LING. 



LINSEED. 



mated at 8,000,000/., and the total number of 

 persons employed in it, about 185,000. 



LIING (Citlluiid ri'/iTfiris). A species of heath. 

 To avoid the inconvenience of giving a new 

 generic appellation to the hundreds of plants 

 familiar to everybody as Eric.ee or heaths, Mr. 

 Salesbury has judiciously called our common 

 ling Calluna, from H-J^WM; which is doubly 

 suitable, whether with Mr. Salisbury and Dr. 

 Hull we take it to express a cleansing property, 

 brooms being made of ling, or whether we 

 adopt the more common sense of the word, to 

 ornanifiit or adorn, which is very applicable to 

 the flowers. This shrub grows ahnost every- 

 where, on dry moors, heaths, and open, barren 

 wastes, as well as in woods where the soil is 

 sandy or turfy. The stems are bushy, repeat- 

 edly and irregularly branched. Leaves deep 

 green, minute, sessile, acute, keeled, somewhat 

 arrow-shaped, closely imbricated on the young 

 branches, making a quadrangular figure, like a 

 close-beaten chain ; they are generally smooth, 

 but in one variety are densely hoary all over. 

 The flowers are stalked, drooping, in longish 

 unilateral clusters, soon overtopped by leafy 

 shoots. The inner calyx, which is the most 

 conspicuous part of the flower, is of a shining 

 permanent rose colour. The flowers appear 

 in June and July. Grouse and other birds, as 

 well as some quadrupeds, eat the seeds and 

 young shoots. There is a white-flowered va- 

 riety, and a very beautiful double red one, 

 cultivated in gardens, whose flowers, from a 

 copious multiplication of the corolla, resemble 

 .ittle roses. See HEATH. 



LINIMENT (Lat. lino, I anoint). In farrie- 

 ry, a semi-fluid ointment, or a soapy application 

 to rub upon painful joints. The term is also 

 applied to spirituous and other stimulating ap- 

 plications for external use. Liniments are in- 

 tended either to lubricate or to stimulate ; but 

 in either case they can only be regarded as 

 topical applications, their influence not extend- 

 ing beyond the part to which they are applied. 

 In some instances they are anodyne; and con- 

 tain solutions of opium in oil. 



LINSEED or FLAXSEED (Lat. Kni semen ; 

 Germ. Leinsaat). The seed of the flax plant. 

 See FLAT. This seed is small, oval, oblong, 

 flattened laterally, acute at the extremities, 

 glossy, brown ; but internally white. It is in- 

 odorous, and tastes mucilaginous and oily. The 

 husk or testa yields much mucilage to water, 

 and the kernel a large proportion of oil to pres- 

 sure. Besides upward' of 11 per cent, of oil, 

 linseed contains wax, aa acrid soft resin, ex- 

 tractive, a yellow colouring matter, starch, 

 gum, tannic acid, albumen, gluten, emulsive, 

 and some salts. When the seeds are burnt, 

 the ashes contain oxide of copper. The in- 

 fusion of linseed in boiling water yields a de- 

 mulcent mucilage, which is much used as a 

 domestic medicine in coughs, and in cases of 

 acrimony in the urinary discharge. The lin- 

 j.eed should not be boiled in the water, as that 

 extracts the oil as well as the mucilage, and 

 renders the decoction nauseating. 



Linseed is much used in the economy of the 



farm, for feeding cattle and other purposes. A 



bushel of linseed averages in weight about 51 



pounds; this weight, when crushed, produces 



526 



about a quarter of its weight of linseed oil, and 

 the remainder is cake. The great bulk of this 

 seed is- obtained from the Baltic and the Black 

 Sea, and recently considerable quantities have 

 been received from Egypt and Hindostan : of 

 this last, the general character is, that although 

 the seed is good, the impurities with which it 

 is mixed are very considerable, such as the 

 seeds of rape, &c. ; for which reason the oil 

 obtained from it does not possess the drying 

 qualities of that expressed from the unmixed 

 linseed, and the dealers in consequence will 

 not give so much for it. This arises not from 

 any intentional adulteration, but from the bad 

 farming and want of cleanliness of the ori- 

 entalists. 



Linseed oil contains a very considerable 

 quantity of mucilage, which it almost entirely 

 deposits by time ; and hence, old linseed oil is 

 more valued by the painter, but for the grazier, 

 perhaps, its nutritive powers decrease by time. 

 It is said by some persons, that it is to the pre- 

 sence of this mucilage that we must attribute 

 the fattening quality of linseed oil when mixed 

 with other substances, for linseed oil by itself 

 is almost as powerful a purgative as castor oil, 

 for which purpose indeed it is very commonly 

 employed by the farmer; but on the other 

 hand, we must remember, that in small doses, 

 even castor oil is very fattening. Linseed is 

 in fact commonly given to some birds, parrots 

 for instance, for this purpose. Its purgative 

 properties are very inferior to those of castor oil. 



LINSEED CAKE. Linseed cake is a well- 

 known and valuable article for the food of live 

 stock, almost equally good for cattle, sheep, and 

 horses. It is the residuum, or refuse, left after 

 the oil is expressed from linseed. 1000 parts 

 of it, according to Davy, contain about 151 

 parts of nutritive matter. Its price has induced 

 many attempts to economize its application. It 

 has been often given as recommended by Mr. 

 Hillyard, mixed with other substances, whose 

 value he thus estimates: 



" The weekly cost of feeding each beast, in- 

 cluding the expense of getting up, carting, and 

 cutting the turnips and hay, and attendance, 

 will be 



10*. 



Us. M. 



14*. 



" No food," says Mr. Hillyard, "can be given 

 o stall-feeding beasts that will fatten them so 

 soon or so well as linseed oil-cake. It certain- 

 y is expensive feed, but not so expensive as it 

 appears to be, taking into consideration that it 

 fattens quicker. Beasts that have been fed 

 with it, do not, after a long drift to market, lose 

 their firmness of handling, as those do, fetf 



