BAY-SALT. 



BEAGLE. 



for a mow on each side, are called barns of ' ence to be correct ; therefore, the roots should 

 two bays, &c. I not be grubbed up too hastily. This tree should 



BAY-SALT. The salt made naturally on never have a branch taken from it but in the 

 the sea-shore at St. Ubes and other bays, in the I spring. The directions for raising these trees 

 natural hollows of the sea-shore which are from seed are given in the same manner by all 



writers on .the subject, from Pliny down to 

 Miller. It is, to gather the fruit when quite 

 ripe, which is not before January or February. 

 The berries are then to be preserved in dry 



only overflowed at spring tides. The salt thus 



made at a low temperature by the action of the 

 sun and wind is the strongest and best for but- 

 ter and other agricultural purposes. (Brown- 

 rigg on Salt; Branded Diet, of Science.) 



Bay-salt is in large, moderately white cubes. 

 St. Ubes' salt contains 960 parts of pure 

 chloride of sodium in 1000 parts; the remainder 

 consists of 28 parts of sulphate of lime and of 

 magnesia; 3 parts of chloride of magnesia, or 

 bittern ; and 9 of insoluble matter. It is con- 

 sequently very pure. Similar salt, but less 

 pure, is made at St. Martin and Oleven. (For 

 its dietetical uses and as a manure, see SALT, 

 SALTIJTG.) 



BAY-TREE (Laurus nobilis). This plant, 

 the laurel of antiquity, is a native of classical 

 ground. We cannot ascertain at what exact 

 period the bay-tree was first cultivated in this 

 country ; but in all probability it was planted 

 by the Romans, and fell with their villas. 

 Chaucer, who wrote in the time of Edward III., 

 mentions it ; and Turner, our oldest writer on 

 plants, says, in 1564, "the bay-tre in England 

 is no great tre, but it thryueth there many parts 

 better, and is lustier than in Germany." We 

 find that during the reign of Elizabeth it was 

 common to strew the floors of distinguished 

 persons in England with bay-leaves. And we 

 may conclude that it was rare in this country, 

 even so late as the beginning of the eighteenth 

 century, for Bradley says, in 1716, " they (bay- 

 trees) should be put in pots or cases, and 

 housed in the winter, that their beauty may be 

 preserved." He states, that " he has seen pyra- 

 mids and headed plants of bays introduced in 

 parterre work, but he cannot advise the doing 

 it, lest they should be injured by the weather." 

 There need be no such care taken now, for 

 they have become thoroughly hardy and accli- 

 mated. Bradley adds, the finest bay-trees he 

 had ever seen, either abroad or in England, 

 were then in the royal gardens of Kensington, 

 and were of very great value. 



The bay is a small tree, seldom exceeding 

 fifteen to twenty feet in height. The bark is 

 greenish, smooth, and aromatic : the leaves 

 lanceolate, sharp-pointed, wavy on the edge, 

 and leathery and smooth on both sides. The 

 flowers are four or six in a cluster, of a yel- 

 lowish white, glandular, and dotted. The fruit 

 is about the size of a large pea, black, and 

 succulent. 



Observation instructs us to place this tree in 

 situations where it is sheltered from north and 

 north-east winds, which affect its beauty, and 

 often its growth. It thrives under the very 

 wings of larger trees, where it is difficult to 

 make other shrubs prosper, and this is of im- 

 portance in our plantations. A warm, dry, 

 , or gravelly soil is recommended for the 

 but it thrives well on a rich loam. We 

 are told by Mortimer, that bay-trees, whose 

 branches are killed by the weather, or other 

 accident, if cut down to the ground, will send 

 up strong shoots, which we know by experi- , 

 150 



sand until the middle of March, when they 

 may be sown in a shady border of rich, loose, 

 undunged earth. The berries, should be drop- 

 ped in rows as French beans are planted, and 

 covered with fine, rich mould about an inch 

 thick. The young plants will require frequent 

 but moderate watering for the first two years. 

 The French nurserymen raise them under 

 glass, or in an orangery. The bay-tree will 

 grow by cuttings, but these should be planted 

 in a moderate hot-bed, and kept moist and co- 

 vered from the heat of the sun during summer, 

 and from the frost in winter. April is the pro- 

 per time to plant cuttings, but layers may be 

 laid down either in March or August, which, 

 by the second spring, will make good plants. 



The variegated bay is increased by budding 

 it on the common sort. Neither the broad nor 

 the narrow-leaved varieties are so hardy as 

 the common bay. The leaves and berries of 

 the bay-tree have an aromatic, bitter, astrin- 

 gent taste, and a fragrant smell : and are ac- 

 counted stomachic, carminative, and narcotic; 

 but they are not much used in medicine at the 

 present day, although old writers are very 

 voluminous in describing their virtues-. (Phil" 

 Syl. Flor.) 



This well-known evergreen is always hand- 

 some in shrubberies, and grows well. It pre- 

 fers a northern aspect : indeed, we may almost 

 consider the bay-tree a native of England, 

 since gardens and shrubberies are now rarely 

 formed without their presence. The leaves 

 and berries are used as medicine ; the leaves 

 should be dried in the proper way, pounded, 

 and kept in glass bottles ; they are said to be 

 cordial and beneficial in nervous complaints, 

 and in paralysis : in large doses they prove 

 emetic. The green leaves applied to the part 

 allays the pain of the sting of bees. The ber- 

 ries of the bay-tree contain both volatile and 

 fixed oil, wax, resin, uncrystallizable sugar, 

 gums, starch, some salts, and a peculiar sub- 

 stance, which has been named laurin, and 

 bears some resemblance to camphor. The 

 dried berries are given in powder or infusion 

 in flatulent colic ; but they are of little value. 



BEAGLE (Fr. bigle). A small well-propor- 

 tioned hound, slow but sure, having an excel- 

 lent nose and most enduring diligence ; form- 

 erly much in fashion for hunting the hare, but 

 now comparatively neglected, its place being 

 occupied, where hare-hunting is patronized, by 

 the harrier. There are still several varieties 

 of beagles, but formerly there appear to have 

 been many more, from the deep-flewed dimi- 

 nutive type of the old southern hound, to the 

 fleet and elegant fox-hound beagle, to which 

 we may add the pigmy breed called lap-dog 

 beagles. Beagles were formerly distinguished 

 into the rough and the smooth. The rough, 

 wire-haired, or terrier beagle, is now seldom 





