HAY-KNIFE. 



HEDGE. 



and conveying hay to the stack in an easy and 

 expeditious manner after it has been put into , 

 rows. See RAKES. 



HAY-KNIFE. A sharp instrument employed 

 for cutting hay out of the stack. 



HAY-RICK. Mr. Chambers (Cow. to Board 

 of jlgr. vol. vii. p. 374) describes an improved 

 hay-rick which admits very freely the cool air 

 to check the fermentation. A channel or gut- 

 ter, a foot wide and deep, is cut through ground 

 marked out for the rick, and two across, which 

 is 13 yards by 9. Two chimneys are in- 

 troduced, like the common hay funnels, only 

 these go full home to the earth, which being 

 drawn up as the rick is forming, and the chan- 

 nels previously covered with fagots, except 

 where the chimneys are placed, leave them 

 open at all points ; and let the wind blow from 

 what quarter it may, the current is uninter- 

 rupted. 



HAZEL. See HASEL. 



HEAD-LAND. A term applied to the lands 

 or ridges in fields, on which the plough turns 

 in cultivating them. As much soil is con- 

 tinually accumulating on them, by means of 

 the frequent ploughing of the field, it is a com- 

 mon plan to form them, into composts with 

 lime or other manures. 



HEAT. In horsemanship, a term used on 

 the turf, to denote a certain distance which a 

 horse runs on the course. A race may con- 

 sist of one or more heats, and " the best of three 

 heats" are common at most races ; but there is 

 never more than one heat for a race at New- 

 market See TEMPERATURE. 



HEATH. In a general sense the term heath 

 is applied to waste land in which the prevail- 

 ing plants consist of one or more of the com- 

 mon species of heath. 



HEATH, HEATHER, or LING (Calluna 

 and Erica). A very large and varied genus 

 of plants, of which the following species are 

 indigenous to Great Britain : 



1. Common heath (Calluna vulgaris, Sal. The 

 Erica communis of Linnaeus). This plant co- 

 vers many hundreds of acres in the Highlands 

 of Scotland, in Ireland, and in similar climates 

 on the continent. It attains in many places 

 the height of three or four feet; and is much 

 used for thatching houses, making besoms, and 

 for a variety of other purposes. The tender 

 tops form a substitute for mattrasses in High- 

 land cottages ; and they are also eaten green 

 and in a dried state by horses, cattle, and sheep, 

 in countries where the grasses and clover do 

 not begin to grow till late in the spring. The 

 tender tops also furnish food for grouse. 



2. Cross-leaved heath (Erica tetralix). In 

 this shrub the roots are creeping, stems erect, 

 from four to six or eight inches high. Leaves 

 crowded, spreading four in a whorl, revolute, 

 downy, glaucous beneath. Flowers remark- 

 able for their delicate wax-like hue of every 

 shade of rose-colour, sometimes snow-white, 

 on hairy cottony stalks collected into a dense, 

 round, terminal cluster, ail elegantly pendulous 

 to one side. It is wonderful that this most 

 elegant and not uncommon plant is scarcely 

 delineated at all by the old authors, nor by any 

 of them correctly. 



3. Fine-leaved heath (E. cinerea), found 



77 



plentifully on dry turfy heaths everywhere. It 

 grows on a stem a foot high, or more, with nu- 

 merous upright, round, hoary, flowery, and 

 leafy branches. The flowers are crimson, 

 everlasting, with a tinge of blue or gray, occa- 

 sionally pure white. 



4. Cornish heath (E. vagans), growing abun- 

 dantly in Cornwall: stem woody, two feet high, 

 copiously and determinately branched, with a 

 smooth, pale, deciduous bark; leaves ever- 

 green, smooth. 



Mr. J. Hall (Com. Board of jigr. vol. vi. p. 

 381) speaks favourably of the advantages to 

 be derived from heath in the feeding of stock, 

 and also asserts that an infusion of the finer 

 parts of heath, when cut young and in bloom, 

 is preferable to tea. 



HEATH GRASS (Triodia decumbent). The 

 genus to which this species belongs consists 

 of hard, rigid, perennial grasses, with leafy 

 stems. Inflorescence variously panicled. The 

 decumbent heath grass grows frequent in 

 spongy bogs, and on barren, sandy, mountain- 

 ous ground. The root is very slightly creep- 

 ing, with strong fibres. The whole plant is 

 harsh and rigid, lying close to the ground, ex- 

 cept when in flower. The stem is from 4 to 

 12 inches long, jointed, bent, leafy, and very 

 smooth. The leaves are linear, striated, rather 

 glaucous, smooth, except towards the points, 

 where the rib and edges are very rough. 

 (Smith's Eng. Flor. vol. i. p. 131.) 



HEATH, SEA (Frankenia). Of this mari- 

 time decumbent genus of plants there are two 

 species, natives of these islands. 



1. The smooth sea-heath (F. lavis) is a pe- 

 rennial, flowering in July, found common on. 

 muddy salt-marshes, chiefly on the eastern, 

 shores of England. It has a woody root; the 

 stems are quite prostrate, forked, slightly 

 dounv, with leafy, partly ascending branches. 

 The leaves are somewhat glaucous, about a 

 quarter of an inch long, revolute, fringed at the 

 ba.se, convex, and smooth above. The flowers 

 spring from the forks of the stem, partly ter- 

 minal, sessile, solitary, and flesh-coloured. 



2. Powdery sea-heath (F. pulverulent a). This 

 is a very rare species, much resembling the 

 last, but annual, and flowering in July. The 

 root and stems the same as the former: the 

 leaves, which are smooth and green above, are 

 hoary, as if powdery, beneath ; opposite or 

 four together, single ribbed, and revolute. The 

 flowers are pale red. (Smith's Eng. Flor. vol. li. 

 p. 186.) 



HEATHY LAND. Ground which is co- 

 vered with heath. In many districts of the 

 kingdom of Great Britain, there are immense 

 tracts of this kind of land, that, in their present 

 state, are of little value, except for the support 

 of a few sheep ; but which, by proper cultiva- 

 tion, might afford useful crops. They, how- 

 ever, differ mueh in the nature of the soil. The 

 best mode of reclaiming these lands is by 

 draining, deep trenching, or ploughing, and 

 spreading upon them any calcareous matter, 

 such as lime, chalk, or marl. And it is very 

 desirable, in many instances, to provide them 

 shelter by plantations of timber trees. See 

 PLANTATIONS. 



HEDGE. A living wall formed of woody 



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