SEPTA. 



SHEEP. 



SEPTA. In botany, the pnrtitions which 

 divide the interior parts of a fruit. 



SERRATE. A botanical term, implying 

 notched, or cut like the teeth of a saw. 



SERVICE TREE (Pynw). There are in 

 Eigland two species of this tree, the wild ser- 

 vice tree (P. torminalis'), and the true service 

 tree (P. rfoww/ira). Both are indigenous trees, 

 often of considerable size, of extremely slow 

 growth, and the wood is very hard. The service 

 iree is still occasionally to be met with in the 

 hedgerows in Kent, and in the wealds of Sussex, 

 as also in the north of England and Wales. 

 The leaves of the wild service tree are dark- 

 green, deciduous, simple, somewhat heart- 

 shaped, serrated, seven-lobed, on long stalks. 

 Flowers white, numerous, in large, terminal, 

 corymbose, downy panicles. The umbilicated 

 fruil, which is not larger than that of the haw- 

 thorn, becomes agreeably acid and wholesome 

 at'ier the frost has touched it, or when, like the 

 medlar, it has undergone a kind of putrefactive 

 fermentation. Ray prefers its flavour to the 

 true service, which latter is now become obso- 

 lete. See JUXE BETIRT. 



SESSILE. A botanical term, applied to 

 leave-; without footstalks, which are seated close 

 tipon the stem. 



SETACEOUS. In botany, implies shaped 

 like bristles. 



8ETON. In farriery, a small cord consti- 

 tuted of a number of threads laid together and 

 passed through the skin by a proper needle, for 

 the purpose of keeping open an issue. 



8HALOT or ESCALOT (dllium ascalomtwn). 

 Having a stronger taste than the onion, yet not 

 leaving, as it is said, the strong odour on the 

 palate which that species of Mliwn is accus- 

 tomed to do, the shalot is often preferred, and 

 employed instead, both in culinary prepara- 

 tions and for eating in its natural slate. Each 

 offset of the root will increase if planted in a 

 similar manner to its parent. The planting 

 may be performed during October or November, 

 or early in the spring, as February, March, or 

 beginning of April. The first is the best sea- 

 son, especially if the soil lies dry, as the bulbs 

 become finer; but otherwise the spring is to be 

 preferred, for excessive moisture destroys the 

 sets. Mr. Henderson supports the practice of 

 planting in autumn, and says, " if the smallest 

 offsets are employed for planting, they never 

 become mouldy in the ground, and are never 

 injured by the most intense frosts." They are 

 to be planted 6 inches asunder each way, in 

 beds not more than 4 feet wide, being usually 

 inserted in drills, by the dibble, or with the 

 finger and thumb. 



SHAMROCK. The national emblem of 

 Ireland. The term " shamrock" seems a ge- 

 neral appellation for the trefoils, or three- 

 leaved plants. There has been much dispute 

 as to what is the true Irish shamrock ; it has 

 generally been considered to be the clover or 

 Trifohum repens. A writer in the Journal of the 

 Royal Inst. No. 3, advances abundant testimony 

 in proof of the wood-sorrel (Oxalis acetosella) 

 being the true shamrock. 



SHARE OF A PLOUGH. That part which 

 cuts or breaks the ground. See PLOUGH. 

 124 



SHAW. A country term applied to a wood 

 that encompasses a close. 



SHEARING OF SHEEP. The operation 

 of cutting off the fleece or coat of wool with a 

 pair of shears. 



This is performed in different ways, but the 

 best mode is that of the circular or round the 

 sheep, instead of the longitudinal, which is 

 now mostly in use in Britain. Shearing is 

 usually performed about June or July, accord- 

 ing to situation and season, but should not be 

 done either too early or be too long protracted, 

 as injury and inconvenience may attend either 

 extreme. A good clipper is capable of clipping 

 from 14 or 15 to 20 or 25 sheep in the day, and 

 more are frequently done by very expert per- 

 sons. Great care should be taken not to cut or 

 prick the animals ; but where this accident 

 happens, in the northern parts of the kingdom, 

 they touch the part with a little tar or sheep- 

 salve ; and in Sweden it is often done with train- 

 oil and resin melted together. After shearing, 

 the sheep should be turned into a warm, dry 

 pasture. See SMKKP. 



SHEARLING. The name given to a sheep 

 that has been once shorn. 



SHEARS. A name applied to some instru- 

 ments employed in agriculture. The shears 

 used for sheep-shearing are of very ancient 

 origin: they were termed forfex by the Romans; 

 and it appears that no improvement has been 

 made on the instrument. In a collection of 

 antique gems at Berlin, called the Stosch col- 

 lection, is a gem bearing a representation of a 

 newly shorn sheep, and the shears, which are 

 exactly the same as those now used. Shears 

 are also employed for clipping hedges. 



SHEATH. In botany, the lower part of the 

 leaf that surrounds the stem. 



SHEEP (Ovis aries, nat. ord. Ruminantia'). Of 

 the original breed of this invaluable animal, 

 which is in modern English farming almost 

 equally important for furnishing the farmer 

 with a dressing of manure, and the community 

 at large with mutton, clothing, and other almost 

 necessaries of life, nothing certain is known. 

 Several varieties of wild sheep have, by natu- 

 ralists, been considered entitled to the distinc- 

 tion of being considered the parent stock. Of 

 these are, 1. The musmon (O. Musimon), still 

 found wild in the mountains of the larger 

 islands of the Mediterranean and in European 

 Turkey. 2. The argali (O. Amman), or wild 

 Asiatic sheep, which are the tenants of the 

 highest mountains of central Asia, and the 

 elevated, inhospitable plains of its northern 

 portions. 3. The Rocky Mountain sheep (O. 

 montana), which is found on the mountains of 

 North America ; and, 4. The bearded sheep of 

 Africa (O. tragdaphus), found in the high lands 

 of Egypt, and in Barbary. It is doubtful 

 whether sheep are indigenous to Britain, but 

 they are mentioned as existing there at very 

 early periods. The Romans established a 

 woollen manufactory at Winchester, at which 

 city the first guild of fullers was established. 

 The natural habits of the sheep attach it to the 

 highest ground, to the upland slopes, where 

 the heath and other aromatic plants abound; 

 Nature never intended this an.*nal to occupy 

 4O 985 



