CORD-WOOD. 



CORN, BROOM-. 



Spartina are found in the United States, chiefly 

 confined to the salt water districts along the 

 sea coast. 



CORD-WOOD. Small pieces of wood bro- 

 ken up for fuel. It also signifies top-wood, 

 roots, &c., cut up and set in cords ; so deno- 

 minated from its being formerly measured 

 with a cord. A statute cord of wood should 

 be ei^ht feet long, four feet high, and four 

 feet broad. 



COREOPSIS, EAR-LEAVED, (Coreopsis au- 

 rin>lnt<i). A hardy perennial, a native of North 

 America. It grows three or four feet high, and 

 its yellow flowers bloom in August. The Co- 

 I'djihimfi'lia is also a native of North 

 America, growing about eighteen inches high, 

 with yellow flowers. Blooms from July to 

 October. Divide the roots, and plant it in open 

 situations, 



CORIANDER, (Corianrtrum satirum. From 

 K^K, a bug; the fresh leaves, when bruised, 

 emitting an odour very similar to that of this 

 vermin). Coriander thrives best in a mode- 

 rately rich but sandy loam: excessive moisture 

 is equally inimical to it as the want of a regu- 

 lar supply. It must have an open and rather 

 sheltered situation. It is propagated by seed, 

 which, if it is required early, must be sown 

 during February, in a warm border or mode- 

 rate hotbed, in either situation with the protec- 

 tion of a frame. This may be repeated at the 

 close of March. Afterwards small crops may 

 be successionally inserted every month in an 

 open bed or border until September, in which 

 month, and October, if required for winter's 

 supply, final crops must be sown under a 

 frame, as in February. The summer sowings 

 should always be of small extent, as the plants 

 at that season are very apt to run. 



The sowings are generally performed in 

 drills eight inches apart, and half an inch 

 deep ; the plants to remain where sown. The 

 only cultivation required is to thin them to four 

 inches' distance and to have them kept clear 

 of weeds throughout their growth. For the 

 production of seed, some plants of the early 

 spring sowings must be left ungathered from, 

 at about eight inches apart each wnv , they 

 will perfect their seed in early autumn, being 

 in flower during June. (G. W. Johnson's 

 Kin-hen Garden.) 



CORK OAK (Quernu 6r). The tree pro- 

 ducing the thick, light, and soft bark, out of 

 which corks are made, is a species of oak 

 found in the 'southern parts of Europe, in 

 Spain, France, and Italy. Both public and 

 private interest, says Michaux, requires the in- 

 habitants of the southern coast of the United 

 States, and especially of the neighbouring 

 islands, to introduce and rear the cork oak, in 

 places unfit for the culture of cotton. It should 

 also, he thinks, be introduced into West Ten- 

 nessee, and with the more reason as the vine 

 is there cultivated successfully. It will grow 

 wherever the live oak is found. 



In size this oak seldom grows higher than 

 forty feet, with a diameter of three feet Its 

 leaves are evergreen, but the greater part of 

 them fall and are renewed in the spring. The 

 acorns are large and oval, of a sweetish taste, 

 and p;".ri" devoured by swine. The wood is 



hard, compact and heavy, but not so durable as 

 that of some other kinds of oak. The bark be- 

 gins to be taken off at the age of twenty-five 

 years, the first grow th being of little value. It 

 is not, however, till the tree is forty-five or fifty 

 years old, that the bark possesses all the quali- 

 ties requisite for good corks, and from that pe- 

 riod it is collected ever}' eight or ten years. 

 The length of time which thus elapses between 

 planting and reaping compensation renders it 

 very improbable that the cork oak will ever 

 be extensively introduced by individual enter- 

 prise, into those parts of the United States 

 where it would thrive. Nothing short of go- 

 vernment patronage could effect the object re- 

 commended by Michaux. The consumption 

 of corks is exceedingly great; in France alone 

 it amounts annually to 125 or 150,000,000. 



CORN. A term which in Europe is applied 

 alike to wheat, barley, and the other small 

 grains, whilst in the United States it is used 

 almost exclusively to designate Indian corn or 

 maize. 



'CORN BINDWEED. Se'e BIJTHWKF.D. 



CORN, BH( )( >M-. The following account of 

 the broom-corn, its culture and uses, is the 

 substance of a communication made by Mr. 

 William Allen of Northampton, Massachusetts, 

 t. Mr. II. L. Kllsu-orth, Commissioner of Pa- 

 tents. 



Of the genus $arghwn (broom-grass) there 

 are four or five sp . 'nun ^uf-hnratiim 



is the broom-corn, abundantly cultivated in 

 this country, both for the seed and for its large 

 panicles, which are made into the brooms. 

 The whole plant is saccharine. Attempts have 

 been made in France to extract sugar from it, 

 but with little success. 



The other species are the following: Sorg- 

 hum ihra (or holcus dora), common Indian 

 millet, a native of the East Indies, but culti- 

 vated in the south of Europe; S. tricolor, or two- 

 coloured Indian millet; S. cnffrnrum, c a fires 

 Indian millet, and S. nigrum, coal-black Indian 

 millet. 



Of the sorghum sacrkaratifm (or fmli-nn sm-rha- 

 ra/wj), broom-corn there are several varieties 

 in Hampshire county, Massachusetts, 

 in the valley of the Connecticut river, princi- 

 pally in the broad meadows of Northampton, 

 Hadley, and Hatfield. The pine tree kind is 

 regarded as the poorest kind, or the least advan- 

 -us for cultivation ; yet, as it is the earliest 

 (being three weeks earlier than the large kind), 

 in a short season, when its seed will ripen, 

 while the seeds of the other kind fail to ripen, 

 this may prove the most profitable crop. The 

 j North river crop is ordinarily the best crop; it 

 is ten days earlier than the large kind, and 

 yields about 720 Ibs. of the brush per acre 

 the brush meaning the dried panicles, cleaned 

 of the seed, with eight or twelve- inches of the 

 stalk. The New Jersey, or large kind, yields 

 a thousand or eleven hundred pounds of brush 

 per acre. The stalks and seed are large. In 

 good seasons, this is the most profitable crop. 

 But in the present season (1842), owing to an 

 early frost (about September 23), much of the 

 seed of this kind will fail to ripen. There is 

 also the shirley, or black brush. Soil rich, 

 alluvial lands are best adapted for the broom- 



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