Y 4 Roarioers Mee 4 do ay sate a i ne NN aETa Nh ee ia nN ‘ eth th ype Batangas Pte ie SERRE VOTE IE a vt tes sy ills PANANASN CAT SES aN waa yt el shee Went y Drea atn heheh ; ; 3 ‘ Ua A eebies lee eA tama hepese goasany ‘ eh cate DSHS IC KSAT SMG Tat Soh aN Lets ; ‘ BA LUG vilees si " Qa eve ty yeas ay , Voiavnes " : We neh 4 eats wie hou be nKial Daas a! ih hala ars f R +h Maat eae a snouts ts) WAR Nh eh i 1,°9% Voie Hrdkegg gir aabs Ne wate ANS} ' Heuer | ue Misi AN » ‘hs uy oh yt is rn ‘ fi Pi) ‘ i v7 ve iy 4 wre iy ane re in) ; Geb aescss? “ ‘in i { , VAS sy he beats te, ats Gn Piette Ieaserante’y thacteitriey i ley Hit elevates Pearle ale : y ; 1 { Latte ae ‘ r ent s ' ve j oe ) 5 f . Wk kee ’ = i if Mi it _ i * — ' y 4 e = i i * all * SCRE ACE a THE FARMER'S AND PLANTERS - ‘ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RURAL AFFAIRS; 4 EMBRACING ALL THE MOST RECENT DISCOVERIES IN Agricultural Chemistry. ADAPTED TO THE COMPREHENSION OF UNSCIENTIFIC READERS. ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS OF ANIMALS, IMPLEMENTS, AND OTHER SUBJECTS INTERESTING ‘ TO THE AGRICULTURIST. BY CUTHBERT W. JOHNSON, ESQ. F.R.S. BARRISTER AT LAW; EDITOR OF THE FARMER’S ALMANAC; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF KONIGSBERG ; THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF MARYLAND3 ETC. ETC. Adapted to the United States, BY GOUVERNEUR EMERSON. PHILADELPHIA: LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO,, (SUCCESSORS To GRIGG, ELLIOT & Co.) NO. 11 NORTH FOURTH STREET. 1851. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by GoUVERNEUR EMERSON, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Printed by T. K. & P. G. Collins. Stereotyped by L. Johnson & Co., Philadelphia. ee PREFACE oF THE AMERICAN EDITOR. Tue Farmers’ Encyclopedia, as originally published in England, contained much matter not particularly interesting to those living on the western side of the ‘Atlantic. In the American edition, the localisms and irrelevant portions have been supplanted by the introduction of much information more immediately relating to rural affairs in the United States. In effecting these alterations, the matter introduced by the American editor amounts to about thirty per cent., all of which has been derived from the best sources of intelligence. The main ob- jects which interest the American farmer, such as cattle, and the great crops of maize, cotton, tobacco, hemp, and other staples of the north and south, have received the most particular attention. In treating of farm-stock, implements, &c., the editor has had no individual interests to serve, and no prejudices to bias him. He has, therefore, doubtless, often failed to say all that partiality or predilection might have dictated in particular cases, and the discussion of the relative merits or demerits of contested agricultural subjects he has left to be carried on in the most appropriate places, namely, the pages of the numerous excellent periodical publications, industriously employed in diffusing the lights of agricultural science through every part of the Union. To many of these the editor is deeply indebted for most valuable information, the particular sources of which he has been careful to acknowledge in the proper places. A volume filled with so much instruction upon agricultural and rural affairs as will be found condensed in this Encyclopedia, cannot fail to be wel- come to all parts of the United States in which the general diffusion of education has created a thirst for the best information. On announcing the work, the American publishers engaged to give sixteen numbers of sixty-four pages each. This promise they have more than fulfilled. The book will be found to comprise 1173, instead of 1024 pages. iii i fr ob: al gs wrvethetnith Bbbile ani ; wit phat? duddr f, "aot esttetiyi ’ » oh) Die bn go dolls ing erable sit ah \ ite pen areca t Lei BD Pang An, baxaicn ta csp inf ( till Sle abet boils eof Wh i ait slags odorant doves et oll SL saveailesy Rerincs Yaw od ot Gedo OH, gi i. oony tn q miin ts ‘nit ire ids yal rile? + ; dey F * j . ry ge ry a : . on ; af od wit is iets ate « , . A « Oia on nit ovina am gaya ‘wundeile: hi | most f 7 ue DEA nett rine oval nh Simon] aid’ foes ioggg: aueyhxic to een Pry te 20h eee BENET wetygaina ab Baw? wd (Cy aged ott +4 fr oe + eit ih ; th Lea } rs ae lal vt ¥ EXPLANATION OF PLATES. PLATE 1. Short-Horned Cows. PLATE 2. p.1117. Varieties of Wheat, with the most destructive Ene- mies. a, Summer or Spring Wheat. b, Winter or Lammas Wheat. c, Egyptian Wheat. d, Turgid Wheat. e, Polish Wheat. f, 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. 1, 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 (J) is still more strongly magnified. 0; Py 7 8, t, u, Very highly magnified repre- sentations of the Fungus Parasite in different stages of growth and maturity. o, Showing it in the young state; p, full- grown; q, two plants bursting and shedding their seeds when under water in the micro- scope; 7, two plants bursting in a dry place ; s, apparently abortive; t, seeds in a dry state; u, a small part of the bottom of a pore with some of the parasitic fungi growing upon it. PLATE 3. p. 139. Barley, Oats, Buckwheat, and Millet. a, b, c, d, Varieties of Barley. e, White, or Common Oat. f, Siberian or Tartarian Oat. g, Common Buckwheat. h, Tartarian Buckwheat. i, Emarginated Buckwheat. k, German Millet. 1, Common Millet. m, Italian Millet. n, Polish Millet. o, Indian Millet. PLATE 4, p. 1044, Rice, Sugar, Tobacco, §c. a, Canary corn. b, Rice Plant. c, Wild Rice. d, Sugar Cane. e, Indigo Plant. f, Virginian Tobacco Plant. g, Common Green Tobacco. h, Havanna Repanda Tobacco. i, Quadrivalvis Tobacco of the Rocky Moain- 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 (Holcus mollis). cc, Tall Oat-like Soft Grass, Andes Grass (Holcus avenaceus). d, Meadow Barley-Grass (Hordeum pratense). dd, Meadow, or Fertile Fescue (Festuca pra- tensis). e, Tall, or Infertile Fescue (Festuca elatior). f, Spiked, or Darnel Fescue Grass (Festuca loliacea). g, Meadow Foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis). h, Great, or Smooth-stalked Meadow Grass, Spear-Grass (Poa pratensis). i, Rough-stalked Meadow Grass (Poa trr vialis). k, Timothy, or Meadow Cat’s-tail (Phlewm pratense). l, Floating Fescue (Festuca fluitans). m, Water Meadow Grass (Poa aquatica). n, Fiorin (Agrostis stolonifera). PLATE 6. p. 576. Grasses. The first group exhibits the Early Pasture Grasses; the second and third groups Pasture v vi EXPLANATION OF PLATES. Grasses adapted to particular soils and situa- tions. a, Sweet-scented Vernal anthum odoratum). 6, Downy Oat-Grass (Avena pubescens). c, Annual Meadow Grass (Poa annua). d, Fine Bent (Agrostis vulgaris mutica). e, Narrow-leaved Meadow Grass (Poa an- gustifolia). f; Dog’s-tail Grass (Cynosurus cristatus). g, Hard Fescue (Festuca duriuscula). h, Smooth Fescue (Festuca glabra). i, Long-awned Fescue (Festuca hordeiformis). k, Sheep’s Fescue (Festuca ovina). 1, Alpine Meadow Grass (Poa alpina). m, Turfy Hair Grass (Aira cespitosa). n, Common Quaking Grass, or Ladies’ Tresses (Briza media). Grass (Anthox- 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. d, White Darnel (Loliwm arvense). e, Welsh Fescue (Festuca Cambrica). f, Crab, or Finger Grass (Digitaria sangui- nalis). g, Red Top (Tricuspis). h, Blue Grass (Poa compressa). i, Creeping Soft Grass, or Couch Grass. k, Creeping Dog’s Tooth (Cynodon dactylon). 1, Upright Sea Lime Grass, Star, or Bent (Elymus arenarius). m, Matt Grass (Psamma arenarium). n, Gama Grass. o, Scott’s Grass (Panicum hirtellum). p, Guinea Grass (Panicum polygamum). g, Cow Wheat (Melampyrum pratense). r, Tare, or Common Vetch (Vicia sativa). s, The Lentil (Ervum lens). t, Chick-Pea (Cicer arietinum). 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. a, White,or Creeping Clover( Tvifoliwm repens). b, Common Red, or Biennial Clover (Trifo- Tium pratense). c, Meadow, or Cow Clover (Trifolium medium). d, Yellow, or Shamrock Clover (Trifolium procumbens). e, Lupuline Clover (Medicago lupulina). f, Flesh-coloured, or Roussillon Clover (Tri- felium incarnatum). g, Saintfoin (the Bourgogne or Esparcette of the French). h, Lucern (Medicago sativa). i, Yellow Lucern (Medicago falcata). k, Long-rooted Clover (Lvrifoliwm macro- ahizum). PLATE 9. p.619. Inferior Herbage, Plants occasionally cultivated. a, Burnet (Poteriwm Sanguisorba). 6, Spurry (Spergula arvensis). c, Furze or Whin (Ulex Europeus). d, Common Broom (Spartiwm scoparum). e, Spanish Broom (Spartiwm junceum). f, Parsley (Apium petrosilinum). g, Bird’s-foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus). h, Lotus Tetragonolobus (Lotier cultiva, Fr.). i, Ripple Grass, or Ribwort Plantain (Plan- tago lanceolata). k, Yarrow (Millefeuille, Fr). PLATE 10. p. 1108. Weeds and Plants troublesome to the Farmer. a, Cockle, or Corn Campion (Agrostemma Githago). b, Mellilot Clover (Trifolium officinalis). ce, Tares. Smooth Tare (Ervwm tetrasper- mum). d, Black Bindweed (Polygonum Convolvulus). e, Dodder (Cuscuta Europea). f, Mellilot trefoil of Switzerland. g, Charlock, or Wild Radish (Raphans Ra- phanistrum). h, Hariff, Cleavers, &c. (Galiwm Aperine). i, Couch Grass (Triticum repens). k, Rest Harrow (Ononis spinosa). 1, Colt’s-foot (Tussilago Farfara). m, Corn Mint (Mentha arvensis). n, Black Foxtail (Alopecurus agrestis). o, Wild Carrot (Daucus Carota). p, Hedge Parsley, or Dill (Torilis infesta). q, Fool’s Parsley (thusa). r, Bawd-Money. Fennel. (Mewm bunias). s, Corn Poppy (Papaver Rheas). t, Buttercup (Ranunculus bulbosus). u, Blue Bottle. Ragged Robin. (Centaurea Cyanus). v, Mayweed. (An- themis Cotula). v, v, St. John’s Wort (Hypericum). w, Ox-eye Daisy (Chrysanthemum Leucanthe- mum). ww, Chamomile Feverfew (Matricaria Cha- momilla). x, Common Fumitory (Fumaria officinalis vel vulgaris). x x, Yellow Toad-Flax (Linaria vulgaris). y, Cinquefoil (Potentilla Pennsylvanica). yy, Soap Wort. Bouncing Bet. (Saponaria officinalis). Stinking Chamomile. 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; 6, wooden pegs; c, movable pieces on which the doors are supported; d, slats separating the comb from the doors; e, frames in which the honey is deposited; f, entrances with slides. 2, One of the Honey Frames drawn out. 3, Grating, or Adapter. 4, Movable Board for separating. 5, A Transverse Section of the Hive, show- ing, at f, the places of entrance; at a, the depth to which the frames extend; and atc, one of the combs. 6, The Echium vulgare, or Ciniak, with its Root, Efforescence, and nut-like Fruit. EXPLANATION OF PLATES. PLATE 12. Cattle. 1, Short-Horned Bull. 2, Ayrshire Cow. 3, Devon Bull, 2 years old. p. 292. PLATE 13. p. 638. Horses. a, Arabian. 6, English Racer. c, English Hunter. d, English Improved Hackney. e, English Black Horse. f, English Draught Mare. g, Suffolk Punch. h, Clydesdale Horse. i, Irish Racer. k, Shetland Pony. PLATE 14. p. 421. Grain Drills. 1, Cooke’s Grain Drill. 2, The same arranged as a Horse Hoe, or Cultivator. 3, Suffolk Corn and Manure Drill. 4, Groundsell’s Patent Drop Drill. 5, Pennock’s Grain Drill. PLATE 15. p. 603. Harrows, Extirpators, and Scarifiers. 1, Gang of Harrows. 2, Berwickshire Harrow. 3, Biddell’s Extirpating Harrow. 4, Harrow Tooth. 5, Finlayson’s Self-cleaning Cultivator, or Scarifier. PLATE 16. p. 667. Destructive Insects, §c. 1, The Oak Pruner (Elaphidion putator). See Borers, page 205. 2, Locust Tree Borer (Clytus flecuosus). See page 206. ° Potato-vine Bug (Criociris trilineata). vii 4, Cucumber Flea (Haltica striolata). Mag nified. See pages 172 and 173. 5, May Beetle, or Dor Bug (Phyllophaga quercina). See pages 172, 173. 6, Pine Tree Weevil (Hylobius pales). A most destructive insect to the Southern pine forests. See Weevits. 7, Moth of the Corn Cut-Worm (Agrotis clandestina). See Cur-Worm. 8, Female Fly of the Peach Tree Worm (Zgeria exitiosa). See Pear Tree Boner. 9, Bee, or Wax Moth (Gaillerea cereana). See page 168. The three insects which follow are to be re- garded as friendly to the interests of man, as they prey upon those which are destructive. 10, Caravus Gorgi, one of a large family which preys upon caterpillars, &c. 11, Lady Bird, or Lady Bug (Coccinella borea- lis). This insect lives upon plant-lice and other injurious insects. 12, Trogus Fulvis, an insect of the Ichneu- mon Family, which commit great havoc among caterpillars and grubs. See Icuneumon Fires. N. B. Most of the subjects of this plate were furnished expressly for this work by Professor Haldeman, of Marietta, Pennsylvania, and drawn under his inspection by Miss Lawson, of Philadelphia. PLATE 17. Ploughs. a, The Holland, or Rotterdam Plough. 6, Small’s Chain Plough. c, d, East Lothian Plough, two views, with scale of feet, &c. e, English Swing Plough. f, Skeleton Plough of Kent. g, Subsoil Ploughing. h, English Plough Head. i, Scotch Plough Head. k, Ploughshare for Stony Ground. 1, Ploughshare for Clear Ground. m, m, Skim Coulters. n, Wheel Coulters. o, Smith’s Subsoil Plough. p. 902. y i My ATA WO AOTPAME 29K ; Oa ae} eit oon perigy apa eee FAC ormuy og rama / ro alt at Atay ti rate xtbuori an hoines | jee ‘ogre Vay or | Pers ae Hatt eg Pyyeg doliwe 6 Dyitl oy Th i PPM Apoeni Ve’ fait | dtp: bt STE 4 OTN hat oabielt pia | om ap koa vw Spaipam' Y ih? a THE AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION. “«To render Agriculture more productive and beneficial to all, it is necessary that its principles should be better understood, and that we should profit more from the experience of each other, and by the example of other countries which excel us in this great business.’’—BveEt. Tue work upon husbandry now ushered before the American public is the produc- tion of an English gentleman of great intelligence, assisted by some of the best authorities upon rural subjects in his country. By collecting and condensing the most interesting details relative to farming, chiefly derived from living authors, such as Professors Liebig, Lowe, Sir J. E. Smith, Brande, Youatt, Stephens, ‘Thompson, Lindley, I. F. Johnson, ete., ete., he has been enabled to present the very latest infor- mation, and furnish a fund of matter which cannot fail to attract all who take an interest in rural affairs, so long studied and so thoroughly understood as these must needs be in Great Britain. The absence of speculative views, with the very practical and matter-of-fact character of the information given upon all subjects treated of, will perhaps be found to consti- tute the highest recommendation of ** C. W. Johnson’s Farmers’ Encyclopedia, and Dictionary of Rural Affairs.” The comparatively limited range of English Agriculture is strongly contrasted with the diversity of culture met with in the United States. A work limited to an account of productions of the soil and climate of England would leave out many of the most important crops which exact the attention of the American farmer and planter. Hence the necessity of adapting a book of the kind to the new localities into which it is introduced. This, as may be well supposed, presents a task of no small labour. It has been charged upon agriculturists, that improvements in husbandry encounter great opposition, and generally work their way very slowly ; whereas inventions and improvements made in the manufacturing and mechanic arts are seized upon and put to profit almost as quickly as promulgated. he late and justly celebrated Mr. Coke, of Holkam, England, the great benefactor of his own country, and, indeed, of every other country where agriculture is cherished, succeeded, by the adoption of an en- lightened course of tillage, in converting a sandy and comparatively sterile district into one of very great productiveness. But, though his improvements were on so large a scale, and the results so very striking to observers, such was the general ignorance, apathy, or prejudice prevailing in the neighbouring counties, that he esti- mated the rate at which his improved process spread around him, at only about three miles a year. A better condition of things would seem to exist at present in the United States, doubtless owing to the extension of education. But a few months have passed since the treatise upon Agricultural Chemistry of the celebrated Dr. Liebig, reached this side of the Atlantic, and though much of it is couched in the ab- struse phraseology of science, still has it been eagerly sought after in all directions, and gone through several editions. Can any stronger proof be furnished of the high state of intelligence pervading a large portion of the agricultural population of the United States ? The advances in agricultural improvement have, of late years, been in what mathe- maticians call a gecmetrical ratio, the pace increasing with great celerity at every suc- cessive step. In proportion as the influences of modern education become diffused, the savage characteristics of man are softened down, and the better feelings of his nature ac- 1 A 1 2 INTRODUCTION. quire predominance. Bloody and desolating wars are viewed in their true light, and the useful arts of peace appear the only proper sources of individual pleasure and national prosperity. As, among these arts, none possesses the vital importance of agriculture, from its furnishing the means of immediate subsistence, so it may fairly be said, no other excites at the present day a greater and more pervading interest throughout Europe and America, with all who seek independence or the gratification of the most rational of tastes. The inhabitants of the United States possess advantages for the prosecution of agricultural pursuits, which, for variety and extent, surpass those enjoyed by any other people on the globe. They occupy the greatest portion of the North American continent, embracing all varieties of soil and surface, with a climate which in the southern parts admits the culture of many of the most valuable productions of the tropics, whilst the northern limits verge upon, but do not reach the less favoured regions where too severe and enduring frost entails a scanty vegetation. Commencing nearest the tropical limits, the chief attention of the planter is direct- ed to the culture of the sugar-cane, rice, tobacco, indigo, and especially cotton, more of which last is raised in the Southern States than in all the rest of the world besides. In the amount of sugar procured from the cane, Louisiana takes the lead, though Florida, Alabama, and others of the extreme southern states produce considerable quantities. South Carolina yields the most rice, which is also raised to a greater or less extent throughout the southern states, and even as high as Tennessee, Kentucky, and southern Virginia. ‘The cotton region is still more extensive, spreading through- out the extreme southern and south-western states, from the Atlantic far west of the Mis- sissippi, and rising into middle Virginia, and even the lowest portion of Delaware In the quantity of tobacco produced, Virginia stands foremost, being followed succes sively by Kentucky, Tennessee, Maryland, North Carolina, etc. The Middle States raise in the greatest abundance, maize or Indian corn, wheat, rye, barley and oats, whilst in a large portion of the Northern States, the wheat, rye, oat, potato, and especially grass crops, are extremely productive and valuable. Although maize is most extensively cultivated in the middle states, it is abundant in almost every section of the country, and from its affording so large an amount of the food of man and animals, is universally regarded as the most valuable cereal crop of the United States. Besides these there are many other rich products of the fields and forests, which enter largely into the aggregate of national wealth. The first history of American Agriculture differs from that of countries in the old world, where the advances in the arts were slow, and every acquisition marked by rudeness and simplicity. Not so, however, in America, whose intelligent European settlers came with all the appliances of advanced civilization, prepared to chop down the forests and clear away the thickets which had so long encumbered the ground and furnished a scanty subsistence to the savage hunter. For a time the roots obstructed the plough and prevented the deep turning of the soil: but they afforded no impedi- ment to the raising of grain crops, since the light virgin mould, abounding in the alkalies and all other elements of fertility, required but the slightest stirring of the surface to answer the purposes of the plough and harrow. Here then commenced the career of the American planter and farmer, upon a capital accumulated by nature herself through the most gradual accessions. Rich harvests of grain, crops of tobacco and other products sent to Europe and sold at high prices, stimulated to renewed ex- ertions, and the generous soil was subjected to a scourging course of tillage, by which many of the essential elements of its fertility were finally exhausted without any compensating additions. In Virginia, where the primitive settlements were made, Jarge tracts of many hundreds and even thousands of acres, the once profitable cul- ture of which is shown by the extensive ruins of stately mansions, now lie waste and uncultivated, or are covered with a new growth of the oak and pine, renewing forests to which the deer, once driven away, has returned. The lands bordering on the Atlantic have thus been worn out by successive years of culture without adequate help, the thinnest soils first, and next the deeper moulds. But let not those whose lots are cast in other and more prosperous parts of the Union sympathize over the decayed fortunes of once flourishing districts, and overlook their own gradual decline. It is in vain for the farmers of the western valleys and prairies to boast of the depth and inexhaustible productive powers of their lands. With every INTRODUCTION. 3 crop, some of the elements of fertility must of necessity be removed, and the greater the crops the speedier the exhaustion, unless some adequate compensation be made. The following fact, stated in the fifth volume of that valuable American periodical, «The Cultivator,’ shows the progress of deterioration in one of the finest wheat dis- tricts in the whole country. «“ Thomas Burrall, Esq., has a most excellent wheat farm in the neighbourhood of Geneva, (New York,) which he began to clear and improve twenty-one or twenty- two years ago, and on which he has made and applied much manure. Mr. Bur- rall informed us, in the summer of 1836, that he had noted down the average product of his wheat crop every year; that dividing the twenty years into three periods, he found that his wheat had averaged twenty-nine bushels per acre during the first of these periods ; twenty-five bushels the acre during the second; and but twenty bushels the acre during the third period—thus showing a diminished fertility of nearly one- third, under what may there be denominated a good system of husbandry.” All, then, who are engaged in agricultural pursuits, and even those now luxuriating upon the most fertile soils, must, sooner or later, be reduced to the necessity of adding to their fields some of the agents of fertility, and of adopting new means by which they can obtain crops that may be compensating and profitable. The late Judge Buel, in referring to a picture drawn by the Hon. James M. Gar- nett, of the deteriorated condition of Virginia agriculture, says:—‘‘ Let not the Northerners take credit to themselves, from this outline of old Virginia husbandry, or from the ingenuous detail of the causes which brought it to so low a condition. Though not exactly the like causes have operated, the same deteriorating system of husbandry has prevailed with us, though perhaps to a more limited extent. Though we have personally attended more to the art—to the practice—yet we have been equally defi- cient in the science with our brethren in Virginia—equally indifferent to the study and application of the principles upon which good husbandry must ever be based. And although we may have begun earlier in the business of reform, whether from necessity or from choice we will not say, we are still too defective in practice to boast of our trivial acquirements. The truth is, we have regarded the soil as a kind mother, expecting her always to give, without regarding her ability to give. We have expected a continuance of her bounties, though we have abused her kindness, and disregarded her maternal admonitions. We have managed the culture of the soil as a business requiring mere animal power, rather than as one in which the intellect could be brought largely to co-operate.” ‘« But,” continues the judge, in the full fervour of his zeal for the promotion of agriculture, ‘*there is a redeeming spirit abroad. The lights of science are beaming upon the agricultural world, and dissipating the clouds of superstitious ignorance which have so long shrouded it in darkness. The causes which have for some time been actively operating to improve the condition of the other arts, and to elevate the character of those who conduct them, are extending their influence to agriculture.” The course of tillage followed in America since its first settlement, and with such exhausting and disastrous effects upon the soil, has been of late aptly styled the old system, to distinguish it from the New Husbandry, which last consists in the employ- ment of means calculated not only to arrest and prevent the exhaustion of soils, but to increase their productiveness, It is indeed gratifying to know that in many parts of our country which have suffered from the impoverishment of the land; agriculture has for many years shown signs of progressive improvement, reduced farms having been brought into increased value, and the products of many of them being raised even above the amount afforded in the days of their first exuberant culture. This has occurred in New England, in the Valley of the Hudson, in New Jersey, Penn- sylvania, the upper portion of the Peninsula including Delaware and Eastern Mary- land, in several parts of Western Maryland, Old or Eastern Virginia, ete. It is the chief object of the numerous and many admirable agricultural publications so extensively circulated at the present day, as well as of the active societies every where instituted, to set forth the principles and practical details of the new system of hus- bandry, and to demonstrate the advantages resulting from the judicious application of manures and all sorts of fertilizing agents ;—from good tillage ;—from proper rotation of crops;—from the assistance to be derived from root-culture ;—from the substitution for naked fallows, of clover and other good fallow crops. All these means are to be 4 INTRODUCTION. adopted in conjunction with ample draining, with or without the additional advantages derived from sub-soil ploughing. Many of the processes which may be resorted to in carrying out the new system are in a great degree mysteries to thousands in the United States, although familiarly known and long employed in other countries, where with not half the natural advan- tages the labour of the husbandman is far better rewarded. Such has been the agri- cultural improvement effected in Flanders, that the whole country may almost be styled a garden, each acre being capable of supporting its man. Scotland, in little more than half a century, has changed from comparative unproductiveness, into one of the richest agricultural districts in Europe. In Great Britain, the products of the grain harvests have increased within sixty years, from one hundred and seventy to three hundred and forty millions of bushels. The system inculeated by the new principles, has even in some districts of our own country, where they have been well followed up, inereased the value of farms, two, three, and four hundred per cent.— from twenty and thirty dollars to one hundred dollars per acre. ‘It has,” says Buel, ‘‘made every acre of arable land, upon which it has been practised ten years, and lying contiguous to navigable waters, or a good market, worth, at least, one hundred dollars, for agricultural purposes.” The zeal for the promotion of good husbandry which pervades the country at large, is displayed in the geological surveys which have been finished, or are in progress, in most of the states; in the agricultural surveys in several others, together with the liberal premiums appropriated by legislative authority, and innumerable societies, for the encouragement of every thing tending to improve and advance the agricultural interests. It is also shown by the extensive circulation of the many periodicals de- voted in whole or in part to agricultural topics. Every section of our extensive country has more or less of these invaluable aids for the dissemination of useful information. Although wishing to avoid, as far as possible, all invidious distinctions, where there are so many just claims to notice, some of these publications cannot be suf- fered to remain without a passing notice. Such are, ‘* Zhe American Farmer,” re- cently published in Baltimore by John S. Skinner and successors, the pioneer of American periodicals specially devoted to agriculture: “ The Cultivator,” published in Albany, N. Y., by the late Judge Buel and successors: **The New England Far- mer,’ by Thomas G. Fessenden and successor, the Rev. H. Coleman: ‘* The Southern Agriculturist,” in Charleston, 8. C., by B. R. Carroll; and “The Farm- er’s Register,” by Edmund Ruffin at Petersburg, Virginia. These able works con- stitute the chief officials on agricultural subjects in the northern, middle, and southern States. Book-farmers have long suffered under general discredit, and been exposed to abundance of taunt and ridicule, even from their own agricultural brethren. Doubt- less the imperfection of much of the scientific data furnished and practised upon has ofien given occasion to unsatisfactory results. But the rapid progress of science has developed new facts, and furnished much more accurate information. Under the direction of Davy, agricultural chemistry made vigorous advances. His many splendid discoveries, and especially his demonstration that the common alkalies, pot- ash and soda, and the alkaline earths, magnesia, lime, and alumine, were not simple elementary substances, but the oxides of metals, seemed to give anew impulse to those who sought to make chemistry subservient to agriculture. But even with the brilliant achievements of Davy and the subsequent valuable researches of Count Chaptal in France, agricultural chemistry remained very imperfect. ‘Too exclusive attention had been devoted to the mineral constituents of soils. Most gratifying and important results have been since obtained through the able investigations of several eminent French chemists, among whom we may name, Raspail, De Saussure, Braconnot, and Boussingault, all of whom have devoted special attention to ascertaining the nature and properties of organic substances entering into the composition of soils. What England commenced by Davy, and France followed up so ably by her distinguished chemists just named, Germany seems to have the honour of almost perfecting through the brilliant achievements of her chemist, Dr. Liebig, the highly important results obtained by whom have been quite recently placed before the world in a trea- tise entitled ‘* Organic Chemistry.’’ The interesting developements made in this work of the chemical agencies operating in the various stages and conditions of growth, INTRODUCTION. 5 maturity, and subsequent decomiposition of vegetable and animal substances, and the mutual relations subsisting between these and the earth and atmosphere, have drawn upon Liebig the admiration of all Europe and America. It must, nevertheless, be owned that though generally adopted, the accuracy of some of Liebig’s results has been more than questioned by distinguished chemists in Europe and the United States. The particulars of these and the effects of the several agencies acting upon the life of vegetables and animals, will be found in the Encyclo- pedia of Agriculture, arranged under various heads, such as, Soils, Humus, Carbon, Oxygen, Azote or Nitrogen, Hydrogen, Ammonia, ete. Whilst agriculture has, within the last few years, been thus receiving such rich tributes from abroad, many scientific investigators of the highest merit have been zealously and successfully engaged in the United States, in experimental researches which have added greatly to the stock of useful knowledge. Among these, it would be signal injustice to pass unnoticed the names of Professors Jackson and Dana of Massachusetts, who have devoted great attention to the analyses of soils, the chemical composition and properties of humus as found in ordinary mould, and in peats and bog-mud, the results of which have been published in the reports of the Agricultural and Geological Surveys of Massachusetts, and in separate essays. Professors Rogers and Booth of Philadelphia, the former in his Geological Report of New Jersey, and the latter of Delaware, have furnished numerous and highly accurate analyses of the valuable calcareous marls and green-sand deposits found so abundantly in the states named, as well as in others of the middle and southern regions, together with much information relative to the application of these inexhaustible agents of fertility ;—Nor can we omit the name of Dr. Harris of Massachusetts, whose highly interesting and useful treatise upon destructive insects, is a most valuable acquisition to the stores of agricultural knowledge. The success with which science has developed the agencies concerned in the various stages and processes of vegetation, and the certainty with which deficiences of soil can now be detected and remedied, have suddenly elevated agriculture from the condition of an art under the guidance of common observation and empirical ex- periment, to a science regulated by recognised principles of induction. We are indeed much mistaken if the day has not arrived when the successes of the book-farmer shall cause his incredulous brother farmer of the old routine system, to cease his taunts and spend some of his leisure hours in searching into books containing modern information in regard to matters of husbandry. In preparing the work for the American farmer, the editor has had several objects to fulfil. Of these, one of the principal was the reduction of the price, the cost of the imported copy being so great as to prevent any extensive circulation of it in the United States. Much of the irrelevant and less important materials in the original have been omitted, their place being supplied by the addition of information con- nected with the interests of American husbandry. In the selection of such informa- tion, the editor has to acknowledge his great indebtedness to distinguished writers at home and abroad, who have contributed, by elaborate works, separate treatises and communications in periodicals, to promote the cause of agriculture. The American edition will contain a far greater number of plates and figures illus- trating the various subjects; notwithstanding which, its cost will be only about one- fourth that of the imported work. Az pe mele Hn ty lw il wy! if 7 tieedteveet fale NaI hein” Rael at WCE * wh Tae ay beg Olea) bras si cae —_ i i PROT iup rea | oman dnd doa hi fet Sicevy ih fe Hop hb Gedintorrvbs ait airy i it Pie A bi si aot ys ATs 0's Ht (LA me, Li \ Seieitiius ue SAG HT tre ft Phyl aa viaarti ante ae x ws tahun - Ball mpeg ye bail 9 il Te she cea i i" Pil) hu rij ot iy oftie Mabini "Wnt ayeiye se uF aN seas hy Mie , ker u * } > dl ALOR teny tines NAA Ta scat) HU ; iy fide ‘ Tan ee tite tbav ae Tae Ly { ix J) ify PL: bad f wend Mite TF Ms We eefios: ut Pa wehth ( gird fy te o i THE FARMER'S ENCYCLOPADIA, AND DICTIONARY OF RURAL AFFAIRS. A. ABATE (French, abbatre; Spanish, aba- tir ; Italian, abbatere); to beat down. In com- merce, to let down the price in selling. In law, means the beating down or removal of an obstruction or nuisance, which, accord- ing to the common law of England, any per- son may remove, provided he does it in a peaceable manner, so as not to occasion a breach of the peace, such as the obstruction of anancient light, which is a private nuisance, or the erection of a gate across a common road, which is a public nuisance, and which any one may beat down and remove. ABELE TREE (Populus alba). European White Poplar, or Dutch Beech, otherwise call- ed the Arbeel. The Abele is a tree of very rapid growth, but seldom exceeds forty or fifty feet in height. The leaves are large, and di- vided into three, four, or five lobes, which are indented on their edges. This tree is not to be considered as a native of England. Hartlib, in his “Complete Hus- bandman,” 1659, states that some years ago, there were ten thousand Abeles at once sent over into England from Flanders, and trans- planted into many counties; that the timber is incomparable for all sorts of wooden vessels, especially trays; and that butchers’ trays can- not be made without it, it being so exceedingly light and tough. “A specimen of their advance,” says Eve- lyn, “we have had of an Abele tree at Sion, which being lopped in Feb. 1651, did, by the end of October, 1652, produce branches as big as a man’s wrist, and seventeen feet in length. As they thus increase in bulk, their value ad- vances likewise, which, after the first seven years, is annually worth one shilling more. The Dutch, therefore,” he continues, “look upon a plantation of these trees as an ample portion for a daughter.” Besides the uses of the wood before stated, it is considered good for wainscoting, for floors, laths, and packing cases; and, from the boards of it not splitting by nails, but closing over the heads, it is esteemed superior to deal for the latter pur- pose. It is found to answer for works under water. Peaty and low damp soils are the most proper for the Abele, and in these it is well worthy the attention of the forest planter. It should never be planted near the margins of, nor in grass fields, for it extends its roots under the grass to a great distance, and sends up numerous shoots. The Abele is propa- gated by layers, cuttings, and off-shoots or suckers. The month of February is the best season for planting the cuttings. In two years, many, if not all that have rooted, will be fit to plant out for good, on the sites where they are to remain for timber. The size of the plants considered the best for final transplantation, is from one and a half to three feet in length, but much larger plants will succeed very well by paying proper attention to keep the roots as perfect as possible. The Abele is sometimes made a variety of the Gray Poplar (Populus canescens), and seve- ral British as well as foreign botanists have confounded the two species, but they are very distinct. There are many varieties of the Abele, aris- ing from local circumstances. The variety, called on the continent, Polan de Holland, is preferable for avenues and for landscape gard- ening, from its rapid growth, its majestic height and aspect, and from its fine white leaves contrasting well with the green of other leaves. There are some magnificent ones near the Hague, and more particularly exten- sive avenues of them along most of the high- ways in the lower districts of Belgium, near Bruges and Ghent. It is so common on the romantic banks of the Rhone, that some French authors call it Arbre du Rhone. According to M‘Intosh, the best cuttings are taken from the wood of the preceding year; and when made, each cutting should be nine inches in length, and planted in nursery lines eighteen inches apart, and the cuttings about six inches distant from each other. When in- serted in the ground, they should be put in deep enough to resist the drought; and if only two inches of the top appear above ground, it will be found sufficient. In two years, or three at most, these cuttings will be fully grown to fit them for being finally planted out; but if 7 ABIES. they are to remain the third year in the nur- sery, they ought to be taken up and re-planted at a greater distance. The Abele often sends up naturally vast numbers of suckers from its roots, and such are sometimes used for young plants; cuttings are, however, preferable. Langley asserts that he has known great quantities produced by chips only, where the trees have been hewed after felling; and one of our earliest authors has proposed ploughing down these chips, with a view to produce an economical coppice. Amongst other uses of this tree, it may be mentioned that, on the Continent, the wood of the larger branches is prized, on account of its lighmess, for making wooden shoes; while the smaller twigs are used for fire-wood. By splitting the wood into thin shavings, like tape or braid, the stuff called sparterie used for hats, is manufactured. These shavings are always made from green wood. One work- man can, with the aid of a child to carry off the shavings, keep several plaiters employed. The ancient Greek athlete wore crowns made of the branches of this tree, because it was sacred to their patron deity, Hercules. (Julius Pollux, de Ludis. Miller’s Dict.) ABIES. In botany, the Fir or Pine tree genus, well known for the valuable timber ob- tained from many of the varieties. The origin of the Latin name is unknown, that of the English appellation is the Saxon Furh-wude, fir-wood. See Fir Trex. ABLACTATION (Latin, ablacto). The weaning of an animal. Also a method of grafting, without cutting the scion from the stock. ABORTION (Latin, abortio). In veteri- nary surgery, miscarriage, slipping, slinking, casting, or warping, all meaning the expulsion of the foetus at so early a period of pregnancy as to render it impossible for it to live. The im- mediate causes appear to he the death of the foetus, or derangement in the functions of the womb or its dependencies, arising from some external cause or causes operating on the mo- ther. Amongst these operating causes may be reckoned too much, or too little food, producing plethora or emaciation; sudden fright acting on the nerves, or sympathy with certain smells or sights, such as the smell or sight of blood, of bones, of horns, and particularly of the aborted foetus of another animal;—on a simi- lar principle, perhaps, to that which causes even some strong-nerved men to faint away on witnessing a surgical operation. Acci- dents, also, such as falls, bruises, over-driving, or fatigue, and the like, may frequently bring on abortion. The signs of approaching abortion are, great janguor, uneasiness, and restlessness.» some- times a discharge of bloody matter, and the sudden filling of the udder, similar to the signs of approaching parturition. Abortion in the Horse-—Abortions very fre- quently happen among mares. This often arises in consequence of over-exertion during the latter period of pregnancy. Mares are liable, also, very frequently, to various acci- dents in their pastures, which, may be the ABORTION. kicks, tumbling into holes and ditches, over- exerting themselves to get over fences, and the like. On this account, when a mare is near her time, she should be kept by herself, in some convenient place. But there is another, and We suspect a very general, cause of these ac- cidents in mares; we mean a stinting of them in their food, either in quantity or quality. It appears, indeed, that some imagine that the mare, when she is in foal, may be turned out almost any where: but this opinion is ill founded; for although the mare does not re- quire to be kept so high in condition as when she is at hard work, yet she is not to be turned out into a pasture where she may be in a man- ner starved: but how often do we see the mare-in-foal on the worst piece of ground in the whole farm, exposed, during the rigorous winter season, to endure the cold, as well as to put up with scanty food. Every well-informed farmer knows that the slinking of the foal is often the consequence of such treatment. On the other hand, when the mare is not worked at all, and indulged with too high keep, she is almost equally in danger of abortion, her high condition having a tendency to cause inflam- mation and other disorders; and these de- ranging the reproductive organs, frequently produce miscarriage. It would seem, then, that moderate exercise and diet are best suited as means to avoid the misfortune of the pre- mature exclusion of the foal. Abortion in the Cow.—Abortion oceurs of- tener in the cow than in all other domestic animals put together. Perhaps it is one of the greatest annoyances the proprietor of cows has to encounter, and unfortunately, for aught we see to the contrary, it is likely so to con- tinue; for in spite of the improved state of veterinary medicine, and the researches of skilful veterinary surgeons, both at home and abroad, abortion still continues as frequent and annoying as ever. The causes are fre- quently involved in obscurity; but it may be mentioned, that an extremely hot and foul cow- house, a severe blow, violent exertion, starva- tion, plethora, an overloaded stomach, internal inflammations, constipated bowels, bad food or water, improper exposure, and the like, will now and then produce abortion. Any thing whatever, indeed, that seriously affects the health of the animal in general, or the state of the reproductive organs in particular, may do so. But abortion occurs again and again when no such causes as those enumerated can be traced. The disease, if such it may be called, as we think it may, is even said to be infectious. No sooner does it show itself in one animal than it is seen in another, and another, till it has spread over the most part of the cow- house. Some say this is to be attributed to the odour arising from the things evacuated. Pos- sibly it may be so, there is nothing unreason- able in the supposition ; for although we cannot perceive the smell, nor account for its peculiar influence, it is still quite within possibility that such an odour does exist, having the power attributed to it. There can be no great harm, however, in acting as if we were as- sured that the mischief has its origin in the cause of their slipping their foal, such as| source so commonly supposed, provided we do ABORTION. ABORTION. not shut our eyes to any other which accident |and cheese made on his farm was greatly im- or investigation may rev eal. In the meantime, the number of abortions may be diminished by carefully avoiding all those causes which are known to be capable of producing it. Let the cows be regularly fed: let their food be good, and in proper quantities; let them have water as often as they will take it; avoid sudden ex- posure to cold or heat ; and, above all, let the cow-house be well ventilated. Prohibit all manner of rough usage on the part of those who look after the cows, whether they be preg- nant or not. If any of them accumulate flesh too rapidly, gradually reduce their allowance; and, on the other hand, if any become emaci- ated, discover the cause, and remedy it, always by slow degrees. Sudden changes in the matter or mode of feeding should also be avoided. The same sort “of diet does not agree equally well with all the cows; and this, in general, is indicated by undue relaxation, or constipation of the bowels; this should be watched, and removed at once. Attention to these, and many other minor circumstances, will amply repay the proprietor for the little additional trouble. “That improper or too little food,” says Mr. Lindsay, ‘“‘is a prominent cause of abortion, is strongly indicated by the following facts. A friend of mine, a respectable grazing farmer, kept a dairy of twenty-two cows, ten of which slipped calf at different periods of parturition. The summer had been very unfavourable in every respect, both as regarded the ground where the cows were pastured, and in getting in the hay crop. He had little or no hay of the last year’s growth, and the hay of that year when cut into was in avery bad state; but as he had no other, he was obliged to give it to his cattle. The consequence was as men- tioned above; and besides, many of his stock died of various disorders ; and many of those which recovered remained long weakly.” “The most common cause of abortion in cows,” says White, “is improper feeding dur- ing winter and spring, before they are turned to pasture. The filthy pond-water they are often compelled to drink, and feeding on the rank fog-grass of October and Novem- ber, especially when covered with hoar-frost, are likewise frequent causes of miscarriage. I remember a farm near Berkeley, in Glouces- tershire, which afforded a striking proof of the injuries of stagnant pond-water, impregnated with dung and urine. This farm had been given up by three farmers successively, in consequence of the losses they sustained through abortion in their cattle, their not being in season (that is, not conceiving), red water, and other diseases. At length a Mr. Dimmery, after suffering considerably in his live stock for the first five years, suspected that the water of his ponds, which was extremely filthy, might be the cause of the mischief. He there- fore dug three wells upon his farm, and having fenced round the ponds to prevent his cattle from drinking there, caused them to be sup- plied with well-water, in stone troughs erected for the purpose; and from this moment his live stock began to thrive, became uncom- monly healthy, and the quality of the butrer 2 proved. It should be observed, that on this farm the cattle were regularly fed with good hay during the winter, and kept in good pas- ture in summer: so that there cannot exist a coubt that the losses sustained by Mr. Dim- mery were entirely attributable to the unwhole- some water the animals were compelled to drink.” “Tn order,” adds Mr. White, “to show that the accident of warping may arise from a viti- ated state of the digestive organs, I shall here notice a few circumstances tending to corro- borate this opinion. In January, 1782, all the cows in the possession of farmer D’Euruse, near Grandyvilliers, in Picardy, miscarried. The period at which they warped was about the fourth or fifth month. The accident was attri- buted to the excessive heat of the preceding summer; but as the water they were in the habit of drinking was extremely bad, and they had been kept upon oat, wheat, and rye straw, it appears to me more probable that the great quantity of straw they were obliged to eat in order to obtain sufficient nourishment, and the injury sustained by the third stomach in ex- pressing the fluid parts of the masticated mass, together with the large quantity of water they probably drank while kept upon this dry food, was the real cause of their miscarrying. A farmer at Charentin, out of a dairy of twenty- eight cows, had sixteen slip calf at different periods of gestation. The summer had been very dry, and during the whole of this season they had been pastured in a muddy place, which was flooded by the Seine. Here the cows were generally up to their knees in mud and water, and feeding on crowfoot, rushes, and the like. Part of the stock had recently been brought from Lower Normandy, where they had all been affected with indigestion by feeding upon lucerne, from the effects of which they had been relieved by the operation of paunching. In one, the opening made was large enough to admit the hand for the purpose of drawing out the food; the rest were ope- rated on with a trocar. In 1789, all the cows in the parish of Beaulieu, near Mantes, mis- carried. All the land in this parish was so stiff as to hold water for a considerable time; and as a vast quantity of rain fell that year, the pastures were for a long time, and at seve- ral periods, completely inundated, on which the grass became sour and rank. These, and several other circumstances which have fallen under my own observation, plainly show that keeping cows on food that is deficient in nutri- tion, and difficult of digestion, is one, if not the principal, cause of their miscarrying. It is stated by Mr. Handwin, that feeding in pas- tures, when covered with white frost, has been observed to occasion abortion in these ani- mals.” If there be any probability of a cow miscar- rying from exposure to any of the common causes already enumerated, let her by all means be put apart from the others; and let a skilful person attend to the evil from which she is expected to suffer. If the approach of abortion be evident, bleeding may be had re- course to; for if it do not check abortion, it 9 ABORTIVE. will yet do no harm though it take place. When there are any premonitory symptoms of abortion, they are precisely the same as those which present themselves in ordinary labour, with the exception of their being less marked. Fumigation of the cow-house is resorted to as one of the means of preventing the spread of abortion: tar, sulphur, gunpowder, feathers, and the like, are burned for the purpose of destroying the odour. We have never seena single instance of the practice being attended with the smallest success; while it is obvious that, if carried beyond a certain point, it may produce the very evil it is intended to remove or mitigate. It is a remarkable feature in the history of this complaint, that those cows that have once miscarried are particularly liable to do so again at the same period of their succeeding pregnancy. Greater care is therefore requisite to guard against those causes which do, or are supposed to, excite it. The treatment of abor- tion, when it does take place, differs not from that adopted in cases of parturition, only that the cow which miscarries should be removed with all that belongs to her from among preg- nant cows. If the signs of approaching abortion be dis- covered early, the accident may sometimes be prevented. If the cow is in good condition, then immediately let it be bled to the extent of five or six quarts, and the bowels opened with half a pound of Epsom salts, three or four drams of aloes in powder, or as many ounces of castor oil, administered in a quart of gruel ; but if the cow is in very poor condition, and the miscarriage is anticipated from her having been exposed to cold, it would be more advan- tageous to avoid bleeding, and give her a warm gruel drink, with an ounce of laudanum in it. If after this abortion does take place, let her be kept in a comfortable place by herself; and if the after-birth has not passed off, let no injudi- cious and unnecessary administration of vio- lent forcing medicines, such as capsicum or hellebore, be given. Nature, with a little as- sistance, is generally equal to the perfect re- storation of the animal. Abortion in the Sheep. Ewes are much Subject to abortion, in consequence of the numerous accidents they are liable to, such as fright, overdriving, being worried or run with dogs, a remarkable instance of which came under my own observation. A pack of hounds, in pursuit of a hare, got among a flock of sheep belonging to a farmer, and so hurried and alarmed them, that thirty out of a flock of two hundred ewes prematurely dropped their lambs. It is the same in sheep as in the other cases of domestic animals,—scarcity of food, and exposure to severe cold, having a great tendency to make the ewes prematurely drop their lambs, or produce them weakly and crip- pled at the full time; and although there may ne a little danger in giving too much food, such as allowing them to feed all the winter on turnips, the danger is trifling compared ith the starving system. (Miller.) ABORTIVE. A term applied by gardeners and farmers to flowers, seeds, and fruits, which Ww ABSCESS. do not come to maturity, in consequence of ex- ternal injury from the weather, from insects, or other causes affecting their growth. Thus fruit often becomes abortive, in consequence of cold winds or frosts in spring checking the flow of the nutritive juices; and after losing its healthy colour it shrivels, and falls. The same effects arise when the leaves of fruit- branches are devovred by caterpillars, or the fruit-stalks sucked by insects (Aphides, Cocci, &c.). The only preventives are sheltering from cold, and destroying the insects. ABSCESS (Latin, abscessus). In veterinary surgery, a circumscribed cavity in an animal, containing matter. [In common language, an imposthume or gathering.] The deposition of matter in a solid part of the body is always preceded, and in some degree ac- companied, by inflammation. The local symp- toms are, pain on pressure, heat, swelling, hardness, and, where it can be seen, redness. These are easily recognised, in proportion as the inflamed part is near the external surface. If the part in which an abscess is about to form be soft, yielding, and well supplied with blood, it soon softens and points, the pain di- minishes, the skin becomes thin, a fluid is felt fluctuating under it, and by and by the skin bursts, or a portion of it drops out, and the matter escapes. What is called the process of granulation succeeds to this; and, provided the matter be completely evacuated, and the outlet be such as not to retain any that may form subsequently, the cavity soon fills up. Such are the different stages of an ordinary abscess. The general health of the animal is rarely affected; but if an abscess form in a dense unyielding texture, in a part which can- not without much difficulty accommodate it- self to an increase of volume, then the swelling may be less, but the animal will endure a great deal more pain, [as is often exemplified under similar circumstances in the disease called felon or whitlow in the finger or human hand.] The irritation, indeed, is sometimes so great, from this cause, as to induce fever, and even death; and hence the formation of an abscess in the foot of an irritable horse is not an unfrequent cause of death. During the deposition of the matter in such cases, we have general symptoms added to those termed local. There is loss of appetite, thirst, a hot skin, quick and hard pulse, constipated bowels; in short, the animal is fevered. When an abscess forms in a part remote from the surface, its presence is not easily recognised. The general practi- tioner has here an advantage over the veteri- nary surgeon. The expressed feelings of the patient, and the occasional slight shivering fits which accompany the formation of matter, are guides which the veterinary surgeon can rarely or never command. The shivering, if it occurs, passes unobserved, and the animal can give no account of himself; dissection, therefore, sometimes reveals lar, ge abscesses, whose existence was not even suspected dur- ing life. Fortunately these are not frequent. Tt is a curious circumstance, and one that well illustrates the preservative principle of a living being, that, unless there be some me- ABSCESS. éhanical obstacle, as in the case of the horse’s foot, the matter always seeks its exit by an ex- ternal opening. If this were not a law in the animal economy, and if the matter were to spread indiscriminately on all sides, it might not only accumulate to an enormous extent, and produce much destruction, but by en- eroaching upon vital organs, it might be a very frequent cause of death. The instances of such a thing happening are rare; but they are easily accounted for by the presence of some mechanical obstacle which the absorbents could not overcome. Why an abscess should point at one part rather than another, is truly wonderful; but it is not more so than almost every other process of importance in the ani- mal economy. We may attempt to explain it; but, in truth, to perceive that such is the case, and that because it would have been wrong had it been otherwise, is as far as we can pro- ceed. We know that the absorbents remove a portion of that side of the cavity which is next to the external surface; but we do not know what urges them to act on that side in prefer- ence to any other; and, perhaps, in a practical point of view, we need not care to know. The causes of abscess may in general be traced to an injury done to the texture of a part, or to the introduction of some foreign substance by which it is irritated. In the for- mer, the formation of matter is a part of the process by which the injury is repaired; in the latter, it becomes necessary to interpose a bland insensible medium between the sur- rounding parts and the irritating substance, while the same means serve to expel it. Thus a severe bruise, the insertion of a thorn, a nail, or any similar agent, may be followed by an abscess. The treatment of an ordinary abscess is very simple; as a general rule, the matter should be evacuated as soon as discovered. Let a broad-shouldered lancet be used, and let the opening be made sufficiently large; and, what is of still more consequence, let it be at the lowest part of the tumour, in order that the cavity may be completely and constantly drained. The general practitioner has some scruple about making an artificial opening, often for good reasons. His patients dread the lancet more than a tedious cure; while the skin is thinner, and consequently the natural outlet is sooner formed. But in the horse, and the dog, and still more in the ox, the skin is thick, its removal proportionally slow, and the natural process is both tedious and painful. It is, therefore, better both for the animal and his owners, to have an artificial outlet made for the matter as soon as the abscess is brought to a head, either naturally, or by the application of a bran poultice. Little more is necessary than to keep the part clean; trim the hair from the edges of the orifice, and by applying hogs’-lard, prevent the acrid dis- charge from adhering to, and removing the hair from the skin beneath. Let no pretender stuff the cavity with a candle, or tent of tow, or rowels, or any thing else. All these inter- fere with nature’s operations, prevent the escape of the matter, produce fistula, and other evils, often far more serious than the original ABSORBENTS. abscess. If the cavity do not fill up so readily as might be expected, allow the animal a little more nourishing food than that recommended for invalids; and inject once, or even twice a day, a liniment composed of equal parts of spirits of turpentine and sweet oil; or, if the matter discharged, instead of being thick, pale yellow, and without smell, be dark-coloured, variegated, and smell offensively, a solution of chloride of lime, or one to three drachms of nitre in six ounces of water, may be used. A hernial tamour [or rupture] has been mistaken for an abscess; and, in consequence, the blacksmith has plunged a lancet into the gut, or inserted a rowel. This is a most un- likely mistake for a veterinary surgeon to make. The heat, the pain, the rigidity, and the situation of an abscess, would be sufficient to distinguish it from a hernial swelling. If there be met with a tumour without heat or pain, very compressible, elastic, and situated on the belly, the vetermary surgeon would pronounce it a rupture, or hernia; and of course would never dream of touching it with the lancet.— Miller. ABSORBENT SOILS. Such soils as im- bibe water. See Eanrn, the use of, to vegeta- tion, ABSORBENTS. In veterinary medicine, those drugs are termed absorbents that are given internally for the purpose of neutralizing any acid which forms in the stomach and bowels, in consequence of impaired digestion. Prepared chalk is generally used for this pur- pose. Those medicines are likewise termed absorbents which are applied externally for absorbing moisture. Armenian bole, calamine, flour, and the like, are employed in this way, They are sometimes dusted between folds of the skin when galled, and raw from friction, blisters, or grease. They are likewise useful in canker of the horse’s foot, foul in the foot of cattle, foot-rot in sheep, and sores between the toes of dogs; and they are beneficial in some forms of mange, in staying bleeding, and assisting the cure of a penetrated joint. Ansonsents. In veterinary physiology, a class of vessels whose office it is to convey the product of digestion, and the residue of nutri- tion into the circulation, to be mixed with and repair the waste of the blood. They are di- vided into lacteals and lymphatics. The for- mer are all situated in the cavity of the belly; and by extremely minute mouths, opening on the inner surface of the stomach and intes- tines, they receive the nutritious portion of the food, and carry it to a vessel which runs along the left side of the spine, and which, in its turn, empties itself into the left jugular vein. The lymphatics are distributed over every portion of the frame, at least over every por- tion that contains blood. Their different branches are so minute and so numerous, that a celebrated anatomist who attempted their dissection, is said to have thrown down his knife in despair, exclaiming, “that the body is entirely composed of absorbents.” The uses of the lymphatics are, to remove the residue of nutrition; and when the supply of food is deficient, to remove such portions of the body as can be spared and converted into blood. It 11 ABSORPTION. ABSORPTION. is they that effect the removal of parts which | drought, so as to have had its leaves shrivel- disappear without the action of external agents. The lymphatics ultimately empty their contents into the same vessel as the lac- teals; and they follow, in their distribution through the body, the same course as the veins. In the horse they are liable to a dis- ease termed farcy ; and in all animals they are frequently inflamed in the neighbourhood of a sore. The absorbents, both lacteals and lym- phatics, are very delicate in their sides, nearly transparent, have numerous valves, which compel their contents to flow only in one di- rection; and their larger trunks have numerous glandular bodies on them. The use of these glands is not well known; but, from one or two circumstances, it would appear that they have to produce some change on the fluid which passes through them before it is fit to mingle with the blood. ABSORPTION. An important process in vegetable physiology. As plants are not fur- nished with any individual organ similar to the mouth of animals, how, it may be asked, do they effect the introduction of food into their bodies; Is it by the general surface of their stem, leaves, or roots, or by any peculiar part of these? By whatever part it may enter, it must, at any rate, pass through the covering of the outer bark (epidermis), which the earlier physiologists thought it could not do, but by means of pores more or less visible. Yet some of them describe the outer bark as being so close and compact a texture, that the eye, aided even by the best microscopes, was un- able to discover in it the slightest vestige either of pores or of apertures. But Hedwig and De Candolle detected superficial pores in the leaves, at least, of many plants; and so will any one else, who will be at the trouble of repeating their observations with lenses of similar powers. The next difficulty was with regard to the outer bark (epidermis) of the flower, fruit, and root. No pores had been detected in the flower and fruit, though it was evident that they were refreshed and invigorated by the ac- cess of moisture and of atmospheric air; and no pores had been detected in the root, though it was evident that the whole of the nourish- ment which the plant derives from the soil must of necessity pass through the root. It was also evident that no aliment could be taken up by the plant, except in the state of a liquid, or of a gass—that is, by absorption or by inhalation, as the chyle is taken up into the animal lacteals, or the air into the cells of the lungs. The greediness with which plants ab- sorb water was perceived and acknowledged even in the earliest times, and even by men who were not botanists. Anacreon, in one of his little trifles in honour of drinking, makes the very trees of the forest drink: ‘H yi wédava rivet, Tlivey dé dévdpe’ adriv. Ode xix. “The black earth drinks, and the trees drink it ;’” that is the moisture which it contains. By merely immersing in water a plant of almost any species of moss that has been some time gathered, or long exposed to 12 led up, the moisture will immediately begin to penetrate the plant, which will thereby resume its original verdure; an experiment which proves the fact of the entrance of moisture into the plant through the outer bark (epider- mis). It might be doubted whether any of the moisture thus imbibed had passed through the root. But if the bulb of a hyacinth is placed on the mouth of a glass bottle filled with water, so as that the smaller roots (radicles) only shall be immersed, the water is imperceptibly exhausted, and the plant grows. The mois- ture must, consequently, have passed through the root. Plants seem, indeed, to be peculiarly well adapted for the absorption of fluids by the roots, from the infinite number of little absor- bent fibulous sponges (spongiole), in which the fine fibres of the root terminate. It is owing to this important property that the scientific gardener, in the transplanting of his young trees, or the scientific and ornamental planter, im the transplanting of his trees of full growth, is so extremely careful to pre- serve entire even the minutest fibres and ex- tremities of the root. Sir Henry Steuart’s Planter’s Guide has taught him the great im- portance of these little organs. Hales instituted a variety of experiments to show the absorbing power of roots, and the force with which it acted; as did also Duha- mel and Marriotte, to show the absorbent power of leaves. But the most complete set of experiments upon the absorbent power of leaves is that of M. Bonnet, of Geneva, whose main object was to ascertain whether the ap- sorbing power of both surfaces of a leaf was alike. With this view he placed a number of leaves over water, so as that they only floated on it, but where not immersed ; some with the upper surface, and others with the under sur- face, applied to the water. If the leaf retained its verdure the longer with the upper surface on the water, the absorbing power of the upper surface was to be regarded as the greater; but if it retained its verdure the longer with the under surface on the water, then the absorbing power of the under surface was to be regarded as the greater. Some leaves were found to re- tain their verdure the longer when moistened by the upper surface, and some when moist- ened by the under surface; and some were indifferent to the mode in which they were ap- plied to the water. But the inference deduci- ble from the whole, and deduced accordingly by Bonnet, was that the leaves of herbs absorb moisture chiefly by the upper surface, and the leaves of trees chiefly by the under surface. What is the cause of this singular difference between the absorbing surfaces of the leaf of the herb, and of the tree? The physical cause might be the existence of a greater, or of a smaller number of pores, found in the leaves of the herb and tree respectively. The chemi- cal cause would be the peculiar degree of affi- nity existing between the absorbing organs and the fluid absorbed. Duhamel seems to have been content to look to the physical cause, merely regarding the lower surface of the leaf of the tree as being endowed with the greater ABSORPTION. ABSORPTION. capacity of absorbing moisture chiefly for the | tissue, compact, spongy, and the whole newly purpose of catching the ascending exhalations which must necessarily come in contact with it as they rise, but which might possibly have escaped if absorbable only by the upper sur- face, owing to the increased rapidity of their ascent at an increased elevation; and regard- ing the upper surface of the leaf of the herb as being endowed with the greater absorbing power, owing to its low stature and the slow ascent of exhalaticns near the earth. This did not throw much light upon the subject; and the experiments were still deemed insufficient, as not representing to us the actual pheno- menon of vegetation, though the fact of the absorption of moisture by the leaf is fully confirmed. If, after a long drought, a fog happens to succeed before any rain falls, so as to moisten the surface of the leaves, plants begin to re- vive, and to resume their verdure long before any moisture can have penetrated to their roots. Hence it follows incontestibly, either that moisture has been absorbed by the leaf, or that exhalation has been suddenly stopped by closing the pores of the leaf, or both. The ef- ficacy of rain and of artificial waterings may be accounted for partly on the same principle ; for they have not always penetrated to the root when they are found to have given freshness to the plant by either or both of the processes just alluded to. The moisture, then, that enters the plant as an aliment, is taken up by means of the pores; or, in default of visible pores, merely by means of the absorbent power of the outer bark (epidermis), not only of the root and leaf, but often, as it is to be believed, of the other parts of the plant also, at least when they are in a soft and succulent state. It is to the modern improvements in pneu- matic chemistry, and to them alone, that we are indebted for our knowledge of the real functions of the leaves of plants, and of their analogical resemblance to the lungs of animals, it being now proved indisputably that the leaves of plants not only contain air, but do both inhale and respire it. It was the opinion of Dr. Priestley that they inhale it chiefly by the upper surface; and it has been shown by Saussure that their inhaling power depends entirely upon the integrity of their organisa- tion. A bough of Cactus Opuntia, detached from the plant and placed in an atmosphere of common air, inhaled in the course of a night four cubic inches of oxygen; but when placed in a similar atmosphere, after being cut to pieces and pounded in a mortar, no inhala- tion took place. The inhalation of air, there- fore, is no doubt effected by the pores of the outer bark (epidermis) of the leaf. It is important to attend particularly to the distinction pointed out above, that it is not the whole of the root which is endowed with the power of absorbing nourishment, but only the points of the root fibres, termed spongelets. The surface of the root whose outer bark has acquired a certain consistence does not absorb the moisture of the soil in contact with it; but the roots, and also the smallest rootlets, con- stantly lengthen at their extremities ; and these xtremities are composed of a fine cellular developed, possessing in a high degree the hygroscopical faculty proper to vegetable tissue. M. Carradori (Degli Organi Assorbenti) has remarked that there is a slight absorption, either by the surface of the roots, or by the fugacious hairs with which the roots of young plants are often furnished: but this effect seems owing to general hygroscopicity; and~ he himself agrees that this absorption is ex- tremely feeble, especially in cld and woody roots, comparatively with that which takes place at their extremities. These experiments, however, are not made with such minute accu- racy as to enable us to appreciate this com- parison. When we cut a branch of a tree and plunge it into water, its woody tissue thus laid bare quickly absorbs a quantity of water; and in this manner is the life of branches preserved which are kept for ornamental purposes, but this effect has a limit. The extremity which has been cut and plunged in the water is not renewed, as in the case of the root; and is, consequently, more or less quickly altered or deteriorated by being in contact with the water. We renew its action by cutting off the rotting extremity, and thus place a new and healthy surface in contact with the liquid. The water which in this manner penetrates into the woody tissue of vegetables, preserves their ex- istence, at least for a certain time, as if it en- tered by the spongelets. This is the same thing, we may rest assured, in these pheno- mena, as is presented in the developement of the cuttings of trees, which are also nourished in general only through the water sucked up by the surface of their denuded wood. These means of nutrition are, however, accidental or artificial; and absorption is a natural opera- tion by the spongelets in general, or by the suckers in some vegetable parasites. M.Sen- nebier observed that, if we divide a plant into three parts, the roots as far as the crown, the stem as far as the branches, and the leafy top, then plunge the lower ends of these into water, the whole three will pump up a certain quan- tity, but the leafy parts more than the others. This absorption particularly takes place at the cut surface, where the woody parts are laid bare. A branch of raspberry put in water and ex posed to the sun has absorbed a hundred and fifty grains, but only imbibed eight grains when the division has been covered over with wax. It sucked up no more when, having the divided part covered, it was plunged in the whole of its length, than when only a short zone at the ex- tremity was immersed. This proves that the outer bark is impenetrable to water. The woody portion, when laid bare, sucks up moisture in every way; that is to say, when we cut a branch and place it in the water, it sucks it up, either when put into it by the upper or by the lower cut part. The habitual or upright direction, however, appears to offer certain facilities for this more than an inverse one. This, indeed, results, first, from the ob servation of M. Pollini (Llem. di Bolan., i.281), for the watery juices mount a little less high 13 ABSORPTION. in the branches placed in an inverse direc- tion; secondly, from the observation of com- mon gardeners, and of Mr. T. A. Knight, that, in the cuttings made in an inverse manner, it is more frequently only the lower buds which are developed, and not the higher ones, as happens in those made in a direct manner. It is necessary, in order to render these experi- ments comparative, that the horizontal cuttings be made equal; and, as we were doubtful whether this circumstance had been taken into consideration, we made the following experi- ment :—We placed two branches of willow in water, the one inadirect manner, the other inverted, and contrived in such a manner that these two absorbing bodies were equal; but the branch which was placed inverted pushed its roots a little slower than the direct one. (Meém. sur les Lenticelles, Ann. des Sc. Nat., 1825, Jan., pp. 18, 19.) The wood tends not only to absorb the water by its transverse section, but also lengthways. Thus we placed in water (ibid., p. 4) a branch of willow, the section of which was covered with mastic, but which had the part immersed denuded of the bark by taking off a cortical ring of an inch in length. This branch pushed its buds and roots in a manner similar to the branches which are immersed by a transverse section. The hygrometrical power of wood is such that when we expose it to the air it easily im- bibes the surrounding moisture; and, when preserved in shady places, it never dries of itself. Count Rumford (Mem. sur le Bois et le Charbon: 8vo, Paris, 1812) dried in an oven a piece of wood taken from the interior of a beam which had been placed for one hundred and fifty years in a battlement, and observed that it lost about ten per cent. of its own weight; and he thinks that this is the greatest degree of natural desiccation which wood can attain inour climate. An oak faggot, exposed eighteen months in the air, and which might be regarded as excellent wood for burning, lost twenty-four per cent. The same experimenter observed that, when chips of wood have been well dried in a stove, on their exposure to the open air they very freely imbibe water. If these chips are placed for twenty-four hours in a room, the extremes of this power of absorp- tion have proved to be, on one side, the Lom- bardy poplar, whose chips, five inches long by six lines broad, have sucked up 0°87 grains; and, on the other, a billet of oak of the same dimensions, which sucked up 1:40 grains. When the same chips were exposed for eight successive days, it was found that they did not increase in weight if the air had remained at the same temperature, but they lost in weight if the air became more heated. This experi- ment, then, proves that the absorption is rapid; and that the equilibrium it attains will be determined by the surrounding atmosphere, and certainly also by its own hygrometrical power. These necessary conditions of existence have been effected by the organization of the spongelets as organs of suction, and by the nature of the water, which is abundantly dif- 14 ABSORPTION. fused over nature, and also impregnated with their principal nourishment. The nature of the action of the spongelets is remarkable in this, that the choice which they seem to make of the matter which they absorb does not appear to be determined by the na- tural wants of the plant, but the facility is less or more influenced by the nature of the liquids. Thus, M. Théodore de Saussure (Rech. Chim, ch. 8) found, that if we place plants in water, with which is mixed sugar, gum, or the like, the spongelets will absorb a greater proportion of water than of the materials which are dis- solved in it; for the water which remained after the experiment was more saturated than before the roots were put into it. Again, if we plunge the roots into different solutions, they will absorb so much the more of these in pro- portion to their fluidity, although at the same time such solutions may be injurious to the plant, and yet will they absorb a less propor- tion of viscous matter, although this may con- tain more nutritive materials. Thus, of blue vitriol (sulphate of copper), the most hurtful of the substances employed, they absorbed a large quantity, but a very small quantity of the gum, which is not injurious. When we placed plants in solutions of gum, of different degrees of thickness, we found that the quantity absorb- ed was smaller in proportion as the solution was more viscous. Sir H. Davy, also, observed that plants perished in those solutions in which there was a large quantity of sugar or gum; and prospered when the solutions had only a small quantity of either. (Agricultural Chem.) The effect of the viscosity is obviated when we put the roots in water which holds organic matters in suspension. Thus, the drainings of dunghills, and impure waters, are taken up by the roots in smaller quantities than pure water. It should seem that these particles have a tendency to obstruct the imperceptible pores, passages, or cells of the spongelets. M. Th. de Saussure remarks that analogous laws may be observed in the case of liquids in which different substances are dissolved, the more fluid being absorbed in a greater quan- tity than others. It would accordingly appear that the roots exercise a kind of choice in the soil; but that the choice, far from being relative to the wants of the plants, is a circumstance purely mechanical. On the other hand, M. Pollini, who has repeated these experiments, found that of the solutions of different substances in water, the roots sucked up different quantities, without any apparent regard to their viscosity. Thus he constantly found, he says, that the roots absorbed more of common salt, or of potass, than of the acetate or of the nitrate of lime, and more of sugar than of gum. He found,on the other hand, that if he cut the extremity of a root, the water which entered by the wound contained indifferently all the salts which had been dissolved in the water; and the portion which remained after absorption did not con- tain more than before. (Saggio di Osserv. e di Sperienze sulla Veget. degli Alberi: Verona, 1815.) Another circumstance remarkable in the ABSTERGENT REMEDIES. experiments which we have before detailed is, that the disorganized tissue of the spongelets appears to give a much freer passage to the juices than that which had been uninjured. Thus plants can only live for two or three days ina solution of blue vitriol (sulphate of copper), of which they absorb a large quan- tity ; while they will live eight or ten days in a solution of gum, of which they absorb only a very little. Branches cut and plunged in the different solutions follow similar laws, and absorb both water and its solutions. It is very probable that the spongelets of dif- ferent species of plants are not all organized in a uniform manner, and that there are some which more easily admit of certain substances ; » but microscopical observations are still far from accounting for these differences, and the facts drawn from culture are equally obscure in directing our judgment upon the point. The manner in which plants of different kinds exhaust the soil relatively to each other, the general action of manures, the prodigious number of different plants which we can cul- tivate in the same patch of a garden, tend to prove that the differences of absorption in vegetables are of great importance. Instead of the variety, however, of aliments which sus- tain the life of animals, we find among vege- tables a great uniformity of the substances absorbed. The quantity of liquid absorbed at different epochs of the life of plants, and under the influence of different atmospherical cir- cumstances, appear more intimately connected with the ascent of the sap than with its suction. Absorption varies according to the state of the plants and the periods of their growth; going on more rapidly in proportion as the leafing is rapid. At the time of flowering and fruiting, also, more nourishment is absorbed from the soil. We likewise know that absorp- tion, as well as the progression of the fluids absorbed, depends greatly on the influence of heat and light; that it is most active in spring, that it diminishes in autumn, and is reduced almost to nothing, if it do not altogether cease, in winter.— Miller, ABSTERGENT REMEDIES, in farriery, are those used for the purpose of resolving or discussing tumours and concretions on the joints and other parts of animals. They mostly consist of volatile, stimulant, and sapo- naceous matters. ACACIA TREE (Robinia Pseud-Acacia Lin- neus). The Acacia tree is well known in America, from which it was introduced by the name of the Locust tree. It grows very rapidly in the early stages of its progress; so that ina few years, from seeds, plants of eight and ten feet high may be obtained. It is by no means uncommon to see shoots of this tree eight or ten feet high in one season. The branches are furnished with very strong, crooked thorns; the leaves are winged with eight or ten pairs of leaflets, egg-oblong, bright green, entire, and without foot-stalks. The flowers come out from the branches in pretty long bunches, hanging down like those of the laburnum, or the still more lovely Wistaria sinensis. Each flower grows on a slender foot-stalk, smelling very sweet. It is of a white colour, but there | ACACIA TREE, is a rose-red variety. It blows in June; and when the tree is full of bloom makes a hand- some appearance, and perfumes the whole air around. ‘The flowers are followed by seed- pods, oblong, flat, having a longitudinal rib next the seeding suture, on the outside of that being drawn out into a membranous margin; one-celled, and two-valved. The seeds are sometimes as many as sixteen, kidney-shaped, ending in a hooked beak. like a lens, and are of a rusty colour. In North America, where this tree grows to a very large size indeed, the wood is much valued for its duration. Most of the houses which were built at Boston in New England, on the first settling of the English, were con- structed of this wood; and since then it has been much used in America for various purposes. The seeds of the Acacia tree were first brought to Europe by M. Jean Robin, nursery- man to the King of France, and author of a “History of Plants.” M. Robin brought the first seeds from Canada; in consequence of which, succeeding botanists have, in honour to his name, termed the genus Robinia to which the Acacia tree belongs. Soon after its intro- duction into France, the English gardeners received seeds from Virginia, from which many trees were raised. The wood, when green, is of a soft texture, but becomes very hard when dry. It is as durable as the best white oak of North Ame- rica, and esteemed preferable for axletrees of carriages, trenails for ships, and many other important purposes. The turner finds the wood of the Acacia hard and well suited to his pur- pose, and is delighted with its smooth texture and beautifully delicate straw colour. The tree, when aged, abounds with certain excrescences or knots, which, when polished, are beautifully veined, and much esteemed by the cabinet-maker. It makes excellent fuel, and its shade is said to be less injurious than that of any other tree; while the leaves afford wholesome food for cattle. A gentleman in New England sowed several acres of it for this purpose alone. It has been employed with signal success in Virginia for ship building, and is found to be very superior to American oak, ash, elm, or any other wood they use for that purpose. In New York it has been found, after repeated trials, that posts for rail-fencing, made of the Acacia tree, stand wet and dry near the ground better than any other in common use, and will last as long as those of swamp cedar. The Acacia tree seems happily adapted to ornamental planting. Whether as a single tree upon the grass, feathering to the ground line, or as a standard in the shrubbery, tower- ing above a monotonous mass of sombre ever- greens, the Acacia has great charms for us, and may justly be called a graceful tree; and although its light, loose, and pleasing foilage admits the light, and seems to harmonize so delightfully with the polished lawn, or the highly cultivated shrubbery (and there is hardly a shrubbery to be found without them), yet we should like much to see the Acacia tree planted in the woods everywhere, where forest timber is an object of attention. 15 ACACIA TREE. In France the Acacia tree appears to have been more generally diffused throughout the country than [in England]; for it does not only ornament their gardens, and shade their public walks, but the sprightly foliage of this beauti- ful tree shines through their woods and forests in every direction; so much so that it might be taken for an indigenous inhabitant of the soil. In one of the Memoirs by the Agricultural Society at Paris, the properties of this tree are very highly extolled. Its shade, it is said, en- courages the growth of grass. Its roots are so tenacious of the soil, and shoot up such groves of suckers, that when planted on the banks of rivers it contributes exceedingly to fix them as barriers to check the incursions of the stream. Acacia stakes, too, are more durable than any other known wood. The choicest pieces only of the best oak timber are applied to the purpose of trenail- making in ship-building; and, as the Sussex oaks are generally reckoned the best, most shipwrights, even in the north, have them from thence, and the demand for them is so great, that trenail-making is there become a very considerable manufacture. If it be proved that the Acacia tree is equal to our best oak for this important purpose in our naval archi- tecture, then do we strongly recommend (and we write practically) to every landed proprie- tor to plant the Acacia as a forest tree, more especially as it will grow upon almost any description of soil, but more particularly upon sandy or gravelly shallow soils, where the oak does not thrive. In forty years the Acacia tree will grow sixty feet high, and will girth six feet, three feet from the ground; and, although brittle in a young state, the characteristics of the timber of a grown tree are toughness and elasticity. As a durable timber, it has been proved that nothing can exceed the Acacia wood, when of properage. But there is one important use to which these trees may be applied, which has hitherto escaped the notice of the planter, namely, hedges. From its rapidity of growth it forms a fence capable of resistance in one- fourth of the time of any other plant hitherto used for that purpose. Had we to fence ina whole estate, we should, in preference to all others, plant Acacias. They bear clipping, and may be raised to twenty or thirty feet high, if required, and are so strong that no animal can force through them. The only instance of an Acacia hedge we know of, on the conti- nent of Europe, is to be seen round part of the boulevard of the city of Louvain. Plants for this purpose should be taken from the nursery lines four feet high. At every point where the stems cross one another, a natural union or grafting takes place, and, as the stems in- crease in size, the spaces between will gradu- ally decrease; so that in the course of a few years the fence*becomes a complete wooden wall, not occupying a space more than twelve or fifteen inches, forming a barrier that no animal can force. Fences of this description may either be made on the level! ground, or doncealed from the distant view. 16 ACACIA TREE. It is difficult to account for the name com- monly given to this tree by the Americans, namely, Locust tree; for the Locust tree (Hymenza Courbaril) is a native of South America. In the arboretum of the gardens of the Hor- ticultural Society of London, there is a proof, perhaps the very best proof that this country affords, of the great rapidity of growth, and also the beauty of this truly interesting and highly valuable tree. About twelve years ago, this aboretum was planted for the express pur- pose of introducing the trees of all countries— the research of enterprising men. The Acacia was planted with the other individuals of this very splendid collection, and the result has been, that the Acacia has made greater pro- gress than any of the oaks, the ash, the elm, the maple, or, indeed, any of the hard- wooded timber trees within the wall of the gardens. The Acacia trees, in their rapidity of growth, are exceeded only by a few of the poplar and willow tribes. There is a singular character about the suckers of this tree. They are rarely seen to appear on the lawn, but in the shrubbery fre- quently. They rise singly, not like the elm, and other trees, in thick masses, choking one another, but they start out of the ground at once, with all the boldness and vigour of a healthy shoot from a powerful stool; and in a sheltered situation will grow, the same year, from twelve to fifteen feet long from the ground; and it is the more remarkable, that these suckers grow in this vigorous way immediately under the shade of the parent, and other large trees. What is also very singular, so strongly are they attached to the root below the ground, at the insertion, that they are very rarely from accident dis- placed. Mr. William Lindsey mentions a very strik- ing instance of the astonishing rapidity of the growth of this tree. He observed a strong shoot make its appearance in one of the woods at Chiswick, and he had the curiosity to see what would be the result by applying a stake to this sucker for protection. By the end of the season, it was twenty feet high, and mea- sured three inches in circumference. When the full-grown old Acacia trees are felled, the following year hundreds of suckers will start up from the roots in all directions, and grow as freely as if a fresh plantation had been carefully made. So that, on the score of economy, we know of no tree that can be planted equal to the Acacia. As an under- wood, it far exceeds any other tree in produce; and for stakes, arbour-poles, hop-poles, and for pale-fencing, there is no wood equal to the Acacia. In America, the use of the Acacia has been confined to trenails of ships, in con- sequence of its scarcity. But were it, either in that or this country, as plentiful as oak, it would be applied for more purposes in naval architecture, such as knees, floor-timbers, and foot-hooks, being far superior to oak for its strength and duration; and from the tree ar- riving much sooner at perfection, and spread- ing into so many branches, it affords full as ACACIA TREE. large a proportion of crooks and compass- tucber as the oak tree. A eubic foot of Acacia, in a dry state, weighs from forty-eight to fifty-three pounds’ weight. If we compare its toughness, in an unseasoned state, with that of oak, it will not be more than 8-100 less. Its stiffness is equal to 99-100 of oak; and its strength nearly 96-100; but, if it were properly seasoned, it might, possibly, be found much superior to oak in strength, toughness, and stiffness. .d in our language is modern, but is getting 32 AGRICULTURE. into common use. It is, however, more gene- rally written agriculturist, and is intended to imply one who is skilled in the art of cultivat- ing the ground. (Todd’s Johnson.) AGRICULTURE, HISTORY OF (Lat. agricultura). The art of cultivating the ground; tillage, husbandry, as distinct from pasture. ( Todd's Johnson.) I shall, in the present article, limit myself to a brief historical sketch of agriculture, which became one of the sustaining arts of life as soon as man was ordained to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. In the garden of Eden, whose fertile soil and genial clime ap- pear to have combined in maturing a continued variety and unfailing succession of vegetable EAN agricultural operations were un- known; for that which came spontaneously to perfection required no assistance from human ingenuity ; and where there is no deficiency there can be no inducement to strive for im- provement. That period of perfection was but transitory; and the Deity that had placed man in the garden “to dress it and keep it,” eventually drove him thence “to till the earth from whence he was taken,” (Gen. ii. 15; iii. 23.) From that time to the present, agriculture has been an improving art; and there is no reason to doubt but that it will go on advanc- ing as long as mankind continues to increase. Man, in his greatest state of ignorance, is always found dependent for subsistence upon the produce of the chase; but, as population increases, recourse must be had to other sources of food. And we find in the shepherd’s life of the early ages, the first step to agricul- tural art, the domestication of animals, which it was found to be more convenient to have constantly at hand, rather than to have to seek precariously at the very time they were re- quired. As the increase of population still went on, and the flocks and the herds had pro- portionately to be enlarged, one favourite spot would be found too small for the subsistence of the whole; and, as in the case of Abraham and Lot, they would have to separate and find pasturage in different districts. This separa- tion into tribes could not proceed beyond a certain extent; and when the land was fully occupied, recourse would by necessity be had to means of increasing the produce of given surfaces of soil instead of enlarging their ex- tent. With Abraham and Isaac it is very evident that wheat and the other fruits of the earth were the rare and choice things of their country ; but when such nations once learned, as they might from the example of Egypt, the resource such products were in periods of fa- mine, arising from mortalities among their cattle, they would soon pursue their interests by cultivating them. This completed, the ac- quirement of property in land for the space not only long occupied, but upon which the occu- pier had bestowed his labour, built his habita- tion, and had enclosed from injury by vagrant animals, would be acknowledged to he his without any one stopping to inquire what right he had to make the enclosure. When once thus located, experience and | observation would soon teach the employment AGRICULTURE. of manures, irrigation, times of sowing, and other necessary operations; and every gene- ration would be wiser in the art than that which preceded it. This especially has oc- curred in these more northern climates, where art and industry has to compensate for a defi- ciency of natural advantages. “Enlarging numbers,” observes Mr.Sharon Turner, “only magnify the effect; for mankind seem to thrive and civilize in proportion as they mul- tiply; and, by a recurrent action, to multiply again in proportion as they civilize and pros- per.’ In this manner improved modes of cul- tivation, the introduction of new species, and of more fruitful varieties of agricultural pro- duce, have universally kept pace with an in- creasing population. This resting upon a basis of facts, vindicates the wisdom of Pro- vidence, and refutes Mr. Malthus’s superficial theory of over-production. The agricultural produce of England has gradually increased from the insignificant amount that was its value in the time of the Roman invasion, to the enormous annual return of 200,000,000/.; and it is very certain that in this country, and much more in other parts of the world, the produce is a mere fraction of what the total soil is capable of returning. Agriculture is the art of obtaining from the earth food for the sustenance of man and his domestic animals; and the perfection of the art is to obtain the greatest possible produce at the smallest possible expense. Upon the importance of the art, it is needless, therefore, to insist; for by it every country is enabled to support in comfort an abundant population. On this its strength as a nation depends; and by it its independence is secured. An agricul- tural country has within itself the necessaries and comforts of life; and, to defend these, there will never be wanting a host of patriot soldiers. Of the pleasure attending the judicious cul- tivation of the soil, we have the evidence of facts. The villa farms sprinkled throughout our happy land, the establishments of Holk- ham, Woburn, &c., would never have been formed if the occupation connected with them was not delightful. We have an unexception- able witness to the same fact in the late Mr. Roscoe, the elegant, talented author of the Lives of Lorenzo de Medici and of Leo the Tenth. Mr. Roscoe was the son of an exten- sive potato grower, near Liverpool. In the cultivation of that and other farm produce, he had been an active labourer; and he who thus had enjoyed the delights that spring from lite- rary pursuits, and from the cultivation of the soil, has left this recorded opinion, “If I was asked whom I consider to be the happiest of the human race, I should answer, those who cultivate the earth by their own hands.” We have but littie information to guide us as to the country in which man first cultivated the soil; nor of that in which he first settled after the deluge. Thus much, however, is cer- tain, that we have the earliest authentic ac- count of the state of agriculture as it existed among the Egyptians and their bond-servants, the Israelites. From the former, probably, the Greeks were descended. The Romans, ata 5 AGRICULTURE. later period, were a colony from Greece; and from the Romans the other countries of Europe derived their earliest marked improvement in the arts. Our brief history of the progress of agricul- ture, then, will be divided into, 1. The agricul- ture of the Egyptians and other eastern nations; 2. The agriculture of the Greeks; 3. The agriculture of the Romans; 4. The agriculture of the Britons, including a cursory notice of its present state among the chief nations of Europe. I. Tar Acricutturr or THE EerprianNs, IsRAFLITES, AND OTHER EARLY Eastern Nations. Every family of these primitive nations had its appointed district for pasturage, if it pur- sued a pastoral life; or its allotted enclosure, if it was occupied by tilling the earth. There was no distinction in this respect between the monarch and his people: each hada certain space of land from which he and his family were to derive their subsistence. The Egyptians, as well as the Israelites, were flock-masters. The latter were particu- larly so; and, as Joseph’s brethren said to Pharaoh, “their trade was about cattle from their youth.” (Gen. xlvi. 34.) When, there- fore, they came into Egypt, they desired the low-lying land of Goshen, as producing the most perennial of pasture. (Gen. xlvii. 4.) It is true that the same authority says, “Every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyp- tians;” but this was because, about a century before the arrival of Joseph among them, 2 tribe of Cushite shepherds from Arabia had conquered their nation, and held them in sla- very; till, after a sanguinary contest of thirty years, they regained their liberty about twenty- seven years before Joseph was promoted by Pharaoh. That the Egyptians were flock- masters is certain, from many parts of the Scriptures. Thus, when Pharaoh gave per- mission to the Israelites to dwell in Goshen, he added, as he spoke to Joseph, “And if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle” (Gen. xlvii. 6.); and when the murrain came into Egypt, it was upon their horses, asses, camels, oxen, and sheep. (Exod. ix. 3.) The attention and care necessary to be paid to their domestic animals were evidently well known and attended to; for when they pro posed to settle in a land, their first thought was to build “sheepfolds for their cattle.” (Numb. xxxii. 16.) They had stalls for their oxen (Hab. iii. 17), and for all their beasts Thus King Hezekiah is said to have made “stalls for all manner of beasts, and cotes for flocks; moreover, he provided him possessions of flocks and herds in abundance” (2 Chron XXxil. 28); and that this abundance exceeded the possessions of the greatest of our medern flock-masters, we may readily acknowledge, when we read that “ Mesha, king of Moab, was a sheep-master, and rendered unto the king of Israel 100,000 lambs, and 100,000 rams, with the wool.” (2 Kings, iii. 4.) They prepared the provender for their horses and asses of chaff, or cut straw and 33 AGRICULTURE. AGRICULTURE. barley. (Judges, xix. 21; 1 Kings, iv. 28.)|come thither the fear of briers and thorns.” Our translation does not explicitly state this, but it is clear in the Hebrew original. (Dr. Kennicolt’s xxivth Codex; Harmer’s Observa- tions, i. 423.) It is also certain, from the He- brew original, that they tied up ealves and bullocks for the purpose of fattening them (Jerem. xlvi. 21; Amos, vi. 4, &e., Parkhurst’s Hebrew Lexicon, 673); and that they were ac- quainted with the arts of the dairy. “Surely the churning of milk,” says Solomon, “ bring- eth forth butter” (Prov. xxx. 31); and Samuel speaks of the “cheese of kine.” (2 Sam. xxvii. 29.) The chief vegetable products cultivated by these eastern nations were, wheat, barley, beans, lentils, rye, the olive, and the vine. ’ (Exod. ix. 31; Levit. xix. 10; 2 Sam. xvii. 28, &c.) The scanty notices which we have of their tillage, give us no reason to doubt that they were skilful husbandmen. The name for till- age (Obed) emphatically expresses their idea of it; for it literally means fo serve the ground. (Parkhurst, 508.) And that the cares and at- tention necessary were well sustained, is evi- denced by the fact, that David, for his extensive estate, had an overseer for the storehouses in the fields; another over the tillage of the ground; a third over the vineyards; a fourth over the olive trees; two to superintend his herds; a seventh over his camels; an eighth to superintend his flocks; and a ninth to attend similarly to the asses. (1 Chron. xxvii. 25— 31. Of their ploughing, we know that they turned up the soil in ridges, similarly to our own practice; for the Hebrew name of a husband- man signifies a man who does so. (Parkhurst, 93.) That they ploughed with two beasts of the same species attached abreast to the plough. (Deut.xxii.10.) That the yoke, or collar was fast- ened to the-neck of the animal; and that the plough, in its mode of drawing the furrows, re- sembled our own; for we read of their sharp- ening the coulter and the ploughshare. (1 Sam. xiii. 20, &c.) Ploughing was an operation that they were aware might be beneficially performed at all seasons; for Solomon men- tions it as a symptom of a sluggard, that he will not plough in the winter (Prov. xx. 4); and that too much care could not be devoted to it, they expressed, by deriving their name for ploughing from a Hebrew root, which signifies silent thought and attention. (Parkhurst, 244.) Their sowing was broadcast, from a basket (Amos, xi. 13; Psalm exxvi. 6); and they gave the land a second superficial ploughing to cover the seed. It is true that harrowing is mentioned in our translation (Job, xxxix. 10) ; but Schultens and other Hebraists agree that harrowing was not practised by them. Rus- sell, in remarking upon the mode of cultivation now practised near Aleppo, says, “ No harrow is used, but the ground is ploughed a second time after it is sown, to cover the” grain.” (Parkhurst, 720.) The after-cultivation apparently was not neglected; they had hoes or mattocks, which they employed for extirpating injurious plants. “On all hills,” says the prophet, that shall be digged with the mattock, there shall not 34 (Isa. vii. 25.) In those hot climates a plentiful supply of moisture was necessary for a health- ful vegetation; and the simile of desolation, employed by the same prophet, is “a garden that hath no water.” (Jsa. i. 30.) In Egypt they irrigated their lands; and the water thus supplied to them was raised by an hydraulic machine, worked by men in the same manner as the modern tread-wheel. To this practice Moses alludes, when he reminds the Israelites of their sowing their seed in Egypt, and water- ing it with their feet, a practice still pursued in Arabia. (Deut. xi. 10; Mebuhr, Voyage en Arabie, i. 121.) When the corn was ripe, it was cut with either a sickle or ascythe (Jer. 1.16; Joel, iii. 13), was bound into sheaves (Psalm cxxix. 7; Deut. xxiv. 19, &c.), and was conveyed in carts (Amos, ii. 13), either immediately to the threshing-floor or to the barn. They never formed it into stacks as we do. These pas- sages in the Scriptures (Exod. xxii. 6; Judg. xv. 5; Job, v. 26) refer exclusively to the thraves or shocks in which the sheaves are reared as they are cut. (Harmer’s Observ. iv. 145, &c.) The threshing-floors, as they are at the present day, were evidently level plats of ground in the open air. (Judg. vi. 37; 2 Sam. xxiv. 18—25, &c.) They were so placed that the wind might, at the time of the operation, remove the chief part of the chaff. They, perhaps, had threshing-floors under cover, to be used in inclement seasons; for Hosea (ii. 35), speaking of “the summer threshing-floors,” justifies such surmise. The instruments and modes of threshing were va- rious. They are all mentioned in these two verses of the prophet; “Fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart-wheel turned upon the cummin, but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod. Bread-corn is bruised because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.” (Isaiah, xxviii. 27, 28.) When the seed was threshed by horses, they were ridden by men; and when by cattle, al- though forbidden to be muzzled (Deut. xxv. 4), yet they were evidently taught to perform the labour. (Hosea, x. 11.) The “instrument” was a kind of sledge made of thick boards, and furnished underneath with teeth of iron. (Isaiah, xli. 15; Parkhurst, 242, 412.) The revolving wheels of a cart, and the various sized poles employed for the same purpose, need no further comment. To complete the dressing of the corn, it was passed through a sieve (Amos, ix. 9), and thrown up against the wind by means of a shovel. The fan was, and is still, unknown to the eastern husband- men; and where that word is employed in our translation of the Scriptures, the original seems to intend either the wind or the shovel. (Isaiah, xxx. 24; Jer. xv. 7; Parkhurst, 183, 689.) Of their knowledge of manures we know little. Wood was so scarce that they con- sumed the dung of their animals for fuel. (Parkhurst, 764.) Perhaps it was this defi- ciency of carbonaceous matters for their lands AGRICULTURE. that makes an attention to fallowing so strictly enjoined. (Levit. xix. 23; xxv. 3; Hosea, x. 12, &e. The landed estates were large, both of the kings and of some of their subjects; for we read that Uzziah, king of Judah, “had much both in the low country and in the plains; husband- men also, and vine-dressers in the moun- tains and in Carmel, for he loved husbandry” (2 Chron. xxvi. 10); that Elijah found Ehsha with twelve yoke of oxen at plough, himself being with the twelfth yoke (1 Kings, xix. 19) ; | and that Job, the greatest man of the east, had 14,000 sheep, 6000 camels, 1000 yoke of oxen, and 1000 she-asses. (Job,1.3; xlii. 12.) In the time of Isaiah, the accumulation of landed property in the hands of a few proprietors was so much on the increase, that a curse was ul- tiered against this’ engrossment. “Wo unto them,” says the prophet, “that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth.” (Isaiah, v. 8.) Il. Tue Acricurrure oF THe Greeks. 1. Ancient implement from a tombstone at Athens. 2. The Greek plough. 3. The spade. 4 and 5. Hoes. Revelation has taught us to offer up our prayers and thanksgivings for all benefits to the one omni-beneficent Creator and provider of the universe. The less enlightened ancients, whose religion was mythological, equally con- vinced with ourselves of the existence of some divine first cause and providence, like us of- fered up their votive petitions and hymns of praise, though the objects of their worship were as many as the benefits or the evils to which man is subject. Agriculture was too important and too bene- ficial an art not to demand, and the Greeks and Romans were nations too polished and dis- cerning not to afford to it, a very plentiful se- ries of presiding deities. They attributed to Ceres—as their progenitors, the Egyptians, did to Isis—the invention of the arts of tilling the soil. Ceres is said to have imparted these to Triptolemus, of Eleusis, and to have sent him as her missionary round the world to teach mankind the best modes of ploughing, sowing, and reaping. In gratitude for this, the Greeks, about 1356 years before the Christian era, es- tablished, in honour of Ceres, the Eleusinian mysteries, by far the most celebrated and en- during of all their religious ceremonies ; for they were not established at Rome till the close of the fourth century. Superstition is a pro- lific weakness ; and, consequently, by degrees, every operation of agriculture, and every pe- riod of the growth of crops, obtained its pre- siding and tutelary deity. The goddess, Terra, was the guardian of the soil; Stercuwtius pre-. AGRICULTURE, sided over the manures; Voluwtia guarded the crops whilst evolving their leaves; Flora re- ceived the still more watchful duty of shelter- ing their blossom; they passed to the guardian- ship of Laclantia when swelling with milky juices; Rubigo protected them from blight; and they successively became the care of Hos- tilina, as they shot into ears; of Matura as they ripened; and of Tufelina when they were reaped. Such creations of polytheism are fa- bles; but they are errors that should even now give rise to feelings of gratification rather than of contempt. They must please by their ele- gance; and much more when we reflect that it is the concurrent testimony of anterior nations, through thousands of years, that they detected and acknowledged a Great First Cause. Unlike the arts of luxury, Agriculture has never been subject to any retrograde revolu- tions; being an occupation necessary for the existence of mankind in any degree of com- fort, it has always: continued to receive their first attention ; and no succeeding age has been more imperfect, but in general more expert, in the art than that which has preceded it. The Greeks are not an exception to this rule; for their agriculture appears to have been much the same in the earliest brief notices we have of them, as it was with the nation of which they were an offset. ‘The early Grecians, like all new nations, were divided into but two classes; landed proprietors, and Helols, or slaves; and the estates of the former were little larger than were sufficient to supply their respective households with necessaries. We read of princes among them; and as we dwell upon the splendid details of the Trojan war, associate with such titles, unreflectingly, all the pageantry and luxury of modern potentates, that are distinguished by similar titles. But in this we are decidedly wrong; for there was probably nota leader of the Greeks who did not, like the father of Ulysses, assist with his own hands in the farming operations. (L/b- mer’s Odyss.1. xxiv.) Hesiod is the earliest writer who gives us any detail of the Grecian agriculture. He appears to have been the contemporary of Homer; and, in that case, to have flourished about nine centuries before the Christian era. His practical statements, however, are very meager ; we have, therefore, preferred taking Xenophon’s economics as our text, and introducing the statements of other authors, as they may occur, to supply deficien- cies or to afford illustrations. Xenophon died at the age of ninety, 359 years before the birth of Christ. The follow- ing narrative of the Greek agriculture is from his “ Essay,” if not otherwise specified. In Xenophon’s time the landed proprietor no longer laboured upon his farm, but had a steward as a general superintendant, and nu- merous labourers, yet he always advises the master to attend to his own affairs. “‘ My ser- vant,” he says, “leads my horse into the fields, and I walk thither for the sake of exercise in a purer air; and when arrived where my work- men are planting trees, tilling the ground, and the like, I observe how every ming is per- formed, and study whether any of these opera- tions may be improved.” After his ride, his 34 AGRICULTURE. servant took his horse, and led him home, “taking with him,” he adds, “to my house, such things as are wanted, and I walk home, wash my hands, and dine off whatever is pre- pared for me moderately.” “No man,” he says, “can be a farmer, till he is taught by experience; observation and instruction may do much, but practice teaches many particu- lars which nomaster would ever have thought to remark upon.” “Before we commence the cultivation of the soil,” he observes, that, “we should notice what crops flourish best upon it; and we may even learn from the weeds it pro- duces, what it will best support.” “ Fallowing, or frequent ploughing in spring or summer,” he observes, “is of great advan- tage; and Hesiod advises the farmer ( Works and Days, 50) always to be provided with a spare plough, that no accident may interrupt the operation. The same author directs the ploughman to be very careful in his work. “Let him,” he says, “ attend to his employment. and trace the furrows carefully in straight lines, not looking around him, having his mind intent upon what he is doing.” Ibid. 441—443, Theophrastus evidently thought that the soil could not be ploughed and stirred about too much, or unseasonably; for the object is to let the earth feel the cold of winter and the sun of summer, to invert the soil, and render it free, light, and clear of all weeds, so that it ean most easily afford nourishment. (De Cau- sis Plant. lib. ili. cap. 2, 6.) Xenophon recommends green plants to be ploughed in, and even crops to be raised for the purpose; “ for such,” he says, “enrich the soil as much as dung.” He also recommends earth that has been long under water to be put upon land to enrich it, upon a scientific prin- ciple which we shall explain under Innriea- tion. Theophrastus, who flourished in the fourth century n.c.,is still more particular upon the subject of manures. He states his convic- tion that a proper mixture of soils, as clay with sand, and the contrary, would produce crops as luxuriant as could be effected by the agency of manures. He describes the pro- perties that render dungs beneficial to vegeta- tion, and dwells upon composts. (Hist. of Plants,ii. cap.8.) Xenophon recommends the stubble at reaping time to be left long, if the straw is abundant; “and this, if burned, will enrich the soil very much, or it may be cut and mixed with dung.” “The time of sowing,” says Xenophon, “must be regulated by the season; and it is best to allow seed enough.” Weeds were carefully eradicated from among their crops; “for, besides the hindrance they are to corn, or other profitable plants, they keep the ground from receiving the benefit of a free exposure to the sun and air.” Homer describes Laertes as hoeing, when found by his son Ulysses. (Odyss. xxiv. 226.) Water-courses and ditches were made to drain away “the wet which is apt to do great damage to corn.” Homer describes the mode of threshing corn by the trampling of oxen (Iliad, xx. lin. 495, &c.)* and to get the grain clear from the straw, Xenophon observes, “ the men who have ‘ne care of the work take care to shake up the 36 AGRICULTURE. straw as they see occasion, flinging into the way of the cattle’s feet such corn as they ob- serve to remain in the straw.” From Theo- phrastus and Xenophon combined, we can also very particularly make out that the Greeks separated the grain from the chaff by throwing it with a shovel against the wind. Il. Tar Acricutrure or THE Romans. 1, 2, 3, Ploughs used by the Romans in different ages 4. The yoke for fixing the cattle. 5. The reaping hook 6. The scythe. It is certain, that at a very early age Italy received colonies from the Pelasgi and Arca- dians; and that, consequently, with them the arts of Greece were introduced; and we may conclude that there was then a similarity in the practice of agriculture in the two coun- tries. About 753 years before the nativity of Christ, Romulus founded the city of Rome, whose in- habitants were destined to be the conquerors and the improvers of Europe. The Roman eagle was triumphant in Egypt, Persia, Greece, Carthage, and Macedon ; and the warriors who bore it on to victory, in those and other coun- tries, being all possessors of land of a larger or smaller extent, naturally introduced, upon their return, any superior vegetable, or im- proved mode of culture, which they observed in those highly civilized seats of their victories. Thus the arts of Rome arrived at a degree of superiority that was the result of the accu- mulated improvements of other nations; and, AGRICULTURE. finally, when Rome became in turn the con- quered, the victors became acquainted with this accumulated knowledge, and diffused it over the other parts of Europe. Of the agriculture of the early Romans we know but little; but of its state during the period of their greatest prosperity and improve- ment, we fortunately have very full informa- tion. Cato in the second, and Varro in the first century before the Christian era, Virgil, at the period of that event, Columella and Pliny but few years subsequently, and Palla- dius in the second or fourth century, each wrote a work upon agriculture, which, with the exception of that by Columella, have come down to us entire. From these various authorities we derive full information; and we are convinced that many of our readers will be surprised at the correct knowledge of the arts of cultivation possessed by that great nation. 1. Size of the Roman Farms.— When Romu- lus first partitioned the lands of the infant state among his followers, he assigned to no one more than he could cultivate. This was a space of only two acres. (Varro,i. 10; Pliny, xvii. 11.) After the kings were expelled, seven acres were allotted to each citizen. (Pliny, xviii. 3.) Cincinnatus, Curius Dentatus, Fa- bricius, Regulus, and others, distinguished as the most deserving of the Romans, had no “arger estates than this. Cincinnatus, accord- ang to some authorities, possessed only four acres. (Ibid.; Columella, i. 3, &c.) On these limited spaces they dwelt, and cultivated them with their own hands. Itwas from the plough that Cincinnatus was summoned to be dictator (Livy, iii. 26) ; and the Samnian ambassadors found Curius Dentatus cooking his own repast of vegetables in an earthen vessel. (Plutarch, in vita Cato. Cens.) Some of the noblest families in Rome derived their patronymic names from ancestors desig- nated after some vegetable, in the cultivation of which they excelled, as in the examples of 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 Pref.) 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 80,0001. (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 Politores, or Partiarit, if they shared the 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 Svils—Soils were charac- terized by six different qualities, and were described as rich or poor, free or stiff, wet or dry. (Colum. ii. 2.) ! AGRICULTURE. The best soil they thought had a blackish colour, was glutinous when wet, and friable when dry; exhaled an agreeable smell when 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 rooks at the time of ploughing; and, when at rest, speedily covered with a rich turf. (Virg. Georg. il. 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 by 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 (Jbid.), 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, xiii. 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 you 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.” (Caio, i.) They made hay, and the process appears to have been the same as in modern times. 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. (Varro; Colum. ii. 22.) 6. Implements.--The plough consisted of s” D 37 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 the 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, hanto ws, mattocks, and similar implements. 7. Operations—Ploughing was usually per- formed by two oxen, though three were some- times employed. They were yoked abreast, | i and trained when young to the employment. (Cicero, in Verr. iii. 21; Col. vi. 2,10; Pliny, xviii. 18; Virg. G. ui. 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. 19, s.49.) They seem to have ploughed three times al- ways before they sowed (Vurro, i. 29) ; and to stiff soils even as many as nine ploughings were given. (Virg. G.i.47; Pliny, xviii. 20; Pliny, Eipist. 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 with the steps. (Colum. ii. 9; Pliny, xviii. 24.) The seed was either scat- tered upon the land and covered by means of yakes 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 ihe 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 machire, called batilium, which seems to have been a wheeled cart, pushed by oxen through the corn, and catching the ears of corn between a.1ow 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. ( Varro, i. 50; Virg. G. i. 317; Colum. ii. 21; Pliny, xviii. 30. ) They do not seem to have ever bound their corn into sheaves. (Co/um. 1.) AGRICULTURE. 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. ili. 132; Tibullus, i. 5, 22; Vurro, 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. 25 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, 52; Colum. ii. 21.) It was finally stowed in granaries or in pits, where it would keep fifty years. (Pliny, xviii. 30; Varro, 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 Georgies. Such is an outline of the Roman agriculture ; and in it our readers will doubtless find suffi- 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 excel 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 practices of 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?” 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 1xi.) 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 making experiments, have established many maxims; their poste- rity generally imitate them; but we ought not only to imitate others, but make experiments, not directed by chance, but by reason.” (Varro, i. 18.) IV. Tue Acnricutrrunse or Enerann. 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. riod when the Romans invaded this island, and the annals of even that period are meager and unsatisfactory. When Cesar arrived in England, about 55 B. c., he describes the Cantii, or inhabitants of Kent, and the Belge, 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 chaff and bran only as their daily demands required. The interior inhabitants lived chiefly upon milk and flesh, being fed and clothed by the produce of their herds. “The country,” adds Cesar, “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.” (Ces. 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 nations into one country, and, by im- parting a companionship in her own acquire- ments and laws, formed one great city of the 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 diffused 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 way 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 was 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- | 0 being got rid off, with which the lords op- one of those in which they so rapidly improved, | tives of England; and that agriculture was is attested by the fact that in the fourth century the Emperor Julian, having erected here gra- AGRICULTURE. naries in which to store the tributary corn that he exacted from the natives, at one time senta 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, andthe 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 LEstates—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, affording a common pasturage for their cattle, and pan- 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 granted. (Coke's Littleton, |. 58.2; Bluckstone’s Comm. 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 acres, and all restrictions as to lands changing hands being removed, and the numerous impositions pressed their sub-infeudatories, it soon became a marketable species of property; and, as _money and merchandise increased, and the 39 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 speaks of the smallest division of each county of which it was particularly cognisant; namely, of ten families, or a tithing, as they were collectively called. Again, Bede ex- pressly calls a hide of land familia, and says it was sufficient to support a family. It was otherwise called mansuwm, 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 the first half of the six- teenth century ; and his father was among the most respectable yeomen of his time, yet his farm evidently did not exceed 100 acres. “My father,’ says Latimer, “was a yeoman, and had no lands of his own; he had only a farm of three or four pounds by the year, at the utmost; and hereupon he tilled as much as kept half a dozen men. He had 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. Fitzherbert, in his Bovk of Husbandry, declaring, “It is the wife’s occupa- 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 still 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- ereased population, have all contributed to this effect. Individuals engage in the pursuit whose education and habits require a larger income for their indulgence than can be afforded by the profits of a small farm; and, consequently, in districts having the most fer- tile soils, farms of from 300 to 500 acres are very common; whilst in less productive dis- 40 AGRICULTURE. tricts they extend even to 1000 and 2000 acres. With 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 return 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 which small plots obtain, return a more abundant produce than those which are too large to be So attentively cultivated. Enclosure of Land.—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 VIIL, 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, it any damage arose from his hedge being broken down, or his gate being open, he was declared to be legally punishable. (Wilkins, Leges Saa. 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 proprietors, 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 VLI., 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 Sixth’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.” (Ascham’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 haye 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 of 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 legislature 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 has a legal and social right of employing his property as he pleases ; and how far he will make his use of it com- patible with 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. Implements.—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. é 1. Norman plough, with the hatchet carried by the ploughman for breaking the clods. 2. Sowing, as re- presented by Strutt, 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 now 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 wambtye or wantye ; withen trees into whipping or whipple trees ; be- sides which we have the fail withes, and some others still uncorrupted. (Leges Wallice, 283 —288.) We read, also, that Easterwin, Abbot of Wearmouth, not only guided the plough and winnowed the corn grown on the abbey lands, but also with his hammer forged the instru- ments of husbandry upon the anvil. (Bede, Hist. Abb. Wearmoth, 296.) Whether the early British or Saxon ploughs had wheels is uncer- tain, but those of the Normans certainly had such appendages. Pliny says that wheels were first applied to ploughs by the Gauls p2 41 AGRICULTURE. The Britons were 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 Wallice, 288; Montfaucon’s Monumens de Monarchie Frangois I. Planche, 47; Giraldus Can:brensis, c. 17.), The gigantic and universal impulse that seemed simultaneously to affect the human mind in the sixteenth century, tended to the improvement of sciences which could not be | benefitted without agriculture sharing in the good. Metallurgy and its subservient arts, and applied mathematics, were thus assistant to improving 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 Rotherham 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, the 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 castiron. (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, first, that it shall enter and pass through t soil 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 A2 AGRICULTURE. hoeing, not merely to extirpate weeds, but for the purpose of pulverizing the soil, by 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 Tull 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 now several im- proved machines adapted to the sowing of corn, beans, and turnips. See Dritts. 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. Draining was never correctly understood till the scientific observations of Dr. Anderson, and the practical details of Mr. Elkington, 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 incaleulably 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 attempt no agri- cultural employments; and even when Bede 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. 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 twenty-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 attested by Tusser, who, writing at that period, says,— “Tn Suffolk again, whereas wheat never grew, 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. The 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, 4d. each; eighty men one day, and kept at the lady’s board, 4d. each; 140 men, hired for one day, at 3d. each; wages of the head reaper, 6s. 8d.; of the brewer, 3s. 4d.; of the cook, 3s. 4d.; thirty acres of oats, tied up by the job, ls. 8d.; three acres of wheat, cut and tied up by the job, ls. lld.; 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, \xxxviii.) 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 they do likewise make drink for want of barley.” It is so hardy that it is admirably calculated for a cold climate, and there is searcely any soil in which it will not be pro- ductive. In southern climates it will not flourish. AGRICULTURE. “Rye,” says Gerarde, groweth very plenti- 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 amore 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 made known in England in 1562. It is commonly cultivated in the south of France as a field crop, and for the same purpose was tried in England in 1828, at the reeommenda- 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 from Sir Walter. (MS. Journal 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 twe 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 eat the greens, but feed on the roots in the ground, scooping them out evea AGRICULTURE. to 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 Husbandry, &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 waies : 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 soil for producing grain, to enlarge and improve breeds of cattle and sheep, and to afford 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 rarely 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 annuisance. “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 and endanger the people.” (English Improver Improved, 3d ed. 240.) There are many other crops occasionally eultivated 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- wheat or brank, teasel, madder, saintfoin, rucerne, cabbage, carrots, and others. General cultivation—We have no informa- 44 AGRICULTURE. 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 adriver. There is a very old Saxon dialogue extant, in which a ploughman, in stating his duties, says, “I go out at day-break, urging the oxen to the field, andI yoke them ‘to the plough—the oxen being yoled, and the share and coulter fastened on, I ought to plough one 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 Giral- 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.” (Descript. Cambriz, 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. (Feta, 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 says, “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 other im- plements that were employed by them for the purpose. (Hist, Anglo-Saq. ii. 544.) We find no very early mention made of hoeing by any English agricultural writer. 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.” (Googe’s Heresbachius, [printed in 1578,] 256.) It was not till the time of Tull, 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 jm the 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.” (Googe’s Heresbachius, 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 (Cesar, 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 and butter.” (Turner's Anglo-Saw. ii. 546.) This attention to sheep was attended with so much 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 Coteswold sheep to be transported to Spain, as people report, which have there so multiplied and increased, that it hath turned | AGRICULTURE. the commodity of England much to the Spanish profit, and to the no small hinderance of the gain which was beforetimes in England raised of them.” (Hall’s Chronicle, 266. Holinshed, 668.) The sheep thus exported were probably improved by attention and climate till they had become that breed of Merinos which 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 thought 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. 4d., &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 shall 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 Holinshed, 220.) Heresbach, who was a contemporary, gives such a description of the best form and qualities of sheep, that 11 is evident that the excellence of the breed was not the mere effect of chance. (Googe’s Heres- bach. 1376.) From that period till the latter half of the eighteenth century, we are not ac- quainted with any efforts further to improve it. This last-mentioned period was the era of the improvements effected by Mr. Bakewell and his pupils, the Messrs. Culley. Bakewell was born in 1726, at Ditehley in 45 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. When they first settled in that district, the sheep kept there were large, slow-feeding, long-woolled 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 minutie, unremitting indus- try, and superior 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 making known, not only their enlightened husbandry, 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 Agvi- cultural 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 state of the highest improvement. Perhaps the best description of the varieties of the sheep reared in England has been written by this gentleman for “Baxter’s Agricultural Li- brary.” ° Cattle, as we have already noticed, have al- 46 AGRICULTURE. ways been a prominent production of Great Britain. They were mentioned by Cesar, 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, that 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., haying no regardor care to breed up young beasts 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, &c. (2 & 3 Phil. §& 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 cuineas 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- shall’s Midland Counties, i. 334; Parkinson on Live Stock, ii. 469.) Horses.—That the ancient Britons had horses with which they impelled their war chariots, we know upon the authority of those who had seen them—Cesar, Strabo, and others. In the epitome of Dion Cassius, by Xiphelin, those horses are described as small and swilt. They appear not to have been usually employed in the operations of agriculture ; and their em- ployment was not considered desirable ; for in tbe old Cambrian laws, oxen are exclusively directed to be employed. (Leges Walliczx, 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 without 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. It was provided by the second of the acts just quoted, tnat no stallion should be kept that did 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 fine 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, that 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 Bayeux 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 subsequently, 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 more than 3000 cavalry. Sir A. Fitzherbert, who wrote in the reign of Henry VIIL., 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 disccvered before purchasing, if it was not in the ears or tail, one third of the price was to be returned. (Laws of Howell Dhu.) The deceptions practised by the dealers in horses is sull proverbial; and there does not appear with their fraternity to have been any interme- diate age of innocence; for Sir A. Fitzherbert says, “Thou grayser, that mayest fortune to be of myne opinion or condytion to love horses, and young coltes and foles to go among AGRICULTURE. thy cattle, take hede that thou be not beguilid | as I have beena hundred times and more. And first, thou shalt 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 Suffollk Punch, the Cleveland bays, the Clydesdale, and the Lincolnshire or dray, are surpassed by no country in the world. The numerous cart stallions attending every market town during the covering season, is an attestation that this care is not on the decrease. It is stated,asa further proof, that a few years since a Suffolk cart-mare and her offspring sold at Woodbridge Lady-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 avery prominent por- tion of their 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, lii. 22.) Heresbach is particularly earnest in commending the pig; and after mentioning it as abominable to the Jews, says, with a boast- ful feeling that made him forget its impiety, “T believe, verily, they never tasted 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, every district of England varying in the size and qualities of those it prefers. Some attention has of late years been paid to im- prove the stock, but in general they have been too much neglected. We have not particu- larized the progress of husbandry in 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 the island has, in many districts, outstripped, and, in most, at least kept pace with that of England ; and its future advance 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 obviated until the effect of education and wealth is more generally felt and appreciated by its generous and hospitable, but tar from wealthy inhabi- tants. 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 against us AT AGRICULTURE. Saxons, or Sassenachs; and that they take every advantage of any Englishman that settles among them. V. ContinentTaLt AGRICULTURE. We have now brought to a conclusion our sketch of the progress of agriculture. The limits of our work preclude us from giving here more 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 itso 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 obtained 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 the 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 husbandry, in 1645, till that of the Rev. T. Radcliff in 1819, the Flemish husbandmen have continued models of neat and economi- cal farming. In this respect we fall short of them. It is a leading principle with them to make their farms closely resemble gardens. Consequently, to effect 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 in Flanders) published by Mr. Radcliff, and the Flemish Husbandry of the Society 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; but 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 than 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 would ve 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- row succeeding in keeping their town so scru- 48 AGRICULTURE. 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 of 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 miik 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 country. But in the absence of all facts, if the farmer 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. 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. Germany.—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 labaurer is allowed to mutilate timber trees that grow upon most farms, cannot be too se- verely deprecated. To train trees correctly, 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 cach 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.—tIn 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 te 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 ariver 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 country, 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 of vegetation, for it has been in a manner lying two years fallow, is sanctioned by reason as well as confirmed by practice. We are not the advocates of a general system of spade AGRICULTURE. husbandry. There are objections to it that 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 wou | 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 almostall their practices, except the culture of the vine, they are very far behind Engiand. For that reason I leave them unnoticed, be- cause there is 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 despotic 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 now. By freedom, I mean security of property 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 paralysed; the mathematical sciences which the Grecians 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, which 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 in 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 pre 49 AGRICULTURE. gress; and the impetus that was given to the human 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 which 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 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 the, 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 1793, 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 arrangements, 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 they 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 haye much to say. They are branches of knowledge hitherto too seldom combined with practical skill to 50 AGRICULTURE. have yet accomplished much; but of what they are capable of achieving, an estimate may be formed from the perusal of De Can- dolle’s Physiologie Végétale. “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.” (Baster’s Agricultural Li- brary, 140.) Of the literature of agriculture, I have little to sayin 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 them 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 cor- rect in its details which is founded upon scientific knowledge. (G. W. Johnson. Miller's Gard. Dict. by Orr & Co.) (Acricutrure In THE Unirep Srares. A glance into the agricultural history of the United States has been given in the introduc- tion to this work. It will not therefore be AGRICULTURE. necessary to say much upon that topic here, where the agricultural resourses of the Re- public will be mainly dwelt upon. e 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 authentic information of the highest interest has been thus obtained, exhibiting not only the aggregate value, but the relative proportions the several products of agriculture, commerce, the forests, and the manufactures, bear to each ather. 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 Joseph 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 we 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 west. 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 ply 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 markets: and the same may be said of the canal and rail-road trans- AGRICULTURE. 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 our 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, exhibiting 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, made in one of the late reports of the United States Commissioner of Patents. An Estimate of the products of labour and capi- tal in the United States for the year 1848. (ite =] Articles. Quantities Prices. Value. Agricultural Pro- ducts. Bushels. | Dollars Wheat (a) .......- 126,364,600} 1 15 Indian corn. . 583,150,000 59 Barley 6,222,050 65 4,044,932 Rye.-... 82,951,500 65 | 21,418,475 Oats .....-. 185,500,000 35 64,925,000 Buckwheat. . 12,523,000 50 6,266,500 Potatoes .... 114,475,000 30 32,342,500 Beans . 10,000,000] 1 00 10,000,000 ‘Peas... 20,000,600 874) 17,500,000 Flaxseed .......... 1,600,000} 1 20 1,920,000 Tons. Hay .....- ubhos as 15,735,000] 8 00 | 125,880,000 Hemp and Flax.... 100,000] 180 00 18,000,000 Pounds. Pobaceo’™. <0 a0'¢': 218,909,000 04 8,756,360) Cotton. .... «|1,066 000,000 7 74,620,000 RAGS aaa rice 119,199,500 03 3,575,985 Sugar (including maple) ..........| 275,000,000 05 | 13,750,000 Silk cocoons. 400,000] 2 00 800,000 Hops.......- | 1,566,301 09 140,967 Beeswax (b) « <1 789,525 21 165,800 Honey. seeds 23,685,750 10 2,368,575: Gallons. Molasses (c)....... 9,600,000 282 2,736,000; IVa lei epainic, cre sia are 500,000] 1 00 500,000 Pasturage, annual value.....2......[eeeees weeeue [eee eee.| 60,768,136 Value of the residu- umoferops: straw, chaff, &e. (d).... ce lb6cSbe 100,090,000) Manure (e) ....- Sik] boca mocddador tetace ce 60,000,000 Products of orchards.| Dollars. 1,119,866 420, Value in 1840...... 7,256,904 Increase 25 per cent. 1,814,226) ....... 9,071,130) Products of gardens. paeate pare Number estimated|“"?” #7" at 3,000,000 ......]..2-e---+ ee] econ --| 45,000,000; Products of nurseries Value of in 1840... 593,534 Increase 25 per cent. 148,383] ....... 741,917 Live stock and its 54,813,047 products. Sheep, No. in 1848.) 25,000,000 Wool, pounds .... 60,000,000 30 18,000,000) Neat cattle, number in 1848 ..........] 18,714,482 Swine, number in 1848 35,000,000 51 AGRICULTURE. Estimate—continued. Articles. Quantities. Prices. Value, } Butchers’? meat ) including eae, Dollars Dollars. beet, & pork, lbs.}3,664,934,000 04 | 146,597,360 Value of hides, pelts r and tallow ...+.+]....— veneers |e cere ee | 20,000,000 Increase of neat cat- tle in 1848, estima- ted at 3 per cent, since1847, innum- ‘ ber 449,147, at $10 per head......++.| ..seeeeree Bl ater . 4,401,470 Horses, mules & asses Number in 1848... 5,419,586 Value of iner’se (la- bour not estimated] ............].... --| 8,129,350 Poultry. Value in IS40....4« 9,344,410 Increase 25 percent. 2,336,102).....~.| 11,680,512 Eggs, No. consumed] 1.084,300,000) ; cent | 5,421,500 Live geese feathers | Ibs. 2,000,000 50; 1,000,000 Products of the dairy. Value in 1840...... 33,787,008 Increase 25 percent. 8,446.750|.....4. 42,233,758) Milk, value of ..... 20,000,000). .... | 20,000,000 277,553,950 Products of the forest, including lumber, furs, and SKINS.-.|.......-000-[eeeeeee 22,250,000) Firewood, No. e’ds|} 25,000,000) 150) 37,500,000 Products of the fishe- 59,750,000 ries, including _ whale, cod, mack- erel, and all other fisheries «5021-2 | sscesncecece[eoeeene 17,581,339) Capital employed in commerce, trade, § internal transport- ALION, 140 eens +++} 400,000,000 | Profits at 6 percent.|...-......00)eeeeeee | 24,000,000 Manufactures. Products, value Of .|......0- see |e esee ee | 550,000,000 Mines. ! Products of, inclu- ding iron, lead, gold, silver, mar- ble, granite, salt, | Coal, KC. KC. 2... [ececeveeseeelerseee. | 75,000,000 Banking and insu- rance. Bank ecapital......~ 212,000,000 Cupital of insurance companies. ...+++ PIonthiOs- de eve ced iscesesescce cfs nec- 20,000,000, Money loaned at inte- rest. Profits Of .- 2522 s.0efescesssecsrefecceses 20,000,000 Rentals. Of houses and lands} .+.+++5+...+|e-+ee4s 50,000,000 Professions. Profits Of ...... 200 | eecoecescens|ssseee 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 AGROSTIS. and nurseries, have 25 per cent. allowed for increase, except where later information justifies a departure from this rule. (4) 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. (d) In France 114 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 these be added the refuse of the cotton, 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 66% cts. per cord. The value of the manure produced in England was com- puted, in 1835, at 329,300,000 loads, valued at about $295,000,000, exclusive of the droppings from grazing stock, equal to about 4 more. (gz) See Foop and VenrivaTion. [AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS, Consume- Ton 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 Ibs. 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 Ibs. of butcher’s meat. Of cheese, another production of grass, 11,500 tons are annually introduced into Lon- 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 Botany.)] AGROSTIS. The bent grass. An extensive genus of grasses, which, from the marshy soi! on which they flourish best, are of comparatively small vaJue to the farmer. Agrostis alba, or white bent, in Englana flowers in the first week in August, and the AGROSTIS. seed is ripe about the beginning of September. This grass is late, unproductive, and contains but little nutritive matter. Its creeping roots greatly exhaust the soil; in this variety they are smaller than in the other varieties of Agrostis, but equally difficult to extirpate when once in possession of tenacious clays. This property of the roots is the best character of distinction for the purpose of the agriculturist, as it may be found at any season or stage of growth of the plant. The Agrostis canina, var. mutica, Awnless variety of brown bent; Trichodiwm caninum muticum (Schrader), Creeping-stalked brown bent, is the most common grass on deep bags, even where they are subject to be under water for six months in the year. It is a diminutive plant, very unlike the produce of such soils: the leaves seldom attain to more than two or three inches in length. ‘The smallness of the produce, even when cultivated in the most favourable circumstances, affords a sufficient proof of its unworthiness to be regarded by the farmer in any other light than that of a weed which indicates a soil capable of being improved, so as to produce the most valuable grasses by irrigation. It differs but little from the Agrostis nivea, except in the want of awns and the length of the culms. The structure varies almost imperceptibly in the Agrostis ca- nina, Agrostis nivea, and in this species. The like gradual shades of difference may be per- ceived in the colour of the plants; the canina is of a brownish-green colour; this awnless variety is of a pale green; the nivea of a greenish straw colour. The knots or bundles of leaves attached to the decumbent shoots show it to be connected with the Agrostis canina fascicularis. It flowers in England the second and third weeks of July, and ripens the seed about the middle of August. Agrostis canina capillaris. Fine-panicled brown bent. This variety is nearly akin to the Agrostis canina fascicularis, bundle-leaved bent; tufted bent. In old pastures, or light soils, this bent may be readily distinguished in the autumn by its shoots, which are fur- nished with leaves in tufts or bundles, that generally run along on the surface of the rest of the herbage, and is occasioned, apparently, by the cattle, which eat the other herbage, and leave the scattered shoots of the tufted-leaved bent untouched. It is a very common grass on poor, light, but moist soils, incumbent on clay, that have long been under pasture. This and the woolly soft grass in some parts of Eng- land are termed winter fog. From the above details it will appear to be the least valuable of the bent grasses that have been mentioned. The cultivation of a grass of this value is out of the question; the point of most importance to be ascertained respecting it is, how to re- move it from the soil, and to substitute more valuable grasses in its place. I have wit- nessed the beneficial effects of coal ashes, as a top dressing, when spread on the pasture in sufficient quantity. The ashes favour the growth of the superior grasses, and the pasture being in consequence closely cropped by the cattle, which now find the pasture more pala- table, the tufted bent disappears ; it will, how- AGROSTIS. ever, be found by no means destroyed, but only checked in its growth. This grass flowers in England the first and second weeks of August, and ripens the seed in the end of the same month. Agrostis lobata. Lobed bent; sea-side bent. The general appearance of this plant indicates its inferior comparative value. It appears, ac- cording to the information afforded by Mr. Curtis, to be chiefly confined to the sea coasts. It grows wild on a stiff wet, clayey loam, part of the London blue clay, in the parish of Cud- dington, near Epsom, Surrey. It does not ap- pear to be of much value to the agriculturist, although its nutritive powers are far from being inconsiderable. Agrostis mexicana, the Mexican bent grass, is, as 1ts name implies, a native of South America, and was introduced into England, by Mr. Gilbert Alexander, in 1780. It delights more in calcareous or clayey soils than in those that are of a silicious sandy nature. It perfects an abundance of seed, which when sown produces plants that soon arrive at per- fection. So far, therefore, it possesses the requisite properties of a grass adapted for the alternate husbandry ; but it is late in the pro- duce of foliage in the spring, and that herbage is not distinguished by any superior nutritive powers. Itis perfectly hardy. Being a native of a warmer climate, its defects may possibly be greatly lessened by being naturalized, and by frequently raising it from seed successively ripened in England. At present it does not offer any strong reasons to recommend it fur- ther to the notice of the agriculturist. It flow- ers in the third week of August, and the seed is ripe towards the end of September. Agrostis nivea. Snowy bent; straw-coloured bent grass. Agrostis palustris, or marsh bent. This is considered only a variety of the Agrostis stalo- nifera. This grass is properly a sub-aquatic : it will grow on tenacious clays, but it seems only to thrive in very moist soils, or in such as are for the most part covered with water. In moist woods it is more frequent than any other of the creeping-stemmed bent grasses: here the culms often attain to five feet in height, when supported by bushes. The above details show the inferior nature of this grass compared to the larger, and even to the lesser leaved varieties of the Agrostis stolonifera. It cannot, therefore, as yet be considered in any other light than a weed that chokes up drains and underwoods. Agrostis ramosissima. _ Lateral- branching bent grass. This is nearly allied to the Agros- tis mexicana, and is one of the latest flowering grasses. It is remarkakle for the number of branches that issue from the joints of the stem; and the woody substance of the culms makes it approach to the nature of a shrub. It affords little herbage till the beginning of summer, and flowers at so late a period of the season (the first or second week in October), that, the frost generally destroys the panicles before the seed is perfected. The herbage is killed by frost, but the roots suffer nothing from its effects; it is propagated by parting and planting the roots early in the spring or E2 53 AGROSTIS. late in the autumn. It is neither very pro- ductive nor nutritive. Agrostis repens. Creeping-rooted bent; white nent. The Agrostis nigra, or black couch svass of Withering. Though a later growing erass, it is less productive than the Agrostis alba. 1: is subject to the rust, a peculiar disease which dries up the extremities of the leaves and gives it an unsightly appearance. Simple ploughing will be found ineffectual to root out this weed in clayey soils. It will be found ultimately the cheapest and most expeditious mode of extirpating it to follow the plough and fork out the roots. Burning, under such cir- cumstances of soil, would doubtless be highly beneficial, but the roots of this couch grass penetrate so deep that a considerable part of them would escape; and the least particle of the root soon produces a plant. It flowers in England the second week of August, and the seed is ripe about the latter end ot September. Agrostis stolonifera aristuta. Awned-creeping bent. This variety of creeping bent, which is allied to the Agrostis Canina or awned var. Agr. vulgaris of Dr. Smith, is greatly inferior to the larger-leaved variety (Agrostis stolonifera latifolia, or fiorin) ; for the weight of nutritive matter per acre afforded by the atifolia is two- thirds greater than that of the awned variety. Cattle appear to eat this grass in common with the rough-stalked meadow-grass and meadow fox-tail grass. It flowers about a week later than the fiorin, but the seed is ripe about the same time. Agrostis stolonifera angustifolia. Smaller- leaved creeping bent. This is the most com- mon variety of the creeping bent, on damp, te- naceous, clayey soils, and in moist woods. It stands next in value to the longer-leaved vari- ety of creeping bent; but appears from all the observations that have been made on it, when growing in natural pastures, to be entirely neg- lected by cattle, while any of the superior pasture grasses presented a sufficiency for a bite. It flowers in the second and third weeks of July, and ripens the seed about the end of August. Agrostis stolonifera (var. 1 latifolia). Longer- leaved creeping bent; fiorin. [See Plate 5, n. Hay Grasses.] The Rey. Dr. Wm. Richardson has intro- duced this variety of the Agrostis stolonifera to the agricultural world, under the name of Fi- orin, and has shown its merits and properties, deduced from his own experiments, in a vari- ety of publications on the subject, to which the reader is referred. It is greatly superior in point of produce and nutritive powers to the other varieties of Agrostis stolonifera. _ On comparing the specimens of these differ- ent varieties, their resemblance to each other is so great, that they may be easily mistaken for each other, without a close inspection, and some knowledge of botany to assist it. This variety appears to be confined to rich ancient pasture land, as its natural place of growth, and the other varieties to various soils and situations; and that when taken from these different soils, and cultivated together under the same circumstances, they retain their dis- cruninating characters. On damp, clayey 54 AGROSTIS. soils, the second variety (smaller-leaved, creep- ing bent) is the most common. 'T’o moors and bog soils, the third variety (awned creeping bent grass) is chiefly or altogether confined. To light sandy soils, particularly when more or less shaded, the fourth variety (wood creep- ing bent grass) is peculiar; and the fifth vari- ety (marsh creeping bent grass) is seldom found but in the bottoms of ditches, or by the side of rivulets. The first variety being there- fore scarce, and the others very common, there is little room for surprise at the contradictory results of experiments that have been made, on one or other of these inferior varieties, by gentlemen equally eminent for agricultural knowledge under the conviction of their being one and the same grass as recommended by Dr. Richardson under the name of fiorin: whereas, though they agree in the general ha- bit of Dr. Richardson’s variety, and indeed in every respect except in the characters before described, their inferiority in every agricultu- ral merit is so great, as to justify the oppro- brious epithets that have been bestowed upon them, by those who, from the above causes have differed from Dr. Richardson’s statements of the merits of the first variety of fiorin, and prevented that justice being done to the disco- very which it may have deserved. The above details will assist the farmer in deciding on the comparative merits of this grass as a constituent of a mixture of grasses for permanent pasture; from which it will doubtless appear worthy of attention, but its value not so great as has been supposed, if its habits or manner of growth be impartially taken into the account, when compared with the produce and nutritive powers of the other grasses. The chief advantage of this grass, in permanent pasture, is its late growth. It remains in a degree inactive, till other grasses have attained to perfection, and when their productive powers become exhausted, those of fiorin and its varieties begin; and it will be found, on inspection, that the latest mouthful of herbage, and sometimes the earliest, in those pastures, is principally afforded by this grass. There has been much prejudice existing against the different 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 fiorin in nearly the like pro- portion as cock’s foot. The meadow fox-tail grass is inferior to fiorin in the proportion nearly of 6 to 7. When cultivated separately, for the purpose of green food or hay, fiorin 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 fiorin into hay, during the winter months, is amply detailed in Dr. Richardson’s publica- tions on Fiorin. Full information will there i AGROSTIS. be likewise found on the productive powers, uses, modes of cultivation, &c., of this grass, deduced from the Doctor’s own experiments. Agrostis stricta. Rock bent; upright bent. Trichodium 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: when cultivated on a poor, silicious, sandy soil, the produce, though some- what inferior, continued for six years, without diminishing in the yearly quantity, and without any manure being applied; a circumstance which was not manifested in any other species of grass. Azrostis vulgaris canina. Awned fine bent. (Brown bent, or) Agrostis canina, Wither. Arr. Smith’s Engl. Flora. Agrostis vulgaris var. 8. Do. var. 1.) As this is a much less common plant than the variety of Agrostis vulgaris before described, and as it differs so much from that variety in the properties which constitute the farmer’s distinguishing charac- ters of grasses, the name canina 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 tol. The crop of the awnless variety is greater than that of the awned, but itis much less nutritive, being as 10 to 7; the spring and autumn produce is AGROSTIS. | likewise superior. Neither of these varieties appears to be of much value to the farmer. The rust attacks the culms and leaves of both varieties, which gives the plants a dirty brown appearance ; the Agrostis vulzaris is always free from this disease. ‘Che 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 Trichodium caninum) ; 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 every 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. ! | exas - Green Pro- y Produce | Prod e Description. Bolle aie SNS ry Prey . of Sere | | Ibs. | Ibs. Ibs. | Agrostis alba,in flower, - - - - = Clay 8,167 8 0| 3,471 3 0} 2,255 312 — —canina, in flower EWR atares +1) Bog 5,415 0 0| 1497 6 0} (14814 0! canina, when seed ripe - - - a 6,125 10 0; 2,603 5 0 239 4 8 | palustris, in flower - - = = = 10,209 6 0] 4.534 3 0! 43810 0, ———— palustris, when seed ripe - - - aa 13,612 8 0} 5,445 0 0 584 14 0 | ——— repens, in flower, ah Re Clayey loam 6,125 10 01 2.67915 6] 287 2 0 | stolonifera aristata, in flower = - Bog 8,848 0 0] 4,210 12 0 368 10 0 stolonifera aristata, in December - — 10,209 6 0) 4,594 3 8 438 10 15 | stolonifera angustifolia, when seed ripe zs 16,335 0 0) 7,350 12 0 765 11 0 | stolunifera angustifolia,in December - — 17,015 0 0| 8,507 8 0 930 8 0 canina capillaris, in flower = - = Sandy loam 4,764 6 0| 1,310 3 0 148 14 0 | eanina fasicularis, in flower edie Fa Sandy 2,722 8 0} 68010 0 8 1 4) cunina fasicularis, inseed - - - , ie es 4,083 12 0} 1,429 5 0 239 4 0 : F , Rich, black, silici- ) iE ( mexicana,in flower - = = = ous, sandy 519,057 8 0) 6,670 2 0 595 8 12. ———nivea,inflower - - - - - Sandy 6,125 10 0} 2,603 6 4) 239 4 8° ——— nivea, when seed ripe - - - bad 4,764 6 0) 1,310 3 4 148 14 3} ramosissisima, in flower - - -| Strong clayeyloam (98.585 4 0/11,434 0 0| 893 5 0! ——— stolonifera latifolia, in flower - = Peat 17,696 4 0| 7,742 112] | 96712 33 — stolonifera latifolia, seed ripe - - oa ae 19,057 8 0| 8,575 14 0} 1,042 3 5} ——— lobata, in flower ie ls le Silicious sand 6,806 4 0/ 3,403 2 0) 319 O11 | lobata, seed ripe - - - - - = 6,125 10 0} 2,679 15 6 287 2 3| ——— stricta, in flower im chaise - - Bog 9,528 12 0| 4,764 6 0 25) (3 15 stricta,seedripe - - - - = LK 7,486 14 0} 2,713 15 14 1735 7 9 —— vulgaris mutica, in flower = - = Silicious sand = {19.909 6 0) 4,594 3 8] 53111 3 ——— vulsraris mutica, in seed - - - a 9,528 12 0) 4,764 6 0 251° 315 —— vulgaris canina = be SARS win Sandy loam 6,125 10 0| 2,603 6 4| 939 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. They 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 fields, flowering in July. This is doubtless the species which gives name to the genera, de- rived from Agros, a Greek word signifying a field. Dr. Darlington Says it is the grass ex tensively known in the Middle States as Herds or Red-top, and sometimes in the Eastern States 55 AIR. called Foul Meadow Grass. The last name being evidently derived from the great difficulty with which it is eradicated when it has once obtained a footing. The grass called white-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 common characteristics of the plant, as seen in the meadows of Pennsylvania, Dr. Darlington says, resemble those of the A. alba, the White or Yellow Tops of the Eastern States. It affords a tolerably good pasture for cattle, and is valuable in swampy grounds, which its roots tend to consolidate; but it is not much esteemed for hay, and is now seldom, if ever, an object of special cultivation in the Middle States. The Pennsylvania farmers are so op- posed to haying Herds grass rooted in their fields 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 Virginian Agrostis, frequenting dry, sandy banks, and road-sides, flowering in the 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. laterifolia, 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 the 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 fiorin 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, aér, Lat). The element or thin medium in which terrestrial animals move and breathe, and which surrounds the earth to a considerable height. See Armo- 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 aquatica, 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 Glyceria fluitans, Elymus arenarius, Poa nemoralis var. angustifolia, Poa aquatica. 56 ATRA. Aira cxspitosa. Turfy hair-grass; hassock grass. [See Plate 6. of Pasrune Grasses, m.) This grass is of a very innutritious 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 dry 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- tata. 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 species, 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 Avra 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 (Lo- lium perenne), sheep’s fescue (Festuca ovina), yellow oat-grass (Avena flavescens), crested dog’s tail (Cynosurus cristatus), meadow barley (Hordeum pratense), flexuose hair-grass (Aira flexuosa), are all preferred by cattle to the crested hair-grass. The nutritive matter of this grass differs but little in its composition from those of the above: it approaches nearest AIRING. to that of thé Aira flexuosa, differing only in having less bitter extractive matter and of more tasteless mucilage; but the soft hairy foliage of the grass appears at once the cause of this dislike in cattle to eat it. It flowers about the first week in July, and the seed is ripe about the beginning of August. Aira flexuosa. Zig-zag hair-grass; wavy mountain hair-grass. The Aira flexuosa is much more productive on its natural soil than the Festuca ovina ; but it requires a deeper soil though not a richer. The Festwea ovina is more common among heath, the Aira fleauosa among furze, though both grasses frequently grow intermixed on the same soil. To those who attempt the improvement of such soils in ALBURNUM. a secondary manner only, this species of hair- grass appears to be the best of those grasses natural to the soils in question, and may form a principal part of a mixture of seeds for that purpose of improvement. The produce of this grass on a heath soil is superior to that on a clayey loam in the proportion of 2 to 1. The proportional value in which the grass at the time of flowering exceeds that of the latter- math, is as 8 to 7. Flowers in the first week of July. Seed ripens in August. In England the proportionate value of the different varieties of Aira as deduced from ex- periments may be ascertained by reference to the following classified table of results: Description. Aira aquatica, in flower water Clay cespitosa, seed ripe — cristata, in flower cristata, seed ripe — fleruosa, in flower —— jlexuosa, seed ripe AIRING. In the management of horses, implies the exercising them in the open air, which is of the greatest advantage to them when performed with moderation, and accord- ing to the circumstances or state in which they are in respect to their health and the nature of their keep. By this means their legs are prevented from swelling, their stomachs -im- proved, and their wind rendered more free and perfect. AIR VESSELS, of vegetables, are certain horizontal vessels of large diameter, that pass through the bark of trees to the alburnum, [or white internal bark.] These horizontal vessels Dr. Darwin supposes to contain air, enclosed in a thin moist membrane, which may serve the purpose of oxygenating the fluid in the ex- tremities of some fine arteries of the embryo buds, in the same manner as the air at the broad end of the egg is believed to oxygenate the fluids in the terminations of the placental vessels of the embryo chicken. ALBUMEN is the name given by chemists to the impure glossy viscid liquid, which forms the white of anegg. This white is composed chiefly of albumen mixed with some mucus, soda, and sulphur. Albumen unites readily with water, and when heated to 165° it coagulates into a white solid mass; but when mixed with ten times its weight of water, itno longer is coagulated by heat. It is composed, according to the analysis of MM. Gay Lussac and Thénard, of Carbon - - - - - - 52:883 Oxygen - - - - - - 23872 Hydrogen =~. |= - - = “= (7:540 Azote a ah) ere SEAS 705 (Rech. Phys. Chem. ii. 332.) 100-000 Albumen (which is nearly identical in com- position with the gluten of vegetables), is one of the most important and common of all the animal substances. It abounds in bones, mus- 8 sated covered with Sandy loam Heath on clay Produce per Acre Rrmespidee ly Pizaatee |) et tite Ibs. Ibs. lbs, 10,899 0 0 3,267 0 O 352 13 #10 10,209 0 O 3,318 0 0 319 +O 11 10,899 0 O 4,900 8 0O 340 5 O 6,806 4 0 3,403 2 0 1277 10 0O 10,209 6 0 3,318 O 12 319 O 11 9,528 12 0 3,573 4 8 297 12 6 (Sinclair's Hort. Gram. Wob.) cle, the membrane of shells, sponges, &c.; and, according to the experiments of Hatchett, cartilage, nails, horns, hair, &c., are almost entirely composed of it. (Thomson, vol. iv. p- 407.) ALBURNUM. An integument composed of a soft white substance, scarcely perceptible in some sorts of trees, situated between the liber and the wood. In the oak and elm it is hard and very conspicuous. It is as it were an imperfect wood, not having acquired that state of consistence necessary to perfect wood; hence it may be compared to the cartilage in animals, which at length becomes bone. This state must necessarily be passed through be- fore wood can be formed. The hardness of this substance is in proportion to the vigour of the plant or tree. The vessels of the alburnum in their living state possess the property of conveying the sap-juice, which is propelled upwards in the early spring, by the absorbent terminations of the roots, as visible in decorticated oaks, the branches of which expand their buds like those of the birch and vine in the bleeding season. That the vessels of the alburnum in their living state occasionally act as capillary syphons, through which the sap-juice is first pushed upwards by the absorbent extremities of the roots, and afterwards returns down- wards, partly by its gravitation, in branches bent below the horizon, appears from an ex- periment of Dr. Walker; and lastly, that the vessels of the alburnum, after their vegetable life is extinct, possess a power of capillary at- traction of the sap-juice, or of permitting it to pass through them occasionally, appears from the following experiment:—A branch cf a young apple-tree was so cankered, that the bark for about an inch round it was totally destroyed. To prevent the alburnum from becoming too dry by exhalation, this decayed 57 ALCOHOL. part was covered with thick white paint: in a few days the painting was repeated, and this three or four times, so as to produce a thick coat of paint over the decayed part, or naked alburnum, extending to the ascending and descending lips of the wound; this was in spring, and the branch blossomed and ripened several apples. ALCOHOL is the name first given by the alchemists (it came originally from Arabia) to the liquid obtained by the distillation of wine, beer, and other fermented spirits. These seem to have been known in the earliest ages: Noah, who planted a vineyard, drank wine; and the heathen writers deemed the invention worthy of being ascribed to their greatest kings and heroes. Beer, there is little doubt, was invented by the Egyptians. They cer- tainly used it in the days of Herodotus. The Germans drank it extensively when Tacitus wrote. These were probably the purest varie- ties of alcohol then generally made; although they were known in the dark ages, and it is probable have been employed in the North of Europe from a very remote period. The pro- cess, however, of separating the impure alco- hol from these is very easy: upon subjecting the wine or wash to a moderate heat, the spirit arises, and is easily collected in a worm sur- rounded by cool water. It is in this way that gin is procured from the distillation of fer- mented barley or other grain; rum from mo- lasses; brandy from wine. It must not be supposed, however, that the product of these distillations is pure alcohol, for even the strongest brandy contains between forty and fifty per cent. of water. The first who pro- cured alcohol in a state of tolerable purity is supposed to have been Arnold of Villa Nova, a celebrated alchemist of the fourteenth cen- tury. When impure alcohol is concentrated by repeated distillations, and by mixing it with some salt, like the salt of tartar, that has a strong attraction for water, it gradually parts with a considerable portion of its water, and becomes reduced in specific gravity to about 0.820; that of commerce, however, is rarely of less specific gravity than 0.8371. At the greatest strength, however, at which it has been observed, such as that of 0.792, which M. Lowitz obtained by repeatedly dis- tilling rectified spirits from potash, it possesses the following properties:—it is transparent, colourless, of a strong agreeable penetrating taste, and produces when swallowed intoxica- tion. It does not freeze, even by exposure to the most intense cold; it is very volatile, boil- ing at 176° of Fahrenheit, and in a vacuum at 56°. It unites with water in all proportions, and is entirely combustible, burning without leaving any residuum. Alcohol, according to the analysis of M. Saussure, is composed of Hydrogen - - - - - - 13°70 Carbon - - SS Rte - 51°98 Oxerene 2) oop See 34°32 ¢(Thompson’s Chem. vol. ii. p. 39.) 100:00 The following table will show the ordinary proportien of alcohol per cent. by measure in various fluids, according to the experiments of Professor Brande. 58 ALDER TREE. Port - - 21:40 Ditto er eS 25°83 Madeira - - 19°34 Ditto Sis 24°42 Sherry - - 18°25 Ditto =a a 19°83 Claret - - 12:91 Calcavella - 18°10 Lisbon - - 18-94 Malaga - - 17°26 Bucellas - - 1849 Red Madeira - Malmsy Madeira 1640 Marsala - - 25 87 Ditto - - 17:26 Red Champagn White Champagne 12:80 Burgundy = 14°53 Ditto - - White Hermitage Red Hermitage 12 32 Hock - - 14°37 Ditto ea i Vin de Grave - 12°80 Frontignac - 12:79 Coti-Roti - 12:32 Roussillon - 17°26 Cape Madeira - Cape Muschat - SUM Toronh tebe) De Oa Te Untlita? OOS CsUaOm Mate Mn iceman rate Tod Gtr or et Sheke ye cece Gh Phat fet A COR Ch a e mO MeO OUR ae Cet Carr RPT Cun D pe otk Bete ct ce a (I pet ee ier Peppa We abt ball ben Poca PU) st Ot UY TCC 0 eat mt YO) We ART Yok rt AR am et Los ek bot) ve cc Ont dgoost eter eeiea nD ce Ceo Ue eC BC e eC ines OLE oo OOD Tee ay CaSO) atin URC Ge dere) () C(O ee Oe a Cet te UTM CD he Cm Cat) CP CMO ie Seth tue tt. tpn @ D a Constanuia - 17-75 Tent - - 13°30 Sheraz - - 15°52 Syracuse - - 15°28 Nice - - 14°63 Tokay - - 9°88 Raisin - - 25°77 Grape - - 18°11 Currant - - 20°55 Gooseberry = - 11-54 Elder - - 9:87 Cider nein 9:87 Perry - - 987 Brown Stout - 6°50 Ale - - - 8-88 Brandy - - 53°39 Rum - - 53°68 Hollands or Gin - - 51°60 The spirits distilled from different fermented liquors, says Davy, differ in their flavour, for peculiar odorous matters or oils rise in most cases with the alcohol. The spirit from malt usually has an empyreumatic taste, like that of oil formed by the distillation of vegetable substances. The best brandies seem to owe their flavour to a peculiar oily matter, formed probably by the action of tartaric acid upon alcohol; and rum derives its characteristic taste from a principle in the sugar cane. The cogniac brandies contain prussic acid. (Davy, Chem. Phil. 135.) ALCOVE (Span. alcoba; Dan. alkove; but originally from the Arab. alkobba). A recess in gardens or pleasure-grounds. ALDER TREE (Alnus glutinosa, Geertner ; Betula Alnus, Linn.). The common Alder {of England] appears generally as a shrub; but if allowed to attain maturity it will grow toa stately tree. The bark in old trees is blackish, and full of clefts; on the young shoots it is smooth, and of a purplish hue. The leaves have a dark green colour, and roundish shape, resembling those of the hazel, nicked on the margin, smooth, and clammy to the touch. The foot-stalk is about an inch long; the leaf- ribs on the under side have spongy balls at the angles, as in the leaves of the lime tree. The male catkins are cylindrical, appear in autumn, and remain on the tree till spring. The female catkins are of a short conical form, like a small fir cone. {In England] the alder is often planted as a coppice-wood in wet and boggy places where no other trees will thrive, and cut down every ALDER TREE. be often used to advantage on swampy ground for fences, and may be conveniently trained to any desired height. The young trees may be planted to great advantage for securing the banks of water-courses from the torrents. We certainly know of no tree so well adapted to this purpose as the alder; for, on account of the numerous suckers which it constantly sends up from the bottom, and the very fibrous nature of their roots, the banks become in time one mass of strongly interwoven roots. Wherever it may be desirable to complete a prospect by extending plantations over sterile cold ground, water-galls, or boggy swamps, no tree we know of is equal to the alder, even in a picturesque point of view. The generality of trees acquire picturesque beauty by age. Some of the largest alders to be seen in England are growing in the Bishop of Durham’s park at Bishop-Auckland, and some very fine ones are to be found in his Grace the Duke of Northumberland’s grounds atSion House. Mr. Beevor mentions an alder in his garden, which, at four feet from the ground, measured upwards of sixteen feet in circumference. Sir Thomas Dick Lauder says, “In very many instances we have seen the alder put on so much of the bold resolute character of the oak, that it might have been mistaken for that tree except for the intense depth of its green colour. The wood of the alder is used [in Europe] for making charcoal and heating ovens, and is valuable for piles, pumps, sluices, and in ge- neral for all works under water; “because,” says Pliny, “it will endure for many years.” It is said to have been used under the Rialto at Venice; and we are told that the morasses about Ravenna were piled with it in order to lay foundations for building upon. In Flan- ders and Holland it is raised in great quantities for this purpose. It serves also many domestic and rural uses, such as for cart-wheels, spin- ning wheels, milk-vessels, bowls, spoons, and other turnery ware, troughs, handles of tools, clogs, pattens, and wooden heels. The roots and knots furnish a beautiful veined wood for cabinets. The Scottish Highlanders often made chairs of it, which are very handsome, and of the colour of mahogany. Sir Thomas Dick Lauder tells us that the old trees, which are full of knots, cut up into planks, make very handsome tables. “We have seen some of these,” says the baronet, “made from some enormous trees that grew at Dalwick, on the property of Sir John Nas- myth, in Peebleshire ; and no foreign wood we have ever seen can match them for beauty.” The bark, though nearly superseded by log- wood, is used by dyers, tanners, and leather- dressers; and also by fishermen for dyeing their nets. Both the bark and young shoots dye yellow, and with a little copperas, a yel- lowish grey, very useful in the demitints and shadows of flesh colour in tapestry. The shoots cut in March will dye a cinnamon colour; and a fine tawny, if they be dried and powdered. The fresh wood yields a dye the colour of rappee snuff. The catkins dye green, ALDER TREE. tenth or twelfth year for poles. It may also | and the bark is used asa basis for black. The bark and leaves have been sometimes employed in tanning leather, the whole tree being very astringent. The alder delights in a very moist soil, where few other trees will thrive :— “The Alder, owner of each waterish soil.”” Fairfax’s Tusso. _ It is also an old opinion that it does not in- jure grass, but rather nourishes its growth :— “The Alder, whose fat shadow nourisheth ; Each plant set neere to him long flourisheth.’” W. Browne. Marshall is of a very different opinion. “In low swampy situations,” he says, “where the ground cannot be drained but at too great an expense, the alder may be planted with pro- priety and advantage ; but wherever the soil is or can be made pasturable, the alder should by no means be allowed to gain a footing. Its suckers and seedlings poison the herbage ; and it is a fact well known to the observant hus- bandman, that the roots of the alder have a peculiar property of rendering the soil they grow in more moist and rotten than it would be if not occupied by this aqueous plant. Plantations of alders should therefore be con- fined to swampy, low, unpasturable places; except when they are made for the purpose of ornament; and in this case the native species ought to give place to its more ornamental varieties, of which Hanbury makes five, namely, the log-leaved alder, the white alder, the black alder, the hoary-leaved alder, and the dwarf alder.” (On Planting, ii. 37.) The cut- leaved is a pretty variety. It is propagated by layers, cuttings, or truncheons, about three feet in length. Such truncheons are often employed for securing the banks of rivers, either by planting them very close, or crosswise. For general pur- poses, however, we approve of raising the young trees by layers. The distance at which these trees should be placed, if intended for a coppice, is a yard square; and at the expiration of seven years, when they may be felled for poles, every other stool may be taken away; and if the small lateral shoots be taken off in the spring, it will very much strengthen the upright poles, pro- vided a few small shoots be left at certain dis- tances upon the trunk, to detain the sap for the increase of its bulk. The alder may be raised from seeds sown in beds in the same way as is usual for birch; but propagation by truncheons or layers is the most speedy process for obtaining young plants. The best time for planting alder truncheons is in February or March. They should be about three feet in length, sharpened at one end, and the ground loosened with an instru- ment before they are thrust into it, lest by the stiffness of the soil the bark should be torn off, which may prevent their growing. They should be put into the earth about two feet, to prevent their being blown out of the ground by strong winds. After they have made stout shoots, the plantations should be cleared from all such weeds as grow tall, otherwise they will over- bear the young shoots; but when they hav 59 ALDER TREE. made good heads, they will keep down the weeds, and will require no further care. If they be raised by laying down the branches, it must be performed in October; and by the October following, they will have taken root sufficiently to be transplanted out; which must be done by digging a hole, and loosening the earth in the place where each plant is to stand, planting the young trees at least a foot and a half deep, cutting off the top to about nine inches above the surface, which will occasion them to shoot out many branches. Mr. South, in the sixth volume of the Letters and Papers of the Bath and West of England Sociely, has stated, that, on planting a wagon- load of truncheons in such situations as have been described above, they all appeared to suc- ceed by throwing out strong shoots the first summer, but that the year following they all died, not having struck a single root. Con- cluding that this did not depend on any defect in the soil, he planted it again with small- rooted slips, taken from old stubs, few of which failed, most of them having been since repeatedly cut for brush-wood, poles, and other purposes; and of those planted single, he ob- serves, one has formed a conical top of great beauty, and that its bole is three feet seven inches in circumference midway between the branches and the ground. From this statement it would seem, that the best mode of securing the growth of those trees is the planting of the rooted slips, which can be easily done, as great quantities of young shoots are annually thrown out from about the roots of this sort of trees. Where there are plantations, or much of this sort of wood on a farm, Arthur Young advises that it should be cut when the bark will peel, and be immediately soaked in a pond for two months, as by this means the wood is so much hardened as to be greatly improved in its quality. {Among the species of alder found in the United States Michaux describes only two species, the Alnus serrulata, or Common Alder, abounding in the Northern, Middle, and Western States on the borders of streams and especially in places covered with stagnant water. Its ordi- nary size is eight or ten feet in height, seldom attaining more than two inches in the diameter of its stem. It blooms in January, the sexes being separate on the same stock. The barren flowers resembling those of the birch. The common alder is too small to be applicable to any use in the arts, and from its inferiority of size, it will probably one day give place to the European Alder. The Alnus Glauca, or Black Alder, is one of the most beautiful species of the genus. It is unknown in the Southern, rare in the Middle States, and in the North-eastern States, where it is more frequently found, much less multiplied than the common alder. It grows a third taller than the latter species, attaining sometimes eighteen or twenty feet in height and eight inches in diameter. Its leaves are similar in shapr, puta third larger. The bark of the trunk and of the secondary branches is smooth, glossy, and of a deep brown colour sprinkled = 60 ALDERNEY COWS. with white. It is employed by hatters for dying black. (North American Sylva.)| ALDERNEY COWS. This admired breed of cows is in general fine-boned, but small and ill-made, and of a light red or yellowish colour. Cows of this breed are most frequently met with in England about the seats of the opulent, from their milk, though smaller in quantity, being more rich in quality than that of most other kinds, and yielding from the same mea- sure a larger proportion of cream and butter, which is of a beautiful yellow colour and fine flavour. They are much inclined to fatten, and their beef has a very fine grain, and is well tasted, but rather more yellow or high-coloured than that of other sorts. Mr. Lawrence in his general treatise on cattle, however, supposes, “that the cattle of the islands on the French coast are collectively known by the name of Alderney;” and that “these are a variety of, and smaller than, the Norman; light red, yellow, dun, and fawn- coloured; short, wild-horned, deer-necked, with a general resemblance to that animal; thin, hard, and small-boned; irregular, often very awkwardly shaped.” But he considers this de- scription to refer chiefly to the cows. He thinks “they are amongst the best milkers in the world as to quality, and in that respect are either before or immediately next to the long horn, but that in weight of butter for inches they are far superior to all. He has been as- sured by a respectable friend, that “an Alder- ney strayed cow during the three weeks she was kept by the finder made nineteen pounds of butter each week; and the fact was held so extraordinary, as to be thought worth a memo- randum in the parish books.” And it is added, that “the Norman and island cattle make fat very quick, and for their bulk arrive at consi- derable weight. The beef,” in his opinion, “is of the first class, very fine grained, in colour yellow, or of a high colour, with a bluish cast and elastic feel, which denotes the closest grained, most savoury, and finest meat.” It is in his recollection, that, “some years since, a heifer, bred between Alderney and Kentish home-bred stock, and fattened on cabbages and carrots, made one hundred and fifty stone, dying uncommonly fat.” On this ground he supposes, that “this species is, in course, a proper cross for the large and coarse-boned, but in that view he would prefer the real Nor- mans from the Continent, as generally better shaped than the islanders.” He likewise states, that “many persons near the metropolis, and along the south and western coast, make a trade of importing these cattle, which are extremely convenient for private families, and make a good figure in parks and lawns.” Mr. Culley, however, remarks, that they are a breed of cattle too delicate and tender to be much attended to by the British farmer, and not capable of bearing the cold of this island, especially the northern parts of it. By an experiment which is stated in the Re- port for the County of Kent, made between a large home-bred cow of eight years old anda small Alderney of two years old, it appears that the home-bred cow in seven days gave thirty-five gallons of milk, which made ten ALE. pounds and three ounces of butter, and the Alderney cow, in the same length of time, gave only fourteen gallons of milk, but which made six pounds and eight ounces of butter. Very useful cattle may be bred by crossing these cows with short-horned bulls. The late Mr. Hunter also produced a very beautiful cow from the Alderney by a buffalo, which is said, in the Middlesex Report, to have kept plump and fat, both in sammer and winter, on much less food than would be sufficient to support a beast of the same size of the ordinary breed. ALE (Sax. eale). A liquor obtained from the infusion of malt and hops by fermentation. Ale differs from beer chiefly by having a smaller proportion of hops. There are differ- ent sorts of ale brewed, such as strong ale, table ale, pale aleysand brown ale. The pale ale is made from malt which has only been slightly dried, and is generally considered as of a more viscid quality than the brown ale, which is produced from malt that has been roasted, or very hard dried. (Miller.) See Bern and Brewine. The fertility of the soil in grain, and its being not proper for vines, put the Egyptians upon drinking ale, of which they were the inventors. (Arbuthnot.) A liquor made from fermented harley is mentioned by Herodotus (I. ii. c. 77): the earliest manufactured kind of intoxicating liquid was probably, however, mead. Tacitus notices the use of beer by the Germans. Pliny describes it as common to all the nations of the west. It has long been a favourite bever- age of the inhabitants of England. Our Saxon and Danish forefathers drank beer to excess. They regarded it as the drink allotted to those admitted into the Hall of Odin. Ale is named amongst the laws of King Ina; and it was long the custom, when the Norman princes were on the throne, to regulate its price by statute; thus, in 1272, it was ordained that a brewer should sell two gallons of ale in a city for a penny, or three or four gallons for the same price in the country. Hobs were apparently first used for beer in Germany, and in the Dutch breweries about the year 1400; but they were not used gene- rally in England until about the year 1600. Henry VIII., in 1530, even forbade the brewers to mix hops in their beer; and yet, according to Beckmann (Hist. of Inv. vol. iv. p. 336), plantations of hops had begun to be formed in England, a. p. 1552: The distinction between ale and beer is thus stated by Dr. Thomson: “Both are obtained by fermentation from the malt of barley, but they differ from each other in several particulars, ale is light-coloured, brisk, and sweetish, or at least free from bit- ter; while beer is dark-coloured, bitter, and much less brisk. Porter is a species of beer, and is what was formerly called strong beer. The original difference between ale and beer was owing to the malt, from which they were prepared. Ale malt was dried at a very low heat, and consequently was of a pale colour; while beer or porter malt was dried at a higher temperature, and had in consequence acquired a brown colour. This incipient charring had developed a peculiar, and agreeable bitter taste, which was communicated to the beer ALEHOOF. along with the dark colour. This bitter taste rendered beer more agreeable to the palate, and less injurious to the constitution than ale. It was manufactured in larger quantities, and soon became the common drink of the lower ranks in England. When, during the wars of the French Revolution, the price of malt was very materially increased, the brewers found out that a greater quantity of wort of a given strength could be procured from pale malt, than from brown malt; the consequence was, that pale malt was to a considerable extent substituted for brown malt in the brewing of porter and beer. The wort now, however, was paler, and wanted that agreeable bitter flavour which characterized porter. The por- ter brewers endeavoured to remedy these de- fects by several artificial additions, such as burnt sugar, quassia, &c., and most of which the chief London porter brewers have, I be- lieve, long since discontinued.” Brewers are obliged, under the 6 Geo. 4, c. 81, to take out an annual license, for which they pay, if brew- ers of strong beer, Barrels. Boy ie Of not exceeding - - - - 20 010 Of exceeding 1,000 and not exceeding - 2,000 3 0 = 10,000 =_ 20,000 30 0 = 30,000 _ 40,000 60 0 Exceeding - - - - - - 40,000 75 0 Considering the increase of population in England, the consumption of beer has not materially increased since 1787, as the follow- ing table of the beer brewed in this country in various years will show. eae sone Strong Beer. | Table Beer. | Barrels. H Rarrels. 1787 4,426,482 | 485,620 1797 5,839,627 584,422 1807 5,577,176 | 1,732,710 1817 5.236.048 | 1,453,960 1825 6,500,664 | 1,485,750 The number of barrels of beer exported from England is considerable and increasing, amounting in the years ending the 5th of January, 1826 to 53,013 barrels. 1828 — 59,471 1830 — 74,902 (M‘Culloch’s Dict. of Com.) ALEHOOF (Hedera terrestris. From ale, and hoort, head). Ground-ivy, so called by our Saxon ancestors, as being their chief in- gredient in ale. This wild plant creeps upon hedge banks, at the foot of trees, and in every shady place, flowering in spring. It takes root at every joint, like the strawberry runners, and its leaves are roundish and notched at their edges, becoming a purple colour as the spring advances. Its flowers are blue, and its roots fibrous. This plant has a peculiar and strong smell; and it is best gathered when in flower. It isan excellent vulnerary or wound- herb, applied outwardly, and taken inwardly. An ointment made from alehoof, or ground- ivy, is very healing to ulcers and fistula. The decoction of the herb drank daily for a con- tinuance is deemed useful for cleansing the stomach, promoting the proper secretions, and sweetening the blood. [The old writers are full of commendations of the medical virtues of ground-ivy, which are extolled for a great Q 61 ALEXANDER. variety of ailments and “ griefs,” operating as a diuretic, and being excellent in disorders of the lungs and breast.] It obtained its name of Alehoof among the poor, who infuse it in ale or beer, and drink it warm for all internal ail- ments. (LL. Johnson.) ALEXANDER (Hipposelinum). This gar- den vegetable has been superseded by celery, yet it is an excellent vegetable, and grows abundantly wild almost everywhere in Eng- land. The seeds and root are hot and dry like those of parsley, and preparations of them are much in use as a popular medicine. [Some wild species of Alexander are known in the United States. (See Flor. Ces.)] ALIMENT (Lat. alimentum). That which nourishes, nutriment or food. Of alimentary roots, some are pulpy and very nutritious, as turnips and carrots. These have a fattening quality. (Arbuth. on Aliments.) See Gases, Eanru, Water, &c. The food of animals, whether of a solid or liquid kind, should be adapted to their different organs both in quantity and quality, in order that they may exist in the most perfect state. It is observed, that nature directs every animal, instinctively, to choose such substances for food as are best adapted to its health and support ; but as some are withdrawn from their natural condition for the convenience of man, and, in their domesticated state, are fed on artificial productions, not of their own choice, it be- comes a matter of serious importance to the owners of cattle, horses, &c., to make them- selves acquainted with their nature and habits, and also with the qualities of those substances which are usually designed as food for them, since there is no doubt but errors in the choice of the latter must be a fruitful source of disease. Besides, in the view of the grazier, some sorts of food may be much more advantageous in the quality of fattening animals than others— a circumstance of vast importance. See Foon. ALKALI. The word alkali comes from an herb called by the Egyptians kali; by us glass- wort. This herb they burnt to ashes, boiled the ashes in water, and after having evaporat- ed the water, there remained at the bottom a white salt—this they called sal kali or alkali. (Todd’s Johnson.) The word is of Arabic ori- gin; according to Albertus Magnus it signifies “the dregs of bitterness.” (Thomson, vol. ii. p. 49.) The chief alkalies found in plants are potash and soda; ammonia, it is true, is produced by the distillation of certain vegetables, but it is a product of the distillation; and again, mor- phia is obtained from opium, quinia from the Peruvian bark,‘ &c.; but these alkaline sub- stances are but rarely met with by the cultivator, and do not involve any very important facts of vegetable chemistry. Potash is found in all vegetables growing at a distance from the sea; that of commerce is procured by merely burning the vegetable, washing the ashes in water, and evaporating the solution of potash thus obtained to dryness. Tn this manner the potash of commerce is made. The proportion, however, of potash, existing in plants varies very considerably, as 62 ALKALI. may be seen from the following table of the quantities ef ashes and potash obtained from 100 parts of various plants :— ae . Ashes, Potash, Sallow - - - 2:8 0°285 Elm - = - - 2:36727 0:39 Oak - - - - 1°35185 0°15343 Poplar - - - 123476 0:07481 Hornbeam - - - 1-1283 01254 Beach - - - 058432 0°14572 Fir - - - - 034133 Rue branches - - 3379 0°55 Common nettle - = 10°67186 2 5033 Common thistle - - 404265 0°53734 Fern - - - - 4 00781 0°6259 Stalks of maize - - 8:86 175 Wormwood - - - 9744 73 Fumitory - - - 21-9 79 Trifolium pratense =~ 0-078 Vetches - - - 2-75 Beans, with their stalks 20 Thomson’s Chem. iv. 189. The potash thus obtained, however, must not be regarded as a pure alkali, for it contains almost always a small portion of various salts, such as the sulphate of potash, muriate of pot- ash, sulphate of lime, phosphate of lime, &c. Soda abounds in marine plants generally to a much greater extent than potash does in the vegetables of inland districts; the barilla of Spain is extracted from the salsola sativa and vermiculata, and some of these plants yield nearly 20 per cent. of ashes, which contain about 2 per cent. of soda. The union of alkalies with acids forms the class of bodies known as the alkaline salts. (Plants, in their growth, derive certain ele- ments for their subsistence from the atmos- phere, namely, carbonic acid, water, and am- monia, the decomposition of the last furnish- ing their nitrogen. They, however, require other materials for the perfection of certain organs or parts appropriated to the performance of special functions, such, for example, as the perfection of the seed, which is destined to re- new the plant. These elements are furnished by the soil, and consist of salts or alkaline substances, such as potash, soda, lime, alumine, magnesia, metallic oxids, and phosphates. The proportion of these contained in soils regulate, in a great degree, their capacities for the pro- duction of different plants. Connected with agricultural philosophy, the alkalies are subjects of the deepest interest. The salts of potash and soda, and of the al- kaline earths or minerals, lime, alumine, and even magnesia, can be obtained, by burning and certain chemical processes, from parts of the structure of all plants. This shows the great importance of alkalies, and alkaline sub- stances, to the growth and welfare of every pro- duct of the soil. It follows also that with every crop removed, a portion of the potash, etc,, must be removed from the land. To compen- sate for such losses, ashes, farm-yard manure, &c., supply alkalies to the soil, along with other fertilizing substances. In rocky districts of country natural sources exist from whence the soil derives a regular supply of potash, namely, the disintegration of granite, and de- composition of its felspar and mica, both of which contain this alkali. ALKALI. A few years after gypsum was introduced into general use, farmers began to observe a diminution of their hay crops, and to condemn it as an exhauster of the soil. But this charge against plaster was not well founded, at least in the sense it was made. The numerous instances given by Liebig, of the importance of the alkalies and metallic oxides on vegetation, show that their influence has been too much overlooked. It has been thought remarkable by some vegetable physi- ologists, that those cereal grasses which furnish food for man, should, as it were, follow him wherever he goes. The reason is to be found in the fact, that none of our grain plants can produce perfect seeds, or seeds yielding farina, without a greater supply of phosphate of magnesia and ammonia than can be found in regions where these salts, resulting from organized vitality, are less abundant. ( Cultivator.) Plants growing on a soil, containing a due mixture of earthy ingredients, always select a proportion of each, according to their several capacities or wants. It is a fact of the highest practical value to the agriculturist to know, that where a soil which originally contained all the elements essential to the production of a crop, becomes exhausted of one alkaline or earthy element, another may be substituted so as to compensate for the privation. Where, for example, there is a deficiency in a soil of the alkaline earth—lime, the addition of potash, soda or magnesia, all of which exist in the ashes of wood and other vegetable substances, may be resorted to for the purpose of making it up. Thus, plants when growing in a soil where there is no potash will make up the deficiency by taking up soda, if this last alkali be present. Plants which grow on or near the sea-shore assimilate or take up soda instead of potash. Sea-salt consists almost entirely of soda, and the sea is therefore to be regarded as the great source of this alkali. It is, however, found in England and many other countries in the form of native rock salt, and also exists in most soils combined with potash. The soda of com- merce is usually obtained from the ashes of plants growing on the sea coast, just as potash is procured from the ashes of trees and other vegetables growing inland. (See Soda, Kelp, &c.) The sowing of the earth with salt has from the earliest times been deemed an infallible means of producing total barrenness, and the excess of any salt in a soil is still known to be destructive of fertility. The perfect developement of a plant is, never- theless, according to Liebig, dependent on the presence of due proportions of the alkalies or alkaline earths, since, when these substances are totally wanting, its growth will be arrest- ed, and when they are only deficient it must be impeded. “Let us compare,” says this emi- nent chemist, “two kinds of trees, the wood of which contains unequal quantities of alkaline bases, and we shall find that one of these grows luxuriantly in several soils, upon which the others are scarcely able to vegetate. For example, 10,000 parts of oak wood yield 250 ALKALI. parts of ashes, tae same quantity of fir-wood only 88, of linden-wood 500, of rye 440, and of the herb of the potato-plant 1500 parts. “Firs and pines find a sufficient quantity of alkalies in granitic and barren sandy soils, in which oaks will not grow; and wheat thrives in soils favourable for the linden-tree, because the bases, which are necessary to bring it ta complete maturity, exist there in sufficient quantity. The accuracy of these conclusions, so highly important to agriculture and to the cultivation of forests, can be proved by the the most evident facts. “All kinds of grasses, the Equisetacez, for example, contain in the outer parts of their leaves and stalk a large quantity of silicic acid and potash, in the form of acid silicate of potash. The proportion of this salt does not vary perceptibly in the soil of corn-fields, be- cause it is again conveyed to them as manure in the form of putrefying straw. But this is not the case in a meadow, and hence we never find a luxuriant crop of grass on sandy and calcareous soils which contain little potash, evidently because one of the constituents in- dispensable to the growth of the plants is wanting. Soils formed from basalt, grau- wacké, and porphyry are, ceteris paribus, the best for meadow land, on account of the quan tity of potash which enters into their composi tion. The potash abstracted by the plants is restored during the annual irrigation.* That contained in the soil itself is inexhaustible in comparison with the quantity removed by plants. “But when we increase the crop of grass in a meadow by means of gypsum, we remove a greater quantity of potash with the hay than can, under the same circumstances, be restored. Hence it happens, that after the lapse of seve- ral years, the crops of grass on the meadows manured with gypsum diminish, owing to the deficiency of potash. But if the meadow be strewed from time to time with wood-ashes, even with the lixiviated ashes which have been used by soap-boilers, (in Germany much soap is made from the ashes. of wood,) then the grass thrives as luxuriantly as before. The ashes are only a means of restoring the potash. “ A harvest of grain is obtained every thirty or forty years from the soil of the Luneburg heath, by strewing it with the ashes of the heath-plants (Erica vulgaris) which grow on it, These plants during the long period just mentioned collect the potash and soda, which are conveyed to them by rain-water; and it is by means of these alkalies, that oats, barley, and rye, to which they are indispensable, are enabled to grow on this sandy heath. * A very high value is attached in Germany to the cultivation of grass as winter provision for cattle, and the greatest care is used in order to obtain the greatest Possible quantity. In the vicinity of Liegen (a town in Nassau), from three to five perfect crops are obtained from one meadow, and this is effected by covering the fields with river-water, which is conducted over the meadow in spring by numerous small canals, This is found to be of such advantage, that supposing a meadow not so treated to yield 1,000 Ibs. of hay, then from one thus watered 4,500 Ibs. are produced. In respect to the cultivation of meadows, the country around Liegen is considered to be the best in all Germany.—Z. . 63 ALKALI. “The woodcutters in the vicinity of Heidel- berg have the privilege of cultivating the soil for their own’use, after felling the trees used for making tan. Before sowing the land thus obtained, the branches, roots, and leaves are in every case burned, and the ashes used as a manure, which is found to be quite indispen- sable for the growth of the grain. The soil itself, upon which the oats grow in this dis- trict, consists of sandstone; and although the trees find in it a quantity of alkaline earths sufficient for their own sustenance, yet in its ordinary condition it is ineapable of producing grain. “The most decisive proof of the use of strong manure was obtained at Bingen (a town on the Rhine), where the produce and develope- ment of vines were highly increased by ma- nuring them with such substances as shavings of horn, &c., but after some years the forma- tion of the wood and leaves decreased to the great loss of the possessor, to such a degree, that he has long had cause to regret his de- parture from the usual methods. By the ma- nure employed by him, the vines had been too much hastened in their growth; in two or three years they had exhausted the potash in the formation of their fruit, leaves, and wood, so that none remained for the future crops, his manure not having contained any potash. “There are vineyards on the Rhine, the plants of which are above a hundred years old, and all of these have been cultivated by ma- nuring them with cow-dung, a manure con- taining a large proportion of potash, although very little nitrogen. All the potash, in fact, which is contained in the food consumed by a cow is again immediately discharged in its excrements. “The experience of a proprietor of land in the vicinity of Gottingen offers a most remark- able example of the incapability of a soil to produce wheat or grasses in general, when it fails in any one of the materials necessary to their growth. In order to obtain potash, he planted his whole land with wormwood, the ashes of which are well known to contain a large proportion of the carbonate of that alkali. The consequence was, that he rendered his land quite incapable of bearing grain for many years, in consequence of having entirely deprived the soil of its potash. “The leaves and small branches of trees contain the most potash; and the quantity of them which is annually taken from the wood, for the purpose of being employed as litter, contain more of that alkali than all the old wood which is cut down. The bark and foli- age of oaks, for example, contain from 6 to 9 per cent. of this alkali; the needles of firs and pines 8 per cent. “With every 2650 Ibs. of fir-wood, which are yearly removed from an acre of forest, only from 0-114 to 0:53 Ibs. of alkalies are abstracted from the soil, calculating the ashes at 0°83 per cent. The moss, however, which covers the ground, and of which the ashes are hnown to contain so much alkali, continues uninterrupted in its growth, and retains that potash on the surface, which would otherwise so easily penetrate with the rain through the 64 ALKALI sandy soil. By its decay, an abundant provi- sion of alkalies is supplied to the roots of the trees, and a fresh supply is rendered unneces- Sary- “The supposition of alkalies, metallic oxides, or inorganic matter in general, being produced by plants, is entirely refuted by these well- authenticated facts. “Tt is thought very remarkable, that those plants of the grass tribe, the seeds of which furnish food for man, follow him like the do- mestic animals. But saline plants seek the sea-shore or saline springs, and the Chenopo- dium* the dunghill from similar causes. Sa- line plants require common salt, and the plants which grow only on dunghills, need ammonia and nitrates, and they are attracted whither these can be found, just as the dung-fly is to animal excrements. So likewise none of our corn-plants can bear perfect seeds, that is, seeds yielding flour, without a large supply of phosphate of magnesia and ammonia, sub- stances which they require for their maturity. And hence, these plants grow only in a soil where these three constituents are found com- bined, and no soil is richer in them, than those where men and animals dwell together; where the urine and excrements of these are found corn-plants appear, because their seeds cannot attain maturity unless supplied with the con- stituents of those matters. ““When we find sea-plants near our salt- works, several hundred miles distant from the sea, we know that their seeds have been car- ried there in a very natural manner, namely, by wind or birds, which have spread them over the whole surface of the earth, although they grow only in those places in which they find the conditions essential to their life. “The first colonists of Virginia found a country, the soil of which was similar to that mentioned above; harvests of wheat and tobacco were obtained for a century from one and the same field without the aid of manure, but now whole districts are converted into un- fruitful pasture land, which without manure produces neither wheat nor tobacco. From every acre of this land, there were removed in the space of one hundred years 1,200 lbs. of alkalies in leaves, grain, and straw; it became unfruitful, therefore, because it was deprived of every particle of alkali, which had been reduced to a soluble state, and because that which was rendered soluble again in the space of one year, was not sufficient to satisfy the demands of the plants. Almost all the cul- tivated land in Europe is in this condition; fallow is the term applied to land left at rest for further disintegration. It is the greatest possible mistake to suppose that the temporary diminution of fertility in a soil is owing to the loss of humus; it is the mere consequence of the exhaustion of the allralies. “Let us consider the condition of the country around Naples, which is famed for its fruitful corn-land; the farms and villages are situated from eighteen to twenty-four miles distant from one another, and between them there are no * Chenopodium album, called in the United States Lamb’s Quarter, a troublesome weed about gardens and houses. ALKALI. roads, and consequently no transportation of manure. Now corn has been cultivated on this land for thousands of years, without any part of that which is annually removed from the soil being artificially restored to it. How can any influence be ascribed to humus under such circumstances, when it is not even known whether humus was ever contained in the soil? “The method of culture in that district com- pletely explains the permanent fertility. It appears very bad in the eyes of our agricul- turists, but there it is the best plan which could be adopted. A field is cultivated once every three years, and is in the intervals allowed to serve as a sparing pasture for cattle. The soil experiences no change in the two years during which it there lies fallow, further than that it is exposed to the influence of the wea- ther, by which a fresh portion of the alkalies contained in it are again set free or rendered soluble. The animals fed on these fields yield nothing to these soils which they did not formerly possess. The weeds upon which they live spring from the soil, and that which they return to it as excrements, must always be less than that which they extract. The field, there- fore, can have gained nothing from the mere feeding of cattle upon them; on the contrary, the soil must have lost some of its constitu- ents. “Experience has shown in agriculture, that wheat should not be cultivated after wheat on the same soil, for it belongs with tobacco to the plants which exhaust a soil. But if the humus of a soil gives it the power of producing corn, how happens it that wheat does not thrive in many parts of Brazil, where the soils are particularly rich in that substance, or in our own climate, in soils formed of mouldered wood; that its stalk under these circumstances attains no strength, and droops prematurely? The cause is this,—that the strength of the stalk is due to silicate of potash, and that the corn requires phosphate of magnesia, neither of which substances a soil of humus can afford, since it does not contain them; the plant may indeed, under such circumstances, become an herb, but will not bear fruit. “Acain, how does it happen that wheat does not flourish on a sandy soil, and that a caleare- ous soil is also unsuitable for its growth, unless it be mixed with a considerable quan- uty of clay? It is because these soils do not contain alkalies in sufficient quantity, the growth of wheat being arrested by this cireum- Stance, even should all other substances be presented in abundance. “Trees, the leaves of which are renewed annually, require for their leaves six to ten times more alkalies than the fir-tree or pine, and hence, when they are placed in soils in which alkalies are contained in very small quantity, do not attain maturity.* When we See such trees growing on a sandy or calcare- * One thousand parts of the dry leaves of oaks yielded 55 parts of ashes, of which 24 parts consisted of alkalies ‘soluble in water; the same quantity of pine leaves gave only 29 parts of ashes, which contained 4-6 parts of soluble salts. (De Saussure.) ALKALI. | ous soil—the red-beech, the service-tree, and | the wild-cherry, for example, thriving luxuri- antly on limestone, we may be assured that alkalies are present in the soil, for they are necessary to their existence. Can we, then, regard it as remarkable, that such trees should | thrive in America, on those spots on which forests of pines which have grown and col- lected alkalies for centuries, have been burnt, and to which the alkalies are thus at once restored; or that the Spartium scoparium, Erysimum latifolium, Blitum capitatum, Senecio viscosus, plants remarkable for the quantity of alkalies contained in their ashes, should grow with the greatest luxuriance on the localities of conflagrations.* “Wheat will not grow ona soil which has produced wormwood, and, vice versa, worm- wood does not thrive where wheat has grown, because they are mutually prejudicial by ap- propriating the alkalies of the soil. “One hundred parts of the stalks of wheat yield 15:5 parts of ashés (H. Davy); the same quantity of the dry stalks of barley, 8-54 parts (Schrader); and one hundred parts of the stalks of oats, only 4:42;—the ashes of alk these are of the same composition. “We have in these facts a clear proof of what plants require for their growth. Upon the same field, which will yield only one har- vest of wheat, two crops of barley and three of oats may be raised. “ All plants of the grass kind require silicate of potash. Now this is conveyed to the soil, or rendered soluble in it by the irrigation of meadows. The equisetucer, the reeds and species of cane, for example, which contain such large quantities of siliceous earth, or sili- cate of potash, thrive luxuriantly in marshes, in argillaceous soils, and in ditches, streamlets, and other places, where the change of water renews constantly the supply of dissolved silica. The amount of silicate of potash re- moved from a meadow, in the form of hay, is very considerable. We need only call to mind the melted vitreous mass found on a meadow between Manheim and Heidelberg after a thunder-storm. This mass was at first sup- posed to be a meteor, but was found on exami- nation (by Gmelin) to consist of silicate of potash; a flash of lightning had struck a stack of hay, and nothing was found in its place except the melted ashes of the hay. “ Potash is not the only substance necessary for the existence of most plants, indeed it has been already shown that the potash may be replaced, in many cases by soda, magnesia, or lime ; but other substances, besides alkalies, are required to sustain the life of plants. 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 * After the great fire in London, large quantities of the Erysimum latifolium were observed growing on the spots where a fire had taken place. Ona similar occasion, the Blitum capitatum was seen at Copenhagen, the Senecio viscosus in Nassau, and the Spartium scoparium in Lan- guedoc. After the burnings of forests of pines in North America poplars grew or the same soil. (Franklin) F2 65 ALKANET. 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 the ccecum of horses consist of phos- phate of magnesia and ammonia, which must have been obtained from the hay and oats con- sumed as food. Twenty-nine of these stones were taken after death from the rectum of a horse belonging to a miller in Eberstadt, the total weight of which amounted to 3 lbs.; and Dr. F’. Simon has lately described a similar concretion found in the horse of a carrier, which weighed 13 1b. “Tt is evident that the seeds of corn could not be formed without phosphate of magnesia, which is one of their invariable constituents ; the plant could not under such circumstances reach maturity.” (Organic Chemistry.)] ALKANET (Anchusa, Lat.). This plant is a species of bugloss with ared root, brought from the southern parts of France, and used in medicine. It grows wild in Kent and Corn- wall, but in other counties only in gardens. It flowers in summer, and its root becomes red in Autumn. The root is astringent: the leaves not so much so. [The puccoon (Batschia Canadensis) is called alkanet in the United States. See Flor. Ces. p. 118, obs.] ALLIUM. See Onion, Ganuic, Leex, Saa- Lot, Curves, &c. ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. This designation has been applied in England to a plan for bettering the condition of the poor, by allotting to each family in a parish an extent of ground for the purpose of cultivation with the spade. Under the article AcricutruRe it is noticed, that in England, during the feudal times, an allotment system existed. Its object, however, was different; the lords of the soil, having an interest in obtaining as many tenants as they could, for their power was proportionate to their number, portioned their estates into as many small allotments as they could obtain family tenants, receiving in return certain days of military or other service. When the feudal system was destroyed, the lords let their lands in a similar manner, re- ceiving as rent certain quantities of labour from the tenant, or produce of the land he rented; although, it not being now an object to maintain the number of their tenants, but rather to acquire an increased return of pro- duce, and to obtain a prosperous tenantry, no obstacle was thrown in the way of increasing the size of farms. Land was left like any other subject of investment, and a man ob- tained as much as his means of cultivating permitted, or as he found to be profitable. These were powerful limitations, for money was scarce, and the agriculturists were chiefly tenants, labourers for hire being few. In the fourteenth century occurred the great- est revolution that ever happened to the agri- culture of England. The increased demand Yor wool in the Netherlands and at home, ren- f>red the breeding of sheep much more profit- able than the growing of corn, and conse- 66 ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. quently the arable lands were converted into pastures. England had been very closely cul- tivated, and the small or cotter farms were extremely numerous. These were now gene- rally exterminated, and the land proprietor be- coming a great flock-master, converted them all into one breadth of grazing land. “ Your sheep,” says Sir Thomas More in his Utopia, “that were wont to be so meek and tame, and such small eaters, are now become such great devourers, and so wild, that they eat up and swallow down the very men themselves.”— “One covetous and unsatiable cormorant, and very plague of his native country, compasses about and encloses many thousand acres of ground together within one pale or hedge, the husbandmen are thrust out of their own, or else, either by covin and frand, or by violent op- pression, they are put beside it, or by wrongs and injuries they be so wearied that they be compelled to sell all; by one means or other, either by hook or by crook, they must needs depart away, poor, silly, wretched souls, men, women, husbands, wives, fatherless children, widows, woful mothers and their young babes, and their whole household, small in substance and much in number, as husbandry requireth many hands. For one shepherd or herdsman is enough to eat up that ground, to the occu- pying whereof about husbandry many hands were required.” Some few of the cotter farmers were reduced to the grade of hired shepherds ; others became artisans, a still smaller number retained a plot of land, but a large portion (for even monastic support was now abolished) became beggars, who, as all records agree, infested England. This gave birth to the poor laws, and the same reign of Elizabeth was the era of an effort to remedy the evils which had arisen from this destruction of small farms. It had been experienced that though the tenants of those small farms had been poor, yet none of them were paupers; it was there- fore thought that every mode of recurring to such a system must be beneficial; and in ac- cordance with this opinion an act of parlia- ment was passed, commanding that to every cottage that should be erected, four acres of ground should be allotted. This first sugges- tion of the allotment system failed. The quan- tity of ground allotted was too large, and from its interfering with the just liberties of the landed proprietors, this act was repealed in the last century. As the value of all farming produce in- creased from various causes, the profits be- coming commensurately large, cultivators re- quired more extensive forms, consolidation proceeded, and in 1709 the first enclosure act passed; and from that time to the present the small occupiers have gradually further diminished, as their right of commonage and the like was taken away by #ie four thou- sand enclosure bills that have since been enacted. When small farmers are deprived of their tenements, they become, if they continue agri- culturists, farming labourers. It becomes a subject of very great political importance, therefore, to ascertain how the character ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. and comfort of these, who are now by far the most numerous class in society, can be best promoted. It would be here misplaced to examine how the system of poor laws has served in various ways to debase and depress them; our present object must be to consider how the allotment system may be the best made to promote contrary effects. This system, we have noticed, suggested it- self to the legislature in the reign of Elizabeth, but it was of very limited operation. On the Continent, a system of larger allot- ments was partially adopted in the year 1707, in the Duchy of Cleves, but we are not aware that the example was followed, till, after the lapse of more than a century, the Dutch go- vernment, in 1818, divided tracts of poor soil at Frederick’s Oord, and other places, into al- lotments of seven acres. The government provided overseers to notice the moral con- duct and industry of the tenants; advanced capital when needed, which was to be repaid ; and an annual rent was to be returned. Manual labour was exclusively adopted. The expense of establishing each individual was 221. 6s. 4d.; and the annual excess of produce over the subsistence of the family, after deducting the rent, twelve shillings per acre, was 8/. 2s. 4d. (M. de Kirchoff. Jacob on the Corn Trade, &e. feat the year 1800, Dr. Law, Bishop of Bath and Wells, commenced the allotment system; Sir H. Vavasour communicated to the Board of Agriculture, about the same pe- riod, some experiments demonstrating the great benefit of “the Flemish,” or “ field-gardening husbandry ;” and, in 1802, Charles Howard, Esq. followed the example. “On Pulley Common, in Shropshire,” says Sir W. Pulteney, “there is, at least there was, a cottager’s tenement of about 512 square yards, somewhat more than one-ninth of an acre. The spade and the hoe are the only implements used, and those chiefly by his wife, that he may follow his daily labour for hire. The plot of land is divided into two parcels, whereon she grows wheat and pota- toes alternately. In the month of October, when the potatoes are ripe, she takes off the stalks of the plants, which she secures to pro- duce manure by littering her pig. She then goes over the whole with a rake, to collect the weeds for the dunghill. She next sows the wheat, and then takes up the potatoes with a three-pronged fork; and by this operation the wheat seed is covered deep. She leaves it quite rough, and the winter frost mellows the earth; and by its falling down in the spring it adds vigour to the wheat plants. She has pur- sued this alternate system of cropping for several years without any diminution of pro- duce. The potato crop only has manure. In 1804, a year very noted for mildew, she had fifteen Winchester bushels of wheat from 272 square yards, being four times the general averaging crop of the neighbouring farmers. It is to be wished such instances of cottage industry were more frequent; and more fre- quent they would be, were proper means made use of to invigorate the spirit of exertion in the labouring class.” ALLUVIUM. Since that period the patrons of the system have been very numerous. The clergy have 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 present improved state. “The advantages attending this system,” says a clerical writer in the Christian Ob- 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 patch 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 not 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, Blackiston, 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 Al/uvio, “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 voleanic 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 definitions 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 apph- 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 the 67 ALLUVIUM. ocean itself, hold a large quantity of earthy 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 worn materials (detritus) being formed, the stream 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 Jess 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 inits 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 away 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 .y man, were it not arrested 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 different condition of the distribution of land and water will be established. But, at the same time, it cannot be denied that these changes, as far as they have hitherto proceeded, have been advanta- 68 ALLUVIUM. 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 by 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 Hemus 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 yege- 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 ee they reach the plains, and form impettious 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 (débris) 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. ' 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 whena river suffers inundation, the earthy matter, which is held in mechanical mixture, is ar- rested, 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, byLieutenant 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 which 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 ALLUVIUM. in the interior and tropical regions, and not, as many of the ancients supposed, from the Ete- sian winds, which, blowing periodically from 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 in 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 avirgin 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; anda 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 southern 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 cliffs 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 portioy 69 ALLUVIUM. of its own territory. Those districts which are thus added to the land are usually superposed by a fine 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 chiefly 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 depositions of earthy matter upon the immense flats 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 (Poa maritima), and when the land is very rich, by the marsh star- wort (Aster Tripolium). The land is after- wards dyked, 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 astate most admirably adapted tosuit his wants. In Lincolnshire and other parts of the Eng- lish coast, where the land is beneath the level of high-water mark, unfruitful districts are often restored toa 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 Wanrrrne.) But it may be asked, whence does the sea obtain the earthy matter with which it abounds ? 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 carried 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 ol’ rivers is thick and turbid from the quantity of alluvial matter it holds in solution, and very jnany large rivers are rendered unsafe for na- vigation by the existence of large bars of sand or clay at their outlet. But the sea is not merely a passive recipi- ent of the product of destructive causes, but is itself a cause. Sea coasts aré constantly suffering depredation by the action of the waves that beat uponthem. Whether we look 70 ALLUVIUM. at the soft and almost unresisting rocks of 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 cliffs, 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 effects, 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 360 parts. 25 Alumina - - - - - - = Silica ee a eee pkey 2 9) Oxide of iron - - = = = ae: Vegetable, animal, and saline matter - - 19 “A rich soil from the neighbourhood of the Avon, in the valley of Evesham, in the Wor- cestershire, afforded me three-fifths of fine sand and two-fifths of impalpable matter. This last consisted of— Alumina - - - = = = = 41 parts. Silica - - - - = = 5 ) Carbonate of lime - = = = - 4 Oxide of iron - - - = os ag Vegetable, animal, and saline matter - 8 ALMOND. “A soil yielding excellent pasture, from the valley of the Avon, near Salisbury, afforded one eleventh of ‘coarse silicious sand, and the finely divided matter consisted of— Aiominas = - = =< = = - .7 parts. Silica - - - - - = = = 14 (.. rbonate of lime - - = = - 63 Oxide ot iron - - - - = Be) Vegetable, animal, and saline matter - 14” Another striking cause of the fertility of al- luvial soils will come more properly under In- nicatron.—(Miller’s Dictionary.) ALMOND, Silver-leaved (Lat. Amygdalus ar- gentea). A beautiful shrub originally from the Levant. 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 flowers 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 seldom; they rarely require pruning. (L. Johnson.) ALMOND TREE (Amygdalus, Linneus ; amand,Fr.). 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 duupdzalcy. (Todd’s Johnson.) More than one species, 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, Linneus) 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 (nuces Greece). 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 the peach, but they proceed from buds both above and below the flowers. There are also small glands on the lower saw-toothingof the leaves. The form of the flowers is not very different from those of the peach, but they come out usually 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 ALMOND. 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 large 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 large size. 11. Peach 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 coyue dure ; 2. Amande douce d coque tendre; 3. Amande des dames ; and 4. Amande princesse, coincide with any 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 size, 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 very numerous. 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 furnishes 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 highyy 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 by spring 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 sown in October, upon a bed of light rich soil, about three inches apart, and covered four inches deep with fine soil. This is indis- pensable ; for when the soil is left in lumps, the 71 ALMOND. 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 bark, or leaf mould, to the depth of two inches, must be laid upon it, which being light, pre- vents the fruit-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 winter 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 fibrous 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 during 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 other, which standard trees would be liable to; for if this be not avoided, gum would be exuded at such injured parts, and the speedy decay of the tree be the conse- quence. 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 Dictionary.) {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 in New Jersey and the southern part of Pennsylvania, near Phila- delphia. A communication published in the 15th 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 miles south of Philadelphia.] 72 ALOPECURUS. 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. Alopecurus agrestis. Slender foxtail-grass. (Alopecurus myosuroides, Curt. Lond.) One of 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 (Alopecurus pra- lensis) by the total want of woolly hairs on the spike, so conspicuous in that of the A. pra- tensis. 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. “T 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 itcan 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 of 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. Alopecurus arundinaceus. Reed-like foxtail- grass. The substance of the culms and leaves of this grass is coarser than that of the A/lope- curus pratensis; 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. Tauntoniensis , but, owing to the roots spreading wide, being large, and requiring a consequent greater sup- ALOPECURUS. ply of nourishment from the soil, the produce stands thinner and proves less weighty than the crops afforded by that variety. It flowers in April or early in May, and continues to pro- duce flowering culms until the autumn. Alopecurus bulbosus geniculatus. 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 agriculturist. I have found it but seldom in a wild state. It grows on a soil of a drier nature than the fibrous-rooted variety, 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 geniculatus. 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 variety has a bulbous root. The A, bulbosus may be distinguished from the bul- bous-rooted variety of the knee-jointed species, by its upright culms, 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 pratensis. Meadow foxtail-grass. [See Plate 5, of Pasture Gnasszs, g.] This grass is a native of Britain and most parts of Europe, from Italy, through France, Germany, 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 thrives 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 than some other grasses, its merits have been misunderstood in many instances; and in others, as in the alternate husbandry, it has Leen, by some persons, set aside altogether. 10 ALOPECURUS. In many rich natural pastures, it constitutes the principal grass. Though not so well adapted, therefore, for the alternate husbandry, it is one of the best grasses for permanent pas- ture, and should never form a less proportion 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 Rey. Mr. Swayne, (in his Gramina Pascua, a work which contains much valuable information on the subject of grasses), that nearly two-thirds 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 value in the proportion of 3 to 2. The culms produced on the sandy soi! are deficient in number, and in every re- spect smaller than those from the clayey loam ; which satisfactorily accounts for the difference in the quantity of nutritive matter afforded by equal 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 quality 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- ordinary when the quantity of flowering culms is considered. In the Anthoxanthum odoratum 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 those 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 evi- 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 3to 2. The superiority of the produce from a light loam over that from a clayey soil is as 4 to 3. Alopecurus Tuuntonensis Taunton’s meadow G : 73 ‘ ALPACA. foxtail-grass. This holds a middle station be- tween the Alopecurus pratensis and Alopecurus arundinaceus. The produce and nutritive powers of the se- ALPACA. veral species of Alopecurus, may easily be seen by a reference to the following analytical | classification (Sinclair’s Hort. Gram.) :— Ae ; 2 ia Description\ of Grave. eu nee ea ‘ pert Ibs. Ths. Ths. ; Alopecurus agrestis, in flower ~ - - - Sandy loam 8,167 8 O| 3,164 14 8 223 5 4 A. bulbosus geniculatus,in flower = - =) = = 5,445 5 0) 1,089 0 0 8 1 0 A. pratensis, in April, ees SR aE) F Clayey loam 9,528 12 0| - - - 483 14 0 -— ——,intlower, - - - - - = 20,418 12 0} 6,125 10 0 478 9 0 —y,in flower, =. 9= = =. ot Silicious sand 8,507 13 0) 2,552 5 8 132 14 5 , seed ripe eat - - - Clayey loam 12,931 14 0] 5,819 5 8 454 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 shores of the Pacific, they bent their steps towards 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 Carneros 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 account 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 (Historia 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. From 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 along 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 vary, some being entirely white, others entirely black, and occasionally particoloured. he meat is good, that of the fawn is best and most 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 cumbi, 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; nor in a whole piece is it possible to discover an uneven thread ora knot. The Peruvian incas, or emperors, kept experienced masters to teach the artof making the ewmbi,or superfine cloth, the principal part of whom resided in 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 with them perform journeys, travel- ling like a string of mules and carrying wine, coca, corn, chuno (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. Often 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 afew Indians, who chiefly served to load and unload, or, at most, 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 arrobas, (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 they 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. 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 considerable 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 cliffs, and are affected by neither rain orsnow. 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 ds as soft as silk, made into fine 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 Curneros 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 //ama-michec. As a distinction, the larger kind is called hu- anacu-llama, 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 steeped 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 , ALPACA. 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 cliffs 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 the 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, hchens, tender shrubs, and grassy plants which make their apppearance as the snow recedes; or, descending lower down, revel in the pajonales, or, as they are called in some parts of the country, ichwales—natural 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 the sea is abundant, clouds collect, and being driven over the lower valleys by strong winds from the south and west, and condensed by the cold, burst 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 necessity 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 stead ALPACA. ily advanced since the article became known to the manufacturer,—the best proof of its worth. In 1835 they amounted to 8,000 bales ; in 1836, 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 returns, it is to be re- gretted that alpaca wool is not distinguished ALTITUDE. from the ordinary kinds arriving from Peru. The total imports for the last five years of all sheep’s wool, distinguishing from Peru (ineclud- 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 \yam, are here subjoined :— 1836, 1837. 1838. 18329, 1840. Sheep’s wool: lbs. = Ibs. Ibs. Ibs. From Peru = 953,974 1,914,137 2,303,794 2,145,106 2,762,439 Other pdxtanaee 63,284,677 46,464,957 50,289,846 55,298,349 46,630,638 Total - 64,238,651 48,379,094 52,593,640 57,373,455 49,393,077 Red Wool: ia From Peru - 1,248 614 294 4,465 7,940 Other parts - 78 - 421 2,003 34,377 ott 1,326 614 715 6,468 “42,317 Raw silk ant b= 4,453,081 4,146,481 3,458,959 | 3,740,248 | 3,758,841 Thrown silk 3 396,680 931,203 265,130 295,268 288,994 Goat’s hair or wool - 1,117,629 602,373 942,770 992,188 989,257 Mohair yarn - 89,298 29,199 20,546 13,645 2,664 With regard to the 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 twenty 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 time 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 100, 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 which 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 Peruvian sheep. Ata 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 Auchenia, 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 the base of its coarser hair. It is capable of tue 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 cents 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 every- 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- ble increase or diminution of the natural evacuations. 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 Huspanpry. 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; ata 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 polar regions. Baron Humboldt, in his Personal Narrative, gives us a similar account of the several zones of vegetation existing ina height of 3730 yards on the ascent of Mount Teneriffe. The first zone is the region of vines, extending from the shores of the ocean to a height of from 400 to 600 yards, well culti- vated, and producing date trees, plantains, olives, vines, and wheat. The second zone is the region of laurels, extending from about 600 to 1800 yards, producing many plants with showy flowers, 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 Retama, 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 we 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 difference takes place between the plants of an island and those of the neigh- 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 level 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 vegetation 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 browsing on verdant hills; and at the village of Pui, at about the same eleva- tion, there are produced, according to Captain ALUMINA. wheat, and turnips, whilst a little lower the ground is covered with vineyards, groves of apricots, and many aromatic plants. The effects of gradual elevation in lessening the falling off of temperature, is manifested upon a moderate scale in our own country. The [annual] mean 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, 45°.83, instead of being two or three degrees colder, to correspond with the law of eleya- tion. (Amer. Med. Jour. July, 1842.)} ALUM (Lat. Aluwmen). 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 - - - - - 34-23 Alumina - - - - - - 10:86 Potash Seer es mea 981 Water - - - - - - 45-00 99 20 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 clay 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 Gerard, the most luxuriant crops of barley,'in the smallest proportions, 32 ounces of the G2 77 ALVEARIUM. seeds of wheat only contain 0-6 of a grain, and those of the barley and the oat only about 4 grains. If some clay be dissolved in water, and some 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 their 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 Eanrrus; their use to vegetation.) (Davy, El. Chem. Phil. ; Thomson’s System ; Professor Schiibler, Jour. Roy. Ag. Soc. vol. i. p- 177; [Liebig’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 nerve of sight, or optic nerve.] AMBLE. In horsemanship, is a peculiar kind of pace, in which 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 amble 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 horses, which have been over-worked, and on the decline, are also ob- served voluntarily to amble, when forced to a 78 AMERICAN BLIGHT. 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 than others. Add to this, that such amblers as seem the strongest are spoiled sooner tan 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, carried 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 lands, 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 Eriosuma mali, of Leach, and the Aphis lanigera, of Illiger.) Its American origin is rendered doubtful from the fact that nursery- 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 Naturalist, which, with the correc- tion of 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 plant. 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 (anus); but as their bodies become Jength- ened, the bristle is not in this way observable. The pulp wood (alburnum) being thus wound- AMERICAN BLIGHT. 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. Plant lice (Aphides), in general, attack the younger and softer parts of plants; but this insect seems easily to wound the harder bark of the apple, and does not always make choice of the most tender 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 Jarger 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 being 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 AMERICAN CRESS. so efficacious as the 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 ycur 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 prevents 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 prevalence 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 resinous substances, however, being prejudicial to trees, Mr. George Lindley recommends vinegar as a washfor 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, anda 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 parts 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 crevice in which they can harbour. AMERICAN CRESS (Lepidium virgini- cum). From aers, 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 by seed, which must be sown every six weeks from March to August, for summer and autumn, but AMERICAN GRASS. only one sowing is necessary, either at the end | of August, or beginning of September, for a supply during winter and spring. It may be 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, only to three. In winter they require the shelter of a little litter or other light covering ; and to prevent them being injured by 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 require is to be kept clear of weeds. In gathering, the outside leaves only should be stripped off, which enables successional crops to become rapidly 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 ungathered from. They flower in June or July, and perfect their seed hefore the ccm- mencement of autumn. (G. W. Johnson’s Kit- chen Garden.) (This plant in America is commonly called wild pepper-grass. 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 volatile allcali, from its being first pre- pared in the East from camels’ dung near to a temple dedicated to Jupiter Ammon. It is ‘Jnmown in commerce under the name of harts- horn, sal volatile, &c., and is prepared by the dry or destructive distillation of animal sub- stances. It is formed also most commonly wherever animal substances undergo putre- faction. It is composed of Hydrogen - - - 0-125 Azote or nitrogen - - 175 Ammonia is usually produced in the state of 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 allali fulfils, there is little doubt, a very important 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. (Liebig’s Organic Chem. 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 effects may be anticipated to vegeta- tion by its use. Fresh urine contains phosphate of ammonia, muriate of ammonia, and lactate of ammonia, and there is perhaps no fertilizer niore powerful in its effects than this. {One of the most important discoveries hear- iug upon 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 80 AMMONIA. analyzed the air collected from the most sickly locations where impurities might certainly be expected to exist, but with their nicest tests and best conducted experiments they failed to 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 watery 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-water, 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-water employed in this inquiry,” says Liebig, “was collected 600 paces south- west of Geissen, whilst the wind was blowing in the direction of the town. When several hundred pounds of it were distilled in a copper still, and the first two or three pounds evapo- rated with the addition of a little muriatie acid, a very distinct crystallization of sal-ammoniac was obtained; the crystals had always a brown or yellow colour. “ Ammonia may likewise be always detected in snow-water. Crystals of sal-ammoniac were obtained by evaporating in a vessel with muri- atic acid several pounds of snow, which were gathered from the surface of the ground in March, when the snow had a depth of ten inches. Ammonia was set free from these crystals by the addition of hydrate of lime. The inferior layers of snow, which rested upon the ground, contained a quantity decidedly greater than those which formed the surface. “Tt is worthy 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 respecting 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 quantity of rain water, and evaporating this nearly to dryness in a clean porcelain basin. The ammonia remains in the residue, in combination with the acid employed; and may be detected either by the addition of a little chloride of platinum, or more simply by a little powdered lime, which 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 different 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 mp 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 botany 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 crystallized 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. (Robiquet.) 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 yields a gummy deliquescent mass, which evolves much ammonia on the addition of lime. Ammonia exists in every part of plants, i |from Barbary wheat 19 per cent. AMMONIA. 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 azotized 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 twee yields no more juice. “The employment of animal manure in the cultivation ef grain, and the vegetables which serve for fodder to cattle, is the most convinec- ing proof that the nitrogen of vegetables is derived from ammonia. The quantity of gluten in wheat, rye, and barley, is very diflerent; 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. ; Davy obtained 19 per cent. from winter, and 24 from summer wheat; from Sicilian 21, and 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 num- 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 the 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 percent. 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 soii itself does not contain the smallest particle of or- ganic matter, and the manure employed is formed only of urate, phosphate, owalaie, and carbonate of ammonia, together with a few earthy salts. (Boussingault, Ann. de Chim. ct de Phys. t. lxv. p. 319.) 8! AMMONIA. AMMONIA. « Ammonia, therefore. must have yielded the | are the yearly produce of such a field, but it is nitrogen to these plants. Gluten 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. “Tt 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, Chenopodium, and Borago 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 latter enters into the com- position of the gluten, but the benzoic acid often remains unchanged; for example, in the Anthoxanthum odoratum. 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. “lIf,” 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 65 pounds of nitrogen; for, by the observations of Schiibler, 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 ccntaincd 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 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 Azore or Nrrrocen.) 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 which 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. difficult solubility (1 part of gypsum requires | bles; porcelain or queen’s ware evaporating 400 parts of water for solution), 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 gypsum lasts for several years.” (Orz. Chem.)] 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 (Gr. dvaauzic). In 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 affords perhaps more certain and more valua- ble information to the farmer, for the improve- 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), carbonate 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 ascertain the presence and the extent of these substances that the analysis of soils is so necessary and so 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 sufliciently coarse to admit a mustard- seed through its apertures; an Argand lamp and stand; some glass bottles; Hessian cruci- basins; a Wedgewood pestle and 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 aériform 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. i “Tn cases when the general nature of the soil of a field is to be ascertained, specimens of it should be taken from different places, two or three inches below the surface, and exa- mined as tothe similarity of their properties. It 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 of rivers, there are very great differences; and it now and then occurs 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 with 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, equal 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 difference 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 1000:. 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; these substances being always most abundant in the lighter soils. The other physical properties of soils shouid. 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 ared or yellow colour, and calcareous soils are soft. 1, Soils, though as dry as they can be mad 83 ANALYSIS. by continued 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 may 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 econ- 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 sufficiently 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 operation (the next in the process of analysis) 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 effected in a way sufficiently ac- curate, by boiling the soil in three or four times its weight of water, and when the texture of the soil is broken down, and the water cool, by agitating the parts together, and then suffering them to rest. In this case, the coarse sand will generally separate in a minute, and the finer in 84 ANALYSIS. two or three minutes, whilst the highly 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 the 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 isseldom 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 caleareous 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 difficult 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 suffered to 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 be 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, 1s 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 minute 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; and 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 sutfli- 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, 7. e. nearly 43 per cent.; so that when the quantity of this elastic fluid given out by any soil during the solution of its caleareous 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 effervescence ceases. The difference between the weight before and after the experiment denotes the quantity of carbonic acid lost: for every 44 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 erucible 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. Itis 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- ANALYSIS, 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, which 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, which throws down the oxide of iron, and by soap-lye, 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 analysis by sulphuric acid is sufficiently precise for all usual experiments; butif 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 heateiL 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 inflamms H 85 ANALYSIS. ble, it may be considered as partly vegetable ex- tract. If its smell when exposed to heat be like thatof burnt feathers, it contains animalor albu- minous matter; if itbe white, crystalline,and not destructible by heat, itmay be considered prin- cipally as saline matter. The saline compounds 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; muriatie 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- eipitate will gradually form in the fluid, and the weight of it will indicate the proportion. Phosphate of lime, if any exist, may be separated 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 fertility 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 soilis 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 must be made for the general pro- cess, by subtracting a sum equal to their weight from the quantity of carbonate of lime 8 ANALYSIS. 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 ahop garden near Tonbridge Kent,— Grains. Of water of absorption - - - 19 Of loose stones and gravel, principally silicious 53 Of undecomposed vegetable fibres - - - i¢ Of fine silicious sand) - - - - 212 Of minutely divided matter, separated by agitation and filtration, and consisting of Grains, Carbonate of lime (chalk) - - 19 Carbonate of magnesia = - - - 3 Matter destructible by heat, princi- pally Feectable - SS - 1 Silica - - - - - 21 Alumina - - - - - - 13 Oxide of iron - - - - - 5 Soluble matter, principally common saltand vegetable extract - - 3 Gypsuin) ieee \i=hhie wen —_ 81 Loss - - - - 2 400 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 which 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 better 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 feels 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. rate the particles, but not to grind them: any small stones above the size of a pea must be vaken 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 may 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 hasall 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 a soil where clay greatly predominates, the lumps sometimes become so hard and baked by the 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 ANALYSIS. 2-3; silicious sand from 2:5 to 2*7; mixed soils have specific gravities varying according to the proportions of their component parts. Those 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 dight, 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 of Manufuctures (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 the 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 with the phial, and pour out water till the equilibrium is restored. In the vacant space, which is evidently equal to the bulk or 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 sufiicient 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 will give a few examples of soils, of which the specific gravity has been carefully determined. A rich garden soil, which cent.,— Clay - - - Silicious sand - Calcureous sand - Carbonate of lime Humus - - - had a specific gravity of 2-332. contained, per 5 36 eSw wSOae OTT ian a) A good loam, consisting of— Clay - = Silicious sand Calcareous sand Carbonate of lime Humus - had a specific gravity of 2-401. A poorer soil, of which the component parts on Ce as 1 en not Teteag PaaS ea celes oe ~ bd were,— Silicious sand - aa = 640 Clay ee SS ee! Caleareous sand - = = l-2 Carbonate of lime - - - 72 Humus - - - - Is had a specific gravity of 2526. These examples suffice to show that the sne- 1-2 to 1:5; fine porcelain clay, 2; chalk, about | cific gravity of a soil is some tolerable indisa- 87 ANALYSIS. tion of its fertility. It cannot, however, be entirely relied upon in the absence of other proofs ; for there may be many different mix- tures of earths which will have the same spe- cific gravity, although they may differ greatly in their fertility; but it will facilitate the analysis, and often detect mistakes in the pro- cess, if the result does not accord with the spe- cific gravity found. We proceed now to the analysis. ‘he 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 un 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 sieyes, 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 :—l1, 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 coffee- biggin, the last fitting into a tin pot which will hold about a pint of water; a cover being made 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 gnow 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 44 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 principle 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 sa. im which they are blended: they con- sequently deserve a more minute examination, tn which we will return. In the mean time, our attention shall be di- rected 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 38 —“e-> ANALYSIS. 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 todo 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 off 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 off. 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 into 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. 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. AJl 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 water was drawn off; but 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 muriatice acid, diluted with four times its own weight of water, is poured onit: 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 will not detect; and some of these may materially affect 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 decantations. They may be dried and weighed, 12 ANALYSIS. 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 dif- 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 by lime or alkalies, and brought into a state of greater decomposition, it is not to be dis- tinguished from humus in its qualities. The only instruments absolutely required for the foregoing analysis are, in the first place, twe 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 atrial. 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 which he desires to know the comparative value. He must not be disheartened by a few failures at 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 off 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 H 2 85 ANALYSIS. ascertain the productive powers of the soils; and for this purpose the separation of the dif- ferent earths is sufficient, in the present im- perfect state of our knowledge of the mysteries of vegetation. The process which 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 bedone. Take a glass tube, #ths of an inch in diameter, and three feet long; fita cork into one end and set it 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. Whena 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 cemented 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 arod 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 analysis will be useful to those who may ae- sire to try the proposed method, we will add one actually made under very unfavourable circumstances, and without any apparatus; the only instrument at hand were scales and weights of tolerable accuracy, three glasses a foot long, and 1} inch in diameter, belonging (o 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 ANALYSIS. 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 in 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 off. 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 had 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 Ofcoarse sand - = - - = = 24 Finer sand - S = > = a 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 - - - Wi — _ on the linen rag = =e Yes 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 witha 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 :— ANALYSIS. Specific gravity, 2°358. ou fee Coarse - = Silieloue ee ee 17 boo sand. Very fine - - 162 Coarse =a 4 Caleerous Finer ane i} 25 : Very fine - - 18 = c Clly! Te opaiaei cid omanen toe? Smpalpaple J cath oflime - - S75 . Humus = ~ 20 Soluble matter - —- 2 Loss - = A 8 Or, in round numbers,— 500 40 per cent. Sand. 36 _ Clay. 17 = Calcareous earth. 55 — Vegetable earth, or humus. 05 — Soluble matter. From the composition of this soil, it is evi- dent that it is a most excellent loam, capable of producing 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 affect 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. Thaér in his very ex- cellent work on Rational Husbandry, written in German and translated into French, has given a table in which different soils analyzed by him are classed according to their compara- tive fertility, which is expressed in numbers, 100 being the most fertile. Finely divided Carb. of aay Co i No. Clay. Sand, Lime: Organic Matter, ative 1 if a 4 114 100 2 o 3 79 10 4 A a Rich alluvial soils. 4 40 22 36 4 90 5 14 49 10 QT x 5 The value of this could not be fixed, as it was 6 20 67 3 10 73 grass land; perhaps bog-earth 7 58 36 2 4 77 A 8 a 12 A iB Good wheat and barley lands. 10 48 50 3e 2 65 ll 8 30 aes 2 60 ed 3 60 cate 2 60 Barl 13 33 65 = E 3 ca arley land not fit for wheat. 14 28 7 he 2 40 5 at i ae a mt 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 tillage 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 similar compound containing azole 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 inconsiderable, 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 grow- 91 ANALYSIS, ing 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; throw 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 soluble geine. «3. If you 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 you 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 1s 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 your 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 is due to the sulphate of lime, even the sulphate of iron may be so consider- ed; for the ultimate result in cultivation is to convert this into sulphate of lime. “Test the soil with muriatic acid, and having thus removed the lime, proceed as before, to 92 ANALYSIS. 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. LIaccord- 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, a sheet- 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 way.” 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 wholly, 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 their 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. 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 mucilage 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 growing 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 ‘grantic 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 afford 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 sandy, 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 asimple 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 holda plough.”} ANALYSIS OF VEGETABLES. The pro- cess or means by which such bodies are re- solved into their constituent or elementary principles. (See Curmistry, or VecErarLe CnrmistRy.) ANBURY. In farriery, a kind of wen, or spongy soft tumour or wart, commonly full of blood, growing on any part of an animal’s ANBURY. body. Substances of this kind may be re- moved either by means of ligatures being passed round their bases, or by the knife, and the subsequent application of some caustic material, in order to effectually destroy the parts from which they arise. ANBURY, THE, AMBURY, HANBURY, or CLUB-ROOT. The anbury, the correct name, is evidently derived from the Saxon word ambre, a wart, suffused with blood, to which horses are subject. In Holderness, a district of Yorkshire, this disease is known as “fingers and toes,” from its causing the top root of the turnip to be divided into swollen fibres, resembling those members of the human body. On this, Mr. Spence, the entomologist, wrote a very sensible pamphlet, entitled “ Ob- servations on the Diseases in Turnips, termed in Holderness Fingers and Toes, Hull, 1812.” The deficiency of knowledge relative to the diseases of plants is well illustrated by the imperfect and inaccurate observations that have been adventured upon this disease. Where there is much difference of opinion there is little real knowledge, and both these are certainly the case in the instance before us. Some cultivators assert that the disease arises from a variableness and unfavourable state of the seasons ; a second party of theorists advance, that it is caused by insects; anda third, that it is owing to a too frequent growth of the same crop upon the same site. Every man having formed an opinion, usually clings to it pertinaciously, and sets its estimate far above its real value or correctness. “It is with our opinions as our watches, none go just alike, yet each believes his own.” The chief error appears to be in considering any of the above enumerated causes as the exclusive one; for beyond doubt they each contribute, either immediately or remotely, to induce or exasperate the attacks of the anbury. [The disease attacks the hollyhock, and other plants, especially these belonging to the brassica or cabbage family.] Cabbage-plants are fre- quently infected with anbury in the seed-bed, and this incipient infection appears in the form of a gall or wart upon the stem, immediately in the vicinity of the roots; if this wart is opened it will be found to contain a small white maggot, the larva of a small insect called the weevil. If the gall and its tenant being removed, the plant is placed again in the earth where it is to remain unless it is again at- tacked, the wound usually heals, and the growth is little retarded. On the other hand, if the gall is left undisturbed, the maggot con- tinues to feed upon the alburnum, or young woody part of the stem, until the period arrives for its passing into the other insect form, pre- viously to which it gnaws its way out through the exterior bark. The disease is now almost beyond the power of remedies, the gall, in- creased in size, encircles the whole stem; the alburnum being so extensively destroyed, pre- vents the sap ascending, consequently, in dry weather, sufficient moisture is not supplied from the roots, to counterbalance the transpi- ration of the leaves, and the diseased plant is very discernible among its healthy compa nions, by its pallid hue and flagging foliage 93 ANBURY. The disease now makes rapid progress; the swelling continues to increase ; for the vessels of the alburnum and the bark continue to afford their juices faster than they can be con- veyed away. Moisture and air are admitted to the interior of the excrescence through the per- foration made by the maggot; the wounded vessels ulcerate, putrefaction supervenes, and death concludes the stinted existence of the miserable plant. The tumour usually attains the size of a large hen’s egg, has a rugged, ichorous, and even mouldy surface, smelling strong and offensively. The fibrous roots, be- sides being generally thickened, are distorted and monstrous, from swellings which appear throughout their length, which apparently arise from an effort of nature to form recep- tacles for the sap, deprived as itis of its natural spissation inthe leaves. These swellings do not seem to arise immediately from the attacks of the weevil, for I have never observed them containing its Jarva. Mr. Marshall very cor- rectly describes the form which this disease assumes when it attacks the turnip. It is a large excrescence appearing below the bulb; growing to the size of both hands, and as soon as the hard weather sets in, or it is, by its own nature, brought to maturity, becoming putrid, and smelling very offensively. On the last day of August, when the bulbs of the turnips were about the size of walnuts in the husk, the an- buries were as big as a goose’s egg. These were irregular and uncouth in their form, with excrescences resembling the races of ginger hanging to them. On cutting them, their gene- ral appearance is that of a hard turnip; but on examining them through a magnifier there are veins, or string-like vessels, dispersed among the pulp. The smell and taste somewhat resemble those of turnips, but without their mildness, having an austere and somewhat disagreeable flavour resembling that of an old stringy turnip. The tops of those much affected turn yellow, and flag with the heat of the sun, so that in the daytime they are obviously dis- tinguishable from those which are healthy. These distortions manifest themselves very early in the turnip’s growth, even before the rough leaf is much developed. Observation seems to have ascertained, that if the bulbs have attained the size of a walnut unaffected, they do not subsequently become diseased. Mr. Spence has clearly shown, from established facts, that the anbury does not arise from any imperfection of the seed sown: for experience demonstrates that, in the same field and crop, the attacks are very partial; and crops in two adjoining fields, sown with seed from the same growth, will-one be diseased, and the other healthy. Secondly, it does not arise from an unfavourable time of sowing, or from dry, un- propitious seasons, during their after-growth ; for on this supposition we might expect that in all turnip districts the disease would occasion- ally make its appearance, in consequence of variations in the period and mode of sowing, or from following droughts; yet we know that, in many parts of the country, it hasnever been neard of. Thirdly, it does not arise from the quality of the soil, for Sir Joseph Banks suffered from its infecting thin stapled, sandy fields; ANBURY. whilst all Holderness, which is generally a strong loamy soil, was found equally liable to the disease. It is occasioned by the poisonous wound inflicted by an insect in an early stage of vegetation, or rather by its insinuating its egg into the tender plant. The maggot found in the turnip anbury, is the larva of a weevil called Curculio pleurostigma by Marsham, and Rhynchenus sulcicollis by Gyllenhal. “I have bred this species of weevil,” says Mr. Kirby, from the knob-like galls on turnips, called the anbury, and I have little doubt that the same insects, or a species allied to them, cause the clubbing of the roots of cabbages.” (Kirby and Spence’s Introduction to Entomology.) Marsham describes the parent as a coleopterous insect, of a dusky, black colour, with the breast spot- ted with white, and the length of the body one line and two-thirds. A very full description of this insect is in the Insecta Svecica descripta, of Gyllenhal, vol. iii. p. 229, under the name of Rhynchznus sul- cicollis. The general experience of farmers and gardeners upon the subject, testifies that the anbury of the turnip and cabbage usually at- tacks these crops when grown for successive years on the same soil. This is precisely what might be expected ; for the parent insect always deposits her eggs in those situations where her progeny will find their appropriate food; and in the fragments of the roots, &c., of preceding crops, some of these embryo ravagers are to be expected. That they never attack the plants upon a fresh site is not as- serted; Mr. Marshall’s statement is evidence to the contrary ; but it is advanced that the ob- noxious weevil is most frequently to be ob- served in soils where the turnip or cabbage has recently and repeatedly been cultivated. Another general result of experience is, that the anbury is most frequently observed in dry seasons. This is also what might be anticipated, for insects that inhabit the earth just beneath its surface are always restricted and checked in their movements by its abounding in moist- ure. Moreover, the plants actually affected by the anbury are more able to contend against the injury inflicted by the larva of the weevil by the same copiousjsupply. The develope- ment of their parts, their growth is more rapid ; consequently the maggot has not to extend his ravages so extensively in search of food as in drier seasons, when the stem is less juicy and of asmaller growth. In wet periods, also, the affected plants show less the extent of the in- jury they have sustained, for their foliage does not flag; because their transpirations of watery particles is less, and their supply of nutriment from the soil is more free. In considering the best modes of preventing the occurrence of the disease, and of palliating its attacks, it is apparent that any addition to the soil that renders it disagreeable to the weevil will prevent the visits of this insect. The gardener has this in his power with but little difficulty ; for he can keep the vicinity of his cabbage, cauliflower, and brocoli plants soaked with water. Mr. Smith, gardener to Mr. Bell, of Woolsington in Northumberland, expresses his conviction, after several years’ ANBURY. experience, that charcoal dust spread about half an inch deep upon the surface, and just mixed with it by the point of a spade, effectu- ally prevents the occurrence of this disease. | (Trans. of Lon. Hort. Soc. vol. i. art. 2.) That this would be the case we might have sur- mised from analogy ; for charcoal dust is offen- sive to many insects, and is one of the most powerful preventives of putrefaction known. Soot, I have reason to believe, from a slight experience, is as effectual as charcoal dust. Judging from theoretical reasons, we might conclude that it would be more specific; for in addition to its being like charcoal, finely divid- ed carbon, it contains ammonia, to which in- sects have an antipathy. Mr. Drurey, a practi- cal farmer at Erpingham, in Norfolk, consi- dered marlacertain preventive of this disease. He, and several other judicious farmers also, thought that feathing, that is, giving sheep and cattle their green food, turnips, &c., upon the barley stubbles, intended for turnips as the succeeding crop, will cause the anbury. (Mar- shall’s Rural Economy of Norfolk, ii. 33, 35.) It is very evident that it would mix fragments with the soil that would be liable to contain the eggs of the weevil. The marl, approved by Mr. Drurey, is probably the calcareous marl which occurs at Thorp Market, in the hundred of North Erpingham ; but as there is a slight doubt, owing to the deficiency of accu- racy in the statement, it affords me an opportu- nity to impress upon agriculturists in general, the great importance of employing more cer- tain terms than they usually do. What can be more indefinite than the statement, that marl is a certain preventive of the anbury? For the very first question suggested to the reader’s mind is, What marl is intended? Is it a chalky marl, or a clay marl? is it a mixture of chalk and clay, or of chalk and silicious sand? forall these varieties of marl are known to agriculture. The want of a correct nomen- clature is one of the drawbacks and deficiencies checking the improving progress of agriculture. Few farmers ever thought upon this point, and still smaller is the number who duly appreciat- ed its importance; yet it is an incontrovertible fact, that no art or science can advance rapidly until its technical terms are fixed, terse, ex- pressive, and generally understood. Chemistry attained a greater aid to its advancement by the introduction of its new nomenclature by La- voisier, than by any series of discoveries that have since been made on its rapid and brilliant progress. If a sulphate, an acid, ora metal is mentioned, a chemist immediately has a defi- nite idea of the nature and properties of the substance alluded to; but if a loam or marl is spoken of, would any two farmers agree in their idea of what description of earthy compound was intended! To make it well understood, a long detail must be added ; and nothing checks the imparting of knowledge more, than the person capable of imparting it being conscious that he must define every term as he goes on, and that even then it is doubtful, if he shall succeed in making himself intelligible. The very name, anbury, usually applied to the disease, which is the subject of this paper, is another proof of the necessity of a reformed ANBURY. agricultural nomenclature; for in Suffolk, the same title is given to another disease which merely affects the leaves of the turnip. Sir | Joseph Banks, Mr. Baker of Norfolk, and others, agree that marl is the best preventive of anbury. And another evidence of the effi- cacy of applications to the soil is afforded by a gentleman in Holderness, a Mr. Brigham, who had a highly manured clayey ridge, which he had levelled the year before, and this grew turnips entirely free of the disease, whilst in the natural rich loam of the field they were much infected. Francis Constable, Esq., of Burton Constable, hada field that had been in grass twenty years: this he pared, burned and sowed with turnips, obtaining a crop perfectly free from the disease. Two white crops were then taken, after which turnips were again sown; a considerable portion of the crop was then infected with the disease. (Spence’s Ob- servations on the Disease of Turnips, termed in Holderness Fingers and Toes.) I have myself tried the efficacy of common salt in preventing the occurrence of this disease: its tendency to keep the soil moist, and to irritate the ani- mal frame, certainly checks the inroads of the weevil; and its generally beneficial effects as a manure enables the plants better to sustain themselves under the weakening influence of the disease; but itis not a decisive preven- tive. With regard to the use of salt as a cure for the disease, I am inclined to think, from the results of experiments which I have instituted, that unless the salt be applied very early, it would be useless; for the root soon becomes so diseased as to be entirely past recovery. (C. W. Johnson’s Essay on Salt, p. 136.) I have a strong opinion that a slight dress- ing of the surface soil with a little of the dry hydro-sulphate of lime, that may now be ob- tained so readily from the gas-works intro- duced throughout England, would prevent the occurrence of the disease, by driving the wee- vils from the soil. It would probably as effectually banish the turnip-fly or flea, if sprinkled over the surface immediately after the seed is sown. I entertain this opinion of its efficacy in preventing the occurrence of the anbury, from an instance when it was ap- plied to some broccoli, ignorantly grown upon a bed where cabbages had as ignorantly been endeavoured to be produced in successive crops; these had invariably failed from the occurrence of the anbury, but the broccoli was uninfected. The only cause for this escape that I could trace was, that just previously to planting, a little of the hydro-sulphuret of lime had been dug in. This is a very 1etid, power- ful compound, and must be used with great caution. Where dry lime purifiers are employed at gas-works, it may be obtained in the state ot a dry powder; but where a liquid mixture of lime and water is employed, the hydro-sulphu- ret can only be had in the form of a thick cream. Of the dry hydro-sulphuret I would recommend eight bushels per acre to be spread regularly by hand upon the surface, after the turnip seed is sown, and before har- rowing. If the liquid is employed, I wou ANDES GRASS. recommend thirty gallons of it to be mixed with a sufficient quantity of earth or ashes, to enable it to be spread over an acre in a simi- lar manner. For cabbages twelve bushels, or forty-five gallons per acre, would not, proba- bly, be too much, spread upon the surface, and turned in with the spade or last ploughing. Although I specify the quantities as those I calculate most correct, yet in all experiments it is best to try various proportions: three or four bushels may be found sufficient; perhaps twelve, or even twenty, may not be too much. Frequent hoeing has been recommended as a preventive of this disease; but I believe this to be unsustained either by reason or practice. (G. W. Johnson, Quar. Journ. Agric., vol. vii. p- 308, et seq.) t [ANDES GRASS. The Holeus 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, which 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- talen 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 probably 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. Irom Colman’s Fourth Report of the Agri- culture of Massachusetts the following pas- sage is extracted. “The tall meadow oat (Avena elatior) has been cultivated in the county. This grass is not familiar to our farmers, but the success which has attended 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 ANDES GRASS. 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: “«Tn the spring he sowed with barley a field of feur acres, and put on 24 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. Itisa 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 affects 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. soil (a light sandy loam) not being sufficient- ly strong and tenacious.’ “Taylor, of 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 Drit and Fexnet. 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 tying it above and below the tumour with a proper ligature. ANGELICA (Angelica Archangelica). 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 wild. 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 branches. 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 removal, 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 ANIMALS. 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 pestilen: tial and contagicus diseases. The stalks of the angelica candied are much esteemed in winter desserts as a sweetmeat in England. The Laplanders boil or bake the stalls 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 ami- mals which are fixed to a place, as the litho- phytes and zoophyles, 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 union 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 Borany. For reriops or Breepine and Harcuine, with other interesting facts con- nected with the subject, see Gesrarion and In- CUBATION. ANIMALS, DANGEROUS. See Nursance, 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 fere nature, 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; 4D, & R. 518) at their natural liberty. (1 Hale, 511; Fost. 366.) Butif 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 may I 97 ANIMALS. 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 (Dal. Just. c. 156); or whether marked or not if they be in a private river or pond. (Jb.) So, all valuable domestic animals, as horses, and allanimals domite2 nature, 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 (Fuster, 99), wool pulled from the sheep’s back feloniously (R. v. Martin, 1 Leach, 171), and the flesh of such as are fere nalure, may be the subject of larceny. (1 Hale, 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 Hak, 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 invhis 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 & 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 & 8G. 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 (see R. v. Brooke, 4 C. & P.131; 7&8 G.4, ¢. 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 shall run through, or be in any land adjoining or belonging to the dwelling-house of any per- ANIMAL MANURES. 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 Cuemtsrry. _ANIMAL MANURES. For the information Ihave to furnish with regard to animal ma- nures, [ must refer the farmer to other heads of this work, such as Farm-xyarnp Manvne, Nieut-sort, Bones, Liquin Manure, Fisn, &c. A very elaborate paper by Dr. C. Spren- gel, translated by Mr. Hudson, will be found in the Journal of the Roy. 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 andin 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 the 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. are direct food for plants. Thus bones abound with 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 wegetables, 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 isa happy circumstance that itis 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- seription, such as the urate of the London Ma- nure Company, and the disinfected night-soil of M. Poittevin. 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 AJOU CABBAGE. cheese-rennet, externally applied, is asserted to be amore 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 allits celebrity ; but it has been 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 Bre.) 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 with which these animals destroy their prey, and even one another, we cannot doubt that their poison is sufficiently virulent. (Mead and Fontana on Poisons ; Thomson’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 nearly, 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 for 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 in almost any soil, not excepting even the most indifferent, provided it be sufficiently dunged. 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 spon after, 99 ANNONA. ANNOTTA. wherever they stand too thick. The nextcare,the fruit are taken out and thrown into a 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 toremain. 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 upon 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 Paraw.] ANNOTTA, or ARNOTTA (Fr. rocou ; Ger. orlean; 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 Bizxa 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 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, orspoon. 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 flag, or cake, and roll arnotta, and 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, in 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. ounce of arnotta will colour about twenty cheeses of 10 or 12 Ibs. 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 Ibs. (Comp. Farm.; M‘Culloch’s Com. Dict. ; Gray's Supplement ; Loudon’s Encye. ; Thom- son’s Chem.) ANNUAL MEADOW-GRASS. 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- quently denominated simply annuals. Wheat, oats. barley, beans, peas, &c., are of this kind. ANNULAR. Having the form or resem- blance of aring. This appearance is observed in the wood of some kinds of trees after they 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. Tn 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 See Poa ANTHOXANTHUM ODORATUM. 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 better 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 superior 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. When 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 celebrated, has hitherto been a matter of vague specula- 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 or 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 12 101 ANTICOR. The American editor of the Farmer’s Ency- clopedia claims to have traced the source of the peculiar flavour of Philadelphia ‘‘ May but- ter” to the sweet-scented vernal grass natural- ized and abounding in the pastures within marketing distance of the city. He assigns the following reasons for this conclusion. 1}. In the dairy region around Philadelphia the vernal grass, with its yanilla 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- APHERNOUSLI. bued with agreeable flayours could the proper agents for this purpose be presented in their food. That the benzoic acid is the proximate cause of the peculiar fine flayour of butter made from pastures where the sweet-scented vernal grass abounds, he has shown by several experiments made in different 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 effects of particular grasses in improving the flayour 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 flayour to dairy products, but to the mutton and beef of cattle and sheep pastured upon it. [See Dr. Emerson’s communication to J. 8. Skinner, on the subject of Philadelphia butter, originally published in the Farmer’s Library for April, 1846.] Green Produce Produce per Acre Dry Produce Description of Grass. Soil. per Acre. per Acre, Cc Ibs. Ibs. Ibs. Anthoranthum odoralum, on Ist April Brown sandy loam | 3,488 0 0 - - - 9 6 0 yin flower - — 7,827 3 0} 2,103 8 14 122 4 12 , seed ripe - _ 6,125 10 0 1,837 11 0 SL) Ver , latter-math _ 6,806 4 0 - - - 239 4 8 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 Porson, and Anrmat and VercetTaBie Porsons. 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 - - > > = 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, assafcetida, 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 branehes, and so used, by poetic license, in all our modern authors. 102 100 34-960 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 ARKENOUSLI. 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 off; 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 sometimes 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- nousli, 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. warm weather. From this tree is extracted a white odoriferous resin. The wood also makes excellent firing 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 suffers 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 herd 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 kick and sprawl in the most ludicrous manner. They may be seen, at times, sus- ' beneath the limbs of the pig-nut hickory. APHIDES. pended by their beaks alone, and throwing up their legs as if ina 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 dry 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 belles 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 antenne, 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-lowse (Aphis Ros) has a long tube. The cabbage-louse (Aphis Brassiex) 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 He 103 APHIDES. also found another large species living on the | under side of the branches of various kinds of willows, and clustered together in great numbers. This species, the Doctor thinks, cannot be identical with the willow-louse de- seribed by Linneeus. 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 ina 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- verior. Naturalists call these tumours galls, pecause 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 from the others, in haying shorter antennz, being without honey- tubes, and in frequently being clothed with a 104 APHIDES. kind of white down, which, however, 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 lanigera, 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. Buel 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, antenne, sucker, and shins are found to be of a blackish colour, and the abdomen honey-yellow. The young are produced alive during the summer, are buried in masses of the down, and derive their non- 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. autumn, and thus the evil will gradually spread throughout an extensive orchard. The nume- rous punctures of these lice produce onythe 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 serub- bing the trunk and branches with a hard brush. The application of the spirits of tar, of spirits of turpentine, of oil, urine, and of soft soap, has been recommended. 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, Iam 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- APHIDES. 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 hot 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 shoulé be paid to keep the air sufficiently moist; ané the lice are readily killed by fumigations witk tobacco or with sulphur. To destroy subter- ranean lice on the roots of plants, I have founc 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 gallon” 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 designed 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 trifling 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 the 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 this mends as follows: “Solutions of soap, or a| insect until this time.” 14 1b APIUM. “Two varieties of insects that are destruc- tive to and very much disfigure evergreens, the Balsam or Balm of Gilead fir in particular; one an aphis, the other very much like the Tose-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 difficult 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 larve 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 spots; 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 brillianey 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 young of various two-winged flies belonging to the genus Syrphus, 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 Destructive Insects submitted to the legis- lature of Massachusetts in 1841.)] APIUM. See Cezeny and Panstey. 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 Surer, 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- ly, and is apt to mangle his hay, or leave it in the rack, and at the same time gathers little flesh, his dung being habitually soit, 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 a relaxed constitution, in which the stomach 108 APPRAISEMENT. 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 Matus. 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 juiey 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 Arvarprs and Brtent.] (APPLE-TREE BORER. The larva of a kind of beetle. See Borens.] APPRAISEMENT. It is not only custom- ary, but essential to 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 will 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 Cusrom or THE Countirs.) 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, County of Surrey, made this 29th 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 leaying 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 - - - - - - 2273 acres. Grass - - co + 2 = AO a Wood - - - = 2 = a Hedges - - 2 - S = i 3094 And has been very highly cultivated on the Scotch Drill system. DRESSING AND TILLAGES, viz., Loner Fretn, 17 Acres.— Swedes. 8 a Bi asad Ploughed, 2 horses, three times - - at 10s, 25 10° 0 Ridging and splitting - - - - - 14s. 1118 0 Ox harrowed, four times - - - ls. 6d. 5 2 0 Small harrowed, eight times - - - - 9d. 5 2 0 Rolledtwice - - - - - cay Ge 114 0 Handpicking - - - - - - - 017 0 Dung, 295 loads - - - - - 6s. 88 10 0 Seed, 2 lb. per acre, perlb. - - - mie les J 14-0) Drilling - - - - - - Is 017 0 Scuffling twice - - - - - 2s. 6d. 4 5.0 Hand-hoeing - - - - = +6 = 8&8. 616 0 Handpicking, rent, rates, and taxes, - - - 30s. 2510 O 17715 0 Lower Loam Pir, 12 Acres.—Preparing for Wheat. Half dressing, 230 loads dung - - - at 3s. 3410 0 Ploughed twice, 2 horses - - - - 10s. 2 0 0 Harrowed, Finlayson - - - - 33. 116 90 Ox harrowed twice - - - - 1s. 6d. 116 0 50 2 0 Mippte Loam Pir, 74 Acres.—Seeds. One year’s ley - - - - at 60s. 2210 0 Urver Loam Pir, 10 Acres.—Seeds. Two year’s ley - - - - at 40s, 20 0 0 Lower Brieus, 7 Acres.—Pea Stubble. Half dressing, 110 loads dung - - - at 3s. 1610 0 Norra Brieus, 8 Acres.— Wheat after Clover. Clover ley - - - - - at 60s. 24 0,0 Ploughed, 3 horses - - - - - 12s. 416 0 Harrowed small, fourtimes - - - - 9d. Zen Seed, 16 bushels - - - - - 10s. 8 0 0 Drilling - - - - - - 3s. 1 4 0 39 4 0 Sours Buicus, 73 Acnes.— Wheat. Composition earth and lime, 164 loads - at 3s. 2412 0 Ploughed, 3 horses - - - - - 12s. 410 0 Harrowed small, fourtimes - - - - 9d. LEUBiIG Seed, 15 bushels - - - - - 10s. 710 0 | Drilling - - - - - 3s. 12) 16 { 38 17 0 | Carry forward, - a 364 18 0 107 APPRAISEMENT. £3 d. eiis.© ‘a: Brought forward = - - 364 18 0 Urrer Briens, 13 Acres.—Tares. Ploughed, 2 horses - - - - at 10s. 610 0 Harrowed small, four times - - - - 9d. 119 0 Rolled, 2 horses - - - - - Is. 6d. 019 6 Seed, 26 bushels - - - - - 12s. 15.12 0 Drilling - - - - - 33. rn kent) 2619 6 East Bureus, 5 Acres.—Turnips, after Tares fed off. Tillages for the tares - - - - - - or) 0) ; Ploughed twice, 3 horses - - - at 12s. 6 0 0 Harrowed, ox, twice - - - - - 1s. 6d. O15 0 Harrowed small, four times - - - - 9d. 015 0 Ridging and splitting - - - - 14s, 310 0 Rolled, 2 horses, twice - - - - 1s. 6d. 015 0 Dung, 85 loads - - - - - 6s. 2510 O Seed, 2 lbs. per acres - - - - Is. 010 0 Drilling - - - - - - Is. 0 5 0 Scuflling three times - - - - 2s. 6d. LL7 76 Hoed twice - - - - - - 8s. 2 0 0 Rent, rates, and taxes - - - 30s. fe) 54 7 6 Ten Acres, 10 Acres.—Clover. One year’s ley - - - - at 60s. 30 0 0 Ox House, 14 Acres.—Turnips. Ploughed three times, 2 horses - - at 10s. 21 0 0 Harrowed, ox, twice - - - - - Is. 6d. ar Ji) Harrowed small, four times - - - 9d. 2 2 0 Rolled small, twice - - - - - 9d. ny Soe) Ridging and splitting - - - - - 14s. 916 0 Dung, 220 loads - - - - = 6s, 66 0 0 Seed, 28 lb. - - - - - - ls i 8 0 Drilling - - - - . Ea 014 0 Scuffling twice - - - - - 2s. 6d. 310 0 Hoed twice - - - - - ease 512 0 Rent, rates, and taxes - - - - 30s. 21 0 0 134 5 0 Strack Yann, 12 Acres.— Winter Beans. Ploughed, 3 horses - - - - at 12s. ok 0 Harrowed small, four times - - - 9d. 1 a Sean) Beans, 24 Bushels - - - - - 5s. 6 0 0 Drilling - - - - - - 3s. 116 0 1616 0 Wesr Fierp, 7 Acres.—Clover Seeds. Half dressing, 145 loads dung - - at 3s. 21.15..0 Half fallow - - - - - 50s. 1710 0 Seed and sowing - - - - - 16s. 512 0 , 4417 0 East Sranvs Acre, 8 Acnzs.— Swedes after Rye, Sheep fed. Tillages for therye - - - - - - 8 0 0 Ploughed twice, 2 horses - - - at 10s. 8 0 0 Ridging and splitting - - - - - 14s. 512 0 Harrowing small, 4 times - - - - 9d. 140 Dung, 139 loads - - - - - 6s. 4114 0 Seed, 16 Ibs. - - - - - Is. 016 0 Drilling - - - - - cr fiket 0 8 0 | Scuffling three times - - - - - 2s. 6d. 3 0 0 Hoeing twice - - - - - 8s. 3 4 0 About 13 acre reploughed and resown - - - 110 0 Rent and taxes - - - - - 30s. 12 0 0 85-8 0 Carry forward, - £ | 757 11 O | 108 APPRAISEMENT. Essie: LB) eid: Brought forward - - 757 11 0 West Sraryz Acre, 73 Acres.—Clover. Half dressing, 125 loads dung - - at 3s. 18 15 0 Half dressing fallow - = - 50s. 18 15 0 Seeds - y = - - - - 16s. 6 0 0 43 10 0 Sanp Prr, 15 Acres.—Rye. Ploughed, 2 horses’ - - - - at 10s. 710 0 Harrowed small, fourtimes - - - - 9d. pO nO Seed, 30 bushels - - - - - 5s. 710 O Drilling, - - - - - - 33. 2.5 0 ——| 1910 0 Urven Kennet Fretp, 10 Acres.—Seeds. Half dressings, 165 loads dung - - at 3s. 2415 0 Half dressing fallow - - - - - 50s. 25 0 0 Seeds mixed, and sowing - - - - 16s. 8 0 0 57 15 0 Lower Kennet Fretp, 14 Acres.—Seeds. Half dressings, 240 loads dung - - at 3s. 36 0 0 Half dressing fallow - - : - - 50s. 35 0 0 Seeds mixed, and sowing - - - - 16s. ee 0 —— 82 4 0 Urrrer Ponn Fietp, 14 Acres.—Seeds. | Ley one year old - - - - at 60s. 42 0 0 Ashes, 1000 bushels’) - - - - - ° Wd. Bieta Carting, &c., 50 loads - - - - Is. 6d. 315 0 50 19 2 Lower Ponp Friern, 11 Acres.—Bean Stubble. Nothing. 0 0 0 Mivptr Common, 7 Acres.—Potatoes. Crop laid at 49 tons - - - - at 50s. 122 10 0 Manure. In West Blighs, dung 162 loads = - - - 5s. 40 10 0 In yards, dung 100 loads) - - - - 4s. 20 0 0 Ashes, 7 lumps - - - = : - 310 0 64 0 0 Straw. Wheat, 32 loads - - -* - at 28s. 4416 0 Oat, 58 loads - - - - - 24s. 69 12 0 Bean, 14 loads - - - - - 20s. 14 0 0 Pea, 41 loads - - - - - 24s, 49 4 0 177 12 0 Hay. Meadow, 18 loads - - - - at 80s. Wva0iO Rye grass, 14 loads - - - - - 85s. 59 10 0 Clover, 27 loads - - - - - 90s. 121 10 0 N. B. By the term of the lease, the tenant has the right to 253" (Ouse sell off the hay and straw, which is therefore put at a market price. ) Underwoods. The Grove, 7 acres, 9 years’ growth - at 10s. 3110 0 The Lower Wood, 5 acres, 7 years’ growth - 10s. 10 0 0 The Shaw, 2 acres, 6 years’ growth - - 10s. 65 G0 The Kennel Wood, 10 acres, 2 years’ growth - 10s. 10 0 0 57 10 0 | The standing stuff in Hedger) after allowing | for re-making, all at - - - - 16 00 £1702 1 2 (Signed) By for the outgoing tenant. By for the incoming tenant. | K 109 : APRICOT. APRICOT (Armeniaca vulgaris). The name of the apricot has been thought to be derived from apricus, open and exposed to the sun, or from prxcox, early ripe; but there can be no doubt that the word is a corruption of the Ara- bic name of the fruit. In England, it is one of the earliest wall-fruits, and held in the highest estimation. The fruit, when gathered young to thin the crop, makes an excellent tart; and when ripe, it is second to no fruit for preserves or jam: it gives an excellent flavour to ice, and makes a delicious liqueur - of all the fruits used in pastry, none is more beautiful or agreeable than the ripe apricot. To prolong the enjoyment of this fruit in its natural state, we should be careful to plant the earliest variety in the warmest situation, as the frost often injures the blossoms unless it is protected by a glass shutter. The apricot, as well as the plum, may be kept for our dessert two or three weeks later, by gathering it when half ripe, and placing it in an ice-house, a dairy, or any cool place, where it slowly ' ripens. Apricots, if not too ripe, agreeably astringe and strengthen the stomach ; but like all other perfumed watery fruit, it loses its aromatic and tempting flavour, becomes clammy, and is less easy of digestion, when over-ripe : they should therefore be gathered at least twenty- four hours before they acquire the last degree of maturity. Of this excellent fruit, thirty-nine varieties have been described in the Horticultural So- ciety’s catalogue. For a smajl garden, Mr. Lindley recommends the following selection. Breda Peach apricot. Brussels. Red masculine. Hemskirke. Roman. Large early. Royal. Moorpark Turkey. The Moorpark and Turkey have been recom- mended where variety is not wanted, the for- mer being fine, and a good bearer; the latter not a good bearer, but very fine. The apricot requires a rich soil, rather lighter than the apple and pear. Budding is generally performed from the middle of June to the end of July, on mussel plum stocks two or three years old. The Breda, peach apricot, royal, and a few others are those generally budded upon the mussel, “and although,” says Mr. Lindley, “ the Moorpark is, for the most part, budded upon the common plum, on which it takes freely, yet Iam per- suaded that if it were budded on the mussel, the trees would be better, last longer in a state of vigour, and produce their fruit superior both in size and quality.” In planting out trees for training, young plants, or those called maiden plants, should be made choice of, being far preferable to those which have been headed down, and stood two years in the quarters of the nursery ; observ- ing, in all casés, without exception, that the bud should stand outwards, and the wounded part where the stock has been headed down, in- wards, or next the wall. The apricot in gene- ral bears chiefly upon the young shoots of the preceding year, and also upon small spurs 110 ARBOR VITA. rising on the two or three year old fruit branches. The pruning of wall-apricots com- prehends both a summer and a winter course of regulation. In May, the summer pruning commences by the disbudding and removal of the superfluous shoots, and shortening the smaller shoots to half an inch, which will oc- casion many of them to form natural spurs for blossoms at the base. This should be carefully done with a sharp thin-bladed knife. Care must also be taken to select and train as many of the best placed young shoots as may be wanted to form the figure of the tree, pro- ceeding thus from year to year, till it is com- pletely furnished, both in its sides and middle, for there ought not then to be a blank space in any part within its extent. For the winter pruning of apricots, every shoot should be shortened according to its strength, none being permitted to exceed 18 inches, while a few will require to be even less than 6. By pruning thus short, and training the branches thus, the trees will be kept in vigour, the fruit will always attain its full size under favourable circumstances, and its quality will be good. When the fruit is found to be too numerous and growing in clusters, thinning must be re- sorted to in May and June, leaving the most promising fruit singly, at three or four inches distance; or from about two to six on the re- spective shoots, according to their strength. The retained fruit should in all instances be situated at the sides of their respective shoots, and no fore-right fruit be suffered to remain ; for these being exposed to the full power of the sun, will perish before they can arrive at maturity. The apricot is very liable to be attacked by wasps and large flies, which should be kept off by anet. The other insects and diseases of this tree are the same as in the peach tree; but it is not nearly so obnoxious to their at- tacks, probably owing to the comparatively hard nature of its bark and wood, and coria- ceous leaves. [The apricot is the earliest and tenderest of American fruits, the blossoms coming so early as to be commonly nipped by frost. The position of the trees should be such as tends to retard flowering.] (Phillip’s Pom. Brit.; Lindley’s Guide to the Orchard and Kitchen Garden.) ARBOR VIT/ (Thuja). The generic name of this tree is a corruption from @d2 of Theophrastus, or thya of Pliny, which were derived from the verb thyé, I perfume ; as the thya of the ancients gave out an aromatic smoke when it was burnt. It is called arbor vile, or tree of life, because it keeps in full leaf winter and summer; and not in allusion to the tree of life mentioned in the book of Genesis. The first mention we have of it in England is by Gerard, in his History of Plants, which was published in 1597. He tells us that it was then growing plentifully in his garden at Holborn, where it flowered about May, but it had not then ripened seed. “The Thuja from China’s fruitful lands,’’ being of a brighter green and thicker verdure, has nearly superseded the arbor vite of Ca- nada in our plantations. It is well adapted to ARBUTUS. screen private walks or low buildings, as it gives out flat spreading branches near the ground; but it has a sombre appearance, un- less associated with more cheerful foliage, or ornamented by some gay climbing plant, as the everlasting pea, the flaming nasturtium, or our native bindweed. The arbor vite, which we have borrowed from the extremity of the east and of the west, as a mere ornament to our pleasure-grounds, forms an article of utility and profit to the in- habitants of its native soil. It is reckoned the most durable wood in Canada, where it is known by the name of the white cedar. All the posts which are driven into the ground, and the palisades round the forts, are made of this wood. The planks in the houses are made of it; and the thin narrow pieces of wood which form both the ribs and the bottom of the bark boats commonly made use of there, are taken from this wood, because it is pliant enough for the purpose, when fresh, and also because it is very light. The thuja wood is reckoned one of the best for the use of lime- kilns. Its branches are used all over Canada for brooms, which leave their peculiar scent in all the houses where they are used. The arbor vite affords [a popular remedy for rheumatic and some other complaints among the Indians and settlers of North America.] The finest trees are always raised by seed, but they are more easily propagated by layers or cuttings. (Phil. Syl. Flor.) 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 unedo, or strawberry tree. In Pliny’s time, when Rome abounded in wine and oil, they called the tree wnedo, which was an abridgment of unum 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 lalce 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 (Ecl. vii.), and recommends the twig as a winter 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 in dry springs it should 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 ARROW-HEAD. tree in our shrubberies with double blossoms, and another with red flowers. Aiton enume- rates five different species of the arbutus, anc there are several varieties of them in the Pari- sian gardens not to be seen in our shrubberies, The leaves of the arbutus are said to be use- fully employed by tanners in preparing their leather. (Phillips's Sylva Florifera.) 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 year are full blown, thus giving the tree a beautiful appearance. ARCHED. A term employed 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 Annorra. AROMATIC. An epithet applied to such plants, and other bodies, as yield a fragrant odour, and have a warm spicy taste. AROMATIC REED (Acorus 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 of 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 impart a nauseous flavour. It is the Calamus aromaticus of the shops, and Linnzus Says, the roots powdered might supply the place of foreign spices. (Eng. Flor. vol. ii. p. 157; Pazxton’s Bot. Dict. ; Willich’s Dom. Encye.) 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 (Triglochin). 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. il. p. 200.) ARROW-HEAD = (Sagittaria sagittifolia, from sagi/fa, an arrow; because of the resem- blance of the leaves to the head of that weapon), 11 ARROW-ROOT. [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. Flor. vol. iv. p. 144; Willich’s Dom. Encye. [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 arundinacea. 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- stuffs. 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, washed, 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 by 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 the fecula may subside, which is afterwards washed with a fresh portion of water and then dried inthe 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, formerly used by the aborgines for making arrows.» The slender stems, when the pith is removed, afford good 112 ARTICHOKE. fuse-sticks for blasting rocks. Ten or twelve species of Viburnum are enumerated in the United States. (See Darlington’s Flor. Cestrica.)] ARSENIC. See Porson. ARTEMISIA. See Wonmwoops. 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 sucha depth into the earth, that a spring is found of sufficient power to rise to and run over the surface. ARTICHOKE (Cynara). From cinere, 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 blows, 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. quantity for a family, one row across one of the plats will be sufficient.” (Cobbett’s Ame- rican Gardener.)| ‘ Those plants produce the finest heads which are planted ina 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 if 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 ahead is cut from the perma- nent bed, the stem must 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 performed, 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 injury. Every other 15 ARTICHOKE. 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. Juhnson’s Kitchen Gar- den. ARTICHOKE, JERUSALEM (Helianthus tuberosus, from “Haws, the sun, and ay6ec, 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 gardeners, at the close of July or early in August, cut the stems off about their middle, to admit more freely the air and light; in other respects it may be beneficial to the tubers. ' The tubers may be taken up as wanted dur- ing September; and in October, or as soon as the stems have withered, entire for preserva- tion in sand, for winter’s use. They should be raised as unbroken as possible, for the small- est piece of a tuber will vegetate, and appear K2 113 ARTIFICIAL GRASSES. in the spring; for which reason they are often allotted some remote corner of the garden; but their culinary merits certainly demand a more favourable treatment. (C. W. Johnson's Kitchen Garden). The Jerusalem Artichoke thrives well in the United States on soft, moist, and it is said even on peaty soils. This root is abundant in the English and French markets, where it sells for a little more than the price of Irish potatoes. The fibres of the stems may be separated by maceration similar to hemp, so as to be capa- ble of being manufactured into cordage or cloth, as is practised in some parts of Europe, where the plant is an object of field culture, especially on the poor and sandy soils. The artichoke will yield, with similar culture, 30 per cent. more than the potato, and if the land be poor, they will yield at least double the quantity per acre that can be raised with the potato, and the expense of culture is no more. They are particularly adapted to the climate and soil of the Middle and Southern States, and being hardy, can be left during the fall and winter in the ground to be rooted up by hogs, great numbers of which may be thus fattened at little expense. Or they may be taken up and given to all kind of stock, for which purpose it is more requisite to steam them than potatoes. One of the chief objec- tions urged against their culture is, that not being killed in winter by the frost, they grow among the crops which succeed them. But this is a comparatively trifling objection. The Jerusalem artichoke certainly deserves more attention from farmers than it now gets in the United States. ARTIFICIAL GRASSES. See Gnrasszs. ARUM. Common Cuckow-pint, or Wake- Robin (Arum maculatum). See Waxr-Rosiyn and Ivnran Turner. ARUNDO. A genus of grasses in which a number of useful species was once compre- hended; but in consequence of the altered views of botanists regarding the limits of ge- nera, it is now confined to the Arundo donaz, and the species most nearly agreeing with it. These are grasses of considerable size, some- times acquiring a woody stem, and found only in the warm parts of the world. The Arundo is closely allied to the genus Sacchafum, the last of which includes the sugar-cane. (Penny Cyclop.) Arundo arenaria. Sea-reed, marram, starr, or bent. (See Plate 7,0.) The nutritive mat- ter of this grass affords a large portion of sac- charine matter when compared with the pro- duce in this respect of other grasses. The Elymus arenarius, however, affords about one- third more sugar than the present plant. The quantity of nutritive matter afforded by the Elymus arenarius is superior to that afforded by the Arundo arenaria, in the proportion of 4 to 5. From experiments as to the produce, it would appear that the A. arenaria is unworthy of cultivation as food for cattle, out of the in- fluence of the salt spray. But from the habit of the plant in its natural place of growth, it is of great utility, particularly when combined with the Elymus arenarius, in binding the loose sands of the sea-shore, and thereby raising a 114 ASH. natural barrier, the most lasting against the encroachments cf the ocean upon the land. So far back as the reign of William IIL, the im- ' portant value of the Elymus arenarius and Arundo arenaria was so well appreciated as to induce the Scottish parliament of that period to pass an act for their preservation on the sea-coasts-of Scotland. And these provisions were, by the British parliament in the reign of George I., followed up by other enactments, ex- tending the operation of the Scottish law to the coasts of England, and in passing further penal ties for its inviolability, so that it was rendered penal, not only for any individual, not even ex- cepting the lord of the manor, to cut the bent, but for any one to be in possession of any within eight miles of the coast. This plant is likewise applied to many economical purposes; hats, ropes, mats, &c., being manufactured from it. (Sinelair’s Hort. Gram. Wob.) ASCARIDES. See Worms, Inrrstinan. ASH (Frdxinus excelsior). This tree was called by the Greeks peaiz, and by some pzaéz. The Latins, it is thought, named it Fraxinus, quia fucilé frangitur, to express the fragile na- ture of the wood, as the boughs of it are easily broken. We are thought to have given the name of ash to this tree, because the bark of the trunk and branches is of the colour of wood-ashes, whilst some learned etymologists affirm that the word is derived from the Saxon eye. Virgil tells us that the spears of the Ama- zons were of this wood, and Homer celebrates the mighty ashen spear of Achilles. Many of the ancient writers highly extolled the ash. It has been asserted that serpents have such an antipathy to the ash, that they will not ap- proach eyen within its morning or evening shadows; and Pliny tells us (he says upon ex- perience), that if a fire and serpent be sur- rounded by ash boughs, the serpent will sooner run into the fire than into the boughs. There are many other superstitious notions attached to the ash, which it would be foreign to our purpose to notice. There are several varieties of the ash, among which are, 1. The weeping, which forms a beautiful arbour when grafted upon a lofty stem: it is said to have originated incidentally in a field at Garntingay, Cambridgeshire: 2. The entire leaved: 3. The curl-leaved, which has a dark aspect: and, 4. The wasted. Ash plantations have lately been formed in many parts of the kingdom to a very consider- able extent. The Romans used the ash-leaves for fodder, which were esteemed better for cat- tle than those of any other tree, the elm ex- cepted: and they were also used for the same purpose, before agriculture was so well un- derstood, and our fields clothed with artificial grasses. In Queen Elizabeth’s time, the in- habitants of Colton and Hawkshead Fells re- monstrated against the number of forges in the country, because they consumed all the loppings and croppings which were the sole winter food for their cattle. In the norih of Lancashire the farmers still lop the tops of the ash to feed their cattle in autumn, when the grass is on the decline; the cattle peeling off the bark as food. The Rev. Mr. Gilpin tells us, that in forests the keepers make the deer ‘ ——— \ ASH. browse on summer evenings on the sprays of ash, that they may not stray too far from the walk. The branches are frequently given to deer in time of frost. The ash-tree, in early days, served both the soldier and the scholar. It was also a principal material for forming the peaceable implements of husbandry, as it continues to be with us to this day, in the shape of carts, wagons, teeth and spokes of wheels, harrows, rollers, &c. The gardener recognises it in his rake-stem, spade-tree, and other tool handles. The hop-planter knows its yalue for poles, the thatcher for spars, the ouilder for ladders, the cooper for hoops, the turner for his lathe, the shipwright for pulleys, the mariner for oars and ship-blocks, the fisherman for tanning his nets and drying his herrings ; the wheelwright employs it usefully, and the coach-maker profitably, whilst the ca- binet-maker palms it off upon us as green ebony. The ashes of this wood afford very good potash, and the bark is used in tanning calf-skins, and dyeing green, black, and blue. The ash-keys were formerly gathered in the green state, and pickled with salt and vinegar, and served to table for sauce. Were we to transcribe all we have seen written on the medicinal virtues of this plant, it might naturally be asked how it happens that we do not meet our ancestors upon earth, who had in this tree a cure for every malady ? The Arabian as well as the Greek and Roman physicians, highly extol the medicinal proper- ties of the seed which the Latins named lingua avis, bird’s tongue, which it resembles. Drs. Taner, Robinson, and Bowles, are amongst the later physicians who commend the good quali- ties of this little seed. The common ash pro- pagates itself plentifully by the seed, so that abundance of young plants may be found in the neighbourhood of ash-trees, provided cattle are not suffered to graze on the land. It pro- duces its leaves and keys in spring, and the seeds ripen inSeptember. The foliage changes its colour in October. (Bawler’s Lib. Ag. Kn.; Phillips's Syl. Flor.) (Michaux states that eight species of ash are mentioned by botanists as indigenous to Europe, whilst a much greater number exist in the United States. Probably more than thirty species can be found east of the Mississippi. A striking resemblance runs through the whole genus; but itis the white ash of America, the wood of which, by its strength and elasticity, is adapted to so many useful purposes, that bears the nearest resemblance to the common ash of Europe.] ASHES (Goth. afzgo, azgo, dust; Sax. area; Dutch and Germ. asche; Su. Goth. aska). “ Ashes contain a very fertile salt, and are the best manure for cold lands, if kept dry, that the rains doth not wash away their salt.” (Mort. Hush. ; Todd’s Johnson.) The use of ashes may be traced to a very early age. The Romans were well acquainted with paring and burning. Cato recommends the burning of the twigs and branches of trees, and spreading them on the land. Palladius says, that soils so treated would require no other manure for five years. They also burnt their stubbles, a practice common among the Jews. The ancient Britons, according to Pliny, ASHES. used to burn their wheat-straw and stubble, and spread the ashes over the soil. And Con- radus Heresbachius, a German counsellor, in his Treatise on Husbandry, published in 1570, which was translated by Googe, tells us, p. 20, that “in Lombardy, they like so well the use of ashes, as they esteem it farre aboue any doung, thinking doung not meete to be used for the unholsomnesse thereof.” It is the earthy and saline matters of the burnt soils, and combustibles employed, which constitute the substance of the ashes employed in agriculture. Their use as a ma- nure is very general in most parts of England, although many errors are usually committed in their application, and much erroneous rea- soning wasted in accounting for their unsuc- cessful application in some districts, or their general success in others. Those usually em- ployed for agricultural and horticultural pur- poses in this country are, 1. The ashes of coal ; 2. Ashes of wood; 3. Peatashes; 4. The ashes from turf, as in paring and burning; 5. The ashes of burnt clay; 6. The ashes from soap-boilers. I will remark upon these, in the order in which I have enumerated them. 1. Coal Ashes—The only analysis of coal that I am acquainted with is that of earth-coal, by M. Klaproth: he found it to be composed of— Volatile matter ah Bir =» 62°25). 8 pa 22) £4 | = 8 | silica. |E=| Loss 24/88] a¢ = me oC 100 parts of ashes of young oak dry wood, contain - - = = |26°0)28°5 112-25) 0:12/I- “5S Bark of ditto, ditto - | 7-0) 4:5 63-25] 0°25]1°75/22°75 Perfect oak wood, do. |38-6| 4:5 |32- 2 1225/20 65 Poplar wood, ditto - |— |16-7527° | 33 |15 [245 Poplar bark, ditto - | 6 | 58 60° 4: |1°5 |23°2 Wood of the hazel, do. |24°5/35: 8: 0°25]0°12/ 32-2 | Bark, ditto, ditto - - |12°5| 5:5 54" 0:25}1°75 |26° Mulberry wood, ditto 21: | 2:25.56" | 0°12|0:25/20°38 (Cut in November.) Bark of ditto, ditto - | 7 | 85 /45° [15°25)1°12)95:13 Wood of hornbeam - }22° |23' 26° 0 12/2°25|26°63 Bark, ditto - - | 45) 45 59° 1:5 }0°12|30°38 Wood of chestnut- - | 95} — | — | — |—|] — Straw ofwheat - - |225| 62] 1- |61:5 |1 +78 Branches of the pine- 15° | — | — | — | — — The soluble salts of these ashes are chiefly carbonate and muriate of potash. The earthy phosphates are the phosphates of lime and magnesia (or the principal salt of bones) ; the earthy carbonates are those of lime (challx), and magnesia; silica is the pure earth of flint; and the oxides were those of iron and manga- nese. The cultivator will readily see, by the results of these valuable investigations, the reason why wood ashes are so much superior to those from coal as a manure. The ashes from wood, he will notice, contain a very consider- able proportion of the phosphates of lime and magnesia; those from the hazel, containing 35 per cent., and those from the wood of young oalc 25 per cent., essential vegetable ingredients, of which the ashes from coal are entirely desti- tute. The phosphate of lime, it will be re- membered, is the chief fertilizing constituent of bones, in which valuable manure it is inva- riably present, in proportion varying from 374 per cent. in the bones of the ox, to 35 per cent. in those of the hare. Wood ashes also contain a considerable proportion of carbonate of pot- ash, a salt which is more or less present in all vegetable substances, and for which, therefore, it must be highly serviceable as a food. The carbonate of potash, too, promotes the disso- lution of dead vegetable substances, and it also, from its attraction of moisture from the atmosphere, must promote an increased sup- ply to the soil. Wood ashes are often very judiciously added to common manure, the quality of which is much improved by the mix- ture. The leaves of trees, when burnt, gene- rally produce more ashes, or potashes as they are called, (from being formerly produced by burning vegetable substances in large open pots), than the branches, and the stem of the tree the least of all; herbs produce four or five times, and shrubs three or four times as much as either. All vegetables produce more ASHES. ashes if burnt when green than when they are previously dried. Davy (Lectures, p. 118) has given a table of the quantity of potashes fur- nished by the combustion of various common vegetable substances, which I shall here insert, as the cultivator will see by it that there isa very remarkable difference in the quantity pro- duced by equal weights of different trees and lants. p Parts of Potashes. 10,000 parts of the poplar produced ~ =, — _ beech = - - — — oak = - - 1 — _ elm — - - 39 os _ vine _ - - 55 — — thistle -_- - - 53 -- =— fern — - - 62 _— _— cow thistle — - - 196 = = beans = - - 200 — — _ vetches — - - 275 — — wormwood — - - 730* = = fumitory — - - 790 Peat Ashes.—Peat ashes are made in many parts of England for the use of the farmer by burning peat in large heaps, after it has been sufficiently dried by the heat of the sun; and for grass lands and turnips they have been found a very valuable manure. They are usually applied as atop dressing. The com- position of peat ashes more nearly resembles that of coal ashes than those from wood or vegetables—which is a result hardly to be ex- pected, when we consider that the immense beds of peat, or turf, as it is sometimes called, which are dispersed over Britain, are evidently composed of the remains of vegetable sub- stances; trunks of trees, leaves, fruits, stringy fibres, the remains of water mosses, &c., and this in some places to a depth of 15 yards. Peat ashes were analyzed by Davy, with much care: he came to the conclusion that they owe most of their fertilizing properties to the pre- sence of gypsum (or sulphate of lime). In the Berkshire and Wiltshire peat ashes, he discovered a considerable portion of it. The Newbury peat ashes he found to be composed of from one-fourth to one-third gypsum, and in the peat ashes of Stockbridge and Hampshire, a still larger proportion of the same substance. The other constituents of peat ashes are cal- careous, aluminous, and silicious earths, with varying quantities of sulphate of potash, a little common salt, and occasionally oxide of iron, especially in the red varieties of peat ashes. “These peat ashes,” said Davy, “are used as a top dressing for cultivated grasses, particu- larly sainfoin, clover, and rye-grass. I found that they afforded considerable quantities of gypsum, and probably this substance is inti- mately combined as a necessary part of their woody fibre; if this be allowed, it is easy to explain the reason why it operates in such small quantities; for the whole of a clover or sainfoin crop on an acre, according to my esti- mation, would afford, by incineration, only three or four bushels of gypsum. In examin- ing the soil in a field near Newbury, which was taken from below a footpath, near the gate, where gypsum could not have been artificially furnished, I could not detect any of this sub- * Hence potash was formerly called ‘ salt of worm- wood.’” ASHES. stance in it, and at the very time I collected the soil, the peat ashes were applied to the clover in the field. Ihave mentioned certain peats, the ashes of which afford gypsum: but it must not be inferred from this, that all peats agree with them. I have examined various peat ashes from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and the northern and western parts of England, which contained no quantity that could be useful; and these ashes abound in silicious, aluminous earths, and in oxide of iron. Lord Charleville found in some Irish peat ashes, sulphate of potash. Vitriolic matter is usually found in peats; andif the soil or substratum is calcareous, the ultimate result is the produc- tion of gypsum. In general, when a recent potash emits a strong smell resembling that of rotten eggs (sulphuretted hydrogen), when acted upon by vinegar, it will furnish gypsum.” (Agric. Chem. p. 336.) In the valley of the Kennet, in Berkshire, where the peat ashes are made in very consi- derable quantities, and are used by the farmers as a manure for both grass and turnips, they are sold at three-pence per bushel, and are ap- plied at the rate of 40 or 50 bushels an acre broadcast. On most grass lands there is no dressing equal to them; and on some soils, near to Hungerford, they produce the most luxuriant crops of grass, in cases where the effects of common farm-yard manure are hardly perceptible. As a manure for turnips, they answer best in wet seasons. In very dry weather, the crops growing on the ashed land are described by the farmers as putting on a “burned” appearance. Peat ashes are extensively employed in Flanders as a manure; they are carefully pre- served by the householders, who burn turf or peat, and are sold to the farmers by the bushel, in the same way that those of Newbury are in England. Their use is chiefly confined to clo- ver, for which purpose they are an excellent top dressing. Mr. Radcliffe, in his Agriculture of Flanders, has given an analysis of these ashes, from which the farmer will see they owe nearly all their fertilizing properties to the presence of 12 percent.of gypsum. 100 parts are composed of— Bilicious earth = - - - = - ~ “32 Sulphate of lime - - = 4 2 =z Sulphate and muriate of sod - - - 6 Carbonate of lime - - - - - 40 Oxide of iron - - - - - =e Loss’ - - - - = = es = 100 Paring and burning Ashes—This is hardly the place to enter into the often argued and yet undecided question, as to the advantages of paring and burning. Itis pretty universally agreed, that the practice is highly injurious to sandy soils, beneficial to clay lands, and still more advantageous to those of a peaty descrip- tion ; thatis, to soils where there is an excess of inert vegetable remains. The cultivator of the soil will see, by the results of the analysis by Davy of the ashes produced by the paring and burning of three different descriptions of soil, | the usual products of paring and burning. 200 117 ASHES. grains of the ashes from paring and burning a chalk soil in Kent, yielded that great chemist 80 grains of chalk, ll gypsum, 9 — charcoal, 15 _ oxide of iron, 3 — saline matter, consisting of sulphate of potash, muriate of magnesia, and ve- getable alkali, 8s — alumina (clay), and silica (flint). 200 According to the estimate of Mr. Boys, who has published a treatise upon paring and burn- ing, it appears that on the chall soils of Kent, about 2660 bushels of ashes are usually pro- duced by paring and burning an acre of ground, and that this quantity of ashes, which he cal- culates will weigh 172,900 lbs., will contain Chalkigeoev= ee Re = = 69 1G bs. Gypsum - - - - - - 9,509 Oxide of iron 0, ie Soe tog ond 2 OGT Saline matter - - - - - 2,594 Charcoal - - - - eS 27BI The second specimen of ashes was from a soil at Colerton, in Leicestershire, composed of three-fourths sand, one-fourth clay, and about 4 per cent. of chalk. 100 grains of the ashes yielded 6 grains charcoal, common salt, sulphate of potash, and a trace of vegetable alkali, oxide of iron, sand, clay, and chalk. 0) Ma 82 100 The third variety of ashes was produced by paring and burning a stiff clay soil at Mount’s Bay, in Cornwall. 100 grains of these were found to contain 8 grains of charcoal, 2 common salt, and other saline matters, ii — oxide of iron, 2 — _ chalk, 81 — _ clay and sand. 100 Such are the ashes from paring and burning. The cultivator of the soil will judge whether any of these products are required by his land, and whether all the good results of paring and burning might not be generally obtained by other means, without destroying that large portion of the vegetable matters of the turf, destroyed during combustion. In those cases, however, where it is practicable to transfer the ashes produced by paring and burning a chalk soil to a clay, or, vice versa, the ashes of a clay soil to a chalk, the result must, in general, be highly and permanently beneficial to both. The Ashes of burnt Clay.—The composition of the ashes of burnt clay, although varying according to the earthy proportions of the soil, will be found pretty generally to accord with the analysis of the ashes from the clay soil, from Mount’s Bay, given above under the head, Paring and burning Ashes. Clay burning is practised with decided success in many dis- tricts of England, and, in every point of view, is by far the most eligible mode of producing ashes for manure; for the soil of the field is not thereby impoverished of its vegetable re- mains, the clay which is burnt being generally 118 ASHES. procured from ditches, banks, hedgerows, &c. The account of clay burning, given several years since by General Vavasour, of Melbourne Hall, in Yorkshire, is so practical and satisfac- tory, that I cannot do better than quote his own words :—“I would recommend to a beginner, that the kiln should be made small, about three yards wide, and six yards long in the in- side; as he becomes more skilful, they may be made larger. The walls of the kiln are to be made of sods, two feet thick at the bottom, and one foot thick at the top, leaving two flues on each side, and one at each end, about one foot square; these walls may be built at first four feet high. We then put in the wood, be- ginning with the larger pieces at the bottom, particularly near the flues, supported by sods to keep them open, adding tops of firs, or any brushwood, until the kiln is nearly filled. It might be burnt with coal or peat, if more con- venient. Cover the wood with a layer of clay taken from some bank or ditch in the field, and which has been digged sometime before to dry ; it is not necessary that it should be very dry. The fire is then to be lighted at the flue by means of straw previously placed there. The greatest care is required that the fire shall not escape at the top; but fresh clay constantly thrown on, wherever it seems likely to burn out, at the same time not overloading the kiln, so as to put out the fire. As the quantity of clay is increased, the walls should be raised, keeping them a foot higher than the clay. About six feet will be as high as can be conve- niently burned. The chief art seems to be, to procure a great mass of fire at first, and to let the fire rise through the clay as you go, to let it smoke in every part at the top, but not to burn out. My men, who burnt by contract, watch the kilns by night and day. I have applied the ashes almost exclusively for wheat, upon a clay soil, spreading them on a fallow after the last ploughing, and harrowing them in with the seed, at the rate of 30 tons per acre, on 80 acres. The longer the ashes remain upon the land, before harrowing, the better, that the lumps may fall, and mix with the soil. If the walls are well made, one end may be taken down, and, after the kiln is emptied, rebuilt for a second burning; if not likely to stand, they may be entirely burned in a succeeding Inln. If the weather should not be moist, the kilns will burn for some weeks, as the clay will con- tinue hot long after the wood is consumed.” Clay ashes have been used to a very con- siderable extent by Mr. Hewitt Davis, of Spring Park, near Croydon, on several of his farms, and with the most decided success. This ex- cellent farmer and land-agent has the clay dug out in pits, that it may be more readily dried. He burns in heaps; and employs as fuel col- lections of hedge-clippings, furze, &c.; and these he thinks it best not to use in too dry a State, since one great object in clay-burning, he is of opinion, is to produce a steady moul- dering heat, not too fast. A fire, therefore, should not be suffered to flame. The fire in the heaps usually works against the wind, when those heaps are properly made. He ap- plies about 150 bushels of the ashes per acre; pays 1d. to 14d. per bushel for burning; dress- ASHES. ing with them with great advantage all kinds of soil, for turnips, &c. Mr. Poppy, of Witnesham, in a pamphlet published in 1830, after giving various direc- tions for burning clay, adds :—“Salt (the only inexhaustible universal manure, besides burnt earth) does not increase the bulk of straw; and although it may be, and is, beneficial to corn, it will not be very extensively used, be- cause its benefit is not apparent to the eye: burnt earth produces an abundance of straw. I have seen the corn so luxuriant on the sites of the heaps, where due caution was not used in laying a floor of earth under the fire, that it was rotted on the ground, and destroyed the clover plant. I have seen the beans on the site of a burnt-earth heap even too luxuriant; and potatoes and mangel wurzel a double pro- duce to the rest of the crop. There is no limit to burning earth on stiff clay soils, because the most sterile subsoil, brought up purposely by the plough will, by the action of fire, be con- verted into useful manure. If it is converted into staple, it increases the depth of titheable soil, and acts both physically and mechani- cally.” The Suffolk plan of clay-burning is similar to that adopted in Yorkshire. “The common mode of burning earth is to dig old borders, surfaces of banks, &c.; turn it over, and, when dry, cart it to a heap, and burn; formerly much wood was used, but haulm, straw, dry weeds, and a few bushes, whins, or any thing of that kind, may be employed; then build a circular wall of turfs around it, cover the heap slightly with turfs and earth, and set fire to it in several places; feeding with the most inflammable materials at first, afterwards clay or any earth will burn; when all the earth is on the heap, the walls may be pulled down and thrown on, raising it by degrees as the fire ascends, in the shape of a cone, till all is con- sumed.” The expense of this kind of clay-burning is thus estimated by Mr. Poppy :— £8,..d. Labour, digging, and burning 100 loads, at 9d. per load - - - - - - - = 315) “0. Filling, ls. 6d. per secore—7s. 6d.; carting three horses and two carts, l6s. —- - - - 1.36 Filling and spreading after burning, 3d. peracre 015 0 Carting, and laying out overtwoacres) - - 016 0 £6 9 6 Total per 100 loads’) - - Or 3/. 4s. 9d. per acre for 50 loads, or ls. 4d. per load. Clay-burning, according to Mr. Poppy, is certainly not a modern Suffolk improvement. “T have constantly seen it practised for half a century; and the oldest man I ever con- versed with on the subject, spoke of it as com- mon as long as he could remember. I have a workman on the farm who is, I think, upwards of eighty years of age, and has always followed the vocation of burning earth.” The Ashes from Soap Boilers—Soap boilers’ ashes are a mixture of a peculiar description; they are principally the insoluble portion of the barilla, potashes, or kelp, employed in soap-making, mixed with cinders, lime, salt, and other occasional additions; and also with muriate of potash, common salt, and other saline matters. ASHES. The quantity of pearl and potashes import- ed into the United Kingdom is very consider- able; in 1837, it amounted to 147,329 cwts.; in 1838, to 127,101 ewts.: of barilla and alkali in the same year were imported 102,135 cwts. and 72,587 ewts. (M‘Culloch’s Dictionary of Commerce.) ; The insoluble portion of barilla consists principally of lime, charcoal, sand, and oxide of iron. The insoluble portion of potash, or ashes, as they are denominated by the trade, will consist of a considerable portion of the same ingredients, added to a varying portion of phosphate of lime. Much difference of opinion has subsisted among farmers with re- gard to the advantages of soap-makers’ ashes. It has been recommended as very useful upon strong, cold soils, on peat moss, and on cold, wet pastures. The quantity recommended to be applied per acre by Arthur Young, was 60 bushels for turnips; to be harrowed in with the seed. For wet grass lands, six loads per acre. For wet arable soils, seven loads per acre. He describes the immediate eflects as very great. For poor loamy land, ten loads per acre: the effect very satisfactory. Dr. Co- gan, who has written a paper on the use of soap ashes, has given this letter of one of his correspondents, whom he describes as a plain, sensible farmer :—“ My experience of soaper’s ashes is confined to the application of it asa top dressing on pasture land. About twelve years ago, I agreed with a soap boiler for 1500 tons of soapers’ ashes. I used to apply about twenty wagon loads per acre, and a single bushing would let the whole in. Iwas laughed at, and abused by every body for my folly: these wiseacres alleging that my land would be burned up for years, and totally ruined; all which I disregarded, and applied my soaper’s ashes every day in the year, reeking from the vat, without ay mixture whatever. “T tried a small quantity (say six acres), mixed up with earth; but I found it was only doing things by halves. My land never burned, but, from the time of the application, became of a dark green colour, bordering upon black, and has given me more, but never less than two tons per acre, ever since, upon being hayned, forty-two days, viz. from May 31 to July 11. The ground I so dressed was twenty-four acres ; and I have had 120 sheep (hogs of the new Leicester breed), upon the ground from last August to this day (March 2); but I allowed them plenty of hay: and although they were culled in August last, as the worst I had out of 700 lambs, and selected for this ground on purpose to push them, they are now as good as the best I have.” As by far the most considerable portion of soap ashes is lime and chalk, wherever lime or calcareous matter is a fertilizer to the soil, soap-makers’ ashes will generally, if not in- variably, succeed; but they must be applied in quantities nearly as large as if lime was employed. Such are the chief agricultural properties of the various ashes hitherto employed in agriculture. The research is, however, by no means nearly exhausted, for these fertilizers have showed the fate generally attendant upou 119 ASHES. all agricultural or horticultural investigations: they have been lauded as equally beneficial to every description of soil, and in all situations; or they have been condemned, with equal folly, by the results of blundering trials—be- gun in ignorance, continued without care, and perhaps nearly forgotten in the hurry of a con- clusion. They furnish ingredients, such as the car- bonate of lime, carbonate of potash, charcoal, phosphate of lime, sulphate of lime, &c., which, in limited quantities, enter into the composition of all plants, as an absolute con- stituent part; and for these they must, accord- ing to the natural deficiency of the soil in these ingredients, be extremely useful. They absorb moisture from the atmosphere, too, in quantities much superior to what is generally believed, and in this property the ashes of burnt clay and coal ashes considerably ex- ceed both chalk, lime, gypsum, and even crushed rock salt, as will be seen by the re- sult of the experiments given under the head Manunes. Some very valuable comparative experi- ments on the influence of ashes upon the growth of potatoes were made by the Rev. Ed- mund Cartwright, of Hollenden House, in Kent. (Com. Board of Agric., vol. iv. p. 370.) “The soil on which these experiments were made was previously analyzed: 400 grains gave— “Silicious sand, of nena degrees of fineness - - - - - 280 grs. Tinely divided matter - - - - 104 Loss in water - - - - - 16 400 “The finely divided matter contained— “Carbonate oflime - - - - - 18 grs, Oxide of iron - - 7 Loss by incineration (probably vegetable decomposing matter) - - - Silex, alumina, &c. - - - - 62 104 “Tt will appear,” says Mr. Cartwright, “from the above analysis, that these experiments could not have been tried upon a soil better adapted to give impartial results; for of its component parts there is no ingredient (the oxide of iron possibly excepted) of sufficient activity to restrain or augment the peculiar energies of the substances employed.” ‘The beds were laid out and planted on the same day, the 14th of April; they were manured as in the following table. These beds were each forty yards in length, and one yard wide. Every bed was planted with a single row of potatoes, “and, that the general experiment might be conducted with all possible accuracy, each bed received the same number of sets.” The potatoes were taken up on the 21st of Sep- tember, when the produce of the beds were as follows :— Potatoes in Bushels, Land without any manure Beagucaits per acre - - =) 57, — with 60 bushels of wood-: ashes - - 187 — —— 60 bushels of wood-ashes, Sale 8 bushels - - 17 — + —— peat 363 bushels - - 159 — -— peat ashes 368 bushels, salt 8 bushels - 185 — —— peat 363 bushels, salt, 8 bushels - il 120 ASPARAGUS. Another series of experiments was made by Dr. Cartwright, upon a cold, wet, tenacious clay, with burnt clay, wood-ashes, and soot; in all of which tne clay ashes had a decided supe- riority of effect. The following table shows the quantity of manure applied per acre, and the produce of the land thus fertilized. (Trans. Soc. Arts, vol. xxxvi.) Produce per Acre. ae Swedes. | Poiatoes. | Barley. tons. cwts, bush. qrs. Ibs, Burnt clay. 400 bushels - | 25 2 480 4°94 Wood ashes, 100 bushels | 23 12 456 4 2 Soot —— 50 —— | 16 123 432 4 2 Soilsimple - - -|10 4 340 3 0 The operation of burning clay produces but a slight chemical alteration in the composition of the clay; its tenacity is merely destroyed, and a portion of soot and of carbonized animal and vegetable remains are diffused through the ashes; added to which, the ashes of the wood employed for the burning, which usually contain a quantity of phosphate of lime and potash, are mixed up with the mass. (Johnson on Fertilizers, 296; Brit. Farm. Mag., vol. i. p- 58.) ASPARAGUS (from the Greek eorzp2720, a young shoot before it expands). There are only two varieties, the red-topped and the green-topped; the first is principally culti- vated. There are a few sub-varieties which derive their names from the places of their growth, and are only to be distinguished for superior size or flavour, which they usually lose on removal from their native place. The soil best suited to this vegetable is a black, fresh, sandy loam, made rich by the abundant addition of manure; it should be neither tena- cious from the too great preponderance of clay, nor too dry from a superabundance of silica, but should be retentive of moisture chiefly by reason of its richness. To raise fine roots for hot-beds, they may be raised in a much moister soil (Miller’s Dictionary); but for natural productions this will not answer, as such plants are much shorter lived. The site of the beds should be such as to enjoy the in- fluence of the sun during the whole of the day, as free as possible from the influence of trees and shrubs, and, if choice is allowed, ranging north and south. The subsoil should be dry, or the bed kept so, by being founded on rubbish or other material to serve as a drain. The space of ground required to be planted with this vegetable for the supply of a smali family is at least eight rods, if less, it will be incapa- ble of affording one hundred heads at a time (Marshall says six rods will afford this quan- tity), so that part must be kept two or three days after it is cut, especially in ungenial sea- sons, to allow time for the growth of more to make a sufficient number for a dish. Sixteen rods will, in general, afford two or three hun- dred every day in the height of the season. To raise plants the seed may be sown from the middle of February to the beginning of April; the most usnal time is about the middle of March. The best mode is to insert them by the dibble, five or six inches apart and an inch below the surface, two seeds to be put in each ASPARAGUS. hole; or they may be sown in drills made the same distance asunder, or broadcast. If dry weather, the bed should be refreshed with mo- derate, but frequent waterings, and if sown as late as April, shade is required by means of a little haulm during the meridian of hot days, until the seeds germinate. Care must be taken to keep them free from weeds, though this operation should never commence until the plants are well above ground, which will be in the course of three or four weeks from the time of sowing. If two plants have arisen from the same hole, the weakest must be removed as soon as that point can be well determined. Towards the end of October, as soon as the stems are completely withered, they must be cut down, and well-putrefied dung spread over the bed to the depth of about two inches: this serves not only to increase the vigour of the plants in the following year, but to preserve them during the winter from injury by the frost. About March in the next year, every other plant must be taken up, and transplanted into a bed, twelve inches apart, if it is intended that they should attain another, or two years’ further growth, before being finally planted out; or they may be planted immediately into the beds for production. It may be here re- marked, that the plants may remain one or two years in the seed-bed; they will even succeed after remaining three, but if they continue four they generally fail: it is, however, nearly cer- tain that they are best removed when one year old, for the earlier a plant can possibly be re- moved, the more easily does it accommodate itself to the change, and less injury is it apt to receive in the removal. Some gardeners sow the seed in the beds where they are to remain for production. This mode, too, has the sanc- tion of Miller. The time for the final removal is from the middle of February until the end of March, if the soil is dry and the season warm and forward; otherwise it is better to wait until the commencement of April. The plan which some persons have recommended, to plant in autumn, is so erroneous, that, as Miller emphatically says, the plants had better be thrown away. Mr. D. Judd has mentioned (Trans. Hort. Soc. Lond., vol. ii. p. 236) a very determinate signal of the appropriate time for planting, which is, when the plants are begin- ning to grow: if moved earlier, and they have to lie torpid for two or three months, many of them die, or in general shoot up very weak. Immediately that the buds begin to swell they should be removed, and this may easily be ascertained by occasionally opening the ground down to the stool. A successful expe- riment, tried by Mr. J. Smith, gardener to the Earl of Kintore, would evince that one year old asparagus plants may be removed even as late as June. The stems of his plants, at the time of removal in that month, were twelve or fifteen inches high: they were removed and treated with the greatest care, the earth being gently pressed round the root, and water given plentifully ; but although the experiment per- fectly succeeded, for none of them died, and although they surpassed in growth those left in the seed-bed—so much so, that they might have been cut from—yet still, for many reasons, we ASPARAGUS. are justified in considering that this must hr 2 been tried under accidental or very favourab.e circumstances of soil and season, and it re- quires repeated experiments from different counties before the practice is confirmed. (Caled. Hort. Mem., vol.i. p. 71.) In forming the beds for regular production, it is customary to have them four or five feet wide. In the first instance, they have three rows of plants, in the latter four. The site of the bed being marked out, the usual practice is to trench the ground two spades deep, and then to cover it with well-rotted manure from six to ten inches deep; the large stones being sorted out and care taken that the dung lies at least six inches below the surface. To mix the manure with the soil effectually, Mr. D. Judd, before men- tioned, trenches his ground two feet deep, three times successively during the autumn or win- ter, at intervals of a fortnight, and then lays it in ridges until wanted, performing the work in the absence of rain or snow: he justly ob- serves, that the preparation of the soil is of more consequence to be attended to than all the after management. (Trans. Hort. Soc. Lond., vol. ii. p. 234.) In France, however, where the beds are cele- brated for the number of years they continue in production, a pit is dug five feet in depth, and the mould that is raised from it sifted, care being taken to reject all stones, even as small as a filbert; the best part of the mould is laid aside for making up the bed. The bed is then formed as follows, beginning at the bot- tom; six inches deep of common manure— eight of turf, very free from stones—six of manure—six of sifted earth—eight of turf— six of very rotten dung—eight of best earth; finally, this last layer of mould is well incor- porated with the adjoining one of dung. The bed is then ready for the reception of the plants. (Dr. M‘Culloch, in the Caled. Hort. Mem.) The plants being taken from the seed- bed carefully with a narrow, prolonged dung- fork, with as little injury to the roots as poss1- ble, they must be laid separate and even to gether, for the sake of convenience whilst planting, the roots being apt to entangle, and cause much trouble and injury in parting them. They should be exposed as short a time as possible to the air; and to this end it is ad- visable to keep them until planted in a basket, with a little sand, and covered with a piece of mat. The mode of planting is to form drills or narrow trenches, five or six inches deep and a foot apart, cut out with the spade, the line side of each drill being made perpendicu- lar, and against this the plants are to be placed, with their crowns one and a half or two inches below the surface, and twelve inches asunder: in France eighteen are al- lowed. The roots must be spread out wide in the form of a fan, a little earth being drawn over each to retain it in its position whilst the row is proceeded with. If the plants have be- gun to shoot, it is the practice in France to remove the sprouts, and with this precaution the planting is successfully performed as late as July, and if any of those die which were first planted, they are replaced at that season. This is a practice to be avoided as much as L 12 ASPARAGUS. possible, for it obviously must weaken the plants, and be particularly detrimental to such young plants. For the sake of convenience, one drill should be made ata time, and the "plants inserted and covered completely before another is commenced; the two outside drills must be each six inches from the side of the bed. When the planting is completed the bed is to be lightly raked over, and its outline dis- tinctly marked out. Care must be had never to tread on the beds—they are formed narrow to render that unnecessary—for every thing tending to consolidate them is injurious, as, from the length of time they have to continue without a possibility of stirring them to any considerable depth, they have a natural tend- ency to have a closer texture than is beneficial to vegetation. Water must be given occasion- ally in dry weather until the plants are estab- lished. The paths between the beds are to be two and a half feet wide. Throughout the year care must be taken to keep the beds clear of weeds. In the latter end of October or com- mencement of November the beds are to have their winter dressing: the stalks must be cut down and cleared away, and the weeds hoed off into the paths, care being taken not to com- mence whilst the stems are at all green, for if they are cut down whilst in a vegetating state, the roots are very prone to shoot again, and consequently are proportionably weakened. This habit might perhaps be taken advantage of in assisting our forcing this esculent; cut- ting down the summer-produced stems of such stools as are intended for the hotbed, a consi- derable time before they lose their verdant co- lour, would give them a natural.tendency to shoot again, and consequently assist the effect of the artificial heat employed. It is generally recommended not to add any manure until the bed has been two or three years in production, and then only to apply it every other year; but I consider it much more rational to manure regularly every year from the time of forming the bed, though in less quantity than if done every other year. I put on about two inches of well decayed hotbed. By this means a con- tinued and regular supply of decomposing matter is kept up, which is not so perfectly effected by the usual mode; and from the ex- periments purposely instituted by Miller, we learn, that onthe richness of the ground and warmth of the season the sweetness of aspara- gus depends; in proportion to the poverty of the soil it acquires a strong flavour. The dung needs merely to be laid regularly over the bed, and the weeds, as well as some ma- nure, to be slightly pointed into the paths, some of the mould from which must be spread to the depth of two inches over the dung just laid upon the beds. In France the asparagus beds at this season are covered with six inches depth of manure and four of sea sand if pro- curable, otherwise, of river sand or fine earth. No forking is required; but the boundaries of the bed must be marked out distinctly, as they should be kept, indeed, at all times. In the end of March or early in April, before the plants begin to sprout, the rows are to be surred between to a moderate depth with the aspetaeus fork, running it slantingly two or 1 ASPARAGUS. three inches beneath the surface, as the object is merely to stir the surface and slightly mix it with the dung. Great care must be taken not in the least to disturb the plants. Some gardeners recommend that the beds should only be hoed again, so fearful are they of the injury which may be done to the stools; but if it be done carefully as above directed, the fork is the best implement to be employed, as by more effectually loosening the soil, it is by far the most beneficial in its effects upon the plants. This course of cultivation is to be continued annually, but with this judicious modification, that earth be never taken from the paths after the first year, but these merely be covered with dung, and which is only to be slightly dug in; for every gardener must have observed that the roots of the outer row extend into the alleys, and are consequently destroyed if they are dug over; and rather than that should take place, the beds should have no winter covering, unless mould can be obtained from some other source, as asparagus does not generally suffer from frost, as is commonly supposed. In May the beds are in full pro- duction of young shoots, which, when from two to five inches high, are fit for cutting, and as long as the head continues compact and firm. Care must be taken, in cutting, not to injure those buds which are generally rising from the same root, in various grades of suc- cessional growth within the ground. The knife ought to be narrow-pointed, the blade about nine inches in length, and saw-edged: the earth being carefully opened round the shoot, to observe whether any others are arising, the blade is to be gently slipped along the stalk until it reaches its extremity, where the cut is to be made in a slanting direction. It almost always occurs that the same stool produces a greater number of small heads than large ones, but the latter only should be cut; for the oftener the former are removed, the more numerously will they be reproduced, and the stools will sooner become exhausted. Great attention must be paid to the seed. For the obtaining it, some shoots should be marked and left in early spring, for those which are allowed to run up after the season of cutting is over, are seldom forward enough to ripen their seeds perfectly. In choosing the shoots for this purpose, those only must be marked which are the finest, roundest, and have the closest heads; those having quick opening heads, or are small or flat, are never to be left. More are to be selected than would be neces- sary if each stem would assuredly be fruitful; but as some of them only bear male or unpro- ductive blossoms, that contingency must be allowed for. Each chosen shoot must be fas- tened to a stake, which, by keeping it in its natural position, enables the seed to ripen more perfectly. The seed is usually ripe in September, when it must be collected, and left in a tub for four or six weeks, for the pulp and husk of the berry to decay, when it may be well cleansed in water. The seeds sink to the bottom, and the refuse floats and will pass away with the water as it is gently poured off. By two or three washings the seeds will be completely cleansed; and when perfectly dried OO ASPARAGUS. by exposure to the sun and air, may be stored for use. Some gardeners keep them in the pulp until the time of sowing, unless required to be sent to a distance. To force Asparagus.