AUORUS. 



ACRE. 



a quarter of a rod asunder, and six inches 

 apart in the rows ; dibbling them in, zigzag, 

 alternately on either side a line stretched 

 tightly on the surface, with blunt-pointed dib- 

 bles, letting a little mould fall down to the 

 bottoms of the holes, to prevent water lodging 

 round them, and burying them about two 

 inches beneath the surface. Each square rod, 

 when planted in this way, takes 132 acorns, 

 nearly a pint, when they are middle-sized, 

 which is equal to two statute bushels and a 

 half on an acre. The expense, in England, of 

 planting acorns in this manner is about 5*. an 

 acre. See PLAICTING. 



ACORUS, from the Greek *, privative, and 

 w, the pupil of the eye. The botanical name 

 of a plant of the thistle kind, that produces the. 

 drug called in the shop Calamus aromuticus. It 

 is found abundantly in the neighbourhood of 

 freshwater marshes. The ancient practice of 

 strewing the floors with the leaves of these 

 sweet rushes is still kept up in some of our 

 cathedral churches upon certain high festivals. 

 The plant, which belongs to the natural order 

 Aroidex, flourishes luxuriantly in loose, moist 

 soils, and sends forth many deep-green, long 

 sword-shaped leaves from its perennial, creep- 

 ing, and horizontal stems. It seldom flowers, 

 but the blossoms which it sends forth are of a 

 greenish colour. The root, or more properly 

 the stem, is the part which, when dried, is 

 used medicinally, occasionally as a stimulant. 

 It is slightly acrid and aromatic. (Thomson's 

 Dispensary.) 



ACRE (aecpe, Sax. Acre, Lye says, is 

 common to all the European languages. Sax. 

 Die.). He might have added further, that it is 

 an Eastern word ; and that agr, akoro, and akko- 

 ran, denote in the Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic, 

 a field, a husbandman. So the Saxon aecceri- 

 mon, a husbandman. Wachter, in his Glos- 

 sary, gives akennan, a day-labourer. (Todays 

 Johnson.) In Shakspeare's King Lear, we 

 have 



" Search every acre in the high grown field, 

 And bring him to our eye." 



The prevailing and standard measure of land 

 in Britain. An acre in England contains 4 

 square roods; a rood, 40 perches, rods, or 

 poles, 5$ yards, or 16$ feet each, according to 

 the statute in the act passed in 1824, for the 

 equalization of weights and measures through- 

 out the United Kingdom, which is in this in- 

 stance confirmatory of the old law of England. 

 But in some parts of England there are other 

 measures under the same designation of acre. 

 For example, in Devonshire, and part of So- 

 merset, 5 yards (instead of 5$) have been 

 reckoned to a perch; in Cornwall, 6 yards 

 (anciently called the Woodland perch); in 

 Lancashire, 7 yards ; in Cheshire and Stafford- 

 shire 8 yards; in the Isle of Purbeck, and 

 some parts of Devonshire, 15 feet and 1 inch. 

 In the common fields of Wiltshire and the 

 neighbouring counties, 120 poles, or 3 roods, 

 were reckoned to an acre. 



The Irish acre is 7840 square yards, and is 

 equal to 1 acre, 2 roods, and 19 poles, nearly 

 of English measure. 



The Scotch acre contains 5760 square Scotch 



Equal to 



100 



statute 

 acres. 



ells, and is equal to 1 acre, 1 rood, 2 poles, 

 nearly, of English measure. 

 The following Table shows the comparative 

 quantity of each of the above measures : 



A. R. P. 



[20 3 20 Devonshire customary measure,^ 



119 2 26 Isle of Purbeck, ditto, 



84 4 Cornish or Woodland ditto, 



61 2 37i Lancashire or Irish ditto, 



47 1 2 Cheshire and Staffordshire ditto, 



133 2 Wiltshire tenantry ditto, 



79 1 6i Scotch measure, J 



The French acre, or arpent, according to Mr. 

 Greave's calculation, consists of 100 perches, 

 of 22 feet each, amounting to 48,400 square 

 French feet, which are equal to 51,691 square 

 English fleet, or very near one acre, and three 

 quarters of a rood, English measure. The 

 Strasburg a'cre is about half an English acre. 



Table exhibiting the Number of Plants which 

 may be raised on a Perch of Land, at different 

 distances : 



In a perch are 272$ square feet, or 39,204 

 square inches. A perch will contain 



