COTTAGE-CHEESE. 



tion of a cottage, a few layers of brick are ne- 

 cessary, to prevent the lumps from contracting 

 a damp from the earth. The fireplace is lined 

 and the oven is built with bricks. I have 

 known cottagers, where they could get the 

 grant of a piece of ground to build on for them- 

 selves, erect a cottage of this description at a 

 cost from 15 to 30. I examined one that 

 was nearly completed, of a superior order: it 

 contained two good lower rooms and a cham- 

 ber, and was neatly thatched with straw. It is 

 a warm, firm, and comfortable building, far su- 

 perior to the one I live in ; and my opinion is, 

 that it will last for centuries. The lumps are 

 laid with mortar, they are then plastered, and 

 on the outside once roughcast, which is done 

 by throwing a mixture of water, lime, and 

 small stones, against the walls, before the 

 plaster is dry, which gives them a very hand- 

 some appearance. The cottage I examined, 

 cost 33, and took nearly one thousand lumps 

 to complete it. A labourer will make that 

 number in two days. The roofs of cottages 

 of this description are precisely the same as 

 when built with bricks or with a wooden frame. 

 Cow-house sheds, garden walls, and partition 

 fence, are formed with the same materials ; but 

 in all cases the tops are covered with straw, 

 which the thatchers perform in a very neat 

 manner.' " (Demon's Peasant's Voice, p. 31.) 



COTTAGE-CHEESE. See WHET BUTTER. 



COTTON-GRASS (Eriophorum. Ital. co- 

 tone; Fr. colon). A perennial native genus of 

 grasses, comprising seven species, which have 

 no particular merit to warrant their recom- 

 mendation for the purpose of the agriculturist ; 

 their productive and nutritive powers being 

 very inferior. Sinclair gives us the result of 

 his experiments on two sorts, the common long- 

 leaved cotton-grass (E. angusti folium), and the 

 hare's-tail, or sheathed cotton-grass (E. vagi- 

 natum.} 



COTTON PLANT. See GOSSYPIUM. 



COTTON TREE (Populus argentea). See 

 POPLAR. 



COTTON-WOOD (Populus Canadensis). See 

 POPLAR. 



COTTON,*WILD (Asdepias Syriaca), popu- 

 larly called silk^weed and swallow^wort. An Ame- 

 rican plant growing in low grounds and on 

 road-sides, to "the height of three or four feet. 

 (Flora Cestrica.) 



COTYLEDON. The seed leaf. See BOTANY. 



COUCH, or CREEPING WHEAT GRASS 

 (Triticum repcns, PI. 10, t.) Named from the 

 French coucher, to lie down. Sometimes called 

 dog-grass and knot-grass. Until of late years, 

 when botanical science has afforded us better 

 information,' it was generally supposed that 

 all couch or twitch was the roots of one spe- 

 cies of grass. But many persons observed that 

 some of these roots, on wet soils, were black 

 and much smaller, and they had locally ob- 

 tained the name of black twitch. This, on soils 

 where it prevails, is much worse than the other, 

 because it is wiry an'd small, and not so easily 

 discharged from the soil ; it is also more brittle, 

 and by harrowing breaks short. This is the 

 Jlifostis repens. There are two other grasses 

 which have strong creeping roots, and are in- 

 differently called couch : these are the creep- 

 360 



COW-BANE, SPOTTED. 



ing-rooted soft grass (Holcus mollis), and the 

 smooth-stalked meadow grass (Poa pratrnsis'). 

 There is but one way of destroying couch, and 

 that is by ploughing up the soil and pulverizing 

 it. (Sinclair's Weeds, p. 27.) See AGROSTIS RE- 

 PENS. Couch or quitch grass, or creeping triti- 

 cum, is a troublesome perennial, fortunately but 

 little known in the United States. Dr. Darling- 

 ton has only been able to find it in one place, 

 the Weston school farm, in Chester county, 

 Pennsylvania. (See Flora Cestrica.) 



COUGH (Goth, kueff, a catarrh ; kof, suffo- 

 cation; Dutch, kuch). in farriery, a convulsive 

 motion of the lungs, being an effort of nature 

 to throw up some offending matter from 

 the air tubes. This is best treated, in mild 

 cases, by cold bran mashes with linseed. But 

 coughs arise from so many different causes 

 that it is impossible to prescribe any general 

 remedy. 



COULTER OF A PLOUGH. See PLOUGH. 



COUNTER. In horsemanship, the breast 

 of a horse, or that part of his fore-hand which 

 lies between the shoulders and under the 

 neck. 



COUPLES. A term applied to ewes and 

 lambs. Couple is also a chain or 'tie that 

 holds dogs together. 



COUPLINGS, or CUPLINGS. Thongs of 

 untanned leather, or other material, which are 

 used to connect the handle or handstaff and 

 swiple of a flail. 



COVER, or COVERT (Fr. couvrir). A term 

 applied to a place sheltered, not open or ex- 

 posed. In sportsman's phrase, the cover is the 

 chosen resort of the fox for kennelling; and 

 such as lie high and dry are seldom without 

 one or more, particularly if the underwood be 

 thick and plenty. Artificial covers are often 

 formed of broom and gorse, intermixed. 

 (Elaine's Rural Sports, p. 452.) 



COVEY (Fr. couve'e, from the Lat. cubo). 

 Provincially applied to a cover of furze, &c., 

 for game. It is also applied to an old bird 

 with her young ones, but is generally used to 

 designate a number of partridges or other 

 game. 



COW (Sax. cu; Dutch, koe Pers. gow). 

 See CATTLE. 



COW-BANE, WATER, oi' WATER HEM- 

 LOCK (Cicuta virosa). A perennial, fetid, poi- 

 sonous aquatic herb, found in ditches, and 

 about the margins of rivers, not very common. 

 Root tuberous, hollow. Stems two or three 

 feet high, hollow, leafy, branched, furrowed. 

 Leaves bright green, tapering at each end, 

 from one to two inches long. Umbels large, 

 bearing purplish flowers ; fruit roundish, 

 smooth. This is a fatal plant to cattle, if 

 they happen to meet with it before it rises out 

 of the water, in which state only they will eat 

 the young leaves. (Eng. Flor. vol. ii. p. 62). 



COW-BANE, SPOTTED (CiaUa maculata). 

 Water hemlock, a perennial root frequently 

 found in low grounds and the margins of 

 streams in Pennsylvania and other Middle 

 States. The mature fruit of this plant is 

 highly aromatic, the odour something be- 

 tween that of aniseed and the kernels of the 

 black walnut. Thereof is an active poison; 

 and numerous lives have been lost, for want 



