INFLORESCENCE. 



INSECTS. 



resorted to. And to promote evaporation it is 

 advisable to remove the shoe, pare the sole as 

 thin as possible, and have the crust, and parti- 

 cularly the quarters, well rasped. See GREASE. 



For inflammation in sheep, see SHEEP. 



In inflammatory fever in cattle, profuse bleed- 

 ing, followed by immediate purging (1^ Ibs. of 

 Epsom salts dissolved in water or gruel), must 

 be had recourse to. (Yauatt on Cattle, p. 359.) 



INFLORESCENCE (Lat. inflorescere, to flou- 

 rish). The general arrangement of the flowers 

 upon a stem or branch. It consists of the fol- 

 lowing principal kinds : viz., the spike, the ra- 

 ceme, the panicle, the capitulum, the cyme, and 

 the umbel. 



The spike is a long rachis of flowers sessile, 

 or without foot-stalks. The term raceme is 

 commonly applied to flowers when they are 

 arranged round a filiform or thread-like simple 

 axis, each particular flower being stalked. The 

 panicle is a loose disposition of inflorescence, 

 in which the primary axis developes secondary 

 axes, which themselves produce tertiary, as 

 in oats ; or, in other words, it is a raceme bear- 

 ing branches of flowers in place of simple 

 ones. Capitulum implies the arrangement in 

 small heads. The cyme is a mode of inflo- 

 rescence resembling a flattened panicle, as that 

 of the elder. 



Of the particular arrangement of the umbel, 

 the carrot is a familiar example ; the pedun- 

 cles and pedicles spring from a common cen- 

 tre, and rise till they form a nearly flat tuft. 

 The difference between an umbel and a corymb 

 is, that whilst in the latter the flowers form a 

 flat head, the pedicles do not, as in the former, 

 spring from a common centre. (Paxton'i Bot. 

 Diet. : Brandos Diet, of Science.) 



INFLUENZA. An epidemic catarrh, at- 

 tended by febrile and other symptoms, which 

 often run very high, and assume a variety of 

 aspects, dependant upon the seasons and other 

 causes. The possibility of the existence of a 

 peculiar state of the atmosphere, although we 

 have no means of detecting it, is undoubtedly 

 the true cause of influenzas. Miasms, or va- 

 pours of a noxious kind, may exist, though in 

 very minute quantity, also as exciting causes 

 of influenza, an idea suggested by Dr. Prout. 

 It may possibly be of volcanic origin ; and 

 such a substance as seleniuretted hydrogen, 

 which, even in extremely minute quantity, is 

 highly deleterious, might perhaps account for 

 some of the phenomena of influenza; but we 

 must acknowledge that nothing certain is 

 known respecting the cause of this disease. 

 See DISTEMPER, EPIDEMIC, and MURRAIN. 



INOCULATION. An operation in the 

 management of fruit trees, which is some- 

 times called budding. It is a kind of grafting 

 practised in the summer months on various 

 trees and plants, and often succeeds better 

 than the common method of grafting. (See 

 BCDDINO and GRAFTING.) It is also a term 

 used to signify the process of transplanting 

 grasses. See GRASSES. 



INSECTS (Lat. insecta). A very extensive 

 and, to the cultivators of the earth, important 

 class of animals. Insects are distinguished 

 from Worms by always having feet in their 

 perfect or winged state, as the beetle, butterfly, 

 662 



moth, &c. Worms crawl on their bellies, and 

 have no feet, as the earth-worm, snail, slug, 

 &c. Insects, above all other animals, are by 

 far the most destructive to vegetation. 



On the subject of the science of entomology, 

 in this work, we propose only to touch upon 

 those which are the most injurious or impor- 

 tant to the farmer ; and many of these, such as 

 the bee, ant, fly in turnips, wirewoi-m, &c., will 

 be found under their respective heads ; indeed 

 the mere list of known insects is so numerous, 

 that the catalogue alone would be too exten- 

 sive for a work of this description. "The 

 great characteristic of this vast assemblage of 

 animals," says Mr. Swainson "is the total ab- 

 sence of internal bones ; hence, their hardest 

 parts are always external, and the muscles are 

 usually attached to the under side of the sub- 

 stance which forms the covering of the ani- 

 mal. The body is always divided into rings 

 or transverse joints, from which circumstance 

 naturalists have agreed to call them annulose, 

 or ringed animals." This name is peculiarly 

 applicable, since it expresses a marked dis- 

 tinction from such as have an internal skele- 

 ton, analogous to that of man, and which are 

 called Vertebrata, from possessing a spine. 

 The Jlnnulosa contain Insecta (insects proper) ; 

 Jlrachnida (spiders); Crustacea (crabs); and 

 Annelida (worms) ; excluding the soft Vermen 

 of Linnaeus, which include the shell-fishes, or 

 Mollusca. So diversified, indeed, are the differ- 

 ent groups of this immense assemblage, or 

 sub-kingdom of the animal world, that it is im- 

 possible to assign to them any other character, 

 as a whole, than that just mentioned. 



From the works of Mr. Swainson, of Kirby 

 and Spence, the papers of Mr. Duncan, in the 

 Quart. Journ. of Jlgr., the work of V. Kb'llar, 

 On Insects injurious to Gardeners, Foresters, and 

 Farmers, and especially from that of Dr. Har- 

 ris, the chief facts are obtained. In the words 

 of M. Kollar, " To enable the readers, for whom 

 this work is intended, to find more easily the 

 insect particularly interesting to each, it has 

 been considered proper not to treat of families 

 and species in any systematic arrangement, 

 but according to the branch of culture to 

 which they are particularly injurious." And, 

 in pursuance of this object, I shall only briefly 

 allude to some of the chief of the insect depre- 

 dators, for "to enumerate," says Davy, "all 

 the destroying animals and tyrants of the vege- 

 table kingdom, would be to give a catalogue 

 of the greater number of the classes in zoology; 

 almost every species of plant is the peculiar 

 resting-place or dominion of some insect tribe; 

 and from the locust, and caterpillar, to the mi- 

 nute aphis, a wonderful variety of inferior in- 

 sects are nourished, and live by their ravages 

 upon the vegetable world." 



Of the considerable extent to which the va- 

 rious insect tribes commit their depredations, 

 no farmer will for a moment doubt, and yet he 

 forms his judgment only upon the ravages of 

 the larger insects. Of the smaller tribes the 

 minute trespassers the animalculae those 

 only discernable through the microscope, he 

 forms no estimate. Yet of those that he does 

 see, the catalogue is fearfully alarming. 

 There is," says Mr Duncan, " scarcely one 



