect of proper evacuation and exercise, mashes, with gentle saline purges, would seem to be the most suitable remedies ; and where horses do not gain strength under the above manage- ment, a run at grass will most probably be the readiest method of removing their com- plaints. APPLE. See Maius. APPLES OF LOVE (Poma amoris ,- to- mato). These apples are juicy, and large fruit, growing upon a low plant in gardens. The flowers are yellow and small ; when the fruit ripens, it becomes red, containing soft juicy pulp and seeds. Its juice is cooling to the system, and is applied externally to remove eruptions upon the skin. {L, Johnson.) See Tomato. [APPLE-TREE BLIGHT, and Apple-tree lice. See Aphiiies and Blight.] [APPLE-TREE BORER. The larva of a kind of beetle. See Borers.] APPRAISEMENT. It is not only custom- ary, but essential ti) the maintenance of the good condition of a farm, that the outgoing tenant should be induced to carry on the pro- per course of husbandry up to the period of his quitting the farm; notwithstanding that much of the labour and manure he bestows is for the benefit of crops which a succeeding tenant wih reap. Hence the good practice has arisen, that the outgoing tenant shall be allowed for these matters, according to agreement, or, in its ab- sence, by the custom of the district, which varies considerably. (See Custom of thk COUIVTIES.) The following real appraisement of a farm in Surrey, by Mr. Hewitt Davis, an eminent appraiser of the Haymarket, London, will af- ford the young farmer a complete view of the matters usually included in such appraise- ments. It is usual for these valuations to be made by appraisers, one being appointed by the outgoing, and the other by the incoming tenants, who choose an umpire to decide in case of difference. [The document cannot fail to be acceptable to the American farmer, since it communicates so many interesting facts relating to the esti- mates of putting in crops, the value of manures, various workings, rent, rates, taxes, &c., in England.] APPRAISEMENT. Appraisement of the Tenant's Property on the Farm, Countu of Surrey, made this 2^th September, 1841. From , outgoing tenant. To , incoming tenant. By , outgoing tenant's appraiser. And , incoming tenant's appraiser. Made according to the terms of the Lease, which says, " at leaving the Landlord or Incoming Tenant shall pay for the Turnips, Leys, Seeds sown, and Crops in or on the Ground, Plough- ings, Dressings, Half Dressings, Fallows, Half Fallows, and preparations of the Land for the Manure and Underwoods, according to their growth, and all other Matters and Things accord- ing to the Custom of the County." The farm is principally a light turnip soil, and consists of — Arable 227^ acres. Grass ...... 43 — Wood 24 — Hedges 10 — 309^ And has been very highly cultivated on the Scotch Drill system. DRESSING AND TILLAGES, viz., Lodge Field, 17 Acres. — Swedes. £ s. d. £ s. d. Ploughed, 2 horses, three times - - at 10s. Ridging and splitting ..... I4s. Ox harrowed, four times - - . -Is. 6d. Small harrowed, eight times • • - - 9d. Rolled twice - . - - - .Is. Handpicking --.--. Dung, 295 loads - - - - .6s, Seed, 2 lb. per acre, per lb. - - . - Is. Drilling . . . . - . . Is. Scuffling twice - - - - .2s. 6d. Hand-hoeing . . - . . .8s. Handpicking, rent, rates, and taxes, ... 30s. Lower Loam Pit, 12 Acres. — Preparing for Wheat. 25 10 11 18 5 2 5 2 1 14 17 88 10 1 14 17 4 5 6 16 25 10 177 15 Half dressing, 230 loads dung - - - at 3s. Ploughed twice, 2 horses .... lOs. Harrowed, Finlayson - - - - 3s, Ox harrowed twice - - - .Is, 6^, Middle Loam Pit, 7^ Acres. — Seeds 34 10 12 1 16 1 16 50 2 One year's ley .... at 60s. 22 10 Upper Loam Pit, 10 Acres. — Seeds. Two year's ley - ... at 40s. 20 Lower Blighs, 7 Acres. — Pea Stubble. Half dressing, 110 loads dung ... at 3s. 16 10 North Blighs, 8 Acres. — Wheat after Clover. Clover ley - - - - - at 60s, Ploughed, 3 horses ..... I2s, Harrowed small, four times - - - - 9d. Seed, 16 bushels - - . . . 10s. Drilling - - - - . .3s, South Blighs, 7^ Acres. — Wheat. 24 4 16 1 4 8 1 4 39 4 Composition earth and lime, 164 loads - at 3s. Ploughed, 3 horses - . - . .12s. Harrowed small, four times - - - . 9rf, Seed, 15 bushels - - - . - - 10s, Drilling - - - - - 35. Carry forward, - £ 24 12 4 10 1 2 7 10 1 2 6 6 38 1 364 18 107 APPRAISEMENT. ... £ t. d. £ s. d. J Brought forward 364 18 Upper Blighs, 13 Acres — Tares. Ploughed, 2 horses - - - at 10s. 6 10 Harrowed small, four times - - - - 9d. 1 19 Rolled, 2 horses - - - - - Is. 6rf. 19 6 Seed, 26 bushels - - - - - 12s. 15 12 Drilling - - - - - 3s, 1 19 26 19 5 East Blighs, 5 Acres. — Turnips, after Tares fed off. Tillages for the tares ------ 5 Ploughed twice, 3 horses - - - at 12s. 6 Harrowed, ox, twice - - - - - Is. 6d. 15 Harrowed small, four times . - • • 9d. 15 Ridging and splitting .... 14s. 3 10 Rolled, 2 horses, twice .... ls.6d. 15 Dung, 85 loads - - - • . - 6s. 25 10 Seed, 2 lbs. per acres - - - - Is. 10 Drilling - - - - - - Is. 5 Scuffling three times - - - - 2s. Gd. 1 17 6 Hoed twice - - - - - - 8s. 2 Rent, rates, and taxes ... 30s. 7 10 Ten Acres, 10 Aches. — Clover. 54 7 6 One year's ley - - - - at 60s. 30 Ox House, 14 Acres. — Turnips. Ploughed three times, 2 horses - - at 10s. 21 Harrowed, ox, twice - - - * - Is. 6d. 2 2 Harrowed small, four times - - - 9rf. 2 2 Rolled small, twice ----- 9c?. 1 1 Ridging and splitting - - - - - 14s. 9 16 Dung, 220 loads - - - - - 6s. 66 Seed, 28 lb. 1«. 1 8 Drilling - - - - - - Is. 14 Scuffling twice - - - - - 2s. 6d. 3 10 Hoed twice - - - - - - 8s. 5 12 Rent, rates, and taxes . - - - 30s. 21 134 5 Stack Yard, 12 Acres. — Winter Beans. Ploughed, 3 horses - - - - at 12s. 7 4 Harrowed small, four times - - - 9d. 1 16 Beans, 24 Bushels - - - - - 5s. 6 Drilling - - - , - - - 3s. 1 16 r.) ARBUTUS. A genus of evergreen shrubs •which is characterized by its fruit being a berry, containing many seeds. The only va- riety necessary to be enumerated in these pages is the Arbutus unedu, or strawberry tree. In Pliny's time, when Rome abounded in wine and oil, they called the tree unedn, which was an abridgment of unuin edo, meaning, *' You will eat but one." It has the name of strawberry-tree with us, because its berries so nearly resemble in appearance that delicious fruit. It is found growing spontaneously on rocky limestone situations in the west of Ire- land, particularly in the county of Kerry, near the lake of Killarney, where the peasants eat the fruit. The arbutus is a native of the south of Europe, Greece, Palestine, and many other parts of Asia. Horace celebrates the shade of this tree : — " Nunc viridi membra sub arbuto Stratus." But Virgil describes its foliage as rather thin {Eel. vii.),.and recommends the twig as a t\'inter food for goats. The arbutus tree succeeds best in a moist soil, for when planted in dry ground it seldom produces much fruit. It is therefore recom- mended to place it in warm situations ; and if the earth is not naturally moist, there should be plenty of loam and rotten neat's dung laid about its roots, and iu dry springs it sliould be plentifully watered. The arbutus trees may be propagated by layers, but they are principally raised from seed ; and they require to be kept in pots for several years before they are ready for the plantation. We meet with a variety of this | tree in our shrubberies with double blossoms, and another with red flowers. Alton enume- rates five diff'erent species of the arbutus, and there are several varieties of them in the Pari- sian gardens not to be seen it. our shrubberies. The leaves of the arbutus are said to be use- fully employed by tanners in preparing their leather. {Phillips's Sylva Florifem.) This beautiful evergreen grows to the height of ten and fifteen feet. Its flowers, which are of a yellowish white or red colour bloom in September, October, and November, and are succeeded by the fruit, which remain till the flowers of the following 3'ear are full blown, thus giving the tree a beautiful appearance. ARCHED. A term emploj-ed among horse- men. A horse is said to have arched legs when his knees are bent archwise. This only relates to the fore-quarters, and the infirmity sometimes happens to such horses as have their legs spoiled in travelling. ARGILLACEOUS. [Clayey.] Containing clay. ARM OF A HORSE. A term applied to the upper part of the fore-leg. ARNOTTO. See Anxotta. AROMATIC. An epithet applied to such plants, and other bodies, as yield a fragrant odour, and have a warm spicy taste. AROMATIC REED {Acorui calamus). The common sweet-flag. A marshy perennial plant of the easiest culture, flowering from June till August, which grows among rushes in moist ditches and watery places, about the banks of rivers, but not very general. Root, thick, rather spongy ; leaves, erect, two or three feet high, bright green, near an inch broad. It rarely flowers unless it grows in water, but when it does bloom, it puts forth a mass ot very numerous, thick-set, brownish green flowers, which have no scent except when bruised. Every part of the herbage is stimu- lant, and very aromatic, but the roots are espe- cially so. The dried root powdered is used by the country people of Norfolk, [England,] for curing the ague. It is affirmed to possess car- minative and stomachic virtues, having a warm, pungent, bitterish taste, and is fre- quently used in preparing bitters, though it is said to imparl a nauseous flavour. It is the Calamus aromaticus of the shops, and Linnceus says, the roots powdered might supply the place of foreign spices. {Eng. Flor. vol. ii. p. 1 57 ; Paxtons But. Did. ; Willich's Dom. Encyc.) ARPENT. The French name for an acre. [The French arpent contains 51,691 square English feet, or very nearly one acre and three- quarters of a rood English measure.] ARROW-GRASS {Triglnchin). Perennial marsh herbs, of which there are two kinds, the marsh arrow-grass and the sea arrow-grass, both perennials, flowering from May till Au- gust. They grow in wet boggy meadows and salt marshes, &c., abundantly, and are very grateful to domestic cattle, the herbage con- taining a large proportion of salt. {Eng. Flor. vol. ii. p. 200.') ARROW-HEAD {Sngittaria sagittifolia, from sagilta, an arrow; because of the resem- blance of the leaves to the head of that weapon) lU ARROW-ROOT. ARTICHOKE. [In England,] an indigenous, aquatic, perennial herb, flowering in July or August. Root, tuberous, nearly globular, with many long fibres. It is industriously cultivated in China for its esculent properties : its mealy nature rendering it easily convertible into starch or flour. It is much relished by most cattle. Nothing is more variable than the breadth and size of the floating leaves, which are dimi- nished almost to nothing when deeply im- mersed in the water, or exposed to a rapid current. Hence has arisen the several varie- ties mentioned by authors, but which the slightest observation will discover to be eva- nescent. This plant, especially the seed, was formerly supposed to possess medicinal pro- perties, which time and improved knowledge have demonstrated to be imaginary. The leaves, however, feel cooling when applied to the skin ; hence they have been used and may be serviceable as a dressing to inflamed sores. {,Eng. Flur. vol. iv. p. 144 ; Willich's Durn. Encyc.) [ARROW-ROOT. This nutricious flour, which constitutes a very mild, light, agreeable and easily digested article of diet, so much resorted to for the sick and convalescent, and also for children, is the fecula or starch most commonly obtained from the root of a plant called Maranta ariindlnacea. It is a native of South America, where, as well as in the West Indies, it is extensively cultivated. It grows also in Florida, in the southern parts of which it is manufactured at the very low price of 6 to 8 cents per lb. The low price at which arrow-root is sold at Key West and other parts of Florida, allows of its being used for the common purposes of starch, and also for the preparation of niceties for the table, being in fact often substituted for the ordinary bread- stufls. Though thus cultivated in the south, still most of that used is imported from the West Indies and Brazil, the best coming from Bermuda. The mode generally pursued in the West Indies for obtaining the fecula from the root and subsequently preparing it, is as follows : — The roots are dug up when a year old, Avashed, and then beat into a pulp, which is thrown into water, and agitated so as to separate the starchy from the fibrous or stringy portion. The fibres are removed bv the hand, and the starch remains suspended in the water, to which it gives a milky colour. This milky fluid is strained through coarse linen, and allow- ed to stand that thf, fecula may subside, which is afterwards washed with a fresh portion of water and then dried in the sun. The powder is a light white colour, sometimes having small masses easily crushed. It is a pure starch like that obtained from wheat, potatoes, and several other vegetable substances, espe- cially the plant called in the West Indies Jatropa Manihot, which yields the substance called Tapioca, used for similar purposes with arrow-root.] [ARROW-WOOD. A name given in the United States to a shrub {Viburnum) the young and straight branches of which were, according to Marshall, formerlj-^ used by the aborgines for making arrows. The slender sienii, when the pith is removed, afford good 113 fuse-sticks for blasting rocks. Ten or twelve species of Viburnum are enumerated in the United States. (See Darlington's Flor. Cestrica.)] ARSENIC. See Poison. ARTEMISIA. See Wormwoods. ARTESIAN WELLS have been so named from the opinion that they were first used in Artois, in France. These wells have been found extremely beneficial in the low lands of Essex and Lincolnshire, and in some other districts where good water is scarce, and that of the surface of indifferent quality. Some practical knowledge of geology is necessary in order to fix with judgment upen the most eligible spot for sinking these wells, or else much labour and expense may be uselessly applied. They are formed by boring with a long auger and rod to such a d^pth into the earth, that a spring is found of sufl5cient power to rise to and^run over the surface. ARTICHOKE {Cynnra). From anere, ac- cording to Columella, because the land for artichokes should be manured with ashes. [" A plant little cultivated in America, but very well worthy of cultivation. In its look it very much resembles a thistle of the big- blossomed kind. It sends up a seed stalk, and it bloM's, exactly like the thistle that we see in the Arms of Scotland. It is, indeed, a thistle upon a gigantic scale. The parts that are eaten are, the lower end of the thick leaves that envelope the seed, and the bottom out of which those leaves immediately grow. The whole of the head, before the bloom begins to appear, is boiled, the pod leaves are pulled off by the eater, one or two at a time, and dipped in butter, with a little pepper and salt, the mealy part is stripped off by the teeth, and the rest of the leaf put aside, as we do the stem of asparagus. The bottom, when all the leaves are thus disposed of, is eaten with knife and fork. The French, who make salads of almost every garden vegetable, and of not a few of the plants of the field, eat the artichoke in salad. They gather the heads, when not much bigger round than a dollar, and eat the lower ends of the leaves above mentioned raw, dipping them first in oil, vinegar, salt and pepper ; and, in this way, they are very good. Artichokes are propagated from seed, or from offsets. If by the former, sow the seed in rows a foot apart, as soon as the frost is out of the ground. Thin the plants to a foot apart in the row; and, in the fall of the year, put out the plants in clumps of four in • rows, three feet apart, and the rows six feet asunder. They will produce their fruit the next year. When winter ap- proaches, earth the roots well up ; and, before the frost sets in, cover all well over with litter from the yard or stable. Open at the breaking up of the frost; dig all the ground well be- tween the rows ; level the earth down from the plants. You will find many young ones, or offsets, growing out from the sides. Pull these off, and, if you want a new plantation, put them out, as you did the original plants. They will bear, though later than the old ones, that same year. As to sorts of this plant, there are two, but they contain no difference of any con- sequence: one has its head, or fruit pod, round, and the other rather conical. As to the ARTICHOKE. ARTICHOKE. quantity for a family, one row across one of the plats will be sufficient." {Cabbett's Ame- rican Gardener.)] Those plants produce the finest heads which are planted in a soil abounding in moisture, but in such they will not survive the winter. Manure must be applied every spring, and the best compost for them is a mixture of three parts of well-putrefied dung, and one part of fine coal-ashes. They should always have an open exposure, and, above all, be free from the influence of trees ; for, if beneath their shade or drip, the plants spindle, and produce worth- less heads. For planting, these must be slipped off in March or early in April, when eight or ten inches in height, with as much of their fibrous roots pertaining as possible. Such of them should be selected as are sound and not woody. The brown, hard part, by which they are attached to the parent stem, must be re- moved ; and if that cuts crisp and tender, it is evidence of the goodness of the plant ; if it is tough and stringy, the plant is worthless. Further, to prepare them for planting, the large outside leaves are taken off so low, that the heart appears above them. If they have been some time separated from the stock, or tf the weather is dry, they are greatly invigorated by being set in water for three or four hours be- fore they are planted. They produce heads the same year, from July to October, and will continue to do so annually, if preserved in succeeding years, from May until June or July ; consequently, it is the practice, in order to obtain a supply during the remainder of the summer and autumn, to make an annual plantation in some moist soil, as the plants are not required to continue. As often as a head is cut from the perma- nent bed, the stem mus^be broken down close to the root, to encourage the production of suckers before the arrival of winter. In No- vember or December they should receive their winter's dressing. The old leaves being cut away without injuring the centre or side shoots, the ground must be dug over, and part of the mould thrown into a moderate ridge over each row, close about the plants, but leaving the hearts clear. If this dressing is neglected until severe frosts arrive, or even if it is 4)erformed, each plant must be closed round with long litter or pea haulm : it is, how- ever, a very erroneous practice to apply stable- dung immediately over the plants, previous to earthing them up, as it in general induces decay. Early in February all covering of this description must be removed. In March, or as soon as the shoots appear four or five inches above the surface, the ridges thrown up in the winter must be levelled, and all the earth re- moved from about the stock to below the part from whence the young shoots spring. All of these but two, or at most three of the straightest and most vigorous, must be removed, care being taken to select from those which proceed from the under part of the stock ; the strong thick ones proceeding from its crown, having hard woody stems, are productive of indifferent heads. Those allowed to remain should be carefully preserved from injur}'. Every other 1.5 sucker must be removed and every bud rubbed off, otherwise more will be produced, to the detriment of those purposely left. These must be separated as far apart as possible without injury, the tops of the pendulous leaves re- moved, and the mould then returned, so as to cover the crowns of the stocks about two inches. Some gardeners recommend, as soon as the ground is levelled, a crop of spinach to be sown, which will be cleared off the ground before the artichokes cover it ; but this mode of raising or stealing a crop is always in some degree injurious. Although the artichoke, in a suitable soil, is a perennial, yet after the fourth or fifth year the heads become smaller and drier. The beds, in consequence, are usually broken up after the lapse of this period, and fresh ones formed on another side. If any of the spring-planted suckers should not produce heads the same year, the leaves may be tied together and covered with earth, so as just to leave their tops visible, and, on the arrival of frost, being covered with litter, so as to preserve them, they will afford heads either during the winter or very early in spring. As a vegetable, the artichoke is wholesome, but not very nourishing; and as a medicine, it is of little use. Sir John Hill, M. D., states having known patients cured of jaundice, by perseverance in this medicine alone, without combining its virtues with any other plant; but the statement of Sir J. Hill is of no value in the present day. The flowers of the arti- choke have the property of rennet in curdling milk. The heads of the second crop of arti- chokes, when dried, are excellent baked in meat pies, with mushrooms, as they dress them in France. (G. W. Johnson's Kitchen Gar- den.) ARTICHOKE, JERUSALEM (Helianthus tuberosus, from 'Ha/sc, the sun, and av&o;, a flower). It flourishes most in a rich light soil, with an open enclosure. Trees are particularly inimi- cal to its growth. As it never ripens its seeds in England, the only mode of propagation is by planting the middle-sized tubers or cuttings of the large ones, one or two eyes being pre- served in each. These are best planted towards the end of March, though it may be performed as early as February, or even in October, and continued as late as the beginning of April. They are planted by the dibble, in rows, three feet by two feet apart, and four inches deep. They make their appearance above ground about the middle of May. The only attention necessary is to keep them free from weeds, and an occasional hoeing to loosen the surface, a little of the earth being drawn up about the stems. Some g, with their cottony lining below, and their hairy surface above, causes that perpetual motion and quivering, even when we cannot perceive by other means the least breath of air stirring in the atmosphere. This trepidation is attendeij of course with a rustling noise, on which ac« 123 ASPEN, AMERICAN. ASS. count country people often call it rattler. The aspen tree may be planted so as to ornament large grounds, but its effect is lost when crowded. When it meets the eye as a fore- ground to plantations of firs, it has both a pleasing and singular appearance, as its foliage changes with the wind from a silver gray to a bright green, for when the sight goes with the wind, it catches only the under side of the leaves which are covered with a pale floss ; but when it ifleets the current of air, the tree presents the upper surface of its foliage to the view ; thus its tints are as changeable as its nature is tremulous. Like its relative, the poplar, this tree is of speedy growth, and will thrive in any situation or soil, but worst in clay. It is cultivated to the greatest advantage on such as are inclined to be moist, without hav- ing much stagnant surface water. In such situations they sometimes grow to a conside- rable size. It is accused of impoverishing the land, and its leaves are charged with destroy- ing the grass, whilst its numerous roots, which spread near the surface, will not, it is said, permit any thing else to grow. The wood is extremely light, white, soft, and smooth, but it is of little value as timber, being chiefly used for making milk-pails, wooden shoes, clogs, and pattens, &c. From its lightness it might, however, probably be used to advantage for the construction of common field-gates. The bark is the favourite food of beavers, vv.hilst the leaves and the stalks form the nourishment and birthplace of the tipula juniperina, a spe- cies of long-legged fly. The aspen tree will not bear lopping, like other species of the pop- lar. ( Phillip's Si/lva F lor if era.) [ASPEN, AMERICAN {Populus Trenm- loidcs). This species of poplar is common in the northern and middle sections of the United States, and Michaux thinks, still more common in Lower Canada. The same author remarks, that in the vicinity of New York and Phila- f'-lphia, where he observed it, it appeared to efer open lands of a middling quality. Its «.. dinary height is about 30 feet, and its diame- ter 5 or 6 inches. It blooms about the 20th of April, 10 days or a fortnight before the birth of the leaves. Of all the American poplars, this species has the most tremulous leaves, the gentlest air being sufficient to throw them luto great agitation. The wood of the American aspen is light, soft, and without either strength or durability. The most useful purpose which the wood sub- serves,_is perhaps the furnishing of thin laminoe, for the manufacture of women's hats, light baskets, &c. The tree is considered v^ry inferior to several species of the same genus, the Virginia poplar, for example, which is thrpe times as largo, more rapid in its growth, and of a more plea ing appearance. TI\e large American aspen (Populus grandi- denfata), belongs rather to the Northern and Middle, than to the Southern States. In the mo^t northerlydistrictsitisrathera rare tree, so that a person may perhaps travel several days without seeing one. For this reason, Michaux thinks it has been confounded with the preced- ing species, which is more multiplied. It sur- passes the trembling aspen in height, on which 134 account it has received from Michaux itj name. It grows as favourably on uplands as on the boi'der of swamps, and attains a height of about 40 feet, with 10 or 12 inches in di- ameter. In the spring, the leaves are covered with a thick white down. The wood is light, soft, and unequal to that of the Virginia and Lombardy poplars. It possesses few, if any valuable qualities for the arts, and is only valuable far its agreeable foliage, which enti- tles it to a place in yards and ornamental gap dens. (Michaux's Am. Si/lva.)] ASS (Fr. Ane ; Ger. Esel ,• It. Asino ; Lat. Asinus). A well-known and useful domestic animal, whose services might be rendered even still more useful for various purposes of hus- bandry, if it were properly trained and taken care of. Buffon has well observed, that the ass is despised and neglected, only because we possess a more noble and powerful animal in the horse ; and that if the horse were unknown, the care and attention which are lavished upon him being transferred to his now neglected and despised rival, would have increased the size, and developed the mental qualities of the ass, to an extent which it would be difficult to anticipate, but which Eastern travellers, who have observed both animals in their native climates, and among nations by whom they are equally valued, and the good qualities of each justly appreciated, assure us to be the fact. Indeed the character and habits of these two quadrupeds are directly opposed in almost every respect. The horse is proud, fiery, and impetuous, nice in his tastes, and delicate in constitution ; like a pampered menial, he is subject to many diseases, and acquires artifi- cial wants and habits which are unknown in a state of nature. The ass, on the contrary, is humble, patient, and quiet, and bears correction with firmness. He is extremely hardy, both with regard to the quantity and quality of his food, contenting himself with the most harsh and disagreeable herbs, which other animals will scarcely touch. In the choice of water he is, however, very nice ; drinking only of that which is perfectly clear, and at brooks with which he is ac- quainted. This animal is very serviceable to poor cot- tagers, and those who are not able to buy or keep horses ; especially where they live near heaths or commons, the barrenest of which will keep the ass, who is contented with any kind of coarse herbage, such as dry leaves, stalks, thistles, briers, chaff, and any sort of straw. Animals of this sort require very little looking after, and sustain labour, hunger, and thirst, beyond most others. They are seldom or never sick ; and endure longer than most other kinds of animals. They may be made useful in husbandry to plough light landi, to carry burdens, to draw in mills, to fetch water, cut chaff, or any other similar purposes. They are also very serviceable in many cases for their milk, which is excellent for those who- have suffered from acute diseases, and are much weakened ; and they might be of much more advantage to the farmer, were they used, as they are in foreign countries, for the f>ur pose of breeding mules. ASS. ATMOSPHERE The subjugation of the ass appears, from the records of the Bible, to have preceded that of the horse ; and we infer from the same autho- rity, that this subjugation took place prior to that of the dog. The structural difference between the horse , and the ass are trifling ; perhaps that on which the very different tones emitted by the voice depends is one of the most striking. In all other essential points the organization of the horse and ass is the same ; and, with the ex- ception of the lengthened ears of the ass, their form, size, and proportions in a wild state, they differ but little ; consequently, they possess conditions more favourable to the multiplica- tion of species than those afforded by any other nearly allied amimals. The ass is, pro- perly speaking, a mountain animal ; his hoofs are long, and furnished with extremely sharp rims, leaving a hollow in the centre, by which means he is enabled to tread, with more secu- rity on the slippery and precipitous sides of hills and precipices. The hoof of the horse, on the contrary, is round and nearly flat under- neath, and we accordingly find that he is most serviceable in level countries ; and indeed ex- perience has taught us that he i« altogether unfitted for crossing rocky and steep moun- tains. As, however, the more diminutive size of the ass rendered him comparatively less important as a beast of burden, the ingenuity of mankind early devised a means of remedy- ing this defect, by crossing the horse and ass, and thus procuring an intermediate animal, uniting the size and strength of the one with the patience, intelligence, and sure-fooiedness of the other. The varieties of the ass in countries favour- able to their developement are great. In Guinea the asses are large, and in shape even excel the native horses. The asses of Arabia (says Chardin) are perhaps the handsomest animals in the world. Their coat is smooth and clean ; they carry the head elevated, and have fine and well formed legs, which they throw out grace- fully in walking or galloping. In Persia, also, they are finely formed, some being even stately, and much used in draught and carrying bur- dens, while others are more lightly propor- tioned, and used for the saddle by persons of quality, frequently fetching the large sum of 400 livres ; and being taught a kind of easy ambling pace are richly caparisoned, and used only by the rich and luxurious nobles. With us, on the contrary, the ass unfortunately ex- hibits a stunted growth, and appears rather to vegetate as a sickly exotic, than to riot in the luxuriant enjoyment of life like the horse. The diseases of the ass, as far as they are known, bear a general resemblance to those of the horse. As he is more exposed, however, and left to live in a state more approaching to that which nature intended, he has few dis- eases. Those few, however, are less attended to than they ought to be ; and it is for the ve- terninary practitioner to extend to this useful and patient animal the benefit of his art, in common with those of other animals. The ass is seldom or never troubled with vermin, pro- bably from the hardness of its skin. {Blaine's Encyc. Kurnl Sports.) ASTRINGENT {Aslrlngo, Lat.). In farriery, a term applied to such remedies as have the property of constringing or binding the parts. ATMOSPHERE. The name given to the elastic invisible fluid, which, to a considerable height, surrounds our globe. It is composed chiefly of two simple or undecomposed gases, viz.: — Azote, or nitrogen Oxygen 79 16 20-84 100- It contains, also, about T'Miirth of its weight of carbonic acid gas, or fixed air, a considera- ble portion of aqueous vapour (which is always the most considerable in amount in dry wea- ther), and occasionally foreign substances, called Aerolites. The average proportion in which these exist in the atmosphere, are — 989 1- •1 Air Watery vapour Carbonic acid gas (Thomson's Chem. vol. iii. 181.) It fulfils a very essential office with regard to the growth of plants. (See Gases, their Use to Vege- MoNTHiT Atmospherical Observations. Jan. Feb. March. April. May. June. July. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nor. Dec Barometer, average mean ^ 29-921 30-067 29843 29 881 29-888 30036 29-874 29-891 29-931 29-774 29-776 29693 height in inches ^ Highest 30 770 30-620 30 770 30.140 30 380 30-460 so-.-ioo 30-260 30-410 30 610 .^0-270 30 320 Lowest . 28-890 29 170 28-870 29 200 29-160 29 600 29-390 29-350 29410 28 740 29 080 29-l';0 Thermometer, avera ge") mean temperature .n \ 31 1 38- 43-9 499 54i 58-7 61- 616 57-8 48 9 42-9 39-3 degrees HIgheBt Lowest 3 52- 53- 66- 74- 70- 90- 76- 82- 76- 68- 62- 5.1- . \V 21- 24- 29- 33- 37- 42- 41- 36- 27- 23- 17- Rain, mean quantity '"} 1-483 0746 1-440 1-7S6 1-853 1-830 2-516 1-453 2-193 2073 2-400 2426 inches F.rap.iration of earth '"} 0-413 0-72 1-488 2-290 02S6 3-760 3293 3-327 2 620 1-488 0-770 0-516 inches (mean) Winds in days : North - . - 3# u 2i 2,^ 3 5 2i 1 2 8 3 1 North-east - . ih 4i 4 ^ 4 6i 3 2J 4 H 3 2t East ... . li 2i 3 4i 2 2 u 1 2 3 3i South-east . 21 2} 2 3i 4 4 4 3 4 n 2 4 South ... . 1} 21 2i 2J 1 1 2i 21 ' 2i 3 2 South-west - . 6i 5 9i 4 6t 3i 7 6 6 5* 6 H West . . - . 6i 5i 6i 5i 5i 3 5 li 6 5 5 6 North-west - - 4i 3J 4i 5i 3 5 _5i_ 2 6 61 6 * I 1 2 Brithh Almanac, 125 ATMOSPHERE ATMOSPHERE riTiow ) The composition of the atmosphere is always the same, ahhough it has been ana- lyzed when obtained from the most elevated mountains, the lowest marshes, from crowded cities, and the surface of the ocean, in all winds, and in all states of the barometer. The following table exh* jits the atmosphe- ric mean temperatures in various parts of the United States and Territories, not only for the whole year, but for each month. It is abridged from i)r. Forry's Treatise upon the Climato- logy of the United States. The mean tempe- ratures of some other celebrated places in the old world, are subjoined for the purpose of comparison. . The mean temperatures of the various mili- tary posts, are the results of 90 observations for each month, and 1095 for each year. The rule followed for computing the mean, was that adopted by the regents of the University of New York, viz.: — Take the lowest morning temperature, the highest afternoon tempera- ture, and the temperature an hour after sunset. The mean of these observations for the day is found, by adding together the first, twice the second and third, and the first of the next day, and dividing the same by six. To most common observers this will appear rather an intricate mode of attaining an object which is so con- veniently, and, in general, so satisfactorily ac- complished by the very simple process of dividing the sum of the highest and lowest ob- servations during the day. Strictly speakings the mean temperature of a day is equal to the sum of the temperature observed by the ther- mometer every hour or every minute, divided by the number of hours or minutes in the day. The hourly changes of atmospheric tempera- ture have actually been observed for a con.- tinned year in some instances, among which we may mention that at the Arsenal at Frank- ford, near Philadelphia, in the year 1835 — 6, conducted under the superintendence of Capt. Mordecai, of the United States army. The results of these hourly observations are pub- lished in the 19th volume of the Journal of the Franklin Institute, New Series. OBSERVATION. Fort Vancouver, Oregon Territory, . • . - Fort Br.idy, Outlet of Lake Superior, - - - Hancock Barracks,Houllon, Maine, . . . . Fort Snelling, at the conflueuce of the St j Peter*s and Mississinpi, i Fort Sullivan, Easlpon, Maine, -■.-•. Fort Howard, Green tu/, Wisconsin, • - ■ Fort Preble, Portland, Ijaine, Fori Niagara, Youn^stjwn, N. y. Fort Cons'ilution, Porrsliiouth, N. H. - - • Fort Crawford, Prairie du Chien, Council BlulT?, near the juuclion of the Platte j and Missouri, .....---• j Fort VVolcott, Newport, R. T. Fori Arnistrone, Rock Island, Illinoii, - • . West Point, New Yo'k, FnrI Trumbull, New London, Conn., . - . Fort Cnlumbus, New Yoik Harbour, . - . . Fort MilBin, near Philadelphia, Washington City, D. C. - • ■ Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis, - . - . Fort Monroe, Old Point Comfort, Va., • - - Fort Gibson, Arkansas, Fort Johnston, Coast of North Carolina, * • Augusta Arsenil, Georgia, Fort Moultrie, Charleston Harbor, - . - . Fort Jcssup. near Sabine River, Louisiana, • • Cantonment Clinch, near Pensacola, - . . . Petite Coquille, near New Orleans, - - . - Fort Marion, St. Augustine, Florida, . - . . Fort Kins, Interior Sf East Florida, . . ■ . Fort Brooke, Tampa Bay, Florida, - - • Key West, or Thompson's Island, . - - . - Foreign Climales, dc.i\gned far the purpose of comparison. EdinburKh, Scotland, - - London, England. .-..-.--•- Environs of London, .-.--•.•- Paris, France, Nice, Italy, Montpelier, France, ---.----. koine, Itulv, Naples, Italy, Madeira, Island of --..••--•- Cairo, Egypt, ..-.-. 45'=37' 46 39 46 10 14 44 U 40 4138 43 15 41 45 41 30 41 28 41 iZ 41 22 40 42 39 51 39 53 33 28 37 2 35 47 34 . . 33 28 32 42 31 30 30 24 30 10 29 .50 29 12 27 57 24 33 48 SO 43 41 43 36 41 54 40 50 3! 37 130 2 |22<'37' 84 43 67 50 96. . 71 18 90 33 73 57 72 5 74 2 75 12 76 55 90 8 76 12 95 10 78 5 SI 53 79 56 93 47 S7 14 89 38 81 27 82 12 82 35 81 52 2 20 7 20 3 58 12 29 14 20 31 izO i MEAN CEMPERATURE OF EACH MONTH. 51 75 41 39 41-21 45-S3 42 95 44-92 46-67 51-69 47 -21 4552 51-02 50-61 51-64 52-47 55-— 53-— 55-28 56-57 58-14 61-43 espo 66 96 66-01 65-78 68-03 69.44 71 -25 72-66 72-66 73-42 76-09 47-31 50-39 4S-S1 51-50 59-48 57-60 60 70 61-40 64 56 7212 13-58 20-83 18-14 21-82 26 86 24-50 19 72 22-61 29-93 23 78 27 97 34-50 3008 33-54 36 II 34-59 42-83 4^47 51-42 48-63 .50 73 52-30 54 36 55-9.S 6073 6081 6308 67 93 40-17 37-36 34-16 3560 45-85 42 — 47-65 46-50 59-50 58-10 24 94 25-20 27-10 21-93 31 06 26-28 30 27 39-53 31-22 28-67 37-81 36-36 44- ?5 41 25 52 19 53-16 46-24 i4 09 55-98 60-12 39 54 40-44 39-78 40-50 49- 45 — 19-45 54-50 58 50 56 12 33-41 34-39 34-60 32-48 37-43 3794 37-47 39-30 42-77 39-61 38-69 45-86 47-76 50 67 .3-51 60 52 58-57 59— 61-79 62-92 63-56 67-35 65-56 6856 73-71 54 — 52-56 33-46 62-11 49-65 57-13 54-49 69 77 55-55 59 45 66 56 57-32 63-83 61 9 49 — 38-50 43 8. 46— 39-69 43-28 45-44 47-52 45 31 43-92 51-82 46-41 51 26 51-57 51 — 59 22 49-89 61-27 52 16'63 46 55-73 66-88 59 69 68 90 58-24 j 67 -83 61-28172-69 65-28 73-70 65-78,73-31 65 47 74-92 75-20 76-24 76-35 7689 78-81 77-09 79-22 66-81 68-62 70-— 70-06 73 31 72 79 75-69 39-601 42-64! 41-51 43-50 51-451 45-84 48— 46-89 49-60 48-67 55-64 55-79 58-10 64-50 66-50 63— 78-26 63— 59-13 61-25 57-92 68-38 64 29 68-90 62-80 68 57 65-54 7359 70 48 68-67 70 52 75-23 75-07 76-58 75.78 78 65 78-98 79-88 78-86 80-95 81 50 82-95 81-41 84-94 80-79 80-51 54-85 60 — 58-66 62 50 69 17 71-— 65-— 83-66 64 55 ';2-25 69-71 74-60 67-89 72-40 71-45 77-92 74-14 73 87 76 — 81 57 78 51 7904 7965 81-49 81-57 82-17 81-99 83-54 82 96 83-9 i 8281 84-03 81-74 82 59 .59-31 63-43 62-40 65-70 73 50 71 98 63 82 68 83 67-1 73-06 66-47 71 41 76 11 70-18 76-21 73-96 73-12 74-58 77-— 76-63 79-74 79-50 83-28 80-39 81-14 79-96 82 96 82 27 83-47 82 67 83-63 81-23 8106 .57-74 63-52 61-35 65-20 74-30 75— 74-02 76 50 73-— 85-82 63-85 59-09 61-50 65-24 63-68 63-67 62-87 68 02 66-72 73-35 68-50 68-57 72-72 74 61 76 32 74 26 76 19 77-14 78-35 80 58 80 16 81-52 79-95 80-89 55-61 58-80 .56-22 60-40 69-35 71 — 69-50 72-50 71-60 79 16 43-. 5-52 33.91 i-S4 32-80 9 27 33-36 7-22 35-83 7-51 34 29 9-28 38-45 8-94 48-12 0-43 40-32 5-45 33-06 3 65J3S50 4-45,43-39 4-58139-82 3-11 43-64 8-10146-70 5-82144-05 7-20 J4.40 7-17 44.93 6-84 47-37 3-78,53-49 5-95J54-12 9-11 60-13 5-84156-36 7-32,57-561 S-29|58-55l 0-27'61-13| 2-12 62-09 3-63,63-55 2-81, 61 -981 5-23 69-061 6-76,73-23J 43— 22-28 ■26 48 15-60 27-35 21-— 31-32 39-32 33-i8 18-04 2421 36-53 30-53 38-10 43-95 35-86 37-16 ' 47-82 46-20 53-83 62-49 52-81 53-17 58-07 61-68 60-9-2 59-26 64-42 7008 48 37 51-78 50-24 52-40 61 85 61 — 63 60 65 — 6150 72-32 39-60 38-50 43-47 39-58 40 -93 1 37 66 44-20 39-20 ,3-70 52-— 58-80 54-50 48-60 46— <9 62 50 50 For further information relative to weather, and atmospheric conditions in general, see Ba- rometer, Climate, Temperature, &c. ATROPHY. In farriery, a morbid wasting and emaciation, attended with a great loss of strength in animals. AUGER, BORING. An implement for bor- ing into the soil. An auger of '*he above kind, when made of a large size, and with difl^erent pieces to fix on to each other, may be very usefully applied to try the nature of the under soil, rhe discovering springs, and drawing olT :2ti water from lands, &c. In order to accomplish the first purpose, three augers will be neces- sary ; the first of them about three feet long, the second six, and the third ten. Their diame- ters should be near an inch, and their bits large, and capable of bringing up part of the soil they pierce. An iron handle should b'e fixed crossways to wring it into the earth, from whence the instrument must be drawn up as often as it has pierced anew depth of about six inches, in order to cleanse the bit, and examine the soil. AUGER, DRAINING. AVENA. AUGER, DRAINING. An instrument em- ployed for the purpose of boring into the bot- toms of drains or other places, in order to , discover and let off water. It is nearly similar to that made use of in searching for coal or other subterraneous minerals. The auger, shell, or wimble, as it is variously called, for excavating the earth or strata through which it passes, is generally from two and a half to three and a half inches in diameter ; the hollow part of it one foot four inches in length, and constructed nearly in the shape of the wimble used by carpenters, only the sides of the shell come closer to one another. The rods are made in separate pieces of four feet long each, that screw into one another to any assignable length, one after another as the depth of the hole requires. The size above the auger is about an inch square, unless at the joints, where, for the sake of strength, they are a quarter of an inch more. There is also a chisel and punch, adapted for screwing on, in going through hard gravel, or other metallic substances, to accelerate the passage of the auger, which could not other- wise perforate such hard bodies. The punch is often used, when the auger is not applied, to prick or open the sand or gravel, and give a more easy issue to the water. The chisel is an inch and a half or two inches broad at the point, and made very sharp for cutting stone; and the punch an inch square, like the other part of the rods, with the point sharpened also. As it is remarked by Johnstone, in his ac- count of Elkington's mode of draining, to judge when to make use of the borer is a difficult part of the business of draining. Many who have not seen it made use of in draining, have been led into a mistaken notion, both as to the manner of using it and the purpose for which it is applied. They think, that if by boring indiscriminately through the ground to be drained, water is found near enough the sur- face to be reached by the depth of the drain, the proper direction for it is along these holes where water has been found ; and thus make it the first implement that is used. The con- trary, however, in practice, is the case, and the auger is never used till after the drain is cut; and then for the purpose of perforating any retentive or impervious stratum, lying be- tween the bottom of the drain and the reser- voir or strata containing the spring. Thus it greatly lessens the trouble and expense that would otherwise be requisite in cutting the trench to that depth to which, in many in- stances, the level of the outlet will not admit. The manner of using it is simply thus : — in working it, two, or rather three men, are ne- cessary'. Two stand above, on oach side of the drain, who turn it round by means of the wooden handles, and when the auger is full they draw it out ; and the man in the bottom of the trench clears out the earth, assists in pulling It out, and directing it into the hole, and who can also assist in turning with the iron handle or key when the depth and length of rods require additional force to perform the operation. The workmen should be cautious in boring not to go deeper at a time, without drawing, than the exact length of the shell, otherwise the earth, clay, or sand, through which it is boring, after the shell is full, makes it very difficult to pull out. For this purpose the exact length of the shell should be regu- larly marked on the rods, from the bottom up- wards. Two flat boards, with a hole cut into the side of one of them, and laid alongside of one another over the drain, in the time of boring, are very useful for directing the rods in going down perpendicularly, for keeping them steady in boring, and for the men stand- ing on when performing the operation. AVENA. A genus of grasses ; the oat- grass. Some of the species may be cultivated to advantage in suitable situations, intermixed with a due proportion of other grasses. Avena Jlavescens. Golden oat, or yellow oat- grass. This is one of those grasses which never thrives when cultivated simply by itself: it requires to be combined with other grasses to secure its continuance in the soil, and to obtain its produce in perfection. It thrives best in England when combined with the Hor- deum pratense (meadow barley), Cynusurus crislalus (crested dog's-tail), and Anthoxantwn odoratum (sweet-scented vernal -grass). It affects most a calcareous soil, and that which is dry. It grows naturally, however, in 'al- most every kind of meadow : it is always present in the richest natural pastures in Eng- land where its produce is not, however, very great, nor its nutritive qualities considerable. The nutritive matter it affords from its leaves, (the properties of which are of more import- ance to be known than those of the culms, for a permanent pasture grass,) contains propor- tionally more bitter extractive than what is con- tained in the nutritive matters of the grasses with which it is more generally combined in na- tural pastures, and which have just now been mentioned. This latter circumstance is the chief claim it has to a place in the composition of the produce of rich pasture land ; but more particularly, if the land be elevated, and with- out good shelter, this grass becomes more valuable, as it thrives better under such cir- cumstances than most other grasses, and sheep Description of Grasi. Avena jlavescens, in flower : , in seed ripe latter-niatli A pralensis, in flower ■, in seed, ripe A. fubescens, in flower , in seed, ripe Soil. Green Produce per Acre. Dry Produce per Acre. Produce jier Act of Niilritive Mailer. 11* Ibi. lb.. Clayey loam 8,167 8 2,858 10 478 9 — 12,251 4 4,900 8 430 11 5 4,0f3 12 ... 79 12 2 Sandy loam 6,806 4 1,871 11 8 239 4 8 — 9.5i8 12 2,858 10 148 14 3 — 15,654 6 5,870 6 4 366 14 6 — 6,S06 4 1,361 4 212 11 2 (^Sinclair's Hort. Gram. Wob.) 127 AVENA. AVENUE. eat it as readily as they do most others. The seed is very small and light ; but it vegetates freely if sown in the autumn, or not too early in the spring. I have sown the seeds of this grass in almost every month of the year, and after making due allowance for the state o{ the weather, the third week in May, and the first week of August to September, were evidently the best. It flowers in England in the first, and often in the second week of July, and ri- pens the seed in the beginning of August. The value of the grass, at the time of flowering, is to that at the time the seed is ripe, as 5 to 3. The value of the grass, at the time of flower- ing, exceeds that of the latter-math, as 3 to 1 ; and the value of the grass at the time the seed is ripe is to that of the latter-math, as 9 to 5. Avena pratensis. Meadow oat-grass. This species of oat-grass is much less common than the Avena pubescens, or Avena Jlavescens. It is found more frequent on chalky than on any other kind of soils: I have also found it in moist meadows as well as on dry heaths. This property of thriving on soils of such opposite natures is not common to the differ- ent species of grass. When this grass was planted in an irrigated meadow, the produce did not appear to exceed that which it afford- ed on a dry elevated soil, though it appeared more healthy, by the superior green colour of the foliage; and it thus appears to thrive under irrigation. The produce and nutri- tive powers, however, seem to be inferior to many other species of the secondary grasses. The produce or value of the yellow oat is su- perior to that of the meadow oat in the pro- portion nearly of 7 to 3. The downy oat-grass is also superior to the meadow oat-grass in the quantity of nutritive matter it affords from the crops of one season, in the proportion nearly of 3 to 2. From these facts and obser- vations it cannot justly be recommended for cultivation in preferejice to either of the two .<:pecies with which it has now been compared. Its nutritive matter contains a less proportion of bitter extractive and saline matters than any other of-the oat-grasses that have been submitted to experiment. It flowers in July, and the seed is ripe in August. Ava^a pubescens. Downy oat-grass. [See Plate 6, b.] This grass has properties which recommend it to the notice of the agriculturist, being hardy, and a small impoverisher of the soil ; the reproductive power is also consider- able, though the foliage does not attain to a great length if left growing. Like the Poa pratensis, it seldom or never sends forth any flowering culms, after the first are cropped, which is a property of some value for the pur- pose of permanent pasture, or dry soils, which are sooner impoverished by the growth of plants than those that are moist. Among the secondary grasses, therefore, I hardly know one whose habits promise better for the pur- pose now spoken of. The nutritive matter it affords contains a greater proportion of the bitter extrj^ve principle than the nutritive matter of tpose grasses that affect a similar soil, which lessens its merits in those respects and must prevent its being employed in any ccnsiaerable quant'ty as a constituent of a 123 mixture of grasses for laying down such soils to grass. In one part of Woburn Park, where the soil is light and silicious, the downy oal grows in considerable abundance. The downy hairs which cover the surface of the leaves of this grass when growing on poor, dry, or chalky soils, almost disappear when cultivated on richer soils. The crop at the time of flower- ing is superior to that at the time the seed is ripe, in the proportion nearly of 5 to 3. The grass of the latter^math, and that at the time the seed is ripe, are of equal proportional va- lue. It flowers in the second or third week of June, and the seed is ripe about the begin- riing or in the middle of July. [Avena elafior. ■ See Andes Grass. Avena saliva. Cultivated oats. Avena slerilis. Animated oats, grown in gardens as a curiosity.] AVENS, COMMON, or HERB BENNET {Geum urbanum). -An indiggnous perennial plant, which grows plentifully in woods and about shady dry hedges, producing small bright yellow flowers from May till August. The stalks of this useful plant attain two feet high, they are erect, round, finely, hairy branched at the upper part, bearing several flowers. The root consists of a root-stock and many stout brown fibres, which are astringent, and in some degree aromatic in spring. They are said to impart an agreeable clove-like flavour when infused in beer or wine. In medicine, the powdered root of the common avens has been employed with good effect in conjimction with Peruvian bark, or quinine, in cases of ague and intermittent fever, and it is also valuable in long-standing cases of diarrhosa, and in the last stage of dysentery. The dose is from thirty to sixty grains. Sheep are extremely fond of its herbage, which may likewise, when young, be used for culinary purposes, and especially in the form of salad. It is stated (Trans, of Swed. Acad.) that if a portion of the dried root be placed in a bag and hung in a cask of beer, it will prevent the beer from turning sour. There is a variety of this plant called the great-flowered avens. (Eng. Flora, vol. ii. p. 429 ; Willich's Dom. Ency.) AVENS, WATER. A variety of the before- named plant, which is common in moist mea?> dows and woods, especially in mountainous C(?untries, and is not rare in the north of Eng* land, Scotland, Wales, nor even in Norfolk. It has drooping flowers, which distinguish it from the common avens. It is readily pro- duced by transplanting the wild roots into a dry gravelly soil, by which the floAvers become red, as well as double and proliferous, with many strange changes of leaves into petals, and the contrary. (Smith's Eng. Flora.) AVENUE (Fr.). An alley or walk planted on each side with trees. These kinds of walks were formerly much more the fashion than they are at present. When they are to be made, the common elm answers wery well for the purpose in most grounds, except such as are very wet and shallow, and is preferred to most other trees, because it bears cutting, heading, or lopping in any manner. The rough Dutch elm is approved by some, because of its quick growth; and it is a tree that will nf AVERAGES. AZOTE. only bear removing very well, but that is green in the spring almost as soon as any plant what- ever, and continues so equally long. It makes an incomparable hedge, and is preferable to all other trees for lofty espaliers. The lime is very useful on account of its regular growth and fine shade ; and the horse-chesnut is pro- per for such places as are not too much ex- posed to rough winds. The common chesnut does very well in a good soil, or on warm gra- vels, as it rises to a considerable height when planted somewhat close ; but, when it stands single, it is rather inclined to spread than grow tall. The beech naturally grows well with us in its wild state, but it is less to be chosen for avenues than Others, because it does not bear transplanting well. The abele may also be employed for this use, as it is adapted to al- most any soil, and is the quickest grower of arty forest tree. It seldom" fails in transplant- ing, and succeeds very well in wet soils, in which the others are apt to suffer. The oak is but seldom used for avenues, because of its slow growth. The old method of planting avenues was by regular rows of trees, a practice which has been adhered to till lately ; but now, when they are used, a much more ornamental way of planting them is adopted, which is by setting the trees in clumps or platoons, making the opening much wider than before, and placing the clumps of trees from one to three hundred feet distant from each other. In these clumps there should always be planted either seven or nine trees ; but it must be observed that this method is only proper to be practiced where the avenue is of considerable length, as in short walks such clumps will not appear so sightly as single rows of trees. The avenues made by clumps are the most suitable for large parks. The trees in the clumps in such should be planted thirty feet asunder ; and a trench thrown up round each clump to prevent the deer from coming to the trees and barking them. AVERAGES (Fr. aver; Lat. averagium). In the corn trade, is the average amount of the prices at which the several kinds of corn are sold in the chief corn markets of England, as ascertained by the returns of certain inspec- tors, according to the act of the 9 G. 4, c. 60. (See Coax Laws.) AVERDUPOIS, or AVOIRDUPOIS WEIGHT {Avoir du poid, Fr., Dr. Johnson says, but he should have added, averia ponde- ris, Lat., literally goods of weight, goods sold by weight ; aver in old French, and avoir in modern, signifying goods, like the low Lat. averium, averum, avere). That kind of weight commonly made use of for weighing most kinds of large and coarse goods, as cheese, butter, salt, hops, flesh, wool, &c. According to it, sixteen drachms make an ounce, sixteen ounces one pound, one hundred and twelve pounds one hundred weight, and twenty hun- dred weight OHe ton. It is most commonly- written avoirdupois. AVIARY (Lat. avis, a bird). A place set apart for the feeding and propagating birds. AWNS (Goth, ahana; Sw. agri). The nee- dle-like bristles which form the beards of 17 wheat, barley, and other grasses. Tlie word is in some parts of England pronounced aila and lies. AXIS (Lat., axel, Sw.), or axle-tree. The strong piece of wood or iron which supports the weight of wagons, carts, carriages, &c., and round the extremities of which the wheels turn. AZALEA. American honey-suckle ; the white-flowered (Lat. Azalea viscosa). A hardy shrub growing three feet high, and blowing its white flowers in June and July. Azalea nudi- flora, also a native of North America, grows three feet high, with red flowers, blooming in May and June ; and Azalea pontica, a native of the neighbourhood of the Black Sea, bloom- ing yellow flowers in May : it grows three feet high. These hardy shrubs love shade and a moist soil. Propagate by layers and suckers : the seed does not ripen well in this climate. Do not prune, only cut out the dead wood. Remove the young well-rooted plants with a good ball of earth in the autumn or early in spring. AZOREAN FENNEL {Anethum azoricum, or Finochio ; from avubov, on account of its run- ning up, straight). A plant kept in kitchen gardens ; it is not in much esteem here, its peculiar flavour being agreeable to few pa- lates. In Italy, and some other countries, it is served with a dressing like salads. ■ AZOTE is as commonly known by the name of nitrogen. The name of azote (derived from the Greek a, from, and ^os, life), was given to it by the French chemists, from animals being unable to breathe it [in a state of purity.] This gas, which constitutes 79*16 parts per cent, of the air we breathe, was discovered in 1772 by Dr. Rutherford. Before his time there had been much confusion with regard to the composi- tion of the atmospheric and other gases ; they were chiefly regarded by the old chemists as being all of the same kind, but mixed with various unknown substances. When all the oxygen is absorbed from a confined portion of atmospheric air, the remainder is nearly pure azote ; it is known only in the state of gas. Azotic gas is invisible and elastic, and has no smell ; its specific gravity is 0.969. Animals cannot breathe it [in a pure state :] when they are placed in a jar of it, they die as rapidly as if immersed in water ; neither will it support combustion. It unites with oxygen in various proportions : thus, — Parts. Parti. 1-75 azote and 2 oxygen forms nitrous gag. 1-75 — 5 — nitric acid, or aquafortii. 1-75 _ 4178 — nitrous acid. Azote, or nitrogen, abounds in animal sub stances, for it forms 16-998 per cent, of gela tine ; 15-705 per- cent, of albumen (white of e^g), &c., and these are commonly present in all animal substances. Azote unites also with hydrogen gas, and forms the volatile alkali ammonia, which is composed of — Azote ------ 26 parts Hydrogen ----- 74 Now, as both these substances exist m am mal matters, when such substances putrefy, or are subjected to the destrucuve distillation, .29 AZOTE. AZOTE. they readily unite and form the volatile alkali ammonia. Azote exists also in j^lmen ; and wherever this substance is present in vegetable matter, there, in consequence, azote is to be found, but otherwise it does not often enter into the composition of vegetable substances. And yel it is worthy of remark, that although azote can- not be regarded as a direct food of plants, yet most of those substances which contain it are exceedingly grateful to them, such as ammo- nia, saltpetre, animal matter, &c. ; and again, vegetables certainly emit, and probably inhale, this gas. Thus some plants of Vinca minor being made to vegetate in a confined portion of air for six days, and the composition of the air being ascertained by M. Saussure {Reck. Chim. p. 40), the following were the results in cubic inches : — Compofiition of atmosphere, when put in. when taken out. Azote - - 211-92 . - - 218.95 Oxygen - - 5633 . . - 7105 Carbonic acid - 21.75 - - 000 290- 290. The plants, therefore, had evidently in- creased the proportion of azote and^oxygen, but had entirely exhausted the air of its car- bonic acid gas. Similar experiments made with the Mentha aquafica. Cactus opuntia, Lythrum salacaria, and the Pinus genevensis, afforded similar re- sults. Azote, therefore, evidently fulfils a more con- siderable office in vegetable economy than we are yet exactly aware of, and it is more than probable that considerable discoveries are yet to be made in the investigation of its uses to vegetable life. See Gases, their use to vege- tation. {Davy's Chem. Phil. p. 255 ; Thomson's Chem.) [The chief element contained in vegetable substances resorted to for the support of ani- mals, is azote or nitrogen. On the other hand we see, in the vegetable kingdom, plants ap- propriating carbon as the prime element of their structure. The quantity of food which animals take for their nourishment diminishes or increases in the same proportion as it con- lains more or less of the substances yield- in-g nitrogen. A horse may be kept alive by feeding it with potatoes, which contain a very srmall quantity of nitrogen ; but life thus sup- ported is a gradual starvation ; the animal in- creases neither in size nor strength, and sinks under every exertion. The quantity of rice which an East Indian eats astonishes the Eu- ropean oi American; but the fact that rice contains less nitrogen than any other grain, at once explains the circumstance. *' We cannot suppose," says Liebig, " that a plant would attain maturity, even in the rich- est vegetable mould, without the presence of matter containing nitrogen ; since we know that nitrogen exists in every part of the vege- table structure. The first and most important question to be solved, therefore, is : How and in what form does nature furnish nitrogen to vegetable y.llumen, and gluten, to fruits and needs ? 13C "This question is susceptible of a very si.Tn pie solution. " Plants, as we know, grow perfectly well in pure charcoal, if supplied at the same time with rain-water. Rain-water can contain nitro- gen only in two forms, either as dissolved at- mospheric air, or as ammonia. Now, the nitro- gen of the air cannot be made to enter into combination with any element except oxygen, even by employment of the most powerful chemical means. We have not the slightest reason for believing that the nitrogen of the atmosphere takes part in the processes of as- similation of plants and animals ; on the con- trary, we know that many plants emit the nitro- gen, which is absorbed by their roots, either in the gaseous form, or in solution in water. But there are, on the other hand, numerous facts, showing that the formation in plants of sub- stances containing nitrogen, such as gluten, takes place in proportion tfi the quantity of this element which is conveyed to their roots in the state of ammonia, derived from the pu- trefaction of animal matter. "Ammonia is a compound gas, consisting of one volume of nitrogen and three volumes of hydrogen. It is produced during the de- composition of many animal substances. It is given off" when sal-ammoniac and lime are rubbed together. It was formerly called vola- tile alkali. "Ammonia, too, is capable of undergoing such a multitude of transformations, when ia contact M'ith other bodies, that in this respect it is not inferior to water, which possesses the same property in an eminent degree. It pos- sesses properties which we do not find in any other compound of nitrogen ; when pure, it is extremely soluble in water ; it forms soluble compounds with all the acids ; and when in contact with certain other substances, it com- pletely resigns its character as an alkali, and is capable of assuming the most various and opposite forms." With regard to the sources from which vegetables draw those supplies of nitrogen, so essential to their growth and developement, Liebig makes the following observations : — " Let us picture to ourselves the condition of a well-cultured farm, so large as to be in- dependent of assistance from other quarters. On this extent of land there is a certain quan- tity of nitrogen contained both in the corn and fruit which it produces, and in the men and animals which feed upon them, and also in their excrements. We shall suppose this quan- tity to be known. The land is cultivated with- out the importation of any foreign substance containing nitrogen. Now, the products of this farm must be exchanged every year for money, and other necessaries of life, for bodies therefore which contain no nitrogen. A cer- tain proportion of nitrogen is exported with corn and cattle; and this exportation takes place ever)'' year, without the smallest com- pensation ; yet after a given number of years, the quantity of nitrogen will be found to have increased. Whence, we may ask, comes this increase of nitrogen] The nitrogen in the excrements cannot reproduce itself, and the BACCIFEROUS. BAKING. f arth cannot yield it. Plants, and consequent- I3' animals, must therefore derive their nitro- gen from the atmosphere." {Org. Chem.) B. BACCIFEROUS (from bacca, a berry, and fero, to bear). A term applied to trees bear- ing berries. BACK, the spine. The back of a horse should be straight, in order that.it may be strong: when it is hollow,. or what is termed saddle-backed, the animal is generally weak. Back sore. A complaint which is very com- mon to young horses when they first travel. To prevent it, their backs should be cooled every time they are baited, and now and then washed v/ith warm water, and wiped dry with a linen cloth. The best cure for a sore back is a lotion of 1 oz. of Goulard's extract (sugar of lead and vinegar), 1 oz. of turpentine, 1 oz. of spirit of wine, and 1 pint of vinegar. Buck sinetvs, sprain of the. This is often oc- casioned by the horse being overweighted, and then ridden far and fast, especially if his pas- terns are long ; but it may occur from a false step, oi" from the heels of the shoes being too much lowered. Sprain of .the back sinews is detected by swelling and heat at the back of the lower part of the leg; puffiness along the course of the sinews ; extreme tenderness, so far as the swelling and heat extend ; and very great lameness. The first object is to abate the inflammation, and this should be attempted by bleeding from the plate vein ; by means of which blood is drained from the inflamed part. Next, local applications should be made to the back of tlie leg, in the form of fomentations of water sufficiently hot and frequently repeated. At the same time, as much strain as possible should be taken from the sinew, by putting a high calkin on the heel of the shoe. BACON. Probably from baken, that is, dried • flesh. Dr. Johnson says, and Mr. Home Tooke contends, that it is evidently the past participle of the Saxon bacan, to bake or dry by heat. {Div. of Pur. vol. ii. p. 71.) I may, however, refer perhaps as strongly to the old French bacon, which means dried flesh and pork. The Welsh also have bacwn. The flesh of the hog after it has been salted and dried, and it is either smoked or kept without smoking, when it is termed green bacon. ( Todd.) Such hogs as have been kept till they are full grown, and have then attained to a large size, are for the most part converted to the purpose of bacon. The seasons for killmg hogs for bacon are between October and March, but it of course varies according to custom and circumstances in peculiar districts. The process of curing bacon is so well known throughout the country, that it is scarcely ne- cessary to add any thing on the subject ; but the following practical hints may not be with- out their utility. In order to have good bacon, the hair should be sweated off, not scalded, the flesh will be more solid and firm. The best method of doing this is to cover the hog thinly with straw, and to set light to it in the direction of the wind. As the straw- is burnt ofl", it should be renewed, taking care, however, not to burn or parch the skin. After both sides have been treated in this way, the hog is to be scraped quite clean, but water must not be used. After the hog has been properly cut up, the inside, or flesh-side of each flitch is to be well rubbed with salt, and placed above each other in a tray, which should have a gutter round its edge to drain ofl" the brine. Once in four or five days the salt should be changed, and the flitches frequently moved, putting the bottom one at top, and then again at the bot- tom. Some persons, in curing bacon, add for each hog half a pound of bay salt, and a quarter of a pound of saltpetre, and one pound of very coarse sugar or treacle. Very excel- lent bacon may, however, be made with com- mon salt alone, provided it be well rubbed in, and changed sufficiently often. Six weeks, in moderate weather, will be time sufficient for the curing of a hog of twelve score. Smoking the bacon is much better than merely drying it. The flitches should, in the first place, be rubbed over with bran or fine saw-dust (not deal), and then hung up in a chimney out of the rain, and not near enough to the fire to melt. The smoke must be from wood, stubble, or litter. If the fire is tolerably constant and good, a month's smoking will be sufficient. The flitches are afterward frequently preserved in clear, dry wood ashes, or very dry sand. The counties of England most celebrated for bacon, are York, Hants, Berks, and Wilts. Ireland produces great quantities, but it is neither so clean fed, nor so well cured as the English, and is much lower priced. Of the Scotch counties, Dumfries, Wigtown, and Kirkcudbright, are celebrated for the excel- lence of their bacon and hams, of which they now export large quantities, principally to the Liverpool and London markets. The imports of bacon and haras from Ireland have increas- ed rapidly of late years. The average quan- tity imported during the three years ending the 25th of March, 1800, only amounted to 41,948 cwt. ; whereas during the three years ending with 1820, the average imports amounted to 204,380 cwt. ; and during the three years ending with 1825, they had increased to 338,218 cwt. In 1825 the trade between Ireland and Great Britain was placed on the footing of a coasting trade ; and bacon and hams are imported and exported without any specific entry at the Custom-house. We believe the imports of bacon into Great Britain from Ireland amounts, at present, to little less than 500,000 cwt. a year. The quantity of bacon and hams ex- ported from Ireland to foreign countries is inconsiderable, not exceeding 1500 or 2000 cwt. a year. The duty on bacon and hams being 8s. the cwt. is in eflect prohibitory. See Pbotisions TRApr,. BAIT (Sax. bar an, German, baitzen). A feed of oats, or any other material given to an ani- mal employed in travelling or labour. These should always be proportioned to the condition of the animal, and the nature of his labour. It also signifies any thing applied with the view of catching an animal. BALK. A piece of land which has not been turned up in ploughing. 131 BAKING OF LAND. BALSAM. BAKING OF LAND. A term applied to such kinds of land as are liable, from the large proportions of clayey or other matter which they contain, to become hard and crusty on the surface. In order to prevent- this, the best practice is to lessen the tenacity of such soils by the application of substances capable of rendering them more open and friable, as lime, and other calcareous materials, rich earthy composts, sand, &c. BALL. Whatever was round was called by the ancients either bal, or bel, and likewise bol and bid. In farriery, a well-known form of medicine, for horses or other animals, which may be passed.at once into the stomach. They should be made of a long oval shape, and about the size of a small e^^, being best con- veyed over the root of the tongue by the hand. This method of administering medicines is preferable in most cases to that of drenches. I subjoin the recipes for a few of those balls most commonly used by the farmer. Mild Physic Ball. Barbadoes aloes . - . . 6 drachms. Powdered ginger - . . - 2 Castile soap ... - 2 Oil of cloves .... 20 drops. Syrup of buckthorn sufficient to form a ball. Strong Physic Bull. Barbadoes aloes .... 8 drachms. Ginger, powdered - . - - 2 Castile soap . - . . 2 ■ Oil of cloves - - - - 20 drops. Syrup of buckthorn sufficient to form a ball. Calomel Ball for a Riding Horse. Calorael .... Abies, powdered ... Ginger, powdered ... Castile soap ... Oil of cloves .... 20 drops. Syrup of buckthorn sufficient to make into a ball. Calomel Ball fur a Cart Horse. Aloes, powdered ... Otherwise same as the last. Diuretic Ball. . 8 drachms. Castile soap .... 4 ounces. Nitre, powdered - - - - 2 Rosin, powdered ... - 2 Oil of juniper .... i Aniseed powder and treacle sufficient to make into eight balls. Cordial Ball. Cummin seed, powdered Aniseed, powdered Caraway seed, powdered Liquorice powder Ginger, powdered Honey sufficient to make into balls the size of a hen's egg. BALM, or BAUM (Melissa officinalis. From Gr. fjitxi, honey, on account of the bee being supposed to collect it abundantly from their flowers). Balm is used both as a medicinal and culinary herb. The leaves are employed green, or dried. The soil best suited to its growth is any poor triable one, but rather inclininj to clayey than »i icious. Manure is never required. An pr stern aspect is best for it. It is propagated i.»y offsets of the roots, and by slips of the oung shoots. The first mode may be prac- 132 tised any time during the spring and autumn, but the latter only during May or June. If offsets are employed, they may be planted at once where they are to remain, at ten or twelve inches ; but if by slips, they must be inserted in a shady border, to be thence removed, in September or October, to where they are to remain. At every removal, water must be given, if dry weather, and until they are esta- blished. During the summer they require only to be kept clear of weeds. In October the old beds require to be dressed, their decayed leaves and stalks cleared away, and the soil loosened by the hoe or slight digging. Old beds may be gathered from in July, for drying, but their green leaves, from March to September ; and those planted in the spring will even afford a gathering in the autumn of the same year. For drying, the stalks are cut with their full clothing of leaves to the very bottom, and the process coa^leted gradually in the shade. (G. W. Johnson^ s Kitchen Gar- den.) This very common and well-known plant in our kitchen gardens is fragrant in smell, and its root creeps and spreads rapidly and abund- antly. It flowers in July, and is best taken as an infusion when fresh, as it loses considerable power when dried. Its medicinal qualities are derived principally from the proportion of vola- tile oil, resin, and bitter extractive, which it contains. It is occasionally used in conse- quence of its moderately stimulant powers, in conjunction with more potent drugs, to produce profuse perspiration. Mixed with honey and vinegar, it forms a good gargle for an inflamed sore throat. BALSAM (Impatiens Balsamina). This fa- vourite flower is a native of the East Indies and Japan, where the natives, according to Thunberg, use the juice prepared with alum for dyeing their nails red. It is a tender an- nual, rising from one to two feet high, with a succulent branchy stem, serrated leaves, and various coloured flowers. It blows from July to October, and its flowers are single and double, red, pink, white, or variegated. It loves a good soil, and shelter from a hot sun. It blooms very handsomely in a window. Sow the seed eaily in March in a hot bed. Put the plants singly, and accustom them by degrees to the open air. Place them in larger pots, or put them out in the garden in May. They will require no watering, after being well rooted. Stir the earth round each plant frequently, and do it gently, with a small trowel. The varieties are infinite, but not so marked or permanent as to have acquired names. The seed from one plantwill hardly produce two alike. This plant, which has been introduced into almost every flower-garden in the coun- try, is commonly called Lady's Slipper. Seve- ral species of the genus are found in the United States, and ^ave been described by Pursh, Nuttall, Darlington, and other botanists. One of these, the Pale Jmpnticns, known by the popular names of Yellow Balsam, Snap-weed, and Touch-me-not, is frequent in Pennsylva- nia, and other states, in moist, shaded grounds and along streams, where its gamboge yellow BALSAM. BARB flowers appear from July to September. The most common species, however, is the Fulvous or Tawny Impatiens, or Touch-me-not, the flowers of which are of a deep orange colour, with numerous reddish brown spots. The tender and succulent stems of this plant af- ford a domestic application to inflamed tu- mours, being bruised in the form of a poultice. It has sometimes been used for dying salmon- red. (Nuitall's Genera, Darlington's Flora Cts- irica.) The popular name of this plant must not lead to its being confounded with another, also called Lady's Slipper, the Stemless Cyprl- pediicm, a very different plant. BALSAM Tree {Tacamahaccay This tree possesses considerable medicinal virtues. It is known among us as the Tacamahac tree, from its similitude to the real tree of that name, which is a native of the East and of America. The leaves of our balsam tree are long, of a dusky green on the outside, and brown under- neath. The buds of the tree in spring are very fragrant, and a sticky substance surrounds each bud, which adheres to the fingers on touching them. (See Tacamahacca.) BAN-DOG. A corruption of band-dog, a large kind of fierce dog, which was formerly kept chained up as a watch-dog. BANDS. The cords by means of which sheaves and trusses are tied. They are formed of twisted straw or hay. Bands, where the straw is tender, should be made in the morning, that they may not crack ; for the straw will not twist so well after the sun is up. The turning of three or four of the stubble or bottom ends of the straw to the ears of the band sometimes tend greatly to add to their strength and toughness. The bands for the sheaves should not be spread out, except in fair weather, because they will grow sooner than any other part of the corn if rain should come ; for they cannot dry, on account of their lying undermost. But though the bands may be made while the morn- ing dew is upon them, the sheaves ought never to be bound up wet ; for, if they are, they will grow mouldy. BANE. The disease in sheep generally termed the rot. BANE BERRIES {Adxd), and BLACK BANE BERRIES {Herb Christiypher). Pe- rennial herbs, natives oi cold countries, with compound or lobed cut leaves and clustered white flowers. The berries of the former are black, red, or white, of the latter, purplish, black, juicy, the size of currants, and have fetid, rfauseous, and dangerous qualities. In England these herbs are found sometimes in bushy, mountainous, limestone situations. — (Smith's Engl. Flora.) Several species of Actsea, or Bane-berry are found in the United States. Among those mentioned by Dr. Darlington, as met with in Chester county, Pennsylvania, are the Race- mose Actoea, commonly called Blnck Snakeroot, a perennial, common in rich woodlands, in which the white flowers rising above most other surrounding plants, are very conspicuous in the month of June. The plant has an op- pressive, disagreeable odour when bruised. The root is somewhat mucilaginous and as- tringent ; and is a vciy popular medicine "bi man and beast. For the former, it is used in infusion or decoction, chiefly as a remedy In diseases of the breast. Many persons consider it almost a panacea for a sick cow. Its virtues, however, are probably overrated. Another species is the White Adaea, or White Cohosh, found in rocky woodlands, flowering in May, and not so common as the former. Its berries also diflfer from those of the Black Snakeroot, being oval, about a fourth of an inch in diame- ter, milk white, or often tinged with purple when fully ripe. (Flor. Cestrica.) BANE-WORT. See Deadly Nightshade. BANGLE-EARS. An imperfection "in the ears of horses. BANKS, of rivers and marshes, &c., (banc, Sax.). In agriculture, are heaps or mounds of earth piled up to keep the water of rivers, lakes, or the sea, from overflowing the grounds which are situated contiguous to them on the inside. (See Embajjkmknts.) The common law of England is very severe against those who wantonly or maliciously in- jure or destroy embankments. The 7 & 8 G. 4, c. 30, s. 12, enacts that if any person shall unlawfully and maliciously break down or cut down any sea-bank, or sea- wall ; or the bank or wall of any river, canal, or marsh, whereby any lands shall be over- flowed or damaged, or shall be in danger of being so, or shall unlawfully and maliciously throw down, level, or otherwise destroy any lock, sluice, or flcod-gate, or other work on any navigable river or canal, every such ofiTender shall be guilty of felony; and, bein^ convicted thereof, shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be transported beyond the seas for life, or for any term not less than seven years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding four years ; and if a male, to be once, twice, or thrice publicly or privately whipped (if the court shall so think fit), in addition to such im- prisonment. For protecting embankments exposed to water washing against them, a thick coat of the joint grass, or, as it is likewise called, the Bermuda grass, (Cynodon dadylon, PI. 7, k,) is one of the best means that can be adopted It is of a remarkably creeping nature, and grows very luxuriantly where no other grass will live, as on the sea-coast, and on poor loose soils. It is talfen advantage of by the rice planters of the Southern States, whose exten- sive embankments are much exposed to the washing of water against them, and which are greatly protected from injury by the dense mat of joint grass made to grow upon them. Its extirpation is extremely difficult where it has once got possession. Mr. Nuttall says there is only one species (the C. dadylon) common to Europe, North America, and the West India Islands. {Nuttairs Genera.) BANNOCK. The Scotch name for a small loaf or cake. BARB. A general name for horses import ed from Barbary. The barb, one of the most celebrated of the African racers, is to be met with throughout Barbary, Morocco, Fez, Tri- poli, and Bornou. It seldom exceeds fourteen hands and a half in height. The countenance M 133 BARBERRY. BARBERRY. pf the barb is usually indicative of its spirit, and the facial line, in direct contradiction to that of the Arabian, is often slightly rounded; the eyes are prominent; the ears, though fre- quently small and pointed, are occasionally ra- ther long and drooping : the neck is of sufficient length ; the crest is generally fine and not over- laden with mane ; the shoulders are flat and oblique ; the withers prominent, and the chest almost invariably deep ; the back is usually straight ; the carcass moderately rounded only ; the croup long, and the tail placed rather high; the arms and thighs being commonly muscu- lar and strongly marked ; the knee and hock are broad and low placed; the back sinews singularly distinct and well-marked from the knee downwards ; the pasterns rather long, and the feet firm, and but moderately open. . The barb requires more excitement to call out his powers than the Arabian ; but when sufficiently stimulated, his qualities of speed and endurance render him a powerful antago- nist, while the superior strength of his fore- hand enables him to carry the greater weight of the two. The Godolphin. barb, which was imported from France into England, at the con- clusion of the last century, about 25 year§ after the Darley Arabian, was one of those most worthy of note. The former appears to have rivalled the latter in the importance of his get. He was the sire of Lath, Cade, Ba- brahani, Regulus, Bajazet, Tarquin, Dormouse, Sultan, Blank, Dismal, and many other horses of racing note ; and without doubt, the Eng- lish blood-breeds were more indebted to the Darley Arabian and the Godolphin barb than to all the other eastern horses which had pre- viously entered the country. Among other barbs of some notoriety introduced in the 18th century, we may mention the Thoulouse, the Curwen Bay, Old Greyhound, St. Victor's, Tarran's Black, Hutton's Bay, Cole's Ba}', and Compton's Barb. (Blaine's Encyc. Rural Sports, p. 243.) BARBERRY, COMMON, or PIPPERIDGE BUSH {Berberis vulgaris). In England an in- digenous thorny shrub, bearing bunches of pale yellow drooping flowers in May, which are succeeded by oblong scarlet berries, ripen- ing in September. The branches are flexible, covered with alternate tufts ot deciduous, egg- shaped, pinnated leaves, finely fringed on the edge. Sharp, three-cleft thorns rise at the base of each leaf-bud. The barberry likes any kind of soil, and makes good hedges. It may be propagated by seed, or by layers, which should remain two years before they are removed. The gross shoots, if the shrub stands singly, should be pruned away, and it will fruit better. The berries are gratefully acid, and the juice, when diluted with water, ma}f be used as lemonade in fevers. The leaves, eaten in salad, are like sorrel. The fruit, made into conserve, is good. It is also excellent as a pickle and a preserve. The common barberry bush is a native of England; and notwithstanding the high state of cultivation that kingdom has now arrived at, it is still to be found growing wild in manv parts of the northern counties. Gerarde says in hlK time (1597), most of the hedges near 134 Colnbrook were nothing else but barberry bushes. It is now very properly introduced into our gardens and shrubberies, being both ornamental and useful ; but it should not be planted near the house or principal walks, on account of its offensive smell when in blossom. The flowers are small, but beautiful ; and, on their first appearance, have a perfume similar to that of the cowslip, which changes to a pu- trid and most disagreeable scent, particularly towards the evening, and at the decay of the flowers. Barberries are of an agreeable, cool- ing, astringent taste, which creates appetite. The fruit and leaves give an agreeable acid to soup. The Egyptians were used to employ a diluted juice of the berries in ardent and pesti- lential fevers ; but it is merely an agreeable acidulous diluent. The inner bark, with alum, dyes a bright yellow, and in some countries is used for colouring leather, dyeing silk and cot- ton, and staining wood for c^inet and other purposes. Cows, sheep, and goats are said to feed on the leaves : but horses and swine re- fuse them. A very singular circumstance has been stated respecting the barberry shrub : that grain sown near it becomes mildewed, and proves abortive, the ears being in general destitute of grain; and that this influence is sometimes extended to a distance of 300 or 400 yards across a field. This, if correct, is a just cause for banishing it from the hedge- rows of our arable fields, for which otherwise its thorny branches would have made a desir- able fence. I will cite a few instances which have been brought forward in proof of the injurious efi'ects of this plant upon standing corn; Mr. Macro, a very respectable farmer at Barrow, in Suffolk, planted a barberry bush in his gar- den, on purpose to ascertain the disputed fact. He set wheat round it three succeeding years, and it was all so completely mildewed, that the best of the liltle grain it produced was only about the size of thin rice, and that with- out any flour. He adds, that some which he set on the opposite side of his garden on one of the years before mentioned, produced very good grain, although the straw was a little mildewed. From this observation, Mr. Phillips was induced to try the experiment by sow ing clumps of canary seed x.i his shrubbery. Those which were planted immediately under the barberry-bush certainly produced no seed; but other plants of this grass yirlded seed, al- though not at many yards' distance. The cele- brated Duhamel and M. Boussonet, who have paid such particular attention to agriculture, assure us that there is no just reason for as- cribing this baneful effect to the barberry- bush ; and Mr. G. W. Johnson is of the same opinion. (See Mildew.) On the other hand, we have it affirmed to be most destructi\e and injurious to all kinds of crops of gram and pulse, as proved by various observations, ex- periments, and testimonies, made in Branden- ^ burgh, Hanover, Prussia, and German^'. (See Com. Board of Agr., vol. vii. pp. 18 — 126; and the writer there says, towards the conclusion of his article, "To those still inclined to re- gard the barberry as innocent, notwithstanding all the above proofs to the contrary, I would BARILLA. only make the reqitest that they no longer urge their opinion on abstract and general grounds, until they have collected the result of impar- tial observation and careful experiment." The Rev. Dr. Singer, in the Trans. High. Soc, vol. vi. p. 340, in considering the barberrj'^ as the cause of rust or mildew on corn crops, says, when quoting the survey of Dumfries- shire, " On one farm alone, that of Kirkbank, the tenant lost about 100/. in his oat-crops yearly; and altogether the annual damage in the county was considerably above 1000/. The views of Sir Joseph Banks, and of some intel- ligent practical farmers, relative to the evil influence of the Berheris vulgaris, induced the late Admiral Sir William Johnstone Hope to give orders for the total extirpation of the barberry bushes which grew intermixed with thorns in his hedgerows; and since that was done, and for above twenty years, no such dis- temper has appeared in these fields. The same thing has been done in some parts of Ayrshire, and the like result has followed. These facts," adds Dr. Singer, "appear to indicate some con- nection between the occurrence of rust or mil- dew on growing corn and the neighbourhood of barberry Bushes."' Phillips inquires (Pom. Brit.), whether the blighting effects of this shrub may not in some degree be accounted for by its May-flowers alluring insects, which breed on the branches, and then feed their progeny on the nutritious juices of the sur- rounding blades of young cornl BARILLA. See Soda. BARING Routs of Trees. A practice former- ly much adopted, but which later experience has shown to be highly injurious and hurtful to their growth. BARK (Dan. barck; Dutch, berck; from the Teutonic hergen, to cover). The rind or cover- ing of the woody parts of a tree. The bark of trees is composed of three distinct layers, of which the outermost is called the epidermis, the next the parenchyma, and the innermost, or that in contact with the wood, the cortical layers. The epidermis is a thin, transparent, tough membrane ; when rubbed off, it is gradually reproduced, and in some trees it cracks and decays, and a fresh epidermis is formed, push- ing outwards the old: hence the reason wh}' so many aged trees have a rough surface. The parenchyma is tender, succulent, and of a dark green. The cortical layer, or liber, con- sists of thin membranes encircling each other, and these seem to increase with the age of the plant. The liber, or inner bark, is known by its whiteness, great flexibility, toughness, and durability: the fibres in its structure are lig- neous tubes. It is the part of the stem through which the juices descend, and the organ in which the generative sap from whence all the other parts originate is received from the leaves. The bark in its interstices contains cells which are filled with juices of very vary- ing qualities ; some, like that of the oak, re- markable for their astringency; others, like the cinnamon, abounding with an essential oil ; others, as the Jesuits' bark, containing an al- kali ; some mucilaginous ; many resinous. Se- veral of these barks have been analysed by war'ous chemists : they have found them to BARK. consist chiefly of carbon, oxyget, and hydro gen, with various saline and earthy substances. {Thorn. Chem. vol. iv. p. 231.) M. Saussure {Chem. Rec. Veg.) found in 100 parts of the ashes of the barks of various trees the following substances : — Oak. Hazel. „ , Mul. 1 Horn- Poplar, berry. | b,-am. Soluble salts - Earthy phosphates Earthy carbonates Silica - - - Metallic oxides 7- 3- 66- 1-5 2- 125 55 54- 025 1-75 6- 5-3 60- 4- 1-5 "• 1 1-5 8-5 1 4-5 45- 1 59- 1512 1-5 112 12 From this analysis the farmer will see that the earthy and saline ingredients of the bark of forest trees must be considerable fertilizers : it is only to the slowness with which refuse tanner's bark undergoes putrefaction that its neglect by the cultivator must be attributed. It might certainly, however, be mixed with farm-yard compost with very considerable advantage, as has been often done with saw- dust and peat, in the manner so well described by Mr. Dixon of Hathershew {Journ. of Roy. Eng. Agr. Soc. vol. i. p. 135), see Farm- Yard Manure ; and in its half putrefied or even fresh state it produces on some grass lands very ex cellent effects as a top dressing; and in in stances where carriage is an object, even its ashes would be found, from the quantity of earthy carbonates and phosphates whtch they contain, a very useful manure. The different uses of barks in tannirg and dyein'g are numerous and important. The strength or fineness of their fibres is also of consequence : thus, woody fibres are often so tough as to form cordage, as exemplified in the bark of the lime, the willow, and the cocoa- nut; the liber of some trees, as for example the lime and the paper mulberry, is manufac- tured into mats ; and it is scarcely requisite to refer to hemp and flax for spinning and weav- ing. The bark of the papyrus, or flag of the Nile, was first used for paper ; that of the mulberry is still employed in the cloth of Ota- heite ; that of the powdered Swedish pines, as bread for the poor peasants of Scandinavia. In England, the bark of the oak is used for affording tannic acid in the manufacture of leather; but other barks, such as that of the Spanish chestnut and the larch, are also era- ployed. . The following table of Davy will show the relative value of different kinds of bark to the tanner: it gives the quantity of tannic acid afforded by 480 lbs. of different barks in that great chemist's own experiments {Led. p. 83.) Average from the entire hark of — Middle-sized oak, cut in sprine - • cut in autumn lbs. - 29 - 21 - 21 - 33 - 13 - 11 - Hi - 10 Spanish chestnut . . . - . Leicester willow (large size) - - - Elm .----.-- Common willow (large) . . - - Ash .----... Beech -.--.-. Horse chestnut ------- 9 Sycamore - - - - - - - -II Lombardy poplar - - - - - -I.") Birch 1^ Hazel 11 Blackthorn .-.-.---Ki Coppice oak - - -- - - -32 Larch, cut in autumn - - - - - - 8 White interior cortical layers of oak bark - 79 135 BARKING. BARKING. The difference of seasons makes a consider- able variation in the produce of tannic acid ; it is the least in cold springs. The tannic acid most abounds when the buds are opening, and least in the winter; 4 or 5 lbs. of good oak bark of average quality are required to form 1 lb. of leather. The consumption of oak bark in Great Britain is about 40.000 tons, more than one half of which is imported from the Netherlands. Cork is the outer bark of a species of oak, which grows abundantly in the south of Eu- rope. The average quantity imported annually is about 44,5.51 cwts. The quantit)' of Quercitron bark, which is the production of black oak (^Quercus nigra'), is 22,625 cwts. The quantity of Cinchona, or Peruvian bark, is on an average about 300,000 lbs., but the consumption does not exceed 45,000 lbs. : the remainder is re-exported. The bark of trees is best cleansed from the parasitical mosses with which it is wont to be infected, by being washed with lime-water or a solution of common salt in water (4 oz. to a gallon), applied by a plasterer's brush. BARK-BEETLES, see Pine-tree Beetle, or Weevil. BARK-BOUND. A disease common to some fruit and other trees, which is capable of being cured by making a slit through the bark, from the top of the tree to the bottom, in Fe- bruary or March ; where the gaping is pretty considerable, fill it up with cow-dung, or other similar composition. BARKING IRONS, are instruments for re- moving the bark of oak and other trees. They consist of a blade o'" Knife for cutting the bark, while yet on the trunk, across at regular dis- tances, and of chisels or spatulse, of different lengths and breadths for separating the bark from the wood. BARKING OF TREES, the operation of stripping off the bark or rind. It is common to perform the operation of oak-barking in the spring months, when the bark, by the rising of the sap, is easily separated from the wood. This renders it necessary to fell the trees in these months. The tool commonly made use of in most countries is made of bone or iron. If of the former, the thigh or shinbone of an ass is preferred, which is formed into a two- handed instrument for the stem and larger boughs, with a handle of wood fixed at the end. The edge being once given by the grinding- stone, or a rasp, it keeps itself sharp by wear. In Europe, two descriptions of persons are usually employed in this business, the hagmen or cutters, and the barkers. The latter chiefly consists of women and children. The cutters ' should be provided with ripping-saws, widely set, with sharp, light hatchets, and with short- handled pruning-hooks. The barkers are pro- vided with light, short-handled, ashen mallets, the head being about eight inches long, three inches diameter in the face, and the other end blunt, somewhat wedge-shaped; with sharp asher wedges, somewhat spatula-shaped, and which may either be driven by the mallet, or, b< ing formed with a kind of handle, may be pushed with the hand ; and with a smooth- 13: skinned whin, or other land-stone. The cuN ters are divided into two parties ; hatchet-men, who sever the stem, and hook-men, who prune it of small twigs, and cut it into convenient lengths. Small branches and twigs are held by one hand on the stone ; the bark is then strip- ped off, and laid regularly aside, as in reaping of corn, till a bundle of convenient size be formed. The trunk and branches, as large as the leg, &LC. are laid along the ground ; the bark is started, at the thick end, by thrusting or driving in the wedge, which, being run along the whole length, rips it open in an instant; the wedge is applied on both sides of the in- cision, in the manner of the knife in skinning a sheep. A skilful barker will skin a tree or branch as completely as a butcher a beast. But the point most particularly to be observed in this art is, to take off the bark in as long shreds or strands as possible, for the con- venience of carriage to, aiiddr)ang it on, the horses. These are formed oT long branches ; and pieces of a yard in length, sharpened at one end, and having a knag at the other to re- ceive and support the end of the former. The horses or supports may stand within four or five feet of each other, jTnd are always to be placed on a dry, elevated spot, that the bark may have free air in drying. At the end of each day's work, the bark is carried to, and laid across, the horses, to the thickness ot about six or eight inches. The large pieces are set up on end, leaning against the horses, or they are formed into small pyramidal stacks. Due attention must be paid to turning the bark once, or perhaps twice a day, according to the state of the weather. Good hay weather is good barking weather. Gentle showers are bene- ficial ; but long continued rains are productive of much evil; nor is the bark the better for being dried too fast. A careful bagman will take pains to lay the strong pieces of the trunk in such a manner as to shoot off the wet, in continued rains, from the smaller bark of the extremities ; at the same time, preserving as much as possible the colour of the inner bark, and consequently the value of the whole, by turning the natural surface outwards. For it is chiefly by the high brown colour of the inner rind, and by its astringent effect upon the pa- late when tasted, that the tanner or merchant judges of its value. These properties are lost, if through neglect, or by the vicissitudes of the weather, the inner bark be blanched or ren- dered white. After it becomes in a proper state, that is completely past fermentation, if it cannot con veniently be carried off the ground and housed, it must be stacked. An experienced husband- man who can stack hay can also stalk baric But it may be proper to warn him against building his stalk too large, and to caution him to thatch it well. The method of drying bark in Yorkshire ij generally the common' one of setting it in a leaning posture against poles lying horizontally on forked stakes. But in a wet season, or when the ground is naturally moist, it is laid across a line of top-wood, formed into a kind of banklet, raising the bark about a foot from the ground. By this practice no part of the BARK-LICE. BARK-LICE. bark is suffered to touch the ground : and it is, perhaps, upon the whole, the best practice in all seasons and situations. BARK-LICE. The mischiefs effected through these minute insects, to fruit and other valuable trees, are far greater than is generally supposed, and hence every farmer and gar- dener must be interested in becoming inti- mately acquainted with the nature and habits of so formidable an enemy. For the following exceedingly interesting account of bark-lice commonly met with in the eastern states, we are indebted to our eminent countryman. Dr. Thadeus William Harris of Massachusetts, •who was employed by that extremely liberal and enlightened state to write an account of the " Iiised-t Injurious to Vegetation," and made his report to the legislature in 1841. His treatise upon the subject forms a large octavo volume of 460 pages. " The celebrated scarlet in grain, which has been employed in Asia and \he South of Eu- rope, from the earliest ages, as a colouring material, was known to the Romans by the name of Coccus, derived from a similar Greek word, and was, for a long time, supposed to be a vegetable production, or grain, as indeed its name implies. At length it was ascertained that this valuable dye was an insect, and others agreeing with it in habits, and some also in properties, having been discovered, Linnaeus retained them all under the same name. Hence in the genus Coccus are included not only the Tho/a of the Phoenicians and Jews, the Kermes of the Arabians, or the Coccus of the Greeks and Romans, but the scarlet grain of Polan3, and the still more valuable Cochenille of Mexico, together with various kinds of bark- lice, agreeing with the former in habits and structure. These insects vary very much in form ; some of them are oval and sMghtly con- vex scales, and others have the shape of a muscle ; some are quite convex, and either formed like a boat turned bottom upwards, or are kidney-shaped, or globular. They live mostl)' on the bark of the stems of plants : some, however, are habitually found upon leaves, and some on roots. In the early state, the head is completely withdrawn beneath the shell of the body and concealed, the beak or sucker seems to issue from the breast, and the legs are very short and not visible from above. The females undergo only a partial transforma- tion, or rather scarcely any other change than that of an increase in size, which, in some species indeed, is enormous, compared with the previous condition of the insect ; but the males pass through a complete transformation before arriving at the perfect or winged state. In both sexes we find threadlike or tapering antennae, longer than the head, but much shorter than those of plant-lice, and feet con- sisting of only one joint, terminated by a single claw. The mature female retains the beak or sucker, but does not acquire wings ; the male on the contrary has two wings, but the beak disappears. In both there are two slender threads at the extremity of the body, very short in some females, usually quite long in the uales, which moreover are provided with a 18 stylet at the tip of the abdomen, which is re curved beneath the body. "The following account drawn up by me in the year 1828, and published in the seventh volume of the 'New England Farmer,' p. 186, 187, contains a summary of nearly all that is known respecting the history and habits of these insects. Early in the spring the bark- lice are found apparently torpid, situated lon- gitudinally in regard to the branch, the head upwards, and sticking by their flattened infe- rior surface closely to the bark. On attempt- ing to remove them they are generally crushed and there issues from the body a dark co loured fluid. By pricking them with a pin, they can be made to quit their hold, as I have often seen in the common species. Coccus hes- peridum, infesting the myrtle. A little later the body is more swelled, and, on carefully raising it with a knife, numerous oblong eggs will be discovered beneath it, and the insect appears dried up and dead, and only its outer skin re- mains, which forms a convex cover to its future progeny. Under this protecting shield the young are hatched, and, on the approach of warm weather, make their escape at the lower end of the shield, which is either slightly elevated or notched at this part. They then move with considerable activity, and disperse themselves over the young shoots or leaves. The shape of the young Coccus is much like that of its parent, but the body is of a paler colour and more thin and flattened. Its six short legs, and its slender beak are visible under a magnifier. Some are covered with a mealy powder, as the Coccus cocti, or cochenille of commerce, and the Coccus adonidum, or mealy bug of our green-houses. Others are hairy or woolly; but most of them are naked and dark-coloured. These young lice insert their beaks into the bark or leaves, and draw from the cellular substance the sap that nou- rishes them. Reaumur observed the ground quite moist under peach-trees infested with bark-lice, which was caused by the dripping of the sap from the numerous punctures made by these insects. While they continue their exhausting suction of sap, they increase in size, and during this time are in what is called the larva state. When this is completed, the insects will be found to be of different magni- tudes, some much larger than the others, and they then prepare for a change that is about to ensue in their mode of life, by emitting from the under-side of their bodies numerous little white downy threads, which are fastened, in a radiated manner, around their bodies to the bark, and serve to confine them securely in their places. After becoming thus fixed they remain apparently inanimate ; but under these lifeless scales the transformation of the insect is conducted ; with this remarkable difference, that, in a f^vf days the large ones contrive to break up and throw off, in four or five flakes, their outer scaly coats, and reappear in a very similar form to that which they before had; the smaller ones, on the contrary, continue under their outer skins, which serve instead of cocoons, and from which they seem to shrink and detach themselves, and then bo- m2 137 BARK-LICE. BARK-HCE. come perfect pupce, the rudiments of winjs, antennse, feet, &c., being discoverable on rais- ing the shells. If we follow the progress of these small lice, which are to produce the males, we shall see, in process of time, a pair of threads and the tips of the wings protruding tenpath the shell at its lower elevated part, and through this little fissure the perfect in- sect at length backs out. After the larger lice have become fixed and have thrown off their outer coats, they enter upon the pupa or chrysalis state, Avhich continues for a longer ^r shorter period according to the species. But when they have become mature, they do not leave the skins or shells covering their bodies, which continue flexible for a time These larger insects are the females, and are destined to remain immovable, and never change their place after they have once be- come stationary. The male is exceedingly small in comparison to the fem.ale, and is pro- vided with only two wings, which are usually very large, a.nd lie flatly on the 'top of the body. After the insects kave paired, the body of the female increases in size, or becomes quite convex, for a time, and ever afterwards remains without alteration; but serves to shelter the eggs which are to give birth to her future offspring. These eggs, when matured, pass under the body of the mother, and the latter by degrees shrink more and more till nothing is left but the dry outer convex skin, and the insect perishes on the spot. Some- times the insect's body is not large enough to cover all her eggs, in which case she beds them in a considerable quantity of the down that issues from the under or hinder part of her body. There are several broods of some species in the year ; of the bark-louse of the apple-tree at least two are produced in one season. It is probable that the insects of the second or last brood pair in the autumn, after which the males die, but the females survive the winter, and lay their eggs in the following spring. " Young appie-trees, and the extremities of the limbs of older trees are very much subject to the attacks of a small species of bark-louse. The limbs and smooth parts of the trunks are sometimes completely covered with these in- sects, and present a very singularly wrinkled and rough appearance from the bodies which are crowded closely together. In the winter these insects are torpid, and apparently dead. They measure about one-tenth of an inch in length, are of an oblong oval shape, gradually decreasing to a point at one end, and are of a brownish colour very near to that of the bark of the tree. These insects resemble in shape one Avhich v/as described by Reaumur in 1738, who found it on the elm in France, and Geoffroy named the insect Coccus arborum linearis, while Gmelin called it conchlformis. This, or one much like it, is very abundant upon apple-trees in England, as we learn from Dr. Shaw and Mr. Kirby; and Mr. Rennie states that he found it in great plenty on cur- rant-bushes. It is highly probable that we have received this insect from Europe, but it is Komswhat doubtful whether our apple-tree bark-louse be identical with the species found 13fs by Reaumur on the elm ; and the doubt seems to be justified by the difference in the trees and in the habits of the insects, our species being gregarious, and that of the elm nearly solitary. It is true, that on some of our indigenous forest-trees bark-lice of nearly the same form and appearance have been observed ; but it is by no means clear that they are of the same species as those on the apple-tree. The first account that we have of the occurrence of bark-lice on apple-trees, in this country, is a communication by Mr. Enoch Perley, of Bridge- town, Mame, written in 1794, and published among the early papers of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society. These insects have now become extremely common, and infest our nur- series and young trees to a very great extent. In the spring the eggs are readily to be seen on raising the little muscle-shaped scales beneath which they are concealed. These eggs are of a white colour, and in shap« nearly like those of snakes. Every shell contains from thirty to forty of them, imbedded in a small quantity of whitish friable down. They begin to hatch about the 25th of May, and finish about the 10th of June, according to Mr. Perley. The young, on their first appearance, are nearly white, very minute, and nearly oval in form- In. about ten days they befcome stationary, and early in June throw out a quantity of bluish white down, soon after which their transforma- tions are completed, and the females become fertile, and deposit their eggs. These, it seems, are hatched in the course of the summer, and the young come to their growth and provide for a new brood before the ensuing winter. "Among the natural means which are pro- vided to check the increase of these bark-lice, are birds, many of which, especially those of the jrenera Parus and Reguluf, containing the chickadee and our wrens, devour great quan- tities of these lice I have also found that these insects are preyed upon by internal parasites, minute ichneumon flies, and the holes (which are as small as if made with a fine needle), through which these little insects come forth, may be seen on the backs of a great many of the lice which have been de- stroyed by their intestine foes. The best ap- plication for the destruction of the lice is a wash made of two parts of soft soap and eight of water, with which is to be mixed lime enough to bring it to the consistence of thick white-wash. This is to be put upon the trunks and limbs of the trees with a brush, and as high as practicable, so as to cover the whole surface, and fill all the cracks in the bark- The proper time for washing over the trees is in the early part of June, when the insects are young and tender. These insects may also be killed by using in the same way a solution of two pounds of potash in seven quarts of water, or a pickle consisting of a quart of com- mon salt in two gallons of water. "There has been found on the apple and pear tree another kind of bark-louse, which differs from the foregoing in many important particulars, and approaches nearest to a spe- cies inhabiting the aspen in Sweden, of which a description has been given by Dalman in the 'Transactions of the Royal Academy of Sci- PI (fie J. VAIUF.'IIES OF BAIU I.Y, OAI S ni'CKNVMi; A'l' AM) NH I.LK'I' V BARK-LICE. BARLEY. ences of Stockholm,' for the year 1825, under the name of Coccus crypfngamus. This species is of the kind in which the body of the female is not large enough to cover her eggs, for the protection whereof another provision is made, consisting, in this species, of a kind of mem- branous shell, of the colour and consistence almost of paper. In the autumn and through- out the winter, these insects are seen in a dor- mant state, and of two different forms and sizes on the bark of the trees. The larger ones measure less than a tenth of an inch in length, and have the form of a common oyster- shell, being broad at the hinder extremity, but tapering towards the other, which is surmount- ed by a little oval brownish scale. The small ones,' which are not much more than half the length of the others, are of a very long oval shape, or almost four-sided with the ends rounded; and one extremity is covered by a minute oval dark-coloured scale. These little shell-like bodies are clustered together in great numbers, are of a white colour and membran- ous texture, and serve as cocoons to shelter the insects while they are undergoing their transformations. The large ones are the pupa- cases or cocoons of the female, beneath which the eggs are laid; and the small ones are the cases of the males, and differ from those of the females not only in size and shape, but also in being of a purer white colour, and in having an elevated ridge passing down the middle. The minute oval dark-coloured scales on one of the ends of these white cases are the skins of the lice while they were in the young or larva state, and the white shells are probably formed in the same way as the down which exudes from the bodies of other bark-lice, but which in these assumes a regular shape, vary- ing according to the sex, and becoming mem- branous after it is formed. Not having seen these insects in a living state, I have not been able to trace their progress, and must therefore refer to Dalman's memoir above mentioned, for such particulars as tend to illustrate the remaining history of this species. The body of the female insect, which is covered and concealed by the outer case above described, is minute, of an oval form, wrinkled at the sides, flattened above, and of a reddish colour. By means of her beak, which is constantly thrust into the bark, she imbibes the sap, by which she is nourished ; she undergoes no change, and never emerges from her habita- tion. The male becomes a chrysalis or pupa, and about the middle of July completes its transformations, makes its escape from its case, which it leaves at the hinder extremity, and the wings with which it is provided are reversed over its head during the operation, and are the last to be extricated. The perfect male is nearly as minute as a point, but a powerful magnifier shows its body to be divided into segments, and endued with all the im- portant parts and functions of a living animal. To the unassisted eye, says Dalman, it appears only as a red atom, but it is furnished with a pair of long whitish wings, long antennae or horns, six legs with their respective joints, and two bristles terminating the tail. This minute insect perforates the middle of the case cover- ing the female, and thus celebrates its nuptials with its invisible partner. The latter subse- quently deposits her eggs and dies. In due time the young are hatched and leave the case, under which they were fostered, by a little crevice at its hinder part. These young lice, which I have seen, are very small, of a pale yellowish brown colour, and of an oval shape, very flat, and appearing like minute scales. They move about for a while, at length become stationary, increase in size, and in due time the whitish shells are produced, and the in- cluded insects pass from the larva to the pupa state. The means for destroying these insects are the same as those recommended for the extermination of the previous species. (See Aphis, Thrips, &c.) "Many years ago, when on a visit from home, I observed on a fine native grape-vine, that was trained against the side of a house, great numbers of reddish brown bark-lice, of a globular form, and about half as large as a small pea, arranged in lines on the stems. An opportunity for further examination of this species did not occur till the last summer, when I was led to the discovery of a few of these lice on my Isabella grape-vines, by see- ing the ants ascending and descending the stems. Upon careful search I discovered the lice, which were nearly the colour of the bark of the vine, partly imbedded in a little crevice of the bark, and arranged one behind another in a line. They drew great quantities of sap, as was apparent by their exudations, by which* the ants were attracted. Further observations were arrested by a fire which consumed the house and the vines that were trained to it." {Harris^ sTreatlse on Insects.) BARLEY (Lat. hordeum). A species of bread corn, which in Europe ranks next to wheat in importance, and of which there are several varieties. The generic name seems either hordeum, from horreo, on account of its long awns, or, as it was anciently written, fordeum, rather from c?s»,3a, to feed or nourish, whence fa^Sx and forbea, and, changing the b^ into d, fordeum. ( Vossius.) The name is, how- ever, derived by Junius from the Hebrew na. The plant belongs to the natural order Gramv- nex, or grasses. It readily accommodates itself to any climate, bearing the heat of the torrid zone, and the cold of the frigid, and ripening in both equally well. Of the genus Hordeum, says Professor Low, the following species may be enumerated' as cultivated for their seeds : — 1. Two-rowed barley {Hordeum distichum). PI. 3, a, 2. Two-rowed naked barley {H. Gymnodis' fichum). 3. Two-rowed sprat, or battledore barley (H. disficko-zeocriton). PI. 3, d. 4. Six-rowed winter barley (//. hexastichum). PI. 3, b. 5. Six-rowed naked barley (//. Gymno-hexa- stichum). 6. Six-rowed sprat, or battlebore barley (H hexasticfio-zeocritnn ) . I The two leading species of this grain in cul- : tivation are (No. 1.) the two-rowed, or common ' barley, and (No. 4.) the six-rowed barley. Th« 139 BARLEY. BARLEY. minor varieties of two-rowed barley are nume- rous, and are distinguished chiefly by the quality of the grain, and by their habit of early or later ripening; and some varieties are more productive than others: effects apparently de- pendent upon differences of climate and situ- ation. Barley is an annual plant, but like wheat it may be sown in autumn, and then it acquires the habit of later ripening, and is ternied winter barley. Two-rowed naked barley is said to have been introduced into England in the year 1768. It is now little cultivated, and is by some as- serted, though without any evidence, to merge into the common species. The next species, two-rowed sprat, or battle- dore barley, is scarcely cultivated in England, the shortness of the straw being regarded as an objection ; but it is much esteemed in Ger- many, where it is termed rice barley, owing to its smelling like rice in boiling, when it is de- corticated. The fourth enumerated species is six-rowed barley. When sown before winter, this species acquires the habit of late-ripening, and is then termed winter barley. One of the kinds of six-rowed barley, and the best known in this country, is here, bear, or bigg. Bigg ripens its seeds in a shorter period than the two-rowed barleys. It is culti- vated very generally in the north of Scotland, in Denmark, Sweden, and other parts of Eu- •rope, and in the south of England for green lood in spring, and for this purpose is sown early in the autumn. The number of its grains is greater than in the two-rowed kinds, but they do not weigh so heavy in proportion to their bulk, It is hence regarded as an inferior crop, and is only cultivated in the more elevated parts of the country. It ripens very early when sown in spring, thence the advantages which it possesses in a late climate. (Loiu's Prac. Agr. p. 240.) The six-rowed naked barley is cultivated in various parts of Europe, and is greatly es- teemed for its fertility. In some parts of Ger- many it is regarded as the most valuable kind of barley, and by the French, on account of its supposed productiveness, it has been termed orge celeste. An excellent variety of this naked barley has been produced by Mr. C. Alderman, of Kintbur)% in Berkshire, and M. Mazucco, in a French paper, earnestly recommends the more general cultivation of naked barley, a§ he states that it weigh* a« much as the best wheats, and its quality resembles them so much that it may be used for the purpose of making pood bread, and also for pearl barley. In mountainous countries, its produce is twenty- four to one. {Quart. Jvurn. of Agr. vol. iii. p. 373.) This and the other superior kinds of barley deserve more attention than they have yet received. Mr. Warren Hastings, (in an article in the Com. to the Board of Agr. vol. vi. p. 304), after twelve years' experience in the cultivation of naked barley, very justly ob- .*erves, " that it is of the greatest importance to promote the culture of this sort of grain." " It is," he adds, " the corn that, next to rice, gives the greatest weight of flour per acre, and 140 it may be eaten with no other preparation than that of boiling. It requires little or no dress- ing when it is sent to the mill, having no husk, and consequently produces no bran. It is gathered into the barn, and may even be con- sumed, when the seasons are favourable, in about eighty or ninety days after being sown ; and there is no species of grain better calcu- lated for countries where the summer is short, provided the vegetation be rapid." The last of the species to be mentioned, says Professor Low, is six-rowed sprat, or battledore barley. This has been sometimes termed six-rowed barley; whereas the charac- ter of six-rowed barley does not belong to it alone. An examination of the plant will show that it is the common battledore barley, with all the florets entire. Much confusion has arisen in the arrangement by agriculturists of the cultivated barleys, and in an especial de- gree, by their speaking of ftiyr-rowed and six- rowed kinds. There is, however, no barley to which the term four-rowed can be applied. Barley is termed two-rowed, or six-rowed, ac- cording to the number of its fertile florets. In two-rowed barley, one row of florets on each of the two sides of the spike is fertile, and consequently one row of seeds on each side is perfected. In six-rowed barley, three rows on each side are perfected. In this sense only it is termed six-rowed barley. But there is no species known to us in which only two rows on each side of the spike are fertile. Slightly examined, indeed, six-rowed barleys frequently present the appearance of four rows ; but this is in appearance only, for such barleys have always the three rows on each side perfect. In poor soils and unfavourable situations, two of the rows run much into each other, and this has perhaps given rise to the mistake ; but the two rows which thus run into each other in appearance are on the opposite sides of the ra- chis. I have ventured, adds Professor Low (from whose work the above preliminary ob- servations are taken), to propose a new ar- rangement of the cultivated barleys ; under which it will be seen that the Hordtum vulgare of some botanists is Hordeum hexastichum, and that of the Hordeum hexastichum, of some bota- nists is Hordeum hexasticho-zeocriton. Particu- lar varieties have been in great repute at differ- ent times, when first introduced, and then seem to have, on many soils, lost their superiority. " Of this kind is the Moldavian barley, which was much sought after some years ago; and lately, the Chevalier barley, so called from the gentleman who first brought it into notice, has risen into great repute. It is said, that, having observed an ear of barley in his field, greatly superior to the rest, he carefully sowed the seed, and cultivated it in his garden, till he had a sufficient quantity to sow a field. It has since been extremely multiplied and diffused through the country. Some eminent maltsters and brewers have declared, that it forms more saccharine matter than any other sort; and the trials hitherto made have convinced most agriculturists that it is not only heavier in the grain, but more productive. In 1832 Lord Leicester, who was always foremost in all agri- BARLEY. BARLEY. cnltural experiments and improveiTiv'nts, sowed a considerable portion of land with this b Tley, and the result is said to have been perffc".tly satisfactory. In 1833 two acres of Chevalier barley were sown in the same field with somv^ of the best of the common barley. The soil was poor, light sand, but in good order and very clean. The produce of the whole was nearly the same, 4 quarters per acre ; but the Cheva- lier barley weighed 57 lbs. per bushel, while the common barley weighed only 52. This gives the farmer an advantage of ten per cent. The sample was very fine, and the whole that the cultivator could spare was eagerly pur- chased by his neighbours for seed at his own price. It is long in the ear, and very plump, and the plant tillers so much, that half a bushel of seed may.be saved per acre. This is proba- Dly owing to its grains being all perfect, and vegetating rapidly. The straw, like that of the other long-eared barleys, appears weak in pro- portion to the ear ; it is said also. to be harder, and not so palatable to cattle. These are cir- cumstances which experience alone can as- certain. That hitherto it has a decided supe- riority over the common sorts, no one who has tried it fairly in well-prepared lands seems to deny." (Penny Cyc.) A new and seemingly very-superior variety has lately been introduced, called the Annaf barley. (See Quart. Joum. of Agr. vol. v. p. 618.) It is the produce of three ears which were picked by Mr. Gorrie in a field in Perth- shire, in the harvest of 1830, since which pe- riod it has been grown at Annat Gardens, thence its name. In 1834, it was sown on a ridge in the middle of a field, with common barley on the one side and Chevalier barley on the other. In bulk of straw it seemed to have the advantage of both these kinds ; it was five days earlier ripe than the former, and about a fortnight before the latter, and it was also 2| lbs. per bushel heavier than the Chevalier. At a meeting of the Stoke Ferry Farmers' Club, in February of the present year (1841), it was stated by one of the members, that the Cheva- lier was decidedly the best stock for good bar- ley land ; but for very poor soils he preferred the Moldavian ; though, probably even this was surpassed by the stock usually known as the old field barley. The Annat barley was allud- ed to by one gentleman who had tried it last season ; but not having thrashed it, he could only say that from its appearance it augured well. He always adopted the drill system, using wide, winged coulters, so as to disperse the grain in the rows as much as possible, giv- ing the field the appearance of having been ploughed in. Very little difference of opinion existed as to the superiority of the Chevalier over any other variety, on the average of soils. One member had grown 15 coombs an acre on it; but he acknowledged it was on very excel- lent land. A curious fact was elicited in con- nection with this stock of barley; which was, that however much the crop might be laid and beaten down, either by storms or its own weight, the grain did not receive that injury to which any other sort under similar circumstances would be liable. (Brit. Farm.Mag.\Q\.\.'^. 