BARILLA. 



only make the request that they no longer urge 

 their opinion on abstract and general grounds, 

 until they have collected the result of impar- 

 tial observation and careful experiment." 



The Rev. Dr. Singer, in the Trans. Hi^h. Soc., 

 vol. vi. p. 340, in considering the barberry as 

 the cause of rust or mildew on corn crops, 

 savs, when quoting the survey of Dumfries- 

 shire, " On one farm alone, that of Kirkbank, 

 the tenant lost about 100/. in his oat-crops 

 yearly ; and altogether the annual damage in 

 the county was considerably above 1000/. The 

 views of Sir Joseph Banks, and of some intel- 

 ligent practical farmers, relative to the evil 

 influence of the Berheris vulgari*, induced the 

 late Admiral Sir William Johnstone Hope to 

 give orders for the total extirpation uf thi- 

 barberry bushes which grew intermixed with 

 thorns in his hedgerows; and since that was 

 done, and for above twenty years, no such dis- 

 temper has appeared in these fields. The same 

 thing has been done in some parts of Ayrshire, 

 and the like result has followed. These facts," 

 adds Dr. Singer, "appear to indicate some con- 

 nection between the occurrence of rust or mil- 

 dew on growing corn and the neighbourhood 

 of barberry bushes.'' Phillips inquires (Pom. 

 Brit.}, whether the blighting effects of this 

 shrub may not in some degree be accounted 

 for by its May-flowers alluring insects, which 

 breed on the branches, and then feed their 

 progeny on the nutritious juices of the sur- 

 rounding blades of young corn ? 

 BARILLA. See SODA. 

 BARING Rontu of Trees. A practice former- 

 ly much adopted, but which later experience 

 has shown to be highly injurious and hurtful 

 to their growth. 



BARK (Dan. barck; Dutch, berck; from the 



Teutonic bergcn, to cover). The rind or cover 



ing of the woody parts of a tree. The bark of 



trees is composed of three distinct layers, of 



which the outermost is called the ep'nkrmh, 



the next the parenchyma, and the innermost, or 



that in contact with the wood, the cortical layers, 



The epidermis is a thin, transparent, tough 



membrane ; when rubbed off, it is gradually 



reproduced, and in some trees it cracks anc 



decays, and a fresh epidermis is formed, push 



ing outwards the old : hence the reason why 



so^ many aged trees have a rough surface 



The parenchyma is tender, succulent, and of 



a dark green. The cortical layer, or liber, con 



sists .f thin membranes encircling each other 



and these seem to increase with the age of th 



plant. The liber, or inner bark, is known b) 



its whiteness, great flexibility, toughness, an 



durability: the fibres in its structure are lig 



neous tubes. It is the part of the stem througl 



which the juices descend, and the organ in 



which the generative sap from whence all th> 



other parts originate is received from th 



leaves. The bark in its interstices contain 



cells which are filled with juices of very vary 



ing qualities ; some, like that of the oak, re 



markable for their astringency; others, lik 



the cinnamon, abounding with an essential oil 



others, as the Jesuits' bark, containing an a" 



kali; some mucilaginous; many resinous. Se 



veral of these barks have been analysed b 



various chemists : they have found them t 



BARK. 



onsist chiefly of carbon, oxygen, and hydro- 

 en, with various saline and earthy substances. 

 Thorn. Chem. vol. iv. p. 231.) 

 M. Saussure (Chem. Rtc. Peg.} found in 100 

 arts of the ashes of the barks of various 

 ees the following substances : 



From this analysis the farmer will see that 

 le earthy and saline ingredients of the bark 

 f forest trees must be considerable fertilizers : 

 t is only to the slowness with which refuse 

 anner's bark undergoes putrefaction that its 

 eglect by the cultivator must be attributed, 

 t might certainly, however, be mixed with 

 arm-yard compost with very considerable 

 dvanta-jt', as has been often done with saw- 

 ust and peat, in the manner so well described 

 y Mr. Dixon of Hathershew (J<mm. uf Roy. 

 Ing. Agr. Soc. vol. i. p. 135), see FARM-YARD 

 I!A:VURE; and in its half putrefied or even fresh 

 tate it produces on some grass lands very ex- 

 ellent effects as a top dressing; and in in- 

 tances where carriage is an object, even its 

 ashes would be found, from the quantity of 

 earthy carbonates and phosphates whkh they 

 contain, a very useful manure. 



The diflerent uses of barks in tanning and 

 dyeing are numerous and important. The 

 strength or fineness of their fibres is also of 

 consequence : thus, woody fibres are often so 

 ough as to form cordage, as exemplified in the 

 >ark of the lime, the willow, and the cocoa- 

 nut; the liber of some trees, as for example 

 he lime and the paper mulberry, is manufac- 

 ured into mats ; and it is scarcely requisite to 

 refer to hemp and flax for spinning and weav- 

 ;. The bark of the papyrus, or flag of the 

 Nile, was first used for paper; that of the 

 mulberry is still employed in the cloth of Ota- 

 tieite ; that of the powdered Swedish pines, as 

 bread for the poor peasants of Scandinavia. 

 In England, the bark of the oak is used for 

 affording tannic acid in the manufacture of 

 leather; but other barks, such as that of the 

 Spanish chestnut and the larch, are also em- 

 ployed. The following table of Davy will 

 show the relative value of different kinds of 

 bark to the tanner : it gives the quantity of 

 tannic acid afforded by 480 Ibs. of different 

 barks in that great chemist's own experiments. 

 (Led. p. 83.) 