—Such plants must be inserted in hotbeds as are five or six years’ old, and appear of sufficient strength to pro- duce vigorous shoots: when, however, any old natural ground plantations are intended to be broken up at the proper season, some of the best plants may be selected to be plunged into a hotbed or any spare corner of the stove bark-beds. When more than ten years old, they are scarcely worth employing. To plant old stools for the main forcing crop, is, how- ever, decidedly erroneous; for, as Mr. Sabine remarks, if plants are past production, and unfit to remain im the garden, little can be ex- pected from them when forced. The first plantation for forcing should be made about the latter end of September: the bed, if it works favourably, will begin to produce in the course of four or five weeks, and will continue to do so for about three; each light producing in that time 300 or 400 shoots, and affording a gathering every two or three days. To have a regular succession, therefore, a fresh bed must be formed every three or four weeks, the last crop to be planted in March or the early part of April: this will continue in production until the arrival of the natural ground crops. The last-made beds will be in production a fortnight sooner than those made about Christ- mas. The bed must be substantial, and propor- tioned to the size and number of the lights, and to the time of year—being constructed of stable dung, or other material. The common mode of making a hotbed is usually followed ; but, as Mr. Sabine remarks, the general ap- pearance of forced asparagus in December and the two following months, gives a suffi- cient indication of defective management. The usual mode he considers erroneous, inasmuch as that the roots of the plants come in contact with, or are over, a mass of fermenting matter; and the mode of raising potatoes practised by Mr. Hogg, which will be hereafter stated, first suggested the plan for obviating this defect, and it has been confirmed as correct by the suc- cessful practice of Mr. Ross, gardener to E. Ellice, Esq., of Brentford, who, by planting his asparagus in the tan of his exhausted pine pits, which consist of eighteen inches of leaves, and over that the same depth of tan, and applying hot dung, successively renewed, round the sides, and thus keeping up a good heat, produced in five weeks asparagus so fine, and by admitting as much air as possible during the day, of such good colour and so strong, as nearly to equal the natural ground crops. It is the best practice to plant the as- paragus in mould laid upon the tan, which, or some other porous matter, is indispensable for the easy admission of the heat from the linings. The bed must be topped with six or eight inches of light rich earth. If a small family is to be supplied, three or four lights will be sufficient at a time; for a larger, six or eight will not be too many. Several hundred plants may be inserted under each, as they may be ASPARAGU . crowded as close as possible together; from 500 to 900 are capable of being inserted under a three-light frame, according to their size. In planting, a furrow being drawn the whole length of the frame, against one side of it the first row or course is to be placed, the crowns upright, and a little earth drawn on to the lower ends of the roots; then more plants again in the same manner, and so continued throughout, it being carefully observed to keep them all regularly about an inch below the surface; all round on the edge of the bed some moist earth must be banked close to the out- side roots. If the bed is extensive, it will probably ac- quire a violent heat; the frames must there- fore be continued off until it has become regu- lar, otherwise the roots are liable to be de- stroyed by being, as it is technically termed, scorched or steam-scalded. When the heat has become regular the frames may be set on, and more earth be applied by degrees over the crowns of the plants, until it acquires a total depth of five or six inches. The glasses must be kept open an inch or two, as long and as often as possible, without too great a reduction of temperature occurring, so as to admit air freely and give vent to the vapours, for on this depends the superiority in flavour and appear- ance of the shoots. The heat must be kept up by linings of hot dung, and by covering the glasses every night with mats, &c. The tem- perature at night should never be below 50°, and in the day its maximum at 62°. In gather- ing, for which the shoots are fit when from two to five inches in height, the finger and thumb must be thrust down into the earth, and the ‘stem broken off at the bottom. This excellent vegetable possesses some diuretic properties. Its juice contains a peculiar crystallizable substance, which was discovered by Vauquelin and Robiquet, and named by them Asparagine. It is hard, brittle, colourless, and in the form of rhomboidal prisms: its taste is nauseous. The decoction of the plant is sometimes used on the Continent as a diuretic; but it is rarely or never prescribed in England. M. Dubois, of Paris, has submitted asparagus berries to fermentation, and procured a spirit from them by distillation, with which he makes an excel- lent liqueur. (Dict. des Drogues ; G. W. John- son’s Kitchen Garden, 813; Miller's Dictionary ; Trans. Hort. Soc. Lond. vol. ii. pp. 234, 263, 361; Dr. Macculloch, Caled. Hort. Mem. vol. i.) ASPEN TREE (Populas Tremula). This is a branch of the poplar family, which derives its Latin name from the incessant trembling of its leaves. The English name is from the German espe, which is the general name for all poplars. The heart-shaped leaves adhere to the twigs by a long and slender stalk, the plane of which is at right angles to that of the leaf, and consequently allows them a much freer motion than other leaves that have their planes parallel with their stalks. This, 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 attended of course with a rustling noise, on which ac- 123 ASPEN, AMERICAN. count country people often call it ratiler. 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 meets 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, whilst 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 Sylva Florifera.) (ASPEN, AMERICAN (Populus Tremu- loides). 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- ?>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 into 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 lamin, for the manufacture of women’s hats, light baskets, &c. The tree is considered very inferior to several species of the same genus, the Virginia poplar, for example, which is three times as large, more rapid in its growth, and of a more pleasing appearance. The large American aspen (Populus grandi- dentata), belongs rather to the Northern and Middle, than to the Southern States. In the most northerly districts it israthera rare tree, so that a person may perhaps travel several days without seeing one. For this reason, Michaux thinks ii has been confounded with the preced- ing species, which is more multiplied. It sur- ameter. ASS. account it has received from Michaux its name. It grows as favourably on uplands as on the border of swamps, and attains a height of about 40 feet, with 10 or 12 inches in di- 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 for its agreeable foliage, which enti- tles it to a place in yards and ornamental gar- dens. (Michauz’s Am. Sylva.)] 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 lands, 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 farmex, were they used, as they are in foreign countries, for the pur passes the trembling aspen in height, on which | pose of breeding mules. 124 ASS. 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 animals. 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 is 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-footedness 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- ATMOSPHERE 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. Rural Sports.) ASTRINGENT (Astringo, Lat.). In farriery, aterm 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. :— Azole, or nitrogen = ges 79:16 Oxygen - - - - 20°84 100: It contains, also, about z;5th 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— Air - - - - - - - 98°9 Watery vapour - - - - = 1 Carbonic acid gas - - - - ‘l 100° (Thomson’s Chem. vol. iii. 181.) It fulfils a very essential office with regard to the growth of plants. (See Gases, turin Use to VecE- Monruty Armosruentcat OssERyATIONS. Jan. Feb. | March. 29°921 30°70 25°890 30:067| 29:843 30°820) 30:°770 29°170) 28:870 43°9 66- 24 Barometer, average Ree height in inches Highest - - = - Lowest - - - Thermometer, average mean temperature in 49°9 = 74 2 29° degrees Highest - - Lowest - - Rain, mean quantity ah inches Evaporation of earth =f inches (mean) Winds in days: North - North-east East - South-east South - South-west West - North-west A fr oe 89 49 09,98 19 Bree Heer Tey Woe on De ao ale te L2 April. 29°881| 29°8S8) 30-036] 29-874 30°540| 20 280] 30-460] 30-300. 20°260 29-200) 29160] 29 600] 29-390 1786} 1°853} 1:830) 2°516, 2:290 May. July. Aug. Sept. Oct. | Nov. Dec. | 29°931| 29:774, 29:776| 29°693 30°410! 30 610, 30-270! 30°320 29-410, 28-740, 29 080} 29-120 48:9 39°3 68: 55° 27° 29°891 29°350 616 82: 41: 1453 3°327 54° 42:9 70° 33° 58:7 90° 87° 61- 76° 42° 62° 23° 0-286) 3°760) 3-293 4 iI Pree ae pb ROO Lat +e1= “Tho Bm bow ND Pr el 1 to += wer Uehee CR = Ao pe Ew wo British Almanac. 125 ATMOSPHERE. ration.) The composition of the atmosphere is always the same, although 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 exhibits 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 Dr. 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 ATMOSPHERE. 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 mostcommon 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 speaking, 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- tinued 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. os |= PLACES e§|s MEAN TEMPERATURE OF EACH MONTH, OF S 3 # E 5 s Sta S < ea ee : : 3) & | se] ae aa 3) B | | eR ae OBSERVATION. = 2/68/18 |s/4|2 wi ele] 318 Pe a (ie fcc) fcc Jc fee fs <|a|é|2/a Fort Vancouver, Oregon Territory, - - - = |459°37/|122°377) 1 |61 75)38—|43-—|44-— 66:—] 61 - mae 43— Fort Brady, Outlet of Lake Superior, - - = /4639 | 84 43 6 |4139]18:65]19-80 | 27-37 5! 64°52] 56°25} 45-52 33-9) |22-28 Hancock Habe He oe ee St - |46 10 | 67 50 2 [4l-21} 9-40)14'35 | 26-39) 43:85) 63-45 | 61-25|64-10| 63°43) 51-58 45°84 32 80/2648 Bors Snell Mississipph, ee i 4453 | 93 8 | 8 |45°83]13-58]18-66]32-12| 46 —| 62-11]70'83)75-47| 71 98] 69-41|49 27 33-36) 15°60 Fort Sullivan, Eastport, Maine, - - - - - |44 44 | 67 4 5 |42-95|20-83|20-68|30-98|39°69| 49-65] 57-92) 64-55|63'82|57-28|47-22' 35-69|27-35 Fort Howard, Green Ray, Wisconsin, - ~ ~ |44 40 | 87.. 9 |44°92}19:14)20-16 | 31-19)43°28)57-13|68:35| 72-25 | 68 83) 57-61 47°51 34 29/21-— Fort Preble, Portland, Maine, . - - - = ~ |43 38 | 7018 6 | 46°67|21-82|24 94|33-41|45°44|54-49 64 29| 69-71 |67°19] 59-—|49-28 38.45|31-32 Fort Niagara, Youngstown, N.¥.- - - + -|4315| 79 5 2 61°69) 26-86) 25-20) 34-39)47°52)59 77 68:90) 74-60 73-06] 63°85|58-94 48:12)39-32 Fort Constitution, Portsmouth, N.H. = = = |}43 4 | 70 49 4 {47-21 |24°50| 27-10) 34-60} 45°3 | 55-55 | 62-80, 67-89 | 66-47) 59-09/50-43 40-32/35:58 Fort Crawford, Prairie du Chien, - - 51 ii + |43 3 | 90 53 2 |45-52]19:72) 21-93) 32-43]43°92/59°45|68:57:72-40) 71°41] 61°50) 45°45 53.06] 18:04 Council Blu, near the junction of the Platte #4, 4s | 5. |g |51-02|22-61/26:59]37-43|51 $266 66 }7a-98)77 38]76-11|65-24|58:65)a8:50|2421 | Fort Wolcott, Newport, R. I. - - - - - + 41 30] 71 18 9 [50-61 }29-93) 31-06 | 37-94 | 46-41 |57-32 | 65-54) 71-45) 70°18] 63-68|54-45 | 43-39| 36:53 Fort Armstrong, Rock Island, Illinois, - ~ - {al 28 | 90 33 4 |51-64]23 78]26-28)37-47|51-26|63-83 |73-59, 77-92) 76-21 | 63-67/54°58 39-82(30°53 West Point, New York, - = - - - * 7 © 41 22 | 73 57 4 | 52-47/27-97|30-27 | 39-30 |51-57| 61-91 |70-48 74-14 73°96) 62-87 53-11 43-64 38-10 Fort Trumbull, New London, Conn., - - = |41 22 | 72 6 2 42-77|51-— | 69°22 68-67 |73:87 | 73°12) 68 02|58:10) 46+70| 43:95 Fort Columbus, New York Harbour, - - - - [40 42 | 74 2 9 ke 61-27| 70 52, 76-—|74'58|66-72|55-S2| 44-05|35°86 } Fort Mifflin, near Philadelphia, - - - + - 3951/7512! 2 63 46) 75-23! 81-57|77'—|73-35|57-20) 44-40/37°16 Washington City, D.C. - - - + - + + - 138 63 | 76 55 8 f: “73 | 66°88} 75-07 78°51) 76'63 67-17| 44-93) 39°36 Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis, - - - - {3828/90 8| 4 |58:14]34-59/36-36) 47-76|59:69|68 90|/76°58 79:04 | 79-74 |68-57 |56°84 | 47-37| 42 07 Fort Monroe, Old Point Comfort, Va, - - - |37 2 | 76 12 5 [61-43] 42°83) 44°85 | 50-67 | 58-24 67-83] 75.78, 79-65) 79°50| 72°72 | 63-78 | 53-49] 47-82 Fort Gibson, Arkansas, - - - - - - - - |35 47 | 95 10 3 62-90] 45-47/41-25|53-51 | 61-28|72-69)78 65 81-49) 83-28) 74-61 |65-95| 54-12) 46-20 Fort Johnston, Coast of North Carolina, - - |34../ 78 6 5 166 96) 51-42\52-19|60 52) 65-28 |73-70 73-98) S1-57 80:39] 76:32 |69-11 | 60-13/53-83 ‘Augusta Arsenal, Georgia, - - - - - - - 33 28 | 81.53. | 5 |66-01|48-63/53*16)58-57|65-78 73-31 |79-S8| &2+17| 81-14|74-26 |65°S4|56-36|52-49 Fort Moultrie, Charleston Harbor, - - - - |32 42 | 79 56 2 [65°78] 50°73|46-24 |59-—| 65:47|74-92|78-86 | 81-99] 79-96) 76 19 |67-32 2 Fort Jessup, near Sabine River, Louisiana, - - |31 30 | 93 47 8 |68:03) 52-30|54-09}61-79/ 66-81 | 75-20) 80°95/ 83-54) 82 96)77+14 |68:29 Cantonment Clinch, near Pensacola,- - - - |30 24 | 87 14 7 =|69.44|54 36/55-98|62-92| 68°62 /76-24/81 -50| 82-96] 82 27|78-35|70-27 Petite Coquille, near New Orleans, - |30 10 | 89 38 4 |71°25/55-98| 60-12)63-56 | 70-—/ 76-35) 82-95| 83-93] 83-47/80 58 |72-12 Fort Marion, St. Augustine, Florida, = | 4 |72-66|60-73|64 97|67-55|70-06|76°89| 81-41 |#2-81|82 67/80:16|73-83 | Fort King, Interior of East Florida, - 3 |72-66/60°81|65:28|65-56 |73 31\78-S1}84-94 | 84-03|83°63 81-52 |72-S1 | Fort Brooke, Tampa Ray, Florida, 5 |73-42| 63-08] 65:78 |68-56|72'79|77-09|80-79| 81-74!81-23|79-G5 |75-23 | Key West, or Thompson’s Island, - 3 | 76-09|67-93| 72-15 |73-71 | 75°69) 79-22| 80-51 82-59) 81-06) 80-89 76-76 Foreign Climates, designed for the purpose i of comparison. Edinburgh, Scotland, - = = - - = = = = (55°58) 3°12’| . |47.91]40-17|29.54|39-60) 45-84] 48°67|54-85|59-31|57-74|55°61 48:37 |39-60| 98:50 London, England, - - "= + = = = - - (5131) ..5 + |50:39)87-36| 40-44 | 42°64 | 48-—| 55-64 |60°-—| 63-43/63-52/58-80 |51-78|43-47/39:58 Environs of Loudon, - - = - - - = - =|... |. «| + [48-81/34°16]99-78/41-51 |46:89/55-79|58-66] 62-40| 61-35|56-22 50-24 4093/37 66 Paris, France, - - = - 7 5 °° + = = /4850] 220} . |5150/35:60] 40-50] 43-60) 49-60|58:10|62:50| 65-70|65:20|60-40|52-40|44-20'39:20 Nice Italy, * - 2 7 7c ot - |43 41} 720] . 159-48] 45-85] 49: —|51-45)57-—|63-—|69-—| 73:60|74-30|69-35 61-85 53-70/48-60 Montpelier, France, - - - - - > - > * |4336) 3 68 . 57-60 | 42-— 45-—| 47-—|53-—|60-—|67-—| 72-—| 75-—|71-— |61:-— | 52-—| 46-— Rome, Maly, wee ee ee ee = = [dt 54] 1229]. /60:70!47-65] 49-45 52-05 |56:40|64-50| 69-17]73-30| 74-02] 69:50 63-60 |58:80| 49.62 Naples, Ilaly,- - - - 7° > = = - + =}4050] 1420] . |61-40!46-50]54:50|52—|57-—|66-50)71'-—|75.—|76:50/72°50 65—|54-50/50 50 Madeira, Islandof - - - - - = - = - = (82387] ...] . |64.56/59:50/58:60 61-06 62-60|63-—|65-—|70-—|73-—|71-50 67 50 62.7060 50 Cairo, Egypt, = = - ¢ <= = = = + = 180 2) 3120] . 172-12,58-10) 56-12 64-58: 77-90178-26) 83-66] 85-82| 85-82 79-16. 72-32 62-96|61-34 For further information relative to weather, and atmospheric conditions in general, see Ba- rnometer, Crrmatre, 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- jng into the soil. An auger of the above kind, when made of a large size, and with different pieces to fix on to each other, may be very usefully applied to try the nature of the under soil, the discovering springs, and drawing off 126 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 be fixed crossways to wring it into the earth, from whence the instrument must be drawn up as often as ithas pierced anew depth of about six inches, in order to cleanse the bit, and examine the soil. AUGER, DRAINING. 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- AVENA, cessary. Two stand above, on each 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 flavescens. 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), Cynosurus cristatus (crested dog’s-tail), and Anthoxuntum 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 Grass. Soil. Avena flavescens, in flower , in seed ripe —__—__—__, Jatter-math A. pratensis, in flower = - , in seed, ripe - A, pubescens, in flower - ——__——,, in seed, ripe TA Tey Te -Clayey loam Sandy loam Produce per Acre Geemrmlese | De Freie blign etn Tbs. Ibs. Ibs. tare 8,167 8 0 2.858 10 0 78 9 0 12,251 4 0 4,900 8 0 430 11 5 4,083 12 0 - - - 79 12 2 6,806 4 0 1,871 11 8 239 4 8 ' 9,528 12 0 2,858 10 0 148 14 3 15,654 6 0 5,870 6 4 366 14 6 | 6,806 4 0 1,361 4 0 212 11 2 (Sinclair’s Hort. Gram. Wob.) 127 AVENA. . 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. Ihave sown the seeds of this grass in almost every month of the year, and after making due allowance for the state of 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 oai-grass. This species of oat-grass is much less common than the Avena pubescens, or Avena fluvescens. 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 difier- 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 preference to either of the two species 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. Avena pubescens. Downy oat-grass. [See Plate 6, }.] 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 extractive principle than the nutritive matter of those grasses that affect a similar soil, which lessens its merits im those respects and must prevent its being employed in any consiaerable quantity as a constituent of a 128 AVENUE. 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 oat 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 atthe time of flower- ing is superior to that at the time the seed is ripe, in the proportion nearly of 5to3. The, grass of the latter-math, and that at the time the seed is ripe, are of equal proportional va- Ine. It flowers in the second or third week of June, and the seed is ripe about the begin- ning or in the middle of July. [Avena elatior. See Anpzs Grass. Avena saliva. Cultivated oats. Avena sterilis, Animated oats, grown in gardens as a curiosity.] AVENS, COMMON, or HERB BENNET (Geum urbanum). An indigenous 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 conjunction with Peruvian bark, or quinine, in cases of ague and intermittent fever, and it is also valuable in long-standing cases of diarrhoea, 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 ina 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 countries, 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 flowers 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 ne* AVERAGES. 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 thi§ use, as it is adapted to al- most any soil, andis the quickest grower of any forest tree. It seldomrfails in transplant- ing, and succeeds very well in wet soils, in which the others are apt tosuffer. 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). Tn 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 Corn 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 one ton. It is most commonly written aviirdupois. 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 AZOTE. wheat, barley, and other grasses. The word is in some parts of England pronounced ails and iles. 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 nud/- 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 anda 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 ayn$cv, 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 @%:, 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, Parts. 1‘75azote and 2 oxygen forms nitrous gas. 175 _— 5 nitric acid, or aquafortis, 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 egg), &c., and these are commonly present in all animal substances. Azote unites also with hydrogen gas, and forms the volatile allcali ammonia, which is composed of— Azote - - - - = = 26 parts. Hydrogen - - - - - 74 Now, as both these substances exist in ani- mal matters, when such substances putrefy, or are subjected to the destrucuve distillation, azo AZQTE. they readily unite and form the volatile alkali ammonia. Azote exists also in gluten; 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 yet 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 (Rech. Chim. p. 40), the following were the results in cubic inches :— Composition of atmosphere, when put in. when taken out, Azote - - 211°92 - - - 218.95 Oxygen - - 5633 - - - 71:05 Carbonic acid - 21.75 - - - 0-00 290° 290. The plants, therefore, had evidently in- creased the proportion of azote and oxygen, but had entirely exhausted the air of its car- bonie acid gas. Similar experiments made with the Mentha aquatica, 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- tains more or less of the substances yield- ing nitrogen. A horse may be kept alive by feeding it with potatoes, which contain a very small 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- ropear. or American; but the fact that rice contains less nitrogen than any other grain, at once explains the cireumstance. “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 jn what form does nature furnish nitrogen to vegetable albumen, and gluten, to fruits and seeds? 130 AZOTE. “This question is susceptible of a very sim- ple 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, eyen 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 to 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 in contact with 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 every 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. earth cannot yield it. Plants, and consequent- ly 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 with wafm water, and wiped dry with alinen 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. Back sinews, 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, or 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 the 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. Horne 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 killing 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 swealed 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 off, it BAKING. 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 off 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 hams 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 effect prohibitory. See Proyvrstons ‘Trane. BAIT (Sax. batan, 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. BAKING. The application of heat in the preparation of bread. See Brean. 131 BAKING OF LAND. ‘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 dal, or bel, and likewise bol and bil. 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 egg, 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’ - - - - 6drachms Powdered ginger - - - - 2 Castile soap - - - - 2 Oil of cloves - - - 20 drops Syrup of buckthorn sufficient to form a ball. Strong Physic Ball. Barbadoes aloes - - - = &Sdrachms. Ginger, powdered - - - - 2 Castile soap - - - 2 Oil of cloves - - - = 90 drops. Syrup of buckthorn sufficient to form a ball. Calomel Ball for a Riding Horse. Calomel - - - - - ldrachm Aloes, powdered - - - - 6 Ginger, powdered - - = - 2 Castile soap - - - =- 9 Oil of cloves - - - 20 drops. Syrup of buckthorn sufficient to make ie a ball. Calomel Ball for a Cart Horse. Aloes, powdered - - 8 drachms. Otherwise same as the last. Diuretic Ball. Castile soap - - 4ounces. Nitre, powdered - = = = Rosin, powdered - - 2 Oil of juniper = ate 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 ofa hen’s egg. BALM, or BAUM (Melissa officinalis. From Gr. pert, 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 friable one, but rather inclining to clayey than silicious. Manure is never required. An eastern aspect is best for it. It is propagated vy offsets of the roots, and by slips of the oung shoots. The first mode may be prac- 132 BALSAM. 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 completed gradually in the shade. (G. W. Juhnson’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 early in March in ahot 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 have been described by Pursh, Nuttall, Darlington, and other botanists. One of these, the Pale Impatiens, 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. flowers appear from July to September. The most common species, however, is the Fulvous | |infusion or decoction, chiefly as a remedy in 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. ' Tt has sometimes been used for dying salmon- red. (Nuttall’s Genera, Darlington’s Flora Ces- trica.) The popular name of this plant must not lead to its being confounded with another, also called Lady’s Slipper, the Stemless Cypri- pedium, a very different plant. BALSAM TREE (Tacamahacea). 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 Tacamawacca.) 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 isup. 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 (Actza), and BLACK BANE BERRIES (Herb Christopher). Pe- rennial herbs, natives of 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, nauseous, and dangerous qualities. In England these herbs are found sometimes in bushy, mountainous, limestone situations. — (Smith's Engl. Flora.) Several species of Acta, 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 Acta, commonly called Black 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- BARB. tringent; and is a very popular medicine for man and beast. For the former, it is used 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 Actea, or White Cohosh, found in rocky woodlands, flowering in May, and not so common as the former. Its berries also differ from those of the Black Snakeroot, being oval, abouta fourth of an inch in diame- ter, milk white, or often tinged with purple when fully ripe. (Flor. Cestrica.) BANE-WORT. See Deanrty Nienrsuane. BANGLE-EARS. An imperfection in the ears of horses. BANKS, of rivers and marshes, &c., (bane, 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 EmMBankKMENTS.) The common law of England is very severe against those who wantonly or maliciously in- jure or destroy embankments. The 7 & 8G. 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 flood-gate, or other work on any navigable river or canal, every such offender shall be guilty of felony ; and, being 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 dactylon, P1. 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 taken 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. dactylon) common to Europe, North America, and the West India Islands. (Nu/tall’s 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. of 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 years 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- braham, 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 Bay, 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 bv oblong scarlet berries, ripen- ing in September. The branches are flexible, covered with alternate tufts of 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, may 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 pavts of the northern counties. Gerarde says BARBERRY. 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 cabinet 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 effects 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 little 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 in his shrubbery. Those which were planted immediately under the barberry-bush certainly produced no seed ; but other plants of this grass yielded 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 Mizpew.) On the other hand, we have it affirmed to be most destructive and injurious to all kinds of crops of grain and pulse, as proved by various observations, ex- periments, and testimonies, made in Branden- burgh, Hanover, Prussia, and Germany. (See Com. Board of Agr., vol. vii. pp. 18—126; and the writer there says, towards the conclusion sf his article, “To those still inclined to re- gard the barberry as innocent, notwithstanding an nis time (1597), most of the hedges near|all the above proofs to the contrary, I would 134 BARILLA. only make the request 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 barberry 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 bushe§ 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 corn? BARILLA. See Sona. BARING Roots of Trees. A practice former- ly much adopted, but which later expericnce has shown to be highly injurious and hurtful to their growth. BARK (Dan. barck; Dutch, berck; from the Teutonic bergen, 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 why 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 astringenecy; 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 various chemists: they haye found them to BARK. consist chiefly of carbon, oxygen, and hydro- gen, with various Saline and earthy substances. (Thom. Chem. vol. iy. p- 231.) M. Saussure (Chem. Rec. Veg.) found in 100 parts of the ashes of the barks of various trees the following substances :— Mul- Horn- Hazel. Poplar. | berry ern es beam. | 1 | Soluble salts - -| 7: | 125 | 6 7 | 45 Earthy phosphates | 3- 55 | 5:3) B59) 45 Earthy carbonates 18S: 54° 60° 45° 59 Silica =) |= |).1:5)| 0-95)) Seo aes Metallic oxides - | 2 | 1-75] 1-5 | 112] 0-12 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 Fanm-Yann Manure; and inits 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 tanning and dyeing 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 hark 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 em- 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. (Lect. p. 83.) Average from the entire bark of — Ths. Middle-sized oak, cut in spring - - - - 29 ———_— cut in autumn - - - 21 Spanish chestnut - - - - = - 21 Leicester willow (large size) - - = E132 Elm - = - = = - - - - 13 Common willow (large) - - - = ei Ash - - - = - - - - Se Beech - - - - - = = 10 Horse chestnut - - - = = = = IG Sycamore - - - - = = = ei | Lombardy poplar - = = = = eas Birch - - - - - ~ = = ae Hazel - - - - - - - = aye Blackthorn - - - - 5 : = a6 Coppice oak - - - < 2 = - 32 Larch, cutinautumm - - = =o wee White interior cortical layers of oak bark 135 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 44,551 ewts. The quantity 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. toa gallon), applied by a plasterer’s brush. BARK-BEETLES, see Pine-rrex Berrxr, or Weryit. 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 wp 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 or knife for cutting the bark, while yet on the trunk, across at regular dis- tances, and of chisels or spatule, of different lengths and breadths for separating the bark trom the wood. BARKING OF TREES. the operation of stripping off the bark or rind. Itis 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 too] 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 ashen wedges, somewhat spatula-shaped, and which may either be driven by the mallet, or, being formed with a kind of handle, may be pushed with the hand; and with a smooth- 137 BARKING, skinned whin, or other land-stone. The cut- ters are divided into two parties; hatchet-men, ' who sever the stem, and hook-men, who prune lit 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, &c. 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 asheep. A skilful barker will skin a tree ar branch as completely as a butcher a beast. But the point most particularly to be observed in this artis, to take off the bark in as long shreds or strands as possible, for the con- venience of carriage to, and drying it on, the horses. These are formed of 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, and 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 hagman 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 bark. 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 is generally the common one of setting itina 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 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 “ Insects 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 the 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, Linnzus retained them all under the same name. Hence in the genus Coccus are included not only the Thola of the Phoenicians and Jews, the Kermes of the Arabians, or the Coceus of the Greeks and Romans, but the scarlet grain of Poland, 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 slightly 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 mostly 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 antenne, 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 males, which moreover are provided with a 18 BARK-LICE. 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 witha mealy powder, as the Coccus cacti, 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 leayes, and draw from the cellular substance the sap that nou- rishes them. Réaumur 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, ina 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 few 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 be- M2 137 BARK-LICE. come perfect pup, the rudiments of wings, antenne, 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 beneath 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, which continues for a longer or 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 female, and is pro- vided with only two wings, which are usually very large, and lie flatly on the top of the body. After the insects have 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 ina 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 which was described by Réaumur in 1738, who found it on the elm in France, and Geoffroy named the insect Coceus arborum linearis, while Gmelin called it conchiformis. 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 somewhat doubtful whether our apple-tree bark-louse be identical with the species found | 138 BARK-LICE. by Réaumur 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, Maine, 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 shape 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 become 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 genera Parus and Regulus, 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- q r il va hs i any Es ‘RR ’ Cake 4 3 2 Ly A.M IPUGUEE pre Varieties of Barley, Oats Buckwheat and Millet. BARK-LICE. ences of Stockholm,’ for the year 1825, under the name of Coceus eryptogumus. 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%thers, 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 itis 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, lone antenne or horns, six legs with their respective joints, and two bristles terminating the tail. insect perforates the middle of the case cover- This minute | BARLEY. 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- eluded 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 Arvuis, Turips, &c.) “Many years ago, when on a visit from home, [ 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 ina 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’s Treatise on Insects.) BARLEY (Lat. hordewm). 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 ¢224«, to feed or nourish, whence goe4 and forbea, and, changing the 5 into d, fordeum. ( Vossius.) The name is, how- ever, derived by Junius from the Hebrew 1a. The plant belongs to the natural order Grami- nee, 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). Pl. 3, a. 2. Two-rowed naked barley (HZ. Gymnodis- lichum). 3. Two-rowed sprat, or battledore barley | (Hi. disticho-zeocrilon). Pl. 3, d. 4, Six-rowed winter barley (H. hewastichum). | Pl. 3, b. | 5. Six-rowed naked barley (ZZ. Gymno-hexa- stichum),. 6. Six-rowed sprat, or battlebore barley (H. | hexasticho-zeocriton). 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. The 139 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 habitof later ripening, and is termed 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 bere, 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 iood 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. Itis 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. (Low’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 céleste. An excellent variety of this naked barley has been produced by Mr. C. Alderman, of Kintbury, in Berkshire, and M. Mazucco, in a French paper, earnestly recommends the more general cultivation of naked barley, as he states that it weighs as much as the best wheats, and its quality resembles them so much that it may be used for the purpose of making good bread, and also for pearl barley. In mountainous countries, its produce is twenty- four to one. (Quart. Journ. 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 Cum. to the Board of Agr. vol. vi. yp. 304), after twelve years’ experience in the cultivation of naked barley, very justly ob- serves, “that it is of the greatest importance 1o promote the culture of this!sort of grain.” “Tt is,” he adds, “the corn that, next to rice, gives the greatest weight of flour per acre, and 140 BARLEY. it may be eaten with no other preparation than that of boiling. It requires little or no dress- ing whenit 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 caleu- 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 itis 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 four-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 Hordewm vulgare of some botanists is Hordeum hexastichum, and that of the Hordeum hexastichum, of some bota- nists is Hordeum hewasticko-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 cbserved 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. cultural experiments and improvements, sowed a considerable portion of land with this barley, and the resnlt is said to have been perfectly satisfactory. In 1833 two acres of Chevalier barley were sown in the same field with some of the best of the common barley. The soil was poor, light sand, but in good order and veryclean. 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 fillers so much, that half a bushel of seed may be saved per acre. This is proba- bly 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 Annat barley. (See Quart. Journ. 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 24 Ibs. 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 thatinjury to which any other sort under similar circumstances would be liable. (Brit. Farm. Mag. vol. v.p. 190.) BARLEY. 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, where 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 Galaticum. Barley, like all grains, is liable to diseases, namely smut, the burnt ear, blight, and mil- 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 nu- merous or fatal as those of wheat. It is at- tacked by the larve of certain flies. The smut, which attacks it in a partial degree, is gene- rally the fungus wredo segetum. Barley is now extensively cultivated in most European countries, in America, and in the temperate districts of Asia and Africa. It may also be raised between the tropics, but not at a lower elevation than from 3000 to 4000 feet, and then it is not worth cultivating. In Spain and Sicily it produces two crops in the year. Large quantities of barley 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 custom of the Athenians, according to the testimony of Me- nander, as also by the surname given to the sword fencers, who, from their allowance or pension of barley, were called Hordearit, bav- ley men.” (Book xviii. chap. 7). It was not until after the Romans had learned to cultivate 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 lusty. There are no means of ascertaining whether barley was cultivated in Britain when the Ro- mans discovered that country; but as Cesar M1 BARLEY. found corn growing on the coast of Kent, it is probable that 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 now 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 Ibs.; but the best Norfolk bar- ley sometimes weighs 53 or 54 lbs. Its pro- duce in flour is about 12 lbs. to 14 Ibs. 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 Ibs. will there- fore contain about 32 Ibs. 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. Thi experiments on which this calculation is founded were carefully made by Hinhot, and confirmed on a large scale by Thier, at his establishment at Mégelin, 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 more affected (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 ts pro- duced; these opposite productions of the same individual will, if sown at the same period, on the same land, and under the same course of cultivation, exhibit corresponding differences, which are manifested during the growth of the crop, and 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 varietics. The sprat, or battledore barley, makes good malt; and being short and erect | in 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- | viduals. The common, or long-eared barley, being long in the ear and weak in the straw, is very liable to lodge early, whereby the grain 142 BARLEY. is rendered inferior in quality, and is, there- fore, not extensively cultivated. Naked bar- ley, or wheat barley, is so termed in conse- quence of 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 in the season, without injury to the crop. The land that produces the 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 is propagated 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 24 to 4 bushels the acre (or sometimes more), when sown broadeast; 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, greal 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. 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, andthe 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 ullage. 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 harley crop requires weeding during the com- paratively short period in which it is on the ground. If 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 taking 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 perfectly dry, otherwise it is in danger of being heated in the mow, which reduces the value BARLEY. 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 isa 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 wili be created, and the sample injured. It not unfrequently occurs, that when it is supposed to be well 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 that 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- tilit 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 in 143 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, itis ploughed up as soon as it is fed off, and succeeded by spring tares or turnips. ,[t 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 straws 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 the starch is, in a great measure, converted into saccharine matter, and by subsequent fermentation, or distillation, either beer or spirits is obtained. (See Frn- MENTATION, Matrine, and Brewrne.) 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- Jand 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 the same frice that he gave for the barley. And to this end the farmer should remember, that two parts of barley are fully equal, in feeding properties, to three parts of 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. he wort of malt is useful in scurvy, but it is apt to increase the diarrhcea 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. Foradescription of the mode of ma- nufacture, [ refer the reader to the Penny Cy- clop. vol. iii. p. 466. Barley-water is a decoc- tion of either of these, and is reputed 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 wnerystallizable sugar, 4-62 of gum, 3°52 of gluten, 1:15 of 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 Re cherches Chem. sur la Veg., Paris, 1804. The grain reduced to ashes, with its skin, gave, outof 100 parts, 18 of ashes, which con- tained :— Potash - - = = ‘= e = 8" Phosphate of potash - - - =) 98 Sulphate of potash - - - = al 5 Muriate of potash - -— - - - 0°25 Earthy phosphates - - - - - 32:5 Silica - = + = bi e. - 355 Metallic oxides - - - - =, 10:95 Loss Mle) A a = AS el eee 100° 1000 parts of the straw produced 42 of ashes, contaiming :— Potash - - - - - - - 16 Sulphate of potash - - - - =) a5 Muriate of potash - - - = - 05 Earthy phosphates - - - - =o075 Earthy carbonates - - - - - 125 Silica - - - - - - - 657 Metallic oxides - - - - - O05 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 to these the cubic saltpetre, or nitrate.of soda, is usually found in minute proportions in barley. BARLEY GRASSES. The average price in England, per Win-| chester quarter of barley, according to M‘Cul- ioch, was in £s. d. £ is. a. W1 - = ie5h8 1815 - - 110 3 WW75 - Se8 IPG) 1819 - =- 26 8 1780 - - 017 0 1785 - ee ae Per Imp. Quar. 1790 - - 15 6 1820 - - 11310 1795 - ES! 1825. - - 201 1800 - - 300 1830 - Ci bn 2h 1805 - - 248 1835 - - 1911 1810 - - 2711 1840 - = D208, The account in imperial quarters of the fo- reign barley and barley-meal entered for home | consumption every five years since 1815, was (M:Culloch’s Com. Dict.) — Qrs. 1815 - - - - - - 160° 1820 - - - - - - — 1825 - ~—_ - - - - - 270679 1830 - - - - a - - 52107 1835 - - = - - = - 137-374 The annual average, from 1801 to 1825, of barley imported into England, in Winchester quarters, was from Qrs. Russia - - - - - - - 7112 Sweden and Norway) - - - - 987 Denmark - - - - - - 15°808 Prussia - - - - - - - 18718 Germany - - - - - - 24539 Netherlands - - - - - 9500 France and Southern Europe - - 1:097 United States - - - - - 3b British North America - - = wil Other countries = - - - - - 2194 Treland - - - - - - - 33°331 For further particulars as to its consumption and culture, see Smiths Tracts on the Corn Trade, 2d edit. p. 182; Penny Cyclop., vol. iii. p- 461; Brown on Rural Affairs, vol. ii. p. 425 and Elements of Prac. 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‘Culloch’s Com. Dict. ; Com. Board of Ag. vol.vi.; Hitchin, in Baater’s Ag. Lib.; Professor Low’s El. of Ag. ; Brande’s Dict. of Science.) Barley, in the United States, is cultivated almost exclusively for 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 ipa ley, and are of little use to the farmer. (See Horpveum 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 wpon the barn-floor, and by repeated strokes of the 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 state of fermentation, which is used as a leaven in the making of bread, &c. (See Yrasrt.) 19 BARN OWL. BARN. A covered building, constructed for 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 different 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 these doors should be of the same breadth as the thrashing-floor, to afford 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 deftance, and at harvest the corn 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 flammea). 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 haunts are frequented either by parent birds or their offspring, 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 tu 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 aview of the bird obtained, it will generally N 4é 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 near 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 inharmony 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 diffused. Its form and colour are too common to need de- scription. The whole length of the bird is about fourteen inches. ( Yarrell’s Brit. Birds, vol. i.) BAROMETER. The word is derived from two 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 ea- 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 weightof 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, the atmosphere operates by its varying pres- sure. When, therefore, the quicksilver rises, the atmospheric pressure is increasing ; when it falls, the pressure is diminishing. 146 BAROMETER. The more dense the state of the atmosphere, 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, when applied to the condition of the atmosphere and its relations with the barometer, means specific weight, without reference to its clearness or cloudiness. Vapour or moisture in the air al- 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; but in 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 anda 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. cease, for a while at least. When, during a wet spell of 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 BARROWS. 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. Jan. Mean of Barometer for each month of the year 1842, - - - - Greatest height at the hours of obser- vation, - - tion, - - - - Feb. |March| April | May. 30:04) 30°00/30°04) 29-95) 29 SO % pes $0°47}30°51)/30°42)30°31/30°41|30°30 30°37|30°22 Lowest falls at the hours of GEE pease 29°52 | Oct. | Nov. | Dec. | Year. June. | July. | Avg. | Sept. 29:92/29°96'29-98 29°97 ales, 29°99 29:98) saa | | 30°43] 30°47 | 30°63 29°57 pe oearg Peae eae Boia ares 29°37] 29°32) 29°12) | Many are the natural indications of vegetables which portend changes in the weather; thus, the Pimpernel, or Red Chickweed (Anagallis 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 quantit: se mean Tempera-| of Haine ture, Tnches. January - 29-921 361 1°483 February - 30°067 38° 0-746 March - 29843 43°9 1-440 April - 29°881 49:9 1786 May - 29-898 54° 1853 June - 30 020 587 1830 July - 29°874 61: 2°516 August - 29°891 616 1°453 September 29°931 7°8 27193 October - 29°'774 48°9 2.073 November 29-776 42-9 2400 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 = 324 Imperial gallons. Bya 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. Dict.; Brande’s Dict. 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 earths—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 the ad- dition of clay or sand. Sands may be dressed with clay or marl, or vegetable matter. Where organic matters are in excess, the earths may be applied. Water must be removed by drain- ing. (Davy’s Lectures, p. 203.) See Sorzs. 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 the 147 BARS, 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 thickened and hollowed over the frog; 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 ; Fr. 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- ties, are principally carried on by bills of exchange. The actual money payments ina country, 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. bene-cun, 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 (Ocymum. Probably from cfm and wae, on account of its lasting fra- grance). A culinary aromatic exotic used in salads and soups; the peculiar flavour of mock-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. basilicwm), and, 2. The dwarf-bush basil (O. minimum). They thrive most in a rich light Soil, entirely free from any overshadowing body; but they re- 148 BASS. quire, especially for the earliest plants, a shel- 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 ona 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. bassin ; It. bacino). In agriculture, a natural or artificial hollow or excavation in the ground, for the reception and preservation of water. See Ponp. BASKETS (Basged, Welsh; bascauda, Lat. probably from dass, 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 fhe 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 10442. 7s. 9d., showing that the value of the foreign baskets entered for home consump- tion in the same year had been 52211. 18s. 9d. 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 sufficient 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 BASTARD ALKANET. only 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, where 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. Sylva.) ‘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 arvense). 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 Eng. 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. Found in high open chalky pastures. The only species of this genus known in the United States is the Thesium umbellatum. (See Darlington’s Flora Cestrica.) . BAT, or FLITTERMOUSE (Cheiroptera, a hand and wing). A mammiferous animal which has a body like a mouse, with wings 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 BAY OF A BARN. 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 flit 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. vil. p. 19. BATEABLE HERBAGE. Provincially, such herbage as has the tendency of readily fattening stock of different 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 froin the French batén, 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 batton. BAY (Lat. badius ; old Fr. baye, bat, rouge brun; Ital. dato). 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 coloured 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 different 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 N2 149 , BAY-SALT. 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- rigg on Salt; Brande’s Dict. 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 Sart, Sarrine. 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 IIL., mentions it; and Turner, our 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 itis 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 arich 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 up strong shoots, which we know by experi- 150 BEAGLE. 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 sown 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 iton 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, carminative, 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 J/awrin, 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 we 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. met with, although it was a hardy, and alto- gether a vermin-loving breed, and very strongiy formed. (Blaine’s Encyclopedia of Rural Sports.) : : 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 the plough. (See ProvGus.) 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 Dict. 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 viciardo, because its ten- drils entwine or bind round other plants. The bean was called in Greek Kuzpcc; by the Fa- lisci, a people of Etruria (now Tuscany), Haba, whence the name Faba seems to be taken. Martinius derives the word from za, to feed, as if it were Paba; Isidorus from gaya, 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 of late years diminished, a large portion of the consumption of this country now com- ing from abroad ; yetI 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 offered 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 offer- 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 | BEANS. name of Fabii from some of their ancestors having cultivated the bean called Paha. The meal of beans is the heaviest made from pulse, and was called in Latin lomentum. This was mingled with frumenti 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 the 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 that by such means their corn would return home again to them; these beans were then called Refrine or Referine. 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 wheaten 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 thénce 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 :— By weight. Or in a bushel. Wheat - 74percent. - - - about 47 Ibs. Rye - 70 — sos) = Barley - 65 _— - - - — 3 Oats - 58 — = = = = 733 Beans” - 68 — - - - — 45 Peas UES - - - = 49 French beans 84 =— = = aos The same chemist obtained from 3840 parts of marsh beans (Vicia Faba), of Starch - - =) = lees <— 1918 Albumen - - - - - - - 3 Other matters, nutritive, gummy, starchy, fibrous, analogous to animal matter - 1204 And from kidney beans (Phzseolus vulgaris) of Starchy matters- - - - - - 1805 Albumen, and matter approaching to ani- mal matter in its nature - - - - 851 Mucilage - - - 799 (Davy, Ag. Chem., p. 132.) 151 BEANS. Beans are best given broken, especially to aged live stock. An excellent bean mill constructed by the Messrs. Ransome of Ips- wich, will break one quarter of beans in an hour. Itis 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 erops 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 yery 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 ont 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 | lroadeast, three or four bushels of seed per ucre will be required, which should be pleughed or harrowed in; if drilled, two and a half or three bushels per acre will be suffi- cient. Beans are tolerably hardy, and will bear moderate dry frosts; but they suffer much from alternate frosts and thaws, which in this | 152 BEANS. climate are so common in February. The enc 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 acommon 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 furrows 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, which, 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 hoeing 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 broadeast, mixed with beans, in order to be mown ina 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 ease 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 different times within a week or a fortnight of each other. By this BEANS. means a great deal of grass is saved, which may 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 state, 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 dgilled in each furrow after the plough. It is often advantageous to cut ina 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 effected; 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- ereases 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 (aphis) 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 between 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 BEANS. rations are repeated as often as the condition of the land in regard to cleanliness may re- quire. When the leaves of the beans begin 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 more 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 init. 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, &c., and in some parts three (the extreme foulness of this piece of land requiring what in few instances would be necessary); and to cart and spread sixty loads of compost per acre, and to complete the whole by the 20th of September. Mr. John Sherif, of Haddington (Com. Board of Agr., vol. iv. p. 172), also says of harvesting beans, “ This crop should be cut down as soon as the eye has attained its deepest dye, and instantly, if dry weather, sheaved. The sheaves of any grain or pulse ought not to exceed nine inches in diameter ; and I think that sheaves from six to eight inches would be far safer in this variable cli- mate. By cutting at this period of the state of the crop, the bean-straw will be of triple value of what stands till the leaves fall off; the grain too will be superior to that bleached by the weather for weeks, after the haulm and grain of the first is secured in the rick. Shocks of any crop of pulse or grain ought not to exceed six sheaves of the above-mentioned size.” The Rey. John Ramsay, of Ayrshire, and Mr. John Boys, of Kent, also give the result of their observations on bean husbandry (Com. Board of Agr., vol. vi. p. 141—146), which, though valuable, are of too confined and local a na- ture for me to notice. The diseases to which beans are subject in England, are the rust, or mildew, which is a minute fungus that grows on the stems of leaves, attributed to cold fogs and frequent sudden transitions of weather, and the black dolphin or fly, also called the collier, an insect of the aphis tribe. For the mildew no remedy has yet been found. Whenever it has attacked 153 BEANS. the plants, generally before the pods are filled, the best method 1s 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 suffi- 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 year 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, was 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.; Baater’s Agr. Lib.; Prof. Low's work on Agr. ; Com. Board of Agr., vols. iv. and vi.; M‘Culloch’s Com. Dict.) Garden Beans.—The following varieties are those principally cultivated :—Early mazagan, a great bearer, and agood 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 nota 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 grown. 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 too moist, the seed is apt to decay, &c., whilst a moist aluminous one is best for the spring and summer insertions. Although the bean will succeed in much lighter soils than is ge- nerally imagined, yet, if such are allotted to it when thus late inserted, the produce is much diminished. The situation cannot be too un- incumbered, but still a protection from violent winds is very beneficial, as no plant is more 154 BEANS, 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 thata 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, Miiler, from experience, asserts, are more productive than if set twice as close. Previous to sowing, in summer, if dry weather, the seed should be soaked for two or three hours in water, or if 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 may 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 off 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 effect in this respect is much the contrary. 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, rtherwise the plauts will be spindled and weakened. For the production of seed, plan- tations of the several varieties should be made about the end of February, 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 preserve the early ones as uncontaminated 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-production 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 from 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 :— Early liver-coloured. Black speckled. Early red-speckled. Brown speckled. Early white. Streaked or striped. Early negro, or black. Large white. Canterbury white. Dun-coloured, Battersea white. Tawny. BEAN, KIDNEY. Of the Runners there are six varieties :— Scarlet runner. Canterbury small white. Large white. Small white. Large white Dutch. Variable runner. 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 those plants which are produced are contracted in their produce 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 for the later ones a recurrence must be made to a soil as dry as for the early insertions. In all cases the subsoil must be open, as stagnant 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 foot froma south fence, otherwise the situation cannot be too open. Dwarfs —The sowing commences with the year. They may be sown towards the end of January in pots, and placed upon the flues of the hot-house, or in rows in 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. In 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 be 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 south The seed inserted during the hottest period of summer, should be either soaked in water fo1 five or six hours, laid in damp mould for a day or two, or the drills be well watered previous to sowing, The only after-cultivation require? 155 . BEAN, KIDNEY. BEARD-GRASS. is the destruction of weeds, and earth to be| size proportionate to the consumption will, in 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 afforded 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 frames 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 lke manner be prepared for the removal, by setting them outside in fine days, and there watering them with colder water. If the sea- son 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 ina 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 are 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 kigher temperature by a few degrees. They are so prolific, and sueh permanent bearers, that three open-ground sowing> of a /iensis) and the perennial beard-grass (P. litt- , 15t 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 ina 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, or 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 Kitchen 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 larve of the lady- bird, or lady-cow (Coccinella septempunctata), 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 dere. 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 fcr malt- ing as the common barley, for which reason it is very little cultivated in the southern parts of England. BEAR-BIND. See Brack Binn-ween. BEARD (Sax. bean). The same with the awn of a plant. BEARD-GRASS (Polypogon). There are two sorts, the annual beard-grass (P. sonspe- BEARDED OAT-GRASS. 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 Wixp Oats. BEAR’S-FOOT. See Herresone. BEAST (Su. Goth. beest, Ger. bestie, Fr. beste, Lat. bestia). A term generally applied to all such 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 petly muguet or mugwort, 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 ot 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 enu- merates seventeen species of bed-straw :— BEECH. 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 (ih his Dict. of Serence, 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 these 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 well 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 1. Cross-wort bed-straw, or mugweed; 2. White | wood is also much in use for poles, stakes, 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 ; 11. 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, orcleayers. (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 (Galiwm tinctorium), 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 ared colour. Wild liquo- rice (Galium Circezans), frequent in rich woodlands and having a sweet taste. Common tleavers, Robin-run-the-hedge, or Yellow goose- grass (Pl. 10, g), a troublesome weed. BEECH (Fagus sylvatica, Sax. bece or boc). The beech is 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! the nuts, or mast, which should be gathered 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 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 Fagus sylvatica. The beech- tree thrives best and attains to a great size on clayey loams incumbent on sand: silicious sandy soils are also well adapted for its growth, and it will prosper on chalky, stony, and barren soils, where many other timber trees will not prosper; and it is found to resist winds on the declivities of hills better 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 lop- 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 soft for many years; they are also profitably em- ployed in forcing sea-kale, asparagus, &c. in hot-beds. ‘The beech is propagated by sowing 157 BEECH. about the middle of September, when they 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- mended 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 sufficient 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. (Phillips's Hist. of Fruits, p. 56; M‘Culloch’s Com. Dict.; Baxter's Agr. Li- brary ; Brande’s Dict. of Science.) 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 (Fagus ferruginea), both the popular names being de- rived from the colour of the wood. 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 States, east of the mountains, it is insulated in the forests, whilst in the Northern parts of Pennsylvania, the Genessee 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 prevents any roots from descending. This 158 "BEECH. 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 avowedly inferior to what is prepared with the bark of the oak. The red beech bears a greater resemblance to that of Europe than the white 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 sufficient 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- cays in afew 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 Jaid 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 wood, 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 yielda very large proportion of potash. Michaux, who describes the process of ex tracting the oil, says that it equals one-sixth BEEF. of the nuts used. 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 Sylva. 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. beuf), 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 war 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. behnoan; Icel. boele, adwelling). A term provincially applied tn 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, dir ; Germ. bier ; Sax. bean; Goth. bur, 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, but 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 remining at rest in a degree of heat requisite for this fermentation, are changed into a vinous BEER. liquor. But as these matters render the water mucilaginous, fermentation proceeds slowly and imperfectly. On the other 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 wine 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 germination 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; brown stout, 6 to 7; London porter about 4 (average) ; London brewers’ small beer between 1 and 2. (See Brewine.) “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 strong beer. The original difference between ale and beer was owing to the malt from which they were prepared; ale malt was dried at a verv low heat, and consequently was of a pale co- lour, while beer or porter malt was dried ata higher temperature, and had of consequence acquired a brown colour. This incipient charring had developed a peculiar and agrev- able bitter taste, which was communicated ta the beer along with the dark colour. This bit- 159 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 sufli- 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 different 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 barrels 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. (Parl. 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. (Morewood on In- toxicating Liquors, p. 353.) Perhaps it may now amount to from 1,000,000 to 1,200,000 bar- rels. 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. Diet. BEES (Sax. beo, 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 them 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 possible, near a running stream, as they de- 164 BEES. | 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 your 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 he 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 subject to 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 proceeding 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.” j 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 itis to stand. The “ Oxford Bee Keeper” advises food to be given to a swarm after hiv- ing, for three or four days. Large hives are best: they do not consume more food than smail 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 ss BEES. live through the winter, and ought to be united to 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 hives, 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 itin 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 hees as they fall. To prevent swarming, the “Oxford Bee Keeper” recommends this treatment :— “You see in the following figure a wooden bottom board, with the doorway aacut in it. It has another doorway, 4 8, on the right side. The ring is meant to show where a hive stands onit. 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 close together. In the evening, when they are all in, stop up the entrance aa, and open the right hand one } 6. 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, slip a piece of tin or card between the two doorways, shut up the doorway ¢ ¢, and open 21 BEES. the old doorway aa. If the bees go on working quietly all day, you will be sure that the queen is in the old hive, and allis right. About half an hour before dusk, open again the doorway cc, 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 cnes ready to work the following spring: the year- 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 known 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 sting, 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 Conservative Bee Keeper's Letter to Cottagers ; Wild:nan’s Treatise on Bees ; The Honey Bee, by Dr, Bevan; Penny Cyclo.; Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. ii. p. 594; Basxter’s Agr. Lib. pp. 46—53. Several of these treatises have been repub- lished in the United 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 Encyclopedia of Agriculture, says, that after all that has been done in England, France, and Italy, the bee 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 Grenée, 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 02 161 BEES. phurous smoke introduced by fumigating bel- lows, &c. The bees will fall from the upper to the lower hive 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 reflection, 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. of 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 coid of American winters, others deem it not only useless, but destructive to the health and welfare of swarms to remove the hives from their usual situations, however exposed these may be. Among apiarians who disapprove of the removal of hives in the winter, is Dr. J. 162 BEES. ; 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 Jo 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. storms, and early frosts, the whole colony con- sisted, 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 vitality 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 afford 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. of Agric.) The feeding of 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 off, and a consistence resembling that of honey retained. Howison has had frequent experi- ence of hives, not containing a pound of honey, BEES. 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 fo 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 following 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 atatime. Indeed, as avery 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 time 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 queen, 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 this, Howison has not lost a swarm by straying for 163 BEES. BEES, several years. When a hive yields more than deprivation of the honeycomb being effected, two swarms, these should uniformly be joined the hive may be returned to its former position, 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 junction, 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 upper 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. Havy- 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 wasted treasure, and a aenei attack on the de- privated hive might be the consequence, The 164 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. (Huish’s Treatise on Bees.) Total 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 Encyce. 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 the 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, Saas SSS SAT TTTT e Fig. 1. 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, a, 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 # orsmaller than ? of an inch. Or, instead of such holes, chinks of proper size may be cut through 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, c,c,d, just high enough to let the bees pass, and about an inch andahalf wide. The lowermost aper- ture, d, 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 afford suffi- cient light to see them work. The slides cover- ing the glasses should never be left open longer than is just necessary for purposes of inspec- tion. Fig. 2. 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 sufficient for its accommodation. The boxes or sections may be secured upon each other by buttons, J, 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 BEES. considered large. The weight diminishes to one pound. Such asare 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, itis considered richer and more solid, and will keep better 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- folia), the mountain laurel (Rhododendron maxi- mus), wild honey-suckle (Azalia nudifiora), 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 most 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, having a trunk five or six feet in diameter. Such a tree, with every branch from the ground to the 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 most persons prefer doing. The plan referred to, is that of 165 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 by 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 floor 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- i presents a side of the house, viewed from without. Nos. 1, 1, are copper T troughs run- qt : ning round the ng: 3. 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 4are 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. 4) represents one side of the house, viewed from the inside. Nos. 1, 2 and 3 are long boxes, eighteen inches wide. and twelve deep, extend- ing the whole length of the house, with eight holes, four inches square, in each box, upon which 4 Fig. 4. 1s 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 burning rag is blown to drive the bees from 166 ' BEES. 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. Ty) Gelatine - - - 2 = = SA6 Carbonate of lime = - - = - - 45 Bitumen - - - - - Se ee! Silica - - - - - - - 4 Phosphate of magnesia - - - =i" Alumina - - - - = - - 07 Oxideofiron - - - - = - 05 100- 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 used 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 in all its properties with solid albu- men. Now, 100 parts of albumen are com- posed of— Carbon - - - - - - - 52°888 Oxygen - - - - - - - 23:872 Hydrogen - - - - - = 754 Azote - - =P = =o a=: - 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 cent of the phosphates of lime and magnesia BONES. (Berzelius), and that hay contains as much of them as wheat-straw, it will follow that 8 Ibs. of bones contain as much phosphate of lime as 1000 lbs. of hay or wheat-straw, and 2 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. Chem.) It is perfectly needless to specify any vege- table substances into which the three first of these substances enter, for the vegetable world is almost entirely composed of them, and oc- 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, oxygen, and hydrogen. But the chief constituent present in 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 :— Parts. 100 parts of the ashes of the grain of the oat yielded of phosphate of lime = - - straw of wheat yielded of phosphates of lime and magnesia - - - 62 — seeds of wheat - - - - - 44:5 — bran - = - - - - - 46:5 =_ seeds of vetches - - - - 792 — golden rod (Solidago virgaurea) - lb plants of turnsole (Helianthus annus), bearing ripe seeds - - - - 22:5 _ chaff of barley - - - = - 75 _ seeds of barley - - = a = 32:5 = seedsofoats - = = = - & = leaves of oak - = = Sea = wood of oak - - - - = 45 = bark of oak chewy tc “5, Oe => leaves of poplar - - - =) 19" = wood of poplar - - - - 16°75 = leavesofhazel- - - <= = 23 = wood of hazel - - - - - 35: = bark of hazel - - = Ses 5 = wood of mulberry = - - - 225 — bark of mulberry - - - - 85 = wood of hornbeam - - - = 23 = barkof hornbeam - - - - 45 — seedsof peas - - = = - 175 = bulbsof garlic - = - = - 69 Phosphate of lime has also been found in the marsh bean (Vicia 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. (System of Chem. vol. iv. p. 319), “phosphate of 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 614 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 603 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 the 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—TI 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. Soc. 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 effects consisted of— Parts. Silicious sand - - - - = - 167 Calcareous sand - - - - - 4 Water of absorption - = - - = 9 Animal and vegetable matter - - - 24 Carbonate of lime - - - ae) Silica (flint) - - = - - - 23 Alumina (clay) - - - - - - 9 Oxide of iron - =. = = = a 3 Soluble vegetable and animal matter - 5 Moisture andloss - = ati - 2 400 196 BONES, The soil on which the bone manure had no such beneficial effect, contained, in 400 parts, Parts, Calcareous sand and gravel (nearly pure carbonate of lime) - - - - - 217 Animal and vegetable matters - - =, 12 Carbonate of lime = - = - - - 39 Silica - - - - - - - - 85 Alumina - - - - - - - 20 Oxide of iron =< - - - - - 5 Soluble matter with gypsum = - - - 4 Moisture or Joss - - - - - I 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 an expense of 23d. 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-inch bones for more continued improvement. Mr. Birks says, “If I were to till for early profit, 1 would use bones powdered as small as saw-dust; if I wished to keep my land in good heart, I would use principally half-inch bones, and in break- ing these I should prefer some remaining con- siderably larger.” The reason for this is very 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 crop. 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 :— Ist exp.—20 cart loads of street dung, per Scotch "ag acre, at 5s. 6d. per load - - - 2d exp.—half a ton of rape-dust, at 110s. three quarters crushed bones, at 19s. 3d exp.—l6 loads of farm-yard dung at7s. - “The whole turnips,’ says Mr. Brodie, “prairded beautifully, and from the first to the time of lifting, it was impossible to decide which was the weightiest crop. I therefore BONES. BONES. determined, in the last week in November, to | fair experiment, during the whole rotation of take up alternate rows of the whole, and weigh each separately after the roots and tops were taken off, and the result was found to be as follows :— cwt. Ibs. Ist exp.—The portion examined of a Scotch acre, manured with the street dung, produced of common globe turnip - - - - 301 92 2d exp.—The same quantity of ground manured with the rape and bone-dust, produced - 301 99 3d exp.—Ditto with farm-yard dung - - 312 30 “Mr. Watson, of Keilor,’ says the Hon. Capt. Ogilvy, of Airlie (Trans. High. Soc. vol. iv. p. 238), “introduced the use of bone ma- nure in Strathmore. The great deficiency of farm-yard dung in 1827 (consequent on the almost failure of the crop of the previous year), first induged me to try four acres of tur- nip without other manure, sown with fifteen bushels of bone-dust per acre: it cost 3s. per bushel, or 2/. 5s. per acre. The crop of turnips on these four acres was, at least, equal to the rest raised with farm-yard manure; but as the whole of the turnips were pulled, and the land received some dung before the succeeding crop, much stress cannot be laid on the cir- cumstance of the following white crop and grass being good. “Next year, 1828, eight acres were sown with turnip, solely with hone-dust; the soil a light sandy loam; the subsoil gravel and sand, coming in some places nearly to the surface, which is very irregular, but in general has a south exposure. This field had been broken up with a crop of oats in 1827, after having been depastured six years, principally by sheep. The quantity of bone-dust applied was twenty bushels per acre, and cost 2s. 6d. per bushel, or 2/. 10s. per acre. The turnip crop was so heavy, that, notwithstanding the very light nature of the soil, it was judged advis- able to pull one-third for the feeding cattle, two drills pulled, and four left to be eaten on the ground by sheep. The following year, 1829, these eight acres were sown with barley and grass-seeds; and the produce was fifty- seven bolls one bushel, or seven bolls one bushel nearly per acre, of grain equal in qua- lity to the best in the Dundee market, both in weight and colour. Next year, a fair crop of hay for that description of land was cut, about 150 stones an acre; and though I am now con- vinced that the field should rather have been depastured the first year, yet the pasture was better than it had ever been known before for the two following seasons, 1831 and 1832. It is worthy of remark, as a proof of the efficacy of the bone manure, that in a small angle of this field, in which I had permitted a cottager to plant potatoes, well dunged, and which, after their removal, was included in one of the flak- ings of sheep, and had (one might have sup- posed) thereby had at least an equal advan- tage with the adjacent bone-dust turnip land, both the barley and grass crops were evidently inferior, and this continued to be observable until the field was again ploughed up. A very bulky crop of oats has been reaped this season, probably upwards of eight bolls per acre, but no part of it is yet thrashed. “Having detailed what may be considered a the above eight acres, I may add, that turnip raised with bone manure and fed off with sheep, has now become a regular part of the system on this farm. Fifteen, twenty, and last year twenty-five acres were fed off, and invari- ably with the same favourable results, with the prospect of being able to adopt a five-shift rotation, and to continue it without injury to the land. Every person in the least acquainted with the management of a farm, of which a considerable portion consists of light, dry, sandy loam, at a distance from town manure, must be aware of the importance of this, from knowing the expense at which such land was formerly kept in a fair state of cultivation: in- deed, the prices of corn, for some years past, would not warrant the necessary outlay; and large tracts of land, capable of producing bar- ley little inferior to that of Norfolk, must speedily have been converted into sheep pas- ture, but for the introduction of bone manure.” In the valuable experiments of Mr. Robert Turner, of Tring, in Hertfordshire, the soil on which they were made, hitherto a common, producing only furze, is sandy, with a substra- tum of clay, and then chalk. He began the use of bone manure in 1831 on this land, and has continued its employment for the last three years on a very bold scale, and with unvaried success. The quantity generally employed was from twenty-four to thirty bushels per acre, of the description of half-inch and dust, and the bones were invariably applied to the turnip crop. The bones were usually drilled with the seed at a distance of eighteen inches, and the turnips were always horse-hoed. The year 1831 was a peculiarly good season for this crop generally. The turnips manured with bone-dust, like most others in the district, were very luxuriant. About 2000 bushels of bone manure were this year used by Mr. Tur- ner. In 1832, the turnips were, in general, a very bad plant, the fly committing general de- vastation; many cultivators unsuccessfully sowing four or five times. On the turnip land of Mr. Turner, seventy-four acres were ma- nured with bones, and of this breadth only the last sown four acres were a failure, and there was, in no instance, any necessity to repeat the sowing. The turnips were a much better crop than in 1831. In 1833, the turnips in the neighbourhood of Tring were a very partial crop. On the farm of Mr. Turner, about fifty acres were manured with bones. The effect, with the exception of the very last sown tur- nips, was again most excellent, the crop being very heavy, and that too on land now first eulti- vated. In 1835 and 1836, Mr. Turner conti- nued the use of bones for his turnips, to the same extent, and with equal success. These experiments the cultivator will deem of the very first importance. The soil was not ma- nured with any other fertilizer except bones, and in drilling, every now and then, for the drill’s breadth, the bones were omitted. On the soil not boned, the failure of the tur- nips was general and complete: they vege- tated, it is true, and came up, but they were wretchedly small, and of nouse. The turnips being fed off, and the sheep folded on the soit R2 197 BONES. without any distinction between boned and un- boned land, the comparative experiments upon the succeeding crop were rendered uncertain. The experience of two more years, Mr. Turner informs me (1836-7), has confirmed all his former experiments: he continues the use of this valuable fertilizer, with the most satisfac- tory results; his plot of turnips drilled with bones having been, in that dry season, most excellent. In no part of England is the use of bone dust more extensive, and more absolutely es- sential to the growth of turnips than in Lin- colnshire. dan, 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 feces, in which case the belly is said to be bound. BOWEL DISEASES (Mod. Fr. boyaua ; old Fr. boailles). The horse and other quadru- peds are liable to various diseases affecting 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 ved 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 hardly | | BOX-TREE, 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 so vio- lently nor kick so desperately, nor is there any 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 effect, bleeding, carefully watched, 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 itis pronounced sometimes bowder 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 Drainine. BOX TREE (Sax. box; It. bosso; Fr. buis ; Lat. Buaus 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 Surry, 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 10,0001. 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 oppres- 215 BOX. sive; being 5/. a ton if brought from a foreign country, and 17. a ton if from a British pos- session. Itis from Turkey that the principal part of the wood is imported into England; whether or not all this is really furnished by Buaus sempervirens is not known. It is not im- probable that Buxus balearica, a larger species, too tender to thrive in this country, may fur- nish a part, at least, of that which comes from the Mediterranean. It is said, that the wood of this species is coarser, and of a brighter yel- low than that of the common 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 duty produced 18677. 17s. 4d. Turkey box- wood sells in the London market for from 71. 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 itis much used by turners and ma- thematical and musical instrument makers. It is too heavy for furniture. It is the only wood used by the engravers of wood-cuts 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. Itis 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 guaiacum asa sudorificin rheumatism; but isnowseldom prescribed. Oil of box root is a popular reme- dy for the toothache, when dropped on cotton, and put into a carious tooth. (Phillips's Sylv. Flor. vol. i. p. 44; Brande’s Dict. of Science ; M‘Culloch’s Com. Dict.) ’ 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 Fenn. meee Tn the agriculture and gardening 1 BRAMBLE. 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 Hanr- RoW. BRAMBLE, FLOWERING (Rubus odora- ius). A hardy exotic shrub, five or six feet in height, blowing a pinkish 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. bnembel, formerly written bremble; Lat. Ru- bus). The bramble, or blackberry, the generic name of a large family of shrubs which creep along the hedge in every soil. The common bramble (Rubus fruticosus) 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 that 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 fruit, 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. passed through a linen cloth, is left to ferment. It 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. (Allgem. Forst und Jagd-Zeitung, 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 or 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 the 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 3d. and 4d. 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 arcticus) are often used to adulterate tea. See Wuonrcreserny. Of the Rubus fruticosus, 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 white 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 BRAMBLE. 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), differing 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 R. fruti- cosus to differ from theirs. (Smith’s Engl. Flora, vol. ii.; Phillips’s Hist. of Fruits, p. 63; Quar- terly Journ. of Agr. vol. i. p. 8163 vol. ill. 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: Rubus Ideus, 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, erowing along fence-rows, borders of woods, &ec. 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. Cunet- 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 Casius. 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. odoratus, 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 of Saperda, and finishes its transformations towards the end of July, laying its egos 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, so - 217 BRAN. that the stem for several inches is completely deprived of its pith, and consequently withers and dies before the end of the summer. In Europe, one of these slender saperdas attack the hazle-nut bush, and another the pear tree in a similar manner. The dewberry and blackberry are very plea- sant fruits and make fine jelly. All the species are readily propagated both by seed and layers, and are wonderfully improved by culture. There is a double white flowering bramble (Rubus albo-pleno) which is a beautiful and or- namental variety. BRAN (Old Fr. bren; Ital. brenna). The thin skin or husks of corn, particularly wheat, ground and separated from the meal by a sieve or boulter. It is generally laxative; owing to the mechanical irritation it excites. An infu- sion of it, under the name of bran tea, is fre- quently used as a domestic remedy for coughs and hoarseness. Infusions of bran also re- move seurf and dandriff. Calico-printers em- ploy bran and warm water with great success, to remove colouring matter from those parts of their goods that are not mordanted. Bran is a useful ingredient, when well scalded, and employed occasionally in moderate quantities, in mashes for horses; but the constant use of it, whether raw or scalded, is prejudicial, as it is apt to weaken the horse’s bowels, and there- by expose him to many disorders. It is also highly useful in stall-feeding cattle, and for sheep, when given asa dry food. According to the analysis of M. Saussure, 100 parts of the ashes of the bran of wheat contain (Chem. Rec. Veg-),— Parts, Soluble salts - - = - - 44°15 Earthy phosphate: - - - - 465 Silica - - - - - — - 05 Metallic oxides - - - - - 0°25 Loss - - - - = = - 86 BRAND-GOOSE, or BRENT-GOOSE. A kind of wildfowl, less than a common goose, having its breast and wings of a dark colour. See Goose. BRANK. A provincial name sometimes applied to buckwheat, which see. BRAWN. The flesh of the boar, after being boned, rolled up, or collared, boiled, and pick- led. Brawn is made of the flitches, and some other parts, the oldest boars being chosen for the purpose, it being a rule that the older the boar the more horny the brawn. The method of making it is generally as] follows:—The bones being taken out of the flitches, or other parts, the flesh is sprinkled with salt, and laid in a tray, that the blood may drain off; after which it is salted a little, and rolled up as hard as possible. The length of the collar of brawn should be as much as one side of the boar will bear; so that, when rolled up, it may be nine or ten inches in diameter. After being thus rolled up, it is boiled in a copper or large kettle, till it is so tender that you may almost run a stiff straw through it; when it is set by till thoroughly cold, and then put into a pickle composed of water, salt, and wheat-bran, in the proportion of two handfuls of each of the latter to every gallon of water ; which, after being well boiled together, is strained off as clear as possible from the bran, 218 BREAD. and when quite cold, the brawn put into it. (Willich’s Dom. Encycl.) BREACHY, or BREECHY WOOL, is the short coarse wool of a sheep, such as that which comes from the breech of the animal. BREAD (Sax. bpeoo; Ger. brod). This forms an important and principal article in the food of most civilized nations, and consists of a paste or dough formed of the flour or meal of different sorts of grain, mixed with water, with or without yeast or ferment, and baked. Bread may be divided, in the first instance, into leavened and wnleavened bread. When stale dough or yeast is added to the fresh dough of flour and water to make it swell, it is said to be leavened; when nothing of this sort is added, the bread is said to be unleavened. These may again be subdivided into various kinds and qualities. The principal sorts in use are white, whealen, household, and brown bread, which differ from each other in their degrees of purity. In the first, all the bran is separated from the flour; in the second, only the coarser parts of it; and in the third scarcely any at all; so that fine bread is made only of flour; wheaten bread of flour, with a mixture of fine bran; and household bread of the whole substance of the grain, without taking out scarcely any either of the coarse bran or the fine flour.. We have also manchet or roll-bread, and French bread, which are fine white breads made of the purest flour; in roll-bread there is sometimes an ad- dition of milk, and in French bread butter is used. There is likewise ginger-bread, maslin- bread, made of wheat and rye, or sometimes of wheat and barley; and other breads made with various substitutes for flour, as oat-bread, rye-bread, pea and bean-bread, &c. The President de Goguet has endeavoured (Origin of Laws, §c., vol. i. pp. 95—105, Eng. trans.) to trace the successive steps by which it is probable men were led to discover the art of making bread; but nothing positive is known on the subject. It is certain, however, from the statements in the sacred writings, that the use of unleavened bread was common in the days of Abraham (Gen. xviii. 8); and that leavened bread was used in the time of Moses (Exod. xii. 15). The method of grind- ing corn by hand-mills was practised in Egypt and Greece from avery remote epoch; but for a lengthened period, the Romans had no other method of making flour than by beating roasted corn in mortars. The conquests of the Romans diffused, amongst many other use- ful discoveries, a knowledge of the art of pre- paring bread, as followed in Rome, through the whole south of Europe. The use of yeast in the raising of bread seems, however, from a passage of Pliny (lib. xviii. c. 7), to have been taken advantage of by the Germans and Gauls before it was prac- tised by the Romans; the latter, like the Greelss, having leavened their bread by intermixing the fresh dough with that which had become stale. The Roman custom seems to have su- perseded that which was previously in use in France and Spain; for the art of raising bread by an admixture of yeast was not practised in France in modern times till towards the end of the seventeenth century. BREAD. For the formation of bread, a certain degree of fermentation, not unlike vinous fermenta- tion, is requisite, care being taken to avoid the acetous fermentation, which renders the bread sour, and, to most persons, disagreeable. This fermentation is called panary. If dough be left to itself in a moderately warm place (between 80° and 120°), a degree of fermentation comes on, which, however, is sluggish, or, if rapid, is apt to run into the acefous; so that, to effect that kind of fermentation requisite for the pro- duction of the best bread, a ferment is added, which is either leaven, or dough in an already fermenting state, which tends to accelerate the process of the mass to which it is added, or yeast, the peculiar matter which collects in the form of scum upon beer in the act of fermenta- tion. See Yreas#. Of these ferments, leaven is slow and uncertain in its effects, and gives a sour and often slightly putrid flavour to the bread. Yeast is more effective, and, when clean and good, it rapidly induces panary fer- mentation; but it is often bitter, and sometimes has a peculiarly disagreeable smell and taste. Bread well raised and baked differs from un- fermented bread, not only in being spongy, less compact, lighter, and of a more agreeable taste, but also in being more easily miscible with water, with which it does not form a viscous mass; and this circumstance is of great im- portance to health. All, then, that is essential to make a loaf of bread, is dough to which a certain quantity of yeast has been added. This mass, or sponge, in the language of the baker, is put into any convenient mould or form, or it is merely shaped into one mass; and, after being kept for a short time in rather a warm place, so that fermentation may have begun, it is subjected to the process of baking in a pro- per oven. Carbonic acid is generated, and the viscidity or texture of the dough preventing the immediate escape of that gas from the in- numerable points where it forms, the whole mass is puffed up by it, and a light porous bread is the result. Along with the carbonic acid alcohol is evolved, but the quantity is so insignificant and the spirit so impure as not to be worth notice; thence the attempts which have been made to collect it upon a large scale have entirely failed in an economical point of view. The general process of making household bread is this:—To a peck of meal or flour is to be added about three ounces of salt, half a pint of yeast, and three quarts of water, cold in summer, but warm in winter, and temperate between the two: the whole being then well kneaded in a bowl or trough, and being set by 1n a proper temperature, rises in about an hour, according to the season. It is then moulded into loaves, and put into the oven to be baked. In placing the dough aside, it is proper to cover it; this is termed setting the sponge, and it under- goes a second kneading before it is baked. For French bread, take half a bushel of fine flour, ten eggs, a pound and a half of fresh butter (the eggs and butter, however, are very seldom used), and the same quantity of yeast used in making the finest rolls or manchet; and, tempering the whole mass with new milk, pretty hot, let it lie half an hour to rise; which BREAD. done, make it into loaves or rolls, and wash these over with an egg beaten with milk, tak- ing care that the oven is not too hot. Other flour, besides that of wheat, will, under similar circumstances, undergo panary fer- mentation; but the result is a heavy, unpala- table, and often indigestible bread; so that the addition of a certain quantity of wheat flour is almost always had recourse to. Itis the gluten in wheat which thus peculiarly fits it for the manufacture of bread, chiefly in consequence of the tough and elastic viscidity which it con- fers upon the dough. Wheat flour is composed chiefly of starch and gluten; the proportion of these and other substances which it contains, according to Vogel, are— Parts. Starch - - - - - - - 68-0 Ginten - - - - - . - 24:0 Gummy sugar — - - - - - 50 Vegetable albumen = - - - - 15 Sir H. Davy states, that wheat sown in au- tumn contains 77 per cent. of starch, and 19 of gluten; while that sown in spring yields 70 of starch and 24 of gluten. The wheat of the south of Europe contains a larger proportion of gluten than that of the north; and hence its peculiar fitness for making macaroni and ver- micelli. Oats yielded, according to Davy’s analysis, 59 of starch, 6 of gluten, and 2 of saccharine matter; while the same quantity of rye gave only 671 parts of starch, and half a part of gluten. Like all other farinaceous substances, bread is very nourishing, on account of the gluten which it contains; but if eaten too freely, it is productive of acidity, which deranges the in- testines, and lays the foundation of dyspepsia. Stale bread, in every respect, deserves the pre- ference over that which is newly baked; and persons troubled with flatulency, cramp of the stomach, or indigestion, should abstain from new bread, and particularly from hot rolls. Bread made from the best flour is necessarily costly, but is more wholesome for those per- sons who are liable to a relaxed state of the bowels. Brown bread, on the contrary, is the cheapest and most desirable for persons whose habit of body is of the contrary nature: but there is an intermediate kind made from flour, in which the finer portion of the bran is retain- ed, called locally “seconds,” which is prefer- able to either of the above. (Quar. Jour. Agr. vol. ix. p. 585.) It is a prevailing idea that yeast reproduces itself, just as seeds reproduce similar seeds. But chemical investigation has shown that such an opinion is not to be enter- tained. See Yeasr. The species of bread in common use in a country depends partly on the taste of the in- habitants, but more on the sort of grain suita- ble for its soil. The superiority of wheat to all other farinaceous plants in the manufacture of bread is so very great, that wherever it is easily and successfully cultivated, wheaten bread is used to the nearly total exclusion of most others. Where, however, the soil or cli- mate is less favourable to its growth, rye, oats, &c., are used in its stead. A very great change for the better has, in this respect, taken place in Great Britain within the last century. It is 219 BREAD. mentioned by Harrison, in his Description of England (p. 168), that in the reign of Henry VIIL. the gentry had wheat sufficient for their own tables, but that their households and poor neighbours were usually obliged to content themselves with rye, barley, and oats. It ap- pears from the household-book of Sir Edward Coke, that in 1596 rye bread and oatmeal formed a considerable part of the diet of ser- vants, even in great families, in the southern counties. In 1626 barley bread was the usual ordinary food of the great bulk of the people. At the Revolution, the wheat produced in Eng- land and Wales was estimated by Mr. King and Dr. Davenant to amount to 1,750,000 quar- ters. (Davenant’s Works, vol. ii. p. 217.) Mr. Charles Smith, the very well informed author of the Tracts on the Corn Trade, originally pub- lished in 1758, states that in his time wheat had become much more generally the food of the common people than it had been in 1689; but he adds (2d edit. p. 182. Lond. 1766), that, notwithstanding this increase, some very intel- ligent inquirers were of opinion that even then not more than half the people of England fed on wheat. Mr. Smith’s own estimate, which is very carefully drawn up, is a little higher; for, taking the population of England and Wales, in 1760, at 6,000,000, he supposes that 3,750,000 were consumers of wheat, 739,000 of barley, 888,000 of rye, and 623,000 of oat bread. He further supposed that they indivi- dually consumed—the first class, 1 qr. of wheat; the second, 1 qr. and 3 bushels of barley; the third, 1 qr. and 1 bushel of rye; and the fourth, 2 qrs. and 7 bushels of oats. About the mid- dle of last century, hardly any wheat was used in the northern counties of England. In Cum- berland the principal families used only a small quantity about Christmas. The crust of the goose-pie, with which almost every table in the county is then supplied, was, at the period referred to, almost uniformly made of barley meal. (Eden, On the Poor, vol. i. p. 564.) Every one knows how inapplicable these statements are to the condition of the people of England at the present time. Wheaten bread is now almost universally made use of in towns and villages, and almost everywhere in the country. Barley is no longer used; oats are employed for bread only in the northern parts of the island; and the consumption of rye bread is comparatively inconsiderable. The produce of the wheat crops has béen, 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 Carrte), 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 influence 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 220 BREAD. 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 Ibs.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 that bad flour. Sometimes 82, 83, and even 86 loaves have been made from asack 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 different; 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, home-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 ewt. of flour, it could not be in the least degree injurious. According to Mr. Ac- cum (Onthe Adulteration of Food), the requisite quantity of alum for this purpose depends upon the quality of the flour. The mealman, he says, makes different 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 may 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. of indifferent flour, is materially improved by the addition of a little carbonate of magnesia, in the proportion of twenty to thirty grains to the pound of flour; 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 sufficient 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 sucha 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. Jowrn. of Agr. (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; both 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, ull 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 flour in the composition of different kinds of bread. For this purpose, all the sorts of grain, _&c. commonly sold in the markets in London BREAD. were procured, ground into meal, and baked in various proportions into bread; such as wheat, rye, rice, barley, buckwheat, maize, oats, peas, beans, and potatoes. Many of these 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 reconciles the stomach to almost any species of food, by which, at least in the same country, other individuals 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 pulp and mixed with wheaten flour, in which mede it made excellent bread. It has been found by other trials, that good bread may be made from equal quantities cf flour and potato meal, which has been greatly the practice in those ‘ T2 221 BREAD. countries most remarkable for the plentiful culture of the potato. Various experiments have been 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 34 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 by being baked in half-gallon loaves. Rye.—In several parts of the kingdom a mixture of rye and wheat is reckoned an ex- cellent species of bread. In Nottinghamshire even opulent farmers consume one-third wheat, one-third rye, and one-third barley ; but their labourers do not relish it. As rye 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 latter, and makes it equally strong and nourish- ing with the same weight of common wheaten bread. The 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. It is 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 variety of uses, that rather moré nutriment is contained in a bushel of Indian corn than of wheat. In the four states above-mentioned it constitutes the almost entire food of the labour- BREAD. There are several sorts of Indian corn in 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 off 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 Ib. bean flour, 1 lb. potatoes, and 4 Ibs. 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 the 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 Ibs. of flour, is from 34 Ibs. 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., queted also in Quart. Journ. of Agr. 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 ing class of the people, and has supplanted the | greater or less proportion of cheap and whole- use of wheaten bread. 222 1 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. (Brande’s Dict. of Science and Art ; MCulloch’s Com. Dict.; Penny Cyc. vol. v.; Willich’s Domes. Encyc.) BREAD-ROOT (Psoralea esculenta). —— >. | ae ane Se Fig. 2, The only implement necessary is a budding- knife (fig. 2), and the only preparation some bass matting, or the inner bark of the bass- wood or linden. Filaments torn from the husk of Indian corn are also recommended. Professor Thouin enumerates twenty spe- cies or varieties of grafting, most of which are only practised by amateurs and professional gardeners. We shall describe only the com- mon mode, which is in general practice in nurseries. We take it from the Encyclopedia of Gardening. Siueld-budding, or T budding, is thus per- formed: Fix on a smooth part of the side of the stock, rather from than towards the sun, and of a height depending, as in grafting, on whether dwarf, half, or whole standard trees are desired; then, with the budding-knife, make a horizontal cut across the rind, quite through to the firm wood; from the middle of this transverse cut make a slit downward, per- pendicularly, an inch or more long, going also quite through to the wood. This done, pro- ceed with all expedition to take off a bud; holding the cutting or scion in one hand, with the thickest end outward, and, with the knife in the other hand, enter it about half an inch or more below a bud, cutting nearly halfway into the wood of the shoot, continuing it with one clear slanting cut about half an inch or more above the bud, so deep as to take a part of the bud along with it, the whole about an inch and a half long (a, fig. 1); then directly with the thumb and finger, or point of the knife, clip off the woody part remaining to the bud; which done, observe whether the eye or germ of the bud remain perfect; if not, and a little hole appears in that part, it is impro- per, or, as gardeners express it, the bud has lost its root, and another must be prepared. This done, placing the back part of the bud or shield between your lips, expeditiously with the flat haft of the knife separate the back of the stock on each side of the perpendicular cut clear to the wood (c), for the admission of the bud, which directly slip down, close between BUFFALO, the wood and bark, to the bottom of the slit (d). The next operation is to cut off the top part of the shield () even with the horizontal first- made cut, in order to let it completely into its place, and to join exactly the upper edge of the shield with the transverse cut, that the de- scending sap may immediately enter the back of the shield, and protrude granulated matter between it and the wood, so as to effect a living union. The parts are now to be imme- diately bound round with a ligament of fresh bass (e), or other suitable substance, previ- ously soaked in water to render it pliable and a b c d e Fig. 1. tough, beginning a little below the bottom of the perpendicular slit, proceeding upward closely round every part, except just round the eye of the bud, and continue it a little above the horizontal cut, not too tight, but just sufficient to keep the whole close, and exclude the air, sun, and wet. Future Treatment.—In a fortnight, at far- thest, after budding, such as have adhered may be known by their fresh appearance at the eye; and in three weeks all those -which have succeeded well will be firmly united with the stocks, and the parts being somewhat swelled in some species, the band- age must be loosened, and a week or two afterward finally removed. The shield and bud now swell in common with the other parts or the stock, and nothing more requires to be done till spring, when, just before the rising of the sap, they are to be headed down close to the bud, by an oblique cut, terminating about an eighth or quarter of an inch above the shield. In some cases, however, as in grafting, a few inches of the stalk is left for the first season, and the young shoot tied to it for protection from the winds.” BUFFALO (from the Italian; Lat. bubalis). A term originally applied to a species of ante- lope; but afterwards transferred, in the age of Martial, to different species of the ox. In mo- dern zoology, the buffaloes, or the “bubaline group” of the genus Bos, include those species which have the bony core of the horn exca- vated with large cells or sinuses, communicat- ing with the cavity of the nose; the horns are flattened, and bend laterally with a backward direction, and are consequently less applicable for goring than in the bisons or taurine group of oxen. The buffaloes are of large size, but low in proportion to their bulk; they have no hunch on the back, and only a small dewlap on the breast; the hide is generally black, the tail long and slender. The buffaloes occupy the warm and tropical regions of the earth; they avoid hills, and prefer the coarse vegeta- tion of the forest and swampy regions to those BUGLE, COMMON. and cross the bmpadest rivers without hesita- tion. Their gait is heavy, and they run almost always with the nose horizontal, being princi- pally guided by the sense of smelling. They herd together in small flocks, or liye in pairs, but are never strictly gregarious in a wild state. The females bear calves two years fol- lowing, but remain sterile the third; they pro- pagate at four and a half years old, and discontinue after twelve. “The common buf- falo (says Professor Low) has come to us, be- yond a question, from Eastern Asia. He seems to have been introduced into Italy about the sixth century, and is now an important animal _ in the rural economy of that country. He is used by the Italians as food and as the beast of labour, and may be said to form the riches of the inhabitants in many parts of the country. He is cultivated, too, in Greece and Hungary. The milk of the female is good, but the flesh is held in less esteem than that of the common ox. The pace of the animal is sluggish; but from the low manner in which he carries his head, throwing the weight of his great body for- ward when pulling, he is well suited for heavy draught. But this is not a property sufficiently important to cause the intreduction of the buf- falo into the agriculture of northern Europe, and he is not likely, therefore, to be carried beyond the countries where he is now reared.” Buffalo hunting on elephants is one of the field sports of the East; and this animal is also hunted on foot with avidity by the Caflres at the Cape of Good Hope, as well to get rid of a dangerous foe as to furnish themselves with food from his flesh and leather from his hide. (Brande’s Dict. of Science; Blaine’s Encyc. of Ru- ral Sports; Elements of Practical Agriculture.) For American Buffalo, see Brson. BUFFALO BERRY TREE (Shepardia mag- noides). Silver-leaved Sheperdia. A very beautiful tree, discovered by Mr. Nuttall in Missouri. The tree is of upright growth and thorny, the leaves small and of a delicate and silvery appearance. The fertile and barren flowers are produced on different trees. The fruit consists of berries about the size and ap- pearance of large currants, of a fine scarlet colour, and very beautiful, enveloping the branches in profuse clusters. It has a rich taste, and is considered valuable for making into tarts and preserves. BUGLE, COMMON (4juge reptans). This very pretty wild plant grows in woods, copses, moist pastures, and shady places, flowering in April, May, and June. It is a perennial; has blue flowers, upright leafy stalks. and glossy leaves, of a deep purplish-green colour, oblong, broad, blunt at the point, and slightly indented round the edges, some growing immediately from the root. The flower-stalks rise eight or ten inches-high, of a pale green—often pur- plish—and have two leaves at each joint, which joints are far apart from each other. The joint leaves are as large as those growing from the root. The scentless flowers are blue and white, sometimes entirely white, growing round the upper part of its stalk, forming a kind of loose spike. The cups remain, when of open plains; they love to wallow and lie for | the flower has fallen off, to hold its seeds hours sunk deep in water; they swim well, | This plant is often denominated sicklewort, anil 235 BUGLE-HORN. herb carpenter. The roots @ays Smith) are slightly astringent; but the herb has little taste or smell, and still less of any healing or vul- nerary property. The white variety abounds in the Isle of Wight; and a flesh-coloured one has sometimes been observed. In dry mountain- ous situations the plant acquires a consider- able degree of hairiness. The French, who are great herbalists, affirm, that “with bugle and sanicle, no one needs a surgeon.” Besides the common bugle, Smith, in his English Flora, (vol. iii. p. 65—67), enumerates three other species, the alpine bugle, pyrami- dal bugle, and ground pine or yellow bugle (Ajuga chamepitys). BUGLE-HORN (from bucula,a heifer). A wind-instrument, much more commonly em- ployed in the sports of the field formerly than at present. It has been, however, in our days, much improved for musical purposes by the introduction of keys. BUGLE-WEED (Virginian lycopus), a creeping perennial found in the Middle States, frequenting swamps and moist woodlands, producing minute white flowers in June and July. It constitutes a prominent article in the materia medica of certain German empirics, in the city of Lancaster, and other parts of Pennsylvania,—who prescribe an infusion as a certain remedy for a “dry liver,” an infirmity which, they allege, afflicts a large proportion of those credulous persons who consult them. (See Flor. Cestrica.) BULB (Lat. bulbus; Gr. forts). A bud usually formed under ground, having very fleshy scales, and capable of separating from its parent plant. Occasionally it is produced upon the stem, as in some lilies. It contains the rudiments of the future plant, and partakes of the character of the bud (which see). In bulbous plants, as the tulip, onion, or lily, what we generally call the root is in fact a bulb or hybernaculum, or winter case, which incloses and secures the embryo or future shoot. At the lower part of this bulb may be observed a fleshy disk, knob, or tubercle, whence proceed a number of fibres or threads. This knob, with the fibres attached to and hanging from it, is, properly speaking, the true root; the upper part being only the cradle or nursery of the future stem, which, being re- placed a certain number of times, the bulb perishes; but not till it has produced at its sides a number of smaller bulbs or cloves for perpetuating the species. In bulbous plants, where the stallx and former leaves of the plant are sunk below, into the bulb, the radicles or small fibres that hang from the bulb are to be considered as the root; that is, the part which furnishes nourishment to the plant: the several rinds and shells whereof the bulb chiefly con- sists successively perish, and shrink up into so many dry skins, betwixt which, and in their centre, are formed other leaves and shells, and thus the bulb is perpetuated. There are several kinds of bulbs; namely, 1. The tunicated bulb (Bulbus tunicatus), formed of thin membranous layers, as, for example, the onion; 2. The scaly bulb (B. squammosus), formed of fleshy abortive jeaves, not in layers, as in the lily. The cloves, which are produced between the scales of 236 BURGLARY. bulbs, are often, as it were, starved, when the bulb throws up a vigorous flowering stem; thence, in order to propagate bulbs, the flower- ing stem should be destroyed as soon as it appears. BULLACE TREE, WILD (Prunus insititia). A small tree, chiefly growing in hedges and plantations, with irregularly-spreading round branches, for the most part tipped with a sharp straight thorn, There are several varieties of the black kind, differing in size and flavour, some good even in a fresh state, and of more or less excellence when dressed. (Smith’s Eng. Flor. vol. ii. p. 356). BULLEN. A provincial name applied to the hempstalk when the bark is stripped from it. BULRUSH (Scirpus lacustris). A peren- nial found commonly in clear ditches, ponds, and the borders of lakes and rivers; flowers in July and August. (Smith’s Flora, vol. i. p- 56.) From this plant the bottoms of chairs, mats, &c.are made. The common bulrushes of the English marshes, which bear masses of brown flowers, are the Typha latifolia and angustifolia. See Rusu. BUNIAS. The oriental bunias (Bunias orientalis, Pl. 9,k) is a perennial plant, with leaves, branches, and its general habit of herbage, not unlike the wild chiccory. Itisa native of the Levant or eastern shores of the Mediterranean, and has been cultivated by way of experiment in the grass garden at Woburn, It is less productive than chiccory, bears mowing well, and affords the same nu- triment, in proportion to its bulk, as red clover. (Loudon's Ency. of Agr.) BUR. The rough head of the burdock, &c. BURDOCK (Arctium). There are two spe- cies, the 4. lappa, common burdock or clot- bur, and the 4. lardana, woolly-headed bur- dock. This very cumbrous weed is removed the first year of its growth by stubbing, like other things comprehended by farmers under the name of docks, and paid for accordingly to the weeder. It is also very commonly found in waste ground, by waysides, and among rubbish. (Smith's Eng. Flora, vol.iii.p. 379.) It grows a yard high, with large leaves of a tri- angular shape, and of a whitish green colour. The stalks are round, solid, and tough. The florets are small and red, and they grow among the prickles of those heads called burs, which stick to the clothes of passers-by. The root is long and thick, brown outside, and whitish within. The plant is a biennial, and flowers in July and August. The root in decoction is a diuretie and sudorific; but it is of little va- Iue, except as a vehicle for more important medicines in some affections of the skin. This is a great remedy among village doctresses, who sometimes apply the bruised leaves to the soles of the feet in hysterics. Either the root or seeds decocted, or infused, are equally use- ful with the leaves. The root of the lesser burdock, or xanthium (Bardana minor), has a bitter and acrid flavour, and is useful in scro- fulous disorders. A decoction of the root should be persevered in for a considerable length of time. BURGLARY. The breaking into a dwell- ing-house in the night with a felonious intent. BURGOT. The 7 W.4, & 1 Vict. c. 86, s. 2, enact, that whosoever shall burglariously break and enter into any dwelling-house, and shall assault with intent to murder any person being therein, or shall stab, cut, wound, beat, or strike any such person, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall suffer death. S. 3 en- acts, that whosoever shall be convicted of the crime of burglary shall be liable, at the dis- cretion of the court, to be transported beyond the seas for the term of the natural life of such offender, or for any term not less than ten years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding three years. S.4 enacts, that, so far as the same is essential to the offence of burglary, the night shall be considered to commence at nine of the clock in the evening of each day, and to conclude at six of the clock in the morning of the next succeeding day. (Archbold’s Crim. Law.) BURGOT. A provincial word applied to yeast. It is sometimes pronounced burgood. BUR-MARIGOLD (Bidens). This is an herbaceous, mostly annual, genus of plants, flowering in August and September. It is met with very frequently in watery places, and about the sides of ditches and ponds. There are two species, with one or two varieties in each. In the three-lobed bur-marigold (B. tripartita), the root is tapering with many fibres; stem two or three feet high, erect, solid, smooth, leafy, with opposite axillary branches. Leaves dark green, strongly ser- rated, in three deep segments, sometimes five. Flower, terminal, solitary, of a brownish-yel- low, somewhat drooping, devoid of beauty and of fragrance. Seeds with two or three prickly angles, and as many erect bristles; likewise prickly with reflexed hooks, by which they stick like burs to any rough surface, and are said sometimes to injure fish by getting into their gills. The herb of this species gives a yellow colour to woollen or linen. The nodding bur- marigold (B.cernua) has a root with many stout fibres, herb more erect and taller, with less extended branches than the foregoing species. Leaves undivided, pointed, and less deeply serrated. Flowers drooping, though their stalks are quite straight to the very sum- mit; larger and handsomer than the last. (Smith’s Eng. Flora, vol. iii. p. 398.) Among the species of bidens or bur-mari- gold, found in the United States, are the follow- ing: the chrysanthemum-like bidens, common- ly called beggar-ticks, an annual; and the bipinnate bidens, popularly called Spanish needles. These and the other American spe- cies of bidens or burweed are noted for mature akenes adhering, by their barbed awns, to the clothing of those who go among them in au- tumn. They are rather troublesome weeds along fence-rows, &c., and bloom and ripen their seeds late in the season. BURNET, COMMON (Pimpinella saxi- fraga). There are three species of burnet; namely, burnet saxifrage, dwarf burnet, and the greater burnet. The common burnet plant (Plate 9, a) was, a quarter of a century since, much cultivated as a green crop, from its being able to thrive on very poor, thin, and sandy soils, but it has been gradually super- BURNING, seded by better grasses. Its growth is rather slow. Cattle prefer it to clover and rye-grass, but sheep do not. (Ann. of Agr. vol. i. p. 394.) It is sown in spring-time, the same as other grass seeds, and withstands severe weather. It should be fed off when young (Ibid. vol. ii. p- 176); and then, says Arthur Young, “it is one of the best grasses for sheep” (Ibid. p. 369), who are at that stage of its growth exceed- ingly fond of it. About 7 lbs. of seed suffice for an acre (Ibid. vol. xvi. p. 355); and the produce is six or seven bushels per acre, on moderate land. (Ibid. vol. xx. p. 237.) BURNET, SALAD, SMALL or UPLAND (Poterium sanguisorba, from the Greek rernpiy, a cup, used in cool tankards). The stem, which is angular, smooth, and leafy, rises one to two feet high, furnished with glaucous-green, smooth, pinnated leaves, with sharply cut stipules, in pairs at the base of the footstalk. The flowers are fertile and barren; the latter with crimson stamens resembling elegant sill tassels. (Smith.) It delights in a dry, poor soil, abounding in calcareous matter; any light compartment that has an open exposure, there- fore may be allotted to it, the only beneficial addition that can be applied being bricklayers’ rubbish or fragments of chalk. A small bed will be sufficient for the supply of a family. It may be propagated either by seed, or by slips and partings, or offsets of the roots. The seed may be sown towards the close of Febru- ary, in open weather, and thence until the close of May; but the best time is in autumn, as soon as it is ripe; for if kept until the spring, it will often fail entirely, or lie in the ground until the same season of the following year, without vegetating. It may be inserted in drills, six inches apart, or broadcast; in either mode, thin, and not buried more than half an inch. The plants must be kept thoroughly clear of weeds throughout their growth. When two or three inches high, they may be thinned to six inches apart, and those removed placed in rows at the same distance, in a poor, shady border, water being given occasionally until they have taken root, after which they will require no further attention until the au- tumn, when they must be removed to their final station, in rows a foot apart. When of established growth, the only attention requisite is to cut down their stems occasionally in summer, to promote the production of young shoots, and in autumn to have the decayed stems and shoots cleared away. If propagated by partings, &c. of the roots, the best time for practising it is in September and October. As it grows freely from seed, this is not usually practised. They are planted at once where they are to remain, and only require occa- sional watering until established. The other parts of their cultivation are as for those raised from seed. For the production of seed, some of the plants must be left ungathered from, and allowed to shoot up early in the summer; they flower in July, and ripen abun dance of seed in the autumn. The leaves taste and smell like cucumbers, thence the plant is used to flavour salads. (G. W. John- son’s Kitchen Garden.) BURNING. See Anson. 237 BURNING OF LIME. BURNING OF LIME. See Line. BURNS, in live stock, are best treated by a lotion composed of lime-water and linseed-oil, equal parts, applying it frequently ; this allays the inflammation very rapidly. BURNT CLAY. See Asus. BUR-REED (Sparganium). Smith (Eng. Flora, vol. iv. p. 73) enumerates three species: 1. The branched bur-reed (S. ramosum) ; 2. The unbranched upright bur-reed (S. simplex); 3. The floating bur-reed (S. zatans). They are all creeping-rooted, aquatic, juicy, smooth, up- right, or floating herbs, and found in pools and ditches, and the margins of ponds and rivers : common: the lastnamed principally in muddy fens, or slow rivers. The bur-reed is a peren- nial, flowering in July and August; the stems of some of the species attain to the height of three or four feet. The herbage of the branched bur-reed serves for package along with similar coarse grassy plants, and is softer and more pliant than most of them, not cutting the hand by any sharp edges, like carices or ferns. The unripe burs are very astringent. A strong decoction of the burs makes a wash for old ulcers. Dr. Darlington describes an American species of bur-reed, frequent in ditches, sluggish streams, &c., in the Middle States. (Flor. Ces.) BURROW (Teut. bergen, to cover). A pro- vincial word, signifying a heap or hillock, hence stone-burrows, peat-burrows, &c. BUR-WEED (Xanthium strumarium). The broad-leaved bur-weed is an annual plant, flowering in August and September, found in rich moist ground, or about dunghills in the south of England; but rare. It is herba- ceous or somewhat shrubby, rather downy, of a coarse habit, root fibrous; stem solitary, erect, branched, leafy, two feet high, solid; leaves on long stalks, heart-shaped, two or three inches wide; clusters of four or five fer- tile green flowers, and one or two barren ones, making no show. Old tradition reports that the xanthium is good for scrofulous disorders, as the specific name seems to indicate; but it is now out of use. The generic appellation alludes to a quality of dyeing yellow, which Dioscorides mentions. (Smith's Eng. Flora, vol. iv. p. 136.) The scrofulous xanthium, clot-weed, or eockle-bur is an obnoxious weed, found in the United States about farm-yards, road-sides, &c. It is an annual not much inclined to spread, and therefore, by a little attention, could ge- nerally be easily got rid off. The burs are a great annoyance in the fleeces of sheep. (Flor. Cestrica.) BUSH (Teut. busch; Dan. busk). A thick shrub, or a collection of shrubs or plants, growing close together, so as to form a sort of clump. It is also a provincial word, signify- ing the box of the nave of a wheel. BUSH-DRAINING. A term applied to a kind of draining, which is done by putting in, or filling the drains with bushes. See Drarn- ING. BUSHEL (Old Fr. buschel ; low Lat. bussel- lus). A measure of capacity for dry goods, as grain, fruit, pulse, and many other articles, con- taining 4 pecks, 8 gallons, or 32 quarts, and is 238 BUSH-HARROW. the eighth of the English quarter. The name seems to be derived from an old English word, buss, signifying a box or vessel. The bushel, by a statute made in the twelfth year of Henry the Seventh, is to contain 2150-42 eubic inches, or 8 gallons of wheat; the gallon of wheat to weigh 8 lbs. troy- weight; the pound, 12 oz. troy-weight; the ounce, 20 sterlings; and the sterling, 32 grains. By 5 Geo. 4, c. 74, the imperial gallon is de- clared the standard measure of capacity, and is directed to be made such as to contain 10 lbs. avoirdupois of distilled water, weighed in air at the temperature of 62° of Fahrenheit’s thermometer, the barometer standing at 30 inches, or to contain 277 cubic inches, and 274 thousandth parts of a cubic inch; conse- quently, the imperial bushel contains 80 Ibs. of distilled water, or 2218-192 cubic inches. By the same act (§ 7), the bushel is declared the standard measure of capacity for coals, culm, lime, fish, potatoes, or fruit, and all other goods or things commonly sold by heaped measure, and is prescribed to contain 2815 cubic inches, to be made round with a plain and even bottom, and being 183$ inches in the interior diameter by 8 in depth, and194inches from outside to outside; the goods to be heaped up in the form of cone, to a height above the rim of the measure of at least three- fourths of its depth. Besides the standard or legal bushel, there are in England several local bushels, of different dimensions in different places. At Abingdon and Andover, a bushel contains 9 gallons: at Appleby and Penrith, a bushel of peas, rye, and wheat, contains 16 gallons; of barley, big malt, mixed malt, and oats, 20 gallons. A bushel contains, at Carlisle, 24 gallons: at Chester, a bushel of wheat, rye, &c., contains 32 gallons, and of oats 40; at Dorchester, a bushel of malt and oats contains 10 gallons; at Falmouth, the bushel of stricken coals is 16 gallons; of other things 20, and usually 21 gallons: at Kingston-upon-Thames, the bushel contains 83; at Newbury, 9; at Wycomb and Reading, 8%; at Stamford 16 gallons. The contents of the bushel seems to have been gradually increasing; the Winchester bushel, used in England from the time of Henry VII. to 1826, contained 2150-42 cubic inches. The imperial bushel is therefore to the Win- chester bushel as 2218-192 to 2150-42, or as 1 to :969447. Hence to convert Winchester bushels into imperial, multiply by :969447. To convert prices per Winchester bushel into prices per imperial bushel, multiply by 10315157. The heaped bushel was abolished by 4 & 5 Will. 4,c.49, an act which took effect from the first of January, 1835. (Brande’s Dict. Science ; Penny Cyclopedia ; M*‘Culloch’s Com. Dic.) BUSH-HARROW. An implement consti- tuted of any sort of bushy branches, inter- woven in a kind of frame, consisting of three or more cross-bars, fixed into two end pieces in such a manner as to be very rough and brushy underneath. To the extremities of the frame before are generally attached two wheels, about twelve inches in diameter, upon which BUSH-HARROWING, it moves; sometimes, however, wheels are not empioyed, but the whole rough surface is ap- plied to, and dragged on, the ground. See Hannow. BUSH-HARROWING. ‘The operation of harrowing with an instrument of the kind just described. It is chiefly necessary on grass- lands, or such as have been long in pasture, for the purpose of breaking down and reducing the lumps and clods of the earth or manures that may have been applied, and thereby ren- dering them more capable of being washed into the ground, or for removing the worm- casts and mossy matter that may have formed on the surface. BUSH-VETCH (Vicia sepium). A plant of the vetch kind, which may probably be culti- vated to advatitage by the farmer, where ln- cerne and other plants of a similar nature cannot be grown. Its root is perennial, fibrous, and branching; the stalks many, some of them shooting immediately upwards, others creep- ing just under the surface of the ground, and emerging, some near to, and others at a con- siderable distance from, the parent-stock. The small oval leaves are connected together by a mid-rib, with a tendril at the extremity; the flowers are in shape like those of the common vetch, of a reddish-purple colour; the fitst that blossom usually come in pairs, afterwards to the number of four at a joint; the pods are much shorter than those of the common vetch, larger in proportion to their length, and flatter, and are of a biack colour when ripe; the seeds are smaller than those of the cultivated spe- cies, some speckled, others of a clay colour. It yields, from a brown sandy loam, 17,696 lbs. per acre of grass, and of nutritive matter 976 lbs. It flowers in the middle of May, and maintains its place when once in possession of the soil, but appears unfit for clayey soils. The seeds are sown in April or the beginning of May. (Hort. Gram. Wob. p. 210.) Being a perennial plant, Mr. Swayne deems it to be a proper kind to intermix with grass seeds for laying down lands intended for pasture; and that it is as justly entitled to this epithet as any herbaceous plant whatever, having ob- served a patch of it growing in one particular spot of his orchard for fourteen or fifteen years past. It is not only a perennial, but an evergreen: it shoots the earliest in the spring of any plant eaten by cattle with which he is acquainted; vegetates late in autumn, and continues green through the winter, though the weather be very severe: add to this, that cat- tle are remarkably fond of it. The chief rea- son that has hitherto prevented its cultivation has been the very great difficulty of procuring good seed in any quantity. The pods, he finds, do not ripen altogether; but as soon almost as they are ripe, they burst with great elasticity, and scatter the seed around; and after the seeds have been procured, scarce one-third part of them will vegetate, owing, as he sup- poses, to an internal defect, occasioned by cer- tain insects making them the nests and food for their young. It seems, also, that a crop of this kind of vetch may be cut three or four times, and in some cases even so early as the beginning of March—a circumstance of much BUTTER. importance to farmers who have a large stoc of cattle. (Trans. Bath and West of England Society, vol. iil.) BUTT. A provincial term applied to such ridges or portions of arable land as run out short at the sides or other parts of fields; also to a vessel holding 126 gallons of wine, 108 of beer; and to a measure of from 15 to 22 cwts. of currants. To butt, from Dutch botten, to strike. Butt-land is the place where, in days of archery, the butts for practice were placed. It is also applied provincially to a close- bodied cart: hence a dung-butt, or wheel- cart, gurry-butt, or sledge-cart, ox-butt, horse- butt, &c. BUTTER (Ger. butter; Dut. boter). A well- known article of domestic consumption, com- monly procured by churning the milk of the cow. It was not an article employed by the early Greeks and Romans. “The ancient Ro- mans,” says Mr. Aiton (Quart. Journ. Agr. vol. vy. p. 357), “Inew nothing of making butter until they were taught by the Germans how to make it, and it was not used by them as food, but merely as oil.” Herodotus says, that the Scythians formed butter by agitating mare’s milk; and the poet Anaxandrides says, that the Thracians ate butter, at which the Grecians were surprised. When Julius Cesar invaded Eneland, he found that the inhabitants had abundance of milk, from which they made butter, but could not make cheese till they were taught that art by their invaders. The Arabs, it seems (Burckhardt’s Travels in Nubia, p- 441), are very large consumers of fresh butter, and they are in the habit of drinking every morning a cupful of melted butter, or ghee, as it is called in the East. In India, ghee is made from the milk of the buffalo, and a very considerable traffic is carried on with it. It is usually conveyed in leather bottles or duppers, holding from ten to forty gallons; some are made of hide. The colour of butter is yellow; it possesses the property of an oil, and mixes readily with other oily bodies; it melts and becomes transparent at 96° Fahren- heit, and if it is kept in this state for some time, it assumes exactly the appearance of oil, loses its peculiar flavour, and some curds and whey separate from it. Milk, in fact, is composed of cream, curd, and whey. The cream and the milk are merely united mechanically, and when, therefore, the new milk is allowed to rest, the cream, being the lighter of the two, rises gradually to the top; the curd separates from the milk, too, with the assistance of a very slight degree of acidity. Butter may be made by the agitation of either cream or new milk: fresh cream is not commonly used, be- cause it requires four times the churning that stale cream does. (Fourcroy, Ann. de Chém. tom. vii. p. 169.) The contact of the atmo- spheric air is not absolutely essential to the production of butter from cream, although the oxygen of the air is usually absorbed in churning: according to Dr. Young, there is an increase in the temperature during the ope- ration of four degrees. Buttermilk is merely milk deprived of its cream, in which it rapidly becomes sour, and the curdy or cheesy part is separated from the whey or serum. Cream of 239 BUTTER. the specific gravity 1.0244 was found by Ber- zelius to contain— Parts. Butter - - - - - - - 45 Cheese - - - - - - - 35 Whey - - - - - 92:0 Curd, which is ae ee from creamed milk by rennet, has many of the properties of coagulated albumen: it is composed, accord- ing to the analysis of MM. Gay Lussac and Thenard, of Parts. Carbon - - - - - - 59-751 Oxygen = = = = = = 11'409 Hydrogen - - = - - - 7429 Azote - - - - - - 21°381 100° Curd, adds Dr. Thomson (System of Chem. vol. iv. p. 499), as is well known, is used in making cheese, and the cheese is the better, the more it contains of cream, or of that oily matter which constitutes cream. It is well known to cheese-makers, that the goodness of it depends in a great measure on the manner of separating the whey from the curd. If the milk be much heated, the coagulum broken in pieces, and the whey forcibly separated, as is the practice in many parts of Scotland, the cheese is scarcely good for any thing; but the whey is delicious, especially the last squeezed out whey; and butter may be obtained from it in considerable quantities. But if the whey is not too much heated (100° is sufficient), if the coagulum be allowed to remain unbroken, and the whey be separated by very slow and gentle pressure, the cheese is excellent, but the whey is almost transparent and nearly colourless. (Journal de Phys.) When milk is deprived of its cream, it is composed, according to M. Berzelius, of Parts. Water - - a =. 2 * - 998-75 Curd with a little cream - - - - 28° Sugar of milk - - =" 185: Muriate of potash (chloride of potassium) - lt Phosphate of potash - - - - 25 Lactic acid and acetate of potash - - - & Earthy phosphates - - - - - 30° 1000 (Thomson, vol. iv. p. 501.) - From some valuable experiments on the temperature at which butter may be best pro- cured from cream, by Dr. John Barclay and Mr. Allen, it appeared “that cream should not be kept at a high temperature in the process of churning. In the experiment when the tem- perature was lowest, the quantity of butter obtained was in the greatest proportion to the quantity of cream used; anc. as the tempera- ture was raised, the proportional quantity of butter diminished; while, in the last experi- ment, when the mean temperature of the cream had been raised to 70°, not only was the quan- tity of butter diminished, but in quality it was found to be very inferior, both with regard to taste and appearance. That the lowest possi- ble temperature should be sought in churning, appears likewise from another result of these experiments, the specific gravity of the churned milk having been found to diminish as the temperature of the cream was increased; thus showing, that at the lower temperature, the butter, which is composed of the lighter parts 240 BUTTER. of the cream, is more completely collected than at the higher temperature, in which the churned milk is of greater specific gravity.” The con- clusion to which they came therefore was, that the most proper temperature at which to com- mence the operation of churning butter is from 50° to 55°, and that at no time of the operation ought it to exceed 65°; while, on the contrary, if at any time the cream should be under 50° in temperature, the labour will be much in- creased, without any proportional advantage being obtained; and a temperature of a higher degree than 65° will be injurious as well to the quality as the quantity of the butter, (Trans. High. Soc. vol. i. p. 194.) One of these experi- ments it may be well to abridge:—15 gallons of cream at the temperature of 50° were churned; each gallon (equal to holding 8 lbs. 4 oz. of water) weighed 8 lbs. 4 0z.; by churn- ing for two hours, the temperature of the cream rose to 56°; at the end of the churning it was 60°. The butter obtained weighed 294 lbs. avoirdupois, or nearly 2 lbs. for each gallon of cream: the butter was firm, rich, and plea- sant. A gallon of the churned milk weighed 8 lbs. 9 oz. Mr. J. Ballantyne found that the greatest quantity of butter from a given quantity of cream is obtained at 60°, and the best quality at 55° in the churn just before the butter came; when the heat exceeded 65°, no washing could etach the milk from the butter without the aid f salt; but when a quantity of salt was wrought well into it, and the mass allowed to stand for twenty-four hours, and then well washed, the milk was separated. (Trans. High. Soc. vol. i. p. 198.) The method of making the best butter all over the dairy district of Scotland, is thus de- scribed by Mr. Aiton (Quart. Journ. Agr. vol. v. p- 351): The milk, when drawn from the cow, is placed from six to twelve hours in coolers, the same as when set aside to cast up its cream; but this is merely to let the milk cool; and whenever it is divested of its natural heat, the whole meal of milk is emptied from the cool- ers into a stand vat or tub suflicient to contain the whole. If the vat is large, and a second meal of milk has become cold before the for- mer meal of milk has begun to acidify, the second may be turned into the first. It is then placed in a vat, covered over, and allowed to remain undisturbed, till the milk has not only acidified, but until it has been formed into a coagulum (or dapper, in dairy language). It is now ready to be churned; and, provided the lapper is not broken (which makes it ferment), it may remain, without injury, unchurned for some days. Milk prepared in this way is churned in up- right or plunge churns, of a size to suit the magnitude of the dairy. Where only a few cows are kept, the churns will hold about 100 quarts, from 200 to 240 quarts, and some still more. These large churns are on some large farms moved by machinery of various con- structions, but in most dairy farms, churns of 200 quarts are wrought by hand-labour only. After the clotted milk is put into the churn, as much hot water is poured amongst the milk as to raise the temperature from 50° or 55°, which BUTTER. is about the ordinary temperature of a good spring or milk-house. Experiments instituted for the purpose have determined this as the best temperature at which to commence the operation of churning, and that at no time during the operation ought it to exceed 65°. If the temperature be higher, it will be attended with injury to the quality and quantity of the butter. “come.” After the butter has formed, warm water may be gradually added, so as to raise the temperature to 70° or 75°, one person agi- tating while another throws in the water. The temperature must be raised to or above 70° before the butter can be separated from the mill; and this cannot be accomplished in any way so well as by pouring in boiling water after it has begun to be churned. If the milk is too cold, when churning it swells, has a pale white colour, throws upon the surface many air-bubbles, and emits a rattling noise; the time of churning is from 23 to 23 hours; the milk being of ordinary quality, 24 pints impe- rial yield 24 ounces of butter. In the making of butter, care and cleanliness are requisite. The cows should be milked in the cool of the morning and evening; they should be driven very gently, and if brought to the milking-place some little time previously, it will be all the better. In some countries they milk them in their pastures, a practice commonly followed in mountainous districts, and where they are distant from the dairy. The teats of the cow should be washed often with water, and the dairy floors (which are best of brick) and all the dairy utensils cannot be too frequently washed, not only because dirt is exceedingly noxious to the production of good butter, but from the coolness which it produces in the dairy. When the milk is brought into the dairy, it is strained through a sieve, to remove any me- chanically diffused matters, and then placed in shallow pans and coolers, cr leaden troughs. Some are made of iron tinned, others of brass. There is, however, an objection to leaden troughs, for at the point of contact between the air and the cream, the latter aids the oxidize- ment of the lead; and carbonic acid being attracted, a carbonate of lead (white lead) is formed, and communicates a poisonous pro- perty to the cream. Painters’ colic has been thus sometimes communicated to dairymaids. Zinc, or iron tinned, is preferable to lead for dairy vessels. The same objection applies to brass as to lead. Metal ones are regarded as the best, from their rapidity of cooling in sum- mer, and from their beine more easily warmed in the winter; they are besides (and the same remark applies to the milk pails, &c.) more readily and completely cleaned than those of wood or earthenware. The dairy should be well ventilated by wire-gauze windows, and protected by either trees or buildings from the heat of the sun. In twelve hours the finest Portion of the cream has risen to the surface, which, if then separated from the milk and churned, produces a very delicate butter. It is commonly left, however, for twenty-four hours, and then skimmed off and deposited in an earthen vessel. In the dairies of the usual 31 If lower than 50°, the butter will not | BUTTER. | size, the cream collected is churned every two | days, and the formation of the butter is found | to be materially accelerated by the cream ac- | quiring a slight acidity; indeed, it has been | Sometimes contended that, without the presence of an acid, butter cannot be made. Lactic acid indeed is always present in buttermilk; an | acid quality is even, in some cases, imparted to it by the dairywomen, who add a small quantity of vinegar or lemon-juice; this, how- ever, does not improve the flavour of the but- ler, and it injures it considerably for salting. To effect the separation of the butter from the cream, a considerable degree of agitation is necessary, varying with the electrical state of the atmosphere, and other circumstances. Of the influence of electricity no one will doubt who has witnessed the effect of a thunder-storm on a dairy of milk. The agitation or churning is produced by various-sized churns, the most common shaped of which is the upright wooden churn, with an upright plunger; others are made of barrels, turning on an axle by means of a common winch; some are made like cra- dles, and rock much in the same manner: these are worked chiefly by hand. But it is ; Sometimes done by horse power, and very commonly now in Cheshire by small portable high-pressure steam-engines: these last might easily be made to cut chaff, bruise corn for stock, crush bones, and a variety of other use- ful purposes. In the course of a period varying from one hour to several hours, according to circum- Stances, the butter begins to make its appear- ance in small lumps or kernels, which are gradually increased in number as the churn- ing proceeds; these are collected and placed in a shallow wooden vessel, or washing-tub, and when all the butter is “come” or extracted, little else remains but the buttermilk. The butter placed in the washing-tub is worked by the hand into a mass, the buttermilk squeezed out, and the butter washed in water, an opera- tion which, when it is intended for keeping, cannot be too carefully performed; and if the H 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 Cyclopedia, “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. “his x 241 uf BUTTER. prevents a streak which would otherwise ap- pear at the place where the two portions joined. When the cask is full, some salt is put over it, and the head is put on. If 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 flavour 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 pans (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 cream 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 sufficiently 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 and Furnes, 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 ewts., of which 106,776 ewts. came from Hol- Jand. (M‘Culloch’s Com. Dict.; Trans. High. Soc.; Quart. Journ. Agr.) To prepare Butter for a 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 this refined butter is become a little stiff, but while it is still somewhat soft, the pure part must be separated from the dregs, and be salted 242 BUTTER. 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 may also be preserved sweet, without salt, by adding to it a certain 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, ora 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 generally 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 ana Scotland, and the moors, commons, and heaths 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 be bedded with a thick cloth, folded two or three BUTTER-CUP. times; then a thin gauze dipped in cold water, spread over it, on which the 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 oyer it, put in another layer in the same way, and then cover with the remainder of the gauze. The butter should be put into and taken from 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 where it forms no inconsiderable part of the pro- fits of the dairy. In Derbyshire more butter is said to be made from whey than from the cream of milk, or from milk churned altogether. Under the head of Anthoxanthum Odoratum, reasons are given for ascribing to its presence in pastures, a certain rich flavour for which the butter made in some districts is celebrated, such as the ‘* May butter” of Philadelphia, and the Epping and Cambridge butter of London. The sweet-scented yernal grass owes its aro- matic qualities chiefly to the presence of ben- zoic acid or flowers of benzoin, and this when administered to cows mixed with their food has been found to communicate the peculiarly plea- sant flayour common to Philadelphia ‘“ May butter,” not met with at present in the butter of any other part of the United States, and so highly prized by epicures that when good fresh butter sells in the Philadelphia market for 20 and 25 cents, the high-flavoured spring grass butter will bring 40 or 50 cents per pound. Very agreeable flayours may be given to butter by adding to cream, before churning, certain agents, as flowers of benzoin, vanilla, etc. See AnTHOXANTHUM OporatumM, Dairy, WHEY. BUTTER-CUP, butter-flower, or upright meadow crow’s foot (Ranunculus bulbosus, Smith). (Pl. 10,4) A common perennial weed, abounding in meadows and pastures, and blooming in May. The whole plant is extremely acrid, so as often to be employed by country people to raise a blister. Bees are, however, very fond of it; it is eaten by sheep and goats; but horses, cows, and swine refuse it; drying destroys its acrimony. The roots are perennial, and bulbous; the stem rises a foot high, and bears its yellow flowers on the ends of its branches. Dr. Darlington says that some fifteen or twenty species of ranunculus have been enu- merated in the United States. (Flor. Cestrica.) BUTTERFLY. The common English name, says Brande (Dict. of Science), of an extensive group of insects, as they appear in their last and fully developed state, when they constitute the most beautiful and elegant examples of their class. These insects belong to the order Lepidoptera, and to the section Diwrna of La- treille, or the genus Papilio of Linneus. The eggs of the butterfly are deposited on such plants as afford the nutriment most appropriate to the caterpillars, that are to be excluded from them; thus, the common white butterfly (Pieris brassice) and other species, Oviposit upon cabbages, and hence have been termed brassicarie; the gaudy peacock butterfly lays BUTTERNUT. * | her eggs upon the nettle. The eggs are coated | With a glutinous secretion as they are excluded from the parent, and thus they are provided with the means of adhesion to the leaves or stems of the plants selected. See Carer- PILLARS. BUTTERNUT (Juglans cathartica vel Cine- rea). A species of walnut growing in the United States, in different parts of which it is known by different names. In the New Eng- land States it generally takes the name of oil- nut; in some of the Middle States it is called white walnut; but from New York to the Caro- linas, and from Pennsylvania to Ohio, the most common name is butternut. The region of this tree is very extensive, as it is found from Upper and even Lower Canada to the Flo- ridas, and from the Atlantic to the Missouri. Even in Vermont and other cold regions its growth is so luxuriant that it attains a cireum- ference of eight or ten feet. Michaux mea- sured some in New Jersey nearly opposite New York, growing on the steep and elevated banks of the Hudson, where the soil was cold and unproductive, and found them, five feet from the ground, ten or twelve feet in cireum- ference, and fifty feet high, with roots running along the surface of the ground in a serpentine direction, and with little variation in size, to the distance of forty feet. The limbs gene- rally branch off at a small height above the base, and spread themselves widely, which gives the tree a striking appearance. In the spring its vegetation is forward, and its leaves unfold a fortnight earlier than those of the hickory. The black walnut and butter- nut, when young, resemble each other, in their foliage, and in the rapidity of their growth; ‘but when arrived at maturity, their forms are so different as to be distinguishable at first sight. Remarkable peculiarities are also found, on examining their wood, especially when seasoned. The black walnut is heavy, strong, and of a dark-brown colour; while the butter- nut is light, of little strength, and of a reddish hue. But they possess in common the great advantage of lasting long, and of being se- |cure from the annoyance of worms. The wood of the butternut is used for the sleepers and posts of frame houses and barns, for post and rail fences, troughs for cattle, &c. For corn-shovels and wooden dishes, it is preferred to the red-flowering maples, because it is lighter and less liable to split; consequently hollow ware and other articles made of it sell at higher prices. In Vermont the wood is used for the panels of coaches and chaises, being well adapted for this purpose, not only from its lightness, but because it is not liable to split. It receives paint in a superior manner. its pores being very open, more so than those of poplar and bass-wood. The bark of the butternut possesses medi- cinal properties of a cathartic nature which |have been highly recommended both by the ,testimony of the regular faculty and popular practice. An extract prepared from the bark |1s prescribed by American physicians in doses |of from half a drachm to a drachm to adults. In the revolutionary war when supplies of foreign medicines were cut off, the extract of, 243 * BUTTERWORT. butternut was considered an admirable sub- stitute for jalap. At present it is but little resorted to except in domestic practice in the country, where many of the farmer’s wives make a preparation in the spring for the use of themselves and their neighbours. They usually boil the bark entire in water, till the liquid is reduced, by evaporation, to a thick, viscid substance, which is almost black. This is a faulty process; the exterior bark should first be removed, for by continuing the boiling, it soaks up nearly four-fifths of the liquid, already charged with rich extractive matter. In the country the bark is sometimes employed for dyeing wool of a dark-brown colour; but the bark of the black walnut is preferable for this purpose. If the trunk of the butternut is pierced in the month which precedes the unfolding of the leaves, a pretty copious discharge ensues of a slightly sugary sap, from which, by evapora- tion, sugar is obtained of a quality inferior to that of the sugar maple. (Michaua’s Americay Sylva.) BUTTERWORT (Pinguicula vulgaris), A perennial weed growing in moist soils, as bogs and wet heaths. The viscid exudation of the leaves, which are thick and glutinous, says Smith (Eng. Flor. vol. i. p. 29), is reputed to be good for the sore teats of cows, whence the Yorkshire name of this plant, sanicle. The country people make it into a syrup as a pur- gative, and boil it with their garden herbs in broth as a remedy in colds. An ointment made from butterwort is also used for chapped hands, and to rub upon animals when bitten by an adder or slow-worm. Mr. Nuttall enumerates four species of this plant found in the United States, all of which, he says, grow nearly on a level with the ocean, in moist pine-barrens. (Genera of North Am. Plants.) BUTTONWOOD, or SYCAMORE, the Pla- tanus occidentalis, or western plane tree, of na- turalists. Among trees with deciduous leaves, none in the temperate zones, either on the old or new continent, equals the dimensions of the planes. The species which grows in the West- ern World is not less remarkable for its am- plitude and for its magnificent appearance than the plane of Asia, whose majestic form and extraordinary size was so much celebrated by the ancients. In the Atlantic States this tree is commonly kmown by the name of buttonwood, and some- times, in Virginia, by that of water-beech. On the banks of the Ohio, and in the states of Kentucky and Tennessee, it is most frequently called sycamore, and by some persons plane- tree. The French of Canada and of Upper Louisiana give it the name of cotton tree. The buttonwood is abundant and very vigor- -us along the great rivers of Pennsylvania and of Virginia; though in the more fertile val- leys of the West, its vegetation is perhaps still more luxuriant, especially on the banks of the Ohio and rivers emptying intoit. The bottoms watered by these rivers are covered with dark forests, composed of trees of extraordinary BUTTONWOOD. colour, and unctuous to the touch, formed ap- parently of the slime deposited in the course of ages by the annual overflowing of the rivers. The fertility derived from this source is in- creased by accumulations of decayed vegetable matter furnished by leaves and the trees them- selves. A degree of fertility is thus attained by the vegetable mould without example in Europe, and which is manifested by prodigies of vegetation. In such situations the button- wood is found to be the largest tree in the United States, although in point of loftiness it is exceeded by the tulip poplar, and still more the white pine. Often, with a trunk of several feet in diameter, the plane tree begins to branch out at the height of sixty or seventy feet, near the summits of surrounding trees; and often the base divides itself into several trunks equally vigorous and superior in diameter to . all other trees in the vicinity. “On a little island in the Ohio, fifteen miles above the mouth of the Muskingum, my father,” says Michaux, “measured a buttonwood which, at five feet from the ground, was forty feet and four inches in circumference, and consequently more than thirteen feet in diameter. Twenty years before, General Washington had mea- sured the same tree, and found it to be of nearly the same size.” The same distinguished naturalist mentions another tree which he and his travelling companion had measured, and found, at the height of four feet above the ground, forty-seven feet in circumference This tree, which grew on the right bank of the Ohio, about thirty-six miles from Marietta, still exhibited the appearance of vigorous vegeta- tion, and began to shoot out its limbs twenty- feet above the ground. A buttonwood of equal size is mentioned, as existing in Tennessee. “The extraordinary dimensions of these trees recalls,” says Michaux, “the famous plane tree of Lycia, spoken of by Pliny, the trunk of which, hollowed by time, afforded a retreat for the night to the Roman Consul Licinius Mutianus, with eighteen of his followers. The interior of this grotto was represented to be seventy feet in circumference, and the summit of the tree resembled a small forest.” The most striking resemblance, in the ma- jesty of their form and in the enormous size of their trunk, thus appears to exist between the only two species of plane that have been discovered. It is difficult to mark any differ- ence in the colour and organization of their wood. The American species is generally thought, in Europe, to possess a richer foliage and to afford a deeper shade than the Asiatic plane. Its leaves are of a beautiful green, alternate, from five to ten inches broad, less deeply lobed, and formed with more open an- gles than those of the plane of the Eastern continent. In some places where this tree is very abundant, it has been a source of alarm to the neighbouring inhabitants, who believe that the fine down from the leaves, floating in the air, produces an irritation of the lungs and predisposes to consumption. There appears to be little if any foundation for such an ap- prehension. According to Michaux’s observations, the size. The soil is very deep, loose, of a brown | buttonwood does not venture towards the north- 244 BUXUS. east, beyond Portland, in the latitude of 40° 30’; but farther west, in 73° of longitude, it is found two degrees farther north, at the extremity of Lake Champlain and at Montreal. Proceed- ing from Boston and the shores of Lake Champlain towards the west and the south- west, the buttonwood is centinually met with over a vast tract, comprising the Atlantic and Western States, and extending beyond the Mississippi. 4 The wood of the plane tree speedily decays when exposed to the atmosphere. Hence it is only adapted for work that is sheltered from the weather, and when thoroughly seasoned, it may be usefully employed in the interior of houses for joists, &c. Though never used in the construction of large vessels, it has been hollowed out into canoes, one of which, former- ly on the river Wabash, made of a single tree, was sixty-five feet long, and carried nine thou- sand pounds. (Michaua’s Am. Sylva.) BUXUS. The boxwood, of which botanists commonly enumerate three species: 1. The arborescens, with oval leaves. 2. The angusti- folia, with narrow leaves. 3. The suffruticosa, the species usually employed in the bordering of flower-beds. The first twc, when allowed to grow in a natural manner, are deciduous shrubs of fine appearance. All the species are easily cultivated. The wood is extremely hard and capable of being wrought with great neatness by the turner. It is also used by the engravers on wood to cut figures upon. BYRE. A term made use of in some places to signify a cow-house. It is commonly em- ployed in the northern parts of England, and in Scotland; and they are differently denomi- nated, according to the uses to which they are applied: thus, there are feeding-byres, turnip- byres, &c. BYSLINS. A provincial word signifying the first milk of a new-calved cow. OF CABBAGE (Fr. cabus; probably from cab, old Fr. for head, top, or extremity. Ital. cabuccio ; Dutch, kabuys. “But the form of the cabbage, resembling a head, shows caput to be the ori- ginal.”—Todd’s Johnson. Lat. brassica; from mpzotxy, 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 Agriculture, vol. iv. p. 178), is a most invaluable plant, very productive, accessible at all times, and is an infallible supply for sheep-feeding during the spring months, espe- cially for ewes in lamb. Beasts and sheep are CABBAGE. all exceedingly fond of cabbages. It may be of same importance to the farmer to be in- formed that among all the plants of the natural order to which 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 difference 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 grows 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. campestris); 3. Rape or cole (B. Napus) ; 4. Early cole (B. precor) ; 5. Cabbage (LB. 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 Elem. of Prac. Agric. 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 ahead. 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 erisped 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 soiland 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 x2 245 CABBAGE. throughout a great part of the season, and they remain growing for several years. 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, chow a mille tétes, 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 may 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 oleracea var. caulo-rapa). This plant is cultivated in Germany and the north of Europe. Itis valued as a resource for cattle in winter. While it produces 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-meutioned class, as the cauliflower and the broccoli, are entirely limited to the garden. The kinds of the cab- bage 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 Ibs., and not unfre- quently arrive to upwards of 30 lbs. weight. The above and other names, however, are fre- quently applied where there is no real distine- tion. The most productive of these are the drum-headed and American; but the red-veined and Scotch stand the winter best. They are all known by their large Jeaves, which, as the plant advances, collapse and form a dense head. The large field cabbages are those 246 CABBAGE. which are generally considered as the best suited to farm culture, and are therefore those most commonly planted; but 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 cases 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. ii. p- 255.) Of the different kinds, therefore, it 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 over, as is often practised to the detriment of the soil. 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— Nutr. Woody Matter, ‘Fibre, ers. grs. 7000 grs. or 1 Jb. of the drum-head cab- bage (B. oleracea capitata) contains 430 280 7000 grs. Early York cabbage (B. oler., var.) - - - - - - - 312 7000 grs, Woburn perennial kale (B. oler, Jimbriata perennis) - . i - 438 7000 grs.Green curled kale(B.oler.viridis) 440 Purple borecole, or kale (B. oler, laciniata) - - - - - - 448 7000 grs. bulb of turnip-rooted cabbage (B. rapa, var.) - - - - - 400 7000 grs. leaves or tops of ditto - ~ 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 1074 to 80, and inferior to Swedes in that of 1073 to 110, Carrots are more nutritive than cabbages, in the proportion of 187 to 1073. (Hort. 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. vol. 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, oO wo nw nen ee ‘he remainder water, 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. Woburn 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 lurnip-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 Sir'Thomas Tyrwhitt, under the name of kohl-rabe. (De- candolle, 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 105 ers. 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 becomedisseminated 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 eabbage, 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. Soc. Lond. vol. v. p. 18—24.) They are propagated by seed, which may be sown broadeast or in drills, at monthly intervals, in small quantities, from the commencement of CABBAGE. 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 broadeast, to allow them to remain in the seed-bed until of sufficient size 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- cour, 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 where the Swedes and common turnips have missed plant. 1000 parts of cabbage contain 73 parts of nutritive matters. (Brit. Husb. vol. 1i.; Bax- ter’s Agr. Lib.; Sinclair’s Hort. Gram. Wob.; Low's El. Agr.; Com. Board of Agr., vol. iv.; Quart. J. Agr., vol. vil. 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. (Willich’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.—F or 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 be avoided. The ground is advantageously dug two spades deep, and should 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 broc- 247 CABBAGE. coli, recommends the following 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. Hort. 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 Jarge 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 Jate 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 London hollow. Musk is excellent at any period, but is apt to perish in frosty weather. For Autumn, §c—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 preceding year. A sowing may be repeated after intervals of a month during February, and until the close of July of the secord or larger class, and from May to July of the third class of varieties. In August a full and last crop must be sown of the first class, as well as of the second, both to plant 248 CABBAGE. out in October, November, and December, as 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 afforded 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 the winter. For the production of seed in Octo- ber, 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. Tach 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. kept distinct. Some plants of the early varie- ties should be planted in sheltered situations, as in severe winters they are apt to run pre- maturely. Frame Seedlings—The first sowing of the year in a hotbed 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 offices of cultivation are the same as for plants raised in the open ground. Coleworts——One of the Latin names for cab- bage is caulis, 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 afiord the sweetest; but the early York and East Ham are also em- ployed, as also occasionally 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, for succeeding the others in spring; but, if of sufficient extent, these various plantations may be made from 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 plantations 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 times. The wild coleworts grow in ditches and moist places. Savoy — (Brassica oleracea sabauda). — 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 Eurape with which it bears a similar name, or, otherwise, is a cor- ruption from the French savowrer. All its 32 CALAMINT, COMMON. 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 of 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 character- 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. VW. Johnson's Kitchen Garden.) CABBAGE CATERPILLAR. This belongs to a genus of butterflies called the potherb pontia (Pontia oleracea), See Carerrripar. CABBAGE-CUTWORM. See Curworm. CABBAGE-LICE, See Aruts. CABBAGE TREE (Chameops palmetto). See Patmerro. CAG, or KEG. A vessel of the barrel kind, containing four or five gallons. CAIRN (Welsh carn). A heap of stones. CAKE. See Oar Caxe and Rare Caxe. CALAMINT, COMMON (Thymus cala- mintha, Smith). This is a wild plant, growing in England in hedges and dry places, flowering from June tillautumn. Itis eight or ten inches high; has roundish dark-green leaves, and 249 CALANDRE. whitish flowers standing in whorls or little clusters surrounding the stalks, which are square and very much branched. 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 (Mentha pulegium, Eng. Flor. vol. ili. 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. Itis a popular remedy for hysterics, and in deficiency of the periodical change in females; but 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 imporiant 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 Pennynoyat. CALANDRE. A name given by French writers to an insect of the scarabeus or beetle tribe, which frequently does great injury in granaries. It has two antenne 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 easily 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 Cornweevit. CALCAREOUS MARL. A mineral ferti- lizer, exteusively used in many parts of Europe and the United States. See Mant. CALCAREOUS SOILS (from the Latin calz) are soils which contain carbonate of lime (chalk of limestone) in such a proportion as to give ita 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 Padstow 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 IIL, a. p. 1261. (Johnson on Fertilizers, p. 17.) See Caatx; Eanrus, their Uses to Vegetation; and Sorts. CALF, DISEASES OF (Sax. cealr, calr; Dutch, kalf). See Carrie. The most com- mon diseases of calves are— i. Navel Iil—The best treatment for this dangerous disease is, lst, to administer two or three doses (each about a wine-glassful) of 250 CAMELLIA 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 or gruel for a quarter of an hour; give these once or twice a day. 2. Constipation of the Bowels—For this doses of castor oil (or linseed oil), of 2 or 3 oz., are the best remedy. 3. Diarrhea, or Scowring—The farmer may rely on the following mixture. Let him keep it always by him; it will do for all sucking animals :— Prepared chalk - - - - 4 ounces Canella bark, powdered - - 1 — Laudanum ss - - - - - a Water - - - - - - 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 diarrhea 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 cawkins. CALLUNA VULGARIS. The common heath or ling. It abounds in peaty soils. (See Pxar Sorrs.) Its uses are considerable in some districts for litter, and, when young, sheep eatit. It is also shelter for grouse, and food for bees. See Line. 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 fetus; 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, Carolinaallspice. See Swrrt-scenrep Surve. 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 breiiing mid-day sun. Propagate by cuttings, layers, and grafts; CAMLET. and water the plants plentifully when in flower. CAMLET (Fr. camelot ; Ital. ciambelotto ; Span. camlote; from the Gr. xzunwrs). A stuff or cloth 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. France, 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 came- lot and camblet. CAMMAS. A new species of plant found in the valley of the Columbia river. It has a truncated root Gn 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, especially challry soils, gene- rally known by the name of rest-harrow. See Rest-Harrow. CAMOMILE, CHAMOMILE, COMMON or SWEET (Anthemis nobilis. From av$e, on ac- count of its abundance of flowers, or luxuri- ance of growth. Fr. camomille; 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. Cattie 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. (Eng. 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 . | | CAMOMILE. 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 thus 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. W. Johnson’s Kitchen Gorden.) Camomile flowers, fresh or dried, are tonic. They contain voiatile oul, 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 curingagues. 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 yield 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 ageneral 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. 111. p. 457) enumerates four other species. The sea camomile (.4. ma- ritima) ; annual, met with on the sea-coast, but rare; flowers smell like tansy, the leaves like mugwort. Corn camomile (4. 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 (2. cotula); 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, which 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, Linnzus says, they are much used in Sweden. There are several handsome exotic species nearly akin to this. CAMOMILE, WILD, or FEVER FEW (Matricaria camomilla, Pl. 10, ww). 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. of camomile found in the shops is procured from this plant. CAMPHOR TREE (Laurus camphora). 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 thronghout 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 Mi- chaua’s Sylva.) Camphor may likewise be obtained from certain plants or herbs of the class of labia, such as lavender and mint, out not in sufficient quantities to form an article of commerce. CANADA ONION. See Onron. CANADA THISTLE (Carduwus 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 invaded 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 or 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- tion performed by their leaves. These are in 252 CANARY-GRASS. 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 Tu1strxs. A highly inte- resting article upon this subject, originally published in that valuable agricultural periodi- cal, The Genessee Farmer, and republished in Ruffin’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 Car’s Tait. CANARY-GRASS (Phalaries canariensis— Pl. 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 green 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 other culmi- nous 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 arich 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 but 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 itsname. 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 (Ph. arundinacea, Smith’s Engl. Flora, vol. i. p. 74) is very come 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,— Ibs. OZ. Green produce per acre - - 97,225 0 Dry produce - - - - = 12,251 4 Nutritive matter - - - - 1,701 9 On a strong tenacious clay, the produce was,— CANCER IN CATTLE. Ibe, = 0% Green produce per acre - - 34,031 0 Dry produce - - - 17,015 8 Nutriuve matter - - - 2,126 15 From this, it appears to be much more pro- ductive on a tenacious clay soil than on a rich sandy loam ; the superior nutritive powers which this grass possesses recommend it therefore to the notice of occupiers of such soils. The foliage cannot be considered coarse, when compared with other grasses which afford a produce equal in quantity. Dry straw is a much coarser food than the hay made from this grass, and the objection may be met by reducing this hay to chaff. The striped 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 seeds. 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- cene.) A virulent swelling or sore. Cancer of the eye, or a perfect change of its mecha- nism into a fleshy half-decomposed substance, 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 Usef. Know., Cattle, p. 293.) CANDLE (Lat. candela; Sax. canvel; Ital. candelle ; Fr. chandelle; Welsh, canwyll). 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 34d. per Ib., 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 thick, 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 to 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 for mould candles, be- cause it gives them gloss and consistence. Coarser tallow is reservéd for the dipped can- 4 CANDLE. dles. After being sorted, it is cut into small pieces, preparatory to its being melted or ren- dered ; 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 bya 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 aladle. 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 after 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 Lussae obtained a patent in England for making candles from margaric and stearic 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 body, 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 somewhat 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 = from the allaline mat 253 ‘ CANDLE-BERRY MYRTLE. ters; and when allowed to cool, the acids will pe 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, te 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 Sreanine. For the process of making mould candles, which is even more simple than that for dipping, see Ure’s Dictionary of Arts, §c., art. Canpixe: 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. (M‘Cul- loch’s Com. Dic. ; Willich’s Dom. Encyc.) 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 May 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 cerifera of botanists. It grows on the lands bordering on the sea and pays 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 ecunsiders 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 different extremes. Pursh, however, has chosen to distinguish three species which bear wax, and whith he names cerifera after Lin- neus, Caroliniensis from Willdenow, and Penn- sylvanice from Lamarck. The wax myrtle or bayberry, as it is often called, which is com- mon in New England, varies in height from one to a or eightfeet. Itis found in every 25 CANKER. kind of soil from the borders of swamps to the tops 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, balsamic 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 compose 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 (.4runulo prag- mites?), ‘These cane-brakes resemble in many respects the jungles of the East Indies. CANINE MADNESS. See Hypropuonra. CANKER, OR ULCER (Lat. canker; Sax. cancene, or cancne). 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 which 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 discharge. 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 Gangrena sicca, or dry gangrene. In other trees, whose sap is characterized by abounding in astringent or mucilaginous constituents, it is usually attended by a sanious discharge. In ee et CANKER. such instances, it might be strictly designated ulcer, or Gangrena 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 vessels, 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 to have seen any; I have never cb- 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. of Agr. 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 cver 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 CANKER. acids effervesces. The analysis of this dark slimy matter 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 - - - - - 60°5 Carbonate of potassa - - - - 34:2 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 consequently 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 few 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 ths parent tree. The unanimous experience ot 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 permanently 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 remarkably a sufferer. “T 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 beyond 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 Efficacy 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 oldest trees are always the first attacked 295 CANKER. of 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 alumimous, 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, howeyer 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. eH5 87300480 4. Manure - - - - - - 51610 0 5. Labour, &c. - - - - - 52817 6 6. Maintenance of horses) - - - 343 711 7. Burdens - - - - - - 3115 9 3488 8 6 Furniture of house - - - - 200 00 Family expenses, liyears - - 150 0 0 Fi his he deducts fi di Id gles rom this he deducts for produce so in this time - - - - 995 17 9 Required net capital = ~ = - 254210 9 or 51. 13s. 83d. 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 ne- thing for payments to outgoing tenant) is, ac- cording to a statement in the Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. iii. p. 475, as follows :— ean. Value of implements for farm work - - 228 2 2 a= do. live stock - 4319 4 — do. barn work - - 1714 4 — Thrashing machine - - - - 170 00 — Horses - - - ~ - - 450 0 0 —) CREE C ra foe — Sheep - me ee Nan od A TO — Other live stock - - - - - 700 — Grass seeds - - - - - 87 10 0 — Tares - - - - - - 6 8 0 — Peas - - - - - - - 400 — Turnips - - - - - - 1215 0 — Potatoes - - - - - - 216 0 — Corn - - - = - - 215 6 3 — Labour - - - - - - 865 610 3041 17 11 Rent 500 acres, at40s. - - - 1000 0 0 4041 17 11 From which, however, deduct the value of the following articles, derived from the farm: before the period of paying the se- cond half year’s rent, viz, Profit on 20 fat cattle, 5/. each - - £100 Wintering 20 kyloes for 24 weeks, at 2s. 6d. per week - - - - - Sold 30 dinmots and gewmers at 25s. each, and 20 draft ewes at 30s.each 130 Profit on turniping 120 hogs 24 weeks, at 3d. per head per week - - - Sold 14 pigs - Hs ade - - il4 Produce of 4 cows over what required by family - 2 - - - - Woolsold - - = - - - 152 —172 0 0 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 1001. to a grease pot valued at 1s. 6d., amount- ing altogether to 4741. 4s. 4d. And this in- cludes hardly a single article that the young farmer can well do without. As a general rule on the chalks of Hampshire, they deem 5l. per acre to be a sufficient capital; but on some of the rich highly cultivated soils ¢? Surrey, Kent, and Essex, 10/. per arable acre is not too much. Grazing farms require less in proportion than arable lands. CAPON (Sax. capun; Fr. chapon; Lat. capo). If cocks, when young, are emasculated, it has a prodigious effect upon their condition, and a similar effect may be produced upon young hens by the abstraction of their egg-bags. These operations have been practised upon ———— ————SE ee CAPON. poultry from the earliest antiquity, for the pur- pose of improving the flesh. In England, it is chiefly practised in the great poultry-breeding counties of Sussex, Essex, and Berks, but is little known anywhere else. There are, in- deed, persons who make a trade of it, and it is best to employ one of those when they can be had; but itis not uncommon for the poultry- farmers’ wives and daughters to acquire dex- terity in performing the operation. This, in- deed, seems to be no new thing, for Mascall, in his minute but very quaint directions, uses the feminine gender throughout. “To cut young cockrels,” he says, “to make them ca- pons, the time thereof best to cut and carve them is soone after their dam has left them, or when they cry or pule no more after her, as when they begin to crowe and waxe hote to tread the pullets’ The common way of cutting or carving is not to be dispraysed, and is most knowne as this waye: they take them in the morning, commonly in the wane of the moone, and laye the cocke in her lappe, upon his back, trussing up his legges by his sides. Then the carver pluckes first awaye the feathers above the vent, and takes up the upper skin on the point of a needle, and slits it over-thwart an inche long, and then takes up the under thin skinne nexte the guts, and slits that likewise. Then the carver annoyntes her fore finger of her right hande with oyle or butter, and puts it gently to the raines of the cock, on the left side, and with her finger bringes forthe the stone. Then she annoyntes the fore finger of her left hande, and puts it into the stone on the right side of the cocke, and with her finger bringes it forthe. So done, she placeth the guts, and sowes the skinne up again with a threade, and then annoyntes that place with some fresh butter, and lets him go.” The art of caponing fowls forms a part of rural economy, and as the mode of operating is very little understood in the United States, we propose giving such ample and minute instructions upon the subject, as, with the aid of original drawings, will enable any one to succeed who possesses common dexterity. The chickens intended for capons should be of the largest breed that can be obtained, and in the United States there is not perhaps one better suited in this respect than the celebrated large Buck’s county breed, well known in the Philadelphia market, where capons made from these fowls have been sold weighing 25 lbs. the pair. As in breeding with a special view to making capons, male chickens alone are required, those eggs should be selected to set under hens which produce males, namely, such as have the sharpest points. The altera- tion of the chicken into a capon will, in about a twelvemonth, nearly double the size of the bird. Persons wishing to become expert in the operation of making capons would do well to imitate surgeons, who always try their hand upon dead subjects before performing on the liv- ing. Itis, however, quite simple, and in France and Italy is often allotted to mere children. The Chinese mode of operating we think preferable not only to the old one described by Mascall, but to any other of which we have ever heard. CAPON. Chickens intended for capons may be ope- rated upon at any age, though when between two and three months old is considered much the best time. Old fowls seldom survive the operation. Previous to cutting, the chickens must be kept entirely from food, and even water, for about thirty-six hours, as experi- ments have determined this time to insure the best chance of success by causing the bowels to be empty and lessening the tendency to bleeding. ‘The fowl may be secured either in the Chinese mode,—that is to say, lying on its left side with its wings folded back till they meet, and "pressed under the foot of the operator, whose other foot is placed upon the legs ;—or, it may be held by an assistant in a similar position; or, what adds greatly to the con- venience of the operator, especially in reliev- ing him from the necessity of stooping low, the fowl may be confined by straps, &c. to a table one of which, of a highly ingenious con- struction, has been invented by a Philadelphian, and will be subsequently described and de- lineated. (See Figs. 2 and 3.) The chicken being secured with its left side downwards, wings clasped behind its back, legs extended backwards, the upper one be- ing drawn the furthest back (see fig. 3), the head and neck left perfectly free, the feathers are next to be plucked from its right side near the hip joint, in a line between that and the shoulder joint; the space uncovered (a, fig. 3) may be a little over an inch square. Having first drawn the skin of the part back- ward, so that when left to itself after the ope- ration, it will cover the wound in the flesh, make an incision with the bevel-edged knife, (fig. 1. a,) between the last two ribs, commenc- ing about an inch from the backbone, and ex- tending obliquely downwards about an inch or inch and a half, just going deep enough to separate the ribs, and taking good care not to wound the intestines. A pair of broad blunt hooks (fig. 1, ¢,¢) attached to a piece of elastic whalebone or ratan (6) about six inches long are then applied, one hook to each side of the cut, and these being stretched apart by the spring bow, keep the wound open wide enough to give room for the operation. Then care- fully cut open the skin covering the intestines, which last, if not sufficiently drawn up in conse- quence of the previous fasting, may be pushed forwards or towards the breastbone, by means of a flat instrument contrived for the purpose, or, what answers equally well, the handle of a teaspoon. When the testicles are exposed to view, they will be found to be connected with the back and sides by means of a thin skin which passes over them. This tender cover- ing must be seized with the pincers a, a, and torn open with the assistance of the sharp- edged hook h; after this, with the left hand, introduce the curved spoon under the lower or left testicle (which is generally a little nearer the rump than the right one): then take the tube i, and with the right hand pass the loop n. over the small hooked end of the spoon h, run- ning it down under the spoon and included testicle, so as to bring the loop to act upon the part which fastens the testicle to the back Then by drawing the ends of the hair-loop 259 CAPON. backwards and forwards, and at the same time pushing the lower end of the tube towards the rump of the chicken, the cord or fastening of the testicle is sawn off. The same process is to be followed with the uppermost or right testicle, after which the separated testicles, together with any blood in the bottom of the wound are to be scooped out with the crooked spoon. When performed properly, little or no blood of consequence is observed, neither does the fowl seem to experience any pain, after the first incision, but will eat if food be given to it. To enable the operator to produce the sawing movement, the hair or other ligature used may be tied in a knot so as to allow the index or fore finger of the operator’s right hand to pass through it. This finger being then turned or rolled repeatedly from side to side, communicates to the loop below the saw- ing motion which contributes to eut off the testicle. The reason for cutting off the lower- most testicle first, is to prevent the blood which may issue, from covering the remaining one, and rendering it difficult to be seen. After this operation which, if skilfully performed, occupies very few minutes, the hooks are to be taken out, the skin drawn over the wound, and this covered with the feathers plucked off at the commencement of the operation. The chicken is then released, and as soon as let go will take grain or other food eagerly, and in a day or two be restored to its usual health. A person well skilled may operate on fifty chickens without killing more than one or two. In some fowls the fore part of the thigh covers the last two ribs; in which case care must be taken to draw the fleshy part of the thigh well back, to prevent its being cut, as this might lame the fowl or even cause its death. For ligatures nothing answers so well as that commonly employed by the Chinese, namely, the fibre of the cocoanut husk. This is rough, and makes a loop which saws off and separates the testicle very readily. The next best substance for this purpose is horse-hair, Experiments with fine wire, silk, silk-gut, &c. show that these are all inferior to cocoanut fibre, and horse-hair. Sometimes a portion of the testicle adheres and is left behind, in which case the fowls will not prove capons, as will soon be evident, and may be killed for use as soon as the head be- gins to grow large and get red, and they show a disposition to chase the hens. The real capon will make itself known by the head remaining small, the comb and gills losing their bright redness and appearing withered; the feathers of the neck and tail will also grow longer. They should be kept to the age of fifteen or eighteen months, which will bring them in the spring and summer, when poultry is scarce and bears a high price. But they should not be killed near moulting time, as all poultry then is very inferior. The opera- tion fails principally in consequence of the bursting of the skin which encloses the soft matter of the testicle, some of which remains in the bird. Fowls of five or six months are less liable ty have the testicles burstin the operation than 260 CAPON. younger ones, but they are also more apt to bleed to death than those of from two to four months old. As the large vessel that supplies the entrails with blood passes in the neighbour- hood of the testicles; there is danger that a young beginner may pierce this with the pointed instrument in taking off the skin of the lower testicle,in which case the chicken would die instantly. There are one or two smaller vessels to be avoided, which is very easy, as they are not difficult to be seen. If properly managed, no blood ever appears until a testicle is taken off: so that should any appear before that, the operator will know that he has done something wrong. If a chicken die during the operation by bleeding, it is of course as proper for use as if bled to death by having its throat cut. They very seldom die after the operation unless they have received some internal injury, or the flesh of the thigh has been cut through, from not being drawn back from off the last two ribs, where the incision is made; all of which acci- dents may be liable to occur with young prac- titioners. Where the testicles are found very large, the silver tube may be too small for the opera- tion; in this case a larger one made of small bamboo or elder, about #ths of an inch in dia- meter, may be substituted, with a strong cocoa- nut string or ligature. But for chickens of small and medium sizes, the silver tube, with a horse-hair in it, will answer perfectly well. When a chicken has been cut, it is neces- sary, before letting it run, to put a permanent mark upon it; otherwise it would be impossi- ble to distinguish it at first from others not ope- rated on. Cutting off the outside or the inside toe of the left foot, will enable one to distin- guish them at a distance. Another mode is to cut off the comb, then shave off the spurs close to the leg, and stick them upon the bleed- ing head, where they will grow and become ornamental in the shape of a pair of horns. This last mode is perhaps the best, but it is not so simple and ready as the first. Which- ever plan is adopted, the fowl should be marked before performing the operation. It is very common, after the operation, and whilst the wound is healing, for the side to puff out with a windy swelling. This may be re- lieved by making a small incision or puncture in the skin, which will let the wind escape. Those fowls make the finest capons which are hatched early in the spring; as they can be cut before the hot weather comes, which is a great advantage. The operator should not be discouraged with the first difficulties ; for with practice they will disappear; every year’s experience will render one more expert, until the cutting of a dozen fowls before breakfast will be a small matter. It may be well to give a warning against becoming dissatisfied with the instruments. A raw hand, when he meets with difficulties, is apt to think the tools are in fault, and sets about to improve them and invent others; but it may be only himself that lacks skill, which practice alone can give. Those who have devoted much time and attention to the subject say CAPON. that they have found the old Chinese instru- ments, a drawing of which is given in fig. 1, preferable to all others. In addition to these instruments, a regular Chinese set contains a flat kind of spatula something like the upper part of a spoon handle. This is about four inches long and half an inch wide, and slightly curved at each Fig.1 CAPON. end in opposite directions. It is for the pur- pose of pushing the intestines out of the way, an office very well performed by the handle of a teaspoon. Fig. 1 represents the instruments used in making capons, according to the Chinese me- thod, reduced only about one-fourth their actuat sizes. a, a knife, the edge of which resembles that of a chisel with a bevel or slanting edge, half an inch in the greatest width; the other end or handle consists of two forcep blades terminating at a, a, in slender points, and forming spring forceps. The whole length from the cutting edge to the end of the pliers is about six inches. ¢, c, two broad blunt hooks of silver or other metal, each half an inch in width and one and a half in length. 6, an elastic bow, six inches long, made of whalebone or ratan, about the thickness of a large quill, and split hori- zontally into two pieces. To the ends of this bow the broad hooks are attached by strong cords about half an inch long. At the end d, the cord embraces only the lower half of the split bow, whilst both pieces are included in the string, at the end e. f, is a small ring which encircles both portions of the bow. When the hooks are first put in and only half the strength of the bow is required to act upon them, this ring is slipped tothe ende. But if the whole strength of the bow is needed to force the hooks apart and stretch the wound open, the ring is passed towards the end d. values by means of the split bow and sliding ring, the strain upon the hooks can be increased or slackened at pleasure. i, a tube of silver or other metal three or four inches long, made square at the upper, and flattened at the lower end k, to the width of three-tenths of an inch; this tube is for the purpose of passing the fibre or hair ligature m, forming the loop x. g, @ narrow curved spoon, the slender handle of which tapers off and has a steel point fitted into it, furnished at the extremity with a very small hook, h; the inner edge of this hook is sometimes sharpened. 3 The operating table contrived in Philadelphia, This table may be about 23 feet long by 14 and before referred to, is represented in the | feet wide, and 24 feet high. At two of its cor- following cut, fig. 2. ‘ ners it can have a raised moulding about 4 an inch high, extending along the sides six or nine inches, for the purpose of placing the instru- ments at one corner and at the other some of the feathers under a stone, to keep them from being blown away. On one side there is a slit c passing through the table, about 1} inch long by 4 an inch wide, running diagonally; being about three inches from the end and 64 from the side. Through this slit the padded band or soft list, d, d, for confining the wings, passes below to be attached to the lever e, This lever has a4 or 5 lb. weight hung to it, and works ona screw or pin, by which it is attached to the leg. When notin use the lever rests on a pin or ledge in the other leg. On being led down, the attached band clasps the wings of the chicken lying on the table, with greater or less force as the weight is drawn to or from the end of the lever. The next thing : to be described is the lever, f, upon the table, 261 CAPON. the object of which is to hold down the legs as these are extended backwards. This lever is padded beneath, and is furnished with a hinge at it, which admits of being raised at the end; it projects beyond the edge of the table, and has also a 5 lb. weight suspended by the string 1, which increases or diminishes the pressure by being moved to or from the table. Through one portion of the hinge an iron screw, m, passes beneath the table where the end is se- cured by anut. This screw or pin allows the lever to move sidewise, whilst the hinge ad- mits of its being raised or let down. A range of holes, about 4 of an inch wide, are made through the table to receive the pin of the lever, as this has to be placed nearer to or further from the slit c, according to the size of the chicken. The first hole is about eleven inches from the nearest end; the second, four- teen inches; the third, seventeen inches. The last is adapted to very large cocks or even turkeys. In fig 3, the position of the fowl when se- cured, lying upon its left side upon the table, is represented, d being the wing-band, A the lever placed over the legs, and a the place where the incision is made. < AN i mmo Ay Mra Ny {)YODPNPUOOD OTE ADA DOM YY LOOT TL | TOU TVTCUTATOTATOTTOOUOUUTLTEQUUUO HOA VENCEMECTOO ACU VO ENT The table is a refinement in the art of ca- poning which we believe is altogether new, notwithstanding the thousands of years which have elapsed since the operation has been habitually practised. The difficulty of making a subject, apparently simple, well understood by persons to whom it is entirely new, is, we think, a sufficient apology for the length of the details given. In France and other countries, besides fur- nishing a luxurious food, capons are made useful in taking care of broods of young chickens, ducklings, turkeys, and pheasants, which they are said to do much better than hens, owing to their larger size and thicker coats of feathers. The moment the chickens are hatched they are taken from the hens and given to a capon, who rears them with all the care of a parent, often having a small bell attached to his neck, the tinkling of which serves the purpose of keeping the brood about him, similar to the clucking and maternal sounds of the mother. ould he show a dis- Position to treat the young chickens roughly 262 CARAWAY. at first, he may be confined alone for a day or two in a dark place, after which if they be put with him he will be pleased with their com- pany and continue to take care of them. The hen is cooped, and well fed until she regains the flesh and strength lost whilst setting, and then turned out to lay again. In this way the poulterer is enabled to raise a large number of chickens from a few hens. The capon generally brings double or treble the price of common poultry. CAPILLARY VESSELS OF VEGETA- BLES. The fine hair-like vessels that assist in the absorption and circulation of the juices of plants. CAPSICUM. (Supposed either from xz7r7a, mordeo, to bite ; or from capsa,a chest.) Cap- sicum annuum. Of this there are five varieties. 1, Long-podded. 2. Heart-shaped. 3. Short- podded. 4. Angular-podded. 5. Round short- podded. Of the Capsicum cerasiforme there are three varieties. 1. Cherry-shaped. 2. Bell- shaped, or Ox-heart. 2. Yellow-podded. The soil best suited for them is a rich, moist, mouldy loam, rather inclining to lightness than tenacity. When completely ripe, the pods are cut and hung up in the sun, or ina warm room, until completely dry, in which state they are kept until the seedis wanted for sowing. (G. W. Johnson's Kitchen Garden.) The capsicum loses some of its aromatic odour by drying, its taste, both recent and dry, is hot and acrid, depending on a fixed acrid oil, not volatile and distinct from that oil which gives the odour to the fresh pod. Capsicum is used as a condiment in cookery; it is more excitant than pepper; but its effects are less permanent. CARAWAY, or CARRAWAY (Fr. and It. carvi; Lat. carwm carui). A naturalized bien- nial plant, with a taper root like a parsnip, but much smaller; stem about two feet high, growing wild in meadows and pastures. This plant is extensively cultivated in several parts of Essex and some other counties, for the sake of its seeds, which are in daily use as a grate- ful and wholesome aromatic, and are largely consumed in confectionary and medicinal pre- parations; but its root was formerly much esteemed when boiled, and it is not easy to account for its falling into disuse. The seeds, which are grayish-brown, and ribbed, are too well known to need description. They should be chosen large, new, of a good colour, not dusty, and of a strong agreeable smell. Cara- way is sometimes sowed with coriander and teasel, and harvested the second year. The produce of this seed has often been very great; even as much as 20 cwt. per acre, which al- ways finds a market in London. On account of their aromatic smell and warm pungent taste, the seeds of caraway may be classed among the first stomachics and carminatives of our climate. To persons afflicted with fla- tulency, and liable to colic, if administered in proper quantities, they generally afford con- siderable relief. Their virtue depends on a volatile oil, which is procured in a separate state, by distillation with water. The water retains some of the oil, and is used as a vehi- cle for other medicines. : CARBON. Caraway delights in a deep, rich, moist loam. The ground for this, as well as other deep-rooting plants, is advantageously dug two spades deep. An open situation is most suitable to it; but in extensive orchards, where the trees are far apart, it may be grown with success. It is propagated by seed, which may be sown in March or April, either broad- cast and raked in, or in drills six inches apart; in either case being performed thin, and buried about half an inch deep. When well distin- guishable, the plants must be thinned to six inches apart, and carefully hoed. The hoeing must be several times repeated in the early stages of their growth, to extirpate the weeds, which at a later period cannot be conveniently gotat. The plants flower in June, and ripen their seed at the close of summer. (G. W. Johnson’s Kitch. Gard. ; English Flora, vol. ii. p- 86; M‘Culloch’s Com. Dict. ; Willich’s Dom. Lincye. ; Brande’s Dict. Science.) CARBON (Fr. carbone; Lat. carbo). A hitherto undecompounded combustible body, which enters into the composition, in some form or other, of all vegetable substances. In a perfectly pure state, carbon constitutes dia- mond. Carbonaceous substances are usually more or less compounded, containing hydrogen, or sometimes oxygen, amd azote, along with earthy and metallic matters. Carbon, tolerably pure, abounds in the mineral kingdom; and, in a combined state, it forms a main consti- tuent of vegetable and animal bodies. Anthra- cite is a mineral charcoal, differing from common pit-coal in containing no bitumen, and therefore burning without flame or smoke. Coke is the carbonaceous mass which remains after pit-coal has been exposed to ignition for some time out of contact of air; its volatile parts having been dissipated by the heat. It is a spongy substance, of an iron-black colour, a somewhat metallic lustre, and does not easily burn unless several pieces are kindled toge- ther. With a good draught, however, it pro- duces a most intense heat. It is readily obtained in the form of charcoal by heating wood (and any kind of wood will answer the purpose) red-hot, covered with sand, in a cru- cible. The covering with sand is added to prevent the wood undergoing combustion by ceqgming in contact with the atmosphere. In this state when reduced to powder, charcoal constitutes an excellent manure for most soils, either when applied by itself, or mixed with decomposing animal and vegetable substances. In such cases it absorbs a considerable volume of the gases which such substances constantly emit. Thus, reckoning the bulk of the char- coal to be 1, it absorbs of Volumes, Ammoniacalgas- - - - = = Sulphuretted hydrogen - - - - 55 Carbonic acid gas - - - - ane When burnt, charcoal unites with the oxygen of the atmosphere, and forms, in the state of carbonic acid gas, a very important portion of the gases required by all plants for their healthy vegetation. (See Gases, rurrr Use vo Vecerarion.) Carbon constitutes about 42-47 per cent. in sugar, 41:906 per cent. in gum, 43°55 per cent. in wheat starch, 52-58 per cent. in the wood of the oak, and 51-45 in that! CARBONIC ACID. of the beech ; 46-83 in pure acetic acid or vine- gar, 36:167 in tartaric acid, and 41:369 in the citric. In the state of carbonic acid gas, and in various organic matters, it is found in all cultivated soils, in all waters, and in the atmo- sphere; and in each situation, as will be more particularly described under the head Gaszs, it is absorbed by and becomes the food of plants. CARBONATES. A peculiar class of salis formed by the combination of carbonic acid gas with various earths, alkalies, and metallic oxides. The composition of those most com- monly met with by the farmer is as follows:— Acid. Base. Carbonate of lime, chalk, lime- stone, &c. - - - - 662 33:8 Carbonate ef magnesia - = 68°75 °31:25 Bicarbonate of potash - - - 46°19 53°31 Carbonate of soda - - - 40°14 °59°86 Carbonate of ammonia - - 5641 4359 CARBONIC ACID GAS. A peculiar gas, the same as that emitted by fermenting beer, or other liquors; it is inhaled by, and its car- bon is the food of plants. It is composed of carbon 72°73, oxygen 27:27. See Gasus, razin Use To VEGETATION, It is important to know, that carbonic acid gas is poisonous, if breathed. If, for example, a person descends into a tun where fermented liquor occupies the bottom, and an atmosphere of carbonic acid gas floating over it; as soon as his mouth is immersed in it, he is suflo- cated in the same manner as if his mouth and nostrils were closed. He dies from the defect of atmospheric air in the lungs, and the cireu- lation of black blood through the brain. This is the manner also in which death occurs when persons descend into old wells and cel- lars that have been long closed. When the gas is diluted with air, as for instance, when a person dies by burning charcoal in a chafing- dish in a bed-room, he is not suffocated; but he dies from the sedative influence of the di- luted carbonic acid, which is breathed, on the nervous system. When such accidents hap- pen, persons should not venture to bring out the bodies, until a quantity of pure lime mixed with water to the thickness of milk, has been thrown into the tun, well, or cellar; or in the event of death from burning charcoal, until a current of air has been sent through the apart- ment. he bodies should be laid on their backs, with the heads moderately elevated; cold water dashed on the chest, and frictions employed over the whole body ; and the aid of a medical practitioner quickly procured. This is the heaviest of all gases, its weight, compared with the common air of the atmosphere, being about one-half greater. This is the reason why it always subsides to the bottom of apartments, wells, sinks, &c., where it may have been formed, or gained access. Its weight even admits of its being poured from one vessel to another. Hence it was at first called aérial acid. From its existing copiously, in a solid state, in lime- stones and the mild alkalis, it was styled fixed air by its proper discoverer, Dr. Black. About one volume of it exists in one thou- sand volumes of common atmospheric air, which may be made manifest by the crust ¢? 263 CARBONIC ACID. carbonate it occasions upon the surface of lime-water. Carbonic acid gas is found aceu- mulated in many caverns of volcanic districts, and particularly in the grotto del cant at Pau- silippo, near Puzzuoli; being disengaged in such circumstances by the action of subterra- nean fire, and, possibly, of certain acids, upon the limestone strata. It often issues from fountains in copious currents, as at Franzens- brunn, near Eger, in Polterbrunnen; near Trier; and Byrreshorn. This acid gas occurs also frequently in mines and wells, being called choke damp, from its suffocating quality. Its presence may, at all times, be detected, by letting down a lighted candle, suspended from a String, into the places suspected of contain- ing this mephitic air. It exists, in consider- able quantities, in the water of every pump- well, and gives it a fresh and pleasant taste. Water, exposed some time to the air, loses these aérial particles, and becomes vapid. Many springs are highly impregnated with carbonic acid gas, and form a sparkling beve- rage; such as the Selterswasser, from Selters, upon the Lahn, in the grand duchy of Nassau; of which no less than two millions and a half of bottles are sold every year. The amount in Saratoga water is very great. A prodigious quantity of a similar water is also artificially prepared under the name of aérated or soda water. Carbonic acid occurs in nature, combined with many salifiable bases; as in the carbo- nates of soda, baryta, strontia, magnesia; the oxides of iron, manganese, zinc, copper, lead, &c. From these substances it may be sepa- rated, generally speaking, by strong ignition, or more readily, by the superior affinity of mu- riatic, sulphuric, or nitrie acid, for the earth or metallic oxyde. It is formed whenever ve- getable or animal substances are burned with free access of air, from the union of their car- bonaceous principle with atmospheric oxygen. It is also formed in all cases of the spontane- ous decomposition of organic substances, par- ticularly in the process of fermentation; and constitutes the pungent, noxious, heavy gas thrown off, in vast volumes, from beer vats. See Disriziatrron and Fermentation. Car- bonie acid is also generated in the breathing of animals; from 4 to 5 percent. in volume, of the inhaled oxygen being converted, at each expiration, into this gas, which contaminates the air of crowded apartments, and renders ventilation essential to health, and even to life; witness the horrible catastrophe of the Black- hole at Calcutta. Carbonic acid gas is destitute of colour, has a sourish, suffocating smell, an acidulous pun- gent taste, imparts to moist, but not dry, litmus paper, a transient reddish tint, and weighs per 100 cubic inches, 463 grains; and per cubic foot, 8033 grains; a little more than 3} oz., avoirdupe:s. A cubic foot of air weighs about two-thirds of that quantity, or 527 grains. {t may be condensed into the liquid state by a pressure of 40 atmospheres, and this liquid may be then solidified by its own sudden spontaneous evaporation. If the air contain more than 15 per cent. in bulk of this gas, it becomes unfit for respiration and combustion, 264 CARDOON. | animal life and candles being speedily extin- guished by it. Before a person ventures into a deep well, or vault containing fermenting materials, he should introduce a lighted candle into the Space, and observe how it burns. Carbonic acid being so much denser than common air, may be drawn out of cellars or fermenting tubs, by a pump furnished with a leather hose, which reaches to the bottom. Quicklime, mixed with water, may be used also to purify the air of a sunk apartment, by its aflinity for, or power of, absorbing this aérial acid. (Ure’s Dict. of Arts, §¢-) CARBURETTED HYDROGEN. A com- pound of carbon and hydrogen gases, of which there are several species; such as oil gas, coal gas, olefiant gas, oil of lemons, otto of roses, oil or spirits of turpentine, petroleum, naphtha, naphtha- line, oil of wine, caoutchoucine, and caoutchoue or Indian rubber. (Ure’s Dict. of Arts, §c.) CARDINAL, SCARLET (Lobelia cardinalis). An herbaceous hardy plant, a native of Virgi- nia. It blows its scarlet flowers in July, and again in October. It loves bog earth and shade, and the root should be parted every spring. Ripen the flower intended for seed under a glass hung over it, for it rarely ripens in this climate without assistance. This superb wild flower is worth a place in every garden. It continues blooming a long time. Five or six species are known in the United States. CARDOON, or CHARDON (Span. cardo, an artichoke; Lat. Cynara cardunculus). A kind of wild artichoke, which is principally confined to garden culture, as it has not yet been employed as an article of food for any sort of live stock. The stalks of the inner leaves, when ren- dered tender by blanching, are used in stews, soups, and salads. A light rich soil is most suitable to this vegetable, dug deep and well pulverized. The situation must be*open, and free from trees, for, like the artichoke, it is im- patient of confinement. It is propagated by seed, which may be sown at the close of March; but, for the main crop, not until the early part of April; those plants raised from earlier sowings being apt to run at the close of autumn: for a late crop, a sowing may be performed in June. The best practice is to sow in patches of three or four rows, four feet apart each way, to be thinned finally to one in each place, the weakest being removed. The seedlings are nearly a month in appearing. If, however, they are raised in a seed-bed, they will be ready for transplanting in about eight or ten weeks from the time of sowing, and must be set at similar distances as are speci- fied above. The plants of the first sowing are generally three weeks before they make their appearance ; those from the later ones, about two. If, after a lapse of these times, they do not appear, it should be ascertained if the seed is decayed, and in that case the sowing may be renewed. The seed must be sown rather thin, and covered with about half an inch depth of mould. When about a month old, the seedlings, if too crowded, must be thinned to four inches apart; and those removed may CAREX. be placed out at a similar distance, if there is any deficiency of plants. When of the age sufficient for their removal, they must be taken up carefully, and the long straggling leaves removed. The bed for their reception must be dug well and laid out in trenches as for celery, or a hollow sunk for each plant; but as they are liable to suffer from excessive wet, the best mode is to plant on the surface, and form the necessary earthing in the form of a tumulus. Water must be applied abundantly at the time of planting as well as subsequently, until they are established; and also in August, if dry weather occurs, regularly every other night, as this is found to prevent their running to seed. The only other necessary point to be attended to is, that they may be kept free from weeds during every stage of their growth. When advanced to about eighteen inches in height, which, according to the time of sow- ing, will be in August, and thence to October, the leaves must be closed together by encir- cling them with a hay-band, and earth placed round each plant, a dry day being selected for performing it. As they continue to grow, fresh bands and earth must be constantly ap- plied, until they are blanched to the height of two feet, or about two-thirds of their stems. They will be fit for use in eight or ten weeks after the earthing first commences. Care must be had in earthing them up, to prevent the earth falling in between the leaves, which is liable to induce decay. The surface of the soil should likewise be beaten smooth, to throw off the rain. In severe weather their tops should be covered with litter, it being re- moved as invariably in mild weather: by this treatment, they may be preserved im a service- able state throughout the winter. For the pro- duction of seed, which in England seldom comes to maturity except in dry seasons, a few plants should be set in a sheltered situation, of the April sowing; of course not earthed up, but allowed the shelter of mats or litter in frosty weather. In the spring, the ground may be dug round them to destroy weeds, as well as to encourage the growth of the roots. The flowers make their appearance about the be- ginning of July, and the seed is ripe in Sep- tember. (G. W. Johnson’s Kitchen Garden.) CAREX. A vast genus of grasses com- prehending more than two hundred species, nearly all of which are indigenous to America. It includes sedges, and a vast variety of grasses found in salt-water marshes. See Sxncr. CARLICK. A provincial term applied in some places to charlock. CARNATION, or CLOVE PINK (Lat. carnes ; Dianthus caryophyllus). A beautiful and odoriferous perennial, blowing in July and Au- gust, and cultivated in beds or in pots. The wild D. caryophyllus is the origin of our fine garden carnations. (Smith’s Eng. Flor. vol. ii. p- 287.) There are three distinct varieties; the flake, the bizarre, and the picotée. The flake has two colours only, with large stripes ; the bizarre is variegated with irregular stripes and spots, of not less than three colours; and the picotée has a white ground, spotted with every variety of scarlet, red, purple, and pink. They love a light, rich earth mixed with sea- 34 CARRIAGE. sand, and never bloom very handsomely with- out a proportion of the latter. Carnations are propagated by layers, pipings, and from seed, which produce new sorts. There is an im- mense collection of fine prize carnations, well known to the public, too lengthy to insert here ; but they are easily procured at a reasonable price. If you raise flowers from seed, sow it in pots of light earth in April; cover the seed very lightly with mould filtered through the fingers; shade the seedlings from the sun, and prick them out when each seedling has six leaves. Pot or plant for blowing in autumn. They will not blow well if moved in the spring. Carnations must be sheltered from excessive rains and hard frosts, and they should be placed in warm sunny borders. CARNATION GRASS. In agriculture, a term applied'to some grasses, as the hair grass (Aira), probably from their having this kind of colour in their flowers. Any coarse species of carex is so named in the north of England and Scotland. CAROB (Ceratoria caroubier). A tree cul- tivated extensively in the south of Europe, the pods produced by which contain a sweet, eat- able fecula. The tree attains a medium size, and the flowers, which are of a deep purple colour, are disposed in clusters. The fruit- peds are a foot long, contain a reddish pulp, of an agreeable sweet taste when dry; and are supposed to be “the husks (xeati) that the swine did eat,” (Luke xv. 16). They are used as food for man and horse. The carob tree is raised from seeds. CARPET (Dutch, karpet; Ital. carpetta). A. covering for floors, &c., manufactured of wool, or other materials, worked with the needle or by the loom. Carpets are generally composed of linen and worsted, but the Kidderminster or Scotch carpets are entirely fabricated of wool. Persian and Turkish carpets are the most es- teemed. In England carpets are principally manufactured at Kidderminster, Wilton, Ciren- cester, Worcester, Axminster, &c.; and in Scotland at Kilmarnock. Those made at Ax- minster are believed to be very little, if any thing, inferior to those of Persia and Turkey. (M'Culloch’s Com. Dict.; Willich’s Dom. Encye. ; Brande’s Dict. of Science.) CARRIAGE (Ir. cariage). A general name applied to carts, wagons, and other vehicles, employed in conveying passengers, goods, merchandise, &c., from one place to another, and which are usually constructed with two or four wheels. Wheel-carriages first came into use about 1381; they were called whirlicotes, and were little better than litters or cots (cotes) placed upon wheels. Carriage, in irrigation, is a conduit made of timber or brick: if the latter, an arch is turned over the stream that runs under it, and the sides bricked up; if the former, which it com- monly is, it is constructed with a bottom and two sides, as wide and as high as the main it lies in. It must be made very strong, close, and well-jointed. Its use is to convey the water in one main over another which runs at right angles with it; its depth and breadth are of the same dimensions with the main it be- longs to; its length is in proportion to the Z CARRIAGE DRAIN. breadth of the main it crosses. It is the most expensive conveyance belonging to the irrigat- ing of land. CARRIAGE DRAIN. See Drains. CARROT (Fr. carote). A well-known an- nual or biennial root, common alike to the field and the garden. The wild carrot, from whence all those now commonly cultivated came, is a native of England, found chiefly on chalky hills. The kinds now preferred for field culture are the Jong red, the Altringham, and the orange. It is a crop which, for the heavier description of soils, is becoming more and more cultivated in this country; for its produce is not only large, but it can be grown on lands not suited to turnip culture; for although the soils best adapted to it are deep sandy loams, yet it can be grown successfully on sands and peats. The carrot delights, how- ever, in a deep soil, and thus land intended for it can hardly be ploughed too deep. It is usual to trench plough or subsoil for it; and in Hol- land they are even at the pains to deepen with the spade the furrows made by the plough. It may be sown, like the turnip, on ridges, by the drill or otherwise, or broadcast. The seed should be of the previous season’s growth; if mixed a fortnight before sowing with two bushels of sand or mould, kept wetted and turned over once or twice, they will grow all the better (Com, to Board of Agr. vol. vii. p. 70— 299); and it keeps the seed from clinging to- gether. (Jour. of Roy. Agr. Soc. of Eng. p. 40.) The quantity proper to be sown per acre (April is the best period) is two pounds by the drill, and about five when sown broadcast. The plants should be hoed out like turnips, and dug up in October for storing; but they may be left in the ground if preferred, and dug up as they are wanted. They may be stored either in a building covered with straw or haulm, or in pits piled in heaps four feet deep. (Brit. Hush, vol. ii. p. 287.) The common produce is from 280 to 450 bushels per acre—9000 lbs. (Com. Board of Agr. vol. vi. p. 141.) It is ad- mirable food for all kinds of stock. (Low. Agr. p- 326.) Either the tops mown off green, which is said not to injure the roots (Com. Board of Agr. vol. v. p. 211), or the roots, for horses, half a bushel a day, sliced in chaff, is admira- ble food. (Youatt on the Horse, p. 358, 392, 213; Brit. Husb. vol. i. p. 125.) 1000 parts of the carrot contain 98 of nutritive matter. (Davy’s Lect.) It should be well manured with either farm-yard dung (20 cubic yards per acre) ; or pigeons’ dung is excellent (Quar. Jour. of Agr. vol. v. p. 144); or a mixture of salt, 63 bushels, and soot 63, trenched in (Sinclair; Johnson on Salt, 31, 146; Rev. E. Cartwright, Com. Board of Agr. vol. iv. p. 376); or sea-weed trenched in fresh as collected from the shore (Quar. Jour. of Agr. vol. vii. p. 268); or turf trenched in deep (Com. Board of Agr. vol. iv. p. 191); or street sweepings, mixed with one-third of pigs’ dung and 20 hogshead of liquid manure. (Flem. flush. 40.) The white or Belgian carrot has been recently tried as a field crop with consi- derable success; Sir C. Burrell having grown -f this variety in 1840, “on a very indifferent field,” 1000 bushels per acre (Brit. Farm. Mag. vol. iv. p. 464); Lord Ducie, 26 tons 3 cwt; 266 CARROT. and from 20 to 32 tons by Mr. Harris; and in Jersey 38 tons per acre. It is described in the Report of the Yoxford Farmers’ Club as well adapted for strong or mixed soil lands, as keep- ing well, and as excellent food for horses. (Journ. of Royal Agr. Soc. vol. ii. p. 42.) CARROT, THE GARDEN (Daucus carota; as some imagine from dm, though its taste is far from being pungent. Perhaps from Jzeus, on account of the thickness of its root), There are a considerable number of varieties of the carrot, which are divided by horticulturists into two families: those with a regular fusi- form root, which are named long carrots; and those having one that is nearly cylindrical, abruptly terminating, but continuing with a long slender tap-root, which are denominated horn carrots. The first are employed for the main crops; the second, on account of their superior delicate flavour, and are advantage- ously grown for early use. They are likewise commonly recommended for shallow soils. Horn carrots,—early red horn, common early horn, long horn: this last is the best for the summer crop. Long carrots,—white, yellow, long yellow, long red, Chertsey or Surrey, su- perb green-topped or Altringham: the last two are the best for main crops. Carrots should have a warm, light, sandy, fertile soil, dug full two spades deep, as they require to be deeper than any other culinary vegetable. With the bottom spit it is a good practice to turn ina little well-decayed manure ; but no general ap- plication of it to the surface should be allowed in the year they are sown. A spat should be allotted them which has been made rich for the growth of crops in the previous year, or else purposely prepared by manuring and trenching in the preceding autumn. The fresh application of manure is liable to cause their growing forked, and to expend themselves in fibres, as well as to be worm-eaten. If, how- ever, the want of manure must be obviated at the time of sowing, it should be used in a highly putrescent state, and but in small quan- tities, finely divided and well mixed with the soil. If the soil is at all binding, it should be well pulverized by digging very small pits ata time, &c. Mr. Smith of Keith Hall, N. B., re- commends pigeons’ dung as the best manure for this crop: it not only prevents the maggot, but causes them to grow finer. He applies it in the same proportion as is usually done of stable manure. (Mem. Caled. Hort. Soc. vol. i. p. 129.) Carrots are propagated by seed. The first sowing for the production of plants to draw whilst young should take place in a mo- derate hotbed during January, and in a warm border at the conclusion of February or early in March. At the close of the last month, or more preferably in the early part of April, the main crop must be inserted; though, to avoid the maggot, it is even recommended not to do so until its close. In May and July the sowing may be repeated for production in autumn; and lastly, in August, to stand through the winter, and produce in early spring, For sow- ing, a calm day should be taken advantage of; and, previous to commencing, the seeds should be separated by rubbing them between the hands, with the admixture of a little sand; CARROT. otherwise, by reason of their adhering by the hairs that surround their edges, they are clot- ted together, and cannot be sown regular.’ The surface of the bed should likewise be laid smooth; otherwise, in raking it, the séed will be drawn together in similar heaps. To avoid this, before raking, it may be gently trod in. The seed should be sown thin, and the beds not more than four feet wide, for the conve- nience of after-cultivation. The larger weeds must be continually removed by hand; and when the plants are seven or eight weeks old, or when they have got four leaves two or three inches long, they should be thinned; those in- tended for drawing young to four or five inches apart, and those to attain their full growth to eight or ten ; at the same time, the ground must be small-hoed, which operation should be re- gularly performed every three or four weeks, until the growth of the plants becomes an ef- fectual hinderance to the growth of the weeds. The crop to stand through the winter should, in frosty weather, be sheltered with a covering of litter, as, if frost occurs with much severity, it often destroys them. The hotbed for the first sowing of the year must be moderate, and earthed about sixteen inches deep; two or three linings of hot dung, as the heat decreases, will be sufficient to bring them to a state fit for use. These are the first in production, but are closely followed by those that have withstood the winter. The temperature must never ex- ceed 70°, or fall lower than 65°: if it rises higher, it is a certain cause of weakness; if lower, it checks the advance of the root. They need not be thinned to more than three inches apart. At the close of October, or early in Novem- ber, as soon as the leaves change colour, the main crop may be dug up, and laid in alternate layers, with sand, in a dry outhouse; previous to doing which, the tops, and any adhering earth, must be removed. A dry day should always be chosen for taking them up. For the production of seed, it is by much the best practice to leave some where raised. If, however, this is impracticable, some of the finest and most perfect roots should be select- ed, and their tops not cut so close as those for storing ; these likewise must be placed in sand until February or March, though some gar- deners recommended October or November, then to be planted out two feet asunder ina stiff loamy soil. Those left where grown, or those planted at the close of autumn, must, during frosts, have the protection of litter; it being invariably removed, however, during mild weather. As the seed ripens in August, which is known by its turning brown, about the end of August each umbel should be cut; for if it is waited for until the whole plant de- cays, much of the seed is often lost during stormy weather. It must be thoroughly dried by exposure to the sun and air, before it is rubbed out for storing. For sowing, the seed should always be of the previous year’s growth; if it is more than two years old, it will not ve- getate at all. (G. W. Johnson’s Kitchen Garden.) The boiled carrot forms a good poultice in foul and cancerous ulcers. CARROT. Carrots, are much cultivated in many parts of the United States, where many farmers pre- fer them over every other vegetable for fatten- ing swine, cattle, and even as feed for horses. To fatten swine they should be given boiled, to store-hogs, raw. The following remarks upon the culture and use of carrots in New England, are extracted from Mr. Colman’s Second Report on the Agri- culture of Massachusetts. “Jno. Merrill, of South Lee, has been a very successful cultivator of carrots. He states the yield on two acres at 600 bushels to the acre; and the cost of cultivation, exclusive of manure and rent of land, at twenty-five dollars per acre; or a little more than four cents per bushel. For feeding horses, he says, he should prefer one hundred bushels of carrots and one hundred bushels of oats to two hundred bushels of oats. He applied them in a raw state to the feeding of his team horses, and horses in pre- paration for market; and they were kept by them in high health and spirits. Oats followed his carrot crop on the same ground with great success. The experience of J. C. Curwen, Eng., in the use of carrots for horses, corres- ponds with that of Mr. Merrill. The authority of Curwen is unquestionable; and he was in the habit of employing constantly as many as eighty horses on his farm and in his extensive coal mines. “ growth from germination to the perfec- CHERRY TREE. 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 different 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 plants 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 barley, stil: 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, iaay 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 different heads of Animal Manures, Ammonia, Nitrogen, &e. 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. 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. July: Archduke, Black Tartarian, White Tartarian, Black Eagle, Kentish, Bigarreau, Holmon’s Duke, Elton, Herefordshire Heart, Bleeding Heart, Carnation, and Waterloo. August: Har- rison’s Meart, 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 principal supplies of cherries for the London market are brought from the cherry orchards ‘In Kent and Herts. The wild cherry tree is found frequently in the woods and hedges of England, and has round branches with a po- lished ash-coloured bark. The leaves, in all the varieties are simply folded flat while young, by which cherries differ from the Bul- lace tribe. * (Phil. Hist. Fruits, p.'76 ; Willich’s Domestic Encyclopedia; M‘Culloch’s Commercial Dictionary ; Baxter's Library of Agriculture ; Smith’s Eng. Flora, vol. ii. p. 354; American Orchardist’s Companion; Kenrick’s New American Orchardist, &c.) 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 offers 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 320 CHERRY-LAUREL. burnt, which is observable in spots where fire 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. Wild 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 sandy, 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 overeup 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 abundance and 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 a2 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 Europe. The wood of this tree is highly valuable, being compact, fine-grained and brilliant, 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 (Cerasus Caroliniana). 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, the 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 Borers. CHERRY-LAUREL (Cerasus lawro-cerasus). CHERRY TREE WEEVIL. This shrub is an exotic, although 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 afier they are dried, but retain their flavour. CHERRY TREE WEEVIL. Tree Weeryit and Cuncurro. CHERVIL, GARDEN = (Cherophyllwm sati- vum). This herb grows in gardens, and sometimes wild in waste ground; perhaps the outeast 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 cerifolium) 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 until the following spring, it will seldom germinate; or if this first grade of vegetation takes place, the seedlings are gene- Tally 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-casta- nea). The species cultivated in England are the common or sweet chestnut, of which there are two kinds, the Spanish (Cas. vesew) 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 See Prom CHESTNUT. 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 have 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 shaky. 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 araw 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 there 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 1100 years old. Lastly, the timber of this tree is almost incor- ruptible, and more durable than oak. Its dura- bility 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 about 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 21 CHESTNUT, HORSE. year, three of the young plants are removed from each hole, and only the most thriving is left. “he third or fourth year, when the branches begin to interfere with each other, every second tree is suppressed. To insure ils 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. Dict. ; Willich’s Dom. Ency.; Phillip’s Hist. of Fruits, p. 84.) - CHESTNUT, HORSE (Zsculus hippocasta- num). This ornamental tree, now so common 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 asatonic. It has cured agues, and some au- thors affirm that it might be a substitute for the Peruvian bark; but trials and experience have not justified their opinion. Given ina 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 Buckrre. CHEVIOT SHEEP. See Suezr. 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-chewing 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. Ifa ruminant animal ceases to chew the cud, im- mediate illness may be expected, as the diges- tive organs cannot act without this natural process. See an excellent article “On Rumi- nauon, 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 oxygen, for a more minute mechanical division of the food only shortens the time required for solution. (Liebig’s Animal Chemistry.) CHICCORY, or SUCCORY (Cichorium inty- 322 CHICK PEA. bus), An English perennial weed, the wild endive, common on the borders of corn-fields 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. 8. 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. Husb.” p. 42.) And Von Thier, 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 coffee, 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 precess 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 Enpive. (Sinclair’s Hort. Gram. Wob. p. 412; M‘Culloch’s Com. Dict.; Willich’s Dom. Encyc: ; Brit. Husb. vol. ii. p. 303.) CHICK, or CHICKEN. See Powrrny. CHICK PEA (Cicer arietinum). Pl. 7, t. 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 coffee, and the plant is sometimes called the coflee-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. CHICK WEED. 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 vicinity of Dover, Delaware, have proved very 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 peas, the flavour of these, mixed with that of green 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 i 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 time with common peas. In Spain, where the chick pea is very abundant and in general use, two 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 gramof India. (Pazx- ton’s Bot. Dict.; Low’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. (Flor. 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 mouse- ear chickweed, viz., two kinds of broad-leaved (C. vulgatwm and C. latifolium); the narrow- leaved Cc. viscossum) ; the little mouse-ear (C. semi-decandum) ; the four-cleft (C. tetrandum) ; 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 most parts of England, frequently called spat- tling-poppy. Its roots are 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 Jand 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- eut or eruptions of the hands and legs. (Smith’s Eng. Flor. vol. ii. p. 301; Sinclai’s Weeds, p. 52; Willich’s 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 (Castanea 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 the 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 sucha useful purpose in agriculture. 223 CHINCH BUG, 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, 8S. 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 Nuttall’s 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 Jay waste the pastures. They are described as small and black, with white wings; in their form, close 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 attack wheat, 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 ups 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 ereatest 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-vreen, luxuriant oat, which a tew days before looked so beautiful and rich, tarn pale, wither and die, almost at their very touch. It would seem exaggeration and almost incredible to state how very prolific this de- vouring insect is, their increase being so pro- CHIVES. digiously great as to appear to be the work of magic. “Tn 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 farmers, 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 no 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.” (KF armer’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. Itis said that they are natives of the forest, and that where these are occasionally burnt they never become troublesome. 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 mulltiplica- tion of the swarm. CHINE. In horsemanship, the back-bone, or ridge of the back. In pork, that part of the back which contains the back-bone. CHISLEY LAND, Soil between sandy and clayey, containing a large admixture of small pebbles or gravel. CHIVES or CIVES (Allium schenoprasum). This plant is a perennial, flowering in May and June. It is easily propagated by offsets of the roots. The time for making plantations is January or February: however, March is the month to be preferred to either; but if pre- viously neglected, it may be performed as late as June. It is also planted in the autumn, They are to be inserted by the dibble, eight or ten inches apart, and eight or ten offsets in CHLORIDE OF LIME. each hole. The only cultivation required is to keep them free from weeds. By autumn they multiply into large-sized bunches; and if re- quired may be taken up as soon as the leaves decay, and be stored, after the necessary precautions, as a substitute for the onion: the leaves, which are fit for use as long as they remain green, must, when required, be cut down close to the ground, when they will speedily be succeeded by others. (G. W. John- son’s Kitch. Garden.) CHLORINE. One of the elements found al- Ways in vegetable 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 soda, in the familiar form of common salt, every 10 lbs. of which contains about 6 Ibs. of chlorine gas. 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. or its uses as a fertilizer, see Saxr. CHLORIDE OF SODA. A well known pow- erful disinfectant or destroyer of offensive smells, diseovered and brought into use by a French chemist, who prepared from it a solution sold extensively under the name of LasarraQue’s Disinrective Sotution. 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 sodizm, 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- CHOCOLATE. lutions of chlorine and ox-sulphate of iron threw out the germ in two days, those in nitric acid in three days, in sulphuric acid in five, and those in water in five, But in every case of premature germination, though the plume 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.” (.4g7. 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 Parts. Chlorine - - - = - 63-23 Lime - - - - - - 36°77 100 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,—“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; whereas, 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 Saxrs, 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. 258; “ On Ferti- 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 1520, and by them long kept a secret from the rest of the world. Lin- nus was so fond of it, that he gave the spe- cific name, theobroma, 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 half 25 325 CHOCOLATE. thick, which contains from 20 to 30 beans, ar- | 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, their beans cleared of the marrowy substance, and spread out to dry in the air. Like almonds, they are covered with a thin skin 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 (terrer). 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, 7? 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. Tt melts only at 122° Fahr., and should, there- fore, make tolerable candles. It is soluble in poiling alcohol, but precipitates in the cold. It is obtained by exposing the beans to strong pressure in 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 fire 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. Fora 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 ata 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.” (Ure's Dict. of Arts, &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, Itisa source of great danger to persons descending into wells and pits. See Canronre acip Gass. CHOLIC, or COLIC. See Honszs, Carrte, Surrr, Diseases or. CHOPPER, HAY. See Cuarr-encines. “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 (Fregilus graculus). 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 larve, 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. a fancied resemblance to the manner in which the Roman children were trussed in bandages. The pupe from caterpillars are most common- ly called chrysalids and aurelia. Grubs, after their transformation, are often called nymphs. Having passed through its change, the insect merges fom 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. “Tn 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 elevations running in ridges: the other side, or the back, in most of the chrysalises, is smooth, and of a rounded figure: butgsome 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 feves ; the chrysalis of the silk-worm being of this description, and so named. This division is extremely convenient to classification, the phalene or moths being almost universally pro- cuced 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 aurelia ; derived, the one from a Greek, the other from a Latin word, signifying gold.” (Domestic Ency.) CHURN (cennan; Goth. kerna ; Dutch, kernen. Our old authors wrote it cherne, 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 different 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- lich’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 Oxron. CICADA. See Grassnorrer and Locusts. CIDER, or CYDER (Fr. cidre; Ger. zider ; Ital. cidro; Russ. sidor ; Span. sidra). 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 CIDER. citizens of New England, of the Middle States, and of the older states of the West. Good cider is deemed a pleasant, wholesome liquor, during the heats of summer; and Mr. Knight has as- serted, and also eminent medical men, that strong, astringent ciders have been found to produce nearly the same 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 of alcohol after fermentation; for every one must know that all good wine or cider contains it, elaborated by 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 any 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, ir appeared that when two pounds of sugar were dissolved in a gallon of rain water, the bullc oceupied 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- lon. 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 most 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 the fruit should be not merely mellow, but ¢horough- 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 227 CIDER. is 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 grownd, before pressing, the better for the cider, provided it escapes fermentation wntil 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 time 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 the premium cider so much admired at Concord, Massachusetts, appears so sensible of the important effects 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 suffers it to remain from a@ week to ten days, provided the weather will admit, stirring the mass daily till it is put to the press. See his communication in vol. vii. p. 123, N. E. Farmer. The first fermentation 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 aleohol passes off with the carbonic acid. The design of frequent rackings is princi- pally to restrain the fermentation; but it seems to be generally acknowledged that it weakens the liquor. It is not generally practised, al- 828 CIDER. though the finest cider is often produced by this mode. Various other modes are adopted with the view of restraining fermentation, one of which is the following. After a few gallons of cider are poured into the hogshead into which the cider is to be placed when racked off, a rag six inches long, previously dipped in melted brim- stone, is attached by a wire to a very long, tapering bung; on the match being lighted the bung is loosely inserted; after this is con- sumed, the cask is rolled or tumbled till the liquor has imbibed the gas, and then filled with the liquid. This checks the fermentation. Yet the French writers assure us that the effect of much sulphuring must necessarily render such liquors unwholesome. Black oxide of manganese has a similar effect; the crude oxide is rendered friable by being repeatedly heated red hot, and as often suddenly cooled by immersion in cold water. When finely pulverised, it is exposed for a while to the atmosphere, till it has imbibed again the oxygen which had been expelled by fire. An ounce of powder is deemed suflicieat for a barrel. If the cider is desired to be very sweet, it must be added before fermentation, otherwise not till afterwards. Mr. Knight, from his long experience and observation in a coun- try (Herefordshire, England) famous for its cider, has lately, in a letter to the Hon. John Lowell, stated that the acetous fermentation generally takes place during the progress of the vinous, and that the liquor from the com- mencement is imbibing oxygen at its surface. He highly recommends that new charcoal, in a finely pulverized state, be added to the liquor as it comes from the press, in the proportion of eight pounds to the hogshead, to be intimately incorporated; “this makes the liquor at first as black as ink, but it finally becomes remark- ably fine.” Dr. Darwin has recommended that the liquor, as soon as the pulp has risen, should be placed in a cool situation, in casks of remarkable strength, and the liquor closely confined from the beginning. The experiment has been tried with good success; the fermentation goes on slowly, and an excellent cider is generally the result. A handful of well-powdered clay to a barrel is said to check the fermentation. This is stated by Dr. Mease. And with the view of preventing the escape of the carbonic acid, and to prevent the liquid from imbibing oxygen from the atmosphere, a pint of olive oil has been recommended to each hogshead. The excellent cider exhibited by Mr. Rice was pre- pared by adding two gallons of New England rum to each barrel when first made. In Feb- ruary or March it was racked off in clear wea- ther, and two quarts more of New England rum added to each barrel. Cider well ferment- ed may be frozen down to any requisite degree of strength. In freezing, the watery parts are separated and freeze first, and the stronger parts are drawn off from the centre.—I finish by adding the following general rules; they will answer for all general purposes; they are the conclusions from what is previously stated: 1, Gather the fruit according to the foregoing CIDER. rules; let it be thoroughly ripe when ground, which should be about the middle of Novem- ber. 2. Let the pomace remain from two to four days, according to the state of the wea- ther, stirring it €very day, till it is put to the press. 3. If the liquor is deficient in the sac- charine principle, the defect may be remedied in the beginning by the addition of saccharine substances or alcohol. 4. Let the liquor be immediately placed in a cool cellar, in remark- ably strong, tight, sweet casks; after the pulp has all overflown, confine the liquor down by driv- ing the bung hard and by sealing; a vent must be left, and the spile carefully drawn at times, but only when absolutely necessary to prevent the cask from bursting. The charcoal, as re- commended by Mr. Knight, deserves trial. Fresh and Sweet pomace directly from the press, and boiled or steamed and mixed with a small portion of meal, is a valuable article of food, or for fattening horses, cattle, and swine. Sour casks are purified by pouring in a small quantity of hot water, and adding un- slacked lime; bung up the cask, and continue shaking it till the lime is slacked. Soda and chloride of lime are good for purifying. When casks are emptied to be laid by, let them be thoroughly rinsed with water and drained, then pour into each a pint of cheap alcohol, shake the cask and bung it tight, and it will remain sweet for years. Musty casks should be con- demned to other uses. Cider should not be bottled till perfectly fine, otherwise it may burst the bottles. The bottles should be strong, and filled to the bottom of the neck. After standing an hour, they should be corked with velvet corks. The lower end of the cork is held for an instant in hot water, and it is then instantly after driven down with a mallet. The bottles must be either sealed or laid on their sides in boxes, or in the bottom of a cellar, and covered with layers of sand. Most of the above information relative to cider-making is derived from the American Or- chardist, by W. Kenrick, of Boston, Massachu- setts, whose list of apple and other nursery trees comprehends almost every kind desirable for any purpose. The reader will find very explicit instruc- tions for the manufacture of cider in the Penny Cyclop. vol. vil. p. 161; in the Lib. of Useful Know. ; Brit. Husb. vol. ii. p. 364; Low’s Pract. Agr. p. 379; Croker, On the Art of Making and Managing Cyder; in the Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. viii. p. 332, by Mr. Towers; and in Baz- ter’s Agr. Lib. p. 135, by Andrew Crosse, Esq., of Somerset. The following instructions for making cider are by a Devonshire lady. Gather the fruit when ripe; let it remain in a heap till the apples begin to get damp, then grind them in a mill (similar to a malt mill); take the pulp and put it into a large press like a cheese-press, only on a much larger scale place a layer of reed in the bottom of the vat and a layer of pulp alternately until the vat is full. The vat is square, and the ends of the reed must be allowed to turn over every layer of pulp, so as to keep it from being pressed out at the sides: the layers of pulp must be five or six inches thick. When you have 42 CINQUE-FOIL. finished making your cheese, press it as hard as you can, and let it remain three or four hours; then cut down the corners of it, and lay them on the top with reed as before; then press it again, and allow it to remain for an- other three or four hours. Repeat this process as long as necessary, or until the cheese is quite dry. It takes seven bags of apples for one hogshead of cider, and the vat ought to be large enough to make from three to four hogs- heads at a time. The best sort of apple to make mild cider is the hard bitter-sweet. Any sort of sour apple will do to make the harsh cider. The liquor must be strained through a fine sieve into a large vessel, and allowed to ferment for three or four days, taking off the scum as it rises; then rack it, and put it into casks stopped down quite close. Before the cider is put into the cask, a match made of new linen and attached to a wire is lighted and put into the cask, and the bung is put in to keep the wire from falling into it. After a few minutes the match is removed, and the cider poured into the cask while yet full of the smoke. A person would require three or four years’ experience before he would be qualified to superintend the making of sweet or made cider. Much depends on the year, or rather on the ripening of the apples; it should be the second, not the first falling; and the “green bitter-sweet” and the “pocket apple” are the best for making it. After pounding, isinglass and brimstone are used to sweeten and fine it, and many other ingredients. (2. M. K.) The sweet cider, above described, is distinct from the other two kinds of cider (the harsh and mild). Cider, according to Brande, con- tains about 9°87 parts per cent. of alcohol. It isa wholesome beverage for those who use much bodily exercise. (Willich’s Dom. Ency. ; M‘Culloch’s Com. Dict.) CINQUE-FOIL, COMMON CREEPING, or FIVE FINGERED GRASS (Potentilia rep- tans). This creeping plant is common about waysides, and in meadows and pastures in England, where it is a perennial, flowering in June. Its stalks are round, smooth, and red, lying upon the ground, and taking root at the joints. The leaves stand five in number on each foot-stalk, long and narrow in form, and indented at the edges. The flowers are large, of a bright yellow colour, standing upon long foot-stalks. The root is long and large, cover- ed with a brown rind. Smith (Lng. Flora, vol. ii, p. 423) describes this and ten other species of cinque-foil, all belonging to the same genus. The root is the medicinal part, and once was an officinal plant; but is now discarded: dig it up in April, take off the outer bark or rind, and dry it. The powdered bark of the root is astringent. There are a dozen or more species of cingue- foil in the United States, among which is that usually called the barren strawberry (Poten- tilla Pennsylvanica). It is a small, perennial, creeping plant, very frequent on road-sides, fence-rows, and banks, having thick, branch ing, fibrous roots. The petals of the flower» are bright-yellow, the first flowers often ap- pearing when the stems are very short, but others appear afterwards on runners, which 2E2 329 CINQUE-FOIL. CLIMATE. tunners resemble those of the strawberry.| the most valuable. Although what is commonly 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, commonly 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- rium palustre). 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. (Smith’s Eng. Flora, vol. il. p. 433.) CITRIC ACIDS. Acids contained in le- mons and some other kinds of fruit. See Actps, VEGErarLe. 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 ; flowers, 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 June 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- einal, 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 Linnwan system of natural history, the animal kingdom is divided into six great classes, of mammualia, or ani- mals which suckle their young; aves, or birds; pisces, or fishes; insecta, or insects; vermes, or worms. In botany, the term class implies the primary division ef 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 genus 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 distingv:shed 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 the highest per-centage of clay, are esteemed 330 called clay, constitutes from 14 to 81 per cent. of soils, its basis, a/wmina, or pure clay, exists only in the proportion of from 72-100ths 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 potash, 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 sotls,”’ 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 23 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 by xemerows small ditches running into a main ditch. See Ashes, Miztwre of Soils. For the modes of burning clay in kilns, or clod-burn- ing, see Paring and Burning. 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 heat 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 differ 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 differ 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 difference 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. the 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 winds 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 the 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 CLIMATE. | 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 isochewnal 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. Meantemp. W. Differences in coast . Am. coast of Europe. 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°°60 169-88 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 by 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. Butthe 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 regions, 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 by 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 climates 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 Sullivan, Eastport, 331 CLIMATE. Me., on the ocean in latitude 44° 44’, where the winter mean temperature is 17945 Fah- renheit above that of Fort Snelling in Iowa, the latitude being the same. The climate of Fort Snelling, Dr. Forry 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 Moscow 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 419-03, 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, 519°35. The highest, lowest, and annual range of the thermometer at three of the posts just mentioned is as follows :— Annual Highest. Lowest. range. Fort Wolcott, Newport, R.I. 85° g° 83° Fort Armstrong, 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 United States contrasted with the equable temperature found in the Pacific region. AtFort 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 239-67, 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 from this magazine of heat as Fort Vancouver does from the more distant Pacific? Simply 332 CLIMATE. 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 sufliciently 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 varia- 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 oceupy 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, the 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 climate of the lakes with that of the same region beyond their influence, the CLIMATE. contrast 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. Snow. Lakes - - - 1i7 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 sum 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 wniform and excesswe 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. Although 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, by 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- CLIMATE. 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 diversity of climate on the same parallels causes a corresponding difference in the vege- table productions. Whilst the lowlands yield 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. “Tt 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 summers of 1839 and 1840, at Flat Rock, Buncombe county, North Carolina. Mean Temperature. Places of Observation. Latitude. July. | Aug | Sept Fort Monroe, coast of Virginia - - = | 37°00" | 80° | 70° | 72° Flat Rock, Buncombe, NG. = - - | 35°30’ 69° | 70° | 62° Charleston, S.C. - | 32°45’} 81° | 81° | Lie “Flat Rock is about 250 miles from the At- lantic, and is elevated perhaps 2500 feet above the level of the ocean, whilst the latitude given is also a mere approximation derived from general knowledge. The observations made at Charleston embrace the same vears as these at Flat Rock, but the data at Fort Monroe com- prise the years 1828, 1829, and 1830. It is thus seen that the difference of temperature at Flat Rock and the other two points, taking an ayve- rage of the latter, is in July 11°, August 10°, September 13°, and October 6°. As regards the monthly range of the thermometer, litle difference is presented.” (Forry.) 333 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 103° Fahr., or in the proportion of about 13° 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, 8. C., and New York harbour, the difference of means is 12°78, or 19-59 per degree of latitude. Be- tween New York harbour and Eastport, Maine, the difference is 11°, or about 27° Fahr. per degree of latitude. The average proportion between Charleston, 8. 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 Fort 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 119-34, “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- badoes, 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 15°95, and of summer 72°75, whilst at Fort Brooke, Tampa Bay, the former is 64°-76, and the latter 849-25, 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 ali, the mean summer temperature is higher. Between Fort Snelling on the one hand, and Fort 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 169-49 and 11°34; dif- ference between the mean temperature of the 334 CLIMATE. 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 29-44,” 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, those 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 ArmospHeEne. 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 sufficient proofs 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 ef 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. 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 a@ 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. Itis 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. “Tt 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 atable 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 CLIMATE. and vegetation of the fortieth degree of Nortk latitude, who, in concluding 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 state 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 ATMOSPHERE, 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 AccrimaTING PrincieLe or Prants. “The cultivated plants yield the greatest products near the northernmost limit in which they will grow. “Thave been forcibly impressed with this fact, from observing the productions of the various plants, which are cultivated 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 market 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 and foli- age, which become injuriously luxuriant; the consequence is, there are but few 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 man 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 335 CLIMATE. their bark, 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 Burope, 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 filled, 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 acidity, 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 are proverbially in perfection 336 CLIMATE. 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- lence 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 without 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 tropies, the cane grows twenty 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 little juice, and that to an increased effort. 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 fiye 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 chafly; 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 affected by climate, and manifest habits in corroboration of the above principle. The Ivish 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 fine farina and flavour which characterizes them. |The sweet potato produces larger, better fla- 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 ofder to have the onion in perfection, it must grow through two years, swelling all the time its bulbs. In the south, 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, Jersey, 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 larve, 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, cr any other fermented liquor, because the 43 CLIMATE. 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 bearno 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 attempis have failed in its cultivation. The grape-vine, however, whether wild or cultivated, grows 2F 337 CLIMATURE. there very luxuriantly. The vinous fermenta- tion can also be best conducted in a climate comparatively cool; and all the pressing, fer- ementing, and distillation of the juice of this delicate fruit can be safer and more profitably managed in a mild regign. “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 sttbject, 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 of 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 difficulty 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 neglect 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 same way as climate. Itis a term made use of by some agricultural writers. CLOG SHOES. The country name for wooden shoes. CLOTBUR. See Common Bunnock. CLOTHING. In horsemanship, the prac- tice of covering the animals with cloths, with the view of keeping them healthy, and giving a fine coat. : WLOTTED or CLOUTED CREAM. Under 338 CLOTTED CREAM. the head of Burren, 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 sufti- 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 when the milk is sufliciently 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 Plate 0. Plants cultivated for Hay or Herbage. CLOUT, 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.” (Surv. of Cornwall, p. 141.) “Tf the quantity 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 ats original composition.” (Complete Grazier, sizth edition, p. 137.) CLOUT. An iron plate put on the axletree of 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 (Trifolium repens), grow- ing on almost all soils and situations. PI. 8, a. 2. Perennial red clover (7. pratense perenne) b; is found wild near Wainfleet, and in other rich natural English pastures. 3. Marl clover, cow grass (T. medium), 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 (TZ. incarnatum), f. 6. Egyp- tian clover (J. alexandrinum) ; 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 cloyer 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 esteefned 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 the price of the latter. The yellow or shamrock clover (Trifolium procumbens), 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 1s 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 CLOVER. 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 generally 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 Ibs. per acre. The bushel weighs about 60 to 64 Ibs., very nearly the same weight with gcod 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, although 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. che better. By many, mowing the first crop, is considered preferable to grazing it, since the seythe takes off weeds which cattle would leave. In the humid climate of England it is often difficult 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 suflicing to collect it tole- rably clean in the cocking process. “3. It prevents, ina great measure, injury from dew and rain; for these cocks, if rightly constructed (not by rolling), will sustain a rain of some days—that is, they have done this with me—without heating or becoming more than superficially wet. “4, Clover hay made in this way may al- most invariably be housed im good condition ; and if rain falls after the grass is mown, the quality of the hay is infinitely superior in 340 CLOVER. cocks to what it would be under the old pro- cess of curing.” (Cultivator.) Many prefer mowing the clover before it gets 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 of 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 sufficiently 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 cnt, 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 moves on as before. This 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 answer for these, it would be an improvement to have them made of iron, shaped like dirk blades. Mr. Bowman also thinks the box should be CLOVER. 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. Tor 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 the 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 portable, 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 the flail 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 chaff 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 CLUB MOSS. 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 Hort. Gram.; Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. xi. p. 249; “On turning the second crop of Clover;” Com. to Board of Agr. vol. iv. p- 197; Davy.) CLOVER, BOKARA. See Metiitorus Arba. 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 stiff 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 board 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. i. p. 60. CLOVER, STONE (Trifolium arvense), Welsh 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 incommon soil. The last articulation of the jointed beard is club-shaped, whence its name. CLUB MOSS (Lycopodiwm, from Adz a wolf, and zou a foot, because of the resem- blance of the roots). This moss grows abun- dantly on mountainous 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 hardy species of club moss require to be cultivated in peat soil, in a moist situation ; some of them succeed in pots of water. They are readily in- creased by suckers. The planed or fatted lyeopodium grows in the United States, in woods and thickets. It is | the well-known trailing variety so often col- l 2¥2 34° CLUB RUSH. lected as an ornamental evergreen, to be hung | in festoons around churches, ball-rooms, mir- rors, picture-frames, &c. (Flora Cestrica.) CLUB RUSH. See Rusu. CLUMP (Ger. klump). A number of shrubs or trees growing together. CLUSTER-GRAPE, The small black or currant grape. See Vine. CLUSTER-SOWING. That method of sow- ing grain, in which a number of corns are _placed together. CLYSTER. See Grysten. 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 xzxxéc, and fero 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 (Coccus polonicus) which thrives only in cold climates. This last is sometimes called the Cochineal of the North, and is collected ia great abundance for the use of dyers, from the roots of the polygonum cocciferum. Itis much inferior to the American cochineal. Some interesting information relative to in- sects of the Coccuvs family may be found under the head of Barx-Lice. COCCULUS INDICUS, or INDIAN BERRY, is the fruit of the Menispermwm 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 vegeto-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 said 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 500/. upon the seller of the drug. COCHINEAL. An America: insect greatly valued on account of its use in dying crimson, | 342 COCHINEAL. scarlet, &c., and preparing carmine. When first discovered 1t 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 better to resist rains and storms. The wild cochineal, when it is bred upon the field nopal, loses in part the tenacity and quantity of 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 gray is owing to the pow- der, which naturally covers it, and 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, orin ovens. The last become of an ash-gray colour, constituting the silver cochineal, or Jjaspeada ; the second are blackish, called negra, 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 under the name of granillo. Cochineal keeps for along time in a dry place. Hellot says that he has tried some 130 years old, which produced the same effect as new cochineal. Much adulteration is practised in England upon cochineal. In the republics of Mexico, COCK. Guatimala and other parts of Central America, where 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 the necessary plantations and fixtures. The true cochineal insect has been found in South Carolina by the late Dr. Garden, and Mr. 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 th® 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. cog). A name applied to the male of chickens and other birds. COCKCHAFFER (Meloloniha 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- chaffers 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 offered 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 Spence’s Inirod. 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. Agrostemma githago). Pl. 10, a. A well-known troublesome annual weed, of rather an ornamental appearance, growing in grain-fields in 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 eup 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 COFFEE. 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 shouldbe era- dicated from the field by the hand before flowering. (Smith’s Eng. Flora, vol. ii. p. 325 ; Sinclair’s Weeds, p.9; Elements of Agricullure, 441; Willich’s Dom. Encyc.) COCK’S-FOOT GRASS (Dactylis glomerata). Pl. 5, 6. 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 eatit 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 affords of hay 11,859 Ibs., 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 Hay Grasszs. (Sincluir’s Hort. Gram. p. 136; Snutk’s Eng. Flora, vol. i. p. 134.) COCK-SPUR. A common name in Eng- land for the Virginian hawthorn; a species of medlar. See Hawrnonyn. COCOON. The fibrous web round a chry- salis. COD. A term used sometimes for pod. CODLIN. A well-known kind of baking apple. See Manus. COFFEE. The seed ofa tree of the family rubiacee. There are several species of the genus, but the only one cultivated is the Coffea 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 andatright angles toeachother; theleaves 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 coffee was soon rapidly spread, uur 343 COFFEE. it encountered much opposition on the part of the Turkish government, and became the occa- sion of public assemblies. Under the reign of Amurath 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 thg Great, that the drinking of coffee was accredited in Constantinople ; “and a century elapsed before it was known in London and Paris. Solyman Aga introduced its use into the Jatter city in 1669, and in 1672 an Armenian established the first café 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 4d. is laid upon every gallon of coffee 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 cous 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 the air is mild. The coffee is generally grown half way up on their slopes. When 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 being 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. See Ure’s Dict. of the Ar ts, &e. The most highly esteemed coffee is that of Moka. It has a smaller anda rounder bean; a more agreeable taste and smell than any other. Its colour is yellow. Next 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 ends; 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 © COFFEE. it originally 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 leaves 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 feet, yet it is usually kept down by pruning to that of five feet, for increasing the 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 cafeine. 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 crystallizable. 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 raw coffee, to which the name of cafeie 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, 123 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. Schrader has COFFEE. analyzed roasted coffee comparatively with | raw coffee, and he found in the first 124 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 readily in the air. He found also 10-4 of a blackish-brown gum; 5:7 of an oxygenated extract, or rather apothéme, soluble in alcohol, insoluble in water; 2 of a fatty substance and resin; 69 of burnt vegetable fibre, insoluble. On distilling roasted 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 fiyst 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 caffetiére 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 boiling. 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- 3S, So that it may be readily ground to pow- cer. 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 disagreeablé 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 Dict. 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 he 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 anda half pounds. The consumption of coffee is very great in Mohammedan countries, and especially in Tur- 44 COFFEE. key, where their religion forbids the use of wine and 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 café au lait. 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 brown 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 generally, at present, coffee is always 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, especially by the interior population. The French mode of preparing coffee for use having been given, we will sud- join a description of the process pursued in Arabia, as related by Mr. Buckingham, who had ample opportunities of learning it from personal observation. “Tt is found that the only certain mode of retaining the pure flavour of the coitee, is to roast, pound, and boil it, all in quick succes- sion, the roasted berries soon losing their fla- vour if laid by fora day, and the pounded coffee becoming insipid, even in a few hours. The Arabs of the desert, who are from necessity economical in the use of this article, follow the same process, even if they require only two cups of the liquid, roasting a handful of betries on an iron plate, pounding them ina pes le and mortar while warm, and the instant the water boils, which it will generally do by the 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 ume for about a minute or two, when it is poured out to drink. As the beverage is 345 COFFEE TREE. taken without sugar or milk, the slightest dif- ference in 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 (Gymnocladus 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. By the French of Canada this tree is called Chicot; 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 feet 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, stump tree, by the French Canadians. To this peculiar character 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 seeds, which are extremely hard. The French in Upper Louisiana call them Gowrganes. “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 COINS, FOREIGN. closeness of its grain fit for cabinet-making, and its strength renders it proper for building. Like the locust, it has 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 almost 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 coffee 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 Tever 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 flics—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 coffee-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 coffin. COINS, FOREIGN. The following tables will show the values and weights of various foreign coins in federal money of the United States: COLCHICUM. ~ Table of various Foreign Coins, with their Value tn Moncey of the United States. Also, the Value of Gold Coins per pennyweight. Value per dwt. Value by tale. Gold. cm. Dz. Duc. British sovereign, or pound Sterling - - < - 46 4:83 to 4°86 French twenty-frane piece - 929 3°84 to 3°85} German ten-thaler piece = 7°84 to 7-97 DoubloonofSpanish 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. Val. by tale. Silver. cm Dollar of Mexico and South America, about- = - -100°0 French five-frane piece - - - - - - 980 Prussian thaler — - - - - 68° oe to 69:3 English shilling (since 1816) - - - = b) rg Milreis of Portugal, about) - - = - - 112°0 Rupee of British India - - - - - 445 Spanish-American quarter-dollar, unworn — - 25°0 Do. do. worn by circulation 23°5 By the Mint Laws passed by Congress in 1837, the eagle is to weigh 258 troy grains, oe half and quarter in proportion; the dollar 412 grains, the parts in proportion. The snauive 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 autumnale). 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 notcommon, It may be propagated from offsets in July. 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 oison. (Smith’s Eng. Flora, vol. ii. p. 202.) COLD (Sax. colo; Dan. kaald). See Ca- Tanna, and Disgasrs or Carrie, Horses, &c. COLE, or COLESEED (Celt. caal ; Welsh, cawl; Lat. Brassica napus). 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. Husb. vol. ii. p. 312.) See Corza and Raper. COLEWORT. See Canraer. 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. (Yarrell’s Brit. Birds, vol. li. p. 448.) COLLAR (Span. collar; Lat. collare). That ) COLLING. part of the harness of a horse or other animal 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 Doe, Suxzr- 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 county 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 eulogium 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 :— Cows. Age. Guineas, Cherry - - ll - - - 83 Peeress - mt 5 = Ss ~ 170 Countess - - 9 - - - 400 Celina - - 5 - = = 200 Lady - - 4 - - = 206 Lilly - - Kees - - 410 Bulls. Guineas. Comet - - 6 me =e LOND Major - - 9 = Pe ae 0D Petrarch - - 2 - - - 365 Alfred - - 1 - - - 110 Duke - - 1 - - - 105 Bull calves under one year old. Guineas, Young Favourite - - - - - 140 Geerse - - - - = = 2 130 Sir Dimple - - = - = = 90 Cecil - - - - - - - 170 Heifers. Age. Guineas, Phebe - - 3 - = 15 105 Young Duchess - 2 - - = 183 Young Countess - 2 - - - 206 Lucy - = - 2 - - = 132 Charlotte - - 1 o - - 132 Heifer calves under one year old. Guineas, Lucilla - - - - = - - 106 Calista - - - - =) ahaa 50 White Rose - 4a = = = 15 : Altogether it appears that— ih Sate I7cows sold for - - -* - 2802 9 11 bulls So = - - - 2361 9 7 bull calves ‘ - - Ci gi 687 15 7 heifers Gg = - =< - 942 18 5 heifer calves 7 5 tan 321 6 47 lots 7115 17 Robert Colling’s stock was sold at Barmpton, near Darlington, September 29, 1818, when it produced for— 347 COLT. Guineas. 34 cows a a ree a al UL 17 heifers - - - - = = 1287 6 bulls moh gt seo oe Sy BSS 4 bull calves - - - - - 713 61 head of cattle - =e P=) tor 7484 One 2yearoldcowsoldfor- - - 331 One 4 fe 3 erates! Ute 300 One 5 ae oe Sains cm 70 One 1 “© bull calf eS 270 One 4 “bull 2" yee 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 70th year, at Barmpton, near Darlington, March 7, 1820. COLT (Sax. colt). A term applied to young horses. See Honses. COLT-EVIL. In farriery, a distemper to which young horses are subject, consisting of a swelling in the sheath. COLTS-FOOT, COMMON. (Tussilago far- fara). Pl.10,1 Thisis 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 for the relief of coughs. There are two species of the colts-foot, butter- bur, or Tussilago genus in the United States. See Nuttall’s 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 Asarwn. See Grxcen, 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- | terns, where it soon becomes avery valuable ma- 348 COLZA. terial for manure. The haulm, or stems, after the seeds are thrashed off, 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 Prassica 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 use of the cultivator, to destroy weeds or loosen the soil. When sown broad-cast, about 14 Ibs. of seed are required for one hectare (equal to about 24 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 rows 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 covered up by the plough in returning, COLZA. When this is skilfully performed, the planta- tion may be effected 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 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 newly broken up, as’ much as 40 bushels of colza can be got from an acre, a larger product than could be expect- ed from rape. 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, COLZA. 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 very 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 aecount 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, &c., are carefully removed. If the colza has been put up in cocks, we carry 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 linen. After spreading the cloth along the side of 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 avery large crop, two thrashing-floors should be made, so that when one bed is preparing, another may be thrashing and emptying. 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 machines used for grain. Spring Colza—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 are 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 adapted to the growth of 2G 349 COLTS-FOOT. wheat, but this has been 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 citches 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 flowers 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 (8S. 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 Bot. Mag. No. 929.) The attention of the agriculturist has recently been directed to the cultivation of comfrey as green food for cattie, by Mr. Grant, of Lewisham, who speaks highly of its merits. (Bazter’s Agr. Lib.) COMPOSITION FOR TREES. See Cay- KER. COMPOST (Fr.; Lat. compositum). That sort of manure which is formed by the union or mixture of one or more different ingredients with dung, 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 Fanm-yanp Manure. CONDITION (Fr. and Lat.). In horseman- ship, a term supposed to imply a horse’s being ina 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 tu 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, pine, cedar, &c. ‘ CONSERVATORY (Lat.). A glazed struc- 350 CORD-WOOD. ture, in which exotic trees and shrubs are grown in a bed or floor of soil. It is distin- guished from an orangery by its having a glazed roof, while that of the latter is opaque, and from a green-house by tke plants being set in the fine soil, instead of in pots placed on shelves. The largest conservatory in the world at the present time (close of 1841), is that erected in Chatsworth, in Derbyshire, for palms and other tropical plants, which covers above an acre of ground, and is sixty feet high. (Brande’s Dict. of Science and Art.) CONTRACTION OF THE HOOF. In far- riery, is a distorted state of the horny substance of the hoof in cattle, producing all the mis- chiefs of unnatural and irregular pressure oh the soft parts contained in it, and consequently a degree of lameness which can only be cured by removing the cause. Contraction of the hoof rarely happens, however, except to those animals whose hoofs, for the convenience of labour, are shod. CONVERTIBLE HUSBANDRY, or mized husbandry, a term implying frequent change in the same field from tillage crops to grass, and from grass back to tillage crops; an alterna- tion of wheat, rye, &c., with root and grass crops. COOP, or COUP (Icel. kuppa; Dut. kuype). A provincial name for a tumbrel or cart, en- closed with boards to carry dung, sand, grains, &c. It is also apen or enclosure where lambs, &c., are shut up to be fed or fattened; and a kind of cage in which poultry are enclosed for the same purpose. COPPICE, or COPSE (supposed from the Fr. couper; or Nor. copper, to cut off). Low woods cut at stated times for poles, fuel, &c. A place overrun with brushwood. Its wood is called coppice-wood. CORDGRASS (Spartina stricta. From spar- tine, a rope made of broom). A genus of pe- rennial maritime grasses found in muddy salt marshes on the sea coast, of which this is the only native variety. They are very easy of culture, and increased by divisions and seeds. Roots, creeping, with strong fibres; whole plant, hard, tough, and rigid; stems ten to twenty inches high, several together; leaves, numerous, striated, of a dull green colour and smooth. (Eng. Flora, vol. i. p. 135; Paxton’s Bot. Dict.) Spartina juncea.—According to the experi- ments of Sinclair, this grass is very late in the production of foliage, and inferior in nutritive qualities to most other kinds of grass. It, how- ever, yields well as a single crop, the produce from a rich, silicious, sandy soil, at the time of flowering, being 33,350 lbs., which afforded of nutritive matter 1433 lbs. It has been tried for the purpose of forming into flax; and Sin- clair tells us, the results were favourable, inas- much as the clear fibre was equal in strength and softness to that of flax, but it was deficient in length. The only advantage that appears would result from this plant affording flax is, that it could be produced on a soil unfit for the growth of flax or the production of corn. It flowers the second week in August, and the seed is ripe by the middle of September. (Hort. Gram. Wob. p. 373.) Three or four species of CORD-WOOD. Spartina are found in the United States, chiefly confined to the salt water districts along the sea coast. CORD-WOOD. Small pieces of wood bro- ken up for fuel. It also signifies top-wood, roots, &c., cut up and set in cords; so deno- minated from its being formerly measured with a cord. A statute cord of wood should be eight feet long, four feet high, and four feet broad. COREOPSIS, EAR-LEAVED, (Coreopsis au- riculata). A hardy perennial, a native of North America. It grows three or four feet high, and its yellow flowers bloom in August. The Co- reopsis delphinifolia is also a native of North America, growing about eighteen inches high, with yellow flowers. Blooms from July to October. Divide the roots, and plant it in open situations. CORIANDER, (Coriandrum sativum. From xe, a bug; the fresh leaves, when bruised, emitting an odour very similar to that of this vermin). Coriander thrives best in a made- rately rich but sandy loam: excessive moisture is equally inimical to it as the want of a regu- lar supply. It must have an open and rather sheltered situation. It is propagated by seed, which, if it is required early, must be sown during February, in a warm border or mode- rate hotbed, in either situation with the protec- tion of a frame.. This may be repeated at the close of March. Afterwards small crops may be successionally inserted every month in an open bed or border until September, in which month, and October, if required for winter’s supply, final crops must be sown under a frame, as in February. The summer sowings should always be of small extent, as the plants at that season are very apt to run. The sowings are generally performed in drills eight inches apart, and half an inch deep; the plants to remain where sown. The only cultivation required is to thin them to four inches’ distance and to have them kept clear of weeds throughout their growth. For the production of seed, some plants of the early spring sowings must be left ungathered from, at about eight inches apart each way; they will perfect their seed in early autumn} being in flower during June. (G. W. Johnson’s Kitchen Garden.) CORK OAK (Quercus suber). The tree pro- ducing the thick, light, and soft bark, out of which corks are made, is a species of oak found in the southern parts of Europe, in Spain, France, and Italy. Both public and private interest, says Michaux, requires the in- habitants of the southern coast of the United States, and especially of the neighbouring islands, to introduce and rear the cork oak, in places unfit for the culture of cotton. It should also, he thinks, be introduced into West Ten- nessee, and with the more reason as the vine is there cultivated successfully. wherever the live oak is found. In size this oak seldom grows higher than forty feet, with a diameter of three feet. Its leaves are evergreen, but the greater part of them fall and are renewed in the spring. The acorns are large and oval, of a sweetish taste, and eagerly devoured by swine. The wood is It will grow CORN, BROOM-. hard, compact and heavy, but not so durable as that of some other kinds of oak. The bark be- gins to be taken off at the age of twenty-five years, the first growth being of little value. It is not, however, till the tree is forty-five or fifty years old, that the bark possesses all the quali- ties requisite for good corks, and from that pe- riod it is collected every eight or ten years. The length of time which thus elapses between planting and reaping compensation renders it very improbable that the cork oal will ever be extensively introduced by individual enter- prise, into those parts of the United States where it would thrive. Nothing short of go- vernment patronage could effect the object re- commended by Michaux. The consumption of corks is exceedingly great; in I'rance alone it amounts annually to 125 or 150,000,000. CORN. A term which in Europe is applied alike to wheat, barley, and the other small grains, whilst in the United States it is used almost exclusively to designate Indian corn or maize. CORN BINDWEED. See Brynween. CORN, BROOM-. The following account of the broom-corn, its culture and uses, is the substance of a communication made by Mr. William Allen of Northampton, Massachusetts, to Mr. H. L. Ellsworth, Commissioner of Pa- tents. Of the genus sorghum (broom-grass) there are four or five species. Sorghwmn saccharatum is the broom-corn, abundantly cultivated in this country, both for the seed and for its large panicles, which are made into the brooms. The whole plantis saccharine. Attempts have been made in France to extract sugar from it, but with little success. The other species are the following: Sorg- hum dora (or holeus dora), common Indian millet, a native of the East Indies, but culti- vated in the south of Europe; S. bicolor, or two- coloured Indian millet; S. caffrorwm, caffres Indian millet, and S. nigrum, coal-black Indian millet. OF the sorghwm saccharatum (or holcus saccha- ratus), broom-corn there are several varieties raised in Hampshire county, Massachusetts, in the valley of the Connecticut river, princi- pally in the broad meadows of Northampton, Hadley, and Hatfield. The pine tree kind is regarded as the poorest kind, or the least advan- tageous for cultivation; yet, as it is the earliest (being three weeks earlier than the large kind), in a short season, when its seed will ripen, while the seeds of the other kind fail to ripen, this may prove the most profitable crop. The North river crop is ordinarily the best crop: it is ten days earlier than the large kind, and yields about 720 lbs. of the brush per acre— the brush meaning the dried panicles, cleaned of the seed, with eight or twelve inches of the stalk. The New Jersey, or large kind, yields a thousand or eleven hundred pounds of brush per acre. The stalks and seed are large. In good seasons, this is the most profitable crop. But in the present season (1842), owing to an early frost (about September 23), much of the seed of this kind will fail to ripen. There is also the shirley, or black brush. Soil rich, alluvial lands are best adapted for the broom- » 351 CORN, BROOM-. corn, more especially if warmly situated, pro- tected by hills, and well manured. Method of planting. —The broom-corn is planted in rows, about 24 or 3 feet apart, so that a horse may pass between them with a plough, or cultivator, or harrow. The hills in each row are from 18 inches to 2 feet apart, or farther, according to the quality of the soil. The quantity of seed to be planted is estimated very differently by different farmers—some say that half a peck is enough per acre, while others plant half a bushel, and some a bushel, in or- der to make it sure that the land shall be well stocked. The rule with some is to cast a tea- spoonful, or 30 or 40 seeds, ina hill; the ma- nure at the time of planting should be put into the hill, and old manure or compost is preferred, as being most free from worms. Cultivation. — The broom-corn should be ploughed and hoed three times—the last time when about three feet high, though some hoe it when it is six feet high, and when they are concealed by it as they are toiling in: the field. The number of stalks in a hill should be from seven to ten. If there are only five or six stalks, they will be larger and coarser; if there are about eight, the brush will be finer and more valuable. In the first hoeing, the supernume- rary stalks should be pulled up. Harvesting.—As the frost kills the seed, the broom-corn is harvested at the commencement of the first frost. The long stalks are bent down at 2 or 23 feet from the ground; and by laying those of two rows across each other obliquely, a kind of table is made by every two rows, with a passage between each table, for the convenience of harvesting. After drying for a few days, the brush is cut, leaving of the stalks from 6 to 12 inches. The longer it is cut, of course, the more it will weigh; and, if the purchaser does not object, the benefit will accrue to the farmer. However, the dry stalk weighs but little; if its weight is excessive, the purchaser sometimes requires a deduction from the weight. As it is cut, it is spread on the tables, still farther to dry. As it is carried into the barn, some bind it in sheaves; and this is a great convenience for the further ope- ration of extracting the seed. Others throw the brush into the cart or wagon, unbound. Scraping. —The process of extracting the seed is called “scraping the brush.” ‘'T'wo iron horizental scrapers are prepared—one movable, to be elevated a little, so that a handful of brush may be introduced between them. The upper scraper is then pressed a down with one hand, and the brush drawn through with the other, the seed being scraped off. This is the old method. A newly invented scraper is su- perseding the old one. It is an upright instrument, of elastic wood or steel, inserted in a bench of a convenient height for the operator. The form is as follows: ais a piece of wood or steel, immovable; band c are pieces which are elastic, movable to the right and left at the top, but 352 ° ie CORN, BROOM.. fastened to the central piece below. The de- gree of elasticity may be regulated by wedges in the planks d and f—wedges in the hole through which the pieces pass. A quantity of brush is taken in the hand, and brought down upon the top of this instrument. As it is forced down, and drawn towards the body, it separates the elastic sticks from the cen- tral piece, but their elasticity presses sufficient- ly on the brush, so that the seed is scraped off. The advantage of this scraper is, that both hands may be applied to the brush, instead of only one hand, as in the other kind, and the elastic power of nature is substituted for the pressure of one of the hands. The instru- ment also seems to double the scraping surface. The instrument was invented at Hartferd. I have been told it has not been patented. The following plan may therefore be useful. The operator stands at the end A. The lower plank may rest on the barn floor, or have short legs. The upper oblicue has a hole, through which the scraper passes, and down which the seed may fall. Each side of the instrument, a wedge may be inserted, to regulate its elasticity, or by some other con- trivance this object may be secured. In scrap- ing, the panicles must first be laid evenly together, and the stalks taken in the hand. If this is not done in the field, and bundles not formed, then must it be done with considerable labour at the time of scraping in the barn. Product—A common crop is 700 to 800 Ibs. per acre. There have been raised 1000 and 1100 Ibs. per acre, with 80 to 100 bushels of seed. The large kind grows eleven feet high. Value of the crop—About the year 1836 or 1837,, the brush sold for 124 cents a pound; and one farmer in Northampton sold his crop standing, unharvested, at $100 per acre. Since then, the price has been decreasing. This year it has been 4 and 5 cents. At 6 cents, the farmer, for 800 ibs., gets $48 an acre, besides 60 or 70 bushels of seed, worth a third of a dollar a bushel—so that he receives $70 or up- wards from an acre. Good farmers regard the seed alone as equal to acrop of oats from the same land. Some land owners have rented their land for broom- corn, at $25 per acre, they putting on five or six loads of manure. One farmer, who, a few years ago, cultivated 50 acres in broom-corn, must have had an al- most unequalled income for a New England farmer. Quantity.—In Northampton, probably 200 acres are raised; in Hatfield, 300; in Hadley, 400; in other towns, Whateley, Deerfield, Greenfield, Easthampton, Southampton, South- ' Hadley, Springfield, and Longmeadow, perhaps | 300 or 400 acres more; in all, in the valley of CORN CALE. the Connecticut, 1200 or 1300 acres; the pro- duct, in brush and seed, worth $1,000,000. - Manufacture of brooms.—Individuals tie up brooms with wire or twine. The expense is greater for materials and labour when wire is used. The turned broom handles cost, as delivered, only one dollar a hundred—one cent each. The expense of other materials and labour in making a broom is 6 cents, or on the whole about7 cents. In a good broom a pound anda half of brush is employed, which at the present price of 5 cents, would be 74 cents, so that a broom made with wire costs now about 144 cents. A ma- nufacturer recently went to Boston, and could get an offer of only 12 cents, or $12 per hun- dred, for his brooms; at which rate he could not afford to sell them and chose to retain them. Brooms are made with brush weighing } of a pound, 1 pound, 1} pound, and 14 pound. The brush is whitened by the manufacturer. It is placed in a large tight box, and bleached by the fumes of sulphur; but this process is said to weaken the brush. Who would think of whiten- ing broom brush, for beauty? Thus it is that fashion descends into the vale of life, and to the humblest of concerns. Why should not the housemaid wield a beautiful broom, with white brush and variously interlaced wire, and po- lished and variously coloured handle? Miscellaneous—A few remarks will be added, some of which were omitted in their proper places. If the stalks are cut before the seed is ripe, they are better, stronger, more durable, than if cut after the seed is ripe. In this case, the farmer would lose the value of the seed. He of course will not submit to this loss, un- less it is made up to him by the increased price of the brush. The seed is used for feeding horses, cattle, and swine. It is ground and mixed with In- dian meal, and is regarded as excellent food— it weighs forty pounds a bushel. Mr. Shipman of Hadley is the greatest ma- nufacturer of brooms in the valley of the Con- necticut. If he employs, on an average, ten hands, and each hand makes 25 brooms per day, the number made in a year would be 78,000. It is said he has made 100,000. The brush, when it is putin the barn, should be placed on a scaffold, so as to be exposed to a circulation of the air, that it may dry and not mould. For all the purposes of use, a broom made with twine is equal to one made with wire; and a man can make several more of them in a day. Mr. Shipman uses 300 or 400 lbs. of large twine, at 20 to 30 cents a pound, and 2,000 lbs. of small twine, at 31 cents. Perhaps he ma- nufactures only % part of the brooms manu- factured in Hadley. At the price of 20 cents, the price of brooms a few years ago, the broom manufacture of Hadley would thus amount to $160,000. It is probable that the extended cultivation of the broom-corn will reduce the profits on this product to the average profits of good farming. CORN CALE. A provincial name for char- lock. CORN-CROWFOOT (Ranunculus arvensis). 45 CORN LAWS. A weed very common among corn. Root fibrous. It has an upright stall; the leaves are of apale, shining green, and cut into long, nar- row, acute segments. The lemon-coloured flowers are much smaller and paler than those of the crowfoot which is found in pasture- grounds, and the seed-vessels are very remark- able, being covered all over with prickles. It is very acrid and dangerous to cattle, though they are said to eat it greedily. M. Brugnon, who has given a particular account of its quali- ties, relates, that three ounces of the juice killed a dog in four minutes. (Smith’s Eng. Flor. vol. ili. p. 53.) See Crowroor. CORN-CUTTING MACHINES, Machines for cutting wheat and other grains by horse power, of which none have hitherto been pro- duced in England whose merits have insured their adoption by the farmer. Of the several English patents obtained, that called Smith’s Reaping Machine, is perhaps the most approved. Yor a minute description of this, with drawings, see Encyc. Britannica, vol. 2, part 1. See Mow- ING anD Reartne Macuine. CORNEL TREE. See Docwoon. CORNET. In farriery, a name sometimes given to the instrument used in venesection, called a fleam. CORN, INDIAN. See Marzr. CORN LAWS. The regulation of the sup- ply, and consequently. the value of corn in different countries in Europe, has been an ob- ject of legislation from a very remote period ; a public interference, varying, however, in de- gree, from that of protective taxation, to that which was intended to be prohibitory. Of the first kind are the modern English corn laws; of the last are the present local regulations of Paris, by which bread is sold always at the same price, both in bountiful seasons or in those of searcity. It would occupy too much space to follow these, generally necessary in- terferences with the sale of corn, which have occurred from the days of the Athenians (who depended upon Thrace for their daily bread), or from the popular broils about bread, which were long a source of disorder to Rome, even in its splendour. In England, there are traces of a corn law nearly six centuries since. By the statute Judicium Pillorie, 51 Hen. 3 (1266), it is directed that the municipal authorities of certain towns should inquire of the price of corn. By the 34 Ed. 3, c. 20 (1360), the ex- portation of corn was prohibited; but in 1436, by the 15 H. 6, c. 2, it was allowed. In 1463, however, by the 3 Ed. 4, c. 2, the necessity (which was declared in the preamble) arose of preventing “the labourers and occupiers of land from being grievously endamaged by bringing corn out of other lands when corn of the growing of this realm is at a low price.” Tt then declares that wheat shall not be import- ed, unless wheat be sold at the place of import for 6s. Sd. per quarter. In 1532, by the 25 H, 8, c. 2, it was enacted that the exportation of . corn should cease, and the price be regulated by the lords of the council, the preamble of the bill very sensibly remarking, that “dearth, scarcity, good and cheap and plenty of, &c., victuals necessary for man’s sustenance hap- peneth, riseth, and chanceth of so many and 2a2 353” CORN LAWS. ‘vers occasions, that it is very hard and diffi- | cult to put any certain prices to any such things.” In 1534 (1 P. & M.c. 5), corn was again allowed to be exported when the price of wheat did not exceed 6s. 8d. per quarter. This standard was increased to 10s. by the 5 Eliz. c. 5 (1562) ; and in 1571 (13 Eliz. c. 13), the exportation was directed to be regulated from average prices by the lords of the council. In 1807, the bounty upon the exportation of grain finally ceased. According to the English Corn Law Act, existing in 1842, corn inspectors are appointed in 287 towns, to transmit returns to the Board of Trade, who compute the average weekly price of each description of grain, and the ag- gregate average price for the previous six weeks, and transmit a certified copy to the collectors of customs at the different out-ports. The aggregate average regulates the duty on importation according to the following scale :— If imported from any Foreign Country. Wheat.—Whenever the average price of wheat, made up and published in the manner required by law, shall be for every quarter £52. id. Under 5l\s. the duty shall be for every quarter 100 5ls. and under 52s. - - - = - 019 0 52s, - Beer matory ee= ~wis= 220 280 55s. 56s. - - = - =: 10647) 0: 56s. _ 57s. - - = “3 S 0G. 0 Ts. _ 58s. - - - ~ - 015 0 58s. _ 59s. = - = = OIE > 0) 59s, _ 60s. - - - = mg IS 60s. _ fls. - = = ideal ti o-f t 6ls. Sie sey Rare Sheteoots HOM TRS 62s. = 63s. = - - - - 010 0 a es cn DAR rae beh dae es an 64s. = 65s. - - - - - 080 65s. _ 66s. - - Bars 0) 720 66s. - 69s. = - = = Sey ei) 69s. = 70s. - - - = = Onto 70s. — Tis. - - - - -040 Tis. = and sets ey Sur en FeO wD 72s. _ 9G: ga) Thain hy Spa aad Oe AO 73s. and upwards - - - = = 01. 0 Barley.—Whenever the average price of barley, made up and published in the manner required by law, shall be for every quarter eNeld, Under 26s. the duty shall be for every quarter 011 0 26s. and under 27s. - - - - - 010 0 2s. _- 30s. - - - = =) O''e 30s. _ Slate - - a ghsey 3ls. _- 32s. - - - - - 070 32s. _ 33s. = - - - - 060 333. _ 34s. = - - - - 05 0 34s. _ 35s. = - - - - 040 35s. _ 36s. - - - - - 03 0 36s. _ 37s. = - - - - 020 87s. and upwards - - - - el i Mad Oats.—Whenever the average price of oats, made up and published in the manner required by law, shall be for every quarter £ aed, Under 19s. the duty shall be for every quarter 08 0 19s. and under 20s. - - - - i ey dit 20s. — 23s. - - - - - 060 23s. —- Ws. - - - - - 050 24s. _— ai! a= - - - - 040 25s. — mie ee cee om OS 0 26s. _ 2is. = - - - - 020 27s. and upwards - - - - = 0) 10 Rye, Pease, and Beans.—Whenever the average price of or of beans, made up and published in rye, or of pease, y Ms shall be for every quar- the manner required by law, ter £s.d Onder 30s. the duty shall be for every quarter 011 6 30s.and under 33s. - ~~ - - - 010 6 33s. _ 34s. = - - - - 09 6 34s. _ 35s. = - - - =07'8) 6 35s. _ 36s. - - - - ROD tin! 6. 36s. — 37s. = - - - = 06 6 378. _ Sabi cee Sie as) SIG 38s. — 39s. - - - - = F041 16 39s. — 40s. - - - - = Ot oD. 40s. — 4ls. 0 = - & - =f "2" 6 Als. — 42s. - - - - = S06 a ee Kemeeeeh oy OND 425. and upwards 354 CORN LAWS. Wheat Meal and Flowr.—For every barrel, being 196 Ib., a duty equal in amount to the duty payable on 38} gal- lons of wheat. Oatmeal.—For every quantity of 181} lbs., a duty equal in amount to the duty payable on a quarter of oats. Maize or Indian Corn, Buckwheat, Bear or Bigg.—For every quarter, a duty equal in amount to the duty payable on a quarter of barley. See Wueat. An Account showing the total Quantities of Wheat and Wheat Flour imported from Foreign Coun- tries and from British Colonies. Quantities entered for Home Consumption in the United King- dom from the passing of the Act 9 Geo. 4. c. 60, (15th July, 1828), to the Sth January, !S41. Foreign. Wheat. Wheat Flour. Zr. 8 dh qrs. ewts. (0 1 O per quarter -| 3,907,981 1,276,731 028 — - | 2,788,277 835,406 068 -| 1,994,102 518,897 010 8 = - 783,280 238,592 013 8 — 2 548,348 466,432 016 8 = - 298,677 213,707 018 8 = - 76,200 44,788 108 _ - 377,667 96,538 | L178 — - 107,005 5,861 ail 2 8 = - 13,664 5,940 = 73°68 a - 138,775 56,530 2 Listbes i— - 37,329 2,070 s|1 5 8 — - 97,153 1,555 s|1 6 8 = - 4,724 654 Sy th yee — - 1,882 690 g/l 8 8 = = 134,275 1,377 a = 61,649 101 $1110 8 = - 13,955 756 Sy alse a - 1,496 87 w|112 8 = - 432 63 o|113 8 = - 908 | 511 sii 8 aR = 385 164 2{115 8 ae - 154 24 oo |116 8 i - 326 42 ati Cale lap - 314 24 cheap Beet tale = = 151 SPh Ol eS = 3 ee Bees —- - Mf 3 28 8 = - 4 ner 248 = - 16 13 25 8 = - 62 33 26 8 ts 3 10 155 278 = : 7 17 28 8 = - 3 2 298 = - 2 36 210 8 = - 8 56 Admitted at an ad valorem duty, being damaged - 2,629 = Admitted duty free, being damaged - - - =— 350 Admitted duty free, for seed - - - - 71 — Total - - - | 11,322,085 3,768,335 Britisu CoLoniat. Mofduy on UY 6 perqr.| 129,858 426,508 wheat was 50 — 393,407 596,996 Total - - - 523,265 1,023,805 s. d. The average price of wheat in Great Britain in the year 1840 was - - - - perqr. 66 4 Average price of wheat at Rotterdam = - - 49 IL re ES at Odessa - - - 24 9 wo us at Dantsic - - - 39 6 Total number of quarters of wheat and whea flour imported and entered for home con- sumption - - - - - - qrs. 2,401,366 Total number of quarters of colonial wheat and wheat flour imported = - - - 148,720 Total number of quarters of foreign wheat and wheat flourimported - - 9 - -- = 2,284,482 Total number of quarters of wheat and wheat flour imported - - ~ 2,433,202 Grain, if the produce of, and imported from any British possessions in North America, or CORN LAWS. elsewhere out of Europe, are charged the fol- lowing rates of duty :— Wheat.—W henever the average price, made according to law, sball be Under 55s. forevery s. d. 8. d. quarter, the duty | 56s. and under 57s. 3 0 per qt. shall be 5 0 | 57s.and under 58s. 2 0 5s.and under 56s. 4 0 |58s.and upwards, 1 0 Barley Whenever the average price of barley, made up according to law, shall be a Under 28s. per quar- s. d. | 8. ter, the duty per qt. 29s. and under 30s. 1 6 30s. and under 3ls. 1 0 0 6 shall be 26 28s. and under 29s, 2 0 | 3ls. and upwards, Oats.—Whenever the average price of oats, made up according to law, shall be Under 22s, forevery s. d. s. d. quarter, the dut 22s. and under 23s. 1 6 2 0 |23s.and upwards, O 6 per qt. shall be Rye, Peas, and Beans —Whenever the average price of these articles shall be, Under 30s. forevery s. d. d. s. quarter, the duty 32s. and under 33s. 1 6 per qt. shall be 3 0 | 33s. and under 34s. 1 0 30s. and under 3ls. 2 6 |34s,andupwards, 0 6 31s. and under 32s. 2 0 Wheat-meal and Flour.—For every barrel, being 196 Ibs. a duty equal to that payable on 38; gallons of wheat. Oatmeal.—181% lbs. pays a duty equal to that charged on a quarter of oats. Maize or Indian Corn, Buckwheat, Bear or Bigg, pay a duty equal per quarter to that charged per qr. ona quarter of barley. Ayenace Prices or Wueat From 1670. The Mean of two half-yearly Prices (Winchester measure), from the Register kept in the Books of Eton College. Years, mes Years. 3s d. Years. s. d. 1670 - 37 0 1704 - 41 2 1738 - 31 6 1671 - 37 4 1705 - 26 8 1739 - 33 2 1672 - 37 0 1706 - 23 1 1740 - 48 10 1673 - 41 5 1707 - 25 2 741 - 41 9 1674 - 61 0 1708 - 36 8 1742 - 28 5 1675 - 52 1 1709 - 69 7 1743 - 22 0 1676 - 33 9 1710 - 69 4 1744 - 22 0 1677 - 37 4 1711 - 48 0 1745 - 24 3 1678 - 52 5 1712 - 41 2 1746 - 34 8 1679 - 48 0 1713 - 45 4 1747 - 3011 1680 - 40 0 1714 - 44 8 1748 - 3210 1681 - 41 5 1715 - 38 2 1749 - 3210 1652 - 39 1 1716 - 42 8 1750 - 2810 1683 - 35 6 Il? = 40 5 1751 - 34 2 1654 - 39 1 1718 - 34 8 1752 - 40 8 1685 - 41 5 1719 - 3011 753 - 39 8 1686 - 30 2 1720 - 3210 754 - 30 9 1687 - 31 8 1721 - 33 4 1755 - 2911 1688 - 23 1 1722 - 32 0 1756 - 40 1 1689 - 26 8 1723 - 30 9 1757 - 53 4 1690 - 30 9 1724 - 3210 1758 - 44 5 1691 - 2911 1725 - 43 1 1759 - 35 3 1692 - 41 9 1726 - 4010 1760 - 32 5 1693 - 60 1 172i - 37 4 1761 - 26 9 1694 - 56 10 1728 - 48 3 1762 - 34 8 1695 - 47 1 1729 - 42 2 1763 - 36 1 1696 - 56 0 1730 = 32 5 1764 - 41 5 1697 - 53 4 1731 - 29 4 1765 - 48 0 1698 - 60 8 1732 - 23 8 1766 - 43 1 1699 - 56 0 W798. =" 5 2) 1767 - 57 4 1700 - 35 6 1734 - 33 5 1768 - 53 9 1701 - 31 8 1735 - 38 2 1769 - 40 7 1702 - 26 0 1736 - 3510 1770 - 43 6 1703 - 32 0 VISTAS 733) 5 (Parliamentary Paper, No. 100.—Session 1826.) The average Prices as published by the Receiver of Corn Returns from 1771 to 1840. Winchester Measure. Years. a de Years. Elid Years. 3s. d. 1771 - 47 2 1779 - 33 8 787 - 41 2 1772 - 50 8 1780 - 35 8 1788 - 45 0 1773 - 51 0 1781 - 44 8 1789 - 51 2 1774 - 52 8 1782 - 47 10 1790 - 53 2 1775 - 48 4 1783 - 52 8 1791 - 47 2 1776 - 38 2 1784 - 4810 1792 - 41 9 1777 - 45 6 1785 - 41 10 1793 - 47 10 778 - 42 0 1786 - 38 10 1794 - 50 8 CORN MOTH. Years, eyid Years. s. d. Imperial 1795 - 7211 1811 - 92 5 Measure. 1796 - 76 3 1812 - 122 8 Years. Pe ee 1797 - 52 2 1813 - 106 6 1827 - 56 9 1798 - 50 4 1814 - 72 1 1828 - 60 5 1799 - 66 11 1815 - 63 8 1829 - 66 3 1800 - 110 5 1816 - 76 2 1830 - 64 3 1801 - 115 11 1817 - 94 0 1831 - 66 4 1802 - 67 9 1818 - 83 8 1832 - 58 8 1803 - 57 1 1819 - 72 3 1833 - 5211 1804 - 60 5 1820 - 65 10 1834 - 46 2 1805 - 87 1 1821 - 54 5 1835 - 39 4 1806 - 76 9 1822 - 43 3 1836 - 48 6 1807 - 73 1 1823 - 51 9 1837 - 55 10 1808 - 78 11 1824 - 62 0 1838 - 64 7% 1809 - 94 5 1825 - 66 6 1839 - 70 5 1810 - 103 3 1826 - 56 11 1840 - 66 4 (Thornton on the Corn Laws ; Parl. Papers; Sta- tutes at large.) By an act of Congress, approved in August, 1842, the duties payable on grain, &c., imported into the United States, are as follows :— On wheat, 25 cents per bushel; barley, 20 cents; rye, 15 cents; oats, 10 cents; Indian corn or maize, 10 cents; wheat flour, 70 cents per 112 lbs.; Indian meal, 25 cents per 112 lbs.; starch, 2 cents per lb.; pearl, or hulled barley, 2 cents per lb.; (potatoes, 10 cents per bushel.) CORN MARYGOLD (Chrysanthemum sege- tum). In Scotland, this is called yellow gowans, quills, gools; in Kent, England, yellow bottle; in Norfolk, budland ; midland counties, golds, goulds, or gowls; north of England, gowlans, goldens, gules. Linnzus says there is a law in Denmark which obliges the farmers to extirpate this weed. He recommends the land to be manured in autumn, summer-fallowed, and harrowed in about five days after sowing. Martyn says it can only be eradicated by hand before the seeds ripen. It is abundant in grain and turnip fields, with its blue-green leaves, and broad, brilliant, yellow flowers. The stalks are round, stiff, and branched, growing two feet high. The leaves stand irregularly, and they are deeply indented at the sides, besides being long and very broad, smallest at their base, and growing broader as they advance to the end. The root is tapering and fibrous. (Smith’s Eng. Flor. vol. iii. p. 450.) See Ox-Evyx Dartsy. CORN MOTH (Timea granella). Among the insects most injurious in their attacks on grain, when laid up in magazines, is the larva of this small moth (the mottled woollen moth of Ha- worth), the caterpillar of which is also called in England the white corn worm. The perfect moth measures, from the head to the tips of the wings, six or seven lines. The insect appears in that country as a moth in May, June, and July. It frequents granaries and other build- ings where grain is stored, sits at rest in the day-time, and only flies about at night. It is in the summer months, from May to August, and sometimes in September, that the larvee devour the different sorts of grain; and they attack rye, oats, and barley, with the same zest as wheat. From September to May the larva is sought for in vain in the corn-heaps; it has retired into the cracks and fissures of the floor and walls, and moreover has concealed itself in its cocoon. It does not reappear till April or May, and then in a very different form; namely, as a moth, which flutters about the heaps of store- corn, and deposits upon them the invisible germ of future destruction, After a few days 355 CORN MOTH. have elapsed, small whitish worm maggots, or more properly speaking larve, proceed from the eggs, and immediately penetrate into the grain, carefully closing up the opening with their white roundish excrement, which they glue together by a fine web. : “The European grain-moth (Tinea granella), in its perfected state, is,” says Dr. Harris, “a winged insect, between three and four-tenths of an inch long from the head to the tip of its wings, and expands six-tenths of an inch. It has a whitish tuft on its forehead ; its long and narrow wings cover its back like a sloping roof, are a little turned up behind, and are edged with a wide fringe. Its fore-wings are glossy like satin, and are marbled with white or gray, light brown, and dark brown or blackish spots, and there is always one dark square spot near the middle of the outer edge. Its hind wings are blackish. Some of these winged moths appear in May, others in July and August, at which times they lay their eggs; for there are two broods of them in the course of the year. The young from the first laid eggs come to their growth and finish their transformations in six weeks or two months; the others live through the winter, and turn to winged moths in the following spring. The young moth-worms do not burrow into the grain, as has been asserted by some writers, who seem to have confounded them with the Angoumois grain-worms ; but, as soon as they are hatched, they begin to gnaw the grain and cover themselves with the fragments, which they line with a silken web. As they increase in size they fasten together ‘several grains with their webs, so as to make a larger cavity, wherein they live. After a while, becoming uneasy, in their confined habitations, they come out, and wander over the grain, spinning their threads as they go, till they have found a suitable place wherein to make their cocoons. Thus, wheat, rye, barley, and oats, all of which they attack, will be found full of lumps of grains cemented together by these corn-worms, as they are sometimes called; and when they are very numerous, the whole surface of the grain in the bin will be covered with a thick crust of webs and of adhering grains. These destructive corn-worms are really soft and naked caterpillars, of a cylindrical shape, tapering a little at each end, and are provided with sixteen legs, the first three pairs of which are conical and jointed, and the others fleshy and wartlike. When fully grown, they mea- sure four or five-tenths of an inch in length, and are of a light ochre or buff colour, with a reddish head. When about six weeks old they leave the grain, and get into cracks, or around the sides of corn-bins, and each one then makes itself a little oval pod or cocoon, about as large as a grain of wheat. The insects of the first brood, as before said, come out of their co- coons, in the winged form, in July and August, and lay their eggs for another brood: the others remain unchanged in their cocoons, through the winter, and take the chrysalis form in March or April following. Three weeks afterwards, the shining brown ehrysalis forces itself part way out of the cocoon, by the help 356 CORN MOTH. of some little sharp points on its tail, and bursts open at the other end, so as to allow the moth therein confined to come forth. “The foregoing account will probably enable the readers of this essay to determine whether these destructive insects are found in our own country. From various statements, deficient however in exactness, that have appeared in some of our agricultural journals, I am led to think that this corn-moth,or an insect exactly like it in its habits, prevails in all parts of the coun- try, and that it has generally been mistaken for the grain-weevil, which it far surpasses in its de- vastations. Many years ago I remember to have seen oats and shelled corn (maize) af- fected in the way above described, and have observed seed-corn, hanging in the ears, to have been attacked by insects of this kind, the empty chrysalids of which remained sticking between the kernels; but, for some time past, no opportunity for further investigation has offered itself. “ There is another grain-moth, which, at va- rious times, has been found to be more destruc- tive in granaries, in some provinces of France, than the preceding kind. It is the Angoumois moth (Anacampsis? cerealelia). The winged moths of this group have only two visible feelers, and these are generally long, slender, and curved over their heads. Their narrow wings most often overlap each other, and cover their backs horizontally when shut. The Angoumois grain moth probably belongs to the modern genus Anacampsis, a word derived from the Greek, and signifying recurved, in allusion to the direction of the feelers of the moths. In the year 1769, Colonel Landon Carter, of Sa- bine Hall, Virginia, communicated to the Ame- rican Philosophical Society at Philadelphia, some interesting ‘ observations concerning the fly-weevil that destroys wheat.’ These were printed in the first volume of the ‘Transactions’ of the Society, and were followed by some re- marks on the subject by ‘the Committee of Husbandry,’ It is highly probable that this fly-weevil is no other than the destructive An- goumois grain-moth; for Colonel Carter’s ac- count of it, though deficient in some particu- lars, agrees essentially with what has been published respecting the European insect. Mr. E. C. Herrick has recently sent to me, from New Haven, Connecticut, some wheat, that has been eaten by moths precisely in the same way as grain is attacked by the Angoumois grain- moth; and a gentleman to whom this moth- eaten wheat was shown, informed me that he had seen grain thus affected in Maine. Unfor- tunately the insects contained in this wheat were dead when received, having perished in the chrysalis state; had they lived to finish their transformations, I have good reason to think that they would have proved to be identi- cal with the Angoumois moths. The following particulars respecting the latter are chiefly gathered from Réaumur’s ‘Mémoires,’ and from a work by Duhamel du Monceau and Tillet, who were commissioned by the Academy of Sciences of Paris, in the year 1760, to inquire into the nature of the insect, on account of its ravages in Angoumois, a part of France wher-~ CORN MOTH. it had long been known, and had multiplied to an alarming extent. The Angoumois moth, or Anacampsis “cerealella, in its perfected State, is a four-winged insect, about three-eighths of an inch long, when its wings are shut. It has a pair of tapering curved feelers, turned over its head. Its upper wings are narrow, of a light brown colour, without spots, and have the lustre of satin; they cover the body horizon- tally above, but droop a little at the sides. The lower wings and the rest of the body are ash- coloured. This moth lays its eggs, which vary in number from sixty to ninety, i in clus- ters, on the ears of wheat, rye, and barley, most often while these plants are growing in the field, and the ears are young and tender; some- umes also on stored grain in the autumn. Hence it appears that they breed twice a year; the insects from the eggs laid in the early part of summer, coming to perfection and providing for another brood of moth-worms in the autumn. The little worm-like caterpillars, as soon as they are hatched, disperse, and each one se- lects a single grain, into which it burrows im- mediately at the most tender part, and remains concealed therein after the grain is harvested. It devours the mealy substance within the hull; and this destruction goes on so secretly, that it can only be detected by the softness of the grain or the loss of its weight. When fully grown this caterpillar is not more than one- fifth of an inch long. It is of a white colour, with a brownish head; and it has six small jointed legs, and ten extremely small wart-like proplegs. Duhamel has represented it as having two little horns just behind the head, and two short bristles at the end of its tapering body. Having eaten out the heart of the grain, which is just enough for all its wants, it spins a silken web or curtain to divide the hollow, lengthwise, into two unequal parts, the smaller containing the rejected fragments of its food, and the larger cavity serving instead of a co- coon, wherein the insect undergoes its trans- formations. Before turning to a chrysalis it ghaws a small hole nearly or quite through the hull, and sometimes also through the chafly covering of the grain, through which it can make its escape easily when it becomes a winged moth. The insects of the first, or sum- mer brood, come to maturity in about three weeks, remain but a short time in the chrysalis state. and turn to winged moths in the autumn, and at this time may be found, in the evening, in great numbers, laying their eggs on the grain stored in barns and granaries. The moth-worms of the second brood remain in the grain through the winter, and do not change to winged insects till the following summer, when they come out, fly into the fields in the night, and lay their eggs on the young ears of the growing grain. When damaged grain is sown, it comes up very thin; the infected kernels never sprout, but the insects lodged in them remain alive, finish their transformations in the field, and in due time come out of the ground in the winged form. “Tt has been proved by experience that the ravages of the two kinds of grain-moths, whose history has been now given, can be effectually CORN SALAD. checked by drying the damaged grain in an oven or kiln; and that a heat of one hundred and sixty-seven degrees, by Fahrenheit’s ther- mometer, continued during twelve hours, will kill the insects in all their forms. Indeed, the heat may be reduced to one hundred and four degrees, with the same effect, but the grain must then be exposed to it for the space of two days. The other means, that have been em- ployed for the preservation of grain from these destructive moths, it is unnecessary to de- scribe; they are probably well known to most of our farmers and millers, and are rarely so effectual as the process above mentioned.” (Harris’s Treatise on Insects.) From these considerations, the means which the agriculturist must employ to secure his grain from so dangerous an enemy, are clearly deducible. First of all, the lofts, before the corn is placed in them, must be carefully ex- amined, and the cocoons, if any are discover- ed, got rid of. Sprinkling the floor with a mixture of strong white wine vinegar and salt, before laying up the corn, is strongly to be re- commended. Sweeping the floor and walls thoroughly should not be neglected; and the dust should be removed immediately, in order that the larvee may not find their way back into the corn-heaps. Common salt will also purify the infested grain. One of the surest remedies appears to be a free ventilation, by means of an artificial degree of cold, as the larve can only live in a temperature of 55° to 60° of Fahr. Bats and spiders are the principal natural ene- mies of the corn-moth, and some small birds also feed on them. See Gratin Weervit. (T'rea- tise on Insects, &c., by J. and M. Loudon.) CORN POPPY (Papaver rheus). Pl. 10, s. Indifferently called red-poppy, corn rose, cop- rose, head-wark, red-weed, red-mailkes, &c. A troublesome weed in corn fields. Annual, flowering from June to July. Beautiful varie- ties of this species, with semi-double flowers, variegated with rose-colour and white, are easily cultivated for ornament, but liable to de- generate in luxuriance. (Smith’s Eng. Flor. vol. iii. p. 11; Sinclair’s Weeds, p. 46.) See Poppy, Fiexp. CORN SALAD, or LAMB’S LETTUCE (Fedia olitoria, Smith; Valeriana locusta, Lin). A well-known annual weed in corn fields and light cultivated ground, which probably took its common English name from the circum- stance of the plants appearing in flower about the time that lambs are dropped. There isa second species (F. dentata), oval fruwited corn salad. The common variety is cultivated for winter and spring salads, and for this purpose has been long known. The first dish formerly brought to table was a red herring set in a corn salad. The plant will flourish in any soil that is not particularly heavy. It is propagated by seed, sown in February and the two following months, and once a month during the summer; but it is not so palatable during this season, Lastly, during August and early in September, the plants from which will be fit for use in early spring, or during the winter if mild. The seed may be sown in drills six inches apart, or broadcast, and raked in. Keep them free from 357 CORN WEEVIL. weeds by frequent hoeings, previously thinned to four inches asunder. They should always be eaten quite young. In summer, the whole plant may be cut, as it soon advances to seed at this season; but in spring and winter the outer leaves only should be gathered. For the production of seed some of the spring-raised plants must be left ungathered. They flower in June, and perfect their seed during the two following months. (G. W. Johnson’s Kitch. Gard. ; Smith’s Eng. Flor, vol. i. p. 44; Sinclair’s Weeds, p. 54.) CORN WEEVIL (Calandra granaria, Clair- ville; Cwrculio granaria, Linn.). This is an- other extremely injurious insect to grain. See Grain WeeEviL. CORNS, IN HORSES’ FEET. This dis- ease is produced by some hard substance press- ing on the sole at the quarters, as from shoes left on till the heels become buried in the hoof; the fibrous substance which lies between the sensible foot and the absolute horny hoof be- comes inflamed by the pressure, and the infla- mation produces a hardness of the spot, simi- lar, if I may so express it, to a knot in a piece of soft timber. Palliate the evil as wellas you can, by keeping the hoof constantly pared away between the corn and the ground, but do not wound in your vain endeavours to cut it out; avoid the hot irons, &c.; let a bit of sponge be softly put in, merely to keep out gravel and keep the spot moist; and when the season ar- rives, turn the horse out without any shoes, into a soft marshy place, where his feet must be in a constant moist state for three months at least: by that time the hoof will be altogether renewed, the diseased part will have grown out, and if there is no new injury, there will be no new corns. (E. Maunsell. See also, Lib. Use. Know. Tur Horsts, p. 305. CORONET-BONE. The second of the con- solidated phalanges of the horse’s foot. COSSART, or COSSET (It. cassiccio, from casa, the house). A lamb left by the death of its dam before it is capable of providing for itself; or a lamb taken from a ewe that brings more than one. The term is also applied to a colt, calf, &c. and sometimes written cot-lamb. COSTIVENESS. In farriery, a complaint to which horses are often subject, occasioned sometimes by violent or hard exercise, espe- cially in hot weather; and at other times by standing long at hard meat without grass or other cleansing diet, and with very little ex- ercise. COTTAGES, These for labourers are com- monly constructed merely with a regard to economy ; the comfort and health of their fu- ture tenants being too often disregarded. Such cottages should never consist of less than two bedrooms, and akitchen, and outhouse. They will be found to be considerably more healthy with wooden floors, raised above the level of the surrounding ground. They should be well furnished with windows, and the ceilings of the rooms of a fair height, eight or nine feet will not be too much to allow; they should have as good gardens as possible. The plans for their fermation, and the materials of which they are composed, must vary with the locality. COTTAGES. Mr. Gillespie has given one for a cottage with a roof without wood, which he asserts could be built in Scotland for 301. (Com. Board of Agr. 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 Agr. 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: areport 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 de- 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 acellar 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. ®» Ordinary clay, such as is used for clay mortar, will suffice, though a weak mortar of sand and lime, when these articles are cheap, is recom- mended as affording a more adhesive material for the plaster. 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 should 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 common labourers, if alittle 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? 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 twenty-four feet long, cutting off eight feet on one end for two small rooms, eight by nine each. “How easily could asettler erect sucha 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. In these mud houses no brick are COTTAGES. needed, except for the top of the chimneys, the oven, and casing of the fireplace—though this last might be well dispensed with. A cement, 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 success 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 offers a residence combining as many advantages as 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 75: “«The great art in building an economical cottage is to employ the kind of materials and iabour 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 pisé manner, by lumps moulded in boxes, and by compressed blocks. Sandy 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. “Tn 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 walls 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 diame- 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, as a substitute for bricks. On laying the founda. 359 COTTAGH-CHEESE. 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 get 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 rougheast, 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 £33, 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 precisely 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 with straw, which the thatchers perform in a very neat manner.” (Denson’s Peasant’s Voice, p. 31.) COTTAGE-CHEESE. See Wary Borrten. COTTON-GRASS (Eriophorum. Ital. co- tone; Fr. cofon). 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 (£. angustifolium), and the hare’s-tail, or sheathed cotton-grass (E. vagi- natum.) COTTON PLANT. See Gossrrium. COTTON TREE (Populus argentea). Poprar. COTTON-WOOD (Populus Canadensis). See Porranr. COTTON, WILD (.Aselepias Syriacu), popu- larly called silk-weed and swallow-wort. An Ame- rican plant growing in low grounds and on road-sides, to the height of three or four feet. (Flora Cestrica.) COTYLEDON. The seed leaf. See Borany. COUCH, or CREEPING WHEAT GRASS (Triticum repens, Pl. 10,7.) 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, because 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 Agrostis repens. There are two) other grasses which have strong creeping roots, and are in- Jifferently called couch: these are the creep- 360 See COW-BANE, SPOTTED. ing-rooted soft grass (Holctis mollis), and the smooth-stalked meadow grass (Poa pratensis). There is but one way of destreying couch, and that is by ploughing up the soil and pulverizing it. (Sinclair’s Weeds, p. 27.) See Acnosris Rz- pens. Couch or quitch grass, or creeping trili- cum, 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, kuch). in farriery, a convulsive motion of the lungs, being an effort of nature 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 Proven. 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. cowrir). 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. (Blaine’s Rural Sports, p. 452.) COVEY (Fr. couvee, from the Lat. ewbo). 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 Carre. 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 young leaves. (Eng. 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. of sufficient botanical knowledge to distinguish the plant from the ormorhiza 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-HERD. A person whose office it is to attend upon the herds of cows in places where they run in common fields. COW-HOUSE. See Carrie Suen. 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 food by the same process as the cammas, in which state it forms a tolerable substitute for bread. COW-KEEPING. The business of keeping cows for the advantage of the milk, by dispos- ing of 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 every 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; Brit. Hush.) See Carrrz. COW PARSNIP, or HOG WEED (Hera- cleum sphondylium). 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, leafy, 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. (Sinelair’s Weeds, p. 65; Eng. Flora, vol. ii. p. 102.) The only ascertained species of this genus found in the United States is the Heraclewm la- natam, or woolly cow parsnip, a perennial root, the stem of which sometimes grows six or eight feet high. Itis 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 Pzas. COW-POX. In farriery, is a disease affect- ing the teats of cows. This disease appears in the form of small bluish vesicles surrounded by inflammation, elevated at the edge and de- pressed in the centre, and containing a limpid fluid. By the use of the virus of this disease, 46 CRAB TREE. 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 off 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; Willich’s Dom. Encyc.) COWSLIP OF JERUSALEM, or LUNG- WORT PULMONARIA (Pulmonaria 2ffici- 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 one end and an eye in the other, being used for tying the hind legs of the cows while milking. COW-WHEAT (Melampyrum pratense). Pl. 7,q. Aplant 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 narrow- leaved variety is abundant in the pines of New Jersey. (Flora Cestrica.) CRAB TREE, or WILD APPLE TREE (Pyrus malus). There are in England several varieties among the wild crahs, some of which are of excellent flavour when baked with plenty of sugar, even surpassing cultivated apples. (Eng. Flora, vol. ii. p. 362.) Crab apples and sloes are the only fruits naturally belonging to the soil, and both are medicinal. ‘The ex- 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. 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 (Malus coronaria). This species of wild apple tree is found in North America, and at the time Michaux wrote his Sylva Americana, 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 18 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-lobed. 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 highly agreeable for the beauty of its flowers and for the sweetness of its perfume. 362 CRANBERRY. CRAB-GRASS (Eleusine Indica). Dog’s-tail grass, Wire grass. The grass described under these several names in the Flora 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 sanguinalis, or Finger-grass (see plate 7, f). 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 oxycoccus). See Wuontieserny. The species of Cranberry most commonly found in the United States is the Oxycoceus ma- ecrocarpus. 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 but 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, 34 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 years. 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 usually performed in autumn. Mr. F. A. Hayden, of Lincoln, Mass., is stated to have gathered from his farm, in 1830, 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 $1:50 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. 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, commonly called the Highbush 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. (Kenrick’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 difficulty. The fruit is but little if any inferior in flavour to that of the swamp cran- berry, from which it differs 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 (Eng. Flor. vol. ii. p- 221), only thirteen are indigenous. The blue meadow crane’s bill (G. pratense) is found in rich, rather moist pastures, and thickets, es- pecially in the hilly parts of England. Itis 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 CRESS, INDIAN. powdered when dry. Several indigenous spe- cies are found in the United States. CRAP. A local name in some places for darnel, and in others for buckwheat. CRAPULA. See Hoven. 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 Burren. 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 may be used for many purposes, such as to ascertain the state of the animal’s health, regular and quiet feed- ing, &e. (Quart. Journ. Agr. vol. ii. p. 245.) CREAM-SLICE. A sort of wooden knife, twelve or fourteen inches in length. CREOSOTE. A term derived from Greek words signifying “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 Paraffine, Eupione, 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 Amertcan Cress. CRESS, BITTER WINTER (B2arbarea vul- garis). See Winter Cress. CRESS, INDIAN, or MAJOR NASTURTI- UM (Tropeolum majus, diminutive of tropeum, a trophy; and 7. minus). The major nasturti- um being the most productive, as well of flow- ers and leaves as of fruit, is the one that is usually cultivated in the kitchen garden; the fruit being used in pickling, and the flowers 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 afford 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 compartment 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 water is not afforded during dry weather, they 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 green and fleshy, during August. For the production of seed, some plants should be left ungathered, as the first produced are not only the finest in 363 CRESS. 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 (Arabis). 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 (Eng. Flor. vol. iii. p. 209), but the wall cress (Ara- bis thaliana) is preferred. All the species havea 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 (Nasturtium). 