KELP. 



KIDNEY-VETCH. 



the side of these heaps the turnips were very 

 nearly as good as those on. an adjoining piece 

 of ground manured solely with dung." (Ibid. 

 vol. iv. p. 246.) There is a good paper on the 

 manufacture of kelp in Quart. Journ. of Jlgr. 

 vol. ii. p. 927 ; and on mixing kelp with com- 

 posts, peat, turf, &c., ibid. vol. iii. p. 556. 



Every farmer has it in his power, even in 

 the most inland situations, to procure soda for 

 the use of his farm, by means of a mixture of 

 two parts of lime and one part of common salt, 

 and suffering the mixture to remain incorpo- 

 rated in a shady place, or covered with sods, 

 in a dry state, for two or three months; a plan 

 which I suggested some years since (Johnson 

 on Salt, p. 32, 3d edit.), and which has been re- 

 cently successfully adopted by Mr. Bennet, in 

 Wiltshire. By this process a gradual decom- 

 position takes place, chloride of calcium and 

 soda are formed, the whole mass speedily be- 

 coming encrusted with this alkali. There is 

 another advantage to be derived from the adop- 

 tion of this process, besides the formation of 

 the soda, viz. that the chloride of calcium is 

 one of the most deliquescing or moisture-ab- 

 sorbing substances with which we are ac- 

 quainted; and, in consequence, wherever it 

 exists in a soil, the warmth of the sun has, in 

 summer, much less influence upon it than it 

 would otherwise have. 



Mr. G. Irwin, of Taunton, bears testimony to 

 the value of common soap-suds. "The portion 

 of the garden invigorated by the soap-suds, 

 only annually exhibits a luxuriance almost 

 equal to anything this fertile neighbourhood 

 can produce." The Rev. J. Falconer, when 

 commenting upon this experiment, says, "This 

 mixture of an oil and an alkali has been more 

 generally known than adopted, as a remedy 

 against the insects which infest wall fruit 

 trees. It will dislodge and destroy the insects 

 which have already formed their nests and 

 bred amongst the leaves. When used in the 

 early part of the year, it seems to prevent the 

 insects from settling upon them. Mr. Speechly, 

 the author of a treatise upon the Cultivation 

 of the Vine, published in 1796, used this mix- 

 ture with great success, although, from not 

 having employed a garden engine, he applied 

 the soap-suds awkwardly and wastefully. He 

 directs it to be poured from a ladder, out of a 

 watering-pot, over both trees and wall, begin- 

 ning at the top of the wall, and bringing it on 

 in courses from the top to the bottom." 



Mr. Martin, of Warbleton, has recently used 

 soda for turnips, half a cwt. per acre, previ- 

 ously to the last ploughing, thinking, as he ob- 

 served, that it would destroy such insects as 

 lie in the ground in an embryo state, or pre- 

 vent their arriving at maturity so as to injure 

 his crop. In respect to the use of soda on corn 

 lands, he said he used it rather extensively last 

 season, and that he had tried several experi- 

 ments with it, both upon grass and arable land. 

 That in a field of wheat, a very thin, poor, 

 gravelly soil, he sowed one warp without any 

 manure at all; on another warp adjoining, he 

 used one cwt. per acre ; and on a third warp 

 he put 1 cwt. per acre. The produce of eight 

 rods on each warp was as follows : this was 

 on land of a very bad description : 

 684 



Per acre. 



8 rods without manure, 7 gallons, or 17i bushels. 

 8 rods with 1 cwt. soda per acre, 10| 



gallons, or - - - - - 26 bushels, 2 galls. 

 8 rods with H cwt. soda per acre, 



15i gallons, or .... 38 bushels, 6 galls. 



KENNEL (Fr. chenil, from chien, a dog). 

 The hole of a fox or other wild beast. In rural 

 economy, a habitation for dogs, especially 

 i those of the hound kind : it should be situated 

 a good distance from the house. Large ken- 

 nels require to be kept clean, well aired, and 

 strewed with fresh straw to prevent the mange 

 or other infectious distempers. Those readers 

 who wish to acquire information on the man- 

 agement of the kennel will do well to consult 

 Elaine's Encyclopaedia of Rural Spoi'ts. 



KERN-BABY (a corruption of corn-baby) 

 was an image formerly dressed up with corn, 

 carried before the reapers to their harvest- 

 home. 



KERNEL (Sax. cypnel, a gland). In general 

 this word signifies the substance within a 

 shell; but it has different meanings, some- 

 times implying anything included in a husk 

 or integument, as the seed of pulpy fruits, the 

 grain of oats, &c. In horticulture the hardy 

 fruits are generally arranged under the heads 

 of kernel fruits, or pomes, including the apple, 

 pear, quince, medlar, and service; stone fruits, 

 as the peacli, nectarine, almond, apricot, plum, 

 and cherry ; berries, as the mulberry, barberry, 

 elderberry, gooseberry, currant, raspberry, 

 cranberry, and strawberry ; and nuts, as the 

 walnut, chestnut, and filbert. 



KIDNEY-BEAN, the kind of bean most cul- 

 tivated in the United States, whereas the va- 

 riety mostly cultivated in Europe is the horse- 

 bean. See BEAXS. 



KIDNEY-VETCH (Jlnthyllis; derived from 

 uv0;?, a flower, and /Ws?, down, in reference to 

 the flowers being usually covered with a soft 

 or silky pubescence). The species are, for 

 the most part, elegant and free-flowering, plants 

 proper for ornamenting rock-work. The hardy 

 perennial and annual kinds thrive well in a 

 warm situation and light soil. The green- 

 house and frame kinds succeed best in sandy 

 loam and peat; and increase plentifully from 

 seeds, and sometimes from cuttings. (Paxton's 

 Bot. Diet.') 



The common kidney-vetch, or ladies' finger 

 (.A.vulneraria), is the only species indigenous to 

 the British Islands. It is found growing wild in 

 chalky or limestone countries, where the soil is 

 dry and rather barren, and the herbage affords 

 good pasturage for sheep. The root of this 

 species is woody, the stems annual, round, 

 hairy, leafy, mostly simple, ascending, about a 

 foot high. The radical leaves are simple, ellip- 

 tical, on long stalks, soon disappearing; the 

 rest alternate, pinnate, with a terminal ellip- 

 tical leaflet, and several pairs of opposite, 

 small, lanceolate ones ; all entire, smooth, and 

 a little glaucous above, hairy, or rather silky, 

 underneath and at the margin. The flowers, 

 which are numerous, in a pair of crowded ter- 

 minal heads, accompanied by figured bracteas, 

 are usually yellow, rarely of a fine red. In 

 Germany, according to Haller, the flowers are 

 most frequently white. This plant formerly 

 had the reputation of possessing some vulne- 





