COLCHICUM. 



Table o/ various Foreign Coins, tinth their Value 

 in Money of the United States. Also, the Value 

 of Gold Coins per pennyweight. 



Value per dwt. Value by tale. 



Gold. c. m. D. e. D. c. 



British sovereign, or pound 



sterling - 94'6 4'83 to 4'86 



French twenty-franc piece - 92-9 3-84 to 3'S5i 



German ten-thaler piece - 7'84 to 7-97 



Doubloon of Spanish America 88'7 to 90' 15-39 to 15'62 



The value by tale depends upon the age, reign, section 

 of country, and other qualifying circumstances, so that 

 it cannot be precisely expressed in so small a compass. 



Val.bytale. 



Stiver. e. m. 



Dollar of Mexico and South America, about - - 100*0 

 Frmch five-franc piece ------ 93 



Piussixn thaler ----- 68'3 to 69 3 



English shilling (since 1816) 21-7 



Milreis of Portugal, about .... .112-0 



Rupee of British India 44'5 



Spanish -American quarter-dollar, unworn - - 25'0 

 Do. do. worn by circulation 23 - 5 



By the Mint Laws passed by Congress in 

 1837, the eagle is to weigh 258 troy grains, the 

 half and quarter in proportion; the dollar 412A 

 grains, the parts in proportion. The relative 

 value, therefore, of silver to gold, is 15-9984 to 1, 

 or nearly 16 of silver for 1 of gold. In making 

 this comparison, both the silver and gold are 

 to be of the fineness of nine-tenths. 



The coinage of silver in the United States, 

 from 1826 to 1833, was nineteen and a half 

 millions; that from 1834 to 1841 was twenty 

 millions. 



COLCHICUM (Colchicum autumnale). Com- 

 mon meadow saffron. A bulb throwing up a 

 reddish purple flower without leaves in > s '-[>- 

 tember and October: grows three or four 

 inches high: found in moist rich meadows, 

 but not common. It may be propagated from 

 offsets in July. Every part of tbe plant con- 

 tains an alkaline principle named Ctilrhiria, 

 which is a most violent purgative as well as 

 narcotic. This active matter is extracted by 

 wine, spirits of wine, and vinegar. A tincture 

 of the bulb or of the seeds of colchicum, in the 

 dose of twenty to thirty drops twice a day, has 

 been found very useful in gout and rheuma- 

 tism. It has been too commonly taken without 

 medical advice, and much mischief has re- 

 sulted. In an overdose colchicum is a virulent 

 poison. (Smith's Kng. Flora, vol. ii. p. 202.) 



COLD (Sax. coro; Dan. kaald). See CA- 



TAHRH, and DlSKASF.S OF CATTLE, HoilSFS, &C. 



COLE, or COLESEED (Celt, caal ,- Welsh, 

 cau'l ; Lat. Brassica napus). A variety of the 

 cabbage genus, much cultivated in the" east of 

 England; it is sown from the middle of July 

 to the end of August, either for autumn sheep- 

 feed, or for seed (which is very rich in oil) for 

 the following summer. The ashes of the burnt 

 straw of coleseed are excellent dressing for 

 clover. (Brit. Husb. vol. ii. p. 312.) See COLZA 

 and RAPE. 



COLEWORT. See CABBAG> : . 



COLIN, THE VIRGINIAN PARTRIDGE 

 (Ortyx Virginiana). This bird has been intro- 

 duced into England from the United States, 

 and is a species of partridge. It lives on the 

 borders of woods, among brushwood, or on the 

 thick grassy plains. (YcrrdVs Brit. Birds, vol. 

 ii. p. 448.) 



COLLAR (Span, collar- Lat. collare). That 



COLLING. 



| part of the harness of a horse or other animal 



that goes round his neck and rests on the 



I shoulders. For horses, they are mostly made 



of canvass, &c. stuffed with hair, tow, or straw, 



and covered with leather. 



COLLE Y, or COLLY. A kind of dog much 

 prized by the Scotish drovers. See DOG, SHEP- 

 HERD'S. 



COLLEY SHEEP. A name for sheep that 

 have black faces and legs. The wool of these 

 sheep is generally very harsh, having hairs 

 mixed with it. 



COLLING, ROBERT and CHARLES. Two 

 celebrated farmers of the county of Durham, 

 who, by their skill, enterprise, and public spirit, 

 not only secured for themselves the plaudits 

 of after generations of farmers, but did honour 

 to their country by the improvement which they 

 effected in the Durham breed of short-horns, 

 perhaps the most celebrated of all our modern 

 breeds of cattle. It is not in my power to give 

 any details with regard to their private history; 

 their public efforts is all in which my readers 

 will feel interested. The following account 

 of the sale of their stock, and the enormous 

 amount which it produced, will afford a much 

 better view of their success as breeders than 

 any eulogium of mine. 



Charles Colling, of Ketton, near Darlington, 

 made a very ample fortune. The prices he 

 obtained for his stock could hardly indeed have 

 failed to have produced such a result : thus at 

 his sale of improved short-horns, Oct. 11, 1810, 

 the following were some of the prices obtain 

 ed : 



Robert Ceiling's stock was sold at Barmptoii, 

 near Darlington, September 29, 1818, when it 

 produced for 



J47 



