CANKER. 



CAPERS. 



ker is generally prevalent, or duly thinned the 

 branches, entirely removed every small one 

 that is in the least degree diseased, and cut 

 away the decayed parts of the larger, so as not 

 to leave a single speck of the decayed wood, I 

 cover over the surface of each wound with a 

 mixture, whilst in a melted state, of equal parts 

 of tar and rosin, applying with a brush imme- 

 diately after the amputations have been per- 

 formed, taking care to select a fine dry day. 

 I prefer this to any composition with a basis 

 of cow-dung and clay, because the latter is 

 always more or less absorbent of moisture, and 

 is li-ible to injury by rain and frost, causing 

 alternations of moisture and dryness to the 

 wounds, that promote decay rather than their 

 healing, by the formation of new wood and 

 Dark. The resinous plaster seldom or never 

 requires renewal. Mr. Forsyth, the arch-advo- 

 cate of alkaline plasters, finding they promoted 

 decay, if applied to the wounds of autumn- 

 pruned trees, recommends this important act 

 of cultivation to be postponed to the spring. 

 Such a procrastination, however, is always 

 liable to defer the pruning till Weeding is the 

 consequence. If a resinous plaster is employed, 

 it excludes the wet, and obviates the objection 

 to autumnal pruning. Mr. Forsyth's treatment 

 of the trunks and branches of the trees, namely, 

 scraping from them all the scaly, dry exuvuc 

 of the hark, is to be adopted in every instance : 

 he recommends them to be then brushed over 

 with a thin liquid compound of fresh cow-dun -4. 

 soapsuds, and urine. But I very much prefer 

 a brine of common salt: each acts as a 

 stimulus, which is their chief source of benefit, 

 and the latter is more efficacious in destroying 

 insects, and does not, like the other, obstruct 

 the perspiratory vessels of the tree. The brine 

 is advantageously rubbed in with a scrubbing 

 or large painter's brush. Some persons recom- 

 mend a liquid wash, containing, as prominent 

 ingredients, quicklime and wood-ashes; which, 

 as the disease arises from an over-alkalescent 

 state of the sap, cannot but prove injurious 

 and aggravate the disease. Mr. Forsyth's 

 composition, used as a plaster for the wounds 

 made when cankered matter had been extract- 

 ed, was 



1 bushel of fresh cow-dung, 

 bushel of lime rubbish, 

 bushel of wood ashes, 

 j s bushel of finely-silted sand. 



Mr. Knight well observed of this quackery 

 (for which Forsyth was rewarded with a grant 

 of money), that "it afforded a much better 

 proof that he was paid for a discovery than 

 that he made one." (G. W. Johnson; Quar. 

 Journ. of Ar. vol. viii. p. 470 ; J. Pearson, ibid. 

 vol. ii. p. 379; A. Drummond, On (he Canker in 

 the Larch, ibid. p. 231.) 



Canker in horses is a separation of the horn 

 from the sensible part of the foot, and the 

 sprouting of fungous matter instead of it, and 

 occupying a portion of, or even the whole of 

 the sole and frog. (The Horse, p. 308, Lib. of 

 Useful Knowledge.) The whole secret of the 

 treatment of canker consists in the use of su- 

 perficial caustics or stimulants, pressure as 

 33 



firmly and as equably as it can be made, and 

 the careful avoidance of all greasy applica- 

 tions, and -all moisture, either applied imme- 

 diately to the foot, or suffered to penetrate 

 to it through the dressing. (Clater's Farriery, 

 p. 324.) * 



CANKERED. A word sometimes uUtt to 

 signify mildewed or blighted. 



CANKERS. A local name in some parts 

 of England for caterpillars. 



CANKER-WORM. The insects, called in 

 the Eastern States canker-worms, are caterpil- 

 lars with ten legs, the larvae of a natural group 

 of moths called hybcrnians. They belong to the 

 tribe of geometers, commonly called earth-mea- 

 surers, span-worms, and loopers. See SPAN- 

 wonxs. 



CANTER. (Said to be an abbreviation of 

 Canterbury gallop, and derived from the pil- 

 grims riding to Canterbury on easy ambling 

 horses. Twlti'* Johnnm.') A well-known pace 

 of the horse, which is not, generally, a natural 

 pace. When the horse is excited to move his 

 station from one place to another, In- performs 

 it with a velocity proportionate, to the exciting 

 cause. Thus, he changes from the walk to 

 the trot, and from the trot to the gallop, ac- 

 cording to his inclination. In each of these 

 changes he acquires a:a addition of speed; but, 

 as the trot is equal in speed to the canter, he 

 seldom adopts the canter, but changes to the 

 gallop, when he wishes to accelerate his mo- 

 iion. The hoi-M- is taught to pert'onn the canter 

 by shortening the gallop. The canter is to the 

 U'allop very much what the walk is to the trot, 

 though probably a more artificial pace. The 

 ex'-rtion is much less, the spring less distant, 

 and the feet come to the ground in more regu- 

 lar succession : it is a pace of ease, quite in- 

 consistent with any exertion of draught. (Lib. 

 . 413.) Some persons, 



and among them Nimrod, do not consider this 

 pace injurious to horses. "A canter," he ob- 

 serves, " is much more easy, as well as safer 

 to the rider, than a trot; the horse having his 

 haunches more under him in the canter than 

 when he trots, is hereby more likely to recover 

 himself in case of making a mistake, which 

 the best is sometimes subject to. Fast trotting 

 also distresses a horse more than cantering, 

 because, in the one, he is going at the top of 

 his speed, and in the other much below it." 

 (Blair's Ency. of Rural Sports, p. 297.) 



CAPERS. The caper is a small prickly 

 shrub, cultivated in Spain, Italy, and the south- 

 ern provinces of France. The flowers are 

 large roses of a pretty appearance, but the 

 flower-buds alone are the objects of this culti- 

 vation. 



They are plucked before they open, and 

 thrown into strong vinegar slightly salted, 

 where they are pickled. The crop oi ^ach 

 day is added to the same vinegar tub, so that, 

 in the course of the six months during which 

 the caper shrub flowers, the vessel gets filled, 

 and is sold to persons who sort the capers (the 

 smallest being most valued) by means of cop 

 per sieves. This metal is attacked by the acid, 

 wherefrom the fruit acquires a green colour, 

 much admired by ignorant connoisseurs. 

 r2 257 



