ARR 



ART 



nous water plant, the rhizome of 

 which is of a spicy odour. It is the 

 Ciilamus aromalicus of the druggists. 



ARI'ENT. The French acre of 

 51,691 sqare feet. 



ARRACACHA. The South Amer- 

 ican name for an umbelliferous plant, 

 the Arracacia csculcnla of botanists, 

 whose fleshy sweet roots are cultiva- 

 ted in Columbia and Jamaica, in the 

 mountainous parts of those countries, 

 in the same way as parsnips and car- 

 rots in Europe. The roots are of 

 large size, and in quality are, when 

 cooked, between a sweet chestnut 

 and a parsnip. Attempts to intro 

 duce it into common European cul- 

 tivation have uniformly failed. — 

 {Brandc.) 



ARRACK. A whiskey of unpleas- 

 ant odour, obtained by distilling the 

 liquor of the fermented mush of rice. 

 It is sometimes applied to other spir- 

 ituous liquors. 



A R R O W-G R A S S. The genus 

 Triglochin. They are small marsh 

 grasses, perennial, and flowering in 

 July ; some grow on salt marsh. 

 They are eaten bv cattle. 



ARROW-HEAD. Sagittana sa- 

 gittifoiia. A common indigenous, 

 perennial, tuberose plant, with ar- 

 row-shaped leaves, growing in brooks. 

 It is cultivated by the Chinese for its 

 roots, which are mealy. 



ARROW-ROOT. Mamnta arnn- 

 dinacca. A herbaceous plant of the 

 family Canna;, with fleshy perennial 

 roots, readily propagated by root-cut- 

 tings, which should be set a foot to 

 eighteen inches apart, in drills. It is 

 cultivated in Bermuda, the West In- 

 dies, and Florida. The roots are dug 

 wiien a year old, washed, beaten into 

 a pulp, then mixed with water, and 

 agitated ; the strmgy parts are then 

 sejjarated by the hand. Tlie starch, or 

 ut'oic-rool, remains suspended in the 

 water ; this is next strained through 

 a Imen cloth, and then allowed to set- 

 tle, by which the starch subsides, and 

 the water is removed ; it is washed 

 a second lime, and dried. Arrow- 

 root is a nearly pure starch, of agree- 

 able flavour, but little nutrition. Good 

 potatoes, rasped into a pulp and treat- 



40 



1 ed the same way, produce a starch, 

 which is often used to adulterate the 

 genuine article. 



ARROW- WOOD. Viburnum den- 

 tahim. A small shrub with straight, 

 stifl!" branches and blue berries : the 

 wood is said to have been used by 

 the Aborigines for arrows. 



ARSENIC. Arsenious acid, white 

 oxide of arsenic. ' A violent irritant 

 poison, used injudiciously to destroy 

 rats, and as an application to ulcers. 

 The safest antidote is the recently- 

 prepared hydrated oxide of iron : by 

 ! precipitating a solution of per-nitrate 

 of iron by solution of potash. Lime- 

 i water is much less certain. 

 I ARTEMISIA. The genus of 

 I wormwoods. 



I ARTERIOTOMY. The opening 

 of an artery to let blood. 

 i ARTERY. The vessels which 

 I convev red blood are so called. 



ARTESIAN WELLS, or fount 

 ains, are those springs or wells which 

 1 constantly overflow their summits. 



ARTHRODIC. An articulation of 

 bones, in which the head of one is 

 received into a shallow cavity of the 

 other, so as to permit consideral)le 

 motion. This is the case with the 

 upper arm and shoulder. 



ARTICHOKE. Ci/nara scolymus. 

 A plant having the appearance of a 

 gigantic thistle, cultivated lor the 

 flower head, w hich is cut before flow- 

 ering, boiled, and served with butter. 

 They are propagated by seed and off- 

 sets. If by the former, sow the seed 

 in rows, a foot apart, as soon as the 

 frost is out of the ground. Thin the 

 plants to a foot apart in the row, 

 and, in the fall of the year, put out 

 the plants in clumps of four in rows, 

 three feet apart, and tiie rows six 

 feet asunder. They will produce 

 their fruit the next year. When 

 winter approaches, earth the roots 

 well up. and. before the frost sets in, 

 cover all well over with litter liom 

 the yard or stable. Open at the 

 breaking up of the frost ; dig all the 

 ground well between the rows ; lev- 

 el the earth down from the plants. 

 You will find many young ones, or 

 offsets, growing out from the sides ; 



