Ill 



RUPTURE. 



RUSHES. 



216 



~~r those of eerpent*. circle*, triangles, and limiUr mystic figure*, 

 wording to tlw event which they were intended and expected to bring 



{low U the None Runic alphabet The reader is referred to 

 vol. xxviii., pp. 8J8. 850. 355. 8, of the ArchicologU,' for example* 

 of various form* of Runic letter* and inscriptions, which are inserted 

 in an able essay of the late John M. Kcntble upon Anglo-Saxon Bane* 



Than 



O* 



At 



Un.l 



Work 



ll.-i.-l 



Laogr Mdr 



.N IMll 



Yr 



I A H t fc 



Runic inscription!! exist upon ring*, medals, coins, monumental 

 atones, eroses, and sides of rocks, and a curious one may be seen upon 



word-blade in the Department of Antiquities in the British Museum. 

 They hare been discovered in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, in parts of 

 the British Isles, Germany, France, and Spain, in fact wherever the 

 Teutonic nee settled itself during the early period of its migrations in 

 the 4th and 5th centuries after Christ. 



The most useful information with regard to Runes and Runic inscrip- 

 tions will be found fully given in Planta's ' Essay on the Runic or 

 Scandinavian Language ; ' Olaus Wormius, ' Lexicon Runicum ; ' W. C. 

 Grimm's work, '*Uber Deutsche Runen;' Mallet's 'Northern Anti- 

 quitirs ; ' Hicke's ' Thesaurus Lingua: Scptentrionalis ; ' articles in the 



Archieolofna,' the ' Journal of Philosophical Transactions,' and several 

 other philological journals, in which the references required will be 

 found by consulting their respective indexes. 



RUPTURE. [HKBMA.] 



RURAL DEAN. [DEAN.] 



RURAL ECONOMY. The whole subject of agriculture, with 

 all iU details, might properly be discussed under this heading : 

 most of it is, however, referred to piecemeal in the various agri- 

 cultural articles which will be found throughout the Cyclopaedia, 

 and it remains here to do little more than enumerate those more 

 general relations of country life, and of the several classes interested 

 in the ownership and cultivation of the land, which have not yet been 

 named. 



The common weal depends in great measure on these relations 

 tending to the highest productiveness of the land. We want wealthy 

 landowners in order that any hindrance to the proper cultivation of 

 the land, which stagnant water, defective farm-buildings, and poor 

 cottages present, may be removed. We want enterprising, intelligent, 

 and wealthy farmers, in order that a good machine, which an estate 

 properly equipped undoubtedly is, may be worked to its utmost capa- 

 bilities ; and we want steady, domestic, intelligent, and well-condi- 

 tioned labourers, because without them it is impossible to carry out 

 the cultivation of the land perfectly. 



Under the first head the legislature has granted facilities to the 

 owner* of land, and even to the owner* of a limited interest in it as 

 in the caw of the life-tenants of settled estates for borrowing money 

 on laud in order to the execution of such works as may tend to its 

 permanent improvement, in the way of draining, roads, fences, farm 

 buildings, cottages, &c. ; and there are many companies and associa- 

 tions prepared to carry out such improvements, in return for a 

 rentcharge on the property during a suUicieut term of years for their 

 repayment. The legislature has not yet, however, conferred all the 

 facilities required ; for landowners are often disabled by the refusal 

 of neighbouring proprietors to concur in schemes for their mutual 

 benefit. This U especially the case where an outfall is needed for the 

 drainage of the property, and can only be obtained through the fields 

 of another. A refusal by a neighbouring proprietor can at present 

 be overruled only by an exceedingly costly and litigious process, and 

 no such difficulties ought to exist in the way of anything which 

 so much concern* the general interest. It U antici|>nted that a measure 

 will, during the current nession of parliament (1861), be introduced by 

 government for granting the facilities required. 



Leaving the subject of the relation* of landowners to each other, 

 we come to those existing between them and the tenantry on their 

 tetetBt. Under this bead the relative merits of tenancy-at-will and of 

 leases for period* of varying duration, of the provisions for ensuring 

 to the tenant the return of all his property spent in cultivation, in 

 the event of hi* leaving, and the condition* generally under which 

 land is "let" to the cultivator of it, would need to be con- 

 aidered. But on these point* we have merely to remark in general, 

 that provision for the security of the tenant's capital when invested 

 on another'* land is obviously Decenary to the prosperity of 

 agriculture. Such provision is in many district* believed to exist 

 in a long family connection between owners of land and their 

 tenantry, which neither of them willingly break, though instances 

 every now and then occur to show the instability of such arrange- 

 ments ; it is ebewhcrv made by no-called ( n. ml right" agree. 



ments, which, co-existent with the right of the owner to give his 

 tenant six months' notice to quit, ensure that the latter should receive 

 on leaving a certain proportion of his expenditure under many different 

 heads, varying in quantity with the period which has elapsed since 

 such expenditure has been incurred. This is the system whieli pr<-- 

 vail* in Lincolnshire, and under which large portions of that county 

 have wonderfully increased in fertility. The most eltieient way, hnw- 

 ever, in which the property of the tenant is secured to him. is l>y ;i 

 lease of the land for a sufficiently long period to ensure the full fruition 

 of all hi* plans of improvement and good cultivation. It is in this way 

 that Scottish agriculture is generally so good and Scottish rents arc 

 so high. 



