32 THE FARMER AT HOME. 



bodies, when exposed to the air, still retained their consistency, and 

 the stratum continued for twelve feet. 



BADGER. A quadruped of the genus Ursus, of a clumsy make, 

 with short, thick legs, and long claws on the fore feet. It inhabits 

 the north of Europe and Asia, burrows, is indolent and sleepy, feeds 

 Vy night on vegetables, and is very fat. Its *km is used for pistol 

 furniture, its flesh makes good bacon, and its hair is used for brushes 

 to soften the shades in painting. 



BAG-PIPE. A well known wind instrument, mostly used in 

 rural life. It is of high antiquity among the northern nations, and 

 has long been a favorite with the natives of Scotland. It consists of 

 two principal parts ; the first comprises a leather bag, which receives 

 and holds the wind conveyed by a small tube, furnished with a 

 valve, to prevent the wind from returning. The second part of the 

 instrument consists of three pipes ; the wind is forced into them by 

 compressing the bag under the arm, while the notes are regulated, as 

 in the flute or hautboy, by stopping and opening the holes, with the 

 ends of the fingers. It is not known when the bag-pipe first made its 

 way into Scotland, but it is probable the Norwegians and Danes first 

 introduced it into the Hebrides. The music is very simple, and yet 

 sweet ; and every traveller remembers it with delight. 



BAIT. A feed of oats, or any other material given to an animal 

 employed in travelling or labor. It also signifies anything applied 

 with the view of catching an animal ; particularly in angling. 



BAKING. The art of reducing meal or flour of any kind, or any 

 other substance, into bread. This art, simple and necessary as it may 

 appear, does not seem to have been discovered till a late period in the 

 history of mankind. The earlier nations knew no other use of their 

 meal than to make of it a kind of porridge. Such was the food of the 

 Roman soldiers for several centuries, or at most their skill proceeded 

 no farther than to knead unleavened dough into biscuits or cakes. 

 Even at present there are many countries where the luxury of bread 

 is unknown. 



It is said that scarcely any nation lives without bread, or some- 

 thing as a substitute for it. The Laplanders have no corn, but they 

 make bread of their dried fishes, and of the inner rind of the pine, 

 which seems to be used not so much on account of the nourishment 

 to be obtained from it, as for the sake of having a dry food. In Norway 

 they make bread that will keep thirty or forty years, and the inhabi- 

 tants esteem the old and stale bread in preference to that which is 

 newly made. For their great feasts particular care is taken to have 

 the oldest bread ; so that at the christening of a child, for instance, 

 they have usually bread which has been baked perhaps at the birth 

 of the father, or even the grandfather. It is made from barley and 

 oats, and baked between two hollow stones. 



A person whose business b that of baking and selling bread, ia 



