VE R 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



VER 



737 



brandies; corolla white, rather larger than the calix. An- 

 nual. Native of ihe East Indies. 



ti. Verbesina Biflora ; Two-flowered Verbesina. Leaves 

 opposite, oblong-ovate, triple-nerved, acuminate, serrate ; 

 peduncles double, two-flowered ; flowers yellow. Native of 

 ihe East Indies. 



7. Verbesina Calendulacea ; Marigold Verbesina. Leaves 

 opposite, lanceolate, bluntish ; peduncles long, one-flowered; 

 calices simple. Stem herbaceous, annual, a foot high, 

 nearly erect, smooth, whitish ; flowers yellow, terminating, 

 solitary. Native of the East Indies and China. 



8. Verbesina Nodiflora ; Sessile-flowered Verbesina. Leaves 

 opposite, ovate, serrate ; calices oblong, sessile, cauline, 

 lateral. Root annual ; stem herbaceous, branched, a foot 

 high, round, even ; flowers small, yellow, sessile, in the 

 axils of the terminating leaves, two or three together. 

 Native of the West Indies. 



9. Verbesina Fruticosa; Shrubby Verbesina. Leaves 

 opposite, ovate, serrate, petioled ; stem shrubby. The 

 flowers are yellow, produced from the side of the stalks, 

 and appear in July. Native of the West Indies. 



10. Verbesina Gigantea; Tree Verbesina. Leaves alter- 

 nate, deeply pinnatin'd ; stem shrubby. The stem is fifteen 

 feet high, and the thickness of a thumb at the lower part, 

 smooth, green, and viscid ; it is filled without interruption 

 by a white inodorous pith, as in a rush. From the bosoms 

 Of the upper leaves spring round whitish villose peduncles, 

 bearing at their tips the flowers, which are slightly foot- 

 stalked, and closely heaped together, forming a kind of 

 panicle : the corolle's are white, and the antheree black. 

 Native of the West Indies. 



11. Verbesina Mutica. Leaves trifid-laciniate, serrate; 

 stem creeping; root annual ; flowers small, yellow. Native 

 of the West Indies, in moist pastures. 



12. Verbesina Boswallea. Leaves multifid-capillary ; stems 

 prostrate ; florets six, of which one is female ; flowers subso- 

 litary, on short peduncles. It is an esculent plant, with the 

 smell and taste of Fennel. Native of the East Indies. 



13. Verbesina Helianthoides ; Sun-flower Verbesina. Stem 

 winged ; leaves alternate, wide-lanceolate, acute, slightly 

 dentated, albid-villose underneath, rough-pubescent on the 

 upper surface ; peduncles one-flowered, aggregate. Grows 

 in the western parts of the Allegany mountains; and also in 

 Tennessee and Illinois. 



Vermin ; under this collective name includes all the various 

 sorts of small animals which are injurious to the corn and 

 fruit. The vermin, rats and mice, are the most prejudicial. 

 A rat eats and destroys on the average a quart of corn per 

 week, which, for a hundred of them, amounts to twenty 

 quarters a year; and as a hundred is a very low estimate for 

 a largt- farm, the real damage is probably much greater. The 

 ravages of mice, are perhaps equally destructive : in the field, 

 the barn, and the dairy, these small vermin are exceedingly 

 disagreeable and destructive, and are supposed to be more 

 pernicious than moles. In order to the destruction of these 

 and other vermin, the author of a late Calendar of Hus- 

 bandry has advised, that a farm should be well provided 

 with a competent number of ferrets, and of true vermin-bred 

 dogs, such as are usually kept for the purpose; and that an 

 hour or two should be spared weekly, and reserved for 

 executing the business. The holes and haunts of the vermin, 

 in and about the premises, are to be diligently sought out, 

 and a war of extermination kept up throughout the year. In 

 aid of these means, others may be adopted when necessary; 

 such as traps, which should be of the cage sort, and not 

 such as to endanger the cats, a most useful sort of domestics, 



which are fully entitled to care and kindness, provided they 

 do not molest young poultry, and hunt from mere sport 

 rather than to satisfy hunger, as eating the prey injures their 

 health, and lessens their exertions. The ferrets on this ac- 

 count are thought best kept in huts, in the same manner as 

 rabbits ; their food is well known to be any sort of offal of the 

 flesh kind, with occasionally a little milk and bread boiled. 

 The same means of extirpation and removal apply equally to 

 the vermin of the field, pole-cats, weasels, and their different 

 varieties, which, unless checked, invade the farm-yards, and 

 worry not only the poultry, but even young pigs; though it 

 is probable that none of these, nor of their superior in speed 

 and dexterity, the fox, will venture where there are good 

 dogs. A recent method of trapping field vermin, is the fol- 

 lowing: divide a wooden box, resembling a dog-kennel, by 

 an open wire partition running from end to end, and reach- 

 ing from the ridge of the roof of it to the floor : re-divide one 

 side of the partition into two parts, large enough to admit a 

 rabbit or a live fowl, as baits ; the other half must be formed 

 into a falling box-trap, to take them in : as however it would 

 be extremely cruel to expose live animals to their natural 

 enemies, it appears to be better to kill them at once on the 

 spot, as it is the scent of their fresh blood which allures the 

 vermin. Vipers, efts, lizards, toads, and other poisonous 

 reptiles, which are both troublesome and hurtful, might be 

 nearly exterminated, if all the inhabitants of each parish 

 would persevere in destroying them wherever they could be 

 found; and their destruction would probably be ensured by 

 giving premiums for them, or for their eggs. The predatory 

 birds, such as carrion crows, ravens, magpies, kites, hawks, 

 and some others, are most mischievous to poultry, lambs, 

 and even sheep when diseased, whom they then pick in dif- 

 ferent parts of their bodies. Jays, pigeons, rooks, and many 

 small birds, are chiefly guilty of robbing field produce : bull- 

 finches, and some others, are very destructive among fruit; 

 and the jays, to bean-crops when nearly ripe. Pigeons and 

 rooks destroy large quantities of grain, both at seed-time and 

 harvest; the latter especially attack young crops as they rise, 

 though they are thought to bo useful in picking up the grub- 

 worm and other insects. Small birds do most mischief by 

 the destruction of grain which they cause at the time of 

 sowing, and when the com becomes nearly ripe ; besides 

 that which they in some cases do to such buildings as are 

 covered with thatch ; but some do good by lessening the 

 number of grubs, caterpillars, and butterflies. In all these 

 cases, perhaps the best and most effectual, though expensive 

 protection, is the gun, though rattles and other things have 

 been invented to frighten or to destroy them. Grubs and 

 slugs are very destructive to the farmer's crop. The earth- 

 worm, the wireworm, the grub of the cockchafer, the slug, 

 the turnip-fly, the black canker caterpillar, the black insect 

 which destroys Beans, and the yellow maggot which feeds 

 on the ears of Wheat, are of numerous families, and very 

 mischievous. The destruction of these may be attempted in 

 different ways, as, by introducing birds which feed upon 

 them. It has been asserted that worms and slugs which 

 feed on the new roots of corn, may be destroyed by a clean 

 fallow, continued till they perish for want of food. Lime 

 has been said to destroy them, though it is often ineffectually 

 applied for that purpose upon the chalk-hills of Kent. 

 Hornets and wasps should be sought out and destroyed in 

 their nests, as they are very distressing to cattle, and often 

 render tame animals quite ungovernable. Game of all sorts 

 is very destructive, not only by what they consume, but be- 

 cause they induce sportsmen to commit great havock in the 

 pursuit. It has been calculated, that the expenses of guard- 