190.) There can be no doubt of the general supe- riority of the Chevalier as a malting barley. Its introduction has occasioned a complete re- volution in certain districts, v/here formerly no such thing as malting barley was thought of. It is one of the greatest improvements of mo- dern times, and now commands a higher price in the market than other barleys by two or three shillings a quarter. Barley is evidently a native of a warmer cli- mate than Britain; for in this moist atmosphere it is observed to degenerate, when either ne- glected or on a poor soil. We have the best authority for its having been cultivated in Syria so long back as 3153 years; therefore that part of the world may be fairly fixed as its native soil. We find that the Romans ob- tained barley from Egypt, and other parts of Africa, and Spain. It was also grown in France, as Columella calls one variety of bar- ley Gulaticum. Barley, like all grains, is liable to diseases, namely smut, the burnt ear, blight, and rail- dew: for an account of which I must refer the reader to these words. It is also apt to germi- nate in the ear even before it is reaped, in wet weather, giving the ear a singular appearance, and rendering the grain, even when kiln-dried, unfit for malting, and only of use to feed fowls or pigs. The diseases of barley are not so n>>- merous or fatal as those of wheat. It is at- tacked by the larvce of certain (lies. The smut, which attacks it in a partial degree, ic gene- rally the fungus uredo segdum. Barley is now extensively cultivated in most European countries, in America, and in the temperate districts of Asia and Africa. It may also he raised between the tropics, but not at a lower elevation than from 3000 to 4000 feet, and then it is not M'orth cultivating. In Spain and Sicily it produces two crops in the year. Large quantities of barle)' have been for a lengthened period raised in Great Britain. Re- cently, however, its cultivation has been sup- posed, though probably on no good grounds, to be declining. In 1765, Mr. Charles Smith esti- mated the number of barley consumers in England and Wales at 739,000 ; and as a large proportion of the population of Wales, West- moreland, and Cumberland continue to subsist chiefly on barley bread, I am inclined to think that this estimate may not, at present, be very wide of the mark. "Barley" (husked), says Pliny, "was the most ancient food in old times, as will appear by the ordinary cuitom of the Athenians, according to the testimonj'^ of Me- nander, as also by the surname given to the sword fencers, who, from their allowance or pension of barley, were called Hordeani, ba^ ley men." (Book xviii. chap. 7). It was not until after the Romans had learned to cultiv'ate wheat, and to make bread, that they gave bar- ley to their cattle. They made barley-meal into balls, which they put down the throats of their horses and asses, after the manner of fat tening fowls, which was said to make them strong and lust}'. There are no means of ascertaining whether barley was cultivated in Britain vhen the Ro- mans discovered that country; but as Cassar Ml BARLEY. BARLEY. found corn g -owing on the coast of Kent, it is probable tha. this species of grain had been obtained from Gaul. In the rotation of crops, barley may succeed to summer fallow, to potatoes, turnips, or any other green crop, and to any of the pulse crops. It noAv^ generally follows turnips in England, and is a very important crop in the rotation, best adapted to light soils. The principal bar- ley counties of England are Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, Bedford, Herts, Leicester, Notting- ham, the upper parts of Hereford, Warwick, and Salop. The produce varies according to soil, preparation, season, &c., from about 25 to 60 or 70 bushels an acre. The usual crop is from 28 to 36 or 38 bushels. The Winches- ter bushel of good English barley generally weighs about 50 lbs.; but the best Norfolk bar- ley sometimes weighs 53 or 54 lbs. Its pro- duce in flour is about 12 lbs. to 14 lbs. of the grain. Barley is said to contain 65 per cent, of nu- tritive matter; wheat contains 78 per cent. A bushel of barley weighing 50 lbs. will there- fore contain about 32 lbs. of nutriment; while a bushel of wheat weighing 60 lbs. contains 47 lbs. Good oats weighing 40 lbs. contain about 24 lbs. of nutritive matter; so that the comparative value of wheat, barley, and oats, in feeding cattle, may be represented by 47, 32, and 24, the measure being the same. The experiments on which this calculation is founded were carefully made by Einhof, and confirmed on a large scale by Thiier, at his establishment at Mogelin, the account of the results being accurately kept. Barley is a tender plant, and easily hurt in any stage of its growth. It is more hazardous than wheat, and is, generally speaking, raised at a greater expense, so that its cultivation should not be attempted except where the soil and climate are favourable for its growth. There is no grain perhaps m re aflected (says Baxter, in his Lib. of Agr. Knowledge, p. 36,) by soil and cultivation than barley, the same species exhibiting opposite qualities, modified by the nature of the soil from which it is pro- duced ; these opposite productions of the same individual will, if sown at the same period, on the s&aie land, and under the same course of cultiva'.ioa, exhibit corresponding differences, which pre manifested during the growth of the crop, ajid subsequently in the quality of the sample when in hand. Thus the finest sam- ples^ the growth of suitable and well-cultivated lands, would, if sown on a poor and sterile soil, become alike coarse in appearance, and indifferent in quality. This fact, however im- portant, has hitherto but little engaged the at- tention of the farmer; and the spring or early barley is therefore indiscriminately sown, as being found more productive for the purpose of malting than any of the afore-mentioned varieties. The sprat, or battledore barley, makes good malt; and being short and *rect m the ear, and tapering in the stem, is, on strong lands, less liable to injury from falling, and is consequently preferred by a few indi- V iduals. The common, or long-eared barley, Jjeing long in the ear and weak in the straw, j's very lial le to lodge early, whereby the grain 142 is rendered inferior in quality, and is, there- fore, not extensively cultivated. Naked bar- ley, or wheat barley, is so tenmed in conse- quence cf the grain separating readily from the chaff when thrashed. It is a native of the north, and will bear sowing early in the sea- son ; it is not, however, in much estimation in the south of England, and is seldom culti- vated, although it makes strong malt, and is excellent for fattening of hogs and cattle. Win- ter barley, or square-eared barley, is grown to a considerable extent in the north-western part of England, and in Scotland. It is usually sown for the feeding of sheep in the south of England, and mixed with tares for the soiling of cattle. As food for sheep, it is far more productive than rye, as it admits of being fed down every two or three days during summer; and if intended for seed, it may previously be fed off by sheep early ±^ the season, without injury to the crop. -t The land that produces ne best barley is generally of a silicious, light, dry nature ; for a good mellow preparation and free soil are essential to the growth of malting barleys. Cold, wet soils, which are peculiarly retentive of water, are ill adapted to the growth of this grain, both in reference to its weight and its malting qualities. The whole matter of bar- ley and its straw contains more silicious par- ticles than that of any other grain cultivated by the British farmer; and hence one reason why a sandy soil is most congenial to the growth of this plant. Barley \z propag.ited by seed, sown either broadcast or in drills, the quantity varying according to the quality of the soil, cultivation, and time of sowing ; less being required on rich mellow lands than on poor soils ; early sowing, with good tillage, re- quiring less seed than the late sowing with in- different tillage. The quantity of seed gene- rally varies from 2^ to 4 bushels the acre (or sometimes more), when sown broadcast; but when drilled, the quantity of seed need not ex- ceed two bushels to the acre. Barley is an early ripening grain. It may be sown at a late period, but the sooner the better. The more early that barley can be sown, the produce in grain is the surer, though the bulk of the straw will be less. The com- mon sprat barleys may be sown from the second week in March, if the weather prove dry, until the 10th of May. The bigg, a variety of the winter barley, will stand against the wind, and may be sown either in the autumn or the beginning of March. The bear, or square barley, should be sown as early in the autumn as the clearing of the harvest will admit, and may be sown after wheat, barley, oats, or any pulse crop, being a plant of sturdy growth. In the choice of seed, great care should be taken that it is not of a reddish hue, as in that case it is more than probable that a great part of it will never vegetate ; the sample should be of a pale, lively colour, and uniform. Some farmers, not aware of its importance, are in the habit of sowing thin corn ; but unless the land is quite adapted, from its nature and cultivation, for the fullest encouragement of the plant, it will in the end be found a "penny- wise and pound-foolish" speculation. In all BARLEY. BARLEY. cases it will be well for the farmer to select the finest samples and the plumpest grain ; for in unfavourable seasons the crop from thin grain is always delicate, and assumes an un- kindly hue, whilst, on the contrary, plump seed throws up strong, healthy stems, capable of resisting the effects of inclement seasons, and, in more congenial weather, pushing forth with renewed vigour and redoubled strength. In England, barley, for the most part, succeeds best after turnips, tares, potatoes, carrots, man- gel wurzel, or other green ameliorating crops ; but does not succeed so well after wheat or other white straw crops, nor after rape so well as other green crops, except on the South Downs of Sussex, and certain lands adjoining the sea-coast, where both the quantity of grain is greater, and the quality better, after wheat (particularly wheat sown upon a clover ley), and also after rape, than from any other course of tillage. The lands require more or less ploughing, according to the quality of the soil, and the state in which it is found after the sea- son for the working of it commences. On re- tentive soils, as compact gravelly clay, if the turnips have been fed off during wet weather, the earth breaks up in large clods, and requires to be reduced by the roller, and at least a se- cond ploughing should be given before the barley can be safely sown. On light soils of the best quality one ploughing may be suffi- cient ; but if the land is twice ploughed in the spring, as soon as it is sufficiently dry for that purpose, it will be found amply to repay both the labour and expense. After the grass-seeds are sown, the barley-land admits of no further tillage. Should any larger weeds appear, they may be pulled up by the hand ; but it is the evidence of bad husbandry if a spring-sown barley crop require^weeding during the com- paratively short period in which it is on the ground. W weeding be necessary, it should be attended to early, or the crop will be injured by treading, and the roller should be used be- fore the blade becomes spindled. In the harvesting of barley more care is re- quisite than in takmg any other of the white crops, even in the best of seasons ; and in bad years it is often found very difficult to save it. When the period of harvest arrives, barley must be allowed to be sufficiently ripe, but not become what is termed " dead ripe." It may be cut either by the scythe or the sickle. Bar- ley, says Professor Low, on account of the softness of its stem, and the tendency of its ears to vegetate, is more apt to be injured, and even destroyed, by wet weather than any of the other cereal grasses. For this reason the safer course, in a humid climate like ours, is to place it when cut down in sheaves and shocks, and not to allow it, as is frequently practised, to lie loose upon the ground. By some farmers, however, it is suffered to lie in the fields until the straw is quite dry, being turned over early in the morning while the dew is still upon it. This practice, they say, is found to improve the colour of the skin, and thereby render the grain of more value to the maltster. It should never be carried unless perfect!}' dry, otherwise it is in danger of being heated in the mow, which reduces the value very materially, for the undue action of the heat destroys the spear, or germination of the grain ; the malting process is consequently very unequally performed, and as the duty has to be paid upon the whole bin, maltsters will scarcely purchase such samples, unless for the purpose of grinding, and then always at an inferior price. It will be prudent, there- fore, not to carry barley until the heat of the sun has evaporated the dew from it, when it should be carried in a perfectly dry state the remainder of the day, until the dew is again deposited in the evening. It is a very common practice to sow clover and other grass seeds with this crop ; but great care must be taken that they are thoroughly harvested, for other- wise considerable fermentation will be created, and the sample injured. It not unfrequently occurs, that when it is supposed to be weV harvested, heat is soon found to subsist in the mows, which should be daily examined, by placing a long iron spit, that should be kept for tha^purpose, deep into the mow ; when, if the heat is found to increase, no delay should take place, but the middle should be instantly cut asunder, and taken out in proportion to the size of the mow, when it will generally escape without further injury. This operation, how- ever, must not be deferred, as the injury sus- tained rapidly increases. By heating in the stalk, it quickly becomes discoloured and in- jured. When barley is grown in large quan- tities, it is usual to tread the mows with horses or oxen, to get as much as possible into the barns, in which case more guarded caution is necessary than when thrown losely over the floor. This grain should never be thrashed by a machine, as the injury done thereby is fre- quently of a very serious nature ; it bruises the malting spear, which is as injurious to the maltsters as if heated in the mow, and, there- fore, should be guarded against. Care must also be taken not to have too large heaps lying together without frequent examination, as, un- til it has undergone a proper fermentation in the mow, it will be very apt to heat in the heap ; in order to prevent which it requires to be moved daily, or every other day, till cleaned up from the chaff, which, from the fineness of Its texture, scarcely admits the introduction of air, and consequently promotes fermentation. The principal demand for barley in Great Britain is for conversion into malt, to be used in the manufacture of ale, porter, and British spirits ; and though its consumption in this way has not certainly increased proportionally to the increase of wealth and population, still there does not seem to be any grounds for sup- posing that it has diminished. But it is not only the most useful for making into malt, it is the best food for promoting the fattening of hogs, after they have been fed to a certain extent with beans, peas, &c., from which it has been found that the meat is not only more tender, but increases in boiling whilst the meat of those fed on beans and peas alone has not only been hard, but has not yielded any increase. Barley is employed for various other purposes. It is excellent for fattening poultry. The flour is still used iu 43 BARLEY. some parts for bread; but the bread, though sufficiently nutritious, is dark and strong- tasted. Barley, in its green state, especially the Siberian winter-barley, makes excellent spring food for milch cows, as is well known to the cow-keepers about London ; it comes in early, and greatly increases the milk. For sheep it is more nourishing than rye, and is earlier. When fed off quite close in April, it will spring up again, and on good land pro- duce a fair crop of grain in August ; but, in general, it is ploughed up as soon as it is fed off, and succeeded by spring tares or turnips. It is also good food for horses, when given in the spring of the year in small proportion with oats, sparingly at first, and after being soaked in water, and allowed to vegetate. It is in ge- neral use in the south of Europe {Com. Board of Agr. vol. vi. p. 298). Mixed with other grain, in its ground state, it has been found an excellent food for fattening bullocks. . The straw is employed partially for fodder, but chiefly for litter. It is lighter than the stravie of oats and wheat, and less esteemed than either. The awns are given to stock, either in their natural state or boiled. Malt is the great pur- pose, however, to which barley is applied in this country. To understand the process of malting, it may be necessary to observe, that, in the germination of grasses and grains be- fore the young plant is produced, the fecula of the seed is changed by the heat and moist- ure of the earth into sugar and mucilage. Malting grain is only an artificial mode of effecting this object. The grain is steeped in cold water during a certain period ; the water is then allowed to drain off, the grain is spread out into a deep heap : it gradually heats, the rootlets begin to shoot out, afterwards the plu- mula begins to grow ; and when this has grown to a certain extent within the grain, the further germination is checked by exposing the grain on a kiln, heated by fire to such a degree as extinguishes the vitality of the seed. At this period it is found that tke starch is, in a great measure, converted into saccharine matter, and by subsequent fermentation, or distillation, either beer or spirits is obtained. (See Feh- MENTATiosf, Maltino, and Brewing.) It is only necessary to add here that malt requires, the best and heaviest barley, with its germinat- ing powers entire. Barley was formerly in general use in Eng- land as bread corn : it is still, for this pur- pose, much used on the Continent. It is gene- rally used in the warmer climates as the food for horses, for which purpose, in fact, it ap- pears to answer equally as well as oats. In this country, in some seasons, a considerable saving may be made by using for this purpose inferior barley. This was done in the season of 1840 by Mr. Hewitt Davis, of Spring Park, who sold his oats at th^ same price that he gave for the barley. And to this end the farmer «hould remember, that two parts of barley are i . tuUy equal, in feeding properties, to three parts vf oats. In Germany they grind the barley, and form it into cakes, with which they feed their horses; and it is no unusual circum- stance, in travelling in that country, to see the 144 BARLEY. driver take a slice of the loaf with which he baits his horses. Wine made from malt, when kept to a pro- per age, has a good body, and a flavour nearly as agreeable as the generality of Madeira wines. The wort of malt is useful in scurvy, but it is apt to increase the diarrhoea which attends that disease. Barley was used by the ancients for many medicinal purposes. Pot barley, pearl barley, and French barley, are only barley freed from the husk by a mill ; the distinction between them being, that the pearl barley is reduced to the size of small shot, all but the very heart of the grain being ground away. For a description of the mode of ma- nufacture, I refer the reader to the Penny Cy- clop, vol. iii. p. 466. Barley-water is a decoc- tion of either of these, and is repiited soft and lubricating; a very useful cooling drink or gruel in many disorders, and is recommended to be taken with nitre in fevers. Its use is of great antiquity, as Hippocrates wrote a whole book on the merits of gruel made of barley. Barley-water is an admirable liquid to admi- nister any medicine in, being pleasant, emol- lient, and cooling. The French or Scotch barley is principally used to thicken broth and soup. The German chemist, Einhof, has analysed ripe barley, and found 100 parts to consist of 70-05 parts of meal, 18-75 of husk, and 11-20 of water. The meal he found to contain 67-18 parts of starch, 5-21 of uncrystallizable sugar, 4-62 of gum, 3-52 oi gluten, 1-15 oi albumen, 0-24 of superphosphate of lime, and 10-79 of water and loss, in 100 parts. The husk con- tains a bitter principle which is tasted in the decoction of entire barley. M. Saussure has carefully analysed the ashes produced by burning barley and its straw, and the result of his experiments is given in iie- cherches Chem. sur la Veg., Paris, 1804. The grain reduced to ashes, with its skin, gave, out of 100 parts, 18 of ashes, which con- tained : — Potash --.--.. 18- Phosphate of potash ... - 9'2 Sulphate nf potash _ - . - rs Muriate of potash ----- 0'25 Earthy phosphates - - - - - 3*2 5 Silica ..--.-- 355 • Metallic oxides ... - - OH Loss 28 100- 1000 parts of the straw produced 42 of ashes, containing: — Potash .-.-... 16- Sulphate of potash ----- 35 Muriate of potash ... - - 0'5 Earthy phnsphates ..... 7-75 Earthy carbonates - - - - - 12 5 Silica ....... 57- Metallic oxides . • - - - 5 Loss .....-- 2-25 100- These products no doubt vary in different soils ; but the proportion of silica in the straw and in the skin of barley is remarkable. This barley grew on a chalky soil. In addition 'o these the cubic saltpetre, or nitrate of soda, is usually found in minute proportions in barley. BARLEY GRASSES. BARN OWL. The average price m England, per Win- chester quarter of barley, according to M'Cul- loch, was in £ s. d. • £ ». d. 1771 - - 1 5 8 1815 - - 1 10 3 1775 - - 1 6 1819 - - 2 6 8 1780 - - 17 1785 - - 1 4 P«f tap. Qu»r. 1790 - - 1 5 6 1820 - ■ - 1 13 10 1795 - - 1 17 8 1825 - - 2 1 1800 - - 3 1830 - - 1 12 7 1805 - - 2 4 8 1835 - - 1 9 11 1810 - - 2 7 11 1840 - - 1 12 8 The account in imperial quarters of the fo- reign barley and barley-meal entered for home consumption every five years since 1815, was iM'Culluch's Com. Diet.) — 1815 160- 1820 1625 - 270679 1830 -----.- 52-107 1835 -.--... 137374 The annual average, from 1801 to 1825, of barley imported into England, in Winchester quarters, was from Qn. Russia - - - - - - - 7112 Sweden and Norway - - - - 987 Denmark ...... 18-808 Prussia ....... 18718 Germany ...... 24839 Netherlands ----.. 9500 France and Southern Europe - - 1-097 United States 31- ' British North America . . - - 51* Other countries ..... 2-194 Ireland ....... 33-331 For further particulars as to its consumption and culture, see Smith's Tracts on the Corn Trade, 2d edit. p. 182; Penny Cyclop., vol. iii. p. 461; Brown on Rural Affairs, vol. ii. p. 42 ; and Elements of Pruc, Agr., by Prof. Low, p. 246, &c. ; to which last-named valuable work I have, in this and other articles, been under very considerable obligation. (Phillip's Cull. Veg.; M'Culhch's Com. Diet.; Com. Buarff of Ag. vol. vi. ; Hitchin, in Baxter's Ag. Lib. ; Professor Low's El. of Ag. ,• Brande's Diet, of Science.) Barley, in the United States, is cultivated almost exclusively Xor the breweries, the grain being rarely given to cattle, and barley-bread being unknown to native Americans. BARLEY GRASSES. Some coarse kind of grasses which are known under the several names of meadow barley grass (Plate 7, d), wall barley grass, way-bennet, and mouse bar- ley, and are of little use to the farmer. (See Honnr.uM murinum, and H. pratense.) BARLEY HUMMELLER. This is an in- strument worked by the hand, which is em- ployed when the threshing machine is not in ■use, or performs its work imperfectly. It con- sists of a set of parallel iron plates fixed to a frame, and worked by the hand like a paver's instrument. The barley to be hummelled is laid upon the barn-floor, and by repeated strokes of th ; hummeller, is freed from its awns. Messrs. Grant, wheelwrights of Aber- deenshire, have described this instrument very fully, with some improvements, in Trans. High. Soe. vol. iv. p. 334. BARM. The foam or froth of beer or any other liquor in a ftate of fermentation, which is used as a leaven in the making of bread, 6k.c. (See Yeast.) 19 [ BARN. A covered building, constructed for I the purpose of laying up grain, &c. Farms should always be furnished with barns pro- portioned to the quantity of grain they produce; but since the practices of stacking and thrash- ing by mills have become more general, there is much less need of large barns. They should have a dry situation, and be placed on the north or north-east side of the farm yard, so that the sun at noonday may shine on th thrashing-floor, and the lean-toos for stock in the yard be thus open only to the south. Every farm should have at least two thrashing-floors, that diflerent kinds of grain may be thrashing at the same time. Barns may either be con- structed of timber, or be built of brick or stone, whichever the country affords in the greatest plenty, but wooden barns are the best for the corn ; and in either case there should be such vent-holes or openings in their sides or walls as to afford free admittance to the air, in order to prevent the mouldiness that would otherwise occur from the least dampness lodging in the grain. The foundations, and for two feet out of the ground, are best made of brick or stone, on account of greater solidity, and the protec- tion from vermin ; the whole may be roofed with either thatch, slate (which is the best of all), or tiles, as can be most conveniently pro- cured. They should have two large double folding doors facing each other, one in each side of the building, for the convenience of carrying in or out wagon-loads ; and the^ doors should be of the same breadth as the thrashing-floor, to aflTord the more light and air. Formerly, a much larger expenditure in the number and size of these buildings was in- curred than is now requisite, since the practice of stacking has become general. It is found that all grain is a better sample from stacks than from barns ; vermin have less chance of injuring it, indeed may be set at defiance, and at harvest the com may admit of being carried two days sooner for stacking than for housing. BARNACLES. A name given to horse twitchers or brakes, a sort of instrument used by farriers to put upon horses' noses, when they will not stand quietly to be shod, bled, or dressed. BARN OWL (Strix Jlammea). The white, or screech owl, unlike some of the species, is resident in England throughout the year, and is so peculiar in the colour of its plumage, and so generally diffused, that it is probably the best known of all the British species of owls. It inhabits churches, barns, old malting kilns, or deserted ruins of any sort, and also holes in decayed trees. If unmolested, the same haunfa are frequented either by parent birds or their off'spring, for many years in succession. As a constant destroyer of rats and mice, and that to a very considerable extent, the services per- formed by barn owls for the agriculturists have obtained for these birds toleration at least, while by some they are, as they deserve to be, strictly protected in return for benefits received. Unless disturbed, these birds seldom leave their retreat during the day ; and, if the place of concealment be approached with caution, and a view of the bird obtained, it will generally N 146 BAROMETER. BAROMETER. be observed to have its eyes closed as if asleep. About sunset, the pair of owls, par- ticularly when they have young, issue forth in quest of food, and may be observed flapping gently along, searching lanes, hedgerows, or- chards, and small enclosures aiear outbuildings. " In this irregular country," says White of Selborne, " we can stand on an eminence and see them beat the fields over like a setting dog, and often drop down in the grass or corn." Besides rats and mice, they feed on shrews, small birds, insects, &c., and have sometimes been known to capture and eat fish. It is said of this owl, that when satisfied, it will hide the remainder of its meat like a dog. The barn owl lays from three to five eggs, which are oval and white, measuring one inch six lines in length, and one inch three lines in breadth. Young birds are found from July to September, and occasionally as late as Decem- ber. The young birds are easily tamed, and live in harmony with other birds. The barn owl is common in most, if not all the counties of England, and, according to Mr. Thompson, it is also the most common owl in Ireland. In Scotland, it is less numerous. Over the tem- .perate part of the European continent, and in North America, it is generally diff'used. Its form and colour are too common to need de- scription. The whole length of the bird is about fourteen inches. ( YarreWs Brit. Birds, vol. i.) ^BAROMETER. The word is derived from ^^wo Greek words, which signify the measurer of weight. This, the most valuable instrument for meteorological observations in the farmer's possession, was invented about the middle of the 17th century, by Torricelli, an Italian phi- losopher. Some observations of Galileo had, perhaps, led the way to the discovery ; the at- tention of this great philosopher, according to a well known story, having been drawn to the fact that water would not rise higher than 32 feet in a tube exhausted of air, by some work- men of the Duke of Florence, who had vainly endeavoured to construct a comon lifting pump to raise water a greater height. Galileo ex- plained the phenomenon, by saying that nature had a horror of a vacuum, but that this horror had its limits. It was found by Torricelli, that a column of water of about 32 feet exactly balanced the weight of the atmosphere which surrounds our earth, and that this was equal to the weight of a column of mercury of about 28 inches. Now this column of mercury, under various outward shapes, forms the ba- rometer, or weather-glass, so useful to the far- mer. For as the pressure of the atmosphere commonly varies with approaching changes in .the weather, the consequent rise or falL-of the mercury merely marks its amount : one end of the mercurial tube is hermetically sealed and is void of air, so that the quicksilver rises or falls in it unresisted ; but the other end of the tube is open, and the atmosphere forces the mercury through this, by pressure on the sur- face of the fluid mercury in the cistern. Thus, th»" atmosphere operates by its varying pres- sure. When, therefore, the quicksilver rises, the atmospheric pressure is increasing ; when Itjalk, the pressure is diminishing. 146 The more dense the state of the atmosphera. the higher the mercury will rise in the instru- ment. It is a popular notion that the atmos- pheric pressure must be greatest when the air is thick and cloudy. The term density, wheu applied to the condition of the atmosphere and its relations with the barometer, means specific weight, without reference to its clearnes? or cloudiness. Vapour or moisture in the air a.« ways lessens its weight, and the more vapour, whether this be invisible, or in the condensed states constituting fogs and clouds, the less the weight or density and pressure upon the ba- rometer. It is more from this rising and falling of the barometer, observes Mr. Forster, than from its height or lowness, that we are to infer fair or foul weather; In very hot weather the falling of the mercury indicates thunder: in winter, the rising indicates frost ; and in frosty weather, if the mercury fall three or four divisions, there will follow a thaw; butih a continued frost, if the mercury rises it will snow. When foul weather happens soon after the falling of the mercury, it will not continue ; and, on the contrary, you may expect, if the weather be- comes fair as soon as the mercury rises, that it will be of short duration. In foul weather, when the mercury rises much and high, and so continues for two or three days before the foul weather is quite over, then expect a con tinuance of fair weather to follow. The words usually inscribed on the scale plates of barometers, such as " Very Dry," " Set Fair," " Fair," etc., etc., are extremely falla- cious, and have tended to bring the instrument into great discredit as a weather glass. We may perhaps except " Stormy," for when the lowest falls happen, they are always the pre- cursors of very high winds and storms. The words inscribed are, perhaps, better indica- tions of the weather in England than on the American side of the Atlantic. It must be evident that when a barometer, with a scale plate marked as usual, is carried to high and mountainous positions, the mercurial co- lumn falls, and has its relations with the words on the scale plate entirely changed. The per- son who wishes to make the barometer useful in foretelling the changes of weather in the United States must throw aside all dependence upon inscriptions, with the exception mention- ed, and study its fluctuations with reference to the prevailing winds, dew-point, and other conditions of the weather at the time. Rain or snow is frequently preceded by a rise, instead of a fall, of the mercurial column, and a fall of the barometer often indicates the cessation of rain. The rise in the mercurial column generally indicates a northerly wind. The highest con- ditions of the barometer in the United States, near the Atlantic, commonly precede north- easterly storms of rain and snow. The very highest elevations have been attended with very cold weather and a light wind from the north, followed by snow or rain within forty- eight hours. A subsidence of the mercury ge nerally indicates wind from a southerly point, and should this be so far round as to blow from land, the fall of rain or snow will commonly BARREL, BARROWS. cease, for a while at least. When, during a wet spell oi" weather, the wind has veered to the south-easterly points, with a cessation of rain, the wind rising to east and north-east is generally preceded or attended by a rise of the barometer and a renewal of the rain. When the wind has been from the south and south- west, with a moist condition of the atmosphere, or high dew-point, a rise of the barometer in- dicates that the wind is coming from a point north of west, and a clearing up shower about to ensue. The following tabular view is intended to show the manner in which the mercurial column of the barometer fluctuates at Phila- delphia, a position in the United States, which may be regarded rather central and removed from the extremes of more northerly and southerly situations. The higher north, the greater the fluctuations of the barometer. The observations were carefully made during the year 1842, by Mr. Owen Evans, a member of the Committee on Meteorology, of the Franklin Institute of Pennsylvania. The graduation of his barometer agrees with that of the standard constructed for the Committee on Meteorology, by which the instruments distributed to the va- rious counties of Pennsylvania are regulated. The elevation of the place of observation is about 30 feet above high-water mark of the Delaware. The means are corrected for tem- perature to 42° Fahr. !JaD. JO 04 vation, -. - - - "J Lowest falls at the hours of observa- I 29-53 tion, - - - - - - / Feb. 30 00 30-47 29 12 March 30-04 3051 29-52 April 29-M5 30-4-2 2957 May. 29-90 3031 •29-60 June. 29-92 30-41 29-70 29-96 29-98 30-3030-3' I 29-78 1 29-75 SepL 29 97 Oct. Nov. 36-00 3001 30-22130-34 30-43 29-63,29 66'29-37 Dec. 29-99 30-47 •29-C2 Year. I 29-98 30-63 29-12 Many are the natural indications of vegetables which portend changes in the weather ; thus, the Pimpernel, or Red Chickweed {AnagaUls arvensis), is styled the poor man's weather- glass. This little plant blooms in June, in stubble fields and gardens, and continues in flower all the summer. When this plant is seen in the morning with its little red flowers widely extended, we may generally expect a fine day ; on the contrary, it is a sign of rain when its petals are closed. (The Farmer's Al- manac.') The following table has been constructed from a long series of observations made in London ; they will apply, however, to a consi- derable distance around the metropolis : — Thermometer, Mean quantity January - mean Height. meaaleiiipera' ture. Inches. 29 921 36-1 1-483 ~ February - 30-067 38- 0-746 March 29S43 43-9 1-440 April 29-881 499 1-786 May 29898 54- 1853 June 30 020 58 7 1-830 July 29-874 61 2-516 August 29-891 61-6 1-453 September 29-931 57-8 2-193 October - 29-774 48-9 2073 November 29-776 42-9 2-400 December - 29-693 39-3 2-426 BARREL. A cask or vessel for holding liquids, particularly ale and beer. Formerly the barrel of beer in London, contained only 32 ale gallons =- 32^ Imperial gallons. By a statute of 1 W. & M., the ale and beer barrels were equalized for every part of England, ex- cept London, and ordered to contain 34 gallons ; but it was enacted by 43 Geo. 3, c. 69, that 36 gallons of beer should be taken to be a barrel ; and by the 6 Geo. 3, c. 58, it is enacted, that whenever any gallon measure is mentioned in any excise law, it shall always be deemed and taken to be a standard Imperial gallon. At present, therefore, the barrel contains 36 Impe- rial gallons. It may be worth while observing, that the barrel or cask is exclusively the pro- duce of European ingenuity, and that no such article is known to any nation of Asia, Africa, or America, who have not derived it from Eu- ropeans. The term barrel was formerly used to denote, in a rough way, other sorts of goods. Thus, a barrel of salmon was 42 gallons ; a barrel of soap, 256 pounds. In common lan- guage, any hollow cylinder is called a barrel. Air and water-tight iron barrels coated with waterproof composition are now used in the navy, and might be made useful to the farmer. (M'Culloch's Com. Did.; Brandt's Did. of Science.) A measure for Indian corn, in Maryland, Vir- ginia, and other Southern States, containing 10 bushels in the ear = to 3 flour barrels. BARREN FLOWERS are those which either have stamens and no pistil, or which have neither stamens nor pistil. The latter are the production of art. BARREN SOILS, in general, owe their sterility to the presence of too great a propor- tion of particular earrtis — saline, or organic mat- ters. No soil can be productive in which 19 parts out of 20 are composed of any one earth or other substance. The improvement of such soils constitutes the great art of all manuring and tillage. Lands containing an excess of calcareous matter may be improved by tJie ad- dition of clay or sand. Sands may be dresried with clay or marl, or vegetable matter. Where organic matters are in excess, tne earths may be applied. Water must be removed by drain ing. {Davy's Ledures, p. 203.) See Sons. BARROWS. The common term for tumuli, or huge mounds of earth which were raised in former times over the bodies of heroes and warriors : many of which exist to the present day on the plains of Wilts and the downs of Dorset, Surrey, Sussex, and other counties. Barrow is also the name for a hog, and for any kind of carriage moved or borne by the hand. The most common barrows in use at present are the wheel-barrow, which is employed for the carriage of light loads, as of earth to short distances, lime for building, manure from th« 147 BARS. CASS. heaps for spreading, and the like. The hand- barrow is, under certain circumstances, substi- tuted for the wheel-barrow. The load-barrow IS used for carrying filled sacks to and from the granary, &c. BARS. In farriery, a term applied to those portions of the crust or hoof of horses that are reflected inwards, and which form the arches that are situated between the heels and the frog. Bars of a Horse's Mouth. — The fleshy rows that run across the upper part of the mouth, and reach almost quite to the palate, very dis- tinguishable in some young horses. They form that part of the mouth on which the bit should rest, and have its effect. BAR-SHOE. A particular kind of shoe, which is sometimes of necessity used to protect a tender frog from injury, the hinder part of the shoe being thickenfed and hollowed over the .rog ; but unless it is made exceedingly heavy, it will soon be flattened down, and in the mean time it will most injuriously press upon the heels. BARTER (Span, baratar ,- Ft. barrater ,■ Ital. barratare, which signify to cheat as well as to barter: hence also our word barratry). The exchanging one commodity for another, with- out the payment of money. The term barter seems to have been derived from the lan- guages of southern Europe. This rude mode of trade grows into desuetude as a country or nation advances in commercial knowledge, and progresses in civilization ; and even where an actual exchange of commodities does take place between merchants and traders, their comparative value is expressed by certain current moneys, and balanced accordingly, and not by the proportionate value one article bears to another. The exchange of a civilized peo- ple amongst themselves, or with other coun- tries, are principally carried on by bills of exchange. The actual money payments in a countrj^ by no means represent the amount of its commercial transactions. {Penny Cyclop.) BARTH. A provincial term, which sig- nifies a warm enclosed place or pasture for calves, lambs, and other young animals. BARTON, or BARKEN (Sax. bepe-run, an area). A term employed in some districts to signify the yard of a farm-house. Blount de- scribes this word as meaning the demesne lands of a manor; the manor-house itself, and sometimes the out-houses. Most of our old lexicographers explain it as an enclosed place, or inner yard, where poultry is kept, or hus- bandry used. Blount's is the provincialism of the west of England; the latter is still used in other places. BASIL, SWEET (Ocywum. Probably from 5i^a) and ^a-ai, on account of its lasting fra- grance). A culinary aromatic exotic used in salads and soups ; the peculiar flavour of moek-turtle soups is chiefly derived from this valuable pot-herb. There are two species com- monly cultivated, both annuals, and originally coming from the East Indies. 1. The sweet- scented or larger basil (O. basilicum), and, 2. The dwarf-bus'fi oasil (O. minimum). They thrive most in a rich light soil, entirely free Cri>m an V overshadowing body; but thej re- 148 quire, especially for the earliest plants, a she^ tered border. In wet earth, the seed always rots. BASIL, COMMON WILD (Chenopodium vulgare). This is also slightly aromatic, and is a perennial succulent herb, growing in bushy places, about hedges, and by road sides, on a gravelly or chalky soil. The herb rises about a foot high on a wavy, light green, hairy stem, with ovate leaves, an inch long, serrated, and the ribs beneath armed with bristly hairs. The whole of the flowers are also bristly, on branched hairy stalks, both arising from the axilla of the leaves and the top of the stem, of a light purple colour. The flowers blow in July and August. This plant flourishes abun- dantly in gardens. It is well known among kitchen herbs. Its very odour is fragrant and refreshing. BASIL -Thyme. Field Thyme (Thymus acina). A leafy, small annual plant, much branched and spreading, but scarcely nine inches high, with acute, bluntly serrated leaves, rough at the edges, and slightly aro- matic. The flowers are in axillary whorls of a bluish colour, variegated at the tip with white and dark purple ; six on a whorl on simple stalks. It grows luxuriantly in cultivated fields, especially on a sandy, gravelly, or" chalky soil. {Smith's Eng. Flor.) BASIL. The skin of a sheep tanned. BASILISK. (Lat.) The name for a serpent. BASIN, or BASON (Fr. bussin ,- It. bacino). In agriculture, a natural or artificial hollow or excavation in the ground, for the reception and preservation of water. See Pond. BASKETS {Basged, Welsh ; bascauda, Lat probably from bass, of which baskets were often made). They are made principally of the in terwoven twigs of willow, osier, and birch, &c., but frequently also of grass, rushes, splinters of wood, straw, «&c. They are made to hold all sorts of dry goods, and constructed of every variety of quality and shape, from the small fruit-pottle to the bushel basket. For market baskets the osiers are used whole. Besides the vast quantities made in England, some of the finer kinds are imported under an ad valo- rem duty of 20 per cent. In 1832 this duty pro- duced 1044/. 7s. 9rf., showing that the value of the foreign baskets entered for home consump- tion in the same year had been 5221/. 18s. 9rf. The fishing basket, pannier, or creel for the angler, should be made of wicker-work, with two openings for a leather strap to pass through, which strap should encircle one shoulder and be buckled, so that it may be let down or taken up as occasion may suit. There are great varieties of these panniers ; some are made of suflicient width to carry a fish of four or five pounds at full length. BASS. The material of which packing mats are made. It consists of the bark of the lime tree. The American Bass wood, or American Lime, or Linden {Tilia Americana), abounds in the forests east of the Mississippi. It exists in Canada, but is most common in the more northern portions of the United States. It be- comes less frequent towards the south, and in Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, is found BASTARP ALKANET. BAY OF A BARN. tnly on the mountains. Michaux says he found this species of lime tree most abundant in the Genessee country, bordering on Lakes Erie and Ontario, where it frequently consti- tutes two-thirds, and sometimes the whole of the forests. The sugar maple, the white elm, and the white oak are the trees with which it most frequently associates. On newly cleared land its stump and roots frequently sprout, causing no little trouble to the settler The presence of the lime tree indicates a loose, deep, and fertile soil. It is sometimes more than eighty feet high and four feet in diameter. Its straight and even trunk, termi- nating in an ample and tufted summit, forms a beautiful tree. The wood is white and soft. In the Northern States, Avhere the tulip poplar does not grow, it is used for the pannels of carriage bodies and the seats of Windsor chairs. It is, however, apt to split, and is not considered equal to pop- lar for such and other useful purposes. (North Amer. Si/lva.) The American Lime tree or Linden is extensively cultivated in Europe, where its larger leaves easily distinguish it from the European Lime or Linden, which last bears such sweet blossoms, perfuming the air like the mock orange. The European Lin- den is so much the prey of insect borers and caterpillars as to make its preservation ex- tremely difficult, especially in cities. The American Linden escapes much better. BASTARD ALKANET (Corn Gromwell, Lithospermum aniense). An annual weed com- mon in waste grounds and corn-fields, espe- cially among rye, flowering in May and June. It may be easily known by its tapering root, with a bright red bark, which communicates its colour to oily substances, as well as to pa- per, linen, and pale faces ; and it is therefore occasionally used by the young girls in Sweden to colour their cheeks. This colouring matter is also used to tinge some ointments, especi- ally lip-salves, of a red colour. From the root usually rises a single stem, about a foot high, rough, and generally branched and spreading at the top ; sometimes decumbent. The flowers are small and white, surrounded with five long, narrow, hairy leaves. Wildenow says, he has seen a variety with blue flowers. {Smith's Enff. Flor.) BASTARD -TOADFLAX (Thesium lino- phyllum). An English perennial wild plant, with terminal clusters of whitish or yellowish blossoms, many-flowered, erect, generally branched or subdivided, flowering in July. Its root is woody and yellowish, stems widely spreading, angular, leafy, a span or more in length ; leaves turned to one side, rough-edged, light-green, an inch long at most ifound in high open chalky pastures. The only species of this genus known in the United States is the Thesium umbellalum. (See Darlmgton's Flora Cesfrica.) BAT, or FLITTERMOUSE (Cheiroptera, a hand and wing). A mammiferous animal which has a body like a mouse, with wmgs not feathered, but consisting of a membranous skin extended. These wings of the bat, osteo- logically considered, are hands ; the bony Stretchers of the cutaneous membrane being the digital phalanges, or fingers ; extremely- elongated ; one digit or finger of each wing is tipped with a small nail. Bats are widely spread over the globe ; they are to be found in the Old and New World, and in New Holland. A tolerably temperate climate seems necessary for them, and the greatest developement of the form takes place in warm countries. Gene- rally speaking, they remain in concealment during the day in caverns, ruinous buildings, hollow trees, and such hiding places, and fli't forth at twilight or sunset to take their prey. They feed mostly on flies, insects, &c., but do not refuse raw flesh, so that the notion that bats go down chimneys and gnaw men's bacon is no improbable story. Bats are divided into two classes, the omni- vorous or fruit-eating, and the insectivorous. Those who are desirous of further investigating the subject will find ample particulars under the head " Cheiroptera" in the Penny Cyclo. vol. vii. p. 19. BATEABLE HERBAGE. Provincially, such herbage as has the tendency of readily fattening stock of diflferent kinds. BAT FOWLING. A particular manner of bird-catching in the night, while they are at roost under the eaves of barns, or upon trees or hedges. The fowler lights torches or straw, and beats the bushes, upon which the birds, dazzled by the light, fly into the flames, and are then knocked down with sticks, or caught either with nets or by other means. BATING. An abbreviation of abating. From bate, to lessen any thing, to retrench, to sink the price. Thus Locke says, " When the landholder's rent falls, he must either bate the labourer's wages, or not employ or not pay him." It is also used synonymously with barring, to except. BATTEN (probably from the French baton, from its slender width). A name in common use for a slip or scantling of wood from 'two to four inches broad and one inch thick, the length inconsiderable, but undefined. If above seven inches wide, it is called deal. It also signifies strong broad fencing rails. It is sometimes written button. BAY (Lat. badius ,• old Fr. baye, bai, rouge brun; ItaX.baio). The term for a colour in- clining to a chestnut. In reference to the horse this colour has various shades, from the very light bay, to the dark bay, which approaches nearly to the brown ; but it is always more gay and shining. There are also colouied horses that are called dappled bays. All bay horses are commonly called brown. Bay horses have black manes, which distinguish them from the sorrel, that have red or white manes. There are light bays, and gilded bays, which are somewhat of a yellowish colour. The chestnut bay is that which comes nearest to the colour of the chestnut. The bay is one of the best colours of horses, and horses of all the diflerent shades of bays are commonly good. BAYARD. A provincial term for a bay horse. BAY OF A BARN. That part where the mow is placed. Hence such barns as have the thrashing-floor in the middle, and a space B 2 )49 BAY-SALT. BEAGLE. for a mow on each side, are called barns of two bays, &c. BAY-SALT. The salt made naturally on the sea-shore at St. Ubes and other bays, in the natural hollows of the sea-shore which are only overflowed at spring tides. The salt thus made at a low temperature by the action of the sun and wind is the strongest and best for but- ter and other agricultural purposes. {Brown- rlgg on Salt; Bi ancle's Diet, of Science.) Bay-salt is in large, moderately white cubes. St. Ubes' salt contains 960 parts of pure chloride of sodium in 1000 parts; the remainder consists of 28 parts of sulphate of lime and of magnesia; 3 parts of chloride of magnesia, or bittern ; and 9 of insoluble matter. It is con- sequently very pure. Similar salt, but less pure, is made at St. Martin and Oleven. (For its dietetical uses and as a manure, see Salt, Salting.) BAY-TREE (Laurus nobilis). This plant, the laurel of antiquity, is a native of classical ground. We cannot ascertain at what exact period the bay-tree was first cultivated in this country ; but in all probability it was planted by the Romans, and fell with their villas. Chaucer, who wrote in the time of Edward III., mentions it; and Turner, otxr oldest writer on plants, says, in 1564, "the bay-tre in England is no great tre, but it thryueth there many parts better, and is lustier than in Germany." We find that during the reign of Elizabeth it was common to strew the floors of distinguished persons in England with bay-leaves. And we may conclude that it was rare in this country, even so late as the beginning of the eighteenth century, for Bradley says, in 1716, " they (bay- trees) should be put in pots or cases, and housed in the winter, that their beauty may be preserved." He states, that " he has seen pyra- mids and headed plants of bays introduced in parterre work, but he cannot advise the doing it, lest they should be injured by the weather." There need be no such care taken now, for they have become thoroughly hardy and accli- mated. Bradley adds, the finest bay-trees he had ever seen, either abroad or in England, were then in the royal gardens of Kensington, and were of very great value. The bay is a small tree, seldom exceeding fifteen to twenty feet in height. The bark is greenish, smooth, and aromatic : the leaves lanceolate, sharp-pointed, wavy on the edge, and leathery and smooth on both sides. The flowers are four or six in a cluster, of a yel- lowish white, glandular, and dotted. The fruit is about the size of a large pea, black, and succulent. Observation instructs us to place this tree in situations where it is sheltered from north and north-east winds, which affect its beauty, and often its growth. It thrives under the very wings of larger trees, where it is difficult to make other shrubs prosper, and this is of im- portance in our plantations. A warm, dry, sandy, or gravelly soil is recommended for the bay; but it thrives well on a rich loam. We are told by Mortimer, that bay-trees, whose branches are killed by the weather, or other accident, if cut down to the ground, will send ap strong jhoots, which we know by experi- ence to be correct ; therefore, the roots should not be grubbed up too hastily. This tree should never have a branch taken from it but in the spring. The directions for raising these trees from seed are given in the same manner by all writers on the subject, from Pliny down to Miller. It is, to gather the fruit when quite ripe, which is not before January or February. The berries are then to be preserved in dry sand until the middle of March, when they may be soAvn in a shady border of rich, loose, undunged earth. The berries, should be drop- ped in rows as French beans are planted, and covered with fine, rich mould about an inch thick. The young plants will require frequent but moderate watering for the first two years. The French nurserymen raise them under glass, or in an orangery. The bay-tree will grow by cuttings, but these should be planted in a moderate hot-bed, and kept moist and co- vered from the heat of the sun during summer, and from the frost in winter. April is the pro- per time to plant cuttings, but layers may be laid down either in March or August, which, by the second spring, will make good plants. The variegated bay is increased by budding it on the common sort. Neither the broad nor the narrow-leaved varieties are so hardy as the common bay. The leaves and berries of the bay-tree have an aromatic, bitter, astrin- gent taste, and a fragrant smell : and are ac- counted stomachic, carminativ^e, and narcotic; but they are not much used in medicine at the present day, although old writers are very voluminous in describing their virtues. {Phil- lips'' s Syl. Flor.) This well-known evergreen is always hand- some in shrubberies, and groWs well. It pre- fers a northern aspect: indeed, we may almost consider the bay-tree a native of England, since gardens and shrubberies are now rarely formed without their presence. The leaves and berries are used as medicine ; the leaves should be dried in the proper way, pounded, and kept in glass bottles ; they are said to be cordial and beneficial in nervous complaints, and in paralysis : in large doses they prove emetic. The green leaves applied to the part allays the pain of the sting of bees. The ber- ries of the bay-tree contain both volatile and fixed oil, wax, resin, uncrystallizable* sugar, gums, starch, some salts, and a peculiar sub- stance, which has been named laurin, and bears some resemblance to camphor. The dried berries are given in powder or infusion in flatulent colic ; but they are of little value. BEAGLE (Fr. bigle). A small well-propor- tioned hound, slow but sure, having an excel- lent nose and most enduring diligence ; form- erly much in fashion for hunting the hare, but now comparatively neglected, its place being occupied, where hare-hunting is patronized, by the harrier. There are still several varieties of beagles, but formerly there appear to have been many more, from the deep-flewed dimi- nutive type of the old southern hound, to the fleet and elegant fox-hound beagle, to which Ave may add the pigmy breed called lap-dog beagles. Beagles were formerly distinguished into the rough and the smooth. The rough, wire-haired, or terrier beagle, is now seldom BEAM. BEANS. met with, although it was a hardy, and alto- gether a vermin-loving breed, and very strongly formed. (Blaine's Encyclopedia of Rural Spurts.) BEAM. The principal piece of timber which supports a building. BEAM OF A PLOUGH. The upper prin- cipal timber into which the handles and all the other parts of the tail of the plough are fixed. It is most commonly made of ash wood, some- what bent in its form, and of different lengths according to the nature of tfle plough. (See Ploughs.) BEAM-TREE. The Pyrus aria of botanists. The white beam-tree or wild pear-tree, is a de- ciduous British tree of small growth inhabiting the mountainous parts of the country, and re- sembling a small apple-tree with berries like those of the mountain ash. Its leaves are strongly veined, in a plaited manner, and white underneath ; the wood is hard, compact, and tough, and is used for axle trees, naves of wheels, and cogs of machinery. (Brande's Did. Science.) BEANS {Vicia Faba). A well-known vege- table of the pulse species, largely cultivated both in gardens and fields. Sax. bean ; vicia is the Latin name for the tare or vetch ; derived, according to Varro, a viciurdo, because its ten- drils entwine or bind round other plants. The bean was called in Greek Kux/uo;; by the Fa- lisci, a people of Etruria (now Tuscany), Hnba, whence the name Fuba seems to be taken. Martinius derives the word from Truet, to feed, as if it were Paba ; Isidorus from pdyai, to eat. Its cultivation is of much importance in rural economy, inasmuch as it has gone far to super- sede fallows on strong loams and clays. The bean is a plant of considerable importance to the farmer, as affording him a valuable food for both horses and swine ; its varieties are nu- merous, but as it is cultivated both for agricul- tural and horticultural purposes, it will be ne- cessary, in treating of its cultivation, to adopt the following arrangement: — 1. Field beans; 2. Garden beans. The English growth of beans has 01 late years diminished, a large portion of the consumption of this country now com- ing from abroad ; yet I am of opinion that beans or peas, according to the soil, should enter into the rotation of the crops of all English farms : for if drilled and well horse-hoed, it is one of the finest preparations for wheat. And it may be well to observe, that the Russian or winter bean may be successfully cultivated on moist soils. The flowers of the bean emit a most agree- able perfume. Of all the pulse kind, this was held in the first rank in ancient times. We find the Athenians used beans sodden, in their feasts dedicated to Apollo ; and the Romans presented beans as an oblation in their solemn sacrifice called Fabaria. Pliny informs us that they oflTered cakes made of bean meal unto certain gods and goddesses in these an- cient rites and ceremonies. Lempriere states that bacon was added to the beans in the ofier- ings to Cama, not so much to gratify the pa- late of the goddess, as to represent the simpli- city of their ancestors. One of the most noble and powerful families of Rome derived the name of Fabii from some of their ancestors having cultivated the bean called Fabu. The meal of beans is the heaviest made from pulse, and was called in Latin lomenlwn. This was mingled with frumenlii corn, whole, and so eaten by the ancients; but they sometimes bruised it first; it was considered a strong food, and was generally eaten with gruel or pottage. Many superstitious customs and notions were in olden times attached to this pulse. The ancients made use of beans in gathering the votes of tlie people, and for electing the magistrates. A white bean signi- fied absolution, and a black one condemnation. From this practice, no doubt, was derived the plan of black-balling obnoxious persons. The Roman husbandman had a religious ceremony respecting this pulse, somewhat remarkable; when they sowed corn of any kind, they took care to bring some beans from the field for good luck's sake, superstitiously thinking thai by such means their corn would return home again to them ; these beans were then called Refrinx or Referinx. The Romans carried their superstition even further, for they thought that beans mixed with goods offered for sale at the ports would infallibly bring good luck to the seller. In some places bean meal is still mixed with other meal in making coarse bread ; or the beans are boiled into a mess with fat meat, in which state they are very nutritious. Bean meal given to oxen soon makes them fat; mixed with water and given as a drink to cows, it greatly increases their milk. A small quantity of beans is generally mixed with new wheat when ground to flour : the millers pre- tend that soft wheat will not grind well with- out beans, and they generally contrive that there shall be no deficiency in the necessary proportion. Thus a quantity of beans is con- verted into what is considered as wheaien flour. The bean came originally from the east, and was cultivated in Egypt and Barbary in the earliest ages of which we have any records. It spread thence into Spain and Portugal, from whence some of the best varieties have been introduced into this country. The proportion of nutritive matter in beans, compared with other grain, is, according to Einhof, as fol- lows : — Wheat Bye Barley Oats Beans Peas By weight. 74 per cent. 70 — Or in a bushel. about 47 Ibg. — 39 75 French beans 84 The same chemist obtamed from 3810 parts of marsh beans ( Vicia Faba), of Starch 1312 Albumen .-.-.--31 Other matters, nutritive, gummy, staichy, fibrous, analogous to animal matter - 1201 And from kidney beans {Phseseolus vulgaris) of Starchy matters -.-.-. 1605 Albumen, and matter approaching to ani- mal matter in its nature - - - - 851 Mucilage ------- 799 {Davy, Ag. Ckem.. p. 13-2.) Jo BEANS. BEANS. Beans are best given broken, especially to Rged live stock. An excellent bean mill constructed by the Messrs. Ransome of Ips- wich, will break one quarter of beans in an hour. It is also made with an extra roller and plate for malt ; and is sometimes constructed so as to render it suitable for horse power. Field Beans. — In England, the sorts usually cultivated in the fields are, the tick bean, the horse bean, and the small Dutch Heligoland, or prolific bean. In some situations the ma- zagon, longpod, and winter or Russian bean, have produced good crops in the field : the first three are, however, best suited for general cultivation. The last, a new and useful va- riety, has been more recently introduced, and has lately come into very general cultivation in various parts of the kingdom. It is planted in autumn in the usual manner, and is supe- rior to the common bean, inasmuch as it is capable of resisting the severest frost, and is ready for harvesting two months earlier. There are several varieties of beans, which differ but little in their appearance. Ex- perience is the best guide in choosing the seed which suits particular soils and situations. The small, round, regular-shaped beans are generally preferred, as obtaining the best prices in the markets, especially in large towns where there is a great consumption of beans by hard- working horses. All the varieties thrive best on strong clay soils, heavy marls, and deep loams of a moist description. In such soils the produce is sometimes 30 to 60 bushels per acre, but an average crop on moderate land is about half that quantity. The Heligolands, and espe- cially the Russian bean, have been found very productive when grown upon hazel moulds, and deep chalk soils intermixed with loam, as they do not require so close a soil as the other varieties. The last-named varieties seldom succeed sufficiently to repay the grower, if at- tempted to be raised on light lands ; indeed, sandy soils or late climates are ill adapted to the successful cultivation of the bean. On very rich land, beans have produced extraor- dinary crops, by being sown broadcast and very thick, the stems being brought up to a great height in favourable seasons. A small field of very rich land, in the county of Sussex, was sown in the year 1832 with four bushels of the small tick bean, which came up so thick, that the proprietor thought of thinning out the plants by hoeing; but he was advised to see what the produce would be, and when they were thrashed out, there were ten quar- ters and one bushel of beans. He had the ground accurately measured, and it was found to be one acre and twenty-nine perches, which makes the crop above sixty-eight bushels per acre. Beans are propagated by seed, which may be sown broadcast, drilled, or dibbled; if sown broadcast, three or four bushels of seed per ncre will be required, which should be ph/Ughed or harrowed in ; if drilled, two and a half or three bushels per acre will be sufl^- cient. Beans are tolerably hardy, and will bear moderate dry frosts; but they suflTer much from alternate frosts and thaws, which in this climate are so common in February. The ent of February or the beginning of March is, therefore, generally preferred for bean sowing. When the season is remarkably mild, early sowing is a great advantage. As a general rule, spring beans may be sown from the mid- dle of February to the middle of March. There are two modes of drilling beans. In one of these the lands or ridges are divided by the plough into ridgelets, or "one bout-stitches," at intervals of about twenty-seven inches. If dung is applied to beans, the seed ought to be deposited first, as it is found inconvenient to run the drill machine afterwards. The dung may then be drawn out from the carts in small heaps, one row of heaps serving for three or five ridgelets ; which is evenly spread and equally divided among them. The ridgelets are next split back or reversed, either by means of the common plough, or one with two mould-boards, which covers both the seed and the manure in the most perfect manner. When beans are sown by the other method in the bottom of a common furrow, the dung must be previously spread over the surface of the win- ter or spring ploughing. Three ploughs then start in succession, one immediately behind the other, and a drill-harrow either follows the third plough, or is attached to it, by which the beans are sown in every third furrow, or at from 24 to 27 inches asunder, according to the breadth of the furrow-slice. Another improved mode of sowing beans when dung is applied at seed time, is to spread the dung and plough it down with a strong fur- row; after this, shallow furrotvs are drawn, into which the seed is deposited by the drill machine. Whichever of these modes of sow- ing is followed, the whole field must be care- fully laid dry, by means of channels formed by the plough, and when necessary, by the shovel ; for neither then nor at any former pe- riod should water be allowed to stagnate on the land. It is a common practice with many farmers to mix and sow with beans a propor- tionate part of peas, about one-fourth, M^hich, when growing, are called Polts, and are thus cultivated both on the drill and broadcast sys- tem. In either case the seed should be put into the ground by the latter end of January, or as soon after as the weather and state of the land will permit. By this intermixture of peas and beans, the straw or haulm is said to be greatly improved. In some places the peas are sown on the headlands, and the haulm is used to tie the beans with ; but peas cling round the bean-stalks and impede the setting of the pods ; they also interfere with the h( eing and weeding, so that the practice is not to be re- commended. Peas require a lighter soil, and are best sown separately, except when they are sown broadcast, mixed with beans, in order to be mown in a green state as fodder for cattle or pigs. Sowing beans for this last-mentioned purpose is not much practised in England, but is found very useful on the Continent, espe- cially in Flanders ; in this case- they are mown like tares, soon after the pods are formed. In order to have a succession of this green food, they should be sown at diflTerent times within a \\eek or a fortnight of each o»her. By this BEANS. BEANS. means a great deal of grass is saved, which ma\' be reserved for hay. The cattle fed in the stables or yards thrive well on this food, and produce a quantity of rich manure, chiefly in a liquid slate, which fills the tanks and reser- voirs, which are indispensable appendages to every farm-yard. By having winter tares when the turnips are consumed, peas and beans after the first crop of clover, and sum- mer tares to succeed them, cattle may be fed in the stables all the year round with great ad- vantage ; the land may be tilled at the best season of the year and prepared for wheat, as well as by a clear fallow, while the green crop will fully repay all the expenses. Three bushels of beans and two of peas, mixed to- gether, are required per acre, when sown broadcast or drilled in each furrow after the plough. It is often advantageous to cut in a green state those beans which were sown for a general crop, when food for pigs is scarce. They will go nearly as far in this way in feed- ing store pigs, as the beans would have done when ripe : and the ground is left in a much better state for the following crop. {Penny Cyclop, vol. iv. p. 82.) Many farmers have long and advantageously adopted the practice of dibbling in their beans, by which a great saving of seed is efl'ected ; neither are they required to be planted so early as by the old system. Besides being more evenly deposited in the soil, and properly co- vered over, they are better preserved from rooks, and other vermin that would destroy them. Drilling, however, is still preferred by most agriculturists, as being a less expensive course. Both drilling and dibbling have each great advantages over the broadcast system, as by the latter method the land cannot be kept clean. Some parties recommend the topping of beans just as the blossoms are set, and assert that it not only improves the quality, but in- creases the quantity, and causes them to ripen sooner. They may be switched off with an old scythe-blade, set in a wooden handle, with which one man can easily top two acres a day. Others object, and with much justice, to this indiscriminate hacking and topping. The reason for doing this in garden culture is, that when a plant has borne pods a certain time, it is most advantageous to remove it, and the top blossoms, of course, never come to perfec- tion. In the field this is not the case, there being no succession of plants ; and, unless the top blossoms are very late, or the black dol- phin {aphh) begins to appear, which is shown by the honey-dew on the upper shoots, no ad- vantage is gained by topping the plants, and the labour is thrown away. The bean crop is generally harrowed to destroy annual weeds : sometimes just before the plants make their appearance, and sometimes after the beans have got their first green leaves, and are fairly above ground. After the beans have made some growth, the horse-hoe is employed in the intervals betwe«n the rows, and followed by the hand-hoe, for the purpose of cutting down such weeds as the horse-hoe cannot reach ; all the weeds that grow among the beans should be pulled up with the hands. The same ope- 20 rations are repeated as often as the condition of the land in regard to cleanliness may re- quire. When the leaves of the beans begm to lose their green colour, and the pods to turn black, the crop should be reaped with the sickle, and made into small sheaves, tied with straw-bands or tarred twine, and set up in the field to dry. But if the haulm is short, as that of the long- pod and mazagan generally are, it is a mere profitable course to pull them up by the roots, and lay them in sheaves, the same as if cut, by which means the lowest and earliest pods are better preserved and harvested. Mr. J. C. Curwen, M. P. {Com. to the Board of Agr., vol. iv. p. 390) gives some details of the result of experiments made in 1803 and 1804, of cutting beans whilst in a perfectly green and fresh state. Forty acres of beans were drilled in February, 1804. and from May to the middle of July the ploughs and harrows were constantly at work in it. By the 10th of August, the beans had shot the black eye, which is the criterion of seeds being perfectly formed. The weather proving unfavourable, prevented their being reaped immediately, but they were eventually cut on the 20th of August, spread thinly, and exposed two days to the sun previous to bind- ing and removing to an open pasture, where they remained three weeks, and were then found perfectly dry and fit for stacking. Mr. Curwen adds, as a strong proof of the benefit resulting from these early cuttings, that he was enabled, previous to drilling with wheat, to give the ground two ploughings, harrow- ings, 3 BEANS. BEANS. the plants, pjenerally before the pods are filled, the best method is to cut down the crop in its green state ; and if it cannot be consumed in the farm-yard, to plough it into the ground, where it will decay rapidly, and be an excel- lent manure for the succeeding crop of wheat. If allowed to stand, the crop will not only be unproductive, but the weeds will infest the ground, and spoil the wheat crop by their seeds and roots, which will remain in the soil. Whenever the tops of the beans begin to be moist and clammy to the feel, it is the fore- runner of the aphis. They should then be im- mediately cut off, and this, if done in time, may save the crop from the ravages of the insects ; but the most effectual way to prevent any disease from attacking the plants in their growth, is to have the ground in good heart, and well tilled ; to drill the beans at a sutfi- cient distance between the rows, to allow the use of the horse-hoe, and thus to accelerate the growth of the plants, and enable them to out- grow the effect .of incipient disease, which seldom attacks any but weak plants. In the vear 1831, there were imported from abroad 23,388 qrs. of beans. The largest proportion came from the following countries ; Denmark, 1299 qrs.; Prussia, 1157 qrs.; Germany, 7664 qrs. ; the Netherlands, 7070 qrs.; France, 1454 qrs.; Italy, 3691 qrs.; Malta, 1031 qrs. The total quantity of pulse (for beans and peas are included in the return) entered for home con- sumption in 1834, M'as 102,080 qrs.; in 1835, 94,540 qrs. {Appendix to Second Agr. Report for 1836, p. 282.; Phillips's Cultivated Vege- tables,- Penny Cyc. vol. iv. ; Baxter's Agr. Lib.; Pri'f. LoLVS workon Agr.,- Com. Board of Agr., vols. iv. and. vi. ; M'Culloch's Com. Diet.) Garden Beims. — The following varieties are those principally cultivated: — Early mazagan, a great bearer, and a good sort. Early Lisbon, or Portugal bean, a small and sweet kind. Common sword, and other long-pods, the most abundant bearers, and consequently more generally found in the cottager's garden than any other sort. Small Spanish. Broad Spanish. Toker, a good bearer, middling large. White and black blossomed, good sorts, and bear well ; middling size: the seed, when old, is apt to degenerate if not saved with care. Windsor, one of our best-tasted beans when young ; but not a hardy kind. Green nonpa- reil, smallish. Besides these, there are the Munford, Dwarf-cluster, or Fan, and the Red blossomed, varieties of little value. In some places the Fan is, however, much groM'n. It grows only from six to twelve inches high ; the branches spread out like a fan, and the pods are produced in clusters. The soil should vary with the season. For the winter- standing and early crops, a moderately rich and dry soil is best adapted to them, since, if 00 moist, the seed is apt to decay, &c., whilst a moisi aluminous one is best for the spring and summer insertions. Although the bean ■« ill succeed in much lighter soils than is ge- licrally imagined, yet, if such are allotted to it when thfls late inserted, the produce is much diminished. The situation cannot be too un- iiioambered, but still a protection from violent A'irds is verv beneficial, as no plant is more 1.54 liable to suffer if its leaves are much injured. It is propagated by seed. For the first produc- tion, in the following year, a small plantation may be made at the close of October, or during November, and a rather larger one in Decem- ber. These should be inserted on a south border, in a row, about a foot from the fence, or in cross-rows. If intended for transplanting, the seed may be sown likewise during these months. Regular plantations may be continued to be made from the beginning of January to the end of June, once every three weeks. Early in July and August the two last crops must be inserted. The Windsor, which is the principal variety then planted, should have a south border allotted ; it comes into production about Michaelmas. * The experiments of Bradley serve as a guide in some respects, whereby to apportion the extent of the plantations. He found that a rod of ground, containing fourteen rows, in pairs, at two feet distance, the plants in which are six inches apart, or thirty-four in number, will yield forty-seven quarts of broad beans. Smaller varieties only from one-half to one- third as many. (General Treat, on Husband, and Garden., vol. iii. p. 16.) If the plants are intended to be transplanted, which is only practised for the early crops, the seed must be sown thick, about an inch apart, in a bed of light earth, in a sheltered situation, and of such extent as can be covered with a frame. If frames and hand-glasses are deficient, matting or litter, kept from pressing on and injuring the plants, by means of hooping, &c., are sometimes employed. These, however, afford such imperfect shelter, that there is scarce any advantage superior to the mode of sowing at once, where the plants are to remain, since the intention of this practice is to keep them in vigour, and to forward their growth, by secur- ing them from ungenial weather. Care must be taken that they are not weakened from a deficiency of air or light ; to guard against this, the lights should be taken entirely off every day that excessive wet or cold does not imperatively forbid their removal. The usual time for removing them into the open ground, in a south border, is February; if, however, the season is inclement, they may be kept under the frame until May ; but then a week previous to their removal, Bradley informs us, they ought to be cut down within two inches of the ground. (Gen. Treat, on Husband, and Garden.) When removed, as much earth as possible should be retained round the roots of plants ; and they must be set at similar dis- tances as the main crops. No water is re- quired, unless the season be very dry. When sown to remain, the seed may be inserted in rows, by a blunt dibble, or in drills, drawn by the hoe, from two and a half to three feet apart, from two to four inches apart in the row, and two deep, the earliest crops and shortest varieties being set at the smallest dis tances. These spaces may be considered as large by some gardeners ; but the beans, Miller, from experience, asserts, are more productive than if set twice as close. Previous to sowing, in summer, if dry weather, ihe seed should be soaked for two or three hours in water, or i/ BEAN, KIDNEY. BEAN, KIDNEY. sown in drills, these must be well watered im- mediately before the insertion. When advanced to a height of two inches, hoeing between, and drawing earth about the stems of the plants maj'^ commence. This must be often repeated, and even sooner begun to the early and late crops, as it affords considerable protection from frost and wind. As soon as the various crops come into blossom, two or three inches length of each stem is broken off; this, by preventing its increase in height, causes more sap to be af- forded to the blossom, consequently causing it to advance with more rapidity, and set more abun- dantly. Some gardeners recommend the tops to be taken ofl' when the plants are young, not more than six inches high, declaring it makes them branch, and be more productive. This may be ultimately the effect, but it is certainly incorrect to state that it brings them into pro- duction sooner : the efiect in this respect is much the contvarj-. The winter-standing crops require, in the early stages of their'growth, the shelter of dry litter, prevented touching the plants by small branches, &c. This is only requisite during very severe weather; it must be constantly removed in mild open days, therwise the plants will be spindled and weakened. For the production of seed, plan- tations of the several varieties should be made about the end of Februar}^ in a soil lighter than that their produce is afterwards to be grown upon. No two varieties should be grown near each other ; and in order to preserv^e the early ones as uncdntaminated as possible, those plants only which blossom and produce their pods the first should be preserved. Water ought to be given two or three times a week, from the time of their blossoming until their pods have done swelling. None of the pods ought to be gathered for the table from them ; the after-productton of seed is never so fine, and the plants raised from it are always defi- cient in vigour. They are fit for harvesting when the leaves have become blackish, which occurs at the end of August or early in Sep- tember. They must be thoroughly dried, being reared against a hedge until they are so, before the seed is thrashed out and stored ; and those only should be preserved that are fine and per- fect. Some gardeners even recommend the pods from the lower part of the stem alone to be selected. Seed beans will sometimes vege- tate after being kept for eight or ten years, but are seldom good for any thing when more than two. The plants arising from seed of this age are not so apt to be superluxuriant as i cm that produced in the preceding year. BEAN, KIDNEY (Phaseolus vulgaris, from its pods resembling a species of ship, supposed first to have been invented at Phaselis, a town of Pamphylia). Of this vegetable there are two species, the one being a dwarf bushy plant, the other a lofty climbing one. Of the Dwarfs there are twelve varieties : — Of the Runners there are six varieties : — Scarlet runner. Large white. Large white Dutch. Canterbury small white Small white. Variable runner. Early liver-coloured. Early red-speckled. Early white. Earl}' negro, or black. Canterbury white. Batiersea white. Black speckled. Brown speckled. Streaked or striped. Large white. Dun-coloured. Tawny. The soil for them may be any thing rather than wet or tenacious, for in such the greater part of the seed, in general, decays without germinating ; whilst tliose plants which are produced are contracted in their pnxluce and continuance. A very light mellow loam, even, inclining to a sand, is the best for the earliest sowings, and one scarcely less silicious, though moister, is preferable for the late sum- mer crops; but fi.r the later ones a recurrence must be made to a soil as dry as for the early insertions. In ail cases the subsoil must be open, as stagna/t moisture is inevitably fatal to the plants or seed. For the early and late crops a sheltered border must always be allot- ted, or in a single row about a fo(5t from a south fence, otherwise the situation cannot be too open. Dwarfs. — The sowing commences with the year. They may be sown ;owards the end of January in pots, and placed upon the flues of the hot-house, or in rows iu the mould of a hot- bed, for production in March ; to be repeated once every three weeks in similar situations during February and March, for supplying the table during April, May, and June. At the end of March and April a small sowing may be performed, if fine open weather, under a frame without heat, for removal into a sheltered bor- der early in May. During May, and thence until the first week in August, sowings may be made once every three weeks. Ii^ Septem- ber, forcing recommences : at first merely un- der frames without bottom heat, but in Octo- ber, and thence to the close of the year, in hot- beds, &c., as in January. Sowings, when a re- moval is intended, should always be performed in pots, the plants being less retarded, as the roots are less injured, than when the seed is inserted in patches or rows in the earth of the bed. It is a good practice likewise to repeat each sowing in the frames without heat after the lapse of a week, as the first will often fail, when .a second, although after so short a lapse of time, will perfectly succeed. In every in- stance the seed is buried one and a half or two inches deep. The rows of the main crops, if of the smaller varieties, may be one and a half, if of the larger, two feet apart, the seed being inserted either in drills or by the dibble four inches apart; the plants, however, to bu thinned to twice that distance. If any considerable vacancy occurs, it may always be filled by plants which have been carefully removed by the trowel from where they stood too thick. A general remark, how- ever, may be made, that the transplanted beans are never so productive or continue so long in bearing (although sometimes they are earlier) as those left where raised. The rows of the earlier crops are best ranged north and scuth The seed inserted during the hottest period oi summer, should be either soaked in water foi five or six hours, laid in damp mould for a day or two, or the drills be well watered previou.s to sowing. The only after-cultivation requ're^ 155 BEAN, KIDNEY. BEARD-GRASS. s the destruction of weeds, and earth to he drawn up round the stems. The pods of both species are always to be gathered while young ; by thus doing, and care being had not to injure the stems in detaching them, the plants are rendered as prolific and long-lived as possible. Forcing. — The hotbed must be of moderate size, and covered with earth eight or nine inches thick. When the heat has become re- gular, the seed may be inserted in drills a foot apart, and the plants allowed to stand six inches asunder in the rows. Some gardeners erroneously sow thick in a hotbed, moulded over about six or seven inches deep, and re- move the plants, when two or three inches high, to the above-mentioned distances in an- other for producing, water and shade being aiforded until they have rooted. Air must be admitted as freely as to the melon. The same precautions are likewise necessary as to keep- ing up the temperature, taking the chill off the water, &c., as for that plant. When the seed begins to sprout, the mould should be kept re- gularly moistened ; and when grown up, wa- ter may be given moderately three times a week. The temperature should never be less than 60°, nor higher than 75°. Some plants of the hotbed sowing at the end of March, are often, after being gradually har- dened, planted in a warm border ; this will at most hasten the plants in production a fort- night before those sown in the open ground in May. Those sown under franres in March for transplanting into a border, when two or three inches in height, must in like manner be har- dened gradually for the exposure, by the plen- tiful admission of air, and the total removal of the glasses during fine days. If any are raised in pots in the hot-house, they must in a like manner be prepared for the removal, by setting them outside in fine days, and there watering them with colder water. If the sea- con is too ungenial after all to remove them even to a warm border, the plants are often inserted in patches, to have the protection of frames or hand-lights at night, or as the wea- ther demands. It has been lately stated in a provincial paper, that kidney-beans appear of a perennial nature. In Somersetshire, they have been observed to vegetate for several years — the plants being in the vicinity of a steam-engine, and so situated that the frost could not penetrate to the roots. I have not yet had an opportunity of putting this state- ment to the test of experiment. Runners. — As these arc more tender, and the seed is more apt to decay than those of the Dwarfs, no open ground crop must be inserted before the close of April, or early in May, to be continued at intervals of four weeks through June and July, which will ensure a supply from the middle of this last month until October. Some gardeners force them in a similar manner to the Dwarfs : they certainly require similar treatment; but they will en- dure a higher temperature by a few degrees. They are so prolific, and such permanent nearers, that three open-ground sowing:" of a 15t size proportionate to the consumption will, in almost every instance, be sufficient. The runners are inserted in drills, either singly, three feet apart, or in pairs, ten or twelve inches asunder, and each pair four feet distant from its neighbour. The seed is buried two inches deep and four inches apart in the rows, the plants being thinned to twice that distance. If grown in single rows, a row of poles must be set on the south side of each, being fixed firmly in the ground ; they may be kept together by having a light pole tied hori- zontally along their tops, or a post fixed at each end of a row, united by a cross-bar at their tops ; a string may be passed from this to each of the plants. If the rows are in pairs, a row of poles must be placed on each side, so fixed in the ground that their summits cross, and are tied together. They are sometimes sown in a single row down the sides of bor- ders, or on each side of a walk, having the support of a, trellis-work, or made to climb poles which are turned archwise over it. As the plants advance to five or six inches in height, they should have the earth drawn about their stems. Weeds must be constantly cleared away as they appear. When they throw up their voluble stems, those that strag- gle away should be brought back to the poles, and twisted round them in a direction contrary to that of the sun : nothing will induce them to entwine in the contrary direction, or from left to right. For the production of seed, forty or fifty plants of the Dwarf species will be sufficient for a moderate-sized family, cr thirty of the Runner. They must be raised purposely in May, or a like number from the crop in that month may be left ungathered from ; for the first pods always produce the finest seeds, and ripen more perfectly. In autumn, as soon as the plants decay, they must be pulled, and, when thoroughly dried, the seed beaten out and stored. (G. W.Johnson's Kilchen Garden.) BEAN-FLY. A beautiful bluish black fly, generally found on bean flowers. It is some- times called the collier. The aphides of beans are invariably brought on by very dry weather; they are most prevalent on the summits of the plants. (See Beans.) The larvEE of the lady- bird, or lady-cow (Coccinella septemptmctata), as well as the perfect insects, devour the aphis greedily, feeding almost entirely upon these in- sects. Several of the English summer birds also live upon them. BEAR. A species of barley, called also winter barley, square barley, and big. It is sometimes written here. This grain is chiefly cultivated in Scotland, the northern parts of England, and Ireland. It yields a very large return, but is not esteemed so good for malt- ing as the common barley, for which reason it is very little cultivated in the southern parts of England. BEAR-BIND. See Black Bikd-weeb. BEAR-D (Sax. bean»). The same with he awn of a plant. BEARD-GRASS (Polypogon). There are two sorts, the annual beard-grass (F. monspe- liensis) and the perennial beard-grass (P. litUh BEARDED OAT-GRASS. BEECH ralis). They are found in moist pastures and near the sea, in muddy salt-marshes, but are not often met with. BEARDED OAT-GRASS. See Wild Oats. BEAR'S-FOOT. See Hellebore. BEAST (Su. Goth, beest, Ger. bestie, Fr. beste, LaU bestia). A term generally applied to all s\ich quadrupeds, or four-footed animals, as are made use of for food, or employed in labour; but farmers apply the term more particularly to neat cattle. BED-STRAW, YELLOW, LADIES' (Ga- lium verum). It is sometimes termed cheese- renning and maid's hair, or petty muguet or tnugicort, and yellow goose-grass. A perennial weed, flowering from June till October, more common in the hedges and waysides than in the body of pastures. Its slender stalks rise to about a foot in height. The leaves come out in whorls, eight or nine together. They are long, narrow, and of a green colour. Two little branches generally come out near the top of the stalk, supporting a considerable number of small golden yellow flowers, con- sisting of one petal divided into four parts, and succeeded by two large kidney-shaped seeds. The flowers of this plant are said to coagulate boiling milk, and the better sorts of Cheshire cheese are sometimes prepared with them. A kind of vinegar is stated to have been dis- tilled from the flowering tops. The French prescribe them in epileptic and hysteric cases ; but they are ol no value. Boiled in alum- water, they tinge wood yellow. The roots dye a fine red not inferior to madder, and are used for this purpose in the island of Jura. Sheep and goats eat the plant ; horses and swine re- fuse it ; cows are not fond of it. Smith eiiu- m,erates seventeen species of bed-straw : — I. Ci oss-wort bed-straw, or mugweed; 2. White water bed-straw ; 3. Rough heath bed-straw ; 4. Smooth heath bed-straw ; 5. Rough marsh bed-straw ; 6. Upright bed-straw ; 7. Gray spreading bed-straw ; 8. Bearded bed straw ; 9. Warty-fruited bed-straw ; 10. Rough-fruited corn bed-straw, or three-flowered goose-grass ; II. Smooth-fruited corn bed-straw; 12. Least mountain bed-straw; 13. Yellow bed-straw; 14. Great hedge bed-straw; 15, Wall bed-straw; 16. Cross-leaved bed-straw; 17. Goose-grass, or cleavers. (Hort. Gram. Wob.p. 329; Smith's Eng. Flora, vol. i. pp. 199—210.) Dr. Darlington, in his Flora Cestrica, enu- merates twenty-one species of this plant found in Chester county, Pennsylvania. . Among these are the wild madder (Galium tindorium), •sometimes called Dyer's goose-grass, frequent in low grounds. The roots of this and another species of galium (horeale) are used by the Indians in dying their porcupine quills, and other ornaments, of a red colour. Wild liquo- 'ice {Galium Circaezans), frequent in rich woodlands and having a sweet taste. Common ;leavers,Robin-ran-the-hedge, or Yellow goose- gi-ass (PI. 10, g), a troublesome weed. BEECH (Fagus xylvatica, Sax. bece or boc). The beech ir one of the handsomest of our native forest trees, and in stateliness and grandeur of outline vies even with the oak. Its silvery bark, contrasting with the sombre trunks of other trees, renders its beauties conspicuous in our woods ; while the grace fully spreading pendulous boughs, with their glossy foliage, mark its elegance in the park or paddock. There is only one species, the difference in the wood arising from the effects of soil and situation. The beech is a native of the greater part of the north of Europe and America. The finest beeches in England are said to grow in Hampshire. The tree is also much grown in Wiltshire, Surrey, Sussex, and Kent. The forest of St. Leonard's, near Horsham, Sussex, abounds with noble beech trees. The shade of the beech tree is very injurious to most sorts of plants that grow near it, but it is believed by the vulgar to be very salubrious to human bodies. The wood of this tree, which is hard, and rather hand- some, Brande tells us (in his Did. of Science, p. 139), is brittle and perishable, and liable to become worm-eaten. Phillips admits, that it is subject to worms, when exposed to the air without paint; but says, that the timber of the.-;e trees, in point of actual utility, follows next to the oak and the ash, and is little inferior to the elm for water-pipes. It is used, he adds (Hist, of Fruits, p. 60), by wheelwrights and chairmakers, and also by turners for making domestic wooden ware, such as bowls, shovels, churns, cheese-vats, dressers, shelves for dai- ries, &c. it being as white as deal, free from all disagreeable smell, and without any incon- venient softness. Bedsteads and other furni- ture are often made with this timber ; and no wood splits so fine, or holds so M'ell together as beech, so that boxes, sword-sheaths, and a variety of other things, are made from it. The baskets called pottles, in which strawberries or raspberries are usually sold in London, are made from beech twigs and cuttings, and the wood is also much in use for poles, stakes, hoops, &c. Near large towns it is in great demand for billet wood. It affords a large quantity of potash and good charcoal. It is manufactured into a great variety of tools, for which its great hardness and uniform texture render it superior to all other sorts of wood. It i is not much used in building, as it soon rots in damp places, but it is useful for piles in places which are constantly wet. The purple and copper beeches seen in plantations are seed- ling varieties of Fugus sylvutica. The beech- tree thrives best and attains to a great size on clayey loams incumbent on sand: silicious sandy soils are also w^ell adapted for its growth, and it will prosper on chalky, stony, and barren soils, where many other timber ti'ees will not prosper ; and it is found to resist winds on the declivities of hills belter than most other trees. Where the soil is tolerably good, beech will become fit to be felled in about twenty-five years. The tree bears .op- ping, and may, therefore, be trained to form very lofty hedges. The leaves of the beech, gathered in autumn before they are much injured by the frost, are said to make better mattresses than straw or chaff, as they remain sweet and continue sofl for many years; they are also profitably em- ployed in forcing sea-kale, asparagus, &c. in hot-beds. The beech is propagated by sowing the nuts, or mast, which should be gathered O 157 BEECH. BEECH. about the middle of September, when ihey are ripe, and begin to fall, and spread out on a mat in an airy place for a week to dry, when they may be sown. It is, however, recom- nierded to keep them dry in sand until the spring, as there is less danger of their being then destroyed by field mice and other vermin. These nuts do not require to be covered more than an inch deep in mould, and it will be ob- served that only a part of them germinates the first year. Two or three bushels of seed are sufiicient for an acre, to be sown mixed with sand, in the same manner as the ash. The flowers of this tree come forth in May, and its kernels ripen in September. The Ro- mans used beech leaves and honey to restore the growth of hair which had fallen off; but the moderns have not found it efficacious. The nuts or seed of this tree, termed beech mast, are the food of hogs, and of various small quadrupeds. They are often called buck-mast in England, from the eagerness with which deer feed on them. An oil, nearly equal in flavour to the best olive oil, with the advantage of keeping longer without becoming rancid, may be obtained from the nuts by pressure. It is very common in Picardy, and other parts of France, where the mast abounds ; in Silesia it is used by the country people instead of butter. And in the reign of George I. we find a petition was pre- sented, praying letters patent for making but- ter from beech nuts. The cakes which remain from the pressure, after the oil is made, are given to fatten swine, oxen, or poultry. A bushel of mast is said to produce a gallon of clean oil ; but the beech tree seldom produces a full crop of mast oftener than once in three years. This nut is palatable to the taste, but when eaten in great quantities occasions headache and giddiness ; nevertheless, when dried and ground into meal, it makes a wholesome bread. Like acorns, the fruit of the beech was long the food of mankind before the use of corn. Roasted, the mast has been found a tolerable substitute for coffee. (P/vIllps's Hist, of Frui/s, p. 56; M'CuUtich's CoTn. Did.; Baxter's Agr. Li- brary ; Brandt s Diet, of Scieiicr.) In North America, as in Europe, the beech is one of the common trees of the forest. Two distinct species are found in the Northern States, which have been often treated by bota- nists as varieties. Michaux, who makes this distinction, calls one the white beech, (Fagus sylvestris), and the other the red beech (Fugus ferruginea), both the popular names being de- rived from the colour of the Avood. In the Middle Western, and Southern States the red beech does not exist, or is very rare. A deep moist soil and a cool atmosphere are necessary to the utmost expansion of the white beech. In the Middle Statc^, east of the mountains, it is insulated in the forests, whilst in the Northern parts of Pennsylvania, the Gene'ssee district in New York, and in the states of Kentucky and Tennessee, it composes large masses of the primitive forests. The soils on which the beech mostly abounds have generally a stra- tum of clay or gravel, termed hard-pan, which ])revents any roots from descending. This 158 forces the trees to obtain their subsistence from the upper soil, and the roots spread around the trees to a distance sometimes of a hundred feet or more, and so numerous withal as to be greatly in the way of the settler when he first clears his grounds. But he has the satisfaction of knowing that they soon rot away and yield to his plough. The white beech is more slen- der and less branchy than the red beech; but its foliage is superb, the green being of the most agreeable shade, and its general appear- ance very beautiful. On the banks of the Ohio and in some parts of Kentucky, where the oak is too rare to furnish enough bark for tanning, the deficiency is supplied by that of the white beech. The leather made with this is white and serviceable, though avowedl)' inferior to what is prepared Avith the bark of the oak. The red beech bears a greater resemblance to that of Europe than the Avhite species. It equals the white beech in thickness, but not in height, has a more massive and spreading summit, and more tufted foliage. The leaves are very similar, but those of the white beech are not quite so thick and large, with rather shorter teeth. To these differences must be added a more important one in the wood. The red beech 15 or 18 inches in diameter consists of 3 or 4 inches of white wood and 13 or 14 inches of red wood or heart, the inverse of which proportion is found in the white beech. The wood of the red beech is stronger, tougher, and more compact. In the state of Maine and in the British Provinces where oaks are rare, it is employed with the sugar maple and yel. low birch for the lower part of the frame of vessels. As it is extremely liable to injury from worms, and speedily decays when ex- posed to alternate dryness and moisture, it is rarely used in the construction of houses. In the state of Maine the hickory is rare, and the white oak does not exist, and when the yellow birch and black ash cannot be procured in suflicient abundance the red beech is selected for hoops. Experience has demonstrated the advantage of felling the beech in the summer, whilst the sap is in full circulation. Cut at this season it is very durable, but felled in winter, it de- ca3's in a few years. The logs are left several months in the shade before they are hewn, care being taken that they do not repose immedi- ately upon the ground. After this they are hewn and laid in water for three months, which process, it is said, renders them inac- cessible to worms. The beech is very durable when preserved from moisture, and incorruptible when con- stantly in the water ; but the white or exterior portion of the wood decays rapidly when ex- posed to alternations of dryness and dampness. The interior red Avood, or heart, as it is usually called, is very durable. In the northern por- tion of the United States, the red beech consti tutes a large proportion of the fuel consumed, and, as in Europe, the wood of the beech sub- serves a great variety of useful purposes. The ashes of both species of beech yield a very large proportion of potash. Michaux, who describes the process of ex tracting the oil, says that it equals one-sLvtli BEEF. BEER. •f the nuts u'=°d. The quality of the oil de- pends upon the care with which it is made, and upon the purity of the vessels in which it is preserved. It should be twice drawn off during the first three months, without disturb- ing the dregs, and the third time at the end of six months. It arrives at perfection only when it becomes limpid, several months after its ex- traction. It improves by age, lasts unimpaired for ten years, and may be preserved longer than any other oil. The manner of making beech nut oil most commonly pursued in the districts of the United States where the tree abounds, is somewhat different from that described in Michaux's St/lva. Instead of resorting to the rather te- dious process of gathering the nuts and press- ing them through screw-presses, the farmers turn out their hogs immediately after the first frost, who secrete the oil under their skin. In a favourable year they become perfect masses of blubber. Unless they be fed, sometime before killing, on Indian corn, the bacon has little solid consistency, becomes liquid upon the slighest application of heat, and keeps that state, — resembling in this respect the lard of hogs fed upon acorn mast. The nuts are only plentiful about every third or fourth year, and every farmer keeps a number of half- starved swine in the intervening period to take advantage of the happy event BEEF (Fr. boeuf), is used either fresh or salted. Beef is also sometimes used for the name of an ox, bull, or cow, considered as fit for food. Formerly it was usual for most families, at least in England, to supply them- selves with a stock of salt beef in October or November, which served for their consumption until the ensuing summer; but in consequence of the universal establishment of markets where fresh beef may be at all times obtained, the practice is now nearly relinquished, and the quantity of salted beef made use of as compared with fresh beef is quite inconsider- able. Large quantities of salted beef are, however, prepared at Cork and other places for exportation to the East and West Indies. During the Avar large supplies were also re- quired for victualling the navy. The vessels engaged in the coasting trade, and in short voyages, use only fresh provisions. The Eng- lish have at all times been great consumers of beef; and at this moment more beef is used in London, as compared with the population, than anywhere else in Europe. BEELD, or BIELD (Sax. behiman; Icel. boele, a dwelling). A term provincially applied m the north of England to any thing which affords shelter, such as a clump or screen of trees planted for the protection of live-stock. BEER (Welsh, bir ,■ Germ, bier,- Sax. heap ; Goth, bar, barley). A liquor made from malt and hops, which is distinguished from ale either by being older or smaller. It may be prepared from any of the farinaceous grains, out barley is most commonly employed. Beer is, properly speaking, the wine of bar- ley. The meals of any of these grains being extracted by a sufficient quantity of water, and remaining at rest in a degree of heat requisite for this fermentation, are changed into a vinous liquor. But as these matters render the water mucilaginous, fermentation proceeds slowly and imperfectl}'. On the ofher hand, if the quantity of farinaceous matter be so dimi- nished that its extract or decoction may have a convenient degree of fluidity, this liquor will be impregnated with so small a quantity of fermentable matter, that the beer or M'ine of the- grain will be weak, and have little taste. These inconveniences are therefore remedied by preliminary operations which the grain is made to undergo. These preparations consist in steeping it in cold water, that it may soak and swell to a certain degree ; and in laying it in a heap with a suitable degree of heat, by means of which, and of the imbibed moisture, a germmation begins, which is to be stopped by a quick drying, as soon as the bud shows itself. To accelerate this drying, and to prevent the farther vegetation of the grain, which would impair its saccharine qualities, the grain is slightly roasted, by means of a kiln, or making it pass down an inclined canal sufficiently heated. This germination, and this slight roasting, change considerably the nature of the mucilaginous fermentable matter of the grain, and it becomes the malt of commerce. This malt is then ground; and all its substance, which is fermentable and soluble in water, is extricated by means of hot water. This ex- tract or infusion is evaporated by boiling in cauldrons ; and some plant of an agreeable bitterness, such as hops, is added to heighten the taste of the beer, and to render it capable of being longer preserved. Lastly, this liquor is put into casks, and fermented, assisted by the addition of barm. Beer is nutritious from the sugar and muci- lage it (Contains, exhilarating from the spirit, and strengthening and narcotic from the hops. Mr. Brande obtained the following quantities of alcohol from 100 parts of different beers : — Burton ale, between 8 and 9; Edinburgh ale, 6 to 7 ; Dorchester ale, 5 to 6. The average of strong ale being between 6 and 7 ; browii stout, 6 to 7 ; London porter about 4 (average) ; London brewers' small beer between 1 and 2. (See Brewing.) "The distinction between ale and beer, or porter, has been," says Mr M'Culloch, "ably elucidated by Dr. Thomas Thomson in his valuable article on brewing in the supplement to the Encyc. Brit." " Both, ale and beer are in Great Britain ob tained by fermentation from the malt of barley but they differ from each other in several par ticulars. Ale is light-coloured, brisk, and sweetish, or at least free from bitter; while beer is dark-coloured, bitter, and much less brisk. What is called porter in England is a species of beer; and the term 'porter,' at pre- sent signifies what was formerly called sfnmg beer. The original difference between ale and beer was owing to the malt from which thev were prepared; ale malt was dried at a verv low heat, and consequently was of a pale co- loi r , while beer or porter malt was dried at a higiier temperature, and had of consequence acquired a brown colour. This incipient charring had developed a peculiar and agree- able bitter taste, which was communicated to the beer ilong with the dark colour. This bit BEES. BEES. ter taste rendered beer more agreeable to the palate and less injurious to the constitution than ale. It was consequently manufactured in greater quantities, and soon became the common drink of the lower ranks in England. When malt became high priced, in conse- quence of the heavy taxes laid upon it, and the great increase in the price of barley which took place during the war of the French revo- lution, the brewers found out that a greater quantity of wort of a given strength could be prepared from pale malt than from brown malt. The consequence was, that a consider- able proportion of pale malt was substituted for brown malt in the brewing of porter and beer. The wort, of course, was much paler than before, and it wanted that agreeable bitter flavour which characterized porter, and made it so much relished by most palates. At the same time various substitutes were tried to supply the place of the agreeable bitter com- municated to porter by the use of brown malt; quassia, cocculus indicus, and we believe even opium, were employed in succession ; but none of them was found to answer the purpose suffi- ciently." The use of the articles other than malt, referred to by Dr. Thomson, has been ex- pressly forbidden under heavy penalties by repeated acts of parliament. In England, the classification of the diffeient sorts of beer ac- cording to their strength, originated in the duties laid upon them ; and now that these du- ties have been repealed, ale and beer may be brewed of any degree of strength. The duty on beer being repealed in 1830, there are no later accounts of the quantity brewed. The number of baireis of strong beer brewed in Scotland in the five years ending 1830, was 597,737; table beer, 1,283,490; amount of duty paid thereon, 393,136/. (Par/. Paper, No. 190, Sess. 1830.) No account has been kept of the quantity of beer brewed in Ireland since 1809, when it amounted to 960,300 barrels. (More wood on In- ioxicafing Liquors, p. 3.53.) Perhaps it may now amount to from 1,000,000 to 1,200,000 bar- lels. Ale or beer exported to foreign parts is allowed a drawback of 5s. the barrel of 36 gallons. Imperial measure. The number of barrels of strong beer annually exported is, from England, about 70,000 barrels ; Ireland, 15,000, and Scotland, 3,000. {M'Culloch's Com. Did.) BEES (Sax. oeo, Lat. apies). These indus- trious and useful insects are worthy the atten- tion of all classes, and will repay the utmost care that can be taken in their management. No farm or cottage garden is complete with- out a row of these busy little colonies, with their warm, neat straw roofs, and their own particular, fragrant bed of thyme, in which they especially delight. Select a sheltered part of the garden, screened by a wall or hedge from the cutting north and easterly winds ; let Them enjoy a southern sun, but do not place I hem facing his early beams, because bees must never be tempted to quit their hive in the heavy morning dew, which clogs their limbs and impedes their flight. Place them, if iioss.ble, near a running stream, as they de- 16t light in plenty of water ; but if none is within their easy reach, place pans of fresh water near the hives, in which mix a little common salt ; and let bits of stick float on the surface, to enable bees to drink safely, instead of slip- ping down the smooth sides of the vessel, and perish. Never place hives in a roofed stand : it heats them, and induces the bees frequently to form combs outside of their hives instead of swarming. Let the space before the hives be perfectly clear of bushes, trees, and every impediment to their movement, that they may wing their way easily to seek for food, and re- turn without annoyance. Bees, returning heavily laden and wearied, are unable to bear up against any object, should they hit them selves and fall. Let their passage to and from their hives be clear; but trees and bushes in the vicinity of their residence are advisable, as they present convenient spots for swarms to settle which might otherwise go beyond sight or reach. A swarm seldom goes far from home, unless the garden is unprovided with resting-places, to attract the queen, who takes refuge in the nearest shelter. In the month of November remove 3'our hives upon their stools, into a cool, dry, and shady room, outhouse, or cellar, where they will be protect- ed as well from the winter sun as from the frosts. Warm days in winter often tempt bees to quit their cells, and the chilling air numbs and destroys them. Let them remain thus un- til February or March, should the spring be late and cold. Do not be satisfied with stop- ping the mouth of the hive with clay; the bees will soon make their way through it. Remove them. Bees are very subj-ectto a disease in the spring, similar to dysentery. Before you place the hives in their summer quarters, examine the state of the bees by turning up the hive, and noticing the smell proceedinjf from it. If the bees are healthy, the odour will be that of heated wax ; but if diseased, it will appear like that of putrefaction. In this case, a small quantity of port wine or brandy mixed with their food will restore them. In the early spring feed them, and do the same when the flowers pass away in autumn, until they are taken into the house ; then disturb them no more. The proper food is beer and sugar, in the proportion of one pound to a quart ; boil it five minutes only. In May, bees begin to swarm, if the weather is warm. New and dry hives must be prepared without any doorway ; the entrance must be cut in the stool. This is recommended by " An Oxford Conservative Bee Keeper." Sticks across the inside of the hive are use- less, and very inconvenient. Let the hive be well washed with beer and sugar before you shake the bees into it. After swarming, place it upon a cloth with one side raised upon a stone ; shade it with boughs, and let it alone till quite dusk, then remove it to the stool where it is to stand. The " Oxford Bee Keeper" advises food to be given to a swarm after hiv- ing, for three or four days. Large- hires are best : they do not consume more food than small ones ; this is a fact, and the same writer mentions it. Smarts and casts are the second and third swarms from a hive : they seldom BEES. BEES. hve through the winter, and ought to be united 10 each other, or to a weak hive. This is the plan recommended by several writers ; as also returning a smart or cast to the parent hive, if you have no hive weak enough to re- quire an increase of numbers. In this last case, Huish recommends the following plan : Place the back of a chair parallel with the entrance of the hive, over which spread a sheet ; then holding the hive containing the smart over it, give a few sharp knocks at the top, and the bees will immediately fall down on the cloth ; proceed then, either with your finger or a stick, to guide a few of the bees to the entrance of the parent hive, and they will instantly crowd into it. The queen bee should be caught and secured as they proceed ; if this is not done, they kill her, but in a less merciful way. To form a junction of two weak liives, or a swarm and a hive, Huish discovered the fol- lowing method : Smoke each hive, as if for taking, only with a less destructive fume, which will be mentioned presently. Spread all the bees of one hive upon a table, and search carefully for the queen ; destroy her ; sweep the bees of both hives together into one, sprinkling them with some beer and sugar mixed ; replace the hive. The fungus used for smoking bees is that called frog's cheese, found in damp meadows ; take the largest, and put it into a bag; squeeze it to half its size, then dry it in an oven or before the fire, but not by a very quick heat. Take a piece of this dried fungus, the size of two eggs, and put it in a stick split at one end, and sharp at the other, which is to be fixed into the bottom of an empty hive turned upside down, to receive the stupified bees as they fall. To prevent swarming, the " Oxford Bee Keeper" recommends this treatment : — " You see in the following figure a wooden & 6 bottom board, with the doorway a a cut in it. It has another doorway, b b, on the right side. The ring is riieant to show where a hive stands on it. The other bottom board is just like it, only the second doorway is on the left hand, so as to fit exactly to the side entrance of the first board, when pushed close together. As soon as the bees begin to hang out, in May, push the two boards c ose together. In the evening, when they are all in, stop tip the entrance a a, and open the right hand one b b. Put an empty hive on the new board, with a glass worked into the back for observation. Each doorway has a bit of tin laid over as much of it as juts out beyond the hive. The bees must then find their way out by the new doorway ; rub it with a little honey, and they will soon take to it. When the second hive is full, remove it thus: in the heat of the day, when many bees are out, s'ip a piece of tin or card between the two doorwavs, shut up the doorway c c, and open 21 the old doorway a a. If the bees go on -n orkii g quietly all day, you will be sure that the queen is in the old hive, and all is right. About half an hour before dusk, open again the doorway c c, and the bees, frightened by their long im- prisonment, will hurry from one doorway to another to join the queen. As soon as they are gone, take away the full hive for yourself. If the old hive is very uneasy all day, you may be sure the queen is shut up in the new hive ; if so, draw out the card or tin to join them again, and wait till another day." Never destroy a bee ; this is the first great principle in their treatment. Bees only live one year, therefore, by killing them in Septem- ber, you destroy the young vigorous ones ready to work the following spring : the )'ear- old bees die in August. When a hive is to be taken, smoke the bees as directed for joining hives ; replace them in a fresh hive, taking care to ascertain that the queen is safe among them, and feed them through the autumn and spring; they will be ready to work with the rest, and a hive is thus added to the general stock. The queen is easily knovirn from the working bees, as the size is larger. By fumigating the bees with tobacco smoke while operating upon a hive, they are rendered perfectly harmless. It is well to protect the face, neck, and hands, to prevent alarm or the chance of accident. When stung, extract the sling, and apply Goulard water immediately, or laudanum, or sweet oil. In February bees first begin their labours. May is their busiest month. In November their labours end, and they remain torpid for the winter. For more particular instructions, see Huish on Bees,- The Conftervative Bee Keeper's Letter to Cottagers ; Wildman's Treatise on Bees ; The Honty Bee, by Dr. Bevan; Penny Cyclo.; Quart. Journ. ofAgr. vol. ii. p. 594 ; Baxter's Agr, Lib. pp. 46 — 53. Several of these treatises have been repub- lished in the Unite'' States, where, besides separate works upon the subjects, the agricul- tural periodicals and newspapers abound with suggestions and instructions relative to the management of bees, &c. Loudon, in his lately published Encyclopaedia of Agriculture, says, that after all that has been done in England, France, and Italy, the Dee is still more successfully managed and finer honey produced in Poland, by persons who never saw a work on the subject, or heard of the mode of depriving bees of their honey without taking their lives. Much as has been written in France and England upon this sub- ject, it is, he observes, still found the best mode to destroy the bee in taking the honey, a practice for which he thinks unanswerable reasons are given by La Grenee, a French apiarian, and which is allowed to be conclu- sive as to profit even by Huish. " Suffocation is performed when the season of flowers begins to decline, and generally in October. The smoke of paper, or rag soaked or smeared with melted sulphur, is introduced to the hive, by placing it in a hole in the ground where a few shreds of these articles are undergoing a smothering combustion ; or the full hive may be placed on an empty one, inverted as in partial deprivation, and the sui o 2 161 BEES. BEES. phurous smoke introduced by fumigating bel- lows, &c. The bees will fall from the upper to ihe lower hi\ e in a few minutes, when they may be removed and buried to prevent re- suscitation. Such a death seems one of the easiest, both to the insects themselves and to human feelings. Indeed, the mere deprivation of life, to animals not endowed with sentiment or reriection, is reduced to the precise pain of the moment, without reference to the past or the future ; and as each pulsation of this pain increases in effect on the one hand, so, on the other, the susceptibility of feeling it diminishes. Civilized man is the only animal to whom death has terrors, and hence the origin of that false humanity which condemns the killing of bees in order to obtain their honey, but which might, with as much justice, be applied to the destruction of almost every other ani- mal used in domestic economy, as fowls, game, fish, cattle, &c." {Encyc. ojf Agriculture, 7614.) ■ ' As to the best situation for bees during their working season, this must depend upon circumstances of climate and locality. In southerly latitudes and warm exposures, — where the climate will admit of the hives re- maining upon the stands during winter, — it may still be advisable to give some shelter, and the principal object should be to ward off the sun, the warmth from which invites the bees to fly abroad at an unprofitable sea- son, and makes them sensitive to the sudden spells of cold experienced throughout the United States. In summer, the extreme heat of the sun should certainly be warded off by sheds and suitable shades, although it is im- proper to oblige the bees to pass through bar- riers of boughs and bushes. The heat accu- mulated by objects exposed to the direct rays . of the sun often increases to 130° or 140° of Fahrenheit, a temperature which must be in- jurious, not only to the bees themselves, but to their honey and wax. Whitewashing the hives and stands will tend much to prevent the accumulation of heat. The hives may front the east, south-east, or south-west, ac- cording to circumstances. In the northerly portions of the United States, means are generally used to protect the .swarms in winter, by removal to some cool and dry out-house or cellar. Some bury the hives either partly or entirely under ground, as is practised with many kinds of vegetables. The place should be very dry, and the hives set upon clean straw, without any bottom board to rest on, one side being raised about two inches by means of a stick or stone. An empty space must be left around, three times the size of the hive, covered over with bridging and earth, six, eight, or ten inches in depth, heaped up well so as to turn off water. They may remain thus covered about three months. Whilst some persons contend for the ne- cessity of protecting bees against the extreme cold of American winters, others deem it not only useless, but destructive to the health and wetfare of swarms to remove the hives from their usual situations, however exposed these may be. Among apiarians who disapprove of Ihe removal of hives in the winter, is Dr. J. 162 V. C. Smith, of Boston, who, in a neat little duodecimo volume of about a hundred pages, " On the Practicability of Cultivating the Ho- ney Bee in Maritime Towns and Cities, as a source of Domestic Economy and Profit." holds the following testimony: — " During the season of rest, from the first of October to the first or middle of April, the quantity of honey consumed by such a hive as has been spoken of, as worth keeping, varies according to the average temperature of the weather, from ten to twenty pounds. It is better that the bees should have too much than too little in store. They are very econo- mical in the expenditure of food, and therefore there is no risk in trusting them with well stocked granaries. All hives should have the weight marked on the back, which will enable the manager to judge pretty accurately of the quantity of honey and wax on hand. Taking five pounds as the standard weight of the bees, and a half pound of wax to every fifteen pounds of honey, almost the exact quantity of honey can thus be ascertained. My rule has invariably been, to let the bees remain in win- ter, wherever they have stood through the sum- mer; all attempts on my part to prepare them for the inclemencies of approaching cold were invariably anticipated, and seasonably attend- ed to by the bees themselves. " Feeling peculiar commiseration for a swarm, two years since, whose bleak locality, I feared, would be the certain destruction of the hive before spring, they were placed in the lob- by of an adjacent building for comfort. In the month of March, discovering that thousands of them were dead on the floor, and that the bees were sickly, they were carried back to their old stand in the open air, at the summit of a high, exposed hill, where they were per- fectly restored to health in about twelve days. If they are housed in winter, the torpidity which seems to be constitutionally requisite, both for the future health of the bee, and the saving of its honey, is obviated, and indisposition, in consequence of constantly feeding, without ex- ercise, is the invariable result. The colder they are, the better: I am fully persuaded that bees, in their hive, cannot be frozen to death. Animation may be suspended several weeks or months with impunity — vitality may merely appertain to organized matter; but, when the genial warmth of spring comes gently on, the little spark of life is again rekindled into vigo- rous flame. "On the 21st of March, 1831, in company with Mr. J. S, C. Greene, we examined a hive of bees that had, probably, died for want of proper ventilation. There were two thousand two hundred bees. A common flint tumbler contained one thousand, weighing six ounces and a half. It was obvious they did not die of starvation, as there was a good supply of beautiful honey, which, together with the comb,, weighed twenty-two pounds. Allowing one half pound of cell comb for holding every fif- teen pounds of honey, the quantity was easily ascertained. Taking this in connection with that which was taken from them in the autumn, and at the same time admitting that five hun- dred bees were lost by high autumnal winds, BEES. BEES. .storms, and early frosts, the whole colony con- si.'sted, originally, of thirty-two hundred bees, which, in eight weeks, or thereabouts, collect- ed the wax, constructed the cells, and made over one hundred pounds of honey, in a gar- den on Pemberton's Hill, nearly in the centre of Boston ! It should be remarked, that a bee answering the general description of the queen, as it relates to external appearance, was found in a cluster of dead ones. Not a drone was