No. 2. 



Explanation of Terms. 



-27 



with the thumb and finger, for the purpose of 

 setting or planting in the earth, with a view 

 of producing new plants or trees of the same 

 kind. 



30. Sets — are young plants taken from the 

 seed bed to be set or planted out. 



Cabbage and various other plants are usu- 

 ally propagated in this way, being first sown 

 in beds, from which the plants are taken up 

 and set out in fields or gardens. 



31 ( Fallow — signifies land in a state of 

 rest, not being planted or sown for a season, 

 but repeatedly ploughed and harrowed, for 

 the purpose of clearing it of weeds and of 

 dividing and pulverizing the soil more per- 

 fectly. 



Such is sometimes called a naked fallow, 

 because the land carries no crop."' 



32. A Green Fallow — is that where the 

 land has been rendered mellow and clean 

 from weeds, by means of some kind o^ green 

 crop, such as turneps, peas, potatoes, &c., 

 cultivated by the horse-plough and hoe. 



The crop so cultivated and for the above 

 purpose, is called a fallow crop. In this 

 mode of fallowing no time is lost by the land 

 being left idle or in an unproductive state. 

 Fallowing is sometimes distinguished by the 

 season of the year in which the business is 

 either principally or wholly accomplished; 

 hence we have summer, winter and spring 

 fallows. 



33. " Winter Fallowing — is only break- 

 ing up the land, or ploughing it in the fall, 

 and leaving it exposed to the action of the 

 frosts of winter." 



34. Dibble — is a tool of very simple con- 

 struction, for making holes in the ground, at 

 equal distances, in which certain seeds are 

 sometimes planted. 



Seeds planted in this way are said to be 

 dibbled in. It is used also in transplanting. 

 The handle of an old spade or shovel, sharp- 

 ened at the lower end may answer very well 

 for this purpose. 



35. Tiller — is a term used to signify the 

 branching out of a single grain, as of rye, 

 oats, or wheat, i7ito several stalks. 



Where the individual kernels of any grain 

 throw up many stalks, it is said to tiller well. 

 Each shoot thrown out in tillering may be 

 removed and treated as a distinct plant. A 

 remarkable instance of this is related in the 

 filly-eighth volume of Philosophical Trans- 

 actions. Of some wheat sown in June, one 

 of the plants was taken up in August and 

 separated into eighteen parts, and replanted : 

 those plants were again taken up, and di- 

 vided in the month of September and Octo- 

 ber, and planted out separately to stand the 

 winter, which division produced sixty-seven 

 plants. They were again taken up in 

 March and April, and produced five hundred 



plants, from which grew twenty-one thousand, 

 one hundred and nine heads, yielding three 

 pecks and three-quarters of wheat, all pro- 

 duced from one single grain. 



36. Ley — a term used in agriculture, to 

 signify land in the state of sward or grass. 



We frequently read of wheat being sown 

 on a clover ley ; by which we are to under- 

 stand, land in clover, directly after mowing, 

 being turned up, and sown with wheat on the 

 back of the furrows. 



37. Meadow — grass land for mowing. 



In this country, the word is seldom used 

 to signiiy upland mowing, but that which is 

 low and moist, and seldom or never ploughed. 

 In other countries, and by some writers on 

 agriculture in this country, it is the name 

 given to all mowing grounds. 



38. JLjjiuvia — are those small particles 

 flowing out of any substance, which produce 

 in us the sensation of smell. 



Thus, most flowers send forth efiluvia; 

 and substances in a state of putrefaction send 

 forth effluvia of a very different nature. 



39. Chemistry — is the science which ena- 

 bles us to discover the nature and the proper- 

 ties of all natural bodies. 



40. A Simple Substance — is one which 

 cannot be decomposed ; or which is not pro- 

 duced by the union of two or more sub- 

 stances; such as iron, sulphur, &c. 



Sir Humphrey Davy, a celebrated chemist 

 in England, reckoned forty-seven known sim- 

 ple substances in nature. 



41. A Compotind Substance — is one which 

 maybe decomposed; or which is produced 

 by the union of two or more other substances 

 of diff^erent natures. 



Thus, gun-powder is a compound substance 

 being composed of charcoal, sulphur, and salt- 

 petre ; and these substances, or those which 

 united together, produce a compound sub- 

 stance, are called its constituent or compo- 

 nent ptarts. 



42. The Elements of Matter — are the 

 simple substances into which all surrounding 

 objects are capable of being reduced. 



All the substances about which agricul- 

 ture is employed are compounds ; that is, 

 they consist of elements into which they are 

 capable of being resolved. Of this no farmer 

 should be ignorant; and he ought to attain at 

 least to so much chemistry as to know the 

 nature, the properties, and the combinations 

 of those elements, (the number of which is 

 very small,) which are continually working 

 such wonders before his eyes. 



43. Analysis — is the resolution or sepa 

 rating of a compound substance into its 

 elements, or constituent parts. 



44. Caloric — is the name which modern 

 chemists have to fire ; or rather, it is that ex- 



