BRICKS. 



wood, powdered bitter oranges, gentian root, 

 and the rind of Seville oranges, will afford an 

 excellent bitter, perhaps more wholesome than 

 hops, and, if skilfully combined, to the full as 

 palatable; in this position the brewers cannot 

 refuse to bear me out." Strasburg beer, which 

 is much prized on the continent, owes much 

 of its excellence to the use of avens (Geum 

 urbani'in). It has been shown by Mr. Dubrun- 

 fault, that a good beer can be produced from 

 potatoes grated to a pulp, mixed with barley 

 malt. In Ireland, beer is made from parsnips. 

 Cane sugar answers admirably (14 Ibs. of 

 cane sugar, dissolved in ten gallons of boiling 

 water, with 1 Ibs. of hops). The beer made 

 in this way is pale coloured, it is true ; but 

 colour may be given readily by scorched 

 treacle, or the raspings of an over-baked loaf. 

 . Jtmrii. <>f Jl<*r. vol. ii. p. 634.) Beer 

 "which would not disgrace a nobleman's table" 

 has also been made from mangel wurzel 150 

 Ibs., and 1 Ib. of hops in sixteen gallons of 

 water. (JlAr/mm'c's Mag.) It may also be 

 made from the seeds of the Fiorin grass (Do- 

 novon, Domestic Economy), Indian and other 

 corn. (Baxter's Lib. of jSgriftiltvre.) 



BRICKS are building materials often em- 

 ploy* 4 by the farmer for the construction of 

 drains, besides the ordinary purposes, for 

 which they answer very well ; but they are 

 more expensive than draining tiles, which see. 

 By the 17 G. 3, c. 42, under a penalty of 20s., 

 and 10s. per 1000, all bricks made in England 

 for sale shall be 8 inches long, four inches 

 wide, and 24 inches thick ; and all pantiles 

 13 inches long, 9$ inches wide, and an inch 

 thick. If the farmer wishes to make his own 

 bricks, the London plan is to mix fifty chaldrons 

 of coal ashes, or breeze, with 240 cubic yards 

 of clay, which makes 100,000 bricks; and to 

 burn these, fifteen chaldrons of coarse sifted 

 breeze are required. The soils called brick 

 earths vary much in their composition ; they 

 contain alumina in different proportions. Pot- 

 ters' clay is perhaps the richest in that earth, 

 being composed, according to M. Vauquelin, 

 (Bull. Phil, xxvi.) of 



Parts. 



Silira (flint) 43 5 



Alumina ... 33-2 



Lime .... 3-5 



Oxide of iron - 10 



Water .... 18-0 



Loss .... 0-8 



100-0 



BRIDLE. A contrivance made of straps 

 or thongs of leather, and pieces of iron, in 

 order to keep a horse in subjection, and direct 

 him in travelling. The several parts of a 

 bridle are, the bit or snaffle ; the head-stall, or 

 leather from the top of the head to the rings 

 of the bit; the fillet, over the forehead and 

 under the fore-top; the throat-band, which 

 buckles from the head-band under the throat ; 

 the nose-bands, going through the loops at the 

 back of the head-stall, and buckled under the 

 cheeks ; the reins, or long thongs of leather 

 that come from the rings of the bit, and, being 

 cast over the horse's head, the rider holds in 

 his hand. 



BRIDLE-HAND is the horseman's left 

 29 



BRISTLES. 



hand; the right being called thu ipear or 

 sword hand ; and that in which the whip is 

 held. 



BRIDON. A sort of snaffle, with a very 

 slender mouth-bit, without any branches. They 

 are much used in England. It is sometimes 

 written bridoon. 



BRILLS. In horsemanship, a vulgar name 

 for the hair growing on the horse's eye-lids. 



BRIM. A term applied to a sow when she 

 goes to the boar, which is called going to 

 brim. It is sometimes written brimme. 



BRINING OF GRAIN is the practice of 

 steeping it in pickle, in order to prevent smut 

 or other diseases. The steep is made with 

 common salt and water, of sufficient strength 

 to float an egg; or of sea-water, with salt 

 added to it till it is of the requisite strength. 

 The seed is then put into it, and well stirred 

 about :*he light grains rise to the surface, and 

 are skimmed off; the rest is put upon a sieve 

 to drain, and new-slaked lime sifted upon it: 

 after being carefully mixed, and when a little 

 dried, it is put into the earth. Urine, when 

 kept stale, is used in the same manner ; and, 

 if the seed be sowed directly, with good effect. 

 Brining the seed wheat is commonly believed 

 by the farmers to be a prevention of smut, a 

 disease which has been shown by Sir Joseph 

 Banks to be a parasitical fungus. Recent ex- 

 periments have suggested that it may even be 

 of use, when employed in larger quantities, as 

 a preventive of mildew the most dreadful 

 of the numerous diseases to which the cul- 

 tivated grasses are exposed. The experiments 

 of the late Rev. E. Cartwright strongly evi- 

 dence, that when salt and water are sprinkled 

 with a brush upon diseased plants, it is actually 

 a complete cure, even in apparently the most 

 desperate cases. The proportion, one pound 

 to a gallon of water, laid on with a plasterer's 

 brush, the operator making his casts as when 

 sowing corn : it is instant death to the fungus, 

 but it also destroys some plants. The time and 

 expense are trifling. It appeared, in the course 

 of some inquiries made by the Board of Agri- 

 culture, that a Cornish farmer, Mr. Sickler, and 

 also the Rev. R. Hoblin, were accustomed to 

 employ refuse salt as a manure, and that their 

 crops u-ere never infected with the rust or blight, 

 The farmer may see most of the authorities 

 collected together on this important fact in 

 Johnson, On Salt, p. 50. If potatoes are im- 

 mersed in a solution of ammoniacal water for 

 four or five days (one ounce of the common 

 liquor ammonise to a pint of water), they 

 will have, according to Mr. Webster, their 

 vegetative power completely checked or de- 

 stroyed, and may be in this way preserved 

 throughout the year, without the least injury 

 to their general qualities the same effect is 

 produced by immersing them in a strong brine. 

 This merely requires subsequent ablution, and 

 repeated changes of water. (Quart. Journ. of 

 Jgr. vol. vii. p. 438.) 



BRISTLES (Dut. borstels: Ger. bartten). Tne 

 strong glossy hairs growing upon cne bactf oi 

 the wild boar and the hog. Those f-r the use 

 of brushmakers, saddlers, shoemakers, &C., 

 are imported to a very considerable extent 

 from Russia, those of the Ukraine ^bejng the 