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 watercress. They are branching herbs, almost invariably smooth, throwing 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 ; small 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. Hort. 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 difficult to separate them in gathering; it is likewise rendered imperative by the heads be- 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 spring. In renewing the plantations, the hed of the stream, commencing towards its 364 CRICKET, 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 oneach. 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 favour- able, they will yield a supply once in a week. Tn winter the water should be kept four or five inches deep; this is easily effected, 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 chaff; 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 currycombs them. (Brande.) There are several straps or muzzles in use to prevent crib-biting, one of the best 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 (Achetade) 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; antennze 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. a very short and velvet-like down. The wing- covers are not half the length of the abdomen, and the wings 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 hand ofa 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 destroying, 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 CRICKET. 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 shuffles 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 cri-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 every thing thatis rural, verdurous, and joyous; sentiments in which few persons, if any, 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 deyour- 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 entirely 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 Acheta, and our common species is the Acheta abbreviata, 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. “We have another species with very short or abortive wings; it is entirely of a black co- lour, and measures six-tenths of an inch in length from the head to the end of the body. It may be called Acheta nigra, the black cricket. “A third species, differing from these two in being entirely destitute of wings, and in having the wing-covers proportionally much shorter, and the last joint of the feelers (palpi) almost twice the length of the preceding joint, is fur- thermore distinguished from them by its greatiy 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- 242 365 CRICKET. 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 vittata, the striped cricket. “These kinds of crickets live upon the ground, and among the grass and low herbage; but 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 Gcanthus, a word which means inhabiting flowers. They may be called climbing crickets, 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 effectually banish sleep. Of three species which inhabit the United States, one only is found in Massa- chusetts. It is the @canthus niveus, or white climbing cricket. The male is ivory-white, with the upper side of the first joint of the an- tennz, and the head between the eyes, of an ochre-yellow colour; there is a minute black dot on the under-sides of the first and second joints of the antenne; 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 rather 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, antenne, and piercer are more or less dusky or blackish. The wing-covers and wings are yellowish white, sometimes with a tinge of green, and 366 CROW, 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 offsets; 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 Sarrron. CRONES. A provincial word applied to the different 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 an 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. Journ. 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 Rorarion 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 mischiey- 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 suffi- 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 larve, is proscribed as a felon in all CROW. civilized countries, and, with the wolves, panthers, and foxes, a price is put upon his head. 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 soon 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 times ; 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 off pieces of metal, corn, bread, and food of all kinds; he is also particularly attached to the society of his master, and recollects him sometimes after a long absence. “Tt 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 In consequence, various means of en- | CROW. well known that rooks often contend with each other, and drive away, by every persecuting means, individuals who arrive among them from any other rookery. “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 (corvus 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 18$ inches. Instead of as- sembling to roost among the reeds at night, it retires, toward évening, 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 lizards 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, having, 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 Mareh to the beginning of June, during the season of the shad and herring fishery. They breed in New Jersey in tall trees, hay- ing nests and eggs very similar to those of the preceding species, and rear a brood of four 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 suecessor 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. Incomer 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 sue- 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.—Yarms were here formerly 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 may CUSTOMS OF COUNTIES. till in his own way; sometimes may dispose 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 wheat was after a fallow he takes two-thirds of the crop, otherwise only one-half, and he houses his own portion. He is commonly 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. Cornwall.—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 withoufmanure, 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. Cumberland.—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- ply not less than 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 May-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 ploughings 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 crop, and for the seed crops he is allowed for seed and labour. Devon.—tIn 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 CUSTOMS OF COUNTIES. session. He has the liberty of selling hay 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 eyery 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 Lady- 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 sells the straw to the incomer; and if he is obliged 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 and labour both for the turnips and the grasses; for the whole of the manure, and labour of carting and spreading the manure of the last 212 377 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 Michaelmas. 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 Lady-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 until 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 mariet-days, taken once a month, between harvest-time and the ensuing Lady-day. Norfolk.—Farmers hold chiefly by leases of 7 or 14 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 ‘enants, who enter at Lady-day. ‘They are commonly not allowed to sell either hay or straw, not to take more than three crops 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 ploughing he has done before the time he quits; for all artificial manure, such as bones, &c., if for the first crop, then the full 2 378 CUSTOMS OF COUNTIES. | tillage; if the second, 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 Jabour. 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 crops without the authority of the incomer, who cannot enter himself to plough without leave before Lady-day. Somerset—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 few restrictions of 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 Lady-day: he pays for both the dung and straw left on the farm. Westmoreland—Leases in this county ae commonly 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 j land at old Candlemas to plough for his fallo and spring crop. 4 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-day, paying rent and taxes, however, for | what he thus holds; with this exception, he is | Bound to free the land by the 6th of April. In 'the south of this county, the outgoer receives ‘for the wheat crop on the ground, two-thirds if CUT. fallowed for, and one-half after a bastard fal- | low. He pays for this, however, no rent after the 6th of April. He may plough for barley and take half the crop, but not for any other spring crop. Yorkshire-—In this great county, the customs | vary with the Riding. In the W. R. the entry is Old Candlemas, or New Year's day. In the N. R. it is Lady-day: may go on to the land at Candlemas, and into the house at May-day.| In the E. R. the entry is at Lady-day. In all three Ridings a yearly tenancy is the most common. In the N. R. the outgoing tenant sows his wheat, and has an offgoing crop, which jhe may either thrash himself, or sell to his suc- cessor or toa stranger; but he cannot carry away straw, but has barn and yard room to consume it on the premises until the following May-day twelvemonth. The outgoer, however, cannot in the last year of his tenancy sow more than one-third of his arable land; but that third he may sow at whatever time and in whatever way he may think proper ; for all the ground that he sows he pays a corn standage, that is, rent, till har- vest time: if he sows more than his propor- tion, the incomer takes the crop, and the mea- surement is very nicely calculated. The in- comer enters at Candlemas to plough for his spring crop and fallows: he takes the young seeds. In the upper part of the West Riding, the customs between the incomer and outgoer are the same as in the north; but below Aber- ford the customs are quite different, being, as the people say, “good ones to come out with, but bad ones to enter upon.” For there the outgoer sows the wheat crop, which the in- comer is obliged to pay for, together with the grass-seeds, and to pay for the tillage and half tillage of those crops and on the turnips, and for all the manure laid upon the lands, or about the premises; the incomer who enters at Can- diemas has two and a half year’s manure, and one and a half year’s tillage to pay for. In the East Riding, the outgoer sows the wheat crop and the spring corn, until Lady-day, and takes what he sows as an offgoing crop along with the wheat, paying no rent after Lady-day: he must thrash them, however, on the premises, and leave the manure. An incomer has here only to pay for seeds. (Kennedy and Grainger on Tenancy of Land.) See ArpraisEmeEnv. CUT. In farriery,a hurt or clean wound made with any sharp-cutting instrument. The way of treating such an accident is to bring the two incised surfaces together, and bind them up, if possible, with a little lint or tow, without any balsams or spirituous applications being used. CUT-WORM. In almost every section of the United States, great complaints are annu- ally made of green crops destroyed or injured, more or less, by what is popularly termed the cut-worm. The young Indian corn is an espe- cial sufferer; but several other plants having tender stems, such as beans and cabbages, are liable to be cut off near the ground, or just be- neath the surface, when beginning to grow. As all such mischief is ascribed to the cut-worm, it might be inferred that an insect thus spoken CUT-WORM. of in the singular number would be weil known. And yet the opinions upon the sub- ject of its identity, or how many species there may exist, are various and conflicting. After a toilsome search through many ofthe American agricultural publications, Dr. Harris says he became convinced that these insects and their history are not yet well known to some of the very persons who have suffered from their de- predations. Various cut-worms, or more pro- perly subterranean caterpillars, wire-worms, or Juli, grub-worms or the young of May-beetles, and even spindle or bud-worms, or the young of a species of moth called corn Gortyna, are often confounded together or mistaken for each other; sometimes their names are interchanged, and sometimes the same name is given to each and all of these different animals. Hence, the remedies that are successful in some instances are entirely useless in others. “The name of cut-worm,” says Dr. Harris, “seems originally to have been given tocertain caterpillars thatlive in the ground about the roots of plants, but come up in the night, and cut off and devour the tender stems and lower leaves of young cab- bages, beans, corn, and other herbaceous plants. These subterranean caterpillars are finally transformed to moths belonging to a group which may be called agrotidians (gro- tidide), from a word signifying rustic, or per- taining to the fields. Some of these rustic moths fly by day, and may be found in the fields, especially in the autumn, sucking the honey of flowers; others are on the wing only at night, and during the day lie concealed in chinks of walls and other dark places. Their wings are nearly horizontal when closed, the upper pair completely covering the lower wings, and often overlapping a little on their inner edges, thus favouring these insects in their attempts to obtain shelter and conceal- ment. The thorax is slightly convex, but smooth or not crested. The antennz of the males are generally beset with two rows of short points, like fine teeth, on the under-side, nearly to the tips. The fore-legs are often quite spiny. Most of these moths come forth in July and August, and soon afterwards lay their eggs in the ground, in ploughed fields, gardens, and meadows. In Europe it is found that the eggs are hatched early in the autumn, at which time the little subterranean caterpil lars live chiefly on the roots and tender sprouts of herbaceous plants. On the approach of winter they descend deeper into the ground, and, curling themselves up, remain in a torpid. state till the following spring, when they ascend towards the surface, and renew their devasta- tions. The caterpillars of the Agrotidians are smooth, shining, naked, and dark-coloured, with longitudinal pale and blackish stripes, and a few black dots on each ring; some of them also have a shining, horny, black spot on the top of the firstring. They are of a cylin- drical form, tapering a little at each end, rather thick in proportion to their length, and are pro- vided with sixteen legs. They are changed to chrysalids in the ground, without previously making silken cocoons. The most destructive kinds in Europe are the caterpillars of the corn rustic or winter dart-moth (Agrotis segetum), the CUT-WORM. wheat dart-moth (Agrotis tritici), the eagle-moth (Agrotis aguilina), and the turf rustic or antler- moth (Chareas graminis). ‘The first two attack both the roots and leaves of winter wheat ; the second also destroys buckwheat; and it is Stated that sixty bushels of mould, taken from a field where they prevailed, contained twenty- three bushels of the caterpillars; those of the eagle-moth occasionally prove very destructive in vineyards; and the caterpillars of the antler-moth are notorious for their devastations in meadows, and particularly in mountain pastures. “The habits of our cut-worms appear to be exactly the same as those of the European Agrotidians. It is chiefly during the months of June and July that they are found to be most destructive. Whole corn-fields are sometimes laid waste by them. Cabbage-plants, till they are grown to a considerable size, are very apt to be cut off and destroyed by them. Potato- vines, beans, beets, and various other culinary plants suffer in the same way. The products of our flower-gardens are not spared; asters, balsams, pinks, and many other kinds of flowers are often shorn of their leaves and of their central buds, by these concealed spoilers. Several years agoI procured a considerable number of cut-worms in the months of June and July. Some of them were dug up among cabbage-plants, some from potato-hills, and others from the corn-fields and the flower-gar- den. Though varying in length from one inch and a quarter to two inches, they were fully grown, and buried themselves immediately in the earth with which they were supplied. They were all thick, greasy-looking caterpil- lars, of a dark ashen gray colour; but I neglected at first to examine them carefully in order to see if they were marked exactly alike. Some of the last found were observed to have one or two blackish stripes on each side of the body, and a pale stripe on the back, with four little black dots on each ring. The head was also blackish. They were soon changed to chrysalids, of a shining mahogany-brown co- lour; and between the 20th of July and the 15th of August they came out of the ground in the moth state. Much to my surprise, how- ever, these cut-worms produced five different species of moths; and, when it was too late, I regretted that they had not been more carefully examined, and compared together before their transformation.” The largest of these moths expanded its wings more than two inches, and bore a close resemblance to one called in Europe the dark sword rustic (Agrotis suffusa). Dr. Harris named the American moth the lance rustic, (Agrotis telifera), and gives the following de- scription of it. “The fore-wings are light brown, shaded with dark brown along the outer thick edge, and in the middle also in the female; these wings are divided into three nearly equal parts by two transverse bands, each composed of two wavy dark brown lines; in the middle space are situated the two ordinary spots, together with a third oval spot, which touches the anterior band; these spots are encircled with dark brown, and the kidney-spot bears a dark brown 380 CUT-WORM. lance-shaped mark on its hinder part; the hindmost third of the wing is crossed by a broad pale band, and is ornamented by a nar- row wavy or festooned line, and several small blackish spots near the margin. The hind- wings are pearly white, and semi-transparent, shaded behind, and veined with dusky brown. The thorax is brown or gray-brown, with the edge of the collar blackish. The abdomen is gray. The wings expand two inches or more.” (Harris’s Treatise on Insects.) Two other species resemble the one just de- scribed, and are counterparts of European species. The fourth,is the smallest of the five, expanding its wings an inch and a quarter. The fore-wings are dark ash-coloured, exhibit- ing very faint traces of the transverse wavy lines or bands more or less distinctly visible on the other species. The two ordinary spots are large and pale, and alternate, with a trian- gular and a square deep black spot. The hind- wings are brownish-gray in the middle, and blackish behind. Dr. Harris calls this last the checkered rustic (Agrotis tesselata). The fifth species answered very well to the description of the American cabbage cul-worm, described by Mr. J. P. Brace, in the first vo- lume of Silliman’s “American Journal of Sci- ence,” and somewhat resembles Dr. Boisduyal’s figures of a European moth called Agrotis latens. The fore-wings are of a dark ashen colour, with a lustre like satin; they are crossed by four narrow, wavy whitish bands, edged on each side with black. There is a transverse row of white dots, followed by a row of black, arrow-shaped spots, between the third and fourth bands, and three white dots on the outer edge near the tip; the ordinary spots are edged with black and white. The hind-wings are light brownish-gray, almost of a dirty white in the middle. The head and thorax are chinchilli-gray, and the abdomen is coloured like the hind-wings. The wings expand from one inch and five-eighths to one inch and three-quarters. This kind of moth is very common between the 10th of July and the mid- dle of August. Like all the foregoing species, it flies only at night. According to Mr. Brace, this moth lays its eggs in the beginning of autumn, at the roots of trees, and near the ground; the eggs are hatched early in May; the cut-worms continue their depredations about four weeks, then cast their skin and be- come pupe or chrysalids in the earth, a few inches below the surface of the ground; the pupa state lasts four weeks, and the moth comes out about the middle of July; it con- ceals itself in the crevices of buildings and beneath the bark of trees, and is never seen during the day; about sunset it leaves its hiding-place, is constantly on the wing, is very troublesome about the candles in houses, flies rapidly, and is not easily taken. From what is known respecting the history of the other kinds of grotis, and from the size that the cabbage cut-worms are found to have attained in May, I am led to infer that they must gene- rally be hatched in the previous autumn, and that, after feeding a while on such food as they can find immediately under the surface of the soil, they descend deeper into the ground and CUT-WORM. remain curled up, in little cavities which each one makes for itself in the earth, till the follow- ing spring.” Such are the descriptions given by the natu- ralists of the cut-worms and their moths found in the Eastern States. We wish it was in our power to furnish as much accurate information upon the subject of the cut-worms found in the other portions of the United States, provided any essential differences exist. The deficiency, so far as a portion of the Middle States is in- terested, has been supplied in a great measure through the researches of Dr. F. E. Melsheimer, of York county, Pennsylvania, who, in a communication made to Dr. Harris, gives the following information. “There are several species of Agrotis, the larve of which are injurious to culinary plants; but the chief culprit with us is the same as that which is destructive to young maize. The corn cut-worms make their appearance in great numbers at irregular periods, and confine themselves in their deyastations to no particu- lar vegetables, all that are succulent being relished by these indiscriminate devourers; but, if their choice is not limited, they prefer maize plants, when not more than a few inches above the earth, early-sown buckwheat, young pumpkin-plants, young beans, cabbage-plants, and many other field and garden vegetables.” “When first disclosed from the eggs they sub- sist on the various grasses. They descend in the ground on the approach of severe frosts, and reappear in the spring about half-grown. They seek their food in the night or in cloudy weather, and retire before sunrise into the ground, or beneath stones or any substance which can shelter them from the rays of the sun; here they remain coiled up during the day, except while devouring the food which they generally drag into their places of con- cealment. Their transformation to pupe oc- curs at different periods, sometimes earlier sometimes later, according to the forwardness of the season, but usually not much later than the middle of July.” “The moths, as well as the larvee, vary much in the depth of their colour, from a pale ash to a deep or obscure brown. The ordinary spots of the upper wings of the moth are always connected by a blackish line; where the colour is of the deepest shade these spots are scarcely visible, but when the colour is lighter they are very obvious.” This moth, Dr. Harris informs us, is very abundant in the New England States, from the middle of June till the middle or end of August. The fore- wings are generally of a dark ash-colour, with only a very faint trace of the double transverse wavy bands that are found in most species of Agrotis. These expand one inch and three- quarters. When shut they overlap and cover the back so flatly and closely as to allow the moth to creep into very narrow chinks and cre- vices. During the day they lie hidden under the bark of trees, in the chinks of fences, and even under the loose clapboards of buildings. When the blinds of houses are opened in the morning, a little swarm of these insects which, on the arrival of day, had crept behind them for concealment, is sometimes exposed, and suddenly roused from their beginning slumbers. CUT-WORM. This kind of moth, Dr. Harris says, has the form and general appearance of some species of the genus Porophila. He has named it the clandestine owlet-moth. The fact of the identity established by na- turalists between this moth as found in New England and Pennsylvania, affords strong reason to infer that the same species of cut- worms are to be met with over most, if not all, portions of the United States. Having thus described these insects under their various forms of destructive larve or ca- terpillars, winged moths into which these are converted, and mentioned their times and sea- sons of coming, going, and changing, so far at least as naturalists have traced these out,—we shall proceed to notice the remedies which have been tried and proposed to destroy them, or prevent their ravages. Among the various means resorted to for the protection of Indian corn and other plants, is the soaking of the seed in copperas or other poisonous solution previous to planting or sowing. Rolling the seed in quick-lime, or unleached ashes, has also been recommended. Any one of these remedies may have some ef- fect in protecting the seed against wire-worms (uli) which only attack the grain or its root, but cannot answer against cut-worms which do not eat the seed or root, but prey upon the sprouts and young stalks.* They may, how- ever, as Dr. Harris observes, be of some bene- fit by stimulating the young plant and pro- moting its more rapid growth, by which it-will be sooner placed beyond danger from the at- tacks of cut-worms. Fall-ploughing of sward- lands, which are intended to be sown with wheat or planted with corn the following year, will turn up and expose the insects to the in- clemency of the winter, whereby many of them will be killed. Some will be destroyed at the time by birds. This remedy, however, may be objectionable in stiff clay soils, which would become very much packed or baked during the winter. Among other remedies, one proposed by Mr. Park Shee of Delaware county, Pennsylvania, is said to be a simple and expeditious mode of destroying cut-worms. A pair of old wheels are to be fitted with projections like the cogs of a spur-wheel in a mill, which must be so formed as to make holes in the earth during the turning of the wheel, four inches deep. The smooth track which the wheels make on the soft ground, induces the worm in its noc- turnal wanderings, to follow on till it tumbles into the pit. It cannot climb out, and is de- stroyed by the hot sun. The only effectual remedy at present known, Dr. Harris thinks, consists in turning a suffi- cient force into the fields infested, to scratch up and destroy the worms by hand. This may require several days, but will generally be successful in securing the crop, when replant- ing is performed at the same time. Estimates of the cost of labour and time thus expended, * In regard to wire-worms, care must be taken not to confound the American insects with those bearing a similar name in England. See Sprine-BeeTves, under the head of BEETLE, p. 174. 381 CUT-WORM. show that the farmer is a great gainer by the outlay. Mr. Deane once prevented the depredations of cut-worms in his garden by manuring the soil with sea-mud. The plants generally es- caped, although every one was cut off in a spot of ground contiguous. He acknowledges, however, that the most effectual remedy, even in field culture, is to go round every morning and open the earth at the foot of the plant, where, if present, the worm will be found at the root, within four inches of the surface. Mr. Preston of Stockport, Pennsylvania, pro- tected his cabbage-plants by wrapping ahickory or walnut leaf around the stem between the root and leaves before planting, A piece of rag would answer equally well; but care must be taken to remove any such bandage when the plant has attained a size to resist the at- tacks of worms. Paper has been successfully used for this purpose by Mr. Fiske of Massa- chusetts. Salt is known to be highly obnoxious to naked worms and caterpillars. Some farmers have found great protection from the depreda- tions of these by mixing salt with the manure put upon the ground as mentioned by Mr. Colman in his “Third Report,” where, how- ever, no definite proportion is stated. Some Pennsylvania farmers place the greatest reli- ance in a mixture of equal parts of salt, ashes, and plaster of Paris, about a gill of which mix- ture is applied on each corn hill. The experi- ment has been tried on alternate rows which were exempt from the attacks of worms, whilst the rows to which no application was made suffered greatly. The plaster might probably be dispensed with. Dr. Harris describes another naked caterpil- lar which is often found to be injurious to cab- bages, cauliflowers, spinach, beets, and other garden vegetables with succulent leaves. It does not conceal itself in the ground, but lives exposed on the leaves of the plants which it devours. It is of a light yellow colour, with three, broad, longitudinal, yellow stripes, one on each side, and the third on the top of the back; and the head and feet are tawny. Dr. Melsheimer calls it the zebra-caterpillar, on account of its stripes. It comes to its full size in Massachusetts in September, and then mea- sures about two inches in length. Early in Oc- tober it leaves off eating, goes into the ground, changes to a shining brown chrysalis, and is transformed to a moth about the first of June. It is probable that there are two broods of this kind of caterpillar every summer, in some, if not all, parts of this country; for Dr. Mel- sheimer says that it appears in Pennsylvania in June, goes into the ground and is changed toa chrysalis towards the end of June or the be- ginning of July, and comes forth in the moth state near the end of August. The moth may be called Mamestra picta, the painted Mamestra, jn allusion both to the beautiful tints of the ca- terpillar, and to the softly blended shades of dark and light brown with which the fore- wings of the moth are coloured. It is of a light brown colour, shaded with purple brown ; the ordinary spots on the fore-wings, with a third oval spot behind the round one, are edged 382 CYPERUS. with gray; and there is a transverse zigzag gray line, forming a distinct W in the middle, near the outer hind margin. The hind-wings are white, and faintly edged with brown around the tip. It is evident that this insect cannot be included in either of the foregoing groups of the owlet-moths. It belongs to a distinct fa- mily, which may be called Mamestrade, or Mamestrians. The caterpillars in this group are generally distinguished by their bright co- lours; they live more or less exposed on the leaves of plants, and transform in the ground. The moths fly by night only; most of them have the thorax slightly crested; and they are easily known by the zigzag line, near the outer hind margin of the fore-wings, forming a W or M in the middle. As the caterpillar of the painted Mamestra does not seek concealment, it may easily be found, and destroyed by hand.” (Harris.) See Gruzs, Wire-Worms, Spinpte or Bup Worms. CUTTING. When a horse cuts or wounds one leg with the opposite foot. The best re- medy is to put on the cutting foot a shoe of even thickness from heel to toe, not projecting in the slightest degree beyond the crusp, and the crusp itself to be rasped a little at the quarters. This shoe should only have one nail on the inside, and that almost close to the toe. (Lib, Useful Know., Tur Honsz, pp. 252, 341.) CYDER. See Ciper. CYNOSURUS. The dog’s tail grass, from xuvwy, a dog, and cups, a tail. There are three commonly known varieties of this grass in England, and two in the United States. One of which was found by Mr. Nuttall in the plains of Missouri. Very little value is attached to this grass by the American farmer. Cynosurus cristatus. ‘Crested dog’s tail grass. Pl.6, f. This is an excellent sheep grass. Sin- clair found the produce per acre, from a brown loam with manure, at the time of flowering, to be 6125 lbs., containing nutritive matter 406 Ibs. He says of it, “In all the most celebrated pastures, which I have examined, it constituted a very considerable portion of the produce.” Cynosurus cruceformis. Linear-spiked dog’s tail grass, flourishes best on a rich deep loam; next best on a clayey loam; in which soil Sinclair obtained of this grass, when in flower, 6806 lbs. per acre, containing nutritive matter 365 lbs. Cynosurus echinatus. Rough dog’s tail grass. It is a scarce, and an inferior grass. When in bloom, it yielded Sinclair per acre from a sandy loam 5445 Ibs., containing of nutritive matter 191 lbs. (Paaton’s Bot. Dict.; Sinclair's Hort. Gram. Wob.) CYPERUS (Cyprus-grass). This is a natu- ral order, embracing some of the sedge tribe somewhat allied to grasses. The stems are either solid or filled with a spongy pith-like substance, generally without joints, or nodes, tapering, cylindric, or angular (often triangu- lar), and the sheaths of the leaves which em- brace the stem are not slit, but entire. The roots of some species of cyperusses possess an aromatic odour, especially those of the C. longus. A few others produce tubers said te CYPERUS-GRASS, MILLET. CYPRESSES. be esculent. From the integuments of the C.! of this mighty stream, form a vast expanse of papyrus of Egypt, the ancients first obtained a convenient substitute for skins to write upon, and the paper since invented still retains the name of paper, derived from Papyrus. Although the genus Cyperus appears to be widely dispersed over the world, North Ame- rica and the West Indies possess far the larg- est proportion. About twenty-five or thirty species are found in the United States. (Nut- tall's Genera.) CYPERUS-GRASS, MILLET (Scirpus syl- vaticus). The wood clubrush. See Scrrrvs. CYPERUS, SWEET, or ENGLISH GA- LINGALE (Cyperus longus). This is a wild perennial plant, growing, but not common, in marshes and moist places, two or three feet high. Its stalk is green and leafless, except two or three small leaves at the top from which the tufts of flowers rise. The root leaves are a foot long, narrow, grassy, and bright green. The flowers are brown. The root is long, moderately creeping, highly aro- matic, and astringent. There is a smaller species, the brown cyperus (C. fuscus), which is an annual, and grows much smaller, not reaching to above six inches high; root of many simple fibres. (Smith’s Eng. Flor. vol. i. . 53. CYPRESS TREE (Cupressus sempervirens). A hardy shrub, native of the Levant; growing from fifteen to twenty feet high, which throws out yellow blossoms in May. Its wood is red, very hard, and sweet-scented. It likes a good soil. It is the symbol of sorrow all over Europe, in the East, and even in China. Its wood, from being sonorous, is used for harps, violins, and other musical instruments. Worms never attack it. (Phillip’s Shrub. vol. i. p. 188; M‘Culloch’s Com. Dict.) CYPRESSES. The researches of botanists, says Michaux, have made us acquainted with only seven species of cypresses, of which two are indigenous to the United States, namely, the Cypressus disticha, called, in the Southern and Middle States, Bald Cypress, Black Cypress, and White Cypress, the last popular names being applied in the Carolinas. The second species of American cedar is called by bota- nists, Cupressus thyoides, and popularly the White Cedar. Both are highly important trees, for the many useful purposes to which their wood is applied. Michaux says of the black or bald cypress, that the banks of Indian river in the southern part of the state of Delaware may be assumed as its northern limit. In proceeding south- ward from this point it becomes constantly more abundant in swamps; but in Maryland and Virginia is confined to the vicinity of the sea, where the winter is milder. Beyond Nor- folk, its limits correspond exactly with those of the Pine Barrens, and in the Carolinas and Georgia it occupies a great part of the swamps which border the rivers after they have passed from among the mountains and entered the low lands. The Mississippi from its mouth to the river Arkansas, a distance of more than six hun- dred miles, following the windings, is bordered by marshes, which, at the annual overflowing waters. In Louisiana, those parts of the marshes where the cypress grows almost alone are called Cyprieres, cypress swamps, and they sometimes occupy thousands of acres. In the deep, miry soil of the swamps in the Southern States, the bald cypress attains its utmost developement, rising sometimes to the height of one hundred and twenty feet, with a circumference of twenty-five and even forty feet, at the conical base, which, at the surface of the earth,is always three or four times as large as the continued diameter of the trunk. On this account, in felling them the negroes are obliged to raise themselves upon scaffolds five or six feet above the ground. The base is generally hollow for three-quarters of its bulk. The summit is not pyramidal like that of spruces, but is widely spread and even depress- ed or drooping upon old trees. The foliage is open, light, and of a fresh and agreeable tint, the leaflets being small and fine. In au- tumn they change from a ligkt green to a dull red, and are shed soon after. Boiled during three hours in water, they afford a fine, durable cinnamon colour. To bunches of very minute flowers, succeed cones about the size of the thumb, roundish and uneven on the surface, filled with irregular seeds containing cylindri- cal kernels. The seeds retain their productive virtue for two years. The stocks which grow in places where for half the year they are surrounded with three or four feet of water, have the bark lighter coloured than trees not so much exposed to water. Hence they are called White Cypresses, whilst those less exposed to water, and having browner bark, and heavier, more resinous, and darker wood, are named Black Cypresses. When destined to be employed in the arts, both kinds should be felled in winter, and kept a sufficient length of time for the wood to become perfectly dry. The wood of the cypress is far more durable than that of the pine, and is especially useful for making shingles to cover buildings of all kinds. Cedar rails for post and rail- fences are also in great demand in every por- tion of the Middle States where the oak* and chestnut trees have become scarce. A large trade in cedar shingles is carried on between the southern parts of Norfolk, Wilmington, &c., with the West Indies. It would be unavailing, says Michaux, to re- commend the preservation and multiplication of the cypress in the maritime districts of the Carolinas and Georgia, though for an extent of more than nine hundred miles they have neither stone nor slate for building; it becomes daily more profitable for the increasing popu lation to convert the marshes into rice-grounds, which afford a sure subsistence to the inhabit ants and swell the mass of exported produce Instead of wood, the houses will be constructed of brick, which is already beginning to be done, and covered with slate imported from the Northern States or from Europe. It is highly probable that in less than two centuries, the cypress will disappear from the Southern States. The White Cedar (Cypressus thyoides) is one 383 DACTYLIS. of the most interesting trees in the United States for the varied utility of its wood. It grows only in wet grounds. In New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, it nearly fills the ex- tensive marshes which lie adjacent to the salt meadows, and are exposed in high tides to be overflown by the sea. Farther south, it is mingled with the cypress, by which it is at length entirely supplanted. The white cedar is not to be mistaken for the white cypress, a variety of the bald cypress. In lower Jersey and Maryland, the swamps in which the white cedar grows, are only accessible during the dryest periods of summer, and whilst frozen in winter. The trees stand so thick in these swamps that the lightcan hardly penetrate the foliage. The white cedar grows seventy or eighty feet high, and rarely more than three feet in diameter, unless perhaps in the Great Dismal Swamp, near Norfolk, where it flou- rishes in company with the bald or black cy- press. When the white cedars are close and compressed, the straight and perpendicular trunks are free from branches to the height of fifty or sixty feet. They are observed to choose the centre of the swamps, and the cypresses the outside. The foliage is evergreen, each leaf consisting of a little branch numerously subdivided, and the flowers, which are scarcely visible, produce very small rough cones of a greenish tint, which changes to bluish towards the fall, when they open to release the fine seeds. The wood is light, soft, fine-grained, and easily worked. When perfectly seasoned and exposed some time to the light, it is of a rosy hue. It preserves its aromatic odour for a very long time, when kept dry, and resists the destructive tendencies of alternate moisture and dryness longer than any other wood, for which quality shingles made of it are prefer- red in Baltimore and Philadelphia to those of the bald cypress. In the first named city they are generally called juniper shingles. They will last on a roof for thirty or thirty-five years. The great domestic consumption and exportation has raised the price of cypress shingles from four and five dollars per thousand in 1808, to thirty or forty dollars per thousand in 1842, Swamps producing white cedar, so useful for fence timber and other important purposes, constitute a valuable species of pro- perty. (Michaux.) D DACTYLIS. A genus of grasses which, with one exception, are of but little value for cultivation. See Cocx’s-roor Grass. DAIRY. The place where milk is kept, and butter and cheese prepared and preserved. The proper construction and management of a dairy are questions of considerable import- ance to the farmer. It should be situated, if possible, on a dry porous soil. The room should be made of brick or stone, with a floor of the same materials, for the sake of its being more readily and frequently washed with cold water, not only on the score of cleanliness, but that the temperature of the place may in sum- 384 DAIRY. mer be kept down to the most advantageous degree. And to this end, the dairy is com- monly placed on the northern side of the house, where it may be readily shaded from the sun by other more elevated buildings, or by trees. A temperature between 50° and 60° is the best, and the less occasion there is to reduce the temperature of the dairy by wash- ing the floor with cold water the better, since, amongst other disadvantages, the damp air thus produced is not so advantageous as a dry atmosphere for the retention of sweetness in milk and cream, and, therefore, the dairy- house in England is generally covered with thatch, and can hardly be too well ventilated. It should be far removed from stagnant ponds and offensive drains; and furnished with wire gauze windows, by which insects are readily excluded without impairing the necessary ven- tilation. Adjoining to it should be placed a wash-house, furnished with a chimney, a large copper kettle to heat the water, or in cheese dairies the milk. This is commonly supported by a crane. The wash-house should have an outer door, near to which the dairy utensils may be set on benches, to be dried by the sun and air. In Holland the dairy rooms are kept with the greatest order, neatness, and comfort; so much so, that the farmer’s family often take their meals in them. On the economy of the dairy the following excellent direction, abridged from those drawn up by the Agricultural Society of Aberdeenshire, may be studied by the farmer with advantage. They refer chiefly to salted butter :— 1. The milk-house or dairy should have no in- ternal communication with any other building. It must be kept free from smoke, well aired, and clean, and no ‘potatoes, fish, onions, cheese, or any thing likely to impart a strong or bad smell, should be kept therein ; in short, nothing but the dairy utensils, which must also be kept sweet and clean. 2. The milk, when brought in from the cows, should be strained through a fine hair searce or drainer, and when cool put into sweet, well-seasoned oaken kegs, keelers, or millx pans, the latter to be preferred. A tin skimmer with holes in it is the best for taking off the cream, which should always be churned while the cream is fresh. 3. The churn, whether plunge or barrel, should be made of the best well-seasoned white oak, and as cleanliness is of the first import- ance, great attention should be paid to the washing, drying, and airing of the churns im- mediately after use, otherwise they are sure to contract a sour and unwholesome smell, which must injure the quality of the butter. 4. The butter immediately after being churned should be thrown into fresh spring water, where it should remain one hour at least, that it may grow firm. 5. The butter should be immediately salted. 6. It is a very injurious practice to keep a malk- ing of butter uncured till the next churning, for the purpose of mixing the two together. It invariably injures the flavour of the whole, and renders it of too soft a quality ever afterwards to get firm. 7. The milk of new-calved cows should never be set for butter, until at least four days after calving, as a small quantity of DAIRY. biestmilk butter will injure a whole firkin. The practice of scalding cream in cold wea- ther should also be avoided, as cream thus treated will never make good butter. 8. Great care should be taken not to steep the firkins, or other dairy vessels, in boggy or unwholesome water ; only the purest spring or clear running water should be used. °9. Old butter should never be mixed with new. Lime-tree yields perhaps the best wood for butter firkins; and the St. Ubes’ Bay or ma- rine sweet salt, free from bittern, is the best salt to use for dairy purposes: this should be kept in a dry, clean cask, in a place where smoke (which is apt to impart a bad flavour to it) cannot reach it. The management and construction of the dairy of necessity varies with the articles for which it is chiefly intend- ed to be devoted, as Burren, Cazzesz, MitK: see these heads. In the United States one of the most cele- brated dairy districts is that of Western Re- serve, in Ohio, peopled generally by settlers from New England. It is computed that this fine grazing country sells, annually, cheese to the amount of a million and a half of dollars, besides large quantities of butter, and a great amount of beef and pork. There is reason to believe that the exporta- tion of butter and cheese from the United States to other countries will annually in- crease, and especially to England, where a great reduction of duties on these and other articles of the provision trade has recently taken place. From the objections made to American butter and cheese sent abroad, it seems highly desirable that more pains should be taken at home to improve their qualities, which can only be done by paying more at- tention to their manufacture. There is no dis- guising the fact, says a late writer in the Cul- tivator, “that immense quantities of butter find their way to market in a condition which ren- ders it unfit for any thing but grease. Hot weather, or the shortest voyage, renders it in- tolerably rancid. Now, butter made in Holland may be carried to any distance, and in any cli- mate, without suffering material deterioration, and hence it is in such demand for exportation. Vast quantities annually find their way to Great Britain for domestic consumption and other- wise, and the high prices demonstrate the esti- mation in which it is held. There are no finer pastures in the world than in the United States, particularly those north of the Ohio, and if pro- per attention and skill were given to the pro- ducts of the dairy, those products might be un- rivalled. There is a considerable amount of excellent butter made in the country, but it is used for domestic consumption, and the pro- portion of the first rate article bears but a slight comparison with the whole. There is less dif- ference in the cheeses of this country and the European ones than thereis in the butter, and consequently less difference in the prices. But in both butter and cheese, so far as the great mass of these products are concerned, there.is room for a decided improvement, and we doubt not our dairy women would consult their own interest, as well as the credit of the country, in 49 DAIRY. giving more care to the production of superior articles; but to the extract. “ Ata public sale of American butter at Liver- pool, it brought, the best sorts, $4s., seconds 72 to 74s. per cwt. duty paid, while inferior sold only at 43 to 44s, in bond, of which the parcel chiefly consisted. The quantity arrived at the London market shows the same results, the principal part being sold ‘for greasy purposes. The American makers of butter are very far behind the Irish, English, or Dutch; from the first operation to the last, all seems to be done without system or care. The same materials would, if managed by experienced hands, bring in this market 25 or 30s. more money. There is evidently no proper attention paid to the making, salting, putting down, or packing. A correspondent of one of our commercial papers says,— The best American butter imported in- to England this year has sold not higher than 95s., while the best from the continent has brought 110 to 115s. per cwt.; this latter will keep for years.” (London Commercial Journal for March, 1841.) As a large portion of the United States is favoured with all the advantages requisite for dairy purposes, such as good pastures, excel- lent cows, fine spring-houses or facilities for making them, there is no apparent reason why good butter and cheese should not be produced in the greatest abundance. Among other in- structions for improving the manufacture of butter, given in a recent volume of the Cultiva- tor, the following merit particular attention :— “Every thing connected with the making of butter should be perfectly sweet and clean. No smoke, dust, or disagreeable smells should ever exist in the milk-house or dairy. Every thing of this kind has its effect on the cream, and leaves its taint on the butter. The milk should be skimmed, and the cream churned at the pro- per time and the proper temperature. ‘The but- termilk should be promptly separated; and in salting, none but salt of the finest, purest kind is admissible. Next to leaving milk er whey in the butter to putrefy, the use of bad salt has the most influence in making this article worth- less. Many recommend washing butter in clear cold water to free it from the milk, and this mode is practised in some of the best butter districts of Europe or the United States. If the milk is thoroughly separated, however, the par- ticular method is of very little consequence; and perhaps a machine for working the butter- milk out, such as has been figured in the Cul- tivator, or some similar contrivance, will be found as effectual as any thing. But butter, if made ever so perfectly, will rot keep well un- less it is also packed well. Total exclusion from the air seems necessary, and wnen this is combined with a low temperature, butter can be kept for an indefinite period of time. It is the adventitious circumstances only that make poor butter, for, as it is a pure animal oil, if freed from those things that have a tendency to spoil it, it would keep as long and with as little trouble as tallow or lard. It is the difficulty of freeing butter from the substances connect- ed with it, that have a constant tendency to putrefaction, that renders the packing of butter 2K 385 DAIRY. of so much consequence to its preservation. Stone jars we have found superior to any thing else for packing butter. They are sweet, cool, impervious to air, and, from their shape, leave but a small surface to be exposed or covered with brine. The butter, whether packed in jars or firkins, must be beat solid, and the vessel, whatever it may be, should be filled at once. The difficulty attending firkins is, that all wood contains more or less acid, and this, decom- posing the salt, imparts an unpleasant taste and flavour to the butter in the cask. This is partly remedied by filling the firkin with strong brine, and allowing them to stand a few days before using; but the cause is never entirely re- moved. Experiments made in Scotland proved that the wood of the linden or basswood con- tained the least acid, and this is supported by the fact that, in the Tyrolese salt-works, where water is brought to the point of saturation by percolating through bundles of twigs or fagots, those of the basswood are always preferred to any other. In this country firkins of heart-ash are preferred, and perhaps are as good as any that can be used. We have known a firkin of butter, properly headed, thrown into a well where the water was of the temperature of about 50° to 55°, and when taken out, after a submersion of a year, was as Sweet as when putin. Perhaps, where circumstances admit, butter might be advantageously kept in this way in vats filled with running spring water of the proper temperature. Jars or firkins, when filled with butter, should have some pure strong brine poured on the top of the butter, and kept there for the purpose of excluding the air until the article is wanted for use. Instead of the brine some use salt, and others prefer a linen cloth saturated in brine for this purpose. But whatever is used, the top of the jar or fir- kin should be carefully covered with a board, or what is much better, a clean, flat stone. They should stand on flat stones, in a cool place in the cellar, and may be occasionally looked to, to see that the surface is properly secured, and the air excluded.” Some of the defects of American cheese have been referred to under the head of Currsr. A very common one arises from its being too often sent to market in a very green state, frequently when but three weeks old. The best English cheeses, we are told, are not considered as ripe and marketable until two years old. “A great improvement,” says Mr. Colman, “is thought by some to have been made in capping the cheeses, as it is termed; that is, as soon as they are taken from the press, covering them completely with cotton cloth, sewed over them tightly; or else drawn round the sides of the cheese and over the edges, leaving the centre partially exposed. Where the cheeses are covered entirely, the cloth itself is completely covered and saturated with the usual unguent of whey-butter and some simple and harmless colouring matter. The effect is to preserve the cheese against the attacks of flies, and to render the daily turning of the cheeses not indispensably necessary, be- sides preventing their spreading and cracking. It is said by some persons that the cheese does 386 DAIRY. not cure so perfectly in this way as when ex- posed, and that the sale is not so ready. Such contradictory statements are made in this case, however, by those who have tried, and those who refuse to try it, that I cannot decide on its expediency. It impressed me favourabiy. “T have much pleasure in saying that many of the Berkshire dairies are most exemplary in respect to neatness; and in this matter pre- sent beautiful models of domestic management. There are exceptions, however, to this com- mendation. In some instances there is any thing but neatness. The sink and the pig- stye, with all their offensive exhalations, on account of what is called convenience, which is only an apology in such cases for gross lazi- ness, are in much too intimate proximity with the dairy-room; and there are cases—I shall not venture to say whether I saw them or only heard of them—where, if the pigs should per- chance mistake their own apartment and go into the next door, they would never suspect their error, unless they were ordered out. Ad- monition, however, seems lost upon such per- sons. Slovenliness and sluttishness are incor- rigible vices; and the fate of such persons seems, as it were, in despair of reformation, irrevocably pronounced. “W ilbur’s semi-revolving slide cheese shelves is an admirable contrivance to save labour in the cheese-dairy. By it two men can easily turn twenty-four heavy cheeses ina minute, and are enabled to rub them without their be- ing lifted from the shelves. The model con- sists of an upright frame, suspended by an axis passing through its horizontal centre; and into which slide eight pair of shelves, the distance of which may be graduated to the size of the cheeses. The cheeses are placed alternately above and below the axis. Slats are fixed upon the back of the frame to prevent the cheeses falling out when the frame revolves. The frame is made stationary by a pin, and when this is withdrawn, it is made to revolve halt round upon its axis, which turns the cheeses. The shelves over them, and upon which the cheeses have lain the preceding day, may then be withdrawn, and left to dry till the next day, when they may be returned, the turning pro- cess repeated, and the other shelves cleaned and dried inturn. The improvement is a valu- able one in large dairies. Henry Wilbur, of Richfield, Otsego Co., N. Y., is the inventor. “The saving in labour and risk of the cheese is great, and the expense of fitting up a new room on this plan would not greatly exceed that in common use, as the room may be much smaller. One rack with six shelves, six feet long, twenty-four inches wide, set eleven inches apart, will hold eighteen cheeses weighing from 100 to 140 lbs. each, suspended by a wooden shaft two inches square, resting on two rails extending the whole length of the room, three and ahalf feet high, or if only a single rack, on two posts; each rack requires about four feet on the length of the rails to turn well,— and its cost will not exceed six dollars, includ- ing the materials of which it is made. On this system the cheese dries much faster, as it is turned on the dry side of the shelf every day, DAIRY. and has a sound and dry rind. He has one set | of extra shelves, which are slipped in close above the cheeses before turned, on which shelf the cheeses lay when turned over; the others are then liberated for another rack, and so on through the room. By the aid of these six extra shelves, the cheeses in turning need not fall but a trifle, if any.” The qualities of the butter generally produced by the New England dairies are even more defective than those of the cheese. These de- fects are chiefly owing to causes easily reme- died,—by observing perfect ventilation and cleanliness in the milk-room and all its uten- sils, taking the cream from the milk whilst this is still fresh, and churning soon after the skim- ming. The working is a matter of primary importance, and is too often but half done. The operation should be continued till every trace of the buttermilk is removed, since, if any of this be left, the butter will quickly ac- quire a rancid or otherwise unpleasant flavour. The salting also is of much consequence. In general too much salt is added, and that not always of the very best kind for the purpose. Much salt destroys the delicacy of fine butter. The additions of saltpetre and sugar, often made in New England dairies, is sanctioned by the practice in Scotland and other countries. See Burren. The noted richness and superior fla- vour of much of the Pennsylvania butter, found in the Philadelphia market, is chiefly to be as- cribed to the fine sweet and clean spring-houses so common in that section of the United States, together with good old pasture fields, amd great attention to working. This last, when well done, renders very little salt necessary, and hence the fine and delicate flavour of the butter can be perceived. The processes followed in the dairy districts in England are well worth the attention of persons interested in this sub- ject. Some of these are referred to under the heads of Burrer and Cuzerse. Mr. Colman, in his able Reports upon the Agriculture of Massachusetts, has furnished some highly interesting details in regard to dairy affairs in the Eastern States. Treating of the interests of Berkshire county, the dairy products of many farms in which is not sur- passed by any accounts of other parts of our country, or of foreign countries, which he had been able to obtain, he observes: “The dairy business has always been a great business. For a time it gave way to the raising of fine wool, when the prices of that staple were high. Since the abatement of the demand for wool, with that caprice for which mankind always have been, and there is reason to think always will be remarkable, many farmers have sacri- ficed their flocks; and are now giving their exclusive attention to the dairy husbandry. These changes, in matters so important as the dairy or the sheep husbandry, involving as they do a considerable investment of capital, and many expensive fixtures, cannot be suddenly or frequently made without risk of serious loss and disadvantage.” Mr. Colman gives the following statements in relation to dairy products, expenses, net profits, &c. A farmer residing about twenty-five miles DAIRY. from the Hudson, who with astock of eighteen cows, turned his attention to making butter for the New York market, to which it was sent every week, sold in one year 2400 lbs. of but- ter, at 23 cts. per lb. With the refuse mill he fed seventeen spring pigs until October, when their average weight was 177 lbs. each. Half of this pork, say 88 lbs. was to be credited to the cow. Reckoning the pork at $10 per 100 Ibs. (a much higher price, however, than it will now bear), the account would stand thus: Cow, Cr. 133 Ibs. of butter, at 23 cts. - - - - - $30 59 Pork - = SEIT peor us Tike "oh Sheen 38 59 Cow, Dr. Wintering - ~ - - - - $12 00 Pasturing - - = - - - 500 Salt - = - - - - - - 25 Interest on $25, at 10 per cent., risks in- ~ cluded - - =a = - - 250 1975 Annual profits of acow - - - - $18 84 This calculation is made without including any extra feed for the cow, and upon the sup- position that the butter and milk used by the family pays for the attendance. The profit here allowed, Mr. Colman thinks, less than that actually derived. He mentions another dairy, in which nine cows yielded 1540 lbs. of butter per annum, and 300 lbs. of cheese ; and athird, where twenty cows produced—of butter, 500 lbs.; and of new milk cheese, 4000 Ibs. In the neighbourhood where these dairies are found, two acres of land are deemed sufficient for pasturing a cow or fattening a steer. Twenty head of cattle, made up of cows and three year old steers, were fattened upon thirty acres of land. In the town or township of Otis, twenty cows gave 5000 lbs. of new-milk cheese, besides ave- raging 25 lbs. of butter each, for the family, which also used 600 Ibs. of cheese. The credit and debtor account in this dairy may be reck- oned thus :— Cow, Cr. 280 Ibs. cheese, at 8cts. perlb. - . - - $22 40 25 Ibs. butter, at 20 ets. - - - 45 00 CARY qa e if eke 6 Rance al ne heen E00 Pork, 26lbs.at6cts. - - - Ta. poy hm eG 32 96 Cow, Dr. Wintering - - - - - $12 00 Pasturing - - - - - - 500 Interest on cost of cow, $15, at 10 per cent, including risks - - - - 0) Labour andattendance - - - - 216 20 66 Balance in favour of cow $12 24 In Sandisfield, the average yield of a cow in ordinary seasons is rated at 250 Ibs. of cheese, with common keeping. By extra keep- ing, the quantity is increased to 350 or 400 Ibs. The quantity of butter in addition to the new milk cheese, is supposed to be 40 or 50 lbs. each cow. The amount of cheese made in this township, in 1837, was estimated by com- petent authority, at 300,000 lbs. The popula tion is 1493, « Another farmer in the same neighbourhood, with a dairy of fifteen cows, states the average product of a cow, if she raises her calf, at 250 lbs.; if otherwise, 300 lbs.; and 25 lbs. butter, also, from each cow. Four hogs may be kept to twenty cows. In this way, weighing 100 lbs. in 38 DAIRY. the spring, they will weigh 300 lbs. in the fall. 140 lbs. of pork is to be credited to five cows. “The cost of wintering acowhere, is rated at $10; pasturage, $4. A good dairy woman will take charge of thirty cows, with assistance in milking and in handling cheese. Her wages will be $1 50 per week, with board. “Tn Tyringham, the average yield of a cow is reckoned at—new milk cheese, 283 lbs., and butter at the same time, 57 lbs. A dairy of twenty-eight cows gave 7912 lbs. new milk cheese, and 1600 lbs. butter. A large amount of pork was fattened on this farm; but it is difficult to. say what portion of it is to be credited to the dairy. “In Shetiield, the average product of twenty- eight cows was 394 lbs. new milk cheese, and 50 lbs. of butter each. “The product of a cow is thus stated by this excellent manager: Cow, Cr. 400 lbs. new milk cheese at 8 cts. - $32 00 1 00 Calf, (killed at 3 days old) - - 2 od ty 50 Ibs. butter, at 165 - - E = 8 33 Whey and butter-milk make 100 Ibs. pork 8 00 $49 33 Supra, Dr. Winter keeping - - - - - $12 00 One acre of land costing $50 will pasture the cow - - - - - - 350 Salt 25 cts., 3 bs. of bran $3 - - - 325 Int. on the value of cow at $25, 10 perct. 2 50 Labour of milking, making butter, cheese, &c.400 25 25 - $24 08 “The quantity of land estimated for pastu- rage in this case seems small. Itmust be small for a general rule; another farmer in the same town assured me that he kept one yoke of oxen all the season, and one horse half the season, on two and a half acres of land, which he showed me. The land had been greatly bene- fitted by plaster. “In New Marlboro’, the yield of a cow is estimated at 300 Ibs. new milk cheese; four hogs are kept to 20 cows; two tons of hay are deemed requisite for a cow; value of hay sold $10; but if the farmer can realize $6 per ton for it used on the place, he deems it better than to sell it. Eight to ten acres of land here, with the use of plaster, is deemed sufficient for the pasturage of four cows. “In Great Barrington, nine cows produced 1900 lbs. new milk cheese, and 800 Ibs. butter. In another case from eight cows were sold—of butter, 200 lbs., of new milk cheese, 1225 Ibs. In another case 5 cows, through the season, and an additional cow half the season, from Ist of June to 10th Nov., produced 651 lbs. butter— and 200 Ibs. new milk cheese. In this case the weekly returns were given. The same farmer says, that his cows will average one pound of butter per day through the season. He states his cow account thus: Balance in favourofcow- - = Cow, Cr. 200 Ibs. butter at 20 cts. - - - - - $40 00 Calf raised - - - - - - - - 200 Buttermilk, and skim milk for pork, equal to all the vare $42 00 Supra, Dr. Wintering, 2 tons of hay - - - - $16 00 Pasturing, 25 cts. per week, 26 weeks - 6 50 fot. on cost of cow, $20, at 10perct. - 200 2450 Profits of a cow - - ste - $17 00 388 DAIRY. “In Alford, the actual yield of a cow was as follows: Butter, 240 lbs. sold. Cheese, 100 lbs. sold, besides using what milk and butter were required by two persons. She had her own skimmed milk, but no meal or grain. She consumed, as ascertained, two tons of hay, and her pasturage was 25 cents per week.” The following estimates apply to the town- ship of Cheshire, which is devoted almost ex- clusively to the dairy husbandry, and celebrated for the excellence and abundance of its pro- duce. “A farmer with twenty-five cows, states their average yield at 300 lbs. cheese, and 20 lbs. butter toa cow. He says likewise that 1500 lbs. pork are to be credited to his cows. “The average cost or value of his cows is $30 each; wintering $14; pasturing 26 weeks $6 25; he raises some calves upon whey. It requires the whey of two or three cows to raise a calf. His hogs at 18 mos. average 350 lbs. they run in a pasture and have the refuse of the dairy until about six weeks before it is in- tended to kill them, when they are shut up and fed with corn and meal. “The dairy of another farmer consists of 20 cows. The year before last they yielded 400 lbs. new milk cheese; the last year 400 lbs. each, besides an ample supply of butter for the family. He calculates upon the proportion of one hog to four cows; with the above cows he made 1200 Ibs. of pork, 600 Ibs. of which he credits to the cows; he deems three acres ne- cessary for the pasturage of acow. His cows during the spring have an allowance of rye- meal and whey. “Tn another case the produce of 23 cows was 12,000 Ibs. new milk cheese and 500 lbs. butter. “Tn another case 30 cows made 14,000 Ibs. new milk cheese; and 500 lbs. butter. In this case some calves were raised; but most of them were killed at four days old. Throughout the county of Berkshire this mode of dealing with the calves is termed ‘deaconing’ them. What is the particular propriety of this pro- vincialism, I am unable to determine; and whether it had its origin in any superstition among the aborigines or the first settlers of the county, I shall leave to the antiquaries to as- certain. It is a peculiarity, and prevails no where else. “The practice, with this farmer, is to give boiled corn in the ear to his cows; perhaps a dozen ears to a cow per day. When it is con- veniently had, he gives a mess of rye-meal to each cow, at the rate of two quarts per day, for three weeks in the spring. He is anxious to let his cows go to the grass as soon as the ground is bare. He thinks cows are liable to suffer from excessive feeding in the barn. The wintering of a cow requires 1] tons of hay $14 00 Pasturing, 20 cts. per week for 26 weeks - 5 20 “Tn 40 days of the best of the season on this farm, 30 cows produced 4000 Ibs. butter. The land required for the pasturage of a cow is considered to be three acres. “From thirty cows, an average of 425 lbs. of cheese has been produced to each cow, and ten lbs. of butter; or 300 the whole. DAIRY. “On one farm, where 18 cows were kept, 11,385 Ibs. new milk cheese were made in a season, which gives the extraordinary average of 6324 lbs. to acow. 200 Ibs. of butter were made the same season from the same cows. One of these cows produced 1000 lbs. new milk cheese. “During the first part of the season, for two months, two quarts of rye-meal were given to each cow. Half of this quantity of meal was given them for one month during the last of the season; and the greater part of the time they had their whey. 1000 Ibs. pork were made on the farm; and half of this was credited to the cows. “The same individual, when on another farm in South Adams, with 21 cows, made 626 lbs. new milk cheese to a cow, in aseason. 1700 Ibs. of pork were raised in connection with the dairy. Half the pork was considered as due to the cows. “The process of making cheese began the 25th April, and ended the 1st December. As soon as the cows calved, the cows received 3 qts. of meal per day each—principally rye, with some Indian; and each had some whey, though not half what was yielded was given to them. Three or four of the cows received meal all the summer. He commenced feeding again with meal on the 25th July, and continued to give them two quarts of meal until the 25th August. On the 25th August, he began feeding the cows with corn-stalks until 10th September. Then the cows had the after feed of the fields; and from the Ist October, these cows had half alcad of pumpkins per day. In November, fed every cow fully with meal; two and three quarts per day until Ist December. After that, the cows had nothing but hay until spring. From the same cows, at the same time, butter enough was made, and milk enough used, for a family of six persons. The cheese sold in New York for $10 dollars per 100 lbs. “These products are certainly remarkable, and show what may be done by attention, skill, and good treatment of the animals under our care. The pasturage in Cheshire is of an ex- cellent description. The soil is generally of arich gravelly loam resting upon limestone, and abounding in vegetable mould. It is like- wise sensitive to the application of plaster, which is very commonly used.” The same excellent authority who has fur- nished the foregoing details, enables us to pre- sent the following views of farmers in those sections of Massachusetts most celebrated for dairy products in regard to dairy stock. “The farmers are unanimous in their pre- ference of the common native stock of the country, in which the Devon blood predomi- nates, to any foreign stock with which they are acquainted. They are in general as decided in their preference of small, over large-sized cows. They are not, however, raisers of stock; and buy their cows wherever they can find them, according to their best judgment. The remarkable produce, if so it be considered, is to be attributed to extraordinary good manage- ment and keeping; and on this account, de- serves the more attention, as showing what mav be done. DAIRY. “The dairy stock in England which seems to have the preference over all others, is the Ayrshire. The origin of this stock is not well ascertained; but though it has some of the qualities of the improved Durham, is a race distinct from that. Great pains have been taken and great expenses incurred, in order to introduce this fine Ayrshire race of cows into our state, by the Massachusetts Agricultural Society, and by an intelligent and public-spi- rited friend to agricultural improvement in Waterstown. I regret that I am not able to obtain such returns as would enable me to speak confidently of the merits or defects of this stock, so far as these cases go ;—but I am safe in saying, that some slight disappoint- ment has been experienced. It is probable, from the celebrity which they had obtained abroad, too much was expected from them here. Extravagant statements have been made re- specting their produce in Scotland. One of the advocates for this stock, and a man upon whose authority great reliance is placed, has under- taken to calculate precisely the number of quarts of milk given, and the number of pounds of cheese made from what is stated to be in money the average produce of an Ayrshire cow. This is certainly rather a loose way of reaching the result. Entire reliance cannot be placed upon it. This, another distinguish- ed Scotch farmer and dairyman admits; and says that ‘those statements are far too high and not well founded.’ “He refers to a farmer, on whose exactness he entirely relies; whom he pronounces a man of superior intelligence and accuracy ; and who has devoted himself to dairy hus- bandry ; and, further, whose stock were par- ticularly select, and ‘who had every inducement to keep them in the highest condition requisite for giving the largest product in milk.” The farmer referred to, states, that at the best of the season the average milk from each cow is 9 Scots pints (43 gallons), and in a year, 1300 Scots pints or 650 gallons. A Scots pint is two quarts. Now, allowing these cows to be in milk 320 days, the average yield of a cow would be 83 of a quart per day. But if we understand this to be wine measure, which is the usual standard of measurement in Eng- land, and compare it with our customary admeasurement of milk in Massachusetts, which is always beer measure, we must deduct one-fifth; and then the average product of an Ayrshire cow, compared with ours, is 63 quarts per day for 320 days. Such a yield is often surpassed by cows of our native stock. TI have before me the case of a cow of native stock among us, who, in 268 days, yielded 2923 beer quarts of milk; and of another, that produced 3975 beer quarts of milk in ten months. I can produce, within my own know- ledge, a list of nearly fifty cows of native stock, almost as productive as these. I do not mean to undervalue the imported stock. Far from it. I deem the introduction of the Ayrshire stock and the improved Durham short-horn, a great benefaction to the country. Their tendency to fatten, their early maturity, their beautiful proportions, highly commend them to our good will and our interests. As 2K2 389 DAIRY. yet, we have not had, by any means, a suffi- ciently fair trial of their dairy properties so as to determine fully, either for or against them; and it has been found here; in repeated in- stances, as it has proved abroad, that a cow, from a cross of an improved Durham, with the Devon, has given a valuable animal for the dairy. But among the great advantages which is to result from the introduction of this improved and beautiful stock, is this: to give our farmers a knowledge of what can be done by skill, intelligence, care, selection, and per- severance in the art of breeding animals for any purpose; in obviating defects of form, constitution, and habit; and in perpetuating and transmitting excellent and desirable pro- perties. In the Ayrshire stock, and in the improved short-horns, the most shrewd and persevering efforts have been exerted, and the highest practical skill and philosophy have been taxed to carry this race to as great a de- gree of perfection as any thing of the kind can be; and the success has been decisive and wonderful. Excepting in one instance, to which I shall hereafter refer at large, perhaps there cannot be found in the whole of New England, a single instance of any enlightened, determined, and systematic attempt to form a race of animals of particular and desirable properties. It is most important that this should be attempted in different parts of our country, with what are called our native stock, which have become, in various ways, so crossed and mixed up, that there is in truth no par- ticular race among them. A large portion of them are as ungainly, unthrifty, and unpro- ductive as can well be represented or imagined. Yet there are among them so many extraordi- nary animals,—extraordinary for their produce in milk, butter, and cheese,—that a few years of careful and intelligent selection from the materials already to our hand, and a strict observance of those philosophical principles of breeding which are well ascertained and understood, would undoubtedly give us a breed of animals, a stock or race of animals, greatly superior to that which now exists among us. This has been attempted in one instance by a highly intelligent breeder; and he is now able to show three generations of animals of as extraordinary character for the creamy or butyraceous quality of their milk as has ever been known. Two quarts of what is called the strippings, the last part drawn off of the milk of one of these cows, having re- peatedly produced one pound of butter; and the cream, as it came from the pans, as I have seen myself, becoming by churning converted into butter of the finest description in less than one minute by the watch; and this process repeated at pleasure. “Let us now compare the amount of cheese made by the English dairies, with some in this county of which I have given here an ac- count. “ An Ayrshire cow, it is said by the English authorities, will yield 257 lbs. of butter per annum, or about 5 lbs. per week, all the year round, besides raising the calf; or of new milk cheese, about 514 lbs. These returns are cer- vainly large; but they rest upon a calculation 390 DAIRY. of the quantity of milk which the cow is sup- posed to yield, rather than upon any account of an actual yield, None at least is given. This, therefore, is not so satisfactory as it would be, if it were a precisely ascertained result. One of the best authorities says, that in England, ‘a well-fed cow of a good breed will produce, upon an ayerage, 180 lbs. of butter in the season. The common calculation is indeed 150 lbs.; but this is made upon mixed stock, which affords no certain data. In the Epping district, where there is an indis- criminate mixture of Devon, Suffolk, Leicester, Holderness, and Scotch, the calculation, in a well-managed dairy amounts to 212 lbs.; that is, 6 lbs. per week during 26 weeks, and 4 lbs. per week, during 14 weeks. The average pro- duct of cheese in the best dairies, where the whole milk and cream are used, cannot be estimated at more than 4 cwt.—that is, 448 lbs. On deep grazing soils, that carry a heavy stock, a well-managed cow is reckoned to make from 360 lbs. to 600 lbs. In Somersetshire, the average is 43 cwt., or 540 lbs.; in Essex not so high, and in the midland counties something more than 3 cwt.’ It will be seen, in looking back upon the dairy returns in some parts of this country, that they are inferior to these, not frequently passing beyond 250 or 300 lbs. of new milk cheese. On the other hand, the re- turns of some of the dairies in Cheshire show an actual amount of annual produce of more than 500 Ibs. to a cow, and in some cases 627 and 632 lbs. It may be said that this is owing to the fine pasturage which is to be found in Cheshire and its vicinity ; to the particular care which is taken of the cows; and the system of high feeding adopted. But it shows con- clusively that the cows are capable of being brought to this productive yield; and the feed and management are matters which can be adopted anywhere. “A farmer in Sandisfield has a dairy of 24 cows; and they produce a cheese per day, weighing about 100 lbs. Supposing that it requires a gallon of milk to produce one pound of cheese, this would give 400 quarts of milk per day, or at the rate of 163 of a quart toacow. These cows are all of native stock; most of them raised by himself. His average product of new milk cheese to a cow in a season, is between 500 and 600 lbs, Last year the actual yield was 598 Ibs. to a cow. Of his 24 cows last year, two were heifers of two years old, just come in. Four years since he was the owner of a cow, whose milk in the best season amounted by actual weight to 70 lbs. per day. During the time of her greatest yield, she was fed with four pails of cheese whey, and some rye-meal. She was of native stock. This farmer has a heifer from her, which gives, as he supposes, 60 lbs. of milk per day. He gives an opinion, which from his successful experience certainly deserves at- tention; that heifers which ‘come in’ with their first calf at two years old, do better thaa when their coming in is delayed until three years old, Their milking properties are in this way improved. Probably he is right in this matter; but the general experience of the best farmers recommends that, if a heifer DAIRY. comes in at two years old, she should not be | allowed to have another calf, under at least eighteen months from this time.” In regard to the improvements in neat cattle made and still making in New England, Mr. Colman furnishes the following results, obtain- ed at Ten Hills Stock Farm, near Boston, under the enterprising efforts of Samuel Jaques, than whom, he thinks, no man, perhaps, in New England or the whole country, has more prac- tical skill or better judgment in relation to this kind of live-stock, his experience having been long, and marked by critical observation. The following extract contains Mr. Jaques’s own account of his enterprise and success, as com- municated to Mr. Colman: “Tt has,” Mr. J. observes, “been my object to effect such an improvement in milch cows as should produce the greatest quantity of rich milk, affording the largest quantity of butter. There is a greater difference in pecuniary profit between a good or a poor cow than among any other domestic animals. In some yards there may be found those which will not produce more than three pounds per week, and others that would make nine, and all on the same keep. As we sometimes hear of cows which have produced seventeen pounds of but- ter per week, and even more, it occurred to me to inquire why a breed or race could not be formed with the same valuable properties. This I have attempted, and have carried it to the third generation; and I am confident of success. I have a cow whose milk has pro- duced nine pounds of the best butter in three days, and this on grass feed only. This I call my Cream-Pot breed. I have bred my cream- pots with red or mahogany-coloured hair, yel- low noses, with mahogany-coloured teats, yel- low skin, silky and elastic to the touch. I have obtained the breed by the cross of a Durham short-horned bull on a selected native cow with certain extraordinary points and properties, anxious to retain as much of the form of the Durham as to insure capacious udders, and with the valuable property of affording rich milk. Though an admirer of the Durham short-horns, I have not found them producing so rich milk nor making so much yellow butter as I could wish. The Durham race are round and straight in the barrel, full in the twist, and inclining to be thick in the thigh. I have wished for some improvement in the form of the bag. But I would premise, that whatever I may say in respect to breeding animals, I only desire to express my own private notions, without a wish to dictate to any one from the experience I have had, which I am sensible is very limited. Generally, cows which I have examined, giving the largest amount of the richest milk, have had capacious bags, full be- hind, extending far,up into the twist, and also well formed; hanging moderately deep when full in milk, and after the milk is drawn, quite the reverse; for I would avoid a fleshy bag. My cream-pot breed are full in the body, drop deep in the flank, are not quite so straight in the belly, nor as full in the twist, nor as thick in the thigh; but in other respects I wish them to approach the Durham as near as may be. My cream-pot breed excel particularly in afford- | DAIRY. ing a great quantity of rich cream, and that cream capable of being formed into butter in a short time, and with little labour, leaving a small proportion of buttermilk. Their cream produces more than eighty per cent. of pure butter; and it is not infrequent to form the cream into butter in one minute. It has been done in forty seconds. “T have a heifer designated as Betty Cream- Pot, one of the third generation, which pro- duced her first calf at two and a half years old. Mr. Brown, my foreman, made the fol- lowing experiment upon her milk, without my knowledge at the time. After milking, he took two quarts of her milk out of the pail, and, having strained it into a pan, al- lowed it to stand twenty-four hours. Having then skimmed the cream into a bowl, he churned it with a table-spoon, and in one mi- nute, by the clock, he formed the butter. It was then pressed and worked in the usual way, and amounted to half a pound of pure butter. After this, the following practice was pursued, for eight or ten weeks in succession. At each of four successive milkings, two quarts of the strippings were strained into a pan, making eight quarts in the whole. All was mixed to- gether in the same pan, and then churned. The average time of churning did not exceed ten minutes; in some instances the butter was formed in five minutes. After being properly worked over, it was weighed, and never fell short of two pounds. The remainder of her milk was for family use, and, when set for cream, produced the usual quantity. ‘These experiments were made on grass feed only. She did not give a large mess; only about twelve quarts per day. I have forty cows and heifers, ten bulls and bull-calves of different grades of this cream-pot breed, all bred and raised by myself. I keep my bulls, selected as breeders, until I have proof of the quality of their offspring. My old cream-pot bull is ten years old. My Don Cream-Pot, from which I am now breeding with some of my cows and heifers, is three years old.” “Tt will be seen,’ says Mr. Colman, “that Mr. Jaques speaks with all the enthusiasm of an amateur. I cannot endorse, certainly to their full extent, all his doctrines respecting the power of breeding, at pleasure, any animals of any desired shape or colour, and of forming them as a statuary would mould his plaster; but the approaches which a scientific and ex- perienced breeder can make to such a power as this are very considerable, as all the im- proved races of animals show, whether among neat cattle, horses, sheep, or swine. “The dam of this stock was a noble-sized cow, raised in Groton, Mass.; but the owner there knew nothing particularly of her origin. She was sold to a gentleman by the name of Haskins, residing in Dorchester, about five miles from Boston; and her cream was of such extraordinary richness, that it would become separated into butter by the motion of the car- riage in bringing it into the city. “Mr. Jaques is entitled to great credit fcr his care and judicious selection in continuing and improving the stock. Ihave repeatedly seen the cream from these cows, and its yellowness 391 DAIRY. and consistency are remarkable; and in com- pany with several genulemen of the legislature, } I saw a portion of it converted into butter with a spoon in one minute. The colour of Mr. Jaques’s stock is a deep red, a favourite colour in New England. They are well formed, and thrifty upon common feed; and, if they conti- nue to display the extraordinary properties by which they are now distinguished, they promise to prove themselves, for dairy purposes, the most valuable race of animals ever known among us, and as remarkable as any of which we have any information. They have now reached the third generation, and maintain their high character. “From six cows taken promiscuously in a dairy of improved short-horn stock, in England, with a view to test the quality of the milk, it was found that they gave in the following pro- portion of butter to one quart of milk : No.1, 30z. 6dwts. No. 4, 1 oz. 10 dwts. 8 18 66 1s 14s 31 12 « 6&1 6 * “These measures, it will be perceived, are given in troy weight, of which it requires 175 lbs. to make 144 lbs. avoirdupois. It is not stated whether the quart was wine or beer measure, and it is therefore difficult to adjust the proportions. A variety of circumstances, likewise, would affect, in some degree, the result; as, whether the milk was taken at the beginning or the last part of the milking; and how long the cows had been in milk from the time of calving; and what was the kind of feed given them at the time of the experiment. Still, I have quoted the result, as, under any circum- stances, showing by comparison the extraordi- nary product of the cream-pot breed.” Mr. Colman has added to his report of the dairy produce of the county of Cheshire, a table showing the number of cows kept on 45 farms in 1838, with their produce, the amount sold, and prices obtained. The whole number of cows was 913; the amount of new-milk cheese sold, 300,000 lbs.; skim-milk cheese, 11,050; cheese used, 7,500 lbs.; butter sold, 19,050 lbs. The average price for the new- milk cheese was 7} cts.; of skim-milk cheese, 3 cts., and of butter, 17 cls. per pound. In; the dairy establishments about Boston, good hay, and corn-fodder are the general feed, with sometimes carrots, ruta-baga, and mangel- wurtzel. The ruta-baga, and all the turnip family, are apt to impart a turnip taste to the milk, which is very generally disliked. Mr. Colman was informed by a very careful milk- man that no objection of this sort is found against ruta-baga, if they be given to the cows directly after, and not just before being milked. Before the next milking comes, the disagree- able odour is entirely got rid of. The best milkmen prefer good clover hay for cows in milk to any other. “Potatoes and mangel- wurtzel,” says Mr. Colman, “increase the quantity without improving the quality of the milk. Carrots, parsnips, and sugar-beets im- prove the quality.—A milk farm, well situated and with a good custom, is a profitable hus- bandry where the milk brings.6 cents in sum- mer and 64 cents in winter. A good deal of milk is sold by the farmers to the milkmen for 392 DAIRY. 3 cents per quart, of the profits of which man- agement to the farmer I have strong doubts. If we suppose that it requires 10 quarts of milk to make one pound of butter, this at 3 cents per quart would be 30 cents. Suppose the milk to be made into butter, there is a pound of butter worth 25 cents, and, if of su- perior quality, 33; there are the skim-milk and butter-milk remaining, worth certainly for young pigs 14 cent per quart—say 9 quarts, 13 cents; and there is the manure made by the swine kept, which is of considerable value. “The amount of milk furnished by a herd of cows through the year is very differently estimated by different persons. Rare indivi- dual cows may be occasionally met with, giving ten, and perhaps, in some remarkable case, even eleven quarts of milk per day through the year—that is, 365 times 11 quarts, or more than 4000 quarts per annum; but such cases are very fewin number. In Curwen’s dairy of 28 cows, kept and fed with great care for 220 days, the average was eight wine quarts per day, or a little more than six beer quarts. In the Harleian dairy, where a hun- dred cows were kept, it is said that twelve wine quarts were about the daily average; but the statement, in the form in which it is made, is very imperfect and doubtful. Twelve wine quarts would a little exceed nine beer quarts. Nothing could surpass the pains used in the selection of these cows, the care taken of them, and the abundance with which they were fed. If the statement were positive, I should regard it differently ; but as it seems to be rather mat- ter of conjecture than of proof, I place little dependence upon it. In a private letter toa respected friend from the celebrated Fellen- berg, it is stated that, at that institution, the cows, which are considered amongst the best milch cows in the world, average through the year about six quarts perday. But here again we are left at a loss to know, whether the year includes only the season while they are in milk, or 365 days. These are foreign state- ments. I wish I had those from among our- selves, on which entire reliance can be placed. Men in these cases are so in the habit of deal- ing in conjecture instead of facts, that it is ex- ceedingly difficult to arrive at the truth. I have been so often deceived in these maiters that I place little confidence in any thing which is not matter of actual measurement and positive verification. The most intelligent and careful milkmen whom I have consulted are of opi- nion, that their cows average about six quarts per day for 365 days, and go dry in that time from two to three months. A very careful milkman, who may be entirely relied on, from 20 cows produced 11,1314 gallons of milk in ayear. This was at the rate of 6} quarts per day for 365 days, or 74 quarts per day for 300 days. These cows were native stock, ex- tremely well selected and well fed. Succes- Sive trials on this same farm give about the same result. “On a milk establishment in Medford, under excellent management for many years, with twenty cows in sammer and more than thirty in winter, the average product for 366 days is from five to six quarts toa cow per day. The DAIRY. cows are fed in winter upon clover hay, an allowance of a peck and a half each of succu- lent vegetables, and some Indian or oil-meal cake. The summer feed is not stated, but great advantage has been derived from green Indian corn fodder. Oil-meal cake is not con- sidered of equal advantage with Indian. It is deemed too dear if more than $25 per ton. Carrots are preferred to all other vegetables when the quality of the milk and the condition of the animal are regarded. Since the use of the most powerful hydrostatic presses in ex- tracting the oil from the flax-seed, the cake is by no means so valuable as formerly, and the price should be proportional. “Tn the case of a milk establishment in the vicinity of Salem, on an average of thirty-five cows in mill the product in one year was 17,171 gallons of milk, beer measure ; in an- other year, it was 17,530 gallons. In the first case it would be about 54 quarts to a cow; in the latter, 53 to a cow per day through the year.” Several enterprising individuals have im- ported some of the very finest bulls and cows, of the Ayrshire breed, generally reputed the most celebrated dairy stock in England. In regard to the qualities of these and their pro- geny, Mr. Colman remarks that they are said to yield large quantities of milk and produce large amounts of butter and cheese; besides keeping themselves in good condition, and being easily made ready for the butcher. The cows are eminently beautiful. In size, how- ever, and symmetry, they are decidedly inferior to the improved Durham short-horns; but there is good reason to think them a hardier race of animals. Of the improved Durham short-horn race, we have, Mr. Colman remarks, had some of the best animals ever brought into the United States, and their blood has been considerably diffused throughout the country. In point of size according to their age, in respect to sym- metry and perfection of form, these animals are, in my opinion, not surpassed, indeed not equalled by any others. “The Herefords,” he says, “are extremely beautiful; in neatness and fineness of form perhaps superior to the improved short-horns. The Devons likewise, though considerably smaller in size, yield, in compactness of shape, in quickness of move- ment and muscular strength, and in softness of hair and beauty of colouring, to no other race known among us. They are the preva- lent race of our country; and in an extraordi- nary instance, when I had the singular pleasure of seeing three hundred yoke of these cattle—that is, all more or less of this breed—in one team, in Connecticut, I could not resist the conclusion ‘that a finer team, of the same number of cattle, could not be found in the whole country. YetI am ready to admit that I have seen some few yokes of oxen of mixed blood, of the improved Durham, as fine in appearance, and in reputation as good ani- mals for work, as any that I have met with; and some individual animals of the improved Durham short-horns, both pure and half-blood, bulls, oxen, and cows, when all points have DAIRY. which I have seen. They have approached as nearly to what I imagine the perfection of form in this race of animals as is to be looked for. With good keeping, they come early to maturity, and attain a large weight. The but- chers, however, whom I have consulted, give it as their opinion that they do not tallow so weil, in proportion to their size, as our own smaller cattle. In my observation, no animals degenerate sooner under neglect and poor keeping ; 3 and they require extraordinary feed and the most careful attendance to keep up their character and condition. “So much sensibility exists in reference to this subject, the dairy properties of the im- proved short-horns, and so much of private interest and speculation is now mingling itself in the judgments which are formed or the opinions given in the case, that, if it is not difficult to speak with calmness and sobriety, it may be unreasonable to expect to be heard with candour and impartiality.” With this judicious remark, Mr. Colman proceeds to give well authenticated reports made of the milking exploits of the short-horns and their crosses, followed by the most cele- brated performances of native cows, in yield- ing milk, butter, and cheese. From the numerous examples recorded of superior dairy qualities exhibited in native cows, we cannot omit the following :— “The Oakes cow, in Danvers, Mass., produced in 1813, 180 lbs. of butter; in 1814, 300 lbs.; in 1815, over 400 lbs.; in 1816, 484} Ibs. During this time, one quart of the milk was reserved daily for family use, and she suckled four calves for four weeks each, in the course of those years. She produced in one week 194 lbs. butter; and an average of more than 16 lbs. of butter per week, for three months in succession. The largest amount of milk given by her in one day, was 443 lbs. She was allowed 30 to 35 bushels of Indian meal per year, and all her own skimmed milk and most of the buttermilk. At one time, the owner gave her potatoes, which increased her milk, but not her butter. In the autumn, he gave her about six bushels of carrots. “A cow owned by Thomas Hodges, in North Adams, produced last year 425 lbs. of butter; 400 Ibs. of this amount were made in nine months. Her feed consisted of one quart of rye-meal, and half a peck of potatoes per day; and very good pasturing. “ Cow of Ralph Haskins, Dorchester, Mass., 1827. Eighteen quarts per day—average 14 to 15 quarts. Before grass feed in April, the cream of two days made 2} lbs. butter, and was made from 2;}; quarts of cream. Two or three minutes in churning. This was the mother of Mr. Jaques’s famous Cream-pot breed. “Cow of H. G. Newcomb, Greenfield, Mass., 1830, from March 27th to May 25th, made 100 Ibs. of butter, and reserved 160 quarts milk. In 14 days, made 29,8, Ibs. butter. “Cow of Shelburn, Vt., has yielded 26 quarts, beer measure, in a day; and at two milkings |in 24 hours, produced 3 Ibs. 14 oz. of butter | This cow was raised in Vermont. Some per been considered, have surpassed any thing | sons, from her great product, call her English; 50 393 DAIRY. but the admixture of blood is very small if any; and if any, it is not known, whether Durham, or Ayrshire, or what. There is nothing but her colour, which indicates any difference from our best formed native stock. She has some progeny by an Ayrshire bull, which are very promising. “Cow of 8. Henshaw, Springfield. 17} lbs. of butter per week, and in one case, 21 lbs. of ex- cellent butter. In 43 days, that is 4 days and one milking, she produced 14 Ibs. 3 oz. of but- ter, at the rate of 223 lbs. per week. Cow of O. Morris, Springfield. “The summer after she was seven years old, the quantity of butter made from her between the first day of April and the first of September, five months, was 206 lbs. During the time, we used milk and cream in the family freely. Some weeks we have made 14 lbs., exclusive of milk and cream used for family purposes. I have often weighed her milk in the month of June, and she has frequently yielded 31 lbs. at one milk- ing at night. We have been particular to have her milked in the summer at five o’clock in the morning and at seven o’clock in the evening, and always by the same person. I think much of regularity in the times of milking; and that one person only should be permitted to milk the same cow the same season. My cow has always had a good milker, and her milk has been rapidly drawn. Her food in the winter is good hay, and in addition thereto from 2 to 4 quarts of rye-bran at noon. I feed and give her water three times each day. In the sum- mer, besides the pasture, she has 4 quarts of rye-bran at night. From the experience I have had with this cow, I feel quite sure that many cows which have been considered as quite or- dinary, might, by kind and regular treatment, good and regular feeding and proper care in milking, have ranked among the first-rate.” For their dairy products these examples of native New England cows are certainly admir- able. They do not, however, equal those re- ported of many Durhams in our country, among which may be mentioned the Belina of Mr. John Hare Powell of Pennsylvania, an im- proved Durham, which yielded repeatedly 26 quarts of milk in 24 hours, and produced in three days 8 lbs. 13 oz. of butter; or at the rate of 204 lbs. per week; the feed consisted of slop composed of Indian meal, with clover and orchard-grass. One quart of the cream pro- duced 1 lb. 54 oz. of butter. In one instance two minutes, and in another only three se- conds were required to convert the cream into butter. The celebrated Blossom, also an improved Durham short-horn cow, owned by Mr. Canby, in Delaware, gave 2534 quarts per week, being an average of 36 quarts per day; from which were made 17% lbs. of well-worked butter. The famous Durham cow Dairy Maid, be- longing to Mr. James Gowen of Germantown near Philadelphia, yielded 334 quarts of milk per day. Neither do any of these distinguished milch cows equal in dairy qualities the celebrated Cramp cow, owned in Lewes, England, which sll bears the palm both abroad and at home. She was of the Sussex breed, and came of a 394 DAIRY. celebrated stock. Her performances recorded were as follows :— “From the first day of May, 1805, the day she calved, to the second day of April, 1806, a space of forty-eight weeks and one day, her milk produced 540 lbs. of butter. The largest amount made in any one week, was 15 lbs. From May to June, she gave 20 quarts per day. From 20th June, to 10th September, 184 quarts. In forty-seven weeks, she pro- duced 4,921 quarts of milk. “In the next year, from 19th day of April, 1806, the day she calved, to the 27th February, 1807, forty-five weeks, she produced 450 lbs. of butter. ‘The largest amount per week was 12 lbs. The quantity of milk for the time was 4,137 quarts. During this year, she was sick and under a farrier’s care three weeks after caly- ing. She went dry seventeen days only. “Tn the third year, from the 6th of April, 1807, the day she calved, up to the 4th April, 1808, fifty-one weeks and four days, she produced 675 lbs. of butter. The largest amount made in a week was 18 lbs. The quantity of milk given in that time was 5,782 quarts. In the fourth year, from the 22d April, 1808, the day she calved, to the 13th February, 1809, forty- two weeks and three days, she produced 466 Ibs. of butter. The quantity of milk given in the time was 4,219 quarts. In the fifth year, from April 3d, 1809, to May 8th, fifty-seven weeks, her produce in butter was 594 Ibs. The amount of milk given in the time was 5,369 quarts. The largest quantity of butter in any week was 17 lbs. This is the most extraordi- nary cow of which we have any record. Though it has been presented to the public before, yet the account may not be accessible to all; and I deem it useful to state the mode of her treatment. “Tn the summer season, she was fed on clo- ver, Iucerne, rye-grass and carrots, three or four times a day; and at noon, about four gal- lons of grains and two of bran, mixed together, always observing to give her no more feed than she eats up clean. In the winter season, she was fed with hay, grains, and bran, mixed as before stated, feeding her often, viz., five or six times a day, as was seen proper, and giving her food when milking; keeping the manger clean, where she is fed with grains; not to let it get sour; wash her udder at milk- ing three times with cold water, winter and summer; never tied up; lies in or out the barn as she likes; particularly careful to milk her regularly and clean. Milch cows are often spoiled for want of patience at the latter end of milking them.” With regard to the merits of the Durham breed, about which such a variety of opinions have been entertained, Mr. Colman expresses himself as follows :— “The beauty of the improved Durham short- horns and their perfection of form are admira- ble. They come with good keeping early to maturity. They have a tendency to keep them- selves in good condition; and, with extraordi- nary feeding and care, they arrive at a large size, and some individuals, all points consider- ed, have surpassed any thing within my know- ledge. The Claremont ox, a half-blood Dur- DAIRY. ham, whose pedigree is not known, which was | sent from this country to England for exhibi- tion three years since, was pronounced by competent judges the finest animal of the kind ever seen there. His live weight was reported as not far from 3700 lbs. The Greenland ox was nearly as heavy, and singularly beautiful. A native ox exhibited in Boston, in 1840, did not differ much from these in size, fulness, and weight; but compared with them in appear- ance, he was misshapen and deformed. The Durham cows, in general, especially the se- lected ones, which have been imported on ac- count of these qualities, are large milkers ; but their milk seems generally inferior as to rich- ness or butyraceous properties. The milking properties of Mr. Whitney’s stock, at New Haven, are very remarkable. The Durham cows are large animals, and should be expected to secrete largely of milk; but many of them, however. are inferior as milkers; and, upon as calm and impartial a view of the subject as I can take, from my own personal observation, I cannot pronounce them, as a race, distinguish- ed and preferable to all others for their dairy qualities. I have come to this conclusion with very strong prejudices in their favour; and as I measure my words in this case, I wish to be judged only by what I say. Whenever a short- horn cow proves an inferior milker, the enthu- siastic advocates of the race are pleased to tell us that itis because she has no pedigree, and is not a herd-book animal; but admitting that her genealogy is somewhat mixed, it is singu- lar that the virtues of the blood should not show themselves to a degree, and that the im- purity or defect should always predominate. It is certain, however, that many mixed bloods have in every respect excelled many of the pure bloods.” Such are the respective merits of the short- horned and common breeds for dairy purposes, according to the experience of one who has had extensive opportunities for observation, and who is to be regarded as a candid and im- partial witness. We think, however, that the most just view of the subject is presented in the following extract from the Edinburgh Quar- terly Journal of Agriculture, and we are pleased to find this opinion sustained by no less an authority than the late Judge Buel, who has endorsed the sensible views of the European writer, by imbodying them in his Farmer’s Instructer. “Tt has been frequently asserted that short- horned cows are bad milkers; indeed, that no kind of cattle are so deficient in milk. Those who say so do not know the still greater defi- ciencies of the Herefords, a species of cattle quite unknown in Scotland. The highest bred stocks of the Messrs. Collins, Mr. Mason, and Mr. Robertson, yielded little milk. Indeed, Mr. Robertson’s could not supply milk sufficient for their own calves, at least not in the quan- tity which it was desired by him they should receive. Cows were kept for the purpose of supplying the deficiency of milk of the high- | bred cows. But this deficiency of milk did not altogether proceed from the circumstance | of the cows being of the short-horned breed; | because those eminent breeders devoted their | | that year. DAIRY. whole attention to the developement of flesh, and not at all to the developement of milk. Had the flesh been neglected as much as the milk, and the property of giving milk as much cherished as the developement of flesh, their short-horned cows would have been deep milkers. As it is, the generality of short-horned cows are not bad milkers. Indeed, it is not to be doubted that where the general secreting powers of the animal system have been in- creased, as it has been in that of the short-horns, the power of secreting milk will be increased with the power of secreting flesh and fat; ali that seems requisite is to encourage the power of that secretion which for the time is most wanted. I have no doubt that it is completely in the power of the breeders of short-horns to make them good milkers. It would be to de- sire an impossibility, to desire the full develope- ment of flesh, fat, and milk at the same time; but there is no absurdity in desiring a large secretion of flesh and fat at one time, anda large secretion of milk at another, from the same cow. Accordingly, this is the very cha- racter which has been acquired by short-horned cows. They will yield from six to sixteen quarts a day throughout the season; and they are so constant milkers that they seldom remain dry above six weeks or two months before the time of calving. “But the practice of the owners of public dairies in towns, were there no other proof, would prove the milking powers of short-horn cows. They prefer them as the greatest and most steady milkers; and it is now difficult to see cows of any breeds but short-horns or crosses with them in these dairies. In London, Edinburgh, and Liverpool, fine short-horn cows may be seen at the public dairies. They are bought by the milkmen whenever they come of age, that is, five or six years old. They give milk till they attain the age of eight or nine, and are then fed off fat for the butcher. These cows can be fed off fat. This property, and that of milking, prove clearly that short-horns possess both in a remarkable degree. They do not, itis true, possess both in an eminent degree at the same time; but they exhibit either property separately when it is desired. They thus give a return in flesh for part of their original high price, while they remunerate their owners in the mean time with an abund- ance of milk for their food.” Dairies in Holland.—Holland has long been celebrated for its fine dairies, and the Highland Society of Scotland, considering that the Scotch dairies might derive some advantages from an acquaintance with the management of those of Holland, offered a premium for the best report upon that subject, founded upon perso- nal observation. The premium was in 1833 awarded to John Mitchell, whose report, filled with interesting facts and details, is published in the Transactions of the Highland Society for In the quotation formerly made from the London Commercial Journal, the superior qualities and higher market value of Dutch butter were referred to. Some idea of the dairy produce of Holland may be gained by considering, that in addition to the home consumption of a populous country, and the 295 DAIRY. vast quantities sent to other parts of Europe, to the West and East Indies, and other parts of the world, England imported in 1830 no less than 116,233 cwt. of Dutch butter, and 167,913 ewt. of Dutch cheese. : The pastures in Holland, as is generally known, have been reclaimed from the ocean, the waters of which are kept off by artificial embankments. The lands, of course, lie very low and flat, and as the water in the numerous canals is always near the top, the soil must be moist. The ground is seldom broken up with the plough, but is kept in good condition by top dressings, consisting chiefly of the solid, and especially the liquid manures collected in the cow-houses, mixed with the scrapings of the small canals. The first year after such dressing the land is generally mown for hay. The Hollanders make careful selections of their cows for the dairy, the price of good ones being usually from $40 to $45. “They are generally fattened and turned off to the butcher, at eight years old, and bulls at four or five. The cows are turned to pasture in March or April, and are at first covered with a very thick cloth of tow, covering the upper half of the body from the shoulders to the tail, to prevent diseases from cold. They are pastured about thirty weeks. Hay is their common food in winter, though rape-cake and brewer’s grains are sometimes added. The byers or cow- houses are generally lofty, airy, paved with large square bricks, and kept perfectly clean. The roof is about ten feet high. There are no racks or mangers, but the food placed in gut- ters, always clean, near their heads. Gutters in the rear serve to carry off the urine and dung, and these gutters are also kept clean. “ Process of manufacture—The cows are al- ways milked by the men, and the butter and cheese made by the women, generally of the family. Ninety cows are managed by nine men and two women. There is generally one man required to ten cows; while two women are considered enough for any dairy. The farmer reckons that he can make 100 guilders, about $40, per annum, by each cow. “ Butter—There are three distinct kinds of butter made in Holland; grass butter, made when the cows are at grass; whey butter, from the whey of sweet milk cheese; and hay butter, made in winter. “Grass butter—The cows being carefully milked to the last drop, the pitchers containing the milk are put into the koclbak. When the cream has been gathered and is soured, and if there is a sufficient quantity from the number of cows, they churn every twenty-four hours, the churn being half filled with the soured cream. A little boiled warm water is added in winter, to give the whole the proper degree of heat, and in very warm weather the milk is first cooled in the koelbak or cooler. In small dairies the milk is sometimes churned, when soured, without separating the cream. The butter, immediately after being taken out of the churn, is put into a shallow tub, called a vioot, and carefully washed with pure cold water. It is then worked withya slight sprink- ling of fine salt, whether for immediate use or the barrel. When the cows have been three 396 DAIRY. weeks at grass, the butter is delicious, is made in fanciful shapes of lambs, stuck with the flowers of the polyanthus, pyramids, &c., and sells as high as 44 stivers, 60 to 70 cents, the 17 oz. or Dutch pound. If intended for bar- Telling, the butter is worked up twice or thrice a day, with soft, fine salt, for three days, ina flat tub, there being about two pounds of this salt allowed for fourteen pounds of butter; the butter is then hard packed by thin layers into casks, which casks are previously carefully seasoned and cleaned. They are always of oak, well smoothed inside. Before being used, they are allowed to stand three or four days, filled with sour whey, and thereafter carefully washed out and dried. Each cow, after being some time at grass, yields about one Dutch pound (174 oz.) of butter per day. “We beg our dairy-women,” says Judge Buel, “to mark two points in the preceding process. 1. No salt is used but what is incorpo- rated with and dissolved in the butter, and which is necessary to give it flavour; and, 2. The butter intended for keeping is worked from six to ten times, to incorporate the salt, and to separate from it every particle of liquid, which, if left in it, would induce rancidity. “ Hay butter undergoes a like process. “ Whey butter—The whey is allowed to stand three days or a week, after being separated from the curd, when the cream is skimmed off, or the whey itself put into the churn, and the butter is formed in about an hour. By this process, in winter, one pound of butter is ob- tained from each cow in a week, and in sum- mer one pound andahalf. The relative prices are generally, grass butter 84 stivers, hay but- ter 7, and whey butter 6. Cheese.—There are four kinds of staple cheese made in Holland; the Edam and Gouda, both made from unskimmed milk; and two kinds, Kanter cheesey made from milk once or twice skimmed. “ Edam cheese-—The process of manufacture of the Edam cheese is as follows: “The milk being yearned as soon as taken from the cow, when coagulated, the hand ora wooden bowl is passed gently two or three times through the curds, which are then al- lowed to stand a few minutes. The bowl or finger is again passed through them, and they stand a few minutes. The whey is then taken off with the wooden bowl, and the curd is then put into a wooden form (of the proper size and shape of the cheese to be made). This form is cut out of the solid wood by a turner, and has one hole in the bottom. If the cheese is of the small size (about 4 Ibs.), it remains in this form about ten or twelve days; if the large sized, it remains about four- teen days. It is turned daily, the upper part during this time being kept sprinkled with about two ounces of purified salt of the large crystals. It is then removed into a second box or form of the same size, with four holes in the bottom, and put under a press of about 50 lbs. weight, where it remains from two to three hours if of the small size, and from four to six if of the large size. It is then taken out, and put on a dry, airy shelf in the cheese apartment, and daily turned over for about four DAIRY. weeks, when they are generally fit to be taken to market. “Alkmaar, in North Holland, is the great market for Edam cheese. It isnot uncommon to see 800 farmers at the market, and 470,000 cheeses for sale on one day. The price there averages about 30s. per cwt. ($6 66). (Culti- vator.) “ Gouda cheese—This kind of cheese is also made from the milk immediately on its being taken from the cow. After gradually taking off the principal part of the whey, a little warm water is put upon the curd, which is left stand- ing for a quarter of an hour. By increasing the heat and quantity of water, the cheese is made hard and more durable. All the whey and water is then taken off, and the curd is gradually packed hard into a.form cut out by the turner, flatter and broader than the form for the Edam cheese. A wooden cover is placed over it, and the press, with a weight of about 8 lbs., put upon it. It is here frequently turned, and altogether remains under the press about twenty-four hours. The cheese is then carried to a cool cellar, put into a tub contain- ing pickle, the liquid covering the lower half of it. The water for the pickle is boiled, and about three or four handfuls of salt melted in about thirty imperial pints of water. The cheese is not put in until the water is quite cold. After remaining twenty-four hours, or, at most, two days, in the pickle-tub, where it is turned every six hours, the cheese, after being rubbed over with salt, is placed upon a board slightly hollowed, having a small channel in the centre, to conduct the whey which runs off into a tub placed at one end. This board is called the zouttank, upon which several cheeses are placed at a time. About two or three ounces of the large crystallized salt is placed upon the upper side of the cheese, which is frequently turned, the side uppermost being always sprinkled with salt. It remains on the zouttank about eight or ten days, according to the warmness of the weather; the cheese is then washed with hot water, rubbed dry, and laid upon planks, and turned daily, until per- fectly dry and hard. “The cheese-house is generally shut during the day, but must be open in the evening and early in the morning. “Gouda is the principal market for this kind of cheese, where it sells at about 35s. per cwt. “Fach cow at grass in Holland is calculated to give about three or four pounds sweet milk cheese per day. «“ We omit the method of making the Kanter cheese, which is similar to our skim-milk cheese, and of the cheese utensils. “The milk-houses are generally between the dwelling and cow-house, in a square apart- ment, in a corner of which is the cooler; it is airy, roomy, and paved with square bricks, the upper part serving for churning, making cheese, &c.; and descending a few steps, into a sort of cellar, is the milk-room, having two or four windows, which are opened or shut according to circumstances. “The cheese-houses are also generally cel- lars, kept clean and well ventilated. “The Dutch are remarkably particular as to DAIRY. the quantity and quality of their salt, of which there are three kinds manufactured; and it is this, our reporter thinks, which is the principal cause of the sweet and delicious flavour of their butter, which, although well-flavoured, hardly tastes of salt, or, rather, of that acrid quality which is perceptible in the butter of Great Britain. “ Cleanliness governs in all the Dutch dairies. Every dwelling-house is a model and a pattern. They seem to vie with each other on this point. The cow-house is pure and clean, not a par- ticle of filth being to be seen in it; the cows, says Mr. M., are as clean as if they were ina dining-room; the milk and cheese-houses, and, in short, every part of the house, are free from dust and dirt of any kind. The whole apart- ments, even the byre (stalls) and hay-house, are generally under one roof; and the cleanly system and the admirable arrangement give that comfort and pleasure which are too often wanted in other conntries.” See Buel’s Far- mers’ Instructer. The Journal of the English Agricultural So- ciety contains an article on the rural affairs of some parts of Holland, in which an excel- lent account is given of the Holstein mode of making the butter which is so very famous. The Holstein dairies are very extensive, vary- ing from 100 to 400 cows. and provided with buildings and every necessary accommodation on a corresponding scale. Whenever practi- cable, the milk room or cellar is made to face the north, and sufficiently capacious to hold the proceeds of at least four milkings. The brick or tile floors have already been described. Numerous windows or air passages are pre- pared so as to secure the most perfect ventila- tion; they are furnished with glass sashes and shutters, and within have gauze curtains to ex- clude insects. When, as is sometimes the case, both cheese and butter are made at the same dairy, the apartment for cheese is always kept separate from that devoted to butter-making, from the vicinity of which last every thing is carefully kept away which by any possibility could exer- cise a sinister influence on the very suscepti- ble substances of milk and butter, which suffer to a degree those unaccustomed to observe it little suspect from an impure atmosphere. The dairy is managed by women, of whom there is the superintendent, or head dairy woman; and one dairy maid to every eighteen cows. There is besides the owner or overseer, and one or more men who attend to the feeding of the swine. There are others whose business is to attend to the cows, see that they are properly fed,and every thing in its proper place and keep- ing. The overseer sees that the cows are fully milked, as on this the quantity and excellence of the cream is greatly depending. It has been ascertained by carefully repeated experiments that the first drawn milk contains five, the se- cond eight, and the fifth seventeen per cent. of cream. The business of the head dairy woman is arduous, and demands a full acquaintance with the various processes. “She must not only thoroughly understand, but accurately observe the precise time when the milk should be 2L 397 DAIRY. creamed; the degree of acidity it must attain in the cream barrels; its temperature, whether requiring the addition of warm water or cold to the churn; as well as the all-important ope- rations of kneading, beating, salting, and pack- ing the butter.” The milking commences at four in the morning (the milkers rising at three), in the field, and the milk is conveyed to the dairy by a one horse wagon, from hooks on which large vessels are suspended. To pre- vent the milk from flying over the brim of these vessels in moving the wagon, thin pieces of wood, of nearly the size of the vessel, float on the milk, and this practice is adopted when pails are carried by the hand. The effect which vessels made of different materials has on the promoting or retarding the acidity of milk, has received much atten- tion in Holland, and the vessels most generally preferred on all accounts are shallow wooden keelers, holding about eight quarts. In some few instances glass vessels are used, and some of the reports speak of them highly. It has been found that cream, to make first rate butter, must be removed from the milk before the latter gets at all sour, and that the cream will not fully rise under thirty-six hours; to pre- vent souring before that time, especially in sultry weather or during thunder storms, re- quires particular attention to temperature. A cellar temperature of from 60 to 62 de- grees gives the best and the most cream, the rising being completed in thirty-six hours; a greater degree of warmth hastens the process, but lessens the quantity of the butter; a lower temperature preserves the milk forty-eight or sixty hours, but imparts an unpleasant flavour to the cream and butter. The commencement of souring in milk is marked by a slight wrinkling of the cream, and a slightly acid taste. When this appears, whether the milk has stood a longer or a shorter time, skimming commences. As fast as it is collected, it is poured through a hair sieve kept for this pur- pose alone, into large barrels of 240 quarts each, in which it remains till the necessary sourness is attained, which in summer usually takes twenty-four hours, and in winter thirty- six or forty-eight hours. During this advance to acidity, the cream is frequently stirred, to prevent its coagulating or becoming cheesy, and when fit for churning, the skill of the dairy woman is required to determine the proper temperature to make good butter. In warm weather the churn is rinsed with the coldest water, and if necessary cold spring water is added to the cream, but if the cellar is properly made, this is rarely necessary. In cold weather the churn is washed in warm water, and is sometimes applied to the cream itself. The churning being completed, the butter is imme- diately carried to the butter cellar, where, in a large tray or trough made of beech or oak highly polished, and provided with a plug at the lower extremity to let off the milk, the but- ter is slightly worked and salted with the purest salt, moulded with a ladle into a mass at the upper end of the trough, and left for some hours to drain. In the evening it is thoroughly kneaded and beat, the dairymaid lifting a piece of three or four pounds, and slapping it against 398 DAIRY. the trough with great force to beat out the milky particles. After the whole mass has thus, piece by piece, been freed from the buttermilk, it is again spread out, and receives its full salting (in all about 1 ounce of salt to a pound of butter), which is worked with the utmost care equally through the whole, and is then mould- ed into a compact mass. Butter in Holstein is seldom washed, though in some other parts of Holland it is practised with the greatest suc- cess. When enough is made to fill a cask, the several churnings are once more kneaded and beat thoroughly together, a very little fresh salt is added, and it is then packed in the barrel, which is made of red beech wood, water tight, and previously well washed with water and salt. The cask must be filled at a single pack- ing, each layer pounded down, and care being taken that no interstice is left between the but- ter and the sides of the cask. This packing of a cask at a time gives the butter of large dairies the advantage over small ones, as it must be left longer exposed to air before the quantity requisite to fill the barrel is obtained. “The qualities of first rate butter are consi- dered to be, Ist, a fine yellow colour, neither pale nor orange tinted; 2d, a close, waxy tex- ture, in which extremely minute and perfectly transparent beads of brine are perceptible ; but if these drops be either large, or in the slight- est degree tinged with colour, it indicates an imperfect working of the butter; while an en- tirely dry, tallowy appearance is equally dis- approved; 3d, a fresh, fragrant perfume, and a sweet, kernelly taste; 4th, good butter will, above all, be distinguished by keeping for a considerable time, without acquiring an old or rancid flavour. “The quantity of food which can be afforded to the cows during winter is determined at the beginning of the season, when the harvest re- turns are known; and in plentiful years the calculation is, that each cow should be allowed three sacks of grain (generally oats, at 140 pounds the sack), 3,000 pounds of straw, in- cluding bedding or litter for the stable, and 1,800 pounds of hay of good quality; while for every 100 pounds of hay deducted she must receive 25 pounds of grain more, and vice versa.” During the winter the requisite colour is given to the butter by some colouring mate- rial; and the best for this purpose is found to be a mixture of annatto and turmeric, in the proportion of five ounces of the latter to one pound of the former. The average quantity of milk from the Hol- stein cows is about 2500 quarts per annum ; much dependirg on the food and care; and it is calculated that every 100 pounds of milk will give 34 pounds of butter, 6 pounds of fresh cheese, 14 pounds of buttermilk, and 763 pounds whey, where cheese is made. Fifteen quarts of milk are considered a fair average for a pound of butter, though sometimes a cow gives milk so rich that 12 quarts make a pound. “On the whole, it is considered a fair return from the Holstein dairies when the produce amounts to 100 pounds of butter and 150 pounds of cheese per annum to each cow.” (Buel.) The farmer will find a good article on the DAISY. dairy in Professor Low’s Breeds of British Ani- mals,—a beautifully illustrated work, which should be patronised by all the Farmer’s Clubs, as well as by those agriculturists to whom its price is not an object. The following authori- ties may also be consulted with advantage: “On the Meadows and Dairies of Holland.” (Trans. High. Soc. vol. i. p. 202); “ Reports up- on Dairy Management,” (Jbid.) p. 341; vol. 11. p. 254; vol. iv. p. 406); Mr. Aiton “On the Making of Butter and Cheese in the Dairy Dis- trict of Scotland,’ (Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. v. p- 350, and Com. to Board of .Agr. vol. iv. pp- 214-337) ; also the article “ Dairy” in vol. vii. of the Penny Cyc. in Bazter’s Lib. of Agr. Know., and in vol. iii. of British Husbandry, Lib. of Use. Know. DAISY, COMMON, or DAY’S EYE (Bellis perennis). These large white gawky-looking flowers are so universal in English pastures and meadows, that description is almost need- less. They flower all the year, principally dot- ting the meadows early in May; in March they begin to be common, and after Midsummer to be less numerous. The root is slender, and the plant flowers from March to September. Double as well as proliferous daisies are com- mon in gardens, and the proliferous variety is now and then found wild. Domestic cattle scarcely touch this plant. Notwithstanding its beauty and its celebration by poets, the daisy is thought a blemish or intruder in neat grass-plats, and can be overcome by perpetual stubbing only. (Eng. Flor. vol. ili. p. 448.) The most common daisies in the United States are that called Flea-bane, and by botanists Eri- geron strigiosus, and the Horse-weed or Butter- weed (Erigeron Canadensis). ‘This last has an annual root, the stem growing from six inches to five or six feet in height, very hairy and much branched above. The flowers are white, and disposed in rays. In the Middle States it is a common weed in fields and on roadsides, flowering in August and September. The daisy called Flea-bane has a biennial root, as some botanists believe, and is common in pastures and upland meadows, flowering in June and August. The flower consists of white rays. It isa very common and worthless weed, especially in the first crop of upland meadows after a course of grain crops. (Flor. Cest.) Another species of daisy called the Handsome Erigeron (E. pulchellus), is common on the bor- ders of woods and thickets, where it flowers in the Middle States in May and June. Its root is perennial, and the whole plant is somewhat hoary. The rays composing the flowers, which are large, are of a pale bluish purple. Some ten or twelve additional species of eri- geron have been found in the United States. (Flor. Cest. ; Nuttall’s Genera.) DAISY, MOON, or MIDSUMMER DAISY (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum). The Ox-eye Daisy, or white-flowered chrysanthemum (P1. 10, w), is a vile weed introduced into the United States from Europe. In many parts of the country it is spread wide and far, constituting a serious nuisance. DAM. The mother of any young domestic animal. Also a mole or bank to confine water. See EmeankMENT. DANGEROUS ANIMALS. DAMSON. A small, useful, black plum, brought originally from Damascus, whence the hame. DANDELION, COMMON (Leontodon taraxa- cum). A corruption of the French name dent de leon, or lion’s tooth. An indigenous, peren- nial plant, growing in meadows and pastures, on roadsides, ditch banks, and indeed every- where. Root tap-shaped, very milky, exter- nally black, difficult of extirpation; leaves nu- merous, spreading, of a bright shining green, quite smooth, and they may be called lion- toothed; flowers one and a half inches wide, of a uniform yellow colour, which blow from April to August, and have the remarkable pro- perty of expanding early in the morning in fine weather only, and closing in the evening. (Eng. Flora, vol. iii. p. 349.) It is a valuable medi- cine, is aperient, powerfully diuretic, and alte- rative in its qualities, and, if persevered in, is excellent in liver complaints; it must be taken in decoction, or in the form of extract. Its de- obstruent influence in torpid conditions of the liver is striking; but its use must be persisted in for a considerable length of time. It should now and then be omitted for a few days, as it is apt to derange the stomach. By culture, and especially by blanching, this herb, though, like the garden lettuce and en- dive, originally full of bitter milk, becomes sufficiently mild to be eaten in a salad, nor is its bitterness of a disagreeable kind. In France the roots and leaves are eaten with bread and butter. The marsh dandelion (L. palustris), is a distinct species, smaller in size than the fore- going, and naturally a bog plant, growing in low boggy meadows. Dandelion is relished by goats, and especially by hogs, who devour it eagerly; but sheep and cows dislike it, and horses totally refuse it. (Willich’s Dom. Encyc.) DANDELION HAWKBIT (.4pargia taraz- aci). See Hawknirt. DANDRIFF. A species of scurf which is brushed out in grooming the horse, and con- sists of scales or portions of the cuticle, or scarf skin, detached in its gradual change or renewal. DANE-WORT, or DWARF ELDER WALL- WORT (Sambucus ebulus). The green leaves of this European plant have a narcotic smell, and are said to expel mice from granaries; nor will moles come where these leaves or those of the common elder are laid. Cattle will not eat the foliage. Its berries impart a violet colour, and their juice, mixed with vinegar, dyes raw linen, as well as morocco leather, of an azure blue. (Eng. Flora, vol. ii. p. 108; Willich’s Encyc.) This perennial plant is frequently mistaken for the common elder. It grows four or five feet high, and dies away every autumn to the ground. The stalks are green and round, very like the shoots of common elder; but having no woody part about the plant, they rise green from the ground. The leaves are longer than common elder leaves, and they are serrated round their edges. The flowers are small and white, succeeded by black berries, which the birds rarely suffer to ripen. It loves untilled ground, hedgeways, &c., flowering in summer, and ripening its berries in autumn. DANGEROUS ANIMALS. See Nutsance. Sig) DANNOCKS. DANNOCKS. A provincial name for hedg- ing-gloves. DAPPLE. A term sometimes used to sig- nify marked with various colours. DARGUE. A local word signifying the quan- tity of peat turf one man can cut and two men wheel in a day. : DARNEL (Bromus secalinus). Smooth rye brome-grass. (Bromus mollis, Pl. 7, b.) Soft brome-grass. Both these grasses pass in Eng- land under the common name of darnel. Pro- fessor Martyn supposes the annual bearded rye-grass (Loliwm temulentum, Pl. 7, c), to be the darnel of the Romans (Virg. Georg. i. 153). Mr. Holdich, of the Farmer’s Journal (Essay on IWeeds), observes that he never found this grass among corncrops. Sinclair (Hort. Gram. p. 32), says, ‘‘I have found the Bromus mollis and Alo- pecurus agrestis, with the Bromus secalinus to be the most prevalent weeds (of the annual grass kind) in corn fields ;” these, therefore, may be considered the darnel of the British farmer. In the Essay of Mr. Pitt, he treats of darnel as a plant which. he had often seen in wheat crops, and perfectly well knew. Dr. Wither- ing, in his Botany, also mentions this darnel (Lolium temulentum), as “common in corn-fields, mostly among barley and flax;” and that it isa very troublesome weed among wheat, in Nor- folk and Suffolk. The doctor also describes another species of Loliwm (L. arvense), as being much like the other, only it is smooth, and calls it white darnel. (Pl..7,d.) He observes that it is common in many parts and places, and “very injurious to a crop of wheat,” for which ‘he quotes Mr. Pitt’s authority. Mr. Pitt, indeed, names his darnel white darnel, but immediately calls it L. temulentum. Both these are annuals, and flower in July and August. Now it seems never to have occurred to writers on this sub- ject, that, when they were in any difticulty about agricultural weeds, they should have recourse to the characters of the seeds of the plants. It is quite impossible that any grass seed should be darnel, either ancient or modern, unless the seeds are heavy enough to resist the operation of dressing, and to remain in the wheat in part, in spite of all efforts to get rid of them. The ancients had wind and sieves, and they no doubt exerted themselves as much as possible to rid their wheat of such seeds as those of the L. temulentum, while such deleterious effects are ascribed to them if baked in bread, &c. Whe- ther these plants be common in corn fields in any part of England, or whether, if they be, their seeds are heavy enough to remain in sam- ples of wheat and barley, must here be left un- decided. I can only say that, in all my expe- rience, and as far as I have ever seen or heard from practical authority, I know of no darnel in England but the Bromus secalinus, and, less generally, the Bromus mollis. (Eng. Flora, vol. i. p- 151-3; Hort. Gram. Wab.; Sinclair’s Weeds, p- 4.) DARNEL (Lolium). There are in England three species of darnel enumerated by Smith (Eng. Flora, vol.i.p.173). The perennial darnel (L. perenne), common in meadows, pastures, and waste ground, and well known to the far- mer by the name of rye-grass or ray-grass. It yields an early crop of hay upon high or sandy DARNEL. lands, and makes a fine turf, which, however, is said not to be lasting except upon a rich soil. Much valuable information concerning its cultivation and merits is collected by Pro- fessor Hooker in his continuation of the Flora Londinensis. The result seems to be, that the grass is best suited to the light land of Norfolk, where it first obtained its reputation. See Rye Gnass. 2. The bearded darnel (L. temulentwm), the seeds of which are of very evil report for causing intoxication in men, beasts, and birds, and bringing on fatal convulsions. Haller speaks of them as communicating these pro- perties to beer. 3. Short-awned annual darnel (L. arvense), rather smaller and smoother than the preceding, of which it is probably but a variety. (Eng. Flora, vol. i. p. 172-5.) It would appear that different countries attached the name of darnel to different plants. Thus, in England darnel is referred to under the head of Rye-Grass, or Lolium, and also described as a species of Bromus. In some parts of continental Europe it appears the seeds of darnel have the reputation of causing intoxication in men, beasts, and birds, the effects being sometimes so violent as to produce convulsions. In Scotland the name of Slecpies, is applied to darnel, from the seeds causing narcotic effects. In England and America these effects have never been known to arise from eating flour made from wheat containing cheat. It is evident that the enemy of the grain crops called darnel, chess, and cheat is not the same plant in all countries, probably for the reason that different species of grasses somewhat resembling each other in external characters may be more favoured by circumstances of soil and climate and ex- posure in some places than in others. Cheat or chess is evidently a more hardy plant in re- sisting the effects of frost than wheat or rye, which often die in situations exposed to cold or other unfavourable influences, leaving the darnel, which, from some resemblance in the plant before heading, is thus supposed to be degenerated wheat, barley, or rye. When, however, the soil is rich and the other circum- stances favourable to the growth of wheat and other winter grains, these spread first over the ground and keep down the cheat or chess, or brome and rye-grasses, at least until after harvest. Not only does the idea prevail that wheat and other cereal grains degenerate to darnel, but also to spelt, well known to bea peculiar and very inferior species of wheat, of hardy growth, and much cultivated in some parts of Europe, especially in mountainous districts. Thus, we find that to believe the evidence of common observation, wheat de- generates into spelt in some countries, and in others into a species of bromus, fescue, or that species of rye-grass (the lolium temulentum) which is endowed with intoxicating qualities, all being designated as the wheat enemy, darnel. Nothing analogous to such metamorphosis can be found in nature, neither can it be fairly believed that such degeneration is possible, until some one makes a crucial experiment. It belongs to the credulous to afford the de- monstration. For more particular information in regard to cheat or chess in the United DARTARS. States, see Dr. Darlington’s Flora Cestrica, un- der the head of Bromus secalinus, Rye bromus, Cheat or Chess. DARTARS. In farriery,a sort of scab or ulceration taking place on the chin, to which lambs are subject. DAUBING. A word meaning provincially plastering with clay. DAUBY. A word applied to land when wet, signifying clammy or sticky. DAVYING. A provincial word applied to the getting of marl out of the face of the cliffs on the sea-coasts, when it is drawn up by a wince. DEADLY NIGHTSHADE. ponna and NicuTsHanE. DEAD-NETTLE (Lamium). A genus of perennial or annual European herbs, of which twenty species are described. Among which, are the white dead-nettle (LZ. album) and red dead-nettle (L. purpureum) to which medicinal properties are ascribed. The herbage of the former is scarcely eaten by cattle, and has a slightly fetid scent. The flowers abound with honey: Low says (Prac. Agr. p. 446) it is sometimes common in corn-fields, and having a strong, creeping, perennial root, it should be carefully extirpated. DEAD-TOPS. A disease incident to young trees, which may be cured by cutting off the withered parts close to the nearest sound twig or shoot, and claying them over, in the same manner as practised in grafting. DEAF. A provincial word signifying blast- ed or barren, as a deaf ear of grain, a deaf-nut, &c. or such as have no grain or kernel. In such cases it is probable that the pollen has been scattered, and never communicated the fertilizing principle to the seed, which resem- bles inthis respect an addle egg. DEAL (Sax. velan, to divide; Ger. dielen ; Dutch, deelen ; Dan. daeler). The small thick- ness into which a piece of timber of any sort is cut up; but in England the term is now im- properly restricted in its signification to the wood of the fir tree, cut up into thicknesses in the countries whence deals are imported. DEATH-WATCH (Anobium _ tessellatum ; Termes pulsatorium, Lin.). The popular name in England for a small insect that harbours chiefly in old wood. It is produced from a very minute white egg, hatched in March; in the perfect state these insects are about ;3,ths of an inch in length, and of a dark brown, spot- ted colour. They make a ticking noise, which is an expression of mutual affection between the male and female, but which has and is still superstitiously imagined by some to be an omen of death. See Penny Cyclo. vol. viii. * DEBRIS (Fr. debrée). In geology, any worn materials, such as fragments of rocks, ruins, or rubbish. DECAY. All vegetable as well as animal substances undergo two processes of decompo- sition after death. One of these is named fermentation, the other decay, putrefaction, or eremacausis. ‘The decay of woody fibre (the principal constituent of all plants) is accom- panied by a phenomenon of a peculiar kind. This substance, in contact with air or oxygen 51 See Brtra- DECIDUOUS. gas, converts the latter into an equal volume of carbonic acid, and its decay ceases upon the disappearance of the oxygen. If the car- bonic acid is removed, and oxygen replaced, its decay recommences, that is, it again con- verts oxygen into carbonic acid. Woody fibre consists of carbon and the elements of water; and if we judge only from the products formed during its decomposition, and from those form- ed by pure charcoal, burned at a high tempe- rature, we might conclude that the causes were the same in both: the decay of woody fibre proceeds, therefore, as if no hydrogen or oxygen entered into its composition. A very long time is required for the comple- tion of this process of combustion, and the presence of water is necessary for its main- tenance: alkalies promote it, but acids retard it; all antiseptic substances, such as sulphur- ous acid, the mercurial salts, empyreumatic oils, &c., cause its complete cessation. Woody fibre, in a state of decay, is the sub- stance called humus. The property of woody fibre to convert sur- rounding oxygen gas into carbonic acid di- minishes in proportion as its decay advances, and at last a certain quantity of a brown coaly- looking substance remains, in which this pro- perty is entirely wanting. This substance is called mould ; it is the product of the complete decay of woody fibre. Mould constitutes the principal part of all the strata of brown coal and peat. Eremacausis (from igéu2 slow, and x2iors, combustion) is the act of gradual combination of the combustible elements of a body with the oxygen of the air; a slow combastion or oxida- tion. The conversion of wood into humus, the formation of acetic acid out of alcohol, nitri- fication, and numerous other processes, are of this nature. Vegetable juices of every kind, parts of animal and vegetable substances, moist sawdust, blood, &c., cannot be exposed to the air, without suffering immediately a pro- gressive change of colour and _ properties, during which oxygen is absorbed. These changes do not take place when water is excluded, or when the substances are exposed to the temperature of 32°, and different bodies require different degrees of heat, in order to effect the absorption of oxygen, and, conse- quently, their eremacausis. The property of suffering this change is possessed in the high- est degree by substances which contain ni- trogen. . (Liebig, Org. Chem. Part 2d.) In the Appendix to the Third Report of the Agriculture of Massachusetts, 1840, Dr. S. L. Dana adduces the following example, to show that even with the presence of moisture, vege- table matter will not decay, if air is excluded. A piece of a white birch tree was taken from a depth of twenty-five feet below the surface, in Lowell. “It must have been inhumed there probably before the creation of man, yet this most perishable of all wood is nearly as sound as if cut from the forest last fall.” See Ni- TRIFICATION. DECIDUOUS (Lat. decido, I fall off). In zoology, a term applied to parts which have but a temporary existence, and are shed during 242 401 DECOMPOSITION. the lifetime of the animals, as certain kinds of hair, horns, and teeth. In botany, it is applied to such trees and plants as shed their leaves in the autumn, in contradistinction to evergreens. Thus the oak, the elm, the beech, &c., are called deciduous trees. DECOMPOSITION (Lat. decompositus). The reduction or dissolution of any mixed body to the separate parts of which it is composed. It is of great importance to be assured, that, in every process of decomposition, whether by heat, air, or putrefaction, nothing is lost, no- thing is ultimately destroyed; the components of the decomposed substance form new com- pounds. Decomposition is therefore not, in strict language, a destructive process; but merely a change of aflinities, and a transform- ation of old into new compounds. DEER (Sax. veon; Swed. diur ; Lat. cervus). The general name of animals of the stag kind, of which there are several species. These may be primarily divided into two groups; of which one includes those with antlers more or less flattened, the others those with rounded antlers. The ell is the most characteristic species of the first group. The- reindeer differs from the rest of the genus in the pre- sence of antlers in both sexes, and in the great developement of the brow-antlers. The third species of deer, referable to the flat-horned group, is the English park, the fallow-deer (Cervus dama, Lin.). The period of gestation in the fallow-doe is eight months. We have in England two varieties of the fallow-deer, which are said to be of foreign origin; the beautiful spotted kind, and the deep brown sort. These have multiplied exceedingly in many parts of the kingdom, which is now become famous for venison of superior fatness and fla- vour to that of any other country in the world. The spotted deer of the Dama species must not be confounded with the spotted deer brought from India, which is a distinct species, namely the Cervus (Axis) maculatus,and never changes its spots, whereas the spotted fallow-deer becomes a uniform brown in winter. This species has been domesticated in England, and propagates freely in parks. It is smaller and more elegant in form than the fallow-deer, and furnishes as good venison. Of the species of deer of which the beam of the antler gives a rounded form in section, the red deer (C. elaphus) and the roe- buck (C. capreolus) are indigenous species. The male red deer, in the language of “the noble art of venerie,” is called a “hart,” and the female a “hind.” She goes with young about a week longer than the fallow-doe; and brings forth in Maya single fawn, rarely two. The young of both sexes are at first styled “calves.” In the common stag, or red deer, the shedding of the horns takes place about the end of Feb- ruary, or during March. The fallow-deer sheds his horns from about the middle of April tu the first weeks of May. The roe-buck is the smallest species of European deer; the male is monogamous, and the female brings forth two fawns. They are not confined to the Scotish mountains, being still found in some of the rugged woods of Westmoreland and Cumberland. The roe-buck in its native wilds DEER, but it only congregates in low coverts. The food of the roe-buck in the Highlands of Scot- land is the Rubus saxatilis, or roe-buck-berry ; but in winter they browse on the tender twigs of the birch and the fir. The flesh of the roe- buck is tender and delicate, when the animal has been hunted. The horns are used for handles of knives, and other instruments. Three varieties of the genus Cervus are pro- fessed objects of the chase; the stag, the fal- low-deer, and the roe-buck; each of which have long been followed with great ardour, according to the tastes of different sportsmen, and their means of gratifying them: the roe- buck is, however, becoming scarce. The following notice of the several kinds of deer found in the United States, is chiefly con- densed from Dr. Harlan’s “ Fauna Americana.” 1. The Moose (Cervus alces), is by some called elk. Itis the largest species of the deer kind, and is distinguished from all others by having broad and flattened horns, and a hairy tuft and protuberance under the throat. In size, these animals are sometimes larger than a common sized horse. The upper lip is square, very broad, deeply furrowed, and hangs over the mouth. The length of the moose, measured from the tip of the nose to the base of the tail is 6 feet 10 inches: height of fore-part 5 feet 2 inches ; behind 5 feet 4 inches: horns 3 feet 1 inch long; breadth between these at their summits, 3 feet 10 inches: those on the male sometimes weigh 60 lbs. They consist of a simple and flattened expansion furnished with numerous prongs on the external border. The tail is ex- ceedingly short. The neck is short, and the female has no horns. Both sexes have a tuft of long hair, like a beard, beneath the throat, the male having a protuberance in the same place. The general colour is fawn-brown on the top of the head, the back, and ramp; anda deeper brown beneath the lower jaw, neck, &c. The under part of the tail is whitish. The young animal is of a reddish brown colour without spots. Moose live in small troops, in swampy places. Their gait, which is commonly a trot, is much less active than that of other deer. They live upon the buds of trees, moss, and some kinds of plants. In eating from the ground they are compelled, from the shortness of their necks, either to kneel or separate their fore-legs. ‘They rut about the end of August and all the month of September. The females bring forth from the middle of May to the mid- dle of June, generally two and sometimes three and occasionally only one atatime. The old moose shed their horns annually, in January and February, and the young in April. They live 15 or 20 years. This species of deer is met with at present only in the more northern parts of the United States, and beyond the great lakes. 2. The Rein-deer (Cervus tarandus), has a total length of 5 feet 6 inches; the horns are 2 feet 10 inches long, and 2 feet 2 inches apart at their summits. Their size is about that of the common deer, the legs being thicker in pro- portion, and the hoofs shorter and thicker, the neck is very short. The colour varies accord- ices not keep in herds in its perambulations;/ ing to the seasons and age of the animal. The 402 DEER. adult is of a deep brown in the spring, passing, as the season advances, to a grayish-brown, and. grayish-white, and during the warmest portion of the summer, is almost white. The Rein-deer is the only animal of the deer genus which has been subjugated by man. The Laplanders have large troops of them. The greater part of the males are castrated and harnessed to sledges. The females fur- nish milk, the flesh food, the skins clothing, cordage, &c. In America, however, the Rein-deer has never been domesticated for use. The male adults and sterile females lose their horns in winter, and the new ones are not perfectly hard and matured till August. They carry their young 33 weeks, at the end of which time, generally in the month of May, they bring forth. They abound in the northern re- gions, but are not found in the United States south of the state of Maine. 3. The Elk (Cervus Canadensis) called also the Canadian or American stag, inhabits Cana- da, Missouri, and other western states. The head of this species very much resembles that of the common deer. Its height at the withers is 4 feet; length of its branched horns 3 feet to 3 feet 10 inches; length of the tail only 2 inches. A black spot or mark descends from the corner of the mouth on each side of the lower jaw. The prevailing colour of the body above the flanks is a clear bloody-red. The female has no horns, and its colours are less strong. The elks associate in families. The females bring forth in the month of July. A fine specimen preserved in the Philadelphia museum, 13 years old, measures from the tip of the nose to the base of the tail 7 feet 7 inches. 4, The Virginian Deer (Cervus Virginianus), is the common deer found throughout the United States wherever extensive forests re- main. It is met with as high north as Canada, and passing southwards through the Isthmus, is even seen on the river Oronoco, in South America. Its total length is 5 feet 5 inches; the horns, measured following the curvatures, are 1 foot 10 inches long; these are provided with antlers or branches; the tail is 10 inches in length; the weight of the animal ranges from 90 to 120 Ibs. Its form is light, and its motions quick and exceedingly graceful. The colour of the young animal is of a deep brown, with small white spots; the adults in summer are of a beautiful brown or fawn colour, whilst the belly, insides of the thighs, and lower part of the tail are white. They take their winter coat in October; their summer dress in March and April; their horns fall off in February ; they carry their young nine months, and bring forth in July or August. Towards autumn the fawn loses its spots, and the hair becomes grayish, a state to which the hunters apply the phrase in the gray. The coat is shed in the latter part of May and beginning of June, and is then substituted by the reddish coat; in this state the animal is said to be in thered. To- wards the last of August, the old bucks begin to change to the dark bluish colour; the doe commences this change a week or two later; in this state they are said to be in the blue; this coat gradually lengthens until it comes to the DENMARK. gray. The skin is said to be toughest in the red, thickest in the blue, and thinnest in the gray; the blue skin is most valuable. The horns are cast in January; they lose the velvet the last of September, and beginning of October. This species displays great enmity towards the rattlesnake, which enemy they attack and destroy with singular dexterity and courage ; when the deer discover one of these reptiles, they leap into the air to a great distance above it, and descend with their four feet brought to- gether, forming a solid square, and light on the snake with their whole weight, when they im- mediately bound away; they return and repeat the same maneuvres until their enemy is com- pletely destroyed. In Pennsylvania, by act of Assembly, the killing of deer is restricted to the period be- tween the Ist of August and the Istof January, and similar enactments exist in other states. Deer are very timorous animals, and the hunter must be intimately acquainted with their habits and haunts. To approach them, even with the rifle, he exercises an instinct, which he has patiently cultivated, but little inferior to his dog. During or after a shower is chosen as the most favourable season for deer-stalking; both as a time when the deer will be more readily met with on the ridges, and that the noise made by the steps of the hunter may be drowned in the droppings from the trees. Their fondness for salt is also often employed for their destruction. A rotten log is salted, and when the hunter perceives that it is much frequented, he conceals himself within rifle-shot near it; or if it bears the marks of being recently visited, with a keen and tutored eye, he traces them to their lair In October, November, and December the ve- nison is best, if the weather has been mild; but after the country has been covered for some time with snow, it generally acquires an un- pleasanttaste, from their browsing upon the lau- rels (rhododenrons and kalmias) of the swamps. 5. Great eared Deer (the Cervus macrotis of Say), and by others called the Black Tailed Deer, and Mule Deer, inhabits the most remote northwestern territories of the United States. (Fauna Amer.; also Long’s Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, vol. 2.) 6. The sixth species of the American deer, having become extinct, is now only met with in a fossil state. Part of a skeleton having been sent by President Jefferson to the late Professor Wistar, the bones are described by the latter in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. i., new series. It pos- sessed many of the characters of the elk (Cervus Canadensis). The bones of this fossil elk have hitherto been discovered only in the morass near the falls of Ohio, called Big-bone- lick, in company with the bones of the masto- don, &c. (Harlan’s Fauna Americana.) DEER-NECK, in horsemanship, signifies a thin ill-formed neck. DENMARK. The agriculture of Denmark, especially of the duchies of Sleswic, Holstein, and Lauenberg, has been described by Mr. Carr. A large portion of this extensive dis- trict is alluvial soil, of a very fertile descrip- tion, composed of— 03 DENSHIRING. Parts. Silicious earth - - - - - 0560 Clay - - - - - - - 0040 Oxide of iron - - - - - - 0030 Chalk - = = - = = = 0002 Gypsum - - - - - - - 0009 Organic matters = - - - - - 0014 Loss - - - ot ec) - 0°045 1000 The size of the farms varies between 50 and 200 acres, a portion of which is commonly left for eight or ten years in pasture. The mea- dows in the marshes are not uncommonly let for two guineas per acre. The usual rotation of crops commonly followed is, after grass, oats, fallow, winter barley, rape for seed, wheat, oats, beans, oats. The Danes plough deep, with four heavy horses; crops usually heavy, often returning as much per English acre, according to Mr. Carr, as— Ibs, Rape seed - - - - 20 sacks of 200 Wheat - - - - 12tol4d — 220 Winter barley - - 25 to 30 —_ 200 Oats - - - = 30t036 — 160 This, however, seems an enormous produce. Their horses, sheep, and cattle are large, but coarse. Jutland is the greatest breeding dis- trict, the cows commonly yield from thirty to forty quarts of milk per diem. Their imple- ments of husbandry are poor. The wheel ploughs, with wooden mould-boards, are drawn by two horses. The harrows, with the excep- tion of the brake, have generally wooden teeth. The rotation on arable lands, is fallow dunged, rape seed, wheat or rye, barley, oats. In re- ference to seeds, red clover is sown in the pro- portion of 8 lbs., timothy or rye-grass 6 lbs. peracre. Clover is made into hay; and then pastured for four years. There are three dis- tinet breeds of cattle in these duchies. 1. The native cow, middle sized with not very long legs, fine head and horns, moderately thick neck, colour usually red or brown: these give most milk in proportion to their food. 2. The marsh cows, of a larger size, larger boned, co- lour red, requiring luxuriant pasturage, giving, when in full milk, twenty-four to thirty-two quarts per day, but their butter is smaller in quantity and of inferior quality to the others. 3. The Jutland cow, of fine bone, rather long body, colour gray or dun, more valued for its fattening than its milking qualities. (Journ. of Roy. Agr. Soc. vol. ii. p. 371.) DENSHIRING or DEVONSHIRING. A term formerly used for the operation of paring and burning. DEVIL’S-BIT SCABIOUS (Scabiosa succisa). This perennial weed, delighting in moist pas- tures, woods, and hedgeways, grows a foot high, with slender stalks and dark purplish- blue flowers, often milk white, resembling the garden scabious. It is also frequently seen in grain-fields. The stalks are round, firm, and upright, divided into several branches, and having two small leaves at each joint. The “saves which grow from the root are four inches long, dark green, harsh, and somewhat hairy. The root is blackish, tapering, the end appearing bitten off. It was called “Devil’s- lit,” from the idea among the superstitious of the olden time that the devil had endeavoured 404 DEW. to seize upon a plant so useful in its properties to mankind, but could not effect his purpose. He only bit off a piece of the root in the strug- gle, and carried with it all the virtue of the plant. (Eng. Flor. vol. i. p. 194.) The plant known by this name in the Middle States, is the Helonias dioica of Pursh, the Veratrum luteum of Muhlenburg, commonly called Blazing Star. It has a perennial root, and is frequent in woodlands and meadows, where it flowers in May and June. The root of this plant is bitter, and a tonic of some value. (Flor. Cestric.) DEW (Sax. veap; Dutch daaw ; Germ. thau, moisture). The deposition of water from the atmosphere during the night upon the ground, leaves of trees, and plants, blades of grass and other objects on or near the surface of the earth. The phenomena of dew have been considered by all writers on Meteorology, from Aristotle downwards ; but they were first suc- cessfully investigated by the late Dr. Wells, who gave the true theory of the meteor in an admirable essay on the subject, first published in 1814. Dew does not fall from the atmo- sphere like rain, but forms in very different quantities on different substances; thus, on metals, it is sparingly deposited; on glass it forms abundantly, as it does also on straw, grass, cloth, paper, and other similar substances. Animal substances are among those which ac- quire dew in the greatest quantity. The tem- perature of grass covered with dew is always lower than that of the surrounding air. On calm and very clear nights (the period when dew is deposited most abundantly), Dr. Wells very frequently found the grass seven, eight, or nine degrees, and on one occasion, fourteen degrees, colder than the air about four feet above the ground. In England dew proba- bly begins to appear upon grass, in places shaded from the sun, during clear and calm weather, soon after the heat of the atmosphere has declined; that is, three or four hours after midday, Very erroneous notions in regard to the man- ner in which dew is formed or deposited, have existed until a very recent period. This im- portant agent in the promotion of vegetable life has been supposed by some to rise from the ground, whilst the phrase “falling dew,” com- mon in all languages, would seem to imply an almost universal belief that dew falls from the air, similar to the finest rain or mist. These gencral impressions have, however, been de- monstrated to be incorrect, by the experiments of Dr. Wells ; whose explanation of the causes operating in the production of dew is as simple as it is satisfactory. When substances not perfectly transparent, are exposed to the sun, they gain more or less heat; but when the sun goes down they part with their heat and become cold. The surrounding air, however, with its invisible vapour or moisture, being transparent, does not radiate or shoot off its heat, and hence remains comparatively warmer than bodies not transparent. Hence grass, leaves, wood, or stone, by growing cold in the absence of the sun, have moisture to settle on them precisely for the same reason that it isdeposited on the outside of a pitcher or glass containing very cold water. DEW. The dew, therefore, is a deposit from that por- tion of vapour which enters into the composi- tion of common air, and which is swept in contact with objects at or near the surface of the earth, like breath thrown upon the blade of a knife or other polished surface. When the sky is clear, as in starry and moonlight nights, then do grass, leaves, and other objects, throw off their heat most rapidly and become cooler than the air immediately above them, and the colder they get the more dew is condensed upon them. Different substances part with their heat more or less rapidly, and this ex- plains the cause why different proportions of dew are observed on objects similarly exposed to the atmosphere. A gravel walk will have little or nowdew upon it, whilst the grass on each side will be reeking wet: because the grass not only radiates its heat more rapidly than the wall, but does not derive warmth from below to compensate for the loss. Be- sides, the moisture falling upon the gravel walk is absorbed more rapidly than the dew de- posited upon plants. The temperature at which dew begins to form is called the dew-point, and may be ascer- tained very accurately. Thus, by laying a thermometer on the grass in the evening, as the herbage parts with the warmth collected through the day, and gets colder, the moment little globules or particles of dew are observed on the grass, the degree at which the mercury in the thermometer stands shows the dew-point or temperature at which the watery vapour condenses. It has been observed already, that grass possesses a faculty of radiating or parting with its heat very rapidly, on which account it quickly becomes considerably colder than the air immediately above. If, when a thermometer is placed upon the herbage, an- other is suspended in the air two or three feet above, this last will not fall so low by many de- grees, the difference being sometimes as great as 10 or 15 degrees of Fahrenheit. In making this experiment, the instrument suspended in the air mustof course have its bulb covered from the sky by means of a piece of tin-foil, or other non-radiating substance, to pre- vent its heat from passing off, in which case the instrument would itself radiate, and thus represert its own temperature and not that of the surrounding air. It may be often observed that in the morning, whilst the grass is reeking wet with dew, a polished substance, lying upon it, such as the blade of a knife, will have little or no moisture on its surface. This shows that polished surfaces part with heat and become cooled down to the dew-point very slowly. The most dew will of course always be found on substances which have the power of cooling most rapidly, and few objects do this so readily as grass and the leaves of plants and trees. The degree of cold necessary to be acquired by grass and other objects, before they can have dew deposited on them, can always be ascertained beforehand. Thus, take a thin tumbler of cut-glass, having polished sides ; fill this about half full of pump or ice-water. Plunge into it the bulb of a thermometer, and the moment a film of dew or misty cloud is seen to form on the polished outside surface, DEW. note the degree at which the thermometer stands, and this will be the dew-point. Should pump-water not be sufficiently cool to produce a cloudiness on the polished surface of the glass, some ice may be added; or common salt and nitre, sal ammoniac, or some other sub- stance employed in the production of artificial cold. The temperature at which atmospheric vapour condenses to form dew is generally several degrees below the temperature of the atmosphere. But this is only the case during clear weather, since, when there is a fog, or a rain, the dew-point will be found to correspond with the temperature of the air; showing that any cause which contributes to bring down the atmospheric temperature to the dew-point, will directly promote the condensation of its vapour or moisture into mist, cloud, rain, snow, or hail. The many relations which the dew-point, or de- gree at which vapour condenses, holds with atmospheric phenomena, may be understood from this. And let it be borne in mind that the dew-point is almost continually rising or falling, like the temperature of the atmosphere, being usually, in clear weather, some four, six, eight, or ten degrees lower than common air, as indicated by the thermometer. The very simple means just described, by which the dew-point can be ascertained, ap- proximately, with the aid of a tumbler and thermometer, is by no means the only mode practised for the purpose. On the contrary, it is the most primitive plan, and one requiring great skill and judgment to ensure tolerable accuracy. Mr. Daniells, a learned meteorolo- gist, of London, several years since invented a contrivance called a Hygrometer, for deter- mining the dew-point, which is rather compli- cated and too costly for general use. It will, we think, be entirely superseded by an instru- ment very recently invented by Prof. A. D. Bache, of Philadelphia, of which the following general description may furnish some idea. One of the forms of this instrument consists of a square bar of highly polished steel, about half an inch in depth and breadth, and ten inches long, one end of which fits into a case attached to a box of tinned iron or copper. This box is to contain cold water, ice, or a freezing mixture, according to the season or rather to the tempera- ture of deposition, or dew-point. The end of the bar which fits into the case has its tempera- ture brought below the dew-point, while the other end is at the temperature of the air; one of the sections of the bar is, therefore, at the dew-point. Between this section and the box vapour is deposited on the side of the bar, and beyond it, in the highly burnished surface of the steel, appears in strong contrast, the line of junction being very well defined. To ascer- tain the temperature of the line where the de- posit of dew commences, cylindrical holes are made perpendicularly downwards in the bar, at intervals of about half an inch apart, throughout the whole length, large enough to admit the bulb of a very small thermometer, and deep enough to carry the bulb entirely into the substance of the bar. If the line of deposition is opposite the middle of one of these holes, the thermometer then gives the dew-point; if between two of them, the 405 DEW-BERRY. temperature at each hole is taken, by the same thermometer, or by two thermometers, and the proportional part of the difference correspond- ing to the distance of the dew-point line from the lower thermometer is added to the tempera- ture observed by it. Care should be taken in making this observation to let the temperature of the different parts of the bar become sta- tionary before attempting to register them. In another form of the instrument, an iron or copper trough containing mercury is substi- tuted for the bar; one side of the trough, which is best made square in its section, is of polished steel or gilded. The trough is attached to a tin vessel, as in the other instrument. When the surface is cooled down so as to obtain the line of deposit on the face of the trough, the bulb of a small thermometer, which may be moved along in the mercury within, is brought oppo- site to the line. The temperature which it de- notes is, of course, the dew-point. See Armo- spHERE and HyGnomerer. DEW-BERRY. The fruit of the blue bram- ble (Rubus cesiuvs), so termed from the resem- blance of the glaucous bloom, or waxy secre- tion upon the black shining berries, to dew. (Eng. Flor. vol. ii. p. 409.) See Bramsie. DEWLAP (from lapping or licking the dew). A term applied to the membranous fleshy substance that hangs down from the throats of neat cattle. DEY. An old English word for milk, now obsolete, but from whence we derive dairy. DIARRHGBA. See Diseases or Sursep, Car- TLE, and Honses. DIASTASE. When cold water is poured upon barley newly malted and crushed, is per- mitted to remain over it for a quarter of an hour, is then poured off, filtered, evaporated to a small bulk over boiling water, again filtered if necessary, and then mixed with much alco- hol, a white tasteless powder falls to the bot- tom, to which the name of diastase has been given. If unmalted barley be so treated, no diastase is obtained. This substance, therefore, is formed during the process of malting. If wheat, or barley, or potatoes, which by steeping in water yield no diastase, be made to germinate or sprout, and be afterwards bruised and treated as above, diastase will be obtained. It is therefore produced during germination. (J. F. W. Johnston’s Lectures.) Diastase, like sulphyric acid, possesses the property of transforming starch entirely, first into gum, and then into grape-sugar. One part of diastase will convert into sugar 2000 parts of starch. Seeds which have germinated always contain much more diastase than is necessary for the conversion of their starch into sugar. This excess of diastase Liebig thinks can by no means be regarded as accidental. One of the functions for which diastase ap- pears to be created in the living seed to sub- serve, is to contribute to the wants of the young plant. “The starch in the seed,” says Johnston, “is the food of the future germ, pre- pared and ready to minister to its wants when- ever heat and moisture concur in awakening it to life. But starch is itself insoluble in water, and could not, therefore, accompany the 406 DIBBLE. fluid sap when it begins to move and circulate. For this reason diastase is formed at the point where the germ first issues from the mass of food. ‘There it transforms the starch, and ren- ders it soluble, so that the young vessels can take it up and convey it to the point of growth. When the starch is exhausted, its functions cease. It is then itself transformed and carried into the general circulation. Or when, as in the potato, much more starch is present than is in many cases requisite, its function ceases long before the whole of the starch disappears. Its presence is necessary only until the leaves and roots are fully formed, when the plant is enabled to provide for itself, and becomes in- dependent of the starch of the seed. When this period arrives, therefore, the production of diastase is no longer perceived. “This I have said is one of the purposes which appears to be served by diastase in the vegetable economy. That it is the only one we have no reason to believe. There may be others quite as interesting which we do not as yet understand. This is rendered more pro- bable by the fact that the diastase contained in one pound of malted barley is capable of con- verting into sugar five pounds of starch. (Liebig.) It is the diastase in malt which dis- solves the starch of the barley in the process of brewing, but as the diastase contained in malt is sufficient to dissolve so large a quan- tity of starch, it is obviously a waste of labour to malt the whole of the barley employed. One of malt to three of barley would probably be sufficient in most cases to obtain a wort con- taining the whole of the starch in solution. Advantage is taken of this property in the manufacture of the white beer of Louvain, and of other places in Flanders, and in Germany, where the light colour is secured by adding a large quantity of flour to a decoction of a small quantity of barley. And though at the tempera- ture at which the seed germinates, more of this substance may be necessary to transform the same weight of starch than is required in our hands, when aided by artificial heat,—yet as we never in the ordinary course of nature find any thing superfluous or going to waste, there is reason to believe that the diastase may be intended also to contribute directly to the nou- rishment and growth of the plant. As it con- tains nitrogen, it must be derived from the gluten or vegetable albumen of the seed; and as a young plant cf wheat, when already many inches from the ground, contains ne more nitrogen than was originally present in the seed itself (Boussingault), this diastase may only be the result of one of those trans- formations of which gluten is susceptible, and by which it is rendered soluble, and capable of aiding in the production of those parts of the substance of the growing plant into which nitrogen enters as a necessary constituent.” (J. F. W. Johnston’s Lectures.) DIBBLE (from dipfel, Dutch, a sharp point), An instrument or conical stick to make holes in the ground for setting grain, plants, &c. “The subject of drilling by machinery,” say the Messrs. Ransome of Ipswich, “naturally suggests the consideration of whether the ope- ration of dibbling may not be similarly accom- DIBBLING. plished. Many ingenious contrivances have from time to time been projected for this pur- pose, and several patents have also been ob- tained, but we are not aware of any that have been successfully and advantageously used. DIBBLING is a mode of sowing grain, es- pecially wheat, much practised in some parts of England. It is found to answer the best on the clover leys of the lighter descriptions of land. It is performed by a man walking backwards with an iron dibble into each hand, with which he makes the holes, on the furrow slice, into which the seed is dropped by child- ren, who place one or two seeds into each hole. By this mode there is a very considerable Saving of seed, the quantity employed of wheat being usually from three to five pecks. The wheat plant obtains a more solid soil, and con- siderable additional employment is afforded to the labourer and his family. It is, however, a rather tedious process, and is not adapted to the stiffer descriptions of soil, for on these the dibble forms little cups, in which the rain is apt to lodge to the destruction of the seed grain. A good dibbler with three active at- tendants will plant about half an acre per day. The expense for labour is commonly about-7s. to 9s. per acre for wheat. Dibbling was first pretty extensively intro- duced into the east of England about the commencement of the present century. It is spoken of as a novel practice in 1805, by Mr. Curtis of Lynn (Com. Board of Agr. vol. iv. p. 158), and by Mr. Pung of Sudbury, and Mr. Jones of Wellington, in Somersetshire (Ibid. 159); they had previously to this time made some rude attempts to employ the dibble near Yarmouth, in Norfolk, for, in 1784, Mr. Oxley describes the farmers of that district dibbling six, seven, and eight pecks per acre, in two rows on each furrow, by three or four droppers to one dibbler, at an expense of half a guinea per acre. (Young’s Annals of Agr. vol. ili. p. 220.) In Norfolk, and the neighbouring counties, broad-casting is now almost unknown. Mr. J. Barton, of East Leigh, Hampshire, says, 1836 (Hints to Schoolmasters, p. 2), 1 brought a man from Norfolk, twelve months ago, for the pur- pose of instructing my labourers in dibbling, and he brought with him the implements, which are made in the following manner. The body of the dibble is a core of hard steel, round which is soft iron, so as always to wear itself sharp; at the upper end is a handle. The instrument is three feet long, all iron excepting the handle; it weighs six pounds; a man walks with one in each hand backwards, and makes from 3000 to 3050 holes in a day, giving a slight twist with the wrist at the mo- ment of plunging the iron into the ground, which makes a hole that does not again fill up by the crumbling in of the earth. The ground should be even, then the rows are dibbled, the holes four inches apart, so that four of them can be covered at once by the foot; the rows are about four and a half inches apart; the holes are filled by a rake, or har- row with a few bushes woven into it. I pay nine shillings per acre of 160 rods for the work, out of which the dibbler pays the child- DIGITARIA. {ren who drop the wheat; three grains should | be dibbled in each hole, which will take about one bushel and a half per acre. The Norfolk farmers say the yield by dibbling exceeds that by broad-casting by four bushels per acre. Dibbling costs in Hertfordshire only 6s., and in Norfolk and Suffolk from 7s. to 10s. per acre, according to the distance of the holes, but where they are thickest, and three or four grains placed in each hole, it does not use more than two bushels of seed per are A writer in the Mark Lane Express says, drilling wheat is the most generally practised in the eastern part of the county of Suffolk, and dibbling wheat has been upon the decline for the last twenty years; I believe, because it is more trouble to attend to dibblers than to drilling; but I was in the habit of dibbling wheat when I took business for myself in 1807, and I continue the practice to the present day, for the following reasons :—lst, It encourages the poor man and his family, by increasing his wages, and gives employment to his children which they would not have if wheat was drilled. 2dly, It shows the children, when young, that Providence has ordained them to get their bread by the sweat of their brow; and I grow upon the four-course shift 100 acres of wheat every year. Tor wheat I pay for dibbling 7s. per acre, which is done by seven men that have the largest families: those men earn 5l. each in five weeks, generally, but if the weather be fine in less time. Another and 3d reason why I prefer dibbling is, that the men and children tread the land with their feet, which makes the land firmer and better for the crop. 4thly, It is better to clean the land, because you can only hoe between the rows of the drilled wheat, when you can hoe all round the dibbled plant. Sthly, The seed goes farther into the ground from dibbling than drilling, the small end piercing deeper than it appears, while the drill appears deeper than it really is, the coulter of the drill raising mould on each side, so that when harrowed the corn is not so deep as when dibbled. 6thly, There is always more under-corn, that is, small ears, from the drill than from the dibble, and dib- bling takes less seed. Six pecks is about the quantity of seed it takes, unless it be very early in the season. Iam a great advocate for dibbling, for the above reasons; I have tried both on the same field, and generally found the dibbled wheat the most productive; and it stands up better against the wind and rain:— Thus dibbling saves half the 3 OE usually broad-cast - - - = And the gain in the crop Reine - = - - 4 5 Makes - = - - > - ~ = Worth at 80s. per quarter - - - - 55s. And after paying per acre for dibbling - ale Yas Leaves, per acre - - - - - - 48 And even at 5s. gives a gain over broad-cast wheat of upwards of 20s. DICK, DIKE, or DYKE. A provincial word applied to the mound or back of a ditch, and dick-hole is the excavation or ditch itself. In Scotland it means a stone wall. See Dircu. DIGGING. See Spanr Huspannpry. DIGITARIA SANGUINALIS, Pl. 7, 7. Slen 407 DILL. der spiked finger-grass, or cock’s-foot finger- grass. See Fincer-crass and Cran Grass. DILL (Anethum graveolens, from dyabcy, on ac- count of its running up straight). A plant kept in kitchen gardens in England. It flowers and seeds in August; the stalk is round, hol- low, and upright, three feet high, and divided into many branches. The flowers are yellow and small, and stand in umbels on the top of its branches; the root is long. Its leaves and umbels are used in pickling, and the former in soups and sauces. It is a hardy plant, and if grown merely for domestic use may be cul- tivated in any open compartment: but if for seed, a sheltered situation, and a soil rather dry than damp, is to be allotted for it. It is propagated by seed, which is best sown imme- diately it is ripe, for if kept out of the ground until the spring, it is often incapable of germi- nating, or if plants are produced they usually decay without perfecting their seed; if neglect- ed until the spring, it may be sown from the close of February until the commencement of May: the earlier, however, the better. Dill may be sown in drills a foot apart, or broad- cast, very thin and rakedin. The plants are to remain where sown, as they will not bear removing. When of three or four weeks’ growth they must be thinned to about ten inches apart; for if not allowed room, they spindle, their leaves decay, no lateral branches are thrown out, and their seed is not good. To prevent these bad effects, in every stage of growth, they require to be kept clear of weeds. The leaves are fit for gathering as wanted, and the umbels about July and August. In Sep- tember their seed ripens, when the umbels must be immediately cut and spread on a cloth to dry, as the seed is very apt to scatter. A volatile oil and a distilled water are pro- cured from the seeds. Both are used as car- minatives; the water is a good vehicle for powders prescribed for children. (G. W. Johnson’s Kitch. Garden.) The kindred species called sweet fennel (Anethum faniculum) is by far the most esteemed. See Fenner. Dirt. A name sometimes given to the two- seeded tare, a species of large vetch. DINDLES. A provincia! word applied to the common and corn sow-thistles, as well as to the taller hawk-weed. DINGLE (from the Sax. ven, or din, a hol- low). A small clough or valley between two steep hills. DISEASES OF CATTLE, Honsss, and Carrtz. DISHLEY BREED. This name, applied to certain well-known breeds of cattle, and espe- cially sheep, is derived from the title of the paternal estate of the celebrated Robert Bake- well. The Dishley, is, therefore, synonymous with the Bakewell breed. The name of this celebrated original im- prover of stock is too intimately associated with the history of a great agricultural interest, to be passed over without some particular no- lice. Robert Bakewell was born about the year 1725, on his paternal estate at Dishley, in Lei- cestershire, and died there, October Ist, 1795. Though it does not appear that he contributed 08 See Snerr, DISTEMPER. any thing to literature, even on the subjects to which he devoted his life, yet his efforts, par- ticularly to improve the breed of sheep, justly procured for him a widely extended repatation. The cross breed which he introduced is well known as the Dishley, or new Leicestershire breed. He is to be distinguished from a Mr. Robert Bakewell, who, in 1808, published Observations on Wool, with notes, by Lord So- merville. (Penny Cyclop.; Gent. Mag. vol. lxv. p: 969.) Of his cattle, Arthur Young remark- ed, in 1783 (and Young was no flatterer), when speaking of another excellent farmer—* His cattle are of Bakewell’s breed, which is giving them sufficient praise.” (Ann. vol. ii. p. 156.) And in the same volume, p. 379, when noticing his breed of sheep, he says, “I have not a doubt that it is, without any exception, the first in the world.” To attain this excellence Bakewell devoted himself, travelling in search of stock to breed from, not only over England, but into Ireland and Holland. In 1787 his fame enabled him to reap some reward for these labours; for in that year he let three rams for 12501, and was offered 1050/. for twenty ewes. The principles which guided him in the breeding of stock are given, in 4nn. of Agr., vol. vi. p. 466, by Arthur Young, who twice visited him at Dishley. He kept con- stantly in view, in all his exertions, these ob- jects—the most meat from the least food—the least offal, and the size of the best joints. He thought, it seems, that the pale-coloured beasts yielded finer meat than the dark ones: he was one of the first who generally introduced the practice of feeling stock under examination; not but what it was a practice partially adopt- ed, even in the days of old Holinshed. Young describes, vol. viii. p. 473, the Dishley sheep, and Bakewell’s neat cattle at p. 486, which were, perhaps, the finest of his day; and thea his great heavy black cart horses, speaking of them as “ by far the finest I have seen of that breed.” Bakewell did much, too, in the con- struction of water-meadows (Jbid. p. 496), and it is evident from his various observations re- ported by Young, that he was an enlightened and successful agriculturist, as well as breeder. The Dishley sheep have long been celebrated for their aptness to fatten, their quietude, and the smallness of their bones—they will long hand down the name of Bakewell as one of the farmer’s best benefactors. Bakewell made no secret of his modes of improving stock, and rarely, if ever, entered into controversies with rival breeders. He wrote nothing himself, and the first scientific work on the subject was written by George Culley, in 1792, who formed himself on Bakewell’s model. ‘The examples of opulent and spirited proprietors have since continued to spread the improvements com- menced by Bakewell, and followed up by Culley, Collins, Kline, and others too numerous to mention. DISTEMPER is frequently used in the same sense as disease, but is particularly applied to cattle. In racing stables it is the distinguish- ing names for epidemic catarrh or influenza in horses. Bleeding in the early stage is re- commended, and it is important that the bowels should be evacuated, and sedative medicines DITCH. given. (The Horse, p. 189.) In dogs distemper is one of the most fatal diseases; a little emetic powder (3 grains of tartar emetic and 1 grain of opium) is recommended to be given (Clater’s Far. p. 392), followed by a dose once a day of 4, 5, or 6 grains of Turpith’s mineral. DITCH (Sax. vic), A trench cut in the ground, usually round the fences of a field. Trenches of this kind are formed differently in various localities, but they should always be made so as to keep the water in them as pure as possible. DIURETICS. In farriery, such remedies as have the power of forcing urine, that is, of stimulating the kidneys to a moderate degree, so as to augment their secreting power. Nitre, iodide of potassium, turpentine, cubebs, and juniper are diuretics. See Bart. DOCK (Rumex). A large genus of peren- nial plants, of which ten are natives of Eng- land. The bloody-veined dock (R. sanguineus) has already been described under the head Broopworr. The curled dock (R. crispus), a very troublesome and unprofitable weed, abounds in waste grounds, pastures, and by rvad-sides ; root tapering, yellowish stem, two or three feet high, somewhat zigzag; leaves smooth, of a lightish green; clusters of nume- rous rather crowded tufts or whorls of drooping pale green flowers. The sharp dock (R. acutus) is also not uncommon in low meadows and watery places. Root blackish and rather slen- der. The broad-leaved dock (R. obtusifolius) is a rank and very troublesome weed, common everywhere, which can only be conquered by stubbing up the root. Mowing is to little pur- pose; stems a yard high; root black; many headed; yellowish within. The other docks are the golden dock (R. maritimus), the yellow tnarsh dock (R. palustris), and the great water dock (R. Hydrolapathwm). (Eng. Flor. vol. ii. p. 190.) All these docks are purgatives, and may be used instead of rhubarb. A decoction made with an ounce of the root of Rwmex obtu- sifolius and a quart of water, reduced by boil- ing to a pint, then strained and sweetened, is a valuable remedy in that peculiar cutaneous affection called fish-skin disease (Ichthyosus). Dock. A term signifying to trim the but- tocks, &c. of sheep. DOCKING. In farriery, the art of cutting off the tails of horses; and for a description of which see The Horse (Lib. Use. Know., p. 327). DODDED SHEEP. Such as are without horns. DODDER (Cuscuta Europea). Pl. 10,e. The name of a species of bird-weed, which is not very commonly met with. This curious plant is unlike all others in appearance, having no leaves. The thread-shaped, red, or purple stalks, twining about other plants, headed with small reddish flowers, are easily to be recog- nised; they grow upon heaths and commons, intersecting the furze and nettles, and twisting themselyes round every thing they can meet with. The common people, who speak truly, but not in courtly terms, call it devil’s-guts and hell-weed, because it does great damage among their tares and flax. The lesser dodder (C. epi- thymum) is of a similar habit, but smaller than the preceding, 52 DOG. This is the curious creeping plant or vine which was formerly so frequent and injurious to flax-crops in the United States, often en- tangling and spoiling whole lots of it; but since the culture of flax has so much diminished, dodder has become rare. The American Cuscuta, Dodder, or Love-Vine, is also a singular parasite, which seizes upon any herbaceous plant which may be within its reach; but it is most commonly found in lo- calities where the snap-weed, spearmint, and false-nettle occur. Its thread-like naked stems have some resemblance to brass, or copper- wire, and twine constantly against the apparent course of the sun,—or west, south, east. (Flor. Cestrica.) DOE. In the technical language of the hunter, the female of the buck or fallow deer. The female of the red deer is called a hind. DOG (Lat. Canis). An extensive genus of animals, consisting of more than thirty species, of which that most generally known is the do- mestic dog (C. familiaris). The arrangement of M. Cuvier classes the dogs of the present day into three groups, dogs properly so called, wolves, and jackals. It will be sufficient for our present purpose to speak of the dogs under three heads: 1. Farm dogs; 2. Hunting dogs; 3. Shooting dogs. The first includes the shep- herd’s dog, the mastiff, and the bull-dog. The second, the terrier, the hound, the harrier, the beagle, and the greyhound. ‘The third class includes the pointer, the setter, and the spaniel. All these will be found noticed under their se- parate heads. That ingenious naturalist Mr. James Wilson has entered into the question of the origin of our domestic breed of dogs. (Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. vii. p. 539—681.) Col. Hamilton Smith has also taken up the natural history of dogs. (Naturalist’s Lib. vols. xxv. xxvi. See a notice in the Quart. Jowrn. of Agr. vol. ii. p. 511.) _ All zoologists agree that there is no trace of the dog to be found in its primitive state of nature, although wild dogs exist in India and America. The great affinity to the wolf, and the period of gestation being the same, have led some to believe that the wolf is the original dog. The two animals will breed together; the young of both are born blind, and at the expiration of the same time, namely, 10 or 12 days, the puppies of both ac- quire the power of vision. But one fact ren- ders this supposition at least doubtful,—none of the wild dogs, living in a state of nature, have ever returned to the true form of the wolf. The minute examination of this question, how- ever, would be out of place in this publication. In all the varieties of the dog, the following circumstances in his economy are constant: he is born with his eyes closed, he opens them on the 10th or 12th day; his teeth commence changing in the fourth month; and his full growth is attained at the expiration of the se- cond year. The period of gestation is 63 days, and from 6 to 12 pups are produced at a birth. The dog is old at 15 years, and seldom lives beyond 20; his vigilance and bark are univer- sally known. The dog is liable to so many diseases, that to treat of them here would be impossible. Ameng the principal are the dis- temper, rabies, ass the ear, te 2 DOG BRAMBLE. diseases of the eyes, fits, diarrhcea, &c., all of which are treated of under their several heads. In England, the shepherd’s dog (C. fam. do- mesticus, Lin.) offers the example of one of the purest races of this domesticated animal, and that which, in its straight ears, its hair and tail, approaches nearest to the original stock. The sagacity of this variety in the peculiar department in which his services are rendered to man is well known, and has been illustrated by a hundred interesting anecdotes. It is a curious fact, that the brain of the shepherd’s dog is larger than that of any other of the race; but how far this is connected with his sagacity we shall not pretend to affirm. Notwithstand- ing the great variations in size met with in the pasture or shepherd’s dog, in different coun- tries of the globe (for he is probably the most extensively diffused of the race), yet he every- where preserves some personal characteristics, which mark his adherence to the original type in a greater degree than in any other breed over which man has so arbitrarily exercised his dominion. One of these characteristics is his quantity of covering, which is invariably great, particularly about the neck. The large drover’s dog, which attends the beast-markets, is larger, and usually of a stronger build than the sheep-dog. The sagacious colly of Scot- land is a dog deservedly prized, though much smaller than either the English sheep-dog or the drover’s cattle-dog. The ears are never wholly pendent in any of the race; but in the British varieties, and many others also, they are half-erected, or half-pricked, as it is called. The prevailing colour is very generally gray, more or less dark; the tail is bushy, somewhat pendent, and recurved; visage more or less pointed. DOG BRAMBLE (Ribes cynosbati). One of a valuable genus of plants, which contains the gooseberry and the currant: some of the spe- cies are well suited for ornamenting shrubbe- ries. They will grow in any soil, propagated by cuttings planted in autumn, or early in spring. DOG-BRIER and DOG-ROSE (Rosa canina). The wild brier bearing the hip or hep. DOG-DAYS, or CANICULAR DAYS. The name given to certain days of the year, during which the heat is usually the greatest. They are reckoned about forty, and are set down in the almanacs as beginning on the 3d July, and ending on the 11th August. In the time of the ancient astronomers, the remarkable star Si- rius, called also canicular, or the dog-star, rose heliacally, that is, just before the sun, about the beginning of July; and the sultry heat which usually prevails at that season, with all its disagreeable effects, among which the ten- dency of dogs to become rabid is not one of the least disagreeable, were ascribed to the malignant rage of this star. Owing to the pre- cession of the equinoxes, the heliacal rising of Sirius now takes place later in the year, and in a cooler season; so that the dog-days have not now that relation to the particular position of the dog-star, from which they obtained their name. 4 DOG-FENNEL. One of the provincial names of the weed corn-camomile. 410 DOGWOOD. DOG-FLY (Cynomia, Lin.). A genus of insects common in woods and among bushes, that is particularly troublesome to dogs, fasten- ing upon their head and ears. They sting very | severely, and always raise a blister in the part they touch. DOG POISON, FOOL’S PARSLEY (2thu- sa cynapium). Pl. 10, g. An umbelliferous plant, frequently found in gardens. It is easily distinguished from the other umbellifera by the partial umbels, consisting of three narrow, long, linear leaflets, which hang down. The leaves have short sheathing footstalks, are doubly pinnate, with decurrent, pinnatifid leaf- lets. It has been eaten for parsley, and has proved fatal. The stem and leaves are poi- sonous, and contain a peculiar alkali, called cynapra. DOG’S-BANE (Cynanchum monspeliacum). A perennial, native of Montpelier, which loves warmth and a good soil. Blows pale pink flowers in July and August. Cover the roots in frosts. Propagate by suckers. A plant under the same popular name is described by Dr. Darlington, as found in Chester county, Pennsylvania. (Flor. Cest.) DOG’S CABBAGE (Thelygonum cynobrambe). A common garden soil suits this species; pro- pagate by seeds. DOG’S GRASS. See Coucn. DOG’S TAIL GRASS. See Crnosurus. DOGS TONGUE (Cynoglossum). See Hounn’s-roncvue. DOG'S TOOTH GRASS, CREEPING (Cy- nodon dactylon). Pl. 7, k. This grass was identified by A. R. Lambert, Esq. (Z'rans. Linn, Soc. vol. vi.) as the celebrated hallowed doob- grass of the Hindoos. In the East Indies this grass grows luxuriantly, and is highly valued as food for horses, &c.; in England, however, it scarcely begins to vegetate till the month of June, and experiments made by Sinclair and others show that its produce and nutritive powers here are not sufficiently great to hold out any hope that its valuable properties in the East Indies can be made available in the climate and soil of Britain. The doob-grass flowers in September, and the seed is ripe about the end of October, and sometimes in November. The plants, natives of the English coasts, flower about a month earlier than the above. It is found on the sandy shores of Cornwall abundantly, and was first noticed by Mr. Newton, in the time of Ray. (Hort. Gram. Wob. p. 290; Eng. Flor. vol. i. p. 94.) DOG-WHEAT. See Coucn. DOGWOOD. A name applied to two differ- ent plants: in England to any of the shrubby species of Cornus; in the West Indies to the Piscidia erythrina. The former are of little interest, except as ornamental shrubs; the latter is a powerful narcotic, the real value of which in medicine has still to be determined. There are two indigenous species of cornel or dogwood; the C. sanguinea, a bush of four or five feet high, with smooth branches of a dark red when full grown; fruit dark purple, very bitter, like every other part of the plant; found common in hedges and thickets, espe- cially on a chalk or limestone soil: and the dwarf cornel (C. suecica), growing in moist DOGWOOD. alpine pastures, on the herbaceous stem four to six inches high. (Eng. Flora, vol. i. p. 221.) The English names of this shrub, says Phil- lips (Syl. Flora, vol. i. p. 183), are scarcely less numerous than the tints of its leaves. It is often called female cornel, to distinguish it from Cornus mascula, and hound’s berry tree, dogberry, &c. (because, says Parkinson, the fruit is not even fit for the dogs), and hence the name of dogwood. The Cornelian cherry (Cornus mascula) is a native of Austria, growing from fifteen to twenty feet high. See Connenian Cuerry. The American dogwood (Cornus Florida) is a small North American tree, the botanical name of which is derived from the horny toughness of its close-grained and firm wood. It is a very common undergrowth in woods, composed of deciduous trees. Very early in the spring, before the trees by which they are overtopped put out their leaves, the dogwood expands its beautiful white blossoms, and in such profusion as sometimes, at a distance, to resemble a snow-bank. The wood of this small tree is highly prized for a variety of useful purposes, among which is the making of cogs for mill-wheels. The bark is an ex- cellent tonic, thought by some almost equal to Peruvian bark in its efficacy in curing inter- mittent fevers. A preparation called cornine has been extracted from it, very much resem- bling quinine. The unfolding of the blossoms of the dogwood is the signal to the American farmers to plant Indian corn. “ Among the eight species of dogwood which have been observed in North America, this alone is entitled by its size to be classed with the forest trees. It is the most interesting, too, for the value of its wood, the properties of its bark, and the beauty of its flowers. In the United States at large, it is known by the name of dogwood, and in Connecticut it is also called box wood. “The dogwood is first seen in Massachusetts between the 42° and 43° of latitude, and in proceeding southward, it is met with uninter- ruptedly throughout the Eastern and Western States, and the two Floridas, to the banks of the Mississippi. Over this vast extent of country it is one of the most common trees, and it abounds particularly in New Jersey, Pennsyl- vania, Maryland, and Virginia, wherever the soil is moist, gravelly, and somewhat uneven; farther south, in the Carolinas, Georgia, and the Floridas, it is found only on the borders of swamps, and never in the pine barrens, where the soil is too dry and sandy to sustain its vegetation. In the most fertile districts of Kentucky and West Tennessee it does not appear in the forests, except where the soil is gravelly and of a middling quality. “The dogwood sometimes reaches thirty or thirty-five feet in height, and nine or ten inches in diameter; but it does not generally exceed the height of eighteen or twenty feet, and the diameter of four or five inches. The trunk is strong, and is covered with a blackish bark, chapped into many small portions, which are often in the shape of squares more or less exact. The branches are proportionally less bumerous than on other trees, and are regu- DOLPHIN-FLY. larly disposed nearly in the form of crosses. The young twigs are observed to incline up- wards in a semicircular direction. “The leaves are opposite, about three inches in length, oval, of a dark green above, and whitish beneath: the upper surface is very distinetly sulcated. Towards the close of summer they are often marked with black spots, and at the approach of winter they change to a dull red. “In New York and New Jersey the flowers are fully blown about the 10th or 15th of May, while the leaves are only beginning to unfold themselves. The flowers are small, yellowish, and collected in bunches, which are surround- ed with a very large involucre composed of four white floral leaves, sometimes inclining to violet. This fine involucre constitutes all the beauty of the flowers, which are very nu- merous, and which, in their season, robe the tree in white, like a full blown apple tree, and render it one of the fairest ornaments of the American forests. “The seeds, of a vivid, glossy red, and of an oval shape, are always united. They remain upon the trees till the first frosts, when, not- withstanding their bitterness, they are devour- ed by the ‘Robin, Turdus migratorius, which, about this period, arrives from the northern regions. “The wood is hard, compact, heavy, and fine-grained, and is susceptible of a brilliant polish. The sap is perfectly white, and the heart is of a chocolate colour. This tree is not large enough for works which require pieces of considerable volume: it is used for the handles of light tools, such as mallets, small vices, &c. In the country, some farmers select it for harrow teeth, for the hames of horses’ collars, and also for lining the runners of sledges; but to whatever purpose it is ap- plied, being liable to split, it should never be wrought till it is perfectly seasoned. The shoots, when three or four years old, are found proper for the light hoops of small, portable casks; but the consumption in this way is in- considerable. In the Middle States, the cogs of mill-wheels are made of dogwood, and its divergent branches are taken for the yokes which are put upon the necks of swine, to prevent their breaking into cultivated enclo- sures. Such are the profitable uses of this tree; it affords also excellent fuel, but it is too small to be brought into the markets of the cities.” (Michaua’s North Amer. Sylva.) DOLPHIN-FLY. The name in England of an insect of the aphis tribe, very destructive to beans. (See Beans.) It is sometimes called the collier. The destruction which this insect causes is not wonderful when we reflect on the astonishing fecundity of all the aphides family. The sexual intercourse of one original pair serves for all the generations which pro- ceed from the female in the succeeding year; and Réaumur informs us, that, in five genera- tions, one aphis may be the progenitor of 5,904,900,000 descendants: in one year there may be twenty generations. At one season they are viviparous, at others oviparous. The dolphin-fly or collier is of a black colour: it begins its depredations at the top of the bean, 411 DOOB-GRASS. and continues multiplying downwards. The only method of preserving the crop is to top the plants, and to burn the tops. DOOB-GRASS,. See Doc’s Toora Grass. DOSS (a corruption of toss). A provincial word signifying to strike with the horn or gore slightly, as cattle frequently do each other. DOVE. A species of pigeon, of which the principal varieties are the ring-dove or wood pigeon, the stock-dove, the rock-dove, and the turtle-dove. See Prenon. DOVE-COTE. A structure usually erected of wood for the accommodation and rearing of tame pigeons; the only essential difference between which and a common poultry house is, that the entrance for the birds must be raised to a considerable height from the ground, because pigeons fly higher in the atmosphere than most other birds. The utmost cleanliness ought to prevail in pigeon houses, hence the holes should be care- fully examined before the breeding season arrives. They should be frequently well washed out, and the dung and other impurities removed ; but this should be done early in the day, when the birds are out, so that they may not be disturbed. Some old dove-cotes are circular buildings, of considerable size, with ranges of square holes formed in the anterior wall, in which the birds make their nests. From this feature in old dove-cotes, the term pigeon-holes in desks is arrived. These dove- cotes are entered by a door below; and by means of a ladder the young pigeons are easily taken from the nests. Many dove-cotes of this kind exist in Scotland. (Brande’s Dict. of Science, &c.; Willich’s Dom. Encyc.) DOWNS (Sax. dun; Erse, dune, a hill). In European agricultural parlance, large, open, elevated, unenclosed tracts of land, generally reserved for grazing purposes. DOWNY LIME TREE (Tilia pubescens). A tree belonging to the southern United States. See Linnen, and Lime Tree. DOWNY OAT GRASS. See Avena. * DRAG. An implement of the harrow kind used in breaking down and reducing land into a fine state. Also an iron catch to fix on the wheels of heavily laden carts or carriages when descending steep hills or declivities. DRAGON-FLY. A common name for the Neuropterous insects goa to the genus Agrion or Lobellula. DRAINING. The very first care of the farmer, that on which the success of his future crops almost entirely depends, is the removal of unnecessary supplies of water—whether arising from the tenacity of the surface retain- ing too much water, or from springs exuding to the surface. For it is evident that as dif- ferent crops require very varying quantities, so the cultivator must adapt the moisture of the soil to the crops he purposes to produce ;— the supply which is necessary, for instance, for the profitable growth of the rice plant would destroy the meadow grasses of Eng- land:—and again the damp soils, of which many of the richest meadows of England are formed, would be much too moist for the cereal crops. The nature of the climate, the soil, and the subsoil must all be taken into account, 412 DRAINING. The plants growing on sandy soils, of course, will bear a much larger proportion of water than those vegetating on clay soils :—and thus the very soil which, in the dry eastern side of England, grows excellent crops of corn, would, in the western counties, where twice the amount of rain falls, on an average, than in the east, be found materially to injure the plants. (See Warer, its Uses to Vegetation.) Placed as the farmer is under such a variety of circumstances, cultivating lands of all kinds, it is useless, in this article, to attempt to assist him with more than general directions. The water carried off the soil by artificial drainage is either by boring, by open or by under-ground drainage, or by both. Boring was first recommended by Elkington. It is chiefly adapted for low situations, surrounded by high lands, and merely consists in boring with an auger, or digging a well in the land intended to be drained, until a spring of water is pierced, whose head is lower than that of the surface of the field; and hence it follows that when the water is suffered to drain into the hole made by the auger, or the well, it of ne- cessity drains from the land out of the bottom of the well, as fast as it flows into it at the top. This plan might be profitably employed to a much greater extent than at present. When combined with surface draining, it saves, by shortening the water channels, a considerable portion of the expense. In open surface drains, the nature of the soil, its declinations, and its chemical compo- sition can alone guide the farmer. In either case too much care can hardly be bestowed upon it; it is a question that the legislature has deemed to be of even national importance; for by the 3 & 4 Vict. c. 55, landowners pos- sessing only limited interests in estates are empowered to raise money, by way of mort- gage, on such property, to be employed for the purposes of improving them by drainage; and the government has promoted the use of drain tiles by exempting them from duty. I shall confine my observations, therefore, chiefly to the formation of under-drains. These common- ly vary in depth from 24 to 4 feet; and, in peat soils, on account of the very material settling which takes place, as they are brought into cultivation, from this to 6 or 7 feet. The first operation necessary upon a field intended to be drained, is the examination of the strata, or veins of earth of which it is composed; and this is commonly effected with the boring auger, or by digging small pits, or open drains, as by this means the oozings or weepings will speedily display themselves, and indicate pretty correctly the source whence the superabun- dant water proceeds. This being ascertained, the direction of the under-drains will be the more easily decided. If the soil is of sucha description that the subsoil plough can be used with advantage, then the top of the stones, bricks, or tiles by which the drain is formed and preserved, should not be less than 24 feet from the surface of the soil. In the formation of these drains the workman always com mences on the lowest extremity; by this means besides other advantages, the water, as he ar riyes at it, drains away from him, and shows DRAINING. him, by its escape, that he is preserving a proper fall. When the drain is cut to the requisite depth, he proceeds to fill it up with the materials through which the drainage wa- ters are to flow, to within such a distance only as is out of the reach of the plough; and then the earth is shovelled back again over the drainage materials. The description of these materials, of necessity, varies with the nature of the country and its produce; in Essex, brushwood and straw are chiefly employed; in the northern parts of the island, stones, broken lime, or sandstone are used. Bricks and tiles are resorted to in districts where cheaper materials are not to be procured; and these are made in a variety of forms; and re- cently one or two valuable improvements have taken place in”the construction of them by machinery; so that, by those of the Marquis of Tweeddale and Mr. Beart, draining tiles are now made at avery reduced price. Upon tile- making, in general, there is a good paper by Mr. Wiggins, Journ. Roy. Agr. Soc. vol. i. p. 315. The tiles of the Marquis of Tweeddale are described Trans. High. Soc. vol. vi. p. 50, and Journ. Roy. Agr. Soc. vol. ii. p. 148; and those of Mr. Beart, with engravings of his machine, in the Journ. of the Roy. Eng. Agr. Soc. vol. ii. p. 93; by which it seems that in Huntingdonshire the cost of the tiles made by his apparatus is about 15s. per 1000: this varies, of course, with the price of coals, of which variation Mr. Pusey has constructed the following table. Price of coals | Making the tilesat the proprietor’s | Selling price per ton. yard, per 1000, per 1000. 5 d. EA se 6 0 Il 18 9 6 12 19 13 0 13 20 16 6 14 21 20 0 18 22 23 «6 16 23 27 («0 17 24 30 6 1 25 These are commonly used with the flat or sole tiles, which cost, in Huntingdonshire, from 8s. to 10s. per 1000. The clay best adapted for tiles is that which contains a small pro- portion of sand, or sand may be mixed with the clay. The an- nexed cut gives the shape of the Tweeddale patent drain tile. Itis common- ly made 3 inches deep, 34 wide, and about 12 in length. The subject of under-draining is, compara- tively, so little understood in the United States, and its importance so great, that we are in- duced to subjoin the following additional information, chiefly condensed from that ex- cellent work “The Book of the Farm, by H. Ste. phens,’ now publishing in Edinburgh. The dimensions of tile-drains, depends entirely on the way these are to be constructed. If the bottom be hard and no soles are to,be placed under the tiles, the drain may be cut narrower; and if nothing else but tile and sole are to be put into them before the earth is returned, they may be shallower. In regard to the em- p.oyment of soles where the drain has a clay DRAINING. sertions that they are always necessary. What- ever may be the nature of the earthy bottom to be occupied by the tiles, these should always have soles, or something equivalent, to protect the earth from the destructive effects of water. Where soles are employed their width must deter- mine the width of the bottom of the drain. As yet no regular width has been agreed upon gene- rally, though it would be a matter of some im- portance to have this done. The breadth of soles made in the neighbourhood of Kilmar- nock, at the tile-kilns belonging to the Duke of Portland in Ayrshire, as well as those made by Mr. Boyle, tile-maker in Ayr, is 7 inches; and this breadth is made to answer tiles varying from 4 to 3 inches in width, inside measure. For a 4-inch tile, a narrower width than 7 inches would not answer; as the tile is 2 of an inch thick, only # of an inch is left beyond each side of the tile when placed on the sole, whichis as little space as it can stand on secure- ly. For the smaller sized tile of 3 inches, the width is ample; but still, it is no disadvantage to a tile to have plenty of room on a sole, as its position can easily be fixed by wedging in stones on each side against the walls of the drain, when stones are used above the ules; or it leaves sufficient room for a lapping of turf over, and wedging of earth on each side of, the top of the tile. In the case of a 5-inch- wide drain at bottom, the smallest size of tile, 2} inches wide inside, must be used, as only # of an inch would be left on each side of that width of tile. Soles are usually made flat, but Mr. Boyle makes them curved; not because they are bet- ter suited for the purpose, but merely because they are more easily dried in the sheds; but a curved sole is objectionable, as it is more diffi- cult to form a smooth bed for it to lie upon, and it is more apt to break when it happens not to be firmly laid upon its bed than a flat sole. As to tiles, their perfect form is thus well de- scribed by Mr. Boyle: “All tiles should bea fourth higher than wide; the top rather quickly turned, and the sides nearly perpendicular. Tiles which are made to spread out at the lower edge and flat on the top, are weak, and bad for conveying water. Some people prefer tiles with flanges instead of soles; but if placed, even in a drain with a considerably hard bottom, the mouldering of the subsoil by the currents of air and water causes them to sink and get deranged.’ Tiles should be smooth on the surface, heavy, firm, and ring like cast-iron when struck with the knuckle. They should be so strong when set, as to allow a man not only to stand, but to leap upon them without breaking. The introduction of ma- chinery in the manufacture of drain-tiles, by compressing the clay, and working it tho- roughly in a pug-mill to prepare it for being compressed, has greatly tended to increase the strength of tiles. I have seen drain-tiles so rough, spongy, crooked, and thin, as to be shi- vered to pieces by a night’s frost when laid down beside the drain. The use of machinery has caused a great deal more clay to be put into them, and their greater substance has been the bottom, Mr. Stephens is strenuous in his as- | cause of improvement in the construction of 2mu 2 4123 DRAINING. kilns, in which they are now burned to a uni- form texture, as well as some avoidance of breakage in the manufacture, by all which, of course, their cost is lessened. An under-burnt as well as an over-burnt tile is bad, the former being spongy and absorbing water, and ulti- mately falling down; and the latter is so brit- tle as to break when accidentally struck against any object. The length of drain-tiles varies in different parts of the country. Mr. Boyle’s are 13 inches; the Duke of Portland’s, in Ayrshire, and Mr. Beart’s Godmanchester, Hertfordshire, 12 inches; and those from the Marquis of Tweeddale’s machine, 14 inches, when burnt. If the price is the same per 1000, of course the 14-inch tile is cheaper than the 12-inch; but otherwise, the 12-inch is the handiest article in the manufacture, as being less apt to waste in handling, and twist when in the kiln; and their number is much more easily calculated DRAINING. in any given length of drain. The following table shows the number of tiles required for an imperial acre, of the different lengths made, and placed at the stated distances: Drains at 12in, I3in, din. 15in, 12 feet apart require 3630 3351 3111 2904 per acre, 15 _ 2904 2681 2489 2323 _ 18 _ 2420 2234 2074 1936 _ 21 = 2074 1914 1777 1659 _ 24 _ 1815 1675 1556 1452 _ 27 - 1613 1480 1383 1291 _ 30 _ 1452 1340 1245 1162 _ 33 _ 1320 1218 1131 1056 _ 36 _ 1210 1117 1037 968 _ The numbers of each length of tile required at intermediate distances can easily be calculated: from these data. A representation of what Mr. Stephens con- siders the best formed drain-tile, and the man- ner of setting this on the soles, is given ina cut, where a, and b, are two 12-inch tiles, of the most correct shape, placed upon the sole- tiles, c. The length of the tiles and soles being equal, their joinings are made in the middle of the soles, and this course is to be continued throughout. It is the practice of some tile- drainers, Mr. Stephens observes, to put a 4 inch sole under every joining of 2 tiles, leaving the intermediate space of the bottom without any sole, imagining that this will insure suffi- cient steadiness to tiles on what they call hard clay, whilst only half the number of soles are used. But this he pronounces a precarious practice. In making the side-joinings of the tiles it has been usual to break a piece of the corner of 1 or 2 main-drain tiles, where side-drains are led into them. In breaking off the corners, there is a risk of breaking the entire tile. Another plan is to set 2 main-drain tiles so far asunder as the inside width of a common-drain-tile, and the opening on the other side of the tiles, if not occupied in the same manner by the tiles of another drain, is filled up with pieces of broken tiles or stones, or any other hard substance. This is perhaps a better plan than running the risk of breaking a number of tiles, and, after all, failing in making the opening suitable for the reception of the adjoining drain tiles. Both plans, however, Mr. Ste- phens pronounces very objectionable, and never to be resorted to where tiles, formed for the purpose of receiving others in their sides can be procured. Main-drain tiles of this de- scription are made with openings on purpose to receive the shouldered end of the smaller sized side-drain tiles. To answer a similar purpose in particular situations where such tiles cannot be conveniently joined, main and furrow or side-drain tiles are made of 4 and 4 iengths, which may be so arranged in regard to one another’s position, as to conjoin the openings of both at the same place. The junction of a common tile with a main- drain one is represented in the following cut, 414 in which 6} represents the common tile, and a, the opening in the main-drain tile. Mr. Stephens says there should be always a decided fall from the outlet, whether it be af- fected by natural or artificial means. The open ditch into which the main-drain issues should be scoured deep enough for the pur- pose, even for a considerable distance; and it will moreover be necessary to see every year that the outlet is kept open; and the ditch scoured as often as necessary for the purpose. It is, says Mr. Stephens, a frequent charge of neglect against farmers, that they allow open ditches almost to fill up before they are again scoured out, and a not unfrequent ex- cuse for the neglect is, that scouring of ditches to any extent incur considerable labour and expense. No doubt they do, and no wonder, since so much work has to be done, when it is done. Were the ditches scoured out when they actually required it, nay every year, if that is found necessary for the welfare of stock, fences, or drains, so little expense would be incurred at one time, as to remove every complaint against the labour as a burden; but much better, in every case where it can be done, to incur the expense at once of convert- ing an open ditch into a covered drain, than grudge the expense of keeping it in a proper State. ; Should the fall from the mouth of the main- DRAINING, drain to a river be too small, and there be risk, at times, of the overflowings of the river send- ing back-water into the drain, the drain should be carried down as far by the side of the river as will secure a sufficient fall for the outlet. Rather be at the expense of carrying the drain under a mill-course or rivulet than permit back- water toenter it. A spirit level (see cut) has been found a very con- venient —_instru- ment for ascer- taining such a point, and gene- rally for taking levels in fields. It is furnished with eye-sights a b, and when in use is placed into a framing of brass, which operates as a spring to adjust it to the level po- sition d, by the action of the large headed brass screw c. A stud is affixed to the framing, and pushed firmly into a gimblet- hole in the top of the short rod e, which is pushed or driven into the ground at the spot from whence the level is desired to be ascertained. It need scarce- ly be mentioned that the height of the eye- sight from the ground is to be deducted from the height of observation, and which quantity is easily obtained by having the rod marked off in inches and feet; but it may be mentioned that this instrument should be used in all cases of draining on level ground, even where one is confident that he knows the fall of the ground, for the eye is a very deceitful monitor for informing you of the levelness of ground. Such a spirit level, well finished, costs in England, 15 shillings, (about $4). Its whole length is 8 inches, depth 1} inches, width or breadth, 1 inch. It is so light as to admit of being carried in the pocket, whilst its rod may be used as a staff or cane. The cutting of the main-drain should be en- tirely finished before the tiles are laid in it; and immediately after it is finished, it should be measured with the drain-guage, to ascertain whether it contains the specified dimensions and fall. This drain-guage is an excellent sub- stitute for the tape-line or foot-rule, which are both inconvenient for the purpose of measur- ing the dimensions of adrain. This simple instrument consists of a rod divided into feet and inches, with two arms fixed cross-wise, the length of which is to correspond with the re- quired width of the drain. When this rod is put down to ascertain the depth, it is afterwards turned partially round, whilst its end rests on the bottom of the drain, until the ends of its arms DRAINING. touch the earth on both sides. If the arms can- not come round square to the sides of the drain, the drain is narrower than intended; and if they cannot touch both sides, it is wider than necessary. When made larger than intended, a greater expense may be incurred in filling up with stones, &c. The person intrusted with the laying of the soles and tiles into drains, should be one who has been long accustomed to that kind of work, or otherwise a good workman, possessing judg- ment and common sense. He should remain constantly at the bottom of the drain and have a boy or other assistant to hand him the tiles and tools. After laying three soles in length, he must examine to see if they are straight in the face, and neither rise nor fall more than the fallin the drain. Asa safe guide to him, where the fall is not decidedly cognisable by the senses, a mason’s plumb-level will be found a convenient instrument. After three soles are thus placed, two tiles are set upon them, being so placed that their joinings shall meet on the intermediate spaces belween the joinings of the soles. The tiles for small drains are usually made, according to Mr. Stephens, about 3 inches wide and 5 inches high, inside measurement, which may be considered a large tile in places where those of 2} inches wide by 34 inches high are used. The soles for small drains are made of different breadths, varying from 5 to 7 inches. They usually shrink about one-eighth in the kiln. Several ingenious and efficient machines have been invented in Great Britain, which have greatly facilitated the manufacture of drain tiles and soles, and reduced their cost to the very moderate prices stated in the esti- mates presented. In the 12th volume of the Prize Essays and Transactions of the Highland Agricultural Society, descriptions of some of these will be found, illustrated with drawings. That invented by the Marquis of 'Tweeddale, and for which a gold medal was awarded him, will make 12,000 tiles in a day of ten hours, it being understood that the clay is previously prepared and milled, as in the common way, when three or even four men can only produce 1500 tiles in the same time. The machine re- quires a power only equal to one horse, and the assistance of one man and two boys, one of these to feed in the clay and two to remove the tiles to the shelves. The Essays, in the same volume, of Mr. Boyle and Mr. Taylor, upon the manufacture of draining tiles are well worth the attention of persons particularly interested in the sub- ject, as they not only treat of the minutie of the operations, but are illustrated with very numerous figures of the implements, mode of placing the tiles in the furnace, &ce., &c. Much capital has been wasted in the erection of tile-works, by those who haye not at first known the best modes of proceeding, and em- ployed men to manage them who knew little about the processes. Like most other kinds of business, tile-making and baking require a regular apprenticeship, in order to succeed properly. As the machine of Mr. Beart has 415 DRAINING. been highly approved of in Scotland, and seems so simple in its construction and mode of ma- nagement, we think it perhaps better adapted to common purposes than the more formidable contrivance of the Marquis of Tweeddale. A description and cut of the instrument, by which 3000 tiles can be made in a day, with an ex- planation of the mode in which it is managed, will also be found in the 12th volume of the work to which we have just referred. Mr. Stephens thinks that the very best me- thod of draining land, is by the wnion of stones and tiles in the same drain. The width of the bottom of the drain covered with the sole, may be 7 inches; width at the top 12 inches; total depth 24 feet, consisting of the drain-tile and covering of stones, packed with the hand above and on each side, extending 12 inches above the sole, leaving 18 inches to be filled in withturf andearth. Suchadrain, when properly constructed, is pronounced the me plus ultra of the art. But it is seldom done, either for want of the necessary supply of stones of the proper size, or the additional expense in- curred. Judge Buel was among the first who em- ployed tiles in draining in the United States, being, he says, led to it by necessity, having no stone. He has laid some 10,000 feet of tiles, at an expense of about $15 per 1000 feet, and found them to answer an excellent purpose. Dr. J. J. Spencer, of Moorestown, New Jersey, has also drained a piece of low ground by means of tiles, and can now drive carts, plough and raise heavy crops of Indian corn, &c., where before there was a useless, unsightly, and unhealthy morass. In general, under-drains may be dug no broader than is just necessary to afford room to work in, the sides being left straight or per- pendicular. The ditch should be commenced at the lowest end or outlet, and opened up to higher ground. Where stones are employed either as a conduit at the bottom, or to form the drain of themselves, they should be broken to so small a size, that moles or ground-mice can- not penetrate among them, as they are very much inclined to do, opening holes through which the surface water enters, mixed with clay and earth, by which the interstices of the drain will be ultimately choked up. Judge Buel recommends the stone to be broken so as not to exceed 4 inch pieces. The expense of doing this, he says, will not be more than 25 or 30 cts. the cubic yard. The use of draining tiles is evidently on the increase, and every improvement which is _ made in them naturally extends their field of usefulness; they are by far the most perma- nent and effective of all the ee ns an : for draining land. Of drain- a ing bricks there are various : shapes; the annexed figures represent a few of the most common, and the mode of placing them. In fig. 1 and la, 84 bricks are required for every eight yards. In fig. 2, 55 bricks are re- quired for every eight yards. In fig. 3, 110 Lricks are required for every eightyards. Figs. 416 4 DRAINING. 4 and 5 have been found very useful in the drainage of peat-bogs or quicksands. They COC A TT a Cat oct TAT are all, however, for most purposes inferior to the draining tile. In the formation of drains, a shovel taper- ing to a point, and scoops of a peculiar shape, are commonly used. These are represented in the figures 6, 7,8. The old-fashioned way of forming a drain is depicted in figures 9 and 18nv 10; in these the bottom of the drain was filled up partially with brushwood, stones, long ropes of twisted straw, others of ling or heath, which are much more tough and permanent. The expense of digging and filling in any of the above drains (exclusive of the brushwood or other materials) varies from 4s. 6d. to 5s. 6d. per score rods (120 yards local measure). The expense per acre will be, according to Mr. 8. Taylor (Brit. Farm. Mag. vol. ii. p. 359), £ s.d. If the drains are 8 yards distant 1 13 9 — =— Tt = 17 6 — = 6 pees 8 0. 0 a Sah Sees” 5: (0 = — 5% — 2 89 - alt he eee 2 17 6 DRAINING. In many situations, where a spring is to be reached, it is very de- sirable to form a well by the side of the drain, according to the annexed outline. (Trans. High. Soc. vol. i. p. 223.) A very common modern mode of constructing the drain is according to the form in fig. 12. Loose mould or gravel is placed at the top to the depth of 1 foot. Sod, straw, heath, or rushes 4 inches; and then land stones 1 foot 8 inches thick surround the draining tiles. The drain tiles, bricks, or other materials, are covered with any porous material that the locality affords. Stones, gravel, scoria, refuse of the foundries, ashes, peat, moss, sods, brush- wood, straw, heath, ling, rushes, &c. Instead of draining-tiles of the horseshoe form, pipes are now substituted in many paris of England, as much more economical, and equally effectual in conveying off the surplus water. At first, the pipes were made by bringing the edges not quite together, leaving an open seam at the under part for the admission of water. But it is now generally thought better to close the seam, and form a complete pipe, with a bore of sufficient diameter, say 1 or 1% inches. Some of the machines for moulding these pipes will turn off eleven at one operation, all of uniform thickness of bore, and in length about 12 to 15 inches. A machine invented by Mr. Scragg, of Calvely, Cheshire, is equivalent to the easy manufacture of more than 20,000 pipes of an inch bore per day of 10 hours, and so on in proportion for other sizes. Whether tiles or pipes are employed, the opinion is very generally in favour of laying both at a greater depth than was formerly recommended, seldom, if ever, less than 4 feet. The substitution of small pipes for tiles, has lessened the cost of draining, from $25, and sometimes $50, to $10 or $15 per acre. Square or triangular tubes, made of larch- wood of the following shapes, so as to give a water way of 2 or 23 inches, with sides fastened together with wooden pegs, and pierced with auger holes, have been recommended for their economy. Mr. Wilson calculates the average expense with stones per rood to be 7s. 8d. (Quart. Journ. Agr. vol. i. p. 242.) Mr. Yule at per rood of 21 feet, 2 feet 9 inches deep with 3 inch tiles, at Is. O4d.; with 4 inches, 43 to 5 feet deep, Is, 33d.; with 6 inch tiles, the same depth, 1s, 53d. (Ibid. p. 397.) The expense of tile draining has been thus estimated by Mr. Carmichael (Zrans. High. Soc. vol. vi. p. 98) at per imperial acre; tiles being 2s, 6d. per 100, and soles 1s. 6d. per 100. 53 DRAINING. On AN ALumINOoUS CLAY. s x ° : 2 ~ - bn 3 ana ys z 3 | = si Es 2g 55 eg e sé is 23 63 | < & a a ft. | in. | in. £ 3. d. 15 | 20 | 5 968 2500 1250 67 15 | 22 4) 968 2500 1250 6 9 44 15 | 24 5 968 2500 2500 713 7% 18 | 20 5 806 2050 1040 5 4 8 18 | 22 5 806 2080 1040 5 6 Gt 18 | 24 5 806 2080 890 6 710 21 20 5 691 1780 890 498 21 22 5 691 1780 1780 411 3} 21241 5 691 1780 eer me te Ona mixed Clay. 15 18 5 968 2500 514 4 15 20 5 968 2500 5 18 10 15 22 5 968 2500 os 618 15 24 5 998 2500 1250 7 610 18 18 5 806 2080 Ces 415 6 18 | 20 5 806 2080 419 1 18 22 5 806 2080 suse 5 ol 6 18 | 2415 806 2080 1040 642 Gn Alum Clay. 18 | 20 5 806 444-5%| o>. 5 11 114 18 | 24 5 806 434-5 Eee 5.17 7k 18 | 2% 5 806 434-6 asia 6 3 14 With regard to the cost of thorough draining in Scotland, Mr. Stephens gives the following details, drawn from actual experiments :— Opening drains 33 inches deep and 7 inches wide at bot- tom, at 52d. per rood or rod of 6 yards. Preparing stones, 4 inches in diameter, at 4d. per rood. Carriage of stones, at 44d. per rood. Unloading carts and moving screen-barrow, jd. per rood. Filling in earth, 3d. per rood. Extra expense in the main drains about 10s. per acre. Another statement for drains of rather smaller size, viz.:— 28 inches deep, 7 inches wide at bottom, allows 4d. per rood of 6 yards for opening. | Preparing stone, at 24d. per rood. Carriage of stones, at 2jd. per rood. Unloading carts and moving screen-barrow, at 2id. per rood, Pilling in earth, at 1jd. per rood. Extra expense in the main drains, 10s. per acre. In computing the cost in Scotland of the la- bour in draining with stones, the hire of the horse is put down at 3s. 4d., the man’s wages Is. 8¢., and that of the driver 10d. per day. Taking into consideration the necessary num- ber of drains required, the first estimate makes the cost, supposing each imperial acre to con- tain 70 roods of drains of 6 yards each, £4, 12s, | 63d.; the second estimate £3, 8s. 4d. per acre. Mr. Stirling estimates the expense of drain- ing per imperial acre (Trans. High. Soc. vol. vi. p- 111), to be,— Distance Number of | With broken |} With broken | With Til between chains Stones Stones and the Drains. per Acre. screened. riddled, Soles. feet. £3. d|£ 8. d. |\£ 8. i, 14 47-14 718 4 |8 2 54/913 53 16 41-25 618 6}7 2 12/8 9 3} 18 36°66 6 31 6 6 3 |710 6 20 33° 5 10 10 513 8} 1615 5 Brushwood and Straw Draining —When ules, stones, and other materials best adapted to the construction of drains cannotbe procured, brush, straw, or even sod, has been employed to fil. * Carts of stones. ¢ Stone drains. 417 DRAINING. the bottom of under-drains. When brushwood is used, the trench may be dug from eighteen to twenty-four inches wide, and three or four feet deep. Saplings from two to six inches thick at the butt may be cut into lengths of four or five feet, and, commencing at the upper end of the ditch, placed diagonally or slantwise, the butts down and towards the outlet. When this is done the trench is apparently full. The brush is then all brought within the edges of the ditch, well trodden down, and the earth thrown in. Bundles of fagots are sometimes employed to lay at the bottom of the trench, and at other times large straw ropes. When the ground is marshy, coarse hay or straw should be put upon the bottom of the trench before laying the brush, and also upon the top of the brush after this is stamped down. Wedge Draining is another method sometimes resorted to. The general mode of performing this is to form a narrow trench with a long, narrow shovel. The spit being taken out as deep as the shovel can go, a scoop is employed to clear out the mud and loose earth at the bot- tom. Then another shovel corresponding with the first is used, and a second spit is taken out, and then a narrower shovel still to clear the whole out, thus forming a trench with a ledge. A piece of sod, with the grass-side below, is then forced down, and, resting upon the ledge, aspace is thus left for the water below. Some- times the ledge is dispensed with, and the sod is merely formed into a wedge, narrowed to- wards the grassy side, and this, when the little trench is cleared out, is pressed into it and covered with earth; and, as it does not reach the narrow bottom, a channel remains below through which the water percolates. It is evi- dent that where such under-drains can be con- structed the bottom must be hard. This and the brush and straw drains are formed at com- paratively little expense, and for a while ope- rate very efficiently in conveying off the super- fluous water. Still, as the materials are more or less perishable, and, moreover, liable to be- come closed up, they are an indifferent substi- tute for stone, and yet more so for the proper draining tile. On the heavy clay soils, the drainage is some- times effected by a drain or mole plough, which on some soils answers very well at a moderate expense. In this the plough draws a long tu- bular orifice in the clay by a heavy sharp- pointed rod instead of a share, which on some adhesive soils remains open, provided the fall for the water is sufficient, for years. It is, however, liable to too many casualties for ge- neral introduction. It is commonly worked, either with a windlass or otherwise, by 18 or 20 horses drawing from strong whippletrees. (Brit. Husb. vol. i. p. 455.) An excellent and improved imitation of the mole plough system is sometimes practised on heavy clay lands. A stout piece of rope or cable, four or five yards long, is laid at the bot- tom of the newly cut drain (one of the narrow wedge-formed drains); to the ends of this piece of rope is fastened a cross or T-headed piece of wood, by means of which jit is drawn along the bottom of the drain after the clay and other materials have been filled over it; an arch or 418 DRESSING. opening is thus left, similar to that formed by the mole plough; the expense in this case is merely that of digging and filling up the drain. (Brit. Farm. Mag. vol. ii. p. 367.) In spite, however, of open and under-ground drainage, and of all that these and the boring system can effect, there are yet many thousands of acres in the east of England that, without the aid of the pump and the steam-engine, would still be covered with water. These were recommended many years since for this pur- pose by Mr. Savory, of Downham. (Com. Board of Agr. vol. iv. p. 52.) The gigantic powers of these great engines will be readily seen from the report of Mr. Glynn (Brit. Farm. Mag. vol. lil. p. 289.) Deeping Fen, near Spalding, con- taining 25,000 acres, is effectually drained by two steam-engines of 60 and 80 horse power. Littleport Fen, near Ely, of about 28,000 acres, is drained by two engines of 30 and 80 horse power. By this last engine, on July 18th, 1830, in a trial of eight hours, by the combustion of only 87 bushels of coals, 51,230 tons of water were raised. Before the introduction of steam- engines, windmills were employed to a consi- derable extent. They were maintained, it is true, at a less expense, but the certain powers of the steam-engine have induced its general adoption. The carriage drain is an open, ca- pacious drain, used very commonly in irriga- tion, and is usually made of wood, for the pur- pose of carrying the flood waters across ditches, hollow drains, &ce. DRAINING-PLOUGHS. Such ploughs as are contrived for the purpose of cutting drains, in order to carry off the water from wet soils. See Provcus. DRANK, or DRAUK. A very common name in many parts of England for darnel; but is properly only the provincial name for the scaly brome-grass, cheat, or chess. DRENCH. In farriery, a large drink or draught of any liquid remedy given to an ani- mal, usually by means of a horn properly cut for the purpose. A very able paper on drench- ing horses, by Mr. John Stewart, veterinary sur- geon, appears in the Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. x. p. 626, which may be consulted with advan- tage. A drink is not so portable as a ball; it is more troublesome to give, and a portion of it is usually wasted. (The Horse, p. 392.) Mr. Stewart strenuously urges the following propo- sitions: 1. That draughts, particularly when pungent or disagreeable, are dangerous. 2. That by no care can the danger be altogether avoided. 3. That no draught should be given unless the horse be in danger of dying without it. 4. That the safest way of administering draughts is to give them when the horse is lying. 5. That a draught is seldom or never absolutely necessary but in diseases which make the horse lie. 6. That a bottle is a better drenching instrument than a horn. DRESSING. Any sort of manure applied to land for the purpose of its improvement. ‘T'op- dressing is that sort of fertilizer which is spread over or applied upon the surface of the land, either when the crop is upon the ground or not. DRILL. A small track or longitudinal open- ing in the form of a slight furrow, made in DRILL-HUSBANDRY. tillage lands for the purpose of receiving any kind of seeds. DRILL-HUSBANDRY. The practice of sow- ing or planting grain and other seeds or roots with a machine, in regular rows or drills, in place of scattering them by the hand, by which means they are dropped at more equal dis- tances, and lodged at better depths, than can be done in the latter way. “Of our modern improvements,” says Dr. Fothergill (Com. Board of Agr. vol. iy. p. 156), “the introduction of drill- husbandry has been generally allowed to be the most important.” Horse-hoeing is intimately connected with it, and for the most part forms part of the same system. DRILLING. ‘The act of putting different kinds of crops into the ground in the drill- method. Mr. Bramston gives the result of an experiment on the comparative advantages of narrow and wide drilling. (Journ. of Roy. Eng. Agr. Soc. vol. 1. p. 294.) DRILL-MACHINES. Implements for dis- tributing seed and manure easily, and at regu- lar distances. A rude kind of drill has been used in agriculture from a very remote period. The cultivators of China, Japan, Arabia, and the Carnatic, have drilled and dibbled in their seed from time immemorial. (The Chinese drill, or drill-plough, is noticed Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. i. p. 675.) After the Hindoos have thus deposited their seed, they use a kind of subsoil plough, which passes under and loosens the soil to the depth of about eight inches three drills’ breadth ata time. (Com. Board of Agr. vi. 355). Gabriel Platte, in 1638-1653, de- scribes a rude dibbling machine formed of iron pins, “made to play up and down like Virginal jacks ;” and John Worlidge, in his Husbandry, published in 1669, not only advocated the use of the seed drill, but of the manure drill. Eve- lyn, in the same year (Trans. Roy. Soc. vol. v. p- 1056), mentions with much commendation a drill-plough which had been invented in Ger- many, whence it had found its way into Spain, and had been noticed by the Earl of Sandwich, the English ambassador, who forwarded it to England as the invention of a Don Leucatilla. Jethro Tull at a later period (1730-40), devoted all his energies to promote the introduction of this machine, more especially as it admitted the use of the horse-hoe. The united advan- tages of these excited in him the highest en- thusiasm. But it was not until the drill had been gradually improved by the labour of suc- ceeding mechanists, that this invaluable ma- chine, principally through the exertions of Lord Leicester and others, became generally used in England. Thence it appears that the method of sowing corn and other seeds by machines in England is not (as is well remarked by Mr. J. A. Ransome, the eminent agricultural machine- maker of Ipswich, to whom I am indebted for almost the whole of this article), a modern idea, though the machines have been so much improved within the last century as to make them bear but little resemblance to those for- merly in use. Passing by those of more ancient date, we come to the inventions of Jethro Tull, for the purpose of carrying out his system of drill- DRILL-MACHINES. husbandry, about 1733. His first invention was a drill-plough to sow wheat and turnip seed in drills, three rows at a time. There were two boxes for the seed, and these, with the coulters, were placed one set behind the other, so that two sorts of seed might be sown at the same time. A harrow to cover in the seed was attached behind. Jethro Tull also invented a turnip-drill some- what similar to the other in general arrange- ment, but of lighter construction. The feed- ing spout was so arranged as to carry one half of the seed backwards after the earth had fallen into the channel; a harrow was pinned to the beam; and by this arrangement one half of the seed would spring up sooner than the other, and so part of it escape the turnip fly. When desirable to turn the machine, the har- row was to be lifted and the feeding would stop. The manner of delivering the seeds to the funnels in both the above drills was by notched barrels, and Tull was the first who used cavities in the surfaces of solid cylinders for the feeding. Nothing material in the history of the drill occurred afterwards till 1782, and but little progress appears to have been made to that period in drill-husbandry. About this time Sir John Anstruther, near Edinburgh, presented the model of an improved drill-plough of his own invention to the Bath and West of England Society, having had one in use for eight years previous without its get- ting out of order. It was a double drill-plough of simple construction, by which two furrows could be sown at a time, the horse walking between them, and by this means the injury usually done by the horse’s feet to the fine ground was avoided. Within the next ten years twelve patents were taken out for drill- machines, two of which were for depositing manure with the seed; but the most approved appear to have been those invented by James Cooke, a clergyman of Heaton Norris, in Lan- cashire; and the general principles of these machines, from their simplicity, have been adopted in the construction of some of the most approved of the present day. For a cut of Cooke’s grain-drill, see Pl. 14, fig. 1. The seed-box of Cooke’s drill, is of a pecu- liar shape, the hinder part extending lower than the fore part. It is divided by partitions, and so supported by adjustable bearings as to preserve a regular delivery of the seed whilst the machine is passing over uneven ground. The feeding cylinder is made to revolve by a tooth-wheel, which is fixed on each end of the main axle, and gears with other toothed wheels on each end of the cylinder; the surface of the cylinder is furnished with a series of cups which revolve therewith, and are of various sizes, according to the different seeds. These deposit the seed regularly in funnels, the lower ends of which lead immediately behind the coulters, which are connected by a beam, so as to be kept in an even line, and are capable of being held out of working when desired by a hook and link in the centre. The seed, as it is deposited, is covered in by a harrow fixed be- hind. The carriage wheels are larger in size 419 DRILL-MACHINES. than usual, by which means the machine is more easily drawn over uneven ground; and the labour of working is reduced. “Of corn drills,’ says Loudon, “ Cooke’s im- proved drill and horse-hoe, though not the most fashionable, is one of the most useful imple- ments of this kind on light dry soils, on even surfaces, and in dry climates. It has been much used in Norfolk and Suffolk, and many other parts of England. The advantage of this machine are said to consist,—1. In the wheels being so large that the machine can travel on any road without trouble or danger of break- ing; also from the farm to the field, &c., with- out taking to pieces. 2. In the coulter-beam (a), with all the coulters moving with great ease, on the principle of the pentagraph, to the right or left, so as to counteract the irregularity of the horses’ draught, by which means the drills may be made straight; and, where lands or ridges are made four and a half, or nine and a half feet wide, the horse may always go in the furrow, without setting a foot on the land, either in drilling or horse-hoeing. 3. In the seed supplying itself regularly, without any attention, from the upper to the lower boxes, as it is distributed. 4. In lifting the pin on the coulter-beam to a hook on the axis of the wheels, by which means the coulters are kept out of the ground, at the end of the land, with- out the least labour or fatigue to the person who attends the machine. 5. In going up or down steep hills, in the seed-box being elevated or depressed accordingly, so as to render the distribution of the seed regular; and the seed being covered by a lid, and thus screened from wind or rain. The same machine is easily transformed into a cultivator, horse-hoe, scari- fier, or grubber, all which operations it per- forms exceedingly well; and by substituting a corn-rake, stubble-rake, or quitch-rake, for the beam of coulters, or hoes (a), it will rake corn- stubbles, or clean lands of root weeds. When corn is to be sown in rows, and the intervals hoed or stirred, we scarcely know a machine superior to this one; and from being long in a course of manufacture, few can be made so cheap. But these advantages, though consi- derable in the process of drilling, are nothing, when compared with those which arise from the use of the horse-hoe; with which from 8 to 10 acres of land may be hoed in one day, with one man, a boy, and one horse, at a tri- fling expense, in a style far superior to, and more effectual than, any hand-hoeing whatever; also at times and seasons when it is impossible for the hand-hoe to be used atall. PI. 14, fig. 2. “ The Norfolk drill, or improved lever drill, is a corn drill on a larger scale than Cooke’s, as it sows a breadth of nine feet at once: it is chiefly used in the light soils of Norfolk and Suffolk as being more expeditious than Cooke's, but it also costs about double the sum. “ Morton’s improved grain drill-machine is de- cidedly the simplest and best of corn drills. In this machine three hoppers are included in one box, the seed escaping out of all the three by the revolution of three seed cylinders upon one axle; and drills of different breadths are produced simply by the shifting of a nut, that fixes a screw moving in a groove in the under- 420 DRILL-MACHINES, frame, by which the distance between the two outside conductors and the central one (which is fixed) can be varied from 9 to 10 or 11 inches; .and that the two small wheels may always be at the same distances respectively as the conductors, there are two washers (hol- low cylinders), an inch in breadth, on the axle- arms of each, which may be transferred either to the outside or inside of the wheels, so as to make their distances from the outside con- ductors 9,10, or 11 inches respectively also. The small wheels may be raised or depressed, so as to alter the depth at which the seed shall be deposited, by the action of a wedge, which retains the upright part of the axle in any one of a number of notches, which are made simi- larly in both, and which are caught by an iron plate on the upper side of the arms which carry the axles. This machine may be still farther improved by increasing the number of con- ductors to five instead of three; the latter number giving too light work to the horses.” (Highland Soc. Trans. vol. vii.) About the year 1790, Henry Baldwin of Mendham, near Harleston in Norfolk, a farmer, aided by an ingenious workman named Samuel Wells, then in his employment, improved upon the drill known as Cooke’s drill, which by this time was in use in several parts of Norfolk. The improvement consisted—first, in making a sliding aaletree, by which the carriage wheel could be extended at pleasure to the width of the “stetches” or lands, and by which means another box with cups and more coulters could be used. Thus a drill containing 14 coulters could be enlarged to one of 18 or 20. Second, in making self-regulating levers, to which the coulters were attached; this was done by hang- ing each coulter on a distinct lever, placed at right angles with the cross bar of the framing, upon which each lever was made to swing by an ordinary hinge joint, and had a movable weight at its opposite end, to press the coulter into the soil. By the levers being thus con- trived to work independently of each other, they accommodated themselves to the irregu- larity of the surface of the land, and the impe- diments which they might meet, without dis- turbing the whole. The above were two very important improvements ; and they are both in use in England, to this day. Suffolk Corn and Manure Drill—Following the improvements just referred to, are those by James Smyth of Peasenhall, and his brother Jonathan Smyth of Swefling, who have been engaged in the manufacture upwards of 40 years. A brief summary of which is as fol- lows :—1. A mode of adjusting the coulters to distances apart from each other, from four and ahalf inches and upwards. 2. An improved manure-box and cups, for the delivery of ma- nure with the grain. 3. A plan to drill in ma- nure and grain, and sow small seeds at the same time. 4. The swing steerage, by which means the man attending the drill can move the coulters to the right or to the left hand, so as to keep the straight and parallel lines for sowing the seeds. 5. Various improvements in gearing and driving the wheels, barrel, &c. An engraving taken from one of Smyth’s most perfect grain and manure drills is given in Be Neen emma a2 ait, ia Plate 14. at i= Drill Hopper SS for Bone Dust. Wr 1 if - i) il | ow S=Zz GRAIN DRILLS. PS Durnls LithPhi DRILL-MACHINES. Plate 14, fig. 3, by the description we have given of Cooke’s and of the subsequent im- provements by Baldwin, Wells, and Smyth, the | plan will be fully understood. The Suffolk grain and manure drill may also be arranged for sowing turnips and manure at the same time. In such cases the corn-box has to be exchanged for a double one, in one part of which runs a spindle with brushes, where the turnip-seed is contained. There are small copper slides, with different numbers, from one to six holes pierced in them, through which the seed is delivered as required. The other part of the box contains the manure, which is thrown into the funnels, and these are so arranged that it drops into the earth just before the seed. Morton’s improved grain drill, is spoken of in the Highland Society’s Transactions, (vol. vii.) as decidedly the simplest and best of grain drills. A description and cut of this machine which drills 3 rows, is given in Loud. Encyc. of Agr., p. 409. Hornsby’s Patent Drop Drill is intended for dropping seed with manure at intervals, but the construction of it is very different from the Suffolk. In this, the manner of regulating the delivery is by having a coulter of a peculiar form inside, in which a circular box revolves on an axle which passes through one side thereof. This box is divided into compart- ments closed by small doors, which are kept shut by a spring to each; the compartments in the box are supplied through a series of fun- nels, the end of the lower one entering one side of the box below the centre. : On the machine being moved forwards, this box revolves by means of appropriate cog- wheels ; and as each spring arrives at the ground, the door to which it is attached opens, and the contents of that compartment are depo- sited, to be again replaced, when it arrives at the part of its rotation at the end of the funnel, and so on successively. Grounsell’s Patent Drop Drill—This drill is for the purpose of depositing corn, grain, pulse, and manure at intervals, the distances of which may be regulated at pleasure. (PI. 14, fig. 4.) To effect the purposes above mentioned, a circular iron ring is fixed about midway be- tween the nave and rim of the drill carriage- wheel. In this there is a number of holes to carry a series of studs, which may be varied according to circumstances; and as these studs come in succession, when the wheel turns they open valves for the delivery of the seed and manure, which close again immedi- ately the stud has passed. A further improve- ment is by the adoption of projecting arms or shovels, to draw the manure and grain to the funnels, instead of taking the same up in cups in the way adopted in other drills. The Messrs. Ransome give the following sketch of the chief modern improvements made in the drill, which have greatly added to its usefulness, without having increased its cost. The drills usually made by the best makers in England, are of several kinds ; but their de- scription may be briefly comprehended under three or four heads. 1. The Common Lever Drill. This invaluable DRILL-MACHINES. machine, which is the one in the most general use, is adapted for drilling grain, on either level grounds or ridges, and on all descriptions of soil. These are,as we have stated in our pre- vious description, furnished with independent levers, by which the coulters are each readily and separately made to avoid any rocks or ir- regularities of the ground, and a “press steel- yard,” to force the coulters, in case of need, into hard ground, with a varying degree of pressure, according to the texture of the soil. These coulters can now be set so as to drill the corn at any width, from 4 inches to a greater distance ; they also, if required, readily allow of the introduction of the horse-hoe ; and from being placed, by another excellent improvement, in double rows, they admit, when at work, of large stones, &c., passing between them, of a size that was not possible under the old plan of placing the coulters in one line. These are also, in the most complete drills, furnished with a “swing steerage,” by which the drill-man keeps the rows at exact or even distances from those which have been previ- ously drilled in the centre of the ridge, or out of the furrows, &c. The “ corn-barrel” of this drill is made to deliver from two pecks to 6 or 7 bushels or strikes per acre of any kind of grain; and they have an additional barrel for drilling turnips and mangel-wurzel, &c. And again, these barrels, by a peculiarly simple, yet excellent “regulator,” are kept on unequal, hilly ground, on the same level; so that the grain is evenly delivered, in whatever situation the drill may be placed. A “seed engine” is also sometimes added to this drill, by which the grass-seeds and clover are sown at the same time as the grain, and each kind of seed, if required, separately ; by which plan any quantity per acre of the seeds may be much more evenly distributed, than by mixing them up together. For these seeds, being of different sizes and weights, are in the ordinary seed engines very apt to separate in the boxes; and thus the brushes too often deliver them in unequal proportions. The weight of these drills necessarily varies with the number of coulters; they are usually from about 3 to 10 ewts., and are drawn, accord- ing to circumstances, by either one, two, or three horses; and have, if required, slip axletrees, with which, by merely adding to the number of the coulters, &c., the drill is adapted to any breadth of land. 2. The next description of drill to which I shall allude, is The Manure Drill. This drill is formed very readily, by merely adding to the common corn drill, an operation which any husbandman can perform, “a manure box.” It is a simple yet accurately working appara- tus for delivering the manure, which, in the best drills, it does with great evenness, and in quantities varying as “the slip” is placed, from 6 to 8 bushels per acre. In the best drills, also, a very important improvement has been made within the last few years, which consists in the use of separate coulters for manure and seed. The manure is now deposited according to the mode preferred by the cultivator, not only from 2 to 3 inches deeper in the ground than the seed, but from 10 to 12 inches in ad- 2N 421 DRILL-MACHINES. vance of it, so as to give the soil time to cover the manure before the next coulters deposit the seed ;—whereas, on the old plan of depositing the seed and the fertilizer together down one pipe, an evil was liable to arise when it was used with some of the more powerful artificial manures; the seed and the manure were too close together, and the manure was not always dropped in what is commonly its best position, under the seed. 3. The third variety of drill which I shall no- tice, is The Northumberland Frame Manure and Turnip Ridging Drill. This excellent drill is furnished with pressing rollers (one to each coulter), which form the land into ridges—and precede the coulters. These deliver in separate coulters, 1st, the manure; and 2dly, the seed; and the drill is provided with a second roller, which follows the coulters and closes the rows. This machine drills two rows at a time— weighs only about 1 cwt.—and one man and a horse can easily drill from 8 to 10 acres per day. Besides these three most commonly used drills, there are several others—such as the Two Coulter Seed and Manure Lever Drill; this has a swing steerage, to which we have be- fore alluded, and a slip axletree to vary the distances of the ridges—(for this valuable im- plement a prize was awarded to Mr. Garret at the Cambridge meeting). To this a set of hoes is occasionally attached, furnished with inde- pendent levers either for ridge-work or other- wise. There are in England many other varieties of drills, but they involve ‘no particularly use- ful principles, if we except the drop drills, the chief object of which is to save the quantity of manure. In these the seed or corn is mixed, and deposited with the manure. From this brief enumeration the farmer will see that the modern drill-makers have not ne- glected their duty, in the adoption of every im- provement calculated to simplify and render more serviceable the common and the manure drill; and I am highly gratified to be able to add, that there is now every prospect of their skill and enterprise being rewarded by the cul- tivators of our country; for I find, from an eminent maker, that the demand for manure drills has within the last two years been greater than ever was remembered before. The chief advantages of the use of the drill, are the regular deposition of the seed at a uniform regulated depth, from which arises a considerable saving of seed (at least one-third) —and the facility afforded in cleaning the land either by the hand or horse-hoe. The import- ance of these results is, happily for our coun- try, rapidly becoming generally understood : and the result of experiments which I witnessed to aconsiderable extent, upon some of the poor- est gravelly soils of Surrey, by Mr. Hewitt Da- vis and others, convince me that, by the use of this machine, combined with careful hoeing and weeding the crops, a saving even of half the usual quantity of seed now used by the drill may be effected. And again, 1 cannot too often urge upon the farmer of the upland soils, far away from supplies of manure, the use of the manure drill, and those fertilizers expressly 422 DRILL-MACHINES. prepared for its use; since by these one ton of manure is sufficient for three acres. And let the farmer remember, that it is not only the first cost of all manures which makes them expensive, but the comparative labowr saved in their application, which must also be taken into the account when the cultivator is esti- mating their value. And further, let him re- member that the best and richest farm compost is likely to convey to his fields a multitude of weeds, the cost of whose removal too rarely forms a portion of such comparative esti- mates. The patents which have been taken out in England, during the last half century, for drill ploughs and improvements in sowing machines form a long list. The advantages derived from using drill machines for sowing wheat and the other small grains have been summed up by Mr. Binns, at a meeting of an English agricultural society, as follows :— 1. The seed is delivered with regularity. 2. It is deposited at proper depth. 3. The weeds, during the growth of plants, are destroyed with great facility. 4, The plants cultivated receive the undi- vided benefit of the soil and manure, and have not to maintain a constant struggle with weeds. 5. The land by the process of hoeing, is un- dergoing preparations for another crop. 6. The necessity of summer fallowing is avoided. 7. By admission of the sun and air between the rows, a stronger and healthier plant is pro- duced, and of course a heavier crop. 8. By stirring the soil itis more susceptible of benefit from the atmosphere, imbibing more oxygen, and being both warmed and enriches by the sun. 9. The roots shoot freely in pulverized soil. 10. By drilling, the farmer is enabled to have heavier crops of beans and wheat on light land. 11. Clover and grass-seeds answer incom- parably better in the pulverization produced by hoeing, independent of the clearness from weeds. 12. The drills give facility for depositing smaller portions of manure with greater effect. “These advantages,” says the editor of the Cultivator, “are all self-evident to a good far- mer; and it might have been added, as a thir- teenth advantage, that drilling economizes seed, though Mr. Binns rejects it, on the ground that, if the plants are thin, they throw out side- shoots, which produce imperfect grain, and ri- pen unequally. In drill husbandry, Mr. Binns affirms, fifty-six bushels of wheat per acre have been raised on the light soils of Norfolk.” It is believed by some that the plan of sow- ing wheat by drill machines is a refinement in agriculture which cannot be profitably adopted in the United States, where the price of grain is of late years much lower than in England. The introduction of the practice will perhaps be slow, but there cannot, we think, be a doubt of its final general adoption in all the best cul- tivated wheat-growing districts. The first ex- pense of the machine is doubtless the princi DRILL-MACHINES. DRILL-MACHINES. pal obstacle to their general introduction, as to |number of acres by hand, in the usual way, import a good one costs between $150 and $200. An admirable drill for sowing wheat has been invented and patented by Moses Pennock and son Samuel, of Kennett Square, Chester county, Pennsylvania. (See Plate 14, fig. 5.) It has been used for several years in the south- ern parts of Pennsylvania and adjoining states, and the greatest satisfaction has been expressed for its performance. Pennock’s drill is capable of sowing 8 acres of wheat, or planting 15 acres of Indian corn, per day. The wheat is placed in boxes, con- necting with sowing tubes which penetrate into the ground, scattering it in rows 9 inches apart, and covering about an average depth of 24 inchés. If one or more of the tubes comes in contact with a stone, root, or other obstacle beneath the surface, a small chain to which it is attached breaks a wooden peg, and thus saves the machine from any serious injury, the detention being only a few seconds when pegs are kept on hand. The prepara- tion of the ground is similar to that adopted in the broad-cast method. The machine is drawn with great ease by one horse, and requires but one attendant, in sowing wheat. For every bushel sown by hand in the ordinary way, the drill saves from 8 to 12 quarts. The machine is easily managed and not liable to get out of order. Besides covering the wheat much more effectually than can be done by the harrow, it raises ridges about 3 inches high on each side of the tubes. These ridges crumble down by the action of the frost and rains, and thus cover the young plants and prevent them from being thrown out during the freezing and thaw- ing of the ground and killed, as so commonly occurs in the winters of the United States. Samuel Pennock, the junior inventor, has for several years been using the drill extensively in putting in crops. His usual charge, for the use of a machine, including the horse and his own services, is $4 per day, or 50 cents per acre. When wheat sells for $1,25 or $1,50 per bushel, the seed saved will pay all the expense of drilling, (especially when the farmer owns the drill), the crop being placed in a far better condition than can be effected by the broad-cast method, as will be evident from a consideration of the various advan- tages enumerated, and these constitute the chief profit. When the machine is used for planting Indian corn, (for which purpose it is singu- larly well adapted), some of the levers are thrown out of gear, leaving the remainder so arranged as to strike out two rows, 44 feet apart, in which the corn is dropped at regular dis- tances and covered with about 33 inches of earth, or less if desired. It may be afterwards thinned, but must of course be always tilled in one direction. The ground is fiushed and harrowed, after which rows 9 feet apart are run with a plough and one horse, in which rows the horse drawing the drill walks in going and returning. In this way about 15 acres of Indian corn may be planted in a day, and thus a considerable saving of labour is effected by the owner of a drill, since to plant the same would require 5 hands equal to fifteen days work, with the addition of a second plough to run out furrows, and two droppers. Although Pennock’s drill costs $100, it seems evident that the saving of labour in planting the corn crop will more than pay the interest and wear and tear of the machine, leaving none of these charges to be placed against the wheat crop. Persons who have watched the progress of corn crops planted by the drill, and compared the results with those of crops planted by hand, say, that under ordinary circumstances, a gain of 5 bushels per acre may be fairly credited to the drilled corn. Some even go so far as to say that drilling has added one-fourth to the crop. The deep covering is regarded, where the soil is perfectly dry, and of a light texture, as avery great advantage. The corn will at first appear backward, but is soon observed to catch up and outstrip that which has been co- vered more superficially. It is also placed more out of the reach of birds, and escapes injury from the cut-worm, and heart-worm, or, as it is also called, bud-worm. ‘The cut-worm usually commits its depredations by night, taking off the plants at, or very near, the sur- face of the ground, whilst by day it cuts a little below the surface. Now, when corn is deeply covered it admits of being topped, with- out being entirely killed, and suffers little fur- ther injury than retardation. Pennock’s drill, besides sowing beans, peas, and all kinds of round seeds, including ruta- baga, is, like Cooke’s English drill, capable of being adapted to the purposes of a horse-hoe, cultivator, extirpator, and harrow, by the ad- justment of hoes, harrow-teeth, &c. Besides the approbation bestowed on Pennock’s drill by individual farmers, for some of whom they have sown as much as 100 acres a season, several public institutions have awarded pre- miums to the inventors, among which we may mention the Philadelphia Agricultaral Society, Franklin Institute of Pennsylvania, and Ame- rican Institute of New York. It would be a desideratum in the United States to have drills like those used in England, adapted to sowing seeds and sprinkling with them at the same time some of the concen- trated manures, such as bone-dust, poudrette, &e. But this again, like every other addition, must increase the cost, already so great an obstacle. As yet the drill system in the United States has been principally confined to sowing tur- nips and beets, and sometimes Indian corn. The results with many who have had good im- plements and known how to use them, has been a conviction of their utility and economy, especially where the root culture has been ex- tensively carried on. One-rowed drills are almost the only kind to be met with in the warehouses where agricultural implements are kept for sale. Drili-barrows are implements furnished with handles, similar to those of a wheel-barrow, and designed to be propelled by hand. Among these |Willis’s Latest Improved Sced-sower is said to be the best, as it puts the seed into the ground with regularity and in the best manner, 423 DRILL-ROLLER. It opens the furrow, drops the seed, covers and rolls them down. any kind of garden seeds, such as beets, ruta- baga, mangel-wurtzel, carrots, turnips, pars- nips, onions, &c., and costs $14. Buckminster’s Seed-planter is of simple con- struction, and has been found to answer well for planting corn, sugar-beet, &c. It deposits the seed either in drill-rows or hills, as may be desired. When the ground is properly pre- pared, a man, with one horse, it is said, can furrow out, drop, cover, and press down the seed on an acre of ground in one hour, or 10 acres in a day. The seed is coyered by falling into the furrow of the soil, which is finely pulverized by a row of cultivator teeth. The machine will bury the seed 3 inches deep, if desired—one inch being the general rule for Indian corn, and only one-fourth of an inch for turnips. By simply turning a screw one way or the other the depth is regulated. Bement’s Improved Turnip Drill, which is a modification of the English Northumberland Drill, enjoys a good reputation. It sows beets, peas, and, generally, all kinds of round or oval- shaped seeds. Merchant’s Drill Barrow, is said to perform well, and is recommended by its simplicity of construction and cheapness. By multiplying the wheels, or rather by uniting several ma- chines, it may be adapted to horse power, and thus applied to field culture for sugar-beets, ruta-bagas, &c., and, even, it is said, for wheat and other small grains. DRILL-ROLLER. A roller so contrived as to form regular small incisions or drills in the ground at proper depths for the seed. It is merely a common cylinder roller, generally of iron, about seven feet long, around which are put cutting-wheels of cast iron, each of which generally weighs about a ton. The cutting wheels, being movable, may be fixed at any distance, by means of washers. DROPSY. In farriery, a disease incident to horses, and sometimes called water-farcy. See Horses anp Surep, Drszases or. DROPWORT, WATER (Gnanthe). Smith (Eng. Flor. vol. ii. p. 68), describes five species in England. The common water-dropwort; the parsley water-dropwort ; sulphur-wort wa- ter-dropwort; the fine-leaved water-dropwort; and the hemlock water-dropwort. They are aquatic herbs, perennials, and biennials; fetid, and often poisonous; found in ditches, ponds, and other watery places. The first three spe- cies are not reckoned poisonous; but the last (Gnanthe crocata), is perhaps, in its fresh state, the most virulent of British plants. Brood mares, according to Sir Thomas Frankland, sometimes eat the root, and are poisoned by it. The root consists of many fleshy knobs, resembling parsnips externally, abounding with an orange-coloured, fetid, and very poi- sonous juice, such as exudes less plentifully from all parts of the herb when wounded. The stem is from two to five feet high, much branch- ed, somewhat forked, and hollow. The leaves are of a dark shining green, and doubly pinnate. The flowers are white, or tinged with purple, very numerous and crowded. Two or three species of cowbane are enu- 424 It will sow almost) DRY ROT. merated in the United States, where the plant is believed to be an active poison, particularly to horned cattle, when eaten by them; for which reason it should be eradicated from all pas- tures where it is discovered. (Darlington’s Flor. Ces.) DROSOMETER (from the Greek). An in- strument constructed for measuring the quan- tity of dew that collects on the surface of a body exposed to the open air during the night. The first instrument for this purpose was proposed by Weidler. It consisted of a bent balance which marked in grains the preponderance which a piece of glass of certain dimensions, laid horizontally in one of the scales had ac- quired from the settling and adhesion of the globules of moisture. A simpler and more convenient drosometer would be formed on the principle of the rain guage; and in order to facilitate the descent of the dew down the sides of the funnel into the tube, a coat of deliqueate salt of tartar may be spread over the shallow surface. Dr. Wells, in making his celebrated experiments on dew, exposed a small quantity of wool to the open sky, and the difference in its weight when laid down and taken up showed the quantity of moisture it had imbibed in the interval. (Brande’s Dict. of Science.) DROUGHT. The effect of long-continued dry weather, or the want of rain: when appli- ed to animals, it signifies thirst, or want of drink. DRUDGE. An implement of the rake or harrow kind, peculiar to West Devonshire. It is a sort of long heavy wooden-toothed rake, the teeth being broad, and placed with the wide or flat side foremost. It is drawn by horses or oxen, and made use of, in paring and burning operations, to collect the broken parts or fragments of the sward which have been loosened by the operation of the plough and harrow. DRY ROT. The name of a disease which attacks wood, rendering it pulverulent by de- stroying the cohesion of its parts. It. fre- quently depends on fungous plants, which are nourished upon the sap in the wood, and by taking that away destroy the cohesive property of the woody particles. The fungi most de- structive are the Merulius lacrymans, the Poly- porus destructor, and several species of Sporc- trichium. The production of these fungi is favoured by whatever causes the sap remain- ing in the wood to ferment; as, for example, defect of ventilation. In the old cathedrals and other public edifices, the dry rot never ap- peared, because care was taken to ventilate the beams. It occurs among the timbers of ships, where it sometimes commits the most serious damage and in damp ill-ventilated houses. Mr. Batson, in the Trans. of Soc. for Encour. of Arts, recommended charring as a_ preventative. Some excellent advice is also given on this subject in a paper by Mr. Hart, “On the Cause of Dry Rot in the Larch and other Trees” (Trans. High. Soc. vol. iv. p.395). The process which has been patented by Mr. Kyan, namely, steeping the wood for a week or two in a strong solution of corrosive sublimate, which coagu- lates the albumen of the wood, and destroys the DUCK. fungus, appears to be the best preventative at present known. Sir W. Burnet has recently invented another process for rendering wood, cordage, and all descriptions of woollen, free from the effects of dry rot, which has lately been tested and found very efficacious by go- vernment. I understand the active matter in Sir William Burnet’s solution is sulphate of copper. (Willich’s Dom. Ency.) DUCK (Dutch Ducker, to dip; Lat. anas). There are many varieties of ducks described by naturalists, but only two are to be found in our farm-yards; namely, the common duck and the Muscovy duck. The common duck is a useful and economical bird, requiring little care. It is perfectly independent, if there is only a pond or mud hole to dabble in; for moisture is Sts element, and it cannot thrive without it’ One drake is sufficient for eight or ten ducks. Duck hovels should be kept very clean and warm, with a row of boxes inside to induce the duck to lay her eggs in them; otherwise in the laying season she drops her ege in the water, or on the bare ground, or seeks by-places, where the eye of the vigilant housewife cannot penetrate. For this reason, it is better not to let them out very early in the morning during the laying months, which are March, April, and May. Their hovel should be well secured from the entrance of foxes, polecats, weasels, &c., and it should be de- fended from wind and weather. Ducks “feed themselves” a great part of the year, as they are gross eaters; loving every sort of garbage, such as offal, earthworms, caterpillars, sweep- ings of barns, residue of breweries, slugs, toads, spiders, and insects. In this particular, they are admirable gardeners, effecting more in one night than two gardeners could perform in a week towards clearing a garden of slugs, snails, and caterpillars. The waters which ducks frequent should contain no leeches. If a pond has any leeches in it, put in a few tench, which will soon devour them. The herb henbane should also be carefully rooted up from the neighbourhood of ducks and poultry in gene- ral, from its poisonous qualities. A duck lays from 50 to 60 eggs between the months of March and May, which are as nourishing in their quality as hen’s eggs. The duck is not naturally inclined to sit, but let her always sit upon her own eggs if possible. It is observed that they do not like sitting upon strange eggs, and that they even suffer pain by it., Let her nest be remote and quiet from alarms. While the duck is sitting, her food should be placed near her, and doled out sparingly. They sit closer if not fed too profusely. The food should be very moist. The young ducklings are hatched in a month, and then the mother should be put in a coop for some time, or she will carry her brood immediately to the water, and tire them; besides which, many perish with cold. They should be allowed to get strong first. Many housewives prefer setting duck eggs under hens and hen turkeys, in or- der to prevent this; but if the duck is secured, the end is answered. Let the ducklings have dishes of water near the coop to dabble in, and feed them when out of the egg-shell with 54 DUCK. bread crumbled in milk, for a few days. Nettle- leaves boiled tender and chopped very small, made into a paste with barley meal, is also a warm, wholesome food. When the duck- lings gain strength, give them plenty of raw potherbs well chopped, mixed with soaked bran, barley, mashed potatoes, mashed acorns, or fish, if near the coast. Ducklings intended for the table should not be allowed to swim about much; it keeps them lean. Barly ducks are valuable. They should be confined to their hovel or toa coop during the process of fat- tening, and fed there for one month upon oats and water in clean troughs. It is of no use giving them musty oats: they will no more fatten upon musty oats than we can thrive upon musty bread. Do not try to fatten them either upon garbage. It gives the flesh a bad taste. Boiled rice is a nice delicate variety of food. The fine, white Aylesbury breed are the most profitable and the handsomest duck. They are also the earliest in laying and setting. I will give a recipe for salting ducks, as they are done in Brittany: it is economical and excellent food. Two days after the well-fatted ducks are killed, cut them open at the inferior part, and draw away the thighs, wings, and flesh of the stomach and rump. Put the whole, with the neck and tip of the rump ina tub of salt, with a little nitre and a few bay leaves mixed in it, to give the flesh a fine red colour. Cover it up in the salt a fortnight; then cut the fowl in four quarters, lard it with cloves, and put it into a pot or pots, with some spice. Duck feathers are very profitable, and, mixed with those of the goose, make good pillows, &c. The feathers should be plucked in May and September, while the duck is yet warm after death. Dry the feathers in bags in the oven after the bread has been withdrawn, and repeat the process several times. See Freatoers. ‘ DUCK, THE MUSCOVY (.4nas Moschata), a native of South America, is a gaudy-looking large bird, often introduced into our farm- yards, but not much approved; more for show than use. Their flesh is not so good to eat as that of the common duck, and the drake is very tyrannical in attacking the poultry, and causing an uproar in the peaceful homestead, besides spoiling a superior breed. DUCK, THE WILD (Anas boschas, Linn.), is rather less in size than the tame duck, but differs little in plumage; it weighs usually about 24 lbs., but has been known to reach 33. In-shore shooting of wild ducks is considered to be legitimate sporting about the middle of August, when the flappers, or young dacks, have begun to take wing. The last Game Act in England has a clause to prevent wild-fowl being killed from the last day of March to the lst of October, and this applies equally to shooting and taking them in decoys. The wild ducks pair in the spring, build their nest among rushes near the water, and lay from 10 tol6eggs. (Willich’s Dom. Ency.) For descrip- tions of the numerous species of the wild duck found in the United States, see Nutiall’s Ornithology of Water Birds, 2N2 425 DUCK’S FOOT. DUCK’S FOOT (Podophyllum; a bridged from anapodophyllwn, a word signifying a duck’s foot, as the leaves bear some resemblance to it). This plant requires a moist, shady situa- tion, and to be grown in peat soil; increased by division at the root. (Pazton’s Bot. Dict.) DUCKWEED (Lemna), A genus of minute, herbaceous, floating plants, consisting of four species, all of which are natives of England, and grow abundantly in ponds, ditches, and stagnant waters. They are in flower from June to August. Duckweed isa small green herb, consisting of little roundish leaf-like disks. Itis not, perhaps, generally known that fluckweed, if allowed to spread itself over ponds and stews, in which fish are preserved, will ultimately destroy them, by its forming a compact mat upon the surface, thereby prevent- ing the fish, when they rise to the surface of the water for air, from breathing. It should on this account be abstracted diligently with a rake, or some such implement, and kept under before it attains an ascendency, which it will do in a very short time if not seasonably with- drawn. The quantities of fish that perish under the influence of this weed are incal- culable. Ducks feed upon the “lemna” with Surprising avidity, and thence it derives its name (duck’s meat or duckweed). Ducks, by dabbling and grovelling in foul pools, where it predominates, and its adhering to their feathers, are in the habit of introducing it into other waters, where it never appeared before. (Eng. Flora, vol. i. p. 31; Willich’s Dom, Ency.) DUN (Sax. un). A colour partaking brown and black, frequent in horses. DUNES (Ang-Sax. low hills). Hills of movable sand, which are met with along the sea coast in various parts of Great Britain, Ireland, and the Continent. (Brande’s Dict. of Science.) DUNG and DUNGHILL. See Fann-yanp Done and Compost. DURHAM CATTLE. See Carrux. DUST BRAND. One of the local names for the smut in wheat. DUTCH ASHES. See Asues. DUTCH ELM (Ulmus suberosa). DWARF BAY. See Mezznron, DWARF ROSE BAY. See Movunrary Lavnet. DWARF BERRIES. See Nicursuanz. DWARF OAK. A shrub, sometimes em- ployed for making live fences. It grows very fast, and becomes thick by cutting very ra- idly. : DYKE (Sax. vice; Erse, dyk). A sort of wall or mound formed of earth or turfs. In Scot- land it is applied to any wall round a field. See Drreu. DYNAMOMETER (Gr. Juvauic, power, and #erev, measure). An instrument for measur- ing power of any kind, as the strength of men and animals, the force of machinery, &c. Some interesting results relating to the average strength of men at different ages, and of dif- ferent weights and sizes, have been produced by M. Quetelet of Brussels, from numerous experiments with Regnier’s dynamometer, one of the most convenient that is made. It consists of two flat plates of steel of a 426 of See Erm. EAR. curved form, increasing in thickness towards the ends, which unite into solid cylindrical loops; the curved sides of the plates being placed opposite to each other, and the whole forming an entire elliptic spring. On the ap- plication of this instrument as a link in the line of draught, the oval becomes lengthened in proportion to the degree of force acting on the loops in opposite directions, and the curved sides approach more nearly towards each other accordingly. The degree of approxima- tion in the plates is shown on the scale, in divisions corresponding to half and whole hun- dred weights, by means of a cross rod secured to one plate acting on a crank attached to the opposite one, thus communicating its effect to the lever index, which, moving over the divi- sions of the scale, marks the varying degree of force exerted each moment by the draught to which the instrument is subjected. Messrs. Cottam and Hallen, engineers and agricultural implement makers, of Winsley street, Oxford street, London, have recently patented an improved dynamometer, contrived with the intention of obviating the continual vibration of the indicator of the dynamometer formerly in use, which was caused (with refer- ence tothe plough) by the obstructions met with in the soil through which it was passing. These vibrations were so incessant, that the indicator could searcely be discerned during the experiment. The improvement consists in the attachment of a small brass pump filled with oil, the piston of which has one or two small apertures. There being no outlet from the pump, it is evident that when any shock occurs, caused by a stone, root, &c., the oil having to pass from one side of the piston to the other, the suddenness is greatly diminished by the resistance, producing a corresponding effect upon the pointer, which, as these shocks are rapid, vibrates nearer the actual draught of the machine; which is the object in view, and not the measurement of any impediment, but a mean result of the whole. Mr. Pusey, in his “Experimental Inquiry on Draught in Ploughing” (Journ. Roy. Eng. Agr. Soc. vol. i. p. 219), speaks very favourably of this draught- guage, and remarks (Ibid. p. 222): “Such is the goodness of Mr. Cottam’s new draught- guage, that we scarcely ever, I believe, differed by more than a quarter of a hundred weight, and often agreed to an eighth, or one stone.” DYSENTERY (Fr. dysenteric). See Suzzp, Disxase& or. E. EAR (Sax. eane; Lat. auris). The organ of hearing in animals. In a horse, the ears should be small, narrow, straight, and the substance of them thin and delicate. They should be placed on the very top of the head; and their points, when stiled or pricked up, should be nearer together than their roots. When a horse carries his ears pointed forwards, he is said to have a boldor brisk ear. In travelling, it is considered an advantage when the horse keeps them firm. The exterior ears of the horse are merely organs for collecting sound; EAR MARK. consequently, he has a complete power over the muscles attached to them, and can turn them in every direction. It is probable that the organ of hearing is the safeguard of the horse in his natural state. He is ill adapted for combat; his swiftness of foot and his acute- ness of hearing are therefore requisites to him of the utmost importance. EAR MARK. A mark on the ear by which shepherds know their sheep. Cattle, hogs, and other animals are sometimes marked in the same way, by notching, clipping, or slitting the ear. EARNEST (Sax. eonnert; Fr. arrhes; Dan. ernitz penge). In commercial law, the sum ad- vanced by the buyer of goods in order to bind the seller to the terms of the agreement. As to what amounts to sufficient earnest, Blackstone lays it down, that “if any part of the price is paid down, if it is but a penny, or any portion of the goods is delivered by way of earnest, it is binding.” To constitute earnest, the thing must be given as a token of ratification of the contract, and it should be expressly stated so by the giver. (Chitty’s Com. Law, vol. iii. p. 289; MCulloch’s Com. Dict.) EARS of Corn (Sax. ebhep.). The spike or head containing the seeds of wheat, &c. In the United States the term ear as applied to grain, refers almost exclusively to that of Indian corn. EARTH (Sax. eapv.). This word was an- ciently employed to signify one of the four elements of which all matter was supposed to be formed ; namely air, fire, water, and earth. In the present period, the word in common lan- guage has two meanings; it implies either the globe we tenant, or the soil on which plants vegetate. In this work it has reference to the latter. The soil, as well as the rocks, &c., of which our planet is formed, is composed of a variety of substances, such as lime, silica, alumina, magnesia, &c., to which chemists long since gave the name of earths; and although by the researches of Sir H. Davy and others, these earths have been shown to be, in reality, metallic oxides—that is, metals united with oxygen—yet the term earth is so well and so extensively known, that I should, even if this was intended to be a chemical dictionary, retain it. The following is the composition of the four earths most commonly met with by the farmer in his land, or in the crops which it supports :— ; Lime: a compound of a peculiar metal called Parts. Calcium - - - 71-42 Oxygen = ene - 28-58 100 Alumina (clay): a compound of, Aluminum - - - - - - 56°895 Oxygen ei FN eae kB lib, 100 Magnesia: a compound of the metal Magnesium - - - = = - 40 Oxygen - a ee 60 100 EARTHS. Silica, which is by modern chemists classed with the acids, is a compound of a metal called Parts. Silicon - - - 5 - 49 888 Oxygen - - - - - 50 112 100 In this place, however, our business is with the earths only so far as their uses to vegeta- tion are concerned. EARTHS, their Use to Vegetation. In the in- vestigation of the use of the earths to vegeta- tion, not only as regards their position as necessary portions of all cultivated soils, but as forming the essential constituents of most vegetable substances, several very important circumstances will present themselves to the notice of the cultivator. The order and the regularity with which these earths are found in plants is most remarkable; the harmony, too, with which the various chemical ingredients are arranged, the uniform manner in which they are absorbed by the roots of the plant and distributed in its juices, cannot escape our at- tention, nor fail to excite our gratitude for the benevolence and the wisdom displayed in the contrivance. Thus we shall find, as we pro- ceed in our researches (to give only a single instance), that the earth silica (flint) abounds in the straw of the wheat plant, where its pre- sence helps to impart the requisite degree of strength and hardness to the stem; but scarce- ly a chemical trace of this earth is discoverable in the flour of the seeds of the same plant, for there its presence in our food would be worse than useless. Let not, however, the reader, when he is considering the discoveries of vegetable che- mistry, feel surprised that more has not been accomplished by the chemical philosopher in that important branch of science. There are many reasons why the discoveries in this branch of chemistry have-been gradual, and only by slow degrees: he may be assured that the difliculttes which attend the chemist when he is investigating the properties of organic matter, are more than usually numerous; for the living plant, in many instances, seems en- dowed with powers that appear even to nen- tralize the effects of chemical attraction and repulsion : thus the earths and allcalies, to give one instance only, are often found in juxtapo- Sition with uncombined vegetable acids. The roots of most plants, also, are endowed with a remarkable capacity of absorption; not only do they absorb water, the gases of the atmo- sphere and those formed by putrefaction, but they take up earths, allalies, and saline sub- stances; and, besides doing this with a regu- larity which is almost unvaried, they exercise a power of absorbing certain saline bodies when dissolved with others in water, and of leaving the others in solution, which shows them to be endowed with properties of a very remarkable nature. Some curious experiments were long since made by M. Saussure on this interesting question. “ When various salts were dissolved at once in the same solutions,’ says Dr. Thomson, “and plants made to vege tate in them, it was found that different propor- tions of the salts were absorbed. The follow- 427 EARTHS. ing table exhibits the results of these trials, supposing the original weight of each salt to have been 100. Each solution contained one hundredth part of its weight of each salt— Proportions absorbed. 1 Glauber salt a eis om RT, * ¢ Common salt - - - = 29:0 Glauber salt - - - = 60 2. {Common salt - - = - 100 Acetate of lime} - - - - 00 On examining the plants the salts absorbed were found in them unaltered.” (Chemistry, vol. iv. p. 325.) In these experiments the cul- tivator will observe that the plants (which were Spotted Persicaria (Polygonum Persicaria) and the Bur-marigold (Bidens tripurtita), with their roots attached) absorbed the common salt with avidity, but that they rejected entirely the ace- tate of lime. The earths are, in all probability, always imbibed by the plant in a state of solu- tion; we know, in fact, that both lime and silica are, to a certain extent, soluble in water, and alumina is also very probably absorbed as a component of some of the soluble salts which contain this earth. The part which the earth fulfils in the sup- port of plants early attracted the attention of philosophers. The earthy ashes produced by the combustion of vegetable substances must have very soon indicated to mankind the real truth of the case, that there were certain solid substances found in vegetables which they could only derive from the earth they tenanted. That the soil furnished its earthy matter to the plant was, therefore, the natural conclusion of some of the Greek philosophers ; and although their observations in this way were commonly very loose, and always general, yet when they decided, which they did with all gravity, that earth, air, fire, and water composed every thing on the earth, the vegetable world was of course included in the list; they still, however, thought . that the chief use of the earth to plants con- sisted in keeping them upright, and furnishing them with a sufficient supply of moisture. When the ancient naturalists came to the conclusion that the whole earth was composed of four elements, they founded their decision upon certain rude observations ; but they did not stop there, they proceeded to confuse them- selves by various incomprehensible or delu- sive phrases, such as more modern observers have too often imitated. Fire they regarded as the active principle of the universe, the source of both animal and vegetable life, the cause of renovation and decay. Earth they consi- dered as the principle of fixity, of hardness, and of solidity. These rude, though sagacious observations, the early chemists, and then the alchemists, strongly confirmed by the mode in which they analyzed vegetable substances. They had only one mode of effecting this, that of subjecting them in a retort to dry or de- structive distillation. By this mode the results are almost always the same; first the water of the plant comes over; then a volume of carburetted hydrogen and carbonic acid gases is driven off; and finally a quantity of earthy | matters, mixed with various salts and potash remains at the bottom of the retort. We need hardly feel surprised, therefore, that after such 428 EARTHS. an analysis, the chemists of old readily agreed with the naturalists that earth, air, and water, alone formed the vegetable world. Evelyn, in 1674, wrote a work upon earth, in which he Jauded its powers with much en- thusiasm. “What shallI say,” he exclaims, “Quid Divinum ? the original of all fecundity ; nor can I say less, since there was nor sacri- fice nor discourse without it.” And in another place he says (for Evelyn was exceedingly credulous), “ Whatever then it be, which the earth contributes, or whether it contains uni- versally a seminal virtue, so specified by the air, influences, and the genius of the climate, as to make that a cinnamon tree in Ceylon which is but a bay in England, is past my skill to determine; butit is to be observed with no little wonder, what M. Bernier in his history of the empire of the Mogul affirms to, as of a mountain there, which being on one side of it intolerably hot produces Indian plants, and on the other as intemperately cold, European and vulgar plants.” There is much valuable mat- ter, however, in The Terra of Evelyn, whose modesty enhanced his great merits. Thus, in conclusion, he told his Fellows of the Royal Society, to whom his valuable essay was ad- dressed, that it was merely “a dull discourse of earth, mould, and soil.” Fitzherbert, the earliest English writer upon agriculture (1532), did not pay any attention to earths, beyond the usual necessary routine of the farm; he confined himself entirely to practical details : not a trace of any thing like scientific inquiry is to be found in his Boke o Husbandrye. John Worlidge, who published his System of Agriculture in 1669, thought it ne- cessary, as he professed to “unveil the mystery of agriculture,” to give the cultivator an expla- natory chapter on the food of plants, in what he called “a plain and familiar method,” and this he did in the true jargon of the alchemists; for the age of “the transmuters” was not yet over when Worlidge wrote. He gave, there- fore, the husbandmen of those days a disserta- tion upon “the universal spirit, or spirit of mercury, the universal sulphur, and the uni- versal salt ;” but still, after all, he thought that the earth was the true food of plants, and that all the operations of the husbandman only tended to enable the roots of the plant to take up more earthy matter, and he devotes a chap- ter of his book to the “Soyls and Manures taken from the Earth.” But his ideas, like those of the alchemists, were usually a mixture of common sense and absurdity, too closely united to be always readily distinguishable by the good sense of the cultivator. Jethro Tull, who wrote between 1730 and 1740, considered earth to be the sole food of plants. “Too much nitre,” he tells us (p. 13, of his valuable Book on Husbandry), “cor- rodes a plant, too much water drowns it, too much air dries the roots of it, too much heat burns it; but too much earth a plant can never have, unless it be therein wholly buried: too much earth or too fine can never possibly be given to their roots, for they never receive so much of it as to surfeit the plant.” And again, he tells us in another place, “That which nou- rishes and augments a plant is the true food EARTHS, of it. Every plant is earth, and the growth and true increase of a plant is the addition of more earth.” And in his chapter on the “ Pasture of Plants,” Tull told his readers with great gravity, that “this pasturage is the inner or internal superficies of the earth; or, which is the same thing, it is the superficies of the pores, cavi- *ties, or interstices of the divided parts of the earth, which are of two sorts, natural and arti- ficial. The mouths or lacteals of roots take their pabulum, being fine particles of earth, from the superficies of the pores or cavities, wherein their roots are included.” Tull wrote with all the enthusiasm of genius, and carried his admiration of the powers of the earth to support vegetation much too far; he was deceived, in fact, by the effects of his finely pulverizing system of tillage, and did not suffi- ciently attend to the fact, that there are many other substances in the commonly cultivated soils of the farmer besides the earths, and that so far from their being always the chief con- stituents of the soil, they very often form the smallest portion of even a highly productive field. That the four earths of which all cultivated soils are composed are all the necessary food or constituents of vegetables, has, long since Tull wrote, been decided by the accurate in- vestigations of the chemist. Of these, lime, either as a carbonate, or an acetate, or a sul- phate, is by far the most generally present in plants; indeed, in one form or another, it is rarely absent from them. The presence of Silica (flint) is almost equally general. Mag- nesia is less usually present, or, at least, it ex- ists in smaller proportions; and the same re- mark applies to alumina (clay). The quantity of the earths which is present in various vegetables is, therefore, a primary question for the cultivator’s guidance. This will be seen from the following tables :— Parts. 1000 parts of the oak contain of the earths 1-030 _— beech — 0.453 _ fir _ 0.003 _ Turkey wheat (Indian corn) 7110 _ sunflower _ 3°720 _— vine branches — 2°850 _— box _ 2674 _ willow = 2515 _ elm = 1-960 =— aspen = 1146 _ fern = 3/221 _ wormwood — 2444 _ fumitory = 14.000 The proportions of the earths contained in the commonly cultivated crops of the farmer have been ascertained by M. Schrader: this able chemist obtained from thirty-two ounces of the seeds of wheat (Triticum hybernum), of rye (Secale cereale), barley (Hordeum vulgare), oats (Avena sativa), and of rye-straw the fol- lowing results :— Wheat.| Rye. | Barley.| Oats. fa Es Silica- - - 13-2] 15:6] 66:7 144-02 152-0 Carbonate of lime | 126} 13-4] 248] 33:75) 46-2 “of magnesia} 13°4| 14:2] 253] 33:09) 28:2 Alumina - - 06) 14) 42) 4:05) 3-2 Oxide ofmanganese| 50 3-2 67 695) 68 Oxide ofiron - 25/ O09) 38] 405) 24 47°3| 48°7 | 131°5 | 227°8 | 238:8 (Gehlen, Journ. vol. iii. p. 525.) EARTHS. The earth silica or flint abounds in almost every description of vegetable matter, espe- cially in the grasses and Equisetwm (horse-tail). In the Dutch rush it is so plentiful that that plant is used by the turner to polish wood, bone, and even brass. It forms so considerable a portion of the ashes of wheat-straw, that when these are exposed to the action of the blow- pipe, it unites with the potash found also in the straw, and forms an opaque glass. Davy found it most copiously in the epidermis or outer bark of the plants he examined. Parts. 100 parts of the epidermis of bonnet-cane contain of silica - - - - - - - - 90:0 100 parts of the epidermis of bamboo-cane contain of silica - - - - - - - - 714 100 parts of the epidermis of common reed contain of silica - - - - - - - - 481 100 parts of the epidermis of stalks of wheat con- tain of silica - - - - - - - 65 In the joints of the bamboo a concrete sub- stance is found, which Fourcroy and Vauque- lin examined, and ascertained that it consists of 70 parts of silica, and 30 parts of potassa. This substance, which is named tabasheer, can only be furnished by the soil. (Gehlen, vol. ii. p- 112.) This earth, according to M. Saussure, consti- tutes 3 per cent. of the ashes of the leaves of oak gathered in May, 14:5 per cent. of those gathered in September, and 2 per cent. of the wood. In the ashes obtained by burning the wood of the poplar, it exists in the proportion of 3°3 per cent.; of the hazel, 0°25 per cent.; of the mulberry, 0°12 per cent.; of the horn- beam, 0:12 per cent.; 0°5 per cent. in peas (Pi- sum sativum); 61:5 in the straw of wheat; 0-25 in the seeds ; 57-0 per cent. in the chaff of bar- ley; 35°5 in its seeds; and in the oat plant 60 per cent. Lime is, if possible, still more generally present in all plants than silica. “The salsola soda,” says Dr. Thomson, “is the only plant in which we know for certain it does not exist.” (Syst. of Chem. vol. iv. p. 190.) It is, however, united with carbonic acid as carbonate of lime; or it exists as the base of some other salt, such as in oxalate of lime, or in sulphate of lime (gypsum). It was found in the ashes re- maining after the combustion of oak wood, at the rate of 32 per cent. by M. Saussure. In that of the poplar at the rate of 27 per cent. He discovered also 8 per cent. in those from the wood of the hazel; 56 in those of the mul- berry wood; 26 in the hornbeam; 14 in the ripe plant of peas; 1 per cent. in the straw of the wheat, but not any in its seeds; 12 in the chaff of barley, but none in either its flour or its bran; neither did he find any in the oat plant; but then, in the ashes of the leaves of the fir (Pinus abies), raised on a limestone hill, he found 43:5 per cent. Alumina, .as I have elsewhere observed, is found in most vegetables, but in much smaller proportion than either silica or carbonate of lime, and the same remark applies to magne- sia. M.Schreder found, as we have before seen, in 2 lbs. weight of the seeds of wheat only ;',ths of a grain of alumina, in rye 1,4, grains, in barley 4,7, grains, in oats 43 grains, and in rye-straw 3,7, grains. In 12 ounces of wormwood there are about 5 grains of alu- 429 EARTHS. mina. This earth, however, necessarily exists in all fertile soils as the food of plants; for although the proportions in which it is found are rather small, yet still there is no reason to believe that its presence is not essential to the healthy growth of the plant. M. Saussure found the ashes of the Pinus abies, growing on a granitic and on a calcareous soil, to contain nearly the same quantity of alumina (15 per cent. on the calcareous and 16 per cent. on the granitic), although these soils differed widely in the proportion of the alumina they contained; for 100 parts of each wood were composed of: The Granitic Soil. Silica Sin Oe tae = = S Alumina - - - - = = = 13°95 Lime - - ~ - = 4 Seti; Iron and manganese aa mae nL 99°24 » The Calcareous Soil. Carbonate of lime Sy rc - 98:000 Alumina - - = 5 = e = 0:625 Oxide of iron - - - = = - 0625 Petroleum - - - - 5 - 0025 99°275 Thomson's Chem. vol. iv. p. 317. P Such are the earths which constitute all cultivated soils, and such is the necessary pro- portion in which they form the constituent elements of some of the plants which they sup- port. In the soils of the cultivator, however, they exist in an endless variety of proportions : thus, I found 68°5 per cent. of silica in the gravelly soils of Great Totham, in Essex, and 62 in those of Kintbury, in Berkshire. Davy discovered about 50 per cent. in the soil of the Endsleigh Pastures in Devonshire, 54 in that near Sheffield Place in Sussex, 15 in the turnip soils of Holkham in Norfolk, 32 in the finely divided matters of the wheat soils of West Drayton, and about 97 per cent. in the soil of Bagshot Heath. Mr. George Sinclair found about 66 per cent. in the grass garden of Wo- burn Abbey. Of alumina, or pure earth of clay, the pro- portions are equally varying. I ascertained the presence of 4:5 per cent. of this earth in a gravelly soil of Thurstable in Essex, and 85 in one at Kintbury in Berkshire. Mr. G. Sinclair found 14 per cent. in the soil of the grass gar- den at Woburn Abbey. Davy detected 8:5 per cent. in that at Endsleigh, 6:25 in one at Croft Church in Lincolnshire, 7 in that in Sheffield Place, 11 in that of Holkham, 29 in a field at West Drayton, and about 1 per cent. in the soil of Bagshot Heath. Of carbonate of lime, the presence is just as varying in amount as that of the other earths. I found 18 percent. in a soil at To- tham, and 19 per cent. in a soil at Kintbury; Sinclair, 2 per cent. in the soil of the Woburn Abbey grass garden. Davy discovered 8 per cent. in that from Croft Church, 3 per cent. in that of Sheffield Place, 63 per cent. in the finely divided matters of the soil from Holkham, and about 1 per cent. only in the soil from Bagshot. The farmer, however, must not conclude, that by merely mixing the pure earths, silica, lime, and alumina together in the most fertile pro- 430 EARTHS. portion, a soil can be formed on which plants will flourish, for such is a very erroneous con- . clusion. All attempts which have been made to make plants flourish in the pure earths have failed utterly when they have been watered with pure water; yet a totally different result I have invariably experienced when I have employed an impure solution or liquid manure. * My trials have been entirely supported by those of M. Giobert, who having formed of the four earths, silica, alumina, lime, and magne- sia, a soil in the most fertile proportion, in vain essayed to make the plants flourish in it when watered with pure water only; but every diffi- culty was removed when he moistened it with the water from a dunghill, for they then grew most luxuriantly; and M. Lampadius still fur- ther demonstrated the necessity for, and the powers of such an addition to the soil; for he formed plots composed only of a single earth— namely, pure lime, pure alumina, or pure silica—and planted in each different vegeta- bles, watering them with the liquid drainings from a dunghill, and he found that plants on all of them flourished equally well. The solu- ble matters of a soil ever constitute, in fact, its most fertilizing portion ; and if by any artificial means the richest mould is deprived of these, as by repeated washings in cold or boiling water, the residuum or remaining solid matter is rendered nearly sterile. This fact, first ac- curately demonstrated by M. Saussure, I have since confirmed by a variety of experiments. Neither must the cultivator imagine that these carefully considered conclusions, the results of often-repeated laborious experiments, are erroneous, because transparent water, appa- rently pure, when viewed in water-glasses, or in irrigation, promotes the growth of bulbs, grass, &c., since the very purest spring water, even rain water, contains foreign substances ; and when only chemically pure water is em- ployed to water plants, they cannot be made to flourish. I have fruitlessly varied the at- tempt in several ways. All the experiments of Dr. Thomson were equally unsuccessful, the plants vegetating only for a certain time, and never perfecting their seeds. Similar experi- ments were made by Hassenfratz, Saussure, and others, with the same unfavourable result. Duhamel found that an oak, which he had raised from an acorn in common water, made less and less progress every year. The florist is well aware that bulbous roots, such as those of hyacinths, tulips, &c., which are made to grow in water, unless they are planted in the earth every other year, at first refuse to flower, and finally they cease even to vegetate. More- over, it has been unanswerably shown by many very accurate experiments, at the repe- tition of which I have personally assisted, that the quantity of nourishment or solid matters absorbed by the roots of plants is always in proportion to the impurity of the water with which they are nourished; thus some common garden beans were made to vegetate under three different circumstances; the first were grown in distilled water, the second were placed in sand and watered with rain water, the third were sown in garden mould. The plants thus produced, when accurately analyzed, EARTHS. were found to yield the following proportion of ashes— Parts, 1. Those fed by distilled water - - - 39 2. Those fed by rain-water - - - 75 3. Those grown in the soil - - - - 120 The mode in which the earths are absorbed by the roots of the plant is, it is almost certain, by means of their solution in water, for both carbonate of lime and silica are, in small pro- portions, soluble in water; they exist together in many springs; and they were both found in the water of the Clyde by Dr. Thomson, in that of the Thames by Dr. Bostock, and in the springs of Upsula, celebrated for their purity, by Bergman. Alumina, as far as we know, is not soluble in water, but then it exists in very small proportions in plants; and the soluble salts of which it is the base may serve to yield this earth to vegetables: the earth itself is so- luble in ammonia. The way in which soils are gradually formed by the action of the atmosphere upon the hard primitive rocks has been well explained by Davy, and is a natural process which cannot but be interesting to the farmer. I merely slightly alter his words in the following account of this important natural phenomenon. It is not difficult to comprehend the manner in which this change is effected, and rocks converted into soils, by referring to the instance of soft granite or porcelain granite. This substance is composed of three ingredients, quartz, feld- spar, and mica. The quartz is almost pure silicious earth in a crystalline form. The feldspar and mica are very compound sub- stances ;* both contain silica, alumina, and oxide of iron: in the feldspar there is usually lime and potash; in the mica, lime and mag- nesia. When a granitic rock of this kind has been Jong exposed to the action of the atmosphere, the lime and the potash contained in its consti- tuent parts are acted upon by water or carbonic acid; and the iron, which is almost always in its least oxidized state, tends to combine with more oxygen; the consequence is, that the feldspar decomposes, and likewise the mica, but the first the most rapidly. The feldspar, which is, as it were, the cement of the stone, forms a fine clay; the mica, partially decom- posed, mixes with it as sand, and the undecom- posed quartz appears as gravel, or sand of different degrees of fineness. As soon as the smallest layer of earth is thus formed on the * Common felspar is composed of— Silica - - - - - = 62°63 Alumina - - - - - - 17:02 Lime - - =) = 2 2Pa 3°00 Oxide ofiron - - = Sheet. atin) Potash - - - sath cio - 13:00 Loss - - - - - - - 350 100° Common mica is composed of— Silica - - - - - - 47:00 Alumina - - - - - - 20:00 Oxide of iron - - - - = 15°50 Oxide of manganese - - en teT5 Potash - - - - - - 1450 Dop= = = 8 sw ES BS 100° EARTHS. surface of a rock, the seeds of lichens, mosses, and other imperfect vegetables, which are con- stantly floating in the atmosphere, and which have made it their resting-place, begin to vege- tate; their death, decomposition, “and decay aord a certain quantity of organic matter, which mixes with the earthy materials of the rock. In this improved soil, more perfect plants are capable of subsisting; these in their turn absorb nourishment from water and frem the atmosphere, and as these, too, decay, afford more new materials to those already provided; and the decomposition of the rock still conti- nues. At length, by such slow and almost imperceptible processes, a soil is formed in which even forest trees can fix their roots, and which is fitted to reward the labours of the cul- tivator. Where successive generations of vegetables have grown upon a soil, unless they have been carried off by man or consumed by animals, the vegetable matter increases to such an ex- tent that the soil approaches to peat in its nature. Poor and hungry soils are commonly produced by the decomposition of the granite and sandstone rocks: such soils usually remain for ages with only a thin covering of vegetation. The soils produced by the same gradual means on the limestones, chalks, and basalts, are often clothed by nature with the perennial grasses, and afford, when ploughed up, a rich bed of vegetation for every species of cultivated crop. The quantity of moisture which a soil, or the earths of which it is chiefly composed, contain, influences to a very material extent its fertility. This not only differs in different seasons, but this power varies very considerably indeed in soils, according to their chemical composition. This was experimentally decided by Professor Schubler, of the University of Tubingen, in his “ Agronomy, or Principles of Agricultural Che- mistry,” for a translation of which the English farmer is indebted to Mr. Hudson, the present excellent Secretary to the Royal Agricultural Society of England,—a translation of which I have largely availed myself in this paper. (Journ. of Roy. Ag. Soc. vol. i. p.177.) M.Schu- bler found that a cubic foot of different soils, when thoroughly saturated with water and when completely dried, weighed as follows :— _____ | Weight of a cubic Kind of Barth. sees ps feeb in Tes Dry. Wet. Caleareoussand - - = | 2°722 | 113°6 | 1413 Silicious sand - - - | 2653 | 111-3 | 1361 Gypsum powder - = - - | 2331 | 91-9 | 127:6 Sandyclay - - - -/| 2601 | 97:8 | 129-7 Loamy clay - — - - -| 2581 | 88:5 | 1241 Stiff clay or brick earth - | 2560 | 803 | 1196 Pure grayclay - -° -| 2553 | 752] 1158 Pipeclay == - | 2-440 | 47-9 | 102+1 Fine carbonate of lime (chalk) 2-468 53°7 | 103°5 Garden mould - - - | 2°332 | 68:7 | 102°7 Arable soil - - = 2401 | 845 | 1191 Fine slaty marl - - 2631 | 1120 | 140'3 The result of these trials will be useful to the farmer in explaining to him the reason why, on account of their requiring more or less moisture, certain crops flourish best on parti- cular soils; and even in the carriage of the earths he will perceive that their weight in the wet or dry state is much greater than some persons suppose. 431 EARTHS. The next important inquiry instituted by the same excellent chemist, was the relative degree of tenacity with which different soils retain the moisture when exposed under similar circum- stances to the action of the atmosphere; and he found that they parted with their moisture according to the following rate :— -— Evaporation from 100 parts of Eepaliof, Each absorbed water in four hours, H Parts, Silicious sand - - - 88-4 Caleareous sand - - - 759 Gypsum powder - - - T17 Sandy clay - - - - 52:0 Loamy clay - - - - 45-7 Stiff clay or brick earth - 349 Pure gray clay - - - 319 Fine lime - - - - 23:'0 Garden mould - - - 24:3 Arable soil - - - - 32:0 Slaty marl - - - - 68:0 In these experiments the soils were spread out to dry very thinly over a plate of metal; but in the following comparative trials (to ren- der the results in all respects more similar to those which the cultivator would experience), the soil was exposed to the atmosphere in masses of an inch in depth :— Kind of Earth. eenae ae 0 Grains Calcareous sand - - - 146 Light garden mould - - - 143 Gypsum powder - - - 136 Very light turf soil - - - 132 Slaty marl - - - - - 131 Arable soil - - - - = 131 Fine magnesia - - - - 129 Black turf soil not so light - 128 White fine clay - - - - 123 Gray fine clay - - - 123 The amount of the relative contraction of different soils, when they are deprived of their moisture, is another equally important question to the farmer to be ascertained. “Many of them,” says M. Schubler, “become contracted into a narrower space in drying, and in conse- quence of this circumstance cracks and fissures frequently occur in land, and have an injurious effect on the vegetation, as the finer roots, which often ramily horizontally, and not unfrequently supply to the plants the greater part of their means of nourishment, are, by such contrac- tions, either laid bare of soil or torn asunder. In order to subject soils to comparative expe- riments on this point, the following plan may be adopted. We either form of the earths, in their wet state, large cubic pieces of equal size, being at least ten-twelfths of an inch in height, breadth, and length, or we let such earths be fitted and dried one after another in an accurately worked cubic inch; after some time, when the weight of these cubes of earth ceases to change by further drying, we measure the dimensions of the cube by means of a rule on which the tenths of lines can be distin- fuished, and may thus calculate easily the volume of the earth, and consequently ascer- tain the diminution in bulk which has been caused bythe drying. The experiments which [ made with the following earths exhibited on this point the subjoined differences :— 432 EARTHS. Kind of Earth. 1000 parts diminished in volume by Parts. Silicious sand - - - - no change. Calcareous earth CMH re p> no change. Fine lime - = - = - 50 Sandy clay - = pice - 60 Loamy clay - = @ - 89 Stiffclay or brick earth = - - 114 Gray pure clay - = - - 183 ‘ Carbonate of magnesia - = 154 Garden mould - =e 149 Arable soil - - = - - 120 Slaty marl - - = - - 35 Such is the effect upon various soils of de- priving them of their moisture. In these cuc- mical investigations the farmer will see how entirely they confirm his own observations. The heavy clay soils, he well knows, are the most contracted by exposure to the heats of summer; the sands the least affected of any. A still more important property of soils, their attraction for the aqueous vapour of the atmosphere, is next to be considered—a pro- perty the importance of which to the cultiva- tor, Sir H. Davy long since saw in its true light, and his observations cannot be too often quoted, since they well illustrate and enforce, amongst other things, the truth of the great Tullian system of agriculture: of the advan- tages of finely dividing the soil, of the subsoil plough, and of the horse-hoe husbandry. “The power of the soil to absorb water by cohesive attraction,” said this great chemist, “depends in a great measure on the state of division of its parts; the more divided they are, the great- er is their absorbent power. The different constituent parts of soils likewise appear to act, even by cohesive attraction, with different degrees of energy: thus vegetable substances seem to be more absorbent than animal sub- stances, animal substances more so than com- pounds of alumina and silica, and compounds of alumina and silicia more absorbent than carbonates of lime and magnesia; these dil- ferences may, however, possibly depend upon the differences in their state of division, and upon the surface exposed. ‘The power of soils to absorb water from air is much connected with fertility; when this power is great, the plant is supplied with moisture in dry seasons; and the effect of evaporation in the day is counteracted by the absorption of aqueous vapour from the atmosphere by the exterior parts of the soil during the night. The stiff clays, approaching to pipe-clay in their nature, which take up the greatest quantity of water when itis poured upon them in a fluid form, are not the soils which absorb most moisture from the atmosphere in dry weather; they cake, and present only a small surface to the air, and the vegetation on them is generally burnt up almost as readily as on sands. The soils that are most efficient in supplying the plant with water by atmospheric absorption are those in which there is a due mixture of sand, finely divided clay, and carbonate of lime, with some animal or vegetable matter; and which are so loose and light as to be freely permeable to the atmosphere. With respect to this quality, carbonate of lime and animal and vegetable matter are of great use EARTHS. in soils; they give absorbent power to the soil without giving it tenacity: sand, which aiso destroys “tenacity, on the contrary, gives little absorbent power. I have compared the ab- sorbent powers of many soils with respect to atmospheric moisture, and I have always found it greatest in the most fertile soils; so that it affords one method of judging of the produc- tiveness of land. 1000 parts of a celebrated soil from Ormiston, in East Lothian, which contained more than half its weight of finely divided matter, of which eleven parts were carbonate of lime, and nine parts vegetable matter, when dried at 212° gained in an hour, by exposure to air saturated with moisture at a temperature of 62°, 18 parts; 1000 parts of a very fertile soil from the banks of the river Parret, in Sqmersetshire, under the same cir- cumstances, gained 16 grains ; 1006 parts of a soil from Mersea, in Essex, worth forty-five shillings an acre, gained 13 grains; 1000 grains of a fine sand from Essex, worth twenty-three shillings an acre, gained 11 grains; 1000 of a coarse sand, worth fifteen shillings an acre, gained only 8 grains; 1000 of the soil of Bag- shot Heath gained only 3 grains.” In my own experiments upon the absorbent powers of various earths,I extended the ex- amination to various organic and saline fer- tilizers. The result of these may be seen in the following table :— Parts. 1000 parts of horse dung dried in a temperature of 100 degrees, absorbed, by exposure for three hours to air saturated with moisture and of the temperature of 62 degrees - - = = - 145 1000 parts of cow dung, LUC the same circum- stances, absorbed - - - - - 130 1000 parts pig dung - - - = = - 120 1000 sheep dung = - = - = - 81 1000 — pigeon’s dung - = = - 50 1000 — ofarichalluvial soil, worth two guineas per acre (rent), - = - - = - - 14 The following were dried at 212 degrees :— 1000 parts fresh tanner’s bark = - = - 115 1000 — _ putrefied tanner’s bark - - - - 145 1060 — refuse marine salt sold as manure - 49% 1000 — soot - - ca 3 - - - 36 1000 — burntclay - - = - - = 29 1000 — coulashes - - = - - - di4 1000 — lime = - SAR IAR yo enieee Aly 1000 — sediment from saltpans = - - 10 1000 — crushed rock salt - - - - - 10 1000 — gypsum - - c o = = - 9 1000 — chalk - - - = Balan & 4 (Johnson on Fertilizers, p. 41.) Davy’s experiments and my own are con- firmed by those of M. Schubler, who varied his observations at intervals of three days; his results were as follows :— | 1000 grains ona Bias of 50 square | Kind of Earth. inches, absorbed in 12hours.|24 hours,| 48 hours. |72 hours. Silicious sand Caleareous sand Gypsum powder Sandyclay - = =e 26 26 28 Loamy clay - = - | 25 30 34 35 Stiff clay shal hiviese 36 40 41 Gray pure clay - - 37 42 48 49 Fine lime - ee ea 31 35 35 Fine magnesia - -| 69 76 80 82 Garden mould - ae fees) 45 50 52 Arable soil - - - 16 22 23 23 Slaty marl = - - - | 24 29 32 33 Another property possessed by all cultivated soils, that of absorbing the gases of the atmo- 55 EARTHS. sphere and of putrefaction, is a power equally worthy of the consideration of the farmer. It was long since shown, in some experimental researches of Mr. Hill, that when oxygen gas is supplied to the roots of plants, their growth and vigour are very considerably increased. Some years since, also, Alexander Von Hum- boldt announced that the earths possess the property of absorbing this gas from the atmo- sphere (Gilbert’s An. of Phil. vol. i. p- 512); and although the fact was doubted at the time, yet later researches have shown that moist earth has the property assigned to it by Humboldt, and the amount absorbed by various earths has since been ascertained by, and will be seen in the following table of M. Schubler :— \In the wet state ab- | sorbed in 30 days by! Absorbed | 1000 grains of earth Kind of Earth. in the from 15 cubic inches) dry state.| of atmospheric air, | containing 21 per cent. of oxygen. grains. Silicious sand - - - 0 O10 Caleareous sand - - 0 03 Gypsum powder - - 0 0°17 Sandy clay - - - 0 0°59 Loamy clay - - - 0 0-70 Suff clay or brick earth’ - 0 0-86 Gray pure clay - - - 0 0-97 | Pine hime - - = - 0 0°69 | Magnesia - - - - 0 1:08 Garden mould - - - 0 110 Arable soil - - - 0 1:03 Slaty marl - - - 0 0-70 This attractive power of the earths and of the plants for the aqueous vapour and the oxygen gas of the atmosphere are, as I have on more than one occasion contended, two of the most important facts to be kept in mind by the farmer, with regard to the deepening and pulverization of his soils. The power of ab- sorbing moisture is a power which all plants possess in a certain measure, but some in such a perfect degree as to depend entirely upon it for all the moisture they need. ‘The aloe, the agave, and many of the native plants of the East, nearly support themselves in the same way; the lichens and some of the mosses of this country also do the same. The quantity of water consumed by plants, when in a state of healthy vegetation, is in fact so great that, if it was not for the gentle steady supply thus imperceptibly furnished to the soil by the at- mosphere, vegetation would speedily cease, or only be supported by incessant rains. Thus Dr. Hales ascertained that a cabbage transmits into the atmosphere, by insensible vapour, about half its weight of water daily; and that a sunflower, three feet in height, transpired in the same period nearly two pounds’ weight. (Veg. Stat. vol. i. pp. 5—15.) Dr. Woodward found that a sprig of mint, weighing 27 grains, in seventy-seven days emitted 2543 grains of water. A sprig of spearmint, weighing 27 grains, emitted in the same time 2558 grains; a sprig of common nightshade, weighing 49 grains, evolved 3708 grains, and a Lathyrus of 98 grains emitted 2501 grains. (Phil. Trans. 1699, p. 193.) “The power of soils to absorb moisture,’ says Davy, “ought to be much greater in warm or dry countries than in cold or moist ones, and the quantity of clay or vege- table or animal matter greater. Soils, also, on 20 433 EARTHS. declivities ought to be more absorbent than in plains, or in the bottom of valleys. Their pro- ductiveness, likewise, is influenced by the na- ture of the subsoil, or the stratum on which they rest. When soils are immediately situ- ated upon a bed of rock or stone, they are much sooner rendered dry by evaporation than where the subsoil is of clay or marl; and a prime cause of the great fertility of land in the moist climate of Ireland is the proximity of the rocky strata to the soil. A clayey subsoil will sometimes be of material advantage to a sandy soil; and, in this case, it will retain moisture in such a manner as to be capable of supplying that lost by the earth above, in consequence of evaporation or the consump- tion of plants.” (Davy’s Lectures, p. 186.) Tt has been shown by the experiments of M. Saussure, with some sprigs of peppermint, that when supported by pure water only, and allow- ed to vegetate for some time in the light, they nearly doubled the portion of carbon which they originally contained. (Recherches sur la Veg. 51.) This they could have procured only from the atmosphere; and, under these circum- stances, there is now little doubt of the cor- rectness of the conclusion of M. Berthollet, that plants, by means of their roots and leaves, have the power of decomposing the water as well as the carbonic acid of the atmosphere, and furnishing, with these elements, new com- binations. How essential a free access of the atmosphere is to the roots of plants was long since shown by M. Saussure, who found that oxygen gas is absorbed by the roots of plants as well as by their leaves, and that it is at the roots united with carbon, and transmitted to the leaves to be decomposed. Even the branches absorb oxygen ; in its absence flowers will not even expand. (Thomson’s Chem. vol. iv. p. 353.) It has been proved that their vegetation is greatly increased by nourishing them with water impregnated with oxygen gas; hence, too, the superiority of rain-water. Some re- markable experiments were made by Mr. Hill, demonstrative of the great benefits plants de- rive from oxygen gas being applied to their roots: hyacinths, melons, Indian corn, &c., were the subjects of the experiments. The first were greatly improved in beauty, the se- cond in flavour, the last in size, and all in vi- gour. This, too, is another use of increasing the moisture of the soil, by deep and complete ploughings, for M. Humboldt and M, Schubler have clearly shown that a dry soil is quite in- capable of absorbing oxygen gas: Thus, it must be evident to the most listless observer, that the more deeply and finely a soil is pul- verized, and its earths rendered permeable, the greater will be the absorption by them of both oxygen and watery vapour from the surround- ing atmosphere. It is perhaps needless to prove that the roots of commonly cultivated plants will penetrate, under favourable circumstances, much greater depths into the soil in search of moisture than they can, from the resistance of the case-hard- ened subsoil, commonly attain. Thus, the roots of the wheat plant, in loose deep soils have been found to descend to a depth of two or three feet, or even more: and it is evident 434 EARTHS. that if plants are principally sustained in dry weather by the atmospheric aqueous vapour absorbed by the soil, that then that supply of water must be necessarily increased, by enabl- ing the atmospheric vapour and gases, as well as the roots of plants, to attain to a greater depth; for the earth, &c., of the interior of a well pulverized soil, be it remembered, con- tinues steadily to absorb this essential food of vegetables, even when the surface of the earth is drying in the sun. By facilitating the admission of air to the soil another advantage is obtained, that of in- creasing its temperature. The earths are na- turally bad conductors of heat, especially down- wards: thus, it is a well-known fact, that at the siege of Gibraltar, the red hot balls employed by the garrison were readily carried from the furnaces to the batteries in wooden barrows, whose bottoms were merely covered with earth. Davy proved the superior rapidity with which a loose black soil was heated, compared with a chalky soil, by placing equal portions of each in the sunshine; the first was heated in an hour from 65° to 88°, while the chalk was only heated 69°. This trial, however, must not be regarded as absolutely conclusive, since the surface of the black soils naturally increases more rapidly in temperature when exposed to the direct rays of the sun than those of a lighter colour. A free access of the air to the soil also adds to their fertility, by promoting the decomposition of the excretory matters of plants and other organic substances of the soil. - In the truth of these conclusions and labori- ous experimental researches of the chemist, does not the practical testimony of the ablest cultivators of all ages and in all countries con- cur? Thus, in enforcing the advantages of rendering the soil more completely permeable by the atmosphere, nearly two thousand years since, Cato asked the Italian farmers, “What is good tillage?” To plough. “What is the second?” To plough. ‘The third is to ma- nure. Cato, however, mistook the cause of the benefit, for he says, “He who stirs his olive ground oftenest and deepest will plough up the very slender roots; if he ploughs ill, the roots will become thicker, and the strength of the olive will go tothe root.” (Lib. 61.) Virgil, when giving an erroneous explanation of the advantages of paring and burning, says, “The heat opens more ways and hidden vents for the air, through which the dews penetrate to the embryo plant.” (Georg. i. 90, 91.) And at this very period do not the best of England’s agriculturists find the greatest ad- vantage from stirring the ground between their rows of drilled turnips, which only operates so beneficially to the plants, by promoting the access of the air to their roots; and that, too, on soils where a weed is hardly to be seen? Is not one great object of fallowing to produce by pulverizing and deepening the soil the same result? Did not Jethro Tull labour long, and sometimes too sanguinely, in illustrating the same position? And does he not support almost all the observations of the chemist, as to the attraction of the earth for the gasses and aqueous vapour of the atmosphere, when he says—“I have had the experience of a multi- EARTHS. tude of instances, which confirms it so far that Tam in no doubt that any soil (be it rich or poor) can ever be made too fine by tillage. For it is without dispute, that one cubical foot of this minute powder may have more internal superficies than a thousand cubical feet of the same or any other earth tilled in the common manner: and I believe no two arable earths in the world do exceed one another in their natu- ral riches twenty times; that is, one cubical foot of the richest is not able to produce an equal quantity of vegetables, ceteris paribus, to twenty cubical feet of the poorest; therefore, it is not strange that the poorest, when by pul- verizing it has obtained one hundred times the internal superficies of the rich untilled land, should exceed it in fertility; or, if a foot of the poorest was Made to have twenty times the su- perficies of such rich land, the poorest might produce an equal quantity of vegetables with the rich. Besides, there is another extraor- dinary advantage when a soil has a larger in- ternal superficies in a very little compass, for then the roots of the plants in it are better sup- plied with nourishment, being nearer to them— on all sides within reach—than they can be where the soil is less fine, as in common til- lage, and the roots in the one must extend much farther than in the other: to reach an equal quantity of nourishment they must range, per- haps, above twenty times more space, to col- lect the same quantity of food. But, in this fine soil, the weak and tender roots have free passage to the utmost of their extent, and have also an easy, due, and equal pressure every- where, as in water.” (Tull’s New Husbandry, p. 43.) The farmer, too, is aware that when the inert substratum of most cultivated soils is first brought to the surface, it is entirely barren, and that yet, by mere exposure to the atmosphere, it becomes readily produc- live. The comparative rapidity with which soils absorb heat by exposure to the rays of the sun is also a question of much importance. M. Schubler found that when the temperature of the upper surface of the earth was 77° in the shade, earth, &c., exposed to the sun in ves- sels four inches square and half an inch deep, from eleven till three o’clock, attained the sub- joined temperature :— Kind of Earth. Wet. Silicious sand, bright yellowish- gray - - - - - - 991 Calcareous sand, whitish-gray - 99:3 Gypsum bright white-gray - - 97°3 Sandy clay, yellowish - - - 98-2 Loamy clay, yellowish - —- - 99-1 Stiff clay or brick earth, yellowish- gray - - - - - - 99°3 Fine bluish-gray clay - - - 99:5 Lime, white - - - - - 96°1 Magnesia, pure white - - ~~ 95:2 Garden mould, blackish-gray - 99°5 Arable soil, gray - - - - 97-7 Slaty marl, brownish-red - - | 1018 As different soils absorb heat with varying rapidity, so they retain it with more or less tenacity, as displayed in the following table by Professor Schubler :— EARTHS, Period required by 30 cubic inches of earth to cool down from 1444° 107020, Kind of Earth, Seo tempe- Hours, Minutes, Calcareous sand - - - 8 30 Silicious sand - - - = 3 20 Gypsum powder - - - 2 34 Sandy clay - - - = 2 41 Loamy clay” - - - 5 2 30 Stiff clay or brick earth - - 2 24 Gray pure clay - - - 2 19 Fine lime - - - - - 2 10 Fine magnesia - - - - 1 20 Garden mould - - - - 2 16 Arable soil - - - - 2 27 Slaty marl - - - - 3 26 From these experiments, the farmer wiil perceive that the popular ideas, with regard to the quality of soils when they are denominated hot and cold, are nearly accurate. He will see that sandy soils absorb the heat of the sun faster than any others, but then their rate of cooling is equally great;—more rapid in their transitions from heat to cold than any others, the crops which they produce are commonly thin; and to these rapid transitions we may assign one reason for the poverty of the pro- duce. The clays, on the contrary, which im- bibe the sun’s rays more slowly, retain their heat much longer. There are several other properties of the earths with which it is highly desirable that the cultivator should be acquainted: thus, the resistance which soils offer to the plough or the spade, in their wet and dry state, is a question on several accounts highly interesting to the farmer. This property of the soil has a}so been examined by Professor Schubler, and the result of his experiments will be found in the following table :— — In wet state, Adbesion to agri- cultural implements on a surface of one square foot with Kind of Earth, Tron. = Silicious sand - Calecareous sand Fine lime = Gypsum powder Sandyclay - Loamy clay -- Stiff clay or brick e Gray pure clay Garden mould Arable soil - Slaty marl ee aro pritrnreng NSIS S Rw er rth Dan BSaASSBGruaco Sooocowmwoaooso aes VOISHD -O-ae COkSUSS24- wD" Geet 29.69 moo’ TRANVSRSODE From these laborious researches of the che- mical philosopher the intelligent farmer may derive many new and important conclusions with regard to the improved cultivation of the earth. They may serve to explain to him one great reason why fallowing and pulverizing the soil, either by machinery or by the mixture of chalk or sand with the heavier clay soils, promotes so decidedly, or so permanently, their fertility. And, again, the advocate for all old customs and obsolete modes of tillage may hence, among other things, learn why it is that deep ploughing, either by the common or by 435 EARTH-BOARD. the subsoil plough, produces such beneficial results; how the gases and aqueous vapour of the air are hence rendered more serviceable to the roots of his crops; and how it is that this free passage of these elastic fluids, first caused by the action of the plough, is preserved and facilitated by that of the common or the horse- hoe. Such researches, too, into the important properties with which the Creator has endowed the soil will be serviceable to the cultivator in even an indirect manner. These investigations will, assuredly, suggest to him the very reason- able conclusion, that there may be yet other chemical properties hidden in the land, which will serve to awaken the curiosity, and reward the labours of future scientific cultivators for many succeeding generations. (Brit. Farm. Mag. vol. y. p. 1.) See Mrxrure or Sorts, Anatyrsis or Sorts, Ausorrron, Cuatx, Hv- mvs, &c. EARTH-BOARD. That part of a plough which turns over the earth. It is generally termed the mould-board. See Proven. EARTH-BUILDINGS. Buildings formed by rammed or compressed earth or clay. This kind of building is supposed to have been known at a very early period, and is still much in use in the southern parts of France. Not only the walls of the houses, but garden walls are formed in the same manner, and of the Same materials in many parts of Normandy. In some instances, boards are placed between the layers of clay, and form a kind of frame- work, which increases the strength of the wall. Clay cottages are not uncommon in some parts of England; but they are not constructed in the above-mentioned manner. EARTH, EATING OF. Stall-fed cattle, and horses which have not the opportunity of plucking up the roots of grass, evince a great partiality for earth. Itis seldom that a cow will pass a newly-raised mole-hill without muzzling into it, and devouring a considerable portion of it. This is particularly the case when there is any degree of indigestion, and it probably acts as a sort of gentle purgative. It is stated by Mr. Youatt (On Cattle) that the celebrated Kinton ox always had a basket of earth standing near him, of which he ate a considerable quantity. When decomposition commenced, and the acescent principle began to be developed, and the animal felt uneasiness on that account, he had recourse to the mould; and the acid uniting itself to the earth, the un- easy feeling was relieved. It is also probable that a purgative neutral salt was manufactured in the paunch, but this would depend on the nature of the earth. The absorbent or alkaline earth taken up with the roots of grass by sheep, also neutralizes the acids of the stomach. (Lib, of Use. Know. “Sheep,” p. 3; “ Cattle,” p. 104 —317.) It is usual to allow sucking calves to have access to chalk. In the stomachs of al- most all young animals, man not excepted, there is a tendency to form superabundant acid, which, if not corrected, impairs digestion, and interferes with the assimilative function, that which converts the chyle into the animal tissue or substance of the body... The importance, therefore, of correcting this, by the administra- tion of absorbed earths, is obvious. 436 EARTH-WORMS. It might become a matter of curious inquiry, how far this desire of earth in cattle has affi- nity to that of the human stomach, which leads the Otomacs, a South American tribe, to eat clay. It is an unctuous clay, containing an oxide of iron; and during some months, when provisions are scarce, an Otomac devours about three-quarters of a pound of clay daily, and he does not suffer nor become lean upon it. The negroes on the coast of Guinea, and the natives of Java, and of some of the other islands of the Indian Archipelago, are also earth-eaters ; and in this and many European countries, pregnant women, and young girls in a state of disease connected with the uterine function, also evince a strong inclination to eat earth. Among quadrupeds, earth-eating is not con- fined to the horse and ox tribes; for, when pressed for food, wolves in the north-east of Europe, reindeer and kids in Siberia, all eat clay. Itis probable that the earth operates as a mechanical stimulus to the stomach, and abates the sensation of hunger, which always attends certain diseased conditions of the stomach. But, whatever may be the cause, this instinctive longing for earth in horses, cows, and oxen should not be overlooked, and the animals should be supplied with it when they are stall-fed. EARTH-NUT (Bunium fleruosum). The common earth-nut, kipper, or pig-nut, for it is known by all these names, is a perennial plant growing in sandy or gravelly meadows, pas- tures, orchards, and woods; flowering in May or June. The root is eatable, nearly globular, black, internally white, aromatic, sweet, and mucilaginous, with some acrimony. The stem is a foot high or more, striated, with long, nar- row, acute leaves ; the radicle leaves are twice or thrice pinnatifid. The flowers are in um- bels; they are pure white. The roots are at present searched for only by hogs, who de- vour them with avidity; but as they are little inferior to chestnuts, they might form an agree- able addition to winter desserts, eaten either raw, boiled, or roasted. (Willich’s Dom. Encyec.) EARTH-WORMS (Lwmbricus, Linn.). Well- known molluscous animals, which are common in ali parts of the country, at little depths be- neath the surface of the earth. White, in his Nat. Hist. of Selborne, speaking of their effects on the soil in promoting vegetation, says, “The most insignificant insects and reptiles are of much more consequence, and have much more influence in the economy of nature, than the incurious are aware of ; and are mighty in their effect from their minuteness, which ren- ders them less an object of attention, and from their numbers and fecundity; earth- worms, though in appearance a small and des- picable link in the chain of nature, yet, if lost, would make alamentable chasm. For, to say nothing of half the birds and some quadru- peds which are entirely supported by them, worms seem to be equal promoters of vegeta- tion, which would proceed but lamely without them, by boring, perforating, and loosening the soil, and rendering it pervious to the rain and the fibres of plants, by drawing straws and stalks of leaves and twigs into it; and most of all, by throwing up such infinite numbers of EARTHY MANURES. lumps of earth, called worm-casts, which being their excrement, is a fine manure for grain and grass. Worms probably provide new soil for hills and slopes, where the rain washes the earth away, and they affect slopes probably to avoid being flooded. Gardeners and farmers express their detestation of worms: the former, because they render their walks unsightly, and make them much work; and the latter, because, as they think, worms eat their green corn. But they would find that the earth without worms would soon become cold, hard-bound, and void of fermentation, and consequently sterile ; and besides, in favour of worms it should be hinted that green corn, plants, and flowers are not so much injured by them as by many species of Coleoptera (scarabs) and Tipule (long-legs) in their larve of grub state, and by unnoticed myriads of small shell-less snails, called slugs, which silently and imperceptibly make amaz- ing havoe in the field and garden. Worms work most in the spring, and are out every mild night in the winter: they are very pro- lific.” (Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. il. p. 145.) Worms are readily destroyed by the applica- tion of common salt, sown broadcast at the rate of five or six bushels per acre ; or on grass plats, by the application of lime-water, or ra- ther mill of lime, which is readily made by stirring for ten minutes a pound of hot lime in four or five pailsful of water. But, for the reasons already given, they should not be de- stroyed. Earth-worms are viviparous, their eggs are hatched in the body, and the young are expelled alive. They generally come out of the earth during the night in June to copulate. EARTHY MANURES. These are the most universal of all fertilizers. In England they are chiefly limited to three, viz. chalk and lime, clay or alumina, sand or silex. In the United States, where no chalk is found, its place is well supplied by lime and calcareous marls, which last, in New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, are used to the greatest advantage by farmers. Then again the green sand or silicate of potash, found in the states men- tioned, proves, in many situations, a powerful mineral fertilizer. With these may be classed the coal, or other ashes produced by the com- bustion of peat, turf, and other vegetable sub- stances, the composition of which is usually similar to that of the soils on which the com- bustible matter is produced. Ashes from chalk soils usually abound in carbonate of lime and gypsum, which is produced in the chalk by the gradual decomposition of the iron pyrites which most chalk contains; while those from clay lands as generallyabound with aluminaand sand. Those which are brought from the sea- shore almost always contain a considerable quantity of soda, and some common salt. There are no researches more likely to amply repay the cultivator than the investigation of the composition of his soils. All the difference between a fertile soil and the poorest cultivated land consists in the presence of the indispen- sable constituents of a soi! in proportions that are more or less profitable. The addition of the desired substance, whether organic or in- organic, constitutes the fertilizing ingredient. Davy long since remarked that “Fertility EDDER. seems to depend upon the state of division and mixture of the earthy materials and the vege- table matter. In ascertaining the composition of fertile soils, with a view to their improve- ment, any particular ingredient which is the cause of their unproductiveness should be par- ticularly attended to; if possible, they should be compared with fertile soils in the same neighbourhood, and in similar situations, as the difference of composition may, in many cases, indicate the most proper methods of im- provement.” (Agricultural Chemistry, p. 203.) Thus, either peat, or chalk, or clay is an excel- lent permanent addition to sandy soils. Challr and sand improve the texture and productive- ness of clays. To peat, the earths are all more or less permanent fertilizers ; lime removes the excess of sulphate of iron (green vitriol); chalk is equally efficacious in what the farmer calls acid or sour soils. This class of manures differs from the organic and saline, in this highly important yet seldom sufficiently re- membered quality, that as they are more fre- quently employed in larger quantities than either of the other two, so their beneficial in- fluence on the soil far exceeds in duration all others. EARWIG (Forficula auricularis, Linn.). A well-known insect, which is common in damp places, and often found in numbers under stones, and beneath the bark of trees. They do much damage in gardens, by preying upon the fruit. The English common name, and also the French pierce-oreille, relate to a habit absurdly attributed to these insects, of pene- trating the ears. (Brande’s Dict. of Art.) It is a curious fact that the earwig sits upon her eggs like a hen; and when the young are hatched, they creep under the mother, like a brood of chickens under a hen. De Geer, who has observed the habits of this insect, says, the parent will sit over them for hours. She usually carries them about on her back, until they are able to provide for themselves. One of the species of forficula, namely, J’. minor, has wings, and flies in groups. They are very injurious to flowers, eating holes in the blossoms, and otherwise disfigur- ing them, particularly the dahlia and Mouffet says that “ox hoofs, hog’s hoofs, or old cats things are used as traps for them by the Eng- lish women, who hate them exceedingly, be- cause of clove-gilliflowers that they eat and spoyl.” It is common with English gardeners to hang up, among the flowers and fruit-trees subject to their attacks, pieces of hollow reeds, lobster claws, and the like, which offer en- ticing places of retreat for these insects on the approach of daylight, and by means thereof great numbers of them are obtained in the morning. The little creeping animal, with numerous legs, commonly, but erroneously, called earwig in America, is not an insect; but of the true earwig we have several spe- cies, though they are by no means common, and certainly never appear in such numbers as to prove seriously injurious to vegetation. (Harris’s Treat. of Insects.) EDDER. A small straight shoot of ash, hazle, oak, or any other kind of flexible wood uced for binding the tops of hedges. 202 437 EFT. EFT, NEWT, or EVET (Salamandra). A small kind of lizard, that chiefly lives in the water. As the newt is an amphibious animal, lt requires to ascend frequently to the surface of the water, to take fresh air into its lungs. EGGS (Fr. eufs; Germ. ei; Lat. ova). The ova of birds and oviparous animals. The shell of the egg is lined throughout with a thin but tough membrane, called pellicula ovi ; which, dividing at or near the obtuse end, forms a small bag—the air follicule. This membrane weighs about 2:35 grains in an egg of 1000 grains in weight. It contains what is called the albwmen or white, and the vitellus or yellow. The white consists of two distinct parts, one of which is a delicate membrane forming a series of cells, which enclose the other, or fluid part. It has the well-known property of being coagulated by heat. It con- sists of 12 parts of albumen, 2°7 of mucus, 0:3 of salts, and 85 of water, in a hundred parts. The yolk consists of oil, suspended in water by means of albumen, and held in a membra- nous sac—the yolk-bag, each end of which is twisted, to form what is called the chalaza, in- tended to preserve the yolk in such a position that the cicatricula, or rudimental embryo, shall always be uppermost. The yolk consists of 28°75 of yellow oil and crystallizable fat, with traces of sulphur; 17:47 of albumen, contain- ing phosphorus, and 53:8 of water. The re- lative weights of these parts, in an egg weigh- ing 1000 grains, are, 106°9 shell and membrane, 604-2 albumen, and 288°9 yolk. The egg loses 2 or 3 per cent. of its weight when boiled in water. The white is more easily digested than the yolk; and both are more digestible in the soft than in the hard state. The changes which the hen’s egg undergoes during incuba- tion have been described by Sir E. Home (Phil. Trans. 