foxtail-grass. This holds a middle station be- veral species of Alopecurus, may eas ly be seen tween the Alopecurus pratensis and Alopecurus by a reference to the following analytica arundinaceus. classification (Sinclair's Hort. Gram.) : The produce and nutritive powers of the se : ALPACA. A peculiar breed of Peruvian ringly, their principal object in rearing this sheep, for whose introduction into England breed of cattle being to avail themselves of its considerable efforts have been recently made. wool for clothing and of its services to carry A very excellent "Memoir" upon these inte- loads. The wool they were accustomed to resting animals has recently (1841) been pub- spin and weave into garments, one of their lished by Mr. William Walton, from whose kinds of cloth, called huasca, being coarse and work are gathered the following interesting in more general use; while the other, known facts:-"When the Spanish adventurers under by the name of cumbi, was of a finer and more Pizarro crossed the isthmus of Panama and delicate quality. Of the latter they still make reached the shores of the Pacific, they bent mantles, table-covers, quilts, and various artitheir steps 4ards Peru, and arriving there cles of ornamental dress, which are durable, found the inhabitants in possession of two do- and have a gloss upon them, as if partly made mestic animals, the beauty and utility of which of silk. Their mode of weaving is peculiar to excited their admiration. They also ascer- themselves, each side of the web being alike; tained that two others, alike in species, al- nor in a whole piece is it possible to discover though varying in properties, existed in a wild an uneven thread or a knot. The Peruvian state. Struck with the analogy, and always incas, or emperors, kept experienced masters disposed to see objects of comparison with the to teach the art of making the cumbi,or superfin productions of their own land, the Spaniards cloth, the principal part of whom resided in talled this new breed of cattle Carneros de la the district of Capachica, where they had publierra, or country sheep, and in their use of lic establishments, and with the aid of plants them imitated the natives. Acosta, one of gave to it various colours, bright and lasting. the earliest naturalists who embarked for the The men and women in the highlands were New World, wrote an account of these inte- mostly manufacturers, having looms in their resting animals, derived from personal obser-own houses, which precluded the necessity of vation; and that account, which made its ap-going to market to purchase clothing." 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 gratuitously, and being satisfied with herbage picked up on the wastes. Thus did Providence provide the Peruvians with sheep and beasts of burden united in the same animal, and on account of their poverty, seems to have wished that they should enjoy this advantage, free from expense, as pastures in the highlands are abundant. These sheep are divided into two kinds; the one called paco bears a heavy fleece of wool, while the others have only a short coat, and are better adapted for carrying burdens. They have a long neck, similar to the camel, and this they require; for being tall and upright, they stand in need of an elongated neck to reach their food. The colours of both animals vary, some being entirely white, others entirely black, and occasionally particoloured The meat is good, that of the fawn is best and most delicate, although the Indians use it spa "The Indians still possess large droves, consisting of 400, or 1000 head each, which they load, and with them perform journeys, travelling like a string of mules and carrying wine, coca, corn, chuño (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 a few 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." He further remarks that the flesh of these | summits gained, and the sun has lost his animals was jerked and made into cusharqui, power, than those cold and icy regions rise up, or, as the Spaniards call it, cecina, which kept one above the other, called by the natives good for a considerable time, and was in very punas, which are again crowned with rocky general request. "Both species," he says, crests, broken by deep ravines and rugged are accustomed to a cold climate, and thrive best chasms, and presenting a wilderness of crags in the highlands. Often does it happen that and cliffs never trodden by the human footstep, they are covered with snow and sparkling with and never darkened, except by a passing icicles, and yet healthy and contented." Speak-cloud, or the eagle's wing. In this land of mist ing of the vicuñas, the same author observes that they are wild and timid, inhabiting the punas, or snowy cliffs, and are affected by neither rain or snow. To this he adds that they are gregarious, extremely fleet, and that on meeting a traveller, or beast of the forest, they fly away, collecting and driving their young before them. He further affirms that the vicuña wool is as soft as silk, made into fine stuffs, and requires no dyeing; adding, that many persons also considered it medicinally useful in cases of pains in the loins and other parts of the body, in consequence of which they had mattresses made of it. and snow, or rather in the hollows which surround it, feed the guanaco and vicuña, 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 precarious subsistence from the mosses, lichens, tender shrubs, and grassy plants which make their apppearance as the snow recedes; or, descending lower down, revel in the pajmales, or, as they are called in some parts of the country, ichuales-natural meadows of the ichu plant, the favourite haunts of the tame and wild kinds. Thus the hand of man never prepares food for either species-both