DOG BRAMBLE. 



DOGWOOD. 



diseases of the eyes, fits, diarrhoea, &c., all of I 

 which are treated of under their several heads. | 



In England, the shepherd's dog (C. fam. do- ; 

 mesticus, Lin.) offers the example of one of the 

 purest races of this domesticated animal, and ' 

 that which, in its straight ears, its hair and 

 tail, approaches nearest to the original stock. 

 The sagacity of this variety in the peculiar 

 department in which his services are rendered ' 

 to maii is well known, and has been illustrated 

 by a hundred interesting anecdotes. It is a 

 curious fact, that the brain of the shepherd's 

 dog is larger than that of any other of the race ; 

 but how far this is connected with his sagacity 

 we shall not pretend to affirm. Notwithstand- 

 ing the great variations in size met with in the 

 pasture or shepherd'*; dog, in different coun- 

 tries of the globe (for he is probably the most 

 extensively diffused of the race), yet he every- 

 where preserves some personal characteristics, 

 which mark his adherence to the original type 

 in a greater degree than in any other breed 

 over which man has so arbitrarily exercised 

 his dominion. One of these characteristics is 

 his quantity of covering, which is invariably 

 great, particularly abont the neck. The large 

 drover's dog, which attends the beast-markets, 

 is larger, and usually of a stronger build than 

 the sheep-dog. The sagacious colly of Scot- 

 land is a dog deservedly prized, though much 

 smaller than either the English sheep-dog or 

 the drover's cattle-dog. The ears are never 

 wholly pendent in any of the race ; but in the 

 British varieties, and many others also, they 

 are half-erected, or half -pricked, as it is called. 

 The prevailing colour is very generally gray, 

 more or less dark ; the tail is bushy, somewhat 

 pendent, and recurved; visage more or less 

 pointed. 



DOG BRAMBLE (Ribes cynosbati). One of 

 a valuable genus of plants, which contains the 

 gooseberry and the currant : some of the spe- 

 cies are well suited for ornamenting shrubbe- 

 ries. They will grow in any soil, propagated 

 by cuttings planted in autumn, or early in 

 spring. 



DOG-BRIER and DOG-ROSE (Rosa carana). 

 The wild brier bearing the hip or hep. 



DOG-DAYS, or CANICULAR DAYS. The 

 name given to certain days of the year, during 

 which the heat is usually the greatest. They 

 are reckoned about forty, and are set down in 

 the almanacs as beginning on the 3d July, and 

 ending on the llth August In the time of the 

 ancient astronomers, the remarkable star Si- 

 rius, called also canicular, or the dog-star, rose 

 heliacally, that is, just before the sun, about 

 the beginning of July; and the sultry heat 

 which usually prevails at that season, with all 

 its disagreeable effects, among which the ten- 

 dency of dogs to become rabid is not one of 

 the least disagreeable, were ascribed to the 

 malignant rage of this star. Owing to the pre- 

 cession of the equinoxes, the heliacal rising of 

 Sirius now takes place later in the year, and 

 in a cooler season ; so that the dog-days have 

 not now that relation to the particular position 

 of the dog-star, from which they obtained their 

 name. 



DOG -FENNEL. One of the provincial 

 names of the weed corn-camomile. 

 410 



DOG-FLY (Cynomia, Lin.). A genus oi 

 insects common HI woods and among bushes, 

 that is particularly troublesome to dogs, fasten- 

 ing upon their head and ears. They sting very 

 severely, and always raise a blister in the part 

 they touch. 



DOG POISON, FOOL'S PARSLEY (JEthv 

 sa cynapium}. PI. 10, q. An umbelliferous 

 plant, frequently found in gardens. It is easily 

 distinguished from the other umbellifera by 

 the partial umbels, consisting of three narrow, 

 long, linear leaflets, which hang down. The 

 leaves have short sheathing footstalks, are 

 doubly pinnate, with decurrent, pinnatifid leaf- 

 lets. It has been eaten for parsley, and has 

 proved fatal. The stem and leaves are poi- 

 sonous, and contain a peculiar alkali, called 

 cynapia. 



DOG'S-BANE (Cynanchummonspdiannn}. A 

 perennial, native of Montpelier, which loves 

 warmth and a good soil. Blows pale pink 

 flowers in July and August. Cover the roots 

 in frosts. Propagate by suckers. 



A plant under the same popular name is 

 described by Dr. Darlington, as found in 

 Chester county, Pennsylvania. (Flor. Cest.} 



DOG'S CABBAGE (Thelygonum cynobrambe}. 

 A common garden soil suits this species ; pro- 

 pagate by seeds. 



DOG'S GRASS. See COUCH. 



DOG'S TAIL GRASS. See CTNOSURUS. 



DOG'S TONGUE (Cynoglossum). See 

 HOUXD'S-TONGUE. 



DOG'S TOOTH GRASS, CREEPING (Cy- 

 nodon dadylon}. PI. 7, A:. This grass was 

 identified by A. R. Lambert, Esq. (Trans. Linn. 

 Soc. vol. vi.) as the celebrated hallowed doob- 

 grass of the Hindoos. In the East Indies this 

 grass grows luxuriantly, and is highly valued 

 as food for horses, &c. ; in England, however, 

 it scarcely begins to vegetate till the month of 

 June, and experiments made by Sinclair and 

 others show that its produce and nutritive 

 powers here are not sufficiently great to hold 

 out any hope that its valuable properties in the 

 East Indies can be made available in the 

 climate and soil of Britain. The doob-grass 

 flowers in September, and the seed is ripe 

 about the end of October, and sometimes in 

 November. The plants, natives of the English 

 coasts, flower about a month earlier than the 

 above. It is found on the sandy shores of 

 Cornwall abundantly, and was first noticed by 

 Mr. Newton, in the time of Ray. (Hort. Gram. 

 Wob. p. 290 ; Eng. Flor. vol. i. p. 94.) 



DOG-WHEAT. See COUCH. 



DOGWOOD. A name applied to two differ- 

 ent plants: in England to any of the shruhby 

 species of Cormis ; in the West Indies to the 

 Piscidia crylhrina. The former are of JLttle 

 interest, except as ornamental shrubs ; the 

 latter is a powerful narcotic, the real value of 

 which in medicine has still to be determiued. 



There are two indigenous species of cornel 

 or dogwood ; the C. sanguinea, a bush of four 

 or five feet high, with smooth branches of a 

 dark red when full grown; fruit dark purple, 

 very bitter, like every other part of the plant; 

 found common in hedges and thickets, espe- 

 cially on a chalk or limestone soil: and the 

 dwarf cornel (C. suecica), growing in moist 