1822, p. 339), and illustrated by a beau- tiful series of plates, after drawings by Bauer. The same volume also contains a valuable paper, by Dr. Prout, on this subject, but chiefly treating of the chemical changes of the egg during that process. The egg does not receive its outer coat, or pellicule, until it arrives at that part of the oviduct which is called the uterus; and not its shell until it has passed through one half of the uterus. Eggs are sometimes expelled without shells, and are called oon-eggs. The specific gravity of new- laid eggs at first rather exceeds that of water, varying from 1-08 to 1:09; but they soon be- come lighter, and swim on water, in conse- quence of evaporation through the pores of the shell. The mean weight of a hen’s egg is about 875 grains. Hen’s eggs are decidedly wholesome; and, when new laid, are an agreeable and nourish- ing food. Vast quantities of eggs are brought from the country to London, and other great towns. Itis stated in the Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. iii. p. 1077, that, about 15 years ago, the number of eggs exported from Berwick-upon- Tweed to London amounted to 30,000/. worth a year. The trade in eggs is of great value and im- portance. It appears from official statements, that the eggs imported into England from France amounted to 60,000,000 a year; and 438 EGLANTINE. presuming them to cost, on an average, 4d. per dozen, it follows that the English pay the French above 83,000/. a year for eggs; and supposing that the freight, importer’s and re- tailer’s profit, duty (10d. per 120), &c. raise their price to the consumer to 10d. per dozen, their total cost will be 213,0007. The number of eggs imported into England from yarious parts of the Continent, for the year ending January 5, 1839, was 83,745,723; and the gross amount of duty received for the same was 29,1117, The Netherlands and the Chan- nel islands furnish a large quantity of the eggs consumed in England. (M‘Culloch’s Com. Dict.) See Fowts. A new method of preserving eggs, by pack- ing them in salt with the small end downwards, and by which they have been kept perfectly good for eight or nine months, will, it is be- lieved, enable the inhabitants of portions of our country where these abound to make them profitable. Thousands of bushels may be sent off to the Atlantic markets. Great quantities are used in France; and as the duty on them in England is so low, (not 2 cents per dozen,) they might bear exportation. They have been gathered and sold at the West as low as 90 cents per bushel; which, as a bushel contains 45 dozen,is but 2 cents per dozen. (Ellsworth’s Report, 1843.) EGG-PLANT (Solanum melongena). This is atender annual, a native of Africa. It loves a light rich soil, and blows violet flowers in June and July, which are succeeded by fruit, shaped and coloured like an egg. The plant is propagated by seed. In French and Italian cookery it is used in soups, and for the same purposes as the love-apple. Two varieties of this annual plant are com- monly met with in the United States; one of these bears a very large purple oval-shaped fruit, which is highly relished as a delicious and rich tasted vegetable. It is cooked by frying transverse sections or slices, and in other forms and ways. In size and shape the fruit resembles an ostrich egg, though it frequently attains a size many times larger, even to that of a small water-melon. |The second variety is white, and the shape bears a striking resemblance to the eggs of the domestic fowl. To raise them in the Middle and Northern States, the seed must be sown in a hot-bed in March, and transplanted into the open air as soon as there is no danger from frost, placing them about two feet apart. A pretty high degree of heat, blended with a good supply of moisture, are required to make the seeds germinate and bring forward the young plants. The insane egg-plant (Solanwm insanium). Mad-apple, or purple egg-plant, called by the French Aubergine rouge, is occasionally culti- vated in the United States as a culinary vege- table. The whole plant is coated with a downy nap. The flowers are purplish and pubescent, and the berries very large, ovoid-oblong, mostly of a dark purple colour when mature, and sometimes pale-green. (Flora Cestrica.) EGLANTINE (Rosa rubiginosa ; Fr. eglantin). The old English name of the sweetbrier rose. The odour which is so agreeable, is exhaled from reddish, viscid glands, which cover the ELATERS. under surface of the leaflets. This odour en- ables it to be readily recognised from all our other wild roses, except the small-flowered sweetbrier (Rosa micrantha), which some be- | lieve to be only a variety of R. rubiginosa. The term eglantine is improperly applied by Milton | to the honeysuckle. ELATERS. See Bzrrrz, Serinc-BEETLE. ELBOWS. A term applied to the shoulder- points of cattle. ELDER (Sambucus nigra). It appears (says Phillips) that we have taken the word elder from holder, the Dutch name of this tree. The common elder tree is a native of England, and is found also in most parts of Europe, as it will grow on any soil, and in situations where few other trees would thrive. The stem is much and oppositely branched; the branches being covered with a smooth, gray bark, and having a large spongy pith; the leaves con- sist of two pair of leaflets, with an odd one. ‘The flowers are in cymes; the berries globular, deep purple. It may be observed, that our un- certain summer is established by the time the elder is in full flower, and entirely passed when its berries are ripe. An infusion of the leaves proves fatal to the various insects which thrive on blighted or delicate plants, nor do many of this tribe, in the caterpillar state, feed upon them. Cattle scarcely touch them, and the mole is driven away by their scent; but sheep eat the leaves greedily, and it is said to be acure for the rot. The Rev. Mr. Farqu- harson, in an able paper in the Trans. High. Soc. vol. iv. p. 336, advocates the cultivation of the elder for hedges, from its rapidity of growth, hardihood, and cheapness. The only objection appears to be, that it does not thicken and close up its branches, so as to form an imper- vious fence, like the white thorn. M. Wehrle of Vienna has found, by a series of experi- ments, that the berries of the elder tree produce a much greater quantity of spirit than the best wheat. The spirit is obtained by pressing the berries, the juice of which is treated in the same way as the must of the grape, and after- wards distilled. If the results obtained by M. Wehrle are confirmed, it will be an additional motive for cultivating a plant which possesses many other useful qualities. (Quart. Journ. Agr. vol. ili, p. 183.) An odorous water is pre- pared by distilling the flowers; it is used as a perfume. The inspissated juice of the berries is laxative and diuretic ; and, mixed with wa- ter, forms a cooling beverage in fevers. The inner bark is purgative and emetic. A correspondent of the New England Farmer says that the expressed juice of elder leaves will kill skippers in cheese, bacon, &c.; and strong decoctions of the leaves or roots are fatal to insects, which depredate on plants in gardens and fields. Dr. Willich observes, that the leaves of the elder are eaten by sheep, to which they are of great service when diseased with the rot; for if placed in a situation where they can easily reach the bark and young shoots, they will speedily cure themselves. Dr. Elliott observes in his Essay on Field Husbandry, that elder bushes are stubborn and hard to sub- due, yet I know by experience, that mowing them five times a year will kill them. (NM. EL. ELECTRICITY. Farmer.) Some persons have found a very effectual plan for destroying elders by taking a pole or staff and beating them down whilst in full blossom. The species of elder most common in the Uni- ted States, is called by botanists, Sambucus Cana- densis. It is often a great nuisance along fence rows and hedges, where its straight stems at- tain a height of 5, 8, or 10 feet, being filled with a large pith. The flowers bloom in July and August, the peduncles spreading out so as to display the blossoms somewhat like an um- brella. The berries are very abundant, small, . juicy, and dark purple, or nearly black when fully ripe. The long roots are very tenacious of life, and very much disposed to spread from lateral joints. The inner bark is a popular ingredient in making ointments for sores. An infusion of the bruised leaves is ofien used to expel insects from young cucumber and other vines. The ripe berries, according to M. Coz- zens, afford a delicate re-agent, or chemical test, for detecting acids and alkalies. There is one other species in the United States, called Sambucus pubens, which is found on the moun- tains in the north-eastern part of Pennsylva- nia. In this the flowers do not spread out like those of the common elder of the Middle States. but are crowded together so as to form dense ovoid heads or panicles.° The berries area scarlet red. ELDER, BOX. In some parts of the United States, the name of box elder 1s popularly ap- plied to the ash-leaved maple (.4cer negundo). See Marte. ELDER, THE WATER (Viburawn opulus). Commonly called Snow-ball. See Gurren Ross. ELECAMPANE (Inula Helenium). Called by the I'rench dunée. This is a plant witha perennial root and annual stem, which has been naturalized in the United States, where, in the old settled parts, it is frequent about houses, road-sides, &c., flowering in July and August. The stem or stalk is downy, and grows to the height of 3 to 6 feet, branching near the top. ‘The leaves are long and large, with much down on the under surface. The flowers are large, and of a golden yellow. The roots, which constitute the medicinal part of the plant, should be dug up in autumn and in the second year of their growth, as when older they are apt to be stringy and woody. The dried root has a very peculiar and agreeable aromatic odour, slightly camphorous. The taste at first is glutinous and somewhat similar to that of rancid soap; upon chewing, it becomes warm, aromatic, and bitter. A peculiar principle, resembling starch, has been discovered in elecampane, by that distinguished German chemist, Rose, of Berlin, who named it alantin ; but the term inulin is most generally adopted. It has been found in the roots of several other plants. In its medical properties elecampane is tonic and gently stimulant, &c. By the an- cients it was much employed, especially in complaints peculiar to females. In the United States, its use is mostly confined to diseases of the lungs. It has also been extolled for its virtues when applied externally for the cure of itch, tetter, and other diseases of the skin. ELECTRICITY. The application of this 439 ELM. science to the cultivation of the earth has hitherto not been very practically useful. Its operations—the very nature of electricity—are as yet much too little understood for the culti- vator to derive instruction from its study. “Electrical changes,” said Davy (Elements of Agr. Chem. p. 41), “are constantly taking place in nature on the surface of the earth, and in the atmosphere: but as yet the effects of this power in vegetation have not been correctly estimated. It has been shown, by experiments made by means of the voltaic battery (the in- strument in which electricity is evolved by the mutual action of zine, copper, and water), that compound bodies in general are capable of being decomposed by electrical powers ; and it is probable, that the various electrical pheno- mena occurring in our system must influence both the germination of seeds and the growth of plants. I found that corn sprouted much more rapidly in water positively electrified by the voltaic. instrument, than in water nega- tively electrified; and experiments made upon the atmosphere show that clouds are usually negative; and as when a cloud is in one state of electricity, the surface of the earth beneath is brought into the opposite state, it is probable that, In common cases, the surface of the earth is positive. Different opinions are entertained amongst scientific men respecting the nature of electricity: by some, the phenomena are conceived to depend upon a single subtile fluid, in excess in the bodies said to be positively electrified, in deficiency in the bodies said to he negatively electrified; a second class sup- pose the effects to be produced by two different fluids, called by them vitreous and resinous; and a third set regard them as affections, or mo- tions of matter, and merely an exhibition of attractive powers, similar to those which pro- duce chemical combination and decomposition, but usually exerting their action on masses.” ELEVATION, ATMOSPHERIC, The height of land above the sea or common level, exerts a very great influence upon the growth of plants. One of the main causes operating un- der such circumstances to diminish the size of plants, Professor Dobereiner believes to be the diminution of atmospheric pressure. Experi- ments have been made in order to prove this by placing seeds of barley in vessels, contain- ing soil, water, and air, under different degrees of atmospheric pressure; and the result has been, that, where the pressure was greatest, the vigour of the plants was also greatest. See AxrrrupE. ELM (Ulmus). genus of forest trees, common in Great Britain, of which there are several varieties. The characters of the genus are flowers, bisexual; calyx, bell-shaped, four to five toothed, coloured persistent ; s/amens, three to six; stigmas, two, fruit, sub-globular, with a broad membranous margin. Sir James E. Smith (Eng. Flor. vol. ii. p. 19), describes five species of native elm:—viz. 1. The com- mon small-leaved elm (U. campestris), which is found chiefly in the southern parts of England. The wood is hard and tough, particularly dura- ble in wet situations, and is greatly preferred in Norfolk (where it is the most common spe- cies) to any other, and sells for nearly double 440 | ELM. the price, serving more especially for the naves of wheels. In other parts of England, and particularly about London, the wood of the common elm is used for coffins. 2, The com- mon cork-barked elm, (U. suberosa), which is taller and more spreading than the foregoing, The bark when a year old is covered with very fine dense cork in deep fissures; whence the name. It is far inferior to the former in value. There are various cultivated varieties raised from seed. 3. The Dutch cork-barked elm (U, major); a doubtful native. The branches spread widely in a drooping manner, and the bark is rugged, much more corky than even the foregoing. Miller says this elm was brought from Holland in King William’s reign, and being recommended for its quick growth, was a fashionable tree for hedges in gardens, but afterwards fell into disuse. He adds, that “the wood is good for nothing, so its use is almost banished in this country.” 4. The broad-leaved Scotch elm, or wych hazel (U. mon- tana). It is sometimes called the Hertfordshire elm, being very frequent and luxuriant in that county. The large hop-like fruit is abundant, and very conspicuous in May or June; and the seeds appear to be usually perfected. This is one of the most general species of elm throughout Europe. It is a large spreading tree, of quicker growth than the common small-leaved elm, and the wood is consequently far inferior in hardness and compactness, and more liable to split. ‘The branches are in some individuals quite pendulous, like the weeping willow. The bark is smooth, and downy ina young state. 5. The smooth-leaved, or wych elm (U. glabra). A tall, elegant tree, with spreading, rather drooping, smooth, black- ish branches, ‘and smaller leaves than any of the preceding, except the first. The elm (says Brande) is valued for the ra- pidity of its growth, its hardness, and its capa- bility of thriving in poor soil unfit for tillage. Tredgold (Princip. of Carp.), however, says the elm is of slow growth. The elms of England are scarcely less remarked for their age, bulk, and beauty than the British oaks. The colour of the heart-wood of elm is generally darker than that of oak, and of a redder brown. ‘The sap wood is of a yellowish or brownish white, with pores inclined to red. It has a peculiar odour, is in general porous and cross-grained— sometimes ‘coarse-grained, and has no large septa. It twists and warps much in drying, and also shrinks considerably both in length and breadth. It is difficult to work, but not liable to split, and bears the driving of bolts and nails better than any other timber. What is known in Europe as the twisted elm (Crme tortillard), is not a distinct species but only a variety of the European elm. The twisted form of the fibres is secured by culture, the young stalks being properly grafted and plant- ed separately from the parent tree. In Scot- land, chairs and other articles of household furniture are frequently made of elm wood; but in England, where the wood is inferior, besides the purposes already specified, it is chiefly in demand for the manufacture of casks, mill-wheels, pumps, water-pipes, axletrees, &c. It is appropriated to these purposes because of ELM. its great durability in water, which also occa- sions its extensive use as piles and planking for wet foundations. A second-rate charcoal is made from this wood; and rails and gates of elm, thin sawed, Evelyn tells us in his Sylva, are not so apt to rive as oak. Elm is said to dear transplanting better than any other large tree. It is propagated by seed, layers, or suckers, and by grafting and budding. Suck- ers, however, generally disfigure those trees raised from layers or suckers. As the value of this timber consists more in the length and bullc of the shaft than in the irregular growth of its branches, it is the business of the planter to train them up tall and straight, and not to suffer them to branch till within a few feet of the top. Thesleaves of the elm are eagerly eaten by cattle, sheep, and hogs. The inner bark of the elm is nearly as valuable a medi- cinal agent as the much-vaunted sarsaparilla. The decoction of it forms an excellent vehicle for minute doses of corrosive sublimate in some obstinate skin diseases; and in combi- nation with vinegar or muriatic acid, it is a useful gargle in inflamed throats. Several species of the Ulmus family are found in the United States. Among these the white or weeping elm (Ulmus Americana), is met with over a very extensive tract of the continent. Michaux says that his father no- ticed it as high north as latitude 48° 20’, near the entrance of the river Mistassin into Lake St. John, and that he had himself observed it from Nova Scotia to the extremity of Georgia, a distance of at least 1200 miles. It abounds in all the Western states. The district of coun- try in which it seems to flourish best is com- prised between the 42d and 46th degrees of latitude, in Western New York, the Eastern States, and adjoining British provinces. It de- lights in low and humid soils, and is frequently met with on the borders of swamps and fertile bottoms, associated with the white maple and buttonwood. On the banks of rivers its base is frequently overflowed by freshets, and its diameter often increases to four feet. But it is where the primitive forests, in which it has been once insulated, have been cleared away, that the American elm when left appears in its greatest majesty, towering to the height of 80 or 100 feet, with a trunk 4 or 5 feet in diameter, regularly shaped, naked, and insen- sibly diminishing to the height of 60 or 70 feet, where it divides into two or three primary limbs. These limbs do not part so suddenly as those of most other trees, but approach and cross each other, interlacing and bending their flexible branches so as to form regular arches of the Gothic character, floating lightly in the air. Michaux mentions a singularity in this tree he had found in no other, namely, that two small limbs, 4 or 5 feet long, grow in a reversed position near the first fork, and de- scend along the trunk. The American white elm differs essentially from the red elm and the European elm in its flowers and seeds. The flowers appear before the leaves, and are very small and of a purple colour. The seeds are contained in a flat, oval, fringed capsule, being mature from the 15th of May to the Ist of June. 56 ELM. The buttonwood astonishes the eye by the size of its trunk and the amplitude of its head; but the white elm has a more majestic appear- ance, owing to its greater height, and the dis- position of its principal limbs. When grow- ing alone, the limbs generally branch off at 8, 10, or 12 feet from the ground. “The trunk of this elm is covered with a white, tender bark, very deeply furrowed. The wood, like that of the common European elm, is of a dark brown, and, cut transversely or obliquely to the longitudinal fibres, it exhibits the same numerous and fine undulations; but it splits more easily, and has less compactness, hardness, and strength. 'This opinion was given me by several English wheel-wrights establish- ed in the United States, and I have since proved its correctness by a comparison of the two spe- cies. The white elm is used, however, at New York and farther north, for the naves of coach- wheels, because it is difficult to procure the black gum, which at Philadelphia is preferred for this purpose. It is not admitted into the construction of houses or of vessels, except occasionally in the district of Maine for keels, for which it is*adapted only by its size. Its bark is said to be easily detached during eight months of the year; soaked in water and sup- pled by pounding, it is used in the Northern States for the bottoms of common chairs. “Such are the few and unimportant uses of the white elm in the United States; it is far in- ferior to the European elm, which is a tree of very extensive utility, and it deserves attention in the old world only as the most magnificent vegetable of the temperate zene.” (Michaua.) The Red or Tawny elm (Ulmus rubra), called also the slippery clm.—“ Except the maritime districts of the Carolinas and Georgia, this spe- cies of elm is found in all parts of the United States and of Canada. It bears the names of red elm, slippery elm, and moose elm, of which the first is the most common; the French of Canada. and Upper Louisiana eall it Orme gras. “The red elm, though not rare, is less com- mon than the oaks, the maples, the sweet gum, and the sassafras; it is also less multiplied than the white elm, and the two species are rarely found together, as the red elm requires a substantial soil, free from moisture, and even delights in elevated and open situations, such as the steep banks of rivers, particularly of the Hudson and the Susquehanna. In Ohio, Ken- tucky, and Tennessee it is more multiplied than east of the mountains, and with the hickories, the wild cherry tree, the red mul- berry, the sweet locust, the coffee tree, and some other species, it constitutes the growth upon the richest lands of an uneven surface. “This tree is 50 or 60 feet high, and 15 or 20 inches indiameter. In the winter it is distin- guished from the white elm by its buds, which are larger and rounder, and which, a fortnight before their developement, are covered with a russet down. “The flowers are aggregated at the extre- mity of the young shoots. The scales which surround the bunches of flowers are downy like the buds. The flowers and seeds differ from those of the preceding species; the calyx is downy and sessile, and the stamina are short 441 ELM. and of a pale rose colour; the seeds are larger, destitute of fringe, round, and very similar to those of the European elm; they are ripe to- wards the endof May. The leaves are oval- acuminate, doubly denticulated, and larger, thicker, and rougher than those of the white elm. “The bark upon the trunk is brown; the heart is coarser-grained and less compact than that of the white elm, and of a dull red tinge. I have remarked that the wood, even in branches of one or two inches in diameter, consists principally of perfect wood. This species is stronger, more durable when exposed to the weather, and of a better quality than the white elm; hence in the Western States it is em- ployed with greater advantage in the construc- tion of houses, and sometimes of boats on the banks of the Ohio. It is the best wood of the United States for blocks, and its scarceness in the Atlantic States is the only cause of its limited consumption in the ports. It makes excellent rails, which are of long duration, and are formed with little labour, as the trunk di- vides itself easily and regularly; this is pro- bably the reason that it is never employed for the naves of wheels. “The red elm bears a strong likeness toa species or a variety in Europe known by the name of Dutch elm. The leaves and the bark of the branches, macerated in water, yield, like those of the Dutch elm, a thick and abundant mucilage, which is used for a refreshing drink in colds, and fur emollient plasters in place of the marsh-mallow root, which does not grow in the United States. “Though the red elm is superior to the white elm, it is not equal to our European species, and its culture cannot be generally recommended. “ Observation. In the district of Maine and on the banks of Lake Champlain I have found another elm, which I judged to be a distinct species. Its leaves were oval-acuminate, rough, and deeply toothed, but I have not seen its flowers or its seeds. The length of its young shoots announced a vigorous vegetation. It is confounded in use with the white elm, to which it is perhaps superior; it is found in the nurseries of France, and probably it came ori- ginally from Canada.” (Michaus.) The red elm of the United States bears so strong a resemblance to the Dutch elm, both in foliage and fruit, that it is not always easy to tell them apart. The species of elm known in the South by the Indian name of Wahoo, is the Ulmus alaia of Michaux. It is a stranger to the Northern and Middle States, and to the mountainous regions of the Alleghanies; being found almost exclusively in the lower part of Virginia, in the maritime districts of the South- ern States, in West Tennessee, and in some parts of Kentucky. It prefers the banks of rivers and great swamps, and attains a middle size, commonly not rising higher than 30 feet, with a diameter of 9 or 10 inches. The branches of the wahoo are furnished throughout their whole length, on two opposite sides, with a fungous appendage or ridge, two or three lines wide, from which the specific name, alata, winged, is derived. The wood is fine-grained, 442 ELYMUS. more compact, heavier and stronger than that of the American white elm. The heart is ofa dull red, approaching to chocolate-colour, and always bears a large proportion to the sap. In those parts of the country where it grows, it is employed for coach-wheels, and is even pre- ferred for this purpose to the black gum, as being more hard and tough. Another American species of elm has been discovered by Mr. Nuttall, who calls it the Opaque-leaved elm. He found it in Arkansas, on the plains of the Red river, 1100 miles above its mouth, where it forms a majestic forest tree. It is distinguished for the small- ness and thickness of its oblique and usually blunt leaves, which, with their short stalls, are only about an inch in length by half an inch in breadth, and very numerous. The taste of the plant is astringent, and it is not mucilaginous. Mr. Nuttall considers this remarkable tree to be nearly allied to the Chinese elm (Ulmus Chinensis). Of the uses and quality of its wood he does not speak. The density of shade pro- duced by it, so crowded with rigid leaves, and the peculiarity of its appearance, he says, en- title it to a place in the nurseries of the curi- ous, as he thinks it quite hardy enough for all temperate climates. To this species, he re- marks, Virgil’s epithet, “Tecunde frondibus ulmi,’’ might be more justly applied than to any other. (Nuttall’s Sup. to Michaua.) An American species called Thomas’s elm (Ulmus racemosa), which has hitherto been con- founded with other elms, is, according to Pro- fessor Torrey, abundant in the western part of the State of New York, and probably of the Western States generally. Mr. Thomas, its discoverer, found it in Cayuga county, New York, and the adjacent country. G. B. Emer- son, Esq., says that specimens have also been obtained from Vermont, collected by Dr. Rob- bins, so that it is probably both a northern and western species. The lowermost stout branches, according to Mr. Thomas, produce corky excrescences like the Wahoo elm. For a further description, see Eaton’s North Amer. Botany ; Silliman’s Jowr- nal, vol. xix. p. 170, with a plate; Nuttall’s Sup- plement, p. 37. ELYMUS. The lyme grass. A genus of large, rigid, or coarse grasses, mostly peren- nial, growing frequently on the sea-coast. Smith (Eng. Flora, vol. i. p. 177), describes three native species:—l. Upright sea lyme grass (E. arenarius). 2. Pendulous sea lyme grass (E. geniculatus). 3. Wood lyme grass (4. Europeus). The last is found in woods, thickets, and hedges, on a chalky soil; herb- age of a grassy green; stem erect, two feet high, and striated. As Sinclair has treated copiously of the proportional value of the dif- ferent native and foreign species of Elymus, I shall follow his classification. Elymus arenarius (Germ. Sand-haargras, Pl. 7,0). Upright sea lyme grass, starr, or bent, named from its upright, close spike. Its stalk is not winged, and the leaves are spinous, pointed. The calyx is lanceolate, the length of the spikelets, The nutritive matter affurded ELYMUS. by this lyme grass is remarkable for the large quantity of saccharine matter which it con- tains, amounting to more than one-third of its weight; this grass may, therefore, be consider- ed as the sugar-cane of Britain. The saccha- rine matter must render the hay made from this grass very nutritious, particularly when cut into chaff, and mixed with corn or common hay. Its natural soil (if soil it can be called) is the sands of the sea-coast. This grass, when combined with the Arundo arenaria, seems ad- mirably adapted by nature for the purpose of forming a barrier to the encroachment of the sea. The culms are very deficient, both on its natural soil and when cultivated. A greater proportion of saccharine matter is afforded by the culms of this grass than by the leaves. It flowers about the third week in July. Elymus geniculatus. Knee-jointed or pendu- lous lyme grass. The stem is winged, and the spikes bent directly downwards. At the time of flowering, the produce from a sandy loam is 20,418 lbs. per acre. The foliage is tough and coarse, and the quantity of nutritive matter it affords is not considerable. The Elymus are- narius is nearly allied to this species in its general habit; but differs specifically in the spikelets being pubescent, more compact, and the spike perfectly upright. The leaves are broader, the culms taller and stronger, and the root is more powerfully creeping. This spe- cies is greatly superior to the above in produce and nutritive properties, but neither appear to have merits sufficient to recommend it for cul- tivation; for even though both were early in the produce of fine foliage, and grew rapidly after being cut, their strong creeping roots, which exhaust the soil very much, would pre- clude their introduction on the farm. This species flowers in the second week in July, and the seed is perfected in about three weeks. Elymus hystrix. Rough lyme grass. At the time of flowering, the produce from a rich, sili- cious, sandy loam was 27,225 lbs., of which half the weight is lost in drying. The nutritive matter afforded by the produce of an acre is only 1063 lbs. The harsh, broad, thin, light- green leaves of this species, and of those of the E. striatus and E. sibiricus, indicate that they are naturally inhabitants of woods, or wet, shady places. Grasses of this description are generally (indeed in every instance that has come under my observation) deficient in nu- tritive matter, and contain an excess of bitter extractive. Cattle appear to dislike these grasses. Oxen eat the Philadelphian lyme grass when it is offered to them, but they re- fuse the striated, Siberian, and rough lyme grasses. From the above details, there is no authority for recommending the rough lyme grass to the notice of the agriculturist. It flowers in the second week in July, and ripens the seed in about a month. Elymus Philadelphicus. Philadelphian lyme grass. At the time of flowering, the green pro- duce per acre from a clayey loam and reten- tive subsoil is 30,628 lbs., dry produce 15,314 lbs., nutritive matter, 2033 lbs.; so that it isa very productive grass, and contains a consi- derable quantity of nutritive matter. With re- spect to foliage, it is rather early in the spring. ELYMUS. From the large size it attains, the produce is rank and proportionably coarse, and is unfit for pasture. It appears that for soiling, or hay to be used in the form of chaff, this and some other of the gigantic grasses would be profit able plants on soils unfit for the production of the superior pasture grasses, or of corn. A comparison of the quantity of nutritive matter contained in hay of the best quality with that made from this grass, will show nearly their comparative value. One pound of hay com- posed of the best natural grasses contains of nutritive matter 57 drs.; one pound of hay of the E. Philadelphicus 34 drs. With regard to nutritive powers, therefore, fie tons of the hay of this grass are scarcely equal to three tons of that of the superior grasses. But the soil that will produce this grass and others of the same class at the rate of six tons per acre, would not produce one-fifth the quantity of the superior grasses ; consequently the adoption of the tall fescue and Philadelphian lyme grasses on soils of this description for the uses now described, might be found a profitable measure. This grass flowers in the first and second weeks of July, and successively till the end of sum- mer. The seed ripens in about three weeks after the time of flowering. Elymus Sibericus. Siberian lyme grass. At the time of flowering, the produce per acre from a rich sandy soil is 16,335 lbs., dry pro- duce 5,717 lbs., nutritive matter 574 lbs. The produce of this grass is very coarse, and the weight of the crop, therefore, though consider- able, is comparatively of no value. It is a native of Siberia, and withstands the effects of the severest continued frost, but not sudden changes from frost to fine weather. It requires to be sown every year, and treated as an an- nual. It comes into flower the second season, about the second or third week in June, and continues to emit flowering culms till autumn. A light, rich, silicious soil appears to be best adapted to its growth. Elymus striatus. Striated lyme grass. At the time of flowering, the green produce per acre of this grass from a clayey loam is 20,418 lbs., dry produce 8,933 lbs., nutritive matter 1276 lbs. From these details, therefore, this species is inferior in nutritive powers to the Philadel- phian lyme grass in the proportion of 17 to 16. It is also much later in the production of foliage in the spring, and does not come into flower till after that species has nearly per- fected its seed. It cannot, therefore, be recom- mended for the purposes of the agriculturist, Flowers about the latter end of July, and ripens the seed in August. (Hort. Gram. Wob. p.365— 371.) About eight American species of the lyme grass have been enumerated by botanists, found along streams or on the sea-shore, where, as in Europe, they often prove extremely useful in resisting the encroachment of the water. The Virginian lyme grass is sometimes called wild rye, although its spikes, like those of the Canadian lyme grass, more resemble at a little distance the heads of barley. It is a perennial, found along the banks of the Brandywine and in other parts of the Middle States, where it attains a height of three or four feet. 443 EMBANKMENT. The Canadian lyme grass is also a peren- nial, growing to a similar height with the spe- cies just mentioned, found in similar localities, and resembling it in most other respects, ex- cept in having its flowerets and their receptacle clothed with stiffish hairs. The variety glau- cifolius of Torrey is generally a taller plant, with longer spikes, the awns long and some- what curved, and the whole plant covered with a greenish-white or silvery appearance. It is found on the Schuylkill, near Black Rock. The villous or hairy lyme grass is a species also found on the banks of the Brandywine. The species called Porcupine lyme grass (E. hystrix), is W@markable for its expanded, bristly spike, somewhat resembling an apothe- cary’s bottle-washer. It is a perennial, fre- quently found in the southern parts of Penn- sylvania and other Middle States, in rich, moist, and rocky woodlands, where it flowers in July and ripens its seed in August. (See Flor. Cestric.) EMBANKMENT. A large mound or bank of earth, thrown up for the purpose of protect- ing or reclaiming lands from being injured or inundated by the water of the sea, rivers, or lakes. Mr. P. Howard narrates in the Com. to the Board of Agr. vol. vi. p. 148, the methods in use for embankments abroad. In Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, and other places in England, many hundred thousands of acres have been taken in by em- banking. In Holland, the whole country has in a great measure been gained in this way. Near Chester, the River Dee Company have also reclaimed some: thousands of acres from the sea, which are now divided into several beautiful farms. Mr. A. W. Maddocks, of Car- narvon, enclosed 1080 acres from the sea, by an embankment of two miles in extent. (Ibid. vol. vi. p. 159.) Lord Boringdon also reclaim- ed a large tract of land from the sea by em- banking. (Ibid. p. 252.) Mr. D. Sheriff, of In- verness-shire, likewise describes (Ibid. vol. vii. p. 59), the plan he pursued in taking in from the sea 100 acres of valuable carse land. In the Lib. of Useful Know., “ Brit. Husb.” vol. i. p. 447-449, will be found some excellent observa- tions on the embankment of rivers, and the cost of an operation of the kind. In the Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. viii. p. 377, will also be found some interesting details on the same subject. There are many other parts of the United Kimgdom in which capital might be advan- tageously employed for the same purpose. It is a question of even national importance, and, as in the proposed embankment of the Wash, may be carried in some districts to a much greater extent than is commonly supposed. It is an improvement which must be so much varied, according to the situation in which the farmer is placed, that it would be impos- sible, in this work, to go into engineering details; for, as Mr. Blackie remarks (Trans. of High. Soc. vol. ii. p. 745,) “It would be an Herculean task to attempt to lay down rules, or give directions for raising the requisite structures in every situation. So many local impediments occur, so many unlooked-for ob- stacles must be surmounted, and there are always so many circumstances to be attended Ada ENDIVE. to and provided for, that much must ever des pend on the ingenuity and ability of the direc- tor.” See also Rey. G. Hamilton, Mr. Sidney, and Mr. Macleod. (Ibid.p.97—103); Johnstone on Draining and Embanking, and Stephens on Irrigation. EMBROCATION (Gr. ae2yw). In farriery, it is a liquid application, usually prepared of volatile and spirituous ingredients, chiefly used by friction to relieve pains, numbness, é&c. EMOLIENTS (Lat. emolliens). In farriery, such remedies as relax and diminish the hard- ness and rigidity of the parts to which they are applied. ENCHANTER’S NIGHTSHADE (Circea). Of this perennial herbaceous genus of plants there are two indigenous species, the common enchanter’s nightshade (C. lutetiana), and the mountain enchanter’s nightshade (€. alpina). The former grows in moist, shady places, hedge- bottoms, church-yards, orchards, &c.: the root is tenaciously creeping; the stem 18 or 20 inches high; round and branching: the leaves, of a darkish dull green, waved, with short teeth, one rib, and many veins; the flowers are in clusters, many, small, and scentless, white or reddish, with a brownish-green calyx; the fruit is a bur, clothed with hooked bristles. Two species of this plant are known in the United States. The one commonly found in moist, rich wood-lands in Pennsylvania and other Middle States, varies somewhat, Dr. Dar- lington says, from the circzea of Europe. (Flor. Cest. and Eng. Flor. vol. i. p. 15.) ENDIVE (Cichoriwm endivia). This plant is too well known to require description. ‘There are three varieties. The green-curled is the only one cultivated for the main crops. When the larger seedlings have been transplanted, the smaller ones which remain may be cleared of weeds, and have a gentle watering; by which treatment, in 12 or 14 days they will have attained a sufficient size to afford a se- cond successional crop; and by a repetition of this management, in general, a third. The plants are generally fit for transplanting when of a month’s growth in the seed bed; but a more certain criterion is, that when 5 or 6 inches high, they are of the most favourable size. They must be set in rows 12 or 15 inches apart each way; the Batavian requires the greatest space. Some gardeners recommend them to be set in trenches or drills, 3 or 4 inches deep; this mode is not detrimental in summer and dry weather; but in winter, when every precaution is to be adopted for the pre- vention of decay, itis always injurious. About three months elapse between the time of sow- ing and the fitness of the plants for blanching, This operation, if conducted properly, will be completed in from ten to fourteen days in sum- mer or in three or four weeks in winter. In hot weather, the blanching is completed in half the time that is required if the season is cold. To blanch the plants, it is the most common practice to tie the leaves together; to place tiles or pieces of board upon them ; or to cover them with garden pots; whilst some recom- mend the leaves to be tied together, and then to be covered up to their tips with mould, making it rise to an apex, so as to throw off ta ENGRAFTING. excessive rains. All these methods succeed in dry seasons, but in wet ones the plants treated according to any of these plans are very apt to decay. The one which succeeds best in all seasons, is to fold the leaves round the heart as much as possible in their natural position, and being tied together with a shred of bass mat, covered up entirely with coal ashes in the form of a cone, the surface being rendered firm and smooth with the trowel. Sand will do; but ashes are equally unreten- tive of moisture, whilst they are much superior in absorbing heat, which is so beneficial in the hastening of the process. If the simple mode of drawing the leaves together is adopted to effect this etiolation, they must be tied very close; and in a week after the first tying, a second ligature must be passed round the middle of the plant, to prevent the heart-leaves bursting out. A dry afternoon, when the plants are entirely free from moisture, should be se- lected, whichever mode is adopted for this concluding operation. For the production of seed, the finest and soundest plants should be selected of the last plantation, and which must agree with the characteristics of the respective varieties. For a small family, three or four plants of each variety will produce sufficient. These should be taken in March, and planted beneath a south fence, about a foot from it, and 18 inches apart. As the flower-stems advance, they should be fastened to stakes; or if they are placed beneath palings, the supporting string can be nailed to them. They must be kept clear of weeds. In July the seed will begin to ripen; and here it must be observed, that each lateral branch is to be gathered as the seed upon it ripens; for if none are gather- ed until the whole plant is changing colour, the first ripened and best seed will have scattered and be lost, so wide is the difference of time between the several branches of the same plant ripening their seed. Each branch must be laid, as it is cut, upon a cloth in the sun, and when perfectly dry, the seed beaten out, cleansed, and stored. Endive seed will vege- tate after being kept five or six years. ENGRAFTING. See Grarrine. ENTOMOLOGY. A term signifying the knowledge of insects. The importance of such knowledge to those interested in agricul- ture or rural affairs, must be obvious to every one who refiects upon the advantages derived from the useful labours of some insects, and the devastations committed by others. The first step in proof of the utility of this science, might be to show that insects do a great deal of harm. Besides wire-worms and other in- sects which eat the seed in the ground, and weevils which destroy the contents of the gra- naries, flies torment the domestic animal whilst alive and blow their flesh when dead. Cater- pillars eat cabbages, and moths riddle holes in cloth. Clover-seed is destroyed by a small weevil (Apion flavi-femoratum); Dutch clover by the Apion flavipes; peas in the pod by the small beetle (Bruchus granarius). ‘The turnip- ily is properly a beetle—a little jumping beetle (Haltica nemorum). The problem of course is, how to destroy this legion of enemies. New to do this with the ENTOMOLOGY. greatest effect, we must watch them through all their changes. There may probably be many persons ignorant that most insects pass through four stages of existence (of which the silkworm affords a familiar instance) :—1. The egg; 2. The caterpillar; 3. Thechrysalis; and, 4. The butterfly or imago. It is in the second stage that insects generally do the most mis- chief. In the egg andthe chrysalis they do none; and in the imago, some do and some do not. Though we are all familiar with the in- sect in the shape in which its ravages compel our attention, we are frequently unconscious of its identity under other shapes. We look on the cockchaffer, without suspecting that its issue is the grub which eats the roots of the grass. But however desirable a knowledge of entomology may be, no single individual could acquire it all for himself. He would need the eyes of Argus, the patience of Job, and the years of Methuselah. The diligence and sagacity of men who have passed their lives in this study have at length accumulated a body of facts of the highest value; being printed, they have become the property of everybody who will take the trouble to read them; and thus a school-boy may learn in a few months facts which the labours of his whole life might have been vainly exerted in seeking. Messrs. Kirby and Spence in Europe, and Dr. Harris in America, are the great authori- ties upon this subject, and from their books most of the facts stated in this encyclopedia have been taken. They themselves suggest a similar application to practice of the truths of their favourite science. “ With respect to noxious caterpillars in general,” say they, “farmers and gardeners are not usually aware that the best mode of preventing their attacks is to destroy the female fly before she has laid her eggs; to do which, the moth proceeding from each must be first ascertained; but if their research were carried still farther, so as to enable them to distingnish the pupa, and discover its haunts (and it would not be diffi- cult to detect that of the greatest pest of our gardens, the cabbage butterfly), the work might be still more effectually accomplished.” The process of destroying noxious insects by attacking them in their early stages is not new. P. Musgrave collected the chrysalids in the spring, so as to become acquainted with them, and then employed people to catch and kill the moths and butterflies. If you catch 200 ina day, you destroy 10,000 eggs, which would give 120,000 in a fortnight. Might not boys and girls be well employed in doing this? They have all the organ of destructiveness. In short, it is abundantly evident, that if we knew them in all their changes, and know where they are concealed in autumn, winter, and spring, we might exterminate those multi- tudes which are now as the sands which are upon the sea-shore. And if not all the know- ledge required be yet in our possession, a great deal is, and might be easily imparted to the young farmer, if we could catch him in his chrysalis state; and what little is still wanting would soon be accumulated when we had set so many keen and interested eyes to observa . 2P 445 EPIDEMIC. a fly could scarcely move but they would be watching him. (Farmer’s Register.) EPIDEMIC (Gr. iwi and dios; Fr. epidémique). In farriery, a term applied to such fevers, or other distempers of cattle, as attack great num- bers at certain seasons, or any time, if many suffer in the same manner. The term is fre- quently confounded with infectious, which is perfectly distinct, and implies a disease com- municated, not from the atmosphere, but from one individual to another. Horses are liable to epidemic fevers, and to several distempers of that kind, such as the epidemical catarrh or influenza, strangles, staggers, &c. EPIDERMIS (Gr. 7} and dépuz, the true skin). In botany, the exterior cellular coating of the bark, leaf, or stem of plants and trees. It is composed of cells compacted together into a stratum, varying in thickness in different spe- cies, and is often readily separable by gentle violence. It is believed to be intended by nature as a protection of the subjacent parts from the drying effects of the atmosphere. (Brande’s Dict. of Science.) EPILEPSY (Gr. ¢riawtic). A disease which occurs in various animals. See Saerp, Dis- EASES OF. EREMACAUSIS (from ijgénx, slow, and x2io1, combustion). A term applied in organic che- mistry to denote one of the changes which vegetable and other organic matters undergo after death. The conversion of wood into humus, the formation of acetic acid out of alcohol, nitrifi- cation, and numerous other processes, are of this nature. Vegetable juices of every kind, parts of animal and vegetable substances, moist sawdust, blood, &c., cannot be exposed to the air, without suffering immediately a progress- ive change of colour and properties, during which oxygen is absorbed. These changes do not take place when water is excluded, or when the substances are exposed to the temperature of 32°; and different bodies require different degrees of heat, in order to effect the absorption of oxygen, and, consequently, their eremacau- sis. The property of suffering this change is possessed in the highest degree by substances which contain nitrogen. The decay of woody fibre (the principal con- stituent in all plants) is accompanied by a phenomenon of a peculiar kind. This sub- stance, in contact with air or oxygen gas, con- verts the latter into an equal volume of carbonic acid, and its decay ceases upon the disappear- ance of the oxygen. If the carbonic acid is removed, and oxygen replaced, its decay re- commences, that is, it again converts oxygen into carbonic acid. Woody fibre consists of carbon and the elements of water; and if we judge only from the products formed during its decomposition, and from those formed by pure charcoal, burned at a high temperature, we might conclude that the causes were the same in both: the decay of woody fibre pro- ceeds, therefore, as if no hydrogen or oxygen entered into its composition. In the Appendix to the Third Report of the Agriculture of Massachusetts, 1840, Dr. S. L. Dana adduces the following example, to show that even a moist plant will not decay, if air is ex- 446 ERYNGO. cluded. A piece of a white birch tree was taken from a depth of twenty-five feet below the surface, in Lowell. “It must have been inhumed there probably before the creation of man, yet this most perishable of all wood is nearly as sound as if cut from the forest last fall.” A very long time is required for the comple- tion of this process of combustion, and the pre- sence of water is necessary for its maintenance: alkalies promote it, but acids retard it; all an- tiseptic substances, such as sulphurous acid, the mercurial salts, empyreumatic oils, &c., cause its complete cessation. Woody fibre, in a state of decay, is the sub- stance called humus. The property of woody fibre to convert sur- rounding oxygen gas into carbonic acid dimi- nishes in proportion as its decay advances, and at last a certain quantity of a brown coaly- looking substance remains, in which this pro- perty is entirely wanting. This substance is called mould ; it is the product of the complete decay of woady fibre. Mould constitutes the principal part of all the strata of brown coal and peat. (Liebig’s Organic Chemistry.) The eremacausis or putrefaction of sub- stances containing nitrogen, is the process technically called nitrification. ERGOT (Spermedia clavus). A parasitic fungus, which most frequently appears upon the ears of rye, but sometimes upon other plants of the gramineous order. It most com- monly appears in hot, damp summers. It is known to be present by the change which the affected grains assume; but these seldom ex- ceed five or six inan ear. The grain length- ens to more than double its natural size, be- comes angled, of a deep purplish-brown colour, and curved at its apex, where the ergot is seat- ed. The surface, when viewed through a mag- nifying glass, appears studded with transparent, shining, white, angular dots; and when sliced and viewed in water under the microscope, it is seen to consist of white, flocculent threads, bearing globular sporules. The ergotted grains have a heavy, unpleasant odour, and an acrid, nauseous taste, leaving a slight sensation of heat in the palate. Ergotted rye is poisonous both to man and other animals. When, in bad seasons, it has prevailed, and has been ground into flour with the rye, and baked in bread, it has caused many fatal depopulating epidemics in the north of Europe. On quadrupeds its use is followed by emaciation, palsy of the hind- legs, and extreme debility; mules in South America lose their hoofs and hair when fed on ergotted maize; and hens who have ergotted rye mixed with their food, lay eggs without shells, owing to its excitement of the oviduct. It is employed as a medicine in difficult partu- rition, but it ought not to be administered with- out the greatest caution and discretion. (Edin. Med. and Surg. Journ. vol. liii.) See Mirvew. ERICA VULGARIS. The common heath, ling, or heather. See Heatu. ERIOPHORUM. The genus of cotton grass- es, which see. ERYNGO (Eryngium). A genus of plants consisting of eleven species, two of which are perennials, natives of England, viz., 1. The sea ESCULENT. holly, or sea eryngo (E. maritimum), which | grows on the sandy sea-shore, where it strikes its long creeping roots eighteen or twenty feet deep into the soil; the radical leaves are more or less sheathing, stiff, spinous, three-lobed ; it blows a bright blue flower in July or August. Stem a foot high; root whitish, of a pungent aromatic flavour, with a mixture of mucilage ; herb smooth, glaucous, with an elegant blue tint. The roots, reckoned stimulating and re- storative, are either sold candied or adminis- tered in decoctions variously prepared. 2. The field eryngo (E. campestre) grows on waste ground chiefly near the sea, and is not so common as the last. It is more bushy and slender, and of a paler glaucous green than the foregoing; radical leaves larger; flowers white or purplish. The leaves of both are somewhat sweet, and of a pungent flavour. Mr. Nuttall notices five species of the eryngo or sea-holly, as found in the United States: 1. E. Virginianum ; 2. E. virgatum ; 3. E. feti- dum; 4. E. aquaticum. His general description of the foregoing is,—Stem rather low; leaves sword-shaped, distinctly margined with setose spines; seve frequently in pairs, &c.; flowers greenish-white. 5. E. gracile, without spines. This last was found in Florida by Dr. Baldwyn. Many other species are submarine; some exist in inland depressions, and a considerable num- ber grow in arid wastes. (Nuttall’s Genera.) ESCULENT (Lat. esculentus). A term ap- plied to edible roots and plants, as carrots, turnips, cabbages, &c. ESPALIERS (Fr. espalier), in horticulture, are trees trained by lattice-work or other sup- ports on the borders of beds, or as hedges to enclose plots of ground. They may serve to defend in a great measure many tender plants from the inclemencies of wind and weather. The trees chiefly planted for espaliers are apples, pears, and plums. The principal ob- jects aimed at, however, in espaliers, are to expose the foliage and fruit of the plants or trees more perfectly to the light and sun, to prevent the branches from being blown about by the winds, and to economize space by con- fining them within definite limits. (Loudon’s Sub. Gard. p. 232.) ESPARCET. A local name for Sainfoin, which see. ESTATE (Fr. estat), in common parlance, is applied to the landed property held by indivi- duals; and a man is said to be of good or of small estate, according to the magnitude of his landed property. Estates vary exceedingly in size and value, in most parts of England. The largest estate in the kingdom may be worth 100,000/., or upwards, a year; and there are estates of most inferior degrees of magnitude, down to the annual value of 40s. In some counties the property is more, and in others it is less subdivided. EUDIOMETER. The name of any appara- tus or contrivance by which the purity of the air can be tested. It implies a measure of purity, and is chiefly employed to determine the pro- portion of oxygen which the air may contain. EVAPORATION is the process by which substances in the fluid or other form are con- verted into vapour and steam. Ice, camphor, EVAPORATION. carbonate of ammonia, and many other so- lids evaporate readily in the open air. The evaporation of water is, however, the most in- teresting consideration in its relations to agri- culture, as will be more particularly shown when treating of the evaporating qualities of soils, &c. Water, when expanded into vapour, is high- ly elastic, and spreads itself by a force of its own. The amount of vapour existing at any time in a given place is determined by the degree of heat present. According, therefore, to the temperature of the water from which the vapour emanates, will be the elastic force and density of the vapour, provided the process be carried on in an open vessel. The pressure of the air and of other vapours upon the surface of water in an open vessel, does not prevent evaporation of the liquid; it merely retards its progress. Experience shows that the space filled with an elastic fluid, as air or other gaseous body, is capable of receiving as much aqueous vapour as if it were vacuous, only the repletion of that space with the vapour proceeds more slowly in the former predica- ment than in the latter, but in both cases it arrives eventually at the same pitch. Dr. Dal- ton has very ingeniously proved, that the par- ticles of aeriform bodies present no permanent obstacle to the introduction of a gaseous atmo- sphere of another kind among them, but merely obstruct its diffusion momentarily, as if by a species of friction. Hence, exhalation at atmospheric temperatures is promoted by the mechanical diffusion of the vapours through the air with ventilating fans or chimney draughts ; though, under brisk ebullition, the force of the steam readily overcomes that me- chanical obstruction. The atmosphere has seldom as much watery vapour as it is capable of holding, and there- fore the process of evaporation is almost always going on wherever there is a source of mois- ture present. Under certain circumstances, however, evaporation is checked and even suspended. Suppose the temperature of the water to be midway between freezing and boil- ing, viz., 122° Fahrenheit; also, that the air in contact with it be of the same temperature, but filled with moisture, so that its interstitial spaces are fullof vapour of corresponding elasticity with that given off by the water; it is certain that, under such circumstances, no fresh -for- mation of vapour could take place. The air would then be said to be saturated, as it is at times when clothes hung out at common tem- peratures remain without drying, and the grass, leaves, and grain remain soaked in moisture. But the momenta portion of vapour escapes, or is drawn off by condensation into dew, cloud, rain, &c., an equivalent portion of vapour will immediately be enabled to rise, and the process of exhalation or evaporation recommences. The water exhaled at low tem- peratures, that is to say, below the boiling point, is commonly called vapour. When the tem perature of fresh water in an open vessel, at or near the common level of the sea or tide-water, rises to 212° Fahrenheit, the water begins to boil and evaporate with exceeding rapidity, producing what is commonly termed steam. 447 EVAPORATION, In such case the evaporation takes place, not only from the surface, but from every point in the interior of the vessel. This indicates that the evaporating force of the water gained from the increase of heat has become greater than the pressure of the atmosphere, which is suffi- cient to sustain a column of mercury thirty inches high in the barometer. If the pressure of the atmosphere be removed by the air-pump, the turbulent evaporation or boiling of water will take place at a much lower temperature than 212°, even down to the freezing point. But under the common pressure of the atmo- sphere, and below the temperature at which water boils, evaporation goes on quietly and slowly. In deep mines, which descend below the level of the sea, water requires a greater heat than 212° to make it boil. But on high mountains, or districts rising far above the level of the sea, the pressure of the air is less- ened, and boiling takes place, as in the air- pump, at lower degrees. The vapours exhaled from a liquid at any temperature contain more heat than the fluid from which they sprung; and they cease to form whenever the supply of heat into the liquid is stopped. Nevertheless, a thermome- ter held in the steam proceeding from hot water rises no higher than when placed in the water itself. The additional heat, therefore, contained by the vapour, is in a latent or concealed state, and does not become sensible to the thermome- ter until the vapour condenses. Any quantity of water requires, for its conversion into vapour or steam, five anda half times as much heat as is sufficient to heat it from the freezing point of 32° to the boiling point of 212°. ‘The quan- lity of heat absorbed by one volume of water in its conversion into steam, is about 1000° Fahrenheit; it would be adequate to heat 1000 volumes of water one degree of the same scale; or to raise one volume of boiling water, con- fined in a non-conducting vessel, to 1180°. Were the vessel, charged with water so heated, opened, it would be instantaneously emptied by vaporization, since the whole caloric equi- valent to its constitution as steam is present. When, upon the other hand, steam is condensed by contact with cold substances, so much heat is set free as is capable of heating five and a half times its weight of water, from 32° to 212° Tahrenheit. If the supply of heat to a copper be uniform, five hours and a half will be re- quired to drive off its water in steam, provided one hour was taken in heating the water from the freezing to the boiling point, under the at- mospherical pressure. It thus appears that evaporation is a cooling process, because the water is obliged to take up an additional supply of heat to expand and keep it in a state of invisible vapour. It is equally plain, that when vapour is condensed into mist, cloud, dew, rain, snow, and ice, it must give out that extra supply of heat required to convert it into vapour. Hence, in summer and mild weather, evaporation is a cooling process, whilst in winter the condensation of vapour and congelation of water must tend to prevent more excessive cold, by throwing out latent heat into the atmosphere. The 1000 degrees of heat absorbed by watery vapour on 448 EXUVLA. its expansion into vapour, must of necessity be set free on its condensation and conversion into water. EVERLASTING-PEA, BROAD-LEAVED (Lathyrus latifoliusy. A perennial plant of the vetch kind, which grows naturally in some places; is easily cultivated, and- annually yields a great burden of excellent provender, and might be cultivated to advantage as a green food for cattle, on any of the more strong sorts of soil. See Verca and Vercuutne. EVERLASTING, PEARLY (Gnaphalium margaritaceum). One of the names of the American cudweed. See Cunwerp. EVERY-YEAR’S-LAND. Such lands as have been cropped with a brown and white crop, or pulse and grain in alternation, for a length of time, without any intervening fallow. There are extensive common fields in Glou- cestershire and other parts of England, which have been conducted under this management for perhaps centuries past. EXOTICS (Gr. Gwrmc, foreign). In gar- dening, a name given to plants which are not natives, but have been introduced from some other country. EXTRACTS (Fr. Extraits; Ger. Extracten). The older apothecaries used this term to de- Signate the product of the evaporation of any vegetable juice, infusion, or decoction; whe- ther the latter two were made with water, alcohol, or ether; whence arose the distine- tion of aqueous, alcoholic, and ethereous ex- tracts. Fourcroy made many researches upon these preparations, and supposed that they had alla common basis, which be called the extractive principle. But Chevreul and other chemists have since proved that this pretended principle is a heterogeneous and very variable com- pound. By the term extract, therefore, is now meant merely the whole of the soluble matters obtained from vegetables, reduced by careful evaporation to either a pasty or solid consist- ence. The watery extracts, which are those most commonly made, are as various as the vegetables which yield them; some containing chiefly sugar or gum in great abundance, and are therefore innocent or inert; while others contain very energetic impregnations. The conduct of the evaporating heat is the capital point in the preparation of extracts. They should be always prepared, if possible, from the juice of the fresh plant, by subjecting its leaves or other succulent part, to the action of a powerful screw or hydraulic press; and the evaporation should be effected by the warmth of a water-bath, heated not beyond 100° or 120° Fahr. Steam heat may perhaps be applied advantageously in some cases, where it is not likely to decompose any of the principles of the plant. But by far the best process for making extracts is in vacuo, upon the princi- ples involved in the process of evaporation. For exceedingly delicate purposes, the con- centration may be performed in the cold, by placing saucers filled with the expressed juice over a basin containing sulphuric acid, putting a glass receiver over them and exhausting its air. EXUVL® (Lat.). The cast-off parts or co- EYE. vering of animals, and also the shells and other marine productions met with in the bowels of the earth, having been deposited there for a vast iength of time. The lobster casts his shell, the toad and snake shed their skin periodically, leeches and fishes seem to cast off exuvial layers of mucus only; but in most reptiles the epidermis is periodically moulted, either entire or in large coherent masses. The periodi- cally moulted feathers of birds, and hairs of various species of mammalia, may also be re- garded as exuvie. Substances of these kinds, where they can be procured in sufficient quan- tities, are highly valuable as manures, and capable of extensive application, especially on all the clay soils. EYE (Sax.eaz; Ice. ciza). In the manage- ment of fruiftrees, implies the germ, small bud, or shoot inserted into a tree. EYE-BRIGHT (Euphrasia officinalis). An elegant plant, indigenous to England, very com- mon in mountainous pastures and dry heaths, varying in height from one to six inches. It flowers from July to September; its stalk is square and hard; the leaves of a bright green, flat, broad, and indented at the edges. The flowers are small and white, streaked and spotted with dark colours. On the mountains of Scotland there is a more slender variety, with smaller but more richly tinted blossoms ; on the Alps a dwarf, large-flowered, more pur- pled variety is common. It must be gathered about September, when it has done flowering. The distilled water is spoken of by the old herbalists as a fine eye-water to strengthen and improve the sight. This reputation gave it the name of eye-bright, but, like many other ancient opinions respecting the virtues of plants, the value of the reputation is worn out. The eye-bright will not grow in gardens; it loves to hide itself in grass or heath, and will not thrive unless it be surrounded by plants that are taller than itself. It is eaten by cattle and sheep, but refused by hogs. (Eng. Flora, vol. iii. p. 122.) Two herbs are known in the United States by this popular name. One is the Hypericum- leaved Euphorbia (Euphorbia hypericifolia), a milky annual plant common in pastures and on road-sides. The juice applied to the eye causes severe smarting. The severe saliva- tion to which grazing horses are subject is said to be caused by their eating this species of Euphorbia. The other plant also sometimes called eye- bright, is the Indian tobacco, or Lobelia inflata, a biennial found abundantly in pastures, or road- sides, &c., flowering in July and August, and ri- pening its seeds in August and October. This plant is possessed of highly acrimonious pro- perties, and is an active emetic, cathartic, and narcotic. These properties render it capable of doing much harm or good according to the judgment and discrimination with which it is employed in different diseases and the proper stages. Without such attention, and in the hands of ignorant professed quacks and rash pretenders, the indiscriminate use of this po- tent herb has been fraught with serious injury to the constitution, and not unfrequently with death more or less speedy. 57 FAIR. EYE OF THE HORSE. The eye of the horse appears to be naturally more disposed to disease than that of any other animal. The diseases of the eye, although few in number, are frequent in their appearance, obstinate, and generally baffle all the skill of the vete- rinarian. The following are the principal: common inflammation, specific ophthalmia or moon blindness, cataract, and gutta serena or amaurosis. For the last there is no cure-—Moon blindness, as it is termed, is brought on in a great measure by close confinement in dark, heated, and unwholesome stables. No specific remedies can be given for these diseases. (The Horse, p. 113; Lib. Use. Know.) See BurxpNess and Cataract. it FACTOR (Lat. factor; Fr. factewr). In mer- cantile law, an agent who is intrusted with the property of others, which he is commissioned to dispose of. In Scotland the word factor is used synonymously with steward in England, signifying one who has the overlooking or management of an estate or a farm for another person. FAGOT (Welsh fagod; Fr. fagot). gench « But although the above-named barks yield 514 GALLOP. the quantities of gallic acid mentioned, yet it is uncertain whether they actually contain any ready formed. Gallic acid is procured by ex- posing the decoctions of galls, or of any astrin- gent bark, to the air, until it becomes mouldy, and the tannic acid attracts the oxygen of the air, and is converted into the gallic acid. In this state the acid forms in erystals, mixed with crystals of another acid, the ellagic, which are easily separated from it, being insoluble in water. Pure gallic acid has a weak, sour, astringent taste. It is soluble in 100 parts of cold water, and forms an ink with solution of green vitriol (sulphate of iron). It is distinguished from tannie acid, which is ready formed in astrin- gent barks, by not precipitating solution of glue. It is a powerful astringent, and may be administered in doses of two or three grains in internal bleedings. GALLINACEOUS FOWLS. One of the two divisions of domestic poultry reared in Europe, comprehending, among others, the common cock and hen, the turkey, the guinea- fowl, the peacock, and the pigeon. GALL FLIES. See Frurr Maceors. GALL NUTS (Fr. gallis ; It. galle). Exeres- cences produced by the Cynips, or Diplolepsis galle tinctorie, a small insect which deposits its eggs in the tender shoots of the Quercus infecto- ria, a species of oak abundant in Asia Minor, &c. When the maggot is hatched, it feeds on the morbid exerescence formed by the irrita- tion of the deposited ovum on the surrounding parts, and ultimately, when perfected as the fly, it eats its way out of the nidus thus formed. Good gall nuts are of a bluish-green hue, heavy, and break with a flinty fracture. When they are white, light, with a hole in one side, they are useless. Gall nuts are employed in dyeing, and in medicine. GALLON. An English measure of capacity, containing 4 quarts. By act of parliament the imperial gallon is to contain 10 Ibs. avoirdu- pois of distilled water weighed at the tempe- rature of 62° of Fahrenheit, and the barometer standing at 30 inches. This is equivalent to 277-274 cubic inches. The old English gallon, wine measure, contained 231 cubie inches, and held 8 lbs. avoirdupois of pure water; ale and beer measure, 282 cubic inches, and held 10 lbs. 34 0z. avoirdupois of water; and the gallon for corn, meal, &c., 272 cubic inches, containing 9 Ibs. 13 oz. of pure water. Hence the English imperial gallon is about 4 larger than the old wine gallon, and about ty less than the old ale gallon. See Wricurs ann Mna- SURES. GALLOP. In horsemanship, a well-known pace to which horses are trained, and of which many kinds are enumerated, but two only are worthy of regard, namely the hand gallop and the full gallop. And these distinctions are founded on the different degrees of velocity in which the animal is impelled, rather than on any peculiarity in the pace itself. In the gal- lop, the horse leads with one fore-leg some- what advanced, but not so much beyond the other, as happens in the eanter; and, when he is urged to his utmost speed, his legs are al- most equally placed, The fleetest horses GALLOWAY. when galloping, carry their bodies perfeetly in a horizontal posture, and the fewer curves or successive arches are described, the more rapid of course is their progress. n galloping, the fore-legs are thrown for- ward nearly simultaneously, and the hind-legs brought up quickly and nearly together; it is, in fact, a succession of leaps, by far the greatest interval of time elapsing while the legs are ex- tended after the leap is taken. The canter is to the gallop very much what the wall: 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 regular succession. (The Horse, p. 413.) GALLOWAY. The usual name for a poney or saddle-horse, between 13 or 14 hands in height. The original galloways are a pure breed of small, elegant horses from the south of Scotland, said to be of Spanish extraction. See Honsn. GALLOWAYS. See Carrur. GALLOWS OF A PLOUGH. A part of the plough-head, so named by farmers, from its resemblance to the common gallows. It con- sists of three pieces of timber, of which one is placed transversely over the heads of the other two. See Proven. GALLS. In farriery,a term signifying an abrasion or rubbing off of the skin by the har- ness, saddle, &c. ‘The little tumours resulting from the pressure of the saddle are called war- bles, and when they ulcerate they frequently be- come sif-fasts. For saddle galls there is no better application than strong salt and water, mixed with a fourth part of tincture of myrrh, The saddle and the collar, when they are found to rub or gall, should be padded or chambered. A mixture of white-lead moistened with mill: is stated (Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. ix. p. 299), to be an excellent liniment for galled backs in the early stages of the wound, It is a common American remedy. “For the information of other travellers, we may mention,” says Mr. Keating, “that, after having tried many appli- cations to the backs of horses when galled, we have found none that have succeeded so well as white-lead moistened with milk. When milk is not to be procured, oil may be substituted. Whenever the application was made in the early stage of the wound, we have found it to be very effectual; and it is likewise a conve- nient one, as two ounces of white-lead sufficed for the whole of our party for more than a month.” (Expedition to St. Peter's River, p. 190.) GALLS. In agriculture, a term signifying vacant or bare places in a crop. GAMA GRASS (Tripsacum dactyloides), Pin- ger-like Tripsacum, called also Sessame grass and Rough-seeded gama grass. (See Pl. 7, n.) This stout and very remarkable grass has a perennial root. The culm rises to the height of 4, 5, or 6 feet, is somewhat compressed, channelled on one side, smooth, solid with pith, furnished with nodes or knots, smooth, slightly raised, with a dark-brown contracted ring. The leaves are large, often measuring 8 feet, and an inch to an inch and a half wide, smooth be- neath, roughish on the upper surface, serrulate or finely jagged on the edges. Flower a dark purple; seed ovoid and smooth. GARDENING. “A few years ago,” says Dr. Darlington, in his Flora Cestrica, “this grass was much ex- tolled by some writers in the West, as an arti- cle of fodder for stock. The leaves and young plant may probably answer very well where better cannot be had; but any one who will examine the coarse culms of the mature plant may soon satisfy himself that it can never su- persede the good hay of this region (the Middle States), nor be as valuable in any respect as common Indian corn fodder.” It is the only species of the genus Tripsacum which is indi- genous in the United States, the 7. monostachyon of some authors being only a variety. It has been found in Chester County, Pennsylvania. From some communications in American periodicals, the gama grass appears to be par- ticularly well adapted to Southern culture. It is exceedingly productive, being said to admit of at least six cuttings in a season, and to fur- nish a large quantity of palatable and nutri- cious food for cattle and horses. It is a hardy perennial plant, and its duration, according to a Spanish proverb, coeval with the “age of aman and a mule.” (Silk Culturist.) The modes of culture are by planting the seeds and transplanting the roots. Mr. Beekman, of Kin- derhook, N. Y., gives the following directions: “Sow in drills 18 inches apart, and cover about 2 inches deep. Ina month it will come up like oats, and when about 8 inches high and two suckers appear, one on each side, then trans- plant about 3 by 2 feet. The second year in Georgia the first cutting may be made in May, and once every month to Ist October, say six cuttings. The blades will be 3 feet or upwards —each forming a large bunch, which may be annually divided into from 40 to 50 plants.” The variety of gama grass so much vaunted in the Southern and Western States is said to be a hermaphrodite plant from the island of Jamaica, where it is extensively cultivated as a forage grass. GARDENING. There is not in the arts and sciences one link of their circle so suitable for the occupation of man in a state of innocence, as that which embraces the cultivation of plants; and it is an instance of the beneficent providence of the Deity, that he assigned a gar- den as the dwelling of our first-created parents. It is no consequence of the fall of Adam that plants require cultivation: he was placed in Paradise to till and to keep it. Then the weed had not sprung up to render the tillage toil- some; fruit trees which God had “planted” were the chief objects of care, and it was an employment without much labour, combining the preservation of health with amusement, pure without insipidity, constant without same- ness. From that period gardens have never ceased to engage the attention of man; and even now that their labours are manifold, they still afford the “ purest of human pleasures.” To be an efficient cultivator of plants, a knowledge of botany is requisite. Whilst that science remained the chaos of unarranged facts, and ill-classified individuals, which it was until the master-mind of Linneeus reduced its confusion and discord to harmony in 1737, it required for its acquisition the devotion of a life. Such acquisition the new system of classi 615 GARDENING. fication rendered comparatively easy in a few months. That gardeners availed themselves of the advantage needs no further instance than Philip Miller, in whom the perfect bota- nist and horticulturist were combined, and who was a correspondent of the chief men of sci- ence then living. For the working with full effect of the spirit of the immortal Swede, our own Ray had pre- pared the arena. Indefatigable, enthusiastic in his pursuits, of clear and comprehensive mind, he gave an impetus to botany and its correla- tive arts, more effectual to their advancement than they had received during ages of years preceding. For 50 years he most successfully laboured to clear the path of this science and to increase her stores. Nor does he enjoy his fame only among his countrymen; it is afforded to him by all Europe. Haller says, he was the improver and elevator of botany into a science, and dates from his life a new era in its history. In little more than 20 years, Ray recorded an increase in the English Flora of 550 species. His Catalogus Plantarum Anglia, in 1670, con- tains 1050 species: his Synopsis, in 1696, de- scribes more than 1600 species. A phalanx of botanists were then contemporaries which previous ages never equalled, nor succeeding ones surpassed. Ray, Tournefort, Plumier, Plukenet, Commelin, Rivinus, Bobart, Petivir, Sherard, Boccone, Linneus, may be said to have lived in the same age. I will not pass unnoticed, as being of this period, Abraham Cowley, the well-known poet, physician, and author of The Four Books of Plants. Although he deserves little praise as a botanist or as a gardener, he merits notice as assisting in their advancement, by winning to them and encouraging the attention of the literary. Of the influence which botanists possess over the forwarding the interests of horticulture, I shall quote but one more in- stance. Sir Arthur Rawdon was so gratified with the magnificent collection of West Indian plants possessed by Sir Hans Sloane, that he despatched a skilful gardener, James Harlow, to Jamaica, who brought thence a vessel nearly freighted with vegetating and dried plants, the first of which Sir Arthur Rawdon cultivated in his own garden at Moira in Ireland, or distri- buted amongst his friends, and some of the continental gardens. His taste for exotic plants was probably much encouraged by his intimacy with Dr. William Sherard, who, being one of the most munificent patrons and cultivators of exotic botany during that “ golden age” of the science, appeared, as Hasselquist observed, “the regent of the botanic garden” at his house at Sedekio, near Smyrna, where he was British consul: for here he cultivated a very rich garden, and collected the most extensive herba- rium that was ever formed by the exertions of an individual. It contained 12,000 species. His younger brother, Dr. James Sherard, also cultivated at Eltham, in Kent, one of the richest gardens England ever possessed. (Pultney’s Sketches of Bot. vol. ii. p. 150.) But it was not only in the collecting and ar- ranging of plants that botany was adding fresh stores and zest to gardening. Previous to this period little was known of the structure of 516 GARDENING. plants, and the uses of their several parts. Grew, Malpighi, Linneus, Hales, Bonnet, Du Hamel, Hedwig, Spallanzani, &c., cleared away, in a great measure, the ignorance which en- veloped vegetable physiology. Previous to their days the male bearing plants of dicecious plants, as spinach, and the male flowers of cu- cumbers, &c., were recommended to be re- moved as useless; they taught the importance of checking the return of the sap; the mode of raising varieties: in short, all the phenomena of vegetable life, which throw so much light upon the practice of the gardener, were first noted and explained by the labours of these philosophers. Another class of philosophers who contributed a gigantic aid to the advance of horticulture, were those chemists who espe- cially devoted themselves to’ the vegetable world. Such men were Ingenhouz, Van Hel- mont, Priestley, Sennebier, Schraeder, Saus- sure, &c. To them we are indebted for the most luminous researches into the food of plants, the influence of air, of heat, of light, and of soils. Previous to their researches the im- mense importance of the leaves of plants was unknown. Cultivators were unaware that by removing one of them they were proportionably removing the means of breathing and of nou- rishment from the parent plant; and mankind in general were ignorant that it is by the gas which plants throw off that the animal creation is alone enabled to breathe. The scientific institutions of previous years, which had merely existed, were now in a state of vigorous exertion. The Botanic Garden at Chelsea was especially distinguished under its curator Philip Miller. This garden, as pre- viously stated, was founded in 1673, though the inscription over the gateway is dated 1686, until which year it was not effectually ar- ranged. It was strengthened and rendered permanent by Sir Hans Sloane, in 1721. He, having purchased the manor, gave the site, which is a freehold of four acres, to the com- pany, on condition that they should pay 5/. per annum for it, and that the demonstrator of the company, in their name, should deliver annu- ally 50 new species of plants to the Royal So- ciety, until the number amounted to 2,000. This presentation of plants commenced in 1722, and continued until 1773, at which time they had presented 2550 species. If old botanical institutions improved, so also new ones were formed. The Kew Gardens were commenced in 1760, by the Princess Dowager of Wales, mother of George III. The exotic department was established chiefly through the influence of the Marquis of Bute, a great patron of gardening. It was placed under the care of Mr. W. Aiton, and it has since be- come one of the most celebrated botanical in- Stitutions in the world. The Cambridge Botanical Garden was also founded in 1763, by Dr. Walker, vice-master of Trinity College. He gave the site, com- prising nearly five acres, in trust to the chan- cellor, masters, and scholars of the university, for the purpose of establishing the garden. Thomas Martyn, the titular professor of botany, was appointed reader on plants, and Charles, son of the celebrated Philip Miller (who had GARDENING. GARDENING. “aided Dr. Walker in selecting the ground), was | in 1718, cbserves, that he had heard that the made first curator. (Loudon’s Encyc. of Gard. | pp- 86, 1071, edit. 5.) Previous to this period, the number of exotics cultivated in England probably did not exceed 1000 species; during this century above 5000 new ones were introduced. Some tolerably correct idea may be formed of the improve- ment arising tc horticulture, from this spirit of research after plants, by a knowledge that in the first edition of Miller’s Dictionary, in 1724, but 12 evergreens are mentioned. The Christmas flower and aconite were rare, and enly to be purchased at Mr. Fairchild’s nur- sery at Hoxton. Only seven species of gera- nium were then known. In the preface to the eighth edition of the Dictionary, in 1768, the number of plants cultivated in England are stated to be more than double those which were known in 1731. The publication of the seventh edition of that work, in 1759, was of the greatest benefit to horticulture. In it was adopted the classical system of Linneus. It gave a final blow to the invidious line of dis- tinction which had existed between the gar- dener and the botanist, and completed the erection of the art of the former into a science, which it had been long customary to esteem as little more than a superior pursuit for a rustic. From being merely practised by servants, it became more extensively the study and the de- light of many of the most scientific and noble individuals of England. Miller improved the cultivation of the vine and the fig, and was otherwise distinguished for his improvement of the practice, as he had been of the science, of gardening. Having thus decisively gained the attention of men of science, the rapid pro- gress of horticulture from this era is no longer astonishing. The botanist applied his re- searches to the increase of the inhabitants of the garden, and the better explanation of their habits. The vegetable physiologist adapted his discoveries to practical purposes, by point- ing out the organs and functions which are of primary importance; and the chemist, by his analysis, discovered their constituents, and was consequently enabled to point out improve- ments which practice could only have stum- bled on by chance, and perhaps during a lapse of ages. The general introduction of forcing houses likewise gave to our science a new feature. Green-houses, we have seen, were in use in the 17th century; but no regular structures, roofed with glass, and artificially heated, existed until the early part of the succeeding one. Though a pine-apple had been presented by his gar- dener to Charles IL. it is certain that they were only successfully cultivated here about 1723, by Mr. Henry Talende, gardener to Sir Matthew Decker at Richmond; Mr. Loudon gives the date as 1719. Mr. Bradley says, that Mr. Talende having at length succeeded in ripen- ing them, and rendered their culture “easy and intelligible,” he hopes bananas may flourish for the future in many of our English gardens. (Bradley’s Gen. Treatise on Hush. and Gard.) That forcing was rare, and but of late introduc- tion, is further proved by Mr. Lawrence, who, Duke of Rutland, at Belvoir Castle in Lincoln- shire, hastened his grapes by having fires burning from Lady-day to Michaelmas behind his sloped walls, a report to which he evidently does not give implicit credence, but which “ it is easy to conceive.” (Lawrence’s Fruit Gard. Cal. p. 22.) That such, however, was the fact, is confirmed by Switzer, who further adds, in 1724, that they were covered with glass. The walls were erected, he says, at the suggestion of Mr. Facio, whom we have before mentioned. The walls failing in their anticipated effect were covered with glass, and thus led to the first erection of a regular forcing structure of which we have any account. (Switzer’s Practi- cal Fruit Garden; p. 318.) Lady Wortley Mon- tagu, in 1716, mentions having partaken of pine-apples at the table of the elector of Hano- ver; and speaks of them as being a thing she had never seen before, which, as her ladyship moved in the highest English circles, she must, had they been introduced to table here. Mr. Fowler, gardener to Sir N. Gould at Stoke Newington, was the first to raise cucum- bers in autumn, for fruiting about Christmas. He presented the king, George I., with a brace of full-grown ones on new year’s day, 1721. (Bradley’s General Treatise on Husb. and Gard. vol. ii. p. 61.) Even as late as the commencement of the century we are tracing, every garden vegetable, in a greater or less degree, was obtained from Holland. The purveyors of the royal family sent thither for fruits and pot-herbs; and the seedsmen obtained from thence all their seeds. But in 1727, Switzer boasts of the improve- ments made in his art. Cucumbers, that 25 years before were never seen at table until the close of May, were then always ready in the first days of March, or earlier if tried for. Me- lons were improved both in quality and earli- ness. “The first, owing to the correspondence that our nobility and gentry have abroad, now equalling, if not excelling, the French and Dutch in their curious collections of seed; but the second is owing to the industry and skill of our kitchen gardeners.” Melons were now cut at the end of April, which before were rare in the middle of June. The season of the cau- liflower being in perfection was prolonged from three or four, to six or seven months. Kidney-beans were now forced. The season of peas and beans was extended to a period from April until December, which previously only lasted two or three months, &c. (Preface to Switzer’s Pract. Fruit Gard.) The early part of this century witnessed the labours of Professor Bradley, who was one of the first to treat of gardening and agriculture as sciences. Although deficient in discoveries, his works are not destitute of information de- rived from contemporary gardeners and other writers. He wrote luminously on the buds of trees, on bulbs, and especially on the mode of obtaining variegated plants and double flowers. He must be looked upon as a benefactor of horticulture, for he at least made himself ac- quainted with the discoveries of others, and, recording them in his widely-circulated works, 2X 517 GARDENING. he spread such increased knowledge, and dif- fused over the whole such philosophic views, as the science of the age afforded. Some of our most celebrated nurserymen flourished during this century. Fairchild, Gor- don, Lee, and Gray introduced many plants during its first haif. Hibbert of Chalfont, and Thornton of Clapham, deserve particular men- uon for their encouragement of exotic botany. The garden and hothouse of the latter were among the best stocked about London. We have seen under what favourable auspi- ces and with what great improvements garden- ing was on the advance at the close of the 18th century; but the present century was ushered in with even greater promise of success, for the light of science was still more powerfully concentrated upon its practice, and began to be felt and appreciated. This especially ap- plies to the labours of the chemist and physi- ologist. Such combination of horticultural art and science was especially promoted by the institution of the Horticultural Societies of London and Edinburgh. The first of these societies began to be formed in 1804, the latter in 1809. Nothing can more conspicuously display the high estimation in which garden- ing is held, nothing can afford a greater gua- yantee for its improvement, than the lists of the fellows of the above societies. In them are enrolled the names of the most talented, the most noble, and the most wealthy individuals of the United Kingdom. The increase of the inhabitants of our plea- sure grounds within the last few years places the taste and patronage which are bestowed on gardening in a very conspicuous point of view. Of stove plants we now cultivate about 1800 species and varieties. Of green-house plants, nearly 3000. Of hardy trees and shrubs, nearly 4000. Of hardy perennial flowers, nearly 3000. Of biennial and annual flowers together, about 800. To particularize the dif- ferent genera of these would exceed the limits I have prescribed to this article. I have not included the varieties of florist’s flowers in the above general list. They are more than pro- portionably numerous. Of hyacinths we have about 300 varieties, whereas in 1629 Parkinson mentions but 50. The passion for this flower, however, has much abated; for Miller, in the early part of the last century, says the Dutch gardeners had 2000 sorts. Of tulips, we have nearly 700 varieties. The cultivation of this flower has also declined of late years. It was at its height both in England and in Hol- Jand towards the middle of the 17th century. In Holland nearly 6007. was agreed to be given for a single root. Of the ranunculus we have nearly 500 varieties. Of the anemone, about 200. Of dahlias, between 200 and 300; nar- cissi, 200; auriculas, more than 400; pinks, 300; carnations, about 350. Of roses, in- clnded in the list we have given of hardy trees and shrubs, there are more than 1450. An- other instance of the progress made in increas- ing the number of our cultivated plants is furnished by the genus Erica, But five kinds of heath were described by Miller, as known in England about 60 years since ; we now cul- tivate nearly 350. 518 GARDENING. Mr. Loudon makes the number of plants cultivated by gardeners at present amount to 13,140. Of these 1400 are natives of Great Britain; 47 were exotics introduced previous to and during the reign of Henry VIII.; 7 dur- ing that of Edward VI.; 533 during that of Elizabeth. In that of James I., 20. Charles I., 331. During the usurpation, 95. Charles IL. 152. James II, 44. William and Mary, 298. Anne, 230. George I., 182. George II., 1770. George III.,6756. During the first 16 years of this century, on an average, 156 plants were annually introduced. The ardour of research is not the least abated now. The style in which grounds in England are now usually laid out may be characterized in one sentence. Convenience is endeavoured to be rendered as attractive as possible, by com- bining it with the beautiful and appropriate. The convenience of the inmates of the mansion is studied by having the kitchen and fruit gar- dens near the house, fully extensive enough to supply all their wants, and kept in the appro- priate beauty of order and neatness; without any extravagant attempt at ornament by the mingling of useless trees, or planting its cab- bages, &c., in waving lines. In the flower garden which immediately adjoins the house, dry walks—shady ones for summer, and shel- tered, sun-gladdened ones for the more intem- perate seasons—are conveniently constructed. Their accompanying borders and parterres, are in forms, such as are most graceful, whilst their inhabitants, distinguished for their fra- grance, are distributed in grateful abundance ; and those noted for their elegant shapes and beautiful tints are grouped and blended as the taste of the painter and the harmony of colours dictate. The lawn from these glides insensibly into the more distant ground occupied by the shrubberies and the park. Here the genius of the place dictates the arrangement of the levels and of the masses of trees and water. Com- mon sense is followed in planting such trees only as are suited to the soil. A knowledge of the tints of their foliage guides the landscape gardener in associating them, and aids the laws of perspective in lengthening his distant sweeps. If gentle undulations mark the sur- face, he leads water among their subdued diver- sities, and blends his trees in softened groups, so as to form light glades to harmonize with the other parts. If high and broken ground has to be adorned, the designer mingles water- falls with broader masses of darker foliaged trees, and acquires the beauty peculiar to the abrupt and the grand, as in the former he aimed at that which is secured by softer features. He is no philosopher who neglects a certain present good for fear that in some future period it may be abused; but in the encouragement of gardening, whilst an immediate good is ob- tained, there is no fear of its perversion in after days. Its diffusion among the poorer classes is an earnest or means of more impor- tant benefits, even than the present increase of their comfort. The labourer who possesses and delights in the garden appended to his cot- tage is generally among the most decent of his class; he is seldom a frequenter of the ale- GARGET. house; and there are few among them so senseless as not readily to engage in its culti- | vation when convinced of the comforts and gain derivable from it. Gardening is a pursuit adapted alike to the gay and the recluse, the man of pleasure and the lover of science. To both it offers employment such as may suit their taste; all that can please by fragrance, by flavour, or by beauty ; all that science may illustrate; employment for the chemist, the botanist, the physiologist, and the meteorolo- gist. There is no taste so perverse as that from it the garden can win no attention, or to which it can afford no pleasure. He who greatly benefited or promoted the happiness of mankind in the days of paganism was invoked after death and worshipped as a deity : in these days we should beé’as grateful as they were without being as extravagant in its demonstra- tion; and if so, we should indeed highly esti- mate those who have been the improvers of our horticulture; for, as Socrates says, “it is the source of health, strength, plenty, riches, and honest pleasures.” “It is the purest of human pleasures,” says Lord Verulam. It is amid its scenes and pursuits that “life flows pure, the heart more calmly beats.” (G. W. Johnson's History of Gardening.) GARGET. In farriery, atdisease in the ud- ders of cows, arising from inflammation of the lymphatic glands. Tt is also a distemper inci- dent to hogs; and which is known by their hanging down their heads, and carrying them on one ‘side, moist eyes, staggering, and loss of appetite. In order to remove the disease in cows, where the inflammation is great, the cow should be bled, a dose of physic administered, the udder well fomented, and the milk drawn gently but completely off, at least twice a day. (Youatt on Cattle, p. 553.) When the disease happens to hogs, they may also be bled, and should have warm, stimulating cordial drinks. GARLIC (Allium, from the Celt.; all, hot or burning). Under this name Sir J. Smith, (Eng. Flor. vol. ii. p. 183) enumerates seven native species; viz.:— 1. The great rounded-headed garlic, (4. am- peloprasum). A rare plant, found occasionally in open hilly places. The stem is two or three feet high, and the herbage somewhat similar to that of the leek; the white globose bulbs or cloves increase rapidly in a garden, by lateral offsets, till they compose a mass as big as a man’s head, resembling a bunch of grapes. The scent of the whole plant is strong, and of the most disagreeable kind. 2. The sand garlic (4. arenarivm), found in mountainous woods and fields in the north, on a sandy soil; stem two or three feet high, bulbs small, ovate, with many purplish off sets. 3. The mountain garlic (4. carinatwm) which is nearly related to the next following species, though differing in the flatter form of its leaves. 4, The streaked field or wild garlic (4. olera- ceum) found in pastures, meadows, corn fields, and their borders—producing whitish green blossoms in July. The whole plant has an unpleasant scent of garlic, and is a very GARLIC. troublesome weed, difficult of extirpation, though not of common occurrence. It is eaten by cattle, sheep, and hogs, and the tender leaves, boiled in soups, or fried with other herbs, form a wholesome article of food. 5. The crow garlic (4. vineale) which grows in dry pastures, corn fields, and waste ground among ruins, especially on a chalky or gravelly soil. The stem is slender, about two feet high, bulb small, ovate, white, flowers small, pale rose-coloured. This species of garlic has generally been considered perennial, but Dr. Darlington re- gards the common garlic of our American fields as biennial, propagated every year by new lateral bulbs, the old ones, after once sending up a stem and flowering, dying away. This species is a foreigner which has been extensively naturalized in the United States, constituting in many places a great nuisance, not only by imparting a disgusting flavour to milk, butter, cheese, &c., but seriously injuring flour, and rendering its manufacture difficult. Farmers are however able to subdue it bya judicious rotation of crops. The oat and other spring crops, are highly instrumental in the destruction of garlic. The species called meadow garlic (Allium Canadense), is found in the Middle States, being frequent on the banks of the Brandywine, in which last mentioned locality the three-berried or three-seeded garlic, is also met with. The bulbs of this last are of an oblong oval shape, pointed, and rather large. The leaves are 5 to 8 inches long, and 14 to 3 inches wide, taper- ing to the base. This species, says Dr. Darlington, differs remarkably from all other alliums found in the United States, and has much resemblance to the 4. wrsinwm, of Eu- rope. The large leaves die, and disappear, early in the season—before the flowers are de- veloped. The bulbs emit a fetid, disagreeable odour, whilstdrying. Three or four additional species of garlic are found in the United States. (Flor. Cestrica.) 6. The broad-leaved garlic or ramsons (4 ursinum), which grows in moist woods, hedges, and meadows, and produces large white flowers, that blow in the month of May and June. Every part of the plant, when trodden upon, or otherwise bruised, exhales the strong odour of its genus. This species is eaten by cows; but if they feed on it ever so sparingly, it communicates its nauseous flavour to the milk and butter to such a degree as to render those articles offensive during the spring. It should therefore be carefully eradicated as an intolerable nuisance from all pastures. It af- fords an excellent remedy for driving away rats and moles, and it is said the plant will not suffer any other vegetable to thrive near it. 7. Chive garlic (A schenoprasum), which is rare, but sometimes found in meadows and pastures, and was formerly in great request as an ingredient in salads, but has been latterly neglected. The cultivated varieties are—Common gar- lic (A. sativum), which is a hardy plant, and though generally known in the United States by the name of English garlic, it is a native of | Sicily, capable of growing in almost any soil. 519 GARNER. It is generally propagated by the cloves ob- tained by parting the root, but may be raised from the bulbs produced on the stems. The planting may be performed any time in Feb- ruary, March, and early in April, but the mid- dle of the second is the usual time of insertion. A single clove to be placed in each one of holes made 6 inches apart and 14 deep, in straight lines, 6 inches distant from each other, care being taken to set the root end down- wards; to do this with the greatest facility, it is the best practice to thrust the finger and thumb, holding a clove between them, to the requisite depth, without any previous hole be- ing made. The only cultivation required is to keep them clean of weeds, and in June the leaves to be tied in knots, to prevent their running to seed, which would greatly diminish the size of the bulbs. A few roots may be taken up as required in June and July, but-the whole must not be lifted until the leaves wither, which oc- curs at the close of July, or in the course of August. It is usual to leave a part of the stalk attached, by which they are tied into bun- dles, being previously well dried by exposure to the sun and air, for keeping during the winter. Rochambole, or, as it is sometimes called Spanish garlic (.4. scorodoprasum), has its bulbs or cloves growing in a cluster, forming a kind of compound root. The stem bears many bulbs at its summit, which, as well as those of the root, are often preferred in cooking to gar- lic, heing of much milder flavour. It is best propagated by the root bulbs; those of the stem being slower in production. The plan- tation may be made either in February, March, or early part of April, as well as throughout the autumn. They may be inserted either in drills or by the dibble, in rows 6 inches apart each way, and usually 2 inches within the ground, though this, as well as the preceding variety, would thrive better if grown on the surface. A very small bed is sufficient for the supply of the largest family. See Saaror and EER. Besides the above, there are large numbers of different foreign species, most of which are pretty: they increase abundantly from offsets. The onion, leek, garlic, shalot, chives, &c., all agree in their stimulant, diuretic, and expecto- rant effects, differing in degree of activity. See Onron. GARNER. A term used provincially to sig- nify a granary, or repository for corn; also a binn ora mill. See Grawany. GAS, AMMONIACAL. See Satine Sun- sTancxs; their uses to vegetation. GASES, their uses to vegetation. Tt is not, I think, necessary, in drawing the cultivator’s attention to the uses of that great portion of the food of plants which they imbibe in the state of gas, or of aqueous vapour, to enlarge upon the importance of the question, since that is a truth which, as illustrating the value of certain modes of cultivation, I hope to render intelli- gible in the following paper, as I examine in succession the advantages of the gases and vapour of the atmosphere, as well as those unitted during putreiaction, to the commonly 620 : GASES. cultivated crops of the farmer. And even if the accomplished farmer shall dissent from some or all of my conclusions, he will yet readily admit that all such observations, with regard to the habits and food of plants, and their ready absorption by the soil, cannot be too generally understood and acted upon by the cultivators of the soil. That the atmospheric air exerts an exten- sive and very important influence upon vege- tation, is a fact which has been well known from the earliest days of agriculture. Too many circumstances combine to render this truth apparent to the very meanest cultivator for it long to escape observation. The supe- rior luxuriance of the borders of all growing crops, from those of the field to the outer cir- cle of timber in a wood, naturally pointed out that something was gained by these, of which the inner sheltered portions were partially de- prived. And that this something was the air of the atmosphere, appears to have been the conclusion of the early Italian cultivators who, on all occasions, were attentive to let their crops enjoy as much of the breeze as possible; an object which they endeavoured to attain, not only by an attentive consideration of the natu- ral and acquired habits of the plants in trans- planting them, but also by increasing the ac- cess of air to their roots by deep and regular periodical stirrings of the soil around them. Thus Cato, the earliest of their agricultural writers, whose works remain to us, when in- structing the Roman farmers as to the best mode of cultivating the vine and the olive, ad- vised them, if they wished their vines and olive-trees to grow luxuriantly, to stir the trenches around them once a month, until they were three years old; and he adds, “ bestow the same care upon other trees:” (lib. xliii.j And Virgil, when commending the very doubt- ful plan of paring and burning lands, alludes to the same well-known advantage of a free and copious supply of air to the roots of plants, when he says, “ the heat opens more ways and hidden rents for the air, through which the dews penetrate to the embryo plants.” (Georg. i, 90,91.) They, in fact, considered, in com- mon with the Greek philosophers, that air was one of the four elements of which all sub- stances were composed; but then, as in those days, the air of the atmosphere was considered to be a simple body, we need not search in the works of the early agricultural writers for any evidence of very definite ideas of the mode of its action. That the air they breathed was highly serviceable to plants of all kinds was the extent of their information; they had no knowledge of the existence of three distinet gases in the atmosphere. That was a dis- covery reserved for modern ages—for the days of Priestley, and the dawn of pneumatic chem- istry in England. When, therefore, the early cultivators made the observation, that the free supply of air to the leaves and roots of plants materially promoted their growth, they did what too many modern agriculturists have since done, merely noticed the effect, without making any very accurate inquiries as to the cause of the benefit; they were too often con- tent, in fact, with merely substituting words as GASES. an explanation of facts. It is probable that the early Greek and Italian philosophers were farther led to this inow!edge of the advantages of air to vegetation, from noticing the power which some eastern plants possess, such as the Flos eris and others, of entirely supporting themselves upon the nourishment they derive ‘rom the atmosphere, even when suspended by a string from the ceiling of a room,—many varasitical plants subsist upon hardly any ching else; thus, some of the mosses of this country cling to life,and even grow well, in situations where hardly any thing except air and moisture can nourish them: some of the aloe tribe do the same. Carbonic acid gas—When, however, later ages had acquired the knowledge that it was only a portion of the air that maintained vege- table and animal life, or supported combus- tien, new views opened upon the chemical philosopher. It became then a question of zonsiderable interest to ascertain which por- tion of the atmosphere it was that the plant ab- sorbed; and it was speedily ascertained by Dr. Priestley and other chemists, that the por- tion of the atmosphere which the leaves of all plants absorb in the light is the carbonic acid gas or fixed air—a gas composed of 27:27 parts carbon, and 72°73 parts oxygen,—and that this carbonic acid gas is always contained in the atmosphere, in the proportion of about one part in 500. The question thus became one of some ‘nterest to ascertain, whether a larger volume of carbonic acid gas would promote, in a still greater degree, the growth of plants, such as in an impure, confined portion of air spoiled by the breathing of animals, or exhausted of its oxy- gen gas or vital air by combustion, since both these varieties of air contain a very consider- ably increased proportion of carbonic acid gas. Many very accurate experiments speedily de- monstrated that such foul air materially in- creased the luxuriance of vegetables confined in them, and that plants possessed also the power of restoring to such exhausted air the portion of oxygen which either fire or the breathing of animals had removed: thus, a confined portion of air, in which a mouse had died in ten minutes for want of air, having had a sprig of mint introduced into it for some hours, was then found to be so replenished with vital air, that a second mouse being placed in it lived as long as the former mouse; and, by similar treatments, a lighted taper being merely substituted for the mouse, the same ef- fect was produced—the exhausted air was again replenished with oxygen gas. These facts naturally opened new views. It then became an interesting object to ascertain the proportion of the carbonic acid gas in the atmospheric air, which possessed the maxi- mum advantage to vegetation; and it was found that, in pure carbonic acid gas, plants would not vegetate at all, or in air containing 75 per cent. of it, but that, when the proportion present in common air was reduced to 50 per cent., then the plants confined in it slowly vege- tated, and that they grew more freely when the proportion was 25 per cent.; still better when it was 124 per cent.; and that when it was re- duced to only 9 per cent., then they flourished 66 GASES. much better than in common atmospheric air. It was remarked, however, that the increased presence of carbonic acid gas was only bene- ficial to plants when they were vegetating in the light, but that, when this was excluded, the carbonic acid gas was rather prejudicial to their growth than otherwise; that, in fact, al] plants, though they absorb it in the light, yet in the dark emit this gas. It was ascertained, however, that the presence of it in their atmo- sphere was absolutely essential to all piants vegetating in the light; that they grew when it was present, and that all vegetation was stopped by its withdrawal. These results naturally led to the additional inquiry, Whether the presence of carbonic acid gas in water produced the same results on plants, since it was well known that, when plants were immersed in water and exposed to the sun’s rays, they emitted bubbles of oxygen gas, by decomposing the carbonic acid gas, and setting its oxygen free. Various kinds of water were tried, containing different proportions of carbonic acid gas; and the beneficial result upon vegetation was found to be exactly pro- portionate to the quantity af carbonic acid gas which they contained. In pump-water, they yielded the most oxygen; from river water a smaller quantity; but from boiled water little ornone. Now, by boiling, all the gases are driven out of water, and this is the reason why such water is flat and insipid. And yet it was found that when the boiled water was again impregnated with carbonic acid gas, those plants confined in it emitted as much oxygen gas as they did before it was boiled; and, finally, that when the plants had exhausted the water of carbonic acid gas, then they ceased to emit oxygen. The quantity of carbonic acid gas which is emitted by plants varies in different species. Thus, M. Saussure found that the purple loose- strife (Lythrum salicaria) absorbed in 12 hours 7 or 8 times its bulk; while the Cactus opuntia, in common with other fleshy-leaved plants, did not absorb above one-fifth of that amount. In these experiments, however, the atmosphere in which the plants were confined contained 74 per cent. of this gas; so that when they are vegetating in the open atmosphere, in which the proportion of this gas does not exceed one part in 1000, the quantity absorbed is consider- ably less. This absorption of the carbonic acid gas, the cultivator should clearly understand, influences in a great degree the composition of the plant. All those vegetable, carbonaceous, nutritious substances which are found in plants, such as gum and sugar, are increased in quantity by its copious supply; for when this gas is no longer secreted by the plant, its health becomes languid, and its compositon more watery. Thus a Byssus vegetating in the dark (when carbonic acid gas is emitted by. plants), was analyzed by M. Chaptal, and found to contain only 1-89th of its weight of carbonaceous matter; but when, after it had been allowed to vegetate for 30 days in the light, it was again examined, it was found to contain 1-24th of its weight of carbonaceous matter. Similar results were obtained by M. Sennebier, who found that when plants were 2x2 621 GASES. made to vegetate in the dark, they contained much less oil than those vegetating in the light,—their resinous matter being then as 2 to 54 compared with those vegetating in the light. They had even less earthy matters by one half; but then they had exactly double the quan- tity of water that the light-growing plants pos- sessed. Such, then, are the results of the free access of the carbonic acid gas of the atmosphere to the leaves of plants,—it promotes their growth, increases their vigour, and enriches their se- cretions. The application of the same gas to their roots, although it has not been examined with the same care as its action upon their leaves, is yet evidently attended with the bigh- est advantage. Thus, this gas is one of the constant products of putrefaction, wherever this is going on; as over stagnant drains, dung-heaps, and other putrefying matters: there vegetation is sure to be rankly luxuriant, and that, too, in situations where the roots of the plants are far removed from immediate contact with the decomposing organic matters. This may be easily shown by the repetition of avery simple experiment, which was first made by Davy. This great chemist filled a glass re- tort, capable of containing three pints, with the hot, fermenting dung and litter of cattle, and examined the elastic fluids which were gene- rated. In 35 cubic inches which were thus pro- duced in 3 days, he found 21 of carbonic acid gas, the remainder being chiefly nitrogen; and after thus ascertaining the composition of these gases, he introduced the beak of another re- tort, filled in a similar manner, in the soil un- der the roots of some grass growing in the border of a garden. In less than a week, a very remarkable effect was produced on the grass exposed to the action of these gaseous matters of putrefaction; their colour hecame deeper, and their growth was much more luxu- riant than the grass in any other part of the garden. And hence, too, is derived one of the chief advantages of applying organic matters to the soil, and that in as immediate contact with the crop as possible, just as is effected when manures are added to the soil by the drill; for the roots or leaves of the plants are, by the adoption of this plan, immediately in contact with the evolved carbonic acid, and other gases of putrefaction; they are thus rea- dily absorbed as they are generated, and no- thing is lost by escaping into the atmosphere. The gas, in fact, is instantly yet gradually transmuted from the putrefying products of the farm-yard into the flour of the wheat or the nutritive matters of the grasses. And there is yet another chemical reason why the manure- drill or any other machine should be adopted by the farmer to bring, as closely as possible, every plant into immediate contact with the decomposing manure he applies to his soil; and that is, the superior readiness with which, in all cases of decomposition, the disengaged substance enters into new combinations at the very instant of its disengagement than it does after it has been completely formed. Thus, to give am instance, during the putrefactive fer- mentation of vegetable substance, a quantity of nitrogen is disengaged; and if this takes 522 GASES. place under certain favourable circumstances —such as the presence of calcareous matters, potash, and a dry, warm temperature at the moment it is formed—the nitrogen combines with oxygen, forms nitric acid, which unites with the potash, and thus nitrate of potash, or saltpetre, is formed; but if the nitrogen is once fairly disengaged, almost every endeavour of the chemist nas failed in making it unite with oxygen so as to form the acid of saltpetre. In every way, therefore, in which the ques- tion of applying manures in immediate contact with the roots of plants can be viewed, the more advisable does the adoption of the prac- tice appear. The important services of the carbonic acid gas of the atmosphere to vegetation have been illustrated in various ways by more than one able chemist. That given by Professor J. F. Johnston, in his able Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry, p. 218, is perhaps the most recent and the most practical. He observes, “If we were to examine the soil of a field on which we are about to raise a crop of corn, and should find it to contain a certain per centage, say 10 per cent. of vegetable matter (or 5 per cent. of carbon), and after the crop is raised and reaped should, on a second examination, find it to con- tain exactly the same weight of carbon as be- fore, we could not resist the conviction that, with the exception of what was originally in the seed, the plant, during its growth, had drawn from the air all the carbon it contained. The soil having lost none, the air must have yielded the whole supply. Such was the prim ciple on which Boussingault’s experiments were conducted. He determined the per cent- age of carbon in the soil before the experiment was begun; the weight added in the form of manure; the quantity contained in the series of crops raised during an entire rotation or course of cropping, until, in the mode of cul- ture adopted, it was usual to add manure again; and, lastly, the proportion of carbon remaining in the soil. By this method he obtained the following results, in pounds per English acre: —From a course of, 1. Potatoes or red beet, with manure; 2. Wheat; 3. Clover; 4. Wheat; 5. Oats. Carbon in the manure, &c., 2513 lbs.; carbon in the crops, 7544 lbs.; difference, or carbon derived from the air, 5031 lbs.” The result of this course indicates that the land, remaining in equal condition at the end of the four years as it was at the beginning, the crops collected during these years contain- ed three times the quantity of carbon present in the manure, and therefore the plants, during their growth, must, on the whole, have derived two-thirds of their carbon from the air. Oxygen.—Oxygen gas, or vital air, which con- stitutes 21 per cent. of the bulk of the air we breathe, is absolutely essential to the growth of plants. If this is withdrawn from the atmo- sphere, they will no longer vegetate,—their leaves can no longer perform their functions. But this use of oxygen by the leaves of vege- tables is confined to the night; it is only in the dark that they absorb it. During this absorp- tien the leaves of some plants, such as the Cactus opuntia, and the houseleek (Sempervivum tectorum), do not emit any portion of carbonic GASES. acid gas; but the common oak (Quercus robur), the yellow stone crop (Sedum reflexum), and the great majority of plants, emit a considerable portion, not equal, however, in amount to the oxygen gas which has been imbibed; and this absorbed oxygen enters, there is little doubt, into immediate combination with other sub- stances, and forms vegetable matters in other shapes. A variety of experiments have, in fact, been made to ascertain this. Thus, the leaves of plants which have but recently ab- sorbed a portion of oxygen gas have been ex- posed in the exhausted receiver of an air-pump. Other leaves have been submitted to the great- est heat they could bear*without undergoing combustion, but in neither case was any oxy- gen gas extricated from them. And it has been noted that those plants which absorb the greatest proportion of oxygen during the night are precisely those which evolve the most con- siderable quantity of carbonic acid gas during the day. i Plants of different kinds vary very much in the quantity of oxygen which they absorb. Fleshy-leaved plants, which emit little or no carbonic acid gas, absorb very little oxygen; and these plants, it may be remarked (says Dr. Thomson), can vegetate in elevated situa- tions, where the air is very rarefied. Next in order come the evergreen trees, which, al- though they absorb more oxygen than the fleshy-leaved plants, yet require much less than those which lose their leaves during winter. Those plants which flourish in marshy ground likewise absorb but little oxygen. M. Saussure tried a great number of experiments on this subject, with a variety of plants of different kinds. The following are some of his results: in every case the weight of the leaves is sup- posed to be equal to 1-00, and the bulk of oxy- gen is expressed in the table. (Recherches, p. 99.) Quantity of Oxygen Leaves of Evergreens. absorbed. Prunus lauro-cerasus - - - May 3°20 Vinca minor (lesser periwinkle) - June 1°50 Pinus abies (the fir) - - - - Sept. 3°00 Juniperus Sabina = - - - June 2°60 Leaves of Trees which lose them in Winter. Quercus robur (the oak) - - - May 5:50 Populus alba (the abele) - - - May 620 = == - - - Sept. 4:36 Amygdalus Persica - — - - - June 6°60 = = - - - - Sept. 420 Rosa centifolia - - - - - June 5-40 Leaves of Herbaceous Plants. Solanum tuberosum (the potato) - Sept. 2°50 Brassica oleracea (the cabbage) f — — young leaves§ ~ Sept. 2-40 — — oldleaves - - Sept. 2°00 Vicia faba (vetch), before flowering - 3:70 — in flower - - - - 2:00 — after flowering = 160 Brassica rapa (the turnip), in flower 1°25 Avena sativa (the oat) - = - June 2°70 Triticum estivum - - - - May 5:00 Pisum sativum (the pea) - - -May 372 Ruta graveolens - me Fit - Aug. 2:00 Leaves of Aquatic Plants. Alisma plantago - - - - Aug. 070 Polygonum persicaria = - - - Sept. 2:00 Lythrum salicaria - - - -May 230 Carex acuta - - = =.» =May 2°25 Ranunculus reptans- = - - Sept. 1:50 Leaves of the Fleshy Plants. Cactus opuntia - - - - - Aug. 1:00 Agave Americana - - - - Aug. 0°80 Sempervivum tectorum - - - July 1:00 Stapelia variegata - - - - July 0°63 GASES. Saussure continued his researches upon the uses of oxygen gas to vegetation. He found that it was essential to many of its functions, that it was absorbed not only by the leaves, but by the roots of plants,—that it then combined with carbon, and the carbonic acid gas thus formed was thence transmitted to the leaves to be decomposed: the very stems and branches of plants absorb it, and its presence is essen- tial to the expansion of flowers; in its absence, seeds will not germinate, and hence the reason why they will not vegetate when placed beyond a certain depth in the soil. The quantity of oxygen gas consumed during their germina- tion, by equal weights of different seeds, varies considerably. Wheat and barley consume less oxygen than pease, and pease less than common broad and kidney-beans—the latter consuming ;,th part of their weight, while wheat and barley, during their germination, only absorb from 7,5th to s,5,th their weight of oxygen gas. Recent experiments have shown also, that the more water is impregnated with oxygen gas, the more excellent are its effects when employed for the purpose of watering plants ; and hence one of the causes of the su- periority of rain-water, every 100 cubic inches of which contain 3°5 of oxygen gas. Some recent experiments were made by Mr. Hill, which clearly demonstrated these facts. Hya- cinths, melons, Indian corn, and other plants, were watered for some time with water im- pregnated with oxygen gas; the first grew with additional beauty and luxuriance, the melons were improved in flavour, the Indian corn increased in bulk, so as “ to equal in size most of those imported from North America,” and all of them grew more vigorously. The uses, therefore, of oxygen gas to plants are many and important, and accord with the conclusions which naturally suggest them- selves from the results of the analysis of vege- table substances, from whence oxygen is never absent; it must be, therefore, one of the neces- sary supporters of vegetable life. Nitrogen—This is the last atmospheric gas which exerts its influence upon vegetation, and enters in small proportions into the composi- tion of plants. Entering in the Jarge propor- tion of 79 per cent. into the composition of the atmosphere, it is yet supposéd to exert but a slight influence upon vegetation. Itis foundin much smaller proportions in plants than either oxygen gas or carbonic acid gas, although re- cent researches have shown that it is much more commonly present in vegetable sub- stances than was once supposed; and as I have elsewhere observed (Johnson on Fertilizers, p- 338), that it exerts a more sensible influence upon their growth than is commonly believed, is very certain, and that the proportion of it present in them varies with the different states of their growth, has been clearly shown by the experiments of Mr. Robert Rigg, who found in 100 parts of Parts of nitrogen. The flour of wheat unripe - - - -29 The same nearly ripe - - - s = 2:3 Leaves of wheat unripe = = 5 -33 = — nearly ripe - - = 21 Stem ofwheat unripe - - = = - 35 = — nearlyripe - - - -13 Chaff of wheat unripe - = = = ~18 523 GASES, Parts of nitrogen, Chaff of wheat nearly ripe - Common grass, not growing freely growing freely - Turnip, when attacked by the fly Cabbage, not attacked by insects partly eaten by insects The insects themselves == Red clover stems - Leaf of do. - Flower of do. Potato itself stem leaves apple corolla pistils Itis also well worthy of the farmer’s atten- tion, that Mr. Rigg found that when barley was made to vegetate in the shade, the increase in the quantity of its nitrogen was nearly 50 per cent., but when vegetating exposed to the direct rays of the sun, the increase was only 30 per cent.; and he also made the observation, that the more rapidly the plants vegetate, the more ni- trogen they are found to contain. Itis also well known to the cultivator, that plants grow- ing in the shade have usually a deep green colour, vegetating with much luxuriance, and that certain animal manures applied to plants produce similar results in a remarkable degree, such as gelatin, oils, urine, blood, fish, ammo- nia, &c. Now these fertilizers all contain nitrogen, and which gas must be evolved in some shape or other during their decomposi- tion in the soil;—gelatin, containing 16-998 per cent., albumen, 15-705, the fibrin of blood 19-934, urea 46°66 per cent.; and although ni- trogen usually exists in plants in very small proportions, yet I am entirely disposed to agree with Mr. Rigg in his conclusion, that more at- tention should be paid than has hitherto been done, in the examination of vegetable sub- stances, “to those products, which, though so minute in quantity as to be with difficulty de- tected in our balances, have nevertheless been wisely assigned to discharge the most import- ant functions.” (Phil. Trans. 1838, p. 406.) Such, then, are the essential and highly im- portant uses of the three gases of the atmo- sphere, nitrogen, oxygen, and carbonic acid, to all vegetation ; an attentive consideration of which will explain to the farmer the cause of many of the phenomena he daily witnesses, and suggest to him an unanswerable argument for the adoption of those modes of cultivating his land, the results of careful and scientific investigations, which such chemical researches suggest and render intelligible. Thus, the absolute necessity for all crops re- ceiving a regular supply of carbonic acid gas, will explain to him why his crops always yield an inferior produce when they are sur- rounded by thick plantations of timber trees ; and why the portion of all kinds of plantations growing on the side of the field the most ex- posed to the winds is almost always of the most luxuriant growth; it will explain to him the reason why many skilful farmers drill their corn so that the most prevalent winds may, with the more facility, circulate along the rows, instead of across them; and why all farmers find that their crops prosper better in mode- rately windy weather than in calms} since in all these instances, and in many other well A24 ae ew Peekie® An 205 8g 78. Pea Co oy rab Jk Lael jae Joe Jira suet THC Pe Cea Tete’: ee we 09 eo Dee Wes hw Dae AScConKCAnno-lk-og eel GASES. known popular observations of the same kind, the copious supply of the carbonic acid and oxygen gases of the atmosphere is naturally impeded by thick plantations of other vegeta- ble substances, and promoted by the winds. The consumption of oxygen gas by the roots of plants, and their increase of growth and vigour when their usually impeded supply is increased, is equally fraught with instruction to the cultivator; for it serves to explain the reason why stirring the soil around the roots of trees, according to the fashion of the early vine and olive cultivators of Italy, or merely disturbing the rows of cabbages and turnips, as practised by the best English farmers, is attended with decided advantage, since it suf- fers the air to have more free access to their roots. It renders apparent, too, one of the chief reasons why mere subsoil-ploughing adds so materially to the luxuriant produce of even the poorest cultivated lands, since, as the soil is deepened and pulverized, the atmosphere more freely and more copiously penetrates to the roots of the vegetation it supports. The same facts explain the advantages of deep- ploughing, of sub-turf ploughing, and of trench- ing; why the indolent farmer in vain tries to render productive his shallow-ploughed lands ; and why, when the industrious cottager en- closes his garden from the barren waste, too poor to sufficiently manure it, he yet renders it productive of excellent crops, by merely trenching it to the depth of 18 or 20 inches. And itis vain for the cultivator to urge that this benefit is not to be mainly attributed to the freer circulation in the soil of the gases and watery vapour of the atmosphere, but that it is owing to the mixture of the surface-soil with the substratum. For such a conclusion is not only opposed by the fact, that many soils do not differ in composition from the substratum on which they rest, and yet are materially bene- fitted by trenching or subsoiling, but is contra- dicted by many agricultural facts with which every cultivator is familiar; and if any other answer were requisite, that would be amply supplied by the recent experiments of Sir Ed- ward Stracey, with his new subturf plough, which merely passes under the turf at a depth of ten inches, and disturbs and loosens very effectually the soil; but when the plough has passed under, every thing resumes its former position, although every portion has been tho- roughly agitated, and rendered more permeable to the atmosphere. The soil is neither displaced nor mixed, and yet this mere loosening is pro- ductive of the highest advantage, the produce of grass is extensively and permanently im- proved. Sir Edward Stracey, after describing the increased produce of the grass as being veryremarkable,tells us that there are no marks left by which it can be known that the land has been so ploughed, except from the lines of the coulter, at the distance of about fourteen inches from one another. In about three months from the time of ploughing, these lines are totally obliterated, and yet the quantity of aftermath, and the thickness of the bottom, have been the subject of admiration of all his neighbours. (Jour. Eng. Agri. Soc, vol. 1. pe 253.) GASES. ’ And then, with regard to the carbonic acid and the carburetted and sulphuretted hydrogen gases evolved during the putrefaction of ani- mal and vegetable manures, the discoveries of the chemist are equally instructive and con- firmatory of the observations of the intelligent farmer. The one finds that these gases, so grateful to the farmer’s crops, are the most co- piously emitted in the early stages of putrefac- tion; that these gradually decrease in volume as the fermentation proceeds ; and finally, when the mass is reduced to the state of vegetable mould, cease altogether. Now, the farmer is well aware that the manure of the farm-yard, in common with all organic decomposing fer- tilizers, is by far the most advantageously ap- plied, and produces the most permanent good effect when it is used in the freshest state that is at all compatible with the destruction of the seeds of weeds, with which such collections usually abound. He is aware, that in all situa- tions where the gases of putrefaction are emit- ted, such as near to stables, marsh-ditches, covered drains, &c., that there vegetation of all kinds indicates by its rank luxuriance that some unusual supply of nutriment is afforded ; the gardener in his best arranged hot-beds no- tices that the gases which ascend from his piles of litter through the earth (which earth is not in immediate contact with the dung) produce the same effects long after all the warmth of putrefaction has subsided. The growth of some of his plants is in this way stimulated, he says, in an extraordinary manner. These facts and observations are entirely confirmed by those of the chemist. He notices that all the gases of putrefaction are precisely those which are the most nourishing to the growth of plants; that air which has been spoiled by the presence of the gases evolved in putrefaction, or by the breathing of animals, is exactly that which is the most grateful to vegetation ; and that where these gases are applied to the roots of plants in the most skilful manner, so as to insure a regular, steady supply, that then the plant is enabled to vegetate in a most vigorous and unusual manner. Thus, when green manures, such as sea-weed, buckwheat, leaves of trees, fern, &c., the most slowly decomposing of all vegetable manures, are applied to the roots of plants, the effects, according to chemical expe- riments, are excellent; and, as I have else- where observed, the farmer assures us that they are so. He tells us that all green manures cannot be employed in too fresh a state; that the best corn is grown where the richest turf has preceded it; and that where the roots, stalks, and other remains of a good crop of red clover have been ploughed in, that there an excellent crop of wheat may be expected; and that when buckwheat is ploughed into the soil, this is most advantageously done when the crop is coming into flower. The chemist again explains this without any difficulty. Davy and other chemists have shown that when the flower is beginning to appear, then the plant contains the largest quantity of easily soluble and decomposable matters; and that when these green plants are in this state buried in the soil, their fermentation is checked and gra- dual, so that their soluble or elastic matters GASES. are readily absorbed by the succeeding crop, and every portion of it becomes subservient to the demands of other plants. No cultivator, perhaps, ever examined this question more accurately, or tried his experiments with more neatness, than the late excellent President of the London Horticultural Society, the lamented Knight of Downton; and these were the more valuable, from being instituted to ascertain the state of decomposition in which decaying ve- getable substances could be employed most advantageously to afford food to living plants. This he clearly proved, however erroneous were his explanations of his own observations and discoveries. One of his experiments with a seedling plum tree was very remarkable. He placed it in a garden-pot, having previously filled the bottom of it with a mixture of the liv- ing leaves and roots of various grasses, covered over with a stratum of mould. The plant ap- peared above the surface of the ground in April, and, during its growth in the summer, was three times removed to larger pots in the green- house, in every case the bottom of them being filled as at first with living grasses, covered over with a layer of mould; and by the end of October its roots occupied a space of about one-third of a square foot, it having then at- tained the extraordinary height of nine feet seven inches. This experiment was varied by Mr. Knight in several ways: he drilled turnip- seed over rows manured with green fern leaves, and compared the produce with other rows of turnips by their side, manured with rich vege- table mould; and in all cases those which grew over the gradually fermenting green fern not only grew more rapidly than those treated in any other manner, but they were distinguished from all others in the same field by their deep green colour. Now, when the gases of putre- faction are mixed with the roots of all growing crops, this is exactly the effect produced. The most foul, stinking water, even when transpa- rent, is ever the most grateful to plants; that from stagnant ditches, which has always a pe- culiar taste from the carburetted hydrogen it contains, is excellent. Every gardener prefers that from ponds, however clear; the purer water from wells, he tells you, is very inferior, it is too cold; but then he confesses that even warming it does not render it equal to that from stagnant places in its effects upon his plants; so that, in whichever way the experiment is made, there is no doubt of the value of these gases to the cultivator’s crops, and he will rea- dily therefore agree with Knight in the conclu- sion, that any given quantity of vegetable mat- ter can generally be employed in its recent and organized state with much more advantage than where it has been decomposed, “and no inconsiderable portion of its component parts have been dissipated and lost during the pro- gress of the putrefactive fermentation.” (Trans Hort. Soc. vol. i. p. 248.) Aqueous Atmospheric Vapour—The last sub stance ever present in the atmosphere in con siderable proportions, and which bears a very important relation to the prosperity of the farmer’s crop, is the aqueous vapour, without whose unvaried presence no commonly culti- vated plant could flourish, and few exist at all 525 GASES. Providence, therefore, has ordained that this should be ever ready to meet the demands of vegetable life, and that its quantity should vary with the temperature, increase with the warmth when its pressure is most needed by the plant, and diminish in proportion as the air becomes cooler. Thus, at a temperature of 50°, suppos- ing it to have a free communication with water, the atmosphere contains about 1-75th of its weight of vapour; but when its temperature is increased to 100°, then its proportion of water is increased to 1-21st of its weight: and this beautiful arrangement is the more important, as Davy well observed, in the economy of na- ture, because, in very intense heats, and when the soil is dry, the life of plants is mainly, if not entirely, preserved by this absorbent power of their leaves and the earth in which they grow; and, happily, this watery vapour is most abundant in the atmosphere when it is most needed for the purposes of life: when other sourees of its supply are cut off, this is most copious. The amount, however, of the atmospheric vapour varies with the kind of wind. Those which have passed over warm seas contain more than those which have tra- versed extensive dry countries; that which crosses the hot, dry sands of Asia and northern Africa is so dry that it scorches, as it were, all the adjoining countries. It is the cause of the sirocco of Malta being so noxious, and why the English farmer finds that an easterly wind, in England the driest of all winds, is the least propitious to vegetation. He well knows, on the other hand, that the westerly or south-west- ern breezes, the most watery of all winds in Britain, which come to his fields surcharged with ail the vapours of the Atlantic, are ‘pre- cisely those which bring with them luxuriance to his crops, and clothe his woods with ver- dure. The cultivator will derive many advantages from a careful investigation of the support yielded by the vapour of the atmosphere to his plants. He will perceive that its unvaried pre- sence affords an additional reason why the air should be allowed to circulate freely through the well-pulverized and loosened soil, to the roots of all growing crops; and let him, above all, avoid the very common erroneous conclu- sion, that the atmosphere is ever dry, that it no longer contains watery vapour; for the real fact is, he will find the very opposite to the common vulgar conclusion. The chemist’s laborious investigations have clearly demon- strated, that though the watery vapour varies in amount, yet it is never absent from the at- mosphere, but that it happily always the more abounds where the cultivator’s crops need its assistance most; it is then the most able to furnish the roots of his grain crops with all the moisture they require; and if it is unable to penetrate to them, the fault is not in the wise economy of nature, but in the carelessness of the cultivator, who is either too inattentive to see the advantages which he might thus freely derive, or too indolent to loosen the case-hard- ened soil, which prevents the entrance of the requisite supply of moisture. One of the causes of the unproductiveness of cold, clayey, adhe- sive soils, as Davy well remarked, is, that the 526 GASES. seed is coated with matter impermeable to air. The farmer can convince himself of these facts by the simplest of all experiments. Let him merely use his rake or his hoe on a portion of a bed of wheat, of turnips, or lettuces, or any other kind of crop, and let him, in the driest weather, merely keep this portion of soil loose by this gentle stirring, and he will find that, instead of prejudicing his crop by Jetting out the moisture, as is often ignorantly supposed, some- thing is evidently let ito the soil; for the por- tion thus tilled will be soon visibly increased in luxuriance by the mere manual labour thus bestowed; and in this experiment, which I have often tried, I am supposing that both the portions of the ground are equally free from weeds; that in every other respect the treat- ment of both the tilled and undisturbed portions of the experimental plot is exactly the same. To a very great extent, some of the best of the English farmers have long found out these facts, and have acted upon the discovery. The horse-hoe of the east and south of England, in the driest days of summer, may be seen at work in the large sandy turnip-fields of Norfolk and Suffolk, with unvaried regularity, not for the mere destruction of weeds, for these are not the abounding tenants of such skilful farmers’ lands, but for the chief and highly beneficial purpose of increasing the circulation of the gases and vapour of the air. “The longer I keep stirring the soil between my turnip drills,” said Lord Leicester to me, some years since, “in dry weather, the better the turnips grow.” The same uniform presence of aqueous va- pour which marks the atmosphere in all times and seasons, in a still more remarkable degree distinguishes its constituent gases, for these never vary in amount in any times, or seasons, or countries. ‘The atmospheric air has been analyzed, when obtained from the lowest val- leys, and the tops of the highest mountains, in crowded cities, and in the open country, but its composition was always found to be the same, viz., nearly 21 per cent. of oxygen, and 79 of nitrogen, and from 1 part in 500 to 1 part in 800 of carbonic acid gas. Such, then, are the principal matters con- tained in the atmosphere, or added to it by pu- trefaction, which influence the progress of vegetation. That there are other matters oc- casionally present in the air, which are in all probability grateful to vegetation, is very cer- tain; our very senses tell us that there are clouds of smoke, which is a mixture of carbu- retted and sulphuretted hydrogen, soot, and vapour, hourly hovering over all large towns and cities, and which huge mass the winds disperse over the country. Of these the soot, and finely divided earthy matters with which it is combined, are very speedily deposited ; it is one reason why the lands near to populous places are very commonly rich and fertile. Ammonia has been detected in rain-water. That other substances also exist in the air in minute, yet active proportions, is very certain, though they are too subtle to allow the chemist to detect them: thus, to such finely divided matters the physician attributes the progress” of contagion—the chemical philosopher the aroma of flowers, and of many other sub- GAS-WORKS. stances. Certain diseases follow the course of particular winds; and the stones or fire- balls, and similar substances, which have in all ages been seen to fall from the atmosphere, completely baffle the scientific conjectures of the meteorologist. With such speculations, however, the cultivator need not disturb him- self: resting contented with the knowledge he possesses of the invaluable and essential powers of the known gases and vapour of the atmosphere to assist and sustain the growth of his crops, and adopting in consequence those improved modes of cultivation which that knowledge suggests, he will patiently await the time when the future discoveries of science shall still farther enlarge his sphere of useful- ness, by enabling him to draw forth those latent powers of production which, there is every reason to believe, yet remain hidden in the soil. (Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. ii. p. 32.) Some curious experiments upon the gases hurtful to vegetation were made by M. Macaire. Some plants of euphorbium, mercury, ground- sel, cabbage, and sowthistle, with their roots, were placed in the morning in a large vase into which chloride of lime had been intro- duced. The roots were then separately soaked, and the quantity of chlorine disengaged was by no means sufficient to destroy the vegetable tissue. At night the plants had not suffered, and the smell of the chlorine was unchanged. The same plants placed in the same vase with- out any addition of chlorine, were found quite faded the next morning, with the exception of the cabbage. The odour of the chlorine had entirely ceased, and had been succeeded by a disagreeable acid smel]. The experiment being several times repeated, by rendering the extri- cation of chlorine more considerable, produced the same result, and the plants supported an atmosphere strongly impregnated with chlorine by day, while a much weaker dose always de- stroyed them during the night. Similar results were obtained when the vapour of nitric acid was employed, nitrous acid gas, sulphuretted hydrogen, and muriatic acid gas; and, as a general conclusion, M. Macaire was of opi- nion, from these trials, “ that many of the gases are hurtful to vegetation; but that they act on them only during the absence of light.” (Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. v. p. 301.) GAS-WORKS, the Refuse Matters of, as Fer- tilizers. It is only within these few years that the attention of the farmer has been attracted to the various matters produced by the gas- works now so common in all parts of England. This attention, however, is confined at present to only particular localities: while in one dis- trict it is zealously used, and bought up with avidity, in others it appears to be totally ne- glected. In the vale of Kennet the farmers clear away from the gas-works all the refuse matters they can obtain, even at advanced prices. Those of the valley of the Itchin, in Hampshire, find it, in small proportions, an excellent dressing for grass. The refuse matters which are produced during the distillation of pit-coal in the gas- works, consist of three substances; the ammo- niacal liquor, the hydro-sulphuret of lime, formed by passing the gas through lime to de- GAS-WORKS. prive it of its sulphuretted hydrogen, and the coal-tar; these substances are worthy of the cultivator’s attention, for they are all fertili- zers of considerable value. Let us examine them in the order in which I have enumerated them. 1. The ammoniacal liquor obtained from gas- works is an impure solution of the carbonate and acetate of ammonia; and these salts, there is little doubt, not only act as stimulants to plants, but both the acids and the ammonia, when decomposed, furnish direct food to, or constitute parts of, vegetables. Carbonate of ammonia has been detected in the stinking goose-foot (Chenopodium olidum), by MM. Che- valier and Lassaigne, and it probably exists in other plants which are distinguished for their powerful disagreeable odour. If the plants do not contain ammonia, or its salts, it is the am- monia either in the soil or the air which affords them the nitrogen which enters into their composition. (Annals of Phil. vol. xii. p. 231.) Hydrochlorate of ammonia has been found in wood by M. Chevreul. (Ann. de Chim. 68, p. 284.) There are many testimonials in favour of the use, as fertilizers, of the salts of ammonia, either in their pure state, or as found in an im- pure combination with soot, or in the liquor of gas-works. “Soot,” said Davy, “owes part of its efficacy to the ammoniacal salt it contains. The liquor produced by the distillation of coat contains carbonate and acetate of ammonia, and is said to be a very good manure. In 1808, I observed that the growth of wheat in a field at Roehampton was greatly assisted by a very weak solution of acetate of ammonia.” (Lectures, p. 342.) The experiments of Mr. Robertson with soot clearly show the fertilizing effects of the soluble portion of it, which is principally the salts of ammonia. He mixed together, in order to form a liquid manure, six quarts of soot in a hogshead of water. “Aspa- ragus, peas, and a variety of other vegetables,” says this intelligent horticulturist, “I have manured with this mixture with as much effect as if I had used solid dung; but to plants in pots, particularly pines, I have found it ad- mirably adapted; when watered with it they assume a dark, healthy green, and grow strong and luxuriant,’ (Gard. Mag. vol. il. p. 18.) Care must be taken in using this, and all other liquid fertilizers, not to make the solution too strong; it is an error into which all cultivators are apt to fall in their early experiments. Davy was not an exception; from making his liquids too concentrated, he obtained results which widely differed from his later experi- ments. (Lectures, p. 170.) There is no doubt but that the salts of ammonia, and all the com- pound manures which contain them, have a considerable forcing or stimulating effect upon vegetation. In the experiments of Dr. Belcher, upon the common garden cress, by watering them with a solution of phosphate of ammonia, the plants were 15 days forwarder than other plants growing under similar circumstances, but watered with plain water; and he also de- scribes the experiment of a Mr. Gregory, who, by watering one-half of a grass field with urine (which abounds with the salt of ammonia) 527 GAS-WORKS. nearly doubled his crop of hay. (Com. to Board of Agr. vol. iv. p. 416.) “Tt is probable,” says Mr. Handley, “that the ammoniacal liquor which abounds in gas- works, and which, when formerly allowed to run waste into the Thames, was said to destroy the fish and prejudice the quality of the river water for human consumption, and which is still thrown away throughout the country, ex- cept at a few works where they manufacture sal ammoniae, will, ere long, be extensively used as a manure, either through the interven- tion of the water-cart, or for the process of sa- turating and decomposing soil or vegetable matter. A very satisfactory illustration, on a small seale, has recently been submitted by Mr. Pain. He put into a vessel some leaves of trees, saw-dust, chopped straw, and bran, to which he applied ammonia, and closed it up. In about three weeks the whole was reduced to a slimy mass: he then stirred it, and added a little more ammonia; and when submitted to the English Agricultural Society, it was re- duced to a black mass of vegetable mould, strongly impregnated with volatile salts, and in comminuted particles similar to surface peat mould. When applied in its liquid form to grass, like salt, it apparently destroys the plant; but the spot is distinguished by in- creased verdure the succeeding year.” (Eng. Agr. Soc, Journ, vol. i. p. 46.) Mr. Paynter, of Boskenna, in Cornwall, has given the result of an experiment made with the water in which street gas had been cleansed, on a piece of barley land. A quarter of an acre was taken in the middle of a field of ra- ther close soil, in a granite district. The land was of average quality; the gas-water was dis- tributed over the quarter acre by a contrivance resembling that of a common watering cart, and at the rate of 400 gallons to the acre; about a week before seed time, the rest of the field was manured in the usual way. The differ- ence both in colour and vigour of the barley plant was so strikingly in favour of the part manured by the gas-water, that persons passing within view of the field almost invariably came to inquire about the cause. The yield also was superior, as well as the after-pasture, the field having been laid down with the barley.” (Ibid. p- 45.) The refuse Lime of Gas-Works—This powder is produced by passing the gas through dry Jime, in which operation the earth combines with a quantity of sulphuretted hydrogen, from which the coal gas needs purifying, and is partly converted into hydro-sulphuret of lime: in the state that the powder is usually vended by the gas manufacturers, it contains a considerable portion of uncombined lime. The hydro-sulphuret of lime has a bitter and acid taste; it is soluble:in water, and has the pecu- liarly disagreeable smell of sulphuretted hy- drogen. When mixed with or spread upon the soil, it gradually decomposes, a portion of hy- drogen separates from it, and it is converted into sulphuret of lime, which, by absorbing oxygen from the atmosphere, finally becomes sulphate of lime. ‘There is no reason, there- fore, to doubt the fertilizing properties of this manure; but it is too powerful in its effects 628 GAS-WORKS. upon vegetation, to be used in the large pro- portions in which it has been sometimes em- ployed; and it should not, for these reasons, be added to the soil immediately in contact with the seed. It is generally to be obtained at a very moderate rate, and by its gradual conversion to sulphate of lime (gypsum), it must be a very excellent addition to those soils which are described by the farmer as having become “tired of clover.” “In many parts of the country,” says Mr. Handley, “where gas-works are established, the refuse has become an object of interest to the agriculturist, as containing many of the essentials of the most effective manures. The refuse lime which was formerly an incon- venience to the manufacturers, and was carted away as valueless rubbish, is now contracted for by the neighbouring farmers (in an in- stance within my own knowledge at 7s. 6d. per chaldron), and applied either in compost, or in a direct form, to the land, where, in addition to the usual operation of lime, it is said to furnish a protection against many of the noxious grubs and insects.” (Ibid.) Gas Tar.—This substance being produced in smaller quantities, and employed very com- monly as a paint, has not been used as a ma- nure to any extent; but wherever it can be obtained (as Iam aware it ever can in some places, almost for the expense of carriage), it is an article every way worthy of the farmer’s notice. It is composed entirely of substances which enter into the composition of all plants, is gradually decomposed in the soil, is power- ful in its effects, and still more so from its con- taining a considerable portion of the carbo- nate and acetate of ammonia; hence it is best applied mixed with earth, so as to be easily and evenly spread over the ground. These facts will explain some of the phenomena wit- nessed in the recent experiments of Mr. Bow- ley with gas refuse, at Sidington, Gloucester- shire. He says (Farm. Mag. vol. ix. p. 197), “T have long used the refuse of the gas-house as a manure; my usual practice is to form out my compost-heap with long dung about three feet deep, pour the coal tar regularly over it, then put another layer of dung or turf, throw up the lime on the top, allow it to remain in this state two or three months before it is turned. The lime should not be under the tar in the first instance, as the tar will find its way through the dung, and unite with the lime into a hard cement, in which state, even if, with considerable labour, itis broken into small par- ticles, I believe it to be of little service on the land. “After pursuing the above system for some time, I resolved to try some experiments with each in its unsophisticated state. I accordingly commenced with the tar, which I had poured out of a watering-pot, in a small stream, regu- larly over about half an acre in a field of rye- grass; this was done in February, 1838. Soon afterwards, the seeds presented the rather sin- gular appearance of having been burnt in stripes with a hot iron, for the tar had com- pletely destroyed all it touched, and I was told I had poisoned the land, and it would never re- cover itself; however, in June,I noticed that the GATES. grass between the streams of tar looked more luxuriant, and the sheep fed on it in preference to the other parts of the field. In the autumn the whole was ploughed, and sown with wheat, which looked much more flourishing on the half-acre dressed with tar than anywhere else ; the difference was so conspicuous from the first, that the most casual observer could not pass without remarking it; and at the present time (August, eceR there is a heavy crop on it ready for the sickle, while the rest of the field is light, and will not be ripe for a week or ten days. Iput some tar in the same way on a piece of land, a month before it was ploughed for spring vetches; the vetches were sown two weeks after the plough, and many of them were destroyed; but the crop of wheat which succeeded was benefited equally with the one in the other experiment. I have tried the lime with great advantage, putting from 12 to 15 eart-loads to the acre, but I find it is better to remain atime before it is ploughed in. All these experiments were tried on a cold, sandy clay, worth about 10s. per acre.” In these ex- periments, the quantity applied per acre was too large,and the manure in a state much too power- ful. It was only where it had become diffused through the soil by time, that its fertilizing powers were apparent. Coal tar is much improved in effect, when employed as a coating for palings, by mixing it with a small portion, say one-fortieth of its weight, of grease; this is easily united by heating the tar. GATES. Good gates are no less essential to the respectable appearance of a farm than they are necessary for the convenience of an occupier. There are few outgoings that cost so much and are so little thought of, as the re- pairing and renewing gates upon enclosed farms. The most common defects are, Ist. Not sufficient height, so that horses and large cattle, when pushing against the gate, break it, however strong it is, as the back thereof comes in contact with that part of the chest of a horse where the collar goes, and without inconvenience he leans his weight against the opposing bar, which, if a few inches higher presses against his neck and windpipe, and he makes no impression upon it. 2d. They are generally hinge-bound, so that in attempting to lift up the head, which is often required to be done, the ledges and braces are either pulled from the back head or broken therein; the person lifting the head having a nine-feet leverage, which enables him to do this mischief. 3d. The places of contact between the brace and the uprights and the ledges are broad, and it being impossible to keep those places of con- tact dry, the parts become prematurely de- cayed. The two great objects to be combined in a gate are strength and lightness. In the Culti- vator and some other American agricultural periodicals, many useful observations, with drawings of gates, may be found. Much has been written on the subject in England: see Quay. Journ. Agr. vol. i. p. 727; and the Trans. of the High. Soc. vol. ii. p. 260, ‘where a self-acting gate, suited for the en- 67 GELATIN. trances to parks or the approaches to mansion houses, is figured and described. ‘There is also a useful essay “On the Construction of Gates for the common purposes of a Farm, the causes of their Decay, and the manner of im- proving them,” in the Commun. to Board of Agr. vol. vil. p. 144: see also Loudon’s Encye. of Ag- riculiure. Among the excellent observations upon the subject of farm gates, to be met with in the agricultural periodicals of the United States, we would particularly refer to a paper in the Cultivator, (vol. ii. p. 182,) headed Parker’s Farm Gate, giving the most minute directions for constructing, accompanied with drawings of the gate and its several parts. See alse Cultivator, vol. vii. p. 124, for the plan and drawing of a cheap gate, which never sags; and more especially the same valuable pe- riodical, vol. viii. p. 58, for Mr. Bennet’s Com- munication on Ornamental Gates, accompanied with descriptions and drawings. GATHERING. Provincially, rolling corn- swaths into cocks or bundles. Also a popular name for Abscess, which see. GAVELKIND. An ancient custom or te- nure annexed to all land in the county of Kent (not especially exempted), and some other parts of England, and which extensively pre- vails in Ireland, by which the land of the father is equally divided at his death among all his sons, or the land of the brother among all his brethren if he have no issue of his own. 'Te- nure in gavelkind is considered by Blackstone to have been in the nature of free socage. In most places the gavelkind tenant had the power of devising by will before the statute of wills. The same custom seems to have been prevalent in Wales, where all gavelkind lands were made descendible to the heir at common law by the stat. 34 & 35 H. 8, c. 36. In Kent the lands have for the most part been disgavelled, or deprived of their customary descendible quality by particular statutes; but lands in Kent are presumed to be gavellkind unless the contrary be shown. Mr. Ross, in his Survey of Londonderry, gives an interesting account of this custom and its pernicious effects. This notion of the equal and unalien- able right of all the children to the inheritance of their father’s property, whether land or goods, which is so general in Ireland, is one great obstacle to improvement. However just and reasonable the opinion may be in theory, it is ruinous in practice. In spite of every argument (says Mr. Ross) the smaller [rish landholders continue to divide their farms among their children, and these divide on until division is no longer practicable; and, in the course of two or three generations the most thriving family must necessarily go to ruin. GEERS. A country phrase for the harness of draught or team horses. GELATIN. In chemistry the name given to an abundant proximate principle in animals. It is confined to the solid parts of the body, such as tendons, ligaments, cartilages, and bones, and exists nearly pure in the skin; but it is not contained in any healthy animal fluid. Its leading character is the formation of a tremulous jelly, when its solution in boiling 2 529 GELDING, water cools; and it may be repeatedly liquefied and again gelatinized by the alternate applica- ton of heat and cold. Isinglass, glue, and size are various forms of gelatin, the first be- ing this substance in a very pure state, obtained by washing and drying the swimming bladder of the sturgeon (Acipenser huso) and some other fish. Its most distinctive chemical character is the formation of a dense white precipitate when its solution in warm water is poured into an infusion of galls, or that of any other as- tringent vegetable; the substance formed in such cases is a tannate of gelatin, by the union of the tanic acid with the gelatin. Ge- latin is semi-transparent and colourless when pure. Its consistency and hardness vary con- siderably. The best kinds are very hard, brittle, and break with a glassy fracture. Its taste is insipid, and it has no odour. A solution of one part of gelatin in 5000 of water is ren- dered slightly turbid by the addition of a strong infusion of galls. Gelatin, as an article of food, is not so nutritious as is generally sup- posed. The ultimate components of gelatin are— Parts. Carbon - - - - - - - 478 Hydrogen - - - - - - Soli hs) Nitrogen - - - - - - - 169 Oxygen - - - - - - - 274 100° 100 Ibs. of bones yield about 25 or 27 lbs. of gelatin. It is used for making carpenter’s glue, as the fat in the bones gives it a bad taste, and renders it unfit forsoup. See Guvz. (Brande’s Dict. of Science.) GELDING. In farriery, a castrated animal; and also the act of castrating. In performing this operation, attention should be paid to the age, and also the season of the year. The most proper seasons are either the early spring months, or those of the autumn. GENTIAN (Gentiana). This, in England, is an extremely beautiful genus of plants; the roots of which form one of the principal bit- ters of European growth. The stems and roots of most of the species, especially the autumnal gentian (G. amarella), the field gen- tian (G. campestris), and some of the foreign species are tonic, stomachic, and febrifuge. That which is principally used in medicine is the root of the great yellow gentian (G. lutea), which is imported from Germany. The gene- ric name was given to them after Gentius, King of Illyria, who is reported to have first experienced the virtues of the plant. The species of gentian, indigenous to England, ac- cording to Sir J. E. Smith, are six in number. 1. The Marsh Gentian or Calathian violet (G. pnewmonanthe). A perennial herb, found on moist, turfy heaths, blooming in August and September. 2. The Dwarf Gentian (G. acaulis). A pe- rennial, but very doubtful native, found on mountains. The stems generally very short, rising from the centre of tufts of leaves, single- flowered. The flower, which blows in June or July, is large, often two inches long, ex- quisitely beautiful, of a rich blue in the limb, paler ‘n the tube, which is dotted internally with black. Root fleshy and branching. 430 GEOLOGY. 3. The Spring Gentian (G. verna). A peren- nial, growing in barren, mountainous situations, but rare, flowering in April. 4, Small Alpine Gentian (G. nivalis). An annual found on the loftiest mountains of Scot- land. 5. The Autumnal Gentian (G. amarella). An annual plant, growing frequent in limestone and chalky pastures, flowering in August and September. 6. The Field Gentian (G. campestris). An annual, flowering in September or October, growing on elevated pastures, or upon green hills towards the sea-coast, where the soil is chalky or gravelly. The roots are very bitter and tonic. It is sometimes known as yellow centaury and blue gentian. Most of the herbaceous kinds of gentian grow well in a rich, light soil, but some re- quire to be grown in peat; indeed, all will grow much stronger in it. Several of the species should be grown in pots, placed among alpine plants, and protected in winter. Some of them may be increased by divisions. The annual and biennial kinds may be sown ina dry, sandy situation in the open border; but they must be sown as soon as the seeds are ripe, because, if left till spring before they are sown, they will not, very probably, come up ull the second year. The species of gentian best known in the United States, are:—1. The one called Soap- wort (G. saponaria), a handsome plant, fre- quently found in Pennsylvania and other Middle States, along the margins of swampy rivulets and in low grounds. Tt flowers in September, and ripens its seed in November. The root, as in all the genus, is bitter and tonic. 2. Yellowish-white Gentian (G. ochroleuca), found in fields and woodlands in the Middle and Southern States, but not socommon as the former kind. 3. Haired, or Fringed Gentian (G. crinita), frequent in hilly, open woodlands and old fields in Pennsylvania, where it is one of the most beautiful autumnal flowering plants in the months of September and Oc- tober. Its flowers are often destroyed by frost. Though generally described as a biennial, Pro- fessor Eaton considers it a perennial. Dr. Darlington thinks it an annual. Seven or eight additional species of gentian are enumerated in the United States. (Flora bert) : GEOLOGY (x, the earth; aszoc, a dis- course). The use of this science to the culti- vator is considerable. The farmer is, in fact, obliged to vary his modes of tillage with the different strata which he tenants, and hence he is often following in practice the very rules, and observing the laws which the science of geology would prescribe, without being aware of the scientific reasons by which his labours are guided. It is a science he will find closely connected with the best modes of cultivating the soil, the drainage of land, the mixture of earths, and other agricultural improvements. From geological observations, the farmer learns the process by which the soils he culti- vates were originally formed, their connexion with the substratum, and the readiest mode of improving their constituents; thus, as it is GEOLOGY. well observed by Mr. Morton, in his valuable little work on Soils, p.3. “If we can show an identity of the materials which form the soil with those of the subsoil upon which it rests, we shall obtain a key to a more correct and satisfactory classification of soils than at pre- sent exists; their nature and properties, the kind of crops which they are best calcalated to produce, and the materials necessary for their permanent improvement will also be more evi- dent.” That such scientific observances of the order of nature cannot but be attended with benefit, is a remark which we cannot too often make to the farmer: it was an observa- tion which Davy long since made, (Lectures, p. 204); he told the farmers of his day, that “the best natural soils are those of which the ma- terials have been derived from different strata which have been minutely divided by air and water, and are intimately blended together; and in improving soils artificially, the farmer cannot do better than imitate the processes of nature ;—the materials necesary for the pur- pose are seldom far distant—coarse sand is often found immediately on chalk, and beds of sand and gravel are common below clay. The labour of improving the texture or constitution of the soil is repaid by a great permanent ad- vantage—less manure is required, and its fer- tility insured, and capital laid out in this way secures forever the productiveness, and con- sequently the value, of the land;” and again, Dr. Paris, when addressing the Penwith Agri- cultural Society, remarked, “The composition and arrangement of the different rocks of which a country consists, is always an object of im- portant interest to the liberal and well-informed farmer, for it will generally be found more or Jess connected with its agricultural economy, and is frequently capable of explaining pecu- liarities and anomalies which are otherwise quite unintelligible. At the same time a know- ledge of them will suggest the best method of improving. a soil by exhibiting the nature of its texture and constitution, and the various causes of its sterility.” That geological sur- veys of even particular estates have been at- tended with considerable benefit, we have the valuable testimony, amongst many others, of Sir J. V. Johnstone, who says (Journ. of Eng. Agric. Soc. vol. i. p. 273), “The geological sur- vey and map of my estate has not only ex- plained the reason of the discrepancy between the soil and productiveness of neighbouring fields—a matter of great interest, and tending to develope the true conditions of vegetable life—but the following positive practical re- sults have been also derived from it:—I1st, The knowledge of applying lime to advantage over the property ; 2d, Laying down fields to advan-~ tage to grass, and where and how to plant wheat; 3d, What trees to plant upon each stratum ; and as, he very correctly adds, “Cer- tain soils are so obviously connected with their bases, that we need scarcely ask how geology and agriculture are mixed together;” and to use Dr. Smith’s own words, “The strata suc- ceed each other in a certain order, and being delineated, a knowledge of the strata becomes the natural and safe foundation of improve- ment; and if agricultural chemistry be ever! GEOLOGY. successfully applied to the practical purposes of agriculture, it must be by proceeding with the chemical analysis of soils along the range of each stratum.” (Farmer’s Almanac.) And it is quite true, as Mr. Macgillivray re- marks (Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, vol. iil. p- 209), that “an experienced agriculturist may judge correctly of the general capabilities of a district from a superficial inspection, and may perceive its adaptation to the cultivation of certain plants, or to the rearing of certain species of animals, in consequence of a single glance of his eye; but how much more precise will be the estimate of him who examines the slopes of the declivities; the depth and quality of the soil; the nature of the subsoil; the dis- tribution of rills, pools, and springs; the kind and disposition of the mineral strata; the ex- istence of limestone beds; the elevation above the level of the sea; the exposure to particular winds; the prevalent atmospheric currents ; the frequency of rains and frosts; and all the other physical phenomena which influence a country. Eventhe nature of the rock itself, in- dependently of other circumstances, discloses the capabilities of the soil, in a degree which could scarcely be imagined by one totally un- acquainted with the influence which it pos- sesses.” As my observations on geology in this work will be chiefly confined to its connexion with practical agriculture, I shall not detain the farmer with any of the valuable geological re- searches which extend far beneath the earth’s surface. Indeed, as Professor Brande remarks in his Outline of Geology, p. 32, when speaking of geology, “Its first and leading object is to become practically acquainted with the pre- sent state of the earth’s external structure, for, excepting of its crust or rind, we know nothing; and all that has been suggested either by theory or experiment, relating to its internal composi- tion, its density, and the constitution of the en- tire mass, is mere surmise and guess-work— deductions hastily drawn from superficial ob- servation or unwarranted inferences from im- perfect researches.” To the student who wishes to make himself practically master of the science, I commend the lectures of Pro- fessor Brande, as well as the Outlines of the Geology of England and Wales, by Conybeare and Phillips. To the practical, intelligent farmer, the work On Soils, by Mr. John Morton, will also be very valuable. To this excellent little book I gratefully acknowledge my obliga- tions in this and many other articles. The best popular description, perhaps, of the position in which the various strata of the earth are placed, is that long since given by Mitchell. “This very ingenious writer,” says Brande (Outlines, p. 13), “describes the gene- ral appearance of the strata, points out their analogies and differences, adverts to their in- clination and disturbance in mountainous dis- tricts, and to their horizontality in flat coun- tries ; and having explained with much minute and practical perspicuity the arrangement of the strata in England, he exemplifies its uni- versal application to the general structure of the globe, and ingeniously represents it in the following manner :—‘Let a number of leaves 531 GEOLOGY. of paper,’ he says, ‘ of several different colours, be pasted one on another, then binding them up together into a ridge in the middle, con- ceive them to be reduced again to a level sur- face by a plane so passing through them as to cut off all the part that had been raised; let the middle now be again raised a little, and this would be a good general representation of most, if not all, large tracts of mountainous countries, together with the parts adjacent throughout the whole world. From this for- mation of the earth, it will follow that we ought to meet with the same kinds of earths, stones, and minerals, appearing on the surface in long narrow slips, and lying parallel to the greatest rise of any large ridge of mountains, and so, in fact, we find them.’ ” (Phil. Trans. 1760.) And this system of layers or strata not only marks the arrangement of the great masses of which our earth is composed, but it is that of the very rocks themselves. It is to us attended with many advantages, such as the formation of springs,—the constitution of soils,—which last is that alluded to by Dr. Paris, On the Soils of Cornwall. “The phenomenon of stratifica- tion, which is so well characterized in clay slate, I have often regarded as a wise provision of nature to facilitate its decomposition, and to admit the descent of the roots of trees: and this idea is further strengthened when we dis- cover that this structure is almost entirely con- fined to secondary rocks, whose situation and nature render them capable of cultivation: they are all, for instance, resolved into gently undulating hills, and by farther decomposition they form rich and fertile soils. Primitive formations, on the contrary, which possess no such structure, disintegrate into rugged piles, whose declivities are too steep to admit the ac- cumulations of soil, and cannot, therefore, ever constitute the habitable parts of the globe; and, as far as our geological knowledge will allow us to generalize, it would appear that primitive rocks are accumulated towards the poles, whereas the great mass of secondary formations is found to occupy the middle and southern latitudes, principally between the 20th and 55th degrees, which constitute a portion of the globe eminently calculated for the abode of man, and the animals which are subservient to his wants and comforts.” The farmer must not imagine, as he pursues his researches in this very interesting science, that he will find a great variety of earthy sub- stances in the different, often-varying strata of the earth; “for,” as Mr. Brande says very truly, “siliceous, calcareous, and argillaceous substances, either pure, or nearly so, or in a. state of mixture, or loosely and indefinitely _ blended, rather than in strict chemical combi- nation, constitute a very large relative propor- tion of those rocky masses, or scattered or comminuted substances, which form, or have formed, the most exterior constituents of our planet, and of these, considered in the abstract, the chemical and mineralogical history is soon told.” Of that brief history, however, it will be well for the farmer to have a general know- .edge. Davy, who saw very Clearly the im- portance of the science to practical agricul- 532 GEOLOGY. ture, described them with a view to assist the farmer in his tillage operations. The formation of a soil from the different strata by natural causes is also well described by the same great chemist. “It is easy,” he says, “to form an idea of the manner in which rocks are converted into soils by referring to the instance of soft granite or porcelain granite. This substance consists of three ingredients, quartz, feldspar, and mica. The quartz is almost pure siliceous earth, in a crystalline form. The feldspar and mica are compound substances: both contain silica, alumina, and oxide of iron; in the feldspar there is usually lime and potassa; in the mica, lime and mag- nesia. “When a granitic rock of this kind has been long exposed to the influence of air and water, the lime and the potassa contained in its con- stituent parts are acted upon by water or car- bonic acid; and the oxide of iron, which is almost always in its least oxidized state, tends to combine with more oxygen; the conse- quence is, the feldspar decomposes, and like- wise the mica, but the first the more rapidly. The feldspar, which is, as it were, the cement of the stone, forms a fine clay. The mica partially decomposes, mixes with it as sand, and the undecomposed quartz appear as gravel or sand of different degrees of fineness. “As soon as the smallest layer of earth is formed on the surface of a rock, the seed of lichens, mosses, and other imperfect vege- tables which are constantly floating in the atmosphere, and which have made it their resting-place, begin to vegetate. Their death, decomposition, and decay, afford a certain quantity of organizable matter, which mixes with the earthy materials of the rock; in this improved soil more perfect plants are capable of subsisting; these, in their turn, absorb nourishment from water and the atmosphere, and, after perishing, afford new materials to those already provided. The decomposition of the rock still continues, and, at length, by such slow and gradual processes, a soil is formed in which even forest trees can fix their roots, and which is fitted to reward the labour of the cultivator.” (Ibid. p. 189.) That the geological formation of the soil influences to a considerable degree its rela- tions to a fertilizing supply of moisture, was thus noticed by Dr. Paris when addressing a Cornish Agricultural Society :—‘There is a popular adage well known to all the members of this society, that ‘the land of Cornwall will bear a shower every week-day, and two upon a Sunday,—the fact is, that the shallowness of the soil, and the nature of its rocky substra- tum, render a constant supply of moisture indispensable; and here we cannot avoid ad- miring the beautiful contrivance of nature in connecting the wants and necessities of the different parts of the creation with the power and means of supplying them; thus, in rocky countries like Cornwall, where the soil is ne- cessarily greedy of moisture, the very cause which creates this want is of itself capable of supplying it; for the rocks elevated above the surface solicit a tribute from every passing shower, while in alluvial and champaign GEOLOGY. GEOLOGY. countries, where the soil is deep and rich, and| Brande found in a specimen of pale flesh- consequently requires less moisture, the clouds | coloured feldspar from the Alps— float undisturbed over the plains, and the coun- SiRere ee ee ee aa try frequently enjoys that long and uninter- Aliminds «=| =. Coy. a ee Os rupted series of dry weather which is so con- Potash ===) = 3 ys ag 8ia0 genial to it. As a general rule it may be stated ene ec + 2, ee bof athe) ey 2 Oxideofiron - - - -= - = 0:50 that to obtain the greatest fertility the propor- TOSh Regi =) =}. mt.) ay) PS tion of siliceous sand in a soil ought to increase = F F F : 100° in proportion to the quantity of rain that falls, or rather perhaps to the frequency of its Te-! Common hornblende was found by M. Klap- currence; for one of the effects of silex is to | ,oth to contain— diminish in the soil its power of absorbing i Parts. moisture; we accordingly find that in the rainy SNE is Ue MAC AS On aa Se SO i i “| ‘ Alumina - - Sih pet, 2S MaKe climate of Turin the most prolific soil has from Tote TEM TNS teu stan > aI 77 to 80 per cent. of siliceous earth, and from Magnesia) =) =) = te = TS 5 9 to 14 of calcareous, whereas, in the neigh- Galde of iror See AN Ga arse es bourhood of Paris, where there is much less NEN Cle (Pee Berl lie et pn 0-7 rain, the silex bearS only the proportion of THE cn ER Te) ase ES Sek Oy from 26 to 50 per cent. in the most fertile parts ; 100: and I have found some of the most productive corn lands in the parish of St. Burian to con-|_ Common serpentine contains, according to tain as much as 70 per cent. of that earth.” |M. Vauquelin— See Earrus, razin Use ro VecEratron. Le Parts. = < . Silica - - - - - - - - 44° It will, perhaps, considerably assist the cul- Mapnesia, -\=,."-=- °=.'+ oeege Abr nage tivator in his examination of the different Mimiuehonw toe mk aa) == Bene geological formations to which he may have pe AG A 121 adic an a a ae to direct his attention, if we examine the che- Oxide ofmanganese - - = - - 15 mical composition of a few of the stones and other substances of which rocks are chiefly as formed. : 2 £ Another specimen, examined by Dr. John, Common clay is merely a mixture of alumina | was found to contain— with silica, in endless proportions. The alu- vy Parts. mina is in the form of a very impalpable plas Eel is ei eee eh OSL) te % gnesia - - - - - - - 47°25 powder; but the silica, says Dr. Thomson, is ATI cleo phen hc) See Sr ee almost always in small grains, large enough ane Dita ee SARIS co Gm se” BV aie cece to be distinguished by the eye. Clay, therefore, Oxide of Seep os eaten ee te exhibits the characters of alumina, and not of Water aan sa a. eeo, (ae inn silica, even when this last ingredient predomi- . . -y. 99°75 nates. Besides alumina and silica, clay often contains carbonate of lime (chalk), carbonate Chalk contains— of magnesia, carbonate of baryta, oxide of iron, i Se =a 5 ime = - - - - - - - ; &e. (Chem. vol. iii. p. 341.) ] Garhonic acide te Se ee el ge, a Loam may be regarded as a very impure Water= 0 =) feat Oren ay akan eG potter’s clay united with iron, ochre, and mica. a Common Mica.—This stone is composed, ac- cording to the analysis of M. Klaproth, of— Common compact limestone contains— Parts, Parts. Silica - - - - - - - - 47° Lime - = = = - = - = 53° Alumina - ba! Hie '= - - -20° Carbonicacid - - = - - = = 425 OSiMeiOf KON) Hei ie sie oa 16S Water Sia epee rami Saul 68 Oxide of manganese - - - - - 17 Silica Re Ane Sy rca eer eee 0 8 1) Uta ape ae! MN. apa hearer ae Alumina =.= [ er a oh cue anne Hoswt=) fer) yyeil Yay, nha) ai ayy =) 8 Oxide ofiron - - -= -= - = 075 100 100 Common feldspar, according to M. Vauque-| Magnesian limestone, from Sunderland, con- lin, is composed of— tains, according to Dr. Thomson (System of Parts. iii aa Bitiea.c)'o=! aa Meth sud nice Oeek Chem. vol. iii. p. 396) am Alumina - So Mandy Hei’ ol walle Carbonate oflime - - - - -568 LN a a Hehe Swim ce Faia tat om BB Carbonate of magnesia - - - = 40°84 eee JODY Caer ee eh ne Oxideofiron se Sega iiais 7 3 5 mA E é 2345 Clay, water, &c. - - - - = 2 100° 100 Quartz, according to the analysis of M, ing feld: f C i The decomposing feldspar of Cornwall is PRCHGLz ietemepoted oO composed, according to Mr. Wedgwood, of— Parts. Parts. Silica —piarh <5 ali aie at97275 Alumina - - - - - - - 60 Alumina - - - - - - - 0°50 Siege = | - = = Cee 0 Water Se cs ee Moisture and loss - - - - - -20 Loss - - - - = STFS = 0°75 100 108° - 2x2 533 GEOLOGY. Porcelain earth was analyzed by Mr. Rose \Jameson’s Min. vol. i. p. 298): he found in it— Parts. Silica = - = = = = = = 52 Alumina - - a Mer iG Es = 47° Oxide of iron - = = = e - 0°33 Loss - - - = = = =! - 0°67 100° Potter’s clay, according to M. Vauquelin, contains— Parta. Silica - - 5 a = x = - 43°5 Alumina - - - 4 ds ms aoe Ling cee ee at Se mh Oxide of iron - - - - - - i. Water - - - - - - - - 18° LISTE eo ar ee ene MCR] 100° Clay slate is composed of— Parts. Silica - - - = 48°6 Alumina — - 2 Magnesia - _ Peroxide of iron Oxide of manganese Tes eet) ee VEvSNen) ie 3) wee Pir eel Spe et macoRorH DAM witnwean Potash - - Carbon - - Sulphur - - = Water and volatile matter Loss - - - =i se _ S = Basalt is composed, according to Mr. Ken- nedy (Edin. Trans. vol. v. p. 89), of— Parts, Silica - - - = - ‘~ - - 48 Alumina - - - - S = - 16 Lime - - - = = = = rie 4] Soda - = = = = - a =a Oxide of iron - = ic - = - 16 Muriatic acid Eafe sath Se acing IE Water - - = - 5 = 4 ed, Loss - - - ey = = = | 100 Chlorite earth is composed of— Parts. Silica - - = = = = - - 50° Alumina - = = a s =. - 26° Lime - - = = = = 5 - 15 Oxide of iron - - - - 5 Supe * Potash - - 2 in af 2 - 175 100° Gypsum, of which there are several varieties, is composed of— Parts. Sulphate of lime fs = = é - 79:32 Water - - - - 5 - 20°68 100° The cultivator, therefore, must take it as an axiom in his geological observations, that the earthy composition of the surface soil almost always partakes of the nature of the rock or subsoil on which it immediately rests, and from which, in fact, it has been generally thus formed, in the progress of time, by various external agencies. Alluvial soils, perhaps, are the most exten- sive exceptions to this remark, for they are formed commonly of the materials of different strata, brought from various distances by the flood waters, and mingled together, often in very confused, yet most commonly in very fertile proportions. (See Attuyium.) Of this description of soil there are in England many 534 GEOLOGY. valuable tracts, such as that extending from Lynn, through Lincolnshire to the Humber, and thence to Bridlington. Both sides of the valley of the Thames, about Sandwich in Kent, Romsey Marsh, between Bristol and Bridge- water, and Liverpool and Lancaster, and on the banks of the rivers Forth and Tay in Scot- land. “This kind of soil,” says Mr. Morton, “is always fertile, free in its nature, and easily cultivated; is fitted for the production of every variety of crop, which it brings to the highest perfection, and produces in the greatest abund- ance. This formation is perfectly dry. About one-half of all the alluvial accumulations may be in tillage, and the remaining half in mea- dow and pasture land.” (On Soils, p. 10.) Diluwium is the geological name for those masses of soil, composed of sand, gravel, &c., which are found in many places, covering some of the older formations. It is of various composition: when it is found resting on the tertiary and chalk formations, it is usually composed of red clay and rounded flints. In Dorsetshire the diluvium is commonly com- posed of a mixture of sand and gravelly flints. “Most of this soil,” says Mr. Morton, “is in arable culture, and produces turnips, barley, oats, wheat, clover; and, when under proper management, it becomes a useful soil. The tenacious clay gravel is expensive in the culti- vation, as it is most difficult to work, except between wet anddry. The greatest improyve- ment which has been made in this soil is by the application of chalk.’ The larger portion of Suffolk and Norfolk is composed of a dilu- vium sand, resting on chalk or marl. This district is very level: it extends from Sudbury to Bungay and Cromer, from Southwold to Shelford, and from Swaffham to Yarmouth. Resting as it does on a calcareous substratum, the excellent cultivators of this district have gradually and permanently improved the soil by bringing the chalk or marl to the surface, and spreading it over the land at the rate of about 100 cubic yards per acre; in this way mere rabbit warrens of blowing sands have been improved so as to yield excellent crops of corn, and rentals have been in this way raised from a few pence to 20s. per acre. Peat Soils—These abound in many portions of the United Kingdom. Their best mode of improvement is, usually, by mixing them with the earths. See Pear Sorts. The Chalk Formation —This formation, very common in England, but which does not exist in the limits of the United States, is divided by geologists into two divisions, the upper and the lower chalk: the upper abounds in flints, which are absent from the lower formation. Chalk is chiefly carbonate of lime, with some small portions of alumina, iron, and silica. “The water which comes from below the lower chalk,” says Mr. Morton, “is pure and limpid. and delicious to drink. It contains carbonate of lime, and is of the best quality for watering meadows; hence the best water meadows are in the chalk valleys.” The soil of the chalk formation is composed of chalk and flint in various proportions. These soils are materi- ally improved by a mixture with those of the green sandstone formation, and by enclosing GEOLOGY. into much smaller fields than those into which they are at present generally divided. Green Sand Formation.—This formation is found under the chalk. Itis formed of a va- riety of beds: the upper beds near the chalk have agreen or grayish colour, the lower beds, which are commonly much thicker, vary in colour, from yellow to brown and red. It is composed of silicious sand, mixed with mica and chlorite. “The means of permanently improving this soil,” says Mr. Morton, “after it is drained and enclosed (if for pasture), are so immediately within the reach of the farmer, that he can at little comparative expense im- prove its texture, and permanently increase its productiveness, by chalk or chalk marl, on the one hand, and the oak or clunch clay, on the other; but even without the application of these substances, deep or double ploughing or trenching has the effect of deepening the soil, and increasing its capability. When mixed with the chalk marl above it, it has the power of receiving and transmitting moisture more freely, and is neither so easily injured by wet weather, nor by excessive droughts, as other soils are.” (On Soils, p. 43.) Gault has commonly a bluish or gray aspect, and its geological position is in the centre of the green sand formation : the two greatest de- posits of it, in England, are in the Vale of White Horse, in Berkshire, and in the counties of Cambridge and Huntingdon. Itis found at South Marston, in Wiltshire, at Wantage, Thame, through Bedfordshire to Caxton and St. Ives. Before the year 1807, although mineralogy had received some attention in the United States, little or nothing had been done towards ascertaining its geological features. At that time William Maclure commenced the task, and single-handed, made a progress which re- flects the highest credit upon his memory, for he developed the leading characteristics of the rock formations, in doing which, he crossed the Alleghany mountains in fifty places. The state geological surveys which have been car- ried on for several years past, and are still prosecuted, seem to be enterprises peculiarly American, having preceded those regularly undertaken in any other country. The annual reports of these surveys have dwelt much upon economical geology, and placed an immense mass of minute and accurate information be- fore the public, which cannot fail to be profita- ble to agriculture and other useful objects. North Carolina has the honour of having first directed a survey of her territory, a duty per- formed by Prof. Olmsted, whose reports were made in 1824, 1825; since then, South Carolina has been geologically explored by Prof. Vanux- um. These two Southern States were succeed- ed by Massachusetts, the last report of which, by Prof. Hitchcock, was made in 1837. Tennessee has been explored by Prof. Troost; Maryland by Prof. Ducatel; New Jersey and Pennsylvania by Prof. H. D. Rogers; Delaware by Prof. J. C. Booth; New York by Profs. Vanuxum, Mather, Emmons, and Mr. James Hall; Virginia by Prof. William B. Rogers; Maine, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire,by Dr. Charles T.Jackson; Connecticut by Dr. J. G. Percival and Prof. C. U. Shepard: Ohio by Prof. Mather, assisted by GEORGIA BARK. Dr. S. P. Hildreth, and Profs. Locke, Briggs, and Fostor; Michigan by Mr. D. Houghton; Indi- anna by Dr. D. D. Owen; and Georgia by Mr. J. R. Cotting. It thus appears that within the last 16 or 17 years, surveys have been com- menced, and most of them completed, in 19 states and two territories of the Union, em- bracing an area of nearly 700,000 square miles, and that for some years past not less than 25 principal geologists, and 40 assistant geolo gists, have been almost constantly engaged under the patronage of the state governments, in the examination of the various parts of the Union. The British provinces of New Bruns- wick and Nova Scotia have also been geologi- cally examined by Dr. Gessner, whilst the ex- ploration of Canada has been commenced un- der the superintendance of Mr. Logan. Much of the materiel thus amassed cannot fail to be of high interest in an agricultural point of view, as pointing the situation and exact value of soils, and the invaluable beds of mineral fertilizers, in the form of lime, marl, green sand or silicate of potash, &c., &c. From such facts as these the farmer will readily perceive that the science of geology is not without its material and extensive value to the tiller of the earth. It enables him at least to cultivate his soils on solid data, to avoid the adoption of idle and fruitless modes of cultiva- tion, to pursue that which the situation of the strata he tenants determines to be the best. It is no reason for the neglect of its assistance that other sciences can perhaps do more for the farmer; and even the objection, though very common, amounts, in fact, to an admis- sion that geology ts a science capable of ren- dering services to agriculture. (Brande’s Lect. on Geology ; Morton on Soils; Davy’s Elem. Ag. Chem. ; Paris on the Soils of Cornwall; J. F. Johnston’s Lec. Chem. and Geol.; Prof. H. D. Ro- ger’s Geological Surveys of Pennsylvania and New Jersey ; Prof. C. J. Booth’s Survey of Delaware ; Professor Jackson’s Survey of Massachusetts ; Geological Survey of New York; Dr. Ruflin’s Survey of North Carolina, §c., §c.) GEOMETERS. A species of caterpillar. See Span-worms. GEORGIA BARK (Pinckneya pubens). “This tree,” says Michaux, the younger, “still more interesting by the properties of its bark, than by the elegance of its flowers and of its foliage, is indigenous to the most southern parts of the United States: probably it grows also in the two Floridas and in Lower Louisiana. My father found it for the first time in 1791 on the banks of the St. Mary. He carried seeds and young plants to Charleston, and planted them in a garden which he possessed near that city. Though intrusted to an ungrateful soil, they succeeded so well, that in 18071 found several of them 25 feet high, and 7 or 8 inches in dia- meter; which proves that the vegetation of this tree does not require a very warm climate, nor a very substantial soil. “With a great affinity to the cinchona which yields the Peruvian bark, my father discerned in the Georgia bark sufficient differences, to distinguish itas anew genus. In testimony of his gratitude and respect, he consecrated it to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, an enlightened 535 GEORGIA PITCH PINE. GERMANY. patron of the arts and sciences, from whom] tional species are enumerated in the United my father and myself, during our residence in South Carolina, received multiplied proofs of benevolence and esteem. “The Georgia bark is a low tree, dividing itself into numerous branches, and rarely ex- ceeding the height of 25 feet, and the diameter of 5 or 6 inches at the base. A cool and shady exposure appears the most favourable to its growth. Its leaves are opposite, 4 or 5 inches long, of a light green colour, and downy un- derneath, as are also the shoots to which they are attached. The flowers, which are white with longitudinal rose-coloured stripes, are pretty large, and are collected in beautiful panicles at the extremity of the branches. Each flower is accompanied by a floral leaf, bordered with rose-colour near the upper edge. The capsules are round, compressed in the middle, and stored with a great number of small winged seeds. “The wood of the Georgia bark is soft, and unfit for use in the arts; but its inner bark is extremely bitter, and appears to partake of the febrifuge virtues of the cinchona, for the inha- bitants of the southern parts of Georgia employ it successfully in the intermitting fevers which, during the latter part of summer and autumn, prevail in the Southern States. A handful of the bark is boiled in a quart of water till the liquid is reduced one-half, and the infusion is administered to the sick. From the properties of its bark the pinckneya has taken the name o Georgia bark. The tree which produces it so nearly resembles the Peruvian vegetable, that some botanists have included them in the same genus.” di GEORGIA PITCH PINE, or long-leaved pine. See Fin. GERANIUM. From a Greek word signify- ing a crane, the beaked fruit bearing some resemblance to a crane’s bill. The varieties of this genus of beautiful plants cultivated are very numerous, but all are tender. The common scarlet geranium is the hardiest shrub, and the handsomest. It looks beautiful plant- ed in lawns and gardens, and grows extremely bushy and handsome in a fine light soil. Cut- tings strike so readily, that the old shrub may die every fall, and be renewed every summer from the frame. The best plants come from seeds sown in July: the seedlings must be kept warm, but notforced. The scarlet gera- nium thrives well through the winter, if placed in the house, free from damp and stagnantair. It is very ornamental during summer and autumn. Sweet’s Geraniacee, and other works on the subject, may be consulted with advantage by those desirous of further information as to the best varieties of geranium, &c. The species of geranium family most fre- quently found growing wild in the United States are, Ist. The maculatwm, or spotted geranium, known by the common names, crow-foot and spotted crane’s bill. It is perennial, and frequents fence-rows, woodlands, and meadows, flower- ing in May and June in Pennsylvania. The root is astringent, and has been found service- able in the treatment of dysentery, diarrhea, and hemorrhage. 2. Carolinian Gentian, not so common as the former. Three or four addi- 536 States. (Darlington’s Flor. Cestrica.) GERMANDER (Teucrium). Of this genus of perennial plants there are three wild species common to England. 1. The wood german- der, or wood sage (T. scorodonia), which is found growing very profusely in heathy, bushy places and woods, on a sandy soil, and flowers in the month of July. The root is creeping; the stem reaches to two feet high, is leafy, hairy, acutely quadrangular. The leaves are deep green, wrinkled, hairy, copiously ser- rated; the flowers are pale yellow, in clusters, terminal, and axillary; corolla pale yellow, middle lobe concave and hairy. The whole plant is glutinous, and has a bitter taste, with an agreeable aromatic scent, much resembling that of hops, for which it is said to be no bad substitute in making beer. It is used in the island of Jersey in brewing. 2. The water germander (T. scordiwm) is less common, and grows in low, wet meadows and damp marshy situations, and produces purplish flowers in July and August. The herb is downy; the leaves are very bitter, and somewhat pungent, with a strong garlic-like odour. The root is creeping; the stem recum- bent, branching, with obtuse, horny, scarcely serrated sessile leaves, an inch long. Flowers two, from axilla of each leaf. Corolla pale dull purple; middle lobe flattish, with two spots. Itis eaten by sheep and goats, but re- fused by horses, hogs, and cows, though the latter will eat it when impelled by hunger; but it spoils the flavour of their milk. 3. The common wall germander (T. chame- drys) is found on the borders of cornfields that are remote from houses, or old ruined build- ings and stony banks: it produces crimson or reddish purple flowers, which blow in the month of June or July. Root creeping; stems erect, bushy, leafy, hairy; angles rounded; leaves dark green, tapering, fringed, entire at the base. Flowers have the central lobe rounded, a little concave; the lateral lobes and the tube hairy. The whole herb is very bitter, with a weak aromatic flavour, and was for- merly used to remove obstructed secretions, to promote expectoration, perspiration, &c. (Eng. Flor. vol. iii. p. 69.) In the United States there is a species of germander called, in the Middle States, Wood Sage (7. Canadensis). The root is perennial, and it frequents fence rows and low shaded grounds. One other species of this plant has been found on the Rocky Mountains, (Flor. Cestrica.) GERMANY. The agriculture of a district so extensive as that of Germany, naturally varies with the nature of the climate and the degree of knowledge possessed by the inhabi- tants of the numerous and extensive provinces of which the empire is composed. In the Mecklenburgs, or that portion of Germany bounded by the Baltic on the north, according to Mr. J.S. Carr, “from north to south there is a ridge of elevated sandy land (the same which may be traced from the Bannat in Hun- gary to Jutland in Denmark) varying from 10 to 20 miles in breadth, affording miserable crops of corn and worse pasture; but the soil improves on both sides towards the Elbe and GERMANY. tlie Baltic, where fine districts of rich loams and clays are managed with considerable plodding industry.” The farms in northern Germany vary in size from 50 to 60 acres, cul- tivated by peasants, to 300 and even 2000 in the hands of the farmers and proprietors. The number of cows kept by the farmers are often 300 and 400, and they are sensibly alive to the advantages of sheltering stock in win- ter. Their sheep-houses are commonly large enough to hold 5000 head. ‘They usually har- vest all their corn in barns. Their agricul- tural implements are defective: for instance, they use generally, instead of a plough, an in- strument called a haken, which is exactly similar to one used by the Roman farmers. Their harrows haye commonly wooden teeth, and are worked with five horses, in a very bungling manner. They often break up their pastures with this clumsy instrument in sum- mer, expose it to the frosts of the following winter, spread over it their dung, and in the following July sow broadcast rape seed. This they dress with 100lbs. of gypsum dust per acre, in the following spring, and in July the seed is ripe, which is then trodden out by horses on large canvass sheets in the field. “The oil of this seed, when putrefied, is without smell, gives a brilliant, clear-burning flame, and is universally used all over Germany, in the saloon and the cottage.” If this crop es- capes the manifold contingencies of slugs, caterpillars, turnip fly, and beetles, it is a very remunerative one, worth from 10/. to 20/. per acre. The improved rotations now commonly followed in Germany are, 1. Fallow, well dunged. 2. Rape. 3. Wheat. 4. Barley. 5. Peas (with light dunging). 6. Rye. 7. Oats, sown down with rye or Timothy grass, and red clover, “which, as well as the peas, is gyp- sumed with great effect before the dew has left the plant of a May morning.” The clover, after being twice mown, is left 2 years longer for pasture. Marl, at the rate of 164 cubic feet per acre, is much used, and is the begin- ning, in many places, of all improvements. The haken is worked by oxen. The merino breed of sheep is now extensively cultivated in the Mecklenburghs and in Saxony. There is little else to be noticed in their live-stock. The farm servants are commonly lodged and fed in the house, and are paid from 5i. to 6]. per annum. The married labourers have a free house and firing, the keep of a cow, and about one rood of garden, and twice as much potato iand. The average rent of wheat and barley lands is about 18s. per acre. Manures of all kinds are preserved with much care; and they show a wisdom in the collection of night-soil and that of the sewerage of their towns, which it would be well to imitate in England. These manures are extensively used for their vineyards in several parts of Germany. The following account of them is taken from a paper by Dr. Granville: “In most of the cities of the second order, and the smaller capitals, night-soil is a source of profit, first to the householder, next to a mid- dleman, and thirdly to the farmer, who is the last purchaser, and employs it. In all the towns of the Grand Duchy of Baden, of the 68 GERMINATION. kingdom of Wiirtemburg, of Bavaria (except Munich and Wiirtzburg), of the province of Salzburg, of Bohemia (except Prague), of Sax- ony (except Dresden), in some of the minor cities of Prussia, in all the confederated prin- cipalities, in all the cities on both banks of the Rhine, particularly Strasburg, Mayence, Co- blentz, Bonn, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Nimeguen, &c., the householder disposes of the contents of his cesspool for a certain sum of money, besides getting the operation of emptying it performed gratuitously. By comparing the returns of the different prices paid in those cities for the commodity in question, one year with another, and equalizing them by an ave- rage price, founded on positive data, which I possess, the inhabitants appear to be benefited to the amount of 4 francs a head yearly, and the middle-man to at least 40 per cent. more on the sum he pays to the original seller. I will cite Strasburg as an example, since most of the other cities of the same extent (on the Rhine, and in many parts of Germany), and a few cities even larger, presented the strongest analogy to the case I have selected. At Stras- burg a company of middlemen engage to empty the cesspools, of which every house has at least two (built air and water tight), once a year for nothing, and pays, moreover, 6 francs per charette, containing 96 baquets, of the capa- city of 4 gallons each. This quantity the company sells afterwards to the farmers for ten francs. (The capacity of the charette being to that of a ton, as 28,772 ounces are to 35,840, it follows that the price of a ton at Strasburg would be 10s.) Now, as there are 14,000 houses in Strasburg, 10,000 of which have cesspools, affording the soil in question (which is always semi-liquid), supposing the latier to be emptied only once a year, and to furnish each 3 char- ettes only, at siz frances, we have 10,000 x 6 x3 =180,000 francs, which the company pays yearly to the inhabitants of a town having a population of 70,000 souls. Bat as the com- pany resells to the farmer the said soil for ma- nuring purposes, at ten francs per charelie, it follows that this article of traffic produces yearly at Strasburg 300,000 francs, or just about 43 francs for each inhabitant. The average sum, therefore, for each inhabitant of a city, where the mixed contents of cesspools are sold for their benefit, which I have as- sumed may be adopted with safety, as founded on fact. (Journ. Roy. Agr. Soc. vol. i. p. 124— 371; Rep. Thames Improv. 17.) s GERMEN (Lat.a bud). In botany, the organ commonly called the ovariwm. GERMINATION (Lat. germen). The pro- cess by which a plant is produced from a seed. It is, in truth, the springing into life of a new individual. The phenomena of *germination are best observed in dicotyledonous seeds; such, for instance, as the bean, pea, lupin, &c. These seeds consist of two lobes or cotyledons, enveloped in a common membrane; when this is removed a small projecting body is seen, which is that part of the germ which subse- quently becomes the root, and is termed the ra- dicle; the other portion of the germ is seen on carefully separating the cotyledons, and is term- ed the plumula ; it afterwards forms the stem 537 GERMINATION, and leaves. When the ripe seed is removed from the parent plant it gradually dries, and may be kept often for an indefinite period, without undergoing any change; but if placed under circumstances favourable to its germina- tion, it soon begins to grow: these requisite circumstances are a due temperature, mois- ture, and the presence of air. The most fa- vourable temperature is between 60° and 80°; at the freezing point none of the most perfect seeds vegetate, and at temperatures above 100° the young germ is usually injured. No seed will grow without moisture: water is at first absorbed by the pores of the external cover- ing, and decomposed; the seed gradually swells, its membranes burst, and the germ ex- pands. The root is at first most rapidly de- veloped, the materials for its growth being derived from the cotyledons; and when it shoots out its fibres or rootlets, these absorb nourishment from the soil, and the plumula is developed, rising upwards in a contrary direc- tion to the root, and expanding into stem and leaves. For this growth the presence of air is requisite; if it be carefully excluded, though there be heat and moisture, yet the seed will not vegetate. Hence it is that seeds buried very deep in the earth or in a stiff clay, remain inert; but on admission of air, by turning up the soil, begin to vegetate. From experiments which have been made upon the germination of seeds in confined atmospheres, it appears that the oxygen set free by the decomposition of water, combines with a portion of the car- bon of the seed, and carries it off in the form of carbonic acid, and that the consequence of this is the conversion of part of the albumen and starch of the cotyledons into gum and sugar; so that most seeds, as we see in the conversion of barley into malt, become sweet during germination. Light is injurious to the growth of the seed. It is, therefore, obvious that the different requisites for germination are attained by placing a seed under the surface of the soil, where, warmed by the sun’s rays, and moistened by the humidity of the atmo- sphere, it is excluded from light, but the air has access to it. Oxygen is an essential agent in the process of germination, and without it seed will not germinate, a fact which has been demonstrated by placing seeds in vacuo, and in nitrogen, hy- drogen, and carbonic acid. But, as in animal life, too much oxygen is hurtful: it abstracts the carbon too rapidly, overstimulates, and causes feebleness of growth to the infant plant. When the young plant is perfected, the coty- ledons, if not converted into leaves, rot away, and the process of nutrition is carried on by the root and leaves: the principal nourishment is taken up from the soil by the root, and chiefly by its small and extreme fibres; so that when these are injured or torn, as by careless trans- plantation, the plant or tree generally dies. ‘The matters absorbed, consisting of water holding small portions of saline substances, and of organic matter in solution, become the sap of the plant; and this is propelled upwards in the vessels of the stem, or of the outer layer of the wood, into the leaves; here it is exposed to the agency of air and of light; moisture, 538 . GESTATION. and occasionally carbonic acid, is transpired. But the leaves also at times absorb moisture, and during the influence of light they decom- pose the carbonic acid, and retaining the car- bon, evolve oxygen; the sap thus becomes modified in its composition, and the charac- teristic proximate principles of the vegetable are formed. These return in appropriate ves- sels from the leaves chiefly to the inner bark, where we accordingly find the accumulation of the peculiar product of the plant; they also enable it annually to form a new layer of wood. Hence it is that the transverse section of the wood exhibits. as many distinct zones as the tree is years old. We are ignorant of the causes of this ascent of the sap; but that it does follow the cause which has been stated is proved by the operation which gardeners call ringing, and which they sometimes resort to, to make a barren branch bear flowers and fruit. It consists in cutting out and removing a cir- cular ring of bark, so as to prevent the return of the sap by the descending vessels, which at first ooze copiously, but afterwards the wound heals, and the juices are accumulated in all parts above the extirpated ring, producing tumefaction in the limb, and often inducing a crop of flowers and fruit, or causing those to appear earlier than on the uncut branches. If a tree be wounded so as to cut into the central portions of the wood, or the outer layer of new wood, the flow of ascending sap is then seen to talxe place upon the lower section, where the vessels are that carry it up to the leaves; and the flow of descending proper juice is principally confined to the upper sec- tion of the inner bark, from which, after a time, new bark is produced, and the parts are again united. To return to the process of germination, every part of the seed is not es- sential, nor the whole of the parts. Kidney beans will germinate with only one cotyledon: and oaks, also, germinate in the same state; gourds have been robbed of the radicle and also the plumule, as they shoot forth, and yet germination has proceeded; but the plants produced in all these cases were small, deli- cate, and never come to perfection. GESTATION. The gestatory term in quad- rupeds is much regulated by their bulk. In the elephant it is about 20 months, in the camel between 11 and 12, in the mare and ass the same. According to the observations of M. Teissier of Paris, in 582 mares, which copu- lated but once, the shortest period was 287 days, and the longest 419; making the extra- ordinary difference of 32 days, and of 89 days beyond the usual term of 11 months. The cow usually brings forth in about nine months, and the sheep in five. Swine usually farrow be- tween the 126th and 140th day, being liable to variations, influenced apparently by their size and their particular breeds. In the bitch, on the contrary, be she as diminutive as a kitten, or as large as the boarhound, pupping occurs on or about the 63d day. ‘The cat produces either on the 55th or 56th day. The true causes which abridge or prolong more or less the period of gestation in the females of quad- rupeds, and of the incubation of birds, are yet unknown to us. Many persons are also GESTATION. unacquainted with the proper age for repro- duction, the duration of the power of repro- duction, and other conditions even of the do- mesticated animals. It cannot, therefore, but [ Period of the : 7 Proper Age for es Kinds of Animals. Reproduction. pee ‘of He Years. Mare - - - - - 4 years 10 to 12 Stallion - - - - 5 = 12 to 16 Cow - - - - - 3 — 10 Bull - - - : - 3 — 5 Ewe - - - ‘2 ~ Ss 6 ph i=<-| jasentr tandlp Sy | 0s Bem 7 Sow - = = = = i 6 Boar - - = - = i 6 She-Goat - - - = 2— 6 He-Goat - -@= - a 5» She-Ass - - - - 4 — 10 to 12 He-Ass— = - - - 5 — 12 to 15 She Buffalo - = - - - - - Biteh - - - - - 2— 8 to 9 LET net het rar 2— 8 to 9 She-Cat - - - - r= 5 to 6 He-Cat— - - - - 1 — 9 to 10 Doe-Rabbit - Seth ow 6 months 5 to 6 Buck-Rabbit - = - 6 — 5 to 6 Cock - - - - - 6 — 5 to 6 Turkey, sitting) Hen - - - - on the eggs ¢ Duck j - - - - of the Turkey - - - - Hen, sitting on tee - - - - the eggs of the § Hen - - 3 to5 Duck - - - - - - - - - Goose = = - - = = - £, Pigeon oh AS ee sin ge = = Some of these results do not altogether co- incide with the results of observations in Eng- land, where, for example, July, the season of copulation for the cow, is considered too late. That period would produce late calves in the following year. November is stated to be the best season for the ewe; for the black-faced ewe it is, but for the Leicester, and, in many situations, for the Cheviot ewe, it is a month too late. The duration of the power of reproduc- tion accords with our experience as respects the mare and stallion; but 13 years of age for the cow, and 8 for the bull, is too young a period for old age in them, fine animals of both sexes, of a valuable breed, having been kept in a useful state to a much greater age. I have seen a short-horn bull in use at 13 years, and a cow of the same breed bearing calves at 18; but if the ages of 8 and 13 respectively refer to the usual time bulls and cows are kept for use, the statement is not far from the truth. From some carefully collected and very exten- sive notes made by Lord Spencer on the periods of gestation of 764 cows, it resulted that the shortest period of gestation when a live calf was produced was 220 days, and the longest 313 days, but he was not able to rear any calf produced at an earlier period than 242 days. From the result of his experiments it appears that 314 cows calved before the 284th day, and 310 calved after the 285th; so that the probable period of gestation ought to be considered 284 or 285 days. The experiments of M. Teissier on the gestation of cows, are recorded to have given the following results :— 21 calved between the 240th and 270th day, the mean time bei: 27s 270th and 299th >? ee teed Ton 299th and S2ist 303 In most cases, therefore, between nine and ten months may be assumed as the usual pe- GINGER, WILD. be interesting to find in the following table the results of observations made on this subject by the best ancient and modern naturalists (Occonomische neukundige Verhandl.) Period of Gestation and Incubation. Number of Fe-| The most Fa- males for one | vourable Season Male. for Copulation. | Shortest Mean Longest Period. Period. Period. Days. Days. Days. - - May 322 347 419 20 to 30 - - July 240 283 321 30 to 40 - - Nov. 146 154 161 40 to 50 - - March 109 115 143 6 to 10 - - Nov 150 156 163 20 to 40 = = May 365 380 391 = - - 281 308 335 - Feb. 55 60 63 = = - . 48 50 56 5 to 6 - - Nov 20 28 35 30 12 to 15 = - - - 17 24 238 4 = - - 24 27 30 < - - - 24 26 30 - - - - 26 30 34 od = - - 19 21 24 = - - - 28 30 32 = - - - 27 30 33 - - - - 16 18 20 riod; though, with a bull-calf, the cow has been generally observed to go about 41 weeks, and a few days less witha female. Any calf | produced at an earlier period than 260 days must be considered decidedly premature, and any period of gestation exceeding 300 days must also be considered irregular; but in this latter case, the health of the produce is not affected. I will conclude this article with the remarks of Mr. C. Hilliard, of Northampton, who states that the period of gestation of a cow is 284 days, or, as it is said, 9 calendar months and 9 days; the ewe 20 weeks; the sow 16 weeks; the mare 11 months. The well-bred cattle of the present time appear to me to bring forth twins more frequently than the cattle did 50 years ago. The males of all animals, hares excepted, are larger than the females. Castrated male cattle become larger beasts than entire males. (Blaine’s Ency. pp. 205, 281; Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. x. p. 287.) GILL. A small valley, connected with a stream and some woodiness. Also a rivulet, or small brook. It is likewise a provincial name in some districts for a pair of timber wheels. GILTS. A provincial term applied to young female pigs, whether open or spayed. GINGER, WILD (.Asarum, Asarabacea, Indian ginger). This genus of herbaceous plants are small and unobtrusive. Botanists enumerate three species as found in the United States. That called Canada snake root (4. Canadense), very closely resembles the European asarabacca, and is met with in old woods from Canada to the Carolinas. It has only two round, flat, and kidney-shaped leaves with naked stalks, which, on plucking the plant are found connected below, with an obscure flower in their fork, buried under the decayed leaves. It flowers from May to July. The root is creeping, §39 GINSENG, fleshy, somewhat jointed, and has an agreeable aromatic taste, intermediate between that of ginger and the Virginia snake root. Hence its popular names. As a warm stimulant and diaphoretic it is much praised, being given in the form of tea or powder; and as a substitute for ginger, in common domestic use, I know of no indigenous article, says Dr. Bigelow, which promises so fairly as this. It does not possess the very active emetic, cathartic, and sternutatory powers of the European asarum. The other American species are the 4. Virgi- nicum, and A. arifolium. GINSENG (Panax quinquefolium, five-leaved panax). This American plant, which has great commercial importance, has a perennial root, which sends up annually a smooth, round stem, about a foot in height, dividing at the summit into three leafstalks, each of which supports a compound leaf, consisting of five, or more rarely of three or seven petiolate, oblong, obovate, acuminate, serrate leaflets. The flowers are small, greenish, and arranged in a simple umbel, supported by a peduncle, which rises from the top of the stem in the centre of the petioles. The fruit consists of lridney-shaped, scarlet berries, crowned with the styles and calyx, and containing two, and some- times three seeds. The rootis fleshy, somewhat spindle-shaped, from 1 to 3 inches long, about as thick as the little finger, and terminated by several slender fibres. Frequently there are two portions, sometimes three or more, con- nected at their upper extremity, and bearing a supposed though very remote resemblance to the human figure, from which circumstance it is said that the Chinese name ginseng originated. When dried, the root is yellowish white, and wrinkled externally, and within consists of a hard, hornlike substance, surrounded by a whitish, softer, cortical portion. It has a feeble odour, and a sweet, slightly aromatic taste, somewhat analogous to that of liquorice root. It has not been accurately analyzed, but is said to be rich in gum and starch. The plant grows in the hilly regions of the Northern, Middle, and Western States, and prefers the shelter of thick, shady woods. It is a native also of Chinese Tartary. The root is the part employed. This is collected in considerable quantities in Ohio and West- ern Virginia, and brought to Philadelphia and other cities on the sea-board for the purpose of exportation to China, where it is highly valued. While supplied exclusively from their own native sources, which furnish- ed the root only in small quantities, the Chinese entertained the most extravagant notions of its virtues, considering it as a remedy for all diseases, and as possessing almost miraculous powers in preserving health, invigorating the system, and prolonging life. Itis said to have been worth its weight in gold at Pekin; and the first shipments made from North America to Canton, after the discovery of the root in this country, were attended with enormous profits. But the subsequent abundance of supply has greatly diminished its value, and though it still vecasionally forms a part of the investments sor Canton, it has become an object of less importance than formerly. 540 GLASSWORT, JOINTED. The following statement shows the value of the ginseng exported from the United States. for seven years ending the 30th September, 1841: viz. 1834, $70,202; 1835, $94,970; 1836, $211,405; 1837, $109,368; 1838, $36,622; 1839, $118, 904; 1840, $22,728; 1841, $437,245. Medical Properties and Uses—The extraordi- nary medical virtues formerly ascribed to ginseng, had no other existence than in the imaginations of the Chinese. It is little more than a demulcent; and in this country is not employed as a medicine. Some persons, how- ever, are in the habit of chewing it, having acquired a relish for its taste; and it is chiefly to supply the wants of these that it is kept in the shops. (U.S. Dispensatory.) There is another species of ginseng indige- nous to the lower part of Pennsylvania and other sections of the United States, called the dwarf ginseng, or three-leaved panax (P. trifo- lium). This has also a perennial root, a glo- bose tuber about half an inch in diameter, rather deep in the ground. The stem grows 4 to 6 inches high, slender, minutely grooved, smooth, mostly of a tawny purple colour, di- vided at the summit into three petioles of half an inch to an inch long. Leaflets, generally three, but not unfrequently five, unequal, half an inch to two inches long, and 4 to 3 of an inch wide, lance-oblong shape, rather acute. The flower is white and has five petals. The plant frequents shaded grounds, along rivulets, where it blooms in April. (Flora Cestrica.) Professor Hooker describes a third species of ginseng (P. horridum), which is large, shrubby and prickly. This grows west of the Rocky Mountains. GIPSEY-WORT, or WATER HORE- HOUND (Lycopus Europeus). An herbaceous perennial plant, growing on the banks of clear ditches, pools, and rivers, on a sandy or gra- velly soil, flowering in July or August. The root is creeping, stem two feet high, leaves numerous, oblong, acute, deeply serrated, often deeply pinnatifid. Flowers white, with purple dots. See Bucire Weep, GLANDERS. A disease in horses, attended with a copious discharge of mucus from the nose. It is needless to endeavour to describe the various attempts which have been made to cure this almost invariably fatal disorder. But the farmer must avoid a common error of con- founding ulceration of the membrane of the nose with glanders, for the symptoms are very similar. Blue vitriol (sulphate of copper) in thin gruel (one drachm doses) has been given in recent cases with occasional success. The nostrils may be washed with a solution of chloride of lime. The farmer will do well, as soon as he finds a horse attacked with this disease, to place him by himself, give him green food, and thoroughly whitewash the stable from which he is taken, for it is a most contagious disease. GLASSWORT, JOINTED (Salicornia ; from sal, salt, and cornu, a horn). Of this genus of plants there are, in England, four indigenous species, which are found very common in salt marshes and muddy sea-shores that are fre- quently overflowed by the tide. 1, The common jointed glasswort, sea-grass, GLOW-WORM. or marsh samphire (S. herbacea), is an annual plant, with a small fibrous root, a bushy, green stem a foot high, with opposite branches; woody centre very tough. Flowers on nu- merous short-jointed spikes. The whole plant has a saline taste, abounding in salt juices, and is therefore devoured with avidity by all kinds of cattle; and it is a very wholesome food, especially for sheep. It is often pickled, as a substitute for the very different strongly aro- matic rock samphire (Crithmwm maritimum), to which it is for this purpose very little inferior. Several other species of glass-wort are enu- merated, three of which Mr. Nuttall gives as American, which, like the European, affords soda when burned, and are preserved in vine- gar as a pickle. Soda is yielded in large quantities by the ashes of the different species of Salicornia ; and is in great request for manufacturing soap and glass: the best is imported from Spain, under the name of Barilla (see Sona). These plants will grow in any common soil, and are readily increased by divisions. Being natives of the sea-shore, the plants will thrive better if a little salt be occasionally sprinkled on the surface of the soil. (Willich’s Dom. Ency.) GLOW-WORM (Lampyris noctiluca). This insect is remarkable for the light it emits dur- ing the night. This luminous appearance de- pends upon a phosphorescent fluid found at the lower extremity of the insect; which, by unfolding or contracting itself, it can withdraw at pleasure ; a power of consequence to the in- sect, as it is thus secured from the attacks of nocturnal birds. The light arises from a sac, which is diaphanous, and contains a secreted fluid consisting of albumen and phosphorus. Glow-worms are sometimes called St. John’s worms, from appearing first as a common oc- currence about the Feast of St. John the Bap- ust. The glow-worm is the perfect female of a winged beetle; the males fly about chiefly in autumn, and frequent the grassy plantations of juniper trees. GLUE (Lat. gluten). is prepared from the chippings of hides, hoofs, &c. The refuse matter of the glue-makers, according to Mr. Miles, is an excellent manure for turnips. GLUTEN (Lat.). The viscid elastic sub- stance which remains when wheat flour is wrapt in a coarse cloth, and washed under a stream of water, so as to carry off the starch and soluble matters. Gluten, when pure, is inodorous, insipid, tenacious, adhesive, and elastic. It is insoluble in water, but soluble in hot alcohol. Itis also soluble in a dilute so- lution of potash. When kept moist and warm, it ferments. Gluten exists in grains, and oc- casionally in other parts of vegetables; but it is a characteristic ingredient in wheat, giving wheat flour its particular toughness and tena- city, which particularly fits it for the manufac- ture of bread, and for viscid pastes, such as macaroni and vermicelli. There is generally more gluten in the wheat of warm climates than of cold; hence the excellence of that grown in the south of Europe for the manu- factures just mentioned. Gluten seems also to constitute the essential part of yeast. Its uses-as a varnish, a ground for paint, &c., GNATS. pointed out by Cadet, likewise deserve atten- tion. Gluten was discovered in 1742 by Bec- caria, an Italian philosopher, to whom we are indebted for the first analysis of wheat flour. The number of plants containing gluten is very considerable. Proust found it in acorns, chestnuts, rice, barley, rye, peas and beans, and in apples and quinces. He found it also in the leaves of the cabbage, cress, hemlock, borage, saffron, &c., and in the sedums; in the berries of the elder, the grape, &c.; in the pe- tals of the rose, &c. Gluten has been shown to resemble albumen so closely that they can hardly be considered as distinct principles. Gluten contains nitrogen, and has, conse- quently, been called the vegeto-animal princi- ple, on this account. It yields ammonia, when subjected to destructive distillation; and the vegetables which contain it give out a pecu- liarly disagreeable odour during their putre- faction. M. Magendie, after feeding animals upon different kinds of food, states that gela- tine, fibrin, albumen, when taken singly, do not possess the power of nourishing animals for any length of time; they always die. The reverse is the case, however, with gluten, upon which animals thrive well and long. GNATS (Culex, Linn.). A genus of insects comprising several species, which are well known by the severe punctures they inflict. The gnat most common in Europe is the C. pipiens, so named from the sound which it emits in its flight. The sting consists of 5 pieces and a sheath; some of the pieces are simple lancets; others are barbed, and act both as piercers and as siphons, to extract the blood from the wounds which they make. Gnats deposit their eggs, to the number of 200 by each female, on stagnant waters, where they are hatched into small grubs in the course of 2 or 3days. On the sides are 4 small fins, by the aid of which the insect swims about, and swiftly dives to the bottom. The larva re- tains its form a fortnight or 3 weeks, when it is converted into the chrysalis, in which state it continues 3 or 4 days, floating on the surface of the water, till it assumes the form of the gnat. The most efficacious remedies for their sting are olive oil, unsalted butter, or fresh hog’s lard, timely rubbed in. Gnats have occasionally appeared in such numbers as to form a cloud, almost darkening the air, as was the case in August, 1766, near Oxford. Spencer describes a similar flight of them in Treland— _ “As when a swarme of gnats at eventide, Out of the fennes of Allan doe arise, Their murmuring small trumpets sownden wide, Whiles in the air their clustering army flies, That as a cloud doth seem to dim the skies.’” Faery Queene. The mosquito of tropical climates is a spe- cies of the same genus as the gnat; and the latter is not less troublesome in some of our marshy districts than the mosquito in the West Indies. In the marsh land of Norfolk, the bet- ter classes are forced to have gauze curtains to keep them off during the night. The species of gnat best known in America is a small, black fly, which swarms during the month of June, and is especially annoying to travellers, and the first inhabitants of new set- 22 541 GOATS, tlements. Every bite made by these fierce little insects draws blood, and is generally followed by considerable irritation, and even inflamma- tion. “These little tormentors,” says Dr. Har- ris, “are of a black colour; their wings are trans- parent; and their legs are short, with a broad, whitish ring around them. The length of their body rarely exceeds one-tenth of an inch. They begin to appear in May, and continue about 6 weeks, after which they are no more seen. They are followed, however, by swarms of midges, or sand-flies (Simuliwm nocivum), called no-seeem, by the Indians of Maine, on ac- count of their minuteness. So small are they, that they would hardly be perceived, were it not for their wings, which are of a whitish colour, motiled with black. Towards evening these winged atoms come forth, and creep under the clothes of the inhabitants, and by their bites produce an intolerable irritation, and a momentary smarting compared to that caused by sparks of fire. They do not draw blood, and no swelling follows their attacks. They are the most troublesome during the months of July and August.” (See Moseurto.) GOATS (Capra). There are three species of this genus enumerated by naturalists. 1. The wild goat (C. egagrus); 2. The ibex (C. ibex); 3. The Caucasian ibex (C. Caucasia): of these, the first is believed to be the original of the many varieties of the domestic goat. The goat appears. (says Prof. Low) to form the connecting link between the sheep on the one hand, and the antelope tribes on the other. Being the natural inhabitant of mountainous regions, it is, therefore, in wild, rocky countries that the goat is chiefly reared. Goats are Stronger, more nimble, and less timid than sheep, and are more easily supported than any other animals, for there are few herbs which they do not relish: they will browse on heaths, shrubs, and plants, which are rejected by other animals; and it is well known they can eat with safety herbs (such as the hemlock, hen- bane, &c.) which would prove destructive to sheep and other animals. Goats are more hardy, and not liable to so many diseases as sheep. The goat is not well adapted to a country of enclosures, because it feeds upon the twigs of hedges, and escapes over the bar- riers intended to confine it. But where there are no young trees to be injured, they may browse at large on the mountain brakes with- out expense; and in winter, when housed, they are easily supported on whins or furze, cab- bage leaves, potato-peelings, and such worth- less food. Goats emit at all times a strong and disa- greeable odour, named hircine, which, however, is not without its use, for if one of these ani- mals be kept in a stable, it is affirmed that it will be an effectual preventative of the staggers, a nervous disorder which is often very fatal to horses. In Great Britain the cultivation of the goat is limited and partial. It is chiefly confined to the mountainous parts of Wales, the Highlands of Scotland, and to the little farms of the poorer peasants of Ireland, whose scanty possessions will not support a cow. The great objection there to the-rearing of the goat, is the want of demand for its flesh, which 542 GOLD FISH. is hard, and almost indigestible. Even the kid, whose flesh is known to be very delicate and nourishing, is held in no estimation: hence all the other properties of the goat are insufficient to render it an object of profitable production. But the goat, although it never can be so valu- able there as in the dry and rocky countries of the south of Europe, does not deserve that entire neglect with which it is treated. It arrives early at maturity, and is very prolific, bearing two and sometimes three kids at a birth. The period of gestation is five months. The female bears for six or seven years; the male should not be kept longer than five. In Portugal and some other countries the goat is used as a beast of draught for light burdens. The hair of the goat may be shorn, as it is of some value, making good linsey; that of the Welch he- goat is in great request for making white wigs. Ropes are sometimes made from goats’ hair, and are said to last much longer, when used in the water, than those made of hemp. Candles are manufactured from their fat, which, in whiteness and quality, are stated to be supe- rior to those of wax; their horns afford excel- lent handles for knives and forks; and the skin, especially that of the kid, is in demand for gloves and other purposes. Goats’ milk is sweet, nutritive, and medicinal, and less apt to curdle on the stomach than that of the cow: it forms an excellent substitute for that of asses. When yielding milk the goat will give, for several months, at the average of two quarts per day. Mr. Pringle of Kent, in his Essay “on Cottage Management” (Gard. Mag. vol.5), informs us that two milch goats are equivalent to one small Shetland cow. Cheese prepared from goats’ milk is much esteemed in moun- tainous countries after it has been kept a proper age. (Low’s Pract. Agr. and Breeds of Dom. Animals; Willich’s Dom. Encyc.) GOAT’S-BEARD (Tragopogon). Of this common pasture-weed there are two species 1. The yellow goat’s-beard (T. pratensis), a biennial, growing in grassy pastures and mea- dows, ona loamy or clayey damp soil. The root is tapering, flowering in June; the whole herb very smooth, abounding with milky juice, rather bitter, but not acrid. Stems several, round, leafy, often purplish, 14 to 2 feet high. Leaves long and taper pointed, often flaccid, or curling at the extremity. Flowers large, 2 inches wide, bright yellow, opening very early in the morning, and closing before noon, ex- cept in very cloudy weather. The roots and young shoots have been eaten as pot-herbs. 2. The purple goat’s-beard (T. porrifolius), also biennial, grows in most meadows, near great rivers; herb smooth, 3 or 4 feet high, glaucous. The dull purple flowers, like the preceding species, close at midday; thence it is called in the country Go-to-bed-at-noon.— (Smith’s Eng. Flor. vol. iii. p. 337.) GOAT-WEED (Capraria biflora). An unin- teresting species of plants, of easy culture. The leaves of this genus are liked by goats; hence the common and generic names. GOGGLES. See Suzrp, Drszaszs or. GOLD and SILVER FISH. These beauti- ful creatures were first introduced into Eng- land from China about the close of the 17th GOLDEN CLUB. eentury. The first are of an orange colour, with very shining scales, and finely variegated with black and dark brown. The silver fish are of the colour of silver tissue, with scarlet fins, with which colour they are curiously marked in several parts of the body. These fish are usually kept in ponds, basins, and small reservoirs of water, to which they are a very great ornament. It is also a very com- mon practice to keep them in large globular glass vessels, frequently changing the water, and feeding them with bread and gentles. The gold fish is now abundant in the river Schuyl- kill, near Philadelphia, into which they first made their way in consequence of the over- flowing of a fish-pond in Pratt’s garden, where considerable numbers were kept. GOLDEN CLUB, called also Never-Wet, and Floating Arum (Orontium aquaticum). A plant not unfrequent in pools along the fresh water streams of the United States. It has a perennial root, leaves enlarging, finally to 8, 10, or 12 inches Jong, and 3 to 5 inches wide, a little succulent, very smooth, of a deep green and velvety appearance on the upper surface, paler and somewhat glaucous beneath. Flow- ers yellow. GOLDEN OAT GRASS. See Avena. GOLDEN-ROD (Solidago, from solidare, to unite, on account of the supposed vulnerary qualities of the plants). This is an extensive genus of coarse flowering plants suitable for the back of flower borders. Any common soil suits them, and they are readily increased by division of the roots. The common golden- rod, or wound-wort (S. virgaurea) is a native of Britain, growing in woods, hedges, heaths, and copses; and on mountains at every degree of elevation. It is perennial, and flowers from July to September. It is a very variable plant in magnitude, number, and size of flowers, and serrature of the leaves: nor do these varieties altogether depend on situation, except that in alpine specimens the flowers are larger and fewer. The root is woody, with long, stout, simple fibres; the stem usually from one to three feet high, never quite straight, purple below, most downy in the upper part, where it terminates in a leafy cluster, either simple or compound, of bright yellow flowers. When bruised, the whole herb smells like wild car- rot. Its qualities are diuretic, astringent, and perhaps tonic; and it has been recommended as a vulnerary both externally and internally, but it is now never used in medicine. It may, with greater advantage, be employed as a dye- ing drug, for both the leaves and flowers im- part a beautiful yellow colour, which, accord- ing to Bechstein, is even superior to that obtained from woad. The Canada golden-rod (S. Canadensis) is frequently used for this pur- pose. (Eng. Flora, vol. iii. p. 438.) Solidago is exclusively a North American genus of plants, with the exception of 5 or 6 species in Europe, and 2 found near Canton, in China. About 50 species of golden-rod have been enumerated by botanists in the United States, some of which are, however, regarded as mere varieties. (Nuttall’s Genera.—Flor. Cest.) GOLDEN-SAXIFRAGE — (Chrysospleniwm, from chrysos, gold, and splen, the spleen, in GOOSE. reference to the deep yellow colour of the flow- ers, and the supposed medicinal virtues of the plant). This is a curious and rather pretty genus. It requires a moist situation, and may be increased by dividing the roots. The na- tive species in England are found in the great- est perfection upon the shady banks of small rivulets. They are two in number, both peren- nials, flowering in May. The alternate-leaved golden-saxifrage (Ch. alternifolium) has the root fibrous and creeping; stems_angular, decum- bent, branched at the top only; leaves alter- nate, reniform, rough on both sides the notches, but the under disk pale and polished; radical leaves on long stalks, those of the summit crowded and sessile; flowers in a corymb, deep yellow. ‘The opposite-leaved golden- saxifrage (Ch. oppositifolium) resembles the preceding, but is paler; the leaves smaller and the flowers of a pale lemon yellow. (See Saxt- FRAGE. GOLD OF PLEASURE (Camelina sativa, wild flax). This is rather a dwarf plant, grow- ing from 1 to 2 feet high, which is found in cultivated fields, chiefly among flax, with whose seeds itis often introduced from abroad; but it does not long propagate itself with us spon- taneously. It is an annual, blowing small, pale-yellow flowers in June. It is cultivated in some parts of Europe for the sake of the oil, which is obtained from the seeds. The species of the genus to which it belongs have but little beauty, and require to be sown in the open border. See Wirp Frax. GOOSE. A well-known large, web-footed bird, belonging to the order natatores, or swim- mers. These are remarkable for their powers of swimming and diving; they are commonly called water-fowl, and, as an order, have fre- quently been designated palmipedes, in reference to their webbed feet. From the geographical position, extent, and varied character of the British islands, the species of this order are very numerous, comprehending nearly one- third of the whole number of our British birds. The first family of this order, the anatide, is also extensive; including the geese, swans, ducks, and mergansers. The first three por- tions were formerly considered as belonging to but one genus, anas; and hence the family name, anatide. Modern systematic authors have found it more convenient, as well as de- sirable, to divide them into smaller groups, which are known to be distinct in their cha- racter and habits. Many of the species are of great interest and value. The present arti- cle will, however, be restricted to some account of tame geese. Two varieties of the domestic goose are in- digenous to Great Britain, the gray and white goose, and the pure white, which is of a larger size. The first is our most plentiful breed: the second are bad breeders, seldom producing more than three goslings at a brood, and that only every alternate year. There is, also, the Chinese breed, which is naturalized among us, valuable for their early breeding, and quick fattening. The Chinese goose lays about the end of November, if the weather is not severe, and produces her goslings in January. These goslings, if kept dry and warm, are fit for the 54 GOOSEBERRY. table in April and May. This goose 1s, how- ever smaller, less delicate eating, and more noisy than the common gray goose. The common goose begins to lay towards Candle- mas, and after laying from 9 to 11 eggs, she sits 30 days, and then brings out her little flock. If, however, she show a wish to sit when she has only laid two or three eggs, she must be driven from the nest, or be shut up for a day or two. She will then take to lay again. One gander and five geese are the regular stock to begin with: they will produce 50 goslings in a Season. Geese are grazing birds: they lovea common, but horses do not like their company in a field, as they object to feed after them. The herb called goose-grass they are immode- rately fond of, and it is plentiful always under hedges during the gosling season. Water is important to geese, but they succeed in situa- tions where there is no pond: a large, shallow pan filled with water, sufficiently capacious to admit of their washing in it, has often an- swered the purpose; but a pool is most desir- able. The goose-hovel should be low, well thatched, and not facing into the farm-yard, otherwise pigs will get through the goose- aperture. It should have a door, also, for the poultry-woman to enter. The nests should be composed of straw, lined with hay, and the birds should be fed near their home, to allure them to it. If some of the goslings are hatch- ed before the others, they should be removed from the mother, kept warm in flannel before the fire, and returned to her when the whole brood are hatched. Thin barley meal and water is excellent food for goslings, with chop- ped goose-grass; they soon learn to eat oats, and feed themselves. Mow down hemlock, if any grows near the poultry-yard: it is perni- cious in its effects upon poultry. Fatten geese in small parties, as they love society. They should be cooped a month, fed plentifully with sweet oats and clean pure water in a narrow wooden trough. An experiment has lately been tried of feeding geese with turnips, cut up very fine, and put into a trough with water. The effect was, that six geese, weighing only nine pounds each when shut up, actually weighed 20 pounds each, after about three weeks’ feeding with this food alone. Half- grown ar green geese are delicate eating in June and July; but they need not be cooped, they must only be wellfed. Goose feathers are valuable, and their dung is employed as a manure by agriculturists. GOOSEBERRY (Ribes grossularia). The gooseberry is indigenous to Great Britain, some other European countries of cool tem- perature, and also to the mountains of North America. The varieties of this fruit are too numerous to notice. By some botanists they are referred to two species, Ribes grossularia, the rough gooseberry, and R. wva-crispa, the smooth gooseberry; but others consider the latter as being merely a variety of the former, which is more correct, as it has been proved by successive reproductions that the rough wil! sometimes become smooth and the smooth rough. The gooseberry ripens in the extreme northern parts of Britain, if near the level of the sea; and at an altitude of about 900 feet, GOOSEBERRY. in the centre of the island, it acquires great perfection of flavour. In the southern coun- ties, if the season be warm, it cannot bear full exposure to the vertical rays of the sun: in such circumstances evaporation takes place from the surface faster than the subjacent tissues can supply the loss, the superficial cells get emptied, and the fruit dies. In England the gooseberry is esteemed one of their most valuable fruits. In spring it fur- nishes the earliest as well as the best fruit for tarts and sauces: and can be preserved green as well as ripe for winter use. When ripe it makes an excellent jam, a delicious sweetmeat, a luscious wine, and is a favourite dessert. The following selection is recommended for small English gardens: Reds—Old rough red, Melling’s crown bob, Farmer’s roaring lion, Knight’s Marquis of Stafford, Champagne and Capper’s top sawyer: one of the best of the red gooseberries is the Scotch ironmonger: it is hairy, and thin-skinned. Yellows.—Hard- castle’s gunner, Hills’s golden gourd, Prophet’s rockwood, Hamlet’s kilton, Dixon’s golden ; yellow, Gordon’s viper. Greens.——Edward’s jolly tar, Massey’s heart of oak, Nixon’s green myrtle, early green hairy, Parkinson’s laurel, Wainwright's ocean. Whites.—Coleworth’s white lion, Moore’s white bear, Crompton’s Sheba queen, Saunders’s Cheshire lass, Welling- ton’s glory, Woodward’s whitesmith. Smooth skins become tough in cooking, and should not be selected for that purpose. The gooseberry can be raised from cuttings, from suckers, or from seeds: the former is generally resorted to as being the most expe- ditious ; and seed is only sown to raise new varieties. Cuttings may be planted in the fall, or as early in the spring as the weather will permit. The gooseberry is, comparatively, but little cultivated in the United States, though there is no doubt that in several districts of the Middle and Eastern States it could be brought to as great perfection as in England. It is a native of the soil: and loves to climb the sides of our mountain ridges, and if planted in places that somewhat resemble its native habitats, it would no doubt repay our care. It ought to have an airy situation, a rich soil, and a dry subsoil is essential, or it becomes infected with mildew. If it has no natural shade, during a few hours in the middle of the day, it must be shaded from the extreme heat of thesun. The berries acquire their finest flavour when brought to maturity gradually, under a low temperature. In pruning, instead of the lateral young shoots being cut close in, immediately above the first bud at their base, as recommended in colder climates, two buds should be left, to produce leaves to shade the fruit in summer. The vigorous-growing varieties ought to be prefer- red for planting. Goosrnrnry Carenrizzarn. For the de- struction of these insects fumigations of va- rious kinds; dusting with quick lime, and other methods have been resorted to, but they do not always answer the purpose. Wetting them by means of a proper syringe, with fresh lime-water, whilst the sun is shining strongly, is said to be a very effectual remedy. The —————_——=. ll ——— GOOSEFOOT. roots of the plant are not made wet by this operation which promotes the growth of the bushes and helps their bearing properties. Tobacco liquor is also often found a good ap- plication for the destruction of caterpillars, and also the solution of whale oil soap, as recom- mended for the destruction of bark-lice and aphidians. This last remedy is also said to be completely effectual in removing the mould, rust, or mildew to which the gooseberry-bush is so very subject, an affection which would seem to be capable of propagation with the plants. Mr. S. R. Gummere, of Burlington, New Jersey, an intelligent botanist, and successful horti- culturist, states that the russet mould to which the gooseberry-bush is subject, may be pre- vented by carefully removing the buds from that portion of the @utting which, in planting, is inserted into the ground. Seventeen or eighteen species of gooseberry, says Dr. Darlington, are enumerated as natives of the United States. Of these the Missouri currant (Ribes aureum) is much cultivated, and greatly admired for the beauty and spring fra- grance of its flowers. GOOSEFOOT (Chenopodium). An extensive genus of plants, of which 13 species are enu- merated by Sir J. E. Smith, as natives of Britain, viz. 1. Mercury goosefoot (C. bonus Henricus), growing in waste ground and by road sides fre- quent, and occasionally in pastures. The root is branchy and fleshy ; the herb dark green, nearly smooth; stem a foot high, terminating in a com- pound crowded cluster, or spike, of numerous green flowers; their stalks sometimes unctuous and mealy. This, our only perennial chenopo- dium, may be eaten, when young, like spinach, and is cultivated for the table in some parts of Lincolnshire. It is insipid and mucilaginous, rather mawkish, and soon becomes tough and fibrous. Neither goats nor sheep relish this plant, which is also refused by cattle and hogs. 2. The upright goosefoot (C. wrbicwm), and 3., The red goosefoot, also occur commonly on waste ground; the former sometimes on dung- hills, and the latter in low, muddy situations. In exposed situations the whole herb of C. ru- brum assumes a red colour. This species and its allies are said to be poisonous to swine; 4, The many spiked goosefoot (C. botryoides) ; 5. The nettle-leaved goosefoot, 6. The maple- leaved goosefoot, call for no observation. The whole plant of the two last species is fetid; 7. White goosefoot, or common wild orache (C. album), is found in cultivated as well as waste groundeverywhere. The herb is mealy, ; with a silvery unctuous pubescence, which, by age, becomes dry and chaffy. The young plant is reported to be eatable when boiled, and is known by the name of fat-hen in some parts of Norfolk. It is eaten by cattle, sheep, and hogs, which last devour it with avidity; 8. The fig-leaved goosefoot (C. ficifolium), flou- tishes most on dunghills, especially about London; 9. The oak-leaved goosefoot (C. glaucum), varies in height from 2 inches to 2 feet, and grows for the most part on a sandy soil; 10. Standing goosefoot (C. olidum), This species is found very commonly among sand or rubbish near the sea. The whole herb is of a dull grayish-green, covered with a greasy | 69 GOSSYPIUM. mealiness, which, when touched, exhales a strong, permanent, nauseous odour, like stale salt fish. It is, nevertheless, eaten by cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, but refused by swine; 11. The round-leaved, or all-seed goosefoot, or upright blite (C. polyspermum) ; 12. The sharp entire-leaved goosefoot (C. acutifolium), are two other species, which are less common. The former is a curious plant, whose numerous black shining seeds might perhaps be advan- tageously employed in fattening poultry; 13. The sea goosefoot, small glasswort, or sea blite (C. maritimum): this species abounds on the sea-shore, and grows also in sandy as well as muddy places, flowering in July and August. Stem thick and juicy, leaves smooth, about an inch long, salt to the taste, of a light bright green. Dr. Withering mentions this as an ex- cellent pot-herb. In Siberia and Astracan the inhabitants obtain from this plant their potash, which probably partakes more of the nature of soda. The alkaline salt contained in this herb renders it serviceable in making glass, though it is inferior to some kinds of salsola found in the south of Europe. Ten or twelve species of goosefoot have been found in America, six of which Dr. Dar- lington has detected in Pennsylvania. Most, if not all, are supposed to be foreigners. They are a homely family, generally regarded as weeds. Those best known are the C. album or lamb’s quarter, used sometimes as spring greens; and the C. anthelminticum, or worm- seed, a plant having a strong, disagreeable odour,and yielding the well-known worm-seed oil, a valuable and powerful vermifuge. GOOSE-GRASS (Galivm trifidum). Three- cleft galium; also known by the common name of ladies bed-straw. This native Ame- rican plant is met with in moist, low grounds and thickets, where its small, white flowers appear in July. Its root is perennial, the stem rising 1, 2, or 3 feet long, and much branched. Professor Hooker thinks this may be distinct from the G. trifidum of Europe, which, he says, is a more slender plant than ours. (Flor. Ces- trica.) See Hantrr. GOOSE-GRASS, DYER’S. Wixp. GOSSYPIUM. The generic name of cotton. This plant, which administers so greatly to the wants of man, and to the wealth of countries producing it abundantly, has been known and employed by the Asiatics and Egyptians in the fabrication of clothing, from the earliest dates of antiquity that have reached us. By the Greeks and Romans, however, it does not appear to have been in use. Pliny informs us that in Upper Egypt, on the borders of Ara- bia, grew a shrub called gossipion or zylon, the fruit-pod of which enclosed a sort of soft wool, of which the garments of the Egyptian priests were manufactured. Goz, which, in the Arabic, implies a silky substance, is doubtless the root of the word designating the genus of the plant. There are several species of the cotton plant cultivated in different parts of the world, which may be resolved into the following: 1. The common Green-seed Cotton of the United States, the Gossypium herbaceum of botanists, — fig. 1. This has a smooth stem, leaves with five lobes, 222 545 See Mapper, GOSSYPIUM. which are round, mucronate, and serrate. It grows from two to five or six feet high, bearing yellow flowers on the end of its numerous branches, which flowers are succeeded by roundish capsules or bolls, full of seed and cotton. 2. The Tree Cotton (G. arborewm) has a high perennial stalk, with branches six or eight feet long, five-lobed, palmate leaves, and yellow flowers, succeeded by oval pods. 3. Vine-leaved Cotton (G. vitifolium), fig. 3, with lower leaves five-lobed and palmated, the upper leaves three- lobed. 4. Hairy Cotton (G. hirsutum), with the uppermost leaves undivided and heart-shaped, the lower three five-lobed, the stems and branch- es hairy, the flowers yellow, succeeded by oval pods. 5, Spotted-barked Cotton (G. religiosum), fig. 4, with the upper leaves three-lobed and lower five-lobed, and branches spotted with black. 6. Barbadoes Cotton (G. Barbadense), fig. 2, branching 4 or 5 feet high, with yellow flowers and oval pods, the upper leaves three-lobed and lower five-lobed, with smoothish stems. The cotton blossom, though described as yellow, is very often only slightly so, and that while just blowing, appearing almost white when in full bloom. When wilting, the blos- soms appear reddish; and the whole process of efflorescence continues but two or three days, when they fall off. In those portions of southern Europe where cotton is produced, Naples, Sicily, Malta, and ecpecially the Levant, the Green-seed or com- mon cotton is the only one cultivated for the wants of commerce. The hairy cotton is some- times raised in the West Indies, although the Barbadoes is the species most commonly cul- tivated. In the East Indies and in China, the 546 GOSSYPIUM. common and tree cotton are cultivated, together with some other species or varieties, especially that which produces the nankeen-coloured down. This last has been successfully intro- duced into the United States, where it is now raised in sufficient quantity to manufacture the yellow cotton cloth called nankin, which was, till lately, all imported from China. The seeds of the common cotton are eaten in the Levant, where they are esteemed whole- some and nourishing. All the species afford a valuable oil from the seeds, which, besides being eaten, is used for burning, and many other purposes connected with the useful arts. Nicot first made known the tobacco plant, and Sir Walter Raleigh has the credit of intro- ducing the potato into Europe. Two monks, in the reign of Justinian, brought the eggs of the silk-worm from China to Europe, concealed in the hollow of a bamboo. But of the indivi- vidual who first introduced the seeds of the cotton plant into America, history is silent. He was, perhaps, one of that class of whick examples are daily met with, who take pleasure in seeking out objects either curious or useful, and dispensing their acquisitions to others. The cotton is a pretty plant, bearing a beauti- ful flower, and was therefore, perhaps, first de- dicated to the parterre of the American garden, where it appears to have long remained, de- voted to ornament, and of little further use. Authentic information shows that in 1736, and probably earlier, it was an object of horticulture in Talbot county, on the eastern shore of Ma- ryland; and although it may have been raised in squares and patches in neighbouring pro- vinces, no particular attention was bestowed upon it as a profitable crop, till some time after the date mentioned. In 1754 a small quantity of cotton was exported to Europe from South Carolina, the warmer climate of which and the neighbouring provinces, was found more fa- vourable to the crop than the peninsula between the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, where its culture was first attempted. (4m. Farmer, vol. ii.) It was not, however, until the Revolution caused the supplies of foreign materials for clothing to be cut off, that necessity drove the American planters to raise cotton extensively for home use; and so general did this culture soon become, when urged by this necessity, that the cotton region was made to extend as high north as the lower counties of the state of Delaware. At the close of the Revolution, great financial distress prevailed throughout the States, which had achieved their freedom at the expense of immense pecuniary sacrifices. Many were the plans suggested by individuals and public bodies, called upon to consider the ways and means adapted to relieve the embar- rassments of the times. The subject came up before the celebrated Convention of Annapo- lis, in 1786. The late President Madison, a member of that body from Virginia, who had given much attention to the subject of the cot- ton culture, here expressed it as his decided opinion, that, from the results of the garden culture in Talbot county, and numerous other similar proofs furnished in Virginia, there was no reason to doubt that the United States would one day become “a great colton-producing GOSSYPIUM. country.” The agitation of the subject was | commenced in the public prints of Philadel-| phia, and the promising capacities of soil and climate were discussed in essaysand discourses read in and about the year 1787, before the societies which were led to the consideration of this and other matters calculated to advance the interests of the country. The most early and decided proof of the practicability of rais- ing cotton crops to advantage in the United States, was first received in a letter from Mr. Leake of Georgia, addressed to General Tho- mas Proctor of Philadelphia. When it is esti- mated that the cotton brought to Philadelphia about the year 1787, and some time after, sold for home consumption at two shillings sterling, or four-ninths of a dollar, the inducements to raise it may be readily imagined. Congress being at length convinced that the States could produce sufficient cotton for domestic use, in the first reformed tariff bill laid a duty of three cents per pound on that brought from other countries. American cotton began to be an important article of export in 1798 and 1799. It was, however, soon discovered that more could be raised than could be picked or cleared from seed by hand, the only mode of accom- plishing this object then known, and the one which had been practised by the Egyptians and Hastern people for thousands of years. Eli Whitney, 2 native of Massachusetts who emigrated to the south, invented a mill to gin, pick, or separate cotton from the seed, and this with such facility as to perform in one day the labour of three thousand pair of hands. To work or attend this mill, impelled by water-power, requires only three persons. Thus, by the aid of machinery, the capacity to prepare cotton for market was made equal and even superior to the immense productive capa- cities of the climate and soil of the Southern States. These two facts, (says a writer in the American Farmer, vol. ii.), First, the capability of the southern country to produce cotton, and, Secondly, the invention of the water saw-gin, have effected the greatest and most enriching change in the agriculture of the United States, ever experienced by any people, ancient or modern. And to this view must be added the results of inventions, principally in England, but many in America, of those labour-saving machines and processes to pick, rove, spin, double, twist, wind, weave, dye, print, bleach, dress, &c., all within a comparatively few years. Such are the considerations which are calculated to inspire correct views of the im- portance and extension of the cotton crop of the United States, the immense exportable pro- duce of which has so much favoured every branch of domestic industry in other parts of the country; for those States situated too far northward to admit of the advantageous culture of cotton, by which the attention of the south- ern planter is almost exclusively engrossed, supply him with bread-stuffs, meat, horses, mules, and most other important appliances of life. The necessities of the Revolution, and subsequent financial embarrassments of the country, led to the developement of the cotton culture in the United States; whilst the last war, GOSSYPIUM. by cutting off the customary supplies of British and other foreign fabrics, taught the Americans to manufacture for themselves, and thus opened to the producing States a home market for their exuberant cotton crops. The progressive developement of the cotton culture in the United States is shown in the following statement of the crops for different periods ; viz.— In 1800, about 35,000,000 Ibs. NOAM) SM lvee et cp sire co! 185:000:000 1820), —, =.=, = = 160.000;000 1830, — - - = - 350,000,000 1840; 9) 1S 42) 2) ezonia79.057 It is estimated that good lands yield, on an average, from 250 to 300 lbs. of clean cotton per acre, and inferior lands from 125 to 150 lbs.; and that the capital invested in the cotton cul- ture in the Union is about $800,000,000. The annual value of the crop is about $80,000,000, and of the exports $63,000,000. The cotton exports of the year 1840 were as follows :— To Great Britain 1,246,791 bales. To France - - 3 : - 447,465 North of Europe - - - 103,231 To other ports - - - - 78,515 Total - - - 1,876,003 The total exports of 1841, were . 1,313,277 bales. — 1840, 1,876,603 562,726 The amounts exported to yarious countries in 1841, were as follows :— To Great Britain - = - - 858,742 bales. To France - - - - - 348.776 To ports in north of Europe - - 56,279 To all other ports - - - - 49,480 Total a tan WO ne 1,313,277 We subjoin, also, the ports from which the article has been sent, with the portion from each. In 1841, from New Orleans and Mississippi - - - - 656,816 bales. From Alabama - - - - 216.239 Florida - - - - 32,207 Georgia - - - = 35,596 North and South Carolina - 162,275 Virginia - - - - 4,723 Baltimore - - - - 217 Philadelphia - - - 41,934 New York - - - - 149,569 Boston - - - - 3,602 Total - - - 1,313,277 We annex an account of the home consump- tion. Quantity consumed by, and stock remaining in the hands of United States manufacturers, Sept. 30, 1841 - aliens oo - 297,288 bales. Do. Sept. 30, 1840 2-0) ay sey aE EOS Do. do. 1839 - + = 276,018 The cotton produced and gathered in the United States is stated, in the returns accompa- nying the census taken in 1840, at 790,479,257 Ibs., which product exceeds two-thirds of the annual cotton crop of the whole world, this being estimated at 1,000,000,000 lbs. Of the whole amount raised in the United States, South Carolina furnishes about 1-13th. Every year, however, opens new lands in the West to the 547 GOSSYPIUM. cotton culture, where congeniality of soil and climate to this commodity increases the pro- duct per acre, far beyond the average in the old cotton States. This consequently reduces the value far below those prices which former- ly poured so much wealth into the Southern States. These newly cleared lands yield, on an average, 2500 lbs. of cotton per hand, whilst the lands in the Carolinas yield but 1200 lbs. per hand. As the expenses on a labourer are about the same in either place, this home com- petition must be almost ruinous to the old cot- ton States, to say nothing of that which is threatened abroad in India, South America, and Egypt. In a recent speech in Congress, Mr. Dixon H. Lewis declared that cotton, divested of government embarrassments, might be raised in Alabama for three cents a pound. (Southern Review for April, 1843.) There were formerly three species of cotton commonly cultivated in the United States: 1. The Green Seed (G. herbaceum), popularly and commercially called Upland Cotton; 2. The Black Seed, producing a fine, soft, long, and strong cotton, of a good staple. This, from its flourishing in the lower country, and especially the islands on the coast of South Carolina and Georgia, has been called the Sea Island cotton. It is regarded as a variety of the Arboreum or Tree Cotton, and on new alluvial soils, in warm Situations, is found to live 4 or 5 years, and attain a height of 18 feet, assuming the charac- ter of trees rather than shrubs. But when the cotton grows so large, it yields no adequate re- turn to the cultivator. The seed of Sea Island cotton was originally obtained from the Ba- hama Islands about the year 1785, being the kind known in the West Indies as the Anguilla cotton. Of late years, in addition to the Nankin or yellow cotton, two species or varieties of up- land cotton have been introduced, which, in some places, have almost superseded the com- mon green seed kind; these are the Mexican and Petit-Gulf, both of which agree in most of their botanical characteristics with the Hirsute or hairy cotton, especially in the rough stem and petiole. The Petit-Gulf kind is exceed- ingly productive, and differs from the Mexican chiefly in this characteristic, and in maturing earlier, a great desideratum with the planter, since it allows him a longer time to gather the crop. Some think the Petit-Gulf a mere variety of the Mexican, improved by its transportation to the banks of the Mississippi, where the soil and climate are peculiarly favourable to its developement. The planters of the upland sections have to purchase their Petit-Gulf seed from the neighbourhood of Rodney, where it now costs only 25 cents per bushel. The 4th year after removal from this locality, it has so degenerated as to be no more productive than the common green-seed kind, or better in quality. It has been remarked, that in most if not all the species or varieties of cotton cultivated in the United States, especially the herbaceous and hairy kinds, the close, short fur imme- diately enveloping the seed, ae: anala- gous to the fur on an animal, has a tendency {0 inerease in quantity. This, though it tends 548 GOSSYPIUM. to render the separation of the long wool more difficult, has no other disadvantage. The introduction of the plough, of the horse- hoe, cultivator, and other contrivances for saving labour and improving the culture, have been of great service to the cotton as well as to the corn-planter. By the practice of drill- ing in rows set wide apart, the same fields may be cultivated frequently without such rapid exhaustion as would attend a different course. The land is thus tilled sometimes three suc- cessive years without rest, the drills being run at first 44 feet apart, the position of the drill- rows being changed every year, so that the cotton does not occupy the same place two successive years. At the end of the 3d year the 3 drill-rows will be 14 feet distant from each other, and thus the growing crop is an- nually furnished with fresh soil. The following account of the cotton culture, as conducted in the Southern States, is abridged from a highly interesting essay upon the sub- ject by Mr. Thomas Spaulding, of Sapelo Island, Georgia: “Tt was soon noticed by cotton growers,” says Mr. Spaulding, “that soil and situation had more than common influence, as well upon the quality as upon the quantity of cotton produced upon any given portion of land. Certain soils and situations retained in the cotton its ori- ginal appearance, an intenseness of yellow in its blossom, a fruit full and sound, a seed quite black, and free from fur or down; while upon other soils and upon other situations the plant, the flower, and fruit was putting on other appearances. The plants, as if anxious to ad- just themselves to a new temperature, took on a more coarse configuration of limbs and stem, a thicker branch, a rougher, larger, and more scalloped leaf, a more cone-like pod, a seed covered either in whole or at its points with the close down or fur that has already been described. At first the most careful cultiva- tors were anxious by selection to keep the seed as much as possible resembling the seed first introduced; that is, black and free from down, and the more so as it was most easily sepa- rated from the cotton by the machines em- ployed, and was considered most productive; but in process of time the varieties that stole up among the original stock was found to pro- duce a finer and more uniform and longer wool. The current of selection has now, therefore, directed itself another way, and these hybrids, for I believe them to be so, although the germs of these changes may have lingered for ages in the original seed without developing themselves, have taken on three distinct appearances in seed; neither in blos- som or plant differing to the eye from each other, although greatly differing from the pa- rent stock, as being coarser and rougher in their form and leaf, with blossoms of a lighter yellow; having bolls larger and more cone- like in their shape. The finer cottons of the sea islands are obtained from these three va- rieties of seed; one with little or no down upon it, but with a long beak or point, to a seed longer than the original; a seed with down |upon the two ends, but still with the pointed | beak; and, thirdly, a long seed with a sharp GOSSYPIUM. beak, but completely covered with a soft, close, fine fur or down inseparably connected with the shell of the seed. These new varieties which produce the cotton now most in request, are later in perfecting their fruit, and have, consequently, increased the uncertainty of the most uncertain and doubtful crop to which perhaps human care was ever directed. “There is a long string of islands extending from Georgetown, in South Carolina, to St. Mary’s, in Georgia, that is, from 32° 30/ to 30° north, a distance of about 200 miles. These islands were covered with live oak and other evergreens of a southern climate. They had been the abode of the red men of the West, but rather when the natives were fish- ermen than hunters; and the vast accumula- tion of oyster, and clam, and other shells, min- gled with the remains of the bones and pottery of their old inhabitants, fill every stranger with astonishment at the multitudes which their re- mains would bespeak, or the long time that must have been required to introduce such ac- cumulated masses. These decaying shells seem to have intermingled with the original sandy soils of these islands, and digesting the vegetable matter that fell from trees and other sources, formed with them a light and fertile loam. These islands at an earlier period of colonial story, had been employed in growing indigo. It was upon two of these islands, sur- rounded by the salt waters of the sea, and sepa- rated from the continent by several miles of grassy, but salt meadows, that the cultivation of the sea island cotton commenced. “Tf Frederick the Great never forgot him that introduced a better description of rye into Prus- sia, and if Swift is right in saying he merits a great name who will make two blades of grass grow where one had grown before, why should we deny to the dead what may be their due? The first cultivators of the sea island cotton in Georgia were Josiah Tattnall and Nicholas Turnbull, on Skideway island, near Savannah; James Spaulding and Alexander Bisset, upon St. Simon’s island, at the mouth of the Alta- maha; and Richard Leake upon Jekyl island, adjacent toSt. Simon’s. For many years after the introduction of the Anguilla cotton, it was confined to the warm highland of these islands, bathed by the saline atmosphere, and sur- rounded by the salt water of the sea. Gra- dually, however, the cotton culture was ex- tended into lower grounds, and beyond the limits of the islands to the adjacent shores of the continent, into soils containing a mixture of clay, and lastly into coarse clays deposited by the great rivers where they met the tides of the sea. In all these soils the cotton plant grows well. In all these soils fine cottons are produced. The only essential property that is required is a saline atmosphere; with it any soil in Georgia or Carolina may produce fine cotton; without it no soil will produce fine cotton. “Tt is within this district of country, from Georgetown, in South Carolina, to St. Mary’s, in Georgia, and extending not more than 15 miles from the sea, to which the sea island cotton is still confined. Whenever it has been carried either south, or north, or west beyond GOSSYPIUM. these limits, a certain decline in quality has followed its removal. Many changes have taken place in the manner of cultivating the sea island cotton since the first introduction. When first introduced, the seed was deposited either in hills raised a little above the common surface, at five feet distant each way, or in holes at the same distance apart, and the in- termediate spaces were dug up, pulverized, and kept free of grass or weeds by the hand hoe or by ploughing. But it was soon found that this distant planting, with a few seeds only, left a great portion of the field unoccupied by plants, and, consequently, unproductive; for, as it has already been said, the cotton plant is one of the tenderest productions of vegetable life. The growers of cotton found it, therefore, necessary to increase the quantity of seed, to insure a suflicient number of plants, and to bring them nearer together. Fortunately for the cotton culture, Tull’s book upon husbandry had been more read in the Southern Colonies than in England; and his ridge husbandry was adopted for sea island cotton, and is particu- larly adapted to it, 1 may say necessary to its successful culture. “The present process (and it has been the same for 25 years past) is to make up the field into ridges occupying 5 feet of space each, and extending in straight lines across the entire field. If the land is at all low, or subject in any degree to water, these ridges are inter- sected at 105 feet from each other by ditches which receive the water that may collect in the hollow spaces upon which the cotton plant is growing. These hollow spaces represent the water furrow in wheat cultivation, and serve the same purpose, that is, in directing the redundant water that falls, into the drains that take it off the fields. “A field is well prepared to receive the cot- ton seed when drains intersect it at regular distances of 105 feet; when the surface of the land is thrown up into ridges of 5 feet, rising about 10 inches above the intervals, the crown of the ridge flat, broad, and regular. Alabama and Tennessee tear > 3} to 5} 45 to — 7,220 New Orleans - - - - - - - 4 to 6 5} to 56 6 to 7 3 Pernambuco and Parubia = - - - - 6% to 63 7 to 7 7} to 7} : AravaliandCeara- - - = = - 62 to 42 6§ to 62 230 Bahia and Mario - - - oe - 6 to 62 x to 6 63 to — 1.180 Maranham~ - - - - - - - 53 to 5} 6 to 62 6h to — ) Saw-ginneddo. - - - - - - 5 to 5k + to 52 470 Egyptian - - - - - - - 6} to 62 6} to 7 8 to 9 60 Peruvian - - - - - - - 43 to 5 53 to 5} 6 to 6} Laguayra - - - - - - - 43 to 4} 3+ to 5h Common Wes} India - - - - - 4i to 5 + to 5% 6 to — 10 Carthagena - - - - - - - 3} to 33 4 to 43 4i to 4} 3,400 Surat - - - - - - - - 32 to 33 4 to 42 4: to 44 100 Madras - - - - - - - - 32 to 3} 3} to 4 44 to 4} 23,150 Diseases and Accidents to which Cotton is sub- ject.—The cotton crop is not only rendered very uncertain from the effects of the weather, but frequently suffers the most serious injury from the depredations of insects. The most fatal enemy of the cotton crop in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, is a disease called the rot, which has been thus described by Mr. Troup, in the Ist volume of the Ameri- can Farmer. “The first indication is seen in a small circular spot on the outside of the bowl, exhibiting a darker green than the circumjacent parts, as if a globule of water had dropped upon itand been absorbed. Many of these are frequently seen at the same time on the same bowl. ‘They spread themselves sometimes faster, sometimes slower, as if influenced either by the state of the atmosphere, or con- dition of the plant; changing colour as they progress, until they assume a dark brown ap- proaching to black, an until tne whole exterior is affected in like manner, or until it receives from some cause a sudden check, and then this appearance is only partial. In the first case, the disease has penetrated to the centre of the fruit, the fermentation is complete and universal, and is seen in a frothy white liquid, thrown out on the surface. Putrefaction fol- lows, and the destruction of the seed and im- mature wool being finished, nothing is left but the rind or exterior coating of the bowl, which, exhausted of its juices, hardens and turns black, and thus terminates the process. In the other case (that of suddenly checked disease), the interior of the bowl, in some instances, yemains unhurt; in others, is only partially in- jured, and in this last case, the pods remaining unhurt, mature and expand. This, however, rarely happens, as the disease is wonderfully capricious, going and coming unaccountably ; attacking at one time with more, at another with less violence: so thatthe fruit which es- capes entire destruction on the first attack, 562 *. may fall a victim to the second. Nor is this capriciousness justly attributable to changes in the atmosphere; its origin even does not seem to have any connection with weather. The year 1817, when rot first appeared, was one of remarkable wet. The year 1818, one of remarkable drought. The rot in 1818 was both more general and more destructive than that of 1817. In 1819, which has been as the planters say, a seasonable year, there is more rot discoverable than at the same time of any preceding year, and there is every probability that it will be both more general and more de- structive. In the same season too, according to my observation, it is in no degree influenced by it—for instance, this year it showed itself in my neighbourhood in the most alarming manner for the first time, when the corn and cotton had begun to suffer froma dry spell of two or three weeks. I have known it to stop for a considerable time in very wet weather, and to recommence its progress after the rains had ceased. It is earlier in its appearance this year than before, and I believe earlier the last year than the preceding. This disease attacking at different times with different de- grees of violence, I will not hazard the asser- tion that its cause is uniformly distinguished by the same appearances. The first indication in very many cases is a dark brown or black spot on the bowl; in others, the whole exterior of the bowl seems to have passed at the same time from the green to the dark brown, and is saturated with moisture, and whilst it is evi- dently suffering the process of fermentation, will open and deliver the wool uninjured. Itis the same disease, exhibiting different features as it rages with greater or less degree of acri- mony. It attacks the bowl in every stage from the first formation to that stage of its perfection which immediately precedes developement. “Tthas visited all varieties of soil and treated all alike. Ido not mean that every plantation, GOSSYPIUM. or that every district of country, shared, in | equal degree, the evils of this visitation. Some have escaped with more or less injury; but I am inclined to think that these who have es- caped with least, will have their turn. The mode of cultivation makes no difference. There are two modes, the close and the thick-set. The last has become fashionable of late; but I have seen the isolated plant and the one environed by the branches and overshadowed by the top of its neighbours, equally afflicted. “T think you will conclude from the forego- ing statement that rain or sunshine, hill or dale soil, whatever the predominant earth, cultiva- tion whatever the mode, stop not its march. We recur, therefore, to the existing controversy, Is insect or constitutional disorder of the plant the cause of rot? #If insect, would they not be seen in greatnumbers and where their ravages are greatest? I have examined fields most in- jured by rot, and could never make any disco- very of them; besides, the year of drought is the year of insect—the rot made its appear- ance in a year of wet—since that, it seems not to have been affected by either wet or drought.” There are some who think that the rot in cotton is neither a constitutional disease of the plant nor the result of destructive insects attacking the pod, but that the true cause isa fungus production or parasite, similar to that which produces the mildew, rust, and blight in wheat. As yet no remedy for this evil has been found deserving confidence, unless it be the substitution of the Petit-Gulf variety, which is confidently asserted to answer the purpose, by a correspondent of the Farmer’s Register, who had given a two years’ trial with perfect success. (Vol. ii. p.548.) He believes the rot —which, he says, is most prevalent in rainy seasons, and in humid states of the atmo- sphere—is the result of insect depredation, and thinks the new kind of cotton not agreeable to the insect. The upland cotton is sometimes very much injured by a disease called the rust, and also suffers from the depredations of a greenish caterpillar which eats into the bowl and causes great destruction. The Mexican cotton was introduced mainly with the hope of its resist- ing the ravages of the caterpillar. The cotton whilst young is also apt to be infested with plant lice (.4phidians). The remedies adopted against these are of the most opposite kinds, namely, allowing the grass to grow for the vurpose of inviting the insects from the cotton, pr working and cleaning the ground with extra attention. The cotton planters of Upper Mississippi do not suffer much from the rot, the caterpillar, or the rust, the greatest enemies of their crops being the louse, snails and slugs, and a disease of the stem of the plant commonly known by the homely name of sore-shin. This comes on when the plants are small and only have the third leaf, and is supposed to be the effect of wet weather and heavy, packing rains. In Louisiana the planters complain of their losses from the rot, rust, boll-worm, army-worm, and rains. Such are some of the difficulties, in addition to those commonly met with from atmospheric agencies, against which the cotton GRAFTING. crop in the United States has to contend, and by which it is rendered exceedingly precarious. A rich oil has recently been expressed from cotton seed, and a residuum or cake obtained, which promise to give an additional value to this already profitable crop. A patent machine has been invented by Mr. R. Burn, which entirely removes the cotton usually closely ad- hering to the seeds, thus putting them in the most favourable state for expression, and the production of the cake. Chemical analysis made of this cake, shows it little if any inferior, in the amount of its feeding and fertilizing qualities, to linseed or rape cake; the propor- tion of oil being 9-08 per cent.; sugar 10-70; albuminous compounds (nitrogen — 3-95) 24:69; the ash amounts to 5:64 per cent., and contains of silica 1:32; phosphates 2:19; excess of phos- phoric acid 0:15. The oil-cake from cotton seed would thus appear to be a very important sub- stance to the farmer, whilst the oil must become a new source of profit to the planter. In the East Indies, where the poor and badly cultivated cotton yields only 2 Ibs. of seed to 1 lb. of cotton, the seed sells for feeding cattle, at 4s. the kulsee, (666 lbs.) The quantity of seed ob- tained from good American cotton, is 1 to 24, for each pound of cotton. See O1x-caxe, and Rare. GOURD (Lagenaria vulgaris, calabash). The gourd family flourish well in the United States in the open air, and the several varieties make up a large amount of the produce of the gar- dens and farms. The large bottle gourds are extremely useful among the country people, by whom they are used as dippers. Some of them are so large as to hold nearly a gallon. They are light, and with good usage may last for months and even for several years. If, after a few gourds have set, the ends are pinched off the vines, the gourds will grow larger and bet- ter. Some kinds of gourds are cultivated for their beauty. The fruit of the bi-coloured va- riety is small and very pretty, deep green on one side and yellow on the other. There are several other varieties, distinguished by the shape and appearance of the fruit. It is be- tieved, says Dr. Darlington, that there are no native species of gourd in the United States, though the plant is said to have been cultivated by the aborigines, from time immemorial. (Fora Cestrica.) GRAFTING. The operation of affixing a portion of one plant upon another, so as to pro- duce a vital union between them, has been practised from the most remote antiquity. In ge- neral, all the species of one genus or tribe may be grafted on another reciprocally ; but in choosing the stock or stem the nearer the affinity of this to the species from whence the scion comes, the better. The grafted plant consists of a stock or stem rooted in the ground, and the scion or graft, consisting of the detached portion of an- other plant, to be affixed to it. This operation affords the means of multiplying and perpetuating all our best varieties of fruit trees, and many kinds of trees and shrubs not so conveniently propagated by other means. Varieties of fruits are originally procured by selection from plants raised from seed, but they can only be perpe- tuated by some mode which continues the in- dividual; and though this may be done by ciittings and layers, yet by far the most eligible 563 GRAFTING. mode is by grafting, as it produces stronger plants in a shorter time than any other me- thods. Grafting is performed in a great many different ways; but the most eligible for ordi- nary purposes is what is commonly called splice-grafting, whip-grafting, or tongue-graft- ing. In executing this mode, both the scion and the stock are pared down in a slanting direction; afterwards applied together, and made fast with strands of bass matting, in the same manner as two pieces of rod are spliced together to form a whiphandle. To insure success, it is essentially necessary that the al- burnum, or inner bark of the scion, should coincide accurately with the inner bark of the stock; because the vital union is effected by the sap of the stock rising up through the soft wood of the scion. After the scion is tied to the stock, the graft is said to be made; and it only remains to cover the part tied with a mass of tempered clay, or any convenient composi- tion that will exclude the air. Some of the other modes practised are termed cleft, or slit- grafting, crown-grafting, cheek-grafting, side- grafting, and grafting by approach, or in- arching. The season for performing the operation is, for all deciduous trees and shrubs, the spring, immediately before the movement of the sap. The spring is also the most favourable period for evergreens: but the sap in this class of plants being more in motion during winter than that of deciduous plants, grafting, if thought necessary, might be performed at that season. Grafting Timber Trees—The oak, ash, horn- beam, and hazel, may be grafted, but there is a little difficulty in grafting some of the hard- wood trees. On the oak may be worked its striped-leaved variety of pedunculata, and the varieties of sessiliflora. The lucombe, and other oaks of that kind, require to have the ‘Turkey oak for a stock; and the evergreen, or Tlex oaks, must have their own species. The common ash will take with the ornus, and any of the hardy varieties of true ashes, such as the Chinese and entire-leaved. The hornbeam may be used as a stock for Carpinus orientalis, and the cut-leaved sort; but the scions must be from two years old wood. The purple-leaved hazel may be grafted on the hazel stocks. Grafting by approach, or inarching, is a mode of grafting, in which, to make sure of success, the scion is not separated from the parent plant till it has become united with the stock. Inarching is chiefly practised with oranges, myrtles, jasmines, walnuts, firs, &c., which do not flourish by the common mode of graft- ing. ‘Grafting herbaceous plants differs in nothing trom grafting such as are of a woody nature, excepting that this operation is performed when both stuck and scion are in a state of vigorous growth. The only useful purpose to which this mode has been hitherto applied is, that of grafting the finer kinds of dahlias on tubers of the more common and vigorous-growing sorts. In the Paris gardens, the tomato is sometimes wtafted on the potato, the cauliflower on the horocole, and one gourd on another, as matter of curiosity. 564 GRAIN. Grafting the herbaceous shoots of woody plants is scarcely known among English gardeners; but it has been extensively employed by French nurserymen, and even in some of the royal forests of France. The scions are formed of the points of growing shoots; and the stocks are also the points of growing shoots, cut or broken over an inch or two below the point, where the shoot is as brittle as asparagus. The operation is performed in the clef* manner; that is, by cutting the lower end of the scion in the form of a wedge, and inserting it in a cleft or slit made down the middle of the stock. The finer kinds of azaleas, pines, and firs, are propagated in this way in the French nurse- ries ; and thousands of Pinus larix have been so grafted on Pinus sylvestris in the forest of Fontainebleau. At Hopetoun House, near Edinburgh, this mode of grafting has been successfully practised with Abies Smithiana, the stock being the common spruce fir. (Brande’s Dict. of Science.) GRAIN (French graine; Ital. gran; Norv. grion, corn). The general name of all kinds of corn. See Wueat, Marzz, Oars, Banter, Corn-Laws, &c. It means, in another sense, the seed of any fruit, the direction of the fibres of wood, &c.; the form of the surface, with regard to roughness or smoothness; or a mi- nute particle. In this article 1 have only to insert those facts with regard to grain that could not be well included under other heads. It has been calculated that the total consump- tion of wheat and other grain in the United Kingdom is, in a year—of wheat 12,000,000 quarters, and of other grain 40,000,000 quar- ters, equal to 52,000,000 quarters, or per day 154,762 quarters. (Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. iii. p. 1063). Of this about 25,000,000 bushels of barley are consumed in malt by the brew- eries and distilleries. Dr. Colquhoun has calculated that the an- nual consumption of grain in England by each person is as follows :— Average of Species of grain each person, Wheat - - - - - lquarter. Barley - - - - - it Oats - - - - - - Rye - - - - - Beans and Peas - - - il The second Fiar Prices of Grain per imperial Quarter for the County of Haddington from 1647 (at Intervals of Ten Years) to 1829. rT 8. d. Pa > d, ye da. 1647 113 44 | 0 16 0% | 0) 13qnmme 1650 | 2 4 8} 1 13 Of 1 al 1660 1 10,02 | 0.15) Sk | Oia 1670 | 0 18 103 | O 11 52° | O 9 JR 1680 }*1 O Of | O 11 52 |.0 8 1 1690 1.28: yee 0 18 11¢ 0 12 93 1700 1 10 of | 0 19 93.) 0 12 2% T7107 Sib ae OM pee 2 0 12 1 1720 | 1 2 8 | 0 15 2 | 0 10 9% 1730 1 4 44 Oo 11 5¢ | 0 10 6) 1740 | 2 O Of | 1 2 JOe 70 18 3h 1750 | 1 5 10k | 0 13 2 0 11 10 1760 | 1 4 OF | O WW 2k | 0 9 10 1770 1 12 OF | 0 18 9% 0 15 6} 1780 | 1 18 OF | 0 19 JF | O 15 OF 1790 | 2 5 6 | 1 38 7 0 19 62 1800 | 6 6 4: | 3 4 6 2 8 11g 1810 “bind: Dipl Biel SE 1 8 10 1920 | 3-1 5k | 1 8 10 eg a GRAINS. Average Price of Grain per Quarter in England and Wales, for Twenty Years, ending 1840. | Year. Wheat. Barley. O&s. Beans. Peas. & de sd. fe ie s. od. i d. 1821 | 56 2/26 0/19 6] 30 11/32 9 1822 |} 44 7/21 11/18 2] 24 6) 26 5 1823, ;(53 5 | 3h 7) 22 W| 33,1) 35 0 1824 | 64 0] 36 5|24 10/40 10} 40 8 1825 68 7/40 1/)25 8/42 10) 45 5 1826 | 58 9] 34 5/26 9)44 3/47 8 1827 | 56 9 |] 36 6/27 4/47 7/47 7 1828 60 5 | 32 10| 22 6] 38 4)]40 6 1829 66- 3°) 32°" 67/22" 91°36 8} 36°" "8 1830 | 64 3] 32 7}24 5/36 1/39 2 1831 | 66 41/38 0O|25 4/39 10/41 11 1832 | 58 8 /|33 .1/]20 5/36 5) 37 0 4833) 52°11") 87" 671185 | 35 1 | 37 0 1834 | 46 2/29 0/20 11/36 71) 33 O 1835 | 39 4/29 11)22 0} 30 0} 30 3 1836 | 48 9/33 2/23 1/38 4/|37 3 1897) 55 10’ |W 4 | 23°11) 38° 7 | 37 9 18388 | 64 4) 31 5)22 5/37 4/36 8 1839 _|'70,.6,| 39. 1.26 6/41 3) 41.1 1840 | 66 61 36 3 195 9|43 6|42 5 GRAINS. The amount of the different grains produced in the United States, collect- ively, and also for each of the states, has been given under the head of Acricurrurar Pro- pucrs. Tabular statements under the various heads will show the prices of grain in the United States for a series of years. See WaEar, Cory, Oars, &c. GRAINS, BREWERS’, are very extensively used in the feeding of live-stock. They con- sist chiefly of the husk, and other insoluble matters of the corn employed in the operation of brewing. When speaking of the large dai- ries of the metropolis, Mr. Youatt remarks, “The principal food of the cows in all these is grains; and as the brewing seasons are chiefly in autumn and spring, a stock of grain is generally laidin at those seasons for the rest of the year. The grains are laid up in pits lined with brick-work, set in cement, from ten to twenty feet deep, and of any con- venient size. They are firmly trodden down, and covered with a layer of moist earth, eight or nine inches thick, to keep out the rain and frost in winter, and the heat in summer. A cow consumes about a bushel of these grains daily, the cost of which is from fourpence to fivepence, exclusive of carriage and preserva- tion. The grains are, if possible, thrown into the pit while warm and in a state of fermenta- tion, and they soon turn sour; but they are not liked the worse by cattle on that account: and the air being perfectly excluded, the fermenta- tion cannot run on to putrefaction. The dairy- men say that the slow and slight degree of fer- mentation which goes on tends to the greater developement of the saccharine and nutritive principle, and they will have as large a stock on hand as they can afford, and not open the pits till they are compelled. It is not uncom- mon for two years to pass before a pit of grains is touched: and it is said that some have lain nine years, and been perfectly good at the ex- piration of that period. The grains from a large ale brewery are the most nourishing; those from the porter brewers, not so good; and those from the little ale brewers hardly worth having. It is found by the distillers that rough clover chaff, mixed with grains and wash, will fatten to any extent.” (On Cattle, GRAIN-WEEVIL. | pp. 255—264.) Grains fresh from the mash- tub, either alone or mixed with oats or chaff, or both, may be occasionally given to horses of slow work: they would, however, afford very insufficient nourishment for horses of quicker or harder work. Grains, in common with most vegetable substances, are an excellent dressing for grass lands, an application which is thus described in a recent communication to the editor of the Mark Lane Express, by Mr. W. H. Buckland of Glamorganshire. “ Having observed the remarkable luxuriance of the grass on a small portion of land upon which some brewers’ grains had been scattered, was induced to manure several meadows with grains mixed with stable-dung, and a few acres with grains only. The crop of hay is an ex- traordinary one off the land manured with grains and stable-dung together, but from the land manured with grains alone, the crop is pro- digious. On one part of a steep declivity, where the ordinary produce has been about 10 or 12 cwt. of hay to the acre, and the quality very coarse, a good sprinkling of grains was strewed, leaving the other part of the same ground untouched. Where the grains were spread, there is more than two tons of hay to the acre, and the grass is of the finest quality; where no grains were applied, the crop is as usual, both as to quantity and quality. “Tn addition to the abundance of the crop is the advantage of its earliness. On the 29th of May I mowed a field manured with grains. The grass was over-ripe, and might have been cut a week sooner. The neighbouring fields, not so manured, were full three weeks later. This is a matter of no little importance in this part of the country, where the weather is gene- rally dry about the end of May and beginning of June, when there is no grass fit to cut; and almost invariably wet about the end of June and beginning of July, when all the farmers are busy hay-making.” GRAIN, STANDARD WEIGHTS OF. In England the standard and common weights of the most important grains, are as follows :— Common Weight. Standard Weight Of Wheat - from 58 to 64 Ibs. 60 Ibs. Rye - - — 49— 56 56 Barley - — 48 — 56 48 Oats - - — 30— 42 32 Indian corn — 54— 62 56 The same standard weights are established in New York, and to a greater or less extent in other states. It is observed that the weights of the different kinds of grain increase in pro- ceeding from the Southern towards the North- ern and Eastern States. The grain of each species produces when ripe, nearly the following quantities of meal, or household flour, and bread, per bushel, nhamely— Tbe. Ibs. Ibs Wheat, if weighing 60 yields of flour ‘a bread 64 54 Rye — = — 56° Barley — 48 —— 374 — 50 Oats — 40 a 22: — 30 (British Husbandry.) GRAIN-WEEVILS and MOTHS. In Eu- rope, stored grain is often subject to sericas in- jury from the depredations of two little insects, and attacked in the same way, and apparently 3B 565 GRAIN-WEEVIL. by the same kind of insects in the United States. a The European grain-moth, (Tinea granella), in its perfected state, is,’ says Dr. Harris, “a winged insect, between three and four-tenths of an inch long from the head to the tip of its wings, and expands six-tenths of aninch. It has a whitish tuft on its forehead; its long and narrow wings cover its back like a sloping roof, are a little turned up behind, and are edged with a wide fringe. Its fore-wings are glossy like satin, and are marbled with white or gray, light brown, and dark brown, or black- ish spots, and there is always one dark, square spot near the middle of the outer edge. Its hind-wings are blackish. Some of these winged inoths appear in May, others in July and Au- gust, at which times they lay their eggs; for there are two broods of them in the course of the year. The young from the first laid eggs come to their growth and finish their transfor- mations in six weeks or two months; the others live through the winter, and turn to winged moths in the following spring. The young moth-worms do not burrow into the grain,as has been asserted by some writers, who seem to have confounded them with the Angoumois grain-worms; but, as soon as they are hatched, they begin to gnaw the grain and cover them- selves with the fragments, which they line with a silken web. As they increase in size they fasten together several grains with their webs, so as to make a larger cavity, wherein they live. After a while, becoming uneasy in their confined habitations, they come out and wander over the grain, spinning their threads as they go, till they have found a suitable place where- in to make their cocoons. Thus, wheat, rye, barley and oats, all of which they attack, will be found full of lumps of grain cemented to- gether by these corn-worms, as they are some- times called; and when they are very nume- rous, the whole surface of the grain in the bin will be covered with a thick crust of webs and of adhering grains. These destructive corn- worms are really soft and naked caterpil- lars, of a cylindrical shape, tapering a little at each end, and are provided with sixteen legs, the first three pair of which are conical and jointed, and the others fleshy and wart-like. When fully grown, they measure four or five- tenths of an inch in length, and are of a light ochre or buff colour, with a reddish head. When about six weeks old they leave the grain and get into cracks, or around the sides of corn-bins, and each one then makes itself a little oval pod, or cocoon, about as large as a grain of wheat. The insects of the first brood, as before said, come out of their cocoons, in the winged form, in July and August, and lay their eggs for another brood: the others remain unchanged in their cocoons through the winter, and take the chrysalis form in March or April following. Three weeks afterwards, the shining brown chrysalis forces itself part way out of the cocoon, by the help of some little sharp points on its tail, and bursts open at the other end, so as to allow the moth therein confined to come forth. “The foregoing account, drawn from Euro- pean authorities, will probably enable readers 566 GRAIN-WEEVIL. to determine whether these destructive in- sects are found in the United States. From various statements, deficient, however, in ex- actness, that have appeared in some of our agricultural journals, I am led to think that this corn-moth, or an insect exactly like it in its habits, prevails in all parts of the country, and that it has generally been mis- taken for the grain-weevil, which it far sur- passes in its devastations. Many years ago I remember to have seen oats and shelled corn (maize) affected in the way above described, and have observed seed-corn, hanging in the ears, to have been attacked by insects of this kind, the empty chrysalids of which remained sticking between the kernels; but, for some time past, no opportunity for further investiga- tion has offered itself’ See Conx-Mora. The most pernicious of what naturalists call snout-beetles (Rhynchophorians), are the insects properly called grain-weevils. These insects, says Harris, must not be confounded with the still more destructive larvz of the corn-moth (Tinea granella), which also attacks stored grain, nor with the orange-coloured maggots of the wheat-fly (Cectdomyia Tritici), which are found in the heads of growing wheat. Although the grain-weevils are not actually injurious to vegetation, yet as the name pro- perly belonging to them has often been misap- plied in the United States, thereby creating no little confusion, some remarks upon them may tend to prevent future mistakes. “The true grain-weevil or wheat-weevil of Europe, the Calandra (Sitophilus) granaria, or Curculio granarius of Linnzus, in its perfected State is a slender beetle of a pitchy red colour, about one-eighth of an inch long, witha slender snout slightly bent downwards, a coarsely punc- tured and very long thorax, constituting almost one-half the length of the whole body, and wing- covers that are furrowed, and do not entirely cover the tip of the abdomen. This little in- sect, both in the beetle and grub state, devours stored wheat and other grains, and often com- mits much havoc in granaries and brew-houses. Its powers of multiplication are very great, for it is stated that a single pair of these destroyers may produce above six thousand descendants in one year. The female deposits her eggs upon the wheat after it is housed, and the young grubs hatched therefrom immediately burrow into the wheat, each individual oceu- pying alone a single grain, the substance of which it devours, so as often to leave nothing but the hull; and this destruction goes on within, while no external appearance leads to its discovery, and the loss of weight is the only evidence of the mischief that has been done to the grain. In due time the grubs undergo their transformations, and come out of the hulls, in the beetle state, to lay their eggs for another brood. These insects are effectually destroyed by kiln-drying the wheat; and grain, that is kept cool, well ventilated, and is fre- quently moved, is said to be exempt from at- tack. “Another grain-weevil, hardly differing from the foregoing except in its colour, which is black, is found in New York. It is the Calan- dra (Sitophilus) remotepynctata of Schénherr. GRANARY. Whether wheat and other grain suffers to any extent in this country, from either of these weevils, I have not been able to ascertain, as the accounts given of the ravages of the insects supposed to be weevils are rarely accompanied by any description of them in their different states. “Rice is attacked by an insect closely resem- bling the wheat-weevil, from which, however, it is distinguished, by having two large red spots on each wing cover; it is also somewhat smaller, measuring only about one-tenth of an inch in length, exclusive of the snout. This beetle, the Culandra (Sitophilus) Oryze, or rice- weevil, is not entirely confined to rice, but depredates upon maize or Indian corn also. I have seen stored Southern corn swarming with them ; and, should they multiply and extend in this section of the country, they will become a source of serious injury to one of the most valu- able of our staple productions. Itis said that this weevil lays its eggs on the rice in the fields, as secon as the grain begins to swell. If this in- deed be true, we have very little to fear from it here, cur Indian corn being so well protected by the husks that it would probably escape from any injury, if attacked. On the contrary, if the insect multiply in stored grain, then our utmost eare will be necessary to prevent them from infesting our own garners. The parent beetle bores a hole into the grain, and drops therein a single egg, going from one grain to another till all her eggs are laid. She then dies, leaving, however, the rice well seeded for a future har- vest of weevil-grubs. In due time the eggs are hatched, the grubs live securely and un- seen in the centre of the rice, devouring a con- siderable portion of the substance, and when fally grown they gnaw a little hole through the end of the grain, artfully stopping it up again with particles of rice-flour, and then are changed topupe. This usually occurs during the winter; and in the following spring the insects are transformed to beetles, and come out of the grain. By winnowing and sifting the rice in the spring, the beetles can be separated, and should then be gathered immediately and de- stroyed.” (Harris.) See Corx-Moru. GRANARY. A place where corn is stored. These haye of necessity been constructed in all ages of the world, and of different mate- rials, according to the facilities afforded for their construction by the neighbourhood in which they are placed; in England they are commonly, for, farming purposes, made of wood or brick. In Sicily the public granaries are in some places hollowed out of the solid rock. According to a modern authority (Brit. Hush. vol. i. p. 94), “The best situation for a granary is over the thrashing-floor. Itmay be easily secured from vermin; and requiring only six feet in height, it will not interfere ma- terially with the bays of the barn, especially if they be loaded through the gables. A trap-door in the floor, with a rope and pulley, raises and lowers the load in the most easy manner, be- sides securing it more effectually from depre- dators ; and strong wired windows at each end ventilate it sufficiently. The most general mode, hewever, of forming granaries, is to erect them of timber, and place them upon pil- | GRAPE-VINE CATERPILLAR. lars of stone or wood.” It has been suggested that corn kept in granaries would be effectually protected from the ravages of the weevil, by mixing with it a small quantity of common salt. See Corx-Moru, Weryit, and Corn. GRAPE-VINE. See Vine. GRAPE-VINE CATERPILLAR. Every person, says Dr. Harris, who has paid any attention to the cultivation of the grape-vine in this country, must have observed upon it, be- sides the large sphynx caterpillars that devour its leaves, a small blue caterpillar transversely banded with deep orange across the middle of each ring, the bands being dotted with black, with the head and feet also orange, the top of the eleventh ring somewhat bulging, and the forepart of the body hunched up when the creature is at rest. "These caterpillars begin to appear about the middle of July, and others are hatched afterwards, as late, perhaps, as the middle of August. When not eating, they generally rest upon the under-sides of the leaves, and, though many may be found on one vine, they do not associate with each other. They live on the common creeper as well as on the grape-vine. They eat all parts of the leaves, even to the midrib and stalks. When fully grown, and at rest, they measure an inch and a quarter, but stretch out, in creeping, to the length of an inch and a half or more. Towards the end of August they begin to dis- appear, and no more will be found cn the vines after September. They creep down the vines in the night, and go into the ground, burying themselves three or four inches deep, and turn to chrysalids without making cocoons. The ehrysalis is dark-brown, and rough, with ele- vated points. The moths begin to come out of the ground as soon as the 25th of June, and others continue to appear till the 20th of July. Though of small size, they are very beautiful, and far surpass all others of the fa- mily in delicacy of colouring and design. The name of this moth is Euvdryas grata, the first word signifying beautiful wood nymph, and the second agreeable or pleasing. The antenne are rather long, almost thread-like, tapering to the end, and not feathered in either sex. The fore- wings are pure white, with a broad stripe along the front edge, extending from the shoulder a little beyond the middle of the edge, and a broad band around the outer hind margin, ofa deep purple-brown colour; the band is edged internally with olive-green, and marked towards the edge with a slender wavy white line; near the middle of the wing, and touching the brown stripe, are two brown spots, one of them round and the other kidney-shaped; and on the mid- dle of the inner margin there is a large tri- angular olive-coloured spot; the under-side of the same wing is yellow, and near the middle there are around and a kidney-shaped black spot. The hind-wings are yellow above and beneath; on the upper-side with a broad pur- ple-brown hind border on which there is a wavy white line, and on the under-side with only acentral black dot. The head is black. Along the middie of the thorax there is a broad crest-like stripe of black and pearl-coloured glittering scales. The shoulder-covers are white. The upper side of the abdomen 1s yel 667 GRASS. low, with a row of black spots on the top, and another on each side; the under-side of the body, and the large muff-like tufts on the fore- legs, are white; and the other legs are black. This moth rests with its wings closed like a steep roof over its back, and its fore-legs stretched forward like a Cerwra. It expands from one inch and a half to one inch and three quarters. Eudryas unio, of Hiibner, the pearl Eudryas, as its name implies, is a somewhat smaller moth, closely resembling the preceding, from which it differs in having the stripe and band on its fore-wings of a brighter purple-brown colour, the round and kidney-shaped spots con- tiguous to the former also brown, the olive- coloured edging of the band wavy, with a pow- dered blue spot between it and the triangular olive-coloured spot on the inner margin, and a distinct brown spot on the inner hind angle of the posterior wings ; all the wings beneath are broadly bordered behind with light brown, and the spots upon them are also light brown. It ex- pands from one inch and three-eighths to one inch and a half. This species has been taken in Massachusetts, but it is rare, and the cater- pillar is unknown to me. (Harris.) GRASS (Goth. gras ; Icel. graes, from gro, to germinate, to sprout). The commen herbage of the field on which cattle feed. The grasses, it has been often and well said, “are nature’s care.” There is, perhaps, no class of the vegetable world so little under- stood as this. “Grass,” says Professor Mar- tyn, “vulgarly forms one single idea, and a husbandman, when he is looking over his en- closure, does not dream that there are upwards of 300 species of grass, of which 30 or 40 may be at present under his eye. They have scarcely had a name besides the general one till within these 20 years; and the few par- ticular names which have been given them are far from having obtained general use, so that we may fairly assert that the knowledge of this most common and useful tribe of plants is yet in its infancy.” (Letters on Botany, xiii.) It is certain, however, that since Professor Martyn wrote, much has been done to add to our knowledge of the grasses. These grow in all parts of the world promiscuously, and with- out cultivation, affording both directly and in- directly the means of subsistence to man. Europeans live chiefly upon wheat, rye, and barley, to which list their American de- scendants have added maize or Indian corn. “The cultivation of the earth,” says Professor Johnson, “ preceded the improvement of the in- tellect, and was the herald of civilization. It is remarkable that we have no direct criterion of the origin of many of those grasses met with everywhere in cultivation, as none of them are, to any extent, found wild. Some travellers have thought that barley was indigenous to Tartary, rye to Creta, and wheat to Asia, but these might have been diffused from some cul- tivated some years previously. Corn is not only the support of man, but the grasses are the subsistence of the animals which form his nutrimeut. The nutritive quality of grasses is principally owing to the sugar which they con- tain, and of which some English grasses con- 568 GRASS. tain large quantities, but the sugar cane is the only grass that is exclusively cultivated for ob- taining this article for commerce. The grasses are applied to a vast variety of important me- chanical purposes; they are found in every part of the world, from the Poles to the Equa- tor; on the land, as well as floating on the water, and are the universal food of animals.” The botanist has shown that there are more than 130 distinct native species and varie- ties of grass in Great Britain, all possessing distinct properties, and varying in their de- grees of value to the farmer, from the most worthless, to those on which his successful farming chiefly depends. The researches, too, commenced by the late Duke of Bedford, and carried on during a series of years in the grass garden at Woburn, have added very materially to our stock of knowledge concerning these plants ; for, instituted with a public object, and under the careful and skilful management of one of my earliest correspondents, the late Mr. George Sinclair, the results were given by him to the public in the Hortus Gramineus Wobur- nensis, a valuable and elaborate work, to which Iam chiefly indebted for the matter of this and other articles upon the grasses. The manner in which these celebrated experiments of the Duke of Bedford were conducted, is thus de- scribed : “Spots of ground, each containing 4 square feet, in the garden at Woburn Abbey, were en- closed by boards in such a manner that there was no lateral communication between the earth included by the boards, and that of the garden. The soil was removed in these en- closures, and new soils supplied; or mixtures of soils were made in them, to furnish as far as possible to the different grasses those soils which seem most favourable to their growth, a few varieties being adopted for the purpose of ascertaining the effect of different soils on the same plant. The grasses were either planted or sown, and their produce cut and collected, and dried at the proper seasons, in summer and autumn, by Sinclair, his Grace’s gardener. For the purpose of determining, as far as possi- ble the nutritive powers of the different species, equal weights of the dry grasses or vegetable substances were acted upon by hot water till all their soluble parts were dissolved; the solu- tion was then evaporated to dryness by a gen- tle heat in a proper stove, and the matter ob- tained carefully weighed. This part of the process was likewise conducted with much address and intelligence by Sinclair, by whom the various details and calculations were fur- nished. The dry extracts supposed to contain the nutritive matter of the grasses, were sent to me for chemical examination. The compo- sition of some of them is stated minutely; but it will be found, from the general conclusions, that the mode of determining the nutritive power of the grasses, by the quantity of matter they contain soluble in water, is sufficiently ac- curate for all the purposes of agricultural in- vestigation.” (Agr. Chem. app.) In regard to the description of soils—Ist. By loam, is meant any of the earths combined with decayed animal or vegetable matter. 2d. Clayey loam, when the greatest proportion is GRASS. lay. 3d. Sandy loam, when the greatest pro- | portion is sand. 4th. Brown loam, when the | greatest proportion consists of decayed vege- table matter. 5th. Rich black loam, when sand, clay, animal, and vegetable matters are com- bined in unequal proportions, the clay, greatly divided, being in the least proportion, and the sand and vegetable matter in the greatest. The terms light sandy soil, light brown loam, &c., are varieties of the above, as ex- pressed. The systematical arrangement of grasses is a difficult and unsatisfactory task, and has oc- cupied the attention of many botanists. The most recent work upon the subject is Kunth’s Agrostographia, published at Berlin in 1836. ‘Tn choosing the mixture of grass seeds most valuable for thedarmer’s soil, many considera- tions must be taken into calculation; not only the nature of the soil, and the supply of water to which its habits are best adapted, but also the objects which the farmer has in view. Thus, the meadow foxtail (Alopecurus praten- sis), although an early, nutritive, and produc- tive grass, requires more than two years to arrive at perfection; it is, therefore, better adapted for permanent pasture than for the alternative husbandry. And then, again, the meadow cat’s-tail or timothy (Phleum pratense), although remarkable for producing the most nutritious culms of all the grasses, and that, too, in a considerable bulk, yields aftermath of very little value. Valuable, therefore, as it is for hay, it is of little consideration for feed- ing purposes if sown by itself; it must, there- fore, be combined with other grasses. So the cock’s-foot or orchard grass (Dactylis glome- rata),.which soon arrives at perfection, and yields early and late a profusion of leaves, which are highly nutritive, has culms or stalks of little value; it is a grass, therefore, most profitable for feeding purposes. “Under these different relations, therefore,” says Mr. G. Sin- clair, “a grass should be considered, before it is absolutely rejected, or indiscriminately recommended.” The knowledge of the relative nutritive mat- ters contained in different grasses, will also not only be a highly important object of re- search, as connected with their feeding pro- perties, but as throwing considerable light on the powers of the different grasses to exhaust or impoverish the soil, a question which I shall examine more at length under the head “Rotation of Crops.” A more intimate and extensive knowledge, with regard to the com- position of plants, may be derived from even an examination of their external appearance than many persons would deem possible. The following are some of the general results of the observations of Sinclair: 1. Grasses which have culms with swollen joints, leaves thick and succulent, and flowers with downy husks, contain greater proportions of sugar and mucilage than those of a less succulent nature. 2. When this structure is of a light glaucous colour, the sugar is generally in excess. 8. Grasses which have clums with small joints; flowers pointed, collected into a spike or spike-like panicle; leaves thin, flat, rough, 72 GRASS. and of a light green colour, contain a greater | proportion of extractive matter than others. 4, Grasses which have culms furnished with-numerous joints; leaves smooth and suc- culent; flowers in a spike or close panicle; florets blunt and large, contain most gluten and mucilage. 5. When this structure is of a glaucous colour, and the florets woolly, sugar is in the next proportion to mucilage. 6. Grasses which have their flowers in a panicle, florets pointed or awned, points of the culm smooth and succulent, contain most mu- cilage and extractive. 7. Grasses with flowers in a panicle; florets thinly scattered, pointed, or furnished with long awns; culms lofty, with leaves flat and rough, contain a greater proportion of saline matter and bitter extractive. 8. Grasses with strong, creeping roots, culms few, leaves flat and rough, flower in a spike, contain a greater proportion of bitter extract with mucilage. (Hort. Gram. Wob. p. 42 In the first part of April 1920 grains of the leaves of the following grasses, &c. afford, ac- cording to Mr. G. Sinclair, the following pro- portions of nutritive matter: Gr. Meadow foxtail-grass, (PI. 5, 7) - - 96 Tall oat-like soft-grass, (PI. 5, cc) - - 120 Sweet-scented vernal, (PI. 6, a) - - 52 Round-panicled cock’s-foot, (PI. 5, b) - 80 Perennial rye-grass, (PI.5,a) - - - 70 Tall fescue, (Pl. 5,e) - - - - - 4 Meadow fescue, (Pl. 5, dd) - - - - 96 Crested dog’s-tail, (Pl. 6, f) - = - 88 Woolly soft-grass - - - - 80 Creeping soft grass, (PI. 5, 3} = = 90 Meadow cat’s-tail, (PI. 5, k) - - - 80 Fertile meadow-grass - - - - 70 Nerved meadow-grass - - - - 76 Smooth awnless brome- -grass, (PI.7,b) - 84 Wood meadow-grass - - - - - 68 Smooth fescue, (PI. 6,h) - - - - 70 Long-awned sheep’s fescue, (Pl. 6, k) - 102 Darnel-like fescue (Pl. 5, f) - - - 110 Creeping bent, or fiorin Phe! 5, n) - - 42 Wood fiorin - - = - = 62 Yellow vetchling - - - 40 Rough-stalked meadow- -grass, (Pl. 5,7) - 80 Broad- leaved red clover, (PI. 8, 5) - - 80 White, or Dutch clover, (PI. 8, a) - - 64 Common quaking grass, (PI. 6, n) - - 54 Greater bird’s-foot trefoil, (P1.9,h) - - 60 Long-rooted clover, (PI. 8, k) - - - 76 Lucern, (PI. 8, iD) = - - - - - - 90 Bunias - - - - - 100 Burnet, (PI. 9, a= = eN= eres - 100 Cow parsup - - - = je BO) (ibid. p. 239.) It may not be uninteresting to the cultivator to learn of what these nutritive matters con- sist; the following is the result of Mr. Sin- clair’s examinations: - ey | Bitter Ex- 100 grains of the Nutri- | Mucilage, | | Sacch. Tach Uive Matter ofthe | OT, | Matter,or) Gluten. | | nd Matters. Meadow foxtail | consists of = - 64 8 = 28 Meadow fescue |» 59 20 - 20 Rye-grass - 65.* 7 = 28 Meadow cat’s- tail - - 7 10 = 16 Cock’s-foot = - 59 il - 30 Meadow-oat - 80 10 - 10 White clover Bn flower) - 7 2 7 14 Red clover (do. ) 79 8 5 8 Tares - 68 25 - 7 Fiorin (Agrostis stolonifera - 55 5 - 40 332 569 GRASS. 8000 grains of the Green see he Water. Nutritive Herbage of Fibre. Matter, “ares consistof -| 557 2250 193 White clover - 470 2430 100 Cock’s-foot grass - 1135 1740 125 Meadow-fescue - 1260 1590 150 (Sinclair’s Hort. Gram. Wob. p. 240, 241.) The chemical composition of the grasses va- ries materially in the progress of their growth, a fact well worthy of the farmer’s serious attention in more ways than one. “TI found,” says Davy, “in all the trials I made, the largest quantity of truly nutritive matter when “the seed was ripe, and least bitter extract and sa- line matter; most extract and saline matter in the autumnal crop, and most saccharine mat- ter in proportion to the other ingredients in the crop cut at the time of flowering. I shall give one instance: “100 parts of the soluble matter obtained from the round panicled cock’s-foot grass (Dactylis glomerata), cut in flower, afforded, of Parts. Sugar - 7 oa - - - - 18 Mucilage - - - - - - 67 Extract, saline matters, &e. - - - 15 100 “100 parts of the soluble matter from the seed erop, afforded, of Parts. Sugar - - - - - - 2 =i) Mucilage - - - - - = - 85 Extract, &e. - - - = = a G. 100 “100 parts of soluble matter from the after- math crop gave, of Parts. Sugar - - - - - - = Sil Mucilage = - = = = 3 - 59 Extract - = = £ x; 3 - 30 100°” (Elm. of Agr. Chem. 477.) The seeds of the Grasses—The ripening of the seeds of the essential grasses (says Sinclair), takes place at three different periods of the season, or, if they are classed according to the time about which each species ripens its seed, they will form three divisions or groups; the first, consisting of the earliest species, pesfect their seed about the end of June—such as the sweet-scented vernal-grass and the narrow- leaved meadow-grass: the second consisting of the sheep’s-fescue grass, and others, about the end of July; and the third, such as the fio- fin grass, and others, about the first or second week in September, as may be seen from the following Table of the average periods at which different spe- cies of Grasses ripen their seed, drawn up by the late Mr. G. Sinclair, from the details of ten years? practical observation and experiment. (Allow- ance must be made for difference of climate be- tween England and America.) Annual meadow-grass (Poa annua), PI. 6, c, from April 10 to frosts. Sweet-scented vernal grass are ant lens odoratum), Pl. 6,4 - S Soft annual brome: geraee (Bromus mollis): P37; bi = i 570 GRASS. June Silver-hair, hair-grass (Aira caryophylla) - 15to 20 Bitter vernal grass (Anthozanthum amarum) - 15—20 Sheathed cotton-grass (Eriophorum vaginatum) 18 — 20 Narrow-leaved cotton-grass (E. angustifolium) 20 — 30 One-flowered melic-grass (Melica uniflora) - 18—24 Spring millet-grass (Wilium vernale) - - 18—25 Alpine meadow-grass (Poa alpina) P\.6,1 - 18—24 Narrow-leaved meadow- Sarees (P. angustifo- lia) Pl. 6,e - - - - - - 18—2%4 Blue meadow-, -grass (Sesleria eaten - - 18—24 Meadow foxtail- ts RAE pee ibe 2) Pl.5,g - - - - - 30 Sweet-scented soft- grass (abortive generally) . (Holcus odoratus repens) - - 20 Barley-like fescue (Festuca ovina Hordeiformis) Pl.6,i - - = - = = June 20 to July 20 July Small-flowered oat-grass (Avena parviflora) - 4to 10 Long-flowered (Bromus longiflorus) - - 4—13 Glaucous fescue (Festuca glauca) - - - 4—% Hungarian (Festuca pannonica) - - - 4—l7 Hard wheat-grass (7'riticum nardus) - - 4—I17 Smooth meadow-grass (Poa pratensis) P].5,h 10—17 Woolly soft-grass (Holcus lanatus) = - 12—24 Creeping soft-grass (Holcus mollis) Pl.5,¢ - 14—26 Field or meadow brome-grass eas arven- sis) Pl. 7,a - - - = =O, Jointed fox-tail (Alopecuraes geniculatus) - - 7—% Bulbous meadow-grass (Poa bulbosus) - - il Yellow oat-grass (Avena pubescens) Pl.6,b - 15—25 Blue meadow-grass (Poa cerulea) - - - 16 Nodding panicled bent-grass (Bromus tectorum) 16 Crested dog’s-tail (Cynosurus cristatus) P|. 6, f 16 —30 Horn of plenty (Cornucopia cucullatum) - - 16 Round-headed cock’s- doch BrBes (Daria pies merata) Pl.5,b = - 19—30 Glaucous cock’s-foot grass (D. glaucescens) - 20 Striped cock’s-foot grass (D. variegata) - 20 Striped American variety (D, Americana var.) 22 Wood fescue (Festuca dumetorum) - - - 19— 3 Perennial rye-grass (Lolium perenne) Pl. 5, a 15 Russell-grass (Lolium Russellianum) - - 20 Reflexed meadow-grass (Poadistans) - - 16 Rigid meadow-grass (P. rigida) — - 16 Rough-stalked meadow- cannes Cc. Trivialis) Bl. Sp - - - - 16 Smooth-leaved fescue- grass (Festuca glabra var.) Pl. 6,h = - 12 Creeping fescue-grass (Festuca ‘bray - - 12—25 Common quaking grass (Briza media) P|l.6,n. 12— 20 Melilot clover (7'rifolium Melilotus officinalis) - 14 Upright brome-grass (Bromus erectus) apr. Bush vetch (Vicia sepium) - - 24—20 Sheep’s fescue-grass (Festuca Perna ris & k- 8 Early hair-grass (Airaprecox) - = - W@W Water hair-grass (4. aquatica) ee =e Crested hair-grass (4. cristata) - - - 29 Gigantic brome-grass (Bromus giganteus) - 24 Slender oat-grass (Avena fragilis) - - = 24 Eustern oat-grass (4. orientalis) - = - 2 —30 Meadow oat-grass (4. pratensis) - - 4 Two-rowed brome-grass (Bromus distachyos) 30 Wall brome-grass (B. diandrus) — - - - 2 Tongue-formed brome-grass (B. ligusticus) - 30 Large-panicled brome-grass (Bromus maximus) 21 Flat-spiked brome-grass (B. unioloides) - - QL Wood millet-grass (Milium effuswm) - - 21 Brome-like fescue-grass (Festuca bromoides) - 21 Hard fescue-grass (F. duriuscula) Pl. 6, ¢ - 30 Crested brome-grass (Bromus cristatus) - - 30 Slender fescue-grass (Festuca gracilis) - - 30 Slender sheep’s-fescue (F. ovina tenuis) - - 30 Meadow fescue-grass (F. pratensis) Pl.5,dd 30 Slender-leaved fescue (F. tenuifolia) - - 30 Viviparous fescue (F. vivipara) - - - 30 Sand canary-grass (Phalaris arenaria) - - 80 Ciliated melic-grass (Melica ciliata) - - 27--31 Nerved meadow- -grass (Poa nervata) - - 30 Rye-grass-like fescue (Festuca loliacea), Pl. 5, fi 21 Lesser meadow cat’s-tail (Phlewm pratense mi- nus) - - - - - Linear- spiked (Cunsaurus cruceformis) - - 21 Meadow cat’s-tail (Phleum pratense) Pl. 5,k - 25 Wood meadow- -grass (Poa nemoralis) - - 30 Bulbousjointed| cat’s-tail Byane (Phlewm nodo- sum - - - - 30 Fertile meadow- “grass (Poa fertilis) - - 30 Larger bird’s-foot trefoil (Lotus major) = - 30 Smaller bird’s-foot trefoil (Z. minor) - - 30 Capon’s-tail fescue (Festucu Myurus) - - 29 Sea-green meadow-grass (Poucesia) - - 7 Way-bennet, wall-barley (Hordeum i 30 Thouin’s vetch (Ficia Thoutnii) - - 30 Welsh fescue-grass (Festuca Cambricu) PL.7, ,e 20—30 Upright vetch (Vicia stricta) - - - - 20—80 GRASS. Crested hair-grass (Aira cristata) - - - Giant lyme-grass (Elymus giganieus) - = Decumbent meadow-grass (Poa decumbens) - Spelt wheat-grass (Triticwm spelta) - = Slender wheat-grass (Triticum tenue) - - Bearded wheat-grass (Triticum caninum) - Awnless wheat-grass (Triticum caninum var.) Common beut-grass (Agrostis vulgaris) - - Upright mat-grass (Nardus stricta) - - = Small spurious tare (Ervwm Ervilia) = - Broad-leaved oat-grass (Avena planiculmis) - Hairy tare (Eroum hirsutum) - - - - Four-seeded tare (Ervum tetraspermum) - - Glaucous meadow-grass (Poa glauca) - - Procumbent meadow-grass (Poa procumbens) - Long-rooted clover (Z'rifolium macrorhizum) Pl. 8, k - - - - - - - - Wood bent-grass (Agrostis sylvaticus) - - Tall fertile fescue-grass (Festuca elatior fertilis) Many-flowering brome-grass (Bromus multiflo- rus) - - - - - - - - Philadelphian lyme-grass (Elymus Philadelphi- cus) - “wee - to 20 Sordid vetch (Vicia sordida) - - - - — 20 Slender-leaved vetch (Vicia tenuifolia) - = Beardless tall oat-grass (Holcus avenaceus muti- cus) - - = - - - - = Red brome-grass (Bromus rubens) - - - Bauhin’s melic-grass (Melica Buuhini) =- - 9 Foxtail-like fescue (Festuca alopecuroides) - 10—23 Hedgehog lyme-grass (Elymus hystrix) - - 10 Barren brome-grass (Bromus sterilis) - - 10 Jointed lyme-grass (Elymus geniculatus) - 10 Golden oat (Avena flavescens) - - - - 2 Fine-panicled (Arundo Calamagrostis) - - 21—30 Meadow barley-grass (Hordeum pratense) P\.5,d 21 Narrow-leaved brome (Bromus angustifulius) 24 Slender rye-grass (Loliumtenue) — - - - 2224 Spear-panicled brome-grass (Bromus lanceola- tus) - - - - - - - - Sainfoin (Onobrychis sativa) Pl. 8, g - - 24 Aug. to Sept. Winged brome-grass (Bromus pinnatus) - - 8B— 5 Brown bent-grass (Agrostis canina) - - 29—30 Bundled-leaved bent (4. vulgaris fascicularis) 29 Couch grass (Triticum repens) - - - 30 Wood vetch (Viciu sylvatica) - - - - a ‘ ept. Tufted vetch (Vicia cracca) - - - - 4—12 Foxtail oat-grass (Avena alopecuroides) - - 5—12 Awniless brown bent (4yrostis cunina var. mu- tica - - - - - - - - Couch bent-grass (4grostisalba) - - - 6—15 Fiorin grass (4. stolonifera) Pl}. 5,7” - ais} And many others. October. Common reed-grass (Arundo phragmites) - 10—15 American cock’s-foot (Dactylis cynosuroides) 10 Stiff wheat-grass (T'riticum rigidum) - - 12—13 And five or six others. (Sinclair’s Hort. Gram. Wob. p. 35.) Of these grasses those regarded in England as the chief and most useful species and varie- ties are comprehended in the following list :— Agrostis canina Avrostis stolonifera. Alopecurus pratensis. Anthoxanthnum odoratum. Avena flavescens, Avena pratensis. Briza media. Bromus arvensis. Cow-grass, or perennial red clover. Cynosurus eristatus, Dactylis glomerata. Festuca cambrica. Festuca duriuscula, Festuca fluitans. Festuca glabra. Festuca heterophylla. Festuca hordeiformis. Festuca ovina. Festuca pratensis. Festuca rubra. Festuca sylvatica. Festuca tenuifolia, Holcus avenaceus. Holcus lanatus. Hordeum pratensis Lolium perenne. Phieum pratensis. Poa annua. Poa cerulea. Poa fertilis. Poa nemoralis. Poa nervata. Poa pratensis. Poa trivialis. Red suckling. Rib-grass. Trefoil. White or Dutch clover. Yarrow. From some experiments, given in the Trans. High. Soc. vol. ii. p. 250, by Messrs. Lawson & Co., it would seem that the raising of the seeds of the artificial grasses is attended with con- siderable profit. The late Mr. Blakie suggested a very excel- lent plan for saving the seeds of down grasses, GRASS. or of those grasses which are peculiarly adapt- ed for elevated dry soils (Farm. Jown. March 17, 1823), viz. to fence off a sufficient portion of these pastures, choosing such portions as have the best kind of grasses, and to mow these enclosures for seed in succession, at three, four, or more different periods of the season. “By these means,” said Mr. G. Sinclair, “the seeds of the early, midsummer, and late vegetating grasses will be obtained, and which could not, it is evident, be obtained by one mowing in one season. This is,” he adds, “a highly valuable mode of obtaining the seeds of those grasses adapted for downs; which, to cultivate sepa- rately for the seed, would be a fruitless under- taking. Fence the selected turf well, and early in the season, and prepare for mowing by pick- ing the stones or rubbish from the surface, and by rolling. As the seeds ripen, employ a care- ful bird-watcher. Mow in dry, favourable wea- ther. If the swaths are heavy, they should be turned with great caution, so as not to shake out the ripe seeds. As soon as the mowing is dry, the seed should be immediately thrashed out on a close woven cloth in the field, and on a dry day; and when a certain portion of the later grasses ripen their seed, another mowing should be effected, and so on, until all the grasses in the enclosure have perfected their seed.” (Hort. Gram. Wob. p.39, 40.) “As every different soil,’ continues Sinclair, in another portion of his invaluable work, “produces grasses peculiar to itself, and as no other kinds can be established or cultivated upon it with- out first changing its nature to resemble that which produced the kind of grasses we wish to introduce; it becomes a point of the first importance in making experiments on different species of this numerous family of plants, and in stating results, to determine with sufficient accuracy the nature of the soil or different soils employed. The basis of every improvement in the cultivation of grasses is to sow the seeds of those species only which are adapted to the soil, or to change the nature of unsuitable soils to that which is fitted for the growth of grasses most desirable to be cultivated; and, unless this important point is in the first place at- tended to, disappointment rather than success may be expected to follow the labours of the farmer.” 1. Of the grasses of rich natural pastures.—— Every farmer is aware that peculiar grasses are the productive tenants of his rich natural pastures, and that if these are ploughed up, and a course of grain crops taken from the soil, a considerable period elapses before the turf with which it was formerly covered can be restored. George Sinclair carefully noted this fact, and examined, not altogether unsuccessfully, its cause. He observed that “the different grasses and other plants which compose the produce of the richest natural pastures are in number 26, and that from the spring to the end of au- tumn there is not a month that does not con- stitute the particular season of luxuriance of one or more of these grasses; hence proceeds the constant supply of rich, succulent herbage throughout the whole of the season, a circum stance which but seldom or never happens in artificial pastures, where the herbage consists 571 GRASS. of two or three plants only. The plants which usually tenant the best natural pastures are the meadow fox-tail, round cock’s-foot, meadow fescue, meadow cat’s-tail, sweet-scented vernal grass, tall oat-like soft-grass, creeping vetch, rye-grass, field brome-grass, annual meadow or Suffolk grass, meadow oat-grass: these yield the principal grass in the spring, and a chief portion of that of the summer. Then, again, we find the yellow oat-grass, meadow barley, crested dog’s-tail, hard fescue, rough-stalked meadow-grass, smooth-stalked meadow-grass, woolly soft-grass, perennial red clover, white or Dutch clover, yellow vetch or meadow la- thyrus, and the smooth fescue, which yield the principal portion of the summer and autumn produce. Lastly, we find the yarrow, creeping bent or fiorin, marsh bent-grass, and creeping wheat-grass or couch, vegetating most vigo- rously in the autumn. Besides these,” conti- nues Sinclair, “in the richest natural pastures are invariably found the butter-cups (Ranuncu- lus acris), rib-grass or ribwort plantain (Planta- go lanceolata), and sorrel dock (Rwmex acetosa).” Of these, however, except in cases of necessity, live-stock will only eat the rib-grass. To examine the nature of the change pro- duced on rich pasture land by a course of grain crops, Mr. Sinclair made the following valuable experiments :— “A space of 2 square yards of rich ancient pasture land was dug to the depth of 8 inches; 400 grains of this soil, freed from moisture and the green vegetable fibres, contained— Gr. Calcareous and silicious sand - - - 102 Decomposing vegetable matter and parti- cles of roots - - - = = 2 Carbonate of lime (chalk) - - - 160 Silica (flint) - 2 = =; ad - 50 Alumina (clay) - fa = = = ee Oxide of iron - - - - - - 4 Soluble vegetable matter, and sulphate of lime (gypsum) - . = = 3 400 “This soil was then cropped for 5 seasons alternately with 1, oats; 2, potatoes; 3, wheat; 4, carrots; 5, wheat. It was then examined, to ascertain what change it had undergone by bearing these crops. It appeared to consist of Grs. Calcareous and silicious sand) - - - 100 Decomposing vegetable matter - - - 48 Carbonate of lime (chalk) - - - - 159 Silica (flint) fe = 5 » a Et 57 Alumina (clay) - - - - - = 926. Oxide of iron - Se it = = = 5 Soluble vegetable and saline matter - - 3 398 DSS, mip mn Re om ea as 400 “Thus, the earthy portion of the soil had undergone but little change, but it had sus- tained a very considerable diminution of its de- composing vegetable and animal matters, par- ticularly when it is considered that the turf also was incorporated with the soil. Manure was now for the first time applied, and, with the wheat stubble, dug in to the depth of 6 inches. ‘I'he surface was then made fine with arake, and sewn with a mixture of the follow- ing grass seeds, at the rate of bushels to the acre:—Meadow fescue, meadow fox-tail, round 572 GRASS. cock’s-foot, tall oat-like soft-grass, creeping vetch, rye-grass, meadow cat’s-tail, crested dog’s-tail, yellow oat, meadow oat, hard fescue, smooth-stalked meadow-grass, fertile meadow- grass, nerved meadow-grass, cow clover (Tri- foliwm medium), Dutch or white clover, and fiorin, marsh-bent. ‘These were sown on the 28th of August, 1813. They all vegetated be- fore the first week of October except the creep- ing vetch (Vicia sepium), which did not germi- nate till the autumn of 1814. Before the frost set in they had a top-dressing with a compost of rotten dung, lime, and vegetable mould, laid on ina fine and dry state, and rolled, and again rolled in February. The plants sprang earlier than those of the old pasture (a circumstance common to young plants in general). In the first week of July the produce was cut and weighed: it amounted to one-eighth more than the produce of the ground in its original state. The aftermath, however, of the seedling grasses weighed one-fifth less than that of the natural pasture. But in 1815, upon cutting and weigh- ing the grass in the first weeks of June and August, and again in the middle of September, the total weight of these three crops exceeded that of the old turf exactly in the proportion of 9 to 8.” (Hort. Gram. Wob. p. 131.) 2. The grasses which are the natural tenants of dry sandy and elevated soils—These, according to Sinclair, are the sheep’s fescue, viviparous fescue, purple fescue, pubescent fescue, glau- cous fescue, wall fescue, wall barley, fine bent, brown bent, lobed bent, rock bent, snowy bent, purple bent, tufted-leaved bent, waved hair- grass, feather-grass, slender foxtail, hairy oat- grass, blue melic grass, upright mat-grass, blood-coloured panic-grass, green panic-grass, barren brome-grass, crested brome-grass, up- right annual brome-grass, nodding brome-grass, Alpine meadow-grass, Alpine foxtail-grass, blue moor-grass, crested hair-grass, panicled cat’s-tail grass, reflexed meadow-grass, flat- stalked meadow-grass, meadow-barley, bird’s- foot clover, larger bird’s-foot clover, trefoil or nonsuch, sainfoin, soft brome-grass, creeping soft-grass, and white or Dutch clover. (Jbid. p- 256.) “When these sandy upland soils are im- proved by the application of clay or marl, they are then capable of supporting a very superior description of grasses to these, and the follow- ing varieties,” says Sinclair, “should be sown, for experience will prove that, under such cir- cumstances, they are the best for that purpose.” (Ibid. p. 3377.) ‘Barley-like sheep’s-fescue Cock’s-foot grass - - Crested dog’s-tail grass Yellow oat-grass - - Rye-grass) - - - Flat-stalked meadow-grass Various-leaved fescue - Hard fescue - - - Lesser bird’s-foot trefoi White clover - - pecks. TF rep Enel U Veter hoe yt Seetyc. . ie Cc at ce fe Tite tl See ae Bat C2 ND ee tO Cs 3. The grasses of bogs, or other very moist soils,— These are commonly of the most worthless description to the cultivator: they are chiefly the marsh bent, awnless brown bent, awned creeping-bent, smaller-leaved creeping-bent, creeping-rooted bent, white bent, flote fescue, tall fescue, turfy hair-grass, knee-jointed fox- GRASS. tail-grass, water hair-grass, water meadow- grass, long-leaved cotton-grass, and sheathed cotton-grass. (Hort. Wob. p. 340.) 4, The grasses of water meadows.