discovered, nor a young bee in any stage of infancy." It is probable that bees can preserve their vit.ility in ordinary hives exposed to the most intense cold, so long as they remain in the torpid condition in which they are prepared for the worst. But when roused from this condition by the occurrence of a premature warm spell, they are then rendered sensitive to the effects of cold, and when this comes upon them sud- denly and with severity, they perish under it. The great object therefore appears to be, to place the swarms during winter in some dry situation where they may be kept at a cool and equable temperature. A good dry and cool cellar must answer all the purposes admira- bly, and from such a situation it is easy to remove them occasionally, in good mild wea- ther, and give them an airing. Loudon, who adopts the views of Howison and Huish, says that the best material and form for hives- is a straw thimble, or flower-pot, placed in an inverted position. Hives made of straw, as now in use, have a great advan- tage over those made of wood and other mate- rials, from the effectual defence they aflJbrd against the extremes of heat in summer and cold in winter. A full-sized straw hive will hold three pecks ; a small-sized, from one and a half to two pecks. {Encyc. vf Agric.) The feeding (f bees is generally deferred till ■winter or spring; but this is a most erroneous practice : hives should be examined in the course of the month of September, or about the time of killing the drones ; and if a large hive does not weigh thirty pounds, it will be necessary to allow it half a pound of honey, or the same quantity of soft sugar made into syrup, for every pound that is deficient of that weight ; and in like proportion to smaller hives. This work must not be delayed, that time may be given for the bees to make the deposit in their empty cells before they are rendered tor- pid by the cold. Sugar simply dissolved in water (which is a common practice), and su- gar boiled in water into a syrup, form com- pounds very differently suited for the winter store of bees. When the former is wanted for their immediate nourishment, as in spring, it will answer equally as a syrup ; but if to be laid up as a store, the heat of the hive quickly evaporating the water, leaves the sugar in dry crystals, not to be acted upon by the trunks of the bees. Hives may be killed with hunger while some pounds' weight of sugar remain in this state in their cells. The boiling of su- gar into syrup forms a closer combination with the water, by which it is prevented from flying ofT, and a consistence resembling that of honey retained. Howison has had frequent experi- ence of hives, not containing a pound of honey, preserved in perfect health through the winter with sugar so prepared, when given in proper • time and in sufficient quantity. In the article from Loudon, from which we are now quoting, it is recommended to protect hives from cold, by covering them with straw or rushes, about the end of September, or later, according to the climate and season. This perhaps only applies to board hives, as those made of thick rye-straw or rushes will do without additional covering. Well protect- ed hives always prosper better the folhjwing season than such as have not been covered. In October, the aperture at which the bees enter should generally be narrowed, so that only one bee may pass at a time. Indeed, as a very small portion of air is necessary- for bees in their torpid state, it were better during severe frosts to be entirely shut up, as num- bers of them are often lost from being enticed to quit the hive by the sunshine of a winter day. It will, however, be proper at times to remove, by a crooked wire or similar instru- ment, the dead bees and other filth, which the living at this season are unable to perform of themselves. To hives whose stock of honey was sufficient for their maintenance, or those to which a proper quantity of sugar had been given for that purpose, no further attention will be necessary until the breeding season arrives. This, in warm situations, generally takes place about the beginning of May ; and in cold, about a month after. The young bees, for a short tinje previous to their leaving their cells, and some after, require being fed with the same regularity that young birds are by their parents ; and if the store in the hive be exhausted, and the weather such as not to ad- mit of the working bees going abroad to col- lect food in sufficient quantity for themselves and their brood, the powerful principle of affection for their young compels them to part with what is not enough for their support, at the expense of their own lives. To prevent such accidents, it is advisable, if during the breeding season it rain for two successive days, to feed all the bees indiscriminately, as it would be difficult to ascertain those only which require it. The swarming of bees generally commences in June, in some seasons earlier, and in cold climates or seasons later. The first swarming is so long preceded by the appearance of drones, and hanging out of working bees, that if the time of their leaving the hive is not ob- served, it must be owing to want of care. The signs of the second are, however, more equi- vocal, the most certain being that of the qaeen, a day or two before swarming, at intervals of a few minutes, giving out a sound a good deal resembling that of a cricket. It frequently happens that the swarm will leave the old hive, and return again several times, which is always owing to the queen not having accom- panied them, or from having dropped on the ground, being too young to fly to a distance. Gooseberry, currant, or other low bushes, should be planted at a short distance from the hives, for the bees to swarm upon, otherwise they are apt to fly away ; by attending to thii, Howison has not lost a swarm by straying fcr 163 . BEES. BEES. several years. When a hive yields more than two swarms, these should uniformly be joined to others that are weak, as, from the lateness of the season, and deficiency in number, they will otherwise perish. This junction is easily formed, by inverting at night the hive in which they are, and placing over it the one you in- tend them to enter. They soon ascend, and apparently with no opposition from the former possessors. Should the weather for some days after swarming be unfavourable for the bees going out, they must be fed with care until it clears up, otherwise the young swarm will run a great risk of dying. The honey may be taken from hives of the common construction by three modes, partial deprivation, total deprivation, and suffocation. Partial deprivation is performed about the beginning of September. Having ascertained the weight of the hive, and consequently the quantity of honeycomb which is to be ex- tracted, begin the operation as soon as evening sets in, by inverting the full hive, and placing an empty one over it ; particular care must be taken that the two hives are of the same dia- meter, for if they differ in their dimensions it will no be possible to effect the driving of the bees. The hives being placed on each other, a sheet or large table-cloth must be tied round them at their place of jtiuction, in order to prevent the bees from molesting the operator. The hives being thus arranged, beat the sides gently with a stick or the hand, but particular caution must be used to beat it on those parts to which the combs are attached and which will be found parallel with the entrance of the hive. The ascent of the bees into the itpper hive will be known by a loud humming noise; in a few minutes the whole community will have ascended, and the hive with the bees in it may be placed upon the pedestal from which the full hive was removed. The hive from which the bees have been driven must then be taken into the house, and the operation of cutting out the honeycomb commenced. Hav- ing extracted the requisite quantity of comb, this opportunity must be embraced of inspect- ing the hive, and of cleaning it of any noxious matter. In cutting the combs, however, par- ticular attention should be paid not to cut into two or three combs at once, but having com- menced the cutting of one, to pursue it to the top of the hive ; and this caution is necessary for two reasons. If you begin the cutting of two or three combs at one time, were you to abstract the whole of them you would perhaps take too much ; and secondly, to stop in the middle of a comb will be attended with very pernicious consequences, as the honey would drop from the cells which have been cut in two, and then the bees, on being returned to their native hive, might be drowned in their own sweets. The bees also, in their return to their natural domicile, being still under the impression of fear, would not give so much attention to the honey which flows from the divided cells ; and as it would fall on the board, and from that on the ground, the bees belonging to the other hives would immediately scent the \rasted treasure, and a general attack on the de- privated hive might be the consequence. The 164 deprivation of the honeycomb being effected, the hive may be returned to its former position, and reversing the hive which contains the bees, and placing the deprivated hive over it, they may be left in that situation till morning, when the bees will be found to have taken possession of their native hive, and, if the season proves fine, may replenish what they have lost. {Hiiish's Treatise on Bees.) Tutul deprivation is effected in the same manner, but earlier in the season, immediately after the first swarm; and the bees, instead of being returned to a remnant of honey in their old hive, remain in the new empty one: which they will sometimes, though rarely, fill with comb. By this mode it is to be observed, very little honey is obtained, the bees in June and July being occupied chiefly in breeding, and one, if not two, swarms are lost. (^Loudon's Encyc. of Agriculture.) The mode of suffocation to be adopted by those who prefer destroying bees in taking honey, has already been given. Particular attention should be paid to thie culture of such plants as supply the bees with the best food and materials for making honey, such as thyme, clover, broom, and mustard, &c. As a good deal of difference of opinion exists relative to the construction of hives and ma- nagement of bees, we have endeavoured to condense the views upon the subject enter- tained by the most respectable authorities. It is a great desideratum that honey be brought to market without removal from the hive in which it is originally deposited, which enables the purchaser to keep it in fine condition for any length of time. Few persons will pur- chase the contents of a very large hive, when honey in small boxes generally sells readily.' Hence one great advantage of having the hives constructed in sections, which, being of the same size, can always be fitted over or under each other. According to the views of Mr. Harasti, a skilful bee-cultivator, a good bee- hive ought to possess the following properties : First, it should be capable of enlargement or contraction according to the size of the swarm. Secondly, it should admit of being opened without disturbing the bees, either for the pur- pose of cleaning it from insects, increasing or dividing the swarm, &c. Thirdly, it should be so constructed, that the produce may be removed without injury to the bees. Fourthly, Fig. 1. BEES. BEES. it should be internally clean, smooth and free from cracks or flaws. All these properties seem best united in the section-hive, which is constituted of two, three, four, or more square boxes of similar size as to width, placed over each other. Such hives are cheap, and so simple that almost any one can construct them. (See Fig. 1.) The boxes A, B, C, D, may be made from ten to fourteen inches square and about five inches in depth, inside measure. Every bee- keeper should have his boxes made of the same size, so as to fit on to each other. Every hive must have a common top-board, ffl, which should project over the sides of the hive. The top-board of each section should have about sixteen holes bored through at equal distances from each other, and not larger than I or smaller than ^ of an inch. Or, instead of such holes, chinks of proper size may be cut tljrough to allow the bees to pass up and down. At the lower part of each box or section, in front, there must be an aperture or little door, c, r.,c,d, just high enough to let the bees pass, and about an inch and a half wide. Tlie lowermost aper- ture, rf, is to be left open at first, and when the hive is filled the upper ones may be succes- sively opened. By placing over the holes in the top of the upper section, glass globes, jars, tumblers, or boxes, the bees will rise into and fill them with honey. These may be removed at any time after being filled. The holes in the tops of the hive which do not open into the glasses or boxes should of course be plugged up. These glass jars, &c. must be covered over with a box so as to keep them in the dark. Every box or section, on the side opposite the little door, should have a narrow piece of glass inserted, with a sliding shutter, by drawing out which the condition of the hive can always be inspected. To make the bees place their combs in parallel lines, five or six sticks or bars may be placed at the top of every section, running from front to rear. The bees will at- tach their combs to these bars, and the intermediate space will aflbrd suffi- cient light to see them work. The slides cover- ing the glasses should IJBI never be left open longer than is just necessary for purposes of inspec- Fig. 2. tion. When one section is removed from the top, a wire or long thin knife must be previously run between this and the one immediately be- low, so as to destroy the attachments. Then remove the upper section, placing the top upon the one below, which is now the highest divi- sion of the hive. Another section is to be placed beneath, lifting up the whole hive for the purpose. Sometimes a second section has to be put under during a good season. If the swarm is not very large three or even two boxes will be sufiicient for its accommodation. The boxes or sections may be secured upon each other by buttons, b, b, or rabbits, and the joints closed with cement. A good swarm of bees should weigh five or six pounds, and one weighing eight pounds is considered large. The weight diminishes to one pound. Such as are less than four pounds weight should be strengthened by a small ad- ditional swarm. The hives ought not to be too large, as bees are apt to lose time in filling up vacancies with wax instead of making honey. Honey collected from flowers growing in meadows, pasture lands, trees, and cultivated crops, is almost as limpid as the purest oil, and the wax nearly as white as snow. Honey collected from buckwheat has a harsh taste. When taken once in two years, it is considered richer and more solid, and will keep belter than what is taken every year. Some of the plants from which bees collect their stores possess poisonous properties and impart these to the honey. The late Dr. B. S. Barton wrote an interesting and valuable pa- per upon this subject, which is published in the Transactions of the American Philosophical So- ciety, volume 5th. The plants which, in the United States, most frequently, afford poi- sonous honey, are the dwarf laurel {Kalmia angustifolia), and the great laurel {Kalmia lati- folid), the mountain laurel {Rhododendron maxi- mus), wild honey-suckle {Azalia nudijiora'), Jamestown weed, and broad-leaved moorwort of the south {Andromeda mariana). Most of these plants are known to produce poisonous honey, whilst a few of them are only suspi- cious. Of the trees and shrubs resorted to by bees, some furnish them with the farina or flower-dust which yields the spring food for their young, — some, the gummy or re- sinous exudations or secretions from which they derive the propolis or wax for sealing the hives of fresh swarms, — whilst others yield them honey in greater or less purity. The willow is much resorted to by bees for all the objects mentioned, furnishing the farina, the propolis, and honey-dew (the last from their aphides), in regular succession. When swarms are in the vicinity of the American sweet gum or styrax, they make their propolis from its fragrant gum. At other times they resort to the Athenian poplar. The sweet box myrtle blooms very early in the spring, and its flowers are always thickly beset by bees. The Eu- ropean, or sweet-flowered linden or lime tree, is likewise greatly resorted to by bees when in bloom, and also various kinds of fruit trees, especially the cherry and apple. The sweet juice exuded by the hickory is eagerly sought after by bees, but there is no American forest tree which affords them such ample supplies of the mosr limpid honey as the tulip poplar of the Middle States. This stupendous tree sometimes rises, in fertile bottom lands, above one hundred feet in height, ha\ '.ng a trunk five or six feet in diameter. Such a tree, with every branch from the ground to th» summit covered with splendid tulips is a magnificent sight, and a most valuable acqui- sition when within reach of the apiary. Among the very great variety of plans which have been adopted by American inge- nuity to improve the bee culture, there is one which has acquired much celebrity from its enabling the surplus honey to be taken with- out destroying the bees, which laost persons prefer doing. The plan referred to, is thai of 165 BEES. BEES. Mr. Luda, of Connecticut. By it the bees are made to build their cells and deposit their ho- ney in the chamber of a dwelling-house appro- priated for the purpose, in neat little drawers, from which it may be taken fresh bj'' the owner, without killing the bees. The hive has the appearance of, and is in part, a mahogany bureau or sideboard, with drawers above and a closet below, with glass doors. This case or bureau is designed to be placed in the cham- ber of a house, or any other suitable building, and connected with the open air or outside of the house by a tube passing through the wall. The bees work and deposit their honey in drawers. When these or any of them are full, or it is desired to obtain honey, one or more of them may be taken out, the bees al- lowed to escape into the other part of the hive, and the honey taken away. The glass doors allow the working of the bees to be observed ; and it is said that the spaciousness, cleanli- ness, and even the more regular temperature of such habitations, render them the more in- dustrious and successful. A recent plan called the " Kentucky Bee- house," has been highly commended for its successful adaptation, convenience and cheap- ness. One is described in the Farmer's Cabi- net, for June, 1839, by Mr. F. C. Fisher. . " The building is twelve feet long, eight wide, and seven feet high from the floor to the plate or ceiling (the tic or being eighteen inches from the ground), and consists of four posts, eleven feet six inches long, let in the ground three feet, which is weather-boarded round, and covered in so as to prevent the bees from getting in the house, they being confined in six boxes, three on either side of the house, placed fifteen inches one above another. " The draw- ing (fig. 3) re- presents a side of the house, viewed from without. Nos. 1, 1, are copper troughs run- ning round the post, halfway between the floor and ground, which are kept filled with water to prevent ants and other insects from getting in the house. Nos. 2, 3, and 4 are tubes eight inches wide, and one-eighth of an inch deep, to convey the bees through the wall into the long boxes, and entering them at the bottom, there being three to each long box. The drawing (fig. 4j represents one side of the house, viewed from the inside. Nos. 1, 2 and 3 are A- 1 1 1 — ' r-i [ 1 B r"! r^ 1 i 2 _) lU _l Fig. 3. r^r^r\ r\ rs r\ r\ r\ .£Nr\ ^ ^^ r\ rs long boxes, eighteen inches wide and twelve deep, extend- ing the whole length of the house, with eight holes, four inches square, in ~~~ Fiir. 4. each box, upon which )■! set two gallon caps, with two half inch holes in each, one near the top, the other about the centre of the cap, in which the smoke of a wurnin? rag is blown to drive the bees from the cap into the long box. When they are all in the long box, — which can be known by strik- ing the caps, — a knife or wire should be drawn under the bottom of the cap to separate the comb from the box. The cap of honey may then be removed, and an empty one put in its place. Nos. 4 and 5 are tubes three inches square, to convey the bees from one box to another, that one swarm of bees may do the whole work, or if one or more swarms be put in each box, that they may become as one, as they will not permit more than one queen when put together, by which they are prevented from destroying themselves by fighting. A house of this description, when the long boxes are filled, will afford, at a moderate calcula- tion, ninety-six gallons of honey in the comb annually." A hive under the very pompous name of " Patent Fortified Transparent Royal Bee Pa- lace," invented a few years since by Mj-. William Groves, of Cleaveland, Ohio, is said to possess real merits, notwithstanding its un- promising and ridiculous name. It is so con- structed that the bees never swarm, and are enabled to reject and roll 06*311 offensive mat- ters, besides defending themselves against intruders. For the preservation of the bees it is said to be preferable to any other hive, and ir admits of the convenient removal of honey in any desirable quantity, at all times without disturbing the bees, which are kept clean, well- ventilated, and healthy. A correspondent of the Farmer's Cabinet residing in Western Pennsylvania furnishes the following description of an improved hive, which he says embraces more advantages than any other he has ever seen. Among these are the following : — "1.7/ prevents the ravages of the miller, whose worm is the bee's most fatal enemy. The miller deposits its eggs in the bee dirt ; which in the common hive is constantly accumulating on the bottom. This difficulty is obviated by the slanting bottom of the stand; the dirt fall- ing on this rolls out at D, and the bottom is kept clean. "2. The cniel practice of destroying the bees is entirely superseded by the use of this hive. By blowing a small quantity of tobacco smoke into the upper box, through a hole made for that purpose, the bees will descend into the box next below ; the upper box can be remov- ed ; fifty or sixty pounds of honey, entirely free from dead bees and dirt, can thus be taken from a good hive ; and enough remain to win- ter the bees without any risk of loss. " 3. The swarming of the bees can be regulated by the rise of this hive, and the new swarms taken at the season of the year when they are most valuable. The bees can be prevented swarming again for the season, by additional boxes as the young bees increase. "4. This hive is cheap and requires but little mechanical knowledge in its construction ; any farmer with ordinary tools can make it fi-om the following description:" — Fig. 5, A, is the stand of Mr. Groves's hive, the legs of which are sixteen inches high, the stand itself eighteen inches square. B represents a three-cornered box, open on the top, with a LEES, BEES. planting bottom c, c ; a space is to be left open in the front of the hive the whole length at D, to admit the bees and allow the dirt to slide off the slanting bottom. ! i i '1 II llil'lil 1 1 li! -I! Ii iM 1 II III Mill III i ■ 1 '''■!'' Vi"l l^'''i i i l!'' i: ~T illlij! lllll l|l!H!l!|!|t ! i 1 1 •'I'i,!' M I ' 1 1 ■ 1 ' Ml ! i' ' ill! III ij#ii i; ! u\ i|ro 1 JT 1 1 1 \l/ A 1 D ix ■ 1 = i.i ' III' i!ii i!<''iiiifiiiiii'iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii'iiiiiii iiiiiiri'i s 1 i " 1, 2, and 3, are boxes or hives, nineteen inches square, and seven inches high, with slats nailed across, a sufficient d'stance from each other to admit the free paisage of the bees ; bars are to be put across the hive to support the comb. The top is to be secured by a tight cover. The bees enter at D, and pass up the slanting bottom of the stand into the boxes above, and the boxes can be i.:creased by adding others, always placmg the additional boxes nearest the stand." Mr. T. Afflick, of Cincinnati, has recently published an interesting pamphlet on bees and their hives, entitled " Bee-Breeding in the West," which contains much useful informa- tion. His plan for constructing and placing hives seems to combine economy, simplicity, and durability, with the great desideratum of securing the bees against the moth. The invention is called the Subtended hive, and may be constructed by any farmer who can handle a saw, a plane, an^ a hammer, by pursuing the following directions. "The boxes of which it is to be composed, must be formed of well-seasoned boards, free from knots and wind-shakes, one inch thick ; they may be ten, eleven, or twelve inches square in the clear, well-dressed on each side, and joined on the edges, so as to fit close, without being tongued or grooved. Before nailing together at the sides, lay a strip of thick white-lead paint on the edge, which will render the joint impervi- ous to the ovipositor of the rnoth. In the top of each box cut two semicircular holes, at the front and back, one inch and a half in diame- ter, the straight side being in a line with the back and front of the box, so that the bees may have a straight road in their way from one story to the other; the top of the upper box must have an extra cover fixed with screws, that it may be easily removed in case of need, so as to form a second box when requir- ed : pour a littie melted bee«-wajt over the in- side of the top, which will enable the bees to attach their comb more firmly. We will sup- pose the boxes thus made, to be a cube of twelve inches inside measure; iTi that case, the tunnel-stand will be made thus : — take a piece of two-inch pine plank, free from knots and shakes, twenty-six inches long and eight- een inches broad ; now, ten inches from one end, and two inches from the other and from each side, mark off a square of fourteen inches ; from the outside of this square, the board is dressed off with an even slope until its thickness at the front edge is reduced tci half an inch, and at the other three edges, t. about an inch. The square is then to be re- duced to twelve inches, in the centre of which is bored an inch auger-hole, and to this hole the inner square is gradually sloped to the depth of an inch — thus securing the bees from' any possibility of wet lodging about their hive, and affording them free ventilation. There will then be a level, smooth strip, of one inch in Avidth, surrounding the square of twelve inches, on which to set the box or hive. Two inches from the .''ront edge of the stand, com- mence cutting a channel two inches in width, and of such a depth as to carry it out on an even slope half-way between the inner edge of the hive and the ventilating hole in the centre; and over this, fit in a strip of wood as neatly as possible, dressing it down even with the sfi)pe of the stand, so as to leave a tunnel two inches in width and a quarter of an inch deep. Under the centre hole, and over the outlet of the tunuel, hang small wire grates, the first to prevent the entrance of other insects, and the other to be thrown over to prevent the exit of the bees, or fastened down to keep them at home, in clear, sunshiny days in winter. For feet to the stand, use four or five inch screws, screwed in from below far enough to be firm ; and the whole should have two coats of white paint, sometime before it is wanted, that the smell may be dissipated, as it is very offensive to the bees." (Farmers Cabinet.) A great variety of patent and fancy hives are from time to time vaunted for their very superior qualities, but in general the simplest construction answers best, and there is per- haps no hive which combines so many advan- tages as that composed of sections. In most of the oldest settled parts of the United States, the larva or maggot of 'he bee- moth {Phulxna cereana), a small graj miller, commits great devastation among the swarms of bees. In many places in New England, the farmers have been induced to abandon the bee-culture entirely on account of the desiruc- tiop caused by the bee-moth. These lay their eggs in the corners and other interior parts of the hive, which they enter at night. In due time these eggs are hatched out into maggots, and growing into worms with strong mandibles, they gnaw their way in any direction they choose to go,making destructive tracks through the honey-comb. After this destructive course, the worm envelopes itself in a thick, soft case or web, and there awaits the final change by which it is converted into the perfect winged miller. Numerous are the expedients resorieJ to and recommended to obviate the destructiou 167 BEES BEE-MOTH. produced through the moth. Some of the most intelligent apiarians put their chiet trust in the strength of the swarms, and when these become reduced and weak, unite them so as to enable the bees to defend their hive against intruders. Placing boxes for wrens near the apiary is also strongly recommended, and with good reason, since these little birds are very active in catching all kinds of moths. To enable the wren to get under the hive, it has been recom- mended to raise these an inch or an inch and a half above the stand, by means of small blocks. Another plan frequently adopted, and, it is said, with much success, consists in placing, early in the evening, a burning lamp in a pail, near the hive-stand. Some fresh honey or molasses and water may be spread upon the • bottom as a bait. A keg with only one head is thought preferable to a pail for this purpose, owing to the curvature of the staves, which serves to prevent the insect from flying out so readily, and before it has met its destruction from the flame of the lamp. A small fire kept up early in the evening near the ^.piary is also frequentl}' resorted to for attracting and de- stroying the night-flying miller. Placing shal- low vessels containing sweetened water, with one gill of vinegar added for each pint, is said to attract and drown the moths in great num- bers. Shutting up the apertures for the ejit and entrance of the bees, early in the evening, is also advised, as the moth intrudes itself in the evening and night. But when this is done the apertures must be opened again very early in the morning. When millers are numerous, each hive should be raised at least twice a week, upon one side, and the worms sought for and destroyed. In this operation a puff of smoke under the hive keeps the bees quiet during the search, which should be performed with as little jarring or disturbance to the swarm as possible. A correspondent of the Farmer's Register recommends, that as soon as the bees com- mence working in the spring, the hives are to be examined, and with a piece of hoop- iron or other suitable implement, the stand well scraped immediately under the hive, especially around the inner edge of the box. The whole secret of keeping off the moth con- sists, he thinks, in keeping the hives free from the web formed by the moth. After this ope- ration, four small blocks of wood are to be placed under each corner of the hive so as to raise it not quite half an inch from the stand. This will permit the hive and stand . to be cleaned without raising the box. This scraping operation must be repeated every three or fpur days, especially if there be any appearance of web. In winter the blocks must be removed, and the hive let down upon the stand as a se- curity against mice, and other depredators upon the honey. The person who recommends this plan as a certain security against the ravages of the worm, advises that an entrance be made for the bees, by cutting a perpendi- cular slit, one-eighth of an inch wide and two and a half inches long, situated about halfway from the bottom. Just under this a small «nt)f i'^ to be placed as a resting-place for the IfiS bees in going out and returning to the nive. The bees soon get accustomed to this new plac« of entrance. The plan has, it is said, often proved an eflectual security against the worm, after every other remedy has failed. Some persons have contrived drawers under the hives into which the millers enter by night. The drawers are slipped out every morning, and the moths found in them destroyed. In the western country and in the new set- tlements of the Atlantic states, the bee-moth is rarely met with. Bees, Italian. — For an account of Italian honey-bees, and their first introduction into the United States, and first announcement in this Encyclopaedia of the Movable-Comb-Hive, see article Honey, (page 631.) BEE-MOTH. The following interesting details relative to the natural history of the bee- moth or wax-moth, are from Dr. Harris's Trea- tise on Destructive Insects. This pernicious insect belongs to a group called Cuinbrians, and was well known to the ancients, as it is mentioned under the name of Tinea, in the works of Virgil and Columella. " In the winged state, the male and female difler so much in size, colour, and in the form of their fore-wings, that they were supposed, by Linnaeus and by some other naturalists, to be ditlerent species, and accordingly received two different names. {Tvrtrix cereana, the male ; Tinea viellrmella, the female.) To avoid confusion, it will be best to adopt the scientific name given to the bee-moth by Fabricius, who called it Galkria cereana, that is, the wax Galleria, because in its cater- pillar state it eats beeswax. Doubtless it was first brought to this country, with the common hive-bee, from Europe, where it is very abun- dant, and does much mischief in hives. Very iew of the Tineae exceed or even equal it in size. In its perfect or adult state it is a winged moth or miller, measuring, from the head to the tip of the closed wings, from five-eighths to three quarters of an inch in length, and its wings expand from one inch and one-tenth to one inch and four-tenths. The male is of A dusty gray colour. The female is much larger than the male, and much darker coloured. There are two broods of these insects in the course of a yaar. Some winged mofts of the first brood begin to appear towards the end of April, or early in May; those of the second brood are most abundant in August; but be- tween these periods, and even later, others come to perfection, and consequently some of them may be found during the greater part of the summer. By day they remain quiet on the sides or in the crevices of the bee-house ; but, if disturbed at this time, they open their wings a little, and spring or glide swiftly away, so that it is very difficult to seize or to hold them. In the evening they take wing, when the bees- are at rest, and hover around the hive, till, having found the door, they go in and lay their eggs. Those that are prevented by the crowd, or by any other cause, from getting within the hive, lay their eggs on the outside, or on the stand, and the little worm-like caterpillars hatched therefrom easily creep into the hive through the cracks, or gnaw a passjige for themselves under the edges of it. These cater- BEE-MOTH. BEET. pillars, at first are not thicker than a thread. they hare sixteen legs. Their bodies are soft and tender, and of a yellowish white colour, sprinkled with a few little brownish dots, from each of which proceeds a short hair ; their heads are brown and shelly, and there are two brown spots on the top of the first ring. Weak as they are, and unprovided with any natural means of defence, destined, too, to dwell in the midst of the populous hive, surrounded by watchful and well-armed enemies, at whose expense they live, they are taught how to shield themselves against the vengeance of the bees, and pass safely and unseen in every direction through the waxen cells, which they break down and destroy. Beeswax is their only food, and they prefer the old to the new comb, and are always found most numerous in the upper part of the hive, where the oldest honey-comb is lodged. It is not a little won- derful, that these insects should be able to get any nourishment from wax, a substance which other animals cannot digest at all ; but they are created with an appetite for it, and with such extraordinary powers of digestion that they thrive well upon this kind of food. As soon as they are hatched they begin to spin; and each one makes for itself a tough silken tube, wherein it can easily turn around and move backwards and forwards at pleasure. During the day they remain concealed in their silken tubes ; but at night, when the bees can- not see them, they come partly out, and devour the wax within their reach. As they inciease in size, they lengthen and enlarge their dwellings, and cover them on the outside with a coating of grains of wax mixed with their own castings, which resemble gunpowder. Protected by this coating from the stings of the bees, they work their way through the combs, gnaw them to pieces, and fill tlie hive with their filthy webs ; till at last the discouraged bees, whose dili- gence and skill are of no more use to them in contending with their unseen foes, than their superior size and powerful weapons, are com- pelled to abandon their perishing brood and their wasted stores, and leave the desolated hive to the sole possession of the miserable spoilers. These caterpillars grow to the length of an inch or a little more, and come to their full size in about three weeks. They then spin their cocoons, which are strong silken pods, of an oblong oval shape, and about one inch in length, and are often clustered together in great numbers in the top of the hive. Some time afterwards, the insects in these cocoons change to chrysalids of a light brown colour, rough on the back, and with an elevated dark brown line upon it from one end to the other. When this transformation happens in the au- tumn, the insects remain without further change till the spring, and then burst open their cocoons, and come forth with wings. Those which become chrysalids in the early part of summer are transformed to winged moths fourteen days afterwards, and immedi- ately pair, lay their eggs, and die. Bees sufl'er most from the depredations of these ilisects in h »t and dry summers. Strong and healthy swarms, provided with a constant supply of food near home, more often escape 22 tnan small and weak ones. When the moth worms have established themselves in a hive, their presence is made known to us by the lit- tle fragments of wax and the black grains scattered by them over the floor." BEESTING or BIESTING-, written also, BEESTNING (Flem. biest, biestmelch). The first milk taken from cows after calving. It is thick and yellow. This milk is commonly in part taken away from the cow upon her first calving, lest, when taken in too large a quan- tity by the calf, it should prove purgative. BEET ( Lat. ieta; Celt. 6e//, red ;aiso said to be so named from the Greek character beta, which its seeds resemble when they begin to swell). The sweet succulent root of Beta vulgaris, a chenopodiaceous plant of biennial duration. It is used in the winter as a salad, for which purpose the red and yellow beets of Castelnan- dari are the best ; for the food of cattle, that which is named mangel worzel being most used; and for the extraction of sugar, a white- rooted variety with a purple crown is the most esteemed. Sea beet {Beta maritima)-is a well known and excellent substitute for spinach. (Brande's Diet, of Science, p. 139.) The genus beta comprehends several bien- nial species. Miller enumerates five. 1. The common white beet. 2. The common green beet. 3. The common red beet. 4. The turnip- rooted red beet. 5. The great red beet. 6. The yellow beet. 7. The Swiss, or chard beet. We have now nine varieties of this esculent, which are described with considerable discrimi- nation by Mr. Morgan, gardener to 11. Browne, Esq., Mimms Place, Herts. (Hort. Trans. vol. iii.) Of the red beet, Mr. Morgan enume- rates seven varieties ; of these, the three fol- lowing are generally chosen for cultivation : 1. The long-rooted, which should be sown in a deep sandy soil. 2. The short or turnip-rooted, better adapted to a shallow soil. 3. The green- leaved, red-rooted, requiring a depth of soil equal to that of the long-rooted. There are two distinct species of beet comrr.only cultivat- ed, each containing several varieties ; the one called Cicla or Hortensis, or white beet, produc- ing succulent leaves only, the other the red beet {Beta vulgaris),- distinguished by its large fleshy roots. The white beet is chiefly cultivated in gar» dens as a culinary vegetable, and forms one of the principal vegetables used by agricultu- ral labourers, and small occupiers of land in many parts of Germany, France, and Switzer- land. A variety known by the name of Swiss chard produces numerous large succuleni leaves, which have a very solid rib running along the middle. The leafy part being stripped off and boiled is useful a?^ a =ubititute for greens and spinach, and the nb and .;talk are dressed like asparagus or scorzenera; they have a pleasant, sweet taste, and are more wholesome than the cabbage tribe. In a good soil the produce is very abundant ; and if cul tivated on a large scale in the field, this specie.; would prove a valuable addition to the plants raised for cattle. By cultivating it in rows, and frequently hoeing and stirring the inter vals, it would be an excellent subslitute for u fallow on good light loams. All cattle are P 169 BEET, WHITE. BEET, WHITE. fond of the leaves of this beet, which add much to the milk of cows, without giving it that bad taste which is unavoidable when they are fed with turnips or cabbages, and which is chiefly owing to the greater rapidity with which the latter undergoes the putrefactive fermentation. If sown in May, in drills two feet wide, and thinned out to the distance of a foot from plant to plant in the rows, they will produce an abundance of leaves, which may be gathered in August and September, and will grow again rapidly, provided a bunch of the centre leaves be left on each plant. They do not sensibly xhaust the soil. These leaves when boiled )r steamed with bran, cut with chaff or refuse grain, are an excellentfoodfor pigs or bullocks put up to fatten. {Penny Cyclo. vol. iv. p. 158.) The white beet is an excellent root, and is preferred by many to the larger and more com- mon intermediate varieties. It has lately been in great repute in France and Belgium, and indeed all over the continent of Europe, for the manufacture of sugar. The process is given in- detail by Mr. Samuel Taylor in the sixth vol. of the Gardeners Maguzuie,- and there are some able articles, entering exten- sively into detail on the subject, in the Quart. Journ. Agr. vol. i. p. 624, and vol. ii. pp. 892 and 907. (For an account of the common field beet for cattle, see Mangel Wurzel.) BEET, WHITE {Beta ci da). This is also known as the chard, or carde. We have two species in common cultivation, the green and the white. They receive their names from the colour of their footstalks ; but the variation is con^jidered by some as fugitive, and that both arc produced from seed obtained of the same plant : but this the experience of Mr. Sinclair denies. The French have three varieties of the white — the white, the red, and the yellow — which only differ from ours in having a larger ft)liage, and thicker, fleshier stalks, but they are less capable of enduring frost. They are cultivated for their stalks, which are cooked as asparagus. Mangel wurzel is sometimes grown for the same purposes ; but as it is much inferior, the notice that it may be thus employed, is sufficient. Beets require a rich, mouldy, deep soil ; it should, however, be re- tentive of moisture, rather than light, without being tenacious, or having its alluminous con- stituent too much predominating. Its richness sliould preferably arise from previous applica- tion than from the addition of manure at the time of sowing ; and to effect this, the compart- ment intended for the growth of these vegeta- bles is advantageously prepared as directed for celery. On the soil depends the sweetness and tenderness of the red and yellow beets, for which they are estimated ; and it may be re- marked, that on poor, light soils, or heavy ones, the best sorts will taste earthy. Again, on some soil.j the better varieties will not attain any useful size, or even a tolerable flavour, whilst in the same compartment inferior ones will at- tain a very good taste. The situation should he open, and as free from the influence of trees as possible; but it is of advantage to have the bed shaded from the meridian sun in sum- mer. I have always found it beneficial to dig Jh€ ground two spades deep for these deep- 170 rooting vegetables, and to turn in the whole or part of the manure intended to be applied, ac- cording to the richness of the soil near the sur- face, with the bottom split, so as to bury it ten or twelve inches within the ground. Salt is a beneficial application to this crop, one reason for which undoubtedly is, their being natives of the sea shore. Both species are propagat- ed by seed, and may be sown from the close of February until the beginning of April : it being borne in mind that they must not be in- serted until the severe frosts are over, which inevitably destroys them when in a3'oung stage of growth. The best time for inserting the main crop of the beet root for winter supply is early in March ; at the beginning of July or August, a successional crop of the white beet may be sown for supply in the winter and fol- lowing spring. It is best sown in drills a foot asunder, and an inch deep, or by dibble, at the same dis- tance each way, and at a similar depth, two or three seeds being put in each hole : it may, however, be sown broadcast and well raked in. During the early stages of its growth, the beds, which, for the convenience of cultivation, should not be more than four feet wide, must be looked over occasionally, and the largest of the weeds cleared away by hand. In the course of May, according to the advanced state of their growth, the beds must be cleared thoroughly of weeds, both by hand and small hoeing ; the beet roots thinned to ten or twelve inches apart, and the w^hite beet to eight or teru The plants of this last species which are re- moved may be transplanted into rows at a similar distance, and will then often produce a finer and more succulent foliage than those re- maining in the seed bed. Moist weather is te be preferred for performing this operation : otherwise, the plants must be watered occa- sionally until they take root: they must be fre- quently hoed and kept clear of weeds through- out the summer. It is a great improvement to earth up the stalks of the white beet in the same manner as celery, when they are intended to be peeled, and eaten as asparagus. In October, the beet-root may be taken up for use as wanted, but not entirely for preser- vation during the winter until November or the beginning of December, then to be buried in sand in alternate rows, under shelter; or, as some gardeners recommend, only part at this season, and the remainder in February ; by this means they may be kept in a perfect state for use until May or June. If prevented running to seed, they will produce leaves during the succeeding year ; but as this second year's production is never so fine or tender, an annual sowing is usually made. For the pro- duction of seed some roots must be left where grown, giving them the protection of litter in very severe weather, if unaccompanied with snow ; of if this is neglected, some of the finest roots that have been stored in sand, and have not had the leaves cut away close, may be planted in February or March. Each species and variety must be kept as far away from the others as possible, and the plants set at lea" BEETLE. BEETLE. two feet from each other. They flower in Au- gust, and ripen their seed at the close of Sep- tember. Seed of the previous year is always 50 be preferred for sowing, but it will suc- ceed, if carefully preserved, when two years oH. As a medicine, the seed of the beet is diure- tic. The juice of beet-root snuffed up into the nostrils promotes sneezing, and is beneficial ni headache and toothache. BEETLE (Scnrabaeicfex ; Sax. bytei)- The generic name of a class of insects, of which there are a great many species, all of them having elytra or sheaths over their wings to defend them from hard bodies, which they may meet with in digging holes in the ground, or gnawing rotten wood with their teeth, to make themselves houses or nests. These insects are extremely destructive to many sorts of crops. The beetles most destructive to vegetables and animals are the weevil beetle, the tumip-Jlea beetle, the wood-boring beetle, and some others, which are described at length by Mr. J. Dun- can in the Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. ix. p. 394. American beetles. — Passing over many groups into which the extensive beetle family is divid- ed, such as the ground-beetles, earth-borers, and dung-beetles, which last, in all their states, are found in excrement; the skin-beetles, which inhabit dried animal substances, and the gigan- tic Hercules-beetles, which live in rotten wood or beneath oJd dung-heaps, we come to those groups which require more particular notice from their depredations upon plants, fruits, and trees. One of the mosj common, and at the same time most beautiful of the tree beetles of the United States, is the Woolly Areoda, sometimes called the goldsmith (Areoda lanigera), which is thus described by Dr. Harris, in his highly interesting and valuable "Treatise upon In- sects injurious to Vegetation." — " It is about nine-tenths of an inch in length, broad oval in shape, of a lemon-yellow colour above, glittering like burnished gold on the top of the head and thorax; the under side of the body is copper-coloured, and thickly covered with whitish wool ; and the legs are brownish- yellow, or brassy, shaded with green. These fine beetles begin to appear in Massachusetts about the middle of May, and continue gene- rally till the twentieth of June. In the morning and evening twilights thej^ come forth from their retreats, and fly about with a humming and rustling sound among the branches of trees, the tender leaves of which they devour. Pear-trees are particularly subject to their at- tacks, but the elm, hickory, poplar, oak, and probably also other kinds of trees, are fre- quented and injured by them. During the middle of the day they remain at rest upon the trees, clinging to the under-sides of the leaves ; and endeavour to conceal themselves by drawing two or three leaves together, and holding them in this position with their long unequal claws. In some seasons they occur in profusion, and then may be obtained in great quantities by shaking the young trees on which they are lodged in the daytime, as th*"/ do not attempt to fly when thus disturbed out ( ill at once to the ground. The larvae of these insects are not known ; probably they live in the ground upon the roots of plants." Another member of the Rutilian tribe, to which the goldsmith belongs, is the Spotted Pelidnota, a large beetle found on the cultivat- ed and wild grape-vine, sometimes in great abundance, in the summer months. " It is," says Dr. Harris, " of an oblong oval shape, and about an inch long. The wing-covers are tile-coloured, or dull brownish yellow, with three distinct black dots on each ; the thorax is darker, and slightly bronzed, with a black dot on each side : the body beneath, and the legs, are of a deep bronzed green colour. These beetles fly by day, but may also be seen at the same time on the leaves of the grape, which are their only food. They sometimes prove very injurious to the vine. The only way to destroy them is to pick them off" by hand, and crush them under foot. The larvce live in rotten wood, stumps, and roots." Among the tree-beetles, those commonly called dors, chafers, May-bugs, and rose-bugs, are the most interesting to the farmer and gar- dener, on account of their extensive ravages, both in the winged and larva states. Whilst the powerful and horny jaws possessed by most of these, are admirably fitted for cutting and grinding the leaves of plants upon which they subsist, their notched and double claws support them securely on the foliage ; and their strong and jagged fore-legs, being formed for digging in the ground, point out the place of their transformations. "The general habits and transformations ot the common cock-chafer of Europe have been carefully observed, and will serve," says Dr. Harris, " to exemplify those of the other in- sects of this family, which, as far as they are known, seem to be nearly the same. This in- sect devours the leaves of trees ant. shrubs. Its duration in the perfect state is vi ry short, each individual living only about a week, and the species entirely disappearing in the course of a month. After the sexes have paired, the males perish, and the females enter the earth to the depth of six inches or more, making their way by means of the strong teeth which arm the fore-legs ; here they deposit their eggs, amounting, according to some wiiters, to nearly one hjmdred, or, as others assert, to two hundred from each female, which are abandoned by the parent, who generally as- cends again to the surface, and perishes in a short time. " From the eggs are hatched, in the space of fourteen days, little whitish grubs, each provided with six legs near the head, and a mouth furnished with strong jaws. When in a state of rest, these grubs usually curl them selves in the shape of a crescent. They sub- sist on the tender roots of various plants, com- mitting ravages among these vegetable sub- stancos, on some occasions of the most deplorable kind, so as totally to disappoint the best founded hopes of the husbandman. Dui ing the summer, they live under the thin coal of vegetable mould near the surface, but, as winter approaches, they descend below the reach of frost, and remain torpid until the sue ceeding spring, at which time they change '71 BEETLE. BEETLE. their skins, and reascend to the surface for food. At the close of their third summer, (or, as some say, of the fourth or fifth), they cease eating, and penetrate about two feet deep into the earth ; there, by its motions from side to side, each grub forms an oval cavity, which is lined by some glutinous substance thrown from its mouth. In this cavity it is changed to a pupa by castmg off its skin. In this state the legs, antennae, and wing-cases of the future beetle are visible through the transparent skin which envelopes them, but appear of a yellow- ish white colour; and thus it remains until the month of February, when the thin film which encloses the body is rent, and three months afterwards the perfected beetle digs its way to the surface, from which it finally emerges dur- ing the night." Some account of the destruction occasion- ally wrought by these insects may be found under the head of CocK-cHArEB. In their winged state, many species of tree- beetles act as conspicuous a part in injuring trees as their grubs do in destroying herbage. " During the month of May they come forth from the ground, whence they have received the name of May-bugs or May-beetles. They pass the greater part of the day upon trees, clinging to the under-sides of the leaves, in a state of repose. As soon as evening ap- proaches, they begin to buzz about among the branches, and continue on the wing till to- wards midnight. In their droning flight they move very irregularly, darting hither and thi- ther with an uncertain aim, hitting against ob- jects in their way" with a force that often causes them to fall to the ground. They frequently enter houses in the night, apparently attracted, as well as dazzled and bewildered, by the lights. Their vagaries, in which, without hav- ing the power to harm, they seem to threaten an attack, have caused them to be called dors, that is, darers; while their seeming blindness and stupidity have become proverbial in the expressions 'blind as a beetle,' and 'beetle- headed.' Besides the leaves of fruit-trees they devour those of various forest-trees and shrubs, with an avidity not much less than that of the lo- cust, so that in certain seasons, and in particular districts, they become an oppressive scourge, and the source of much misery to the inhabit- ants. Mouffet relates that, in the year 1574, such a number of them fell into the riverSevern, as to stop the wheels of the water-mills ; and, in the Philosophical Transactions, it is stated that, in the year 1688, they filled the hedges and trees of Galway in such infinite numbers as to cling to each other like bees when .swarming ; and, when on the wing, darkened the air, annoyed travellers, and produced a sound like distant drums. In a short time the leaves of all the trees, for some miles round, were so totally consumed by them, that at mid- summer the country wore the aspect of the depth of winter." The animals and birds appointed to check the ravages of these and other insects so de- .structive to vegetation, are different in differ- ent countries. In Europe, according to the | ^reat French naturalist Latreille, they are the ' . y ad^er, weasel, martin, bats, rats, common ' 172 dung-hill fowl, and the goat-sucker, or uight« hawk. In the United States, various birds may be always seen in the spring of the year fol- lowing the plough, among which the black- bird family is by far the most numerous. These ought to meet with the utmost protec- tion, and by no means to be stoned, shot at, killed, and frightened away, as is too often done by the idle and inconsiderate. The fol- lowing view of the subject will serve to set the subject in the important light it deserves. In "Anderson's Recreations," it is stated that "a cautious observer, having found a nest of five young jays, remarked that each of these birds, while yet very young, consumed at least fifteen of these full-sized grubs in one day, and of course would require mahy more of a smaller size. Say that, on an average of sizes, they consumed twenty a-piece, these for the five make one hundred. Each of the parents consume, say fifty; so that the pair and famil}' devour two hundred every day. This, in three months, amounts to twenty thousand in one season. But, as the grub continues in that state four seasons, this single pair, with their family alone, without reckoning their descend- ants after the first year, would destroy eighty thousand grubs. Let us suppose that the half, namely forty thousand, are females, and it is known that they usually lay about two hundred eggs each ; it will appear that no less than eight millions have been destroyed, or pre- vented from being hatched, by the labours of a single family of jays. It is by reasoning in this way that we learn to know of what im- portance it is to attend to ^he economy of na- ture, and to be cautious how we derange it by our short-sighted and futile operations." Our own country abounds with insect-eating beasts and birds, and without doubt the more than abundant Melolonthse form a portion of their nourishment. (Harris.) The very numerous varieties of the beetle family may be imagined from the fact taught us by naturalists, that of the genus Melo- lontha to which the beetles belong, more than two hundred have been described. Several of these found in the United States, produce injuries in the perfect grub state which rival those of the European cock-chafer. The May- beetle, as it is generally called {Phyllophaga querr.ina), is the most common species. " It is of a chestnut-brown colour, smooth, but finely punctured, that is, covered with little impressed dots, as if pricked with the point of a needle; each wing-case has two or three slightly elevated longitudinal lines ; the breast is clothed with yellowish down. The knob of its antennae contains only three leaf-like joints. Its average length is nine-tenths of an inch. Ib its perfect state it feeds on the leaves of trees, particularly on those of the cherry-tree. It flies with a humming noise in the night, from the middle of May to the end of June, and fre- quently enters houses, attracted by the light. In the course of the spring, these beetles are often thrown from the earth by the spade and plough, in various states of maturity, some K »ing soft and nearly white, their superabun- dai, ' juices not having evaporated, while others exhiLilt the true colour and texture of tho pee- BEETLE. BEETLE. feet insect. The grubs devour the roots of grass and of other plants, and in many places the turf may be turned up like a carpet in con- sequence of the destruction of the roots. The grub is a white worm with a brownish head, and, when fully grown, is nearly as thick as the little finger. It is eaten greedily by crows and fowls. There is a grub, somewhat resem- bling this, which is frequently found under old manure heaps, and is commonly called muck- worm. It differs, however, in some respects from that of the May-beetle, or dor-bug, and is transformed to a dung-beetle called Hcarabceus relidus by Mr. Say. The beetles are devoured b)' the skunk, whose beneficial foraging is de- tected in our gardens by its abundant excre- ment filled with the wing-cases of these insects. A writer in the ' New York Evening Post,' says that the beetles, which frequently commit serious ravages on fruit-trees, may be effectu- ally exterminated by shaking them from the trees every evening. In this way two pailsful of beetles were collected on the first experi- ment; the number caught regularly decreased until the fifth evening, when only two beetles were to be found. The best time, however, for shaking trees on which the May-beetles are lodged is in the morning, when the insects do not attempt to fly. They are most easily col- lected in a cloth spread under the trees to re- ceive them when they fall, after which they should be thrown into boiling water to kill them, and may then be given as food to swine." (^Harris.) In some parts of Massachusetts the beetle called the Georgian leaf-eaier takes the place of the qiurcwa. It is extremely common in some places in May and June. Its colour is a bay-brown. The upper side is entirely covered with very short yellowish gray hairs, and mea- sures seven-tenths of an inch, or more, in length. These beetles, with some others of the same genus, are commonly found in Ame- rican gardens, nurseries, orchards, and fields, where they are more or less injurious depre- dators. They also devour the leaves of various forest-trees, such as the elm, maple, oak, sesamum is an annual plant. It grows like cotton, from three to six feet high, bearing numerous square pods about an inch and a half long, filled with seeds about the size of flaxseeds. In its growth it requires no sticks, or other support. The product of seed is about twelve or fifteen bushels per acre, and the proportion of oil yielded to pressure has been estimated as equal to one-half the mea- sure of the seed, and some estimate the propor- tion as far greater. The oil may be extracted by bruising the seed and immersing them in hot water, when the oil rises on the surface and may be skimmed off". But the usual mode of extraction is similar to that practised in the expression of linseed oil. In the Southern States many planters cultivate the bene largely, sowing in drills about four feet apart, in the month of April, and gathering the crop of seed in September. The pods ripen suc- cessively, and not all at one time. Bene has been raised in Virginia, Maryland, and the lower part of the peninsula between the Dela- ware and Chesapeake Bays, just as far north as cotton admits of cultivation. In higher lati- tudes, even in the vicinity of Philadelphia, the plant will grow, but seldom ripens its seed. The leaves of the plant are in great repute as a remedy in dysentery, and especially the cholera infantum or summer complaint of children. The freshly gathered leaves are merely dipped into a tumbler of cold water, which immediately becomes ropy, without losing its transparency or acquiring any un- pleasant taste, on which account it is readily and even gratefully received by the little suf- ferers, who are allowed to sip it in moderate quantities instead of other drinks. Sesamum is indeed a valuable plant, and should be cul- tivated wherever it will grow, for its medicinal and domestic uses, if not for its oil ; which last, however, must, under proper management, prove a profitable product of the soil. BENT, or STARR. Names applied in Eng land to the common reed (the Arundo prag- ^ites of Dr. Darlington, and the A. arenaria of some other botanists). Sinclair calls the upright sea lyme grass, starr, or bent. (See Plate 7, 1.) One of the chief uses this coarse grass is made to subserve in the United States, as well as in European countries, is to protect banks and sea-dykes exposed to the wash- ings of waves and currents. See Arunso AnEx AniA. BENT-GRASS. A species of Agrostis very common in pasture grounds, the bent or creep- ing stems of which are very difficult to eradi- cate. (See AunosTis.) BENTS. BIND-WEED. BENTS. The withered stalks of grass standing in a pasture after the seeds have dropped. It also sometimes signifies a species of rush {Junctia squarrosus), which grows on moorland hills. BERBEREN. A yellow bitter principle contained in the alcoholic extract of the root of the barberry tree. BERBERRY (Berberis). See Barbehht. BERE (Goth, bar.- Sax. bepe). The com- mon name for a species of barley, which is also frequently termed big, bear, and square barley. Thus, in Huloet, an old writer, we find " beer-corn, barley-bygge, or moncorne." BERGAMOT (Fr. bergamotle). A species of citron, the fruit of the Citrus bergamia (Ris- so). This tree is cultivated in the south of Europe. It is a moderate-sized tree with ob- long, acute, or obtuse leaves, with a pale un- derside, and supported on winged footstalks. The flowers are small and white ; the fruit is pyriform, of a pale yellow colour, and the rind studded with oil vesicles ; the pulp is slightly acidulous. The oil, which is procured from the rind, is imported from the south of Europe, under the name of oil or essence of bergamof. It is of a pale greenish colour, lighter than water, and used merely as an agreeable perfume. A species of mint, having a highly agreeable odour (Mentha odorata, Smith), is popularly called bergamot in the United States. BERRY (Bacca). A succulent pulpy fruit, which contains one or more seeds, or granules, imbedded in the juice. BETHLEHEM, STAR OF {Ornithngalum). Smith points out four varieties of this flower : the yellow star of Bethlehem, O. luteum ,- the common star of Bethlehem, O. umbellatum, fcoramonly called ten o'clock) ; the tall star of Bethlehem, O. pyrenaicum ,- and the drooping star of Bethlehem, O. nutans. The first is met with sometimes, but not very frequently, in grove pastures. The second is found in mea- dows, pastures, and groves in various parts of England. The last is found mostly in fields and orchards, probably naturalized. All are elegant spring flowers. The last is common in country gardens, whence it may have escaped into the fields. Yet the plant may as well be a native of England as of Denmark, Austria, or other parts of Europe and America, where it is found in similar situations. One of the species, commonly called ten o'clock (Ornithognlum umbellatum), Dr. Darlington says, is a foreigner that has escaped from gar- dens, and has become a nuisance on many farms in the Middle States. Although it rarely perfects its seed, it propagates itself with great rapidity by means of lateral bulbs. These bulbs are extremely difficult to eradicate. (Flor. Cestricn.) An American species of the star of Bethlehem {O. virens) was found by Lindley on the Delaware Bay. The sea-squill, so ex- tensively used in medicine, belongs to this bulbous-rooted family of plants. (Smith's Eng. Flora, vol. ii. p. 141 — 145.) BEVER (Ital. bevere.- old French, beivre). To drink: a word now almost obsolete, but from which we derive beverage. The provin- cial term amongst labourers for the meal be- tween dinner and tea. 23 BIENNIAL (Lat. biennis). Any thing tha> continues or endures two years. This term is usually applied to plants which grow one year and flower the next, after which they perish. They only diff'er from annuals in requiring a longer period to fruit in. Most biennials, if sown early in the spring, will flower in the au tumn and then perish, thus actually becoming annuals. (Brande's Did. of Science.) BIG. A term sometimes applied in Eng- land to here or square barley. BILBERRY, or BLEABERRY. See Whor- TLEHERRT. BILL (Bilk; Sax. tibUe, a two-edged axe). A kind of hatchet with a hooked point, and a handle shorter or longer, according to the par- ticular uses for which it is intended. It is mostly employed by husbandmen for cutting hedges and felling underwood; and Johnson tells us it takes its name from its resemblance, in form, to the beak of a bird of prey. BILLET (Fr. bilot). A small log of wood for the chimney. BIN (Sax. bmne). A small box or other con- trivance in which grain of any kind is kept. It is sometimes written binn. Bin also signi- fies a sort of crib for containing straw or other bulky fodder in farm-yards. BIN, CORN-. A sort of convenient box or chest fixed in the stable for the purpose of con- taining grain or other provender for horses. We have also hop-bins, wine-bins, &c. BIND-WEED (Lat. convolvulus). A trouble- some genus of weeds, of which there are in Eng- land three species, the smaller, the great, and the sea bind-weed. The climbing buckwheat (Poly gonum convolvulus) is also known by the name of black bind-weed. The first or smaller bind weed (C. urvensis), frequently called gravel bind-weed, is very common in hedges, fields, and gardens, and upon dry banks and gravelly ground in most districts, and is an almost un- conquerable weed. Its presence is generally a sign of gravel lying near the surface. Its branching, creeping roots penetrate to a great depth in the soil. The flowers are fragrant like the heliotrope, but fainter, very beautiful, of every shade of pink, with paler or yellowish plaits, and stains of crimson in the lower part; sometimes they are nearly white. They close before rain. The second kind, or great bind-weed (C. nepium), is also an equally troublesome and injurious weed to the husbandman. It grows luxuriantly in moist hedges, osier holts, and thickets. In an open, clear spot of ground, wheii the plants are kept constantly hoed down for three or four months, it may sometimes be effect ually destroyed; as. when the stalks are broken or cut, a milky juice exudes, by which the roots are exhausted and decay. Every portion of the root will grow. The roots of tnis specie* are long, creeping extensively, and rather fleshy; the stems twining, several feet long, leafy, smooth, and slightly branched. Flowers solitary, large, purely white for the most pan, occasionally of a uniform flesh or rose colour. It is a perennial, flowering in July and August in England, and a month earlier in ^ennsylva* nia, where it is occasionally found. It is so injurious to crops that farmers should try ait means to get rid of it. The black bind-wi'?r. vol. i. p. 134; Smith's Eng. Flor. vol. ii. p. 354.) BIRD'S EYE {Veronica chamaedrys). The Germander Speedwell, or wild germander. A troublesome weed in fields. It is found very commonly in groves, meadows, pastures, and hedges. It is a perennial, flowering in May and June. Herbage light green.' Flowers numefous, transient, but very beautiful, bright blue with dark streaks and a white centre ; tlieir outside pale and flesh coloured. The flowers expand in fine weather only. Some take this for the German "forget-me-not." It vies in beauty with the true one, Myosotis pa- lustris. {Smith's Eng. Flor. voL i. p. 23.) See Speedwell. BIRD'S FOOT, COMMON {Ornithopus per- pusillus). A weed found most generally in sandy or gravelly pastures. Root fibrous, an- nual, though it is sometimes propagated by subterraneous lateral knobs in the manner of a potato, in which case the seeds are abortive. The stems, often numerous, are procumbent, from three to ten or twelve inches long. Leaves alternate, of from five to ten or twelve pair, of small uniform elliptical leaflets. Flowers three or four iu each little head or tuft. The species of bird's foot are curious on account of their jointed pods, but not worth culture as plants of ornament. O. sofivus is, however, a most valuable agricultural plant BIRD'S-FOOT TREFOIL, or CLOVER {Lotus). The common name of a genus of plants that flourishes in a singular manner in the most exposed and dry situations. On bowling- greens and mown lawns it forms a fine green close herbage, even in hot seasons ; and in meadow and pasture grounds it is frequently abundant. Its very strong deep tap root is the cause of its resisting drought. Smith describes four species : — 1. Common bird's-foot trefoil (L. corniculalus), a perennial, flowejring in the second week of June, and ripening the seed about the end of July, and successively to the end of autumn; common in open grassy pas- tures. [PI. 9, g."] Some botanists have con- sidered the following species {L. major) to be a variety of the camiculatus, but the difiierence between them is obvious at first sight; and this difference remains permanent when the p.ant is raised from seed, and cultivated on different soils. What renders a specific dis- tinction here of most importance to the farmer, is the ditference which exists between them in an agricultural point of view. Heads de- pressed, of few flowers, root branching, some- what woody ; the fibres b^^set with small gra- nulations ; stems several spreading on the 180 ground in every direction, varying in length from three to ten inches, simple or branched Flower stalks erect or recumbent, five times as long as the leaves, each bearing from two to five bright yellow flowers, dark green when dried, and they change to orange when verging towards decay. This species is recommended for cultivation, though under the erroneous names of milk-vetch and Astragalus glycyphyl- los, by the late Dr. Anderson, in his Agricultural Essays, as being excellent for fodder as well as for hay. Mr. Curtis and Mr. Wood also re- commended it. Linnisus says that cows, goats, and horses eat it; and that sheep and swine are not fond of it. With regard to sheep (says the late Mr. G. Sinclair, Hurt. Gram. Wob, p. 310), as far as my observations have extended, they eat it in common with the herbage with which it is usually combined ; the flowers, it is true, appeared always un- touched, and in dry pastures little of the plant is seen or presented to the cattle, except the flowers, on account of its diminutive growth in such situations. This, however, is nearly the case with white or Dutch clover ; sheep seldom touch the flowers while any foliage is to be found. Mr. Woodward informs us that it makes extremely good hay in moist mea- dows, where it grows to a greater height thaa the trefoils, and seems to be of a quality equal, if not superior, to most of them. Professor Martyn observes, that, in common with several other leguminous plants, it gives a substance to hay, and perhaps renders it more palatable and wholesome to cattle. The clovers contain more bitter extractive and saline matter than the proper natural grasses, and the bird's foot trefoils contain more of these vegetable prin- ciples than the clovers. In pastures and mea- dows, therefore, where the clovers happen to be in small quantities, a portion of the trefoil {L. cwnicitltitus) would doubtless be of advan- tage ; but it appears to contain too much of the bitter extractive and saline matters to be cultivated by itself, or without a large inter- mixture of other plants. It does not spring early in the season, but continues to vegetate late in the autumn. In irrigated meadows, where the produce is generally more succulent than in dry pastures, this plant cannot with safety be recommended, at least in any con- siderable quantity. It is more partial to dry soils than the next species (L. major) ; it at- tains to a considerable height when growing among shrubs, and seems to lose its prostrate or trailing habit of growth entirely in such situations. 2. The greater bird's-foot trefoil (L. major) flourishes in wet bushy places, osier holts and hedges ; very different from the fore- going species in general habit, and now techni- cally distinguished by several clear and suffi- cient characters. The stems are from one to two or three feet high, upright, clothed more or less with long loosely-spreading hairs. Leaves fringed with similar hairs ; flowers from six to twelve in each head, of a duller orange than the former. The weight of green food or hay is triple that of the foregoing spe- cies, and its nutritive powers are very little in- ferior, being only as 9 to 8. The? i two species of bird's-foot trefoil may be compured to each BIRD'S-FOOT TREFOIL. BISCUIT. other ^ ith respect to habits in the same man- ner as the white clover and perennial red clover; and were the latter unknown, there appear to be no plants of the leguminous order, that, in point of habits, would so well supply their place as the common and greater bird's- foot trefoil. They are, however, greatly in- ferior to the clovers. The white clover is superior to the common bird's-foot trefoil in the quantity of nutritive matter it affords, in the proportion of 5 to 4. It is much less pro- ductive of herbage, and is much more difficult of cultivation, the seed being afforded in much smaller quantities. The produce of the greater bird's-foot trefoil is superior to that of the perennial red clover on tenacious or moist soils, and on drier and on richer soils of the first quality ; but the produce is inferior in the proportion of nutritive matter it contains as 5 to 4. The nutritive matter is extremely bitter to the taste. It does not appear to be eaten by any cattle when in a green state, but when made into hay, sheep, oxen, and deer, all eat it without reluctance, and rather with desire. It does not seem to perfect so much seed as the former species, but this is abundantly remedied in its propagation by the creeping or stoloni- ferous roots which it spreads out in all direc- tions. In moist clayey soils it would doubtless be a most profitable substitute for red clover; but the excess of bitter extractive and saline matters it contains seems to forbid its adop- tion without a considerable admixture of other plants. It flowers about the third week of June, and the seed is ripe about the end of the following month. The following analysis will ?how the comparative value of the two spe- cies : — Grren Prod, per acre. Dry Prod, per acre. Nutriment per acre. lbs. Lot-US comicvlutus 10,209 6 — major |21,780 Ibi. 3.190 6 8,142 8 lbs. 358 4 9 680 10 3. Spreading bird's-foot trefoil (L.decumbens) is, like the two preceding species, a perennial, flowering in England in July. It is found in fields and meadows. The flower-stalks are four or five times the length of the leaves, smooth, stout, and firm, each bearing an umbel of from three to six bright yellow flowers. 4. Slender bird's-foot trefoil (L. angustissimus) is an an- nual flowering in May and June, found in meadows towards the sea on the south and western coasts of England. It is smaller, in general, than any of the foregoing species. A species of trifolium (7*. ormthopoditddes) also bears the name of bird's-foot trefoil ; but Sir J. Smith very justly observes {Engl. Fhir. vol. iii. p. 298), it can scarcely, without violence, be retained in the genus TrifnUum ,• yet no one has thought fit to make it a distinct one, however plausible might be the reasons for such a measure. It is an annual plant flower- ing in June and July, found in barren, gravelly, grassy pastured ; root fibrous, stems several, spreading flat on the ground, flowers two or three, long, pale, reddish. (Smith's Eng, Flor. vol. iii. pp. 298, 312 ; Sinclair's Hort. Gram. Woh.) Two species of lotus, not referred to in the preceding account, are a good deal cultivated in France, on light soils. These are the vil- lous (L. villosus) and the cultivated lotus {Loiier cullive, or Lutus tetrugonolobus, PI. 9, h). The last is an annual sown in gardens. BIRDLIME. This glutinous vegetable pro- duct is procured either by boiling misletoe ber- ries in water until they break, pounding them in a mortar, and washing away the husky re- fuse with other portions of water ; or, which is the chief mode in which it is made (chiefly in Scotland)for the purposes of bird-catching, &c., from the middle bark of the holly. The bark is stripped in June or July, and boiled for six or eight hours in water, until it becomes ten- der ; the water is then separated from it, and it is left to ferment for two or three weeks, until it becomes a mucilage, which is pounded in a mortar into a mass, and then thoroughly rubbed by the hands in running water till all the branny matters and other impurities are washed away ; the birdlime is then sufi^ered to remain fermenting by itself in an earthen ves- sel for some weeks. (The bird-catchers, when they make their own, place the vessel in a dunghill.) The bark of the wayfaring tree is sometimes employed. The fragrant gum which exudes from the Styrax, or- American Sweet Gum, a large tree, growing in the Middle and Southern Slates, also makes a good birdlime, being extremely tenacious. (Gray's Supple- ment, p. 226 ; Nich. Joum. b. xiii. p. 145 ; Thom- son, vol. iv. p. 119.) BIRD'S NEST, YELLOW (Monotropa hypo- pitys). A weed occasionally met with in poor and gravelly soils. It is also found sometimes about the roots of beeches and firs, in woods, frequent in all the midland counties. Root fibrous, much branched, and somewhat creep- ing, growing among dead leaves, or in half de- cayed vegetable mould. Stem solitary, five or six inches high, flowers in a drooping cluster. (Smith's Engl. Flnr. vol. ii. p. 249.) The species of this plant found in the Middle States, are, that called the Indian Pipe (M. uni- flora), and the woolly monotropa. Pine-sap, or False Beach-drops. Both these singular plants are called parasitic. (See Flor. Centric.) BIRD PEPPER. A species of small capsi- cum, which afibrds the best Cayenne pepper. See Capsicum. BISCUIT (Lat. bis, twice; Fr. euH, baked, Ital. bfscoto). A kind of hard dry bread cake Biscuits are more easily kept than other kinds of bread, and as they contain no ferment, they are better fitted than loaf bread for persons of weak stomachs, and for the pap of infants, who are under the misfortune of being brought up by hand. The best biscuits and the most wholesome, are those prepared for the use of the navy. They are of two kinds, captains' and seamen's biscuit. The latter are composed of wheaten flour, from which the bran only has been taken ; consequently they are more nutritive than the finer sort. In the government bake-houses at Weevil and Deptford, the biscuits are prefera- ble to those baked by ordinary bakers, owing to the extent of the operations, and the purity of the wheat-meal: 102 lbs. of perfectly dry biscuits are procured from 112 lbs. of meal. BISHOPING. A cant term made use of q, 181 BISON. BISON. among horse-jockeys, implying the practices employed to conceal the age of an old horse, or the ill properties of a bad one. See Age OF HOUSKS. BISON, AMERICAN (Bos Americanus). This species of the ox kind is peculiar to the temperate latitudes of North America, where it is universally, though incorrectly called the Buffalo, a name properly belonging to a differ- ent species of the ox tribe common to Eastern Asia. The bison was found by the first colo- nists of the Carolinas, and other of the South- ern and Middle States, from which parts of the ^'•irth American Continent they have long been exterminated or frightened away. So late as the year 1766, they were seen in a wild state in Kentucky. At present n5ne are to be met with east of the Mississippi river, having retired beycmd this great stream, and concen- trated in the praries of the Missouri and other rivers of the far west. Here they often unite in immense herds, some of which, travellers and hunters inform us, contain eight or ten thousand. Generally speaking, the bison is rather timid, dying from the hunter, except in the rutting season, about the middle of June, when the males become very fierce, and often kill each other in their terrible combats. The qualities of buffalo beef are highly ex- tolled, and the hump upon the shoulders is re- garded as a particularly choice morsel. The tongues, which constitute a regular article of trade, are exceedingly rich and tender. The thick and rough hairy skins of the bison are tanned by the Indians and trappers, and then sold to be formed into buffalo robes and other articles of comfort, so useful during the severe winters of the United States. The following highlj' interesting account of the American Bison is taken from the Ameri' can Farmer, (vol. vi. p. 260), under the head of Buffi. lo Oxen. " The animal known by the name of the Buffalo throughout the valleys of Missouri and Mississippi differs materially from the buffa- lo of the Old World. At first view, his red fiery e3'es, his shaggy mane, and long beard, the long lustrous hair upon his shoulders and fore-quarters, and the comparative nakedness of his hind-quarters, strongly remind a specta- tor of the lion. "In the size of his head, in bulk, in stature, and in fierceness, he resembles the buffalo of Buffon ; but the humps or protuberance be- tween his shoulders, the shape of his head, his curled forehead, short thick arms, and long hind legs, mark a much stronger aflSnity to the bison. " He carries his head low like the buffalo, and this circumstance, together with his short muscular neck, broad chest, and short thick arms, designate him as peculiarly qualified for drawing : the whole weight of his body would thus be applied in the most advantageous man- ner to the weight draAvn. The milk of the fe- male is equal in quality to that of the cow, but deficient in quantity. It has been supposed that the smallness of the udders is more re- markable in those that have the hump large, and that the diminished size of the hump is evidence of a more abundant secretion of milk The hump, when dressed, tastes like the udder of a cow, and is deemed a delicacy by the Indians. But there is one other particu- lar which distinguishes the buffalo of the New World fi'om its eastern namesake more distinctly than any variety of conformation could do. The cow refuses to breed with the buffalo of Europe ; and such is the fixed aversion between these creatures, that they always keep separate, although bred under the same roof and feeding in the same pas- ture. The American buffalo, on the contrary, breeds freely with the domestic cattle, and propagates a race that continues its kind. Many of the lanxlholders in Louisiana, like the patriarchs of old, possess thousands of cattle which graze at liberty in the unculti- vated prairies. These herds cost their owners little more than the trouble of marking them, and the expense of salting once or twice in a month, to prevent them from becoming wild By occupying the same pastures, they have be come so much intermixed with the buffalo that it is difficult to say to which race they are most nearly allied. "In procuring the cross, it is necessary to observe one precaution. The domestic breed must furnish the male, and the bufialo the female. The wild bull and the cow can be brought together without difficulty, and the im- pregnation is perfect ; but the pelvis of the cow is not sufficiently capacious to allow the passage of the buffalo's foetus with its hump. The pelvis is the circular bone which connects the spine with the thigh bones, and when the foetus, from disease or any other cause, is too large to pass through it, the female must neces- sarily die in labour. This fact constitutes the principal obstacle to the introduction of the half breed in the old settlements. It would be easy to catch and tame a single male of the wild breed, and to obtain any nuftiber of im- pregnations from him ; but it is difficult to pro- cure, and still more to confine a, sufficient number of wild females. The amazing strength of the head and breast enables them to overset the strongest fences by running against them ; and unless they are caught very young, they can never be effectually tamed. Nevertheless, some enterprising farmers in this state and Missouri are introducing the breed. Captain Jenkins of Rutherford county, has one three years old and one two years old of the half blood, and several calves of the quarter blood, all of which are large for their age, and pro- mise well. The advantages proposed by the introduction of this breed are, that the oxen thus raised will be stronger, less sluggish, more hardy, and more easily kept, and (if it be* true that the buffalo goes twelve months with young) they will probably last longer than the common breed. In addition to these conside- rations, the hides are larger and applicable to a greater number of uses, and the leather i3 thicker, softer, and more impervious to water. The full grown buffalo on the Missouri are said to be from sixteen to eighteen hands high, and as the body is larger in proportion to the height, than in the domestic cattle, they must greatly exceed the finest of the imported breed in strength and weight. In the neighbourhood of the settlements, the hunter's dogs and BISSLINGS. BLACKBIRD. prairie flies conspire to prevent them from at- taining either full size or mature age." BISSLINGS, A provincial word, applied, like biestings, to the first milk of the newly calved cow. See Bf.esting. BITTER PRINCIPLE. This term has been applied to certain products of the action of ni- tric acid upon animal and vegetable matters of an intensely bitter taste. {Brande's Did. of Science.) The most important of the plants cultivated with us for their bitter principle are the hop, the common broom, mugwort, ground ivy, marsh trefoil or buck-bean, and the gen- tian family of plants. Quassia, the wood of a tree, is also a very intense bitter, and is used in medicine, and clandestinely in the brewing of beer. The chief combinations of the bitter principle used in medicine are narcotic, aro- matic, astringent, acid, and purgative bitters. (Lowe's El. ofAg. pp. 371—373.) BITTERS. A spirituous liquor in which bitter herbs or roots are steeped. An excessive habit of taking bitters may finally prove detri- mental to the stomach, by over-excitement, or by inducing a kind of artificial demand for food in greater quantity than is salutary to the general health. Habitual drunkenness has often been the sequel of the insiduous practice of taking bitters. BITTER-SWEET, or WOODY NIGHT- GHADE (Solanum dulcamam). This wild plant loves moist places, therefore grows most freely in hedges and thickets, near ditches, rivei-s, and damp situations. It flowers in June and July, and ripens its berries in August, which are of a red colour, juicy, bitter, and poisonous. Its flowers are an elegant purple, with yellow threads in their middle, and the berries are oval or oblong in shape. The stalks are shrubby, and run, when supported, to ten feet in length ; of a bluish colour, and when bruised or broken have an odour not very fragrant or desirable, savouring of rotten eggs. A decoction of its wood, and the young Khoots sliced, is a valuable medicine, but not to be trifled with. {Enfr. Flor., vol. i. p. 317.) BITTERWORT. The old English name for the yellow gentian. See Gentian. BIXA. See An jtotta. BLACK. (Sax.) A common colour in horses. Horses of this colour are most esteemed when they are of a shining jet black, and well marked, without having white on their legs. The English black horses have generally more white about them than the black horses of other countries. Those that partake most of Ihe brown are said to be the strongest in con- stitution ; for the English black cart horses are found not to be so hardy as the bays or chest- nuts. BLACKBERRY, See Bramrle. BLACKBIRD. This is a species of bird so generally known, that but little need be said of its habits or its haunts. Numbers are bred in England every season, and those thus reared, it is believed, do not mi-^rate. Its food varies considerably with the season. In spring and earl}' summer, larvae of insects, worms, and snails ; as the season advances, fruit of various .sorts. When the enormous number of insects and their larva, with the abundance of snails and slugs, all injurious to vegetation, be duly considered, it may fairly be doubttxl whether the value of the fruit is not counter balanced by the services performed. The American blackbird difl'ers consider ably from the European. The species found in the United States bear the names of the great crow, the common crow, the cow, the red-winged, and the rusty. The following in- teresting details relative to birds which so often occupy attention in rural life, are from Mr. Nuttall's Manual of the Ornithology of the United States. Treating of the great crow blackbird, (7%e Quiscalis major oi Bonaparte) Mr. Nuttall says : "This large and crow-like species, some- times called the jackdaw, inhabits the southern maritime parts of the Union only, particularly the states of Georgia and Florida, where they are seen as early as the close of January or beginning of February, but do not begin to pair before March, previously to which season the sexes are seen in separate flocks. But about the .latter end of November, they quit even the mild climate of Florida, generally, and seek winter quarters probably in the West Indies, where they are known to be numerous, as well as in Mexico, Louisiana, and Texas ; but they do not ever extend their northern mi- grations as far as the Middle States. Previous to their departure, at the approach of winter, they are seen to assemble in large flocks, and every morning flights of them, at a great height, are seen moving away to the south. " Like most gregarious birds, they are of a very sociable disposition, and are frequently observed to mingle with the common crow- blackbirds. They assemble in great numbers among the sea islands, and neighbouring marshes on the main land, where they feed at low water, on the oyster-beds and sand-flats. Like crows, they are omnivorous, their food consisting of insects, small shell-fish, corn, and small grain, so that by turns they may be viewed as the friend or plunderer of the planter. "The note of this species is louder than that of the common kind, according to Audubon, resembling a loud shrill whistle, often accom- panied by a cry like crick crick cree, and in the breeding season changing almost into awarble. They are only heard to sing in the spring, and their concert, though inclining to sadness, is not altogether disagreeable. Their nests a- d built in company, on reeds and bushes, in the neighbourhood of salt marshes and ponds; they lay about three to five egss which are whitish, blotched and lined nearly all over with dusky olive. They begin to lay about the be- ginning of April; soon after which the males leave their mates not only with the care of in- cubation, but with the rearing of the young, moving about in separate flocks, like the cow birds, without taking any interest in the fate of their progeny. " The general appearance of the male is black, but the head and neck have bluish-pur- ple reflections ; the rest presents shades of steel-blue, excepting the back, rump, and mid- dling wing coverts, which are glossed with cofer-green; the vent, inferior tail coverts 183 BLACKBIRD. BLACKBIRD. and thighs are plain black. The ail, wedge- shaped, is nearly eight inches in length, and like that of the common species, is capable of assuming a boat-shaped appearance. Iris pale yellow. The bill and feet black. The fe.mnle is of a light dusk)' brown, with some feeble greenish reflections, and beneath of a dull brownish white. The young, at first, resemble the female, but have the irids brown, and graduallj' acquire their appropriate plumage." Of the Common Crow-Blackbird, {The Quis- calis versicolor of Audubon), Mr. Nuttall says : "This very common bird is an occasional or constant resident in every part of America, from Hudson's Bay and the Northern interior to the great Antilles, within the tropic. In most parts of this wide region they also breed, at least from Nova Scotia to Louisiana, and pro- bly farther south. In the states north of Vir- ginia they begin to migrate from tht beginning of March to May, leaving those countries again in numerous troops about the middle of No- vember. Thus assembled, from the north and west in increasing numbers, they wholly over- run, at times, the warmer maritime regions, where they assemble to pass the winter in the compan}' of their well known cousins the red- winged troopials or blackbirds ; for both, im- pelled by the same predatory appetite, and love of comfortable winter quarters, are often thus accidentally associated in the plundering and gleaning of the plantations. The amazing numbers in which the present species asso- ciate are almost incredible. Wilson relates that on the 20th of January, a few miles from the banks of the Roanoke, in Virginia, he met with one of those prodigious armies of black- birds, which, as he approached, rose from the surrounding fields with a noise like thunder, and descending on the stretch of road before him, covered it and the fences completely with black : rising again, after a few evolutions, they descended on the skirt of a leafless wood, so thick as to give the whole forest, for a con- siderable extent, -the appearance of being shrouded in mourning, the numbers amount- ing probably to many hundreds of thousands. Their notes and screams resembled the distant sound of a mighty cataract, but strangely at- tuned into a musical cadence, which rose and fell with the fluctuation of the breeze, like the magic harp of ^olus. " Their depredations on the maize crop or In- dian corn commence almost with the planting. The infant blades no sooner appear than they are hailed by the greedy blackbird as the sig- nal for a feast ; and, without hesitation, they descend on the fields, and regale themselves with the sweet and sprouted seed, rejecting and scattering the blades around as an evi- dence of their mischief and audacity. Again, about the beginning of August, while the grain is in the milky state, their attacks are renewed ■with the most destructive effect, as they now assemble as it were in clouds, and pillage the fields to such a degree that in some low and sheltered situations, in the vicinity of rivers, where they delight to roam, one-fourth of the crop is devoured by these vexatious visitors. The gun, also, notwiths anding the havoc it pi educes, lias little luore effect than to chase 184 th !m from one part of the field to the otljer. In the Southern States, in winter, they hover round the corn-cribs in swarms, and boldly peck the hard grain from the cob through the air-openings of the magazine. In consequence of these reiterated depredations they are de- tested bj' the farmer as a pest to his industry ; though, on their arrival, their food for a long time consists wholly of those insects which are calculated to do the most essential injury to the crops. Tliey, at this season, frequent swamps and meadows, and familiarly follow- ing the furrows of the plough, sweep up all the grub-worms, and other noxious animals, as soon as they appear, even scratching up the loose soil, that nothing of this kind maj' escape them. Up to the time of harvest, I have uni- formly, on dissection, found their food to con- sist of these larvae, caterpillars, moths, and beetles, of which they devour such numbers, that but for this providential economy, the whole crop of grain, in many places, would probably be destroyed by the time it began to germinate. In winter they collect the mast of the beech and oak for food, and may be seen assembled in large bodies in the woods for this purpose. In the spring season the blackbirds roost in the cedars and pine trees, to which in the evening they retire with friendly and mu- tual chatter. On the tallest of these trees, as well as in bushes, they generally build their nests, which work, like all their movements, is commonly performed in society, so that ten or fifteen of them are often seen in the same tree, and sometimes they have been known to thrust their nests into the interstices of the fish- hawk's eyry, as if for safety and protection. Occasionally they breed in tall poplars near to habitations, and, if not molested, continue to resort to the same place for several years in succession. They begin their breeding opera- tions from the commencement of April to May. The nest is composed outwardly of mud, mixed with stalks and knotty roots of grass, and lined with fine dry grass and horse-hair. The eggs, usually five or six, are of a dull green, like those of the crow, blotched and spotted with dark olive, more particularly to- wards the larger end. According to Audubon, the same species in the Southern States nests in the hollows of decayed trees, after the man- ner of the woodpecker, lining the cavity with grass and mud. They seldom produce more than a single brood in the season. In the au- tumn, and at the approach of winter, numerous flocks after foraging through the day, return from considerable distances to their general roosts among the reeds. On approaching their station, each detachment as it arrives, in strag- gling groups like crows, sweeps round the marsh in waving flight, forming circles ; amidst these bodies, the note of the old recon- noitring leader may be heard, and no sooner has he fixed upon the intended spot, than they all descend and take their stations in an in- stant. At this time they are also frequenlly accompanied by the ferruginous species, with which they associate in a friendly manner. "The blackbird is easily tamed, sings in confinement, and may be taught to articulate some few words pretty distinctly. Among the BLACKBIRD. BLACK GUM. variety nf its natural notes, the peculiar!}' affected sibilation of the starling is heard in the vjoitishee. woffitshee, and whistle, which often accompanies this note. Their intestines and stomach are frequently infested b\' long, cylindric, tapering worms, which probably in- crease sometimes in such numbers as to de- stroy the bird. "The male is twelve inches long, and eight- ten in alar extent. The prevailing black colour^of the body is relieved by glossy reflec- tions of steel blue, dark violet, and green ; the violet is most conspicuous on the head and breast, and the green on the hind part of the neck. The back, rump, and whole lower parts, with the exception of the breast, reflect a cu- preous gloss. The wing-coverts, secondaries, and coverts of the tail, are light violet, with much of the red ; the rest of the wings and rounded tail are black, with a steel-blue gloss. Iris silvery. The femnk is rather less, but very similar in colour, and glossy parti- coloured reflections." The Rusty Blackbird. "This specie^," says Mr. Nuttall, •' less frequent than the preceding, is often associated with it, or with the red- winged trQopial or the cow-pen bird, and, ac- cording to the season, they are found throughout America, from Hudson's Bay to Florida and westward to the Pacific ocean. Early in April, according to Wilson, they pass hastily through Pennsylvania, on their return to the north to breed. In the month of March he observed them on the banks of the Ohio, near Kentucky river, daring a snow-storm. They arrive in the Vicinity of Hudson's Bay about the begin- ning of May, and feed much in the manner of the common crow-blackbird on insects, which they find on or near the ground. Dr. Richard- son saAv them in the winter as far as the lati- tude of 53°, and in the summer they range to the 68ih parallel or to the extremity of the wooded region. They sing in the pairing sea- son, but become nearly silent while rearing their young ; though when their brood release them from care they again resume their lay, and ma)' occasional Ij' be heard until the ap- proach of winter. Their song is quite as agreeable and musical as that of the starling, and greatly skirpasses that of any of the other species. I have heard them singing until the middle of October. "They are said to build in trees and bushes, at no great distance from the ground, making a nest similar to the other species, and lay five eggs, of a pale blue spotted with black. The young and old, now assembling in large troops, retire from the northern regii^ns in September. From the beginning of October to the middle of November, they are seen in flocks through the Eastern States. During their stay in this vicinity, they assemble towards night to roost in or round the reed marshes of Fresh Pond, near Cambridge. Sometimes they select the willows by the water for their lodging, in pre- ference to the reeds, which they give up to their companions the crow-blackbirds. Early in October they feed chiefly on grasshoppers and berries, and at a later period pay a tran- sient visit to the corn-field. They pass the winter in the Southern States, and like their 24 darker relatives, make familiar visits to the barn-yard and corn-cribs. Wilson remarks, that they are easily domesticated, and in a few days become quite familiar, being reconciled to any quarters while supplied with plenty of food. "The male is about nine inches in length, and fourteen in alar extent; black, glosse(l with dark green; with the tail somewhat rounded ; iris silvery. The female is of about the same size with the male, and the young of the first season, of both sexes, are nearly of the same colour." BLACK CANKER. A disease in turnip and other crops, produced by a species of ca- terpillar. See Bone Ddst. BLACK COUCH GRASS, or BLACK TWITCH. Provincial names for the marsh bent grass, or Agrosfis alba. See Aghostis. BLACK DOLPHIN. A term applied to a small insect which is frequently very destruc- tive to bean, turnip, and some other green crops. BLACK FLY. An insect of the beetle tribe, very injurious to turnij>s in their early stage. See Flt. BLACK GUM (Ni/ssa sylvntka). This North American tree is variously designated in diflferent parts of the United States by the names of the Black gum, Yellow gttm, and Sour gum, the last of which appellation is doubtless derived from the extremely acid taste of its fruit. This consists of deep blue berries of an oval shape. Each stem has twin-berries, and each berry contains a very hard slightly con- vex stone. The leaves are five or six inches long, entire, of an elongated oval shape, with downy stems. The river Schuylkill, in the vi- cinity of Philadelphia, may be assumed as the northern limit of the black gum, which is very common in DelaAvare, Maryland, and other Middle and Southern States, both east and west of the Alleghany mountains. In Maryland, Virginia, and the Western States, Michaux in- forms us, it grows without any peculiar form on high and level grounds, with the oaks and walnuts. In the lower parts of the Carolinas and Georgia, where it is found only in wet places, with the small magnolia or white-bay, the red-bay, the loblolly-bay, and the water- oak, it has a pyramidal base resembling a sugar-loaf. The black gum frequently attains a height of sixty or seventy feet, with a diameter of eighteen or twenty inches, being larger in the upper part of Virginia, in Kentuck)' and Ten- nessee, than in the marshy grounds of the maritime parts of the Southern states. The bark of the trunk is whitish and similar to that of the young white oak. The wood ih fine-grained but tender, and its fibres are in terwoven and collected in bundles ; an arrange ment characteristic of the genus. The albur num or sap part, as it is commonly designated, of stocks growing upon dry and elevated lands is yellow. This complexion is considered by wheel-wrights as a proof of the superior quality of the wood, and has probably given j the tree one of its popular names. It is ex^ lensively employed in Richmond, Baltimore, I and Philadelphia, for the naves or hubs of ' 0.2 185 BLACK GUM. BLACK THORN. fioach and wagon wheels, as well as for hatters' blocks, being so Utile liable to split ; a quality which also causes it to be chosen by ship- wrights for the cap, or piece which receives the top-mast. Tupfh). — The black gum is often confounded Avitli another tree of the same genus, the Tupelo or Nyssu (ujuaficn, also called gum tree, sour glim, and peperidge. The first of these appel- lations, Michaux sa3^s, is most common, the second is wholly misapplied, as no self-con- densing fluid distils from the tree, and the third which more appropriately belongs to the common barberry-hush, is used only by the descendents of the Dutch settlers in the neigh- bourhood of New York. The tupelo extends much higher north than the black gum, ap- pearing in the lower part of New Hampshire near the sea; but it is most abundant in the southern parts of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. It grows only in \vet grounds. In Delaware, M'here the black gum and tupelo are found together, the former name is univer- sally applied to both. In New Jersey it is con- stantly seen on the borders of the swamps with tlie sweet gum, the swamp white-oak, the chestnut white-oak, and the white elm. It rarely exceeds forty or forty-five feet in height, and its limbs, which spring at five or six feet from the ground, grow in a horizontal direc- tion. The trunk is of a uniform size from its base. While it is less than ten inches in diame- ter the bark is not remarkable, but on full- grown and vigorous stocks it is thick, deepl)^- furroMed, and, unlike the bark of any other tree, divided into hexagons, which are some- times nearly regular. The leaves are about half the length of those of the black gum, viz.: three inches long, ob- oval, smooth, alternate, and often united in bunches at the extremity of the )'oung lateral shoots. The flowers are small and scarcely apparent. The fruit, which is abundant, is, iike that of the black gum, of a deep blue co- lour, about the size of a pea, and attached in pairs. It is ripe towards the beginning of No- vember, and remaining after the falling of the leaf, it forms a part of the nourishment of the robins and other birds in their autumnal mi- gration to the south. The stone is flattened on one -side, a little convex on the other, and striated lengthwise. Bruised in water the berries yield an unctuous, greenish juice, of a slightly bitter taste, which is not easily mingled with the fluid. The tupelo holds a middle place between trees with soft and those with hard wood. When perfectly seasoned, the sap part is of a ight reddish tint, and the heart, of a deep brown. Of trees exceeding fifteen or eighteen inches in diameter more than half the trunk is generally hollow. The woody fibres which compose the body of trees in general are closely united, and usually ascend in a perpendicular direction. By a caprice of nature, they sometimes pursue an undulating course, as in the red and sugar maples, or, as in the last, mentioned species, form riplings so fine, that the curves are only one. two, or three lines in diameter; or lastly, ihfy ascend spirally, as in the twisted elm 18C (Orme tortillard) following the same bent foi four or five feet. In these species, however, the deviation is only accidental, and to be sure of obtaining this form it must be perpe- tuated by grafting or by transplanting young stocks from the shade of the parent tree. The genus which we are considering exhibits, on the contrary, a constant peculiarity of organi- zation ; the fibres are united in bundles, and interwoven like a braided, cord. Hence the wood is extremely ditficult to split unless cut into short billets ; a property which gives it a decided superiority for certain uses. In New York, New Jersey, and particularly at Phila- delphia, the wood of the tupelo is almost ex- clusively employed for the hubs of wheels. In a very few places white oak is used for this purpose, probably because the tupelo is of a bad quality or cannot be readily obtained. Michaux thinks that from its limited size and strength, the tupelo can never be substituted for the twisted elm, where. very large naves or hubs are required for wagons destined to sup- port immense burdens. In France, he says, the wheels of their heavy vehicles have naves twenty inches in diameter at the insertion of the spokes, with an axle-tree of three hundred and fifty pounds weight, and are laden for dis- tant transportation with nine thousand pounds. If, to its own organization, the tupelo joined the solidity of the elm, a more rapid vegetation and the faculty of growing on dry and elevated lands, and of expanding to three or four times its present size, it would be the most precious to the mechanical arts of all the forest-trees of Europe and North America. In New Jersey and Pennsylvania, many farmers prefer the tulepo for the side-boards and bottom of carts, as experience has proved its durability. Wooden bowls are made of it, and also the mortars in which Indian corn is beaten with an iron pestle in the process of preparing ho- miny. It burns slowly and throws out a good heat, which makes it a favourite with those who keep wood fires, especially for the back log, a purpose to which it is almost exclusively devoted. {American Syha.) See Tupelo. BLACK LEGS. A provincial name given in some places to a disease frequent among calves and sheep. In Staffordshire it is called the wood evil. It is a bloody gelatinous hu- mour, settling in their legs, and often in the neck between the skin and the flesh, making them carry their necks awry. BLACK MUZZLE. See Sheep, Diseases op. BLACK OATS. A species of oats much cultivated in some parts of England. The oats of this habit have the corolla very dark, are awned, and the seeds are small. They are rather an inferior class of oats, but are hardy and ripen early, and it is this property which suits them for cultivation in cold and elevated climates. {Prof. Loiv. Ele. Ag., p. 256.) See Oats. BLACK THORN, or SLOE {Prunus spi- nasa). This rigid bushy shrub is well known, growing commonly in hedges and thickets. It is frequently used in making fences, especially in exposed situations. But it is not reckoned so good for this purpose as the white thorn, because it is apt to run more into the ground, BLACK TWITCH. BLEND-WATER. and is not so certain of growing; however, when cut, the bushes are much the best, and most lasting of any for dead hedges, or to mend gaps ; cattle are not so apt to crop fences of this kind as those of the white thorn. The fruit is well known in the country, and from its acid, astringent, and very austere fla- vour, it is not eatable except when baked, or boiled with a large proportion of sugar, and then it is not good. The juice, when inspis- satct*. over a slow fire, is a substitute for the Egyptian acacia, or Indian catechu. In some form or other this juice is used in adulterating port wine. The leaves also are reckoned among the adulterated substitutes for tea in England. A water distilled from the blossoms of tlie sloe is said to be used medicinally in Switzerland and Germany. The juice of sloes checks purgings when no inflammation is present. (^Smith's Eng. Flor. vol. ii. p. 357.) What is commonly called the black thorn in the United States is not the sloe or black haw, (a species of vihumum), but the yellow Crafas- g-«soPbotanists,one of the species of thorn com- monly used for hedges. (See Flur. Cestrica.) BLACK TWITCH (Agroslis alba). A nox- ious weed of the sub-aquatic marsh bent genus. It chokes up drains and underwood, and flou- rishes even in extremely dry situations, prov- ing very injurious to many crops. It is also known under the names of black couch and black wrack. See Marsh Bext Grass. BLACK WALNUT. See Walxut. BLACK WASH. A lotion composed of ca- lomel and lime water. BLACK WATER. See Sheep, Diseases of. BLADE (Sax. biae©, bkc; Fr. bled,- Low Lat. bbidus). The spire of grass before it grows to seed ; the green shoots of corn which rise from the seed. {Todd.) BLADE-BONE. In farriery, the popular name for the shoulder-blade {scapula), of an animal. BLAIN (Sax. ble^ene; Dutch, bleyne, from the Icelandic blina, a pustule). In farriery, in- flammation of the tongue, a disease in cattle, which frequently affects them in the spring of the year or beginning of summer. The disease (says Claler) is neither so frequent nor so fatal in the horse as it is in cattle ; but it does sometimes occur, and the nature of it is fre- quently misunderstood. The horse will refuse his food, hang his head, and a considerable quantity of ropy fluid will be discharged from the mouth. On examining the mouth, the tongue will be found considerably enlarged, and, running along the side of it, there will be a reddish or darkish purple bladder, and which sometimes protrudes between the,teeth. The neighbouring salivary glands are en- larged, and the discharge of saliva is very great, while the soreness of the swelled and blistered part causes the horse obstinately to resist every motion of the jaws. The cure is very simple : the bladder must be deeply lanced from end to end : there will not be any great flow of blood. This will relieve or cure the horse in twentj^-four hours. If he can be spared from his work, a dose of physic will remove the stomach aflTection and any slight degree of fever that may have existed. If the disease is neglected, the swelling will at length burst, and corroding ulcers will eat deeply into the tongue, and prove very difficult to heal. (Clafer^s Farriery, p. 64.) BLAST. A vegetable disease, the same as blight. In farriery, it is also a vulgar name for any circumscribed swelling or inflamma tion in the body of an animal. See Mildew. BLASTING OF STONES. The operation of tearing asunder large stones or rocks which are in the way of the plough, or other instru- ment employed in breaking up ground, by means of gunpowder. Logs of wood, the roots of trees, and other obstructions, are removed by the same agent. In stone quarries, blast- ing is a necessary business. Perhaps one of the greatest and most successful blasts ever effected was at Craigleith quarry. Scotland, on the 18th of October, 1834, when, by 500 lbs. of Sir Henry Bridge's double-strong blasting pow- der, a mass of upwards of 20,000 tons of solid rock was displaced. {Quart. Journ. ofAgr. vol. vi. p. 463.) BLAZE. A white.mark or star in the face of a horse. BLEEDING (Sax. bier,an). An operation frequently necessary in the disorders of differ- ent kinds of cattle, particularly horses. Such horses as stand much in the stable, and are full-fed, require bleeding more than those which are in constant exercise ; but especially when their eyes look heavy and dull, or red and inflamed ; and when the)'' look yellow, and the horse is inflamed in his lips and the inside of his mouth ; or when he seems hotter than usual, and mangles his hay. These indica- tions not only show that bleeding is required, but likewise the lowering of the diet. The spring is the common season for bleeding horses ; but periodical bleeding, without its necessity being indicated, should never be practised. In summer, it is often necessary to prevent fevers, always choosing the cool of the morning for the operation, and keeping them cool the remaining part of the daj\ Some farriers bleed horses three or four times a year, or even oftener, by way of prevention, taking only a very small quantity at a time, as a pint or a pint and a half. There is, however, this inconvenience from frequent bleeding, that it grows into a habit, which, in some cases, can- not be easil)^ broken off" without hazard ; and besides, horses become weak from frequent bleeding. BLEMISH. In farriery, any kind of imper- fection in a horse or other animal. In horses, they consist of broken knees, loss of hair in the cutting places, maHenders and sal- lenders, cracked heels, false quarters, splents, or excrescences which do not occasion lame- ness ; and wind-galls and bog-spavins, where they prevail to any great degree. In planting, the knots on the outside of trees, and shakes internally, are termed blemishes. BLENDINGS. A provincial word applied to mixed crops, such as peas and beans when grown together. BLEND-WATER. In farriery, the name of a distemper incident to neat or black cattle, in which the liver is affected. 