HO L 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



HOL 



697 



and flourished exceedingly. From many repeated trials of 

 this kind, it is evident that if the Wheat in general were sown 

 in rows, so that the plough might be brought between the 

 rows in the spring, to loosen the ground, which by the winter's 

 rains may have been too closely bound, the crop would more 

 than double what is the common produce. And by this 

 method of husbandry we can affirm, that all crops will be so 

 much improved, as doubly to repay the difference of expense, 

 while less than a sixth part of the seed will be enough for the 

 same ground. The common swing plough answers all the 

 ends of Horse-hoeing. 



Hoffmannia ; a genus of the class Tetrandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leafed, 

 four-toothed, superior; teeth upright, sharp. Corolla: mono- 

 petalous, salver-shaped ; tube so short as to be next to none ; 

 border four-parted ; parts lanceolate, spreading. Stamina : 

 filamenta none ; antherse four, fixed to the base of the tube, 

 linear-subulate, upright, pressed close to the style. Pistil: 

 germen inferior, oblong-four-cornered ; style subulate, the 

 length of the stamina; stigma blunt, scarcely emarginate. 

 Pericarp: berry oblong, slightly four-cornered, crowned, 

 two-celled, two-valved. Seeds: numerous, roundish, fixed 

 to receptacles in each cell. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Calix: four-toothed. Corolla: salver-shaped, four-parted. 



Filamenta : none. Berry : two-celled, many-seeded. 



The only known species is, 



1. Hoffmannia Pedunculata. Stem herbaceous, two or 

 three feet long, branched, smooth; branches round and 

 hairy; leaves stalked, opposite, ovate, pointed, entire; calix 

 coloured ; corolla yellowish at the points, striated with red 

 at the bottom of the segments. Native of Jamaica. 



Hog Plum. See Spondias. 



Hog's- Fennel. See Peucedanum. 



Hog-weed. See Boerhavia Heracleum, and Polygonum. 



Holcus; a genus of the class Polygamia, order Monoecia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Hermaphrodite Flowers, sessile. 

 Calix: glume one-flowered, two-valved, subovate, obtuse, 

 coriaceous, awnless ; outer valve large, concave, slightly 

 three-toothed at the tip, embracing the inner valve, which 

 is oblong, rolled up on the sides. Corolla : glume two- 

 yalved, tender, villose, less than the calix ; outer valve 

 smallest, placed within the inner calicins valve, in most of 

 the species bifid at the tip, and awned ; awn from the cleft 

 of the glume, long or short, jointed, twisted, sometimes none ; 

 nectary three-leaved, two of the leaflets cartilaginous, trun- 

 cate, the third opposite, ovate, or lanceolate, villose. Sta- 

 mina : filamenta three, capillary, \ery tender ; antherse oblong, 

 bifid. Pistil: germen ovate; styles two, capillary, diverg- 

 ing; stigmas oblong, feathered. Pericarp: none, 'but the 

 glumes of the corolla and calix are rolled about the seed, and 

 enclose it. Seed : solitary, ovate, covered, armed with the 

 awn of the corolla, which however easily falls off. Male 

 Flowers, peduncled, solitary, or in pairs, accompanying the 

 hermaphrodite, smaller. Calix : glume two-valved ; valves 

 ovate-lanceolate, sharpish, chaffy, awnless ; the outer valve 

 concave, embracing the rnner, which is narrower. Corolla : 

 glume two-valved, smaller, more tender; outer valve within 

 the inner valve of the calix, shorter, two-toothed, awnless; 

 the inner valve doubled up on the edges; nectary as in the 

 hermaphrodites. Stamina : filamenta three, as in the herma- 

 phrodites. Pistil: germen small, angular, abortive ; styles 

 two, bristle-shaped ; stigmas none. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Hermaphrodite. Calix : glume one or two flowered. Corolla : 

 glume awned. Stamina: three. Styles: two. Seed: one. 

 Male. Calix : glume two-valved. Corolla : none. Stamina : 



threr. The species are, 



VOL. i. 69. 



