OSIER, GOLDEN. 



most valuable osiers when cut down annually. 

 The very long and narrow leaves of this rather 

 rare species agree in shape with the common 

 osier (S. viminalis'), but want its dense white 

 pubescence. 



In the fens of the east of England many holts 

 (as they are provincially called) or plantations 

 of osiers are raised, which beautify the country, 

 keep the stock warm in the winter, and provide 

 much useful wood for baskets and all kinds of 

 wicker-work. The mode of planting is very 

 simple ; it is, first, to dig the land from 6 to 

 12 inches deep, and then to prick down cut- 

 tings of 4 years' growth, and 18 inches long, at 

 about 3 feet distance from each other. The 

 soil may be moor or clay, or any that is low 

 and wet. 



These holts or osier plantations must be 

 fenced round, either with dikes, which are 

 most common, or with hedges. The proper 

 season for making them (they seldom fail of 

 growing at any time), is from the fall of the 

 leaf till very late in the spring. 



OSIER, GOLDEN, or YELLOW WILLOW. 

 See WILLOW. 



OUZE. A deposit made by the sea. 



OVEN. A domestic furnace used for baking 

 bread, pies, tarts, &c. Ovens are generally con- 

 structed of brick-work in a semicircular form, 

 with a very low roof, and the bottom of which 

 is laid with stone : in the front is a small aper- 

 ture and door, by the shutting of which the 

 heat is confined while the bread is baking. 

 They are usually heated by means of dry fag- 

 gots, wood, &c. As these ovens, however, are 

 not calculated for small families, on account 

 of the quantity of fuel they consume, others 

 have been contrived, on a more diminutive 

 scale : these are usually formed of cast or 

 hammered iron, and may be heated by the 

 same fire which serves for the cooking of other 

 provisions ; but for baking bread these ovens 

 are inferior to the brick ovens. 



OVERLAND FARM. A provincial phrase 

 usually applied to a parcel of land without any 

 building or house attached to it. 



OVER-REACH. See CLH-KIXR. 



OVER-YEARS. A country term applied to 

 such bullocks as are not finished fattening at 

 three years old when home-breeds, or the first 

 winter after buying in ; but kept through the fol- 

 lowing summer to be finished the next winter. 



OVIPOSITOR (Lat. ovum, an egg; and pono, 

 I place). In entomology, is the instrument by 

 which an insect conducts its eggs to their ap- 

 propriate nidus, and often bores a way to it; 

 the same instrument is in some genera used 

 as a weapon of offence, whence it is called the 

 " aculeus." In the gall insect, and some others, 

 the ovipositor is furnished at its root with a sac 

 containing an acrid secretion, which is de- 

 posited in the wound made by the ovipositor 

 at the same time as the eggs. 



OWLING. In law, so called from its being 

 generally committed during the night. An of- 

 fence consisting in conveying sheep or wool to 

 the sea-side, in order to export them clandes- 

 tinely. The offence was formerly capital, par- 

 ticularly if the offender neglected to surrender 

 after proclamation made for that purpose. 



OWLS. A tribe of reptorial birds, including 



OXYGEN GAS. 



[ those which fly by night, and have*the eyes 

 directed forwards. The owl, although fre- 

 quently held in disrepute, should never be de- 

 stroyed by the farmer, to whom he is a great 

 friend; for his diet consists chiefly of field-mice, 

 of which he consumes large numbers. The 

 owls are usually arranged into two principal 

 groups : one in which all the species exhibit 

 two tufts of feathers on the head, which have 

 been called horns, ears, and egrets; in the 

 second group, the heads are smooth and round, 

 without tufts. 



OX. Synonymous with the generic name 

 Bos ; in a more restricted sense, it signifies the 

 castrated male of the domestic variety. See 

 CATTLE. 



OXALIC ACID. See ACIDS. 



OXALIS CRENATA. A perennial orna- 

 mental plant, native of Chili, lately discovered 

 by Mr. Douglas. The flowers are beautiful, 

 of a yellow colour, and in umbels ; the stalks 

 and leaves are succulent, of an acid taste, and 

 useful as salads ; the roots or tubers are pro- 

 duced in clusters ; their taste, when boiled, 

 somewhat resembles a chestnut. They are 

 raised from the tubers, are extraordinarily pro- 

 ductive, as easily cultivated as the potato, and 

 decidedly superior in flavour. They require a 

 rich soil, and, like the potato, are stored during 

 winter in cellars. (Kcnrick.) 



OX-BOOSE. Provincially, a stall or place 

 where oxen stand in the winter to be fed or 

 fattened. 



OX-EYE (Chrysanthemum, from chrysos, gold, 

 and anthemum, a flower; alluding to the colour 

 of some of the flowers). The great white ox- 

 eye maudlin-wort, or moor daisy (C. leucanthe- 

 wium), PI. 10, w, is very common in pastures, 

 fields, and by way-sides. The flavour of the 

 whole plant is herbaceous, slightly, not ple- 

 santly, aromatic. Its properties are not im- 

 portant; like many other herbs, mixed with 

 grasses, it makes a part of the hay crop. The 

 root is branched, tough, and woody, with many 

 fibres. Stem erect, simple, or branched, ac- 

 cording to the soil, from one to two feet high. 

 Leaves deep-green, clasping the stem, oblong, 

 obtuse, cut, pinnatifid at the base ; radical 

 ones obovate, stalked. Flowers large, terminal, 

 solitary, not inelegant, with a broad yellow disk, 

 and brilliant white radius. See DAISY. 



Another wild indigenous species, the yellow 

 ox-eye (C. segetum), has already been noticed 

 under the head CORK MARIGOLD. 



OX-FEET. A term applied to the feet of 

 horses when the horn of the hind feet cleaves 

 just in the middle of the fore part of the hoof, 

 from the coronet to the shoe : they are not 

 common, but very troublesome. 



OX-HARROW. A term applied to a very 

 large sort of harrow, called in some counties of 

 England a drag. 



OX-LIP. See COWSLIP. 



OXYGEN GAS. A simple or undecom- 

 pounded substance, discovered in 1774 by Dr. 

 Priestley. It constitutes 21 per cent, of the at- 

 mosphere, and it is that portion of it which 

 supports animal life and combustion. It is 

 emitted by plants growing in the light, and is 

 absorbed by them during the night. It is found 

 in combination with hydrogen and carbon, and 



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