187 BLIGHT. BLIGHT. BLIGHT. The general name for various injuries received by, and diseases incident to, ftorn, fruit-trees, plants, &c. The terms blight find blast, are indiscriminately applied to plants injured by fungi, insects, disease, frost, &c. Blight or/ginating in cold, which, congealing the sap of the tender shoots and leaves of plants, causes these to perish from the bursting of their sap-vessels. Blight sometimes results from causes the very opposite of this, namely during the prevalence of very sultry, or very dry winds, the effects of which are popularly termed Jire- blights, and are similar to those which some- times injure the vineyards of Italy, and the hop- grounds of England. What is called in England the white blight is supposed to originate from want of nourishment. It is most commonly met with in grain fields during very dry spells of weather, especially on thin gravelly soils, when the plants get into head or blossom pre- maturely, and the head or seed-pod ripens without filling. The mildew, one of the greatest enemies that the agriculturist has to contend with, is nothing more than several specif of parasitical fungi, or very minute plants of the mushroom species, which attack different kinds of plants, grain, &c. It varies in its nature and appearance, accord- ing to the plants attacked. (See PI. 2, /,m,»j,&c.) Blight originating in fungi, attacks the leaves or stems both of herbaceous and woody plants, such as the common barberry and buckthorn, but more generally grasses, and particularly our most useful grains, wheat, barley, and oats. It always appears in the least ventilated parts of a field and has generally been pre- ceeded by cold, moist weather, which happen- ing in the warm month of July, suddenly chills and checks vegetation. It generally as- sumes the appearance of a rusty-looking powder that soils the finger when touched. In March, 1807, some blades of wheat attacked by this species of blight were examined by Keith; the appearance was that of a number of rusty-looking spots or patches dispersed over the surface of the leaf, exactly like that of the seeds of dorsiferous ferns bursting their indusium. Upon more minute inspec- tion, these patches were found to consist of thousands of small globules collected into groaips beneath the epidermis, which they raised up in a sort of blister, and at last burst. Some of the globules seemed as if embedded even in the longitudinal vessels of the blade. They were of a yellowish or rusty brown, and somewhat transparent. But these groups of globules have been ascertained by Sir J. Banks to be patches of a minute fungus, the seeds of which, as they float in the air, enter the pores of the epidermis of the leaf, particularly if the plant is sickly ; or they exist in the manure or soil, and enter by the pores of the root. {Sir J. Banks on Blight.) This fungus has been figured by Sowerby and by F. Bauer and Grew. I' is known among farmers by the name of red rust, and chiefly affects the stalks and leaves. But there is another species of fungus known to the European farmer by the name of red gum, which attacks the ear only, and is extremely prejudicial. In the aggregate it consists of groups of minute globules interspersed with 188 transparent fibres. The globules are filled with a fine powder, which explodes when they are put into water. It is very generally accom- panied with a maggot of a yellow colour, which preys also upon the grain, and increases the amount of injury. Grisenthwaite conjectures that in many cases in which the blight and mildew attack corn crops, it may be for want of the peculiar food requisite for perfecting the grain ; it being known that the fruit or seeds of many plants contain primitive principles not found in the rest of the plant. Thus the grain of wheat contains gluten and phosphate of lime, and where these are wanting in the soil, that is, in the manured earths in which the plant grows, it will be unable to perfect its fruit, which of consequence becomes more liable to disease. {New Theory of Agr.) Smut is a disease incidental to cultivated corn, by which the farina of the grain, together with its proper integuments and even part of the husk, is converted into a black soot-like powder. If the injured ear be struck with the finger, the powder will be dispersed like a cloud of black smoke ; and if a portion of the powder be wetted by a drop of water and put under the microscope, it will be found to con- sist of millions of minute and transparent globules, which seem to be composed of a clear and glairy fluid encompassed by a thin and skinny membrane. This disease does not affect the whole body of the crop, but ths smutted ears are sometimes very numerously dispersed throughout it. Some have attributed it to the soil in which the grain is sown, and others have attributed it to the seed itself, alleg- ing that smutted seed will produce a smutted crop; but in all this there seems to be a great deal of doubt. Wildenow regards it as originat- ing in a small fungus, which multiplies and extends till it occupies the whole ear (Princip. of Bot. p. 356) : but F. Bauer, of Kew, seems to have ascertained it to be merely a morbid swelling of the ear, and not at all connected with the growth of a fungus. (Smith's Introd p. 282.) It is said to be prevented by steeping the grain, before sowing, in a weak solution of arsenic. But, besides the disease called smut, there is also a disease analogous to it, or a different stage of the same disease, known to the farmer by the names of bags or smut balls, in which the nucleus of the seed only is converted into a black powder, whilst the ovary, as well as the husk, remains sound. The ear is not much altered in its external ap- pearance, and the diseased grain contained in it will even bear the operation of thrashing, and consequently mingle with the bulk; but it is always readily detected by the experienced buyer, and fatal to the character of the sample. It is said to be prevented as in the case of smut. This disorder, so very fatal to the cha- racter of wheat from the injury it does to flour, is known in some of the United States by the very homely name of bust. Mildetju is a thin and whitish coating with ; which the leaves of vegetables are sometimes covered, occasioning their decay and death, and injuring the health of the plant. It is fre- quently found on the leaves of hops, hazlenut, and the white and yellow dead-nettle. It is BLIND, MOON-. BLOOD WORT. found also on wheat in the shape of a glutinous exudation, particularly when the days are hot and the nights without dew. J. Robertson {Hurt. Trans, v. 178), considers it as a minute fungus, of which different species attack differ- rent plants. Sulphur he has found to be a specific cure. In cultivated crops mildew is said to be pre- vented by manuring with soot; though by some this is denied, and soot, by rendering the crop more luxuriant, is said to be an encourager of mildew, the richest part of a field being always most infected by it. As it is least common in airy situations, thinning and ventilation may be considered as preventives. See Mildew. ( Loudon^ s Eiicyc. of Agricult.) Mr. Haggerston, who obtained a premium from the Massachusett's Horticultural Society for the discovery of a mode of destroying the rose-slug, says — that a weak solution of whale- oil soap, in the proportion of two pounds of soap to about fifteen gallons of water, or weaker, will check and entirely destroy the mildeAv on the gooseberry, peach, grape vine, &c. &c. For further particulars in regard to the appli- cation of this remedy see Aphis, Rust, and Sjcut. BLIND, MOON-. In farriery, a disease in the eyes of horses, which is commonly the forerunner of cataract, and generally ends in blindness. BLINDNESS. A deprivation or want of sight, originating from various causes ; a com- plaint more frequent in horses than in neat- cattle or sheep. Blindness in horses may be discerned by the walk or step being uncertain and unequal, so that they dare not set down their feet boldly ; but when they are mounted by an expert horse- man, the fear of the spurs will frequently make them go resolutely and freely, so that their blindness can hardly be perceived. Another mark by which horses that have lost their sight may be known, is, that when they hear anybody enter the stable, they prick up their ears, and move them backwards and forwards in a particular manner. Blindness in sheep. A complaint that some- times occurs in these animals, from their being much exposed to either great dampness or long continued snows. BLIND NETTLE. A provincial term for the wild hemp plant. BLIND WORM. A term sometimes applied to the slow-worm {Anguis fragilis). See Slow •WORM. BLINKERS. Expansions of the sides of the bridle of a horse, intended to prevent him from seeing objects on either side, but at the same time not to obstruct his vision in front. BLISTERING (Dutch, bluyster). In farriery, the operation of stimulating the surface of some part of the body of an animal, by means of acrid applications, so as to raise small ve- sications upon it. It is frequently emploj'ed for the purpose of removing local affections of different kinds, such as hard indolent tu- mours. BLISTER FLY. The Cantharis, or Spa- nish fly. BLISTER LIQUID is composed of pow- dered alkanet two ounces, and a gallon of spi rit of turpentine ; adding, on ihe fourth day, & pound of powdered Spanish flies ; and mace, rating the whole for a month, when the clear fluid will form a strong liquid blister. If so powerful an external stimulant be not required, this liquid may be diluted with an equal part of spermaceti oil. (Clafer''s Farriery.) BLISTER OINTMENT. One ounce of powdered Spanish flies; half an ounce of powdered euphorbium; four ounces of lard. One ounce of this well rubbed in is sutiicienl to blister a horse's leg. That commonly sold by farriers generally contains oil of vitriol (sulphuric acid), to make it raise the blister without the trouble of rubbing in the ointment; and, in consequence, a blemish is produced. BLOOD (Sax.blod; old French, i/o'-rf). The fluid which circulates in the bodies of all ani- mals. Blood, when drawn from the body, and allowed to rest, speedily separates into two portions, viz. the fluid, or serum, and the solid clot, crassamentum, or cruor. In quadrupeds, in general, the temperature of the blood is higher than in man. In the sheep, it ranges from 102° to 103°; in man it is 98° in a state of health. The equal distribution of the blood in the animal system is as essential to the health of quadrupeds as of man. When it is irregularly circulated, and more sent to any organ than it should share, that part becomes oppressed, diseased action is set up in it; and if the organ be a vital one, life is endangered or destroyed through the violence of inflammation. Blood is an excellent manure for fruit trees; and, mixed with earth, forms a very rich com- post. (Ann. of Phn. vol. ii. p. 202.) BLOOD-ROOT. See Bloodwokt. BLOOD-SHOT. In farriery, a popular term for that red appearance which the eye exhibits when inflamed. The best treatment is to bathe the eye with a lotion composed of one drachm of white vitriol (sulphate of zinc) dissolved in half a pint of water. BLOOD-SPAVIN or BOG-SPAVIN. In farriery, a swelling of the vein that runs along the inside of the hock of the horse, forming a little soft tumour in the hollow part, often at- tended with weakness or lameness of the hock. Clater (Farriery, p. 272) says, a blister is the proper application. BLOODWORT (Sanguinaria canadensis). A hardy American perennial, flowering in April. It loves a shady situation and bog soil; and may be propagated by parting the roots in spring or autumn. The root of bloodwort thVows out a bright red juice, when pressed, which the Indians paint themselves with. It operates as an emetic and narcotic. BLOODWORT (Rumex sanguineus). This is a beautiful dock, growing wild in many parts of England, but introduced lately into gardens, for its fine deep-red appearance. It grows from two to three feet high, and the stalks are firm, stiff, reddi-sh, and branched. The leaves are long and narrow, heart-shaped at the base, and taper gradually towards their point. Sometimes the leaves are a deep green, only stained, or veined with red; sometimes they are entirely a deep blood colour, which 189 BLOOM. BLUE-BIRD. The large flesh-fly (Musca pives them a beautiful appearance. The flowers are in terminal clusters, small and numerous. They blow in June and July, and the seed ripens in August. The dried root, either in powder or in decoction, is astringent; and may be used in spitting of blood, and vio- lent purgings. BLOOM or BLOSSOM. A general name for the flowers of plants, but more especially of fruit-trees. Tlie oflice of the blossom is partly to afford protection, and partly to draw or supply nourishment to the fertilizing organs of the plant, for the perfecting of the embryo, fruit, or seed. Bloom is a term applied to the delicate powder which coats the outer surface of such smooth-skinned fruits as the grape and plum. In gathering such fruits, care should always be observed to prevent this bloom from being removed by handling or otherwise, as it injures the appearance. BLOSSOM. A colour in horses, formed by the intermixture of white hairs with sorrel and bay ones. BLOW-BALL. A local name for the flower of the dandelion. BLOW-FLY. cam aria). BLOW-MILK. The milk from which the cream has been blown off". BLOWN. In farriery, a diseased state of the stomach and bowels of cattle, caused by the sudden extrication of air in large quantities from some of the grosser kinds of green food. See HovEN. BLOWS. A provincial term used to signify the blossoms of beans, &c. BLUBBER. See Fish. BLUE-BELLS (Scilla nutans). A common name given to a bulbous-rooted plant of the hyacinth kind, frequently met with in woods and other places. Its bulb is globular, white, and coated; its leaves linear, channelled, shining, and drooping in their upper half; the flowers form a cluster on an upright stalk, drooping in the upper half; they are blue, pendulous, nearly an inch long, and scented. The bulb is acrid, but loses its acrimony in drying, in which state it answers as a substi- tute for gum-arabic in the art of dyeing, by being simply dried and powdered. BLUE-BIRD. Mr. Nuttall describes three species of the blue-bird (Sialia), found in America. That which is most familiarly known in the United States (the Si/lvia siulis of Wilson), is an insectivorous bird, inhabiting almost every section of the continent east of the Rocky Mountains, from the forty-eighth de- gree of latitude to the tropics. Although they generally spend their winters in the Southern States, tliey sometimes remain in well-protected warm situations in the southern parts of Penn- sylvania. They breed and pass the summer from Labrador to Natchez. " In the Middle and Northern States," says Mr. Nuttall, " the return of the blue-bird to his old haunts round the barn and the orchard is hailed as the first agreeable presage of returning spring, and he Ls no less a messenger of grateful tidings to the farmer, than an agreeable, familiar, and useful companion to all. Though sometimes 190 he makes a still earlier flitting visit, from the 3d to the middle of March, he comes hither as a permanent resident, and is now accompanied by his mate, who immediately visits the box in the garden, or the hollow in the decayed orchard-tree, which has served" as the cradle of preceding generations of his kindred. Af- fection and jealousy, as in the contending and related thrushes, have considerable influence over the blue-bird. He seeks perpetually the company of his mate, caresses and soothes her with his amorous song, to which she faintly replies ; and, like the faithful rook, seeks oc- casion to show his gallantry by feeding her with some favourite insect. If a rival' makes his appearance, the attack is instantaneous, the intruder is driven with angry chattering from the precincts he has chosen, and he now returns to warble out his notes of triumph by the side of his cherished consort. The busi- ness of preparing and cleaning out the old nest or box now commences ; and even in October, before they bid farewell to their favourite mansion, on fine days, influenced by the anti- cipation of the season, they are often observed to go in and out of the box as if examining and planning out their future domicile. Littlt pains, however, are requisite for the protection** of the hardy young ; and a substantial lining of hay, and now and then a few feathers, is all that is prepared for the brood beyond the natural shelter of the chosen situation. As the martin and house-wren seek out the favour and convenience of the box, contests are not unfrequent with the parties for exclusive pos- session ; and the latter, in various clandestine ways, exhibits his envy and hostility to the favoured blue-bird. The eggs are five or six, of a very pale blue, and without spots. As they are very prolific, and constantly paired, they often raise two and sometimes probably three broods in the season ; the male taking the youngest under his affectionate charge, while the female is engaged in the act of incu- bation. " Their principal food consists of insects, particularly beetles, and other shelly kinds ; they are also fond of spiders and grasshoppers, for which they often, in company with their young, in autumn, descend to the earth, in open pasture-fields or waste grounds. Like our thrushes, they, early in spring, also collect the common wire-worm, or lulus, for food, as well as other kinds of insects, which they commonly watch for, while perched on the fences or low boughs of trees, and dart after them to the ground as soon as perceived. They are not, however, flycatchers, like the Sylvicolas and Muscicapas, hnt^.re rather industrious searchers for subsistence, like the thrushes, whose habits they wholly resemble in their mode of feeding. In the autumn, they regale themselves on va- rious kinds of berries, as those of the sour- gum, wild-cherry, and others ; and later in the season, as winter approaches, they frequent the red cedars and several species of sumach for their berries, eat persimmons m the Middle States, and many other kinds of fruits, and even seeds, the latter of which never enter into the diet of the proper flycatchers. They have also, occasionally, in a state of confinement. BLUE-BOTTLE. BLUE GRASS. been reared and fed on soaked bread and ve- getable diet, on which they thrive as well as the robin." (Nut/dH'n Orniihology.) The Western Blue-biid (Sialiu occidentalis of Townsend), is found along the Pacific coast west of the Rocky Mountains. It possesses many of the habits of the common kind, his song being, however, described as more varied, sweet, and tender than that of the common blue-bird of the Atlantic states. • . The Arctic Blue-bird (the Sialia artica of Audubon), is a beautiful species found in the highest latitudes of the North Western portions of the American continent. See NuttulCs Orni- thology of American Land Birds, Audubon, Wilson, &c. BLUE-BOTTLE {Cmtaurea). This is a large herbaceous genus, which contains seve- ral species known as weeds ; that, however, which is peculiar to corn-fields is the corn blue-bottle {Centaurea cyanus}. It grows amongst corn, and its presence incficates care- less farming. It is an annual, ripening its seeds in autumn. It is also known by the names of knapweed, matfellon, centaury, corn- flower, and hurt-sickle. The expressed juice of its blue flower, when mixed with cold alum- water, may be used as a water colour for painting, being a permanent colour. See Ckntaurt. This pretty wild flower has been introduced into our gardens for its elegance. The blue- bottle grows a foot high ; the stalk is firm and white, and the leaves are narrow, and of a whitish-green. The root is hard and fibrous. A decoction of the flowers with galls and cop- peras afllbrds a good writing ink. This plant is sometimes known among the common peo: pie bj{ the name of " wound herb." Any reli- ance 0% the styptic properties of the leaves might prove dangerous by losing time, and a consequent waste of blood, before proper as- sistance can be procured in extensive wounds. Small wounds can unite without its aid. An infusion of the flowers is slightly diuretic. BLUE-GRASS, wire-grass (Poa compressa, compressed or flattened poa. Plate 7, h). A very common perennial grass in the United States, found in fields, pastures, &c. It affords a good nutritious pasture for cattle, but is not so much esteemed as the green meadow-grass, {^Poa pratensis). Its great tenacity of life makes it sometimes very troublesome in the tillage of certain crops. (^Flor. Caestrica.) The famous Kentucky blue-grass, Dr. Dar- lington says, is the I'oa pratensis, smooth- stalked meadow-grass ; green grass ; (Plate 5, h) decidedly the most valuable of all the American pasture grasses. It comes in spon- taneously, in all rich, calcareous soils. The best time for sowing, says a writer in the Western Farmer and Gardener, is as soon as you can get ready after October ; or any time before the middle of March. Old fields, on which the sun can exert full power, produce blue grass in the greatest abundance, and of the best quality. Animals feeding thereon without grain, keep better and become fatter than on any other treatment; but even wood-lands will produce good grass. If intended for old or permanent pasture, the fields should be broken up in February or March, and sown in oats. Then sow ten pound of blue-grass seed, half a gallon of red clover- seed, and if a little timothy or orchard-grass be sprinkled on, so much the better. The timothy or orchard-grass will give a quick pasture, and afford protection to the blue-grass until it gets a strong foot-hold, after which no other grass can contend with it. The rains will cover the seed sufficiently to insure vege- tation. The following account of the blue grass is from the Franklin Farmer, " This grass, which constitutes the glory of Kentucky pastures, is esteemed superior to all others for grazing. It flourishes only on cal- careous soils. Opinions and practice vary here, as to the best time of sowing it — some preferring September, for the same reasons, chiefly, which relate to timothy or other grasses, others preferring February or March, to obviate the danger of the tender roots being winter-killed. It is sown either on wood-land or open ground — in the latter case most gene-, rally after a succession of exhausting crops in . old fields. If sown on woodland, the leaves, brush, and trash must be raked olTor burnt. It is particularly important to burn the leaves, else the seed may be blown away with them by the wind, or if not blown away, the leaves may prevent the seed reaching the earth and thus defeat their germination. Many of those who sow in winter, prefer casting the seed on the snow, as it enables them to eff"ect the ope- ration with more neatness and uniformity. In woodlands, the grass must not be grazed the first year, or at all events till after the seeds have matured. In open land, the practice has been adopted by some, of mixing timothy and clover with blue grass, in which case, half a bushel of the latter seed to the acre is suffi cient. The advantage resulting from this is, that it secures at once, a well-covered pasture that will bear considerable grazing the first year. The blue grass, in a few years, expels the other grasses, and takes entire possession of the field. On open ground, it is frequently sown in March upon wheat, rye, or oats. If the season is favourable, it may be sown in April ; but should the weather prove dry, a great por- tion of the seed will be lost. It is the practice, we believe, of most graziers, to put upon a given pasture as much stock as it will main- tain, without shifting them during the season, as, besides saving labour, it renders the cattle more quiet and contented. Others, however, fence off" their pastures into separate divisions, to undergo a regular succession of periodicil grazings. This plan secures a constant sup- ply of fresh grass, very grateful to the animals, and is believed to be more economical, as much less is trampled and rejected by the cattle. The number of animals to the acre must depend upon their size and the quality and quantity of grass. The grass on open ground is much more abundant, sweet and nutritious, than on woodland, and consequently will maintain much more stock, perhaps nearly twice as much ; while open woodland will produce much more and better grass than thai which is deeply shaded. The best grazier"* 191 BLUE MILK. BONES. extirpate, as fast as possible, every tree not valuable for timber or wanted for fuel, and some even prune the branches of those which are allowed to remain." (Fanner's Regiifer.) BLUE MILK. Milk that has been skim- med, or had the cream taken off. In large dairies it is chiefly used for feeding hogs. BLUE STONE. The common name for blue vitriol, or sulphate of copper. BOAR (Sax. baj^ ; Dutch, beer). The male of the swine-tribe of animals. See Hog and Swine. In horsemanship, a horse is said to boar when he shoots out his nose level with his ears, and tosses his nose in the wind. BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. A society established in London in 1794, under the pa- tronage of his Majesty, Geo. III., " For the Encouragement of Agriculture, and Internal Improvement," consisting of a president, and thirty ordinary members, with proper officers for conducting the business of the institution. The plan and design of this highly useful establishment, though previously suggested by * several writers on rural improvements, was ' chiefly brought forward, and carried into exe- cution by the unwearied eflforts and persever- ing industry of Sir John Sinclair, to whom the nation is certainly under much obligation. It was discontinued about the year 1812, in con- sequence of the withdrawal by government of the annual parliamentary grant of 3000/. for its support, chiefly owing to the society's inter- ference with political themes, foreign to the improvement of agriculture. A full account of the nature, origin, and plan, with the charter of incorporation of this excellent institution, may be seen in the first volume of the " Com- munications" published by the Board, which extended to seven vols. ; and these contain some excellent papers on various important matters connected with husbandry and agri- culture in general. BOG, and BOG GRASSES. See Peat Soils. BOG-BEAN. See Buck-beast. BOG-RUSH, BLACK (Schcenus ni^icans). Is found on turfy bogs. Root scarcely creep- ing, of very long, strong fibres, crowned with black, shining, erect, folded sheaths, a few of which bear very narrow, acute, upright leaves, and embrace the bottom of the otherwise naked stem, which is from eight to twelve inches high. Head black. Anth. long, yellow. Stigm. three, dark purple. Seed white and polished. {Snnth's Engl. Flur. vol. i. p. 50.) Nuttall, in his Genera of North American Plants, mentions three species of the bog-rush or saw-grass. This remarkable grass, as he •calls it, was discovered in the West Indies b)' Schwartz, and extends a considerable distance northward beyond Wilmington, North Caro- lina, often almost exclusively occupying con- siderable ponds. The leaves are almost as sharply serrated as those of a Bromelia, and hence it is very properly called saw-grass. The eenuine species of this genus are principally confined to Europe and Barbary. BOG-SPAVIN. See Blood-Spavin. BOIL (Sax. bile). In farriery, an inflam- matory suppurating tumour affecting cattle or 192 sheep. In order to cure this sort of tumour, it will be necessary to bring it to a head by the application of plasters composed of wheat- flour and tar ; and when the boil feels soft under the finger, to open it with a lancet, and let out the matter or pus. BOLE. A term signifying the body or trunk of a tree, and sometimes the stalk or stem of corn. This word is written and pronounced in the north of England boll, and " boilings " is the name for pollards, trees whose tops and branches are lopped off. BOLE, or BOLL (Lat. bolla). In Scotland, a common measure of grain, containing four bushels. In the old measure of Scotland, for oats and barley, 4 lippies = 1 peck. 4 pecks = 1 firloi. 4 firlots = 1 boll. 16 bolls = 1 cbalder The boll of oatmeal weighs 140 lbs. For wheat, peas, and rye, three oat firlots make one boll. (Brit. Husb. vol. ii. p. 500.) BOLE OF SALT. A measure that contains two bushels. BOLETUS. A genus of mushroom, of which several species have been subjected to che- mical analysis, by the French chemists Bra- connot and La Grange. They yield bolitic acid. BOLSTERS. In horsemanship, those parts of a great saddle which are raised on the bows both before and behind, to rest the rider's thighs, and keep him in a posture to withstand the irregular motions of the horse. BOLT and BOLTING. Terms provincially applied to the trussing of straw. BOLTER. A sort of framed sieve, having its bottom made of linen stuff", hair, p»wire, according to circumstances. The bakers era- ploy bolters that may be worked by the hand, but millers have larger ones that move by the machinery of the mill. It is sometimes called boulter. BOLTING, or BOULTING. The operation of separating flour or meal of any kind-from the husks or bran, by means of a bolter. BOLTING CLOTH. Linen or hair-cloth made for the purpose of sifting meal or flour through. They are made of diflTerent degrees of fineness, and numbered accordingly; hence we have cloths of No. 2, No. 3, &c. BOLTING FOOD. This is a very common vice in greedy horses, especially when they feed out of the same manger. The only re- medy is not to let them fast too long, and to mix chatT in their corn. The teeth of such horses ought to be examined, to see whether the bolting of the corn arises from any uneven- ness of the grinders. BOLTING MILL. A mill or machine hav- ing much lateral or circular motion, by which means the business of sifting meal or flour can be performed with great facility and ex- pedition. The framed sieve that moves within it is termed a bolter. BOLUS. See Ball. BON ASUS. A kind of bufl"alo, or wild bull. BONES (Sax. ban; Su. Goth, ifrn,- Germ. bein). The more solid parts of the body of ani- mals. When crushed, a valuable manure. BONES. farmer from whence the great supply cf fo- reign bones is derived. This table contains the imports during 1827, in which year the following number of vessels entered the port of Hull loaded with bones : — Vessels. Tons of Bonrt From Russia - - - - 6 carrying 822 — Prussia - - - 9 — 1174 — Sweden and Norway - 6 — 362 — Denmark ... 57 — 3778 — Hnnseatic towns - - 61 — 3760 — Netherlands - . 76 — 6110 — Mecklenberg*) — Hanover > — Oldenberg J - 33 — 1702 248 17,718 BONES. The introduction of bones as a fertilizer is perhaps one of the most important and suc- cessful agricultural efforts of modern days, and has been certainly one great means of sufficiently increasing the national production of corn to keep pace with an annually enlarg- ing population. It required, however, like all other agricultural improvements, much perse- verance and unshaken energy in the promoters of this manure, to induce its general adoption; many a long and stubborn argument had to be answered ; many hundred loads of the bone refuse of Sheffield and Birmingham had to be given away, before the cautious and suspi- cious Yorkshire farmers could be generally persuaded of the fallacy of the assertion, that " there is no good in bones." To this tardy conviction the erroneous mode of employing them originally adopted mainly contributed, for they were at first used without even roughly breaking them, and, in consequence, they de- composed so very slowly in the soil that the farmer's patience was naturally exhausted : he sought in vain for immediate and striking re- sults.* The introduction of machinery, however, by enabling the cultivator to procure them in a crushed state, did away with this objection, for when crushed, they decompose with much greater rapidity ; and this has long since in- duced a consumption of this manure more than adequate to the national produce of bones. It has been necessary, in consequence, to search in other countries for a supply ; and for the last fifteen years the quantity of bones imported from abroad has been steadily in- creasing. Thus the declared value of all the bones imported into England — £ s. d. In the year 1821 was - - 15,898 12 11 — 1624 _ . . 43,940 n 11 — 1827 — - - 77,956 6 8 — 1830 — - - 58,2-23 16 8 — 1833 — - - 97,900 6 4 — 1835 — . . 127,131 14 10 — 1836 — . . 171,806 — 1837 — . - 254,600 Into the port of Hull alone, in 1815, were im- ported about 8000 tons ; this had increased to 17,500 tons in 1833, and to 25,700 tons in 1835. These came principally from the Ne- therlands, Denmark, and the Baltic, but they have been imported from much more distant places, such as Buenos Ayres and the Medi- terranean ; and I am confident that if the seal fishermen of North America and other distant stations were aware of the fact that the bones of fish are nearly, if not quite, as valuable for the farmer as those of other animals, they would not suffer any falling off in the supply. By the 3 & 4 W, 4, c. 56, a duty of one pound per cent, on the declared value is payable on all bones imported for farming or other pur- poses. The following table, extracted from one by Richard Tottie, Esq., of Hull, will show to the ♦ U is said, in the Doncaster Agricultural Society's Report upon the use of bones, "Colonel St. Leger, thep residing at Warmsworth, was the first person who is known tn have used them, and his introduction of them was in 1775; the early progress does not seem to have I r^„„ j „ '' C" " ' "C'"-il"ft.' " ' 'i"Ii'j 1" been rapid, from the pfaclice of laying them on almost '"""^ ^ome OX bones whlch they analy^.-^l, to •nbroken, and in very large quantities." I be composed of — 25 B la? The import of bones into Hull has since been regularly increasing: it was, according to a letter with which Mr. Tottie favoured me, equal to 23,900 tons in 1834, and to 25,700 in 1835. It would certainly be well to look to other quarters besides the Continent for a future supply, since in some of the German states a duty on their export has been recently im- posed. So considerable, indeed, has the de- mand become, that by many unprincipled deal- ers several kinds of adulterations are used. These, according to Mr. Halkett {Quar. Journ. of Agric. vol. ii. p. 181), are the lime that has been used in tan-works to take off the wool and hair, old plaster lime, soap boilers' waste, saw-dust, rotten wood, oyster-shells, &c. The best remedy for these frauds is for the farmer to deal with only respectable crushers, and to pay a fair price for the bones. There is, perhaps, no manure of whose powers the chemical explanation is more easy ; for of the earthy and purely animal matters of which bones are composed, there is not a sin- gle particle which is not a direct constituent or food of vegetables ; thus, if carbon, hydro- gen, and oxygen, are found in the abounding oil and cartilage of bones, they are equally common, nay, ever present, in all vegetable matters ; and if carbonate and phosphate of lime are almost equally common in plants, they are still more universally present in all bones. The bones of animals do not vary much in composition ; they all contain phosphate and carbonate of lime, with a portion cf cartilage or animal matter, with other minor ingredients. The bone of the ox has been analyzed by M. Berzelius : he found that, by calcining these bones, every 100 lbs. lost 38 lbs. in weight, 100 parts of these bones, before calcination, consisted of — Cartilage - . . . . Phosphate of lime - . - Fluale of lime (Derbyshire spar) Carbonate of lime (chalk) Phosphate of magnesia - Soda, with a Utile common salt Pans. 333 55-35 3. 3-85 205 2-45 100- Bones, however, vary slightly in composi- tion, according to the age and condition of the animal, for MM. Fourcroy and Vauquelin BONES. BONES. TtrH. Gelatine and oil - - - - - 51 Phosphiile of lime . - - . - 377 Carbonate of lime - . ... 10 Pbospliate of magnesia - - - - r3 100- The enamel of teeth is the only portion of bones hitherto analyzed, which is entirely des- titute of cartilage. It is true that fossil boneS contain none ; but these have probably, in a former state of the earth, been acted upon by fire ; for Mr. Hatchett found in some bones from Hythe in Kent, taken out of a Saxon tomb, the same proportion of cartilage as in a recent bone. Teeth have been analyzed by Mr. Pepys : he found them to be composed of Phosphate of lime Carbonate of lime Cartilage - Loss Adults'. - 64 Children'! 62 6 20 12 100 M. Merat Guillot has furnished us with a statement of the earthy constituents of 100 parts of the bones of different animals ; from which the farmer will perceive that the com- position of the bones of all animals is very similar. Bo;.e". Phosphate of Carbonate of Animal Lime. Lime. Matter. Calf 54 46 Horse 67-5 1 25 31-25 Sheep - 70 5 25 Elk 90 9 Hog 52 47 Hare 85 14 Pullet - 72 15 26-5 Pike 64 35 Carp 45 5 50 Teeth of the I Horse - 85-5 205 Ivory 64 1 •35 1 Lobster shells, egg shells, &c., are all com- posed of the same ingredients as bone. The poor of Dublin are often employed for the pur- pose of pounding oyster shells for the use of the cultivators of the soil; and a similar plan might, I should imagine, be very advanta- geously adopted in some of the populous dis- tricts of this country : for, although such shells do not contain the same proportion of phos- phate of lime as bone, yet they contain a suffi- cient quantity to render them highly valuable as fertilizing substances. 100 parts of lobster shells yield — Parts. - 60 Carbonate of lime (chalk) Phosphate of lime Cartilage . - - 100 100 parts of cray-fish shells contain — PaHs. Carbonate of lime - - . - - - 60 Phosphate of lime ----- 12 Cartilage -------28 100 CO parts of hens' egg-shells contain — Parts. Carbonate of lime ----- 89-6 Phosphate of lime ----- 57 Animal matter ------ 47 100- 194 There is yet another source from whence the phosphate of lime might be obtained in large quantities for the use of the farmer, viz., the fossil bones or native phosphate of lime, which is found in various districts of this country, in very considerable quantities, and would only require crushing or powdering to render it nearly as useful to the farmer as the recent bones. That the cartilage or oily matter of the bone does not constitute the chief fertilizing quality is shown by the fact, that the farmers who use bone dust will as readily employ that which has first been steamed, and all its fatty portion extracted by the preparers of cart grease, as they will the unused fresh bones. It is acknowledged, says the Doncaster Agr. Soc. in their Report,- to be a prevalent opinion amongst intelligent farmers, that manufactured bones are equal, in their effects, to the raw bones. Mr. Short, in the year 1812, "boned twenty-four acres, at the rate of fifty bushels an acre. On one part of the field he put Lon- don bones, which had the oil stewed out of them ; and another part was tilled with bones collected from Nottingham, which were full of marrow, and a third part with horses bones, having much flesh upon them. He could not see any difference in the turnips produced from these : they all produced a good crop. But the next crop was not so good where the fleshy bones had been laid." And Mr. Horn- castle adds, "A strong fermentation takes place in the boiled bones ; when thrown in a heap they become extremely offensive, and when they obtain this bad smell, I consider they are in a state to break up for manure." — And, says Mr. Halkett, of New Scone, in Perthshire, " After numerous trials between what we call green bones with all the marrow and fat in them, and dry ones free from it, I have always found that the latter raised "by far the best crops. Therefore, I have arrived at the con- clusion that the less animal fat in them the better, and that the boiling of them before crushing, instead of impairing them is a bene- fit." (Quar. Journ. of Agric. vol. ii. p. 180.) The mineral substance called the Apatite, found in the Cornish tin mines, is nothing but phosphate of lime; 100 parts being composed of— TaiU. Phosphoric acid ------ 45 Lime --------55 100 The phosphate of lime is also found in ma- ny parts of the north of England, in Hungary, and, in immense beds, in Spanish Estrema- dura, where it is said to be so common in many places, that the peasants make their walls and fences of it. 100 parts of this substance, called by mineralogists the phosphorite, coa« tain — Partf Phosphoric acid and lime - - - - 93 Carbonate acid ------ 1 Muriatic acid ------ 0'5 Fluoric acid ------ 2 4 Silica -------I Oxide of iron - • - - - - 1 lOO* BONES. BONES. The horns of the deer are similar in compo- sition to bones ; but those of black cattle are totally different ; they approach nearer in com- position to animal muscle, as may be seen by the following analysis of Dr. John; 100 parts of the horns of black cattle yielding this chemist — Parts. Albumen - 90 • Ditto with Gelatine ----- 8 Fat 1 Various salts, &c., Sec. . - - - 1 100 100 parts, however, of a fossil horn, ana- lyzed by M. Braconnot, yielded — Parts. Phosphate of lime ----- 692 Water 11 Gelatine ------- 4-6 Carbonate of lime ----- 45 Bitumen ------- 4-4 Silica --4 Phosphate of magnesia - - - - 1 Alumina ------- 0'7 Oxide of iron ------ 0'5 100- The excrements of those birds and animals which feed upon animal matters approach very nearly to bone in chemical composition ; and I have little doubt but that the dung of' sea birds might be profitably collected from some of the rocky islands on our coasts. This is actually done among the South Sea Islands by the Peruvian farmers, and to such an extent, that, according to M. Humboldt, fifty vessels, each carrying from fifteen hundred to two thousand cubic feet, are annually loaded with this manure at the island of Chinche alone. This manure is known in South America under the name of Guano, and is too powerful to be nsed in large quantities. It abounds in phos- phate of lime. (A quantity has recently been imported into England : it contains 36 per cent, of phosphate of lime.) Some of the dung of sea-fowl collected on a rock on the coast of Merionethshire, was tried at the request of Sir Humphry Davy, at Nannau, by Sir Robert Vaughan, and produced a very powerful, though transient effect, on some grass land. The very soil of some of the rocks, which have been for so many ages tenanted by these water-fowls, must be completely impregnated with the earthy matters of bones. See Guano. All the constituent parts of bones are found in vegetable substances. The cartilage of bones is composed, according to the examina- tions of Mr. Hatchett, of a substance nearly identical iti all its properties with solid albu- men. Now, 100 parts of albumen are com- posed of — Carbon ------- 52-888 Oxygen 23 872 Hydrogen ------ 754 Azot§ ------- 15-705 100 " The primary sources from which the bones of animals are derived, are the hay, straw, or other substances which they take as food. Now if we admit that bones contain 55 per «ent of the phosphates of lime and magnesia (Berzelius), and that hay cont jns as much of them as wheat-straw, it will follow that 8 lbs. of bones contain as much phosphate of lime as 1000 lbs. of hay or wheat-straw, and 3 lbs. of it as much as 1000 lbs. of the grain of wheat or oats. These numbers express pretty exactly the quantity of phosphates which a soil yields annually on the growth of hay and corn. Now the manure of an acre of land with 40 lbs. of bone dust is sufficient to supply three crops of wheat, clover, potatoes, turnips, &c., with phosphates. But the form in which they are restored to a soil does not appear to be a mat- ter of indifference. For the more finely the bones are reduced to powder, and the more in- timately they are mixed with the soil, the more easily are they assimilated." {Liebig^s Organ. Cheni.) It is perfectly needless to specify any vege- table substances into which the three first of these substances enter, for the vegetable wor'd is almost entirely composed of them, and ( c- casionally a portion of azote is also found in vegetable substances, but the three first are invariably present. The flour of wheat, the poison of the deadly night-shade, the oxalic acid of the wild sorrel, the narcotic milk of the lettuce, the stinking odour of the garlic, and the perfume of the violet, are, by the con- trivance of their divine architect, only some of the results of the mixture of carbon, osygen, and hydrogen. But the chief constituent present tn all bones we have already seen is the phosphate of lime ; and how absolutely necessary this substance is for the healthy vegetation of plants, will be apparent from the following ta- ble, which contains the results of the exami- nation by MM. Saussure, Vauquelin, and a few other distinguished chemists, of the ashes or solid contents of a number of vegetable sub- stances : — 100 parts of the ashes of the grain of the oat yielded of phosphate of lime . - - 39-3 straw of wheat yielded of phosphates of lime and magnesia - - - 6-2 — seeds of wheat ----- 44-5 — bran ------- 465 — seeds of vetches - - - . 27-99 — golden rod (Sulidago virgaurea) - IT — plants of turnsole (Helianthus annvs), bearing ripe seeds - - - . 225 — chaff of barley ----- 775 — seeds of barley ----- 325 — seeds of oats - - - - - 24- — leaves of oak ----- 24- — wood of oak ----- 45 — bark of oak - . - - - - 45 — leaves of poplar - - - - 13- — wood of poplar - . - - 16-75 — leaves of hazel ----- 23- — wood of hazel - - - - - 35- — bark of hazel ----- 55 — wood of mulberry - - - - 2-25 — bark of mulberry - - - - 8-5 — wood of hornbeam - - - - 23" — bark of hornbeam - - - -4-5 — seeds of peas ----- 175 — bulbs of garlic. ----- 8-9 * Phosphate of lime has also been found in the marsh bean ( Ficia faba), and in the pea- pod or husk, by Einhof ; in rice, by Braconnot ; in the Scotish fir, by Dr. John ; in the quin quina of St Domingo, by Fourcroy; in the fuci, by Gaultier de Claubry, and in many others ; in short, as Dr. Thomson remarks 195 BONES. BONES. (System of Chem. vol. iv. p. 319), " phosphate (if lime is a constant ingredient in plants." The cultivator of the soil will not be incre- dulous as to the power of vegetables to dissolve and feed upon the hard substance of the crushed bones of animals, when he is remind- ed that the ashes of the straw of wheat are composed of 61^ per cent, of silica (flint), a still harder substance than the hardest bone. And this is not a solitary instance ; for the same earth abounds in a still greater propor- tion in the straw of other grain. Vauquelin found 60f per cent, of it in the ashes of the seeds of the oat; and the Dutch rush contains it in such abundance that it is employed by th© turner to polish wood and even brass. To the mode and effect of applying bones as a manure, either- whole, broken, or in a state of powder, the Doncaster Agricultural Association paid considerable attention, and they have made a very valuable report of the result of their inquiries, in which they say: — " The returns received by the Association sa- tisfactorily establish the great value of bones as a manure. Our correspondents, with only two exceptions, all concur in stating them to be a highly valuable manure, and on light dry soils superior to farm-yard dung and all other manures. In copying the language of one of them, in reference to dry sandy soils, we ex- press the opinions repeated in a far greater number — 'I consider bone tillage one of the most useful manures which has ever been dis- covered for the farmer's benefit. The light- ness of carriage, its suitableness for the drill, and its general fertilizing properties, render it peculiarly valuable in those parts where dis- tance from towns renders it impossible to pro- cure manures of a heavier and more bulky description.' For, as stated by another far- mer, the carting of six, eight, or ten loads of manure per acre is no trifling expense. The use of bones diminishes labour at a season of the year when time is of the first importance; for one wagon load, or 120 bushels of small drill bone-dust is equal to forty or fifty loads of fold manure. Upon very thin sand land its value is not to be estimated; it not only is found to benefit the particular crop to which it is applied, but extends through the whole course of crops." The report adds, that bones have been found highly beneficial on the lime- stone soils near Doncaster, on peaty soils, and on light loams; but that on the heavy soils and on clay they produce no benefit. The late Mr. George Sinclair, of New Cross, has given (Trans. High. Sue. vol. i. p. 78), the analysis of two soils on which bone manure produced very opposite results. 400 parts of the soil on which the bone manure had very beneficial t ffects consisted of — Parts. Silicious sand ...... 167 Calcareous sand ..... 43 Water of absorption - ... - 99 . Animal and vegetable matter ... 24 Carbonate of lime .... - 25 Silica (tlint) ---... 23 . Alumina (clay) .-.-.- 9 Oxide of iron ..... 3 Soluble vegetable and animal matter . 5 Moisiure and loss ..... 2 400 196 The soil on -n nich the bone manure had Ti« such beneficial effect, contained, in 400 paits, Calcareous sand and gravel (nearly pure carbonate of lime) - . - - . 217 Animal and vegetable matters ... 17 Carbonate of lime - - - - - 39 Silica -.---...85 Alumina -..-...20 Oxide of iron ...... 5 Sr>luble matter with gypeum ~ ~ ' ^ « Moisture or loss ..... 13 400 The mode of applying them, adds the Don- caster Report, is either by sowing broadcast or by the drill ; either by themselves, or, what is much better, previously mixed with earth and fermented. Bones which have been thus fer- mented are decidedly superior to those which have not been so. Mr. Turner, of Tring, adopted the practice of mixing with his bone- dust an equal quantity of the dung of the sheep, collected for the express purpose, at aa expense of 2^rf. per bushel for labour. He prepared the mixture in winter, by laying the sheep-dung in heaps with the crushed bones, and allowing them to ferment together for some months. By this plan the two manures are thoroughly incorporated, and he considers that thirty-five bushels of the mixture are fully equal in effect to twenty-five bushels of the bones. (My Essay on Crushed Bones, p. 14.) The quantity applied per acre is about twenty- five bushels of bone-dust and forty bushels of large broken bones. The dust is best for im- mediate profit;' the broken half-inoh bones for more continued improvement. Mr. Birks says, " If I were to till for early profit, I would use bones powdered as small as saw-dust ; if I wished to keep my land in good heart, I wouU use principally half-inch bones, and in breaV ing these I should prefer some remaining cor siderably larger." The reason for this is verjr obvious ; the larger the pieces of bone, the more gradually will a given bulk dissolve in the soil. Crushed bones are employed with decided success for turnips. The ease with which they are applied by the drill, the ample nourishment they afford the young plants, on the very poor- est soils, and the avidity with which the roots of the turnip encircle and mat themselves around the fragments of crushed bone, clearly evinces how grateful the manure is to', this valuable croo. The evidence in its favour is copious, and decisive of its merits. In a re- cent report of the East Lothian Agricultural Society, Mr. John Brodie, of Aimsfield Mains, has given the result of his experiments upon the comparative cost of crushed bones and other commonly employed manure for tur- nips, which is worthy of attention : — £ $ 1st exp. — 20 cart loads of street dung, per Scotch acre, at 5s. 6out 170 lbs. each, and 36 Scotch pints (18 imperial gallons) of boiling water into each boiler. It boils away at a great rate for some time, and in a day or two we empty the boilers into two cart loads of light mould, and turn the mixture over. At this stage the bones are only partially dissolved, but they heat and decompose in the heap, after being turned over three or four times; and in the course of seven or eight weeks the compost becomes dry, and breaks down with a shovel." It is important to know that oil of vitriol varies in strength, from water added purposely or attracted from the atmosphere, as will always be the case when left in open vessels, which, when partly empty, will soon become full again from the water attracted. The purest oil of vitriol has a specific gravity of about 1.85, one gallon weighing as much as 1.7 or l.S gallons of water. That of commerce ought to have a specific gravity of about 1.45 or 1.5, that is to say, be about half as heavy again as water, so that one gallon of oil of vitriol shall weigh as much as a gallon and a half of water. More of it must be used if weak. The price varies with the strength, from 2| to 3 cts. per lb. The great heat produced by the mixing of oil of vitriol and water, acting on the animal portions of the bones, tsakes these of a dark colour ; but, if a small quantity of acijd only be employed, the mixture is white, from the car- bonate of lime which then predominates. The fat, gristle, and other organic matter united with bones, in the state in which these are usually employed by farmers, constitutes about 1-3 of their weight. Mr. Hannum reckons the soft parts of bone, when very fresh, at 45 per cent. Four bushels of ground bones, which may be considered a fair allowance for an acre, will weigh, in a fine state, from 168 to 180 lbs. This last-named quantity contains 12| lbs. of carbonate of lime, and the first action of the acid is to seize upon this, displace its car- bonic acid, and convert the lime into sulphate of lime or gypsum. The quantity of the acid re- quired for this first change is 10 lbs. The acid having thus decomposed the carbonate of lime in the bones and converted it into plaster of Pa- ris, next turns upon the phosphates, of which the 4 bushels contains about 106 lbs., 47 lbs. being lime and 59 lbs. phosphoric acid. 33 lbs. of the vitriolic acid unites with half the lime, or 23^ lbs., to form more gypsum. The other half of the lime unites with a double portion of phos- phoric acid to produce the desired snpir-phos' Tphate. Thus about 43 lbs. of acid will be re- quired to effect the necessary changes in the 4 bushels of bones. Instead of the sulphuric acid, muriatic acid has been substituted in similar quantify, diluted and treated in the same manner. The cost per acre and the produce obtained were very much the same. Where no manure was applied, and the produce per acre was only about 7 tons of turnips, the superphosphate of lime made from 4 bushels of bones increased the produce to 17^ tons. See Phosphates. BONE SPAVIN. BORECOLE. Tt is hardly necessary for us to add more authorities in favour of bone manure. The reader may refer, however, to the experiments of Captain Ogilvy, of Airlie Castle {Trans, of High. Sue. vol. iv. p. 238) ; of Mr. Watson, of Keillor, Cupar-Angus (Quart. Joum. of Agr. \K,.. vi. p. 41 — 43); and of Mr. Boswell, of Kingcaussie (Trans, of High. Soc. vol. i. p. 73 ; Comparative Trial of Bones, Farm-yard Ma- nure, and Rape Cake) : to those of Mr. Billyse on their use for the pastvires of Cheshire (Journ. of Roy. Agr. Soc. of Eng. vol. ii. p. 91.) See also Johnson, On Fertilizers, p. 125. (Brit. Farm. Mag. vol. vi. p. 308.) The bone mill is described by Mr. Anderson, of Dundee (Trans, of High. Soc. vol. i. p. 401), and again in the I'enni/ Cyclopaedia. BONE SPAVIN (Fr. espavent ,- Ital. spava- no), in horses, is a disease of the hock joint, usually brought on by over-exertion, accele- rated by bad shoeing. When this is forming, there is commonly lameness, but this dimi- nishes or ceases when the bon^matter, whose deposit causes the spavin, is completely formed, at least when the horse is warm with exercise. It impedes his rising when down, and in consequence spavined horses lie down with reluctance. A spavined horse generally does slow work well enough, and when used in the farm, his disease is commonly amelio- rated or cured. Repeated blisters will either en'irely remove or ameliorate the symptoms. It is only as a last resort that the hot iron ■hould be used. BOOK-KEEPING. As the merchant, the manufacturer, and the tradesman all find it necessary to keep a set of account books which shall show them the amount of capital em- ployed, the debts owing to and by them, and the profit or loss arising from their difierent transactions, so to the farmer is this good practice equally essential. The Dutch have a proverb, that no one ever goes to ruin who keeps a correct set of accounts. There is great truth in this sagacious observation of the plodding Dutchmen ; for by consulting correct accounts the farmer will be either warned to retrace his steps, or to persevere in the path he is pursuing. The time required for keep- ing these books is always to be found of an evening after the labours of the day are over. T)ie necessary books to give him this informa- tion are, first, a cash book, in which shall be entered on one side all the moneys received, and from whom ; and on the other side, all payments, and to whom made; secondly, a journal, in which should be entered all deli- veries, and articles received ; and, thirdly, a stock book, in which should be every week entered all addition to or substraction from the stock of the farm ; fourth!}'-, an invoice book, to receive all bills of account; fifthly, a wages book, to keep each labourer's time and wages ; and, sixthly, a ledger, which should contain every person's account with whom the farmer has transactions. With these statements care- fully kept, and an account and valuation of his stock in trade made annually, as if he were about to quit the farm, no farmer's aflJairs can reasonably go wrong; for not only by good Dookiiig is fraud prevented, and economy pro- moted, bat by this means the farmer always knows his real position. I am supported in these opinions by a very considerable farmer and land-agent, Mr. Hewitt Davis, of Spring Park, in Surrey. BORAGE (Borago officinaUn). Supposed to be derived from corago, or cur, the heart, and ago, to give, alluding to the renovating power of which it was supposed to be possessed. This ii a well-known plant in all gardens, growing two feet high, with large leaves, and bright blue flowers. The stalks are rouiHf, juicy, and thick, and so hairy that they are almost prickly to touch. The leaves are broad, rough, wrinkled, and hairy. The flowers have five bright blue petals or parts, with a black centre ; they blow all through the summer, and continue till late in autumn. They will begin to flower about June, and when their seed is perfectly ripe, the stalks must be gathered and dried completely before it is rubbed out. (G. W. Johnson's Kitch. Gard.) Borage was for- merly considered cordial. The leaves and flowers tied in a bundle, and warmed up in bee'r, is a great remedy in England among the poor. They consider them cordial, opening, and cooling ; and in many parts of England they make borage one of their materials in brewing. The whole plant, says Smith (Eng. Flor. vol. i. p. 265), has an odour approaching t£) cucumber and burnet, which gives a flavour to a cool tankard ; but its supposed exhilarat- ing qualities, which caused borage to be reck- oned one of the four cordial flowers along with alkanet, roses, and violets, may justly be doubted. The flavour is nauseous in any other beverage. BORDER (Germ, and Fr. bard,- Sax. bor©). A term which signifies the portion of land next the hedges in fields ; but in ploughed grounds is mostly applied to the parts at the ends on which the teams turn. BORECOLE (Brassicaoleraceajimbriata.) A species of winter cabbage, of which the follow ing are the principal varieties commonly cul- tivated in the garden : — 1. Brussels borecole. 2. Green borecole (Brassica okracea selenifia). 3. Purple borecole (B. o. laciniala). 4. Varie- gated borecole. 5. German, or curled kale or curlies. 6^. Scotch or Siberan kale (B. o.sabel- lica). 7. Chou de Milan. 8. Egyptian, or Rabi kale. 9. Ragged Jack. 10. Jerusalem kale. 11. Buda, Russian, Prussian, or Manchester kale. 12. Anjou kale. Like the other mem- bers of the cabbage tribe, it is propagated by seed. The first crop to be sown about the close of March, or early in April ; the seed- lings of which are fit for pi-icking out towards the end of April, and for final planting at the close of May, for production late in autumn and at the commencemenf of winter ; the sow- ing must be repeated about the middle of May, for final planting during July, and lastly in Au- gust, for use during winter and tariy spring. If transplanting is adopted, their fitness for pricking out is known when their leaves are about two inches in breadth ; they must be set six inches apart_ each way, and watered fre- quently until established. In four or five weeks they will be of sufficient growth for final re- moval. When planted, they must be set in 203 Bour.R. BORERS. rows two feet and a half apart each way; the last plantations may be six inches closer. They must be watered and weeded, as directed for the other crops ; as they are of large spreading growth, the earth can only be drawn about their stems during their early growth. If, during stormy weather, any of those which acquire a tall growth are blown down, they must be supported in their erect posture by stakes, when they will soon firmly re-establish themselves. For the production of seed, such jte.nts of each variety as are of the finest growth, and are true to the characteristics primarily given, must be selected, and either left where grown, or removed durmg open M'eather in November, or before the close of February, the earlier the better, into rows three feet apart each way, and buried down to their heads. The seed ripens about the beginning of August. (G. W. Johnson's Kitchen Garden.) BORER. See Auger. BORERS. The wood-eating worms called borers, are grubs of various species of the beetle tribe, several of which have been already referred to. Some live altogether in the trunks of trees, boring into the most solid ■wood; others take up their residence in the limbs. Some devour the wood, others the pith ; some are found only in shrubs, some in stems of herbaceous plants, and others confine themselves to the roots. Certain kinds restri(;t themselves to plants of one species, others live indiscriminately upon several plants, provided these belong to the same natural family; for the same borer is not known to inhabit plants diflering essentially from each other in their natural characters. The beetles produced from these worm-borers are of very many kinds, nearly one hundred species having been already found by Dr. Harris in Massachusetts, belonging to the Capricorn family alone. This family of beetles derive their name from their long and tapering antennae, which are curved like the horns of a goat. The head is short and armed Avith powerful jaws. Most of this family remain upon trees and shrubs during the daytime, and fly abroad at night. Some, however, fly by day, and may be found on flowers feeding on the pollen and even the blossoms. When annoyed or taken into the hands, they make a squeaking sound by rub- bing the joints of the thorax and abdomen together. " The females are generally larger and more robust than the males, and have rather shorter antennas. Moreover they are provided with a jointed tube at the end of the body, ca- pable of being extended or drawn in like the joints of a telescope, by means of which they convey their eggs into the holes and chinks of the bark of plants. "The larvae hatched from these eggs are ong, whitish, fleshy grubs, with the trans- verse incisions of the body very deeply marked, so that the rings are very convex or hunched both above and below. The body tapers a little behind, and is blunt-pointed. The head is much smaller than the first ring, slightly bent downwards, of a horny consistence, and is provided with short but very powerful jaws, by means whereof the insect can bore, as with form and pitchy black colour. The grubs o-^ this beetle, when fully grown, are as thick as R man's thumb. They live in the trunks an'' roots of the balm of Gilead, Lombardy poplaf and probably in other kinds of poplar. In the second family of the Capricorn beetles, called the Ceranibycians, there is one which inhabits the hickory, in its larva state forming long galleries in the trunk of this tree inthr direction of the fibres of the wood. "The ground beneath black and white oaks," says Dr. Harris, " is often observed to b^ strewn with small branches, neatly severed from these trees as if cut off" with a saw. Upon splitting open the cut end of a branch, in the autumn or winter after it has fallen, it will be found to be perforated to the extent of six or eight -inches in the course of the pith, and. a slender grub, the author of the mischief, will be discovered therein. In the spring this grub is transforjned to a pupa, and in June or July it is changed to a beetle, and C'i the middle of the wing-covers ; the thorax is nearly circular, is covered with fine whitish down, and has two elevated polished black points upon it; and the wing-covers are very coarsel}' punctured. It measures from four- tenths to three-quarters of an inch in length. This insect is the Callidium bajulus ,• the second name, meaning a porter, was given to it by Linnaeus on account of the whitish patch which it bears on its back. It inliabits fir, spruce, and hemlock wood and lumber, and may often be seen on wooden buildings and fences in July and August. We are informed by Kirby and Spence that the grubs sometimes greatly injure the wood- work of houses in London, piercing the rafters of the roofs in every direction, and, when arrived at maturity, even penetrating through sheets of lead which covered the place of their exit. One piece of lead, only eight inches long and four broad, contained twelve oval holes made by these in- sects, and fragments of the lead were found in their stomachs. As this insect is now com- mon in the maritime parts of the United States, it was probably first brought to this country by vessels from Europe." {Harris.) The violet Callidium, is of a Prussic.a blue or violet colour, its length varying from four to six-tenths of an inch. It is found in great numbers on piles of pine wood, from the middle of May to the first of June, and the maggots and pupae are often met with in splitting the wood. They live mostly just under the bark, where their broad and winding tracks may be traced by the hardened, saw- dust with which they are crammed. Just before they are about to be transformed, the larva or worms bore into the solid wood to the depth of several inches. In Maine and other places they are said to be very injurious to the sapling pines. Professor Peck supposed this species of borer to have been introduced into Europe in timber sent from this country, as it is found in most parts of that continent that have been much connected with North America by navigation. It is somewhat sin- gular that Europe and America should have thus interchanged the porter and violet Cal- lidium, which, by means of shipping, have now become common to the two continents. (Harris.) Sugar Maple Borer. — The sugar-maple, i. ne of the most beautiful and noble trees of the American forest, suffers much from the attacks of a borer, the largest known species of Clytm, by which it is sometimes entirely destroyecL In order to check the devastations of these borers they should be sought for in the spring, when they may be readily detected by the saw- dust thrown out of their burrows; and, by a judicious use of a knife and stiflT wire, they may be cut out or destroyed before they have gone deeply into the wood. (Harris.) Locust-tree Borer. — The locust tree or acacia, is also preyed upon by a borer of the Clytus family, the larva of a painted beetle often seen in abundance feeding by day upon the blov soms of the golden rod (Sulidago), in the mon'h S 205 BORERS BOREKS. of September. If the trunks of the common Jticust-tree are examined at this time, a still {ireater number of these beetles will be found upon them, and most often paired. This Ca- pricorn-beetle has the form of the beautiful maple Clytus. It is velvet-black, and orna- mented with transverse yellow bands. The legs are rusty red, and the length of the insect is from about half an inch to three quarters of an inch. " In the month of September," says Dr. Harris, " these beetles gather on the locust trees, where they may be seen glittering in the sunbeams with their gorgeous livery of black velvet and gold, coursing up and down the trunks in pursuit of their mates, or to drive away their rivals, and stopping everj^ now and then to salute those they meet with a rapid bowing of the shoulders, accompanied by a creaking sound, indicative of recognition or defiance. Having paired, the female, at- tended by her partner, creeps over the -bark, searching the crevices with her antennae, and dropping therein her snow-white eggs, in clus- ters of seven or eight together, and at intervals of five or six minutes, till her whole stock is safely stored. The eggs are soon hatched, and the grubs immediately burrow into the bark, devouring the soft inner substance that suffices for their nourishment till the approach of win- ter, during M'hich they remain at rest in a tor- pid state. In the spring they bore through the sap-wood, more or less deeply into the trunk, the general course of their winding and irregu- lar passages being in an upward direction from the place of their entrance. For a time they cast their chips out of their holes as fast as they are made, but after a while the passage becomes clogged, and the burrow more or less filled with the coarse and fibrous fragments of wood, to get rid of v/hich the grubs are often obliged to open new holes through the bark. The seat of their operations is known by the oozing of the sap and the dropping of the saw- dust from the holes. The bark around the part attacked begins to swell, and in a few years the trunks and limbs will become disfigured and wealcened by large porous tumours, caused by the efforts of the trees to repair the injuries they have suffered. According to the observa- tions of General H. A. S. Dearborn, who has given an excellent account {Miias. Agric. Rtpos. and Journ. vol. vi. p. 272), of this insect, the grubs attain their full size by the twentieth of July, soon become pupoe, and are changed to beetles and leave the trees early in September. Thus the existence of this species is limited to one year. "Whitewashing, and covering the trunks of the trees with grafting composition, may prevent the female from depositing her eggs upon them; but this practice cannot be carried to any great extent in plantations or large nur- series of the trees. Perhaps it will be useful to head down young tree^ to the ground, with the view of destroying the grubs contained in them, as well as to promote a more vigorous growth. Much evil might be prevented by employing children to collect the beetles while in the act of providing for the continuation of their kind. A common black bottle, contain- ing a little water, would be a suitable vessel 206 to receive the beetles as fast as they w ere ga- thered, and should be emptied into the fire in order to destroy tKe insects. The gathering should be begun as soon as the beetles first appear, and should be continued as long as any are found on the trees, and furthermore, should be made a general business for several years in succession. I have no doubt, should this be done, that, by devoting one hour every day to this object, we may, in the course of a few years, rid ourselves of this destructive insect." In noticing the locust-borer, Mr. Coleman states, that Allen C. Metcalf, of Lennox, Mas sachusetts, washed his locust trees with spirits of turpentine, and in that way, as he believes, compelled the borer to leave them, after they had made severe ravages. The trees were examined by Mr. Coleman, who found them much perforated, but without any signs indi- cating the presence of the worm. (See Mr. Coleman's Second Report.) The poplar tribe of trees, both in Europe and America, are subject to the attacks of certain kinds of borers, differing essentially from all the foregoing when arrived at maturity. They belong to the genus Saperdu. The largest kind found in America is the Saperda calcarata of Say, so called because the tips of the wing- covers end with a little sharp point or spur. It is covered all over with a short and close nap, which gives it a fine blue-gray colour ; it is finely punctured M'ith brown ; there are four ochre-yellow lines on the head, and three on the top of the thorax. It is from one inch to an inch and a quarter in length. The grubs of this beetle, with thos£ of the broad-necked Prionus, already mentioned, have in some parts of the United States, in the vicinity of Boston, for instance, almost entirely destroyed the Lom- bardy poplar. They also live in the trunk of American poplars. These grubs are of a-yel lowish-white colour, and, when fully grown, measure nearly two inches in length. The beetles proceeding from these may be found on the trunks and branches of the various kinds of poplars, in August and September; they fly by night, and sometimes enter the open windows of houses in the evening. Apple-tree Borer. — "The borers of the apple tree," says Dr. Harris, "have become noto- rious, throughout the New England and Mid- dle States, for their extensive ravages. They are the larvae of a beetle called Saperda bivit- tata by Mr. Say, the two-striped, or the brown and white striped Saperda ; theupper side of its body being marked with two longitudinal white stripes between three of a light brown colour, while the face, the antennae, the under- side of the body, and the legs are white. This beetle varies in length from a little more than one-half to three-quarters of an inch. It comes forth from the trunks of the trees, in its per- fected state, early in June, making its escape in the night, during which time only it uses its ample wings in going from tree to tree in search of companions and food. In the day- time it keeps at rest among the leaves of the plants which it devours. The trees and shrubs principally attacked by this borer are the apple tree, the quince, mountain ash, haw- i BORERS. BOTAXY. (horn and other thorn bushes, the June-berrj' ] or shad-bush, and other kinds of Amelanchier j and Aronia, Our nativ^e thorns and Aronias are its natural food ; for I have discovered the larvDB in the stems of these shrubs, and have repeatedly found the beetles upon them, eating the leaves, in June and July. It is in these months that the eggs are deposited, being laid upon the bark near the root, during the night The larvae hatched therefrom are fleshy whitish grubs." The larva or grub state continues two or three years, during which the borer will be found to have penetrated eight or ten inches upwards in the trunk of the tree, its burrow, at the end approaching to, and being covered only by, the bark. Here its transformation from larva to pupa takes place, and its final change from pupa to beetle or winged insect, which occurs about the firsl of June, soon after which the beetle gnaws through the bark that covers the end of its burrow, .and leaves its place of confinement in the night. " Notwithstanding," says Dr. Harris, " the pains that have been taken by some persons to destroy and exterminate these pernicious borers, they continue to reappear in our or- chards and nurseries everj"^ season. The rea- sons of this are to be found in the habits of the insects, and in individual carelessness. Many orchards suflfer deplorably from the want of proper attention ; the trees are permitted to remain, year after year, without any pains be- ing taken to destroy the numerous and various insects that infest them ; old orchards, espe- cially, are neglected, and not only the rugged trunks of t^e trees, but even a forest of un- pruned suckers around them, are left to the undisturbed possession and perpetual inherit- ance of the Saperda. On the means that have been used to destroy this borer, a few remarks only need to be made ; for it is evident that they can be fully successful only when gene- rally adopted. Killing it by a wire thrust into the holes it has made, is one of the oldest, safest, and most successful methods. Cutting out the grub with a knife or gouge is the most common practice ; but it is feared that these tools have sometimes been used without suffi- cient caution. A third method, which has more than once been suggested, consists in plugging the holes with soft wood. If a little camphor be previously inserted, this practice promises to be mote effectual ; but experi- ments are wanting to confirm its expediency." The zealous and able naturalist who has furnished the foregoing information relative to insects which so frequently carry destruc- tion among the forest, fruit, and ornamental trees of the United States, has also described many others of the beetle tribe which attack trees and plants not yet named. Among these may be mentioned the borers which infest the pitch pine tree, and even the blackberry and raspberry bushes; together with various leaf- beethes which prey upon the foliage of fruit- trees, the linden-tree, potato, cucumber, and pumpkin vines, the leaves of turnips, horse- radish, milk-weed, &c., most of which will be referred to in noticing the several trees and plants named, together with the best means known of destroying them or preventing theft ravages. BORING. A practice sometimes employe'! in order to ascertain the nature of the different strata that lie beneath the soil ; and also for the purpose of discovering springs, and tap- ping them, so as to draw off the water, that injures the grounds below or in the neighbour- hood. See Draining. BOS. The generic name for quadrupeds whose horns are in the form of a crescent. See Cattle. BOSCAGE. A word borrowed from th« French, signifying a woodv grove, or woodland, BOTANY (from the Gr. /gjTavw, an herb), in the most confined sense of the term, is the science which teaches us the arrangement of the members of the vegetable kingdom in a certain order or system, by which we are enabled to ascertain the name of any indivi- dual plant with facility and precision. Such arrangement is only to be considered as useful in proportion as it facilitates the acquirement of a knowledge of their economical and meji- cinil qualities, which cannot be perfectly ascertained without an acquaintance with vegetable physiology, the parts of plants, their functions, and uses. Botanjs in its most com- prehensive form, teaches us the names, ar- rangement, parts, functions, qualities, and uses of plants. This science may be consulted by the agri- culturist with considerable benefit. For in- stance (and several other advantage^ sviii readily suggest themselves to the intelligent farmer), the plants growing wild on a soil ever afford some tolerable indication of the nature of the soil and its subsoil. Thus, the heath on elevations indicates a dry soil ; the fern that it is deep as well as dry. The deer hair {Scirpus cxspHosus) grows commonly over bogs, resting on clay. In the lower situations the broom (Spartium scnpari.um) tenants the deep light gravels. The whin, coarser gravels upon a clay subsoil. The rush (Juncus conglomeraius) tells the negligent farmer that good land is ren- dered useless for want of drainage. The com- mon sprit (Juncus articulatus), that the land is not fertile. Sweet gale {Myrica Gale), that it is still worse. The rag weed (Senecio jacobsry ) in arable land betrays an ill-cultivated loSv,i. The marsh marigold {Caltha palustris) or the wild water-cress in water meadows, tells the owner that the land is fully irrigated. The common rattle (Rhinanthus christi), that a meadow is exhausted. The pry (Carex di'oica), that water is stagnating beneath its surface, and these are only a few of the truths which wild flowers teach the intelligent cultivator. Botanists .have, indeed, long been at work for the farmer — a fact no one will be willing to dispute who remembers that the sloe, the black- berry, and the crab are nearly all the fruits indigenous to England ; and that hardly a grass, a flower, or a vegetable that is now cul- tivated is a native of the islVind. In 1825 and 1827, the Highland Society of Scotland offered as a prize theme, "The indi- cations to be formed regarding the nature and qualities of soils and subsoils, according tr the plants growing upon them, having regard 207 BOTANY. BOTANY. to elevatijn, exposure, climate, &c." And in the first volume of their transactions will be found several valuable essays on the subject, by Mr. Macgillivray, p. 81, Mr. Gorie, p. 113, Dr. Singer, p. 264, Mr. Hogg, p. 271, all ably illustrating the value of the study of plants to the cultivator. The definition of a plant to a superficial ob- server may appear easy; but those who have studied natural history are aware of the diffi- culty of drawing a just line of distinction be- tween the animal and the vegetable kingdoms. It is easy to distinguish a horse, or even a worm, from a rose-tree or a fungus ; but to distinguish a sensitive plant, &c., by descrip- tive marks from many zoophytes, has hitherto baffled the acutest botanists. Many plants, as will be presently seen, are gifted with sponta- neous motion ; whilst many animals, as the corallines, are devoid of locomotion; so that neither of these qualities avails us in distin- guishing the two kingdoms. In short, whilst the zoophytes, most of which take root, grow up into stems, and multiply by buds and slips, must still be considered as animals, no one can correctly define how plants differ from them. It is, however, fortunate, that the stu- dent is seldom placed in a situation where these nice distinctions are to be made. Where specimens are to be examined which admit of the doubt whether they belong to the lower classes of animals or to the vegetable tribes, chemistry may be called to our aid ; if, when burnt, they emit an ammoniacal smell resem- bling that of feathers, similarly treated, we need not hesitate to consider them as animal products ; if that of burning wood, we may consider them as fit objects for our botanical researches. A few facts will demonstrate that it is im- possible to deny that vegetables possess some degree of sensation. The Venus's fly-trap (Dionasa musciptila) has jointed appendages to the leaves, which are furnished on their edges with a row of strong prickles. Flies, attracted by honey, which is secreted in glands on their surface, venture to alight upon them ; no sooner do their legs touch these parts than the sides of the leaves spring up, and locking their rows of prickles together, squeeze the insects to "death. The well-known sensitive plant (Mimosa sensitiva and pudica) shrink from the slightest touch. Oxalis sensitiva and Smithia tensitiva are similarly irritable ; as also are the stamens of the flower of the barberry. One of this tribe {Hedysarum gyrans) has a sponta- neous motion — its leaves are frequently mov- ing in various directions without order or co-operation. When an insect inserts its pro- boscis between the converging anthers of a kind of dog's bane (Apocynum androsasmifn- Uum), they close with a power usually suffi- cient to detain the intruder until his death. If from these, and many other considerations which we shall notice as we pursue our study, we conclude that plants are endowed with a certain degree of sensation, or at least of irri- tability, we can pursue that path of the science no further. Such are the results of life ; what constitutes the living principle no human eye can discover. 208 We gaze on a rose as it waves in the pleni^ tude of its vigour, admire the tints of its petals, the verdure of its foliage, the gracefulness of its form, the delicacy of its fragrance We may come on the naorrow, an I it has been blasted — those petals are scattered on the bor- ders — those leaves are withered and sapless — and scarcely a vestive of its loveliness remains. Wherefore is this change? The same compo- nents remain — the same food was ready for its nourishment; but some invisible governing principle — some unknown agent — has silently departed, without one vacancy to point oul where it had resided, but a total ruin, to show that it had pervaded the whole. Let a few more hours pass away, when the air, and moisture, and heat, external agents, which were subservient to its welfare, now concur in completing its destruction — it is partly dissi- pated in pestilential exhalations, partly reduced to a few earthy and saline particles. Life, whilst it continued, prevented this ruin ; but still, like its Great Author, " no one hath seen it at any time." To explore our path satisfactorily, and that one step may naturally explain the way to the succeeding, we had better first consider the most obvious parts cf plants, and their functions. The root and its uses. — A root usually consists of two parts, the caudex or body, and the fibres or radicula. The last only are essential for the imbibing of nourishment, but the whole serves to steady or fix the plant firmly in a commodious situation and position. Roots are annual, biennial, or perennial. The first be- long to those plants whose term of existence is confined to a portion of a year, as barley; the second to such as, being raised during one year, survive its winter, and produce flowert during a succeeding year, as wheat. Perennia* roots belong to such plants as live for severa) years. All plants are considered as bienniali that are raised from seed one year, and flowei during another, whether that year is the next, or whether the flowering is deferred during several, provided the flowers occur but once. This is often the case with the tree mallow ( Lavalera arborea), &c. Attention must be paid to these circumstances, or we may often mis- take the natural term of a plant's existence. Mignionette (Reseda odorata), in our borders, is an annual ; but in the shelter of a room or green-house, it may be made, by proper ma- nagement, to blossom during several succes- sive seasons. The nasturtium (Trojjaeolum'), naturally a shrubby perennial, is an annual in our gardens. Plants search for food by means of their roots, and to obtain it have been known, by their aid, to overturn walls by piercing their foundations. A tree growing on the top of a wall has been observed to. extend its roots down the sides, until they reached the earth at its bottom. If a flower-pot, divided by a per- pendicular section, be on one side filled with common earth, and on the other with similar earth mixed with a little potass, the roots of a geranium or other plant, growing in it, will, by degrees, all move into the alkaline portion. It has also been proved that the root is gifted BOTANY BOTANY. with the power of rejecting what is hurtful, ana selecting what is beneficial to its parent plant, from any mixed, solution of substances not corrosive or poisonous. Botanists distinguish seven kinds of roots. 1. The fibrous root {radix fibrosa), consist- ing of fibres alone, either branched or undi- vided, as that of the Poa annua, that species of grass so troublesome in gravel walks, &c. 2. The creeping root {R, rtpens). This spreads and branches horizontally, throwing out fibres in its course, as some kinds of mint (^Mentha), and the couch-grass, or twitch {Tri- ticum reptns). 3. Tapering root {R. Just for mis), as that of the carrot, &c. 4. Abrupt root {R. prxmorsa), appears in- clined to be a tapering one, but, from some natural decay or habit, becomes abrupt, or ap- parently bitten off", as in the devil's-bit sca- bious (Scabiosa succisa), and several of the hawk-weeds. 5. Tuberous root (R. tuberosa), consists of fleshy tubers connected by fibres, as in the po- tato {Solanum tuberosum). It is the premature formation of the tubers which prevents the blooming of the Jerusalem artichoke, and some of the early varieties of the potato. If the tu- bers are removed as soon as they are formed, the plants blossom. 6. Bulbous root (R. bulbom), is solid, as in the crocus ; tunicate, composed of concentric layers, as in the Onion (Allium cepa) ; or scaly, as in the lilies. 7. Jointed or granulated root (R. articulata or granii lata), is a cluster of either little bulbs or scales, connected by a common fibre, as in the wood-sorrel (Oxalis acetosella), and white saxifrage {Saxifraga granulata). The roots of plants sometimes change their form with the situation in which they grow. Those of some grasses are bulbous in a dry situation, and fibrous in a moist one. Thus we see the care of Providence is manifested even in providing for the welfare of a weed; bulbous roots being, as it were, reservoirs of moisture, enable such plants to perfect their seed in the driest season. Again, the fibrous roots of grasses growing in sandy sterile places are remarkably downy; by this means they re- tain firmly their hold in so yielding a medium, and their absorbing surfaces are likewise in- creased, not unnecessarily, where nourishment is so scanty. Seven kinds of stalks or stems are distm- guished by botanists; — 1. A stem (caulis) is confined to such as bear both leaves and flowers, which is the case with the trunks of all trees. It is either simple, as in the white lily, or branched, as in most cases. In gene- ral it grows upright, but sometimes it is more or less recumbent. Some cling to other bodies by fibres for support, as the ivy (Hedera helix) ; or by tendrils, as the vine. Others twine round such plants as come in their way. A remark- able distinction is to be observed in twining plants. Honeysuckles, &c., twine from left to right ; whilst others, as the kidney-bean, twine from right to left, nor can any art induce them to alter their course. Some trail along the ground ; some are jointed, as in the samphire 27 and Indian fig. They are of various forms, round, three-sided, square, &c. Their surfaces are smooth, viscid, rough, bristly, hairy, &c. Internally they are solid or hollow. Plants without stems are termed acaules. 2. A culm or straw (culmus), is only a va- riety of the caulis, but, being peculiar to the grasses, rushes, and other plants nearl}' a! led to them, has been deemed worthy of a sepaiate name. It is without joints, as in the comn on rusTies ; jointed, as in wheat, &c. ; bent lik '. a knee, as in Alopecurus geniculatus. It vSir es in being hollow, solid, hairy, &c. 3. A stalk (scfipus), springing from the root, bears only flowers and fruit, as that of the primrose (Primula vulgaris), and cowslip (P. veris). In the first it is simple, in the latter subdivided and many-flowered. It is some- times scaly; in which case the scales are apt to sport into leaves, and thus render it a proper caulis. It greatly varies as to length, manner of growth, &c. 4. A flower stalk (pedunculus), springing from the stem, bears only fruit and flowers. A partial flower stalk (pedicellis), is the ultimate division of a general one, as in the cowslip be- fore instanced. Flowers without stalks are termed sessile, as the dodders, &c. 5. The leaf stalk (petiolus), signifies the stalk of a leaf only. It is solitary or simple, as in the lilac, and all other simple leaves. It is common in the rose, &c. It is usually chan- nelled on its upper side. 6. A frond (fruns), is now used only in de- scribing the class Cri/ptogamia, and signifies a leaf which produces both flowers and fruit, as in the ferns, lichens, &c. 7. A stipe (stipes), is the stem of a frond. It will be better to defer the consideration of the functions of roots and stems until we take a connected view of the phenomena of vegetable life. Leaves are a very general, but not a uni>- versal part of the vegetable body; they are wanting in the samphires, creeping cereus, &c. Such plants are called plantseaphylke (leafless plants). The situations, forms, in- sertions, and surfaces of leaves are of great use in botanic descriptions; a few must at present suflice : — Fulia radiculia spring from the root, as in the primrose. Folia cuulina and ramea spring respectively fr'^"! the stem or branch. Folia bina terna, &c., leaves in pairs, or three together, &c. Folia verticillata, whorled, several opposite, or growing in a circle round the stem. Folia peltata, peltate, having the foot-stalk in the centre, as the nasturtium. Folia sessilia, sessile, having no foot-stalk. Folia perfoliata, perfoliate, when the stem runs through their centre. Leaves are nearly circular, roundish, eg^ shaped or ovate, oblong, lanceolate, «&c.; the" terminate abruptly, or are sharp, jagged, point- ed, cirrhose (i. e. tipped with a tendril)", «&c. Their margins are entire, spinous, toothed, wavy, &c. Their surfaces are dotted, rugged, veiny, coloured (i. e. tinted with any coloiM s 2 209 BOTANY. BOTANY. but green, white, or yellow ; in the two latter cases they are termed variegated), &c. They are tubular, awl-shaped, three-edged, ever- preen, &c. Compound leaves consist of two or more leaflets, combined by a common foot- stalk, as in the rose ; they are binate when they consist of two leaflets ; ternate, of three, &c. ; pinnate when several proceed sideways or laterally from the common footstalk, as in the rose. Leaves are sometimes twice and thrice compounded. The Jli)wer is the most essential, yet the most transitory part of plants. By means of the seed, which it is the great agent in producing, plants may be indefinitely multiplied and per- petually renewed; whereas all other modes of propagation, by cuttings, grafts, &c., are but extensions of an individual. Hence, though many plants, from unfavourable modes of cul- tivation, &c., are seldom known to blossom, 5'(;t Providence has wisely oi-dained that no plant is incapable of producing and perfecting seed. As our systems of botany are founded chiefly upon the flower, we will proceed to consider it at large. A flower is divided into seven parts: — 1. The calyx, or outer covering, resembling leaves in texture ; is not present in many flowers, as the tulip. There are six kinds of calyx: — 1. The peri- anlh is close to, and forms part of, the flower, as in the rose, and is, in fact, the only true calyx. 2. The involucre is an appendage to the one form of inflorescence, namely the um- bel It is remote from the corolla, as in all the umbelliferous plants, carrot, &c. 3. The spathe is a floral appendage which bursts lon- gitad-inally, being more or less remote from thf flower, as in the snow-drop, narcissus, &c. 4. The glume, or husk, is the peculiar calyx or chafl^ of the grasses, as in wheat, &c. 5. Pere- chsetium, a scaly sheath, enclosing the fertile flowers of some mosses. 6. Vulva is the mem- brane that covers the parts of fructification or gills of the fungi, as in the common mush- room; but it is also applied to the fleshy cover- ing which encloses some fungi when young. 2. The corolla, or more delicate coloured J eaves or leaf, properly called petals, is situ- ated within the calyx. This is absent in many flowers. It comprehends both the petal and the nectary. By petal is meant what are com- monly called th(i coloured leaves of a flower. By nectary is meant an appendage to the co- rolla, supposed to be for the purpose of secret- ing honey. The little cells, for example, at the bottom of the flower of the crown imperial, ttach full of a sweet liquid, are called necta- ries, but they vary in form and situation in difierent flowers. When a corolla is formed of one petal, it is said to be monopetalmos. It may be hell-shaped, as in the Canterbury bell ; funnel-shaped, as in lungwort (Pulmonaria) ; salver-shaped, as in the primrose ; wheel-shaped, the same as the preceding, only with a short lube, as in the borage ; ringent, like the mouth (•f an animal, as in the dead nettle; personate, like the mask of an animal, as in snap-dragon. < Corollas of more than one petal are termed j'olypetalous. It is cruciform, as in the wall- Bower; rosaceous, as in the rose; papilionaceous, as in the pea; incomplete, when some part, found in kindred flowers, is wanting. 3. The stamen or stamens are essential for the perfecting of the seed, and are only absent in double flowers, in which they are changed into petals. They vary in different species, from a single one to several hundreds, and surround the pistil or pistils, which occupy the centre of the flower. A stamen usually consists of two parts ; the filament, or slender stem, which is sometimes absent, bearing otherwise on its summit the anther, a cellular organ of various forms in diflferent species of plants, being the part for holding the pollen. 4. The pistil or pistils are in the centre of the flower, and usually fewer in number than the stamens. They are sometimes situated in flowers distinct from the stamen, and even on different plants. No seed can be' perfected without the pistil, which consists of the ger- men, or rudiment of the fruit and seed, and, of course, is never absent. The style, or little stem proceeding from the germ, which is not essential, serving chiefly to elevate the stigma — this must always be present : it varies in form and size, being either scarcely more than a point, or forming an orbicular head, or being variously lobed. 5. The seed-vessel is the germen enlarged, va- rying in form, texture, and size in almost every species. What old botanists called naked seeds are seed-vessels or carpels containing only one seed, and which do not open when ripe ; the strawberry, wheat, maize, are examples. The only naked seeds are those of the fir cones, and the CycadecE. There are seven kinds of seed-vessels : — 1. A capsule is woody or membranous, containing one or more cells, as in the poppy. 2. Aj>od is long, dry, and solitary, formed of two valves, divided by a linear partition into two cells, as in the wall-flower. 3. A legume is solitary, formed of two oblong valves without any par- tition, consequently is one-celled, as the pea. 4. A drupe has a fleshy coat, closely enclosed in a hard nut, as the cherry, peach, &c. 5. A pome has a fleshy coat, enclosing a capsule, as the apple, pear, &c. 6. A berry is fleshy, con- taining its seed or seeds within its pulp, with- out valves, as the currant. A compound berry is instanced in the blackberry, &c. 7. A cone is a catkin hardened into a seed-vessel, as in the fir, birch, &c. 6. The seed. To the perfecting of this part all the other parts of the fructification, and even of the whole plant, are subservient; an- nuals perish immediately after it is perfected, and in our climate evenperennials begin to droop as soon as it is ripe. A seed consists of seve- ral parts: — 1. The embryo is the part the wel- fare of which all the other parts unite in pro- moting. It is the rudiment of the future plant. It is very apparent in the bean, pea, &c., and has the form of a heart in the walnut. It is usually within the substance of the seed, as in the above instance ; in the grasses, however, it is on the outside. Upon removing the skin of a pea or bean, it divides easily into two parts ; these are the cotyledons: this is the usual number. In the pine tribe they are four ; in the grasses, &c^ BOTANY. BOTANY. only one ; hence the last are called monocoty- ledons. The cotyledons, when the seed has sprouted, usually rise, in the course of germi- nation, out of the ground, and perform the functions of leaves for a while : this is never the case in wheat, or any other of the mono- cotyledons ; their seeds consist chiefly of the albumen or white, which is either farinaceous, horny, or fleshy, and remains in the ground nourishing the embryo, until its leaves and roots are sutficiently perfected for that pur- pose. Athough the albumen is wanting in a distinct form in several tribes, as those with compound and cruciform flowers, &c., yet the farinaceous matter lodged in the cotyledons is evidently intended to supply the embryo with nourishment during the first efforts of germina- tion. Many plants have it distinct from the cotyledons. Vitellus, the yolk, like the albu- men, serves to nourish the embryo in the com- mencement of germination. If the albumen, as a distinct organ, is present also, the vitellus is situated between it and the embryo. Testa, the skin, envelopes all the preceding parts, and gives them their form, being itself of a permanent shape, whilst they are in a liquid state. It is of various textures and sub- stance ; sometimes single, but usually lined with a finer membrane. Hihim, or scar, marks where the seed was connected with the seed- vessel or receptacle. In describing the form or external parts of a seed, it is always to be considered as the base. There are several occasional appendages to seeds, which may as well be considered in this place. The peUidc closely adheres to some •seeds, so as to conceal their actual skin. It varies, being downy, membranous, and muci- laginous, or not perceptible until moistened. The tunic envelopes the seed more or less loosely, being attached only at the base. The seed-down is the chaffy, bristly, or feathery crown, originating from the partial calyx Re- maining attached to the summit of a seed, somewhat resembling a parachute, which we see bearing along the seed of the dandelion, thistle, &c. A tail is the permanent style which remains as an elongated, feathery termination to some seeds, as clematis. A u-ing, a mem- branous appendage, serving, as the seed-down, to transport the seed it is attached to through the air. It is solitary, except in some umbel- liferous plants. We may now proceed to the last division of the flower, which is, 7thly, the receptacle. — This is the common base or point of connec- tion of the other parts. In compound flowers it serves as a distinguishing mark, and there- fore is of importance. In the daisy it is coni- cal; in the chrysanthemum, convex; carduus has it hairj^; chamomile, scaly; picris, naked; onopordum, cellular. A compound flower is formed by the union of several sessile florets, or lesser flowers, within a common calyx; each, however, must possess five stamens, their filaments divided, but their anthers united into a cylinder, through which passes the style of a solitary pistil, m^jch longer than the stamens, and hav- ing a stigma divided into two parts, which roll backwards. There are various forms, is the thistle, daisy, sunflower, &c. When the flowers are collected round a stem in a complete ring, or merely on two of its sides, it is denominated a whorl, as in the dead nettle (Lamium). Flowers on their own stalks, standing somewhat distant from each other on a common one, or axis, are denominated a ra- ceme, as a bunch of currants. When they are placed together on one common axis, they form a spike, as in lavender {Lavandula). If flowers standing on a common stalk have, in proportion as they stand on it lower down, longer foot-stalks, so that the flowers all stand nearly on a level, it is denominated a corymb, as in Spircea opulifolia, common in our gardens ; in the common cabbage, a corymb of flowers becomes a raceme of fruit. Flowers on par- tial stalks variously divided and inserted, col- lected closely together and level at top, is a fascicle, as in the Sweet William {Dianthus bar- batus). Sessile flowers collected together in a globular figure form a head or tuft, as in Statice armeria. When several flowers on stalks of nearly equal length spring from a common centre on a general stalk, they form an umbel, as in the parsley. This is either general or partial ; the latter is termed an umbellule. When flowers on separate foot-stalks, spring- ing from a common centre, have their foot- stalks variously subdivided, it is termed a cyme, as in the elder {Sambucus). Flowers growing on partial foot-stalks without any or- der, but loosely spread on a common one, form a panicle, as in the oat {^vena). When the flowers of a panicle grow closely together, somewhat approaching an ovate form, as a bunch of grapes, the lilac, «&c., it is termed a thyrsus, or bunch. When the flowers are all barren and sessile upon a common axis, it forms the amentum. The exterior covering of plants is called the epidermis or cuticle, answering the same purpose as the scarf-skin or cuticle of animals, viz. protecting the interior and more tender parts from the injuries that might arise from exces- sive heat, cold, &c.; yet, being porous, it al- lows the absorption and emission of moisture and air, and the admission of light. It cannot but have been observed how the epidermis varies in different plants ; how smooth it is over the petals of most flowers — how downy on the fruit of the peach — how rough on the the oak — on the nettle, clothed with perforated poisonous hairs. The cuticle peels off" in some plants, as in the cork tree. In some plants, especially the Dutch rush {Equisetum hyemaW), it is so impregnated with silicious or flinty matter as to serve as a polish for the cabinet- maker, &c. Immediately beneath the epidermis is the cellular integument; this is usually the seat of colour, being red in the petals of the red rose, blue in the common violet, &c. Leaves appear to be little else than masses of cellular integu- ment, enclosed in a case of epidermis, and tra- versed by numerous sap-vessels. Next to the cellular integument occurs the bark. In stems and branches but one year old this consists but of one layer; in older ones there are to be 211 BOTANY. BOTANY. observed a layer for every year of age ; these, however, are of little import to the plant, the vital functions for the time being are carried on in the layer immediately in contact with the wood. This innermost ring is termed the liber. The bark is very conspicuous in some roots, as the parsnip,* carrot, &c. ; the thick outer ring,* observable when these are cut transversely, is the bark. The bark consists of woody fibres, chiefly running longitudinally, but beautifully interwoven. In one of the me- zereon tribe, a native of Jamaica, and called the lace bark, it may be separated into elegant layers of lace-work. In the bark the peculiar properties of the plant principally reside ; wit- ness the resin in the pine, the fragrant oil of the cinnamon, &c. Next to the liber occurs the tvood, which forms the chief bulk of trees. A la3^er or more of this occurs in all exogenous plants, for in the portion of it which adjoins the liber, and is named the alburnum, are the sap-vessels which convey the fluid from the root to the leaves, whence it descends into vessels situ- ated in the liber, as we shall see hereafter. In trees, a fresh layer of wood is deposited every year adjoining the liber, from which it is formed or deposited ; hence the age of a tree may be known by counting the concentric rings. In the middle of the wood occurs the medulla or pith, commonly a porous, juicy, yel- lowish or greenish substance; even the hollow stems of the onion, &c., are lined with a film of it. It seems to be an extra reservoir of nourishment, required for the formation of the leaves and more recent parts of plants; at all events, in old stems and branches it is usually obliterated. Botanists are not determined as to its uses. When a seed is committed to the ground, if moisture, air, and heat are not all present in certain favourable proportions, it refuses to germinate. (See Water, its uses to vegeta- tion.) No seed will vegetate in dry earth, nor in a temperature at or below the freezing point; all require a free admission of air. These circumstances being favourable, the seed swells — the skin bursts — and the radicle, or embryo root, makes its appearance, and sinks into the earth. The cotyledons, if the seed has more than one, by degrees develope themselves, and rise above the surface, afford- ing nourishment to the embryo stem, situated between therfl, until the radicle has become sufficiently a root to supply food for its growth; when thus rendered useless, they decay. Animal and vegetable matters rendered so- luble in water by putrefaction, various salts and earths, and water, are the chief nourish- ment plants derive from the soil ; but it is also certain that the roots absorb air, which in part accounts for the benefit afforded to them by loosening the soil about them, and for plant- ing them near the surface. When a plant has got its leaves developed, it possesses another source of acauiring nourishment from the at- mosphere. See Gases, their use to vegetation. The atmosphere, which to our eyes appears a siiiiple uniform fluid, has been demonstrated by chemists to be composed of three difl^erent ■gases or airs with which is constantly mixed 213 the vapour of water. The gases are known as oxygen, carbonic acid, and azote or nitrogen. Carbonic acid gas is carbon or cHarcoal com- bined with oxygen. Water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen gases. These facts, by a little attention, will be easily remembered, and render all that follows comprehensible. The nourishment which is absorbed by the roots being in a fluid state, proceeds alotg the sap-vessels situated in the alburnum of the wood, and spreads through the leaves, flowers, &c. Here, and during its course up the stem, by the varied absorption and decomposition of water and carbonic acid, and the emission of oxygen, the sap is converted into various sub- stances, varying in every species of plants ; gum is formed in the cherry, resin in the fir, &c.; these are deposited as the sap descends through the vessels of the liber. From the sap likewise is derived the nourishment from whence is formed the wood, &c.; in fact, it is the source of the growth of the parts. Our knowledge of chemistry and vegetable physio- logy is yet too imperfect to enable us to mark the various shades of difference in the pro- cesses of each plant with any degree of pre- cision. We know that in the light all plants absorb carbonic acid gas, and emit oxygen whilst in the dark; on the contrary, they ab- sorb the latter and give out the former by the same surfaces; but we are utterly unable to point out how the same organs secrete a poi- son in the nightshade and a wholesome food in the potato, which so closely resembles the first in form. A few very simple experiments will serve to fix the above facts upon our me- mories. We may prove that the sap rises through the alburnum, and descends through the bark, by placing the cut end of a leafy twig of the fig tree in an infusion of Brazil wood; after some hours cut oif about half an inch of the extremitj', when a circle of red dots will mark where the infusion ascended, and an outer circle of white dots will show where the juices descend. That leaves throw off" moisture, or perspire, is demonstrated by inverting a tumbler over two or three leaves placed in the light; the inside of the glass will soon be perceptibly covered with dew. That leaves throw oflf gas from their sur- faces is demonstrated by plunging one in a ves- sel of water; air-bubbles will soon be perceived to be emitted by and attached to it. In due course of time the flowers of a plant open; the anthers of the stamens swell,- burst, and scatter a dust, termed pollen, secreted by them, and which is caught immediately by the moist stigmas of the pistils, or is carried to them by the wind, or accidental contact of some insect. This contact of the pollen with the stigma is found to be absolutely necessary before the seed can be perfected. This course of vegetation is repeated for a series of years in perennials, but the plant decays as soon as the seed is perfected in annuals. Biotanists at present are acquainted with nearly 100,000 species of plants; and the care with which Providence has provided for me well-being of plants is an earnest of their im portance. That they may never become ex BOTANY. BOTS. linct,the number of their seeds is often immense : p Ray counted 32,000 in one poppy-head ! Where the seeds are less numerous, their safety is se- cured by the extra strength of the seed-vessel, their nauseous, poisonous nature, and other means. The various modes in which ihey are spread over the face of the country is equal evidence of a peculiar providential care. The seed-down bears some through the air to a dis- tance ; some cling by their rough appendages to the coats of animals ; others are borne by neighbouring streams, or by the winds, to an immense distance ; cocoa-nuts float from the tropics to the shores of Norway; African seeds are blown over the south.ern coasts of Spain ; birds, animals, and even the seed-vessels them- selves, by an ejective power, all perform a part in the oj^e of dissemination. Then, again, the various kinds of defence with which they are endowed: cuticles, woolly, and thorny, and flinty, to preserve an equable temperature and to prevent injurious wounds. The buds which contain the embryo of leaves to appear the following; year, how enveloped are they in scales, and often coated with resin or gum ! Independent of any general arrangement, plants are divided into species, genera, and varieties. By species is to be understood a plant which by certain permanent signs can be distinguished from all others; for instance, every one can determine that the damask rose difl^rs from every other; and botanists, having shown by what specific marks it may always be distin- guished, have detaf mined it to be a species: but there are many other roses which, though hav- ing specific points of difference, very closely resemble the damask rose ; these, botanists have therefore collected into one family, which they term a genus, under the general name of Eosa. Rosa, then, is the generic or family name ; but, to distinguish the species, every one has a separate second or specif c name : — thus, the damask rose is Rosa centifolia ; the dog rose, iiosa canbia; these second names are therefore termed the specific na7iies. By variety is meant a plant varying in an established species, but which cannot produce an exact resemblance of itself by seed. Thus, all our apples are varieties of one species, the crab (Pyrus) ; and ^11 plants raised from their seed invariably differ from each other and their parent. The whole vegetable kingdom, then, is divided into families, or genera, composed of a greater or less number of species. In botany the varieties are little noticed. These genera are distributed by Linnaeus into classes, in what, from him, is denominated the Linnsean System of Botany. These classes are twenty-four in number, founded on the number, situation, or propor- tion of the stam'ans. The plants of the twenty-four classes are further arranged in subdivisions, denominated orders. The orders of the first thirteen classes are founded on the number of pistils the plants belonging to them contain. The orders of the 14th class are distinguished by their seed-^^esseh. The two orders of the 15th class are distin- uished by the form of the seed-vessels. The orders of the 16th, 17th, and 18th classes are founded on the number of the stamens, that is, on the characters of the first thirteen classes. The orders of the 19th class (Syngenesia) are marked by the nature of the florets. The orders of the 26th, 2 1st, and 22d classes are distinguished by the characters of some of the classes that preceded them : that is, by the number or proportion of the stamens, the union of the anthers not being attended to. The orders of the 23d class are distinguished upon the principles of the two preceding classes The 24th class {Cryptognmia) is divided iatc five orders : — 1. Ferns, .3. Liverworts, .2. Mosses, 4. Algse, 5. Mushrooms. The natural system of M.Jvssieu. — Every per- son must have observed, that plants in many instances are arranged by nature in families ; for instance, the grasses, liliaceous plants, the umbelliferous plants, mosses, sea-weeds, ferns, &c., are composed of individuals bearing a very striking resemblance to each other in their forms. The same resemblance holds in their internal qualities, between such plants as resemble one another in configuration. Thus the grasses are all nutritious ; the liliaceous plants in general poisonous; umbelliferous plants growing on high dry soils are generally wholesome ; those of wet situations are gene- rally poisonous. The importance of keeping these families undivided in a botanical classi- fication is evident; and if plants were univer- sally separable into such distinct families as those above mentioned, a natural system would be easy and perfect. But plants are too diver- sified; they approach each other in such va- rious shades, that it is certain a complete natural system can never be perfected, or must be too intricate for general use. Jussieu's sys- tem, with all its merit, is open to both these objections ; it is imperfect, were it only from being founded upon the structure of the seed, that part of plants which is, perhaps, more sel- dom than any other capable of being obseyred by the botanist. There are fifteen classes and one hundred orders. The classes have no particular names, but are distinguished by numbers, with a short statement of essential characters. The orders are named after some principal genus in each. There are some inaccuracies in the arrange- ment ; many plants, considered by Jussieu as monocotyledonous, are now known to be with- out any cotyledons. At the end Jussieu places a large assemblage of genera, consisting of plants, the construction of whose seed is undetermined. This, of course, is an imperfection, but not peculiar to Jussieu's system. It must be the case with all systems founded on nature, unless their contrivers could have at once before them a specimen of every species of plant that the various portions of our globe produce. This system has been greatly modified and improved by DecandoUe, Lindley, and others ; and it is now justly pre- ferred to the artificial system of Linneeus. (G. W.Johnson; Dr. Lindley ; G.Sinclair; Trans. High. Sor. vol. i. p. 81.) BOTS. In farriery, a kind -f worms very J13 BOT-FLIES. BOT-FLIES. troublesome to horses. Bots are the laryoe or iiaggots of a species of gad-fly (the CEstrus ei/Mi), which deposits its eggs on the legs, mane, or those parts of the horse that the animal is most apt to lick. The egg is immediately hatched by the warmth and moisture of the tongue, and the little worm conveyed into the mouth, whence it crawls down the oesophagus into the stomach. It adheres to the cuticular coat of the stomach by means of little hooks, with which its mouth is furnished; and there it remains from the summer of one year to the spring of the next, nourished by the mucus of the stomach, or the foovl which it contains. Then having attained its full size as a maggot, it loosens its hold, and is carried along the in- tesiines with the other contents of the stomach, and evacuated with the freces. Before it drops, it generally clings for a while to the verge of the anus, and tickles and teases the horse to a very great degree. Except they exist in most unusual numbers, bots do neither good nor harm during their residence in the stomach of the horse. It is the habitation which nature has assigned to them; and the safety of so noble an animal as the horse would not have been compromised for the sake of a maggot and a fly. The best advice that can be given, therefore, is to let them alone, or at most to be content with picking them oflT when they appear under the tail. There are two good reasons for this. The first is, that there is not any me- dicine that will expel them ; the strongest and even the most dangerous purgative is insuffi- cient. The second reason is, that if the bots are let alone, they will, in due time, come all away without our help or meddling. {Claters Farriery, p. 168 — 170.) Green food, however, expels them readily, as does common salt in the proportion of two to four ounces to a quart of water. The most simple and efficient reme- dy is a quart of milk, mixed well with a quar- ter of a pound of honey or brown sugar, given fasting. This is much better than aloes. BOT-FLIES. The various insects, impro- perly called bot-bees, are two-winged flies, be- longing to the order Diptera and the family CEstriflas. Bot-flies do not seem to have any mouth or proboscis ; for, although these parts do really exist in them, the opening of the mouth is extremely small, and the proboscis is very short, and is entirely concealed in it, so that these insects, while in the winged state, do not appear able to take any nourishment. The larvae or young of bot-flies live in various parts of the bodies of animals. They are thick, fleshy, whitish maggots, without feet, tapering towards the head, which is generally armed with two hooks, and the rings of the body are surrounded with rows of smaller hooks or prickles. When fully grawn, they drop to the ground and burrow in it a short distance. After this, the skin of the maggot becomes a nard and brownish shell, within which the in- sect turns to a pupa, and finally to a fly, and comes out by pushing a little piece like a lid from the small end of the shell. More than twenty different kinds of bot-flies ^ are already known, and several of them are found in the United States. Some of them have bo».n brought here with our domesticated ani- 214 mals from abroad, and have multiplied ai .1 increased. Three of them attack the horse. The large bot-fly of the horse {Gasterophilut equi) has spotted wings. She lays her eggs about his knees ; the small red-tailed species (G. hasmorrhoidalis), on his lips; and the brown farrier bot-fly (G. veterimis), under his> throat, according to Dr. Roland Green. By rubbing and biting the parts where the eggs are laid, the horse gets the maggots into his mouth, and swallows them with his food. The insects then fasten themselves in clusters to the inside of his stomach, and live there till they are fully grown. The following are stated to be the symptoms shown by the horse when he is much infested by these insects. He loses flesh, coughs, eats sparingly, and bites his sides ; at length he has a discharge from his fJDse ; and these symptoms are followed by a stiffness of his legs and neck, staggering, difficulty in breath- ing, convulsions, and death. No sure and safe remedy has yet been found sufficient to remove bots from the stomach of the horse. The pre- ventive means are very simple, consisting only in scraping off the eggs or nits of the fly every day. Bracy Clark, Esq., who has published some very interesting remarks on the bots of horses and of other animals, maintains that bots are rather beneficial than injurious to the animals they infest. {Br. //«>»•(«.) If a piece of the maw or stomach of a horse that has died while affected with bots be cut out, it may be held under the jet of the strongest fountain or hydrant, without the maggots or bots leaving g», or loosing their hooks. Experiments have been made to de- stroy them out of the body with spirits of tur- pentine, alcohol, and a great many of the most stimulating and acrimonious substances, in liquid and other forms, all, however, with little apparent effect upon an insect so very tena- cious of life. The bot-maggot is even said to live a considerable length of time in oil of vi- triol and nitric acid or aquafortis. After such results, the chance of destroying them in the body must be small, through means which would not destroy the horse. The following ingenious method has, however, been pursued with success. A full drench has been admi- nistered, consisting of a mixture of milk sweet- ened with molasses, followed soon after by an active purgative drench. The milk and mo- lasses tempt the bot-maggots to let go their holds in order the better to partake of the milk, in which condition they are worked off quickly by the brisk operation of the medicine. The maggots of the CEstrus bovis, or ox bot- fly, live in large open boils, sometimes called wornils or wurmals, that is, worm-holes, on the backs of cattle. The fly is rather smaller than the horse bot-fly, although it comes from a much larger maggot. Tiie sheep bot-fly (Cephnlemyia ovis) lays its eggs in the nostrils of sheep, and the maggots crawl from thence into the hollows in the bones of the forehead. Deer are also afflicted by bots peculiar to them. Our native hare, or rabbit, as it is commonly called, sometimes has very large bots, which live under the skin of his back. The fly (CEstrus bvccatns) is as big as our largest humble-bee, but is not hairy. It is of a reddish- BOUND. BOX-TKEE. black colour; the face and the sides of the hind-body are covered with a bluish-white bloom ; there are many small black dots on the latter, and six or eight on the face. This fly measures seven-eighths of an inch or more in length, and its wings expand about three- quarters of an inch. It is rarely seen ; and my only specimen was taken in the month of July, many years ago. At the very end of this order is to be placed a remarkable group of insects, which seems to connect the flies with the true ticks and spi- ders. Some of these insects have wings-; but others have neither wings nor poisers. Of the winged kinds there is one (Hippobosca equina) that nestles in the hair of the horse ; others are bird-flies (Ornithomyia), and live in the plumage of almost all kinds of birds. The wingless kinds have sometimes been called .spider-flies, from their shape ; such are sheep- ticks (Mcllophagus ovis) and bat-licks {Nycteii- bia). These singular creatures are not pro- duced from eggs, in the usual way among in- sects, but are brought forth in the pupa state, enclosed in the egg-shaped skin of the larva, which is nearly as large as the body of the parent insect. This egg-like body is soft and white at first, but soon becomes hard and brown. It is notched at one end, and out of this notched part the enclosed insect makes its way, when it arrives at maturity. {Dr. Harris.) BOUND (Sax. bunoe, from binftan, to bind). In veterinary medicine, a term of various ap- plication. Any part of an animal that is em- braced with an unnatural force is said to be bound: thus horses are liable to be hoof-bound, hide-bound, &c. Or the bowels may be con- stricted so as not to part with the faeces, in which case the belly is said to be bound. BOWEL DISEASES (Mod. Fr. boyaux ; old Fr. bouilles). The horse and other quadru- peds are liable to various diseases afiecting the bowels. Of inflammation of the bowels there are two kinds; that of the external and that of the internal coat. The former is a very frequent and fatal disease, and is recognised by the farrier under the name of red colic. It is frequently caused by the application of cold to the belly of the horse, either by taking him into the water, or washing him about the belly with cold water, or suffering him to drink plentifully of it when he is heated, or by expo- sure to rain, over-exertion on a full stomach, &c. From whatever cause it arises, it runs its course with fearful rapidity, and sometimes destroys the horse in less than twenty-four hours. The symptoms should be carefully studied. One of the earliest is the expression of very acute pain. The animal paws, rolls, struggles violently, lies upon his back, groans; his legs and mouth are cold, the flanks heave violently, the horse shivers and sweats, &c. The violence of the symptoms soon abates, and the horse becomes weak, and scarcely able to stand. Prompt and copious bleeding should be at first resorted to, until fainting nearly or quite succeeds; and mild aperients may be next administered. The whole of the belly should be stimulated with the strong blis- tering liquid, or with spirit of turpentine ; and these appliances should be rubbed in as hard'v I and thoroughly as the tender state of the belly will allow. The horse should be kept quiet, warmly clothed, and his legs bandaged. In- flammation of the inner coat of the bowels is usually the consequence of physic, either of bad quality or given in an over-dose ; or the horse may have been ridden or driven far and fast with nothing but green meat in his belly. This disease can scarcely be confounded with the foregoing. The horse does not roll se vio lently nor kick so desperately, nor is there an/ heat nor much tenderness of the belly. At the same time he is purged, instead of exhibiting the obstinate costiveness which generally ac- companies the former. Plenty of tolerably thick gruel or starch should be forced down, which will possibly sheathe the coats of the stomach from the effect either of some portion of the physic or the acrimony of the secretion, and the purging will gradually stop. If this should have no eflfect, bleeding, carefully watcned, and stopped when the pulse falters, must be resorted to ; and thicker gruel and astringent medicine must be administered. As in the last species, warm clothing and bandages about the legs will be of essential service. {Clater's Farriery, p. 173 — 178.) BOWLDERS, or BOULDERS. A term in geology, implying rounded masses of rock; it is also provincially applied to a kind of round stone, common in the soils of the midland dis- tricts. In the north of England it is pronounced sometimes ,6oM'c/cr or booder, and also boother. BOWLDER-WALL. A wall generally on the sea-coast, constructed of large pebbles or bowlders of flint, which have been rounded by the action of water. BOW-LEGGED. In horsemanship, is a de- fective conformation or posture of the fore-legs of a horse. BOWS OF A SADDLE are two pieces of wood laid archwise to receive the upper part of the horse's back, to give the saddle its due form, and keep it steady. BOX DRAIN. An underground drain, re- gularly built, with upright sides, and a flat stone or brick cover ; so that the close section has the appearance of a square box. See Drains and Draining. BOX TREE (Sax. box ; It. bosso -. Fr. buis ; Lat. Buxvs sempervirens). We consider the English name of this plant to be a corruption of the Latin word buxus, or from the Spanish box, and that it gave the name to the wooden cases made by the carpenter and turner, rather than derived its own from these cases. The box was formerly much more plentiful in England than at present. Boxwel, in Glou- cestershire, was named from this tree, and it also gave the name of Boxhill to those delight- ful downs near Dorking, in Surr}^ where this shrub seems to have grown naturally, as it is known to have abounded there long before the time that the Earl of Arundel retired to that spot, and, as it is stated, planted the box. In 1815 the box trees cut down on Boxhill pro- duced upwards of 10,000/. This evergreen bush, or small tree, is found all over Europe, as well as upon the chalk hills of England ; but it acquires its largest dimensions in the south. The duty on box-wood is quite oppre^- 2J5 BOX. BRAMBLE. sive; being 5/. a ton if brought from a foreign country, and 1/. a ton if from a British pos- session. It is from Turkey that the principal part of the wood is imported into England; whether or not all this is really furnished by Buxus semperviretis is not known. It is not im- probable that Buxus buleurica, a larger species, too tender to thrive in this country, may fur- nish a part, at least, of that which comes from the Mediterr;inean. It is said, that tlie wood of this species is coarser, and of a brighter yel- low than that of the comnlon species. At an average of the three years ending with 1831, the entries of box-wood for home consumption amounted to 382 tons a year. In 1832, the duly produced 1867/. 