BURNING OF LIME. 



BURNING OF LIME. See 



BURNS, in live stock, are best treated by a 

 lotion composed of lime-water and linseed-oil, 

 equal parts, applying it frequently ; this allays 

 the inflammation very rapidly. 



BURNT CLAY. See ASHES. 



BUR-REED (Sparganiuni). Smith (Eng. 

 flora, vol. iv. p. 73) enumerates three species: 

 1. The branched bur-reed (S. ramosum) ; 2. The 

 unbranched upright bur-reed (S. simplex') ; 3. 

 The floating bur-reed (S. natans}. They are 

 all creeping-rooted, aquatic, juicy, smooth, up- 

 right, or floating herbs, and found in pools and 

 ditches, and the margins of ponds and rivers : 

 common : the last named principally in muddy 

 fens, or slow rivers. The bur-reed is a peren- 

 nial, flowering in July and August ; the stems 

 of some of the species attain to the height 

 of three or four feet. The herbage of the 

 branched bur-reed serves for package along 

 with similar coarse grassy plants, and is softer 

 and more pliant than most of them, not cutting 

 the hand by any sharp edges, like carices or 

 fenis. The unripe burs are very astringent. 

 A strong decoction of the burs makes a wash 

 for old ulcers. Dr. Darlington describes an 

 American species of bur-reed, frequent in 

 ditches, sluggish streams, &c., in the Middle 

 States. (Flor. Ces.) 



BURROW (Teut. bergen, to cover). A pro- 

 vincial word, signifying a heap or hillock, 

 hence stone-burrows, peat-burrows, &c. 



BUR -WEED (Xanthium strumarium). The 

 broad-leaved bur-weed is an annual plant, 

 flowering in August and September, found in 

 rich moist ground, or about dunghills in the 

 south of England ; but rare. It is herba- 

 ceous or somewhat shrubby, rather downy, 

 of a coarse habit, root fibrous ; stem solitary, 

 erect, branched, leafy, two feet high, solid; 

 leaves on long stalks, heart-shaped, two or 

 three inches wide ; clusters of four or five fer- 

 tile green flowers, and one or two barren ones, 

 making no show. Old tradition reports that 

 the xanthium is good for scrofulous disorders, 

 as the specific name seems to indicate ; but it 

 is now out of use. The generic appellation 

 alludes to a quality of dyeing yellow, which 

 Dioscorides mentions. (Smith's Eng. Flora, vol. 

 iv. p. 136.) 



The scrofulous xanthium, clot -weed, or 

 cockle-bur is an obnoxious weed, found in the 

 United States about farm-yards, road-sides, &c. 

 It is an annual not much inclined to spread, 

 and therefore, by a little attention, could ge- 

 nerally be easily got rid off. The burs are a 

 great annoyance in the fleeces of sheep. (Flor. 

 Cestrica.) 



BUSH (Teut busch; Dan. busk'). A thick 

 shrub, or a collection of shrubs or plants, 

 growing close together, so as to form a sort of 

 clump. It is also a provincial word, signify- 

 ing the box of the nave of a wheel. 



BUSH-DRAINING. A term applied to a 

 kind of draining, which is done by putting in, 

 or filling the drains with bushes. See DUAIN- 



BUSHEL (Old Yr.buschel; low Lat. bussel- 

 ). A measure of capacity for dry goods, as 

 grain, fruit, pulse, and many other articles, con- ! 

 T aining 4 pecks, 8 gallons, or 32 quarts, and is 

 238 



BUSH-HARROW. 



the eighth of the English quarter. The name 

 seems to be derived from an old English word, 

 buss, signifying a box or vessel. 



The bushel, by a statute made in the twelfth 

 year of Henry the Seventh, is to contain 

 2150-42 cubic inches, or 8 gallons of wheat; 

 the gallon of wheat to weigh 8 Ibs. troy- 

 weight; the pound, 12 oz. troy-weight; the 

 ounce, 20 sterlings; and the sterling, 32 grains. 

 By 5 Geo. 4, c. 74, the imperial gallon is de- 

 clared the standard measure of capacity, and 

 is directed to be made such as to contain 10 

 Ibs. avoirdupois of distilled water, weighed in 

 air at the temperature of 62 of Fahrenheit's 

 thermometer, the barometer standing at 30 

 inches, or to contain 277 cubic inches, and 

 274 thousandth parts of a cubic inch ; conse- 

 quently, the imperial bushel contains 80 Ibs. 

 of distilled water, or 2218-192 cubic inches. 

 By the same act ( 7), the bushel is declared 

 the standard measure of capacity for coals, 

 culm, lirne, fish, potatoes, or fruit, and all other 

 goods or things commonly sold by heaped 

 measure, and is prescribed to contain 2815 

 cubic inches, to be made round with a plain 

 and even bottom, and being 18|- inches in the 

 interior diameter by 8 in depth, and 19 inches 

 from outside to outside ; the goods to be 

 heaped up in the form of cone, to a height 

 above the rim of the measure of at least three- 

 fourths of its depth. 



Besides the standard orlegal bushel, there are 

 in England several local bushels, of different 

 dimensions in different places. At Abingdon 

 and Andover, a bushel contains 9 gallons : at 

 Appleby and Penrith, a bushel of peas, rye, 

 and wheat, contains 16 gallons ; of barley, 

 big malt, mixed malt, and oats, 20 gallons. A 

 bushel contains, at Carlisle, 24 gallons : at 

 Chester, a bushel of wheat, rye, &c., contains 

 32 gallons, and of oats 40; at Dorchester, a 

 bushel of malt and oats contains 10 gallons; 

 at Falmouth, the bushel of stricken coals is 

 16 gallons; of other things 20, and usually 21 

 gallons : at Kingston-upon-Thames, the bushel 

 contains 8 ; at Newbury, 9 ; at Wycomb and 

 Reading, 8|; at Stamford 16 gallons. The 

 contents of the bushel seems to have been 

 gradually increasing; the Winchester bushel, 

 used in England from the time of Henry 

 VII. to 1826, contained 2154-42 cubic inches. 

 The imperial bushel is therefore to the Win- 

 chester bushel as 2218-192 to 2154-42, or as 1 

 to -969447. Hence to convert Winchester 

 bushels into imperial, multiply by -969447. 

 To convert prices per Winchester bushel 

 into prices per imperial bushel, multiply by 

 1-0315157. 



The heaped bushel was abolished by 4 & 5 

 Will. 4, c. 49, an act which took effect from 

 the first of January, 1835. (Brande's Diet. 

 Science ; Penny Cyclopcedia M'Culloch's Corn. 

 Die.} 



BUSH-HARROW. An implement consti- 

 tuted of any sort of bushy branches, inter- 

 woven in a kind of frame, consisting of three 

 or more cross-bars, fixed into two end pieces 

 in such a manner as to be very rough and 

 brushy underneath. To the extremities of the 

 frame before are generally attached two wheels, 

 about twelve inches in diameter, upon which 