—“All the superior perennial grasses,” observes Sinclair, “thrive under irrigation when the meadow is properly formed; the following species of grass I have invariably found to constitute the produce of the best water meadows :—Meadow foxtail, round-panicled cock’s-foot, field brome- grass, meadow fescue: these occupied the crowns and sides of the ridges. The furrows were stocked with the creeping bent, marsh bent, hard fescue, lesser variety of meadow cat’s-tail, woolly soft grass, rough-stalked mea- dow-grass, meadow fescue. A small admix- ture of other species were thinly scattered over every part of theridge; these were meadow barley, yellow or golden oat, crested dog’s-tail, Tye-grass, sweet-scented vernal-grass, tufted vetch, with a larger proportion of the tall oat-like soft-grass. The soil of the water meadows which produced the above grasses was either a deep active peat incumbent on a silicious sand, or a sandy loam, on a chalky or gravelly subsoil. In some irrigated meadows, where the ridges were formed nearly flat, and the soil consisted of a sandy loam on a retentive clayey subsoil, the follow- ing grasses constituted the chief produce :— Crested dog’s-tail, creeping-rooted soft-grass, rye-grass, meadow barley, tall oat-like soft- grass, sweet-scented vernal, and soft brome- grass.” (Ibid. p. 383.) The grasses best adapted for the alternate husbandry also attracted the attention of George Sinclair; but he saw the difficulty of laying down any systematic rules which should be adapted for all soils and situations, and the demands for animal food: he hardly, therefore, made any very practical general observations. He gives us, however, among other valuable statements, the following little table of the rela- tive value of three of the crops he had ex- amined on similar soil: Ibs. per Produce. acre. herbage - = 49,005 Broad-leaved red clover Domestic Gardener’s Manual, in the Quart. Ine Ww - val. v. 65, vol. vi. 48. Journ, of Agr, ve. PrercPiale Spee: (Brande’s Dict. of Science dna Tiny ww sErvaTory and Orancery, GREEN MANURBES. The use of green manures early attracted the attention of the cultivator. Xenophon recommended green ace p81 GREEN MANURES. plants to be ploughed into the soil, and even that crops should be raised for that purpose; for these, he says, “enrich the soil as much as dung.” And the lupin is named as an excel- lent manure by very early agricultural writers. The white lupin is even now grown in Italy for the purpose of being ploughed into the soil, an operation generally performed in October. The white lupin, which is extensively em- ployed for this purpose in Tuscany, is the leguminous annual plant, well known in our gardens, growing in sandy and loamy soil to the height of two or three feet, with a stem of equal strength with the bean, and having some- what similar blossoms and pods; but the pro- duce is so bitter, that it is unfit for the nourish- ment of either man or beast. It arrives to a considerable size in the month of October, when it is ploughed into the soil. It abounds with gluten, to which, in fact, its fertilizing effects have been chiefiy attributed. Green manures, although in some measure rendered subservient to the enriching of the soil, as soon as man began to till the earth, and dig in the weeds of his land and the remnants of former crops, have never been systematically employed by the farmer. He has ever been more desirous of employing, as food for his stock, the vegetable produce of his land, than to bury it in the earth to promote the future productiveness of the soil. Yet, whenever green succulent substances, such as weeds, river collections, sea-weed, &c., have been used, the result has always been most satisfac- tory. The putrefaction of the vegetables, and the gases in that case emitted, appear to be on all occasions highly invigorating and nourish- ing to the succeeding crop. During this ope- ration, the presence of water is essentially necessary, and is most probably decomposed. The gases produced vary in different plants: those which contain gluten emit ammonia; onions, and a few others, evolve phosphorus ; hydrogen, carbonic acid gas, and carburetted hydrogen gas, with various vegetable matters, are almost always abundantly formed. All these gases, when mixed with the soil, are very nourishing to the plants growing upon it. The observations of the farmer assure us that they are so. He tells us that all green manures cannot be employed in too fresh a state; that the best corn is grown where the richest turf has preceded it; and that where there is a good produce of red clover, there will assuredly fol- low an excellent crop of wheat: he finds also, that when he ploughs in his crop of buckwheat to enrich his land, that this is most advanta- geously done when the plant is coming into flower. The chemical explanation of these practical observations is not difficult. “All green succulent plants,” says Davy, “contain saccharine or mucilaginous matter, with woody fibre, and readily ferment; they cannot, there- fore, if intended for manure, be used too soon after their death. When green crops are to be employed for enriching a soil, they should be ploughed in, if it be possible, when in flower, or at the time the flower is beginning to appear; for it is at this period that they contain the largest quantity of easily soluble substances, GREEN MANURES. nutritive matter. Green crops, pond weeds, the parings of hedges or ditches, or any kind of fresh vegetable matter, require no prepara- tion to fit them for manure. The decomposi- tion slowly proceeds beneath the soil, the solu- ble matters are gradually dissolved, and the slight fermentation that goes on, checked by the want of a free communication of air, tends to render the woody fibre soluble without occa- sioning the rapid dissipation of elastic matter. When cld pastures are broken up and made arable, not only has the soil been enriched by the death and slow decay of the plants which have left soluble matters in the soil, but the roots and leaves of the grasses living at the time, and occupying so large a part of the sur- face, afford saccharine, mucilaginous, and ex- tractive matters, which become immediately the food of the crop, and the gradual decompo- sition affords a supply for successive years.” (Agr. Chem. p. 280.) Nothing will aid the practical farmer so much in understanding the value of green manure, as a knowledge of the constituent elements of plants. Woody fibre, starch, sugar, gum, are compounds of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen; the fixed and the vola- tile oils, wax.and resin, are constituted of car- bon, with the elements of water, and an excess of hydrogen; vegetable albumen and gluten contain nitrogen as an element; and it is never altogether absent in plants, either in their solid or fluid contents. Now, reflecting upon these facts, it follows that the developement of a plant requires the presence of substances containing carbon and nitrogen, and capable of yielding these elements to the growing organism; se- condly, of water and its elements ; and, lastly, of iron, lime, and other inorganic matters es- sential to vegetable life. (Liebig’s Organic Chem.) It is always refreshing to find the sagacious conclusions of the philosopher supported by the practical farmer’s observations. “In Oc- tober, 1819,” said the late Dr. Browne, of Gorl- stone, in Suffolk; in a letter which he sent to me, “a violent gale of wind drove to this part of the coast an unprecedented quantity of sea- weeds. These were eagerly scrambled for; and, from my greater vicinity to the beach, I collected twenty-seven cart-loads, each as much as four horses could draw; and although other persons deposited their collections in their farm-yards, to rot among their other manure, yet I spread mine, fresh and wet, upon little more than an acre of bean stubble, instantly ploughed it in, and dibbled wheat upon it. On the 6th of October I then salted the adjoining land with three bushels per acre, manured it with fifteen loads of farm-yard dung per acre, and dibbled it with wheat on the 15th of No- vember. The result was, that the sea-weeded portion gave three times the produce of any equal part of the field.” (€. W. Johnson’s Essay on Salt, p. 48.) No one more perseveringly advocated the employment of green manures than the late Mr. Knight. In his paper on the question, he supported his views by some ingenious expe- riments, and used every argument that could fairly be employed in their favour. “ Writers upon agriculture,’ he observed, “both in an- and that their leaves are most active in forming | cient and modern times, have dwelt much upon 582 GREEN MANURES. the advantages of collecting large quantities of vegetable matter to form manures; whilst scarcely any thing has been written upon the State of decomposition in which decaying vegetable substances can be employed most advantageously to afford food to living plants. Both the farmer and gardener, till lately, thought that such manures ought not to be de- posited in the soil until putrefaction had nearly destroyed all organic texture, and this opinion is, perhaps, still entertained by the majority of gardeners; it is, however, wholly unfounded. Carnivorous animals, it is well known, receive most nutriment from the flesh of other ani- mals when they obtain it most nearly in the State in which it exists as part of a living body; and the experiments I shall proceed to state, afford evidence of considerable weight that many vegetable substances are best cal- culated to reassume an organic living state when they are least changed and decomposed by putrefaction.” The allusion to carnivorous animals is misplaced; as green food must be soluble, and in a decomposing state, before it can be taken up by plants; but this does not weaken the argument in favour of its utility. “T had,” continues Mr. Knight, “ been engaged in the year 1810 in some experiments, from which I hoped to obtain new varieties of the plum, but only one of the blossoms upon which I had operated escaped the severity of the frost in the spring. The seed which this afforded having been preserved in mould dur- ~ ing the winter, was in March placed in a small garden pot, which was nearly filled with the living leaves and roots of grasses mixed with a small quantity of earth, and this was sufii- ciently covered with a layer of mould which contained the roots only of grasses, to prevent, in a great measure, the growth of the plants which were buried. The pot, which contained about one-sixteenth of a square foot of mould and living vegetable matter, was placed under glass, but without artificial heat, and the plant appeared above the soil in the end of April. It was, three times during the summer, re- moved into a larger pot, and each time sup- plied with the same matter to feed upon, and in the end of October its roots occupied about the space of one-third of a square foot. Its height above the surface of the mould being then 9 feet 7inches. In the beginning of June a small piece of ground was planted with po- tatoes of an early variety, and in some rows green fern, and in others nettles, were em- ployed instead of other manure; and, subse- quently, as the early potatoes were taken up for use, their tops were buried in rows in the same manner, and potatoes of the preceding year were placed upon them, and buried in the usual way. The days. being then long, the ground warm, and the decomposing green leaves and stems affording an abundant mois- ture, the plants acquired their full growth in an unusually short time, and afforded an abun- dant produce, and the remaining part of the ' summer proved more than sufficient to mature potatoes of any early variety. The market gardener may probably employ the tops of his early potatoes and other green vegetable sub- stances in this way with much advantage. GREEN MANURES. “Tn the preceding experiments the plum stone was placed to vegetate in the turf of the alluvial soil of a meadow, and the potatoes grew in ground in which, though not rich, was not poor, and therefore some objections may be made to the conclusions Iam disposed to draw in favour of recent vegetable substances as manures. The following experiment is, I think, decisive. Ireceived from a neighbour- ing farmer a field, naturally barren, and so much exhausted by ill management, that the two preceding crops had not returned a quan- tity of corn equal to that which had been sown upon it. An adjoining plantation afforded me alarge quantity of fern, which I proposed to employ as a manure for a crop of turnips; this was cut between the 10th and 20th of June, but as the small cotyledons of the turnip seed afford little to feed the young plant, and as the soil, owing to its extreme poverty, could not afford much nutriment, I thought it neces- sary to place the fern a few days in a heap to ferment sufficiently to destroy life in it, and to produce an exudation of its juices, and it was then committed in rows to the soil, and the turnip-seed deposited with a drilling machine over it. “Some adjoining rows were manured with the black vegetable mould obtained from the site of an old wood pile, mixed with the slen- der branches of trees in every stage of decom- position; the quantity placed in each row ap- pearing to me to exceed more than four times the amount the vegetable mould, if eqnally decomposed, would have yielded. The crop succeeded in both cases, but the plants upon the green fern grew wHh more rapidity than the others, and even than those which had been manured with the produce of my fold and stable-yard, and were distinguishable in the autumn from the plants in every other part of the field by the deeper shade of their foliage. I had made, in preceding years, many similar experiments with small trees (particularly those of the mulberry when bearing fruit in pots) with similar results; but I think it un- necessary to trespass on the time of the society by stating these experiments, and conceiving those I have stated to be sufficient to show that any given quantity of vegetable matter can generally be employed in its recent and organized state with much more advantage than when it has been decomposed, and no in- considerable part of its component parts have been dissipated and lost during the progress of the putrefactive fermentation.” (Trans. Hort. Soc. vol. i. p. 248.) In an article upon this subject, M. Knoles, of Secheim, writes thus: “My vineyard has been manured for eight years on the branches ent from the vines, without receiving any other manure, and yet more beautifal and richly-laden vines could scarcely be pointed out. The branches are pruned from the vine in August, whilst still fresh and moist, and are traced into the soil after being cut into small pieces. At the end of four weeks not the smallest trace of them can be found,” When green vegetable substances are bu ried in the soil, they first lose their green | colour, speedily wither, and then putrefaction 583 GREEN MANURES. soon commences. It is requisite, however, for this purpose, that moisture should be present, and that the temperature of the soil should not be less than about 45°. Ifthe atmosphere has access to the vegetable matter, the putrefaction proceeds with more rapidity, but its presence is not essential. Putrefaction cannot, how- ever, proceed if water is absent, and hence it has been concluded that water is decomposed during the process. The smell which proceeds from the gases emitted varies according to the vegetable substance which is putrefying. Thus, as [have before remarked, those which con- tain gluten emit ammonia; others, such as the onion, evolve phosphuretted hydrogen. Almost all emit carbonic acid gas and hydrogen gas, which, combined with various vegetable mat- ters, are commonly produced in very copious volumes. When wood decomposes, a portion of oxygen is absorbed from the atmosphere, carbonic acid gas is emitted, and the whole mass is gradually reduced to a dark vegetable mould. This black substance is an excellent fertilizer; plants grow in it with great luxu- riance. The soils of some of the famed newly- enclosed American lands owe all their fertility to the abundance of this vegetable mould which they contain. These are the American soils from which we are told 20 successive good crops of wheat have been obtained. There are some lands in the Hundreds of Es- sex, in Kent, and other places, whose luxuriant, unfailing produce is hardly eredibie; alternate crops of wheat and beans have been obtained from them from time immemorial. (Johnson on Fertilizers, p. 168.) Vegetable mould, as ob- tained from the trunks of oak trees, has been examined by MM. Saussure and Einhoff; by distilling it they obtained from 200 grains (Rec. sur la Veg. p. 162)— Cubie inches. Carburetted hydrogen - - - - - 14 Carbonic acid gas - = = - = mie Ot Grains. Water containing acetate of ammonia - 353 Empyreumatic oil - - - - =" 10 Charcoal - - - - - . be eB Ashes - - = - = = = - 8 By the effects of cultivation, exposure to the action of the atmosphere, and the roots of plants, this mould becomes gradually exhaust- ed in the soil, and the land is of course sensi- bly impoverished. On this mould the alkalies operate very powerfully, almost entirely dis- solving it, and hence one great use of soda and potash as fertilizers. It is also a continued source of carbonic acid, which it emits slowly ; hence it might be asserted, that in a good fertile soil there is an atmosphere of carbonic acid, which is the most nutritive food of the young plants raised in it ; for when a plant is fully matured, and is fitted to obtain most of its nourishment from the air, the carbonic acid of the soil is no longer re- quired. It is on that account that vegetable mould is so fertile; not by being itself assimi- lated into the substance of the plant, but by furnishing a slow but lasting supply of car- bonic acid. With regard to the best time to turn under clover, buckwheat, and other green crops, for the purpose of enriching the ground, we have 584 ; GREEN MANURES. seen in the preceding observations that Davy and others have decided in favour of the period of full vigour, or when the plants may be in blossom. It seems, however, that the results of many well-conducted experiments and repeat- ed observations lead to a different conclusion, namely, that it is best to allow the green crop to decay more or less before ploughing it in. In the course of his agricultural survey of Massa- chusetts, Mr. Colman found the opinion of some mostsuccessful farmers to be in favour of allow- ing the crop to mature and perish, before it was subjected to the plough as a manure for the soil, As the opinion of such men was at vari- ance with the commonly received one, Mr. Col- man addressed a letter to the well-known che- mist, Dr. Dana, requesting his views on the matter, as a question for chemical investiga= tion. Dr. Dana’s reply is contained in the report of the commissioner. The essential element of fertility in a soil, he says, has been called humus, geine, vegetable extract, mould, as well as several other names, all meaning a brownish-black, powdery mass, the result of putrefactive decay, and the remains of decomposed organic matter. This substance combines with the alkaline, earthy, or metallic bases of the plant or the soil, and constitutes the means of growth or nutrition in the new vegetable. Without it, there seems to be no power in the earths of producing vegetation; and if in too great excess, as it Sometimes ap- pears to be in very pure manures, it is destruc- tive of wnpropitious td all growth. In the - question now at issue, the inquiry, of course, was, which furnishes to the soil the greatest quantity of geine or humus, the green or the dried plant. Dr. Dana decides in favour of the latter. Fermentation appears to be the great agent in the decomposition of organic matter; and Dr. Dana’s survey of the several kinds, such as vinous, acetous, and destructive fermenta- tion, seems to have a direct bearing on the for- mation of the elements of fertility. The juices only that contain sugar or starch, converti- ble first into gum and then into sugar, by the action of azolized vegetable principles, espe- cially gluten, are capable of the vinous fermen- tation. The conditions necessary to this fer- mentation are moisture, air, and a temperature not below 50°, nor above 86°. “Tf,” says Dr. D., “we plough in green plants, we put them in a temperature favourable to the commencement of vinous fermentation; we bury them full of sap, the requisite moisture for vinous fermentation. The sugar and starch of the plant, fermented by its gluten and albu- men, are converted into gases and alcohol; the former are lost in air, and the last washes away or is changed to vinegar. All that re- mains for the farmer is the altered gluten and albumen, which soon putrefy and form geine. All the starch and sugar of the plant are thus lost.” In his remarks on destructive fermentation, Dr. Dana has the following observations : “Doubtless, all green plants ploughed in un- dergo, to a greater or less extent, destructive fermentation, which succeeds the vinous and acid fermentations, perhaps caused by the rae GREEN MANURES. pidity of these processes. Hence, in addition to the sugar, gum, and starch of the plant, we lose a large portion of its other substances, by turning it in green. The products of this rapid fermentation have been but little studied. Happy the farmer who never witnesses the process! He should never induce it, and may generally prevent its extension when once begun. It is a dead loss to him; but in all the other cases of putrefaction, the products are valuable.” Will not the remark made above by Dr. D., that the alcohol formed during the vinous fer- mentation washes away or is converted into vinegar, account for the fact of what some far- mers complain of, as sowring the soil in turning in heavy crops of green clover? We have heard some very successful farmers and wheat- growers assert that their experience in turning in the clover crop before it had reached matu- rity, or while abounding in sap, had been so unfavourable, that they had relinquished the practice, and chose either to feed it off with sheep, or let it decay on the ground. Still, no one can doubt but that excellent effects are produced by turning in green crops, particularly such as buckwheat, of which three or four can be ploughed in in a year; thus evidently giving more geine than where the ripened product is turned under. The danger of the practice appears to arise from ploughing in the green crop in that condition, and under such circumstances, that the vinous fermenta- tion and acetous one are so rapid as to convert the valuable products into vinegar, and thus seriously injure the land; or when the destruc- tive fermentation converts the plant into sub- stances unfit for the food or nutrition of vege- tables. (Cultivator.) » Durizg the growth of plants, substances con- taining a large propotuon of carbon are eXx- creted or thrown out by the roo.s, #24 absorbed by the soil. These substances were either 12 excess, or unfitted for the nutrition of the growing plants. They constituted, therefore, excrementitious matters, through which the soil received again, with usury, the carbon which it had first yielded to the young plants as food, in the form of carbonic acid. “The soluble matter thus acquired,” says Liebig, “by the soil is still capable of decay and putrefaction, and by undergoing these pro- cesses furnishes renewed sources of nutrition to another generation of plants; it becomes humus. The cultivated soil is thus placed ina situation exactly analogous to that of forests and meadows; for the leaves of trees which fall in the forest in autumn, and the old roots of grass in the meadow, are likewise converted into humus by the same influence: a soil re- ceives more carbon in this form than its de- caying humus had lost as carbonic acid. “Plants do not exhaust the carbon of a soil in the normal or regular condition of their growth; on the contrary, they add to its quan- tity. But if it is true that plants give back more carbon to a soil than they take from it, it is evident that their growth must depend upon the reception of nourishment from the atmo- sphere in the form of carbonic acid. “Humus does not nourish plants by being laken up and assimilated in its unaltered state, 74 GREEN MANURES. but by presenting a slow and lasting source of carbonic acid, which is absorbed by the roots, and is the principal nutriment of young plants at a time when, being destitute of leaves, they are unable to extract food from the atmo- sphere.” The supply of humus usually effected by turning under clover, rye, buckwheat, &c., is accomplished, as Liebig informs us, with much greater certainty when the fields are planted with sainfoin or lucern, a plan now universally adopted in Bingen and its vicinity, the Palati- nate, and other parts of Germany, where the fields, thus treated, receive manure only once every nine years. In the first year after the land has been manured, turnips are sown upon it; in the next following years barley, with sainfoin orlucern; in the 7th year, potatoes ; in the 8th, wheat; in the 9th, barley ; on the 10th year itis again manured, and the same rotation ensues. Sainfoin and lucern are remarkable for the ramification of their roots and the strong de- velopement of their leaves, as well as for re- quiring but a comparatively small quantity of inorganic matter. “An immediate consequence of the produc- tion of the green principle of the leaves, and of their remaining component parts, as well as those of the stem, is,” says Liebig, “the equally abundant excretion of organic matters into the soil from the roots. “The favourable influence which this exer- cises on the land, by furnishing it with matter capable of being converted into humus, lasts for several years, but barren spots gradually appear after the lapse of some time. Now it is evident that, after from 6 to 7 years, the ground must become so impregnated with ex- crements that every fibre of the root will be surrounded with them. As they remain for some time in a soluble condition, the plants must absorb part of them and suffer injurious eects in consequence, because they are not capable of assimilation. When such a field is observed for several years, it is seen that the xt lun Vvegeta- barren spots are again covered wiui VCS€ld- tion (the same plants being always supposed to be grown), while new spots become bare and apparently unfruitful, and so on alter nately. The causes which produce this alter- nate barrenness and fertility in the different parts of the land are evident. The excrements upon the barren spots receiving no new addi+ tion, and being subjected to the influence of air and moisture, they pass into putrefaction, and their injurious influence ceases. The plants now find those substances which formerly pre- vented their growth removed, and in their place meet with humus, that is, vegetable mat- ter in the act of decay. “We can scarcely suppose a better means of producing humus than by the growth of plants, the leaves of which are food for ani. mals; for they prepare the soil for plants of every other kind, but particularly for those to which, as to rape and flax, the presence of humus is the most essential condition of growth, “The reasons why this interchange of crop is so advantageous—the principles which regu» late this part of agriculture, are, therefore, the 686 GREEN SAND. artificial praduction of humus, and the cultiva- tion of different kinds of plants upon the same field in such an order of succession, that each shali extract only certain components of the soil, while it leaves behind or restores those which a second or third species of plant may require for its growth and perfect develope- ment. “Now, although the quantity of humus in a soil may be increased to a certain degree by an artificial cultivation, still, in spite of this, there cannot be the smallest doubt that a soil must gradually lose those of its constituents which are removed in the seeds, roots, and leaves of the plants raised upon it. The fer- tility of a soil cannot remain unimpaired, un- less we replace it in all those substances of which it has been thus deprived. (Org. Chem.) GREEN SAND. This mineral fertilizer, which, in some portions of the United States, has been of such immense service as a manure, and especially in restoring worn-out soils to produc- tiveness, is found in great abundance in certain portions of the Atlantic States. The stratum in which it abounds as the principal ingredient commences in Monmouth county, New Jersey, at the base of the Highlands of Nevesink, and along the shore of the Atlantic from a little north of Long Branch to Shark Inlet. Ranging southwestward, it passes in a wide belt through Monmouth, and gradually contracting, runs parallel with the Delaware river, at a distance of afew miles, to Salem. Itis prolonged across the state of Delaware, in a narrow strip, to the edge of Maryland, where it disappears under the overlapping tertiary formations. The mi- neral shows itself again on the Potomac and through the tide-water region of Virginia, but in a different stratum, in which it forms a less proportion than in the so-called “green marl” of New Jersey and Delaware. The green sand or “ marl” of New Jersey, is the second stratum in the ascending order of the five which compose the upper secondary or cretaceous group of that state. Strictly speaking, says Professor H. D. Rogers, it com- prises several subordinate beds, all belonging, however, to two principal varieties. In the first of these, the green, granular mineral is the predominant and characteristic ingredient. The second consists, on the other hand, of a dark- blue clay, mingled with more or less silicious sand. This latter material constitutes the usual floor upon which the true green sand deposit rests. In New Jersey, between Long Branch and Deal, the marl stratum has been penetrated thirty feet. The upper two feet consist of a green clay, seemingly derived from the disin- tegration of the green grains, intermixed with a large proportion of yellowish-white clay. The main marl-bed, having a thickness of about twenty-six feet, contains several subordinate layers; but all contain a large share of the green grains. Beneath the whole there is a grayish-yellow clay, in which the grains abound; they are remarkably large, and are associated with numerous Casts of shells, “When,” says Professor Rogers, “ we behold a luxuriant harvest, gathered from fields in which the original soil is a kind least of all congenial to yegetation; when we find that all 636 GREEN SAND. this fertility, contrasting so strikingly with the barrenness around il, proceeds from a few granules of a substance sparsely distributed through the enormous and counteracting ex- cess of sea-beach sand, more arid than the soil to which it is applied, are we not led to look with admiration on the potent properties of this curiousiy constituted mineral? The de- velopements of geology are full of instances like this, showing in how many unlooked-for ways the mineral world may be made subser- vient to the good of mankind. “This striking proof of the fertilizing power of the marl ought to encourage those districts not directly within the tract, where same of the strata possess the green granules in a sensible proportion. It expands most materially the limits of the territory where marling may be attempted, and points us to many beds as fer- tilizing, which otherwise would be deemed wholly inefficacious. “There can be no doubt that the agriculture of our seaboard states is destined to derive es- sential benefit from the remarkably wide dis- tribution of this green granular mineral under various geological relationships, besides those in which it presents itself in New Jersey. “Thus the tertiary shell-marls of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, and, I might add, of other states still farther south, contain not un- frequently as high a per centage of the green sand as does the sea-beach sand upon the coast of Monmouth county, New Jersey ; and I may mention that my brother, Professor William B. Rogers, of the University of Virginia, charged with the geological survey of that state, has already done important service to the agricul- ture of some districts, by discovering and call- ing attention to the existence of the green sand in the tertiary strata of Virginia.” “Composition af the green sand.—The predomi- nant and often the sole ingredient in this bed, is a peculiar mineral, occurring always in the form of small, dark granules, about the size of grains of gunpowder. Their form is roundish, and they are often composed of two or three smaller ones united together; a distinctive fea- ture, by which they may at once be recognised from other dark kinds of sand. Though they contain on the ayerage nearly fifty per cent. of silica, they are not gritty, but may be readily bruised between the teeth, or upon the nail; and some varieties, when moistened, admit of being kneaded into a half-plastic mass, lilte impure clay. The prevailing colour of the grains is a deep green, though sometimes the tint is as light as that of verditer. It is often of a dull greenish-blue, and not unfrequently of a dark chocolate colour. “Along the eastern side of the marl tract in Monmouth, Burlington, and Gloucester, the stratum comprises very generally two varieties of the green sand, distinct as to colour, and holding generally the same relative position to each other. The uppermost layer, where it appears (for it is not always present), is of a light and glowing green, having very nearly the hue of the green paint called verditer ; while the lower one is the common dark variety, of a dull bluish-green, or sometimes of a dull blue colour from adhering clay. ‘GREEN SAND. “Tn some instances, particularly where the material constitutes the soil, the granules pos- sess a brownish colour, the consequence evi- ~ dently of the protoxide of iron which they con- tain having undergone upon the surface a change to the condition of the peroxide. The dull colour so usual to the surfaces of these grains, when contrasted with the brighter green within the mass, would appear manifestly to proceed from the same cause. Some shade of green may be pronounced to be the colour es- sential to this mineral, as all the deviations from this tint are attributable either to oxida- tion or to a thin coating of clay, which fre- quently encrusts each grain, and from which the deposit is rarely altogether free. When a mass of the green sand or ‘marl’ is washed, especially with water to which a small quantity of an acid has been added, we invariably find the granules assuming a bright green surface. This colour is also produced in all cases when we mash or bruise a grain, no matter what may be its colour externally. By crushing the grains upon a sheet of white paper, we have an easy and unerring test in the colour of the streak, by which to recognise this material from all other varieties of sand. “Though the green granular mineral here described constitutes the essential and distinc- tive ingredient in the green sand stratum, it rarely exists unassociated with several extra- neous substances, particularly clay and white silicious sand. ‘These constitute sometimes as large a proportion as fifty per cent. of the bed, causing much variety in its external aspect, and influencing materially its properties as an agricultural agent; the sand, which is generally white or semi-transparent quartz, existing usu- ally in relatively small amount, the clayey matter being ordinarily the most abundant. This latter is of several tints, but is commonly of a light gray or lead colour. Itis also occa- sionally chocolate coloured, brown, and even nearly white. Coating frequently the surfaces of the green grains, it conceals their true colour, imparting its own hue to the entire mass. As it is somewhat adherent when moist, it gives to the stratum where it is abundant the character of a partially plastic clay. Besides the white sand and this clayey material, we often find a minute quantity of finely divided mica mingled with the green sand.” (Report of Geologicul Survey of New Jersey.) Professor Rogers gives several analyses of specimens of SO eee ane’ from pits in various parts of the region where this mineral abounds near the surface of the ground. In some of the beds the green sand is mixed with proportions of clay and common quartzose sand, while in others, although ten per cent. of clay may be present, no common sand is per- ceptible. Besides the clay and common sand usually present with the green sand in the ge- neral mass, there occur occasionally several other substances, “which, though comparative- ly minute in quantity, are,” observes Professor Rogers, “ possessed of active properties, Some of these materiajs are probably deleterious, while others are undoubtedly beneficial in their action upon vegetation. The substances re- | ferred to are carbonate of lime, sulphate of iron GREEN SAND. (copperas), sulphate of alumina, sulphate of lime, and sulphate of magnesia; also phosphate of iron. “They appear to be derived, mainly, at least, from constituents in the clay, and only very partially, if at all, from elements in the green sand itself. “The carbonate of lime, in most instances, we ¢an trace to fossil shells and other organic remains, imbedded in the stratum. The sul- phate of iron obviously proceeds from the action of the atmosphere and moisture on the sulphuret of iron,so abundant in the clay; and the sulphate of alumina from the union of a portion of the sulphuric acid thus developed with the argillaceous earth of the clay; while the sulphates of lime and magnesia may result, either from the combination of the same acid with some of the lime and magnesia, sometimes present in a minute share in the green mineral, or, more probably, from its reaction on the car- bonates of lime and magnesia, existing, like the sulphuret of iron, in an insulated state The phosphate of iron is no doubt derived from phosphoric acid, traceable to the animal re- mains, acting on oxide of iron. “Several of these substances develope them- selves upon the mass of the marl after it has been dug and exposed to the atmosphere, in the form of a white efflorescence, encrusting alike the clayey matter and the granules of green sand with a delicate crystallization, resembling a light frost. Collected and carefully examined and analyzed, this efflorescence will be found almost invariably to consist, when it is of a pure white, of either the sulphate of magnesia or sulphate of lime (gypsum), the latter predo. minating; and sometimes these two occur united. In some instances, we recognise it to contain the sulphate of magnesia (Epsom salts) in sufficient quantity to be distinguishable by its taste. A yellowish tint and an astringent flavour are apparent when it consists chiefly of the sulphates of alumina and iron. The carbonate of lime more generally shows itself, not in the shape of an efflorescence on the sur- face, like the others, but dispersed in minute granules throughout the body of the marl. Many of these calcareous granules are grains of dolomite, analogous in composition to the magnesian variety of the limestone, which overlies the green sand; whence, probably, the true source of the sulphate of magnesia above referred to. When the traces of shells are very numerous in the bed, and their conversion into the sulphate of lime has happened on the large scale, the gypsum forms a conspicuous part of a soft, white, clayey matter, derived from the shells and interspersed among the green grains. The mixed mass of carbonate and sulphate of lime is then usually in a yel- lowish-white, chalky condition. Sometimes we may detect the gypsum in the marl in the shape of small regular crystals of transparent selenite, at times so minute as only to be de- tected by the magnifier. “Various fossil shells, and other marine ors ganic remains, amounting to considerably more than one hundred species, are scattered through the green sand. These collections of fossiis would seem to be most abundant in those party 68 GREEN SAND. of the stratum which consist largely of the green sand. “The water, percolating through the overly- ing sands, and also through the pervious green sand itself, has effected, and is daily effecting, important changes in the condition of the shells and other fossils; sometimes replacing their carbonate of lime with oxide of iron, sometimes removing it altogether, and leaving a mere mould, forming either an inner or an outer cast, and sometimes obliterating nearly every trace of their former presence. “The total thickness of the green sand for- mation, estimating it from the bottom of the lowermost layers abounding in the green gra- nular mineral to the overlying yellow ferrugi- nous sands, or the limestone bed, when this is present, may be stated approximately at about one hundred feet. The only place in the whole district where it is practicable to ascertain, with any approach to accuracy, either the depth of the formation, or the relative situation and number of the separate beds which it comprises, is along the shore of Sandy Hook bay, in the cliffs of the Nevesink highlands. This, the only coast section of the strata, is still an im- perfect one; large masses of the upper beds, fallen from above, covering the lower deposits near the water-side. “Owing to the large amount of water which it usually contains, the green sand is rarely penetrated in the numerous diggings which are made in it for the marl, to a greater depth than about twenty feet, the pits becoming at that limit too wet to be prosecuted deeper. “Tn one or two instances, wells have been sunk through the stratum, and the depth of the green sand ascertained to be about thirty feet, as already mentioned. * Specific Gravity—The specific gravity of the green granular mineral, carefully freed from all extraneous adhering matter, is, according to several experiments cautiously made, about 2:65. Three different specimens, taken from remote localities, gave for the two lowest each 2°63; for the highest, 2°70. “The hardness of this mineral varies mate- rially, being dependent somewhat upon the time elapsed after it has been dug: it is softest when mist and recently uncovered. Freshly extracicd, its hardness often does not exceed that of fale; but wnen long uncovered and dry, it nearly equals that of gypsum. “Tt would appear by experiment to be en- tirely insoluble in water, both cold and boiling; but it dissolves with tolerable facility in any of the stronger acids, though different speci- mens vary materially in this respect.” The experience of farmers, continued through neariv half a century, had amply tested the utility of green sand as an active fertilizer when spread upon the ground. Various were the views maintained in regard to its active principles, and much speculation was, as usual, jndulged upon the subject. The demonstra- tion, made first by Mr. Henry Seybert, of Phi- ladelphia, that the green sand of New Jersey contained a considerable amount of potash, seemed to afford a very satisfactory clue by which its mysterious effects might be traced out, 88 GREEN SAND. Chemical composition of Green Sand. From a number of analysis of specimens of this mine- ral, selected with the greatest care by Professor Rogers, and ascertained to be entirely free from extraneous matter, it would seem that it is not quite uniform in its composition, but ex- hibits slight variations in the proportions of its principal constituents. The following re- sults will serve to display the prevailing chemical nature of green sand, and the mode- rate variation of the several ingredients : Green Sand of Sqguankum. Description—Colour, a dark olive-green; granules of a medium size ; it composes 58:36 per cent. of the marl of the upper part of the bed, and 72:36 per cent. of the lower. Composition.—In 100 parts : Silica - - - - = = 51:00 Alumina - - - - - 6°50 Protoxide of iron - - - 21°55 Potash - - - - - 1050 Lime - - - - - - a trace, Magnesia - - - - - 1°08 Water - - - - - 9.00 99.63 Greensand of Freehold, Monmouth County. Description. —Colour of the granules, rich green; size, small; composes 70 per cent. of the upper part of the bed, and 50 per cent. of the lower. Composition.—In 100 parts: Silica - = - - - 50:00 Alumina = - - - - - 7:00 Protoxide of iron - - - 22:00 Potash - - - - - 11°00 Lime - - - - - - 100 Magnesia - - - - - a trace Water - - - - - 9:00 100°00 Green Sand of the Marl of Poke Hill, near Platts burg, Burlington County. Description—Colour of the granules, a rich dark olive-green; their size, rather above the medium; composes 98 per cent. of the marl. Composition.—In 100 parts: Silica - - Alumina -— - =e) <5, 650 Protoxide of iron - - - 2214 Potash - - - - - 12-96 Water - - - - - 7:50 99°85 Comparing the details of the several analy- ses surnished by Professor Rogers, we perceive that the green sand, even when of the greatest purity, is not absoiutely constant, either in the nature of the ingredients which enter into its composition, or in their relative proportions, The per centage of the silica yaries from 47° to 515; that of the alumina from 6 to 9:35; that of the protoxide of iron from 20°86 te 24-74; that of the potash from 9:96 to 12:96; and that of the water from 5°5 to 9:5, We find, moreover, that, in some instances, ber sides these elements, lime enters into the cone stitution of the green sand, in other cases mage nesia; while, occasionally, both occur. The amount of these earths is, however, always in- considerable, It appears that the mean proportion of the silica is approximately 49-5 per cent.; that of the alamina 73; of the protoxide of iron 22°83 of the potash 11:5; and of the water 79 per GREEN SAND. cent.; while the lime, when present, seldom exceeds one-half per cent., and the magnesia is rarely more than a mere trace. A comparison of the green sand of New Jersey with that of France, shows no essential difference in their chemical nature. Green Sand of Havre, in France. Composition.—In. 100 parts: Silica - - = Gs 3e> = 50 Alumina - - - = = BG Protoxide ofiron - - - - 21 Potash - - - - - - 10 Water - - Sty2 = - - ll Loss - - - - - LL 100 The late lamented chemist, Dr. Edward Tur- ner, of London, also examined, with great care, the chemical constitution of the green sand of Kent, in England. His experiments gave, in the 100 parts; Silica - - - - - - 485 Alumina - - - - - 170 Protoxide ofiron- - - - 220. Potash - - - - - - a trace. Magnesia - - - - =p 38 Water - - - - - ae otf 98:3 The absence of potash in the green granules of the English green sand, and the large pro- portion of magnesia, are facts not a little re- markable. Economical relations of the Green Sand forma- tion—Abundant evidence might be adduced to prove that the true fertilizing principle in marl is not lime, but potash. The analyses which have been made give us, in several cases, no lime at all; and where a small proportion of lime is present in the green granular mineral, it is in a combined state, chemically united with the other ingredients, and not traceable to the organic remains which are in many of these instances not present in the stratum. Besides, the quantity of shelly matter, even where the shells are plentiful, is so dispropor- tionately small, and the matter of the shells ofien so firm and unsusceptible of that easy disintegration necessary to form a calcareous marl adapted to act speedily upon the crop, that the striking effects witnessed from the marl can in nowise be attributed to the trivial amount of lime which the shells may occasion- ally furnish to the land. Nevertheless, as some feebly beneficial effects may possibly arise from this source, it may be of service to the agriculturist in choosing between different fossiliferous marls, to attend to the nature of the particular fossils, and the state of more or less decomposition or change in which they are to be found. Selection of Green Sand.—For judging of the quality of a marl by observation, says Professor Rogers, “some familiarity with the multiform aspects which it assumes is indispensable. The leading rule, however, is to bear in mind that the fertilizing efficacy of the compound resides in the minute, round, greenish grains which com- pose most, or sometimes all of it; and that it seems. moreover, to be dependent upon the pro- portion in these green grains of those powerful alkaline stimulants to vegetation, potash and lime, but especially potash. The firstthing, then, GREEN SAND. is to approximate to the relative quantity of the green grains in the whole mass, and this may be effected with a greater or less degree of ac- curacy in several ways. The simplest and readiest method is to employ a small pocket magnifying glass, and to become familiar with the dark green grains, so as to distinguish them at once from other dark varieties of sand which sometimes occur associated with them. A little practice will very soon enable one to use the glass expertly, and to arrive at a pretty true estimate of the probable percentage of the green granules. But as these granules cannot sometimes be distinguished from the grains of ordinary white flinty sand, or from other kinds, in consequence of the particles being all alike coated with a thin film of the dark cementing clay, it will be useful to adopt some method of bringing out, under the magnifier, their differ- ent characteristics of colour and form. Let the mass be washed in a large glass tumbler, and repeatedly agitated with the water, until as much of the clay as possible has been detach- ed from the grains. After pouring off the tur- bid water by repeated rinsings, and permitting it to settle until clear, we may estimate the comparative quantity of clay in different marls by the relative amount of sediment which sub- sides. If we wish to be more accurate, we can weigh out a given quantity of the marl, then pursue the above plan, and decant the clear water from the clay, and after thoroughly drying the clay, weigh it to ascertain its amount. Having got away most of the clay, we should spread out the granular matter upon a sheet of paper and dry it, when there will be no further difficulty in distinguishing, by their colour and lustre, the foreign impurities from the grains of true marl, and also of estimating the relative abundance of each. When the marl to be examined contains much clay, f would re- commend the experiments to be made upon a regularly weighed quantity, weighing both the clayey and the granular portions. A delicate apothecary’s balance will commonly be found accurate enough. Another more expeditious, though less accurate method, is merely to dry the marl, spread it extremely thin upon a sheet of white paper, and then hold it near a win- dow, or in the light, to examine it carefully by the magnifier. The flinty sand, though stained with clay, may then be clearly discerned in consequence of its transparency; whereas, when we inspect a solid lump, all the particles upon the surface are nearly alike dark. “A useful suggestion is, to place a portion of the marl upon a hot shovel, or on the top of a stove, when all the granules will change from their ordinary green tint to a light red or brick colour, while the other materials of the mass sustain little alteration. This will often render obvious to the naked eye the proportion of the green grains. “When there is a yellowish or whitish in- crustation upon the marl after the moist sur- face has remained for some time exposed to the weather, it is indicative of the existence of a portion of either copperas or sulphate of alu- mina, the hurtful nature of which has already been explained. “ An astringent inky taste will very often de 3D 589 GREEN SAND. tect the presence of these noxious substances at times when no such efflorescence shows it- self. If the quantity be too small to betray them distinctly to the palate, and we are still in doubt as to their presence, other more rigorous tests are within our reach; and as these astringent matters are so unquestionably pernicious in their action, it is of importance to have the means of determining in what pro- portion they abound in different marls. This can be effected with precision only by a sys- tematic chemical analysis, but their existence can be made to appear by the following simple tests. Put a small portion of the marl ina flask or other thin glass vessel; pour upon it some pure water, and heat it moderately ; after causing the water to dissolve in this way as much as possible, remove the heat, and let it settle; then decant the clear fluid into some glass vessel, such as a wine-glass. If there is any copperas present, it will be evident upon adding to the fluid a little lime water, which will produce a milky turbidness that after a little while will become stained of a yellowish- brown colour. The milkiness is owing to the formation of gypsum, and the brown colour to oxide of iron from the copperas. Or, in lieu of this, add a solution of oak bark, and, if cop- peras be present, we shall have a dark inky colour at once produced. “A good marl will, upon being squeezed in the hand, fall asunder again, rather than bake into a tough doughy mass; and upon being left in heaps to dry, will assume a light gray- ish-green colour, and be extremely crumbly. It seems to be a very general characteristic of the better class of marls, that they throw out a white efflorescence or crust upon those grains which are most exposed to the air; hence the very light colour externally which some heaps of marl possess. This crust I have already shown to consist usually of the sul- phate of lime (gypsum), sulphate of magnesia, and carbonate of lime. A drop or two of strong vinegar, or any strong acid, will.pro- duce an effervescence or frothing, if it be the carbonate of lime; and should nothing of this kind take place, we may set it down to be gypsum. Of course, from the minuteness of the quantity of the white coating, much care and accuracy of observation are demanded in doing this, in order to avoid erroneous con- clusions. “Marls deemed equally good with the kind showing the efflorescence, very frequently occur, exhibiting none of the white incrus- tation. “Tt does not seem that any general rule can be given for distinguishing the fertilizing pro- perties of a marl by its mere colour, as it must appear from what has been said, that the pe- culiar shade of colour is frequently owing to the colour of the intermingled clay. When the mass, however, is comparatively free from clay or common sand, and consists of little else than the green sand, observations go to show that the rather dark green variety is more potent in its effects than the very light green which sometimes overlies it. “The presence or absence of shells I look upon to be a point of but little moment, for I 590 GREEN SAND. find that several of the most active marls in the region show no traces of fossils. The whole amount of carbonate of lime in the shape of fossils, and in that of the occasional white incrustation upon the grains, can in very few instances amount to 1 per cent.; while, as analysis shows, the lime chemically com- bined with the other ingredients in the green grains, is sometimes 1 per cent. and the pot- ash nearly 12 per cent.” Professor Hitchcock, in his Elementary Geology, has given the following tabular view of the analysis of specimens of green sand from different countries: French Massachu- | New Jersey een sand, | English sand, by] setts sand, | sand, by y M. Ber-| Prof. Turner. | by Dr. L.S,| Professor H. thier, Dana. D. Rogers, Silica - 500 48°5 56°700 49°27 Protoxide of iron - 21:0 22:0 20°100 24°67 Alumina - 70 17-0 13°520 771 Water - 110 7-0 7-000 591 Potassa - 10:9 traces, = 9:99 Lime’ - = 5 1624 5:08 Magnesia - - 3:8 1176 Manganese = traces, loss.| 0-080 Application and effects of Green Sand.—The resemblance in composition of green sand to glass, each being composed mainly of silex and potash, is striking. The investigations of Liebig demonstrated the indispensable impor- tance to the growth of many plants, and espe- cially to wheat, of silex and potash in that state of commixture called by chemists sili- cate of potash. He even went so far as to de- clare an opinion that one of the best of ma- nures that could be applied to the wheat crop would be a solution of glass. In making this admirable induction, he was, apparently, una ware of the fact that a natural kind of glass, o1 Silicate of potash, under the form of green sand, had been long spread over the American fields with the most striking advantages to the growth of wheat and other crops. The effects of green sand applied as a ma- nure, are strongly set forth in the following extracts from Professor H. D. Rogers’s Report of his Geological Survey of New Jersey : : “Mr. Woolley manured a piece of land in the proportion of 200 loads of good stable manure to the acre, applying upon an adjacent tract of the same soil his marl in the ratio of about 20 loads per acre. The crops, which were timo- thy and clover, were much heavier upon the section which had received the marl; and there was this additional fact greatly in favour of the fossil manure over the putrescent one, that the soil was also entirely free from weeds, while the stable manure had rendered its own crop very foul. Ete “This green sand stratum at Poplar Swamp seems to be almost entirely free from any sul- phate of iron or other astringent material, and as a consequence the crops seem not to be scorched by an extra dose, however lavishly applied. “There can be no doubt that 20 loads of marl per acre must be regarded as an unne- cessarily bountiful dressing; but computing the relative cost of the two manures, when employed in the ratio above stated, we finda GREEN SAND. considerable disparity in favour of the green sand. Placing the home value of farm-yard manure at 100 cents for each two-horse load, and that of the marl at 25 cents per load, we have the expense of manuring one acre $200; of marling the same $5. “This being an experiment, an extravagantly large dressing of manure was employed, but not exceeding the usual average application more than the 20 loads of marl surpassed what was necessary. “Experience has already shown that land once amply marled retains its fertility with little diminution for at least 10 or 12 years, if care be had not to crop it too severely ; while with all practicable precaution the stable ma- nure must. be renewed at least three times in that interval to Maintain in the soil a corres- ponding degree of vigour. “At the Squankum pits, which are very ex- tensive, the marl is sold at the rate of 374 cents the load, the purchasers having to dig it. It is transported by wagons to a distance, in some directions, of 20 miles, and retailed, when hauled that far, at the rate of 10, or even 124 cents per bushel, being very profitably spread upon the soil in the small proportion of 25 or even 20 bushels to the acre.” This is certainly a strong proof of the high estimation in which green sand is held as a manure by the prudent and thrifty farmers of New Jersey. Professor Booth, in the report of his geolo- gical survey of the state of Delaware, has given much highly interesting information in regard to green sand. In all essential particu- lars, the marl-beds found in Newcastle county resemble those of New Jersey described by Professor Rogers. “Practically speaking,” says Prof. Booth, “there are two principal kinds of green sand, that containing lime as an essential ingredient, and that consisting chiefly of green particles. The former contains variable quantities of carbonate of lime, the highest limit yet ob- served being twenty-five per cent. The ave- yage composition of the latter, in its natural : and selected, may be thus expressed: ” Unselected. Selected. 58 50 Silica - - Potassa - - a : 7 10 Protoxide ofiron - - 22 223 lumina - - - 5 7 Water - - - - 8 103 100 100 The first is either cretaceous, containing finely divided carbonate of lime not formed by com- minuted shells, and occurring on the canal; or decomposed calcareous, on the western limit of the state, from which the calcareous matter has been wholly or partially removed, although abounding in casts of shells; or shelly green sand, on the southern line of St. George’s hun- dred, in which there is no fine calcareous mat- ter but that of comminuted shells. The second contains mere traces of lime, and consists of green sand particles, with variable quantities of clay and common sand, and is either bluish- green, and of the finest quality, as found on Drawyer’s and Silver Run; or yellowish-green, containing white silicious sand, as on Draw- GREEN SAND. yer’s and the Appoquinimink; or black-eo loured, decomposed externally, rarely interna.- ly, and containing both white sand and argil- laceous matter, from Silver Run to Scott’s Run; or dark-coloured, and containing pyrites, as from the south-west corner of St. George’s hundred, and along the ridge to the Deep-cut; or, lastly, the blue micaceous sand of the Deep- cut, rarely containing particles of green sand, although abounding with casts and impressions of shells characteristic of the green sand for- mation. We have seen that the yellow sand is the principal member of the series, both over and underlying the green sand; that it is characterized by its uniformity of grain and colour, and, rising to the surface, constitutes the chief and most valuable soil of the region. We farther observe that the green sand stratum is undulating, and varies in its depth, the ave- rage thickness being 21 feet, from which we may form a rough estimate of the amount con- tained in the whole district. It is 7 miles long, and nearly 6; broad, and therefore embraces about 44 square miles. Deducting from this one-quarter for the place where it fines out, and for streams, ravines, &c., we have 33 square miles underlaid by green sand. There are then 102,220,800 square yards, which mul- tiplied by 7 yards, the average thickness, gives 715,545,600 cubic yards of green sand in Dela- ware. Supposing, then, that the 1-100th part of it is accessible, we have more than 7,000,000 cubic yards which may be made available. In a majority of cases, the flowing of water into the pits presents a source of inconvenience that may be remedied without great difficulty, and with a trifling expense, compared with the value of the material.” Upon the subject of the fertilizing properties of green sand, Professor Booth makes the fol- lowing highly interesting observations : “When it is decomposed by the ordinary processes of the laboratory, only a small quan- tity of silica and all the other constituents being dissolved, we may regard the oxide of iron, potassa, and alumina as performing the prin- cipal functions, assisted by the presence of water. The useful action of potash or of ashes in the soil has been long acknowledged, and hence, as soon as it was known that the green sand contained potassa, its utility was imme- diately referred to that alkali; latterly, how- ever, the opinion has gained ground that the protoxide of iron plays an important part by acting with the organic matter in the soil, in a manner resembling the saponification of oil by potash. “The addition of much unleached ashes to a soil determines the formation of salts of potas- sa, which, being very soluble, are taken up in excess by growing plants, and produce such luxuriant vegetation as to cause it, technically speaking, to burn up. The same operation would probably occur with protoxide of iron, were its salts not soon converted into more in- soluble humate and crenate of the peroxide. “Tt might be objected by many that ereen sand being decomposed with difficulty by the powerful acids of the laboratory, \here is little probability that it can be resolved into its con- stituents by the feeble action of humic or at 591 GREEN SAND. mospheric agents. Independently, however, of the proof of its decomposition by its induc- ing increased fertility, and of the mode by which nature, operating with feeble agents during a Jengthened period of time, produces great results, it may be shown that it is more readily decomposed than is generally admitted. William M. Uhler, in conjunction with the author of this memoir, has lately been engaged in making a series of experiments on this sub- ject, which, although incomplete, nevertheless afford sufficient grounds for drawing a few conclusions. Dilute acetic acid decomposed green sand after the lapse of a week or more; oxalic acid produced the same result in a few days, and in the course of two weeks nearly all the green sand had disappeared, and the yellow oxalate of iron precipitated. But the most surprising effects were produced by the action of carbonic acid, one of the feeblest known to the chemist, the use of which for this purpose was first proposed by Mr. Charles Ro- berts, of Philadelphia. By a well-charged so- lution of this acid a large portion of the sand was decomposed in a few days, and a weak solution induced the same effects in the course of a few weeks. Although few experiments were made to determine quantitatively the re- lative amounts of the constituents taken up by the acids, yet the qualitative tests were sufli- cient to show that all the ingredients were se- parated from each other, and that the green sand might be analyzed even by the feeble operation of carbonic acid. “As the present state of our knowledge of these subjects is limited when compared with that advanced stage which we firmly believe chemistry will produce in process of time, it would be presumption to make unhesitating assertions relative to the modus operandi of organic and inorganic manures; we may, ne- vertheless, and indeed we ought to draw such inferences as are consistent with our present knowledge of facts. The potassa of the green sand appears to act on organic matter in the soil by catalysis forming soluble salts of po- tassa; the protoxide of iron acts in a similar manner, but is itself changed to a less soluble compound; and the alumina probably has a similar action, proportional to its feeble affini- ty.. To the question that, since potassa acts in this manner, why does not a large quantity of green sand produce excessive luxuriance? it may be answered, that it does where the quan- tity is very large, but that its action is modified and extenuated by the difficulty with which the marl is decomposed, and by the presence of other bases besides potassa. When green sand is decomposed by nature or in the laboratory, a small quantity of silica is taken up, and even this substance, by forming a salt with crenic acid, may assist in increasing fertility, as it is an essential constituent of plants. “There are two points touching the theory cf the operation of green sand, which remain to be noticed, the first of which is, that when its decomposition has commenced, it advances in an increasing ratio; and the second, that the constituents of green sand in their nascent state, that is, at the moment of their disengage- ment from the compound, act with much | 592 GREEN SAND. greater energy. Thus it would appear, then, that all the constituents of the marl exercise an influence in promoting vegetation; and this action must take place in proportion to their respective affinities, potassa being the most powerful, followed by lime, magnesia, protox- ide of iron, alumina, and silica; that the first four assist in the generation of organic acids, with which they and a small portion of alumina and silica combine to form salts of different degrees, but generally of difficult solubility, which nourish and invigorate nascent vegeta- tion; that by the presence of a large portion of bases which will form salts of difficult solu- bility, a more prolonged and healthy action is insured. “The above remarks relative to the mode of operation of marl, apply equally to the seve- ral varieties, as far as relates to the content of green grains, but the calcareous species owe their action partly to lime, in proportion as its carbonate exists in the marl. When phosphate of iron occurs in quantity, some notice must be taken of its probable influence, for in regard to it, we can only reason from theory, since it has never been applied directly to land, with the view of ascertaining its effects on vegeta- tion. It appears from the analyses of Berthier, that both phosphate of lime and of iron exist in appreciable quantity in the ashes of plants; for, in the composition of oak ashes, he divides the 7 per cent. of phosphoric acid between lime and iron in such a manner as to form nearly 14 per cent. of phosphate of lime, and + per cent. of phosphate of iron; and in other cases he gives the amount of the salt of iron as high as 9 per cent.; and we believe from experience that the utility of bone manure is largely due to its phosphate of lime; and hence we may infer that the marl alluded to may be serviceable, or even very valuable, from its phosphate of iron; and that if it were mingled with a little lime, where it is wanting in the marl, the atmospheric and humic agents, if the expression be allowed, will cause such a trans- mutation of the constituents as to bring both phosphates to exert their influence in advane- ing the growth of plants. It would appear un- necessary to add lime, when there is already a small quantity in the marl, were it not that there is still another substance mentioned as occurring chiefly in the marl of the dividing ridge and deep cut. This substance is the sulphuret of iron, the presence of which is shown by the large amount of white efflores- cence with which it becomes coated after ex- posure to the air, precisely similar to those pits where it is observed in pieces of considerable size. After the marl has been exposed to the air for a short time, a whitish efflorescence forms on its surface, which has a strong styp- tic taste, and is the sulphate of iron, formed from the sulphuret; but the snow-white efflo- rescence is chiefly sulphate of lime, or plaster. Now, the latter marl contains lime, and the former does not; and hence this operation of nature in the formation of plaster from sulphu- ret of iron points out to us the manner of at- taining the same result, viz., by mixing with marl which exhibits an efflorescence after ex- posure to the air, a quantity of lime sufficient GREEN SAND. to convert all the sulphuret of iron into sul-| phate of lime; for if this be not done, the sul- phate of iron, or copperas, will be formed, which is known to be prejudicial to vegetation. The quantity required for this purpose will vary with the amount of sulphuret of iron: where the efflorescence is light, one bushel of lime to 100 of marl will be amply sufficient; and where it is abundant, it may be necessary to use two, three, or four to the 100 of marl. If the green sand contain already a portion of lime, a smaller quantity will be required. The best method of applying it will be to remove the marl from the pit to any convenient adjoin- ing spot, to form a stratum not more than two feet thick, and, after it has been exposed to the air for two weeks or a month, to cover it over with slaked limesAfter exposure to one or two rains, it may then be most thoroughly mixed by passing a plough through it, or digging it down with the spade. “In what manner and in what quantity should the green sand be applied? All varie- ties of the marl are more or less compact, when freshly extracted from the pit, and if applied in such a state, would be unequally distributed over the soil; and hence the first precaution is to suffer it to be exposed to the air for a few days, according to its compactness or tenacity, in order that it may crumble to powder, if pos- sible: for the finer the pulverization, as shown of lime, the greater will be the immediate be- nefit. There is another advantage attending this delay, that we may then observe the efflo- rescence, and obviate its ill effects by lime. Indeed, in a majority of cases, the addition of lime in small quantity will prove serviceable, since it is generally wanting in the pure green varieties, and yet it is an important requisite in the fixed constituents of vegetables. The most economical method of applying the marl as above proposed, will be to cart it from the pits immediately into the fields to which it is to be applied, to throw it into heaps at conve- nient distances for spreading, and then to put a small quantity of lime on each heap, which should remain exposed to the air for a longer time. In regard to the quantity to be applied, a variety of opinions exist; and hence from 50 to 1000 bushels per acre have been tried, with and without success. A little attention to the theory of its operation will enable us to epproximate to the true proportion. Its strong Lases appear to act on the organic matter in the soil, and to combine with it; hence it would be useless to apply a large quantity to a poor and light soil, for which 60 to 100 bushels would suffice; but a clayey soil would be ren- dered looser by it; and as there is usually more organic matter present in such a case, from 100 to 200 may be employed with advan- tage. Where the land is already of good qua- lity, from 200 to 500 may be used, according to its richness and tenacity. Many persons believe that because one kind of marl is infe- rior to another, a much larger quantity will be required; but the truth is, that the differences, although important, are less so than is gene- rally believed, and should not lead to the em- ployment of quantities greater than have just GREYHOUND. of marl will be shown to be striking on ordina- ry, and even on very poor land, yet it is essen- tial that the soil should contain a fair propor- tion of organic matter, in order to reap the highest benefit from it. Hence the failure of some experiments made with the green sand; for, although it stands superior to lime in re- quiring the presence or addition of less organic manure, still the views offered to explain its mode of action show the necessity of some or- ganic materials on which to operate, and this conclusion is strengthened by experience. “The difficulty of overcoming prejudice is clearly exemplified in the progressive employ- ment of green sand in Delaware. One of the first experiments made with it in St. George’s hundred may probably be dated as far back as the year 1826, when a small quantity was drawn out from the site of the canal. One spot of ground where this was applied was observed in 1837 on the farm of James Wilson, eleven years after its application; and although that soil had received no other assistance, a luxuriant growth of corn clearly pointed out the limit to which it had been spread.” The cost of the green sand marl at the pits, where these beds lie near the surface, is com- paratively trifling, so that it can be raised and hauled to the distance of a mile or two for three cents per bushel, and yield a small pro- fit. Its weight is very great, owing principally to the large proportion of iron contained. Re- ference to its specific gravity (2°63—2-70), as determined by Professor Rogers, shows it to be nearly three times heavier than the same bulk of a measure of water, a bushel weighing from 110 to 120 lbs. This, of course, causes its transportation to be expensive, except where facilities for water carriage are at hand. For fields worn out by long culture, the green sand is generally found of immediate and per- manentadvantage. Undersuchcircumstances every successive crop having removed from the soil a portion of the potash which existed in abundance in the first years of its culture, the absence of this essential agent of fertility has been supplied by the green sand. Where ashes have been formerly applied freely, it is need- less to expect much apparent benefit, and the same may be said where the soil is already duly supplied with potash from the decompo- sition of feldspar, or mica, all of which contain proportions of potash which they contribute to the soil. Hence the source of frequent failures in deriving advantage from the application of green sand. GREYHOUND. This is one of the principal coursing agents, being a dog remarkable for his swiftness, strength, and sagacity, in pursu- ing game. There are several varieties, such as the Ita- lian, the Oriental, and the Highland greyhound; the last of which is now become exceedingly scarce. A good greyhound ought to have a long and rather large body, a neat pointed head, sparkling eyes, a long mouth, with sharp teeth, small ears, formed of a thin cartilage; 2 broad and strong chest; his fore legs straight and short, his hind legs long and limber ; broad shoulders, round ribs, muscular buttocks, but heen enumerated. Notwithstanding the effects | not fat, and a long tail, strong and full of si 75 302 693 GRIP. news. (Treatise on Greyhounds.) As it is out of our province, in a work of this nature, to treat at large of coursing and its agents, we must refer the sportsman who wishes for de- tailed information on the points of a good grey- hound, and on breeding, feeding, &c., to that excellent manual of reference for all matters relating to the chase, Blaine’s Encyclopedia of Rural Sports, a very learned and carefully ar- ranged work, digested and compiled by a mas- ter hand. GRIP. A small gutter, or ditch, cut across a field, to drain it. When cut for draining, it is mostly called a water or draining furrow. A good method of draining meadow or sward- land, by grips, is that of cutting out the pieces in a somewhat wedge-like form, taking off the bottom part, and then replacing them, by which means, a hollow is left below, for permitting the water to flow off. Grip is also provincially used to signify the hollow or cavity behind the cattle, in cow- houses or cattle-sheds, into which the dung and urine is discharged. These cavities should always be sunk about 8, 10, or 12 inches below the surface on which the cattle stand. GRIPES, or COLIC. We have found that, in the absence of a veterinary surgeon in this dangerous complaint, the following is the best remedy for a horse:—14 pint of linseed oil, 14 ounce of laudanum, given in a little warm gruel. Some persons assist the operation of the above with a glyster composed of 4 lb. of epsom salts, 4 lb. of treacle, dissolved in three quarts of warm water. See Carrie, and Sueee, Diseases or. GRIT. Hard sandstone, employed for mill- stones and grindstones, pavement, &c. GRITS. See Groarts. GROATS. In agriculture, are the small grains formed from oats after having the husks or shells taken off the grain. When crushed, they are called Embden groats. Gruel made from groats is a mild, little nutritive, easily digested food, well adapted for cases of fever and inflammation. An ounce of groats should make a quart of gruel; the mixture should be constantly stirred during the boiling; and when cold, the clear liquor poured off from the sedi- ment. Sugar or lemon juice may be added if circumstances admit of such additions. GROMWELL; GRAY MILLET (Lithosper- mum, from lithos a stone, and sperma a seed. ‘The little nuts or seeds being extremely hard, and having a surface as smooth as a polished pebble). Of this herbaceous perennial plant there are four indigenous species in England. 1. The common gromwell (L. officinale), gro- mill, gray-mill, or gray millet, for it has various local names, which grows in dry, gravelly, or chalky soils, and frequently amongst rubbish and ruins, blowing pale buff flowers, in May and June. The root is tapering, strong, and whitish. The whole herb rough with minute, close, callous bristles. The stem is annual, nearly two feet high, branched and leafy. The leaves are sessile, alternate, grayish-green,ovate or lanceolate. 'The seeds are gray, with a kind of porcelain polish, and a stony hardness ; whence they have been falsely reported to con- taiz calcareous earths, effervescing with acids. | 594 GROUND-NUT. These seeds afford excellent flour, which might in times of scarcity be converted into bread. 2. Corn gromwell. See Basrarp AtKaner. 3. Creeping or purple gromwell (LZ. purpuro cerulewm). A rare plant, found occasionally in thickets on a chalky soil. 4, Sea gromwell (L. maritimum), growing in many parts of the coasts of Scotland and the north of England on the sea-shore among sand or loose stones. The whole herb is remarkable for its beautiful glaucous hue. (Eng. Flor. vol. i. p. 254.) The field lithospermum, or stoneweed, a worth- less plant, is the only species described by Dr. Darlington, as found in Pennsylvania. There are five or six additional species in the United States. (Flora Cestrica.) GROOM (Flem. grom,a boy). A name now usually applied to servants who are employed about horses. The chief requisites in a groom are, a mild disposition, and a fondness for the animals of which he has thecare. Great atten- tion is also necessary to the feeding, dressing, littering, and keeping horses clean. These different operations should be daily executed with regularity and exactness. The stable, as well as the various articles that belong to it, should also always be kept clean and in per- fect order. GROUND CHERRY (Physealis viscosa), clammy viscosa. The specific name of this American plant is derived from the Greek word Physa, a bladder or bag, in allusion to its in- flated calyx, or seed-pod. It is found in fields, fence-rows, &c., where, in the Middle States, it flowers in July. The root is annual, the stem growing 12 to 18 inches high, with spreading branches. Leaves 2 to 4 inches long, and 2 to3 inches wide, roundish ovate or obtuse. Flower greenish-yellow, with purplish-brown spots at the base. The berry succeeding the flower is roundish, viscid, enclosed in the inflated calyx, and of a greenish-yellow colour, and when fully mature, orange. The flower stems are very hairy. The ripe berries of one of the more hairy varieties of the ground cherry (P.Pennsylvanica), are orange-coloured, more succulent than some others, and rather palatable. (Flora Cestrica.) GROUND IVY. See Atenoor. GROUND-NUT (Apios tuberosa. From apios a pear, in allusion to its pear-shaped tubers) sometimes called wild bean. An American plant, growing in the Middle States, having a perennial root, producing oval tubers half an inch or more in diameter at the base of the stem. The stem is from 4 to 8 feet long, slender, striate, slightly hairy, sparingly branched, and climbing. The flower blooms in August, is of a dingy purple with tinges of green, rather handsome and pleasantly fra- grant. The tubers on the roots are esculent and nutricious, and the plant has been con- sidered an object worthy of culture. It is the only species of the genus. (Flora Cestrica.) Another plant producing a ground nut is the Arachis hypogea. Thisis an annual plant, with long, trailing stalks. A native of Mexico, but now cultivated in the West Indies for its nuts, which are oblong, and grow beneath the sur- face. These are used by the negroes as food. But in France they are now cultivated for the GROUNDSEL. ~ abundance of the oil they produce. This is said to be equally as valuable, for the table and other purposes, as the oil of olives, and supe- rior to that for burning. A bushel of the nuts produces by cold expression a gallon of oil; but more may be produced by heat, but of a quality inferior, (Am. Orchardist.) GROUNDSEL, or RAGWORT (Senecio). An extensive genus of plants, many of the species of which are very ornamental. Of this genus Sir John Smith includes ten species as indigenous to England, four only of which, however, come properly under the head ground- sel. The remainder are referred to under the name of Racworr, by which name they are generally known. Common groundsel, or Simson (S. vulgaris), grows almost everywhere in cultivated or waste grounds, in rubbish, dry banks, the tops of walls, &c.; it flowers almost all the year. It is too well known to need description. Cage birds (particularly goldfinches and linnets) are fed with the young buds, seeds, and leaves, which are cooling, and have a saltish herba- ceous flavour. Cows do not relish this plant; it is, however, eaten by goats and swine, but refused by horses and sheep. A weak infusion of groundsel is in England a common purge; a strong infusion or juice is used as an emetic, and sometimes given to horses to free them from bots. All the groundsels are annual. Fifteen or sixteen species of senecio are found in the United States, of which Dr. Dar- lington met with fourin Pennsylvania. These are:—l. The golden; 2. The obovate, which in New York is called squaw-weed, and de- nounced as poisonous to sheep. 3. Balsamita- like, common groundsel. 4. Fireweed, or hie- racium-leaved. This plant is remarkable for its prevalence in newly cleared grounds, espe- cially around spots where brushwood has been burned; whence it derives its name of fire-weed. GRUB. The common name for worms or maggots, hatched from the eggs of beetles. Under the name of gentles, grubs are a prin- cipal bait to the angler for many kinds of fish. The grub produces the beetle, and is by some called the rook-worm, because rooks are par- ticularly fond of it. Land newly brought into cultivation is generally most subject to the grub. The best way of destroying it is by good and frequent ploughings, and the applica- tions of lime in pretty large proportions in its caustic or most active state, or common salt. Irrigation is also very beneficial, as tending to destroy grubs. See Bezrzzs and Insxcrs. GRUBBER, or CULTIVATOR. See Har- now and Scanirizr. GUANO. The name of a manure recently imported for the first time into England, which has long been extensively employed by the cultivators of Peru to fertilize their sterile sandy places—lands, on which occasionally there is a total absence of rain for many months. This manure is the excrements of sea-birds, and, like that produced by all animals feeding on animal food, is of a very powerful description. It exists, according to M. Hum- boldt, in the greatest abundance in some of the small rocky islands of the Pacifie Ocean, as at Chinche, Ilo, Iza, and Arica. Even when GUANO. | Humboldt wrote, some 20 years since, 50 ves- |sels were annually loaded with the guano at | Chinche alone, each trader carrying from 1500 to 2000 cubic feet. The guano is found on the surface of these islands, in strata of several feet in thickness, and is, in fact, the putrefying excrements of innumerable sea-fowl that re- main on them during the breeding season. It is used by the farmers of Peru chiefly as a manure for the maize or Indian corn, and it is said sometimes in the small proportion of about 1 cwt. peracre. “The date of the dis- covery of the guano and of its introduction as a manure,” says Mr. Winterfeldt, “is un- known, although no doubt exists of its great antiquity. In many parts of America, where the soil is volcanic or sandy, no produce would be obtained without the guano. It has been calculated that from 12,000 to 14,000 cwts. are annually sold in the port of Mollendo for the use of the country round the city of Arequipa. In the province of Taracapa and in the valleys of Tambo and Victor the consumption should be something more, as wheat, all kinds of fruit, trees and plants, with the single exception of the sugarcane, are manured with the guano; which is not the case with the district of Are- quipa, where maize and the potato alone re- quire it. In the district of Arequipa 3 ewts. of guano is spread over an extent of 5000 square yards (about an English acre); but in Taracapa and the valleys of Tambo and Victor, 5 cwts. are required. The land thus manured in Arequipa produces 45 for 1 of potatoes, and 35 for 1 of maize, where wheat manured with horse dung produces only 18.” There are, it seems, three varieties of guano, which bear on the coast of Peru different prices. “The white guano is considered the most valuable, as being fresher and purer. It is found on nearly all the islands along the coast. The red and dark gray are worth 2s. 3d. the ewt.; a higher price is given for the white on account of its greater scarcity; it is sold at the port of Mollendo at 3s. 6d. per cwt., and at times, as during the war, it has obtained as high a price as 12s. It appears, in the state in which it has been lately introduced into England, to be a fine brown or fawn-coloured powder, emitting a strong marine smell: it blackens when heated, and gives off strong ammoniacal fumes. When nitric acid is mixed with it, uric or lithic acid is produced. It has been analyzed by various chemists. In 1806, an analysis of a very ela- borate description was published by MM. Four- croy and Vauquelin; they found in it a fourth of its weight of uric acid, partly saturated with ammonia and partly with potash. Some phos- phate of lime and ammonia, and small quanti- ties of sulphate and muriate of potash, a little fatty matter, and a portion of sand. It has been more recently analyzed by Mr. Hennell of Apo- thecaries’ Hall, who found in guano — Parts, Bone earth - - - - =i, = - 30:5 Sulphates and muriates - - = = 3 Uric or lithie acid - - =) See = - 15 Carbonate of ammonia - - = = 3 =e? Matters volatile at 212°, consisting chiefly of water and carbonate of ammonia - - - = Other organic matters - - = = = - 3643 100 595 GUANO. It has also been analyzed by Mr. Brett of Liverpool, who found in 100 parts— Parts. Earthy insoluble salts, chiefly phosphate of lime — 29°2 Soluble salts, fixed alkaline, sulphate, and mu- riate - - - - - - = - = ASS Organic matter - - ECPM thie - - 683 The organic matter consists of— Lithicacid - - - = - - - = 161 Ammonia - - - - - - - - 87 Other organic matter and moisture - - - 43°5 *68'3 The composition of guano varies, however, considerably. According tothe analyses of MM. Voelckel and Klaproth, the varieties which they examined contained— Voelckel. © Klaproth. P Parts. arts. Urate of ammonia - 9 16 10°6 ee 2 —) cooeo8 Oxalate oflime - - Phosphate of ammonia ammonia, and magnesia Sulphate of potass - - - soda - - - Chloride of sodium (common salt) ammonia - - - Phosphate of lime - - - Clayandsand - - - - = Undetermined organic substances, of which about 12 per cent. is soluble in water, a small quantity of soluble saltofiron, water - = - - . = 32°53 28°75 In a few words, it may be regarded as a com- pound of urate of ammonia and other salts. There is no doubt but that it is a very power- ful manure; the very composition of its salts would indicate this fact. Thus, uric or lithic acid, which is a fine white powder, nearly in- soluble in water (1720 parts of water only dis- solving 1 part of uric acid), is composed, ac- cording to Dr. Prout (Thomson’s Chem. vol. ii. p. 187), of— Oxalate of ammonia - - - - te i ie Sot mT Iaewowag om noo Parts. Hydrogen - - - - - 0125 Carbon - - - - - 2/250 Nitrogen or azote - - - 1750 Oxygen - - - --— = 1500 5°625 Urate of ammonia and urate of potash are fine white powders, also very insoluble in water: of the phosphate of lime, of the guano, the earthy salt, and most valuable portions of bones, it is unnecessary to comment; I have, in my work “On the Fertilizers, p. 136,” en- deavoured to show how essentially valuable this salt is to all the farmer’s commonly culti- vated crops. The use of the dung of birds is not a modern improvement, for that of poultry has been adopted as a manure from a very early period. M. P. Cato, the earliest of the agricultural writers, in his work, (lib. Ixxxvi.) commends the use of pigeons’ dung for mea- dows, corn-lands, or gardens. And John Wor- lidge, in 1669, was warm in the praise of the dung of fowls. Pigeons’ or hens’ dung,” he says (Myst. of Agr.71), “is incomparable: one load is worth ten loads of other dung, and is theref>re usually sown on wheat or barley that lieth far off and is not easy to be helped.” And he says, in another place, “A flock of wild geese had pitched upon a parcel of green wheat, and had eaten it up clean, and sat there- * Fo these 1. am indebted to Mr. M‘Donald, of St. Mil- dved s Court, Lendon, a considerable importer of the gino 596 GUANO. on, and dunged it several nights; that the owner despaired of having any crop that year; but the contrary happened, for he had a far richer stock of wheat there than any of his neighbours ad.” In some experiments made by Mr. Skirving of Walton, near Liverpool, in 1841, the guano was tried at the rate of two or three cwts. per acre, as a manure for Swedish turnips and Italian rye-grass, with very considerable suc- cess; it appeared to be equally, or rather more, efficacious than 20 cubic yards per acre of farm-yard manure. The most elaborate set of experiments upon the guano with which I am acquainted were made, in 1810, for potatoes and mangel-wurzel, at the island of St. Helena, by the late General Beatson; and they are the more valuable from being comparative. The soil on which these experiments were made was rather stiff, being composed of blackish mould, intermixed with friable fat clay. The following table gives the results of every experiment: 35 loads of horse- dung litter per acre were used, 35 of hogs’ dung litter, and 35 bushels per acre of the guano. 1, With potato seed the size of walnuts, planted whole— Six inches deep. Bushels, Guano - - - - - - 554 Horsedung - - - - = 583 Pigs’ dung - - - = = 447 Soil simple - - - = - 895 Three inches deep. Guano - - - - - al SRY Horse dung - - - = - 479 Pigs’ dung - - = S - 414 Soilsimple - - = = = ae 2. Large potatoes cut in pieces. Six inches deep. Guano - - =) 6s - - 589 Horse dung - - = & - 531 Pigs’ dung - - - = - 466 Soil simple - - - - 408 Three inches deep. Guano - - - - - - 557 Horse dung - - - a - 511 Pigs’ dung - - - = - 375 Soilsimple - - - - - 414 3. From middle eye of potato seed scooped out. Siw inches deep. Bushela, Guano - - - - - - 576 Horse dung - - - = - 563 Pigs’ dung - - - - = 485 Soilsimple - - - - - 337 Three inches deep. Guano - - - - - - 453 Horse dung - - - = - 382 Pigs’ dung - - - - - 485 Soil simple - - - - - 343 4. With small potatoes planted whole. Six inches deep. Bushels. Guano - - - - - = 638 Horsedung - - - - = 583 Pigs’ dung - - - - - 544 Soilsimple - - - - - 570 Three inches deep. Guano - - = = S - 557 Horsedung - - - - - 414 Pigs’ dung - - - - - 440 Soilsimple - - - - - 440 GUANO. The total comparative produce in lbs. of potatoes from these manures was therefore— Guano, or sea-fowl dung, at 35 bushels per acre - 639 Horse dung, 35 cart loads per acre - - - 626 Hogs’ dung, 35 cart loads per acre - - - 534 Soilsimple = - - = « = =, = - 446 With mangel-wurzel the produce per acre on a similar soil was as follows :— Leaves. Roots. tons, tons. Soilsimple = - - - - - - 38 194 Hogs’s dung and ashes, 360 bushels per acre - - =) | fonin=ailhcne ca Jel 664 Guano, 35 bushels per acre - - ~- 153} 174 The guano, or sea-fowl dung, adds General Beatson, which is found in considerable quan- tities upon Egg Island, was first recommended to my notice by Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society. “It furnishes,” says he, “the loading of an immense number of ves- sels that are constantly employed in bringing it from small islands to the main land on the western coast of South America, where it is sold and distributed for the purpose of ma- nure, for which it answers in a degree infi- nitely superior to any other article we have the knowledge of. A handful is considered as sufficient for several square yards of land, the produce of which is exuberant in consequence of the force of this application.” The accuracy of this valuable communica- tion has been most amply confirmed by my experiments in the culture of potatoes, as well as upon grass lands. Thirty-five bushels of the guano, or 3 cart-loads per acre appear to me equivalent in effect to 70 loads of good rot- ten dung. I should imagine that abundance of this most valuable manure might be had from many of the rocks and islands on the coast of Scotland. The effect of the guano upon grass lands is comparatively greater than in the potato experiment. From what cause this proceeds it may be difficult to explain ; but as Dr. Priestley found, by experiment, that vegetables throve best when they were made to grow in air made putrid by the decomposi- tion of animal and vegetable substances, it may be inferred that the very strong effluvia which issue from the sea-fowl dung or guano, together with its being readily washed among the roots of vegetables by the first falls of rain, are circumstances that may possibly render its effects as a top-dressing greatly superior to those it produces when it is mixed with the soil. On the 29th of July, 1808, I marked out a space on the lawn in front of Plantation House, which measured 1 rod in breadth and 12 rods in length; this was divided into 12 equal parts, or square rods, and numbered progressively from 1 to 12. The guano was reduced to a powder and sifted, and upon No. la quart of this powder was evenly strewed by the hand; this is at the rate of 5 Winches- ter bushels per acre, because 160 square rods, or an acre, would have required that number of quarts, or exactly 5 bushels. In the same manner No. 2 had 2 quarts, No. 3, 3 quarts, and so on to No. 12, which had 12 quarts, or at the rate of 60 bushels per acre. From the 29th of July there were daily drizzling rains until the 5th of August, when the effect of this invaluable manure began to appear. On the GUANO. following day the whole extent of the 12 rods became highly verdant, and exhibited sucha contrast to the unmanured part of the lawn, that it had the appearance of having been newly turfed with a finer kind of sod. The effect gradually increased, and in the first week of October, that is, in a little more than two months, the higher numbers, from 6 to 12, having from 30 to 60 bushels per acre, excited the surprise of every person who saw them, being covered with the most exuberant grass that can be imagined, and having more the re- semblance of a crop of young wheat very thickly sown, than of any grass I ever beheld. This is more remarkable, as at that time the co- pious rains which fell in August and the spring season had made no visible effect on the adjoin- ing part of the lawn. It was from a frequent and careful inspection of the above experi- ments that I have estimated 35 bushels of gu- ano per acre to be equivalent in effect upon grass lands to seventy loads of well-rotted dung. I have been informed that guano is sold at Lima, and at other towns on the coast of Peru, for a dollar a bag of 50 pounds weight, and that itis much in use there for manuring fruit trees and gardens. It is certainly one of the most powerful of manures, and therefore it is necessary to be cautious in using it. I have observed, when too much is laid on grass, that it burns and destroys it. I would, there- fore, recommend to those who may try it on fruit trees, to begin with not more than three- quarters of a pint to each tree, and to trench it about a foot deep all round the roots. If the first application be found insufficient, a second or third may be given at intervals of two or three months; or a better mode, perhaps, of determining the quantity of guano proper for each fruit tree, would be to select about a dozen trees of the same kind and size, and to vary the quantities by an easy progression, from three-quarters of a pint to one or two quarts, or more, to each tree. (Com. Board of Agr., vol. Vii. p. 225—240. The price at present of guano in England is about $45 to $50 per ton. When Peruvian guano brings $47 per ton in England or the United States, the Peruvian government receives about $12 export duty, and the remaining $35 goes to pay for freight, commissions, &c. The importation of guano into England was commenced by Mr. Myers of Liverpool, who, in 1840, received 20 casks from Peru. In the year 1849, about 150,000 tons arrived in the different ports, more than one-half of which was Peruvian. Estimated at an average price of about $40 per ton, this would make the value of all kinds of guano imported into England in 1849, about $6,000,000. It is a matter worthy the attention of che- mists to consider whether a mixture similar to the guano, and of equal efficacy, cannot be formed by art—not only at a cost so reason- able as at once to make the farmer independent of the importer, but also in such abundance as at the same time to place a highly valuable concentrated manure within the reach of all. From the many mixtures proposed as substi- tutes for guano, some of which have proved highly successful, we extract the following, furnished by Prof. J. F. W. Johnston, containing the various in- 597 GUANO. gredients found in guano in nearly the average proportions; and Mr. Johnston believes it is likely to be at least as efficacious as the natural guano, for all the crops to which the latter has hitherto been applied. £ s,d. 315 Ibs. (7 bushels) of vone dust, at 2s. 9d. per bushel - - - - - - - - 019 0 100 lbs. of sulphate of ammonia, containing 35 lbs. of ammonia, at 20s.acwt. - - - 018 0 5 lbs. pearl ash - - - - - or ties O71) 100 lbs. of common salt - - - - -0 20 11 Ibs. of dry sulphate of soda Se By =,0) 250 531 Ibs. of artificial guano cost tae eS The quantity here indicated may be inti- mately mixed with 100 lbs. of chalk, or dead- lime, and will be fully equal in efficacy, I be- lieve, to 4 ecwt. of guano, now selling at £5. In the preceding observations and experi- mental trials, Peruvian guano is alone referred to. This is unquestionably much the best guano known, but its high price, and the monopoly of its trade, by a company of English merchants who purchased of the Peruvian government the exclusive right of taking it away, has induced a search for this fertilizer in other places,-from which thousands of shiploads are now received into England and the United States. That sup- plied by a small island called Ichaboe, situated on the west coast of Africa, though very different in appearance from Peruvian, comes nearest to it in its excellent qualities. But this is nearly exhausted, and the other African euanos, from Saldanha and Algoa Bays, sold in England from $15 to $20 per ton, are very inferior, and chiefly composed of hard lumps difficult to ma- nage. Large quantities of guano are brought from Chili and Patagonia; but the deposits being considerably farther south are subjected to rains, by which some of the most fertilizing constituents of the bird-excrements are washed away. The urate and other soluble salts of am- monia are the most important of these, and their retention in the Peruvian guano, from its never being washed by rains, greatly contri- butes to its superiority; cold water dissolves about 3-5ths of this guano, which if exposed to rains would thus lose more than half its best ingredients. As guano is now used to a considerable extent in the United States, and undoubtedly destined to become one of very great consumption, it is important that some legal inspection should be established to protect the agricultural inte- rests from frauds and impositions to which they must otherwise be exposed, not only from the introduction of inferior kinds of guano, but from adulterations, imitations, and misrepre- sentations of dealers. Most of those in the English market have been analyzed by Pro- fessor J. F. W. Johnston, who found in these, per cent., : Ammoniae.| Earthy Kinds. Water. matter. | phosphates. P Peruvian . 7to 9 56 to 66 16 to 23 Chilian 5 10 «#13 He Be Fe a4 Bolivian . , 6 Ichaboe F 18 26 36 «44 21, 29 Saldanha, light 17 at 4 92 43 56 dark 33 «644 aisaaee * 2:26 22-37 70:20 gon ay 123-93 23:16 43-15 Halifax 3 24:47 20°61 ay Bird’s Island . 25:49 X OE NE | ae ae [Lor Patagonian, light) 4099 ¢ ” s dark | 20:35 $20 25 24 to 32 598 GUINEA GRASS. A few general rules may be here given for the application of guano. 1. When used, as it commonly is, in a dry state, it should be in fine powder, in order to secure which, sifting must be resorted to. 2. When employed in a liquid form, dissolve in the proportion of 1b. in 4 gallons of water, and sprinkle from time to time by means of a watering-pot, over young tobacco beds, or other plants, grass or grain- fields, sought to be benefited. 3. For most field crops it is best applied broadcast, scat- tered as evenly as possible, either just before the plough, or on the rough ground before the harrow; the great object is to have it speed- ily, but not too deeply covered. 4. Previous to sowing it may be useful to mix 1 bushel of ground plaster of Paris, or the same quan- tity of powdered charcoal, or both, with 100 lbs. of guano. 5. When applied in the fall or spring as a top-dressing to growing grain or grass, it is well to follow with the harrow and roller. 6. When applied by the drill, or in the hill to corn, &c., it should be previously well mixed with 5 or 10 parts its bulk of light vegetable mould, or soil, and then well sprinkled. It must not come in immediate contact with the seed, or lie in a dense layer immediately beneath it. Half an ounce of guano to the hill, supposing the hills 3 by 4 feet apart, will give 150 Ibs. to the acre. 7. Asa general rule, 10 lbs. of Peruvian guano is more than equivalent to an ordinary load or cubic yard of barn-yard manure, and on light land, 300 lbs. guano spread broadcast, will produce better crops than 40 or 50 loads of rich manure, and last quite as long. It is seldom if ever profitable to spread ahove 400 lbs. to the acre. In dry seasons, the fullest effects of guano are not to be expected, any more than from barn-yard or other manures, to which the same observation will apply. See Pxos- PHATES. GUINEA-CORN (Holeus sorghum, Linn.), an exotic vegetable, growing on the coast of Africa; its stalks are large, compact, gene- rally attaining the height of 7 or 8 feet, and producing abundance of grain. It may be ea- sily raised in sheltered situations, especially in exhausted hot-beds and other loose soils, where its seeds should be sown early in the spring, as the large flowery tops appear in June. In Tuscany, Syria, and Palestine, the flour made of this grain is mixed with other meal, and converted into bread; which, however, is generally brown, tough, and heavy. Hence the former is better calculated for milk por- ridge, that is equally wholesome and nutri- tive. The juice exuding from the stalks of the Guinea-corn is so agreeably luscious, that it affords excellent sugar, by a process simi- lar to that adopted with the sugar-cane; the seeds furnish nourishing food to poultry and pigeons, as well as for horses and hogs. (Dom. Encyc.) GUINEA FOWL. See Fowts. GUINEA GRASS. A valuable species of herbage, thus denominated, as it was first dis- covered on the coast of Guinea, whence it was brought to Jamaica. In point of real utility, this plant ranks, in Jamaica, next the sugar- cane; for the breeding farms throughout the island were originally established, and are still supported, chiefly by means of the Guinea grass, which bestows verdure and fertility on lands that would otherwise not deserve to be GUINEA PIG. cultivated. About ten years since, it was also | introduced into the East Indies, where it is now | successfully cultivated, and grows to the height of seven feet: it admits of being frequently cut, | and makes excellent hay. Cattle eat it, both in a fresh and dry state, with great avidity: hence the culture of this valuable herbage has been strongly recommended to the farmers of Corn- wall and Devonshire. The following remarks on the culture of this grass are by the late H. Lawrence, of South Carolina. “In the last spring, I procured from Jamaica three half-pints of Guinea-grass seed, which I planted in the drills of one-fourth part of an acre of very indifferent land; the seed sprung up and soon covered the ground with grass four feet high and upwards. Being desirous of saving as much seed as possible, I cut one bundle of grass for horses: they ate it all with great avidity. “Tn August I took one of the grass roots and divided it into 28 parts, which were immediately replanted: every part took root, and the whole | are now growing very finely and seeding. I am of opmion this grass will make the best | pasture we can wish for. From former expe- rience I have reason to believe the Guinea grass | is perennial. It is easily managed, requires but one good hoeing, after which it will take care of | itself. | “ = 2 = ae Se Interest on first years’ expenditure - - 4 0 0 Duty on 64cwts., at 18s.8d. - = - - 59 14 0 Tithe - - - - - - - - 4 00 147 «(10 6 4161. The average produce of hops from 1807 to 1836, as shown ina table from the work of Mr. Lance on the hop, is 53 cwt. per acre, the highest product in one year having averaged for the crop 12 2°, ewt. in 1808, and the lowest only +375 in 1825. The produce, 64 cwt., at 61. 10s. Number of Acres of Hops in cultivation. No. of | No.of | Ave ac: 3 Acres esti-| Acres Aces Average an ia Year, | matedin | inthe | the | PPE | cluding the England. | Clays. | country. theiGlays:. duty. TS ee Sark ie 1820 | 50,148 | 694 3°17} 4 10] 753,110 1521 45,662 | 691 4 4) 4.) 6 | 1,000,000 1822 | 43,554 | 672 3 12} 5 5 | 1,221,985 1823 41,458 | 671 10 0; 12 O 446,038 1824 43,449 70 Cog (O) 9 0 | 1,847,960 1825 | 46,718 | 709 | 23 0/23 6 | 805,874 1526 50,471 | 715 4 4 6 0 | 2,010,590 1827 | 49,485 | 715 4 12] 6 0 | 1,360,835 1828 48,365 | 711 coheed 7 0 | 1,813,680 1829 46,135 | 702 91:0 alban 656,125 1830 | 46,726 | 704 | 10 10) 11 10 | 1,509,560 1831 | 47,129 | 712 | 5 15] 8 0 | 1,767,394 1832 | 47,101 | 714 9 0/10 0} 2,114,545 1833 49,187 | 720 6 0} 8 0} 1,841,610 1834 | 51,273 | 726 | 5 10] 6 10 | 1,974,010 1835 | 53,816 | 734 5 0} 6 6 | 2,406,610 1836 55,422 | 757 8 10} 8 10 | 3,155,832 1837 | 56,323 | 759 | 4 10} 4 15 | 1,647,396 1838 | 56,104 | 749 5 0} 6 0 | 1,753,120 1839 j 52,365 3.3 3 12 | 1,241,252 The number of acres devoted to the cultiva- tion of the hop has long been steadily on tite 633 HORDEIN. increase since 1693; when they were first suc- cessfully cultivated in Kent; in 1807, it was found that the hop-grounds throughout Eng- land amounted to 38,218 acres: these had in- creased to 46,293 acres in 1817, to 49,485 in 1827, and to 56,323 acres in 1837; they had decreased however in 1839 to 52,365. Hops are extensively and advantageously cultivated in some parts of the United States. Gurdon Avery, in the village of Waterloo, Oneida county, N. Y., raised in 1842, on 12 acres of land, 29,937 Ibs. of hops. The hop is also well known as a garden plant. It blows its flowers from June till Au- gust, and is propagated by seed and by dividing the roots. It likes a deep loamy soil, and is valuable as an ornamental climber over tem- porary arbours, trellis, &c. in summer, as its leaves are very large, and make a fine shade. The “ white bind” and the “gray bind” are the best sorts for this purpose; they succeed each other. The young shoots of the hop are eaten as a depurative; the flowers, besides their bitter narcotic qualities, are diuretic and sedative. HORDEIN. A modification of starch, which, according to Proust, constitutes about 55 per cent. of barley-meal. HORDEUM. The barley-grasses. Besides the species of cultivated barley enumerated in the article under that head, there are three in- digenous species which grow wild in Eng- land. Hordeum murinum. Wall-barley, mouse-bar- ley, or way-bennet grass. This is an annual grass, with a fibrous root, supporting a number of culms 12 to 18 inches high, procumbent at the base, afterwards erect, with three or four joints. Spikes-brittle, two or three inches long, flowers placed in two rows. This is one of the most inferior grasses With respect to nutritive powers; and the long awns, with which it is armed must make it dangerous to the mouths of horses, when it enters into the composition of their hay. For- tunately it is uncommon in pastures, being chiefly confined to roadsides and other beaten or barren places. I never could observe this grass eaten by cattle of any description, not even by the half-starved animals which feed by roadsides, where, in England, this is often the most prevalent grass. Dr. Withering, however, says, it is eaten by sheep and horses, and that it feeds the brown moth (Phalena gvanella), and the barley-fly (Musca frit.) The nutritive matter afforded by this grass consists chiefly of mucilage and extractive matter inso- luble after the evaporation of a decoction of it. It flowers in England about the first week of July, and the seed is ripe towards the end of the same month. Hordeum pratense. Meadow barley-grass. Pl. 5,d. This species has some affinity to the wall barley-grass in appearance, but differs from it in being strictly perennial; and in having the culms more slender, much taller, and erect, and the sheaths roundish ; the spike (about two inches long) is also slender in com- parson with that of the H. murinwm, and of a purple or greenish hue, while that of the wall barley-grass is cf a dirty yellow. The husks 634 HORN, of the calyx are bristle-shaped, rough, but not ciliate, and the awns much shorter. This is a very hardy grass, which is tolera- bly early in the spring produce of foliage, and its nutritive powers are considerable. Though said to be partial to dry chalky soils, I have always found this grass most prevalent on good rich meadow ground; it thrives under irrigation, and there are but few pastures in which it is not to be found. The Rey. G. Swayne observes, that in moist meadows it produces a considerable quantity of hay, but is not to be recommended as one of the best grasses for the farmer. It is liable to the same objection as the last, viz., the long sharp awns with which the spikelets are armed, rendering it dangerous to the mouths of cattle by stick- ing in small fragments to their gums and pro- ducing inflammation. In England it flowers in July, and the seed is ripe in August. Hordeum maritimum. Sea-barley, or squirrel- tail grass. This species is annual in its habit, and grows in pastures and sandy ground near the sea. It most resembles H. murinum in ge- neral habit, but is on the whole rather smaller, and more glaucous. The awns are all rougher, with minute bristly teeth. The plant is not of common occurrence, although it abounds in the isle of Thanet. (ng. Flor. vol. i. p. 179; Hort. Gram. Wob.) HOREHOUND, WATER. One of the names of the common gipsy-wort (Lycopus Europeus) ; which see. The plant called by this name in the United States, is the L. sinwatus, which frequents the low grounds of Pennsylvania and other Middle States. (Flora Cestrica.) HOREHOUND, WHITE (Marrubiwm vul- gare, from marrob, a Hebrew word, signifying a bitter juice; in allusion to the extreme bitter- ness of the plant). This species grows in rubbish by roadsides, in dry waste grounds, and on commons, flowering from July to Sep- tember. The stem is bushy, branching from the bottom, bluntly quadrangular, clothed with fine woolly pubescence. The shape and size of the leaves varies; the flowers are white, in dense convex whorls. The whole herb has a white or hoary aspect, and a very bitter, not unpleasantly aromatic, flavour. Its extract is a popular remedy for coughs and asthmatic complaints; hence also the celebrity of hore- hound-tea among the common people. Bees collect honey from the flowers; but the herb is not eaten by any of the domestic animals. Any common soil will suit these plants, and they are readily increased by divisions of the roots, or by seeds. (Eng. Flor, vol. iii. p. 103; Pazxton’s Bot. Dict.) HORN. A hard substance, growing on the heads of various animals, which partakes of the chemical nature of the cartilaginous part of bone; it consists chiefly of albumen, with some gelatin anda trace of phosphate of lime. The horn of the ox is composed of an elon- /gation of the frontal bone, covered by a hard ‘coating, originally of a gelatinous nature. Its ‘base is a process orcontinuation of the frontal ‘bone, and it is, like that bone, hollow and divided into numerous compartments or cells, ‘all of them communicating with each other, HORNBEAM. and lined by a continuation of the membrane | of the nose. The bone of the horn is exceed- ingly vascular, and hence, when broken, the hemorrhage is so great that there could) scarcely be more bleeding from the amputa- tion of a limb. The rings on the horns of eattle have been considered as forming a cri- terion by which to determine the age of the ox. At three years old the first distinct one is usu- ally observed ; at four years old, two are seen; and afterwards one is added each succeeding year. Thence was deduced the rule, that if two were added to the number of rings the age of the animal would be given. These rings, however, are perfectly distinct in the cow only; in the ox they do not appear until he is five years old, andthey are often confused: in the bull they are either not seen until five, or they cannot be traced at all. As a criterion of age, this process of nature is far too irregular for any certain dependence to be placed upon it, and the rings are easily effaced by a rasp. The length of the horn—whether classed as long horns, short horns, or middle horns—now forms the distinguishing character of the dif- ferent breeds of cattle. The oxen of the north- ern part of central Africa, although smaller than the majority of the English cattle, have horns that are nearly four feet in length, and will contain more than ten quarts. The Bur- mese oxen, which are much larger, have sin- gular horns of a half spiral form, very soft, the pair together scarcely weighing 4 pounds ; yet Captain Clapperton tells us, they are 3 feet 7 inches in length, 2 feet in circumference at the base, and 1 foot 6 inches midway towards the tip. Some of the true Arnee buffaloes at Bengal, and the Abyssinian cattle, have also enormous horns. The horns of cattle are ap- plied to a variety of purposes; for making combs, knife-handles, the tops of whips, sub- stitutes for glass in lanterns, glue, and the refuse chippings are used as manure. The Iceland sheep sometimes carry five or six horns. (Youatt on Cattle, p. 278—283.) HORNBEAM (Carpinus betulus, from the Celtic car, wood, and pinda, head, the wood being fit for the yokes of cattle). A rigid tree of humble growth, patient of cropping, and well suited for hedges or covered walks in gardens of the old style, some of which may still be seen attached to several old English mansions. In England fashion has entirely swept away the hornbeam, which composed the labyrinth, the maze, the alleys, the verdant galleries, arcades, porticoes, and arches of our forefathers, and which formed the leafy walls that divided their stately gardens into stars, goose-foot avenues, and devices as numerous as geometrical figures are various. When standing by itself and allowed to take its natural form, the hornbeam makes a much more handsome tree than most people are aware of, growing from 12 to 30 feet high. It is found in woods and hedges, on a meager, damp, tenacious soil, and makes a principal part of the ancient forests on the north and east sides of London, as Finchley, Epping, &c. The wood is, as Gerarde says, of a horny toughness and hardness: the bark smooth and whitish or light gray. Leaves re- sembling those of an elm, but smooth, doubly HORNED-POPPY. serrated, pointed about two inches long, plaited when young, having numerous, parallel trans- verse hairy ribs. Young trees are raised from seeds or layers without difficulty. It is known by different local names, such as the hard beam tree, the horse, or horn beech tree, &c. The leaves of the hornbeam afford a grateful food to cattle, but no grasses will grow under their shade. The wood burns like a candle, is much em- ployed by turners, and is very useful for various implements of husbandry, being wrought into cogs for the wheels of mills, presses, &c. which are far superior to those made of yew. There are two trees in the United States which go under the common appellation of hornbeam, namely, the water beech (Carpinus Americana of Michaux, Betulus Virginica of Marsh,) and the hop hornbeam, more generally known by the name of ironwood (the Ostrya Virginica of Darlington, and Carpinus ostrya of Michaux and others). The water beech is the only known species of the Carpinus genus in the United States. It is found along the margins of rivulets in the Middle States, where it attains the height of only 10 or 20 feet, with 2 to 5 inches in dia- meter, irregularly and obtusely ridged, and suleate, often branching from the root. It bears a broad ovoid nut, somewhat flattened, smoothish, and dark brown. The ironwood, or hop hornbeam grows from 20 to 40 feet high, and 4 to 10 inches in dia- meter, with a brown, roughish, slightly fissured bark, and slender branches. It bears a nut seated in the bottom of a sac, 3 or 4 lines in length, somewhat compressed, smooth, shining, of a pale olive colour, with a leaden tinge. This tree is of very slow growth, and its wood, as its name implies, is very hard, which adapts it to the various useful purposes enumerated in the description of the English hornbeam. HORN BUG. A kind of beetle. The largest of these beetles, in the New England States, was first described by Linnzus under the name of Lucanus capreolus, signifying the young roe- buck; but here it is called the horn bug. Its colour is a deep mahogany brown ; the surface is smooth and polished; the upper jaws of the male are long, curved like a sickle, and fur- nished internally beyond the middle with a little tooth; those of the female are much shorter, and also toothed; the head of the male is broad and smooth, that of the other sex nar- rower and rough with punctures. The body of this beetle measures from one inch to one inch and a quarter, exclusive of the jaws. The time of its appearance is in July and the be- ginning of August. The grubs live in the trunks and roots of various kinds of trees, but particularly in those of old apple trees, wii- lows, and oaks. Several other and smaller kinds of stag- beetles are found in New England, but their habits are much the same as those of the more common horn bug. (Harris.) HORNED-POPPY (Glauciwm, from glaukos, alluding to the hoary gray colour of the plants). A genus of very pretty annuals, or biennials, some of which are particularly handsome in the flower borders of the garden, where they 6 HORNET. flower and ripen seed in abundance, which has only to be sown in the open border. The fol- lowing are the English species. 1. Yellow horned-poppy (G. lutewn). This is a biennial, growing wild on the sandy sea- coast, producing golden-yellow flowers in July and August. 2. Scarlet horned-poppy (G. phenicewm). This is a very rare, or, as Smith observes, perhaps doubtful native. It is annual in habit, the root is tapering, the herb rather less glau- cous, and more upright than the preceding. The flower-stalks and calyx are hairy. The petals are smaller and narrower than those of the last described species, and of a rich scarlet, with an oblong black spot at the base. The pod is clothed with numerous rigid, silky bristles. Violet horned-poppy (G.violaceum). This is an annual met with sometimes, but not fre- quently, in grainfields. The root is slender, stem erect, a foot high, round, even, and quite smooth; leaves dark green, twice or thrice pinnatifid; flowers of a brilliant violet blue, very splendid, but extremely fugacious, some- what larger than the last; pods 2 or 3 inches long, cylindrical, more or less clothed with bristly prickles. (ng. Flor. vol. iii. p.5; Pax- ton’s Pot. Dict.) HORNET (Vespa crabro). A well-known fierce insect, which is about one inch in length, and builds its nest in hollow trees. The sting of the hornet is severe, and occasions a con- siderable tumour, accompanied with intense pain; for the mitigation of which, there is no better remedy than sweet oil, or honey water immediately applied to the place. Hornets are very dangerous enemies to bees, which they attack and consume entirely, except the wings and feet: they are also very destructive to fruit. : The American hornet is the Vespa maculata of naturalists. Instead of building their nests in hollow trees, the American hornets are na- tural paper-makers, and manufacture water- tight nests of paper, which they construct around the branches of trees or shrubs where they appear as large globes, sometimes a foot or more in diameter. The material of these nests consists of the fibres of wood, prepared by the insects, and wrought into a substance very similar to common brown paper made of rags. Like others of the wasp family the American hornet is a depredator upon fruit, and comes about houses in search of flies. HORNWORT (Ceratophyllum, from keras, a horn, and phyllon, a leaf: the petals are cut so as to appear like a stag’s horn). These are uninteresting water plants, thriving in any pond, and easily raised from seeds. The com- mon hornwort (C. demersum) is abundant in ditches and fish-ponds; the herb floating entirely under water, dark green, copiously branched, 2 or 3 feet long, densely clothed with whorled spreading forked leaves, eight in each whorl, and axillary, solitary, sessile, pale green flowers. The fruit armed with two spreading lateral spines. There is another indigenous species the unarmed hornwort (C. submersum), which is a more rare plant, and the fruit is destitute of spines. 636 HORSE. There are two species of this plant found in the United States. One of them (Ceratophyl- lum demersum) is described by Darlington as found in the waters of the Schuylkill, Brandy- wine and tributaries; the other (C. submersum) is described by Messrs. Nuttall and Eaton. HORSE, THE. The genus Equus, accord- ing to modern naturalists, consists of six dif- ferent animals,—viz. the Equus caballus, or horse; E. hemionus, the dziggithai; E. asinus, the ass; E. quagga, the quagga; E. zebra, or mountain zebra; and E. burchelli, the zebra of the plains. It is only of the first that I shall have to treat in this article. Horse, the. This noble animal, there is little doubt, is a native of the warm countries of the East, where he is found wild in a state of con- siderable perfection. It is there that we find the barb and the Arab, noble races of horses that have long mainly contributed to improve the present English race-horse, until he has arrived at his present state of unequalled per- fection. The use of the horse, both as a beast of burden, and for the purposes of war, early attracted the attention of mankind. Thus the Canaanites are recorded as having gone out to fight against Israel with many horses and cha- riots. (Joshua ii. 4.) And 1650 years u.c., when Joseph proceeded with his father’s body into Canaan from Egypt, there accompanied him both chariots and horsemen. (Gen. xix.) They were fed in those days on barley (1 Kings, iv. 28): and 150 years afterwards, the chariots of Egypt are described as being exceedingly numerous. The horse was early employed on the course. 1450 years zn. c. the Olympic Games were established in Greece, at which horses were used in the chariot and other races. Preserved from the flood waters in the ark, the first breed of horses must have proceeded from the neighbourhood of Mount Ararat; but whether the original stock were first located in Asia or in Africa is an inquiry which we have no means of deciding. Equally ineffectual are all the attempts which have been made to de- cide as to which variety of the horse constitutes the original breed; while some contend for the barb, others prefer the wild horses of Tartary. It is certain, however, that so late as the se- venth century there were but few horses in Arabia; even now the breed is much more limited in number, according to Burckhardt, than is commonly supposed. He remarked, in a letter to Professor Sewel, “It is a mistaken idea that Arabia is very rich in horses; the breed in that country is limited to the extent of its fertile pasturing districts ; and it is in these parts only that the breed prospers; while the Bedouins, who are in possession of poor ground, seldom possess any horses. We therefore see that the tribes richest in horses are those who dwell in comparatively the fertile plain of Mesopotamia, on the borders of the Euphrates, and in the Syrian deserts. It is there that the horses can feed for several spring months upon the green grass and herbs of the valleys and plains, produced by the rains, which seem to be an absolute requisite for its reaching to its full vigour and growth.” The care with which the Arabs tend their horses is prover- HORSE. bial. “The Bedouins,” adds Burckhardt, “when a horse is born, never let it drop down to the ground, but receive and keep it for several hours upon their arms, washing it, stretching and strengthening its limbs, and hugging it like a baby.” (Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. vii. p. 577.) None were found either on the conti- nent or on the islands of the New World. And yet the large droves of wild horses which have descended from the two or three mares and stallions left by the early Spanish voyagers, and which now abound in the plains of South America, prove very clearly that the climate and the soil of the New World are not adverse to the propagation of the wild horse. “The horse,” says Professor Low (Illustra- tions of the Breeds of the Domestic Animals, part ix.), “is seen to be affected in his character and form, by the agencies of food and climate, and it may be by other causes unknown to us. He sustains the temperature of the most burn- ing regions; but there is a degree of cold at which he cannot exist, and as he approaches to this limit, his temperament and external conformation are affected. In Iceland, at the arctic circle, he has become a dwarf; in Lap- land, at latitude 65°, he has given place to the reindeer; and in Kamtschatka, at latitude 52°, he has given place tothe dog. The nature and abundance of his food, too, greatly affect his character and form. A country of heaths and innutritious herbs will not produce a horse so large and strong as one of plentiful herbage. The horse of the mountains will be smaller than that of the plains; the horse of the sandy desert than of the watered valley.” Leaving, however, these interesting, but for this work too extensive, researches, I propose to direct my attention to the English breed of horses, and more especially to those which come particularly within the farmer’s pro- vince. From a very early period there appears to have existed in England a powerful, active, useful, and numerous breed of horses. Cesar, perhaps with the natural inclination of a con- qzeror to elevate the prowess of his defeated enemies, gives a very lively account of the horses used by the early Britons in their war chariots; which, armed with iron scythes affixed to their axletrees, were driven furiously and destructively amid the ranks of their ene- mies. And if it be true, that when Cassibel- launus had disbanded the chief portion of his army, he yet retained 4000 war chariots to harass the foraging parties of the Roman army; the supply of good horses able to work these heavy war chariots with sufficient speed over the open country, and bad roads of that period, must have been pretty considerable. Of such imperfect materials is constituted all the accounts in our possession, of the native breed of English horses. That they were valuable, is proved, amongst other things, by the fact, that the Roman generals carried many of them to Italy. The improvement of the breed was an object of the early Saxon princes of England. Athelstan imported several Ger- man running horses, and he even (930) prohi- bited the exportation of those bred in England, a decree, which of itself proves that they were HORSE. then in demand abroad. It is supposed that oxen were, in his days, solely used for the plough; there is no early record of the horse being used for such a purpose. The first no- tice of a horse being employed in agriculture, is in tapestry of Bayeux (woven in 1066), where one is depicted drawing a harrow. With William of Normandy came many Spanish horses. His army was furnished with a powerful cavalry, to whom he might well attribute his hard-earned victory of Hastings. In 1121, we have the first notice of an Ara- bian horse being in Great Britain ; for in that year, I find that Alexander I. of Scotland pre- sented one to the church of St. Andrews. King John procured from Flanders 100 stal- lions, and is to be gratefully remembered for other efforts to improve the English breed of horses. Edward Il. and Edward III. also im- ported horses from Lombardy, France, and Spain. Henry VIII. did all he could to encou- rage the breed. Race-courses were now esta- blished at Chester and at Stamford. But it was not till the time of James I. that the mo- dern system of racing, under certain rules and regulations, commenced, and a peculiar breed of race-horses began to be formed; for previous to that time fast horses of all breeds ran in the same race. This noble breed of race-horses, which now excels in beauty, speed, and endurance that of all other nations, has been gradually formed by the introduction of the best blood of Spain, of Barbary, of Turkey, and of Arabia. It would be a grateful task to follow the English race- horse through his entire history, to trace his progress by gradual yet steady degrees towards perfection, his generous properties, his con- tests, and his triumphs over the best horses of Arabia, of Persia, and of the New World; out- footing the fleetest, and in endurance excelling all that the proud nobles of Russia could pro- duce of the best and most celebrated Cossack horses of the banks of the Don. But in a work devoted to agriculture, my attention must be more directed to those valuable breeds of horses generally employed by the farmer. The Arabian horse is represented in PI. 13, a; the English racer, 6, reduced, from Profes- sor Low’s splendid work on British animals. The English improved hackney, d. The Cart Horse-—Of this description there are several varieties, the principal of which are the Cleveland, the Clydesdale, the Northamp- tonshire, the Suffolk punch, and the heavy black or dray horse. The Clydesdale is a valuable breed of cart- horses, bred chiefly in the valley of the Clyde (hence their name). They are strong and hardy, have a small head, are longer necked than the Suffolk, with deeper legs, and lighter carcasses. PI. 13, h. The Suffolk Punch is a very valuable breed of horses, especially for farms composed of soils of a moderate degree of tenacity. They originated by crossing the Suffolk cart mare with the Norman stallion. PI. 13, g. “The true Suffolk,” says the author of the Lib. of Useful Know. (“The Horse,” p. 38), “like the Cleveland, is now nearly extinct. It stood from 15 to 16 hands high, of a sorrel colour 3H 637 HORSE. was large-headed, low-shouldered, and thick on the top, deep, and round-chested, long- backed, high in the croup, large and strong in the quarters, fall in the flanks, round in the legs, and short in the pasterns. It was the very horse to throw his whole weight into the collar, with sufficient activity to do it effectually, and hardihood to stand a long day’s work. The present breed possesses many of the peculiari- ties and good qualities of its ancestors. It is more or Jess inclined to a sorrel-brown: it isa taller horse, higher, and finer in the shoulders, and is a cross with the Yorkshire half or three- fourths bred. The excellence, and a rare one, of the old Suffolk (the new breed has not quite lost it) consisted in nimbleness of action and the honesty and continuance with which he would exert himself at a dead pull even until he dropped.” The heavy black horse is chiefly bred in Lin- colnshire, and the midland counties. Pl. 13, e. These are commonly sold by the breeders at two years old to the farmers of Surrey, and other metropolitan counties, who work them till they are four years old, and then sell them to the London merchants for brewers’ drays, and other heavy carriages. “This kind of horse,” says the same excellent authority I have just quoted, “should have a broad chest, and thick and upright shoulders (the more up- right the collar stands on him the better), a low forehead, deep and round barrel, loins broad and high, ample quarters, thick fore-arms and thighs, short legs, round hoofs, broad at the heels, and soles not too flat. The great fault of the large dray horse is his slowness. This is so much in the breed, that even the disci- plined ploughman who would be better pleased to get through an additional rood in the day, cannot permanently quicken him. The largest of this heavy breed of black horses are used as dray horses. The next in size are employed as wagon horses; and a smaller variety, and with more blood, constitutes a considerable part of our cavalry; and is likewise devoted to undertakers’ work.” (Lib. of Useful Know. p. 46. The dray horse,” says Mr. Wilson, “ probably results from a fine carriage horse, possessed of a certain portion of blood, and a very strong well-formed mare of the country breed. The gigantic proportions and immense powers of these horses are only equalled by their intelli- gence and docility. It may safely be said that this breed of horses is not to be paralleled on the face of the earth.” (Quart. Jowrn. of Agr. vol. li. p. 34.) Besides these valuable kinds of English draught horses, there are a variety of mongrel breeds employed by the farmers, especially in the neighbourhood of London, and other large towns, which it is needless to name, and diffi- cult to describe. Aged or lamed cab horses, the refuse of the London hackney coaches, &c. may all be seen drawing the small farmers’ teams in the neighbourhood of London. An English draught mare is represented at Pl. 13, f, reduced, from Stephens’s Book of the Farm. HORSE. to the breeding of superior cart horses by the farmer. The soil and the food which the dis- trict produces, has commonly more influence upon the size of the animal than the choice of the mare or the stallion; and although by the exertions of the Highland, and other Agricul- tural Societies, the breed is now considerably improved, yet still much more remains to be effected in this way The Ayrshire Agricul- tural Association, at a late meeting, deter- mined upon the purchase of a Flemish stal- lion, for the purpose of improving the breed in Scotland, the Society being convinced that there is amuch better breed of draught horses in Flanders than in any part of Great Britain. “The most important circumstance,” says a well-known author, “ which influences the pro- fits of the farmer, is the cost of his team and the wages of his labourers. These vary in different situations. In some parts of the country the horses are pampered and kept so fat that they can scarcely do a day’s work as they ought. In others they are overworked and badly fed. Either extreme must be a loss to the farmer. In the first case the horses cannot do their work, and consume an unnecessary quantity of provender, and, in the other, they are soon worn out; and the loss in horses that become useless, or die, is greater than the saving in their food, or the extra work done by them. A horse properly fed will work 8 or 10 hours every day in the week, resting only on Sundays. By a judicious division of the work of the horses, they are never over-worked, and an average value of a day’s work is easily ascertained. This, in a well-regulated farm, will be found much less than the common valuations give it.” The labour of a horse is commonly reckoned equal to that of 5 men; he works, however, only 8 hours, while a man works 10. It has often been asserted that the powers of endu- rance of a man are considerably greater than that of a horse; and in a hurdle race at Ips- wich, in 1841, between a capital hunter carry- ing 10 stones, and Townshend, a celebrated runner, over 6 miles of ground, and 100 hurdle leaps, the horse was easily beaten. In a second trial, however, the horse came off the winner. The power of a horse in pulling sel- dom exceeds 144 Ibs.; but he will carry from 500 Ibs. to 1000 lbs. The power of a horse in pulling, if equal to 144 Ibs. at a rate of 2 miles an hour, would be reduced to 64 lbs. at 4 miles an hour, and to 36 lbs. at 6 miles. In wheel carriages, on level roads, a horse will draw easily about 15 times the power exerted. A horse, in a single-horse cart, seems capable of drawing his load to the greatest advantage, and of late several improved single-horse carts have been suggested. (See Carts; and Jour. of Roy. Agr. Soc. vol. ii. p. 73.) The single- horse carts, both of London and Liverpool, convey enormous weights over the paved streets; and at Paris a single horse draws 2 tons. The carriers between Edinburgh and Glasgow, in carts weighing 7 cwt., convey a ton of goods 22 miles a day with one horse. The carriers of Normandy, with 4 horses, in Too little attention is generally paid, in fact, | 2-wheeled carts, weighing 11 cwt., convey from 638 British Horses. HORSE. HORSE. 14 to 22 miles per day 4 tons of goods. See]are narrow-chested. The arm should be as Tracrion. The Hunter. Pl. 13, c. It has been said that the hunter should be rarely under 15 or 16 hands high; below this he cannot well stand over his work, and above this he is apt to be long-lecged and awkward at his work. With the increased speed of the hounds, and by the enclosures increasing the powers of the coun- try to retain the scent, the speed of the modern hunters is much greater than that of the olden time, when with slow hounds, and strong, ac- tive horses, the country gentlemen had their “meets” at break of day, and continued the chase for hours. Hence it is now pretty gene- rally agreed that the modern hunter should be at least three-quarters bred. Many prefer the Boconshssaatherse, especially if he can be procured with sufficient bone. The proper- ties which a good hunter should possess, are thus deseribed in the Library of Useful Know- ledge (The Horse, p. 51): “He should be light in hand; for this purpose his head must be small, his neck thin, and especially thin be- neath his crest, firm and arched, and his jaws wide. The head will then be well set on; it will form that angle with the neck which gives a light and pleasant mouth. Somewhat of a ewe-neck, however it may lessen the beauty of the race-horse, does not interfere with his speed, because more weight may be thrown forward, and consequently the whole bulk of the animal more easily impelled; at the same lime the head is more readily and perfectly ex- tended, the windpipe is brought almost to a straight line from the lungs to the muzzle, and the breathing is freer. Should the courser, in consequence of this form of the neck, bear more heavily on the hand the race is soon over, but the hunter may be our companion and our servant through a long day, and it is of essential consequence that he shall not too much annoy and tire us by the weight of his head and neck. The forehead should be loftier than that of the racer. A turf horse may be forgiven if his hind quarters rise an inch or two above his fore ones. His principal power is wanted for behind, and the very lowness of the forehead may throw more weight in front, and cause the whole machine to be more easily and speedily moved. A lofty forehead, however, is indispensable in the hunter, the shoulder as extensive as in the racer, as cblique, and somewhat thicker; the saddle will then be in its proper place, and will continue so, however long may bethe run. The barrel should be rounder, to give greater room for the heart and lungs to play, and send more and purer blood to the larger frame of this horse; and especially more room to play when the run may continue unchecked for a time that begins to be distressing. A broad chest is an excellence in the hunter. In the violent and long-continued action of the chase, the respira- tion is exceedingly quickened, and abundantly more blood is hurried through the lungs in a given time, than when the animal is at rest. There must be sufficient room for this, or the animal will be blown, and possibly destroyed. The majority of horses that perish in the field muscular as that of the courser, or even more so, for both strength and endurance are wanted. The leg should be deeper than that of the race- horse (broader as you stand at the side of the horse), and especially beneath the knee. In proportion to the distance of the tendon from the cannon or shankbone, and more particu- larly just below the knee, is the mechanical advantage with which it acts. A racer may be tied beneath the knee without perfectly de- stroying his power, but a hunter with this defect will rarely have stoutness. The leg should be shorter than that of a race-horse, for higher action is required of him, that the legs may be cleanly and safely lifted over many an ebstacle, and particularly that they may be well doubled up in the leap. The pastern should be shorter, and less slanting, yet retain- ing considerable obliquity. The long pastern is useful by the yielding resistance which its obliquity affords to break the concussion with which the race-horse, from his immense stride and speed, must come to the ground; and the oblique direction of the different bones beauti- fully contributes to effect the same purpose. With this elasticity, however, a considerable degree of weakness is necessarily connected, and the race-horse occasionally breaks down in the middle of his course. The hunter, from his different action, takes not this length of stride, and therefore wants not all this elastic mechanism; he more needs strength to sup- port his own heavier carcass, the greater weight of his rider, and to endure the fatigue of a long day. Some obliquity, however, he requires, otherwise the concussion even of his shorter gallop, and more particularly of his frequently tremendous leaps, would inevitably lame him. The foot of the hunter is a most material point, for it is battered over many a flinty road and stony field, and if not particu- larly good, will soon be disabled and ruined. The position of the feet requires some atten- tion in the hunter; they should, if possible, stand upright. If they turn a little outward, there is no serious objection, but if they turn inward, his action can hardly be safe, particu- larly when he is fatigued or over-weighted. ° The body should be short and compact com- pared with that of the race-horse, that he may not, in his gallop, take too extended a stride. This would be a serious disadvantage in a long day, and with a heavy rider, from the stress on the pasterns; and more serious efforts required when going over clayey, poachey ground in the winter months. The compact, short-strided horse will almost skim on the surface, while the feet of the longer-reached animal will sink deep, and he will wear himself out by efforts to disengage himself. he loins should be broad, the quarters long, the thighs muscular, the hocks well bent, and under the horse.” (Ibid. p: 53.) Galloways. A horse between 13 and 14 hands high is called a galloway. The name originated from a beautiful race of little horses once bred in Scotland, on the banks of the Sol- way Frith. The pure galloway was distin- guished for its speed and stoutness, and was 639 HORSE. remarkably sure-footed. Horses of this kind are very serviceable and useful; are capable of performing a great deal of light active work, and are rarely so high-priced as the larger horse. Ponies. Of these there are an endless va- riety, both in fine shape and value. The Welch pony is perhaps the most beautiful of the class. He has a neat smallhead andbarrel that is at once round and deep, good feet, short, strong joints, flat legs, with high withers. Some of the most beautiful ponies of England are of this breed. The New Foresters are commonly very ill- made, coarse, ragged, large-hipped, ugly ani- mals, but active, enduring, hardy, and easily maintained upon very coarse food. The same remarks will pretty generally apply to those of Exmoor and Dartmoor in Devonshire. Of the Scotch breeds, the Highland is the largest, and the most useful; those of the Shetland Isles, called in the north shelties, (Pl. 13, k,) range between 73 and 93 hands in height, are often small-headed, beautiful, good- tempered, and docile. They have commonly short necks, low and thick shoulders, short backs, possess great strength, and will fatten upon the coarsest food. The Trish Horse—In the rich grazing districts of Roscommon and Meath, many large tho- roughbred horses are reared, that were formerly distineuished for their large, coarse, ragged, rawboned appearance, but the breed has been very materially improved by the introduction of superior stallions and other means, so that now many of the Irish horses claim an equality with the best of those of England. The Irish horse is commonly beautiful, fiery, yet good- tempered, easily excited, of great endurance, and perhaps the best leaper in the world. The Irish Hunter is represented in PI. 13, i, from Lowe’s work on British animals. Feeding Horses—The best method of feeding horses, especially those belonging to the farm, is a question highly interesting to the farmer. Many are the substances employed for this purpose, such as oats, oatmeal, barley, bran, beans, peas, potatoes, turnips, carrots, parsnips, hay, sainfoin, clover, rye-grass, straw, grains, and sometimes oil-cake : bruised gorse or furze is excellent. The oats are best given when bruised, the potatoes should be steamed and mixed with chaff and salt; hay and straw are economically cut into chaff. In many of the stabies about London, hay is never put into the rack. Thus in the stables of Hanbury and Truman, each horse is allowed per day 18 lbs. of cut hay and straw (one-eighth of the latter), 14 lbs. of bruised oats, and 1 Ib. of bruised beans; half a pound of salt per week is also given; in summer the beans are withdrawn, and the oats increased. In France the daily rations allowed to the heavy cavalry horses are, oats 10 Ibs., hay 10 lbs., straw 10 Ibs. (*On the Norman Horse,” Quart. Journ. of Agr.) Dr. Sully, of Wivelscombe, some years since, cave the following statement of the different articles of food which his horses received to keep them in excellent condition. He, too, had no racks in his stables. (Ibid. vol. ii. p. 726.) | 640 HORSE. First (Second! Third | Fourth Class, | Class. | Class. Class. Ibs. Tbs. | Ibs. | Ibs, 1. Farinaceous substances, consisting of bruised or ground beans, peas, bar- ley, wheat, or oats - 5 5 10 2. Bran, fine or coarse - - - - 3. Boiled or steamed ‘pota- toes, mashed in a tub with a wooden bruiser | 5 5 4. Fresh grains (boiled bar- ley) - Seite ag wes le 5. Hay cut down into chaff - | 7 8 | 10 6. Straw cut down into chaff - - = -| 7 | 10 | 10 7. Malt dust, or ground oil- cake - = me 2 - 30 30 30 With 20z. salt for each class | The advantage of cooking the food for horses has been advocated by Mr. Dick, Ibid. vol. iii. p- 1024; and in many cases is a practice highly to be commended. An apparatus for steaming food for horses with an engine is given, Ibid. vol. vi. p. 33; and Mr. Fisher details the mode of feeding them with potatoes, Com. Board of Agr. vol. iv. p. 335. A machine for bruising grain for horses is described in Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. v. p. 100. The number of horses of all kinds in Eng- land is estimated by Mr. M‘Culloch, to be from 1,400,000 to 1,500,000, which, at an average value of from 12/. to 15/., makes their total value from 18,000,000/. to 22,500,000/. In 1832, the riding-horse duty was paid for 182,878 horses. (Com. Dict.) It appears from the statement accompanying the census of the United States in 1840, that the number of horses and mules in the Union was 4,333,669. The Wild Horse-—The horse is still found wild in Africa, in Tartary, and in America, in the Southern continent, of which last country they are said to be sometimes found in droves of 10,000. It is here that they seem to act both in self-defence, and for the attack of their ene- mies, with a subordination and union of pur- pose that is not a little curious. It seems that they have some bold and strong horse for their chief, who is their courageous leader in the onset, the first to direct their retreat. They close, at some intelligible signal, upon their enemies, and trample them to death. These, amongst the natives of America, are neither very numerous nor dangerous. Tbe leopard, tiger, and lion of the New World are very in- ferior animals to their namesakes of the olden continents. Man is their greatest enemy; they are hunted and captured by the Guachos with their lassos, or even killed for their skins and flesh, in considerable numbers. ‘These wild American horses are not particularly fast, but they can endure great fatigue, and, when once tamed, are exceedingly docile. Other wild herses are found in various parts of the world, but nowhere in a state of nature does he equal the size, the form, the speed, or the strength of the domesticated horse. For an interesting account of the wild horses of South America, see the Farmer’s Register, vol. ii. Good keep and good management, indeed, strangely improve the appearance of even the HORSE. naturally poorest breeds. The ponies of Shet- land, or the still more diminutive steeds of China, when bred on rich English pastures, rapidly increase in size. The horses of Arabia do the same. In the extensive territory of the United States, several breeds of horses are found, the characteristics of which are widely different. The Canadian. This is one of the principal races found in the Northern States, and is ge- nerally considered of French or Norman de- scent, many of the characteristics of which are retained. The Morgan horse. Perhaps the very finest breed of horses in the United States, when general usefulness is taken into consideration, is what is commonly known in the Northern and Eastern States, as the Morgan horse. This breed is distinguished by its activity, united with strength and hardiness. Its size is mo- derate, and though not often possessing the fleetness which recommends it to the sports- man, it has enough speed to entitle it to the appellation of a fast traveller. Their usual height is from 14 to 15 hands, colour bay, make round and rather heavy, with lean heads, broad and deep chests, the fore-limbs set wide apart, legs clean and sinewy, short, strong backs, with that projection of the ribs from the back-bone which is a sure indication of great develope- ment of lungs, and consequently of great wind and bottom. For saddle, draught, and other useful purposes, the Morgan horses bred in Vermont, and in all the Eastern States, includ- ing the Northern and Western part of New York, are so much prized as to command much higher prices in the principal cities of the At- lantic States than horses from other parts of the Union. This fine race is generally believed to have originated in the northern part of Vermont about the year 1804, from a mixture of the French horse from Canada, with New England mares. The breed is sometimes known by the name of the Goss horse. Some of the cele- brated American trotters are of the Morgan breed. Conestoga horse. This horse, which is found chiefly in Pennsylvania and some of the ad- jacent states, is more remarkable for endurance than symmetry. In height it sometimes reaches 17 hands, the legs being long and the carcass light. The Conestoga breed make good car- riage and heavy-draught horses. Virginia and Kentucky horse. This breed, which predominates in the states named, and, to a greater or less extent, in all the Southern, Middle, and Western States, derives its origin from English blood horses imported at various times. It has been most diligently and purely preserved in the South. The celebrated Shark, the best horse of his day, was the sire of the best Virginia horses, whilst Tally-ho, a son of Highflyer, peopled the Jerseys. (Farmer’s Re- gister, vol. ii.) In the Southwestern States, wild horses abound, which are doubtless sprung from the same Spanish stock as the wild horses of the Pampas and other parts of the Southern con- nent, all of which are of the celebrated A - dalusia breed, derived from the Moorish Barb. 81 HORSE. The prairie horses are often captured, and, when domesticated, are found to be capable of great endurance. They are not, however, re- commended by the symmetry or elegance of appearance, for which their type is so greatly distinguished, being generally rather small and scrubby. The following interesting observations rela- tive to some of the American breeds, were lately addressed by the editor of the New York Spirit of the Times to the editor of the Cultivator. Fifteen years ago, thousands of dollars would have been wagered, that no horse in the world could trot a mile within three minutes; as many would be laid down now, that it could be done in two minutes twenty-eight seconds. Ten years ago, to drive a horse 70 miles be- tween sun and sun, would have been deemed a great performance; but since strains of the blood of old Messenger have been introduced into our road stock, at the North, hundreds of horses can be found that can travel from 80 to 90 miles without distress. In our paper of this day is a report of the performance of a horse in Boston that, without being trained, was driven 103 miles between sunrise and sunset, over a hilly road, before a carriage, which, with the rider, weighed 470 lbs. The acknowledged superiority of northern carriage and draught stock is owing almost entirely to the fact, that thorough-bred horses have found their way north and east from Long Island and New Jersey, where great numbers are annually disposed of that are unsuited to the course. The usé of thorough and half-bred horses, for domestic purposes, is becoming so common in England, that in a few years, no other will be used for the road. The half-bred horse is not only much handsomer, but his speed and powers of endurance are infinitely greater. His head and neck are light and graceful, his limbs fine, his coat glossy and soft as satin, while his action is spirited, and his courage and stamina sufficient to carry him through a long journey without his falling off in condition, or to undergo an extraordinary trial of speed and game without distress. The ordinary cocktail is, in most instances, a mere brute, that in travelling, sinks daily in strength, losing his appetite, and, of course, his flesh and action, So that at the termination of a ten days’ journey, he is nearly knocked up; he can travel but about 40 miles per day, and requires the whole day to perform this distance. An emi- nent southern turfman, well known the country over, recovers his horses on a journey; they are all from the North, and have a dash of blood in their veins; after driving them hard about his plantation in the spring, until they begin to look thin and rough, he starts on his annual journey, and by the time he reaches the Vir- ginia Springs, his horses are literally as fine as silk, with fine coats, great spirit, and in good condition for fast work. In travelling, he starts early, and drives at the rate of 8 or 9 miles the hour until 10 o’clock, when his horses are taken out, rubbed dry, watered, and fed. In the cool of the day, they are again harnessed, as fresh as if they had not travelled a mile. In this way he accomplishes a long journey, travelling be- tween 50 and 60 miles a day, without fatigue 32 641 HORSE. to himself or injury to his horses. The slow- going, no-giving sort of style in which horses are jogged along ata snail’s pace all day under a hot sun, knocks them up in a short time; they would neither tire nor lose flesh in double the time, if driven sharply a few hours in the morning and evening, allowing them to rest in the middle of the day. It is the all-day work that knocks up horses, not the pace. Our friends of the Cultivator may not be aware of the vast amount invested in thorough- bred horses at this moment in the United States, or of the prices some of fashionable blood com- mand. We can point them to two 5 year old horses for which $20,000 each has been refused; to brood mares that will command $5000 each at auction; to a colt six months old, for which $4000 has been refused. Among the popular stallions we have advertised this season, three stand at $150 each, fourteen at $100, twelve at $75, eleven at $60, and twenty-three at $50. Probably not less than 6000 thorough-bred mares, and as many more that are full or three-quar- ters bred, will be stinted this season to horses that are standing at from $35 to $150. As not above 2000 out of the whole number foaled next season, will probably come upon the turf, it is clearly to be seen that a vast number of terribly high bred cattle must be used for ordi- nary purposes. Of these, the colts of good form, that have plenty of bone and substance,- will of course oust the common tackies and cider-suckers that infest country taverns, whilst the others will be used for the saddle and the road. The result will be, that in a few years, the stock now in use will be supplanted by horses of superior action, wind, and courage, whose greater beauty will not be more appa- rent than their better style of going, and their unequalled powers of endurance. (New York Spirit of the Times.) In the observations which follow these. re- marks, the editor of the Cultivator states that he hails with pleasure any improvement which promises a better race of horses than those which, too generally in our country, are a mere caricature of the noble beast. Our duty and our inclination, however, prompt us to pay more attention to those breeds and varieties adapted to agriculture and the road, than to those calculated for the turf alone. That for both these purposes horses of a better kind may be introduced by crosses of the fine-limbed, hardy-constitutioned, and beautiful thorough- bred, with those possessing the bone and sub- stance necessary to give the weight and firmness required in the draught horse, whether the la- bour is to be performed on the road or the farm, we do not doubt. For the farm, the thorough- bred horse would be comparatively worthless ; he lacks weight and substance to give value and power for draft; for road work, the same objections will apply, though not perhaps to the same extent. ‘I'he best English road horse is a cross of the thorough-bred and the Cleveland, and across of the same horse with the thick, heavy Suffolk, has given a most valuable farm horse. It is not to be expected that the proper degrees of blood, activity, power of endurance, weight and docility, so essential to the horse of the farmer, or for the road, can be obtained 642 HORSE. at once; but from what we almost daily witness, of the good effects that have resulted already from the comparatively little attention the im- provement of horses for labour has received, we can have no doubt that a field is here open for effectually benefiting the community at large more extensive than can be found almost any- where else. (Cultivator, for Aug. 1840, Vol. 7.) A public benefit has been conferred upon the country by Mr. Edward Harris, of Moores- town, New Jersey, in the importation of a fine pair of Norman horses, male and female. The following particulars relative to the stud were communicated by Mr. Harris to the Farmer’s Cabinet for April, 1842, and furnish much in- formation that must be esteemed valuable: “Diligence is of a handsome dapple-gray colour, measures 15 hands, and is one of the most perfect animals of the distinguished breed of Normandy horses called Percheron. He was chosen as a full-sized specimen of the breed, possessing all the quick action of the smaller horses, in order that his immediate progeny from our light mares might approach nearer the true type of the race. It must be observed, however, that it is more in breadth and size of bone and muscle that he exceeds the standard, than in his height, which is very little above the average. An inspection of the horse will convince any one that this race is the origin of the Canadian pony, about whose valuable properties little need be said, as they are well known and highly prized in this section of the country, and still more to the North, where they have, undoubtedly, given that stamina and character to the horses of Vermont, New Hampshire, and the northern section of New York, which makes them so highly valued all over the Union as road horses; while it is a remarkable fact, that in those states where the attention of breeders has been exclusively de- voted to the English race-horse, the carriage and the stage-horse is almost universally sup- plied from the North. It remains, therefore, for breeders to determine whether it is not bet- ter to resort to the full-sized Percheron to cross upon our light and already too highly-bred mares, than to use the degenerated Canadian (degenerate in size only, through the rigour of the climate, for it must be admitted that the little animal retains all the spirit and nerve of his ancestors, and lacks strength only in pro- portion to his size). My own opinion is, that a due portion of the French blood mixed with the English will produce a stock of horses in- valuable, as combining all the properties that are required for quick draught on the road or the farm. I need not assure you, who are ac- quainted with the success of Diligence as a stud-horse in this place, that such too is the opinion of the farmers of New Jersey. “T have frequently been questioned as to my reasons for selecting this horse for farmers’ use in preference to the English draught-horse. My reply has always been, that the draught- horse of England, whenever brought to this country, must prove a failure; he wants the go-ahead principle; he cannot move out of a walk, which is saying quite enough for him, without dwelling upon his defects of form, which can only be concealed by loads of fat, HORSE. and not even then, from the eye of the horse- man. The true Percheron, or Norman Dili- gence horse, on the contrary, combines more strength with activity than any horse I have ever sat behind. All travellers, on entering France, are struck with the properties of these horses, as displayed in drawing the ponderous machine called a Diligence, by which they are conyeyed through the kingdom at the rate fully equal to the average of stage travelling in this country. English horsemen confess that their road-horses could not hold out the same pace before the same load. “The origin of this race, according to French authorities, dates from the occupation of the Netherlands by the Spaniards, who introduced the Andalusian horse, which soon became the favourite stud-horse all over the continent. The Spanish horse is known to spring from the Barb or Arabian, introduced by the Moors on their conquest of that country. All who are conversant with the history of the horse, know that the Andalusian has always been cele- brated for his beauty, and for his great spirit, combined with extraordinary powers of endu- rance. The French horse, upon which he was crossed, was the old Norman draught-horse, which still exists in the country in all its purity, and is perhaps the best of all horses for slow draught. “The average height of these horses is 16 hands, and they may be described as follows: Head short, wide, and hollow between the eyes; jaws heavy; ears small, and pointed well for- wards; neck very short and thick; mane heavy; shoulder well inclined backwards; back extremely short; rump steep; quarters very broad; chest deep and wide; legs very short, particularly from the knee and hock to the fetlock, and thence to the coronet, which is covered with long hair, hiding half the hoof; much hair on the legs; tendons large, and muscles excessively developed.” An English writer in the British Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, thus speaks of the Nor- man horse. After giving an account of its origin, which he agrees in tracing to the Spa- nish horse, he observes, “The horses of Nor- mandy are acapital race for hard work and scanty fare. I have never seen such horses at the collar, under the diligence, the post-car- riage, the cumbrous and heavy voiture or ca- briolet for one or two horses, or the farm cart. They are enduring and energetic beyond de- scription; with their necks cut to the bone, they flinch not; they put forth all their efforts at the voice of the brutal driver, or at the dreaded sound of his never-ceasing whip ; they keep their condition when other horses would die of neglect and hard treatment. A better cross for some of our horses cannot be ima- gined than those of Normandy.” Whilst lately in Europe, Professor Gibson, of Philadelphia, a passionate admirer of the horse, and well versed in the finest blood of the United States, made close observations of the horses in different parts of England and Ireland. The following passage from his “Rambles” furnishes a condensed view of the results of his observations : “The Irish horses have long been consider- HORSE. ed the finest in the kingdom, and certainly I saw none to be compared to them in any part of Europe. In general they are very compact, strong, active, and spirited, but high- tempered, and difficult to manage. They bear a close resemblance to our Vermont horse in style, action, and shape, and might readily pass for the same breed, with the exception of being larger. In England they bring high prices, and it is not uncommon to meet with English dealers at the Irish fairs buying them up, in great numbers, for their own markets. The English horse, indeed, within the last 20 years, has degenerated so much, in some respects, as not to serve the many useful purposes to which he was accustomed at that period, owing to breeders having run too much upon blood. On this account it is now hardly possible to meet with any of the old stock of hun- ters so large and powerful, and with so much bone and sinew; so that even in York- shire I saw but a single specimen, a fine black, in possession of Mr. Whittaker, of Ot- ley, 30 years of age, but which felt under me like a colt, after a ride of 20 miles. Even the carriage horses, indeed, throughout every part of England, are conspicuous for their long, low necks, slab sides, and spindle shanks, and very inferior, as a race, to our own stock, for the same purposes. In. London, it is true, large showy animals are to be seen in the car- riages of noblemen and other persons of for- tune; but they are procured at immense prices, often 400 or 500 pounds each, and even then are deficient in action, and too often have broken knees, to which indeed most of the English horses are so liable, as seldom to be led or ridden out by the groom without having their knees protected by leather or woollen covers or caps. The Irish horse, on the contrary, is not apparently so high bred as the English, and therefore a better animal for draught, saddle, and most other purposes. Yet no blood horses in England have proved supe- rior to the Irish racer in speed, bottom, and other requisites; and I believe it is admitted on all hands that there is now no horse in the British empire to be compared to Irish ‘Harkaway,’ bred and owned by a linen-bleacher of Belfast. A great many inquiries were made of me, also, respecting ‘Skylark,’ an Irish horse im- ported into this country a few years back, and represented, by all that spoke of him, as a most extraordinary animal, and one that never should have been allowed to leave the king- dom. Both animals I had an opportunity of seeing—the one in England, and the other in Richmond, Virginia, soon after his arrival— and finer specimens of the kind I cannot ima- gine to exist in any country. Through every part of Ireland 1 travelled, I could not help being struck with the form and activity of all classes of horses; and in Dublin, especially, scarcely passed a day without noticing ladies and gen- tlemen splendidly mounted, the finest teams in mail and other coaches, and carriage horses of beautiful style and proportion; all which, however, command there as many pounds sterling as American horses—excepting, per: haps, first-rate trotters—dollars in this coun- try; and it is only surprising sg our HORSE, AGE OF. spirited Yankee dealers do not furnish the English market with such luxuries.” HORSE, AGE OF. See Acts or AnrmAts. HORSE-CHESTNUT. If, says a writer in the American Farmer (vol. xiv.), the value of this nut was more generally understood, it would not be suffered to rot and perish without being turned to any account, as at present. The horse-chestnut contains a saponaceous juice, very useful, not only in bleaching, but in washing linens and other stuffs. The nuts must be peeled and ground, and the meal of 20 of them is sufficient for 10 quarts of water; and either linens or woollens may be washed with the infusion, without any other soap, as it ef- fectually takes out spots of all kinds. The clothes should, however, be afterwards rinsed in spring water. The same meal, steeped in hot water and mixed with an equal quantity of bran, makes a nutritious food for pigs and poultry. See Carstnut, Horse. HORSE DEALERS. Persons whose busi- ness it is to buy and sell horses. Each person carrying on the business of a horse dealer is required to keep a book, in which he shall enter an account of the number of horses kept by him for sale and for use, specifying the duties to which the same are respectively liable. This book is to be open at all reasonable times to the inspection of the officers; anda true copy of the same is to be delivered quar- terly to the assessor of the parish in which he resides. Penalty for non-compliance, 50/. (43 Geo. 3, c. 161.) Horse dealers are assessed if they carry on their business in the metropolis 251, and if elsewhere, 12/. 10s. per annum. From the papers published by the Board of Trade, it appears that the number of persons of this class assessed in 1831, was 74 in the metropolis, and 963 in other parts of the king- dom. HORSE, DISEASES OF. See each dis- order. HORSE-FLY or FOREST-FLY (Hippobosca equina, Linn.). In England this fly lives chiefly on horses, but sometimes also attacks horned cattle and other mammalia. The male is scarcely so large as the house-fly; the female is larger. The insect generally attaches itself to the abdomen of the animal, which is least covered with hair, particularly between the hind legs. This fly has a singular movement: it runs very quickly, but sideways like a crab: it is covered with a hard crust; and adheres so firmly by its claws as to render it difficult to take it off. As it torments the animals very much, means of driving it away must be thought of. Picking off by hand is too troublesome. By the following remedy it may be got rid of in 24 hours’ time: take of mineral earth eight ounces; lard one pound, and make them into asalve. Some of this salve is to be rubbed on here and there upon the hair, and worked in with a wisp of straw. After 24 hours the salve is to be washed off with warm water, in which brown soap has been dissolved. Care must be taken for some days that the horse does not eatch cold. (Kollar on Insects, Miss Loudon’s Trans.) See Gav-Fry. HORSE-HOE, THE. For this valuable im- plement of agriculture, the farmer is indebted 644. HORSE-HOE. to the justly celebrated Jethro Tull. Previous to his time, we search in vain in the works of agricultural authors for the slightest allusion to such an instrument. The production of the horse-hoe, indeed, seems to have been almost a natural consequence of the adoption of the drill system, for which also the cultivator is mainly indebted to Tull. He gave in his Hus- bandry, more than a century since, an engraving of a horse-hoe of his own invention, which resembles a common, rudely-shaped swing plough, with the mould board omitted, and the shares having a cutting edge turned up on its landside. A variety of improvements were gradually made in the construction of this im- plement: I proceed to notice those which are now considered to be the best. The advantages which these possess over the hand-hoe are very fairly stated by the late Mr. Francis Blakie: he remarks, “In many cases the hand-hoe may be used to advantage, and should then be so used. But generally speaking, the hand is not so efficient as the horse-hoe. Expedition is a most material point in all processes of husbandry, carried on in a variable and uncertain climate, and it fre- quently happens, that hoeing, in any way, can only be executed to advantage, in a very few days in spring: hence the horse-hoe has a most decided advantage over the hand-hoe, for a man will only hoe about half an acre a day with the latter, while, with the former, a man and a boy, with one horse, will hoe eight or ten acres a day, and that in a more effectual man ner.” (On Farm-yard Manure, p. 39.) Among the most approved implements of the kind in England, are the following :— Clarke's Universal Ridge Horse-hoe-—This is a very ingenious contrivance for carrying out the several operations of ridge culture. It is adapted for the uses of a double tom, a mould- ing plough, a broad share or cleaning plough, and a horse-hoe. It is only as fitted for the latter purpose that we have now to describe it: its other forms will be given under the head PLoveH. To the frame of the plough is attached a pointed share, which serves as a hoe for the centre of the furrow: a movable frame is at- tached to the beam, which is readily adjusted to any given width: to this is attached, when it is intended to hoe plants upon the ridge, the stalks of two curved hoes; when used upon flat work, the flat hoe should be substituted for the curved or inverted hoe. This forms a very perfect and simple horse-hoe. Blakie’s Inverted Horse-hoe—This excellent hoe, which was the first that successfully hoed between several rows of turnips at once, and which led the way to the recent improvements of Mr. Garrett, was intended to be attached to a drill-carriage, or any light axletree, by the draft-irons fixed to the handles. Blakie de- scribed it pretty accurately when he said, “ it is adapted for cleaning between rows of plants, growing at narrow intervals, within which it may be worked with perfect safety when in their infant state ; indeed the idea first struck me on observing a large proportion of the plants buried by the operation of the hoes formerly in use.” HORSE-AOE. Garrett’s Horse-hoe.—This horse-hoe, invented by the manufacturers, Garrett and Son, of Leiston, Suffoll, is suited to all methods of drill cultivation, whether broad, stetch, or ridge ploughing; and is adapted to hoeing corn of all kinds as well as roots. The peculiar ad- vantages of this implement are that the width of the hoes may be increased or diminished to Suit all lands, or methods of planting ; the axle- tree being movable at both ends, either wheel may be expanded or contracted, so as always to be kept between the rows of plants. The shafts are readily altered, and put to any part of the frame, so that the horses may either walk in the furrow, or in any direction, to avoid injury to the crop. Each hoe, orach pair of hoes, works on a lever independent of the others; so that no part of the surface to be cut, however uneven, can escape ; and in order to accommodate this im- plement to the consolidated earth of the wheat crop, and also the more loosened top of spring corn, roots, &c., the hoes are pressed in by dif- ferent weights being hung upon the ends of each lever, and adjusted by keys or chains, to prevent their going beyond the proper depth. And what has hitherto been an objection to the general use of the horse-hoe is avoided in this, by adopting a mode of readily shifting the hoes, by a plan similar to that of the steerage, so that the hoes may be guided to the greatest nicety. This implement is so constructed that the hoes may be set to a varying width, from seven inches to any wider space; the inverted hoes are preferred when the distance between the rows is sufficient to admit two of them; or any other form that may be considered best for the purpose. Lord Ducie’s Expanding Horse-hoe—The pa- rallel expanding horse-hoe is used for hoeing drill crops, and is constructed principally of wrought iron: it has five tines, and can be regulated to any width, from 12 to 27 inches, with the greatest facility, so that the tine shall always present its edge to what it has to cut: this is effected by the support of each tine moving parallel with the beam: it is worked on the principle of the parallel rule; the ma- chine has one wheel in front, with a tiller for the horse to yoke to: the depth it enters into the ground is regulated by raising or lowering the wheel ; there is a pair of handles for the man who attends the machine to steady it by. Grant’s Horse-hoe, and Moulding Plough. By substituting mould-boards in the place of the wrought iron frame and hoes, this lhorse-hoe becomes a moulding plough. White's Double-action Turnip Hoe—This im- plement is constructed so that it may be used with only one horse and a man, and is intend- ed to hoe either broadeast, drilled, or ridged turnips. It hoes two rows lengthways and erossways at one time when necessary. It can be set to suit the drills at any distance, from 15 to 30 inches, and to leave the distance of each turnip 9,12, or 15 inches apart. It may be used also as a Scarifier by removing the cross-cut hoes, and replacing them with spear-footed tines. (See Cultivator.) HORSE MINT (Mentha sylvestris), A spe- cies of wild mint, growing freely in waste HORSE-RADISH. ground, especially in watery places. It is a perennial, blowing dense crowded whorls of small, pale purple flowers in August and Sep- tember in England. The whole herb is of a hoary or grayish green, clothed with fine soft downy hairs, and exhaling a strong peculiar scent. The stems are 2 or 3 feet high, rather bluntly quadrangular; the leaves nearly ses- sile, 1} to 23 inches long, spreading, strongly and sharply serrated, acute; their upper sur- face hoary; under, shaggy, with dense soft white hairs. It affords oil by distillation with water. The infusion of it allays sickness. The plant commonly called Horse Mint, in the United States, is the monarda fistulosa of botanists—sometimes called Wild Bergamot. It has a perennial root, and stem 2 or 3 feet high, branched, mostly hairy, especially at the joints and towards the summits. The violet- purplish or often greenish-white or flesh-co- loured flowers are pubescent ordowny. This, says Dr. Darlington, is a variable plant; and Mr. Bentham has reduced several species of preceding authors into this one. Five or six additional species of Monarda are enumerated in the United States. (Flora Cestrica.) HORSE POWER, in steam-engines, is esti- mated by Mr. Watt at 32,000 pounds avoirdu- pois lifted one foot high per minute for one horse. M. D’Aubuisson, from an examination of the work done by horses in the whims or gigs (machines d molettes) for raising ore from the mines at Freyberg, the horses being of average size and strength, has concluded that the usual effect of a horse yoked during eight hours, by two relays of four hours each, in a manege or mill course, may be estimated at 40 kilogrammes raised 1 métre per second, which is nearly 16,440 pounds raised one foot per minute; being very nearly one-half of Mr. Watt’s liberal estimate for the work of his steam-engines. HORSE-RADISH (Cochlearia armoracia— from cochlear, a spoon, the form of the leaves being rather hollow, resemble an old-fashioned spoon). The horse-radish delights in a deep, mouldy, rich soil, kept as much as possible in a moderate but reguiar degree of moistness; hence the banks of a ditch, or other place which has a constant supply of water, is a most eligible situation for the beds, so that they do not lie so low as to have it in excess. If the soil is poor, the roots never attain any considerable size; and the same effect is pro- duced if grown in a shady place, or beneath the drip of trees. Should the ground require to be artificially enriched, Mr. J. Knight re- commends leaf mould, or other thoroughly de- cayed vegetable substance, to be dug in to the depth at which the sets are intended to be planted. If cow or horse-dung is from ne- cessity employed, it should be in a highly pu- trescent state. Horse-radish flowers in June, but in England seldom perfects its seed; con- sequently it is propagated by sets, which are provided by cutting the main root and offsets into lengths of two inches. The tops or crowns of the roots form the best; those taken from the centre never becoming so soon £t ‘or use, or of so fine a growth. Each set should have at least two eyes, for without one they refuse to 645 HORSE-RADISH. vegetate at all. Mr. J. Knight recommends, for the obtaining a supply of the crowns, any inferior piece of ground to be planted with sets, 6 inches apart and 6 deep; these will fur- nish from 1 to 5 tops each, and they may be collected for several successive years with little more trouble than keeping them clear of weeds. Horse-radish may be planted from the close of January until the same period in March, but the best times are in October and February ; the first for dry soils, the latter season for moist ones. The sets must be inserted in rows 18 inches apart each way. The ground should be trench- ed between 2 and 3 feet deep, the cuttings be- ing placed along the bottom of the trench, and the mould turned from the next one over them, or inserted to a similar depth by a long, blunt- pointed dibble. When the planting is com- pleted, the surface should be raked level, and kept clear of weeds, until the plants are of such size as to render it unnecessary. It is of great benefit if the mould lies as light as pos- sible over the sets; therefore, treading on the beds should be carefully avoided. They speedily take root, and send up long straight shoots, which make their appearance in May or June. The only cultivation required is to keep them free of weeds, and as the leaves de- cay in autumn, to have them carefully re- moved; the ground being also hoed and raked over at the same season, which may be repeat- ed in the following spring before they begin to vegetate. In the succeeding autumn they merely require to be hoed as before, and may be taken up as wanted. By having three beds devoted to this root, one will always be lying fallow and improving, of which period like- wise advantage should be taken to apply any requisite manure. If the plants, when of ad- vanced growth, throw out suckers, these should be carefully removed during the summer as they appear. In September or October of the second year, the roots may be taken up, and in November a sufficient quantity should be raised to preserve in sand for winter supply. To take them up, a trench is dug along the outside row, down to the bottom of the upright roots, which by some persons, when the bed is continued in one place, are cut off level to the original stool, and the earth from the next row is then turned over them to the requisite depth, and so in rotation to the end of the plantation. By this mode a bed will continue in perfec- tion for 5 or 6 years, after which a fresh plan- tation is usually necessary. But the best prac- tice is to take the crop up entirely, and to form a plantation annually, for it not only causes the roots to be finer, but also affords the oppor- tunity of changing the site. If this mode is followed, care must be taken to raise every lateral root, for the smallest of them will vege- tate if left in the ground. See Scuryy-Gnrass. HORSETAIL = (Eguisetum, from equus, a horse, and sefa, hair, in allusion to the fine hair- like branches). Although the plants of this genus are looked upon as mere weeds, they have a very interesting aspect when seen growing in their natural situations; they are found in boggy places, and multiplied by di- 646 HORSETAIL. visions. Several of the species, like grasses, secrete a quantity of flinty earth (silica) mostly lodged in their articulations. There are seven indigenous species. 1. Branched wood horsetail (E. sylvaticum), growing in shady moist woods, by trickling rills, but not very frequent. This is a very elegant species, 12 or 18 inches high; stems erect, beset with many whorls of slender, com- pound, angular, smooth, spreading branches. 2. Great water horsetail (EZ. fluwiatile). Horses eat this plant with avidity, and in some parts of Sweden it is collected for the purpose of serving them as winter food; flourishing in watery places, about the banks of rivers and lakes. This is by far the largest English spe- cies, differing from the foregoing in the frueti- fication, which is a large cylindrical catkin, having four or five pale teeth on a separate short stem, differing from the branched or whorled frond, as is likewise the case with the following one, E. arvense: all the others hitherto observed in Britain have terminal catkins at the top of the fronds. The terminal stems of the great water horsetail are quite erect; at least a yard high, often much more, furnished from top to bottom with whorls of numerous long slender branches. The catkins are brown, with scales, which separate and show the white scales when they are ripe. 3. Corn horsetail (E. arvense). This, in Eng- land, is a very common species growing in wet meadows and moist grain fields. It is a most troublesome weed in pastures, and is seldom touched by cows, unless pressed by hunger, when it occasions an incurable diarrhea; it is eaten with impunity by horses, but is noxious to sheep. The fronds are reckoned unwhole- some to such animals as feed upon them in autumn, especially swine. This rough grass is employed for cleansing and polishing tin vessels. In this species the root is much branched, creeping extensively, producing in the spring several simple, upright, flowering stems quite destitute of branches; a span high, cylindrical, smooth, juicy, of a pale brown, bearing three or four brown-ribbed sheaths, and at the top a solitary catkin. 4. Marsh horsetail, or paddock pipe (E. palustre). This species grows most frequent in spongy watery bogs, and other marshy places, flowering in June and July. The stem is rather slender, deeply furrowed, beset throughout with whorls of slender, angular, minutely rough branches. It is not so strong as the preceding species, but is equally prejudicial to cows. It is also very troublesome in drains, within which it vegetates, and forms both stems and roots several yards in length: thus the course of the water is interrupted, and the drains are totally obstructed. 5. The smooth naked horsetail (E. limoswm) grows also in marshy watery places, and has stems stouter than the last, about two feet high, very smgoth to the touch, though finely striated. 6. Greater rough horsetail. Shave-grass pewterwort (E. hyemale). This species is found in boggy woods, but not very common. The root is black, variously branched; stems HORTICULTURE. of a deep glaucous green, from one to two feet high, cylindrical, uniformly and rather copi- ously furrowed, the furrows minutely toothed and of a strong hardness. This species is wholesome to horses, and is eaten by them; but itis hurtful to cows and disagreeable to sheep. That eminent chemist, Sir H. Davy, first detected a quantity of pure silex in the furrowed cuticle of this plant, which accounts for its power, as a file, in polishing wood, ivory, or even brass. This purpose it has long served in England, under the name of Dutch rushes, being usually imported from Holland, and is chiefly employed by turners and cabinet- makers to polish their work, as well as by dairy-maids for cleaning pails and other wood- en utensils. oO wheat-straw, whose cuticle contains the Same earth in an impalpable State, like others of the natural family of grasses, is used, when burnt, to give the last polish to marble. Mr. Nuttall observes that this species is very abundant on the banks of the Missouri below the Platte, and called “ Rushes.” It is, he says, found to be injurious to horses which feed upon it for any considerable length of time. 7. Variegated rough horsetail (£. variegatum) is found in wet, sandy ground in Scotland and Ireland. The whole plant is smaller and much more slender than the last. The fibres of the root of this curious little species are remark- ably woolly, like those of grasses that grow in loose sand. The sheaths which crown the joints are lax, with lanceolate teeth. The catkin is ovate, acute, blacker than E. hyemale, with amore slender stem. (ng. Flor. iv.335 —341; Willich’s Dom. Encyc.) HORTICULTURE (Lat. hortus, a garden, and colo, I cultivate). The culture of the kitchen garden and orchard. The chief dif ference between horticulture and agriculture is, that in the former art the culture is per- formed by manual labour in a comparatively limited space, called a garden; while in the latter it is performed jointly by human and animal labour in fields, or in an extensive tract of ground called a farm. HORTUS SICCUS. A collection of dried plants preserved in books or papers. See Hensat. HOT-BEDS. In gardening, are made either with fresh horse-dung, or tanner’s bark, and covered with glasses to protect them from the severity of the wind and weather. It is very important in making hot-beds not to raise the temperature too high, as the plants become ae dg See Krreuen Ganpen, and Forcrxe ITs. HOT-HOUSE. A general term for the glass structures used in gardening and including Sroves, Greennousrs, Onancenres and Con- srnvatories. See these heads. HOT WALLS. In gardening, walls for the growth of fruit trees, which are built with flues or other contrivances for being heated in severe weather, so as to facilitate the ripening of the wood or the maturity of the fruit. The advantages of hot walls are well illustrated by their influence in ripening peaches, nectarines, and similar fruits in England, Scotland, and many parts of the north of Europe, where such HOVEN. fruits could not be produced in the open air without this aid. HOUND. An appellation given to dogs of the chase. See Doc and Grexnounp. HOUNDS’-TONGUE (Cynoglosswn). A genus of herbaceous plants, of which only two species grow wild in Great Britain. The cul- tivated foreign species are pretty border plants, succeeding in any common soil, and readily multiplied by division. 1. Common hound’s-tongue (C. officinale) is found abundant in waste ground and by road- sides. The root is fleshy and tapering. The whole herb of a dull green, downy, and very soft, exhaling when touched a pungent and nauseous scent. When bruised it is affirmed to drive away mice. The stem grows to two feet high, branched, leafy, furrowed, and hairy, bearing terminal panicled clusters of dull crimson flowers. This plant is eaten by goats, but refused by sheep, horses, hogs, and cows. It has a bitter taste, and is esteemed powerfully narcotic and dangerous for internal use. The roots are astringent and sedative; and are used externally and internally in decoction in cases of scrofula. 2. Green-leaved hound’s-tongue (C. sylvati- cum). This is a more rare plant, growing by road-sides and hedges in shady situations, and is distinguished from the common species in its bright shining green colour, and want of downy softness, besides having scarcely any- scent. ‘The flowers, which blow in June, are at their first opening reddish, subsequently of a dull blue. (Smiih’s Eng. Flor. vol. i. p. 259; Paxton’s Bot. Dict.) Four species of this plant are enumerated in the United States. The common hound’s-tongue is a foreigner, now frequent in the Middle States, and extending itself throughout the country. It is a biennial, and may be readily known by its disagreeable odour, somewhat resembling that of young mice. It formerly enjoyed some re- putation for medicinal properties. The wild comfrey (C. Virginicum) has a pe- rennial root,and is common in rich woodlands. The root is mucilaginous, and frequently em- ployed, in domestic practice, for complaints of the chest, internally, and externally in poultices for bruises, sprains, &e. HOUSELEEK (Sempervivwm, from semper vivo, to live forever; the tenacity of life in the houseleek is well known). There are seven species of houseleek mentioned by Miller (but these are only a few of this extensive genus). They all thrive best on dry rocky situations. These interesting plants are worthy a place in every collection. The mountain houseleek is a very hardy perennial, bearing a purple flower in June and July. The houseleek (S. arborewm), which is a native of the Levant, is hardy and handsome, bearing a golden-yellow flower in autumn and even in winter. Cuttings taken off and laid to dry for two or three days, will root very freely The juice of the common houseleek (\S. tectorwm), applied either by itself or mixed with cream, gives immediate relief in burns or other external inflammations. (Paz- ton’s Bot. Dict.) HOVEN. See Carrie, and Suexe, Dis EASES OF. 647 HUMMELLER. HUMMELLER, BARLEY. An instrument for separating the awns of the barley plant from the seed. There are various modes of taking off the awns: a common one is by tread- ing it by a horse walking over it; another, by rolling it with a grated roller, an instrument something similar to a garden roller, the cylin- der being formed of thin, flat, wrought iron bars, placed about two inches apart, and the edges to the surface: this, rolled over the bar- ley, takes off the awns or ailes. We have also seen a grated presser or chopper, about a foot square, barred across with thin plates, which is lifted up and down by the workman, and thus chops off the awns. But the best machine we have seen is one upon a wood stand, with a hopper into which the barley is thrown, from whence it falls into a box in which a spindle is placed in an inclined position, having, when at a few inches apart, short knives placed spiral- ly, so as to form a sort of screw, which, when put in motion, has a tendency to draw the bar- Jey from the upper end of the box to the lower: during the operation the awns of the barley are effectually knocked off. This mode of dressing barley constitutes one of the principal improve- ments in Salter’s patent winnowing machine, which will be described hereafter; but the hummeller is made in the form described for barley only, by several makers. See Winnow- tye Macnine. HUMUS. A modern term given by some chemists to the very finely divided organic matters which all cultivated soils contain, and which is generally regarded as the chief ele- ment of fertility, the source from which plants are directly nourished. Woody and vegetable fibre in a state of decay constitutes the sub- stance called humus. Liebig lays it down as established, that man and other animals derive the means of their growth and support from the vegetable kingdom, whereas plants find new nutritive material only in inorganic sub- stances. According to this doctrine, humus, being the product of organic matter, does not contribute direct nourishment to plants, but only constitutes a medium and agent through which their nutriment is derived. “The opi- nion,” he observes, “that the substance called humus is extracted from the soil by the roots of plants, and that the carbon entering into its composition serves in some form or other to nourish their tissues, is so general and so firmly established, that hitherto any new argu- ment in its favour has been considered unne- cessary; the obvious difference in the growth of plants, according to the known abundance or scarcity of hwmus in the soil, seemed to afford incontestable proof of its correctness. “Yet this position, when submitted to a strict examination, is found to be untenable; and it becomes evident from most conclusive proofs that hwmus, in the form in which it exists in the soil, does not yield the smallest nourishment to plants. “The adherence to the above incorrect opi- nion has hitherto rendered it impossible for the true theory of the nutritive process in vegeta- bles to become known, and has thus deprived HUMUS. most important of all arts is inconceivable without a deeper and more perfect acquaint- ance with the substances which nourish plants, and with the sources whence they are derived; and no other cause can be discovered to ac- count for the fluctuating and uncertain state of our knowledge on this subject up to the present time, than that modern physiology has not kept pace with the rapid progress of chemistry.” The chemical process through which humus is usually obtained, is by making an alkaline solution or decoction of mould, peat, soot, woody fibre, &c., and adding to such decoction acids. The flocculent matter precipitated is called humic acid, a substance but slightly so- luble in water, requiring no less than 2500 times its weight for this purpose. The com- pounds which it forms with alkalies, lime, and magnesia, have the same degree of solubility. (Sprengel.) “Vegetable physiologists agree in the suppo- sition that by the aid of water hwmus is rendered capable of being absorbed by the roots of plants. But, according to the observation of chemists, humic acid is soluble only when newly precipitated, and becomes completely insoluble when dried in the air, or when ex- posed in the moist state to the freezing tempe- rature. (Sprengel.) “Both the cold of winter and the heat of summer, therefore, are destructive of the solu- bility of humic acid, and at the same time of its capability of being assimilated by plants ; so that, if it is absorbed by plants, it must be in some altered form. “According to Dr. Jackson, the substances contained in humic extract form soluble salts with lime. The acids form soluble salts with the same substance, and the salts are decom- posed in the process of vegetation. “The correctness of these observations is easily demonstrated by treating a portion of good mould with cold water. The fluid remains colourless, and is found to have dissolved less than 100,000th part of its weight of organic matters, and to contain merely the salts which are present in rain-water. “ Decayed oak wood, likewise, of which hu- mic acid is the principal constituent, was found by Berzelius to yield to cold water only slight traces of soluble materials; and I have myself verified this observation on the decayed wood of beech and fir. “These facts, which show that humie acid in its unaltered condition cannot serve for the nourishment of plants, have not escaped the notice of physiologists; and hence they have assumed that the lime or the different alkalies found in the ashes of vegetables render soluble the humic acid, and fit it for the process of as- similation. “ Allalies and alkaline earths do exist in the different kinds of soil in sufficient quantity to form such soluble compounds with the humic acid. “Other considerations, of a higher nature, confute the common view respecting the nutri- tive office of humic acid, in a manner so clear and conclusive, that it is difficult to conceive us of our best guide to a rational practice in | how it could have been so generally adopted. agriculture. Any great improvement in that 643 “Fertile land produces carbon in the form HUNDRED. of wood, hay, grain, and other kinds of growth, the masses of which differ in a remarkable degree.” (Liebig.) In relation to the fact observed of carbon and humus often becoming every year more abundant, in spite of cropping, Mr. Ruffin, an author so advantageously known to the Ame- rican farmer, says there is great difficulty in admitting that land receives no manure, even when none is conveyed to it by man. In the case of cultivated lands, from which crops are taken off, the quantity, it is true, is small, compared with that of a forest, where much is left to fall and rot. Mr. Ruffin maintains, that so much carbon is derived from the atmosphere, through the Jeaves of growing plants, that more than half the whole products may be taken away, and the™other half may supply as much humus and carbon, or, perhaps, even cause an increase of both. The severely cropped lands of the United States, Mr. Ruffin considers as affording many examples of the draught upon the land being carried beyond the amount sup- plied, and a proportional reduction in the quan- tity of humus. See Green Manvres. “The humic acid of chemists,” observes Liebig, “is a product of the decomposition of humus by alkalies: it does not exist in the humus of vegetable physiologists.” He says in another place, “Transformations of existing compounds are constantly taking place during the whole life of a plant, in consequence of which, and as the result of these transforma- tions, there are produced gaseous matters which are excreted by the leaves and blossoms, solid excrements deposited in the bark, and fluid so- Iuble substances, which are eliminated by the roots. Such secretions are most abundant im- mediately before the formation and during the continuance of the blossoms: they diminish after the developement of the fruit. Substances containing a large proportion of carbon are excreted by the roots and absorbed by the soil. The soluble matter thus acquired by the soil is still capable of decay and putrefaction; and by undergoing these processes furnishes re- newed sources of nutrition to another genera- tion of plants, and it becomes humus. The leaves of trees which fall in the forest in au- tumn, and the old roots of grass in the meadow, are likewise converted into humus by the same influence: a soil receives more carbon in this form than its decaying humus had lost as car- bonic acid. Humus does not nourish plants by being taken up and assimilated in its unal- tered state, but by presenting a slow and last- ing source of carbonic acid, which is absorbed by the roots, and is the principal nutriment of young plants at a time when, being destitute of leaves, they are unable to extract food from the atmosphere.” (Liebig’s Organic Chemistry.) Somerecent experiments of Saussure go to prove that plants do assimilate humus as direct nourishment, contrary to the views of Liebig, who, as we have seen, regards it only as a me- dium by which nourishment is absorbed and subsequently given out. HUNDRED. An ancient division of a coun- ty, which originated either from its being occu- pied by 100 families, or because every such district found the king 100 able-bodied men for 82 HURDLE. | his wars. They were first constituted by Alfred | the Great. He is supposed to have derived the idea from northern Germany; but there centa, or centena, is a jurisdiction over 100 towns. HUNDRED-WEIGHT. A weight of 112 lbs avoirdupois, generally written cwt. HUNGER-ROT. The name of a disease in sheep which speaks for itself. It is occasioned by poor living, especially during the winter, and is best cured by better keep. HURDLE (from the Sax. hypvel, to keep, or the Germ. hurden). The hurdles of the ancients (crates) were somewhat similar to those of the moderns; they were a kind of wicker-work, and used for various purposes. Whenemployed for drying figs or grapes, they were called fica- ria: they were also used for screening ‘fruit from the weather. (Colum. xii. 15.) Hurdles, Virgil informs us (Georg. i. 94), were employed as harrows to level the ground which had been turned up by the rastrum, or heavy rake. They are also employed to feed silk-worms upon. In modern husbandry, hurdle implies a light frame of wood or iron, somewhat in the form of the common gate, constructed for the purpose of forming a movable fence for the confining of sheep and other animals. They are generally made of some light split timber, or of hazel- rods wattled together. These are principally employed where sheep are folded on arable lands, or where they are fed with turnips in the field, to keep them on a certain space of ground, or to confine them to a certain portion of their food at a time, in which way they are extremely useful; as the sheep, by being so closely con- fined, contribute greatly to the improvement of the land, in the first case; and they improve by having a given quantity of food allowed them at once, with less Joss than they would do if allowed to range at large over the field. A dozen and a half hurdles will fold thirty sheep, and twelve dozen, one thousand. On the South Downs the allowance is three sheep to a hurdle: this of course varies with the de- scription of sheep. A shepherd and his dog, without any other assistance than having the hurdles carted to the field, will, with the requi- site number of hurdles, feed off one hundred acres of turnips. “The number of hurdles re- quired (Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. ili. p. 647), is one row the whole length of the ridges of an enclosed field, and as many more as will reach twice across two eight-step lands or ridges, or four four-step lands. This number is sufficient for a whole quadrangular field, whatever num- ber of acres it may contain. The daily portions are given, more or less, according to the num- ber of the flock. Two of these portions are first set off, or “pitched,” the sheep being let in on the first or corner piece. Next day they are turned into the second piece, and the cross- hurdles that enclosed them in the first are car- ried forwards and set to form the third piece. These removes are continued daily till the bot- tom of the field is reached: both the cross-rows are then to spare, and are carried and set to begin a new long row, close to the off-side of a furrow, and the daily folding carried back over two or four lands, as at first. It is always pro- per to begin at the top of the field, if there be any difference in the level, in order that the 3I 649 HURDLE. flock may have the driest lair to retire to in wet weather. In the setting of hurdles, an iron crowbar, or fold pitcher, is employed, by which much time and loss by breakage of the hurdles is effected.” New hurdles, in the south of England, are about 16s. per dozen. They are made at 4d. by professed hurdle-makers, who find their own tools: they make about a dozen per day. A larger kind of hurdles, called park hurdles, cost 2s. each, and iron hurdles about 4s. 6d. to 6s.; and these are, in the long run, for permanent divisions, more Paanomical than wooden ones. A new kind of iron hurdle for feeding sheep in gardens and pleasure-grounds is described, with a wood engraving, by Mr. Baist (Ibid. vol. ii. p. 113), and the complete process of wooden hurdle-making is given, Ibid. yol. iii. p. 647. There is also another kind of hurdle, made with twisted hazel-rods, very common in the south of England, whose first cost is less than the other kinds, but they do not last so long, and sooner get out of repair. The farmer who uses the ash hurdles would find the advantage, on the score of durability, of charring (or partially burning) that portion of them which goes into the ground. Net hur- dles are also sometimes economically used; but they are rather more troublesome than wooden or iron hurdles, and require to be kept carefully in a dry place, when not in use. There is a very elaborate paper on hurdling off, and more especially upon all kinds of fenc- ing, for the temporary or permanent enclosure of land, by Mr. Somerville (Com. Board of As’. vol. ii. p. 1); he advocates the more general hurdling off of grass lands in the spring of the year. There are two modes of folding, which should be practised according to circum- stances: the first is where the sheep fed during the day on waste or common land, are penned at night, for the sake of their manure, on the enclosed arable pastures of the farm. This is a highly profitable mode. It is calculated that the dressing thus given by 300 sheep is sufli- cient, in a week, for one acre of land, and is worth three pounds. Hence the enhanced va- lue of farms having ready access to downs, or possessing a right of common. The second mode of folding is the feeding off of green crops by sheep enclosed in daily divisions, by hurdles, by which means the land has the full benefit, equally distributed, yielded by the con- sumption of the green crop; of course the value of the folding will mainly depend, both in quality and quantity, upon the food con- sumed: hence, too, the superior fertilizing effect derived from sheep having oil-cake or corn added to their green food. ‘The plan of feeding sheep on one field during the day, and folding them on another during the night, is a bad prac- tice long since condemned by Arthur Young, who describes it as “merely robbing Peter to pay Pau!,” since it is, in fact, only the removal from one field to another of the richest organic matters, the sheep being also injured by the drift or labour of removal, and by the fasting (so contrary to their natural habits) during the night. The folding of sheep on, green crops is one of the great modern agricultural improvements. 650 HYDRANGEA. It insures the equal distribution of the manure, prevents waste of food, keeps the sheep quiet, gives them fresh ground daily, and enables the farmer to plough close after the sheep, and thereby prevents the loss by evaporation of the finest portion of the manure, See Fons and Foupine. HURDS, or HARDS. A provincial name for the refuse of hemp or flax. HURTLEBERRY, and HURTS. Provincial names of the whortleberry. HUSKS. The dry envelopes, or outward integument of either fruits or flowers. HUSBANDRY. A comparatively primitive term, including both agriculture and gardening, or all those country occupations which the fa- ther of a family is expected to perform in the country. The term is very commonly used as synonymous with agriculture. The Berwick- shire husbandry, the alternate husbandry, and the convertible husbandry, are terms employed in agriculture for certain systems of cropping, in which the land is alternately kept under grass and tillage. See Acricutrure, and Ro- TATION oF Crops. HYBERNATION (Lat. hybernus, wintry). The act by, or the state in, which certain ani- mals exist during the season of the year when excess of cold, or lack of food, prevents their going abroad, and performing their customary functions. ‘The bat and the hedgehog, lizards, snakes, frogs, toads, &c., are among the ani- mals and reptiles which hybernate. Some quad- rupeds, as the dormouse and squirrel, which subsist on articles of diet better adapted to be laid up in store than insects, carry a winter provision to their hybernating nests ; and their torpidity is more nearly allied to a profound, but ordinary sleep. HYBRIDS (Gr.). The produce of a female plant or animal which has been impregnated by a male of a different variety of species. The most common hybrids are those which result from the connection of different varieties of the same species, as the produce of the wild boar and domestic sow; the endless modifica- tions which result from analogous inter-breed- ing from varieties of the rose, the African geranium, and other ornamental plants, are familiar examples of the principle among vege- tables. The most common and useful of hybrids is the mule. Although some rare exceptions to the rule are on record, it seems to be a principle of nature that all hybrids should be sterile. HYDRANGEA (Hydrangea arborescens). hardy perennial, native of North America, which flowers in July and August. It lovesa moist soil, and should be kept free from weeds. Its roots may be parted in October. Ifa severe winter attacks the plant, it will only die down to the ground. Besides the common species, botanists enu- merate 2 or 3 others found in the Southern and Southwestern States. H. hortensis, or the changeable hydrangea, blooms from June to October. It is a native of China. Cut the stems down every autumn, and cover the root through the winter, to guard it from frost. Hydrangeas are propagated by cuttings. HYDROGEN. HYSSOP. HYDROGEN. A chemical element, which | vantage of decomposing vegetable matter to derives its name from two Greek words that signify “a generator of water,” because it is one of the constituents of that fluid, which is always formed when hydrogen gas is burned in combination with atmospheric air, or with oxygen gas. It is known to us, in its simplest form, only in the state of gas, and is speedily fatal to animal life when it is breathed unmixed with atmospheric air. It is, however, a com- ponent of animal matters, and it forms a very essential part in the economy of vegetable sub- stances, in which it is always found. Thus sugar contains 6:90 per cent. of hydrogen ; gum, 6-93; bee’s wax, 12°672; wood of the oak, 5:69 ;-wheat starch, 6°77; acetic acid (the acid of vinegar), 635 per cent. It is regarded as an element, because it has resisted every at- tempt to decompose it. It is the lightest of all ponderable matter, 100 cubic inches weigh- ing only 2°15 grains. No known degree of cold has been able to condense it to a liquid. It cannot support combustion, but is combusti- ble in conjunction with atmospheric air. It constitutes one-ninth of the weight of water,— a substance essential to vegetation, and which plants are supposed to have the power of de- composing. Under such circumstances, Liebig asserts that 8:04 parts of hydrogen unite with 100 parts of carbonic acid to form woody fibre, whilst the oxygen is separated in the gaseous state. (Organic Chem. p. 63.) Most vegetable structures contain hydrogen in the form of water, but the hydrogen essential to this consti- tution cannot exist in the form of water. That hydrogen gas exerts a considerable influence upon the leaves of plants, was first noticed by Dr. Priestley. Sennebier found that plants which lose their green colour in the dark, preserve it under those circumstances, if a small portion of hydrogen gas is present in the atmosphere in which they are placed; and Dr. Ingenhous no- ticed that its presence, when they are growing in the light, renders their colour of a deeper green (Ann. de Chem. vol. ili. p.57); and, again, M. Humboldt has noticed that the Poa annua, Trifolium arvense, and other plants growing in the galleries of coal mines, preserve their green colour, although vegetating in the dark, and that, in such situations, the atmosphere con- tains a proportion of hydrogen gas. When applied to the roots of plants in mo- derate proportion, the influence of hydrogen gas is evidently beneficial in all those situa- tions where this gas is evolved, as in drains, stagnant waters, dung-hills ; and the vegetation growing over such places is uncommonly rank and luxuriant. The gas observed to arise by the agitation of the mud of stagnant pools is the same gas employed for the purposes of illumination, or carburetted hydrogen gas, a peculiar gas composed of carbon 0-416; hy- drogen 0-:0694. In the process of putrefaction, a quantity of water exactly corresponding to that of the hydrogen, is formed by the extrac- tion of oxygen from the air; while all the oxy- gen of the organic matter is returned to the atmosphere in the form of carbonic acid. Now the process of vegetable assimilation consists in the extraction of hydrogen from water, and carbon from the carbonic acid; hence the ad- living plants. A smali portion of carburetted hydrogen gas in the atmosphere, or in the soil of plants, certainly therefore promotes their vegetation ; but like pure hydrogen gas, when it constitutes their entire atmosphere, it de- stroys them. (Thomson's Chem. vol. iv. p. 347.) See Gases, ruetn Use ro VeGETaTIoN. HYGROMETER (Gr. ézec¢, moist, and pereov, measure), An instrument which indicates the de- gree of moisture or vapour present in the atmo- sphere, or its relative degrees of dampness and dryness. Hygrometers are of several forms, and a rude hygrometer is easily made by means of a long hair, or strip of leather, or cat-gut, suspended from a peg, kept in its upright po- sition by a slight weight: these, by their very sensible contractions and expansion according to the humidity of the air, indicate, by an at- tached scale, its variations. Hygrometers of this kind, however, are defective, from the irregularity of their action, and the impossibi- lity of comparing them with each other, their alteration by time, and other circumstances. These disadvantages gave rise to the construc- tion, by Professor Daniel, of that now common- ly used in England, and called by his name. This instrument is, however, somewhat com- plex and costly, requiring considerable skill in its use. It will doubtless be superseded by other contrivances for ascertaining the precise quantity of moisture in air, one of which, in- vented by Prof. A. D. Bache, of Philadelphia, has been already described under the head of Dew. The dew-point is the temperature imme- diately below that of the vapour contained in the surrounding atmosphere: the difference, however, between the dew-point and that of the vapour is so slight, that for all ordinary purposes they may be considered the same. The temperature of the invisible vapour of the atmosphere being thus ascertained (for it differs materially from the temperature of the air in which it is contained), it is easy to cal- culate the force it exerts as thus existing in the state of steam, and the weight of a given bulk of it. Tables have been formed showing the proportion of watery vapour in each cubic foot of atmospheric air corresponding to every degree of the dew-point. HYSSOP, COMMON (AHyssopus officinalis, probably from the Hebrew). There are three varieties, distinguished by the colour of the flowers, the white, red, and blue; the last of which is most commonly cultivated. It isa perennial, native of Siberia. The root is knobbed, woody, fibrous; the stem about two feet high, quadrangular, erect, branching. A dry soil is the one most appropriate for hyssop. If it is grown on a rich or wet one, it becomes luxuriant; but, from a deficiency of woody matter, is generally destroyed by the frost, as well as rendered less aromatic and powerful in its medicinal qualities. It is pro- pagated by seed and slips of the branches and young shoots, as well as by offsets. The seed may be sown from the close of February until the end of May. Rooted offsets may be planted in March, April, August, and September; cut- tings of the branches in April and May, and slips of young shoots in June or July. 651 ICE. ICE-HOUSE. The seeds may be inserted broadcast, or pre-| such cordial to the spirits as ice, or a draught ferably in drills, six inches apart, in either case not being buried deeper than half an inch. It is the usual practice, when the seedlings have attained the growth of six weeks, to prick them out 12 inches apart; but it is by much the best practice to raise them where they are to remain. The slips and offsets are best planted at first in a shady or north border; they are generally firmly rooted in two months. In September or October they are all fit for removal to their final stations. After every removal, whether of planting, pricking, &c., they must be watered plentifully and regularly until established. Hyssop possesses some ex- citant and tonic powers, but is now rarely em- ployed in medicine. I. ICE (Sax. 17; Dutch, eyse). Water in a state of congelation. Ice is about one-eighth part lighter than fresh water; hence it swims in that element; and, owing to this property, the icebergs and ice-islands are floated down to southern latitudes from the arctic circle. Wa- ter, which freezes at 32° of Fahrenheit, sud- denly expands, and consequently, when it is interposed in crevices and clefts of rocks, it separates these, and often precipitates immense masses from the tops of mountains into the adjoining valleys. This is a principle which should be kept in remembrance by the farmer in making mounds or walls of earth, for if the smallest clefts be left, the walls may be broken down and crumbled to pieces even by mode- rate frosts. ICE-HOUSE. A house or vault for the preservation of ice in summer, should not be regarded as merely administering to purposes of luxury, since ice contributes so much to the convenience, comfort, and even health, as to make it almost an indispensable article of do- mestic economy. The effects of the excessive heat which commonly prevails in the sum- mers of the United States, are greatly obviated by the use of ice, which not only serves for the preservation of fresh meats, butter, &c.; but in addition to these advantages and its grateful employment for assuaging common thirst, it is a powerful agent in tranquillizing the irrita- bility of the stomach in bilious fevers and dys- enteries, and relieving the pain and burning heat often attendant upon inflammations and fevers. Thus, by soothing the stomach, and removing excessive heat, iced drinks and ap- plications restore the deranged functions of the nervous and muscular systems of the sick, whilst they refresh and invigorate persons in health so as to render them capable of enduring exercise and exertion even under circum- stances calculated to produce great oppression and inconvenience. An interesting writer, has left the following testimony in favour of ice, as a restorative and remedy in fevers, which has been abundantly corroborated by subsequent experience, “I never,” says he, “was in better spirits than here in this het country (Sicily). I believe the quantities of ice we eat, in ices, contribute to it, for I find, in a very violent heat there is no 652 of iced water. Its cold braces the stomach, and gives anew tone to the fibres. I knew an Eng- lish lady, at Nice, soon cured of a threatening consumption, by a free indulgence in the use of ices. It is the common practice here, Sicily, to give quantities of ice-water to drink in in- flammatory fevers.” (Brydone.) “The custom in Sicily and Italy,” says an- other author, “of taking ice, is considered as a powerful remedy in many diseases. The physicians of these countries do not give many medicines; but frequently prescribe a severe regimen; and prevent the baneful effects of various diseases, by suffering the sick, for se- veral days, to take nothing but water cooled by ice, sweet oranges, and iced fruits.” (Stolberg.) One of the greatest advantages afforded by ice houses, is that of enabling families to pre- serve their butter, meat, fish, poultry, game, &c., in states of the weather which would, otherwise, quickly induce them to spoil. In no part of the world are ice-houses more essential to comfort, convenience, and health, than in the United States, and in all the northern and Mid- dle States the winters are sufficiently cold to furnish ice of sufficient thickness to lay by for preservation. The cities of the Southern States are now regularly supplied with thick blocks of ice from New England, which not only afford a regular article of export to the West Indies, but also to Calcutta! Considering the small expense and trouble at which ice houses or vaults may be con- structed, and the many advantages to be de- rived from them, it is surprising that any re- spectable country establishment should be without one. It is considered that the simplest, and most scientific form for an ice-house, is a double cone, that is to say, two cones joined base to base, the one sunk into the earth with its point downwards, into which the ice is rammed, the other being a conical roof, generally of wood-work, covered with thatch and pointed at top. The entrance should be placed always on the north side, and provided with two doors some distance apart, and the spot screened from the sun by trees, shrubbery, a hill, cliff, or other barrier. The lower part may be dug about 16 feet in diameter, terminating below like the point of a sugar-loaf. Its ordinary depth, for a moderate family, may be about 24 feet. The larger the dimensions, the longer will it preserve the ice, provided it be fiiled. In digging, the workmen should slope the ground progressively towards the axis of the cone, to prevent the earth falling in. This conical slope ‘should be faced with brick or stone work about one foot thick, and jointed with Roman cement, so as to be air and water tight. A well is to be excavated at the bottom two feet wide and four deep, covered at top with an iron grating for supporting the ice, and letting the water drain away. The upper cone may likewise be built of brick-work, and covered with thatch; such a roof would prove the mostdurable. Whatever kind of roof be preferred, there must be left in it an oblong passage into the interior. This porch should face the north, and be at least 8 ICE-HOUSE. feet long by 24 feet wide ; and perfectly closed by a well-fitted door at each end. All round the bottom of this conical cover, a gutter should be placed to carry off the rain to a distance from the ice-house, and prevent the circumja- cent ground from getting soaked with moisture. The ice-house should have no window to admit light; but be, so to speak, hermetically sealed in every point, except at its cess-pool, which may terminate in a water-trap to pre- vent circulation of air. A clear day should be selected for charging the ice-house; but before beginning to fill, a quantity of long dry straw should be laid on the bottom crosswise; and as the ice is pro- gressively introduced, straw is to Be spread against the conical sides, to prevent the ice from comingsinto contact with the brick or stone work. The more firmly compacted the ice is, the better does it keep. No layers of straw should be stratified among the ice, for they would make its body porous. Some persons recommend to pour in a little water with the successive layers of ice, in order to fill up its small crevices, and convert the whole intc one mass. This may answer well when the ice is put up very cold, as the water may then be directly frozen into a solid mass. Over the top-layer a thick bed of straw should be spread, which is to be covered with boards surmounted with heavy stones, to close up the interstices in the straw. The inner and outer doors should never be opened at once; but the one should always be shut before the other is opened. Dry snow well rammed keeps equally well with hard ice, if care be taken to leave no ca- vities in the mass, and to secure its compact- ness by sprinkling a little water upon the suc- cessive charges. To facilitate the extraction of the ice, a ladder is set up against its sloping wall at one side of the door, and left there during the season. (Ure’s Dict.) The time preferred for filling an ice-house, should, when practicable, be during the preva- lence of extreme cold, or as soon after as pos- sible, since the colder the ice when packed away, and the thicker the blocks, the longer it will last. Ice and snow can often be laid by, even in the Middle States, many degrees below 32° or the common freezing point of water. The larger the quantity of ice accumulated in one place, the slower will be the rate at which it will melt. One of the principal objects to be kept in view in the construction of an ice-house, is to have it so that the water will pass off directly, as fast as the ice thaws. If the situation is sandy, or if you come to a layer of sand or gravel about the proper depth, no further care will be necessary ; but if you find a stiff clay, rock, or earth of any kind impervious to water, you must contrive an outlet or abandon the place. This outlet may be constructed in se- veral ways. If on the side of a hill, dig a drain and make it air-tight by means of a water-trap or inverted syphon; or the water may be drained into a well and pumped out; or you may sinka well in the bottom until you come to sand or gravel, and fill it up with stone. The cellar ICHNEUMON FLIES. walls may be laid with stone, brick, or even lined with wood, as is most convenient or economi- cal. A space of 8 or 10 inches is generally left between the wall and surrounding earth, which is filled in with tan, charcoal, straw, corn-stalls, or any other non-conductor of heat, the first-named article being generally pre- ferred. A house 9 feet square in the clear, and 9 feet deep, will hold about 25 cart-loads of ice, which will be enough for a large family. A cheap ice-house may be made thus :—Dig a cellar, say 10 feet square, and 10 feet deep. Then cut small timber from the woods the pro- per length, and build up in the cellar after the plan of building log-cabins, leaving a space between the logs and earth to be filled in with straw, tan, or other suitable material. Raise the wooden walls 2 or 3 feet above the sur- rounding ground, and heap up a bank so as to turn off the rain-water. A thatched roof is generally recommended, as the best to keep out heat, but some object to such covering as affording harbour to rats and other vermin. The importance of keeping ice well sur- rounded with a non-conductor, and having the water absorbed as fast as melting takes place, is shown in the following extract from the Kentucky Farmer :— : “ We take at sunrise from the ice-house, as much as will be probably wanted through the day, and cover it up in some saw-dust placed in a barrel in the dairy-house. At night, the size of any given piece is scarcely perceptibly diminished. It is a perfect charm.” In some parts of the United States where thick ice is rare, some persons pack away large quantities of snow, which, if the mass be large, and the snow dry or previously well drained, will often keep through the summer. In most seasons ice may be collected in suffi- cient quantities to fill ice-houses in every lati- tude of the Middle States. If no pond or stream of water of sufficient size be at hand, advantage may be taken of any little rill, which, by the erection of a small dam, may be made to overflow a considerable space. If the water be not more than 6 or 8 inches deep it will answer every purpose. In stowing away ice the pieces should be as square as possible, and as large as they can be got or handled. ‘They should be placed closely together like stone in a wall, and the crevices well filled with smaller fragments. The plan sometimes recommended of pounding cr crush- ing the large pieces is reprehensible. ICHNEUMON FLIES. Insects belonging to the natural order Hymenoptera, which in- cludes bees, wasps, ants, saw-flies, &c. The injury caused by this whole order is so small, and the benefits derived from many of them so great, that instead of being enumerated among destructive insects, they may be pronounced the benefactors of the human race. With regard to the ichneumon flies, they perform an important and very singular part in the economy of nature, by working the de- struction of caterpillars, plant-lice, and other destructive insects. This they effect by piercing their bodies with a kind of sting or piercer called ovi-positor, and thus laying their eggs in a living nest. Each ichneumon fly seems $12 653 IGNIS FATUUS. IMPLEMENTS. to single out the larva or pupa of some parti-| to their destruction. The cause of the pheno- cular kind of caterpillar or other insect, to which it therefore stands in the relation of parasite. The eggs hatch in due time, and the larva of the ichneumon commences feeding upon its victim, the vitals of which are soon destroyed, after which the parasite or ichneu- mon comes forth in due time to another state of existence. Some of the ichneumon flies are extremely small, and confine their attacks to the eggs of other insects, which they puncture, and the little creatures produced from the latter find a sufficient quantity of food to supply all their wants within the larger eggs they occupy. The ruby-tails and cuckoo-bees lay their eggs in the provisional nests of other insects, whose young are robbed of their food by the earlier hatched intruders, and are consequently starved to death. The obligations which the farmer and society at large owe to certain parasite insects is forcibly illustrated in the case of the Hessian fly, the devastations of which are often prevent- ed through the destruction, during a single season, of nearly a whole race by its parasite. Professor Peck has described a minute ich- neumon fly, stated by Mr. Westwood to be a species of Encyrtus, that stings the eggs of the slug-fly, and deposits in each onea single egg of her own. From this in due time a little maggot is hatched, which lives in the shell of the slug- fly’s egg, devours the contents, and afterwards is changed to a chrysalis, and then to a fly like its parent. Professor Peck found that great numbers of the eggs of the slug-fly, especially of the second hatch, were rendered abortive by this atom of existence. In treating of the pigeon tremex (Tremex co- lumba), which in its larva state is a destructive tree-borer, Dr. Harris observes that it is often destroyed by two kinds of ichneumon-flies, (Pimpla atrata and lunator of Fabricius), which may be frequently seen thrusting their slender borers, measuring from three to four inches in length, into the trunks of trees inhabited by the grubs of the tremex and by other wood-eating insects ; and, like the female tremex, they some- times become fastened to the trees, and die with- out being able to draw their borers out again. The ichneumon flies are little busy-bodies, ever on the alert, and with untiring scrutiny continually prying into every place to find the lurking caterpillar, grub, or maggot, wherein to thrust their eggs. (Harris.) A specimen of this extensive family is re- presented in PI. 15, fig. 12, in the Trogus fulvus, which commits great havoc among caterpillars and grubs. See Apuiprans, &c. IGNIS FATUUS (Lat. vain or foolish fire ; a translation of the French few follet.) A kind of luminous meteor, which flits about in the air a little above the surface of the earth, and appears chiefly in marshy places, or near stag- nant waters, or in churehyards, during the nights of summer. There are, we are told, many instances of travellers having been de- coyed by these lights into marshy places, where they have perished; and hence the names Jack- with-a-lantern, Will-with-a-wisp; the common peo- ple ascribing the appearance to the agency of cvil Spi who take this mode of alluring men menon does not seem to be perfectly under- stood; it is, however, generally supposed to be produced by the combustion of some highly inflammable gas, such as phosphorated hydro- gen, which takes fire spontaneously on rising and mingling with atmospheric air. Milton, in his Paradise Lost, b. ix. 1. 634, thus alludes to it:— A wandering fire, Compact of unctuous vapour, which the night Condenses, and the cold environs round, Kindled through agitation to a flame, Which oft, they say, some evil spirit attends, Hovering and blazing with delusive light, — Misleads the amazed night wanderer from his way To bogs and mires, and oft through pond or pool, There swallowed up and lost, from succour far. IGNITION (Lat. ignis, fire). The act of setting fire to, or of taking fire, as opposed to combustion, or burning, which is a conse- quence of ignition. The term “spontaneous ignition” is applied to cases in which sub- stances take fire without previous application of heat. This is illustrated in the burning of hay-stacks, when the hay has been put up too green; the scorching of corn-stacks from the same cause, and the taking fire of ships laden with fermentable products. IMBRICATED. In botany, a term used in speaking of the arrangement of bodies, to de- note that their parts lie partly over each other in regular order, like the tiles upon the roof of a house, as the scales upon the cup of some acorns; also applied in speaking of the esti- vation of petals or leaves, to denote that they overlap each other at the margin without any involution. (Brande’s Dict. of Science.) IMPLEMENTS, AGRICULTURAL, Almost all the operations of agriculture may be per- formed by the plough, the harrow, the scythe, and the flail; and these, or similar tools for performing the same work, are the sole imple- ments in the primitive agriculture of all coun- tries. With the progress of improvement, how- ever, many other implements have been intro- duced, the more remarkable of which are the drill-plough, the horse-hoe, the winnowing ma- chine, the thrashing machine, and the reaping machine. The object of all these implements and machines is to abridge human labour, and to perform the different operations to which they are applied with a greater degree of ra- pidity, and in a more perfect manner than be- fore. In the present work the different imple- ments are treated of in their alphabetical order. Of the progress made in the construction of agricultural instruments in England, the judges of implements at the Liverpool meeting of the English Agricultural Society, in their report very justly remark, when speaking of “the good effects which have already resulted from the public exhibition of implements at the So- ciety’s meetings, in stimulating the talent of the mechanic and the zeal of the husbandman, At Oxford the show-yard may be said to have presented an epitome of the state of agricultu- ral mechanism existing in 1839, the era of the formation of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. No spectator of that show can have failed to be struck with surprise and admira- tion at the Liverpool exhibition. At Oxford there were some examples of good machinery IMPLEMENTS. and workmanship, but many more of rude, | cumbrous, and ill-executed implements. At Liverpool many machines were exhibited, not only of surpassing skill in contrivance and execution, but also having for their object the | effecting of processes in tillage-husbandry of the most refined nature and acknowledged im- portance, but hitherto considered of very diffi- cult practical attainment. Some of these may already be considered as forming part of the necessary apparatus of every well-managed farm, and to be essential to its economy and profit. This vast stride in the mechanics of agriculture, made within so short a period, has doubtless arisen from the congregating together of agriculturists and mechanicians from all parts of the empire: and a still higher perfec- tion in machinery may be confidently antici- pated from the opportunity offered, under the auspices of the Society, of periodically con- trasting and estimating the merits of varied implements used for similar purposes in dif- ferent localities and soils. It is apparent that the manufacture of even the commoner instru- ments has already, to a great extent, passed out of the hands of the village ploughwright and hedge-carpenter, and been transferred to makers possessed of greater intelligence, skill, and capital. The improved style of finish, the greater lightness and elegance of construction, ard the generally superior adaptation of the means to the end, in every class of implements, were sufficient manifestations of the beneficial results arising from the encouragement given by the Society to these objects. Neither were examples wanting in the higher classes of ma- chines to show that the fourth important object for which the Society was incorporated is, to some extent, fulfilled—viz. ‘to encourage men of science in their attention to the improve- ment of agricultural implements.’ ” The great variety of soils and fluctuations of climate in the extensive territory of the United States, call for multiplied expedients to till the various plants, and provide shelter from heat as well as cold. The wants and exi- gencies known in various parts of the country must therefore contribute to make the United States a fruitful field of inventions. Ac- cordingly, by consulting the records of the Patent Office at Washington, we find that since the year 1793, when the first patent law was instituted, and up to the year 1836 inclusive, the number of patents taken out for inventions is 6000, of which 124 are for improvements in the plough,—119 for threshing-machines,—80 for churns,—125 for washing-machines, &c. The remarks of the Messrs. Ransome, of Ipswich, upon the preservation of agricultural implements in general, are such as every far- mer should be guided by. They suggest to farmers generally, that a little instruction given to the workmen in the use of the machines, and care in preserving them, would add to their efficiency and durability. Attention to washing implements and machines before lay- ing them by, a little oil on such as have re- volving wearing parts, and a coat of paint occasionally to each, will cost but little, and make the difference between having a machine ready for use, or covered with rust and want- INCUBATION. ing repair just as the season for its use com- mences. These suggestions are so obvious, that one would think no apology needful for making them, as experience proves that a large proportion of the repairs required arises from want of attention to these apparently trifling matters. And to this end the advice of Mr. Crosskill, of Beverley, may be acted upon with considerable advantage: he says, “Select the most likely labourer on the farm, put the implements under his care, make it a strict rule with all the men that each imple- ment done with for the season shall be brought to one particular place, say near the pond or pump; the man having charge of the imple- ments must then wash and clean them well before putting them into the shed.” IMPOSTHUME. In farriery a sort of swell- ing, or collection of matter or pus in any part of the body of an animal. See Axscerss. IN-AND-IN-BREEDING. The practice of breeding from close relations. See Brerpine, Carrie, Suerr, &c. INCH. A measure of length, the tweifth art of a foot. INCISORS or INCISORES (Lat. incido, I cut). The teeth implanted in the inter-maxillary bones of the upper jaw, and in the correspond- ing place in the lower jaw, and which are generally shaped for the purpose of cutting or coarsely dividing the food. The ruminating animals, including the bull and cow, sheep, goats, the deer tribe, and the camel have no incisors in the upper jaw; but some of them have canine teeth, which project from the mouth. See Acr or Anrmats. INCLOSURE (Lat. includo, I shut up). See Encrosune. INCUBATION (Lat. incumbo, I brood over). Hatching or the laying down of an animal upon her own or another’s eggs, communicat- ing to them heat, and maintaining them at her own temperature, a condition essential to their developement. In many animals the de- velopement of the fetus takes place after the exclusion of the egg, and whilst it is maintain- ed in contact with the external surface of the parent’s body, as in the crab and lobster tribes beneath the caudal plates; or agglutinated to the surface of the abdomen, as in certain spe- cies of pipe-fish (syngnathus), or concealed in cutaneous marsupial cavities, as in other spe- cies of syngnathus, and the hippocampus; but in these and other instances from the cold-blooded animals, the eggs are retained by special con- trivances in contact with the parent, without occasioning any restraint upon her postures or movements. That a due degree of warmth is the essen- tial object of incubation in birds is proved by the ancient and well-known practice of substi- tuting artificial heat, by which fertile eggs are hatched in the same period, and the excluded chick is as fully and strongly developed as when produced by natural incubation. Artificial incubation has been practised from a remote period by the Egyptians and Chinese; the former, indeed. have carried this process to such a high degree of perfection, as in many instances to have entirely superseded the use of the hen in hatching. 655 INCUBATION. It is effected either by means of an oven, stove, or steam, and it has been calculated that the ovens of Egypt every year communicate life to about 93,000,000 chickens. This por- cess has received considerable attention from the French philosophers ; but perhaps the best exemplification of its results, that has been witnessed in Europe, was given by the pro- prietor of the Eccaleobion, which was lately ex- hibited in Pall Mall, London. The mean temperature of incubation is 100° Fahr.; it may vary from 95° to 105°, and to- wards the close of the process may be sus- pended for one or two hours, or for a longer period, according to the degree of extraneous heat which the eggs may derive from their situation, without fatal consequences to the embryo. The power of communicating the requisite degree of warmth to their eggs arises out of the unusual developement of, and deter- mination of blood to, a peculiar plexus of ves- sels, distributed over the skin of the abdomen, and which, in most birds, is connected witha derivation of blood from the internal organs of generation after the subsidence of the func- tional activity of the ovarium and oviduct to the external integuments. The vascular, hot, and sensitive condition of the skin of the ab- domen is the exciting cause of that uncontrol- lable propensity to incubate, which the Greeks denominated “storage,” and which, with its associated phenomena of patience, abstinence, and self-denial, forms so remarkable a feature in the economy of birds. The eggs of the bird present several peculiarities in relation to the circumstances under which the fcetus is to be developed; their oval form permits a greater proportion of their surface to be in contact with the heat-communicating skin of the pa- rent, than if they had been aspherical body ; while the shell, by virtue of its hard, calcareous texture, and its arched disposition about the soft contents, sufficiently defends them from the superincumbent pressure. As warmth is the only essential influence which the egg de- 1ives from the parent, the shell is porous and permeable to air, and the germ is surrounded by an adequate store of nutritious matter. See Hee. The period of incubation is generally di- rectly as the size of the bird, but the degree of developement which the chick attains prior to exclusion varies. As a general rule, it is inferior in birds of flight, as the Accipitrine and Passerine orders, than in the terrestrial, wading, and swimming birds; and the warmth and complexity of the nest bears relation to this difference of developement. . If the thrush had been forewarned that her young would be excluded from the egg naked and helpless, she could not have prepared beforehand a warmer and more comfortable abode than her instinct had led her to construct for their accommoda- tion; and if with such a nest we contrast the rude mass of straw in which the hen deposits and incubates her eggs, it might be imagined that she knew beforehand that her chickens would come into the world well clothed and strong enough at once to run about and pick up their own food. In this case, therefore, the nest relates only to incubation; in the other, to imcubation and subsequent rearing of the 656 INDIA, AGRICULTURE OF. young; and according to the degrees of deve- lopement attained during incubation, and the associated condition of the nest and habits of the parent, birds have been divided into two great groups, the Aves altrices and Aves precoces. See GESTATION. INDIA, THE AGRICULTURE OF. The British farmer will, | am afraid, not derive many useful hints from the most careful study of the agriculture of the eastern portions of Asia. In Hindostan, for instance, too many causes have contributed to retard the march of agricultural improvement. _The innate dis- like of the natives to innovations of all kinds, the nature of their region, their indolence, and the political oppressions under which they have long been labouring, are amongst the many causes of the degraded state of Indian agriculture. Iam indebted to my brother, Mr. George Johnson, of the Supreme Court of Cal- cutta, for most of the following sketches of Indian modes of cultivation. He says, in de- scribing the residences of the Indian ryots or farmers, “ When I speak of an Indian farm, the image must not rise to the mind of the Eu- ropean reader of a substantial dwelling-house, surrounded by commodious outbuildings, and conveniently placed amongst its compactly en- closed fields; such an agricultural establish- ment bespeaks a far advance in the art of cul- tivation, the employment of large capitals, and remunerating prices to the cultivator. Now, none of these contingencies occur in Hindos- tan; but, on the contrary,the operations of agriculture are rudely executed; the cultiva- tors are poor, the profits are small, the results correspondent. The dwellings of the ryots throughout India are in no degree superior te the other mean huts with which they are asso- ciated in the village. No barn is attached to the residence of the poorer cultivators, for the pittance of grain annually raised is imme- diately beaten out—the major part sold at once to the merchant, and the small residue for seed and sustenance is stored in baskets or jars, and these are usually placed in the room where the family dwells. The outbuildings rarely ex- tend beyond an enclosure in which to secure the cattle at night. By far the greatest num- ber of farms do not exceed a size requiring a single yoke of oxen, for the occupier is the only ploughman.” The various imposts to which these little farmers are exposed, sound strange to Eng- lish agriculturists; they are enumerated by Dr. Buchanan. (Ind. Rech. vol. ii. p. 200.) The For the accountant - For the watchman - - For the conductor of the water For the chief of the village - ryot’s heap of grain is usually about 3000 seers: of this is first set apart— Seers. For the gods, or rather for the priests - - - 5 For charity to the brahmins and other mendicants 5 For the astrologer - - - - L For the hereditary eyes of the village - - 1 For the barber - - - - 2 For the potter - - 2 For the carpenter and blacksmith - - 2 Forthe measurer - - - - - 4 For the washerwoman - - - 2 | For the beadle - - aly ah oO ee ee ee PUN Di Yo Wat Yai TA hs J | 2[es8e INDIA, AGRICULTURE OF. This leaves a residue of 2686 seers; of this government takes 10 per cent, and, after all the drains have been satisfied, the grower is left in possession of a residue of two thou- sand seers of rice. (Buchanan’s Mysore, vol. i. p» 265.) Irrigation is practised in India, and in almost all the hot countries of Asia, to an extent of which the English farmer has little concep- tion; for, as Mr. George Johnson remarks, “Tn every district of Hindostan, as in all other tropical climates, irrigation is the most effec- tual mode of promoting fertility. In places favoured by nature, whole plains are occasion- ally flooded merely by the construction of a dam across the outlet of some mountain stream, or it is confined nearer to its source, so as to form a reservoigy from which the water may be obtained at the most desirable seasons. In less favourable situations, the water frequently has to be raised to a considerable height, in order to attain an elevation level with, or slightly above the cultivated land. This is very generally effected by a scoop of matting suspended between two ropes, the ends of which are held by two men who bale it from the reservoir into a hole some feet above it, and from thence it is similarly baled by others, from hole to hole, until the ‘desired height is attained. Sometimes the scoop is suspended between poles erected in the form of a gallows; at others, as in the Jaut wells, from which the water is raised by cattle or by hand in some districts. The extensive canals formed in the neighbourhood of Delhi and in the Punjab are no longer employed. The machinery, so gene- ral in China, is nowhere used in India for raising water. In 1798, Dr. Tennant relates, that the practice of the natives then was, and is still followed, after ploughing the fields in the usual manner, but before sowing, to divide them into regular small squares, like a chess- board; each square is surrounded with a shelv- ing border about four inches high, capable of preventing the escape of water. Between these square enclosures, small dykes are formed for conveying a rivulet over the whole field; when the water has stood a sufficient time in one square, it is let off into the surrounding dyke, and conveyed to another, and so on in succession through the whole field. The fer- tility induced amply recompenses the labour, and the neatness imparted to the country by this husbandry is very striking.” (Ind. Rech. ii. 167.) In some places the water has to be raised from deep wells, several of which are in the most elevated parts of each field. The work of drawing the water is performed by two bullocks, not travelling round in a mill, but pacing in a line direct from the well’s mouth. The various little trenches_ already mentioned, all radiate from these wells. About Patna the irrigation water is raised from the wells by means of a bamboo lever, with its fulcrum on a frame about 10 feet high, a weight at the opposite end being employed to assist the workmen in counterpoising the leather baz of water; this plan is only resorted to when the wells are shallow, and the water near the surface of the earth, and then not bags but buckets are used, sometimes of leather, but 83 INDIA, AGRICULTURE OF. more frequently of iron. Four bullocks and three labourers are engaged nine days in irri- gating one acre of land thoroughly. The im- portance of this branch of agriculture is evi- denced by the great number of wells, which even these most indolent people sink in dis- tricts deficient in streams. Near Madras, at Saymbrumbacum, a reservoir more than 7 miles long and 3 broad, for the purposes of irri- gation, has been formed by merely raising a bank across a natural ravine. In the Tamul language a reservoir of this kind is called an Eray. This supplies 32 villages containing 5000 persons employed in agriculture (should the rains fail) for 18 months. Sluices lined with bricks pass under the banks to supply the fields; the inner opening of the sluice is covered by a flat stone, in which is cut a cir- cular hole, through which the water is allowed to pass as required, by means of a plug fixed to a bamboo, and secured from escape by means of stone pillars and cross-bars. When bullocks are employed to raise water from wells, a leathern bucket is used which holds 45 gallons; this two bullocks will raise every minute and a half from a well 44 feet deep, and they work eight hours per day. To the insoluble matter of the water em- ployed in irrigation, must be attributed a con- siderable ‘portion of its value. These vary at different seasons. That of the Ganges, which is extensively employed in irrigation, was ex- amined by Mr. Everett. He found in it of in- soluble matters— Grains. July 3. Ina wine quart - - - =i (oni Fanta Rent eat oer | lia Dia hie as a al ai hla Nit eae ees eS leon ttre cnet Ope - S = = = = - %6 Sept. 6 = - - - - - - - 17 BENS Ea ee eS Oh er aS Oct. 8. - = - = = = > =6 This insoluble or mechanically-suspended matter was analysed by Mr. Piddington: he found in 200 parts from the banks of the Ganges, at Mohulpore— Parts. Vegetable matter - - = es atieh Side Saline matters, chiefly muriate of | potass - - t Carbonate of lime - - - - = = = 6} Phosphate of lime - > a - = - 1 Oxide of iron - - = = = = =. 18, Silex - - = = a & = ¥ 135 Alumina - - - - = 3 &, - 14g Water - - - - 5 = = ~ = 2 Loss - - - - - - - - - 8} 200 As these rich, purely divided matters, are depositing on the lower grounds within reach of the flood waters, it follows as a natural con- sequence that “the higher soils are generally anW rapidly impoverishing, and this to a de- gree of which few, who have not made the subject one of attention, are aware.” The rapid effects produced by a copious ar- tificial watering of grass lands under the burn- ing sun of India, may be judged by the follow- ing report made in 1841, by Sir Edward Burnes to Lord Auckland, upon the artificial grasses of Cabool. “There are three kinds of grasses cultivated in Cabool—‘rishku,’ or lucern, ‘shuftul,’ a kind of trefoil, and ‘si barga,’ or clover. se firs 6 INDIA, AGRICULTURE OF. and the last continue to yield crops for some years, but the ‘trefoil’ (shuftul) is an annual. The lucern (rishku) is sown in spring, gene- rally about the vernal equinox; for each ju- reeb, or about half an English acre, 2 seers of Cabool, or about 28 lbs. English, are required as seed. In 40 days it comes to perfection, and is cut down, and will yield 4 full-grown crops ere winter sets in, but by early cutting 6 or 8 crops may be drawn; the last may sometimes be inferior from premature cold. One jureeb or half an English acre yields on an average ten camel loads of grass at each cutting, as a camel carries about 500 lbs.; this is a produce of 5000 lbs. the jureeb, or 10,000 lbs. the Eng- lish acre, and for four fine crops 40,000 lbs. English. The third crop is considered the best, and from it the seed is preserved: of this the half acre sown with the two seers of Cabool will yield 40 sears, or about 560 Ibs. This plant requires the best black soil, much manure, and is watered 5 times each crop—in fact whenever it droops. It is sometimes sown along with barley, but in that case the grain, by exhausting the soil, injures the crop. The seed is never exported, but the grass is so plentiful, though all the cattle are fed on it, as much to exceed the consumption; it is, there- fore, dried, and that produced at any distance from a market is generally stored in this man- ner, and sold during winter. A camel load of it, or about 500 Ibs. English, whether green or dry, sells for one Cabool rupee, a coinage of which 1153 are equal to 100 Company’s ru- pees. Lucern generally lasts for 6 years, but it will yield for 10 years if manure be abun- dantly scattered over it. The seed is at pre- sent sold for a rupee,a stone of 14lbs.; but as it is not cultivated for exportation, this is much dearer than it might otherwise be had, and its price has been almost doubled by the arrival of the British troops. The trefoil or ‘shuftul’ in cultivation, in the time of sowing, reaping, and soil, resembles lucern, and the calculations of produce for the one will suffice for the other, only it is an annual plant. The seed, too, is dearer by one half than that of lucern. “The clover or ‘si barga’ (i.e. three leaves), assimilates likewise to the lucern, and it lasts as long. I may, however, observe, that the climate of Cabool is much later than that of England, and, excepting the seed sown in au- tumn, nothing is putin the ground here with advantage before the Ist of April.” Of arotation of crops, or of fallows, the ryots of Bengal have but little idea: their richest low-lying grounds are devoted to the growth of rice, and on the uplands they generally crop the soil till it is exhausted, and then abandon it to the weeds, which soon occupy it in profu- sion: they have, besides, a wretched method of sowing various seeds together, in a manner that cannot be sufliciently reprehended. It is only in some parts of India that any thing like rotation of creps is observed. In the highlands of Behar, the following rotation is usually adopted :—1l. Year-fallow and wheat; 2. Maize (muckai), followed by big or bear, a’ kind of barley; 3. Murwa, sama, and cowaree, being species of millet, followed by cotton. There is nothing remarkable in the domestic 658 INDIAN MILLET. animals of Bengal: the oxen are inferior, and their sheep are described as “small, lank, and thin:” the colour of three-fourths of each flock is black or dark-gray. The quality of the fleece is worse, if possible, than its colour; it is harsh, thin, and hairy, in a very remarkable degree: no part of clothing or domestic furniture, so far as Dr. Tennant had observed, is manufac- tured of wool, except a coarse kind of blanket- ing which some of the boatmen (dandies) and people in the upper districts use during the cold season, as a wrapper at night. The same system of irrigation which pre- vails in Arabia, in Persia, and in Hindostan, is carried on to a very considerable extent in the empire of China, where the soil is culti- vated perhaps more carefully, and with a greater minuteness of detail, or garden system of husbandry, than in any other country. I do not allude in this work to their cultivation of crops such as the tea plant, or those from which the English cultivator is as little likely to derive useful hints. They are remarkable for the care with which they deepen, even by the spade, their cultivated lands, and their hus- banding of manures of all kinds is admirable; every thing that is produced in their cities en- dued with fertilizing properties, is collected and preserved with the utmost care. The night-soil, for instance, is made into a kind of bricks with calcareous matter, and carried into the most distant provinces, for the use of the farmers. “'There is, perhaps,” says the author of British Husbandry (vol. i. p. 273), “no part of the world in which the preparation and the practical application of vegetable and animal manure is so well understood as in China; but, owing to its overflowing population, almost the whole of the labour is performed by man, by which the number of working animals is so much reduced, that night-soil forms the princi- pal dependence of the farmer. Itis extensively employed in a dried state, and is sold as an article of commerce throughout the empire, in the form of cakes, mixed up with one-third of their weight of marl.” To the same end the poor are employed in collecting in the public roads and streets all the horse and other dung, which is also made into cakes with marl, and these are afterwards dried in the sun. The system of tillage formed by the Chinese, however antiquated, is not of a general descrip- tion, calculated to instruct the English culti- vator; and the Chinese husbandmen are en- tirely uninformed as to any scientific principles, by the observance of which the cultivation of the earth is improved. The same remark, in fact, extends to most oriental farmers: they merely follow a regular routine of operations, because it is that which their forefathers adopt- ed: followed without consideration, it is trans- mitted unimproved. See Innicarron, and Nicur-soit. (Memoir on the Agricullure of India, by G. W. Johnson.) INDIAN CORN. See Marzz. INDIAN CRESS. See Cress, Inpran. INDIAN MILLET (Sorghum vulgare). Sor- ghi is the Indian name, according to Bauhin. The French call it grand millet, the Italians saggena or sorgo, and the Spaniards alcandia. It is much cultivated in Arabia and most INDIAN RUBBER. parts of Asia Minor, and has been introduced into Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and some parts of Germany; also into China, Cochin-China, and the West Indies, where it grows commonly five or six feet high or more, and, being es- teemed a hearty food for labourers, is called Negro Guinea corn. Its long awns or bristles defend it from the birds. In England, the au- tumns are seldom dry and warm enough to ripen the seeds well in the field. In Arabia it is called dora or durra. The flour is very white, and they make good bread of it, or rather cakes, about two inches in thickness. The bread which they make of it in some parts of Italy is dark and coarse. In Tuscany it is used chiefly for feeding poultry and pigeons; sometimes for kine, swine, and horses. Brooms are made of the spikes, which are also sent to England for the same purpose. The Indian millet, as well as the common sort (panicum) is cultivated in some parts of North America, and has been tried in England, but it is only in the warmest autumns that itripensits seeds. (Loudon’s En- cyclopedia of Plunts.) See Guinea Corn. INDIAN RUBBER, Gum Elastic, or Caout- chouc, is a well-known tough and yielding sub- stance, obtained in South America and Java from the sap of a tree called the Siphonia cahuca. To procure the sap, incisions are made through the bark in many places, and the milky juice which exudes is spread over clay moulds, and dried in the sun, or by a fire, the smoke from which last blackens it. The juice itself has been of late years im- ported. It is of a pale-yellow colour, and has the consistence of cream. It becomes covered, in the bottles containing it, with a pellicle of concrete caoutchouc. Its specific gravity is 1-012. When it is dried, it loses 55 per cent. of its weight: the residuary 45 is elastic gum. When the juice is heated, it immediately coagu- lates, in virtue of its albumen, and the elastic gum rises to the surface. It mixes with wa- ter in any proportion; and, when thus diluted, it coagulates with heat and alcohol as. be- fore. The specific gravity of caoutchoue is 0-925, and it is not permanently increased by any de- gree of pressure. By cold or long quiescence, it becomes hard and stiff. By long boiling in wa- ter it softens, swells, and becomes more readily soluble in its*peculiar menstrua; but when ex- posed to the air, it speedily resumes its pristine consistence and volume. It is quite insoluble in alcohol; but in ether, deprived of alcohol by washing with water, it readily dissolves, and affords a colourless solution. When the ether is evaporated, the caoutchouc becomes again solid, but is somewhat clammy for a while. When treated with hot naphtha, dis- tilled from native petroleum, or from coal-tar, it swells to 30 times its former bulk; and if then triturated with a pestle, and pressed through a sieve, it affords a homogeneous var- nish, which being applied by a flat edge of metal or wood to cloth, prepares it for forming the patent water-proof cloth of Mackintosh. Two surfaces of cloth, to which several coats of the above varnish have been applied, are, when partially dried, brought evenly in contact, and then passed between rollers, in order to INDIAN RUBBER. condense and smooth them together. This double cloth is afterwards suspended in a stove-room to dry, and to discharge the disa- greeable odour of the naphtha. Caoutchouce dissolves in the fixed oils, such as linseed oil, but the varnish has not the pro- perty of becoming concrete upon exposure to air. It is more or less soluble in the oils of la- vender and sassafras. It melts at 248° Fahrenheit, and stands after- wards a much higher heat without undergoing any further change. When the melted caout- chouc is exposed to the air, it becomes hard on the surface in the course of a year. When kindled, it burns with a bright flame and a great deal of smoke. Neither chlorine, sulphurous acid gas, muri- atic acid gas, ammonia, nor fluosilicic acid gas affects it, whence it forms very valuable flexi- ble tubes for pneumatic chemistry. Cold sul- phuric acid does not readily decompose it, nor does nitric acid, unless it be somewhat strong. The strongest caustic potash ley does not dis- solve it, even at a boiling heat. Mr. William Henry Barnard, in the course of some experiments upon the impregnation of ropes with caoutchoue, at the factory of Messrs. Enderby, at Greenwich, discovered that when this substance was exposed to a heat of about 600° Fahrenheit, it resolved itself into a vapour, which, by proper refrigeratory me- thods, was condensable into a liquid possessing very remarkable properties, to which the name caoutchoucine has been given. For this in- vention “of a solvent not hitherto used in the arts,’ Mr. Barnard obtained a patent, in Au- gust, 1833. His process for preparing it is described in his specification as follows: “T take a mass of the said caoutchouc, or Indian rubber, as imported, and having cut it into small lumps, containing about two cubic inches each (which I prefer), I throw these lumps into a cast-iron still. I then apply heat to the still in the usual manner, which heat is increased until the thermometer ranges at 600 degrees of Fahrenheit, or thereabouts. And as the thermometer ranges progressively up- wards to 600 degrees of Fahrenheit, a dark- coloured oil or liquid is distilled over, which I claim as my said invention, such liquid being a solvent of caoutchouc, and other resinous and oleaginous substances. When the ther- mometer reaches 600 degrees, or thereabouts, nothing is left in the still but dirt and charcoal, “I afterwards subject the dark-coloured li- quid thus distilled to the ordinary process of rectification, and thereby obtain fluids varying in specific gravity, of which the lightest hitherto has not been under 670, taking distilled water at 1000, which fluids I also claim as my said invention. “At each rectification the colour of the liquid becomes more bright and transparent, until, at the specific gravity of 680, or thereabouts, it is colourless and highly volatile. “In the process of rectification (for the pur- pose of obtaining a larger product of the oil colourless) I put about one-third of water into the still. In each and every state the liquid is a solvent of caoutchouc, and several resinous and oleaginous substances, and also of other 659 INDIAN TOBACCO. substances (such as copal), in combination with very strong alcohol.” The discovery of the chemical solvent which forms the subject of the patent above described, has excited considerable interest in the philo- sophic world, not only from its probable use- fulness as a new article of commerce, but also from two very extraordinary characteristics which it is found to possess, viz., that, in a liquid state, it has less specific gravity than any other liquid known to chemists, being con- siderably lighter than sulphuric ether, and, in a state of vapour, is heavier than the most ponderous of the gases. Its elementary constituents are, Carbon - - 6812 - - 8 proportions. Hydrogen - - 1000 - - T ditto. This new material (when mixed with alco- hol) is a solvent of all the resins, and particu- larly of copal, which it dissolves, without arti- ficial heat, at the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere; a property possessed by no other solvent known; and hence it is peculiarly use- ful for making varnishes in general. It also mixes readily with oils, and will be found to be a valuable and cheap menstruum for lique- fying oil-paints ; and, without in the slightest degree affecting the most delicate colours, will, from its ready evaporation, cause the paint to dry almost instantly. Cocoa-nut oil, at the common temperature of the atmosphere, always assumes a concrete form; but a portion of this caoutchoucine mixed with it will cause the oil to become fluid, and to retain sufficient fluidity to burn in a common lamp with extraordinary brilliancy. Caoutchoucine is extremely volatile; and yet its vapour is so exceedingly heavy that it may be poured, without the liquor, from one vessel into another, like water. (Ure’s Dict.) INDIAN TOBACCO. See Ere-snicut. INDIAN TURNIP (Arum triphyllum), Wake- robin, &c. An American plant, distinguished by its head of beautiful red berries growing upon a single stem, and its perennial bulbous root, resembling a small rough turnip, possess- ing such an extremely acrid juice as, when bitten or chewed, causes violent inflammation in the mouth and salivary glands, inducing copious salivation. This acrid quality of the root is, however, dissipated by boiling or dry- ing. The dried root, grated and boiled in milk, is a popular remedy for coughs and pulmonary consamption. The English wake-robin, or cuckoo-pint, is the Arum maculatum, which in many of its sensible qualities resembles the American Indian turnip. INDIGENOUS PLANTS. Such plants as are natives of or are common to a country. INDIGO (Indigofera, from indigo, a blue dye- stuff, a corruption of Indicum, India, and fero, to bear; most of the species produce the well- known dye called indigo, the finest of all vege- table blues). This is an extensive genus of rather elegant plants, the shrubby kinds of which are well worthy of cultivation. The stove and green-house shrubby kinds thrive best in a mixture of sandy loam and peat, and may be increased without difficulty by cuttings of the young wood, planted in sand, under a glass, in heat. The annual and biennial kinds | 660 INDIGO. must be raised from seeds sown in a hotbed in spring; and when the plants have grown a sufficient height, they may be planted singly into pots, and treated as other tender annuals and biennials. The genus belongs to the natu- ral order Legwminose : hence the flowers resem- ble the pea tribe. The vexillum is round, emarginate ; the keel furnished with a subulate spur on both sides; stamens diadelphous; style filiform ; legume continuous, one or more seed- ed, two-valved. The Indigofera cerulea yields the finest indigo; the I. argentia, an inferior kind, which comes from Egypt; the I. tinctoria, besides yielding indigo, is also medicinally employed; and the powdered leaf of J. anil is used in some diseases of the liver. (Pazton.) Indigo, when cultivated, thrives best in a free, rich soil, and a warm situation, frequently. refreshed with moisture. The usual course pursued for its culture is as follows :— Having first chosen a proper piece of ground, and cleared it, hoe it into little trenches, not above two inches or two inches and a half in depth, nor more than fourteen or fifteen inches asunder. In the bottom of these, at any season of the year, strew the seeds pretty thick, and immediately cover them. As the plants shoot, they should be frequently weeded. and kept constantly clean, until they spread sufficiently to cover the ground. Those who cultivate great quantities, only strew the seeds pretty thick in little shallow pits, hoed up irregularly, but generally within four, five, or six inches of one another, and covered as before. Plants raised in this manner are observed to answer as well as the others, or rather better; but they require more care in the weeding. They grow to full perfection in two or three months, and are observed to answer best when cut in full blossom. The plants are cut with reaping- hooks, a few inches above the root, tied in loads, carried to the works, and laid by strata in the steeper. Seventeen negroes are sufficient to manage twenty acres of indigo; and one acre of rich land, well planted, will, with good seasons and proper management, yield five hundred pounds of indigo in twelve months; for the plant ratoons (stools, stoles, or tillers, i. e. it sends out stolones, or new growths), and gives four or five crops a year, but must be re- planted afterwards. (Browne.) The process by which the blue colouring matter is extracted from the plant in Mexico, the East Indies, &c., is as follows :-— The leaves are gathered at maturity, and im- mersed in vessels filled with water till fermenta- tion takes place. The water then becomes opaque and green, exhaling an odour like that of volatile alkali, and evolving bubbles of car- bonic acid gas. When the fermentation has been continued long enough, the liquid is de- canted and put into other vessels, where it is agitated till blue flakes begin to appear. Water is now poured in, and flakes are precipitated in the form of a blue powdery sediment, which is obtained by decantation, and which, after being made up into small lumps and dried in the shade, is the indigo of the shops. It is in- soluble in water, though slightly soluble in al- cohol; but its true solvent is sulphuric acid, with which it forms a fine blue dye, known by a INDURATED. the name of liquid blue. It affords by distilla- tion carbonic acid gas, water, ammonia, some oily and acid matter, and much charcoal; whence its constituent principles are most pro- bably carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. Indigo may be procured ‘also from several other plants besides Indigofera tinctoria, and particu- larly from Jsatis tinctoria, or woad, a plant indi- genous to Britain, and thought to be the plant with the juice of which the ancient Britons stained their naked bodies, to make them look terrible to their enemies. If this plant is di- gested in alcohol, and the solution evaporated, white crystalline grains, somewhat resembling starch, will be left behind; which grains are indigo, becoming gradually blue by “the action of the atmosphere. The blue colour of indigo, therefore, is owing to its combination with oxygen. Indigo is not cultivated to so great an extent in the United States as formerly, the imported article being obtained so readily. The follow- ing process of manufacturing indigo in small quantities for family use is extracted from the Southern Agriculturist:—Cut the indigo when the under leaves begin to dry, and while the dew is on them in the morning; put them in a barrel, and fill this with rain water, and place weights on to keep it under water; when bubbles begin to form on the top, and the water begins to look of a reddish colour, it is soaked enough, and must be taken out, taking care to wring and squeeze the leaves well, so as to obtain all the strength of the plant; it must then be churned (which may be done by means of a tolerably open basket, with a handle to raise it up and down) until the liquor is quite in a foam. To ascertain whether it is done enough, take out a spoonful in a plate, and put a small quan- tity of very strong lye to it. If it curdles, the indigo is churned enough, and you must pro- ceed to break the liquor in the barrel in the same way, by putting in lye, (which must be as strong as possible,) by small quantities, and continuing to churn until it is all sufficiently curdled; care must be taken not to put in too much lye, as that will spoil it. When it curdles freely with the lye, it must be sprinkled well over the top with oil, which immediately causes the foam to subside, after which it must stand till the indigo settles to the bottom of the barrel. This may be discovered by the appearance of the water, which must be let off gradually by boring holes first near the top and afterwards lower, as it continues to settle; when the water is all let off and nothing remains but the mud, take that and putit in a bag, (flannel is the best) and hang it up to drip, afterwards spreading it to dry on large dishes. Take care that none of the foam, which is the strength of the weed, escapes; but if it rises too high sprinkle oil on it. Seven or eight species of indigo are found in the United States, most of which are in the south. The wild indigo (Dyer’s Baptisia), com- mon in Pennsylvania and other Middle States, yields a considerable proportion of blue co- louring matter of an inferior kind. (Flora Cestrica.) INDURATED (Lat. induro). A term imply- ing that a substance naturally soft is hardened. INFLAMMATION. It is a term frequently used in botanical works to signify the above-mentioned change. INERT VEGETABLE MATTER. The inert vegetable matters of the soil are those which decompose very slowly, and consequent- ly afford very little nourishment to the growing plant. Of this kind are woody fibre, tanner’s bark, peat, &c., all of which, if not previously rendered more easily soluble by being mixed with farm-yard dung, or other easily fermenta- ble substances, afford food to vegetation by very slow degrees. INFIRMARY (Lat. infirmus, weak). An hospital for the reception of the sick. The Veterinary College in London have an infirm- ary for sick and diseased horses, to which the horses of their subscribers have access and medical treatment, free from charge. INFLAMMATION. In farriery, is a disease or affection consisting in an increased heat and action in any part of an. animal, arising from various causes, external or internal, local or universal. In animals, the chief causes are wounds, bruises, and sudden or excessive cold, and the application of heat afterwards. The horse is subject to inflammation of the lungs, stomach, bowels, kidney, and of the eye and foot. Of inflammation of the bowels I have already spoken (see Bowens). Of in- flammation of the stomach in the horse, except from poisonous herbs or drugs, we know little. It very rarely occurs, and then can with diffi- culty be distinguished from inflammation of the bowels; and in both diseases the assistance of a skilful veterinary surgeon is required. Among the causes of inflammation of the kidney are, improper food, such as mow-burnt hay, musty oats, &c. Bleeding, in this case, must be promptly resorted to, and carried to its full extent. An active purge should next be administered; and a counter-inflammation ex- cited as near as possible to the seat of disease. Inflammation of the lungs is one of the causes of roaring: it is generally brought on by the respiration of heated and empoisoned air, in neglected and filthy stables; by sudden changes from heat to cold, or cold to heat, from grass to the stable, or stable to grass, and soon. Bleeding, blistering, and relaxing me- dicines should be resorted to under the advice of a professional man; for the cure of this malady can scarcely be safely undertaken without proper advice. Cooling applications, such as Goulard’s ex- tract, one drachm or half an ounce of the tine- ture of opium to a pint of water, with mash diet and gentle physic, will usually get rid of com- mon inflammation of the eye, or the inflamma- tion will subside itself; but should three or four days pass and the inflammation not be abated, we may begin to suspect that it is spe- cific and fatal inflammation, or true ophthal- mia, for which there is no cure. See Ers. Inflammation of the foot is brought on by over-exertion. Ifa horse that has been ridden or driven hard be suffered to stand in the cold, or if his feet be washed and not speedily dried, he is very likely to have “fever in the feet.” Bleeding at the foot, and poultices of linseed meal to cover the whole of the foot and pastern, with sedative and cooling medicines, should be 3K 661 INFLORESCENCE. resorted to. And to promote evaporation it is advisable to remove the shoe, pare the sole as thin as possible, and have the crust, and parti- cularly the quarters, well rasped. See Grease. For inflammation in sheep, see Sarzr. In inflammatory fever in cattle, profuse bleed- ing, followed by immediate purging (13 lbs. of Epsom salts dissolved in water or gruel), must be had recourse to. (Youatt on Cattle, p. 359.) INFLORESCENCE (Lat. inflorescere, to flou- rish). The general arrangement of the flowers upon a stem or branch. It consists of the fol- lowing principal kinds: viz., the spike, the ra- ceme, the panicle, the capitulum, the cyme, and the umbel. The spike is a long rachis of flowers sessile, or without foot-stalks. The term raceme is commonly applied to flowers when they are arranged rounda filiform or thread-like simple axis, each particular flower being stalked. The panicle is a loose disposition of inflorescence, in which the primary axis developes secondary axes, which themselves produce tertiary, as in oats; or, in other words, it is a raceme bear- ing branches of flowers in place of simple ones. Capitulum implies the arrangement in small heads. The cyme is a mode of inflo- rescence resembling a flattened panicle, as that of the elder. Of the particular arrangement of the umbel, the carrot is a familiar example; the pedun- cles and pedicles spring from a common cen- tre, and rise till they form a nearly flat wft. The difference between an wmbel and a corymb is, that whilst in the latter the flowers form a flat head, the pedicles do not, as in the former, spring from a common centre. (Paxton’s Bot. Dict.; Brande’s Dict. of Science.) INFLUENZA. An epidemic catarrh, at- tended by febrile and other symptoms, which often run very high, and assume a variety of aspects, dependant upon the seasons and other causes. The possibility of the existence of a peculiar state of the atmosphere, although we have no means of detecting it, is undoubtedly the true cause of influenzas. Miasms, or va- pours of a noxious kind, may exist, though in very minute quantity, also as exciting causes of influenza, an idea suggested by Dr. Prout. It may possibly be of voleanic origin; and such a substance as seleniuretted hydrogen, which, even in extremely minute quantity, is highly deleterious, might perhaps account for some of the phenomena of influenza; but we must acknowledge that nothing certain is known respecting the cause of this disease. See Distemper, Errpemic, and Mourrain, INOCULATION. An operation in the management of fruit trees, which is some- times called budding. It is a kind of grafting practised in the summer months on various trees and plants, and often succeeds better than the common method of grafting. (See Bupvine and Grarrine.) It is also a term used to signify the process of transplanting grasses. See Gnasszs. INSECTS (Lat. insecta). A very extensive and, to the cultivators of the earth, important class of animals. Inseets are distinguished from Worms by always having feet in their perfect or winged state, as the beetle, butterfly, 662 INSECTS. moth, &c. Worms crawl on their bellies, and have no feet, as the earth-worm, snail, slug, &c. Insects, above all other animals, are by far the most destructive to vegetation. On the subject of the science of entomology, in this work, we propose only to touch upon those which are the most injurious or impor- tant to the farmer; and many of these, such as the bee, ant, fly in turnips, wireworm, &c., will be found under their respective heads; indeed the mere list of known insects is so numerous, that the catalogue alone would be too exten- sive for a work of this description. “The great characteristic of this vast assemblage of animals,” says Mr. Swainson “is the total ab- sence of internal bones; hence, their hardest parts are always external, and the muscles are usually attached to the under side of the sub- stance which forms the covering of the ani- mal. The body is always divided into rings or transverse joints, from which circumstance naturalists have agreed to call them annulose, or ringed animals.” This name is peculiarly applicable, since it expresses a marked dis- tinction from such as have an internal skele- ton, analogous to that of man, and which are called Vertebrata, from possessing a spine. The Annulosa contain Insecta (insects proper) ; Arachnida (spiders); Crustacea (crabs); and Annelida (worms); excluding the soft Vermes of Linnzus, which include the shell-fishes, or Mollusca. So diversified, indeed, are the differ- ent groups of this immense assemblage, or sub-kingdom of the animal world, that it is im- possible to assign to them any other character, as a whole, than that just mentioned. From the works of Mr. Swainson, of Kirby and Spence, the papers of Mr. Duncan, in the Quart. Journ. of Agr., the work of V. Kollar, On Insects injurious to Gardeners, Foresters, and Farmers, and especially from that of Dr. Har- ris, the chief facts are obtained. In the words of M. Kallar, “To enable the readers, for whom this work is intended, to find more easily the insect particularly interesting to each, it has been considered proper not to treat of families and species in any systematic arrangement, but according to the branch of culture to which they are particularly injurious.” And, in pursuance of this object, I shall only briefly allude to some of the chief of the insect depre- dators, for “to enumerate,” says Davy, “all the destroying animals and tyrants of the vege- table kingdom, would be to give a catalogue of the greater number of the classes in zoology; almost every species of plant is the peculiar resting-place or dominion of some insect tribe; and from the locust, and caterpillar, to the mi- nute aphis, a wonderful variety of inferior in- sects are nourished, and live by their ravages upon the vegetable world.” Of the considerable extent to which the va- rious insect tribes commit their depredations, no farmer will for a moment doubt, and yet he forms his judgment only upon the ravages of the larger insects. Of the smaller tribes—the minute trespassers—the animalcule—those only discernable through the microscope, he forms no estimate. Yet of those that he does see, the catalogue is fearfully alarming.— “There is,” says Mr Duncan, “scarcely one INSECTS. of our most useful plants which is not assailed in some way or other; and the forms of in- sects, and their modes of living, are so infi- nitely diversified as to enable them to continue their depredations in all the different states of these plants. The various kinds of grain, for example, have a host of enemies in the sub- terraneous larve of beetles which consume the roots; various kinds of caterpillars feed on the blade; some particular species attack the ear; and even when laid up in apparent security, a small beetle is often found to scoop out the interior of each grain, and convert it into an abode for itself. (See Conn Weeyit.) In England, if the seed of the turnip escape the attack of a minute weevil, another enemy awaits the unfolding of the cotyledon leaves, and a third bufies itself in the bulb and root- lets, which become diseased and covered with unseemly excrescences (see ANzury), while the mature foliage is often consumed by cater- pillars. “But even when there is no remarkable augmentation of their numbers, there is rea- son to believe that the injury occasioned to vegetation by insects is at all times greater than is generally supposed. Their operations are often carried on under cover, either be- neath the surface of the soil, within the sub- Stance of the plant, or in other situations where they escape observation. Many kinds again feed only during the night, and conceal themselves during the day in holes and cre- vices. In consequence of this latent and in- sidious mode of attack, there is no doubt that we are often led to ascribe the unhealthiness and decay of plants to badness of soil, unfa- vourable weather, and other causes, when in reality they are produced entirely by insects.” (Quart. Journ. Agr. vol. viii. p. 97.) “The only course,” adds Mr. Duncan, * which is likely to lead to the discovery of proper remedies, is to investigate carefully the habits and natural history of insects in connection with the struc- ture and general physiology of the plants which they attack. In prosecuting this object, the attention should be directed to ascertain the time when, and the manner in which, the eggs are deposited, as well as their composi- tion, and that of the enclosing membrane, with a view to determine in what way the vital principle might be most easily destroyed. The habits of the larve call for particular atten- tion, as it is generally in this state that the mischief is committed; the period of their ap- pearance, their times of feeding, plants on which they feed, and (if attached to more than one) the kind they seem to prefer, the part of the plant attacked, duration of the larve state, should be carefully noted; an acquaintance with the places to which the larve usually re- treat when about to change to pupe, and with the structure, duration, &c. of the latter, might probably suggest some easy means of destroy- ing many in that dormant state. A knowledge of the economy of the perfect insect is of course of the utmost importance; if we could become acquainted with the retreats in which they pass the winter, or find means to destroy the few that generally survive, when they first appear in the spring, and before they have de- INSECTS. posited their eggs, the injuries which are sus- | tained by their means might be altogether pre- vented.” (Ibid. p. 99.) Let not, however, the farmer, when he is thus warmly engaging in the destruction of the an- noying insects of the field, omit to consider whether many of these are not, in some shape or other, productive of benefit—whether they do not serve to keep within reasonable limits other insects, or perhaps perform some other wise purpose in the works of the creation. This has been proved to be the fact in the case of the common earth-worm, whose casts so often annoy the gardener and the farmer. (See Eanru-Worm.) Tor these not only assist in the continual admixture of different strata of earths, but, by boring the soil, they promote in it the circulation of the atmospheric gases, and even the drainage from it of its superfluous moisture. And as White, of Selborne, remarks in his Natural History, “The most insignificant insects and reptiles are of much more conse- quence, and have much more influence in the economy of nature, than the incurious are aware of. From their minuteness, which ren- ders them less an object of attention, from their numbers and fecundity, earth-worms, though in appearance a small and despicable link in the chain of nature, yet, if lost, would make a lamentable chasm.” Insects have been divided by entomologists into two great divisions—the winged and the wingless. Winged insects are divided into the follow- ing orders :— 1. Coleoptera. Of this order are the weevils, the rose-bug, ground and dung beetles, &c. 2. Orthoptera. Of this order are the cock- roach, field cricket, grasshopper, &c. 3. Hemiptera. Of which are the field, tree, and bed-bugs, fetid bugs, &c. 4. Neuroptera. In which are comprehended the dragon fly, lace fly, ephemera, é&c. 5. Hymenoptera. In this order are bees, wasps, ants, saw-flies, gall-flies, &c. 6. Lepidoptera. Of which order are the but- terflies, moths, &c. 7. Rhipipiera. Of which are certain minute insect parasites living on bees, wasps, &c. 8. Diptera, Of this order are gnats, house flies, musketoes, ox and horse flies, &c. The insects without wings (Apiera) are di- vided into the following orders: 9. Myriapoda. Of this are the centipede, Tulus, &e. 10. Thysanura. Including small, soft, leaping insects, generally covered with a silvery down, and found in damp places, under logs, &c. 11. Parasita. The lice tribe, &e. 12. Suctoria. The flea. I. The Transformation of Insects—Insects commonly change their form several times in the most apparently magic manner. A few, the Aphis, for instance, are viviparous, but | they are generally produced from eggs, that is, the eggs are produced in the body of the mo- ther. “The female,” says Kéllar, “lays her eggs (which are often stuck on and covered with a kind of glue to protect them from the weather) shortly after pairing, instinctively in the place best adapted for their developement, 663 INSECTS. and which offers the proper food to the forth- coming brood. Most insects issue from their eggs as larve; those of the butterflies are provided with feet, and are called caterpillars; those of beetles, grubs; and when they have no feet, they are called maggots. In this state, as their bodies increase, the insects often cast their skin, and sometimes change their colour. Many winged insects, such as the grasshoppers, dragon flies, &c., very much resemble in their larva state the perfect insect; they only want the wings, which are not developed till after the last change of the skin. The larva state is the pe- riod of feeding; and insects are then usually the destructive enemies of other productions of nature, and objects of persecution to far- mers, gardeners, and foresters. The nympha or pupa state succeeds that of the larva. Insects do not now require nou- rishment (with the exception of grasshoppers and a few others), and repose in a death-like slumber. To be safe from their enemies and the weather, the larve of many insects, par- ticularly butterflies, prepare for themselves a covering of a silky or a cottony texture. Many form themselves a house of earth, moss, leaves, grass, or foliage. Many even go into the earth, Gr decayed wood, or conceal themselves under the bark of trees, and other places of security. After a certain fixed period the perfect in- sect appears from the pupa. It is usually fur- nished, in this state, with other organs for the performance of its appointed functions, as for the propagation of its species, &c. The male insect seeks the female, and the female the place best suited for laying her eggs; hence most insects are furnished with wings. Food is now a secondary consideration ; consequent- ly, in many, the feeding organs are less per- fectly developed than in the larva state, or very much modified, and suited for finer food, as, for example, in butterflies, which, instead of the leaves of plants, only consume the honey out of their flowers. Il. The food of insects is indeed procured from an extensive pasture. “From the majestic oak,” observes M. V. Killar, “to the invisible fungus or the insignificant wall-moss, the whole race of plants is a stupendous meal to which the insects sitdown as guests. Even those plants which are highly poisonous and nauseating to other animals are not refused by them. But this is not yet all. The larger plant-consuming animals usually limit their attacks to leaves, seed, and stalks: not so in- sects, to the various families of which every part of a plant yields suitable provender. Some which live under the earth, attack roots; others choose the stem and branches; a third ‘livision live on the leaves; a fourth prefers the flowers; while a fifth selects the fruit or seed. Even here a still further selection takes place. Of those which feed on the roots, stems, and branches, some species only eat the rind like the bee-hawk moth; others the inner bark and the alburnum, like the bark beetle; a third division peneirates into the heart of the solid wood, like the family of the long-horned bee- tles. (See Borrns.) Ofthose which prefer the foliage, some take nothing but the juice out of 664 INSECTS. the sap vessels, as the aphides: others devour the substance of the leaves without touching the epidermis, as the mining caterpillars; others only the upper or under surface of the leaves (leaf rollers), while a fourth division (as the larve of the Lepidoptera) devour the entire leaf. Of those feeding on flowers, some eat the petals (the rose-bug, &c.), others the farina (bees, &c.); a still greater number consume the honey from the nectaries (wasps, flies, &c.); other insects injure the plant by punc- turing it, and laying their egg in the wound, and with it an acrid matter, which causes a peculiar excrescence in which their young are hatched and live, until they are able to eat their way out, to perform the functions of the parents, such as the gall-fly, &c. The death- watch or ticking beetle (Anobium) feeds on dry wood, long used, as portions of our dwelling houses. Those insects which tenant and feed upon animal matters, have an equally varied taste: of these are the different kinds of bird and sheep lice, &c., gnats, midges, breeze flies, bugs, fleas, &c. Some of the carnivorous bee- ues devour their prey entire; others only suck out their juices; others live upon the food they obtain in water, and devour swarms of the in- fusoria. Many live on carrion and the excre- ments of the larger animals, such as the dung- beetle, and carcass-beetle; others live in the stomachs of animals; many moths live en- tirely upon hair, leather, wool, and feathers. The food of insects varies strangely with their transformations: the caterpillar requires very different food from the butterfly; the maggot from the beetle andfly. The larva of the Sirex gigas feeds on wood, the perfect insect on flies. Those of some melolonthians live on roots and tubers, the beetle on leaves. The quantity of food consumed by different insects varies very much: many consume more than their own weight in a day. The maggot of the flesh-fly, according to Redi, becomes 200 times heavier in the course of 24 hours. Cater- pillars digest every day about one-third to one- fourth of their weight; hence the ravages they commitinafew days. Of others, however, such as the day-flies (Hphemeride) and the breeze- flies, and even amongst the Lepidoptera which spin cocoons, many appear to abstain from nourishment. Some eat only during the day, others in the evening; and others, such as the caterpillars of the night moths, during the night. Most of them provide their own food; but a few which live in communities, such as the wasps, bees, ants, &c., are fed by the per- fect insect. Many provide a store of food, but the greater number die unprovided with a store: others feed their larve.” See Brerxy, and Borers, ILI. Destruction of Insects, &c. by Artificial Means.—Various have been the recipes sug- gested for the destruction of the insects which destroy the cultivator’s crops. Ants, it is said, may be easily destroyed by toasting | the fleshy side of the skin of a piece of bacon | till it is crisp, and laying it at the root or stem of any fruit tree that is infested by these insects, placing something over the bacon to INSECTS. keep it dry—the ants will go under it; after a time lift it up quickly, and dip it into a pail of water. While treating of insects, I may inci- dentally allude to worms and slugs, or naked snails. For the destruction of slugs, warm in an oven, or before the fire, a quantity of cab- bage leaves, until they are soft, then rub them with unsalted butter, or any kind of fresh drip- ping, and lay them in the places infested by slugs. In a few hours the leaves will be found covered with snails and slugs. Wood- lice are destroyed in the same way. For field operations, perhaps, the best means of destroy- ing slugs and worms is common salt, an agent too little known for this purpose, yet its powers are undoubted. No person has employed common salt for the purpose of destroying worms to a greater extent than Jacob Busk, Esq., of Ponsbourn Park, in Hertfordshire. His valuable experi- ments have extended over some hundreds of acres of wheat. To use his own words,—* In every situation, and at every time, the effect appeared equally beneficial.” The quantity per acre,—* about four or five bushels sown out of a common seed-shuttle.” The period,— “Tn the evening.” The effect—*In the morn- ing each throw may be distinguished by the quantity of slime and the number of dead slugs lying on the ground. In some fields it has cer- tainly been the means of preventing the de- struction of the whole crop.” Six bushels of salt per acre was applied by hand, in April, 1828, to a field of oats attacked by the slugs and worms, and the crop was completely saved by this application, although an adjoining field, not salted, was entirely destroyed by this sort of vermin. Salt, too, is a complete preventive of the ravages of the weevil in grain. It has been successfully employed in the proportion of a pint of salt to a barrel of wheat. I learn from an American merchant, that wheat placed in old salt barrels is never attacked by these de- structive insects. Six or eight pounds of salt sprinkled over 100 sheaves in stacking, pro- duces exactly the same effect. The Eriosoma lanigera upon apple trees, and several other insects (See Awrnican Brieur), may be killed by clay and water, made as thin as whitewash, and mixing with every 6 gallons of it 2 lbs. of cream of tartar, 1 lb. of soft soap, and half a peck of quicklime. “When you think,” says Mr. Loudon, “that the weather is likely to continue dry for some time, take a bucketful of this mixture, and with a large brush wash over the bark of the trees, wher- ever you think it has been infected with the bug. A man will dress a number of trees over in a few days with a whitewash brush and this liquid ; it is only necessary to be careful to do it in dry weather, so that the rain may not wash over the mixture for some time. The clay and water alone are sometimes effectual. Flies and wasps.—A mixture of pepper, sugar, and water will speedily attract and destroy them. (Gard. Mag. No. 37; Quart. Journ. Agr. vol. lil. p. 1071.) Moss and Insects—Mr. Thomas recommends that the trees infected should be sprinkled with a fine powder in March, and again in Oc- 84 INSECTS. tober, on a foggy day when the trees are damp but not dripping, and I have no doubt of its efficacy. It is composed as follows: slack five bushels of lime, hot from the kiln, with com- mon salt and water (say one lb. of salt to each gallon of water). When the lime has fallen to a fine powder, add by small quantities at a time a bushel of soot, stirring it until com- pletely incorporated. Mr. Thomas has found that one man can dust over with the powder fifty trees in a day, and that the moss in the turf under fruit trees thus treated is also completely destroyed by the application. (Trans. Soc. Arts.) Worms in grass plats may be readily destroyed by copiously watering the turf with lime-water (half a pound of the hottest quick-lime well stirred in each gallon of water), or by sprin- kling common salt (20 bushels per acre) over it, or by strewing it on gravel walks in rather large proportions. Lime is recommended for the destruction of the worm which sometimes injures young larch plantations; coal-tar and tar water to preserve hop poles and other wood from the ravages of insects. 'The cater- pillars on cabbages may be readily destroyed by sprinkling them with finely powdered lime ; and when some years since a black caterpillar attacked very generally and extensively the turnips, in some instances they were very suc- cessfully destroyed by turning into the fields considerable numbers of common ducks. Heavy rolling, especially during the night, is in many cases destructive of slugs; and it is certain that, by occasional material variations in the rotation of crops (see Rorarron or Cnors), the number of predatory insects may be very considerably reduced in cultivated soils by depriving the larve of their particular and essential food. Mr. Knight recommends the use of carbonate of ammonia for the destruction of the insects upon the pine and other plants. Mr. Baldwin, in effect, does the same, when he commends the use of the steam from hot fermenting horse dung. Mr. Robertson found soot (which con- tains ammonia), when diffused in water, to be an excellent application. When speaking of the use of fermenting horse dung in the de- struction of insects, Mr. Knight remarked, “T conclude the destructive agent in this case is ammoniacal gas, which Sir Humphry Davy informed me he had found to be instantly fatal to every species of insect; and, if so, this might be obtained at a small expense by pour- ing a solution of crude muriate of ammonia upon quicklime ; the stable or cow-house would afford an equally efficient, though less delicate fluid. The ammoniacal gas might, I conceive, be impelled by means of a pair of bellows amongst the leaves of the infected plants, in sufficient quantity to destroy animal without injuring vegetable life.” Ammonia seems pe- culiarly distasteful to insects. Carbonate of ammonia is often successfully placed in meat- safes to prevent the attacks of flies. IV. The natural Enemies of Insects—Amongst the enemies by which insects are kept in check, may be numbered long-continued rains, late frosts, inundations, storms; and, among the animals, bats, mice, moles, squirrels, foxes, &c. Birds devour them by myriads; the green- 3K2 665 INSECTS. finch tears open (says Reaumur) the strong nest of the yellow-tailed moth, and eats the infant caterpillars. The woodpeckers and tree- creepers commit great ravages amongst the beetles and caterpillars. Crows, which in some sections destroy the corn, commit great ravages upon cutworms and destructive insects. In one of the English counties where the rook (a bird allied to the crow) had increased so as to do some damage to the crops, a destructive war was waged against them, so that they were “carly exterminated. But under these circumstances various species of the insect tribe increased so rapidly, that it became ne- cessary to import the rooks again from the adjoining counties. In fact, it remains to be proved whether any omnivorous bird is more prejudicial than useful. Insects in their va- rious states exist throughout the warm season, whilst the crops are exposed to the birds for a comparatively short period. Every protection should be given to birds, and boxes should be fitted up for martins, wrens, and bluebirds. To these may be added the frog, the toad, &c. Many insects, such as the ground beetles, de- vour the pupz of others. Then, again, there is the numerous order of the Ichnewmonide, which lay their eggs in the bodies of other in- sects and destroy them. The eggs are hatched within the body of the living insect, and the young parasites, in the most literal sense, fat- ten on the entrails of their prey. At last the wounded caterpillar sinks, the enemies escape through the skin and become pup; or the caterpillar, notwithstanding its internal para- sites, enters the pupa state; but, instead of a butterfly, one or more Ichneumonide appear. The beautiful little red insect familiarly known as the lady-bird or lady-bug, is of vast service by the havoc which it makes among the plant and bark-lice. Many a friendly ichneumon fly or lady-bird has been killed by those whose want of knowledge led them to consider these insects destructive to vegetation. To these wonderful animals we often owe the preserva- tion of our orchards, woods, and grains. Many other modes, besides those I have enumerated, have been suggested, by which the number of the cultivator’s predatory insects may be re- duced, most of which I shall notice under their respective heads. I am quite of the opinion, however, of the authors of the work I have so extensively quoted, “that the most essential and necessary means to be opposed to the serious injuries caused by insects, consists in the uni- versal dissemination of the knowledge of the natural history of hurtful insects amongst far- mers, gardeners, foresters, and all those, in fact, who are in any manner connected with agriculture.” V. Of the Insects which live and propagate on domestic animals—The chief are lice, which commonly originate from want of cleanliness, poor, unwholesome food, or from the weaken- ing effects of other diseases. Old horses are more subject to them: than young ones; they are common in sheep, and in swine; for which the best remedies will be found under their re- spective heads. (For the bots in horses, see Bor; for those in sheep, see Suree Bor; for the ox-warble, see Warnxz.) The forest fly, 666 INSECTS. or horse fly, lives chiefly on horses. It flies in short flights quickly, and moves about with considerable agility. The female lays but one egg at a time, from which the fly is hatched. They abound in the New Forest. See Honsz Fry. The well-known sheep tick has no wings; the fore part of its body is very small, but the abdomen is large. Its colour reddish, with white lines on the side of the abdomen. The farmer will find the following an excellent receipt for a sheep-dipping wash, by which they are readily destroyed:—4 a lb. of powder- ed white arsenic, 43 lbs. of soft soap. Boil these for a quarter of an hour, or until the ar- senic is dissolved, in five gallons of water. Add this to the water sufficient to dip fifty sheep. The quantity of arsenic usually re- commended is too large. See Ticks. VI. Insects which injure Bees——There are seve- ral insects which injure bees, such as a para- site bee-louse, which is about the size of a flea, has no eyes, but the rudiments of four feelers. They tenant chiefly populous hives : sometimes two or three are found on a bee. These para- sites disturb and annoy even the queen bee. “A bee,” says M. Kollar, “infested with a bee- louse, endeavours, but to no purpose, to get rid of such an unwished-for guest, till at last she creeps under a number of other bees, and rubs off the louse from her back, when it imme- diately betakes itself to the back of another bee. That the presence of this parasite causes pain to the bee, is apparent from the restlessness with which she runs out at the hole and back again. The queen is also disturbed in her em- ployment of egg-laying, when she is infested by them, so that the hive suffers in another way by impoverishment. It may even happen that when many of these parasites infest a queen, she must eventually perish. In winter the in- fected bees usually fall to the floor, and perish with cold and hunger.” Spiders also destroy bees, but only in their nets. Then there is the caterpillar of the honeycomb-moth, whose ra- vages are very considerable, when once they find their way into a hive. They devour only the wax. Three hundred have been found in a hive, and there are two generations of these caterpillars in a year. Ants also are very fond of honey, and find their way into hives. Wasps very frequently do the same. Bees even rob each other’s hives. VIL The Insects which injure Grain—These are numerous: the chief of them are the larve which feed on the green leaves and roots of grain. On these the blackbirds, crows, and other useful birds feed very copiously. The barley-midge (Tipula cerealis) attacks the bar- ley and spelt plants. VIII. Insects which injure Meadows.—This is also a very numerous class. “ Most of the in- sects that choose the various sorts of corn for their food,” says M. K6llar, “do not reject the other sorts of grasses, in the meadows. The herbage of the meadows has also often pecu- liar enemies, which are very difficult to find out and destroy. In most cases the meadows suffer from the roots of the grass plants being injured, which is chiefly occasioned by the larve of various species of cockchaffers, living Plate 1/6 DESTRUCTIV EK INSECTS, ete. PS Dual Lath Phu’ INSECTS. in the earth. When bare spots are seen on meadows, we may be pretty sure that the larve of some species of melolontha are there carry- ing on their work of destruction. The sub-turf plough disturbs the operations of these vermin; the crows devour them. IX. Insects injurious to cultivated Vegetables— Are also numerous, and highly injurious to the gardener’s crops. The flea-beetles (Haltica) are great pests to the gardener: they attack and devour, during the summer months, various members of the cabbage tribe, such as the cab- bage, cauliflower, and colewort, the turnip, the radish, common and water cress: they also prey upon flax, hops, sainfoin, &e. (See Fry ix T'unnies.) The mole cricket (Gryllotalpa) is often peculiarly injurious to the German cultivators. It does not confine its ravages to the garden crops, but injures very materially those of the meadow and corn-fields. It mea- sures, when full-grown, about two inches in length. The plant-lice (Aphis) chiefly haunt the cabbage, peas, and beans. They are de- voured in great numbers by several of the lady- birds (Coccinella) and fly tribes. X. Insects which injure Green-house Plants— Of these I need only mention the orange scale insect (Coccus hespertdum) ; the pine-apple scale insect (Coccus bromeli@) ; the mealy bug (Coccus Adonidum); the oleander scale insect (Aspidio- tus Nerv), abounding on oleanders, acacias, aloes, palms, &c.; the rose scale (4. rose), found in old rose stems and twigs; the cactus seale (4. echinocacti), on the cacti; the sweet- bay seale (4. lari), on the sweet bay; the rose- moth (Linea (Ornix) rhodophagella); and the plant-mite or red spider (Acarius telarius). XI. Insects which attack Fruit Trees—The number of insects which live either partially or entirely upon fruit trees, is very considera- ble. Ican hardly do more in this work than give the names of the most formidable of these little depredators. XII. Insects injurious to Forest Trees—These are divided by M. KGllar into two classes :— 1. Those which attack deciduous trees; and, 2. Those which are injurious to the evergreens. XIL. Insects which attack the Fir and Pine Tribe—These often injure very seriously the leaves, bark, and young shoots of some of the Pinus tribe. Such, then, is a very brief glance at that im- mense and important class of animals which are included in the science of entomology. It must be considered, to use the words of Mr. Swainson, only as suggestions and stimulants to further inquiry. The review, however, can- not but fill us with astonishment; for, although we see only avery limited portion of the insect world, yet that view, limited as it is, is fraught with instruction to the cultivator. It will lead him, perhaps, to a clearer understanding of the often-repeated truth, that nothing is created in vain. It may suggest to him also the means, in some cases, of arresting their ravages, when, by their excessive numbers, they become a Nuisance; and it may perhaps be instrumental in saving from destruction many a useful bird, when the sportsman is made aware of the num- ber of predatory insects which they so unceas- ingly destroy. The astonishing number, habits, | INSECTS. ind instincts of the insect tribe, too, are equally instructive, and can only be explained in one way. These phenomena did not escape the notice of the great Paley. Thus he observes, “Moths and butterflies deposit their eggs in the precise substance (that of a cabbage, for in- stance) from which not the butterfly herself, but the caterpillar which is to issue from her eggs, draws its appropriate food. The butterfly cannot taste the cabbage; cabbage is no food for her; yet in the cabbage, not by chance, but studiously and electively, ane lays her eggs.” And when referring to this immeczce mass of animal life, he says, in another place, “To this great variety in organized life the Deity hag given, or perhaps there arises out of it, a cor- responding variety of animal appetites. For the final cause of this we have not far to seek. Did all animals covet the same element, retreat, or food, it is evident how much fewer could be supplied and accommodated than what at pre- sent live conveniently together, and find a plen- tiful subsistence. What one nature rejects, another delights in. Food which is nauseous to one tribe of animals, becomes, by that very property which makes it nauseous, an alluring dainty to another tribe. Carrion is a treat to dogs, ravens, vultures, fish. The exhalations of corrupted substances attract flies by crowds. Maggots revel in putrefaction.” Neither can the astonishing changes of some of the insect tribe be regarded by a rational being without very considerable interest. “The wonderful metamorphosis undergone by the order Lepi- doptera,” says Swainson, “would be almost incredible, were it not familiarized to us from early childhood, that a crawling worm, rave- nous of grass food, should voluntarily seek a retreat in the earth, or spin its own shroud; that such a change should come over it, so complete, as that not a lineament of its first form was retained; that in this state, after re- maining a misshapen lump, to all appearance inanimate, it should suddenly burst forth, full of life and joy, and, with many-coloured wings, ascend into mid-air, and derive its only suste- nance from the nectar of flowers ;—all this, we say; is one of those miracles of natare, which, were it told of an insect that had never yet been seen, the world would not believe.” Description of the Plate of Noxious Insects.— Throughout this work we have made great use of the valuable treatise of Dr. Harris on destruc- tive insects; but, as it is unaccompanied by plates, the reader who is unacquainted with the subject may be occasionally in doubt as to the aspect of those described. On this account we have devoted Plate 16 to the illustration of a few of the principal forms, both of destructive insects and those which prey upon them. The species figured are, 1. Elaphidion putator, oak pruner. rers, p. 205. 2. Clytus fleruosus, locust tree borer. Borers, p. 206. 3. Criociris trilineata. Potato-vine bug. 4. Haltica striolata, cucumber flea (magni fied), p. 371. 5. Phyllophaga quercina, p. 172, 173. —6. Hylobius pales, which is very destructive to the pine forests of the south. The plum 667 See Bo- See INSTEP. weevil and grain weevil, as well as this spe- cies, belong to the Curculio family. 7. Agrotis clandestina, cut-worm. 8. Ageria exitiosa, peach tree borer, female. 9. Gallerea cereana, bee-moth, p. 168. 10. Caravus Goryi, which may be taken as a representative of a large family which feeds upon other insects, caterpillars, ete. 11. Coccinella borealis, which in its larva and perfect state, feeds upon the aphides so destruc- tive to roses and other plants. 12. Trogus fulvus. The members of the ex- tensive family (Ichnemonide) to which this species belongs, commit great havoc among caterpillars and grubs. INSTEP. In farriery, a name given to that part of a horse’s hind-leg which reaches from the ham to the pastern joint. INSURANCE. One means of security against fire. The farmer being constantly sur- rounded by much combustible matter, should never, when possible, omit rendering himself safe by insuring his stock of every kind in some public office, instituted for this pur- pose. In England, the legislature has wisely afford- ed very considerable facilities to the insurance of farming stock, which, by an act of Parlia- ment, is exempted from duty. “'The Farmer’s Insurance Institution” of London insures it at 1s. 9d. per cent., without the average clause; thus easily repaired are the ravages of the incen- diary, of accidental fires, and lightning. INTEGUMENT. The outer covering or skin of an animal: it is also used in the same sense as a synonyme for Testa, for the husk or exterior covering of seeds. INVENTORY (Fr. inventaire; Lat. inventa- rium). A detailed account taken of any thing upon a farm. Inventories of the various kinds of farming stock should be taken annually, at the close of the year. See Boox-Krrrine and APPRAISEMENT. INVOLUCRE, or INVOLUCRUM. In bo- tany, the bractes (or small leaves placed near the calyx, or the peduncle or pedicil) which surround the flowers or the umbels. Inwvolucels are the partial involucres of umbelliferous plants. (Paxton’s Bot. Dict.) IRIS (from iris, the rainbow; alluding to the variety and beauty of the colours of the flower). This extensive genus has long been, as it still continues to be, a great favourite in the flower garden. “The sword-leaved sorts (says Sweet) do best in a light loamy soil, and increase freely by suckers from the roots or by seeds. The tuberous-rooted ones are more difficult to cul- tivate, and thrive best in a mixture of loam, peat, and sand, as does also the tribe to which I. persica belongs, as I. alata, I. caucasica, I. reti- culata, &c. The common bulbous species do well in any garden soil, the more sandy the better.” J. tuberosa is aromatic as well as emetic and purgative, and J. versicolor and I. verna are used in the United States as cathar- ties. (Paaton’s Bot. Dict.) Two species of iris only ave indigenous to England, 1. The yellow water iris, or flower-de-luce (1. pseud-acorus), which grows wild an ditches, pools, and rivers, and forms a handsome orna- 668 TRRIGATION. ment for the banks of ponds and streams, blowing from three to six large, bright yellow flowers in July. The root is horizontal, de- pressed, brown, very astringent; the stem 3 or 4 feet high; leaves erect, ribbed, grass-green. The disks of the larger segments of the flowers are pencilled with dark purple. 2. Stinking iris, or Gladwyn. Roast-beef plant (JI. fetidissima). This species grows in groves, thickets, and under hedges, but it is rather rare. Dr. Withering, however, observed it to be very common in England in all the southwest counties. It is a perennial, grow- ing to about 2 feet high; the leaves are dull green, exhaling, when rubbed, a scent com- pared to that of roast beef, to which it is no compliment. The flowers, which appear in May, are dull, pale purple, pencilled with dark veins. Seeds orange-coloured, polished. (Eng. Flor. vol. i. p. 48.) Miller only mentions 19 species of cultivated irises, but there are now nearly 100 known species and varieties. Two or three only are much admired as ornamental flowers. The I. xiphium is a bulb from Spain, blowing blue, white, yellow, and violet flowers in June. The Persian iris blows a fragrant flower in March and April; plant the bulb in October, in a pot filled with equal quantities of fine mould and sand, and house it during frost. The dwarf iris is ornamental in clusters in a garden; it grows only three inches high, and blows in April. Part its roots in autumn. The Siberian iris blows in June, and likes a moist situation; it bears flowers whose falling petals are blue, and the upright ones dark purple; its stem is tall, and its leaves are narrow. J. susiana, or fleur-de-lis. The plant is tuberous rooted, loves a good soil, and should be removed every three years. It flowers handsomely in June, bearing varieties of pale blue, deep blue, and striped or bluish-white flowers. Its odour is feeble, but it is fetid. These are the most favourite kinds in gardens. The J. florentina, which is occasionally seenin our gardens, yields the orris root, which is the dried and peeled rhizomes of the plants. Orris root is prized chiefly on account of its odour, which resembles that of the violet. It is added on this account to tooth powders and hair powder. A hazardous cus- tom prevails of giving the entire root to infants to gnaw during teething, from which fatal re- sults have followed. The wild flag, Colour-changing flax (Iris Vir- giniana), is common on the margins of ponds and in miry places in the Middle States. Dr. Bigelow remarks that the root of this is a vio- lent emetic. Seven or eight other species of iris are enumerated in the United States. (Flor. Cestrica. IRON-WOOD (Carpinus ostrya). See Horn- BEAM. IRRIGATION (Lat. irrigio, to water). In agriculture, the watering of the earth, to in- crease its productiveness. The term, however, is confined to that species of flooding which consists of spreading a sheet of water over a field or meadow, in such a manner that it can be easily withdrawn. Irrigation, or the artificial watering of the 4 IRRIGATION. earth, chiefly to produce increased crops of grass, has been in use from a very early pe- riod. In Oriental countries, in fact, the heat of the climate is such, that in many situations the now productive soil would be absolutely sterile, were it not that the cultivator enriched his ground with a copious supply of water. The simile employed by Isaiah (1. 30), to indi- cate barrenness and desolation, is “a garden that hath no water.” And that, in patriarchal times, they laboured hard to supply their grounds with water by means of various hy- draulic machines, some of which resembled the water-wheels of the fen districts of Eng- land, and were worked by the feet of men, something after the style of the modern tread- mill, is certain. Moses alluded to this prac- tice when he reminded the Israelites of their sowing their corn in Egypt, and watering it with their feet (Deut. xi. 10; 2 Kings, xix. 24), and in the sandy soils of Arabia the same sys- tem is still continued. (Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 121.) According to Dr. Shaw, the following is the modern mode of raising and using the water of the Nile for the purpose of irrigation in Egypt. “Such vegetable productions as re- quire more moisture than what is occasioned by the annual inundation of the Nile, are re- freshed by water that is drawn at certain times cut of the river, and lodged in large cisterns made for that purpose. The screw of Archi- medes seems to have been the instrument for- merly made use of for that purpose, though at present the inhabitants either supply them- selves with various kinds of leathern buckets, or else with a sakiah, as they call the Persian wheel, which is the most useful and generally employed machine. Engines and contrivances of both these kinds are placed all along the banks of the Nile, from the sea to the cataracts, their situations being higher, and consequently the difficulty of raising the water being greater, as we advance up the river. When their pulse, saffron, melon, sugar-canes, &c. (all of which are commonly planted in rills), require to be refreshed, they take out a plug from the bot- tom of the cistern, and then the water gushing out, is conducted from one rill to another by the gardener, who is always ready as occasion requires to stop and divert the current. In Egypt at the present day, according to Dr. Clarke, the water is sometimes raised for the purposes of irrigation by means of a wicker basket lined with leather, which is held by cords between two men, who, by this laborious means, swing it over the banks of the Nile into the canal which conveys it to the Jands intend- ed to be irrigated. A machine similar to the Persian wheel is still employed in China by the cultivators for the purposes of irrigation. This use of machinery for the purposes of watering might, in fact, in many situations, be advantageously employed in England to a much greater extent than is commonly be- lieved. It is well known how many thousand acres of valuable land are profitably drained by means of the steam-engine. At this very period a public company is proposing to en- close and drain an arm of the sea in Lincoln- shire, by the assistance of its gigantic aid. Yet how rarely, if ever, is that power employed IRRIGATION. to irrigate the thirsty lands of England; lands of all others the most profitable, the best adapt- ed for the formation of water meadows. The tracts to which I allude are those on a slope, as on the side of a hill; but these are rarely found in situations where a sufficiently copious supply of water can be constantly obtained for the purposes of irrigation. Yet the quantity thus required is not so large as to be beyond the power of the steam-engine to supply; thus, to sufficiently saturate a square yard of a cal- careous sand soil with water to the depth of one foot, as in irrigation, requires about 30 gallons of water, equal to about 145,000 gal- lons per imperial acre. Now, that the steam- engine could readily and profitably supply this quantity of water may be concluded from seve- ral facts; thus, the two engines, one of 80, the other of 60 horses’ power, which keep Deeping Fen, near Spalding, completely drained, when working, in 1835, only 96 days, of 12 hours each, raised more than 14,000,000 tons of wa- ter several feet. The district drained by them contains about 25,000 acres (Brit. Farm. Mag. N.S. vol. iii. p. 300), which would otherwise beacomplete swamp. And it has been proved that, by a common condensing steam-engine, one bushel of coals will raise more than 50,000,000 Ibs. of water one foot. In many situations, therefore, where, for the purposes of irrigation, good river water can be copious- ly obtained, and fuel is at a moderate price, I am confident that great results are yet to be obtained by the aid of mechanical power. For, by the steam-engine, the soils of all others the best adapted for irrigation, may be successfully brought into cultivation; for instance, the poor sands and gravels on the sloping banks of many of the English and Scotish rivers, many of whose waters, from being charged with or- ganic matter, the carbonate and sulphate of lime, and various earthy substances, are ex- cellent for the use of water meadows. The early employment of irrigation by the Egyp- tians and Chinese was most likely the result of the good effects which were observed to be produced by the overflowings of the Nile and the Chinese rivers; for, in the “ Celestial Em- pire,” irrigation has, it seems, been employed, according to their veracious historians, fora period long before that assigned to the flood. In Italy, especially on the banks of the Po, the cultivators of the earth have certainly employ- ed this process for a period previous to the days of Virgil (Georg. lib. i. v. 106—9),— Deinde satis fluvium inducit, rivosque sequentes— and it is still carried on with a zeal and care worthy of the art they practise. M., P. Cato, the earliest of the Roman writers upon agri- culture (150 years before Christ), in his ninth chapter, told the Italian farmers to “make water meadows, if you have water, and if you have no water, have dry meadows.” ‘The di- rections of Columella seem to have all the freshness of a modern age about them. He was the first who noticed the inferior nu- trition afforded by the hay from water mea- dows. “Land,” says he, “that is naturally rich, and is in good heart, does not need to have water set over if: and it is better hay 669 IRRIGATION. which nature, of its own accord, produces in a juicy soil, than what water draws from a soil that is overflowed. This, however, is a neces- sary practice when the poverty of the soil re- quires it; anda meadow may be formed either upon a stiff or free soil, though poor when water may be set over it; neither a low field with hollows, nor a field broken with steep rising ground, are proper; the first, because it contains too long the water collected in the hollows; the last, because it makes the water run too quickly over it. A field, however, that has a moderate descent may be made a mea- dow, whether it be rich, or so situated as to be watered; but the best situation is where the surface is smooth, and the descent so gentle as to prevent either showers, or the rivers that overflow it, remaining too long; and, on the other hand, to allow the water that comes over it quietly to glide off; therefore, if in any part of the field intended for a meadow, a pool of water should stand, it must be let off by drains, for the loss is equal either from too much wa- ter or too little grass.” (Col. lib. ii. c. 16.) Pliny tells us that “meadows ought to be wa- tered immediately after the spring equinox, and the waters restrained whenever the grass shoots up into stalk.’ (Nat. Hist. lib. xviii. c. 27.) When, after the fall of the Roman Em- pire, agriculture, in common with all other sciences, rapidly declined, a very remarkable exception to this melancholy result of slavery and despotism was presented in the case of irrigation, which was carried on and extended through the long period of the dark ages with equal zeal and success. This was more espe- cially the case in Lombardy, where it was cer- tainly prosecuted on a very bold and profitable scale long before 1037. The princes of Lom- bardy patronised and followed the example of the various religious establishments which then monopolized all the wealth and learning of the land, in extending the employment of water in all possible directions. The monks of Chiazevalle, in particular, were so cele- brated for their knowledge of this branch of agriculture, and of hydraulics in general, that the emperor Frederick the First, in the 13th century, very gladly sought their advice and assistance. This system has ever been zeal- ously and carefully extended and improved in every possible way. The waters of the chief rivers of the north of Italy, such as the Po, the Adige, the Tagliamento, and of all the minor streams, are employed in irrigation. There is no other country, which possesses an extent of rich water meadows equal to that of the Lombards. The entire country from Venice to Turin may be said to be formed into one great water mea- dow: yet the irrigating system is not confined to grass lands; the water is conveyed into the hollows between the ridges in corn lands, into the low lands where rice is cultivated, and around the roots of vines. From Italy the practice extended into the south of France, into Spain, and then into Britain. In the States of Lombardy, the water of all the rivers belongs to the state; in those of Venice, the government extends its claims tojthat of the smallest springs, and even to collections of rain water, so highly, for the use of the cul- 670 IRRIGATION. tivator, is water of every kind valued in the north of Italy. It is necessary, therefore, in Lombardy, to purchase from the state the water taken from the river; this may be taken, by means of a canal, through any person’s grounds, the government merely requiring the payment of the value of the land to the pro- prietor, and restraining him from carrying his channel through a garden, or within a cer- tain distance of a mansion. The water is sold by the government at a certain rate, which is regulated by the size of the sluice, and the time the run of water is used; this is either by the hour, half-hour, or quarter, or by so many days at certain periods of the year; the right to these runs of water is regularly sold like other property. Arthur Young gives an account of the sale of an hour’s run of water through a sluice near Turin, which produced, in 1778, 1500 livres. The rent of the irrigated lands in the north of Italy is, upon an average, more than one-third greater than the same descrip- tion of land not watered. (Com. Board of Agr. vol. vii. p. 189.) In Bengal, wells are dug in the highest part of their fields, and from this, by means of bul- locks and a rope over a pulley, water is raised in buckets, and conveyed in little channels to every part of the field. No attempts at culti- vation are here made without the assistance of water, obtained by some mode or other. (See Inpra, Acricutrure or.) The art of irrigation was not confined to the Old World. The Mexicans practised it long before the days of Columbus; they collected the mountain tor- rents, and conducted their waters to their lands in proper channels, with much care and ad- dress. It was only towards the termination of the 17th century that water meadows were constructed in Britain upon any thing like a regular system. Of these, those in Wiltshire, which are amongst the most celebrated in England, especially those in the Wyley Bourn, were made between 1700 and 1705. Those of Hampshire and Berkshire were constructed about the same period, but they were at first formed very inferior to the modern noble wa- ter-meadow lands of those countries. Great improvements were made towards the conclu- sion of the 18th century, through the publica- tions of G. Boswell on Meadow Watering in 1780, and of the Rev. T. Wright, of Auld, in Northamptonshire, whose writings appeared at intervals from 1789 to 1810. It is notice- able that the water employed for these cele- brated southern meads is perhaps the most clear and swift flowing of all the English rivers; issuing from the chalk formation, it is equally copious and transparent. Some of the chief advantages, therefore, of irrigation may evidently be derived from almost any descrip- tion of water; for it is proved by the good effects produced by the brilliant chalk-waters of the south of England, and the still greater fertilizing effect of those surcharged with or- ganic matter, as in the Craigintinny meadows, near Edinburgh, that there is no water too bright, or too full of impurities, tobe useless for the purposes of irrigation. I propose, in this paper, to investigate the chemical properties of river water, and of the IRRIGATION. effects produced by it in irrigation, adding a few remarks upon the practice of the best and most skilful cultivators of the water meadows of the south of England. 1. With regard to the composition of river water, there have been several chemical ex- aminations ; that of the Thames was analysed by Dr. Bostock, who found, in 10,000 parts, after most of its mechanically-suspended mat- ters had subsided, about 1? parts of foreign substances, viz. : Parts, Organic matters - - - - 007 Carbonate of lime - - - 153 Sulphate oflime - - - - O15 Muriate of soda - - - - 002 In an equal quantity of the waters of the Clyde, Dr. Thompson found 1} part of solid substances, namely : Parts. Common salt - - - - 0369 Muriate of magnesia - - - 0°305 Sulphate of soda - - - O114 Carbonate of lime - - - 0394 Silica - - - - - - O118 The water of the Itchen, in Hampshire, is one of the most celebrated of all the southern streams, for the use of the irrigator. I found, in 10,000 parts of water, about 24 parts of solid matter, viz.: Parte. ’ Organic matter - - - - 002 Carbonate of lime - - - 189 Sulphate of lime - -6- - 072 Muriate ofsoda - - - - 001 From an examination of the substances found in these streams (and they afford a pretty correct view of the contents of most others), the farmer will see that they all yield ingredients which are the food or natural con- Stituents of the grasses. Thus, sulphate and carbonate of lime are found in most of them, and there is no river-water which does not contain, in some proportion or other, organic matter. To ascertain, therefore, whether pure water was alone able to effect all the magic effects of irrigation, it was necessary to em- ploy other water than that of rivers, lakes, or even springs. Pure water, as obtained by dis- tillation, therefore, has been tried as a sup- porter of vegetation, but it was found totally inadequate to the support of plants; they merely vegetated for a time, but they could not, by any means, be made to perfect their seeds. In this conclusion the experiments of Dr. Thomson, and of MM. Saussure and Has- senfratz, entirely agree. Pure water, there- fore, notwithstanding the dreams of the Greek philosophers, and the celebrated deceptive ex- periments of Van Helmont with his willow tree, is not able to support the growth of the grasses. Van Helmont’s tree, when he planted it in an’earthen pot, weighed 5 pounds; the earth, previously dried in an oven, weighed 200 pounds; after 5 years it weighed 164 lbs., although it had been watered during that time with only rain and distilled water, and the earth had lost only two ounces of weight. Hence, said Van Helmont and his disciples, water is the sole food of plants. Bergman, in 1773, first pointed out the source of error. He showed, from the experiments of Margraff, that the rain-water contained a sufficient quantity of earth to account for the increased weight in IRRIGATION. the willow, every pint of rain-water containing one grain of earth. Then, again, the earthen vessel (which was sunk in the earth) would, in this experiment, transmit its moisture im- pregnated with all kinds of soluble substances. And yet it has been shown that impure water, such as that from a sewer, or from a dunghill, is alone sufficient to sustain vegetation. This was clearly evidenced in the experiments of M. Lampadius ; for he found that plants placed in a pure earth, such as silica or alumina, although they would not grow when watered with pure water only, yet, when watered with the liquid drainage of a dunghill, they flourished very luxuriantly, and this fact has been also proved in another way. It has been shown, by chemical analysis, that the quantity of solid or earthy matters absorbed by plants is in exact proportion to the impurity of the water with which they are nourished. Thus, equal quantities of some plants of beans, fed by distilled water, yielded— Parts. Of solid matterorashes - - - 39 Those fed by rain-water - = oon 15 Those grown in garden mould - - 120 These facts strongly confirm the conclusions of some of the most sagacious cultivators, that the chief advantages of irrigation are attributa- ble to the foreign substances with which the water is charged; although, as I have else- where observed, almost every farmer has a mode of accounting for the highly fertilizing effects of irrigation; one thinks it cools the land, another, that it keeps the grass warm in winter. And this was Davy’s opinion. He thought that a winter flooding protected the grass from the injurious effects of frost. He says, “ Water is of greater specific gravity at 42° than at 32°, the freezing point; and hence, in a meadow irrigated in winter, the water immediately in contact with the grass is rarely below 40°, a degree of temperature not at all prejudicial to the living organs of plants. In 1804, in the month of March, I examined the temperature in a water-meadow near Hungerford in Berk- shire, by a very delicate thermometer. The temperature of the air at 7 in the morning was 43°. In general, those waters which breed the best fish are the best fitted for watering mea- dows; but most of the benefits of irrigation may be derived from any kind of water.” Such were the opinions of Davy as to the fertilizing properties of water. It is to be re- gretted that the opportunities for agricultura! observations of this great chemical philosopher: were so few, for his valuable remarks were always cautiously made. He appears, how- ever, as I have remarked elsewhere, never to have steadily investigated the chemical com- position of river-water, with regard to its uses in irrigation, and, in consequence, knew little of the value of some of its impurities to vege- tation. Thus, if the river-water contains gyp- sum (sulphate of lime), which it certainly does —if the water is hard, it must, under ordinary circumstances, on this account alone be highly fertilizing to meadows, since all grasses con- tain this salt in very sensible proportions; fcr, calculating that one part of sulphate of lime is contained in every two thousand parts of river- 671 IRRIGATION. water, and that every square yard of dry mea- dow soil absorbs only eight gallons of water (and this is a very moderate allowance, for many soils will absorb three or four times that quantity), then it will be found that, by every flooding, more than one hundred weight and a half of gypsum per acre is diffused through the soil in the water, a quantity equal to that gene- rally adopted by those who spread gypsum on their clover crops, lucern, and sainfoin, as a manure, either in the state of powder, or as it exists in ashes. And if we apply the same calculation to the organic substances ever more er less contained in flood-waters, and allow only twenty parts of animal and vegetable re- mains to be present in a thousand parts of river-water, then we shall find, taking the same data, that every soaking with such water will add to the meadow nearly two tons per acre of animal and vegetable matters, which, allowing, in the case of water-meadows, five floodings per annum, is equal to a yearly appli- cation of ten tons of organic matter. The quantity of foreign substances present in river-water, although commonly less, yet very often exceeds what I have thus calculated to exist in it. I have found it impossible, how- ever, to give, from analysis, the amount which, under ordinary circumstances, is present in river-waters, with any tolerable accuracy, since the proportion not only varies at different .sea- sons of the year, but a considerable proportion of the merely mechanically suspended matters subside, when the specimen water is suffered to rest. In my conclusions with regard to the theory of irrigation, I have found many excel- lent practical farmers concur. Thus, Mr. Sim- mons, of St. Croix, near Winchester, considers that the great benefit of winter flooding for meadows is derived, in the first place, from the deposits made by the muddy waters on the grass; and, secondly, from the winter covering with water preventing the ill effects to the grass of sudden transitions in the temperature of the atmosphere. This gentleman is perfectly aware of the value of the addition of the city drainage of Winchester to the fertilizing qualities of the Itchen river-water, and of its superiority for irrigation after it has flowed past the city, hay- ing water-meadows both above and below the town; and he finds that, if the water has been once used for irrigation, that then its fertilizing properties are so materially reduced, that it is of little value for again passing over the mea- dows; and so convinced is he of this fact by long experience, that, having in this way long enjoyed the exclusive and valuable use of a branch of the waters of the Itchen for some grass land, a neighbour higher up the stream followed his example, constructing some water- meadows, and using the water before it arrived at those of my informant, who, in consequence, found the water so deteriorated in quality (though not sensibly diminished in quantity), that he had once thought of disputing the right with his more upland neighbour. The expe- tience of other irrigators tends to the same conclusion. In the best-managed water-mea- dows of Hampshire, the farmer does not pro- cure annually more than three crops of grass; yet in situations where a richer water is em- 672 IRRIGATION. ployed, as near Edinburgh, four or five are rea- dily obtained. It is evident, therefore, that the chemical properties of water have a much greater influence in irrigation than is common- ly believed. The quality of the water, there- fore, employed for the purposes of irrigation, is of the first importance to be well understood by the farmer; and although many more mp- dern discussions have taken place upon the subject, yet the definition which the great Lord Bacon gave, in his Natural History, of the ad- vantages of “Meadow Watering,” has never been excelled,—* that it acts not only by sup- plying useful moisture to the grass, but like- wise by carrying nourishment dissolved in the water.” This nourishment is, generally speak- ing, composed almost entirely of the animal and vegetable matters mechanically suspended or chemically dissolved in the water;—the fouler the water, the more fertilizing are its effects. The objection which has been some- times urged to this explanation, by instancing the prejudicial effects of some very thick mud- dy waters (as those of the Humber) on meadow lands, is very erroneous; for, in those cases, the mud deposited on the grass did not consist of animal or vegetable matters, but of fine earthy particles, such as clay or chalk, sub- stances of which the alluvial soil, on which the same flood waters had for ages occasion- ally deposited thejr earths, was in fact en- tirely composed, and to which, in consequence, any further supply was almost useless, the earthy slime merely covering the grass with mud, without adding a single fertilizing ingre- dient not already abounding in the soil. If, however, the soil is naturally deficient in any of the earthy ingredients contained in the wa- ter, then even such flood waters are ever found most fertilizing. “The agency of water in the process of ve- getation,” says Mr. Stephens, “has not till of late been distinctly perceived. Dr. Hales has shown that, in the summer months, a sunflower, weighing three pounds avoirdupois, and regu- larly watered every day, passed through it or perspired 22 ounces each day, that is, half its weight. Dr. Woodward found that, in the space of 77 days, a plant of common spearmint in- creased 17 grains in weight, and yet had no other food than pure rain water; but then he found that it increased more in weight when it lived in spring water, and still more when its food was Thames water.” (Practical Irvi- gator, p. 2.) And when speaking of the fact, that some irrigators think clear spring water equal to any, he adds (p. 24), “I would recom- mend to those who are of the same opinion, to inspect the irrigated meadows which are watered by the washings of the city of Edin- burgh, where, I trust, they will find the supe- riority of muddy water to that of clear spring water most strikingly manifested.” Edinburgh has many advantages over the most of her sister cities; the large supply of excellent spring water is one of the greatest blessings to her numerous inhabitants, both in respect to household purposes and keeping the streets clean, as well as irrigating the extensive meadows situated below the town, by the rich stuff which it carries along in a state of semi- IRRIGATION. solution, where the art of man, with the com- mon sewer water, has made sand _hillocks produce riches far superior to any thing of the kind in the kingdom, or in any other country. By this water, about two hundred acres of grass land, for the most part laid into catch- work meadow, are irrigated; whereof 130 belong to W. H. Miller, Esq., of Craigintinny, and the remainder to the Barls of Haddington and Moray, and other proprietors. The mea- dows belonging to these noblemen, and part of the Craigintinny meadows, are what is called the old meadows, containing about 50 acres, have been irrigated for nearly a century. They are by far the most valuable, on account of the long and continual accumulation of the rich sediment left by the water; indeed the water is so very fich, that the tenants of the meadows lying nearest the town have found it advisable to carry the common sewer water through deep ponds, into which the water de- posits part of the superfluous manure before it runs over the ground. Although the forma- tion of these meadows is irregular, and the management very imperfect, the effects of the water are astonishing; they produce crops of grass not to be equalled, being cut from four to six times a year, and the grass given green to milch cows. The grass is let every year, by public sale, in small patches of a quarter of an acre and upwards, and generally brings from 241. to 30/. per acre per annum. In 1826, part of the Earl of Moray’s meadow fetched 57/. per acre per annum. About 40 acres of the Craigintinny lands were formed into catch-work water meadow before the year 1800, which comprises what is called Fillieside Bank old meadows, and is generally let at from 20/. to 30/. per acre per annum. In the spring of 1821, 30 acres of waste land, called the Freegate Whins, and 10 acres of poor sandy soil, were levelled and formed into irrigated meadow, at an ex- pense of 1000/. The pasture of the Freegate Whins was let, previously to this improve- ment, for 40/. per annum, and the 10 acres for 607. They now bring from 15/. to 201. per acre per annum, but may be much improved by ju- diciously laying out 200/. more in better level- ling that part next the sea, and carrying a larger supply of water to it, which might be easily done without prejudice to the other meadows. This, perhaps, is one of the most beneficial agricultural improvements ever undertaken; for the whole of the Freegate Whins is com- posed of nothing but sand, deposited from time to time by the action of the waves of the sea. Never was 1000/. more happily spent in agri- culture ; it not only required a common sewer to bring about this great change, but a resolu- tion in the proprietor to launch out his capital on an experiment upon a soil of sucha nature. Since the making of the Freegate Whins into water meadows, Mr. Miller has levelled and formed 40 acres more of his arable land into irrigated meadow, worth, before the forma- tion, 91. per acre per annum. It will only re- quire afew years before these meadows will be as productive as the former; for it is evi- 85 IRRIGATION. dent that the longer water is suffered to run over the surface of grass land, the greater quantity of fertilizing substance will be collect- ed; therefore, as the water is so very superior in quality to all other water, a speedy return for the capital laid out may be expected. The expense of keeping these meadows in repair is from 10s. to 15s. per acre per annum, which is more than double the expense of keeping wa- ter meadows in repair in general. It by no means, however, follows, as a neces- sary result of any contemplated improvement in irrigation, that the water should previously undergo a chemical examination. There are many other modes by which the farmer can form a pretty correct conclusion as to the fer- tilizing properties of the water he proposes to employ. “The surest proofs,” says Mr. Exeter, “of the good quality of water (and the observations of this gentleman will be readily confirmed by the irrigators of the southern counties) as a ma- nure, are the verdure of the margin of its streams, and the growth of strong cresses in the stream itself; and wherever these appear- ances are found, though the water be perfectly transparent, the occupier of the soil through which it flows may depend, in general, on hay- ing a treasure, if he is attentive to it; but that this is not invariably the case, and that there are instances where a good water will not im- prove the herbage of certain soils, is proved by the following account (and there are several other cases with which I am acquainted) of the meadows of Mr. Orchard, of Stokes Abbey, Devon. These two meadows are situated on the side of a hill, their aspect nearly south— the superstratum a fine rich loam, from 8 to 10 inches deep, on a substratum of strong yellow clay. Wo difference whatever can be seen by the naked eye, in either the upper mould or the substratum, or in the herbage growing on the surface of them; except that, in the Jower part of one, a few rushes appear, in conse- quence of some small springs which rise near them, but the water from them is not sufficient to render any part of the land poachy. At the head of the two meadows is a large pond, formed by the collecting of some small runs of spring water rising near it, and which is also improved by the wash of a small farm-yard adjoining, which, of course, must add to its efficacy as a manure. When this water is thrown over one of the meadows, it produces the richest herbage in abundance, and this field is regularly mowed for hay; on the other meadow, though repeatedly tried, it produces no good whatever.” (Ann. of Agr. vol. xxx. p- 206.) This result is attributable to the superior tenacious, retentive quality of the substratum of the lower field, or of some chemical differ- ence in the composition of the soil; and al- though almost any description of soil is adapt- ed to the formation of water meadows, those of a heavy clay description are generally the most unsuitable, those of a light or peaty kind are better, and those with a sandy or very ab- sorbent gravel substratum still more so. There are some of the most celebrated water mea dows on the banks of the Kennet of this de 3L 673 IRRIGATION. scription, and many of the best on the banks of the Wiltshire Avon have a mass of broken, porous flints for a subsoil. Those near Edin- burgh, irrigated by the city drainage, rest upon the sands thrown up by the sea. It is evident, therefore, that it is as impor- tant an object in the construction of these meadows to secure a ready and rapid exit for the flood-waters, as to procure, in the first in- stance, a copious and fertilizing supply. The farmer is generally well aware of the injurious effects to his meadows of suffering the water to remain too long on them. He watches, therefore, with much care, for the first indications of fermentation having com- menced, which is evinced by the rising of a moss or scum to the surface of the water—pu- trefaction is now beginning in the turf, and he lnows very well that if the water is not speedi- ly removed, that his grass will be either mate- rially injured, or entirely destroyed; he hast- ens, therefore, to open his water-courses. There are some soils in the vicinity of Standen, in Berkshire, however, of so porous a quality, that they need not any drains to empty the water-courses; and, in fact, in many instances, the farmer does not even require them: after a few hours all the water is absorbed by the soil; and yet these lands, with hardly 6 inches of mould above the gravel, are amongst the richest of water-meadows; the roots of the grasses penetrate readily into the gravel, and the earliest and sweetest grasses are produced on them. Almost any description of grass will flourish under proper management in water-meadows. Those whose soils consist of peat resting on sand, or on sandy loam, with a substratum of chalk or gravel, generally produce the meadow foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis), the brome-grass (Bromus arvensis), and the meadow-fescue (Festuca pratensis), on the tops and sides of the ridges. The furrows and sides of the drains are usually tenanted by the creeping-bent, the hard-fescue, the rough-stalked meadow-grass, and the woolly soft-grass. In those water- meadows whose soil consists of a sandy loam on a clay subsoil, the chief grasses are com- monly the ereeping-rooted soft-grass, the crest- ed dog’s-tail, the meadow barley, and the sweet-scented vernal-grass. But some grasses change their appearance in a very remark- able degree, when exposed under favourable circumstances to the influence of the flood- waters. This fact is strikingly exemplified in the case of two small meadows situated at Orcheston, six miles from Amesbury, in Willt- shire, denominated, from their great produce, “the long grass meads.” These, says Davis, “contain together only two acres and a half, and the crop they produce is so immense, that the tithe hay of them was once sold for 5 gui- neas.” Much discussion took place amongst the Wiltshire farmers as to the nature of the crop of these meads, before it was at last shown that the greatest part of their herbage consisted of nothing else than the black-couch, or couchy-bent, the Agrostis stolonifera, one of the worst of the grasses or weeds which haunt the poor ill-cultivated arable soils. Ttisa .* general, as well as correct con- 67 IRRIGATION. clusion of the English farmers, that the gras and hay of water-meadows is not so nutritious as that of the permanent pasture lands. The difference, however, is not so great as is com- monly supposed. The late Mr. George Sin- clair determined this experimentally, and he is no mean authority with regard to all that re- lates to the grasses. He obtained from the rye-grass (Lolium pe- renne), at the time of flowering, taken from a water-meadow that had been fed off with sheep till the end of April, of nutritive matter 72 grains; and from the same weight of this grass, taken from a rich old pasture, which had been shut up for hay about the same time, 92 grains. From the same grass from the meadow, that had not been depastured in the spring, 100 grains. And from the same grass from the pasture which had not been fed off, 120 grains. All the grasses, in fact, where their growth is forced ‘by the application of either liquid or solid manures, are found to contain nutritive matter in diminished quanti- ties: this, too, was determined by Sinclair. From 4 ounces of a very rankly luxuriant patch of rye-grass, on which a large portion of cow-dung had been deposited, he obtained of nutritive matter 72 grains. From the same quantity of the same grass growing on the soil which surrounded this luxuriant patch, he ob- tained 122 grains. And, in a second trial, the same species of grass, on a soil entirely destitute of manure, afforded of nutritive matter, 95 grains. On the same soil, excessively manured, the grass af- forded only 50 grains. In these experiments the plants were of the same age, and were ex- amined at the same stage of their growth. (Hortus Gram. 384.) With regard to the construction and man- agement of water-meadows, there are many practical works of the highest authority to which the farmer has ready access; and, in the following observations, therefore, I shall merely very briefly paraphrase the accounts given by Mr. Davis and others, of the practice of irrigation in the southern counties. In this, however, even since the time that Davis wrote, there has been a great and steady im- provement. The land is better levelled, the slopes more evenly preserved, the water-way, aqueducts, and hatches, better constructed, and in many of the more recent improvements, in the valley of the Itchen, in Hampshire, the sliding-water doors are regulated by a cogged wheel turned with a movable winch, so as to render them safe from alteration during the absence of the meadow-keeper. The management of the Wiltshire and Hampshire water-meadows, as well as it can be briefly described, is as follows :—In the au- tumn the after-grass is eaten off quite bare, when the manager of the mead (provincially the drowner) begins to clean out the main drain, and the main carriage, and to “right up the works,” that is, to make good all the car- riages and drains which the cattle have trod- den in, so as to have one tier or pitch of work ready for drowning. This is immediately put under water, whilst the drowner is preparing the next pitch, IRRIGATION. TRRIGATION. In the flowing meadows this work ought to| then flooded and dried alternately for three be done, if possible, early enough in the au- tumn to have the whole meadow ready to catch the first floods after Michaelmas; the water, being the first washing of the arable lands on the sides of the chalk hills, as well as the dirt from roads, is then thick and good; and this remark, as to the superior richness of the flood waters, is one that is commonly made in Berk- shire and other parts of England. The length of the autumnal watering cannot be precisely stated, as much depends upon situations and circumstances; but if water can be command- ed in abundance, the custom is to give mea- dows a “thorough good soaking at first,” per- haps for a fortnight or three weeks, with an intermission of two or three days during that period, and continue for the space of two fort- nights, allowing an interval of a week between them. The works are then made as dry as possible, to encourage the growth of the grass. This first soaking is to make the land sink and pitch close together, a circumstance of great consequence, not only to the quantity, but to the quality of the grass, and particularly to en- courage the shooting of new roots, which the grass is continually forming, to support the forced growth above. While the grass grows freely, a fresh water- ing is not wanted; but as soon as it flags, the water must be repeated for a few days at a time, always keeping this fundamental rule in view, “to make the meadows as dry as possibile after every watering, and to take off the water the moment any scum appears upon the land, which shows that it has already had water enough.” Some meadows that require the water for three weeks in October, and the two following months, will nat, perhaps, bear it one week in February or March, and sometimes scarcely two days in April and May. In the catch-meadows, which are watered by springs, the great object is to keep the works very dry between the intervals of watering; and as such situations are seldom affected by floods, and generally have too little water, it is necessaty to make the most of the water, by catching and rousing it as often as possible; and as the upper works of every pitch will be liable to get more water than those lower down, a longer time should be given to the lat- ter, so as to make them as equal as possible. Davis’s Agriculture of Wiltshire, p. 125—127.) In Berkshire they first flood their water- meadows about Michaelmas; these are situ- ated principally on the banks of the Kennet. The first flooding they deem the richest in quality: this they keep on the land for about four days, and they then dry them for about a Tortnight, and after that the water is let on for three or four days more; those meadows which are the most readily dried are the most pro- ductive. There are none more so, in fact, than those which have a porous, gravelly, or broken flint bottoms, from which the flood-wa- ter readily escapes, almost without drains. They begin to feed their meadows with sheep about the 6th of April, and continue feeding till about. the 21st of May, when the meadows are again flooded fora crop of hay; the land is days until hay-time. The number of acres of land in Wiltshire, under this kind of management, has been com- puted, and with a tolerable degree of accuracy, to be between 15,000 and 20,000. Some con- siderable additions, however, have been made to the water-meadows of the district since this calculation was made. (Davis’s Wilts., p. 122.) About the same number of acres are formed into water-meadows in Berkshire, and a still larger number in Hampshire. No one has at- tended more carefully to his water-meadows than Lord Western, on some of those situated on the London clay-formation in the Black- water valley, in Essex, a soil of all others, per- haps, from its tenacity, the least adapted to their successful formation, and his testimony is very important :—* There is an old adage,” says his lordship, “that water is the best ser- vant in agriculture, and the worst master. Water has in itself intrinsic value; distilled through chalk, lime, or marl, it acquires a por- tion of their qualities, though preserving the most perfect transparency, and, coming down in torrents and floods, it carries along the finer particles of earth and manure from the moun- tains, or higher grounds, into the valleys; hence, of course, it is that the valleys derive their fertility, and the value of the meadow has been originally created by an accumulation of wealth from the hills.” “In descending the Jura mountains, which divide France from Switzerland, the very first pasture you find on the descent evinces the value placed on the mountain floods by the in- habitants of those districts; and, accordingly, every stream is sedulously directed and con- ducted over the pastures -in a most skilful manner. The very washing of the roads in hasty rains is also attended to and applied to the same purposes.” This system of catching the uncertain flood-waters is known amongst farmers by the name of catch-work, and though highly valuable, yet they deem it infinitely less important to them than irrigation, which is watering (generally five or six times a year) from a certain and ever-accessible head of water, as a river, &c. And yet Lord Western’s testimony is decisive in favour of even one catch-flooding; for he observes, when speaking of the expense of constructing the requisite little channels to disperse the flood-waters over the grass, “In many cases it will be trifling, in some cases considerable ; but when the farmer reflects that one winter’s flooding will do more in many, I may say in most cases, than thirty loads an acre of the best rotten dung manure that can be laid upon his grass lands, he can hardly shrink from some considerable expen- diture.” If, then, the effects even of a catch- flooding with water are so great, how infinitely superior are the advantages capable of being derived from a regular constant supply of the enriching foul waters, like those issuing from the drains of a large city, which is even now most successfully employed near Edinburgh, but worse than wasted in the case of London! Whatever may be the value, in an agricultural point of view, of the solid contents of the Lon- don sewers, yet to me the absolutely liquid 675 IRRITABILITY. portion, for the purposes of irrigation, appear at least equally important. Liebig informs us that, “in the vicinity of Liegen (a town in Nassau), from three to five perfect crops are obtained from one meadow, and this is effected by covering the fields with river water, which is conducted over the mea- dow, in spring, by numerous small canals. This is found to be of such advantage, that supposing a meadow not so treated to yield 1000 lbs. of hay, then from one thus watered 4500 pounds are produced. In respect to the cultivation of meadows, the country around Liegen is considered to be the best in all Ger- many.” There is no agricultural question, therefore, of more consequence, in a national point of view, than that of the improvement of the soil by the practice of irrigation; for, in its prose- ceution, all the rich, organic, and other matters diffused through the rivers, which would other- wise be carried into the sea, are saved to agri- culture. This is not, therefore,a question like that attending most other modes of fertilizing the soil, merely transposing manure from one field or district to another; but it is the abso- lute recovery, as it were, from the ocean, of a mass of finely divided, enriching substances, constantly draining from the land. It is the efiectual diversion of a stream which is ever steadily impoverishing all cultivated soils, and which unnoticed, and in too many instances deemed worthless, gliding into the ocean, is almost the only drawback to the steadily in- ereasing fertility of our country. There are papers on irrigation by Mr. J. Purdy, of Castle Acre, in Norfolk, Com. Board of Agr. vol. vii. p. 112; by Mr. D. Shank, of Wigtonshire, ibid. p.170; by Mr. Beck, of Nor- folk, ibid. p. 108; on the irrigation of Lombardy and Piedmont, by Don R. 8. Coutinho, ibid. p. 189; in Aberdeenshire, ibid. vol. iv. p- 263; in Denbighshire, ibid. p.266; by Mr. Eyres, of Norfolk, ibid. vol. vi. p. 828; by Professor Ren- nie, Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. v. p. 24; on the foul water irrigation of Edinburgh, ibid. vol. x. p. 256. (Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. x. p. 558; Stephens’s Practical Irrigator ; Brown’s Rural Af- fairs, p. 263; Sinclair’s Hortus Gram. p. 382; Davis’s Wiltshire ; Driver's Hampshire.) IRRITABILITY OF PLANTS. See Bora- wx, Temperature, and AccrimrratTion or Prants. ISNARDIA (named in memory of Anthony Isnard, member of the Academy of Sciences). These plants are mere weeds, or creeping aquatic herbs, growing in marshy situations. The marsh isnardia (J. palustris) is the only indigenous species. [tis an annual, growing in ponds and wa- tery places, blowing axillary, solitary, sessile, small, green, and inconspicuous flowers in July. The herb is floating, smooth, with nu- merous long filamentous roots. The stems are several, about a span long, simple, or slightly branched, leafy, bluntly quadrangular. The leaves are opposite, stalked, ovate, acute, entire, scarcely an inch in length, bright green, somewhat succulent, the mid-rib often red or purplish. (Eng. Flor. vol. iv. p. 264.) The J. Palustris is common to America as 676 JACOB’S-LADDER. well as to Europe, and is found from Canada to the West Indies. In Pennsylvania another species is met with—the Alternate-leaved Is- nardia (J. alternifolia), commonly called Bas- tard Loose-strife. The roots of both species are perennial. Besides these, there are about a dozen addi- tional species, as the genus is now constituted, in the United States. (Flor. Cestrica.) ITALIAN RYE-GRASS. See Ryz-Grass. ITCH. In farriery, a cutaneous disease, See Manes. IVY (Hedera helix). The name appears to be derived from hedra, a Celtic word signifying a cord; and the English name ivy is derived from ivo, a word in the same language signify ing green.) A hardy evergreen climber, com mon everywhere in Europe, which is excel lent as a screen planted against trellis-work The common ivy is very often employed for covering naked buildings or trees, which latter itinvariably kills. The stem is branched, either trailing on the ground and bearing 5-lobed white-veined leaves, but no flowers; or climb- ing, flattened and attached by dense tufted fibres, which serve for support, not nourishment; the flowering branches are loosely spread- ing, round, bearing ovate, undivided leaves. Umbels aggregate, green, many-flowered, their stalks covered with starry pubescence, and ac- companied at the base by several small brac- teas. The berry is the size of a currant, smooth, black, internally whitish and mealy, with seldom more than five seeds. The whole plant is somewhat aromatic; and a very fra- grant resin exudes from the old stems when bruised. IVY, AMERICAN, Virginia Creeper (Am- pelopsis hederacea). Ivy-like ampelopsis. The stem of this climbing plant sometimes grows 30 or 40 feet long, branching diffusely, climb- ing fences, trees, and walls, and clinging to them by adhesive expansions at the points of the tendrils. The leaves are digitate in clusters of fives, on long stems. The plant is com- mon in the United States in woodlands, fence- rows, thickets, &c. Sir J. E. Smith (in Rees Cyclop.) contends that this is a true vitis ; but Dr. Darlington thinks, that although nearly allied to, it may be very properly separated from our grape vines. Two or three other species of ampelopsis are enumerated in the United States. IVY, GROUND. See Arenoor. IVY, IRISH (Canatiensis), is a fast-growing climber, with large lobed leaves, which soon covers walls and houses. It is propagated by layers, or slips taken off and planted where they are to grow. Ji JACOB'S LADDER, Brvuz or Grezx Vate- RIAN (Polemonium ceruleum): This plant is a common ornament of flower borders in rustic gardens, of no particular qualities, notwith- standing its name of valerian, derived perhaps from the leaves, which resemble those of some of the Valeriane. The root is fibrous, not creeping, herb nearly smooth, perennial, 14 or JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE. @ feet high; stems angular, leafy, hollow, often reddish, unbranched, panicled at the top; leaves alternate, of many eliptic-lanceolate, entire leaflets, with an odd one of nearly equal size. The flowers, which appear in June, are rather drooping, numerous, blue, occasionally white. All the species are of the easiest culture and propagation. JERUSALEM CHOKE. JOHN’S WORT, or ST. JOHN’S WORT (Hypericum). The generic name is said to be derived from uper, and eicon,an image. The superior part of the flower represents a figure. The common name is derived from their com- ing into flower about St. John the Baptist’s day. The most part of the species of this extensive genus are showy plants. The greenhouse and frame shrubby kinds do well in loam and peat, and young cuttings root freely in sand under a glass. ‘The hardy shrubs are well fitted for the front of shrubberies, being dwarf and showy. They may be increased by divisions or seeds, as well as the herbaceous kinds, which thrive well in any common soil. The seeds of the annual species have only to be sown in the open ground in spring. Some of the species indigenous to Britain are as follows :— 1. Large-flowered St. John’s Wort (H. caly- cinum). A shrub, growing wild in bushy places in the west of Ireland and Scotland. The root of this species is creeping, the stems shrubby, erect, 12 or 18 inches high, with simple, leafy, square branches, smooth like every other part. The flowers, which appear from July to September, are 2 or 3 inches wide, of a bright golden yellow, with innumerable reddish tremulous anthers. This plant is a great ornament to shrubberies and parks, and excellent as a shelter for game, bearing any cold of our climate. 2. Tutsan, or Park Leaves (H. androsemum). This shrub is found in moist, shady lanes, thickets, and woods in Britain and Ireland, but not very general. It is rather taller and more branched than the preceding. The flowers, which appear in July and August, are an inch wide, yellow, with three sets of stamens, and as many styles. The leaves and other parts have an aromatic scent when rubbed. 3. Square St. John’s Wort, or St. Peter’s Wort (H. quadrangulum). This species is perennial, and common in moist meadows and thickets, and about the banks of rivers. The root is somewhat woody, creeping; the herb smooth, light green; stems several, from one to two feet high, erect, leafy, acutely quadran- gular; leaves elliptical or ovate, obtuse, many- ribbed, veiny, full of minute, colourless, pellu- eid dots, and bordered with a more or less perfect row of dark-coloured ones yielding a blood-red liquor. The uppermost branches form a leafy dense panicle of numerous lemon- coloured flowers, about half the size of the last-described species. 