17s. 4f/. Turkey box- wood sells in the London market for from 11. to 14/. a ton, duty included. Box is a very valuable wood. It is of a yellowish colour, close-grained, very hard, and heavy ; it cuts better than any other wood, is susceptible of a very fine polish, and is very durable. In con- sequence it is much used by turners auJ ma- thematical and musical instrument makers. It is too heavy for furniture. It is the only wood used by the engravers of wood-c. ts for books; and, provided due care be exercised, the num- ber of impressions that may be taken from a box-wood cut is very great. In France, box- wood is extensively used for combs, knife handles, and button moulds. The value of the box-wood sent from Spain to Paris is re- ported to amount to 10,000 fr. a year. Where box trees are required, they should be raised from seed, which should be sown soon after it is ripe, in a shady border of light loam, or sand ; but it is generally propagated by cuttings planted in the autumn, and kept moist, until they have taken root. The box plant is best known for its use in gardens as hedgings to borders ; the kind so employed is a dwarf variety. It is very useful, as it grows freely under the drip and shade of trees. Dwarf box is increased by parting the roots, or planting the slips. The best time for trans- planting this shrub is October; though it may be removed almost at any time, except sum- mer, if it be taken up with a good ball of earth. With respect to its medicinal properties, box-wood has been substituted for gnaiaami as a sudorific in rheumatism ; but is now seldom prescribed. Oil of box root is a popular reme- dy for the toothache, when dropped on cotton, and put into a carious tooth. (PhiUips^s Sylv. Flor. vol. i. p. 44 ; Brande's Did. of Science ; M'Cullock's Com. Diet.) BOX of a Wheel. The aperture wherein the axis turns. BOX of a Plough. The cross-piece in the head of the plough which supports the two crow-staves. BRACE. The general name for a couple, or pair, of such animals as bucks, hounds, partridges, &c. It is also applied to any thing that serves to strengthen or support. BRACKEN. It is written also braken, and sometimes pronounced breckin in the north of England. The same with brake or fern. See Fehx. BRAIRD. In the agriculture and gardening 216 of Scotland, the term braird is applied to the springing up of seeds, which, when they come up well, are said to have a fine braird. BRAKE. The name of a wooden instru- ment for dressing hemp and flax, used to bruise or break the bun or stem, &c. in order to separate the cortical part or rind from it. It is sometimes applied to a thicket, or the place where fern grows ; and is another name for the barnacles, or pincers, used by farriers. "Brake is also a sharp bit, or snaffle for horses. A smith's brake is a machine in which horses unwilling to be shod are confined during that operation. Some species of large heavy har- rows are frequently called brakes. See Hah- HOW. BRAMBLE, FLOWERING (^Rubus odora- tus). A hardy exotic shrub, five or si}f feet in height, blowing apinkish violet-coloured flower in June and August. It loves shade and moist-, ure, and is propagated by suckers. It is known also as the flowering raspberry. BRAMBLE or BRAMBLE-BERRY (Sax. hjifBinbei, formerly written brcmble ; Lat. Rii- hug). The bramble, or blackberry, the generic name of a large family of shrubs which creep along the hedge in every soil. The common bramble (Rvbus frulirosus) derives both its La- tin and English common name from the colour of its fruit at different stages of ripeness. However generally the bramble is reprobated as a troublesome weed, we must acknowledge that, when either in fruit or flower, it forms a principal among the numberless hedgerow beauties, and is not without its utility in par- ticular soils, especially in poor sandy lands, where the growth of other hedges is slow, and where, by reason of the looseness of the soil, the ditch is no defence. When planted in such situations, it will, by its quick growth, soon entwine its thorny branches in the dead hedge, and form an almost impervious fence against, the invasions of cattle, sheep, and other trespassers. Brambles mixed with other hedge plants will render them thicker and stronger. The objections urged against the more general adoption of bramble fences are, that, by the yearly decay of a portion of the shoots, they soon fill the hedge with dead wood, which has not only an unsightly appearance, but is also hurtful to the other plants; and again it is said, that the leaves are so broad and numerous as to smother every other plant, by depriving it of both sun and air. When brambles are in considerable abundance, as is often the case in waste and other lands tha require to be brought into cultivation, they should always be grubbed or hoed up ; and if the land be afterwards ploughed with a good furrow, the remaining roots will be torn up, and the plants at length destroyed. This shrub, which is only used by the chance passenger occasionally plucking its ffuit, possesses, how- ever, several advantages which deserve our attention. Its long branches can, in case of need, be employed as cords ; and its fruit pro- duces an excellent wine, the mode of making which is as follows : — Five measures of the ripe fruit, with one of honey and six of wine, are taken and boiled ; the froth is skimmed off, the fire removed, and the mixture being BRAMBLE. BRAMBLE. FiMsed through a linen cloth, is left to ferment, t is then boiled anew, and allowed to ferment in a suitable cask. In Provence bramble-ber- ries are used to give a deep colour to particu- lar wines. {Jllgem. Forst uiid Jngd-Zeitimg, Feb. 1828, p. 104.) The juice of the blackberry, mixed with raisin wine before it has fermented, will give it both the colour and flavour of claret "The berries," says Pliny, "have a desiccative and astringent virtue, and are a most appropriate remedy for the gums and inflammation of the tonsils." The flowers as well as the berries of the bramble were igno- rantly considered by the ancients as remedies against the most dangerous serpents. They are diuretic ; and the juice pressed out of the tendrils, or young shoots, and afterwards re- duced to the consistency of honey by standing in the sun, is, adds the above author, "a sin- gularly efficacious medicine, taken inwardly pr applied outwardly, for all the diseases of the mouth and eyes, as well as for the quincy, &c." But Pliny has lost his celebrity as a medical authority, if he ever had any ; and modern blackberries have also lost their virtue. Boerhaave affirms, that the roots taken out of tlie earth in February or March, and boiled with honey, are an excellent remedy against the dropsy. Syrup of blackberries, picked when only red, is cooling and astringent in common purgings or fluxes. The bruised leaves, stalks, and un- ripe fruit, applied outwardly, are said to cure ringworm. Billington, in his work on Planting, says, "To the poor in the vicinity of Newcastle it is of great importance ; many of whom go a great number of miles to gather blackberries while they are in season, and carry them from ten to twenty miles, to Newcastle, Shields, and Sunderland, where they sometimes sell them as high as 3e?. and ^d. per quart, for puddings, tarts, preserves, or jellies, and even making of wines." The fruit is, in particular, much esteemed and sought after by the wives and mothers of sailors, to send on board the ships, as it is found to be very healthful to the men to eat with their biscuits, as well as for pud- dings, much more so than their common fare of salt beef and pork. All through the season, after the gooseberries are over (for apples, plums, &c., are often scarce and dear), the people are regaled with the fruit of the bram- ble as the greatest domestic luxury, and would probably lay in a store for future consumption if sugar were cheaper. The leaves of the dwarf crimson bramble {Rubus arctims) are often used to adulterate tea. See WiionTLEP.KRitT. Of the Ruhus frufirosus, or common bramble, we have (says Phillips) five varieties ; and as one has been discovered in a hedge near Ox- ford by Bobart which produces a white fruit, it will be necessary to adopt the proper name of bramble-berry for this fruit, to avoid the contradictory appellation of irhite blackberry. The variety with a double flower is now one of the ornaments of the shrubbery ; the other varieties are, one with variegated leaves, one with cut leaves, and the bramble without thorns. Smith, in his English Flora, describes fourteen species of bramble {Rubus); which 28 include the raspberry, cloudberry, and dew- berry. Several reputed varieties of the com- mon bramble have also been observed in Britain (says Smith, vol. ii. p. 400), diflfering in the shape and pubescence of their leaflets, not to mention other characters. These have recently been proposed as species in a very able work, with excellent plates partially co- loured, by Dr. A. Weihe and Prof. Ch. G. Nees ab Esenbeck of Bonn, under the title of Rubi Germanica. Notwithstanding the colour of the flowers, I cannot suppose the British jR. fruti- cosus to differ from theirs. (Smilli's Etigl. Flora, vol. ii.; Phillips^ s Hist, of Fruits, p. 63; Quar- terly Journ. of Agr. vol. i. p. 816; vol. iii. p 182.) The Rubus brier, or bramble genus, consists of about fifty species, which are very widely dispersed over the various continents, extending from the arctic circle to the equatorial limits. Mr. Nuttall enumerates twenty species as found in America, among which are the following : iiM6MsW(EHS, indigenous, according to Pursh and others, throughout Upper Canada and the north- ern parts of the United States. Dr. Darlington calls this the Antwerp raspberry, so advantage- ously known from its large and finely flavoured berries which are cultivated in most gardens. He doubts its being a native of America- There are several varieties of this species of Rubus. The Rubus occidentalis, common black raspberry, or thimble-berry, is common in the Middle States and other portions of the Union, growing along fence-rows, borders of woods, &c. Rubus villosus, common brier, or black- berry bush, is often a great nuisance on farms, from the rapidity with which it spreads and takes possession of neglected fields. R. Cunei- folius, or wedge-leaved rubus or brier, bearing an oval-shaped, small, and well-flavoured blackberry, very common in New Jersey. R. Trivialis, dewberry, or running brier. The black, sweet, and succulent fruit of this species of rubus is a very great favourite. It is not, however, the same as the English dew- berry, which is produced by the Rubus Cassius. In treating of the American dewberry, or run- ning brier. Dr. Darlington says, "the plough- boy is apt to get well acquainted with this species, — by the long trailing stems, with their recurved prickles, drawing across his naked ankles!" R. odorutus, found on the banks of the Wisahickon, near Philadelphia, abundant in mountainous districts, always among rocks. The tall blackberry (-R. Villosus) is some- times cultivated near Boston and other large cities, for the sake of its fruit, and richly re- pays the care bestowed upon it. Dr. Harris, in his report to the Massachusetts legislature upon destructive insects, says, that this plant and its near relation, the raspberry, suffer from borers that live in the pith of the stems, a fact which does not appear to be generally known. The beetle is a species oC Saperda, and finishes its transformations towards the end of July, laying its eggs early in August, one by one, on the stems of the blackberry and raspberry, near a leaf or small twig. The grubs proceed ing from these eggs burrow directly into the pith, which they consume as they proceed, sroduce of the wheat crops has been, at the very least, trebled since 1760. And if to this immense increase in the supply of wheat we add the still more extraordinary increase in the supply of butcher's meat (see Cattle), the fact of a very signal improvement in the condition of the population, in respect of food, will be obvious. When flour is converted into bread, it is found, on weighing it when taken from the oven, that it has increased from 28 to 34 per cent, in weight (3 lbs. of flour make 3 lbs. 10 oz. of dough) ; but when it has been kept thirty-six hours, that which had {gained 28 will lose about 4 per cent. There are, however, several circumstances which nfluence the quantity of bread obtained from a given weight of flour, such as the season in which the wheat was grown and the age of the 320 flour: the better the, flour is, and the older, within certain limits, the larger is the quantity of the bread produced. According to the assize acts, a sack of flour weighing 280 lbs. is supposed capable of being baked into 80 quartern loaves; one-fifth of the loaf being supposed to consist of water and salt, and four-fifths of flour. But the number of loaves that may be made from a sack of flour depends entirely on its goodness. Good flour requires more water than bad flour. Sometimes 82, 83, and even 86 loaves have been made from a sack of flour, and sometimes hardly 80 : 96 are generally made, at 4 lbs. 6 oz. before going into the oven, by the London bakers. It is well known that home-made bread and baker's bread are very difi'erent ; the former is usually sweeter, lighter, and more retentive of moisture, and will keep well for three weeks, •especially if a little rye meal is mixed with it; the latter, if eaten soon after it has cooled, is pleasant and spongy; but if kept more than two or three days, it becomes harsh and unpa- latable, and mouldy. Small quantities of alum are invariably used by the London bakers, with the view of whitening or bleach- ing the bread; for it will be observed, that whatever may be the quality of the flour which is used, hom.e-made bread is always of a com- paratively dingy hue. By some respectable bakers it was formerly in extensive use, and might still be used, with perfect safety; for in so small a quantity as a quarter of a pound of alum to 1 cwt. of flour, it could not be in the least degree injurious. According to Mr. Ac- cum (On the Adulteration of Food), the requisite quantity of alum for this purpose depends upon the quality of the flour. The mealman, he says, makes difierent sorts of flour from the same kind of grain. The best flour is chiefly used for biscuits and pastry, and the inferior kinds for bread. In London, no fewer than five kinds of wheaten flour are brought into the market ; they are called fine flour, seconds, middlings, coarse middlings, and twenty- penny. ; Beans and peas are also, according to the same authority, 'frequently ground up with London flour. The smallest quantity of alum used is from three to four ounces to the sack of flour of 240 lbs. Alum may easily be de- tected in bread, by pouring boiling water on it, pressing out the water, boiling it away to one- third, allowing it to cool, filtering it through paper, and adding to the clear liquor some solution of muriate of lime (chloride of calcium'). If considerable muddiness now appear, it is proof of adulteration, and none other can well be suspected than alum. Another article oc- casionally employed in bread and ginger-bread making is carbonate of ammonia. As it is wholly dissipated by the heat of the oven, none remains in the baked loaf. It renders the bread light, and perhaps neutralizes any acid that luay have been formed (exclusive of car- bonic- acid) ; but it is too dear to be much employed. To some kinds of biscuits it gives a peculiar shortness, and a few of the most celebrated manufacturers use it largely. Ac- cording to Mr. E. Davy, bread, especially that BREAD. ^READ. of indifferent flour, is materiallj' improved by the addition of a little carbonate of magnesia, in the proportion of twenty to thirty grains to the pound of jflour ; it requires to be very in- timately mixed with the flour. Salt, which, in small quantity, is absolutely necessary to the flavour of the bread, is used by fraudulent persons as an adulteration ; for a large portion of it added to dough imparts to it the quality of absorbing and retaining a much greater quantity of water than it otherwise would, thus making the loaf heavier. The taste of such bread is a suflicient index to its bad quality. It is rough in its grain. (Domestic Economy, vol. i.) A long list of other articles which are said to be used in the adulteration of bread might be given, but no advantage could result from such a statement. Making bread at home is an operation very easy of acquirement; and, doubtless, most of our farming friends are fortunate in possess- ing worthy helpmates or experienced servants who provide the families with this daily ne- cessary. To such a practical method of per- forming the art would be deemed needless ; but others of our readers, who may not have considered the expediency of this bread, its superior salubrity, its decided economy, and the feasibility of its preparation, may be pleased to meet with its details. We may refer them, therefore, to the Quar, Journ. of Jlgr. (vol. ix. pp. 289 and 583), a work which is probably in the hands of the greater number of the British farmers; or they may consult with advantage any of the works cited at the end of this ar- ticle, for our limits will not permit us to go into the particulars. The writer there states, that the addition of potatoes is wholly unne- cessary, unless it be the intention of a house- wife that her product shall, resemble that of the baker in insipidity and whiteness ; botli qualities will result from the use of that root, which enters largely into the composition of all bread that is purchased. Notwithstanding the prejudice in favour of the use of potatoes, it has been proved, by careful calculation, that although even a third part of the flour be exchanged for potatoes, so immense is the quantity of water which they contain, that the substitute would cause a loss rather than a gain. Substitute for wheat flour. — Various sub- stances have been used for bread, instead of wheat. In the year 1629-30, when there was a dearth in England, bread was made in London of turnips. And again in 1693, when corn was very dear, a great quantity of turnip bread was made in several parts of the kingdom, but particularly in Essex. The process is, to put the turnips into a kettle over a slow fire, till they become soft ; they are then taken out, squeezed, and drained as dry as possible, and afterwards mashed and mixed with an equal weight of flour, and kneaded with yeast, salt, and a little warm water. A series of interest- ing experiments were made some years ago by the Board of Agriculture to determine what were the best substitutes for wheaten flxjur in the composition of diff"erent kinds of bread. For this purpose, all the sorts of grain, &c. commonly sold in the markets in London were procured, ground into meal, ar d baked in various proportions into bread; such as wheat, rye, rice, barley, buckwheat, maize, oats, peas, beans, and potatoes. Many of theso form the principal nourishment of mankind in various countries. Buckwheat, made into thin cakes, is the chief article of food in Bre- tagne and parts of Normandy. Rice nourishes, probably, more human beings in the East than all other articles of food taken together ; and, for its bulk, is supposed to be the most nutri- tious of all the sorts of grain. Maize is a principal article throughout the south of Eu- rope, and is made into bread in Italy and in America. Peas and beans have rarely, it is believed, been used alone as bread; but, it is suspected, they enter largely, though clandes- tinely, into its composition in various districts. To ascertain the respective qualities of all these grains, and to discover their operation on each other, in correcting by means of one the defects of another, would be an inquiry deserving great attention, but it has not yet been experimentally investigated. With al- most all the several kinds of grain enumerated, experiments were made on seventy sorts of bread. But as all these sorts were made at once, by several bakers, in order to be ex- amined at the same time, the execution, it is observed, was by no means such as gave the Board of Agriculture, who instituted the in- quiry, satisfaction. One general result, how- ever, was, that very few, if any, of the loaves then exhibited, were too bad for human food in times of scarcity ; and it may be observed, that though at first a change may prove dis- agreeable, yet the practice of a few days soon reccmciles the stomach to almost any species of food, by which, at least in the same country, other imlividuals can be supported. These experiments were followed by others, which I 'will explain under distinct heads. Rice. — Of all the mixtures, none has made bread equally good with rice, not ground, but boiled quite soft, and then mixed with wheaten flour. One-third rice and two-thirds wheat make good bread; but one-fourth rice makes a bread superior to any that can be eaten, better even than all of wheat; and as the gain in baking is more than of wheat alone (since rice contains 85 per cent, of starch), there can be no doubt of its nutritive quality. Rice bread thus formed is sweetish to the taste, and very agreeable ; but, as the proportion of gluten is considerably less than in wheaten bread, it is less nutritive. Excellent biscuits are formed of the mixture. Potatoes. — The experiments made with this root were similar. It makes a pleasant pala- table bread with wheat in the proportion of one-third, but one-fourth still lighter and better. Specimens of barley and potatoes, and also of oats and the same root, made into bread, were submitted to the Board, which promise well. In some cases the potato was not boiled, but. merely grated down into a p alp and mixed with wheaten flour, in which mode it made excellent bread. It has been found by other trials, that good bread may be made from equal quantities of flour and potato meal, which has been greatly the practice in thos« T 2 221 BREAD. BREAD. eounlries most remarkable for the plentiful '•ulture of the potato. Various experiments have teen made to combine the meal of wheat, barley, oat, bean, and pea flour with vegetable substances, and which have been found to produce very whole- some and nutritive bread. Using the potatoes after boiling, steaming, or baking, and reducing them into a sort of pow- der, seems, however, to be the most ready me- thod of making them into bread. Oats. — It appears, from some experiments made by Dr. Richard Pearson of Birmingham, that oats answer better mixed with potatoes than has been commonly apprehended. He found that three pints (dry measure) of fine oatmeal, three pints of seconds flour, and one quart of potato pulp kneaded into a dough, with a proper quantity of yeast, salt, and milk and water, made a bread of excellent quality. Barley. — Mixed with an equal proportion of wheat, or one-fourth potatoes and three-fourths barley, barley bread is good. The following method of making bread of wheat and barley flour has been strongly recommended. To four bushels of wheat ground to one sort of flour, extracting only a very small quantity of the coarser bran, add 3^ bushels of barley flour. The oven should be hotter than when bread is made of wheat alone ; and the loaves should remain in the oven about two hours or more. The offal of the barley is good food for hogs. This bread appears to be improved i>y being baked in half-gallon loaves. Bye. — In several parts of the kingdom a mixture of rye and wheat is reckoned an ex- ceileiit species of bread. In Nottinghamshire even opulent farmers consume one-third wheat, one-third rye, and one-third barley ; but their -abourers do not relish it. As r\'e is ■well known to be a wholesome and nutritious grain, its consumption cannot be too strongly recom- mended. The astringent quality of rice, mixed with rye, corrects the laxative quality of the .alter, and makes it equally strong and nourish- ing with the same weight of common wheaten bread. Tlie principal objection to rye is the circumstance of the grain being sometimes ergotted, which renders the bread unwhole- some. Indian Corn. — The flour of maize or Indian corn, by itself, makes a heavy bread. The right mode of manufacturing it is to boil the flour to the consistency of paste, and then, when mixed with wheat flour, it makes a most excellent bread. If used by itself, it is said to have at first a laxative effect, but that dimi- nishes by use, and at any rate can easily be corrected by a mixture either of barley or rice. T' '"5 stated, on very respectable authority, as the general opinion of the inhabitants of the United States, but more particularly of the people of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and Kentucky, where Indian corn is raised in the largest quantity, and applied to the greatest tf^ariety of uses, that rather more nutriment is contained in a bushel of Indian corn than of wheat. In the four states above-mentioned it aonstitutes the almost entire food of the labour- .ug class of the people, awd has supplanted the use of wheaten bread i 232 There are several sorts of Indian com ia America. The yellow flinty corn is reckoned the sweetest and most nutritive. The white ground corn of the southern states makes the fairest, but considerably the weakest flour. Of this last species there is one variety called the flour-corn, which is scarce, but very valu- able. Buckwheat. — This is not kiln-dried, but dried in the sun, being reaped in October, a month remarkably dry and serene in America. The husk is taken ofi" by what is called running it through the mill-stones. The farinaceous part of the grain is then easily separated from the husk by winnowing ; and, being afterwards ground fine, forms an agreeable and nutritive aliment, -and may be made into bread with wheat flour or other substances. Beans and peas. — When these are used as bread, in some places the flour is steeped in water to take off the harsh flavour, and after- wards, when mixed with wheat flour, the taste is hardly to be perceived. Specimens of very good bread have been produced, mixed as fol- lows : — 1 lb. bean flour, 1 lb. potatoes, and 4 lbs. of wheat flour. The flour or meal both of beans and peas, by being boiled, previous to its being mixed with wheaten flour, incorpo- rates more easily with that article, and is pro- bably much more wholesome than it otherwise would be. Bran may in times of scarcity be advan- tageously employed in the making of common household bread ; this is effected by previously boiling th-e bran in water, and then adding the whole decoction in the dough ; thus the bran will be sufficiently softened and divested of its dry husky quality, while the nutritive part, which is supposed to contain an essential oil, is duly prepared for food. It is asserted, that the increase in the quantity of bread, by the addition of one-fourth bran, or 14 lbs. 14 oz. of bran to 56 lbs. of flour, is from 34 lbs. to 36 lbs. of bread beyond what is produced by the common mode. Dr. Davison considers that there are many vegetables which would afford wholesome nutriment either by boiling or drying and grinding them, or by both these processes. Amongst these may be reckoned, perhaps, the tops and bark of gooseberry trees, holly, haw- thorn, and gorse. The inner bark of the elm may be converted into a kind of gruel ; and the roots of fern, and probably those of many other plants, such as some of the grasses, and clovers, might yield nourishment, either by boiling, baking, and separating the fibres from the pulp, or by extracting the starch from those which possess an acrid mucilage, such as the white bryony. If, in these days of im- proved chemical knowledge, a quartern loaf of very good bread can be made out of a deal board (see Quart. Rev. No. civ., quoted also iii Quart. Journ. of Jlgr. vol. v. p. 626), there is no reason why many of our native herbs and shrubs, which are now comparatively useless, should not, as their various nutritive proper- ties become better known, be turned to consi derable advantage in the- production of a greater or less proportion of cheap and whole-* some food. There are many other substances BREAD-ROOT. which may be formed, by a proportionate ad- mixture of wheaten flour, into palatable bread, and advantageously employed in the manufac- ture of this indispensable article of human sustenance. (Brandc''s Diet, of Science and Art; M'Culloch's Corn, Diet.; Penny Cyc. vol. v.; Willicfi's Domes. Encyc.) BREAD -ROOT {Psoralea esculenta). A shrubby or herbaceous perennial plant found on the elevated plains of the Missouri. Its roots are eaten both raw and boiled, the latter being the most common way of cooking it adopted by the Indians. By cultivation it is made to produce abundant crops. The taste of the root is rather insipid, its texture being laminated, always tenacious, solid, but never farinaceous, like the potato. It is somewhat medicmal, operating as a diuretic. Other species of Psoralea are also found on the Missouri and tributaries, among which are the P. canescens, and P. cuspidata, both of which are described as having large, tuberous, and ramified roots. The last species is known among the Canadian boatmen by the name of " Pomme de Prairie," or meadow potato. The P. lanceolata, or elUptica, grows in great quan- tities together on the sandy banks of the Mis- souri, from the river Platte to the mountains, flowering in July and August. It sends up shoots in every direction through the sand, in which soil it is exclusively met with. The stem is about a foot high and the leaves aro- matic when bruised. The P. lupineUus is found from South Carolina to Florida, though not in abundance. It is a very singular plant, the leaves being so narrow as scarcely to be distinguished from the petiole, and two or three inches long, extremely deciduous when dry. The P. virgata is met with in West Florida. With very few exceptions, says Nuttall, this genus of plants producing esculent roots is indigenous to North America and the Cape of Good Hope. BREAKING (Goth, brikan; Sax. bpeccoen). In rural economy, the bringing of an animal under subjection. The breaking of a colt is commonly, especially for race-horses, com- menced when he is much too young ; for this, as for all other breeds of horses, too much caution and gentleness can hardly be used. (Darvill. On Training). Of dogs, spaniels should begin to be broken in at five or six months old. The water-spaniel, according to old Markham, as soon as " even when you first weanehim;" and, according to Blaine (Encyc. of Rural Sports), the education of a pointer or a setter should commence at five or six months. BREAKING UP. A term that is often ap- plied to such lands as are ploughed from leys, or which are cut or pared for the purpose of being burned. BREAST-PLATE. The strap of leather that runs from one side of the saddle to the other over the horse's breast, in order to keep the saddle tight, and hinder it from sliding backwards. BREASTS. Part of the bows of a saddle. BREED (Sax. bpteoan). A sort or variety of any kind of live-stock. The breeds of most domestic animals are numerous, and distin- guished by certain invariable marks or ap- BREEDING-PONDS. pearances peculiar to each, as in cattle, sheep, horses, and swine. See these different heads. BREEDER. In agriculture, a farmer who is much employed in breeding and rearing animals of any of the domestic kinds. BREEDING IN AND IN. The breeding from close relations. "This plan," says Pro- fessor Youatt (Cattle, p. 525), "has many advantages to a certain extent. It may be pursued until the excellent form and qualitv of the breed are developed and established. It was the source whence sprung the fine cattle and sheep of Bakewell, and the superior cattle of Colling ; but disadvantages attend breeding 'in and in,' and to it must be traced the speedy degeneracy, the absolute disappearance of the new Leicester cattle, and in the hands of many an agriculturist, the impairment of constitution and decreased value of the new Leicester sheep and the short-horned beasts. It has therefore become a kind of principle with the agriculturist to effect some change in his stock every second or third year: and that change is most conveniently effected by introducing a new bull or ram. The^e should be as nearly as possible of the same sort, coming from a similar pasturage and climate, but possessing no relationship, or at most a very distant one, to the stock to which he is introduced." These remarks apply to all descriptions of live-stock. In cattle, as well as in the human species, de- fects of organization and permanent derange- ments flf function obtain, and are handed down when the relationship is close. In Spain the deformed and feeble state of the aristocracy arises from the alliances being confined to the same class ; whilst in England, which can boast the finest aristocracy in the world, the higher classes are improved by constant alli- ances being formed with the daughters of inferior classes, where wealth has been accu- mulated. See the heads, Cattle, House, Sheep, &c. BREEDING-PONDS. Such ponds as are employed for breeding fish. The qualities of a pond, to make it profitable for breeding fish, are very different from those which are suffi- cient for the feeding of them ; inasmuch as some particular ponds serve only for one of these purposes, and others for the other; and scarcely ever the same pond is found to an- swer for both. In general it is much more rare to find a good breeding-pond than a good feeding one. The indications of a good breed- ing-pond are these, — a considerable quantity of rushes and grass about its sides, with gra- velly shoals, such as horse-ponds usually have. The spawn of fish is prodigiously great in quantity ; and where it succeeds, one fish is able to produce some millions. Thus, in one of these breeding-ponds, two or three melters and as many spawners will, in a very little time, stock the whole country. When these ponds are not meant entirely for breeding, but the owner wishes to have the fish grow to some jize in them, tne method is to thin their numbers ; for they would otherwise starve one another. It may also be necessary to put in other fish that will prey upon the young, and thin them in the quickest manner. Eels and perch are the most useful on this account, ^e^ BREWING. BREWING. cause they prey not only upon the spawn itself, but upon the young fry from the first hatchiog to the time they are of a considerable size. Some fish are observed to breed indiffer- ently in all kinds of waters; of this nature are the roach, pike, and perch. The introduction of certain voracious fish, such as the pike or pickarel, into ponds or lakes well stocked with trout, white and yellow perch, &c., has been attended with serious consequences, and even led to the total ex- tinction of some kinds and the diminution of all. The mischief in such cases has perhaps been less owing to the exceeding voracity of the pike or pickarel, than to its habits of thrusting itself into the shallows and retired breeding places of other fish, and there break- ing up the spawn or devouring the small-fry, without allowing them a chance to live or in- crease. The trout contents itself with preying upon such bait as it can catch away from the shallows, leaving the breeding places and spawn of other fish undisturbed. Hence, in lakes where plenty of bait is seen along the shores, trout may be 'found in abundance and in fine condition. Trout and perch both mul- tiply in the same ponds or lakes, provided no pike or pickarel be present. BREWING. The process of obtaining the saccharine solution from malt, or other mat- ters, and converting this solution into spiritu- ous liquors, ale, porter, or beer. There is little doubt of the antiquity of this art. The Egyp- tians are said to have been the inventors of beer. The early Germans, and our Saxon forefathers, were as fond of beer as the mo- dern citizens of Lubec and Rostock are now, or the English of all ages. It is hardly neces- sary, in this work, to go deeply into the de- scription of a process which most country persons understand so well. The directions may be divided into several heads. 1. The grinding of the malt: in this there is, as in many other parts of brewing, considerable difference of opinion ; some prefer it ground between stones, others crushed by rollers ; some prefer a fine grist, others a coarse one. 2. The mashing is usually performed in a vessel of wood, with a false bottom pierced full of holes; on this bottom the malt is laid; the water is then admitted, which, for pale ale, or pale spirits, should be of the temperature of from 170° to 185°, according to the quan- tity mashed ; the heat being increased as the mass diminishes. For porter, not higher than 165°, or lower than 156°. For the second mash, an increased temperature of 15° or 20° will be advisable. For the first mash : for every quarter of malt, a barrel and a half of water may be used, and the grist well mixed with the water. The mash is permitted to rest for some time, and then allowed to run off into an auderback, whence it is pumped into the boiler, where it is raised to the boiling temperature. When the wort is suflSciently drained from the mash-tub, another portion of hot water is added for a second mash. The hops are next added, and the boiling is com- pleted, which in general requires an hour and a half, "or until the wort breaks bright from the hops, when a sample is taken from the 224 copper." The wort is let off into coolers, either of wood or iron ; where, when sufficient- ly cooled, or else in proper fermenting tuns, the yeast or barm is added. The fermentation speedily begins ; and when it is thought that a sufficient quantity of alcohol is formed, the fermentation is stopped, and the yeast is sepa- rated by running it into smaller vessels, and skimming off the barm ; or else by allowing it to run off from the bung-holes of the casks, which are, for this purpose, kept completely filled. A small portion of salt is commonly added, and, occasionally, especially by the professional brewer, a portion of isinglass or other finings. In all these operations, cleanli- ness is a most essential part, for without this it is impossible to have good beer. The quantity of hops to be added varies with the quality of the beer. 4 lbs. to the quarter of malt is sufficient for beer for present use, and from this to 28 lbs. have been used for beer for long keeping, as for exporta- tion, &c. The temperature of the fermentation should range between 56° and 62°. Not more than 60° for ale wort, nor more than 62° for porter. Great care should be taken to have good, sound, healthy, and new yeast, — and of this about 2 lbs. per barrel are commonly needed. Good malt and hops, of course, are requisite; but the quality of the water is not of so much consequence as is very often considered to be the case. Some of the best ales in England are brewed either with soft or with hard water, and from rivers, or springs, or ponds. From those issuing from the limestones of Notting- hamshire, the chalks of Dorsetshire, the clays of Staffordshire, the gravels and sands of Sur- rey and Middlesex, is made some of the most excellent beer in the United Kingdom. Th quantity of alcohol, upon an average, in br^ i stout is about 6*80, in ale 8-88, and in smaL beer from 2 to 3 per cent. (Brande.) B r came under the excise in the year 164ii, ..ut the duties were repealed in 1830. The ex- portation of beer from England was in — 1830 1832 1834 Tuns. 10,212 11,330 10,406 The specific gravity of the wort, when it is placed in the fermenting vessels, varies from 1*060, when it contains 14*25 per cent, of solid matter, to 1*127, when it contains 28-2 per cent. That of small beer varies from 1*015 to 1*040, the first containing about 3-5 per cent, of solid matter, the latter about 9*5 per cent. The chief use of the hops (ground ivy and other herbs were used by our Saxon ancestors for this purpose) is to communicate the peculiar bitter flavour from the oil which is contained in them ; partly to hide the sweetness of the saccharine matter, and partly to counteract the tendency which wort has to run into, acidity. {Thomson's Chem. vol. iv. p. 376.) "Hops," says Dr. Lardner {Domestic Econo- my, vol. i.), "are by no means the only bitter which may be made use of for preparing and flavouring ales ; others can be much more conveniently procured in certain situations. Mixtures, in various proportions, of worm- BRICKS. wood, powdered bitter oranges, gentian root, and th^ rind of Seville oranges, will afford an excellent bitter, perhaps more wholesome than hops, and, if skilfully combined, to the full as palatable ; in this position the brewers cannot refuse to bear^me out." Strasburg beer, which is much prized on the continent, owes much of its excellence to the use of avens (Geum urbanum). It has been shown by Mr. Dubrun- fault, that a good beer can be produced from potatoes grated to a pulp, mixed with barley malt. In Ireland, beer is made from parsnips. Cane sugar answers admirably (14 lbs. of cane sugar, dissolved in ten gallons of boiling water, with 1^ lbs. of hops). The beer made in this way is pale coloured, it is true; but colour may be given readily by scorched treacle, or the raspings of an over-baked loaf. (Quart. Journ. of Jlgr. vol. ii. p. 634.) Beer "which would not disgrace a nobleman's table" has also been made from mangel wurzel 150 lbs., and 1 lb. of hops in sixteen gallons of water. {Mechanic's Mag.) It may also be made from the seeds of the Fiorin grass (Do- novon. Domestic Economy), Indian and other corn. (Baxter's Lib. of .Agriculture.) BRICKS are building materials often em- ployed by the farmer for the construction of drains, besides the ordinary purposes, for which they answer very well ; but they are more expensive than draining tiles, which see. By the 17 G. 3, c. 42, under a penalty of 20s., and 10s. per 1000, all bricks made in England for sale shall be 8^ inches long, four inches wide, and 2^ inches thick ; and all pantiles 13J inches long, 9^ inches wide, and ^ an inch thick. If the farmer wishes to make his own bricks, the London plan is to mix fifty chaldrons of coal ashes, or breeze, with 240 cubic yards of cla}^ which makes 100,000 bricks; and to burn these, fifteen chaldrons of coarse sifted breeze are required. The soils called brick earths vary much in their composition ; they contain alumina in different proportions. Pot- ters' clay is perhaps the richest in that earth, being composed, according to M. Vauquelin, (Eull. Phil, xxvi.) of— Paris. Silica (flint) . , _ 43-5 Alumina - _ . 33-2 Lime . . _ 3-5 Oxide of iron . . . 10 Water . _ . 18 Loss . . - 0-8 BRIDLE. A contrivance made of straps or thongs of leather, and pieces of iron, in order to keep a horse in subjection, and direct him in travelling. The several parts of a bridle are, the bit or snaffle ; the head-stall, or leather from the top of the head to the rings of the bit; the fillet, over the forehead and under the fore-top; the throat-band, which buckles from the head-band under the throat ; the nose-bands, going through the loops at the back of the head-stall, and buckled under the cheeks ; the reins, or long thongs of leather that come from the rings of the bit, and, being cast over the horse's head, the rider hoU^n his hand. ^^ BRIDLE-HAND is the horseman's left 29 BRISTLES. hand; the right being called tho ipear or sword hand ; and that in which tho whip is held. BRIDON. A sort of snaffle, with a very slender mouth-bit, without any branches. They are much used in England. It is sometimes written bridoon. BRILLS. In horsemanship, a vulgar name for the hair growing on the horse's eye-lids. BRIM. A term applied to a sow when she goes to the boar, which is called going to brim. It is sometimes written brimme. BRINING OF GRAIN is the practice of steeping it in pickle, in order to prevent smut or other diseases. The steep is made with common salt and water, of sufficient strength to float an egg; or of sea-water, with salt added to it till it is of the requisite strength. The seed is then put into it, and well stirred about: the light grains rise to the surface, and are skimmed off; the rest is put upon a sieve to drain, and new-slaked lime sifted upon it: after being carefully mixed, and when a little dried, it is put into the earth. Urine, when kept stale, is used in the same manner ; and, if the seed be sowed directly, with good effect. Brining the seed wheat is commonly believed by the farmers to be a prevention of smut, a disease which has been shown by Sir Joseph Banks to be a parasitical fungus. Recent ex- periments have suggested that it may even be of use, when employed in larger quantities, as a preventive of mildew — the most dreadful of the numerous diseases to which the cul- tivated grasses are exposed. The experiments of the late Rev. E. Cartwright strongly evi- dence, that when salt and water are sprinkled with a brush upon diseased plants, it is actually a complete cure, even in apparently the most desperate cases. The proportion, one pound to a gallon of water, laid on with a plasterer's brush, the operator making his casts as when sowing corn : it is instant death to the fungus, but it also destroys some plants. The time and expense are trifling. It appeared, in the course of some inquiries made by the Board of Agri- culture, that a Cornish farmer, Mr. Sickler, and also the Rev. R. Hoblin, were accustomed to employ refuse salt as a manure, and that their crops were never infected ivith the rust or blight. The farmer may see most of the authoritifes collected together on this important fact in Johnson, On Salt, p. 50. If potatoes are im- mersed in a solution of ammoniacal water for four or five days (one ounce of the common liquor ammonias to a pint of water), they will have, according to Mr. Webster, their vegetative power completely checked or de- stroyed, and may be in this way preserved throughout the year, without the least injury to their general qualities — the same effect is produced by immersing them in a strong brine. This merely requires subsequent ablution, and repeated changes of water. (Quart. Journ. of Jgr. vol. vii. p. 438.) BRISTLES (Dut. borstels; Ger. borsten). The strong glossy hairs growing upon tne bacii of the wild boar and the hog. Those f:r the use of brushmakers, saddlers, shoemakers, &c, are imported to a very considerable extent from Russia, those of the Ukraine being the 225 BRITTLE HOOF. BROCCOLI. best. At an average of three years ending with 1831, says Mr. M'CuQoch, the entries for home consumption in England amounted to 1,789,801 lbs. annually. They contain a con- siderable quantity of gelatine, which may be separated from them by boiling water. BRITTLE HOOF is an affection of the horse's hoof, very common, especially in sum- mer, in England, from bad stable management. A mixture of one part of oil of tar and two of common fish oil, well rubbed into the crust and the hoof, will restore the natural pliancy and toughness of the horn, and very much contribute to the quickness of its growth. (Youatt, On the Horse, p. 282.) BRIZA MEDIA. See Plate 6, n. Common quaking grass; ladies' tresses: a perennial grass, flowering in May and June. It is dis- tinguished by the panicle of short spikelets, tinged with purplish brown. The spikelets are ovate, on very slender stems, which makes the panicle tremulous. This grass, says Sin- clair, is best fitted for poor soils ; its nutritive powers are considerable, compared with other grasses tenanting a similar soil. It is eaten by horses, cows, and sheep ; and for poor sandy and tenacious soils, where improvements in other respects cannot be sufficiently effected, to fit them for the productions of the superior soils, the common quaking grass will be found of value. BRIZE LANDS. A provincial term for lands which have remained long without til- lage. Brize is ateo a name for the gad-fly, used commonly in the days of Shakspeare and Ben Jonson. (Tr. and Cress.: Poetaster, iii. 1.) BROAD-CAST SOWIN(J. The primitive, rapidly diminishing method of putting grain, turnip, pulse, clover, grasses, &c., into the soil, performed by means of the hand. This mode of sowing seems better adapted to the stony and more stiff kinds of land than that by ma- chines; as in such grounds they are liable to be constantly put out of order, and to deposit the seed unequally. In this way, however, the seeds are scattered over the ground, and not confined in regular rows, as is the case with the drill husbandry, which is in several ways more advantageous to the farmer. This mode of sowing, perhaps from its being that made use of in the infancy of agriculture, has often been called the old method. In this method of sowing, the usual practice, ©specially where the ridges are equal in breadth, and not of too great a width, as five or six yards, is that of dispersing the seed regularly over each land or ridge, in once walking over; the seedsman, by different casts of the hand, sowing one-half in going and the other in re- turning. In doing this, it is the custom of sOme . ater, an opera- tion which, when it is intended for keeping, cannot be too carefully performed; and if the person who works it has not a very cool hand, it should be kept as cool as possible by fre- quent ablutions in cold water. A large portion of the butter made at a distance from large towns is salted and put into casks or firkins, which weigh about 56 lbs. ; about 3 or 4 lbs. of salt are required for this purpose, which should be of the finest and purest description, totally free from the bitter deliquescing salts which commonly abound in that made by artificial heat from sea water. The casks also should be made of clean wood, and before the butter is placed in them they should be well washed with hot brine. " If," says a writer in the Penny Cyvlopadia, "there is not a sufficient quantity to fill the cask at once, the surface is made smooth, some salt is put over it, and a cloth is pressed close upon it to exclude the air. When the remainder is added at the next churning, the cloth is taken off, and the salt which had been put on the surface is care- fully removed with a spoon. The surface is then made rough with a small wooden spade and left so, and the newly salted butter is added, and incorporated completely. This X 241 BUTTER. BUTTER. prevents a streak which would otherwise ap- pear at the pLice where the two portions joined. When ;he cask is full, some salt is put over it, and the head is put cm. II" the butter is well freed from all the buttermilk, and the salt mixed with it quite dry, it will not shrink in the cask, and it will keep its tiavour for a long time." Dr. Anderson recommended for pre- serving butter a composition of salt 2 parts, saltpetre 1 part, sugar 1 part; 1 oz. of this mixture to 16 oz. of butter. It seems that butter thus treated will keep sweet for a lengthened period; but that for the first fort- night it does not taste well. In Devonshire the method of making butter is peculiar to the county. The milk is placed in tin or earthen pans, and twelve hours after milking, these p?.? s (each holding about eleven or twelve quarts) are placed on an iron plate, over a small furnace. The milk is not boiled, but heated until a thick scum arises to the sur- face ; if when a small portion of this is re- moved bubbles appear, the milk is removed, and suffered to cool. The thick part is then taken off the surface, and this is the clouted a-eam of Devonshire, which is known all over England. By a gentle agitation this clouted cream is speedily converted into butter. In Holland they churn the. cream and milk together, after it has been kept sutficiently long for a slight acidity to appear. They churn, it seems, sometimes with a horse, sometimes by a dog, or turnspit, working on a wheel ; a plan which I think might be well adopted, in many cases, in England, to the saving of the labour of many a poor dairy-maid. In the large dairies, however, about Dixmunde andFurnes, the cream only is churned three times a week. (^Flemish Husb. p. 61.) On an average, four gallons of milk pro- duces a pound of butter, and a good cow should produce six pounds of butter per week in summer, and three pounds in winter. Of English butter, that of Cambridge and Epping is the most celebrated." But the consumption in England is much greater than the farmers can supply : very large quantities are in con- sequence annually imported into England; thus, in 1825, the import from Ireland amount- ed to 422,883 cwts., and from foreign countries 159,332 cwts.; this last in 1835 was 134,346 cwts., of which 106,776 cwts. came from Hol- land. (M'CuUoch's Com. Did.; Trans. High. Soc; Quart. Journ. Jlgr.") To prepare Bulter for n warm climate. — When butter is to be exposed to the heat of a warm climate, it should be purified by melting before it is salted and packed up. For this purpose let it be put into a proper vessel, and this im- mersed into another vessel containing water. Let the water be heated until the butter is tho- roughly melted. Let it continue in this state for some time, when the impure parts will sub- side, leaving at the top a perfectly pure trans- parent oil. This, when it cools, will become opaque, and assume colour nearly resembling that of the original butter, being only some- what paler, and of a firmer consistence. When tnis refined butter is become a little stiff, but while it is still somewhat soft, the pure part fnust be separated from the dregs, and be salted 243 and packed up in the same manner as other butter ; it will continue sweet much longer in hot climates, as it retains the salt better than in its original state. It mity also be preserved sweet, without salt, by adding to it a certaia portion of fine honey, perhaps one ounce to a pound of butter, and mixing them together thoroughly, so that they may be perfectly in- corporated. A mixture of this sort has a sweet pleasant taste, and will keep for years without becoming rancid: there is no doubt, therefore, but that butter might thus be preserved in long voyages without spoiling. As butter made in winter and even at other times is mostly pale or white, and at the same time of a poorer quality than that made during the summer months under the most favourable circumstances, various articles have been mixed with it in order to produce the rich yel- low colour associated with excellence. Those most commonly used are the juice of the car- rot, or flowers of the marygold, carefully ex- pressed and strained through a linen cloth, or a small portion of arnotta. When the juices of the carrot and marygold are used, a small quantity (to be determined by experience) is to be diluted with a little cream, and this mixture is added to the rest of the cream when put into the churn. The quantity of colouring matter required is so small as not to impart any par- ticular taste to the butter. When arnotta is used instead of these vegetable juices a por- tion about the size of a pea is sufficient to co- lour sufficiently 25 lbs. of butter. It must be first mixed with a little water and put into the cream at the commencement of churning. The best Spanish arnotta should be used. The butter most esteemed in London is that of Epping and Cambridge ; the cows which produce the former feed during summer in the shrubby pastures of Epping forest, and the leaves of the trees and numerous wild plants which there abound are supposed to improve the flavour of the butter. It is brought to mar- ket in rolls from one to two feet long, weighing a pound each. The Cambridgeshire butter is produced from the milk of cows that feed one part of the year on chalky uplands, and the other in rich meadows or fens ; it is made up into long rolls like the Epping butter, and generall3*salted, not cured, before brought to market. By washing it, and working the salt out of it, the London cheesemongers often sell it at a high price for fresh Epping butter. The butter of the mountains of Wales an Scotland, and the moors,commons, and heath of England, is of excellent quality, when it is properly managed ; and though not equal in quantity, it often is confessedly superior to that produced from the richest meadows. Bad but- ter is more frequently the result of mismanage- ment, want of cleanliness, and inattention, than of any other cause. Ireland would produce the finest butter in the empire, were it not for the intolerably filthy state of their cows, and the want of cleanliness in their dairies. In packing fresh butter, prepared for imme- diate use or sale, the leaves of cabbage, white beet, or of the garden orache, are preferred in England. The bottom of the basket should De bedded with a thick cloth, folded two or three BUTTER-CUP. BUTTERNUT. limes ; theu a thin gauze dipped in cold water, spread over it, on which tlie prints or rolls of butter are to be placed, each with one or more leaves beneath, and smaller ones over it. The lowermost layer being adjusted, fold half of the gauze cloth over it, put in another layer in the same way, and theu cover with the remainder of the gauze. The butter sliould be put into and taken frum the basket without being touched. Whey butter, as its name implies, is butter made from the whey which is taken from the curd, after the milk is coagulated for the manu- facture of cheese. It is chiefly made in those counties where cheese is manufactured, and wher^t forms no inconsiderable part of the pro- fits of the dairj'. In Derbyshire more butter is si, a garden herb ; or perhaps from brachia, from its numerous sprouts). A biennial genus of plants, of which there are a large number of species and innumerable varieties. Many are extensively cultivated in the vicinity of London; and several kinds are also grown by the farmer for the purpose of feeding his cattle and sheep. Our field and garden cabbages, with their varieties, have originated from the Brassica oleracea, or culinary cabbage, an indi- genous sort of colewort growing principally on cliffs near the sea-coast. It is found abun- dantly at Dover. (Smith's English Flora, vol. iii. p. 220.) The cabbage, says Mr. Amos {Comm. to Board of AgrintUure, vol. iv. p. 17S), is a most invaluable plant, very productive, accessible at all times, and is an infallible supply for sheep-feeding during the spring months, §spe- cially for ewes in lamb. Beasts and sheep are CABBAGE. all exceedingly fond of cabbages. It may be of some importance to the farmer to be in- formed that among all the plants of the natural order to Avhich the cabbage belongs, not one perhaps is possessed of any really deleterious property. Among nearly one thousand spe- cies (as Dr. Lindley observes), scattered over the face of the world, all are harmless, and many highly useful. The innumerable varie- ties arise from diffefence of soil and cultiva- tion ; and as all the cabbage tribe form hybrids, new varieties are continually produced. This is effected by the bees, when different sorts are in flower. Hence, only one variety should be in flower at the same time in any garden or field, when we wish to keep the sort unadulte- rated, particularly if some sorts have expanded leaves, and others close heads. It is thus only that the excellent small miniature cabbage, which gvows on the stem of the Brussels sprout, can be kept in perfection. The differ- ent sorts of cabbage most prized for the gar- den are chiefly divided into the close-hearting and the spreading. Of the first, the York and the savoys are the most common ; of the latter, the coleworts and Scotch kale. {Penny Cyclo. vol. vi. p. 92.) Of the genus brassica, or cab- bage, the species chiefly interesting to the farmer, and the objects of cultivation, are, 1. Common turnip (B.Rapa); 2. Wild navew {B. rampestris) ; 3. Rape or cole (B. Nupus) ; i. Early cole (B. prcecox) ; 5. Cabbage (B. ole- racea). These species may be cultivated nearly in the same manner, but they may produce small fusiform roots when they are cultivated for their leaves, or for their seeds, which yield oils; or they may produce large esculent roots when they are cultivated chiefly for their roots. (Low's Elcm. of Prac. Jgric. p. 290.) The dif- ferent kinds of cabbage in cultivation may, adds Professor Low (p. 307), be arranged in different classes, according to their general aspect and more popular characters : — 1. Those which bear their leaves or stalks without their being formed into a head. Some of these have crisped leaves, and are a class of hardy pot- herbs everywhere familiar in the culture of the garden; others have smoothish leaves, with long branched stems. These comprehend the largest and most productive of all the cabbages, — the Jersey cole, the thousand-headed cab- bage, and others. 2. Those whose leaves are formed into a large head. These comprehend the larger cabbages cultivated in the fields. The savoys of our gardens are allied to this class. 3. Those whose roots become napiform, as the kohl-rabe. 4. Those in which the stem divides, and forms a corymbose head, as in the cauliflower and broccoli. The cabbages of the first class, with crisped leaves, frequently termed greens, are very hardy. They are cultivated pretty extensively in some parts of the north of Europe ; but in others they are chiefly regarded as potherbs, and confined to the garden. The branched kinds with smoothish leaves are the most pro- ductive ; but at the same time they demand a good soil and favourable climate. Their leaves are stripped off as they are required for use ; and as these are constantly supplied by fresh leaves, the plants yield a succession of forage X 2 245 CABBAGE. CABBAGE. throughout a great part of the season, and they jcmain growing for several )'ears. There are different varieties of these larger cabbages, which are more or less valued in the places where they are cultivated. The thousand-headed cabbage, chou a milk teles, is remarked as possessing a greater number of shoots ; the cow cabbage, Cesarian cole or tree cabbage, as growing more to one stem, and producing cream-coloured flowers ; the Jersey cole, as being similar in its growth, and producing^ yellow flowers. In the Netherlands, and the Channel Islands, where the cultivation of these plants is well understood, they are sown in beds in autumn, and planted out in succession from November till February. About the month of April the farmers begin with the first sown, to strip off their under leaves for use. They give them to their cows, hogs, geese, and other stock, cutting them in small pieces, and mixing them with bran and other farinaceous substances. During the summer they continue this process of strip- ping off the leaves, the plant in the meantime rising to the height of several feet. (Gard. Mag. vol. V.) This plant requires a good soil and plentiful manure, and is regarded as a great exhauster of the soil. It perhaps yields a larger proportion of nutriment within the same period than any other forage plant. It riiay be presumed that it is not well fitted for general cultivation, and in England will only succeed in favourable situations, as the south of England and Ireland, and the beautiful little islands where it is now cultivated. When fed to milch cows, the decayed leaves should be carefully removed, as when eaten they impart an unpleasant taste to the milk. The next class (continues Professor Low) consists of those in which the root becomes napiform. The principal variety is, .the kohl- rabe or purple turnip cabbage {Brassica ohracea var. caulo-rapa). This plant is cultivated in Germany and the north of Europe. It is valued as a resource for cattle in winter. While it proauccs a root like a turnip, it at the same time sends forth stems bearing leaves like a cabbage. It is not only hardy, but keeps better in store than any plant of the cabbage kind. It may be cultivated in the same manner as the Swedish and yellow turnips; but the expe- riments that have been made with it in this country lead to the inference that it is not equal to those turnips for the purpose of feed- ing. The cabbages of the last-mentioned class, as the cauliflower and the broccoli, are entirely limited to the garden. The kinds of the cab- b.age which are best suited for field-crops and the support of cattle, are the York, or large Scotch, the ox-head, the drum-head, the red- veined, and the American, which commonly produce heads of 10 to 20 lbs., and not unfre- quently arrive to upwards of 30 lbs. weight. The above and other names, however, are fre- «[uently applied where there is no real distinc- tion. The most productive of these are the drum-headed and Am.erican; but the red-veined arid Scotch stand the winter best. They are all knov/n by their large leaves, which, as the plant advances, collapse and form a dense head The large field cabbages are those 246 which are generally considered as the best suited to farm culture, and are therefore those most commonly planted; l)ut the species known as the sugar-loaf cabbage, and so called from its pointed form, though rarely exceeding from 5 to 7 lbs., may yet be in many casesi found more advantageous, for it can be grown on land of more ordinary quality than the other kinds ; it is hardier in constitution, more solid and nutritive, and the inferiority of its weight may be in a great degree made up by the smallness of its size allowing of the plants being set closer together. {Brit. Husb. vol. iL p. 255.) Of the different kinds, therefore, il appears that the large field cabbage, whatever name it may receive, is that which is best suited for common field culture. This plant impoverishes the soil very much. In collect- ing the produce for consumption, the plants (says the late Mr. Sinclair) should be drawn up by the roots, and not merely cut ovef, as is ofien practised to the detriment of the «oil. The different varieties above enumerated afford about equal quantities of nutritive matter. The nutritive matter of the cabbage is wholly solu- ble in water; that of the potato only partially so, for a great proportion of the potato consists of starch. According to Mr. Sinclair's experi- ments — Nulr. Ma'ler, grs. 7000 grs. or 1 lb. of the drum-head cab- hag« (B. oleracea capitata) cnnlains 430 7000 grs. Early York cabbaee (B. oler., var.) - - - -'- - -430 7000 grs. Woburn perennial kale (B. oler. Jinibriala perenpis) - - - - 438 7000 grs. Green curled \iA\e(.B.oli'r.mridis) 440 Purple borecole, or kale (B. oler. Woody Fibre, grs. 280 j 312 932 880 1120 £ 320 (I 3G0J ^ laciniata) ------ 448 7000 sirs bulb of turnip-rooted cabb;ige (B.'ropa, var.) 400 70U0gr.<. leaves or lops of (lino - -252 And upon an analysis of the respective ave- rage nutritive qualities of each species of root, cabbages were generally found superior to common turnips, in the proportion of 107^ to 80, and inferior to Swedes in that of 107A to 110. Carrots are more nutritive than cabbages, in the proportion of 187 to 107A. (Hart. Gram. Wob. p. 407, 408.) It is, however, the opinion of an experienced farmer (Mr. Brown of Mar- kle), that the culture of cabbage, taking into consideration the greater consumption of ma- nure, and the superior nature of the requisite soil, does not afford advantages to be compared with the scourge it occasions to the land. (Brit. Husb, vf)l. ii. p. 258.) It is no uncommon thing to raise single cab- bages that weigh 40 lbs.: calculating the roots upon an acre to average each 20 lbs., and one to be planted on every square yard, the produce would yield 43 tons. Although it frequently averages 30 tons, few crops, except under very favourable circumstances, would reach to that extent. Cabbages are greatly esteemed by those farmers who have land capable of grow- ing them, from their forming a substitute for turnips during frosty weather, and also afford- ing an admirable change of food for cattle, by whom they are much relished; and they are also found to be very nutritious for stall-feed- ing* or for the dairy, when used with the addi- tion of sound hay. Hogs prefer them to turnips. CABBAGE. CABBAGE. and they are excellent for rearing calves and toothless crones. An acre of good cabbages is therefore considered by many as worth two of turnips, and is certainly equal to one and a half. Wohurn perennial kale is a valuable variety of the open-growing cabbage, which has been recently introduced, and appears far superior in amount of produce to either the green, pur- ple, or borecole, and requires less manure. It has also this advantage, that it continues highly productive for many years, without further trouble or expense. Propagated by planting, in beginning of April, cuttings taken from the stems and branches of old plants. The seed is apt to produce spurious plants. For the table it is not inferior to the best kinds of greens or kale ; and for the farm and cottage garden, its highly productive powers and cheapness of culture promise to render this plant highly valuable. Its perennial habit places it out of the reach of the yearly acci- dents of weather, bad seed, and depredations of insects, to which all other varieties sown annually are subject. (^Trans. Hort. Soc. Lond. vol. V. art. 40.) The turnip-rooted or bulb-stalked cabbage {B. oleracea, var.) is distinguished by its irregularly- shaped root, and the swelling of the stalk in upper part, which forms a kind of round fleshy head at the end of the stem on which the leaves are produced. It is a native of Germany, and was first introduced from thence by SirThomas Tyrwhitt, under the name of kohl-rabe. {De- candoUe, in Trans. Hort. Soc. vol. v. art. 1.) The produce is nearly the same as that of Swedish turnips, and the soil that suits the one is equally good for the other. Two pounds of the seed will produce a sufficiency of plants for one acre : 64 drs. of the bulb of kohl-rabe afford 10.5 grs. of nutritive matter. {Hort.Gram.Wob. p. 411.) The turnip-rooted cabbage is a hybrid pro- duction between the cabbage and turnip, which both belong to the same genus ; and the various kinds which have become disseminated through- out Europe are so confused in nomenclature, that it has become difficult to state their pro- perties with any great degree of precision, or ' to draw any certain inferences to guide us in their use. {Brit. Husb. vol. ii. p." 259.) These species of brassica are but little cul- tivated, and at most a very small quantity of each is in request. The bulbs, for which they are cultivated, must have their thick outer skin removed, and in other respects treated as tur- nips in preparing them for use. Of the turnip cabbage, which is so named on account of the round fleshy protuberance that is formed at the upper end of the stem, there are four varieties : 1. White turnip cabbage; 2. Purple turnip cabbage; 3. Fringed turnip cabbage; 4. Dwarf early turnip cabbage. Of the turnip-rooted cabbage, which is dis- tinguished from the above by its root having the protuberance near the origin of the stem, there are two /Varieties, the white and the red. (Trans. Hort. Sor. Lond. vol. v. p. 18—24.) They are propagated by seed, which may be sown broadcast or in drills, at monthly intervals, in small quantities, from the commencement of April until the end of June. The best mode is to sow thin, in drills two feet and a half apart, and allow the plants to remain where sown, the plants being thinned to a similar distance apart; or, if sown broadcast, to allow them to remain in the seed-bed until of sufficient siye to be removed into rows at similar distances for production, rather than, as is the practice of some gardeners, to transplant them, when an inch or two in height, into a shady border, ■ in rows three inches apart each way, to be thence removed as above stated. Water must be given every night after a re moval, until the plants are again established; and afterwards in dry weather occasionally, as may appear necessary. Earth may be drawn up to the stem of the turnip cabbage, as to other species of brassica; but the bulb of the turnip-rooted must not be covered with the mould. For directions to obtain seed, &c., see Broc- coli, Turnip, &c. (G. W. Johnson.) The red cabbage differs from the common cabbage in nothing but its colour, which is a purplish or brownish red. The varieties are three in number; the large, the dwarf, and the Aberdeen red. It is chiefly used for pickling, and the dwarf red is considered the best sort. Cultivated precisely similar to the white cab- bage. The cabbage is not nearly so exten- sively cultivated in this country as it ought to be. It is not only a valuable food for live stock, rarely misses plant, and is come-at-able in all weathers ; but it is exceedingly useful to fill up the spaces on the ridges Avhere the Swedes and common turnips have missed plant. 1000 parts of cabbage contain 73 parts of nutritive matters. {Brit. Husb. vol. ii. ; Bax' ter's Jlgr. Lib.; Sinclair's Hort. Gram. Wob,; Low's El. jSgr.; Com. Board of Jgr., vol. iv.; Quart. J. Jlgr., vol. vii. p. 76.) The cauliflower is considered the easiest to be digested of all the various species of cab- bage. It is not destitute of utility in a medici- nal way; a. decoction of red cabbage being supposed capable of relieving acrimonious hu- mours in some disorders of the breast, and also in hoarseness. ( WiUich's Dom. Encyc.) A cab- bage leaf placed on any fleshy part acts in keeping open a blister; but it should be fre- quently changed, as it speedily becomes cor- rupt. The seed, bruised and boiled, is good in broth. Garden Cabbages. — For the seed-bed the soil should be moist, mouldy, and not rich; but for final production it should be a fresh, moderately rich, clayey loam, though very far removed from heavy, as they delight in one that is free; and mouldy. Such crops as have to withstand the winter may have a lighter compartment allotted to them; the savoy, in particular, re- quires this, though it may be as rich as for the other crops, without any detriment: an extreme of richness is, however, for all the crops to b(! avoided. The ground iwidvantageously dug two spades deep, and shcWd be well pulverized by the operation. Stable manure is usually employed in preparing the ground for this genus; but Mr. Wood, of Queensferry, N. B., who has for the greater part of his life paid particular attention to the cultivation of bror- 347 CABBAGE CABBAGE. coli, recommends the folloAving compositions in preference for that vegetable, and we are justified in concluding that they would be equally beneficial to all the other species. The manure collected from the public roads, used alone, causes the plants to grow strong, but with small heads. A mixture of road-rakings, sea-weed, and horse-dung is better. A manur- ing of the compartment on which they were intended to be planted with sea-weed in au- tumn, digging it up rough, repeating the appli- cation in spring, and pointing the ground before planting, produced the finest heads he had ever seen; but the compost of all others most suita- ble to them is one composed of the cleanings of old ditches, tree leaves, and dung. (Mem. Caled. Horl. Soc. vol. ii. p. 265.) The situation must in every instance be free and open, though, for the summer crops, it is advanta- geous to have them shaded from the meridian sun. They must never, however, be under the drip of trees, or in confined situations ; for in such they, and especially savoys, are most subject to be infested with caterpillars, and to grow weak and spindling. In planting cab- bage, it should be observed whether the roots of the plants are knotted or clubbed, as such should be rejected, or the excrescence entirely removed. The numerous varieties of the cabbage, adds Mr. G. W. Johnson, may be divided into three classes, as most appropriate for sowing at an equal number of periods of the year. It may be here remarked, that, for family use, but few should be planted of the early, varieties, as they soon cabbage, harden, and burst; on the contrary, the large York, and others that are mentioned in the middle class, though not far behind the others in quick cabbaging, never become hard, and continue long in a state fit for the table. For First Crops. — Early dwarf; York; early dwarf sugar-loaf; early Battersea; early im- perial; East Ham. Midsummer Crops. — Large early. York; large sugar-loaf; early Battersea; early imperial: these mentioned again as being valuable for successional crops also. Penton, this is valu- able in late summer, when other varieties are strongly tasted. Antwerp, Russian; to have this in perfection, the seed must be had from abroad, as it soon degenerates in this country. Early liondon hollow. Musk is excellent at any period, but is apt to perish in frosty weather. For Autumn, Sfc. — Large hollow sugar-loaf; large oblong hollow ; long-sided hollow, and any of the preceding ; red Dutch for pickling. The cabbage is propagated by seed, the sow- ing of which commences with the year. To- wards the end of January, on a warm border, or under a frame, a small portion of the early and red cabbages may be sown, to come first in succession after those which were sown in the August of the ^receding year. A sowing may be repeated affer intervals of a month during February, and until the close of July of the second or larger class, and from May to July of the third class of varieties. In August a full and last ciop must be sown of the first class, as well as of the second, both to plant 248 out in October, November, and December, al to remain in the seed-beds for final removal in the February and two succeeding months of the next year: this sowing is best performed during the first or second week of the month ; if sown earlier, they are apt to run in the spring; and if later, will not attain sufficient strength to survive the winter. By these va- rious sowings, which, of course, must be small ones for a private family, a constant supply is afibrded throughout the year. The seed is inserted broadcast rather thin, and raked in evenly about a quarter of an inch deep. The bed is advantageously shaded with mats, and occasionally watered until the plants are well above ground ; and the waterings may after- wards be beneficially repeated two or three times a week until they are ready for removal, if dry hot weather continues. The seedlings arising from these various sowings, when of about a month's growth, or when they have got four or five leaves an inch or so in breadth, are, by those who are advocates for transplant- ing, pricked out in rows four or five inches asunder each way ; they must be shaded and watered until completely established : those of the August sowing that are pricked out are to remain until the next spring, and those which are left in the seed-bed are employed for plant- ing in October and two following months. When of six or eight weeks' growth, they are of sufficient size for planting, which they are to be in rows from one and a half to two and a half feet asunder each way; the smaller early kinds being planted the closest. The red cab- bage, the principal plantation of which should be made in March for pickling in September, is benefited by having the distances enlarged to three feet. They must be well watered at the time of removal, and frequently afterwards, until fully established, in proportion as dry weather occurs. They must be frequently hoed to keep under the weeds, as perhaps no plant is more injured by them than the cab- bage ; and as soon as their growth permits it, the earth should be drawn round the stems of the plants. To promote the cabbaging of the plants, when requisite, it is useful to draw the leaves together with a shred of bass-mat,- which forwards it about a fortnight. If any plants advance to seed whilst very young, the deficiencies should be immediately filled up. The stems of the summer and autumn crops, if left after the main head has been cut, will produce numerous sprouts during those sea- sons, and continue to do so throughout th winter. For the production of seed in Octo • her, which is the preferable season, and from, thence until the close of February, some of the finest and best cabbage plants must be selected ; or in default of these, though not by any means to be recommended, such of their stalks as have the strongest sprouts. They must have the large outer leaves removed, and then be inserted up to their heads, in rows three feet asunder each way. Each variety must be planted as far from any other as pos- sible, as indeed from every other species of brassica; and this precaution applies equally to those which will be subsequently dwelt upon. The red cabbage especially must be CABBAGE. CALAMINT, COMMON. kept distinct. Some plants of the early varie- des should be planted in sheltered situations, as in severe winters thny are apt to run pre- maturely. Frame Stedlings. — The first sowing of the year in a hvitbed must be carefully attended to. The ..heat must never exceed 55°, nor sink more than two or three degrees beneath 50°, which is the most favourable minimum; other- wise the plants will be weak and tender, or checked and stunted. Air should be admitted freely in the day, and the glasses covered, as necessity requires, at night with matting; the other oifices of cultivation are the same as for plants raised in the open ground. Coleicorts — One of the Latin names for cab- bage is mulis, and from this is derived cale or cole and colewort. Coleworts now merely signify cabbages cut young, or previously to their hearts becoming firm, the genuine cole- wort or Dorsetshire cale being nearly extinct. The varieties of cabbage principally employed for the raising coleworts are the large York and sugar-loaf, as they afl!brd the sweetest; but the early York and East Ham are also em- ployed, as also occasional!)' the Battersea, im- perial, Antwerp, and early London hollow. When large coleworts are in request, the great spreading varieties should never be employed. Sowings may be performed during the mid- dle of June and July, to be repeated at the end of the latter month, for transplanting in August, September, and October, for a continual sup- ply in September until the close of March. A fourth must be made the first week in August, f(^r succeeding the others in spring; but, if of sufficient extent, these various plantations may be made fr'^m the seed-beds of the cab- bage crops made at these several periods, as directed under that head ; as the chief object in growing coleworts is to have a supply of greens sooner than can be obtained from the plaiitations of cabbages if left to form hearts. The observations upon transplanting, and the directions for cultivating cabbages, apply without any modification to coleworts; but the distance at which the plants may be set is much less : if the rows are a foot apart, and the plants seven or eight inches distant from each other, an abundant space is allowed. As mentioned for cabbages, the heading is greatly forwarded by their leaves being drawn to- gether so as to enclose the centre. They may be cut when the leaves are five or six inches in breadth. The most preferable mode of taking them is to pull up or cut every other one; these openings are beneficial to the re- maining plants; and some, especially of the August-raised plants, may be left, if required, for cabbaging. Colewort,or Dorsetshire cale, is now nearly superseded by the new cabbages of modern Lraes. The wild coleworts grow in ditches ard moist places. Savoy — (Brassica olerarea sahauda). — The savoy, which is one of the best and chief of our vegetable supplies during the winter, de- rives its name either from being an introduc- tion from that part of Europe with which it bears a similar name, or, otherwise, is a cor- ruf icn from tlie French savourer. All its 32 varieties may be denominated hardy, being generally rendered more sweet and tender by frost, though not all equally capable of with- standing the rigour of winter. There are three varieties of savoy, — the yellow, the dwarf, and the green : and pf each of these there are like- wise two sub-varieties, the round and the oval-headed, the first of which is the most permanent. Each variety has been described by Mr. Morgan, gardener to H. Brown, Esq., of North Mimms. Like the other members of this tribe, it is propagated by seeds ; the first sowing to take place at the close of February, the plants of which are ready for pricking out in April, if that practice is adopted, and for final planting at the end of May for use in early autumn ; this to be repeated about the middle of March, the plants to be pricked out in May for planting in June, to supply the table in autumn and early winter; lastly, the main crops must be sown in April and early May, to prick out and plant after similar intervals for production in winter and spring. The seed is sown broadcast thinly, and raked in as men- tioned for other species of brassica. The plants are fit for pricking out when they have four or five leaves about an inch in breadth ; they must be set three or four inches asunder each way, being both here and in the seed-bed kept well cleared of weeds. When finally re- moved, the plants of the first crops should be set out two feet apart each way from one an- other; but the winter standing crops are better at two feet by eighteen inches. Both before and after every removal they should be watered abundantly, if the weather is at all dry; and this application to be continued until the plants are well established. The only after-culture required is the keeping them clear of weeds by frequent broad-hoeing and the earth drawn up two or three times about their stems. For the production of seed, such plants must be selected of the several varieties as are most true to their particular charac^ter- istics, and as are not the first to run. These, in open weather, from early in November to the close of February, (the earlier, however, the better,) may be taken up with as little injury as possible to the roots, and the large under leaves being removed, planted entirely up to the head in rows two feet and a half each way, each variety as far from the other as possible. They flower in May or June, and ripen their seed in July and August. (G. W. Johnsons Kitchen Garden.') CABBAGE CATERPILLAR. This belongs to a genus of butterflies called the potherb pontia (Ponlio olerarea]. See CATKRPiLLAn. CABBAGE-CUTWORM. See Cutworst. CABBAGE-LICE. See Aphis. CABBAGE TREE (Chamaops palmetto'). See Pai-metto. CAG, or KEG. A vessel of the barrel kind, containing four or five gallons. CAIRN (Welsh cam). A heap of stones. CAKE. See Oat Cake and Rape Cake. CALAMINT, COMMON {Thymus cala- minthn. Smith). This is a wild plant, growing in England in hedges and dry places, flowering from June till autumn. It is eight or ten inche?» high ; has roundish dark-green leaves, and 249 CALANDRE. CAMELLIA whitish flowers standing in whorls or Intle clusters surrounding the stalks, which are square and very much t ranched. Calamint should be gathered and dried just as it is com- ing into flower. This herb is grown in almost every garden ; it is strong-scented, and of an agreeable odour. Coles says it preserves meat from taint. Pennyroyal calamint (Menfhn pukgium, Eng. Flor. vol. iii. p. 87) is a. medicinal herb, and should be planted in every herbalist's garden. It grows a foot high, with firm stalks, small leaves of a light green colour, and hairy, and small white purplish flowers. The pennyroyal calamint is more erect than its elder sister, and has a stronger but less pleasant smell. It must be dried with, care, and given in infusion. It is a popular remedy for hysterics, and in deficiency of the periodical change in females; hut the plant and its infusion is rarely ordered by professional men. A water arising from the distillation of the plant, to produce its vola- tile oil, is used as a vehicle for more important drugs ; and the oil dropped on sugar and rub- bed up with water as an oleosaccharum is sometimes employed as a carminative and an antispasmodic, in doses of two to five drops. There is, also, an officinal spirit of pennyroyal, which is used for the same purposes as the oil. This aromatic plant must not be confounded with the common pennyroyal of the United States. See Pennyrotal. CALANDRE. A name given by French ■writers to an insect of the scuruberus or beetle tribe, which frequently does great injury in granaries. It has two antenna; or horns, form- ed of a great number of round joints, and covered with a soft and short down ; from the anterior part of the head there is thrust out a trunk, which is. so formed at the end that the creature easilj' makes way with it through the coat or skin that covers the grain, and gets at the meal or farina on which it feeds; the inside of the grain is also the place where the female deposits her eggs. See CoK!fWEE.vii.. CALCAREOUS MARL. A mineral ferti- lizer, exteasively used in many parts of Europe and the United States. See M.^hl. CALCAREOUS SOILS (from the Latin calx) are soils which contain carbonate of lime (chalk of limestone) in such a proportion as fo give it a determinate character. Calca- reous sand is merely chalk or limestone di- vided into pieces of the size of sand. This variety abounds on the seashore in some parts of the east of England, and is employed in Devonshire and Cornwall to a very large ex- tent as a manure, especially' about Padstc>w Harbour, from which bay many thousand tons are annually carted by the Cornish farmers, which they take free of toll, under a grant from Richard Duke of Cornwall, another of the 45th of Henry III., a. n. 126L (Jofflison on Fe7-tili:ers, p 17 ) See Chalk ; Earths, their Uses to Ves,elaiion; and Soils. CALF,"^ DISEASES OF (Sax. cealp, cal).-; Dutch, knlf). See Cattle. The most com- mon diseases of calves are — 1. Navel III. — The best treatment for this daagerous disease is, 1st, to administer two or three doses (each about a wine-glassful) of 250 castor oil (linseed oil does just as well, and is much cheaper) ; and, 2dly, cordials, which may be made of 2 drachms of caraway-seeds, 2 do. of coriander-seeds, 2 do. powdered gen- tian ; bruise the seeds, and simmer them in beer o- gruel for a quarter of an hour ; give these once or twice a day. 2. Constipation of the Boivels. — For this doses of castor oil (or linseed oil), of 2 or 3 oz., are the best remedy. 3. Diarrhosa, or Scouring. — The farmer may rely on the following mixture. Let him keep it always by him; it will do for all sucking animab : — Prepared chalk Canella bark, powdered Laiidaiiuiii Water - - - . 4 ounces 1 — 1 — 1 pint. Give two or three table-spoonfuls, according to the size of the animal, two or three times a day. A table-spoonful or two of powdered chalk may be given daily or every other day, to calves whilst sucking, mixed in a little warm milk. It prevents the milk from turning acid, and thus checks the tendency to diarrhoea or looseness. 4. Hoose, or Catarrh. — Good nursing, bleed- ing, and then a dose of Epsom salts, with half an ounce of ginger in it. {Youatt on Cattle, p. 557.) CALKERS. A name given to the prominent or elevated part of the extremities of the shoes of horses, which are forged thin, and turned downwards for the purpose of preventing their slipping. It is sometimes written calkins or cau'kius. CALLUNA VULGARIS. The common heath or ling. It abounds in peaty soils. (See Peat Soils.) Its uses are considerable in some districts for litter, and, when young, sheep eat it. It is also shelter for grouse, and food for bees. See Ling. CALVING OF COWS. The treatment be- fore calving is to keep the cow moderately well, neither too fat nor too lean ; remember that she commonly has the double duty of giving milk and nourishing the foetus; dry her some weeks before calving; let her bowels be kept moderately open ; put her in a warm sheltered place, or house her; rather reduce her food ; do not disturb her when in labour, but be ready to assist her in case of need; let her have warm gruel ; avoid cold drinks. A pint of sound good ale in a little gruel is an excellent cordial drink. CALYCANTHUS FLORIDUS, the sweet- scented shrub, or, as it is also sometimes called, Carolina allspice. See Sweet-scented Shrub. CAM. A provincial term for a mound of made earth. CAMELLIA JAPONICA. A beautiful ever- green greenhouse shrub ; but if carefully at- tended to it will blow in the open air. It bears single, double, and semi-double flowers, in Feb- ruary and March ; and they are red; white, blush-coloured, and various other tints. Plant it under a south wall, in good rich garden mould mixed with sand ; and shelter it during winter with mats, or keep it in a large pot. It cannot endure the broiling mid-day sun, Propagate by cuttings, layers, and graft* CAMLET. CAMOMILE. and- water the plants plentifully when in flower. CAMLET (Fr. camelot ; Ital. ciambdotto ; Span, camlote ; from the Gr. K^uiixuiTyi). A stuff or doth made of wool, silk, and some- times of hair combined, especially that of goats and camels. The real oriental camlet is made from that of the Angola goat. No camlets are made in Europe of goat's hair alone. I'lance, Holland, Flanders, and Eng- land are the chief places where this manufac- ture is carried on. The best are made in England, and those of Brussels stand next in repute. It has been occasionally written catne- lU and camblet. GAMMAS. A new species of plant found in the valley of the Columbia river. It has a truncated root in the form of an onion, and grows in moist rich land. It is prepared for eating by first roasting, then pounding, after which it is made into loaves like bread. It has a liquorice taste, and is a food of great importance among the Indians. CAMMOCK (Sax). The name of a weed infesting arable, e^pecially chalky soils, gene- rally known by the name of rest-harrow. See REST-RAnnow. CAMOMILE, CHAMOMILE, COMMON or SWEET {Anthemis nobilis. From uv6sa), on ac- count of its abundance of flowers, or luxuri- ance of growth. Fr. camomilh; Lat. chamo- milla). A hardy perennial, growing on open gravelly pastures or commons, in England, flowering from June to September, and well known for its use in medicine. Cattle do not appear to touch any part of this plant. Most of what is brought to the London market is cultivated about Mitcham, in Surrey. Every part of the plant is intensely bitter, and grate- fully aromatic, especially the flowers, whose stomachic and tonic powers are justly cele- brated. (Eiig. Flora, vol. iii. p. 546.) In gar- dens there are two varieties, — the common single and the double-flowering. They require a poor dry soil, otherwise they grow very luxuriant, and become not only less capable of withstanding severe winters, but also less powerful in their medicinal qualities. They will grow in any situation almost, but the more open the better. They are generally propa- gated by parting the roots, and by offsets, which may be planted from the close of Feb- ruary until the end of May; the earlier, how- ever, it is performed the better: this is the most favourable season, but it may be prac- tised in the autumn. They are also raised from seed, the proper time of sowing which is in any of the early spring months ; but as the former mode is so easily practised and with much less trouble, it is generally pursued; though.it is advisable after a lapse of several years to raise fresh plants, the old ones often declining in production after such lapse of time. Being shrubby, with extending lateral branches, they should not be planted nearer to each other than eighteen inches, as that also gives an opportunity to employ the hoe. Wa- ter must be given moderately at the time of planting, if dry weather, otherwise it is not at all required. If raised from seed,«they require no further cultivation than to be kept free of weeds in the seed-bed; and when three or four inches high, to be thinned to about six inches apart; after which, they may remain thu.s until the following spring, then be thinned and remain, or be removed to the above-mentioned distance apart. A very small bed will supply the largest family. In July the flowers are generally in perfection for gathering; the pe- riod for performing it, however, must be go- verned by the aspect of the flowers themselves, as the best time is when they are just opened. Particular care must be taken to dry them thoroughly before they are stored; otherwise they will not keep. If seed is required, the only attention necessary is to leave some of the first opening flowers ungathered; the seed will ripen early in September, when the plant may be cut, and the seed dried, and rubbed out. (G. IF. Joli»sou^s Kitchen Garden.) Camomile flowers, fresh or dried, are tonic. They contain volatile oil, bitter extractive, tannic acid, and piperina, a resinoid which was dis- covered in them by Dr. A. T. Thomson, and which, in conjunction with the volatile oil, ex- plains their power of curing agues. The leaves and flowers dried are also anodyne applied to the bowels outwardly in fomentations. Camo- mile tea if strong promotes vomiting. The flowers of camomile distilled }-ield a fine blue oil, like that from yarrow, which becomes yel- low by time. It is used for cramps, &c. The double flowers have not the same virtue which the single ones possess. The infusion is a useful stomachic in weakened states of the stomach, and as a general tonic. The strong warm infusion is a useful emetic in low states of the habit, and to promote the action of other emetics. Combined with any astringent, ca- momile is an antiperiodic and cures ague. ' Smith (Engl. Flor. vol. iii. p. 457) enumerates four other species. The sea camomile (./f. ma- ritima) ; annual, met with on the sea-coast, hut rare ; flowers smell like tansy, the leaves like mugwort. Corn camomile {A. arvensis) ; an- nual or biennial, in cultivated fields, as well as waste ground, chiefly on a gravelly soil. The herbage has little or no smell, but the flowers are pleasantly scented. The stinking may- weed, or camomile (J. i Jtula) ; an annual, found in the same situation as the last. Every part of the plant is fetid and acrid, blistering the skin when much handled, M'hich Dr. Hooker justly attributes to the minute resinous dots sprinkled over its surface. And the ox-eye camomile (A. tinctoria), found sometimes in stony mountainous places, growing on a bushy stem eighteen inches high. The flowers afford a fine yellow dye, for which, Linnceus says, they are much used in Sweden. There are several handsome exotic species nearly akin to this. CAMOMILE, WILD, or FEVER FEW (Matricaria camomilla, PI. 10, w w). Found in cultivated and waste ground, on dunghills, and by roadsides ; very common about London Root annual, rather large and woody; flower- ing from May till August; stem a foot high; flowers numerous, about the size of the com- mon sweet camomile, and with some portion of the same scent, of which the herbage, though •faintly, partakes. The greatest part of the oil 251 CAMPHOR TREE. CANARY-GRASiS. of camomile found in the shops is procured from this plant. CAMPHOR TREE (inwnts camphorn). Among the vegetable productions of the Old Continent which possess a high degree of in- terest for the United States, the camphor tree holds an eminent place. It especially deserves attention from the inhabitants of the Floridas, of the lower part of the Carolinas, and of lower Louisiana. Its multiplication in these climates would be so easy, that after a few years it might be abandoned to nature. The camphor tree belongs to the same fa- mily as the common sassafras of the United States, though in its general character it is most nearly related to the red bay, so com- mon throughout the southern regions just re- ferred to, both being evergreens of similar height, and at a small distance looking so much alike as to be easily mistaken for each other. The camphor tree is a native of China, Ja- pan, and some other parts of the East Indies, where it often attains forty or fifty feet in height, with a proportional diameter. The leaves are two or three inches long, pointed at their ex- tremities, about an inch broad, with long petioles or stems. The young branches are green. The- flowers are small and whitish. The leaves, bark, wood, and roots are all strongly impregnated with the odour of camphor. The roots especially yield this substance in great- est quantity. They are cut to pieces, boiled in water in large iron retorts, «&c. (See MU ckaux's Sylva.) Camphor may likewise be obtained ffom certain plants or herbs of the class of labicE, such as lavender and mint, out not in sufficient quantities to form an article of commerce. CANADA ONION. See Oniok. CANADA THISTLE (Carduus arvensis). This plant is widely spread in the northern part of the state of New York, and has been introduced into Pennsylvania and many other parts of the Middle States, the seeds having been sometimes mixed in timothy seed, and sometimes entangled in the fleeces of sheep driven from the North. The root of the Ca- nada thistle is perennial, creeping and exceed- ingly tenacious of life, which, with its prolific character, for it springs up from, the filaments of 'the roots as well as from seed, makes it the vilest pest in the form of a weed that has ever inva-Jt-l American farms. It is a foreigner. The utmost vigilance will be required to pre- vent its spread wherever it may be disco- vered. A great many devices have been resorted to for the eradication and destruction of the Ca- nada thistle. Some aim at the entire removal of the root by means of extirpating machines, contrived to" cut off and harrow up the roots. Others rely upon mowing down the thistles when they are in full bloom, as a most certain method. Not content with simply cutting down, some apply common salt to the stems nr crowns of the roots which makes the de- .struction more sure. It is an admitted fact that the life of trees and plants, when these are not in the torpid state in which they are en- abled to exist in winter, depends upon a func- i'.on performed by their leaves. These are in 252 fact their lungs, deprived of the use of which for a given time, during the season of their growth, trees and plants inevitably die. Low and frequent cutting down in summer about the blooming period, will doubtless destroy plants however tenacious of life they may be, since the roots are as much indebted for life to their leaves or lungs as the leaves are to the roots. Neither can subsist long without the aid of the other important members of the system. The most usual methods, resorted to in England, for the eradication of thistles, couchgrass, and other weeds with creeping and tenacious roots, will be found mentioned under the head of Thistles. A highly inte- resting article upon this subject, originally published in that valuable agricultural periodi- cal. The Getiessee Farmer, and republished in Bvffin's Farm. Reg. vol. ii. p. 29, contains a great deal of information relative to the ex- termination of this pest of our plough fields. CANARY-GRASS, CAT'S TAIL. See Cat's Tail. CANARY-GRASS (Phalaries canariends— PI. 4, a) is cultivated in a few parts of the south of England, and chiefly in the Isle of Thanet. The plant (says Prof. Low) is easily raised, but it is of little economical importance ; it is a native of the Canary Islands, but is found frequently wild in cultivated and waste ground, and has probably become naturalized. It is an annual, with a stem from a foot to eighteen inches high, and lively gi'een leaves about half an inch in width. In England it flowers from June to August, and ripens its seed from Sep- tember to October The seeds are sown in February, in rows about a foot apart, four or five gallons per acre. The reaping commences in September. The common yield is from thirty to thirty-four bushels per acre The chaff is superior to that of every ether culmi- nbus plant for horse food, and the straw, though short, is also very nutritive. From Mr. Sin- clair's experiments, it appears, that at the time of flowering, the produce of this grass per acre, from a rich clayey loam, on a tenacious subsoil, was 54,450 lbs. ; which yielded in dry produce 17,696 lbs. 4 oz., nutritive matter 1,876 lbs. 2 oz. The herbage is bttt little nu- tritive, and the plant cannot be recommended for cultivation, but for the seeds only, which are principally in demand in the neighbour- hood of large towns, as food for small singing- birds, particularly canaries, whence it derives its name. The produce is generally from three to five quarters an acre, and the actual price is from 40s. to 42s. per quarter. The straw or haulm is a most excellent fodder for horses. (Hort. Gram. Wob. p. 399 ; Low's El. Prac. Ag. p. 266 ; Brit. Hush. vol. ii. p. 329.) The reed canary-grass (P/(. anmdinacea. Smith's Engl. Flora, vol. i. p. 74) is very com- mon in ditches, pools, and the margins of ri- vers. At the time of flowering, the produce from a black sandy loam incumbent on clay was, — Green produce per acre Dry produce - Nutritive matter - 27,225 12,251 4 1,701 9 On a ytrong tenacious clay, the produca was, — CANCER IN CATTLE. CANDLE. Green prndU'-e per acre Dry produce Nutriiive matter 34,031 17,015 8 2,126 15 From this, it appears to be much more pro- uuctive oil a tenacious clay soil than on a rich sand}- loam ; the superior nutritive powers which this grass possesses recommend it therefore to the notice of occupiers of such soiTS. The foliage cannot be considered coarsJ, when compared with other grasses which afford a produce equal in quantity. Dry straw is a much coarser food than the ha}^ made from this grass, and the objection may i)e met by reducing this hay to chaff. The : triped reed canary-grass has not yet been found in a wild state ; it is cultivated in gar- dens for the beauty of its striped leaves : — the common wild variety wants this distinguish- ing feature, it grows to a greater height than the striped-leaved variety, does not appear to be eaten by cattle, but birds are fond of the ^eeds. It comes into flower about the first and second weeks of July, and ripens about the middle of August. (^Hort. Gram. Wob. p. 359.) CANCER, IN CATTLE (Lat. ; Sax. can- cepe.) A virulent swelling or sore. Cancer of the eye, or a perfect change of its mecha- nism into a fleshy half-decomposed substahce, that ulcerates and wastes away, or from which fungous growths spring that can never be checked, is a disease of occasional occurrence in cattle. The remedy should be extirpation of the eye, if it were deemed worth while to attempt it. {Lib. of Use/. Knotv., Cattle, p. 293.) CANDLE (Lat." camkla : Sax. cancel ; Ital. candelh ; Fr. chundelh ; Welsh, canivyW). A taper or cylinder of tallow, wax, or spermaceti, the wick of which is commonly of several threads of cotton spun and twisted together. Candles in England were subject for a length- ened period to an excise duty of 3^^. per lb., but this was repealed in 1831. Good tallow candles ought to be made with equal parts of sheep and ox tallow ; care being taken to avoid any mixture of hog's lard, which occasions a thiclf^ black smoke, attended with a disagree- able smell, and also causes the candle to run. The farmer, if far from any town, may make his own candles. The cotton for making the wicks is sold, ready prepared, in balls. When it is intended to be used for candles, a certain number of pieces of it of equal length are to be cut, and stripped through the hand to re- move any knots or inequalities. They are next to be affixed by one end to a rod about three feet long, leaving about two inches be- tween each wick. The whole is then to be dipped into a vessel, large enough, and filled with fluid tallow; and this is tc be repeated three times for the first layer or coat. They are then to be suspended in a rack over the vessel to drain and solidify ; after which they are to be dipped twice, and again hung up to drain ; and so on, successively, until they ac- quire the desired degree of thickness. The first part of the process is the sorting of the tallow. Mutton suet with a proportion of ox-tallow is selected tor mould candles, be- cause it gives them gloss and consistence. Coarser tallow is reserved for the dipped can- dles. After being sorted, it is cut into small pieces, preparatory to its being melted or retv- dercd ; and the sooner this is done after the fat is taken from the carcase the better, because the fibrous and fleshy matters mixed with it promote its putrefaction. Tallow is too com monly melted by a naked fire applied to the bottom of the vessel, whereas it should be done either in a cold set pan, where the flame plays only round the sides a little way above the bot- tom, or in a steam-cased pan. After being fused a considerable time, the membraneous matters collect at the surface, constituting the cracklings used sometimes for feeding dogs, after the fat has been squeezed out of it by a press. The liquid tallow is strained through a sieve into another copper, where it is treated with water at a boiling temperature in order to wash it. After a while, when the foul water has settled to the bottom, the purified tallow is lifted out, by means of tinned iron buckets, into tubs of a moderate size, where it con- cretes, and is ready for use. Wax Candles. — Next to tallow, the substance most employed in the manufacture of candles is wax. Wax candles are made either by the hand or with a ladle. In the former case, the wax, being kept soft in hot water, is applied bit by bit to the wick, which is hung from a hook in the wall ; in the latter, the wicks are hung round an iron circle, placed immediately over a large copper-tinned basin full of melted wax, which is poured upon their tops, one aftei another, by means of a large ladle. When the candles have by either process acquired the proper size, they are taken from the hooks, and rolled upon a table, usually of walnut tree, with a long square instrument of box, smooth at the bottom. In June, 1825, M. Gay Lussac obtained a patent in Eiig'and for making cJindles from t)iargaric and stiaric acids, improperly called stearine, by converting tallow into the above fat acids by the following process: — Tallow consists, by Chevreul's researches, of stearine, a solid fat, and elaine, a liquid fat; the former being in much the larger proportion. When tallow is treated with an alkaline bodj% such as potash, soda, or lime, it is saponified: that is, its stearine and elaine become respectively stearic and elaic acids, and, as such, form compounds with these bases. When by the action of an acid, such as the sulphuric or muriatic, these combinations are decomposed, the fats reappear in the altered form of stearic and elaic acids; the former body being harder than tallow, and of a texture sumeM'hat like spermaceti, the latter body being fluid, like oil. "The decomposition of the soap should be made," says the patentee, "in a large quantity of water, kept well stirred dur- ing the operation, and warmed by steam intro- duced in any convenient way. When the mixture has been allowed to stand, the acid of the tallow or fat will rise to the surface, and the water being drawn off will carry the alka- line or saline matters with it ; but if the acids of the tallow should retain any portion of the salts, fresh water may be thrown upon it, and the whole well agitated, until the acids have become perfectly free from the alkaline mat Y 253 CANDLE-BERRY MYRTLE. CANKER. .ers ; and when allowed to cool, the acids will De formed into a solid mass. This mass is now to be submitted to considerable pressure in such an apparatus as is employed in ex- pressing oil from seeds ; when the liquid acid will run off in the form of a substance resem- bling oil, leaving a solid matter, similar, in every respect, to spermaceti, which is fit for making candles. The wick to be used in the manufacture of these improved candles, and which forms one of the features of this invention, is to be made of cotton yarn, twisted rather hard, and laid in the same manner as wire is sometimes coiled round the bass strings of musical instruments. For this purpose, straight rods or wireS are to be procured, of suitable lengths and diameters, according to the intended size of the candles about to be made ; and these wires, having been covered with cotton coiled round them as described, are to be inserted in the candle- moulds as the common wicks are ; and when the candle is made, and perfectly hard, the wire is to be withdrawn, leaving a hollow cylindrical aperture entirely through the mid- dle of the candle. See Steabine. For the process of making mould candles, which is even more simple than that for dipping, see fVt's Dictionary of Jirts, ^-c, art. Candle: where also may be found a drawing and description of an ingenious machine for making dipped candles, much used in Edin- burgh. Candles ought never to be used until several weeks have elapsed after they are made; other- wise they are apt to gutter and run. (3I'Cul- lock's Com: Dir. ; WiUirh's Dom. Einyc.) CANDLE-BERRY MYRTLE (Myrica gale). A hardy shrub, native of Britain, which grows to four feet high, and bears a smail red blos- som in Ma}* and June. It loves heath mould, and is propagated by seed, or by' dividing the roots. The species called candle-berry myrtle in the United States, is the myrica cerifcra of botanists. It grows on the lands bordering on the sea and bays of the Atlantic States, where the wax which surrounds the clusters of berries is often collected by the poor either for their own use in mixing with tallow to make candles, or to sell. The berries when gathered are put into hot water, which melts the wax by which each is enveloped, and which, rising to the top, is skimmed off. It is of an olive-green colour and fragrant odour. As a popular remedy in dysentery it has acquired considerable repu- tation. Almost every region of the United States produces varieties of the wax myrtle. Mi- chaux Considers them all as belonging to one species, a conclusion which is warranted by the great number of intermediate sizes and forms of leaf, which may be observed between the differer? extremes. Pursh, however, has chosen to distinguish three species which bear wax, and which he names cerifera after Lin- nceus, Carolmiensis Irom Willdenow, and Penn- sylvanica from Lamarck. The wax myrtle or oayberry, as it is often called, which is com- mon in New England, varies in height from one to seven or eight feet. It is found in everv kind of soil from the borders of swarups to the lops of barren hills, and is very much influ- enced in its size and appearance, by the place in which it happens to grow. The wax myrtle is found bearing fruit at every size, from the height of one foot, to six or eight. In Louisiana, it is said, to grow to twelve feet. The top is much branched, and covered with a grayish bark. Every young part of the wax myrtle has a fragrant, balsalftic smell, which it communicates to the fingers when rubbed by them. Dr. J. F. Dana has published, in Silliman's Journal, an account of some experiments made to ascertain the proportion of wax, and of the other parts which compt)se the entire berry. He found the wax to constitute nearly a third of the whole, or thirty-two per cent ; the kernels 47-00, the black powder 15-00, with about 5-00 of a resino-extractive matter. The myrtle wax is useful for many of the purposes for which bees wax and tallow are employed, particularly for candles. It burns with a clear flame, though less vivid than that of common oil, and emits a considerable fra- grance. It was formerly much in demand as an ingredient in a species of blacking ball, to which it communicated a temporary lustre and power of repelling water. It has occasionally been used in pharmacy in various composi- tions intended for external use, and is mild or stimulating according as it is more or less pure and freed from the colouring matter. In some parts of Europe plantations of this shrub have been raised with a view to the profit to be derived from the wax. In this country, where the shrub abounds, the berries are often neglected, their collection and the separation of the wax being deemed too laborious to compensate the trouble. The bark of the wax myrtle considered medicinally is an acrid stimulant and astringent. (Dr. Bigelow's Am. Med. Botany.) CANE. A provincial term used to signify a hollow place, where water stands. It also implies a wood of alder, or other aquatic trees, in a moist boggy situation. In the South-western States of America there are extensive and almost impenetrable cane- brakes, consisting of a rank growth of a sub- aquatic species of cane or reed {Arundo prag- 7mtes?). These cane-brakes resemble in many respects the jungles of the East Indies. CANINE MADNESS. See Hydhophobia. CANKER, OR ULCER (hut. canker ; Sax. cancepe, or cancpe). In the vegetable creation, a disease to which our apple, pear, elm, and other trees are subject. " This disease," says Mr. G. W. Johnson, "is accompanied by different symptoms, accord ing to the species of the tree wliich it infects In some of those whose true sap contains a considerable quantity of free acid, as in the genus Pyrus, it is rarely accompanied by any dischai^e. To this dry form of the dis ease, it would be well to confine the term' canker, and to give it the scientific name of ] Gangrana sicca, or dry gangrene. In other I trees, whose sap is characterized by abounding I in astringent or mucilaginous constituents, it- i is usually aU'nd'-d by a sanious discharge. la CANKER. CANKER. such instances, U might be strictly designated ulcer, or Gangrana saniosa. This disease has a considerable resemblance to the tendency to ossification, which appears in aged animals, arising from their marked appetency to secrete the calcareous saline compounds that chiefly constitute their skeletons. The consequence is an enlargement of the joints, and ossifica- tion of the circulating v^essels, and other parts; phenomena very analogous to those attending the cankering of trees. As in animals, this tendency is general throughout their system ; but, as is observed by Mr. Knight, 'like the mortifications in the limbs of elderly people,' it may be determined, as to its point of attack, by the irritability of that part of the system. This disease commences with an enlargement of the vessels of the bark of a branch, or of the stem. This swelling invariably attends the disease when it attacks the apple tree. In the pear, the enlargement is less, yet is always present. In the elm and oak sometimes no swelling occurs, and in the peach I do not re- member io have seen any; I have never ob- served the disease in the cherry tree, nor any of the pine tribe. The swelling is soon com- municated to the wood ; which, if laid open to view, on its first appearance, by the removal of the bark, exhibits no marks of disease be- yond the mere unnatural enlargement. In the course of a few years, less in number in pro- portion to the advanced age of the tree, and the unfavourable circumstances under which it is vegetating, the swelling is greatly increased in size, and the alburnum has become extensively dead: the superincumBent bark cracks, rises in discoloured scales, and decays even more rapidly than the wood beneath. If the caries is upon a moderately sized branch, the decay soon completely encircles it, extending through the whole arburnum and bark. The circula- tion of the sap being thus entirely prevented, all the parts above the disease of necessity perish. In the apple and pear, the disease is accompanied by scarcely any discharge ; but in the elm this is very abundant. The only chemists who have examined these morbid products are Sir H. Davy and Vauquelin ; the former's observations being confined to the fact, that he often found carbonate of lime on the edges of the canker in apple trees. {Elem. ofJlgr. Chemistry, 2d edit. p. 264.) Vauquelin has examined the sanies dis- charged from the canker of an elm with much more precision. He found this liquor nearly as transparent as water, sometimes slightly coloured, at other times a blackish-brown, but always tasting acrid and saline. From it a soft matter, insoluble in water, is deposited upon the sides of the ulcer. The bark ever which the transparent sanies flows attains the appearance of chalk, becoming white, friable, crystalline, alkaline, and effervescent with acids. A magnifier exhibits the crystals in the forms of rhomboids and four-sided prisms: when the liquid is dark-coloured, the bark ap- pears blackish, and seems as if coated with a varnish. It sometimes is discharged in such quantities as to hang from the bark like sta- lactites. The matter of which these are com- posed is alkaline, soluble in water, and with acids effervesces. The analysis of this dark slimy jr.atter shows it to be compounded of carbonate of potassa and ulmin, a product pe culiar to the elm. The white matter deposited round the canker was composed of — Parts. Vegetable matter - . . . _ 605 Carbonate of potassa - - - . 342 Carbonate of lime .... 5 Carbonate of magnesia ... 03 1000 Although young trees are liable to this dis- ease, yet their old age is the period of exist- ence most obnoxious to its attacks. It must be remembered, that that is not corisequently a young tree which is lately grafted. If the tree from which the scion was taken is an old variety, it is only a multiplication of an aged individual. The scion may for a iew years exhibit signs of increased vigour, owing to the extra stimulus of the more abundant supply of healthy sap supplied by the stock; but the vessels of the scion will, after the lapse of that period, gradually become as decrepid as th ■ parent tree. The unanimous experience ol naturalists agrees in testifying that every or- ganized creature has its limit of existence. In plants it varies from the scanty period of a few months to the long expanse of as many centuries: but of all, the days are numbered; and though the gardener's, like the physician's skill, may retard the onward pace of death, he will not be pennanently delayed. In the last periods of life they show every symptom that accompanies organization in its old age — not only a cessation of growth, but a decay of for- mer developements, a languid circulation, and diseased organs. The canker, as already observed, attends es- pecially the old age of some fruit trees, and of these, the apple is most remarkablya sufi'erer. "I do not mean," says Mr. Knight, "to assert that there ever was a time when an apple tree did not canker on unfavourable soils, or that highly cultivated' varieties were not more ge- nerally subject to the disease than others, where the soil did not suit them ; but I assert, from my own experience and observation within the last twenty years, that this disease becomes progressively more fatal to each variety, as the ' age of that variety beyovid a certain period increases; that all the varieties of the apple which I have found in the catalogues of the middle of the seventeenth century, are unpro- ductive of fruit, and in a state of debility and decay." {Some Doubts relative to the Effinicy of Mr. Forsyth's Plaster, by T. A. Knight, Esq. i802.) Among the individuals particularly liable to be infected, are those which have been marked by an excessively vigorous growth in their early years. I have in my garden a maiden standard peach, which is now about sixteen years old. The size and abundance of its annual shoots, until within the last quarter of its existence, were unnaturally large. It is now grievously affected by canker. Trees injudiciously pruned, or growing upon an un genial soil, are more frequently attacked than those advancing under contrary circumstances The ildejt trees are always the first attackei 255 CANKER. CANKER. f those similarly cultivated. The golden pip- pin, the oldest existing variety of the apple, is more frequently and seriously attacked than any other. The soil has a very considerable influence in inducing the disease. If the sub- .soil is a ferruginous gravel, or if it is not well drained; if the soil is aluminous, and effective means are not adopted to free it of superabun- dant moisture, — the canker, under any one of these circumstances, is almost certain to make its appearance among the trees they sustain. If an old worn-out orchard is replanted with fruit trees, the canker is almost certain to appear among them, however young and vigorous they were when first planted. How inducive of this disease is a wet, retentive subsoil, if the roots penetrate it, appears from the statement of Mr. Watts, gardener to R. G. Russell, Esq., of Che- quer's Court, in Buckinghamshire. A border beneath a south wall had a soil three feet and a half in depth, apparently of the most fertile staple ; twice remade under the direction of the late Mr. Lee, of the Vineyard, Hammer- smith. In this the trees, peaches and nectar- ines, flourish for the next three or four years after they are planted, but then are rapidly de- stroyed by the canker and gum. The subsoil is a stiflT sour clay, nearly approaching to a brick earth; and the disease occurs as soon as it is reached by the roots of the trees. (Gar- dener's Mugazine, vol. vi. p. 617.) Pruning has a powerful influence in preventing the occur- rence of canker. I remember a standard rus- set apple tree, of not more than twenty years' growth, with a redundancy of ill-arranged branches, that was excessively attacked by this disease. I had two of its three main branches removed, and the laterals of that remaining thinned carefully, all the infected parts, at the same time, being removed. The result was a total cure. The branches were annually regu- lated, and for six years the disease never reap- peared. At the enu of that time the tree had to be removed, as the ground it stood upon was required for another purpose.' John Williams, Esq., of Pitmaston, from long experience con- cludes that the golden pippin, and other apples, may be preserved from this disease by pruning away, every year, that part of each shoot which is not perfectly ripened. By pursuing this method for six years, he brought a dwarf golden pippin tree to be as vigorous and free from canker as any new variety. (Trans. Loudon Hort. Soc. vol. vi. art. 64.) All these facts unite in assuring us that the ■canker arises from the tree's weakness ; from a deficiency in its vital energy, and consequent inability to imbibe and elaborate the nourish- ment necessary to sustain its frame in vigour, and much less to supply the healthy develope- jnent of new parts. It matters not whether its energy is broken down by an unnatural rapidity of grtiwth, by a disproportioned excess of branches over the mass of roots, by old age, or by the disorganizatinn of roots in an ungenial soil ; they render the tree incapable of extract- ing suhicient r.ourishment from the soil, con- sequently incapable of developing sutiicient foliage, and therefore unable to digest and ela- borate even the scanty sap that is supplied to The horse is taught to perform the canter by shortening the gallop. The canter is to the gallop very much what the walk is to the trot, though probably a more artificial pace. The exertion is much less, the spring less distant, and the feet come to the ground in more regu- lar succession : it is a pace of ease, quite in- consistent with any exertion of draught. (Lib. Use. Know., The Horse, p. 413.) Some persons, and among them Nimrod, do not consider this pace injurious to horses. "A canter," he ob- serves, " is much more easy, as well as safer to the rider, than a trot ; the horse having his haunches more under him in the canter than when he trots, is hereby more likely to recover himself in case of making a mistake, which the best is sometimes subject to. Fast trotting also distresses a horse more than cantering, because, in the one, he is going at the top of his speed, and in the other much below it." (Blaine's Ency. of Rural Sports, p. 297.) CAPERS. The caper is a small prickly shrub, cultivated in Spain, Italy, and the south- ern provinces of France. The flowers are large roses of a pretty appearance, but the flower-buds alone are the objects of this culti- vation. They are plucked before they open, and thrown into strong vinegar slightly salted, where they are pickled. The crop oi '?ach day is added to the same vinegar tub, so that, in the course of the six months during which the caper shrub flowers, the vessel gets filled, and is sold to persons who sort the capers (the smallest being most valued) by means of cop per sieves. This metal is attacked by the acid, wherefrom the fruit acquires a green colour, much admired by ignorant connoisseurs. X 2 357 CAPES. CAPON. The capers, as found in the French market, are distinguished into five sorts; the nonpareille, the capucine, the capote, the second, and the third; this being the decreasing order of their quality, which depends upon the strength of the vine- gar used in pickling them, as also the size and colour of the buds. The caper shrub grows in the driest situa- tions, even upon walls, and does not disdain any soil ; but it ^ves a hot and sheltered ex- posure. It is multiplied by grafts made in autumn, as also by slips of the roots taken off in spring. CAPES, or CAPPS, provincial words, ap- plied to the ears of corn broken off, either wholly or in part, in thrashing ; as well as to the grain to which the chaff adheres. CAPITAL (Lat. capitalis). The capital re- quired by a farmer, to a great extent, varies with the soil and country in which he is placed; all practical observations in this place, there- fore, can only be of a general nature. The first and best direction, however, to a farmer must be, "do not take more land than your capital will enable you to farm well." For this purpose, the observations of the author of the British Husbandry, vol. i. p. 41, may very well be introduced in this place. " Most farmers are anxious for large occupations, and many are thus betrayed into the error of renting a greater quantity of ground than they have the means of managing to advantage; some, in the delusive hope of acquiring those me*ins by future savings ; others, from the vanity of holding more land than their neighbours : hence arises deficiency of stock, imperfect til- lage, and scanty crops ; with all the consequent train of rent in arrear, wages ill-paid, and debts unsatisfied — distress, duns, and final ruin. Whereas, he who is prudently content to com- mence with only such a number of acres as he has the power of cultivating with proper effect, is certain of obtaining the full return from the soil ; while, not being burdened with more land than he can profitably employ, his engagements are withm his means, and thus, while enjoying present ease of mind, he lays the surest foundation for his future prosperity." And, as it is well observed (Quart. Journ. of jlgr. vol. iii. p. 452), "Or if, to save appear- ances, he borrows money to complete his ne- cessary arrangements, his condition is not improved; because the interest he will have to pay for the borrowed money will operate as an additional yearly rent, and thus take from him all the advantages which he was led to expect he would enjoy under a moderate one." Un- der the head Appraisement will be found the amount of the valuation of the crops, and other things commonly paid by the incoming to the outgoing tenant on a farm of 309 acres, amounting to 1702Z. This, however, varies fonsiderably according to the Custom of Counties, which see. To this must be added the expenses incurred of stocking the farm for the first year. Wages, seed, keep of family, rent, taxes, rates, &c. On a farm of 500 acres, Professor Low (Prac. jlgr. p. 674) estimates tl-ie capital required for the first year to be (in Scotland) - 3^8 £ $. J. 1. Implements ----- 470 4 4 2. Live stock ----- 1423 15 3. Seed - - - -- - -273 00 4. Manure - - - - - - 616 10 5. Labour, &c. - - - - - 528 17 6 6. Maintenance of horses - . - 343 7 11 7. Burdens 31 15 9 3488 8 6 Furniture of house - - - - 200 Family expenses, U years - - - 150 ,3838 8 6 From this he deducts for produce sold 7 qq, ,- ^ in this time - - - - 5 »»» " » Required net capital - . . - 2842 10 9 or 51. 13s. 8^d. per acre. In this calculation, he supposes that no rent is paid till the crop is reaped. The estimate for the capital required for a Scotch farm of 500 acres (allowing no- thing for payments to outgoing tenant) is, ac- cording to a statement in the Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. iii. p. 475, as follows : — £ s. S. Value of implements for farm work - - 228 2 2 — do. live stock - 43 19 4 — do. barn work - - 17 14 4 — Thrashing machine - - - - 170 — Horses - - - -.- -450 00 — Cattle -- - - - - -51 100 — Sheep - - - - - - 420 — Other live stock ----- 700 — Grass seeds - - - - - 87 10 — Tares ...... 680 — Peas .--.-.- 400 — Turnips - - - - - - 12 15 — Potatoes .--.-- 2 16 — Corn 215 63 — Labour - - - - - - 865 5 10 3041 17 II Rent 500 acres, at 40s. - - - lOUO 4041 17 11 From which, however, dedrct the value of the fotlowing articles, derived from the farm before the period of paying the se- cond half year's rent, viz. Profit on 20 fat cattle, tl. each - - £100 Wintering 20 kyloes for 24 weeks, at 2s. 6d. per week - - - . . 30 Sold 30 dinniots avi gewmers at 25j. each, and 20 draft ewes at 30s. each 130 Profit on turnipinjr 120 hogs 24 weeks, at 3d. per head per week - - - 36 Sold 14 pigs - - - - - - 14 Produce of 4 cows over what required by family ------ 10 Wool sold .--.-. 152 472 3569 17 11 At p. 658, of Low^s Prac. Agr. will be found a catalogue of the various implements of a farm ' of 500 acres, from a thrashing machine worth lOOZ. to a grease pot valued at Is. 6ding in puddles ai^er showers, in pairing wun their mates, aiici in laying their eggs; after which they die a nam ral death, or fall a prey to their numerous enemies. CATERPILLAR, CATERPILLAR. "These insects belong to an order called Le- I piDOPTERA, which means scaly wings ; for the mealy powder with which their wings are co- vered, when seen under a powerful microscope, is found to consist of little scales, lappmg over each other like the scales of fishes, and im- planted into the skin of the wings by short stems. The body of these insects is also more or less covered with the same kind of scales, together with hair or down in some species. The tongue consists of two tubular threads placed side by side, and thus forming an in- strument for suction, which, when not in use, *s rolled up spirally beneath the head, and is more or less covered and concealed on each side by a little scaly or hairy jointed feeler. The shoulders or wing-joints of the fore-wings are covered on each side by a small triangular piece, forming a kind of epaulette, or shoulder- cover; and between the head and the thorax is a narrow piece, clothed with scales or hairs sloping backwards, which may be called the collar. The wings have a few branching veins, generally forming one or two large meshes on the middle. The legs are six in number, though onl}-- four are used in walking by some butterflies, in which the first pair are very short, and are folded like a tippet on the breast; and the feet are five-jointed, and are terminated, each, by a pair of claws. "It would be difficult, and indeed impossible, to arrange the Lepidopterous insects according to their forms, appearance, and habits, in the caterpillar state, because the caterpillars of many of them are as yet unknown ; and there- fore it is found expedient to classify them mostly according to the characters furnished by them in the winged state. "We may first divide the Lepidoptera into three great sections, called butterflies, hawk- moths, and moths, corresponding to the genera Papilto, Sphinx, and Phalcena of Linnaeus. "The butterflies (Pcipilioncs) have threadlike antennre, which are knobbed at the end; the fore-wings in some, and all the wings in the greater number, are elevated perpendicularly and turned back to back, when at rest; they have generally two little spurs on the hind-legs, and they fly by day only. Their caterpillars, when about to transform, suspend themselves by the tail, and are not enclosed in cocoons. "The hawk-moths (Sphinges) generally have the antennae thickened in the middle and taper- ing at each end, and most often hooked at the tip; the wings are narrow in proportion to their length, and are confined together by a bristle or bunch of stiff" hairs on the shoulder of each hind-wing, which is retained by a cor- responding hook on the under side of each fore-wing. All the wings, when at rest, are more or less inclined like a roof, the upper ones covering the lower wings : there are two pairs of spurs on the hind-legs. A few fly by day, but the greater number in the morning and evening twilight. "In the moths (Phalance) the antennae are neither knobbed at the end nor thickened in tlie middle, but taper from the base to the ex- tremity, and are either naked, like a bristle, or are feathered on each side. The wings are confined together by bristles and hooks, the 35 first pair covering the hind-wings, and are more or less sloping when at rest; and there are two pairs of spurs to the hind-legs. These insects fly mostly by night." Among American destructive caterpillars de- scribed by Dr. Harris, are the larvae of those butterflies called listerias, seen in great abun- dance upon certain flowers in the month of July — particularly on the sweet-scented phlox. These flies, which are of a black colour with a double row of yellow dots on the back, lay their eggs, in this and the following month, on various umbellate plants, placing them singly on the different parts of the leaves and stems. The fly is large, its wings expanding from three and a half to four inches. The hinder wings are tailed, and have seven blue spots, with an eye-like spot of an orange colour near their hinder angle. The caterpillars of this tribe. Dr. Harris has found on various garden vegetables and plants,such as the carrot,parsley, celery, anise, dill, caraway, and fennel; also upon nightshade, hemlock, and other plants of the same poisonous famil3% which, he observes, constituted the appropriate food for these in- sects, before the exotics just named became abundant and furnished them in greater varie- ty and profusion. "Their injury to these cultivated plants," says the doctor, " is by no means inconsider- able ; they not only eat the leaves, but are particularly fond of the blossoms and young seeds. I have taken twenty caterpillars on one plant of parsley which was going to seed. The eggs, laid in July and August, are hatched soon afterwards, and the caterpillars come to their growth towards the end of September, or the beginning of October; they then suspend themselves, become chrysalids, in which state they remain during the winter, and are not transformed to butterflies till the last of May or the beginning of June in the following year." "I know of no method so effectual for de- stroying these caterpillars as gathering them by hand and crushing them. An expert per- son will readily detect them by their ravages on the plants which they inhabit ; and a few minutes devoted, every day or. two, to a care- ful search in the garden, during the season of their depredations, will suffice to remove them entirely. " In Europe there are several kinds of cater- pillars which live exclusively on the crucife- rous or oleraceous plants, such as the cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radish, turnip, and mustard, and oftentimes do considerable injury to them. The prevailing colour of these cater pillars is green, and that of the butterflies pro duced from them, white. They belong to a genus called Pontia; in which the hind-wings are not scolloped nor tailed, but are rounded and entire on the edges, and are grooved on the inner edge to receive the abdomen." In the northern and western portions of Massachusetts, there is a white butterfly, the wings of which expand about two inches. This in all its states agrees with the character of the European insect. It is the potherb pontia (Pontia okrarea), a white butterfly, described by Dr. Harris in the New England Farmer iu .1-3 CATERPILLAR. CATERPILLAR. 