COW-CLAGS. 



CRAB TREE. 



of sufficient botanical knowledge to distinguish 

 the plant from the oxmorhiza or sweet cicely. 

 The herb is also destructive to cattle, when 

 eaten by them. There is one other species in 

 the United States. (Flor. Cestric.) 



COW-CLAGS. A provincial name for the 

 clotted lumps of dirt that hang to the buttocks 

 of cattle and other animals. 



COW-HERD. A person whose office it is 

 to attend upon the herds of cows in places 

 where they run in common fields. 



COW-HOUSE. See CATTLE SHED. 



COWISH. A new species of plant, called 

 biscuit-root, found growing on dry land in the 

 valley of the Columbia river. Its size is about 

 that of a walnut, though sometimes larger. Its 

 taste resembles that of the sweet potato, and it 

 is prepared for food by the same process as 

 the carnrnas, in which state it forms a tolerable 

 substitute for bread. 



COW-KEEPING. The business of keeping 

 cows for the advantage of the milk, by dispos- 

 ing of it in large towns. The principal cow- 

 keepers of the British metropolis have their 

 establishments in the suburbs, where they are 

 connected with pasture fields, in which their 

 animals are turned out a portion of every day 

 throughout the year, when practicable. The 

 cows are fed in the house with grains, mangel- 

 wurzel, hay, tares, &c., and as the animals get 

 air and exercise, the milk may be considered 

 wholesome. But there are other cow-keepers 

 in the metropolis, who confine their cows in 

 back houses, and even dark cellars, and while 

 they feed them with rich food, give them no 

 exercise ; hence, the milk of such cows can- 

 not be considered wholesome. (Harleian 

 Dairy System : I'rit. Hush.) See CATTLE. 



COW PARSNIP, or HOG WEED (Hera- 

 cleum sjihn.nhjhum}. A biennial pasture weed, 

 which in England is found in hedges, the bor- 

 ders of fields, and rather moist meadows, very 

 common. Root tap-shaped, whitish, aromatic, 

 sweetish, and rather mucilaginous. Stem four 

 to six feet high, erect, branched, leafy, fur- 

 rowed, and hollow. The leaves proceed from 

 a large membrane or sheath. The flowers, 

 which grow in large umbels, are either white 

 or reddish ; the fruit is abundant, and light 

 brown. The whole plant is wholesome and 

 nourishing food for cattle, and is gathered in 

 Sussex for fattening hogs, hence its name of 

 hog-weed. It is also frequently known by the 

 name of wild parsnip, meadow parsnip, and 

 madrep. (Sinclair's Weeds, p. 65 ; Eng. Flora, 

 vol. ii. p. 102.) 



The only ascertained species of this genus 

 found in the United States is the Heracleum la- 

 natam, or woolly cow parsnip, a perennial root, 

 the stem of which sometimes grows six or 

 eight feet high. It is frequent in low grounds 

 in Pennsylvania. See Flor. Cest. 



COW PEA. A kind of pea much culti- 

 vated in the Southern States as a field crop, 

 and substitute for clover. See PEAS. 



COW-POX. In farriery, is a disease affect- 

 ing the teats of cows. This disease appears 

 in the form of small bluish vesicles surrounded 

 by inflammation, elevated at the edge and de- 

 pressed in the centre, and containing a limpid 

 fluid. By the use of the virus of this disease, 

 46 



has originated the present excellent system of 

 vaccination. 



COWSLIP, AMERICAN (Dodecatheon 

 Meadia). A hardy perennial from South Ame- 

 rica, loving shade and moisture. It blows in 

 April and May. Propagated by seed and off- 

 sets. Sow the seed in pots in autumn. Plant 

 out the following autumn. 



COWSLIP, THE COMMON, or PAIGLE 

 (Primula verts). A native English perennial 

 weed, growing in mea'lows and pastures, 

 chiefly on a clay or chalky soil. It produces 

 sweet-scented yellow flowers, which appear in 

 April, and are used for making cowslip wine 

 or balsamic tea. Its roots have a fine odour, 

 similar to that of anise, and give additional 

 strength to ale or beer, when immersed in the 

 cask. The leaves and flowers are excellent 

 food for silk-worms, and are eaten eagerly by 

 cattle. The leaves are also used as a pot- 

 herb, and in salads. 



The flowers, leaves, and roots are all medi- 

 cinal portions of the cowslip, and are made 

 into tea, wine, and conserve. It is anodyne in 

 its quality, and the ancient writers upon herbs 

 speak highly of its effects; but their opinions 

 have lost their value by time. (Eng. Flora, 

 vol. i. p. 271 ; Willich's Dom. Encyc.) 



COWSLIP OF JERUSALEM, or LUNG- 

 WORT PULMONARIA (Pulmonaria iffici- 

 nalis). This plant is perennial and flowers in 

 May. It grows eight or ten inches high, with 

 long, broad, hairy leaves, of a deep green, 

 spotted on the upper side with white spots. 

 The stalks are slender and hairy, with small 

 leaves upon them. The flowers are reddish 

 in the bud but blue when blown, small, grow- 

 ing in clusters at the top of its stalk. The 

 root is fibrous. The leaves have been used 

 medicinally, from the idea that they resemble 

 the lungs, and therefore must be useful in dis- 

 ease of those organs. They are inert, and 

 consequently useless. Several species of 

 lungwort are found indigenous to the United 

 States. 



COW-TIE. A provincial term applied to a 

 short thick hair rope, with a wooden nut at 

 one end and an eye in the other, being used 

 for tying the hind legs of the cows while 

 milking. 



COW- WHEAT (Melampyrum pratensc}. PI. 

 7, q. A plant cultivated in Flanders for feeding 

 stock. 



There are some species of this plant found 

 in the United States. One has been called by 

 botanists American melampyrum. This is found 

 in dry, hilly woodlands, and on mica-slate hills, 

 where it flowers in June and July. A narrow- 

 leaved variety is abundant in the pines of New 

 Jersey. (Flora Cestrica.) 



CRAB TREE, or WILD APPLE TREE 

 (Pyrus malus). There are in England several 

 varieties among the wild crabs, some of which 

 are of excellent flavour when baked with plenty 

 of sugar, even surpassing cultivated apples. 

 (Eng. Flora, vol. ii. p. 362.) Crab apples and 

 sloes are the only fruits naturally belonging to 

 the soil, and both are medicinal. The ex- 

 pressed juice of any of them, called verjuice, 

 kept by good housewives in the country, being 

 excellent as an astringent gargle in sore throats, 

 2H 361 



