DILL. 



DISTEMPER. 



der spiked finger-grass, or cock's-foot finger- 

 grass. See FINGER-GRASS and CIIAB GRASS. 



DILL (Anetlium ^ravcolcns, from avbn, on ac- 

 count of its running up straight). A plant 

 kept in kitchen gardens in England. It flowers 

 and seeds in August; the stalk is round, hol- 

 low, and upright, three feet high, and divided 

 into many branches. The flowers are yellow 

 and small, and stand in umbels on the top of 

 its branches ; the root is long. Its leaves and 

 umbels are used in pickling, and the former 

 in soups and sauces. It is a hardy plant, and 

 if grown merely for domestic use may be cul- 

 tivated in any open compartment : but if for 

 seed, a sheltered situation, and a soil rather 

 dry than damp, is to be allotted for it. It is 

 propagated by seed, which is best sown imme- 

 diately it is ripe, for if kept out of the ground 

 until the spring, it is often incapable of germi- 

 nating, or if plants are produced they usually 

 decay without perfecting their seed; if neglect- 

 ed until the spring, it may be sown from the 

 close of February until the commencement of 

 May: the earlier, however, the better. Dill 

 may be sown in drills a foot apart, or broad- 

 cast, very thin and raked in. The plants are 

 to remain where sown, as they will not bear 

 removing. When of three or four weeks' 

 growth they must be thinned to about ten 

 inches apart ; for if not allowed room, they 

 spindle, their leaves decay, no lateral branches 

 are thrown out, and their seed is not good. 

 To prevent these bad effects, in every stage of 

 growth, they require to be kept clear of weeds. 

 The leaves are fit for gathering as wanted, and 

 the umbels about July and August. In Sep- 

 tember their seed ripens, when the umbels 

 must be immediately cut and spread on a 

 cloth to dry, as the seed is very apt to scatter. 

 A volatile oil and a distilled water are pro- 

 cured from the seeds. Both are used as car- 

 minatives ; the water is a good vehicle for 

 powders prescribed for children. (G. W. 

 Johnson's Kitch. Garden.') The kindred species 

 called sweet fennel (Anethum famculuni) is by 

 far the most esteemed. See FEXJTEL. 



DILL. A name sometimes given to the two- 

 seeded tare, a species of large vetch. 



DINDLES. A provincial word applied to 

 the common and corn sow-thistles, as well as 

 to the taller hawk-weed. 



DINGLE (from the Sax. *>en, or t>m, a hol- 

 low). A small clough or valley between two 

 steep hills. 



DISEASES OF CATTLE. See SHEEP, 

 HORSES, and CATTLE. 



DISHLEY BREED. This name, applied to 

 certain well-known breeds of cattle, and espe- 

 cially sheep, is derived from the title of the 

 paternal estate of the celebrated Robert Bake- 

 well. The Dishley, is, therefore, synonymous 

 with the Bakewell breed. 



The name of this celebrated original im- 

 prover of stock is too intimately associated 

 with the history of a great agricultural interest, 

 to be passed over without some particular no- 

 tice. 



Robert Bakewell was born about the year 

 1725, on his paternal estate at Dishley, in Lei- 

 cestershire, and died there, October 1st, 1795. 

 Though it does not appear that he contributed 

 408 



any thing to literature, even on the subjects to 

 wh^ch he devoted his life, yet his efforts, par* 

 ticularly to improve the breed of sheep, justly 

 procured for him a widely extended reputation. 

 The cross breed which he introduced is well 

 known as the Dishley, or new Leicestershire 

 breed. He is to be distinguished from a Mr. 

 Robert Bakewell, who, in 1808, published 

 Observations on Wool, with notes, by Lord So- 

 merville. {Penny Cyclop. Gent. Mag. vol. Ixv. 

 p. 969.) Of his cattle, Arthur Young remark- 

 ed, in 1783 (and Young was no flatterer), when 

 speaking of another excellent farmer "His 

 cattle are of Bakewell's breed, which is giving 

 them sufficient praise." (Ann. vol. ii. p. 156.) 

 And in the same volume, p. 379, when noticing 

 his breed of sheep, he says, " I have not a 

 doubt that it is, without any exception, the 

 first in the world." To attain this excellence 

 Bakewell devoted himself, travelling in search 

 of stock to breed from, not only over England, 

 but into Ireland and Holland. In 1787 his 

 fame enabled him to reap some reward for 

 these labours ; for in that year he let three 

 rams for 1250/., and was offered 1050/. for 

 twenty ewes. The principles which guided 

 him in the breeding of stock are given, in Ann. 

 of Agr., vol. vi. p. 466, by Arthur Young, who 

 twice visited him at Dishley. He kept con- 

 stantly in view, in all his exertions, these ob- 

 jects the most meat from the least food the 

 least offal, and the size of the best joints. He 

 thought, it seems, that the pale-coloured beasts 

 yielded finer meat than the dark ones : he was 

 one of the first who generally introduced the 

 practice of feeling stock under examination; 

 not but what it was a practice partially adopt- 

 ed, even in the days of old Holinshed. Young 

 describes, vol. viii. p. 473, the Dishley sheep, 

 and Bakewell's neat cattle at p. 486, which 

 were, perhaps, the finest of his day; and then 

 his great heavy black cart horses, speaking of 

 them as " by far the finest I have seen of that 

 breed." Bakewell did much, too, in the con- 

 struction of water-meadows (Ibid. p. 490), and 

 it is evident from his various observations re- 

 ported by Young, that he was an enlightened 

 and successful agriculturist, as well as breeder. 

 The Dishley sheep have long been celebrated 

 for their aptness to fatten, their quietude, and 

 the smallness of their bones they will long 

 hand down the name of Bakewell as one of the 

 farmer's best benefactors. Bakewell made no 

 secret of his modes of improving stock, and 

 rarely, if ever, entered into controversies with 

 rival breeders. He wrote nothing himself, and 

 the first scientific work on the subject was 

 written by George Culley, in 1792, who formed 

 himself on Bakewell's model. The examples 

 of opulent and spirited proprietors have since 

 continued to spread the improvements com- 

 menced by Bakewell, and followed up by Culley, 

 Collins, Kline, and others too numerous to 

 mention. 



DISTEMPER is frequently used in the same 

 sense as disease*, but is particularly applied to 

 cattle. In racing stables it is the distinguish- 

 ing names for epidemic catarrh or influenza 

 in horses. Bleeding in the early stage is re- 

 commended, and it is important that the bowels 

 should be evacuated, and sedative medicine* 



