ANNUAL MEADOW-GRASS. 



ounce of arnotta will colour about twenty 

 cheeses of 10 or 12 Ibs. each. The rolls 

 usually weigh 2 or 3 oz. each. In Gloucester- 

 shire, it is usual to allow 1 oz. to a cwt. of 

 cheese ; in Cheshire, 8 pennyweights to a 

 cheese of 60 Ibs. By the Spanish Americans, 

 it is mixed with their chocolate. The average 

 annual import of arnotta [into England] in 

 the three years ending in 1831, was 128,528 

 Ibs. ( Cor'np. Farm. , M> Cullucfis Com. Did.,- 

 Gray's Supplement ; London's Encyc. / Thom- 

 son's Client.'} 



ANNUAL MEADOW-GRASS. See POA 



NM \. 



AN MJAL PLANTS. Such as are only of 

 one year's duration, or which come up in the 

 spring and die in the autumn. They are fre- 

 quently denominated simply annuals. Wheat, 

 oats, barley, beans, peas, &c., are of this kind. 



ANNULAR. Having the form or resem- 

 blance of a ring. This appearance is observed 

 in tlif wood of some kinds of trees after they 

 have been cut down ; and in the horns of 

 cattle ami sheep, l>y which their ages may in 

 ure be ascertained. 



ANODYNE. In farriery, a term applied 

 to Mich medicines as ease pain and procure 

 sleep. 



ANOREXY. In farriery, a term applied to 

 a want of appetite. 



ANT. A sort of insect, extremely injurious 

 to pasture lands ami trardrns; in the former 

 by throwing up hills, and in the latter by feed- 

 ing on the fruit, &c. The best methods of 

 : them from trees, are those of having 

 the earth round them constantly dug up, and 

 the application of saw-dust, coal-ashes, or 

 other matters of the same kind, about their 

 roots. The same purpose may be effected by 

 covering the bottom part of the trees with tar; 

 but, as it is prejudicial to the trees, night-soil 

 may, perhaps, answer better; as it is found to 

 destroy them when spread upon or put into 

 their hills. A liquor, prepared by boiling rain- 

 water with black-soap and sulphur, has been 

 made use of for destroying those animals, it is 

 said, with considerable success. Where this 

 liquor is employed, care should be taken that 

 the ground where they inhabit be perfectly 

 saturated with it. 



ANT-HILLS. The habitations of ants, con- 

 sist in / of little eminences, composed of small 

 particles of sand or earth, lightly and artfully 

 laid together. These hills are very detrimental 

 to the farmer, depriving him of as much land 

 as the hills cover, which may often be com- 

 puted at a tenth part, or more, of his grass- 

 lands. And in some places, where negligence 

 has suffered them to multiply, almost half of it 

 has been rendered useless, the hills standing 

 as thick together as grass-cocks in a hay-field: 

 and what is very surprising is, that, by some 

 this indolence is defended, by affirming, that 

 the area or superficies of their land is thereby 

 increased ; whereas it is well known that very 

 little or no grass ever grows thereon ; and, 

 therefore, if the surface be increased, the pro- 

 duce is proportion ably decreased. 



In order to remove the hills, and destroy the 

 Insects, it has been a custom in some places, 

 at the beginning of winter, and often when the 



ANTHOXANTHUM ODORATUM. 



weather was not very cold, to dig up the ant- 

 hills three or four inches below the surface of 

 the ground, and then to cut them in pieces, and 

 scatter the fragments about. But this practice 

 only disseminates the ants, instead of destroy- 

 ing them, as they hide themselves among the 

 roots of the grass for a little time, and then col- 

 lect themselves together again upon any little 

 eminence, of which there are great numbers 

 ready for their purpose, such as the circular 

 ridges round the hollows where the hills stood 

 before. It is, therefore, a much better method 

 to cut the hills entirely off, rather lower than 

 the surface of the la'nd, and to let them lie 

 whole at a little distance, with their bottom up- 

 wards : by this means the ants, who continue 

 in their habitations until the rains, running 

 into their holes of communication, and stag- 

 nating in the hollows formed by the removal 

 of the hills and the frosts, which now readily 

 penetrate, will be destroyed. If a little soot is 

 sown on the places, it will contribute to the 

 intended effect. The hills, when rendered 

 mellow by the frosts,'may be broken and dis- 

 persed about the land. By this method of 

 cutting off the hills, one other advantage is 

 gained : the land soon becomes even and fit 

 for mowing, and the little eminences being re- 

 moved, the insects are exposed to the rain, 

 which is destructive to them. In wet weather 

 these insects are apt to accumulate heaps of 

 sandy particles among the grass, called by 

 labourers sprout-hills, which quickly take off 

 the edge of the scythe. These hills which are 

 very light and compressible, may be removed 

 by frequent heavy rolling. 



ANTHELMINTIC. In farriery, a term ap- 

 plied to such remedies as are supposed to 

 destroy or carry off the worms which lodge in 

 the intestines of an animal. 



ANTHOXANTHUM ODORATUM. The 

 sweet-scented vernal grass. [See Plate 6, a.] 

 This grass constitutes a part of the herbage 

 of English pastures on almost every kind of 

 soil, attaining its greatest perfection on the 

 deep and moist, loving shady places, such as 

 the skirts of woods. Its very early growth 

 and hardiness, with the superior nutritive pro- 

 perties of its latter-math, give it high claims 

 in the composition of all permanent pastures. 

 In England it comes into fiower about the mid- 

 dle of April, and in Pennsylvania about the 

 middle of May, the seed ripening in both coun- 

 tries about the second week in ,June. In the 

 moist climate of England it continues throw- 

 ing up flower stalks till the end of autumn, 

 but in Pennsylvania the efflorescence is con- 

 fined to spring. When properly combined with 

 other grasses, and mown at maturity, it gives 

 to the hay a peculiarly delightful fragrance. ^ 



The cause of the high flavour for which Phi- 

 ladelphia " May butter" is so highly celebrated, 

 has hitherto been a matter of vague specula- 

 tion. This superior flavour, like that distin- 

 guishing the Eppiug and Cambridge butter ot 

 the London market, has very naturally beeu 

 ascribed to something eaten by the cows ; but 

 this something has never yet been defined or 

 specified so as to enable persons in other locals 

 ties to avail themselves of it for the improve 

 ment of their own pastures and dairy products 

 1 2 lul 



