BUCK. 



herbals. Decoctions made with one pound of 

 the fresh root are purgatives for cattle. This 

 is a powerful medicine, and should be given 

 cautiously in small doses, even to cattle. 



BUCK. The male of the deer, hare, rab- 

 bit, &c. 



BUCK-BEAN (Menyanthes trifoliate.). This 

 is a beautiful wild flower, and deserving of 

 cultivation. It naturally inhabits turbaries, 

 and marshy places. In a garden it will live 

 for many years, if planted in a pot filled with 

 peat earth mixed with sphagnum or bog moss, 

 and plunged in a pan of water; or better still, 

 if planted out in rich soil, where it can be 

 supplied with water from a pond or tank. It 

 is not only a beautiful, but a valuable gift of 

 Providence, for it possesses powerful effects 

 as a remedy against the fevers prevalent in 

 marshy districts. (Gardener's Chronicle.) Wi- 

 thering, in speaking of this plant, says it is 

 possessed of powerful medicinal properties ; 

 an infusion of the leaves is extremely bitter, 

 and is prescribed in rheumatism and dropsies; 

 it may be used as a substitute for hops in 

 making beer, and is employed as a purgative 

 for calves. It is easily recognised, possessing 

 a very singular appearance. It grows a foot 

 high ; the leaf-stalks rise from the roots, and 

 upon each stalk stand three large oblong 

 leaves, somewhat resembling the garden bean 

 leaves. The stalks themselves are round. 

 thick, and smooth. The flowers are small, 

 white, with a delicate tinge of purple, and 

 hairy inside. They grow together, forming a 

 short, thick spike, and stand upon thick, round, 

 whitish, and naked stalks. The. root is long, 

 thick, and of a whitish colour. Buck-bean 

 leaves should be gathered before the flower- 

 stalks appear, and dried. Their powder, taken 

 in tea, or any liquid, is considered excellent 

 for rheumatism and ague. 



BUCKEYE. Under this name, Michaux 

 describes two species of trees in the United 

 States, viz. the large buckeye or yellow pavia, 

 (Pavia lutea) ; and the Ohio buckeye or Ohio 

 horse-chestnut (Pavia ohioensis). 



The yellow pavia, or large American buckeye, 

 is first observed on the Alleghany Mountains in 

 Virginia, near the 39th degree of latitude. It 

 becomes more frequent in following the chain 

 towards the southwest, and is most profusely 

 multiplied in the mountainous districts of the 

 Carolinas and Georgia. It abounds, also, upon 

 the rivers that rise beyond the mountains and 

 flow through the western part of Virginia, and 

 the states of Kentucky and Tennessee, to meet 

 the Ohio. It is mnch less common along the 

 streams which have their sources east of the 

 Alleghanies, and may therefore be considered 

 as a stranger to the Atlantic states, with the 

 exception of a tract thirty or forty miles wide 

 in the Southern States, as it were beneath the 

 shadow of the mountains. It is here called 

 big buckeye, to distinguish it from the Pavia 

 rubra, which does not exceed eight or ten feet 

 ir^Jieight, and which is called small buckeye, 

 vjtichaux states, that he had seen no situation 

 which appeared more favourable to the deve- 

 lopement of the big buckeye, than the declivi- 

 ties of the lofty mountains in North Carolina, 

 and particularly of the Great Father Mountain, 

 230 



BUCK HUNTING. 



the Iron Mountain, and the Black Mountain, 

 where the soil is generally loose, deep, and 

 fertile. The coolness and humidity which reign 

 in these elevated regions, appear likewise to be 

 necessary to its utmost expansion ; it here 

 towers to the height of sixty or seventy feet, 

 with a diameter of three or four feet, and is 

 considered a certain proof of the richness of 

 the land. 



The flowers of this tree are of a light, 

 agreeable yellow, and the numerous bunches, 

 contrasted with the fine dense foliage, lend it a 

 highly ornamental appearance. The fruit is 

 contained in a fleshy, oval capsule, the surface 

 of which, unlike that of the horse-chestnut of 

 Asia and Ohio, is smooth. Each capsule 

 contains two seeds or chestnuts, of unequal 

 size, flat upon one side and convex on the 

 other. They are larger and lighter-coloured 

 than those of the common horse-chestnut, and, 

 like them, are not eatable. 



Of American trees, the large buckeye is one 

 of the earliest to cast its leaves, which begin 

 to fall near Philadelphia about the 15th of 

 August, and whilst the other horse-chestnuts 

 are still clothed with their finest verdure. Its 

 foliation and flowering are also tardy, which 

 is deemed an essential defect in a tree, the 

 greatest merit of which is its beauty. The 

 wood, from its softness and want of durability, 

 cannot be made to subserve any useful pur- 

 pose. In beauty, this species is reckoned in- 

 ferior to that magnificent tree, the 



Ohio buckeye, or common American horse- 

 chestnut, which is not a native of any of the 

 Atlantic states, where, however, it is a favourite 

 ornamental tree. The ordinary stature of the 

 American horse-chestnut is ten or twelve feet, 

 but it sometimes equals thirty or thirty-five 

 feet in height, and twelve or fifteen inches in 

 diameter. 



The foliage of this tree appears very early 

 in spring, being very quickly followed by its 

 flowers, which almost cover the tree in white 

 bunches, making a very brilliant appearance. 

 The fruit is of the same colour with that of 

 the foreign horse-chestnut and of the large 

 buckeye, and of about half the size: it is con- 

 tained in fleshy, prickly capsules, and is ripe 

 the beginning of autumn. Horse-chestnuts 

 are said to injure swine and other stock which 

 eat them. 



The bark of the larger trees is blackish, and 

 endowed with a disagreeable odour and highly 

 acrimonious properties. The wood is while, 

 soft, and wholly useless. The value of the 

 Ohio buckeye or American horse-chestnut 

 consists mainly in the beauty of its abundant, 

 precocious, and beautiful foliage and flowers, 

 qualities which bring it into great request as 

 an ornamental tree. (North Jlnier. Sylva.) 



For some notice of the European or Asiatic 

 horse-chestnut, see CHESTNUT, HORSE. 



BUCK-HEADING and BUCK-STALLING. 

 Provincialisms applied to the cutting hedge- 

 fences off, fence-height. 



BUCKHORN. See PLANTAIN, STAR OP 

 THE EAHTH. 



BUCK HUNTING. " In common parlance," 

 says Mr. Blaine, "the hunting of a fallow 

 deer, whether male or female, is said to 



>w 



* 



