THE FARMER AT HOME. 137 



i iary, and are picked, cleansed, and gradually scalded in boiling 

 1 r ater. They are then dried by exposure to the sun, and form what 

 i ; called black ginger. White ginger is the very same root, but in 

 c rder to produce it, the roots are not scalded, but are picked, scraped, 

 j 3parately washed, and dried very carefully. Ginger is generally sold 

 i a knotty, branched, and flattish pieces, and is of a pale color and 

 ] ibrous texture, when stripped of the outer bark. It should generally 

 >e chosen in large roots, new, and not easily broken ; its color should 

 )e of a light brownish green, and it should be resinous within, and of 

 i pungent aromatic taste. The dark, soft, and fibrous kind, should be 

 ejected. Sometimes it is imported green from Bengal. Preserved 

 linger is brought from the West Indies and China, but the former is 

 preferred. It is brought home in large and somewhat transparent 

 pieces, of a bright yellow color. The jars which contain it should be 

 carefully sealed up. 



GLASS. Glass is the name of an artificial substance, formed by 

 the igneous fusion of siliceous earth with various salts and metallic 

 oxides, and possessing a high degree of transparency, equalled only 

 by the more perfect crystals of the mineral kingdoms, and other phy- 

 sical properties, which render it one of the most useful and ornamental 

 substances which the arts have received from the ingenuity of man. 



GLAZING. In the manufacture of pottery, the incrustation of 

 vessels with a vitreous substance, the basis of which is lead. The 

 usual composition is, forty pounds of white sand, twenty pounds of 

 red lead, and twelve pounds of pearl-ashes. After these ingredients 

 are ground together, they are calcined with a moderate heat, and, 

 when cold, reduced to powder. When wanted, the powder is tem- 

 pered with water, and laid on the ware by means of a brush. Placed 

 in a furnace, the violent heat soon transforms this coating into a per- 

 fect glass. 



The glazing of all our earthen ware is very apt to crack, both from 

 moisture and heat, being composed of lead, one of the most pernicious 

 metals that could be devised for such important purpose. It is well 

 known, that lead is easily volatilized by heat, and readily decomposed 

 by any vegetable acid. Hence it has been affirmed by various emi- 

 nent writers, that we are under the necessity of inhaling or swallow- 

 ing, perhaps every day, a minute portion of a metal, which is one of 

 the slowest, but most destructive poisons, and lays the foundation of 

 many fatal disorders, such as palsy, dry colic, consumption, &c. ; the 

 remote cause of which has not, till lately, been suspected. 



GLEANING. Picking up the scattered ears of wheat after the 

 wheat is cut and carried. It was once thought in England, that, by 

 the common law, the poor might claim this liberty as their right ; but 

 it has been adjudged by a judgment of the Court of Common Pleas, 

 that no such right exists by the common law of the land. 



GLUE. Glue is a tenacious cement, principally used by cabinet- 



