CRESS. 



general, but are often the only ones that ripen. 

 They should be gathered as they ripen, which 

 they do from the close of August to the begin- 

 ning of October. They must on no account 

 be stored until perfectly dry and hard. The 

 finest and soundest seed of the previous year's 

 production should alone be sown ; if it is older, 

 the plants are seldom vigorous. (G. W. John- 

 son's Kitchen Garden) . 



CRESS, WALL, or ROCK CRESS (drains). 

 A genus of plants of very different habit from 

 the last, of which the species are numerous, 

 and chiefly natives of the northern hemisphere. 

 There are six species described by Smith (Eng. 

 Flor. vol. iii. p. 209), but the wall cress (dra- 

 ins thaliana) is preferred. All the species 

 have a pungent flavour. The plants are adapt- 

 ed for ornamenting rock work, and are propa- 

 gated from seeds or cuttings. The wild sorts 

 are found frequent on old walls, stony banks 

 or rocks, dry sandy ground, and cottage roofs. 



CRESS, WATER (Nasturtium). There are 

 several native species of water cress, which 

 may be included in the following summary. 

 Creeping yellow cress, annual yellow cress, 

 amphibious yellow cress, or great water radish, 

 and common water cress. They are branching 

 herbs, almost invariably smooth, throwing out 

 numerous radicles, and either altogether aqua- 

 tic or at least growing in wet ground. (Eng. 

 Flor. vol. iii. p. 191 5). Water cress (N. 

 officinaie) was seldom admitted as an object 

 of cultivation, and then never to any extent, 

 until Mr. Bradbury, of West Hyde, Herts, un- 

 dertook its cultivation for the London market. 

 Mr. Bradbury considers that there are three 

 varieties, the green-leaved, which is easiest 

 cultivated ; small brown-leaved, which is the 

 hardiest ; and the large brown-leaved, which is 

 the best, having most leaf in proportion to the 

 stalk, and is the only one that can well be culti- 

 vated in deep waters. (Trans. Hort. Soc. Lond. 

 vol. iv. p. 538.) The plants thrive best in a 

 moderately swift stream, about an inch and a 

 half deep, over a gravelly or chalky bottom, 

 and the nearer its source the better: when there 

 is choice, such situations, therefore, should be 

 exclusively planted. If mud is the natural 

 bottom, it should be removed, and gravel sub- 

 stituted. The plants are to be set in rows, 

 which is most conducive to their health and 

 good flavour, inasmuch as that they are regu- 

 larly exposed to the current of water, of which, 

 if there is not a constant stream, they never 

 thrive. In shallow water, as above mentioned, 

 the rows may be made only eighteen inches 

 apart, but in deeper currents from five to seven 

 feet are sometimes necessary. The beds must 

 be cleared and re-planted twice a year, for in 

 the mud and weeds which quickly collect, the 

 plants not only will not grow freely, but it is 

 difficult to separate them in gathering; it is 

 likewise rendered imperative by the heads be- 

 coming small from frequent cutting. The 

 times for planting and renewal are in succes- 

 sional insertions during May and June, the 

 plants from which will come into production 

 in August ; and again from September to No- 

 vtnber, those in the last month being ready in 

 ihe spring. In renewing the plantations, the 

 bed of the stream, commencing towards its 

 364 



CRICKET. 



head, being cleared of mud and rubbish, from 

 the mass of plants taken out the youngest and 

 best rooted must be selected. These are re- 

 turned into the stream, and retained in their 

 proper order, by a stone placed on each. After 

 the plants have been cut about three times, 

 they begin to stock, and then the oftener they 

 are cut the better. In summer they must be 

 cut very close. The situation being favoui 

 able, they will yield a supply once in a week. 

 In winter the water should be kept four or five 

 inches deep ; this is easily effected, by leaving 

 the plants with larger heads, which impedes 

 the current. The shoots ought always to be 

 cut off; breaking greatly injures the plants. 

 (Trans. Hort. Lond. Soc. vol. iv. p. 537 42.) 



CRIB. In England sometimes applied to a 

 rack for hay or straw for cattle, and sometimes 

 to a manger for corn or chaff; also to a small 

 enclosure in a cow-house or shed for calves or 

 sheep. In the United States it is commonly 

 used to designate the building or apartment in 

 which Indian corn is stored in the ear. 



CRIB-BITING. A vice to which some 

 horses are subject; consisting in their catch- 

 ing hold of the manger, and it is said sucking 

 in the air. It generally proceeds from a de- 

 ranged state of the stomach, but it is sometimes 

 brought on by uneasiness occasioned by dis- 

 eases of the teeth, or by roughness in the per- 

 son who currycombs them. (Brande.) There 

 are several straps or muzzles in use to prevent 

 crib-biting, one of the beat being that invented 

 by Mr. Stewart. (Elaine's Encyc. p. 318, 319.) 



CRICK. In farriery, is when a horse can- 

 not turn his neck any way, and when thus af- 

 fected he cannot take his meat from the ground 

 without great pain. 



CRICKET. The common or hearth cricket 

 (Gryllina). This insect in England frequents 

 kitchens and bakers' ovens, on account of the 

 warmth of those places. An easy method of 

 destroying them is to place phials half full of 

 beer or any other liquid near their holes, and 

 they will crawl into them, and can then be 

 easily taken. A hedgehog soon clears a kitchen. 



There are, as yet, no house-crickets in the 

 United States, where the species inhabiting 

 gardens and fields enter dwellings only by ac- 

 cident. The American crickets belong to a 

 group of insects (Achetafla) which naturalists 

 have placed in the same class as the grasshop- 

 pers and locusts. They are distinguished by 

 having wing-covers horizontal, and furnished 

 with a narrow, deflexed outer border; antennae 

 long and tapering; feet with not more than 

 three joints, and two tapering downy bristles 

 at the end of the body, between which, in most 

 of the females, is a long spear-pointed piercer. 



"There may be sometimes seen," says Dr. 

 Harris, "in moist and soft ground, particularly 

 around ponds, little ridges or hills of loose, 

 fresh earth, smaller than those which are 

 formed by moles. They cover little burrows, 

 that usually terminate beneath a stone or clod 

 of turf. These burrows are made and inhabit- 

 ed by mole-crickets, which are among the most 

 extraordinary of the cricket kind. The com- 

 mon rnole-cricket of this country is, when fully 

 ! grown, about one inch and a quarter in length, 

 | of a light bay or fawn colour, and covered with 



