THE FARMER AT HOME. 



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two are to be met with in the shops. The best, which is veiy rare, 

 is in dark colored masses, of the consistence of a soft plaster, growing 

 still softer on being handled. The other is in long rolls, coiled up, 

 much harder than the preceding, and not so dark. The first has com- 

 monly a small, and the last a large admixture of fine sand, without 

 which they cannot be collected pure, independently of designed abuses ; 

 tno dust blown on the plant by winds from the loose sands among 

 which it grows, being retained by the tenacious juice. The soft kind 

 has an agreeable smell, and a lightly pungent, bitterish taste : the 

 hard is much weaker 



LAUREL MAGNOLIA. A large and beautiful tree, that grows 

 on the banks of the Mississippi, and of the river St. Juan. Their 

 usual height is about one hundred feet, and some greatly exceed it. 

 The trunk is perfectly erect, rising in the form of a beautiful column, 

 and supporting a head like an obtuse cone. The flowers of this tree 

 are the largest and most complete of any yet known : when fully 

 expanded, they are of six, eight, and nine inches diameter. They are 

 on the extremities of the subdivisions of the branches, are per- 

 fectly white, and expanded like a full blown rose. In the autumn, 

 multitudes of red berries hang down from the branches of these trees, 

 suspended by white silky threads, from four to nine inches in length. 

 The berries have an agreeable spicy scent, and an aromatic bitter 

 taste. The wood, when seasoned, is of a straw color, and harder and 

 firmer than that of the poplar. The grape vines which climb these 

 trees, are frequently nine, ten, and twelve inches in diameter : they 

 twine round the trunks of the trees, climb to their very tops, and then 

 spread along their limbs, from tree to tree, throughout the forest. 



LAVENDER. A plant with a shrubby stem, much branched 

 with numerous hoary leaves. The flowers are produced in termi- 

 nating spikes from the young shoots on long peduncles. The leaves, 

 stalk, and flower, yield a fragrant perfume, and from the latter are 

 prepared an essential oil, a simple spirit, and a compound tincture. 



LAWN. Ground covered with the smallest perennial grasses, 

 kept short by mowing, and generally situated in front of a house or 

 mansion. Lawns, when once established, require only to be kept neat 

 by the ordinary routine of rolling, mowing, and sweeping, except 

 keeping the surface perfectly even, by making small hollows with 

 screened mould early in the spring. When lawns become worn out, 

 a top dressing of any finely divided manure will refresh them ; leached 

 ashes are particularly useful, and at the same time, an additional 

 quantity of grass seed may be sown. 



LEAD. In Mineralogy, a bluish white metal, very soft and 

 flexible, and easily beaten into thin plates by the hammer. In a 

 strong heat it boils and emits flames, and if during that time it is ex- 

 posed to the air, its oxidation proceeds very rapidly. It is very brittle 

 at the time of congelation. Most of the acids attack lead, but it 

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