CANKER. 



CAPERS. 



ker is generally prevalent, or duly thinned the 

 branches, entirely removed every small one 

 that is in the least degree diseased, and cut 

 away the decayed parts of the larger, so as not 

 to leave a single speck of the decayed wood, I 

 cover over the surface of each wound with a 

 mixture, whilst in a melted state, of equal parts 

 of tar and rosin, applying with a brush imme- 

 diately after the amputations have been per- 

 formed, taking care to select a fine dry day. 

 I prefer this to any composition with a basis 

 of cow-dung and clay, because the latter is 

 always more or less absorbent of moisture, and 

 is liable to injury by rain and frost, causing 

 alternations of moisture and dryness to the 

 wounds, that promote decay rather than their 

 healing, by the formation of new wood and 

 bark. The resinous plaster seldom or never 

 requires renewal. Mr. Forsyth, the arch-advo- 

 cate of alkaline plasters, finding they promoted 

 decay, if applied to the wounds of autumn- 

 pruned trees, recotnmends this important act 

 of cultivation to be postponed to the spring. 

 Such a procrastination, however, is always 

 liable to defer the pruning till bleeding is the 

 consequence. If a resinous plaster is employed, 

 it excludes the wet, and obviates the objection 

 to autumnal pruning. Mr. Forsyth's treatment 

 of the trunks and branches of the trees, namely, 

 scraping from them all the scaly, dry exuviae 

 of the bark, is to be adopted in every instance : 

 he recommends them to be then brushed over 

 with a thin liquid compound of fresh cow-dung, 

 soapsuds, and urine. But I very much prefer 

 a brine of common salt: each acts as a gentle 

 stimulus, which is their chief source of benefit, 

 and the latter is more efficacious in destroying 

 insects, and does not, like the other, obstruct 

 the perspiratory vessels of the tree. The brine 

 is advantageously rubbed in with a scrubbing 

 or large painter's brush. Some persons recom- 

 mend a liquid wash, containing, as prominent 



ingredients, quicklime and wood-ashes ; which, 

 as the disease arises from an over-alkalescent 

 state of the sap, cannot but prove injurious 

 and aggravate the disease. Mr. Forsyth's 

 composition, used as a plaster for the wounds 

 made when cankered matter had been extract- 

 ed, was 



1 bushel of fresh cow-dung, 

 bushel of lime rubbish, 

 i bushel of wood ashes, 

 T ' ff bushel of finely-sifted sand. 



firmly and as equably as it can be made, and 

 the careful avoidance of all greasy applica- 

 tions, and all moisture, either applied imme- 

 diately to the foot, or suffered to penetrate 

 to it through the dressing. (Clatcr's Furriery, 

 p. 324.) 



CANKERED. A word sometimes used to 

 signify mildewed or blighted. 



CANKERS. A local name in some parts 

 of England for caterpillars. 



CANKER-WORM. The insects, called in 

 the Eastern States canker-worms, are caterpil- 

 lars with ten legs, the larvce of a natural group 

 of moths called hyl.>i'r>iias. They belong to the 

 tribe of ."<'""" /< ;>-, commonly called earth-mea- 

 surers, span-worms, and loopers. See SPAN- 

 WORMS. 



CANTER. (Said to be an abbreviation of 

 Canterbury gallop, and derived from the pil- 

 grims riding to Canterbury on easy ambling 

 horses. 7'W</'s Johnson.) A well-known pace 

 of the horse, which is not, generally, a natural 

 pace. When the horse is excited to move his 

 station from one place to another, he performs 

 it with a velocity proportionate to the exciting 

 cause. Thus, he changes from the walk to 

 the trot, and from the trot to the gallop, ac- 

 rop.ling to his inclination. In each of these 

 changes he acquires an addition of speed; but, 

 as the trot is equal in speed to the canter, he 

 seldom adopts the canter, but changes to the 

 gallop, when he wishes to accelerate his mo- 

 tion. The horse is taught to perform the canter 

 by shortening the gallop. The canter is to the 

 gallop very much what the walk is to the trot, 

 though probably a more artificial pace. The 

 exertion is much less, the spring less distant, 

 and the feet come to the ground in more regu- 

 lar succession: it is a- pace of ease, quite in- 

 consistent with any exertion of draught. (Lib. 

 nc., The Horse, p. 413.) Some persons, 

 and among them Nimrod, do not consider this 



pace injurious to horses. "A canter," he ob- 

 serves, " is much more easy, as well as safer 

 to the rider, than a trot: the horse having his 

 haunches more under him in the canter than 

 when he trots, is hereby more likely to recover 

 himself in case of making a mistake, which 

 the best is sometimes subject to. Fast trotting 

 also distresses a horse more than cantering, 

 because, in the one, he is going at the top of 

 his speed, and in the other much below it." 

 (Elaine's Ency. of Rural Sports, p. 297.) 



CAPERS. The caper is a small prickly 

 Mr. Knight well observed of this quackery shrub, cultivated in Spain, Italy, and the south- 

 (for which Forsyth was rewarded with a grant | ern provinces of France. The flowers are 

 of money), that " it afforded a much better j large roses of a pretty appearance, but the 

 proof that he was paid for a discovery than i flower-buds alone are the objects of this culti- 

 that he made one." (G. W.Johnson; Quar. i vation. 



Joum. o/^orr.vol. viii. p. 470; J. Pearson, riirf. | They are plucked before they open, and 



vol. ii. p. 379; A. Druminond, On the Canker in \ thrown into strong vinegar slightly salted, 



the Larch, ibid p. 2:51.) j where they are pickled. The crop of each 



Canker in horses is a separation of the horn ! day is added to the same vinegar tub, so that, 



from the sensible part of the foot, and the in the course of the six months during which 



sprouting of fungous matter instead of it, and i the caper shrub flowers, the vessel gets filled, 



occupying a portion of, or even the whole of. and is sold to persons who sort the capers (the 



the sole^and frog. (The Horse, p. 308, Lib. of smallest being most valued) by means of cop- 



U Knowledge.) The whole secret of the per sieves. This metal is attacked by the acid, 



atment of canker consists in the use of su- wherefrom the fruit acquires a green colour, 



perficial caustics or stimulants, pressure as much admired' by ignorant connoisseurs. 



33 y T 2 257 