4. Common perforated St. John’s Wort (H. perforatun). This perennial species is met with abundantly in thickets, woods, hedges, and on dry banks. The root is woody, tufted, and somewhat creeping; the stem reaches to the ARTICHOKE. See Arri- JOHN’S WORT. height of 18 inches, and is round and bushy in consequence of the much greater length of its axillary leafy branches. The whole herb is moreover of a darker green, with a more powerful scent when rubbed, staining the fingers with a dark purple, from the greater abundance of coloured essential oil lodged in the herbage and even in the petals: the leaves are very numerous, smaller than the last, elliptical or ovate, obtuse, various in width; the flowers are numerous, in dense, forked, terminal pani- cles, bright yellow, dotted and streaked with black or dark purple. This species is eaten by goats, cows, and sheep, but is refused by horses and hogs. As this plant was found to bleed at the slightest touch, it was supposed to have a vulnerary quality, and became the “balm of the warrior’s wound,” giving a blood- red colour to every composition, whether of a spirituous or oily nature, into which it entered. It contains resin, and the leaves give a good red dye to wool and oil. 5. Imperforate St. John’s Wort (H. dubiwn). This species inhabits rather mountainous groves and thickets. ‘The young radical shoots are bright red; the stem quadrangular in the upper part, but not winged or bordered; the petals and calyx are dotted and blotched with dark purple. 6. Trailing St. John’s Wort (H. hwnifusum). This is a pretty little procumbent smooth spe- cies, with the lemon-like scent of H. dubiwn and perforatum, which tenants sandy or gravelly, heathy, and rather boggy pastures. ‘The root is fibrous, stem compressed, prostrate; flowers few, somewhat cymose; leaves elliptical, smooth. 7. Mountain St. John’s Wort (H. montanum). Though not an ostentatious plant, this species well deserves John Bauhin’s epithet of “most elegant.” The glutinous dark fringes of its calyx and bracteas resemble the glands of a moss-rose; the stems are erect, round, smooth, about two feet high; the leaves ovate, naked, clasping the stem. 8. Bearded St. John’s Wort (H. barbatwn), which grows for the most part in bushy places in Scotland, on an herbaceous stem a foot or more in height, flowering in September and October: 9. Hairy St. John’s Wort (H. hirsu- tum), flourishing in thickets and hedges, chiefly on a dry, chalky soil, stem two feet high: 10. Small upright St. John’s Wort (H. pulchrum), met with very frequently in woods and bushy, heathy places, on a clay soil; stem 12 to 18 inches high: 11. Marsh St. John’s Wort (H. elodes), stems procumbent, creeping. There are other species, which call for no detailed description. The whole genus, says Mr. Nuttall, in his account of the American species, appears to possess active medicinal properties in common. with vismia, which affords indeed much more abundantly a yellow and resinous gum, acting as a cathartic in doses of 7 or 8 grains. The Vismia gullifera of Surinam produces a kind of gamboge. 25 or 26 American species of hypericum are enumerated by botanists. The following are mentioned by Dr. Darlington as | found in Chester county, Pennsylvania. 312 677 JONQUIL. 1, Hypericum Virginicwm, or Virginia hype- ricum, having a perennial root, stem 18 inches to 2 feet high, whole plant of a purplish hue, flowering in July and August, the blossoms being of a dull orange colour. It is found in wet, low ground, though rare. 2. H. punctatum, or dotted hypericum, fre- quent in open woodlands and fields, flowers of a pale yellow colour, with numerous oblong black dots, appearing in July and August. 3. H. perforatum, or perforated hypericum, commonly called St. John’s Wort. This plant has a perennial root and stem growing from 1 to 3 feet high. It is frequent in fields and pastures where it puts forth its rich clusters of yellow, or orange-yellow flowers, from June to October. This, says Dr. Darlington, is an in- troduced and pernicious weed. The plant has a resinous odour; and is believed to produce troublesome sores on horses and horned cattle, especially those which have white feet and noses, the skin of such being more tender, or irritable. The dew which collects on the plant appears to become acrid; asI have seen the backs of white cows covered with sores, wher- ever the bushy ends of their tails had been applied, after dragging through the St. John’s Wort. A tincture of the flowers and leaves has been used, it is said, with good effect in some complaints of the stomach and bowels. 4, H. quinquenervum, or five-nerved hyperi- cum. This is frequent in low grounds, along streams. Its root is supposed to be annual, and its slender stems grow 6 to 12 inches high; the flowers have very small petals of a yellow colour. 5. H. Canadense, or Canadian hypericum. This so much resembles the last mentioned Species as to be regarded by some botanists as identical. 6. H. sarothra, broom-like hypericum, com- monly called ground pine, netweed, and orange grass. This is frequent in sandy fields and along road-sides, where it puts forth yellow flowers in July and August. Its root is annual, the stem is slender and grows 4 to 8 inches high. (Flora Cestrica.) JONQUIL. A species of daffodil, of which there are several sorts. The great jonquil and the odorous jonquil blow about the middle of March. The lesser or proper jonquil some- what later. When they blow well and early they forebode a fine season. JUDAS TREE (Cercis). This is a beauti- ful genus of ornamental trees, flowering early in spring, and looking very pretty planted singly on a lawn, or trained to a wall or trellis; they grow to the height of 20 feet, prefer an open loamy soil, and may be plentifully in- creased from seeds. The species found in the United States is the Cercis Canadensis of botanists, commonly called red bud. In the Middle States, it is a small tree 15, 20, or 30 feet high, greatly admired for the clusters of small flowers, which in April clothe the limbs in purple before the leaves appear. The flowers are acid to the taste. It is the only species of cercis in the United States. JUNE BERRY (Mespilus arborea of Michaux). With the exception of the maritime parts of 678 JUNIPER. the Carolinas and Georgia, this tree, as Mi- chaux informs us, is spread over the whole extent of the United States and Canada. But it is most multiplied upon the Alleghany moun- tains, and upon the elevated banks of the rivers which flow from them. In the northern section of the Union it is called wild pear tree, whilst in the Middle and other States it goes by the various names of wild service berry, June berry, snowy medlar, and shad-flower. The last name is derived from its blooming about the time the shad ascend the rivers (beginning of April), when it is quite a showy little tree. The flow- ers, which are white and pretty large, are ar- ranged in pannicles at the extremities of the branches. As it blossoms early, so does it mature its fruit amongst the earliest trees of the forest. The largest tree, however, rarely yields more than half a pound. Long culture has been found to improve the fruit, both in size and quality. The berries are roundish, 3 or 4 lines in diameter, smooth, dark-red, and even purple when mature, pleasant flavoured, and not unwholesome. In Pennsylvania and the neighbouring states, it is generally found in moist and shady situations, especially along brooks andrivulets. In the western country, however, it grows in the midst of the forest among the oaks, walnuts, &c., and here reaches its greatest height, which does not exceed 35 or AO feet, with a diameter of 10 or 12 inches. JUNIPER (Juniperus, derived from the Celtic Juniperus, rough or rude, in allusion to the stiff habit of the shrubs). This genus is too well known to need to be particularized here. All the species will grow in sandy loam, and some in any common garden soil. They are mostly raised from seed, though cuttings will strike when planted in a sheltered situation, under a hand-glass. The stimulating and diuretic powers of the savin (J. sabina) are well known. The fruit of J. communis are proverbial for the flavour they give to gin. (Pazton’s Bot. Dict.) The species are all evergreen aromatic shrubs, with narrow leaves, either spreading and sharp- pointed, or closely imbricated, minute, and ob- tuse. The fruit is globular or oval, black or brown, with a glaucous efflorescence. J. sabina is a native of the south of Europe, but it is cultivated as an evergreen in our gar- dens. The plant is a pyramidal shrub, with small, closely-adhering, glandular leaves, which exhale, when rubbed, a strong, heavy odour, and have a bitter, nauseous taste. By distilla- tion they yield a large quantity of volatile oil, which has the odour and taste of the recent plant. Savin is a powerful acrid poison, irri- tating and vesicating the skin when it is ap- plied to it. When swallowed in large doses, it causes vomiting, purging, and inflammation of the stomach and bowels. The common juniper (J. communis) grows wild on hills and heathy downs, especially where the soil is chalky. Dr. Sibthorpe found it on Olympus and Athos, in Greece. It is, like all the species, a bushy shrub, with ever- green, linear pointed, glaucous leaves, dark green on the under disk. The flowers are axillary, small, sessile, male and female organs in separate flowers. The fruit, although called JURY. ‘a berry, is a galbalus or succulent cone. It requires two seasons to arrive at maturity. -The dwarf alpine juniper (J. nana) is a variety of the communis. It grows upon lofty moun- tains, and is, as its name implies, more humble in its growth. These are the only indigenous species. The tops and the fruit are used in medicine as powerful diuretics. The former have a bitter, turpentine flavour and colour; the fruit is sweetish, with an agreeable, some- what balsamic odour, depending upon a vola- tile oil, and a peculiar saccharine matter ana- logous to the sugar of the grape. The volatile oil is contained in cells in the shells of the seeds; hence, in making infusion of juniper, the seeds should be bruised. The infusion is made with an ounce of the bruised fruit and a pint of boiling distilled water. It is a useful beverage in some kinds of dropsies. The red cedar (J. Virginiana), is a hardy, handsome evergreen, native of North America, with dark foliage, producing a small blue berry-like fruit in May. It frequently attains to the height of a very lofty tree. See Cepan, Rep. JURY (from the Latin jurare, to swear). A body of men sworn to decide a certain fact or facts according to the evidence produced before them. This noble institution, like many others as dearly cherished by all lovers of freedom, com- menced among the northern nations of Europe at avery early period. The early notices of this mode of trial remaining to us do not speak of its institution: and, in truth, it most proba- bly originated in some rude form or other as soon as men began to dwell together in fixed habitations. That trial by jury was employed by our Saxon ancestors from time immemorial is very certain, and over-industrious historians have wasted much time in fruitless endeavours to assign the honour of the first discoverer to the real author. Thus Stiernhook (De Jure Sueo- num, }. i. c. 4), ascribes the glory to Regner, king of Denmark and Norway, who was the contemporary of our Egbert. Archbishop Ni- cholson carries the date of the invention back to Woden, the great captain, legislator, and god of the Northernmen. Sir Edward Coke appears to have fancied that there is something in the very number twelve, in which the laws of God and man seem to delight; and he instances the twelve judges, twelve counsellors of state, twelve to wager the laws, twelve apostles, tribes, stones, &ce. (Coke on Littleton, s. 234 b.) Trial by jury is mentioned as early as the reign of King Ethelred, but not as a novel in- stitution. (Wudkins’ Laws of the Anglo-Saxons, 117.) And in Magna Charta it is mentioned more than once, and particularly ordained, That no freeman shall be dispossessed of his lands or goods, unless by the judgment of his peers; and amid all the leng continued strug- gles of Englishmen for the liberty of the sub- ject (from the days of King John down to the time of Fox and his declaration of the office of juries in libel cases), the preservation of the freedom of juries has ever been a darling object with English patriots. KALE, SEA. K. KALE, SEA (Crambe marituna), is found wild on the seashore on the southwestern coast of Great Britain, where the common people have from time immemorial been in the practice of watching when the shoots and leaf-stalks begin to push up the sand and gravel, in March and April, when they cut them off under ground, as done with asparagus, and boil them as greens. About the middle of the last century it was first introduced into gardens, and is now al- most as universal as asparagus. A light, moderately rich soil, on a dry sub- stratum, suits it best; though in any dry soil it will succeed. A bed may be composed for it of one-half drift sand, one-third rich loam, and one-third small gravel, road stuff, or coal ashes; if the loam is poor, a little well-rotted dung or decayed leaves being added. The soil must especially be deep, so that the roots can penetrate without being immersed in water, which invariably causes their decay. Mr. T. Barton, of Bothwell Castle, has even found it succeed well on a pretty strong loam that had a loose bottom. The depth should not be less than 23 feet; and if not naturally deep, it should be worked to it by trenching. If at all tena- cious, this opportunity may be taken to mix with it drift or sea sand, so as to reduce it toa mouldy texture. If the soil be wet it must be drained, so that water never shall stand within three feet of the surface. If poor, well-putrified dung must be added; but decayed leaves are preferable (Zrans. Hort. Soc. Lond. vol. i. p. 17), and sea-weed still more so. These precautions must all be particularly attended to, for upon the due richness and dryness of the soil not only depend the luxuriance and delicate fla- vour of the plants, but their very existence. Common salt, as might be anticipated, is found to be a very beneficial application, either ap- plied dry, or by occasional waterings with a solution containing 4 or 5 ounces in the gallon, round every stool during the summer. As re- gards the situation, it cannot be too open or free from trees. Sea kale is propagated both from seed and slips of the root; the first is by far the best mode, for although it may be ob- tained from slips with greater certainty, yet the plants arising from seed are the strongest and longest lived; whilst the failure of seed, which is sometimes complained of, mostly arises from its being old, buried too deep, or some other extraneous cause. The seed may be in- serted in drills from October, or as early in the spring as the ground can be brought into good condition. It is by much the best mode to leave the plants where raised, and with that intent, to guard against failure, inserting the seed in patches of 6 or 12 seeds, each 6 inches apart, and the patches 2 feet asunder. If, how- ever, they are intended for transplanting, the seed may be sown in drills 12 inches asunder; in either case it must not be buried more than 2 inches below the surface; and it is a good practice, previous to inserting it, to bruise the outer coat of the seed, without injuring its vegetating power, as by this treatment the ger 679 KALE, SEA. mination is accelerated. The plants will in ge- neral male their appearance in 4 or 5 months, never sooner than 6 weeks; but, on the other hand, the seed will sometimes remain 12 months before it vegetates. The best time for increasing it by slips is in March and April. Rooted offsets may be de- tached from established plants; or their roots, which have attained the thickness of the third finger, be cut into lengths, each having at least two eyes. To plant the offsets requires no par- ucular direction: the cuttings must be inserted in an upright position 2 or 3 inches beneath the surface. Itis best to plant two together, to obviate the danger of failure, at 2 feet apart, to remain. Whatever mode of propagation is adopted, the bed should be laid out 3 feet wide, and a 2 feet alley between every 2, in preference to the plan sometimes recommended of planting 3 rows in beds 7 feet wide, for in such the soil must be consolidated by the feet during the ne- cessary grades of cultivation. If the months of June and July prove dry, the beds should be plentifully watered. The seedlings require no other attention during the first summer than to be kept free from weeds, and, if they come up too numerous, to be thinned to 5 or 6 in each patch. When their leaves have decayed, and been cleared away about November, they must be earthed over an inch or two with dry mould from the alleys, and over this about 6 inches depth of long litter be spread, and thus left to stand the winter. In the following spring the litter is to be raked off, and a little of the most rotten dug into the alleys. When the plants have perfectly made their appearance, they must be thinned, leav- ing the strongest plant, or, as Mr. Maher re- commends, the three strongest, at each patch; those removed being transplanted at similar distances if required; but it must be remarked that those transplanted never attain so fine a growth, or are so long-lived. In this second winter the earthing must be increased to 5 or 6 inches deep over the crowns, and the cover- ing of litter performed as before. In the third spring, the litter being removed, and some dug into the alleys as before, about an inch depth of drift sand or coal ashes must be spread re- gularly over the surface. The sprouts may now be bleached and cut for use; for if this is commenced earlier, the stools are rendered much less productive, and much shorter lived. In November, or as soon as the leaves are de- cayed, the beds being cleared of them, the coat- ing of sand or ashes removed, and gently stirred with the asparagus fork, they must be covered with a mixture of three parts earth from the alleys, and one part of thoroughly de- cayed leaves, to the depth of 3 or4 inches. The major part of this is to be removed in the fol- lowing spring, the beds forked, and the cover- ing of sand renewed; this routine of cultiva- tion-continuing during the existence of the beds. Vhe above course is the one also pursued if the plants are raised from offsets or cuttings,’ as it is much the best practice mot to com- mence cutting until they are two years old. 680 KALE, SEA. Blanching, as before obsetved, may commence the second spring after sowing. The most simple mode is that originally adopted, name- ly, to cover over each stool sand or ashes to the depth of about a foot; the shoots in their passage through it, being excluded from the light, are effectually bleached. But pots are by much to be preferred to these coverings. Common flower-pots of large dimensions may be employed, care being taken to stop the hole at the bottom with a piece of tile and clay, so as to exclude every ray of light. Previous to covering the stools with the pots, &c., the manure laid on in the winter must be removed; and the operation should commence at the close of February, or at least a month before the shoots usually appear, as the shel- ter of the pots assists materially in bringing them forward. In 4 or 6 weeks after they are covered the plants should be examined, and as soon as they appear 3 or 4 inches high, they may be cut; for if none are taken until they attain a fuller growth, the crop comes in too much at once. In order to prolong the season of production, Mr. Barton recommends plants to be raised annually, so that every year a cut- ting may be had from a yearling crop, which comes in much later, and consequently suc- ceeds in production the old established roots. The shoots should be cut whilst young and crisp, not exceeding 5 or 6 inches in height; the section to be made just within the ground, but not so as to injure the crown of the root. Slipping off the stalks is said to be preferable to cutting. The plants may be gathered from until the flower begins to form, when all cover- ing must be removed. If, when arrived at the state in which broccoli is usually cut, the stalks and immature flowers are employed as that vegetable, they will be found an excellent sub- stitute; and this greatly enhances the value of the plant, as broccoli does not stand the winter frosts in the Northern States, and can only be had when carefully protected; but this ple» is sufficiently hardy to bear the frost without injury. It flowers about June, and produces abundance of seed on every stem, which ripens about the close of July or early in August. To force sea kale, Mr. T. Baldwin, of Ragley, recommends that, on each side of a 3 foot bed, a trench is to be dug 2 feet deep, the side of it next the bed being perpendicular, but the outer side sloping, so as to make it 18 inches wide at the bottom, but 24 feet at the top. ‘These trenches being filled with fermenting dung, which of course may be renewed if ever found necessary, and frames put over the plants, the light is to be completely excluded by boards, matting, &c.. Unlike the generality of vege- tables, the shoots of forced sea kale are always more crisp and delicate than those produced naturally. “To have this rare vegetable in perfection,” says Bridgeman, “it should be cooked as soon as gathered. Let it be first soaked in water, seasoned with salt, for half an hour; then wash it in fresh water, and put it into the cooking utensil; keep it boiling briskly, skim clean, and let off steam. When the stalks are tender, which may be expected in from 15 to KALE, 25 minutes, according to size and age, take it! up, dish it, and serve it up with melted butter, gravy, and such condiments as may be most agreeable to the palate.” (Gardener’s Assistant.) KALE, THE WOBURN PERENNIAL. See Cansacer, Borecore, &c. KALI. the allcali, called soda, is procured. See Kztp, Sanrworr, and Grasswort. KALMIA. American laurel. A North Ame- rican genus of hardy shrubs, remarkable for the beauty of their flowers. The leaves are considered poisonous to cattle, and are par- ticularly fatal to sheep. The honey gathered from the flowers is also charged with possess- ing deleterious qualities. ‘The plants do best when grown in agpeat soil, though they will grow in a very sandy loam; they may be in- creased by layers or seeds. Mr. Nuttall describes five species of kalmia found in the United States:—1l. K. latifolia, Jaurel, or calico bush, common from Canada to Georgia. The stem grows 3 or 4 to 10 or 12 feet high, with irregular, crooked, straggling branches. Itfrequents shaded banks and rocky hills, and blooms its beautiful flowers in May and June. The wood of this splendid flower- ing shrub is very hard, and is often used to make handles for small mechanical imple- ments. A decoction of the leaves is sometimes used as a remedy for cutaneous diseases. (Plora Cestrica.) 2. K. angustifolia, or narrow-leaved laurel, commonly called sheep laurel, and dwarf laurel. The stem of this species grows about two feet high, being slender and somewhat branching. This pretty little species of laurel is thought to be particularly poisonous to sheep and other stock, when eaten by them. 3. K. glauca. 4. KX. cuneata, found in swamps betwixt Camden and Statesville, South Carolina. 5. K. hirsuta, found constantly on the drier margins of open swamps, abundant around Savannah, Georgia. KATY-DiD. See Praryrpnytiom. KELP, SEA-WEED, BARILLA, &c. I class these manures together, when treating of kelp, since it is to the presence of various salts of soda that sea-weed principally owes its ferti- lizing qualities, for when they are washed out, the residuum is nearly inert. Sea-weed has been analyzed by M. Gaultier de Claubry. In the Fucus saccharinus and in the Fucus digita- tus (which is much used in Scotland as a manure) he found the following substances (Lhomson’s Chem. vol. iv. p. 298) :— Saccharine matter. Muriate of magnesia. Mucilage. Carbonate of potash. Vegetable albumen, Carbonate of soda. Oxalate of potash, Hydriodate of potash. Malate of potash. Silica. Sulphate of potash. Phosphate of lime. Sulphate of soda. Phosphate of magnesia. Sulphate of magnesia. Oxide of iron. Muriate of soda. Oxalate of lime. Muriate of potash. By burning these weeds the kelp and barilla of commerce is formed; the first of which has been often advantageously employed in Ireland and on the coast of Scotland as a manure. The Suffolk and the Kentish farmers, however, as well as some of the Scotch, employ the sea- weed in its freshest state, either ploughing it into the ground, or spreading it on the top of | 86 A sea weed, from the ashes of which | KELP. their heaps of compost. The first plan, how- ever, [have ever seen productive of the best effects ; and in that conclusion I am supported by the experience of many excellent farmers. The salt turf of the sea-shore has been long used in many parts of England as an excellent manure, especially for potatoes; and, accord- ing to Dr. Holland (Survey of Cheshire, p. 143), even the salt mud of the Mersey is extensively used for the same crop, at the rate of twenty tons peracre. “The ground thus manured not only gives a large produce of potatoes, but is in a state of excellent preparation for a suc- ceeding crop of either wheat or barley. The adoption of this practice has increased very greatly the value of land about Weston.” There can be no doubt of the advantage of using the sea-weed, or sea-turf, in the freshest possible state, after it has been covered with the salt water, as by a spring tide; for if the salt water has been suffered to drain away from the weeds, and a partial decomposition has taken place, their value as a manure must be materially diminished. The Cornish farm- ers, when they fetch the calcareous sand from the sea-beach, are careful to obtain it as much wetted with the salt water as possible: and there are in the juices and other components of marine plants a variety of ingredients which must produce the most luxuriant effects upon vegetation growing at a distance from the sea; and their constituents are peculiarly noxious to the vermin with which all cultivated soils abound. If this conclusion be correct, then the mode adopted by the Isle of Thanet and Suffolk farmers, of collecting the sea-weed into heaps, and suffering it to putrefy, is de- cidedly wrong; for, by being thus decomposed, half its fertilizing virtues are lost to the soil. The common excuse for rendering dung putrid before it is spread, viz. that it is a necessary practice to kill the seeds of weeds, has no ap- plication here, for those of marine weeds will not grow on arable upland soils. The use of sea-weed as a manure, in the isles of Jersey and Guernsey, has been very extensive from time immemorial. Thus, ina work upon Jersey, by the Rev. Philip Falle, published in 1694, he observes, that “ Nature having denied us the benefit of chalk, lime, and marle, has supplied us with what fully an- swers the end of them in husbandry—it is a sea-weed, but a weed more valuable to us than the choicest plant that grows in our gardens. We call it vraic (varec), in ancient records veris- cum, and sometimes wrecum, and it grows on the rocks about the island. It is gathered only at certain times appointed by the magistrate and signified to the people by a public crier on amarket day. There are two seasons for cutting it, the one in summer, the other about the vernal equinox. The summer vraic, being first well dried by the sun on the sea-shore, serves for fuel, and makes a hot, glowing fire ; but the ashes are a great improvement to the soil, and are equal almost to a like quantity of lime. The winter vraic being spread thin on the green turf, and afterwards buried in the furrows by the plough, it is incredible how with its fat unctuous substance it ameliorates the ground, imbibing itself into it, scftening the 681 KELP. elod, and keeping the root of the corn moist during the most parching heats of summer. In stormy weather, the sea does often tear up from the rocks vast quantities of this weed, and casts it on the shore, where it is carefully ga- thered up by the giad husbandman.” The plants chiefly valued for making French varec are Fucus vesiculosus, F. nodosus, F. serra- tas, Laminaria digitata and bulbosa, Himanthalia lorea, and Chorda filum. Twenty-four tons of the sea-weeds make one ton of kelp. The Jersey and Guernsey Agricultural Society con- firmed this account of the excellent effects of the ashes from sea-weed, in 1797, in their re- port to the English Board of Agriculture, when they observed— “Tt is judged, that a chabot (half a bushel), strewed over a perch of ground in winter or the beginning of spring, will be a sufficient manure. Our labourers are unanimously of opinion, that it gives a full ear to the corn, and prevents it being laid—those who have any varech to sell may at all times get a chabot of wheat for a quarter or six bushels ‘of varech.” (Com. to Board of Agr. vol. i. p. 216.) The fertilizing effects of sea-weed are not confined to the better description of soils; the poorest kind of heath lands are benefited by the application of this manure ;—thus, Mr. John Sherriff, of Haddington, has described the effects of sea-weed, or sea-tang, as it is called in Scotland, on common heath or moor land, in the following terms: “Sea-weed, which is a capital manure for any land, may often be pro- cured at little or no expense. Crops almost incredible of turnips, barley, clover, and rye, have, to the writer’s certain knowledge, been obtained on an extensive tract of the most miserable benty wastes and poor rabbit war- rens, by the powers of this manure; soils which, twelve years since, were not worth three shil- lings per acre. The bent was torn up by the common swing plough, burnt, and the ashes spread; the soil was then manured with the Sea-tang, as much as could be ploughed in. Turnips were immediately drilled, and rolled to prevent blowing; this crop was succeeded by rye or barley, and that by red clover and rye-grass. On the clover stubble, and some- times after the turnip crop, plenty of tang was again laid, the ley ploughed down, and sown with oats, barley, or rye, and frequently with turnips, which in this way have succeeded ad- mirably on the ley with one ploughing.” (Com. to Board of Agr. vol. iv. p. 122.) It is certain, from the experiments of the late Mr. Knight, that green manures of all kinds are an admir- able manure; and it seems well established that the more the juice of the vegetables so employed is impregnated with saline matters, the more fertilizing are their effects: thus, in Bavaria, borage is very commonly cultivated for this purpose, and the reason assigned for the preference shown to this plant is, that it contains scda and other salts. (Gardener's Mag. vol. i. p. 200.) Ihave no doubt that in many situations the sea-weed may be successfully cultivated on the sea-coast, expressly for manure; and it seems that for this purpose hardly any thing is re- quired except placing stones on the shore, to 682 KELP. which the fuci can attach themselves, and in two years the crop may be cut. According to Mr. Jamieson (Miner. of Scottish Isles, vol. 2, p. 251), various kinds of stones have been em- ployed in Scotland, as basalt, sandstone, and limestone, which last is the best adapted for the purpose, and after that the basalt. There are also in many parts of the coast of Britain extensive tracts of land which it would be difficult to enclose, and yet these places are either already covered with a coarse turf, or might be so with a little management; and this turf, when cut and carted on to the light upland soils, is found almost invariably to be an admirable fertilizer;—for instance, when spread over land during the winter, and then turned into the soil, for potatoes, the crop is sure to be excellent. No description of fer- tilizer, perhaps, can be named, which /reshens, as the farmers say, an over-cropped soil so much as a dressing of from 20 to 25 loads per acre of the turf from the sea-shore, soaked with sea-water; and no plant delights in fresh soil so much as the potatoe. It is, therefore, more than probable, that the exertions of the com- monly cultivated corn crops are peculiar noxi- ous to this plant; and it is certain that the potatoe, by the deposit which it leaves in the soil, renders it distasteful to the crop by which itis succeeded. Thus the wheat plant rarely looks well on soils where the potato has im- mediately preceded it. Saline fertilizers, in these cases, are sure to be serviceable, for they unite with, and neutralize the effects, as well as promote the decomposition, of the excretory matters which all plants deposit in the soil. The chief fertilizing qualities possessed by barilla are attributable to the presence of soda. This alkali is found in all marine vegetables, and in most of those which grow on the sea- shore. It has been used in several experi- ments as a manure since the price of soda has been so much reduced; but these have not been conducted with sufficient accuracy to enable us to judge of its value as a fertilizer. What little has been done, promises well. Thus, it has been found, when a pound of soda is dissolved in 14 gallons of water, that this solution forms an excellent liquid manure for many culinary vegetables; for instance, the vegetable-marrow plant, when thus treated, has been found to flourish better in common garden mould than other plants growing on a dunghill, And, as I have remarked in another place, na- ture is here again our instructor: the fertile plains of Syria, and some of the most profusely luxuriant fields of the orientalist, abound in carbonate of soda. This alkali not only enters into the composition of many vegetables, but it promotes the growth of all, by preserving the moisture of the soil, and by accelerating the decomposition of the numerous organic substances found in all cultivated lands. The sewer water of towns and cities, which has been found so very rich and fertilizing as a dressing for grass lands, abounds with soda; for that is contained in the soap suds and other refuse washings which such drainage matters always convey. Soda has been found in very sensible proportions in the urine of the horse, by M. Fourcroy ; and in that of the ass, by Mr, KELP. Brande; anda small portion of this alkali is usually presented in the waste ashes of soap- makers, which many cultivators consider highly valuable as a manure. As the use of kelp has been of late much greater than formerly as a manure, it will be useful for the cultivator to learn the proportion of alkali contained in the kinds usually met with in commerce, as determined by Mr. Ja- mieson (Min. of Scottish Isles, vol. ui. p. 248) :— Tbs. 02, — Ibs. 23 8in 100 Barilla from Alicant, good - : Teneriffe, bad - Kelp from Norway, indifferent Shetland, indifferent Lewis, indifferent - W. Highlands, much damaged Arran - - - - Isla, good Mull, good Morven, good Skye, good Leith shores Ieee Pe De Thell tae Pe eD 5 sat Cetera) Se et a a iP POR Sho Srww oa -_ SORBSOBMNAAE But, besides the allcali referred to, kelp con- tains iodide of potassium, bromide of potas- sium, and sulphuret of potassium; all of which probably exert considerable influence on vege- tation. It is well known that seeds sown in pure sand, and watered with a solution of iodine, germinate very rapidly. ° The residuum, when all the soda and com- mon salt are extracted from the barilla, is principally earthy matters, which are of a very inert nature, and need not be regarded by the cultivator as possessing any peculiar fertilizing properties different from marl, which they much resemble in composition. 100 parts of these insoluble matters of kelp are composed of— Parts. Sulphureted hydrogen and carbonic acid - 1400 Carbon - - - = + & = - 410 Sulphuric acid - - - - - - “AT Silica - - - ~ - = ~ - 12°30 Lime - - - - - - - - 32:60 Magnesia - - - - = - - 1850 Alumina - - - - 5 - - 15°40 Tron - - - - - - - - vic Loss - - = x + = = TPG 100° From the quantity of kelp produced on the shores of Scotland, and its reduced price since the peace, which again allowed the unrestricted import of Spanish barilla, and more especially since the discovery of a cheap mode of extract- ing soda from common salt, the application of kelp as a manure has engaged the serious at- tention of the farmers of that part of the island, and a committee was some time since appoint- ed by the Highland Society of Scotland to report upon its pretensions; in much of that report, from which the following extracts are made, I cordially agree :— “Your committee are unwilling to offer any theoretical opinion as to the way in which kelp may operate asa manure. From the quantity of alkali which it contains, it may naturally be expected to operate by rendering the animal and vegetable matter soluble, and a fit food for plants; but, from the series of facts to be no- ‘ticed, kelp would seem to possess other quali- ties as a manure. Although it may be benefi- cially applied as a dressing by itself, yet the committee are at present inclined to think that, KELP. with a view to raising of green crops, it would be better to mix it in compost with other sub- stances. The selection of these must depend upon what the farmer can furnish; but the committee think that good earth or moss will form a good compost, and if to this mixture can be added a little vegetable or animal ma- nure, a beneficial result can be relied on. In this way, afew tons of kelp would enable a farmer to extend his farm dung over at least four times the quantity of land.” The relative value of kelp as a manure may be estimated from the following experiments, made in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh :— A field upon the estate of Inverleith, possessed by Mr. Hutchinson, was selected, which had been in wheat in the year 1828, hence it was in some measure in an exhausted state: upon one ridge of this field there was sown at the rate of 12 ewt. of kelp per acre; on a second, at the rate of 10 cwt. per acre; and on a third at the rate of 4 cwt. per acre. Two other ridges were manured with the best cow and horse dung, at the rate of 20 tons per acre; and the whole was sown with wheat late in the spring of 1829. The two ridges which had got the greatest quantity of kelp were equal to that which had the dung, and the ridge which had got the smallest quantity was decidedly supe- rior to the others. Similar experiments were made upon the same field, by sowing barley after the previous crop of wheat; the result was, that the barley manured with the kelp was, according to the estimate of the tenant and his stewart, a much heavier crop than after an application of horse and cow dung, and that the ridge with the smallest quantity of kelp appeared the heaviest crop. A portion of the lands of Bangholm were manured with kelp of inferior quality, at the rate of one ton per acre, and the land sown with yellow turnip; the crop, upon examina- tion, is considered to be fully equal to that part of the field which has been manured with dung. (Bazter’s Lib. of Agr. Knowl. p. 406.) Mr. Kerr, of Henfield, has given the result of his experiments on kelp, from which he is of opinion that “5 ewt. of kelp per Scotch acre will produce a manifest improvement on any crop.” (Trans. High. Soc. i. p. 320.) Care must, however, be taken not to apply too copious a dressing of kelp. Mr. Mackinnon, of Corry, draws the following conclusion from his expe- riments; he used the ashes of sea-weed burnt in aheap: “of the ashes thus manufactured, 20 bushels were allowed to the acre, and dis- tributed in the drills. When the turnips sprout- ed, they had an unhealthy green or rather yel- lowish appearance, but after some time several patches in the field seemed to be growing lux- uriantly, while others seemed to retain their sickly hue. Upon a careful investigation, it was discovered that wherever the ground was deepest, and the ashes of the sea-weed had been most mixed up with the soil, the turnips were best; and, on the other hand, that where the ashes, not being mixed up with the soil, came in contact with the seed, the turnips did not at all thrive. In clearing the ground the weeds were collected into heaps, and burnt | upon the spot; and it was observed that on 683 KELP. the side of tnese heaps the turnips were very nearly as good as those on an adjoining piece of ground manured solely with dung.” (Ibid. vol. iv. p. 246.) There is a good paper on the manufacture of kelp in Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. ii. p. 927; and on mixing kelp with com- posts, peat, turf, &c., ibid. vol. iii. p. 556. Every farmer has it in his power, even in the most inland situations, to procure soda for the use of his farm, by means of a mixture of two parts of lime and one part of common salt, and suffering the mixture to remain incorpo- rated in a shady place, or covered with sods, in a dry state, for two or three months; a plan which I suggested*some years since (Johnson on Salt, p. 32, 3d edit.), and which has been re- cently successfully adopted by Mr. Bennet, in Wiltshire. By this process a gradual decom- position takes place, chloride of calcium and soda are formed, the whole mass speedily be- coming encrusted with this alkali. There is another advantage to be derived from the adop- tion of this process, besides the formation of the soda, viz. that the chloride of calcium is one of the most deliquescing or moisture-ab- sorbing substances with which we are ac- quainted; and, in consequence, wherever it exists in a soil, the warmth of the sun has, in summer, much less influence upon it than it would otherwise have. Mr. G. Irwin, of Taunton, bears testimony to the value of common soap-suds. “The portion of the garden invigorated by the soap-suds, only annually exhibits a luxuriance almost equal to anything this fertile neighbourhood ean produce.’ The Rev. J. Falconer, when commenting upon this experiment, says, “This mixture of an oil and an alkali has been more generally known than adopted, as a remedy against the insects which infest wall fruit trees. It will dislodge and destroy the insects which have already formed their nests and bred amongst the leaves. When used in the early part of the year, it seems to prevent the insects from settling upon them. Mr. Speechly, the author of a treatise upon the Cultivation of the Vine, published in 1796, used this mix- ture with great success, although, from not having employed a garden engine, he applied the soap-suds awkwardly and wastefully. He directs it to be poured from a ladder, out of a watering-pot, over both trees and wall, begin- ning at the top of the wall, and bringing it on in courses from the top to the bottom.” Mr. Martin, of Warbleton, has recently used soda for turnips, half a cwt. per acre, previ- ously to the last ploughing, thinking, as he ob- served, that it would destroy such insects as lie in the ground in an embryo state, or pre- vent their arriving at maturity so as to injure his crop. In respect to the use of soda on corn lands, he said he used it rather extensively last season, and that he had tried several experi- ments with it, both upon grass and arable land. That in a field of wheat, a very thin, poor, gravelly soil, he sowed one warp without any manure at all; on another warp adjoining, he used one ewt. per acre; and on a third warp he put 14 ewt. per acre. The proditce of eight rods on each warp was as follows: this was ¢n land of a very bad description :— 684 KIDNEY-VETCH. Per acre. 8 rods without manure, 7 gallons, or 17} bushels. 8 rods with | cwt. soda per acre, 10} gallons,or - - - - = 26 bushels, 2 galls. 8 rods with 1} cwt. soda per acre, 15} gallons,or - - - = 38 bushels, 6 galls, KENNEL (Fr. chenil, from chien, a dog). The hole of a fox or other wild beast. In rural economy, a habitation for dogs, especially those of the hound kind: it should be situated a good distance from the house. Large ken- nels require to be kept clean, well aired, and strewed with fresh straw to prevent the mange or other infectious distempers. Those readers who wish to acquire information on the man- agement of the kennel will do well to consult Blaine’s Encyclopedia of Rural Sports. KERN-BABY (a corruption of corn-baby) was an image formerly dressed up with corn, carried before the reapers to their harvest- home. KERNEL (Sax. cynnel, agland). In general this word signifies the substance within a shell; but it has different meanings, some- times implying anything included in a husk or integument, as the seed of pulpy fruits, the grain of oats, &c. In horticulture the hardy fruits are generally arranged under the heads of kernel fruits, or pomes, including the apple, pear, quince, medlar, and service; stone fruits, as the peach, nectarine, almond, apricot, plum, and cherry; berries, as the mulberry, barberry, elderberry, gooseberry, currant, raspberry, cranberry, and strawberry; and nuls, as the walnut, chestnut, and filbert. KIDNEY-BEAN, the kind of bean most cul- tivated in the United States, whereas the va- riety mostly cultivated in Europe is the horse- bean. See Beans. KIDNEY-VETCH (Anthyllis; derived from ty$cc, a flower, and ivasc, down, in reference to the flowers being usually covered with a soft or silky pubescence). The species are, for the most part, elegant and free-flowering, plants proper for ornamenting rock-work. The hardy perennial and annual kinds thrive well ina warm situation and light soil. The green- house and frame kinds succeed best in sandy loam and peat; and increase plentifully from seeds, and sometimes from cuttings. (Pazxton’s Bot. Dict.) The common kidney-vetch, or ladies’ finger (A.vulneraria), is the only species indigenous to the British Islands. It is found growing wild in chalky or limestone countries, where the soilis dry and rather barren, and the herbage affords good pasturage for sheep. The root of this species is woody, the stems annual, round, hairy, leafy, mostly simple, ascending, about a foot high. The radical leaves are simple, ellip- tical, on long stalks, soon disappearing; the rest alternate, pinnate, with a terminal ellip- tical leaflet, and several pairs of opposite, small, lanceolate ones; all entire, smooth, and a little glaucous above, hairy, or rather silky, underneath and at the margin. The flowers, which are numerous, in a pair of crowded ter- minal heads, accompanied by figured bracteas, are usually yellow, rarely of a fine red. In Germany, according to Haller, the flowers are most frequently white. This plant formerly had the reputation of possessing some vulne- KILN. rary properties, whence the specific name. (Smith’s Eng. Flor. vol. iii. p. 269.) KILN (Sax. cyin). A kind of furnace or stove for admitting heat, in order to dry sub- stances of various kinds, as corn, malt, hops, &c. It also signifies a fabric or building con- structed for the purpose of burning limestone, chalk, and other calcareous stones, into lime. Kilns are of various kinds, and formed in dif- ferent ways, according to the purposes for which they are designed. See Hors, Maur, Lie, Cray, Kriy, &c. KILN ASHES. The ashes made in kilns where wood, straw, furze, &c.are burnt. These ashes are useful as manure for almost any kind of soil. They are found to succeed best when spread just before rain. See Asuzs. KIT. In some places a name given to a milking-pail or vessel in the form of a churn, with two ears and a cover, used to convey milk in. KITCHEN GARDEN. A piece of ground laid out for the cultivation of fruit, herbs, pulses, and other culinary vegetables. The kitchen garden is the most important object of the horticulturist’s care, inasmuch as its productions, next to those of agriculture, tend most to the support of mankind. It often affords the chief support of the cot- tager, and ought to be the constant attendant of his dwelling. Of more exalted mansions it is always an accompaniment, but it is much to be regretted that a more plentiful use of its products is not adopted in preference to grosser aliment. The kitchen garden also has for its inmates many plants chiefly valuable as rendering other kinds of food more palatable, or as pos- sessing sanative qualities. These last formerly far exceeded in number the edible plants. The subsequent more general employment of mine- ral medicines has reversed this state of our kitchen garden. The culture of aromatic herbs is also much less attended to since the intro- duction of spices. In selecting the site, and in erecting the enclosures, as well as in the after- preparation of the soil, the ingenuity and sci- ence of the horticulturist are essentially requi- site. He will be called upon to rectify the defects, and to improve the advantages which nature affords; for it is very seldom that the natural situation of a mansion, or the plan of its grounds, allows him to construct it in the most appropriate spot. The garden is best situated at a moderate elevation; the summit of a hill, or the bottom of a valley, is equally to be avoided. It is a fact, not very difficult of explanation, that low- lying ones are the most liable to suffer from blights and severe frosts; those much above the level of the sea are obviously most ex- posed to inclement winds. To determine the appropriate size of a kitchen garden is impos- sible. It ought to be proportionate to the num- ber of the family, their partiality for vegeta- bles, and the fertility of the soil. It may serve as some criterion to state, that the manage- ment of a kitchen garden occupying the space of an acre affords ample employment fora gardener, who will also require an assistant at the busiest periods of the year In general, a KITCHEN GARDEN. family of four persons, exclusive of servants, requires a full rood of open kitchen garden. It ought not to be larger than can be conve- niently cultivated ; and it is too large if its pro- prietor is induced to bring into it the culture of the field, for that neatness and fertility which is essential to the garden can be obtain- ed by the use of the spade only. A wall of brick or stone is the best fence; one of paling may be placed next in order. It ought to be set close, and kept in good repair, and not lower than 6 feet, that poultry may be effectually excluded. The form of the walks or divisions must depend upon local cireum- stances, but to some extent the following re- commendations of Bridgeman (Gardener’s As- sistant, p. 7), may be carried out: “Form a border round the whole garden, from 5 to 10 feet wide, according to the size of the piece of land; next to this border, a walk may be made from 3 to 6 feet wide; the centre of the garden may be divided into squares, on the sides of which a border may be laid out 3 or 4 feet wide, in which the various kinds of herbs may be raised, and also gooseberries, currants, raspberries, strawberries, &c. The centre _ beds may be planted with all the various kinds of vegetables. The outside borders facing the east, south, and west, will be useful for raising the earliest fruits and vegetables; and the north border, being shady and cool, will serve for raising and pricking out such young plants, herbs, and cuttings, as require to be screened from the intense heat of the sun.” The walks ought to be drained in some cases, and in all well gravelled. The edging or border may be of brick, which for a kitchen garden is prefer- able to all ethers, as it affords no shelter for slugs and vermin, is durable, and requires lit- tle labour to keep it in repair. The order in which successive crops are grown on the same compartment has very con- siderable influence in prolonging the continu- ance of the soil in fertility. Some vegetables, as onions and carrots, are extremely impover- ishing to the soil, whilst lettuces are but ina small degree prejudicial. It is, therefore, ob- vious, that a succession of exhausting crops should never be grown on the same bed, how- ever plentiful manure may be, not merely be- cause abundance is no excuse fora want of economy, but that fresh applied dung is not so immediately beneficial as those remains of or- ganized matters, which, by long continuance in the soil, have become impalpably divided and diffused through its texture, and of which each succeeding crop consumes a portion. Those plants in general are the least exhaust- ing which have the largest surface of leaves, and vice versd, because the first are not only possessed of a larger proportion of aqueous than solid matter than the latter, but also are enabled to obtain a greater quantity of their food from the atmosphere. It may be objected to many crops included by this rule, and espe- cially to turnips, that they require a soil of extreme fertility; but this is only an apparent anomaly, for, although the turnip, for example, requires a rich soil, it is only because it re- quires a regular supply of moisture: neither will a tenacious soil therefore be beneficial, 3M 68F KITCHEN GARDEN, on the contrary, a superfluity or deficiency, according to the season, being then afforded, decay or immaturity is induced. There are many other contingencies which should regulate the rotation of crops. The roots of different plants strike in different di- rections, and to different depths ; and, as their constituents vary, absorb different matters. Deep-rooted plants, therefore, should be suc- ceeded by such as spread but a little below the surface; perennials always by annuals; crops left for seed, or those that are of a dry, solid texture, by such as are succulent and juicy; but, above all, the same species of plant should never be grown in successive crops upon the same ground. This is not even palliated by the excuse that manure is abundant, for, as Sir H. Davy observes, “though the general composition of plants is very analogous, yet the specific difference in the products of many of them prove that they must derive different materials from the soil; and though the vege- tables having the smallest systems of leaves will proportionably most exhaust a soil of com- mon nutritive matter, yet particular vegetables, when their produce is carried off, will require peculiar principles to be supplied to the land which produces them.” (Lect. on Agr. Chem. p- 358.) It is known to every cultivator of soil, that land soon becomes tired of the same crop; in many instances, peculiar diseases are induced by the repetition. The most beneficial plan of rotation appears to be that where an exhausting and non-exhausting crop alterna- tely succeed each other, for example, Onions. Turnips. Lettuce. Peas. Carrots. Potatoes. Manure. Manure. Mr. Kelly, of Airthrey Castle, Scotland, says, that on poor ground the rotation he finds best is, lst, celery; 2d season, cauliflowers, and red beet; 3d, onions; 4th, German greens or peas. By digging deep, and manuring abundantly for celery, the ground is brought into such fine tilth, that the whole rotation is often gone through without any further addition, and with- out failing in any of the crops. A Hotbed will be found useful for forwarding several kinds of vegetables early in spring. In it tomatoes, egg-plants, peppers, early bush squashes, and cucumber plants may be raised, and planted out as soon as the danger of frost is over. The best material for a hotbed is fer- nienting stable manure, which may be mixed with a portion of cow manure or leaves, and turned over two or three times, at intervals of 5 or 6 days, before using. If dry, give it a little water at each turning. The frame may be made of strong boards or two-inch plank, about 1 foot high at front, and 13 foot at back. The width from back to front may be about 6 feet, and the length of any number of sashes that may be required. The sashes may be glazed with small glass from 5 to 10 inches. The smaller sizes will answer every purpose, are cheaper, and not so liable to break. Having fixed upon the size of the frame, and a sneltered situation in which to make the bed, place a stake at each corner of it, allowing a few inches larger each way than the frame. 686 KITCHEN GARDEN. The manure must be well shaken up and tho- roughly mixed, and, in building, the bed regu- larly beaten down with the fork or lightly trodden, and if at all dry, well sprinkled with water. If wanted for early forcing, the bed should be at least 43 feet high; if for starting vegetables 2 feet will be sufficient. The frame and sashes may then be put on, and in three or four days 8 or 10 inches of good light earth may be put in, and the seed sown. Squashes and cucumbers will do best in pots. A pot of 4 to 5 inches in diameter will be large enough for three plants. ‘Tomatoes, egg-plants, and peppers may be sown over the bed, and after- wards thinned to regular distances. Early cabbages, cauliflowers, celery, and lettuce may be raised in the same way, and afterwards planted where wanted. But should the man- agement of the hotbed be attended with too much trouble or expense, The Frame can be used with much advantage, as in it plants can be raised and kept safe from frosts long before they would bear ex- posure in the openair. The frame may be set on the ground on the south side of the fence, and if the earth is rich and light, or made so, the seeds may be sown broadcast over a space allotted to each kind, and afterwards thinned out to proper distances. Lima beans may be started in this way, and transplanted before they attain to any great size. The frame is also useful for preserving cabbage, cauliflower, and lettuce plants during winter, for planting in the spring; as well as cabbages, lettuce, and celery for family use. A few leaves or litter put among the vegetables will aid materially in excluding the frost, and a shutter and mat must be put over the sashes in severe weather. Our object in this article is to give a con- densed view of the common operations in the kitchen garden, as adapted to the United States, with a list of such varieties of the different species of vegetables as have been cultivated in this country, and can be had from the princi- pal seedsmen in Boston, New York, and Phi- ladelphia.* Several articles are omitted, which obtain a place in some gardens, but these are either thought not to deserve a place, or to be- long more properly to field culture. Fuller information on any particular subject can al- ways be found under the proper head in the alphabetical arrangement. Asparacus (Asparagus officinalis). Sow early in the spring; having previously soaked the seed in warm water for 24 hours, then drill it thinly, in rows sufficiently wide apart to admit the ‘hoe ; when two years old, transplant into permanent beds, which should be so situate as to cast off an excess of moisture, and having the soil prepared to the depth of two feet with plenty of manure under. A convenient width for the beds is four feet. The plants should be placed 12 inches apart in each direction; planted at least 4 inches beneath the surface; well manured at the time, and annually there- after. If planted in rows, they should be 23 feet apart. Common salt scattered over the bed in the winter operates favourably in im- * In compiling this article, we would here acknowledge our obligations to the excellent catalogue of D. Lan- dreth & Co. of Philade!phia. KITCHEN GARDEN. proving the growth of asparagus. Meat pickle or brine is still better. Brans, Excuisu (Vicia faba). Plant very early in the spring, in rows. Broad Windsor and Mazagan are the best varieties. - Bush Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris). The Early Six weeks, China red-eye, and Red speckled Valentine, are among the earlier; the Valen- tine, Mohawk, and Marrow are very superior varieties. They may be planted for the first and succession crops from the middle of spring till the close of summer; the usual mode of culture is in rows, two or three in a clump, at intervals of 10 or 12 inches. Pole or Climbing Beans (P. multiflorus). The best varieties are the Lima, Carolina, White Dutch, Red and White Cranberry, and Lon- don Horticultural. “The Limas are tender, and should not be planted till the close of spring. They may be forwarded by sprouting them in a hotbed, and transplanting them into hills 4 feet distant from each other. Poles 8 or 10 feet long should be put into the ground before planting, and (if of seed) 6 or 8 planted round each pole, as the seed is apt to rot in cold or damp weather. Thin them afterwards, leaving three or four good plants in each hill. The London Horticultural is an excellent va- riety, and may be used for the Lima in those districts where the Lima frequently fails to ripen. See Beans. Bert (Beta vulgaris). The Turnip-rooted and Long Blood-red are generally esteemed the best for table use. The turnip-rooted is somewhat earlier than the long, and is equally good for winter use. Sow in drills from early in the spring till the commencement of summer. The plants should stand 6 or 8 inches apart in the drills, but the seed should be put in thick, to secure a full crop. A good plan is to drop several seeds together at proper distances, and when up remove all but the strongest. Swiss Chard (Beta cicla),is much grown in Germany and Switzerland, and used as chard or asparagus. The lamine or thin parts of the leaves, are eaten as spinage or put in soups; and the stalk or midrib is boiled, and eaten with melted butter or gravy like aspara- gus. The culture is the same as for the blood beet, but the leaves are much larger, and a greater space should be left between the plants on that account. See Brrr. Cannace (Brassica oleracea var. capitata). The earliest variety is the Early York; next the Early Sugarloaf,and Landreth’s large York; Early Battersea is late in the summer. The flat Dutch and Drumhead are for winter use, and red Dutch for pickling. Early and sum- mer varieties are usually sown in seedbeds early in autumn, protected therein or in cold frames, during winter, and transplanted early in the spring. Where the climate is mild, and the land light and dry, they are planted in the autumn, in which case they head earlier than those put out in spring. Should a supply of plants not have been ob- tained in autumn, sow in a hotbed very early in spring, or somewhat later, on a warm border in the open air. But let it be borne in mind that in no case can fine cabbage (especially the earlier kinds) be had, unless on heavily KITCHEN GARDEN. manured and well-tilled land—heavy or strong loamy soil is best adapted to this crop. For winter sorts, sow in a seedbed in the middle or latter end of spring, and transplant early insummer. To have these kinds to head early in autumn, sow at the same time as the early sorts. To preserve from the cabbage-fly, sow in boxes elevated two or three feet above the surface, and as soon as the plants are es- tablished, place them on the ground, lest the plants burn up. To keep them during winter, bury the stalk and part of the head with earth, over which, if the cold be severe, sprinkle straw, or put in a cold frame. Savoys and Brussels Sprouts (B. oleracea var. bullata), are good for winter use, and become very tender after being touched by frost. Cul- tivate as winter cabbage. Borecole, Kale, &c. (B. oleracea var. acephala), may be treated as winter cabbages. They are said by Bridgeman to be delicious when ren- dered tender by smart frosts; and to be valu- able plants to cultivate, particularly in the Southern States, as they will there be in the greatest perfection in the winter months; they will also, if planted in a gravelly soil, and in a sheltered, warm situation, bear the winter of the Western States; and may be kept in great perfection in the Eastern States, if taken up before the frost sets in with much severity, and placed in trenches up to their lower leaves, and then covered with straw or other light cover- ing. See Cansace. Broccoli and Cauliflower (B. oleracea var. botry- tis). Purple Cape broccoli is decidedly the best of many varieties. Sow in seedbeds in the mid- dle of spring, and transplant and manage gene- rally as winter cabbage. Early Asiatic cauli- flower is sown in seedbeds in the beginning of autumn, kept ina cold frame during winter, and transplanted to very rich ground as soon as the frost ceases. Hand glasses or boxes put over them at night, when they are first put out, are useful. The late variety matures in au- tumn, and is sown at the same time, and man- aged like Cape broccoli. It is, however, not so sure to succeed as the broccoli, nor is it a bet- ter vegetable when obtained. See Broccort. Carnror (Daucus carota var. hortensis). The Early Horn is best for table use. The Long Orange is more productive. The Altringham produces great crops, and is suitable to raise for horses and cattle. Sow the seeds in the mid- dle of spring, in a rich, sandy loam, well pul- verized, in rows a foot apart, cover about half an inch deep, and thin the plants to 4 inches distance. Gather the crop soon after the first hard frost, and keep them in a cave or warm cellar. See Carnor. Crreny (Apium graveolens). Sow the seed early in spring, in rich, mellow ground, and in a situation where the plants can be protected from the parching heat of the sun. It can either be sown broadcast or in drills, if in drills, they may be half an inch deep and 6 inches apart, that a small hoe may be worked between them. Plant out in July, in a piece of rich ground, in an open exposure, in trenches 8 or 10 inches wide, and allow the space of 4 feet between them. Dig each trench a spade deep, laying the earth equally on each side, and 687 KITCHEN GARDEN. put 4 inches of good rotten dung into the bot- tom; tread it firmly, and cover with an inch of soil from the sides, then plant a single row in the middle of each trench, leaving 7 or 8 inches between the plants. Give a plentiful watering, and shade with a board till they strike root. It may be grown also in beds, 4 feet wide, with alleys 4 feet between, pre- pared as above. Plant 4 rows in each bed, at from 6 to 8 inches apart, and water and shade as before. To‘blanch, earth up gradually in dry weather, as the plants progress in growth, repeating the earthing every 2 weeks, at which time care should be taken to gather up all the leaves neatly, and not to bury ‘the heart of the plants. The earthing up may begin in September. See Crreny. Corn, Inntan (Zea Mays). There are se- veral varieties used at table, but none are better than the common Sweet Corn. Cucumner (Cucumis sativus). The Early Frame and Early Green Cluster are good varie- ties. The LongGreen is chiefly used for pickling. As soon as the ground becomes warm in spring, plant in hills 6 feet asunder each way, putting a dozen seeds in a hill, and covering half an inch deep. Leave finally but three of the Strongest plants. The ground must be rich and well manured. For very early use, sow in small pots in a hotbed; turn them into the open ground in May, taking care to protect them from the sunand late frosts. For pickling, plant in the end of June. See Cucumnen. Eceé-Praner (Solanum melongena). Sow in hotbed, or other protected place, very early in the spring, and late in the spring transplant into very rich ground, keeping the plants about two feet asunder. The seed requires much warmth to cause it to vegetate. See Hec- Pranr. Enpiye (Chichoriwm endiva). Sow at close of spring to middle of summer in shallow drills; when up an inch or two, thin out to stand a foot apart. In dry weather tie up to blanch as needed. See Cuicony and Ennive. Lrex (Allium porrum). Sow in seed-bed middle of spring; when the plants are 4 or 5 inches high transplant into rows, setting them loosely and deeply into the soil, and leaving space to admit the hoe between them. See Lexx. Lerruce (Lactuca sativa). The Early Cab- bage, brown Dutch, Royal Cabbage, CurledIndia and Tennisball are good, and stand the climate. Of the Cos varieties, which are very crisp and tender, but soon shoot to seed, the Egyptian Green Cos can be recommended. Sow in seed- bed from commencement to middle of autumn, protect the plants by a cold frame or with litter as they stand on the ground; early in the spring transplant them into rich ground. Tor a later supply, sow in drills from time to time during spring and summer; when up a few inches, thin out, leaving plants at proper distances. See Lerrvcr. Meton (Cucumis melo). The Citron, Persian, Nutmeg, and Murray's Pine-apple are good va- rieties of the canteleup or musk- melon. Plant ‘1 hills of rich, light soil, at the distance of 6 feet asunder, in the latter end of spring, putting KITCHEN GARDEN. from one another, and half an inch deep. Thin out to 3 in each hill; draw the earth from time to time about the hills as high as the seed leaves. Pinch off the top at the first or second joint, as this will strengthen the plants, and cause them to fruit early. Grow no pumpkins or squashes near them. Merton, Water (Cucurbita citrullus\. The Spanish and Mountain Sprout are good varie- ties. The Citron is cultivated for preserves. Cultivate as for canteleups, but let the hills be 7 or 8 feet distant. Oxnra (Hibiscus esculentus). Plant in good, rich ground late in spring, as it is a very ten- der vegetable. Make drills an inch deep, and 3 or 4 feet asunder, into which drop 2 or 3 seeds together, at intervals of about 8 inches, and cover them nearly an inch deep. Thin them out to 8 or 10 inches as the plants advance, and earth up 2 or 3 times. Onion. See that head. Parstey (Apiwm petrosclinum). Sow in rows early in the spring. By soaking the seed in warm water some hours immediately before sowing, it will vegetate more speedily. It some- times lies in the ground 2 or 3 weeks before vegetating. Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa). Sow early in spring, in good soil, deeply dug, making drills 18 inches apart. When the plants are 2 or 3 inches high, thin ont to 6 or 8 inches apart. Pea (Piswm sativwn). lLandreth’s Extra Early, and Bishop and Russell’s Early Dwarfs are the earliest varieties, and good of their kind. Dwarf Blue Imperial,and Dwarf Scime- tar are much esteemed. Knight’s Dwarf and Tall Marrowfats are late kinds, but superior to all others for flavour and productiveness. Tall and Dwarf Sugar or string peas are sweet, and productive; they are boiled without shelling, and served up as kidney beans. The dwarfs require sticks from 2 to 3 feet long, the others from 4to 6, and a greater width between the drills. Pxrrrer (Capsicum). Grossum or bellshaped, Large sweet, and Squash or tomato-shaped, are used for pickling; the last variety is the best. The Sweet has a delicate taste, and is used as a salad. Sow in hotbed in March, and trans- plant; or in the open ground, late in spring, in drills 2 feet apart. When the plants are an inch or two high, thin them out to about 15 inches apart in the rows, and hoe them re- peatedly. Potato. See that head. Ranisa (Raphanus sativus). Short-top Scar- let, Salmon, Red and White turnip-rooted, may be sown in the spring, as early as the ground can be worked. Yellow turnip-rooted and Summer White are best for summer use. White and Black Spanish for winter. Sow these at close of summer, or early in autumn, and when ripe store them inacellar. Fora succession in spring and summer, sow every two weeks. The ground should be light, rich, and well worked. Ravunans (Rheum). Tobolisk, Mammoth, and Giant, are the best varieties, and may be raised by dividing the roots early in spring, and planting them in rich, deep soil, in rows 4 6 cr 8 seeds into each hill, 2 inches distant! feet asunder and 3 feet distant in the rows. €88 KITCHEN GARDEN. To raise from seed, sow late in autumn or early im spring. Young seedling plants require to be protected the first winter by soil. To force very early, cover with boxes or barrels sur- rounded and covered with horse manure. Gather before the leaves are fully expanded. Sarstry, or Vegetable Oyster (Zragopogon porrifolius). Cultivate as directed for carrot. Sea-Kare. See Kare, Spa. Sernacu (Spinacia oleracea). Round Savoy- leaved, and Prickly seeded. May be grown either broadcast or in drills. For spring and early summer use, sow as early as the ground can be tilled, and afterwards at short intervals. For the autumn supply, sow at close of sum- mer. For winter and early spring use, sow middle of autumn. The latter sowing will need a sprinkling of*Straw or long manure on the arrival of cold weather. Spinach is one of those vegetables for which the ground can- not be too rich; the stronger it is the more succulent will be the leaves, and of course the more delicate and tender. Sauasu (Cucurbita melopepa). Tarly Bush, Early Crook-neck, Early Orange, Valparaiso, Winter and Canada Crook-necks. The three first are early varieties. The bush occupies but little room, and is best adapted for small gardens. Cultivate as directed for cucumber. The three last are winter varieties, and require more room. Tomato (Solanwm lycopersicum). Sow in hot- bed in March or April, or in a warm border early in spring, and transplant, after settled warm weather, in rows 4 feet apart and about 3 feet distant in the row. They may be sup- ported with brushwood, or trained to a trellis or fence. Turnip (Brassica rapa). Early White Dutch, Early Stone, Early Red-topped, are best for early garden culture. For winter use the Rutabaga, Yellow Stone, Yellow Aberdeen, and Dale’s Hybrid, are excellent. There is also a variety of aromatic and me- dicinal herbs cultivated in the kitchen garden, which are useful for many purposes. Of these, the Bene Plant, Sweet Basil, Carraway, Cori- ander, Sweet Marjoram, and Summer Savory are annuals, the seeds of which may be sown in the middle of spring, and thinned out to convenient distances. Balm, Chamomile, Horehound, Hyssop, Fen- nel, Lavender, Mint, Pennyroyal, Rosemary, Rue, Sage, and Thyme, are perennials, and may be propagated by offsets or parting of the roots, and from seed sown in drills, and afterwards transplanted. These are the most useful productions of the Xitchen garden. The varieties named are be- lieved to be the best, and such as are most cer- tain, in the United States, to repay their culture. Those who desire to go extensively into the cultivation of vegetables, can consult the works of M‘Mahon, Bridgeman, and Fessenden, for more minute details of the modes of culture and more extensive lists of varieties. Much success in cultivating vegetables will depend on the rotation of crops. The same kinds should not be grown on the ground suc- cessively. The ground must also be kept rich, by the application of manure, well work- KNAPWEED. ed, and above all kept clear of weeds. I ought always to be remembered that what will nourish a crop of weeds will produce a crop of useful vegetables; and no operation will tend more to produce luxuriant vegetation, and prevent the ill effects of drought, than the fre- quent use of the hoe. For the compilation of the preceding article we are indebted to Mr. William Sinton, gar- dener to General Patterson, Philadelphia. KNAPPIA, EARLY (Knappia agrostidea). It was named by Sir J. Smith in compliment to Mr. M. Knapp, a writer on British grasses. Of this, one of the least of the British grasses, only one species is known; although common on the coasts of France, it is very rare in Eng- land, but is found in maritime pastures, some- times in Wales. Itisanannual; root of many long, slender fibres; stems 1 to 3 inches high, erect, simple, slender, smooth, triangular, naked, except at the very bottom, where they are invested with the membranous sheaths of a few short, obtuse, channelled leaves. Sti- pules membranous, bluntish, cloven, but not deeply divided. Spikes solitary, simple, erect, of from 6 to 10 flowers, mostly sessile, alter- nate, erect; two or three of the lowermost only more or less stalked; their common stalks zigzag, slender, smooth, angular, but not exca- vated, as in the truly spiked grasses. Flow- ers, like the top of the stem, purplish. (Eng. Flor. vol. i. p. 84.) KNAPWEED (Centaurea). This is a large herbaceous genus of plants, which Jussieu, after Tournefort, has divided into several, by the structure or termination of the calyx scales. Linneus has kept it entire, and Decandolle has not disturbed it. Smith (Lng. Flora), also, makes one family of them. The following are the indigenous species known under the com- mon name of kiapweed. I have treated of other species under the heads Brive Borrre and Srar Tursrtre. 1. Brown radiant knapweed (C. Jacea). This grows in meadows where the soil is tenacious and moist. It is a perennial, flowering in Au- gustand September. The rootis rather woody, with many long fibres. Stem solid,erect; a foot high, branched, angular, furrowed and roughish, leafy. Leaves, light green, rough, with short hairs; radical ones largest, stalked, toothed or pinnatifid; the rest scattered, sessile, oblong, or linear lanceolate, entire, or toothed near the base. Flowers large, numerous, radiant, light crim- son, solitary at the tumid end of each branch, accompanied by a few leaves close to the calyx, which is brown; the calyx scales are mem- branous, torn. Linnzus says, the herb steeped in water, with alum, before the flowers expand, dyes silk of a fine yellow. 2. Black knapweed (C. nigra). This grows in pastures, and by road-sides, very common, flowering from June to August. In habit it is like the last, but the stem is taller, more bushy, more deeply furrowed, and rather less rough. The lower leaves are somewhat lyrate, with angular lobes; upper ones ovate; their colour always darker than that of C. Jacea. The flowers are also of a deeper crimson, com- monly without any radiant or abortive florets. The flowers are occasionally white. 3 mu 2 689 KNAWEL. 3. Greater knapweed (C. scabiosa). This is also a very common species, growing in the borders and ridges of corn-fields, and by way- sides. The root is somewhat woody; stem about two feet high, erect, branched, angular, furrowed, leafy, smooth to the touch. Leaves dark green, slightly hairy on both sides, pinna- tifid. The flowers, which blow in July and August, are terminal, stalked, solitary, large, and of a handsome crimson colour, rarely white; their radiant florets are large, each with five deep, long, and narrow segments. Calyx-scales ovate, green, somewhat downy, fringed with fine parallel teeth. The seeds are crowned with many reddish bristles; and after they are biown away, the calyx becomes reflex, and displays the silvery shining hue of its in- side. (Eng. Flor. vol. iil. p. 463.) KNAWEL (Scleranthus, from cxaneos, hard, and acc, a flower; in allusion to the dry, juice- less calyx). These are dry, rigid herbs, which can only be considered as useless weeds. The genus is European. There are 3 spe- cies, one of which, called S. annuus, is so abun- dantly naturalized in sandy, arable fields, as to appear native to some of the United States. (Nutiall). 1, The annual knawel, or German knot- grass (S. annwus), which grows commonly in dry, sandy soils and corn-fields, flowering in July. The root is small and tapering. The stems numerous, widely spreading, and part- ly decumbent; round, leafy, a little downy, branched, and many-flowered at the upper part. Leaves linear, acute, pale green, combined at the base by a membranous fringed border. Flowers small, green, nearly sessile, partly axillary, partly collected into dense forked tufts. Calyx of the fruit spreading, with taper, acute segments. The Swedes and Germans introduce occasionally the steam arising from a decoction of the knawel into their mouths, with a view to cure the toothache. Its leaves are astringent. Goats and sheep eat this plant, but cows totally refuse it. 2. Perennial knawel (S. perennis). This species is less common; it flowers from Au- gust to October, while the annual knawel blows in July. The root is woody, branched, with many decumbent or prostrate stems, 3 or 4 inches long. The whole herb is of a glaucous, glistening appearance, turning red with age, especially the stems. The leaves are more tapering, crowded, and curved, than in the foregoing. Segments of the calyx more ob- tuse, concave, and finally converging. In several parts of Europe the roots of this spe- cies are attacked by the insect called Coccus polonicus (Linn. Syst. vol. i. p. 741), which yields a fine crimson dye: it is said likewise to live on S. annuus and on some Potentille. A good account of its economy is given in the Upsal Transactions for 1742, t. i. p. 51. KNEE GRASS. A name sometimes given to the rough panic grass. KNIGHT, THOMAS ANDREW, President ot the Horticultural Society of London, F.R.S., &e., a distinguished vegetable physiologist and horticulturist, was born at Wormsley Grange, in Herefordshire, August 12,1759. “My fa-' odd appearance before they have laid their ther,” says Mr. Knight, in a late communica- 696 KNOT-GRASS. tion to me, “ was a man of much learning and acquirements. Having great powers of mind, and living in an extremely quiet and seques- tered spot, he was supposed by his ignorant neighbours, in their language, to know every-. thing.” He died at an advanced age, when Mr. Knight was an infant, and as evidence of the respect his knowledge obtained him, when- ever in childhood his son sought for informa- tion upon any unusual subject, he was told that his father would have answered him, but that nobody now could. Being born in the midst of orchards, “I was early led,” he con- tinues, “to ask whence the varieties of fruit I saw came, and how they were produced; I could obtain no satisfactory answer, and was thence first induced to commence experiments, in which, through a long life of scarcely inter- rupted health, I have persevered, and proba- bly shall persevere as long as I possess the power.” Mr. K. was distinguished for his skill in producing hybrid plants, by impregnating the blossoms. We owe to him a debt of grati- tude for many fine fruits. He died May 11, 1838, in the 80th year of his age. The death of Knight was lamented by all men of science, for, as it was soon after well remarked by the Duke of Sussex, when ad- dressing the Fellows of the Royal Society, “It would be difficult to find any other contempo- rary author, in this or other countries, who had made such important additions to the know- ledge of horticulture and the economy of vege- tation. (Selection from his Papers, p. 69.) To this interesting work a memoir of its author is prefixed. Mr. Knight was author of the following works, besides numerous papers in the Philo- sophical and Horticultural Transactions: 1. A Treatise on the Culture of the Apple and Pear, and on the Manufacture of Cyder and Perry. London. 1797. 12mo. The 3d edition in 1805. 2. Some doubts relative to the Efficacy of Mr. Forsyth’s Plaister, in re- novating trees. London. 1802. 4to. 3. Report of a Committee of the Horticultural Society of London. London. 1805, 4to. 4. Pomona Herefordiensis, or a Descriptive Account of the old Cyder and Perry Fruits of Herefordshire. London. 1809. 4to. 5. A Letter on the Origin of Blight, and on raising Late Crops of Peas. This is appended to Sir J. Banks’s Essay on the Mil- dew. London. 1806. 8vo. 2d Edition. (G. W. John- son’s Hist. Eng. Gard.) KNOLL (Sax. cnolle). A little round ele- vation; the top of a hill or mountain. KNOT-GRASS, The common oat-like soft- grass (Holcus avenaceus), from its bulbous roots is often called by farmers knot-grass; but ina botanical sense the following are the true knot- grasses. This grass is preyed upon in Europe by a species of leaf-beetle (Chrysomela polygoni), and likewise in the United States by an insect scarcely to be distinguished from the Euro- pean beetle. By these the knot-grass is com- pletely stripped of its leaves two or three times in the course ofa summer. This little beetle, says Harris, is about three-twentieths of an inch long. Its head, wing-covers, and body beneath are dark blue; its thorax and legs are dull orange-red; the upper side of its abdomen is also orange-coloured; and the antenne and feet are blackish. The females have a very eggs, their abdomen being enormously swelled KNOT-GRASS. out like a large orange-coloured ball, which makes it very difficult for them to move about. | I have found these insects on the knot-grass in | every month from April to September inclu- | sive. The larve eat the leaves of the same plant. (Harris.) KNOT-GRASS, COMMON (Polygonum avi- | culare; from vax, many, and zw, a knee; re- ferring to the numerous joints of the stem). This common annual grass is in England found almost everywhere, in waste as well as cultivated ground, streets, paths, and barren sandy places. The root is fibrous, long, very tough, and somewhat woody, branched below, simple at the crown. Stems several, spread- ing in every direction, generally prostrate, much branched, round, striated, leafy at the numerous knots or joints. Leaves alternate, stalked, hardly an inch long, elliptic or lanceo- late, entire, obtuse, single ribbed, smooth ex- cept at the margin; tapering at the base, very variable in width; their substance rather co- riaceous; their colour grayish or glaucous, stipules membranous, acute, often red, with a few remote, brownish ribs. The flowers which appear from April to October are axillary, 2 or 3 together on simple stalks, small, seeds acute- ly triangular, of a shining black, the food of many small birds. It is common in the United States. KNOT-GRASS, VALENTIA. A name by which the powdery sea-heath (Frankenia pul- verulenta), is known in some districts. KNOT-GRASS, WHORLED (Illecebrum ver- ticillatwm). ‘This is an interesting dwarf pe- rennial plant, which is not uncommon in marshy, boggy ground in Cornwall and Devon- shire, flowering in July. The different species are pretty, may be grown in any soil, and in- crease from seed without difficulty. The root is creeping; herb smooth, branched, procum- bent. Leaves small, ovate, acute, or some- times spatulate, scarcely stallzed, rather fleshy. Stipules intra-foliaceous, small, white, jagged. The flowers are small, white, or reddish, whorled, without bractes. (Eng. Flor. vol. i. p- 335.) KNOT-WEED. See Persicarta. KOHL-RABI. Bulb-stalked cabbage (Bras- sica oleracea, var. caula-rapa). This curious variety of cabbage is a native of Germany, where it is much cultivated, and whence it was first introduced into England by Sir Tho- mas Tyrwhitt. The stem is swollen like a tuber, and, when divested of the leaves, may readily be mistaken for one. The produce is nearly the same as that of Swedish turnips, and the soil that suits the one is equally good for the other. It may either be sown in drills, or raised in beds, and transplanted like cab- bages; in this case the beds require to be made and sown the preceding autumn. Two pounds of the seed will produce a sufficiency of plants for one acre of ground. Hares are so fond of it, that, on farms where these ani- mals abound, the culture of this plant is found to be impracticable. 3840 grains of the tubes of kohl-rabi afford 105 grains of nutritive mat- ter (Sinclair’s Hort. Gram. p. 411). See Can- BAGE, p. 247. LABOUR. L. LABELLUM (Lat.). In botany, the front segment of an orchidaceous or other flower; also the lower petal or lip. LABOUR (Fr. labeur ; Lat. labor).. Ina gene- ral sense, labour implies the exertion of human strength in the performance of any kind of work. Without entering into an abstruse treatise on the science of political economy, it may not be out of place to examine shortly the subject, for labour is the only source of wealth to the farmer; and having done this, I shall next in- quire into the means by which labour may be rendered most efficient. Nature spontaneously furnishes the matter of which all commodities are made; but until labour has been applied to appropriate that matter, or to adapt it to our use, it is wholly destitute of value, and is not, nor ever has been, considered as forming wealth. Were we placed on the banks of a river, or in an orchard, we should infallibly perish of thirst or hunger, unless by an effort of industry we raised the water to our lips, or plucked the fruit from its parent tree. But this illustration is an extreme case; and it is more to our purpose to remark, that the mere appropriation of matter is seldom sufficient. In the vast majority of cases, labour is required not only to appropriate matter, but to convey it from place to place, and to give it that peculiar shape without which it may be totally useless, and incapable of administering either to our necessities or our comforts. The coal used in our fires is buried deep in the bowels of the earth, and is absolutely worthless, until by the labour of the miner it has been extracted from the mine, and brought into a situation where it may be made use of. The stones and mor- tar used in building our houses, and the rugged and shapeless materials that have been fashion- ed into the various articles of convenience and ornament with which they are furnished, were in their original state destitute alike of value and utility. And of the innumerable variety of animal, vegetable, and mineral products which form the materials of our food and clothes, none were originally serviceable, while many were extremely noxious to man. The labour that has subdued their bad qualities, that has given them utility, and fitted them to satisfy our wants, and to minister to our com- forts and enjoyments, is plainly therefore the only source of wealth. “Labour,” to use the words of Adam Smith, “was the first price, the original purchase-money, that was paid for all things. It was not by gold or by silver, but by labour, that all the wealth of the world was purchased.” (Wealth of Nations, p.14.) Those who observe the progress and trace the history of the human race in different countries and states of society, will find that their comfort and happiness have in all cases been princi- pally dependent on their ability to appropriate the raw products of nature, and to adapt them to their use. The savage whose labour is con- fined, like that of the Australian, to the gather- ing of wild fruits, or of shell-fish on the sea- 691 LABOUR. coast, is placed at the very bottom of the scale of civilization, and is in point of comfort de- cidedly inferior to many of the lower animals. The first step in the progress of society ‘is made when man learns to hunt wild animals, to feed himself with their flesh, and clothe him- self with their skins. But labour, when con- fined to the chase, is extremely barren and un- productive. Tribes of hunters, like beasts of prey, whom they closely resemble in their habits and modes of subsistence, are but thinly scattered over the countries which they occupy; and, notwithstanding the fewness of their num- bers, any unusual deficiency in the supply of game never fails to reduce them to the extre- mity of want. The second step in the progress of society is made when the tribes of hunters and fishers devote themselves, like the ancient Scythians and modern Tartars, to the domesti- cation of wild animals and the rearing of flocks. The subsistence of herdsmen is much less precarious than that of hunters; but they are almost entirely destitute of the various comforts and elegancies that give to civilized life its chief value. The third and most de- cisive step in the progress of civilization, in the great art of producing the necessaries and conveniences of life, is made when the wan- dering tribes of hunters and shepherds re- nounce their migratory habits and become agriculturists and manufacturers. It is then that man begins fully to avail himself of his productive powers. He then becomes labo- rious, and by a necessary consequence. his wants are then, for the first time, fully sup- plied, and he acquires an extensive command over the articles necessary for his comfort as weil as his subsistence. The importance of labour in the production of wealth was very clearly perceived by Locke. In his Essay on Cwil Government, published in 1689, he has en- tered into a lengthened, discriminating, and able analysis, to show that it is from labour that the products of the earth derive almost all their value. “Let any one consider,” says he, “what the difference is between an acre of land planted with tobacco or sugar, sown with wheat or barley, and an acre of the same land lying in common, without any husbandry upon it, and he will find that the improvement of labour makes the far greater part of the value. I think it will be but avery modest computation to say, that of the products of the earth useful to the life of man, nine-tenths are the effects of labour; nay, if we rightly estimate things as they come to our use, and cast up the several expenses about them, what in them is purely owing to nature, and what to labour, we shall find that in most of them ninety-nine hundredths are wholly to be put on the account of labour. “There cannot be a clearer demonstration of any thing than several nations of the Ame- ricans are of this, who are rich in land and poor in all the comforts of life; whom nature having furnished as liberally as any other people with the materials of plenty, i.e. a fruit- ful soil apt to produce in abundance what might serve for food, raiment, and delight, yet for want of improving it by labour have not one LABOUR. “To make this a little clearer, let us but trace some of the ordinary provisions of life through their several progresses before they come to our use, and see how much they receive of their value from human industry. Bread, wine, and cloth are things of daily use and great abundance; yet, notwithstanding, acorns, water, and leaves or skins must be our bread, drink, and clothing, did not labour fur- nish us with these more useful commodities ; for whatever bread is more worth than acorns, wine than water, and cloth or silk than leaves, skins, or moss, that is solely owing to labour and industry; the one of these being the food and raiment which unassisted nature furnishes us with; the other provisions which our in- dustry and pains prepare for us; which how much they exceed the other in value, when any one hath computed, he will then see how much labour makes the far greatest part of the value of things we enjoy in this world. And the ground which produces the material is scarcely to be reckoned in as any, or, at most, but a very small part of it; so little that even amongst us, land that is wholly left to nature, that hath no improvement of pasturage, tillage or planting, is called as indeed it is, waste ; and we shall find the benefit of it amount to little more than nothing. “An acre of land that bears here twenty bushels of wheat, and another in America, which, with the same husbandry, would do the like, are, without doubt, of the same natural intrinsic value (utility). But yet the benefit mankind receives from the one in a year is worth five pounds, and from the other possibly not worth a penny, if all the profit an Indian received from it were to be valued and sold here; at least, I may truly say, not one thou- sandth.. It is labour, then, which puts the greatest part of value upon land, without which it would scarcely be worth any thing. It is to that we owe the greatest part of all its useful products; for all that the straw, bran, bread, of that acre of wheat, is more worth than the product of an acre of good land which lies waste, is all the effect of labour. “For it is not barely the ploughman’s pains, the reaper’s and thrasher’s toil, and the baker’s sweat is to be accounted into the bread we eat; the labour of those who sell the oxen, who digged and wrought the iron and stones, who felled and framed the timber employed about the plough, mill, oven, or any other utensils, which are a vast number, requisite to this corn; from its being seed to be sown to its being made bread, must all be charged on the account of /abour, and received as an effect of that; nature and the earth furnished only the almost worthless materials as in themselves. It would be a strange catalogue of things that industry provided and made use of about every loaf of bread before it came to our use, if we could trace them; iron, wood, leather, bark, timber, stone, bricks, coals, lime, cloth, dyeing drugs, pitch, tar, masts, ropes, and all the ma- terials made use of in the ships that brought away the commodities made use of by any of the workmen to any part of the work; all which hundredth part of the conveniences which | it would be almost impossible, at least too long, might be enjoyed. 692 to reckon up.” LABOUR. Labour is the sole source of exchangeable value, and, consequently, of wealth. Itis the talisman that has raised man from the condi- tion of the savage; that has changed the desert and the forest into cultivated fields; that has covered the earth with cities, and the ocean with ships; that has given us abundance, com- fort, and elegance, instead of want, misery, and barbarism. Labour, according as it is applied to the raising of raw produce, to the fashioning of that raw produce, when raised into articles of utility, convenience, or ornament, or to the conveyance of raw and wrought produce from one country or place to another, is said to be agricuJtural, manufacturing, or commercial. An acquaintance with the particular process, and most advantageous methods of applying labour in each of these grand departments of industry, forms the peculiar and appropriate study of agriculturists, manufacturers, and merchants. In thus endeavouring to exhibit the import- ance of labour, and the advantages which its successful prosecution confers on man, it must not be supposed that reference is made to the labour of the hand only. This species, indeed, comes mostunder our observation; itis that, too, without which we could not exist, and which principally determines the value ofcommodities. It is questionable, however, whether it be really more productive than the labour of the mind. The hand is not more necessary to execute than the head to contrive. All the means by which labour may be facilitated and wealth increased resolve themselves, Ist, into the better division and combination of employment among individuals and nations; and 2d, into the more extensive or more judicious applica- tion of capital or stock in industrious under- takings. The division of employments can only be imperfectly established in rude societies and thinly-peopled countries; but in every state of society—in the rudest as well as the most im- proved—we may trace its operation and effects. Even in the simplest business this co-operation and subdivision is required; neither hunting nor fishing, any more than agriculture or ma- nufacture, can be advantageously carried on by solitary individuals. As society advances, this division of labour extends itself on all sides; one man becomes a tanner or dresser of skins, another a weaver, a third a smith, and soon. The wealth and comforts of all classes are, in consequence, prodigiously aug- mented. In countries where the division of labour is carried on to a considerable extent, agriculturists are not obliged to spend their time in clumsy attempts to manufacture their own produce, and manufacturers cease to in- terest themselves about the raising of corn, and the fattening of cattle. The facility of ex- changing is the vivifying principle of industry ; it stimulates agriculturists to adopt the best system of cultivation, and to raise the largest crops, because it enables them to exchange whatever portion of the produce of the land exceeds their own wants for other commodities contributing to their comforts and enjoyments, anditstimulates manufacturers and merchants | to increase and improve the quantity, variety, LABOURER. and quality of their goods, that they may thereby obtain greater supplies of raw pro- duce. A spirit of industry is thus universally diffused; and that apathy and languor which characterize a rude state of society entirely disappear. Besides that sort of division of labour which enables each individual in a united society to confine himself to a particular employment, there is another and most important branch of the division of labour, which not only enables particular individuals, but the inhabitants of entire districts, and even nations, to addict themselves in preference to certain branches of industry. It is on this territorial division of labour, as it has been appropriately termed, that the commerce. carried on between differ- ent districts of the same country, and between different countries, is founded. The variations in the situation, soil, climate, mineral products, &c. of the different districts of an extensive country, render them more suitable for some than for other species of industry. A district where coal is abundant, which has an easy access to the ocean, and a considerable com- mand of internal navigation, is the natural seat of manufactures. Wheat and other species of grain are the proper products of rich arable soils; and cattle, after being reared in moun- tainous districts, are most advantageously fat- tened in meadows and low grounds. Nothing can be more obvious than that the inhabitants of these different districts will be able, by con- fining themselves to those employments, for the prosecution of which they have some peculiar capability, to produce a much greater quantity of useful and desirable articles than they could do were they to engage indiscriminately in every possible employment. Providence, by giving different soils, cli- mates and natural productions to different countries, has evidently provided for their mu- tual intercourse and civilization. By permit- ting the people of each to employ their capital and labour in those departments in which their geographical situation, the physical capa- cities of the soil, their national character and habits fit them to excel, foreign commerce, or the territorial division of labour, has a won- derful influence in multiplying the products of arts and industry. Having been led thus far into this fertile subject, I will conclude with some apposite and excellent observations by Dr. Paley:— “Every man has his work. The kind of work varies, and that is all the difference there is. A great deal of labour exists besides that of the hands; many species of industry besides bodily operation, equally necessary, requiring equal assiduity, more attention, more anxiety. It is not true, therefore, that men of elevated stations are exempted from work; it is only true that there is assigned to them work of a different kind: whether more easy or more pleasant may be questioned; but certainly not less wanted, nor less essential to the common good.” (Brande’s Dict. of Lit. and Art.) LABOURER. One who is employed in coarse and toilsome work. But, in agricw- ture, the term is applied to a person who per forms the manual or most laborious part cf 693 LABOURER. the business of a farm. The price of labour has at all times varied; and, as the poorer classes feel, with additional rigour, every evil arising from the pressure of the times, different expedients have been devised, with a view to alleviate their burdens, supply their wants, and render them more comfortable. From these investigations, it appears that, in the middle of the 14th century, the usual price of labour was 2d. per day, and wheat was sold at from 3s. 4d. to 4s. per quarter. In the middle of the 15th century the pay of a labourer per day was 3d., and wheat cost from 5s. to 5s. 6d. per quarter. In the earlier part of the 16th century the price of labour rose to 34d., and that of a quarter of wheat to 7s. 6d. About the “middle of the 17th century the pay of a labourer upon an average was (in Essex) 13d., and corn had risen to 40s. per quarter. Towards the latter end of the 18th century the daily pay of a labourer was from 14d. to 18d. in the coun- try, and from 2s. to 2s. 6d. in the metropolis, while the price of wheat was 48s. per quarter. The payment “of daily wages, however, serves but imperfectly to ascertain the real price of labour, as a considerable portion of work is performed by the piece, so that a labourer in general earns from 3d. to 6d. per day more than by the common pay. The curious and philanthropic reader, who feels an interest in this popular inquiry, will be fully gratified by a perusal of Mr. Davies’s Case of Labourers in Husbandry Stated and Considered, &c. 4to, 1795, p. 200; and Sir F. M. Eden’s State of the Poor, &c., 3 vols. 4to, 1797. Mrs. Davies Gilbert, of Vastbourne, a lady whose active interest for the prosperity of agriculture, and the improve- ment of the condition of the labouring poor, may fairly (as has been justly observed) be set as an example for many country gentlemen to follow, urges most strenuously, in many pub- lications (but particularly in the Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. xii. p. 252), the advantages to be derived from manual labour, in preference to horse labour. In England, many benevolent persons of distinguished rank have also re- cently taken up the cause of the labourer, and formed themselves into a society, very appro- priately named “the Labourer’s Friend So- . ciety.” They advocate strongly, and endeavour to promote more generally the system of home colonies for the cultivation of waste land. See Attorment and Sepang Huspanvry, Farm Senvants, Worxmen, &c. Farm labourers, being the most valuable class of men that a populous country pos- sesses, should have every comfort provided for them that is compatible with their situa- tion, and conformable to the general interest of the community. Their wages ought to be everywhere and at all times sufficient for the maintenance of themselves and families while in health, with a surplus to provide against the day of sickness, without their being under the debasing necessity of making application to their neighbours for relief. Persons so es- sentially useful to society should not merely support existence, but have the comforts of wholesome habitations, with sufficient spaces of ground to furnish them and their families 694 LACTOMETER. with changes of proper vegetable food without much expense. 3 LACTARY,. A milk-house, dairy, or place where milk is kept. The term has been made to designate the whole establishment of a dairy. See Dairy. LACTIC ACID. This substance, in the opinion of Berzelius and some other chemists, exists in milk, and in larger proportion when it has become sour; but others imagine that it is the product of its decomposition. It was first recognised as a peculiar acid by Scheele, but he did not obtain it perfectly pure. It was afterwards observed by Berzelius in many ani- mal fluids; and by Braconnet to exist with acetic acid in fermented rice-meal, wheat- paste, the juice of the beet-root, and other vege- table substances: he named it naneéic acid. It is formed, also, during the putrefactive pro- cess in some animal bodies. Lactic acid is a colourless, inodorous, syrupy liquid, and very sour. It may be so concentrated as to have a specific gravity of 1-215: it attracts moisture from the atmosphere, and dissolves in water and alcohol in all proportions. At 480° Fah- renheit, it is decomposed. When added to boiling milk, it is capable of immediately co- agulating about 700 times its weight; but, when cold, it produces comparative little effect upon it: it also coagulates albumen. It has the property of dissolving fresh precipitated phosphate of lime; a property which is of great advantage in the animal economy, and might even be rendered useful in manures. The constituents of the lactic acid are, 6 parts of carbon, 5 of hydrogen, and 5 of oxygen. (Penny Cyclopedia, vol. xiii. p. 268.) LACTOMETER (Lat. lac, milk, and metrum, a measure). A term applied toa glass tube for ascertaining the proportion which the cream bears to the milk of any particular cow, or the produce of a whole dairy. Lactometers of different kinds have been invented ; the best is called “the four or five glass lactometer.” The principle of the instrument is, that if new milk is poured into glass tubes and allow- ed to remain, the division between the cream, which floats upon the surface of the milk, will be so evident that its depth may be easily measured; and should the milk from any cow produce more cream than that of another, the difference will be seen by the divisions or LADIES’ FINGER. marks on the glass tubes. The lactometer ! consists of 4 or 5 glass tubes, about half an inch diameter, and 11 inches long, fitted into an upright mahogany frame ; each tube having a fine line drawn round it 10 inches from the bottom; 3 inches from the line downwards, it is graduated into inches and tenths of inches. At milking time each tube is to be filled up to the line with new milk. After standing 12 hours, the quantity of cream which floats upon the surface‘is shown by the scale of inches and tenths; each division will therefore repre- sent one per cent. of the whole. If the milk given by a cow at one meal is 1 gallon, or 8 pints, and the thickness or depth of the eream which floats upon it measures 14 divisions, multiplysthe number of pints, 8, by the depth of the cream, 14; the result will be that the produce of the cream of that meal is 112, or 1 pint 12,. Care must be taken to fill these tubes as soon as the pail is taken from under the cow, for if any delay takes place, some of the cream will have ascended towards the top. ‘The milk should be taken from the middle of the pail, which is to be done by dip- ping a cream-pot below the froth. (Journ. Roy. Inst. vol. iv. p. 157; Rees’s Cyclo. vol. xx.) LADIES’ FINGER. A name given to the common kidney-vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria), which, from its soft and downy nature, was supposed to possess vulnerary properties in stanching the blood of slight wounds. See Kipney-veren. LADIES’ MANTLE (Alchemilla). The spe- cies of this genus of plants are all astringent in their root, and somewhat mucilaginous. A. vulgaris is slightly tonic. Many of them are ornamental, and well adapted for planting in gardens near the front of borders, or for adorn- ing rockwork. ‘They succeed well in any common soil, if not over wet, and may be in- creased from seeds or divisions. The species indigenous to Britain are— 1. Cummon ladies’ mantle (4. vulgaris). A perennial, growing in dry, rather mountainous pastures. The root is woody, with long fibres: stems from 4 to 8 inches high, more or less procumbent, alternately branched, round, hairy, leafy, terminating in numerous little co- rymbose ciusters of green flowers, or smooth, almost capillary stalks. The radical leaves are numerous, on long footstalks, large, round- ish, kidney-shaped, bluntly-lobed, plaited, ser- rated, of a fine green above; soft and hairy beneath. The stem-leaves are of the same form, but a great deal smaller; alternate, on short stalks, with a pair of large notched sti- pules to each. Horses, sheep, and goats, eat this vegetable; but it is not relished by cattle, and hogs totally refuse it. 2. Alpine ladies’ mantle (.4. alpina). A pe- rennial plant growing on alpine rocks, espe- cially in a micaceous soil. It is rather smaller in habit than the last species, and essentially different, not only in the silvery pubescence of the stalks, flowers, and backs of the leaves, but in the latter being separated to the base into 5 or 6 obovate lobes, closely serrated to- wards the extremity. Nothing can be more beautiful than the silvery splendour of their under sides, especially in exposed and barren LADIES’ SMOCK. spots, when the leaves are agitated by the wind. No figure can do them justice. The upper surface is smooth and naked, of a fine green. This species is found on the moun- tains of New Hampshire. ’ 3. Field ladies’ mantle, or parsley piert (.4. arvensis). This annual species will generally be found in England growing in sandy or gra- velly fields, especially when fallow, as well as on heathy banks. The root is small and fibrous; stems numerous, about a finger’s length, spreading or prostrate, round, leafy, hardly subdivided. Leaves flat, three-lobed, variously cut on short stalks. The whole plant is more or less hairy, and in flayour and scent approaches its natural ally, burnet. (Smith’s Eng. Flor. vol. i. p. 223. LADIES’ SLIPPER (Cypripedium, from Cypris, one of Venus’s names, and podion, a slipper; hence the name Venus’s or ladies’ slipper). ‘The species of this genus are re- markably handsome when in flower, and on that account deserve a place in every collec- tion. They are all of the easiest culture. The hardy species succeed well in peat soil, either kept in a frame, or planted out in a shady border. The species, natives of America, re- quire to be protected from severe frost and rain. The only indigenous species is the com- mon ladies’ slipper (@. calceolus), which is very rare, growing only in mountainous woods and thickets in the north of England. It is peren- nial, blowing large yellow, solitary, terminal flowers, without scent,in June. The stems are solid, 12 or 18 inches high, downy, bearing 3 or 4 large alternate, ovate, rather pointed leaves, clasping or sheathing at their base.— (Eng. Flor. iv. 51; Pazxton’s Bot. Dict.; see Darlington’s Flor. Cest. 513.) LADIES’ SMOCK (Cardamine). An inte- resting genus of the simplest culture and pro- pagation, natives of various countries, gene- rally preferring watery situations. The native species are five in number:— 1. Daisy-leaved ladies’ smock (C. bellidifolia). This perennial species grows in moist, grassy, lofty, alpine pastures. The root is rather woody, divided at the crown. Herb 2 or 3 inches high, unbranched, erect, bright green, smooth leaves, sometimes a little wavy or an- cular, the uppermost nearly sessile. Flowers few, corymbose, white, appearing in August. Style short, conical. 2. Impatient ladies’ smock (C. impatiens). This annual species grows in shady, rather moist, rocky situations in the north of Eng- land; it is rarely met with in Scotland. The root is small and tapering; the herbage pale green; stem 1} to 2 feet high; leaves pinnate; leaflets lanceolate, mostly cut; stipules fringed. The flowers, which are numerous, and small, and white, appear in Mayand June. Pods erect, very slender, composing long clusters, and dis- charging their seeds with a crackling noise and great force on the slightest touch or concussion, by means of the revolute valves. The ~wi:cle plant is disagreeably bitterish and pungent. 3. Hairy ladies’ smock (C. hirsuta). Also annual in habit. This species is found very frequent in waste or cultivated ground, espe- cially in moist, shady places; flowering from 695 LADIES’ TRACES. March to June. The root consists of many white fibres. The herb is variable in size and luxuriance, deep green, more or less hairy, rarely quite smooth; stem from 3 to 12 inches or more in height; leaves pinnate, without stipnles; leaflets stalked, roundish, oblong, notched. 4, Meadow ladies’ smock (C. pratensis). See Cucxoo Frower. 5. Bitter ladies’ smock (C.amara). This is not a common species, but is found oceasionally in watery places, by the sides of rivers and brooks. It is perennial, and before it flowers greatly resembles water-cress, but the taste is bitter and nauseous. The root is toothed, somewhat creeping; stems,1 to 2 feet high, more or less hairy, creeping at the base, with several radi- cles, and sometimes a few slender scions. Leaves pinnate, without stipules; leaflets of the lowermost roundish; of the rest, toothed or angular. Style obliquely elongated. Flow- ers, which appear in April or May, always white or cream-coloured, with violet anthers. (Smith’s Eng. Flor. vol. iii. pp. 186—91.) LADIES’ TRACES (Neottia, a bird’s nest, in allusion to the interwoven fibres of the roots). This is a pretty genus of orchidaceous plants. The hardy species will succeed well in chalky soil, or a mixture of loam, peat, and sand; they are all increased by divisions. (Pazxton’s Bot. Dict.) There are in Britain only two indigenous species :— 1. Sweet ladies’ traces (N. spiralis), which grows in open pastures, on a chalky or gravelly soil, or in meadows in various parts of Eng- land, flowering in August and September. The leaves are awned, all radical, on broad stalks, spreading, ovate, acute, ribbed, rather glau- cous. Stalk a finger’s length or more, viscid, and downy upwards, clothed with several sheathing, upright, pointed bractes. Spike spiral, of many crowded small white and highly fragrant flowers, in a single row, each with an ovate, tumid, pointed, downy, close bracte. 2. Proliferous ladies’ traces (NV. gemmipara). This species grows in marshes on the west coast of Ireland, and flowers in July. The root consists of two thick, fleshy, downy, an- nual, perpendicular knobs, each about 3 inches long, and one-fifth of an inch in diameter near its origin, tapering downwards to a blunt point. After flowering the root decays. Leaves 5 or 6, upright, broadly lanceolate, acute, three-ribbed, 8 inches in length. Foot-stalks broad, sheath- ing, near an inch long. Stalk erect, 2 inches high, sheathed more than half way up by the foot-stalks of the innermost leaves, and bear- ing in the upper part 2 or 3 lanceolate, smooth, upright bractes. Spike an inch long, ovate, dense, erect, of about 18 white flowers in 3 rows, twisted round in a very remarkable way, and each accompanied by a smooth, lanceolate bracte, as tall as itself. The outside of the tlowers and capsule are downy; every other part of the herb is smooth. Buds destined to flower the following year are formed among the leaves, at the bottom of the flower-stalk. In the spring, each bud puts forth a pair of oblong 696 LADY BIRDS. knobs and becomes a separate plant. (Smith’s Eng. Flor. vol. iv. p. 35.) LADIES’ TRACES. Ladies’ hair or quak- ing-grass. See Briza Menta. LADDER. A framework of steps between two upright pieces. Ladders of various length are essential requisites on a farm, whether for use in repairs to buildings, for reaching stacks, or in eases of fire. “Garden ladders are of three kinds: the conunon wall tree ladder, which differs from those used in other arts in having two pieces of 10 or 12 inches in length, projecting at right an- gles from the upper end, the use of which is to avoid injuring the trees, by keeping the top of the ladder at a small distance from the wall, and thus admit of the operation of nailing. The orchard ladder consists of a frame on low wheels, as a basis for several ladders which fit into each other, and are capable of being hoisted up by machinery, so as a person near the extremity of the ladder may have access to any part of a tree with convenience, either to prune it or gather the fruit. The three-styled, forked, and double ladders are also well adapted for the ordinary purposes of gathering fruit or pruning. The rule-joint ladder is used for working on curvilinear roofs either of glass, or domes of lead, stone, &c., which require panes renewed or trees nailed. Such ladders are particularly useful for repairing the roofs of hothouses and greenhouses. The s/ep- ladder, instead of round rods on which to place the feet, has steps or boards, an improvement essentially necessary where much work is to be done, because less fatiguing to the feet. Such ladders have a back or fulerum, by which they stand independently of any other object, and which is removable at leisnre by drawing out an iron bolt.” (Loudon’s Enc. of Gard. p. 290.) LADY BIRDS, or LADY BUGS. Familiar names applied to small hemispherical beetles, scientifically denominated coccinetva. These little beetles are generally yellow or red, with black spots, or black, with white, red, or yellow spots ; there are many kinds of them, and they are very common and plentiful insects, and are gene- rally diffused among plants. They live, both in the perfect and young state, upon plant-lice, and hence their services are very considerable. Their young are small flattened grubs of a bluish or blue-black colour, spotted usually with red or yellow, and furnished with six legs near the forepart of the body. They are hatch- ed from little yellow eggs, laid in clusters among the plant-lice, so that they find themselves at once within reach of their prey, which, from their superior strength, they are enabled to seize and slaughter in great numbers. There are some of these lady-birds, of a very small size, and blackish colour, sparingly clothed with short hairs, and sometimes with a yellow spot at the end of the wing-covers, whose young are clothed with short tufts or flakes of the most delicate white down. These insects belong to the genus Scymnus, which means alion’s whelp, and they well merit such a name, for their young, in proportion to their size, are as san- guinary and ferocious as the most savage beast of prey. Ihave often seen one of these LAIR. little tufted animals preying upon the plant-lice, catching and devouring, with the greatest ease, lice nearly as large as its own body, one after another, in rapid succession, without appa- rently satiating its hunger or diminishing its activity. (Harris.) See Avuts. LAIR. Provincially, land in a state of grass or sward. (See Lay.) Also employed in some countries, to signify soil and dung. Lair is used sometimes to express the couch or rest- ing-place of a boar or wild beast, or of cows in dairies. LAMA, or LLAMA. ‘See Arpaca. LAMB’S LETTUCE. See Corn Saran. LAMB’S QUARTERS. A name given to wild or mountain spinach. (Chenopodium al- bun.) See Goosrroor. LAMB SKINS (Germ. Lammsfelle). The value of lamb skins varies according to the fineness, brilliancy, and colour of the wool. Black lamb skins are more generally esteemed than those of any other colour. English lamb skins are seldom to be met with perfectly black; but since the introduction of merino sheep into England, many of the white fleeces have, in point of quality, arrived at a pitch of perfection which justly entitles them to be ranked with some of the best fleeces in Spain. The importation of lamb skins is immense, having amounted on an average in 1831, and 1832, to 2,365,635. Hight-tenths of the whole quantity are supplied by Italy. They are mostly used in the glove manufacture. (M‘Cul- loch’s Com, Dict.) See Woot. LAMENESS. In farriery, an affection in the feet or hmbs in horses and other animals, by which motion is rendered less perfect. In the horse, itis brought on from various causes— sprains, over-exertion, diseases of the foot, &c. The muscles of the shoulder are occasionally sprained, and in this case the animal cannot lift his foot without great difficulty, indeed he will be observed to drag his toe along the ground. In this case few local measures can be adopted. The horse should be bled from the vein on the inside of the arm, fomentations applied, and a dose of physic given. In this, as in most other cases of lameness, quiet and rest are essential to the restoration of the ani- mal. (The Horse, p. 229.) LAMMAS DAY. Inthe English calendar, the Ist of August. Dr. Johnson supposes this term to be a corruption of lattermath, which signifies a second mowing of grass. Others derive it from a custom which once prevailed in some parts of England, of bringing a lamb alive on this day into the church at high mass. Others again derive it from a Saxon term sig- nifying loaf mass, so named as a feast of thanks- giving for the first-fruits of the corn. (Brande’s Dict. of Lit. &e.) LAMP BLACK. A colouring substance which is in very general use for several pur- poses. The finest lamp black is produced by collecting the smoke from a lamp with a long wick, which supplies more oil than can be perfectly consumed, or by suffering the flame to play against a metalline cover, which im- pedes the combustion, not only by carrying off part of the heat, but by obstructing the current |) of air. Lamp black is prepared, however, in 88 LAND-DITCHING. a much cheaper way for the demands of trade. The dregs which remain after the purification of pitch, or else small pieces of fir wood, are burned in furnaces of a peculiar construction, the smoke of which is made to pass through a long, horizontal flue, terminating in a close- boarded chamber. The roof of this chamber is made of coarse cloth, through which the current of air escapes, while the soot remains. (Ure’s Dict.) LANCEOLATE. In botany a term used to describe leaves which are oblong and gradu- ally tapering towards each extremity, or shaped like a spear or lance. LANCEWOOD (Guwatteria, in honour of J. B. Guatteri, an Italian botanist, and once pro- fessor at Parma). This is a splendid genus of evergreen shrubs, succeeding in a mixture of loam, peat, and sand. They are natives of warm climates and require stove culture. Young plants are readily obtained by cuttings raised in sand under a glass in heat. (Paa- ton’s Bot. Dict.) LAND (Germ.), in the widest acceptation of the word, is used to denote the solid matter of which the globe is composed; in contradis- tinction to the liquid matter or water (see Gxo- Loey): but in its most restricted signification it is confined to arable ground. The latter is the legal meaning of the term; and in this sense it is used in all original writs, and in all court and formal pleadings. LAND-DITCHING, or hollow draining as it is sometimes termed, is chiefly practised in England in the counties of Essex and Hertford. It consists in digging both main and side drains, similar to those generally adopted in draining land: the former are usually made from 22 to 24 inches, the latter from 20 to 22 inches in depth. The soil is previously ploughed, and the length to which the main drains may be protracted without a vent, depends upon the situation of the land. When the land has a regular declivity, the most proper method will be to carry off as much water as possible, by means of side drains; but if the ground be irregular, it will be requisite to form additional main drains, so that every advantage may be derived from the valleys, into which the latter must often be conducted toa considerable extent. The length of the side drains varies accord- ing to the elevation of the soil; in general they need not be more than one rod apart from each other; though in very loose or porous grounds, they may be dug at a distance of one rod and a half. When the trenches are cut to a sufficient depth, they are filled up and cover- ed in the usual manner with straw and bushes. The expense of this method of draining is com- puted in England to be nearly 3I. per acre. Land-ditching not only carries off the water from wet or marshy soils, but also meliorates stiff loamy clays, which being thus better en- abled to resist the long continuance of moisture on their surface during the winter, promote ve- getation very early in the spring, and the grass is rendered of a superior quality. The weeds, &c. change their colour, and are totally divest- ed of their rankness; the corn also increases both in quantity and weight. Another import- ant advantage arising from this practice is, that 3N 697 LANDLORD. it will admit of the soil being ploughed at an earlier period of the spring and later in autumn; while it may be tilled with greater facility, and kept clean from weeds at a very small expense. LANDLORD. One who owns lands or houses, and has tenants under him. See Tz- want, Customs or Counties, Lease, AGREE- uENT, &c. LANDMARK, signifies in a general sense any thing by which the boundary of a property is defined. In ancient times the correct division of lands was an object of great importance ; and various means were adopted to give dis- tinctness and permanency to the boundaries of every man’s property. Stones and hillocks were the most usual landmarks. The import- ance of this subject among the Israelites par- ticularly, may be judged of from the denun- ciation of Moses, “Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s landmark.” LANDSCAPE GARDENING. The art of laying out grounds so as to produce the effect of a natural landscape. Its principles are the same as those upon which the landscape painter proceeds in composing a picture; and though it is an art of which, like many others, every- body thinks he is a judge, it requires to be pro- perly practised, and the possession of powers of a much higher order than fall to the lot of most men. Mr. Brown, commonly called Ca- pability Brown, was the first who practised the art in England, so as to render himself worthy of the name of artist. To lay down the prin- ciples of this art here would be quite impossi- ble; but this general observation contains the sum of them; let selected and beautiful nature be constantly your model, and success must follow. Loudon’s Enc. of Gardening, and Down- ing’s Landscape Gardening, recently published in New York, may be consulted with advantage by those desirous of practising the art. LANDSLIP. A portion of land that has slid down in consequence of disturbance by an earthquake, or from being undermined by the action of water or other means. LAND SPRINGS. Landsprings are sources of water which only come into action after heavy rains; while constant springs which derive their supplies from a more abundant source, flow throughout the year. All springs owe their origin to rains. Inthe case of land springs, the water when it sinks through the surface, is speedily interrupted by a retentive stratum, and there accumulating soon bursts out into a spring, which ceases to flow a short period after the cause which gave it birth has ceased to operate; but the water which sup- plies constant springs sinks deeper into the earth, and accumulates in rocky or gravelly strata, which become saturated with the fluid. LAND STEWARD. A person who has the care of a landed estate, and whose duties vary in different countries, according to the mode in which landed property is managed. In Eng- land, where the landlord very commonly under- takes to keep the buildings and fences of his tenants in repair, the duties of the land steward are constant and multifaricus ; while in Scot- land, where the buildings and fenees are kept in repair by the tenant, the duties of the stew- ard are limited to receiving the rents, and see- | 698 LARCH TREE. ing that the covenants of the leases are duly fulfilled. In many parts of the Continent, and particularly in Italy, where the landlord is a partner with his tenant, and shares the produce with him, the duties of the land steward or fat- tore, as he is there called, are much more one- rous than in Britain. See Barurrr. LAND TAX. In England, a branch of the public revenue, which was first raised in its present form in 1692. The rate at which this tax is charged is 4s. in the pound on the annual value. The amount which it yielded to the exchequer in 1837 was 1,192,635/. (Penny Cyclo. vol. xiii. p. 300.) LARCH TREE (Lat. larix; It. and Span. larice). The larch is one of the most valuable exotics which has been introduced into Britain. In the north of Scotland it has been grown to a great extent, cultivated with particular at- tention; and found to be one of the most pro- fitable of all trees to the planter, provided the land be well drained, but it will not succeed in swampy situations. It grows with great rapi- dity, is subject to very few accidents, trans- plants with but little risk, and produces timber of great excellence and value, not only for do- mestic but for naval purposes. In bridges, dock-gates, mill work, and espe- cially in mill axles (where oak only used for- merly to be employed), larch has been sub- stituted with the best effect. The small larch is useful for agricultural implements, gates, upright palings, rails, and hurdles. Boats built of larch have been found sound when the ribs made of oak 40 years old were decayed. A fine frigate of 36 guns, named the Atholl, was launched at Woolwich in 1820, built entirely of larch, the growth of the Atholl plantations. It is also very useful for staves for casks. 1. The common larch fir or white larch (Abies lari). The leaves of all the species are clustered, and deciduous. The cones vary: in the common larch they are ovate, oblong, blunt; and the flowers are pink. In moun- tainous districts in Scotland the Duke of Atholl planted this species in immense quantities, having had nearly 9000 acres in cultivation with the larch alone. We are told by Dr. An- derson that his grace planted 200,000 every year; and in the winter of 1819 and the fol- lowing spring no less than 1,102,367 were planted on 556 acres, at 2000 per Scotch acre. The late Earl of Fife also planted 181,813 in Morayshire. Goodwood, the property of the Duke of Richmond, was probably the first place at which the larch was planted as a forest tree, and even there it was only in small numbers. A few years after, viz. in 1738, it was introduced into Scotland by a Mr. Menzies. About 1740, James, Duke of Atholl, commenced planting larches around Dunkeld House and Atholl House, the two residences of his grace; and great attention having been paid to these nurseries by his grace’s successors, the plan- tations have amazingly increased. A very detailed account of the plantations on the Atholl estates, and experiments on the wood, will be found in the 3d vol. of the Prize Essays of the Highland Society, p. 165, drawn up from pa- pers and documents communicated by his grace’s trustees. Ina communication to the , LARCH TREE. Board of Agriculture in February, 1812 (vol. vii. p. 273), the Duke of Atholl, speaking of the advantages to be derived from a more general culture of the larch, says, “ The lower range of the Grampian Hills, which extend to Dunkeld, are in altitude from 1000 to 1200 feet above the level of the sea; they are in general barren, and are composed of mountain schist, slate, and iron-stone. Up to the highest tops of these, larch grow luxuriantly, where the Scetch fir, formerly considered the hardiest tree of the north, cannot rear its head. In consi- derable tracts, where fragments of shivered rocks are strewed so thick that vegetation scarcely meets the eye, the larch puts out as strong and vigorous shoots as are to be found in the valleys below, or in the most sheltered situation.” And it further appears from a re- port of that nobleman to the Horticultural So- ciety (Trans. vol. iv. p. 416), that in situations 1500 to 1600 feet above the level of the sea, he has felled trees 80 years old that have each yielded six loads of the finest timber. The growth of larch is not, however, confined to Scotland; but much land has been planted in the northern counties of England. The Society in London for the Encouragement of Arts and Manufactures, so long ago as 1783, offered pre- miumis for the planting of larch. A gold me- dal was offered to those who should plant within any one year 5000 larches from two to four years old at a distance of 5 feet asunder ; and a silver medal to any one who should plant 3000 larches at the same distance. This premium only contemplated making planta- tions solely of the larch. The first claimant for the premium was the Bishop of Llandaff, who had by that time planted 48,500 larches on 18 acres of the high grounds near Amble- side in Westmoreland, at a distance of 4 feet from one another. Immense numbers con- tinued to be planted annually up to the year 1805, from which year to 1816, no candidates appeared to claim the premium, in consequence of the severe blight which affected the larch trees in England for some years; and which preventing the formation of the cones, deprived the growers of larch plants of the usual supply of seed. There is no account given of the height at which these Jarches were planted. Had they been placed at a considerable elevation above the level of the sea, they would have probably escaped the contagion of the blight. In the account of the Dunkeld larch plantations, the late Duke of Atholl conceived that he had in- troduced three great improvements in the planting of the larch, when it was to be raised for useful timber. These improvements were the planting it at a high elevation on the mountain side, in a region in which no other kind of timber tree would grow to perfection in this country; the inserting the tree in the soil at an early age, not exceeding two years old in the seed-bed; and the notching the small plants into the ground by a peculiar instrument at wide intervals, not nearer than 53 feet to each other; for, if planted close, they exhaust the soil, and prevent its being nourished by the annual deposition of spines, on account of the closeness of the trees. LARCH TREE. In 1820 the gold medal was awarded to the Duke of Devonshire for planting 1,981,065 forest trees, 980,128 of which were Jarch. Be- sides these instances of the planting the larch alone, there are many others in England in which they were planted along with other trees; but as they would probably be so planted mere- ly as nurses to the hard timber, such planta- tions cannot be considered as interesting ex- periments, in regard to the value of the larch as timber. From the foregoing details, how- ever, we find that, mainly under the auspices of the Society for the encouragement of Arts and Manufactures, 1,407,036 larches were planted in England in 37 years. It is singu- lar that so much elevated barren land in the counties of Hants, Sussex, and Kent should be suffered to remain unplanted with this and other timber, which would find a ready sale in the neighbouring government yards. Plantations that are formed exclusively of larch destroy the heath and all other vegeta- bles; but after a few years a fine grass springs up which is so valuable for grazing, that it has been let from 10s. to 5/. per acre for this pur- pose, which, previously to its being planted, would not bring as many pence. Three varieties of the common larch are mentioned by botanical writers; one remark- able for the young cones being pale green in- stead of crimson, and erect, not drooping. A second has a weeping habit, with pendulous branches, but is distinct in botanic characters from the black larch (Laryx pendula) of North America; both these varieties are natives of the Tyrol. The third sort is of a slow, stunted growth, and an inelegant appearance, leafing early, and very subject to injury from spring frosts. The bark is cinereous, not yellowish brown. It was raised by the Duke of Atholl from seed, procured at Archangel in 1806. Both in its appearance as a tree, and its value as timber, this Russian larch is much inferior to the common larch. From the boiled inner bark, mixed with rye flour, and afterwards buried a few hours in the snow, the hardy Si- berian hunters prepare a sort of leaven, with which they supply the place of common ieaven when the latter is destroyed, as it frequently is by the intense cold to which hunters are sub- ject in the pursuit of game. The bark of the larch is nearly as valuable to the tanner as oak bark; this valuable property was first dis- covered by Mr. T. White in 1812. (Com. to Board of Agr. vol. vii. p. 278.) The larch also produces the substance called Venice turpentine, which is of considerable use in medicine, and flows in abundance when the lower part of the trunk of old trees is wounded or tapped between the months of March and September. When fo- rests of larch in Russia take fire, which some- times happens, a gum issues from the medul- lary part of the trunks, during the combustion, which is called Orenburgh gum. A saccharine matter, also, resembling manna, and called |manna of Briangon, exudes from the larch in | June; and another sort of manna is exuded | from its leaves in the form of a white, floccu- lent substance, which finally becomes con- /ereted into small lumps. From the inner rind | or bark of the larch the Russians manufacture 699 LARCH, AMERICAN. fine white gloves, not inferior to those made of the most delicate chamois, while they are stronger, cooler, and more pleasant for wear- ing in the summer. The larch is propagated by seed, which is generally ripe in September and December, when the cones may be collected and carefully dried, and put away till April, which is con- sidered the best time for sowing. The most proper season for felling the larch is July. 2. The red larch fir (4. microcarpa). In this species the cones are oblong, small, thin; scales erect, close pressed, the upper ones much smaller than the lower. It is a grace- ful tree, with much of the habit of the common larch, from which, however, its very small cones, of a bright purple, readily distinguish it. It is anative of North America. This is by no means so well adapted to the planter’s purposes as the common larch. According to the Duke of Atholl, trees when 50 years old do not contain one-third as many cubic feet as the common larch. The wood is so heavy that it will scarcely swim in water. 3. The black larch fir (4. pendula). Cones oblong, with numerous spreading scales, which gradually diminish from the base to the apex of the cones. Branches weak and drooping. The leading shoot will often begin to droop at the height of 15 or 20 feet from the ground, and after gradually acquiring a horizontal direction, will bend towards the earth, so as to form a natural arch of great beauty. This species is also a native of North America, where it is found growing on a rich clay soil, mixed with sand, in cold, mountainous districts. When cultivated in Britain it is an elegant tree, hav- ing a good deal of resemblance to the common larch, but being of a brighter green colour, and much more graceful. The wood is less valu- able than the common larch. There is a report (Trans. High. Soc. vol. v. p- 391), by Mr. Lawson on larches raised by him from seed imported from the Tyrol, which being the native country of the larch, is sup- posed to mature the most perfect seed. The larch is affected with many diseases in Britain. Some of these have been supposed to arise from a constitutional weakness engen- dered in the tree from the seed not having been perfectly ripened. ‘The reader’s attention may be drawn to several valuable treatises on the diseases of the larch, distributed through the volumes of the Trans. of the High. Soc. of Scot- land, &e. In the Quart. Journ. of Agr. there are also some able papers, “On the probable Cause of the Diseases of the Larch in Great Britain,” by the late M. Decandolle (vol. v. p. 403) ; “On the Diseases of the Larch in the South of Scotland,” by Mr. Webster (Ibid. p. 535); “On the Rot in Larch,” by Mr. Gorrie (Ibid. p. 537); and some remarks on the foregoing papers (Ibid. p. 574); “On the Canker in Larch,” by Mr. Drummond, vol. ii. p. 221. (Penny Cyclo. vol. 1.; Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. iii. p. 794; Brit. Husb. vol. iii.) See Canxrr, Fins, and Pines. LARCH, AMERICAN. see Hackmarackx. LARD: The melted fat of the hogywhich is much used for domestic purposes and in cook- ery, for = ie pomatums, and other pur- ri] LARD OIL. poses. Pure lard has little or no taste, and no odour; its melting point is about 97° Fahren- heit. When long exposed to the air it attracts oxygen, and becomes rancid; whilst a portion of carbonic acid is evolved. Lard is a com- pound of a solid, firm fat, stearine, and a semi- fluid substance termed elaine, in the proportion of 38 of the former to 62 of the latter. Most fats and oils, whether of animal or vegetable origin, are composed of these two ingredients, upon the relative proportion of which their consistence respectively depends. They may be obtained separate by the action of boiling alcohol, which on cooling deposits the stearine, and yields the elaine upon evapo- ration. Another method is to compress fat, or oil congealed by cold, within the folds of bibu- lous paper. The elaine is absorbed by the paper, and may be separated by compression under water; the stearine remains. Elaine resembles oil in appearance, is co- lourless when pure, congeals at 20° Fahren- heit, may be evaporated unchanged in vacuo, has little odour and a sweetish taste, is insolu- ble in water, but soluble in boiling alcohol, and consists of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. Stearine is white, concrete, fusible at 111° Fahrenheit, volatilizable unchanged in vacuo, partly volatilized and partly decomposed when heated in a retort, insipid, inodorous, slightly soluble in alcohol, insoluble in water, and com- posed, like the former principle, of carbon, hy- drogen, and oxygen. Exposed to the air, lard absorbs oxygen and becomes rancid. It should therefore be kept in well-closed vessels, or procured fresh when wanted for use. In the rancid state it is irri- tating to the skin, and sometimes exercises an injurious reaction on substances mixed with it, Lard should never be used when it becomes rancid. See Far and Avrprs. LARD OIL. In the United States, where swine are raised so abundantly, oil is now very extensively separated from lard. Its close connection with the question of disposing of the agricultural products of the Union, and especially of the Western States, forms a rea- son for giving it an extended consideration. Several large factories for the manufacture of this oil have been some time in operation in Cincinnati, and thousands of gallons are daily prepared for home consumption and exporta- tion. It is also carried on at Cleveland, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; Burlington, Iowa; Hanni- bal, Missouri; and other places both in the Western and the Atlantic States. It is considered much superior to olive or sperm oil for machinery and for the manufac- ture of woollens, &c. It can be furnished also at half the price, and therefore it will doubtless supersede that article of import. As it con- tains less stearine than other oils, it is found much better for combing wool, for which pur- pose a single factory wished to contract for 10,000 gallons from one establishment. It is also undergoing trial in England; and, if it succeeds, of which there can scarcely be a doubt, large orders for it may be expected, or at least the American lard itself, which pays a less duty, will find a ready market. Repeated experiments have shown that for LARD OIL. the purpose of combustion, no oil is superior. It is important, in trying it with this view, to obtain a good article, manufactured from good lard, and not from the dark-burned, which creates smoke and clogs the flame. For want of sufficient care in this respect, some have no doubt met with disappointment in their attempts to substitute this oil for sperm oil in their lamps. The following are given as the relative con- stituents of lard oil and sperm oil, in 100 parts of either:— Carbon. Hydrogen. Oxygen. Lard oil 79:03 11-422 9°548 Sperm oil 79°05 116 89 It will thus be seen that the difference in carbon is only 3:00; about the same in hydro- gen; while in oxygenit is about 4:10 in favour of the lard oil. The large quantity of carbon proves that it may be relied on asa material for giving light, as it is well known that whenever carbon predominates in an animal oil, the ar- ticle is capable of a high degree of luminous power. Experiments have been made which have shown results in favour of lard oil, About 60 Ibs. in 100 of good lard, in tallow only 28 is oil; and the processes of manufacture resorted to show that it may be made a profita- ble business. Large orders have already been executed at the West for this oil, to be used in the Eastern States. The heat of lard oil for the blow-pipe has been found to be much greater than that of sperm. Lard itself melts at 82° to 97° of Fahrenheit; its specific gravity at 60° is 0.9388. Lard crystallizes in small globules; sperm in flakes or scales. It is soluble in boiling alcohol. The proportion is 80 gallons of lard to 1 of alcohol. The appli- cation of stearine for candles promises greatly to reduce the price of that article, so that can- dles equal to spermaceti may eventually be reduced to 124 cents per pound. As the capillary attraction of the lard oil is not so great as that of sperm, it is recommend- ed that the form of the lamp should be such as to bring the bulk of the oil as near to the point of combustion as possible. It is also recommended that the tube should be filed thinner at the top where the wick is inserted, to prevent the escape of heat. Various lamps have been constructed for burning lard as well as lard oil, which have been found to answer very well, The burning of this oil has been introduced with entire success intogthe light-houses on Lake Erie, An objection has been made against lard oil, that it is not capable of being preserved in a liquid state in cold wea- ther; but by a process similar to that by which the winter sperm is prepared, lard oil can be made which will not chill at 30° of Fahrenheit. The importance of this application of lard can scarcely yet be realized. Vast quantities of the oil can be manufactured at the West. Indeed, there is hardly any assignable limit to the power of production of the article, so that, while the demand continues, the business may be conducted profitably. The immense herds of swine which can be suffered to range over the lands adapted to them, and gather their food from mast as well as the surplus of corn, wheal, potatoes, &c., on which they may be LARVA. sustained, admit of the manufacture being car- ried on to almost any extent. The proportion of lard to the whole hog is about 60 percent. after taking out the hams and shoulders, or taking out the hams only; the estimate for hogs of the best breeds, and so fed as to produce the greatest quantity of fat, is 70 per cent. As the object is not in this case to make pork for food, the objection against those species of nuts, and other modes of feeding which render the animal more gross and oily, is obviated; and it has been proposed to feed out oil-cake to swine, to increase the proportion of oil. By a new process of steaming, a very sim- ple method described by Mr. Stafford, it ap- pears that the whole of the lard or oily matter in the hog, or of tallow in cattie, may be ob- tained; while the danger of burning (common in other modes) is avoided, the consumption of fuel lessened, and the degree of pressure required not so great as otherwise. It will be recollected that, while conducting the manu- facture of lard, the other parts of the animal, as the hams and shoulders, may be turned to profit, Besides these, also, the hides may be tanned by a cheap process: and the bones, which are worth half a cent per pound, may be calcined and made into animal carbon, for which they are said to be worth, in this cal- cined state, 24 cents per pound, (Ellsworth’s Report.) LARKSPUR (Delphiniwm, from delphin, a dol- phin, in reference to the supposed resemblance in the nectary of the plant to the imaginary figures of the dolphin). All the species of larkspur are showy, and valuable as border flowers, especially D. ajacis and D. consolida, both of which are pniversally grown among the border annuals. The herbaceous and pe- rennial kinds are increased by divisions or seeds, and the annual and biennial kinds mere- ly require sowing in the open border, where they will flower and seed freely. The field larkspur (D. consolida), grows wild in sandy or chalky corn-fields in England, and is regarded as asimple astringent. In gardens this species is called the branching larkspur, and attains the height of 3 or 4 feet, blowing vivid blue flowers. D, Grandiflorum is a hardy and beautiful pe- rennial, blowing dark blue flowers in July and August. It loves adry soil, and open situation. The bee larkspur is a beautiful perennial, blowing bright blue flowers in July and Au- gust. Sheep and goats eat the wild larkspur, horses do not relish it, while cows and swine totally refuse it. Bees are remarkably attach- ed to its flowers, which are likewise gathered by the country people of Germany, cut small and mixed with tobacco, to improve its flavour. LARVA (Lat.a mask). A term applied to that state, in which an insect exists, immedi- ately after its exclusion from the egg, and which precedes the pupa state. The animals commonly called grubs, maggots, and caterpillars, are larve. Grub appears to be a general term analogous to larva; the term maggot is most generally applied to the larva state of dipterous insects ; and caterpillar, in the most common acceptation of the term, is used to de- 3N 2 701 LAST. signate the larva state of lepidopterous insects. These terms, however, are used in a very vague manner. (Penny Cyclo. vol. xiii. p. 338.) LAST. An uncertain quantity, varying in different countries, and with respect to various articles. The following quantities of different commodities generally make a last:—12 dozen of hides or skins; 12 barrels of meal; 103 qrs. of cole seed; 10 qrs. of corn or rape seed (in some parts of England 21 qrs. of corn go to a lasts); 12 sacks of wool, 1700 lbs. of feathers or flax. (M‘Culloch’s Com, Dict.) LATHYRUS (from la, augmentative, and thouros, any thing exciting, in allusion to the medicinal qualities of the seeds). This genus belongs to the natural order Leguminex. It consists for the most part of very handsome plants when in flower, well adapted for arbours or shrubberies, where they must be supplied with branches to support them, as they climb by means of tendrils terminating the footstalk, and sometimes without tendrils. Any common soil suits them; they are increased by seeds, and some of the perennial kinds by dividing the roots. The yellow vetchling (LZ. aphaca) is an an- nual, flowering in June. The plantis glaucous, without any true Jeaves or leaflets, except near the root. The flowers are solitary on long stalks, small, drooping, lemon-coloured. The pod is an inch in length, nearly cylindrical, smooth, and containing six seeds, which pro- duce intense headache if eaten in any quantity, while the roots of L. tuberosus are said to be wholesome food. (Pazton’s Bot. Dict.) See Vercuirne. Crimson vetch (Z. nissolia) is also an annual, flowering in May. It is destitute of tendrils, it has a grass-like form, and bears beautiful crimson flowers, variegated with purple and white. The pod is long and the seeds nume- rous. There are five other species of lathyrus: namely, L. hirsutus, L. pratensis, L. sylvestris, L. palustris, and L. latifolius, which is the only one of importance as a garden flower. Broad-leaved, everlasting pea (L. latifolius) is a perennial, flowering in July and August. The herb is glaucous, the stem winged, the leaflets broadly elliptical, bluntish, three or five ribbed, and the tendrils in five branches. The stipules are ovate in their upper part, and broader than the stem. The flowers are large, handsome, of a fine rose colour, and in tufts of five or ten. The legume is long, compress- ed, and narrow. It is one of the most showy of the herbaceous species of the pea tribe; and well adapted as an ornament to cottages. Several American species of lathyrus are enumerated by Nuttall, among which are, L. myrtifolius found near Philadelphia. LZ. venosus, with about five pair of leaflets. This grows on the declivities of shady hills, and is com- mon in the Alleghany mountains. L. polymor- plus, with naked quadrangular stems, and four or five pair of leaflets. This is found on the grassy alluvial plains of the Missouri from its confluence to its sources. The flowers are as large as those of the Piswm maritimum, and of a fine purple, variable however in size. (Nuttall’s Genera.) See Eventastine Pra. 702 LAVENDER. LAUREL (from the Celtic word blaur the b is dropped, signifying green, in allusion to the foliage of the plants). This is a very hand- some and interesting genus of plants: among the most interesting and valuable of the hardy kinds, is the bay tree (L. nobilis), which is in- jured hy severe frost. (See Bay Trex.) L. benzoin, L. sassafras, and several others are de- ciduous, and in some:situations attain a great size. They may be increased by layers or cuttings of the roots. The*bark of L. benzoin or spice wood is stimulant and tonic, and in North America it is used in intermittent fevers. In the ZL. fatens, an acrid red or violet juice is particularly abundant. All the species are more or less aromatic and stomachic. The Portugal laurel (Prunus lusitanica), is a beautiful evergreen, which grows from 10 to 15 feet high, blowing handsome spikes of white flowers in June and July. It forms a round head, and is very ornamental upon lawns. The Alexandrian laurel (Ruscus racemosus) is a dwarf evergreen shrub, growing about two feet high, and blowing a yellow flower, suc- ceeded by beautiful red berries. See Kaumra, Currry Lavret, and Spurce Lavnet. LAURESTINE, Lauristinus, or Wild Bay (Viburnum tinus, said to be derived from vieo, to tie; because of the pliability of some of the branches). All the species of viburnwn are very elegant, rather early-flowering shrubs. The hardy kinds are well fitted for planting in ornamental shrubberies. They are increased by layers or by cuttings planted under a glass in a shady situation. The berries are vio- lently purging, but become eatable after fer- mentation, and are made into a sort of cake by theNorth American Indians. See Guretper Rosr. LAURUS (Sassafras, spicewood, &c.). This extensive genus of shrubs and small trees, which afford the cinnamon, the cassia, and the camphor of commerce, is for the most part confined to the tropical and temperate latitudes. One species (LZ. nobilis) is found in Europe; five in Japan; India affords three of the most important species, long celebrated as spices ; in the Canary islands there are two, the tropi- cal regions of America afford no less than 21, amongst the most remarkable of which is L. caustica of Chili, being poisonous, and the L, Persea, called avocado, and alligator-pear, pro- ducing a large and very grateful fruit formed like a pear. i In the Southern States two species are found, one called L. catesbei, and the other L. Caroli- nensis, or Red Bay. This last, which flowers in July, Mr. Nuttall says he has met with as far north as Sussex county, in the state of Dela- ware. The whole plant is aromatic. See Sassarnass, Rep Bay, Camrenor Tree, Srice- woop, &c. LAVA. The substances which flow in a melted state from a voleano. They vary con- siderably in texture and composition. LAVENDER (Lavandula, from lavo, to wash, in allusion to the use formerly made of its dis- tilled water in baths, on account of its fra- grance). The hardy kinds are the only plants of this genus worth cultivating. Common garden lavender (L. vera) is well LAVENDER. known and much esteemed for the fragrance of its flowers, and the volatile oil which they yield by distillation with water. Itis cultivated in great abundance for the London market, at Mitcham in Surrey. A very poor and light gravelly soil is best suited to this plant, being in such more fragrant, longer lived, and more capable of enduring severe weather than ina rich soil. In rich or moist soils it grows luxu- riantly, but is in general destroyed during the winter. The situation cannot be too open. It is propagated by slips and cuttings of the cur- rent year’s shoots, which may be planted in May and June, as well as by cuttings of those which are a year old; these are to be planted in March, Apri!, and early in May. Both slips and cuttings must be from five to seven inches in length, these, after being stripped to half their length of the lower leaves, are to be planted to that depth either in a shady border, or in any compartment, to have the shade of a mat during mid-day until they have taken root, in rows six inches apart each way. Water must be given in moderate quantity every eve- ning until fully established. Having attained sufficient strength, they may be moved to their final stations in September or October, which is the season to be preferred if the soil is not light and dry on which they have been raised; or they may be left until the succeeding spring. If it is grown in consider- able quantity for medicinal purposes, which is the only claim it has to a place in the herbary, it must be planted in rows two feet apart each way, otherwise, only detatched plants are in- serted along the borders. The only after-cul- ture required is the occasional employment of the hoe, the decayed spikes and branches be- ing removed in autumn, and the surface gently stirred with the spade in the spring. 4 The flowers are ready for gathering either to dry or for distillation, in July or the end of June. The flowers are used as excitants and carmi- natives in medicine, in the form of tinctures. The oilis an agreeable perfume, and one or two drops rubbed up with sugar and mixed in water forms a useful draught in nervous head- ache and hysteria. LAVENDER, SEA. See Turtrr. LAWN. A space of ground covered with grass, kept short by mowing, and generally situated in front of a house or mansion, or within the view from such. Lawns, when once established, require only to be kept neat by the ordinary routine of rolling, mowing, and sweep- ing, except keeping the surface perfectly even, by making up small hollows with screened mould early in spring. When lawns become worn out, a top dressing of any finely divided manure will refresh them; malt dust applied in October is excellent for this purpose; and at the same time an additional quantity of grass seed may be sown. LAY. A term applied to land in the state of grass or sward. This kind of ground is fre- quently distinguished into such as has been long in the state of sward, and such as is newly laid down to grass, or into old and new lays. The proper method of managing the latter is of great importance to the farmer, and which Young thought should be by keeping them per- LEAF. fectly free from stock for the following autumn and winter after their being laid down, when, in the spring, they will afford a growth of young grass highly valuable for sheep, with which they should only be wellstocked, and kept down then, and during the following summer. Nothing, in his opinion, being more pernicious than mowing a new lay, as directed by certain authors. They may, he thinks, have succeed- ed in spite of such bad management, but never by it. LAYERING. In gardening, an operation by which the propagation of plants is effected by laying down or bending the shoot, so that a portion of it may be covered with earth. A shoot so operated on is called a layer, and the point which furnishes the layers bears the name of stock. Some plants are so much dis- posed to emit roots that if their branches hap- pen to come in contact with the earth they im- mediately begin to strike. Plants so situated as to render it impossible to bend their branches to the ground, may nevertheless be layered by having their shoots introduced into a pot or box of soil elevated to them, and supported in a convenient position. This is a common practice among the Chinese, who cause branches of trees to root in this manner by partially ringing them, and covering their parts so ringed with a ball of clay, which is kept moist. (Penny Cyclo.) _LEADWORT (Plumbago; from plumbum, lead). A genus of pretty free-flowering plants, growing in any common soil, and increased readily by cuttings. The root of P. europea, it is said, when chewed, will cure the toothache. LEAF (Sax.). The well-known fine mem- braneous part of a tree or plant, which is put forth and unfolded in the spring, and which in some trees falls off in the autumn. “The leafy’ says a writer in the Penny Cyclopedia, “is an expansion of the bark of a plant, from whose axil a leaf-bud is developed: but this opinion is hypothetical. The leaf is usually thin, and traversed with one or more veins, composed of woody and vascular tissue; sometimes it is fleshy, and occasionally cylindrical, or nearly so.’ The functions of the leaf being at once that of respiration, digestion, and nutrition, its surface is covered with stomata, or breathing pores, which communicate with minute hollow chambers in its interior. It is in the leaf that all the peculiar secretions of a plant are pre- pared out of the under sap which the roots ob- tain from the soil, and which, carried up to the leaves, is exposed to the air, and undergoes the action of the vital chemistry which converts it into the proper juice. It is then returned to the stem, and forms the different secretions of the plant, as resin, starch, sugar, gum, &c. A leaf is either united to the stem by means of a petiole, or stall, or it is sessile—that is to say, seated on the branch without an intermediate stalk; the veins pass through the petiole be- fore they can expand into the broad or green part forming the blade of the leaf. Some leaves are furnished with an appendage, which in grasses is a thin membranous body arising from the base of the lamina, and in palms is a coarse net, formed, it is said, of tissue belong- ing to the veins of the leaves. When leaves 703 LEAF. have but one blade, they are simple, as in the apple; but when there is more than one blade, each seated on a ramification of the petiole, a leaf is called compound. Of these, and of the external form of the leaf, there are endless modifications. Between 200 and 300 are enu- merated by Bischoff. The distinction of leaves made by those who have written on botany are the following: a simple leaf is that which is not divided to the middle. A compound leaf is divided into seve- ral parts, each resembling a simple leaf, as in liquorice, &c. A digitate leaf is a leaf divided into several parts, all of which meet together at the base, asin hemp, black hellebore, &c. A trifoliate leaf is a compound leaf, consisting of three leaflets, as the trefoil, &c. A quinque- foliate leaf is a leaf consisting of five leaflets, as in Hedera quinquefolia. A pinnated leaf isa compound leaf divided into several parts, each of which is called a leaflet, placed along a middle axis, either alternately or by pairs. When the axis is terminated by an odd leaflet, itis said to be unequally pinnated ; and equally pinnated when it is not terminated by an odd leaflet, as in the cassia; when the leaflets are all nearly of the same form and bigness, it is called an uniform pinnated leaf, as in the liquorice; when they are not so, it is said to be difform, as in the agrimony. A winged leaf is a pinnated leaf, with an intervening membrane. A ramose leaf is that which is sull farther divided than the pinnated leaf, as in the osmund royal, female fern, &c. An entire leaf or lobe is that which has no division on its edges, as in the apple-tree, &c. A sinuated leaf is that which is cut about the edges into several long segments, as in common mallows. A serrated leaf is that which is cut about the edges into several acute segments, resembling the teeth of a saw, as in the nettle, &c. A crenate leaf is that which is cut on the edges into several obtuse segments, as in betony, &c. A laciniated or jagged leaf is that which is cut on the edges into several pretty deep portions in an irregular manner, as in the horned poppy, &c. All the experiments which have been made, in order to show how serviceable the leaves of trees and plants are to their well-being, have proved that when the plants have been divested of their leaves, or their leaves have been eaten or cut during their growth, they have been remarkably weakened or destroyed. If the leaves of plants be the means by which their juices are prepared for their support, as has been just stated, it should teach us not to pull or cut off the leaves of trees or plants on any account, while they retain their verdure, and are in health, as they may be greatly injured thereby. Hence, probably, the error of the common practice of feeding down wheat in the winter and spring with sheep, as, by so do- ing. the stalks may in many cases be rendered weak, and the ears shorter, the grains of corn uot being so plump and well nourished as when it is not fed down upon the ground. It is well known, too, that in grass which is often inowed, the blades are rendered fimer in pro- portion to the frequency of mowing; so that, thougn this may be a desirable thing in lawns, 704 LEOPARD’S BANE. &c., where regard is had to the produce, it should certainly be avoided. The leaves of trees or plants, where they can be collected in large quantities, as in parks and woods, may be highly useful in augment- ing the manure heaps of the farm. Mr. Young, in his Calendar, recommends that, in wooded countries, all the leaves that can be had at little expense, should be raked up in October, and carted to the yards and standing folds, for littering and making them into dung: he did it, he said, at 3d. per one- horse cart load. They do not rot easily, but that is, he thinks, no objection to them; they are a sponge to be saturated with urine, and if not touched previously to carting on to the land, will convey to the field much of what might otherwise be lost; and they are extreme- ly useful in aiding the main object of bedding the yards in the autumn and winter season.— See Borany. LEAF-BUDS. Rudiments ofyoung branches, made up of scales imbricated over each other, the outermost being the hardest and thickest, and surrounding a minute axis, which is in direct communication with the woods and cel- lular tissue of the stem. When stimulated by light and heat they extend into branches; or if artificially removed from the plant that bears them, they are capable of multiplying the in- dividual from which they have been taken. In this case, however, the individual is not a pro- geny as from seed, but merely an extension of the parent. LEAFLET. A part of a compound leaf, or a small leaf formed on the petiole of a leaf branching out. LEAGUE. A measure of length, princi- pally used in reckoning distances at sea. The sea league is 3 nautical or geographical miles, or the 1-20th of a degree, and consequently about 3:45 English miles. The common land- league is a well-known itinerary measure on the continent of Europe, chiefly in France. The French, however, have two distinct leagues; the legal posting league, containing 2000 toises, and equal to 2°42 English miles, and a league of 25 to the degree, or equal to about 2°76 English miles. The word is said to have been derived from the Celtic leach, stone; the distances haying been marked by stones in the Roman pro- vinces. See Mire. LEOPARD’S BANE (Doronicum). An or- namental genus, and from the plants flowering early in spring, they are well deserving of cul- tivation; they grow in any garden soil, and may be increased with facility by dividing at the root. The great leopard’s bane (D. pardalianchis), is a perennial, native of Great Britain, grow- ing in mountainous pastures or meadows. The root is creeping, and consists of several knobs connected by long fibres; woody at the crown. The stem is 2 or 3 feet high, hollow, round, leafy, and hairy; branched, and glutinous at the upper part. The leaves are rather soft and downy, heart-shaped, more or less regularly toothed, or wiry. The flowers, which appear in May, are solitary at the ends of the branches; 2 inches wide, of a uniform bright yellow; the LEASE. earliest overtopped by succeeding ones. The roots are aromatic, and used by sportsmen in Alpine countries against giddiness. LEASE (from locatio, letting, or dimissio ; from the French Jaisser, i. e. dimittere, to depart with). “A lease,’ says Woodfall, in his Law of Landlord and Tenant, “is a contract for the possession and profits of lands and tenements on the one side, and a recompense of rent or other income on the other; or it is a convey- ance of lands and tenements to a person for life, or years, or at will, in consideration of a return of rent or other recompense. The party letting the land is called the lessor or landlord, and the party to whom the lease is made the lessee or tenant. The connection between landlord and tenant has gradually improved from that of master amd slave into a state of almost total independence and mutual interest in the soil. “The beneficial effects, both to the landlord and tenant, of leases of a sufficient duration to encourage men of capital and skill to properly cultivate the land need hardly be pointed out. And it will be very desirable to have as few restraining covenants introduced into these as possible. They merely retard and annoy the good farmer, and rarely improve the practice of the unskilful. “Tn the northern part of England, custom and expediency have very generally fixed the duration of the lease at about 20 years. Ex- perience will evince that the time is not always more than enough to allow the possessor of the land to conduct and mature a profitable system of management, and to pay to the owner an adequate rent. All the great operations of the husbandman have a prospective result as re- gards the profit to be derived. The capital ex- pended in such cases is only to be drawn back by periodical returns after the lapse of time. In the providing of extraneous manures, in the adoption of rotations of crops, which, to be effec- tual to the purposes intended, must be extended through many seasons, in the draining of the land, and the like, time is necessary, both to effect the operations, and to recover with a fu- ture profit the capital employed. When, indeed, land is of very rich quality, and at onre pro- ductive, without other outlay than the ordinary expenses of tillage, or when it has the means of fertilization near to it, and abu»dant, as in the vicinity of cities, the duration of the term may be comparatively short. Rt in other and dissimilar cases, this cannot be without a sacri- fice of present income; and a landlord will scarcely fail to experience that if there be not a sufficient period of seeure possession accord- ed to the occupier, the necessary expenditure on the culiivation of the ground will not be hazarded; but more than this, a person of good capital will, like every trader, regard as a benefit the power of carrying on his business undisturbed, and will set a pecuniary value on security and independence.” (Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. i. p. 795.) With regard to a lease in general, and its covenants, see a good paper (Ibid. vol. ii. p. 134). In speaking of rents, the author remarks, “As to the kind of rent to be paid, constant experience proves that the best and most satisfactory is a fixed rent in money. y 89 LEATHER-WOOD. To rents payable in grain, or in meney regu- lated by the prices of grain, there is this ob- vious objection, that the tenant will generally be required to pay the highest rent when he is least able to do so, that is, when prices rise from a deficiency in the produce of the crop.” And when speaking of the lease and its pre- cautionary covenants, he observes, “the great- est error consists in vain precautions and at- tempts to provide against every possible con- tingeney which, from the nature of the trans- action, and the unforeseen events to which it may give rise, it is impossible to do. All that can be done is to make as precise as possible the conditions which experience shows to be necessary. The terms of the contract should be few and simple, and easily understood and complied with. Not only are hurtful cove- nants to be avoided, but such as are unneces- sary, since to increase the number of them too much serves but to perplex the lessee, and give birth to future quarrels, and since all ex- perience on the subject shows that the interests of either party may be sufficiently guarded with- out multiplying too much conditions, penalties, and restrictions.” LEASH. A term applied to game, &c., by sportsmen, and which implies three; as three hares, partridges, é&c. It also signifies a line to hold a dog by. LEATHER (Germ. leder ; Dan. liider). The prepared skins of animals. The principal object of the art of converting skin into leather is to render it strong and tough, durable, and often water-proof, and to prevent its destruction by putrefaction. The skins are first cleansed of hair and cuticle, then impregnated either with vegetable tan and extract, as in the pro- duction of what is called tanned leather. In this process the tannic acid, which is the active principle of the astringent vegetables employed, combines with the gelatin of the skins, and forms an insoluble tannate of gelatin. It is this formation which renders the skins imper- meable to water, and checks the tendency to decomposition which they, in common with all animal matter, possess. Instead of tan, some leather is prepared with alum and other salts, as for tawed leather. ‘These processes are sometimes combined; and tanned leather often undergoes the further operation of ewrrying, or impregnation with oil. As instances of these different results,—thick sole-leather is tanned ; white kid for gloves is tawed; the upper-leather for boots and shoes is tanned and curried; and fine Turkey leather is tawed and afterwards slightly tanned. Morocco leather, as it is called, is chicfly prepared from sheep-skins. Shammoy leather is generally sheep or doe-sixin, prepared by dressing, lining, &c., and dyed, if necessary, and then finished in oil. Russia leather acquires its peculiar odour from birch tan. There is an excellent abstract of the ma- nufacture of different kinds of leather in Ure’s Dictionary of Arts, §c., which those who wish to pursue the subject further may consult. The leather manufacture of Great Britain is of very great importance, being inferior, in point of value and extent, only to those of cotton, wool, and iron. LEATHER-WOOD (Dirca palustris). This 708 LEAVEN. is a low shrub, and native of the United States, growing in moist, shady places, seldom rising more than four feet high, spreading into a head, with many small and very flexible branches. The flowers are produced at the extreme ends of the former years’ shoots; they are of an herbaceous colour, and make a tolerable ap- pearance. The flowers, which appear the lat- ter end of March, before any perfect leaves, are of a yellow colour. The bark is uncommonly tough, yet the enclosed wood is very brittle. It was highly valued by the native Indians, and used in the place of cords. This plant, accord- ing to the information of Mr. W. Bartram, occupies an extensive range of territory, from Canada to Georgia. (Willich’s Dom. Ency.) LEAVEN (Lat. levare, to raise). A piece of sour dough, used to ferment and render light dough or paste. It is a very imperfect substi- tute for yeast ; and as it communicates to the bread an astringent taste, which few persons relish, it ought to be used only where yeast cannot be procured. As, however, the latter ferment cannot always be obtained, especially during winter, I shall state the most simple methods of preparing, as well as of preserving it, under the article Yeast. By the law of Moses, leaven was strictly forbidden during the passover; and the Jews, who were taught to regard it from the vigil of the feast as unclean, with religious secrupulo- sity purified their houses from the contaminat- sng influence. See Breap. LEEK (Allium porrum). The leek is a hardy biennial; for, although it attains perfection in size and for culinary purposes the first year, it does not run to seed until the second, the per- fecting of which it also often survives. ‘The whole plant is eaten, being employed in soups, &c., and is by some persons boiled and eaten with meat. There are four varieties: the Mus- selburgh, and the large London leek, which are by far the best; the Scotch or flag, which is larger and hardier; and the Flanders. It is raised solely from seed, which must be sown first in the end of February, a small crop for transplanting in June and July, as well as in part to remain where sown ; again for the main crop in the course of March or early in April; and, lastly, towards the close of April or begin- ning of May, for late transplanting. These sowings are in general performed broadcast, and raked in; though some gardeners employ drills, the plants to remain after thinning: the leek, however, is so much benefited by trans- planting as obviously to point out the error of this practice. When the plants are three or four inches in height, in eight or ten weeks after sowing, they must be weeded, hoed, and thinned, where growing too close, to two or three inches apart; water also being given, in dry weather, will, with the above treatment, strengthen and forward them for transplanting in another month, or when six or eight inches high. They must be taken away regularly from the seed-bed, the ground being well wa- tered previously, if not soft and easily yielding. When thinned out, they may be left to remain in the seed-bed six inches asunder, as they do not grow so large as the transplanted ones, which must be set by the dibble in rows ten 706 LEGUMINOUS PLANTS. inches apart, and eight in the lines, being in- serted nearly down to the leaves, that the neck, by being covered with the earth, may be blanched. Water in abundance must be given at the time of planting, and the long weak leaves shortened, but the roots left as unin- jured as possible. The bed should be hoed over occasionally, as well to kill the weeds as to loosen the soil. By this treatment, and by cutting off the tops of the leaves about once a month, as new ones are produced, the neck swells to a much larger size. The several sowings above directed will yield a supply from August until the following May, when they advance to seed. A portion should be always taken up and laid in sand previous to the ground being locked up by continued frost, but they will not keep many days in this situa- tion. ‘To obtain seed, some of the finest roots of the previous year’s growth, which have been left where raised, may be transplanted thence in February or the early part of March, eight inches asunder, in a row beneath a warm fence; and when seed-stems arise, they must be at- tached to stakes for support, or to the fencing: the closer and sooner they are drawn to this latter, the better will it enable the seed to ripen; for in cold summers, particularly in open ex- posures, it never comes to maturity, and by the firstsharp autumnal frost it is entirely destroyed. Good varieties never flower before May or June, and ripen their seed in September. The heads should be cut when changed to a brown- ish colour, with a foot in length of the stalk left attached, for the convenience of tying in bundles, three or four together, to dry: when they are perfectly dry, they may be hung up and kept in the head until wanted, or imme- diately thrashed out and stored. As the husk is very tough, it is usual, when small quantities have to be operated upon, to rub them against a tile, which breaks it more easily than any other mode that can be adopted. (G. W, John- son’s Kitchen Garden.) LEES. The dregs or feculencies of liquors, which, after being separated by fermentation, fall to the bottom of the vessels. All the vari- ous kinds of lees, such as those of wine, beer, ale, oil, &c., may be made use of as manures when they can be had in sufficient quantities. LEGS. The extremities that form the sup- port of animals. Of the four legs of a horse, the two before have several parts, each of which has a peculiar name: thus, by the name of fore-leg, we commonly understand that part of the fore-quarters that extends from the hough to the pastern-joint, and which is frequently called the shank. The part that corresponds with it in the hinder quarters is called the instep. In the language of the manege, a horse is said to want the fifth leg when he is tired, and, bearing upon the bridle, lies heavy upon the rider’s hand. LEGUMINOUS PLANTS (from legumen, pulse) are those which bear legumes or pods, such as beans, peas, tares, &c. The Legumi- nose are a very extensive natural order of plants, found in all parts of the world, forming large trees and huge twiners in the tropics; herbaceous plants or small bushes, rarely trees in colder countries. The order contains avery LEICESTER SHEEP. great variety of useful and beautiful species, some of which, like clover, lucern, sainfoin, and vetches, are cultivated for cattle; others, as beans, peas, lentils, and various other kinds of pulse, form part of the food of man. Indigo, logwood, and many more, are well-known dye- ing plants: several acacias produce gum; cer- tain Astragali yield tragacanth; the tamarind and others bear pods whose interior is filled with an agreeable pulp; Cassia acutifolia and other species of cassia yield senna; Glycyrrhiza, the liquorice-root; Ceratonia, the wild locust fruits of Scripture: finally, many are valuable tonics, and some are dangerous narcolics, among which the common Jaburnum is to be named. Leguminous crops, according to the strict agricultural acceptation, include beans, peas, and other pulse. But the class is made to em- brace a much more extensive range of plants, namely, all such as are considered as ameliorat- ing or enriching crops, such as clover, potatoes, turnips, carrots, beets, cabbages, &c. These latter are far less exhausting than the culmife- rous or grain plants, as few of them mature their seeds, and all, on account of their broad leaves, draw more or less nourishment from the atmosphere. They also ameliorate the condition of the soil, by dividing and loosening it with their tap and bulbous roots. As they generally receive manure and drill culture, they are peculiarly adapted to enrich and pre- pare the soil for the culmiferous crops. LEICESTER SHEEP. See Surrp. LENTICULAR. A botanical term, signify- ing lens or pea-shaped. LENTIL (£rvum Lens, from erw, tilled land in Celtic; some of the species are a pest in cultivated ground, being useless and too prolific weeds). Pl.7,s. An exotic plant of the vetch or tare kind, cultivated in some parts of Eng- land as fodder for cattle. The lentil is an an- nual, growing to the height of about eighteen inches, with stalks and leaves like those of tares, but smaller, and producing pale purple flowers, which are succeeded by small flat pods, containing two or three round, hard, smooth, and flat seeds. There are two sorts of lentil, the white and the yellow; but the latter affords the greater quantity of fodder. The seeds of this plant are generally sown in March or April, in the proportion of one and a half to two bushels per acre. Lentils also furnish good dry fodder for cattle, and particularly for cutting into chaff as trough-meal for sheep and horses. LETTUCE (Lacetuca, from lac, milk, on ac- count of the milky juice which exudes from the plants when broken). There are in Eng- land three indigenous species of lettuce, all biennials. 1. Strong-scented lettuce (ZL. virosa), which grows about hedges, old walls, and the borders of fields on a chalky soil, not uncommon. The whole herb abounds with an acrid, fetid, milky juice, having the smell of opium, but only slightly narcotic, and little likely to produce the consequences attending the use of that drug. This juice springs out suddenly in large drops, on the slightest touch, from the calyx and ten- der leaves, when the plant is in flower, but not at other times; evincing a considerable degree LETTUCE. of irritability in the plant. The root is tap- shaped. Stem solitary, two or three feet high, round, smooth, sparingly leafy, scarcely branch- ed, panicled at the top, a little prickly below. Leaves horizontal, nearly smooth, finely toothed, radical ones numerous, obovate, undivided, de- pressed. Flowers numerous, panicled, light- yellow. 2. Prickly lettuce (Z. scariola). This species is found in waste ground, and dry, stony bor- ders of fields. The whole herb is glaucous, milky, bitter, but less fetid than the preceding. Stem two or three feet high, leafy, panicled. Leaves numerous, vertical, not horizontal, va- riously pinnatifid and toothed; thin midrib fur- nished with a close row of prominent prickles, their base clasping the stem. Flowers small, pale lemon-coloured. 3. Least lettuce (LZ. saligna). This species grows in chalky waste ground, or about salt marshes. The whole plant is very slender. Stem about two feet high, wavy, pale-brown or whitish; somewhat branched, leafy throughout. Leaves glaucous, smooth except the midrib beneath, linear, hastate or pinnatifid, entire, sessile. Flowers in small alternate tufts com- posing long clusters, very small, pale-yellow, open in sunshine only, and soon fading. (Smith’s Eng. Flor. vol. iii. p. 344.) Of the well-known cultivated lettuce (L. sa- iva) there are many varieties, which are di- vided into families, the cos and the cabbage. The first are more grown in summer than win- ter; the second at all seasons, but more usually in winter, on account of their superior hardi- hood. The cos varieties are characterized by being of an upright growth, and, with the ex- ception of the Brighton, require to have their leaves drawn together for blanching; the cab- bage, as growing close to the ground, produces a blanched heart, in the manner of a cabbage, without any assistance. The cilicias are of a nature intermediate between the two. When young, the cabbage varieties are in general sweeter than those of the cos at the same age; but at full growth this is reversed: hence the latter are preferred for salads, and the former for soups. The cabbage varieties succeed better in a hotbed than the cos. The following varieties are recommended for cultivation in England; but as some of them have been found not to succeed well in this country, those enumerated in the article Kircaen Garven had better be depended on for the main crop. CABBAGE VARIETIES. COS VARIETIES. Drumheaded. Brighton. Brown Dutch. Black-seeded green, Tennisball. Early Egyptian. Hardy green, or Capuchin. Green. Prussian. White or Versailles. Prince’s. Silver. Common white. Spotted or leopard. Large white. Green and brown Cilicia. Imperial. Lop. Grand admirable. Large Roman. Lettuces thrive best in a light, rich soil, with a dry substratum. In a poor or tenacious one they never attain any considerable size, but run to seed prematurely. Like most other crops. that soil is to be preferred which is rich rather 707 LETTUCE. from prior cultivation than the immediate ap- plication of manure. It is of advantage to trench it; and if manure is necessarily applied at the time of insertion, it should be in a state of forward decay. For the first and last crops of the year, a warm, sheltered situation is re- quired; but for the midsummer ones, a border that is sheltered during the meridian, but far from being confined or under the shadow of trees, is to be preferred. Lettuce is propagated by seed: that for the first crop should be sown in a frame, on a warm border, or slender hot- bed, at the end of January or early in February; at the close of this last month a larger quantity may be sown in any open situation, and repeat- ed once every three weeks in small proportions until the end of July, for summer and autumn use; to be continued, at similar intervals, until the close of September, for winter and early spring. They may be sown either broadcast or in rows, moderately thin, each variety sepa- rate, lightly covered, and care being taken that the bed is trampled upon as little as possible. It is usual, when the plants are about a month old, or two inches in height, to thin them to three or four inches apart, those removed being pricked out at similar distances. Those from the sowings in January and February, in a similar situation to that in which they were raised; and thence until August in any open situation. Those of the August sowing must be divided into two portions; the largest being selected and planted in an open compartment for late autumn use, and the smaller on a warm border for winter and early spring. When planted out finally, they must be set in rows a foot apart each way, which is abun- dant for the largest variety, and not more than necessary for the smaller. At the time of every removal, whether of picking out or planting, water must be given moderately, and until the plants are rooted. It may be remarked, that transplanted lettuces never attain so fine a growth as those left where sown, nor become so soon fit for use; those which are planted out at once to remain, being better in these respects than those which are pricked out previous to final planting. ‘The difference in their time of becoming fit for use, however, is of advantage, as by these means a more perfect succession is obtained. Those which are planted to with- stand the winter are best planted on the sum- mit or south side of ridges, as this is a great protection from excessive wet, from which they always suffer. In every stage of growth they must be kept free from weeds, well watered, and the earth around them frequently stirred for the extirpation of slugs and snails, which are particularly injurious, and are very preva- lent in moist seasons. When the cos varieties have attained an ad- vanced growth, they require their leaves to be drawn together with a shred of matting, to ren- der the interior blanched, care being taken that it is not performed so tight as to bruise them. Under every favourable circumstance for a vi- gorous growth, the plants, especially of the cos varieties, and during dry seasons, will yet run up to seed before the heartis perfectly blanched: to retard this, it is an effectual practice, at the ume of tying them up, to cut out the centre of 708 LIBER. each with a sharp knife. The plants raised from the September sowing may be divided as directed for those of August; but, in addition, some of the cos varieties may be planted on a warm border, to have the shelter of frames and hand-glasses. To produce seed, some of the finest and most perfect plants of each variety that have sur- vived the winter, or from the forwardest sow- ing of the year, should be selected. The seed from any that have run up prematurely cannot be depended upon. All other plants must be removed from their neighbourhood, themselves being left at least a foot apart; neither is it allowable for two varieties to flower near each other, as only mongrel varieties will be obtained. Each stem is advantageously attached to a stake, as a support in tempestuous weather. It is to be observed, that the branches must be gathered as the seed ripens upon them, and not left until the whole is ready, as some will ripen two or three weeks before others, and conse- quently the first and best seed will be shed and lost. It must be well dried before it is beaten out and stored. Lettuce seed is considered to be best the second year; but when three years old it refuses to vegetate. The juice of the lettuce inspissated is termed lactucarium. It possesses slight narcotic pro- perties, and is useful in coughs. LETTUCE, LAMB’S. See Corn Saran. LEVELLING. In husbandry, implies ren- dering the ground even, and removing of impe- diments to the common operations of tillage. This is generally done by the plough, but sometimes machines are employed for the purpose. LEVER. In mechanics, an inflexible rod or bar, movable upon a fulerwm or prop, and havy- ing forces applied to two or more points. The lever is one of the mechanical powers; and being the simplest of them all, was the first that was attempted to be explained. Examples of the application of the lever are of constant occurrence in the mechanical arts. The crowbar, the handspike, nippers, pincers, &c., are levers of the first kind. The second kind includes the chipping knife, the common door, nutcrackers, the wheelbarrow, &c. To levers of the third kind belong the sheep-shears, the treddle of the turning-lathe, tongs, &c. The bones of animals are generally levers. The socket of the bone is the fulcrum; a strong muscle, attached to it near the socket, is the power; and the weight of the limb, with what- ever resistance is opposed to its motion, is the weight. A very moderate contraction of the muscle thus gives considerable motion to the limb. (Gregory’s Mech. vol. ii.) LEVERET. A young hare, in the first year of its age. LEY, LEA, or LAY. Land in the state of sward or grassy surface. LIBER (Lat. bark). In botany, the interior lining of the bark of exogenous plants. It con- sists of woody tissue in great quantity, and very thick-sided, intermixed with cellular tis- sue. It appears to be formed annually, at the same time as the concentric zones of wood, and is intended by nature to convey downwards the secretions elaborated in the bark and leaves LIBRARIES, FARMERS’. LICHENS. The liber is the principal seat of lactiferous | biting itself where the ointment is applied, un- vessels. LIBRARIES, FARMERS’. Collections of books on agricultural and horticultural sub- jects are now becoming very general through- out the country, through the instrumentality of farmers’ clubs. They cannot fail of being eminently useful to the cause of agriculture, by diffusing among the cultivators of the soil the latest discoveries and improvements in husbandry, as well as the different opinions and theories entertained on matters having re- ference to agriculture and its collateral sciences of chemistry, botany, natural history, geology, meteorology, and vegetable physiology, &c. LICE ON ANIMALS. There is not an animal that does not, under suitable circum- stances, nourish in its hair, wool, feathers, or its skin, some kind of louse; and sometimes more than one kind of these parasites lodge and prey on the same animal. In ordinary cases, they do not produce much mischief, but when they increase so much as to produce the disease called mange (Pityriasis), they become truly formidable. The cause of animals being troubled with lice, may usually be traced to a want of cleanliness. When the dust and sweat accumulated on the hair, and in contact with the skin of the ox or horse, are allowed to re- main undisturbed by the comb or brush; when the stables are kept filthy, unventilated, and unwholesome ; when animals, reduced in au- tumn by want of pasture, or by living in un- healthy ones, are suffered to take their chance for the winter without extra care or attention ; or when a beast loaded with pediculi is turned into the yards or the stables of those exempt from these parasites, it may be expected that they will multiply and infest animals. When we see horses rubbing their tails, biting their manes, and showing other signs of uneasiness and irritation; when cattle are observed to be rubbing their heads against posts or fences, and the hair coming off from the head and neck; or when sheep tear out tufts of wool with their teeth, and bite these places till blood appears, we may expect that lice are present. On most animals, these parasites have some favourite place of resort; on horses, the mane and tail ; on horned cattle, around the nose, base of the horns, and the neck; on sheep, they run over every part; and on swine, they do not seem to be confined to any particular location. Pure air, room for exercise, plenty of food, and above all, cleanliness, are the first things to be attended to in the cure of this evil. Cur- rying, brushing, and washing should be resorted to, as, except in bad cases, this treatment will be usually sufficient to free the animal from these insects, without recourse to other reme- dies. Where these fail, it will be necessary to have recourse to such external or internal applications as shall operate directly on the vermin. One of the most common remedies is the mercurial ointment, commonly called waguen- twm ; but this, though effectual, cannot be used without some danger, as numerous instances have oceurred in which valuable animals have been destroyed by its too free use. Care should be taken to prevent the animal from til it has had time to take effect. A decoction of tobacco leaves, in a strong lye, forms a very good wash; but this, too, owing to the narcotic poison of the tobacco, has caused death. Va- rious vegetable remedies have been resorted to, among which are the seeds of the larkspur (Delphinium staphysagria) ; and the leaves and flowers of the ledwm palustre, or marsh, or La- brador tea. The roots of the black hellebore, or a decoction made from them, have been used with success; and it is said that the water in which the skins or parings of potatoes have been boiled will effectually destroy lice by a few washings. The internal use of sulphur is an excellent remedy, and if given to animals occasionally, is one of the best preventives. It is more difficult to apply remedies for lice to sheep than to any otheranimals. The English shepherds make use of a salve compounded of white arsenic and corrosive sublimate, care- fully parting the wool, and applying the oint- ment in small quantities directly to the skin, and rubbing it down with the finger. Tessier prefers tobacco smoke to this ointment, as at- tended with less danger in its use. The sheep is held in such a manner that tobacco smoke is forced from a bellows among the wool to the skin in all directions. After this fumigation, the sheep must be placed in the open air, that the vapor may have room to pass off without being inhaled by them. Perhaps the best re- medy for lice in animals, where they have not become so numerous as to produce the disease Pityriasis, is to rub any oil, such as whale oil or melted lard, on such places as they most frequent, or on parts of the animal where they will be most likely to come in contact with it. All the pediculi breathe through what are termed spiracles or openings in their bodies, and the least particle of oil spread over their bodies, by causing suffocation, at once effects their destruction. This is also a perfectly harmless remedy. But prevention in this case is better than cure; and neatness, cleanliness, and good keeping, by insuring comfort and health, leaves no opportunity for the attacks of vermin. (Cultivator.) LICE ON PLANTS. See Apuiprans, Amez- rican Brreat, and Insects. LICHENS. Plants of a very low organiza- tion, which grow on the bark of trees or rocks, when they form a kind of incrustation, or upon the ground, when they consist of irregular lobes, parallel with the earth’s surface. Occa- sionally, in all situations, they are found in a branched state; but their subdivisions are ge- nerally irregular, and without order. Their fructification consists of hard nuclei, called shields, which break through the upper surface of the thallus, or main substance of the lichen, are of a peculiar odour and texture, and con- tain the reproductive particles. Lichens abound in the cold and temperate parts of the world. The greater part are of no known use; but some, as the reindeer-moss (Cenomyce rangife- rina), the Iceland moss (Cetraria Islandica), and various species of Gyrophora, are capable of sustaining life, either in animals or man. The Iceland moss, when deprived of its bitterness by soaking in an alkali and then boiling, be- 30 709 LICKS. comes, indeed, a diet recommended to invalids. Others are used as tonic medicines, as Variola- ria faginea and Parmelia parietina, Their prin- cipal use is, however, that of furnishing the dyer with brilliant colours; orchall, cudbear, and perolle, with many more, are thus employed. (Brande’s Dict. of Science.) See Moss. LICKS. A term applied in the United States to places where salt springs escape from the earth and impregnate the soil, and sometimes give rise to an efflorescence of common salt, To such spots the deer, buffalo, and almost all graminivorous animals resort, for the purpose of licking the surface. See Saxt. LID. In botany, the calyx which falls off from the flower in a single piece. LIFE EVERLASTING, See Cunwerp. LIGHT, ITS INFLUENCE ON VEGETA- TION. That light has a considerable influence upon the growth of plants, is an observation that must have been very early made by man- kind. The inferior green colour of plants growing in the shade, as in woods, or when eovered with earth, or inverted vessels, would clearly indicate to the most careless observer, that light at least influenced the colour of ve- getation: every gardener, in truth, takes advan- tage of this fact, when he is blanching his culinary vegetables. But it was not till after the days of Priestley, that the other chemical effects which light produces upon a growing plant were so much better understood. It is probable that this influence commences at a very early period in the life of the plant, with even the germination of the seed. Ingen- houz, says Dr. Thomson, found that seed al- ways germinate faster in the dark than in the light. (Exper. surla Veg. 11.) And these expe- riments were repeated by Sennebier with equal success. (Mem. Physico-Chem, vol. iii. p. 41.) But the Abbé Bertholin, who distinguished himself so much by his labours to demonstrate the effect of electricity on vegetation, objected to the conclusions of these philosophers, and affirmed that the difference in the germination of seeds in the shade and in the light, was owing, not to the light itself, but to the differ- ence in the moisture in the two situations, the moisture evaporating much faster from the seeds in the light than from those in the shade; and he affirmed that when precautions were taken to keep the seeds equally moist, then those in the sun germinated sooner than those in the shade. (Jour. de Physique, 1789.) But when Sennebier repeated his former experiments, and employed every possible precaution to insure equality of moisture in both situations, he constantly found the seeds in the shade germinated sooner than those in the light. We may conclude, therefore, that light is injurious to germination ; and hence one reason for covering seeds with the soil in which they are grown. But from the more recent experiments of Saussure, there is reason to believe that light is only injurious to vegetation in consequence of the heat it produces; for where the direct rays of the sun were intercepted, though light was admitted, the germination of the seeds was mot sensibly retarded. (Rech. Chem. sur la Veg. p. 23; Thom- son's Chem, vol. iv. p. 307.) And with regard to the after-growth of plants, 710 LIGHT, light exercises a very considerable influence. It is now clearly ascertained that plants vege- tating in the light, absorb carbonic acid gas from the atmosphere, and emit oxygen gas; but when vegetating in the dark different ef- fects are produced, for then carbonic acid gas is emitted, and oxygen gas absorbed. (See Gaszs.) This latter process is thus explained by Liebig :—* It is true that the decomposition of carbonic acid is arrested by the absence of light; but then, namely, at night, a true che- mical process commences, in consequence of the action of the oxygen in the air upon the organic substance, composing the leaves, blos- soms, and fruit. This process is not at all connected with the life of the vegetable organ- ism, because it goes on in a dead plant exactly as inaliving one. The substances composing the leaves of different plants being known, it is a matter of the greatest ease and certainty to calculate which of them during life should absorb most oxygen by chemical action where the influence of light is withdrawn. The leaves and green parts of all plants containing vola- tile oils, or volatile constituents in general, which change into resin by the absorption of oxygen, should absorb more than other parts which are free from such substances. Those leaves, also, which contain either the consti- tuents of nutgalls, or compounds in which ni- trogen is present, ought to absorb more oxygen than those which do not contain such matters. The correctness of these inferences has been distinctly proved by the observations of De Saussure; for whilst the tasteless leaves of the Agave Americana absorb only 0°3 of their vo- lume of oxygen in the dark during 24 hours, the leaves of the Pinus abies which contain volatile and resinous oils absorb 10 times, those of the Quercus robur containing tannic acid 14 times, and the balmy leaves of the Populus alba 21 times that quantity. This chemical action is shown very plainly also in the leaves of the Cotyledon calycinum, the Cacalia ficoides, and others; for they are sour like sorrel in the morning, tasteless at noon, and bitter in the evening. The formation of acids is effected during the night by a true process of oxydation; these are deprived of their acid properties during the day and evening, and are changed, by separation of a part of their oxygen, into compounds containing oxygen and hydrogen, eitherin the same proportions as in water oreyen with an excess of hydrogen, which is the com- position of all tasteless and bitter substances. When the green leaves of the poplar, the beech, the oak, or the holly, are dried under the air- pump, with exclusion of light, then moistened with water, and placed under a glass globe filled with oxygen, they are found to absorb that gas in proportion as they change in colour. The chemical nature of this process is thus com- pletely established. The diminution of the gas which occurs can only be owing to the union of a large proportion of oxygen with those sub- stances which are already in the state of oxides, or to the oxydation of the hydrogen in those ve- getable compounds which contain it in excess. The fallen brown or yellow leaves of the oak contain no longer tannin, and those of the poplar no balsamic constituents. (Org. Chem. p. 28.) LIGHT. The action of light upon the growing plant is in every point of view full of interest to the cultivator: “If all the branches of a tree, ex- clusive of one,” said Mr. T. M. Knight (and he was one of the ablest of modern vegetable physiologists), “be much shaded by contigu- ous trees, or other objects, the branch which is exposed to the light attracts to itself a large portion of the ascending sap, which it employs in the formation of leaves and vigorous an- nual shoots, whilst the shaded branches be- come languid and unhealthy. The motion of the ascending current of sap appears, there- fore, to be regulated by the ability to employ it in the trunk and branches of the tree; and this current passes up through the alburnum, from which substamee the buds and leaves spring. But the sap which gives existence to, and feeds the root, descends through the bark, and if the operation of light give ability to the exposed branch to attract and employ the as- cending or alburnous current of sap, it ap- pears not improbable that the operation of proper food and moisture in the soil, upon the bark of the root, may give ability to that organ to attract and employ the descending or cor- tical current of sap.” (Selection of Papers, p. 160.) “M. Decandolle, I believe, first ob- served that the succulent shoots of trees and herbaceous plants, which do not depend upon others for support, are bent towards the point irom which they receive light, by the contrac- tion of the cellular substance of their bark upon that side, and I believe his opinion to be perfectly well founded. The operation of light upon the tendrils and stems of the Ampelopsis and ivy appears to produce diametrically op- posite effects, and to occasion an extension of the cellular bark wherever thatis exposed to its influence; and this circumstance affords, I think, a satisfactory explanation why these plants ap- pear to seek and approach contiguous opaque objects, just as they would do if they were conscious of their own feebleness, and of power in the objects to which they approach, to afford them support and protection. The tendril of the vine is internally similar to that of the ampelopsis, though its external form and mode of attaching itself, by twining round any slen- der body, are very different. Some young plants of this species which had been raised in pots in the preceding year, and had been headed down to a single bud, were placed in a foreing house, and the shoots from these were bound to slender bars of wood, and train- ed perpendicularly upwards. Their tendrils, like those of the ampelopsis, when first emit- ted, pointed upwards, but they gradually form- ed an increasing angle with the stems, and ultimately pointed perpendicularly downwards, no object having presented itself to which they could attach themselves. Other plants of the vine, under similar circumstances, were trained horizontally, when their tendrils gradually de- scended beneath their stems, with which they ultimately stood very nearly at right angles. A third set of plants were trained almost per- pendicularly downwards, but with an inclina- tion of a few degrees towards the north, and the tendrils of these permanently retained very LIGHT. stems; whence it appears that these organs, like the tendrils of the ampelopsis and the claws of the ivy, are to a great extent under the control of light. A few other plants of the same species were trained in each of the pre- ceding methods, but proper objects were placed in different situations near them, with which their tendrils might come into contact,andI was by these means afforded an opportunity of ob- serving with accuracy the difference between the motions of these and those of the ampelop- sis under similar circumstances. The latter al- most immediately receded from light, by what- ever means that were made to operate upon them; and they did not subsequently show any disposition to approach the points from which they once receded. The tendrils of the vine, on the contrary, varied their positions in every period of the day, and afterwards returned again during the night to the situations they had occupied in the preceding morning, and they did not so immediately or so regularly bend towards the shade of contiguous objects. But as the tendrils of this plant, like those of the ampelopsis, spring alternately from each side of the stem, and as one point only in three is without a tendril, and as each tendril sepa- rates into two divisions, they do not often fail to come into contact within their reach, and the effects of contact upon the tendrils are al- most immediately visible. It is made to bend towards the body it touches, and, if that body be slender, to attach itself firmly by twining round it, in obedience to certain causes. The tendril of the vine, in its internal organization, is apparently similar to the young succulent shoot and leaf-stalk of the same plant; and it is abundantly provided with vessels or pas- sages for the sap; and I have proved that it is alike capable of feeding a succulent shoot, or a leaf when grafted upon it. It ap- pears, therefore, I conceive, not improbable that a considerable quantity of the moving fluid of the plant passes through its tendrils, and that there is a close connection between its vascular structure and its motions.” (Ibid. p- 166. “The stems of the potato,” he adds in an- other place, “as of other plants, rise perpen- dicularly under the influence of their unerring guide, gravitation, so long as they continue to be concealed beneath the soil; but as soon as they rise above it they are, to a considerable extent, under the control of another agent, light. Each inclines in whatever direction it receives the greatest quantity of it, and conse- quently each avoids and appears to shun the shade of every contiguous plant; gravitation labouring to give a perpendicular, the other a horizontal direction to the leaves, and the com- parative power of one agent increasing, as that of the other decreases.” (Ibid. p. 300—306.) The opinions of Liebig, as to the chemical changes produced in plants, by the action of light, and its withdrawal, seem confirmed, in some degree, by those of: Davy. “In the changes that take place in the composition of the organized parts,” said that excellent phi- losopher, “it is probable that saccharine com- pounds are principally formed during the ab- nearly their first position relatively to their|sence of light; gum, woody fibre, oils, an? 711 LIGHTNING. resins, during its presence; and the evolution of carbonic acid gas, or its formation during the night, may be necessary to give greater solubility to certain compounds in the plant. (Agric. Chem. p. 223.) And after giving a va- riety of experiments to elucidate the action of vegetation on the atmosphere (see Gaszs, raetn Uses ro VecEerarron), he adds, “These facts confirm the popular opinion, and when the leaves of vegetables perform their healthy functions, they tend to purify the atmosphere in the common variations of weather, and changes from light to darkness. It may occur, however, as an objection to these views, that if the leaves of plants purify the atmosphere towards the end of autumn, and throngh the winter and early spring, the air in our climates must become impure, the oxygen in it dimin- ish, and the carbonic acid gas increase, which is not the case ; but there is a very satisfactory answer to this objection. The different parts of the atmosphere are constantly mixed to- gether by winds which, when they are strong, move at the rate of from 60 to 100 miles in an hour. In our winter, the southwest gales con- vey air which has been purified by the vast forests and Savannas of South America, and which, passing over the ocean, arrives in an uncontaminated state. The storms and tem- pests which often occur at the beginning and towards the middle of our winter, and which generally blow from the same quarter of the globe, have a salutary influence. By constant agitation and motion, the equilibrium of the constituent parts of the atmosphere is pre- served; it is fitted for the purposes of life: and those events which superstition former- ly referred to the wrath of heaven, or the agency of evil spirits, and in which they saw only disorder and confusion, are demonstrated by science to be ministrations of Divine intel- ligence, and connected with the order and har- mony of our system.” (Ibid. p. 230.) LIGHTNING. An electric phenomenon, pro- duced by the passage of electricity between one cloud and another, or between a cloud and the earth. The identity of lightning with electricity, though it had been previously sus- pected, was first directly demonstrated by the celebrated Dr. Franklin, in the year 1749, by the experiment of drawing sparks by the elec- tric kite. Since that time the science of elec- tricity has been greatly advanced; neverthe- less, the cause of some of the appearances connected with lightning is not well explained even at the present day. There are three phenomena in particular for which theory fails satisfactorily to account. The first is the form of the flash, which is almost always zigzag, or in brolren lines, making a greater or smaller angle with each other. The second is the frequent repetition of the flashes from the same cloud, which often follow one another in quick succession, contrary to what takes place in the case of electric conductors, which generally recover their natural state, or discharge the whole of their electricity at a single stroke The third is the length of the flash, which sometimes appears to embrace a large extentof the sky. 'This phenomenon can be best observed from the tops of mountains, 712 LIGNIN. reaching above the clouds from which the light- ning proceeds; and observers in such cases agree in stating that they have seen flashes certainly extending several miles in length. The zigzag form of the flashes is common to lightning and the electric spark: the same explanation should consequently apply to both; but this the theory has not yet been able to give. The theory of the electric fluid, and the well- ascertained differences in the conducting power of different substances, suggested the idea of protecting buildings from the destructive effects of lightning by metallic rods. Such rods are usually made of iron about half an inch in dia- meter. The lower portion should descend into the ground some 3 or 4 feet, and in all cases penetrate to the moist earth. It should be made rather larger than the rest of the rod, and have a slant from the foundation, or outwardly. Some recommend that the lower end should be pointed in the same manner as the upper ex- tremity. The top of the rod should have one or more sharp points. As iron is so liable to rust, by which the points become blunted, it is usual to have these either gilt or tipped with platinum, so as to be preserved from oxida- tion. The tops of the rods may be raised some 4, 6, or 8 feet above the chimneys or highest points of the buildings they are intended to protect. If the buildings be large, there should be more points than one elevated at the diffe- rent parts. Indeed, some persons who have de- voted attention to the subject, say that there should always be several projecting points raised to receive the lightning from different directions. Lightning rods cost but little, as the platinum points can be bought for $1,25, and the conductors may be easily made by any blacksmith. They should have as few joints as possible, and be inspected from time to time to see whether any separation exists, and whe- ther the joint remains in its place. Where, from rust or other causes, any interruption to the course of the electric fluid occurs, a light- ning rod, instead of furnishing protection, is an additional source of danger. LIGHTS, NORTHERN, or AURORA BO- REALIS. A luminous meteor, generally ap- pearing in the northern part of the sky, and presenting a light somewhat resembling the dawn or break of day. The appearances which it exhibits, and the forms it assumes, are so proverbially unsteady, that it is not possible to comprehend them under any general descrip- tion. In the Shetland Isles, and other coun- tries in high latitudes, the northern lights are the constant attendants of clear and frosty evenings in winter. They are most frequent in autumn. A very interesting account of this meteor, and of the works treating on this subject, will be found under the head “Aurora Borea- lis,” in Brande’s Dict. of Science, &e. LIGNEOUS (Lat. lignum, wood). In ento- mology, a part so called when it is composed of a hard, inelastic substance like wood. LIGNIN (Lat. lignum). The woody fibre. This most important proximate principle of vegetables exhibits itself in a variety of forms, constituting the different textures of hard and soft wood, and various fibrous products, such as hemp, flax, cotton, &c. When by fine me- LILAC. chanical division it is reduced to a pulpy state, | it is formed into paper. When by different re- | agents all the soluble matters are extracted | from wood, the insoluble residue is lignin; its ultimate components are carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, the two latter elements being in the same relative proportions as in water; so that woody fibre may be considered as a compound of carbon and water, and, according to Dr. Prout’s experiments, almost exactly in equal weights. Lignin is very unperishable, but under certain circumstances it is attacked by dry rot, arising out of the growth of a parasitic fungus, which causes its rapid decay. Damp timber, in situations where air has not free access, is particularly subject to its attacks; and when once it haS made its appearance, the well-seasoned timber in its neighbourhood be- comes liable to the same disease. The dry rot may be prevented by impregnating the timber with certain saline solutions, and of these, so- lution of corrosive sublimate has been found most effectual; this (the bi-chloride of mer- eury) combines chemically with the albumen of the wood, and the compound is very inde- structible. (See Dry Ror.) Lignin has also a strong attraction for alumina, and hence linen, cotton, paper, and other forms of this fibre, may be aluminized by steeping them in hydrated alumina diffused through water, or more effectively by soaking them in certain aluminous solutions, drying them, and after- wards washing out the excess of the salt. It is in this way that cotton goods are impreg- nated with alumina for the purpose of dyeing and calico printing. Other metallic oxides ex- hibit similar attractive powers, especially the oxide of iron. The analogy that exists between the composition of sugar, gum, starch, and even vinegar and lignin, suggests the possi- bility of the conversion of those substances, by an exchange of their proximate elements, into each other; and it has accordingly been found that by carefully roasting pure and fine saw- dust, it is rendered partially soluble in water, and that a part of it is converted into a nutri- tious substance, probably intermediate between sugar and starch, and which, when mixed with a little flour, yields a palatable bread, not very unlike that made by some of the inhabitants of the northern parts of Europe of the bark of trees. Mixed with sulphuric acid, lignin passes into gum, and from this sugar may be obtained, by boiling it for some hours in a very dilute sulphuric acid; this sugar, when purified, much resembles grape or honey sugar. By this process, rags may be converted into nearly ‘flowers. their own weight of this peculiar saccharine matter. The production of vinegar by the destructive distillation of wood, was originally suggested about the middle of the 17th century, by Glau- ber, a celebrated German chemist of that time; it has lately become a very important branch of manufacture in England. Upon the whole, there are very few natural products equally important with lignin in their applications to the useful and ornamental arts. See Prno- LiGNrEous Acrp, LILAC (Syringa, from syrinz,a pipe. The 90 LILY. branches are long and straight, and are filled with medulla; hence the old name of the lilac, pipe-tree. The English name of the genus is from lilac or lilag, the Persian word for the flower). The species of lilac are well known elegant shrubs. The common lilac (Syringa vulgaris) is a shrub originally from Constantinople, growing to the height of 18 or 20 feet. The elegant lilac-coloured bunches of flowers are very sweet and graceful to the eye. There is also the white lilac, still more delicate-looking, and equally sweet-scented. The most beautiful variety of the common purple lilac is that known by the title of the Scotch lilac. The Chinese lilac (S. chinensis) is a native of China, and less in size than the common lilac; it was first brought to this country in 1795. Blooms violet-coloured flowers in May. The Persian lilac (S. persica) is a native of Persia, and seldom exceeds five or six feet in height, blowing light purplish pink flowers in May. The lilacs love a good garden soil, and may be propagated by layers, shoots, and suckers from the roots. LILY (Lilium, derived from the Celtic word li, signifying whiteness; on account of the beautiful white flowers of the original species). This is a fine ornamental and well-known ge- nus of exotic plants, almost all of which are remarkable for the delicacy and beauty of their Most of the species succeed in a rich, light soil, but the American species should be grown in peat. (Paxton’s Bot. Dict.) Miller, in his Dictionary, mentions 13 spe- cies, with their varieties: but there are now more than 34 known species, besides innume- rable varieties: the finest for garden ornament are as follows :— The superb martagon (L. superbum). A beau- tiful plant, blowing many bright orange flowers spotted with violet. It loves bog soil. Purple martagon, which grows 3 or 4 feet high, blooming reddish or white flowers spot- ted with purple. It blows in July. It is some- times called Turk’s cap. It is a native of Germany. Scarlet martagon (L. chalcedonicum). Native of the Levant, blowing a bright scarlet flower in June and July. It likes a good soil. Turk’s turban (L. pomponium), blows a pretty pendulous red flower in June, in the shape of a turban. In Kamschatka the bulb of this spe- cies is cultivated the same as the potato is in this country. Orange or fire lily (Z. bulbiferum). Large flower, of a deep orange colour, flowering in June and July. The Russians and Tungusians also eat the roots of this species, either boiled in milk or roasted. A German author informs us that these mealy roots might, in times of scarcity, be made into wholesome bread. The roots are cathartic, and the leaves cooling. Tiger lily (L. tigrinuwn). A beautiful showy bulb, blowing an orange flower in June: it loves a sandy soil and open situation. Philadelphian lily (LZ. Philadelphicum). Na tive of North America, blowing a deep orange spotted or scarlet flower in July. This very elegant plant may be known from the other 302 PAF LILY OF THE VALLEY. species by the claws of the petals. The colour of the flower is orange-red. Protect it in win- ter by spreading coal ashes over it. The American or Canadian lily (Z. Cana- dense), has flowers of a yellowish orange. It is a fine plant, growing 2 or 3 feet high, and found in abundance on the marshy shores of the Delaware below Philadelphia. It is peren- nial, and flowers in July. The Superb American lily (LZ. superbum), is a magnificent plant, which, says Dr. Wm. P. C. Barton, may be ranked among the finest vegetable productions of the United States. It frequently attains the height of 6 or 7 feet, supporting a profusion of elegant deep scarlet flowers. It is found on the marshy shores of the Delaware, and in the bogs of New Jersey and other states. A perennial, flowering in July and August. The common white lily (L. candidum), is too well known to need description. It is hardy, and produces a beautiful flower, the fragrant odour of which is so powerful as to induce fainting if numbers of them be kept over night in a close apariment. The bulb roasted is emollient and suppurative. All descriptions of lilies are propagated freely by offsets from the bulbs, which should be taken up when the stem decays, and parted and replanted early in October, 5 to 6 inches deep, in a light, dry soil. The bulbs of martagons must never be trans- planted till after the stem is decayed, as they will not bear being disturbed. Many varieties of lilies are produced from seed, which is treated in the same way as tulip seed. LILY-OF-THE-VALLEY (Convallaria ma- jalis, from the Latin convallis, a valley). This very elegant sweet-scented indigenous peren- nial is not reckoned among the lily tribe. It grows in woods, heaths, and at the foot of hills, flourishing and shedding its fragrance in May and June. The roots are thread-shaped, creep- ing, much entangled. Leaves two, radical, eliptical, 3 or 4 inches long, acute, entire, many-ribbed, smooth-stalked. Tlower-stalk solitary, simple, radical, naked, semi-cylindri- cal, bearing a simple curved cluster of seve- ral pendulous, cup-shaped, white flowers, with rather distant segments. Berry as large asa black currant, scarlet. There are varieties with double or with purple flowers, sometimes seen in gardens; but not easy of cultivation, and far less elegant than the wild kind, which is among the most favourite of our native flowers. This vegetable is eaten by sheep and goats, but refused by cows, horses, and swine. The flowers when dried have a narcotic scent, and if reduced to powder excite sneezing; hence they are sometimes used as a sternutatory. A beautiful green colour may be prepared from the leaves, with the addition of lime. The lily- of-the-valley will grow in any moist, shady situation, and even under the drip of trees, where few other plants would succeed. It is multiplied by dividing the roots in autumn. See Soromon’s Srat. LILY, THE DAY (Hemerocallis, from npéex, a day, and xaars, beauty; alluding to the beauty and duration of the flowers). This is an orna- inental genus of exotic flowering plants of the 714 LILY, THE WHITE WATER. simplest culture, thriving well in any light loamy soil, and readily increased by divisions. The most common species are the yellow day- lily (H. flava), a native of Siberia, blowing yel- low flowers in June, and the fulvous or copper- coloured day-lily (H. fulva), a native of the Levant, blowing fulvous flowers in July and August. LILY, THE WHITE WATER. Candock, or water-socks. (Nymphea, from nymphe, a water-nymph; alluding to the habitation of the plants.) These are beautiful plants, well wor- thy of cultivating in every collection. The stove species should be grown in tubs of water, placed in a warm part of the house, with some rich loamy soil at the bottom. The hardy kinds may be grown in ponds, canals, &ce. They are all increased either by seeds, dividing the roots, or separating the tubers. (Paxton.) The great white water-lily (NV. alba) is a beautiful perennial, native of Great Britain, perhaps the most magnificent of all its native flowers, growing in clear ponds and slow rivers. The root is tuberous, horizontal, sending down numerous long, stout radicles which are fibrous at the extremity; leaves floating, a span wide, oval, heart-shaped, with nearly parallel or close lobes at the base, entire, smooth. Every part of the herb is slightly vascular, perspiring ra- pidly, and, though so succulent, drying very soon. Flowers four or five inches wide, white, with yellow stamens and pistil; the upper sur- face of the calyx leaves white, often tinged with pale red, generally destitute of scent. The stems are superior to oak-galls for dyeing green. The roots are astringent, and a weak infusion is said to be useful in lepra. The roots are used in Ireland and Jura for dyeing a brown colour. The Egyptians eat the roots boiled, and convert the seeds into bread. The Swedes also have used this root in prevailing dearth, as a substitute for corn; though it requires to be previously divested of its bitter taste by fre- quent washings. According to Gleditsch, the roots of this species and of the yellow lily are equally useful in tanning and currying. This plant is eaten by hogs, but disliked by goats, and totally rejected by cows and horses. The white water-lily looks very handsome in sheets of water, or ponds in ornamented grounds, blowing its large flowers in June and July. They have a faint, sweet scent, and ex- pand in sunshine, in the middle of the day only, closing towards evening, when they recline on the surface of the water, or sink beneath it. The same circumstance is recorded of the Egyptian WN. lotus, from the most remote anti- quity. The stimulus of light, which indeed acts evidently on many other blossoms and leaves, expands and raises with peculiar force these splendid white flowers, that the pollen may reach the stigma uninjured; and when that stimulus ceases to act, they close again, droop- ing by their own weight to a certain depth. When the flower-seeds ripen in August, the plant sinks again to the bottom. In transplant- ing the water-lily, the pond must be entered, the stem of the plant felt for, and the roots dug up with a large ball of its mud left round them- place it in an old fish-basket, and remove it speedily, to sink it in the place intended for its LILY, THE YELLOW WATER. removal. As the basket rots, the plant becomes fixed in its new situation. Propagate by throw- ing the ripe seed-vessels into large ditches of standing water, when the young plants appear the following spring. The Great American Water-Lily, one of the most splendid productions of floral nature, is comparatively a rare plant. It is found in a pond about a mile below the city of Philadel- phia, and not far from Gloucester Point, a place much resorted to by naturalists and amateur florists during the season of flowering (August). Some have asserted a belief that the seeds were introduced from Europe; but the fact that a plant precisely similar is found in other parts of the country, and even in ponds along rivers west of the Mississippi (the Kanses and Osage, for example), proves the Cyamus or Nelwmbiwm a native of North America as well as of India, where it is called the Sacred Bean, and conse- crated to religious purposes. “There is not,” Says Professor W. P. C. Barton, “any plant in North America comparable to this for gran- deur, simplicity, and beauty. Truly may it be styled, as I have elsewhere called it, the Queen of American Flowers. YT regret to say that it is not as abundant in our vicinity as it was five years ago. This may be an accidental or tem- porary decrease, owing to a disturbance of the . Site where it grows. The leaves are perfectly round, and centrally peltate. They are from a foot to eighteen inches in diameter, of a rich velvety green above, and very pale underneath. They are supported by petioles from two to three and a half feet in length.” The flowers are pale-yellow, globose, and about three or four inches in diameter, supported above the surface of the water by petioles or a scape, a yard in length, frequently muricate towards the upper part. From this circumstance, together with an accurate examination of a fine Chinese painting of the India species, which differed in nothing from the American plant, except in the rose-coloured flower, Dr. Barton considers the two species as identical. The seeds are a kind of nut, very similar to the chinquepin, of a very pleasant flavour, and eagerly sought after by boys. The Indians in the Far-West resort to them as food. Of the genus Nymphea, the Fragrant Water- Lily is a species native to the United States, a very beautiful aquatic plant, with white flowers, which exhale a delicious fragrance. The leaves and flowers both float on the surface of the water. It is a perennial. LILY, THE YELLOW WATER (Nuphar, from naufar or nyloufar, the Arabic name of Nymphea). This, like the last described, is a genus of very beautiful plants, admirably adapted for growing in ponds, cisterns, or lakes; and they are increased by dividing the roots, or by seeds, which have only to be thrown into the water where they are intended to grow. (Paxton.) In England, the only indigenous species are, 1. The common yellow water-lily, or water-can (NW. lutea), which is met with very frequent in the wild state in rivers and pools. The whole plant is rather smaller than the white water- lily. Footstalks two-edged, flattened on the upper surface; leaves entirely smooth, and LIME. even rounded at the end, and generally at the lobes, which meet and lap over each other. The flowers, which appear in July, are about two inches wide, cupped, all over of a golden yellow, with the scent of brandy or ratafia, whence they are called brandy-botiles in Nor- folk. They perhaps communicate this flavour by infusion to the cooling liquors or sherbets, so much used in the Levant. The seed-vessel, a coated berry, when ripe, bursts irregularly, not dissolving away into a mass of pulp, like the Nymphea. The roots, like those of the white water-lily, are astringent, and contain a quantity of fecula. If moistened with milk, they are said by Linnzus to destroy crickets and cockroaches. Hogs will eat this aquatic plant, but all the other species of live-stock reject it. This aquatic plant is what is so familiarly known in the United States by the name of splatter-dock, a perennial, blooming its yellow globular flowers in July and August, filling ditches, and extending for miles along the shal- low banks of rivers, below high water-mark. 2. The least yellow water-lily (NV. pumila). This is much smaller than the preceding, and flourishes principally in the highland lakes of Scotland. The marsh-trefoil is often called the dwarf water-lily. Of the genus Nuphar, another species (Kal. miana) found in the United States is the Small Water-Lily, with leaves floating like those of the common splatter-dock, but only about one- third the size; yellow flowers, also floating, and about half an inch in diameter. LIMB. The border of a flower; also the branch of a tree. LIME (Germ. leim, glue). This very useful earth is the oxide of a metal called calcium. In England it is obtained by exposing chalk and other kinds of limestone, or carbonates of lime, to a red-heat,—an operation generally conduct- ed in kilns constructed for the purpose: the carbonic acid is thus expelled, and lime, more or less pure, according to the original qua- lity of the limestone, remains. In this state itis usually called quick-lime. The purest quick- lime is obtained from the calcination of white marble. When sprinkled with water it becomes very hot, and crumbles down into a dry pow- der, called slaked lime, or hydrate of lime, owing to the water becoming consolidated and an es- sential part of the lime. When exposed for some weeks to the air, it also falls into powder, in consequence of the absorption of moisture; but a portion of carbonic acid is also absorbed, and the lime partially converted into limestone. The uses of lime are very numerous. Its most important application is in the manufacture of mortar and other cements used in building. It is also very extensively used as a manure to fertilize land. LIME as a manure. There is some reason to infer that lime has been used as a manure from avery remote period. M. P. Cato, in the oldest agricultural treatise which has escaped to us, describes, in his sixteenth and thirty-eighth chapters, with much minuteness, the best means of preparing it. And although, in the early writers on rural affairs, we find but few notices of its use as a fertilizer, yet we may reasonably TW5 LIME. conclude that its employment was nearly as extensive and as early as that of chalk or marl, which were in very primitive times largely and skilfully used for a similar purpose. Pliny attests the use of it by the Roman cultivators as a dressing for the soil in which fruit trees were planted. Of all the earthy manures found in England, lime is certainly the most powerful and rapid in its effects on the soil; and if its use is not so extensive on the clays and peaty lands of many districts of the island as is desirable, this does not arise from the limited powers of this earth, but rather from a variety of other causes, such as its expense, the impurity of the lime employed, and an ignorance of its most econo- mical mode of application. The common varieties of lime used by the English farmers, are procured by calcining either chalk or limestone. Such lime is there- fore rarely, if ever, chemically pure, for it almost always contains a portion of silica (flint), alumina (clay), and some red oxide of iron. These, however, are not often present in sufficient quantities to influence the fertiliz- ing powers of the lime to any material extent, as will be readily seen by the analysis of the limestones and the chalk usually employed by the limeburners. Common limestone is com- posed of Parts, Carbonate of lime - - = 95°05 Water - - - - - 168 Silica - - - = - Senn Alumina - - - - - 1:00 Oxide ofiron - - - - “75 100° The slate-spar limestone contains— Lime = = = = = = 5470 Carbonicacid - - - - 43°30 Silica - - - - = - 055 Oxide ofiron = ae eh | Besigigg Loss - - - - - - 0°65 100: Common chalk is composed of— Lime - - - - - - 565 Carbonic acid = - - - - 43:0 Water - - = 05 100° united with various small proportions of the other earths. There is also a very considera- ble proportion of lime made in the north of England from the magnesian limestone (called by the Yorkshire farmers “hot lime”), all of which differ considerably in composition; that from Sunderland contains, in 100 parts, Parte. Carbonate of lime - - - 56°80 Carbonute of magnesia - - 40°84 Clay, water, &c. - - - 200 Oxide ofiron = - - - 0:36 100- This “hot lime,” which is well known by the farmers in the neighbourhood of Doncaster, and other parts of the north of England, can only be applied in limited quantities, for the calcined magnesia of the limestone remains for a considerable period in its pure caustic form, without absorbing carbonic acid gas 716 LIME. from the atmosphere, and in this state its effect is very pernicious to many kinds of plants. It is only when pure, however, that magnesia is prejudicial to vegetation: by exposure to the atmosphere, it gradually and slowly absorbs carbonic acid gas, becomes carbonate of mag- nesia, and in this state forms a part of many cultivated plants. Some of the most fertile soils of Britain, in fact, contain it in this form, in considerable quantities. Limestone occurs of various colours and shades, as well as of different degrees of hard- ness. In weight the compact varieties are very much alike, being generally a little more than 24 times (2°7) heavier than water. Lime- stone may be distinguished from other varieties of rock, by dropping on it some strong acid, such as the acetic acid (vinegar), sulphuric (oil of vitriol), or muriatic (spirit of salt), upon the addition of either of which bubbles of gas are observed to escape when lime is present, but not otherwise. The action of the fire upon the chalk and the limestones merely deprives them of their water and carbonic acid gas, or fixed air. The farmer must not fall into the very common error of supposing that any thing is added by the fire to the lime; on the contrary, it loses very materially in weight, by being deprived of its carbonic acid gas, burnt or quick-lime losing about 44 per cent. of its original weight, a loss, however, which it gradually recovers by exposure to the atmosphere, which always contains this elastic vapour. One of the most remarkable properties of quick-lime, is its tendency to combine with water. If quick-lime be moistened with a certain quantity of water, it soon becomes heathed, throws off a portion of the water in the form of steam, and falls to a very fine, white powder, which is a hydrate of lime, al- ways containing 24 per cent. water; if, how- ever, more water be added, the same hydrate is formed, but the excess of water agglutinates the powder into lumps or masses which will eventually become hard, and resemble stone. Still more water immediately applied to quick- lime, dissolves it, and forms lime-water. If quick-lime be exposed to the air, it also falls to a coarser powder by absorbing 12 per cent. of water and 24 per cent. of carbonic acid from the air, constituting a mingled carbonate and hydrate of lime. The same change occurs gradually with that which has been slacked by water and is exposed to the air, the carbonic acid of the atmosphere replacing the water of the hydrate. The carbonate of lime, such as exists in chalk, limestone, &c., is scarcely soluble in pure water, but if the latter contain carbonic acid, as rain water usually does when in contact with the soil, the limestone enters into solution. (Booth’s Geology of Delaware.) The lime which I have used, observes Mr. C. W. Johnson, has been principally made from chalk, at an expense of about five pence or six pence per bushel. That which I made from the magnesia limestone was from the neighbourhood of Sunderland. This requires less fuel to convert it into lime than the common limestone. For the ordinary kinds, about one bushel of coals is required for five or six LIME. LIME. bushels of the limestone; and from my own | ly dried in a temperature of 212° gained by ex- experiments, I am inclined to agree in opinion with many of the farmers of the midland coun- ties, that the lime procured from limestone is rather more powerful in its effects on clay soils than that made from chalk. In either case the shape of the kiln, and the steady gradual application of the heat, are very material circumstances to be regarded by those who burn their own lime. The limestone and chalk should be placed in the kiln (which I think is best of an egg shape), in moderately- sized pieces, free from the powdered chalk or stone; and care must be taken to have the earth thoroughly burnt, of which perhaps the best indications are its lightness, and the alte- ration of the colour of the flame issuing from the top of the kilm, which, when the lime is sufficiently made, loses its red tinge. The price of the fuel, and readiness of access to the limestone or chalk, of necessity governs the price of the lime: in some districts of the north it is made by the farmers for not more than one penny to three halfpence per bushel. The chemical uses of lime to vegetation may be conveniently divided into two heads; first, ils direct action upon vegetation; and second- ly, its chemical operation on the matters con- tained in all cultivateable soils. In its direct action, as a food or constituent of plants, its uses are highly important; for hardly a single plant has yet been analyzed, in which the presence of lime has not been de- tected, in combination with an acid. It must be regarded indeed as an essential ingredient in almost all vegetable substances, as a direct food of plants. It is found in the commonly cultivated crops of the farmer, however, in very varying pro- portions: thus the ashes of the oat-plant contain more than five per cent. of lime; in two pounds’ weight of the seeds of wheat are com- monly found about 12 grains of carbonate of lime; in the same quantity of rye, about 13-4 grains; in barley 24:8 grains; 33-75 grains in the oat, and 46:2 in the same weight of rye- straw. It abounds also with magnesia in the wood of trees: the ashes of that of the oak contain about 32 per cent. of the earthy carbo- nates; those from the poplar 27 per cent.; from the hazel 8; of the mulberry 56; and from the hornbeam 26 per cent. The proportion how- ever of lime found in plants varies with the composition of the soil on which they are pro- duced. Thus the ashes of the leaves of the fir (Pinus abies), growing upon a limestone hill, were found to contain 43-5 per cent. of the car- bonates of lime and magnesia, but the ashes from the leaves of another fir growing upon a granite soil yielded only 29 per cent. of the same earthy salts. There are very few soils fit for cultivation from which this earth is en- tirely absent, and its addition is commonly found by the farmer to promote the fertility of most barren lands—the most Sterile heaths, for these are the very lands whose soils contain hardly a trace of lime; in that of Bagshot, for instance, it exists in a very minute proportion. The attraction of lime for the aqueous parti- cles of the atmosphere is considerable. In my own experiments 1000 parts of lime previous- posure for three hours to air saturated with moisture, at a temperature of 60°, 11 parts. Professor Schubler found that the same weight gained in 12 hours 26 parts, in 24 hours 31 parts, in 48 hours 35 parts, when it appeared to have become saturated with moisture, for in 72 hours it had not again increased in weight. Lime therefore is not without its uses even in this respect to vegetation. Lime and chalk differ in their action, and in their value as fer- tilizers in several respects; thus lime dissolves and renders soluble the organic matters of the soil, which chalk does not; its action, too, as a direct food of plants, is more rapid, from the superior readiness with which it mingles with the soil. And again, its carriage is consider- ably lighter, for in the process of lime-burn- ing almost all the water and carbonic acid gas of the chalk are driven off. These amounted in some specimens of Kentish chalk, which I examined, to more than 58 per cent.; so that when the farmer carries 42 tons of recently well-burnt lime, he conveys as much real earth on to his land as is sometimes contained in 100 tons of chalk. The chemical action of the lime on the soil is also very considerable; mixing with the heavy adhesive clays, it renders them more friable, less liable to be injuriously acted upon by the sun, and much more readily permeable by the gases and vapour of the atmosphere. It renders them, the cultivator tells you, “more easily workable.” And, again, the action of lime upon the organic substances always more or less contained in the farmers’ soils is very considerable; and this benefit is not merely confined to the vegetable remains in the land, but it extends with equal energy to the dead and the living animal matters, with which, in a countless variety of forms, the soil is tenanted. There are few substances, in fact, more de- structive to grub-worms, animalcule, &c., than lime; and where these are destroyed by the action of the lime, the soil is, as a natural consequence, enriched by their remains. On soils which abound in sulphate of iron, which is commonly the case with those containing an excess of peat, the action of lime is not only highly beneficial in decomposing or rendering soluble the mass of inert vegetable remains, but the lime decomposes the sulphate of iron, and, uniting with its sulphuric acid, forms the well-known fertilizer, the sulphate of lime or gypsum of commerce. When quick-lime is applied to the soil, it gradually becomes converted, by exposure to the atmosphere, into carbonate of lime (chalk); its action as a solvent ceases, and its presence is now only useful as a direct food or consti- tuent of the farmer’s crops. This, however, affords an opportunity for the beneficial repe- tition of the dressing with lime, so far as its solvent powers are available. But then, as might, for the above reasons, have been antici- pated, the farmer finds that the after-limings never do so much good as the first; and as by each successive application the lime reduces still more and more the quantity of organic matters in the soil, so it follows as a natural consequence that after each succeeding dresi- vaws LIME, ing, the benefit produced becomes less and less, and finally the cultivator informs us that “the land is tired of lime.” This result has been experienced to a very considerable extent in the north of England, where the cheapness of fuel and the abundance of the common lime- stone has, in too many instances, tempted the farmer to add to his land lime in excessive quantities. For such over-limed soils, the only remedy is the addition of organic matters. In such cases, peat will, in moderate quantities, be occasionally found an excellent dressing. The quantity of lime used per acre of neces- sity varies with the soil, and the expense with which itis procured. ‘The heavy clay and peat soils require the largest proportions; the light lands need a much smaller quantity to produce the maximum benefit. Ihave used it at the rate of 25 bushels per acre, mixed with earth, on light soils, and never more than 100 bushels per acre onclays. This is the proportion com- monly used on the heavy soils of the midland counties, and the deep clays of the weald of Kent. In Scotland they apply sometimes as much as 360 bushels per acre, and in Ireland still larger quantities have been successfully employed; and on some of the peat mosses of the north of England, more than 1000 bushels have been used with good effect. The employ- ment of such large proportions, however, can rarely be justified, even when the lime is ob- tainable at a very low rate. I have used lime, and have been present at other liming operations for many years. I have chiefly employed it either as a top-dress- ing, or which, for light soils, I much prefer, mixed with ditch scrapings, old banks or pond youd, at the rate of one bushel of lime to a cubic yard of earth. And then, after thoroughly mix- ing them together, and allowing the mass to remain fora month or six weeks,I have al- ways succeeded in forming a most enriching compost, which, on even the gravelly soils of “Yssex, applied at the rate of 20 to 25 cubic yards per acre, both for wheat, clover, and po- tatoes (to which crop, in general, lime is pre- judicial), has produced the most powerful effects, certainly increasing by one-third the produce of the natural soil. It is only in the state of mixture with earth, or peat, or salt, that I have found lime profitably useful for light, gravelly soils. Yet I have varied the applica- tion in a variety of ways and proportions, but still, for the gravels or sands, the result was never entirely satisfactory. But I have wit- nessed, as a dressing for the black hungry gravels of Spring Park, near Croydon, lime and peat mixed together, at the rate of 1 part of lime and 3 parts of peat, with the most com- plete success. The peat is reduced toa finely- divided state, and rendered partially soluble by the action of the lime, and is a most powerful top-dressing for young clovers. This is ex- plainable (amongst other reasons) by the fact that the peat employed being saturated with a solution of sulphate of iron, the lime converted it into sulphate of lime, which is a constituent or direct food of clover. Equally successful, on light soils, have been my trials of lime, when mixed with common salt; 2 parts of lime, mixed with 1 part of salt in a dry state, and 718 LIME. suffered to remain for three months previous to its being used in adry place. By applying this mixture at the rate of from 40 to 50 bushels per acre, crops of turnips have been grown under my directions fully equal to any produced by 20 cubic yards per acre of farm-yard com- post: and in 1840, the produce of ground thus dressed fully equalled that of some adjoining lands of the same field, which had been ma- nured with the ordinary compost. And an excellent neighbouring farmer, Mr. Foster, of Great Totham, in July, 1840, made an experi- ment with turnips, entirely confirming those I had elsewhere instituted. He applied a mix- ture per acre of 30 bushels of lime with 15 bushels of salt, to 10 acres of a field contain- ing 12 acres. The land previously had a crop of rye, which was fed off with sheep ; and on the 2 acres to which the salt and lime were not applied, the sheep had oil cake given to them, and, moreover, ‘the land was sub-soiled to a depth of 18 to 20 inches. The field previous- ly had a good summer fallow. The lime and salt was spread broadcast after the last plough- ing, and harrowed in before the seed. The turnips were of the variety called green rounds. The land slopes to the south, and its soil is a light, mouldy turnip soil. In examining them in company with Mr. Foster, in the last week in August, he expressed himself abundantly satisfied with the result. The crop of turnips was equally good all over the fieid; if there was a shade of difference, it was in favour of the sub-soiled and cake-fed land; but the ad- vantage, if any, was exceedingly inconsider- able. In the use of this mixture, I have found the moisture of the atmosphere highly advanta- geous in increasing the operation of the lime and salt; an observation, too, which is not confined to the dry, gravelly soils on which my experiments were carried on. Thus, in 1839, on an exhausted, rather heavy turnip loam, 80 bushels per acre of a mixture of salt 1 part, and lime 2 parts, made three months previously, were spread in July, and sown with the white round turnips. The turnip plants came up equally well all over the field; but on the portions where the salt and lime were omitted, they speedily perished; but in every part dressed with the lime and salt, the crop was excellent. In the dry season of 1840, however, another portion of the same field being treated in a similar manner, the effect produced by the lime and salt was not nearly so decisive; the plants were weak, the crop inferior. I have found the lime and salt equally bene- ficial as a dressing for wheat and barley; but a description of those experiments will more properly be found under the head Sanz and Luve ; for when the application is made to the land, the lime and salt have, in fact, entered into new combinations ; the compound applied is no longer a dressing with lime and salt, but with a mixture chiefly composed of chloride of calcium and carbonate of soda, with a por- tion of undecomposed lime and common salt. I have several times mixed lime, in cases where I suspected the presence of grub and the seeds of weeds, with farm-yard compost, LIME. but never successfully. Convinced of the ill effects of the lime being thus mixed, I have long since abandoned the practice. There is, in fact, no beneficial object to be attained by this mode. The natural well-regulated fer- mentation of the dung effects all that the lime can do, and in a better manner; for the lime dissolves, and, to a considerable extent, decom- poses the finer and richer portions of the com- post; and it certainly renders the straw and other coarser portions of the manure drier and more difficult to dissolve in the soil. The practice, therefore, seems worse than useless. In the application of lime to heavy clay land, I have always found that it was best, used either in its simple uncombined state, or after an ultimate mixture of sandy or light cal- careous earths, or peat, or salt. But by no means of applying it (and I have varied my experiments in a variety of ways with con- siderable industry) on the land, could I ever produce superior effects than by applying the lime in its uncombined state, as well burnt and finely divided as possible ; and this I have gene- rally done as a top-dressing (merely harrow- ing it in with the seedy, from considering that by the soluble property .of lime (1 lb. of lime dissolving in 480 Ibs. of water), the rain always conveys it deeper into the soil. And yet, from an experiment recently made at my suggestion by my next neighbour, Mr. Foster, a very excellent farmer of Great To- tham, in Essex, I am inclined to believe that the lime will produce effects nearly equally important when it is ploughed into the soil. This trial was made in December, 1839, on a field of 5 acres, whose soil is a cold, stiff, deep, hungry loam, that had previously borne avery poor crop of turnips, which were fed off with sheep. This field has a declination towards the southwest, and has always pro- duced crops of a very inferior description. In the middle of December, after spreading 80 bushels per acre of lime (made from chalk) from the ecart’s tail, by the shovel, it was im- mediately ploughed in and drilled with the common red wheat. The effect was excellent, every one of the neighbours agreeing that the land never produced such a crop before. And that this was owing to the lime, was evident from the inferior produce on the spots where the lime had not been spread. The exact quantity, however, per acre, Mr. Foster is unable to state, owing to his being prevented in the hurry of harvest from keeping it separate: he estimates it, however, at about 44 quarters per acre, and he is clearly of opinion that this large produce (for his land) arose not so much from the thickness of the crop, as from the largeness of the ears. In the boggy, unreclaimed lands of Spring Park, the effect produced by the direct use of lime, at the rate cf 200 bushels per acre, is ex- cellent. The cost is there 4 pence per bushel, and it is that made from chalk. But on the light, hungry, black gravels of, that farm, as well in fact as upon the clays of that district (and the same remarks apply in general to al- most all light soils and situations), the lime is never productive of such powerful effects as when iixed with the earthy matters from LIME. ditches, ponds, old banks, or headlands. But here let me earnestly impress upon the farmer the necessity and the great advantage of pay- ing much more than common attention to the mixing of the lime with the earth. The lime should not only be of the best and recently burnt description, but should be mixed as thoroughly and as finely as possible with the earth. By this means the heat gene- rated in the mass by the slaking of the lime is considerable, and is productive of several ad- vantages: it kills more completely insects of all kinds—seeds of weeds, and the more stub- born roots of weeds. And the mixed earths are rendered considerably more friable, and capable of a much more even and economical distribution on the farmer’s crops, than by the ordinary careless way of mixing them. On peat soils, and on those abounding in the tough inert remains of the heath plants, lime is best applied in its purest state, unmixed with any other substances to weaken its effect. Its action on such soils is not difficult of ex- planation. It dissolves and renders soluble the organic matters of the soil, and it decom poses the sulphate of iron (or green vitriol) which it often contains. In such lands, too, we rarely find any lime: it furnishes, there- fore, to them a portion of an earth whose pre- sence is absolutely essential to the profitable growth of all the most valuable vegetables. How excellent such an addition is to these soils, even when applied only at the rate of 4 bushels per acre, has been proved by some extensive experiments of the Scotch planter, the growth of whose young woods has been very mate- rially and rapidly promoted by merely placing a handful of lime under each plant. Now we have already seen how copiously this earth is found in the ashes, not only of the fir, but in those of all other timber trees. So unvaried, in- deed, is the presence of the salts of lime in vegetables, that they have been supposed to produce a similar supporting effect to that the same salts of lime yield in the bones of ani- mals. And it is certainly worthy of remark that the phosphate and carbonate of lime, of which the bones of all animals are chiefly composed, are precisely the salts of lime the most universally present in vegetables. Lime must, therefore, be classed amongst those manures which commonly serve to pro- mote the permanent fertility of the land, for un- less it is washed by the moisture of the atmo- sphere, or the fiood waters, it can only be re- moved from the soil by becoming the food for the cultivator’s crops. In poor, peaty soils, no other manure can be compared to it, either for powerful effect, or for rapidity of action; and its usefulness is nearly as great on the stiffest clay land. Whenever, therefore, the permanent improvement of such soils shall be considered with that general and that patient attention which the importance of the object demands, at that period the fertilizing powers of lime will be still more generally appreciated, ana its services be far more extended than at present. The quantity of lime applied per acre of ne- cessity varies with the description of the soil; that which contains most organic matter will, 719 LIME. of necessity, bear a larger proportion than that which is more free from vegetable or animal remains. The quantity usually applied is much too large, and the dressing too often repeated without proper consideration ; and it is not until the land becomes absolutely overcharged with lime, that the farmer begins to have a sus- picion that his land is tzred of it. In Ire- land it is sometimes applied to old pasture Jeys intended for potatoes, at the rate of 400 bushels per acre; and on some of the moors in Derbyshire, 1500 bushels per acre have been found not too large a quantity. In Scotland the quantity usually applied for light land is about 160 bushels per acre; for stiff clay soils from 240 to 360 bushels. On the stiff clays of the Weald of Kent, the quantity usually employed is about 100 bushels per acre, and that is often repeated every 5 years, on the fal- low before wheat. Lime may be as readily produced by burning limestone with peat as with coals; the heat pro- duced is amply sufficient, and the heat more ea- sily managed. According to the views of Professor Daub- ny and M. Prideaux, lime operates beneficially on some soils, by promoting the disengage- ment of potash and other substances, where these exist in the mineral materials, thus con- verting dormant earthy or saline constituents into agents active in the promotion of vegetable growth. The soil of a field exhausted by long- continued cropping, was found to yield double the quantity of potash, after being dressed with lime. The action, therefore, of lime upon the earthy matters of many soils, is exceed- ingly beneficial. The frequent application of lime, however, tends to exhaust such soils, by the rapid reduction of the proportion of their potash, which is not only furnished more copi- ously as a constituent to the growing crops. but by dissolution in the water becomes drained from the land. Although beneficial, from these chemical ef- fects exerted over the soil in setting free and rendering active some of its most fertilizing agents, it is generally admitted that the greatest benefit derived from the use of lime, is from its action upon the vegetable and animal matters with which it is brought into contact, when introduced into the soil. In numerous trials made by Professor J. F. W. Johnston, lime ap- peared to produce very slight benefits upon lands, in which organic (animal and vegetable) matter was deficient. An ordinary liming will rarely amount to 1 per cent. of the entire weight of the soil. It requires about 400 bushels, or 12 or 15 tons of burned lime, per acre, to add 1 per cent. of lime to a soil 12 inches deep, or 2 per cent. when the depth is only 6 inches. The good effects of lime are most decided, when used as a top dress- ing and kept near the surface. A much smaller quantity will answer, when applied immediately upon being slaked with water, as in this state lime is quite soluble, but very slowly so, after it has been exposed to the atmosphere and be- come like chalk. See Cuatx. When after slaking it has become too wet, so as to be ce- mented into lumps, these decompose so slowly, that they may be almost regarded as a dead loss. " The amount of lime taken from the soil by 720 LIME. crops, is far greater than is generally understood. Prof. J. F. W. Johnston states the weight of lime thus carried off in 25 bushels of wheat at 9lbs.; 50 bushels of oats 9lbs.; 38 of barley at 15 lbs.; 2 tons of rye-grass 33 lbs.; 2 tons red clover 126 lbs.; 25 tons of turnips 140 Ibs. ; 9 tons of potatoes 270 lbs. This includes the lime in all its forms, and especially the all im- portant phosphate in the grain. To this great source of exhaustion of the soil, must be added the lime which combines with several acid mat- ters, forming compounds more or less soluble in water, in which state it is drained from the land, or sunk into the earth beyond the reach of plants. Although light soils are most readily ex- hausted of lime, they possess the great advan- tage over heavy clays, of allowing the car- bonic acid in rain water more ready access to the roots of plants, and atmospheric air more ready entrance to all decomposing ma- nures, such as bones, fish, rape-cake, &c. This may afford an explanation of the cause why lime, as well as other fertilizers, frequently fail to show prominent benefits on certain lands. In order to act most favourably, they need the presence of earbonic acid and atmo- spheric air. : There is perhaps no other country so rich- ly endowed with this earth as England, for, to say nothing of its great strata of chalk, how endless are the masses and varieties ot limestones. Let us not therefore neglect, but extend, by every means in our power, the use of the treasures we possess; for by so doing we may not only increase the fertility of lands already (like the more tenacious clays for instance) in some degree productive of food, but we can bring into cultivation, by the judicious employment of this powerful earth, the most sterile peats, the trembling bogs, the most worthless heaths: the infe- tior plants, such as the acid sorrel, are ba- nished by its influence, and the soil which once only held the stagnant water impregna- ted with unwholesome vegetable and mine- ral matters, is: now made to produce the most useful of the cultivator’s crops; and the im- provement, too, is of even national import- ance, for such lands not only furnish addi- tional employment to the labourer, but they now purify an atmosphere which their ex- halations in an unimproved state once cor- rupted. ** Much has been written and said relative to the preservative and destructive effects of lime on organic manures, from which we learn that it operates both ways, according to its chemical state. If employed as quick-lime, and placed in contact with organic matter, its alkaline pro- perties would lead us to infer a decomposing influence, which is confirmed by experience; but the effect is of short duration, and is suc- ceeded by the reverse operation, that of pre- serving such matter from farther decomposi- tion. The truth is, if we could insure a con- tinuance of its caustic state, we might be equally sure of its constant decomposing pow- er, but by this action it generates carbonic acid from the organic matter uniting with it and forming a neutral carbonate, which either acts like other salts in preventing decompo- sition by its presence or catalytic influence, or LIME. being formed and hardened in the interior of | the organized material, protects it from farther decay. For this reason it may be used to pre- vent excessive fermentation in the dung-hill; and to the same properties we may in part ascribe its utility in the soil, viz. that of per- mitting the slow and gradual decay of organic matter in quantities suited to the demands of vegetation. It has been supposed that the chief value of lime as a manure lay in its caustic or destructive effects, but that this po- Sition is untenable is proved by the successful application of marls, and even powdered lime- stone, which are robbed of their caustic quali- ties. Sir H. Davy and others who have writ- ten on the subject of agriculture, refer the utility of lime to itsyeausticity, and state that ‘chalk, marl, or carbonate of lime will only improve the texture of the soil or its relation to absorption; it acts merely as one of the earthy ingredients.’ This view is unquestion- ably incorrect, for it has been known to pro- duce astonishing effects on peaty soils, when applied in the form of carbonate and not caus- tic lime, and powdered limestone as well as marl have been successfully used on ordinary soils. Besides, if ‘the formation of soluble matter from insoluble organic materials’ be the chief effect of lime, this effect should take place immediately, while the lime is in its caustic state; but it appears that it soon becomes carbonated in the soil, or by exposure to the air, and yet its useful effects are more perceptible a considerable time after its appli- cation, and may be perceived for many years. Whence it appears that its action on organic matters in the soil is continued (probably not increased) in the soil after carbonation. “Much of the vagueness in descriptions re- lative to the use of lime has arisen from an imperfect knowledge of the organic constitu- ents of soils, which have lately been partially developed. Authors have divided the organic matter into soluble and insoluble, by the for- mer of which we understand the humic, crenic, and apocrenic acids, and by the latter, humin, humus-coal, and vegetable fibre; and they state that lime is injurious where there is much soluble matter in the soil, as it forms insoluble combinations. The truth is, the humate of lime is partially soluble, the crenate somewhat so, and the bi-crenate very soluble. Now, by admitting these acids as active ingredients in soils, we are at no loss to account for the utility of carbonate of lime, for the weak afli- nity of the carbonic acid is overcome by their superior attraction, and more soluble salts are formed which may then be received into the rootlets of plants. There can be no doubt, however, that caustic lime is of greater benefit where a soil contains humin and vegetable fibre, as it promotes their incipient decomposi- tion. The utility of lime, therefore, is three- fold: first, that of decomposing organic matter, and rendering it a suitable nourishment for plants; secondly, that of combining with orga- nic matter and rendering it capable of being teceiyed into the vessels of vegetable organ- ization for promoting vegetation; and, lastly, that of lengthening the time of decomposition of organic matter, which, therefore, yields nu- | 91 LIME. trition in proportion to the demands of a plant in the progress of its growth. “Tt has been supposed by many to be neces- sary that lime should be caustic, as it is only then soluble, but it should not be forgotten that the carbonate is also soluble in water contain- ing carbonic acid; and farther, it is not neces- sary that either the carbonate or quick-lime alone should be dissolved in order to explain its influence in vegetation, for moisture, the medium of chemical action, is always present in the soil, and assists in its soluble combina- tion with the organic acids. There is, how- ever, another action of lime with reference to the soil itself, which is of importance, viz., that it renders clayey lands looser, and sandy soils more tenacious. The latter of these contrary effects is of a chemical character, and there is little doubt that lime acts like mortar by com- bining the particles of sand together. The former is partly mechanical, the mingling of less cohesive earthy matter with the clay, and partly chemical, in which the lime dissolved by rains is washed into the crevices and cracks of the clay, where, becoming carbonated, it prevents their farther adhesion. To effect these results most powerfully, it is evident that the lime should be employed in a caustic or water-slaked state. According to these views, therefore, it is a matter of less moment on what kind of Jand lime should be spread, as it tends to ameliorate its condition or tex- ture, and is the medium of conveyance of nu- trition to vegetable life. “Nearly all the limestone employed in Dela- ware for spreading on the soil is magnesian, and it is therefore worth investigating how far the magnesia may be injurious. One of the first limestones employed for this purpose in Pennsylvania, from which lime derived much of its reputation as a manure in this section of country, and which has not lost its character to the present time, is nearly of the same com- position with Jeanes’ stone; a very fair proof that such a content of magnesia is not inju- rious under certain circumstances. Sir H. Davy’s view of the subject appears to be cor- rect, that magnesia in a caustic state is inju- rious, but that when carbonated it is beneficial. It was stated that it remains caustic for a long time exposed to the air, and particularly when mingled with lime; therefore, in employing a magnesian limestone, if there is little vegetable matter in the soil it will be apt to injure the crops; but this effect may be obviated by mingling it with fermenting manure, which will rapidly carbonate it. There is another view of the subject which has never been broached, viz., the influence of the organic acids in the soil. If much humic acid be pre- sent, it will form humate of magnesia, soluble in 160 parts of water, while humate of lime requires 2000, so that it will be taken up in greater quantity than lime. But by referring to the quantity required by plants as shown by an analysis of their ashes, we find that oak requires about 53 times as much lime as mag- nesia, and that ashes of straw yield nearly 12 per cent. of carbonate and phosphate of lime, and no magnesia, from which it would seem that the latter is injurious to plants from its Ie 721 LIME. excess where humic acid is abundant. But if the soil contain much humin, and other inso- luble organic matter, its action in a caustic state would be beneficial like that of lime. We have, therefore, in Delaware abundant means of rendering magnesian lime useful, by em- playing it in conjunction with peaty matter, the black soil of marshes, creeks, &c.” (Booth’s Geology of Delaware.) All the grain crops, as well as those of grass, are greatly benefited by judicious applications of lime in some of its various forms. Oats take up a larger proportion than almost any other grain, and hence are observed to be specially benefited by lime. Rye and Indian corn are also greatly benefited by lime, and with regard to wheat, the following strong tes- timony is from Dr. Jackson, the able American chemist and geologist. “I find,” he says, “by chemical examination of several soils, that a very minute quantity of carbonate of lime, viz. from one to two per cent.,is amply sufficient to render them capable of bearing heavy crops of good wheat. I am also satisfied that a soil is incapable of producing wheat of good qua- lity if it does not contain carbonate of lime, for this substance is an essential ingredient of this grain.” It has been computed that every person who consumes | |b. of wheat bread daily, will, in the course of one year, take into his system 3 lbs. 6 oz. 3 drs. and 44 ers. of phosphate of lime. “This circumstance is supposed to explain the reason why this kind of bread is so superior to that made of other grain, as phosphate of lime forms a principal element of human bodies. Itis found in milk, where nature seems to indicate that it is contained for the nourishment of the young animal, from the remarkable fact that, when they are able to take other food, the milk loses its proportion of this substance. Although phosphate of lime is contained in considerable quantities in the adult secretions, it is not known in those of the young, being all taken up for the purposes of nutriment. The shells of eggs are formed of this substance, and Dr. Paris has as- certained the singular fact that, if the legs of a hen be broken, she will lay her eggs without shells until these are repaired, for which thelime is required. Hens will also lay their eggs with- out shells if there is a deficiency of lime in the yard in which they roam. It is a remarkable circumstance, that although the grain contains the phosphate, the straw contains the carbonate of lime. Carbon is, next to water, the principal support of vegetation.” (Cultivator.) Lime-Kiins and Burning.—A lime-kiln is a furnace or rough structure erected for the pur- pose of converting limestone into the lime of commerce, by keeping it for some time ina white heat. The forms of lime-kilns vary; but the best is that of the frustrum of a cone, which per- mits the ignited mass in the upper part to settle down freely as the lower portion is drawn out. In some places the kilns are sunk in the earth, in the form of inverted cones, and lined with brick. It is caleulated that such kilns will burn 150 bushels of lime in 24 hours. When chalk is used, and it is dry, 5 bushels may be burnt with one bushel of coals; but the damp- 722 LIME. ness of the chalk lessens considerably the power of the fuel. Peat is sometimes used in- stead of coals, and some burners prefer it to coal. Whatever the fuel may be, that is the best which prevents the lime from running to- gether in masses. The best test of the lime being sufficiently calcined is its slaking, and falling into complete powder when water is poured on it. Some excellent practical remarks upon lime burning, by Sir G. C. Stewart Monteath, were published some time since. He observes :— “Having been engaged in burning lime for the supply of an extensive district of country for agricultural improvements, and being distant from coal 16 miles, it was desirable to find out the best constructed kiln for burning lime with the smallest quantity of coal, and having been aware, from experiment, that the kilns gene- rally employed in Great Britain for burning lime are of a construction too narrow at bot- tom and too wide at top, many kilns of this construction being not more than 3 or 4 feet wide at bottom, and 18 feet wide at the height of 21 feet, were found to waste the fuel during the process of calcining the lime, or, in other words, did not produce more than two measures of burnt lime shells for one measure of coal; but it is to be understood that, in whatever con- struction of kiln lime is burnt, the fuel required to burn limestone must vary according to the softness, or hardness, or density of the stone, and the quality or strength of the coal used. The same measure of coal in Scotland called chews, when employed, will burn a greater quantity of lime in a given time than the same quantity or weight of small coal, the chews or small pieces of coal admitting the air to circu- late more freely through the kiln. Though this fact should be well known to lime burners, yet they frequently employ small coal in burning lime, from its being procured at a less price, though really at a greater expense, as it re- quires a much larger quantity to produce the same effect, and a longer time to admit of equal quantities of lime being drawn out of the same kiln in a given time. “For a sale of lime for agricultural purposes in a limited district, I have found kilns of small dimensions to be most profitable; the construc- tion of a kiln I have employed for many years was of an oval shape, 5 feet wide at bottom, widening gradually to 6 feet at the height of 18 feet, and continuing at that width to 28 feet high from the bottom. A kiln of this construc- tion has been found to burn lime in much less time, and with a smaller proportion of fuel, than kilns of larger dimensions narrow at bot- tom and wide at top, as heat is well known to ascend more rapidly in a perpendicular than in a sloping direction, from which arises the superiority of a narrow kiln, with sides nearly perpendicular, compared with one with sides that slope rapidly. “These narrow kilns will admit of being drawn out of them every day, if fully employed, more than two-thirds, or nearly three-fourths, of what they contain, of well-burnt lime; and afford fully three of lime shells for one measure of coal, when large circular kilns will not give out more than one-half of their contents every LIME. day, and require nearly one of coal for every | two measures of lime burnt. Ina country sale of lime, the quantity sold every day is liable to, great fluctuations: two or three cart-loads will | sometimes only be required from an establish- ment which, the day before, supplied forty; and | as lime is known to be a commodity, when ex- posed to the action of air, which becomes more bulky and heavy, and in that state does not ad- mit of being carried to a distance without addi- tional labour, it has been an object of import- ance with me to find outa construction of a kiln which will allow of lime being kept for several days without slaking, and at the same time to prevent the fire escaping at the top of the kiln, if the kiln stands 24 hours without being em- ployed, especially during the autumn and win- ter, when the airis cold and the nights long. I now employ kilns of an egg shape, and also oval; the oval-shaped kilns are divided by arches across the kiln, descending 4 feet from the top; the object of the arches across the kiln is to prevent the sides of the kiln falling in or contracting, and also to enable you to form circular openings for feeding in the stone and coal at the mouth of the kiln; upon this plan, a kiln of any length might be construct- ed with numerous round mouths. In the model of the kiln sent to the Highland Society, Book- er’s conical cover may be seen revolving upon an iron ring placed upon the circular mouth, and having placed a lid to the cover, I am en- abled to prevent the escape of heat at the top, and by cast-iron doors at the bottom the air is prevented passing through the kiln; so that, by these precautions, the lime burner can regu- late the heat, and prevent its escape for several days, when the fire would be extinguished at this season in the course of 24 hours. This is an object of great importance, as it enables the lime to be burnt as well, and with as small a quantity of fuel in the winter as the summer season, and to supply the farmer with as well burned lime, and at any time of the year, which cannot be done in the common construction of kilns, open both at top and bottom, for the rea- sons I have before stated. From the great ex- pense attending the driving of fuel from a dis- tance of 25 miles from my own coal-pits, I have adopted the practice of coking the coal, which is a Saving of eight-twentieths of the weight; and I find that an equal measure of coal and coke furnish the same quantity of heat in burning lime, which is somewhat paradoxical, but not the less true. The coal is found to have little effect upon the stone till it is deprived of its bitumen, or is coked in the kiln; for, during the time the smoke is emitted from the top of a lime kiln, little or no heat is evolved. A kiln in which coke is the fuel employed, will yield near a third more lime shells in a given time than when coal is the fuel; so that coke may be used occasionally when a greater quantity of lime is required in a certain time than usual, as it is well known to lime burners that the process of burning is done most economically when the kiln is in full action, so as almost constantly to have a column of fire from the bottom to the top of the kiln, with as short in- tervals as possible in working the kiln. “In working a kiln with narrow circular LIME GRASS. mouths, the stone and coal should be carefully measured, so that the workmen can proportion the fuel employed to the quantity of stones, and it is obvious that the quantity of coal to be used must depend upon its relative quality and the hardness of the stone to be burnt. If this measure was adapted to kilns of any con- struction, the lime snells would be found better burnt. “Circular kilns are constructed with similar eyes or openings at the bottom, and not more than 8 feet wide at 18 feet from the base, and contracted to 4 or 5 feet wide at top. In light- ing the kiln at the commencement of burning, some care should be taken not to allow the fire to remain below the upper grate. There are two iron grates at the bottom of the kiln: the upper grate consists of iron bars 8 or 10 inches distant from each other across the kiln, be- tween which the pieces of burnt lime fall down upon a lower grate with iron bars one inch from each other, which allows the lime ashes to fall through them into an ash pit; these lime ashes are found very useful as a top- dressing for grass ground, and are a clear gain to the proprietor of lime-kilns for public sale. As a burner of lime for agriculture in an ex- tensive district of country to the extent of 150,000 imperial bushels annually, the value of the lime ashes which fall through the lower grate amounts to more than 150/. annually; the lower grate is 3 feet above the ground, and the upper grate is the same distance from the lower one. The kilns I employ at Closeburn are upwards of 30 feet high, and nearly per- pendicular, which is the cause of the great heat in this construction of kiln, and which is found to burn lime more equally than circular kilms of large dimensions. (Trans. High. Soc. vol. ii. p. 127.) The limestone quarries of Scotland are de- scribed by Mr. Carmichael (Ibid. vol. v. p. 57) : he observes, when speaking of the uses of this valuable earth, “how sterile must have been the soil, how cheerless the dwellings, and how scanty the resources of Britain before lime came into general use.” And on the method of calcining limestone in some of the limestone quarries in Scotland there is a paper. (bid. p- 441.) Limestone Gravel—There are some traces of this manure in the Isle of Anglesea; but in ge- neral, it is seen in quantities only in Ireland, where it is very common. It is in appearance only common gravel, of a blue colour, mixed with stones as large as a man’s fist, and also with loam or clay: it has a strong effervescence with acids, and, when used, is attended with the usual effects of marl or lime. For bogs, it ex- ceeds every other manure, as its weight assists in the improvemont of that loose and spongy soil. Upon strong clays, the use of it is unri- valled, for it has all the effect of a dressing of lime, and gives friability yet more than chalk does. It destroys moss infallibly. Upon whar- ever soil it is used, it is found very durable, lasting, in many instances, in great heart, from twenty to forty years. In limestone counties, all blue gravels should be examined; for it 1s an invaluable treasure, wherever found. LIME or LYME GRASS. See Erymus. 723 LIME PLANT. LIME PLANT. A name applied in the Northern and Eastern States to the indigenous plant called in the Middle States May Apple (Podophyllum peltatum). LIMESTONE. A generic term for those varieties of carbonate of lime which are neither crystallized nor earthy ; the former being cal- careous spar, the latter chalk; when burned, they yield quick-lime. See Grorocy, Cuarx, Lime. LIME TREES (Tilia). These are for the most part ornamental, lofty-growing trees, well suited for avenues and parks. They thrive in any soil, and are increased by layers or seeds; if by layers, the tree must be cut down close to the ground, and from its roots a great num- ber of shoots are produced in the following year: these will be strong enough to lay down the succeeding autumn. Trees raised from seed are far preferable to those raised from layers. The Russian bass-mats are made from the inner bark of the lime tree, while the wood, from its being light and white, is much used by the carver and musical instrument maker. The charcoal is used in the manufacture of gunpowder, and is considered as scarcely infe- rior for that purpose to the charcoal produced from the alder and willow. If we possess no evidence sufficiently conclusive to prove that the lime tree in any of its forms is truly indi- genous in Britain, we have at least enough to show that it has long been naturalized, and that its introduction must have taken place at a very distant period; for, upon referring to the earlier works, such as Turner, Gerard, &c., we find it (in the form of T. E. microphylla) spoken of as a well-known, and in their esti- mation, apparently, as a native tree. By many botanists (says Mr. Selby), several species of lime are enumerated as inhabitants of Europe; and Sir J. E. Smith makes three distinct species of those cultivated and grown in Britain; viz., T. Europea, T. grandifolia, and T. parvifolia, the two latter answering to the J. platyphylla and T. microphylla of other authors. We are, how- ever, continues Mr. Selby, inclined to adopt the ‘views and follow the opinion of the author of the Arboretum Britannicum, and to consider these not as specifically distinct from T. Europea, in ifs usual form, but as marked varieties, or, as Mr. Loudon designates them, races, originally produced from the seed of one, and which have been kept distinct, and perpetuated by means of layers, grafting, and other artificial modes of propagation; a view we think strongly cor- roborated by the fact that the seeds of the dif- ferent kinds, or supposed species, do not always produce plants exactly similar to the trees from which they are gathered, but run into varieties, the seed of 7. E. platyphylla often producing plants similar in every respect to those of T. Europea (the common lime), and so with the other kinds. The lime tree appears to have been held in repute in ancient as well as in modern times ; for we learn from Theophrastus that it was Xnown to the Greeks; and Pliny speaks of it as a tree held in high esteem by the Romans, aot only for the ornament and shade it afforded, but for the qualities of its wood, and the various purposes to which it was adapted. Nearly two aundred years have elapsed since it was plant- 724 LIME TREE. ed along the streets of continental as well as English towns, where their width would admit of it, as affording a pleasant shade and protec- tion during the summer heats, and it was ex- tensively used in that style of gardening called architectural, as it bore cutting with the knife or shears with patience and comparative im- punity. Examples of this style still exist in some parts of England, and are frequent upon the Continent, in France and Holland, where pyramids, arches, and colonnades are formed of this tree, and sometimes these produce an imposing effect. As an ornamental tree in picturesque gardening, the lime is well worth cultivating, as it ranks in the first class in point of magnitude, frequently attaining a height of eighty or ninety feet, and a trunk corresponding in circumference to such an altitude. The lime holds an important place in the Materia Medica of France and other continental coun- tries ; but its medicinal powers are very feeble. Loudon, in his Encyclopedia of Plants, enu- merates eight species or varieties of the linden or lime tree (Tiliacee). 1. Tilia rubra, the red or common linden. 2. TJ. intermedia, or inter- mediate. 3. JZ. parvifolia, or small-leaved. 4, Platyphylla, or broad-leaved. All these are found indigenous in the woods of Britain. 5. T. Americana, American lime or linden. (See Bass-woon.) 6. T. pubescens, downy and thin-leaved lime tree. 7. J. heterophylla, or various-leaved lime tree. The three last-named species are indigenous to North America. 8. T. alba vel argentia, the white or silver linden, which is stated to be a native of Hungary. Michaux has described the three American species of lime tree, one of which has been al- ready referred to under its common name of Bass-wood. The American white lime is doubt- less a distinct species from the Tilia alba of Hungary. “T have not,” says Michaux, “met with the white lime tree east of the river Delaware, but it is abundant in Pennsylvania, Maryland, De- laware, and the Western States. It does not grow, like the preceding species, in elevated places, nor amidst other trees in the forests, and is rarely seen except on the banks of rivers. I have particularly observed it on those of the Susquehanna, the Ohio, and the streams which empty into them. “The height of the white lime tree rarely exceeds forty feet, and its diameter twelve or eighteen inches. Its young branches are co- vered with a smooth, silver-gray bark, by which it is recognised in the winter. The leaves are very large, denticulated, obliquely heart-shaped and pointed, of a dark-green on the upper sur- face, and white beneath, with small reddish tufts on the angles of the principal nerves. This whitish tint is most striking on solitary trees exposed to the sun. “The flowers come out in June, and, as well as the floral leaf, are larger than those of any other lime tree with which I am acquainted. The petals are larger and whiter, and are im- pregnated with an agreeable odour. The seeds are round, or rather oval, and downy. “The wood of this tree is white and tender, and I believe it is never employed in the arts. “This and the following species have re- LIME TREE. LINEN. ceived no popular specific names, but are both | Harris recommends the employment of decoc- called lime tree and bass-wood: that of white lime, which I have given to this species on ac- count of the colour of its foliage, is peculiarly appropriate. “The Downy Lime Tree belongs to the south- ern parts of the United States. It grows on the borders of rivers and large marshes, where the soil is cool and fertile, but not exposed to inun- dation. It is little multiplied, and consequently is not taken notice of by the inhabitants ; for this reason, and because it is the only species of its kind in the maritime parts of the Caroli- nas and of Georgia, it has received no specific denomination, and is called simply lime tree; to which I have added the epithet downy, derived from a character ofits foliage not observed in the preceding species. “This tree is forty or fifty feet in height, with a proportional diameter. In its general ap- pearance it resembles the American lime tree, which grows farther north, more than the white lime tree, which belongs to the Middle and Western States. Its leaves differ widely in size, according to the exposure in which they have grown: in dry and open places they are only two inches in diameter, and are twice as large in cool and shaded situations. They are rounded, pointed at the summit, very obliquely truncated at the base, edged with fewer and more remote teeth than those of the other lime trees, and very downy beneath. The flowers, also, are more numerous, and form larger bunches, and the seeds are round and downy. “The wood is very similar to that of the other species, and I do not know that it is ever employed.” In some parts of Europe, the honey gathered by bees from a species or variety of the linden is in great request for its superior qualities, and real or supposed healing virtues. It would be highly desirable to have a tree introduced into the United States which offers such a great re- source to the bee culturists. See Honey. Insect enemies.—The European species of lime or linden, which has been extensively introduced into the United States as an ornamental tree, has suffered greatly of late years from the attacks of several destructive insects. Some of these are in the form of long, dark-coloured worms or caterpillars, with strong webs, which eat off the foliage; others bore into the wood of the body and branches, chiefly in the crotches, and so destroy the strength of the limb, or the body itself, that one or both yield readily to the wind, or gradually decay and die. There are also the leaf-beetles, the most elegant of the family of Chrysomelians, which inhabit the leaves, not only of the linden, but of the elm, the broods being found in April, May, and June, and even a second brood in September and October. The trees are often seriously injured by these flies or beetles and their larve. After a very minute description of this beautiful leaf-beetle, with its dark-green body, silvery-white wing- covers, ornamented with green spots, and rose- coloured wings, Dr. Harris remarks that he thinks the grubs go into the ground to turn to pups. When they become so numerous as seriously to injure the lime and elm trees, Dr. tions of tobacco or of walnut leaves, thrown on the trees by means of a garden or fire engine; a method which has been tried with good effect for the destruction of the larve of Galeruca cal- mariensis, which appear occasionally in swarms, and entirely strip the leaves from the elm trees in midsummer. Dr. Harris describes a species of lime-looper which proceeds from an umber- moth greatly resembling that known in Europe, and called by naturalists Hybernia defoliaria. The American insect, however, differs so much in the larva state from the European, as to en- title it to be classed as a distinct species; and accordingly Dr. Harris has called it Hybernia tiiaria, the lime tree winter-moth, from Tilia, the scientific name of its favourite tree. The fore-wings of the male moth are rusty buff or nankin-yellow, sprinkled with very fine brown- ish dots, and banded with two transverse, wavy, brown lines, the band nearest the shoulders being often indistinct. In the space between the bands, and near to the thick edge of the wing, there is generally a brown dot. The hind-wings are much paler than the others, and have a small brownish dot in the middle. The colour of the body is the same as that of the fore-wings ; and the legs are ringed with buff and brown. ‘The wings expand one inch and three-quarters. The body of the female is gray- ish or yellowish-white ; it is sprinkled on the sides with black dots, and there are two square black spots on the top of each ring, except the last, which has only one spot. The front of the head is black; and the antenne and the legs are ringed with black and white. The tail is tipped with a tapering, jointed egg-tube,’ that can be drawn in and out, like the joints of a telescope. Exclusive of this tube, the female measures about half an inch in length. The eggs are beautiful objects when seen under a microscope. They are of an oval shape and pale-yellow colour, and are covered with little raised lines, like net-work, or like the cells of a honey-comb. As these span-worms appear at the same time as canker-worms, resemble them in their habits, and often live on the same trees, they can be kept in check by such means as are found useful when employed against canker- worms. See Span-worm. LINDEN TREE. See Lime Tree. LINEN (Germ. lienwand). A species of cloth woven with the fibres of the flax plant. The linen manufacture has been prosecuted in England for a very long period; but though its progress has been considerable, particularly of late years, it has not been so great as might have been anticipated. It is only within the last fifty years that any machinery has been used in the production of linen cloth; the first mills for the spinning of flax having been con- structed at Darlington, about forty-eight years ago. The principal seat of the manufacture is, in England, Leeds and its immediate vici- nity, and in Lancashire, Dorset, Durham, and Salop; in Scotland, Dundee, which, indeed, may be regarded as the chief seat of the British manufacture; and in Ireland, the province of Ulster. The entire value of the linen manu- facture of Great Britain and Ireland is esti- 3P2 726 LING. mated at 8,000,000/., and the total number of persons employed in it, about 185,000. LING (Calluna vulgaris). A species of heath. To avoid the inconvenience of giving a new generic appellation to the hundreds of plants familiar to everybody as Erice or heaths, Mr. Salesbury has judiciously called our common ling Calluna, from x2zaavw; which is doubly suitable, whether with Mr. Salisbury and Dr. Hull we take it to express a cleansing property, brooms being made of ling, or whether we adopt the more common sense of the word, to ornament or adorn, which is very applicable to the flowers. This shrub grows almost every- where, on dry moors, heaths, and open, barren wastes, as well as in woods where the soil is sandy or turfy. The stems are bushy, repeat- edly and irregularly branched. Leaves deep green, minute, sessile, acute, keeled, somewhat arrow-shaped, closely imbricated on the young branches, making a quadrangular figure, like a close-beaten chain; they are generally smooth, but in one variety are densely hoary all over. The flowers are stalked, drooping, in longish unilateral clusters, soon overtopped by leafy shoots. The inner calyx, which is the most conspicuous part of the flower, is of a shining permanent rose colour. The flowers appear in June and July. Grouse and other birds, as well as some quadrupeds, eat the seeds and young shoots. There is a white-flowered va- riety, and a very beautiful double red one, cultivated in gardens, whose flowers, from a copious multiplication of the corolla, resemble little roses. See Hearn. LINIMENT (Lat. dino, I anoint). In farrie- “ry, a semi-fluid ointment, or a soapy application torub upon painful joints. The term is also applied to spirituous and other stimulating ap- plications for external use. Liniments are in- tended either to lubricate or to stimulate; but in either case they can only be regarded as topical applications, their influence not extend- ing beyond the part to which they are applied. In some instances they are anodyne; and con- tain solutions of opium in oil. LINSEED or FLAXSEED (Lat. lini semen ; Germ. Leinsaat). The seed of the flax plant. See Frax. This seed is small, oval, oblong, flattened laterally, acute at the extremities, glossy, brown; but internally white. It is in- odorous, and tastes mucilaginous and oily. The husk or testa yields much mucilage to water, and the kernel a large proportion of oil to pres- sure. Besides upwards of 11 per cent. of oil, linseed contains wax, an acrid soft resin, ex- tractive, a yellow colouring matter, starch, gum, tannic acid, albumen, gluten, emulsive, and some salts. When the seeds are burnt, the ashes contain oxide of copper. The in- fusion of linseed in boiling water yields a de- mulcent mucilage, which is much used as a domestic medicine in coughs, and in cases of acrimony in the urinary discharge. The lin- seed should not be boiled in the water, as that extracts the oil as well as the mucilage, and renders the decoction nauseating. Linseed is much used in the economy of the farm, for feeding cattle and other purposes. A bushel of linseed averages in weight about 51 pounds; this weight, when crushed, produces 726 LINSEED. about a quarter of its weight of linseed oil, and the remainder is cake. The great bulk of this seed is obtained from the Baltic and the Black Sea, and recently considerable quantities have been received from Egypt and Hindostan: of this last, the general character is, that although the seed is good, the impurities with which it is mixed are very considerable, such as the seeds of rape, &c.; for which reason the oil obtained from it does not possess the drying qualities of that expressed from the unmixed linseed, and the dealers in consequence will not give so much for it. This arises not from any intentional adulteration, but from the bad farming and want of cleanliness of the ori- entalists. Linseed oil contains a very considerable quantity of mucilage, which it almost entirely deposits by time ; and hence, old linseed oil is more valued by the painter, but for the grazier, perhaps, its nutritive powers decrease by time. It is said by some persons, that it is to the pre- sence of this mucilage that we must attribute the fattening quality of linseed oil when mixed with other substances, for linseed oil by itself is almost as powerful a purgative as castor oil, for which purpose indeed it is very commonly employed by the farmer; but on the other hand, we must remember, that in small doses, even castor oil is very fattening. Linseed is in fact commonly given to some birds, parrots for instance, for this purpose. Its purgative properties are very inferior to those of castor oil. LINSEED CAKE. Linseed cake is a well- known and valuable article for the food of live stock, almost equally good for cattle, sheep, and horses. It is the residuum, or refuse, left after the oil is expressed from linseed. 1000 parts of it, according to Davy, contain about 151 parts of nutritive matter. Its price has induced many attempts lo economize its application. It has been often given as recommended by Mr. Hillyard, mixed with other substances, whose value he thus estimates :— “The weekly cost of feeding each beast, in- cluding the expense of getting up, carting, and cutting the turnips and hay, and attendance, will be— sd. 104 bushels of turnips - - 29 l}cwt. ofhay - - - - 5 3 — 8s. Turnips - - - - - 29 1} ewt. ofcutand uncut hay - 3 9 } bushel of meal - - - 30 1 pint of linseed oil - - - 06 — 10s. i bushel oflinseed - - - 3 6 3gallonsofmeal - - eh Nal Cut and uncut hay - - - 39 Turnips - - - - - 29 : — lls. 6d. 21 oil cakes, at 3}d. - - - 60 3 gallons of meal - - - 16 Cutanduncuthay - - - 3 9 Turnips - - - - +29 — lds. “No food,” says Mr. Hillyard, “can be given to stall-feeding beasts that will fatten them so soon or so well as linseed oil-cake. It certain- ly is expensive feed, but not so expensive as it appears to be, taking into consideration that it fattens quicker. Beasts that have been fed with it, do not, after a long drift to market, lose their firmness of handling, as those do, fed LINSEED CAKE. without either cake or linseed, and whose dung | is not of equal value. Some winters I have fed with linseed instead of cake, and found it answer very well, although it added to the, trouble of feeding. My mode of preparing it, has been to break it in a little hand-miill, and | steep it in cold water in seven tubs of a size sufficient for one day’s feed; in this way it will have been steeped seven days before it is mixed with cut hay and barley, or (which is better) bean meal. If steeped in hot water, two days will do; if steeped longer than three, it is apt to get a little sour, which, in my opi- nion, is not quite so well for the beasts. Boil- ing it is troublesome, but it thus becomes more of a jelly, and mixes better with the cut hay and meal. and it prevents the numerous seeds of weeds, found in foreign linseed, from vege- tating. One stone of linseed, in a mixture of other food, will do as much towards feeding as two stone of cake, which is merely the husk of the seed after the oil has been pressed out. Linseed, without being mixed with meal, is of too relaxing a nature. “Finding at Christmas, 1838, that I could not get English oil-cake at home at less than about 12/. 10s. per ton, I determined to feed the 35 beasts then in my stalls, in the following way, and I never had beasts that became better meat; but as the process of preparing the food is very troublesome, I should not recommend this way of feeding without the owner of the beasts will daily see that all is done right :— a dad Three feeds daily, of half a bushel of cut hay, which is 5 tbs. each, and 4 [bs. uncut at wuts lewt. and not quite a quarter - - - 3 6 Boiled Jinseed, 2 ths. daily, 56s. per quarter; weight, 50 Ibs. per bushel - - - - 20 Boiled potatoes, 2 Ibs. daily, 1} gallons - 16 Molasses (which is feeding, but may be left out when the beasts have taken to the linseed, as it is only given to make the mixture palatable), about a } Ib. daily - - - - - - 09 Turnips, or mangel wurzel - - - - = 2 6 Barley aud bean meal, mixed, 3} gallons - moll 9 12 0 “Tf this mixed food could be pressed together to form a cake, it would be a feeding one, and the cost 11d. per stone. As a proof that this mixture is both palatable and nutritive to beasts, they will not eat, excepting in the night, where they have none of it, any of the sweetest hay that can be put before them.” (Prac. Farm, p. 89.) Many farmers use ground linseed mixed with bran and chaff for their stock, deeming it a more economical plan than the employment of linseed cake. Others use the linseed un- ground. The saving by this mode, however, -is doubtful, for it is by no means certain that the oil possesses any very material fattening properties; and if it does not, then the cake is decidedly the cheapest. For at the present prices (1841), 51 Ibs. of linseed are worth 7s. 6d., while 51 lbs. of cake, at 112. per ton, are only worth about 5s.; and admitting that the oil does contain some fattening properties, yet it must be remembered that the value of the oil obtained from a bushel of linseed is worth, for other purposes, about 4s. But, on the other hand, 1 am aware that a very intelligent farmer near Rumford, Mr. S. Poole, who, in 1840, fed LIQUID MANURE. his bullocks with a mixture of linseed oil and cut chaff, and also other bullocks with linseed cake and hay, considered the oil to be the | cheapest of the two, and in all respects equally fattening, but then it is certain that this mode requires more attention in the mixture of the oil and chaff than the other plan. He com- menced with about a quarter of a pint per day, and gradually increased it to a pint. The reported results of experiments in feed- ing cattle with linseed do not always agree. In a standard work we find the following passage: “Two Scots were fed on English linseed cakes; two Devons on unboiled linseed; two others on boiled linseed ; and another pair of Devons on foreign; all of them having as much hay and chaff as they could eat. It was a losing con- cern in every case. The value of the manure was not equal to the difference of the cost and the selling prices; and, strange as it may ap- pear, the greatest loss was sustained, when the beasts were fed on oil-cake; the next when foreign cake was used; the next when boiled linseed was used; and the least of all when the simple unboiled linseed was given. LINSEED JELLY is easily made by adding to 6 quarts of water 1 quart of linseed, boiling it for 10 minutes. This, mixed with other sub- Stances, is sometimes given to live-stock as food, and, mixed with milk, is very nutritive for calves. LINSEED OIL is an excellent purgative for sheep, from 2 to 3 ounces; for horses, in doses of from 16 to 24 ounces; for cattle, from 16 to 20 ounces. The quality of linseed oil may be de- termined in the following manner: Fill a phial with it, and hold it up to the light; if bad it will appear opaque, turbid, and thick; its taste is acid and bitter upon the tongue, and it smells rancid; and strong oil, from fine full-grown ripe seed, when viewed in a phial, will appear limpid, pale, and brilliant; it is mellow,and sweet to the taste, has very little smell, is specifically lighter than impure oil, and when clarified dries quickly and finely. (Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. v. p. 467.) LIP. In botany, the lower petal of any irre- gular flower. LIQUID MANURE. Liquid manure is not a mode of fertilizing the land altogether of modern origin, for a fermented mixture of wa- ter and night-soil has, from a very early period, been employed by the Chinese farmers; those of Italy certainly practised irrigation in the days of Virgil (Georgics, b. i. v. 106—109), and Cato adds that they employed a mixture of grape-stones and water to fertilize their olive trees (b. xxxvil.). Columella praises very highly the use of putrid stale urine for vines and apple trees (b. ii. c. 15), commending also the lees of oil for the same purpose. More modern agricultural writers have united in praising various liquid preparations; thus Evelyn (whose ingredients most of the authors recommend), in his Treatise on Earth, p. 123— 160, gives several recipes, some of which have served as the basis for recent modes of prepar- ing liquid manure, such as the dung of cattle, urine, salt and lime, and nitre. Of these arti- ficial mixtures, salt 1 part, and lime 2 parts. mixed together and allowed to remain in a heap for 2 or 3 months (Mr. Bennett turns 727 LIQUID MANURE. over 3 or 4 times in this period), is fully equal, if not superior, to any thus recommended, most of which I have tried. When mixed with water and spread over land intended for wheat, at the rate of from 25 to 35 bushels of the salt and lime to 10 or 15 tons of water per acre (and it answers very nearly as well when carried on the land dry), excellent results are produced. The wheat which I have thus grown on clover leys has been superior in height, and strength of straw, to any I have seen produced under different modes of treat- ment, and the seed very bright and heavy. All substances, whether organic, earthy, or saline, which are employed to fertilize the soil, or become the food of plants, can only be ren- dered thus serviceable to vegetation when they are presented to the roots of plants in solution, or in a fluid state; and although this may appear at first rather a sweeping position, yet such is the real fact, the compost of the farm- yard, the crushed bones of the turnip cultiva- tor, the oil and bones of fish, the gypsum of the grazier, the earths, lime, magnesia, and even silica, and ail the saline manures, are dissolved by some process or other before they can be absorbed by vegetables. Every attempt which has been hitherto made to make plants imbibe themost minutely divided powders which chemistry can produce, has been entirely fruit- less. Davy ineffectually tried the finest im- palpable powder of charcoal, and with much perseverance I have fruitlessly employed the earths, saline substances, and organic matters, Tor the same purpose. This absolute necessity for every substance which is the food of plants being of a soluble nature did not escape the sagacity of the early Greek and Egyptian philosophers; it is true they carried their conclusions with regard to subjects of natural philosophy too far, as in this instance, when they asserted that water is the only food of plants; yet they must have patiently noticed many facts in vegetable eco- nomy, unaided as they were by the light of mo- dern vegetable chemistry, before they could have arrived at a conclusion so nearly ap- proaching the truth. The idea was probably of Egyptian origin, for the cultivators of that country could not fail to notice the magic fer- tilizing powers of the waters of the Nile, whose annual overflow is perhaps the most extensive natural irrigation taken advantage of by the cultivators of the earth. The same wild dream of water being the sole food of vegetables was again revived, so lately as 1610, by M. Van Helmont,a celebrated Dutch chemist, who made some very plausible, de- ceptive experiments on a willow tree, which he watered only with rain water; researches, however, whose inaccuracy (owing principally to rain water, as usually collected, not being quite pure) was shown in 1691 by Mr. Wood- ward. Although, therefore, it is now well as- certained that water is not the only food of plants, yet it certainly contributes universally and largely to their support; and, as it has been well observed by Davy, no manure can be taken up by the roots of plants unless water is pre- sent; and water, or its elements, exists in all the products of vegetation. (Lectwre 15.) 728 LIQUID MANURE. It must not, however, be concluded that these carefully considered conclusions, from the re- sults of often-repeated laborious experiments, are erroneous, because transparent water, ap- parently pure, aS in water-glasses, or in irri- gation, promotes the growth of bulbs, grass, &c., since the very purest spring water, even rain water, contains foreign substances, as I have clearly ascertained by experiment; and when only chemically pure water is employed to water plants, they cannot be made to flourish. I have fruitlessly varied the attempt in several ways. All the experiments of Dr. Thomson were equally unsuccessful, the plants vegetat- ing only for a certain time, and never perfect- ing their seeds. Similar experiments were made by Hassenfratz and Saussure, and others, with the same unfavourable result. Duhamel found that an oak which he had raised from an acorn in common water, made less and less progress every year. The florist is well aware that bulbous roots, such as hyacinths, tulips, &c., which are made to grow in water, unless they are planted in the earth every other year, at first refuse to flower, and finally even to vegetate. Moreover, it has been unanswerably shown by many very accurate experiments (Rech. sur la Veg. p. 51), at the varied repetition of which I have personally assisted, that the quantity of nourishment or solid matters ab- sorbed by the roots of plants is always in pro- portion to the impurity of the water with which they are nourished; thus some beans were made to vegetate under three different circum- stances; the first were grown in distilled water; the second were placed in sand and watered with rain water; the third were sown in gar- den mould. The plants thus produced, when accurately analysed, were found to yield the following proportions of ashes :— 1. Those fed by distilled water - 3:9 2. Those fed by rain water - - 75 3. Those growninsoil - - - 120 And again, all attempts to make plants flour- ish in the pure earths have failed utterly when they have been watered with pure water; yet a totally different result I have invariably ex- perienced when I have employed an impure solution or liquid manure. My trials have been entirely supported by those of M. Giobert, who, having formed of the four earths, silica, alumina, lime, and magnesia, a soil in the most fertile proportion, in vain essayed to make the plants flourish in it when watered with pure water only; but every difficulty was removed when he moistened it with the water from a dunghill, for they then grew most luxu- riantly; and M. Lampadius still further de- monstrated the powers of such a foul liquid manure, for he formed plots composed of only a single earth, pure lime, pure alumina, pure silica, and planted in each different vegetables, watering them with the liquid drainings from a dunghill, and he found that they all flourish- ed equally well. The soluble matters of a soil ever constitute, in fact, its most fertilizing por- tion; and if by any artificial means the richest mould is deprived of these, as by repeated washings in cold or boiling water, the re- siduum, or remaining solid matter, is rendered nearly sterile: this fact, first accurately demon- LIQUID MANURE. strated by M. Saussure (Rech. 150), I have since confirmed, by a variety of experiments of my own. The soluble matters or liquid manures con- sumed by plants are sometimes imbibed by their roots unaltered; in other cases they are decomposed during their absorption. The earths, gypsum, and other salts, are instances of the first class; oil, and other purely animal matters, of the last. Davy found that some plants of mint, which he forced to vegetate in sugar and water, apparently absorbed the sugar unaltered, for they yielded a considerably larger proportion of a sweetish vegetable ex- tract than those of the same weight which he had grown in common water; and it is an as- certained fact, thatthe roots of plants will ab- sorb or reject the various earthy substances of a soil, or even when placed in a saline solution, in a very remarkable manner: thus, when equal parts of gum and sugar were dissolved together in water, and some perfect plants of Polygonum Persicaria placed with their roots in the solution, it was found that they absorbed 36 parts of the sugar, but only 26 of the gum; and when in precisely the same proportions and manner Glauber salt, common salt, and acetate of lime were used, then it was found that the roots of the Persicaria separated these salts from the solution with much ease, ab- sorbing 6 parts of the Glauber salt, 10 parts of the common salt, but not a trace of the acetate of lime. (Thomson, vol. iv. p. 321.) These facts will not be uninteresting to the irrigators or occupiers of the English water- meadows, since they may, in some degree, serve to account for the beneficial action of water on such lands—a question not nearly so well understood as it ought to be, and on which widely differing opinions are commonly held by practical farmers. It is a theme inti- mately connected with the subject of this arti- cle, for irrigation is, in truth, a mode of apply- ing the weakest of liquid manures, on a very bold scale, to grass-lands. See Inriearion. The employment of artificially-prepared liquid manure (though little known at present in England) is very extensive on the Conti- nent: the Swiss farmers call it gulle ; in France it is denominated hzier; and by the Germans, mist-wasser. They prepare it throughout many of the German states, and in the Netherlands, by sweeping the excrements of their stall-fed cattle into under-ground reservoirs, mixing it with four or five times its bulk of water, ac- cording to the richness of the dung: five reser- voirs are generally employed, of such a size that they each take a week to fill; and thus each has four weeks allowed to ferment before the mass, which in this time becomes of an uniform consistence, is removed, by means of a portable pump, in water carts, or large open vessels. A similar plan is adopted in the north of Italy, and from time out of mind has been practised by the Chinese. In that em- pire, however, the cultivators chiefly employ night soil, which is made into cakes for this purpose with lime or clay, in all their large cities, to prepare their liquid manure. It is from long experience an admitted fact among the German farmers, that there are no 92 LIQUID MANURE. {manures so powerful in their operation as | those which are liquids, such as human urine or bullocks’ blood; so that no English farmer need fear deception as to their asserted value. This very fact was submitted some years since to the consideration of Professor Hemb- stadt, of Berlin, by the Saxon and Prussian au- thorities, who were anxious to apply the con- tents of the city drains towards fertilizing the barren lands in the neighbourhood of Dresden and Berlin. This talented agriculturist under- took, in consequence, a series of valuable ex- periments, which, varied in every possible way, were carried on for a considerable period ; the result of them, so highly advantageous to the prosperity of Germany, Hembstadt then pub- lished. They were repeated with unvaried success by Professor Schiibler, and the results may be stated in the following order :-— If the soil, without any manure, yield a pro- duce of three times the quantity of seed origi- nally sown, then the same quantity of land will produce— 5 times the quantity of seed sown, when dressed with old herbage, grass, leaves, &c. 7 times, when dressed with cow dung. 9 times, with pigeons’ dung. 10 times, with horse dung. 12 times, with human urine. 12 times, with sheep’s dung. 14 times, with human manure or bullocks’ blood. Thus it will be seen that, of seven usually employed fertilizers, the liquid manures, urine and blood, were found to be decidedly the most powerful. Both with regard to the quantity of liquid manure applied per acre, and the mode of spreading it, much must depend upon the cir- cumstances under which the cultivator is placed, and the richness of the liquid he em- ploys. If the impurities dissolved, or mecha- nically suspended in the water, are equal to 1 part in 10, then 20 to 30 tons per acre of the liquid manure I have found amply sufficient, under ordinary circumstances, to produce the most excellent results; if the fluid mass is purer, then more must be applied. For gar- dens, and small plots of ground in general, the liquid may be readily and evenly distributed over the beds by means of a watering-pot or garden-engine; for fields it must be carried in water-carts, and distributed either by being let into a transverse trough, pierced with holes in the manner of those employed for street water- ings, or the Flemish plan may be adopted (es- pecially when the manure is of too consider- able thickness to flow readily through holes), of taking it into the fields in the water-carts, open at the top (furnished with slight movable covers), and then distributing it out of the cart very evenly by means of a scoop; and I have invariably perceived the advantage of plough- ing the liquid into the soil as soon after it was spread on the land as possible. The cultivator will find great advantage if he uses the garden engine, watering-pot, or cart, from straining the liquid manure before he pumps it out of the reservoir, either through straw, coarse sand, or a basket; the pieces of straw, and other coarsely-divided matters thus separated by the strainer, he will discover add very 729 LIQUID MANURE. slightly to the fertilizing powers of the liquid, and yet they all materially hinder the even distribution of the manure. The expense, per acre, of such an applica- tion of liquid manure, I thus estimate, sup- posiug the cow-herd to be employed :— “Se ab Three tons of cow or other fresh dung - - 018 0 Labour in mixing and occasionally stirring it with from 20 to 25 tons of water - - - 020 Carting, and spreading it on the field - - 08 0 E>) Gate} If it shall occur to the farmer that the quan- tity of solid manure thus added to the soil will not, in reality, much exceed two tons per acre, and that this is, in appearance, a very small allowance, I would remind him that the quan- tity thus conveyed consists of the soluble or richest portion of the manure, and is, in fact, the extract without any of the straw, or other inert residuum usually carried on to the soil; besides, it is a very erroneous, though common conclusion, that to produce fertility a manure must be used in large quantities. I have ob- served in this paper that a flooding with river water, so productive of heavy crops of grass in the water meadows, does not carry on to the land more than 2 tons per acre of animal and vegetable substances; and in the successful experiments of the late Lord Somerville, at Fairmile, with whale blubber, not more than aton anda half per acre were applied. The Essex farmers find three-quarters of a ton of sprats amply sufficient; and 2 cwt. per acre of gypsum is the ordinary successful allowance for grass land. The exact evenness, therefore, with which a manure is spread over the land is a highly important consideration as regards the economy of manures. There is no com- monly cultivated plant which more delights in liquid manure than the potato. It naturally luxuriates near to wet ditches: on plots which have received the drainage of a dunghill it grows with the greatest rapidity. I have in- variably found that, to any liquid mixture in- tended as a manure for potatoes, the addition of 5 or 6 bushels of salt per acre is productive of great good, both as regards the quantity and quality of the potatoes. On clover leys intended for wheat, the liquid should be turned into the soil as early as pos- sible after it is spread; and if this operation is performed in moist, cloudy weather, a very material advantage will be perceptible in the succeeding ercp. The warmth of the sun is certainly prejudicial to the thinly-spread liquid manure, composed of finely-divided animal and vegetable substances. Of the tanks for receiving or preparing the liquid manure, I may remark that I have al- ways found them best made of flints or bricks set in good mortar or Parker’s cement; they may be bedded in clay, but I would not recom- mend the use of clay for the brickwork, since worms are sure eventually to penetrate through it; and I advise the shape to be something like a decanter, larger at the top than at the bottom, in the manner introduced at Bastbourne and in Cornwall, chiefly by the advice of Mr. Davies Gilbert. 730 LIQUID MANURE. Mr. Milburn has given the annexed estimate for cutting, walling, plastering, and covering a tank of the following dimensions :—Length within, 13 feet 6 inches; width, 6 feet 6 inches; depth, 6 feet, equal to 194 cubic yards. 2G de Cutting at 3d. per cubie yard - =O Fit Walling, including bricksand mortar - 6 8 0 Plastering and cement - - - 016 0 Covering and flags - - - - 215 0 (Trans. High. Soc. vol. ix. p. 280.) 10 6 6 This would be a tank sufficiently capacious for a farm of 150 to 200 acres. To the presence of a large proportion of urine, the richest of liquid fertilizers, must be chiefly attributed the luxuriant effects produced by the liquid manure, as prepared on the Con- tinent, and from the use of the sewerage mat- ters of large towns, as so strikingly proved in the case of the Craigintinny water-meadows, near Edinburgh, where the drainage is em- ployed in the state in which it issues from the sewers, and from its use several crops of the most luxuriant grass are annually obtained. “All urine,” said a late distinguished chemical philosopher, “contains the essential elements of vegetables in a state of solution.” By a careful analysis, human urine in its fresh state was found, by Berzelius, to contain the follow- ing substances :— Parts. Water - - - 93°300 Urea (tie peculiar animal matter of urine) 3010 Sulphate of potassa - - - = ‘O37r Sulphate of soda - - - - - 07316 Phosphate of soda - - - - 0:294 Common salt - - - - - - 07445 Phosphate of ammonia - - - - 07165 Muriate of ammonia - - - - 0150 Lactate or acetate of ammonia = - Lactic or acetic acid - - - 1714 Animal matter, soluble in alcohol Inseparable urea - - - - Earthy phosphate (earth of bones) with fluate of lime - - - - - 0100 Uric acid - - - - - - 0°100 Mucus of the bladder - - - - 0°032 Silica (earth of flint) = - - - - 0°003 100° Thus it will be seen that there is hardly a single ingredient found in urine which is not either a direct food for vegetation, or furnishes by its decomposition a supply in another form ; for in it are thus detected the ammoniacal salts of the dunghill, the phosphate of lime of bones, as well as of many cultivated vegetables, and abundance of easily decomposed animal mat- ters. The urine of the horse is nearly as rich in animo-vegetable matters; its composition, ac- cording to the experiments of Fourcroy and Vanquelin, are as follows :— Parts Water and mucus) - - - - - 940 Urea - - e s S a = ely: Carbonate of lime (chalk) - - = Il Carbonate of soda - - - - - 09 Benzoate of soda - - - - - 24 Muriute of potassa - - - - - 09 100° The following are the constituents in that of | the cow, as found by Professor Brande :— LIQUID MANURE. r Parts. Water - - - - - - - 650 Urea - - - - = - - 40 Phosphate of Tirta = - - - 30 Muriates of potassa and ammonia - - 150 Sulphate of potassa - = = - - 60 Carbonates of potassa and ammonia - 40 Loss - - = 5 - ~ - - 30 100° It would appear, from some experiments of Dr. Belcher, that the ammoniacal salts of urine have a forcing or stimulating power, which considerably hastens the vegetation of plants. His experiments were made with the common garden cress; and, in his trials, some plants nourished with a solution of phosphate of am- monia were 15 days more advanced than plants growing under similar circumstances, but wa- tered with plain water. In some experiments of Mr. Gregory, who watered half a grass field at Leyton with urine, the portion thus treated yielded nearly double the quantity of hay pro- duced by the other unmanured portion; and the use of the urine of the cow, so extensively employed for grass lands, and in the garden and orchard, by Mr. Harley, in the neighbour- hood of Glasgow, was attended with results equally satisfactory, producing, when diluted with water or soap-suds, very superior crops of grass on land of a very inferior description. T shall conclude with a few observations on the loss which the cultivated lands of England in- cessantly sustain from the neglect of the liquid manure of the sewers of her cities and large towns,—a question to which I have before alluded in this paper, and which is not nearly so well understood as is desirable. Thus, by carefully conducted experiments, and very ac- curate gaugings, it has been found that the chief London sewers convey daily into the Thames about 115,000 tons of mixed drainage, consisting, on an average computation, of 1 part of solid and 25 parts absolutely fluid mat- ters; but if we only allow | part in 30 of this immense mass to be composed of solid sub- Stances, then we have the large quantity of more than 3800 tons of solid manure daily poured into the river from London alone, con- Sisting principally of excrements, soot, and the débris of the London streets, which is chiefly carbonate of lime: thus, allowing 20 tons of this manure as a dressing for an acre of ground, there is evidently a quantity of solid manure annually poured into the river equal to fertilizing more than 50,000 acres of the poorest cultivated land! The quantity of food thus lost to the country by this heedless waste of manure is enormous; for, only allowing one crop of wheat to be raised on these 50,000 acres, that would be equal to the maintenance (calculating upon an average produce of three quarters of wheat per acre) ‘of 150,000 persons. London, too, is only one huge instance of this thoughtless waste of the agricultural riches of the soil of England; from every other English cily, every town, every hamlet, is hourly pass- ing into the sea a proportionate waste of liquid manure; and I have only spoken of the solid or mechanically suspended matters of the sewer- age; the absolutely fluid portion is still rich in urine, ammoniacal salts, soda, &c., when all the mechanically suspended matters have been LIQUID MANURE. separated from the other portions. According to very careful experiments, this fluid part often contains 16 per cent. of animal matters, salts, &c., intimately or chemically combined with the water. No farmer, after such an analysis of the sewerage of a large city, can feel surprised at the important results from the use of that sewer water, as long practised in the vicinity of Edinburgh. After learning the composition of such a foul mass—its endless mixture of organic matters—its soot—its carbonate of lime—and, above all, its urine, the forcing na- ture of the ammoniacal salts which that fluid contains, added to the presence of the other matters which are the food of plants, and the constant supply of such irrigation water in all seasons—he will readily give credence to the talented editor of the Quarterly Journal of Agri- culture, when he asserts that, by such treatment of the Edinburgh meadows with the sewerage irrigation, they have been increased in value several pounds per acre yearly. I have often employed, with decided effect, in my own garden, for vines, peach, and stand- ard apple trees, liquid manure, prepared either by mixing one part by weight of cow dung with four parts of water, or the collected drain- age of the stable and cow-house. Of these the vine is by far the most benefited by the appli- cation; but to whatever fruit-tree the gardener has occasion to apply manure, there is no form so manageable and so grateful to the plant as the liquid. It has been found advantageous to plants cultivated in stoves to apply even a liquid manure, composed of six quarts of soot to a hogshead of water; and although this is a very unchemical mixture, yet it has been found by Mr. Robertson to be peculiarly grateful and nourishing to pines, causing them to assume an unusually “deep healthy green; and for stoved mulberry, vine, peach, ‘and other plants, the late Mr. Knight, of Downton, employed a liquid manure, composed of one part of the dung of domestic poultry, and 4 to 10 parts of water, with the most excellent result—the trees main- taining, at the end of two years, “the most healthy and luxuriant appearance imaginable.” (Trans. Hort. Soc. vol. ii. p. 127.) In whatever way we view the question of liquid manure, an abundant field of research presents itself on every side: it is evidently an investigation likely to amply repay the culti- vator for the labour he may be induced to be- stow upon it. By such manures, nourishment for vegetation is more equally diffused through the soil, and becomes more speedily service- able to the crop, than by any other mode of cultivation. I have endeavoured, also, in this article, to convince the farmer of what I have long remarked in my own practice—that a much smaller quantity of manure, if uniformly mixed with land, is sufficient for all the pur- poses of fertilization than is commonly be- lieved. Such investigations must be of the highest interest to the farmer and to the public in general, for they relate to the increased pro- duce of the land of England; and not only does a fortunate experiment carry with it its own reward, but even an unsuccessful one is not without its advantages,—it serves, at least, as 731 LIVE-STOCK. a beacon to other cultivators, and affords that satisfaction which ever accompanies the ac- quirement of knowledge. (Journ. Roy. Ag. Soc. vol. i. p. 147.) LIQUORICE (Glycyrrhiza, from glnkus, sweet, and rhiza, a root; the sweetness of the root of liquorice is well known). A deep, light, sandy loam suits all the species of this genus, and they are readily increased by slips from the roots with eyes, and planting them in spring. Common liquorice (G. glabra) is a native of the south of Europe; but it is also cultivated in England for medicinal use. It is a legumi- nous plant, with unequally pinnated leaves, composed of ovate, retuse leaflets; the flowers are in racemose spikes, shorter than the leaves. The legumes are smooth, and six-seeded. The root, when fit for use, is long, about the thick- ness of the finger, grayish without, and yellow within. The sweet, subacrid, mucilaginous juice contained in the root is much esteemed as a pectoral demulcent. Liquorice requires three years to perfect its growth, when the roots are taken up about the end of November with the spade; they are then washed, the fibres trimmed off, and the smaller roots which are termed “ offal,” are separated from the larger. The small roots are dried and ground into powder; but the larger, which form the princi- pal article of profit, are packed up and sold to the druggists. A fair crop will yield from 18 to 20 cwl., at an average price of about 45s. per cwt.; but the expense of digging up and pre- paring it for market is not short of 10/. per acre; which, great as it may appear, is by no means extravagant, if we consider the depth to which the roots run, and the care which is ne- cessary to avoid breaking or leaving any of them in the ground. (Paxton’s Bot. Dict.; Brit. Husb. vol. il. p. 330.) LIQUORICE, WILD. A species of the genus Galium (Circezans) found in the United States, frequent in rich woodlands, &c. Its root is perennial, and the stems grow 12 to 18 inches high, often branched near the base. The flowers are purplish-white, and appear in June and July. The leaves have a sweet taste, re- sembling liquorice. See Mirx-Vercn. LITTER. The straw, fern, or other dry sub- stances which are placed under horses and cattle in the stables, cow-houses, farm-yards, &c., for the purpose of keeping the animals clean and warm, and providing a supply of manure. In this last view, all sorts of dry ma- terials should be carefully collected and stacked up for winter use. LIVERWORT (Anemone hepatica, Hepatica Americana, or Three-lobed Liverwort) is very com- mon in the open woodlands of the United States, where it flowers in Pennsylvania in May, and matures its seed in May and June. This plant has acquired much notoriety, of late years, as a remedy in pulmonary consumption; but its virtues have doubtless been greatly exagge- rated. Dr. Darlington thinks it the only species in the United States. (Ilora Cestricu.) See Hepatica. LIVE-STOCK. See Honsss, Carrie, Sarer, &c. In Great Britain, the live-stock forms the chief wealth of atarm. The term implies cat- tle; but poultry, too, is strictly live-stock; and 732 LOBELIA. in some countries, fish, game, bees, &c., are of that importance that they are considered to be live-stock. In several districts of England, rabbits are so, and that to a very essential ex- tent. In some parts of southern Europe, even the silk-worm is live-stock. Through the combined exertions of many distinguished writers, and the practical know- ledge of modern breeders, a very material alte- ration for the better in the breeds of live-stock has taken place, and is still progressing; and there is little reason to doubt but that still greater improvements are yet to be effected. To such researches too much attention can hardly be paid; for on the well or ill stocking of the land will mainly depend the cultivator’s success. To this end, however, much must rest on the circumstances in which he is placed. See Acricutrure 1x Tae Unirep Srares. LIVE OAK (Quercus virens). See Oax. $ LOAD. A term used in the United States rather vaguely, and meaning different amounts or measures in different places. The general meaning of a load of manure, according to Buel, is what can be drawn by two horses, or two oxen, to the field where it is to be applied. At Boston and other large towns in the East- ern, as well as other States, the term load is applied commonly to express as much as can be drawn by four and even six cattle upona hard road, or about 96 cubic feet. A load of earth, clay, or marl, is generally estimated at a cubic yard, or 27 cubic feet. LOAM. By this term is generally under- stood dark-coloured, rich mould, principally composed of dissimilar particles of earth and decomposed vegetable matter, moderately co- hesive, and therefore neither retentive of mois- ture, like clay, nor too ready to part with it, like sandy soil. According as the different in- gredients predominate, loamy soils are of dif- ferent qualities—friable and mellow, middling, or heavy loams. (Pract. Husb. p. 284.) Loam is supposed to consist chiefly of woody fibre in a state of decay, which, as it progresses, ac- quires a black-brown colour, and is then mould or loam. It is a continued source of carbonic acid, as almost every particle of it is enveloped by an atmosphere of that gas, which is absorbed by the roots of plants, and replaced by atmo- spheric air, to be again converted into carbonic acid. Upon this transformation the influence of loam on vegetation is readily understood: it does not itself nourish plants, but it presents to them “a slow and lasting source of carbonic acid, which is absorbed by the roots.” (Liebig, Organic Chemistry in its Application to Agriculture, p- 48—61.) See Humus. ; LOBELIA (Lobelia, in honour of Matthew Lobel, author of various botanical works. He was a native of Lisle; became physician and botanist to James I., and died in London in 1616). This is an extremely interesting genus of plants, on account of the beauty of the blos- soms, and the medicinal properties of some of the species. The green-house, and stove, shrubby, and herbaceous kinds, grow well in a mixture of peat and sand; the shrubby kinds are readily increased by cuttings in the same kind of soil, and the herbaceous species by di- viding and by seeds. The hardy herbaceous LOBLOLLY BAY. kinds do well in a light, rich earth, or peat soil; but in winter most of them require the protec- tion of a frame. The green-house annuals and biennials must be sown in pots, and treated as other green-house annuals and biennials. The seeds of the hardy kinds have only to be sown in the open border. LL. longiflora is one of the most venomous of plants. Barton says the Spanish Americans call it Rebenta cavallos, be- cause it proves fatal to horses that eat it, swell- ing them till they burst. Taken internally, it acts as a violent cathartic, the effects of which no remedy can assuage, and which terminate in death. Another American species, namely, L. inflata, commonly called Indian Tobacco, is a powerful antispasmodic and emetic, and is much employed to allay the paroxysm of spas- modice asthma. There are two indigenous spe- cies: 1, The water lobelia (LZ. Dartmanna), which grows in the lakes of Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and the north of England. The root consists of many long, simple, whitish fibres. Herb smooth, immersed in water like the Hot- tonia. Leaves numerous, two inches long, linear, entire, with two longitudinal cells. The stem is nearly naked, terminating in a simple cluster of light-blue, drooping, alternate flowers, yaised several inches above the water, which appear in July and August. 2. Acrid lobelia (LZ. wrens). This grows wild on bushy heaths in Devonshire. The root is fibrous; stem a foot or more in height, nearly upright; lower leaves ovate, slightly toothed ; upper lanceolate, serrated; the flowers are in erect clusters, terminal, of a purplish-blue co- lour, appearing in August and September. The whole herb is milky, fetid, and very acrid. LOBLOLLY BAY (Gordonia lasyanthus). This American tree is comprehended within the same limits with the long-leaved pine, being confined to the maritime parts of the Southern States, to the two Floridas, and to Lower Loui- siana. It is very abundant in the branch swamps, and exists in greater proportion than the red bay, swamp bay, and black gum, with which it is usually associated. In the pine barrens, tracts of 50 or 100 acres are met with at intervals, which, being lower than the adja- cent ground, are kept constantly moist by the waters collected in them after the great rains. These spots are entirely covered with the lob- lolly bay, and are called bay swamps. Although the layer of vegetable mould is only 3 or 4 inches thick, and reposes upon a bed of barren sand, the vegetation of these trees is surpris- ingly luxuriant. The loblolly bay grows to the height of 50 or 60 feet, with a diameter of 18 or 20 inches. For 25 to 30 feet its trunk is perfectly straight. The small divergency of its branches near the trunk gives it a regularly pyramidal form; but as they ascend they spread more loosely, like those of other trees of the forest. The leaves are evergreen, from 3 to 6 inches long, alternate, oval-acuminate, slightly toothed, and smooth and shining on the upper surface. The flowers are more than an inch broad, white and sweet-scented; they begin to appear about the middle of July, and bloom in succession during 2 or 3 months. This tree possesses LOCUST. the agreeable singularity of bearing flowers when it is only 3 or 4 feet high. The fruit is an oval capsule, divided into 5 compartments, each of which contains small, black, winged seeds. These seeds appear to germinate successfully only in places covered with sphagnum, a species of moss which co- piously imbibes water, and in which are found thousands of the young plants, which are plucked up with ease. The bark of the loblolly bay is very smooth while the tree is less than 6 inches in diame- ter; on old trees it is thick and deeply furrowed. In trunks which exceed 15 inches in diameter, four-fifths of the wood is heart. The wood is of a rosy hue, and of a fine, silky texture: it appears to be very proper for the inside of fur- niture, though the cypress is generally prefer- red. It is extremely light: when seasoned it is very brittle, and it rapidly decays unless it is kept perfectly dry: hence it is entirely neg- lected in use, and is not employed even for fuel. The value of the loblolly bark in tanning compensates in some measure for the useless- ness of its wood: it is employed for this pur- pose throughout the maritime parts of the South- ern States and of the Floridas. For, although this branch of industry is by no means as ex- tensively practised in this part of the country as in the Northern States, and though these regions afford many species of oak, yet the species whose bark is proper for tanning are not sufficiently multiplied to supply the con- sumption. As much of the bark of the Spanish oak as can be obtained, of which the price is one-half greater, is mixed with that of the lob- lolly bay. This tree has the advantage of maintaining very long the circulation of its sap, so that the bark may be taken off during three or four months. The luxuriance of its vegetation, the beauty of its flowers, and the richness of its evergreen foliage place the loblolly bay among the mag- nolias ; and, with the other species, it contri- butes to the ornament of the forests in the southern parts of the United States. It is less sensible to cold than the big laurel. (Michauz.) LOBLOLLY PINE (Pinus teda). See Fins. LOCKED-JAW. See Teranvs. LOCKING OF WHEELS. The means of fastening them so as to prevent their running too swiftly upon the horses, when coming down steep hills. This is effected in various ways; as by chains, sledges, friction-bars, &c. See Wueer, and Wacon. LOCULAR. A term in botany. A fruit is called unilocular if it contains but one cell, bi- locular if it contains two cells, and soon. In many instances, one or more of the cells are abortive, and become obliterated as the fruit ripens. LOCUST. A name given by the English to the large grasshoppers, but which, in the United States, and indeed almost universally, is applied to the group of insects which naturalists have termed Cicadians, and which are also called harvest-flies. These insects are readily distinguished by their broad heads, the large and very convex eyes on each side, and the three eyelets on the 3Q 6 733 LOCUST. crown; by the transparent and veined wing- covers and wings; and by the elevation on the back part of the thorax in the form of the letter X. The males have a peculiar organization, which enables them to emit an excessively loud buzzing kind of sound, which, in some species, may be heard at the distance of a mile; and the females are furnished with a curiously con- trived piercer, for perforating the limbs of trees, in which they place their eggs. The musical instruments of the male consist of a pair of kettle-drums, one on each side of the body, and these, in the seventeen-year Cicada (or locust, as it is generally but improperly called in Ameri- ca), are plainly to be seen just behind the wings. These drums are formed of convex pieces of parchment, covered with numerous fine plaits, and, in the species above named, are lodged in cavities on the sides of the body behind the thorax. They are not played upon with sticks, but by muscles or cords fastened to the inside of the drums. When these mus- cles contract and relax, which they do with great rapidity, the drum-heads are alternately tightened and loosened, recovering their natu- ral convexity by their own elasticity. The effect of this rapid alternate tension and relaxa- tion is the production of a rattling sound, like that caused by a succession of quick pressures upon a slightly convex and elastic piece of tin plate. Certain cavities within the body of the insect, which may be seen on raising two large valves beneath the belly, and which are sepa- rated from each other by thin partitions having the transparency and brilliancy of mica, or of thin and highly polished glass, tend to increase the vibrations of the sounds, and add greatly to their intensity. In most of our species of Ci- cada, the drums are not visible on the outside of the body, but are covered by convex trian- gular pieces on each side of the first ring be- hind the thorax, which must be cut away in order to expose them. On raising the large valves of the belly, however, there is seen, close to each side of the body, a little opening, like a pocket, in which the drum is lodged, and from which the sound issues when the insect opens the valves. The hinder extremity of the body of the female is conical, and the under-side has a longitudinal channel for the reception of the piercer, which is furthermore protected by four short grooved pieces fixed in the sides of the channel. The piercer itself consists of three parts in close contact with each other; namely, two outer ones grooved on the inside and en- larged at the tips, which externally are beset with small teeth like a saw, and a central, spear-pointed borer, which plays between the other two. Thus this instrument has the power and does the work both of an awl and of a dou- ble-edged saw, or rather of two key-hole saws cutting opposite to each other. No species of Cicada possesses the power of leaping. The legs are rather short, and the anterior thighs are armed beneath with two stout spines. The duration of life in winged insects is comparatively very short, seldom exceeding two or three weeks in extent, and in many is limited to the same number of days or hours. To increase and multiply is their principal bu- siness in this period of their existence, if not “34 LOCUST. the only one; and the natural term of their life ends when this is accomplished. In their pre- vious states, however, they often pass a much longer time, the length of which depends, in great measure, upon the nature and abundance of their food. Thus maggots, which subsist upon decaying animal or vegetable matter, come more quickly to their growth than cater- pillars and other insects which devour living plants: the former are appointed to remove an offensive nuisance, and to do their work quickly; the latter have a longer time assigned to them, corresponding in some degree to the progress or continuance of vegetation. The facilities afforded for obtaining food influence the dura tion of life; hence those grubs that live in the solid trunks of perennial trees, which they are obliged to perforate in order to obtain nourish- ment, are longer lived than those that devour the tender parts of leaves and fruits, which, though they last only for a season, require no laborious efforts to be prepared for food. The harvest-flies continue only a few weeks after their final transformation, and their only nour- ishment consists of vegetable juices, which they obtain by piercing the bark and leaves of plants with their beaks; and during this period they lay their eggs, and then perish. They are, however, amply compensated for the shortness of their life in the winged state by the length of their previous existence, during which they are wingless and grub-like in form, and live under ground, where they obtain their food only by much labour in perforating the soil among the roots of plants, the juices of which they imbibe by suction. To meet the difficulties of their situation and the precarious supply of their food, for which they have to grope in the dark in their subterranean retreats, a remarka- ble longevity is assigned to them; and one species has obtained the name of Cicada sep- tendecim, on account of its life being protracted to the period of seventeen years. Tis insect has been observed in the south- eastern parts of Massachusetts, but does not seem to have extended to other parts of the state. The earliest account that we have of it is contained in Morton’s Memorial, wherein itis stated that “there was a numerous com- pany of flies, which were like for bigness unto wasps or bumblebees,” which appeared in Ply- mouth in the spring of 1633. “'They came out of little holes in the ground, and did eat up the green things, and made such a constant yelling noise as made the woods ring of them, and ready to deafen the hearers.” Judge Davis, in the Appendix to his edition of Secretary Mor- ton’s Memorial, states that these insects ap- peared in Plymouth, Sandwich, and Falmouth in the year 1804; but, if the exact period of seventeen years was observed, they should have returned in 1803. Circumstances may occa- sionally accelerate or retard their progress to maturity, but the usual interval is certainly seventeen years, according to the observations and testimony of many persons of undoubted veracity. Their occurrence in large swarms at long intervals, like that of the migratory locusts of the East, probably suggested the name of locusts, which has commonly been applied to them in this country. It appears LOCUST. that these insects come forth at different places in different years. Dog-day Harvest-fly—Another species of har- vest-fly, though it does not make its appearance in such formidable numbers as the seventeen- years locust, is much more frequently met with. Dr. Harris calls it the dog-day harvest-fly (Cicada canicularis), from its invariably coming about the beginning of dog-days. “ During many years in succession,” says Dr. Harris, “with only one or two exceptions, I have heard this insect on the 25th day of July, for the first time in the season, drumming in the trees, on some part of the day between the hours of ten in the morning and two in the afternoon.” Dr. Harris describes about twenty other spe- cies of the locust family found in Massachu- setts, and concludes the subject in the follow- ing words: “ After so much space has been devoted to an account of the ravages of grasshoppers and locusts, and to the descriptions of the insects themselves, perhaps it may be expected that the means of checking and destroying them should be fully explained. The naturalist, however, seldom has it in his power to put in practice the various remedies which his know- ledge or experience may suggest. His proper province consists in examining the living ob- jects about him with regard to their structure, their scientific arrangement, and their economy or history. In doing this, he opens to others the way to a successful course of experiments, the trial of which he is generally obliged to leave to those who are more. favourably situ- ated for their performance. In the south of France the people make a business, at certain seasons of the year, of col- lecting locusts and their eggs, the latter being turned out of the ground in little masses, ce- mented and covered with a sort of gum, in which they are enveloped by the insects. Re- wards are offered and paid for their collection, half a frane being given for a kilogramme (about 2 lbs. 34 oz. avoirdupois) of the insects, and a quarter of a frane for the same weight of their eggs. At this rate 20,000 francs were paid in Marseilles, and 25,000 in Arles, in the year 1613; in 1824, 5,542; and in 1825, 6,200 francs were paid in Marseilles. It is stated that an active boy can collect from 6 to 7 kilo- grammes (or from 13 Ibs. 3 oz. 13:22 dr. to 15 Ibs. 7 oz. 2:09 dr.) of eggs in one day. The locusts are taken by means of a piece of stout cloth, carried by four persons, two of whom draw it rapidly along, so that the edge may sweep over the surface of the soil, and the two others hold up the cloth behind at an angle of 45 degrees. This contrivance seems to ope- rate somewhat like a horse-rake, in gathering the insects into winrows or heaps, from which they are speedily transferred to large sacks. A somewhat similar plan has been successfully tried in this country, as appears by an account extracted from the Portsmouth Journal, and published in the New England Farmer, vol. v. p- 5. It is there stated that, in July, 1826, Mr. Arnold Thompson, of Epsom, New Hampshire, LOCUST. fields, 5 bushels and 3 pecks of grasshoppers, or, more properly, locusts. ‘His mode of catch- ing them was by attaching two sheets together, and fastening them to a pole, which was used as the front part of the drag. The pole extended beyond the width of the sheets, so as to admit persons at both sides to draw it forward. At the sides of the drag, braces extended from the pole to raise the back part considerably from the ground, so that the grasshoppers could not escape. After running the drag about a dozen rods with rapidity, the braces were taken out, and the sheets doubled over; the grasshoppers were then swept from each end towards the centre of the sheet, where was left an opening to the mouth of a bag which held about half a bushel; when deposited and tied up, the drag was again opened and ready to proceed. When this bag was filled so as to become burdensome (their weight is about the same as that of the same measure of corn), the bag was opened into a larger one, and the grasshoppers received into a new deposit. The drag can be used only in the evening, when the grasshoppers are perched on the top of the grain. His manner of destroying them was by dipping the large bags into a kettle of boiling water. When boiled, they had a reddish appearance, and made a fine feast for the farmer’s hogs.’ When these insects are very prevalent on our salt marshes, it will be advisable to mow the grass early, so as to secure a crop before it has suf- fered much loss. The time for doing this will be determined by data furnished in the forego- ing pages, where it will be seen that the most destructive species come to maturity during the latter part of July. If, then, the marshes are mowed about the first of July, the locusts, being at that time small and not provided with wings, will be unable to migrate, and will con- sequently perish on the ground for the want of food, while a tolerable crop of hay will be secured, and the marshes will suffer less from the insects during the following summer. This, like all other preventive measures, must be generally adopted, in order to prove effectual ; for it will avail a farmer but little to take pre- ventive measures on his own land, if his neigh- bours, who are equally exposed and interested, neglect to do the same. Among the natural means which seem to be appointed to keep these insects in check, violent winds and storms may be mentioned, which sometimes sweep them off in great swarms, and cast them into the sea. Vast numbers are drowned by the high tides that frequently inundate our marshes. They are subject to be attacked by certain thread-like brown or blackish worms (Filaria), resembling in appearance those called horse- hair eels (Gordius). I have taken three or four of these animals out of the body of a single locust. They are also much infested by litte red mites, belonging apparently to the genus Ocypete: these so much weaken the insects by sucking the juices from their bodies, as to hasten their death. Ten or a dozen of these mites will frequently be found pertinaciously adhering to the body of a locust, beneath its wing-covers and wings. A kind of sand-wasp caught in one evening, between the hours of 8| preys upon grasshoppers, and provisions her and 12, in his own and his neighbour’s grain-| nest with them. Many birds devour them, par- 735 LOCUST-BORER. ticularly our domestic fowls, which eat great numbers of grasshoppers, locusts, and even crickets. Young turkeys, if allowed to go at large during the summer, derive nearly the whole of their subsistence from these insects.” (Harris’s Treatise on Insects.) In England, Locust is the common name of a species of insects forming a group or sub- genus of the gryllus of Linneus. They have coloured elytra, and large wings, disposed, when at rest, in straight, fan-like folds, as in other orthoptera, and frequently exhibiting bright blue, green, or red colours. The thorax is capacious, to afford room for the powerful muscles of the wings, and is marked in many species with one or more crests, or wart-like prominences. The locusts fly by starts, but frequently rise to a considerable height. Cer- tain species, called “migratory locusts,” unite in incalculable numbers, and emigrate, resem- bling, in their passage through the air, a dense cloud: wherever they alight, all signs of vegeta- tion quickly disappear, and cultivated grounds are left a desert. One species (Acridiwn migra- torium, Latr.), occasionally commits devasta- tions in the south of Europe and Poland; and stragglers have sometimes reached England, a circumstance which happened in 1748: but they soon perished. To our ideas of the asso- ciation of insects, the swarms of locusts which have occasionally appeared in oriental coun- tries seem almost incredible. Major Moor states that a flight which ravaged the Mahratta coun- try, and which he saw at Poonah, extended ina dense column 500 miles, and hid the sun like an eclipse. On that occasion, the natives fried and ate them. The devastation which they make is forcibly described by the prophet Joel: “The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness.” LOCUST-BORER. See Borens. LOCUST, HONEY or SWEET. See Honey Locust. LOCUST TREE (Hymenea, from Hymen, the god of marriage; in reference to the two leaflets). The species of locust tree are highly ornamental; they delight to grow in loam and peat, and cuttings will root in sand under a glass in heat. The young plants should be planted out in the autumn of the second year, cutting them down within three inches of the ground. They must be preserved from the at- tacks of hares and rabbits, which are very destructive to them. See Acacta. LOCUST TREE CATERPILLARS. These are produced from the eggs of a butterfly be- longing to a tribe which, from their habit of flying but a short distance at a time with a jerking motion, have acquired the name of skippers (Hesperiade or Hesperians). They frequent grassy places, low bushes, and thick- ets. When they alight, they usually keep the hind-wings spread out horizontally, and the fore-wings partially closed, but not entirely so, as in other butterflies. The Tityrus skipper (Eudamus tityrus), and its offspring, are thus described by Dr. Harris. “Wings brown; first pair with a transverse, semi-transparent band across the middle, and a few spots towards the tip, of a honey-yellow colour; hind-wings with a short rounded tail 736 LOOSENESS. on the hind angles, and a broad silvery band across the middle of the under-side. Expands from 2 to 24 inches. “This large and beautiful insect makes its appearance, from the middle of June till after the beginning of July, upon sweet-scented flowers, which it visits during the middle of the day. Its flight is vigorous and rapid, and its strength is so great that it cannot be cap- tured without danger of its being greatly de- faced in its struggles to escape. The females lay their eggs, singly, on the leaves of the common locust tree (Robinia pseudacacia), and on those of the viscid locust (Robinia viscosa), which is much cultivated here as an orna- mental tree. The caterpillars are hatched in July, and when quite small conceal themselves under a fold of the edge of a leaf, which is bent over their bodies and secured by means of silken threads. When they become larger, they attach two or more leaves together, so as to form a kind of cocoon or leafy case to shel- ter them from the weather, and to screen them from the prying eyes of birds. The full-grown caterpillar. which attains to the length of about two inches, is of a pale green colour, trans- versely streaked with darker green, with a red neck, a very large head roughened with minute tubercles, slightly indented or furrowed above, and of a dull red colour, with a large yellow spot on each side of the mouth. Although there may be, and often are, many of these caterpillars on the same tree and branch, yet they all live separately within their own cases. One end of the leafy case is left open, and from this the insect comes forth to feed. They eat only, or mostly, in the night, and keep themselves closely concealed by day. These caterpillars are very cleanly in their habits, and make no dirt in their habitations, but throw it out with a sudden jerk, so that it shall fall at a considerable distance. They frequently transform to chrysalids within the same leaves which have served them for a habitation, but more often quit the trees and construct in some secure place a cocoon of leaves or fragments of stubble, the interior of which is lined with a loose web of silk. They remain in their cocoons without further change throughout the winter, and are transformed to butterflies in the following summer. The vis- cid locust tree is sometimes almost completely stripped of its leaves by these insects, or pre- sents only here and there the brown and wither- ed remains of foliage, which has served asa temporary shelter to the caterpillars. For the modes adopted to destroy these, see Carer- PILLARS. LOLIUM. See Ryz-Gnrass. LONDON PRIDE. See Saxirrace. LONDON ROCKET. See Hepexr-Musrann, LONG-HORNED CATTLE. A breed of neat cattle now nearly extinct, chiefly distin- guished by the length of the horn, the thick- ness and firm texture of the hide, the length and closeness of the hair, the large size of the hoof, and the coarse, leathery thickness of the neck. See Carrie. LOOPERS. See Spay-worms. LOOSENESS. See Diarnuaa, and Drs- EASES OF Carrie anv SHEEP. LOOSESTRIFE. LOOSESTRIFE (Lysimachia, from lusis, dis- solution, and mache, strife). A very pretty ge- nus of plants, with mostly yellow flowers. All the species are of the easiest culture, and may be propagated by divisions, except L. dubia and ZL. Linwm-stellatum, which must be in- creased by seeds. Great yellow loosestrife (Z. vulgaris), grows in watery, shady places, particularly the reedy margins of rivers. The root is creeping; stems 3 or 4 feet high. Wood leosestrife, or yellow pimpernel (L. nemorum). This species, which is one of the elegant though not uncommon English plants, inhabits woods and shady, rather watery places. The stems are creeping at the base, decum- bent, often pendant from banks and rocks. Creeping loosestrife. Money-wort or herb twopence (ZL. mummularia). This is a hand- some free-flowering plant, which, from its trail- ing habit, is well fitted for decorating rock- work. It grows wild in wet meadows, boggy pastures, and the borders of rivulets. The herbage is smooth, of a pale green; stems quite prostrate, creeping, a foot or two inlength; leaves somewhat heart-shaped; flowers soli- tary, pale lemon-coloured, rather larger than the last species; stamens glandular. It flowers from June to August, and affords a wholesome food for cattle, especially sheep. On account of its sub-acid and mildly astringent proper- ties, it is considered as one of the most effica- cious vulnerary herbs. Bechstein asserts that the leaves and flowers of this plant, steeped in oil, furnish an excellent remedy for destroying the worms and insects infesting the floors of granaries. LOPPED MILK. Provincially, milk that has stood till it has become sour and curdled. LOPPING. The operation of cutting off the lateral or other branches of trees. See Pruy- inc and PranTarions. LOTUS. See Birns’-roor Trerott. LOUSINESS. In farriery, an affection of the skin, arising, in cattle or other animals, from the irritation of lice or other animalcule, which may be distinguished by the naked eye. Most animals, and even insects, are subject to this annoyance. Lousiness in live-stock is produced by neglect and low keep. The best remedy is more attention to cleanliness, with better food. The lice may be killed by a dress- ing applied with a brush to the chief affected parts, composed of four ounces of black sul- phur, mixed with a pint of train oil, or a small portion of weak mercurial ointment. LOUSE-WORT. See Rarrte. LOVAGE (Ligusticum, so named because some of the species grow in Liguria). - - 500 Bones 10 _ _ - -— 650 = 6 — _ i- = 640 _ 2 _ =— - - 560 Hog-dung, 60 one-horse cart-loads - - - 7H Yard-compost, 60 one-horse cart-load - - 300 _ 120 = — - - 480 _. 30 _ _ - - 140 These experiments are useful, as indicating the comparative value of each fertilizer, al- though the quantities employed were evidently excessive. Mr. Hewitt Davis, of Spring Park, near Croydon, finds 6 tons of night-soil, mixed with peat, to be amply sufficient for an acre of ground. He thinks this manure the best for turnips. Night-soil is, however, in spite of all the obstacles of prejudice and inattention, much more extensively used in the neighbour- hood of the large manufacturing towns of the north of England than it was formerly. Mr. Dixon, of Hathershaw, in Lancashire, thus de- scribes his mode of using it. “ For the con- veyance of night-soil and urine, we have the largest and strongest casks, such as oils are imported in; the top of each is provided with a funnel to put the matters through, and the casks are fixed on wheels like those of a com- mon dung-cart. I am fully aware that there are many localities where neither peat nor night-soil can be readily obtained; but it is worth a farmer’s while to go even more than 20 miles for the latter substance, provided he can have it without deterioration: the original cost is often trifling. Ona farm where turnips ormangel-wurzel are cultivated to some extent, the system here recommended will be almost incalculably advantageous. A single horse is sufficient for one carriage; mine holds upwards of a ton each; 6 tons of this manure in com- post with peat, or, if that is not convenient, any other matters, such as ditch-scourings, or high headlands which have been properly prepared and laid dry in a heap for some time, would be amply sufficient for an acre of turnips or mangel. This manure is by far the most in- vigorating of any I have ever yet tried. Bones in any state will bear no comparison as a help for any crop; but it must be remembered that I write on the supposition that it has not been reduced in strength before it is fetched.” There have been various patents granted in France for the preparation of manure from night-soil, several of which have proved very successful. The poudrette, or dried night-soil, first prepared by M. Bridet, was found, after repeated trials, to be a very powerful dressing for land; 240 Ibs. of this powder producing effects equal to 8 loads of stable manure. This substance has been recently examined by Pro- fessor Hermstadt, who reports it to be a perfect substitute for common dung; that it is most NIPPERS. efficacious in wet seasons; and that in dry seasons it is less useful upon sandy soils than upon greasy clays. There is no doubt but that very excellent composts may be made from night-soil; and, in fact, several are now prepared in London, on a very bold scale, for the service of the farmer; but the success of these is usually impeded by the preparers pro- fessing that their preparations may be used in quantities much too small. Then, again, one or two patents have been taken out in England for artificial manures, by persons who were evidently very grossly ignorant of what they professed to understand. (Johnson on the Fer- tilizers, p. 92.) See Fanm-Yarp Manure; Ma- NURES APPLICABLE BY THE Dritt; Urine. WIPPERS. A term applied to the four teeth in the fore part/of the horse’s mouth, two in the upper and two in the lower jaw: they are put forth between the second and third years. Nippers, in farriery, are the pincers which the smiths use in shoeing. NITRATES OF POTASH AND SODA. Two salts lately much employed in agricul- ture. The first (nitrate of potash) is known in commerce under the name of saltpetre, and is principally procured from the East Indies, where it is found on the surface of the ground, especially in the district of Tirhit, in Bengal. It also abounds in Ceylon, Persia, Egypt, and even in Spain; but that which is brought to England comes chiefly from India in an impure State, and contains about 70 per cent. of pure nitre. It, however, varies in quality; but the average loss in the purification is generally about 15 to 20 per cent. Nitre is also formed by artificial composts in various parts of Eu- rope. When pure, nitre is composed of nitric acid 54°15 parts, or 1 equivalent; and potash 47:15 parts, or 1 equivalent; or 52:9 per cent. of acid + 47-1 of alkali = 100. Nitrate of soda, which is known as cubic petre, is obtained chiefly from Peru, where it is found in a thick stratum, at an elevation of 3500 feet above the level of the Pacific Ocean. (Dar- win’s Researches, p. 443.) It is sold, it seems, at the ship’s side on the coast of Peru, at 14s. per cwt. It is composed of nitric acid 62:1 parts, and potash 379 parts. It is only in modern days that saltpetre has been extensively employed as a fertilizer; for it is not long that the nitre of commerce has been produced in quantities sufficiently large and reasonable to enable the farmer to profita- bly use itas a manure. That the knowledge of its enriching qualities, however, is not a modern discovery, is too self-evident to be doubted. Virgil (Georgics, lib. i. v. 193, 195) recommends it to the Italian farmers as an ex- cellent addition to the dregs of olive oil, to form a steep to cause the seed-grain to swell and vegetate with vigour; and from his days to our own, hardly an agricultural writer has omitted to notice its powers. The very first English author who wrote upon husbandry, in 1532, Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, describes it as having the power to insure to the farmer the most abundant crops. And in 1570, a learned German counsellor, Heresbaschius, in his Trea- tise upon Rural Affairs, describes the use of this salt as not_an uncommon. dressing in his time NITRATES, for coleworts. A century afterwards, Evelyn, in his Discourse on Earth, told the farmers of his age that if they could but obtain a plentiful supply of saltpetre, they would “need but little other compost to meliorate their ground.” And even Jethro Tull, in the early part of the last century, who denied very zealously the neces- sary use of manures of all kinds—even Tull placed nitre at the head of his list of those substances which he deemed to be the essential food of plants. Saltpetre, therefore, must not be regarded as a modern introduction into agriculture; for it has long been used in limited quantities by previous generations of cultivators, who, like us, were content to notice the effects which it produces, without being able to exactly com- prehend its mode of action. It is idle to merely substitute words in ex- planation of unknown effects, and to say that saltpetre is a stimulant, or that it yields nitro- gen to the plant; and there is little evidence of its entering into the composition of any of the more commonly cultivated crops: there is, therefore, but a slight probability of its being a direct food of the plants to which the farmer usually applies it. The only common excep- tion is that of barley, in which a minute por- tion of cubic petre (nitrate of soda) is found to exist. But although these nitrates have not been detected in the farmer’s crops, yet they are known to exist in many plants, most likely as essential ingredients. Thus saltpetre is found in the common horse-radish, in the nettle, and the sunflower. M. Chevalier discovered it in the Chenopodiwm olidum; M. Vauquelin in the deadly nightshade. Dr. John found it in the Mesembryanthemum crystallinum; M. Chevreul in woad. The growth of the sunflower is mate- rially promoted by watering it with a weak solution of this salt. It languishes in soils which do not naturally contain it; but when the salt is added to the earth, then it immediately makes its appearance in the plant in the usual proportions. And although we are not aware of its exist- ence in the ordinary field-crops, yet still it may beneficially exist in them, and exert a consi- derable influence at certain periods of their growth, although in minute proportions: and, notwithstanding we have no direct evidence of the fact, it is not unlikely that its presence may tend to vary, in the vegetable world, the essentially present combinations of nitrogen, in a way which the skilful investigations of the chemist have not yet succeeded in tracing. Such researches, however, have already proved that nitrogen (of which, with oxygen, the acid of saltpetre is formed) performs a much more important part in vegetable economy than was once supposed; and many facts are already apparent which should encourage us to perse- vere in the examination. For instance, it has been observed by the farmer that these two ni- trates (the base of whose acid is nitrogen) havea very powerful effect in adding to the deep green colour of plants. Now, this is precisely the effect produced by other fertilizers, which also contain nitrogen; such as gelatine, urine, oils, blood, soot, fish, &c. In fact, Il am not awaru 43B2 845 NITRATES OF of any manure producing this rapid, darkly- green, luxuriant growth, from which nitrogen is absent. Saltpetre is naturally generated on the earth’s surface under favourable circum- stances, and in situations much more frequent than the farmer is wont to suspect. Wherever ammonia is copiously generated, as in stables, farm-yards, &c., and wherever the nitrogen, which forms a component portion of ammonia, at the moment of its extrication has access to potash or calcareous matter, there saltpetre is usually formed. This is naturally done so copiously, in some of those situations in which the farmer is placed, as to form fine crystalline exudations on the walls; and it is in such places that those plants which abound in salt- petre, as the nettle, the horse-radish, &c., com- monly flourish with uncommon luxuriance. It has been proved by those who gather the salt- petre from the earth’s surface in southern Africa and Hindostan, as well as by those who prepare the artificial saltpetre beds in Spain from the sweepings of the streets of Madrid, that nothing more is requisite for the forma- tion of saltpetre in these beds of earth, than the presence of a certain proportion of decompos- ing animal and vegetable matters, with some potash, and calcareous matter. Now all these essentials for the formation of saltpetre must in many situations be afforded by the farmer’s own soils. There are, in fact, many lands in the cultivator’s possession where, especially in dry summers, the formation of saltpetre in minute proportions is continually taking place; where the putrefaction of animal matters must in small proportions be productive of ammo- nia; and where an abundance of potash is al- ready existing in the soil to neutralize the nitric acid produced, and form with it nitrate of potash or saltpetre. For it has been ascer- tained that if, at the moment when nitrogen is evolved, it is presented with oxygen gas, that it combines with it, and forms nitric acid. Here, then, we have explained to us the origin of the acid of the nitre, and we know that its base, or potash, is to be found in some form or other in all cultivated soils. And if we admit that this must in some instances be the case, then we shall be furnished with a ready explanation of many of the difficulties and discordant results which have attended the recent very general application of these two nitrates, since the fact that saltpetre has commonly been found to produce the least results upon those deep, rich, alluvial soils which must abound in decom- posing organic matters, in some degree coun- tenances the conclusion, as does the smallness of the quantity of saltpetre applied; for, if once we concede the possibility of the soil, under favourable circumstances, being able to gene- rate this salt, then it will be allowed that one cwt. per acre is not a large crop for the soil to produce. That in this way it is generated in some of the richest soils of the East, to such an extent as to cover thesurface with a white incrustation, is known to every oriental tra- veller. Toa still greater extent is the land in those countries impregnated in many situa- tions with the nitrate of lime, a salt which, possessing the same acid as nitre and cubic nitre, has lime instead of potash or soda for 846 POTASH AND SODA. its base; and from some experiments which I have made, I have little doubt but this nitrate, which is of much less cost than either the ni- trates of potash or soda, will be found a valu- able agent for the use of the cultivator. For its excessive deliquescent or moistening pro- perties, which render it so unmanageable for many manufacturing purposes, make it more valuable to the cultivator of the poor, dry, thirsty soils, where artificial fertilizers are most in request. If nitrate of lime was import- ed at a reasonable rate, the farmer could rea- dily, if he wished, make his own cubic petre, at a very low price, by mixing the nitrate of lime with glauber salts (sulphate of soda), by which means a rapid decomposition takes place, the result of which is nitrate of soda (cubic petre) and sulphate of lime (gypsum), The inferior, impure, refuse glauber salts, made by the cotton bleachers in the preparation of their bleaching powder, would answer for this purpose very well. My experience of the enriching powers of saltpetre extends over several years. My ear- liest experiments were made in the kitchen and flower garden, in which I found very con- siderable advantage in increasing the beauty and in prolonging the bloom of several of the tenants of the latter; and in the former I found excellent results from applying it at the rate of 2 cwt. per acre to my beds of horse-radish, and in very small proportions, as one-eighth of an ounce per gallon, to the water with which I watered, to prevent mildew, &c., my early and late crops of pease, wall-fruit trees, &c. My experience with it as a field crop has been principally confined to the gravels of Essex and the chalks of Hampshire and Berkshire, in which, especially upon grass, I have ob- tained results exceedingly satisfactory. In 1840, I tried it upon the old clay grass soils of Knitbury, in Berkshire, with various other manures; Ist, at the rate of 1 cwt. per acre; 2d, nitrate of soda, 1} cwt. per acre; 3d, Poit- tevin’s manure, 14 bushels per acre; 4th, gyp- sum, 13 cwt. per acre; 5th, nitrate of soda, 1} cwt., and gypsum 14 cwt. per acre. These were all applied by hand in the month of April; but although they all produced a better crop than the soil simple, yet the extreme dryness of the season operated very materially against the success of almost all artificial dressings, and the produce of the whole plot was much below an average crop. Nos. 1, 4, and 5 were decidedly the best, producing at the rate of rather more than 2 tons of hay per acre; while the produce of the soil simple was less than 22 cwt. per acre. The grasses were of the ordinary kinds tenanting the upland pastures, mixed with a considerable portion of nearly worn-out roots of lucern, which, in the plot No. 4, gypsum alone, and in No. 5, gypsum and cubic petre mixed, was revived by the ap- plication to a very remarkable degree; its plants nearly doubling in height any other por- tion of the land. In some experiments, at which I was pre- sent, on the barley and wheat land of the chalk formation in the neighbourhood of Winchester, the effect of the saltpetre was excellent; the green colour of the crops was rendered much NITRATES OF more deep, and the increased produce far more than compensated for the expense of the salt- petre. And the same success attended its ap- plication to both red clover and sainfoin on the down lands; but when I tried saltpetre at the same rate per acre on the lawn of a rich old garden, whose earth was also principally chalk, there was no perceptible effect pro- duced, even in the colour of the grass. This soil abounded in decomposing organic matters, was within reach of the soot and other ammo- niacal matters of the city of Winchester, and, I have little doubt, in minute proportions al- ready contained saltpetre. In fact, almost all the successful experiments with saltpetre have been made on light, poor land. Those of Mr. Lightfoot were on the gravels of Hertfordshire, which have a substratum of chalk; and yet he produced with 1 cwt. per acre of saltpetre effects more than equal to those produced by folding the land with sheep. And when Mr. Beadel, of Witham, tried it on the Essex clays, it produced hardly any effect, except increas- ing the colour of the wheat; but when he used the same quantity (1 cwt. per acre) on his light barley land, after Swedish turnips, the increase was 15 bushels of barley and 640 lbs. of straw per acre; and on a sandy field of oats, the in- crease from its application was 20 bushels of oats and half a load of straw. The successful experiments of Mr. Kimberley, of Trotsworth, on clover, in which he produced with 1 ewt. per acre of nitre results fully equal to that from 25 cubic yards of horse-dung, were upon the sandy lands of Surrey, “of moderate quality.” Mr. Everitt, of North Creake, bears out en- tirely these conclusions, when he applauds its use “upon all light, warm soils,” but predicts that, “on cold clay land, on an average of sea- sons, it will not more than repay the outlay ;” and yet this excellent farmer had no reason to be dissatisfied with his success, having ob- tained from an application of 1 cwt. of salt- petre to “good light land,” an increase of 64 bushels of wheat. The experiments of Mr. R. Harvey, of Harlstone, entirely confirm those of Mr. Everitt; and in the Report of the Harl- stone Farmers’ Club, in 1839, it is stated to be “the unanimous opinion of the meeting,” that saltpetre was excellent in its effects on heavy clover layers, but that on light land it was highly beneficial to “wheat, clover, and other layers and tares.” One of my neighbours, too, an excellent farmer of Essex, in 1839, found on the fine, light barley soils of his farm the following re- sults from top-dressing his barley with 1 cwt. per acre of saltpetre, compared with the soil undressed, dressed with night-soil, with sprats, and with farm-yard manure :— Te Qrs. Bushels. The soil, simple, yielded - - - eri 4h Dressed with 1 cwt. of saltpetre = ms, 16 6 Dressed with 50 bushels of sprats per acre, ploughedin = - - - - - ey i 1 Dressed with 20 bushels per acre of disin- fected night-soil (Poittevin’s) - a5 4. Dressed with 10 loads of farm manure per Hereecy= 9 = f= SiS) See 6 I have noticed, also (and the same remark applies to cubic petre), that the effect of salt- péetre is the soonest apparent when it is finely powdered. and spread on the land in moist POTASH AND SODA. weather. The explanation of this must, per- haps, be found in the superior rapidity with which, in such seasons, it mixes with the soil. The cultivator will remember that moist weather is also the best adapted for the appli- cation of other top-dressings, such as gypsum and soot. I have found in the application of crushed bones to grass lands, that they never produce such good effects as when rolled into the soil by a heavy roller, when the ground is softened by wet weather. The Staffordshire farmers will readily attest the same fact. If long-continued dry weather succeeds the appli- cation of the nitrates to clover, the leaves of the grass, wherever the powdered nitrate has fallen, become covered with yellowish spots. The application, too, of either nitre or cubic nitre to grass renders it much more attractive to live-stock, who, if turned into a grass field only partially dressed with either, will almost invariably resort to the portion of the land dressed with the nitrates. This is one argu- ment in favour of the conclusion that these salts are in minute proportions absorbed by the crops to which they are applied. We know that this is the case with other saline manures, such as gypsum (sulphate of lime) and com- mon salt; and every cultivator who has dressed his grass with either salt or gypsum will attest how decidedly his live-stock prefer the grass so treated to every other portion of the same field. The effect of cubic petre as a fertilizer for heavy soils, seems to be rather more favoura- ble, as far as my observations extend, than that of saltpetre; and in this I am confirmed by the observations of many of my neighbours. Yet still Iam of opinion that, in the great ma- jority of instances, both the cubic petre and the saltpetre will be found much more valua- ble top-dressings for light lands than for the heavier soils; and Iam not much inclined to alter my opinion from the results of many of the carefully observed experiments of the very dry season of 1840; for in such periods it is almost hopeless to expect that any kind of top- dressing will produce results such as may serve to guide us in our future practice. Thus, in seasons such as the last, I have repeatedly witnessed the failure of top-dressings of all kinds ; not only of the salts, such as lime and salt, gypsum and soot, and malt coombs, but even of the richest manure. My neighbours in Essex know very well that if a dry summer follows the application of their sprats (perhaps the most powerful of all animal manures), the application is entirely useless. In my own experiments with nitrate of soda I have inva- riably found the most excellent effects produced by its application to barley at the rate of 1} cwt. per acre, sown broadcast, as finely divided as possible, soon after the young plants were be- ginning to show themselves above ground. The soils on which these experiments were made were the barley soils of Hampshire and Essex; and the same increase to the green colour of the crop, and a similar large increase to the produce of seed which my neighbours experienced, resulted from my own experi- ments. The clover also, which was sown with the barley in most instances, seemed to derive a considerable benefit from the dressing; and 847 NITRATES OF I have noticed on more than one occasion, the advantage of sowing the cubic petre in moist weather. In the dry summer of 1840, the effect of the cubic petre was very inferior to that produced by it on similar land and crops in 1838 and 1839—an effect which entirely Supports my conclusions with regard to the inefficacy of all top-dressings in periods of long-continued dry weather. Of this opinion, too, is a very excellent and extensive farmer of Surrey. Mr. Hewitt Davis noticed too the effect on some of the clays as well as the sands of Surrey in 1840,—that the effect of cubic petre upon young wheats at the rate of 14 cwt. per acre was excellent, not only in producing a very deep green colour, but in inducing a very con- siderable rankness of growth. But then, in his experience and observations, he has no- ticed that the wheat thus dressed has a stronger tendency to blight than that growing on the adjoining lands. On his farms, however, this rankness of growth is not felt as an evil; for on all soils, heavy as well as light, he practises an excellent system of thin sowing, the effect of which, as I can attest, is excellent in pro- ducing most abundant crops; either on the poor, hungry, black gravels and sands of Ad- dington in Surrey, or on the tenacious clays of Sussex, he never drills more than 5 pecks of seed wheat per acre at intervals of 12 inches. It. is true that by this plan the appearance of the wheat during the winter months is not so vigorous as many farmers would at first sight approve ; but the plants gradually get together, stool out very abundantly, have all their ears of auniform length; the produce is abundant, the sample generally excellent, and rarely sub- ject to blight. These valuable experiments of Mr. Davis entirely confirm those which I have been in- duced to make on several occasions, and may, in a great measure, perhaps, serve to explain some of the discordant results of the recent extensive, and, in the majority of instances, successful experiments, with nitrate of soda and saltpetre, as a top-dressing for wheat, bar- ley, and oats. For in a great many instances where the cubic petre has failed to produce advantageous results, the seed has been sown in rather large quantities; the corn, therefore, by the action of the salt becomes darkly green, grows with great luxuriance—is perhaps too thick on the ground; and the farmer, as a natural consequence, finds that the nitrated corn has a tendency to mildew. In the first number of the second volume of the Jowrnal of the Royal Agricultural Sociely of England, there is a mass of valuable information, collected by Mr. Barclay, which illustrates very considera- bly these observations on the advantages of thin sowing; such as the experiments of Mr. Barker, Mr. Hyett, and others. And although Tam not prepared to contend that the effects of these two powerful salts will be in all cases the most apparent on thin-sown corn, yet I am much inclined to think that the farmer will find that this is very often indeed the case. In most soils there is to be found a certain proportion of carbonate of potash, and in many it exists in sufficient quantity to decompose the 848 POTASH AND SODA. nitrate of soda, and form nitrate of potash and carbonate of soda. This may, perhaps, serve to account, in some instances, for the varying results obtained in some apparently similar soils from the application of the nitrate of soda, and may be one reason amongst others why moisture is found to be so essentially necessary for the beneficial action of cubic nitre; for it is a chemical axiom, that to produce any chemical action between two substances, one of them must be in a fluid state, perfectly dry sub- stances hardly ever producing any chemical action on each other. Such, then, are the results of the long-con- tinued experiments and observations upon nitre and cubic nitre which I have been able to make, and to suggest to others to re-examine and verify; and such, too, are, I think, the rea- sonable conclusions to be derived from our united experience. In pursuing a path so novel, and so exten- sive, it need hardly astonish us that there are yet several sources of error to be avoided, de- ceptive appearances to be scrutinized, and ad- ditional experiments needed, before we can expect to arrive at the knowledge of the best and most economical modes of applying these two valuable nitrates. The soils to which they are best adapted, and the causes of their not always producing even on apparently similar soils the same powerful effects, are amongst the objects of inquiry to which I have alluded in this paper. The advocates, however, of these saline manures have no need to com- plain of the progress which they have made; for admitting that on some soils they have apparently produced but trifling effects, and on other soils hardly any, yet still in the multitude of instances they have amply repaid the farmer for his outlay. There is no other instance, per- haps, of such a rapid introduction of a saline manure into agriculture, as that of the modern, extensive, and increasing use of cubic petre by the farmers of Great Britain; and if we only pause to remember the difficulties of experi- mental researches like those, exposed, as all examinations of the process of vegetation of necessity are, to innumerable sources of error, we shall find no reason to complain of the suc- cess of its introduction, or of the talent and enterprize with which the farmers of England have conducted their valuable experiments. There are many experiments with these two salts to be met with in the agricultural journals of the last few years. 1, Memorandum of saltpetre, nitrate of soda, and common salt, used as top-dressings in the south-east garden park, of a lightish land, well drained, 11th April, 1840, on pasture laid down with grain in 1839: one acre sown with 14 cwt. of nitrate of soda, measured and marked as such; then a piece of one rood, without any dressing; again, one acre sown with 14 cwt. of saltpetre; next to this half an acre dressed with three-fourths of a cwt. of common salt. Result.—In little more than a fortnight after this, having had some favourable showers, there was an extraordinary change on the two distinct acres dressed with saltpetre and nitrate of soda, as compared with the rest of the field. The grass continued to grow on these divisions NITRATES OF much stronger, close, and of an infinitely richer and darker colour; and the cattle lying much upon it, seemed very fond of it. This superior appearance continued through May and June, and perhaps later. The grass was, after this, eaten so close that no difference could be no- ticed, if any existed; it was particularly and frequently observed ‘in September, October, November, and now, 8th December; and no difference was then, or is now, perceptible be- tween the ground dressed with saltpetre and what was not so dressed. The pasture seemed equally benefited by the nitrate of soda as by the saltpetre ; and as the latter cost in propor- tion to the former as 30s. to 20s. per cwt., there can be no question of preferring the nitrate of soda. No improvement could be perceived to have taken place from the dressings of com- mon salt. 2. Another trial was made on pasture of the second year, in the lawn, on light land and dry, 14th April, 1840; one acre, measured and marked, sown with 14 cwt. of saltpetre; ad- joining this, one acre sown with 14 ewt. of common salt; and next, one acre, measured and marked, sown with 14 cwt. of nitrate of soda. Result.—Every remark applicable to the ex- periments in the south-east garden park applies equally to this. In both, in the different breadths sown by the cast of the hand where the two breadths joined, and the ground had got an extra quantity, the grass was richer and darker, showing that 13 ewt. per acre is not an over- dressing, whether of saltpetre or of nitrate of soda. 3. Memorandum of dressings of saltpetre, common salt, and of nitrate of soda, on the 16th of April, on oats already brairded in Stott’s Fauld, partly on well drained, dry, and partly on light land; one acre and fifteen falls, mea- sured and marked, sown with saltpetre at the rate of 13 cwt. per acre; next to this, one acre and fifteen falls, dressed with common salt in the same proportion; next to this, one acre and fifteen falls, sown at the same rate with the nitrate of soda. Result.—It was long before any effect was perceived on any of the oats dressed as above. About the end of June a difference was per- ceived on the acre and fifteen falls sown with saltpetre, which had previously shown worm- ing, and then came away darker and stronger, and became a heavy crop of oats and straw. The acre and fifteen falls dressed with nitrate of soda never seemed to be benefited by the dressing. Being an inferior, light, sandy soil, with a red, irony bottom, it was injured by the early drought, and never recovered; the salt here, as on the pastures, seemed to have no effect. 4. Memorandum of dressings of saltpetre and nitrate of soda, in Laughlan Glenfield, princi- pally strong clay, thorough-drained, and sub- soil-ploughed, 26th April, 1840, on red clover, &c., for green cutting: one acre, measured and marked, sown with saltpetre, at the rate of 14 ewt. and 2} cwt. of nitrate of soda, were sown here in the same proportion. Result—The clover, &c., seemed equally benefited by the saltpetre and by the nitrate of soda; and, compared with what was not 107 POTASH AND SODA. dressed, the improvement was very percepti- ble in about a fortnight, and it became a much darker, stronger, and heavier crop than in that part of the field not dressed, and it was ready for cutting fully ten days earlier. It was not weighed, but it is believed there was from one- third to one-half more on the ground dressed than where it was not. The second cutting did not show a better crop than where it was not dressed. Nearly an acre was dressed with ni- trate of soda after the first cutting, on the 10th of August, where one had before been applied, but it did not seem to do much good. 5. Memorandum of dressing of saltpetre and nitrate of soda on some winter-sown wheat in Bridge Park, on clay land, thorough-drained, and subsoil-ploughed, 20th April, 1840. First Lot.—Twenty falls, measured and marked, dressed with 28 Ibs. of nitrate of soda. Produce: Wheat 7 bushels, 174 lbs., or per acre (by an acre a Scotch acre is meant throughout, and a Scotch acre is about one-fifth longer than a statute acre; and by “a fall,” a perch of land), 58 bushels, 26 lbs.; straw 64 stones, 18 Ibs., or per acre 518 stones. Weight of wheat per bushel, 1574 lbs. Sold to baker for 28s. Second Lot.—Twenty falls, measured and marked, sown with 28 Ibs. of saltpetre. Pro- duce: Wheat 6 bushels, 38 }bs., or per acre 52 bushels, 24 lbs.; straw 95 stones, 12 lbs., or per acre 764 stones. Weight per bushel, 58 lbs. Sold to baker for 28s. Third Lot.—Forty falls adjoining, measured and marked, without any dressing. Produce: Wheat 11 bushels, 1 lb., or per acre 44 bushels, 4 lbs.; straw 79 stones, or per acre 316 stones. Weight 59 Ibs. Sold for seed at 35s. per boll. Fourth Lot-—A small quantity of oats ad- joining to this winter wheat was dressed with saltpetre, which produced a great effect on the strength and colour of the oats; but the pro- duce was not weighed or measured after being cut. Fifth Lot.—Trial of nitrate of soda on six drills of potatoes, at the rate of 14 cwt. per acre, sown over the stems when 5 inches long, on 10th June. Result: The shaws (tops) seemed much finer and richer than those not thus treat- ed; but the potatoes being sold, the compara- tive produce was not ascertained. Six drills of Swedish turnips, dressed at the same rate, 10th June, on a healthy braird, fol- lowed by fine showers and warmth. Result : Both shaws and turnips much improved, as compared with those near themnot thus dressed; in appearance improved by several tons to the acre, but no comparative weights were taken. In the trial with nitrate of soda, in the same proportions, on mangel-wurzel and carrots, Walls, the overseer, could not observe any dif- ference between those so dressed and those which were not; and saltpetre and cubic petre were also mixed in small proportions with the compost from an old hotbed, and used in the garden for turnips, spinach, carrots, cauliflow- ers, asparagus, and onions, but without any apparent advantage. Mr. 8. Martin, of Warbleton, in Sussex, has given, in the Sussex Express, the following de- tails of his experiments with nitrate of soda as a top-dressing for corn, on a four-acre field in 849 NITRATE OF SODA. his ogcupation :—“ The soil of the field selected is a thin, gravelly loam, with a substratum of sandstone, and was a rye-grass ley, fed with sheep and beasts until the last week in May, 1839, when it was ploughed up, and afterwards twice stirred and harrowed, and manured with 120 bushels of lime per acre, previously to its being sown with the wheat “golden drop” in the autumn. In the last week of April, this year, I applied 1 cwt. of nitrate of soda per acre over the whole field (with the exception of two lands in the middle of the field); in the second week in May, I applied to two lands adjoining those upon which none had been sown an additional 1 cwt. per acre. Previously to the application of the nitrate, the plants had a very sickly ap- pearance, getting yellow in patches, and look- ing, as we call it here, “speary;” but in a very few days subsequent, its appearance was much altered, it having (with the exception of the two lands on which none had been sown, and which remained in avery sickly state) changed from a faint yellow to a luxuriant green; the two lands upon which the 2 cwt. per acre were sown were much darker in appearance than the other, and easily distinguishable from the remainder at a very considerable distance. “At harvest I measured off exactly 8 rods of each, and had it reaped (leaving a stubble about 16 inches high), and carted and thrashed separately; the result was as under:—8 rods without soda produced 1 bushel, 3 galls. 1 pint, or 27 bushels, 6 galls. 4 pints per acre ; weight, 61 Ibs. per bushel; straw 89 lbs., or 49 trusses, 16 lbs. per acre: 8 rods with 1 ewt. of soda per acre, 2 bushels, 1 gall., or 42 bushels, 4 galls. per acre; weight, 603 lbs. per bushel; straw, 155 lbs., or 86 trusses, 4 lbs. per acre: 8 rods with 2 cwt. of soda per acre, 2 bushels 2 galls. 7 pints, or 47 bushels, | gall. 4 pints per acre; weight, 603 lbs. per bushel; straw, 156 lbs., or 86 trusses, 24 lbs. per acre. “On another piece of land, soil very thin and gravelly, sown with Talavera wheat in the autumn, I applied 1 cwt. per acre in the first week in May, and the result was equally satis- factory, the produce good, and weighed 64 lbs. per bushel. “In an adjoining field of precisely the same description of soil, but which had been in hops for 11 years previously, and amply manured every year, I sowed on two rods at the end of one of the lands nitrate equal to 14 cwt. per acre, which had a very prejudicial effect; the part with nitrate of soda being much mildewed and totally unfit for bread, while the straw on the remainder of the field was very bright and clean, and the grain full and handsome. I also used nitrate of soda on a meadow, 1 ewt. per acre, applied the last week in April; produce very trifling. “As far as my experience goes, and from the effect of nitrate of soda on my neighbours’ lands, I am of opinion that it is a very valua- ble manure for their light soils, exhausted by repeated croppings, particularly in districts where the arable lands have been repeatedly manured with lime; but I have great doubts whether it would answer for wheat on newly broken up or other land in a high state of cul- tivation and full of manure. In my experi- 850 NUISANCES. ment on the old hop ground, although the straw was much longer, with a blade broad and flaggy, the yield was miserably deficient, both in quantity and quality, compared with the rest of the field. “Tn respect to its effect on the second crop, I can only observe, that a very thin, wornout field of 18 acres, with wheat in 1839, on which 1 cwt. per acre was used (one land of which had a double quantity), was sown this year half with oats and half with seeds, that both oats and seeds were fully equal to any I ever grew on that field; and that the land where the 2 cwt. per acre was sown produced fully as many plants, with longer straw and more grains, and was, as far as I could judge from appear- ances (I did not keep it separate), much supe- rior to the other.” NITRIFICATION. See Eremacavsis. NODI. In botany, the knots or swelled ar- ticulations of stems; the place where one joint is articulated with another. NONE-SO-PRETTY. One of the names of the London-pride Saxifrage. See Saxrrrace. NONESUCH, or Brack Mepicx. See Me- DICK. NOONINGS. A term provincially used to signify working during dinner-hours. NORFOLK PLOUGH. See Proveus. NORTHERN LIGHTS, or AURORA BOREALIS. See Licuts, Norruenn. NOSE-BAND. That part of the head-stall of a bridle which comes over a horse’s nose. It is sometimes termed maserole. NUCLEUS (Lat). Literally, any thing round which matter has accumulated, or to which it is affixed. In botany, it is used in various significations :—1. The central, fleshy, pulpy mass of an ovule. 2. That part of a seed contained within the testa, and consisting of either the embryo and albumen or of the embryo only. 3. In lichens, the disk of the shield, which contains the sporules and their cases. 4. In the language of the older bota- nists, what is now termed by gardeners a clove ; that is, the secondary bulb of a bulbous plant. NUISANCES, in English law, are of two kinds: public or common, which annoy the king’s subjects in general; and private, which are defined “any thing done to the hurt or an- noyance of the lands, tenements, or heredita- ments of another.” A nuisance may be defined to be any act done which renders the lives of the neighbours less comfortable than they were before. The remedies allowed by the law are in some cases summary, as when a gate is erected across a public highway, or cattle trespass on the land; and in which cases the passenger or owner of the land is justified in removing the nuisance: or in other cases, the general legal remedies are, indictment or pre- sentment, for public nuisances; or by an action on the case for damages, for private nuisances. Indictable Nuisances.—Of the number of public nuisances which are punishable by indictment are setting spring-guns and man- traps, which, by the 7 & 8 G. 4, c. 18, is declared to be amisdemeanor; but the act allows such to be set “from sunset to sunrise in dwelling- houses for the protection thereof.” Other in- dictable nuisances are for erecting a privy or NURSERY. OAK. placing putrid carrion near a highway, or keep- | from cuttings, which are not easily germinated ing hogs, and feeding them with offal near to a street; for keeping a dangerous bull in a field through which there is a public pathway (if the bull or other dangerous animal is purposely placed there tc stop a disputed path, and death ensues, itis a murder); for keeping unmuzzled a ferocious dog; for baiting on the queen’s highway a bull, &c. The punishment in any case of nuisance is fine or imprisonment, or both; and the court may order the defendant to pay the prosecutor his costs. It is no de- fence to prove that the nuisance has existed for a number of years; but in some cases the facts of the case may be taken into considera- tion by the jury, who are to determine whether the benefit derived by the public exceeds the annoyance. But in indictments for obstruct- ing the highway by placing on it for a length of time carriages while loading and unloading, it is no defence to show that space was always left for two carriages to pass and repass on the other side of the street. The non-repair of a road or a bridge are also well-known nuisances, which are indictable. * Nuisances on which an Action on the Case is maintainable. — Accidents from the negligent use of loaded guns; placing baited traps so near to the premises of another, or the high- way, that dogs are attracted into them and in- jured. For an injury by a vicious bull; and it is no defence by the owner of an animal that he has had notice of having done an injury, and has taken every precaution to prevent it doing so again. No action, however, lies for an injury by a dog let loose on the owner’s closed premises at night for their protection ; or on land on which the injured party has no right to go. If a person harbour a dog, or al- lows it to resort to his premises, he is liable for any damage it may cause. And the owner of a dog that destroys or injures sheep is, of course, liable to their owner. If the owner catch the dog in the act of worrying his fowls or sheep, he is justified in shooting him; but he must not follow the dog some distance, and then shoot him; nor may he shoot a dog merely trespassing; but he may if the dog is chas- ing deer inapark. And if any man do any thing on his own soil which is a nuisance to another, as by stopping a rivulet, and so dimi- nishing the water used by him for his cattle, the party injured may enter on the soil of the other and abate the nuisance; and this right of abatement is not confined merely to nui- sances to a house, to a mill, or to land. NURSERY. In horticulture, a piece of land set apart and appropriated for rearing and pre- serving young plants and trees of different kinds, with a view to supply both gardens and plantations. The situation ought to be open and airy, and the soil of an average quality, neither too heavy nor too light, so as to be adapted to the majority of plants; bat in a complete nursery there ought also to be shady borders for plants requiring shade, and beds or compartments of peat soil or other peculiar earths, for such plants as are not readily in- creased and grown in ordinary soils. Where tender plants are propagated, or where hardy “nts are to be raised from seeds or struck or rooted in the open ground and in’ the ordi- nary manner, hotbeds, frames, and handglasses are also requisite. Every private garden of any extent requires a nursery to raise and bring forward young plants, as a reserve for supplying failures by disease or accident in the general garden; and in every country where private gardens or plantations of trees are fre- quent, public or commercial nurseries are formed by persons who adopt nursery garden- ing as a business. NUT, BLADDER. See Branper-Nov. NUT, THE EARTH. See Eanra-Nur. NUTRITION. The matter by which an ani- mal or plant is supported, and its growth in- creased. See Foon and Meat, Gasxs, Eartuas, Sartts, Water, &c. NUTS (Lat. nux). In botany, seeds covered with hard shells; but in the general accepta- tion of the word, signifies the fruit of different species of hazel (Corylt). NYMPH. See Pura. O. OAK (Ger. eiche ; Dut. ek ; Dan. eeg ; Sw. ek ; Lat. Quercus ; from the Celtic quer, fine, and cuez, a tree; others derive it from the Greek word chotros, a pig, because those animals feed on the acorns). The oak is indigenous throughout Britain, and in former ages, before the clearing away of the forests had commenced, appears to have covered a very large portion of its surface; for, even in districts where the natural or self-sown oak is now rarely seen, the remains of noble and gigantic trees are frequently met with, sometimes in the alluvial deposits on the mar gins of rivers, or in boggy places covered with a layer of peat-moss, which has been gene- rated around them by the stagnation of the water caused by their fall. A fine oak is one of the most stately and picturesque of trees; it conveys to the mind associations of strength and duration, which are very impressive. The oak stands up against the blast, and does not take, like other trees, a twisted form from the action of the winds. Except the cedar of Lebanon, no tree is so re- markable for the stoutness of its limbs; they do not exactly spring from the trunk, and thus it is sometimes difficult to know which is stem and which is branch. English oak warps and twists much in dry- ing, and in seasoning shrinks about ,\,d of its width. This wood is more durable than any other timber in water; and in a dry state it has been known to last nearly 1000 years. The more compact it is, and the smaller the pores are, the longer it will last; but the open, porous, and foxy-coloured oak, which grows in Lin- colnshire and some other places, is not near so durable. The bark, leaves, and fruit of all the species abound in astringent matter, and in tannic acid. The bark in the spring contains more tannic acid, and is more easily separated, than at any other season: hence oaks are usually barked in May, June, and the beginning of July. When separated, the bark is dried by being set up in ranges, which are called loftes 851 OAK. In the greater part of North America, as well as in Europe, there is no tree so generally useful as the oak, which seems to have been multiplied in proportion to its utility. Linneus, in the third edition of his Species Plantarum, published in 1774, described 14 spe- cies of oak, of which 5 only are natives of the New World. Since then, owing to the labours of those indefatigable naturalists, Humboldt, Bon- pland, and especially Michaux, the father, the number of American species of oak has been increased to no less than 44, all of which are comprised between the 20th and 48th degrees of North latitude. In the Old Continents, only 30 species are enumerated, and these are scat- tered on both sides of the equator. The spe- cies and varieties of the oak added to those described by the Michaux, are chiefly found in the extreme Southern States, Texas, and Mexi- can possessions. The following classification of American oaks was made by the elder Michaux, who in- cludes in it three European species : First Dryiston. Fructification annual. Finst Srcrion—Leaves lobed. 1, White oak (Quercus alba). 2. Common European oak (Quercus robur). 3. European white oak (Quercus robur peduncu- lata). 4, reespen oak (Quercus oliveformis). 5. Over-cup white oak (Quercus macrocarpa). 6. Post oak (Quercus obtusiloba). 7. Over-cup oak (Quercus lyrata). Srconp Secrron.—Leaves toothed. 8. Swamp white oak (Quercus prinus discolor). ' 9, Chestnut white oak (Quercus prinus palustris). . Rock chestnutoak (Quercus prinusmonticola). . Yellow oak (Quercus prinus acuminata). - Small chestnut oak (Quercus prinus chinca- pin). Seconp Drviston. Fructification biennial ; leaves mucronated (except in the 13th species). Frrasv Secrron.—Leaves obtuse or entire. 13. Live oak (Quercus virens). 14, Cork oak (Quercus suber). 15. Willow oak (Quercus phellos). 16. Laurel oak (Quercus imbricaria). 17. Upland willow oak (Quercus cinerea). 18. Running oak (Quercus pumila). Seconnp Srecrron.— Leaves lobed. 19. Bartram oak (Quercus heterophylla). 20. Water oak: (Quercus aquatica). 21. Black Jack oak (Quercus ferruginea). 22. Bear oak (Querews banisteri). Tarp Secrion,—Leaves multifid or many-clefted. 23. Barren scrub oak (Quercus Catesbet). 24, Spanish oak (Quercus falcata). 25, Black oak (Quercus tinctoria). 26, Scariet oak (Quercus coccinea). 27. Gray oak (Quercus ambigua). 28. Pin oak (Quercus palustris). 29. Red oak (Quercus rubra). 852 OAK. The most valuable species of the American oaks is the white oak, which is found as far north as the small town of Trois Riviéres, in Canada, lat. 46° 20’, and the lower part of the river Kennebec, in Maine, and thence south on both sides of the Alleghanies down to the 28th degree of latitude. Its vegetation is repressed in the Northern States by the severity of the winters. In the lowermost Southern States it is found only on the borders of swamps, with a few other trees, which likewise shun a dry and barren soil. The white oak is observed to be uncommon on lands of extraordinary fertility, like those of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Genesee, and in all the spacious valleys watered by the western rivers. One may travel whole days in those states without seeing a single stock, though the few that exist, both there and in the Southern States, exhibit the most luxuriant vegetation. The white oak abounds chiefly in the Middle States and in Virginia, particularly in that part of Pennsylvania and Virginia which lies between the Alleghanies and the Ohio. East of the mountains this tree is found in every exposure, and in every soil which is not ex- tremely dry or subject to long inundations; but the largest stocks grow in humid’ places. In the western districts, where it composes entire forests, the face of the country is undulated, and the yellow soil, consisting partly of clay with a mixture of calcareous stones, yields abundant crops of wheat. By the foregoing observations it appears that the severity of the climate, the fertility of the soil, its dryness or humidity, are the causes which render the white oak so rare over three- quarters of the United States that it is in- adequate to supply the local demand, though the country contains but a small proportion of the population which it is capable of sup- porting. Among the American oaks this species bears the greatest analogy to the European oak, espe- cially to the variety called European white oak, Quercus pedunculata, which it resembles in fo- liage and in the qualities of its wood. The American white oak is 70 or 80 feet high, and 6 or 7 feet in diameter; but its proportions vary with the soil and climate. The excellent properties of the white oak for the construction of houses, ships, and almost innumerable other purposes, are too well known to need any particular description in this place. Great black oak (Quercus tinctoria). The wood of this tree is of a coarser grain than that of the white oak, and of a reddish colour. Be- tween every year’s growth, also, it appears porous, yet when dry and seasoned, it becomes strong and durable. The bark has, for a long time, been in great repute for tanning, and for the very excellent yellow dye which it affords. Dr. Bancroft, of London, learned the use of the bark as a dye, when in this country, during the revolutionary war; and introduced it in the manufactories of England, to which country many ship-loads of the article, ground, have been annually shipped, under the name of Quercitron bark. OAK-APPLE. Spanish oak (Quercus falcata, of Michaux) ; the bark of this species is somewhat rough, and light-coloured. The leaves are deeply and obtusely sinuated, and end in several acute, bristly points: the foot-stalks are pretty long. The timber is generally worm-eaten, or rotten at heart; but the bark is preferred to all other for tanning, and is much dearer. Liwe oak (Quercus virens). This species is con- fined to Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida. The tree is of uncommon magnitude, and sin- gularly beautiful. The moss hangs in lengths of several yards from the large branches of the old trees, and waving with the wind, gives the tree a venerable appearance. The wood is proverbial for its durability, when cut at a proper season, amd is much used for ship timber. See Acorns, Dry Rot, and Pranra- TIONS. OAK-APPLE. This is not to be confounded with those beautiful little excrescences so com- mon upon the underside of the leaves of the oak, and known by the name of galls and spangles; they are the nidi of different species of Cynips, produced by the puncture of the ovi- positor of the female, upon the different parts where they are found. The oak-apple is also formed by the puncture of a cynips, upon the twigs of Q. pedunculata. It rises rapidly, is usually spheroidal, in size about 1 to 2 inches in diameter. Its texture is spongy. It has Some resemblance to the Bedeywar of the Eg- lantine, but is not so rough and fibrous on the surface. The oak-apples are very astringent, containing tannic acid, and may be used in dyeing, making ink, and staining. The largest galls or oak-apples, found in the United States, grow on the leaves of the red oak. They are round and smooth, and measure from 14to2 inches in diameter. This kind of gall is green and somewhat pulpy at first, but, when ripe, it consists of a thin and brittle shell, of a dirty drab colour, enclosing a quantity of brown spongy matter, in the middle of which is a woody kernel about as big asa pea. A single grub lives in the kernel, becomes a chrysalis in the autumn, when the oak-apple falls from the tree, changes to a fly in the spring, and makes its escape out of a small round hole which it gnaws through the kernel and shell. This, says Dr. Harris, is probably the usual course, but I have known this gall- fly to come out in October. The name of this insect is Cynips confluentus. Its head and thorax are black, and rough with numerous little pits and short hairs; the hind-body is smooth, and of a shining pitch colour; the legs are dull brownish-red; and the fore-wings have a brown spot near the middle of the outer edge. Its body is nearly one-quarter of an inch long, and its wings expand five-eighths of an inch. Clusters of three or four round and smooth galls are often seen on the small twigs of the white oak. They are nearly as large as bullets, of a greenish colour on one side, and red on the other. They approach in hardness to the Aleppo galls, and perhaps might be put to the same use. Each one is the nest of a single insect, which turns to a fly and eats its way out in June and July, having passed the winter as a.chrysalis, within the gall, lodged in a clay- OAK BARK. coloured, egg-shaped case, about three-twen- tieths of an inch long, and with a brittle shell. These little cases appear to be cocoons, but are not made of silk or fibrous matter. Similar cocoons are found within many other galls, and I have some which were discovered under Stones, and were not contained in galls, but produced gall-flies, the insects having left their galls to finish their transformations in the ground. The gall-fly of the white oak varies in colour. Sometimes it closely resembles the gall-fly of our oak-apple, differing from it only in size, and in wanting the brownish spot and dark-coloured veins on the fore-wings; and sometimes it is of adull brownish-yellow colour, with a brown spot on the back. It is three- twentieths of an inch long, and its wings ex- pand three-tenths of aninch. It is the Diplo- lepis, or more properly Cynips oneratus of Dr. Harris’s “Catalogue.” Galls of the size and colour of grapes are found on the leaves of some oaks. Each one contains a grub, which finishes its transforma- tions inJune. The winged insect is the Cynips nubilipennis, or cloudy-winged Cynips, so named from the smoky cloud on the tips of its wings. Excepting in this respect, it closely resembles the dark-coloured variety of Cynips oneratus,and very little exceeds it in size. One of our smallest gall-flies may be called Cynips seminator, or the sower. She lays a great number of eggs in a ring-like cluster around the small twigs of the white oak, and her punc- tures are followed by the growth of a rough or shaggy reddish gall, as large sometimes as a walnut. When this is ripe, it is like brittle sponge in texture, and contains numerous little seed-like bodies, adhering by one end around the sides of the central twig. These seeming seeds have a thin and tough hull, of a yellowish white colour; they are egg-shaped, pointed at one end, and are nearly one-eighth of an inch long. The gall-insects live singly, and undergo their transformations within these seeds; after which, in order to come out, they gnaw a small hole in the hull, and then easily work their way through the spongy ball wherein they are lodged. They are less than one-tenth of an inch long, are almost black, or of the colour of pitch, highly polished, especially on the abdo- men, and their mouth, antenne, and legs are cinnamon-coloured. It has been observed that no tree in Europe yields so many different kinds of galls as the oak. Those described are not all that are found on oaks in the United States, and they seem to be sufficiently distinct from the galls of European oaks. (Harvis.) OAK BARK. The cortical layer stripped from the oak tree. Oak bark is preferred to all other substances in the tanning of leather, and in Eu- rope brings a high price afterwards as a ma- nure. The exhausted bark is used by gardeners to produce a slight equable heat by its ferment- ation, and may be advantageously used as a manure. The tan-balls, or muddy sediments of tan-pits, are used for summer fuel. The bark contains different quantities of tannic acid, according as it is near to or distant from the wood. Thus, the inner part, or liber, ac- cording to Sir H. Davy’s experiments, yields 3C 853 OAK PRUNER. about 77 per cent. of tannic acid; the cellular layer, lying upon the liber, yields only 56 per cent; and the cuticle little or none. Dr. Hig- gins obtained 108 parts of tannic acid from the bark of an oak felled in the spring, and only 30 from an oak felled in winter. When’ the bark is set up to dry, the air, aided by mois- ture, acting upon the tannic acid, converts a portion of it into gallic acid, which is not origi- nally a constituent of oak bark. See Banx and Tan. OAK PRUNER. The ground beneath black and white oaks is, says Dr. Harris, often ob- served to be strewn with small branches, neat- ly 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 transformed to a pupa, and ip June or July it is changed to a beetle, and comes out of the branch. The history of this insect was first made public by Professor Peck, who called it the oak-pruner, -or Slenocorus (Elaphidion) putator. See Pl. 16, 1. In its adult state it is a slender, long-horned beetle, of a dull brown colour, sprinkled with gray spots, composed of very short close hairs ; the antenne are longer than the body, in the males, and equal to it in length in the other sex, and the third and fourth joints are tipped with a small spine or thorn; the thorax is barrel-shaped, and not spined at the sides; and the scutel is yellowish-white. It varies in length from four and a half to six-tenths of an inch. It lays its eggs in July. Each egg is placed close to the axilla or joint of a leaf- stalk or of a small twig, near the extremity of abranch. The grub hatched from it penetrates at that spot to the pith, and then continues its course towards the body of the tree, devouring the pith, and thereby forming a cylindrical bur- row, several inches in length, in the centre of the branch. Having reached its full size, which it does towards the end of the summer, it divides the branch at the lower end of its burrow, by gnawing away the wood transverse- ly from within, leaving only the ring of bark untouched. It then retires backwards, stops up the end of its hole, near the transverse sec- tion, with fibres of the wood, and awaits the fall of the branch, which is usually broken off and precipitated to the ground by the autumnal winds. The leaves of the oak are rarely shed before the branch falls, and thus serve to break the shock. Branches of five or six feet in length and an inch in diameter, are thus severed by these insects, a kind of pruning that must be injurious to the trees, and should be guarded against, if possible. By collecting the fallen branches in the autumn, and burning them before the spring, we prevent the develope- ment of the beetles, while we derive some benefit from the branches as fuel. Oak trees are also subjected to the attacks of insects, which destroy the leaves, deposit their eggs in the branches which they destroy, and others which devour the solid wood. See Beztirs, Boners, Carenpitiars, Locusts, &c. 854 OAT. OAT (Russ. owes ; Pol. owies; Dutch, haver ; Fr. Avoine ; Lat. avena). Avery valuable cereal grass, of which several varieties are cultivated for their seeds: the chief of these are—1. The Avena sativa, or common oat. Pl.3,e. 2. The A. orientalis, or Tartarian oat, f. 3. A. strigosa, or bristle-pointed oat. 4. 4. brevis, or short oat. 5. A. nuda, or naked oat. The common oat is far the most important of these species. Its spikelets contain two or three seeds. Its florets are sometimes furnished with awns, and at other times are awnless. The oat is a native of cold climates: it flourishes in the temperate latitudes, but it degenerates, and at last refuses to yields profitable crops as it approaches the equator. It is, however, cul- tivated with success in Bengal, as low as the 25° of latitude. It flourishes remarkably well in Ireland and in Scotland, and constitutes the principal food of the inhabitants. In England it is cultivated to a very considerable extent in the fen districts of the eastern counties, as well as in the northern border districts, in which last the oats are considered to be very superior. By cultivation, difference of soil and climate, and other causes, the common oat (.4. sativa) has produced several varieties, which have been divided by some authors into three classes, the black, the gray, and the white. Those of the first class are commonly hardy, have small seeds, become early ripe, and are hence well adapted for cold hungry soils, such as those which are usually found on considerable ele- vations. The gray, or dun-coloured oats, although possessing more valuable qualities than the black oat, are still inferior in quality to the white, but on some soils yield very remunera- tive crops. The third and most valuable class of oats is the white. “The most improved of these,” says Professor Low, “are without awns. They are the least hardy kinds, but they are of the greatest weight to the bushel, and the most productive of meal. In this class the potato oat is that which has possessed the greatest reputation for a time in the districts where it is cultivated. It is not so well suited to inferior soils as some of the other white and darker- coloured kinds: it is also less productive of straw, though the grain is more plump, weighs heavier, and yields a greater weight of meal. The hardier kinds, however, are better suited to certain situations than the finer, just as the hardier red wheats are better suited to certain situations than the thin-chaffed and white varie- ties. The potato oat was the discovery of ac- cident, and the produce of a single plant. It has, in many cases, shown a tendency to de- generate, by the husks becoming thicker and the body less plump, and by the partial appear- ance of awns.” The Poland oat is another valuable cultivated variety of the white oat. It comes early to maturity, and is a prolific bearer. Its defects are a tendency to be deficient in straw, and a liability to shed its seeds. Besides these there are several other varie- ties of the white oat, as the Dutch, or Friesland oat, the Hopetoun oat of East Lothian, &c. The Hopetoun oat was produced in 1824, by OAT. Mr. P. Sherriff, of Mungo’s well, in the way he thus describes. “Having frequently had occa- sion to pass the gateway of a crop of potato oats, in the summer of 1824,a stalk of remarka- ble height attracted my attention. When the crop was reaped, the grains supported by this stalk, and those upon a short one proceeding from the same root, were gathered and sown in the following spring. The crop from the grains of the gigantic stalk was again conspicuously tall, and after the crop of 1827 the new variety established its superiority.” In some compara- tive trials by Mr. Boswell, “on a good free black soil,” the Hopetoun exceeded the potato oat in produce, as, in some experiments by Mr. Forsyth, of Elgin, “on a rich loam,” it ex- ceeded the lateAngus oat, and in those of Mr. Howden, at Traprain, in East Lothian, it proved superior to the gray Angus, the potato, and the early Angus oats. The early Angus oat is well known for its early ripening, and the late Angus, says Mr. Sherriff, is also well known for its fine straw and grain; and although late in ripening, is the most esteemed species of oat in the early dis- tricts of Scotland, such as East Lothian and Morayshire. There is a difficulty, however (Mr. Sherriff very justly adds), of ascertaining the merits of different varieties of grain by ex- periment, from the many contingencies affect- ing the results, the most powerful of which is the nature of the season. Some kinds of oats grow rapidly in the early part of the season, and some attain their full height, such as the Polish and Georgian oats, both of which are stunted. Others grow slowly, and are later in arriving at their full height, such as the potato, Flemish, and early Angus oats, which are also short. Others continue to grow through the season, and are still later in arriving at their full height, as the Hopetoun and late Angus oats, which are taller than the others. When the early part of the summer proves wet, and is followed by drought, the Polish and Georgian oats have an advantage over other kinds, as they attain their full height before the drought commences. When the early part of the sum- mer is very dry, and moisture succeeds, the Hopetoun and Angus oats benefit by the mois- ture, while the others mentioned do not. When the season proves wet throughout, and the dif- ferent oats in consequence reach an extreme height, the smaller species have frequently an advantage over the larger in grain produce, in consequence of the straw of the latter becom- ing too luxuriant. The Cumberland early oat, so named from being raised from a single head by a Cumber- jand gentleman, is of a longish grain, more like the early Angus variety than the potato; colour dark and dull. It is as much earlier than the potato oat as the latter is earlier than the Hopetoun, being ripe nearly a fortnight sooner than the Hopetoun. Red Oa'.—There is a peculiar variety of oat (classed with the gray oats), called the red oat, which is a favourite in some districts, and is thus described by the celebrated William Daw- son, of Frogdon, in 1791 :—* Happening to be at Linton, in Tweeddale, which is about the highest land kept in cultivation in the south! OAT. of Scotland, I found the farmers complaining much of the loss they had by late harvests, and I asked if they had tried the Dutch oats, which were so much earlier than the common kinds. They told me that they had tried the Dutch oats, but that they had a kind in their own country which were as early as the Dutch, and were superior in several respects; they were not so apt to shake even as the common oat; they suited every sort of soil if in good condition, and they yielded well in meal; that they had been sown in that country for fifty years, but no one knew where they came from. Upon this information I commissioned a boll for a trial, and found them answer so well that I have sown no other sort for several years. They do not produce much straw, but what they do produce is very good. I sawa second crop of these oats upon the same land last year, which was good. I have found that they answer the character given of them at Linton fully. That they answer best upon land in good condition, but that they produce very little straw upon poor land; yet the produce of corn is not even in these situations inferior to any other oats. These properties give them a great superiority overevery other kind known in this country, and grown in high situations, and cold climates and soils.” They are a kind of oat much relished by horses, who, if used to them, do not readily take to other, even richer kinds. Carters accustomed to them give them a decided preference. The Georgian Oat was introduced about the year 1824, but it has not made much progress. In 1826, Mr. Wilson, of Preston, reported the following comparative trials between it and the potato oat (Trans. High. Soc. vol. i. p. 153), upon 2 English acres of equal land. The quan- tity sown upon an acre was 6 bushels, and of the potato 4 bushels. The Georgian was reap- ed 10 days earlier than the potato, but they might have been 14 days. The appearance of the Georgian was by far the most luxuriant during the summer, till the end of July, when the potato shot out considerably longer in the straw. They were carefully cut down, stacked, and thrashed in March, 1826; the result was, in— Stones. Ib, 317 6 12 Weight of straw of the potato oats per acre - Weight of straw of the Georgian oats per acre 238 The produce of the potato oats per acre was 69 Winchester bushels, and the Georgian 68, . Stones. 1b. Weight of meal from 6 bushels of the potato oats - - - - - - - - i 5 Weight of meal from 6 bushels of Georgian oats - - - - - - - - 10 6 The Tartarian Oat is cultivated to some ex- tent in England, but much more extensively in some portions of the Continent. “Its fascicle is contracted, and nods to one side, which dis- tinguishes it from the common oat. The co- lour of its corolla is generally dark, but the plant improves by culture in a good soil, losing its awns, and that darkness of colour which ap- pears to distinguish the oat in its less improved state.” The breadth of this oat annually culti- vated in England has much increased within the last few years. Itis the best description 855 OAT. for the poorest exhausted soils, producing the most straw on those sorts of any other variety. The oat can be profitably cultivated upon, per- haps, a greater variety of soils than any other of the cereal grasses. It may be grown, too, successfully with less preparation of the soil, and less manure. The oat plant, however, succeeds best in fresh soils, in newly broken up old pastures, and in those abounding in or- ganic matters. The organic manures by which the oat crop is best nourished, appear to be green manures ; fish, especially those like sprats, abounding in oil, and, in fact, all those of a readily decompo- sable description, Recently-drained marshes, peaty soils after being dressed with lime, newly enclosed commons after being chalked, all usually yield large crops of oats. The land intended for oats should be plough- ed, if possible, especially on clay soils, in the previous winter, or at least as early in the spring as possible: this isa practice almost always adopted by the best farmers of our island. A still more common course of crop- ping is to sow oats after turnips, or other green crops, and especially on the four-shift system with grass-seeds. A miserable custom still prevails in some parts of England, of taking two crops of oats in succession, or an oatcrop after wheat or bar- ley. Arthur Young long since denounced this as bad husbandry. After observing that white oats should be sown in March, in preference to any other season, he remarked, that “in the general conduct of them the farmer should by all means avoid the common error of sowing after other corn crops, by which they exhaust the land. They should always receive the same preparation as barley, nor ought a good husbandman to think of their not paying him as well for such attention as thatcrop. It isa very mistaken idea to suppose it more profit- able to sow barley on land in good order than }- oats. He was, from divers experiments, in- clined to think that oats will equal, and in many cases exceed, barley. The superior quantity of the produce will ever be found to more than counterbalance the inferiority of the price; which, however, sometimes exceeds that of barley.” Oats are commonly sown from March to April, but it is very probable that they might be advantageously sown much earlier in many situations,*and when on grass leys generally broadcast: from 4 to 6 bushels per acre oF seed is the otdinary quantity. By the drill, after turnips, a much less quantity will be suffi- cient. I have known from 10 to 11 quarters per acre grown year after year from only 2 busnels of seed. They are usually cut in the south by the scythe—in the north and western portions of Britain by the sickle; and they should never be allowed co become perfectly ripe before they are cut. The usual produce varies from 25 to 60 bushels per acre. In the fens of Lincoln- shire, and in Essex and Suffolk on land pre- viously dressed with 35 or 40 bushels of sprats per acre, the yield is usually much more con- siderable. The weight of a bushel of oats varies from 856 OAT. 35 to 45 pounds, and 14 pounds of oats com- monly yield about 8 pounds of meal. The following table will show the quantity of meal that is usually extracted from certain weights of oats; and though different results may be obtained by various qualities and sea- sons, yet the progressive ratio of the produce will generally be found nearly similar. Weight per Bushel. Produce in Meal, Produce of Husk. 42 |b. 25 lb. 2oz. 161b. 140z. 40 23 6 16 10 38 21 12 16 4 36 20 3 15 13 34 18 ll 15 5 32 17 5 14 ll 30 16 1 13 5 Oatmeal is a well-known article of food; it is the flour from which, in the northern portion of Great Britain, the bread of the working classes is partly procured. The oat-seed was examined by Sir H. Davy; he found in 1000 parts of Scotch oats 743 of soluble or nutritive matter, composed of 641 mucilage or starch, 15 saccharine matter, and 87 gluten or albumen. In 100 parts of oats from Sussex, 59 parts of starch, 6 of gluten, and 2 of saccharine matter, 33 husk. The principal demand for oats in Great Bri- tain is for horses. Its use for bread is chiefly confined to the northern districts. Meal is em- ployed also for various domestic purposes, feeding pigs, dogs, &c.; and it has been used in brewing ale, and in the malt distilleries ; but for this purpose its value is much inferior to that of barley. The seeds were analyzed by Schraeder; he found in 227-8 grains of ashes, obtained from 2 lb. of oats— Grains. Silica - - - 1442 ‘Carbonate of lime (chalk) - - 33°75 Carbonate of magnesia - - - 339 Alumina (clay) - - - - - 45 Oxide of manganese - - - - 6°95 Oxide ofiron - - - - = 45 2278 The analysis of M. Vauquelin rather differs from this; he found in 100 parts of the ashes of the oat— Parts. Silica - - - - - 60°7 Phosphate of lime - 39:3 100° But by burning the whole plant, stalk and seed together, he obtained a residuum com- / posed of— Parla. Silica - - = - =) - 55 Phosphate of lime - - - - 15 Potash - - = - - - 20 Carbonate oflime = - - - - 5 And some oxide of iron. M. Saussure obtained from 100 parts of the ashes of the seeds of the oat— Parts, Solublesalts - - - - = 1 Earthy phosphates oe ee Silica- - - - = - 60 Metallic oxide - - = - - (0°25 Loss - - - - - - - 475 100° OAT-GRASS. Average price of oats in England, per Win-| chester quarter :— wes. a. £ 3. d. Wi - O14 8 1810 45-98 TPo9n4 4775 - «=O 0 16 isi 1815 - 13 °6 1780 +- OO 12 10 Per Imperial Quarter. Mes = OT 2 TS2p ea ee 2) 9) 1799 - O 18 10 1835 is wey ibs! 8 BROS eno hey 4-9 1830 - 1465 800 = - 1 19 10 M835 am 1 = 2).'0 Peto eo NO. 1840 - The account, in imperial quarters, of the foreign oats and oatmeal entered for home con- sumption every five years since 1815, was— Qrs. Qrs. 1815 - 214,000 1830 - 900,319 1820 - 726,848 1835 - 176,142 1825 15,000 1840 510,836 The annual average of oats, in Winchester quarters, imported into England from 1801 to 1825 was, from— Qr. Russia - - - - - - - 46,652 Sweden and Norway - - - - 2,446 Denmark - - - - - - 30,672 Prussia - - - - - - - 39.209 Germany - - - - - - 75,828 Netherlands - - - - - - 84,269 France and Southern Europe - - 1,953 America - - - - - - 4 From Ireland were imported into this coun- try, of oats and oatmeal, in Winchester quar- ters— Qrs. Qrs. 1810 - 493,231 1825 - 1,629,856 1815 597,537 1830 1,471,252 1820 - 916,250 1835 - 1,822,766 Table showing the average Price of Oats per Bushel im the Philadelphia Market, for the 1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th Quarters of the following Years : Year. Ist Quarter. | 2d Quarter. | 3d Quarter. | 4th Quarter. 1833 36 cts. 40 cts. 30 cts 35 cts. 1834 27 31 30 33 1835 36 38 38 40 1836 50 42 38 50 1837 50 49 45 36 1838 33 37 41 41 1839 44 53 32 33 1840 28 27 25 26 1841 26 37 47 46 1842 43 37 23 25 Oats raised south of Philadelphia usually bring about 3 cents per bushel less than those raised in Pennsylvania and still further north, which are generally much heavier. OAT-GRASS. See Avena. OATMEAL. The meal or flour of the oat is used in Great Britain to make porridge, gruel, bread, and poultices. In the mealing process, the oats, after being previously dried in a kiln, are made to pass through the mill-stone to di- vest them of their coarser husks or “sheal- ings” before being ground. The kernels are then named “ grits” or “groats;” and are next ground over again into a coarse, rough meal, varying in its fineness according to the custom of different districts. This is afterwards either baked upon a heated iron, called a gridle in Scotland, into thin, flat cakes, or made up with water into loaves, and baked. When gradually stirred into boiling water, and boiled into a thick consistence, it forms the porridge of Scotland. It is eaten either with skimmed milk, butter, molasses, or ale. It is thus very 108 OKRA. generally used as the common porridge for breakfast and supper of the greater portion of the peasantry of the northern parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and forms a very nutri- tive and healthy food. It is, however, apt to prove acescent in some stomachs, and to cause cutaneous diseases. See Groarts. OCHRE. See Futrer’s Eanra. OFFSETS. In gardening, young radical bulbs, when separated or taken off from the parent roots, are so called. One of the chief methods of propagating plants is by offsets. OIL-CAKE, The mare which remains after the oil has been expressed from the seeds of flax and rape. See Coxza, Linsszp Caxu, Parma Canistr, Rare. OILS (Ger. oel; Lat. olewm). This term com- prehends two substances that have very dis- tinct properties, namely, volatile and fixed oils; but, in general language, the term oil is indi- cative of the latter. Fixed oils are unctuous, fluid bodies, which, when dropped upon paper, sink into it, and make it semi-transparent, or give it what is called a greasy stain. They are composed of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. Train oil has been sometimes used as a ma- nure, and is a powerful fertilizer. See Fisu. Linseed oil is a common food for live-stock. See Linseep Or. The following results of analysis show the variations in the proportions of elementary sub- stances in olive and train, or fish oil, 100 parts of each :— Hydrogen. Oxygen. Carbon, Olive oil, 13-36 4 9-437 4. 77-213 = 100 parts. Train oil, 16-1 -+-15-:03 + 68:87 = 100 parts. The numerous uses to which unctuous oils obtained from the seeds of various plants are applied, for food, burning, soap-making, &c. &c., give great importance to their production and preparation. ‘The proportions yielded by 100 parts of many seeds, are as follows :— Palma Christi, 62 per cent.; garden cress, 56 to 58; poppy, 56 to 63; oily-radish, 50; sesa- mum or bene plant, 50; cabbage, 30 to 39; wild mustard, 30; weld, 29 to 36; gourd, 25; hemp, 14 to 25; flax, 11 to 22; black mustard, 15; white mustard, 36 to 38; rape, colewort, and Swedish turnip, 333; colza, 36 to 40; rape, 30 to 36; euphorbium or spurge, 30; sunflower, 15; stramonium, 15; ground-nut with shells, 21; cotton, 16; the kernels of walnuts and hickory- nuts, 40 to 70; hazel-nuts, 62; sweet almonds, 40 to 54; bitter almonds, 28 to 46; beech mast, 15 to 17; plum, 33-3; grape stones, 14 to 22; horse chestnuts, 12 to 18. The excellent oils expressed so abundantly from the seeds of the poppy and sesamum or bene plant, are largely substituted in commerce for olive oil. OKRA (Hibiscus esculentis). This plant is cultivated extensively in the West Indies, from whence it has been introduced into the United States. The pods are gathered green, and used in soups. They form an important ingredient in the celebrated Gumbo soup of New Orleans and other southern places. The pods are filled with seeds and a mucilage of a bland and highly nutritious quality. Hence the okra is frequently recommended to persons afflicted with dysentery and other bowel complaints either eaten boiled, or made into soup. Wher 3c2 857 OLEANDER. buttered and spiced, they afford a rich dish, and with vinegar, they make a good pickle. The plant comes to maturity in the Middle States, and the pods are abundant in the Phi- ladelphia market. Those who become once accustomed to this wholesome vegetable, con- tract a great fondness for its peculiar flavour. In Louisiana and other southern states, a dinner is scarcely considered complete without okra cooked in some way or other, and the poor consider it one of their greatest blessings. Mr. Legare, editor of the Southern Agriculturist, has furnished the following recipe for making okra soup, after the celebrated method pursued in Charleston. The pods, he says, are of pro- per size when 2 or 3 inches long, but may be used as long as they remain tender. If fit for use, they will snap asunder at the ends, but if too old and woody, they must be rejected. One peck of the tender pods are to be cut crosswise into very thin slices, not exceeding one-eighth of an inch in thickness. To this quantity add about one-third of a peck of tomatoes, previ- ously peeled and cut into pieces. The propor- tion of tomatoes may be varied to suit the taste. A coarse piece of beef (a shin is generally made use of) is placed ina pot or digester with about 23 gallons of water, and a very small quantity of salt. This is permitted to boil a few moments, when the scum is taken off and the okra and tomatoes thrown in. With these ingredients in the proportions mentioned, the soup made is remarkably fine. Still, some think it improved by additions of green corn, Lima beans, &c. The most essential thing to be attended to is the boiling, and the excel- lence of the soup depends almost entirely on this being done faithfully. For if it be not boil- ed enough, however well the ingredients may have been selected and proportioned, the soup will be very inferior, and give but little idea of the delightful flavour it possesses when well done. A properly constructed digester is de- cidedly the best vessel for boiling this or any other soup in; but where such a utensil is not at hand, an earthenware pot should be pre- ferred; but on no account make use of an iron one, as it would turn the whole soup perfectly black, instead of the proper colour, namely, green, coloured with the rich yellow of toma- toes. The time usually required for boiling okra soup is about 5’ hours, during which it should be occasionally stirred, and the ingre- dients mashed. When taken off, the original quantity will be reduced to about one-half, and the meat “done to rags;” the whole forming a homogeneous mass, of the consistence of thick porridge. OLEANDER (Neriwm, from neros, humid; alluding to the habitat of the plants). This is a genus of noble evergreen shrubs, of easy culture, and flowering freely the greater part of the year. N. oleander and its varieties bear forcing remarkably well; and, although treat- ed as green-house plants, yet they will not flower well unless they are kept in the stove. They grow well in any rich, light soils, and young cuttings root in any soil, if kept moist. The leaves of N. oleander contain tannic acid, and the leaves and bark of the root of NV. odo- rum are app.ied externally as powerful repel- 858 OLIVE. lants by the Indian practitioners. IV. tinctorium yields indigo. (Paxton’s Bot. Dict.) OLIVE (Olea). This is a very important genus of plants, on account of the oil, &c., which is obtained chiefly from the 0. Europea. It is an evergreen, small tree; with lanceo- late leaves, of a deep-green on the upper, and nearly white or hoary on the under surface. The flowers are small and white. The fruit is an elliptical drupe, of a bluish-purple colour when ripe. The tree lives to an extreme old age, and continues to bear good olives. It is also much admired for the fragrance of its flowers, which render it worthy a place in every green-house collection. They grow well in loam and peat; ripened cuttings root readily in sand, under a glass. They may also be in- creased by grafting on the common privet. The unripe fruit of the olive, preserved in salt and water, is a well-known article for the dessert. With regard to the capacity of a portion of the Southern United States to produce the olive, the following extract from a communication of John Couper, Esq., will give interesting in- formation :— “JT had a very pretty grove of 200 olives, im- ported about 10 years since, their stems from 8 to 12 inches diameter, and perhaps averaging 20 to 25 feet high to the top; they have borne fruit for some years. I had also near 600 trees, or plants, from 11 to 5 years old. From com- parisons between the olive and orange, in pre- vious severe frosts, where the orange was much hurt, the olive was uninjured. I have, there- fore, no hesitation in believing the olive is well adapted to, and will succeed on our sea-coast, of both Carolina and Georgia. “T have been personally acquainted with sour-orange trees, both on St. Simon’s and Je- kyl, for 58 years, and believe they were plant- ed near 100 years since; and have never been killed by frost until last February, when they were all destroyed. I therefore conclude, that since the first settlement of Georgia the olive would have succeeded. It occurs to me that, notwithstanding the immense value of the olive in France, they have been cut down in some severe frosts. “The olive and orange seemed so completely destroyed, even to some depth under ground, that I cut them down, and planted corn in their place; on examination about a month since, the lower roots still appearing fresh, I conelud- ed that opening the ground around them might encourage vegetation; and have now the satis- faction to see the olives pushing out abundance of fine, strong shoots, not one failing. The oranges are doing the same, though some ap- pear dead, not yet decided; by returning the earth to the olive shoots, they will throw out roots, and furnish fine plants. In fact, I am better satisfied respecting the success of the olive than I was before the severe frost.” (Far- mers Register, vol. iii. p. 246. OLIVE, THE AMERICAN (Olea America- na). This American tree belongs exclusively to the Southern States, the Floridas, and Louisiana. Like the live-oak and cabbage-tree, it is con- fined to the sea-shore. “It is so little multi- plied,” says Michaux, “that it has hitherto re- ceived no name from the inhabitants of the ONIONS. country, except on the banks of the river Sa- vannah, where it is called Devil wood. “This tree grows in soils and exposures ex- tremely different: on the sea-shore it springs with the live-oak in the most barren and sultry spots; and in other places it is seen with the big laurel, the umbrella tree, the sweet leaves, &c., in cool, fertile, and shaded situations. “This tree, or, to speak more accurately, this large ‘shrub, is sometimes 30 or 35 feet high, and 10 or 12 inches in diameter: but this size is extraordinary; it commonly fructifies at the height of 8, 10, or 12 feet. The leaves are 4 or 5 inches long, opposite and lanceolate, en- tire at the edge, smooth and brilliant on the upper surface, and of an agreeable light-green. They are evergreen, or at least are partially renewed only once in4 or 5 years. The fer- tile and barren flowers are on separate trees: they are very small, strongly scented, of a pale yellow, and axillary, or situated between the petiole of the leaves and the branches. The season of flowering, in the neighbourhood of Charleston, is about the end of April. The fruit is round, and about twice as large asa common pea. When ripe, it is of a purple colour, approaching to blue, and consists of a hard stone thinly coated with pulp. As it re- mains attached to the branches during a part of the winter, its colour forms, at this season, an agreeable contrast with the foliage. “The bark which covers the trunk of the devil wood is smooth and grayish. The wood has a fine and compact grain, and, when per- fectly dry, it is excessively hard and very difii- cult to cut or split; hence is derived the name of devil wood. It is, notwithstanding, neglect- ed inuse. On laying bare the cellular integu- ment of the bark, its natural yellow hue changes instantaneously to a deep red, and the wood, by contact with the air, assumes a rosy com- plexion. Experiments should be made to de- tect the nature of this active principle in the bark, which causes it to change colour so sud- denly by exposure to the air. “From the temperature of the native skies of this tree, we may conclude that it is capable of resisting a greater degree of cold than the common olive: it becomes, then, on account of its beautiful foliage, its odoriferous flowers, and its showy fruit, a valuable acquisition.” ( Michaux.) ONIONS (Allium cepa). Of this genus, there are eight individuals that demand the garden- er’s care. They all require a rich, friable soil, on a dry substratum; a situation enjoying the full influ- ence of the sun, and entirely free from trees, which are very inimical to them, especially to those which have to stand the winter. If the soil be poor, or exhausted, abundance of dung should be applied in the preceding autumn or winter, and the ground thrown into ridges. By these means it becomes well decomposed and incorporated with the soil; for rank, unreduced dung is generally injurious, engendering de- cay, and inducing maggots; if, therefore, the application of manure is neglected until the spring, it should be taken from an old hotbed, or other source whence it is to be had ina thoroughly putrescent state, and turned in only ONIONS. to a moderate depth. Sea-sand, particularly if the ground is at all tenacious, is advanta- geously employed; coal-ashes, and especially soot, are applied with particular benefit. In digging over the ground, small spits only should be turned over at a time, that the texture may be well broken and pulverized. A considera- ble degree of attention is required from the difficulty of giving the requisite degree of firm- ness to light soils, which, if rich, are well suit- ed to the growth of these vegetables. Old, soft, or light, sandy soils, Mr. A. Gorrie, of Rait, re- commends to be dug rough in October, and about January to have a top-dressing of cow- dung applied and left on, to have its fertilizing matters washed in until the time of sowing, then as much as can be is to be raked off, and, without digging, the seed sown, trod in, and covered with earth from the alleys. By this management, soils will produce good crops which before were annually destroyed by the maggot. Onions for pickling, as well as those to stand the winter, should be grown on light, poor soils, which cause the first to be small in the bulb, and the latter, not growing so luxu- riantly, to withstand the winter better. There are 14 distinct varieties of this vege- table, as appears from the description given by Mr. C. Strachan, gardener to the Horticultural Society of London. 1. Silver-skinned onion. 2. Early silver- skinned. 3. True Portugal. 4. Spanish. 5. Strasburg. 6. Deptford. 7. Globe. 8. James’s keeping onion. 9. Pale-red. 10. Yellow. 11. Blood-red. 12. Tripoli. 13. Two-bladed. 14. Lisbon. In England the onion is raised from seed, which may be sown for the first main crop to- wards the close of February, if dry, open wea- ther, otherwise only a small portion, ina warm, dry situation. The principal crop, however, must be sown during March, it being kept in mind that the close of February is to be pre- ferred, for the earlier the seed is inserted, the finer will be the bulbs: main crops may even be inserted as late as the beginning of April, and, at its close, a small sowing to draw young in summer, and for small bulbs to pickle; again in July and early in August for salads in autumn; and, finally, in the last week of Au- gust, or early in September, to stand the winter for spring and beginning of summer. The seed is sown thinly, broadcast, and regularly raked in. An ounce of seed is abundantly sufficient for a rood of ground, especially for the main crops, as they should never be allowed to grow to a size fit for salads without thinning. No other seed ought to be sown with it; for the practice of stealing a crop is detrimental to both crops, without the slightest advantage to compensate. The beds should be divided by narrow a'leys into portions about four feet wide, for the convenience of cultivation. In about six weeks after sowing, the plants will be of sufficient size to allow the first thinning and small hoeing, by which they are to be set out about 2 inches apart; if this is per- formed in dry weather, it will keep the beds free of weeds for six weeks longer, when they must be hoed a second time, and thinned to 4 inches apart; and now, where they have 859 ONIONS. failed, the vacancies may be filled up by trans- planting some of those thinned out into the places; the best time for doing this is in the evening, and water must be given for several successive nights. In trafisplanting, the root only is to be inserted, and no part of the stem buried; for there is very good reason to be- lieve that naturally the bulb grows entirely upon the surface, and that growing within the mould is a great cause of their not keeping well. After the lapse of another month they must be thoroughly gone over for the last time, the weeds eradicated, and the plants thinned to 6 inches asunder; after this they in general only require to be weeded occasionally by hand; they must, however, be kept completely free from weeds, and the stirring of the surface which the hoe effects is very beneficial. In order to prevent their running too much to blade, it is a good practice early in July, be- fore the tips change to a yellow hue, to bend the stems down flat upon the bed, which not only prevents the rapid growth of the blade, but causes the bulbs to become much larger than they otherwise would be. The bend should be made about 2 inches up the neck. About the close of August the onions will have arrived at their full growth, which may be known by the withering of the foliage, by the shrinking of the necks, and by the ease with which they may be pulled up. As soon as these changes appear, they must be taken up, the bed being frequently looked over; for, if the whole crop is waited for, the forwardest, especially in moist seasons, are apt again to strike root. They should be spread on mats, &c., in the sun, frequently turned, and removed under shelter at night. In 2 or 3 weeks, when the roots and blades are perfectly withered and void of moisture, and the bulbs become firm, they are fit for storing, being housed in dry weather, and carefully preserved from bruis- ing: previous to doing this, all mould and re- fuse must be removed from them, for these are apt to induce decay, and spread contagion to all nearthem. To prevent this as much as pos- sible, all faulty ones should be rejected: in the store-house they must be laid as thin as may be, and looked over at least once a month. Notwithstanding every precaution, many will decay, and more sprout, especially in mild winters; therefore, to preserve some for late use, it is useful to sear the roots and the sum- mits with a hot iron, care being taken not to scorch the bulb. For the winter standing crop the only addi- tional directions necessary are, to tread in the seed regularly before raking, if the soil, as it ought to be, is dry and light. They must be kept constantly clear of weeds, as well as of the fallen leaves of trees, which cause them to spindle and become weak, but they need not be thinned, as they serve as protections for each other. Early in spring they are to be weeded, and, as may be necessary, transplanted for bulbing. There are several modes of cultiva- tion lately introduced or revived, which pro- duce onions of superior size and goodness. The great obstacie to the production of fine onions in England is the want of a sufficient ONIONS. inclemency of the early part of the year pre- vents the insertion of the seed until so late, that the most genial season to vegetation passes away whilst the plants are in their infancy; it is the obviating this unfavourable circumstance that causes the superiority of the several plans hereafter detailed. It is a practice that originated in America, and which has met with the decided approval of Mr. Knight and others, to sow in May; to cultivate the plants as in the other crops; and, in October, the bulbs, being of the size of nuts, are to be taken up, dried, and housed, as directed for the full-grown bulbs. About the middle of the following March they must be planted out in rows 6 inches apart each way, and after- wards cultivated in the same manner as the other crops. If sown earlier than May, they run to seed when transplanted. Another mode nearly as efficacious, and which, I understand, has been practised for a great length of time in the south of Essex, is to sow in the latter part of August, to stand the winter, and in March, early or late, according to the forward growth of the seedlings, to be planted out in rows at the before-directed distance, and culti- vated as usual. In Portugal they sow in a moderate hotbed during November or December, in a warm situation, with a few inches of mould upon it; and the plants are protected from frost by hoops and mats; in April or May, when of the size of aswan’s quill, they are transplanted into a light, rich loam, well manured with old rotten dung, to bulb. It would seem, from the practice of Mr. Mac- donald, gardener to the Duke of Buccleugh, at Dalkeith, that transplanting alone is of great benefit. “His soil,” he says, “is not very fa- vourable to the growth of the onion, being light and thin; and it was not until after many ex- periments he was able to obtain fine bulbs, and which he at length accomplished by sowing in the end of February, and about April trans- planting them at the usual distance in drills, first dipping the root into a puddle, consisting of 1 part soot and 3 parts earth, mixed with water; the work being performed in moist weather.” The puddle, as is observed by Mr. Sinclair, can be of no other use than to assist the rooting of the plants. To obtain seed, some old onions must be planted during February, or early in March. The finest and firmest bulbs being selected, and planted in rows 10 inches apart each way, either in drills or by a blunt-ended dibble, the soil to be rather poorer, if it differs at all from that in which they are cultivated for bulbing. They must be buried so deep that the mould just covers the crown. Early in spring their leaves will appear. If grown in large quan- tities, a path must be left 2 feet wide between every 3 or 4 rows, to allow the necessary cul- tivation. They must be kept thoroughly clear of weeds, and when in flower have stakes driven at intervals of 5 or 6 feet each side of every 2 rows, to which a string is to be fasten- ed throughout the whole length, a few inches below the heads, to serve aS a support, and prevent their being broken down. The seeds continuance of warm weather ; or, at least, the | are ripe in August, which is intimated by the 860 ONIONS. husks becoming brownish: the heads must then be immediately cut, otherwise the recep- tacles will open and shed their contents. Be- ing spread on cloths in the sun, during the day, and taken under cover every night and during inclement weather, they soon become perfectly dry, when the seed may be rubbed out, cleaned of the chaff, and, after remaining another day or two, finally stored. Itis of the utmost con- sequence to employ seed of not more than one year old, otherwise not more than 1 in 50 seeds will vegetate. ‘ The goodness of seed may be easily disco- vered by forcing a little of it in a hotbed or in warm water, a day or two before it is employed: a small white point will soon protrude if it is fertile. Onions are raised in large quantities, in the town of Weathersfield, Connecticut, for exporta- tion to the West Indies and Southern States. The business is there reduced to a perfect system. Early in spring the land is manured, by ploughing in fine manure from the stable or barn-yard, in the proportion of about 10 loads to the acre. That of neat cattle is preferred, as that of horses is considered to be of too heating anature. Itis then well harrowed and laid out into beds of 5 feet wide, by turning a furrow towards them each way; this raises the beds above the alleys, and allows the surplus water to run off. They are then well raked with an iron-toothed or common hay rake, and the alleys suffered to remain as left by the plough. As early as the season will admit, the seed is sown in the following manner. A rake, with teeth a foot apart, is drawn crosswise of the beds, and drills made for the reception of the seed; it is then sown with the thumb and fingers and covered witls the hand, allowing 10 or 12 lbs. to the acre. After the plants are up, they are kept clean of weeds, which generally re- quires four weedings, using a hoe of suitable width to pass between the rows, which saves much labour. When ripe, they are pulled, and the tops cut off to a suitable length for tying them to the strawin roping. Three anda half pounds are required by a law of the state to be put in each rope; and the ordinary crop is from 6 to 8000 ropes to the acre. Onions may be raised in the same way in the Middle and Southern States, though the more common practice is to grow them from small bulbs raised from seed the previous year, by sow- ing thickly in rows, about 9 or 10 inches apart, about the middle of spring; if sown too early, they are apt to run to seed when transplanted. Cultivate and preserve as for full-grown bulbs. Plant early in spring, in well manured ground, in rows about 6 inches apart, and 5 inches in the row, allowing about 18 inches after every fifth row as an alley for convenience in weeding. If the land is at all light, it is a good practice to tread or roll well before sowing or trans- planting, and be careful to disturb the bulbs as little as possible in weeding. Potato, or under-ground Onion.—This species of allium has received the above appellations, on account of its producing a cluster of bulbs or offsets, in number from 2 to 12, and even more, uniformly beneath the surface of the soil. ONION, THE WELSH. From being first introduced to public notice in Scotland, by Captain Burns of Edinburgh, it is there also known as the Burn onion. There evidently appear to be two varieties of this ve- getable, one of which bears bulbs on the summit of its stems, like the tree onion, and the other never throwing up flower-stems at all. One variety is much larger than the other, and this vegetates again as soon as ripe. Both varieties are best propagated by offsets of the root, of moderate size; for if those are employed which the one variety produces on the summit of its stems, they seldom do more than increase in size the first year, but are pro- lific the next; this also occurs if very small offsets of the root are employed. They may be planted during October or No- vember, or as early in the spring as the season will allow, but not later than April. In the west of England, assisted by their genial cli- mate, they plant on the shortest and take up on the longest day. They are either to be inserted in drills, or by a blunt dibble 8 inches apart each way, not buried entirely, but the top of the offset just level with the surface. Mr. Ma- her, gardener at Arundel Castle, merely places the sets on the surface, covering them with leaf mould, rotten dung, or other light compost. The beds they are grown in are better not more than 4 feet wide, for the convenience of culti- vation. The only cultivation required is to keep them clear of weeds. The practice of earthing the mould over them when the stems have grown up is unnatural, and by so doing the bulbs are blanched and prevented ripening perfectly, on which their keeping depends. So far from following this plan, Mr. Wedgewood of Betley recommends the earth always to be cleared away down to the ring whence the fibres spring, as soon as the leaves have attained their fall size and begin to be brown at the top, so that a kind of basin is formed round the bulb. As soon as they vegetate, they intimate the number of offsets that will be produced, by showing a shoot for each. They attain their full growth towards the end of July, and become completely ripe early in September: for immediate use they may be taken up as they ripen, but for keeping, a little before they attain perfect maturity, which is demonstrated by the same symptoms as were mentioned in speaking of onion. ONION, THE WELSH, or CIBOULE. This is a perennial, which never forms a bulb, but is sown annually, to be drawn young for salads, &c.: on account of its strong taste, it is greatly inferior to the common onion for this purpose; but from its extreme hardiness in withstanding the severest frost, it may be cul- tivated with advantage as a winter standing crop for spring use. In France two varieties are in cultivation, the white and the red; the first of which is the one in general use in England. As it may be sown at all times, in common with the onion, and is similarly cultivated, ex- cept that it may be sown thicker, and only thinned as wanted, the directions given for that vegetable will suffice. The blade usually dies away completely in winter, but fresh ones are thrown out again in February or March. 861 ONION, THE TREE. ORANGE, OSaGE. To obtain seed, some of the roots must be | in good state until the following May. (G. W planted out in March, 6 or 8 inches asunder. | Johnson.) The first autumn they will produce but little seed; in the second and third, however, it will be produced abundantly. If care is taken to part and transplant the roots every two or three years, they may be multiplied, and will remain productive for many years, and afford much better seed than that from one-year old roots. There is good reason for concluding, as Mr. T. Milne, of Fulham, ingeniously explains, that by a confusion of names, arising from simi- larity of appearance, this vegetable is the true scallion of Miller and others, whilst the hollow leek of Wales is the true Welsh onion; for the description of scallion, as given by Miller, accords exactly with that of the Welsh onion ; and as he describes it as a distinct variety, we are reduced to the dilemma of receiving this explanation, or considering the variety as lost; for from Miller’s known accuracy it is impos- sible to consider that he was deceived. At present all onions that have refused to bulb, and formed lengthened necks and strong blades in spring and summer, are called scallions. ONION, THE TREE, or CANADA (Al lium Canadense). This, which is a very hardy perennial species, like the ciboule, is without a bulbous root, but throws out numerous off- sets. Its top bulbs are greatly prized for pick- ling, being considered of superior flavour to the common onion for that purpose, as well as others in which that species is employed. It is propagated both by the root offsets, which may be planted during March and April, or in September and October, and from the top bulbs, which are best planted in spring, and not before the latter end of April. The old roots are best to plant again for a crop of bulbs, as they are most certain to run to stems. If the bulbs be planted earlier than as above di- rected, they are apt to push up the same season, and exhaust themselves without producing either good offsets or bulbs; but on the other hand, by planting the old roots in the previous autumn, or early in the spring, they will pro- duce good bulbs the same year. They must be inserted in rows 12 inches asunder, in holes 6 inches apart and 2 deep, a single offset or bulb being put in each. Those planted in au- tumn will shoot forth leaves early in the spring, and have their bulbs fit for gathering in June, or the beginning of July; those inserted in the spring will make their appearance later, and will be in production at the close of July or early in August: they must not, however, be gathered for keeping or planting until the stalks decay ; at which time, or in the spring also, if only of one year’s growth, the roots may be taken up and parted if required for planting; but when of two or three years’ continuance, they must at all events be reduced in size, other- wise they grow in too large and sprindling bunches; but the best plan is to make a fresh plantation annually with single offsets. The only cultivation necessary is to keep them elear of weeds; and when the stems run up, tu give them the support of stakes. The bulbs, when gathered, must be gradually wud carefully dried in a shady place; and if kept perfectly free from moisture, will continue 862 OPEN. A term frequently applied to cows or heifers, signifying that they are not in calf. OPEN CUTS. Such drains or gutters as are made in land by the spade, and left without being covered in. They are used in draining lands in particular cases. Open cuts, if effec- tual, are the best of all for forest draining, as they cannot be inconvenient, from the plough not being employed after the trees are planted. Cuts of this sort are frequently found useful in the practice of irrigation or watering of land. OPHTHALMIA. See Suter, Diseases or. ORACHE (triplex; from atir, black). A genus of herbaceous or shrubby straggling plants of little beauty, and the simplest culture and propagation. There are in England seve- ral native species. The .A. hortensis is cooked and eaten in the same manner as spinach, to which it is much preferred by many persons, although it belongs to a tribe whose wholesomeness is very sus- picious. It flourishes best in a rich, moist soil, and in an open compartment. Those, how- ever, of the autumn sowing, require a rather drier soil. It is propagated by seed, which may be sown about the end of September, soon after it is ripe, and again in the spring, for suc- cession; the sowing to be performed broad- cast, the seeds being scattered thin. The plants soon make their appearance, being of quick growth. When they are about an inch high, they must be thinned to 4 inches asun- der; and those removed may be planted out at the same distance in a similar situation, and watered occasionally until established. At the time of thinning, the best must be thoroughly cleared of weeds, and if they are again hoed during a dry day, when the plants are about 4 inches high, they will require no further at- tendance than an occasional weeding by hand. For early production, a sowing may be per- formed in a moderate hotbed at the same times as those in the natural ground. The leaves must be gathered for use whilst young, otherwise they become stringy and worthless. To obtain seed, some plants of the spring sowing must be left ungathered from, and thinned to about 8 inches apart. The seeds ripen about the end of August, when the plants may be pulled up, and when perfectly dry, rubbed out for use. ORANGE, OSAGE (Maclura aurantiaca). This is an American deciduous tree, which grows wild in Arkansas and Louisiana, where it attains the height of a tree of the second orthird class, but in the Middle States it seldom grows higher than 15 or 20 feet. Itis very branching; each branch being armed with numerous sharp thorns. The wood is remarkably tough, and said to be very durable. The male and female flowers are on separate trees. The fertile or female tree bears fruit abundantly in a very few years. These are round, rough, and green- ish-coloured, resembling somewhat an orange, and weighing from 12 to 18 ounces, containing from 100 to 250 seeds. : Recently this thorny tree has received very considerable attention, with a view to making it useful in the construction of live fences, £00 ORANGIS TREE. which purpose it is extensively cultivated in nurseries. “Its great merit,’ says Mr. T.S. Pleasants, of Virginia, “consists in the spread- ing manner of its growth, the denseness of its branches, and the armature with which they are furnished. Planted in hedge-rows, the ma- clura would never become unmanageable on account of its size; at the same time its growth is sufficiently vigorous to make a fence in 3, 4, or at most 5 years, from the seed. It may be asserted with safety, that on land of tole- rable fertility, the labour and expense of per- fecting a system of hedges would not be greater than to keep ordinary enclosures in good con- dition for the time required to construct them. “The Osage orange trees are readily raised from the seed, which, unlike those of the com- mon thorn, require no preparation. On the contrary, they vegetate with certainty in 2 or 3 weeks after planting. With tolerable care the seedlings will grow 2 or 3 feet in height the first season; after which they are to be re- moved from the nursery rows to the place designed for the hedge. Fifty of the large orange-shaped berries yield at least a pound of seed, or from 8 to 10,000 grains. It is the usual practice to place the sets from 12 to 15 inches apart, in a single row.” (Farmers’ Register, vol. 5, p. 86.) Though originally from a southern locality, the Osage orange is so hardy as to stand the winters not only of the Middle, but of the East- ern States. ORANGE TREE (Citrus). The genus to which the orange tree belongs consists of or- namental species of fruit trees, growing from 3 to15 feet high. The leaves are on more or less dilated and winged footstalks; the flowers are large, white, and odoriferous, exist- ing at the same time as the fruit, which is too well known to require description. Orange trees thrive best in a good loamy soil, mixed with a quantity of rotten dung. The different kinds are procured by budding or grafting on common stocks. Stocks for working upon are raised from any oranges, lemons, &c. They are sometimes raised from cuttings, in which case they produce fruit when very small plants. The flowers of the orange tree yield, by distil- lation, a fragrant volatile oil, known by the name of oil of Neroli. The fruit of the bigna- roll or bitter orange makes one of the best pre- serves which can be eaten, namely, Scotch marmalade. The unripe fruit is used for fla- vouring the liquor called curagoa. The ripe fruit is wholesome, and a useful refrigerant in fevers. ORANGE, WILD. See Currry, Wit. ORCHARD (Gr.). In horticulture, an en- closure devoted to the culture of fruit trees. In England the surface of the soil in orchards is generally kept under pasture; which, while it prevents the earth from being washed away by rains, is favourable to the running of the roots immediately under the surface, by which they are sooner called into action by heat in spring, and sooner thrown into a torpid state by cold in autumn. The principal fruits grown in orchards of this description in Great Britain are the apple, the pear, the plum, and the ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. cherry; and wherever wheat can be ripened in the plains, these fruits will arrive at perfection on declivities exposed to the south and south- east. ORCHARD-GRASS (Dactylis glomerata). Called in England cock’s-foot. It is an imper- fect perennial, native to the United States. See Cocx’s-Foor, and Grasszs. ORCHIDACE® (Orchis, one of the genera). A natural order of herbaceous endogens, in- habiting all parts of the world, excepting those climates situated upon the verge of the frozen zone, or remarkable for their exceeding dry- ness. They are well known for the singular form of their flowers. Some of them grow in the earth, others inhabit rocks and the branches of trees, and a few appear to be true parasites. They all belong to the class Gy- nandria of Linneus, are often very agreeably scented, and sometimes produce an aromatic fleshy fruit, as in the case of the vanilla, which contains a large quantity of benzoic acid. The nutritious substance called salep is prepared frora the amylaceous tubers of the male orchis, merely drying them in ovens. They become semi-pellucid, and when pulverized, form a mucilage with boiling water. They are usually grown in the frame or hothouse, and thrive best in a mixture of loam, peat, and chalk, broken small. They can only be increased from seeds. It would be quite impossible to describe the characters of each species. The species indigenous to England are— 1, Butterfly orchis (0. bifolia). 2. Pyramidal orchis (0. pyramidalis). 3. Green-winged mea- dow orchis (QO. moris). 4. Early purple orchis (O. mascula). 5. Dwarf dark-winged orchis (O. ustulata). 6. Great brown-winged orchis (O. fusca). 7. Military orchis (QO. militaris). 8. Monkey orchis (0. tephrosantos). 9. Lizard orchis (O. hircina). 10. White cluster-rooted orchis (QO. albida). 11. Frog orchis (0. viridis). 12. Marsh palmate orchis (0. latifolia). 13. Spotted palmate orchis (O. maculata). 14. Aromatic palmate orchis (0. conopsia). Most of the native species of orchis inhabit mea- dows and pastures, and hilly, chalky downs. The roots are doubly tuberous, fleshy; leaves chiefly radical; flowers numerous, spiked, purple, crimson, or whitish—in some highly fragrant. (Smith’s Eng. Flor. vol. iv. pp. 8—24). OREGON ALDER (Alnus Oregona). A spe- cies of the alder genus, which, like the Euro- pean alder, attains the height of 30 or 40 feet. (Nuttall’s Supplement to Michaux.) ORGANIC CHEMISTRY, is that portion of the science of chemistry which relates to animal and vegetable substances. “The ob- ject of organic chemistry,” says M. Liebig, “is to discover the chemical conditions which are essential to the life and perfect developement of animals and vegetables, and generally to in- vestigate all those processes of organic nature which are due to the operation of chemical laws.” In this article I shall confine myself principally to the results obtained by the analy- sis of vegetable and animal substances. Under the heads ArmoseuEre, Eartus, Gases, Trm- PERATURE, WarTeR, &c., will be found an ac- count of their respective uses to vegetation 863 ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. There is no branch of chemistry more diffi- cult, and yet more interesting, than that of or- ganic chemistry; for in this the chemist finds, added to his ordinary difficulties, and to his many sources of uncertainty, the presence, and very often the controlling influence, of a living principle, which in some instances seems to neutralize and overcome even the most power- ful chemical affinities. ‘“I would warn, there- fore, the reader,’ to use the words of Dr. Thom- son, “not to expect complete information in this branch of science: the wonders of the vegetable creation are still but very imper- fectly explored; many of the organs of plants are too minute for our senses, and scarcely a single process can be completely traced. The multiplicity of operations continually going on in vegetables at the same time, and the variety of different and even opposite substances formed out of the same ingredients, and almost at the same time, astonish and confound us; the order, too, and the skill with which every thing is conducted, are no less surprising; no two operations clash; there is no discord, no irregularity, no disturbance; every object is gained, and every thing is ready for its intend- ed purpose. This is too wonderful to escape our observation, and of too much importance not to claim our attention. Many philosophers, accordingly, distinguished equally by their industry and sagacity, have dedicated a great part of their lives to the study of vegetation. But hitherto their success has not been equal to their exertions. No person has been able to detect the formative agent in plants, nor even the principle which is always so busy in per- forming such wonders, nor to discover him at his work; nor have philosophers been much more fortunate in their attempts to ascertain the instruments which he employs in his opera- tions.” A great variety of curious and inte- resting facts, however, have been discovered. These I shall attempt to collect and arrange, to point out their dependence on each other, and to deduce such consequences as obviously result from the discoveries which have been hitherto made. The farmer will, upon reflection, be able to call to mind,many circumstances, showing the influence of the living principle upon the chemical substances of organic matter. He will remember, for instance, that the living sub- stance flourishes in the very same position, and wnder the very same circumstances, where, when dead, it rapidly putrefies. Every plant growing on the soil, or on a dunghill, testifies to the fact. The living plants which flowrish in the same solution of a salt in which they are dissolved, when dead, prove the same thing in another way; and these proofs may be multi- plied yery easily on very slight reflection. And as regards animal life, the very same results are obtained; the very gastric juice which the living stomach holds for an age, dissolves that stomach wnen dead. Animals can sustain a temperature considerably greater than that where the putrefaction of animal substances rapidly proceeds ; and men evencan exist for a considerable period in an atmosphere heated considerably above the boiling point of water. In this sketch of organic chemistry, I shall 864 ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. principally confine myself to the vegetable branch of it, and briefly follow the progress of a plant through its several stages of germina- tion, its growth, and its decay, leaving the reader to refer to other heads of this work for the information he may need. Germination. That all plants arise from seeds is now,I believe, undisputed by every person, notwithstanding the very many puz- zling phenomena which occasionally occur; such as the profusion of some of the grasses, occasioned by the application of certain ma- nures. Thus, “by dressing certain soils with bones and wood ashes, the white clover, which contains this salt, appears in great quan- tities. Now, phosphate of. lime abounds in bones and in the ashes of wood; other plants, itis probable, require the same food. Thus, after the great fire of London, says Mr. Play- fair, large quantities of the Erysimum latifolium were observed growing on the spots where a fire had taken place. Ona similar occasion, the Blitum capilatum was seen at Copenhagen, the Senecio viscosus in Nassau, and the Spartiwm scoparium in Languedoc. After the burnings of forest pine in North America, poplars, ac- cording to Franklin, grew on the same soil. (Liebig’s Org. Chem. p. 152.) Seeds, therefore, the farmer may rest as- sured, are essential to the production of plants. Now, the first movement of the seeds towards the production of plants is denominated their germination. To this certain requisites are essentially necessary ; such as moisture, mode- rate heat, and oxygen gas. That all seeds re- quire a certain degree of moisture before they will vegetate, is known to every one: where there is no moisture, there can be no germina- tion. This, however, varies according to the nature of the plant. Some of the mosses, for instance, will germinate on walls and other places where the supply is very limited; others, such as the water plants, will only grow im- mersed in water. The rice of Hindostan is grown in swamps abounding with water, which would be destructive to all the grain crops of the English farmer. The water-meadow grasses of our own country illustrate the same position. The plant, too, has the power of de- composing water, and assimilating its hydro- gen in the formation of its own substances. Water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen, and these substances are always essential in- gredients in vegetables. P st Heat is also necessary to germination: thus few plants will vegetate below the freezing point of water ; nevertheless, this low tempera- ture does not destroy their vitality, for every farmer is aware that frozen seeds will vege- tate after they have been thawed. As, how- ever, there is a peculiar degree of moisture on which every plant vegetates with the greatest advantage, so there is a temperature pecu- liarly favourable to the growth of every plant. The ivy, the elder, and the honey-suckle, for instance, invariably produce their leaves long before any other English plant has felt the warm reviving influence of spring. _ } And, again, if the seed is not supplied with oxygen gas, the most favourable supplies of ‘moisture and heat will not induce it to germi ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. nate. Ray tried this in the vacuum of an air- pump with some lettuce seed; they did not germinate in vacuo, but they grew very well when the atmospheric air (which contains 21 per cent. of this gas) was admitted. Itis for this reason that the farmer is careful not to bury his seed-corn so deep in the ground as to be out of the influence of the oxygen of the atmosphere. Beyond a certain depth, which varies with different plants, no seeds, in fact, will vegetate. Seeds have been buried deep in the earth for centuries, and when, after- wards, they have been accidentally thrown upon the surface, have vegetated. There is reason for believing that it is not the entire at- mospheric air, but only its oxygen, which is essential to germination. In the experiments of M. Saussure, the quantity of oxygen con- sumed by various plants during their germina- tion varied very considerably in amount. Wheat and barley, weight for weight, con- sumed less oxygen than peas; and peas less than beans and kidney-beans. The oxygen consumed by wheat and barley amounts to be- tween >, path and 5;\,,th of their weight, while that consumed by beans and kidney-beans may amount to ;}jth part of their weight. The oxygen absorbed by the seed is in all proba- bility combined with the carbon of the plant, and emitted during its germination, in the State of carbonic acid gas. This gas is com- posed entirely of carbon and oxygen, in the proportion of 6712 parts of the former and 16 of the latter; and the quantity of it emitted is exactly equal in amount to the quantity of oxy- gen absorbed by the seed that should unite with the carbon of the plant, to form the car- bonic acid gas, and a certain quantity of carbon is always lost by the seed during vegetation. When once a plant has vegetated, its growth proceeds with more or less rapidity ; none that I am aware of remain stationary; indeed, it cannot remain stationary, and live. They in- crease in size, require a supply of various sub- stances as food, and the examination of the nature of this nutriment constitutes one of the most valuable branches of organic chemistry ; for under this head are included the assistance afforded to plants by the gases, the earths, and by water. In the examination of the food of plants will also be illustrated the important questions of rotation, of fertilizers, and of various other important questions, which in this work will be found treated of under their respective heads ; and it will be useless to repeat what I have there at some length endeavoured to illus- trate. That the atmosphere yields its carbon and its oxygen; the soil its silica, alumina, and magnesia, with various saline matters; and that water yields both hydrogen and oxygen for the Service of the plant, is pretty well established by many valuable experiments which I have there given: and it is impossible to observe the results of the analysis of a perfect plant without being struck with the number of its ingredients, and perceiving at once the proba- ble sources from whence it drew its supply. Take, for instance, the analysis by M. Cadet of the solid matters or ashes of the common garlic. From 172 parts of these he obtain- ed of 109 ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. Parts. Potash - - - 2 = = 33: Sulphate and muriate of potash - 53° Alumina - - - = = + 2 Phosphate of lim = - = - 156 Oxide ofiron - - - - - 15 Magnesia - - eS - - th Lime - - = = = ns & 14° Silica - - - - 2 = a 8 411 All these substances, there is little doubr, were absorbed by the plant from soil in which it grew; but in the fresh or unburnt garlic these are combined with about eight times their weight of mucilage, albumen, sulphur, vegetable fibre, and water. Now the three first of these must have been formed during the growth of the plant, from either the atmo- sphere or from water: the first (the atmosphere) being composed of oxygen, nitrogen, and car- bonic acid; and the latter (water) of hydrogen and oxygen. Mucilage was found by M. Ber- zelius to be composed of Parts. Oxygen - = Se ran a= - 51°306 Carbon - - = s = - 41°906 Hydrogen - - - - - 6788 100° Albumen contains, according to the analysis of MM. Gay Lussac and Thenard, Parts, Carbon - - - - - - 52°883 Oxygen - = - = - - 28°872 Hydrogen - ONS Mee circ) Nitrogen - - - - - 15705 100° The same excellent chemists have shown woody fibre to be composed of Parts, Oxygen - - - - - - 42°25 Carbon - - - - - =e roe Hydrogen - om to A co MC C2) 100° The chief vegetable matters of the garlic, there- fore, the student will remark (and the same conclusion applies to other vegetables), are composed entirely of two or three principal ingredients. The composition of all plants is, in fact, much more similar than is commonly supposed. For instance, all the vegetable acids, such as vinegar (acetic acid), sugar, gum, starch, woody fibre, &c., are composed of three substances, viz., carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, arranged in different proportions, as may be seen from the following table: | Carbon. | Oxygen. Hydrogen. | —_— ——_ | 1 Acetic acid (vinegar) - 50°224 | 44:147 5°629 Citric acid (oflemons) - | 33°S11 | 59°859 6°330 Oxalic acid (of wild sorrel)| 26-566 | 70°689 | 2-745 Sugar - - - - | 42:47 50°63 6:90 Starch - 2 Ws a : Base Line Z ‘ENGLISH and SCOTCH PSDuval's Lith Phil® PLOUGHS. . > + ¥ | a 4 PLOUGH. back of the feather. The character of this plough is to take a furrow of 10 inches in breadth by 7 inches in depth, cut rectangular, leaving the sole of the open furrow level and clean. The resistance to the draught is gene- rally below the average of ploughs, and this plough is employed for every kind of soil. The impxoved English swing plough, as made by Ransom, is represented in Pl. 17, e. The Northumberland plough, and the Berwick- shire plough, are very nearly the same imple- ment; differing from Small’s plough in having the mould-board less concave. Wilkie’s swing plough, which Loudon says is the best iron swing plough in Scotland, is formed entirely of iron, except the points of the handles. Itseharacteristic, in point of form, is a longer mould-board with a greater twist in it, the object of which is to reverse the fur- row more completely in light or highly pul- verized soils. Finlayson’s iron ploughs are, as he informs us (British Parmer, p. 9), constructed in imitation of those of Wilkie, but with improvements and modifications adapted for particular circum- stances. The heath or self-cleaning plough, or rid plough, is formed with the beam so curved vertically, or divided and curved horizontally, as to leave no resting-place for stubble, heath, or other ve- getable matter, at the top of the coulter, where in rough grounds, with ploughs of the ordinary construction, it gets entangled and stops the work. Finlayson’s Kentish skeleton self-cleaning plough (Pl. 17, f) is intended as a substitute for the common Kentish turn-wrest plough. “The soil, in great part of Kent, is of a peculiarly adhesive clay. When this soil is between the wet and dry, it adheres to the body of the plough like glue, by which the draught is in- creased probably double or treble.’ By sub- stituting 3 or 4 iron rods for the mould-board, the soil is prevented from adhering, while the operation of ploughing is at the same time performed in an equally perfect manner with two horses as with four. This is accounted for “by the whole surface of this plough not being more than one-third or one-fourth the surface of other ploughs.’ In like manner, when it is necessary to dig or trench very strong clayey soil between the wet and the dry, the operation is performed with much greater ease by a two-pronged fork. It is important to agriculturists to know the opinion and expe- rience of a man of so much science and ex- tensive practice as the late Mr. Finlayson, who says, “from my own experience I have no he- Sitation in saying that the most adhesive land may, with ease, be ploughed by the skeleton plough and one pair of good horses.” Finlayson’s line plough is characterized by a rod which proceeds from the sheath of the plough to the muzzle, which is put on when the plough is drawn by horses in a line—a very disadvantageous manner, but yet common in many parts of England. The Somerville swing plough is known by its mould-board, a part of which is rendered mo- vable by hinges; the advantage of this is, that the furrow can be laid more or less flat at PLOUGH. | pleasure. This plough, however, has been but little used, and does not seem to meet the ap- probation of the best cultivators. Turn-wrest swing ploughs are such as admit of removing the mould-board from one side to another at the end of each furrow, for the pur- pose of throwing the earth removed always to one side. Their principal use is in ploughing across steep declivities, in order that the furrow-slice may, always be thrown down. Wherever it is practicable, however, it is best to plough obliquely up and down such decli- vities ; because the other practice soon renders the soil too rich and deep at bottom, and too thin and poor at top. Gray’s turn-wrest swing plough is one of the most scientific implements of the kind. The beam, head, and sheath, must always be placed in the direction of a line passing along their middle; and the two handles must be placed equidistant on each side of that line. There are two mould-boards and two coulters, and a mould-board is produced on either side, at pleasure, by moving a lever between the plough handles from the one side to the other. The line of draught can be shifted with equal ease and expedition, and at the same time one of the coulters raised up clear of the land, and placed along the side of the beam, whilst the other is put down, and placed in a proper po- sition for cutting off the furrow-slice from the furrow-ground. All this is performed at once, without the ploughman changing his position, by means of two levers. A skim-coulter (Pl. 17, m, m) may be added to any plough, and may be useful in turning down green crops and long dung, as well as in trench ploughing. But in most instances it is thought a preferable plan, where the soil is to be turned to an unusual depth, to make two common swing ploughs follow each other in the same track; the one before taking a shal- low furrow, and the other going deeper, and throwing up a new furrow upon the former. The double share plough is distinguished by having one share fixed directly over the other. It is made use of in some of the southern dis- tricts of England with advantage, in putting in one crop immediately after ploughing down another; as by it a narrow, shallow furrow is removed from the surface, and another from below placed upon it, to such depth as may be thought most proper,—it being capable of act- ing to 10 inches or more. In this manner many sorts of crops, such as rye and other green crops that have much height of stem, may be turned down without the inconvenience of any of the parts sticking out through the seams of the furrow-slices, by which the farmer has a clean surface of mould for the reception of the grain. The mining plough, or trenching plough, is some- times employed for the purpose of loosening the soil to a great depth, without bringing it up to the surface ; a mode of operation which is particularly useful for various sorts of tap rooted plants, as well as for extirpating the roots of such weeds as strike deep into the ground. For these purposes it may be em- ployed in the bottom of the furrow after the ;common plough, It is constructed in a very 903 — PLOUGH. strong manner, having a share, but no mould- board. The share raises the earth in the bottom of the furrow, and, passing on under what it has raised, leaves the soil where it was found, but in a loosened state. See Sunsorn Proven. Somerville’s double-furrow plough is obviously advantageous in performing more labour in a given time, with a certain strength of team, than other sorts of ploughs, as producing two furrows ata time. It has been found useful on the lighter sorts of land, where the ridges are straight and wide, though some think it more confined in its work than those of the single kind. he saving of the labour of one person, and doing nearly double the work with but little more strength in the team, in the same time, recommend it for those districts where four-horse teams are in use. This plough has been brought to its present degree of perfection by Lord Somerville, especially by the introduc- tion of movable plates at the extremities of the mould-board, as in his lordship’s single plough. But, as observed by an excellent au- thority, “with all the improvements made by Lord Somerville, it can never come into com- petition, for general purposes, with the present single-furrow ploughs.” Lord Somerville ad- mits, that it would be no object to invade the system already established in well-cultivated counties: though, where large teams are em- ployed, with a driver besides the ploughman, it would certainly be a matter of importance to use this plough, at least on light, friable soils. “Their horses,” he says, “will not feel the difference between their own single furrow, working one acre, and the well-constructed two-furrow plough, with two acres per day; here is no system deranged, and double work done.” ‘This plough is also of particular va- lue for ploughing up and down steeps. The Argyleshire plough differs from Small’s, or any single swing plough, in having no coulter fixed in the beam, but, in lieu of this, a fin or Imife rising from the left side of the share, which serves the purpose of slicing off the furrow as well asa coulter. This fin or fea- ther must be placed at the same angle as the coulter, and should terminate in a lance-like shape, in order to furnish the least obstruction to stubble, weeds, or stones. This plough is not liable to be choked by stubble, or thrown out by catching small stones between the points of the coulter and sock. In point of draught it is precisely the same as the common plough. The double mould-board plough is a kind of plough often used with advantage in clearing out furrows, in setting potatoes, cabbages, and other similar crops, and in earthing up such as are planted in wide rows. Those whose mould-boards move on hinges, and may be set wide or narrow at pleasure, are the most con- venient. A variety of this plough, made by Weir of London, admits of removing the mould- boards, and fixing in curved coulters and hoes, tur cleaning between drilled turnips and similar crops. P The binot is almost the same thing as the Jouble mould-board plough, and the one is 20mmonly sold for the other, with no loss to the 904 PLOUGH. purchaser. It has two mould-boards, one on each side of the beam. It is used in some soils in forming a ribbed or ridged bed for wheat or other grains; by which means, when the grain is sown over the ribs or ridgelets in the broad-| cast manner, as it falls for the most part into the furrows, or is harrowed into them, it comes up in rows. It is also used in earthing up crops; and sometimes in Flanders, but never by the best cultivators in England, in giving the first furrow to stubbles. The marking plough is used in straightening and regulating the distance of ridges where the drill system is practised. Any plough with a rod fixed at right angles to the beam, and a short piece depending from this rod, will trace a line parallel to the furrow drawn by the plough, which line will serve for a guide as to the width of ridges, &c. Clymer’s plough is a recent modification of the implement, formed entirely of iron, and chiefly remarkable for the absence of the coul- ter, or rather its attachment to the breast, and for the share, mould-board, and other parts which move under ground, being composed of distinct pieces of cast-iron. This is considered as cheaper to commence with and easier to repair, because any one part may be renewed of the same material without deranging the rest; whereas renewing or repairing wrought- iron shares, mould-boards, or coulters, is found in many districts both difficult and expensive. It has never come into use in England. Stothard’s plough is characterized by a per- forated mould-board. The holes may be in any form or dimensions; and their object is to al- low the air to pass through, and thereby pre- vent the adhesion of wet earth, which it is contended adheres in ordinary ploughs with such a degree of tenacity as greatly to increase the friction, and diminish the speed of the horses. Morton’s trenching plough has two bodies, the one working 4 or6 inches deeper than the other. The first cuts or pares off the surface to the required depth, say 5 inches, and turns it over into the furrow, 10 or 12 inches deep, made by the main body. The second body generally works from 10 to 12 inches deep, but might be made to work to the depth of 13 or 15 inches; upon its mould-board is formed an inclined plane, extending from the back part of the feather of the sock or share to the back part of the mould-board, where it terminates about 6 inches above the level of the sole. This in- clined plane raises the soil from the bottom of the furrow, and turns it over on the top of that which has been laid in the bottom of the pre- vious furrow, by the body going before. Draining ploughs are of various kinds, but none of them are of much use; the work can always be done better, and generally cheaper, by manual labour. Wheel ploughs are of two kinds: by far the most common, are those where the wheel or wheels are introduced for the purpose of re- gulating the depth of the furrow, and rendering the implement more steady to hold; those less common are where a wheel is introduced for the purpose of lessening the friction of the sole or share. This last description of wheel plough PLOUGH. PLOUGH. is scarcely known, but it promises great ad-| favouring circumstance, even to the supposed vantages. The former is of high antiquity, having been used by the Romans. Ploughs with wheels for regulation and steadiness vary considerably in their construc- tion in different places, according to the nature of soils and other circumstances ; but in every form, and in all situations, they probably re- quire less skill in the ploughman. Wheels seem, indeed, to have formed an addition to ploughs, in consequence of the want of expe- rience in ploughmen; and in all sorts of soil, but more particularly in those which are of a stony and stubborn quality, they afford great assistance to such ploughmen, enabling them to perform their work with greater regularity in respect todepth, and with much more neat- ness in regard to equality of surface. From the friction caused by the wheels, they are gene- rally considered as giving much greater resist- ance, and consequently demand more strength in the team that is employed; and, besides, are more expensive in their construction, and more liable to be put out of order, as well as more apt to be disturbed in their progress by clods, stones, and other inequalities that may be on the surface of the ground, than those of the swing kind. With regard to wheel ploughs, those more especially in which the wheel is placed in the heel of the plough, the following extract from Mr. Stephens’s Book of the Farm, will explain both the philosophy and practical effect: The application of a wheel in the heel of a plough, does not come under the same mode of reasoning as that under the beam, the former becoming a part of the body, from which all the natural resistance flows; but in viewing it as a part of that body only, we can arrive at certain conclusions which are quite compatible with careful experiments. The breadth of the whole rubbing surface in the body of a plough, when turning a furrow, is on an average about 174 inches; and sup- posing that surface be pressed nearly equal in all parts, we shall have the sole-shoe, which is about 24 inches broad, occupying + part of the surface ; and taking the entire average resist- ance of the plough’s body, as before, at 336 lb., we have + of this, equal to 48 Ib., as the great- est amount of resistance produced by the sole of the plough. But this is under the supposi- tion that the resistance arises from a uniform degree of friction spread over the whole rub- bing surface of the body; while we have seen, on the contrary, that the coulter, when acting alone, presents a resistance equal to the entire plough. It is only reasonable, therefore, in absence of further experiments, to conclude, that the fore-parts of the body, the coulter and share, yield a large proportion of the resistance when turning the furrow-slice; but since we cannot appreciate this with any degree of exactness, let the sole have its full share of the resistance before stated, namely, 48 1b. If a wheel is applied at or near the heel of a plough, it can only bear up the hind-part of the sole, and prevent its ordinary friction, which, at the very utmost, cannot be more than half of the entire friction due to the entire sole. A wheel, therefore, placed here, and acting under every 114 extinction of its own friction, could not reduce the resistance by more than 24 lbs., being the half of that due to the entire sole, or it is ;; of the entire resistance. But we cannot imagine a wheel so placed to continue any length of time, without becoming clogged in all direc- tions, thereby greatly increasing its own fric- tion; and when it is considered that the neces- sarily small portion of any wheel that can be so applied will sink into the subsoil, to an extent that will still bring the sole of the plough into contact with the sole of the furrow. It will thus be found that the amount of reduction of the general resistance will be very much abridged, certainly not less than one-half, which reduces the whole saving of draught to a quan- tity not exceeding 12 lb., and even this will be always doubtful, from the difficulty of keeping such wheels in good working condition. This view of a wheel placed at the heel has been confirmed by actual experiments, carefully con- ducted, wherein Palmer’s patent plough with a wheel in the heel, as patented many years ago (but in this case it was applied on the best prin- ciples), gave indications of increased resistance from the use of the wheel, as compared with the same plough when the wheel was removed ; the difference having been 13 stone in favour of no wheel. I hesitate not, therefore, to say, that in no case can wheels be of service towards reducing the resistance of the plough, whether they be placed before or behind, or in both positions, and the chances are numerous that they shall act injuriously. That the use of wheels may, under certain circumstances, bring the implement within the management of less skilful hands than is required for the swing plough, must be admitted; but, at the same time, there may be a question whether, even with that advantage, the practice is com- mendable. I should be wanting in candour if, for myself, I answered otherwise than in the negative. Having, says Mr. Stephens, in a general way described the construction of the frame-work and the acting parts of the wheel plough, there remains for me to say a few words on the wheels with which it is furnished. I have already adverted to wheels, as they appear to me to affect the draught of ploughs, and have ex- pressed myself in sufficiently distinct language to show that, in my opinion, they must in all cases be injurious, and tend to increase the resistance of the plough to which they are ap- pended, whether they be applied within the body, or under the front, or any other part of the beam. That wheels may be of advantage for the working of a plough in the hands of an unskilful ploughman may be true; but if this advantage is acquired by a certain additional expenditure of horse-power, which, however much the proprietor of the team may blind himself to, will ultimately, though probably unheeded, tell on his profit and loss account, there will be no gain, but an ultimate loss. It must be admitted, even by the advocates of the wheel plough, that though they may be handled with perfect regularity in ploughing along ridges, whether the holder be an experienced ploughman or not, yet in cross-ploughing they AG 2 905 PLOUGH. cannot by any means be brought so handily to follow the undulations of the surface. In leaving one ridge, the share will pass too shal- low, and in entering on the brow of the next, it will go too deep, or at least deeper than the average of the ploughing. There is also the element of time, which in all farming opera- tions is an important one; and here wheel ploughs are found to come short by about 25 per cent. as compared with swing ploughs. Mr. Pusey, in his paper on the draught of ploughs, incidentally observes: ‘ While the work of our ploughing teams is at best but } of an acre upon strong ground (and sometimes as much as one acre upon the lightest), the daily task performed by 2 Scotch horses upon strong land is 1} acre.” This deficiency of effect cannot be attributed to want of power in the horses, for English horses are at least not inferior to those employed in Scotland for agricultural purposes, neither can it be from unskilfulness in the ploughmen, for even the most skilful seem to come short in this respect, by not being able to plough more than } of an acre in a day, while with the swing plough almost any ploughman will turn over his acre a day. From the remarks of the same writer, it is to be in- ferred that a Scotch swing plough was incapa- ble of being drawn through a certain clay soil by 2 horses, while the wheel ploughs were found to perform the work with tolerable ease, though still a heavy draught. There may be such cases; but from the conditions of this par- ticular case, where the draught that bafiled the horses in the swing plough seems not to have exceeded 52 stones, there is an ambiguity in the matter that leads to doubts of the accuracy on the part of the observers of the experiment. We know well that in working the Scotch swing plough in an 8 or 9-inch furrow on stiff land, the draught is not unfrequently as high as 7 cwt. or 56 stones; but 2 good horses never shrink from the task; and how a less draught, whatever be the soil, should have baffled the exertions of 2 good horses in a swing plough, even in the Oxford clay, requires some further investigation to be satisfactory. Among agricultural writers, it seems, says Mr. Stephens, to be a prevalent opinion, that land when ploughed receives a curvature of surface ; whereas, correct ploughing, that is, making the furrow-slices on the same ridge all alike, cannot possibly give the surface any other form than it had before it was ploughed. If the former surface were curved, then the newly ploughed surface would also be curved ; but if it were flat, the new surface will be flat also. A thoroughly good ploughman, and I have known a few, but only a few of such valuable men, avoids so objectionable a prac- tice, and ploughs always a true, sound furrow, making it larger or smaller as the particular state of the work may require. Without putting much value on the informa- tion, it may serve as a fact to refer to, in case it should be wanted, to state the weight of earth turned over in ploughing. If 10 inches are taken as a fair breadth for afurrow-slice, there will be 18 such slices across a ridge of 15 feet in breadth; and taking 7 inches as a proper depth for such a furrow-slice, a cross section 906 PLOUGH. of the slice will have '70 square inches. A cubic foot of earth is thus turned over in every 244 inches and a little more of length of such a slice; and taking 2:7 as the specific gravity of ordinary soil, every 244 inches and a frac- tion more of such a slice will weigh 12 stones 1 lb. imperial. The usual speed of horses at the plough may be ascertained in this way. A ridge of 5 yards in breadth will require a length of 968 yards to contain an imperial acre; and to plough which at 9 bouts, of 10-inch breadth of furrow-slice, counting no stoppages, will make the horses walk 97 miles, which in 10 hours gives a speed of 17423 yards per hour. But as ridges are not made of 968 yards in length, and as horses cannot draw a plough that distance without being affected in their wind, and as allowance must be made for time lost in turning at the ends of the ridges, as well as for affording rest to the horses, that speed will have to be con- siderably increased to do that quantity of work in the time. By experiment it has been found, that 1 hour 19 minutes, out or S hours, are lost by turnings while ploughing an acre on ridges of 274 yards in length, with an 8-inch furrow- slice. Hence, in ploughing an acre on ridges of 250 yards in length, which is the length of ridge I recommend as the best for horses in draught, in 10 hours, with a 10-inch furrow-slice, the time lost by turnings is 1 hour 22 minutes. I presume that the experiment alluded to does not include the necessary stoppages for rest to the horses, but which should be included; for however easy the length of ridge may be made for draught, horses cannot go on walking in the plough for 5 hours together (one yoking) without taking occasional rests. Now 250 yards of length of ridge give nearly 4 ridges to the acre, or 36 bouts; and allowing a rest of 1 minute in every other bout, 18 minutes will have to be added to the 1 hour 22 minutes lost, or very nearly 1} hour of lost time, out of the 10 hours, for turnings and rest. Thus 18,000 yards will be ploughed in 8} hours, or at the rate of 1 mile 422 yards per hour. I think this result is near the truth in regard to the plough- ing of lea in spring ; it is too little in ploughing red land in summer, and perhaps too much in ploughing stubble land in winter; but, as lea- ploughing is the criterion by which all others are estimated, this result may be taken as a near approximation to the truth. The comparative time lost in turning at the ends of long and short ridges may be seen from the following table, constructed from data furnished by the experiment above alluded to: Lenzth of | Breadth of | Timelostin | TiM&4e | Hours of ridge. furrow-slice.| turning. plesee inet work, Yards, Inches. ho m h. m. he 7 10 5 iL 44 10 149 — 2 44 7 16 = 200 = 2091 7 59 = 212 =— 1 56% 8 3) = 274 >= 1 28 8 32 — Thus it appears that a ridge of no more than 78 yards in length requires 5 hours 11 minutes of time to turn at the landings, to plough an acre in 10 hours, with a 10-inch furrow-slice; whereas a ridge of 274 yards in length only re- PLOUGH. quires 1 hour 28 minutes for the same purpose, making a difference of 3 hours 43 minutes in favour of the long ridge in regard to saving of time. Consequently, in the case of the shortest ridge, only 4 hours 49 minutes out of the 10 can be appropriated to ploughing, whereas in that of the long ridge, 8 hours 32 minutes may be devoted to the purpose. Hence, so very short ridges require double the time of long ones to plough, and are thus a decided loss to the farmer. This is a subject well worth your experimenting on, by ascertaining the time usually taken in ploughing and turning and resting on ridges of different lengths, in the different seasons, and in different soils. A watch with a good second-hand to mark the time will be’ required, and the observations should be made unknown to the ploughmen, at their usual rate of work; for if you be con- stantly in the presence of the men, more than the usual work will be done, and less than the usual rests taken. The whole value of ploughing, scientifically speaking, depends upon its having the effect of loosening the texture of the soil, and thus per- mitting a free circulation of air and moisture through its interstices, for the double purpose of increasing the rapidity of the disintegration of its stony portions, and of re-reducing to powder what had formerly been pulverized, but which, from the joint action of pressure, and the binding effect of root-fibres, had become agelutinated together. However well you may manure your land, however thoroughly you may drain it, you will never obtain the crops it is capable of yielding, unless you pulverize it; nay, so important did Jethro Tull think this, that he felt firmly per- suaded that if you pulverized your soil well, you need not manure at all. I need hardly tell you, that we shall prove hereafter Jethro Tull to have carried his conclusions too far; but still so direct and unqualified a statement, from such a writer, should have its full influence upon all who wish to learn thoroughly the art of agriculture. Always bear in mind that the impalpable powder is the active part of soil, and that no other portion has any direct influ- ence upon vegetation, and you will then, at all times, be sufficiently impressed with the neces- sity of thorough ploughing, harrowing, &c.; indeed, you may rest assured that, except upon some few very light sands, you cannot pulverize the soil too much—economy alone must fix the limit of this useful operation. Tempering, &c.--A good ploughman will have his plough so “tempered,” or its different parts so regulated or adjusted, that it will neither have a tendency to take more or less earth, or, in other words, go deeper or more shallow than is ne- cessary. The width of the furrow-slice will be at the same time regulated, so that neither more nor less land be taken than is requisite. Some ploughmen, says Mr. Stephens, habitually make the plough lean a little over to the left, thus giving it in effect less land than it would have, were it made to move upon the flat of the sole ; and to overcome the consequent tendency of the plough to make a narrower furrow-slice than the proper breadth, they move the draught- bolt a little to the right. The ploughing with PLOUGH. a considerable lean to the left is a bad custom, because it makes the lowest side of the furrow- slice, when turned over, thinner than the upper side, which is exposed to view, thereby de- luding you into the belief that the land has all been ploughed of equal depth; and it causes the horses to bear a lighter draught than those which have turned over as much land in the same time, with a more equal and therefore deeper furrow-slice. Old ploughmen, becoming infirm, are very apt to practise this deceptive mode of ploughing. The plough should always move flat upon its sole, and turn over a rectan- gular furrow-slice; but there are certain ex~ ceptions to this rule, depending on the peculiar construction of parts of certain forms of ploughs. None assume the habit of leaning the plough over to the right, because it is not so easy to hold it in that position as when it moves upon the sole along the land-side. Other ploughmen, especially tall men, prac- tise the habit of constantly leaning hard upon the stilts, or of steeping; and as this practice has the tendency to lift up the fore-point of the plough out of the ground, they are obliged, in order to keep it in, to put the draught-bolt farther from the ground than it should be. A little leaning of the hands upon the stilts is requisite at all times, in order to retain a firm hold of them, and thereby have a proper guid- ance of the plough. A good ploughman will use none of these expedients to make his plough go steadily, nor will he fall into any of these reprehensible habits. He will temper the irons so as there shall be no tendency in the plough to go too deep or too shallow into the ground, or make too wide or too narrow a furrow-slice, or cause less or more draught to the horses, or less or more trouble to himself, than the nature of the work requires to be performed in the most proper manner. If he have a knowledge of the implement he works with—I mean, a good practical knowledge of it, for a knowledge of its principles is not requisite for his purpose,— he will temper all the parts, so as to work the plough with great ease to himself, and, at the same time, have plenty of leisure to guide his horses aright, and exe¢ute his work in a credit. able manner. I have known such ploughmen, and they invariably executed their work in a masterly way; but I never yet saw a plough- man execute his work well, who had not acquired the art of tempering the irons of his plough. Until he learns this art, the best-made plough will be comparatively worthless in his hands. The state of the irons themselves has a ma- terial effect on the temper of the plough. If the cutting edge of the coulter, and the point and cutting edge of the sock, are laid with steel, the irons will cut clean, and go long in smooth soil. This is an economical mode of treating plough-irons destined to work in clay- soils. But in gravelly and all sharp soils, the irons wear down so quickly, that farmers prefer irons of cold iron, and have them laid anew every day, rather than incur the expense of laying them with steel, which perhaps would not endure work much longer in such soil than iron in its ordinary state. Irons are now seldom 907 PLOUGH. if ever steeled; but whether they are steeled or not, they are always in the best state when sharp, and of the proper lengths. An imperfect state of the mould-board is another interruption to a perfect temper of the plough. When new and rough, it accumulates the loose soil upon it, whose pressure against the turning furrow-slice, causes the plough to deviate from its right course. On the other hand, when the mould-board is worn away much below, it is apt to leave too much of the crumbled soil in the bottom of the furrows, especially in ploughing loose soils. Broken side-plates, or so worn into holes that the earth is easily pressed through them into the bosom of the plough, also cause rough and unequal work; and more or less earth in the bosom affects the balance of the plough, both in its temper and draught. These remarks are made upon the supposition that all ploughs are equally well made, and may, therefore, be tem- pered to work in a satisfactory manner; but it is well known that ploughs sometimes get into the possession of farmers, radically so ill-con- structed, that the best tempering the irons are capable of receiving will never make them do good work. When all the particulars which ploughmen have to attend to in executing their work,—in having their plough-irons in a proper state of repair, in tempering them according to the kind of ploughing to be executed, in guiding their horses, and in ploughing the land in a method- ical way—when all these particulars are con- sidered, it ceases to surprise that so few plough- men should be first-rate workmen. Good ploughmanship requires greater powers of ob- servation than most young ploughmen possess, and greater judgment than most will take time to exercise, in order to become familiarized with all these particulars, and to use them all to the best advantage. To be so accomplished, implies the possession of talent of no mean order. The ship has been aptly compared to the plough, and the phrase “ploughing the deep” is as familiar to us as ploughing the land: to be able to put the ship in “proper trim,” is the perfection aimed at by every sea- man; so, in like manner, to “temper a plough” is the great aim of the good ploughman; and to be able to do it with judgment, to guide horses with discretion, and to execute plough- ing correctly, imply a discrimination akin to sailing a ship. (Stephens.) Plough Handles.—The handles should be suffi- ciently wide apart to allow the ploughman to walk in the furrow, and long enough to give him a full command of the plough, so that he can lift or depress it readily in work, guide it to the right or left hand, and swing it round at the land’s end out of the furrow into another. Plough-beam.—The beam should be of such a length, that its end, commonly called its head, shall cut at the point of draught, upon a line drawn from that part of the collar to which the traces are attached, to the share or that part of it where it first raises the soil. On the right arrangement of the point of draught in the structure of the plough depends much of its steady working at its proper depth. It is from 4 908 PLOUGH. the principle of balancing from a point ad- justed to the line of draught, that the plough takes its name of swing, in contradistinction to the names of foot and wheel ploughs. The beam should be curved upwards at the coulter and throat of the plough, to clear itself of rubbish which sometimes accumulates, and should be inclined slightly from the land, or, in other words, towards the furrow, because its tendency is to yield towards the loosened land, and it therefore requires this counteraction in the line of draught to keep it in a right line. This is supposing a pair of horses to be har- nessed abreast; if they be harnessed at length, the beam should be still more inclined; for as neither horse then walks on the “land,” the direction of the force towards the land-side is still further decreased. Plough-head.—The cross-head of the plough forms a ready means of increasing or de- creasing the inclination last spoken of, and the hake, or draught-iron, which moves in the are ofa circle along the cross-head, has notches by which the depth of the plough can be regu- lated in unison with the line of draught. There are various contrivances for these purposes, most of which involve the use of a screw as a means of adjustment; but the plan of pins and notches is sufficiently accurate, and not liable to be out of order. Sketches of two, the one English, h, the other Scotch, i, are given in Pielirs Plough-share-—The plough-share is the apex of the sole, as the hind part is called the heel. It varies in shape for different purposes. On stony lands it is best with a point, as figured Pl. 17, k& But where the land is free from stones, the wing is best when angular, and the cutting edge in a line, or nearly so, as figured in Pl. 17, L. For different work, “hard lands” and “sum- mer lands,” shares ofa greater “ dip” or “ pitch” are requisite. A common plan is to use new shares on hard lands, and to wear them a day or two, and then lay them aside for summer lands. 3 Mould-board—The upper part over the box of the share should form the first part of the rise of the mould-board. After the coulter and share have made the vertical and horizontal cuts for the depth and width of the furrow-slice, the mould-board has to complete the work by turning it over and leaving it in its proper po- sition. On the precision with which this part of the plough performs its work, much, indeed nearly all, of the beauty of the ploughing de- pends: hence the importance of discovering its true form for the land on which it has to be used. Desirable, however, as this is, there does not as yet appear to be any precise rule for the formation of the mould-board, that has met with so uniform an approval under the test of practice, as would lead us to speak with entire confidence of it. We have looked at the mechanical principles laid down by Small, Bailey, Gray, Amos, Jefferson, Clymer, and others, but are not aware of any plough-makers of the present day who strictly adhere to either the one or the other; and so long as the mould- board cannot be used on even the same farm PLOUGH. under circumstances always similar, as its operation will necessarily be affected by the weather, the state of the land, with the varying depth and width of the plough, it is not an easy matter to determine which form is best for general purposes. It is clear that different soils, as, for instance, light sand and heavy clay, require mould-boards almost the opposite of each other; and such they are. The Nor- folk mould-board is short, with rather a hollow or concave surface, whilst that used in the hundreds of Essex is long and convex. Lord Western, many years ago, improved upon the form of the heavy land mould-board in use in that part of the county of Essex where he resides, by cutting away a considerable por- tion of the lower and hinder part of the figure, and by making it in a straight line lengthwise from the nose to the hind part. Were the circumstances always the same, there can be no question but that one mathe- matical form of the mould-board would be pre- ferable to all others ; but, under circumstances so various, the plan hitherto adopted has been to prove, by experience and from practical operation, the forms best suited to different lands under an average depth and width of work, keeping as nearly as possible to the principle of the wedge, as necessary for the proper lifting, turning, and laying over the soil. Provided the mould-board be made so that the work, while in operation, goes on as it should do, a good practical criterion as to its figure will be found in the evidence of friction it has undergone, and this, with the fine cast metal now in use, can be determined to a nicety. If, on a given soil, the mould-board becomes brightened uniformly—if the mould appears to slip with light friction and with the same pres- sure from one end of it to the other, it cannot be far, if any thing, out of its proper shape for the purpose intended. And yet, if the same mould-board be used on some other lands, it will immediately show its inapplicability to them by the soil adhering to it in parts, not slipping well through it, and thus evidencing a want of uniformity in its general friction. Therefore, considering that neither depth nor width of furrow is always the same, and that scarcely one circumstance affecting its use is unvarying, it is difficult to find a rule which shall aptly suit these changes. At the same time itis not presumed that such will not or cannot be found; and the theory which most accords with our view, is one which has re- cently been laid down by the Rev. W. L. Rham, rector of Winkfield, Berkshire, a gentleman whose scientific and agricultural knowledge entitles his opinion to considerable deference. His theory is, that the mould-board should be composed of straight lines in the direction of its length, with continually increasing angles to the line of the furrow: these last lines being either straight, convex, or concave, horizontal sections of the mould-board. Coulter.—Simple as the coulter may appear to be, it is a very important part of the plough, and much depends upon its being properly formed and fixed for the work it has to perform PLOUGH. made of iron and steel, and of sufficient sub- stance to stand firmly to the position in which itis set for its work, not bending either to the right-hand or to the left. ‘The blade or cutting part should be about 23 inches wide, and formed by the meeting of two curves, as this shape cuts the land easier than when the edge is either in a straight line or curved forward. The land side of the coulter should be flat, and the opposite side a gradual taper from the edge to the back: the thickness must be determined by the strength of the work it has to perform. The angle at which the coulter is usually set, is about forty-five degrees from the plane of the ground; but in summer lands it requires to be placed in a more slanting position, and to take the lead of the share about three-quarters of an inch, to prevent the grass or rubbish driving in a heap, as it otherwise might do. On the contrary, when used for ploughing up hard fallows, it requires to be fixed in a more up- right position, and rather more backward than the point of the share. It should be placed about half an inch above the share, and a quarter of an inch to the land side of it. Every good ploughman has his own notions on the subject of setting the coulter, but the above directions are given from practical observation. The usual mode of fixing the coulter in the socket of the frame or beam, is by means of wood or iron wedges driven above or below the socket, or by a coarse cut screw-bolt, which turns into the side of the socket and presses against the coulter-stalk. Each of these modes is defective, there being a complication in the details of all that appears not quite adapted to the class of workmen who have to use them. Skim Coulters—Skim coulters are sometimes used for the purpose of burying the surface- grass orrubbish. Sketches of two kinds are given in pl. 17,m,m. The usual plan is to fix the skim about six inches before the common coulter. Wheel Coulters are used in the fen lands, and are useful when ploughing up turf. One of these coulters is represented in pl. 17,7. The cutting-disk should be made of steel, with a nave sufficiently long for it to be steady, and the box should be bored true, and revolve ona well-fitted steel pin, as on the perfect fitting of the box and axle the correct working of the disk, and consequently the effective operation of the plough, depends. Swing Ploughs—The advantages attributed by Mr. Ransome to the swing plough are as follows :— 1. It admits of being set into its work at a given depth, either shallower or deeper, by the alteration of the draught iron at the point of draught, or by increasing or decreasing the distance at which the power of the horses is applied. 2. The ploughman has also the power of re- culating, in some degree, the depth of the work, by either lifting or bearing upon the handles. 3. It is a plough of more simple construc- tion than any other, and less expensive in its first cost. 4, A skilful workman can plough across in the operation of ploughing. It should be jridge and furrow at very nearly a uniform 909 PLOUGH. depth; he can work with it on almost all lands, and in all weathers when ploughing can be done at all. The Wheel Plough (with high Gallowses).—This derives its name from having the appendage of a carriage and wheels. The body of the plough is essentially the same as that of the swing plough, and notwithstanding the different form of its beam, the point of draught should be the same as that of the swing plough, namely, to cut a line drawn from the horse’s shoulder to the share or point of resistance. In the Report to the Board of Agriculture from the county of Leicester, published in 1808, it is stated, “that more than thirty years ago, wheels were first applied to the fore-end of the beam, and it was found by ‘pitching’ the plough a little deeper, and setting the wheels so as to prevent its drawing too deep, the wheels were a sufficient guide, and the plough required no one to hold it except in places of difficulty.” If properly adjusted, a lad of 14 years of age can manage it easily; and the writer of this article once saw, at a ploughing match, a lad having a plough of this sort—the only one in the field—walking leisurely beside it, to the great astonishment of the other competitors, and from whom, to their still greater astonish- ment, he carried away the prize. This lad had been taught ploughing only a few months. When one wheel only is attached to the plough, some persons give the preference to a small one to run upon the unploughed land, as it is less likely to clog up, and requires no al- teration towards the end of the furrow; but others prefer a larger wheel which runs in the furrow, as it has an even bottom to travel over, and correctly regulates the width of the furrow- slice. It also more effectually facilitates the turning round at the headland, particularly if the horses have to go to the right hand. The larger wheel to run in the furrow, therefore, is best for general purposes, and, with a lever attached to it, is rendered very easy of adjust- ment. In the use of a gauge for the depth of plough- ing, whether of two wheels, one wheel, or a foot, the plough should be so regulated as to press but lightly on the ground when passing over it; thus admitting as little of the counter- acting force between the wheel and share as possible. In the Prize Essay by Henry Handley, Esq., the advantages of wheels are clearly set forth, and his arguments in favour of their use have since been very strikingly confirmed by the trials made under the directions of Philip Pusey, Esq. The silver medal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England was awarded to John Clarke, of Long Sutton, Lincolnshire, for the invention of a plongh (see Jour. of Roy. Agr. Soc., vol. i. p. 66) for the purpose of ridge cul- ture; by an easy transition of shape, which is accomplished in a very simple manner, this implement becomes, 1. A double tom or ridge plough. 2. A moulding plough. 3. A horse-hoe, or cleaning plough. 4, A skeleton, or broad-share plough. Subsoil Ploughs.—At the thought of a subsoil 910 PLOUGH. plough, says Mr. Ransome, our minds turn at once to James Smith, of Deanstone, as the gen- tleman who has opened a very interesting and important view of tillage, by the system of sub- soil ploughing, and thereby breaking the under soil without turning it up to the surface. His practical knowledge has long been devoted to the interests of agriculture, and the results have been most beneficial. The plough he invented for the purpose is too well known to need a de- scription, though we should consider our Essay incomplete without a sketch of it. See pl. 17,0; also g. Following the invention of James Smith, of Deanstone, was another of a different and much lighter description, the invention of Sir Edward Stracey, Bart., Rackheath, and the plough is called by the latter name. It answers the purpose of deep ploughing, that is, from 10 to 16 inches below the surface, and when pre- ceded by the common plough, which is plan recommended, the depth below the s1r- face-ground is just as much again as the 4 plough effects. This plough answers admirably for under- ploughing grass lands, and is made into a sub- turf plough by changing the wheel gear in front, to that of a carriage and two wheels. P. Pusey, Esq., in an interesting paper in the Eng. Agr. Soc. Journ. (vol. i. p. 434), gives an account of a plough, made to his order by Charles Hart, of Wantage; at the hinder part of this plough was fixed a strong tine, some- thing like those on Biddel’s scarifier, for the purpose of under-ploughing the soil. This tine was made to rise or lower at pleasure; and from the description of its use and operation, given in the above paper, we should think ita valuable invention, as it may be easily attached to a plough of the common sort, and removed when not wanted. Skeleton, or Cleaning Ploughs, are often the transformations of common ploughs for that purpose, by taking the mould-boards and shares off, and substituting for the shares subsoil or cleaning shares, with prongs. See Pl. 17, f. The plan of laying furrows in one direction, so as to have neither ridge nor water furrows, has within the last year attracted more than common attention in Britain. It has led toa careful inquiry into the the system of ploughing pursued in Kent, and there seems to be a dis- position among many first-rate agriculturists to try the plan, provided lighter implements can be furnished for the purpose, not exceed- ing the power of two horses’ draught. To this object some eminent practical farmers have turned their attention, and a plough, made under the direction of Mr. William Smart, a farmer of great respectability and experience at Rainham, in Kent, bids fair to open a new and very important view of the mechanical principles of the turn-rest plough, which he has remodelled; and it may be made equally applicable to the power of two or four horses. This gentleman, after many trials, arrived at the conclusion that, inasmuch as the work of the turn-rest plough depended on its wedge- like construction, its form could only be cor- rect in proportion to its approach to the per- fect wedge; and this form, obtained by straight PLOUGH. lines in the direction, first, from the point of the share to the throat of the plough, to pro- duce the effect of elevating the furrow-slice ; and, second, from the edge of the coulter to the heel of the rest, to effect the turning of the flag, is that which he has adopted; making these lines tend to an angle of 15 degrees. With the assistance of an ingenious ploughwright in his own neighbourhood, several ploughs on this principle were constructed, and these have been the basis upon which still further im- provements in the detail have been carried out. They are now so constructed that the ploughman can readily shift his coulter by means of a lever, which reaches the bottom of the handles, and also his rests or mould-boards from side to Side, without leaving his station between the handles of his plough, they being so arranged that, by withdrawing a small pin and pressing the projecting rest towards the body of the plough, the mould-boards on either side become alternately the land side when not in work. Ploughs for the purpose of turning the fur- rows all in one direction, and laying the slices at an angle with the horizon, as is done by the common plough, have been within the last year or two brought before the public, but we cannot learn that they have been generally adopted. In going thus at length into the subject of the plough, we have shown the present state of agricultural mechanics as respects those in general use. To have gone more fully into the description of those out of the common rou- tine of farming, would have carried us beyond what we imagine to be the proper limit of this portion of the work. At the same time it must be observed, that there are a variety of purposes for which ploughs of a particular form, different from any already described, are required; such as paring ploughs, draining ploughs, drill ploughs, &c. &c. On each, in- deed on all of which, a considerable amount of judgment and ingenuity has been expended. Ploughs even for common purposes have been long in arriving at their present state; and there are doubtless many improvements that may yet be accomplished. In the construction of ploughs, the first ob- ject to be borne in mind is the proper perform- ance of the work to be done; the next, that this should be effected with the least expenditure of animal power, and with the greatest econo- my; and, lastly, that they should be made as simple as possible in reference to the plough- man who will have to use them. The circum- stance of repairs, which will be continually re- quired as the parts wear out, should also be kept in view, and the whole require to be made on an accurate plan, so as to insure every part fitting properly; the workman may then fix them on the spot as readily as a mechanic at his manufactory. Nor should it be forgotten that quality of materials and workmanship are main points in economy, and that to dispense with either is to pave the way to dissatisfaction and trouble to all parties concerned. It is difficult to suggest alterations on the present implements, which appear adapted PLOUGH. to the purpose, and likely to agree with the description of the requisites just given; but there is no doubt that the plough, in its various forms, is capable of great improvement; and amongst the points to which attention may be usefully directed are the following :—- Amount of draught that different forms of mould-boards and shares require, in order to determine those best suited to the purpose. A mould-board that will best turn the work on either side of the plough, so as to admit of its being changed from one to the other, after the plan of the Kent turn-rest. A ready means of altering the depth or pitch of the swing plough while in motion, without stopping the horses, so that it may be accom- modated to any difference in the nature of the soil, or inequalities on its surface, which the plough may meet with. } The same as respects the wheel plough, with- out placing any of its forces in opposition to each other. Many papers on ploughs and ploughing are contained in the best modern agricultural pe- riodicals. Wilkie’s turn-rest plough is de- scribed in the Trans. High. Soc. vol. vi. p. 484. Mr. Heathcote’s steam plough, Ibid. p. 72. Mr. Laidlaw “On the general advantages of Two- horse Ploughs,” Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. li. p- 712. “On the Plough of Palestine,” Ibid. vol. iii. p. 373. “On Small’s Plough as a Drill Plough,” Jbid. p. 854. “On the Mathematical Construction of the Plough,” by Mr. Amos, Com. Board of Agr. vol. vi. p. 437. “On Wheel and Swing Ploughs,” by Mr. Handley, Jowrn. Roy. Agr. Soc. vol. i. p. 140. “On Draught in Ploughing,” by Mr. Pusey, Ibid. p. 219. “On Subsoil Ploughing,” by Sir James Graham, Ibid. p. 245. “On the Rackheath Subsoil Plough,” by Sir E. Stracey, Jbid. p. 253. “On the Charlbury Subsoil Plough,” by Mr. Pusey, Ibid. p. 433. “On the Rackheath Subturf Plough,” by Sir E. Stracey, Ibid. vol. ii. p. 375 and “On a Light Subsoil Plough, adapted for two Horses,” by Mr. Gabell, Ibid. p. 421. The Plough in the United States—Whilst in Europe, and particularly in Great Britain, the plough has been so much improved, American intelligence and ingenuity have been rewarded with great success in the same pursuit. The implement which the pioneer is obliged to make use of in first stirring and partially turn- ing up the soil filled with roots and stones, is necessarily very rude, sometimes almost equal in this respect to those of the primitive ages of husbandry. One of these rough contri- vances is, in New England and the Northern States, familiarly called the Bull plough. The several improvements on the plough in the United States seem to have progressed, for the most part, with little or no reference to Eu- ropean plans or models, and to have been almost exclusively confined to swing-ploughs, wheel-ploughs being scarcely ever seen. Sim- plicity and economy seem to have been kept in view by all who have undertaken to improve or modify the implement. As the various sec- tions of the Union present varieties in the con- ditions of the soil, the ploughs are constructed with reference to these conditions, so that in 911 PLOUGH. the Northern, Eastern, Middle, and Western States, different ploughs are vaunted for their excellence. It has been observed as a singular circumstance, that to the celebrated author of the Declaration of Independence the United States should be also indebted for the first theory of the plough formed on mathematical princi- ples. President Jefferson’s letter to Sir John Sinclair, president of the British Board of Ag- riculture, addressed in 1798, is published in the Transactions of the Am. Philosophical Society, vol. iv. p. 314. It describes the mould-board, and the principles upon which it is properly constructed. (See American Farmer, vol. i. p- 185, and Domestic Encyclopedia, vol. iii. p. 113. io England the most complete set of experi- ments yet made to ascertain the particular merits of different ploughs, are those instituted by Mr. Pusey, president of the Royal Agricul- tural Society, and described by him in the 3d No. of the Journal of that Society. A con- > densed view of the objects and results of these experiments may be found in the Cultivator, (vol. viii. p. 10), together with the results ob- tained with American ploughs at the Worces- ter ploughing match in 1840. The points embraced in the English experi- ments were: 1. The comparative lightness in draught, of wheel and swing ploughs. 2. The lightest plough absolutely, of what- ever kind. 3. The effect of different soils upon the qua- lities, and chiefly on the draught of the plough. 4, The comparative tenacity of different soils. 5. The power of two horses to plough the strongest or clay soil. Ten ploughs, embracing some from the most celebrated makers in England, the highly famed Scotch swing plough, and several of those in common use in the different districts of the kingdom, were selected by Mr. Pusey for his experiments, and he was aided by the presence and advice of some of the most distinguished agriculturists in the country. The ploughs were worked by skilful ploughmen; and, as much interest was attached to the experiment on the Scotch ploughs, a Clydesdale span of horses and a ploughman accustomed to the plough were sent up by Lord Moreton to manage that part of the trial. The Scotch plough has obtained considerable celebrity from the strong praise bestowed upon it by Mr. Loudon, who declares the improved Scotch plough to be superior to any similar implement known in England. They are constructed on the principles laid down by Mr. Jefferson, in his celebrated Report on the true shape of the mould-board, addressed to the French Institute, which, he showed from mathematical data, should be in the form of a gentle hollow curve; other ploughs constructed more full and short, not raising the earth gradually like a wave, but throwing it over at once. In con- densing Mr. Pusey’s experiments, we shall select, as sufficient for the present purpose, frem the list given by him, three ploughs—Ist, the improved Scotch plough made by Fergu- 912 PLOUGH. son, and entirely of iron—2d, a one-wheeled plough of wood, with an iron breast, by Mr. Hart, but commonly known as the improved Berkshire plough; and 3d, an old-fashioned plough made of wood, and such as is in general use in many parts of England, where it is called the old Berkshire plough. Some previous ex- periments had convinced Mr. Pusey that the Hart plough was of easy draught, and the ones now instituted showed that his impressions were correct. The Clydesdale horses were much admired in their work; and it was the opinion of the bystanders that such land, usually worked with four horses in line, might be ploughed with two such horses abreast; though it was said it would cost as much to keep two horses in that condition, as to support the four in their usual working state. On this ground, where the horses had a firm footing, they worked with per- fect ease. In summing up the trials, Mr. Pusey remarks that the plough requiring the least draught was Hart’s, though in the last trial it was beat by Ransome’s two-wheel plough; and that of all modern ploughs the Scotch swing plough was the heaviest, “out of the question on a light soil, and by no means the best on a heavy one.” The following table shows the average draught of all the ploughs on the several soils in which the experiments were made: Trial l. Sandy loam - - - - 174 stone. 2. Clayloam= - - - - 47% 3. Loamy sand - - - - 164 * 4, Strongloam - - - - 34 « 5. Clayloam = - - - Tey, ee 6. Moorysoil - - - - 2 ve A drawing of Hart’s improved Berkshire one-wheel plough is given in the Cultivator, (vol. viii. p. 10.) The trials at the Worcester ploughing match in 1840, were made to determine the award of two premiums offered by the Massachusetts Agricultural Society, of $100, and $75, for the best ploughs, one for lapping furrows and the other for laying them flat. The following re- marks by the reporting committee will enable the reader to understand the experiments, whilst the list of ploughs will show the num- ber of inventors and improvers whose imple- ments have acquired most celebrity in the eastern portion of the United States. The power required to turn over a given quantity of earth by a plough is a very im- portant consideration. This power can be measured with great accuracy; greater than many of the committee supposed, before they witnessed the operation. The dynamometer, inserted between the plough-beam and the chain, measures with great accuracy the strength exerted by the team. Suppose the strength applied be the same that would be re- quired to raise 336 lbs. over a single pulley; suppose also that the depth of the furrow is 64 inches with a width of 13 inches. Multiply 13 by 63, and you will have 84 with a fraction. Now, if 336 lbs. of power will take up and turn over 84 inches of earth, then 112 Ibs. will turn 28 inches. Tried in this way, the ploughs ex- hibited showed the following results. The power in each case is 112 lbs. PLOUGH. Finst Trrat.—Ploughs for ie furrows. By Charles Howard - rig inches. Ruggles, Nourse & Mason - John Wilson - - - ait ee Stephens’ plough = - ts James Stewart (Scotch plough) 195 pe Cornelius Bergen - - 18 we Barnaby & Mcoers - - eae * oe E. G. Whiting - - - - 18 oe Seconp Trrat.—For flat furrows. Prouty & Mears =i) syne arth Charles Howard - - - 25 uw Ruggles, Nourse & Co. - - 24 re Barnaby & Mooers - - - 18} ce E.G. Whiting -—— - 14 sf Another plough by Prouty & Mears 26 a Do. do. Charles Howard 25 Le The terms used in this experiment are dif- ferent from those adopted in the English one ; but those who choose may easily compare them with each other by remembering that 112 Ibs. is 8 stone, and making the furrow-slice to correspond, which in the American experiment was 84 inches, and in the English one 45; or 63 by 13, to5 by 9. When this is done, the experiments will be found to correspond re- markably well, and the general results of both may be considered as establishing many im- portant truths, some of which have been already pointed out. Thus it will be seen that in the same soil, and under the same cir- cumstances, one plough will work 100 per cent. easier than another, or that one horse will perform the work of two, or two that of four, with the same ease. Could horses speak, they would doubtless direct a vote of thanks to the men who have invented, and the farmers who use, implements by which one-half of the severest labour the horse per- forms is done away. We very much question whether our farm-horses on our heavy wheat lands do not often perform much more severe labour than the highest rate named by Mr. Pusey (52 stone, or 728 lbs.), as we have seen them day after day showing more exertion and evident distress in ploughing than when draw- ing aton a day over hardroads. Whatever may be the obduracy or tenacity of the soil, or the toughness of the sward; only one pair of horses is used, where, under the same circumstances, four would be used abroad, and the question is Name of Plough. Weight of Plough. PLOUGH. never asked whether the plough is of a con- struction so defective as to require 5 cwt. to move it, or whether it works with ease, witha force of 2 cwt. applied. Mr. Pusey estimated the fair draught of the Clydesdale horse at 168 lbs. or 12 stone, and that of a common English farm-horse at 112 lbs. or 8 stone. Ata fair held by the New York Agricultural Society, at Syracuse, in 1841, the first of the regular premiums, $30, was awarded to the plough made by Howard Delano of Mottsville, the second premium of $20 to E. G. Holliday, for his plough, favourably known as the Laugh- lin plough. The Wisconsin and other ploughs attracted considerable notice; but the double mould-board plough of Barnaby and Mooers, from the excellence and novelty of its con- struction, the facility with which it would ope- rate on side hills as well as on level land, and its ease of draught, rendered it deservedly a fa- vourite implement, and the honorary premium was deemed well awarded. It was supposed by many very good judges of ploughing, that the resistance offered by the land-side Nines would increase the draught sensibly, but the re- sult showed that such was not the case. The trial of ploughs whick took place under the direction of a committee of the American Institute, at New York, was very well con- ducted; and although the number of ploughs on the ground was not as great as at Syracuse, the trials with the dynamometer were more sa- tisfactory. It is to be regretted that some of the favourite Massachusetts ploughs had not been present for competition, as a full investi- gation and understanding of the matter requires repeated and careful comparison of ploughs in the same soils, and as near as possible under the same cireumstances. We believe that such will hereafter be the case. The manner in which the report of the trials of ploughs last year at Worcester was presented, renders a comparison of the actual draught used there and at New York, difficult; but as the mode was adopted at New York that English experiment- ers have used, a comparison between the ploughs of England and Scotland, and those of this country, is more easily made. The fol- lowing table, which we find prepared at our Hart’s English - Pies - - 140 lbs. Ransome’s wheel, do. CH eT 168 Yester,No.1,Scotch- - - - 170 Ae “2, English - - - 136 Scoular’s swing, do. - = - - 150 Hunter’s English oN Oya 190 Currie’s Scotch- - - - = 170 Coltman’sdo, - - = - - 176 Hadden’sdo. - = = - - 180 Neill’s do, - at) ar awe 185 Wilkens’s English - - - - 175 Ransome’s swing - - - - 160 Palmer’s wheel, English - - - 230 New spring, Scotch - - - - 189 Sussex, English - - - - - 189 The following ploughs were Barnaby & Mooers Wisconsan Beebe’s swing Minor, Horton & Co.’ Cornelius Bergen’s 142 70 Ort at) Cer) nt) Draft by dynamo- Remarks. meter, 400 Ibs. Furrow not well taken out. 480 Between furrow not well laid up. 380 Clean furrow. 440 -“ “ee 446 c “ 560 Furrow not well Jaid up. 500 “ “ “ 500 Second best furrow. 510 Third SO 500 Good furrow. 540 “ “se 462 “ “ 560 Good work. 560 ww 680 “ “ tried at Sing Sing, 14th October: 350 Best work of any American 438 Second best rate. 451 Good furrow. 460 “ “ 472 “ “ 4H 913 PLOUGH. hand in an account of the New York trials, given in the Brooklyn Star, we transfer to our columns with pleasure, merely remarking that we have verified the correctness of the foreign results, by reference to the reports in the Jour- nals of the English Royal Agricultural Society, and the Scotch Highland Agricultural Society, from which they were taken. The reader will see that the best British plough, Yester No. 1, weight 170 lbs., draught 380 lbs., removed a fur- row-slice of only 10 inches by 6, while the best American, Barnaby and Mooers’ double mould- board side-hill plough (the same that received the premium at Syracuse), weight 142 lbs., draught 350 lbs., removed a furrow-slice of 12 inches by 8, or nearly twice as large. We are gratified to learn that this plough, which re- ceived the premiums at Syracuse and New York, has been presented by the Institute to the Royal Agricultural Society, and that doubt- less it will be subjected to comparison with the ploughs of that country. In examining the list of English agricultural implements, we have often remarked the fact, that English ploughs range in prices from $20 to $30, while the best improved American ones do not cost more than from $10 to $15. The table will be un- derstood without further explanation. In a report of a committee appointed to su- perintend a trial of ploughs near Baltimore, in 1842, the following results are stated. Depth of Width of Plough. furrow. urrow. Force, 1, Barnaby & Mooers’ 5 2-0 in. 12 in. 350 lbs. 2. Mou’s Wiley plough 6 6-9 131-6 562 3. Prouty & Mears’ cen- tre-draught plough, Boston - - - 51-9 121-6 500 4, Howard Plough, Bos- ton - - - 57-9 14 550 5. The Davis Plough. This plough worked well, but was withdrawn before trial with the dynamometer. The committee remark, “the task to the com- mittee, of deciding where such excellence was to be found in each of the implements contend- ing, was one of difficulty, and would have been more so, but for the various purposes to which the Barnaby and Mooers’ plough is adapted, it being in facta plough of all work, and from the fact of its executing its work with so much less draught than either of the others.” In commenting on the qualities of the seve- ral ploughs submitted to trial, the committee say of Barnaby and Mooers’ side-hill plough, the one used:—“There is a peculiarity about this plough which is worthy of note. On the bottom of the furrow, and on the land side, it cuts out fully 123 inches of the earth, so as to reduce resistance to the turning of the succeed- ing furrow, thereby facilitating, not only that operation, but insuring the exactitude with which it is performed, leaving a clean and broad furrow behind, in which the furrow-horse can walk, and preventing the treading of the ground in turning.” Although the trials made at the various ex- hibitions have thus far resulted so much in favour of the double mould-board plough of Barnaby and Mooers, still has this been less extensively adopted than it would appear to deserve. Associated with its great merits, there may yet remain some obstacle to its general use, of easy removal. The objection from great | 914 PLOUGH. weight requiring unusual exertion in throwing out and turning, might possibly be obviated by the addition of a wheel or some other device. The price of this plough varies from $4 for No. 3, a 7 inch seeding plough, to $10 for No. 83, a heavy two or three horse, 12 inch plough. The following is a summary notice of the ploughs best known to the farmers of the Mid- dle States. ‘The order in which they are men- tioned is not intended to express the precise dates of their invention or their relative merits. Beech’s Self-sharpening Plough has a concave mould-board. Its price varies with the size, from $6 to $10, the average price being $8. Miles’s Plough, known also by the name of Dickson’s, has the bar-share, land-side, and lock- coulter of wrought iron. They cost about $13. This plough still retains precedence in the old counties of Pennsylvania, its execution being excellent, and its strength enabling it to con- tend successfully against obstacles met with in stony ground and tough swards. Peacock’s Plough.—This has been long known and is still extensively used. It has a bar- share and lock-coulter, and is best adapted to soils of a light texture, where shallow work will answer. It does not turn a sod so well as is desirable. Wiley Plough—One of the oldest of the cast-iron ploughs still in use is that of B. H. Wiley. The share of this has two points capable of being turned once. It is adapted to stubbles, but does not perform so well in tough sward. Woodcock’s Plough.—For the last few years this has been in extensive use in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and Newcastle county, Delaware. Itis a self-sharpening implement, with a slightly concave mould-board. A cast- iron angular cutter supplies the place of a coulter. It is sometimes constructed so as to have the mould-board on either the right or left side, thus adapting it to the habits of a few old farmers who retain a partiality for ploughs turning the furrow-slice to the left hand. Prouty and Mears’s Centre-draught Plough.-One of the chief late improvements on American ploughs consists in lengthening or extending the mould-board, and still retaining the centre- draught principle, a construction which enables the instrument to turn a sod or furrow-slice so as merely to lap, or to lie completely flat, at the discretion of the ploughman. The cost of these ploughs, which possess high merits, va- ries, according to size, from $7 to $12. The larger sizes are provided with a small wheel to each, attached near the beam, a rare thing in America, but which in the present instance serves to render it more easy for the plough to follow the horses with proper steadiness, thus serving to ease the ploughman as well as the horses, the tendency to sink too deeply into the soil being completely checked. With regard to the wheel to ploughs, it is worthy of remark that there is a disposition beginning to be ma- nifested in the United States in favour of at least one such appendage. Subsoil Ploughs, now so extensively used in PLOUGHING, Great Britain, are rapidly coming into use in the United States, where various sizes are made, the largest being a heavy tug for four horses, whilst the smallest may be worked by two mules or one stout horse. Those made by Prouty and Mears are very efficient imple- ments, the prices varying from $8 for the sin- gle horse, and $10 to $12 for the larger sizes. A more simple and cheaper subsoil plough, which has proved very successful on trial, has lately been made in the city of New York, adapted to one or more horses. These consist of a common plough from which all the upper portion of the mould-board has been cut away, so as to leave the mere skeleton, which strikes deep and stirs up the subsoil very effectually. The price of these varies from $4 to $6, ac- cording to size, &c. They may be hadin New York at most of the agricultural implement stores, and in Philadelphia, of E. Chandler, agricultural implement maker, 196 Market street. See Sussor Provenre. PLOUGHING. The art of turning over the soil by means of the plough. There are va- rious kinds of ploughing. Trench ploughing is effected by the plough passing twice along the same furrow: the first time for the purpose of throwing the surface soil into the bottom of the furrow, and the second time for raising a Farrow-slice from under that which had been already turned over, and raising it up, &c., turning it upon the first furrow-slice, by means of which the surface soil is entirely buried, and a stratum of subsoil laid over it: thus effecting in the field what trenching with the spade does in the garden. Trench ploughing can only be employed with advantage where the subsoil is naturally dry and of good qua- lity, or where it has been rendered so by drain- ing and subsoil ploughing; for bad subsoil brought to the surface, unless considerably altered in composition and texture, would be unfit for receiving seeds or plants. To excel in the art of ploughing, the plough- man should take a pleasure in his work, and not rest satisfied till he can make his furrows in a straight line, and lay the slices as much as possible at the same angle from the bottom of the furrow. He should open his first furrow in a uniform manner, and proceed with regu- larity of width and depth of the furrow-slice, and “shut up” clean at last. Ploughing matches, which of late years have been so general, have given a very increased interest to ploughmen and ploughboys. The face of the country is in many parts strikingly improved by the change which sound plough- ing has effected, and much of this may be traced to the lively interest which has been paid to this part of tillage by agricultural so- cieties and by practical farmers. I never knew a ploughing-match meeting established in any rural district without very beneficial effects be- ing produced on the character of the peasantry. It never fails to elevate the ploughman in his own opinion; it induces him to strive to excel in his honourable vocation, to please his em- ployer, and to stand well in the estimation of his richer neighbours. The very assemblage of the neighbouring farmers and gentry to wit- PLOUGHING. ness the trial of skill, brings out all the latent pride of the roughest ploughman. The flowers in his horses’ bridles, the network on their ears, the new, gay-coloured tape with which their manes and tails are braided, betray the little feelings of honest pride in the plough- man’s bosom. When at a recent meeting I noticed the air of triumph with which the vic- tor in the field of Langley, in Buckingham- shire, after having had the queen’s prize of five guineas awarded to him, marched his sleek, well-fed plough-horses off the field, with a sprig of laurel in their bridles, I could not but admit that the effect of that meeting would be felt, not only amongst the contending plough- men there assembled, but through the adjoin- ing hundreds. The triumph, too, was not con- fined to the ploughman; his master, nay, his parish, shared in the honour; and I will en- gage that many an honest ploughman, between one year’s meeting and the next, as he ploughs “his acre,” thinks of the field of meeting, and of the best means of securing a prize. Such meetings, moreover, teach even the most igno- rant the importance of such affairs; that there is a great difference in the neatness, style, and profit to the farmer where the ploughmen ex- ecute their work properly ; and they are pretty sure to convince even the most listless that there is more skill required in a ploughman than many persons would readily believe. I believe it admits of no doubt, says Mr. Stephens, that, since the institution of plough- ing matches throughout the country, the cha- racter of our farm-servants as ploughmen has risen to considerable celebrity, not but that in- dividual ploughmen could have been found before the practice of matches existed as dex- terous as any of the present day, but the gene- ral diffusion of good ploughing must be ob- vious to every one who has been in the habit of observing the ploughed surface of the coun- try. This improvement is not to be ascribed to the institution of ploughing matches alone, because superior construction of implements, better kept, better matched, and superior races of horses, and superior judgment and taste in field labour and in the farmer himself, are too important elements in influencing the conduct of ploughmen, to be overlooked in a considera- tion of this question. But be the primary motive for improvement in the most important branch of field labour as it may, there cannot be a doubt that a properly regulated emulation amongst workmen of any class, proves a strong incentive to the produc- tion of superior workmanship, and the more generally the inducement is extended, the im- provement arising from it may be expected to be the more generally diffused; and on this account the plough medals of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, being open for competition to all parts of Scotland every year, have perhaps excited a spirit of emulation among ploughmen, by rewarding those who excel, beyond any thing to be seen in any other country. Wherever 15 ploughs can be gather- ed together for competition at any time and place, there the ploughman who obtains the first premium offered by those interested in the 915 PLOUGHING. exhibition, is entitled to receive, over and above, the Society’s plough medal of silver, bearing a suitable inscription, with the gainer’s name. About 40 applications are made for the medals every year, so that at least 600 ploughmen an- nually compete for them; but the actual num- ber far exceeds that number; as, in many in- stances, matches comprehend from 40 to 70 ploughs, instead of the minimum number of 15. The matches are usually occasioned by the welcome which his neighbours are desirous of giving an incoming tenant to his farm, and its heartiness is shown in the extent of the assist- ance which they give him in ploughing a field or fields at a time when he has not yet collected a working stock sufficient for the purpose. Ploughing matches are generally very fairly conducted in Scotland. They usually take place on lea ground, the ploughing of which is considered the best test of a ploughman’s skill, though I hold that drilling is much more diffi- cult to execute correctly. The best part of the field is usually selected for the purpose, if there be such, and the same extent of ground, usually from 2 to 4 ridges, according to the length, is allotted to each portion of ground to be ploughed. A pin, bearing a number, is pushed into the ground at the end of each lot, of which there are as many marked off as there are ploughs entered in the competition. Numbers corresponding to those on the pins are drawn by the competing ploughmen, who take pos- session of the lots as they are drawn. Ample time is allowed to finish the lot, and in this part of the arrangements I am of opinion that too much time is usually allowed, to the annoy- ance of the spectators. Although shortness of time in executing the same extent of work is not to be compared to excellency of execution, yet it should enter as an important element in- to the decision of the question of excellence. Every competitor is obliged to feer his own lot, guide his own horses, and do every other thing connected with the work, such as assort- ing his horses, and trimming his plough-irons, without the least assistance. The judges, who have been brought from a distance, and have no personal interest in the exhibition, are requested to inspect the ground after all the ploughs have been removed, hav- ing been kept away from the scene during the time the ploughs were engaged. The primary objects of the institution of ploughing matches must have been to produce the best examples of ploughmanship; and by the best must be understood that kind of ploughing which shall not only appear to be well done, but must be thoroughly and essen- tially well done. In other words, the award should be given to the plough that produces not only work of a proper surface finish, but which will exhibit, along with the first, the pro- perty of having turned up the greatest quantity of soil and in the best manner. (Book of the Farm.) showing the distance travelled by a horse in| are indigenous to Britain. ploughing or scarifying an acre of land; also| noticed the bird cherry (P. the quantity of land worked in a day, at the| cherry tree (P. cerasus), rate of 16 and 18 miles per day of 9 hours. 916 PLUM. Breadt Space travel Buon en is nicks pent ploughed Be arate or Scarifier. an acre, vnicfion: Miles. 18 Miles. frlles, 16 Miles. Escala Fo | 7 14 1% sey 8 128 ii ik 9 ll 13-5 ies 10 9 9-10 14-5 13-5 ll 9 2 1} 12 8 21-5 19-10 13 % py 21-10 14 7 oR py 15 62 Dy 22-5 16 61-6 29-10 23-5 17 5} 31-10 23 18 5h 3h 29-10 19 B 3 31-10 20 49-10 33-5 3h 21 47-10 34-5 3h 22 4h 4 3h 23 4 41-5 37-10 24 4 4h 39-10 25 4 4h 4 26 34-5 43 41-5 27 33-5 49-10 44 28 35 5} 4 29 3h 5h 43-5 30 33 5} 44-5 31 31-5 5 5 32 31-10 54-5 5 33 3 6 5h 34 29-10 61-5 5h 35 24-5 63 53-5 36 23 6h 54-5 37 8 62 6 38 23-5 6 9-10 62 39 py nm 6t 40 2 ves 63 41 22-5 ve 63 42 py 7 62-3 43 23-10 74-5 ” 44 2 8 71-10 45 21-5 81-6 vps 46 21-6 8h 79-5 47 21-10 8 73-5 48 21-12 82 7h 49 2 8 9-10 79-10 50 2 99-10 81-10 51 19-10 91-5 8h 52 19-10 gx 82-5 53 19-10 oR 83 14-5 94-5 89-10 14-5 10 8 13 103 9 14 102-5 91-5 17-10 10 3-5 9} 17-10 103 9h 13-5 10 9-10 97-10 13-5 111-5 94-5 13-5 11t 10 13-5 114 101-5 1k 11 7-10 103 1k 114-5 104 4 12 103-5 Ik 122 10 4-5 14 122.5 ll 12-5 123-5 11h 12-5 1 11+ 12-5 12 9-10 11} 12-5 134 113-5 1} 131 11 4-5 1} 134 12 4 13 3-5 122 13-10 13 4-5 1ai 13-10 14 1 1t 12 Iz 11 11 11 11 ‘ PLUM (Prunus, from prune, its Greek name) The following will be found a useful table,| A genus of trees and shrubs, several of which Having already padus), the wild the wild bullace tree (P. insititia), the black thorn or sloe (P. spinosa), PLUM. under their several heads, it only remains to speak in this place of the wild and cultivated species of plum tree. The wild plum tree (P. domestica) is a moderate sized tree, without thorns, found growing sometimes in woods and hedges, flowering in May. The fruit is rather oblong, seldom quite globular, its colour and flavour very variable. “Whether all our cul- tivated plums have originated from this spe- cies, or from the wild bullace tree” (P. insititia), says Sir J. E. Smith, “its thorns having disap- peared by culture like those of the pear tree, is a question which perhaps no botanist can ever solve.” As to its varieties, Gerarde de- elares that “to write of plums particularly would require a peculiar volume, and yet the end not be attained unto, nor the stock or kin- dred perfectly known, neither to be distin- guished apart.” He adds that each country has an abundance of its own peculiar varie- ties. All the kinds of plum grow well in any common soil, and are increased by seeds or suckers, or by grafting or budding to perpetuate the particular kinds. There are 274 varieties named in the catalogue of the Horticultural Society. As a choice selection for a small garden, Mr. Nicol recommends the following twelve varieties: Jaune Hative, Wilmot’s Or- leans green gage, red magnum-bonum, white ditto, Coe’s golden drop, Caledonian, mussel, damson, wine-sour, white bullace, blue impé- ratrice. The best plums for cultivation may be thus classed— a. Purrre Rounn.—Shoots smooth.—Purple gage; nectarine plum; Kirkes; virgin; queen- mother. Shoots downy.—Royal native; Orleans; early Orleans; Coxe’s fine late red; wine- sour. b. Ostone.—Shoots smooth.—Blue impératrice ; Inkworth impératrice ; Cooper’s large red. Shoots downy.—Blue perdrigon; Shrop- shire damson. a. Pate Rounn.—Shoots smooth—Green gage; Knight’s large green drying; Lucombe’s nonsuch. Shoots downy.—Drap dor; Mirabelle; Washington. b. Ontone.—Shoots smooth.—Coe’s golden drop; St. Catherine; White magnum bonum. Shoots downy.—Gumaraen; White per- drigon. Tf plum trees are much pruned, they grow too luxuriant to produce fruit, and often gum and spoil. The choice varieties of plums are much esteemed for the dessert; the more com- mon sorts are used for pies, tarts, preserves, &c. The wood is employed for turnery and cabinet work, and for the manufacture of mu- sical instruments. The following information relative to the cultivation and management of plum trees, is from a communication made by Mr. 8. Reeve, of Salem, N. J., to that valuable American work, Hoffy’s Orchardist’s Companion. Plum trees, like other fruit trees, when first transplanted, and for a few or several subse- quent years, should be managed and cultivated alike; but when the plum tree has arrived to maturity and ready to bear, the soil around it PLUM TREE WEEVIL. should be thrown into a hard texture, for in- stance, of the consistency of a gravel walk. A pig and poultry yard which remains un- cultivated, and never suffered to become a sward, is also very appropriate, from the cir- cumstance of its being promenaded over con- stantly by bipeds and animals so as to preclude the possibility of grass growing. In a soil of this description, owing to its be- ing compact and consequently remaining drier, the trees do not grow so fast as in cultivated grounds, the beneficial result is, that the sap cen- tres itself more in the fruit; whereas, when the sap is too abundant, it is more apt to flow past the fruit into the branches, and thus ultimately, from a want of nourishment, the plums drop off in profusion, owing to their starved condi- tion, and not so much, as it is often supposed, from the bore or sting of the curculio, of which it is frequently found divested when picked from the ground. From a compact position or nature of soil as before described, another important advan- tage arises: although not operating as a perfect antidote to the attacks of the curculio, it is nevertheless a great preventive to its depreda- tions, from the circumstance that this insect, when the fruit does fall, not meeting with a surface or soil such as sward, garden ground, &c., in which to take shelter until the following spring, when it hatches and assumes the winged form, and again commences its destruc- tive attacks upon the fruit. Mr. Reeve submits it therefore as his opi- nion, that it would fully repay any person for his trouble or expense in removing (which should only be done when vegetation is checked) from the plum tree, when it has ar- rived to the age of 8 to 10 years, all the rich subsoil from around the tree in a circumfe- rence of from 10 to 12 feet down to the clay soil, and fill up the space again with poor earth, sand, or gravel, so as to check the growth of the tree for the benefit of the fruit, in accord- ance with the first principles stated in this ar- ticle. PLUM TREE WEEVIL. It is now well known that the falling of unripe plums, apri- cots, peaches, and cherries, is caused by little whitish grubs, which bore into these fruits. The loss of fruit, occasioned by insects of this kind, is frequently very great; and, in some of our gardens and orchards, the crop of plums is often entirely ruined by the depredations of grubs, which have been ascertained to be the larve or young of a small beetle of the weevil tribe, called Rhynchenus (Conotrachelus) Nenu- phar, the Nenuphar or plum-weevil. “I have found the beetles,” says Dr. Harris, of Boston, “as early as the 30th of March, and as late as the 10th of June, and at various intermediate times, according with the forwardness or back- wardness of vegetation in the spring, and have frequently caught them flying in the middle of the day. They are from three-twentieths to one-fifth of an inch long, exclusive of the curved snout, which is rather longer than the thorax, and is bent under the breast, between the fore-legs, when at rest. Their colour is a dark-brown, variegated with spots of white. ochre-yellow, and black. The thorax is un- 4n2 917 PLUM TREE WEEVIL. even; the wing-covers have several short ridges upon them, those on the middle of the back forming two considerable humps, of a black colour, behind which there is a wide band of ochre-yellow and white. Each of the thighs has two little teeth on the under side. They begin to sting the plums as soon as the fruit is set, and, as some say, continue their operations till the first of August. After mak- ing a suitable puncture with their snouts, they lay one egg in each plum thus stung, and go over the fruit on the tree in this way till their store is exhausted ; so that, where these beetles abound, not a plum will escape being punc- tured. The irritation arising from these punc- tures, and from the gnawings of the grubs after they are hatched, causes the young fruit to become gummy, diseased, and finally to drop before it is ripe. Meanwhile the grub comes to its growth, and, immediately after the fruit falls, burrows into the ground. This may occur at various times between the middle of June and of August; and, in the space of a little more than three weeks afterwards, the insect completes its transformations, and comes out of the ground in the beetle form. The history of the insect thus far is the result of my own observations; the remainder rests on the testimony of other persons.” In an account of the plum-weevil, by Dr. James Tilton of Wilmington, Delaware, pub- lished in the Domestic Encyclopedia, (article Fruit,) and since republished in the “ Georgi- cal Papers for 1809” of the Massachusetts Agri- cultural Society, and in other works, it is stated, that peaches, nectarines, apples, pears, quinces, and cherries are also attacked by this insect, and that it remains in the earth, in the form of a grub, during the winter, ready to be matured into a beetle as the spring advances. These statements, says Dr. Harris, I have not yet been able to confirm. It seems, however, to have been fully ascertained by Professor Peck, Mr. Say, and others, in whose accuracy full confidence may be placed, that this same weevil attacks all our common stone-fruits, such as plums, peaches, nectarines, apricots, and cherries; Dr. Burnett has recently assured me that he has seen this beetle puncturing apples ; and it is not at all improbable that the trans- formations of some of the grubs may be re- tarded till the winter has passed, analogous cases being of frequent occurrence. Those that are sometimes found in apples must not be mistaken for the more common apple- worms, which are not the larve of a weevil. The Rev. F. V. Melsheimer remarks in his ca- talogue, that this insect lives under the bark of the peach-tree. Professor Peck raised the same beetle from a grub found in the watery excrescence of a cherry tree, and from this circumstance named it Rhynchenus Cerasi, the cherry-weevil. The plum, still more than the cherry tree, is subject to a disease of the small limbs, which shows itself in the form of large irregular warts, of a black colour, as if charred. Grubs, apparently the same as those that are found in plums, have oftem been detected in these warts, which are now generally supposed .o be produced by the punctures of the beetles, and the residence of the grubs, Professor 918 PLUM TREE WEEVIL. Peck says, that “the seat of the disease is in the bark. The sap is diverted from its regular course, and is absorbed entirely by the bark, which is very much increased in thickness; the cuticle bursts, the swelling becomes irre- gular, and is formed into black lumps, with a cracked, uneven, granulated surface. The wood, besides being deprived of its nutriment, is very much compressed, and the branch above the tumour perishes.” The grubs found by Pro- fessor Peck in the tumours of the cherry tree, went into the ground on the 6th of July, and on the 30th of the same month, or 24 days from their leaving the bark, the perfect insects began to rise, and were soon ready to deposit their eggs in healthy branches. In speaking of the difference between the grub of the plum-weevil and apple tree cater- pillar, Dr. Harris observes, “ It must be borne in mind that this plum-weevili, an insect un- known in Europe, when arrived at maturity, is a little, rough, dark-brown or blackish beetle, looking like a dried bud, when it is shaken from the trees, which resemblance is increased by its habit of drawing up its legs and bending its snout close to the lower side of its body, and remaining for a time without motion and seem- ingly lifeless. In stinging the fruit, before lay- ing its eggs, it uses its short curved snout, which is armed at the tip with a pair of very small nippers; and by means of this weapon it makes, in the tender skin of the young plum or apple, a crescent-shaped incision, similar to what would be formed by indenting the fruit with the finger-nail. Very rarely is there more than one incision made in the same fruit; and in the wound, the weevil lays only a single egg. The insect hatched from this egg is a little whitish grub, destitute of feet, and very much like a maggot in appearance, except that it has a distinct, rounded, light-brown head. By means of the microscope I have satisfactorily ascer- tained that the grubs from the fruit and from the warts were exactly alike, and that both were without feet. It appears, furthermore, that the tumours on plum and oncherry trees are infested not only by these insects, but also by another kind of grub, provided with legs, and occasion- ally by the wood-eating caterpillars of the 4#geria exitiosa, or peach tree borer. When the grubs of the plum-weevil are fully grown, they go into the ground, and are there changed to chrysalids of a white colour, having the legs and wings free and capable of some motion ; and finally they leave the ground in the form of little beetles, exactly like those which had previously stung the fruit. Further observation seems to be wanting before it can be proved that the cankerous warts on plum and cherry trees arise from the irritating punctures of the plum- weevils, and of the other insects that occasion- ally make these warts their places of abode; although it must be allowed that the well- known production of galls by insects on oak trees and on other plants, would lead us to sup- pose that those of the plum tree have a similar origin. In addition to the means already re- commended for preventing the ravages of plum-weevils, I would observe that wall-fruit can be perfectly secured by a screen of milli- net or close netting, which should be put on as POA. soon as the fruit is formed, and should remain till it begins to ripen. The following, among other remedies that have been suggested, may be found useful in checking the ravages of the plum-weevil. Let the trees be briskly shaken or suddenly jarred every morning and evening during the time that the insects appear in the beetle form, and are engaged in laying their eggs. When thus disturbed they contract their legs and fall; and, as they do not immediately attempt to fly or crawl away, they may be caught in a sheet spread under the tree, from which they should be gathered into a large, wide-mouthed bottle or other tight vessel, and be thrown into the fire. All the fallen wormy plums should be immedi- ately gathered, and after they are boiled or steamed, to kill the enclosed grubs, they may be given as food to swine. The diseased ex- erescences should be cut out and burned every year before the last of June. The moose plum tree (Prunus Americana), which grows wild in Maine, seems to escape the attacks of insects, for no warts are found upon it, even when growing in the immediate vicinity of diseased foreign trees. It would, therefore, be the best of stocks for budding or engrafting upon. It can easily be raised from the stone, and grows rapidly, but does not attain a great size. For further suggestions and remarks, the account of this insect by Dr. Joel Burnett, in the 18th volume of the New England Farmer, may be consulted. (Harris.) Plums, nectarines, and apricots have been saved after being stung, by extracting the stung part. This may be done with the point of a knife or nippers properly adapted to the pur- pose. The wounds heal and the fruit grows and attains to perfect maturity. POA (From poa, signifying grass or her- bage). The meadow-grass. A genus of grasses of considerable extent, and very abundant in the pasturages of Europe. This genus con- tains some valuable hay and pasture grasses, succeeding well in rich loamy soil; some of the species are aquatic, growing only in water, or in very moist situations; and increased by seeds or divisions of the roots. Poa annua, pl. 6, c, is the most common of all grasses. P. tri- vialis and P. pratensis are sown extensively as a part of the artificial grasses for pastures and lawns, which are now commonly made with picked grasses instead of “hay seeds.” In general these grasses appear to be nutritious and agreeable to cattle. There are, in Eng- land, nine indigenous species, besides several varieties. 1. Flat-stalked meadow-grass (P. compressa), pl. 7, k. This is a very common species in dry, barren ground, flowering from June to Sep- tember. The root is moderately creeping, with downy fibres ; stems obliquely ascending in the lower part, then erect and often crowded together, from 1 to 13 foot high, remarkably compressed, by which this species may readily be known, as also by a sudden contraction where the panicle begins. Leaves short, narrow, rough- ish, especially at the edges, with long com- pressed sheaths, and a short obtuse stipule. The whole plant is more or less glaucous. wJA. Florets from three to eight or nine, connected at the base by a mass of white folded threads, as fine and soft as a spider’s web, which may be drawn out to aconsiderable length. This grass, though not succulent, is eaten by all cattle, but cannot be cultivated in moist or manured ground. It never forms a close turf, and although it possesses superior nutritive powers, its produce anywhere is far from abundant. A variety of this species (P. c. var. erecta) is mentioned by Sinclair, which differs from the last, in having culms more upright, less com- pressed, and produced in greater quantities. It grows Closer, forms a pretty good sward, and the roots are less inclined to creeping. But it is nevertheless inferior in point of early growth, and the produce of thefoliage. See Brun Grass. 2. Alpine meadow-grass (P. alpina), pl. 6, l. This species is chiefly confined to alpine re- gions and lofty mountains. 3. Wavy meadow-grass (P.laxa). This spe- cies grows in some of the Highlands of Scot- land. It possesses no agricultural merit. 4. Bulbous meadow-grass (P. bulbosa). This species tenants the sandy sea-shore, and other dry, barren ground. It is perennial, and fiowers in April and May. 5. Roughish meadow-grass (P. trivialis), pl. 5,i. This is a very common species, in mea- dows and pastures, especially such as are rather moist. Perennial, flowering from June to October. The root is fibrous, and tufted; the stems several, about eighteen inches high, erect, leafy, with several knots, the naked part cylindrical, roughish to the touch, as are the edges and backs of the flat, slightly spreading, lax, linear, deep-green leaves. In their long compressed sheaths also a slight roughness is sometimes perceptible. Panicle large, spread- ing with half-whorled, horizontal, wavy, angu- lar, rough-compressed, unequal branches. Mr. Curtis, deeply versed in the practical economy of grasses, declares this to be one of the most valuable for pasturage and hay, yielding abun- dantly,though not particularly early; and of the most excellent quality. Mr. G. Sinclair, another practical authority on the grasses, also observes, “The superior produce of this Poa over many other species, its highly nutritive qualities, the seasons in which it arrives at perfection, and the marked partiality which oxen, horses, and sheep have for it, are merits which distinguish it as one of the most valu- able of those grasses which affect moist, rich soils and sheltered situations: but in dry, ex- posed situations it is altogether inconsiderable ; it yearly diminishes, and ultimately dies off, not unfrequently in the space of four or five years. Its produce is always much greater when combined with other grasses than when cultivated by itself; with a proper admixture, it will nearly double its produce, though on the same soil, so much does it delight in shelter. Those spots in pastures that are closely eaten down, consist for the most part of this grass.” 6. Smooth-stalked meadow-grass (P. praten- sis), pl. 5, h. This is a very common species in all meadows and pastures. It is perennial, flowering in May and June. The root is strong and creeping, with horizontal runners. The 919 POA. general aspect of the plant is very like the last, with which it has usually been confounded ; but the stems and leaves betray no roughness when drawn through the hand. Spikelets four- flowered; florets lanceolate, ribbed, connected by a web. But the clear and essential mark of this species, compared with the last, consists in its very short, abrupt, pointless stipule, which in every leaf of every variety proves constant and invariable. As an object of agriculture, this species is not less valuable than the P. trivialis, especially for permanent pasture. It is earlier in leaf, and will thrive with less moisture, though the rough-stalked meadow-grass produces, at last, a better crop. Mr. Curtis, and several other able botanists, have rendered great service to the farmer in directing his attention to such _ objects ; and it is undoubtedly worth his while to be select in seeds for grass lands. But, after all, Nature is supreme in the accommodation of particular grasses to certain soils and situa- tions, and whatever we may sow, unless we have well studied her laws, she finally tri- umphs. The great objection to this grass is the property of the creeping roots to scourge the soil. Mr. Sinclair notices, in his experiments on the grasses, two varieties, the short blue mea- dow-grass (P. pratensis subeerulea) and the nar- row-leaved meadow-grass (P. pratensis angusti- folia), pl. 6, e, which requires some notice here. The discriminating characters of the first- named are as follows :—Panicle diffuse; spike- lets oval, generally three-flowered; the culms shorter, and somewhat glaucous; and the leaves much shorter and broader than those of the Poa pratensis. It may be further distin- guished by its delicate sky-blue or glaucous colour. From its creeping roots and other de- merits, this is evidently one of the inferior grasses. Although the botanical characters of the narrow-leaved meadow-grass (P. angus- tifolia} are not suflicient to constitute it a dis- linct species, its agricultural merits cause it to differ from P. pratensis, to which it is* much superior. Its spring produce is considerable, and its properties of early growth and great nutritive matter would rank it with the most valuable grasses, but for its powerful creeping root. The culms are most valuable for the manufacture of the finest straw-plait, in imita- tion of the celebrated “Leghorn.” See Brur Grass. 7. Annual meadow-grass, Suffolk-grass (P. annua), pl. 6,c. This is an exceedingly com- mon species everywhere, as well in waste as cultivated ground, flowering from April to No- vember. The root is fibrous. Stems pale, very smooth, oblique, compressed, 3 to 12 inches long. Leaves of a fine light-green, spreading, linear, bluntish, flaccid, roughish at the edge only. Panicle small, widely spread- ing. Spikelets ovate, five-flowered; florets a little remote, five-ribbed, without a web. This is a good grass for fodder, abundant in proportion to the richness of the soil, easily raised, but not durable. The diminutive size of the plant, however, renders its cultivation unprofitable, compared with that of any other of the pasture grasses. It is the most trouble- 920 POA. some weed that infests gravel walks, stone pitchings, and the like. The most effectual way to extirpate it in such situations is to sprinkle salt on it; some recommend boiling water and a layer of litter, &c. This grass, which Dr. Darlington calls mea- dow-poa, in the Middle States goes by the name of green grass, spear-grass, and meadow-erass. Although it is styled an annual, it has a peren- nial root. This species varies considerably, in size and appearance, when growing in dif- ferent soils and situations. In our best soils, the radical leaves are very long and luxuriant, —when it is known by the name of green grass. This has by some botanists been made a dis- tinct species, under the name of P. viridis: but it is probably nothing more than a variety. It is, indeed, as Muhlenberg terms it, “ optimum pa- bulum ;” being decidedly the most valuable of all the grasses known in our pastures. It has not been found necessary to cultivate it, by sowing the seed; for when the land is duly prepared by lime and manure, it soon takes possession of the soil—or comes im, as the farmers term it; and supersedes the artificial grasses. In very poor land, it deteriorates so much that it would scarcely be recognised as the same plant. It is generally believed by the botanists to be a naturalized foreigner in the United States. 8. Glaucous meadow-grass (P. glauca). This species is found on the mountains of Wales, Scotland, and the north of England. 9. Wood meadow-grass (P. nemoralis). This is a very common species in some districts in groves and woods, especially on chalk soils. The whole plant is very slender and delicate, 13 or 2 feet high. Stems several, slightly com- pressed, smooth, striated, leafy, with 4 or 5 joints. Leaves almost all on the stem, grass- green, narrow, flat, more or less rough, taper- ing to a fine slender point. Mr. George Sin- clair speaks favourably of a variety of this species, which he names P. nemoralis, var. an- gustifolia. Although the produce is inconsider- able compared to that of many others equally nutrient, yet the early growth of this grass in the spring, and its remarkably fine, succulent, and nutritive herbage, recommend it strongly for admission into the company of the superior permanent pasture grasses. It flowers in the third week of June, and ripens the seed in the end of July. The P. aquatica, Pl. 5, m, or water meadow- grass, of some botanists, is the reedy sweet- grass (Glyceria aquatica) of Smith. The decum- bent meadow-grass (P. decumbens) is the de- cumbent heath-grass (Triodia decumbens) of Smith’s English Flora. The reflexed meadow- grass (P. distans) of Sinclair is the reflexed sweet-grass (Glycerta distans) of modern bo- tanists. The Glyceria fluitans is also sometimes called the Poa fluitans. One or two exotic species are mentioned in Sinclair’s work on the grasses, viz., The soft meadow-grass (P. cenisia). This alpine species is a native of Germany, and attains to a greater size than most others of the same class. The root is fibrous. Panicle diffuse, nodding. Its nutrient properties, as indicated by the quantity of nutritive matter it i POCKET. contains, are not superior to those of several other grasses, which afford a greater abundance of herbage throughout the season. The fertile meadow-grass (P. fertilis). It produces flowers about the first and second weeks of July, and seeds in the second week of August. This grass, which is also a native of Germany, seems to be allied to the Poa nemo- ralis. It differs in having the panicle more loose and spreading, and less attenuated. The spikelets are more oval, and nerved. The culm rises from a foot and a half to 2 feet in height, and sometimes more, ascending at the base, afterwards erect, somewhat compressed. The root is slightly creeping. In regard to early growth, this grass stands next to the meadow fox-taily’cock’s-foot, and tall oat. The herbage is more nutritive than that of either of those grasses; and from its agricultural merits it deserves a place in the composition of rich pastures, and ranks with the superior grasses of irrigated meadows. It flowers in the begin- ning of July, and the seed is ripe towards the end of the month. The nerved meadow-grass (P.nervata). This species is a native of North America. Pani- cle upright, often half a foot or more in length, with slender branches, pressed close and sub- divided. Spikelets small, of a green colour. Valves of the blossom smooth, having five raised nerves on each valve. Leaves in two rows, resembling a fan, somewhat rough. Culm a little compressed. This grass is re- markably hardy, and possesses many very ex- cellent properties: it will be found a valuable ingredient in permanent pastures, where the soil is not too dry, but of a medium quality as to moisture and dryness. The root leaves are produced on a shoot, and stand in two rows after the manner of afan. This shoot, which is formed by the union of the base of the leaves, is very succulent, and contains a greater pro- portion of nutritive matter than the leaves, which accounts for the superior nutrient quali- ties of the lattermath. It flowers in the third week of June, and the seed is ripe in the last week of July. POCKET. A large kind of bag in which hops are packed up. POD. A term used to express the siliqua and silicula of botanists. A seed-vessel of some plants, consisting of two valves, sepa- rated by a linear receptacle, along each of the edges of which the seeds are alternately ranged. The wall-flower affords an example of the sili- qua, which differs from the silicula merely in being oblong instead of being short and round. The satin-flower, or honesty, bears a pouch or silicula. POISON (Fr.). Any substance which in small quantity disturbs, suspends, or destroys one or more of the vital functions. Poisons are classified by Orfila under the four heads of irri- tants, narcotics, narcotico-acrids, and putrefi- ants, or septics, and, we may add, sedatives. The same poisons which affect men usually affect horses, cows, and dogs; but goats and swine eat many things that are virulent poisons to other animals. Sweet almonds and aloes are poisonous to dogs; sugar is poison to pigeons, parsley to parrots, and pepper to hogs. 116 POLYPODY. On the other hand, hogs devour Nua vomica and henbane with impunity; goats browse on Acon- ite, Cicula virosa, and Arnica montana, harmless; and sheep eat common hemlock without suffer- ing. See Animat and Vzcerasre Porsons, Foner, Surer, Diszases or, Yew, &c. POITTEVIN’S MANURE. A compound or- ganic and earthy manure powder, well adapted for the use of the drill. See Manurzs appui- CABLE BY THE Dritt. In three experiments with this manure, tried in 1840, on turnips against bones, the following are the results. Produce. Tons, Cwt First, on the stony soil. 24 bushels of Poittevin’s - - - 9. 142 16 bushels of bones - - aca S10) 1 Second, on a sandy soil. ‘24 bushels of Poittevin’s - - = P15) 210 16 bushels of bones - - - - 13 #44 Third, on a sandy soil with Swedes. 13 bushels of Poittevin’s - - - il 0 12 bushels of bones - - - - 10 5 This manure answers best on light soils; it is generally used too sparingly. POLE. A measure of length equal to 163 feet. POLLARD. A name given to a tree that has been frequently polled or lepped, and its top taken off, or headed down to the stem, for the purpose of fire-wood or small poles for hurdle-wood and other similar uses, as well as for hop-poles, &c. The term is most com- monly in use in the southern and eastern dis- tricts of Great Britain. Pollard is also applied to the fine bran or inner husk of wheat. It is a substance much used in feeding hogs and different domestic animals. POLLEN. In botany, the pulverulent sub- stance which fills the cells of the anthers of a plant, consisting of a multitude of little hollow cases, filled with a fluid holding very minute molecular matter in suspension. The latter is eventually discharged by the grains of pollen through their hollow tubes, and is supposed to be the spermatic fluid of a plant. When the pollen alights on the stigma of the plant, the membrane lining the shell is protruded to a tube, which enters the stigma, and lengthens until it reaches the ovule, into which it empties the impregnating fluid. The pollen grains vary in form and magnitude, being globular, angular, compressed, simple, and compound. Pollen is also a provincial name given to the hen-roost. It is sometimes written hen-pollen. POLL-EVIL. An accident which sometimes occurs to horses, from the animal’s rubbing or striking his head against the lower edge of the manger, or hanging back in the stall and bruising the part with the halter. Such inju- ries are serious in their nature and difficult of treatment, and will usually require the skill and anatomical knowledge of the veterinary surgeon. POLYPODY. (Polypodium, from poly, many, and pous, a foot; having numerous root-like feet. This is an extensive genus of very orna- mental ferns. The hardy kinds are well adapted for ornamenting rock-work, or they may be grown in pots, in light loamy soil. All the species may be readily increased by dividing the roots, or by seeds. _There are in England four indigenous spe. cies. 921 POMEGRANATE. POPLAR. POMEGRANATE (Punica, from punicus of | timber tree it is greatly inferior to some of the “ Carthage,” near which city it is said to have been first found; or from pwniceus, scarlet; alluding to the colour of the flowers). A beau- tiful, hardy, deciduous shrub, growing from 12 to 15 feet high. There is no tree more showy than the pomegranate. P. granatum, and its varieties, produce their splendid flowers and fruit very plentifully from July to September, when planted against a south wall. They all grow well in a light, rich loam, and strike root freely from cuttings or layers; the rarer varie- ties are sometimes increased by grafting on the common kinds. The pomegranate requires shelter from frost. The pulp of the fruit is of an agreeable acid, and the rind is highly astringent. POPLAR (Populus; some derive the word from paipallo, to vibrate or shake; others sup- pose it obtained its name from being used in ancient times to decorate the public places in Rome, where it was called Arbor populi, or the tree of the people). Most of the species of poplar are very ornamental, more especially in early spring, when the catkins of the males are produced. Their favourite place of growth is in moist soil, near a running stream; but they do not thrive in very marshy situations. All the species are readily increased by cuttings or layers, and some by suckers. There are in England four indigenous species of poplar: the white poplar, already noticed under the head Anere Trex; the gray or common white pop- lar (P. canescens); the trembling poplar (See Aspven); and the black poplar (P. nigra). The black Italian, or necklace-bearing poplar (P. monilifera), appears to have been first intro- duced into Britain from North America, in 1772. Of all the poplars hitherto introduced, it is by far the most valuable, looking to it in the light of a useful and profitable timber tree, as it grows with astonishing rapidity, and produces a tim- ber of large scantling and excellent quality, equal, if not superior, to that of any other of its genus. The wood is of a grayish-white colour, tough when seasoned, and, if kept dry, very durable; its great size renders it fit for the largest buildings, and as flooring for manu- factories and other erections, nothing can sur- pass it; for, in addition to the property of not splitting by percussion, it possesses the pecu- liar advantage of not easily taking fire, and, even when ignited, burning without flame or violence. As an ornamental tree, it well de- serves a place in extensive grounds, its spiry height and pyramidal form, before it becomes aged, being well calculated to break long hori- zontal lines, or the monotonous effect of round- headed trees: it also in a great measure, from its semi-fastigiate growth in the young state, supplies the place of the Lombardy poplar in such scenery, either of wooded landscape or in combination with buildings, as is impagel by the presence of that tree. The Lombardy poplar (P. fastigiata). In its close fastigiate growth and cypress-like form, whicn seems to ‘be retained during the whole of its existence, the Lombardy poplar is too conspicuous not to be immediately recognised and readily distinguished from all other spe- cies of the genus. As a useful and profitable 922 species already described, the twisted and deeply-furrowed trunk, even of the tallest and largest trees, cutting to much waste, and afford- ing boards of only a moderate size when sawn up. The wood is also softer and more spongy than that of the black and the black Italian poplars, and rapidly decays unless kept per- fectly dry. In Britain, therefore, it is cultivated almost exclusively as an ornamental tree, for which its towering height and spire-like form eminently qualify it. The Athenian poplar (P. Greca) as an or- namental tree is superior, in many respects, to the aspen (to which it is closely allied). It grows rapidly, young trees often making shoots in one season of 5 or 6 feet in length, and, though a slender-stemmed tree, it has the valu- able property of resisting the wind, and is never seen, even in the most exposed situations, but an erect and perpendicular trunk. The bark of all the poplars is more or less antiperiodic and tonic, containing an alkali, which can be procured separate, and is known by the name of Salicina. It may be used for curing agues in the same manner as Quinine, an alkaloid got from Peruvian bark. There are many North American species of poplar, among which is the tulip tree (Lirio- dendron tulipifera), one of the most majestic trees of the American forests, but which has been improperly classed among the poplars. See Tutie Tree. The other and more genuine species is the Carolina poplar (P. angulata). The lower part of Virginia, says Michaux, is the most northern point at which this species is found. In the shape of its leaves and other charac- teristics, it bears a very strong resemblance to the cotton tree. The two species may, how- ever, be readily distinguished by their buds, those of the Carolina poplar being short, of a deep green, and destitute of the resinous, aro- matic substance which covers those of the cotton-wood, and of which the vestiges remain till late in the season. The wood of the Caro- lina poplar is white, but so very soft as to be of little value. The Cotlon-wood (P. Canadensis) —I have found this tree, says Michaux, in the upper part of the State of New York, on the banks of the Genesee, in some parts of Virginia, and on several islands in the Ohio, always ona fat, alluvial soil. The leaves of this tree are trowel-shaped, approaching to heart-shaped. The seeds are surrounded with a beautiful plume which has the whiteness of cotton, and the young buds are covered with a resinous, aromatic sub- stance of an agreeable odour. In the Atlantic States this poplar is rare, and has received no specific name. American poplar (P. Hudsonica).—This species, Michaux says, he found only on the banks of the Hudson, above Albany, where it attained a height of 30 or 40 feet, with 12 to 15 inches in diameter. Several large poplars of this kind grow in and near the city of New York, where it is usually called American black poplar. Virginia poplar (P.monilifera).—This species POPPY. was not found by the Michaux, but has been long cultivated in Europe as a North American tree. It is also called the Swiss poplar, and is confounded with the cotton-wood. Cotton tree (P. argentia). This species is scattered over a great extent of country com- prising the Middle, Western, and Southern States; but it is so rare as to escape the no- tice of the greater part of their inhabitants. It is called cotton-wood on the Savannah in Georgia, where it is confounded with the Ca- rolinian poplar. Tacamahaca or Balsam poplar (P. balsamica). This species belongs to the northern regions of America, being very abundant in Canada, in the districts watered by the river Sagney, between the47th and 49th degrees of latitude, where, notwithstanding the severity of the win- ter, it rises to the height of 80 feet, with a dia- meter of 3 feet. In the spring, when the buds begin to be developed, they are abundantly coated with a yellowish, glutinous substance, of a very agreeable smell. Heart-leaved balsam poplar (P. candicans). In the Northern and Eastern States, this tree, which Michaux says is a genuine balsam, is commonly seen growing before the houses in town and country. In spring, a fragrant re- sinous balsam exudes from its buds; but it differs from the Tacamahaca, its leaves being three times larger and more heart-shaped. American aspen (P. tremuloides). See AsrEn, AMERICAN. American large aspen (P. grandidenta). This species belongs rather to the Northern and Middle than to the Southern States. It is larger than the preceding species, with which it is usually confounded. POPPY (Papaver, from papa, pap, or thick milk; the juice of the poppy was formerly used in children’s food to make them sleep). These plants succeed best in a light, rich soil. The perennial kinds are increased by dividing at the roots. All the species are narcotic. In England there are six indigenous species of poppy, which are nearly all annuals. They are arranged under two sections:—l. Those with bristly capsules; 2. Those with smooth cap- sules. The Ist section contains the round, rough- headed poppy (P. hybridum), which grows in sandy or chalky fields. This is not a hybrid, as its name implies, but a true permanent species. Long, rough-headed poppy (P. argemone). This grows in grain fields and thin borders, also on gravelly or sandy soils. It is annual, and flowers in June and July. The herbage resembles the preceding, but the bristles are less closely pressed to the stem, and the seg- ments of the leaves are somewhat broader. Petals pale-scarlet, black at the base, soon falling, often jagged. The 2d section contains the long, smooth- headed poppy (P. dubium). This species is found in cultivated fields, especially on a light soil. Annual, and flowering in June and July. It is of a stouter, more luxuriant habit than the foregoing, with broader leaves. The stem is clothed with spreading hairs; the flower-stalks with close-pressed bristles. Petals broader POPPY, THE HORNED. than they are long, of a light-scarlet, the mar- gin mostly crenate. Common red poppy, or corn rose (P. rheas) See Conn Porry. This is the only officinat species of the British poppies; but it is used in medicine merely as a colouring agent. White poppy (P. somniferum). This species appears to grow wild on sandy ground in the neighbourhood of some of the fen lands. But it is probable that in places where it is found apparently wild, the seed from the cultivated poppy has been deposited by birds. The som- niferous poppy is a native of Asia and Egypt. It is cultivated in Hindostan, Persia, and Egypt, on account of its opium; in Germany for the oil expressed from its seeds; and in England for the capsules, which are used in medicine. It is universally known in our gardens as an ornamental flower, and is much cultivated in the vicinity of London. The whole herb is glaucous, and generally smooth, though the flower-stalks now and then bear several rigid, spreading, bristly hairs. The stem is 3 or 4 feet high, erect, branched, leafy. Leaves broad, wavy, lobed, and bluntly notched, clasping the stem with their heart-shaped base. Flowers 3 inches broad, white or bluish-white, with a broad violet spot at the base of each petal. In gardens, double varieties of every shade of purple, scarlet, crimson, and even green mixed with white, are common, though nothing can be more liable to change. The capsule is near- ly globular. Seed small, whitish-brown, oily, sweet, and eatable. There are two varieties, namely, P. album and P. nigrum, chiefly distin- guished by the foramina under the stigma be- ing absent in the former, and present and open in the latter. The milky juice of the capsules, when abstracted by transverse incisions and inspissated, forms opium, which, as Haller well observes, is far more potent and dangerous in hot countries than in our cooler climates. The capsules boiled afford a mild, narcotic decoc- tion, more generally used for fomentations in inward pains, and for making a syrup, which is misused by lazy nurses, who administer it to restless infants, and sacrifice them to their own love of ease. Nothing is more to be con- demned than the indiscriminate use of syrup of poppies. No opium, except as experiment, is made ‘from poppies in England; and, could it be made, both it and the foreign opium should never be employed except by the advice of those who alone ought to direct its use. Yellow poppy (P. cambricum). This is a pe- rennial species (and the only indigenous one) which flourishes in moist, rocky situations in Wales and Westmoreland. It flowers in June. The herbage is tender, brittle, of a light, slight- ly glaucous green; its juice lemon-coloured. Stem a foot high, many-flowered, thinly cover- ed with upright hairs, leafy, branched. Flow- ers of a most elegant, full lemon colour, deli- ciously fragrant. Field poppy (Papaver dubium), bastard poppy. This foreign annual, says Dr. Darlington, has made its appearance in some of the cultivated grounds of Pennsylvania and other parts of the United States, and, if neglected, may become a troublesome weed. POPPY, THE HORNED. See Hornep Porpy. 923 POPULATION. POPULATION. As very erroneous notions with regard to over-population are often enter- tained, and as many of the most philanthropic men in England have, at considerable personal trouble and cost, promoted emigration, to avert the evils of war, pestilence, and famine, from what Mr. Malthus supposes to be the tendency of mankind to excessive population, it may be well for the public to peruse a paper (Quart. Journ. Agr. vol. iii. p. 89), which, in detail, ably examines and refutes many of Mr. Mal- thus’s data, calculations, and conclusions. Mr. Malthus states, from data derived through a variety of sources, that the average births from each marriage are— InEurope- - - = = = = = 4000 England - - 4136 France, ee the s six years ending i in 1622 - - 4370 Russia - “110 Ainerica (in towns). according to Mr. Barton. 4500 America (in town and country average) - 5°000 But, from returns made to government, it appears that the average births in England and Wales, during the 30 years ending 1820, fell considerably under 4 from each marriage ; and of these, from personal deformity, and a hun- dred other causes, a considerable portion of women must remain unmarried. But supposing every woman, married or sin- gle, who lived to 18 years of age, should have 7 children, and the rate of mortality as favour- able as at Carlisle, the population would re- quire more than 26 years to double itself; and 25 years is the lowest rate of increase Mr. Malthus has contemplated. But, supposing one-tenth part of all the women who attain 20 to remain ina state of celibacy, and the rest were to bear each 3°66 children, which is stated by Mr. Sadler to be the average prolificness in England, and the mortality continued as at Carlisle, the population would remain entirely stationary. In the rich and fertile country of France, the population is nearly stationary, and in Ireland, population increases faster than in England; which can only be account- ed for by the institutions which encourage in- creased forethought before entering on the married state. Amongst barbarous nations, the period of marriage is ‘almost always early; but as countries become civilized, a portion of early life is devoted to labour of mind and body; and the desire of distinction in some, and, amongst all, the pursuit of gain, delays marriage ; and, happily for mankind, nothing is less consist- ent with universal experience than the terrible succession of evils Mr. Malthus fears from over-population. Natural evils, and the more dreadful effects of misrule, have, indeed, spread death and desolation; but the consequences have not been increased plenty to the surviv- ors: on the contrary, the page of history shows that, in the fairest portions of the habitable world, poverty and want have sale wee de- creasing numbers. Whereas the wiser the laws, and, couseaaeae ly. the mare secure person and property, the slower men are to marry till they have secured for themselves and families, in a habitation of their own, the conveniences they were used to under cheir paternal roofs; and, consequently, the ess tendency to the excessive multiplication 924 POPULATION. of mankind; and we refer to Scotland, France, &c., as existing proofs. No society, well governed, we repeat, has been known to outgrow, or tend to outgrow, its means of subsistence. When, in our own coun- try, one of the most populous in the world, we see how far the earth is yet from producing all that labour, well-directed, can bring forth, when we look at the tracts lying waste or half-culti- vated, we must see how little it is to be feared as a possible evil, that our population will ever increase beyond the means of supplying itself with food. We have only to look to what mi- nute care can effect in multiplying the produce of the earth, to feel in what a prodigious ratio it may be multiplied. A piece of heath land the most worthless, converted into a cottager’s garden, yields a return of food exceeding that of the richest land of the cultivated fields. And nothing prevents the increase of this species of culture but the want of hands to cultivate and of mouths to consume. Every vegetable that grows, and is consumed, affords new materials for fertilizing the earth, and increasing its pro- ductions ; and thus every increase of the num- ber of consumers is a means of calling new food into existence. The introduction of a single plant from another hemisphere has more than doubled the power of this and of every country in Eu- rope to support their inhabitants. An acre of potatoes will supply food sufficient for the sup- port, in healthful existence, of a family of 6 hu- man beings for one year; asquare mile of land producing potatoes, therefore, will support 3840 persons for the same time. But the produce of the potato is as nothing to that of the banana and other plants of the tropical regions. Nor does the produce of the potato in our fields show the full power of the earth to produce food. By the minute cares of the gardener, successive crops of vegetables may be pro- duced from the same surface, and in the same season. Our present knowledge of agriculture shows us, that throughout the whole kingdom the productions of the earth may be prodi- giously multiplied; but what our present know- ledge of this art is in comparison with what it may become, we know not. What other plants are yet to be applied to the support of animal life, what other means of fertilizing the earth are yet to be discovered, what other application of mechanical power may yet take place in aid of human labour, we know not; nor need we, with relation to our present subject, be too curious in inquiring. It suffices that, with our present means and knowledge, limited as they are, we can multiply our means of subsistence in a degree to furnish food for increasing num- bers for more generations of men than the cares of the living race need extend to. And if such be the case with a long-peopled country, what must we think of the fear that the entire world will be over-peopled? The richest regions of the globe have yet been scarcely trodden by the foot of the hunter; a great part of Europe is still a desert; anda long desolation has overspread lands that once were the seats of nations, and which only de- mand security that they may be blessed with abundance again. Such as Asia Minor, Syria, POPULATION. and Greece, and such the long-desolated shores of Northern Africa. It is not Nature that is barren of her gifts, but it is man that has abused them all; and, in the climates and the lands where we might look for the verdure of an eternal spring, we find only the moving mountains and interminable tracts of the de- sert. It is unnecessary, perhaps, to enlarge upon this statement, but one or two facts will surely convince the most incredulous that we are not yet nearly arrived at the maximum available produce of the earth. Even as regards the saving in the seed-corn, we have witnessed in our time that the drill has done much, and the dibbling system still more; but, by transplant- ing, greater things may yet be done. I will illustrate this position by only one or two facts out of many of a similar kind that I am ac- quainted with. At the Battle Horticultural show (in 1837), R. White received a prize for 61 fine ears of wheat growing from one grain, which are deposited at the apartments of the Labourer’s Friend Society in Exeter Hall, and another prize at the Society for Encouragement of Arts, &c., in the Adelphi, and similar pre- miums are again offered there and elsewhere. P. Brown raised that year 345 roots, with 4250 ears, from one grain, since June, 1836, the plants having been divided three times; and it is recorded in the Philosophical Transactions for 1768, that in the same space of time, one grain of wheat produced 21,109 ears, containing 576,840 grains, or nearly a bushel of clean grain; thus, an acorn cup would hold seed- wheat enough to raise plants for an acre of land, and full 10,000,000 bushels of seed-wheat might be saved on the 4,000,000 acres under wheat in England and Scotland; which quan- tity, allowing 8 bushels to each person, would support 1,250,000 persons, who, if employed in weeding the crops, would double the produce, as is shown by the increased crops raised by the tenants under the allotment system. And again, as regards manuring the soil, agriculture is yet only in its infancy; crushed bones, now so extensively employed, were un- known as fertilizers 25 years since; gypsum, which abounds in England, is only slowly com- ing into use; and millions of tons of the rich- est manure are now annually wasted in our cities and towns—suffered to putrefy in cess- pools, or poured into the sea through a thou- sand sewers; “and yet,” says the Thames Im- provement Company, “strange as it may ap- pear, England is almost the only nation in Europe, notwithstanding its advance in agri- cultural knowledge, which suffers the peculiar manure in question to be wasted and cast away; while all the other nations on the Con- tinent, and even China, husband it, and trea- sure it up for their lands, make it an object of extensive and lucrative traffic, and some ex- port it to their colonies. The principal Lon- don sewers have been carefully gauged, and are found to convey daily into the river Thames 115,608 tons of mixed drainage.” By these and other certain improvements, we may safely conclude that, as regards the cultivation of the most barren tracts, the drift- ing sands of Norfolk, the heath lands of the PORES. north of England, and even the shingle of its sea-coast, hardly a tithe has yet been effected in the way of cultivation. At the suggestion of the Archbishop of Dublin, an acre of shingle at East Bourn was covered with 3 or 4 inches of clay, at a cost of only 16d. This has formed a plate to retain what mould, &c., the tenant has added, who has hired this ground for four- teen years at 40s. per acre. So no land is hopelessly barren. Let such improvements proceed; let science go hand in hand with the farmer; let the naturalist find new cultivata- ble vegetables, or new varieties of those al- ready known; let the chemist yield his magic aid to demonstrate the best mode of promoting their growth and increasing the fertility of the soil; and then,I fearlessly assert that many times the present inhabitants of Britain may be amply supported by the produce of the land of our birth. POPULATION, AGRICULTURAL, OF THE UNITED STATES. By the census of 1840, it appears that the number of all the males, of 10 years old and upwards, in the United States and Territories, exclusive of the naval service, was 5,907,752. The whole population of the Union was 17,069,453, of which the number engaged in agricultural pur- suits is more than a fifth part of the whole population. When this is compared with the proportions engaged in some other pursuits, we find the next most numerous class com- prised of those engaged in the various manu- factures and trades, which, in the non-slave- holding states and territories, amounts to 1 in 17, and in the slave states to 1 in 40—averag- ing, in the whole Union, 1 to 22 of all the in- habitants. The largest proportion of manu- facturers is in Rhode Island, where it consti- tutes about four-fifths of all the males above 20 years of age; next in Massachusetts ; next in Connecticut; next in New Jersey; next in New York. The proportion employed in com- merce comprises, in the free states, 1 in 122, and in the slave states 1 in 197—the average in all the states being 1 in 146 of the whole population. ‘The largest proportion is in Lou- isiana, which contains the great depot for the commerce of the Mississippi Valley. The next largest is in Wisconsan Territory, and the next in Rhode Island. The proportion em- ployed in ocean navigation is greatest in Massachusetts, where it amounts to 27,153, being 1 in 31 of the whole population of the state, and nearly one-half of all those engaged in the same pursuits in the whole Union, viz., 56,021, or lin 305. The next greatest is in Maine, where it amounts to 10,091, being 1 in 49°72 of the state population. New York has 5511, Connecticut 2700, and Pennsylvania 1815, employed in ocean navigation. The pro- portion engaged in the learned professions, in- cluding engineers, amounts to 45,162, or 1 in 217 of the whole population of the free states, and 20,093, or 1 in 361, of the whole inhabitants of the slave states. PORES. In botany, apertures, more or less visible, in the cuticle of plants, through which transpiration takes place. They may exist on the cellular tissue; and when there they are the organs of insensible perspiration of the 4 925 PORK. plant: they may exist as cortical pores; or on the leaf as stomata or breathing pores. Pores also exist in some kinds of anthers, through which the pollen is ejected; as in the potato (Solanum tuberosum). PORK. The flesh of swine killed for culi- nary purposes. See Bacon, Ham, Meat, Swine, &c. PORTER. A well-known malt liquor. See Atz, Been, and Brewrne. POTASH, or POTASSA. The name of one of the alkalies, composed of 39:15 parts of pe- culiar metal called potassium, 8 parts of oxy- gen, and 9 of water. It derives its common name from being first obtained from the ashes of vegetable substances which had been burn- ed in iron pots, hence named pot-ashes. Pot- ash is found in almost all land plants, in com- bination with the tartaric, citric, or other vege- table acid. The potash in these is no doubt an essential food or constituent of vegetation, and there is no fertile soil which does not, in some form or other, contain this alkali. It exists, however, in plants in varying proportions. See Arxaur. The potash of commerce is an impure carbonate mingled with salts of lime and other substances. In its separate or pure state, free from carbonic acid, it is a white salt, powerfully attracting moisture from the air, very soluble in water and in alcohol, cor- roding animal substances, consequently de- stroying the skin when applied to it. But pot- ash usually means the carbonate. The quan- tity procured from different plants varies. Fumitory yields 79:0 in 1000 parts, worm- wood 73:0, young wheat-stalks 47:0, thistles 35:0, vetch 27:5, common nettle 25:3, the sun- flower 20-0, bean-stalks 20-0, barley straw 5:8, vine-shoots 5:5, wheat-straw 3:9, and flax 5:0. The younger a plant is, if full-grown, the more potash it yields. “The perfect developement of a plant,” says Liebig (Organic Chem. p. 104), “according to this view, is dependent on the presence of alka- lies, or alkaline earths, for when these sub- stances are totally wanting, its growth will be arrested, and when they are only deficient it must be impeded. In order to apply these re- marks, let us compare two kinds of trees, the wood of which contain unequal quantities of alkaline bases, and we shall find that one of these grows luxuriantly in several soils, upon which others are scarcely able to vegetate. For example, 10-000 parts of oak wood yield 250 parts of ashes, the same quantity of fire- wood only 83, of linden wood 500, of rye 440, and of the herb of the potato plant 1500 parts. Firs and pines find a sufficient quantity of al- kalies in granitic and barren, sandy soils, in which oaks will not grow, and wheat thrives in soils favourable for the linden tree, because the bases which are necessary to bring it to complete maturity exist there in sufficient quantity. The accuracy of these conclusions, so highly important to agriculture, and to the cultivation of forests, can be proved by the most evident facts. All kinds of grasses, the equisetacex, for example, contain, in the outer parts of their leaves and stalks, a large quantity of silicic acid (silica), and potash in the form of acid silicate of potash. The proportion of this 926 POTATO. salt does not vary perceptibly in the soil of corn-fields, because it is again conveyed to them as manure, in the form of putrefying straw. But this is not the case in a meadow; and hence we never find a luxuriant crop of grass on sandy and calcareous soils, which contain little potash, evidently because one of the constituents essential to the growth of plants is wanting. Soils formed from basalt, grauwacke, and porphyry, are, ceteris paribus, the best for meadow land, on account of the quantity of potash which enters into their com- position.” In the experiments of the Rev. E. Cartwright with various manures applied to potatoes, wood-ashes, which contain potash, were found to produce very superior effects to several others: thus, where the soil, without any dress- ing, produced 157 bushels per acre, the land dressed with 60 bushels of wood-ashes yielded 187; with 60 bushels of malt-dust, 184 bushels; with 363 bushels of decayed leaves, 175 bush- els; with 363 bushels of saw-dust, 155 bushels; with 121 bushels of lime, 150 bushels per acre. (Com. Board of Agr. vol. iv. p. 370.) See Green Sann, Arxaris, and Satrts. POTATO (Solanum tuberosum). A valuable, well-known root, first imported from America into England by Sir Walter Raleigh, and first grown at Youghall, in Ireland. In many parts of England this tuberose plant is very exten- sively cultivated, both in the field and in the garden; but, in districts removed from large towns, or convenient markets, its cultivation is of necessity restricted to the garden, or for the consuraption of the live-stock of the farm. As regards the field management of the crop, a writer in a popular journal remarks, when speaking of the preparation of the ground— “Tt is, I know, customary, upon a large scale, to plough the land and make it tolerably fine before potatoes are planted; butif itis plough- ed 5, 6, or 7 inches deep, and made fine and mellow, still at the bottom of such ploughing the land is hard and smooth; and as the potato is a root that sends out fibres not only near the surface, but deeply, if possible, it can never por- duce such a crop as where the land is broken 18 inches to 2 feet. The potato, like the cu- cumber, only enjoys itself in deeply pulverized soils, which causes them to flourish so much in well-managed sandy land. “T should therefore recommend that, in all land where potatoes are to be grown, if the land be springy, or otherwise damp, that it be drained deep enough to take off all springs or surface water. When this is done, the land should either be fully trenched, or bastard- trenched, by the spade or plough, but I prefer thespade. The width ofthe drills from each other must depend entirely upon the goodness of your soil: the richer the land, the wider apart must be your rows and sets in your rows; say, in ordinary land rows, at 2 feet from each other, and 12 inches from set to set may do; but if your land be very rich, 3 feet from row to row, and 18 inches from plant to plant, will not be too much.” In preserving your sets, always select the largest and finest potatoes you can procure; do not use the small refuse or middling-sized, POTATO. the plant and produce from the latter being much inferior. The potatoes most valued in field culture are the ox-noble, yam, champion, purple-red, rough- -red, hundred-eyes, kidney, and Moulton white. The nutritive qualities of these were examined by Mr. George Sinclair, with his usual accu- racy. “The yam,” he observes, “is a very productive variety, attains to a large size, but is often hollow, and less nutritive than most others; 64 drachms afford of nutritive matter 190 grains, which consist of starch 164 grains, and saccharine and albuminous matters 31.” The ox-noble is a productive potato, adapted for stock; and 64 drachms of it contain 194 grains of nutritive matter, consisting of starch 164, and saceharine, mucilaginous, and albu- minous matters 31. The purple-red is smaller than the ox-noble, but well-flavoured, and very prolific in light, moist soils: 64 drachms afforded 200 grains of nutritive matter, consisting of starch 169, and albuminous and saccharine matters 31 grains. The hundred-eye is very prolific on dry loams ;, 64 drachms afford 218 grains of nutri- tive matter, composed of 170 grains of starch, and the rest albuminous and other matters. The rough-red produces plentiful crops on soils or climates of a moister nature than that adapted for the hundred-eyed variety: it is well-flavoured; 64 drachms afford 250 grains of nutritive matter, which is composed of 199 starch, and 46 mucillage, sugar, and albumen. The champion grows to a moderate size; is very productive, and little subject to the disease called curl. It is, hence, of great importance, in choosing seed potatoes, to consider the nature of the soil and climate; thus some of our finest varieties, which yield abundantly when planted in suit- able soils and moist situations, will yield but inferior returns when planted in drier situa- tluus. Soluble | starch. | Fibre. | Water. In 7000 grains, or 1 pound of the bread-fruit pota- to, I found by careful and repeated trials -| 975 | 548 | 477 | 5000 — the Barbadoes potato | 980 667 616 | 4737 — black kidney potato | 970 | 695 | 622 | 4713 The soluble matters consisted of gum, or mucilage, extractive, and saline matters. The potato, although a tender plant, is grown in nearly all parts of the world, from the equa- tor to Norway; and although it is usual to plant it early in the spring, yet it is possible, by choosing a quick-ripening variety, to plant it successfully even as late as July. The best manures for the potato crop are common farm-yard compost, only partially de- composed, decayed leaves, sea-weed, the po- tato haulm, and any organic manures, that, while they afford nutriment, have a tendency, by rendering the soil lighter, to facilitate the extension of the roots. Lime is injurious to it. Pond mud or ditch scrapings, to each cubic yard of which, a month previously, a bushel of bacon salt, or other refuse common salt, has been mixed, is excellent. The soils best adapted for the cultivation of the potato are of the light, POTATO. sandy, drained, peaty, or loamy description. It delights in fresh soils; those of a newly broken-up meadow, old woodlands, or the site of old yards or buildings, are excellent. It does not do well on wet clays. Potatoes are readily consumed by live-stock in their unboiled state; but, generally speak- ing, they are best when steamed and mixed with chaff. The cultivation of the potato is thus de- scribed by Mr. George Johnson; and although his remarks were intended for the gardener, yet they apply in a great measure to the field culture of this valuable root. The varieties of the potato are numerous, and continually increasing, as well as becom- ing extinct; the number, however, is very largely increased by local names for the same variety being classed distinct. For forcing, or first crop in the open ground: —there are Broughton Dwarf, Early Warwick, Ash-leaved Kidney; Fox’s Seedling, Early Manly, Early Mule, earliest for general culti- vation, Earley Kidney, Nonsuch, Early Shaw, Goldfinger. For main crops, the varieties are ranged in this class, according to their forwardness in ripening :—Early Champion, Ox Noble, Red- nose Kidney, Large Kidney, Bread-fruit, Red- streak or Lancashire Pink-eye, Black Skin, Purple, Red Apple, Rough Red. No inhabitant of the garden varies more in quality in different gardens than the potato; for a variety will have a strong, unpleasant flavour in one soil, that has a sweet, agreeable one in another. In aheavy, wet soil, or a rank black loam, though the crop is often fine and abundant, it is scarcely ever palatable. Sili- cious soils, even approaching to gravel, though in these last the tubers are usually corroded or scabby, are always to be planted in preference to the above. A dry, mouldy, fresh, and mode- rately rich soil is unquestionably the best for every variety of the potato; and, for the earliest crop, it may be with advantage more silicious than for the main ones. The black- skinned and rough red thrive better than any in moist or strong, cold soils. If manure is necessary, whatever may be the one employed, it is better spread regularly over the surface previous to digging, rather than put into the holes with the sets, or spread in the trench when they are so planted. Stable dung is, perhaps, the best of all factitious manures: sea-weed is a very beneficial addition to the soil, as is salt. Coal-ashes and sea-sand are applied with great benefit to retentive soils; but calcareous matter should never be used. The situation must always be open. It is propagated in general from cuttings of the tubers, though the shoots arising from thence and layers of the stalks may be em- ployed. New varieties are raised from seed. Planting in the open ground of the early kinds may commence towards the close of February, in a warm situation, and may thence be con- tinued until the same period of March; and it is only during this latter month that any con- siderable plantation should be made, as the late frost are apt to injure, or even to destroy the advancing plants. In the course of April, 927 POTATO, the main crops for winter’s use should be in- serted; for although in favourable seasons they will succeed if planted in May or even June, yet it ought always to be kept in mind that the earliest planted, especially in dry soils, pro- duce the finest and most abundant crops. Of the preparation of the sets, there is a great diversity of opinion. Some gardeners recommend the largest potatoes to be planted whole; others, these to be sliced into pieces, containing two or three eyes; a third set, to cut the large tubers directly in half; a fourth, the employment of the shoots only which are thrown out, if potatoes are kept in a warm, damp situation; and a fifth, that merely the parings be employed. Cuttings of the stalks, 5 or 6 inches in length, or rooted suckers, will be productive, if planted during showery wea- ther in May or June; and during this last month, or early in July, it may be propagated by layers, which are formed by pegging down the young stalks when about 12 inches long, they being covered 3 inches thick with mould atajoint. These three last modes are prac- tised more from curiosity than utility, whilst at the same time none of the first five mentioned plans can be individually followed to advan- tage, without modification. For the main crops, it is evident, from experiment, that moderate- sized sets, having two healthy buds or eyes, are most advantageously employed; middling-sized whole potatoes are the best, from which all but the above number of eyes have been removed, but especially having the crown, which is a congeries of small eyes always present, first removed; for from these proceed an equal number of little spindled stalks, which are comparatively worthless, and injure the main stem. For the early crops, almost the very con- trary to the above is the most advantageous to be practised. The set should have the crown eye, which is one growing in the centre of the congeries of small ones above mentioned, pre- served. Some potatoes have two such eyes, but the generality only one. This is always the most prompt to vegetate; and if not known by this description, may be evinced by placing two or three potatoes in a pan of moist earth, near the fire; if the earth is kept moist, the crown eye will be in a state of vegetation in five or six days. Again, as Mr. J. Knight re- marks, although abundant crops of late varie- ties may be obtained from very small sets, by reason that tubers are not produced until the stem and roots become capable of supplying them with nourishment; yet, to obtain early crops, where tubers are rapidly formed under a diametrically opposite state of the plant, large sets must be employed; in these, one or two eyes, at most, should be allowed to remain. Mr. Knight plants the largest undivided tubers, which, from experiments, evidently support the plants, and finally produce the earliest and largest produce he ever obtained. Another re- mark, which he makes, restrictively for the early crops. but may well be attended to for all, is, that it the sets are placed with their leading buds upwards, few and very Strong early stems will be produced; but if the position is re- versed, many weak and later shoots will arise, 928 POTATO. and not only the earliness, but the quality of the produce be depreciated. For the earliest crops, there are likewise several modes of as- sisting the forward vegetation of the sets. These ‘should be prepared in November, by removing every eye but one or two; and being placed in a layer, in a warm room, where air and light can be freely admitted, with a cover- ing of straw, they soon emit shoots, which must be strengthened by exposure to the air and light as much as possible, by taking off the covering without injuring them. During cold weather, and at night, it must always be renewed. The leaves soon become green, and tolerably hardy. In early spring they are planted out, the leaves being left just above the surface, and a covering of litter afforded every night, until the danger of frostis passed. The only modification of this plan that is adopted in Cheshire, where they are celebrated for the early production of potatoes, is, that they em- ploy chaff or sand for a covering instead of straw. The most preferable mode of inserting them, is with the dibble, in rows, for the early crops, 12 inches apart each way; and for the main ones 18. The set should never be placed more than 4 inches beneath the surface in the lightest soil, but in the more tenacious ones, 3 is the extreme. The potato dibble is the best instrument that can be employed; one person striking the holes, and asecond dropping the sets, the earth being afterwards raked or struck in with the spade. There are several other modes of insertion, as opening a small hole with a narrow spade, and the set being dropped in, it is covered by the earth taken out in form- ing the next hole: or, at the time of digging over the ground, a second person follows the one so employed, and places the sets in the trench he opens in the pursuance of his work; but both these modes are open to numerous obvious objections. The compartment may be laid out level and undivided, if the soil is mouldy and favour- able; but if a heavy one is necessarily em- ployed, it is best disposed in beds, 6 or 8 feet wide. If the staple of the soil is good through- out, the alleys may be 2 feet wide, and dug deep, otherwise they must be made broader, and only one spit taken out, the earth removed being employed to raise the beds. If the land is low and wet, it is still further of advantage, after the beds, which should not be more than 4 feet wide, have been thus raised, if they are dug in parallel ridges, and the sets inserted along their summits. Some gardeners, on such soils, with- out digging the surface, lay some long litter on the intended beds; upon this the sets being placed, some more litter is thrown regularly over them; the earth is then dug from the alleys, and turned to the requisite depth over the whole. As soon as the plants are well to be distinguished, they should be perfectly freed from weeds; and, of the early crops, the earth drawn round each plant, so as to form a cup, as a shelter from the cold winds, which are their chief enemy at that season ; but the main crops need not be earthed up until the plants are 6 inches in height. It is contended by some that this practice is immaterial in its effect. If the earth is brought so as to be of POTATO. considerable depth about the stems, it must be even injurious ; but if properly performed, it is certainly beneficial. Throughout their growth they should be kept perfectly clear of weeds. Itis very injurious to mow off their tops, as is sometimes recommended. The foliage ought to be kept as uninjured as possible, unless, as sometimes occurs on fresh ground, the plants are of gigantic luxuriance, and, even then, the stems should be only moderately shortened. It is, however, of considerable advantage to remove the fruit-stalks and immature flowers as soon as they appear. This has been de- monstrated by the experiments of President Knight, and others; indeed, that such would be the case is a reasonable expectation, since it is known thafille early formation of tubers prevents the production of blossom. It is also worthy of notice, that a potato plant continues to form tubers until the flowers appear, after which it is employed in ripening those already formed. The very earliest crops will be in production in June, or perhaps towards the end of May, and may thence be taken up as wanted, until October, at the close of which month, or during November, they may be entirely dug up and stored; or, at all events, before the arrival of any severe frost. Their fitness to be taken up for keeping is intimated by the decay of their foliage, which generally loses its verdure with the first frosts. The best instrument with which they can be dug up is a three-flat-pronged fork, each row being cleared regularly away. The tubers should be sorted at the time of taking them up; for as the largest keep the best, they alone should be stored, whilst the smaller ones are first made use of. The most common mode of preserving them throughout the winter is in heaps or clamps, sometimes called pyeing them. These are laid in pyramidal form, on a bed of straw, and enveloped with a covering 6 or8 inches thick, of the same material, laid even, as in thatching, and the whole enclosed with earth, in a conical form, a foot thick, taken from a trench dug round the heap, well smooth- ened with the back of the spade. Potatoes should not be stored until perfectly dry, nor unless free from mould, refuse, and wounded tubers. It is a good practice to keep a hole open on four different sides of the heap, entirely through the mould and straw, for a week or two after the heap is formed; for in proportion to its size it always ferments, and these orifices allow the escape of the vapours, and perfect the drying. An equally good mode, and much more convenient, is to have them heaped ina dry shed, and covered thick with straw, as op- portunity is given to look over them occa- sionally for the removal of decayed tubers, shoots, &c. If carefully preserved, they con- tinue in perfection until late in the following summer. A variety of the potato is generally considered to continue about 14 years in per- fection, after which period it gradually loses its good qualities, becoming of inferior flavour and unproductive. Fresh varieties must therefore be occasionally raised from seed. For doing this there are two modes; the first of these, about to be detailed, is, however, the one usually pursued. 117 POTATO. The berries or apples of the old stock having hung in a warm room throughout the winter, the seed must be obtained from them by wash- ing away the pulp during February. This is thoroughly dried, and kept until April, and then sown in drills about half an inch deep, and 6 inches apart, in arich mouldy soil. The plants are weeded, and earth drawn up to their stems when an inch in height; as soon as this has increased to three inches, they are moved into a similar soil, in rows 16 inches apart each way, and during their future growth earthed up 2 or 3times. Being finally taken up in the course of October, they must be preserved until the following spring, to be then repianted, and treated as for store crops. (Dr. Hunter’s Georg. Essays.) Some gardeners sow in a moderate hot-bed, very thin, in drills, the same depth as above, and 9 inches apart. Water is frequently and plentifully poured between the rows, and earth drawn about the stems of the seedlings, until they are a few inches in height. They are then transplanted into rows, water given, and earth- ing performed as usual. The only additional advantage of this plan is, that as the seed can be sown earlier, the tubers attain a rather larger size the first year. It is to be remarked, that the tubers of every seedling should be kept separate, as scarce 2 will be of a similar habit and quality, whilst many will be comparatively worthless, and but few of particular excellence. If the seed is obtained from a red potato, that flowered in the neighbourhood of a white-tubered variety, the seedlings in all probability will in part resem- ble both their parents, as a cross fecundation may take place; but seldom or never does a seedling resemble exactly the original stock. At all events, only such should be preserved as are recommended by their superior size, flavour, or fertility. It may be stated as an in- dication before these qualities can be positively ascertained, that President Knight remarks, that the rough, uneven surface of the foliage, which in excess constitutes the curl, appears to exist as, and form a characteristic of every good variety; for he never found one with perfectly smooth and polished leaves which possessed any degree of excellence, though such are in general more luxuriant and productive. The early varieties, on account of their never flowering, were, until 1807, obtained by chance from plants that might now and then be pro- duced from seed of the late kinds. In that year, Mr. Knight discovered that the cause of their deficiency of bloom was the preternatural early formation of the tubers. His mode of causing them to produce seed is to plant the sets on little heaps of earth, with a stake in the middle, and when the plants are about 4 inches high, being secured to the stakes with shreds and nails, to wash the earth away from the bases of the stems, by means of a strong cur- rent of water, so that the fibrous roots only enter the soil, and these being perfectly dis- tinct from the runners that furnish the tubers, and which spring from the base of the stem, none of these are produced, and the effect is, that blossoms appear and perfect seed. There are numerous valuable communica 412 929 i POTATO. tions with regard to the potato dispersed through the agricultural journals, among which is one “On the Manures best adapted for Pota- toes,” by the Rev. E, Cartwright. He remarks, “The soil on which my experiments were tried is a ferruginous sand, brought to a due texture and consistence by a liberal covering of pond- mud. Of this soil, in its improved state, I mean by the accession of pond mud (for, having been used merely as a nursery for raising forest trees, previous to these experiments, the nur- seryman had not thought it necessary to make use of any other manure), the following is the analysis 400 grains gave: Grains. Of silicious sand, of different degrees of fineness 280 Finely divided matter - - - - - - 104 Loss in water - - - = = = - 16 “The finely divided matter contained— Carbonate of lime - - - - - a 18 Oxide ofiron - - y Loss by incineration (probably vegetable decom- posing matter) - - - - - l7 “The remainder, principally silex and alu- mina. There were no indications of either gypsum or phosphate of lime. “On the 14th of April, 1804, a portion of this soil was laid out, in beds 1 yard wide and 40 in length, and were manured as in the follow- ing table. On the same day the whole was planted with potatoes, a single row in each bed, and that the general experiment might be conducted with all possible accuracy, each bed received the same number of sets. On the 21st of September the potatoes were taken up, when the produce of each row was, in succes- sion, as follows: Manures in Pies per acre. Produce, 1, No manure - - - - - 157 2. Salt 8 bush., soot 30 bush. - - - - 240 3. Chandler's graves 9} cwt. - - - - 220 4. Salt 8 bush., wood-ashes 60 bush. - - - 217 5. Salt 8 bush., By pan pea 363 bush., lime 121 bush. - - 201 6. Salt 8 bush., lime 121 busb., dung 303 bush. - 199 7. Salt8bush. - - - 198 8, Salt 8 bush., graves 93 cwt. - Ct 195 9. Soot 30 bush. - - - - - Fo 192 10 Vresh dung 368 bush. = - - - - 192 Jl. Salt 8 bush., malt-dust 60 bush. - - - 189 12. Wood-ashes 60 bush. - - - 187 13. Salt 8 bush., decayed leaves 363 bush. - - 187 14, Salt 5 bush., peat-ashes 363 bush. - - - 185 15, Malt-dust 60 bush. - - - 184 16. Salt 8 bush., lime 121 bush., peat 363 busb. - 183 17. Salt 8 bush., saw-dust 363 bush. = - 180 18, Salt 8 bush., peat 363 bush., bone-dust - - 178 19, Decayed leaves 263 bush. - - 175 20. Salt 8 bush., lime 12] bush., sulphuric acid - 175 21. Salt 8 bush., peat 363 bush. - - - - 171 22, Salt 8 bush., lime 121 buh: - - Sta 167 23. Peat 363 bush. - - - a 159 24, Saw-dust 363 bush. - - - - - 155 25. Lime 121 bush. - - - = - 150 The following experiments upon potatoes are extracted from Mr. George Sinclair’s Commu- nication to the Board of Agriculture, February 25th, 1820. These experiments were made upon a soil composed of three-fourths silicious sand, in plots of 36 square feet. Bushels of Salt per Acre, No, 1. Pianted without ane kind ofmanure - 124 2. Twelve cubic inches of salt with the seed - 13} 106 the smallest. 3. Six cubic inches of salt with the seed - - 6k 90 4. Twelve cubic inches of salt mixed with the soil 13} 93 the largest. 930 POTATO-FLY. “The weight of the crop of potatoes was not taken. The superior size of the roots pro- duced by No. 4, left no room to doubt of the advantage of 13 bushels of salt per acre, ap- plied to the soil previous to planting, over the other modes of application; still the superi- ority was not very great.” “I may notice here,” observes Dr. Holland, “a practice pur- sued at Weston, near Frodsham, in the culture of potatoes, which seems deserving of atten- tion. At this place, situated close to the junction of the Mersey and Weaver, sea mud is used as a manure for crops of potatoes; 20 loads being the quantity usually laid on an acre. The ground thus manured not only gives a larger produce of potatoes, but is in a state of excellent preparation for a succeeding crop of either wheat or barley. The adoption of this practice has increased very greatly the value of land about Weston.” There is also a paper by Mr. Knight “On the advantages of employing large Tubers for Seed.” “ The good effects,” ‘he observes, “which I have proved to arise from planting large tubers of the potato plant, obviously spring from the large accumulation of fecula in them. Fed by means of this, not only a large breadth of foliage is produced, and ex- posed to sight more early in the year, but that foliage contains much disposable organizable matter, which once formed a part of the parent tuber.” Knight thought that the ordinary pro- duce of potatoes might be very materially in- creased. He remarks, “My opinion is, that more than a thousand bushels of potatoes may and will be obtained from an acre of ground.” Potatoes are fermentable, and are conse- quently employed along with barley by the Scotch distillers; and, also, by the London bakers in the manufacture of bread. The fecula is also separated and sold as arrow-root: it is a good and sufficiently pure starch; but it is less nutritive than the potato itself, owing to the separation of the saccharine matter and the albumen. POTATO-FLY or BEETLE. The green cantharides, or Spanish-flies, as they are com- monly called, are found in the south of Europe, and particularly in Spain and Italy, where they are collected in great quantities for exporta- tion. In these countries they often appear in immense swarms on the privet, lilac, and ash, which are quickly stripped of their foliage by these leaf-eating beetles. In like manner the American species of cantharides devour the leaves of plants, and sometimes prove very destructive to them, especially to those of the potato. Four native species of the cantharides found in the United States, have been tried and ascertained to be as effectual in raising blisters as the imported species. The kind found on the potato is the striped cantharis (Cantharis vittata). It is of a dull, tawny yellow or light yellowish-red colour above, with two black spots on the head, and two black stripes on the thorax and on each of the wing-covers. The under-side of the body, the legs, and the anten- ne dre black, and covered with a grayish down. Its length is from five to six-tenths of an inch. In this and the three following spe- cies the thorax is very much narrowed before, POTATO-FLY. and the wing-covers are long and narrow, and cover the whole of the back. The striped can- tharis is comparatively rare in New England; but in the Middle States it often appears in great numbers, and does much mischief in po- tato-fields and gardens, eating up not only the leaves of the potato, but those of many other vegetables. The most destructive kind of Cantharis, found in Massachusetts, is of a more slender form than the preceding, and measures only from five and a half to six-tenths of an inch in length. Its antenne and feet are black, and all the rest of its body is ashen gray, being thickly covered with a very short down of that colour. Hence it is called Cantharis cinerea, or the ash- coloured cantharis. When the insect is rubbed, the ash-coloured substance comes off, leaving the surface black. It begins to appear in gar- dens about the 20th of June, and is very fond of the leaves of the English bean, which it some- times entirely destroys. It is also occasionally found in considerable numbers on potato-vines; and in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it has re- peatedly appeared in great profusion upon hedges of the honey-locust, which have been entirely stripped of foliage by these voracious insects. They are also found on the wild indi- go-weed. In the night, and in rainy weather, they descend from the plants, and burrow in the ground, or under leaves and tufts of grass. Thither also they retire for shelter during the heat of the day, being most actively engaged in eating in the morning and evening. About the lst of August they go into the ground and lay their eggs, and these are hatched in the course of one month. The larve are slender, somewhat flattened grubs, of a yellowish co- lour, banded with black, with a small reddish head, and six legs. These grubs are very active in their motions, and appear to live upon fine roots in the ground; but I have not been able to keep them till they arrived at ma- turity, and therefore know nothing further of their history. About the middle of August, and during the rest of this and the following month, a jet-black cantharis may be seen on potato-vines, and also on the blossoms and leaves of various kinds of golden-rod, particularly the tall golden- rod (Solidago altissima), which seems to be its favourite food. In some places it is as plenti- ful in potato-fields as the striped and the mar- gined cantharis, and by its serious ravages has often excited attention. These three kinds, in fact, are often confounded under the common name of potato-flies; and it is still more re- markable, that they are collected for medical use, and are sold in our shops by the name of Cantharis vittata, without a suspicion of their being distinet from each other. The black eantharis, or Cantharis atrata, is totally black, without bands or spots, and measures from four-tenths to half of an inch in length. I have repeatedly taken these insects, in considerable quantities, by brushing or shaking them from the potato-vines into a broad tin pan, from which they were emptied into a covered pail containing a little water, which, by wetting their wings, prevented their flying out when POULTRY. the pail was uncovered. The same method may be employed for taking the other kinds of cantharides, when they become troublesome and destructive from their numbers; or they may be caught by gently sweeping the plants they frequent with a deep muslin bag-net. They should be killed by throwing them into scalding water, for one or two minutes, after which they may be spread out on sheets of paper to dry, and may be made profitable by selling them to the apothecaries for medical use. A species of the genus Meloe (angusticollis), or narrow-necked oil-beetle of Say, about an inch long, and of a dark indigo-blue colour, is very common on butter-cups in autumn, and is also found on potato-vines. POTATO MURRAIN. Since the year 1845, when the great destruction of potatoes in Great Britain and Ireland took place, with the conse- quent famine, this disease has been the subject of most active and earnest investigation. It would be vain to attempt giving even an epitome of the various views put forth on the subject. At present we will only refer to a single fact, which seems to afford the best clue towards de- termining the origin of the disease, as well as suggesting the best means of preservation and cure; namely, that the proportion of water, always large in the healthy potato, is greatly in- creased, say 6 to 8 per cent., in those about to become diseased. One of the best remedies is said to be planting in the fall; even partially diseased tubers planted in autumn have yielded good sound potatoes the succeeding season. POULTICE. An external application em- ployed for soothing pain and abating infamma- tion, and where this is advanced, promoting sup- puration in gatherings, &c. The best for animals are prepared of ground flax-seed, or rye-meal. The main object is to have the poultice large enough to continue long moist and soft : a hard and dry poultice is much worse than none at all. In renewing poultices, the parts should always be previously well fomented with warm water. To remove unpleasant smells, mashed carrots and powdered charcoal will be found to make a good poultice. POULTRY. A general term including every’ kind of domestic fowl, which is reared about the house or farm-yard, as cocks and hens, ducks, geese, turkeys, &c. Poultry constitutes a part of every farmer’s stock, but the rearing of it in England is not often productive of any pecuniary advantage; for though fowls are considered chiefly as an article of luxury, and sold at high prices in the market, they seldom or ever repay the value of the corn which they have consumed, especially if such grain must be purchased. Indeed, where profit is the ob- ject of the husbandman’s labours, no poultry should be admitted into the vicinity of barns, unless for the purpose of picking up scattered grain; though, in generat, it cannot be denied, that they acquire their fat substance from the corn left in the straw by negligent thrashing. The poor villager may, however, reap, in some cases, benefit from poultry, as the fowls are able to shift for themselves the greatest part of the year, by feeding on insects, corn, or any thing of that nature. There are many different breeds of this sort Pal POUND. of live-stock; but those best known are the game breed, the white or English breed, the black or Poland breed, the Dorking breed, the large or Shakebag breed, and the Malay breed. The two first are much smaller breeds than the others. This kind of stock affords profit in the eggs, as well as the chickens ; therefore such as are the best layers and sitters should be chosen, which are in general the game and Poland breeds, but the other breeds have probably the advantage in respect to the size of the eggs: as food, the game and the white breeds are said to be the most delicate. The care and management of the poultry- yard usually devolves upon the farmer’s wife, and the industrious housewife will do well to see to their food and rearing, &c., herself, and not trust too much to servants. For the most economical methods of keeping and managing poultry, &c., I refer the reader to the different heads of Dovecorr, Ducks, Fowns, Goose, Turkey, &c. See also Eecs, Fearuens. The comparative value of the keep for domes- tic fowls is as follows: geese 5 per cent., ducks 74 ditto, pigeons 10 ditto, dunghill fowls 40 ditto, turkeys and Guinea fowls 50 ditto. Fromaseries of observations made on the diseases of domes- uc poultry, Mr. Flourens makes the following conclusions :—l1. In these animals cold exer- cises a constant and determinate action on their lungs. 2. The effect of this action is the more rapid and more severe, the younger the animalis. 3. When cold does not cause acute and speedily fatal inflammation of the lungs, it produces a chronic inflammation, which is pulmonary consumption itself. [This, however, is a mis- take, as pulmonary consumption is the deposi- tion of tubercles in, not inflammation of, the lungs.] 4. Heat always prevents the attack of pulmonary disease: when the latter has taken place, heat suspends its progress, and even sometimes arrests it entirely, and effects a com- plete cure. 5. Pulmonary consumption in any stage is never contagious: fowls affected with that disease were not only all day along with the healthy fowls, but at night roosted in the same places, without communicating their dis- ease to them. 6. Lastly, the action of too long confined air exposes these animals to abscesses of the cornea, and inflammation of the ball of the eye. These abscesses and inflammations are also caused in a still more cruel manner by cold, especially when accompanied with mois- ture. (Annales des Sci. Nat.) The reader will find an interesting essay by Mr. England on the rearing and management of domestic poultry, in the fourth volume of the Trans. of the Hight. Soc., to which a premium was awarded. There is also a paper on the same subject in the eighth volume of the Quart. Journ. of Agr. p. 509. POUND. In law, a place where cattle and goods which have been distrained are to be lodged and kept until redeemed. The common meaning in the United States is, a place where zattle are enclosed and kept. See Distress. POVERTY GRASS, or Forked Aristida; frequent in the Middle States, on dry, sterile soils. : PREGNANCY. In cattle, the state of being with young. Under the heads Asonrtion, 932 s PREGNANCY. Caryine, Gestation, &c., I have gone very fully into this subject. The following excellent observations by Mr. Youatt, on the detection of pregnancy in the mare and the cow, are highly practical and useful. Among healthy animals, the impregnation of the female rarely fails to be the result of an intercourse between the sexes. The assurance, however, of this having taken. place, is, occa- sionally, an affair of considerable interest, and of no little difficulty; and the value and the destiny of the female may very much depend on the decision of the question. A certain time having elapsed, the thing will speak for itself; but are there any symptoms or circumstances that will warrant the veterinary surgeon, or the agriculturist, in giving a decided opinion on the case in an early period of supposed preg- nancy? It occasionally happens that the fifth or the sixth month arrives, and, even to the practised eye, there are few or no indications of conception having taken place. There are, also, but some- what unfrequently, diseases which very closely simulate this natural process. Can the yete- rinary surgeon or the breeder decide? The answer is in the affirmative, and plainly and unequivocally. This is one of the boons which the veterinary art can now confer on the agri- culturist. The altered character of the female is regarded, and very properly, as a circum- stance of no little weight. She is compara- tively calm and quiet; her appetite returns, and she regains her former condition and her former habits. Five or six weeks pass, and there is no outbreak of any kind. The owner concludes, and he is not often wrong, that she is impreg- nated. He, however, has had little to do with mares or with cows who has not witnessed the return of the most furious estrum, after a much longer period of time has elapsed. Ihave known more than 3 months pass in this delusive qui- etude, and then a salaciousness worse than at first has indicated that no actual impregnation had taken place. On the other hand, the cestrum, but not with all its former fury, has returned, 2, and 3, and 4 months after the con- nection; and yet, as the result finally shows, impregnation had taken place at their first in- tercourse. Many circumstances may cause the owner to be anxious to know the truth of the matter. He may wish to sell her, or he may be unusu- ally desirous to breed from her. Let the animal be examined per vaginam. Let the hand be slowly and cautiously passed up the vagina until it reaches the os uteri. Let there be no attempt to penetrate farther. No information can be gained from introducing the fingers into the uterus. It is simply wished to ascertain the character of the os uteri. In its natural and unimpregnated state it will be closed; but it will not be tightly or spasmodically so, and the contraction of the mouth of the womb will form a kind of cup, with the base towards that viscus. If she is impregnated, the entrance to the uterus will be more firmly closed, and the protrusion will be towards the vagina. This is the only exploration per vaginam which I would allow; it is easily made, and it will be satisfactory. If an exploration of this kind is PREGNANCY. attempted when half or more than half of the period of pregnancy has passed, it isnot at all unlikely that so much irritation of the parts will ensue as to cause the expulsion of the fetus. I will suppose that 2 months have passed since the supposed impregnation. The fetus is still remaining in the pelvic cavity. The heart has begun to beat, and the blood to cir- culate through its little veins. It will be situ- ated immediately below the rectum. I intro- duce my hand into that intestine. I have not occasion to pass it very farup. I feel the little substance ; for it then is small in proportion to its after growth. I feel it under my hand. I am certain that Lam pressing upon the uterus and its contents.” I cannot perhaps detect the pulsation of the embryo; but if I had delayed my examination until the fetus was 3 months old, I should have assurance that it was there by its now increased bulk, while the pulsation of its heart would tell me that it was living. For 2 months from this period in the cow, and for 3 in the mare, I should have no other indication of the presence of the fetus, nor of its life and growth, except from the gradual enlargement of the abdomen of the mother; and, by that time, the little one would have in- creased in size and strength, and would have begun to take occasional exercise in its first domicile, and then would become the more evident, but not more satisfactory proof of the life of the fetus; its motion strong enough to be seen through the integument. I might, perhaps, wish to give this assurance of the life of the fetus to some curious spec- tator, or to some intended purchaser. I would not gallop the mare in order to effect this: I would not so far disturb her or the young animal that she bore within her. Much less would I give her cold water to drink, and which she usually would drink until she an- noyed the fetus, and the unborn animal told us how much we annoyed him by endeavouring to shift his quarters and get away from the action of the cold. I would not run the hazard of giving her the colic, and perhaps destroying him or her by this unscientific and somewhat cruel method of exploration; but I probably should give a tap or two on the outer wall of his dwelling, just sufficient to rouse him from his slumbers, and induce him to express his anger at the annoyance by a tolerably distinct plunge or kick. Most certainly, if it was a cow that I was exhibiting, I would not give, nor would I suffer any one else to give those terrible punches in the right flank which I have no doubt are the cause of much unsuspected injury, and, occa- sionally at least, connected with, or the origin of a difficult or a fatal parturition. Imay here observe that the fetus of the mare, from the beginning, occupies nearly the centre of the belly. In the early stage, Mr. Mogford generally found it “lying across the pelvic cavity, the spine being immediately under; the head on the left side, and the tail on the right side.” In the latter portion of its fetal state its motions are pretty equally distributed on either side, and the beating of the fetal heart is most plainly heard at the very base of the abdomen. PRIMROSE. The fetus of the cow is huddled up on the right side of the belly. There its motions are most seen, and the beatings of its heart best heard. The enormous paunch, lying principally on the left side, presses every other viscus, and the uterus among the rest, into the right flank. This also explains a circumstance familiar to every breeder. If the cow should happen to carry twins, they are crowded together in the left flank, and one seems absolutely to lie upon the other. Whenever the farmer notices the kicking of the fetus high up in the flank, he at once calculates on twins. To return from this digression. If half the period, or more, of utero-gestation had passed, and I could not get the little stranger to move by my gentle tapping, and it was a cow with which we had to do, and a quiet one, I would have her carefully held by the cowherd, while I stooped and applied my ear flat upon the flank, and then slowly and with gentle pres- sure upwards and downwards, and forwards and backwards, over the flank and the lower part of it, until I heard—and which I should do in a great majority of cases—the pulsations of the fetal heart. I should recognise it by their quickness, the pulsations of the fetus being double or more than double those of the other. If it was a mare, I would have a halter put on her, and an assistant should hold up one of her legs, while some person interested reached under, or perhaps knelt under the belly of the mare, and passing one ear along an imaginary line from between the teats to the chest, and deviating a little from one side to the other, he would then also recognise the quick pulsation of the fetal heart. These observations are addressed to prac- tical men, and will be speedily put to the test by them. The object of the author is to get rid of the vulgar and inefficient methods of de- tecting pregnancy which are now in general use, and to introduce others that are founded on a surer and more scientific basis. This subject has been treated of by others, and Dr. J. C. Ferguson, of King’s College, Lon- don, has published an Essay on Auscultation, as the only unequivocal Evidence of Pregnancy. Aus- cultation is the method employed by physicians to determine the healthy or diseased condition of the lungs and other internal parts, by means of the ear and stethoscope. PRICKING. In hunting, the tracing of a hare, where her footing can be perceived. In farriery, the term is used to signify the driving a nail into the soft or quick part of a horse’s foot, so as to cause temporary lameness. PRIMROSE (Primula, from primus, the first; in allusion to the early flowering of the plants). This is an extensive genus of small, but very pretty and desirable plants.. All the species of primrose succeed best in a mixture of loam and peat, and increase readily by seeds, or by dividing the plants, which should be done as soon as they have flowered. There are in England five indigenous species. 1. The common primrose (P. vulgaris), grows common everywhere in England, adorning the groves, hedges, and waste grassy places in spring; flowering from March tc June. Flowers numerous, large sulphur 933 PRIMROSE PEERLESS. coloured, with a darker radiating spot in the middle ; their scent agreeable, though slight. There are cultivated varieties, white, purplish, or brown, single or double, of which the double sulphur-coloured is peculiarly elegant. 2. Oxlip primrose (P. elatior). This is a Jess common species, found in woods and pas- tures, but rare. It is perennial, and flowers in April. 3. Common cowslip, or paigle (P. veris). See Cowstre. 4, Bird’s-eye primrose (P. farinosa). This species is found growing in wet pastures and by rivulets, on mountains in the north of Eng- land as wellas in Scotland. It flowers later than the preceding species, in June and July, and is only about half the size of the cowslip. It is distinguished by the white mealiness of the flower-stalks and backs of the leaves, whose upper sides are green, smooth, and even, as well as by the beautiful rose-coloured flowers, whose mouth is surrounded with a notched, yellow, glandular border. 5. Scottish primrose (P. Scotiea). This spe- cies is met with occasionally in the north of Scotland, and is near akin to that last described. PRIMROSE PEERLESS, or Narcissvs. PRIVET (Ligustrum, from ligare, to tie; in allusion to the very flexible branches). The common privet, print, or prim-print (LZ. vulgare), is a hardy shrub, growing from 6 to 8 feet in height, in its wild state tenanting rather moist thickets and hedges, on a gravelly or chalky soil: but it grows well in any situation, and in all soils. It may be propagated by seeds, layers, or cuttings. These plants are well suited for making cut-hedges in gardens, espe- cially the evergreen varieties of the common privet. ‘The branches are straight, filled with pitch, and the wood is hard. PROPAGATION OF PLANTS. The greater number of plants are propagated na- turally by means of seeds; but, in addition to these, many plants are extended over the sur- face on which they take root by the production of runners, or lateral shoots, which spread along the surface, and root at the joints or buds, from which they send up new plants, by suck- ers, or side shoots from the roots, by bulbs, by tubers, rhizomes, and by various other natural means. Artificially, plants are propagated by seed, by runners, suckers, offsets, dividing the tubers, layers, cuttings, grafting, budding, in- arching, &c. Seeds are gathered when mature, and sown on recently-stirred soil; and covered to different depths according to the size of the seed, the nature of the soil and situation, and other circumstances. The plants formed by runners are separated from the parent plant by cutting through the runner, and removing the young plant, in order to plant it elsewhere. Suckers, slips, or side-shoots from the roots are separated from the parent plant by being slipped down, or cut off, so as to carry with them a portion of fibrous roots; and they are after- wards planted in suitable soil, &c. Offsets are small bulbs which are produced round the Vase of larger ones, or om stems, in the axille wt the leaves, and, being taken off and planted, become plants. ‘Tubers are underground stems containing leaf-buds; and these may be 934 PULSE. separated and planted entire; or cut into as many pieces as there are buds, in either of which cases new plants will be formed. Lay- ers are branches or shoots of either woody or herbaceous plants, which are bent down, and a portion of their length buried a few inches in the soil; that portion having been previous- ly wounded by cutting, bruising, or twisting, which, by checking the descent of the sap, gives rise, after a certain period, to the pro- duction of roots. After these roots are formed, the portion of the layer which has produced them is sepa- rated from the main stock or parent plant, and planted by itself. Cuttings are portions of shoots, either of ligneous or herbaceous plants, and they are made of the young shoots with the leaves on, or of the ripened wood, either with or without its leaves; and after they have, either in an herbaceous state with the leaves on, or with the wood mature, and with or without the leaves, been properly prepared and planted, they form roots at the lower extremity, each cutting be- coming a perfect plant. In general, cuttings should be taken from those shoots of a plant which are nearest the soil; because, from the moisture and shade there, such shoots are more predisposed to emit roots than those on the upper part of the plant. The young, or last-formed shoots, are to be taken in preference to such as are older, as containing more perfect buds in an undeye- loped state, and a bark more easily permeable by roots; and the cutting is to be prepared by severing its lower extremity across at a joint, the lenticells, or root-buds, being there most abundant. When the cutting is planted, the principal part of the art consists in making it quite firm at the lower extremity, so as com- pletely to exclude the air from the wounded section. Cuttings emit roots at this section, either in consequence of the action of the ac- cumulated sap in the cutting, as in the case of the ripened wood in deciduous trees and shrubs ; or in consequence of the joint action of the accumulated sap and of the leaves, as in the case of cuttings of soft wood with the leaves on, and in a living state. A few plants are propagated by cuttings of the leaves, the petiole of the leaf being slipped off from the parent plant, and probably containing the latent embryos of buds. Grafting, inarching, and budding, are processes which have been al- ready explained. See Buppine, Grarrine, Layerrne, &c. PUCCOON (Batschia Canadensis). A plant in the United States with an extremely red root, called American Alkanet. PULSE. A term applied to all leguminous plants, as peas, beans, tares, vetches, lupins, &c. All the species of pulse afford excellent manure when turned into the soil in a green state. The custom of ploughing in green suc- culent plants of this kind is very ancient. All the Roman agricultural writers commend it highly. Columella, particularly, advises lupins as a manure, which, if cut down and turned in while green, will have as good effect as the best and strongest dunging whatever. They may be sown upon poor land about the middle of PUMPKIN. September, and be ploughed in before they attain their full growth. In gravelly soils they should be cut down after they have put forth their second flower ; and in strong lands, where a little more advanced. In the former of these grounds they are turned in while young and tender, that they may quickly rot; and in the latter, are let stand till they grow stronger, that they may produce a better effect on the stiff clods of earth, and render them more mellow and friable. This practice is still extensively followed in northern Italy. Peas, beans, lupins, vetches, and other suc- culent plants, have also been strongly recom- mended by the older writers on husbandry, as excellent manures, especially for sandy ground ; these plants enriching the earth greatly if ploughed in, either green, or when in bloom. In strong land they are advised not to be turned down till the pods begin to harden. See Green Crors, Lecuminous Prants, Peas, Rorarron or Crops, &c. PUMPKIN (Cucurbita pepo). The pumpkin is extensively cultivated in the United States, where there are many varieties, some of them attaining the enormous size of 2 feet or more in diameter. But such large ones are not so highly esteemed. The better sorts are often used at table, affording the celebrated pumpkin pie of New England; and the coarser varieties are esteemed for feeding stock. When growing in the vicinity of squashes, the fruit of this is liable to be converted into a hybrid, of little or no value. Crops of pumpkins have been totally spoiled by that cause, the fruit becom- ing very hard and warty, unfit for the table, and unsafe to give to cattle. Flora Cestrica. PURGATIVES. In farriery, such medicines as tend to evacuate the crudities of the bowels by stool, and which are sometimes called ca- thartics. See Pureine. The purgatives most frequently employed for horses and cows are sulphur, jalap, aloes, gamboge, Rhamnus catharticus, and calomel. Saline purgatives are not often required; but when they are, Epsom salts (the sulphate of magnesia), is adequate for every purpose. PURGING is necessary in a variety of cases, for different sorts of animals, particularly in diseases of the inflammatory kind, swellings in the extreme parts. Aloes is the best form of physic; but Epsom salts, linseed, and olive oil, are sometimes used on certain occasions as laxatives with great propriety and benefit, and in gross, full horses, in some disorders of the stomach, liver, &c., but it should always be di- rected with caution. Violent purging or scouring, attended with inflammation, will sometimes arise when a horse is worked hard upon green meat. The remedy is change of diet or less labour. As- tringents should be used with much caution. It is probably an effort of nature to get rid of something that offends. A few doses of gruel will assist in effecting this purpose, and the purging will cease without astringent medi- cine. See Ators, Barts, Drencazs, Linseep On, &c. PURSLANE (Portulaca ; from porto,to carry, and lac, milk; juicy nature of the plants). purslane is now but little noticed as a garden PUTREFACTION. flower, but in Britain is still cultivated as a salad and pot-herb. The species usually grown in the kitchen garden are the green or garden purslane (P. oleracea), and the golden purslane (P. sativa). PUTREFACTION (Lat. Putrefactio). The spontaneous decomposition of animal and ve- getable substances, attended by the evolution of fetid gases. The putrefactive fermentation of animal substances is usually attended by more fetid and noxious exhalations than those arising from vegetable products. This appears principally referable to the more abundant presence of nitrogen in the former; and, hence, those vegetables which abound in nitroginife- rous principles, such as most (if not all) of the cruciform plants, exhale peculiarly nauseous effluvia; hence, also, such animal products as are destitute of nitrogen, are either unsuscepti- ble of what is commonly called putrefaction, or suffer it slowly and imperfectly. The for- mation of ammonia or of ammoniacal com- pounds is a characteristic of most cases of animal putrefaction ; while other combinations of hydrogen are also formed, especially carbu- retted hydrogen, and sulphuretted hydrogen, together with complicated and often highly in- fectious vapours or gases, in which sulphur and phosphorus are frequently discerned. These putrefactive effluvia are, for the most part, easily decomposed, and resolved into new and comparatively innocuous compounds by the agency of chlorine; hence the importance of that body as a powerful and rapidly acting dis- infectant. The rapidity of putrefaction and the nature of its products are, to a great extent, in- fluenced by temperature, moisture, and access of air; they do not ensue below the freezing point, nor in dry substances, nor under the entire exclusion of oxygen; and hence various means suggest themselves of retarding or pre- venting putrefaction, as well as of modifying its results. A temperature between 60° and 80°, a due degree of humidity, and free access of air are the circumstances under which it proceeds most rapidly. The most effective antiputrefactives, or antiseptics, are substances which either absorb or remove a portion of the water or moisture, and enter into new com- binations with the organic matter. The astrin- gent or tannic principle of vegetables is alsoa powerful preserver of most organic tissues ; it enters into chemical combination with the albuminous and gelatinous membranes and fibres; and the resulting compound, of which leather furnishes a characteristic example, is comparatively little prone to change, although the tanning material itself, as well as the animal principles with which it unites, are separately liable to decay. Among saline substances, the antiputrefactive powers of salt are commonly known: when a piece of flesh is salted, brine runs from it, in consequence of the energy with which the salt abstracts the component water of the muscular fibre ; the flesh becomes indurated, and its susceptibility to putrefactive changes is greatly diminished; but it becomes at the same time less easy of digestion as an article of food. Corrosive sublimate is a far more powerful preservative than common salt; | and it appears to act not by the mere abstrae 936 PYROLIGNEOUS ACID. tion of water, but by entering into chemical union with the fibre. Sulphate of copper and several other metallic salts are similarly effica- cious; but their poisonous nature prevents their employment in the preservation of arti- cles of food. The inhabitants of northern climates avail themselves of freezing to prevent the putrefac- uion of their food, and the supplies of game and other articles in the Russian markets are retained in a frozen state. Our fishmongers resort to the same expedient for the preserva- tion of their unsold fish, which is daily removed to the ice-house, after having been exhibited in their shops; salmon is packed in ice for the purpose of transport and preservation. See Dercomeosiri0n, Dry Ror, Fermentation, Ma- nures, Oncanre Carmistry, &c. PYROLIGNEOUS ACID. This term is generally applied to the acid liquor which passes over along with tar and gaseous pro- ducts, when wood is subjected to destructive distillation. This acid liquor isan impure vinegar, from which acetic acid is obtained. It has in its impure state a powerful smoky odour, not unlike that of Westphalia ham. The acid is purified by converting it into ace- tate of soda, and decomposing that salt by means of sulphuric acid. This acetic acid, after distillation, is in a high state of concen- tration; but it differs from concentrated acetic acid, by being neither combustible nor crystal- lizable. It is usually lowered by the addition of water. If intended for the table or for do- mestic use, as a substitute for other forms of vinegar, it is usually coloured with a little burned sugar. This manufacture of vinegar is now carried on upon a very large scale, and the greater part of the vinegar used for domes- tic purposes and in the arts, in many of which it is largely consumed, is derived from this source. Ordinary vinegar, besides containing acetic acid and water, contains also sulphate of lime, some ethereal matter, a portion of sul- phurice acid, and a colouring principle. See Vinegean. Q. QUAKING GRASS (Briza; named from brizo, to nod, on account of the quaking cha- racter of the spikelets). A genus of grasses of which some species are pretty and interesting, as B. minor, B. rubra, and B. clusii; but the greater portion are mere weeds. The whole are of easy cultivation. Two species are in- digenous to Britain, the smaller quaking grass (B. minor), and the common quaking grass (B. media), pl.6,n. See Briza. QUARRY. A pit or drift from which stones, gravel, slates, or some other similar material is raised. QUARTER. The fourth part of any thing, as of a carcass. As a term of weight it de- notes the fourth of a hundred weight, or 28 lbs.; as a dry measure it signifies the fourth of a chaldron. Quarter is also a measure of grain containing 8 bushels: it is the common mea- sure by which grain is sold in the southern districts of England, especially when in large quantities. 930 QUINOA. QUARTZ. A German term, now universally adopted in scientific languages, and commonly applied in mineralogy to the purer varieties of silica, especially to rock crystal. Quartz oc- curs also in beds: it is usually granular, white, sometimes mixed with mica. QUICKS. The young sets of the white thorn used in planting hedges. The term is also applied to couch-grass in some places. See QuicksET. QUICKSANDS—Are sandy ‘spots of soil which contain water in such a proportion as to form a sort of shaking quag at certain times. QUICKSET. A term applied to the white or hawthorn, the sets or young plants of which are raised by the nursery gardeners for sale for this purpose. See Fence, Hawrsorn, and Hence. QUINCE (Cydonia). A well-known genus of fruit trees. C. vulgaris is the species gene- rally cultivated for its fruit. It is a native of Candia; but cultivated over most parts of Eu- rope and North America. It belongs to the natural order Pomacee. The fruit, or quince, is of a roundish, somewhat pyriform shape, and contains ovate-pointed, plano-convex seeds, yielding to boiling a large quantity of muci- lage, which is employed in medical practice as a demulcent. The quince will thrive in any soil, and may be multiplied by suckers, C. ja- ponica is one of the handsomest hardy shrubs, producing its beautiful scarlet or white flowers in great abundance. The Portuguese quince is reckoned the best. Quince-marmalade is greatly admired by those who are fond of the fruit, and all good housewives know its value in adding richness of flavour to apple-pie. QUINOA, or PERUVIAN RICE (Chenopo- dium quinoa). Humboldt speaks of this plant as one of the few cultivated in the highest and coldest regions of the Andes and the Mexican Cordilleras, where it ranks in utility with the potato, Indian corn, and wheat. Whilst young, the leaves are used as spinach, oxalis (sorrel), or common greens, whilst the seeds are boiled in soups and used as a substitute for rice. The plant is an annual, and resembles French spi- nach, or its kindred Lamb’s-quarter (Chenopo- dium album), which is so widely diffused throughout the United States. The seeds are small, about the twelfth of an inch in diameter, yellowish-white, flat, resemble those of millet, and are easily pulverized. The plant attains about 3 feet in height, and produces greenish flowers about the Ist of August. Mr. Gideon B. Smith has raised the quinoa at Baltimore, and found it very productive. (4m. Farmer, vol. 13.) There are a great many species of chenopo- dium, many of which are enumerated under the head of goose-foot. In Peru, it would seem the quinoa is subjected to a process of scalding or part-boiling, before it is disposed of by the cultivator, whether for the purpose of assisting in its preservation, or to prevent its cultivation in other countries, is not ascer- tained. To this fact may probably be ascribed the failure of all previous attempts to cultivate it. Having, says Mr. Smith, eaten the quinoa, prepared in several ways, we are of course en- abled to speak of its qualities from experience. Gentlemen who have eaten it in Peru, speak QUITTER. of itin the highest terms of praise. It has a very pleasant flavour, although this is peculiar and may not at first be relished. The taste more resembles that of oat-meal than rice. The grain is chiefly composed of a grain or sprout of the young plant, closely coiled, and imbed- ded in farina. In boiling, this spiral germ is detached, and the dish presents the appearance of being full of skippers, something similar to a dish of boiled beans. The description of the mode of sowing and cultivating the quinoa in Peru, together with the seed, was furnished Mr. Smith by Lieut. Fitzhugh, U.S. N. From this it appears that itis sown broadcast, and gathered in the same seasons as wheat. When ripe, the grain shells off very easily, and to prevent loss, it is cut carefully and gathered in on cloths of cotton or linen. QUITTER. In farriery, an ulcer formed between the hair and hoof, usually on the in- side quarter of a horse’s foot; it often arises from treads and bruises, sometimes from gra- vel, which, by working its way upwards, lodges about the coronet; if it is only superficial, it may be cured by cleansing dressings, bathing the coronet every day with spirits of wine, and dressing the sore with lime-water, or a deter- gent application, such as red precipitate. R. RABBIT. (Lepus cwniculus). A well-known animal, resembling the hare, smaller in size, belonging to the order Rodentie. The rabbit has shorter hind-legs than the hare, and the ears are more thinly covered with hair. Rabbits abound in England, and are in many cases preserved in warrens. They are very prolific, and begin to breed at six months old, and have several broods in a year, and from five to seven young ones in a brood. The young are blind at birth, and nearly naked. Their fur, in a wild state, is of a brown colour; but varies when domesticated It constitutes a principal article in the manufacture of hats. Owing to its slight conducting power, it is, next to hare’s fur, an excellent thing to wear over the shirt for those predisposed to consumption. RACEME (Lat. racemus, a bunch of grapes). In botany, a form of inflorescence, in which the flowers are stalked along a common un- branched axis, as in the hyacinth. RACHIS (Gr.). A branch which proceeds in nearly a straight line from the base to the apex of the inflorescence ofa plant. It is also applied to the petioles of the leaves of ferns. RACK. A railed convenience formed above the manger in a stable for the reception of the hay. It should be constructed with openings at the bottom for the seed or dust to pass through. RADICLE. In botany, that portion of an embryo which eventually becomes the descend- ing axis or root. It is the lowest of the two opposite cones of which an embryo plant con- sists. RADISH, CULTIVATED (Raphanus sati- | vus). There are two kinds of cultivated radish, the fusiform, or spindle-rooted, and the globu- lar, or turnip-rooted; and these again are di- 118 RADISH. vided into the spring and autumn varieties. As for the designation of short and long top, by which the old gardeners divided the varieties, I perfectly agree with Mr. Strachan, the gar- dener of the London Horticultural Society, in considering it as giving importance to a differ- ence that is by no means permanent. The first may be sown at all times of the year; but the last, requiring a greater length of time to perfect their roots, can only, as the name im- plies, be obtained during the latter part of the year. Spring Varieties—Fusiform-rooted : 1. Long white, called also the white transparent, white Italian, and Naples radish. 2. White Rus- sian, probably the Raphanus sativus of Gerard. 3. Twisted radish of Mons. 4. Scarlet or salmon, or scarlet-transparent radish. 5. Pur- ple, formerly called exclusively the short- topped. 6, Red-necked white. Turnip-rooted: 7 White turnip is the only one noticed by Gerard, as the Raphanus orbicu- latus. 8. Early white turnip. 9. Pink, rose- coloured, scarlet, and crimson turnip. 10. Pur- ple turnip. 11. Yellow turnip. Autumn and Winter Varieties—These are all of the turnip-rooted kind; and in the following list they are described in the order they follow in coming into use. 1. Yellow turnip. 2. Round brown. 3. White Spanish, is Miller’s Rapha- nus albus orbicularis. 4. Oblong brown. 5. Black Spanish. 6. Large purple winter, or purple Spanish. The soil best suited for this vegetable is a mouldy loam, rather silicious than otherwise, and moderately fertile. It should be duga full spade deep, and well pulverized. The subsoil is best to be rather hard. Manure should not be applied at the time of sowing, if avoidable, as it is apt to cause the roots to be fibrous. If employed, itshould be in a finely-divided, putres- cent state. The situation should always be open ; but for early and late crops, warm and sheltered. Radishes are propagated by seed, which may be sown at all times throughout the year. Tor the earliest productions, during De- cember, January, and February, in a hot-bed; and in the open ground once a month during winter, and every fortnight during the other seasons of the year. The time of drawing radishes is by no means indifferent. They eat in the greatest perfection if pulled in the morning before the sun has attained any power, and laid in a cool, damp place until wanted. The bed should have a plenteous watering the morning before that on which they are taken, but none afterwards until subsequent to the drawing. In Novem- ber, those wanted for winter must be taken up during dry weather, and preserved in sand. Forcing.—A moderate hot-bed is required for this crop, of a length according with that of the frame to be employed; the mould, about eight inches deep, on the surface of which the seed is to be sown as soon as the violent heat is abated, and an additional half inch of mould sifted over it. The seedlings are in general up in less than a week, and in six they will be ready to draw. Throughout their growth air ;must be admitted as freely as is allowable, The glasses, however, must be closed on the 937 RADISH, THE HORSE. approach of evening, and mats or other co- vering put on in proportion to the severity of the season. When the mould appears at all dry, a light watering must be given during noon. The plants must not stand nearer than two inches to each other The temperature required is from 50° to 70°; and it must be kept to this heat by moderate coatings as required. If there is a deficiency of frames, hoops and mats may be employed, a frame of boards being formed round the bed, light and air being admitted as freely and as often as possible. If seed is sown within a frame without any bot- tom heat, the plants will be two or three weeks forwarder than if sown in the open ground. .RADISH, THE HORSE. See Horse-Ranpisn. RADISH, THE GREAT WATER. See Cress. RADISH-MAGGOT. Radishes, while grow- ing, are very apt to be attacked by maggots, and rendered unfit to be eaten. These maggots are finally transformed to small, ash-coloured flies, with a silvery-gray face, copper-coloured eyes, and a brown spot on the forehead of the females ; they have some faint brownish lines on the thorax, and a longitudinal black line on the hind-body, crossed by narrower black lines on the edges of the rings. They vary in size, bat usually measure rather more than one-fifth of an inch in length. They finish their trans- formations, and appear above ground, towards the end of June. The radish-fly is called An- thomyia Raphani, in my “ Catalogue,” from the botanical name of the radish, on the root of which its larve feed. It closely resembles the root-fly (Anthomyia radicum) of Europe. (Dr. Harris.) RADISH, WILD (Raphanus Raphanisticum). A troublesome weed found in arable lands. See Cuanrocr. RAG, A torn piece of cloth of any sort: when of the woollen kind, they are used as manure. Woollen rags are almost entirely composed of animal matter: they are found to contain a very large proportion of albumen, (a substance similar in appearance to boiled white of egg), minute portions of lime and silica, and traces of various salts. They form, therefore, an excellent manure, by slowly decomposing in the soil; and are found to remain dissolving in it, and forming soluble and elastic matters for the service of plants, when applied at the rate of 1200 weight per acre, for periods varying from two years on the heavy clays, such as those of the hop-grounds of the Weald of Kent, to three or four on the light, chalky soils of the valley of the Kennet, in Berkshire. The light- ness of carriage, and its readiness, as well as cleanliness of application, render it peculiarly eligible as a fertilizer; it keeps, too, for any length of time, until the farmer is ready to apply it to his ground, and is much more slowly decomposed and consumed than either blubber, rape-cake, train-oil, or bone dust. The consumption of these rags by the Berk- shire and Oxfordshire farmers, and especially in Kent for the hop grounds, is very consider- able. Yam informed by an extensive dealer in these rags, that at least 20,000 tons are annu- ally consumed by the farmers of the south of 938 RAIN. England. My informant himself hasa sale of more than 500 tons per annum, which he de- livers free on board a vessel, at any of the Lon- don wharves, for 5 guineas per ton. The cus- tom of the farmer is, to cut the woollen rags, by means of a chopper and block, into shreds about the size of a crown-piece, and then spread them on: their fields by hand, out of a common seed-basket, as evenly as they can; they find that this manure is admirably adapted for hops, wheat, turnips, &c., and that the bene- ficial effect is as great the second year as the first. It appears that one farmer in Kent, Mr. Ellis, of Barming, purchases annually 4 or 500 tons of these rags, almost exclusively for his hop grounds. The farmers of Kent think the application of the rags “warms” the ground, as they slowly putrefy in the soil; they certainly afford nourishment to the crop, for wool is com- posed almost entirely of a peculiar animal sub- stance, with a slight portion of phosphate of lime, or earthy matter of bones. RAGWEED (.dmbrosia elatior). See Hoe- WEED. RAGWORT (Senecio). A portion of the species of this extensive genus has already been noticed under the head GrounpseL; but there are in England four or five species of ragwort, properly so called. ‘These belong to that section of the genus which have flowers with spreading rays and pinnatifid leaves ; the others to that with undivided leaves and radiant flowers. RAIN (Ger. regen). falling from the clouds. As the effects of rain upon vegetation are so highly important, it will be useful to ascer- tain the quantity or depth of rain that falls annually in various places, and the difference in the effects which are produced by it, more especially for the formation of reservoirs for agricultural purposes. To use the words of Mr. G, Tatem:—Although “fully aware, that little reliance can be placed upon any theory founded on data so uncertain as the quantities of rain that fall in different years, I am con- vinced that something might be done towards establishing rules for the guidance of agricul- turists and botanists, if observations were made at the same place for a series of years, and the results recorded.” The average quantity of rain which falls in a year at any given place, materially affects the productiveness of the soil, and is necessarily influenced equally with the climate by a variety of general circum- stances and local causes; such as latitude, proximity to the sea, elevation of the region, configuration of the country and of the moun- tain ranges, exposure to the prevailing winds, &e. Near the foot of high hills a greater quantity commonly falls than over a level country; the currents of the atmosphere in their course meeting with a hill, are forced to ascend, and gaining a higher, and of course colder situa- tion, the vapour is condensed into clouds, and even into rain, so that a deposition in showers very frequently follows. Hence the reason why clouds are so often observed on the sides and tops of mountains, which have been in- correctly supposed to attract them. The quan- In meteorology, water RAIN. tity that falls, and the manner in which it falls, are the circumstances to be attended to. A great number of rainy days are more injurious to the soil, even where the quantity is not great, than heavy falls at distant intervals of time; the ground, in the first case, being con- stantly over-saturated, its fertility is much less- ened; in the other, the superfluous moisture being soon drained off, only the portion neces- sary for the nourishment of plants is left, which is gradually given out in dry weather, during which the ground for a time is in its most pro- ductive state. In general, more rain falls in the north of England than in the south. The east and southeastern counties have usually the driest seasons and years. The fall of rain is various, however, at any period of the year, as may be seen from the annexed tables. The mean quan- tity falling annually in England is reckoned to be 32 inches, or, according to Dalton, 31°3; but this is unequally distributed. The annual amount in Westmoreland and RAIN. Lancashire, according to Mr. Whistlecraft, usually ranges from above 40 to nearly 70 inches, while that noted by the gauge in Essex and Suffolk is as low as from 14 to 32 inches; seldom, however, does it exceed 25 inches. It may, indeed, be fairly inferred, that these two parts of England produce extremes. Mr. Howard gives the annual average at London equal to 24-9 inches; Professor Phil- lips at York 25°7; and Mr. Adie at Edinburgh 25 inches. At Keswick, in Cumberland, the depth on an average of 7 years was found to be 67 inches; at Baverstock, near Salisbury, during the same period, 327 inches; and at Plymouth, in De- vonshire, 45 inches. In the western parts of Scotland the depth is from 30 to 35 inches, which is from 6 to 10 inches more than that on the east coast. The mean monthly and annual quantities of rain at various places, deduced from the ave- rage for many years, by Dalton, is given in the following table :— Manches- | ;- Chats- . . ~ =e iverpool, Lancaster,| Kendal, | Dumfries,} Glasgow, | London, Pari Viviers, Ba ergs wy oe | worth, 16 | 99 years. | 25 vears. | 16 years. | 17 pears) 40 years. | 15 Weta 40 years, years. years. Tuches, Inches. Inches. Inches. Inchea. Inches. Inches. Inches, | French in, | French in. January - 2°310 2177 2°196 3-461 5299 3°095 1595 1-464 1228 2477 February - 2-568 1847 1652 2995 5°126 2°837 1741 1250 1-232 1-700 March - | 2-098 1523 1-322 1-753 3-151 2164 1184 1-172 1190 | 1°927 April - - 2010 2104 2:078 2-180 2:986, 2017 0-979 1-279 1185 2-686 May - - | 2°895 2573 2118 | 2-460 3480 2568 1641 1-636 1767 | 2-931 June - 27502 2°816 2-286 2°512 2:722 2974 17343 1738 1697 2-562 July - - | 3697 3663 3-006 4140 4959 3°256 2303 2:448 1800 | 1°882 August - 3'665 3311 2435 4581 5089 3199 2746 1807 1990 2347 September - 3-281 3-654 2°289 3-751 4874 4°350 1617 1-842 1550 4140 October - 3-922 3°724 3079 4151 5°439 4143 2-297 2-092 1780 4741 November - | 3°360 3-441 2-634 3755 4-765 3-174 1904 2222 1720 | 4-187 December - | 3°832 3:288 | 2:569 3°955 6 084 3°142 1981 1-736 1600 | 2°397 Annual - | 36°140 | 34121 | 27-664 39°714 | 53°944 | 36°919 | 21°331 | 20°686 | 18°649 | 33°977 The greatest depth of rain which has been registered at any place in a year, is at Maran- ham, lat. 25° S., and which is stated by Hum- boldt to be 277 English inches. But this is greatly above the average, and, indeed, more than double the annual quantity which has been observed at any other locality. At St. Domingo, the annual fall is estimated at 120 inches; at Cayenne, 116 inches; at the Ha- vana, 91; at Calcutta, from 76 to 118; at Bom- bay, from 83 to 96; the island of Martinique, 87 inches; and at Sierra Leone, 86. Of Eu- ropean countries, Portugal appears to be the most humid, 123 inches having been observed at Coimbra in a year. Although winter usually produces more rainy days than summer, the quantity of rain which falls is greater in the latter season. Dr. Dal- ton has ascertained that the first six months of the year may be regarded as dry, and the last six as wet months. Another ingenious author has inferred, from long observation, that in Spring it rains oftener in the evening than in the morning, but that towards the end of sum- mer, oftener in the morning than in the even- ing. At St. Petersburg, rain and snow fall on an average 84 days of the winter, and the quantity amounts to about 5 inches; on the contrary, the summer produces 11 inches in the same number of days. In Canada, the average fall of rain usually is about 3 feet, which furnishes about 20 gallons of water for each square foot of surface during the year. In the United States, the quantity of rain falling per annum increases in going south. At Philadelphia, a medium point, the results of 33 years’ observation of the rain-gauge have been estimated by Mr. Owen Evans as fol- lows :—Whole quantity, from 1810 to 1842 in- elusive, 1276435 inches; annual mean or ave- rage, 38°68 inches; greatest amount in any one year, 55:278 inches (in 1841); smallest quan- tity, 23°354 inches (in 1819). Mr. Evans has also constructed the follow- ing table, showing the monthly averages of rain, estimated for 5 years (1838 to 1842 in- Annual Jan’y. | Feb’y. aa April. | May, | June. | July. | Angust.) Septtr. October.