The Botanist's Companion Part 6

SECT. V.--MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES.

94. CANNABIS sativa. HEMP.--This plant is cultivated in some parts of this country. It is usually sown in March, and is fit to harvest in October. It is then pulled up and immersed in water; when the woody parts of the stalks separating from the bark, which sloughs off and undergoes a decomposition by which the fibres are divided, it is then combed (hackled), dried, and reduced to different fineness of texture, and spun for various purposes. It requires good land, and the seed is usually two bushels and a half per acre.

The seed, which ripens about the time the hemp is pulled, is useful for feeding birds and poultry, and very nourishing.

95. DIPSACUS Fullonum. FULLER'S TEAVEL.--The heads of this plant are used for combing kerseymeres and finer broad cloths. The heads are generally fit to cut about the latter end of August, and are then separated and made up into bundles, and sold to the clothiers. The large heads are called Kings; the next size Middlings; and the smaller Minikins. The reason they are separated before sending to market is, that the large and small will not fit together on the frame in which they are fixed to the water-wheel, so that it is usual for the proprietor of the fulling-mills to purchase all of either one or the other size. The crop is considered very valuable, but the culture is confined to a small district in Somersetshire. The plant is biennial, and is usually sown in May, and the crop kept hoed during that season.

In the following spring the plants bloom, and when the seeds are ripe the heads are fit for cutting; when they are a.s.sorted as above for the dealers. Three pounds of seed are used to an acre, and the plants at the last stirring are left from two feet to two feet and a half apart.

96. HUMULUS Lupulus. THE HOP.--The Hop is cultivated for brewing, being the most wholesome bitter we have, though the brewers are in the habit of using other vegetable bitters, which are brought from abroad and sold at a much cheaper rate. There is, however, a severe penalty on using any other than Hops for such purpose.

The Hops are distinguished by several varieties grown in Kent, Worcestershire, and at Farnham. The last place produces the best kind.

For its culture more at length see Agriculture of Surry, by Mr.

Stevenson.

97. ISATIS tinctoria. WOAD.--Is cultivated in the county of Somersetshire. It is used, after being prepared, for dyeing &c. It is said to be the mordant used for a fine blue on woollen. The foliage, which is like Spinach, is gathered during the summer months, and steeped in vats of water. After some time a green fecula is deposited in the bottom of the water, which is washed, and made into cakes and sold for use.

It is a perennial plant, and found wild in great abundance near Guildford, where great quant.i.ties might be gathered for use, and where a great deal of the seed could be collected. Its culture is very similar to that of the Teazle, with this difference, it requires the hoe at work constantly all the summer months.

The two plants Weld and Woad from the similarity of names are frequently confounded with each other, and some of the best agricultural writers have fallen into this error. They are two very different plants, and ought to be well defined, being each of them of very material consequence in this country.

98. LINUM usitatissimum. FLAX, or LINT-SEED.--Is grown for the purpose of making cloth, and has been considered a very profitable crop. The culture and management is similar to that of Hemp, and the seeds are in great demand for pressing. Lintseed oil, which it produces, is much used by painters, and is the only vegetable oil that is found fit for such purposes in general. The seeds are of several uses to the farmer; a tea is made of it, and mixed with skimmed milk, for fattening house-lambs and calves. Oxen are often fattened on the seed itself; but the cakes after the oil is expressed are a very common and most excellent article for fattening both black cattle and sheep. These are sold at from 10 l.

to 16 l. per thousand.

It will require three bushels of Flax-seed for one acre, as it must be sown thick on the land. Lintseed cake has been used also for manure; and I have seen fine crops of Turnips where it has been powdered and sown in the drills with the seed.

99. RESEDA luteola. DYER'S-WEED, or WELD.--Is often confounded with Woad, but is altogether a very different plant. Weld is cultivated on the chalky hills of Surry, being sown under a crop of Barley, and the second year cleaned by hoeing, and then left to grow till it blooms, when it is pulled and tied up in small bundles, and after drying is sent to market, where it is purchased for dyeing yellow, and is in great request.

100. RUBIA tinctoria. MADDER.--This very useful dyeing drug used to be grown in this country in considerable quant.i.ties, but it is not cultivated here at the present time. The princ.i.p.al part of what is used now is brought from Holland, and affords a considerable article of trade to the Dutch farmers. Those who wish to be informed of the mode of culture may consult Professor Martyn's edition of Miller's Dictionary.

