TAR. 



TAR. A dark brown, viscid liquor, obtained 

 by charring the wood of the fir tree; it consists 

 of resin, empyreumatic oil, and acetic acid. 

 When inspissated by boiling, it is converted 

 into pitch. The manufacture, which is carried 

 on in the pine forests of Northern Europe, is 

 simple. A conical hole, usually in the side of 

 a bank, being made, roots and fillets of pine 

 are let into the cavity, and the whole is cover- 

 ed with turf, which is beat firmly down above 

 the wood. The wood being kindled, a slow 

 combustion takes place. A cast-iron pan at 

 the bottom of the cavity receives the fluid, and 

 has a spout which projects through the bank 

 and carries the tar into barrels. As quickly 

 as the barrels are filled, they are closed with 

 bungs, when the material is ready for exporta- 

 tion. This manner of preparing tar has been 

 derived from the earliest ages. Tar is a very 

 compound substance; it contains modified re- 

 sin, and oil of turpentine, acetic acid, charcoal, 

 and water. Tar is used in medicine as well 

 as in the arts. It is an excellent topical stimu- 

 lant, when made into an ointment with lard, in 

 dry skin diseases. These two substances, tar 

 and pitch, are of extensive use in the arts. 



Tar may be found useful as an application 

 for cuts in sheep by clipping, and also to the 

 parts affected by the fly. It is also of great 

 use in some cases for applying as a paint to 

 boarding, &c.; but in this use a little tallow or 

 other coarse fat should be melted with it, as by 

 this means it goes farther, and resists the wea- 

 ther more effectually. Large quantities of tar 

 are made from the abundant pine forests of 

 North Carolina. See also GAS-TAB. 



TARE EVERLASTING. See LATHYRCS 

 and VKTCHLIM;. 



TARES (rtnmi, from ervo, tilled land; some 

 of the species are a pest on cultivated ground). 

 The word tare is frequently applied to what 

 is properly the common vetch (Vicia saliva). 

 There are in England two indigenous species 

 of tare, which are troublesome annual weeds. 



1. Smooth tare (E. tetraspermum, PI. 10, r), 

 winch throws in corn-fields, hedges, and thick- 

 ets, particularly such as are rather moist. The 

 root is small and tapering. The herbage is 

 besprinkled with fine, soft hairs, especially the 

 flower-stalks and calyx. Stem weak, quadran- 

 gular, branched from the bottom, leafy, climb- 

 in ' to the height of 2 or 3 feet. Flowers mostly 

 in pairs, small, drooping, pale gray; the stand- 

 ard streaked, and the keel tipped with a deep 

 blue. Legumes pendulous, oblong, bluntish, 

 smooth. Seeds most generally 4. 



2. Hairy tare (E. kirsutum}, which is in 

 habit much like the foregoing; the flowers are 

 in clusters of 5 or 7, very small, pale blue, or 

 almost white, with two dark spots on the keel. 

 Legumes short, dark brown, besprinkled with 

 hairs, to which the specific name alludes. 

 Seeds two in each legume, large and promi- 

 lent. See LATHYRUS, SOILING, VETCH, VETCH- 

 LINO, &c. 



TARO. A bulbous-rooted plant of the genus 

 Arum, a native of the valley of the Columbia 

 river. It is planted on hills, and cultivated in 

 the manner of rice, on ground so situated as 

 to be partially flooded with water. It comes 

 to maturity in, 8 or 10 months from the time 



TENANT. 



of planting. To prepare them for food, they 

 are roasted; they then become a substitute for 

 jread ; or they are made into poi, by pulveri/- 

 'rig and converting them into a paste. 



TEAM. A number of horses or oxen draw 

 ng at once in the same plough, cart, or other 

 carriage. 



It has been long a disputed point among far- 

 mers whether horses or oxen form the most 

 economical and advantageous team for the 

 purpose of the cultivator in performing his 

 work. The question remains still undecided, 

 hough many intelligent farmers in England 

 now incline to the side of horse teams, except 

 in particular circumstances and situations. 



TEASEL, or TEAZLE (Dipaucvs, supposed 

 to be derived from dipsuo, to thirst; inconse- 

 quence of the leaves holding water). It is a 

 curious genus of plants: some of the species 

 are pretty flowering plants, especially the small 

 teasel. They grow well in any common soil, 

 and are readily increased by seeds. There are 

 in England three native species, all biennial. 



1. The manured or fuller's teasel (D. fullo- 

 rum), although growing about hedges, can 

 scarcely be considered wild. This species is 

 extensively cultivated in the west of England, 

 the dried heads of which furnish the teasel 

 used by fullers in dressing cloth. The root is 

 fleshy, branched, and tapering. Stem 5 to 6 

 feet high, erect, strongly furrowed, prickly, 

 leafy, branched at the top. The leaves sessile, 

 combined, serrated, with prickly ribs. Flowers 

 whitish, with pale purple anthers, very nume- 

 rous, in a close, obtuse, conical head, the in- 

 termediate scales bristly at the edges; rigid 

 and hooked at the points, by which they are 

 rendered serviceable for teazing woollen cloth, 

 being fixed in several rows in wooden frames 

 with handles adapted for that purpose. The 

 scales are just strong enc ugh to raise the wool, 

 giving way before they i an injure the cloth. 

 Many mechanical inventions have been at- 

 tempted to set aside the teasel, but without 

 success, all of them having proved inefficient 

 or injurious. The dressing of a piece of cloth 

 consumes from 1500 to 2000 teasels. They 

 are repeatedly used in different parts of the 

 process. 



TEA. (Thea viridis of Linnaeus.) The gen- 

 uine Tea plant of China has been introduced 

 into the U. S., and although not yet extensively 

 cultivated, there is every reason to conclude 

 that the time will come when this hardy ever- 

 green will furnish a profitable crop, especially 

 in the mountains of the Southern States, where 

 it will find climate and soil as congenial us in 

 similar parallels in China and Japan. 



For further information, see Report of Com- 

 missioner of Patents for 1860, where will be 

 found the modes of gathering the leaves, and 

 preparing the different kinds. 



TEATHING. Provincially, the practice of 

 eating turnips off, upon young wheat crops, in 

 the early spring months, by live-stock, as sheep 

 and bullocks. It is often written lathing. 



TEETH. See AGE OF ANIMALS. 



TEMPERATURE. See ATMOSPHERE, ALTI- 

 TUDE, CLIMATE, EARTHS, ELEVATION, METEOR- 



OLOP.Y. 



TENANT (Tenens, from the Latin tencre, t> 



1035 



