S1. Yds. A Table for reducing Square Yards into Acres, Roods, and Perches. Waterson's Manual of Commerce. ment, for example, is greater than the demand, the surplus is stored away in the form of fat; and when the demand, either from deficiency of food, over-exertion, or disease, becomes greater than the supply, then the absorbents carry the fat into the circulation, and thus, for from a defect in the quantity of blood are prea time, the evils that would very soon arise vented. Some animals accumulate fat more readily than others. Health, a round chest, a short back, and tranquil temper are highly favourable to its formation; and when to these qualities are added inaction, clean litter, and a plentiful supply of nourishing food, the animal is soon fit for the butcher. A warm atmosphere, provided it be a pure one, is also favourable to fattening. [See LARD OIL, &c.] (Miller's Dictionary). ACRIMONY (Acrimonia, Lat.). A sharp property in some plants and vegetables, by which they excoriate and blister the tongue, mouth, or other parts of the body, on being applied to them. The nature of this sort of acrimony has not yet been sufficiently examined by chemical investigation. It seems to differ in some measure according to the nature AERATION. The process by which the of the plants; as in the common onion, water-soil is exposed to the air and imbued therecresses, cabbages, &c., a part of their acrimony with, air being indispensable to the healthy is lost, by their being exposed to a boiling heat; growth of plants. When a flower-pot is filled while other kinds, as ginger, capsicum, arum, with rather dry earth, if it be plunged under &c., do not become much milder by undergo-water a profusion of air-bubbles will be ing that process. The juice of the fungous excrescences of some trees possess so much acrimony as to be capable of blistering; and some kinds of fungi contain a juice or liquor of a very corrosive quality; and it is probably on this account that many of those which are commonly procured disagree so much with the patient, when made use of as articles of diet. By being more perfectly stewed, or otherwise prepared by means of heat, they might most likely be rendered safe and nutritious. Much caution should, however, be used, even when thus prepared, in eating such kinds as are un known. "There be some plants," says Bacon, in his Nat. Hist., "that have a milk in them when they are cut; as figs, old lettuce, sowthistles, spurge. The cause may be an inception of putrefaction: for those milks have all an acrimony, though one would think they should be lenitive." seen to rise, owing to the water penetrating between the particles of the dry earth, and forcing out the air previously lodged there. As the more loose and porous a soil is, the greater quantity of air it will contain, it will follow, that the more a soil is ploughed and harrowed, or dug and raked, the better it will be aerated-one of the chief beneficial effects of frequently repeating these operations. Besides the direct influence of the atmosphere, the agency of water is all-important in the process of aeration. All water openly exposed contains more or less atmospheric air; and, in consequence of this, it acquires an agreeable taste, always destroyed by boiling, which renders it vapid and disagreeable, by expelling the air. The importance of air contained in water to the growth of plants appears from water being found beneficial in proportion as it has had opportunities of becoming ADAPTER (Adapto, Lat.). In the manage-mixed with air. But the best water, with rement of bees, is a board used to place the hives or glasses upon. spect to the properties of the air it contains, is rain, which, falling in small drops, often tossed ADDER (Aetter, aettor, naddre, as it about by the wind, has an opportunity of colseems, from eitter, Sax. poison; Mas-Goth. lecting a large proportion of air, and, accordnadr, vipera; Teut. adder). A viper, a poison- ing to Liebig (Organic Chem.), ammonia, ous reptile, perhaps of any species. In com- during its descent to the earth; and hence the mon language, however, adders and snakes are smaller the bore of the holes in a garden waternot the same, the term adder being generallying-pot, the better; and the more minutely the understood to imply a viper. See ANIMAL POISONS. garden-engine scatters the water, the more advantageously, so far as the air is concerned. There is another point of view in which aeration appears beneficial, arising from the excrementitious matters thrown into the soil by growing plants, as ascertained by M. Macaire; for as these matters become decomposed in the processes of fallowing, irrigation, and draining, the gases there produced would not so readily be carried off from the soil, but for a due circulation of the common air through the earth. See GASES, their use to vegetation. (Miller's Dictionary). ADEPS. In veterinary science, animal oil or fat. The fat differs in different animals; and hence it has received different names. In the horse it is called grease; in the ox and sheep, tallow, fat, suet; and in the hog, hog's lard. At a low temperature all these possess various degrees of consistence; but in the living animal, they all exist in a fluid state, and are distributed over various parts of the body. An immense quantity of fat is often found in the belly, all deposited in extremely small cells, which have no communication with each AEROLITES (From the Greek anp, air, and other. No fat is ever found