Some years since Sir Henry Englefield, Bart., obtained a premium from the Society of Arts for the discovery of a fine tint drawn from Madder, called the Adrianople red. It was found that it was to be obtained from a variety of the Rubia brought from Smyrna; and Mr. Smyth, our consul at that city, was prevailed on by Dr. Charles Taylor to procure seeds from thence, which the Society did me the honour of committing to my care; and I have now a considerable stock of that kind, from whence I have myself obtained the same beautiful and superior tint. See Trans. Soc.

Arts. vol. 27, p. 40.

101. ULEX europaeus. FURZE, GORSE, or WHIN.--Is used in husbandry for fences, and is also much cultivated for fuel for burning lime, heating ovens, &c. Cattle and sheep relish it much; but it cannot be eaten by them except when young, in consequence of its strong spines; to obviate which an implement has been invented for bruising it. When it grows wild on our waste land, it is common to set it on fire in the summer months, and the roots and stems will throw up from the ground young shoots, which are found very useful food for sheep and other animals. It is readily grown from seeds, six pounds of which will be enough for an acre of land.

PLANTS USEFUL IN THE ARTS.

SECT. VI.--BRITISH TREES AND SHRUBS.

102. ACER Pseudo-Plata.n.u.s. SYCAMORE.--The wood of this tree is soft and of little use, unless it is for the turners' purposes, who make boxes and other small toys of it. It is not of value as timber.

103. ACER campestre. THE MAPLE.--Before the introduction of Mahogany and other fine woods the Maple was the princ.i.p.al wood used for all kinds of cabinet work, and was much esteemed: the k.n.o.bs which grow on those trees in an old state afforded the most beautiful specimens, and according to Evelyn were collected by the curious at great prices. The Maple trees in this country are none of them at the present day old enough to afford that fine-veined variegation in the timber which is alluded to in this account.

104. ARBUTUS Unedo. THE STRAWBERRY-TREE.--Is a native of the islands in the celebrated Lake of Killarney in Ireland, where it grows to a large size. We know of no particular use to which it is applied. It is however one of our most ornamental evergreen shrubs, producing beautiful flowers, which vary from transparent white to deep red, in the winter months, at which season also the fruit appears; which taking twelve months to come to maturity affords the singular phaenomenon in plants, of having lively green leaves, beautiful flowers, and fruit as brilliant as the richest strawberry, in the very depth of our winter. We have a fine variety of this plant with scarlet blossoms, and also one with double flowers, both of which are singularly ornamental to the shrubbery.

105. ARBUTUS Uva Ursi. BEAR-BERRIES.--A small trailing plant of great repute as a medicine, but of no use in any other respect.

106. BERBERIS vulgaris. BARBERRY.--This has long been cultivated in gardens for its fruit, which is a fine acid, and it is used as a conserve, and also for giving other sweeter fruits a flavour. The common wild kind has stones in the fruit, which renders it disagreeable to eat.

There is a variety without stones called the Male Barberry, which is preferred on this account.

This tree is subject to a disease in the summer, caused apparently from a yellow fungus growing on the leaves and young shoots; and it is said that where it grows near corn fields it imparts its baneful influence to the grain, for which reason it is recommended in some of our books on agriculture to exterminate the trees.

107. BETULA alba. BIRCH-TREE.--Is in great use and of considerable value on some estates for making brooms, and the timber for all purposes of turnery-ware and carving. The sap of the Birch-tree is drawn by perforating the bark in the early state of vegetation. It is fermented, and makes a very pleasant and potent beverage called Birch Wine.

108. BETULA Alnus. ALDER-TREE.--This is a valuable tree for planting in moors and wet places. The wood is used for making clogs, pattens, and other such purposes; and the bark for dyeing and manufacturing some of the finer kinds of leather. This wood is of considerable value for making charcoal for gunpowder. In charring it a considerable quant.i.ty of acetic acid is extracted, which is of great value for the purpose of bleaching, &c. &c.

109. BUXUS sempervirens. BOX-TREE.--The wood of Box is of great value for musical instruments, and for forming the handles of many tools: being very hard, it admits of a fine polish. This tree is growing in quant.i.ty at Box-hill in Surry, and has given name to that place.

This was planted by a late Duke of Norfolk, and has succeeded so well, that the wood has been cut twice, and sold each time for treble the value of the fee-simple of the land.