I justly, there exists the relation between the labourer and his em- 

 ployer, on which good agriculture very materially depends. The 

 landlord should provide adequate cottage accommodation, and it is the 

 interest of the farmer to attach his labourers to him by personal interest 

 in their welfare, by the payment of wages according to the real merit 

 of the men, and the value of the work they do, rather than by a com- 

 mon rate )>er diem, including all alike without regard to differences of 

 merit, and thus discouraging individual effort at improvement. The 

 adoption of the allotment system, by which each cottager becomes, at 

 a moderate rent, the tenant of a large garden, either close to his 

 dwelling or in common-field, along with all the others in the village, 

 has the best influence on the character and comforts of the labourer. 



HUSH; RUSHES. This material, which is used to some small 

 extent in the arts, is the Eijititetum hyemalt. The stem is very rough, 

 with from fourteen to twenty slender furrows. It is a native of 

 England, Scotland, and Ireland, as well as the continent of Europe ; 

 but is almost unknown in the middle and southern English counties, 

 and is only sparingly distributed anywhere. It appears to possess 

 tannin, and to act as an astringent. It is supposed to be injurious to 

 cows, and is said to cause their teeth to drop out ; but horses eat it 

 with impunity. This plant, more than any other species, is used for 

 the purposes of polishing. Lightfoot says, that in Northumberland 

 the milk-maids scour their pails with it. Hush is also used for the 

 purpose of polishing wood, bone, ivory, and various metals, particularly 

 brass. It is brought into this country from Holland, where it grows 

 abundantly, and is sold in the shops of London under the name of 

 Dutch Rush. 



The well-known rushes of country places belong to a different genus of 

 plants from the Dutch rush. They come under the genus Jiincui; of 

 which one species, the common soft rush, is to be found in most moist 

 pastures, by the sides of streams, and under hedges. In some districts 

 these rushes are used by the poor as a substitute for caudles. They 

 are gathered in summer and autumn ; the largest and longest being 

 deemed the best. They are kept in. water until they are to be peeled ; 

 which process consists in divesting the rush of its peel or rind, so as to 

 leave one regular narrow rib from top to bottom, to support the pith. 

 The rushes are then bleached on the dewy grass, and dried in the sun. 

 These rush-piths are finally dipped into any kind of fat or grease, until 

 they acquire a coating analogous to that of a candle. In the bacon 

 districts of Hampshire, hog's fat is employed for this purpose. When 

 White wrote his well-known 'Natural History of Selbourne,' he 

 strongly recommended this feature iu domestic economy ; but it is 

 possible that the cheapening of candles has lessened the relative 

 advantage of the more primitive system. Rushes are, however, more 

 ordinarily used for plaiting into mats and chair-bottoms, and for con- 

 structing small toy baskets. The wicks of rushlights are made of 

 the pith. 



RUSH-BEARING, another name in some parts of England for the 

 country wake. It appears that in ancient times the parishioners brought 

 rushes at the Feast of Dedication, wherewith to strew the church, 

 and from that circumstance the festivity itself obtained the name of 

 Rush-bearing. The country wake occurs by this name in the glossary 

 of the Lancashire dialect. In the parish accounts of St. Margaret's, West- 

 minster, is this item, under the year 1544 : " Paid for rushes against the 

 Dedication Day, which is always the first Sunday of October, Ig. 5d." 

 Notices of the custom of rush-bearing, as used in various parts of 

 Derbyshire, will be found in Glover's ' History and Gazetteer ' of that 

 county, vol. i. (Brand's 'Popular Autiq.,' vol. i.) 



RUSHES are well-known plants which appear in all soils, especially 

 those which are fertile, when the water which cannot be evaporated 

 remains in a stagnant state under the surface. They are most common 

 on moist meadows with a retentive subsoil ; and as they not only occupy 

 a space which might produce good herbage, but also greatly deteriorate 

 the hay with which they are mixed, every means to destroy them are 

 employed by industrious farmers. Formerly in this, as in most other 

 instances of defect in the soil, only a temporary remedy was generally 

 thought of. The rushes were mown down at particular times of the 

 year, alkaline ashes and salt were spread over them, and in some cases 

 they were destroyed by pouring boiling water on the roots. But all 

 these only killed the individual rushes, without removing the imme- 

 diate cause of them, or correcting the stagnation of water which 

 invariably reproduced them. The only effectual cure for rushy grounds 

 is a complete system of draining. The truth of this assertion is so 

 generally admitted, that it is unnecessary to dwell upon it. Wherever 

 the land can be effectually under-drained, rushes will generally dis- 

 appear an by magic. If they are strongly established, in the soil, it 



