HUNDRED. 



HURDLE. 



of wood, hay, grain, and other kinds of growth, 

 the masses of which differ in a remarkable 

 degree." (Liebig.) 



In relation to the fact observed of carbon 

 and humus often becoming every year more 

 abundant, in spite of cropping, Mr. Ruffin, an 

 author so advantageously known to the Ame- 

 rican farmer, says there is great difficulty 

 in admitting that land receives no manure, 

 even when none is conveyed to it by man. In 

 the case of cultivated lands, from which crops 

 are taken off, the quantity, it is true, is small, 

 compared with that of a forest, where much is 

 left to fall and rot. Mr. Ruffin maintains, that 

 so much carbon is derived from the atmosphere, 

 through the leaves of growing plants, that more 

 than half the whole products may be taken 

 away, and the other half may supply as much 

 humus and carbon, or, perhaps, even cause an 

 increase of both. The severely cropped lands 

 of the United States, Mr. Ruffin considers as 

 affording many examples of the draught upon 

 the land being carried beyond the amount sup- 

 plied, and a proportional reduction in the quan- 

 tity of humus. See GREEN MANURES. 



"The humic acid of chemists," observes 

 Liebig, " is a product of the decomposition of 

 humus by alkalies : it does not exist in the 

 humus of vegetable physiologists." He says 

 in another place, "Transformations of existing 

 compounds are constantly taking place during 

 the whole life of a plant, in consequence of 

 which, and as the result of these transforma- 

 tions, there are produced gaseous matters which 

 are excreted by the leaves and blossoms, solid 

 excrements deposited in the bark, and fluid so- 

 luble substances, which are eliminated by the 

 roots. Such secretions are most abundant im- 

 mediately before the formation and during the 

 continuance of the blossoms: they diminish 

 after the developement of the fruit. Substances 

 containing a large proportion of carbon are 

 excreted by the roots and absorbed by the soil. 

 The soluble matter thus acquired by the soil is 

 still capable of decay and putrefaction ; and 

 by undergoing these processes furnishes re- 

 newed sources of nutrition to another genera- 

 tion of plants, and it becomes humus. The 

 leaves of trees which fall in the forest in au- 

 tumn, and the old roots of grass in the meadow, 

 are likewise converted into humus by the same 

 influence: a soil receives more carbon in this 

 form than its decaying humus had lost as car- 

 bonic acid. Humus does not nourish plants 

 by being taken up and assimilated in its unal- 

 tered state, but by presenting a slow and last- 

 ing source of carbonic acid, which is absorbed 

 by the roots, and is the principal nutriment of 

 young plants at a time when, being destitute 

 of leaves, they are unable to extract food from 

 the atmosphere." (Liebig's Organic Chemistry.) 



Some recent experiments of Saussure go to 

 prove that plants do assimilate humus as direct 

 nourishment, contrary to the views of Liebig, 

 who, as we have seen, regards it only as a me- 

 dium by which nourishment is absorbed and 

 subsequently given out. 



HUNDRED. An ancient division of a coun- 

 ty, which originated either from its being occu- 

 pied by 100 families, or because every such 

 district found the king 100 able-bodied men for 

 82 



his wars. They were first constituted by Alfred 

 the Great. He is supposed to have derived the 

 idea from northern Germany; but there centa, 

 or centena, is a jurisdiction over 100 towns. 



HUNDRED-WEIGHT. A weight of 1 12 Ibs. 

 avoirdupois, generally written cwt. 



HUNGER-ROT. The name of a disease in 

 sheep which speaks for itself. It is occasioned 

 by poor living, especially during the winter, 

 and is best cured by better keep. 



HURDLE (from the Sax. hypt>ei, to keep, or 

 the Germ. hurden). The hurdles of the ancients 

 (crates) were somewhat similar to those of the 

 moderns ; they were a kind of wicker-work, 

 and used forvarious purposes. Whenemployed 

 for drying figs or grapes, they were called Jica- 

 ria: they were also used for screening fruit 

 from the weather. (Colum. xii. 15.) Hurdles, 

 Virgil informs us (Georg. i. 94), were employed 

 as narrows to level the ground which had been 

 turned up by the rastrum, or heavy rake. They 

 are also employed to feed silk-worms upon. In 

 modern husbandry, hurdle implies a light frame 

 of wood or iron, somewhat in the form of the 

 common gate, constructed for the purpose of 

 forming a movable fence for the confining of 

 sheep and other animals. They are generally 

 made of some light split timber, or of hazel- 

 rods wattled together. These are principally 

 employed where sheep are folded on arable 

 lands, or where they are fed with turnips in the 

 field, to keep them on a certain space of ground, 

 or to confine them to a certain portion of their 

 food at a time, in which way they are extremely 

 useful ; as the sheep, by being so closely con- 

 fined, contribute greatly to the improvement of 

 the land, in the first case ; and they improve 

 by having a given quantity of food allowed 

 them at once, with less loss than they would 

 do if allowed to range at large over the field. 



A dozen and a half hurdles will fold thirty 

 sheep, and twelve dozen, one thousand. On 

 the South Downs the allowance is three sheep 

 to a hurdle : this of course varies with the de- 

 scription of sheep. A shepherd and his dog, 

 without any other assistance than having the 

 hurdles carted to the field, will, with the requi- 

 site number of hurdles, feed off one hundred 

 acres of turnips. " The number of hurdles re- 

 quired (Quart. Journ. of jlgr. vol. iii. p. 647), is 

 one row the whole length of the ridges of an 

 enclosed field, and as many more as will reach 

 twice across two eight-step lands or ridges, or 

 four four-step lands. This number is sufficient 

 for a whole quadrangular field, whatever num- 

 ber of acres it may contain. The daily portions 

 are given, more or less, according to the num- 

 ber of the flock. Two of these portions are 

 first set off, or " pitched," the sheep being let 

 in on the first or corner piece. Next day they 

 are turned into the second piece, and the cross- 

 hurdles that enclosed them in the first are car- 

 ried forwards and set to form the third piece. 

 These removes are continued daily till the bot- 

 tom of the field is reached: both the cross-rows 

 are then to spare, and are carried and set to 

 begin a new long row, close to the off-side of a 

 furrow, and the daily folding carried back over 

 two or four lands, as at first. It is always pro- 

 per to begin at the top of the field, if there be 

 any difference in the level, in order that the 

 31 649 



