THE FARMER AT HOME. 25 



Care should be taken to gather it before it becomes soft and mealy. 

 The kernels of apricots have a pleasantly bitter flavor, and answer 

 much better, for several purposes in confectionary than bitter almonds, 

 which are commonly used. They likewise contain a sweet oil, which, 

 like that of almonds, was formerly used in emulsions. The gum that 

 issues from the apricot-tree is similar to that of the cherry. The 

 wood is coarsely grained and soft, and is consequently seldom used in 

 carpentry. Apricot- trees are chiefly raised against walls, and are 

 propagated by grafting upon plum tree stocks. 



APRIL. The fourth month of our year receives its name from 

 the Latin word, aprilis, and that from aperio, " to open," because 

 the buds now expand into leaves. The suddenness with which most 

 trees and shrubs become covered with foliage, affords at once pleasure 

 and surprise. April is, however, a fickle and changeable month ; its 

 day has been called by poets, "many weathered;" consisting often of 

 sunshine, storm, rain, and sometimes snow. 



AQ,UAT1C. Plants that live and flourish in the water are termed 

 aquatic. There are also aquatic animals and birds. All our lakes, 

 rivers, and the ocean furnish specimens of aquatic plants, some of 

 which are of great use and value. A large part of the soda of com- 

 merce is obtained from a sea- weed, which, drifted ashore, is dried and 

 burned for the soda of the ashes. Hundreds of square miles in the 

 equatorial Atlantic, at some seasons of the year, are covered with this 

 marine vegetation. Some sea- weeds, as the algae, that grow as they 

 float in the water, attain a length of several hundred feet. The rice 

 plant of the East Indies and the Carolinas, is an aquatic plant, and 

 probably contributes as much to human subsistence as any plant on 

 the globe. The wild rice, Zirania aquatica, of our northern lakes 

 and rivers, is of great service to the native tribes of those regions, feed- 

 ing the immense quantities of water fowls of all kinds that visit and 

 breed in those inhospitable climes, as well as furnishing food to the 

 natives themselves when their usual supplies from other sources fail 

 them. The flags, rushes, and other "grasses that grow in the waters 

 of the lakes, or other quiet waters also the pond lily, are further ex- 

 amples of aquatic plants. 



ARBOR VIT^E . This is an evergreen of small size, but very dura- 

 ble. It abounds in the northern States, and has by some been recom- 

 mended as a hedge. It is used in Canada for brooms ; and it is also 

 used for medicinal purposes, as well as for ornament on lawns and 

 court yards. 



ARGILLACEOUS. A term applied to soils in which clay 

 forms a principal ingredient. It was derived from argil or clayey, 

 as aluminous is derived from alumine. In agriculture, argillaceous 

 and aluminous are words of the same import, and mean soils or 

 earth in which clay predominates. Analysis shows how the pro- 

 portions can be determined. 

 2 



