GREASE. 



GREEN MANURES. 



a cranny, instead of entering at the door alone, 

 and blowing upon the heels. On the first ap- 

 pearance of grease, the heels should be well 

 washed with soap and water, and an ointment 

 of sugar of lead and lard applied. In the more 

 advanced stage, when cracks begin to appear, 

 if they are but slight, a lotion of blue vitriol 

 (sulphate of copper), alum, and water will suf- 

 fice to dry and close them up; but if they are 

 deep, with an ichorous discharge, and the lame- 

 ness considerable, it will be necessary to poul- 

 tice the heel with linseed meal, or carrots boiled 

 soft and mashed. When the inflammation and 

 pain have subsided, the cracks may be dressed 

 with an ointment composed of resin, 1 part, 

 lard, 3 parts, melted together, and 1 part of ca- 

 lamine afterwards added. (The Horse, p. 277.) 



GREASE, for wheels and machinery. M. D'Ar- 

 cet, the celebrated French chemist and Master 

 of the Mint, recommends the following as the 

 best grease for wheels and machinery; viz., 80 

 parts of grease and 20 parts of plumbago (black 

 lead), reduced to very fine powder, and most 

 intimately and completely mixed together. A 

 very small quantity suffices. (Journ. des Con. 

 Usuelles et Prat. vol. ii. p. 237.) 



GREEN CROPS. Crops, in England, which 

 are consumed on the farm in their unripe state. 

 (See CABBAGES, TARES, TURNIPS, CARROTS, 

 ROTATION OF CROPS, &c.) One of the many 

 great improvements in modern farming, has 

 been the general introduction of green crops, a 

 practice which I think will yet be materially 

 extended; and to this end, for the heavy land 

 farmers, the use of the white or Belgian carrot 

 promises to be very serviceable. Green crops 

 are either fed off, soiled, or ploughed in for 

 manure. (See GREEN MANURES.) When fed 

 off, the fertilizing effects of the sheep pastured 

 upon them are very materially promoted by the 

 addition to their food of oil-cake or of corn, 

 and, as a condiment, common salt. See CLOVER. 



GREEN FALLOW. Such land as is ren- 

 dered clean by means of green crops, without 

 having recourse to naked fallowing. It is a 

 great improvement in modern farming. See 

 FALLOWING. 



GREEN FOOD. Such food as is made use 

 of in its green, succulent state, in the feeding 

 and support of different sorts of live-stock. 

 This kind of food has lately been much more 

 extensively employed than formerly; but its 

 advantages are not, probably, yet so fully un- 

 derstood by farmers in general as they ought 

 A few trials will, however, show their. import- 

 ance and great utility, when properly made. 

 See SOILING. 



GREEN GRASS (Poa viridis, Poa annua}. 

 A native of the United States, and especially 

 of the Middle and Northern States, where it 

 grows in all meadows and rich soils. PL 6. e. 



Dr. Muhlenburg says it is not described by 

 Linnaeus, though nearly allied to his^oa angus- 

 tifolia. It ma"y be easily known by the follow- 

 ing description : " Culm (or haulm) erect and 

 round (columnar), panicle diffuse, spicules 

 five-flowered and hairy at their base." Cattle 

 are very fond of this grass, if cut when the 

 blossom opens. It produces less than the 

 Jlvena elatiar, or tall meadow-oats, but horses 

 prefer it. It continues green until even 



after frost, and when all other herbage is 

 destroyed ; and, if manured, will continue for- 

 ever. The fine grazing-farm of Mr. William 

 West, of Upper Darby, Delaware county, Pa., 

 consists entirely of this grass. Mr. West finds 

 it necessary to sow clover thinly on the green 

 grass sod every three or four years, to correct 

 a slight tendency which green grass has to 

 bind the soil. When the green grass appears 

 upon meadows made by banking out rivers, 

 care must be taken to secure a supply of water; 

 otherwise, according to Mr. J. Cooper, the ends 

 of the seeds will become affected with a black 

 spear, about one-fourth or one-half an inch in 

 length, similar to the smut on rye, and cause a 

 loss of the hoofs of cattle that eat the grass. 

 (Deane's N. E. Farmer.} 



GREEN-HOUSE. In gardening, a house 

 with a roof and one or more sides of glass, for 

 the purpose of containing plants in pots which 

 are too tender to endure the open air the greater 

 part of the year. The green-house, being a 

 structure of luxury, ought to be for the most 

 part situated near the house, in order to be en- 

 joyed by the famiry in inclement weather; and, 

 if possible, it should be connected with the 

 flower-garden, as being of the same character, 

 with reference to use. Its length and breadth 

 may be varied at pleasure, but its height should 

 never be less than that of the loftiest apartment 

 of the house to which it belongs. The best 

 aspect is to the south or south-east ; but any 

 aspect may be chosen, provided the roof is en- 

 tirely of glass, and abundant heat is supplied 

 by art. Of late years, green-house roofs have 

 been made of either cast iron or of zinc, and 

 sometimes in the form of a dome. Both metals 

 are preferable to wood. In green-houses fac- 

 ing to the north, however, the more tender 

 plants will not thrive so well in winter : more 

 artificial heat will be required at that season; 

 and the plants should be chiefly evergreens, 

 and other plants that come into flower in the 

 summer season, and grow or flower but little 

 during winter. In most green-houses the plants 

 are kept in pots or boxes, and set on stages or 

 shelves, in order that they may be near the 

 roof, so as to receive the direct influence of the 

 rays of light, immediately on their passing 

 through the glass. An orangery differs from 

 a green-house in having an opaque roof, and in 

 being chiefly devoted to plants which produce 

 their shoots and flowers in the summer season 

 in the open air; and they are set in the orangery 

 merely to preserve them through the winter. 

 Such a structure might with more propriety be 

 termed a conservatory; but custom in the pre- 

 sent day has applied this term to structures 

 having glass roofs, in which the plants are not 

 kept in pots, but planted in the free soil, and 

 in which a part of them are encouraged to 

 grow and flower in the winter months. There 

 are some interesting papers on the subject of 

 green-house plants by Mr. Towers, author of 

 the Domestic Gardener's Manual, in the Quart. 

 Journ. of Jlgr. vol. v. p. 65, vol. vi. p. 48. 

 (Branded Diet, of Science and Art.} See CON- 

 SERVATORY and ORANGERY. 



GREEN MANURES. The use of green 

 manures early attracted the attention of the 

 cultivator. Xenophon recommended green 

 3 c 2 581 



