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THE FARMER AT HOME. \ I 39 



pally for the sugar manufacture. The mangel wurtzel is a valuable 

 root, producing heavy crops, and being excellent food for sheep, fatten- 

 ing animals, and for rnilk cows. It requires a rich loam. The manu- 

 facture of sugar from beets, in its most improved state, consists in slicing 

 the roots thin after they are well washed, drying them thoroughly in 

 ovens, grinding them to powder, and then, by putting this powder into 

 water, dissolving the sugar, while the fibre and the mucilage, which 

 rendered the crystallization difficult, remains unchanged, and is sepa- 

 rated from the sweet solution by straining. This is then evaporated, 

 and the syrup chrystallized in the usual manner. Beets thus treated 

 yield from eight to ten per cent. For cooking, medium-sized beets are 

 to be preferred, as they are found to be sweeter, and less fibrous than 

 those of larger size. Unlike most other roots, beets are fit for use as 

 soon as they attain a sufficient size ; but they do not attain their 

 full perfection till October, and when wanted for winter use, should 

 stand as long as consistent with safety from frost. 



BETEL. Is the leaf of a climbing East Indian plant, which 

 belongs to the same tribe as pepper, and, in shape and appearance, is 

 not much unlike ivy, but is more tender and full of juice. There is an 

 almost incredible consumption of betel throughout India, and other 

 parts of the East. The inhabitants chew it almost incessantly, and in 

 such a quantity that their lips become quite red, and their teeth 

 black a color greatly preferred by them to the whiteness which the 

 Europeans and Americans so much affect. They carry it, in little 

 white boxes, about their persons, and present it to each other, by way 

 of compliment and civility, in the same manner as we do snuff. 

 This is done by the women as well as by the men ; and it would be 

 considered an offence, if those, tc whom it is offered should refuse to 

 except of and chew it. The leaves are sometimes used alone, but 

 much more commonly when covered with a kind of lime made of sea- 

 shell, and wrapped around slices of the areca nut, the fruit of the 

 areca palm, of the size of a small egg, and resembling a nutmeg de- 

 prived of its husk. 



BIENNIAL. Any thing that continues or endures two years. 

 This term is usually applied to plants that grow one year and flower 

 the next, after which they perish. They only differ from annuals in 

 requiring a longer period for the maturity of fruit or seed. Most bien- 

 nials, if sown early in the spring will flourish in the autumn, and 

 then die, thus actually becoming annuals. 



BIRD'S NEST. In China and som other countries adjacent to 

 it, the nest of a small swallow is delicately tasted, and is mixed with 

 soups. This nest is found in the rocks ; it is of the hemispherical 

 figure, of the size of a goose egg, and in substance resembles isinglass. 

 In the East these nests are esteemed a great luxury, and sell at very 

 high prices. 



BISON. A quadruped of the bovine genius, usually, but improp- 