| Noy’r. | Dec’r. | Rain in inches - | 3687 | 2574 3204 224 | 4-600 | 4-290 | 4°669 | 4°785 | 5-581 | 3555 | 3°698 | 3.399 | 4 053 | 48-145, Wind North - - Qt 2 3 DES 13 1k 2 4 2 4 2 Pr 263 Northeast - 5 4 6 52 42 24 2 53 6 55 ly 5 573 pre Rat ree t + melee |) 2 2 1 3 3 1e t +; 133 ‘© Southeast - 1 + 1 2 2 1} 2 3 2 13 y ; 17} «South - - 2 2 Q Qt 3 3h 32 4 13 2 1 1 283 «Southwest - 8 7 6 7 it + 113 6} 9 5% a4 6 90 West) =s—- - 5 44 3 3 4 5} 35 3 3 5 6 63 52 t “© Northwest - | 74 8 9 7 63 43 5 3h 44 7 8 9 794 RAIN-GAUGE. clusive), together with the number of days in each month during which certain winds pre- vailed, the last being the results of three ob- servations each day. RAIN-GAUGE. An instrument for measur- ing or gauging the quantity of rain which falls ata given place. It is also known under the several names of ombrometer, udometer, plu- viameter, and hytetometer. Its principles and construction are of the simplest nature; but it is made in a variety of shapes. A convenient form of the instrument is that where the rain which enters a funnel of certain size, is collected in a bottle or other vessel, and afterwards measured in a graduated cylindri- cal glass tube, the marks on which not only represent the tenths and hundredths, but even the thousandth part of an inch of water. The height is read immediately on the scale. It is requisite to be particular in the situa- tion of the instrument. The gauge is best placed about 3 or 4 feet from the ground. In all cases an open space, free from trees, shrubs, or buildings, must be chosen. RAKE. A tool of the toothed kind, of va- rious sizes and forms, made use of in garden- ing, and for different agricultural purposes. There are several others used for field opera- tions, some of which are worked by horses. The drag-rake, in its simplest form, is merely a long cross-head, with a row of teeth placed in it: in some these are straight; they are, however, generally bent, with their points pro- jecting forward. A very excellent and light in- strument, having the teeth of steel, and made with screws, so as to admit of their being easily replaced in case of accident, is well known in England as Badgley’s improved drag-rake. These rakes had, from time to time, increased in length and weight, till they became too large to be balanced by the hand. Two small wooden wheels were then added, which rendered them manageable by women or boys. Further ad- ditions having been made to them, they are now sufliciently strong to be worked by a horse. Used on fallows when foul, to remove the couch-grass, they act as a harrow, to get to- gether the rubbish; or in harvest-time they act as arake to collect the loose corn which may have escaped from the scythe or sickle. In order to clear them readily, there are different contrivances. One of the most simple and efficient is an arrangement which, by lifting the handle, causes the teeth to be raised and brought between two iron bars, which constitute part of the framing; by this means all the rub- bish is stripped off from the teeth of the rake. In “ Wedlake’s Horse Hay-Rake,” the weight of the rake is balanced upon the carriage by two heavy balls projecting in front of it; so that a slight lifting power applied to the handle will raise it from the ground, and disencumber it of the hay or stubble it may have gathered. This rake obtained the commendations of the Committee on Implements, at the meeting of the Royal English Agricultural Society at Cam- bridge. The East-Lothian Stubble-Rake is a machine not so well known in England as its merits deserve. Its advantages over those previously 940 RAKE. described are as follows:—It has each tooth placed in a separate head, which, working upon a centre like the levers of a drill, adapt them selves to any inequality inthe ground. Tothe handles, a bar the length of the harrow is firmly fastened, and from this bar each lever is sus- pended by a few links of chain. When it is necessary to clear the rake, these handles, on being elevated, lift all the levers between a framing of light iron rods. An ingenious practical farmer, John Sayer, of Bodham, in Norfolk, made considerable im- provement upon this rake, by altering the form of the teeth to avoid tearing the land; and in order to effect more work without increasing the width of the rake, the naves of his wheels were made to project inwards, so that two ad- ditional levers could be introduced, working quite close to the spokes. But within the last few months a very im- proved implement of this character has been introduced and patented by J. C. Grant, of Stam- ford, which obtained the prize of the Royal Ag- ricultural Society of England, at its meeting at Liverpool. Its advantages consist in the adap- tation of a compound lever, by which the whole row of tines may be instantly raised, and as quickly allowed to resume their position, while the form of the teeth being such as to describe part of a circle, the centre of which is the axis of the separate levers to which they are at- tached, each portion of the curve is succes- sively brought into a vertical position, thus rapidly disengaging the teeth from the mate- rial collected, so that, without stopping the horse, the process of collecting is resumed, leaving no interval beyond what is requisite for the deposit of the hay, corn, or stubble pre- viously collected. Several minor improvements are included in the patent, but as these mainly refer to modes of construction, it will not be necessary here to particularize them. A hay-making machine invented by Robert Salmon, of Woburn, and patented in 1816, con- sists of a series of rakes revolving upon two skeleton frames, to which motion is communi- cated by cog-wheels attached to the naves of the wheels in which it travels. It has under- gone considerable improvement by R. Wedlake, an ingenious manufacturer, residing at Horn- church. These improvements consist in form- ing the cylinder in two parts, each of which has motion independent of the other, and in placing the tines or rake-teeth upon a bar, which, being supported by a spring, will yield to any obstruction caused by sudden uneven- ness of the surface of the ground, and return again to its original position. Its object is to spread the hay, and by thoroughly separating its parts, continually to expose them to the sun and wind, which it so thoroughly effects as to render the hay fit to cart much earlier than by the common process of shaking it by the hand. To the practical agriculturist, it will not be ne- cessary to remark on the advantages accruing from the ability to hasten, if only by a few hours, the process of hay-making; but it will be valuable to know, that the universal testi- mony of all with whom we have conversed is, RAKE. that this implement is a time-saving machine, and therefore one of the greatest value. American Revolving Hay-rake—This rake is drawn by one horse; and it can be made to go either along or across the ridges, as may be required. It can carry between 100 and 200 lbs. of hay; and when that quantity is upon it, the hay can be deposited, by a simple revolu- tion of the instrument, in rows, or at any par- ticular place required, without stopping the horse. The common horse-rake, much used in the United States, especially in the North, is de- scribed and figured in the Cultivator, vol. vii. p. 89. It is made of a piece of strong scant- ling, 3 inches square, and 10 feet long, into which about 15 teeth are inserted horizontally, and made of strong white ash or other tough wood. The teeth should be about 22 inches long, and 1 inch by 1 at the place of insertion, and tapering on the under side, so as to give them a slight turn upward at the point, to pre- vent their running into the ground while using. The draught-ropes are attached to the end of 2 projecting pieces of wood parallel to the teeth at each end of the rake. These projecting pieces should be about one-third of the length of the teeth. Those unskilled in the use of the rake sometimes attach the ropes at once to the ends of the head; in this way, it becomes almost entirely unmanageable. The forward ends of the draught-ropes are to be fastened to the horse’s collar, leaving space enough be- tween the horse and rake for the collecting hay. Handles are to be inserted in the head near the middle, for guiding the teeth and lift- ing the rake from the ground when necessary. In using this rake, instead of the teeth moving onward upon their points, as in the common hand-rake, they run along flat upon the ground, passing under and collecting the hay; when full, the handles are thrown forward, the rake emptied, and lifted over the winrow for another load. he rake thus passes backwards and forwards across the field, always emptying op- posite the last heap, and thus forming regular winrows at right angles with the path of the rake. A few hours’ practice will enable any one to use this rake without difficulty, the only skill required consisting in keeping the points of the teeth just so low as to pass under all the hay, and yet not run into the ground. When small obstructions occur, the handles are de- pressed, thus causing the teeth to rise, and the rake passes freely over. Large obstructions, as stumps and stone-heaps, require the rake to be lifted from the ground. The chief recommendation of this kind of rake, is its cheapness and simplicity. A good one need not cost more than $2. It may also be used on rougher ground than the revolving rake, as it is more easily lifted over obstruc- tions. Where the ground is very uneven, the teeth should be much shorter. When one be- comes well accustomed to the use of it, work may be done nearly as fast with this, as with a revolving rake, though much more laborious. Twelve acres of hay, part of it yielding nearly 3 tons to the acre, on a meadow of the writer, were raked into winrows, by means of one of these rakes, in about 6 hours’ working time. RANUNCULUS. It possesses another advantage over the revolv- ing rake—it may be used for scraping the win- rows into heaps for drawing, and if the hay is stacked in the field, for drawing the hay to the stack. A man with a rake and horse not only raked the hay, but drew it at the same time to the stack, a distance of from 10 to 20 rods, as fast as an active man could pitch with a fork. A hand-rake need scarcely ever be used on the meadow, as all the scattered hay may be raked up in a short time after the rest of the hay has been drawn off. The horse-rake is very useful in raking stubble of wheat, and eminently so in pulling and gathering peas. Shafts, instead of ropes, have been attached to the head of the rake, and have been strongly recommended ; but they diminish the simpli- city of the rake, and appear to possess no ad- vantage on the whole, and for gathering and drawing hay, are positively detrimental. RAMPIONS, or RAMPION BELL-FLOW- ER (Campanula rapunculus). The esculent roots of this vegetable are far more delicate than turnips or radishes. They are long, white, and in the shape of a spindle. Like the radish, it is eaten raw, having a nut-like, pleasant flavour. The plant rises to the height of 2 feet, with blue flowers. It is propagated by seed, which may be sown during March, April, and May ; the plants from sowings in the two first months, soon, however, run up to seed. The insertions may be per- formed either in drills 6 inches apart, or broad- cast; in either mode the seed to be buried 4 an inch deep, effecting it in the latter by sifting mould over it; for, if the seed is raked in, from its minuteness, it is apt to be buried too deep. The plants are to remain where sown; though, in case of any deficiency, those which are taken away in thinning the crops may be transplanted successfully. The best time for performing the removal is of an evening. They are fit for thinning when about 2 inches in height, they must be set at a distance of 6 inches apart, being hoed at the time, and the same operation repeated two or three times, which, if perform- ed in dry weather, will keep them free from weeds until used. The plants of the sowings during the two first mentioned months will be fit for use at the close of August, or early in September, and continue throughout the autumn. Those of the last one will continue good throughout the winter, and until the following April. The soil, throughout their growth, must be kept moist, effecting it in dry weather by giving frequent but moderate waterings through the fine rose of a watering-pot. The root, for which it is cultivated, either to be sliced, together with its leaves, in salads, or eaten as the radish, as well as to be boiled like asparagus, is most palatable when drawn young, and eaten fresh from the ground. For the production of seed, a few of the winter standing plants are left unmoved. These shoot up in the spring, flowering in July and August, and ripening abundance of seed in early autumn. (G. W. Johnson's Kitch. Gard.) RANUNCULUS (From rana, a frog; several of the species being found in moist places fre- 4x2 941 RAPE. quented by that reptile). Many of the plants belonging to this extensive genus are well worth the cultivator’s care, and they have long been favourites with the florist. The aquatic kinds require to be grown in water. The grumose-rooted species will thrive in any com- mon soil and situation ; they are increased by offsets from the roots, or by seeds. These plants are acrid, and most of them poisonous. See Crowroot and Srrarnwort. RAPE. A plant of the cole kind, greatly cultivated in Flanders for the sake of the seed, but extremely valuable also as green food for cattle and sheep in winter and spring. “The plants,” says Mr. Low, “usually cultivated under the name of rape, are the fusiform va- rieties of the following species of brassica. Cole or rape (B. napus), colza (B. campestris), fusiform common turnip (B. rapa), and early cole (B. precox).” There are different modes of treating this plant, according to the uses for which it is designed. ‘The whole plant is of great service in feeding cattle; and after the seed is thrashed, the straw and chaff, on being burnt, afford ashes equally valuable as the best potashes. Wheat yields an excellent crop after rape, and the plant is grown with great advantage on bog plant, where paring and burning has been practised. Rape is very hardy, and with fair treatment it never fails on any soil. Cattle are so successfully fattened with it, that many farmers prefer it to turnips. See Corz. For garden culture, rape is propagated by seed, and, like mustard, and other small salad- ing, may be sown at any period of the year, when in request; being allowed a separate bed. For the production of seed, some plants of a sowing which has been made about the middle of July, must be thinned to about 18 inches apart: they will survive the winter in England, and flower in May and June of the next year. The seed, which is produced in great abund- ance, ripens in July and August, and must then be cut and laid upon cloths to dry, as it is very apt to shed. In England, rape (Brassica napus sylvestris) is frequently called colesced, and in France navette. In both countries it is highly prized, not only for the value of the oil expressed from the seed, but for the cake left after pressure, which is extensively used for feeding cattle, its qualities for this purpose resembling those of the oil- cake left after pressure of flaxseed in making linseed vil. Rape belongs to the cabbage or turnip family, but it never heads, like the former, and its roots are of little value com- pared with the latter. Of the two kinds most commonly cultivated, one is biennial, sown one summer and harvested the next, whilst the other is a spring or summer crop. Rape. though but little known in the United States, has been tried in various parts, and found to stand the winters even in New York and New England. Whenever, therefore, a demand shall be made for this valuable pro- duction of the soil, or its near kindred of the cabbage family, colza, the United States can yield them abundantly, in almost every part. According to Loudon, the place which rape cccupies in a rotation, is between two culmi- 942 RAPE. ferous or grain crops. On rich soils it may be succeeded to the greatest advantage by wheat, as it is found to be an excellent preparation for that sort of grain; and by its being taken off early, there is sufficient time allowed for getting the land in order for sowing wheat. In Notes on the Agriculture of Germany, by Mr. Carr, an English gentleman, he says the after course is as follows :— 1 year fallow, well dunged, BF tapes wheat, barley, peas, light dunging, rye, oats, with rye, or timothy grass- seeds, and red clover. The clover and peas plastered in May. The clover is mown twice for hay, and left two years for pasture, when it is heavily manured, fallowed, and again sown with rape. “The rape-seed is sown broadcast in the last of July or first of August. This crop is greatly bene- fited the following spring by dusting gypsum over it, about 100 lbs. to the acre. In July the seed is ripe, and as the weather is generally fine, is trodden out by horses very expeditious- ly on large canvass sheets in the field. The oil of this seed pressed out, when purified, is without smell, gives a brilliant, clear-burning flame, and is universally used all over Ger- many, in the saloon of the rich, and the cottage of the poor. The value of the crop is some- what precarious, because it is subject to so many contingencies; the turnip-fly and cater- pillar prey upon it when young, and when in flower, a small beetle (Haltica nemorwm) often eats away the blossom-bud, or lays its minute larve in the petals, ultimately furnishing every seed-pod with a maggot which either eats the seeds away, or, forcing the pod open when nearly ripe, causes it to fallout. When spared these calamities, it is, however, a very remu- nerating crop, worth from 10/. to 20/. an acre, especially if there is a foreign demand. The straw is generally burned, and the ashes scat- tered over the field; it is sometimes sold to the soap-makers, who prize it highly. Two fur- rows are now given for wheat sown broadcast in September.” Mr. Blackie, in his Essay on the Improvement of small Farms, says, that the produce of rape, when well manured, is beyond any thing almost that can be imagined, if let stand until it gets into blossom. Manure, he adds, makes the stalk tender and juicy, which would otherwise be hard and dry, so that if cut into small pieces for the purpose of feeding green to cattle, not a bit will be lost, and it grows to a height of 6 feet. Iam, he says, almost afraid to say, that I believe, with the addition of some straw, an acre will keep 30 head of cattle in full milk for a month. RAPE, edible-rooted. This name may be ap- plied to a variety of the rape mentioned by Mr. Dickson, one of the vice-presidents of the Hor- ticultural Society. Its root is white, and car- rot-shaped, about the size of the middle finger. It is much more delicate in flavour than the turnip, like which root it is cooked, only that it is not peeled, but scraped, its skin being re- “ “ED Or > CO dD “ RAPE-CAKE. markably thin. It has been cultivated for a great length of years on the continent, and for about 30 years in England, but only by one person, as far as Mr. Dickson is aware. It is propagated by seed, which, for the main crop, may be sown from the middle of July to the end of August, or even later: these will supply the table until April; and, if wanted through- out the year, a little may be sown in the latter end of October, the plants from which will be fit for use, if they succeed, during April and May: the last crop to be inserted from the middle of January to the middle of February, which will come in at the end of May and dur- ing June. Ona north border, and if the soil is sandy and moist, it is possible to have them sweet and tender during the whole summer, to effect which the seed must be sown at the close of March and May. They require the same modes of cultivation and treatment as turnips. In dry weather the beds must be watered regu- larly, until the plants have got three or four leaves. One great advantage attending the cultivation of this vegetable is, that it requires no manure. Any soil that is poor and light, especially if sandy, is suitable to it. In rich manured earth it grows much larger, but not so sweet and good. For the growth of seeds, Mr. Dickson recommends, in February or March, some of the finest roots to be trans- planted to 2 feet asunder; but it would, per- haps, be a better practice to leave them where grown. RAPE-CAKE. The refuse or mare remain- ing after the oil has been expressed from the rape or cole-seed. (See Linszrn Caxe.) The use of rape-cake as a manure is pretty ex- tensive in some parts of England, and its effects are so immediate and powerful, that its ex- pense alone retards its more general employ- ment. It contains a large quantity of mucilage, some portion of albuminous matter, and a small proportion of oil. It should be kept dry, and used when recently made. It answers admirably for turnips. When first recom- mended as a fertilizer, it was used in the pro- portion of half a ton per acre; but by pul- verizing it, and drilling it in with the seed, about half that quantity has been found suffi- cient. Rape-cake produces, when ploughed in with wheat, excellent crops. It has been found exceedingly noxious to the wireworm, and other field vermin, and when applied in com- post, with 30 times its weight of farm-yard dung, it forms a very excellent manure. Rape-cake, in common with all fertilizers of an oily nature, is much more decided in its effects in wet than in dry seasons. In York- shire and Lincolnshire the quantity applied is about 16 bushels per acre. It is more ser- viceable on clays and other moist lands than on dry soils; its benefit extends to only one crop, although there have been occasional in- stances of its extending to two. It may be either drilled with the seed or spread on the land before it is ploughed. See Lrnsexn, O11- Caxe, Parma Cunisrr, &c. The practical benefits which are capable of being derived from a correct knowledge of the mode in which green manures operate, are considerable. Jt should teach the cultivator to RAT. carefully bury in the soil every portion of either animal or vegetable matter he can command; for every weed, every fragment of straw he thus employs, will again, under judicious ma- nagement, be returned to him in new forms of beauty and usefulness. RASPBERRY (Rubus ideus). This shrub, in its wild state, is found growing in our moun- tainous woods and thickets: flowering in May and June. The root is creeping. The stems are biennial, erect, 3 or 4 feet high, branched, round, pale or purplish, more or less _be- sprinkled with small, straight, slender prickles, frequently rather resembling bristles than prickles, and sometimes altogether absent. Leaves primate, of five or three ovate, rather angular, lateral leaflets, serrated or cut, and angular, green, and nearly smooth above, very downy beneath, and a larger terminal leaflet. The footstalks are furrowed, downy, and prick- ly, with narrow lateral stipules. The flowers are small, white, or pinkish-white, pendulous, in drooping terminal clusters. Fruit crimson, of numerous juicy grains, beset with the per- manent styles, and highly fragrant, with a very deliciously perfumed sweet and acid fla- vour, more exquisite in the wild state, in gene- ral, than when cultivated. The wood of the raspberry bush produces fruit but one year, therefore that should be carefully cut down below the surface of the earth, and the young shoots should be shorten- ed to about 2 feet high; and not more than three or four shoots should be left to each root, as these will produce a greater number of berries, and larger fruit, than would be obtained if twice that number of suckers were left. The middle or end of October is the proper time for this pruning. The fruit is produced from young branches out of the last year’s shoots or suck- ers. The plants raised by layers are much preferred to those taken from suckers; they should also have plenty of room, for when there is not space for the air and light to pass between the rows, the fruit will be small, and not ripen well. They require a fresh, strong loam, deeply trenched and well manured in the first instance, for in warm, light ground they produce but little fruit. The following selection is recommended for a small garden:—Barnet, Cornish, Double- bearing red Antwerp, Williams’s preserving yellow Antwerp. This fruit is employed for the dessert; it is also in very general use for jams and tarts, and is converted into wine and vinegar, which is a refreshing beverage, when diluted with water, in fevers. The young and fresh leaves of the common raspberry are eagerly eaten by kids. (See Bramrte.) RAT. The name of a large, destructive, and very prolific species of the genus Mus, the brown, or water-rat (Mus decwmanus, Linn.), introduced into the British islands from Asia, not, as is commonly believed, from Norway. It has spread over all the country, and multi- plied at the expense of the old British species, called the “black rat” (M. rattus, Linn.). Of all the four-footed animals (says the au thor of Brit. Husb.) included in the rank of vermin, rats and mice are the most pernicious, 943 REAPING. for they build their nests under the floors and in the roofs of barns, nor are even the stacks ex- empt; andare so prolific that, if not destroyed, they occasion incalculable mischief. It there- fore behooves every farmer to use all possible means to check the evil, and one might suppose that every exertion was invariably made for that purpose; yet we constantly find homesteads overrun with these pests, without any other pains being taken than an occasional rat-hunt by farm servants, aided by a terrier, which, though not to be neglected, is a very ineffectual remedy. The best is, unquestionably, the con- struction of the barn-floor and roof in sucha manner as to prevent them obtaining a perma- nent harbour in the building. The next is, be- fore the entire clearance of the barn, while yet a little corn remains to prevent them from quitting it, to close every part of the barn, by carefully covering any holes there may be with sacks and tarpaulings, so as to prevent all ac- cess of the outward air, leaving only the door for a few minutes open while the process is going on. This done, some common iron chafing-dishes, which may be purchased for a trifle; should be placed upon the floor, and in the bags; or, if they cannot be had, build up a few bricks, clay, or any rubbish that will secure a fire from spreading, leaving a cavity in the centre, and filling it up with charcoal. Then light the charcoal from the bottom, and when the heaps are all burning, quickly strew a good quantity of broken brimstone upon the top; retire immediately, shut the door fast, and leave the building entirely closed during a couple of days following. On opening it, the greater portion of the rats and mice will be found dead around the charcoal; and, aithough some may have been suffocated while in their holes, and if not discovered will occasion an unpleasant smell until their remains are dried up, yet it will not last long. The operation should be again repeated just previous to har- vest, and if any opening be found into the barns while they are full, by the burrowing of the rats, brimstone matches should be inserted into them before they are stopped up. Traps and poisons are only partially efficient; but an effectual mode of trapping is detailed in a small pamphlet, published some years ago by Mr. B. Broad, of Thurton, under the sanction of the Hereford Agricultural Society, which ought to be in the hands of every farmer in the kingdom. The ferret is a decided enemy to the rat, and if kept in a hutch or cage, and only occasion- ally used, will be found very serviceable: but he should be well fed to induce him to return, or otherwise he will escape and become de- structive to poultry. A cat or two should also always be reared about a barn. In new barns and outhouses, the entrance of rats is effectu- ally prevented by steeping the joints, rafters, and flooring in a solution of corrosive subli- mate. If a rat or a mouse attempt to gnaw wood so prepared, their saliva moistens the sublimate, they take it into the stomach, and are so destroyed by it. See Mice and Vermin. REAPING. Cutting down wheat or other corn, grain, or pulse with a sickle, hook, or scythe, or by a reaping-machine. These ope- tations are more advantageously performed 944 REAPING MACHINE. when the corn or pulse is not quite ripe, than when it is thoroughly ripe; because, in the latter case, the seeds are apt to drop out in the process of handling, turning, and drying. Mr. Hannum enters into some elaborate cal- culations on the advantages of reaping wheat a fortnight before it is ripe, from which he deduces the following results; that, independ- ently of a gain of 4 per cent. on the value of the grain, we have, Ist, straw of a better qua- lity; 2dly, a better chance of securing the crop; and, 3dly, a saving in securing it. (See Wuear.) The smaller the sheaves are, the better, especially in a wet harvest: in general, the diameter of the sheaf should not exceed 30 inches. It is of some importance, also, not to tie the sheaves too near the ears. In making the shocks, they should be placed across the furrows, in order to procure a free circulation of air around them. In some districts in England, the scythe has of late years been partially employed for the purpose of reaping, but with no satisfactory result; and in Berwickshire the scythe-hook is now geuerally used in preference to the toothed sickle of our fathers. Cutting corn with a sickle of some sort is, however, considered preferable to mowing it with a scythe, unless the crop stands up well, and time presses. Barley and oats may be frequently mown with advantage; but wheat, which requires imme- diate and clean binding, and is too valuable to admit of any irregularities or wastefulness in harvesting, should be reaped. The mode of reaping called bagging, and practised a good deal about London, and part of the west of England, is thus executed :—The left leg being pushed into the standing corn, and the straw inclined with the left hand over the left foot, is then cut close to the bottom with a stroke trom the right hand. The increase of straw, where this is valuable, renders this a good method of reaping. In England the mode of reaping varies with the nature of the eyop. Barley and oats are generally cut with the scythe, beans with the sickle; peas with what are called fagging- hooks, which rather tear up than cut; and tares in the same way. Reaping is a great part of the expense of a crop. The average price in England is from 12° to 15s. an acre. See Banns, Bantry, Han- yesTine, Wuear, &c. REAPING-HOOK. An implement used to cut down corn. It is one of the oldest instru- ments employed in husbandry. There are two kinds of hooks; that which is principally used by the British labourer has a smooth blade of wrought iron and steel, about 25 inches long, and curved nearly to a semicircle; the other, which is universally preferred by the Irish reaper, has a finely serrated edge, and towards the lower point recedes from the curved direc- tion to nearly a straight line. The real action of the reaping-hook is that of a saw, conse- quently the serrated edge is an advantage. See Sickie. REAPING MACHINE. A contrivance for the purpose of reaping grain by means of ani- mal labour. With this view, and to facilitate an operation of such importance to the farmer, REAPING MACHINE. different attempts have been made to construct machines, so as to despatch the work in a rapid manner by the assistance of horse labour, but the success with which they have been attended in England has hitherto been far from com- plete. Many contrivances have also, of late years, been resorted to for supplying the place of the reaping-hook, but hitherto none have proved effectual, nor are the difficulties arising from roughness and irregularity of surface likely soon to be surmounted. No one will dispute the great utility and advantages of an efficient reaping machine, if it could be carried into operation, as these advantages are universally acknowledged. In England, such an imple- ment is the more required now that the agri- cultural labourers are greatly reduced in num- ber by emigration, and harvest work has be- come more expensive. There is now a much greater quantity of corn to cut down, and most of the grain ripens about the same period. In 1815, Mr. Smith, of Deanston, invented a reap- ing machine, which, in some experimental trials, appeared to perform its work exceed- ingly well; but, upon longer trial, it has not answered the favourable expectation formed of it. Since that period, another invention of a similar nature, by Mr. Patrick Bell, has at- tracted considerable attention, but does not ap- pear to be of sufficient merit to have come into general use. The original cost of these ma- chines, 40/. or 50/., must, in many instances, preclude their emp'oyment. An excellent article on the advantages of a reaping machine will be found in the first volume of the Quart. Journ. of Agr. p. 137; and Mr. Bell’s machine is figured and described at p- 217 of the same volume. American ingenuity has been active in the invention of machines for harvesting wheat and other grains. Among those which have been brought into the field, “Wilson’s Mowing Machine, or Grass and Grain Cutter,” is highly commended by some who have tried it. It has been most in use along the Hudson river, and is considered an improvement of Smith’s Eng- lish reaping machine, But the machine that is perhaps best entitled to the notice of farmers, is the one invented by Obed Hussey, which is recommended for its simplicity, durability, and the great regu- larity and cleanness with which it performs its work. Even when the grain is too much lodged to be cradled, it will-cut at the rate of two acres per hour, nearly as clean as if it had been standing. It can be adapted to the ine- qualities of the surface of a field, and has been so improved by its original inventor as to ope- rate with great facility on stony land. This machine has received the most unqualified ap- probation of nearly all farmers who have tried it, or witnessed its operation. The Board of Trustees of the Agricultural Society for the Eastern Shore of Maryland, in their Report, made in 1836, say, “We deem it a simple, strong, and effective machine, and take much pleasure in awarding unanimously the meri- torious inventor of it (Mr. O. Hussey) a hand- some pair of silver cups.” The committee appointed by the Philadel- 119 RED-ROOT. phia Society for Promoting Agriculture, to su- perintend the operation of Mr. Hussey’s ma- chine, make a very favourable report, recom- mending it to the attention of the society and the agricultural community generally. They state that it was put in operation in a piece of several acres of heavy wheat, considerably lodged, and, contrary to their expectations, it performed remarkably well. “The committee estimate the ordinary per- formance of the machine at from ten to twelve acres per day; although they fully believe, that on an emergency, it would accomplish twice this amount of work. In confirmation of this they would state, that it cut, on this occasion, 630 square yards in 2 minutes, doing its work in the most perfect manner.’ The cost of the machine is $150. (See Farmer’s Cabinet, vols. il. and iii., Cultivator, and other American agri- cultural periodicals.) M*Cormick’s Reaping Machine is used in Vir- ginia, and spoken of very favourably by the editor of the Southern Planter, who has furnish- ed acut and explanation of it in the number of that excellent periodical for January, 1843. It is said to cut 15 acres per day without leav- ing a single stalk in the field, and some think the wheat saved in harvesting a large crop will more than repay the first cost of the machine. It weighs about 600 lbs., rests upon two wheels, and is drawn forward by two horses. The cost of the machine is $100. A machine for harvesting grain has been in- vented by G. G. Carpenter, of Caledonia, New York, which not only reaps the crop, but thrashes it out. In speaking of his machine and its merits, Mr. Carpenter observes,—* The great saving in grain and labour is in finishing the work without laying the grain on the ground. It may be gauged to cut as high as the grain will admit, and the 9-feet swath streams from the cradles to the thrasher so evenly, that no more power is required to finish 15 to 20 acres a day than is necessary to drive a common thrasher, which only thrashes say 200 bushels in a day, with many hands in attendance.” This machine costs $600. The hands required te attend it are, one to drive the team, and one to take care of the machine. (See Cultivator, vol. vii.) Other labour-saving contrivances for har- vesting grain have been invented in the United States of late years, descriptions of which may be found in various agricultural periodicals. RED BAY (Laurus Caroliniensis). An Ameri- can species of the laurus genus found in the Southern States. (See Michaux’s North Ameri- can Sylva, vol. ii. p. 150.) RED BUD. See Jupas Tree. RED GUM. A disease of grain, a kind of blight. See Brien. RED-ROOT (Lithospermum arvense). Stone- weed. A worthless plant-which has been in- troduced into the United States, where it has spread itself extensively, especially in some parts of New York, where it is considered even a worse pest of the fields than the Canada thistle. Dr. Darlington describes the plant as being hispid, or beset with bristle-like and rather short hairs; the root annual; stem 12 to 1S inches high, generally much branched from 945 RED SPIDER. the root, and often branched near the summit. Leaves 1 to 2 inches long, and 3 to 3} wide, without stems, narrowed at the base, and spear- shaped flowers, which show themselves in May in the Middle States, have yellowish or milk- white and rather small corollas. The seed- nuts are ovoid, with tapering points, rough, wrinkled, and brown, when mature. When this formidable weed, which is the pest of the northern wheat-crops, first appears in a field, it may be removed by carefully pulling it up while in flower, and thus preventing it maturing seed and propagating itself. Where it once gets possession, it is exceedingly difficult to destroy, as the seeds will lie many years in the svil without coming up, in this respect resem- bling those of charlock or the wild radish and mustard. One of the best methods of treating it, says the editor of the New Genesee Farmer (vol. i. p. 92), is to harrow, or lightly plough the wheat-stubble immediately after harvest, to cause the fallen seeds to vegetate, and destroy the young plants the next season by summer crops, which should be repeated for a year or two, when the land may be summer fallowed for wheat. Successive crops of buckwheat are said to be advantageous. Rep-Roor (Ceanothus Americanus). New Jer- sey tea. A plant witha large, red, perennial root, found in the United States. The stem grows 2 to 4 feet high, and is branched. It possesses considerable astringency, and during the revo- lutionary war the leaves were substituted for tea. Ren-Roor (Sanguwinaria Canadensis). The generic name is derived from the colour of the sap, which resembles blood. This American plant, which abounds in the forests, is variously called puccoon root, turmeric, and Indian paint. The root is perennial, with fibres attached to a reddish, horizontal stem, about 2 or 3 inches long and 4 an inch thick, growing under ground. It possesses emetic and other medici- ral properties. It is the only species of its genus. RED SPIDER (Acarus). A well-known pest of gardens. It may be destroyed by application to plants of whale-oil soap, in the manner di- rected im the destruction of plant-lice. See Apvuis. RED TOP. See Henrn’s Grass. RED TOP, TALL (Tricuspis Seslerioides). A perennial grass, found in the Middle States, on dry banks and sterile fields, flowering in August and seeding in September. It has an erect, jointed culm or stem, 3 or 4 feet high and very smooth. Pursh calls it “a most ex- cellent grass,’ and says he has seen “ most excellent crops” of it, in the mountain mea- dows of Pennsylvania, where they mow it twice a year. Such crops may possibly pass for “excellent” in mountain meadows; but, ob- serves Dr. Darlington, they would be not so considered in Chester county. If Mr. Pursh has not misapprehended the fact, he is certain- ly mistaken in the character of the plant; for it is a dry, rigid grass, with unusually hard culms, and altogether unfit for making good hay. Itis the only species of the genus in the United States. (Flor. Cest.) RED-WATER. In Britain, a well-known dis- ease in cattle. “The disease commonly called O46 RED-WATER. red-water, brown-water, black-water, moor-ill, &c.,” says Mr. R. Thompson, of Auchterarder, “is most prevalent in old, foggy pastures. It is seldom seen in hill pastures, or in new-sown pastures, in which there is abundance of clover; but it sometimes happens at the stall, where the animal has no other allowance than straw, turnips, and potatoes. It usually makes its ap- pearance after a few days of rain, followed by cold, dry weather. As the disease appears at times in all situations, it is difficult to trace its existing cause, which may be the nature of the pasture, or the state of the weather, or both combined. It attacks every breed and kind of cattle. “The first symptom is the appearance of something like blood mixed with the urine. So trifling is the complaint in some instances, that no inconvenience seems to be felt by the ani- mal, who eats and drinks as usual, chews the cud, and is free of the disease in a few days. In such cases a natural diarrhea comes on, to which the cure may be attributed. In general, however, the disease is not observed until the animal refuses food, separates from the rest of the herd, appears dull and heavy, and mani- fests great langour and apathy. The ears droop, the urine is of a reddish or brownish colour, and if it be a milch cow, the milk is often similarly tinged. The pulse ranges from 60 to 70; there is obstinate constipation of the bowels; the urine is discharged in moderate quantity, and apparently without pain. If re- lief is not afforded by some brisk purgative, at the period when the urine changes colour from red to brown, the pulse begins to sink, and if a little blood be drawn at this time, its surface assumes a brownish colour; the eye appears of a yellowish-brown tint; the urine acquires a darker hue; the animal refuses to rise; the pulse sinks; the legs, tail,and horns turn cold; and the animal dies, to all appearance per- fectly exhausted, although it has manifestly no symptoms of acute pain during the course of the disease. “Purgatives of any kind, if given in large quantities of water, are found to be the best medicines that can be employed. Medicines given to cattle that have lost the power of chew- ing the cud, generally pass into the first and second stomachs, and if a good draught of water is not given to wash them from thence, if the animal dies, the greater part of the medi- cines will be found in these stomachs; and upon this principle, common salt, if properly managed, will be found among the best. Dis- solve the quantity to be given in as much water as will enable it to pass freely from the bottle or drenching horn, and let the animal have plenty of water to drink afterwards. Should it refuse to drink, no time should be lost in drenching it profusely with water. With- out a plentiful dilution, there is no certainty of purging cattle that have lost their cud. If purging does not commence in from 12 to 24 hours, a second dose should be given. Injec- tions of soap and water should also be tried, if the case is obstinate, and when they operate, a pint of linseed oil should be given as a laxa- tive. So obstinate is the constipation in some cases, that the salt acts only as a diuretic, REED. causing a plentiful discharge of urine. Diu- retics and astringents combined seem only of service when the bowels are open, and their improper administration often causes inflam- mation of the bowels and kidneys. If, after purgation, the bowels are kept open by laxa- tives, such as linseed infusion, the disease will gradually disappear without their use. In the last stage of the disease, when the urine as- sumes a dark-brown or black colour, no remedy seems to have any efficacy; the animal is sunk beyond recovery, the bowels lose their ac- tion, suppression of urine follows, the animal stretches itself out and dies, as if perfectly exhausted. “There are two diseases which in their symptoms beafsome resemblance to red-water in cattle, viz., inflammation of the kidneys, and inflammation of the mucous membrane of the bladder or the urethra, which often happens at calving. In these cases the urine, which is discharged with pain, is mixed with blood, but not so intimately so as the coloured urine in red-water, and it has generally more or less mucus mixed with it. Inflammation of the kid- neys in cattle is comparatively rare. I have seen only one well-marked case, which termi- nated fatally. The animal experienced con- siderable pain upon pressure being applied to the region of the kidneys. The urine was small in quantity, and nearly as thick as blood ; and pulse ninety and very hard. As the dis- ease advanced, the urine became black and fetid. The animal all along exhibited symp- toms of excruciating pain, until death termi- nated its sufferings. Post-mortem examination disclosed extensive inflammation of the perito- neum. The abdominal cavity contained a large quantity of dark-coloured, fetid fluid ; the fat surrounding the kidneys, as well as the kidneys themselves, was in part gangrenous; and the fat generally exhibited a yellow colour, as is usual in cases where death terminates in- flammatory diseases.” (Trans. High. Soc. vol. ep: 91) REED (4rumdo). A genus of aquatic plants, in most instances mere weeds, infesting boggy low lands or meadows on the sides of rivers. The best method of destroying reeds, is by draining the land; for if the drains be cut deeper than their roots, it will take away their nourishment, and consequently destroy them. Common salt, ashes, or soot, will likewise sometimes kill them; and so will ploughing up the land, and laying it in high ridges. Reeds always indicate a deep, good, moist soil, as a bad one will not nourish or support them. See Anunno, Aromatic Rezp, and Bent or Srarr. The term reed is sometimes provincially ap- plied to the straw of wheat, rye, &c., that has not been bruised. REED-GRASS. See Cayany-Grass. RENNET, or RUNNET. The prepared inner membrane of the calf’s stomach, which has the property of coagulating the albumen of milk, and converting it into curd and whey. The maw is cleaned, salted, and suspended in paper bags. Previously to its use, the salt is extracted by washing the rennet; which is then soaked in hot water during the night; and in RESINS. the morning the infusion is poured into the milk to coagulate it. This is the result of the gastric juice, which is acid; and acts upon the caseous part of the milk, in the same man- ner as other acids. It sometimes happens that no rennet sufficiently good for curdling milk can be procured; hence various plants have been advantageously substituted for this pur- pose. The principal of these are the flowers of the yellow ladies’ bedstraw (Galiwm verum), used in England, and the cardoon (Cynara car- dunculus),in Spain. A strong infusion is made of the down of the latter vegetable in the evening, and on the succeeding morning } a pint is poured among 14 gallons of new milk, which is thus effectually coagulated, and in consequence produces a delicious cheese. See Cuerse and Currsre Renner. RENT (Redditus ; from redeundo). The sum of money or other consideration issuing yearly out of lands and tenements paid by the oc- cupier to the owner. This, in Britain, has gradually taken the present form of payment in money, from a very different original tenure; for, in former days, the land was generally held of the superior lord, by certain services ren- dered, of either a military or servile nature, such as carrying out the lord’s manure on to his land; certain days of ploughing, digging, or cutting the corn, &c. of the landlord; the general adoption of a fixed rent or money pay ment in lieu of these arbitrary and vexatious tenures, was"an advance of modern days. RESERVOIR. A conservatory of water. The husbanding of water is now becoming a subject of peculiar interest to the English ag- riculturist. This arises from its scarcity in many districts, in consequence of the improved drainage of the land, and from the many uses to which machinery may be applied in farming operations by the agency of water power. The construction of reservoirs must resolve itself into the following heads :— First, where a sufficient quantity of water can be diverted directly from the channel of a stream or river. Second, where the supply is to be obtained from drainage, which maintains a stream dur- ing part of the year, but which stream fails during the summer months. Third, where there are grounds affording a favourable situation for the construction of a reservoir, but through which there is no natural stream passing. See Ponps and Tanxs. RESINS. Peculiar vegetable substances of allied properties, composed of carbon, hydro- gen, and oxygen; the most common of which is the rosin of commerce, or residue after the distillation of turpentines, in order to obtain the volatile oil. When no water is used in this process, an empyreumatic, brownish-yellow, semi-transparent substance remains, namely, colophony or fidler’s rosin ; when water is used, the residue is the opaque yellow substance called yellow rosin. When every particle of water is evaporated from the last, and it is kept in a state of fusion at a moderate tempe- rature, and then allowed to cool slowly, the best resin is procured. It is translucent, brittle, fusible at a moderate heat, inflammable, and soluble in spirits of wine, volatile oils, and 947 REST-HARROW. also fixed oils and fat, when aided by heat. | The mineral acids convert it into artificial tannin ; the alkalies into soap. Resin in com- bination with wax, a little oil of turpentine and | wax, forms a good polish for furniture. Resin contains oxygen 13:337, carbon 75:944, hydro- gen 10-719. The chief of the other resinous substances are elemt, copal, mastic, sandarac, lac, labdanum, amber, &c. They are almost all solu- ble in alcohol. REST-HARROW (Ononis, from onos, an ass, and onemi to delight; some of the species are said to be grateful to asses). All the plants belonging to this genus are of easy cultivation, and several of them are rather handsome when in flower. The common rest-harrow or cam- mock. (0Q. arvensis), is a native plant, with a woody, tough, and strong root, resisting the harrow’s prongs, whence the English name. The stems are annual, though often considera- bly woody, or shrubby, various in length, hairy. Leaves generally simple, entire towards their base. Flowers mostly solitary, large, and handsome, of a brilliant rose colour. See PI.x.k. RHIZOMA (Lat. Rhiza, a root). A term ap- plied to roots which spread under ground, like those of the iris. RHODODENDRON (From rhodo, a rose, and dendron, a tree, because of the appearance of the terminal bunches of flowers). The rhodo- dendron is decidedly one of the finest of all known genera, containing some of the most handsome, elegant, and showy shrubs; all of which are admirably adapted either for orna- menting the green-house or shrubbery, or for planting singly on lawns. Peat soil is most suitable to these plants, but they may also be grown in very sandy or vegetable mould. They are propagated by layers or seeds. The small- wooded kinds may be also increased very freely by young cuttings, planted in sand, under a glass. The species found in the United States are, the Rhododendron nudiflorum, or naked-flowered rhododendron, commonly called the wild ho- ney-suckle, a beautiful American shrub found in the Middle States, frequent in woodlands and thickets, where it blooms from April to May. The flowers are of various shades, from very pale to bright purple. ‘There are appa- rently several varieties of this beautiful flow- ering shrub. The leaves are subject to large green excrescences, produced by the puncture of insects. See Azarra. Rhododendron viscosum, clammy rhododendron, or sweet white honeysuckle, a fragrant, pretty species, with very clammy white flowers, found in rocky woodlands in the Middle States, flow- ering in June. The stems grow to the height of 4 or 6 feet, with numerous short and crooked branches. See Azaza. The Rhododendron maximum, or dwarf rose bay, forms a magnificent ornament of the American mountain forests. It generally pre- sents itself in the form of a shrub, of less than 10 feet in height, although it occasionally at- vains an elevation of 20 to 25 feet, with a di- ameter of 4 or 5 inches. RHUBARB (Rheum rhaponticum, from pe, to spread, and Rheum hybridum). A hardy peren- nial plant, a native of Asia. The leaves are 948 RHUBARB. very broad, and 2 feet long. Their petioles or stalks are large, and these only are used. They are agreeably acid and vinous, very wholesome, and much admired, whether stewed alone with sugar for tarts, and puddings, and pies, or com- bined with other fruits. Its use with us is fast increasing, and although its introduction to the London market did not take place, it is said, till 1815, yet now, we are told, a thousand cart- loads are there annually sold. The soil best suited to these plants is one that is light, rich, deep, and moderately moist. A poor heavy or shallow soil never produces them in perfection. It may be propagated by cuttings, but the mode almost universally practised in England is by seed. This should be sown soon after it is ripe in September or October, for if kept out of the ground until the spring, it will often con- tinue dormant for twelve months; if the danger of this, however, is risked, it must be inserted early in February or March. The seeds are best inserted in drills 3 feet apart and an inch deep, the plants to remain where raised; for although they will bear removing, yet it always checks and somewhat lessens their growth. When they make their appearance in the spring, and have been thoroughly cleared of weeds, they may be thinned to 6 or 8 inches asunder, and the surface of the ground about them loosened with the hoe. Towards the con clusion of summer, when it can be determined which are the strongest plants, they must be finally thinned to 3 or 4 feet, or the hybrid to 6. They must be continually kept clear of weeds. In autumn, when the leaves decay, they are removed, and the bed being gently turned over, a little well-putrefied stable-dung added, and some of the earth applied over the stools. In the spring, the bed may be again dug, previous to the plants making their appearance ; and as the stalks, when blanched, are much less harsh in taste, require less sugar to be rendered palatable, and are greatly improved in appear- ance, at this period a trench may be dug between the rows, and the earth from it laid about a foot thick over the stool]. This cover- ing must be removed when the cutting ceases, and the plants allowed to grow at liberty. As the earth in wet seasons is apt to induce decay, the covering may be advantageously formed of coal-ashes or drift-sand, which are much less retentive of moisture. Those plants pro- duce the seed in greatest perfection that are not gathered from, but on no account must they be subjected to the process of blanching. Two year old plants often produce seed, but in the third year always. It must be gathered as soon as ripe, and great care taken that none is scat- tered over the beds, for the plants then pro- duced often spring up and greatly injure the old plants by growing unobserved amongst them. Varieties.—1. Buck’s new early Scarlet Rhubarb. —A new and beautiful variety, and very early. The stalks and the juice are of a beautiful red colour, and quite as high-coloured as the juice of red currants, and of excellent flavour. Fit for use, in our climate, in April. 2. Tobolsk.—A new and very superior va- riety; the earliest of all the early, not except- ing, perhaps, Buck’s Early Scarlet. The stalks ~ ll RHUS. are of a beautiful pink colour, and of excellent fiavour. Originated in England by Mr. Youle, and fit for use here in April. 3. Dulley’s Goliahkx— A new variety, which grows to a very large size. 4, Dulley’s Admiral. variety of a still more recent date, and remarkably large. 5. Elfort Rhubarb (Var. Undulata). 6. Giant Rhubarb.—A new and large species. 7. Wilmot’s Early Red—KEarly and fine, with red stalls. 8. Myatt’s Victoria.—A magnificent produc- tion, with leaves and stalks of enormous size, exceeding; in this respect, all other varieties. New, and of excellent quality. 9. Australian Rhubarb (Rheum Australe).— A new variety and valuable acquisition; later in its vegetation than any other kind: it also continues to grow vigorously, and to furnish a supply of leaves long after all other varie- ties are gone, or till hard frosts. By protec- tion and a frame, it lasts till January. The flavour of Rhewm Australe resembles apples ; and, though thought by some to be more medi- cinal in its effects than other sorts, yet those who have used it for years have never found it prove injurious. Young seedling plants only need to be pro- tected the first winter by soil. Rhubarb may be forced very early, by being covered with boxes or barrels, surrounded by horse-manure atthe top and sides. The rhubarb is highly de- serving of cultivation by every family. Rhubarb Wine—The leaf-stalks of green-co- loured rhubarb, being cut in pieces as for tarts, and bruised with a mallet to extract the juice, will make a delicious wine, quite equal to green gooseberry wine, and very closely resembling Champagne. Of the red rhubarb a fine red wine is made. Rhubarb Jam and Jelly—A superior jam or jelly is thus made from the tender leaf-stalks of rhubarb, equal or superior to that from cur- rants, and of excellent flavour. To one pound of the stalks, cut as for tarts, add one pound of loaf or brown sugar; boil till the ingredients acquire a proper consistence. Unground gin- ger and lemon peel added to the jelly have been found a decided improvement. Buck’s early scarlet rhubarb has a preference in point of colour, which is beautiful red; it is also of fine flavour, though not, perhaps, superior in this respect to other varieties. Rhubarb will answer for jelley three months before the cur- rant is ripe. An excellent preserve is also made of rhubarb. For this purppse the stalks are cut into inch pieces, and preserved in the usual way withsugar. (Kenrick.) RHUS (Derived from rous, in Greek, which is from rhudd, a Celtic word, signifying red; alluding to the colour of the fruit and leaves of some species in autumn). The hardy kinds are rather ornamental, and well fitted for shrub- beries ; some are propagated by cuttings of the roots, and others by cuttings and layers. The juice of R. radicans, poison or swamp sumach, and R. toxicodendron, poison vine or poison oak, is milky, stains black, and is extremely poi- sonous. . coriaria is powerfully astringent, and is used in tanning Turkey or Morocco leather. RICE. RIB-GRASS. See Pranrarn. RIBBON-GRASS (Phalaris). The variety of the genus Phalaris called picta, from its striped leaves, is found in gardens and yards as an ornamental plant. From its tendency to strike deep roots and spread, it often becomes troublesome to eradicate. The species called reed-like or American Phalaris, is common in swampy places in the Middle and Northern States. When, says Dr. Darlington, the pani- cles of this plant first appear, they have some resemblance to those of orchard grass ; but he thinks it far inferior to the orchard grass, and too much of an aquatic for regular culture. Another species, the Phalaris canariensis, or wild canary grass, is particularly naturalized in some of the Northern and Eastern States, where it produces ‘crops of the greatest luxu- riance. It is perennial, spreads rapidly, and may be easily propagated by transplantation. RICE (Oryza, from the Arabic word éruz, the Greeks coined their word cguge, and the va- rious modern nations of Europe their rice, riz, reis, &¢c.). O. sativa, the common rice, has the culm from 1 to 6 feet in length, annual, erect, simple, round, jointed. Leaves subulate-linear, reflex, embracing, not fleshy. Flowers in a terminating panicle. Calycine leaflets lanceo- late. Valves of the carolla equal in length; the inner valve even, awnless ; the outer twice as wide, four-grooved, hispid, awned. Style single, two-parted. O. mutica, the dry or mountain rice, cultivated in Ceylon, Java, and of late in Hungary, has the culm 3 feet high, and more slender. Fruit longish, with awns the longest of all. It is soWn on mountains and in dry soils; rots with a long inundation, and perishes with sea-water. The varieties of rice, as of other cultivated grain, are as numerous as the different soils, climates, and other physical circumstances, in which it is cultivated: besides the dry rice, the chief sorts, by some considered species, are the O. precoz, or early rice, and the O. glutinosa, or clammy rice, both cultivated in irrigated lands. The native place of rice, like that of the other sorts of grain in common use, is un- known; it is cultivated in great abundance all over India, where the country will admit of being flooded; in the southern provinces of China, in Cochin China,Cambodia, Siam, Japan, &c. In Japan it is very white, and of the best quality. It has also been introduced into cult- vation in the southern kingdoms of Europe, Italy, Spain, the south of France, and within a few years into Hungary and Westphalia. In Carolina it has long been a staple commodity. Houghton’s account of its introduction there is, that Ashby was encouraged to send a hun- dred pound bagful of rice to that province, from which, in 1698, 60 tons were imported into England. Dalrymple says, that rice in Caro- lina is the result of a small bag of paddy, given as a present from Dubois, treasurer of the East India Company, to a Carolina trader. A Dutch vessel also, from Madagascar, brought rice inte the same province; and to this is attributed their having two kinds. In the hilly parts of Java, and in many of the Eastern islands, the mountain rice is planted 4L 949 RICE. upon the sides of hills, where no water but rain can come; it is, however, planted in the be- ginning of the rainy season, and reaped in the beginning of the dry season. The natives call it Paddy Gunung, which signifies mountain rice. It is entirely unknown in the western parts of India, but it is well known in Cochin China, where it thrives in dry, light soils, mostly on the sides of hills, not requiring more moisture than the usual rains and dews supply, neither of which are frequent at the season of its vege- tation. There is a kind of hill rice which is hardy enough to grow on the edge of the Himalayan snows. This, it may be expected, will, at some future time, prove an acquisition of value to the European and American cultivators. Rice is extensively cultivated in the East Indies and China, chiefly on low grounds near large rivers, which are liable to be annu- ally inundated, and enriched by the deposition of mud. According to Sir George Staunton’s account, the Chinese obtain two crops of rice in a year from the same ground, and cultivate it in this way from generation to generation on the same soil, and without any other manure than the mud deposited: by the water of the river used in overflowing it. After the waters of the inundation have withdrawn, a few days are allowed for the mud to get partially dry; then a small spot is enclosed by a bank of clay slightly ploughed and harrowed, and the grain, previously steeped in dung, diluted with animal water, is then sown very thickly on it, A thin sheet of water is immediately brought over it, either by a led stream, or the chain-pump. Thus a seed-bed or nursery is prepared, and, in the mean time, the remainder of the tract is preparing for being planted. When the plants are 6 or 7 inches high, they are transplanted in furrows made by the plough, so as to stand about a foot apart every way; water is then brought over them, and kept on till the crop begins to ripen, when it is withheld; so that when harvest arrives the field is quite dry. It is reaped with a sickle, threshed with a flail or the treading of cattle, and the husk taken off by beating it in a stone mortar, or passing it between two flat stones, as in a common meal mill. The first crop being cut in May, a second is immediately prepared for by burning the stubble, and this second crop ripens in October or November. After removal, the stubble is ploughed in, which is the only vegetable ma- nure such lands can be said to receive from man. In Japan, Ceylon, and Java, according to Thunberg, Davis, and Rafiles, aquatic rice is cultivated nearly in the same manner. Moun- tain-rice is grown much in the same way as barley. In Lombardy and Savoy rice is sown on rich lands, the sower often wading to the knees in water: one crop a year only is obtained; but four crops are often taken in succession. In America a similar practice obtains. In Westphalia, and some other parts of the south of Germany, rice has long been culti- vated; there it is sown on lands that admit of irrigation ; but the water is not admitted till the seec has germinated, and it is withdrawn, as in Italy, when the crop comes into flower. From RICE. long culture, in a comparatively cold country. the German rice has acquired a remarkable degree of hardiness and adaptation to the cli- mate; a circumstance which has frequently been alluded to as an encouragement to the acclimating of exotics. Itis found, Dr. Walker remarks (Essays on Nat. Hist.), that rice seeds direct from India will not ripen in Germany at all, and even tha Italian or Spanish seeds are much less early and hardy than those ripened on the spot. In Hungaryrice has not been long cultivated: the mountain sort has chiefly been tried, and that in the manner of our barley or summer- wheat. In England a crop of rice has been obtained near Windsor, on the banks of the Thames. By far the best imported rice is that from Carolina: it is larger and better tasted than that of India, which is small, meager, and the grains frequently broken. As an article of diet, rice has been extolled as superior almost to any other vegetable: but whatever it may be in warmer climates, where it is a common, and to many persons almost their only food, it does not appear so well calculated for European constitutions as the potato; for we find that the poor constantly reject the use of rice when potatoes are to be had; and whilst these can be obtained, we may venture to predict, that rice will always be considered, in Britain, rather as a dainty, to be eaten with sweet con diments, spices, fruit, &c., than as ordinary food. Loudon’s Ency. of Plants. The mountain rice has been raised in Mary- land by Mr. Bordley, on dry sandy land. The following comprehensive directions respecting the water culture of rice, were furnished by one of the most successful cultivators in South Carolina: Begin to plant about the 25th March, trench shallow and wide, and scatter the seed in the row ; make 72 or 75 rows in a task, and sow 2 bushels to an acre. 1. Hoe about the end of April or beginning of May, when the rice is in the fourth leaf; then flood, and clear the field of trash. If the planting be late, and you are likely to be in grass, flood before hoeing; but hoeing first is preferable. The best depth to flood is 3 or 4 inches, It is a good mark to see the tops of the rice just out of the water: the deep places are not to be regarded; the rice will grow through in 3 or 4 days. Observe to make a notch on the frame of the trunk, when the water is at a proper depth: if the rains raise the water above the notch, or it leaks out, add, or let off accordingly. This is done by putting a small stick in the door of the trunk, about an inch in diameter: if scum or froth appear in 8 or 10 days, freshen the water, take off the trunk doors, run off the water with one ebb, and take in the next flood; then regulate as before. Keep the water on about 15 or 17 days, accord- ing to the state of the weather; that is, if a hot sun, 15 days; if cool and cloudy, 17 days, count- ing from the day the field is flooded ; then leak off with a small stick for 2 days, then run off the whole, and keep the field dry. In4or5 days after, hoe the second time, stir the ground, whether clean or not, and comb up the fallen ; RICE, WILD. rice with the fingers. Keep dry and hoe through the field. Hoe the third time and pick clean. This will be about the beginning of July. Then flood as you hoe. Let the water be the same depth as before. If any grass has escaped, it must be picked in the water after it shoots out. This is called the fourth hoeing, but the hoe is never used except for some high places or to clean the dams. If the rice is flaggy and likely to lodge, flood deep to support it, and keep it on until fit to harvest. (Domestic Encyclopedia.) If land is well drained and in good order, it is calculated that 5 acres of rice and 1 or 14 of provisions may easily be cultivated to the hand. Rice was formerly almost altogether export- ed in the form of clean rice, but at present the largest amountof that taken to England is in the husk or rough state, called paddy or cargo rice. The rice crop for 1842. has been esti- mated by Mr. Ellsworth at 94,007,484 pounds. The following statement shows the annual quantities and value of rice exported from the United States at different periods: Years. Exports in Tierces. Value. WoL - - = - 96,980 1792 - - - - 141,762 1503 - - - - 81,838 $2,455,000 bid - - - = 137,843 3,555,000 Sig - - - - 83,181 3,262,697 1836 - - - = 212,983 2,548,750 1838 - - - - 71,048 1,721,819 184i - - - - 101,617 2,010,107 (Hunt's Merchants’ Magazine, July, 1843.) RICE WEEVIL. See Grarw Weevit. RICE, WILD (Zizania). Nuttall mentions three species of aquatic grasses, called wild Tice, found in the United States, viz.: the Zizania aquatica (P1.4,c); Z.miliacea; andthe Z. flui- tans. This last is very small and easily con- founded with other aquatic grasses. He found it around Savannah in Georgia. The Z. aquatica is found in almost every part of the Northern and Middle States, where it goes by the names of water oats, Indian rice, and reed. ‘The seeds resemble those of Polish millet. It is exceedingly prolific. The root is perennial. It grows in swampy places, and in deep water at the edges of ponds and sluggish streams. Stock of all descriptions are fond of the plant when green, or cured as hay. It re- sembles, at a distance, slender shoots of Indian corn. The stems are jointed, and as large as the little finger. The panicle or head is a foot or more in length, and the seeds blackish, smooth, narrow, cylindrical, about three-quar- ters of an inch Jong, white and farinaceous within. Gilleland’s Ohio and Mississippt Pilot contains the following interesting details rela- tive to wild rice: “Among the vegetable pro- ductions of the Western Territory north of Illi- nois and west of Green Bay, on the Ouiscon- sin and Fox rivers, the wild rice, called Folle avoine by the French, and Menomen by the In- dians, claims particular attention. It grows in inexhaustible abundance, through all parts of the territory, in almost every one of the innu- merable lakes, ponds, bays, rivers, and creeks. It is said to be as palatable and as nourishing as common rice, and if so, it will be incom- parably more valuable. It grows where the water is from 4 to 6 feet deep, and where the bottom is not hard or sandy. It rises above the surface of the water from 4 to 8 feet, and ROLLERS, is often so tnick as almost to prevent canoes from passing through oramongit. The stalk is soft like the bulrush, but grows in joints like reed- cane, which it much resembles. It is usual for the Indians to force their canoes through it, just before it ripens, and tie it in large bunches for the purpose of preventing the wild ducks and geese from breaking it down and destroy-, ing it. When fully ripe, they pass through it again, and, spreading their blankets in the inside of their canoes, they bend the branches of the wild rice over them, and thresh off the grain with sticks; an operation which requires little time, and is generally performed by the women. After drying it in the sun, they put it into skins, for future use. Every autumn and spring the wild ducks and geese resort to the wild rice lakes in flocks incredibly numerous. It is thought by many that the Zizania aquatica will some day be an object of culture, which may afford a means of bringing into use large tracts of inundated land.” 7 RICK. A pile of corn, hay, straw, &c., regu- larly heaped up in the open air, and sheltered from wet by thatch. See Sracx. RIDDLE. A sort of sieve used to separate dust and the seeds of plants from corn. They are made of various sizes for different uses. RIGGIL. An imperfect male sheep, having only one or no testicle in the scrotum. RIME. A hoary or white frosty appearance, sometimes on the ground in the autumnal, winter, and early spring mornings. See Dew and Frost. RING-BONE. In farriery,a callus growing in the hollow circle of the little pastern of a horse, just above the coronet. It has its name from the resemblance to a ring. RINGS, FAIRY. See Farry Rive. RIPPLE GRASS. A popular name of the English plantain (P. lanceolata). ROADS. See Hicuways. ROARING. In farriery,a disease well known to jockeys and horse-dealers, which usually ac- companies or precedes broken wind. It is generally the result of long-continued or vio- lent exercises. It.is connected with dilatation of the air-cells of the lungs, and is incurable. See Broken Winp. ROCHAMBOLE. See Gartic. ROCK CRESS. See Cress, Watt. ROLLERS. An implement of simple con- struction, like the roller, the main object of which is to render smoothshe surface of arable lands, would not seem to admit apparently of much va- riety in its construction. Nevertheless, it is an implement in which greater diversity of form is found to exist than in most other agricultural machines. Rollers are of all sizes, weights, and lengths; and the material of which they are made is occasionally iron, sometimes stone, but most commonly wood. Of these, the first is undoubtedly the best, and particularly for the jointed roller, by which the operation of turning at the ends of the ridges is materially facilitated, and the slading of the earth which would otherwise take place on the head-lands, not only to their great detriment, but to the ne small increase of labour to the horses, is there- by prevented. An ingenious gentleman, the late George 951 ROLLERS. Booth, Esq., of Allerton, near Liverpool, who to a great love of farming added a very tolera- ble share of mechanical skill, and to both am- ple means to carry out his various devices, constructed a roller, or rather a nest of rollers, on the lever principle. He contended for a very small diameter as the most effective in crushing the clods, and throwing the greatest possible weight on the surface of the ground. We regret being only able to give an idea of his invention from memory; but do not think his roller was more than a foot in diameter at the outside. It consisted of five cylinders or rollers, arranged in such manner that three hind ones, separated from each other, have the two spaces overlapped by two cylinders placed in front. Drill rollers—These are made of rings adapt- ed to ashaft. They are not by any means of modern invention, having been well known to the English farmers of Norfolk and Suffolk for the greater part of a century. The only im- provement they have undergone has been to render each ring independent of its neighbour, so that the process of turning at the end of the field is facilitated, as in the case of the jointed roller. The modern drill rollers in other re- spects have not improved, if the doctrine of Mr. Booth, already noticed, be correct, that a small diameter is better than a large one. The drill roller is used for the double purpose of crushing clods on rough lands, and making grooves ready to receive the seed of wheat or other grain sown broadcast on light soils. It is a capital tool for either purpose. In the first case it is followed by a harrow, of sufficient weight to lighten up the surface ; in the other, the fine, short-toothed harrow, or even a mere bush-harrow, will be found sufficient. The less such land is disturbed after sowing the better, and the more distinct will be the seve- ral rows or grooves of corn. Heovy rollers—The heavy roller is a very effective implement. It is formed of 3 sepa- rate cylinders, about 2 feet in diameter, and of the same length; the axis of each being in- dependent of the other. On turning, they con- sequently revolve in different directions, and thus “slading” at the land’s end is avoided. The doubleyointed barley roller is a very use- ful implement. It is so constructed that the two sides, being separate rolls or distinct frames, may revolve at opposite angles; and, when required, one may be placed behind the other. A plan has for many years been in use in Norfolk, of constructing them with twisted joints, so that the under end of one roll shall work behind the end of the other, thus leaving no seam between the roller. Crosskills’ clod-crusher is, under many circum- stances, a valuable implement. It is composed of a series of iron rings, with notched edges, set apart from each other about 3 or 4 inches. Small cross-bars or knives are placed at fre- quent intervals on the faces of these, and near their outer notched rims, so as to intersect every portion of land over which it passes. Its construction, combined with its great weight, renders it very effective for the purpose which ils name denotes. Indeed, as an old farming 952 ROLLERS. bailiff once aptly remarked, it is a roll and a harrow combined. The roller is an implement which requires some judgment as to the time of its use, and this remark applies with in- creased force to the one under consideration. Seam or land-presser.—If a drill is so effective an implement, far more so is the seam or land- presser, inasmuch as its whole force and weight is directed to each individual furrow, as it is turned over by the common plough. The seam-presser is in fact an abstract of a drill roller, consisting of but two cylinders of cast-iron, which, following in the furrow, press and roll down the newly turned-up earth, and it is more particularly useful when applied to clover stubbles intended for wheat. (Ransome on Agr. Imp.) In the United States the roller is constructed of wood, stone, or cast-iron, according to con- venience or the purposes for which it is used. In American husbandry we have yet no reason to expect, or perhaps desire, any but those made of wood, and such as any farmer, who has a moderate degree of mechanic skill, and the carpenter's tools which every farmer ought to keep, may readily construct himself. A good, sound, oak log, with the frame and shafts appended, makes a good roller. They are made of different lengths and sizes, varying from 15 to 30 inches in diameter. The lighter kinds are made in one piece, but the larger and heavier kinds are advantageously made in two pieces, with an iron rod passing through the centre of both, and upon which they re- volve. English farmers construct the frame so as to rise above the roller, upon which a box is fixed, either to contain stones to add to the pressure of the roller, or to receive small stones and rubbish, collected on the field while at work, which are to be carried off. Their shafts, when at work, are generally horizontal. We think the roller is more easily drawn when the draught is on a right line from the collar or yoke of the team to the point of resistance. This may be done, and the advantages of the box retained. The uses and advantages of the roller are many and important, and no farmer should be without one. They are particularly important in the seeding process, to break down the clods, pulverize and smooth the surface, and to press the earth to the smaller seeds, which otherwise often fail to germinate for lack of moisture, This is particularly the case with oats, barley, and the grass seeds. In autumn the roller is sometimes passed over winter grain, with a view to counteract the effects of frost the fol- lowing winter. In spring it is advantageously passed over winter grain, as soonas the ground is so solid and dry that the feet of the cattle will not poach the surface. It renders light ground more compact; presses the soil to the roots of the grain, and thus promotes their growth; and upon all soils closes the innume- rable cracks and fissures which abound on the appearance of dry weather in spring, and, by partially burying the crown, causes grain to tiller better, that is, send up more seed-stalks. Finally, the roller is of great advantage to grass lands in the spring, by reducing the in- ROLLING. equalities of surface, and pressing down the plants or earth which have been thrown up by the frost. There are also rollers for other purposes, viz., the spiked roller, which is used for pulverizing stiff soils, preparatory for wheat. This is formed by inserting several rows of spikes, or cast or wrought-iron darts, in a common hard- wood roller. The concave or scalloped roller is adapted to the form of ridges, and is often at- tached to the turnip drill. (Cultivator). ROLLING. In agriculture, the action or operation of drawing a roller over the surface of the ground, with the view of breaking down the clods, rendering it more compact, and bringing it even and level; or for only level- ling the surfacefas in grass lands. This isa practice that becomes necessary both upon the tillage and grass lands, and which is of much utility in both sorts of husbandry. In the for- mer case it is made use of with different in- tentions, as for the purpose of breaking down and reducing the cloddy and lumpy parts of the soil in preparing it for the reception of crops. It is also of great use in many cases of light soils, in rendering the surface more firm, even, and solid, after the seed is put in. ROOT. In botany, that part of the central axis of a plant which is formed by the descend- ing fibres, and whose function is to attract liguid food from the soil in which it is mingled. It differs from the stem in not having leaves or buds upon its surface, and in its tendency to burrow under ground, retreating from light; nevertheless, some kinds of roots are exclu- sively formed in air and light, as in the ivy and other such plants; but these are to be regarded as prehensile organs, to support the plants, rather than as roots, or nutritious organs. The root-stock or rhizome is a prostrate, rooting, thickened stem, which yearly produces young branches or plants. Ginger and orris-root are common instances of it. It is often confound- ed with the root. There are many appendages to the roots, namely, tubers, bulbs, &c., which are mere reservoirs of food for the lateral pro- geny of the plant. See Burs, Rarzome, Tuser, &e. ROSE (Lat. Rosa, from the Celtic rhod, red, in reference to the prevailing colour of the fiowers). In botany, the English name for the well-known and universally cultivated flower of the genus Rosa. It is an extensive family, but all of the species love a stiff soil. “No roses will thrive in shallow, poor ground. Standard Toses are obtained by budding them upon vigor- ous stocks raised from the seed of the hedge or dog-rose, managing the stocks in the same way as fruit-stocks. Their heads must be pruned occasionally to prevent their rambling. The dwarf roses in flower borders should be pruned in January, down to a foot high, cutting out the old and dead wood. They will produce finer flowers. Roses bear their flowers upon wood of the last year. Only the China roses flower upon the shoots of the same year. Roses continue blowing a long time, if the fading flowers are cut off instead of being allowed to seed. Nearly a dozen species of the wild rose are found in the United States, among which are 120 ROSE-CHAFER. those familiarly known as the swamp, rock, dwarf, wild, &c. ROSE BAY, or MOUNTAIN LAUREL. See RuopopENDRON Maximum. ROSE-CHAFER, or ROSE BUG, is a diurnal or day-flying beetle of the Melolonthian genus. Dr. Harris states that this insect, which is com- mon in the vicinity of Boston, is, or was a few years ago, unknown in the northern and west- ern parts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. The natural history of the rose- bug, one of the greatest scourges with which American gardens and nurseries are afflicted, was for a long time involved in mystery, but is at present fully cleared up. For some time after they were noticed, says Dr. Harris, rose-bugs appeared to be confined to their favourites, the blossoms of the rose; but within 30 years they have prodigiously in- creased in number, have attacked at random various kinds of plants in swarms, and have become notorious for their extensive and de- plorable ravages. The grape-vine, in particu- lar, the cherry, plum, and apple trees, have an- nually suffered by their depredations; many other fruit trees’and shrubs, garden vegetables and corn, and even the trees of the forest and the grass of the fields, have been laid under contribution by these indiscriminate feeders, by whom leaves, flowers, and fruits are alike consumed. The unexpected arrival of these insects in swarms at their first coming, and their sudden disappearance at the close of their career, are remarkable facts in their history. They come forth from the ground during the second week in June, or about the time of the blossoming of the damask rose, and remain from 30 to 40 days. At the end of this period the males become exhausted, fall to the ground, and perish, while the females enter the earth, lay their eggs, return to the surface, and, after lingering a few days, die also. The eggs laid by each female are about 30 in number, and are deposited from 1 to 4 inches beneath the surface of the soil; they are nearly globular, whitish, and about one-thirtieth of an inch in diameter, and are hatched 20 days after they are laid. The young larve begin to feed on such tender roots as are within their reach. Like other grubs of the Scarabzians, when not eating, they lie upon the side, with the body curved so that the head and tail are nearly in contact; they move with difficulty on a level surface, and are continually falling over on one side or the other. They attain their full size in the autumn, being then nearly three- quarters of an inch long, and about an eighth of an inch in diameter. They are of a yellowish- white colour, with a tinge of blue towards the hinder extremity, which is thick and obtuse or rounded; afew short hairs are scattered on the surface of the body; there are six short legs, namely, a pair to each of the first three rings behind the head; and the latter is covered with a horny shell of a pale rust colour. In Octo- ber they descend below the reach of frost, and pass the winter in a torpid state. In the spring they approach towards the surface, and each one forms for itself a little cell of an oval shape, py turning round a great many times, so as to com- press the earth, and render the inside of the ca- 412 952 ROSE-CHAFER. vity hard and smooth. Within this cell the grub is transformed to a pupa during the month of May, by casting off its skin, which is pushed downwards in folds from the head to the tail. The pupa has somewhat the form of the perfect- ed beetle; but it is of a yellowish-white colour, and its short, stump-like wings, its antenne, and its legs are folded upon the breast, and its whole body is enclosed in a thin film, that wraps each part separately. During the month of June this filmy skin is rent, the included beetle withdraws from it its body and its limbs, bursts open its earthen cell, and digs its way to the surface of the ground. Thus the various changes, from the egg to the full developement of the perfected beetle, are completed within the space of one year. Such being the metamorphoses and habits of these insects, it is evident that we cannot attack them in the egg, the grub, or the pupa state; the enemy, in these stages, is beyond our reach, and is subject to the control only of the natural but unknown means appointed by the Author of nature to keep the insect tribes in check, When they have issued from their subterranean retreats, and have congre- gated upon our vines, trees, and other vegeta- ble productions, in the complete enjoyment of their propensities, we must unite our, efforts to seize and crush the invaders. They must in- deed be crushed, scalded, or burned, to deprive them of life, for they are not affected by any of the applications usually found destructive to other insects. Experience has proved the uti- lity of gathering them by hand, or of shaking them or brushing them from the plants into tin vessels containing a little water. They should be collected daily during the period of their visitation, and should be committed to the flames, or kiiled by scalding water. The late John Lowell, Esq., states that, in 1823, he dis- covered on a solitary apple tree the rose-bugs “in vast numbers, such as could not be de- scribed, and would not be believed if they were described, or, at least, none but an ocular witness could conceive of their numbers. De- struction by hand was out of the question” in this case. He put sheets under the tree, and shook them down and burned them. Dr. Green, of Mansfield, whose investigations have thrown much light on the history of this in- sect, proposes protecting plants with millinet, and says that in this way only did he succeed in securing his grape-vines from depredation. His remarks also show the utility of gathering them. “Highty-six of these spoilers,” says he, “were known to infest a single rose-bud, and were crushed with one grasp of the hand.” Sup- pose, as was probably the case, that one-half of them were females; by this destruction 800 eggs, at least, were prevented from becoming matured. During the time of their prevalence, rose-bugs are sometimes found in immense numbers on the flowers of the common white- weed, or ox-eye daisy (Chrysanthemum leucanthe- mum), a worthless plant, which has come to us from Europe, and has been suffered to over- run our pastures and encroach on our mowing lands. In certain cases it may become expe- dient rapidly to mow down the infested white- weed in dry pastures, and consume it, with the sluggish rose-bugs, on the spot. 954 ROT. Our insect-eating birds undoubtedly devour many of these insects, and deserve to be che- rished and protected for their services. Rose- bugs are also eaten greedily by domesticated fowls; and when they become exhausted and fall to the ground, or when they are about to lay their eggs, they are destroyed by moles, in- sects, and other animals, which lie in wait to seize them. Dr. Green informs us that a spe- cies of dragon-fly, or devil’s needle, devours them. He also says that an insect, which he calls the enemy of the cut-worm, probably the larva of a Carabus, or predaceous ground-bee- tle, preys on the grubs of the common dor-bug. In France the golden ground-beetle (Carabus auratus) devours the female dor or chafer at the moment when she is about to deposit her eggs. Ihave taken one specimen of this fine ground-beetle in Massachusetts, and we have several other kinds, equally predaceous, which probably contribute to check the increase of our native Melolonthians. (Harris.) ROSE-LICE. See Aruts. ROSEMARY (Rosmarinus officinalis; from ros, dew, and marinus, of the sea, on account of its maritime habitat. Poetically implying “the dew of the ocean”). There are 3 varie- ties—the green, golden-striped, and _ silver- striped. The first is the one in general culti- vation. ROSE-SLUG. See Srvc. ROSIN. See Resry. ROT. In farriery, a disease in sheep and other animals, in which both the liver and lungs are affected, and there is commenly a dropsical tendency. Its ravages are chiefly, however, confined to sheep, and it is most com- monly closely connected with excess of moist food, or placing these animals in low, wet situa- tions, every way foreign to their natural habits ; for sheep, in a state of freedom, seek the most elevated, dry, and heathy situations—an in- Stinct which long imprisonment and domesti- cation has not yet eradicated: every farmer is aware with what tenacity his sheep adhere to the very highest portions of a field. It is only when we force them to inhabit low grounds, and situations foreign to their habits, that they thus become diseased. In a state of nature, too, they browse upon the heath plants, and seek with avidity at certain periods salt springs and salt exudations, facts which have not entirely escaped the notice of modern flockmasters. Thus the argali or wild sheep of Siberia, which are the presumed origin of all our domestic sheep, are found about the size of the fallow deer, on the immense chain of mountains reaching through the middle of Asia to the Eastern Ocean. They are found in small flocks, ranging over the highest elevations. As the winter approaches, they move downwards into the plains, and exchange their food from the mountain plants to grass and other vegeta- bles. They are so partial to salt, that they scrape away the earth in considerable quanti- ties in the neighbourhood of saline places in order to procure it. All animals in fact seek salt with the greatest avidity. In Flanders, sheep owners deem its use an effectual prevention of the rot, and there is very considerable reason to believe that by the use of this valuable con- ROT. diment, the ravages of this dreadful disease might either be very materially modified, or perhaps entirely prevented. + Many years since, Ellis, in his Practical Hus- bandry, recommended the use of salt, mixed with wort, in which had been boiled sage, pennyroyal, wormwood, shepherd’s purse, com- frey, &¢., as a prevention of the rot; 7 or 8 spoonfuls was the dose, once a week after April, whenever the weatheg was wet. More than three centuries since, Fitzherbert, the earliest of the English agricultural writers, alluded to this dreadful disorder in his Boke of Husbandry, and in his section entitled What thynges rotteth Shepe, he says, “It is necessary that a shepherde shoulde knowe what thynge rotteth shepe,ithat he myghte kepe theym the better. There is a grasse called sperewort, and hath a longe narrow leafe lyke a spere heed, and it wyll growe a fote hyghe, and bear- eth a yellowe floure in lowe places where the water is used to stande in wynter. An other grasse is called peny grasse, and growethe lowe by the erthe in a marshe grounde, and hath a leafe as brode as a peny or two pence, and neuer beareth floure. All manner of grasse, that the lande floudde runneth ouer, is very evylle for shepe, bycause of the sande and fylthe that stycheth uppon it. All moorish grounde and marsche grounde is yll for shepe. The grasse that groweth upon falowes is not good for shepe, for there moche of it wede, and ofte tymes it commeth uppe by the rote, and that bryngeth erthe with it, and they eate both, &c. Myldewe grasse is not good for shepe, and that ye shall knowe two wayes: one is by the leaves on the trees in the morninge, and specially of okes; take the leaves and putte thy tongue to them, and thou shalt fele like hony uppon them. And also there will be many kelles uppon the grasse, and that causeth the myldewe, where- fore theye may not well be left out of the folde, tyll the sonne have domination to drye them awaye. Also hunger rotte is the worst rotte that can be, for there is neither goode fleshe nor goode skynne, and that comethe for lacke of meate, and so for hunger they eate suche as they can fynde, and so will not pasture shepe, for they seldom rot but wythe myldewes, and than wyll they have much talowe and fleshe, and a good skyn. Also white snailes be yll for shepe in pastures, and in falowes there is an other rotte whiche is called pelte rotte, and that commeth of greatte wete, speciallye in woode countryes where they cannot drye.” * The symptoms of the rot, and of some of its most decided remedies, have been thus de- scribed by Dr. Brown, of Boston (Mag. of Nat. Hist. vol. v. p. 98), “It cannot, I conceive, be demonstrated that in this disease the bile is thrown back upon the system, and mingles with the circulating fluid; for in the early stages there is no obstruction to the bile; and in the latter, what little is secreted is inter- cepted by the flukes on the hepatic side of the gall-bladder. The eye, which some persons take to be an index to the bilious condition of the system, has really not that ‘tinge of yellow and jaundiced-like appearance’ at the com- mencement of the disease. On the contrary, ROT. symptom which guides the shepherd to the un- welcome truth. If the bile ducts be carefully examined in the earliest stage of the complaint, there will be found a few flukes in the duct which conveys the bile from the gall-bladder to the intestine, but none in the gall-bladder, and none beyond it, a sound liver, no ‘tubercles,’ no ‘abscesses,’ and withal a fine, fat, healthy- looking carcass. If it be in the latest stage when the examination is made, the gall-blad- der will be found filled with flukes instead of bile: and the animals will be seen making their way up those channels which convey the bile from the liver to the gall-bladder, arresting it in its course, and pressing forward and en- larging the biliary tubes. Thus, when but few of these animals have possession of this viscus, its function is not materially impaired; the parenchyma, or substance of the liver, is un- altered in appearance; the mucous channels, which convey the bile to the gall-bladder, and from the gall-bladder to the intestines, have not yet felt their presence, and the bile itself is secreted apparently unaltered in quality or quantity: but here, as they live in a medium of perpetual nourishment, they multiply to an extent incredible, and impede the natural action of the liver and subordinate organs of the body. They at length completely block up the conduits of the bile, devouring the bile as fast as it is secreted; spreading irritation and dis- ease from the vessels in which they live to the whole mass of the liver itself; and in some in stances they carve their way through the mem- brane which encircles them, and escape by myriads into the cavity of the abdomen; thus completing the destruction of an important organ, and with it the life of the animal. These extreme states are generally associated with dropsy and a total degeneracy of the muscular tissue; the blood is deficient in quantity, very serous, and almost destitute of fibrin. A cor- respondent inquires the class and family of the fluke, in hopes of finding a remedy for a disease so fatal. He will find it in the class Vérmes, and order Intestina, and it is the Fascdola hepa- tica. Contemplating it, as it is, as a variety of exotic worm, it occurred to me that vermi- fuges, destructive to other species, might be employed with advantage against this. But in instituting experiments on the living animals, I discarded those popular remedies which have only a mechanical action, and which could never reach the liver, for those which operate by a wider range of influence. What I have observed is, that there are in this class of re- medies those which have little or no effect when brought in contact with the living fluke; and there are others which destroy the animal immediately. To the first of those which are inert, belong solutions of vegetable bitters, spirits of tar, and several others, which need not be enumerated. To the second, or to those which destroy the animal, belong solutions of mercury and the spirits of turpentine. For example: a little calomel suspended in water, and dropped upon the animal, quickly deprives it of life; anda drop of the spirits of turpen- ~ tine kills it ina few seconds. The oil of tur- pentine is a deadly poison to the fluke. The the peculiar whiteness of the eyes is the first | next consideration is, how far 11 may be safe 955 ROT. to administer this medicine to the living sheep, and what probability there is of its disturbing an animal inhabiting the liver. With regard to the first exception, there can arise no diffi- culty. The spirit of turpentine is borne rea- dily by children, and has been given to adults in doses of a quarter of a pint; it is likewise applied externally to blistered surfaces, and as a styptic to the bleeding mouths of ruptured blood-vessels. There can be as little doubt with regard to the second exception, when we consider the penetrating nature of this drug; when we know that the mere immersion of the hand in it is sufficient to impregnate the uri- nary secretion ; nor can we doubt that its influ- ence will be acknowledged by an organ ap- proximating and communicating with the stomach, and by the worm inhabiting that organ.” The outward symptoms of this disease were many years since well described by Dr. Har- rison of Boston, Lincolnshire, when he said, “If in warm, sultry, and rainy weather, sheep that are grazing on low and moist lands feed rapidly, and some of them die suddenly, there is reason to fear that they have contracted the rot: this suspicion will be further increased, if ina few weeks afterwards the sheep begin to shrink, and become flaccid in their loins. By pressure about the hips at this time, a crackling is sometimes perceptible. Now or soon afterwards the countenance looks pale, and upon parting the fleece, the skin is found to have parted its vermilion tint for a pale-red, and the wool is easily separated from the pelt; as the disorder advances, the skin becomes dappled with yellow or black spots. About this time the eye loses its lustre, and becomes white and pearly, from the red vessels of the tunica adnata and eyelids being contracted or entirely obliterated. To this succeeds debility and emaciation, which increase continually till the sheep die, or else ascites or perhaps gene- ral dropsy supervene before the fatal termina- tion.” Such are the symptoms and the most power- ful known remedies for this disease ; an equally important research is its origin, its predispos- ing circumstances, or immediate cause. In this, however, in common with most other dis- eases of animal and vegetable life, difficulties occur at every turn, of a nature almost entirely inexplicable. We must be content to do little more than merely trace its symptoms and the course in which it commonly runs. No flock- masters are perhaps more anxiously alive to the disease, or more often its victims, than the owners of the noble water-meadows of the south of England, such as those of the valleys of the Kennett, the Itchen, and the Wiltshire Avon. These excellent farmers have noticed, that the first crop of spring water-meadow grass never imparts the rot to sheep; but that the second crop, which they therefore make into hay, is almost certain to do so. They notice, a.so, that the worst rotting-time is from Mid- summer to Michaelmas; that almost all mea- dow land, if chance flooded in summer, that is, if covered by the overflowing of rivers, so as o be covered with their muddy waters, is 956 ROT. almost certain to rot the sheep; that gravelly bottomed water-meadows, like those between Marlborough and Hungerford, never rot the sheep fed on them, in any season or period of the year, This would appear to confirm the very common suspicion that it is not the grass which rots the sheep, but the gaseous or aqueous vapours which emanate from such places, more copi- ously as the weather becomes warmer in the summer; but, then, against such a conclusion we have the fact, well known to owners of the water meads, that when sheep are soiled even upon fine dry elevated soils (such as never render sheep rotten), with the second crop of grass from water-meads—that then the sheep become as equally rotten as if they had been pastured on the very meadows from whence the grass was carried. It would seem, there- fore, that there are more watery matters, or other sources of disease in the second crop than in the first. That the grass of the second crop varies very materially in its chemical composition from that of the first, has been clearly shown by the analysis of the late Mr. George Sinclair. He found that rye-grass (Lolium perenne) at the time of flowering, taken from a water-meadow that had been fed off with sheep till the end of April, afforded of nutritive matter 72 grains. The same grass from the meadow that had not been depastured in the spring, afforded 100 grains. The same weight of this grass, taken from a rich old pasture that had been shut up for hay about the same time, afforded of nutri- tive matter 95 grains. That from the rich pas- ture that had not been depastured, afforded 120 grains. (Hort. Gram. Wob. p. 384.) And in the great majority of instances, the aftermath of the upland grasses is considerably less rich in nutritive matters than that of their first or spring crop. Such, then, are the supposed causes, symp- toms, and treatment recommended for the cure of this disease. For the cure, both turpentine and common salt seem to have sometimes been successfully used. But the effect of salt seems to be much more decided when employed as a prevention, rather than a cure. As a preventive, too, the use of aromatic vegetable substances seems to be excellent. It is the kind of pre- vention also which might be supposed to be efficacious from following the order of nature, and observing the habits of the sheep in their wild state, browsing as they invariably do upon the aromatic plants, and the shoots of moun- tain shrubs; and never descending to live upon the rank and watery grasses of the valleys, until compelled by the severity of the weather. Every farmer is aware with what avidity they consume such domestic herbs—the parsley, for instance—as abound in essential oils. An attempt has indeed been recently made to culti- vate this herb in the fields as feed for sheep; and I have little doubt that if some attention were paid to the cultivation of such plants (if the parsley will not bear the browsing of the sheep, they might be occasionally soiled with it), by way of condiment or change; if the flock were allowed, at all times and seasons, access to common salt (and this might be mixed, if necessary, with aromatic suhstances ROT IN TIMBER. grateful to the sheep); and, lastly, if some care were taken in supplying ‘them, when feed- ing on watery plants, with a little hay, corn, or oil-cake, that then the destruction caused by this melancholy scourge of the flock-master would be either entirely prevented or very ma- terially reduced. See Fruxe. ROT IN TIMBER. It has been noted, that wood saturated with common salt is never sub- ject to this disease. Mr. Bethel has proposed a plan for its prevention, by saturating the wood with coal-tar. Mr. Ryan uses for the same purpose a solution of corrosive subli- mate (muriate of mercury). Sir W. Burnet employs a solution of muriate of lime. See Dry-Ror. ROTATION®OF CROPS. The order in which different crops are made to succeed each other. It was only towards the middle of the last century, that the importance of a scientific rotation of crops began even to attract the farmer’s attention. Previous to that period we search in vain in the works of agricultural au- thors for the slightest notice of such a theme. The writers before those days, as Arthur Young noticed, recited courses of husbandry, good, bad, and execrable, exactly in the same tone as matters not open to praise or censure, and unconnected with any principles that could throw any light on the arrangement of the farm, or its more successful cultivation. And yet it is on this difficult part of the farmer’s bu- siness being scientifically pursued, that much of the profits and advantages which he is to derive from his land for a course of years must depend. Arthur Young, the most popular and the most rapid of observers, saw the import- ance of this difficult inquiry in its true light: he correctly enough told the farmers of his day, that whenever very good or very bad husbandry is found on arable land, it is more the result of a right or wrong arrangement of crops than of any other circumstance; that no district is well cultivated under bad rotations, while it is extremely rare to find any badly cultivated under such as are good. More accurate and more generally diffused observations have long since, however, led the present race of culti- vators to assign to the inquiry its proper value. The importance in fact of the investigation no modern farmer will for a moment doubt. It may not be a useless mode of conducting the research, if we inquire, as we proceed in our proposed examination, into the few yet valu- able lights which chemical and entomological investigations have shed upon this important, yet, from the endless variety of soils and situa- tions, somewhat intricate and laborious theme. In regard to the general principles, as it has been well observed, on which the proper crop- ping of land depends, it is now perfectly under- stood, that some kind of crops deteriorate or exhaust the land to a much greater degree than others; that some by their capability “of being consumed on the farm (though they do exhaust the soil) return, in such consumption by live- stock, as much or perhaps rather more to the soil than they draw from it, during the period of their growth. And again, that other crops, by admitting of profitable tillage and cleansing the land during their growth, aid very much in ROTATION OF CROPS. the essential destruction of weeds, insects, &cq and in ameliorating the land for the succeeding crop; while, on the other hand, different crops, by not permitting such cultivation, and being great exhausters when following in immediate and rapid succession, not only deteriorate the soil, but fill it with weeds and grubs. Hence it follows in practice, that by suitable arrange- ments of these different crops in rotation, most kinds of land may, without lying idle, be con- stantly preserved in a clean and productive condition. In the management of rotations, however, much careful attention and discrimi- nation is requisite in the cultivator, to profit- ably adapt them to the nature of the soil, and the other circumstances under which he is placed. Above all, the farmer must remember, that as different kinds of plants require differ- ent kinds and proportions of nutritious mate- rials to be drawn from the earth for their in- crease and perfect growth, so also they need different situations and conditions of soil for their most profitable development. The farmer, too, is well aware that certain crops never prosper well two or more seasons together in the same land; that they in fact commonly exhaust or “tear out” the soil to such an extent, that every lawyer’s clerk is aware of and notices it in some restraining co- venant of “the lease.” Even the gardener, aided as he is by the most copious supplies of enriching composts, always avoids as much as possible planting a tree where one of the same species has pre- ceded it. Now it is of primary importance that we should endeavour to understand, if possible, the cause of this phenomenon. This question, therefore, has long engaged not only the atten- tion of the most sagacious farmers, but of many distinguished chemical philosophers. By these it has been regarded in chiefly two points of view. First, it has been contended, that as each plant has peculiar excretory matters, which it constantly deposits in the soil in which it is placed—matters which are found to be particularly noxious to other plants of its own species—that in consequence, until these are decomposed and removed from the earth by other plants, or by the gradual effects of de- composition, the same crop cannot advanta- geously prosper in the soil. And in support of this doctrine is adduced the well-known fact, that the excretory matters deposited or diffused through the water in which bulbs or other roots have been cultivated, will not well sup- port other bulbs; yet sul that such impure water is found to be more grateful than clear water to vegetables of another species. And, again, that certain plants and trees are well known to be excellent and mutually fer- tilizing neighbours,—a knowledge indeed as old as the days of Rome under her emperors ; for at those periods the Italian farmers com- monly planted the elm as the companion, or “husband,” as they called it, of the vine: and every farmer is aware, amongst other facts of a similar nature, that the corn-flower can be found only amongst his corn crops—it is in vain to search for it elsewhere. The gardener also well knows, that it is almost useless to 957 ROTATION OF CROPS. replant old orchards with the same trees, or to replace old quick-hedges with young quick plants, yet an old orchard or the site of an old hedge-row are proverbial for their fertility, when planted with other crops. There is con- siderable importance I think to be attached to this mode of accounting for the facts of the case, but it is by no means so complete an ex- planation as is desirable. There are some soils, for instance, which would seem (if this were the sole cause of the phenomenon) to defy all the excretory powers of the plant. Some of the newly-enclosed lands of the United States of America, for instance, have produced excel- lent wheat crops for even 20 years without in- terruption. Some of the alluvial soils of the lower portion of the valley of the Thames have yielded alternate crops of wheat and beans from time immemorial; and by the addition of manure, the potato grounds near London yield abundant crops fora series of years. There are other observations too, of a similar kind, which will readily be remembered by the in- telligent farmer, which do not seem to assimi- late entirely with this mode of removing the difficulties of the case. The other way of explaining the reluctance with which a crop follows another of the same description is, by supposing that each kind of plant has some peculiar and essential ingredi- ent which it absorbs from, and in a great degree exhausts the soil, and that it is, therefore, only after a lapse of some time, when that ingredi- ent or those ingredients are restored by the ap- plication of manure, or by other modes, that the same plants can be again profitably culti- vated. To a great extent this theory is not only a very plausible but a very probable and reasonable explanation of the difficulty. Thus the farmer is well aware that certain soils on which red clover formerly grew very success- fully once in 4 years, will now only yield any profitable degree of produce of the same plant once in S$ or once in 12 years. The excretory powers of the plant in this instance, therefore, are useless in explanation of the difficulty ; for according to that theory, the excretory matters which long were successfully dissipated or ab- sorbed by other plants in the course of 4 years, should do so in our age just as wellas ina for- mer period. Butif we admit what has been not only sometimes, but very often clearly proved to be the case, that the soils which are thus reluctant to produce red clover, are now totally exhausted of sulphate of lime (gypsum) —that, moreover, every fair average crop of" this valuable grass contains from 100 to 200 pounds weight per acre of this salt—and that by dressing the land with this manure, in almost exactly the same proportion and quantity as that which is contained in the clover, that then the land will again grow the very same crop once in 4 years; when these and other similar facts are proved, the very strong pro- bable conclusion to which we must arrive is apparent, viz., that the clover had gradually exhausted the land of an essential ingredient which only needed to be restored to it, to enable the clover again to flourish with its wonted vigour. And this is not a solitary instance: thus, marine plants will only grow successfully 958 ROTATION OF CROPS. in inland situations, where common salt is added to the soil. The sun-flower and the nettle need in an equal degree the assistance of salt- petre. The presence in the soil of phosphate of lime (the earthy salt of bones) is equally essential to the vigorous growth of almost all the grain crops. Then, again, there are other facts of a differ- ent nature well known to the farmer, which appear to lead us to the same conclusion; for instance, every cultivator is aware that by cutting his crops green, his land is not nearly so much exhausted as when the same crops are allowed to ripen their seeds. And if, in explanation of this observation, it can be shown that the plant, when ripe, contains a larger pro- portion of any peculiar saline or earthy ingre- dient than it does when in a growing, unripe state, this will further tend to establish the truth of the last-named theory—that it is the abstraction from the soil by the plant of some peculiar substance, which thus exhausts and indisposes it to support the same crop. Now this, according to chemical investigations, seems, at least in many instances, to be the case. Thus, M. Saussure, in his chemical researches, has shown by the results of his analysis, that the ashes of the plants of peas (Pisum sati- vium), when green and in flower, contain only 17-25 per cent. of phosphate of lime, but that, when ripe, they yield 22 per cent. And, again, that the ashes of plants of vetches (Vicia faba), which yielded only 13:5 per cent. of the same salt when in flower, contain 17°75 per cent. when they are ripe. The same result was ob- tained from other plants: the Solidago vulgaris, for instance, which yielded 8°5 per cent. of phosphate of lime when first in flower, con- tained 11 per cent. when ripe. The turnsole (Helianthus annuus), which afforded only 6 per cent. when flowering, contained 22-5 per cent. when ripe. The wheat plant, which held 10°75 per cent. in flower, contained 11-75 when ripe. The ashes of the straw of wheat were found to yield only 6:2 per cent. of this essentially pre- sent salt, but its sceds held 44:5, and its bran 46'5 per cent. of it. M. Vauquelin obtained a result somewhat similar in his examination of the ashes of the oat plant; the seeds affording him 39-3 per cent. of phosphate of lime, but when he burnt the whole plant, seed and stalk together, he then found only 15 per cent. The evidence, therefore, in favour of the ab- sorbent theory, is certainly rather stronger than that in support of the excretory mode of ex- plaining the phenomenon. Yet, in all proba- bility, both causes may contribute to produce the effect. Davy, the chief of modern che- mists, adopted the former mode of explaining the reluctance with which a crop grows for 2 years successively on the same land. (Lee- tures, p. 357.) Changes of all kind seem, in truth, ever to be grateful to vegetation—change of soil, of seed, of the course of cropping, of manure, &c. “Peas and beans,” said Davy, “in all instances, seem well adapted to prepare the ground for wheat; and in some rich lands, as in the alluvial soil of the Parret, and at the foot of the South Downs, in Sussex, they are raised in alternate crops for years together. Peas and beans contain a small quantity of a ROTATION OF CROPS. matter analogous to albumen (hard white of egg); but it seems that the nitrogen which forms a constituent part of this matter is de- rived from the atmosphere. The dry bean leaf, when burnt, yields a smell approaching to that of decomposing animal matter; and in its de- cay in the soil may furnish principles capable of becoming a part of the gluten in wheat. “Though the general composition of plants is very analogous, yet the specific difference in the products of many of them, and other well ascertained facts, prove that they must derive different materials from the soil; and though the vegetables, having the smallest systems of leaves, will proportionately most exhaust the soil of common nutritive matter, yet particular vegetables, whef their produce is carried off, will require peculiar principles to be supplied to the land in which they grow. Strawberries and potatoes at first produce luxuriantly in virgin mould, recently turned up from pasture, but in a few years they degenerate and require a fresh soil; and the organization of these plants is such as to be constantly producing the migration of their layers. Thus, the straw- berry, by its long shoots, is continually en- deavouring to occupy a new soil; and the fibrous radicles of the potato produce bulbs at a considerable distance from the parent plant. The most remarkable instance of the powers of the plant to exhaust the soil of certain prin- ciples necessary to its growth, is found in cer- tain fungi. Mushrooms are said never to rise in two successive seasons on the same spot; and the production of the phenomena called fairy rings, has been ascribed by Dr. Wollaston to the power of the peculiar fungus which forms it, to exhaust the soil of the nutriment necessary for the growth of the species. The consequence is that the ring annually extends, for no seeds will grow where their parents grew before them, and the interior part of the circle has been exhausted by preceding crops; but where the fungus has died, nourishment is supplied for grass, which usually rises within the circle, coarse, and of a dark-green colour.” “When cattle,” adds Davy, “are fed upon land not benefited by their manure, the effect is always an exhaustion of the soil: this is parti- cularly the case where carrying-horses are kept on estates; they consume the pasture during the night, and drop the greatest part of their manure during their labour in the day- time. The exportation of corn froma country, mnless some articles capable of becoming ma- 1 re are introduced in compensation, must ultimately tend to exhaust the soil. Some of the spots, now desert sands in northern Africa and Asia Minor, were anciently fertile ; Sicily was the granary of Italy, and the quantity of corn carried off from it by the Romans is pro- bably a chief cause of its present sterility.” The same ‘theory is also supported by M. Liebig: in his excellent work on Organic Che- mistry, p. 158, he remarks, “It is evident that two plants growing beside each other will mu- tually injure one another, if they withdraw the } same food from the soil. Hence, it is not sur- prising that the Matricaria chamomilla and Spar- tium scoparium impede the growth of grain, when it is considered that both yield from 7 to 7-43 ROTATION OF CROPS. per cent. of ashes, which contain six-tenths of carbonate of potash. The darnel and the En- geron acre blossom and bear fruit at the same time as the wheat; so that, when growing min- gled with it, they will partake of the compo- nent parts of the soil, and, in proportion to the vigour of their growth, that of the corn must decrease; for what one receives the others are deprived of. Plants will, on the contrary, thrive beside each other, either when the substances necessary for their growth, which they extract from the soil, are of different kinds, or when they themselves are not in the same stages of developement at the same time. On a soil, for example, which contains potash, both wheat and tobacco may be reared in succession, be- cause the latter plant does not require phos- phates, salts which are invariably. present in wheat, but requires only alkalies and food con- taining nitrogen. According to the analysis of Posselt and Reimann, 1000 parts of the leaves of the tobacco plant contain 16 parts of phos- phate of lime, 8:8 parts of silica, and no mag- nesia; whilst an equal quantity of wheat-straw contains 47-3 parts; and the same quantity of the grain of wheat 99:45 parts of phosphates.” The late George Sinclair took a similar view of the cause of the exhaustion of soils. “If,” he says, “a plant,impoverishes a soil in pro- portion to the weight of vegetable matter it pro- duces on a given space of ground, the follow- ing will be the order in which the under-men- tioned plants exhaust the ground, being the proportion they bear to each other with respect to weight of produce :— Mangel-wurzel - - - - e 25 Cabbages - - - - - - 25 White turnip - - - = - 16 Potatoes - - - - = = 15 Kohl-rabi (bulb-stalked cabbage) = - 14 Swedish turnip - - - - - 13 Carrots - - = =| = = ll But when we take the weight of nutritive matter which a plant affords from a given space of ground, the results are very different, and will be found to agree with the daily ex- perience in the garden and the farm. The following figures represent the propor- tion in which they stand to each other with re- spect to the weight of nutritive matter per acre, and in exhausting the land:— Potatoes - - - - = = 63 Cabbages - = = = = z 42 Mangel-wurzel - - - - = 28 Carrots - - - = = a 24 Kohisrabr@ 2 7S" <0) = ey Swedish turnip - - ej - 16 Common turnip - - - = = 14 Change of crops also prevents very mate- rially the increase of the predatory grub and insects which also more or less prey upon the farmer’s crops. The parent of the English wire-worm, for instance, which is the larva of a small beetle, the Elater segetis, may be seen in the summer months depositing its eggs on lays or meadows abounding with the cereal grasses; for instinct teaches it to place its eggs where the young wire-worm will meet with its natural food, which are the cereal grasses. Change of crops, therefore, not only checks the deposit of the eggs, but, by removing the natu ral food of the young vermin, it materially pre- 959 ROTATION OF CROPS. vents increase, or even their continuance; which otherwise, as is the case, for instance, with the wire-worm, might for 4 or 5 years be a pest to the soil. See Berrte. The ordinary course or rotation of crops under which the light lands of England are commonly cultivated, is either on what is de- nominated the four-course or shift system, or the five-course or shift. The four-shift system commonly consists of fallow, manured; 1, turnips, fed off; 2, oats or barley; 3, grass seed; 4, wheat. The five-shift system, which is in many situa- tions a much more advantageous course of hus- bandry, is commonly fallow: 1, turnips; 2, oats, or barley; 3, clover; 4, peas; 5, wheat. On clays the course varies: on some kinds of heavy clays it is usually fallow, with ma- nure; wheat; beans; wheat, manured; clover; oats, or wheat. On other clays the system pursued is fallow, with manure; wheat, or oats; clover; beans; wheat. The variations, however, are of necessity ex- ceedingly various. Thus, on some of the infe- rior adhesive clays of the midland counties, they adopt the four-course system. Another system of moderately heavy soil husbandry is :— A Acres, 1. Turnips - - - - - - 20 Fallow - - - - - - 20 2, Barley - =" < ae nen PR SOL Oats - - - - - - 20 3. Seeds - - - - ayeeta oo 20 Tares fed off - - - - - 20 4. Wheat - - - - - © 40 There are endless variations, however, of this system, varying in their course from that practised in some of the heavy, rich Essex soils, of a two-shift system; viz., 1, wheat; 2, beans; 3, wheat; with an occasional fallow. And that more extensively used in the hun- ‘dreds of that great agricultural county, of a five-shift system of fallow: 1, oats; 2, clover, dunged; 3, wheat; 4, beans; 5, wheat. To the nine-shift system of husbandry, sometimes prac- tised, which is about the longest course with which I am acquainted, viz.: 20 acres fallow, or turnips manured. 20 acres oats or barley. 20 acres clover. 20 acres wheat, well hoed. 20 acres winter tares, sheep-fed. 20 acres wheat, hoed. 20 acres seeds, sheep-fed. 20 acres, 15 of beans and 5 of peas, dunged. 20 ucres wheat, hoed. The following course, which takes in every valuable crop, without in any instance violat- ing the rules that science directs, seems to me the best, and is recommended by a Norfolk farmer for most clays not too wet. Say fora farm of 350 acres—100 acres of green crops, such as cabbages, turnips, rape, and tares, adapting the green crops to the nature of the jand; 50 acres of peas or beans; 50 acres of barley or oats, laid down with clover; and 100 acres of wheat. You will by this course have every year 200 acres of wheat and other corn, 50 of clover, and 100 of green crops, thus saving your Jand 960 ROTATION OF CROPS. from exhaustion by too frequent repetition of crops of the sare genus. And white crops will in no instance succeed each other. The wheat stubbles are in this way sown with green crops, to be followed by 50 of barley and 50 of beans or peas; the barley sown with clover and followed by wheat, which will thus be 50 acres on clover, and 50 on the bean or pea stubble, taking care that the 50 acres of green crops, followed by beans or peas, when next coming in course for green crops, shall be sown with barley and clover, as by this means the clover comes only once in 7 years. In whatever point of view, therefore, the far- mer examines the rotation of crops best adapt- ed to his land, the more highly interesting does the investigation appear. Long observation and the practice of ages have convinced the best English cultivators that sooner or later the soil is tired of or exhausted of something essen- tial to its luxuriant produce by a repetition of the same crops; that the richest meadows gra- dually decrease in their produce; other soils be- come “clover-sick;” and it is now even pretty generally suspected that the land is in many districts gradually getting tired of turnips. To the examination, therefore, of this greatquestien, let every farmer contribute his mite of practic. 1 observations: it is a theme whose investiga- tion has long yielded a rich harvest to English agriculture; for amongst its fruits must be numbered the introduction of turnips, of man- gel-wurzel, and other green crops; its exami- nation led to the adoption of the four-shift sys- tem, and the banishment of that which for ages rested on the miserable plan of one crop and a fallow. It is idle, therefore, to contend that nothing more is to be effected by change of crops; for the experience of all periods is against so indolent and so erroneous an as- sumption. Let the farmer only remember what has been accomplished by the mere in- troduction of the turnip plant; what thousands of acres have been brought into cultivation by its means, and how many mouths are fed by the increased fertility of the land produced by the adoption of that four-shift system of rota- tion of which it is the first crop. Let him bring to mind what superior crops are now produced by the adoption of new seeds and novel courses, to those which a century since tenanted the lands of merry England; and he will then see abundant reason for hope, and for an energetic perseverance in a course of discovery, which has already rendered such an abundant harvest to the excellent cultivators of our soil. See M. Bousingault on the “ Ro- tation of Crops,” Quar. Jour, Agr. vol. X. p. 251; Liebig’s Organ. Chem. of Agr., &c. To prevent the depreciation of soil and im- prove its productive capacity, a proper rota- tion of crops is indispensable. ‘The same general principles upon which these objects may be most judiciously accomplished will apply to all countries, but the manner of car- rying out these principles must vary with lo- calities and peculiarities of climate and soil. It was once thought that, after culture, it was necessary to allow the land to remain for one or more years at rest and idle, or fallow and ROTATION OF CROPS. unused, in order that the soil might thus have its strength renovated. It has, however, been found that with judicious management land need never be suffered to lie idle, but cultivated every year in one or more crops with profit, and even with improvement of the soil. In other words, the system carried out on a small scale in gardens may be extended to farms. A large portion of Europe is at present cultivated without naked fallows, which are unknown in the vast productive agricultural operations of China. In the United States, the rotations of crops vary considerably in different sections. In Massachusetts, one of the oldest settled por- tions of the Union, and the usages of which may perhaps represent those prevailing through- out the New England States, it would appear from Mr. Colman, that little of what may be called systematic husbandry prevails, the suc- cession of crops being dictated rather by acci- dent or convenience than by any well-con- sidered principles. The following details from his 4th Report on Agriculture, will show how things are managed in different parts of Massa- chusetts. The rotation of crops in Franklin county is very limited, as the crops cultivated are few. In Buckland, the first year the land is broken up, corn is planted and manured: the second year, oats are sowed without manure, and the iand laid down to grass. It is continued in grass five years and then broken up, and the same course repeated. The first year of grass the roduce is about two tons per acre, and when it yields not more than 1500 Ibs. it is consider- ed proper to break it up again. In Shelburne, on one of the best farms in the state, the course is, first year, Indian corn on green sward, ma- nured; second year, spring wheat, and laid down to grass; the grass-seed sown with the wheat; one peck of herd’s grass and one of red-top to the acre. The land remains in grass ordinarily five years. The average yield of grass is estimated at three tons to the acre,— which I think must be an over-estimate,—and the cost of getting the hay at $2 perton. For spring wheat, in the second year of the course, is sometimes substituted rye, or oats, or oats and peas, or oats and wheat. In Whately, first year, Indian corn; second year, oats, and laid down with herd’s grass (timothy) and clover, and remains in grass three years. On much of the meadow land in Deerfield, the first year the land is in corn; the succeed- ing year peas and oats, and so on continually. The corn is manured in the hill. The land, after the corn is gathered, is sometimes sown with winter rye. In some parts of Deerfield, the usual rotation is, first year, corn, usually manured in the hill; the second year, spring wheat, or wheat and oats, or peas and oats, or rye with southern clo- ver; third year, clover; and then plough again. The best farmers universally advise to sow the southern or June clover with grain, to be ploughed in with the stubble where the land is not to remain in grass, with a view to enrich the land. If the grain is winter grain, the 121 ROTATION OF CROPS. clover is usually sown in the spring before the snow has left the ground, at the rate of a bu- shel of clover chaff or clover-seed not cleaned, or else at the rate of 6 or 7 lbs. of cleaned seed. One of the most experienced farmers in the town has been accustomed to sow rye and clover together on the same land for a succes- sion of years; in which case the clover and stubble were always ploughed in together for the purpose of enriching the land for the suc- ceeding crop, and in this process he states that the condition of the land was continually grow- ing better. The crops, however, at best were not large. I think proper here to mention the statement of another farmer, a man of much intelligence and experience, in confirmation of the expe- rience of two other farmers referred to in a former report, that it is much better that the clover should be withered or dead when it is ploughed in, rather than in a green or succu- lent state. In some instances, as in Sunderland, for ex- ample, broom-corn is repeated several years in succession on the same land, and, as it is stated, without a diminution of product. In these cases, the crop is manured in the hill every year; and the corn-stalks, after the brush is gathered, are burnt upon the land. In the oldest cultivated sections of Penn- sylvania, the rotations seem to have been conducted with much good judgment, as is evinced by very successful results generally obtained. These, as well as the system highly approved by many of the most judicious far- mers, are set forth in the following communica- tion in the Farmers’ Cabinet (vol. v. p. 94). The example to which I refer, says the cor- respondent, is that of an old, practical, hard- working farmer, who commenced in the world as a day-labourer, and who is now worth at least $100,000, not taking in the account many heavy pecuniary losses he has, at various times, sustained. This man, when 30 years of age, by the avails of his industry, added to a small legacy, was enabled to purchase and pay, in part, for a farm of 130 acres of land, 100 of which was under cultivation, but in a very low state. This farm is altogether upland, with a soil composed of lime, clay, and sand, in the chief of which the latter preponderates, the former being least considerable. When he commenced farming, he adopted a particular system of rotation, to which he has implicitly adhered from that time to the present, which is 40 years, and his success is the best comment on the worth of his experiment. His mode was as follows: having divided his farm into eight fields of equal size, as nearly as possible, three of these fields are sown with wheat each year, one with rye, one planted with corn, two in clover, and one an open fallow, on which corn had been raised the year previous. One of the two clover-fields is kept for mowing, the other for pasture, both of which are ploughed as soon after harvest as possible, and prepared for wheat in the fall. All the manure which is made on the farm for one year is hauled, in the spring, on the field intended for open fallow, which is then ploughed, and after one or twe 4M 961 ROTATION OF CROPS. eross-ploughings through the summer, is also sown with wheat in the fall. The field on which rye is sown, is that from which a crop of wheat had been taken the same year, and which had yielded three crops of wheat, alternating with crops of clover. Corn is planted on the field from which rye had been gathered the year pre- vious, the stubbles of which are ploughed down in the fall. Clover-seed is sown early in the spring on two of the wheat fields, those which have been most recently manured. By this me- thod, each field yields three crops of wheat, two of clover, one of rye, and one of corn, every eight years. Wach field,in the mean time, has lain an open fallow, and received a heavy dressing of ROTATION OF CROPS. manure, perhaps at an average of 15 four-horse loads per acre. His crop of wheat is seldom less than 1500 bushels, but often much more. His average rye-crop is about 450 bushels, and his corn crop, annually, about 500 bushels— all which grain, at the present low prices, would amount to more than $2000 annually, and at former prices to double that amount; and his farm is withal very highly improved. This system corresponds very nearly with that of which a tabular statement is presented in the same volume, by Mr. W. P. Kintzer, of Pequea, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, as successfully practised by himself. It is as follows :— Field No. 1. | Field No. 2. | Field No. 3. | Field No. 4. | Field No. 5. | Field No. 6. | Field No. 7. | Field No. §. Ist Year - - - Wheat Rye Wheat Clover Corn Wheat Clover Oats Vee - - -| Rye Clover Corn Wheat | Oats Clover Wheat Wheat Sat és - - - Clover Wheat Oats Rye Wheat Wheat Corn Clover 4th * - = - Wheat | Corn Wheat Clover Clover Rye Oats Wheat Ot ae one - - | Corn Oats Clover Wheat | Wheat Clover Wheat | Rye 6th - - - | Oats Wheat Wheat Corn Rye Wheat Clover Clover rihs - - - Wheat Clover Rye Oats Clover Corn Wheat Wheat 8th * - - - Clover Wheat Clover Wheat Wheat Oats Rye Corn In the county of Montgomery, where agri- culture is ina very flourishing state,—the crops consisting of the ordinary grains and hay- grasses,—a five-shi/t rotation, from the division of the farm into five fields, is very much pursued. Commencing with Indian corn, the sod, which has been top-dressed with lime the previous season, is ploughed in the fall or spring. The corn is followed by oats, which being harvested, the stubble is turned under, manure spread upon the ground and wheat sown, with timothy-seed in the fall and red clover in the spring. The wheat has thus the important advantage of immediately succeeding two cleansing crops, and the ground, after harvesting the wheat, is left in fine condition for the hay grasses. The first year after the wheat is harvested, the grass is mown, the second year pastured, after which the sod is again turned under for corn, and the rotation recommences. What is known in Pennsylvania as the Old York and Lancaster system, corresponds with the one last gesoni pais so far as the succession of grain crops and sowing of the grass-seeds are concerned, but differs in allowing the hay- grasses to occupy the field five years. The first two years are most productive in red clover, which, being a biennial and the root dying out, leaves the ground in possession of the timothy and other perennial grasses. The following interesting view of the former and present Virginia modes of conducting ro- tations, and the improvements introduced and suggested, is from the able editor of the Far- mers’ Register (vol. vii-). The first and most humble attempt at a rotation in this country, and the one which formerly was general on the greater part of most farms, and is even now in extensive use, is the two-shift ; which, however, short as it is, had various grades of bad quality. This usu- ally followed the continual cultivation of the land, in its newer condition, in tobacco, while rich enough for the crop, and afterwards in corn, every year. The two-shift was most usually this: 962 1st year, corn— wheat—or oats, if on land too light or too poor for wheat— after harvest, grazed closely until next spring, when ploughed for corn again. When too poor to bear any small grain crops, that part of the course was omitted on such poorer spots of the field, and afterwards on all; thus changing the rotation to 1st year, corn— P 2d “ natural cover of weeds, grazed. When not grazed the second year, as was sometimes the case, for want of separate fenc- ing, or some other cause, this rotation made a nearer approach to alternate and improving husbandry. It was then— : Ist year, corn— 2d “ weeds not grazed, and which (if not burnt off, as was done most usually) form- ed a very poor manuring crop. The celebrated Eastern Shore rotation is of two shifts or fields, but of three crops in the two years. This is— 1st year, corn— 24 first crop, oats— ?, secondary crop, Magothy bay bean— a spontaneous and close cover immediately succeeding the oats, and which remains mostly or entirely untouched by the grazing stock, and is ploughed under for the next crop of corn. The interposition, by nature, and not by the design or industry of the cultiva- tors, of this leguminous and manuring crop, is a most valuable feature in a rotation which otherwise would be altogether exhaust- ing and destructive. The moisture of the air, no less than the sandiness of the soil, and the cleanness from other plants, give vigour to this bean, and make one-third of the whole course meliorating, to two-thirds of exhausting crops. The same moisture also nourishes the oats, and prevents that crop exhausting so much, as in dryer regions—and also by its greater bulk of straw, furnishing more materials for ma- nure. These circumstances render this rota- tion, severe and barbarous as it is, less exhaust- 2d, ROTATION OF CROPS. ing (or more improving, if much attention is paid to manuring) than the ordinary three-shift rotation. Except in the chance-made addition of the spontaneous bean crop, this rotation offends against every principle and rule which ought to govern. The three-shift rotation was the next step in the supposed march of agricultural improve- ment, and even yet is that which many remain- ing two-shift or no-shift cultivators aspire to reach, as the limit of their farming and im- proving ambition, and their ne plus ultra of mild cultivation. This was Ist year, corn— 2d“ wheat, and afterwards the sponta- neous grass and weeds grazed— 3d“ pasture, closely grazed. The severity of the second year was gene- rally moderated on the poorer parts, by the wheat being there necessarily omitted, which of course gave to those parts two years rest from tillage, in three; and, while the wheat was growing, a cessation from grazing also. With very few exceptions, such was the gene- ral system of the best cultivated farms in lower Virginia, when Taylor wrote; and it is on this kind of three-shift rotation that his denuncia- tions were so deservedly cast. This rotation violates every sound principle and rule, and certainly deserved to be treated without mercy ; but many have continued to denounce the three-shift rotation, even when rendered com- paratively mild, as if the evil was in the nwm- ber three, and not in circumstances more im- portant than the mere number of shifts. But, taken in the aspect above described, and which was the best then that was exhibited, the three-shift rotation had no merit whatever. It had no other than fibrous-rooted plants; no other than narrow-leaved crops; no root, legu- minous, or even grass crop; for the close grazing merely served to prevent the scanty weeds and grass from growing; and while every year’s crop was exhausting, the system furnished but small resources and materials for manure. For the grazing animals were as many as the land could keep alive, and scarce- ly any were fattened (by grazing alone) for home consumption or market; and their sup- port served to “diminish, instead of adding to, the fattening or manuring of the land. At that time it would have been difficult for a reading farmer to comprehend this undoubtedly sound maxim of English writers, “the more cattle kept, the more grain and other crops produced.” But the English farmer keeps no animal ex- cept for the profit it will yield; and all that are so kept, give their rich and abundant pro- ducts of manure, as an additional profit to the soil. But when a stock of cattle, sheep, and hogs, can barely make out to keep alive through the year, and never fatten, except by stall and grain feeding, then keeping them certainly yields no clear profit to their owner, and their close grazing of the fields takes away more of fertilizing materials than their dung can pos- sibly replace. An English or French farmer would be no less ata loss to comprehend the object (or even to believe in such a general practice) of keeping a large stock of animals fr n which no net profit was obtained, or even ROTATION OF CROPS. hoped for; and he would justly think that it would not be more absurd for a farmer to tend a crop of grain, and then leave it to rot on the field, than to give all his grass through summer to animals, and then lose the flesh so acquired, by starvation through the winter. Indeed, the general cattle management of this country would scarcely be believed in any good grazing or farming region. On the farms under the usual three-shift rotation, say of 400 acres of arable land, there would be from 40 to 60 head of grazing cattle, which furnished annually to the Owner, at most, about as much milk and butter as two well-kept cows might supply, one or two passable beeves, with the aid of grain feeding, a few poor calves for veal, and a pretty large supply of hides from deaths by starvation in the spring. There were hogs enough to furnish the year’s supply of bacon; but only by means of grain feeding, which alone was admitted to cost nearly or quite as much as the market price of the meat. A flock of poor sheep were on some farms also, of which, be- fore shearing-time, half the wool of many was hanging on the briers, and the remaining fleeces filled with burs. This sort of grazing system accompanied the old three-shift rota- tion; and, inveterate as were old habits, and patient as we are of long-borne grievances, this evil was so great, that none could deny but that the mere expense of the dividing fences, necessary to keep the cattle from the fields of grain, cost more than all the returns from the grazing animals. The fouwr-shift rotation, recommended and practised by Col. Taylor, was— 1st year, corn— 2d “ wheat, and clover sown—or if too poor for wheat, left at rest, and not grazed— 3d “ clover (or weeds), not mown or grazed— 4th “ clover, not mown or grazed. This rotation, as before stated, was the first introduction of manuring fields by their own vegetable cover, and this practice, and the ad- mission of the opinions on which the new practice was founded, was a prodigious step towards agricultural improvement. It is true that even this rotation is opposed to the rules of good husbandry in most respects. But the giving of two and a half years out of four for vegetables to grow, that were to die and decay on, and be finally ploughed into the land, was a feature that compensated for every fault, and made the rotation decidedly meliorating, if on land capable of being enriched by the mere application of vegetable matters. In the first of these numbers, it was stated incidentally to other matters why this rotation became of less benefit and more objectionable, in proportion to the time, and to the effect with which it operated; and if it improved the pro- ductive power of any land, that it also greatly increased the labours of tillage, and the de- struction of products, by increasing weeds and noxious insects. In consequence of this ob- jection, very few disciples of the great intro- ducer of and advocate for this rotation, have continued long to pursue it strictly. The fowr-shift and clover fallow rotation differs 963 ROTATION OF CROPS. widely from that of Col. Taylor. This has been, and I believe still is pursued with great success by Hill Carter, of Shirley, John A. Sel- _den, of Westover, and has been on some other of the best lands on James River, where it has since, in other hands, been either neglected or abandoned, for some modification of the three- shift rotation. This four-shift system is Ist year, corn— 2d“ wheat, and clover sown, and not grazed— 3d “ clover, not grazed, and ploughed in deeply in August and September, and the field sown in wheat— 4th “ wheat, to be followed by corn, in recommencing the rotation next year. A sufficient standing pasture was kept on other land. Mr. Carter, for a considerable length of time, substituted oats for corn in the first year. The farmers above named (whose accounts of their systems and their products were re- ported at length in vol. i., Far. Reg.), and others also, undoubtedly made great crops, and great improvement of land, under this very severe rotation. But those results were due more to the excellence of their general management than to their rotation. None but admirable executive farmers can possibly overcome the great difficulties which accompany this rota- tion. He who, in our dry climate, on a stiff or even medium soil, can plough every August and September one-fourth of all his arable sur- face, to the depth of 8 or 10 inches, and turn in and cover effectually a heavy coat of clover— and this without failing in any year—shows thereby alone his ability to execute the most arduous undertakings, and to do well every thing which he may make a part of his general plan of operations. This rotation, in such jiands as have directed it, has some admirable features; but it must be executed in the most perfect manner, or these best features are lost, and there will remain only the great evil of three fibrous-rooted, narrow-leaved, and ex- hausting grain crops, in succession. The great merit of the four-shift rotation, in general, and considering it as embracing both of these very different varieties, is its easy adaptation to more mild or more severe culti- vation, without any different arrangement or number of fields. Thus, Taylor’s rotation may be rendered still milder (as is needed on the poorest lands) by omitting the wheat crop; and as the land improves, the richer spots may be thrown under the more severe cultivation of the other four-shift system, as practised by Mr. Carter or Mr. Selden. But, in any form, the rotation still remains objectionable, for the succession of grain crops (if there are even two in the course), as well as for other things, in one or the other variety, which have been already stated. Every rotation yet known in Virginia is more or less objectionable, upon one or more of the following grounds : The adoption of certain usual crops, without regard to the various qualities and the wants of the soils, or even to the demand of the netiatg Thus every farmer is sure to make 954 RUBBING-POST. corn and wheat (or oats) his principal, if not his only crops. Thus, the fields are deprived uni- versally of the most improving culture of roots, which dip into and draw from the soil deeply: and of pea crops, which feed on the air, and give the product to the soil as manure; and of all annual green manure crops, which would cleanse the soil by their getting in, their growth, and ploughing under, as well as manure it; and the store cattle and hogs suffer for the want of roots and other succulent food, and those which are necessarily well fed consume grain almost exclusively. Besides these and other objec- tions, which any good practical farmer, or sound theorist, would make, I would further object to the great defect of the preparatory crop not serving to destroy the weeds which will ob- struct, and the insects which will prey on the succeeding crop. Two great exceptions to this last general fault are presented when wheat follows clover, or tobacco, both of which are plants of the broad-leaved kind, unlike in all respects to the succeeding crop, and of such unlike conditions also, thatit may be presumed that the growth of either has served well to destroy many of both the weeds and insect depredators, which are injurious to wheat. Ac- cordingly, these two crops are the best forerun- ners of wheat; which after them always is an excellent crop for the land and the season. Every well-informed farmer will agree to the importance of there being more meliorating crops introduced in our rotations—more grass, peas, roots, and broad-leaved vine crops. But the objection always is to making crops for which there is no sale or market demand. But suppose there is no direct sale and money profit made from hay or roots, they will yield as much profit by being used to feed and fatten (ot merely to keep alive) the necessary farm-stock, and thus allow to be sold the corn and other grain which would be otherwise consumed by the animals, with less relish and less benefit. While roots are totally wanting in our rota- tions, one important office is left unfilled, that is, the deep piercing of the soil and thorough opening of it by tap-rooted and tuberous-rooted plants. Another thing wanting, is the plough- ing under of pea or other annual green crops, to cleanse, as well as to manure the soil. These properly introduced, and the grain crops sepa- rated by green crops, would produce rotations far more improving to the land than any yet known, and probably as much better for early annual income as for improvement of the land, the farmer’s best capital. ROWAN TREE (Pyrus aucuparia). The quicken tree, or mountain ash, as it is some- times called, is a handsome tree, of slow growth, with a tough, cross-grained, not very hard wood, indigenous to our mountains, woods, and hedges. The leaves are pinnate scarcely a span long, composed of leaflets, uni form, serrated, smooth. The fruit is globose, scarlet, very juicy, sour, and bitter. They are eagerly devoured by birds of the thrush kind. The fruit, also, when the bitter is extracted by soaking it in water, may be made into a pre- serve. RUBBING-POST. A stone pillar or post set up in a field for cattle, hogs, or other animals RUDDLE. to rub against, and for the protection of the gates, trees, and fences themselves. RUDDLE or RADDLE. A kind of red earthy ochre, or ironstone, very easily reduced to powder, which is found in several parts of England, especially in Derbyshire; and is used in marking sheep. ’ RUE (Ruta graveolens). Rue thrives best in a poor brick earth, in which a portion of cal- careous rubbish has been mixed. It will not endure the application of dung or a rich soil, for although this causes a luxuriant growth in summer, death is as certainly produced by severe frosts. It is propagated by slips and cuttings as well as from seeds; the first two modes being usually practised as being the most easy. “Tt may be planted or sown any time during the spring. RUNCINATE. A botanical term, applied to the lobes of leaves: a leaf is said to be run- cinate when it is irregularly lobed, the lobes gradually diminishing to the base, and hooked backwards. The leaf of the dandelion (Tarazra- cum) is a good example of the runcinate leaf. RUNT. A name given toa small kind of black cattle brought from Wales and Scotland. See Carrie. It is also a term applied to the weak and stunted pigs of a litter; also several species of pigeons; as the Leghorn, Spanish, and Friesland runt. RUSH (Juncus; Linneus derived the name from jungo, to join; in allusion to the first ropes being made from rushes). This is' an extensive genus of coarse plants, many of them aquatics, which are common on most wet lands. Rushes always intimate a deep, rich soil, and thrive best in land which is too cold and wet for other plants. The growth of these plants may be easily prevented by under or surface draining, which will prevent the stag- nation of water on the soil; and by the appli- cation of saline or calcareous top-dressings, such as sand, lime ashes, and road-scrapings. All the species of rush do best cultivated in a moist situation, some of them entirely in water, and others in a peat soil; they may be in- ereased by seeds, or dividing the roots. In Japan they cultivate the soft rush (J. effusus) for making floor-mats. Sir J. E. Smith, in his English Flora, enu- merates 23 indigenous species of rush. (Pax- ton’s Bot. Dict.; Smith’s Eng. Flor.) Of the scirpus genus of plants, which in- cludes the rushes, about 40 species have been found by botanists in the United States. Among these are the club-rush, or marsh scirpus; the bull-rush, which is also called tall club-rush or lake scirpus, which grows so luxuriantly along the shores of the Delaware; and the brown cotton-grass, or wool-bearing scirpus. The species of club-rush commonly met with in the United States are the Scirpus palus- tris, S. obtusis, S. tenwis, which, with the com- mon bull-rush, S. Lacustris, are all worthless occupants of low, wet grounds. (Flora Ces- trica.) RUST. See Mirvew. RUTA BAGA. See Tunrnirs. RYE (Secale cereale; Germ. roggen dut rog). | This species of grain is much more hardy, but incalculably less valuable in every respect than , RYE-GRASS, wheat. It has been cultivated from time im- memorial, and is supposed to be a native of the Caspian Caucasian desert. In England it is very little used as an article of food com- pared with wheat and oats, though in the north of Europe, and in Flanders, it forms a princi- pal article of human subsistence, but generally mixed with wheat, and sometimes also with barley. The grains consist of 65°6 of meal, 24-2 of husk, and 10:2 of water. The prepa- ration and culture of rye are essentially the same as for wheat; but the same quality of soil is not equally suited to each. Rye grows most luxuriantly for feeding when sown on hazel mould, but any poor, dry, sandy soil is fit for its production. It is sown either broadcast or in drills, in the autumn or spring; but the spring variety is that most hardy and most generally cultivated. The proportion of seed is about two or three bushels per acre when required for a crop, and three bushels and a half when it is intended to be fed off. The meal of rye is considered second only to wheat; it is often used alone or mixed with a proportion of wheat flour to make bread and gingerbread. In those unaccustomed to its use, it is apt to cause an acescent state of stomach and diarrhea. Rye is liable to a disease called ergot, which depends on a fungus, which at- tacks and alters the character of the grain. It becomes long, of a deep violet hue externally, and pinkish-white within. The odour of the ergotted grain is fishy and fetid, the taste slightly acrid. Ergotted or spurred rye is poi- sonous, when it is baked into bread. It causes febrile symptoms, great debility, often paraly- sis, tremors, abscesses, gangrene, and death. Some of the epidemics which have occasion- ally nearly depopulated the north of Europe, have been traced to the use of the spurred rye. As green food for sheep, rye is not only valu- able for its early produce, but as producing a flow of milk in the ewes. The straw is highly esteemed for Dunstable work, for thatching and litter; and is also used to stuff horse-collars. See Encor. RYE-GRASS or RAY-GRASS (Loliwm pe- renne), pl. 5,a. There has been much differ- ence of opinion respecting the merits and com- parative value of rye-grass. It produces an abundance of seed, which is easily collected and readily vegetates on most kinds of soil under circumstances of different management; it soon arrives at perfection, and produces in its first year of growth a good supply of early herbage, which is much liked by cattle. These merits have no doubt upheld it till the present day in practice, and will probably for some time to come continue it a favourite grass with many farmers. But the latter-math of rye- grass is very inconsiderable, and the plant im- poverishes the soil in a high degree, if the culms, which are invariably left untouched by cattle, are not cut before the seed advances towards perfection. The spike of the Loliwm perenne is awnless; calyx shorter than the spikelets; floret lanceolate. The varieties of this species are very numerous, such as the slender rye-grass (var. tenwe); compound or broad-spiked rye-grass (var. compositum); Pa- cey’s rye-grass (var. ramosum) ; Russell’s grass 4m 2 965 SACCHARINE. (Russellianum); Whitworth’s grass ( Whitworthi- ensis); Stickney’s grass (Stickneiensis); pani- cled rye-grass (paniculatum); double-flowered rye-grass (monstroswm); viviparous rye-grass (viviparum): all the varieties have a strong tendency to vary their form when sown on dif- ferent soils. The annual species are common only to land under cultivation, under the alter- nate husbandry. Rye-grass appears to have been cultivated previous to the year 1677 (Woldridge’s Husb. Ist ed.), besides which, red clover, spurrey, tre- foil, and nonsuch were the only plants then cultivated as grasses, or termed such; and it is only of late years that any other species of the natural grasses has been tried as a substitute for it in forming artificial pastures. One peck of rye-grass, with fourteen pounds of clover, per acre, is generally considered sufficient for sowing artificial pastures. Rye-grass, when not more than three years old, flowers in the second week of June, and ripens the seed in about 25 days after: as the plants become older they flower much later, sometimes so late as the beginning of August. See Gnrasszs. A variety called the Italian rye-grass was Some time since brought prominently into no- tice, and is well spoken of. One species of rye-grass, the bearded darnel (Loliwm temulen- tum) is poisonous. PI. 7,¢. It is an annual, and flowers in July. The root is downy and fibrous; the culm leafy, smooth, about two feet high, with leaves of a bright-green, rough in the under disk. The spike is a span long, and roughish. The calyx of the flowers linear, flattish, many-ribbed, rising above the spike- lets. The florets are six, with the outer valve of the corolla elliptical, concave, with a dorsal awn. The seeds are elliptical, flattened, and furnished with a furrow along its upper side. See Darvet. S. SACCHARINE. A term applied to such substances as contain sugar. The plants in which this substance is abundant are in gene- ral highly nutritious and useful in the fattening of animals. See Moxasses and Sucan. SACKS. The term sack, in the sense of a bag, is found in all the European and many Asiatic languages. SAFFRON (Crocus sativus). The stigmata of this purple crocus are of a deep orange colour, and when in quantity have a peculiar and very characteristic odour; they are used in medicine, chiefly as arich yellow or orange- colouring matter. Saffron is now chiefly im- ported from the south of Europe, especially Spain; it was formerly much cultivated in England in the vicinity of Saffron Walden, in Cambridgeshire. Saffron is often largely adulterated with the petals of other plants, especially with those of the marigold. The English saffron is superior to that brought from Spain. It should never be compressed into cakes, but the stigmata left in a dry, shrivelled state, or, as it is termed, hay saffron. Where the stigmata are pale, the saf- 966 SAGO. fron is bad. Saffron, as a medicine, is of little value. See Canraamus and Crocus. SAFFRON, THE MEADOW. See Cor- CHICUM. SAGE, GARDEN (Salvia officinalis; from salveo, to be safe, on account of the sanative properties with which it was supposed to be fraught). Sage is now used principally in cu- linary preparations. There are several varie- ties, as, 1. The common green. 2. Worm- wood. 3. Green, with variegated leaves. 4. Red, with variegated leaves. 5. Painted, or parti- coloured. 6. Spanish, or lavender-leaved. 7. Red. A dry, moderately fertile soil, is best suited to their growth, in a rather sheltered situation. If the soil is rich, or super-abound- ing in moisture, they grow luxuriantly, but are apt to perish in winter. Sage is propagated by cuttings of the young shoots from the sides of the branches, sometimes also by rooted offsets, and likewise by seed. See Crary. SAGE, THE WOOD. Sce Germanner. SAGO (Malay and Jav. sagu). A species of fecula or starch obtained from the cellular substance of a palm tree—the Sagus farinifera, Gertn; Sagus Rumphii, Wild. In the early writers it is called sagu, suga, and zaga. In Java the word signifies bread. The sago which is procured from the above palm, and six other species of the same family, is the pith of the trunk. When the tree is of suffi- cient age it is cut down, split, and the pith ex- tracted and reduced to powder, which is mixed with water and strained through a sieve. The sago is deposited from the fluid, and after two or three washings it is fit for use, and is called in this state, when dried, sago-meal. For the European market it is made into a paste and granulated, and is known in the trade under the name of pearl sago. The consumption of sago has undergone an almost incredible in- crease within the last twenty years, which is wholly ascribable to the reduction in the inter- val of the oppressive duties by which the arti- cle was formerly loaded. Sago has latterly been brought prominently into notice as food for domestic animals usually reared upon the farm, particularly horses and calves. Experi- ence having decided in favour of its whole- someness and economy, it will no doubt very soon become a general and staple article of food on all farms that rear young stock. From its emollient and nutritive properties, it ap- pears to be admirably adapted for calves while on milk; for cows sometimes before and after calving; for young horses in winter, instead of much dry corn, or none at all, as is too fre- quently practised; and for young pet lambs, whose mothers have either died or forsaken them, in which events a serious encroachment is apt to be made on the milk intended for the calves. Sago seems peculiarly well adapted for horses for fast work, and for sporting dogs, since it is found to leave the wind unaffected; and with regard to fowls, the whole class of them might be rendered by it much more white in flesh and delicate for the table, than the food usually allowed them on farms. Sago is most commonly used in a gelatinous state, and it is easily reduced to that state by | boiling water. SAINFOIN. As a drink for horses, after a severe run or burst in the field, sago gruel, consisting of about a pound of the mucilage or jelly, com- pletely dissolved in two or three gallons of Warm water, is found to be superior to any other kind of drink. For cows, the jelly should also be given in the shape of drink. Sago jelly mixed with new milk forms an ex- cellent food for calves. Dogs should have the jelly poured over biscuit, bread, or potatoes. To pigs sago should be administered in the shape of drink, from 2 to 3 pounds being given to each pig once a day; and the jelly for fowls should be in warm balls, mixed up with barley meal. Sago has been sometimes used as an ingre- dient of household bread, in the proportion of 1 part of sago to 3 of wheaten flour. It forms an excellent pudding for the convalescents from acute diseases. It is only moderately nu- tritious, consisting chiefly of starch; yet it is the bread, and may be termed the staff of life of natives of the Molucca islands. SAINFOIN or SAINTFOIN (Hedysarwm onobrychis). The Bourgogne or Esparette of the French. Pl. 8,g. Having been first intro- duced to the farmer from France, this plant brought its French name of saint-foin along with it; and cock’s-head, by which it was be- fore known as a native of England, is become obsolete. The stems of sainfoin are recum- bent, 2 or 3 feet in length; leaves pinnate, nearly smooth; flower-stalks axillary, ascend- ing, longer than the leaves, each bearing a dense tapering spike of handsome variegated crimson flowers. The fruit is a legume, erect, single-seeded, toothed at the margin and ribs. Sainfoin is a well-known object of cultivation as fodder for cattle, on dry, barren, especially chalky or marly ground, in open situations. From its not thriving well except the soil or subsoil be calcareous, sainfoin is not generally met with in England; it is most extensively cultivated on the Cotswold Hills, and on the chalk soils of Surrey, &c. Its nature, quali- ties, and treatment are similar to those of Lu- CERN, which see. SAINT JOHN’S-WORT. See Joun’s-Wonr. SAINT PETER’S-WORT. See Jonn’s- Wonrr. SALAD, CORN. See Corn Saran. SALAL BERRY. A newtruit from the valley of the Columbia river. It is about the size of a common grape, of a dark purple colour, and possesses a sweet and pleasant flavour. SALLOW. The common name of several species of Salix, which, unlike those known under the name of osiers, are not flexible, but form large trees or rough bushes, which grow in moist, marshy woods and hedges, in various parts of England. Sallows generally yield the best kind of charcoal for the manufacture of gunpowder, though all the species of salix are burnt for the preparation of this substance. Sir J. E. Smith particularizes, in England, nearly a dozen different native species of sal- low. See Osten and Wixrtow. SALLOW-THORN (Hippophie, from hippos, a horse, and phao, to destroy; in reference to the supposed poisonous qualities of the seeds). The species are mostly ornamental trees or shrubs, growing in any common soil, and may SALT, COMMON. be readily increased by layers or cuttings of the roots. The common sallow-thorn or sea- buckthorn (H. rhamnoides) is a bushy, rigid shrub, 5 feet or more in height, with hard wood, and straight, spreading, leafy branches, each terminating in a thorn. The shrub is a native, being found growing wild on sandy cliffs on the eastern coast of England. The leaves are linear-lanceolate, scattered, decidu- ous, 1} inch long, on short stalks, dark-green on the upper side, minutely dotted, beautifully silvery as well as scaly beneath. SALSIFY (Tragopogon porrifolius). An or- namental plant, which, when grown in the kitchen garden, succeeds in any common soil. It is sown and treated in the same manner as carrots; the flavour of the root is mild and sweetish. When properly cooked, it has a flavour much resembling that of oysters, from which it often goes by the name of oyster plant. SALSILLA (Edible alstremeria). A very herbaceous plant, a native of Peru. Its roots are eaten like the potato. It is cultivated in the West Indies, and may answer well inmany parts of the United States. (Kenrick). SALT, COMMON, as a manure (Germ. salz; It. sale). This salt is a compound of chlorine and a metal, the base of soda, called sodiwn ; or, in chemical language, salt is a chloride of sodium. It is too well known to require de- scription; but it may be proper to state that it dissolves equally well in cold and in hot water. It would be, perhaps, difficult to name any other substance in the catalogue of modern fer- tilizers, whose powers have been so often and so warmly disputed as common salt; and for this controversy many reasons may be assigned. It has been generally employed with little scien- tific accuracy, and in far too loose a manner for any reliance to be placed upon the majority of the reports which have been furnished to us; and for many years a prohibitory duty in Eng- land rendered it inaccessible to the farmer— an impost which has not very long been re- moved, and which yet was the occasion of a great variety of blundering trials, miscalled ex- periments. The duty on salt was, indeed, one of Jong continuance. It originated as a war tax, in the ninth year of the reign of William IIL, and was not removed until after many an arduous debate, in the end of that of George Ill. The price of salt, in consequence of the duty, was raised from 6d.a bushel to more than 20s.; and was, therefore, during the continu- ance of the tax, too expensive a fertilizer to be employed by the English farmer; and it was only after being for a century and a half lost to agriculture, that it was again presented, in 1823, unshackled with duties, to the notice of the agriculturist. During that long interval, salt, as a manure, was known only in the tra- ditions of the English farmers. Through these they learned, that it was formerly used to kill worms, and to destroy weeds; that it cleansed fallows, increased the produce of light, arable soils, and was good to sweeten grass. These reported advantages were rendered more pro- bable by certain facts that had been forced, as it were, upon their attention. The gardener was well aware that the brine of the pickling tubs, when poured over his heaps of oS not 967 SALT, COMMON. only killed every weed, every seed, and every grub, but that these heaps were then converted into so many parcels of the most fertilizing manure; the good effects of which, especially upon potatoes and carrots, were very decided. Tt was well known, too, that a single grain of salt placed upon an earthworm speedily de- stroyed it; that if brine were poured upon the lawn, all the earthworms were immediately ejected from that spot; and that if it were sprinkled about over a portion of the grass, to this salted portion all the deer, sheep, or the horses of the park constantly repaired, in pre- ference to any other part of the field. Salt evi- dently, therefore, destroyed weeds and worms, and rendered grass more palatable to live- stock; and, upon consulting the old agricultu- ral writers, it was found that the notices of salt as a manure were many and important; and that salt had been employed in various agri- cultural operations from a very early period. Thus it is referred to in Si. Luke, xiv. 34. Vir- gil reprobates a salt soil. Cato, 150 years n.c., commends it for cattle, hay, straw, &c.; as does Virgil, lib. 3, v. 394. The early German farmers knew of its value for sheep; and for the same purpose, in Spain, it has been em- ployed from the earliest ages. In 1570, Conrad Heresbach commends it as being a certain pre- vention of the “murrain or rotte.” In 1653, Sir Hugh Platt speaks of salt as a fertilizer in his usual visionary manner, and details the result of a very successful experiment on a “patch of ground” at Clapham; from which some late writers upon the uses of salt have led their readers into great blunders, by stating that this experiment was performed on an acre of land. The use of salt by the cultivator, since the repeal of the duties in 1823, has been considerable, however, in many districts of England, in spite of these blundering instruc- tions, ill-contrived experiments, and ignorant conclusions. If to this be added the natural difficulty of obtaining correct results in any experiments in which vegetable life is con- cerned, we need no longer be surprised that many contradictory statements have been made with regard, not only to salt, but to all other fertilizers. Common salt is composed of 35:42 parts of chlorine, and 23°3 of sodium. This is not the place to enlarge upon its almost universal pre- sence in almost all waters, soils, and situa- tions, nor of the masses with which our country is endowed. Its fertilizing properties, when applied to land, may be described as five in number. 1. In small proportions, it promotes the de- composition of animal and vegetable substances —a fact first ascertained by Sir James Pringle and Dr. Macbride. Salt, therefore, promotes the rapid dissolution of the animal and vege- table remains contained in all cultivated soils. The recent discoveries of M. Macaire, with regard to the excretions of vegetables, impart considerable information as to the use of com- mon salt in promoting the putrefaction of vege- table substances in the soil; since it has been shown by this gentleman that the brown excre- tory matter of a plant is extremely noxious to 968 SALT, COMMON. those of its own species; the salt, therefore, by its presence in the soil, promoting the putre- faction of the excretion, naturally assists in removing the ofiending matter ; and, in so doing, the excretion, as it decomposes, certainly af- fords nourishment to the plant which produced it. We are fully aware that this hypothesis may be disputed: we therefore offer it merely as an hypothesis. But it is true that salt, pro- perly used, enables land which has been de- teriorated by one crop to bear another with advantage. 2. It destroys vermin and kills weeds, which are thus converted into manure. 3. It is a di- rect constituent or food of some plants; and it has been clearly ascertained, that if salt is applied to a soil, the vegetables afterwards growing on that land are found to contain an increased proportion of common salt. (Mr. George Sinclair, Prize Essay on Salt as a Ma- nure.) All marine plants contain it in consider- able proportions. 4. Salt acts on vegetable substances as a stimulant. Dr. Priestley tried various experiments, all supporting this suppo- sition. He added to phials, containing an ounce and a half of water, various proportions of common salt, from 1 to 12 grains, and in the solutions placed various sprigs of mint and other vegetables. In those solutions which contained more than 12 grains, the plants died immediately, and the rest died in their order, except that which contained 3 grains of salt, which seemed to grow as well as plants grow- ing in simple water. It was remarkable, how- ever, that this plant, as well as all those that died in the stronger solutions, seemed to flou- rish at first more than those which were grow- ing in simple water, and that that which had 3 grains of salt, and that which had 1 grain only, continued to live after the plants in sim- ple water were dead. (Nat. Philos. vol. i. p. 106.) That vegetable substances are capable of being stimulated by chemical solutions, is well known. A solution of chlorine in water wil] make certain seeds vegetate which would otherwise rot in the earth; and a mixture of camphor, &c., has been found to be very bene- ficial in restoring vitality to cuttings of various exotics too long delayed on their passage. 5. Salt preserves vegetables from injury by sudden transitions in the temperature of the atmosphere. That salted soils do not freeze so readily as usual when salt is applied to them, is well known; and that salt preserves crops of turnips, cabbages, &c., from injury by the frost, is equally well established. (Johnson’s Essay on Salt, pp. 6—68.) 6. Salt renders earth more capable of ab- sorbing the moisture of the atmosphere—a property of the first importance, since those soils which absorb the greatest proportion of moisture from the atmosphere are always the most valuable to the cultivator. “It affords,” said the illustrious Davy, “one method of judging of the productiveness of land.” (Agr. Chem. p. 184.) See Earrus, The impure picking of scalings of the salt- makers is usually to be obtained by the farmer at avery low rate, and from its being a mixture of common salt and gypsum (sulphate of lime), it is excellently adapted as a manure for the SALT, COMMON. grasses, such as clover, Tucern, sainfoin, &c.; and, as such, I will give the chemical analy sis, for the information of the cultivator, of the re- fuse of the marine and fossil salt-makers. The pan scale of the Lymington marine salt- makers consists, according to the analysis of Dr. Henry, of— Muriate of magnesia - - - = 29 Desiccated sulphate of magnesia - 18 Carbonate of lime and magnesia - 127 Sulphate of lime - - - = 216 Muriate of soda (sea-salt) - - - 610 1000 Of the pan scale of the fossil salt-refiners of Norwich, two specimens were examined by Dr. Henry; the first was composed of— Parts, Common salt = = - = - 950 Carbonate oflime == - = ce, 10 Sulphate of lime - = = = 40 1000 The second variety was composea of— Common salt - - - - a lig Carbonate of lime - - - - 110 Sulphate of lime - - - - 790 1000 Salt, it should be remembered, rarely causes the wheat plant to grow larger or taller, but it fills up the ear better, and brings the weaker plants forward. Mr. Sinclair’informs us, that “salt appears to lessen the produce of straw, and increase the weight of grain.” I have never been able in my experiments, nor in any I have witnessed (with salt alone), to observe any in- creased quantity of straw, even in cases where there was an increased produce, by means of salt, of 6 bushels of wheat per acre. The salt should be applied some time before sowing the seed, not less than 10, and not more than 20 bushels per acre. In my own experiments upon a light gravelly soil, at Great Totham, in Essex, the use of this quantity of salt per acre (in 1819) produced an increase of 53 bushels per acre. The following statement of the result of some trials in 1820, on a light and gravelly soil, will show how important may be the result to the country at large by its judicious applica- tion. I regret that incessant employment of a very different nature has hitherto prevented my continuing these experiments. Produce per Acre. Bushels, bs. No. 1. Soil without any manure for 4 years- 13 2. Soil manured with stable dung to the previous crop (potatoes) - - 26 52 3. Soil with 5 bushels of salt per acre, and noother manure for4 years - 26 12 The testimony of a plain Essex farmer cor- roborates these results. “The soil,” says Mr. James Challis, of Panfield, “that I described to you to be of rather a loose, hollow description, had a dressing of salt in November, after the wheat was sown, about 14 or 15 bushels per acre: it produced at the rate of 6 bushels per acre more than that which was not dressed, and it may be stated to be ll. per load of 40 bushels better in quality.” (Essay on Salt, p. 45.) It is a custom in most counties of England, to apply salt and water as a steep to prevent SALT, COMMON. every farmer. Recent experiments have sug- gested that it may even be of use, when em- ployed in larger quantities, as a preventive of mildew; the most dreadful of the numerous diseases to which the cultivated grasses are exposed. The experiments of the late Rey. E. Cartwright strongly evidence, that when salt and water are sprinkled with a brush upon diseased plants, it effects a complete cure, even in apparently the most desperate cases. (My Essay, p. 49.) “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, is instant death to the fungus.” The time and expense are trifling. It appear- ed, in the course of some inquiries made by the Board of Agriculture, 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 with the rust or blight. See MizpEw. Experiments demonstrate the efficacy of salt on barley and oats. In 1820, on a good alluvial soil, at Heybridge, in Essex, in a field of barley, the results of two experiments were— Bushels, 1. Soil dressed with 6 bushels of salt per acre, and 20 loads of earth and stable dung, at turnip- time, produced per acre - - - 2. Soil dressed with 20 loads of dung and earth - 65 60 In the same year, at Sproughton, in Suffolk, on a sandy, barley soil, belonging to Mr. Ran- some :— muons of jarley. 1. Soil without any manure produced, per acre 30 2, Soil dressed with 16 bushels of salt per acre in March - - - - - = = 51 The following table contains the results of fourteen experiments, made in 1819, by the late Mr. George Sinclair, at Woburn, on the uses of salt to the barley crop. The soil had, the pre- vious year, carried a crop of turnips, and was composed of three-fourths silicious sand :— Quantity per Produce. Kind of Manure, and Mode of Bester applying it. Bushels | Bushels Weight of of | Bush. | _ per Salt. | Lime Bushel. BARLEY. Soil without manure of Ibs, any kind - - - = - 12 43h Salt sown with the seed -| 55 - 20 433 Salt sown with the seed - + - 20 4a Salt applied before sowing | 33 - 283 | 442 Salt applied before sowing | 11 - 28} | 43 Salt applied before sowing os - 233 | 43 Lime and salt applied be- fore sowing - - 33 60 9 424 Lime and salt applied be- foresowing -— - il 60° | 22 424 Lime and salt nee sow- ing = 163 | 30 | 133] 43 Lime mixed and: sown nwith seed - - - - 60 183] 433 Lime mixed with soil pre- vious tosowing - -| - 60 | 103) 432 OATS. Sown without any manure - - 282 | 33 Salt with the seed - -| 44 - i} 304 Salt mixed with the soil -| 44 - 27 27 In these experiments upon oats, the quanuty of salt applied was evidently too great. Mr. Legrand states, thatyin his experiments upon barley, “ it gradually advanced in its effects the ravages of the disease in wheat, called | 16 bushels, and as gradually diminished to smut; the value of this is known to almost 122 | bushels, when vegetation was stopped.” 969 SALT, COMMON. The following table contains the results of the experiments made at Woburn, 1818-19, by the late Mr. George Sinclair, with his usual scientific accuracy. T would direct the farmer’s attention to this table, as containing a mass of valuable information. Kind of Manure, and Mode of applying it. Spit manure applied previous to sowing the seed Salt and spit manure dug in salt mixed with seed Salt mixed with soil 4 inches deep before sowing Salt ditto ditto ditto - Salt sown with seed - - Salt combined with manure, dugi in 4 inches deep Salt and manure: salt sown with seed, manure du Salt and manure: salt applied to the surface - Salt simply applied tothe surface - - - Salt and manure: salt applied to the surface - Salt simply applied tothe surface = - - Salt and lime mixed, and applied with the seed Salt and lime mixed, and applied before sowing Salt and lime mixed, and applied on the surface Lime applied with the seed - - - - Lime applied to the surface - Salt, lime, and dung mixed, and applied as manure Long dung dug inas manure - - Salt and long dung mixed, and applied as manure Lime and long dung mixed, and applied as manure Salt and long dung “mixed, and applied as manure Oil-cake mixed, and applied with the seed - Oil-cake applied as common manure - - Oil-cake and lime applied as common manure - Salt and oil cake mixed, and sown with the seed Salt and oil-cake mixed, and applied as manure Salt, oil-cake, and manure, applied as manure Pat WL Cas ist BAO) OS US ah CE aks Cis OC) Salt, oil-cake, and manure; the salt and oil-cake sow seed, manure previously dug in - - - Salt, oil-cake, and lime, applied as manure - Salt, oil-cake, and lime, sown with the seed Salt, oil-cake, and Jime, applied to the surface Salt applied to the soil in the preceding spring Salt applied to the soil in the preceding spring - As a Manure for Grass Land, Meadows, &c., salt has been used in all parts of England, with varying success. It always, however, sweetens the herbage. It has been employed at the rate of 6 to 16 bushels per acre, and where the pri- mary object has been the destruction of the old turf, even 30 to 40 bushels have been suc- cessfully employed on the same extent of land. It has the effect of completely preventing worm- casts on lawns, &c. In a letter with which I was favoured from Mr. Collyns, of Kenton, Devonshire, 1826, he says—*One of my neighbours writes me, ‘In using salt as a manure on grass land, I have found the salted portions not to be affected by severe frosty nights, when every blade of grass on the unsalted portions has been in a frozen state. I observe, too, that it is destructive to every kind of grub and worm; and I am con- vinced, where it has been used with judgment, that it has not failed’ Another intelligent neighbour,” continues Mr. Collyns, “ whose farm is almost entirely a light black sand, writes, ‘I have found salt answer my most sanguine expectations for barley, oats, pota- toes, and turnips, both as to the increased quantity and improved quality of the crops, of which I can now give ocular demonstration : my barley and oats, which used to yield me only 15 to 20 bushels per acre, now yield from 40 to 45, My wheat is certainly much im- 970 d SALT, COMMON. The soil on which these experiments were made was sandy, and the plots each contained 36 square feet; the Talavera wheat was drilled into the soil November 5th, and reaped August 2d, 1818. Manures, omitting Fractions, Quantity per Acre. poe Weight Buakels cake in | Bushels.| of a hels. Busbel. Salt in Dung in Bushels. Tons, ee PAP Ga ae 1 Dee tii eUe MONO hh ert tele Tse Caen of = oe CRS CEs ee Cre sage see ieginin iF 8) Ass aa) Bsn Oe Oe proved in quality, but I expected more in quan- tity. Ihave had 35 bushels of wheat from an acre dressed with 10 bushels of salt; and from the same field last year, after the same quan- tity of salt, 140 bags of potatoes per acre. This year again, dressed with 10 bushels of salt, I have not more than 20 bushels of wheat per acre, but the quality very superior indeed, and the root of clover in it very fine and luxuriant. In every field I have salted, I find the grass very much superior to any produced before the use of salt’ I have since,” adds Mr. Collyns, “gone over his farm, and am astonished at the verdant pasturage, in what used to be coarse and rushy meadows. In this arable land, he never got more than 10 bushels of wheat per acre until he used salt; so that this is alsoa decided improvement.” In Suffolk, according to a statement furnish- ed to me by Mr. Broke, of Capel, near Ipswich, “Tn the month of April, 1821, 6 bushels of salt manure were applied to half an acre of red clover; the soil good turnip land, not sharp; extent of the field 10 acres. The salted clover at first looked very yellow, and apparently in- jured, but it soon began to recover, and when mown, the increased produce was, at the very least, 10 ewt. per acre; and the aftermath pro- portionally good; the cattle eating it down closer, and in preference to any other part of the field.” SALT, COMMON. With potatoes—There have been various ex- periments made with salt as a manure for po- tatoes. The author of this work, in 1817,on a gravelly soil, at Great Totham, in Essex, made the following trials :— Bushels, 1. Soil simple, produce per acre - 120 2. Soil with 20 bushels of salt in September! - 192 3. Soil with stable manure, 20 loads in the spring of the year = i= 219 4, Soil with 20 loads of manure and 20 bushels ofsalt- = - Fo 5. Soil with 40 bushels of salt alone - - 1924 6. Soil with 40 BORER of eae and eu loads of manure - - - - 244 The Rey. Edmund Cartwright, of Hollenden House, in Kent, in 1804, made various import- ant trials of salt as a manure for potatoes. The soil on which the experiments were made consisted of three-fourths sand. See Porarogs. “Of ten different manures,” said this agri- culturist, “salt, a manure hitherto of an am- biguous character, is (one only excepted) supe- rior to them all. The effect of the mixture of salt and soot is remarkable.” The writer of this witnessed the same result on carrots, at the rate of 16 bushels of each per acre. Vermin.—With regard to the destruction of vermin by means of salt, we may safely assert, that there is, perhaps, no agricultural use of common salt more undoubted. The effect, too, is direct, and the result immediately apparent. For this purpose, from 5 to 10 bushels per acre are sufficient. ‘The agriculturist need be under no apprehension that the salt will destroy his crop, for 20 bushels of salt per acre may be applied to young wheat with perfect safety: I have seen even 25 bushels used with advantage. See Insects. In reference to Weeds.—Salt has been of late years used at the rate of from 20 to 40 bushels per acre, to kill weeds and to cleanse fallows, with great advantage ; it also, in the large pro- portion we have named, will destroy coarse, sour grass, &c.; and though, for a time, all vegetation is destroyed, yet, in a short period, a much superior turf is produced. If the culti- vator can collect weeds, parings of turf, ditches, banks, &c., of the most foul description, and spread evenly on the surface of the heap half a bushel of salt to every ton of the collection, he will find every weed, in the course of a few weeks, killed and dissolved away. This plan Thave long followed myself, on a light, gravelly soil; and upon spreading this salted mixture, at the rate of 14 or 15 loads per acre, its bene- ficial effects can be traced to an inch. I have principally used it as a dressing for turnips and oats. In the Garden—Salt has been employed by the gardener for many purposes; most com- monly on lawns, at the rate of 10 bushels per acre, to prevent worm-casts; and on gravel walks in a larger proportion, to kill weeds; it may be employed, however, as a fertilizer in gardens with decided advantage. Ihave wit- nessed the results of the following experiments made by my brother, Mr. George Johnson, at Great Totham; and I the more readily give them a place here, from knowing with what care they were made :— The soil was composed of— SALT, COMMON. Parts, Stones and gravel - - - = - @& Vegetable fibre - - - - - 15 Soluble matter - - - - 3 Carbonates of lime and magnesia ime weg) (3) Oxide ofiron - - - - 4 Animal and vegetable matter - - 1 Alumina - - - - - - 45 Silica - - - - - - - 40 Loss - - = - 1 100 Windsor beans were sown on it— A Produce pez Acre. Soil treated with 20 bushels of salt per acre, bushels - - - - - - - 217 Soilsimple - - - - - - - 135 Onions— Tons. ewt. qrs. Ibs. Salt 20 bushel, paSpaxe 20 tong, per acre 3 12 3 18 Manure - - - - - 2 10 2 19 Carrots— 1. Soil without any manure - - - 13 40 0 2. Soil with 20 tons of manure - - 22 18 O 26 3. Soil with 20 bushels of salt - 18° 20" e 4. Soil with 20 bushels of salt, and 20 tons of manure - - ae 6 1 18 Parsnips— 1. Soil with 20 tons of manure, and 20 bushels of salt - - - - 6.15 00 2. Soil with 20 tons manure - - =p Op LL ola Early potatoes— bbls. 1. Soil simple - - - - - 308 2. Soil with 20 bushels ‘of salt See ats 584 Beets— 3 Tons. cwt. qr. 1. Soil simple - - - = (4 10 1 2. Soil with 20 bushels « of salt - - 4883 3. Soil with 20 tons WS salt, and 20 tons of manure - - - - =e Te LOO 4. Soil with 20 tons of n manure - - - 6 10 0 In preventing clubbing in the roots of some of the brassica tribe, Mr. Johnson found salt highly useful; he states, in some observations on this disease read to the Horticultural So- ciety of London, October 16, 1821 :—* Some cauliflowers were planted upon a light silicious soil, which had previously been manured with well-putrefied stable manure, and over one- third of the allotted space was sown salt, at the rate of 20 bushels per acre, immediately before planting in July, 1821. The previous crop had been broccoli. Fifty-four plants were set on the two-thirds unsalted, and 26 on the one-third salted: the result has been, that of the 54 unsalted, 15 have been diseased and un- productive, but of the 26 salted only 2.” There is little doubt, but that salt might b much more extensively employed by florist than at present. A very small quantity of sal added to the water in which flowers are placed, adds considerably to their duration. There are many bulbous-rooted flowers which flourish best in the immediate vicinity of the sea. Mr. Edwin Greville remarked, in 1824, that some common salt applied at the rate of 16 bushels per acre to a portion of a bed of stocks, in his garden at Wyaston, in Derbyshire, made them grow most decidedly stronger and finer, and bloom much more perfectly than those grow- ing in the same bed unsalted. ‘There was no possibility of error or doubt on the subject.” said my intelligent informant. I have givea the experiments of Dr. Priestley upon various plants vegetating in salt and water. He found 971 SALT, COMMON. that the use of salt materially protracted the existence of the plant. It is a common custom with the importers of exotic plants, to dip cut- tings in salt-water. Before the adoption of this plan, they almost invariably perished in the passage. Among the many excellent communications with which I have been favoured on the use of salt in the cultivation of plants, was one from an eminent florist, near Paddington, Mr. Thos. Hogg. “From the few experiments,” he ob- serves, “that I have tried with salt as a garden manure, I am fully prepared to bear testimony to its usefulness. In a treatise upon flowers, published about 6 years since, I remarked, that the application of salt, and its utility as a ma- nure, was yet imperfectly understood. Itis a matter of uncertainty, whether it acts directly as a manure, or only as a kind of spice or seasoning, thereby rendering the soil a more palatable food for plants. The idea that first suggested itself to my mind arose from con- templating the successful culture of hyacinths in Holland. This root, though not indigenous to the country, may be said to be completely naturalized in the neighbourhood of Haerlem, where it grows luxuriantly in a deep, sandy, alluvial soil; yet one great cause of its free growth, I considered, was owing to the saline atmosphere: this induced me to mix salt in the compost; and I am satisfied that no hyacinths will grow well at a distance from the sea, with- out it. Iam also of opinion, that the numerous bulbous tribes of amaryllidacex, especially those from the Cape of Good Hope, ixias, al- liums, which include onions, garlic, shalots, &c., anemones, various species of the lily, antho- lyza, colchicum, crinum, cyclamens, narcissus, iris, gladiolus, ranunculus, scilla, and many others, should either have salt or sea-sand in the mould used for them. Iinvariably use salt as an ingredient in my compost for carnations; a plant which, like wheat, requires substantial soil, and all the strength and heat of the sum- mer, to bring it to perfection; and I believe I might say, without boasting, that few excel me in blooming that flower.” In the inundations of the sea, as in Friesland, for instance, in 1825, various curious effects were produced by the salt-water. The oak, the mulberry, pear, peach, and others with deep roots, did not suffer; neither did the asparagus, onions, celery, &c., for they were never finer, or more luxuriant. But the vines and goose- berries contracted a salt taste ; and the apricots, apples, cherries, elms, poplars, beech, willows, &c., could not bear the over-dose of sea-water. They pushed out a few leaves, but speedily perished. (Twurner’s Sacred Hist. p.117.) Simi- lar results were noticed, after an inundation of the sea, in the garden of the late Richard Gower, Esq., near Ipswich, in Suffolk, in No- vember, 1824. In this instance a portion of the garden remained 24 hours under the sea- water. The asparagus beds were materially improved in their produce. The cherry trees, in the following year, produced a numerous erop of cherries, which tasted, however, so very salt that they could not be eaten, although very fine in appearance. These trees all died in 972 SALT, COMMON. the following year, 1826, (Johnson on the Ferti- lizers, p. 374.) Sarr, wire oraeR Manures.—Salt and Lime, With a mixture of salt and lime, a manure is gradually formed of a most powerful descrip- tion. It promises now, through the successful example of Mr. Bennett and Sir C. Burrell, to be very generally adopted. It is difficult to ac- count for the neglect of this manure, on any other ground than the difficulties which were so long thrown in the farmer’s way, by the long- continued tax upon salt. That it is nota novel plan for enriching the land is quite certain. Glauber, a celebrated German chemist, one of the last of the alchemists, described it in the jargon of his craft nearly two centuries since , when he said “ The Sal mirabilis (common salt), as itis of itself, is, by reason of its corroding virtues, which it as yet retains, plainly unfit for the multiplication of vegetable, for that being so used would prove more hurtful than profitable. Upon this account it is necessary that to one part of it be added two parts by weight of the best calyx vine (lime), which being moistened with water and made into balls, are to be well heated red-hot for an hour, that so all the corrosivity being introverted, the sal mirabilis may be alkalizated, and used to vegetables for an universal medicine: for it conserves its attracting force, and loseth it not in the heating red-hot.” (Glawber’s Works, by Packe, pp. 2, 47.) Christopher Packe, who, in 1688, published in English Glauber’s folio volume, dwells at considerable length in his preface upon this mixture of salt and lime; “for the enriching of poor and barren land, it is the cheapest of all mixtures, and is most easy to be done; for any ploughman having but once seen it done may be presently able to manage it.” Salt and lime was used as a manure by Mr. Mitchell, of Ayr, many years since, and he, not knowing what others had done with this fer- tilizer before his time, considered himself to be the discoverer. He thus described his pro- cess :—Take 32 bushels of lime, and slack it with sea-water, previously boiled to the satu- rated state. This quantity is sufficient for an acre of ground, and may be either thrown out of the carts with a shovel over the land in the above state, or made into compost with 40 loads of moss or earth, in which state it will be found to pay fully for the additional labour, and is sufficient for an acre of fallow ground, though ever so reduced before. Its component parts are muriate and sulphate of lime, mineral alkali, in an uncombined state, also muriate and carbonate of soda. All the experiments have done well with it, but especially wheat and beans; and it has not been behind any manure with which it has been compared. There is one instance in which it was tried in comparison with 72 cart-loads of soaper’s waste and dung; and although this was an extraordi- nary dressing, yet that with this salt and lime manure was fully above the average of the field. Mr. Mitchell calculates that 3000 gallons of sea-water, boiled down to about 600 gallons, will slack 64 bushels of shell lime. (These 3000 gallons of sea-water will contain about SALT, COMMON. 0 Ibs.of common salt.) A quantity sufficient for 2acres. The expense of carrying the water from the sea, the evaporation, &c., he adds, will cost 20s. The 64 bushels of limestone cost him 40s., or 31. for 2 acres. The use of this mixture of salt and lime was also noticed in the year 1800, by Mr. Hollings- head, of Chorley, in Lancashire, who observes: “Lime prepared for manure should be slacked with salt-springs or salt-water: lime so slacked will have a double effect.’ And in 1816, Mr. James Manley, of Anderton, in Cheshire, when giving his evidence before a committee of the House of Commons on the salt duties, men- tioned, that in getting marl (which is a mixture of carbonate of lime, alumina, and silica), he had found that, by mixing it with brine instead of water, the portion of the field on which the brined marl was used yielded 5 bushels of wheat per acre more than that portion on which the watered marl was employed; and it may be well to remember, that the celebrated salt sand of Padstow Harbour is composed of 64 per cent. of carbonate of lime ; and that, in the experiments of the late Rev. Edmund Cart- wright, upon potatoes, of 25 manures, or mix- tures of manures, salt and lime were found superior in their product of potatoes to 19 others. Every farmer has it in his power, even in the most inland situations, to procure this most ex- cellent manure for the use of his farm, by means of a mixture of two parts of lime and one part of common salt, and suffering it to remain incorporated in a shady place, or cover- ed with sods, for 2 or 3 months; a plan which I suggested some years since. (Essay on Salt, p- 32, 3d ed.) By this process a gradual de- composition takes place, muriate of lime and soda are formed, the whole mass speedily be- coming encrusted with alkali. There is another advantage to be derived from the adoption of this process, besides the formation of soda, viz., that the muriate of lime is one of the most deliquescing or moisture-absorbing substances, with which we are acquainted; and, in conse- quence, whenever it exists in a soil, the warmth of the sun has, in summer, much less influence on it than it would otherwise have. I would especially warn those who try the effect of a mixture of salt and lime, to attend carefully to the directions I have given, and not, as some farmers have done, to use the mixed salt and lime immediately, before any decomposition has taken place. After it has been well mixed together in a dry state, it should be allowed to remain 2 or 3 months un- disturbed, and then applied at the rate of from 35 to 60 bushels peracre, either by sowing it out of a seed-basket, or mixed with earth, and spread in the usual way. It is necessary to give the mixture time, since the decomposition proceeds very slowly, and is not to be hastened by any simple process. See Lime. Salt and Soot.—Salt has never been employed with other substances so extensively as it might. I have used it for potatoes, mixed with earth, ditch-serapings, and with soot, with the most decided success; the places where it has been thus applied being much superior, both in appearance and in produce. SALTS. The mixture of salt with soot produces the most remarkable effects, especially when trenched into ground prepared for carrots. Mr. G. Sinclair found that when the soil, unma- nured, produced twenty-three tons of carrots per acre, the same soil, fertilized with a mix- ture of only six bushels and a half of salt, and six and a half of soot, yielded forty tons per acre. Mr. Belfield describes the mixture as equally beneficial for wheat. And Mr. Cart- wright found, that when the soil, without any addition, yielded per acre 157 bushels of pota- toes, that, dressing the same land with a mix- ture of thirty bushels of soot and eight bushels of salt, made it produce per acre 240 bushels. (Johnson on Fertilizers.) SALTS, their uses to vegetation. That peculiar saline substances exist in almost all vegetables, was an early observation made by the natural philosopher. The saline and alkaline taste perceivable in the ashes obtained by the com- bustion of these substances, very plainly indi- cated the fact. And although the skill of the chemist did not at first enable him to accu- rately discriminate between the salts, the alka- lies, or even the earths contained in plants, with even tolerable accuracy, yet the progress of science has long since surmounted a mass of difficulties, and has detected a strange va- riety of salts in plants. A salt, be it remem- bered, is a substance produced by the combi- nation of an acid with a base, that is, with an earth, an alkali, or a metallic oxide: the class of salts, therefore, is exceedingly numerous (they have been estimated at about 2000), and includes many substances which at first sight do not appear entitled to such a name; thus the union of the carbonic acid with the earth lime, which is an oxide of a metal, forms the salt carbonate of lime, or chalk, marble, &c. Sulphuric acid and lime form the salt sulphate of lime (gypsum), with phosphoric acid, phos- phate of lime (earthy matter of bones), and many other earthy salts look to the mechanical eye as little like salts as these. The farmer must avoid, in entering into this examination, the common error of supposing that the saline substances found in plants are not their essential constituents or food, but are merely there by chance; that their presence is unattended with benefit, and their absence totally unproductive of injury; for such is a most erroneous conclusion. Not only are cer- tain salts, the phosphate and sulphate of lime, and the carbonate of potash, for instance, inva- riably present in certain plants, but without those salts are present in the soil in which they grow, they will not maintain a healthy vegeta- tion. Under the head Earrus, Gases, Warrr, I have endeavoured to show how essential those substances are to vegetation, and what a great part they perform in the support of the farmer’s crops; but still it will be found, that when a soil is carefully composed of all the pure earths discovered in plants, watered in abundance with pure water, and supplied with all the gases of putrefaction and of the atmo- sphere, that still all these are not sufficient by themselves to support a single ordinarily culti- vated crop; but then it is found that where such a soil is supplied with various saline sub- 4N 973 SALTS. SALTS. : ‘ : a ; stances (for instance, with the various sa Bee Nitrate oftime® Lal ame oe fe line matters draining from a dunghill), that “Sulphate ofcopper - - - 34 then every difficulty is removed. Neither must : Fina of mone =e 7 Sulphate ofsoda - - - - 11-7 Cortical layers of do. - - - - ae “UMuriate ofsoda - - - - 22 Extract of wood ofdo. - - - - Sl Sulphate of soda - - - - 12 Soil from the wood of do. - - - 24: * 1 Muriate of potash - - - - 17 Extract fromdo. - - - - - 66° Nitrate of lime - - - - 45 Leaves of poplar (Populus nigra), May 10 36° *. Muriate of ammonia - - - 165 Do., September 12 - - - + 26° 4 Newen: oflime - - @#)- 31 Leaves of hazel Sh = ene, Ge * U Sulphate of copper - - - & Do., washed in cold water - - - 8-2 Acetate oflime = - - - 8 Leaves of do., June 22. - - + - 22-7 “(UMuriate ofpotash- - - . 17 Do., September 20 = eee es rive oc Ads SALTS. Parts, Wood of hazel, may) 1- - - - 24°5 Bark of do. - - - - 125 Wood of mulberry, November - - 21- Wood of hornbeam, November - - 22° Wood of horse-chestnut, May10 - - 95 Fruit ofdo., October5 = - - - 82: Plants of peas Gee sativum) in flower 49°38 Do. ripe - 34°25 Plants of vetches (zicin faba) before flowering, May 23. - - - 55°5 Do, in flower - - - = - 55°5 Do. ripe, July 23 - - - - - 50° Seedsofdo. - - - 69:28 Do. in flower raised i in distilled water- 60°1 Plants of tamsole, June 23 - - - 63° Wheat, in flower. - - - - - 43°25 Do., seeds ripe - - - - WUE: Do. a month before flowering - - 60° Do. in flower, Junel4- - - - 4l- Do., seeds aie - - - - - 10: Bran - - - - - 44-16 Plants of maize or Indian corn - - 69° Chaff of barley - + - - 20° Seedsofdo. - - - - - - 29° Oats = - - - I Leaves of fir (Pinus abies) raised on limestone - - - - - - 16° Leaves of fir, raised on granite - - 15° Branches of pine - - - - - 15° M. Vauquelin found 20 per cent. of potash in the ashes of the oat; and from his experi- ments it is probable that potash exists in plants in combination with the acetic and carbonic acids. The mineral alkali soda, or carbonate of soda, is found in almost all the plants which are found growing in the sea, or on the shore, within reach of its influence. The amount of alkali which these produce, is considerably greater, in proportion to that produced by plants natives of inland places. Thus, 100 parts of the salsola soda yield 19-921 parts of ashes, and these contain 1-992 parts of soda and common salt. Many plants, the vegetable marrow and the vine, for instance, derive great benefit from the application of soda to their roots. Soap-suds are used as an excellent liquid manure by many gardeners. Sea-weed, kelp-soda, barilla, and the com- mon washing-soda of the shops, have all been used successfully as saline manures; and the well-known fertilizing mixture of salt and lime, after it has remained undisturbed for some time, contains chloride of lime and soda in abundance. Sea-weed abounds with a strange mixture of alkaline salts, and there is no green manure more powerful in its effects than this, especially when it is ploughed in as fresh as possible. Mr. Gaultier de Claubry found in the Fucus saccharinus and in the Fucus digitatus (which is much used in Scotland as a manure) the following substances—saccharine matter, mucilage, vegetable albumen, oxalate of pot- ash, malate of potash, sulphate of potash, sul- phate of soda, sulphate of magnesia, muriate of soda, muriate of potash, muriate of magne- sia, carbonate of potash, carbonate of soda, hy- driodate of potash, silica, phosphate of lime, phosphate of magnesia, oxide of iron, oxalate of lime. In the islands of Guernsey and Jer- sey they employ the ashes of the sea-weeds, which they call vraic. Half a bushel strewed over a perch of ground in winter, or the be- ginning of spring, is sufficient. It gives a full ear to the corn, and prevents it from being laid. Phosphate of lime, which is composed, ac- cording to the experiments of M. Berzelius, of SALTS. phosphoric acid 100 parts, and lime 84-53, abounds in vegetable substances. It forms the basis of bones, from which, for the purposes of experiment, it is commonly procured. Ob- tained in this way it is always in the form of a white powder, without either taste or smell; is insoluble in water, and unaltered by exposure to the atmosphere. Phosphate of magnesia is composed of phosphoric acid and magnesia; is a salt soluble in 15 times its weight of water. These two salts have been found in a variety of vegetable substances by MM. Vauquelin, Saussure, and other able chemists. See Bones. There is little doubt but that these salts are absorbed from the soil by the plants. Almost all cultivated soils contain them in some form or other; and of the value of their addition to the soil in almost every form, there is consi- derable evidence. Thus, phosphate of lime abounds in all the richest animal manures, such as in bone-dust and the richest excre- ments of animals; and, again, it is found by the Cheshire graziers, that the earthy salts of bones obtained from the size-makers, after most of the oily matters are removed by the action of steam, and hardly any thing but the salts of lime remain, are quite as fertilizing to their pastures as when used in their fresh state, abounding with animal matters. Sulphate of lime, or gypsum, is another salt, which is invariably found in and promotes the growth of certain plants. It must, I think, be regarded as one of those salts which constitute the food or constituents of plants. It is always present in the clover, lucern, and sainfoin, and in smaller propor- tions in the potato and the turnip. See Pras- TER OF Paris. That it is a food for plants, was the opinion of Sir Humphry Davy. He remarked, when speaking of gypsum and the alkalies, “It has been generally supposed that these materials act in the vegetable economy in the same man- ner as condiments or stimulants in the animal economy; and that they render the common food more nutritive. It seems, however, a much more probable idea, that they are ac- tually a part of the true food of plants, and that they supply that kind of matter to the vegeta- ble fibre, which is analogous to the bony mat- ter in animal structures. Thus, those plants which are most benefited by the application of gypsum, are those which always afford it on analysis. Clover and most of the artificial grasses contain it, but it exists in very mi- nute quantity only in barley, wheat, and tur- nips.” (Ag. Chem. p. 19.) And it is notice- able, that most of these remarks apply to the phosphate of lime (which can hardly be re- garded as a stimulant), since it is not even soluble in water; it is also worthy of observa- tion, that the same salts of lime (the phosphate and the carbonate) which Davy thus supposes to be placed in plants to add to their strength and solidity, are precisely those salts which for that very purpose are placed in the bones of ani- mals. They thus, as it were, mutually nourish each other. The very phosphate of lime, which in the dissolving bone-dust is absorbed by the plant, again becomes, in the food of animals, a material for the formation of other bones. 975 SALTS. The carbonate of lime, in some of its forms of chalk, limestone, marl, &c., is the most uni- versally present of all the salts contained in vegetables. It is, in minute proportions, solu- ble in water, and more so if the water is satu- rated with carbonic acid gas, hence it is readily absorbed by the roots of plants. It exists in vegetables in very varying proportions; thus, the ashes of the perfect oat plant, straw and seed together, were proved by M. Vauquelin to contain more than 5 per cent. of this earth. (Ann. de Chem. vol. xxix. p. 19.) In 32 ounces of seeds of wheat, M. Schraedar found 12 grains of carbonate of lime; and in the same quantity of seeds of rye 13:4 grains; 248 grains in seeds of barley; 33-75 in those of the oat; and 46:2 in the same weight of the straw of rye. It is most commonly, although not al- ways, found in vegetables with carbonate of magnesia. These were found together by M. Saussure in the ashes of the following different substances. He obtained from 100 parts oF the ashes of the— ed Leaves of oak, gathered i in May - - 0°12 Do., September = - - - 23° Bark of the oak SE er ka at ak OOS. Wood ofoak - - = = e = 23° Soil from wood ofoak = - - - 10° Wood of poplar - - - - - Q7- Wood of hazel - - - - - & Wood of mulberry - - - - = 56° Wood of hornbeam - - - - - 26° Plants of peas, in flower - - - 6: Do. of vetches, in flower’ - - - 412 Do. raised in distilled water - - 0° Wheatin flower - - - - - 0°25 Do. seeds, ripe - - - - - 0°25 Do. straw - - - - - - ib Do. bran - - - - - - 0° Oat seeds - - - - - - 0° Barleyseeds - - - - - - 0- Do.chaff - - - - - 125 Leaves of Rhododendron ferrugineum, raised on limestone - - - - 43-25 Do. raised on granite - - - - 16:75 Leaves of fir, raised on limestone - - 43°5 Do., raised on granite - - - - 29° Now, these two soils (the granite and the limestone) contained carbonate of lime in the following proportion :— Granite. Limestone. Carbonate of lime - - - 174 ‘98° Alumina - - - - - 13°25 0°625 Silica - = = wie - - 755 Petroleum - - - - - 0-25 Iron and manganese - - - & 0-25 99°24 99:275 Carbonate of lime has also been detected in the sap and white matter of the ulcer of the elm by M. Vauquelin; in the ashes of worm- wood (more than 50 parts in 100), by Kuns- muller; in the flowers of the arnica, by M. Chevalier ; in the potato, by M. Einhof; in the red bark of St. Domingo, in Peruvian bark, and in the wood of the quingania, by M. Fourcroy. Existing, therefore, so universally in plants, there can be no doubt of the fact that this salt is fulfilling, then, some wise and salutary pur- pose ; not fortuitously, but with design; not by chance, but by the regulation and arrangement of their Divine Architect. Few if any saline fertilizers act so well alone, as when mixed with others, or with ordinary manures. Asa general rule, the more fertilizers are mixed the better they operate upon plants. Nitrate of potash, which is composed of ni- 976 SALTS. tric acid 54:34 parts, and potash 45-66 parts, enters into the composition of a few plants, it is true, but in the greater number, even in those of the farmer’s crops, on which on some soils its application produces such luxuriant effects, its presence cannot be detected, even in minute proportions. Some plants, however, do contain it in considerable quantities. Thus it has been found in the common nettle, the horse-radish, and the sunflower. M. Chevalier found it in the Chenopodium olidum; M. Vau- quelin in the leaves of the deadly nightshade ; M. Chevreul in woad; Dr. John in the Mesem- bryanthemum crystallinum. M. Boullion Le- grange made various plants, such as the sun- flower, vegetate in soils which did not contain any saltpetre: upon examining them, no traces of saltpetre were discernible, but upon water- ing them with a weak solution, it made its ap- pearance in them as usual. (See Nirrares.) The presence of cubic petre (nitrate of soda), which is composed of nitric acid 62-1, and soda 37°9, is still more rare in plants; it has only been detected in barley. The salts formed with the vegetable acids existing in the juices of plants are rather nu- merous. Oxalate of potash, for instance, exists in the Oxalis acetocella, and several others; oxalate of lime in rhubarb, parsley, fennel, squills, tormentilla, deadly nightshade, and spi- nach. Nitrate of lime is contained in the onion; malate of lime in the houseleek, wake-robin, mignionette ; and malate of potash in rue, the garden purslane, nasturtians, lilac, madder, &e, There is, perhaps, no saline substance that exists to so great an extent in marine plants, and which has been used for so long a period and to such an extent for those growing in in- land situations, as common salt. (See Sanur.) A substance which not only abounds in all plants growing on the sea-shore, but always exists in smaller proportions in many of those growing in upland districts. Thus, Mr. G. Sinclair obtained from 1450 grains of wheat-chaff from Bedford- shire, ashes 50; common salt 2}: from 1450 parts of the seed, ashes 10; common salt}. But from the same crop, which had been dressed with 44 bushels of common salt per acre, he obtained from 1450 parts of the chaff, ashes 40; com- mon salt 4: and from 1450 parts of the seed, ashes 10; common salt 4. Common salt is found generally in minute proportions in most cultivated soils. Davy detected in 400 grains of a good silicious soil from a Tonbridge hop-garden, nearly 8 parts of common salt. Besides being in small proportions a direct food for plants, common salt also seems to perform several other services to vegetation, and the same remark probably applies to other salts; for instance, when applied to the soil in small proportions, it certainly promotes the putrefaction of its organic matters. See Sarr. And again, salt, in common with several others, appears to excite or stimulate the plant, when applied to it in proportions not too ex- cessive; a fact first noticed by Dr. Priestley. Another use of common and other salts to vegetation is, the preservation of the plant from injury by sudden transitions in the tem- perature of the atmosphere: salted soils only SALTS. freeze in intense frosts. I have repeatedly wit- nessed in the case of culinary vegetables, such as cabbages, broccoli, &c., that, while the pro- duce of the unsalted portions of the ground were half-killed by the frost, the salted portions have totally escaped. Many salts have also the property of retarding the evaporation of the moisture of the soil; others absorb it from the atmosphere, or are of the class of deliquescing salt; such are the common salt, chloride of calcium, chloride of magnesia, cubic petre, or nitrate of soda, &c., which, in consequence, when they are used as fertilizers, they increase this property, so valuable and so essential to all cultivated soils. Thus I found by some experiments upon a rich soil near Maldon, in Essex, worth @2s. per acre, that 1000 parts, dried at a temperature of 212°, absorbed in 18 hours, by exposure to ait saturated with moist- ure at a temperature of 62°, 25 parts. But 1000 parts of the same field, which had been dressed with 12 bushels of marine salt per acre, under the same circumstances gained 27 parts; and 1000 parts of the same soil, which had been dressed with 6 bushels per acre, gained 26 parts. The attraction of some sa- line substances for the moisture of the atmo- sphere is very considerable. I found that 1000 parts of refuse salt manure, dried at 212°, ab- sorbed in 3 hours, by exposure to air saturated with moisture at 60°, 494 parts. 1000 parts of the sediment or pan-scratch of the salt-makers, gained 10 parts; 1000 parts of Cheshire crushed rock-salt, 10 parts; 1000 parts of gypsum, 9 parts. Chloride of calcium is so powerfully deliquescent, that it absorbs sufficient moisture from the air to dissolve in it and form a solu- tion. Dr. Marcet found that 288 grains in i24 days absorbed 684 grains of water. 288 grains of nitrate of lime, a salt found in some of the richest alluvial soils of the East, absorbs in 147 days 448 grains. Carbonate of potash, another saline fertilizer, also absorbs moisture. Now, it is worthy of the farmers’ notice, that chlo- ride of calcium is the very salt which is pro- duced in such abundance by the decomposition cf common salt by lime, in the way so suc- cessfully recommended first, by the old Ger- man chemist Glauber, by Mr. Hollingshead, Mr. Bennett, and Sir Charles Burrell (See Sarr and Lie); for, by the slow action carried on for three months by these substances on each other, this salt and soda are produced by the decomposition; and it is not improbable that when these salts are present in the juices of plants, that by this means the attractive powers of their leaves and roots for aqueous vapour may be increased. Davy alludes to these es- sential, yet too little understood powers of ab- Sorption possessed by vegetables, when he says (Lectures, p. 207),—* In very intense heats, and when the soil is dry, the life of plants seems to be preserved by the absorbent power of their leaves; and it is a beautiful circumstance in the economy of nature, that aqueous vapour is most abundant in the atmosphere when it is most needed for the purposes cf life, and that when other sources of its supply are cut off, thisis most copious.” or the salts of ammonia, as I have in another place remarked, carbonate of ammonia has 123 SALTS. been detected in the Chenopodium olidum by Messrs. Chevalier and Lasseigne; and it pro- bably exists in other plants which are distin- guished for their powerful disagreeable odour. Muriate of ammonia has been found in woad by M. Chevreul. The salts of ammonia are in general exceedingly fertilizing in their effects upon vegetation. Soot owes part of its efficacy to the ammoniacal salts it contains. The liquor produced by the distillation of coal contains carbonate and acetate of ammonia, and this liquid of the gas-makers is a very good manure. “In 1808,” says Davy, “I found the growth of wheat in a field at Roehampton assisted by a very weak solutionof acetate of ammonia.” The experiments of Mr. Robertson with soot clearly show the fertilizing effects of the soluble por- tion of it. He mixed together, in order to form a liquid manure, six quarts of soot in a hogs- head of water. “Asparagus, peas, and a va- riety of other vegetables,” says this intelligent horticulturist, “I have manured with this mix- ture, with as much effect as if I had used solid dung.” Care must be taken, however, in using this and all other liquid fertilizers, not to make the solutions too strong: it is an error into which all cultivators are apt to fall in their early experiments. Even Davy was not an exception, since, from making his liquids too concentrated, he obtained results which widely differed from his later experiments. There is no doubt but that the salts of ammonia, and all the compound manures which contain them, have a very considerable forcing or stimulat- ing, or, perhaps, from their decomposition, nourishing effect upon vegetation. In the ex- periments of Dr. Belcher upon the common garden cress, by watering them with a solution of phosphate of ammonia, the plants were 15 days forwarder than plants growing under similar circumstances, but watered with plain water; and he also describes the experiments of Mr. Gregory, who, by watering one-half of a grass field with urine, nearly doubled his crop of hay. Other testimonials in support of the fertilizing powers of the salts of ammonia are furnished by Mr. Handley. Of the mode in which ammonia operates upon plants, a late valuable work on organic chemistry, by M. Liebig, abounds with ob- servations, with some of which I cheerfully and cordially agree. To understand these re- marks, however, the farmer must remember that ammonia is composed, according to the analysis of Davy, of hydrogen 74 parts, and azote or nitrogen 26 parts. “The nitrogen of putrefied animals,” he observes, “is contained in the atmosphere, as ammonia in the form of a gas, which is capable of entering into com- bination with carbonic acid, and forming a volatile salt. Ammonia in its gaseous form, as well as all its volatile compounds, are of extreme solubility in water. Ammonia, there- fore, cannot remain long in the atmosphere, as every shower of rain must condense it, and convey it to the surface of the earth: thence, also, rain-water must at all times contain am- monia, though not always in equal quantity. It must be greater in summer than in spring or in winter, because the intervals of time be- tween the showers are greater; and, where 4An2 977 SALTS. severa. wet days occur, the rain of the first must contain more of it than the second. The rain of a thunder-storm, after a long-protracted drought, ought, for this reason, to contain the greatest quantity which is conveyed to the earth at one time. But all the analyses of atmospheric air hitherto made have failed to de- monstrate the presence of ammonia, although, according to our view (says M. Liebig), it can never be absent. If a pound of rain-water con- tains only one-fourth of a grain of ammonia, then a field of 40,000 square feet must receive annually upwards of 80 lbs. of ammonia, or 65 lbs. of nitrogen; for, by the observations of Schubler, which were formerly alluded to, about 700,000 lbs. of rain fell over this sur- face in4 months. This is much more nitro- gen than is contained in the form of vegetable albumen and gluten in 2650 lbs. of woad, 2800 lbs. of hay, or 200 cwt. of beet-root, which 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. Experiments made in the laboratory of Giessen, with the greatest care and exact- ness, have placed (continues Liebig) the pre- sence of ammonia in rain-water beyond all doubt. It had hitherto escaped observation, because no one thought of searching for it.” See Ammonra. I cannot recommend the farmer to adopt the able conclusions of M. Liebig without consider- able caution: hardly any thing retards the pro- gress of science more than erroneous theories. Fortunately, however, the farmer can in all cases patiently and successfully examine and apply the valuable facts of the skilful chemist without mystifying himself with not always in- telligible doctrines. It is very probable that plants have the power of decomposing ammo- nia, and of assimilating the nitrogen which it contains, in the same way as there is little doubt the hydrogen of water is assimilated by them; but we have no direct evidence of the facts, and the best comnrse, therefore, will be to regard them not as absolute chemical truths, but merely as of the class of what may be per- haps denominated scientific probabilities. Some of the other compounds of chlorine, the old class of chlorides of the chemist, have been tried as fertilizers, with very donbtful success; for although at first the seeds which had been steeped in them germinated with a considerably increased rapidity, yet they speed- ily seemed to suffer by this additional stimu- lus. Davy tried solutions of chlorine, and sul- phate of iron (green vitriol) : he says, “Though the plume was very vigorous for a time, yet it became at the end of a fortnight weak and sickly, and at that period less vigorous in its growth than the radish sprouts which had been naturally developed, so that there can be scarcely any useful application of these expe- riments. Too rapid growth and premature de- cay seem invariably connected in organized structures, and it is only by following the slow operations of natural causes that we are capa- ble of making impiovements.” Oxymuriate of lime, or, properly speaking, chloride of cal- cium, however, appears to be beneficial to vegetation: this was ascertained in 1795, by 978 SAMPLE. Ingenhouz; and I have given in my work On Fertilizers, p. 367, the result of some trials by Mr. Fincham with this chloride that were highly successful: he says, “Half of some turnip- seed were steeped for 36 hours in a solution of chloride of calcium, composed of 1 part chloride of calcium, and 48 parts water; this was sown under precisely similar circum- stances of soil and aspect with the other half unsteeped. The first came up much sooner, was never attacked by the fly, and the produce was half as much again, and the tops made more luxuriant. He attributes the failure of Davy to his having used the chlorine, uncom- bined with the base lime. Mr. Owen Mason, of Providence, Rhode Island, has computed the saline contents of the crops raised from a field near that place, during 8 years’ cultivation, as follows :— Ibs. Ibs. Potash . . 424:92]| Sulphuric acid 113-88 Soda 131-92 | Phosphoric acid 108-12 Lime . - .- 53288; Chlorine . . 58:64 Magnesia . , 64:08 Alumina . 5:96 Total . 1830-50 Silica. . 390-40 «Jt is doubtful,’ Mr. Mason observes” * if the cultivator ever suspected that he earried to his barn two casks of potash, one cask of soda, two casks of lime, a carboy of oil of vitriol, a large demijohn of phosphoric acid, and a variety of other matters contained in his fourteen tons of fodder, which were as certainly stowed away in his mows as if they had been conveyed thither in casks and carboys.”? This statement will per- haps serve togive some idea of the enormous quan- tities of saline matters that are removed from the soil by the crops ordinarily raised. When the crops are eaten on the farm, and the manure pro- duced therefrom is returned to the soil, there is established a continued circulation of those ingre- dients which would be lost if the crops were re- moved and the stock sold. See Soits. SALTPETRE (Germ. and Fr. salpetre). See Nirrares and Satts. SALTWORT (Salsola, from salsus, salt; in allusion to the saline properties of the species). A genus of plants which inhabits the sea-coast, especially abundant on the coast of the Medi- terranean, where they are extensively gathered and burnt for the manufacture of barilla and soda. See Kete. SALT-MARSH CATERPILLAR. See Ca- TERPILLAR. SALVING or SMEARING sheep is resorted to in various districts, for the purpose of pre- serving the fleece from the effects of weather, destroying injurious insects, and preventing cutaneous diseases. A mixture of damaged butter, hog’s lard, resin, and Gallipoli oil, is found to be the most efficacious salve, Tar stains and spoils the colour of the wool. See Suerr. SAMPLE. A small quantity of a commodity exhibited at public or private sales, as a speci- men. Wool, wine, corn, seeds, and indeed most species of agricultural produce and mer- chandise that can be conveyed in small bulk, are sold by sample. If an article be not at an average equal to the sample by which it is sold, the buyer may cancel the contract, an* SAND. return the article to the seller. Com. Dict.) SAND (Germ.). Finely divided silicious matter constitutes common river and sea-sand : particles of other substances are often blended with it, and sometimes it becomes calcareous from the prevalence of carbonate of lime. Sand is often employed as a manure by the cultivator of the poor, hungry clays, especially if he can obtain calcareous sand. See Eartus, Mrxtune or Soins. SANDWORT. See Curcxwesp. (4renaria, from arena, sand; referring to the sandy situa- tion in which most of the species are found.) This is an extensive genus of herbs, of humble growth, with numerous slender stems, opposite, mostly narrow, entire, undivided leaves, and small, white or reddish, inodorous flowers, with coloured anthers. This succulent vegetable bears a great resemblance to samphire, and considerable quantities of it are pickled and sold for that plant. SANICLE (Sanicula, from sano, to heal.) The wood sanicle (S. Ewropea) is a mere fe- rennial weed, growing in woods and groves abundantly, about a foot high, flowering in May. The root is tufted, with fleshy fibres. The leaves are chiefly radical, simple, with deeply cleft lobes, veiny, and of a deep shining green. Flowers cream-coloured, in capitate umbels, in an irregular, twice compound, partly umbellate panicle. The herb is bitter, with an acrid, somewhat aromatic pungency. Its re- puted vulnerary qualities are no longer be- lieved. SAP. In botany, the fluid which is absorbed by the roots from the earth, and undergoes the first action of the vital chemistry of the plant, is called the sap. It is formed as the absorbed fluid ascends upwards into the stem. It is afterwards conveyed to the leaves, where it is exposed to the influence of light and air, loses a large portion of its water, undergoes a che- mical change, and, being returned to the branches and stem, it is analogous to the blood in animals; all the secretions being formed from it. Changed in the leaf into proper juice, it is assimilated to the various parts of the plant. In its crude state it consists of little except water, holding earthy and gaseous mat- ter in solution, especially carbonic acid; but as it rises through the tissue of the stem, it dis- solves the secretions it meets with in its course, and thus acquires new properties, so that by the time it reaches the leaves it is entirely dif- ferent from its state when it first entered the root. The course taken by the sap in its pas- sage through the stem, is by the whole of the tissue included within the bark, provided it is all permeable; but as, in many plants, the central part of the stem becomes choked up with solid matter deposited in the tissue, it usually happens, especially in trees, that the course of the sap is confined to the outer part of the wood, hence called sapwood. It is not certainly known through what kind of tissue ‘the upward motion of the sap takes place, but it is probable that it is carried onwards through all the tubes and vessels of the wood, and their intercellular passages. The dotted vessels of the wood seem more especially destined to (MCulloch’s | SASSAFRAS. fulfil this office when the sap is in rapid mo- tion; but as they afterwards become empty, while the ascent of the sap continues, there can be no doubt that the woody tubes or pleuren- chyma offer the most constant means by which the sap is conveyed. See Arpurnum. SAP-SAGO. A kind of cheese made in Switzerland, having a dark olive-green colour and agreeable flavour, derived chiefly, if not entirely, from the addition of mellilot. See Cuerse and Zanzircer. SAVIN. See Juniver. SAW-DUST. The refuse or waste powder obtained from saw-pits, after any wood or tim- ber has been separated or cut asunder by the saw. If fresh oak saw-dust be scattered on gravel walks it effectually prevents the growth of weeds, and when mixed with blood and quicklime it forms an excellent manure for the garden. This substance has lately been brought prominently into notice as an adjunct to other manures. ‘There can be no doubt of its use- fulness when made into compost with putres- cent manures, saline substances, and organic matters. A compost of this kind, which has been well mixed and decomposed, and turned over with the spade at proper time, will pro- duce an excellent crop of turnips. SASSAFRAS (Laurus sassafras). This, on account of its sensible qualities, and real or supposed active medical virtues, was among the first American trees which became known to Europeans. In the United States, the neighbourhood of Portsmouth, New Hamp- shire, in latitude 43°, may be assumed as one of the extreme points at which it is found towards the northeast. But here itis only a tall shrub, rarely exceeding 15 or 20 feet in height, whilst in the Middle States it attains a height of 50 or 60 feet, being still more stately farther south. Itis found in the Western and ex- treme Southern States, and in the low, maritime parts of Virginia, of the two Carolinas, and of Georgia. The sassafras is observed to grow of preference about plantations and in soils which have been exhausted by cultivation and abandoned. The old trees give birth to hun- dreds of shoots which spring from the earth at little distances, but which rarely rise higher than 6 or 8 feet. Though this tree is common on poor land, and blooms and matures its seed at the height of 15 or 20 feet, yet it is never of very ample dimensions except in fertile soils, such as form the declivities which skirt the swamps, and such as sustain the luxuriant forests of Kentucky and West Tennessee. About New York and Philadelphia the sassa- fras is in full bloom in the beginning of May, and six weeks earlier in South Carolina. The wood stripped of its bark is very durable, strong, and resists worms, &c. It forms excellent posts for gates. Bedsteads made of it are never infested with bugs. It is, however, only occa- sionally employed for any useful purpose, and never found in the lumber-yards of large towns. The pith and dried leaves of the young branches of the sassafras contain much mucilage, resem- bling that of the okra plant, and are extensively used in New Orleans to thicken potage, and make the celebrated gumbo soup. In Virginia and other Southern States, the inhabitants make a 979 SAW -FLIES. beer by boiling the young shoots of the sassa- fras in water, to which a certain quantity of mo- lasses or sugar is added, the whole being left to ferment. The beer is regarded as a wholesome and pleasant drink during summer. So is an infusion of the bark of the roots, which is much drunk for the cure of cutaneous and other disorders. SAW -FLIES. species of saw-flies, natives of the United States, and found in Massachusetts, are given in Dr. Harris’s Catalogue. Some of these are very interesting in their caterpillar state. One of the largest flies is called Cimbex Ulmi, be- cause it inhabits the elm. The female of this species, at first sight, might be mistaken for the hornet. (The name Cimbex was originally given by the Greeks to certain insects resem- bling bees and wasps, but not producing honey.) The elm saw-fly measures an inch in length, the wings expanding about 2 inches. It ap- pears in the Eastern States from the last of May to the middle of June, during which the female lays her eggs upon the common Ameri- can elm, the leaves of which serve as food for the young caterpillars hatched out. These come to their growth in August, and then mea- sure from 14 to 2 inches in length. Like all false caterpillars of the genus Cimbez, this in- sect, when handled or disturbed, betrays its fears or its displeasure by spirting out a watery fluid from certain little pores situated on the sides of its body just above its spiracles. The false caterpillars of other saw-flies prove very destructive to pines and other fir trees. They crawl down the trees and weave cocoons which ‘ive concealed in the leaves, &c. In the follow- ing spring the insects burst their chrysalids and come forth as winged flies. No means, says Dr. Harris, for the destruc- tion of the caterpillars of the fir saw-fly have been tried here, except showering them with soap-suds, and with solutions of whale-oil soap, which has been found effectual. They may also be shaken off or beaten from the trees, early in the morning, when they are tor- pid and easily fall, and may be collected in sheets, and be burned or given to swine. For other means to check their depredations the reader may consult the articles on the pine and fir saw-flies of Europe, contained in Kdllar’s Treatise, Dr. Harris has described a kind of saw-fly (Selandria vitis), which attacks the grape-vine. It is of a jet-black colour, except the upper part of the thorax, which is red, the legs being a pale-yellow or whitish. The body is about + of aninch long. The false caterpillars pro- ceeding from the eggs of these flies may be found in swarms of various ages on the lower sides of the leaves, some very small and others fully grown. When fully grown they measure about #ths of an inch in length. The body is a light-green, the legs and tip of the tail being black. After the first moulting they become almost entirely yellow, and then leave the vine to burrow in the ground. They come out again from their chrysalis state in about a fortnight, pair and lay eggs for a second brood. The young of the second brood are not transformed santo flies until the succeeding spring, remain- 980 The names of above 60) SAW - FLIES. ing in the ground in their cocoons through the winter. “For some years previous to the pub- lication of my Discourse,” says Dr. Harris, “I observed that these insects annually increased in number, and, in the year 1832, they had be- come so numerous and destructive that many vines were entirely stripped of their leaves by them. Whether the remedies then proposed by me, or any other means, have tended to di- minish their numbers, or to keep them in check, I have not been able to ascertain, and have had no further opportunity for making observa- tions on the insects themselves. At that time, air-slacked lime, which was found to be fatal to these false caterpillars of the vine, was ad- vised to be dusted upon them, and strewed also upon the ground under the vines, to insure the destruction of such of the insects as might fall. A solution of one pound of common hard soap in five or six gallons of soft water, is used by English gardeners to destroy the young of the gooseberry saw-fly ; and the same was re- commended to be tried upon the insects under consideration. “All the young of the saw-flies do not so closely resemble caterpillars as the preceding; some of them, as has already been stated, have the form of slugs or naked snails. Of this de- scription is the-kind called the slug-worm in this country, and the slimy grub of the pear tree in Europe. So different are these from the other false caterpillars, that they would not be suspected to belong to the same family. Their relationship becomes evident, however, when they have finished their transformations; and accordingly we find that the saw-flies of our slug-worms and those of the vine are so much alike in form and structure, that they are both included in the same genus. More- over, there are certain false caterpillars, inter- mediate in their forms and appearance between the slimy and slug like kinds and those that more nearly resemble the true caterpillars ; thus admirably illustrating the truth of the re- mark, that nature proceeds not with abrupt or unequal steps; or, in other words, that amidst the immense variety of living forms, where- with this earth has been peopled, there is a re- gular gradation and connection, which, in par- ticular cases, if we fail to discover, it is rather to be attributed to our own ignorance and short-sightedness, than to any want of harmony and regularity in the plan of the Creator. In considering the resemblances of species, we cannot fail to admire the care that has been taken, by almost insensible shades of differ ence among them, or by peculiar circum- stances controlling their distribution, their ha- bits of life, and their choice of food, to prevent them from commingling, whereby each species is made to preserve forever its individual identity. “The saw-fly of the rose, which, as it does not seem to have been described before, may be called Selandria rose, from its favourite plant, so nearly resembles the slug-worm saw- fly as not to be distinguished therefrom except by a practised observer. The caterpillars of these perform their appointed work of destruc- tion in the autumn; they then go into the ground, make their earthen cells, remain there- SAW-GRASS. in throughout the winter, and appear, in the winged form, in the following spring and summer.” ~ During several years past, these pernicious vermin have infested the rose bushes in the vicinity of Boston, and have proved so inju- rious to them, as to have excited the attention of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, by whom a premium of $100, for the most suc- cessful mode of destroying these insects, was offered, in the summer of 1840. Showering or syringing the bushes with a liquor, made by mixing with water the juice expressed from tobacco by tobacconists, has been recom- mended; but some caution is necessary in making this mixture of a proper strength, for if too strong ft is injurious to plants; and the experiment does not seem, as yet, to have been conducted with sufficient care to insure safety and success. Dusting lime over the plants when wet with dew has been tried, and found of some use; but this and all other remedies will probably yield in efficacy to Mr. Hag- gerston’s mixture of whale-oil soap and water, in the proportion of two pounds of the soap to fifteen gallons of water. For particular direc- tions to use this, see ArurpEs. For a species of minute saw-fly, destructive to the turnip crops in England, see Fry in Turnies. SAW-GRASS. See Boc-Rusu. SAXIFRAGE (Sawifraga; from saxum, a stone, and frango, to break; in allusion to its reputed medical qualities in that disease). This is a very extensive genus of beautiful alpine plants, the greater part of which are par- ticularly suitable for ornamenting rock-work, or growing on the sides of naked banks. They are all readily increased by seeds or divisions. These herbs are, for the most part, perennial, various in habit, often in some degree hairy and glutinous, with stalked, simple, undivided or lobed leaves. Flowers either panicled, rarely solitary, on a long naked stalk, or co- rymbose at the top of a round leafy stem; erect, white, yellow, or purple, frequently spot- ted, inodorous. Dr. Darlington describes two American species under the names of Virginia or Early Saxifrage, and Pennsylvania or Tall Saxifrage. Canada and Labrador have some species. SAXIFRAGE, BURNET. See Burner. SAXIFRAGE, GOLDEN. See Gotnen Saxi- FRAGE, SCAB. A contagious disease incident to sheep, which, like the mange in cattle, horses, and dogs, and the itch in the human subject, is the effect of certain minute insects belonging to the class Acari; at least these insects al- ways are present in this disease. In the human subject the itch insect obtains its food from the pustules of the disease. The cure of scab, however, is supposed to be in the destruction of this insect. Washes, whether infusions of tobacco, hellebore, or arsenic, appear to be ob- jectionable, and a safer and more effectual method of curing the disease and benefiting the wool is the application of a mercurial ointment. The ointment should be made cf two strengths. That for bad cases should con- sist of common mercurial or Trooper’s oint- SCARIFIER. ment, rubbed down With three times its weight of lard. The other) for ordinary purposes, should contain five pakts of lard to one of the mercurial ointment. (Yowatt on the Sheep, p. 536.) See Sarzr, Diseases or. SCABIOUS (Scabiosa, from scabies, the itch; the common kind is said to cure that disorder). Some of these plants are well adapted for or- namenting the flower-border. The herbaceous species are readily increased by division at the root, or by seed. The seeds of the annual kinds merely require sowing in the open bor- der. There are three indigenous species, all perennials; viz., the devil’s-bit scabious (S. succisa), Which is common in grassy, rather moist pastures, flowering from August to Oc- tober (see Devrx’s-Brr Scanious); the field scabious (8. arvensis), growing in corn-fields and pastures, with a bristly stem a yard high. The radical leaves are lanceolate, serrated, stalked, the rest pinnatifid and quite sessile. The flowers, which appear in July, are large and handsome, of a fine pale purple. Sheep and goats are said to eat this herb; but its bitter and nauseous flavour is not agreeable to do- mestic cattle. The small scabious (S. colwm- baria) is a less common species, attaining to the height of twelve or eighteen inches. The leaves and flowers are smaller and more deli- cate than the last. SCALD CREAM. Provincially, cream raised by heat, or clouted cream. See Darny, Mitx, Burren, Lacromeren, &c. SCALLION. See Onion. SCAPE. In botany, a stem rising from the roots, more frequently from a rhizome or un- derground stem, bearing nothing but the flow- ers. The iris is an example. SCARIFIER. A tillage implement for stir- ring and loosening the soil, without bringing up afresh surface. Under the same head may be included the grubber, the cultivator, and the scuffler, all of which act on the combined principles of plough and harrow at the same time. Some of these implements have wheels, by the raising or lowering of which the tines or prongs may be made to sink more or less into the earth. See Hannow. Amongst the earliest of the many varieties of this implement that I am acquainted with (says Mr. J. A. Ransome, in his work upon the Implements of Agriculture), is one which the late T. Cooke used, attached to the frame- work of his drill, the coulters and apparatus of which, being removed, gave place to a bar, or head, suspended by joints to the axle, on which a row of strong tines was fixed. See Pl. 14, fig. 2. On a similar plan to this, but working ona plough-carriage, another invention by Robert Fuller, a practical farmer of Ipswich, came into operation, and worked exceedingly well. Biddell’s Scarifier and Extirpator (Pl. 15, fig. 3) is held in deservedly high repute in Suffolk (where it originated) and the eastern and mid- land counties, where it is now in very general use. It is an implement of immense power, and well calculated to supersede the extensive use of the plough, otherwise indispensable in the cultivation of strong land, and we are in- clined to believe with better effect. There can 981 SCARIFIER. be no question that in a general way a finer tilth may be obtained with Biddell’s scarifier than with any plough; and, for this reason, strong and tenacious clays and even many of the better loams, though dry at the surface and apparently in good order for ploughing, fre- quently turn up coarse and “loamy.” In the early part of the spring, the combined action of ma? and the atmosphere may probably in time effect what a scarifier would do at once, viz., reduce the clods to a comparatively fine mould, without which the hope of a good bar- ley crop is but slender. There is no reason why the process of scarifying should not prove equally beneficial to the turnip or any other crop. Indeed, some are of opinion that what is usually called a stale furrow, in contra- distinction to a newly ploughed one, is more favourable to the germination and after-growth of a plant like the turnip than a sowing on soil treshly turned up. A great improvement on Fuller’s extirpator, was Finlayson’s Patent Self-cleaning Harrow. PI. 15, fig. 5. ‘This well-known implement may be called the parent of several of the same de- scription, which, in improved forms, have sub- sequently come into use. It is formed of iron, and, according to the inventor, has the follow- ing advantages:—l. From the position in which the tines are fixed, their points (aaaaa) hanging nearly on a parallel to the surface of the land, it follows, that this implement is drawn with the least possible waste of power. 2. From the curved form of the tines, all stub- ble, couch, &c., that the tines may encounter in their progress through the soil, is brought to the surface, and rolled up to the face of the tines ; when it loses its hold, and is thrown off (at b b 6 bb), always relieving itself from be- ing choked, however wet or foul the land. 3. The mode by which this harrow can be so easily adjusted to work at any depth required, renders it of great value; this is done as quick as thought by moving the regulator (c) upwards or downwards between the lateral spring (de); and by each movement upwards into the open- ings (fghik), the fore-tines (L111) will be allowed to enter the soil about 14 inch deeper by each movement into the different spaces, until the regulator is thrown up to (e), when the harrow is given its greatest power, and will then be working at the depth of 8 or 9 inches. Also the axletree of the hind-wheels is moved betwixt o and p,a space of 7 or 8 inches, by a screw through the axletree, which is turned by a small handle (g), so that the hind part of the harrow, by this simple mode, is also regulated to the depth at which it is found necessary to work. 4. When the har- row is drawn to the head or foot lands, the re- gulator is pressed down to d, and the fore-wheel (m) is then allowed to pass under the fore-bar (n), by which the nose of the harrow is lifted, and the points of the fore-tines (/1/1) will then be taken 2 or 3 inches out of the soil, which affords the means of turning the harrow with the greatest facility. 5. Being made of malle- able iron, its durability may be said to be end- less ; whereas, if made of wood, the prime cost would be entirely lost at the end of every 5 or ® years. Lastly, the mode of working is so 982 SCOURING. easy, that any boy of 10 or 12 years of age is perfectly qualified to manage it. Next to Wil- kie’s brake, we consider this the most valuable of pronged implements, and think that, like Wilkie’s implement, it might be substituted for the plough, after drilled green or root crops, on light soil generally. Some account of the as- tonishing powers of the implement, as exem- plified in breaking up Hyde Park, London, in 1826, will be found in the Gardener’s Magazine, vol. ii. p. 250. Wilkie’s Parallel Adjusting Brake is very nearly allied to the implementlast mentioned; its chief improvement consists in the triangular adjust- ment of the teeth or prongs, and the facility with which they may be completely thrown out of work; whereas, with Finlayson’s har- row this can only be partially done, the hind- teeth of the latter still retaining some hold of the ground, even though the first row be lifted up. This we are aware has been represented as an advantage, inasmuch as the slight hold retained by the back-row of tines prevents the implement from running on the horse’s heels, when turning at the ends of the stetches on hilly ground. We see but little in this as an argument in favour of any implement of the kind. Indeed, we are rather disposed to give the preference to one like Wilkie’s brake, which, by a parallel movement of the frame in which the tines are fixed, can, either at the turnings or while in action, be elevated or de- pressed en masse. Kirkwood’s Grubber in its operation somewhat resembles those last described, but is superior to them in working. The leverage that is ob- tained by pressing on the handles or stilts of the machine, whether in action or rest, is so simple, and yet so powerful in its effect, as to regulate the depth of the tines to the greatest nicety; or, in cases of obstruction, to throw them out of work altogether. It is an admira- ble implement, and well deserving the high commendation which has been bestowed on it. SCORE. A term signifying 20 lbs. in speak- ing of the weight of cattle or swine. SCORING. A provincial term signifying the glossing or making the furrow-slice in ploughing or turning land up, by the plough acting as a trowel. It is sometimes written scowering. SCORPION-GRASS (Myosotis, from myos, a mouse, and ofos, an ear; fancied resemblance in the leaves.) All the perennial species of this genus are very beautiful, especially the well-known Forget-me-not (M. palustris). They grow best in moist places, or by the edges of ponds or ditches; they may also be grown in pots among alpine plants. The annual species like a dry, sandy soil; most of the perennial kinds may be increased by divisions of the roots, an@ all by seeds. Sir J. E. Smith de- scribes seven species of scorpion-grass indi- genous to England, two of which are annuals, the rest perennials. Besides the M. palustris and M. arvensis, there are one or two other spe- cies found in the United States. SCOTCH FIR. A common but improper name for the Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris). See Pre and Fin. SCOURING. See Punerye. SCRAP SCRAPER. See Movutnrart. SCUFFLER, An implement of somewhat the same kind as the scarifier, but which is mostly lighter and employed in working after it. See Hannow. SCULL-CAP (Scutellaria). There are seve- ral species of this plant found in the United States. The common hairy scull-cap (S. pilosa) has a perennial root, and stem 12 or 18 inches high, more or less hairy, and often purplish. The flower is a purple-blue colour, and opens from June to August. There are several va- rieties of this species. The large-flowered or entire-leaved scull-eap (S. integrifolia) is dis- tinguished for its handsome, large, bluish flowers, which bloom in June. It is intensely bitter to the taste. The lateral-flowered scull- eap (S. laierifolia), has acquired the name of mad-dog seull-cap, from its having acquired much notoriety some years ago as a supposed remedy for hydrophobia. “Like its numerous predecessors of the same pretensions,” says Dr. Darlington, “it had its day of importance among the credulous, and then sank into the oblivion which necessarily awaits all such specifics.” Several other species of scull-cap are enumerated in the United States. SCURVY-GRASS (Cochlearia). A genus of plants of little interest, with the exception of horse-radish (C. armoracea), and the common scurvy-grass (C. officinalis). Besides these there are three other indigenous species: the Greenland seurvy-grass,.the English scurvy- grass, and the Danish scurvy-grass. They are either annual or biennial herbs, and were once celebrated as antiscorbuties, but have lost their reputation. The plants are mostly smooth and rather succulent, with branched, spreading stems, and simple leaves, the radical ones stalked and most entire. Flowers white, or pale-purplish. The common scurvy-grass is cultivated in gardens for its leaves. It flourishes best in a sandy, moist soil, but will succeed in almost any other, especially if abounding in moisture. The situation must always be as open as pos- sible. It is propagated by seed, which should be sown as soon as it is ripe in July or June, for if kept from the ground until the spring, they will entirely lose their vegetative power, or produce plants weak and unproductive. The sowing is performed in drills 8 inches apart, and half an inch deep. SCYTHE. This implement for mowing grass has been latterly much used for cutting grain crops, and with great success, when it has been properly mounted with a rake or cradle, and put into expert hands. Drummond's iron-handled scythe is consi- dered in Scotland very effective. A good mower will cut down with it from an acre and a half to two acres in the day, and with this scythe he can either cut out from the standing corn when upright, or cut m, as he may deem the better way at all times. The common grass-scythe will cut oats and barley also very well when upright, but the mower will perceive his inability to lay down evenly and at right angles with the standing corn, for the convenience of the binders, a SEDGE. : heavy crop of wheat with this scythe, even if furnished with a bow. The Hainault or Flemish scythe, the favour- ite Belgian implement for severing corn, ap- pears to be a very efficient instrument, but although all the trials made with it in Scotland and England report favourably of it, it has not come into use even partially; prejudice and the results of habit and custom rendering the old sickles, seythes, and reaping-hooks more popular. See Haxy-Maxriye, Rearrnc-Hoor, Srcxre, &c. SCYTHE AND CRADLE. The well-known American implement called the scythe and cra- dle, used in the United States for harvesting wheat and all other kinds of small grain, is much preferable to the Hainault scythe. The cradle is made with 5 long teeth extending the full length of the scythe, and bent to the same shape. These teeth are generally made of the strong and pliant ash, shaved down so as to be as light as is consistent with the necessary strencth. The handle is bent in such a manner as contributes greatly to the conve- nience of using the implement. It is slowly becoming introduced into England. SEA-BUCKTHORN. See Satrow-Taonn. SEA-HOLLY. See Eryneo. SEA-KALE. See Kate. SEA-LAVENDER. See Tunirt. SEA-MUD or OUSE. This rich saline de- position from salt-marshes and the sea-shores is found to possess very enriching properties, and to be a useful addition to the soil where it can be obtained in any quantity. See joe yrum, Mansu-Mun, and Warrrne. SEAM. A provincial term applied to any fatty substance, as tallow, grease, or lard. A seam of corn is also a quarter or 8 bushels, and a seam of woed a horse-load, or about 3 ewt. SEA-MILKWORT (Glaux, from glaukos, gray, in allusion to the colour of the leaves). The common sea-milkwort, or black salt-wort (G. maritima), is in England a pretty little in- digenous perennial plant, g growing abundantly in ‘muddy salt-marshes. SEA-SHELL. All marine shells, where they can be obtained in sufficient quantity, form a durable and lasting addition to the soil. See Oysten-SueEtts. SEA-WARE. A term frequently applied to the weeds thrown up by the sea in many situa- tions, and which is collected and made nse or as manure and for other purposes. It con- sists principally of the Quercus marina, and va- rious species of Fuci, and has often the names of sea-wrack, ore-weed, sea-tangle, &c. See Kerr. SECHIUM (Sechiwm edulis or Siegos edulis). A new vegetable from South America; in size and form resembling a very large bell-pear; the skin smooth, of a pale-green colour; the flesh solid. For the table it is prepared ina manner similar to the squash, and is stated to be of a more delicate flavuur. It has but one single flat seed, which is larger than a Lima bean. A new vegetable, imported by Mr. Buist, of Philadelphia, and altogether unlike any thing before known or cultivated here. SEDGE (Carez, from careo, to want, the upper 983 SEED. spikes being without seeds). This is a very extensive genus, the species of which are un- interesting; part of them are natives of marshy situations, while a few thrive on dry, sandy eminences; they seed freely, by which they are increased. The roots are, perhaps without ex- ception, perennial, mostly creeping; sometimes fibrous and tufted only; herbage grassy; stem simple, generally with thin, finely serrated, and sharply-cutting angles, without knots or joints. Leaves linear, pointed, flat, roughish, with similarly cutting edges; their bases more or less tubular and sheathing, membranous at the summit, often auricled, the upper ones becom- ing bractes. Sir J. E. Smith enumerates and describes no less than 62 species of Carices in- digenous to Great Britain. ‘There are a great many species of sedge found in the United States. SEED is the reproductive part of a plant, resulting from a change effected in the ovules by the process of impregnation: it contains the embryo or rudiment of a future plant. For the preservation of the seed from insects and decomposition, and for food for the em- bryo, seeds contain feeula, saccharine, oily, and gummy matter within their coverings, and sometimes acrid, poisonous principles. In their coverings they also contain mucilage, oil, both fixed and volatile, and other principles [ SENSITIVE PLANT. which man makes subservient to his use, either as diet or condiments, or for other purposes. Seed is a form of reproductive matter peculiar to flowering plants, its equivalent in flowerless plants being the sporuli. It is commonly and very justly remarked, that, as the seed is the part intended by nature to multiply the races of plants, in this respect it resembles the egg, and, like it, long retains its vitality. The choice of the seed intended to be sown is an object of greater importance than many farmers seem to imagine. It is not sufficient that the finest grain be chosen for this purpose, unless it be likewise clean from weeds. In procuring seed, it should be a rule with the farmer to purchase or reserve such as is the most full, plump, sound, and healthy, whatever the kind may be, as it is perhaps only in this way that crops of good corn can be insured. And this practice is still more obvious from the circumstance of its being in some measure the same with plants as with animals, that the produce is in a degree similar to that from which it originated. See Bantry, Gnasszs, Oats, Temprrature, Warat, &c. The usual quantity of seed applied per acre for the ordinary crops of the English farmer, when either broadcast, drilled, or dibbled, is as follows :— Mangel-wurzel ala: April and May | ‘otatoes = March to June Time of sowing. Broadcast. Drill. Dibbled, Wheat - - - - September to December | 2}to3}bushels. | 2to3 bushels. 1} to 2 bushels. Oats) - = - - February to April -| 4t06 4 to 4b 2to3s Barley - - - - February to May - -| 3to4 2h to 3f Rye - - - = Augustand September - } to 3} 2103 Beans - - - - Novemberto March -| 3to4 23 to 34 2to3 reas). — = - - January to March - + to 4h 3to4 3 Tares - - - = August to March - -| to3 2to WB suckwheat - - - May - - - -| 2to2 2 Clover, Red - - - Marchand April - - 12 to 16 Ib. 10 to 14 lb. ——, White Mixed § Do. - - - -| 3t04 Trefeil eet Do. = - - =] 12 Red Clover U Do. - - - -| 2 Rye Grass - Do. - - - - 1 peck Turnips - May to August - -| 2to3Ib. 1} to 2 Ib. - 20 to 25 bush. | The quantities here given are those common throughout the island. But from the general custom in Flanders, and from the extensive practice which I have witnessed on the farms ot Mr. Hewitt Davis and other excellent far- mers, 1 am inclined to think that these quanti- ues may be considerably reduced. As in most cases it is usual to have on the land many more seedling plants than the soil can properly mature, thinner sowing has the effect of pro- ducing stronger, healthier, and more prolific neads; and I am still inclined to this opinion in favour of thinner sowing, notwithstanding I am aware that such excellent agriculturists as Lords Leicester and Western practise, and strongly recommend, thick sowing. As to the season for sowing, only general directions can be given. It is a highly impor- tant subject, much too little attended to in ge- neral. In the north of England they are fre- quently sowing weeks earlier than in the south. SEED-LIP. A sort of basket in which the sower carries the seed he is about to scatter vver the ground, 984 SEEL, A term provincially applied in Eng- land to time or season in respect to crops, as hay-seel, or hay-time, and barley-seel, or bar- ley-seed time, bark-seel, barking-season, &c. Tt is sometimes written seal. SENNA, WILD (Cassia Marylandica). 'This plant, which is abundant in the Middle States, is quite ornamental, and often introduced into gardens. It has a perennial root and erect stem, growing to the height of 3 or 4 feet, and branching. ‘The leaves resemble those of the imported senna (also a species of cassia), for which they are a good substitute, the medical properties being nearly similar. Its flowers are yellow and in clusters, followed by a seed- pod or legume 3 or 4 inches long. SENSITIVE PLANT, WILD, commonly called Twinkling Cassia (Cassia nictitans). This plant is found in the Middle States, on road- sides, &c. Its root is annual, and the stem grows 6 to 12 inches long, mostly oblique, slender, branching, and roughish-hairy. It pro- duces yellow flowers in August, succeeded by seed-pods an inch to an inch and a half long, and two or three lines wide. SEPTA. SEPTA. In botany, the partitions which divide the interior parts of a fruit. SERRATE. A botanical term, implying notched, or cut like the teeth of a saw. SERVICE TREE (Pyrus). There are in England two species of this tree, the wild ser- vice tree (P. torminalis), and the true service tree (P. domestica). Both are indigenous trees, often of considerable size, of extremely slow growth, and the wood is very hard. The service tree is still occasionally to be met with in the hedgerows in Kent, and in the wealds of Sussex, as also in the north of England and Wales. The leaves of the wild service tree are dark- green, deciduous, simple, somewhat heart- shaped, serrated, seven-lobed, on long stalks. Flowers white, numerous, in large, terminal, irymbose, downy panicles. The umbilicated fruit, which is not larger than that of the haw- thern, becomes agreeably acid and wholesome niece the frost has touched it, or when, like the medlar, it has undergone a kind of putrefactive fermentation. Ray prefers its flavour to the true service, which latter is now become obso- lete. See June Berry. SESSILE. A botanical term, applied to leaves without footstalks, which are seated close upon the stem. SETACEOUS. In botany, implies shaped like bristles. SETON. In farriery, a small cord consti- tuted of a number of threads laid together and passed through the skin by a proper needle, for the purpose of keeping open an issue. SHALOT or ESCALOT (Alliwm ascalonicum). Having a stronger taste than the onion, yet not leaving, as it is said, the strong odour on the palate which that species of Allium is accus- tomed to do, the shalot is often preferred, and employed instead, both in culinary prepara- tions and for eating in its natural state. Each offset of the root will increase if planted in a similar manner to its parent. The planting may be performed during October or November, or early in the spring, as February, March, or beginning of April. The first is the best sea- son, especially if the soil lies dry, as the bulbs become finer ; but otherwise the spring is to be preferred, for excessive moisture destroys the sets. Mr. Henderson supports the practice of planting in autumn, and says, “if the smallest offsets are employed for planting, they never become mouldy in the ground, and are never injured by the most intense frosts.” They are to be planted 6 inches asunder each way, in beds not more than 4 feet wide, being usually inserted in drills, by the dibble, or with the finger and thumb. SHAMROCK. The national emblem of Ireland. The term “shamrock” seems a ge- neral appellation for the trefoils, or three- leaved plants. There has been much dispute as to what is the true Irish shamrock; it has generally been considered to be the clover or Trifolium repens. A writer in the Journal of the Royal Inst. No.3, advances abundant testimony in proof of the wood-sorrel (Ozxalis acetosella) being the true shamrock. SHARE OF A PLOUGH. That part which cuts or breaks the ground. See Proven, 124 SHEEP. SHAW. A country term applied to a wood that encompasses a close. SHEARING OF SHEEP. The operation of cutting off the fleece or coat of wool with a pair of shears. This is performed in different ways, but the best mode is that of the circular or round the sheep, instead of the longitudinal, which is now mostly in use in Britain. Shearing is usually performed about June or July, accord- ing to situation and season, but should not be done either too early or be too long protracted, as injury and inconvenience may attend either extreme. A good clipper is capable of clipping from 14 or 15 to 20 or 25 sheep in the day, and more are frequently done by very expert per- sons. Great care should be taken not to cut or prick the animals; but where this accident happens, in the northern parts of the kingdom, they touch the part with a little tar or sheep- salve ; and in Sweden it is often done with train- oil and resin melted together. After shearing, the sheep should be turned into a warm, dry pasture. See Sueerp. SHEARLING. The name given to a sheep that has been once shorn. SHEARS. A name applied to some instru- ments employed in agriculture. The shears used for sheep-shearing are of very ancient origin: they were termed forfex by the Romans; and it appears that no improvement has been made on the instrument. In a collection of antique gems at Berlin, called the Stosch col- lection, is a gem bearing a representation of a newly shorn sheep, and the shears, which are exactly the same as those now used. Shears are also employed for clipping hedges. SHEATH. In botany, the lower part of the leaf that surrounds the stem. SHEEP (Ovis aries, nat. ord. Ruminantia). Of the original breed of this invaluable animal, which is in modern English farming almost equally important for furnishing the farmer with a dressing of manure, and the community at large with mutton, clothing, and other almost necessaries of life, nothing certain is known. Several varieties of wild sheep have, by natu- ralists, been considered entitled to the distine- tion of being considered the parent stock. Of these are, 1. The musmon (OQ. Musimon), still found wild in the mountains of the larger islands of the Mediterranean and in European Turkey. .2. The argali (O..Ammon), or wild Asiatic sheep, which are the tenants of the highest mountains of central Asia, and the elevated, inhospitable plains of its ‘northern portions. 38. The Rocky Mountain sheep (0. montana), which is found on the mountains of North America; and, 4. The bearded sheep of Africa (0, tragelaphus), found in the high lands of Egypt, and in Barbary. It is doubtful whether sheep are indigenous to Britain, but they are mentioned as existing there at very early periods. The Romans" established a woollen manufactory at Winchester, at which city the first guild of fullers was establoheds The natural habits of the sheep attach it to the highest ground, to the upland slopes, where the heath and other aromatic plants abound. Nature neyer intended this animal to occupy 40 985 SHEEP. SHEEP. the deep alluvial turnip lands of our rich | tain their full growth: when between two and arable farms, or to consume the succulent | grasses of our water-meadows: every shepherd | is aware that their natural instinct, after being for ages domesticated, still leads them invaria- bly to the elevated portions of the field in which they are placed. All these facts tell the farmer in very intelligible language that it is change of food, of pasturage, and, if possible, the giving them occasionally aromatic food, that will best conduce to the prosperity of his flock. With this view parsley has been successfully culti- vated. Then, again, the wild sheep are found to frequent all those places where saline exu- dations are to be found. In common with the deer and other ruminating animals, they lick the salt clay of some of the American uplands to such an extent, that these places are denomi- nated licks. Some of the most skilful of the English flock-masters never allow their sheep to be without salt. The female sheep goes with young twenty-one weeks, produces one, and rarely more than two at a birth; her milk yields abundance of strong-tasted cheese, but a very limited quantity of cream. The sheep, in temperate climates, is clothed with wool, which is annually renewed, but in warmer countries the animal is furnished with hair. In its wild state it has generally horns, but these have nearly disappeared in most of the breeds of domestic sheep. The domesticated sheep is known in England by different names, according to its ageorsex. “The male,” says Mr. Youatt, “is called aram or tup. While with his mother he is denominated atwp, orram lamb, a heeder, and in some parts of the west of Eng- land a pur lamb. From the time of weaning until he is shorn he has a variety of names ; being called a hog, a hogget, a hoggerel, a lamb hog, a tup hog, or a teg; and, if castrated, a wether hog. After shearing, when probably he is a year and a half old, he is called a shearing, a shearling, a shear hog,°a diamond, or dinmont ram or tup, and a shearling wether when cas- trated. . After the second shearing he is a two- shear ram or tup or wether ; at the expiration of another year he is a three-shear ram, &c., the name always taking its date from the time of shearing. In many parts of the north of Eng- land and Scotland he is a twp lamb, after he is salved and until he is shorn, and then atup hog, and after that a tup, or if castrated, a dinmont or wedder. The female is a ewe or gimmer lamb until weaned, and then a gimmer hog or ewe hog, or feg, or sheeder ewe. After being shorn she is a shearing ewe or gimmer, sometimes a theave or double-toothed ewe, or teg; and afterwards’a fwo- shear or three-shear, or a four or six-tooth ewe or theave. In some of the northern districts, ewes that are barren or that have weaned their lambs are called eild or yeld ewes.” (Youatt on Sheep, p. 2.) The teeth of the sheep are in number the same as those of the ox, viz., eight incisor or cutting-teeth in the lower jaw, and six molar teeth on each side, and in each jaw. When the lamb is born he has either no in- cisor teeth or only two, but before he is a month old he has eight. The two central teeth of these are shed, and again at two years old at- 986 three years of age, the two next incisors are shed; at three years old, the four central teeth are fully grown; at four, he has six complete teeth. That the primitive breed of sheep were horned, we have direct evidence. (Gen. xxii. 13; Joshua vi.6.) Immense flocks of this ani- mal have in all ages of the world been kept by man, but more universally for their wool and skins than for their flesh: for that is yet to many nations by no means a favourite meal. The Calmues and Cossacks still prefer that of the horse and the camel; the Spaniard who can procure other flesh rarely eats that of the Merino; to many North Americans it is still an object of dislike. Englishmen, perhaps, consume more mutton than the people of any other country, but the taste for this is certainly of modern origin. It has rapidly extended, as better breeds and sweeter kinds of mutton have been produced. My limits will not allow me to describe the great variety of breeds of sheep which belong to various countries; I shall, therefore, con- fine myself to a brief notice of those which tenant the British islands, referring those of my readers who need further information on the valuable work of Professor Youatt On the Sheep, and to Professor Low’s Illustrations of the Breeds of Domestic Animals, from whence this article is chiefly taken; there is also an excellent essay upon the sheep by Mr. Ellman in Baxter's Library of Agricultural Knowledge. Crass l—Suazzer witnour Horns. The new Leicester Sheep, says Mr. Youatt, which comprehends the most excellent of Bakewell’s own breed, and of Culley’s variety or improvement on it, is precisely the form for a sheep provided with plenty of good food, and without any great distance to travel or exertion to make in gathering it. It should have ahead hornless, long, small, tapering towards the muzzle. Eyes prominent, witha quiet expres- sion; ears thin, rather long, directed back- wards; neck full and broad at its base, gradu- ally tapering towards the head, particularly bare at the junction with the head; the neck seeming to project straight from the chest, so that there is, with the slightest possible devia- tion, one continued horizontal line from the rump to the pole. The breast broad and full; the shoulders broad and round, no uneven or angular formation, no rising of the withers, no hollow behind the situation of these bones. The arm fleshy throughout, even down to the knee. The bones of the leg small, standing wide apart, no looseness of skin about them, and comparatively bare of wool. The chest and barrel deep and round; the ribs forming a considerable arch from the spine; the barrel ribbed well home ; the carcase gradually dimi- nishing in width towards the rump; the quar- ters long and full; the legs of a moderate length; the pelt moderately thin, soft, and elas- tic, covered with a good quantity of white wool, not so long asin some breeds, but considerably finer. The principal recommendations of this breed are its beauty, and its fulness of form; in the same apparent dimensions greater weight than any other sheep; an early matu- SHEEP. rity and a propensity to fatten, equalled by no other breed; a diminution in the proportion of offal, and the return of most money for the quantity of food consumed. (Culley on Live- Stock ; Marshall’s Midland Counties ; Youatt on Sheep, p. 111.) Tor Bakewell’s views, when engaged in im- proving sheep, see Disutexy Breen. The Teeswater Sheep was bred originally on the banks of the Tees; it came from the stock of the old Lincolnshire, and, like them, it is nearly extinct. It was a tall, clumsy animal, polled, and with white face and legs; they were crossed by the Dishley sheep, because a smaller and a better breed, and few traces are now to be found. The Lincolnshire Sheep—Culley described the old breed of Lincolnshire sheep, half a century since, as having “no horns,” white faces, long, thin, and weak carcasses; the ewes weighing from 14 to 20 Ibs. per quarter, the three year old wethers from 20 to 30 lbs; thick, rough, white legs, large bones, thick pelts, and long wool, from 10 to 18 inches, and weighing from 8 to 14 lbs. per fleece, and covering a slow- feeding, coarse-grained carcase of mutton. Cul- ley, however, ran into the opposite extreme; if the Lincolnshire farmers bred only for the wool, he regarded only the mutton. A cross between the two produced a very profitable and much improved animal. The Cotswold Sheep have been long celebrated for the fineness of their wool. In 1467, a flock of these sheep were carried into Spain by license from Edward IV. Gervas Markham, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, describes them “as long-woolled and large-boned breed.” Few of the original Cotswold breed, however, now remain; they have been gradually improved by crossing with the Leicester sheep, and it is this half-bred Cotswold and Leicester which now chiefly tenants the Gloucestershire and Worcestershire farms. The old Cotswold sheep are described by Mr. Youatt, as being taller and longer than the improved breed, comparatively flat-sided, deficient in the fore- quarter, but full in the hind-quarter, not fatten- ing so early, but yielding a longer and heavier fleece. (Youatt on Sheep, p. 340.) The mutton of this breed is well described by Mr. Ellman, as fine-grained and full-sized, but capable of great improvement by propercrossing. “The Cotswold,” he adds, “differ from the South Down in several particulars ; the skin of the Cotswold is much thicker than the South Down; the head long and thin; ears wide and not too thin, having no wool but a tuft on the poll; wool below the hock considered objectionable. On the Cotswold they never allow two rams to run together.’ He thinks twin ewes have much more to do with getting twins than twin rams; both, however, should be attended to, as well as a still more important particular, their keep. (Baczter’s Lib. of Agr.) The Dartmoor Sheep.—*The short or rather middle-woolled sheep of Devonshire,” says Mr. Youatt, “a few of which are still seen in South Devon, and on the greater part of the hills in the northern district, but most numerously on the forests of Dartmoor and Exmoor, are every- where of nearly the same character, and betray SHEEP. on a smaller scale a great affinity with the Dorsets; have white faces and legs; some with and some without horns; small in the head and neck, and generally small-boned; carcase narrow and flat-sided, weighing when fat from 9 to 12 lbs. per quarter; the fleece 3 or 4 lbs. in weight in the yolk; wool short, with a coarse and hairy top.” The South Down Sheep—The remarks of Mr. Ellman of Glynde, in Sussex, who has done more than any one to improve the race of South Down, are so practical and clear, that what he has done so well it is useless to give in any other language; he says, when speak- ing of this valuable breed, “the head should be neither too long nor too short, the lip thin, the neck neither too long nor too short, but thin next the head, and tapering towards the shoulders. South Down breeders object to a long, thin neck; it denotes delicacy. The breast should be wide and deep, projecting forward before the fore-legs; this indicates a good constitu- tion, and disposition to feed. The shoulders should not be too wide between the plate-bones, but on a level with the chine; if the shoulder- blades are wide on the top, the animal generally drops behind the shoulders. The chine should be low and straight from the shoulders to the tail; the ribs should project horizontally from the chine, for the animal will then lay its meat on the prime parts; the sides high and paral- lel; the rump long and broad; the tail set on high, and nearly on a level with the chine; the hips wide; the ribs circular, and barrel-shaped ; the legs neither very long nor very short; the bones moderately fine.” (Bazter’s Lib. of Agr p- 570.) Romney Marsh Sheep—Towards the begin- ning of this century, Mr. Price described “the pure Romney Marsh bred sheep as distin- guished by thickness and length of head, a broad forehead with a tuft of wool upon it, a long and thick neck, and carcase flat-sided; chine sharp, tolerably wide on the loins, breast narrow and not deep, and the fore-quarter not heavy nor full; the thigh full and broad, the belly large; the tail thick, long, and coarse, the legs thick, feet large, the muscle coarse, bone large. Wool long and not fine; have much internal fat, much hardihood; requiring no artificial food during the hardest winter, ex- cept alittle hay.” (Yowatt on Sheep, p. 334.) With all these good properties, however, the old Romney Marsh sheep has been nearly obli- terated by occasional crossings with the Lei- cester sheep; which, by judicious management (taking care not to render the breed too tender by the introduction of too much of the Leices- ter), has produced a sheep possessing sufficient hardiness for these bleak marshes, yet produc- ing more symmetry of form, with earlier ma- turity, and greater propensity to fatten. The Cheviot Sheep are a peculiar breed, which are kept on the extensive range of the Cheviot Hills. They are described as having “the face and legs generally white; the eye lively and prominent; the countenance open and pleasing; the ear large, and with a long space from the ear to the eye; the body long; and hence they are called ‘long sheep,’ in distinc- tion from the black-faced breed. ‘They are full 987 SHEEP. behind the shoulder, have a long, straight back, are round in the rib, and well-proportioned in the quarters; the legs clean and small-boned, and the pelt thin, but thickly covered with fine, short wool: they possess very considerable fattening qualities, and can endure much hard- ship, both from starvation and cold. He is fit for the butcher at three years old, and at two when crossed with the Leicester.” (Youatt on Sheep, p. 285; “On crossing the Mountain and Cheviot Sheep,” by Mr. Hogg, Quart. Journ. Agr. vol. i. p. 175.) Class II. Hornep Saeep. The Dorset Sheep.—* Most of these,” says Mr. Youatt, “at least of the pure breed, are entirely white; the face is long and broad, and there is a tuft of wool on the forehead; the shoulders low and broad; the back straight; the chest deep; the loins broad; the legs rather beyond a moderate length, and the bone small. They are, as their form would indicate, a hardy and useful breed. They are good folding sheep; their mutton well-flavoured, averaging, when 3 years old, from 16 to 20 pounds a quarter. Their principal distinction and value is the forwardness of the ewes, who take the ram at a much earlier period of the year than any other species, and thus supply the market with lamb at the time when it fetches the highest price. These sheep are principally bred within a circle of 12 miles round Dorchester, where a considerable quantity of house lamb for the London market is produced. In other parts of Dorset the South Down breed prevails; ex- ceptin Portland and on poor, sandy, heath soils near Warebone and Poole, where a poor small- horned breed prevails, with black muzzles, well adapted for this locality. Their meat is tender.” The Norfolk Sheep—* 2 | 304 | 599 | 579 | 615° | 4:37 > oT | 734 | e780 | 93-48 | 48:31 | 21-95 > > | 0-90 | 3:33 | 305 | 348 | 2-88 = = | 031 | 014 | 1:90 | 0-30 | 0-66 ee) ae f 063-| 0:30 > 2 fer | 3-60 | 1473 | 3:30 | 5 > 5 1353 | 447 | 3:53 | 404 | 3-41 = = | 095 | 657 | 5:05 | 1307 | 9:16 = 2 | 006 | 362 | 211 | 348 | 157 “5286 17478 | 932 | 9553 | 69-57 pendent branches, is materially facilitated by motion, as by the action of the wind. “Mr. Knight,” adds Mrs. Marcet, “has made a va- riety of interesting experiments on this subject. He confined both the stem and branches of a tree in such a manner that it could not be moved by the wind. The plant became feeble, and its growth much inferior to that of a similar tree growing in its natural state. He confined another tree so that it could be moved only by the north and south winds, and ob- tained the singular result of an oval stem, the sides accessible to the wind growing more vigorously than those sheltered from its influ- ence. Every species of restraint, and espe- cially such as tend to render plants motion- less, impedes their growth. Stakes by which young trees are propped, nailing them to walls or trellises, green-houses, or confined situations where the air has not free access, check and injure the vigour of vegetation, and render plants diminutive and weakly. The cambium descends almost entirely through the liber or most internal and youngest layer of the bark; if, therefore, a ring is cut completely through the bark, this fluid is arrested in its course, and, accumulating around the upper edge of the intersected bark, will cause an annular pro- tuberance. The descent of the cambium thus being obstructed, it will accumulate in that part of the tree above the intersection, afford it a superabundance of nourishment, creating a proportional vigour of vegetation, and a cor- responding excellence and profusion of pro- duce.” This operation, or ringing, is often per- formed on the non-productive branches of fruit trees. The effect of gravitation or attraction upon plants is of the highest importance to their ger- mination and their growth. From the very nature, however, of this essentially present power, a principle known only to us by its effects, the research is surrounded with diffi- culties. Mr. Knight, the late excellent presi- dent of the Horticultural Society, described some of the effects of gravity upon plants in his usual happy manner, when, in addressing the fellows of the Royal Society, he observed, “Tt can scarcely have escaped the notice of the most inattentive observer of vegetation, that in whatever position a seed is placed to germi- nate, its radicle invariably makes an effort to descend towards the centre of the earth, while the elongated germen takes precisely the oppo- VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. site direction; and it has been proved by Du- hamel, that if a seed during its germination be frequently inverted, the points both of the radi- cle and germen will return to the first direc- tion. Some naturalists have supposed these opposite effects to be produced by gravitation; and it is not difficult to conceive that the same agent, by operating on bodies so differently organized as the radicle and germen of plants are, may occasion the one to descend and the other to ascend.” The hypothesis of these na- turalists it was the intention of Knight to exa- mine by certain experiments, which he thus proceeds to describe: “I conceived that if gra- Vitation were the cause of the descent of the radicle and the ascent of the germen, it must act either by ts immediate influence on the vegetable fibres and vessels during their forma- tion, or on the motion and consequent distribu- tion of the true sap afforded by the cotyledons; and as gravitation could produce these effects only while the seed remained at rest, and in the same position relative to the attraction of the earth, I imagined that its operation would be- come suspended by constant and rapid change of the position of the germinating seed, and that it might be counteracted by the agency of centrifugal force. Having a strong rill of wa- ter passing through my garden, I constructed a small wheel, similar to those used for grinding corn, adapting a wheel of a different construc- tion, and formed of very slender pieces of wood, to the same axis. “Round the circumference of the latter, which was 11 inches in diameter, numerous seeds of the garden bean, which had been soaked in water to produce the greatest degree of expan- sion, were bound at short distances from each other. The radicles of these seeds were made to point in every direction, some towards the centre of the wheel, and others in the opposite direction; others at tangents to its curve; some pointing backwards and others forwards, rela- tive to its motion, and others pointing in oppo- site directions in lines parallel with the axis of the wheels. The whole was enclosed in a box and secured by a lock, and a wire-grate was placed to prevent the ingress of any body capable of impeding the motion of the wheels. The water being then admitted, the wheels per- formed something more than 150 revolutions in a minute, and the position of the seeds rela- tively to the earth was as often perfectly in- verted within the same period of time, by which I conceive that the influence of gravitation must have been wholly suspended. In a few days the seeds began to germinate; I soon per- ceived that the radicles, in whatever direction they were protruded from the position of the seed, turned their points outward from the cir- cumference of the wheel, and in their subse- quent growth receded nearly at right angles from its axis. The germens, on the contrary, took the opposite direction, and in a few days their points all met in the centre of the wheel. Three of these plants were suffered to remain on the wheel, and were secured to its spokes to prevent their being shaken off by its mo- tion. The stems of these plants soon extended beyond the centre; but the same cause which first occasioned them to approach its axis still VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. | operating, their points returned and met again at its centre. The motion of the wheel being in this experiment vertical, the radicle and ger- men of every seed occupied during a minute portion of time in each revolution precisely the same position they would have assumed had the plants vegetated at rest; and as gravitation and centrifugal force also acted in lines paral- lel with the vertical motion and surface of the wheel, I conceived that some slight objections might be urged against the conclusions I felt inclined to draw. I therefore added to the ma- chinery I have described another wheel, which moved horizontally over the vertical wheels; and to this, by means of multiplying wheels of different powers, I was enabled to give many different degrees of velocity. Round the cir- cumference of the horizontal wheel, whose dia- meter was also 11 inches, seeds of the bean were bound as in the experiment which I have already described, and it was then made to per- form 250 revolutions in a minute. By the rapid motion of the water-wheel, much water was thrown upwards on the horizontal wheel, part of which supplied the seeds upon it with moisture, and the remainder was dispersed in a light and constant shower over the seeds in the vertical wheel, and on others placed to vegetate at rest in different parts of the box. “Every seed on the horizontal wheel, though moving with great rapidity, necessarily retained the same position relative to the attraction of the earth, and therefore the operation of gravity could not be suspended, though it might be counteracted in a very considerable degree by centrifugal force, and the difference I had an- ticipated between the effects of rapid vertical and horizontal motion soon became sufiicient- ly obvious. The radicles pointed downwards about 10 degrees below, and the germens as many degrees above, the horizontal line of the wheel’s motion, centrifugal force having made both to deviate 80 degrees from the perpendi- cular direction each would have taken had they vegetated atrest. Gradually diminishing the rapidity of the horizontal wheel, the radi- cles descended more perpendicularly, and the germens grew more upright, and, when it did not perform more than 80 revolutions in a mi- nute, the radicle pointed about 45 degrees be- low, and the germens as much above, the hori- zontal line; the one always receding from, and the other approaching to, the axis of the wheel. “T would not, however, be understood to assert that the velocity of 250 or 80 horizontal revolutions in a minute will always give accu- rately the degrees of depression and elevation of the radicle and germen which I have men- tioned; for the rapidity of the motion of my wheels was somewhat diminished by the col- lection of fibres of conferve against the wire grate, which obstructed in some degree the passage of the water; and the machinery hay- ing been the workmanship of myself and my gardener, cannot be supposed to have moved with all the regularity it might have done, had it been the work of a professed mechanic. But I conceive myself to have fully proved that the radicles of germinating seeds are made to de- scend, and their germens to ascend, by some 1079 (VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. external cause, and not by any power inherent in vegetable life; and I see little reason to doubt that gravitation is the principal, if not the only, agent employed in this case by nature.” Mr. Knight has endeavoured to point out the means by which he conceives the same agent may produce effects so diametrically opposite to each other. It has, however, been objected by Duhamel (and the greatest deference is always due to his opinions) that gravitation could have little influence on the direction of the germen, were it, in the first instance, protruded, or were it subsequently inverted, and made to point per- pendicularly downwards. To enable myself, says Mr. Knight, to answer this objection, I made mansy experiments on trees of the horse- chestnut and of the bean, in the box TI have already described; and as the seeds there were suspended out of the earth, I could regularly watch the progress of every effort made by the radicle and germen to change their positions. The extremity of the radicle of the bean, when made to point perpendicularly upwards, gene- rally formed a considerable curvature within 3 or 4 hours when the weather was warm. The germen was more sluggish; but it rarely or never failed to change its direction in the course of 24 hours; and all my efforts to make it grow downwards by slightly changing its direction were invariably abortive. As trees possess the power of turning the upper surfaces of their leaves and the points of their shoots to the light, and their tendrils in any direction to attach themselves to conti- guous objects, it may be suspected that their lateral roots are by some means directed to any soil in their vicinity which is best calculated to nourish the plant to which they belong; and it ts well known that much the greater part of the roots of an aquatic plant which has grown in a dry soil, on the margin of a lake or river, have been found to point to the water, whilst those of another species of tree which thrives best in a dry soil have been ascertained to take an opposite direction: but the result of some experiments I have made is not favourable to this hypothesis; and I am inclined to believe that the roots disperse themselves in every direction, and only become more numerous where they find most employment, and a soil best adapted to the species of plant. A tree growing upon a wall at some distance from the ground, and consequently ill supplied with food and water, has also been observed to adapt its habits to its situation, and to make very singular and well-directed efforts to reach the soil beneath by means of its roots. Dur- ing the period in which it is making such efforts, little addition is made to its branches, and almost the whole powers of the plant ap- pear to be directed to the growth of one or more of its principal roots. To these much in cohsequence is annually added, and they pro- ceed perpendicularly towards the earth, unless made to deviate by some opposing body; and as soon as the roots have attached themselves to the soil, the branches grow with vigour and rapidity, and the plant assumes the ordinary abits of its species. Tn some other experiments of Knight to illus- 1080 VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. trate these highly interesting habits of plants, pieces of alum, and of the sulphate of iron (green vitriol), blue vitriol (sulphate of cop- per), were placed at small distances perpendi- cularly beneath the radicles of germinating seeds of different species, to afford an oppor- | tunity of observing whether any efforts could be made by them to avoid poisons; but they did not appear to be at all influenced except by actual contact of the injurious substances. The growth of their fibrous lateral roots was, however, obviously accelerated when their points approached any considerable quantity of decomposing vegetable or animal matter; and when the growth of the roots was retarded by want of moisture, the contiguity of water in the adjoining mould, though not apparently in actual contact with them, operated benefi- cially: but I had reason to suspect that the growth of roots was, under these circum- stances, promoted by actual contact with the detached and fugitive particles of the decom- posing body and the evaporating water. The way in which plants establish them- selves in opposition to the various obstacles they have to encounter, as, for instance, in withstanding violent winds, is very remarkable. The growth and forms assumed by the roots of trees of every species are, to a great extent, dependent upon the quantity of motion which their stems and branches receive from winds; for the effects of motion upon the growth of the root and of the trunk and branches are perfectly similar. Whatever part of a root is moved and bent by winds or other causes, an increased deposition of alburnous matter upon that part soon takes place, and consequently the roots which immediately adjoin the trunk of an insulated tree in an exposed situation be- come strong and rigid, whilst they diminish rapidly in bulk as they recede from the trunk, and descend into the ground; by this sudden diminution of the bulk of the roots the passage of the descending sap through their bark is ob- structed, and it, in consequence, generates, and passes into many lateral roots, and these, if the tree be still much agitated by winds, assume a similar form, and consequently divide into many others. A kind of net-work, composed of thick and strong roots, is thus formed, and the tree is secured from the danger to which its situation would othefwise expose it. Ina sheltered valley, on the contrary, where a tree is surrounded and protected by others, and is rarely agitated by winds, the roots grow long and slender, like the stem and branches, and comparatively much less of the circulating fluid is expended in the deposition of alburnum beneath the ground; and hence it not unfre- quently happens that a tree in the most shel- tered part of a valley is uprooted, whilst the exposed and insulated tree upon the adjoining mountain remains uninjured by the fury of the storm. All such investigations as these are fraught with instruction to the cultivator of the earth. They not only illustrate the every-day opera- tions of the farmer, but they guard him against the adoption of specious novelties and unsci- entific efforts to increase the fertility of the soil. Such researches, too, will bardly fail to VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY.’ instruct and elevate the character of the tiller of the earth in more ways than one. They will teach him, as M. Mirbel long since well remarked, that every operation “is connected in the vast system of the globe, and that order emanates from the equipoise of conflicting phenomena. Animals carry off the oxygen of the atmosphere, replacing it by carbonic acid gas; and are thus at work to adulterate the constitution of the air and render it unfit for respiration. Vegetables take up carbonic acid gas, retain the carbon, and give out oxygen; and are thus purifying the air tainted by ani- mals, and re-establishing the necessary propor- tions between its elements. In Europe, while our vegetables, stripped by the severity of the season of their foliage, no longer yield the air contributing to life, the salutary gas is borne to us by trade winds from the southernmost regions of America. Breezes from all quar- ters of the world intermingle thus the various Strata of the atmosphere, and keep its consti- tution uniform in all seasons and at all eleva- tions. The substances which are produced by the dissolution of animal and vegetable matter are absorbed by plants, and constitute a por- tion of the nourishment by which they are maintained; plants, in their turn, become the food of animals, and these again the prey of others which subsist on flesh. Yet, in spite of this perpetual state of war and destruction, nothing perishes, for all is regenerated. Na- ture has ordained that the two great divisions of organized beings should depend the one upon the other for support, and that both the life and death of individuals should be equally serviceable in preserving the harmony of the universe.” If we come to consider vegetation as it re- gards ourselves, we shall find that this great agent of nature, subjected in a certain degree to the control of man in a state of society, is the main source of his prosperity or of his misery. How many countries have the greedy ambition of princes, and the degradation and ignorance of the people, made barren! Recol- lect what Asia Minor, Judea, Egypt, the pro- vinces at the foot of Mount Atlas, have been, and behold what they are at this day. Recol- lect Greece, once the country of science and of liberty, now that of ignorance and slavery; she can be only recognised in her ruins, and her monuments of the dead. Man had denied his labour to the earth, and the earth her trea- sures to man: all vanished with agriculture. The traveller who passes that country of so great renown, finds, in the place of the fine forests that crowned its mountains, of the rich harvests reaped by twenty busy nations, of the numerous flocks that enriched its fields, only naked rocks and sterile sands, with here and there a miserable village. He seeks in vain for several rivers recorded in history ; they are gone! Thus the rage of conquest and of rule not only overturns cities, depopulates whole countries, and brings back barbarism, but it dries up the very springs from which the natu- ral riches of the earth have flowed. To these melancholy results of our passions we might oppose the more cheerful ones of our industry; but they are more properly within the province 136 VENTILATION. of the arts of cultivation than of vegetable physiology. VEGETABLE MARROW (Cucurbita ovifera). This fruit of the succada gourd is uniformly of a pale yellow colour, and of an elliptic- oblong shape, the surface having irregular, longitudinal ribs, uniting into a projecting apex. When full grown it is about 9 inches in length and 4 in diameter, and is by far the best adapted for culinary purposes of any spe- cies of the gourd tribe. It is of recent intro- duction into Europe, having been brought from Persia. It is useful for culinary purposes in every stage of its growth; when very young, it is good if fried with butter; when large, or about half-grown, it is excellent either when plain, boiled, or stewed with rich sauce; for either of these purposes it should be cut in slices. The flesh has a peculiar tenderness and softness, from which circumstance it has received its name, much resembling the buttery quality of the bewrré pear, and this property re- mains with it till it is full-grown, when it is used for pies. Itis in its intermediate state of growth that it is likely to be most approved. Compared with all the other vegetables of the same family, its superiority is decided. I con- sider the vegetable marrow without a rival. “We have grown the true vegetable marrow two seasons,” says the editor of the Cultivator, “and although we have not used it in the inter- mediate state of its growth, as recommended by Mr. Sabine, we esteem it among the best varieties of the cucurbita for boiling and for pies. It is cultivated like the common pumpkin or squash, and will ripen in the U.S. in a high latitude.” VEGETABLES. The observations of vege- table physiologists and the researches of che- mists have mutually contributed to establish the fact, that the growth and developement of vegetables depend on the rejection of oxygen, which is separated from the other component parts of their nourishment. In contradistinction to vegetable life, the life of animals exhibits itself in the continual ab- sorption of the oxygen of the air, and its com- bination with certain component parts of the animal body. While no part of an organized being can serve as food to vegetables, until, by the pro- cesses of putrefaction and decay, it has as- sumed the form of inorganic matter, the ani- mal organism requires, for its support and developement, highly organized atoms. The food of all animals, in all circumstances, con- sists of parts of organisms. Assimilation, or the process of formation and growth,—in other words, the passage of matter from a state of motion to that of rest,— goes on in the same way in animals and in vegetables. In both, the same cause determines the increase of mass. This constitutes the true vegetable life, which is carried on without consciousness. (Liebig’s Animal Chemistry.) VENISON. The flesh of deer. See Derr and Meat. VENTILATION. The injurious effects of close and dirty stables, and other places where stock are often kept, and the great advantages derived from securing a proper ventilation or continual supply of fresh unbreathed air to 4Y 1081 VENTILATION. animals, are matters which have received, of late, agreat deal of merited attention. The owner of horses or other stock, intent upon protecting these from the wet and cold, and placing them in the most favourable position to take on fat, often ex- poses them to the most injurious effects induced by the breathing of impure air. ‘* We generally find,” says an able writer upon this subject, “that the unhealthiness of the atmosphere in which stabled horses and cattle are placed, increases with the value of the animal; this is especially the case with the horse. The groom finding no mode so easy in his endeavours to procure for his horses a fine coat, as that of keeping them ina high temperature, is pretty sure, if not restrained, to effect this by excluding from his stable every breath of air by which its temperature may be lowered, or its purity pre- served. It results then (often, it is true, by slow degrees) that the animal, from the breathing an atmosphere surcharged as a certain consequence with the carbonic acid gas emitted from the lungs of the horses in the stable, and with fumes of ammonia from the decomposing urine with which the floor is saturated (a decomposition accelerated by the warmth of the place), becomes tender and diseased. That to this source must be attributed the majority of those diseases of the lungs by which so many valuable horses are annually carried off, there is no reason to doubt. * The temperature of the stable,’ says Professor Youatt, in his excellent treatise on the horse, ‘should never in winter exceed ten degrees above that of the external air, and during the rest of the year should be as similar to it as possible.? And he adds a fact which is far too little known to the owners of live stock: ‘ The return to a hot stable is quite as dangerous as the change from a heated atmosphere to a cold and biting air. Many a horse that has travelled without injury over a bleak country, has been suddenly seized with inflammation and fever when he has immediately at the end of his journey been surrounded with heated and foul air.’ ‘And,’ he adds in another place, ‘of no- thing are we more certain, than that in the majority of the maladies of the horse, those of the worst and most fatal character, directly or indirectly are to be attributed to the unnatural heat of the stable.? The evil, then, being cer- tain, the remedy merely consisting in the better and more regudar ventilation of the stable, can I urge upon the horse’s owner a more reasonable or a more profitable improvement than this? My own experience tells me that a warm box, well ventilated and constantly kept clean, is by far the best and the most healthy medium in which a horse ean be placed. Both cleanliness and ventilation must, of course, go together; for it is easy to lose the advantages of ventilation by a disregard to the cleanliness of the stable. * With regard to the stall-fed cow and the ox, the same erroneous mode of treatment is too constantly adopted: warmth and quiet, and an absence of light, it is true, have all been deter- mined to be highly conducive to the rapid pro- gress of the animal to maturity, but no sensible farmer ever yet concluded that the purity or the foulness of the air in which the animal is placed, is a matter of perfect indifference: and yet in now many instances are such cows, such fatten- ing oxen, stall-fed, in an atmosphere in which the lungs of the animals must be weakened, their 1082 VENTILATION. | health endangered? How commonly do we see them placed in low close stables, into whicha breath of fresh air rarely enters? It is idle to contend that to confine them in such an atmo- sphere does them no injury. It has been found that the same kind of impure air which these animals are too often made to endure, is cer- tain death to the smaller animals ; and, that the mortality increases as the size of the animal decreases, has been well shown by many curious and valuable inquiries. I will give a few only of these, being quite sure that to many of my readers they will afford matter of grave and useful reflection, when they are considering the ventilation not only of the stables of their live stock, but of the cottages of their labourers, and the rooms which the farmer is himself inhabiting. Let us commence our inquiries, then, with the effects of bad air upon the smaller tribes of birds, and proceed afterwards to the larger ani- mals. ‘It is well known,’ says Dr. Arnott (Report of Commissioners upon the Health of Towns, p. 61), ‘that a canary bird suspended near the top of a curtained bedstead in which people have slept, will generally, owing to the impurity:of the air, be found dead in the morn- ing; and small, close rooms, in the habitations of the poor, are sometimes as ill-ventilated as the curtained bedstead.’ ** Mr. Edwin Chadwick, the excellent Secre- tary to the Poor-Law Commissioners, in his able supplementary report upon the sanatory condi- tion of the labouring classes, gives some striking facts in illustration of the ill effects of bad smells upon the health of small birds. He says (p. 10), ‘In the course of some inquiries which I made with Professor Owen, when examining a slaugh- terman as to the effects of the effluvia of animal remains on himself and family, some other facts were elicited illustrative of the effects of such effluvia on still more delicate life. The man had lived in Bear Yard, near Clare Market, which was exposed to the combined effluvia from a slaughter-house and a tripe factory. He was a bird fancier, but he found that he could not rear his birds in this place. He had known a bird, fresh caught in the summer time, die there in a week. He particularly noted, as having a fatal influence on the birds, the stench raised by boiling down the fat from the tripe offal. He said, ‘You may hang the cage out of the garret window, in any house round Bear Yard, and if it be a fresh bird it will be dead in a week.’ He had previously lived for a time in the same neighbourhood, in a room over a crowded burial- ground in Portugal Street. At times, in the morning, he had seen a mist rise from the ground, and the smell was offensive. That place was equally fatal to his birds. He had removed to another dwelling-house in Vere Street, Clare Market, which is beyond the smell from this particular place, and he was now enabled to keep his birds. In town, however, the ordinary sing- ing birds did not actually live more than about eighteen months. In cages, in the country, such birds were known to live as long as nine years or more, on the same food. When he particularly wished to preserve a pet bird, he sent it fora time into the country; and by repeating this removal he preserved them much longer. The fact of the pernicious effect of offensive smells on the small graminivorous birds, and the short duration of their life in close rooms and districts, VENTILATION. was attested by a bird-dealer. In respect to cattle, the slaughterman gave decided reasons for the conclusion, that, whilst in the slaughter- house, they lost their appetites and refused food, from the effect of the efiluvium of the place, and not, as was popularly supposed, from any pre- sentiment of their impending fate.’ ‘ The spread of the knowledge of the fact that animals are subject to typhus, consumption, and the chief of the train of disorders supposed to be pecu- liarly human,? remark the Commissioners in another place, ‘ will, it may be expected, more powerfully direct attention to the common means of prevention.’ (Report, p. 103.) Epizootic diseases, are such as_ prevail among a large number of animals at the same time, just as epidemics do in the human species. © The epizootie are, in many respects, less serious than the epidemics: nevertheless, as they often affect the animals which serve for the nutriment of man, and that, apart from this consideration, they may have grave consequences for the public health, they have constantly engaged the care of the Council. In 1834 an epizootie was reported to the Administration, which prevailed amongst the cows of the communes round Paris, and which caused a great mortality. The researches of the Council established that this epzootie was only a chronic disease, a true pulmonary phthisis, to which has been given the name of pommed/iére, and by which the greater part of the cows had been attacked which fill the stables of the milk- men of Paris and its environs. According to the Council, the principal cause of the evil was to be attributed to the vicious regimen to which this animal is subjected. It is known that they pass a part of the year in stables perfectly closed, in which the space is not proportioned to the number of inmates, in which the vitiated air renews itself with extreme difficulty, and in which the heat is sometimes suffocating. It is known, also, that they pass suddenly from the food of the stable to pasture, and that in this change they go from the hot and humid atmos- phere of the stable to a sudden exposure to the continued variations of the external air. This alternation of food, and of heat and cold, operates as a powerful cause of disease. But as the evil does not announce itself in a violent manner, as its progress is not very rapid, as there is even a period in the disease in which the animal is dis- posed to get flesh, the cow-feeder, who knows to what point to keep her, sells her when she is ready tocalve. It is in a radius of thirty leagues from the capital that cows of this kind are pur- chased by the jobbers, who supply the milkmen of Paris. With these last they still hold out a certain number of years, if they are properly cared for; but in general they are kept in stables whichare neither sufficiently large nor sufficiently airy, where they are exposed to the same causes which gave birth to the malady. The phthisis arrives insensibly at its last stage, and carries off every year, from Paris and its neigbourhood, a great number of these cows.’ * A similar discovery was only lately made as to the effect of defective ventilation on the ca- valry horses in some of the government barracks in England; and it is stated a saving of several thousand pounds per annum was effected by an easy improvement of the ventilation of the bar- racks near the metropolis. An agriculturist had a large number of sheep housed to feed them on mangel wurzel, but a great number of them VENTILATION. sickened and died, and he supposed that it was the food which had killed them. “A veterinary surgeon, however, who happened to be aware of the consequences of defective ventilation, pointed out the remedy—a better ventilation for the over-crowded sheep. The defect was remedied ; the sheep throve well.” In adopting means for the removal or extraction of foul air, in dwellings for man, as well as in stables, dairies, and éven sheep-cots and pig- pens, when these are made close, the ventilator, or holes for its escape, should always be placed at the highest part of the ceiling. Withdrawing the foul air from the bottom of buildings, on the supposition that, as carbonic acid gas is heavier than common air, it must necessarily subside to the lowest portion of the interior, though plausi- ble in theory, is found to be altogether erroneous in practice. For it has been ascertained that this heavy gas, as it comes from the lungs combined with heat and moisture, is lighter than common air, as we see by the rising of the breath in frosty weather. In the ventilation of stables, cow-houses, &c., the supply of air will require to be of larger amount than for buildings intended for human beings. About 400 cubic inches per minute is the usual allowance of air breathed by an adult person; but for horses and cows, three times as much is required. The one or more openings for the escape of the foul air, have their sizes or areas calculated according to the following rule. Multiply the number of horses the stable is to contain by 12, and divide the product by 43 times the square root of the height in feet from the ceiling to the floor, and the quotient is the area of the ven- tilation tube or tubes in feet. (Burn on Practi- cal Ventilation.) No foul air can by any possibility be extracted from the interior of a building, however well arranged it may be, unless an ample supply of pure air is admitted, because it is the force of the entering air that causes the vitiated to be expelled. The fresh air should be admitted by apertures in the walls, made close to the floor under each window. Where this can be done, and supposing there were six windows, and the fresh-air ducts required to be 6 square feet, six openings should be made, each equal to one square foot. All the openings should have valves fixed on the outside, to regulate the admission of air. In stables, &c., well supplied with the means of admitting fresh air and withdrawing the foul air, the doors and windows may be made as tight as possible, yet the interior will smell sweet and clean. Dairies cannot be too well supplied with pure fresh air ; to secure which, they should not be situated in the vicinity of any source of con- tamination. (See Burn’s Treatise on Practical Ventilation, for further details.) See Somine. Animal Heat.—Recent researches made by chemists have developed many wonderful pheno- mena of life hitherto regarded as inexplicable mysteries. Among these is that relating to the source of animal heat, and the kinds and propor- tions of food necessary to maintain it. This being a subject intimately connected with the practices of sheltering and feeding cattle and other stock, it of course demands the close con sideration of the intelligent farmer, to whom we present the results recently obtained through the investigations of Dr. Playfair :— “The average temperature of the bodies of 1083 VENTILATION. our cattle is about 100°, or more than 40° higher than the ordinary temperature of the climate of England. Hence there must be some provision in the animal body to sustain the heat, which is absolutely necessary for the performance of the organic functions. The air, being so much colder than the body, must constantly withdraw from it heat, and tend to lower its temperature. Whence, then, comes the fuel for the production of the heat ? 4 “The fuel consists of those ingredients of food from which nitrogen is absent; they all contain carbon and the elements of water. We know that oxygen is continually inhaled in the air we breathe, and that it is never again expired as such. Expired air consists of carbonic acid, a gas composed of carbon and oxygen. In the body, therefore, the oxygen has united with car- bon; or it has produced the very gas which is obtained by burning a piece of charcoal in the open air. Now the heat generated by the combustion of the carbon in the body must be exactly equi- valent to that produced by burning the same amount in the atmosphere.” Experiments have taught us, that the average quantity of carbon in the food of an adult man amounts to 14 ounces daily. By the combustion of this quantity 197,477° of heat are produced, and this is amply sufficient to account for the heat of the human body. The experiments of Boussingault show, that a cow breathes out about 70 ounces of carbon daily, and from this we calculate that 987,385° of heat must be produced in the body of a cow in the space of twenty-four hours. These cal- culations will at once prove that there is little difficulty in accounting for the heat of the animal body. But, as the heat of the animal body is the same in all regions, it is obvious that the quantity of fuel (food) necessary to sustain the constant tem- perature of the body must vary according to the nature of the climate. Thus less food is required for this purpose in India, where the temperature of the external air equals that of the body, than in the polar regions, in which it is very many degrees lower. But a beneficent Providence has arranged the produce of different countries so as to meet the exigencies of the climate. The fruits, upon which the inhabitants of warm coun- tries love to feed, contain only 12 per cent. of carbon, while the train-oil enjoyed by the inha- bitants of arctic regions contains above 70 per cent. of the same element. It has been shown that the food of various countries is more or less combustible, according to the temperature of the climate; and proofs were adduced that the amount of the food con- sumed varied also according to the temperature. The animal body is a furnace which must be kept up to a certain heat in all climates. This furnace must, therefore, be supplied with more or less fuel according to the temperature of the external air. If then in winter we wish to retain the vital functions of our cattle in a pro- per degree of activity, we must keep up the heat of their bodies. This we may do in two ways. We may either add more fuel (food) to the furnace, or we may protect their bodies from the cold. Warmth is an equivalent for food, which may thus be economized. Asa proof of the view I have now given, I will cite the fol- lowing experiment, which was made by the Earl of Ducie at Whitfield farm. 1084 VENTILATION. One hundred sheep were folded by tens in pens, each of which was 22 feet in length by 10 feet in breadth, and possessed a covered shed attached to it of 12 feet in length by 10 feet in breadth. They were kept in these from the 10th of Octo- ber to the 10th of March. Each sheep consumed on an average 20 lbs. of swedes daily. Another hundred were folded in pens of a similar size, but without sheds attached. They were kept during the same time, and their daily consump- tion of swedes amounted to 25 lbs. each. Here the circumstances were precisely similar with respect to exercise, the only difference being that the first hundred sheep had sheds into which they might retire, and thus be partially pro- tected from the cold. This partial protection was equivalent to a certain amount of food, and consequently we find that the sheep enjoying this protection con- sumed one-fifth less food than those sheep which were left entirely exposed to the cold. In the last ease the consumption of the additional food arose wholly from the necessity of adding more fuel (food to the furnace of the body,) in order to keep up its normal temperature. ‘This was proved from the circumstance, that those sheep which enjoyed the protection had increased 3 lbs. each more than those left unprotected, al- though the latter had consumed one-fifth more food. The influence of warmth in reducing the con- sumption of food has been examined experimen- tally by other farmers, who pretty well agree in the conclusion, that warmth is, to a consider- able extent, a substitute for food. It is true, that in the experiments with sheep the results have been somewhat discordant, but, as I have elsewhere had occasion to remark, this has arisen in many cases from inattention to other injurious influences to which these animals were exposed. Warmth is not only essential to their health and fattening progress, but this must be a dry and a wholesome warmth. To confine the sheep, as is sometimes done, over putrefying masses of fold, shed, or farm-yard dung, in an atmosphere saturated with fumes of ammonia and the gases of putrefaction, is. to substitute one drawback upon the health and comfort of the animal for another, which produces a greater evil than cold. The sheep, in a state of nature, earefully avoids all these things; it leaves to the ox the deep rank-growing grasses of the damp lowland pastures. It carefully seeks its food and its habitation on the highest elevations, amid dry rocks and heath-producing soils, far away from all great masses of decomposing organic matter. The domestic sheep of our en- closed lands, by always occupying the most ele- vated portions of the field, clearly indicates that its natural instinct in this respect is still un- changed by all the efforts of the breeder. Fol- low, then, the sheep from his upland pastures, in the clear, dry, warm climate of Asia, and view him placed in our cold temperature, in a warm shed it is true, but with the floor of that shed covered for a depth of many inches with a mass of putrefying dung, and then let us ask ourselves, “Is this the way fairly to test the advantages of shelter and of warmth to the do- mestic sheep? Is this the way to fairly try the economy of raising the temperature of the atmo- sphere in which it is placed??? The Rev. A. Huxtable saw this in its true light, when he commenced his trials. He tells us, in his valua- VENTILATION. dle little paper (Jour. R. A. S. vol. vi. p. 242,) «Having observed that sheep in wet weather on our downs always select the most beaten roads for their bed, it occurred to me that not only when under sheds should they lie on boards, according to your own experiment, but also that the courts to which they have daily access whilst their houses are being cleaned should be co- vered, not with soft litter, but with hard chalk or sand, or other materials to form a solid bot- tom. My little yards attached to the sheds are floored with a sort of asphalte made of chalk beaten small, covered with gas-tar and sand. In constructing sheds for my sheep I have kept in view the strictest economy; and I venture to send these minute details, which I hope will serve to prove that the protection of sheep from the inclemency of the weather is within the reach of every tenant farmer. Each of these sheds contains about 50 sheep. They are erected on a very simple plan: a couple of fir poles, 12 feet long, are nailed together at the top; their extremities, at a distance of 15 feet, are driven into the ground; another couple, 10 feet distant, are united with this, and held firm by a ridge- pole nailed into and lying between the tops of the fir poles. Side pieces are nailed parallel to the ridge-pole, and small hazel-wood is interlaced so as to support the thatch, which a labourer ties on with tar-twine. The thatch in front and behind reaches to about 3 feet from the ground; behind, a bank of turf is raised to meet the thatch; the front is guarded by a hurdle, move- able at pleasure, to allow the sheep to go into the court, which is of the same size as the shed. It is important that both ends of the shed should be protected with bayins only, which will secure a free ventilation, yet keep out rain. My sheds, about 50 feet long (not charging the straw), cost about 41s. each. “These sheds are floored with 1-inch boards, separated (each strip from the other) by $ inch intervals. The cost of the timber and mode of preparing the floor were as follows : — White pine timber was used for its cheapness, being 1s. 3d. the cube foot, which would therefore give eleven 1-inch boards. On account of the particular width of the logs which I bought, the board was sawn into pieces 7 inches broad and 1 inch thick. These, for economy, are hand- sawn into three parts, and are nailed upon joists at a distance of 2 inch. By this plan nearly one- third of timber is saved; so that each sheep, requiring 9 feet of space, lies actually on 6 feet of 1-inch board. The cost of timber for joists, nails, and carpenters’ work, raises the total ex- pense of placing the sheep on boards to 1s. 4d. per head. Instead of sleepers I used small blocks, 6 inches thick, to keep the rafters from direct contact with the manure. The boards are put together into frames about 10 feet by 4, so that they may easily be taken up by one man. Beneath the boards the floor, excavated 8 or 9 inches, is puddled and made water-tight, and govered with 6 inches of sawdust, burnt clay, or good dry mould. ‘This receives and absorbs the manure which falls, or is swept below twice a day. The boards, after sweeping, are watered witha solution of 3 lbs. of sulphate of iron (cop- peras), which instantaneously removes the odour not only of the ammonia, but of the more offen- sive sulphuretted hydrogen. The boards should be laid perfectly flat, to prevent the sheep slipping about. The sheep are fed under the sheds, not VENTILATION. in the courts. The results of this arrangement have been most successful, both in the health and well-doing of the sheep. “It is true that I have lost four head, which seem to have died from apoplexy; but I lost the same number in the flock which were at large, and treated in the usual manner. Though I have had more than 300 Southdowns so shedded, some of them longer than five months, yet I have never seen any instance of lameness, even in the least degree. ‘Their food consists of turnips, for the last fortnight only of swedes; half a pint per day (never more) of oats or peas; with straw cut into chaff, over which ground linseed has been poured, mixed with boiling water. «J regret that I cannot send the important statistics of weight and improvement under this regimen. During one month the sheep were weighed, and found to have increased about 3 Ibs. per week on an average; that is, ten were selected and weighed which seemed fairly to represent the flock, and they had made this im- provement. The illness of my bailiff stopped these calculations; but the general issue will be allowed to be satisfactory, as more than half have been sold which in twelve weeks have paid 13s. a head. « Leaving out of the account both the injury which in bad seasons my clay-lands would have sustained by the treading of the sheep, and the value of the rich manure saved under shelter (its gases fixed by the sulphate of iron and gyp- sum strewed daily over the boards), I consider that the whole expense of boards and sheds was saved in the first month.” In the stall feeding of cattle, the application of these just principles can hardly be too sys- tematically regarded. Of this opinion, too, is Mr. George Dobito, who, in his prize ‘ Essay on fattening Cattle,” (Jour. R. A. S. vol. vi. p. 78), remarks, “ Cleanliness, warmth, and quiet, are the great points I insist upon, of course cou- pled with good feeding; but many tons of oil- cake are annually wasted, because the comfort of the animals is not more attended to.” The subjects of air and food are so closely allied as to be viewed to most advantage toge- ther. That vegetable substances contain animal matters ready formed, was a suspicion which was entertained in a confused shape by more than one of even the early Greek philosophers, but it was reserved for the modern chemist to prove the truth of the supposition. This has been thus explained by Dr. Lyon Playfair (Jour. R. A. 'S. vol. iv. p. 216) -— « All vegetable food has been found to contain a peculiar substance, which, though it differs in appearance and in form, according to the source from whence it is obtained, is in reality the same body. It has received the name of gluten or albumen, and is precisely identical, in chemi- cal composition, with the albumen obtained from the white of an egg. This substance is invaria- bly present in all nutritious food. Chemists were surprised to discover that this body never varies in composition ; that it is exactly the same in corn, beans, or from whatever plant it is extracted. But their surprise was much in- creased when they remarked that it 1s quite identical with the flesh and blood of animals. It consists, like the latter, of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen, and in the very same pro- portion in 100 parts. By identity in composition 4x2 1085 VENTILATION. is not meant a mere similarity, but an absolute identity ; so much so, that if you were to place ina chemist’s hand some gluten obtained from wheat flour, some dry albumen procured from the white of an egg, a fragment of the flesh of an ox or of a man, or some of their dried blood, and request him to examine their difference, he would tell you, strange as it may appear, that they are precisely the same, and that with all the refinements of his science he was unable to detect any essential difference between them. There is much difference, indeed, in external appearance and in structure, but in their ultimate composition there is none.” To render this more obvious, I subjoin the composition of these various substances, as obtained by different che- mists, who executed their analyses without any knowledge of the results obtained by the others :— Casein Gluten Albumen from Flour. from Pease. from Eggs. Ox Blood. Ox Flesh, Boussingault. Scherer. Joues. Playfair. Playfair. Carbon...... 54.2 54.138 55.000 54.35 54.12 Hydrogen 7.5 7.156 7.073 7.50 7.89 Nitrogen 13.9 15.672 15.920 15.76 15.67 Oxygen...... 24.4 23.034 22.007 22.39 22.32 100.0 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 These analyses do not differ from each other more than the analyses of the same substance usually do. Thus we are led to the startling conclusion, that plants contain within them the flesh of animals ready formed, and that the only duty of animals subsisting upon them is to give this flesh a place and form in their organism. When an animal subsists upon flesh, we find no difficulty in explaining its nutrition; for the flesh being of the same composition as its own body, the animal, in a chemical point of view, may be said to be eating itself; nor, with a knowledge of this identity of vegetable albumen with flesh, is there any difficulty in comprehend- ing the nutrition of vegetable feeders. Plants, then, in reality, form the flesh of ani- mals; and the latter merely appropriate it a place in their organism. It follows, then, as a conclusion, that the ana- lysis of any vegetable substance pretty accu- rately indicates its nutritious powers. ‘It has been shown by many laborious chemical re- searches,” to use the words of Dr. Playfair, “that there are two kinds of food. The first, which contains nitrogen, is exactly of the same composition as the principal tissues of the human body, and is the only substance which can sup- ply the waste of these tissues. The second kind of food is that destitute of nitrogen, such as starch, gum, and sugar, all of which are destined for the support of respiration and consequent heat of the animal. The latter kind of food, when in excess, is converted into fat, but never into muscle. The increase of flesh in an animal consists in two changes of the matter of the food, without any alteration in its composition. The albumen or nitrogenous constituent of the food is first converted into blood, without decompo- sition, and the blood is afterwards converted into flesh. In order to show that the transforma- tion is actually effected without change, we have only to refer to the following results of the ana- lysis of vegetable albumen, of ox blood, and of | flesh :-— Vezetable Albumen. ~ Ox Blood. Flesh. | 55 160 Carbon 54.35 54.12 y 7.50 7.89 15.76 15.67 2.39 22.32 ; VENTILATION. * As muscle then is formed only by the albu- men or gluten of the food, which albumen is in reality flesh itself, we can ascertain the compa- rative value of food, as far as the production of muscle is concerned, by estimating the exact quantity of the nitrogenous constituent of the food. The following table,” continues Dr. Play- fair, “contains the approximative, though not perfectly accurate, information relative to the . value of food for the support of respiration and production of fat :— Unazotized tized 100 Ibs, Albumen. Matter. 100 Ibs, Albumen. Matter. Ibs. bs. lbs. Ibs. Flesh 25 Oats... . if 68 Blood 20 0 Barleymeal 14 684 Beans 31 514 Hay Sot 8 68} Peas . 29 514 | Turnips . 1 9 Lentils . 33 48 Carrot . 2 10 Potatoes 2 25 Red-beet 1} i That fat exists ready formed in various vege- table substances, has been proved by careful chemical examination. Thus, according to Lie- big, hay contains 1-56 per cent., and maize 4:67 per cent. of fat. Braconnot found 1-20 per cent. in peas, while Fresenius got 2°1 per cent.; and in lentils 1-3 percent. Vogel obtained 2-00 per cent. of fat in oats; Liebig 0-3 per cent. in dry potatoes; and Braconnot 0-13 per cent. in rice, although, in another variety, Vogel states that he detected 1-05 per cent. The substance here called fat is in reality a waxy or resinous body, and not tallow, except in a few instances. [Foop.] An animal requires, to sustain its body in good condition, supply heat, and make up for daily waste, about 1-60th part of its own weight. Ifthe object be to increase the size, en- able it to work, or give milk, a still larger pro- portion of food must be given. Thus, to feed for milk twice the quantity of food named will be required. If muscle for labour be needed, food containing gluten must be given, and as peas and beans contain gluten in the largest quantity, they constitute exceedingly valuable food for working horses. Wheat contains 35 to 40 per cent. of the gluten out of which muscle is formed. Cabbage is rich in gluten, and the flower of the cauliflower contains more gluten than any other garden vegetable we raise for food. When fat is required, ora good coat, give substances contain- ing oil, such as Indian corn, oats, linseed-cake, as well as rape-cake and poppy-seed cake. Farm- ers generally prefer those substances which unite the muscle and fat-giving qualities. The milk- man desirous of quantity and little regarding quality, gives his cattle grains from the brew- ery—and various kinds of watery slops. But where the dairyman wants butter or cheese, then quality is to be considered. In order to make butter, the milk must be rich, and he has it in his power to add largely to the ordinary produce of the dairy, by the selection of food rich in oil. In England oil-cake is given, but not much at a time, as it gives an undesirable taste to the butter. A skilful dairyman can, however, often manage, by giving a large quantity of oil- cake, to get a far better quality of milk than by giving any other kind of food. If the object be to make cheese, food is given rich in the mate- rial to produce curd— which is precisely that furnishing the flesh or muscle,already referred to. To feed with cabbage would produce a poor cheese, which contains little fat, but a large pro- portion of the curd or muscle-forming material. Where milk to make butter or rich cheese is VENTILATION. required, more fatty food must be furnished; and of all substances for effecting this object, linseed- cake, and maize are perhaps the best. It 1s of great importance to attend to the state in which food is introduced into the stomach of animals. Indian corn, for example, given with- out mixing with other food, will not be so readily digested. The proper preparation of food for animals is a branch of agricultural knowledge which has been found highly profitable to the farmer. By mixing different kinds of food, the requirements of the animal are best met. Cut straw or chaff is an admirable substance with which to mix other more nutritious materials, rendering these more readily digested and nourish- ing, besides making the food go further. Malt is often employed with great advantage, mixed with other food. Other influences, such as warmth, shelter, ventilation, and quiet, exert a great effect in promoting the thrift and welfare of animals. The amount of nutriment found in different varieties of the food consumed by the farmer’s live stock, has been referred to under the head Foop, where some interesting facts will be found, chiefly derived from the researches of Davy. It is a subject to which still more recent inves- tigations have given additional interest. The proportions in which the several elementary substances exist in 100 parts of some of the most commonly cultivated grains and products of the farm, are represented in the following table from Prof. J. F. W. Johnston’s Lectures. = Es Wheat . 2 Barley. 3 Oats c 4 Rye = 5 2 indian corn aby ‘Buckwheat 0 4 Rice “7 02 Beans “3 3 Peas 2-1 3 Potatoes . 75 4) 18 2 0:3 1 Turnips 88 2} 9 15 0-3 |2to4-5 Carrots : 85 3} 10 1:5 | 0:4 |13to2 Mangel-Wur- Zell. . 85 2) 11 2-0 ? | #toli Meadow hay i 30) 40 T1 | 2tod | Stol0 Clover hay iu 25) 40 9:3 | 3to5 9 Pea straw 10to15) 25) 45 | 12:3 | 1-5 | 4to6 Ont straw 12 45| 35 1:3 0-8? 6 Wheat straw |12to15) 50) 30 1:3 | 2to32 5 arley straw |12to15 50) 30 13 2 5 Rye straw . |12tol5 45| 38 1.3 2 4 Indian corn [_stalks 12) 25) 52 | 3:0 | 1-7 | 3to7 Some of the numbers in the above table are given as mere approximations, especially those referring to buckwheat and fatty matter, which last is very uncertain. It hence appears that water enters into the composition of every vegetable product, wheat containing 15 per cent., the turnip 88 to 90 per cent., exhibiting the strong contrast between grains and roots. The second column represents woody fibre, straw and husks, parts of plants which animals cannot digest, and from which they consequently derive no nourishment. In wheat and other grains, the proportion of this varies from 10 to 20 per cent. In the column designating the proportions of starch, gum, and sugar, the grain of wheat exhibits about 55 per cent., Indian corn 70 per cent., Indian corn stalks 52 per cent., rice 75 per cent., &c. All grains VENTILATION. likewise contain a substance called gluten, but in quantities varying very much, as may be seen by running the eye down the 4th column of the table; the greatest proportion of this and albu- men being found in beans, which explains their highly nutritious qualities. Even pea-straw is very rich in these materials, which makes them valuable provender, where other kinds of straw are almost worthless. Of oil or fatty matter, wheat and barley have very little, whilst in oats and Indian corn, oil abounds. The root crops and straws have very little. Plants take in, through their leaves and roots, the carbonic acid and other materials, the changes in which produce the starch, gluten, and fat to be found in them all, and which go to nourish animals. It forms, says Mr. Karkeek, in his “Essay on Fat and Muscle” (Jour. R.A. S. vol. v. p. 249), a curious and interesting subject for the feeder to ascertain the respective quantities of the fleshing and fattening properties contained in an acre of the different crops commonly used in the rearing and feeding of stock. The following cecreable table of nutrition has been constructed chiefly from Professor Johnston’s calculations; the pro- portions of gluten, &c., from Boussingault’s ana- lysis, which indicate the fleshing properties ; and the proportions of starch, gum, and sugar, the fattening properties :— werent [We of | Wt. of | Produce of Grain Gluten, | Starch, | Weight One Acre of Gum, | of Water Bes | Sugar, | per Acre. .Jand Fat.| Ibs. Ths, Field beans . 672 256 Peas -| 845 208 Oats \ 1,168 336 Hay fat | 2,790 752 Potatoes. . AQ & +. 600 |3,330 | 20,250 Carrots . . Dae yee +» [1,120 (5,800 | 47,600 Turnips . .}| 30 “|. 800 |6,700 | 56,950 Wheat straw 3,000 lbs. 40 | 940 450 Oat straw . 2,700 « 86 | 970 324 Barley straw |2,100 28 | 646 252 Another table showing the nutritive properties per acre of the ordinary crops of the farmer has been given by Mr. Hyett, and will be found at the head of the next page. The tables just given from analyses made by Prof. J. F.W. Johnston, and other eminent chemists, show the proportions of water, with those of the several dry organic constituents, as well as the ashes or saline matters contained in many of the articles of food with which the far- mer is most familiar. From these it may be seen that it is very important for the economical management of live-stock to know the amount of water as well as of the organic and nutritive ingredients which each kind of food contains. Thus we find that in giving a pig 100 Ibs. of po- tatoes, we actually give it about 75 lbs. of wa- ter. But ingiving it 100 lbs. of Indian corn, we contribute only about 14 Ibs. of water, nearly all the remaining 86 lbs. being nutritious matter. As already observed, the table just given from | Professor J. F. W. Johnston shows the propor- | tion of woody fibre freed from the nutritious sub- stances, well known to be contained in greater or less proportion in husks, straw, &e. This woody fibre, as it cannot be digested by animals, must therefore be deducted from the amount of nourishment. It constitutes half the amount of wheat and rye straw, whilst it makes but 30 per cent. of ordinary meadow grass hay, and only 25 per cent. of clover hay. 1087 VENTILATION. VENTILATION. [ fais a er, | (aaa cd) gael at ees Py if ‘bs, Nourishment. Acre, ¥ Wheat. . 32 bush,| 60 lbs. per bushel =| 1,920 =e 54-2 §§ sSitawjejo« 30 ewt. ss << =| 3,360 > Peas Shy‘ 20 bush. £6 s¢ =| 1,200 > «straw . «ce EC = — Barley . 40 bush.| 48 “ ca =| 1,920 as «straw « 20 cwt. (3 £ =| 2,240 Oats. 50 bush.| 40 55 =| 2,000 > “ straw. 40 cwt. < st =| 4,480 a Beans . 32 bush.| 60 ** <7 =| 1,920 — “ straw. . 40 ewt. «6 fs =| 4,480 a Clover hay 5 30 ewt. 66 £¢ ll oko) =e Ordinary hay . 20 ewt. 0 fe di sani egal, — Potatoes 100 bags |280 lbs. per bag =| 28,000 ae Cabbage 20 tons ff ‘ =| 44,800 ese Carrots . 25 tons «“ £6 =! 55,000 aos Beet. Lf 45 25 tons § «S ——laosQ00 as Green clover . 6 tons f§ :s =| 13,440 = Turnips Sinyt?, 25 tons &“ Eq =| 55,000 oe And in the same economical point of view, it becomes an important question to ascertain, pro- vided the result of modern experiments relating to the formation of flesh and the generation of heat is correct, and calculating from the data which they furnish, the relative value of each description of food. This has been attempted by Dr. Playfair, with a result which he thus describes (Jour R. A. S. vol. vi. p. 560: “ All food then has two distinct purposes, the forma- tion of flesh, and the sustenance of animal heat. The substances in vegetables destined for the formation of flesh are perfectly identical with it in composition, and are known by the names of gluten, albumen, fibrin, or casein; those which are suited for the support of animal heat are not at all similarly composed to flesh, and consist of starch, gum, sugar, &c. Knowing these facts, it becomes a money question as to the value of particular kinds of food for the support of the frame. We know how much of flesh-giving principle each variety of food contains, and therefore we can at once estimate how much of each it will be necessary to consume to obtain one pound of real nutriment, and what the cost of that pound will be to the consumer. The following table is constructed on this principle, but as prices vary in different localities, these may be altered to suit the peculiar case : in the table, they are given at the rate at which the respective substances might be purchased in London under favourable circumstances. Quantity of Food necessary to produce 1 Ub. of Slesh, and the Money-Cost of its production. 25 lbs. of milk furnish 1 Ib. of flesh, £. s. d. and cost PTAA OS) an 100 * turnips ote ae ete OM ND 50” potatoes ewe eet nO eee 50” carrots Sot SERS CST OID Ta 4 ” butcher’s meat, free from fat and bone, furnish 1 Ib. of flesh, and cost, 0 2 0 9 ” oatmeal . : ONL 1G 744)” barleymeal . ‘ Ov 1S 14,” bread : Om 32 7,4,” flour De lia $3 7? peas z » 0; On 37 umbeans tabi gallery wm), O'sg6s Let us look zt the various kinds of food with Teference to tzieir value as fuel, and we shall 1088 perceive the potato takes its proper rank. 1 1b. of carbonaceous fuel to sustain animal heat would be furnished by different weights of the following articles at the English prices named: 4 Ibs. of. potatoes, 23d.; 10 lbs. carrots, 2d.; 13 1b. flour, 2 8-10d.; 13 lb. barleymeal, 2¢.; 11 1-10 lb. turnips, 2¢.; 14 lb. oatmeal, 3$d.; 1 9-10 lb. beans, 32d.; 1 9-10 lb. peas, 3 8-10d.; 2 Ib. bread, 4¢.; 119-10 1b. milk, 1s. 5d. These esti- mates must, however, be considered as rough approximations. It will not be unattended with benefit if we contrast these valuable scientific researches upon the cost of production with the results of the trials of a practical Scotch farmer, From some careful experiments of Mr. Bruce, of Waughton, in East Lothian (Trans. High. Soc. 1846, p. 375), with linseed cake and other substances in sheep feeding, he concludes that ‘* mutton can be produced ata lower rate per lb. upon liberal use of foreign keep along with tur- nips, than upon turnips alone, taking of course the increased value of the manure into account ;”? that of this foreign keep “linseed is the most valu- able, and beans the least so; but that the mixture of both forms a useful and nutritious article of food. In his trials 95 Cheviot ewes were di- vided into five lots, and enclosed, and fed with turnip tops and the following substances, upon portions of equally sheltered grass land. Lot A consisted of 15 ewes, B, C, D, and E, of 20 each. Weight. average Consumption | coer of Brodactinn per Ib. oO h Shes ida! ’ each Seep per Lot. | Oct. 21.[ Dec. 23. Tbs. Ibs, or, on. A 1839 | 2008 | 563 Linseed. 463 Linseed. | 4} Beans. B 2401 | 2603 /113} Lins’d cake./101 Lins’d cake. 2382 co 95; Beans and 59 Beans and Cc Linseed. Linseed. 33 2657 |157 Poppy cake.|106 Poppy cake. D 2404 | 2557 /113£ Beans. 133: Beans. E 2417 | 2736 /100 Beansand | 564 Beans and Linseed. Linseed. See Orcanic Curmisrry, Foop, Griarin, Ve- GETABLE Cuemisrry, and other heads relating to these subjects. VERBENA. See Veryarn. ‘VERJUICE. An acid liquor, prepared from the twigs of the vine, or from grapes or apples that are unfit to be converted into wine or cider. It is also made from the wild crab apples. VERMIN. VETCH. VERMIN. A general name for all birds,|the winter tare or common vetch (V. sativa, animals, insects, &c., which prey upon or prove injurious to the cultivator’s crops, and to his live-stock. The insects, &c., comprise the most exten- sive and fearful class of depredators. Among these are the aphides, caterpillars, ants, beetles, and their grubs, wire-worms, slugs, earth- worms, &c. VERNAL GRASS. See Anruoxantuum. VERSATILE. In botany, signifies swinging lightly on the stalk, so as to be continually changing direction. It is illustrated in the leaves of the aspen. VERTICILLATE. Disposed in a whorl. VERVAIN (Verbena; said to be derived from its Celtic mame Ferfaen). This is a genus of extremely beautiful ornamental plants while in flower, either when grown in pots in the green-house or when planted out in the flower garden; and they will all succeed well in the open ground during the summer months. The flowers of F. teucrioides have a delightful jas- minelike odour. They all flourish well in a light loamy soil, with careful drainage when kept in Ppt The herbaceous perennial kinds increase \...pidly by cuttings, planted in sand under a glass; the green-house kinds in a little heat. The annuals and biennials should be raised on a gentle hot-bed. One species is indigenous to England, the common vervain (J. officinalis), a perennial which grows by road-sides and in dry waste grounds, or pastures about villages. The root is woody, somewhat creeping. Stem ascend- ing, 14 foot high, leafy, roughish, with minute prickles or bristles. Leaves deeply cut. Spikes slender, several composing a sort of panicle of small, bluish, inodorous flowers. This spe- cies has scarcely any aromatic or other sen- sible quality. The root worn about the neck with a string is an old superstitious remedy or charm for the king’s evil. A great many species of vervain or verbena are found in various parts of the United States. Nuttall enumerates 10 in this country, and altogether 20 American species in the two hemispheres. VESICLES. In botany, inflated, hollow ex- erescences, like bladders or blisters. VETCH (Vicia, from vincio, to bind together, because the species have tendrils by which they encircle other plants). Some of the spe- cies of this genus are well worth cultivating in the flower-border for the beauty of their flowers. They are of the easiest culture in any common garden soil. The perennial kinds may be rea- dily increased by dividing the root or by seeds. The seeds of the annual kinds only require to be sown in the open border in spring. V. sativa and its varieties are extensively cultivated, and well known by the common name of vetch or tares; they are used in England as early fodder for all kinds of cattle, and are allowed to be more nutritive and profitable than hay or any other herbage. The seeds also form the food of pigeons. There are in Britain 10 indigenous #pecies of vetch, the principal of which are the tufted vetch, wood vetch, common vetch, and bush vetch. Of all the different vetches (says Sinclair) that were submitted to experiment, 137 var.) afforded the most nutritive matter: 64 drachms of the herbage, cut at the time of flowering, afforded 4 drachms 4 grains of nu- tritive matter; while spring tares only yielded 3 drachms 3 grains, which confirms the justice of that preference which practice has given to the former. 1. The tufted vetch (V. cracca), is a peren- nial, very common in England in a wild state in hedges, thickets, osier grounds, and bushy, low meadows. The stems are 2 or 3 feet high, furrowed, rather downy, climbing by means of their long, many-branched tendrils, by which they choke and overtop other herbs. Flowers numerous, in dense clusters, beautifully varie- gated with tints of bright violet-blue, and some purple. Legume scarcely an inch long, smooth, with 4 or 5 dark, globular seeds, the size of a lentil. This vetch is said to be nutritious food for cattle, but it has not come into use, proba- bly from the difficulty of gathering, or of culti- vating, so pertinacious a climber. Dr. Plot, in his History of Staffordshire, says that this and the Vicia sylvatica advance starved or weak cattle above any thing yet known; and Dr. Anderson, in his Essays, speaks highly of this plant. It is inferior to the wood vetch, or com- mon tare (V. sylvatica), in the quantity of nu- tritive matter it affords, but contains much less superfluous moisture. This must give it a su- periority, in regard to nutrient properties, over tares which contain an excess. But it has a strong, creeping root, that will always prevent its admission to arable lands. It might be best cultivated on tenacious soils, and used after the manner of lucern, to which it is much su- perior in nutritive qualities, though greatly de- ficient in the weight of crop. Forty-three grains of nutritive matter consisted of— Grains. Saccharine matter, orsugar - - 2 Mucilage - - - - - - 12 Insoluble and saline matter - - - ll The tufted vetch flowers about the middle of July or the beginning of August, and the seed is ripe at the beginning of September. 2. The wood vetch (V. sylvatica) grows in woods and hedges, chiefly in the more mountainous parts of Britain, and is one of our most elegant wild plants, well worthy to decorate shrubbe- ries, or to be trained over a trellis or bower. The habits of this vetch are similar to those of the species last described, but it seems more impatient of exposure, and thrives best where it has the support of bushes. The root is creep- ing, perennial; herbage smooth. Stems nume- rous, much branched, climbing to the height of 6 or 7 feet, and spreading widely, decorating the bushes which support them with a profu- sion of delicate flowers, elegantly variegated with blue and white, streaked with gray. Le- gume the size of the last, bright brown, minutely dotted. When transplanted to open situations, the produce is inconsiderable compared with that of the tufted vetch or the bush vetch, though in its natural place of growth the pro- duce is six times that of either of these species; it is likewise superior in the quantity of nutri- tive matter it affords. Horses, cows, sheep, and the South American lamas, ate this vetch 1089 VETCH, THE BITTER. with more eagerness than they did the other vetches or natural grasses that were on seve- ral trials offered to them. The wood vetch flowers in July and August, and the seed is ripe in September. 3. The common vetch or tare (V. sativa, Pl. 7, r) is an annual plant, which is in general cultivation, and therefore too well known to need description; 3000 grains of the green herbage of the common vetch consist of— Grains, Woody or indigestible substance - - 557 Water - - - - - - - 2250 Nutritive matter - - - - - 193 Hence 1,135 grains of the woody fibre of tares are combined with 274 grains of saline matter. In England vetches are very commonly sown upon a wheat stubble, and no crop better re- pays the addition of any organic fertilizers. The bush vetch (V. sepium) has been already noticed. See Buss Vercu. The other British species of vetch or tare are the narrow-leaved crimson vetch (V. angusti- folia), spring vetch (V. lathyroides), rough-pod- ded yellow vetch (V. lutea), hairy-flowered yel- low vetch (V. hybrida), smooth-podded sea-vetch (V. levigata), and rough-podded purple vetch (V. bithyrica). These call for no detailed de- scription. A few species of the vetch family are found in the United States and Territories. The species called tufted vetch (V. cracca), is com- mon on the borders of woods and meadows, and troublesome in some gardens in the southern parts of Pennsylvania and other Middle States. Mr. Nuttall says it is smaller than the European plant described under the same name, but Dr. Darlington does not feel satisfied of its being a native of the United States. The species enumerated by Mr. Nuttall are, 1. V. pusilla. 2. Sativa. 3. Americana. 4. Syl- vatica, inhabiting the alluvial banks of the Mis- souri as far north as Fort Mandan. Leaflets a little more obtuse than usual. 5. Cracca. 6. Caroliniana. See Tanz and Vercurrne. VETCH, THE BITTER (Orobus, from oro, to excite, and bows, an ox; the orobos of Theo- phrastus was the name of a plant used for fat- tening oxen). The plants of this genus deserve to have a place in every flower-border, on ac- count of their very elegant papilionaceous blos- soms. Any soil suits them, and they are readily increased by dividing the plants at the roots in spring, or raised by seeds. There are in Eng- land two native species, both perennials. 1. The common bitter vetch, or heath pea (0. tuberosus), grows in elevated or mountain- ous pastures, thickets, and woods. The root is creeping, externally blackish, swelling here and there into oblong knobs. Herbage smooth, darkish green. Stems simple, erect, a foot high, compressed and winged. Leaves alternate. Flowers in loose, long-stalked, axillary clus- ters, elegantly variegated and veined, with pur- ple, crimson, and shades of blne and flesh co- lour. Legumes pendulous, long, cylindrical, black when ripe. The roots have a sweetish taste, and afford some luxuries and refresh- ments to the hardy independent Highlander. There is considerable elegance in the flowers, and in the plant altogether. 2. Wood bitter vetch (0. sylvaticus). In this 1090 VETERINARY COLLEGE. species the root is woody and tough, deeply fixed in the ground. The stems are numerous, spreading or recumbent, 1 to 2 feet long, hairy, more or less branched. Clusters of numerous flowers, which have a hairy calyx, are cream coloured, streaked, and tipped with purple. The legumes are ovate-oblong, smooth, com- pressed, and shorter than usual in the genus. VETCH, KIDNEY. See Kroney-Veren. VETCH, MILK. See Mrrx-Vercn. VETCHLING (Lathyrus.) A numerous herbaceous genus of annual or perennial plants. The flowers are stalked, axillary, either soli- tary, in pairs, or in clusters; either crimson, purplish, blue, or yellow. The herbage com- monly affords good fodder; the seeds are scarce- ly used for any purpose. There are seven indi- genous species of vetchling, or everlasting pea; the yellow vetchling (LZ. aphaca), the crimson vetchling or grass-vetch (L. nissolia), the rough- podded vetchling (L. hirsutus), the yellow mea- dow vetchling, or tare everlasting (L. pratensis), narrow-leaved everlasting pea (L. sylvestris), broad-leaved everlasting pea (L. latifolius), and the blue marsh vetchling (L. palustris): most of these species have been already noticed un- der the heads Evrrtastine Pea and Laray- nus. The latifolius is that species usually cul- tivated in gardens on account of the beauty of the flowers. It has been recommended for field cultivation, but the advice has not been fol- lowed. Bees procure much honey from the flowers. VETERINARY COLLEGE. The Highland Society of Scotland have instituted a veterinary school in connection with their establishment, which is under the management of Professor Dick. By diffusing generally a practical know- ledge of veterinary medicine, it cannot fail to be attended with the happiest consequences to the community at large. A veterinary college has long been established in London; and that useful periodical, the Veterinarian, edited by Professor Youatt, has added much valuable in- formation to our stock of knowledge on the dis- eases of animals. See Farrrery and Hipro- PATHOLOGY. The London Veterinary College was first established in the year 1792, at St. Pancras. Mr. Boardman, in his Dictionary of the Veteri- nary Art, remarks, that “the public are indebt- ed for this national foundation to the exertions of the Agricultural Society of Odiham, in Hampshire. The first professor was M. St. Bel, a Frenchman, who had previously signal- ized himself in this country as a veterinary anatomist, by dissecting the famous race-horse Eclipse. ‘his college is supported by public subscription. The annual contribution is 2 guineas, but payment of 20 guineas at once constitutes a subscriber for life. “The views and objects of the college ap- pear in the following statement, printed by the authority of the governors. The grand object, they observe, is the improvement of veterinary knowledge, in order to remedy the ignorance and incompetency of farriers, so long univer- sally complained of. For this end, a range of stables, a forge, a theatre for dissections and lectures, with other buildings, have been erected: a gentleman of superior abilities has VILLOUS. been appointed professor, with other requisite officers. “The anatomical structure of quadrupeds, as horses, cattle, sheep, dogs, &c., the diseases to which they are subject, and the remedies proper to be applied, are investigated and re- gularly taught; by which means enlightened practitioners of liberal education, whose whole study has been devoted to the veterinary art in all its branches, may be gradually dispersed over the kingdom, in whose skill and expe- rience confidence may be securely placed. “Subscribers have the ‘privilege of sending their diseased animals to the college, without further expense than that of their daily food, and these in general form a sufficient number of patients for the practice of the professor and pupils. On fixed days, the professor pre- scribes foranimals belonging to subscribers who find it inconvenient to spare them from home, provided the necessary medicines be furnished and compounded at the college; subscribers’ horses are also there shod at the ordinary prices.” VILLOUS.