1. Holcus Spicata; Spiked Holcus. Glumes two-flow- 

 ered, awnless ; flowers in pairs, involucred with a pencil ; 

 spike ovate-oblong; culm two feet high, and about the 

 thickness of a swan's quill. An annual grass ; and a native 

 of the East Indies. 



2. Holcus Bicolor; Two-coloured Holcus. Glumes smooth, 

 black ; seeds globular, white-awned. This is an annual grass, 

 greatly resembling the next species, but still very distinct 

 from it, by its black calices, and seeds of a snowy whiteness. 

 Native of Persia. 



3. Holcus Sorghum ; Indian Holcus, or Millet. Glumes 

 villose ; seed compressed, awned ; panicle contracted, ovate, 

 upright, but drooping as it ripens. There are several varieties 

 of this species ; the most remarkable is the red-seeded one 

 cultivated among the Caffres. Of this, the calix when ripe 

 is cartilaginous, pale chestnut-coloured, very smooth, sinning, 

 only half the length of the seed, which is naked, obovate, 

 globular, much acuminated towards the base, red, not shining. 

 Miller describes this and the sixth species together, and 

 indeed they differ so little as scarcely to merit being consi- 

 dered as a distinct species. According to him, the stalks of 

 these plants rise five or six feet high, are strong, reedy, and 

 like those of the Maize or Turkey Wheat, but smaller. The 

 leaves are long and broad, having a deep furrow through the 

 centre, where the midrib is depressed on the upper surface, 

 and is very prominent below. The leaves are two feet and 

 a half long, and two inches broad in the middle, embracing 

 the stalks with their base. The flowers come out in large 

 panicles at the top of the stalks, resembling at first appear- 

 ance the male spikes of the Turkey Wheat : these are suc- 

 ceeded by large roundish seeds, which are wrapped round 

 wilh the chaff. They are both natives of India, where the 

 grain is much used to feed poultry, and is frequently sent to 

 Europe for the same purpose. This is much cultivated in 

 Arabia, and most parts of Asia Minor. It has been introduced 

 into Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and some parts of Germany. 

 In China, Cochin-china, and the West Indies, where it grows 

 to the height of five or six feet or more, and is esteemed a 

 hearty food for labourers, it is called Negro Guinea Corn. 

 Its long awns or bristles defend it from the birds. In Arabia 

 it is called Dora or Durra ; the flour is very white, and they 

 make good bread of it. The bread made from it in some 

 parts of Italy and Portugal is however dark and coarse. In 

 Tuscany it is chiefly used for feeding poultry and pigeons ; 

 and even swine, cattle, and horses. Ceesalpinus says, how- 

 ever, that cattle when fed upon the green herb are liable to 

 swell and die, although they thrive on it when dried ; in which 

 state brushes are made of it in Italy, some of which Mr. Ray 

 observed in the Venetian shops. The Germans call this plant 

 Mohrhirse, Sorgsamen, Sorgsaat, Welsche Hirse, and Indi- 

 anische Hirse; the Dutch, Gewoon Zorghzaad, Negerkoorn ; 

 the French, Houque Sorgo, Grand Millet; the Italians, Sag- 

 gina Sagginella, Sorgo, Melica ; the Spaniards, Alcandia, 

 Melca; the Portuguese, Millo Lorgo ; the Tartars, Myssur, 

 Sttburge ; the Japanese, Sioku, Jfibi ; and the inhabitants of 

 Guinea, Guiarnatt. The autumns of England are seldom 

 dry and warm enough to ripen the seeds well in the field. 

 Those who propagate them should sow the seeds on a warm 

 border, or upon a gentle hot-bed, in March ; and when the 

 plants come up, they should be thinned, and planted at the 

 distance of a foot asunder in the rows, which should be at 

 three feet distance. The culture after this is to keep the 

 ground clear from weeds, and draw the earth up with a hoe 

 to the stems of the plants ; if the season prove warm, their 

 panicles will appear in July, and the grain will ripen in Sep- 

 tember, except in bad seasons, when it in liable to fail. It is 



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