DAISY. 



DANGEROUS ANIMALS. 



dairy in Professor Low's Breeds of British Ani- 

 mals, a beautifully illustrated work, which 

 should be patronised by all the Farmer's Clubs, 

 as well as by those agriculturists to whom its 

 price is not an object. The following authori- 

 ties may also be consulted with advantage: 

 " On the Meadows and Dairies of Holland." 

 (Tniiia. Hiifh. Soc. vol. i. p. 202) ; "Reports up- 

 on Dairy Management," (Ibid.) p. 341 ; vol. ii. 

 p. 254; vol. iv. p. 406); Mr. Aiton "On the 

 Making of Butter and Cheese in the Dairy Dis- 

 trict of Scotland," (Quart. Journ. ofJlgr. vol. v. 

 p. 350, and Com. to Board of jjgr. vol. iv. pp. 

 21 1-337) ; also the article " Dairy" in vol. viii. 

 of the Pr/nty Cyr. in Baxter's Lib. afdgr. Knoic., 

 and in vol. iii. of British Husbandry, Lib. of Use. 

 Kiif'if.) 



DAISY, COMMON, or DAY'S EYE (Belli* 

 peraims). These large white vwAy-)ooking 

 flowers are so universal in English pastures 

 and meadows, that description is almost need- 

 less. They flower all the year, principally dot- 

 ting the meadows early in May; in March they 

 begin to be common, and after Midsummer to 

 be less numerous. The root is slender, and 

 the plant flowers from March to September. 

 Double as well as proliferous daisies are com- 

 mon in gardens, and the proliferous variety is 

 now and then found wild. Domestic cattle 

 scarcely touch this plant. Notwithstanding 

 its beauty and its celebration by poets, the 

 daisy is thought a blemish or intruder in neat 

 grass-plats, and can be overcome by perpetual 

 stubbing only. (Eng. Flor. vol. iii. p. 448.) 

 The most common daisies in the United States 

 are that called Flea-bane, and by botanists Eri- 

 gcnm strigiosugi, and the Horse-u-eed or 

 weed (Erigeron Canadensis). This last has an 

 annual root, the stem growing from six inches 

 to five or six feet in height, very hairy and 

 much branched above. The flowers are white, 

 and disposed in rays. In the Middle States it 

 is a common weed in fields and on roadsides, 

 flowering in Autrust and September. 



The daisy called Flea-bane has a biennial 

 root, as some botanists believe, and is common 

 in pastures and upland meadows, flowering in 

 June and August.' The flower consists of white 

 rays. It is a very common and worthless weed, 

 especially in the first crop of upland meadows 

 after a course of grain crops. (Flor. Cest.) 



Another species of daisy called the Handsome 

 Erigenm (E. pub-hellus}, is common on the bor- 

 ders of woods and thickets, where rt flowers in 

 the Middle States in May and June. Its root is 

 perennial, and the whole plant is somewhat 

 hoary. The rays composing the flowers, which 

 are large, are of a pale bluish purple. 



Some ten or twelve additional species of eri- 

 geron have been found in the United States. 

 (Flor. Cetst. : Nutt all's Genera.) 



DAISY, MOON, or MIDSUMMER DAISY 

 (Chrysanthemum leucanthemiim). The Ox-eye 

 Daisy, or whil e-floicered chrysanthemum (PI. 10, w), 

 is a vile weed introduced into the United States 

 from Europe. In many parts of the country it 

 is spread wide and far, constituting a serious 

 nuisance. 



DAM. The mother of any young domestic 

 animal. Also a mole or bank to confine water. 



See E.MBAJfKMEXT. 



I DAMSON. A small, useful, black plum, 

 brought originally from Damascus, whence the 



name. 



DANDELION, COMMON (Leontodon taraxa- 

 cum). A corruption of the French name dent 

 de Icon, or lion's tooth. An indigenous, peren- 

 nial plant, growing in meadows and pastures, 

 on roadsides, ditch banks, and indeed every- 

 where. Root tap-shaped, very milky, exter- 

 nally black, difficult of extirpation ; leaves nu- 

 merous, spreading, of a bright shining green, 

 quite smooth, and they may be called lion- 

 toothed ; flowers one and a half inches wide, 

 of a uniform yellow colour, which blow from 

 April to August, and have the remarkable pro- 

 perty of expanding early in the morning in fine 

 weather only, and closing in the evening. (Eng. 

 Flora, vol. iii. p. 349.) It is a valuable medi- 

 cine, is aperient, powerfully diuretic, and alte- 

 rative in its qualities, and, if persevered in, is 

 excellent in liver complaints ; it must be taken 

 in decoction, or in the form of extract. Its de- 

 obstruent influence in torpid conditions of the 

 liver is striking; but its use must be persisted 

 in for a considerable length of time. It should 

 now and then be omitted tor a few days, as it 

 is apt to derange the stomach. 



By culture, and especially by blanching, this 

 herb, though, like the garden lettuce and en- 

 dive, originally full of bitter milk, becomes 

 sufficiently mild to be eaten in a salad, nor is 

 its bitterness of a disagreeable kind. In France 

 the roots and leaves are eaten with bread and 

 butter. The marsh dandelion (L. i>alustris), is 

 a distinct species, smaller in size than the fore- 

 going, and naturally a bog plant, growing in 

 low boggy meadows. Dandelion is relished 1 by 

 goats, and especially by hogs', who devour it 

 eagerly; but sheep and cows dislike it, and 

 horses tolallv refuse it. ( WilliclCs Dam. Km i/<-.) 

 DANDELION HAWKBIT (Jpargia tarax- 

 ari). See HAWKBIT. 



1) \.\DRIFF. A species of scurf which is 

 brushed out in grooming the horse, and con- 

 sists of scales or portions of the cuticle, or 

 scarf skin, detached in its gradual change or 

 renewal. 



DANE-WORT, or DWARF ELDER WALL- 

 WORT (Samburvs ebukis). The green leaves of 

 this European plant have a narcotic smell, and 

 are said to expel mice from granaries; nor will 

 moles come where these leaves or those of the 

 common elder are laid. Cattle will not eat the 

 foliage. Its berries impart a violet colour, and 

 their juice, mixed with vinegar, dyes raw linen, 



j as well as morocco leather, of an azure blue. 



1 (Eng. Flora, vol. ii. p. 108 ; WHIM Encyr.) 

 This perennial plant is frequently mistaken for 

 the common elder. It grows four or five feet 

 high, and dies away every autumn to the 

 ground. The stalks are green and round, very 

 like the shoots of common elder ; but having 



I no woody part about the plant, they rise green 

 from the ground. The leaves are longer than 

 common elder leaves, and they are serrated 

 round their edges. The flowers are small and 

 white, succeeded by black berries, which the 

 birds rarely suffer to ripen. It loves untilled 

 ground, hedgeways, &c., flowering in summer, 



j and ripening its berries in autumn. 



DANGEROUS ANIMALS. See NFISAXCE. 



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