CELERY. 



CHAFF-ENGINES. 



grown ; or in February or March some may be 

 carefully taken up, and, after the outside leaves 

 are cut off' and all laterals removed, planted in 

 a moist soil a foot apart. Those which are 

 most solid and of a middling size are to be se- 

 lected. When they branch for seed they must 

 be each attached to a stake, to preserve them 

 from being broken by the violence of winds. 

 The flower appears in June, and when the seed 

 is swelling in July, if dry weather occurs, they 

 should be watered every other night. In Au- 

 gust the seed will be ripe, and when perfectly 

 dry, may be rubbed out and stored. A variety 

 of celery with a roundish root (dpiurn rapuce- 

 tm), is sometimes cultivated in gardens. (G. 

 W. Johnson's Kitch. Vnrtl. : lirit. Husb. vol. ii. p. 

 575 ; Willirh'g Dam. Enryr.} 



CELERY, WILD, or SMALLAGE PARS- 

 LEY (dp turn graveolem). This is a biennial, 

 found in ditches and marshy ground, especially 

 towards the sea; root tap-shaped, herb smooth 

 and shining. Flowers numerous, small, green- 

 ish white. The seeds and whole plant in its 

 native ditches are acrid and dangerous, with a 

 peculiar strong taste and smell ; but by culture 

 it becomes the mild and grateful garden cele- 

 ry, for which and its name we are indebted to 

 the Italians, and which has now supplanted 

 our native Alexanders (Sinyr,nnm olusatrum). 

 (Smith's Eng. Flora, vol. ii. p. 75.) 



CELL (Lat. cella). In botany, the hollow 

 part of a capsule in which the seeds are lodged, 

 and also the part of the anthers which contains 

 the pollen. 



CELLS. The small divisions in honey- 

 combs, which have been observed to be al- 

 ways regular hexagons. They also denote the 

 hollow places between the partitions in the 

 pods, husks, and other seed-vessels of plants. 



CELL. The vegetable cell, the simplest 

 element of growth and development, consists 

 of a closed vessel like an egg, and is composed 

 of :IM outer solid membrane which contains a 

 fluid, ami matter floating IH the fluid, or at- 

 tached to the sides. At first the enclosing 

 membrane is very delicate, and is called a 

 if this remains closed throughout its 

 life, it is called "a cell; " if the sides of sev- 

 eral adjoining cells disappear, and the series 

 is in ranged into a tube, it becomes "a vessel." 

 Cells are the base of all vegetation. The red 

 snow-plant, and the yeast-plant, are single 

 cells. The snow-plant, so graphically de- 

 scribed by Kane and other Arctic explorers, 

 is one cell, with little particles floating within. 

 These particles become cells themselves, in 

 time, and the outer coat bursting, lets them 

 escape to commence an individual existence 

 themselves. Cells vary in form in different 

 plants, and even in the same plant they, by 

 overcrowding here and loosening there, get 

 distorted in shape. In the stems of water- 

 lilies some of the cells are star-shaped, while 

 in the wood of trees they are long and pipe- 

 like. The diameter of cells averages from 

 l-1200th of an inch up to l-250th; but the 

 common puff-ball of our pastures, when bro- 

 ken, spirts out a fine brown powder, each 

 particle of which is a cell, or sphore, as it is 

 termed, of infinitesimal diameter. 



The membranous wall of cells is of different 



toughness. In the sea-weed, it is very soft; 

 in a>h, hickory, and mahogany, very hard; 

 and in vegetable ivory, harder still. Cell 

 membrane never dissolves in water, but swells. 

 It is called "cellulose," and is composed of 

 oxvs^'u, hydrogen, and nitrogen, chemically 

 written thus : C. 12 ; 0. 10 ; H. 10. The spaces 

 between the cells of a plant are filled vari- 

 ously: sometimes with air; in the common 

 red cedar, with minute- grains of red aromatic 

 rosin ; in sumach, with a thick milky sap ; and 

 in other plants, with gums. The contents also 

 of cells vary. The growing cells of some 

 plants, as asparagus, are more nutritious, be- 

 cause they contain some nitrogen, which goes 

 toward making muscle in the animal body. 



CERATE (derived from rera, wax.) Cerates 

 are ointments of rather stiff consistence; sim- 

 ple cerate is made by melting together sweet oil 

 and beeswax, or hog's lard and beeswax, or 

 all three together. The oil or lard employed 

 should always be fresh, as nothing irritates or 

 prevents the healing of wounds more than 

 rancid applications. 



CERES. The Roman Pagan goddess of 

 corn and harvests; the Isis of the Egyptians. 

 The festivals to her honour were denominated, 

 at Rome, the Cerealia or Cerealion, hence the 

 term Cerealian grass; and Sicily, long cele- 

 brated for its corn, was supposed to be her 

 favourite retreat. 



CEREAL, relating to com or grain. Cereal 

 plants are the various kinds of grain. Cereal 

 grasses are all those raised to supply bread- 

 stuils, such as wheat, rye, Indian corn, &c. 



CERINE. A substance which forms from 

 seventy to eighty per cent, of beeswax. It 

 may be obtained by digesting wax, for some 

 time, in spirits of wine, at a boiling tempera- 

 ture, after which the cerine is decanted with 

 the liquor, from which it is cleared by evapo- 

 ration. It is white, analogous to wax, and 

 melts at 134 Fahrenheit. 



CHACK. A term used in horsemanship 

 when a horse beats upon the hand, and does not 

 hold his head steady, but tosses up his nose, 

 and shakes it all of a sudden, to avoid the sub- 

 jection of the bridle. In order to fix and secure 

 his head, it is only necessary to put under his 

 nose-band a small flat ligature of iron, bent 

 archwise, which serves as a martingale. 



CHAFF (Sax.ceap; Dutch, Aro/). The husks 

 of corn which are separated by thrashing and 

 winnowing. It likewise implies hay, straw, 

 &c. cut small, for the purpose of being given 

 to horses and other cattle. 



CHAFF-ENGINES. That chaff has been 

 employed as provender for live-stock from a 

 very early period, we have abundant evidence. 

 Cato (lib. 54) recommends it for oxen ; and 

 two centuries since, Hartlib recommended its 

 use, mixed with cut oats and peas. The mode 

 of preparing, the chaff, however, from hay and 

 straw by the knife, was a later improvement, 

 and the first machines were rude and incom- 

 plete. 



We are not aware (says Mr. J. A. Ransome 

 of Ipswich, to whom I am indebted for this and 

 other valuable articles on the implements of 

 agriculture) of any attempt to improve nptn 

 the plan of pressing the hay in a trough, and 