within the skull.es, a stone). Meteoric stones, bodies that Fat performs important functions in the fall from the heavens. The origin of these animal economy. When the supply of ali- remarkable bodies is still a mystery. AFRICAN MARIGOLD (Tugites erecta, Lin.). A favourite hardy annual, which does not come from Africa, as its name would indicate, but from Mexico. See MARIGOLD. AFTER-GRASS, or AFTERMATH. The second crop of grass, or that which springs after mowing, or the grass cut after some kinds of corn crops. The composition of the after-grass generally varies considerably from that of the first or spring crop. The nutriment of the latter, from most of the grasses, is materially less than that of the former. This was clearly ascertained by the elaborate experiments of the late Mr. G. Sinclair, the results of which are dispersed throughout his valuable work on the Grasses. To give a few instances only First Crop. Second Crop 0 2 2 1 1 1 And the same remark applies to the rye-grass (Lolium perenne), not only of upland pastures but of meadows. Thus, Sinclair found (Hort. Gram. Wob. 384) that this grass when flowering, taken from a water meadow that had been fed off with sheep till the end of April, yielded of nutritive matter 72 grs. a point of saving autumnal grass for spring feed, and contend that it is the most certain, and, on the whole, the best spring feed yet known. This would seem to be a wasteful practice, at least in respect to the more forward after-grasses. These ought certainly to be broken sufficiently early to be eaten, without waste, before winter sets in; and the latest, that is to say, the shortest, may be shut in for spring feed. If after-grass be too long and gross, it is apt to lodge, and rot upon the ground in winter; therefore, on rich lands, it ought always to be more or less off before Michaelmas, in order to prevent its being wasted or lost in the winter. It is remarked by the author of "Practical Agriculture," that, "In some districts much of the after-grass is frequently cut and made into a green soft sort of hay, as has been already mentioned; but in others it is fed off by live stock in the autumn." And that "both modes may be useful under different circumstances. In situations where plenty of manure can be procured, as near large towns, and where the chief dependence is upon the sale of hay, or where lamb-suckling prevails, it may fre quently be a beneficial practice to take a second crop of hay, as the first may by that means be more fully spared for sale, the aftercrop supplying the cows or other cattle that may be kept on the farm. But in cases where manure cannot easily be obtained, and there is no local practice carried on which requires such sort of hay, it is better to let it be fed off by stock than run the risk of exhausting and injuring the ground by taking off repeated crops. There is also another circumstance," he says, "to be considered in this business, which is, that of the state of the land in respect to dryness, as where it is low, wet, and very retentive of moisture, it may be often more hurt by the poaching of the cattle in feeding off the herbage than by a second crop of hay." But that," independent of these considerations, it may, in general, be a more safe and usual 0 practice to eat off the after-grass by stock, and only take one crop of hay, as by such means a more abundant annual produce may be afforded, and the land sustain less injury." But the same grass from the same meadow which had not been fed off, yielded 100 grs. The same weight of this grass, from a rich old pasture that had been shut up for hay at the same time, yielded of nutritive matter 95 grs. But the grass from the same field, which had not been depastured, yielded 120 grs. Some of them, however, contain exactly as much nutritive matter in the aftermath as in the first crop thus, 64 drs. of the First Crop. Latter Crop. dr. gr. 3 dr. gr. 1 2 It is, however, added, that "where a crop of rowen is made into hay, the most profitable application of it is probably in the foddering Sweet-scented vernal grass yielded 1 of such cows as are in milk; as it is well suited, by its grassy quality, and its not heatIn the vicinity of London most of the after-ing so much, when well made, as other sorts grass, or second crop, was formerly made into of hay in the stack, to afford a large flow of hay, and was considered of considerable value milk. It is this reason that induces the cow for the ewes of suckling lambs, and milch farmers to cut their grass so many times in the cows; but in harvesting this crop, so as to summer. Another beneficial application of make it sell well, great nicety is requisite, the this hay is, as has been seen, in the feeding of nature of after-grass being more soft, spongy, such ewes as are employed in the suckling of and porous than the first growth, and conse-house-lambs during the winter season; the quently more liable to be hurt by rains. The practice is therefore on the decline. In the midland counties their management of the feeding off the after-grass is in general judicious. It is commonly suffered to get up to a full bite before it is broken, and not turned in upon asoon as the hay is off, or suffered to stand unti. much of it becomes improper for the food of animals. Farmers, however, make intention in this case is the same as in that of the preceding instance. There is another advantageous use to which this sort of produce may be applied, which is that of supporting young