readily find 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. Inca Garcilasso de la Vega, a native of Peru, was the next Spaniard of note who described the Carneros de la tierra, and subjoined are his leading remarks:-"The domestic animals which God was pleased to bestow on the Indians, congenial to their character and like them in disposition, are so tractable that a child may guide them, more particularly those accustomed to bear burdens. Generally they are called llamas, and the keeper llama-michec. As a distinction, the larger kind is called hu-it on their native mountains. Besides the exanacu-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, excepting 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 barefooted 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 Pacific, which extends from the equator beyond the tropic of Capricorn, that long and enormous 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 However bleak and damp the situation, little does it matter for an animal requiring neither fold nor manger, and living in wild and desolate 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 animals 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 expensive, 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 ily advanced since the article became known | from the ordinary kinds arriving firm Peru. to the manufacturer,-the best proof of its The total imports for the last five years of all worth. In 1835 they amounted to 8,000 bales; sheep's wool, distinguishing from Peru (includin 1836, to 12,800; in 1837, to 17,500; in 1838, ing alpaca) and other parts, and also of red, to 25,765; in 1839, to 34,543; and in 1840, to or vicuña wool, together with raw and thrown 34,224-more than quadrupled in six years. silks, and goat's hair or wool, and mohair In the Custom House returns, it is to be re- yarn, are here subjoined :gretted that alpaca woo' is not distinguished 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 argument against their adaptation to the climate of the United States, especially the Northern States, and the mountainous districts everywhere. An interesting account of this animal will be found in the third volume of the American Farmer.] With regard to the number of these sheep | ally from that of common sheep, and the aninow 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 existence 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 capacity of Andes sheep to adapt themselves to our climate, than any further arguments or elucidations which I could adduce." ALTERATIVE MEDICINES. In farriery, are such medicines as possess a power of changing the constitution, without any sensible increase or diminution of the natural evacuations. the nature of the land may require. This system of management is supposed to lessen the expense of manure, and keep the land more clean. (See HUSBANDRY.) ALTERNATE HUSBANDRY. That sort [The demand for alpaca wool in England, of management of farms, which has one part which the table indicates is rapidly increasing, in the state of grass or sward, while the other certainly shows that it is well worthy the atten- is under the plough, so as to be capable of tion of North American farmers to make the ex-being changed as there may be occasion, or as periment of raising Peruvian sheep. At a late meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of the Arts and Sciences, Mr. Dawson 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 natural and manufactured states, resembling silk, and without being dyed, as black as jet. Naturalists 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 vicuña wool, like the fur of the beaver, at the base of its coarser hair. It is capable of the 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 cets per pound. This wool is naturally free from grease, in which respect it differs materi 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 latitude.] 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 Tournefort to be literally the fact, during his travels in Asia. At the foot of Mount Ararat he met with plants peculiar to Armenia; above these he met with plants which are found also in France; at a still greater height he found himself surrounded with such as grow in Sweden, and at the summit, with such as vegetate in wheat, and turnips, whilst a little lower the ground is covered with vineyards, groves of apricots, and many aromatic plants. the polar regions. Baron Humboldt, in his Personal Narrative, gives us a similar account of the several zones of vegetation existing in a height of 3730 yards on the ascent of Mount The effects of gradual elevation in lessening Teneriffe. The first zone is the region of vines, the falling off of temperature, is manifested extending from the shores of the ocean to a upon a moderate scale in our own country. height of from 400 to 600 yards, well culti-The [annual] mean temperature of Eastport, 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, commencing 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 intermixed, and the summit of the mountain bare. 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 20.88 higher, namely, 459.83, instead of being two or three degrees colder, to correspond with the law of eleva tion. (Amer. Med. Jour. July, 1842.)] ALUM (Lat. Alumen). The sulphate of alumina and potash of the chemist, [or common alum], is composed, according to the analysis of Berzelius (Ann. de Chim. 82-258), of Sulphuric acid Alumina 34.23 10 86 9-81 45.00 99.90 A little, very finely powdered, is occasionally blown through a quill into the eye for the purpose 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 serviceable 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, however, very little used. 