1829 (page 402). "About the last of May and beginning of June, it is" he says, "seen flmtering over cabbage, radish, and turnip beds, and patches of mustard, for the purpose of depositing its eggs. These are fastened to the undersides of the leaves, and but seldom more than three or four are left upon one leaf. The eggs are yellowish, nearly pear-shaped, longitudinally ribbed, and are one fifteenth of an inch in length. They are hatched in a week or ten daj'^s after they are laid, and the caterpillars produced from them attain their full size when three weeks old, and then mea- sure about one inch and a half in length. Being of a pale green colour, they are not readily distinguished from the ribs of the leaves beneath which they live. They do not devour the le^f at its edge, but begin indiscri- minately upon any part of its under-side, through which they eat irregular holes. When they have completed the feeding stage, they quit the plants, and retire beneath palings, or the edges of stones, or into the interstices of walls, where they spin a little tuft of silk, entan- glethehorns of theirhindmostfeet in it,and then proceed to form a loop to sustain the forepart of the body in a horizontal or vertical position." The next day after attaching itself it casts off" its caterpillar skin and becomes a chrysalis, sometimes of a pale green, and sometimes of a white colour, regularly and finely dotted with black. The chrysalis state lasts eleven days, at the expiration of which comes out the white- winged butterfly. The chrysalids produced from an atitumnal brood of these insects sur- vive the winter, and the butterflies from them make their appearance in May or June. " In gardens or fields infested by the' caterpillars, boards, placed horizontally an inch or two above the surface of the soil, will 6e resorted to by them when they are about to change to chrysalids, and here it will be easy to find, col- lect, and destroy them., either in the caterpillar or chrysalis state. The butterflies also may easily be taken by a large and deep bag-net of muslin, attached to a handle of five or six feet in length ; for they fly low and lazily, especially when busy in laying their eggs. In Europe the caterpillars of the white butterflies are eaten by the larger titmouse (Pams major), and probably our own titmouse or chickadee, with other insect-eating birds, will be found equally useful, if properly protected. " We have several kinds of small six-footed butterflies, some of which are found, during the greater part of summer in the fields and around the edges of woods, flying low and fre- quently alighting, and oftentimes collected to- gether in little swarms on the flov-ers of the clover, mint, and other sweet-scented plants." The heads of the common hop are frequently eaten o^ the small green and downy caterpil- ars X a very pretty little dusky brown butter- fly, :2 which Dr. Harris has given the name of H^^. -vine Thecla {Thecla huniili). The caterpillars of many of the four-footed :uUerflies are spiny, or have their backs armed with numerous projecting points, beset all around with small stiflf hairs, and sometimes long, hard, and sharp prickles disposed in bunches. 274 The poplar, the willow, and the elm. are in- fested with caterpillars in greait numbers, pro. duced by a butterfly called the Antiopa, the wings of which are purplish brown above, with a buff-yellow margin, near the inner side of which there is a row of pale blue spots. The wings of this Antiopa butterfly expand from three to three and a half inches. It comes out from its winter retreats with the first warmth of spring, and maybe seen, even in Massachusetts, sporting in warm and sheltered spots at the beginning of March, at which/ime its wings look ragged and faded. Wilson, th^ ornithologist, in his beautiful lines upon the well known American harbinger of spring — the blue bird — alludes to its coming: " When first the lone butterfly flits on the wing." The caterpillars of the Antiopa butterfly are black, minutely dotted with white, with a row of eight dark, brick-red spots on the top of the back. When fully grown they measure an inch and three quarters in length, and appear very formidable with their thorny armature, doubtless intended to defend them from their enemies. It was formerly supposed that they were venomous, and capable of inflicting dan- gerous wounds, and poplar trees about dwell- ings have frequently been cut down from fear of these worms. "This alarm was unfounded; for although," says Dr. Harris, " there are some caterpillars that have the power of inflicting venomous wounds with their spines and hairs, this is not the case with those of the Antiopa butterfly. The only injury which can be laid to their charge, is that of despoiling of their foliage some of our most ornamental trees, and this is enough to induce us to take all. proper measures for exterminating the insects, short of destroying the trees that they infest. I have sometimes seen-ihem in such profusion on the willow and elm, that the limbs bent under their weight; and the long leafless branches which they had stripped and deserted gave sufficient proof of the voracity of these caterpillars. The chrysalis is of a dark brown colour, with large tawny spots around the tubercles on the back. The butterffies come forth in eleven or twelve days after the insects have entered upon the chrysalis state, and this occurs in the be- ginning ol July. A second brood of caterpil- lars is produced in August, and they pass through all their changes before winter." There is a species of caterpillar which comes from a butterfly called the Semicolon (Vanessa interrogations). It lives on the Ame rican elm and lime trees, and also on the hop- vine ; and on this last they sometimes so abound as to destroy its produce. In the latter part of August the hop-vine caterpillars attain their full growth, and suspend themselves be- neath the leaves and stems of the plant, and change into chrysalids. " This fact," says Dr. Harris, " affords a favourable opportunity for destroying the insects in this their stationary and helpless stage, at some loss, however, of the produce of the vines, which, when the in- sects have become chrysalids, should be cut down, stripped of the fruit that is sufficiently ripened, and then burnt. There is probably an early brood of caterpillars in June or July CATERPILLAR. CATERPILLMl. but I have not seen any on the hop-vine before August, the former are therefore confined to the elm and other plants in all probability. The caterpillar is brownish, variegated with pale yellow, or pale yellow variegated with brown, with a yellowish line on each side of the body ; the head is rust-red, with two blackish branched spines on the top ; and the spines of the body are pale yellow or brownish and tipped with black. The chrysalis is ashen brown, with the head deeply notched, and surmounted by two conical ears, a long and thin nose-like prominence on the thorax, and eight silvery spots on the back. The chrysalis state usually lasts from eleven to fourteen days ; but the later broods are more tardy in their transfor- mations, the butterfly sometimes not appear- ing in less than twenty-six days after the change to the chrysalis. Great numbers of the chrysa- lids are annually destroyed by little maggots v/ithin them, which, in due time are transformed to tiny four-winged flies {Pteromalus vancssee), which make their escape by eating little holes through the sides of the chrysalis. They are ever on the watch to lay their eggs on the caterpillars of this butterfly, and arc so small as easily to avoid being wounded by the branch- ing spines of their victims." The semicolon butterfly which produces this caterpillar expands its wings from two and a half to two and three-quarter inches, and even more. The colour of the wings is orange-taw- ny on the upper sides, with black spots in the middle. The under sides of the wings in some are rust-red, in others reddish white, with a pale gold-coloured semicolon on the middle of the hinder part, which last gives its specific name. Another species of caterpillar living upon the hop, also proceeds from a butterfly having wings of an orange-tawny cok)ur on the upper side ; the hinder wings having a silvery comma in the middle of the under side. The wings expand from 2j to 2J inches. This comma butterfly, as it is called {Vanessa comma), re- sembles the white comma of Europe, for which it has probably been mistaken. In habits, &c. the American comma resembles the preced- ing species. ■ Among American caterpillars, which attract the particular notice ot the farmer, are several appertaining to the family of insects called hdwk-moths, or sphinges, the latter name having been applied by Linnceus, from a fancied re- semblance that some of the caterpillars, when at rest, have to the Egyptian sphynx. The attitude of these caterpillars is indeed remark- able. Supporting themselves by their four or six hind legs, they elevate the fore part of the body, and remain immovably fixed in this posture for hours together. In the winged state, the true sphinges are known by the name of huiaming-bird moths, from the sound they make in flying, and hawk-moths from their habit of hovering in the air while taking their food. They may be seen during the morning and evening twilight, flying with great swift- ness Irom flower to flower. Their tongues, Then ancoiled, are, for the most part, exces- sively long, and with them they extract the oncy from the blossoms of the honeysuckle and other tubular flowers, while on the wing. There are other sphinges which fly during ihe daytime only, and in the brightest sunshine. Then it is that the large clear-winged sesic. make their appearance among the flowers, the fragrant phlox being their special favourite. From the size and form of these last, their fan- like tails, brilliant colours, and mode of taking their food whilst poised above the blossoms upon rapidly vibrating wings, they might readi- ly be mistaken for humming-birds. (Hams.) Among the caterpillars of the sphinges, is that commonly called the potato-worm, a large green caterpillar, with a kind of thorn upon the tail, and oblique whitish stripes on the sides of the body. "This insect, which devours the leaves of the potato, often to the great injury of the plant, grows to the thickness of the fore- finger, and the length of three inches or more. It attains its full size from the middle of Au- gust to the first of September, then crawls down the stem of the plant and buries itself in the ground. Here, in a few days, it throws off" its caterpillar-skin, and becomes a chrysalis, of a bright brown colour, with a long and slender tongue-case, bent over from the head, so as to touch the breast only at the end, and somewhat resembling the handle of a pitcher. It re- mains in the ground through the winter, below the reach of frost, and in the following sum- mer the chrysalis-skin bursts open, a large moth crawls out of it, comes to the surface of the ground, and mounting upon some neighbouring plant, waits till the approach of evening in- vites it to expand its untried wings and fly in search of food. This large insect has gene- rally been confounded with the Carolina sphinx (Sphinx Carolina of Linnaeus), which it closely resembles. It measures across the wings about five inches ; is of a gray colour, variegated with blackish lines and bands ; and on each side of the body there are five round, orange-coloured spots encircled with, black. Hence it is called by English entomologists Sphinx quinqnemaculatus, the five-spotted sphinx. Its tongue can be unrolled to the length of five or six inches, but, when not in use, is coiled like a watch-spring, and is almost entirely concealed, between two large and thick feelers, under the head. "Among the numerous insects that infest our noble elms the largest is a kind of sphinx, which, from the four short horns on the fore- part of the back, I have named Ceratomia quadricornis, or four-horned ceratomia. On some trees these sphinges exist in great numbers, and their ravages then become very obvious ; while a few, though capable of doing consider- able injury, may escape notice among the thick foliage which constitutes their food, or will only be betrayed by the copious and regularly formed pellets of excrement beneath the 'rees. They are very abundant during the months oi July and August on the large elms which sur- round the northern and eastern sides of the common in Boston ; and towards the end of August, when they descend from the trees for the purpose of going into the ground, they may often be seen crawling in the mall in consider- able numbers. These caterpillars, at this period of their existence, are about three inches and "75 CAfTERPILLAR. CATERPILLAR. R half in length, are of a pale green colour, M h seven oblique white lines on each side of the body, and a row of little notches, like saw-teeth, on the back." (Hurris.) The grape-vine suffers from the ravages of a sphinx caterpillar, which, not content with eating the leaves alone, in their progress from leaf to leaf, down the stem, stops at every cluster of food, nips off the stalks of the half- grown grapes, and allows these to fall to the ground untasted. I have, says Dr. Harris, gathered under a single vine above a quart of unripe grapes thus detached during one night by these caterpillars. They are naked and fleshy, and generally of a pale-green colour, (sometimes, however, brown), with a row of orange-coloured spots on the top of the back, six or seven oblique darker green or brown lines on each side, and a short spine or horn on the hinder extremity. It is found on the vine and also upon the creeper in July and August. When fully grown it descends to the ground, conceals itself under fallen leaves, which it draws together by a few threads so as to form a kind of cocoon, or covers itself with grains of earth and rubbish in the same way, and under this imperfect cover changes to a pupa or chrysalis, to reappear in the winged state in the month of July of the following 3''ear. See Grape-vine Caterpillar. Among this section of insects, naturalists have placed a group, many of which in the winged state bear a resemblance to bees, hornets, wasps, with their narrow wings. They fly only in the daytime, and frequently light to bask in the sunshine. Their habits, in the caterpillar state, are entirely different from those of the sphinges ; the latter living ex- posed upon plants the leaves of which they devour, while the caterpillars of the a-gereans, as they are called, conceal themselves within the stems or roots of plants, and derive their nourishment from the wood and pitch. {Har- ris.) The ash tree suffers very much from the attacks of borers of this kind, which perforate the bark and sap-wood of the trunk from the roots upwards, and are also found in all the branches of any considerable size. The trees thus infested soon show symptoms of disease, in the death of the branches near the summit ; and then the insects become numerous, the trees no longer increase in size and height, and premature decay and death ensue. These borers assume the chrysalis form in the month of June, and the chrysalids may be seen pro- jecting halfway from the round holes in the bark of the tree in this and the following month, during which time their final transformation is effected, and they burst open and escape from the shells of the chrysalis in the winged or moth state. " During the month of August, the squash and other cucurbitaceous vines are frequently found to die suddenly down to the root. The cause of this premature death is a little borer, which begins its operations near the ground, perforates the stem, and devours the interior. It afterwards enters the soil, forms a cocoon of a gummy substance covered with particles '. f earth, changes to a chrysalis, and comes 276 forth the next summer a winged insect. This is conspicuous for its orange-coloured body^ spotted with black, and its hind legs fringed with long orange-coloured and black hairs The hind wings only are transparent, and the fore^ wings expand from one inch to one inch and a half. It deposits its eggs on the vines close to the roots, and may be seen flying about the plants from the tenth of July till the middle of August. This insect, which may be called the squash-vine Eegei-ia, was first de- scribed by me in the year 1828, under the name of JEgeria ctiairbitce, the trivial name in- dicating the tribe of plants on which the cater- pillar feeds. See New England Farmer, vol. viii. p. 33; Dr. Harris's Discourse before the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, in 1832, p. 26 ; and Silliman^s Journal, vol. xxxvi. p. 310." {Harris.') The pernicious borer, which, during many years past has proved so very destructive to the peach trees throughout the United States, belongs to this group of the sphinx family. See Peach Thee Worm and Borer. In Europe there is a species ofageria which has long been known to inhabit the stems of the currant-bush. There is an American in- sect, resembling this, found in the cultivated currant-bush, with which it may have been in- troduced from Europe. See CuRHAJfT-Eusa Borer. Several caterpillars belonging to the family of tiger-moths are very destructive to vegeta- tion, as, for example, the salt-7narsh caterpillar, the yellow bear caterpillar of our gardens, and the /(/// web-calerpillar. These well-known in- sects are covered with coarse hairs, spreading out on all sides like the bristles of a bottle- brush. They creep very fast, and when han- dled roll themselves almost into a ball. When about to transform, they creep into the chinks of walls and fences, or hide themselves under stones, logs, or fallen leaves, where they en- close themselves in rough oval cocoons, made of hairs, plucked from their own bodies, inter- woven with a few silken threads. The caterpillars of the Jlrge, a species of tiger-moth, sometimes make great devastation among the 3'oung Indian corn in the Southern and Middle States. Their ordinary food con- sists of the leaves of the plantain and other herbaceous plants. It appears in Massachu- setts, sometimes in large swarms, in the month of October. When fully grown they measure about an inch and a half in length. Their co- lour is a dark greenish-gray, although they appear almost black from the multitude of black spots with which they are dotted. They have three longitudinal stripes of fleshy white on the back, and a row of kidney-shaped spots of the same colour on each side of the body. The warts are dark gray, each one producing a thin cluster of spreading blackish hairs. The moth into which this caterpillar is finally con verted, has flesh-coloured wings which expand about from 1| to 2 inches. Of all the hairy caterpillars frequenting American gardens, there are none so common and troublesome as that which Dr. Harris calls the Yellow Fear. "liike most of its genus," he observes, " it is a very general feeder, devour- CATERPILLAR. CATERPILLAR. ing almost all kinds of herbaceous plants, with equal relish, from the broad-leaved plantain at the door-side, the peas, beans, and even the flowers of the garden, and the corn and coarse grasses of the fields, to the leaves of the vine, the currant, and the gooseberry, which it does not refuse when pressed by hunger. This Uind of caterpillar varies very much in its colours ; it is perhaps most often of a pale yellow or straw colour, with a black line along each side of the body, and a transverse line of the same colour between each of the segments or rings, and is covered with long pale yellow hairs. Others are often seen of a rusty or brown- ish yellow colour, with the same black lines on the sides and between the rings, and they are clothed with foxy red or light brown hairs. The head and ends of the feet are ochre-yellow, and the under side of the body is blackish in all the varieties. They are to be found of dif- ferent ages and sizes from the first of June till October. When fully grown they are about two inches long, and then creep into some con- venient place of shelter, make their cocoons, in which they remain in the chrysalis stale during the winter, and are changed to moths in the months of May or June following. Some of the first broods of these caterpillars appear to come to their growth early in summer, and are transformed to moths by the end of July or the beginning of August, at which time I have repeatedly taken them in the winged state ; but the greater part pass through their last change in June. The moth is familiarly known by the name of the white miller, and is often Seen about houses. Its^ientific name is ^niia Vir- ginica, and, as it nearly resembles the insects commonly called errnine-moths in England, we may give to it the name of».the Virginia ermine-moth. It is white, with a black point on the middle of the fore-wings, and two black dots on the hind-wings, one on the middle and the other near the posterior angle, much more distinct on the under than on the upper side; there is a row of black dots on the top of the back, another on each side, and between these a longitudinal deep yellow stripe ; the hips and thighs of the fore-legs are also ochre-yellow. It expands from one inch and a half to two inches. Having been much troubled with the voracious yellow bears in the little patch, (I cannot call it a garden,) where a few beans, and other vegetables, tqgether with some flowers, were cultivated, I required my children to pick off the caterpillars from day to day and crush them, and taught them not to spare ' the pretty white millers,' which they frequently found on the fences, or on the plants, laying their golden yellow eggs, telling them that, with every female which they should kill, the eggs, from which hundreds of yellow bears would have hatched, would be destroyed. In some parts of France, and in Belgium, the people are required by law to echeniller, or un- caterpillar, their gardens and orchards, and are punished by fine if they neglect the duty. Although we have not yet become so prudent and public spirited as to enact similar regula- tions, we might find it for our advantage to offer a bounty for the destruction of caterpil- ■ars; and th'>ugh we should pay for them by the quart, as we do for berries, we should be gainers in the end; while the children, whose idle hours were occupied in the picking of them,Avould find this a profitable employment." (Harm.) " The salt-marsh caterpillar, an insect by far too well known on our sea-board, and now getting to be common in the interior of the state, whither it has probably been introduced, while under the chrysalis form, with the salt hay annually carried from the coast by our in- land farmers, closely resembles the yellow bear in some of its varieties. The history of this insect," says Dr. Harris, "forms the subject of a communication made by me to the ' Agri- cultural Society of Massachusetts,' in the year 1823, and printed in the seventh volume of the ' Massachusetts Agricultural Repository and Journal,' with figures representing the insect in its different stages. At various times and intervals since the beginning of the present century, and probably before it also, the salt marshes about Boston have been overrun and laid waste by swarms of caterpillars. These appear towards the end of June, and grow rapidly from that time till the first of August. During this month they come to their full size, and begin to run, as the phrase is, or retreat from the marshes, and disperse through the adjacent uplands, often committing very exten- sive ravages in their progress. Corn-fields, gardens, and even the rank weeds by the way- side aflford them temporary nourishment while wandering in search of a place of security from the tide and weather. They conceal themselves in walls, under stones, in hay- stacks and mows, in wood-piles, and in any other places in their way, which will afford them the proper degree of shelter during the winter. Here they make their coarse hairy cocoons, and change to chrysalids, in which form they remain till the following summer, and are transformed to moths in the month of June. In those cases where, from any cause, the caterpillars, when arrived at maturity, have been unable to leave the marshes, they conceal themselves °neath the stubble, and there make their coi -"ons. Such, for the most part, is the course ai.d duration of the lives of these insects in Massachusetts ; but in the Middle and Southern States, two broods are brought to perfection annually; and even here some of them run through their course sooner, and produce a second brood of caterpillars in the same season; for I have obtained the moths between the 15th and 20th of May, and again between the 1st and the lOth of August. Those which were disclosed in May passed the winter in the chrysalis form, while the moths which appeared in August must have been produced from caterpillars that had come to their growth., and gone through all their transformations during the same summer. This, however, in Massachusetts, is not a common occurrence , for by far the greater part of these insects ap- pear at one time, and require a year to com- plete their several changes. The full-grown ca terpillar measures one inch and three-quarters or more in length. It is clothed with long hairs, which are sometimes black and some- times brown on the back and forepart of ih? 2 A 27- CATERPILLAR. CATERPILLAR. body, and of a lighter brown colour on the sides. The hairs, like those of the other Arctias, grow in spreading clusters from warts, which are of a yellowish colour in this species. The body, when stripped of the hairs, is yel- low, shaded at the sides with black, and there is a blackish line extending along the top of the back. The breathing-holes are white, and very distinct even through the hairs. These cater- pillars, when feeding on the marshes, are sometimes overtaken by the tide, and when escape becomes impossible, they roll them- selves up in a circular form, as is common with others of the tribe, and abandon them- selves to their fate. The hairs on their bodies seem to have a repelling power, and prevent the water from wetting their skins, so that they float on the surface, and are often carried by the wavec to distant places, where they are thrown on shore, and left in w-inrows with the wash of the sea. After a little time most of them recover from their half-drowned condi- tion, and begin their depredations anew. In this way these insects seem to have spread from the places where they first appeared to others at a considerable distance. Although these insects do not seem ever entirely to have disappeared from places where they have once estalilished themselves, they do not prevail every year in the same overwhelming swarms; but their numbers are increased or lessened at irregular periods, from causes which are not well understood. These caterpillars are pro- duced from eggs, which are laid by the moths on the grass of the marshes about the middle of June, and are hatched in s.even or eight days afterwards, and the number of eggs deposited by a single f male is, on an average, about eight hundred. The moths themselves vary in colour. In the males, the thorax and upper side of the fore-wings are generally white, the latter spotted with black; the hind-wings and abdomen, except the tail, deep ochre-yellow, the former with a few black spots near the hind margin, and the abdomen with a row of six black spots on the top of the back, two rows on the sides, and one on the belly ; the under-side of all the wings and the thighs are deep yellow. It expands from one inch and seven-eighths to two inches and a quarter. The female ditfers from the male either in having the hind wings white, instead of ochre-yellow, or in having all the wings ashen gray with the usual black spots. It expands two inches and three-eighths or more. Sometimes, though rarely, male moths occur with the fore-wings ash-coloured or dusky. Professor Peck called this moth pscuderminea, that is, false ermine, and this name was adopted by me in my com- munication to the ' Agricultural Society.' " {Hariis.) In order to. lessen the ravages of the salt- marsh caterpillars, and to secure a fair crop of hay when these insects abound. Dr. Harris recommends that " the marshes should be mowed early in July, at which lime the cater-, pillars aie small and feeble, and being unable to wamler lar, will die before the crop is ga- thered in. In defence of early mowing, it may be said that it is the only way by which the f rass mav be saved in those meadows where ■zis the caterpillars have multiplied to any extent; and, if the practice is followed generally, and continued during several years in succession, it will do much towards exterminating these destructive insects. By the practice of late mowing, where the caterpillars abound, a great loss in the crop will be sustained, im- mense numbers of caterpillars and grasshop- pers will be left to grow to maturity and disperse upon the uplands, by which means the evil will go on increasing from year to year ; or they will be brought in with the hay to perish in our barns and stacks, Avhere there dead bodies will prove oiTensive to the cattle, and occasion a waste of fodder. To get rid of 'the old fog' or stubble, which becomes much thicker and longer in consequence of early mowing, the marshes should be burnt over in March. The roots of the grass will not be injured bj' burning the stubble, on the contrary, they will be fertilized by the ashes; while great numbers of young grasshoppers, cocoons of caterpillars, and various kinds of destructive insects, with their eggs, concealed in the stubble, will be destroyed by the fire. In the province of New Brunswick, the bene- fit arising from burning the stubble has long been proved; and this practice is getting into favour in New England. " The caterpillars of all the foregoing Arc- tians (or harnessed moths) live almost entirel}' upon herbaceous plants ; those which follow (with one exception only), devour the leaves of trees. Of the latter, the most common and destructive are the little caterpillars known by the name of fall web-worms, whose large webs, sometimes extending over entire branches with their leaves, may be seen on our native elms, and aljo on apple and other fruit trees, in the latter part of summer. The eggs, from which these caterpillars proceed,, are laid by the parent moth in a cluster upon a leaf near the extremity of a branch ; they are hatched from the last of June till the middle of August, some broods being early and others late, and the young caterpillars immediately begin to provide a shelter for themselves, by covering the upper side of the leaf with a web, which is the result of the united labours of the whole brood. They feed in company beneath this web, devouring only the upper skin and pulpy portion of the leaf, leaving the veins and lower skin of the leaf untouched. As they increase in size, they enlaVge their web, carrying it over the next lower leaves, all the upper and pulpy parts of which are eaten in the same way, and thus they continue to work down- wards, till finally the web covers a large por- tion of the branch, with its dry, brown, and filmy foliage, reduced to this unseemly condi- tion by these little spoilers. These caterpil- lars, when fully grown, measure rather more than one inch in length ; their bodies are more slender than those of the other Arctians, and are ver}^ thinly clothed with hairs of a grayish colour, intermingled with a few which are black. The general colour of the body is greenish yellow dotted with black ; there is a broad blackish stripe along the top of the back, and a bright yellow stripe on each side. The warts, from which the thin bundles ot CATERPILLAR. CATERPILLAR. spn ading, silky hairs proceed, are black on the back, and rust-yellow or orange on the sides. The head and feet are black. I have not observed the exact length of time required by these insects' to come to maturity ; but to- wards the end of August and during the month of September they leave the trees, disperse, and wander about, eating such plants as hap- pen to lie in their course, till they have found suitable places of shelter and concealment, where they make their thin and almost trans- parent cocoons, composed of a slight web of silk intermingled with a few hairs. They re- main in the cocoons in the chrysalis state through the winter, and are transformed to moths in the months of June and July. These moths are white, and without spots ; the fore- thighs are tawny-yellow, and the feet blackish. Their wings expand from one inch and a quarter to one inch and three-eighths. " During the months of July and August, there may be found on apple trees and rose- bushes, and sometimes on other trees and shrubs, little slender caterpillars of a bright yellow colour, sparingly clothed with l(ttg and fine yellow hairs on the sides of the body, and having four short and thick brush-like yellow- ish tufts on the back, that is on the fourth and three following rings, two long black plumes or pencils extending forwards from the first ring, and a single plume on the top of the eleventh ring. The head, and the two little retractile warts on the ninth and tenth rings are coral red ; there is a narrow black or brownish stripe along the top of the back, and a wider dusky stripe on each side of the body. These pretty caterpillars do not ordinarily herd to- ether, but sometimes our apple trees are ch infested by them, as was. the case in the iimer of 1828. When they have done eat- ing, they spin their cocoons on the leaves, or on the branches or trunks of the trees, or on fences in the vicinity. The chrysalis is not only beset with little hairs or down, but has three oval clusters of branny scales on the back. In about eleven days after the change to the chrysalis is effected, the last transforma- tion follows, and the insects come forth in the adult stare, the females wingless, and the males with large ashen-gray wings, crossed by wavy darker bands on the upper pair, on which, moreover, is a small black spot near the tip, and a minute white crescent near the outer hind angle. The body of the male is small and slender, with a row of little tufts along the back, and the wings expand one inch and three-eighths. The females are of a lighter gray colour than the males, their bodies are very thick, and of an oblong oval shape, and, though seemingly wingless, upon close examination two little scales, or stinted wing- lets, can be discovered on each shoulder. These females lay their eggs upon the top of their cocoons, and cover them with a large quantity of frothy matter, which on drying be- comes white and brittle. Different broods of these msects appear at various times in the course of the summer, but the greater number come to maturity and lay their eggs in the lat- ter part of August, and the beginning of Sep- tember ; and these eggs are not hatched till 2:9 ravages the following summer. The name of this moth is Orgy ill* leticostigma, the white- marked Orgyia or tussock-moth. It is to the eggs of this insect that the late Mr. B. H. Ives, of Sa- lem, alludes, in an article on 'insects which infest trees and plants,' published in Hovey's 'Gardener's Magazine.' Mr. Ives states, that on passing through an apple orchard in Feb- ruary, he 'perceived nearly all the trees speckled with occasional dead leaves, adher- ing so firmly to the branches as to require considerable force to dislodge them. Each leaf covered a small patch of from one to two hundred eggs, united together, as well as tc the leaf, by a gummy and silken fibre, peculiai to the moth.' In March, he 'visited the same orchard, and, as an experiment, cleared three trees, from which he took twenty-one bunches of eggs. The remainder of the trees he left untouched until the tenth of May, when he found the caterpillars were hatched from the and had commenced their slow but ;ure He watched them from time to time, until many branches had been spoiled of their leaves, and in the autumn were en- tirely destitute of fruit ; while the three trees, which had been stripped of the eggs, were flush with foliage, each limb without exception ripening its fruit.' These pertinent remarks point out the nature and extent of the evil, and suggest the proper remedy to be used againsi the ravages of these insects." In the New England States there is found a tussock or vaporer moth, seemingly the same as the Orgyia antiqua, the antique or rusty va- porer-moth of Europe, from whence, possibh' its eggs may have been brought with imported fruit trees, for a description of which, and other tussock moths, see Dr. Harris's treatise, and also Mr. Abbott's work on the insects of Georgia. Also communications b}^ Miss Dii to Silliman's Journal, vol. xix. p. 62. "To this group of hairy caterpillars belong those which swarm in the unpruned nurseries and neglected orchards of the slovenly and im- provident husbandman, and hang their many- coated webs upon the wild cherry trees that are suffered to spring up unchecked by the way-side, and encroach upon the b(jrders of our pastures and fields. The eggs from which they are hatched are placed around the ends of the branches, forming a wide kind of ring or bracelet, consisting of three or four hundred eggs, in the form of short cylinders, standing: on their ends close together, and covered with a thick coat of brownish water-proof varnish. The caterpillars come forth with the unfolding of the leaves of the apple and cherry tree, dur- ing the latter part of April or the beginning of May. The first signs of their activity appear in the formation of a little angular web or tent, somewhat resembling a spider's web, stretched between the forks of the branches a little bo- * This name is derived from a word which signiflps to stretch out the hands, and it is aiiplied to this kind of moth on account of its resting with the 'ore-lrgs ex- tended. The Germans call these moths jtr-erkfussige Spinnir, the French pattes eteT>diiP.^.a.nd the English va- porer-moths, the latter probably because the males are seen flying about ostentatiously, .ir vaporing, by da» when most other moths keep concealed. CATERPILLAR. CATERPILLAR. low the cluster of eggs. Under the shelter of these tents, in making which they all work to- gether, the caterpillars remain concealed at all times when not engaged in eating. In crawl- ing from twig to twig and from leaf to leaf, they spin from their mouths a slender silken thread, which is a clue to conduct them back to their tents ; and as they go forth and return in files, one after another, their pathways in time become well carpeted with silk, which serves to render their footing secure during their frequent and periodical journeys in va- rious directions to and from their common habitation. As they increase in age aad size they enlarge their tent, surrounding it from time to time with new layers or webs, till at length it acquire* a diameter of eight or ten inches. They come out together at certain stated hours to eat, and all retire at once when their regular meals are finished; during bad weather, however, they fast, and do not venture from their shelter. These caterpillars are of a kind called lackci/s in England, and livrces in France, from the party-coloured livery in which they appear. When fully grown they measure about two inches in length. Their heads are black ; extending along the top of the back from one end to the other is a whitish line, on each side of which, on a yellow ground, are numerous short and fine crinkled black lines, that lower down become mingled together, and form a broad longitudinal black stripe, or rather a row of long black spots, one on each ring, in the middle of each of which is a small blue spot ; below this is a narrow wavy yellow line, and lower still the sides are variegated with fine intermingled black and yellow lines, which are lost at last in the general dusky colour of the under side of the body; on the top of the eleventh ring is a small blackish and hairy wart, and the whole body is very sparingly clothed with short and soft hairs, rather thicker and longer upon the sides than elsewhere. The foregoing (fescriplion will serve to show that these insects are not the same as either the Neustria or the camp lackey caterpillars of Europe, for which they have been mistaken. From the first to the middle of June they begin to leave the trees upon which they have hither- to lived in company, separate from each other, wander about a while, and finall}' get into some crevice or other place of shelter and make their cocoons. These are of a regular long oval form, composed of a thin and very loosely woven web of silk, the meshes of which are fiile'il with a thin paste, that on drying is changed to a yellow powder, like flour of sul- phur in appearance. Some of the caterpillars, either from weakness or some other cause, do not leave their nests with the rest of the swarm, but make their cocoons there, and when the webs are opened these cocoons may be seen intprmixed with a mass of blackish grains, like gunpowder, excreted by the caterpillars during their stay. From fourteen to seventeen days after the insect has made its cocoon and changed to a chrysalis, it bursts its chrysalis skin, forces its way through the wet and soft- ened end of it:* cocoon, and appears in the winged or mij.er form. Many of them, how- ever, are unable to finish their transformations 28') by reason of weakness, especially those re maining in the webs. Most of these will be found to have been preyed upon by little mag- gots living upon the fat within their bodies, and finally changing to small four-winged ich- neumon wasps, which in due time pierce a hole in the cocoons of their victims, and escape into the air. "The moth of our American lackey-cater- pillar is of a rusty or reddish brown colour, more or less mingled with gray on the middle and base of the fore-wings, which, besides, are crossed by two oblique, straight, dirty white lines. It expands from one inch and a quarter to one inch and a half or a little more. * "The moths appear in great numbers in July, flying about and often entering houses by night. At this time they lay their eggs, selecting the wild cherry in preference to all other trees for this purpose, and next to these apple trees, the extensive introduction and great increase of which in this country afl^ord an abundant and tempting supply of food to the caterpillars in the place of the native cherry trees that for- merlyi^t would seem, sufficed for their nourish- ment. These insects, because they are the most common and most abundant in all parts of our country, and have obtained such noto- riet)' that in common language they are almost exclusively known among us by the name of the caterpillars, are the worst enemies of the or- chard. Where proper attention has not been paid to the destruction of them, they prevail tc such an extent as almost entirely to strip the apple and cherry trees of their foliage, by their attacks continued during the seven weeks of their life in the caterpillar form. The trees, in those orchards and gardens where they have been suffered to breed for a succession of years^ become prematurely old in consequence of the efi^brts they are obliged to make to repair, at an unseasonable time, the loss of their foliage, and are rendered unfruitful, and consequently un- profitable. But this is not all; these perni- cious insects spread in every direction from the trees of the careless and indolent to those of their more careful and industrious neigh- bours, whose labours are thereby greatly in- creased, and have to be followed up year after year .without an}' prospect of permanent relief. " Many methods and receipts for the destruc- tion of these insects have been published and recommended, but have failed to exterminate them, and indeed have done but little to lessen their numbers. Mr. Lowel has justly said that • the great difficulty is the neglect to do any thing, till after the caterpillars have covered the trees with their nests. Then the labours of the sluggard commence, and one tree, let his receipt be ever so perfect and powerful, will cost him as much time and labour as ten trees M'ould have required three weeks sooner.' The means to be employed may be stated under three heads. The first is, the collection and destruction of the eggs. These should be sought for in the winter and early part of the spring, when there are no leaves on the trees. They are easily discovered at this time, and may be removed with the thumb-nail and fore- finger. Nurseries and the lower limbs of large trees may thus be entirely cleared of eggs dur CATERPILLAR. CAT'S-TAIL. in^ a few visits made at the proper season. If'a liberal bounty for the collection of the egs:s were to be offered, and continued for the space of ten 3'ears, these destructive caterpil- lars would be nearly exterminated at the end of that time. Under the second head are to be mentioned the most approved plans for destroy- ing the caterpillars after they are hatched, and have begun to make their nests or tents. It is well known that the caterpillars come oat to feed twice during the day time, namely, in the fore- noon and afternoon, and that they rarely leave their nests before nine in the morning, and re- turn to them again at noon. During the early part of the season, while the nests are small, and the caterpillars young and tender, and at those hours when the insects are gathered toge- ther within their common habitation, they may be effectually destroyed by crushing them by hand in the nests. A brush, somewhat like a bottle-brush, fixed to a long handle, as recommended by the late Colonel Pickering, or, for the want thereof, a dried mullein head and its stalk fastened to a pole, will be useful to re- move the nests, with the caterpillars contained therein, from those branches which are too high to be reached by hand. Instead of the brush, we may use, with nearly equal success, a small mop or sponge, dipped as often as ne- cessary into a pailful of refuse soap-suds, ley, strong white-wash, or cheap oil. The mop should be thrust into the nest and turned round a little, so as to wet the caterpillars with the liquid, which will kill everyone that it touches. These means, to be effectual, should be em- ployed during the proper hours, that is, early in the morning, at mid-day, or at night, and as soon in the spring as the caterpillars begin to make their nests ; and they should be repeated as often, at least, as once a week, till the insects leave the trees. Early attention and perseve- rance in the use of these remedies will, in time, save the farmer hundreds of dollars, and abundance of mortification and disappoint- ment, besides rewarding him with the grateful sight of the verdant foliage, snowy blossoms, and rich fruits of his orchard in their proper seasons. Under the third head, I beg leave to urge the people of this commonwealth to de- clare war against these caterpillars, a war of extermination, to be waged annually during the month of May and the beginning of June. Let every able-bodied citizen, who is the owner 6f an apple or cherry tree, cultivated or wild, within our border, appear on duty, and open the campaign on the first washing-day in May, armed and equipped with brush and pail, as above directed, and give battle to the common enemy; and let every housewife be careful to reserve for use a plentiful supply of ammuni- tion, strong waste soap-suds, after every week- ly wash, till the liveried host shall have de- camped from their quarters, and retreated for the season. If every man' is prompt to his duty," I venture to predict that the enemy will be completely conquered in less time than it will take to exterminate the Indians in Florida. "Another caterpillar, whose habits are simi- lar to those of the preceding, is now and then met with, in Massachusetts, upon oak and wal- nut trees, and more rarely still upon apple trees. 36 According to Mr. Abbot, 'it is sometimes so plentiful in Virginia as to strip the oak-trees bare.' It may be called Clisiocampa sylvatica, the tent-caterpillar of the forest. With us it comes to its full size from the tenth to the twentieth of June, and then measures about two inches in length." (Harris.) Those who wish to become more intimately acquainted with the natural history of the cater- pillar tribe against which such incessant war is waged both in country and town, wherever a tree or a plant is found, will meet with abun- dant information in Dr. Harris's Treatise upon Insects destructive to vegetation. Some others of the caterpillar tribe will be found noticed under the several heads of Case- bearers, or Basket-worms, Currant-bush Borer, Cut WORM Caterpillar, Leaf-rollers, AppLETREEAxn NuRSERY Caterpillars, Oak Ajfn Walnut Caterpillars, Hop-vine and Grape-vine Caterpillars, Locust Tree and other caterpillars infesting hickory and elm trees, &c., Turpentine Moth, infesting the fir and pine, caterpillars living upon reeJs, flags, and other aquatic platitSySpAVWORMS, Loopers, or Geometers, among which are the insects commonly called canker worms; Grease-moth Caterpillars, «&c. CATKIN. A name given to such amenta- ceous flowers as consist of a great number of chaffy scales and flowers, dispersed along a slender thread-like axis or rachis, hanging downward, in the form of a rope or cat's tail. It is the male flower of the trees which pro- duce them, as the birch, beech, pine, fir, poplar, walnut, hazel, &c. They drop as soon as the pollen is shed. CATMINT, or NEP (Nepeta cataria, Smith, vol. iii. p. 70). This is a common plant, grow- ing in borders of fields and in moist places, flowering in June and July. It grows a yard high, with broad whitish leaves, and white flowers, not unlike mint. The plant has a strong and rather unsavoury smell. It is easi- ly recognised by its hoary, square, and erect stalks; its leaves slightly indented on the edges, of a whitish-green on their outside, and almost perfect white underneath; and its flowers growing in spiked clusters around the stalk at certain distances. Cats are exceedingly fond of rolling upon this plant, and they chew it eagerly. This has obtained for it the 'familiar name of catmint. CAT'S-FOOT. A term sometimes provin- cially applied to ground^ivy. CAT'S-MILK. A common name for the plant wartwort, which see. CAT'S-TAIL, or TIMOTHY GRASS (Phleum jrraiense, PI. 5, A;). This grass flou- rishes best in moist deep loams. Perennial, native of Britain.- At the time of flowering, in the end of June, Sinclair found the produce per acre was, from a clayey loam, 40,837 lbs.; of nutritive matter 1595 lbs. This is a great American grass, and is called timothy from Mr. Timothy Hanson, who first introduced its seeds into Maryland. Seeds ripe in July^ It pro- duces an abundance of early feed, but its pro- duct of aftermath is poor. See Grasses. Timothy is undoubtedly one of the most valuable grasses known to American farmeia 2 A 2 281 CATTLE. CATTLE. Mixed in the field with red clover, it affords excellent hay. The seed is usually sown in the autumn, among and immediately after wheal, and rye, though it succeeds very well when sown in the spring at the same lime clover is sown. The clover dies out after the second year, leaving the ground in possession of the timothy, which requires a good soil and is considered an exhausting crop to land. The snuiUer Meadow Cat's-tail {Phleum minus). Indigenous to England, on tenacious soils. The Fvlbous-jointed Cat's-tnil Grass (Phleum nodosum). Perennial ; native of Britain, but rare ; found on a clayey soil at Woburn. Flow- ers in beginning of July. Seeds ripe at the end of the same month. Purple-stalked Cat's-tail Grass (Phleum boeh tncri). Indigenous and perennial ; grows best on a sandy loam. Flowers in July. In the New England States timothy, or P. pratense, is called herd's grass, a name applied in the Middle States exclusively to the Jgrostis vulgaris or red-lop, a kind of grass so very un- popular among Pennsylvania farmers, thai in selecting clover and other grass seeds, they reject all samples containing herd's grass. CATTLE. Under this head I propose to include the ox tribe, Bovida, of the class Mam- malia, having teats or mamma; these are of Ihe order Rwminantia, or ruminating, or cud-chew- itig animals. Of this tribe there are eight spe- cies : — 1. Bos urus or .Auroch, the ancient bison ; 2. B. bison, the bison, or American buffalo; 3. B. mosekatus, or musk ox ; 4. B. frontalis, or gayal ; 5. B. grunniens, or grunting ox; 6. B. differ, or buffalo of southern Africa; 7. B. bu- buli(s,or common buffalo; 8. B.taurus, or com- mon domestic ox. That the ox has been do- mesticated, and in the service of man from a very remote period, is quite certain. We learn from Geii. (iv. 20.) that cattle were kept by the early descendants of Adam. Preserved by Noah from the flood waters, the original breed of our present oxen must have been in the neighbourhood of Mount Ararat ; and from *hence, dispersing over the face of the globe, altering by climate, by food, and by cultivation, originated the various breeds of modern ages. That the value of the ox tribe has been in all ages and climates highly appreciated, we have abundant evidence. The natives of Egypt, India, and of Hindostan seem alike to have placed the cow amongst their deities; and, judging bj' her usefulness to all classes, no animal could perhaps have been selected whose value to mankind is greater. Of the old race of British cattle, some remains of which are yet to be found in Chillingham Park, in North- umberland, in a state of tolerable purity, and in one or two other places in Great Britain, improved by judicious or accidental crossings, came most of our modern breeds. George CuUey, in his valuable work on cattle, de- scribes these aboriginals as being of a creamy white, with black muzzles, white horns with black tips bending upwards. The cows weigh- ing from twenty-five to thirty-five stone. They hide 'for a week or ten days their calves, in Kome sequestered place ; and these, when th«y are disturbed, put their heads to the ground, aud lie close like a hare. Their wildness pre- 283 vents the introduction of them into any sitn- ation not surrounded by stone vi'alls ; and the mode in which they were went to be killed by the keepers was by a rifle ball. See also two excellent papers by Dr. Knox on the wild ox of Scotland (Quart, Journ. of Agr. vol. ix. p. 367) ; and on the ox tribe, in connection with the white cattle of the Hamilton and Chilling- ham breeds, by the Rev. Dr. Patrick (Ibid, p. 514). In nearly all parts of the earth cattle are employed for their labour, for their milk, and for food. In southern Africa they are as much the associates of the Caffres as the horse is of the Arab. They share his toils, and assist him in tending his herds ; they are even trained to battle, in which they become fierce and cou- rageous. In central Africa the proudest ebony beauties are to be seen on their backs. They have drawn the plough in all ages ; in Spain they still trample out the corn ; in India raise the water from the deepest wells to irrigate the thirsty soils of Bengal. When Ccesar invaded England they constituted the chief riches of its inhabitants (Ccesar, lib. v. c. 10); and they yet form no inconsiderable item in the estimate of that country's abounding riches. Accord- ing to the estimate of Mr. Youatt, to whom in this and other articles on live stock I am so much indebted (On Cattle, p. 9), it would seem that 1,600,000 head of cattle are consigned to the butcher every year in the United King- dom, and the value of the entire national stock of all kinds of cattle, sheep, and pigs, he is of opinion, amounts to nearly 120,000,000/. ster ling. An excellent paper on the origin and natural history of the domestic ox and its allied species, by Professor Wilson (Qua7-t. Journ. of Jgr. vol. ii. p. 177), may be consulted with advantage by those who wish for more infor- mation on this head. The breeds of cattle in England are remark- able for their numerous varieties, caused by the almost endless crossings of one breed with another, often producing varieties of the most mongrel description, and which are rather dif- ficult to describe. I will in this place touch upon the principal varieties; and in these we should, in looking for the chief points of excel- lence, regard, as Mr. Youatt well observes, " wide and deep girth about the heart and lungs ; and not only about these, but above the whole of the ribs must we have both depth and roundness ; the hooped as well as the deep barrel is essential. The beast should also be ribbed home ; there should be little space be- tween the ribs and thediips. This is indispen- sable in the fattening ox, but a largeness and drooping of the belly is excusable in the cow. It leaves room for the udder, and if it is also accompanied by swelling milk-veins, it gene- rally indicates her value in the dairy. This roundness and depth of the barrel, however, is most advantageous in proportion as it is found behind the point of the elbow, more than be- tween the shoulders and legs ; or low down between the legs, than upwards towards the withers; for it diminishes the heaviness before, and the comparative bulk of the coarser parts of the animal, which is always a very greal consideration. CATTLE. CATTLE. "The loins should be wide, for these are the prime parts ; they should seem to extend far along the back ; and although the belly should not hang down, the flanks should be round and deep, the hips large, without being ragged, round rather than wide, and present, when handled, plenty of muscle and fat; the thighs full and long, and, when viewed from behind, close together ; the legs short, for there is al- most an inseparable connection between length of leg and lightness of carcass, and shortness of leg and propensity to fatten. The bones of the legs and of the frame generally should be small, but not too small ; small enough for the well-known accompaniment, a propensity to fatten ; small enough to please the consumer, but not so small as to indicate delicacy of con- stitution and liability to disease. Finally, the hide, the most important thing of all, should be thin, but not so thin as to indicate that the ani- mal can endure no hardships, movable, mellow, but not loo loose, and particularly well covered with fine and soft hair." On the poir.ts by which live stock are judged, some very excellent papers have appeared in the Edin. Quart. Jovrn. of Agr., by Mr. James Dickson, cattle-dealer of Edinburgh. He very truly observes (vol. v. p. 159), that, " were an ox of fine symmetry and high condition placed -before a person not a judge of live stock,- his opinion of its excellences would be derived from a very limited view, and consequently from only a few of its qualities. He might observe and admire the beautiful outline of its figure, for that would strike the most casual observer. He might be pleased with the tint of its colours, the plumpness of its body, and the smoothness and glossiness of its skin. He might be even delighted with the gentle and complacent expression 6f its countenance; — all these properties he might judge of by the eye alone. On touching the animal with the hand, he could feel the softness of its body, occasioned by the fatness of the flesh. But no man not a judge could rightly criticise the pro- perties of an ox farther. He could not possibly discover without tuition those properties which had chiefly conduced to produce the high con- dition in which he saw the ox. He would hardly believe that a judge can ascertain merely by the eye, from its general aspect, whether the ox were in good or bad health; from the colour of its skin, whether it were of a pure or cross breed; from the expression of its countenance, whether it were a quiet feeder ; and from the nature of its flesh, whether it had arrived at maturity. The discoveries made by the hand of a judge might even stagger his belief. He could scarcely conceive that the hand can feel a hidden property. The touch, which of all tests is the most surely indicative of fine qua- lity of flesh and of disposition to fatten, can find whether that flesh is of the most valuable kind; and it can foretell the probable abundance of fat in the interior of the carcass. In short, a judge alone can discriminate between the relative values of the difierent points, or appre- ciate the aggregate value of all the points of an ox. These 'points' are the parts of an ox by which it is judged." The first point to be ascertained in examining an ox, is the purity of its breed, whatever that breed may be ; fof that will give the degree of the disposition to fatten of the individuals of that breed. The purity of the breed may be ascertained from several marks : the colour or colours of the skin of a pure breed of cattle, whatever those colours are, are always definite. The colour of the bald skin on the nose and round the eyes, in a pure breed, is always definite, and without spots. This last is an essential point. When horns exist, they should be smooth, small, tam- pering, and sharp-pointed, long or short, ac- cording to the breed, and of a white colour throughout in some breeds, and tipped with black in others. The shape of the horn is a less essential point than the colour. Applying these remarks on the different breeds in Scot- land, as illustrations of the point which we have been considering, we have the definite colours of white and red in the short-horns. The colour is either entirely white or entirely red, or the one or the other predominates in their mixture. The skin on the nose and around the eyes is uniformly of a rich cream colour. The Ayrshire breed, in its purity, is also distinguished by the red and white colour of the skin, but always mixed, and the mixture consists of spots of greater or smaller size not blended together. The colour of the skin on the nose and around the eye is not definite, but generally black or cream-coloured. In other points, these two cekbrated breeds differ from one another more th ;n in the characters which I have just describe I. In the West Highland, Angus, and Galloway breeds, the colour of the skin of the nose and around the eyes is indica- tive of the pure blood of black-coloured cattle, but a cream-coloured nose may fiequenlly ht, observed amongst the other colours of skin The characte/s above given will certainly apply to the purity of the blood in the short- horn and Ayrshire breeds, if not to the Wes* Highlanders. "The second ^oiwi to be ascertained in an ox is the form of its carcass. It is found that th» nearer the section of the carcass of a fat ox, taken longitudinally vertical, transversely ver- tical, and horizontally, approaches to the figure of a parallelogram, the greater quantity of flesh will it carry within the same measurement. That the carcass may fill up the parallelogram as well as its rounded form is capable of filling up a right-angled figure, it should possess the following configuration: — The back should be straight from the top of the shoulder to the tail. The tail should fall perpendicularly from the line of the back. The buttocks and twist should be well filled out. The brisket should project to a line dropped from the middle of the neck. The belly should be straight longitudinally, and round laterall)', and filled at the flank:: 'r'he ribs should be round, and should project no- rizontall}^ and at right angles to the back. The hooks should be wide and flat ; and he rump, from the tail to the hooks, should a so be filled and well filled. The quarter from the itch-bone to the hook shouid be long. The lorn bones should be long, broad, and flat, and wt'l' filled ; but the space betwixt the hooks and the short ribs should be rather short and well arched over, with a thickness of beef letwcen 283. CATTLE. CATTLE. the hooks. A long hollow from the hooks to the short ribs indicates a weak constitution and an indifferent thriver. From the loin to the shoulder-hlade should be nearly of one breadth, and from thence it should taper a little to the front of the shoulder. The neck-vein should be well filled forward to complete the line from the neck to the brisket. The covering on the shoulder-blade should be as full out as the but- tocks. The middle ribs should be well filled, to complete the line from the shoulders to the buttocks along the projection of the outside of '.he ribs ; these constitute all the poi7its which are essential to & fat ox. " The first of the points in judging of a lean ox, is the nature of the bone. A round thick bone indicates both a slow feeder and an in- ferior description of flesh. A flat bone, when seen on a side view, and narrow when viewed either from behind or before the animal, indi- cates the opposite properties of a round bone. . The whole bones in the carcass should bear a small proportion in bulk and weight to the flesh, the hones being only required as a sup- port to the flesh. The texture of the bone should be small-grained and hard. The bones of the head should be fine and clean, and only covered Avith skin and muscle, and not with lumps of fat and flesh, which always give a heavy-headed, dull appearance to an ox. The fore-arm and hock should also be clean and full of muscle, to endure travelling. Large joints indicate bad feeders. The neck of ^n ox should be, contrary to that of the sheep, small from the back of the head to the middle of the neck. A full, clear, and prominent eye is another point to be considered, because it is a nice indication of good breeding. It is al- ways attendant on fine bone : the expression of the eye is an excellent index of many pro- perties in the ox. A dull, heavy eye clearly indicates a slow feeder. A rolling eye, show- ing much white, is expressive of a restless capricious disposition, which is incompatible with quiet feeding. A calm, complacent ex- pression of eye and face is strongly indicative of a sweet and patient disposition, and of course kindly feeling. The eye is frequently a faithful index of the state of health. A cheer- ful clear eye accompanies good health : a con- stantly dull one proves the probable existence of some internal lingering disease; the dull- ness of eye, however, arising from internal disease is quite different in character from a natural or constitutional phlegmatic dullness. "The state of the skin is the next point to be ascertained; the skin affords what is techni- cally and emphatically called the touch — a cri- '.erion second to none in judging of the feeding properties of an ox. The touch may be good or bad, fine or harsh, or, as it is often termed, hard or mellow. A thick, firm skin, which is generally covered with a thick-set, hard, short hair, always touches hard, and indicates a bad feeoer. A thin, meager, papery skin, covered with thin, silky hair, being the opposite of the one just described, does not, however, afford a good touch. Such skin is indicative of weak- ness of constitution, though of good feeding properties. A perfect touch will be found with 0 1832 - 166,224 1,364,160 Fatted calves — 1S22 . 24,255 1832 - 19,522 The quantity of cattle in various European countries has been estimated to be as follows: Catlle. Great Britain .... 5,100,000 Russia . - - . . 19,000,000 Netherlands .... a,500,000 Denmark 1,607,000 Austria ..... 9,912,500 France 6,661,900 Spain --..-. 2,500,000 Portugal ..... 650,000 Italy 3,500,000 United States of America in 1840 14,971,586 Live and dead weight of cattle. — Salesmen commonly calculate that the dead weight is one-half of what the animal weighs when alive; but the butcher knows that the produce is greater : it often approaches to three-fifths ; and by an extensive stock bailitf of the late Mr. Curwen, it was found that the dead weight amounted to fifty-five per cent, of the live. But the amount differs strangely, as may be seen by the following statement of Mr. Ferguson of Woodhill. {Brit. Hush. vol. ii. p. 392.) An Aberdeenshire ox - A short-horned jx A short-horned heifer - A short-horned steer . Live Weight. Dead Weight. Tallow. St. ItM. 132 11 132 120 4 120 5 St. lbs. 84 6 90 1 77 9 67 7 s: lbs. 16 5 14 15 8 14 12 In ascertaining the weight by admeasure- ment, the girth is taken by passing a cord just behind the shoulder-blade and under the fore- legs : this gives the circumference, and the length is taken along the back from the fore- CATTLE. most comer of the blade-bone of the ihoulder, in a straight line to the hindmost point of tha rump. (See engraving below.) Table for Admeasurement of Cattle. Girth. I Length. ; Weight. /(. in 4 3 4 6 4 9 6 3 3 3 4 3 3 3 3 4 4 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 S 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 3 4 4 4 6 4 9 5 5 3 5 6 4 3 4 6 4 9 5 5 3 5 9 5 9 6 4 6 4 9 5 5 3 5 6 5 9 6 6 3 tt. ibi. 12 12 13 13 15 16 1 17 2 14 6 15 9 16 12 18 1 19 4 20 6 17 6 18 11 20 2 21 6 22 11 20 12 22 7 23 12 25 5 26 13 23 6 22 13 24 8 27 12 32 11 25 2 27 28 11 37 II 29 7 31 6 33 6 35 5 37 5 39 5 41 4 43 4 36 6 38 8 40 10 42 12 45 41 11 44 2 46 7 48 11 51 2 53 6 55 11 St. in. 6 6 6 9 7 7 3 1 6 7 9 8 8 3 Length. St. m 4 6 4 9 5 5 3 5 6 5 9 6 6 3 4 6 4 9 5 5 3 5 6 5 9 6 6 3 4 9 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 4 5 5 5 5 3 6 9 3 6 9 3 6 9 6 6 3 6 3 6 6 e 9 5 5 3 5 6 5 9 6 6 3 7 5 6 5 9 6 6 3 6 6 6 9 7 7 3 Weight. It. lbs. 45 3 47 ID 50 4 52 11 55 4 57 11 89 93 97 101 105 109 113 117 51 7 54 3 56 13 59 9 62 6 65 1 •67 II 55 6 69 13 72 12 75 11 59 6 62 8 65 9 68 11 71 13 75 1 78 3 81 4 66 13 70 4 73 9 77 80 5 83 9 87 90 71 75 73 5 7 1 9 3 85 II 89 5 92 13 96 7 100 80 83 II 87 8 91 6 95 3 99 102 12 106 9 (M'Berntent's Farmer's Assistant.) 2 B 2 293 CATTLE. CATTLE. The breeds of cattle which stock the farms of the United Slates are all derived from Eu- rope, and, with few exceptions, from Great Britain. The highest breeds at the present day are comparatively of receiit origin, since the great improvements commenced by Bake- well only date about the period of the American Revolution. The old importations made by the primitive settlers must consequently have been from comparatively inferior grades. In some sections of the Union, and more particularly in New England, the primitive stock is thought to have undergone considerable improvement, whilst in many parts of the Middle, and espe- cialljr of the Southern States, a greater or less depreciation has ensued. The prevailing stock ill the Eastern States is believed to be derived from the North Devons, most of the excellent marks and qualities of which they possess. Hence they are very highly esteemed, and have b'een frequently called the "American Devons." The most valuable working oxen are chiefly of this breed, which also contributes so largely to the best displays of beef found in the mar- kets of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. The prevailing colour of the New England cattle is a deep red. Sometimes, however, they are dark-brown, or brindle, or nearly black. Their horns are moderately long, smooth, and slender. The oxen are remarka- ble for their docility, strength, quickness, and powers of endurance. The cows are fair milk- ers, and both kinds are hardy and fatten readily. B}^ means of this fine domestic stock, and the importations still so extensively made of selec- tions from the short-horned, and other of the finest European breeds, the cattle, not only of New England, but of other sections, are rapidl}^ improving, especially in the Middle and West- ern States. The graziers of Kentucky and other parts of the West have heretofore generally shown the greatest preference to the short-horned breed, M'hich, with various crosses, is now per- haps the predominant stock of the countr3^ Since Durhams have become so common, the extravagantly high prices they once brought are no longer maintained; and, indeed, the farmers now not only think of changing the breed, but have actually commenced doing so. They have been led to this chiefly for the rea- son, that the short-horned cattle, which take on fat so readily when well fed, and become so heavy, are unable to retain their fat and flesh on being driven some 1000 or 1200 miles to the Eastern markets, where they generally arrive in such a meager condition as to bring only the price of lean stock. The Western graziers, therefore, wish to adopt some breed which will be able to carry their beef along with them. The English Herefords have been sought after, and as much as $500 paid for an imported cow. Captain Barclay, a gentleman owning a large estate in Scotland, called Ury, and who has recently made a tour through the United States, says that he thinks our Western farm- ers will find themselves mistaken in this selec- tion from the British breeds, and that they would derive more advantage by importing Angus or Aberdeenshire Doddies, which are kindred breeds of well-formed, moderate-sized, 294 active animaJs ; or, perhaps still better, tfc« small and peculiarly symmetrical West High- land cow; and to cross them with a short-horn or Durham bull. The West Highlander, he says, possesses all the points of a good feeder; and being hardy, and active as a deer, would suffer little from being driven even 1000 miles. In its native glens it may feed to 20 or 25 stones, Amsterdam ;* but the heifers, on being trans planted to a rich and sheltered pasture, attain to nearl)'^ double that weight. This he says he has demonstrated by introducing a herd of forty West Highland heifers on his farm at Ur}', where they were crossed with short-horned bulls, and the experiment, on repeated trials, has been attended with great success ; for while the mothers, by removal to better pasture, have greatly increased in size, the cross has produced sirong and handsome animals, kindly feeders, rising to a great weight, and bringing high prices. iPis a great desideratum for the gra- ziers of Kentucky and other parts of the West, where pastures of the richest kind abound, could they find some active breed which would be able to perform the long journeys to the Eastern markets, and carry their beef with them. A very general impression now exists in the United States in favour of breeding a cross from the' best short-homed bulls with the finest native cows. Mr. Colman, in his Reports upon the agricul- tural interests of Massachusetts, recently made to the legislature of that state, has collected a fund of valuable information in relation to American neat cattle, showing their distin- guishing characteristics for dairy and other purposes, together with the improvements made and still making by the introduction of select cattle from Europe, and the results of feeding in various ways. Several books and periodi- cals published in the United States, and devoted to agriculture, are rich in details relating to American and European neat stock. But, instead of culling from these, we prefer draw- ing upon Mr. Colman's Report to the Legisla- ture of Massachusetts, as we regard it a high source of authentic information, and calculated to be the more highly useful from the exactness of the details. We regret that our limits will not admit of some particular notice of nume- rous mammoth beasts which have been raised and fattened in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and elsewhere. Particular accounts of these, with the modes of management and feeding, are duly recorded in more or less of the periodicals. Stall-fed animals. — It appears that the stall- feeders in Massachusetts usually select cattle brought from Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York, choosing such as are small-boned, neat, and thrifty. Rather than keep these on hand a long time, they generally find it most advantageous to "turn them soon," and after thus disposing of their fat stock early in the season, many purchase an additional supply pretty far advanced for the market, and finish these so as to be ready to send them off in the spring. In the hilly districts, where Indian ♦ The Amsterdam stone is only about 10 lbs. of Eng« lisli troy weight. CATTLE. CATTLE. cr>rn is not raised to any considerable extent, the cattle are generally fed upon hay and potatoes, whilst in the river valleys Indian meal is generally and most advantageously substituted for potatoes. When potatoes are chiefly depended upon in stall-feeding, a bushel of these well washed, are usually given in a day to each head, at two or more times, along with as much good hay as the animal can consume, but no water is allowed. Many farmers think that a yoke of oxen put up in good condition, may be well fatted or finished off for market with one hundred bushels of po- tatoes, in addition to the hay they will con- sume. Cattle fed upon potatoes will, it is said, m general prove as well, that is, have as much tallow, as those fed in any way, and the beef of such cattle is thought by many to have a peculiar juiciness or sweetness. In driving to market, however, the cattle fed upon pota- toes will fall away more than those fed upon hay and corn ; and when they come into mar- ket by no means appear as well. Several farmers are in the practice of boiling or steaming the potatoes which they give to their cattle, and profess to find a great advantage in it The experiments which have come within my own knowledge have not yet satisfied me that the advantages are a compensation for the labour and expense incurred by such operation. "The articles usually employed in fattening cattle are hay and Indian meal, or corn and rye meal mixed, or pease and oats, or oats and corn ground together. Besides this, many farmers are in the practice of giving their stall-fed cattle occasionally certain quantities of potatoes. An excellent farmer, of fifty years experience in the fatting of cattle, is of opinion that potatoes are good feed for fatting cattle in the fall and spring, when the weather is warm ; but that they do no good in cold weather unless they are cooked. I rely much upon his judgment and experience. The value of potatoes is differently estimated by different individuals ; some considering five bushels, others rating four bushels, as equivalent to one bushel of corn. " In the feeding of cattle for market a great deal of practical skill is required, and constant obsen^ation of their condition, otherwise they may be surfeited and their appetite destroyed ; or their digestive powers be overtasked and the feed fail of its object. "A farmer in Charlemonf, of large experience in the fatting of stock, considers the common English or flat turnip of little value for fatten- ing stock. The cattle fed upon them appear healthy and in fine condition, but yield very little tallow. A pair of cattle fatted by him and much admired by the butchers, which weighed eighteen hundred pounds when dressed, had only thirty pounds tallow each. " I presume the experiment has never been fairly tried, of the value of turnips for fattening stock. This is likely to have been only a soli- ta)y instance ; besides this, we want to know ill the case, how many turnips were given; under what circumstances they were given; and Avith what other feed accompanied. "Thcjaino farmer is of opinion, that oil-meal for fattening cattle is of great value. He is quite content to pay twenty to twenty-three dollars per ton, the current price for it in his town. A farmer in Conway concurs in this opinion; and believes that for a beneficial change a farmer can well afford to buy oil- meal with corn at bushel for bushel. The price here rises sometimes to thirty dollars per ton. The weight of oil-meal is aboui forty- five pounds to the bushel." In England and Scotland, turnips are freely given to growing and fattening cattle, though more sparingly to milch cows, in consequence of the flavour they impart to milk and butter.* Mr. Colman furnishes the results of expe- rience gained by many persons who have been long in the practice of stall-feeding. A few of these we shall notice. " A. R. has twenty head of cattle in the stall They are of good size and calculated to aver age over eleven hundred pounds each, whe» dressed in Brighton. "He has tried avariety and a mixture of feed, such as oats, broom-corn seed, &c., but he pre fers Indian meal to every other feed. He dis approves of excessive feeding ; and thinks it t great error to give too much. He deems foai quarts with hay ordinarily enough ; and tea quarts a day sufficient for any animal. Ht feeds twice a day with great regularity. His present cattle have never received over eigh quarts per day each ; and at first putting up i much less quantity. He deems it best to re duce their feed of provender a few days before starting for market. He buys his cattle foi feeding in the fall ; and his present stoct averaged in the cost seventy-five dollars pei pair. "S. W. is of opinion that one bushel of corn one year old for feeding any kind of stock, is equal to one bushel and one peck of new corn, or corn before it becomes perfectly sound and dry. "T. C. has in stall, 27th February, five pairs of oxen, which were purchased in Brighton, in .Tune last. When purcliased, they were thin in flesh and were immediately put into good pasture. The cost was as follows : Two pairs cost 60 dollars per yoke - 120 00 One pair cost 46 50 " " - - 46 50 " " 47 00 " " - - 47 00 " " 45 00 " " - - 45 00 " These cattle were put into a good pasture until the 20th of November, when they were brought to the stall. From that time until the 20th December, they were fed with hay only. From that time until the first of January, they received six quarts of provender each, daily. From the first of January, they received each ♦ Turnips, though used extensively as an auxiliar} in feeding cattle and other stock in Europe, and especially in Great Britain, do not seem to answer so well in the United States, unless perhaps it may he in some portions of New England. The general complaint against thtm in the Middle States, is that they do not appear to pos- sess sufficient nourishing and fattening qualities. Hence the sugar beet, rutabaga, niangel-wurtzel, and carrot are greatly preferred, all of which roots may be given with very great advantage to stock, as amiliaries. Testimonials of their value whfii thus employed are numerous and conclusive. For informaiion rohuive to the feeding of cattle on turnips, sou Stephens's ".B»«* of the Farm." 39^ CATTLE. CATTLE «ight quarts daily. This provender consists of one-half oil-meal, one quarter oats and one quarter co*'n ; the two last ground together and the whole intermixed when given to the cattle. " The oil-meal in this case cost forty dollars per ton. It weighs about forty-five pounds to a bushel. If ground very fine, it will not weigh more than thirty-eight or forty pounds to the bushel. It is best, therefore, to buy it by weight. This farmer is of opinion that his oxen, if now killed, would return him one thousand pounds of beef each. " Meal made from the seed of broom-corn," Mr. Col man says, "is occasionally used, mixed with other provender,but for neat cattle it is not approved by the best farmers. Flaxseed jelly, that is, half a pint or a pint of flaxseed formed into a jelly by boiling, as an allowance for a stall-fed animal per day, has been used for fat- tening cattle by some farmers with remarkable success. It does not supersede the use of meal, but is best mixed with it. It is believed that no article, according to cost, can be used with more advantage than this for this object; and that none is known, which is more nutritious. This jelly, which I have myself used with great advantage, is prepared as follows: 'to seven parts of water let one part of linseed be put for forty-eight hours ; then boil it sIqwIv for two hours, gently stirring the whole lest it should burn. Afterwards it ought to be cooled in tubs ; and mixed with meal, bran, or cut chaff, in the proportion of one bushel of hay to the jelly produced by one quart of linseed well mashed together. This quantity given daily with other food will forward cattle rapidly, but it must be increased when they are intended to be completely fattened.'" The quantity of Indian corn meal required to fatten cattle, usually varies a little. One experienced feeder gives it as the result of his observation that a yoke of good cattle, to be well stall-fed, will take from twenty to twenty- five bushels of meal, besides the usual allow- ance of hay. Some farmers have ground their corn for fattening cattle on the cob. In such cases it is suggested that the miller has it in his power to take advantage by drawing his measure of toll from the lowermost portion of the grist to which the corn usually settles. There can be little doubt that corn cobs will serve the pur- pose of Coarse hay for distension, etc., since cattle are often quickly fattened upon nubbins or the smaller ears of corn. They will thus often be found a useful auxiliary. The Massachusetts stall-feeders consulted by Mr. Colman are almost universally agreed upon one point — namely, that a mixture of provender is best. While Indian meal is to be considered as the basis, certain proportions of rye, or oats, or pease and oats, are always deemed beat to be mixed with it. An excel- lent farmer, whose fat cattle do him much credit, is of opinion that the meal given should always be scalded. Oxen from four to six years old are generally selected for fattening, • though some prefer young stock of from three to five year.> old. With regard to the particu- lar breeds preferred, Mr. Colman says that the 296 small-boned, medium-sized animals, of good length, strongly marked with the Devon blood, are those which are chosen. In considering the capacities of cattle for fattening, a wide chest has been regarded as an unerring sign of a good and quick feeder. Bearing upon this point. Dr. Jenner, the great benefactor of man- kind, made an observation, the truth of which appears to have been fully confirmed by fur- ther examination — namely, that no animal whose chest was narrow could easily be made fat. This observation applies not only to neat cattle, but to sheep, goats, and hares. It even holds good in the human species. The experi- enced farmer is seldom at a loss to distinguish the most thrifty cattle, in respect to which there are great differences among individuals of the same breed. To the assistance of the eye is added the sense of touch by the operation tech- nically called handling, the mode of conducting which, according to the most approved English authorities, has been already detailed. In re- ference to the several breeds of cattle and their distinguishing qualities, Mr. Colman makes the following remarks as the result of his observa- tions and inquiries : — "The pastures in New England are short, and the winters long and severe, and therefore ill-adapted to a race of large size, of tender habits, and requiring extraordinary keeping and the most particular care to maintain their condition. The most celebrated breeds in Eng^ land are the improved Durham short-horn, the Hereford, the Ayrshire, and the North Devon. Of these different races, highly improved ani- mals of each sex, for the purposes of breeding, have been introduced into the country and intc the state ; and each race has found strong ad- vocates, who have preferred it to every other. For dairy purposes, as far as my own limited ex- perience and observation go, I have no doubt that the Ayrshire, or a first cross with the improved Durham and the Devon, are to be preferred. For early maturity and size as beef animals, the improved Durham short-horn appears to me to take the lead. But they are tender, and re- quire extraordinary keeping and care to main- tain their good qualities. They seem better adapt- ed to the rich prairies and feeding grounds of the Western States than to our scanty pastures. The Hereford, of which some remarkably beautiful animals have been imported into Al- bany, have warm advocates both here and abroad, and come in strong competition with the improved Durhams. Those of the Herefords, which I have had the pleasure of seeing seemed to me considerably larger than th Devons, but smaller than the Durhams. These were choice specimens, and were remarkably thrifty and beautiful animals, clean about the limbs, not so straight on the back and square behind as the Durhams, but exhibiting upon the whole admirable constitution and symme- try. Having had no farther personal observa- tion or experience with this breed of animals, I will not venture to speak of them with any confidence. Of their particular qualifications for the dairy I know nothing. For our pur« poses as working oxen and for stall-feeding, the North Devon cattle are most generally ap- proved. This undoubtedly is the prevalent CATTLE. CATTLE. stock of the country, though diversified and contaminated by various mixtures. No pains have been taken, by systematic efforts, by judi- cious selection, and by perseverance in endea- vours to combine the best qualities and to era- dicate or remedy defects, in order to form, from what we call our native stock, a distinct and valuable breed. Indeed, where the im- proved blood has been introduced, it has been suffered, after a short time, to run out through neglect, or to become degenerate by poor keep- ing." As regards the capacity for thrift in the differ- ent breeds, Mr. Colman thinks that the perfec- tion of any animal depends essentially upon his good keeping from his birth ; and that severity or hard fare, or negligence while in a growing state, do an injury to the constitution, and so stint the growth, that no after keeping can ever repair it. The animal constitution always suf- fers essentially by reverses. It is said that a sheep is never fat but once. Perhaps this as- sertion is to be received with some qualifica- tion, but still it must be admitted as a difficult task to raise an animal from a low condition. "The farmers prejudice very greatly their own interest in suffering their milch cows to come out in the spring in low condition. During the time they are dry, they think it enough to give them the coarsest fodder, and that in limited quantities ; this, too, at a time of pregnancy, when they require the kindest treatment and the most nourishing food. The calf itself un- der this treatment of the cow is small and feeble. He finds comparatively insufficient support from his exhausted dam ; and the re- turn which the cow makes in milk during the summer is much less than it would be, if she came into the spring in good health and flesh. It requires the whole summer to recqjrer what she has lost. The animal constitution cannot be trifled with in this way. "It is so with all live-stock, and especially with young animals at the period of their most rapid growth. They should not be prematurely forced ; but, on the other hand, they should not be stinted or checked. It is a verj^ important question, whether it is more profitable to fatten young animals than older ones. I have given the different opinions of different farmers on this subject. In England, it seems an almost universal opinion, that the sooner an animal can be made fit for the market the better, and their fatted animals, especially of the im- proved breeds, are slaughtered at two and three years old. They are often brought to market at even an earlier age than this ; but it is con- sidered, and with reason, that the meat of such animals is not so good as when they have at- tained a full growth. It is natural to suppose that the animal can only be in perfection when he has ceased to grow, and if killed before that period, there would seem to be a loss of that enlargement of size and weight, separate from an increase of fatness, to which he might at- tain. While an animal is growing and well fed at the same time, there is evidently a double gain ; and if he increases one pound a day by his extra feed, he may be supposed to increase another pound by his ordinary growth. A.fter this period, however, it may be advisable 38 to send him to market as soon as he can be put into condition. Farmers often make great mistakes in keeping their cattle too long. There is a reasonable calculation to be made in respect to the markets, which are generally higher in the spring than in the autumn ; but the advance in price does not always meet the increased expense of keeping. It is import ant, as a general rule, that the animal shotild go to market as soon as the gain which he makes ceases to pay the expense of his keeping. " It has been made a question, whether heifers are not more profitable than steers. They are as thrifty, and, in general, pay as well for their keeping. It is the practice of some farmers, to allow them to come in with calves at two years old ; i{ at that time they promise well as cows, a good market can almost always be found for them ; but, if otherwise, after suckling the calf three months or more, they are turned out to be fatted for beef, and are either sold immediately at the close of the pas- turing season, or otherwise, after being stall- fed for a short time. Their meat, if well fed, is always highly esteemed. This proves, in general, a good operation. In England, heifers designed for the stall are very frequently spayed, by which their thrift is greatly assisted- "This is often done in Kentucky and some other of the Western States ; but I have never known more than one instance of its being practised in New England. I do not feel au- thorized, therefore, to pronounce upon its ad- vantages. ' " It is sometimes asked, whether oxen are injured in their growth from being worked. If their strength is prematurely and too severely taxed, or if they are subjected to severe usage, undoubtedly it must prove injurious; but, if otherwise, if reasonably worked and carefully and kindly attended, there is no doubt that their health and growth are promoted by it. It is often matter of inquiry, whether fatting cattle should be kept in close stalls, or be suf- fered to lie out-doors. The experience of all the farmers whom I have consulted, who have made any trial, is conclusive in this case, in favour of the superior thrift of animals kept constantly in the barn, or turned out only for watering and immediately ptit up again, over those which are kept in open sheds, or lied up for feeding only, and at other times allowed to lie in the yard. No exact experiments have been made in this country in relation to this subject; but experiments made abroad lead to the conclusion, that cattle thrive best in a high and equable temperature, so warm as to keep them constantly in a state of active verspira- tion, and that their thrift is much hit 'e red by an exposure to severe alternations of heat and cold. It is certain, that in order to thrift, cattle cannot be made too comfortable ; their man- gers should be kept clean ; their stalls be well littered; and the cattle protected from currents of air blowing through crevices or holes in the floors or the sides of the stables, which prove often much more uncomfortable than an open exposure." As at present conducted in Massachusetts, and at the present prices of provender and beef, Mr. Colman thinks the business of fat- 297 CATTLS. CATTLE. tening cattle for market any thing but profita- ble, and that if exlensivsCy and exclusively carried on by individuals, the result must generally be embarrasment and ruin. "From ihe best observation which I have been able to make, I have," he says, "found very few in- stances in which a pair of cattle or a single ox kept for any length of time in the stall have ever made compensation for the produce which they or he consume, even at prices consider- ably below the current prices in the market. There are occasional and accidental excep- tions, but they are very seldom to be met with." Ill the estimates presented to Mr. Col- man, Indian corn-meal is reckoned at from 60 to 75 cts, per bushel, potatoes 25 cts. per bushel, a mixture of peas and oats at 50 cts. per bushel, and hay at $10 per ton. "It has been supposed that farmers by going extensively into the cultivation of esculent roots, such as carrots, ruta-baga, parsnips, or mangel-wurizel, could fatten cattle to much more advantage, or rather at much less ex- •)ense than on hay or corn. This deserves sreat consideration. On this subject we want light, and that which springs from actual and intelligent experience. My belief is, that for the fatting of cattle, where the coarse fodder is well saved, few crops are more profitable to the farmer than a crop of Indian corn at the rate of seventy bushels to the acre. Next to corn, potatoes at the rate of four hundred bushels to the acre would be a profitable crop. In number of bushels to the acre, there is no doubt that more can be produced and at a less expensie of cultivation and harvesting of common turnips, of ruta-baga, and of mangel- wurtzel, than of potatoes. But it is believed that more nutritive matter can be obtained from one hundred bushels of potatoes than from two hundred of common turnips. Ruta- baga and mangel-wurizel have undoubtedly a grctat superiority over the common white tur- nip, but these are much inferior to the best and most farinaceous potatoes. Hay is without question one of the best articles which can be given to fattening animals; but where an abundance of meal or of esculent vegetables is given, the nature of the long feed to be given them seems of much less importance. Rye, wheat, or oat straw, in such case, is found to be given with an almost equal advantage as the best hay. Many of the best .beasts in England are fatted upon straw and turnips. In England, it is considered as doing well, if an acre of turnips will fatten an ox for market. An experienced farmer here is of opinion, that ne hundred bushels of potatoes with a small amount of hay will fatten an ox. Another says, that he allows twentj'-five bushels of corn to fetten an ox, and but little hay will be required. "It is curious to compare the gain of fattening cattle with the actual cost of keeping. Two pounds live weight per day in an ox are con- sidered a large gain. The largest gain men- tioned in this report is a little more than three pounds per day. Afseven dollars per hundred, this would be equal to twenty-seven cents. To make this, we suppose the animal to receive one peck of Indian meal, which, at 66^ cents 298 per bushel, would be 16f cents, and 28 lbs. ol hay, which, at 8 dollars per 2000 lbs., would be 11 cents and 2 mills, or both about 28 cents. Or suppose him to gain only 2 lbs. per day, which would be 14 cents ; and his daiiy al- lowance of meal be reduced to 4 quarts, and hay the same as befo^'e, the daily cost of keep- ing would be about 20 cents ; in which case, if we place the manure as an offset for the attendance, interest, and commissions on sale, &c., there will be a loss of about six cents per day. I believe the result is often much worse than this ; and it is much to be regretted that farmers are not willing to look these facts in the face. I do not mean to deny that there are instances of success in this department of husbandry, instances in which the farmer is well paid for his trouble and attendance, and receives a full compensation for the feed sup- plied to them ; but these instances are compa- ratively rare, and so much matter of contin- gency, that even the most skilful farmers cannot always rely upon their best judgment. The farmer always feels satisfied, if he can, as he terms it, double his money; that is, if he re- ceives for his cattle in the market twice as much as they cost him when he first put them into the stall. This is sometimes done. It is seldom exceeded ; and fatteners often fall short of it." At Mr. Colman's request, a careful farmer made experiments for the purpose of ascertain- ing the actual quantity of hay ordinarily con- sumed by a fatting ox. In conducting these, the hay \vas first weighed, and then the weight of the leavings deducted. Five oxen consumed 150 lbs. hay per day. Two of these oxen had at the same time 20 quarts of provender — half Indian corn and half broom-seed meal; two of them 24iquarts of the some provender per day; and one of them eight quarts per day. Upon a second experiment with the same cattle, fed as just stated, the consumption of hay by each ox averaged 25 lbs. per day. It is stated in the Complete Grazier, that an un worked ox for several days together consumed 33 lbs. of hay per day. In the New York Me- moirs of Agriculture, it is stated that an ox will eat every twenty-four hours 14 lbs. of hay, half a bushel of potatoes, and 8 quarts of Indian meal. It hence appears that the capacities of cattle for the consumption of food vary according to circumstances of size, age, con- dition, &c. Many farmers who engage in fattening cattle only expect to get paid in the operation for their grain, without taking into account the hay consumed. They, however, derive the great advantage of consuming their crops upon the ground, and reserving the ma- nure to keep up the productiveness of the soiL The farmer who annually sells off the produce of his land in the form of grain, hay, &c., soon finds the necessity of making a considerable outlay for manure, to compensate for certain and often rapid deterioration. It is freely ad- mitted that with respect to hay, straw, and all kinds of what is called " long feed," it is always better to consume the produce on the farm, even at a nominal loss of twenty-five per cent, than to carry it off any distance to market; that is to say, a farmer had best feed his h^v CATTLE. CATTLE. at homfi, althotlgh it may net him only $6 per ton in fattening his cattle, than carry it even a short distance to market and obtain $8 for it. Such estimates would seem to indicate that the value of articles consumed in fattening stock ought not to be valued so high as the cuy-ent market prices. If the hay consumed on the farm nets the farmer $5 per ton, and the average product is two tons, it will pay a remunerating profit, allowing the land to be valued at $75 and even much higher, per acre. Gain of stall-fed cattle. — Colman gives some interesting estimates showing the actual gain per day in stall-fed cattle, a matter generally left to conjecture. "Example 1. — A pair of cattle owned by S. C. weighed Oct. 16, 2305 lbs. and 2110 lbs., together - - 4415 lbs. Jan. 17, 2435 " 2185 " - - 4620 " The gain, therefore, in 3 months and 1 day, was 205 " " The same cattle weighed on the following March 11th, One 2590 and one 2345 lbs., together - - 4935 lbs. The gain, then, in this 1 month and 22 days, " was ....... 315 " The whole gain in 4 mos. 23 days, being - 520 " The gain during 146 days was at the rate of 3-56 lbs. per day. " These cattle had, besides hay, a small al- lowance of meal, and ran in a good pasture through the summer. They were put up to be stall-fed early in the autumn, and were soon brought to receive together one bushel of meal per day, even measure ; one-third pease and oats, two-thirds corn, with a liberal allowance of hay. "Example 2. — A pair of oxen belonging to R. D. weighed Nov. 8, 1995 lbs. and I9S5 lbs., toeether - - 3980 lbs. Mar. 12, en3|Hiig, 2250 lbs. and '2255 lbs., to- gether - - - - - - - 4505 . " "The whole gain in 124 days, was 525 lbs. or at the rate of 4-33 lbs. per day. " Example 6. — One pair of cattle fed by R. D. weighed in the first part of Nov. 3765 lbs. Dec. 15, 4220 lbs. Jan. 15, 4410 lbs. The gain in one month was 190 lbs. March 7, weighed 4730 lbs. The gain from the com- mencement was 965 lbs. ; from Dec. 15 to March 7, was 510 lbs. "The average gain of the above, from Dec. 15 to March 7, 81 days, being 510 lbs. is 6-29 lbs. per day. The gain from Dec. 15 to Jan. 15, 30 days, being 19'0 lbs. is 6-33 lbs. per day. "These cattle were old, and at the time of being purchased appeared to have been hardly driven and poorl3r fed." Loss of iveight in driving. — -The loss of cattle in drivi*t«j Dairt. CHEESE. CHEESE. Pine Jpple Cheese. — E. Perkins, of Herkimer county, New York, a fine dairy district, gives the following description of the mode of mak- ing those cheeses moulded in the pine-apple form. These weigh from 7 to 8 lbs., and are chiefly made in the small dairy establishments. The cheese-making process, until fit for the press, is pretty much like that usually pursued in making common cheeses. Some add a little more salt. The pressing is performed in wooden blocks, griped together, and, after this process, the cheeses are suspended in nets, till so har- dened as to stand on a trencher made for the purpose, where they remain till fit for market. This kind of cheese is chiefly made under contract. If the purchaser finds the pressers, nets, and trenchers, the price is from 7 to 7^ cents per lb. When the maker linds every thing he gets about 8 or 9 cents per lb. In the preparation of pine-apple cheese, more al- lowance is made for shrinkage than in the manufacture of common cheese. (Farmer's liislriuior.) All new cheeses require to be well dried to fit them for the market, and when taken out of the moulds must be laid upon a shelf and turned every day for some time. This opera- tion was formerly done by hand, which proved very laborious. But contrivances have been invented by which the work can now be done very quickly and without the least exertion of strength. Some of these will be found men- tioned under the head Daiht. After the cheeses have passed through the different processes, and the drying is com- pleted, they are to be deposited in the cheese or store-room. This should be dry and airy, and the hard and soft cheeses ought not to be kept in the same room. In some of the best dairy districts in the United States, it is thought best not to darken the cheese rooms, or attempt to keep out the flies, but in hot, sultry weather, the doors and windows are opened to admit the air freely. Cool dry air blowing directly upon the cheeses, is apt to crack them. These cracks are to be filled up with pepper, either black or cayenne. To mature cheese fast, the room should be kept warm in the fall and spring. We learn from the Transactions of the High- land Agricultural Society in Scotland, that the flavour of an old cheese may be communicated to a new one of whatever species, by the in- sertion of some portions of the old into the new cheese. Small pieces are to be extracted with a sample-scoop from each cheese, and those taken from the old are to be inserted into the new, and those from the new put into the old. After this interchange, the new one, if kept well excluded from the air, will, in a few weeks, become thoroughly impregnated Avith fhe mould, and have a flavour hardly to be distinguished from the old one. The cheese selected must be dry, and the blue mould should be free from any portion of a more de- caved appearance. A great variety of cheeses are made in Switzerland, thf most celebrated of which are ihe Schabzieger, (or sap-sago as we commonly call it.) and the Gniyerc. Of the quantity of cheeses exported from Switzerland, we have •M6 no information that can be relied upon; bu' it is computed that 30,000 cwt. of Gruyere cheese alone, fit for exportation, is annually made; and that, from the middle of July to October, 300 horses, weekly, are employed in transport- ing Swiss cheese over Mount Grias. (Far. Kev. and Cont. Misc.) "The Schabzieger cheese is made by the moun- taineers of the canton of Glarus alone; and, in its greatest perfection, in the valley of Kloen. It is readily distinguished by its marbled ap- pearance and aromatic flavour, both produced by the bruised leaves of the melilot. The dairy is built near a stream of water; the ves- sels containing the milk are placed on gravel or stone in the dairy, and the water conducted into it in such a manner as to reach their brim. The milk is exposed to the tempera- ture of about six degrees of Reaumur (forty-six degrees of Fahrenheit), for five or six days, and in that time the cream is completely formed. After this it is drained off, the case- ous particles are separated, by the addition of some sour milk, and not by rennet. The curd thus obtained is pressed strongly in bags, on which stones are laid; when sufficiently pressed and dried, it is ground to powder in autumn, sailed, and mixed with either the pressed flowers, powdered and sifted, or the seeds of the melilot trefoil (Melilolus officinalis, PI. 10,/). The practice of mixing the flowers or the seeds of plants with cheese was com- mon among the Romans, who used those of the thyme for that purpose. The entire sepa- ration of the cream or unctuous portion of the milk is indispensable in the manufacture of Schabzieger. The unprepared curd never sells for more than three halfpence a pound; whereas, prepared as Schabzieger, it sells for sixpence or seven-pence. {For. Rev. and Cont. Misc.) " The Gruyere cheese of Switzerland is so named after a valley, where the best of that kind is made. Its merit depends chiefly on the herb- age of the mountain pastures, and partly on ihe custom of mixing the flowers of bruised seeds oi Melilot us officinalis v/\t\i.i\\e curd, before it is pressed. The mountain pastures are rented at so much per cow's feed from the 15th of May to the 18th of October; and the cows are hired from the peasants, at so much, for the same period. On the precise day both land and cows return to their owners. It is estimated that 15,000 cows are so grazed, and 30,000 cwt. of cheese made fit for exportation, besides what is reserved for home use. " Ewe-milk cheese of Simtzerland. One measure of ewe's milk is added to three measures of cow's milk ; little rennet is used, and no acid. The best Swiss cheese of this kind is made by the Bergamese sheep-masters, on Mount Splu- gen." (For. Rev. and Cont. Misc.) Sage Cheese, an humble imitation of the Swiss green cheese much relished in some parts of the United States. " To make this cheese, take the tops of young red sage, and having pressed the juice from them by beating in a mortar, do the same with the leaves of spinach, and then mix the two juices together. After put- ting the rennet to the milk, pour in some of this juice, regulating the quantity by the decree of CHEESE CLOTHS. CHEESE-PRESS. colour and taste it is intended to give the cheese. As the curd appears, break it gentl}', and in an equal manner, then emptying it into the cheese vat, let it be a little pressed, in order to make it eat mellow. Having stood for about seven hours, salt and turn it daily for four or five weeks, then it will be fit for the table. The spinach besides improving the flavour, and correcting the bitterness of the sage, will give it a much more pleasing colour than can be obtained from sage alone." Cream Ckeese, — Excellent cream cheeses are supplied to the Philadelphia market by the neighbouring Pennsylvania farmers. They are round, generally from six to ten inches in diameter, and about one inch thick. The mode of preparing cream cheese is as follows. Ex- pose cream to the air and it will be found to grow thick gradually, so that in three or four da3'S the vessel containing it may be turned upside down without loss. In eight or ten daj's more, its surface will become coated over with a kind of mucus and a woolly moss or byssi. After this, it no longer retains the flavour of cream, but of a very fat cheese. This rich dainty differs from butter in containing both curd, and scrum or whey, together with the oil}'' matter; whereas in butter the oil is ob- tained separate from the whey and curd or cheesy matter. Another mode of making cream cheese is the following, given by the late Judge Cooper, whose endorsement makes it worthy of the highest credit. "Take of the top or surface cream that has been collected for three or four days in the cream-croak so as to be slightly acid, one pint: on each of two common plates lay a, dry napkin four-doubled : put half a pint of cream on each napkin. Next day have ready another plate covered with a folded wet napkin, turn the two cheeses one on top" of the other upon the wet napkin, cover them over with the ends of this wet napkin, and change it every day for a week till the cheese is ripe. It must not be done in a cellar or damp place, but in a room, otherwise it will mould." In Lincolnshire, England, as well as in the neighbourhoods of Bath and York, rich and excellent cream cheeses are made. These, like all such kind of soft and rich cheeses, are used when but a few days old, to be eaten with radishes, salad, &e. For the mode of preparing the celebrated Stillon crecfm cheese see p. 315. There are papers, by Mr. P. Miller, "On making cheese resembling that of Gloucester and Wiltshire" (Trans. High. Soc. vol. iii. p. 228); and "In Imitation of Double Glouces- ter," by Mr, Bell (Bid. vol. i. p. 155); and " On communicating the Flavour of old to new Cheese by Inoculation," by Mr. Robinson (Ibid. p. 232). "On making Cheese from Potatoes in Thuringia." (Farmer's Mag. vol. viii. p. 14^.) CHEESE CLOTHS are large towels to put inside the chessel or vat, while the cheese is pressing. They are of home manufacture, and should be of strong and open texture : every time they are used for this purpose, they should be wrung out of boiling water, and dried in the sun, or before the fire. CHEESE COLOURING. SeeAxxoiTi, CHEESE-FLY and MAGGOT (Piophi'ja ..n- sei). The small white larvas found in old and putrescent cheese, produce a small twc' I winged fly, about two lines in length, whicli has a greenish-black, smooth, and shining body. It is fully described in the Quart. Jiurn. ■ of Agr. vol. xii. p. 125. Dr. Harris describes the cheese-maggots found in Massachusetts as the young of a fly (Piophila casei) not more than three-twentieths of an inch long, of a shining black colour, with the middle and hinder legs mostly yellowish, and the wings tranapsrent like glass. See his Report, &c. CHEESE-KNIFE. A large sort of knife, or spatula, made use of in dairies for the pur- pose of cutting or breaking down the curd whilst in the cheese-tub. CHEESE-LEP. The bag in which dairy- women keep the rennet for making cheese. CHEESE-MITES. This is the Acarus siro, an almost microscopic apterous insect, fur- nished with eight legs, on the four first of which, between two claws, is a vesicle with a long neck, to which the insect can give every kind of inflexion. "When it sets its foot down, it inlarges and inflates ; and when it lifts it up, it contracts it, so that the vesicle almost entirely disappears." (De Geer, quoted by Kirby, vol. xxxiv. p. 321.) It is not pos- sible to say how this insect gets into cheeses. The brown powder, so valued by epicures, m which the mites live, is their excrement. CHEESE-PRESS. A press employed in cheese dairies, to force the whey from the cur I when in the cheese vat. Cheese presses are of different forms. The most simple and primitive press is merely a long beam, one end of which is placed in a hole of the wall, and frequently it is fixed to a bolt, or in the trunk of a tree. The sinker forms the fulcrum, a weight consisting of two or three undressed stones being placed on the other end of the lever. A second kind is formed by a large square stone, suspended by a screw be- tween the side posts of a timber frame. The chessel is placed underneath it, and the stone is lowered upon the sinke; by turning the screw to the left hand. The c.ieese vat is re- moved at pleasure by turning the screw to the right hand, v/hich elevates the stone. To pre- serve the screw, a small block of timber is placed underneath the stone during the period that cheese-making is suspended. Another kind of press consists of a timber frame formed of two perpendicular side posts and a cross top with a parallel beam, which is suspended from the top by two screws. The cheese vat is placed upon the beam, which is lifted up when the screws are turned to the right hand; and the sinker of the chessel or vat feeing pressed against the- cross top, scjueczes or stanes the cheese. When the chessel re- quires to be removed, the screw, are turned to the left hand. But more complicated presses, and therefore in many instances more convenient, can be adopted. The most complete, effective, and approved press consists of a frame of cast iroa with a perpendicular piston, flat below to cover 2d2 317 CHEESE RENNET. CHEMISTRY. the sinker of the chessel. The piston is raised cr depressed by a small pinion attached to a ratcliet wheel and malleable iron lever, three feet in length. The lever is grooved in seve- ral places on the upper side to hold the ring of the weight for increasing or diminishing the power, in proportion to its distance from the ratchet wheel. The weight of this press is about two stone, cost II. is. pressure 20 tons. (Martin Doyle's Priid. Husb.; Prof. Lowe's Elem. of .,1^r.) See Dai II T. CHEESE RENNET, or YELLOW BED- STRAW {Galinm verum'), is a perennial plant, common in waste places and the borders of fields, flowering in July and August. The stem, which is woody and much branched, rises eighteen inches, and sends off, in the same plane, narrow, deep green, deflexed .eaves, rough with minute points, each tipped with a hair. The flowers are golden yellow, in dense tufted panicles, and smell strongly of honey in the evening and before rain. The flowers of this weed were formerly used in Cheshire for curdling milk. (Paxlon'sBot. Diet.; Smith's Em;. Flor. vol. i. p. 208.) CHELIDONIIIM. From cheledon, a swallow; it being said to flower at the arrival and wither at the departure of the swallows. See Celan- CHELONE (Chdone bnrbata. From chclone, a tortoise; to the back of which the helmet of ihe flowers is fancifully compared). Known in Pennsylvania and other Middle States by the names of Shell-flower, and Snake-head. This plant is a native of North America, and a hardy perennial; blowing beautiful red flowers in July and August. It loves shade and mois- ture, and grows three feet high. The white chelone is hardy, and likes any soil. The downy cheloije blows a flower which is yellow inside, and light purple outside. It is propa- gated by seed, and by separating the roots in autumn. It belongs to a hard}' herbaceous genus, that ought to have a place in every col- lection : the species succeed well in a mixture of peat and loam. (Puxtou's Lot. Diet.) CHEMISTRY. The importance of this science to the agriculturist no intelligent mo- dern farmer will doubt. Its triuM)phs in the cause of the cultivator have been far too many for him to hesitate in acknowledging the obli- gation. I have, in this work, under the heads Earths, Analysis or Soils, Gases, Watkr, Salts, Organic Chemistry, «&c., endeavoured, to the best of my power, to illustrate some of the many chemical facts on which the success- ful practice of agriculture depends ; and to these I must refer the farmer. Most of the substances belonging to our globe, says Davy, (Chem. Philosophy; p. 1), are constantly under- going alterations in sensible qualities, and one variety of matter becomeS; as it were, trans- muted into another. Such changes, whether natural or artificial, whether slowly or rapidly performed, are called chemical ; thus, the gra- dual and almost imperceptible decay of the leaves and branches of a fallen tree exposed to the atmosphere, and the rapid combustion of ■wood in our fires, are both chemical operations. The object of chem.cal philosophy is to ascer- tain the causes of all phenomena of this kind, 31S and to discover the laws by which they are governed. The ends of this branch of know- ledge are the applications of natural substances to new uses, for increasing the comforts and enjoyments of man ; and the demonstration of the order, harmony, and intelligent design o( the system of the earth. The foundations of chemical philosophy are observation, experi- ment, and analogy. By observation, facts are distinctly and minutely impressed on the mind. By analogy, similar facts are collected. By experiment, new facts are discovered; and, in the progression of knowledge, observation, guided by analogy, leads to experiment; and analogy, confirmed by experiment, becomes scientific truth. To give an instance, — who- ever will consider with attention the slender green vegetable filaments {Conferva rivularis) which in the summer exist in almost all streams, lakes, or pools, under the different circumstances of shade and sunshine, will dis- cover globules of air upon the filaments ex- posed under water to the sun, but no air on the filaments that are shaded. He will find that the effect is owing to the presence of light. This is an observation ; but it gives no informa- tion respecting the nature of the air. Let a wine-glass filled with water be inverted over the conferva thus acted upon by the light. The air-bubbles, as they rise, will collect in the upper part of the glass ; and, when the glass is filled with air, it may be closed with the hand, placed in its usual position, and an inflamed taper introduced into it: the taper will burn with more brilliancy than in the atmosphere. This is an expcritnent. If the phenomena are reasoned upon, and the question is put, whether all vegetables of this kind, in fresh or in salt water, do not produce such air under like cir- cumstances, the inquirer is guided by analogy ; and, w^^en this is determined to be the case by new trials, a general scientific truth is esta- blished, — that all confervte in the sunshine produce a species of air (oxygen gas) which supports flame in a superior degree : a fact which has been shown to be the case by vari- ous minute investigations. By such researches the chemist ascertains the composition and uses of the various other gases, and also of the earths, metals, and salts, oi which the materials of the earth we inhabit are composed ; delightful inquiries, which will well repay the cultivator in more ways than one for the labour he may bestow upon them. They will speedily teach him that nothing in this world of ours is ever lost or destroyed ; that the decaying materials of his most noisome ma- nures speedily again make their appearance in new forms, and in salubrious and fragrant plants ; that the expired breath of himself and his live-stock is the inhaled food of all vegeta- tion ; and that vegetables purify the very air which animals have vitiated. And again, the con-ect rotation of crops, the use of permanent or earthy additions to the soil, (which see), the fattening of live-stock, the origin of diseases, are a few only of the facts connected with ihe cultivation of the soil which the chemist's operations illustrate. "The nature of soils" (as it is remarked by Mr. G. W. Johnson), "of manures, of the food and functions of plants, CHEMISTRY. CHERRY TREE. would all be unknown but from the analyses which chemists have made." We know that every plant has a particular temperature in which it thrives best, 'a particular modification of food, a particular degree of moisture, a par- ticular intensity of light ; and those particulari- ties vary at different periods of their growth. It is certain that plants are subject, like all other organized bodies, to various influences. Acids are injurious to some, alkalies to others; the excess of some of their constituents, and the deficiency of others, insure disease to the l^jiants to which such irregularities occur. Dis- ease is accompanied by decay more or less extensive and rapid; and if these cannot be checked by salutary -applications and treat- ment, death ultimately ensues. Now, if it was possible for any science or sciences to teach the cultivator of plants how to provide for them all the favourable contingencies, all the appropriate necessaries above alluded to, and to protect them from all those which are noxious to them, the art of cultivation would be far advanced to perfection. Such sciences are botany and chemistry. It is not asserted that they can, at present, do all that is desired of them, — all of which they are capable ; but they can do much. As evidence of what can be effected by a combination of chemical and practical knowledge in the cultivation of the soil, we may quote the example of Lavoisier. He cultivated 240 acres in La Vendee, actuated by the beneficent desire of demonstrating to his countrymen the importance of sustaining the art of cultivation on scientific principles. In nine years his produce was doubled, and his crops aflbrded one-third more than those of or- dinary cultivators. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the importance of such improvements. Science can never supersede the use of the dunghill, the plough, the spade, and the hoe ; but it can be one of their best guides, — it can be a pilot even to the most experienced. (Bax- ter's Lib. of ^gr.: Gard. Mag. vols. iii. and iv. ; Davy's Chetn. Phil.; Leibig's Orgamc Chemistry.) So many important facts bearing upon agri- cultural subjects have been discovered of late years through chemical experiments and re- searches, as to render it imperative upon every well-instructed farmer to make himself ac- quainted with them. It has long been known to common obseiwers, that certain crops will grow in some situations and not in others, and that after having flourished in a place for a considerable period, crops will decline in quality and quantity, and finally cease to com- pensate for the expenses of seed and tillage. That certain kinds of manure are most benefi- cial to some soils and plants, whilst another produces the best effects upon others. But the causes operating in the production of such cfl^ects have not been understood, and hence, great waste of means and labour have resulted in experiments often useless, for want of that chemical knowledge through which the precise defects of the soil could he detected and the deficiencies directly supplied. Agricultural chemistry points out the re- spective elements entering into the formation of plants, and even those required at each stage of thp-'r growth from germination to the perfec- tion of the seed or fruit. It shows which of these elements are absorbed from the gases of the atmosphere, and what saline and other materials are furnished by the soil. The seed itself, like the egg, contains the first supply of nourishment for the roots of the infant germ of the plant. To assist its first growth before it rises above ground, the humus of the soil supplies carbonic acid, and the looser the soil the more of this essential food for the young plant can be retained. When it rises above the surface, and its stems and leaves are fully developed, its main, and, according to Liebig and others, — its entire dependence for nourish- ment, is upon the atmosphere. Chemistry points out the ditferent gases which plants ab- sorb from the atmosphere or the soil in the progress of their growth. It also shows that plants have other constituents, such as potash, soda, lime, magnesia, &c., without which, in due quantities, they cannot come to perfection. The proportions of these, though often very minute, are all important. The chemical pro- cesses described for analyzing soils, will show what elements for the growth of plants are present and what are wanting. Knowing this, the object of the skilful farmer will be to sup- ply the deficiencies, in a way the most accept- able to plants. Some crops may be repeated on the same soil more frequently than others, be- cause some consume more of the alkalies than others. One hundred parts of the stalks of wheat yield 15-5 parts of ashes. The same quantity of barley, 8-54 parts ; and of oats, only 4*42 parts Thus, as the demands of each of these plani? for the alkaline elements of their growth is different, one may be raised on ground which has ceased to produce the others ; and this is what is daily witnessed, — land, refusing to yield wheat, and yet affording good crops of barley and oats ; — and when ceasing to yield compensating crops of wheat and barie)^ still affording excellent crops of oats, the proportion of alkali required by which is so comparatively small compared with the demands of the wheat-crop. How readily, then, may a good soil for oats be rendered productive in wheat by the simple addition of some alkaline dress- ing, all the other requisites of fertility having been before present. Chemistry teaches that the salts and other organic constituents re- moved from soils in the crops, is returned in the dung of animals fed upon such crops. It teaches the precise proportions of these, and explains the well-known facts, — that the ex- crements of some animals, such as man, are more fertilizing than those of others; that those of men living upon animal food are stronger than those of men confined to vegetable food. All these matters may be found explained under the difl^erent heads of Animal Manures, Ammonia, Nitrogen, &c. Men of science en- gaged in these useful subjects of investigation, are every day unfolding new and important facts, and what at one time was regarded as inscrutable mystery becomes so well under stood as to be comprehended by a child. CHERRY TREE {Prunus Cerasus). It de rives its name from Cerasus, a city of Pontus, whence the tree was brought by Lucullus, about half a century before the Christian era. 319 CHERRY, WILD. CHERRY-LAUREL. It soon after spread into most parts of Europe, and is supposed to have been carried to Bri- tain about a century after it came to Rome. The cherry is pretty generally cultivated throughout the kingdom, as an agreeable summer fruit. The varieties are very nume- rous. The Horticultural Society's Catalogue embraces 246 ; but the following list is recom- mended by Mawe, as containing the best varie- ties for general cultivation, the whole being arranged in the order in which they ripen in England: — June: Early May, May Duke, Knight's Early Black, and Late Duke, /w/y ; Archduke, Black Tartarian, White Tartarian, Black Eagle, Kentish, Bigarreau, Holmon's Duke, Ellon, Herefordshire Heart, Bleeding Heart, Carnation, and Waterloo. August : Har- rison's Heart, Black Heart, Waterloo, Cou- ronne, Lukeward, Black Geen, Small Black, Small Red Wild^ White Swiss, Lundie Geen, Transparent Geen, Cluster, Yellow Spanish. September: Florence, Amber Heart, Flemish Heart, Red Heart, White Heart. October: Morello or Milan. For small gardens, either as wall trees, espaliers, or standards, the fol- lowing varieties are recommended : — The May Duke, Morello, Archduke, Black Heart, White Heart, Bigarreau, Harrison's Heart, and Ken- tish Cherries. Miller considers the common Red or Kentish, the Duke, and the Lukeward as the best trees for an orchard; they are plen- tiful bearers. This tree prefers a light dry sandy loam, with a free exposure. The wood of the cherry tree is close, takes a fine polish, and is not liable to split. It is used in the manufacture of chairs, musical instruments «&c., and stained to imitate mahogany. The following varieties have been tried and fa- vourably reported upon by good authorities in Pennsylvania. In the Heart and Bigarrean class — Early Purple Guigne, Knight's Early Black, Black Eagle. Downton, Ohio Beauty, Bigarrean De Mezcl, Kirtland's Mary, Down- er's Late, Elkliorii, and Yellow Spanish. Coe's Transparent, Champagne, Belle d'Orleans, Elton, Napoleon, and Governor Wood, are of superior quality and productiveness. Among Morello's are the Reine Hortense, Carnation, .ind Large English, True Kentish, and Late Kentish. Rumsey's Morello is a large fruit, and late and protracted bearer. CHERRY, Wild, several kinds of wild cherry are found in the United States, and Mi- chaux describes the following species. Red Cherry Tree (Cerasus borealis). Red cherry. Small cherry ; common only in the Northern States, (including the highlands in the northern parts of Pennsylvania), in. Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia. The tree at- tains a height of twenty-five or thirty feet, with a diameter of five or six inches. Flowers are collected in small white bunches, and the fruit, ■which is of a bright red colour, considerable .size, and intensely acid taste, ripens in the month of July. The wood is fine grained and of a redish hue, but its inferior size limits its use in the mechanical arts. This species of cherry tree oflTers the same remarkable pecu- liarity with the canoe birch of reproducing Itself, as it were, spontaneously in cleared grounds, and in such forests as have been 32U burnt, which is observable iii spots where fir» has been kindled by travellers. Of all the na» tive species of North America, Michaux thinks the red cherry tree bears the greatest analogy to the cultivated cherry tree of Europe, and hence the most proper for receiving grafts, though it has been found difficult to make the grafts succeed. Wdd Cherry {Cerasus Virginiana). This is one of the largest productions of the American forests. Its wood is of an excellent quality and elegant appearance, and is usefully em- ployed in the arts. In Maine, where the winter is long and intense, it hardly exceeds thirty or forty feet in height, and eight to twelve inches in diameter; in the southern and mari- time parts of the Carolinas and of Georgia, where the soil is arid and sand)% it is rarely seen, and even when found on the banks of rivers its growth is stinted. A milder climate and more fertile soil favour its growth, and it abounds in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and all the Atlantic States, and also in Western New York, and Illinois, uniting with the overcup white oak, black walnut, honey locust, red elm, and coffee tree of the forests covering the fertile regions of the West. On the banks of the Ohio Michaux measured trees twelve to sixteen feet in circumference, and from eighty to one hun- dred feet in height, with undivided trunks of uniform size to the height of twenty-five or thirty feet. The flowers of the wild cherry are white and collected in spikes. The fruit is about the size of a pea and nearly black, at maturity, soon after which, notwithstanding its abiindance aiid bitterness, it is devoured by birds. It is employed either alone or mixed with cultivated cherries, — generally the morillos or mazzards — in making a domestic cordial called cherry bounce, which consists of an infusion of the cherries in rum or brandy with a certain quan- tity of sugar. It is a faint imitation of the Kirschenvasser of the Germans, and Marasquin of the Venetians, both of which liqueurs or cor- dials are prepared by distillation, from wild cherries found in the north and south of Eu rope. The wood of this tree is highly valuable, being compact, fine-grained and bnlliant, and not liable to warp when perfectly seasoned. When chosen near the ramification of the trunk it rivals mahogany in the beauty of its curls. The bark of the wild cherry tree in- fused in cold water and drank to the extent of half a pint or a pint a day is a popular and useful tonic. Wild Orange Tree {Gerasus Caroliniano.'). This beautiful species of cherry tree is found in the Bahama Islands, to which, with the islands on the coast of the Carolinas, Georgia, and Flo- rida it appears to be nearly confined. The fruit is small, oval, and nearly black, th'j greenish pulp which covers the soft stone not being eatable. The wild orange, as it is there called, is one of the most beautiful productions of the Southern States on the sea-board, where it is a favourite ornamental and shade tree. The flowers are more frequented by bees than those of any other southern tree. CHERRY TREE BORER. See Borebs. CHERRY-LAUREL {Cerasus lauro-ceram$). CHERRY TREE WEEVIL. CHESTNUT. This shrub is an exotic, althoHgh it is now naturalized to this climate, and was brought to Europe from Trebisonde, in 1576. It is an evergreen, with smooth bark, and short-stalked, oblong, lanceolate, remotely serrated, coriace- ous, shining leaves, with two or four glands at their base. The flower is white, with round spreading petals, and the fruit a small, black drupe or cherry. The leaves of the cherry- laurel have long been employed both in medi- cine and in confectionary, on account of the agreeable odour and flavour of the bitter almond which they possess. They lose their odour after they are dried, but retain their flavour. CHERRY TREE WEEVIL. See Plum Thee Weevil and Curculio. CHERVIL, GARDEN {Ch^ophyllum sati- vum). This herb grows in gardens, and sometimes wild in waste ground ; perhaps the outcast of gardens. The flowers are white, and bitter-tasted ; the seeds are smooth, fur- rowed, and large ; altogether the plant resem- bles parsley, only the leaves are paler and more divided. The roots are given in decoc- tion. Chervil is slightly diuretic ; the cutters of simples distil a water from its leaves, which they consider excellent in colics. It is much used in France for salads ; and is mentioned as a potherb by Gerarde. The parsley-leaved chervil (Scandix cerifoUum) and fern-leaved chervil (S. odorata), are still cultivated by the Dutch for soups, salads, «&c.; but in this coun- try they are not often found in the kitchen gar- den. Seed may be said to be the only means of propagation, and the only sowing of this that can be depended upon must be performed in early autumn, immediately after it is ripe ; for if kept uniil the following spring, it will seldom germinate ; or if this first grade of vegetation takes place, the seedlings are gene- rally weak, and die away during the hot weather. The seed may be sown in drills eight inches apart, or broadcast ; in either mode being only just covered. The plants are to be thin- ned to eight inches asunder, and to remain where they are raised. The only after-culti- vation required by them is the keeping them clear of weeds. CHESSEL. The mould or vat in which the cheese is formed. It is made of thick staves, generally of white or American oak, bound with two strong iron hoops to withstand the necessary pressure. The chessel is perforated with many small holes in the bottom and sides to let the whey drain out of the curd. CHEST. The breast; or that part of an animal's body which contains the heart and the lungs. CHEST-FOUNDER. In farriery, a disease incident to horses, which proceeds from in- flammation about the chest and ribs. CHESTNUT, or CHESNUT (Fagus-cas^. nea). The species cultivated in England are the common or sweet chestnut, of which there are two kinds, the Spanish {Cas. vesca) and the American (Cas. Americana) ; — and the horse chestnut, which belongs to a distinct genus. The true chestnut tree flourishes on poor gra- velly or sandy soils, and will thrive in any but 41 moist or marshy situations. It has been much questioned whether the chestnut is indigenous or exotic. It was at one time very common in England, and a great many chestnuts haT« been planted within the last thirty years. It is long-lived, grows to an immense size, and is very ornamental. The wood is hard and com- pact; when young, it is tough and flexible; but when old it is brittle and often shak}'. When divested of its sap wood, this timber will stand in situations exposed to wet and dry longer than oak ; and for gate-posts it ranks in durability next after the acacia, the yew, and probably it lasts longer than the larch. The nuts form an article for our dessert. In some parts of the continent they are frequently used as a substitute for bread, and form a large pro- portion of the food of the inhabitants. In Eng- land, during the three years ending with 1831, the entries of foreign chestnuts for home con- sumption averaged 20,948 bushels a year, and they pay a duty of 2s. per bushel. The fruit is used either boiled, roasted, or in a raw state. Phillips informs us that in the south of France, in Italy, and Savoy, they are made into puddings, cakes, and bread. And "chestnuts stewed with cream make a much admired dish ; they make excellent soup ; and stewed and served with salt fish they are much admired." We are also further informed that th^re is now at Fortsworth, in Gloucestershire, a great chestnut tree, fifty-two feet round, which in 1150 was so remarkable that it was called The great chestnut of Fortsworth, And Marsham states that this tree is HOG years old. Lastly, the timber of this tree is almost incor- ruptible, and more durable than oak. Its dura- bilit}'' is commensurate with the long life of the tree. Corsica, it is said, exports annually of this fruit to the amount of 100,000 crowns. The American chestnut differs very little from that of Europe. The fruit is smaller, but equally good. Its growth is very rapid. The bark for tanning is superior to oak. The chestnut is raised from the seeds, planted in autumn ; the second year, they are transplanted, and fine varieties are extended by grafting. A sandy or gravelly loam, with a dry subsoil, best suits them. • The Spanish or Portuguese chestnut suc- ceeds well in the United States, and produces fruit in about seven years from the seed. Its growth is more rapid than that of the native kind. The fruit is more than four times larger, and brings a much higher price in the market. It may be budded on the common chestnut, but is apt to overgrow the stock. The large Spa- nish chestnut deserves to be extensively propa- gated. Michaux, in his North American Sylva, vol iii., gives the following directions for the cul- ture of the chestnut : " After the ground has been carefully loos ened with the plough and harrow, lines are drawn six feet apart, in which holes abca.. a foot in depth and diameter are formed, at the distances of four feet. A chestnut is placed in each corner of the hole, and covered with about three inches of earth. As the soil has been thoroughly subdued, the nuts will spring and strike root with facility. Early in the second 321 CHESTNUT, HORSE. CHICK PEA. year, three of the young plants are removed I hvs). An English perennial weed, the wild from each hole, and only the most thrivin left. 'J'he third or fourth year, when the branches begin to interfere with each other, every second tree is suppressed. To insure its success, the plantation should be begun in March or April, with nuts that have been kept in the cellar during the winter, in sand or ve- getable mould, and that have already began to germinate." Mr. Hopkins of Cayuga county, made some experiments in planting chestnuts. In his first attempt, he kept the nuts till the setting in of winter, or December, when he planted them four feet apart every way, and not one of them grew. The next year he procured a quantity of nuts as soon as gathered, planted them im- mediately, and covered them superficially with leaves and light earth, at the same distance as before. Most of them came up and grew well. There can be no doubt, where the ground is so situated as to be free from the attacks of squirrels, mice, &c., that immediate planting after the nuts are gathered is the best mode, otherwise the plan of Michaux may be pre- ferred. The best soil is a clay loam. (Tred- gold's Princip. of Carpentry; M'Culloch's Com. Diet. ; Willkh's Dom. Ency. ; Phillip^s Hist, of Fruits, p. 84.) CHESTNUT, HORSE (JEsculus hipporasta- num). This ornamental tree, now so comnjon throughout Europe, is a native of Asia. The first plant is said to have been brought into Europe by the celebrated botanist Clusius in a portmanteau. It is too well known to require description. The wood is soft and of little value. The fruit contains much nutritive mat- ter, but it is combined with a nauseous bitter extractive, which renders it unfit for the food of man ; but horses, kine, goats, and sheep are fond of it. The bark of the tree contains an astringent, bitter principle, which operates as a tonic. It has cured agues, and some au- thtjrs affirm that it might be a substitute for the Peruvian bark; but trials and experience have not justified their opinion. Given in a decoction, made with an ounce of the bark to a pint of water, it may be advantageously taken, to Strengthen the habit weakened by previous disease. See Bcckete. CHEVIOT SHEEP. See Sheep. CHEWING-BALL. In farriery, the name of a medicine in the form of balls adapted to restore lost appetite in horses. CHEWING THE CUD. The operation of leisurely re-^hewing or masticating the food in ruminating animals, as the cow, sheep, &c. : by this means the food is more effectually broken down, and mixed with the saliva. If a ruminant animal ceases to chew the cud, im- mediate illness may be expected, as the diges- tive organs cannot act without this natural prr-cess. See an excellent article "On Rumi- nation, or Chewing the Cud," in the Quart. Journ. of Agr., p. 344. Rumination, in certain graminiverous animals, has plainly for one object a renewed and repeated introduction of axygen, for a more minute mechanical division of the food only shortens the time required for solution. (Lu-hig's Animal Chemistry.') CHICCORY, or SUCCORY {Citharium inty- 322 endive, common on the borders of corn-field3 and poor gravelly soils ; extensively cultivated in Belgium, Holland, and Germany. The cul- tivated variety was much brought into notice by the late Arthur Young, as a forage plant. He brought the seed from France in 1788, and grew it extensively on his own farm ; and re- ports {Annals of Agr. xxxix.), "The quantity of seed required to sow one acre is 13 lbs. The root runs deep into the ground, and is white, fleshy, and yields a milky juice. On the Continent, the dried root is roasted and used instead of coffee, and it is now allowed by the excise to be mixed with coffee. The root contains a strong bitter, which may be extracted by infusion ; it is also used in the brewing of beer to save hops." Mr. Gorrie {Quart. Journ. of Agr. N. S. vol. iv. p. 206) says, "No plant cultivated in this country will bring the cow-feeder nearly an equal return with the chiccory." It should be added, how- ever, that the leaves give a bad taste to the milk of the cows which eat them. {Brit. Hush. vol. iii. art. " Flem. Hush." p. 42.) And Von Thaer, in his Principles of Agriculture (2d ed. vol. iv. p. 322), asserts that it is extremely dif- ficult to eradicate from the land, and has been found to materially impoverish the soil. Wild succory, or chiccory is becoming ex- tensively naturalized in many parts of the United States. The species called Endive^ {C. endiva), especially the variety called Crispa_ with very narrow and ragged leaves, is much cultivated in the vicinity of Philadelphia as an early salad. There are no native species of chiccory in the United States. {Flor. Cest.) When cultivated for soiling or feeding horses and cattle in the farm-yard, for which purpose it is admirably adapted, its rapid and luxuriant growth admits of its being cut three or four times a year. When the roots are used as a substitute for cofl^ee, they should be first cleaned, then put into an oven after the bread has been taken out, and allowed to remain until cool. Should once baking be not sufficient, the process is to be repeated, after which, mix with one-half of coffee. The fresh root of chiccory, when sliced and pressed, yields a juice which is slightly tonic ; and has been used in chronic affections of the stomach, connected with torpid liver. See Endive. {Sinclair's Hart. Gram. Wob. p. 412 ; M'CuUoch's Com. Diet.; Willich's Dom. Encyc; Brit. Hush. vol. ii. p. 303.) CHICK, or CHICKEN. See Pobltht. CHICK PEA {Cicer arietinum). PI. 7, U A plant too delicate for field culture in Eng- land ; but in the south of France it is grown for the same purpose as vetches in England. The seeds are used in Germany and some other parts of Europe as a substitute for coflTee, and the plant is sometimes called the coflfee-pea. It is called by the Spaniards, who cultivate it largely, Garbanza. It is likewise a great fa- vourite with the French, who call it Poischiche, It grows well in several of the Middle States, where it might doubtless be made a valuable crop, as it maintains a high price in European markets. CHICKWEED. In every part of America and the West In- dian islands settled by Spaniards, they have always made the culture of the garbanza a primary object, and it is somewhat singular that it has not become better known and ap- preciated in the United States, in most parts of which it grows well. Trials made with it in the vicinitv of Dover, Delaware, have proved verj successful. The Spanish pea or garbanza, is perhaps the most delicious vegetable of its class ever placed upon the table, possessing, when served up in the manner of green peasi the flavour of these, mixed with that of gree . corn, or, as others think, something between the marrow fat pea and Lima bean. They do not yield so abundantly as the common pea, but both in a green and dry state are much su- perior in flavour and richness. A meal made of the dried garbanzas is much used in Paris and other parts of Europe for thickening soup, which it renders extremely fine. In Provence and other parts of southern Europe, the chick pea is a great favourite when roasted or parched, like ground or pea nuts, and hawked about the streets. In Paris, the dried garbanzas retail for about twenty-four cents per pound. They grow best in a rich sandy loam, and may be cultivated in rows, much after the manner of the common pea. Not being a trailing vine, they require no sticking, the plants growing only about eighteen or twenty inches high, and branching out so as very much to resemble a small locust tree or bunch of rue. The pods are very short and round, containing only two, three, or four peas each, somewhat larger than common pulse. Being very tender, they will not, perhaps, bear to be planted at the same lime with common peas. In Spain, where the i hick pea is very abundant and in general use, iwo kinds are distinguished by the names of garbanzos and garbanzas, the last being the largest, most delicate, and tender. Those raised in Spain are considered superior to such as are the product of the south of France. The pellicle which covers them seems to be almost entirely removed by the process of cooking. After being dried they require soaking in cold water during the night previous to the day they are used. They do not seem to be the prey of any insect, and will keep sound and sweet for years. It is the graw of India. (Pax- ton^s Bot. Diet. ; Loiv's .Agr. p. 286.) CHICKWEED. A low, creeping weed, of which there are several varieties. The com- mon chickweed, or stitch-wort {Stellaria media), has an annual, small, tapering root; flowering from March to December. Small birds and poultry eat the seeds, and whole herb ; whence its name. Swine are extremely' fond of it; and it is eaten by cows and horses ; but is not re- lished by sheep, and is refused by goats. The herb may be boiled for the table like spinach : it is reported to be nutritive. This foreigner is extensively naturalized in the United States. It is a hardy little plant, and when the winters are mild in the Middle States, may be found in flower in every month of the year. (JF'/or. Ces- trica.) The field chickweed {Cerastium arvense) is a perennial, from four inches to a foot in length, found in fields and on banks and hil- locks, on a gravelly or chalky soil. In this CHINCAPIN. order there are seven other species of mouso ear chickweed, viz., two kinds of broad-leaved (C vulgatum and C. latifolium) ; the narrow- leaved (C. viscossMwi) ; the little mouse-ear (C serni-decandwm) ; the four-cleft (C. letrandum) ; the alpine (C alpinum) ; and the water (C aquaticum). These call for no observation. The berry-bearing sort, which grows with smooth erect stalks, and the stamens longer than the petals, is the wild lychnis, or white behen, and is a very rambling weed, natural to nost parts of England, frequently called spal- tling-poppy. Its roots ^re perennial, and strike so deep into the earth that they are not easily destroyed by the plough ; for which reason, bunches of this plant are too common among corn, in land which has not been perfectly well tilled. Summer-fallowing, and carefully har- rowing out the roots, which should then be burnt, is the best and most effectual remedy. The common chickweed grows in almost every situation, in damp or even boggy woods, and on the driest gravel-walks in gardens. In its wild state, this plant frequently exceeds half a yard in height; and varies so much from the garden chickweed, that if a person were acquainted only with the latter, he would with difficulty recognise it in the woods. Its small white flowers, and pale green leaves spreading in all directions, sufficiently point it out to our notice. It may be considered as a natural barometer ; for if the flowers are closed, it is a certain sign of rain, while, during dry weather, they are regularly open from nine o'clock in the morning till noon. The plant boiled in vinegar and salt is said to cleanse breakings- •ut or eruptions of the hands and legs. {Smith's Eng. Flor. vol. ii. p. 301 ; Si^iclair's Weeds, p. 52 ; Willichs Dom. Encyc.') CHILIAN CLOVER. This plant, which is called Spanish clover, and in South America, Alfalfa, is identical with luzerne. Two com- munications upon the subject, by a person who had spent some time in Chili, may be found in the 14th volume of the American Farmer, pages 108 and 153. CHINCAPIN, or CHINQUEPIN {Castanen pumila). The limits of this American tree, which bears a very small kind of round and pointed chestnut, is bounded northward by the river Delaware, on which it is found to the distance of nearly 100 miles from Cape May. It is very common in Delaware and Maryland, still more so in the lower part of Virginia and other southern and Southwestern States both east and west of the Mississippi. It abounds most where the common chestnut is wanting. Though in its northern limits, this dwarf chestnut seldom rises higher than from six to ten feet ; much further south it often grows to the height of thirty or forty feet, with a diame- ter of twelve or fifteen inches. The leaves, flower, and fruit-bur, resemble those of tha common chestnut in miniature, being about half the size. The wood of the chincapin is finer-grained, more compact, heavier, and even more durable than that of the chestnut, and is admirably adapted for fence-posts, lasting in the ground more than forty years. But the tree rarely attains a size adapting it to such a useful purpose in agriculturS. ?23 CHINCH BUG. CHIVES. A species of the chincapin {Castanea alni- folia),. remarkable for its dwarf growth, is found in the Carolinas and Floridas. Mr. Nuttall, who met with it in the vicinity of Charleston, S. C, says it grows in small patches in sandy pine barrens, has creeping roots, and seldom exceeds a foot in height. The nut is larger than that of the other species of chincapins. (See NuttaWs Supplement to Michaux.) CHINCH BUG. A name, which, from some resemblance to the bed-bug, especially in the disgusting smell, has been popularly applied to an insect often of late years occasioning wide-spread destruction in the wheat, Indian corn, and other grain fields of the South and Southwestern States. Not being able to find any scientific description of this insect and its habits, we shall of course be compelled to cull the best information we can collect from the most intelligent correspondents of agricultural periodicals, «&c. In the 7th volume of Ruffin's Farmer's Re- gister, there are several communications rela- tive to the chinch bug, some of which draw a most deplorable picture of its ravages in the old counties of Virginia, where they not only often destroy the corn, wheat, and other grain- crops, but lay waste the pastures. They are described as small and black, with white wings ; in their form, clpse and compact, and about the size of a bed-bug. They creep on the- ground, seldom using their wings, and ap- pear to be hardy. Whatever crop they get into, they generally stick about the plants near the ground, although they may sometimes be seen scattered all over stalks of Indian corn, the blades, and even down into the bud. When they attackwheat, oats, &c., they cluster around the stalk in incredible numbers, and seem to suck out its substance, so that it soon withers and falls to the ground. When they take to the Indian corn, the stalk and leaves sometimes become perfectly black with them, for two feet from the ground, leaving not a spot of green to be seen, except about five or six inches of the lips of the blades, the bugs hanging to the lower portions like bees when swarming. " We are," says one of Dr. Ruffin's corres- pondents, " harvesting our wheat crop, in which they got rather too late to destroy it en- tirely, but on many farms have seriously in- jured it, many places in the fields being quite destroyed. On following after the scythes, you may see millions of the bugs, of all sizes and colours, red, black, and gray, running in the greatest consternation in every possible direc- tion, seeking shelter under the sheaves of wheat, and bunches of grass, which may hap- pen to be near. But all those on the borders of the field, and indeed on every part of it, very oon quit the dry and hard stubble for the more tender and juicy corn or oats, whichsoever may be nearest at hand ; and now commences their havoc and dreadful devastation. We see tne healthy, dark-green, luxuriant oat, which a few days before looked so beautiful and rich, turn pale, wither and die, almost at their very touch. It would seem exaggeration and almost incredible lo state how very prolific this de- tiiijiing insect is,' their increase being so pro- 024 digiously great as to appear to be the work of magic. " In one day and night they had been known to advance fifteen or twenty yards deep in a field, destroying as they proceed. Unless some kind dispensation of Providence delivers us from this ruthless enemy to the farming in- terest, it is impossible to say to what extent their ravages will, and may extend, in the course of a year or two. To us fanners, who are dependent on the productions of the earth, for our every thing, it is truly awful. And if their increase in future is commensurate with the past, it must be but a short time before this section of country will be laid waste by this dreadful depredator, and its inhabitants re- duced to want and misery. Every attempt hitherto made to arrest their progress, or de- stroy them, has proved abortive. Some have attempted to drive them from their corn by pouring boiling water over them ; a remedy, for the corn, as bad as the disease. Others try to stop their ingress to the corn-fields by digging ditches around the fields ; but with nc avail, as they are furnished with wings in a short time after they are hatched, and of course can easily fly over the ditches. Would it not be advisable always to sow clover, or some other tender grass, with all small grain, to in- duce the bug to remain in the field after the grain is taken away long enough to enable the corn crop to get size and age, so as not to be seriously injured by them ? I have observed that the older the plant, the much less liable it is to be either injured or attacked." {Farmer's Register.) Among the remedies proposed against this destructive insect, are the following : — Burn- ing up the leaves and rubbish of any woods in the vicinity of grain fields, so as to kill the in- sects in their winter retreats ; also the stalks of corn, &c., where they are often found. It is said that they are natives of the forest, and that where these are occasionally burnt they never become tro^ublesome. Digging ditches so as to intercept the progress of the bugs, fill- ing the excavations with straw in which the insects generally halt a little while, during which time the straw is to be burnt so as to carry destruction to the enemy. This opera- tion is to be repeated during the day. Burning them up, corn and all, has been attended with advantage in preventing further destruction, and also put an end to the further multiplica- tion of the swarm. CHINESE SUGAR-CANE of the Northern Provinces. This m(>mber of the Sorghum family from Asia, with its eonfrfere the Afi'i- can Impli<5e, have been introduced into the U. S. since 1857. As yet they have disap- pointed the hopes of the many who expected them to supply sugar in abundance in exten- sive extra-tropical regions. The plants flour- ish throughout the Southern and Middle States, producing abundance of seed, but as yet the rich saccharine juice yielded by them so freely has only partially been made to furnish crys- talline or true . cane-sugar. It furnishes a cheap, agreeable, and healthy syrup for the table, and the seed and foilder add greatly tc the value of the crop. All animals are eagei CHLORIDE OF LIME. CHOCOLATE. after the gfeen cane. See Treatise on Sorgo and Imphde, by H. S. Alcott. Also the annual Eeports of the Agricultural Bureau, especially the volume for 1857. CHISLY LAND. A kind of soil between sandy and clayey, with a large admixture of small pebbles -or gravel. CHIVES, or GIVES {Allium schxnopra^iim), a garden-plant allied to the leek and onion, growing in tufts The long filamentary leaves are cut close to the ground for eating, &c. CHLORINE. One of the elements found al- ways in vej^etable substances, among the inor- ganic or mineral constituents derived from the soiL It is a kind of gas of a greenish colour, with a peculiarly strong odour, and so much heavier than common air, that, like carbonic acid gas, it may be poured from one vessel into another. A taper will burn in it, giving a fee- ble reddish light, which soon goes out. It exists in all fertile soils, not separate, but combined with soila, in the familiar form of common salt, every 10 lbs. of which contains about 6 lbs. of chlorine iras. CHLORIDE OF SODIUM: Muriate of Soda, or Common Salt. This mineral production, so necessary to the wants of mankind, is universally distributed over the globe, either in solution, as in sea water and mineral springs, or in beds and solid rocks, forming mountains, from which it is procured in masses by blasting and regular mining operations. Most animals have an in- stinctive taste for this salt, and all fertile soils contain it, so that to the growth and well-being of both animals and vegetables, salt is indis- pensable. For its uses as a fertilizer, see Salt. CHLORIDE OF SODA. A well known pow- erful disinfectant ordestroyer of offensive smells, discovered and brought into use by a French chemist, who prepared from it a solution sold extensively under the name of Labarraque's DisiNFECTivE Solution. It is employed by sprinkling in sick rooms, privies, &c. Like the chloride of lime, it possesses the extraordinary property of preventing or arresting animal and vegetable putrefaction, and of destroying those effluvia which are not only offensive to the smell but injurious to the health of men and other animals. To preserve animal bodies from pu- trefaction, or correct their offensive odours, the solution of chloride of soda may be applied by sprinkling or covering them with wet cloths. The chloride of soda, in which chlorine gas is com- bined with the alkali soda, must not be con- founded with chloride of sodium, in which the same gas is united with the metallic base sodium, to form common salt. CHLORIDE OF LIME. Commonly known as Bleaching Salt, or Bleaching Powder, is a dry grayish-white powder, possessing a hot pe- netrating taste, and, when pure, soluble in water. It is used by putting a few tablespoonsful of the salt in a plate or shallow earthen vessel, and pouring on, from time to time, a little oil of vit- riol or vinegar, which brings out the chlorine gas, that corrects offensive smells and deleterious airs in houses, privies, stables, &c. It has been proposed as a fertilizer. Davy reports that he steeped some radish seeds for twelve hours in a solution of chlorine, some in nitric acid, some in very dilute oil of vitriol, some in a weak solution of green vitriol, and some in common water. " The seeds in so- lutions of chlorine and ox-sulphate of iron threw out the germ in two days, those in aitric acid in three days, in sulphuric acid in five, and those in water in five. But in every case of premature germination, though the plumt was very vigorous for a short time, yet it be- came at the end of a fortnight weak and sickly, and at that period less vigorous in its growth than the sprouts which had been naturally de- veloped, so that there can be scarcely any useful application of these experiments. Too rapid growth and premature decay seem in- variably connected in organized structures, and it is only by following the slow operations of natural causes that we are capable of making improvements." {-Agr. Chem. p. 217.) Chloride of lime is prepared in large quan- tities for the service of the bleachers in most of the manufacturing districts. It is composed, according to the analysis of Dr. Marcet, of Chlorine Lime - Parts. 6323 36-77 Dr. Ingenhouz, in a paper published by the Board of Agriculture in 1816, remarks, in al- luding to some experiments he had tried at Hertford in company with the Baron Dimsdale with various salts,— 7-'*Be it sufficient to say here, that of all the neutral salts we tried, the glauber salt did seem to be one of the best in promoting vegetation ; and the steeping the seeds in water, impregnated with oxygenated marine salt (which is now employed in bleach- ing linen in an expeditious way), had a par- ticularly beneficial effect in producing vigorous and early plants. We were somewhat as- tonished that those seeds, viz. of wheat, rye, barley, and oats, which had been steeped in the above mentioned oxygenated muriatic liquid, even during forty-eight hours, did thrive admirably well ; wherefas, the same seeds steeped during so long a time, in some of the other medicated liquids, were much hurt, or had lost their vegetative power. The same oxygenated liquid poured upon the ground had also a beneficial effect." These experiments of Ingenhouz were made, it appears, in 1795. See Salts, their uses to vegetation. Leibig regards chloride of lime as a fertilizing salt, its virtues being similar to that of plaster of Paris, both of which, he says, fix the ammonia which is brought into the soil in rain water, which ammonia is indispensable for the nou- rishment of plants. A few table-spoonfuls of chloride of lime or bleaching salts, sprinkled occasionally in privies and other places where it may be required, corrects offensive odours. (Brit. Farm. Mag. vol. ii. p. 25S ; " On FertU lizers," p. 366.) CHOCOLATE is an alimentary preparation of very ancient use in Mexico, from which country it was introduced into Europe by the Spaniards in the year 1.520, and by them long kept a secret from the rest of the world. Lin- nceus was so fond of it, that he gave the spe- cific name, theohroma, food of the gods, to the cacao tree which produced it. The cacao- beans lie in a fruit* somewhat like a cucumber, about five inches long and three and a halt 2 E 325 CHOCOLATE. thick, which contains from 20 to 30 beans, ar- 1 ranged in five regular rows with partitions between, and which are surrounded with a rose-coloured spongy substance, like that of water-melons. There are fruits, however, so large as to contain from 40 to 50 beans. Those grown in the West India islands, Berbice and Demarara, are much smaller, and have only from 6 to 15; their developement being less perfect than in South America. After the ma- turation of the fruit, when their green colour has changed to a dark-yellow, they are plucked, opened, tneir beans cleared of the marrowy f.ubstance, and spread out to dry in the air. Like almonds, they are covered with a thin ski» or husk. In the West Indies they are imme- diately packed up for the market when they are dried; but in the Caraccas they are subjected to a species of slight fermentation, by putting them into tubs or chests, covering them with boards or stones, and turning them over every morning, to equalize the operation. They emit a good deal of moisture, lose the natural bit- terness and acrimony of their taste by this process, as well as some of their weight. In- stead of wooden tubs, pits or trenches dug in the ground are sometimes had recourse to for curing the beads ; an operation called earthing (Jcrrer). They are lastly exposed to the sun, and dried. The latter 'kind are reckoned the best ; being larger, rougher, of a darker brown colour, and, when roasted, throw off their husk readily, and split into several irregular frag- ments ; they have an agreeable, mild, bitterish taste, without acrimony. The Guinea and West India sorts are smaller, flatter, smoother- skinned, lighter-coloured, more sharp and bitter to the taste. They answer best for the extraction of the butter of cacao, but afford a less aromatic and agreeable chocolate. Ac- cording to Lampadius, the kernels of the West India cacao beans contain, in 100 parts, besides water, 53-1 of fat or oil, 16*7 of an albuminous brown matter, which contains all the aroma of the bean, 10-91 of starch, 7f of gum or muci- lage, 0-9 of lignine, and 2-01 of a reddish dye- stuff somewhat akin to the pigment of cochi- neal. The husks form twelve per cent, of the weight of the beans ; they contain no fat, but, besides lignine, or woody fibre, which consti- tutes half their weight, they yield a light-brown mucilaginous extract by boiling in water. The fatty matter is of the consistence of tallow, white, of a mild, agreeable taste, called butter of cacao, and not apt to turn rancid by keeping. It melts only at 122° Fahr., and should, there- fore, make tolerable candles. It is soluble in boiling alcohol, but precipitates in the cold. It is obtained by exposing the beans to strong pressure iu canvass bags, after they have been steamed or soaked in boiling water for some time. From five to six ounces of butter may be thus obtained from a pound of cacao. It has a reddish tinge wnen first expressed, but it becomes white by boiling with water. "The beans, being freed from all spoiled and mouldy portions, are to be gently roasted over a tire in an iron cylinder, with holes in its ends for allowing the vapors to escape; the apparatus being similar to a coffee-roaster. When the aroma begins to be well developed, 326 CHRYSALIS. the roasting is known to be finished; and the beans must be turned out, cooled, and freed by fanning and sifting from their husks. The kernels are then to be converted into a paste, by trituration in a mortar heated to 130° Fah.- The chocolate paste has usually in France a little vanilla incorporated with -it, and a con- siderable quantity of sugar, which varies from one-third of its weight to equal parts. For & pound and a half of cacao, one pod of vanilla is sufficient. Chocolate paste improves in its flavour by keeping, and should therefore be made in large quantities at a time. But the roasted beans soon lose their aroma, if exposed to the air. "Chocolate is flavoured with cinnamon and cloves, in several countries, instead of the more expensive vanilla. In roasting the beans, the heat should be at first very slow, to give time to the humidity to escape; a quick fire hardens the surface, and injures the process. In putting the paste into the tin plate, or other moulds, it must be well shaken down, to in- sure its filling up all the cavities, and giving the sharp and polished impression so much admired by connoisseurs. Chocolate is some- times adulterated with starch; in which case it will form a pasty consistenced mass when treated with boiling water. The harder the slab upon which the beans are triturated, the better; and hence porphyry is far preferable to marble. The grinding rollers of the mill should be made of iron, and kept very clean." {Lire's Dirt, of Jirts, &c.) A substance called theobromin has been re- cently obtained from chocolate by a European chemist. It contains thirty-five per cent, of nitrogen, a larger proportion than that con- tained in caffeine. CHOKE-DAMP, a common term applied to a kind of foul air, often met with in wells, pits, mines, &c. It consists of carbonic acid gass, with or without a mixture of nitrogen. It is a source of great danger to persons descending into wells and pits. See Carbonic acid Gass. CHOLIC, or COLIC. See Hokses, Cattle, Sheep, Diseases of. CHOPPER, HAY. See Chaff-engines. A new and very efficient straw-cutter under the title of the " Canadian Straw and Hay-chop- per," is figured and described in the Trans. High. Soc. vol. vi. p. 336. One person driving the machine can, it is said, cut with ease 5 cwt. of hay or straw in an hour. CHOUGH, or RED LEGGED CROW (Frcgilvs graadvs). The plumage of this Bri- tish bird is uniformly black, glossed with blue; beak, legs, and toes, vermilion red; claws, black. CHRONIC COUGH. In horses, this is a frequent consequence of chest diseases. In a few instances this seems to be connected with worms; and if the coat is unthrifty, the flanks tucked up, and there is mucus around the anus, it will be proper to put the connexion between the worms and the cough to the test ; other- wise a sedative medicine may suffice to allay the irritation. (Clater's Far. p. 123.) CHRYSALIS. Many worms or larvse, after they have attained their full growth, leave off eating entirely and remain at rest in a death- like sleep. This is called the pupa state, from CHURN. CIDER. a fancied resemblance to the manner in which the Roman children were trussed in bandages. The pupae from caterpillars are most common- ly called chrysalids and anrelia. Grubs, after their transformation, are often called nymphs. Having passed through its change, the insect merges from its chrysalis, or pupa, perforates the shell and silken envelope, and makes its appearance in a winged form, which is its last or perfect state. * In every species there may be distinguished two sides; the one of which is the back, and the other the belly of the animal. On the an- terior part of the latter there may always be observed certain little elfevations running in ridges : the other side, or the back, in most of the chrysalises, is. smooth, and of a rounded figure : but some have ridges on the anterior part and sides of this part, usually terminating in a point and making an angular appearance. From this difference is drawn the first general distinction of these bodies, by which they are divided into two classes ; the round and the angular. The first, French naturalists call fcvef ; the chrysalis of the silk-worm being of this description, and so named. This division is extremely convenient to classification, the phalance or moths being almost universally pro- duced by the rounded chrysalises, and the papi- lios, day-flies, from the angular. Among the latter, are some whose colours are as worthy of observation as the forms of others. Many of them appear superbly clothed in gold. These species obtained the names of chrysalis and atircUa ; derived, the one from a Greek, the other from a Latin word, signifying gold." {Domestic Ency.") CHURN (cepnan; Goth.^erway Dutch, Arerwew. Our old authors wrote it chemc, and kern is yet a local word, and generally used north of the Tweed). A vessel in which cream is coagu- lated by long and violent agitation. There are many diflerent kinds of churns, but those most generally used are the upright or Dutch plunge churn and the barrel-churn. In large dairies churns are frequently turned by means of a horse ; this is particularly the case in Flan- ders, where churns are used which will make forty or fifty pounds of butter at a time. In the large dairies of Cheshire they are now often driven by small high pressure steam-engines. On such farms as have thrashing-mills, churns might be very conveniently attached to and wrought by them. An improved butter-churn by Mr. C. Harley of Fenchurch-street, and an- other by Mr. W. Bowler, to which the Society for the Improvement of the Arts, &c., awarded a prize of thirty guineas, are described in Wil- ZicA's Domestic Encyc. Churns should admit the air; and hence it has been argued that the common churn, which allows this most con- veniently, is, after all, the best. CIBOULE, or WELSH ONION. See Oniox. CICADA. See Grasshopper and Locusts. CIDER, or CYDER (Fr. cidre ; Ger. zider ; Ital. rirfro; Russ. «if/or; Span, sirfra). A sharp and vinous beverage made by fermenting the juice of apples. Cider, or the fermented juice of the apple, constitutes the principal vinous beverage of the citizens of New England, of the Mid ile S at js. and of the older states of the West. Good cider is deemed a pleasant, wholesome liq"aor, during the heats of summer ; and Mr. Knight has as- serted, and also eminent medical men, that strong, astringen* ciders have been found to produce nearly the ■. ame effect in cases of pu- trid fever as Port wine. The unfermented juice of the apple consists of water and a peculiar acid called the malic acid, combined with the saccharine principle Where a just proportion of the latter is want- ing, the liquor will be poor and watery, with- out body, very difficult to preserve and manage. In the process of fermentation, the saccharine principle is in part converted to alcohol. Where the proportion of the saccharine prin- ciple is wanting, the deficiency must be sup- plied, either by the addition of a saccharine substance before fermentation, or by the addi- tion or alcohol after fermentation ; for every one must know that all good wine or cider contains it, elaborated b}^ fermentation, either in the cask or in the reservoirs at the distillery. The best and the cheapest kind is the neutral spirit — a highly rectified and tasteless spirit, obtained from New England rum. Some, how- ever, object to an)' addition of either sugar or alcohol to supply deficiencies, forgetful that these substances are the very elements of which all wine, cider, and vinous liquors are composed. The strength of the cider depends on the specific gravity of the juice on expression; this may be easily ascertained by weighing, or by the hydrometer. According to the experiments of Major Ad- lum, of Georgetown, District of Columbia, it appeared that when two pounds of sugar were dissolved in a gallon of rain water, the bulk occupied by 1000 grains of rain water weighed 1087 grains. From this it would appear that the juice produced by the best known apple contains about two pounds of sugar in a gal Ion. Mr. Marshall has asserted that a gentle- man, Mr. Bellamy, of Herefordshire, England, has by skill "produced cider from an apple called Hagloe Crab, which, for richness, fla- vour, and price on the spot, exceeds, perhaps, every other liquor which nature or art has pro- duced. He has been offered sixty guineas for a hogshead of 110 gallons of this liquor." Newark, in New Jersey, is reputed one of the most famous places in America for its cider. The cider apple most celebrated there is the Harrison apple, a native fruit; and cider made from this fruit, when fined and fit for bottling, frequently brings $10 per barrel, according to Mr. Coxe. This and the Hughs' Virginia Crab are the two paost celebrated cider apples of America. Old trees, growing in dry soils, pro- duce, it is said, the best cider. A good cider apple is saccharine and astringent. To make good cider, the first requisite is suitable fruit ; it is equally necessary that tht fruit should be not merely mellow, but thorough- ly mature, rotten apples being excluded; and ripe, if possible, at the suitable period, or about the first of November, or from the first to the middle, after the excessive heat of the season Q27 CIDER. CIDER. i» past, and while sufficient warmth yet re- mains to enable the fermentation to progress slowly, as it ought. The fruit should be gathered by hand, or shaken from the tree in dry weather, when it is at perfect maturity; and the ground should be covered with coarse cloths or Russia mats beneath, to prevent bruising, and consequent rottenness, before the grinding commences. Unripe fruit should be laid in large masses, protected from dews and rain, to sweat and hurry on its maturity, when the suitable time for making approaches. The earlier fruits should be laid in thin layers on stagings, to preserve them to the suitable period for mak- ing, protected alike from rain and dews, and ■where they may be benefited by currents of cool, dry air. Each variety should be kept separate, that those ripening at the same period may be ground together. In grinding, the most perfect machinery should be used to reduce the whole fruit, skin, and seeds to a fine pulp. This should, if pos- sible, be performed in cool weather. The late Joseph Cooper, of New Jersey, has observed emphatically, that " the longer a cheese lies after being ground,, before pressing, the better for the cider, provided it escapes fermentation until the pressing is completed;" and he further observes, "that a sour apple, after being bruised on one side, becomes rich and sweet after it has changed to a brown colour, while it yet re- tains its acid taste on the opposite side." When the pomace united to the juice is thus suffered for a lime to remain, it undergoes a chemical change ; the saccharine principle is developed; it will be found rich and sweet; sugar is in this case produced by the prolonged union of the bruised pulp and juice, which could never have been formed in that quantity had they been sooner separated. Mr. Jonathan Rice, of Marlborough, who made Ihe premium cider so much admired at Concord, Massachusetts, appears so sensible of the important efiects of mature or fully ripe fruit, that, provided this is the case, he is willing even to forego the disadvantage of having a portion of them quite rotten. Let me observe, that this rottenness must be the effect, in part, of bruises by improper modes of gathering, or by improper mixtures of ripe and unripe fruit. He always chooses cool weather for the operation of grinding; and, in- stead of suffering the pomace to remain but twenty-four or forty-eight hours at most before pressing, as others have directed, he suflTers it to remain from a week to ten days, provided the weather will admit, stirring the mass daily till it is put to th'i press. See his communication in vol. vii. p. 123, N. E. Farmer. The first feri-nentalion in cider is termed the vinous ; in this the sugar is decomposed, and loses its sweetness, and is converted into alco- hol ; if the fermentation goes on too rapidly, the cider is injured; a portion of alcohol passes off" with the carbonic acid. The design of frequent rackings is princi- pally to restrain the fermentation ; but it seems to be generally a are bright-yellow, the first flowers often ap- pearing when the stems are very short, but others appear afterwards on runners, which 2 E 2 32'» CINQUE-FOIL CLIMATE. runners resemble those of the strawberry. This common kind of cinque-foil in the Middle and Northern States is frequent in worn-out and neglected fields, and, where abundant, indi- cates thriftless farming. The Latin name of the genus is derived from potens, powerful; in reference to the supposed medical virtues of the cinque-foil family. Another species, commcinly called five-fingers {Potentilla sim- plex), is also a very common, yellow flowered perennial, along the borders of woods, «&c. CINQUE-FOIL, PURPLE MARSH {Coma- riwn pabtslre). A perennial, found in spongy, muddy bogs and ditches. Root, creeping ex- tensively, with many long fibres. Stems, round, reddish, a foot or more in height. Flowers, several, without scent, but handsome, an inch broad, all over of a dark purplish blood colour, as well as the fruit. They appear in June. {Sinilh's Ens;. Flora, vol. ii. p. 433.) CITRIC ACIDS. Acids contamed in le- mons and some other kinds of fruit. See Acids, Vkretakle. CLARY, or SAGE (Salvia). Smith (Eng. Flora, vol. i. p. 34) describes two kinds, the meadow clary (S. pratensis), and wild English clary (S. verbenaca). The first is very uncom- mon, but sometimes met with in dry meadows and about hedges ; grows three feet high, erect; not very aromatic; leaves, dark-green ; fiowers, large and handsome, of a fine purplish blue. The second species is more common on gra- velly or chalky soils, a foot or eighteen inches high; leaves, grayish-green; flowers, small, violet-blue. Seeds, black, smooth; blows from .Fune to October. This plant is of great vir- tue, and is kept in gardens on account of its excellent flavour. The whole herb is medi- cinal, and is equally good, freshly gathered, or dried. It is cordial and astringent in its quality. CLASPERS. The threads or tendrils of creeping plants. CLASS, an appellation used to denote the most general divisions of which any thing is susceptible. Thus in the Linnsean system of natural history, the animal kingdom is divided into six great classes, of mai?imulia, or ani- mals which suckle their young; aves, or birds; pisces, or fishes; insecta, or insects; vermes, or worms. In botany, the term«/nse implies the primary division of plants into large groups, each of which is to be subdivided by a regular down- ward progression, into orders, genera, and spe- cies, with occasional intermediate subdivisions, constituting varieties, &c., all being subordi- nate to the division which stands immediately above them. Each class is divided into orders, each order into genera, each genus into species. and each gerius and species sometimes into subgenera or subspecies. The term family is sometimes used instead of genus, and objects are often arranged in families, which again are distinguished into varieties. CLAY. A well known constituent of soils, adding to them compactness and tenacity. Under the head of Analysis,, p. 91, is a table showing a classification of soils, from which it appears, that as a general rule, those exhibiting *.he highest per-centage of clay, are esteemed 330 the most valuable. Although what is Lonimonlj called clay, constitutes from 14 to 81 per cent, of soils, its basis, alumina, or pure clay, exists only in the proportion of from 72-lOOths of 1 per cent, in light sandy soils, to 5'25 per cent, in heavier lands. Where it exists, as it often does in sub-soils, in the proportion of 9 or 10 per cent, good draining-tiles and building bricks may be made of it. The clay from which the best building bricks in Baltimore are made, contains 19| per cent, of alumina. (See Bricks.) Clays have various colours, owing to admix- ture with different substances. Yellow and red clays are silicates of alumina with small propor- tions of peroxide 'or rust) of iron, united with lime, magnesia, sometimes po^sh, and very rarely soda. Strange to say — in what are commonly called on the Eastern shore of Maryland, and elsewhere in the United States, "pipe clay or white oak soils," very little pure clay exists, seldom over 3-75 per cent., in the upper stratum, and some- times only about 1 per cent. According to Dr. Higgins's analysis, 90 per cent, of this soil con- sists of sand so fine as to lose its grittiness, whilst the pure clay constitutes only about 2 or 2| per cent. These white oak soils commonly rest on a bed of white or mottled clay, which should never be turned up in ploughing. They can ge- nerally be rendered very productive by perfect draining, with the addition of lime, ashes, or guano. Such land is very unprofitable, unless kept dry hy nnmcrous small ditches running into a main ditch. See A^kes, Mixture of Soils. For the modes of burning clay in kilns, or dod-hurn- ii'g, see Paring and Burjiing. CLICKLING. An unpleasant noise known also by the term " overreach," which arises from the toe of the hind foot of a horse knock- ing against the shoe of the fore foot. If the animal is young, the action of the horse may be materially improved; otherwise nothing can be done. CLIMATE OF THE UNITED STATES. The temperature of the atmosphere constitutes the principal element of climate. If the tem- peratures of places depended solely upon the position of the earth in relation to the sun, then would every place receiving the rays at a similar angle be similarly heated, and places in the same latitude in every part of the globe would have similar climates, so far as heal was concerned. It would therefore be very easy to classify climates according to relative distances from the equator or proximity to the poles. But observations made in different parts of the world show that in similar latitudes climates difl^er greatly, As is exemplified on the two sides of the northern Atlantic, where the mean temperatures of places on or near the ocean are found to diflfer in some cases ten de- grees of Fahrenheit, the climate of the European coast being that much warmer, in its annual mean temperature, than the American in the same latitude. When, instead of mean tempe- ratures, extremes of heat and cold are com- pared, the difl^erence is still more striking. Now, in explaining the rationale of this well known fact, we are compelled to refer to a grand natural phenomenon, which we shall designate the great atmospheric circulation. This commences in the tropical region where CLIMATE. CLIMATE. th5 accumulated heat of the sun rarefies the air, which, ascending into the higher regions of the atmosphere, flows off towards the north and south. To compensate for the loss by this successive flowing off" of the heated and rare- fied portion, and maintain that equilibrium which the barometer informs us always sub- sists in the atmosphere throughout the globe, lower currents of heavier air sweep into the tropical regions from the northward and south- ward. These last have been denominated the polar currents, whilst the uppermost are de- signated as the tropical currents ; and these, it is well known, do not flow directly north or south, but slantwise, a fact which is ascribed to the influence exerted by the motion of the globe upon its axis, and the different velocities existing at different parts of its surface. Owing, therefore, to the combined agencies of solar heat and diurnal rotation, the lower winds in the equatorial region have a slanting direction from the eastward, constituting the trade winds, which blow the year round between the tropics, except where changed into monsoons by the interposition of some influences by which a change is wrought in their direction during six months of the year. Whilst the winds within the tropics thus blow interminably from the eastward, those without the tropical limits have a prevailing direction from the west. Here then we find the solution of the problem, that in extra-tropical latitudes all countries situated to the eastward of seas or other great bodies of water have milder climates than those occupying the eastern portions of con- tinents. Large bodies of water never become so cold in winter or so warm in summer as the earth. Hence, whenever the predominant winds sweep from the sea, they carry with them the temperature of the water to a greater or less distance inland, and thus obviate ex- tremes. When, however, the prevailing w4nds pass over large tracts of country, they must necessarily bear with them the greater or less degrees of Cold induced by congelation, and still more through radiation, whilst in summer they will convey the accumulated heat ab- sorbed by the earth. This view enables us to understand why ihe proximity of the Gulf Stream, — that mighty lake of warm water, as Major Reynell calls it, not inferior in size to the Mediterranean, — does not shed upon the shores of the United States a larger portion of its high temperature, the greatest proportion of the warmth communicated by it to the atmosphere being actually wafted to the distant shores of Europe. The celebrated Humboldt, who has devoted so much attention to the investigation of cli- mate, and especially to the laws and agencies concerned in the distribution of heat over the surface of the globe, has formed a system of lines of equal temperature encircling the globe, and passing through places having the same mean temperature, either throughout the year or during particular seasons. Those passing through places having similar annual means are called isothermal lines. As, however, it is frequently found that where the annual tem- peratures agree there is a great difference in the means of particular seasons, other lines have been drawn to show this, such as pass through places having equal summer tempera- tures being called isotheral, and those represent- ing equal winter means isocheimal lines. These lines, which from their generally crooked forms are also called curves, demon- strate to the eye in a striking manner the well known fact, that the distribution of temperature on both sides of the equator is by no means in exact conformity to latitude or distance from the equinoctial line. Let us, for example, take Humboldt's isothermal line drawn through different points around the globe, having a mean annual temperature of 55°-40 Fahr., and we shall find it in the eastern part of North America passing near Philadelphia, in latitude 39° 56'; in the eastern part of Asia, near Pekin, in the same latitude with Philadelphia; whilst on the western side of Europe it runs near Bourdeaux, in latitude 45° 46' ; and on the western coast of North America, it is found at Cape Foulweather, a little south of the mouth of the Columbia river, latitude 44° 40'. Be- tween the western part of Europe and the eastern portion of North America, the follow- ing differences in the mean temperature are found in similar latitudes, the increase in latitude being attended by a very great increase in the difference of the means : Latitude. Mean temp, of E. Mean temp. W. Differences is coast N. Am. coast of Euwpe. mean temp. 30° 66°-92 70°52 3°-60 40° 54°-50 63°- 14 8° -64 50° 37°-94 50° -90 12° -96 60° 23° -72 40°-60 16° -88 Now all the great varieties in the lines of equal temperature are mainly dependent upon the operation of those extensive natural move- ments which we have styled the great atmos- pheric circulation. The climate of the United States is distin- guished bj' its extremes of heat and cold. It might be naturally expected that the greatest heat would be registered at the most souther- ly, and the severest cold at the most northern posts. But the exact instrumental observations now furnished prove this not to be the case, especially in the vicinity of the sea, where it would seem the proximity of water tends to moderate the heat of summer in the south, and the cold of winter in the north. It is in some of the western regionSf remote from the ocean and inland seas, those, for example, in which forts Snelling, Gibson, and Council Bluffs, are situated, that the mercury rises highest and sinks the lowest. On the 15th of August, 1834, at Fort Gibson, two thermometers observed hy Dr. Wright of the army, rose in the shade, carefully excluded from reflected or radiated heat, the one to 116°, and the other to 117° Fahrenheit. It is a law applicable to all parts of the world, wherever no inland lakes or seas exist, to interpose a modifying influence, — that on leaving the coast and going into the interior, the difference between the mean temperature, of summer and winter increases, the climate/i being more subject to extremes of heat and cold. To show that no exception to this law is furnished in the United States, we may ad- duce the instance of Fort Stdlivan, Eastportt 331 CLIMATE. CLIMATE. Me., on the ocean in latitude 44° 44', where the Winter mean temperature is 17°*45 Fah- renheit above that of Fort Snelling in Iowa, the latitude being the same. The climate of Fort Snelling, Dr. Forr)' informs us, is the most excessive among all the military posts in the United States, resembling that of Moscow in Russia, as regards the extremes of the seasons, notwithstanding the latter is 11° further north. But at MoscoAV the mean temperature both of winter and summer is lower, — that of winter being as 10°-78 to 15°-95, and that of summer as 97°-10 to 72°-75. That the influence of the lakes in modifying the climate in their vicinities is not less than that of the ocean, is demonstrated by a comparison of the summer and winter means of posts situated near them in about the same latitude. The difference between the mean temperature of summer and winter at Fort Preble, on the Atlantic, is 41°-03, and of Fort Niagara on Lake Ontario, 41°-73. At the excessive post. Fort Crawford, Wis- consin, a few minutes further south than the two places first mentioned, the difference amounts to 50°-89. Again, a comparison of the difference between the winter and summer means of some other posts situated in the same latitude shows the following results, by which ,the increase in extremes on going west is strikingly demonstrated. The difference between the mean temperature of summer and winter at Fort Wolcott, Newport, Rhode Island, is 36°-55; at West Point, New York, 40°-75; Fort Armstrong, Illinois, 49°-05; and at Coun- cil Bluffs, near the junction of the rivers Platte and Missouri, 51°-35. The highest, lowest, and annual range of the thermometer at three of the posts just mentioned is as follows : — Annual High*'St. Lowest range. Fort Wolcott, Newport, R. I. 85° 2° 83° Fort Armstrniig, Illinois - 96° 10° 106° Council Bluffs - - - 104° 16° 120° Although the mean temperature of winter on the sea-coast is 6° higher, and of summer 8°-71 lower than in places situated on the same pa- rallel in the interior, beyond the influence of the lakes, the means of spring are 4°-13, and of autumn 0°*40 higher in the interior situa- tions. This is the result of a comparison made in the latitude of about 43°. How strongly are all these views of the east- ern climate of the Unite«l States contrasted with the equable temperature found in the Pacific region. At Fort Vancouver, for example, situ- ated on the Columbia river, about seventy-five miles above its mouth, the difference between the winter and summer means is only 23°-67, although a degree farther north than Fort Snel- ling, five degrees more northerly than New York, and nearly on the same parallel with Montreal. During a year passed at Fort Van- couver, the lowest fall of the thermometer was to 17°. On nine days only was the tempera- ture below the freezing point in the month of January, so that ploughing is carried on whilst the vegetables of the preceding season are still standing in the gardens untouched by frost. And why does not New York, situated directly on the Atlantic Ocean, derive as much warmth frorp. this magazine of heat as Fort Vancouver does from the more distant Pacific T Simply 333 because the predominant westerly winds sweep upon one place the chilling blasts of extensive districts of land, cooled to congelation, or co- vered with snow, whilst over the other they waft the genial warmth of the sea. For simi- lar reasons the ameliorations of climate expe- rienced in the vicinity of the interior lakes must always be felt most to the eastward. The classification of climates distinguished by Dr. Forry in the United States and territo- ries, is founded upon a general division into Northern, Middle, and Southern regions ; the first being characterized by the predominance of a low mean temperature, the Southern by a high temperature, and the Middle vibrating to both extremes. Each of these general divisions is subdivided into classes or systems sufficiently marked. The Northern System has three classes, the first embracing the coast of New England, extending as far south as the harbour of New York; the second including the districts in the proximity of the northern lakes ; the third, portions of country alike remote from the ocean and inland seas. The Middle division has two classes, the first embracing the Atlantic coast from Dela- ware Bay to Savannah ; the second, interior stations. The Southern division has also two classes, the first including those parts in which the military posts on the Lower Mississippi are situated, and the second the peninsula of East Florida. It is the Northern region which presents at the same time the greatest diversity of physical character and the most strongly marked variar tions in climate. East of the great lakes, the several mountain ranges seldom exceed the height of 2500 feet above the level of the sea — the table-lands, upon which the ridges rest, ris- ing, perhaps, on an average, to half the height named. We have already adverted to the fact, that on the coast of New England the influence of the ocean is manifested in moderating ex- tremes of temperature. Advancing into the interior, the extreme range of the thermometer increases, and the seasons are violently con- trasted, until getting within the influence of the lakes, when a climate like that of the sea-board is found. That the lakes have this capacity to modify the climate in their vicinity will be evi- dent to any one who considers that they occupy not less than 94,000 square miles, having a depth varying from 20 to 500 feet. Beyond the modifying agency of these inland seas, tempe- ratures still more excessive are exhibited, a comparative view of which, including exact estimates for the sea-coast and regions of and beyond the great lakes, has been already given. When the climates on the sea-coast and in- terior country remote from the lakes are com- pared in relation to the proportion of fair and cloudy weather, rain and snow, the following results appear. During the year, tl>e propor- tion of fair days on the sea-coast, compared with those of the interior, are as 202 to 240 : cloudy days, 108 to 77; rainy days, 45 to 31 ; snowy, 9 to 16. Comparing the clirtiate of the lakes with that of the same region beyond their influence, the CLIMATE. CLIMATE. «ontrast is yet more striking, the prevailing weather of the former being cloudy, and the latter fair ; thus, during the year, the propor- tion of days is, Fair. Cloudy. Rain. Snovr Lakes - 117 139 63 45 Remote from lakes - 216 73 46 29 The relative proportion of rainy and cloudy days during the year is, therefore, in the former locality 247, and in the latter 148, giving the far west about 100 more sunshiny days out of the annual sura of 365. Thus much for the Northern division. In considering the climate of the Middle di- vision of the United States, Dr. Forry thinks himself justified by the results of the meteoro- logical observations in his possession, in dis- tinguishing two classes, designated as uniform and excessive climes, the first being slightly under the influence of the Atlantic Ocean, whilst the southwestern stations show the powerful influence of the Gulf of Mexico. In proceeding south, the seasons, as a gene- ral rule, appear more uniform, the annual mean temperature increasing as a matter of course. Some of the eastern posts in this middle divi- sion present such great contrasts between their summer and winter temperatures, as almost to place them in the list of excessive climes. The modifying influence of the adjacent ocean and bays are, however, still apparent, since, farther westward on the same parallels, greater ex- tremes are common. " The region of Pennsylvania, as though it were the battle-ground on which Boreas and Auster struggle for mastery, experiences, in- deed, the extremes of heat and cold. But, pro- ceeding south along the Atlantic Plain, climate soon undergoes a striking modification, of which the Potomac forms the line of demarca- tion. Here the domain of snow terminates. Beyond this point, the sledge is no more seen in the farmer's barnyard. The table-lands of Kentucky and Tennessee, on the other hand, carry, several degrees farther south, a mild and temperate clime. Althovigh very few ther- mometrical observations have been made upon the table-land lying in the centre of the middle division, or upon the ridges which crest this long plateau, thus rendering it impracticable to determine fully the interesting question of their influence upon temperature; yet we are enabled to supply this deficiency, in some mea- sure, bj' observations made upon the differences in vegetable geography. Thus, in Virginia, as the limits of the state extend quite across the Apalachian chains, four natural divisions are presented; viz., 1. The Atlantic Plain, or tide- water region, below the falls of the rivers ; 2. The Middle region, between the falls and the Blue Ridge ; 3. The Great Valley, between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghany Mountains ; and, 4. The Trans-Alleghany region, west of that chain. In each of these, the phenomena of vegetation are modified in accordance with the climatic features. On the Atlantic Plain, tobacco is the principal staple ; in the Great Valley, it is cultivated only in the southern portion ; and beyond the Alleghany, its culture is unknown. In the first only is cotton culti- vated, and in its southern part quite extensive- ly. In North Carolina, the Atlantic Plain ex- tends sixty or seventy miles from the coast, whilst the Middle region, corresponding to that described in Virginia, gradually merges into the mountainous regions farther west. As these table-lands are elevated from 1000 to 1200 feet above the sea, upon which rise many high crests, one of which (Black Mountain) is the highest summit of the Alleghany system, the diversit)'^ of climate on the same parallels causes a corresponding diflference in the vege- table productions. Whilst the lowlands }'ield cotton, rice, and indigo, the western high coun- try produces wheat, hemp, tobacco, and Indian corn. In South Carolina, three strongly-marked regions are also presented; but as the tempe- rature increases, as a general law, in propor- tion as we approach the equator, cotton is cultivated throughout the state generally. Geor- gia, Alabama, and Mississippi, like the Caroli- nas, are divided into three well-defined belts, exhibiting similar diversities in vegetable geo- graphy. Cotton and rice, more especially the former, are the great agricultural staples ; and on the Atlantic Plain of these three states, as well as its continuation into Florida and Lou- isiana (which last two will be more particularly adverted to in the southern division), sugar may be advantageously cultivated. In North Carolina and Virginia, the Atlantic Plain forms, as it were, a chaos of land and water, consist- ing of vast swamps, traversed by sluggish streams, expanding frequently into broad ba- sins with argillaceous bottoms. Throughout its whole extent, as already remarked, it is characterized by similar features, besides being furrowed with deep ravines, in which the streams wind their devious way. The hot and sultry atmosphere of these lowlands, in which malarial diseases in every form are dominant, contrasts strongly with the mild and salubrious climate of the mountain regions. "It may not be amiss, as illustrative of the comparative temperature of the Atlantic Plain and the adjacent mountain region, to present here a few thermometrical data, however limit- ed in extent, noted during the summersof 1839 and 1840, at Flat Rock, Buncombe county. North Carolina. Mean Temperature. 1 Placn of Obserration. Latitude. July. Aui. Sept. Oct. Fort Monroe, coast of Virginia-- - - 37° 00' 80° 70° 72° 64° Flat Rock, Buncombe, N. C. - - - 35° .W 69° 7(1" 62° 61° Charleston, S. C. - 32° 4.y 81° 81° 77-" 71°. " Flat Rock is about 250 miles from the At- lantic, and is elevated perhap.s 2500 feet above the level of the ocean, whilst the latitude sjiven is also a mere approximation derived from general knowledge. The obseivations made at Charleston embrace the same vpars as thc^e at Flat Rock, but the data at Fort Monroe com- prise the years 1828, 1829, and 1830. It is thu.s seen that the difference of temperature at Flat Rock and the other two points, taking an ave- rage of the latter, is in July 11°, August 10", September 13°, and October 6°. As regards the monthly range of the thermometer, -ittl<» difference is presented." (Forry.) 332) CLIMATE. CLIMATE. Along the Atlantic coast of the United States, the mean temperature of the year diminishes in a very unequal ratio. Between Charleston and Philadelphia, the difference of means is 10^° Fahr., or in the proportion of about \^° of temperature to 1° of latitude. Between Philadelphia and Eastport,Maine, the difference in means is much greater, namely, 12°.33 Fahr. being in the increased proportion of nearly 2°-5 of mean temperature per degree of latitude. Again, between Charleston, S. C, and New York harbour, the difference of means is I2°-78, or l°-59 per degree of latitude. Be- tween New York harbour and Eastport, Maine, the difference is 11°, or about 2^° Fahr. per degree of latitude. The average proportion between Charleston, S. C, and Eastport, Maine, is equal to about 2° of temperature for each degree of latitude. In approaching south, the extremes of win- ter and summer grow less, and the seasons glide more imperceptibly into each other. At Port Snelling, situated in the excessive climate of the west, in latitude 44°-53, the difference between the summer and winter means is, as has been before stated, no less than 56°'60 ; at Eastport, Maine, 39°-15, at West Point, N. Y., 40°-75, at Charleston, S. C, 30°-34, at St. Au- gustine, Florida, 20°, whilst at Key West, it is only ll°-34. " There is," says Dr. Forry, " little difference between the thermometrical phenomena pre- sented at Key West and the Havana. In the West India islands, the mean annual tempera- ture near the sea is only about 80°. At Bar- baioes, the mean temperature of the seasons is — winter, 76°, spring 79°, summer 81°, and autumn 80°. The temperature is remarkably uniform ; for the mean annual range of the thermometer, even in the most excessive of the islands, is only 13°, and in some it is not more than 4°. Contrast this with Hancock Bar- racks, Maine, which gives an average annual range of 118°, Fort Snelling, Iowa, 119°, and Fort Howard, Wisconsin, 123°! "The peculiar character of the climate of East Florida, as distinguished from that of our more northern latitudes, consists less in the mean annual temperature than in the manner of its distribution among the seasons. At Fort Snelling, for example, the mean temperature of winter is 1.5°*9.5, and of summer 72°'75, whilst at Fort Brooke, Tampa Bay, the former is 64°-76, and the latter 84°-25,and at Key West, 70°-05, and 81°-39. Thus though the winter at Fort Snelling is 54°-10 colder than at Key West, yet the mean temperature of sum- mer at the latter is only 8°*64 higher. In like manner, although the mean annual tempera- ture of Petite Coquille, Louisiana, is nearly 2° lower, that of Augusta arsenal, Georgia, nearly 8°, and that of Fort Gibson, Arkansas, upwards of 10° lower than that of Fort Brooke ; yet at all, the mean summer temperature is higher. Between Fort Snelling on the one hand, and r'ort Brooke and Key West on the other, the relative distribution of temperature stands thus: — Difference between the mean tempera- ture of summer and winter at the former 56°'60, and at the two latter 16°-49 and ll°-34; dif- icii'^nce between the mean temperature of the 334 warmest and coldest month, 61°-86 compared with 18°-66 and 14°-66 ; difference between the mean temperature of winter and spring, 30°*83 to 8°'35 and 5°'99 ; and the mean difference of successive months, 10°-29 to 3°-09 and 2°-44." A comparison in regard to equality and mildness of climate drawn between the sea- sons of Florida and those of the most favoured places on the European continent, these of Italy and southern France, results generally in favour of the Florida Peninsula. At Key West the annual range of the thermometer is but 37°. See table of monthly mean temperatures, under the head of Atmosphere. CLIMATE, CHANGES OF. The question has been much debated, whether the tempera- ture of the crust of the earth or of the incum- bent atmosphere has undergone any perceptible changes since the earliest records, either from the efforts of man in clearing away forests, draining marshes, cultivating the ground, or other causes. La Place has demonstrated very satisfactorily, that since the days of Hipparchus, an astronomer of the Alexandrian school, who flourished about 2000 years ago, the earth can- not have become a single degree of heat warmer or colder, as otherwise the sidereal day must have become either lengthened or shortened, which is not the case. As to the question of changes in atmospheric temperature affecting the seasons, M. Arago thinks that sufficienfproofs exist to justify the conclusion that in Europe, at least, a sensible elevation of the annual mean temperature has resulted from the conquests of agriculture. The thermometer is comparatively a modern instrument, invented by Galileo, in 1590, but still left so imperfect, that it was not till 1700 that Fahrenheit succeeded in improving and rendering it a correct and perfect instrument. It is evident that the want of exact instrumental observations prior to the commencement of agricultural improvements must render it ex- tremely difficult to determine with any preci- sion, what changes may have been effected through these in the mean temperatures of the year or particular seasons. Hence, notwith- standing the expression of his belief in the changes of atmospheric temperature, M. Arago looks to America for the necessary data by which the point must be definitely settled. "Ancient France," he remarks, "contrasted with what France now is, presented an incom- parably greater extent of forests; mountains almost entirely covered with wood, lakes and ponds, and morasses, without number ; rivers without any artificial embankment to prevent their overflow, and immense districts, which the hands of the husbandman had never touched. Accordingly, the clearing away of the vast forests, and the opening of extensive glades in those that remain ; the nearly com- plete removal of all stagnant waters, and the cultivation of extensive plains, which thus are made to resemble the stepes of Asia and Ame- rica — these are among the principal modifica- tions to which the fair face of France has been subjected, in an interval of some hundreds of years. But there is another country which is undergoing these same modifications at the present day. They are there progressing CLIMATE. CLIMATE. under the observation of an enlightened popu- lation ; they are advancing with astonishing rapidity ; and they ought, in some degree, sud- denly to produce the meteorological alterations which many ages have scarcely rendered ap- parent in our old continent. This country is North America. Let us see, then, how clear- ing the country affects the climate there. The results may evidently be applied to the ancient condition of our own countries, and we shall find that we may thus dispense with d priori considerations which, in a subject so compli- cated, would probably have misled us." There is great force in the following remarks of Dr. Forry, and the facts adduced in their support: — "Dense forests and all growing vegetables doubtless tend considerably to diminish the temperature of summer, by affording evapora- tion from the surface of their leaves, and pre- venting the calorific rays from reaching the ground. It is a fact equally well known that snow lies longer in forests than on plains, be- cause, in the former locality, it is less exposed to the action of the sun ; and hence, the win- ters, in former years, may have been longer and more uniform. As the clearing away of the forest causes the waters to evaporate and the soil to become dry, some increase in the mean summer temperature, diametrically con- trary to the opinion of Jefferson and others, necessarily follows. It is remarked by Um- freville that, at Hudson's Bay, the ground in open places thaws to the depth of four feet, and in the woods to the depth only of two. More- over, it has been determined by thermometrical experiments that the temperature of the forest, at the depth of twelve inches below the surface of the earth, is, compared with an adjacent open field, at least 10° lower, during the sum- mer months ; whilst no difference is observable during the season of winter. " It may, therefore, be assumed, that although cultivation of the soil may not be productive of a sensible change in the mean annual tem- perature, yet such a modification in the distri- bution of heat among the seasons may be induced as will greatly influence vegetation." Bearing upon this point. Dr. Forry furnishes a table exhibiting a comparative view of the atmospheric temperature at Philadelphia, at intervals of about a quarter of a century, (from 1771 to 1824,) which shows a successive de- crease in the mean of winter, and an increase in the means of spring, summer, autumn, and whole year. Some allowance must be made in these estimates for the effects of increase in the size of the city, and the additional shelter in winter, and opportunity of accumulating heat in summer thus afforded. All towns are ob- served to grow warmer as they extend their limits. When, therefore, we find a decline in the mean temperature of winter, notwithstand- ing the extension of the city limits, we must infer that it can arise from no other cause than a general diminution in the winter temperature throughout the country. Any changes in the climate of the United States as yet perceived, are very far from justifying the sanguine calculations indulged in a few years ago by a writer on the climate and vegetation of the fortieth degree of Nortk latitude, who, inconcluding his essay, says: " But there will doubtless be an amelioration in this particular," (severity of cold,) " when Canada and the United States shall become thickly peopled and generally cultivated. In this latitude, then, like the same parallels in Europe at present, snow and ice will become rare phenomena, and the orange, the olive, and other vegetables of the same class, now strangers to the soil, will become objects of the labour and solicitude of the agriculturist." Had this writer extended his inquiries a little further, he might have found that the region of Oregon, lying west of the Rocky Mountains, though as yet in a primitive stale of nature, has a climate even milder than that of highly cultivated Europe in similar lati- tudes. And again, China, situated precisely under the same conditions as the United States in regard to the sea, though long since sub- jected to the highest state of agricultural im- provement, possesses a winter climate as rigorous, and some assert even more so, than that of the United ■States in similar latitudes. See table of mean temperature under the head Atmosphebe, page 126. CLIMATE, INFLUENCE OF, ON THE FRUITFULNESS OF PLANTS. The fol- lowing observations upon a topic of natural history of great interest to the agriculturist, are quoted from the same sensible and elo- quent American writer, to whom reference has been made under the head of the Acclimatino PuiiiCiPLE OF Plants. "The cultivated plants yield the j^'reates*, products near the northernmost limit iu which they will grow. " I have been forcibly impressed with this fact, from observing the productions of the various plants, which are ciiltivated for food and cloth- ing in the United States. The following instances will go far to establish the principle, viz. : — "The cotton, which is a tropical plant, yields the best staple and surest product in the tem- perate latitudes. The southern parts of the United States have taken the cotton marke: from the East and West Indies, both as regards quantity and quality. This is partly owing to the prevalence of insects within the tropics, but principally to the forcing nature of a verti- cal sun. Such a degree of heat developes the plant too rapidly — runs it into wood apd foli- age, which become injuriously luxuriant; the consequence is, there are but [x.w seed pods, and these covered with a thin harsh coat of wool. The cotton wool, like the fur of animals, is, perhaps, designed for protection ; and will be thick and fine in proportion as the climate is warm or cool. Another reason is to be found in the providence of the Deity, who aims to preserve races rather than individuals, and multiplies the seeds and eyes of plants, exactly as there is danger of their being destroyed by the severity of the climate, or other causes. When, therefore, the cares and labours of nian counteract the destructive tendency of the cli- mate and guaranty their preservation, they are, of course, more available and abundant. "The lint plants, flax, hemp, &c., are culti- vated through a great extent of latitude , but 33.5 CLIMATE. CLIMATE. *lieir baric, in the southern climates, is harsh and brittle. A warm climate forces these plants so rapidly into maturity, that the lint does not acquire either consistency or tenacity. We must go far north in Europe, even to the Baltic, to find these plants in perfection, and their products very merchantable. Ireland is rather an exception as to latitude ; but the in- fluence of the sun is so effectually counteracted there by moisture and exposure to the sea air, that it is always cool : hence, the flax and po- tato arrive at such perfection in that region. "It holds equally true in the farinaceous plants. Rice is a tropical plant ; yet Carolina and Georgia grow the finest in the world ; heavier grained, better fiHed, and more mer- chantable, than any imported into Europe from the Indies. The inhabitants of the East Indies derive their subsistence almost exclusively from rice ; they must be supposed, therefore, to cultivate it with all skill and care, and the best contrivances for irrigation. Such is, how- ever, the forcing nature of their climate, that the plant grows too rapidly, and dries away before the grain be properly filled. Indian corn, or maize, if not a tropical plant, was ori- ginally found near the tropics ; and although it now occupies a wide range, it produces the heaviest crops near the northern limit of its range. In the West Indies it rises thirty feet in height ; but with all that gigantic size, it produces only a few grains on the bottom of a spongy cob, and is counted on only as rough provender. In the southern part of the United States, it reaches a height of fifteen feet, and will produce thirty bushels to the acre ; in the rich lands of Kentucky and the Middle States it produces fifty or sixty bushels to the acre ; but in New York and New England, agricul- tural societies have actually awarded pre- miums for one hundred and fifty bushels to the acre, collected from stalks only seven feet high. The heats of a southern sun develope the juices of this plant too quickly. They run into culm and blade, to the neglect of the seed, and dry away before fructification becomes complete. " Wheat is a more certain crop in New York, the northern part of Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and in the Baltic regions of Europe, than in the south either of Europe or America. In the north, snows accumulate, and not only protect it from the winter colds, but from the weevil, Hessian fly, and other insects that in- vade it; and in the spring it is not forced too rapidly into head, without time to mature fully, and concoct its farina. "A cold climate also aids the manufacturing of flour, preserving it from acidfty, and ena- bles us to keep it long, either for a good mar- ket, or to meet scarcities and emergencies. Oats grow in almost every country ; but it is in northern regions only, or very moist or ele- vated tracts, that they fill with farina suitable for human sustenance. Rye, barley, buck- wheat, millet, and other culmiferous plants, might be adduced to illustrate the above prin- ciple ; for all their habits require a more northern latitude than is necessary to their mere growth. "The grasses ar<» proverbially in perfection 336 only in northern and cool regions, although they will grow everywhere. It is in the north alone that we raise animals from meadows, and are enabled to keep them fat, and in good condition, from hay and grass alone, without grain. It is there the grasses acquire a succu- Fence and consistency enough, not only to ma- ture animals, but to make the richest butter and cheese, that contribute so much to the tables of the luxurious. The grasses which do, often, in the south, grow large enough, are without richness and nutriment ; in hay, they have no substance; and when green, are too washy to fatten animals ; the consequence is, most animals in those latitudes browse from necessity, and are poor, and v ithout size or beauty. It is the same hot sun which forces them to a rapid fructification, before they have had time to concoct their juices. The sugar- cane produces, perhaps, better where it never seeds, than in the tropics ; for the juices will never ripen so as to granulate, until checked by frost or fructification. In the tropics, the cane grows twentj'' months before the juices ripen ; and then the culm has contracted a woody, fibrous quality, to such a degree as to resist the pressure of the mills, and yields but littte juice, and that to an increased efl!brt. In Louisiana we succeed well with the sugar culture ; because, while the culm is succulent and tender, a white frost checks the growth, ripens the juices, and in five months gives us a culm, tender, full of juice, easy to press, and yielding much grain of sugar. When Louisi- ana, therefore, acquires all the necessary skill, she will most probably grow this article cheaper than the West Indies. "Tobacco is a southern plant, but there it is always light and chafliy ; and although often well-flavoured, it never gains that strong narcotic quality which is its only peculiar property, unless you grow it as far north as Virginia. In the south, the heat unfolds its bud or gem too soon, forces into full expansion the leaf, and drives it to seed before the narco- tic quality can be properly elaborated. We may assert a general rule applicable to all annual plants, that neither the root, nor the leaf, acquires any further size or substance after fructification. "The tuberose, bulbous, and other roots, cultivated for human and animal subsistence, are similarly aflected by climate, and manifest habits in corroboration of the above principle. The Irish potato, although from or near the tropics, will not come to perfection but in northern or cool countries, or in moist, insular situations, as Ireland. It is in such climates alone, that its roots acquire a farinaceous con- sistence, and have size, flavour, and nutriment enough to support, in the eminent way in which they are susceptible, animal life. In the south, a forcing sun brings the potato to fructification before the roots have had time to attain their proper size, or ripen into the pro- per qualities for nourishment. In Ireland the plant grows slow, through a long and cool season, giving time for its juices to be elabo- rated and properly digested ; hence that fin« farina and flavour which characterizes them. The sweet potato produces larger, better fla- CLIMATE. CLIMATE. voured, and more numerous roots in Carolina, where it never flowers, than in the West Indies. In the latter place this plant runs wild, covers the whole face of the earth with its vines, and is so taken up in making foliage, that the root becomes neglected, and is small and woody. — In order to have the onion in perfection, it must grow through two years, swelling all the time its bulbs. In the soutli, however, it seeds in one year, and before it has made much bulb. Beets, carrots, parsnips, turnips, radishes, and other roots, are equally affected by a hot sun, and scarcely worth cultivating far to the south. They all fructify before they have formed per- fect roots, and make foliage at the expense of their bulbs ; hence they will always be articles of commerce ; the south will have to depend upon the north for them. " The salad plants are in like manner af- fected by climate, and give further proofs of our assumption. Cabbages, lettuces, endive, cellery, spinage, plants whose leaves only are eat, to protect their germs from cold (through a kind of instinct), wrap them up in leaves, which form heads, and render many of their other parts tender and crisp for use. These* leaves, thus protected, are not only tender, but more nutritious, because their growth has been slow and their juices well digested. In the south, a relaxing sun lays open the very buds of such plants, gives a toughness and thinness to the leaves, and they are too unsubstantial for animal support, because of such quick and rapid developement "The delicious and pulpy fruits are, in a still more striking way, illustrative of our prin- ciple. The peach, nectarine, plum, apple, cherry, currant, gooseberry, apricot, and many other such families, are not in perfection in the south. It is in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, Jerse}% and in the north of Europe, that we enjoy them, although, originally, they came from places near the tropics. The peach of the Carolinas is full of larvae, gum, and knots, and too stringy and forced to be juicy and flavoured. The apple of the south is too acerb to be either eaten or preserved. The plums, apricots, cherries, currants, goose- berries, &c., will not even mature until we go far north. All the trees which bear these de- licious fruits will grow luxuriantly in the south, make much foliage and wood, with but little pulp, and that unsavoury. The kernel in the one-seeded fruit seems to be the first object of nature in southern climes: that becomes strong, oily, and enlarged ; and one of the peach family has so entirely neglected the pulp, that it has only a husky matter around the kernel, as the almond. The changeable- ness of the weather in the south, in the spring season, throws plants off their guard ; the frosts attendant on those changes destroy the young fruit; and it is only one year in three that the crop hits at all. The desiccated or dried state of these fruits enables us to enjoy them through the year; but in the south their acidity carries them .into fermentation or de- composition before they can be divested of their aqueous parts. The climate of the south is equally against converting them into cider, IV any other fermented liquor, because the 43 heat forces their compressed juice so rapidly into an active fermentation, that it cannot easily be checked until it passes into vinegar. For the same reason distillation goes on badly in hot climates, and cannot be checked long enough at the proper point to give much alco- hol : and whether we aim to enjoy the delicious freshness of these fruits themselves, sip the nectarin of their juices, refresh ourselves with their fermented beverage, stimulate our hearts with their brandies and cordials, or feast through the winter upon the dried or preserved stores of their fruits, we are continually balked by the severity of a southern climate, and for such enjoyment must look to the north. "The melons are always affected by too great a degree of heat, even though their vines flourish so much in southern latitudes. The forcing sun hurries them on to maturity before they have attained much size, or acquired that rich saccharine and aromatic flavour for which they are so much esteemed. The cantelope- melon will rot, or have its sides baked by a hot .sun, before it is fully formed ; and the water- melon is always woody, dry, and devoid of its peculiar sweetness and richness in the south. Vines have been known to run one hundred feet, and bear no melon. It is in Philadelphia, and its neighbourhood, and in similar latitudes, that the markets are loaded with delicious me- lons of all sorts, whose flavour so much refresh and delight us. It is there, near their northern limit, that we cultivate them with such uniform success. "The orange, strictly a tropical plant, is more juicy, large, and delicious, at St. Augus- tine (Florida), than at Havana ; and fruiterers, in order to recommend an orange, will say that it is from some place out of the tropics. In the West Indies, the pulp of the orange is spungy, badly filled with juice, and has too much of a forced flavour to be pleasant. The hot-house forcers of Europe, or at Rome, an- ciently at first produced bad fruit ; too dry, too small, and without flavour ; because they over- acted. They have lately found out that fact, and now the productions of the hot-houses of London, Paris, &c., astonish and delight us with the quantity and excellence of the fruit- They have found out that gradual and uniform heat is the desideratum ; countervailing the cold, rather than imparting much heat. Fruit thus produced is pronounced better than any grown in the natural way, however perfect the climate. " The juices of the grape are best matured for wine near the northern limit of their growth. On the Rhine, in Hungary, the sides of the Alps, and in other elevated or northern situations, the wine is strongest, richest, and most esteemed. The French wines rank before the Spanish and Italian ; and in no southern country of Europe or Africa, except Madeira, where ele- vation makes the difference, is the wine in much repute. The grapes of France are more delicious for the table than those of Spain or Madeira. In the southern part of the United States, the excess of heat and moisture blights the grape to such an extent that all attempu have failed in its cultivation. The grape-vine, however, whether wild or cultivated, grows 3 F 337 CLIMATURE. CLOTTED CREAM. there very luxuriantly. The vinous fermenta- tion can also be best conducted in a climate comparatively cool ; and all the pressing, fer- menting, and distillation of the juice of this delicate fruit can be safer and more profitably managed in a mild region. "The olive, and other oleaginous plants, yield more fruit, of a richer flavour, and can be better pressed, and the oil preserved, in a mild climate. In France the tree is healthier, and the fruit and oil better than in Spain or Italy ; and the Barbary States are known to import their oil from France and Italy. "Many other plants might be named, whose habits would equally support our position. It is presumed, however, that enough have been cited to call the attention of philosophy to this curious subject, and enable us to give proper attention to it, in all the practical operations of agricultural pursuit. Much time and ex- pense might be saved, and profits realized, if this were more generally understood. " We have already observed, that the heat cf the sun in southern climes forces plants to a false maturity, runs them on too rapidly to fructification, and renders dry and woody the culms, stalks, and leaves of the plants, where these parts are used. Hence the chaffiness of the leaf, the dryness of the culm, the lightness of the grain, and the unsavoury, spongy quality of the pulp of the plants in those latitudes. Hence the difticulty of fermenting their juices, distilling their essences, and preserving for use the fruit, juice, or blades of such plants. The prevalence of insects is another bar to the productiveness of southern plants : swarms of them invade and strip the leaves, bore the fruit, and lead to blight and decomposition ; and just in proportion as the labours of man have rendered plants succulent, and their fruits and seeds sweet and pleasant, do these insects multiply on them, devour their crops, and defeat the objects of husbandry. "The labour of man too is more conserva- tive in northern climates, because his arm is better nerved for exercise, his health and spirits more buoyant; and instead of saying, ' Go and work,' he says, ' Come and work ;' treads with a cheerful heart upon his own soil, and assists in the cultivation, collection, and preservation of his own- productions. It is in temperate climates that man can be most fami- liar with nature ; it is there he has the best opportunities of observing the guarantees which nature has for the preservation of her animals and plants against the devastation of the elements ; he sees an occasional apparent neg.ect of individuals, but a constant parental care of races. In every thing he sees the wis- dom and benevolence of God." CLIMATURE. A word sometimes employ- ed in much the §ame way as climate. It is a term made use of by some agricultural writers. CLOG SHOES. The country name for wooden shoes. CLOTBUR. See Commox Burdock. CLOTHING. In horsemanship, the prac- tice of covering the animals with cloths, with the view of keeping them healthy, and giving g fine coat. JU.OTTED or CLOUTED CREAM. Under 338 the head of Butter, the process of making this preparation is described; but as the subject is one of particular interest to the American dairy, the following more detailed account is inserted, taken' from the Library of Useful Know- ledge, 2d vol. of British Husbandry. The dairy^ maids of the western counties of England think that clouted cream furnishes one-fourth more cream from the same quantity of milk than can be obtained in any other way. The process is simply this. "The milk while warm from the cow is strained into either large shallow brass pans, well tinned, or earthen ones, holding from two to five gallons, in which should be a small quantity of cold water. This is thought to prevent the milk from burning, and to cause the cream to be more completely separated and thrown to the top. " The morning meal of milk stands till about the middle of the day ; the evening meal until the next morning. The pans are now steadily carried to, and placed over a clear, slow fire; if of charcoal, or over a stove, the cream is not so apt to get an earthy or smoky taste as when the milk is scalded over a turf or wood fire. The heat should be so managed as not to suffer the milk to boil, or, as they provin- cially term it, 'to heave;' as that would injure the cream. The criterion of its being suifi- ciently scalded is a very nice point ; the earthen pan, having its bottom much smaller than the top allows this point to be more easily ascer- tained; because vi'hen the milk is sufficiently scalded, the pan throws up the form of its bot- tom on the surface of the cream. "The brass pan, if almost as big at the bot- tom as at the top, gives no criterion to judge by, but the appearance and texture of the sur- face of the cream, the wrinkles upon which become smaller and the texture somewhat leathery. In summer, it must be observed, the process of scalding ought to be quicker than in the winter, as in very hot weather, if the milk should be kept over too slow a fire, it would be apt to run or curdle. "This process being finished, the pans are carefully returned to the dairy; and should it be the summer season, they are placed in the coolest situation ; if on stone floors or slate benches, the better; but should it be the winter season, the heat should rather be retained, by putting a slight covering over the pans, as cooling too suddenly causes the cream to be thin, and consequently yield less butter: the mode of making which is this : The cream should,'in hot weather, be made into butter the next day ; but in winter it is thought better to let the cream remain one day longer on the milk. The cream, being collected from the pans, is put into wooden bowls, which should be first rinsed with scalding, then with cold water. It is now briskly stirred round one way, with a nicely cleaned hand, which must have also been washed in hot and then in cold water, for these alternate warm and cold ablu- tions of bowl and hand are not only for the sake of cleanliness, but to prevent the butter from sticking to either. "The cream being thus agitated, quickly assumes the consistence of butter, the milky part now readily separates, and being poured Fluie 8. PLANTS, CULTIVATED FOR H\<(>R UV.Hr>. f. ,\-r CLOUT. CLOVER. off. the butter is washed and pressed in several cold waters ; a little salt is added to season it ; and then it is well beaten on a wooden trencher until the milky and watery parts are separated, when it is finally formed into prints for the markets." (Siirv. of Cornwall, p. 141.) "If the quastity of cream be considerable, the cream will be an inch or more thick upon the surface, and it is then divided into squares and taken off. The remaining milk, however, contains little besides the watery particles in .ts original composition." (^Complete Grazier, tixth edition, p. 137.) CLOUT. An iron plate put on the axletree oS a cart or other carriage. CLOVER. One of the most valuable spe- cies of the artificial grasses, of which there are several varieties, all too well known to need a particular description. 1. White clover, white trefoil, or Dutch clover (Trifolimn repens), grow- ing on almost all soils and situations. PI. 8, a. 2. Perennial red clover (T. pratense pei-emie) b; is found wild near Wainfleet, and in other rich natural English pastures. 3. Marl clover, cow grass (T.mecliti7u), c; when in flower it yielded Sinclair per acre, from a rich black loam, 20,418 lbs. ; of nutritive matter, 717 lbs. 4. Long-rooted clover {T. macrohizum,) k; a rich clayey loam yielded of this grass when flower- ing, 74,868 lbs.; of nutritive matter, 2,924 lbs. 5. Crimson clover (r.iifcamahfHi), /". 6. Egyp- tian clover (T. ahxandrinuni) ; see Quart. Journ. Alsike clover, or hybrid trefoil, is a white- flowered species, cultivated very extensively in Sweden, in the district of Alsike, from whence its common name. It possesses the strength and vigour of the red, with the permanency of the white clovers. The creeping white, clover is a perennial common to Europe and America, growing in the United States spontaneously in pastures, meadows, and upon woodlands, to the height of from 4 to 12 inches. The, soil is so full of the seeds that the plant springs up wherever and whenever circumstances are favourable to its germination ; and hence, when the season is good, it often furnishes a fine fall pasture after other grasses have almost disappeared. Though rarely cultivated in the United States, it is esteemed an excellent pasture at least in the Middle and Northern States, where it is sometimes sown with timothy and other grass for a regular hay crop. Mr. Eliott speaks un- favourably of it in the South. There is rather more difficulty in saving the seed of white clo- ver than of the common red, and hence the seed of the former sells for at least double tlie price of the latter. The yellow or shamrock clover (Trifolium procumbeiis), Plate 10, d, is an annual, not very common in the United States, but found in the Middle States in dry, sandy soils, blooming its yellow flowers from May to August. The stem is from 3 to 8 inches long, sometimes trailing, at others nearly erect. It is a foreigner, and is gradually extending itself. The common red clover is extensively culti- vated in the United States, sometimes alone, sometimes with other grasses. With timothy It makes hay of a very superior kind, especially for neat cattle. The seed is usually sown with winter wheat or other grain crops, late in Feb- ruary or early in March, whilst the ground is still subject to freezing and thawing, and the seed can thus gain admission into the soil. Or it may be sown with the oat or other spring or summer crop, in which case, having the ad- vantage of being harrowed in, it can generaUv be sown with even greater success than when put with a crop of winter grain. Too little seed is generally applied, and the best quantity is from 10 to 12 or 14 lbs. per acre. The bushel weighs about 60 to 64 lbs., very nearly the same weight with good wheat. Clover is frequently turned under in the fall to enrich the ground preparatory to a crop of wheat, or in the ensuing spring for the benefit of the Indian corn. Some persons think the best time for turning down clover is in the rankest and most succulent stage of its growth, whilst others maintain that it is best to leave it to the period of its decline, when its extract- ive matter is most abundant. This last plan is undoubtedly the best in most if not all cases, and this opinion is founded upon the results of actual experiments. Being a biennial plant, clover of course leaves the field after the se- cond year, unless allowed to seed itself. When timothy has been sown with it, this perennial grass then obtains exclusive possession of the field, where it is generally allowed to remain two or more years longer, affording the richest of all kinds of hay for horses, althovigh for neat cattle the mixture of red clover and timothy is generally preferred. Clover hay, when fed unmixed to horses, often produces a cough. This can always be removed by substituting timothy for a few weeks, after which the feed may consist of half clover and half timothy, with little or no danger of producing cough. Experience has shown that when the clover hay is fed from large troughs or mangers instead of racks above the head, horses escape the cough. Many of the most careful farmers in Pennsyl- vania have entirely excluded racks from their barns and stables, and substituted mangers or large troughs. Clover, by which is understood the common red clover {trifolium pratense), is of immense importance in the improved system of Ameri- can husbandry, taking the place of almost every other kind of ameliorating crop. Its tap roots penetrate and loosen the soil, whilst the leaves and stems produce abundance of nutri- tious food for the farm stock ; and both roots and stems, when turned under by the plough, are extremely enriching to the soil. The first year's growth of clover is sometimes mown for hay and sometimes pastured, whilst the second crops are devoted to hay and furnish- ing seed. When the second crop is pastured in spring, the stock must not be turned on be- fore the ground has become so firm that hoofs will not sink into the sod, nor until the growth is such as to enable the cattle to thrive. The pasturage may be continued from the middle of April or first of May for about six weeks, when the cattle are to be withdrawn, and the second crop allowed to go to seed for saving. Some farmers think that the closer the first growth of the second season is cut or cropped 339 CLOVER. CLOVER. he better. By many, mowing th ; first crop is lonsidered preferable to grazing it, since the scythe takes off weeds which cattle would 'eave. In the humid .climate of England it is often lifficult to cure the clover properly after it is cut. But in the United States the greater dry- ness of the atmosphere renders it much more easy to save the crop, and consequently the practice of mixing it, layer upon layer, with dry wheat straw, &c., may generally be dis- pensed with. In saving clover, the object to be obtained is to cure the hay in the cheapest and best, manner. " The common practice of spreading clover hay from the swath," says Buel, " causes the leaves and blossoms to dry and crumble before the haulm or stems are sufficiently cured. Thus either the finer parts of the hay are lost, or the crop is housed with so much moisture as to cause it to heat, and often to spoil. Clover should only be spread when it has become wet with rain in the swath, and should be gathered again before the leaves dry and crumble. Both these evils may be avoided, and labour saved withal, by curing the grass wholly in swath and cock. After experiencing the serious dis- advantages of the old method, I adopted the one I am about to recommend, and have pur- sued it satisfactorily ten or a dozen years. My practice has been to leave the clover to wilt in the swath, and, when partially dried, either to turn the swaths or to make grass-cocks the same day, so as to secure the dried portions from the dew. That which is not put into cocks the first day is thus secured the second day, or as soon as it has become partially dried. These grass-cocks are permitted to stand one, two, or three days, according as the weather is, and as the curing process has pro- gressed, when they are opened at nine or ten o'clock on a fair day, the hay again turned over between eleven and three, and, soon after turning, gathered for the cart. Thus cured, the hay is perfectly bright and sweet, and hardly a blossom or leaf is wasted. Some care is required in making the cocks. The grass is collected with forks and placed on dry ground between the swaths, in as small a compass as conve- nient at the base, say two or three feet in dia- meter, and rising in a. cone to the height of four or five feet. " The advantages of this mode of curing clo- ver are, " 1. The labour of spreading from the swath is saved. " 2. The labour of the hand-rake is abridged, or may be wholly dispensed with, if the horse- rake is used to glean the field when the hay is taken off, the forks suff.cing to collect it tole- rably clean in the cocking process. "3. It prevents, in a great measure, injury from dew and rain ; for these cocks, if rightly constructed (not by rolling), will sustain a rain C'f some days — that is, they have done this with me — without heating or becoming more than super.icially wet. "4. Clover hay made in this way may al- most invariably be housed in good condition ; and if rain falls after the ^rass is mown, the quality of the hay is infinitely superior in .140 cocks to what it would be under the old \ to* cess of curing." (^Cultivator.) Many prefer mowing the clover before it gels very ripe, as then so much of the seed would not be shaken off during the processes of curing, removing, &c. As the hay of the seed-crop is seldom considered «f much value except for litter and manure, it is frequently left long in the field to become thoroughly dry, so as to insure it against heating in the mow or stack, as this would be far more injurious to the seed than exposure to weather. Besides mowing the seed crop in the usual manner for hay, several other methods have been devised. The one most commonly re- sorted to in Pennsylvania is the employment of a scythe and cradle to cut off the heads, which are caught by a kind of bag attached to the lower fingers, the rest being removed. Or the upper fingers being removed, the lower ones may be placed sufliciently close to catch the heads. Among other contrivances which have been devised for gathering the heads in the field, one originally described by Mr. L'Homidieu, and since modified, is simple, cheap, and has been found very effectual. A description of the original machine, illustrated with a cut, may be found in the fifth volume of the Culti- vator. It consists of an open box about four feet square at the bottom, and three feet high on the sides. To the fore part, which is open, fingers are fixed at the bottom, somewhat like those of a wheat cradle (or large points may be substituted resembling saw-teeth or a comb); these fingers or jagged points are about thir- teen inches long, and so arranged as to catch and tear off between them the heads from the clover stems, which are thrown back into, the box as the horse advances. This box is fixed on an axletree provided with low wheels six teen inches in diameter. Two shafts, each four feet four inches long, are attached to the axletree between the wheels and sides of the box. At the back part of the box, which is closed, there are two handles three feet long and twenty inches apart, resembling those of the wheelbarrow. The machine may be com- pared to a scraper, supposing this placed on low wheels, and to have high sides. The driver, by means of the handles, raises or lowers the fore part of the box, the notched bottom or fingers of which catch and tear off the clover heads. As often as the box gets filled with these it is emptied, and the horse HKU'^es on as before. ^his machine has been advantageously mo- dified, especially by Mr. James L. Bowman, of Brownsville, Pennsylvania, who, finding the wheels of the original contrivance too high, substituted runners of three-inch scantling These runners, he says, ought to be about two inches deeper behind than before, so as to ele- vate that part of the box, and give the teeth a depression towards the ground. The teeth ought to be left flat on the top, and the edges made sharp; underneath they should be bevelled dovetail fashion. Though wood will answei for these, it would be an improvement to havt them made of iron, shaped like dirk blades Mr. Bowman also thinks the box should ba CLOVER. CLUB MOSS. made larger than that described, say six feet wide and five deep, as one of such a size can easily be drawn by a single horse, and would do more work. With the machine as modified by him, Mr. B. says the clover heads may be gathered cleaner and in half the time that would have been required to mow and save the hay. He sums up the advantages of em- ploying the machine as follows: — "1st. The stalks are all left on the ground to benefit the land. 2d. The heads are immediately taken to the barn, ready for the hulling machine, without the delay and labour of separating the heads from the stalks by flails or tramping. 