BARS. 



BASS. 



heaps for spreading, and the like. The hand- 

 barrow is, under certain circumstances, substi- 

 tuted for the wheel-barrow. The load-barrow 

 is used for carrying filled sacks to and from 

 the granary, &c. 



BARS. In farriery, a term applied to those 

 portions of the crust or hoof of horses that are 

 reflected inwards, and which form the archrs 

 that are situated between the heels and the 

 frog. 



liars of a Horse's Mouth. The fleshy rows 

 that run across the upper part of the mouth, 

 and reach almost quite to the palate, very dis- 

 tinguishable in i;ome young horses. They 

 form that part of the mouth on which the bit 

 should rest, and have its efiect. 



BAR-SHOE. A particular kind of shoe, 

 which is sometimes of necessity used to protect 

 a tender frog from injury, the hinder part of the 

 shoe being thickened and hollowed over the 

 Trog ; but unless it is made exceedingly heavy, 

 it will soon be flattened down, and in the mean 

 time it will most injuriously press upon the 

 heels. 



BARTER (Span, baratar , Fr. barrater , Ital. 

 barratarc,, which signify to cheat as well as to 

 barter: hence also our word barratry). The 

 exchanging one commodity for another, with- 

 out the payment of money. The term barter 

 seems to have been derived from the lan- 

 guages of southern Europe. This rude mode 

 of trade grows into desuetude as a country or 

 nation advances in commercial knowledge, 

 and progresses in civilization ; and even where 

 an actual exchange of commodities does take 

 place between merchants and traders, their 

 comparative value is expressed by certain 

 current moneys, and balanced accordingly, and 

 not by the proportionate value one article bears 

 to another. The exchange of a civilized peo- 

 ple amongst themselves, or with other coun- 

 tries, are principally carried on by bills of 

 exchange. The actual money payments in a 

 country, by no means represent the amount of 

 its commercial transactions. (Penny Cyclop.} 



BARTH. A provincial term, which sig- 

 nifies a warm enclosed place or pasture for 

 calves, lambs, and other young animals. 



BARTON, or BARKEN (Sax. bepe-tun, an 

 area). A term employed in some districts to 

 signify the yard of a farm-house. Blount de- 

 scribes this word as meaning the demesne 

 lands of a manor; the manor-house itself, and 

 sometimes the out-houses. Most of our old 

 lexicographers explain it as an enclosed place, 

 or inner yard, where poultry is kept, or hus- 

 bandry used. Blount's is the provincialism of 

 the west, of England ; the latter is still used in 

 other places. 



BASIL, SWEET (Ocymum. Probably from 

 oa> and f*(va>, on account of its lasting fra- 

 grance). A culinary aromatic exotic used in 

 salads and soups ; the peculiar flavour of 

 mock-turtle soups is chiefly derived from this 

 valuable pot-herb. There are two species com- 

 monly cultivated, both annuals, and originally 

 coming from the East Indies. 1. The sweet- 

 scented or larger basil (O. basilicum}, and, 

 2. The dwarf-bush oasil (O. minimum). They 

 thrive most in a rich light soil, entirely free 

 fjtm any overshadowing body; but they re- 

 148 



quire, especially for the earliest plants, a she* 

 tered border. In wet earth, the seed always 

 rots. 



BASIL, COMMON WILD (Chenopodium 

 vulgare}. This is also slightly aromatic, and 

 is a perennial succulent herb, growing in 

 bushy places, about hedges, and by road sides, 

 on a gravelly or chalky soil. The herb rises 

 about a foot high on a wavy, light green, hairy 

 stem, with ovate leaves, an inch long, serrated, 

 and the ribs beneath armed with bristly hairs. 

 The whole of the flowers are also bristly, on 

 branched hairy stalks, both arising from the 

 axilla of the leaves and the top of the stem, of 



light purple colour. The flowers blow in 

 July and August. This plant flourishes abun- 

 dantly in gardens. It is well known among 

 kitchen herbs. Its very odour is fragrant and 

 refreshing. 



BASIL -Thyme. Field Thyme (Thymus 

 acina}. A leafy, small annual plant, much 

 branched and spreading, but scarcely nine 

 inches high, with acute, bluntly serrated 

 leaves, rough at the edges, and slightly aro- 

 matic. The flowers are in axillary whorls of a 

 bluish colour, variegated at the tip with white 

 and dark purple ; six on a whorl on simple 

 stalks. It grows luxuriantly in cultivated 

 fields, especially on a sandy, gravelly, or 

 chalky soil. (Smith's Eng. Flor,} 



BASIL. The skin of a sheep tanned. 



BASILISK. (Lat.) The name for a serpent. 



BASIN, or BASON (Fr. bassin ,- It. baci.no}. 

 In agriculture, a natural or artificial hollow or 

 excavation in the ground, for the reception and 

 preservation of water. See POXD. 



BASKETS (Basged, Welsh ; bascauda, Lat. 

 probably from bass, of which baskets were often 

 made). They are made principally of the in 

 terwoven twigs of willow, osier, and birch, &c., 

 but frequently also of grass, rushes, splinters 

 of wood, straw, &c. They are made to hold 

 all sorts of dry goods, and constructed of every 

 variety of quality and shape, from the small 

 fruit-pottle to the bushel basket. For market 

 baskets the osiers are used whole. Besides 

 the vast quantities made in England, some of 

 the finer kinds are imported under an ad valo- 

 rem duty of 20 per cent. In 1832 this duty pro- 

 duced 1044/. 7s. 9c?., showing that the value of 

 the foreign baskets entered for home consump- 

 tion in the same year had been 522 1/. 18s. 9d. 

 The fishing basket, pannier, or creel for the 

 angler, should be made of wicker-work, with 

 two openings for a leather strap to pass 

 through, which strap should encircle one 

 shoulder and be buckled, so that it may be let 

 down or taken up as occasion may suit. There 

 are great varieties of these panniers; some are 

 made of sufficient width to carry a fish of four 

 or fiv^ pounds at full length. 



BASS. The material of which packing 

 mats are made. It consists of the bark of the 

 lime tree. 



The American Bass wood, or American 

 Lime, or Linden (Tilia Americana}, abounds 

 in the forests east of the Mississippi. It exists 

 in Canada, but is most common in the more 

 northern portions of the United States. It be- 

 comes less frequent towards the south, and in 

 Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, is found 



