THE FARMER AT HOME. 57 



him with great ferocity. It breeds but once a year, usually producing 

 two young at a birth. It exists in Labrador, the Canadas, and rarely 

 in the northern parts of JSew England. 



LYMPHATIC VESSELS. A set of vessels in the animal body, 

 numerous and important, which open into the cellular texture and 

 into the various cavities, and absorb the lymph and other watery 

 fluids, convey them through glands situated in different parts of the 

 body, till they pour the fluid into the thoracic duct, the same to which 

 the lac teals convey the chyle ; and from which the two fluids are 

 carried into the lungs, there to be completely fitted for the purposes 

 of the body. When the lymphatic glands are diseased or any way 

 obstructed, they give rise to hard knotty swellings in various parts of 

 the body ; and they are thought to be peculiarly the seat of scrofulous 

 inflammation. Such swelled glands are often seen in the neck and 

 groin. The best way to promote the healthy action of the lymphatic 

 vessels and glands, is to wear warm clothing, to use moderate and 

 constant exercise, to pay attention to diet, and to the regular action 

 of the bowels. 



MACHINE. Any complication of artificial bodies acting upon 

 one another by contact, through the medium and motion of which any 

 effect is produced, is a machine. The initial force which puts the 

 machine in motion, is called the first or prime mover. The point at 

 which that force is applied, is the acting point ; and that in which the 

 effect is produced is the working point : the machine being the 

 medium through which the power is transferred, and by which it is 

 modified so as to answer the intended purpose. When a simple body 

 is the medium between the acting and the working points, it is an 

 instrument. 



MADDER. Madder is a plant, with rough narrow leaves, set in 

 form of a star, at the joints of the stalk. The root, which is the only 

 part made use of, is long, slender, of a red color, both on the outside 

 and within, excepting a whitish pith, which runs along the middle. 

 For cultivating this plant, the ground is ploughed deep in autumn, 

 and again in March; and then laid up in ridges, eighteen inches 

 asunder, and about a foot high. About the beginning of April, they 

 open the ground where old roots are planted, and take off all the side 

 shoots, which extend themselves horizontally ; these they transplant 

 immediately upon the new ridges, at about a foot distance, where they 

 remain two seasons. It is to be observed, that this method of plant- 

 ing in ridges is only necessary in wet land, and that the rows are some- 

 times planted three feet, and the plants in the rows eighteen inches 

 asunder. If all the horizontal roots are destroyed from time to time, 

 it will cause the large, downright roots, to be much bigger, in which 

 the goodness of this commodity chiefly consists. Madder gives out its 

 color, both to water and rectified spirit ; the watery tincture is of a 

 dark dull red ; the spictuous of a deep bright one. It imparts to 