calves, and all sorts of young cattle that are kept as store stock." And that, "where sheep require the support of hay in the winter season, it is also well adapted to that use." In the manner of feeding after-grass, there is also much variety in different districts. "It has," the same author says, "been observed by a farmer in Middlesex, that the condition on which he rents his farm is that of taking out the cattle at Michaelmas, but that sheep remain till February." In that county the practice is to turn on the cattle immediately after mowing; but in the northern districts, this grass, to which they have given the name of eddish, is kept till November, or even a later period, for the purpose of furnishing fat stock, or for the pasturage of milch cows, from which a superior quality of cheese is made, and by which time it has attained a considerable head: however, this latter practice would seem to be attended with some loss, as has been shown from its being trodden and trampled under foot. In the stocking of after-grass, Marshall found the midland graziers of opinion, that one cow to an acre, on well-grown after-grass, was an ample stock. Good grass-land may, however, admit something more; and instead of pasturing of rowen, or after-grass, by heavy cattle in the autumn, to avoid poaching the ground, particularly at a late period in that or the winter season, it has been recommended by Dr. Wilkinson, "to confine the consumption of this grass principally to the support of sheep, unless in very favourable seasons, or where the soil is uncommonly dry; in which cases milch cows, or other heavy cattle, may be admitted without inconvenience." In some places it is the practice, as "where there is a great scarcity of spring feed, to reserve after-grass in the autumn for spring use." Some, on the basis of experience, contend that it is the most certain, and, on the whole, the best spring feed yet known. It would seem, however, as has been shown, to be a wasteful practice, at least in respect to the more forward after-grasses. The forwardest ought certainly to be eaten without waste before winter sets in; and the latest, that is, the shortest, be shut up for spring feed. Arthur Young, it is stated, found, from repeated experiments, as suggested above, "that old after-grass feeds sheep that give milk better than turnips, which are more adapted to the fattening of stock; and that this grass holds to period, if wanted, when most other resources fail, the last half of April and the first half of May-periods always of want and difficulty, where rye-grass is not sown." Marshall also assures us, that as a certain and wholesome supply of food for ewes and lambs in the early spring, the preserved pasture is to be depended on as "the sheet anchor, in preference to turnips, cabbages, or any other species whatever, of what is termed spring feed:" and the same thing has been experienced by Dr. Wilkinson, who has observed, that "this food with him afforded a more nutritive and healthful quality of milk from the ewes to their tender lambs than turnips, even in their best state." But however useful after-grass pastures may be under this management, there is evidently a great loss of food incurred by it, especially in severe winters. (Sinclair's Hort. Gram.; Lowe's Prac. Agr.) AGARIC OF THE OAK. [Spunk, or touchood.] In farriery, a substance sometimes employed for restraining the bleeding of small vessels. AGARICUS. See MUSHROOM. AGAVE. In botany, comprehends those plants which gardeners call American aloes. AGE OF ANIMALS. The age of a horse may be ascertained by his mouth, and the examination of his teeth, till he is eight years old, after which the usual marks commonly wear out. These are usually forty in all; of which twenty-four are double teeth, and from their office, denominated grinders, four tushes, or corner teeth, and twelve fore-teeth. The first which appear are the foal-teeth, which generally begin to show themselves a month or two after foaling; they are twelve in number, six above and six below, and are easily distinguished from the teeth that come afterwards, by their smallness and whiteness, having some resemblance to the incisores, or fore-teeth of man. When the colt is about two years and a half old, he commonly sheds the four middlemost of his foal-teeth, two above and two below; but sometimes none are cast till near three years old. The new teeth are readily distinguished from the foal-teeth, being much stronger, and always twice their size, and are called the nippers or gatherers, being those by which horses nip off the grass when they are feeding in the pastures, and by which, in the house, they gather their hay from the rack. When horses have got these four teeth complete, they are reckoned to be three years old. When they are about three and a half, or n the spring before they are four years old, they cast four more of their foal-teeth, two fh the upper and two in the lower jaw, one on each side the nippers or middle teeth; so that when you look into a horse's mouth, and see the two middle teeth full grown, and none of the foalteeth, except the common teeth, remaining, you may conclude he is four that year, about April or May. Some, indeed, are later colts, but that makes little alteration in the mouth. The tushes appear near the same time with the four last-mentioned teeth, sometimes sooner than these, and sometimes not till after a horse is full four years old; they are curved like the tushes of other animals, only