FLOWER DE LUCE. 



FLY IN TURNIPS. 



however, vary according to the quality of the 

 grain; some will produce more or less bran, 

 as the husk may be more or less thick ; and 

 the bakers admit they can make two or three 

 more quartern loaves than the usual quantity 

 from one sack of flour, when it is the genuine 

 produce of good wheat. Thus it was found 

 upon a comparative trial between English and 

 Scotch wheat, of apparently equal quality, that 

 there was a difference in favour of the former 

 of no less than 13 Ibs. of bread upon 2$ cwts. 

 of flour. (IVillich't Dom. Ency.; Brit. Husb. 

 vol. ii.pp. 137, 155.) 



FLOWER DE LUCE, or LIS. FLAG. See 

 IRIS. 



FLOWERING ASH (Scopo/i). All the spe- 

 cies of the genus scopoli are ornamental and 

 useful ; they are easily cultivated, and may be 

 raised from seeds, like the common ash, or 

 they may be increased by budding or grafting 

 on the common ash. 



FLOWERING RUSH, COMMON (Butomu* 

 vmliellntus). This beautiful aquatic plant is in 

 England a native of ponds, ditches, and the 

 margins of rivers on a gravelly soil. It flowers 

 in July and August. The leaves are narrow, 

 acute, nearly a yard long. The stalk is still 

 taller, round, and very smooth, and bears a large 

 bracteated umbel of handsome rose-coloured 

 flowers, each about an inch broad, without 

 scent. This rush may be increased with little 

 difficulty. The leaves of this plant are said to 

 cause the mouths of cattle to bleed that crop 

 it; hence the name, from bous, ox, and temnn, to 

 cut. It was some years since much celebrated 

 in Russia as a remedy for hydrophobia ; but 

 like all specifics, its fame was destroyed by 

 excess of praise. It has no influence in curing 

 that disease. 



FLOWERS. The most beautiful parts of 

 plants and trees, which contain the organs of 

 fructification. (See BOTANT.) From their 

 frequent utility as medicinal drugs, as well as 

 their external beauty, the cultivation of flowers 

 in our gardens becomes an object of some im- 

 portance. Flowers are many of them excel- 

 lent indicators of the approaching weather by 

 expansion or closing, and other motions. It is 

 an established fact, that flowers as well as 

 fruits grow larger in the shade, and ripen and 

 decay soonest when exposed to the sun. The 

 immediate cause of the various colours pre- 

 sented by some flowers, such as poppies, has 

 not hitherto been distinctly ascertained. Co- 

 louring matter is contained in almost every 

 flower and root of vegetables, and may be 

 extracted by a very simple process. Flowers 

 which are to be used or preserved for medi- 

 cinal purposes should, with a few exceptions, 

 be gathered in full bloom, and dried as speed- 

 ily as possible. The rose, Rosa Gallica, is 

 gathered before it is fully blown. In drying 

 flowers, the calyces, claws, &c. should be pre- 

 viously taken off: when the flowers are very 

 small, the calyx is left, or even the whole 

 flowering spike, as in the greatest portion of 

 the labiate flowers. In some instances, as in 

 the baulistines, or pomegranate flower, the active 

 matter resides chiefly in the calyx. Compound 

 flowers with pappous seeds, as colt's-foot, ought 

 to be dried very high, and before they are ea- 

 62 



tirely open, otherwise the slight moisture that 

 remains would develope the pappus, and form 

 a kind of cottony nap, which would be very 

 hurtful in infusions, by leaving irritating par- 

 ticles in the throat. Flowers of little or no 

 smell may be dried in a heat of 75 to 100 

 Fahr. The succulent petals of the liliaceous 

 plants, whose odour is very fugacious, cannot 

 well be dried, as their mucilaginous substance 

 rots and grows black. Several sorts of flower- 

 ing tops, as those of lesser centaury, worm- 

 wood, melilot, water germander, &c., are tied 

 in small parcels, and hung up, or else exposed 

 to the sun, wrapped in paper cornets, that they 

 may not be discoloured. After some time, blue 

 flowers, as those of violets, bugloss, or borage, 

 grow yellow, and even become entirely disco- 

 loured, especially if they are kept in glass 

 vessels that admit the light : if, however, they 

 are dipped for a moment in boiling water, 

 and slightly pressed before they are put into 

 the drying stove, the blue colour is rendered 

 permanent. (Gray'* Sup. to Phurmacop.') It 

 is probable that varieties in the colours 

 of single flowers raised from seeds may be 

 generally obtained by sowing those which 

 already possess different shades contiguous to 

 others of the same species ; or by bending the 

 flowers of one colour, and shaking the anther- 

 dust over those of another. The origin of 

 double flowers is believed to result from the 

 luxuriant growth of the plant, in consequence 

 of excessive nourishment, moisture, and 

 warmth ; they arise from the increase of some 

 parts of the flower, and the consequent exclu- 

 sion of others : thus the stamens are often 

 converted into petals. Botanists very pro- 

 perly term such multiplied flowers vegetable 

 monsters, because they possess no stamens or 

 pistils, and therefore cannot produce seeds. 

 There subsists (says Dr. Darwin) a curious 

 analogy between these vegetable monsters and 

 those of the animal world ; for a duplicature 

 of limbs frequently attend the latter, as chickens 

 and turkeys with four legs and four wings, 

 and calves with two heads, &c. The science 

 of floriculture, or the culture, propagation, and 

 general management of plants, divides itself 

 into five sections, viz. 1. Stove plants; 2. 

 Greenhouse plants ; 3. Hardy trees and shrubs ; 

 4. Hardy herbaceous plants ; 5. Annuals and 

 biennials. 



FLUKE WORM (Distoma hepaticum ; Fas- 

 ciola hepatica, Linn.). A small flat entozoon or 

 worm, about an inch long, which infests the 

 ducts of the liver and gall-bladder of different 

 animals, especially sheep. In those that have 

 died of the rot, it is generally found fixed by 

 two points, one at one extremity, and the other 

 about the middle of the abdomen of the worm; 

 it bears some resemblance to the seed of the 

 common gourd, and thence is often called the 

 gourd-worm. See SHEEP, DISEASES OF. 



FLY IN SHEEP. See SHEEP, DISEASES OF. 

 FLY IN TURNIPS (Mica nemorum). A 

 species of flea-beetle, which in England attacks 

 the turnip crop in the cotyledon, or seed leaf, 

 as soon as it appears : it is sometimes called 

 the black jack, and sometimes the flea, or 

 black fly. All the species are among the 

 smallest insects; several are scarcely a line 



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