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- In veterinary practice, alum in powder is cal axiom, that the more diversified the surface sometimes used externally for destroying of the country, the richer it will be in species, trifling excrescences, arresting bleeding, &c. 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 neighbouring 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 tidewater, 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 temperature 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 elevation, there are produced, according to Captain Gerard, the most luxuriant crops of barley, 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 procuring it in a separate state. Of all the earths alumina is found in plants in the smallest proportions, 32 ounces of the [resembling spelt.] weeds of wheat only contain 0-6 of a grain, and | motion swifter than a walk. The amble may, those of the barley and the oat only about 4 grains. therefore, be considered as a defective pace, If some clay be dissolved in water, and some not being common, and natural only to a very aqua ammonia (hartshorn) be added to it, the few horses, which, in general, are weaker than mixture will assume a milky whiteness, and if others. Add to this, that such amblers as left to stand awhile, a white substance will be seem the strongest are spoiled sooner than precipitated, called in chemical language alu- those which trot or gallop. mina. Prof. J. F. W. Johnston does not regard this as a nourishing element to plants. Its use in soils he considers entirely mechanical, bindAMELIORATING CROPS. In husbandry, ing the other materials together by its tenacity, so as to furnish that degree of stiffness necessary on which they are cultivated. Carrots, turnips, are such as are supposed to improve the lands for the support of plants. Liebig takes a different view of the subject. "It is known," he artificial grasses, such as contain a large prosays, "that the aluminous minerals are the portion of nutritious materials, and many other most widely diffused on the suface of the earth, green vegetable products, especially if fed off, and, as we have already mentioned, all fer- [or ploughed in,] are considered as ameliorattile soils, or soils capable of culture, containing; but all kinds of crops, carried off the land, alumina as an invariable constituent. There are in some degree or other exhausters of the must, therefore, be something in aluminous ground; and green crops, such as have been earth which enables it to exercise an influ- just mentioned, are only less so than crops of ence on the life of plants, and to assist in grain or other ripe vegetables. The improvetheir developement. The property on which ment of lands, therefore, by what are commonly this depends is that of its invariably containing termed ameliorating crops, depends, in a great potash and soda. 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. "Alumina exercises only an indirect influence on vegetation, by its power of attracting and retaining water and ammonia; it is itself very rarely found in the ashes of plants, but AMELIORATING SUBSTANCES. In agrisilica is always present, having, in most places, culture, are such substances, as, when applied entered the plants by means of alkalies." (Lie- to land, render it more fertile and productive. big.)] (See EARTHS; their use to vegetation.) AMERICAN BLIGHT. [A popular, but (Davy, El. Chem. Phil.; Thomson's System; very inappropriate name used in England to Professor Schübler, Jour. Roy. Ag. Soc. vol. i.designate the injurious effects upon apple trees p. 177; [Liebig's Organic Chem.]) caused by a species of plant-louse or Aphis, ALVEARIUM. A term sometimes employed (the Eriosoma muli, of Leach, and the Aphis to signify a bee-hive. lanigera, of Illiger.) Its American origin is AMAUROSIS. In farriery, is a total blind-rendered doubtful from the fact that nurseryness, without any altered appearance in the eye. [This irremediable affection proceeds from a paralysis of the nerve of sight, or optic nerve.] men in the Middle States have never witnessed the mischievous effects described as common in Europe from this kind of blight.] A detailed account of the insect is given in the Journal of a Naturalist, which, with the correction of a few errors and oversights of the author, we shall now follow. 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 Early in summer, and even in spring, about ground than in the walk, and at the same time March, a slight hoariness is observed upon the are more extended: but what is most extraor-branches of certain species of our orchard 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 oscillation, 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 themselves, and are not strong enough to trot or gallop. Most goed horses, which have been over-worked, and on the decline, are also observed voluntarily t, amble, when forced to a 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 examining this substance, we find that it conceals a multitude of small, wingless creatures, which are busily employed in preying upon the limb of the tree beneath. This they are well enabled to do, by means of a beak terminating in a fine bristle; this being insinuated through the bark, and the sappy part of the wood, enables the creature to extract, as with a syringe, the sweet, vital liquor that circulates in the p.ant. This terminating bristle is not observable in every individual, from being usually, when not in use, so closely concealed under the breast of the animal, as to be invisible. In the younger insects it is often manifested by protruding, like a fine termination, to the vent (anus); but as their bodies become lengthened, the bristle is not in this way observable. The pulp wood (alburnum) being thus wound |