in a young horse they have a sharp edge all round the top and on both sides, the inner part being somewhat grooved and flattened, so as to incline to a hollow. When a horse's tushes do not appear for some time after the foal-teeth are cast, and the new ones come in their room, it is generally owing to the foal-teeth having been pulled out before their time, by the breeders or dealers in horses, to make a colt of three years old appear like one of four that he may be the more saleable; for when any one of the foal-teeth have been pulled out, the others soon come in their places; but the tushes having none that precede them, can never make their appear ance till their proper time, which is when a horse is full four, or coming four; and therefore one of the surest marks to know a fouryear old horse is by his tushes, which are then very small, and sharp on the tops and edges. At the time when a horse comes five. •! After the horse has passed his eighth year, and sometimes at seven, nothing certain can be known by the mouth. It must, however, be remembered, that some horses have but in different mouths when they are young, and soon loose their mark; others have their mouths good for a long time, their teeth being white, even, and regular till they are sixteen years old and upwards, together with many other marks of freshness and vigour; but when a horse comes to be very old, it may be discovered by several indications, the constant attendants of age; such as his gums wearing away insensibly, leaving his teeth long and naked at their roots; the teeth also rather in the spring before he is five, the cor- | other circumstances which denote the ad ner teeth begin to appear, and at first but just vanced age of horses. equal with the gums, being filled with flesh in the middle. The tushes are also by this time grown to a more distinct size, though not very large they likewise continue rough and sharp on the top and edges. But the corner teeth are now most to be remarked; they differ from the middle teeth in being more fleshy on the inside, and the gums generally look rawish upon their first shooting out, whereas the others do not appear discoloured. The middle teeth arrive at their full growth in less than three weeks, but the corner teeth grow leisurely, and are seldom much above the gums till a horse is fall five; they differ also from the other fore-teeth in this, that they somewhat resemble a shell; and thence are called the shell-growing yellow, and sometimes brownish. The teeth, because they environ the flesh in the middle half-way round; and as they grow, the flesh within disappears, leaving a distinct hollowness and openness on the inside. When a horse is full five, the teeth are generally about the thickness of a crown-piece above the gums. From five to five and a half they will grow about a quarter of an inch high, or more: and when a horse is full six, they will be near half an inch, and in some large horses a full half-inch above the gums. The corner teeth in the upper jaw fall out before those in the under, so that the upper corner teeth are seen before those below; on the contrary, the tushes in the under gums came out before those in the upper. When a horse is full six years old, the hollowness on the inside begins visibly to fill up, and that which was at first fleshy grows into a brownish spot, not unlike the eye of a dried garden-bean, and continues so till he is seven; with this difference only, that the teeth are gradually more filled up, and the marks, or spots, become fainter, and of a lighter colour. At eight, the mark in most horses is quite worn out, though some retain the vestiges of it a longer time; and those who have not had a good deal of experience may sometimes be deceived by taking a horse of nine or ten years old for one of eight. It is at this time only, when a horse is past mark, that one can easily err in knowing his age; such practices are used to make a very young horse or colt appear older than he really is, by pulling out the foal-teeth before their time, which may be discovered by feeling along the edges where the tushes grow, for they may be felt in the gums before the corner teeth are put forth; whereas, if the corner teeth come in some months before the tushes rise in the gums, we may reasonably suspect that the foal-teeth have been pulled out at three years old. It is not necessary to mention the tricks that are used to make a false mark in a horse's mouth, by hollowing the tooth with a graver, and burning a mark with a small hot iron; because those who are acquainted with the true marks will easily discover the cheat by the size and colour of the teeth, by the roundness and luntness of the tushes, by the colour of the false tark, which is generally blacker and more impressed than the true mark, and bv bars of the mouth, which in a young horse are always fleshy, and form so many distinct ridges, are in an old horse, lean, dry, and smooth, with little or no rising. The eye-pits in a young horse are generally filled up with flesh, look plump and smooth; whereas, in an old one, they are sunk and hollow, and make him look ghastly. There are also other marks which discover a horse to be very old, as gray horses turning white, and many of them being all over flea-bitten, except their joints. This, however, happens sometimes later, and sometimes sooner, according to the variety of colour and constitution. Black horses are apt to grow gray over their eyebrows, and very often |