ANNUAL MEADOW-GRASS. 



ANTHOXANTHUM ODORATUM. 



ounce of arnotta will colour about twenty 

 cheeses of 10 or 12 Ibs. each. The rolls 

 usually weigh 2 or 3 oz. each. In Gloucester- 

 shire, it is usual to allow 1 oz. to a cwt. of 

 cheese ; in Cheshire, 8 pennyweights to a 

 cheese of 60 Ibs. By the Spanish Americans, 

 it is mixed with their chocolate. The average 

 annual import of arnotta [into England] in 

 the three years ending in 1831, was 128,528 

 Ibs. (Comp. Farm.i M'Cullocfis Com. Did. ; 

 Gray's Supplement , Loudon's Encyc. , Thom- 

 son's Chem.) 



ANNUAL MEADOW-GRASS. See POA 



A>XUA. 



ANNUAL PLANTS. Such as are only of 

 one year's duration, or which come up in the 

 spring and die in the autumn. They are fre- 

 quently denominated simply annuals. Wheat, 

 oats, barley, beans, peas, &c., are of this* kind. 



ANNULAR. Having the form or resem- 

 blance of a ring. This appearance is observed 

 in the wood of some kinds of trees after the)' 

 have been cut down ; and in the horns of 

 cattle and sheep, by which their ages may in 

 some measure be ascertained. 



ANODYNE. In farriery, a term applied 

 to such medicines as ease pain and procure 

 sleep. 



ANOREXY. In farriery, a term applied to 

 a want of appetite. 



ANT. A sort of insect, extremely injurious 

 to pasture lands and gardens ; in the former 

 by throwing up hills, and in the latter by feed- 

 ing on the fruit, &c. The best methods of 

 keeping them from trees, are those of having 

 the earth round them constantly dug up, and 

 the application of saw-dust, coal-ashes, or 

 other matters of the same kind, about their 

 roots. The same purpose may be effected by 

 covering the bottom part of the trees with tar ; 

 but, as it is prejudicial to the trees, m 

 may, perhaps, answer better; as it is found to 

 destroy them when spread upon or put into 

 their hills. A liquor, prepared by boiling rain- 

 water with black-soap and sulphur, has been 

 made use of for destroying those animals, it is 

 said, with considerable success. Where this 

 liquor is employed, care should be taken that 

 the ground where they inhabit be perfectly 

 saturated with it. 



ANT-HILLS. The habitations of ants, con- 

 sisting of little eminences, composed of small 

 particles of sand or earth, lightly and artfully 

 laid together. These hills are very detrimental 

 to the farmer, depriving him of as much land 

 as the hills cover, which may often be com- 

 puted at a tenth part, or more, of his grass- 

 lands. And in some places, where negligence 

 has suffered them to multiply, almost half of it 

 has been rendered useless, the hills standing 

 as thick together as grass-cocks in a hay-field : 

 and what is very surprising is, that, by some, 

 this indolence is defended, by affirming, that 

 the area or superficies of their land is thereby 

 increased ; whereas it is well known that very 

 little or no grass ever grows thereon ; and, 

 therefore, if the surface be increased, the pro- 

 duce is proportionably decreased. 



In order to remove the hills, and destroy the 

 insects, it has been a custom in some places,' 

 at the beginning of winter, and often when the 



weather was not very cold, to dig up the ant- 

 hills three or four inches below the surface of 

 the ground, and then to cut them in pieces, and 

 scatter the fragments about. But this practice 

 only disseminates the ants, instead of destroy- 

 ing them, as they hide themselves among the 

 roots of the grass for a little time, and then col- 

 lect themselves together again upon any little 

 eminence, of which there are great numbers 

 ready for their purpose, such as the circular 

 ridges round the hollows where the hills stood 

 before. It is, therefore, a much better method 

 to cut the hills entirely off, rather lower than 

 the surface of the land, and to let them lie 

 whole at a little distance, with their bottom up- 

 wards : by this means the ants, who continue 

 in their habitations until the rains, running 

 into their holes of communication, and stag- 

 nating in the hollows formed by the removal 

 of the hills and the frosts, which now readily 

 penetrate, will be destroyed. If a little soot is 

 sown on the places, it will contribute to the 

 intended effect. The hills, when rendered 

 mellow by the frosts, may be broken and dis- 

 persed about the land. By this method of 

 cutting off the hills, one other advantage is 

 gained ; the land soon becomes even and nt 

 for mowing, and the little eminences being re- 

 moved, the insects are exposed to the rain, 

 which is destructive to them. In wet weather 

 these insects are apt to accumulate heaps of 

 sandy particles among the grass, called by 

 labourers sprout-hills, which quickly take off 

 the edge of the scythe. These hills which are 

 very light and compressible, may be removed 

 by frequent heavy rolling. 



ANTHELMINTIC. In farriery, a term ap- 

 plied to such remedies as are supposed to 

 destroy or carry off the worms which lodge in 

 the intestines of an animal. 



ANTHOXANTHUM ODORATUM. The 

 sweet-scented vernal grass. [See PASTURE 

 GRASSES, Plate 6, a.] This grass constitutes a 

 part of the herbage of pastures on almost 

 every kind of soil, though it only attains to 

 perfection on those that are deep and moist 

 The chief property that gives merit to this 

 grass is its early growth, though, in this re- 

 spect, it is inferior to several other species, 

 which are later in flowering. It thrives best 

 when combined with many different species, 

 and is therefore a true permanent pasture 

 grass. It does not appear to be particularly 

 liked by cattle, though eaten in pastures in 

 common, with others. Mr. Grant, of Leighton, 

 laid down a field of considerable extent, one-half 

 of which was sown with this grass and white 

 clover, the other half with meadow foxtail and 

 red clover. The sheep would not touch the 

 sweet-scented vernal and white clover, but 

 kept constantly on the foxtail grass, though the 

 dwarfish nature of the sweet-scented vernal 

 had occasioned an unusual degree of luxuri- 

 ance of the white clover with which it was 

 combined. This would indicate that it is not, 

 when single, or when combined with but two or 

 three different species, very grateful to cattle. 

 The chemical examination of its nutritive 

 qualities shows, that it does not abound in sac- 

 charine matter, but chiefly in mucilage ; and 

 the insoluble extract is in a greater proportion 

 12 101 



