BAR 



BAR 



rican racers, is to be met with through- 

 out Barbary, Morocco, Fez, Tripoli, 

 and Bortiou. It seldom exceeds four- 

 teen hands and a half in height. The 

 countenance of the barb is usually 

 indicative of its spirit, and the facial 

 line, in direct contradiction to that of 

 the Arabian, is often slightly rounded ; 

 the eyes are prominent ; the ears, 

 though frequently small and pointed, 

 are occasionally rather long and 

 drooping ; the neck is of sufficient 

 length ; the crest is generally fine 

 and not overladen with mane ; the 

 shoulders are tiat and oblique ; the 

 withers prominent, and the chest al- 

 most invariably deep ; the back is 

 usually straight ; the carcass mod- 

 erately rounded only ; the croup long, 

 and the tail placed rather high ; the 

 arms and thighs being commonly 

 muscular and strongly marked ; the 

 knee and hock are broad and low 

 placed ; the back sinews singularly 

 distinct and well marked from the 

 knee downward ; the pasterns rather 

 long, and the feet firm, and but mod- 

 erately open. 



The barb requires more excitement 

 to call out his powers than the Ara- 

 bian ; but when sufficiently stimula- 

 ted, his qualities of speed and endu- 

 rance render him a powerful antago- 

 nist, while the superior strength of 

 liis fore hand enables him to carry 

 tin- greater weight of the two. The 

 Godolphin barb, which was imported 

 from France into England at the con- 

 clusion of the last century, about 25 

 years after the Darley Arabian, was 

 one of those most worthy of note. 

 The former appears to have rivalled 

 the latter in the importance of his 

 get. He was the sire of Lath, Cade, 

 Babraham, IleguJus, Bajazet, Tar- 

 quin. Dormouse, Sultan, Blank, Dis- 

 mal, and many other horses of racing 

 note ; and, without doubt, the English 

 blood-breeds were more indebted to 

 the Darley Arabian and the Godol- 

 phin barb than to all the other East- 

 ern horses which had previously en- 

 tered the country. — (^Blaine's Eiicyc. 

 Rural Sports, p. 243.) 



BARBERRY BUSH. Berheris vul- 

 garis. An indigenous thorny shrub, 



bearing bunches of pale yellow droop- 

 ing flowers in May, which are suc- 

 ceeded by oblong scarlet berries, ri- 

 pening in September. Sharp, three- 

 cleft thorns rise at the base of each 

 leaf-bud. The barberry makes good 

 hedges. It may be propagated by 

 seed, or by layers, which should re- 

 main two years before they are re- 

 moved. The gross shoots, if the 

 shrub stands singly, should be pruned 

 away, and it will fruit better. The 

 berries are gratefuUy acid, and the 

 juice, when diluted with water, may 

 be used as lemonade in fevers. The 

 fruit, made into conserve, is good. 

 It is also excellent as a pickle and 

 preserve. 



There is no good reason for sup- 

 posing that this bush produces rail- 

 dew in wheat. It is very liable to 

 rubigo, a parasitical fungus, but not 

 the uredo of grain. The root con- 

 tains a good yellow dye, and is emetic. 



BARILLA. The ashes of sea-shore 

 plants, containing about 20 per cent, 

 of soda. The cheap manufacture of 

 soda has nearly destroyed the culti- 

 vation of barilla plants. It is used to 

 manufacture hard soaps. See Soda. 



BARK. The rind or covering of 

 the woody parts of a tree. The bark 

 of trees is composed of three distinct 

 layers, of which the outermost is 

 called the epidermis, the next the pa- 

 renchyma, and the innermost, or that 

 in contact with the wood, the cortical 

 layer. The epidermis is a thin, trans- 

 parent, tough membrane ; when rub- 

 bed offit is gradually reproduced, and 

 in some trees it cracks and decays, 

 and a fresh epidermis is formed, push- 

 ing outward the old : hence the rea- 

 son why so many aged trees have a 

 rough surface. The parenchyma is 

 tender, succulent, and of a dark green. 

 The cortical layer, or liber, consists 

 of thin membranes encircling each 

 other, and these seem to increase 

 with the age of the plant. The liber, 

 or inner bark, is known by its w'hite- 

 ness, great flexibility, toughness, and 

 durai)ility : the fibres in its structure 

 are ligneous tubes. It is the part of 

 the stem through which the juices 

 descend, and the organ in which the 



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