THE FARMER AT HOME. 285 



MOULDINESS. A term applied to an appearance in bodies 

 which are much exposed to the humidity of the atmosphere, and 

 which shows itself by a kind of white down, or lanugo, on their sur- 

 face. It is liable to affect different articles of farm produce, unless 

 guarded against by depositing them in proper dry places. This 

 mouldiness, when viewed with a microscope, affords a curious spec- 

 tacle ; being a kind of meadow, out of which arise herbs and flowers ; 

 some only in the bud, others full blown, and others decayed ; each 

 having its little root, stalk and other parts. The same may be ob- 

 served of the mouldiness which gathers on the surface of liquid bodies. 

 Mr. Bradley observed this mouldiness in a melon very accurately, and 

 found the vegetation of these little plants to be exceedingly quick. 

 Each plant had its seeds in great abundance, which did not seem to 

 be three hours before they began to shoot up ; and in six hours more 

 the new plant was complete and mature, and the seed ready to fall. 

 When the fruit had been covered with a mould for six days, its vege- 

 tative quality began to abate, and it was entirely gone in two days 

 more ; then came on a putrefaction, and the fleshy part of the melon 

 yielding nothing but a stinking water, which began to have a gentle 

 motion on its surface ; and in two days' time maggots appeared, which 

 in six more laid themselves up in their bags, where they continued 

 four days, and then came out flies. These maggots were owing to 

 the eggs of flies deposited in the putrefaction. 



MOULTING-. Among farmers, a term signifying the changing 

 of the feathers in animals of the domestic bird kind. It is a process 

 which takes place annually towards the latter end of the year, when 

 care should be taken to have them well fed, and kept as much as pos- 

 sible in a sheltered situation. In some sorts of birds, as the goose, 

 advantage is taken of this season for collecting the feathers for various 

 useful purposes. Moulting is sometimes applied to horses, when they 

 alter, change, or cast their coats towards the latter end of autumn. 

 As they become weak at this period, they should be well kept, and 

 not have too much work. Great care should likewise be taken in the 

 cleaning and dressing of them. 



MOUTH. In some creatures the mouth is wide and large, in 

 others little and narrow ; in some it is formed with a deep incisure 

 into the head, for the better catching and holding of prey, and more 

 easy comminution of hard, large, and troublesome food ; and in others 

 with a shorter incisure, for the gathering and holding of herbaceous 

 food. In birds it is neatly shaped for piercing the air ; hard and 

 horny, to supply the want of teeth ; hooked, in the rapacious kind, to 

 catch and hold their prey ; long and slender in those that have their 

 food to grope for in moorish places ; and broad and long in those that 

 search for it in the mud. Nor is the mouth less remarkable in insects ; 

 in some it is forcipated, to catch, hold, and tear the prey ; in others, 

 aculeated, to pierce and wound animals, and suck their blood ; in 