3d. A man with a horse can strip double the quantity in a day that he could cut. 4th. The seed is better, inasmuch as the heads are taken to the barn and secured from the weather, the dampness of which frequently causes them to sprout when exposed to the usual rotting pro- cess, as it is termed. For the use of this ma- chine the clover ought to be permitted to get fully ripe, and if the spaces between the teeth become clogged, they can quickly be freed by a sharp spade or shovel, which th» operator has with him in shovelling the heads to the back of the box." In getting the seed from the heads, it has been common to employ the flail, and to clear it from the husk and chaff" recourse has been had to a clover-mill, worked either by water, steam, or horse-power. A clover-mill adapted to horse-power, with the advantage of being portat)le, has been patented by Rittenhouse & Co., and is much used in the Northern and Eastern States, where the average product of seed per acre is four or five bushels. The cost of the mill is about $60. The old method of thrashing out clover seed by theflail or by the tramping of horses has been ge- nerally regarded as very tedious and disagreea- ble, so much so, indeed, as to have discouraged most farmers from attempting to gather the seed at all. Those who were within the vicinity of clover-mills conveyed the seed in the hull to them to have it separated and cleaned. This was costly and troublesome, and the refuse was lost to the farmer. Of latter time the in- troduction of thrashing machines has obviated all difficulty of this kind, and farmers can now thrash out their clover seed with nearly the same expedition that they thrash their grain. The dried clover stalks and heads are put through the machine in the same manner as wheat ; a proper sifter separates the stems from the heads, when, by introducing an additional set of teeth into the machine to work closer, the heads or chaflT are again put through the machine, by which process the seed is shelled from the hull with great expedition and very effectually, when it is cleaned by the fan in the usual manner. Many of the thrashing ma- chines now in use have been constructed with the additional set of teeth for this purpose, and if they were all thus supplied, it would be^a means of encouraging the cultivation of clo- ver for seed on a much more extended scale, cheapen the article, and promote the sowing of it more extensively and thicker than is often done, by which fewer bald places would be seen in the fields, and the stalks would not be so gross and succulent, and the hay and pas- ture would be sweeter and better and in greater abundance than when it stands thin on the ground. {Sinclair's Hart, Gram.; Quart. Journ, of Agr. vol. xi. p. 249; "On turning the second crop of Clover;" Com. to Board of Agr. vol. i\. p. 197; Davy.) CLOVER, BOKARA. See Melhlotus Alba CLOVER BOX. A contrivance for sowing clover seed, of very simple construction, easily made and at trifling expense, was invented by the late Mr. Bordley, of Maryland. It is called the Clover box, and in some sections of the country it is in general use. It not only scat- ters the seed over the ground with entire cer- tainty and equality, but makes a much less quantity answer than is usually required in the old process of sowing broadcast. It is stated that, " by the use of this box, one bushel has seeded fifteen acres, the clover well set, the plants in sufficient numbers, and the whole field evenly seeded. " The box is eight or ten feet in length, about four inches in breadth, divided into partitions of six inches long. In the bottom of each partition is an opening of about three inches square, in which is inserted a piece of tin, parchment, or stiflT paper, perforated with a number of holes of sufficient size for the clo- ver seed to pass freely through. "The seed is placed in each partition. To the box is affixed a strap, which is passed over the shoulders of the sower, and, carrying the box before him, he walks over the field, agitat- ing the box by his hand if it requires more movement than it receives from his walk. In this manner the seed is equally distributed over all the ground. " A very thin piece of baard may be hooked at the bottom of the box, to prevent the seed dropping out before the sowing commences. The box may be made of light cedar, and not weigh more than six or eight pounds without the seed." See Am. Farmer, vol. ii. p. 60. CLOVER, STONE (TrifoUumarveHse),We\sh clover, Rabbit-foot. This is frequent in Penn- sylvania and other Middle States, on sandy, barren fields. Though supposed to be a native of America, it is found on both sides of the Atlantic. It is a worthless plant, and indicative of careless farming. (Flor. Cestric.) CLUB GRASS " (Corynephorus). An unin- teresting species of grass, requiring only to be sown in common soil. The last articulation of the jointed beard is club-shaped, whence its name. CLUB MOSS (Lycopodium, from huKog a wolf, and trou? a foot, because of the resem- blance of the roots). This moss grows abun- dantly on mountaipous heaths or stony moors; some of the species, which are numerous, reach to a foot high, in watery, healthy, mountainous situations. The seeds are often highly inflam- mable, like powdered sulphur. The aardy species of club moss require to be cultivated in peat soil, in a moist situation ; some of then? succeed in pots of water. They are readily in creased by suckers. The planed or flatted lycopodium grows lU the United States, in woods and thickets. It is the well-known trailing variety so often cot 1 2 F 2 34- CLUB RUSH. COCHINEAL. lected as an ornamental evergreen, lO be hung in festoons around churches, ball-rooms, mir- rors, picture-frames, &c. {Flora Cestrica.) CLUB RUSH. See Rush. CLUMP (Ger. klunip). A number of shrubs or trees growing together. CLUSTER-GRAPE. The small black or currant grape. See Viite. CLUSTER-SOWING. That method of sow- ing grain, in which a number of corns are placed together. CLYSTER. See Glystkr. COAGULATION (Lat. coagulatio). A term signifying that chemical change which takes place when a fluid, or some part of it, is ren- dered more or less solid. COAGULUM. A term applied to the curdled concretion formed by the mixture of two liquors. It sometimes also means rennet. COB. A kind of wicker basket, made so as to be carried on the arm. Hence a seed-cob, or seed-lip, is a basket for sowing from. Cob was formerly the name for a spider, hence we have cobweb. Cob is also applied provincially in England to a round sort of stone, to a mud wall, and sometimes to a particular kind of horse. In the United States it is the common name given to that portion of the ear of In- dian corn to which the grains are attached. When burned, corn-cobs yield a large propor- tion of potash. COBBLE. A provincial term for a round sort of stone found in the fields. It also signi- fies a small kind of fishing-boat. COBBLE-TREES. A sort of double swingle- trees, whippins, or splinter-bars. COCCIFEROUS PLANTS (from ko;c««, and fc7-o to bear). Such plants or trees as af- ford nutrition to, and a habitation for, the insect called a coccus. COCCUS. A genus of insects frequenting certain plants. Naturalists enumerate more than twenty species. Among these are the cochineal insect of the tropical parts of Ame- rica, and the scarlet-grain of Poland (Coccits polonicHs) wiiich thrives only in cold climates. This last is sometimes called the Cochineal of the North, and is collected in great abundance for the use of dyers, from the roots of the polygonum coccifenim. It is much inferior to the American cochineal. Some interesting information relative to in- sects of the Coccus family may be found under the head of Bahk-Lice. COCCULUSINDICUS, or INDIAN BERRY, IS the fruit of the Menispermimi cocculus, a large tree, which grows upon the coasts of Malabar, Ceylon, &c. The fruit is blackish, and of the size of a large pea. It owes its narcotic and poisonous qualities to the v^geto-alkaline che- mical principle called picrotoxia, of which it contains about one-fiftieth part of its weight. It is sometimes thrown into waters to intoxi- cate or kill fishes ; and it is seid to have been employed to increase the inebriating qualities of ale or beer. Its use for this purpose is pro- hibited by act of Parliament, under a penalty of 200?. upon the brewer, and 5001. upon the seller of the drug. COCHINEAL. An America ■ insect greatly valued on account of its use in Jying crimson, M2 scarlet, &c., and preparing carmine. When first discovered it was taken to Europe as a seed, but was proved by the observations of Lewenhoeck to be an insect, being the female of that species of shield-louse, or coccus, disco- vered in Mexico, so long ago as 1518. It is brought to us from Mexico, where the animal lives upon the cactus opuntia or nopal. Two sorts of cochineal are gathered — the wild, from the woods, called by the Spanish name grana silvestra; and the cultivated, or the grana fina, termed also mesteque, from the name of a Mexi- can province. The first is smaller, and co- vered with a cottony down, which increases its bulk with a matter useless in dyeing ; it yields, therefore, in equal weight, much less colour, and is of inferior price to that of the fine cochi- neal. But these disadvantages are compen- sated in some measure to the growers by its being reared more easily and less expensively; partly by the effect of its down, which enables it belter to resist rains and storms. The wild cochineal, when it is bred upon the field nopal, loses in part the tenacity and quantity ^f its cotton, and acquires a size double of what it has on the wild opuntias. It may, therefore, be hoped that it will be im- proved by persevering care in the rearing of it, when it will approach more and more to fine cochineal. The fine cochineal, when well dried and well preserved, should have -a gray colour, border- ing on purple. The gra}'^ is owing to the pow- der, which naturally covers it, anti of which a little adheres ; as also to a waxy fat. The purple shade arises from the colour extracted by the water in which they were killed. It is wrinkled with parallel furrows across its back, which are intersected in the middle by a longi- tudinal one ; hence, when viewed by a magni- fier, or even a sharp naked eye, especially after being swollen by soaking for a little in water, it is easily distinguished from the factitious, smooth, glistening, black grains, of no value, called East India cochineal, with which it is often shamefully adulterated by certain London merchants. The genuine cochineal has the shape of an egg, bisected through its long axis, or of a tortoise, being rounded like a shield upon the back, flat upon the belly, and without wings. These female insects are gathered off" the leaves of the nopal plant, after it has ripened its fruit, a few only being left for brood, and are killed, either by a momentary immersion in boiling water, by drying upon heated plates, or in ovens. The last become of an ash-gray colour, constituting the silver cochineal, or jaspcada : the second are blackish, called negro. and are most esteemed, being probably driest; the first are reddish brown, and reckoned in- ferior to the other two. The dry cochineal being sifted, the dust, with the imperfect insects and fragments which pass through, are sold uoder the name of granillo. Cochineal keeps for a long time in a dry place. Hellol says that he has tried some 1.30 years old, which produced the same effect as new cochineal. Much adulteration is practised in England upon cochineal. In the republics of Mexico, COCK. COFFEE. Guatimala and other parts of Central America, \vhere the temperature of the climate through . out ten months of the year seldom falls so low as 50° Fahr., the circumstances are peculiarly favourable to the culture of the cochineal in- sect, A large amount of the capital of the country is invested in thi necessary plantations and fixtures. The true cochineal insect has been found in £oulh Carolina by the late Dr. Garden, and TWr. Raphael Peale of Philadelphia also identi- fied it on the island of Little St. Simons, coast of Georgia. The Cactus opuntia grows abun- dantly on all the calcareous islands near the Southern coast. Still it is not very probable that cochineal will soon become an object of culture in the extreme Southern States, as it is an employment of a very tedious and fatiguing nature, exacting more attention than the ma- nagement of the silkworm, which last bids fair to be a far more profitable resource. COCK (Sax. coec; Fr. coq). A name applied to the male of chickens and other birds. COCKCHAFFER (Mclolontha vulgaris). One of the common names for a species of European tree beetle, whose food consists almost entirely of leaves. They come rather late in the vernal season, about May 20th, but occasionally ap- pear at uncertain intervals in amazing swarms. White says, they abound only once in three years. They are also known by the provincial names of May-bug, dor, and dummador. Cock- chaflTers are sometimes used as baits in angling. The larva or grub of the common cockchaffer is one of the great ravagers of the English meadows and grass lands. It remains in the grub state for four years. "It undermines," says Kirby, " the richest meadows, and so loosens the turf, that it will roll up as if cut with a turfing spade. These grubs did so much injury seventy years ago to a poor farmer near Norwich, that the court of that city, out of compassion, allowed him 25?., and the man and his servant gathered eighty bushels of the beetles. The damage done by them in 1785 was so great in France, that the government ofiered a reward for the best mode of eradicat- ing them." The rooks are great friends to the farmer in destroying this grub, to procure which they follow the plough. (Kirby and Spencers lilt rod. to Entomology, vol. i. p. 180.) COCK-FIGHTING. A very old and barba- rous common pastime and amusement, which is happily growing into disuse in civilized England and America, and becoming super- seded by more manly and noble sports. COCKLE, CORN, or CORN CAMPION (Sax. coccel; Lat. jlgi-ostcmma gitkago). PI. 10, a. A well-known troublesome annual weed, of rather an ornamental appearance, growing in grain-fields n summer, bearing purplish red flowers. It stands two feet and a half high, the stalk firm, hairy, slender, and round, with one large flower upon each top. The leaves stand two at a joint, long, narrow, and of a bright green colour. The flowers, which are of a violet-purple colour, stand in a cup composed of linear hairy sepals, which are longer than \ the corolla. The seeds, which are numerous, ! are black and rough, and nearly as big as small wheat kernels ; they are filled with white flour, and very heavy. The miller's objection to these seeds is, that their black husks break so fine as to pass the boulters, and render the flour specky; also because the seed is bulky, and if there be much in the sample, it detracts considerably from the produce in flour. Being easily distinguished, this weed should be era- dicated from the field by the hand before flowering. (Smitli's Eng. Flora, vol. ii. p. 325 ; Sinclair's Weeds, p. 9 ; Elements of .Agriculture, 441 ; Willich's Dom. Encyr.) COCK'S-FOOT GRASS (Dactylis glomerata) PI. 5, b. Commonly called Orchard Grass in the Middle and Northern States. A species of grass, which, from the experiments of Sinclair, appears to become by cultivation superior to rye grass and some others as a pasture grass, if kept closely cropped by cattle or the scythe; and also when made into hay. Oxen, horses, and sheep eat it readily. It flowers from June till August, and perfects its seed in July. The produce of herbage per acre, at the time of flowering, is 27,905 lbs., which aflbrds of hay 11,859 lbs., and the proportion of nutritive matter is 1089 lbs. The produce is something less when the seed is ripe, and it loses about one-half its weight in drying. See HatGhasses. (Sinclair's Hort. Gram. p. 136 ; Smith's Eng. Flora, vol. i. p. 134.) COCK-SPUR. A common name in Eng- land for the Virginian hawthorn ; a species of medlar. See Hawthorx. COCOON. The fibrous web round a chry- salis. COD. A term used sometimes for pod. CODLIN. A well-known kind of baking apple. See Malus. COFFEE. The seed of a tree of the family rubiacece. There are several species of the genus, but the only one cultivated is the Cojfcea Arabica, a native of Upper Ethiopia and Arabia Felix. It rises to the height of fifteen or twenty feet. Its trunk sends forth opposite branches in pairs above and at right angles toeach other; the leaves resemble those of the common laurel, although not so dry and thick. From the angle of the leaf-stalks small groups of white flowers issue, which are like those of the Spanish jasmine. These flowers fade very soon, and are replaced by a kind of fruit not unlike a cherry, which contains a yellow, glairy fluid, enveloping two small seeds or berries convex upon one side, flat and furrowed upon the other, in the direc- tion of the long axis. These seeds are of a horny or cartilaginous nature ; they are glued together, each being surrounded with a pecu- liar coriaceous membrane. They constitute the coffee of commerce. It was not till towards the end of the fifteenth century that the coffee tree began to be culti- vated in Arabia. Historians usually ascribe the discovery of the use of coffee as a beverage to the superior of a monastery there, who, de- sirous of preventing the monks from sleeping at their noctural services, made them drink the infusion of coffee upon the reports of shepherds who pretended that their flocks were more lively after browsing on the fruit of that plant The use of cofliee was soon rapidly spread, wU» 343 COFFEE COFFEE. It encountered much opposition on the part of the Turkish government, and became the occa- sion of public assemblies. Under the reign of Amuralh III. the mufti procured a law to shut all the coffee-houses, and this act of sup- pression was renewed under the minority of Mahomet IV. It was not till 1554, under Soly- man the Great, that the drinking of coffee was accredited in Constantinople ; and a century elapsed before it was known in London and Pa:ris. Solyman Aga introduced its use into the latter city in 1669, and in 1672 an Armenian established the first cafe at the fair of St. Ger- main. The use of coffee became general among the English sooner than it did with the French. The first mention of coffee on the English sta- tute books is in 1660, when a duty of 4c?. is laid upon every gallon of cofi'ee bought or sold. Ray informs us that in 1688 London might rival Cairo in the number of coffee-houses. When coffee became somewhat of a neces- sary of life, from the influence of habit among the people, all the European powers who had colonies between the topics, projected to form plantations of coffee trees in them. The Dutch were the first who transported the coffee plant from Moka to Batavia, and from Batavia to Amsterdam. In 1714, the magistrates of that city sent a root to Louis XIV., which he caused to be planted in the Jardin du Roi. This be- came the parent stock of all the French coffee plantations in Martinique. The most extensive culture of coffee is still in Arabia Felix, and principally in the king- dom of Yemen, towards the cantons of Aden and Moka. Although these countries are very hot in the plains, they possess mountains where Ihe air is mild. The coffee is generally grown naif way up on their slopes. M^hen cultivated on the lower grounds, it is always surrounded by large trees, which shelter it from the torrid sun, and prevent its fruit from withering be- fore their maturity. The harvest is gathered at three periods; the most considerable occurs in May, when the reapers begin by spreading cloths under the trees, then shaking the branches strongly, so as to make the fruit drop, which they collect, and expose upon mats to dry. They then pass over the dried berries a very heavy roller, to break the envelopes, which are afterwards winnowed away with a fan. The interior bean is again dried before Deing laid up in store. In Demarara, Berbice, and some of the Eng- lish West India islands, where much good coffee is now raised, a different mode of treating the pulpy fruit and curing the beans is adopted. Bee lire's Diet, af the Arts, «&c. The most highly esteemed coffee is that of Moka. It has a smaller and a rounder bean; a more agreeable taste and smell than any other. Its colour is yellow. NAct to it in European reputation are the Martinique and Bourbon coffees : the former is larger than the Arabian, and more oblong; it is rounded at the "inds ; its colour is greenish, and it preserves almost always a silver gray pellicle, which comes off in the roasting. The Bourbon coffee approaches nearest to the Moka, from which 344 ] it origmally sprung. The Saint Domingo } coffee has its two extremities pointed, and is much less esteemed than the preceding. The coffee tree flourishes in hilly districts, where its root can be kept dry, while its leavea are refreshed with frequent showers. Rocky ground, with rich decomposed mould in the fissures, agrees best with it. Though it would grow, as we have said, to the height of fifteen or twenty fget, yet it is usually kept down b^^ pruning to that of five feet, for increasing thBv production of the fruit, as well as for the con venience of cropping. It begins to yield fruit the third year, but is not in full bearing till the fifth, does not thrive beyond the twenty-fifth, and is useless in general at the thirtieth. In the coffee husbandry, the plants should be placed eight feet apart, as the trees throw out extensive horizontal branches, and in holes ten or twelve feet deep, to secure a constant supply of moisture. Coffee has been analyzed by a great many chemists, with considerable diversity of re- sults. The best analysis perhaps is that of Schrader. He found that the raw beans dis- tilled with water in a retort communicated to it their flavour and rendered it turbid, whence they seem to contain some volatile oil. On reboiling the beans, filtering and evaporating the liquor to a syrup, adding a little alcohol' till no more matter was precipitated, and then evaporating to dryness, he obtained 17-58 per cent, of a yellowish-brown transparent extract, which constitutes the characteristic part of coffee, though it is not in that state the pure proximate principle called cnfeine. Its most remarkable reaction is its producing, with both the protoxyde and the peroxyde salts of iron, a fine grass-green colour, while a dark-green precipitate falls, which redissolves when an acid is poured into the liquor. It produces on the solution of the salts of copper scarcely any effect, till an alkali be added, when a very beautiful green colour is produced, which may be employed in painting. Coffee beans con- tain also a resin, and a fatty substance some- what like suet. According to Robiquet, ether extracts from coffee beans nearly ten per cent, of resin and fat, but he probably exaggerates the amount. The peculiar substance cafeine contained in the above extract is cr}^stallizable. It is remarkable in regard to composition, that after urea and the uric acid, and theobromin from chocolate, it is among organic products the richest in azote. It was discovered and de- scribed in 1820 by Runge. It does not possess alkaline properties. Pfaff obtained only ninety grains of cafeine from six pounds of coffee beans. There is also an acid in ra\v coffee, to which the name of cafeic acid has been given. When distilled to dryness and decomposed, it has the smell of roasted coffee. Coffee undergoes important changes in the process of roasting. When it is roasted to a yellowish-brown, it loses, according to Cadet, 12 J per cent, of its weight, and is in this state difficult to grind. When roasted to a chestnut brown, it loses 18 per cent., and when it be« comes entirely black, though not at all carbo* nized, it has lost 23 per cent.. Srhrader has COFFEE. analj-^ed roasted coffee 'comparatively with raw cofl'ee, and he found in the first 12^ per cent, of an extract of coffee, soluble in water and alcohol, which possesses nearly the pro- perties of the extract of the raw coffee, although It has a deeper brown colour, and softens more re.adily in the air. He found also 10'4 of a tlackish-brown gum; 5'7 of an oxygenated extract, or rather apotheme, soluble in alcohol, insoluUe in water; 2 of a fatty substance and resin ; 69 of burnt vegetable fibre, insoluble. 0n distilling rcasted coffee with water, Schra- der obtained a product which contained the aromatic principle of coffee ; it reddened litmus paper, and exhaled a strong and agreeable odour of roasted coffee. If we roast coffee in a retort, the first portions of the aromatic prin- ciple of coffee condense into a yellow liquid in the receiver ; and these may be added to the coffee roasted in the common way, from which this matter has been expelled and dissipated in the air. Of late years much ingenuity has been ex- pended in contriving various forms of appa- ratus for making infusions of coffee for the table. I have tried most of them, and find, after all, none so good as a caffctiere a la Belloy, the coffee^ biggin, with the perforated tinplate strainer, especially when the filtered liquor is kept simmering in a close vessel, set over a lamp or steam pan. The useful and agreeable matter in coffee is very soluble : it comes off with the first waters of infusion, and needs no b<)iling. To roast coffee richly, we should keep in view the proper objects of this process, which are to develope its aroma, and destroy its tough- js, so that it may be readily ground to pow- * r. Too much heat destroys those principles which we should wish to preserve, and substi- tutes new ones which have nothing in common with the first, but add a disagreeable empyreu- matic taste and smell. If, on the other hand, the rawness or greenness is not removed by an adequate heat, it masks the flavour of the bean, and injures the beverage made with it. When well roasted in the sheet-iron cylinders set to revolve over a fire, it should have a uni- form chocolate colour, a point readily hit by experienced roasters, who now manage the business very well for the principal coffee- dealers both of London and Paris, so far as my judgment can determine. The develope- ment of the proper aroma is a criterion by which coffee-roasters frequently regulate their operations. When it loses more than 20 per cent, of its weight, coffee is sure to be in- jured. It should never be ground till immedi- ately before infusion. (Ure's Bid. of Arts and Manuf.) Coffee may be cultivated in the peninsula of Florida. A climate the temperature of which seldom falls below 55°, and where the soil is on gentle declivities, afford the most favourable circumstances. The. trees may be set five or six feet asunder; they begin to yield good crops at three years of age, and the average produce of a tree is two and a half pounds. The consumption of coffee is very great in Mohammedan countries, and especially in Tur- 44 COFFEE. key, wh^ their religion forbids the use of wine ana spirituous liquors. In the United States, its consumption is already very great and is rapidly increasing ; being not less than 15,000 tons annually. In Paris, the best coffee in the world is made by the following process. This is the cele- brated liquor there called cafe au hut. The coffee is generally roasted in a rotary cylinder, over a small furnace of charcoal, and usually in the open air, until it becomes of a browu cinnamon colour; it is then turned into a. wooden tray, and stirred till nearly cool. The pot in which coffee is usually made, is com- pound, and formed of two parts, of equal di- mensions ; the lower pot being made of the usual form ; the spout being kept covered and closed during the process, by a small cap, thimble formed. The upper pot is nicely fitted to the top of the lower pot, of which it forms a lid ; it is pierced at the bottom with very fine holes, and thus forms a fine strainer ; in the bottom of this pot, and on this strainer, the fresh and finely ground coffee is placed, and the top of this pot is closed by the insertion of a shallow tin cup, full of larger holes, which serves for a coarser strainer ; and through this, either boiling water, or, most commonly, a strong infusion of boiling coffee, is poured, which has been formed by boiling the grounds of the former day, which had still retained a large portion of their original strength ; thence the whole fluid slowly and gradually descends to the lower pot. Thus a very strong, clear, and black infusion is prepared, which, on being brought to the table, is reduced by the addition of at least an equal quantity or more of boiling milk ; sugar being added to suit the taste. Nothing can be more fragrant and de- licious than coffee thus made. (Kenrick.) In the Eastern countries of the old- world and in Europe ^ enerally, at present, coffee is alwavs taken in small cups as a cordial and restora- tive, — and not swilled in large vessels as a beverage at meals, as is so frequently done in the United States, especiall}' by the interior population. The French mode of preparing coffee for use having been given, we will sub- join a description of the process pursued in Arabia, as related by Mr. Buckingham, who had ample opportunities of learning it from personal observation. "It 'is found that the only certain mode of retaining the pure flavour of the coffee, is to roast, pound, and boil it, all in quick succes- sion, the roasted berries soon losing their fla- vour if laid I y for a day, and the pounded coffee becoming i-isipid, even in a few hours. The Arabs of '"n*; desert, who are from necessity economical in the use of this article, follow the same pror <;ss, even if they require on\y two cups of the liquid, roasting a handful of bei ries on an iron plate, pounding them in a pes le and mortar while warm, and the instant th.* water boils, which it will generally do by thtf time the other preparations are completed, so that no time is lost, putting the pounded pow der into it, and suffering it to boil, stirring it at the same time for about a minute or two, when it is poured out to drink. As the beverage is .345 COFFEE TREE. COINS, FOREIGN. taken vithout sugar or milk, the slightest dif- ference m the flavour is perceptible ; and long experience having shown this to be the best way of preserving it in perfection, it is per- haps worth mentioning in detail, particularly as the use of this article has become so general." COFFEE TREE (Gymnodadus Canadensis). This native North American tree is found as high northward as Upper Canada beyond Mon- treal, and on the southern shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario. It is, however, much less abun- dant in these climes than in the states of Ken- tucky and Tennessee, and in the tract watered by the Ohio and Illinois rivers, between the 35th and 40th degrees of latitude. B}' the French of Canada this tree is called Chirot ; by those of the Illinois Gros Fevier, whilst the inhabitants of the Western States call It Coffee Tree. The presence of this tree, is an evidence of the richest lands, on which it habitually grows in company with the black walnut, red elm, poplar, blue ash, honey locust, and hackberry. These trees it equals in height, but not in bulk; for a coffee tree fifty or sixty feel high does not generally exceed twelve or fifteen inches in diameter. -'In summer," says Michaux, "this tree when fully grown has a fine appearance : its straight trunk is often destitute of branches for thirty feet, and supports a summit not very widely spread, but of a regular shape and of tufted foliage ; such at least is its form in pri- mitive forests, where it is confined by the trees which grow around it. In the winter when its leaves are fallen, the fewness of its branches and the size of the terminal ones, which are very large in comparison with those of other trees, give it a peculiar appearance, somewhat resembling a dead tree, which it retains in the spring long after other trees are clothed in foliage. This is probably the reason of its being called Chicot, stum.p tree, by the French Canadians. To this peculiar cKaracter is added another of the epidermis, which is ex- tremely rough, and which detaches itself in small, hard, transverse strips, rolled backward at the ends, and projecting sufficiently to ren- der the tree distinguishable at first sight. I have also remarked that the live bark is very bitter, so that a morsel no bigger than a grain of maize chewed for some time produces a violent irritation of the throat." The foliage of the coffee tree bears some resemblance to that of the black walnut. The flowers are white, and the fruit consists of large bean-like crooked pods, of a reddish brown colour, and of a pulpy consistency within. They contain several large, gray s.2eds, which are extremely hard. The French iL\ Upper Louisiana call them Gourganes. "The name of the coffee tree was given by the early emigrants to Kentucky and Tennes- see, who hoped to find in its seeds a substitute for coffee : but the small number of persons who made the experiment abandoned it, as soon as it became easy to obtain from the sea- ports the coffee of the West Indies. " The wood of the coffee tree is very com- pact and of a rosy hue. The fineness and 346 closeness of its grain fit for cabiii'i-making, and its strength renders it proper for building. Like the locust, it Jias the valuable property of rapidly converting its sap into perfect wood, so that a trunk six inches in diameter has only six lines of sap, and may be employed almoi? entire. These qualities recommend it for pro» pagation in the forests of the north and of the centre of Europe. " The coffee tree was sent to France more than fifty years since. It thrives in the envi- rons of Paris, where there are trees that ex- ceed forty feet in height ; but it does not yield fruit, and is multiplied only by shoots obtained by digging trenches round the old trees. The divided roots produce shoots three or four feet long, the first year. The young trees are sought, on account of their beautiful foliage, for the embellishment of parks and pictu- resque gardens." A communication from Mr. M. D. Hardin, of Franklin county, Kentucky, published in the American Farmer (vol. 2), makes us ac- quainted with some interesting facts relative to the sensible properties of the fruit of the coflTee tree, and its effects when eaten. The subjoined preparation of the nut of the native coffee bean tree, or pea locust tree, "has," says Mr. Hardin, ," been found to de- stroy flies more certainly than any preparation I ever saw. It is now used by many in this neighbourhood. I never heard of it until this season. There is no danger to children or any animal from the preparation. I have been fa- miliar with the nut for more than thirty years; it grew in my father's yard, and is in abun- dance in my wood pastures. I have several times eaten the kernel of the nut raw, but never of many at a time — when roasted many are fond of them, and I have eaten a good many that way, I have never myself seen them used for coffee, but have heard of their being so used as a matter of curiosity not of choice or economy. The cattle eat the pods including the nuts in the winter, as they do the wild honey locust pods ; but the nut owing to its hard shell does not digest, but passes off whole. I have known children eat the green glutinous matter within the pod, as they would that of the wild honey locust, but it brings on sickness and puking. The nut itself is so well under- stood to be harmless and eatable, that the cof- fee-mill has been most usually made use of to prepare the nut for the flies. " For destroying flies. — Take the nuts of the native pea locust or coffee-nut tree, crack them and take out the kernel raw; reduce them to meal or powder (a coflfee-mill or mortar are commonly used), put this into as much sweet milk as would make it into a paste. To this add some sugar to make the flies more readily eat it, put it into a plate or other vessel, and set it where you want to destroy the flies." COFFIN-BONE. In farriery, that bone which lies encircled within a horse's hoof as in a coflin. COINS, FOREIGN. The following tables will show the values and weights of various foreign coins in federal money of the United States : COLCHICUM. COLLING. Table of various Foreign Coins, with their Value in Money of the United States. Also, the Value of Gold Coins per pennyweight. Value per dwt. Value by tale. Oold. cm. B.C. D,c. British sovereign, or pound sterling - - - - 946 483 to 486 French twenty-franc piece - 92-9 3-84 to 3-85i German ren-thaler piece - 7-84 to ~-Q7 Doubloon of Spanish America 88-7 to 90- 15-39 to 15-62 The value by tale depends upon the age, reign, section of country, and other qualifying circumstances, so that it cannot be precisely expressed in so small a compass. Vil. by tale. Silver. c. m. Dollar of Mexico and South America, about - - 1000 French five-franc piece - - - - - - 930 Piussixn thaler 68-3 to 693 English shilling (since 1816) . - - - - 217 Milreis of Portugal, about ----- 112-0 Rupee of British India ------ 44-5 Spaiiish-Aiiierican quarter-dollar, unworn - - 250 Do. do. worn by circulation 23-5 By the Mint Laws passed by Congress in 1837, the eagle is to weigh 258 troy grains, the half and quarter in proportion; the dollar 412^ grains, the parts in proportion. The relative value, therefore, of silver to gold, is 15*9984 to 1, or nearly 16 of silver for 1 of gold. In making this comparison, both the silver and gold are to be of the fineness of nine-tenths. The coinage of silver in the United States, from 1826 to 1833, was nineteen and a half millions; that from 1834 to 1841 was twenty millions. COLCHICUM (Colchicum atUumnak). Com- mon meadow saffron. A bulb throwing up a reddish purple flower without leaves in Sep- tember and October: grows three or four inches high : found in moist rich meadows, but not common. It may be propagated from offsets in Julj'. Every part of the plant con- tains an alkaline principle named Colchicia, which is a most violent purgative as well as narcotic. This active matter is extracted by wine, spirits of wine, and vinegar. A tincture of the bulb or of the seeds of colchicum, in the dose of twenty to thirty drops twice a day, has been found very useful in gout and rheuma- tism. It has been too commonly taken without medical advice, and much mischief has re- sulted. In an overdose colchicum is a virulent poison. (Sm(7/i's Eng. Flora, vol. ii. p. 202.) COLD (Sax. coio; Dan. kaald). See Ca- TABRH, and DisKAsr.s of Cattle, Horses, «fec. COLE, or COLESEED (Celt, caal ; Welsh, cawl ; Lat. Brassica napns). A variety of the cabbage genus, much cultivated in the east of England; it is sown from the middle of July to the end of August, either for autumn sheep- feed, or for seed (which is very rich in oil) for the following summer. The ashes of the burnt straw of coleseed are excellent dressing for clover. (Brit. Hiisb.vo\. ii. p. 312.) See Colza and Rape. COLEWORT. See Cabbage. COLIN, THE VIRGINIAN PARTRIDGE {Ortyx Virginiana). This bird has been intro- duced into England from the United States, and is a species of partridge. It lives on the borders of woods, among brushwood, or on the thick grassy plains. {YcrrelVs Brit. Birds, vol. li. p. 448.) COLLAR (Span, collar ; Lat, collare). That part of the harness of a horse or other animai that goes round his neck and rests on the shoulders. For horses, they are mostly made of canvass, &c. stuffed with hair, tow, or straw, and covered with leather. COLLEY, or COLLY. A kind of dog much prized by the Scotish drovers. See Doo, Shep-* herd's. COLLEY SHEEP. A name for sheep that have black faces and legs. The wool of these sheep is generally very harsh, having hairs mixed with it. COLLING, ROBERT and CHARLES. Two celebrated farmers of the count}^ of Durham, who, by their skill, enterprise, and public spirit, not only secured for themselves the plaudits of after generations of farmers, but did honour to their country by the improvement which they effected in the Durham breed of short-horns, perhaps the most celebrated of all our modern breeds of cattle. It is not in my power to give any details with regard to their private history; their public efforts is all in which my readers will feel interested. The following account of the sale of their stock, and the enormous amount which it produced, will afford a much better view of their success as breeders than any eulogiura of mine. Charles Colling, of Ketton, near Darlington, made a very ample fortune. The prices he obtained for his stock could hardly indeed have failed to have produced such a result : thus at his sale of improved short-horns, Oct. 11, 1810, the following were some of the prices obtain ed:— Conri. Age. Guineai. Cherry - - 11 - - - 83 Peeress - - 5 - - - 170 Countess - - 9 - - - 400 Celina - - 5 - - - 200 Lady - - . 14 - - - 206 Lilly - - 3 - - - 410 Bulls. Guineas. Comet - - 6 - . - looo Major - - 9 - - - 200 Petrarch - - 2 - - - 365 Alfred - - 1 - - - 110 Duke - - 1 - - - 105 Bull calves under one year old. Guineas. Young Favourite ----- 140 Geerse 130 Sir Dimple ------ 90 Cecil 170 Heifen. Age. Guinea*. Phoebe - - 3 - - - 105 Young Duchess . 2 - - - 183 Young Countess - 2 - - - 206 Lucy - - - 2 - - - 132 Charlotte . - 1 - . - 132 Heifer oaWes under one year old. Guineas. Lucilla 106 Calista ------- 50 White Rose ------ 75 Altogether it appears that — 17 cows sold for 11 bulls 7 bull calves " 7 heifers " 5 heifer calves 47 lots 2802 9 2361 9 687 15 942 18 321 6 7115 17 Robert Colling's stock was sold at Barmptoii, near Darlington, September 29, 1818, when it produced for — a47 COLT. COLZA. 34 cows 17 heifers 6 bulls 4 bull calves 61 head of cattle - One 2 year old cow sold for One 4 " " One 5 " " One 1 " bull calf One 4 " bull Guineas. 4141 1287 1343 713 7484 331 300 370 270 621 (^Youatt on Cattle, p. 231 — 233.) Charles Colling, after his retirement from business, resided at Croft, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, where he died January 16, 1836, aged 85. Robert Colling died in his 70lh year, at Barmpton, near Darlington, March 7, 1820. COLT (Sax. coir). A term applied to young horses. See Horses. COLT-EVIL. In farriery, a distemper to which young horses are subject, consisting of a swellins; in the sheath. COLTS-FOOT, COMMON. (Tussilago far- farn). PI. 10, /. This is an herb of peculiar growth, very common in England on chalky or marly soil, in moist situations. It is mostly found in fields that are over-cropped or ex- hausted, and often severely exercises the pa- tience of the farmer. It may be eradicated by ploughing up the soil, carrying the plant away when rooted out, and laying the fields down to grass. The flowers rise in spring on stalks six or eight inches high, round, large, and yel- low, like the dandelion ; their stalks being thick, fleshy, scaly, and red coloured. Each stalk supports one flower. When the flowers have decayed, then the leaves appear on erect furrowed footstalks, broad and cordate, lobed and toothed, resembling the form of a horse's foot, whence the name. They are green above, and white and downy underneath. The leaves are used medicinally, and they dry well. A decoction of the leaves and roots, or a syrup of the juice, is useful in coughs, whence the generic name. The ancients inhaled the smoke far the relief of coughs. There are two species of the colts-foot, butter- bur, or Tussilago genus in the United States. See NuttuWs Genera. The plant known in Pennsylvania and some other Middle States by the name of colts-foot is not of the same genus, but an Asarmn. See Gingeh, Wild. COLZA. Though comparatively but little cultivated in England, and hardly known in the United States, colza is an article of im- mense importance in French and Flemish hus- bandry. It belongs to the cabbage family, and is cultivated for its oily seed, which are crushed and pressed for their oil, similar to flax-seed. The oil is used to burn in lamps, and for a great variety of useful purposes. The cake left after pressing the seeds, like that of rape, is an article regularly in the markets of Eng- land, France, Germany, &c., being purchased by farmers, who use it, either alone or mixed with other substances, as food for cattle, or to make into manure for various crops. In France, Germany, and the Netherlands, the cake is very often thrown into their urine-cis- rns, where it soon becomes a very valuable ma- .^•18 terial for manure. The haulm, or stems, after the seeds are thrashed ofl", is frequently burned for the ashes, which are considered of treble the value of other ashes employed as manure. Two species of colza are cultivated in France ; the one a biennial, sown in summer or autumn, standing out all winter, and matur- ing its growth and seed the following summer. This is called winter colza, and is the Brassica campestris of botanists. The other species, or rather variety, is a spring crop, maturing its seeds the same year, and is the Brassica arven- sis of naturalists. Neither of these must be confounded with rape, which the French term navette, and which is the Brassica napus, being the species most cultivated for similar purposes in England. Whether the winter colza will resist the intense cold of the winters in the more northern states may be doubtful; but should it not, the spring colza (^B. arvensis) will doubtless succeed in any part of the United States not favourable to the winter species. As the plant may become of consequence to the American agriculturist, we subjoin, from Dom- basle's Farmer's Calendar, a description of the French modes of managing the colza crops. It is generally considered indispensable that the ground on which colza is sown should be rich, light, new, well manured, and prepared by much working. " Nevertheless," says Dom- basle, "many years' experience has taught me that, by pursuing a good system of culture, very satisfactory crops may be procured from light and gravelly soils. The plant is not afraid of a slightly clayey soil, which, in fact, is the one best adapted to it, provided this be very light in its texture. It .is indispensable that the ground, of whatever nature its soil may be, shall be perfectly well drained during the winter, as frosts are fatal to colza in soils which retain water." There are three methods of sowing colza : — 1. Broad-cast ; 2. In rows or drills; 3. In beds for transplantation. The last method can onl be pursued where labour — and especially f male labour — is extremely cheap. The sowin in rows is done by the use of drills, the lines being placed about eighteen inches apart. This method admits of hand-hoeing, and even the tise of the cultivator, to destroy weeds or loosen the soil. When sown broad-cast, about 14 lbs. of seed are required for one hectare (equal to about 2^ acres). Much less is re- quired where sown by drills, when the seeds are dropped about an inch apart in the direc- tion of the rows. The sowing broad-cast or in rows generally takes place from the middle of July to the middle of August. When the plants are picked from beds to be planted out, this is done in September or early in October, so that they may have time before winter to form good roots. They are placed in holes dibbled by means of a planter with points from 9 to 12 inches apart, and so formed that a man makes two i-ows at a time, whilst a second person puts the plants in the holes, pressing the earth well around them with his feet. Sometimes rows are run with the plough, and two or three women are employed after each plough, in dis- tributing plants along the open furrow, which is covr^d up by the plough in returning. COLZA. COLZA. When this is skilfully performed, the planta- tion may be etTected with great regularity. In soils of moderate fertility, the plants need not be more than 9 inches apart in every direction. When the ground is very rich, they may stand about 12 inches apart; and when planted with the plough, every other furrow is left vacant, and the plants placed 9 or 10 inches apart. In moderately fertile soils, the product of the colza is generally equal to, and sometimes a little greater than that of wheat. Thus, in soils which produce 20 bushels of wheat to the acre, 20 or 25 bushels of colza are obtained, and the product of rape has been nearly equal. But in more fertile soils the colza, when it has been well managed, far surpasses the product of wheat on the same soil, it being not unusual to obtain 28 or 30 bushels to the acre, on ground that will not yield more than 18 or 20 bushels of wheat. Sometimes, by very careful cultivation, and on ground of a very deep soil, especially when this is newl}'^ broken up, as much as 40 bushels of colza can be got from aii acre, a larger product than could be expect- ed from tape. The chaff of colza and rape form very good food for woolly animals during winter. When given to horned cattle, it should be in the form of slop, made by mixing it in boiling water. Sheep eat the straw or stems very freely, when well kept and not too coarse. When planted in rows, a hoeing or harrow- ing, by means of the cultivator, is generally given in the month of March. About the be- ginning of July, and sometimes even at the end of June, the navette, or rape, and winter colza arrive at maturity, the rape almost always 8 or 10 days the earliest. As the seeds of these plants shatter off very easily, it is necessary that, in harvesting, they should be cut before they become completely ripe. The most pro- per time is when the seed-pods begin to turn yellow and become transparent, and when the seeds are of a dark-brown, though still tender. Though the grains of all the pods may yet be green, the greatest number will ripen in the stack or mow. Sometimes, when the crop has become very ripe, to prevent the loss of the seed, it should only be cut in the evening or morning, whilst it is covered with dew, or dur- ing a bright moonlight night. Twenty-four hours after reaping, or sometimes immediately after, if the plants are quite ripe, the colza is put into cocks, the sheaves being carried to an elevated part of the field, and placed in cocks, the height of which must be double that of the stock of colza- In laying them down, the first sheaves are placed on the outside, and the next towards the centre. The cock gradually dimi- nishes in diameter, till raised to the height of five or six feet. When the cock is two or three feet high, the stalks or stems have an inclina- tion on the outside downwards. This increases successively to the top, which is thus made to form a perfect cone. To keep out the rain, the top may be tied with a band of straw, willow twig, or branch of any other pliant wood. The cocks remain in this state until all the grains are matured. This generally requires from 8 to 12 days. If carefully put up, the cocks will be sufficiently protected against bad weather, ' except in case of powerful and continued rains, which would occasion still -more damage to the crop in any other situation. The colza may also be put into large stacks, like those of wheat and other grain, very soon after it has been cut, and remain in this situation for a month or two. This is, in fact, the safest way of keeping the colza. But this method is more expensive than that of cocking, as it requires to be wagoned to the stack. The fermentation which always takes place in the cocks is verv favourable to the grain, giving it a fine colour, and contributing qualities which are very de- sirable. The grain will only be injured, if it is heaped up whilst it is yet green or wet- When the crop is small, it may be taken at once into a barn and thrashed off. In its trans- portation the seed is very apt to be shaken off, on which account it is necessary to carry them to the wagons in cloths, and the wagon itself should be lined with some coarse and cheap stuff. Large crops of colza or rape are generally thrashed in the field by the feet of horses, the place being covered with strong hempen cloth, stretched upon a spot from which all stones, (fee, are carefully removed. If the colza has been put up in cocks, we carr}' the whole cock in a linen cloth eight feet square, which four men suspend to two long poles of light wood, eleven feet in length, attached to the two sides of the '-'pen. After spreading the cloth along the side i*' the cock, two other poles, of the same length as those described, are passed under the cock, which is thus raised up altoge- ther and placed upon the cloth, to be carried to the thrashing-floor. When this is sufficiently filled with colza, spread evenly about two feet in thickness, and first beaten down by the feet of the workman who arranges it, three unshod horses are put upon the floor, or three two-year- old colts. These are trotted circularly around a man who occupies the centre, and who holds them by a rein. After they have been round several times, the colza is turned with hay- forks, and the horses brought on again. In this way the thrashing is done very quickly, If a very large crop, two thrashing-floors should be made, so that when one bed is preparing, another maybe thrashing and empt3'ing. After being thrashed, the seeds may be housed, either in the chaff or partially screened through rid- dles. When put into granaries, the colza should be spread in small beds, and turned frequently for some time, being subject to heating, by which much of their value is lost. It should only be completely cleaned when perfectly dry, or when it is desirable to sell, as it keeps so much better when mixed with more or less chaff. It is scarcely necessary to ob- serve that colza may be thrashed by means of the common thrashing machine? used foi- grain. Spring Colzn. — In clayey and new soils, the spring colza is generally more productive than the rape, yet it is always a very uncertain crop, like those of all oily grains which ais sown in the spring. It is one of the most pro- fitable plants that can be grown in the soils of newly-drained ponds and meadows. Some persons, however, have obtained abundant crops from ground asiapted to the growth of 2G 349 COLTS-FOOT. CORD-WOOD. wheat, but this has heen in particularly favour- able seasons. The spring colza should not be sown as late as the rape, as its growth is much slower. "In one very favourable year," says Dombasle, " when I had sown colza on the 2d of June, it did not arrive at maturity soon enough to admit of being harvested." After the soil has been well prepared by two or three ploughings, the seed may be sown broad-cast, at the rate of 7 or 8 lbs. per acre on very light ground, covering it with the har- row. Some sow the colza in drills eighteen inches apart, and till between the rows with a horse-hoe. But, in general, cultivation, which is so beneficial to winter colza and rape, pro- duces but a poor effect on a crop which occu- pies the soil so short a time. COMFREY, COMMON (^Symphytum offici- nale). This wild plant grows by the sides of ditches and in moist places to a height of three feet. The leaves are a deep green colour, pointed, long, and rough to the touch. The stalk is green, thick, and upright, and winged at the bases of the leaves. The tlowers are sometimes white, and often reddish in colour. The root is thick, black externally, and white within. It is full of a slimy juice when crushed or broken. The root is the part used medici- nally. It contains much mucilage, and may be used as a demulcent. Conserve of comfrey is the best way of preserving it through the year. The tuberous-rooted comfrey (S. tubero- sum) is an herb of much humbler stature than the last-named root; knobbed and branched; externally whitish ; flowers fewer, drooping, yellowish-white, tinged with green. (Smith's Eng. Flora, vol. i. p. 263.) The prickly com- frey (S. asperrimum) is a hardy perennial of gigantic growth, introduced from Caucasus as an ornamental plant, in 1811, by Messrs. Lod- diges, of Hackney. (See Curtis' s Eot. Mag. No. 929.) The attention of the agriculturist has recently been directed to the cultivation of comfrey as green food for cattle, by Mr. Grant, of Lewisham, who speaks highly of its merits. (Baxter's jigr. Lib.) COMPOSITION FOR TREES. See Can- ker. COMPOST (Fr.; Lat. compositum). That sort of manure which is formed by the union or mixture of one or more different ingredients with dang, or other similar matter. An excel- lent essay, by Mr. James Dixon, on making compost heaps from liquids and other sub- stances, written on the evidence of many years' experience, was awarded a premium of 10/. in July, 1839, by the Royal Agr. Soc. of England, and is published in their Quart. Journ. vol. i. p. 135. See also Farm-tahd Manure. CONDITION (Fr. and Lat.). In horseman- ship, a term supposed to imply a horse's being in a state of strength and power, so much above the purpose he is destined to, that he displays it in his figure and appearance: this, according to Taplin, signifies "fine in coat, firm in flesh, high in spirits, and fresh upon his legs." CONIFEROUS PLANTS AND TREES. Such plants and trees as bear cones ; as the fir, pme, cedar, &c. CONSERVATORY (Lat'). } ey aie composed, must vary with the locality. 358 Mr. Gillespie has given one for a cottage with a roof without wood, which he asserts could b* built in Scotland for 30^. (Com. Board of ^gr. vol. iv. p. 469.) There is also an essay by Mr. Smith, on cottages for the labouring classes, which may be consulted with advantage (Trans. High. Soc. vol. iv. p. 205), and on cot- tage windows (Quart. Journ. of Jlgr. p. 116), and also on cottage premiums, and on the cot- tages built on the estate of Lord Roseberry. (Trans. High. Soc. vol. vi. p. 527.) By the erection of small, comfortable cot- tages on poor waste lands, and the allotment to each of a few acres of land, a field is opened for the rapid recovery by the spade of barren lands, and the profitable employment of the landowner's capital, too little understood. By merely deepening and mixing the soil, the cot- tager can bring into cultivation lands, which seem to defy all the powers of even the subsoil plough. The following information relative to the best modes of building cheap cottages is from a report made to Congress by Henry L. Ells- worth, see pp. 55 — 57. "After selecting a suitable spot of ground, as near the place of building as practicable, let a circle of ten feet or more be described. Let the loam be removed, and the clay dug up one foot thick, or, if clay is not found on the spot, let it be carted in to that depth. Any ordinary clay will answer. Tread this clay over with cattle, and add some straw cut six or eight inches long. After the clay is well tempered with working it with the cattle, the material is duly prepared for the making of brick. A mould is then formed of plank, of the size of the brick dep sired. In England, they are usually made eighteen inches long, one foot wide, and nine inches thick. I have found the more conve- nient size to be one foot long, seven inches wide, and five inches thick. The mould should have a bottom. The clay is then placed in the moulds in the same manner that brick moulds are ordinarily filled. A wire or piece of iron hoop will answer very well for striking off the top. One man will mould about as fast as an- other can carry away, two moulds being used by him. The. bricks are placed upon the level ground, where they are suffered to dry two days, turning them up edgewise the second day, and then packed up in a pile, protected from the rain, and left to dry ten or twelve days, during which time the foundation of the building can be prepared. If a cellar is desired, this must be formed of stone or brick, one foot above the surface of the ground. For cheap buildings on the prairie, wood sills, twelve or fourteen inches wide, may be laid on piles or stones. This will form a good superstructure. Where lime and small stones abound, grout made of those materials (lime and stones) will answer very well. " In all cases, however, before commencing the walls for the first story, it is very desirable, as well in this case as in walls of brick, to lay a single course of slate; this will intercept the dampness so often rising in the walls of brick houses. The wall is laid by placing the brick lengthwise, thus making the wall one foot thick. COTTAGES. COTTAGES. Ordinary clay, such as is used for clay mortar, will suffice, though a weak mortarof sand and lime, when these articles are cheap, is recom- mended as affording a more adhesive material for the p' aster. The wall may safely be car- ried up one story, or two or three stories ; the division walls may be seven inches, just the width of the brick. The door and window frames being inserted as the wall proceeds, the building is soon raised. The roof may be shingles or thatch. In either case, it shrndd pro- ject over the sides of the house, and also over the two ends, at least two feet, to guard the walls from verti- cal rains. The exterior wall is plastered with good lime mortar, and then with a second coat pebble-dashed. The inside is plastered without dashing. The floor may be laid with oak boards, slit, five or six inches wide, and laid down without jointing or planing, if they are rubbed over with a rough stone after the rooms are finished. Doors of a cheap and neat ap- pearance may be made by taking two single boards of the length or width of the doors ; placing these vertically, they will fill the space. Put a wide batten on the bottom and a narrow one on the top, with strips on the side, and a strip in the middle. This door will be a batten door, but presenting two long panels on one side and a smooth surface on the other. If a porch or verandah is wanted, it may be roofed with boards laid with light joints and covered with a thick paper dipped in tar, and then add- ing a good coat, after sprinkling it with sand from a sand-box or other dish with small holes. " Houses built in this way are dry, warm in winter, and cool in summer, and furnish no re- treat for vermin. Such houses can be made by com mon labourers, if a little carpenter's work is excepted, in a very short time, with a small outlay for. materials, exclusive of floors, win- dows, doors, and roof. "The question will naturally arise, will the wall stand against the rain and frost 1 I answer, they have stood well in Europe, and the Hon. Mr. Poinsett remarked to me that he had seen them in South America, after having been erect- ed three hundred years. Whoever has noticed the rapid absorption of water by a brick that has been burned, will not wonder why brick walls are damp. The burning makes the brick po- rous, while the unburnt brick is less absorbent; but it is not proposed to present the unburnt brick to the weather. Whoever has erected a building with merchantable brick will at once perceive the large number of soft and yellow brick, partially burned, that it contains — brick that would soon yield to the mouldering influ- ence of frost and storms. Such brick are, however, placed within, beyond the reach of rain, and always kept dry. A good cabin is made by a single room twenty feet square. A better one is eighteen feet wide and twent3'^-four feet long, cutting off eight feet on one end for two small rooms, eight by nine each. "How easily could a settler erect such a cabin on the Western prairie, where clay is usually found about fifteen inches below the surface, and where stone and lime are often both very cheap. The article of brick for chimneys is found to be quite an item of expense in wood- houses. Id these mud houses no brick are needed, except for the top of the chimneys, the oven, and casing of the fireplace — though this last might be well dispensed with. A cerueni, to put around the chimneys, or to fill any other crack, is easily made by a mixture of one part of sand, two of ashes, and three of clay. This soon hardens, and will resist the weather. A little lard or oil may be added, to make the composition still harder. " Such a cottage will be as cheap as a log cabin, less expensive than pine buildings, and durable for centuries. I have tried the experi- ment in this city by erecting a building eighteen by fifty-four feet, two stories high, adopting the different suggestions now made. Although many doubted the *hccess of the undertaking, all now admit it has been very successful, and presents a convenient and comfortable build- ing, that appears well to public view, and oll>rs a residence combining as many advantages uS a stone, briek, or wood house presents. I will add what Loudon says in his most excellent work, the Encyclopedia of .Agriculture, pp. 74 and 7.5 : "' The great art in building an economual cottage is to employ the kind of materials and labour which are cheapest in the given locality. In almost every part of the world the cheapest article of which the walls can be made will be found to be the earth on which the cottage stands, and to make good walls from the earth is the principal art of the rustic or primitive builder. Soils, with reference to building, may be divided into two classes : clays, loams, and all such soils as can neither be called gravels nor sands, and sands and gravels. The former, whether they are stiff or free, rich or poor, mixed with stones, or free from stones, may be formed into walls in one of these modes, viz., in the pise manner, by lumps moulded in boxes, and by compressed blocks. Sand}^ and gravelly soils may be always made into excel- lent walls, by forming a frame of boards, leav- ing a space between the boards of the intended thickness of the wall, and filling this with gravel mixed with lime mortar, or, if this cannot be got, with mortar made of clay and straw. " ' In all cases, when walls, either of this class or the former, are built, the foundations should be of stone or brick, and they should be carried up at least a foot above the upper sur- face of the platform. ." ' We shall here commence by giving one of the simplest modes of construction, from a work of a very excellent and highly estimable individual, Mr. Denson, of Waterbeach, Cam- bridgeshire, the author of the Peasant's Voice, who built his own cottage in the manner de scribed below : " 'Mode of building the mud loalh of cottages in Cambridgeshire. — After a labourer has dug a sufficient quantity of clay for his purpose, he works it up with straw; he is then provided with a frame eighteen inches in length, six deep, and from nine to twelve inches in uiame- ter. In this frame he forms his lumps, in the same manner that a brickmaker forms his bricks ; they are then packed up to dry by the weather; that done, they are fit for the use, a» a substitute for bricks. On laying the founda 359 COTTAGE-CHEESE. COW-BANE, SPOTTED. tion of a cottage, a few layers of brick are ne- cessary, to prevent the lumps from contracting a damp from the earth. The fireplace is lined and' the oven is built with bricks. I have known cottagers, where they could gel the grant of a piece of ground to build on for them- selves, erect a cottage of this description at a cost from £15 to £30. I examined one that ■was nearly completed, of a superior order: it contained two good lower rooms and a cham- ber, and was neatly thatched with straw. It is .a warm, firm, and comfortable building, far su- perior to the one I live in ; and my opinion is, that it will last for centuries. The lumps are laid with mortar, they are then plastered, and on the outside once rougkcast, which is done by throwing a mixture of water, lime, and small stones, against the walls, before the plaster is dry, which gives them a very hand- some appearance. The cottage I examined, cost £38, and took nearly one thousand lumps to complete it. A labourer will make that number in two days. The roofs of cottages of this description are preciselj' the same as when built with bricks or with a wooden frame. Cow-house sheds, garden walls, and partition fence, are formed with the same materials ; but in all cases the tops are covered wjth straw, which the thatchers perform in a very neat manner.'" (Densons Peasant^s Voice, p. 31.) COTTAGE-CHEESE. See Whet Butter. COTTON-GRASS {Erinphomm. Ital. co- tone ; Fr. coton). A perennial native genus of grasses, comprising seven species, which have no particular merit to warrant their recom- mendation for the purpose of the agriculturist ; their productive and nutritive powers being very inferior. Sinclair gives us the result of his experiments on two sorts, the common long- leaved cotton-grass {E. angustifuUum), and the hare's-tail, or sheathed cotton-grass (£. vagi- natum.) COTTON PLANT. See Gosstpium. COTTON TREE {Populus argentea). See Poplar. COTTON-WOOD (Populus Canadensis). See Poplar. COTTON, WILD (Jschpias Syriaca), popu- larly called silk-wccd and sivallow-wo7-t. An Ame- rican plant growing in low grounds and on road-sides, to the height of three or four feet. {Flora Cestrira.) COTYLEDON. The seed leaf. See Botany. COUCH, or CREEPING WHEAT GRASS (Triticnm repms, Pi. 10, i.) Named from the French coucher, to lie down. Sometimes called dog-grass and knot-grass. Until of late years, when botanical science has afforded us better information, it was generally supposed that all couch or twitch was the roots of one spe- cies of grass. But many persons observed that some of these roots, on wet soils, were black and much smaller, and they had locally ob- tained the name of black twitch. This, on soils where it prevails, is much worse than the other, becaitse it is wiry and small, and not so easily discharged from the soil ; it is also more brittle, and by harrowing breaks short. This is the Jlgrostis repens. There are two other grasses •which have strong creeping roots, and are in- differently called couch : these are the creep- 360 mg -rooted soft grass {Holcus mollis), and the smooth-stalked meadow grass (Poa pratensis). There is but one way of destroying couch, and that is by ploughing up the soil and pulverizing it. {Sinclair's Weeds, p. 27.) See Agrostis Re- PEXs. Couch or quitch grass, or creeping triti- mm, is a troublesome perennial, fortunately but little known in the United States. Dr. Darling- ton has only been able to find it in one place, the Weston school farm, in Chester county, Pennsylvania. (See Flora Cestrica.) COUGH (Goth, kueff, a catarrh ; kof, suffo- cation ; Dutch, kiich). in farriery, a convulsive motion of the lungs, being an effort of natur^. to throw up some offending matter from the air tubes. This is best treated, in mild cases, by cold bran mashes with linseed. But coughs arise from so many different causes that it is impossible to prescribe any general remedy. COULTER OF A PLOUGH. See Plough. COUNTER. In horsemanship, the breast of a horse, or that part of his fore-hand which lies between the shoulders and under the neck. COUPLES. A term applied to ewes and lambs. Couple is also a chain or tie that holds dogs together. COUPLINGS, or CUPLINGS. Thongs of untanned leather, or other material, which are used to connect the handle or handstaff and swiple of a flail. COVER, or COVERT (Fr. couvrir). A term applied to a place sheltered, not open or ex- posed. In sportsman's phrase, the cover is the chosen resort of the fox for kennelling; and such as lie high and dry are seldom without one or more, particularly if the underwood be thick and plenty. Artificial covers are often formed of broom and gorse, intermixed. {Elaine's Rural Sports, p. 4.52.) COVEY (Fr. couvee, from the Lat. cube). Provincially applied to a cover of furze, &c., for game. It is also applied to an old bird with her young ones, but is generally used to designate a number of partridges or other game. COW (Sax. cu; Dutch, koe ; Pers. gow). See Cattle. COW-BANE, WATER, or WATER HEM- LOCK {Cicuta virosa). A perennial, fetid, poi- sonous aquatic herb, found in ditches, and about the margins of rivers, not very common. Root tuberous, hollow. Stems two or three feet high, hollow, leafy, branched, furrowed. Leaves bright green, tapering at each end, from one to two inches long. Umbels large, bearing purplish flowers; fruit roundish, smooth. This is a fatal plant to cattle, if they happen to meet with it before it rises out of the water, in which state only they will eat the voung leaves. (£»?. Flor. vol. ii. p. 62). COW-BANE, SPOTTED (Cicuta maculata). Water hemlock, a perennial root frequently found in low grounds and the margins of streams in Pennsylvania and other Middle States. The mature fruit of this plant is highly aromatic, — the odour something be- tween that of aniseed and the kernels of the black walnut. The root is an active poison ; and numerous lives have been lost, for want COW-CLAGS. CRAB TREE. of sufficient botanical knowledge to distinguish the plant from the oxmorhiza or sweet cicely. The herb is also destructive to cattle, when eaten by them. There is one other species in the United States. {Flor. Cestric.) COW-CLAGS. A provincial name for the clotted lumps of dirt that hang to the buttocks of cattle and other animals. COW-HERP. A person whose office it is to attend upon the herds of cows in places where they run in common fields. COW-HOUSE. See Cattle Shed. COWISH. A new species of plant, called biscuit-root, found growing on dry land in the valley of the Columbia river. Its size is about that of a walnut, though sometimes larger. Its taste resembles that of the sweet potato, and it is prepared for food by the same process as the cammas, in which state it forms a tolerable sul s'itute for bread. V "^ W-KEEPING. The business of keeping cows t 'r the advantage of the milk, by dispos- ing ol it in large towns. The principal cow- keepers of the British metropolis have their establishments in the suburbs, where they are connected with pasture fields, in which their animals are turned out a portion of ever)' day throughout the year, when practicable. The cows are fed in the house with grains, mangel- wurzel, hay, tares, &c., and as the animals get air and exercise, the milk may be considered wholesome. But there are other cow-keepers in the metropolis, who confine their cows in back houses, and even dark cellars, and while they feed them with rich food, give them no exercise ; hence, the milk of such cows can- not be considered wholesome. (Harleian Dairy System: frit. Husb.) See Cattle. COW PARSNIP, or HOG WEED (Hera- eleum sphondylmm). A biennial pasture weed, which in England is found in hedges, the bor- ders of fields, and rather moist meadows, very common. Root tap-shaped, whitish, aromatic, sweetish, and rather mucilaginous. Stem four to six feet high, erect, branched, leafj', fur- rowed, and hollow. The leaves proceed from a large membrane or sheath. The flowers, which grow in large umbels, are either white or reddish ; the fruit is abundant, and light brown. The whole plant is wholesome and nourishing food for cattle, and is gathered in Sussex for fattening hogs, hence its name of hog-weed. It is also frequently known by the name of wild parsnip, meadow parsnip, and madrep. (Sinclair's Weeds, p. 65 ; Eng, Flora, vol. ii. p. 102.) The only ascertained species of this genus found in the United States is the Heradeum la- natam, or woolly cow parsnip, a perennial root, the stem of which sometimes grows six or eight feet high. It is frequent in low grounds in Pennsylvania. See Flor. Cest. COW "pea. a kind of pea much culti- vated in the Southern States as a field crop, and substitute for clover. See Peas. COW-POX. In farriery, is a disease afl^ect- ing the teats of cows. This disease appears in the form of small bluish vesicles surrounded by inflammation, elevated at the edge and de- press'^d in the centre, and containing a limpid fluid. By the use of the virus of this disease, 46 has originated the present excellent system of vaccination. COWSLIP, AMERICAN (Dodecatheon Meadia). A hardy perennial from South Ame- rica, loving shade and moisture. It blows in April and May. Propagated by seed and ofl!"- sets. Sow the seed in pots in autumn. Plant out the following autumn. COWSLIP, THE COMMON, or PAIGLE {Primula veris). A native English perennial weed, growing in meadows and pastures, chiefly on a clay or chalky soil. It produces sweet-scented yellow flowers, which appear in April, and are used for making cowslip wine or balsamic tea. Its roots have a fine odour, similar to that of anise, and give additional strength to ale or beer, when immersed in the cask. The leaves and flowers are excellent food for silk-worms, and are eaten eagerly by cattle. The leaves are also used as a pot- herb, and in salads. The flowers, leaves, and roots are all medi- cinal portions of the cowslip, and are made into tea, wine, and conserve. It is anodyne in its quality, and the ancient writers upon herbs speak highly of its effects ; but their opinions have lost their value by time. (Eng. Flora, vol. i. p. 271 ; WilUch's Dom. Encyc.) COWSLIP OF JERUSALEM, or LUNG- WORT PULMONARIA (Pulmonaria offici- nalis). This plant is perennial and flowers in May. It grows eight or ten inches high, with long, broad, hairy leaves, of a deep green, spotted on the upper side with white spots. The stalks are slender and hairy, with small leaves upon them. The flowers are reddish in the bud but blue when blown, small, grow- ing in clusters at the top of its stalk. The root is fibrous. The leaves have been used medicinally, from the idea that they resemble the lungs, and therefore must be useful in dis- ease of those organs. They are inert, and consequently useless. Several species of lungwort are found indigenous to the United States. COW-TIE. A provincial term applied to a short thick hair rope, with a wooden nut at on-e end and an eye in the other, being used for tying the hind legs of the cows while milking. COW-WHEAT (Melampyrum pratense), PI. 7, q. A plant cultivated in Flanders for feeding stock. There are some species of this plant found .in the United States. One has been called by botanists American melampyrum. This is found in dry, hilly woodlands, and on mica-slate hills, where it flowers in June and July. A narrov/- leaved variety is abunuant in the pines of New Jersey. (Flora Cestnca.) CRAB TREE, or WILD APPLE TREE (Pyrus mahts). There are in England several varieties among the wild crab.-., some of which are of excellent flavour when baked with plenty of sugar, even surpassing cultivated apples. (E)}g. Flora, vol. ii. p. 362.) Crab apples and sloes are the only fruits naturally belonging to the soil, and both are medicinal. The ei. pressed juice of any of them, called verjuice, kept by good housewives in the country, being excellent as an astringent gargle in sore throats 2H 361 CRAB APPLE. CRANBERRY. and in thrush and ulceration of the mouth and gums. It is sometimes mixed with beer-yeast, and applied outwardly, in inflammations, bad legs, burns, sprains, and scalds ; but cold water and rest are -better. CRAB APPLE (Mains coronaria). This species of wild apple tree is found in North America, and at the time Michaux wrote his Sylva Jlmnricana, he says its nature had not been modified by cultivation. The wild apple tree of Europe, in a long series of years, has yielded a great number of species and varie- ties of fruit, which, in France alone, amount to nearly three hundred. Except the district of Maine, the state of Vermont, and the upper part of New Hampshire, the crab apple is found, on both sides of the mountains, through- out the United States: but it appears to be most multiplied in the Middle States, and espe- cially in the back parts of Pennsylvania and of Virginia. It abounds, above all, in the Glades, which is the name given to a tract 15 or IS miles wide, on the summit of the Alle- ghanies, along the road from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. The ordinary height of the crab apple tree is 15 or 18 feet, with a diameter of 5 or 6 inches; but it is sometimes found 25 or 30 feet high, and 12 or 15 inches in diameter. The two stocks which I found by measurement to be of this size, stood in a field which had long been under cultivation, and this circumstance may have contributed to their extraordinary growth. They were insulated trees that in ap- pearance exactly resembled the common apple tree. I have universally remarked that the crab apple grows most favourably in cool and moist places, and on fertile soils. The leaves of this tree are oval, smooth on the upper surface, and, when fully developed, very distinctly toothed: some of them are im- perfectly three-Iobed. While young, they have *a bitter and slightly aromatic taste, which leads to the belief that, with the addition of sugar, they would make an agreeable tea. Like the common apple tree, this species blooms very early in the spring. Its flowers are white mingled with rose colour, and are collected in corymbs; they produce a beautiful effect, and diffuse a delicious odour, by which, in the glades where the tree is abundant, the air is perfumed to a great distance. The apples, which are suspended by short peduncles, are small, green, intensely acid, and very odorife- rous. Some farmers make cider of them, which is said to be excellent: they make very fine sweet-meats also, by the addition of a large quantity of sugar. No attempts have been made in the United States to improve the fruit of the crab apple tree, nor any experiments of uniting it, by grafting, with the species imported from Eu- rope. These species succeed so perfectly, and furnish such excellent new varieties, that much time would be spent upon the crab apple, with- out bringing it to as high a state of improve- ment. Perhaps it might be cultivated with ad- vantage for cider; but, aside from its utility in this way, it must be regarded only as a tree liighly agreeable for the beauty of its flowers iind for the sweetness of its perfume. 302 CRAB-GRASS (Elcusine Indica). Dog's-tafl grass, Wire grass. The grass described under these several names in the Floj-a Cestrica, makes a fine carpeting in yards, lanes, and foot-paths, flowering in the Middle States in August. Cattle and hogs are very fond of it, and it is recommended as making excellent hay. Another species of grass which in some places goes under the name of Crab-grass, is the Digitaria snnguinalis, or Finger-grass (see plate 7, /). This is a very troublesome an- nual in gardens and cultivated grounds, being very difficult to keep in subjection in the latter part of summer. (Flor. Cestrica.) CRACKS IN HEELS OF HORSES. In farriery, little clefts which are said to be sometimes constitutional, but more frequently owing to the want of cleanliness and proper attention. CRADLE. A frame consisting of long fin- gers arranged above a scythe, for the purpose of receiving the grain when harvesting. The scythe and cradle is comparatively a modern invention, by the aid of which a hand can cut five or six times as much grain as could be harvested in the same time with a sickle. CRANBERRY (Vaccinium oxyroccus). See Whortlebkrht. The species of Cranberry most commonly found in the United States is the Oxyroccus ma- crocfirpus. It is an indigenous, low trailing vine, growing wild in bogs and meadows, bear- ing a beautiful red berry of an exceedingly sour, though agreeable taste, much used in do- mestic economy for tarts and sweet-meats. The cranberry, says Mr. Kenrick, of Boston, is a plant of easy culture; and with but little expense, not a doubt exists that meadows which are now barren wastes, or yield nothing bu* coarse herbage, might be converted into pro fitable cranberry fields. According to Loudon, Sir Joseph Banks, who obtained this plant from America, raised, in 1831, on a square of 18 feet each way, 3^ Winchester bushels, which is at the rate of 460 bushels to the acre. Any meadow will answer. Captain Henry Hall, of Barnstable, has cultivated the cranberry 20 j^ears. They grow well on sandy bogs after draining; if the bogs are covered with brush, it is removed, but it is not neces- sary to remove the rushes, as the strong roots of the cranberry soon overpower them. It would be well if, previous to planting, the land could be ploughed ; but Capt. Hall usually spreads on beach sand, and digs holes four feet asunder each way, the same distance as for corn ; the holes are, however, deeper. Into these holes, sods of cranberry roots are planted, and in the space of three years the whole ground is covered. The planting is iisuall}^ performed in autumn. Mr. F. A. Hayden, of Lincoln, Mass., is stated to have gathered from his farm, in V830, 400 bushels of cranberries, which brought him, in Boston market, $400. An acre of cranberries in full bearing will produce over 200 bushels ; and the fruit gene- rally sells in the markets of Boston for $\-hO per bushel, and much higher than in former years. Although a moist soil is best suited .to the plant, yet, with a suitable mixture of bog CRANE'S BILL. CRESS, INDIAN. earth, or mud, it will flourish, producing abun- dant crops, even in any dry soil. There is said to be a variety of cranberry in Russia of a superior size. Cranberries abound in vast quantities in the moist prairies in Michigan and some of the Western States. By means of a newly invented rake, very simple in its construction and not expensive, 40 bushels may be gathered by one man in a day; and a cargo of 1500 bushels has been sent to one of the Atlantic States, from the northern part of Indiana, in a flat- boat, at one time. The price which this pro- duct often commands in the markets of the cities along the Atlantic varies from $1 50 even up to ^2 50 or $3 50 per- bushel They can be gathered at the west at an expense of not more than 50 cents per bushel. The duty on them in England is not more than 2 cents per gallon by direct trade. The cranberry tree, or shrub, commonl}^ called the Highbu^h Cranberry {Viburnum oxy- coccum), is also indigenous to North America, and among other places in which it is found, are some of the western counties of New York. The blossoms are white, disposed in cymes, forming a flat surface from a common centre, and very beautiful. Its fruit is a berry about the size of the common cranberry, of a bright red colour, and very austere taste. They are valuable for pies, tarts," preserves, &c. The tree is propagated by* seeds, layers, and suckers. (Kenrirk^s Am. Orchardist.) It may, with great ease, be transferred from its native forest to the yard or garden, flourish- ing in every kind of soil, whether wet, dry, sand, or clay. The shrub so much resembles the ' snow-ball as to be distinguished from it with difliculty. The fruit is but little if any inferior in flavour to that of the swamp cran- berry, from which it diff'ers in' having a small pit or stone. For some purposes it is even preferable to the common cranberry. It grows in clusters which will remain on the bush all winter. In the valley of the Columbia river, a new species of bush-cranberry has been discovered, called Pambina. CRANE'S BILL (Geranium). A genus of plants comprising a large number of species, of which, according to Smith (Ens;. Flor. vol. ii. p. 221), only thirteen are indigenous. The blue meadow crane's bill (G. prate use) is found in rich, rather moist pastures, and thickets, es- pecially in the hilly parts of England. It is a perennial, flowering in June and July ; flowers, of a fine blue, often irregularly striped or blotched with white, sometimes entirely white. The species of crane's bill called Herb Robert (G. Robertianum,) possesses most medicinal virtues, and is found under hedges and in un- cultivated places, flowering all through the summer. The stalks, and indeed the whole plant, is often quite red, as are the flowers, and the fruit is long and slender, resembling a crane's bill, after which it is named. The leaves are large, divided into many parts, and stand in pairs at every joint of their long-footed stalks. It is a very powerful astringent, and may be given in any form, decocted fresh, or powdered when dry. Several indi^'^nous spe cies are found in the United States. CRAP. A local name in some places for darnel, and in others for buckwheat. CRAPULA. See Hovf.n. CREAM. A thick, unctuous, yellowish co. loured substance which collects on the surface of milk, when this is allowed to stand some time at rest. See Butter. CREAM GAUGE, or GLASS. A graduated glass tube to ascertain the produce of cream. In a tube containing ten inches' depth of milk, every tenth of an inch will of course indicate one per cent, of cream. It ma)'^ be used for many purposes, such as to ascertain the state of the animal's health, regular and quiet feed- ing, &c. (Qttart. Journ. Jlgr. vol. ii. p. 2 15.) CREAM-SLICE. A sort of wooden knife, twelve or fourteen inches in length. CREOSOTE. A term derived from Greek words signif)'ing "flesh preserver." It is the most important of the five new chemical pro- ducts obtained from wood-tar, by Dr. Reichen- bach. The other four, are Parafflne, Eiqiionc, Pi- camar, and Pittacal, none of which have, as yet, been applied to any use in the arts. Creosote may be prepared either from tar or from crude pyroligneous acid. Its flesh-preserving quality is rendered of little use, from the difficulty of removing the rank flavour which it imparts. CRESS. See American Cress. CRESS, BITTER WINTER (Barbarca vul- garis'). See Winter Cress. CRESS, INDIAN, or MAJOR NASTURTI- UM (TropcEolum majus, diminutive of tropceum, a trophy; and T. minus). The major nasturti- um being the most productive, as well of flow- ers and leaves as of fruit, is the otie that is usually cultivated in the kitchen garden; the fruit being used in pickling, and the flo\yers and leaves in salads and for garnishing. They will flourish in almost any soil, but the one in which they are most productive, is a light fresh loam. In a strong rich soil, the plants are luxuriant, but they aflTord fewer berries, and those of inferior flavour. They like an open situation. Sow from the beginning of March to the middle of May; the earlier, however, the better. The seed may be inserted in a drill, two inches deep, along its bottom, in a single row, with a space of two or three inches be- tween every two, or they may be dibbled in at a similar distance and depth. The minor is likewise often sown in patches. The major should be inserted beneath a vacant paling, wall, or hedge, to which its stems may be trained, or in an open compai"tment with sticks inserted on each side. The runners at first require a little attention to enable them to climb, but they soon are capable of doing so unassist- ed. The minor either may trail along the ground, or be supported with short sticks. If wdler is not afforded during dry weather, tbev will not shoot so vigorously or be so produc- tive. They flower from June until the close of October. The fruit for pickling must be gathered when of full size, and whilst ?reen and fleshy, during .\ugust. For the production of seed, some plants should be left ungathered, as the first produced are not only the finest ij« 363 CRESS. CRICKET. general, but are often the only ones that ripen. They should be gathered as they ripen, which they do from the close of August to the begin- ning of October. They must on no account be stored until perfectly dry and hard. The finest and soundest seed of the previous year's production should alone be sown ; if it is older, the plants are seldom vigorous. (G. W. John- son's Kitchen Garden'). CRESS, WALL, or ROCK CRESS (Jrabis). A genus of plants of very different habit from the last, of which the species are numerous, and chiefly natives of the northern hemisphere. There are six species described by Smith (£«g. Flor. vol. iii. p. 209), but the wall cress (Jra- bis thaliana) is preferred. All the species have a pungent flavour. The plants are adapt- ed for ornamenting rock work, and are propa- gated from seeds or cuttings. The wild sorts are found frequent on old walls, stony banks or rocks, dry sandy ground, and cottage roofs. CRESS, WATER {Nasturlium). There are several native species of water cress, which may be included in the following summary. Creeping yellow cress, annual yellow cress, amphibious yellow cress, or great water radish, and common water cress. They are branching herbs, almost invariably smooth, throAving out numerous radicles, and either altogether aqua- tic or at least growing in wet ground. {Eng. Flor. vol. iii. p. 191 — 5). Water cress {N. officinaie) was seldom admitted as an object of cultivation, and then never to any extent, until Mr. Bradbury, of West Hyde, Herts, un- dertook its cultivation for the London market. Mr. Bradbury considers that there are three varieties, — the green-leaved, which is easiest cultivated; smair brown-leaved, which is the hardiest ; and the large brown-leaved, which is the best, having most leaf in proportion to the stalk, and is the only one that can well be culti- vated in deep waters. {Trans. Hart. Soc. Lond. vol. iv. p. 538.) The plants thrive best in a moderately swift stream, about an inch and a half deep, over a gravelly or chalky bottom, and the nearer its source the better: when there is choice, such situations, therefore, should be exclusively planted. If mud is the natural bottom, it should be removed, and gravel sub- stituted. The* plants are to be set in rows, which is most conducive to their health and good flavour, inasmuch as that they are regu- larly exposed to the current of water, of which, if there is not a constant stream, they never thrive. In shallow water, as above mentioned, the rows may be made only eighteen inches apart, but in deeper currents from five to seven feet are sometimes necessary. The beds must be cleared and re-planted twice a year, for in the mud and weeds which quickly collect, the plants not only will not grow freely, but it is diflficult to separate them in gathering: it is likewise rendered imperative by the head^e- coming small from, frequent cutting. The times for planting and renewal are in succes- sional insertions during May and June, the plants from which will come into production in August ; and again from September to No- vember, those in the last month being ready in the sprmg. In renewing the plantations, the bed of the stream, commencing towards its' 364 head, being cleared of mud and rubbish, from the mass of plants taken out the youngest and best rooted must be selected. These are re- turned into the stream, and retained in their proper order, by a stone placed on each. After the plants have been cut about three times, they begin to stock, and then the oftener they are cut the better. In summer they must be cut very close. The situation being favoui able, they will yield a supply once in a week. In winter the water should be kept four or five inches deep ; this is easily elTected, by leaving the plants with larger heads, which impedes the current. The shoots ought always to be cut off; breaking greatly injures the plants. (Trans. Hort. Lond. Soc. vol. iv. p. 537 — 42.) CRIB. In England sometimes applied to a rack for hay or straw for cattle, and sometimes to a manger for corn or chaft'; also to a small enclosure in a cow-house or shed for calves or sheep. In the United States it is commonly used to designate the building or apartment in which Indian corn is stored in the ear. CRIB-BITING. A vice to which some horses are subject; consisting in their catch- ing hold of the manger, and it is said sucking in the air. It generally proceeds from a de- ranged state of the stomach, but it is sometimes brought on by uneasiness occasioned by dis- eases of the teeth, or by roughness in the per- son who currybombs them. (Brande.) There are several straps "or muzzles in use to prevent crib-biting, one of the be^ being that invented by Mr. Stewart. (Blaine^s Encyc. p. 318, 319.) CRICK. In farriery, is when a horse can- not turn his neck any way, and when thus af- fected he cannot take his meat from the ground without great pain. CRICKET. The common or hearth cricket {Gryllina). This insect in England frequents kitchens and bakers' ovens, on account of the warmth of those places. An easy method of ' destroying them is to place phials half full of beer or any other liquid near their holes, and they will crawl into them, and can then be easily taken. A hedgehog soon clears a kitchen. There are, as yet, no house-crickets in the United States, where the species inhabiting gardens and fields enter dwellings only by ac- cident. The American crickets belong to a group of insects {Achetada^ which naturalists have placed in the same class as the grasshop- pers and locusts. They are distinguished by having wing-covers horizontal, and furnished with a narrow, deflexed outer border; antennae long and tapering ; feet with not more than three joints, and two tapering downy bristles at the end of the body, between which, in most of the females, is a long spear-pointed piercer. "There may be sometimes seen," says Dr. Harris, "in moist and soft ground, particularly around ponds, little ridges or hills of loose, fresh earth, smaller than those which are formed by moles. They cover little burrows, that usually terminate beneath a stone or clod of turf. These burrows are made and inhabit- ed by mole-crickets, which are among the most extraordinary of the cricket kind. -The com- mon mole-cricket of this country is, when fully grown, about one inch and a quarter in length, of a light bay or fawn colour, and covered with CRICKET. CRICKET. a von' short and velvet-like down. The wing- covers are not half the length of the abdomen, and the win^s are also short, their tips, when folded, extending only about one-eighth of an inch beyond the wing-cavers. The fore-legs are admirably adapted for digging, being very short, broad, and strong; and the shanks, which are excessively broad, flat, and three-sided, have, the lower side divided by deep notches into four finger-like projections, that give to this part very much the appearance and the power of the haJid of a mole. From this simi- larity in structure, and from its burrowing habits, the insect receives its scientific name of Gryllotalpa, derived from Gryllus, the ancient name of the cricket, and Talpa, a mole ; and our common species has the additional name of brevipennis, or short-winged, to distinguish it from the European species, which has much longer wings. Mole-crickets avoid the light of day, and are active chiefly during the night. They live on the tender roots of plants, and in Europe, where they infest moist gardens and meadows, they often do great injury by burrow- ing under the turf, and cutting off the roots of the grass, and by undermining and destro3nng, in this way, sometimes whole beds of cabbages, beans, and flowers. In the West Indies, ex- tensive ravages have been committed in the plantations of the sugar-cane by another spe- cies, Gryllotalpa didactyla, which has only two finger-like projections on the shin. The mole- cricket of Europe lays from two to three hun- dred eggs, and the young do not come to matu- rity till the third year; circumstances both contributing greatly to increase the ravages of these insects. It is observed that, in proportion as cultivation is extended, destructive insects multiply, and their depredations become more serious. We may, therefore, in process of time, find mole-crickets in this country quite as much a pest as they are in Europe, although their depredations have hitherto been limited to so small an extent as not to have attracted much notice. Should it hereafter become ne- cessary to employ means for checking them, poisoning might be tried, such as placing, in the vicinity of their burrows, grated carrots or potatoes mixed with arsenic. It is well known that swine will eat almost all kinds of insects, and that they are very sagacious in rooting them out of the ground. They might, therefore, be employed with advantage to destroy these and other noxious insects, if other means should fail. "Crickets are, in great measure, nocturnal and solitary insects, concealing themselves by day, and coming from their retreats to seek their food and their mates by night. There are some species, however, which differ greatly from the others in their social habits. These are not unfrequently seen during the day-time in great numbers, in paths and by the road-side; but the other kinds rarely expose themselves to the light of day, and their music is heard only at night. With crickets, as with grass- hoppers, locusts, and harvest-flies, the males only are musical ; for the females are not pro- vided with the instruments from which the sounds emitted by these different insects are produced. In the male cricket these make a part of the wing-covers, the horizontal and overlapping portion of which, near the thorax is convex, and marked with large, strong, and irregularly curved veins. When the cricket shrills (we cannot say sings, for he has no vocal organs), he raises the wing-covers a little, and shuflies them together lengthwise, so that the projecting veins of one are made to grate against those of the other. The English name cricket, and the French a-i-cri, are evidently derived from the creaking sounds of these in- sects. Mr. White, of Selborne, says that 'the shrilling of the field-cricket, though sharp and stridulous,yet marvellously delights some hear- ers, filling their minds with a train of summer ideas of everything that is rural, verdurous, and joyous ;' sentiments in which few persons, if anj^, in America will participate; for with us the creaking of crickets does, not begin till summer is gone, and the continued and mono- tonous sounds, which they keep up luring the whole night, so long as autumn lasts, are both wearisome and sad. Where crickets abound, they do great injury to vegetation, eating the most tender parts of plants, and even devour- ing fruits and roots, whenever they can get them. Melons, squashes, and even potatoes are often eaten by them, and the quantity of grass that they destroy must be great, from the immense numbers of these insects which are sometimes seen in our meadows and fields. They may be poisoned in the same way as mole-crickets. Crickets are not^ntirely con- fined to a vegetable diet; they devour other insects whenever they meet with and can over- power them. They deposit their eggs, which are numerous, in the ground, making holes for their reception with their long, spear-pointed piercers. The eggs are laid in the autumn, and do not appear to be hatched till the ensu- ing summer. The old insects, for the most part, die on the approach of cold weather; but a few survive the winter, by sheltering them- selves under stones, or in holes secure from the access of water. "The scientific name of the genus that in- cludes the cricket is Aclieta, and our common species is the Jlcheta abbrcviatn, so named from the shortness of its wings, which do not extend beyond the wing-covers. It is about three- quarters of an inch in length, of a black co- lour,*with a brownish tinge at the base of the wing-covers, and a pale line on each side above the deflexed border. The pale line is most dis- tinct in the female, and is oftentimes entirely wanting In the male. ""V\ have another species with very short or ab*.v/ve wings; it is entirely of a black co- lour, and measures six-tenths of an incli iii length from the head to the end of the body. It may be called Arhcta nigra, the black cricket. " A third species, differing from these two in being entir-ely destitute of wings, and in having the wing-covers proportionally much shortes, and the last joint of the feelers (p"lpi) almost twice the length of the preceding joint, is fur- thermore distinguished from them by its greatly inferior size, and its different colouring. It measures from three to above four-tenths of an inch in length, and varies in colour from dusky brown to rusty black, the wing-covers and hind- 2 u 2 365 CRICKET. CROW. most thighs being always somewhat lighter. In the brownish-coloured varieties, three longitu- dinal black lines are distinctly visible on the top of the head, and a black line on each side of the thorax, which is continued along the sides of the wing-covers to their tips. This black line on the wing-covers is never want- ing, even in the darkest varieties. The hind- most thighs have on the outside three rows of short oblique black lines, presenting somewhat of a twilled appearance. This is one of the social species, which, associated together in great swarms, and feeding in common, fre- quent our meadows and roadsides, and, so far from avoiding the light of day, seem to be quite as fond of it as others are of darkness. It may be called Acheta vitlala, the striped cricket. "These kiijds of crickets live upon the ground, and among the grass and low herbage; Dut there is another kind which inhabits the stems and branches of shrubs and trees, con- cealing itself during the daytime among the leaves or in the flowers of these plants. The males begin to be heard about the middle of August, and do not leave us until after the middle of September. Their shrilling is ex- cessively loud, and is produced, like that of other crickets, by the rubbing of one wing- cover against the other. These insects have been separated from the other crickets under the generical name of (Emnlhns, a word which means inhaj^ting flowers. They may be called climbing cri^ets, from their habit of mounting upon plants, and dwelling among the leaves and flowers. According to M. Salvi, the female makes several perforations in the tender stems of plants, and in each perforation thrusts two eggs quite to the pith. The eggs are hatched about midsummer, and the young immediately issue from their nests and conceal themselves among the thickest foliage of the plant. When arrived at maturity, the males begin their noc- turnal serenade at the approach of twilight, and continue it, with little or no intermission, till the dawn of day. Should one of these little musicians get admission to the chamber, his incessant and loud shrilling will efleclually banish sleep. Of three species which inhabit the United States, one only is found in Massa- chusetts. It is the (Ecaiilhiis vivviis, or white climbing cricket. The male is ivory-*rhite, with the upper side of the first joint of the an- tennae, and the head between the eyes, of an ochre-yellow colour; there is a minute black dot on the under-sides of the first an'd second joints of the antennoe; and, in some indivi- duals, the extremities of the feet and the under- sides of the hindmost thighs are ochre-yellow. The body is about half an inch long, exclusive of the wing-covers. The female is usually /ather longer, but the wing-covers are much narrower than those of the male, and there is a great diversity of colouring in this sex ; the body being sometimes almost white, or pale greenish yellow, or dusky, and blackish be- neath. There are three dusky stripes on the head and thorax, and the legs, antennoe, and piercer are more or less dusky or blackish. The wing-covers and wings are yellowish wrhite, sometinxe^ with a tinge of green, and 866 the wings are rather longer than the covers." {Harris on Destructive Insects.) CROCUS. A well-known bulbous plant, of which there are many varieties, all handsome. Plant in clumps; move them once in three years, to separate the oflTsets ; they like a good light soil. Plant them two inches deep in the ground. Smith (Eng. Flor. vol. i. p. 46, and vol. iv. p. 262), describes four species of native English crocuses, viz., the saffron crocus, pur- ple spring crocus, naked flowering crocus, and net-rooted crocus. See Saffron. CRONES. A provincial word applied to the diflerent descriptions of old ewes. CROOK. A provincial term applied to a hook, as a yat-crook means a gate-hook. CROOM. A provincial term applied to afl implement with crooked or hooked prongs. There are muck-crooms, turnip-crooms, &c. It is sometimes written Crome. CROP. The produce or quantity of grain, roots, or 'grass, &c. grown on apiece of land at one time ; hence we have grain, root, and green crops. There is an able paper in the Quart. Joiirn. of Agr. vol. i. p. 55, by Mr. Henry Stephens, on the causes of destruction to crops, which may be consulted with advantage by the farmer. For course of crops, see Rotation of Crops. CROPPING. An operation performed with a pair of shears, on the ears of horses, dogs, or other animals. CROSS-FURROW. The grip or furrow which receives the superfluous rain-water from the outer furrows, and conveys it from the land into a ditch or other outlet. The ope- ration of making these cross-furrows is some- times performed by the spade, and at others by the plough. CROTCH. A country term for a hook. CROW, THE CARRION (Corvus corone). The carrion crow, like the raven which it so much resembles, is a denizen of nearly every part of the world. Crows are even found in New Holland and the Phillipine islands of the Pacific Ocean. They are comparatively rare in northern latitudes, where the raven most abounds. The crow is exceedingly mischiev- ous in his depredations about farms and dwell- ings, where he sucks eggs, carries off chickens and other young broods. But the most serious mischief of which the crow is guilty in the United States, is that of pillaging the fields of Indian corn. He commences at the planting time, by rooting out the grain as soon as the sprout shows above the ground, and in autumn, when the crop ripens, flocks, sometimes sufli cient to blacken the fields, do extensive da- mage. " The crow," says Nuttall, " like many other birds, becomes injurious and formidable only in the gregarious season, at other times they live so scattered, and are so shy and cautious, that they are but seldom seen. But their ar- mies, like all other and terrific assemblies, have the power, in limited districts, of doing very sensible mischief to the agricultural interests of the community; and, in consequence, the poor crow, notwithstanding his obvious ser- vices in the destruction of vast hosts of insects and their larvae, is proscribed as a felon in all CROW. CROW. eivilized countries, and, with the wolves, panthers, and foxes, a price is put upon his head. In consequence, various means of en- snaring the outlaw have been had recourse to. Of the gun he is extremely cautious, and suspects its appearance at the first glance, per- ceiving with ready sagacity the wily manner of the fowler. So fearful and suspicious are they of human artifices, that a mere line stretched round a field is often found sufficient to deter these wily birds from a visit to the corn-field. Against poison he is not so guard- ed, and sometimes corn steeped in hellebore is given him, which creates giddiness and death. According to Buffon, pieces of paper in the form of a hollow cone, smeared inside with bird-lime, and containing bits of raw meat, have been employed. In attempting to gain the bait, the dupe becomes instantly hood- winked, and, as the safest course out of the way of danger, the crow flies directly upwards to a great height, but becoming fatigued with the exertion, he generally descends pretty near to the place from which he started, and is then easily taken. " Another curious method, related by the same author, is that of pinning a live crow to the ground by the wings, stretched out on his back, and retained in this posture by two sharp, forked sticks. In this situation, his loud cries attract other crows, who come sweeping down to the prostrate prisoner, and are grappled in his claws. In this way each successive prisoner may be made the innocent means of capturing his companion. The reeds in which they roost, when dry enough, are sometimes set on fire also to procure their destruction ; and, to add to the fatality produced by the flames, gunners are also stationed round to destroy those that attempt to escape by flight. In severe winters they suffer occasionally from famine and cold, and fall sometimes dead in the fields. Accord- ing to Wilson, in one of these severe seasons, more than six hundred crows were shot on the carcass of a dead horse, which was placed at a proper shooting distance from a stable. The premiums obtained for these, and the price procured for the quills, produced to the farmer nearly the value of the horse when living, besides affording feathers sufficient to fill a bed ! "The crow is easily raised and domesticated, and soou learns to distinguish the different members of the family with which he is asso- ciated. He screams at the approach of a stranger; learns to open the door by alighting on the latch ; attends regularly at meal limes ; is very noisy and loquacious; imitates the sound of various words which he hears; is very thievish, given to hiding curiosities in holes and crevices, and is very fond of carry- ing oflT pieces of metal, corn, bread, and food of all kinds; he is also particularly attached to the society of his master, and recollects him •ometimes after a long absence. "It is commonly believed and asserted in some parts of this country, that the crows en- gage -at times in general combat ; but it has never been ascertained whether this hostility arises from civil discord, or the opposition of two different species, contesting for some ex- clusive privilege of subsisting-ground. It is well known that rooks often contend with each other, and drive away, by every persecuting means, individuals who arrive among them from any other ruokery. "The crow is much smaller than the raven, and is of a deep black with violet reflections. The bill and feet are also black.. The iris hazel. (The European bird is twenty inches, or nearly, and has the feathers of the neck narrow and distinct.)" Soaking seed-corn for 24 or 48 hours in a strong solution of glauber's salts, is said to effectually prevent crows, black-birds, and squirrels from pulling up the grain. Wilson was the first ornithologist who dis- covered an American species differing from the common crow, and which he called the fish crow {corviis ossifragus). It is met with along the coast of the Southern States and as high up as New Jersey. It keeps apart from the common species, from which, however, it dif- fers but slightly in appearance, being about 16 inches in length whilst the common crow measures about 18j inches. Instead of as- sembling to roost among the reeds at night, it retires, toward evening, from the shores which afford it a subsistence, and perches in the neighbouring woods. Its notes, probably va- rious, are at times hoarse and guttural, at others weaker and higher. They pass most part of their time near rivers, hovering over the stream to catch up dead and perhaps living fish, or other animal matters which float with- in their reach ; at these they dive with con- siderable celerity, and seizing them in their claws, convey'them to an adjoining tree, and devour the fruits of their predatory industry at leisure. They also snatch up water lizard.' in the same manner, and feed upon small crabs, at times they are seen even contending with the gulls for their prey. It is amusing to see with what steady watchfulness they hover over the water in search of their precarious food, havin«, in fact, all the traits of the gull ; but they subsist more on accidental supplies than by any re- gular system of fishing. On land they have sometimes all the familiarity of the magpie, hopping upon the backs of cattle, in whose company they, no doubt, occasionally meet with a supply of insects when other sources fail. They are also regular in their attendance on the fishermen in New Jersey, for the pur- pose of gleaning up the refuse of the fish. They are less shy and suspicious than the common crow, and, showing no inclination for plundering the corn-fields, are rather friends than enemies to the farmer. They appear near Philadelphia, from the middle of March to the beginning of June, during the season of the shad and herring fishery. They breed in New Jersey in tall trees, hav. ing nesl;^ and eggs very similar to those of tho preceding species, and rear a brood of four ; r five young, with whom they are seen in com pany in the month of July. This species bears some resemblance to the rook in general appearance, and by the bare space near the bill, but it is smaller, longer tailed, and wholly different in its habits and mode of living. The Hooded Crow (Corvu» comix) resembles 367 CROW-FOOT. CUCUMBER. the carrion crow in appearance ; but is only a constant resident of the northern parts of Eng- land and the western islands of Scotland; it is more destructive to the farmers' lambs, &c. than the carrion crow. Its colour is black. Length, twenty inches. {YarreWs Brit. Birds, vol. ii. p. 79—83.) CROW-FOOT, or Crane's Bill. The spe- cies usually known by this name in England, is the Ranwncnlus acris of botanists. This, with all its varieties, are poisonous. The common medicinal crow-foot is the medicinal plant, which, however, is only used externally, the application of the recent leaves or root pro- ducing a blister. The most poisonous variety is that called spear-wood. The plant known in the United States by the name of crow-foot, or spotted crane's-bill, is the spotted geranium {Geranium mamlatum), a perennial tuberous root, found along fence-rows, in meadows, woodlands, &c., flowering in May and June. The root is astringent and has been found use- ful in diarrhosa, hoemorrhages, &c. See Flora Ccstrira. CROW NET. A net made of double thread or fine packthread, principally used for catch- ing wildfowl in the winter season ; but which may also be employed on newly sown corn- fields for catching pigeons, crows, and other birds ; and, even in stubble-fields, if the stubble conceals the net from the birds. CROWN IMPERIAL {FritiUaria impcria- lis). Native of Persia, with a large, scaly, bulbous, or orange-coloured, disagreeably smelling root. Blows pendent red flowers in April and May. There are three varieties, the red-flowered, the red striped-flowered with striped leaves, and the yellow-flowered; that blowing a yellow flower is the handsomest. Propagate by offsets every third year, taking up the bulbs in July for that purpose. It loves a sandy loam, and is averse to manure or wet. See Fertillart. CRUCIFORM-PLANTS {Crncifera), a class comprehending such garden vegetables as the cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, sea-kale, turnip, radish, mustard, and in fact almost every culi- nary article, except spinach. The class de- rives its name from the flowers having four j)etals or flower-leaves, disposed in the form of a cross, as exemplified in the wall-flower. It is remarked by botanists, that not a single species included in this group is poisonous. 3']ven that great pest among weeds, charlock, or wild radish, which belongs to the cruciform class, affords when young most excellent and wholesome greens. CRUPPER. A term applied to the rump of a horse ; also to a roll of leather put under a horse's tail, and drawn up by a strap to the buckle behind the saddle. CRUSHERS FOR GRAIN, are evidently ^joming fast into use ; the saving of food, by giving the grain in a broken state, being cer- tainly very considerable. It is a practice at least as old as the days of Samuel Hartlib, who mentions it with approbation in his " Le- gacie." Machines for cracking and crushing Indian corn by hand for feed, are quite com- 'non in the United States. CUCKOO PINT. See Akum. 368 CUCKOO SPIT. Applied to a kind of frothy substance frequently found on plants, containing insects. See FRORHoppEns. CUCUMBER (Cuaimis sativus. From Kna/ot or aiKvo;. Varro says, "Cucumeres dicuntur a curvore, ut curvimere dicti"). The foUowhig are the chief varieties: — 1. Early short green prickly; 2. early long green prickly; 3. most long green prickly; 4. early green cluster; 5. white Dutch prickly; 6. long smooth green Turkey ; 7. large smooth green Roman ; 8. Flanegan's; 9. Russian; 10. white Turkey; 11. Nepal; 12. fluted (from China); 13. the snake. The early short prickly is about four inches long, and is often preferred for the first crop, as being a very plentiful bearer, quick in coming into production, and the hardiest of all the va- rieties. The early long prickly is about seven inches long; it is a hardy, abundantly bearing variety, but not quick in coming into produc- tion. It is generally grown for main crops. The longest prickly is about nine or ten inches in length ; it is a hardy, good bearer. There is a white sub-variety. The early green cluster ' is a very early bearer. Its fruit is about six inches long. It is chiefly characterized by its fruit growing in clusters. The whole plant grows compact, and is well suited for hand- glass crops. The white Dutch prickly is about six inches long; it has an agreeable flavour, though diflering from most of the others. It. conies quickly into bearing. The other varieties are slow in coming into production, and are chiefly remarkable for their great size. The Nepal often weighs twelve pounds, being occasionally eight inches in dia- meter and seventeen in length. It is a native of Calcutta. The snake cucumber is very small in diameter, but attains the length, it is said, of several feet. A fresh loam, rather inclining to lightness than tenacity, as the top-spit of a pasture, is perhaps as fine a soil as can be employed for the cucumber. It will succeed in any open soil of the garden for the hand-glass and natu- ral ground crops. The out-door culture of cucumbers practised throughout the United States is so familiarly known as to require no particular description. In the neighbourhood of large cities the large demand for cucumbers causes these to be in- cluded among the articles of field-culture, and this is done to great profit by the Long Island and New Jersey truck farmers, for the supply of the New York and Philadelphia markets. It is a great object to get the produce into market as early as possible, as only a few days advan- tage makes a great difference in the value of this, in common with most other articles sup- plied by gardeners, fruiterers, and truckmen. Thomas 0. Bergen, an intelligent and experi- enced gardener on Long Island, communicated to the editor of the Cultivator the following ac- count of his method of raising cucumbers, to- gether with his estimate of the produce and profits of the crop. " Cucumbers will grow on any good soil, but to have tjiem early we require a rich sandy one, of a dark colour; yellow and light-coloureURL». CUSTOMS OF COUNTIES. CURD. The cjagulum of milk, from which cheese is made. See Cheese. When milk sours, free acetic -arid is formed, and by its action the coagulation of the caseous part of the milk takes place; rennet causes the same effect in milk which is not sour, which probably depends on the gastric fluid in the rennet. Curd is a white, insipid, inodorous substance, ii>soluble in water, but soluble in alkalies. By alcohol it is converted into a substance like spermaceti, which gives out a very fetid odour. When dry curd procured from sour milk is well washed, and then mixed with its own bulk of alcohol, and the soluble matter filtered and separated from the insoluble, and thickened by gentle evaporation, it becomes viscid, and forms an excellent cement for glass and china. CURING BEEF and PORK. See Salting. A report of the committee for the premium offered for curing beef and pork, appears in the Trans. High. Soc. vol. v. p. 56. CURRANT. The fruit of two species of Ribes, viz., E. rubi-uni, which furnishes the common red and white currants, and R. ni- grum, which produces the black currant. There are five or six species of this indige- nous plant. The rock currant (R. petreeum), the acid mountain currant {R. sjiicahnn), and the tasteless mountain currant (R. alpinum), all grow wild in woods in the north of Eng- land ; and the common red and black currants are also found wild in many parts of the coun- try, but their fruit is insipid. The pale currant is a variety between the red and white. The white, black, and red currant ripen their berries very early in July, in which month currant jelly should be made. All the currants may, by being matted, be preserved till the middle of winter, and on north walls and shaded situations sometimes hang, and are good till the end of November. They ■will thrive on almost any soil; but their fruit is more savoury when produced in a dry and open ground. They are very easily propa- gated by planting slips or cuttings at any time from September to March. After standing about two years, they will be fit to be removed to those places where they are intended to remain. The currant, one of the most wholesome and grateful of fruits, has medicinal properties. Red currants are very cooling in fevers. They quench thirst, and create appetite. When the fruit is not to be had fresh, red currant jelly, mixed in water, is equally refreshing. Black currants are useful in sorethroats. {Brande's Did. ; Phillip's Fruits ; Willich's Dom. Encyc. ; Eng. Fhr., vol. i. p. 330.) In the United States nearly twenty native varieties of the Currant family have been designated. A black currant, and also a red variety growing on a trailing vine, are found in the northern counties of Pennsylvania. The most approved kinds for garden culture are the Cherry Red, Red Dutch, Versaillaise, and White Grape. CURRANT-BUSH BORER. An insert ca- terpillar belonging to the genus JEgeria. See CATEnPILtAHS. CUSHAT. A local name for the ring-dove, 376 supposed to be" derived from the Saxon cusce ate, from cusc, chaste, in allusion to the conju- gal fidelity of this bird. CUSTOMS OF COUNTIES. With regard to the usual relation of landlord and tenant in England, these vary considerably. But in cases where there is a written agreement, no inquiry can be made as to the custom of the county (Liebenrood v. I'ines, I Mer. 15) ; and when an express stipulation is made, the cus tom of the county is excluded entirely. (Ro berts V. Parker, 1 C. & M. 808.) The follow- ing epitome of usages in a few counties, chiefly abridged from the work of Kennedy and Grainger on the Tenancy of Land, must, of course, be regarded as having only a very general application. Bedford. — The tenant commonly enters, in this county, at Michaelmas, some at Lady-day. Leases seven years. Rents paid half-yearly. Tenant generally restricted from breaking up pastures, or selling hay and straw, quilting at Michaelmas, is at liberty to plough and sow wheat, if at Lady-day ; then may sow spring- grain till day of quitting; but in either case has the option to do it himself or let his successor do it. When the outgoer sows, they are va- lued to the incomer so as to include all labour; has barn allowed him, but cannot carry away straw. Inco/ner takes all dung found on pre- mises free of charge ; but pays for grass-seeds, and that of the labour, and for fallow-plough- ing, or spring-ploughing, which his predeces- sor, quitting at Lady-day, had not time to sow; but with respect to any fallow, either for wheat or turnips, when the outgoer takes the crop, there is no demand made upon the incoming tenant. Berks. — Farms commonly lease for 7 or 14 years from Michaelmas, entering to plough fallows at Lady-day: from which time the incomer has part of the house allowed him, and room for one team ; the outgoer retains the rest of the premises till May-day or Mid- summer. The rents are commonly paid half- yearly, and in general there is no restraint upon the tenant's cultivation, except that he covenants to leave a stated number of acres for fallow. Usually he has power of selling hay and wheat straw, although in other por- tions of the county only to exchange it for dung. Wheat straw he must leave to his suc- cessor as well as the hay. Incomer has to pay for clover or other grass-seeds, the seed, and labour, and hay-crop, at a feeding-out price. Carmarthen. — Farms were here formeily let upon leases for three lives; but terms of 14 years are now more common. The entry is made upon both house and land at Michael- mas. The tenant is under no restriction, cul- tivates as he pleases, and sells hay, straw, and dung. Cheshire. — Farms let upon leases, but many only by the year, and this is a much more common practice than formerly. Tenant takes from Candlemas, but only gets posses- sion of the house at May-day. The tenant is commonly restrained from having more than a given proportion of land, usually one-third, under plough. This portion, however, he maf OUSTOMS OF COUNTIES. CUSTOMS OF COUNTIES. till in his own way; sometimes may tlispose of his hay and straw, sometimes not. Outgoer ceases to work on the farm at Candlemas ; but cuts the wheat crop at harvest; if the wheal was after a fallow he takes two-thirds of the crop, otherwise only one-half, and he houses his own portion. He is commonlj' not paid for grass-seeds, but where the custom va- ries, he cuts the clover or grass, and takes half the hay; the incomer taking the remain- der, and paying the rent: he has no valuation to pay of any kind. The dung he does not pay for. 'Cornwdll. — Leases generally from 14 to 21 years. The outgoing tenant leaves the dung for the incoming tenant. A tenant is bound not to exceed two white crops without manure, using one hundred and one bushels of lime per acre for the first crop. When the land is sown with grass-seeds it must remain down for three years, and, except in water meadows, he can only cut his grass once in the season, unless he dresses it with manure. He may sell hay, but the straw of wheat only ; he is obliged also to feed a cer- tain number of acres of grass, and whatever manure he makes must be left by the outgoing tenant free of charge. Cunibeiiiind. — Tenants enter at Lady-day into the farm, but not into the house till May-day. Leases commonly for three, seven, or nine years. The tenant commonly bound to plough the land in such proportions that a certain part may remain in grass for three years. Is prohibited from having two white crops in succession, and must leave as much land sown with grass-seeds as he found on the farm. Cannot sell hay or straw, and must ap- ^y not less tjjan sixty bushels of lime per acre for his wheat or turnips after a fallow. The outgoer retains possession of the house and premises for cattle till Ma3'-day. Is paid for whatever crops he leaves which he him- self paid for when he took the farm. Leaves all the straw and manure for the incomer's benefit. Derby. — Tenants chiefly yearly tenants from Lady-day. The land almost entirely pastu- rage. The tenant is usually restricted from breaking these up without permission, even if he lays down arable land in lieu of it. He cannot sell either hay or straw. The outgoing tenant is not paid for either manure or straw ; he always sows the wheat, but is not paid for any fallows or pioughings which may have been done at his expense to promote the growth of it; he receives, however, two-thirds of the wheat if a fallow crop, or one-half if a brush cropland for the seed crops he is allowed for seed and labour. Devon. — In the west, entry at Michaelmas ; in the east at Lady-day, with privilege of entry on the land at Midsummer to prepare for wheat. The tenant usually restrained from taking more than two white crops for a fallow, or sowing two wheat crops successively, with- out a fallow or green crop between them. Must use a certain quantity of lime per acre for his barley or wheat crop, and leave the same quantity of land for wheat at the expira- tion of his lease that he found on taking pos- 48 session. He has the liberty of selling ha> and wheat straw, and at the end of his lease the hay also. A Lady-day holder receives from his successor the value of the wheat upon the ground, and the young clovers or other grass seeds by valuation. A Michael- mas tenant can only receive the value of the seeds ; but in either case he freely leaves all the dung for his successor. Essex. — The farmer in Essex commonly holds by leases of 7 or 14 years ; entry at Michaelmas both of house and land. He usually covenants to farm on the four-shift system, dressing and fallowing after every third crop, and never to take two white crops in succession : on pasture land, however, he is commonly unrestrained. He may carry also hay or straw, but for every load of either he is bound to bring back a load of dung, and near London two loads are required for every load of straw, and one for every load of hay. The outgoing tenant sows the Michaelmas crop, and is paid by valuation for one year's improvement, which includes the labour, the seed, and the manure he has laid out upon the ground from the preceding Michaelmas. He is allowed for the seeds, for ploughing, harrow- ing, and rolling, which a summer fallow has undergone, for the manure laid on, and for the carting of it, and for all the unspread dung, or other manure on the farm. The outgoer has the use of the barns for his crop. The in- comer claims the straw and chaff on condition of his thrashing the corn, and carrying it to market. The incomer has the Michaelmas crops, the hay, turnips, and young seeds valued to him, with all the seed, labour, and manure bestowed upon them. Hertford. — Leases 7 or 14 years from I ady- day. Mode of cultivation varies ; sometimes two crops and a fallow, in others, the four- course system. The tenant may sell hay and wheat straw, but no other straw. The out- going tenant takes an offgoing crop of both spring and Michaelmas crops, and pays for the ground they stand upon till harvest. He must use, however, the last year's straw upon the premises, and he leaves all the dung for the incoming tenant Kent. — Much of the land of Kent', as in other counties, is held by the year, but a larger por- tion is rented under leases of 7 to 14 years ; the tenant entering at Michaelmas. The farmer is usually restrained from sell- ing hay or straw; or, if he is allowed to dispose of them, it is on condition of his bringing on to the farm a certain quantity of dung. He is usually not much restricted in his mode of cultivation. He is commonly prevented from having more than two white crops to a fallow The outgoing tenant thrashes his last crop, and^lls the straw to the incomer; and if he is obriged to feed the hay upon the premises, this is commonly valued also at a feeding out price. He is paid also for the labour bestowed upon the summer fallows, which he has the privilege of sowing up to the time of his quit ting the farm ; he is also paid for the seed anii labour both for the turnips and the grasses for the whole of the manure, and labour of carting and spreading the manure of th»? las 2 I 2 327 CUSTOMS OF COUNTIES. CUSTOMS OF COUNTIES. year, and for half of the preceding. These, with the hop-poles, make the payments required of an incoming tenant rather heavy. Leicester is chiefly farmed by yearly tenants, who enter at Lady-day, and occasionally at Alichaelmas. They are not allowed to break up their pastures or sell either hay or straw. Sometimes they engage to lay an annual amount of lime on the land. The outgoing tenant is paid for all clear fal- lows, for which he is allowed three ploughings; but if he has taken a green crop, he is allowed nothing. For his wheat crop — if it has been sown on a clear fallow, for instance — he is allowed for seed and labour, and for the plough- ings, but otherwise only for seed and labour. He is allowed for his seed crop, labour, and seed; but nothing for a turnip fallow, either fed or pulled: if he leaves at Michaelmas, however, he is allowed for his turnips one year's rent. The incomer cannot enter to plough without permission till Ijad3'-day. Lincoln. — Farms commonly held by lease of from 7 to 14 years from Lady-day. The tenant is usually restrained from selling either hay or straw, or from taking more than two white crops to a fallow. These restric- tions, however, do not apply to the fen land. The outgoing tenant has commonly the right of sowing spring-grain nntil Lady-day, and of taking an off-going crop, both of wheat and other corn, all of which, however, he must thrash on the premises. But a very common way is for the outgoer to be paid for all his crops, the value of seed and labour, and also for the manure. The crops are valued at har- vest-time, and the price is set according to the average of three market-days, taken once a month, between harvest-time and the ensuing Ladv-da}^ No'^fnfk. — Farmers hold chiefly by leases of 7 or < 4 years, some for 21, and they enter at Michaelmas. They generally covenant to farm on the four-course system, are often restrained from sowing above a certain number of tares and oats. This crop being considered to be much more impoverishing to the land than barley, he is not allowed to sell either hay or straw. The outgoing tenant either thrashes his harvest himself, or he agrees with his suc- cessor, who carries out the grain and keeps the straw and chaff; the incomer pays for the growing crops on the ground, but not for the labour; thus, if the turnip crop fails, he re- ceives nothing for the labour. The incomer sows the wheat crop, but he cannot enter the farm before Michaelmas-day; to do this without leave, he has to pay for the hay on the farm ; but he takes the dung free. Nottingham is cultivated chiefly by yearly Vnants, who enter at Lady-day. They are commonly not allowed to sell either Jjay or straw, not to take more than three croj5s to a fallow, and never two white ones in succes- sion. When the incomer enters at Michael- mas, the outgoer is paid by valuation, either upon wheat or turnips, for all the seed and labour he has bestowed upon that crop, and for all the jt.oughing he has done before the time he quits; for all artificial manure, such as 'r»ones, &c., if for the first crop, then the full tillage; if the secor.d, only half a tillage, and so on ; but for .dung in or on the land he is allowed nothing; but if he enters at Lady-day, then he is paid for both, for seed and for labour. Salop. — Farms are generally held by yearly tenants, who enter at Lady-day; but on to the meadow land, in some places, at Candlemas, that he may water or manure. He is restrained from selling hay or straw, but not to any parti- cular mode of cultivation. When he quits, he is allowed for any lime he may have brought on to the land within the last two years; the whole value for that of the last year, half the value for that of the preceding: he receives two-thirds of the value of the wheat crop, the value of the seed crops, but nothing for either fallows or dung. He cannot plough for fallows or spring ci»ops without the authority of the incomer, who cannot enter himself to plough without leave before Lady-day. Sot7ierset. — Farmers have usually leases of 8 or 12 years from Lady-day, the outgoer retain- ing the wheat crop, thrashing it on the premi- ses, and leaving the straw, chaff, and dung for the incomer; and for this purpose he commonly holds on till the Midsummer twelvemonth after he quits possession. A tenant cannot sell either hay or straw, or take more than two white crops and a green one without a fallow. He is restrained from breaking up pastures, and he very commonly consents to spend an- nually a certain sum in lime or some other kind of manure. The incoming tenant sows the spring corn, but he cannot enter before Lady-day without leave from the outgoer. Stafford. — The farmers in this county usually hold from year to year. The tenant is com- monly restrained from selling either hay or straw, and there are very fev» restrictions i^jf any kind as to the mode of cultivation. The outgoing tenant is usually paid for all the dung he leaves upon the farm, and for all clear sum- mer fallows, but nothing for bastard fallows, even if the seeds or turnips are fed off. For all the wheat on a clean fallow, sown previous- ly to his notice to quit, he receives two-thirds of the crop; if a brush crop, only one-half; but for all he sows after notice, only the value of the seed and labour. The incomer cannot enter to plough before Lad)'-day: he pays for both the dung and straw left on the farm. Westmorelamf. — Leases in this county aie commemly granted for 7, 9, 11, or 21 years from Lady-day. The house, and one field, however, is usually retained till May-day: he has the privilege, however, of going upon the land at old Candlemas to plough for his fallow and spring crop. The tenant is commonly restricted from having more than two white crops before he sows the land with seed, and that between the two white crops he is to have either a green one or a fallow. He is to manure his meadow ground once in three years, and leave the farm in the same working plight as he found it. The outgoer retains the house and one field till May-d