Cat 



CAT 



The seeds are sown in hills like corn, 

 and hoed until they arc two feet high. 

 The time of sowing is in April and 

 May : the ground must be rich. The 

 seeds are enclosed in capsules at the 

 summits, and are easily thrashed out. 

 The crop is stated at twenty to twen- 

 ty-five bushels the acre. The oil is 

 separated in two different ways : 1st. 

 By boilmg the bruised seeds enclosed 

 in a bag. and skimming off the oil as 

 it rises, and, finally, pressing the bag. 

 2d. By heatmg the seeds in iron trays 

 slightly, so as not to char, pressing 

 under a screw, collecting the oil, 

 and boiling in water, takmg care to 

 separate all the white parts, and re- 

 serving the pure limpid oil only. This 

 is placed in barrels. The seeds yield 

 about one fourth of their weight of 

 good oil. The price fluctuates con- 

 siderably. 



CASTOR OIL. An admirable 

 purge for animals, especially calves : 

 four to six ounces is enough for a 

 strong ox. It is now used for burn- 

 ing and machinery, as well as for can- 

 dles, when prepared by the separa- 

 tion of the fluid parts from the stearin. 



CATALPA. The Bignonia calalpa, 

 a middling-sized tree, nearly fifty feet 

 high, growing in the Middle States 

 and South, remarkable for its large 

 flowers and leaves. The wood is du- 

 rable, and makes good posts and fen- 

 ces, and is said, by Dr. G. B. Smith 

 and others, to be more lasting than 

 locust or mulberry. It grows very 

 rapidly. 



CATARACT. In farriery, a dis- 

 ease in the eyes of horses, in which 

 the crystal! ne humour is rendered 

 opaque, and the vision impeded or 

 destroyed. The only certain method 

 of cure in these complaints is to re- 

 move the lens by means of extract- 

 ing or couching. By the first-men- 

 tioned operation, an incision is made 

 into the eye through the white mem- 

 brane, and the opaque lens taken out ; 

 by the second, it is depressed by the 

 point of a couching needle thrust into 

 the eye, and, being carried to the low- 

 er part of the chamber of the eye or 

 vitreous humour, it is left there to be 

 absorbed. The first operation is the 



134 



' more effective, but the more hazard- 

 ous of the two, owing to the inflam- 

 mation which succeeds. The second 

 is tedious and sometimes fails, but it 

 is less free from the risk of inflam- 

 mation. 



CATARRH. A cold. The irrita- 

 tion of the mucous membrane of the 

 nostrils. 



1 CATCH-DRAIXS. The lower 

 Qitches of irrigated lands, which re- 

 ceive the water that has flowed over 

 their surface, and return it to the 

 stream. 



CATECHU. A drug of a very as- 

 tringent or binding nature. It is also 

 used in dveing browns and in tanning. 

 CATERPILLAR. The worm, or 



I larva, which is hatched from the eggs 

 of butterflies and moths. They are 

 peculiarly obnoxious, from feeding on 

 the leaves, fruit, and bark of trees. 

 The most effective method of exter- 



, minating them is to keep the tree 

 regularly cleaned by washing with 

 lye, brine, soft soap, and removing 

 every appearance of cocoon or net- 

 work about the branches. The ap- 

 plication of strong hartshorn to the 

 caterpillar nests is practised by Mr. 



■ Pell with great success. Lime is also 

 very hurtful to them. Caterpillars, 

 after a season, depending on their 

 species, either spin a cocoon and re- 



: tire therein to change into a grub, or 

 burrow into the earth or trees, and 

 undergo a transformation therein. 



j The grub changes in spring to a but- 



I terfly or moth, which lays some five 

 hundred eggs, which in a few days 

 become caterpillars : thus, in three 

 generations, if untouched, thirty mill- 

 ion worms are produced. 



CATHARTICS. Medicines pro- 

 ducing increased defecation. Aloes, 

 castor oil, senna, jalap, Glauber 

 salts, Epsom salts, calomel, are the 

 principal cathartics. They should be 

 used very sparingly, as they produce 

 habitual costiveness after a time. 



j CATKIN. A pendftlous spike of 

 flowers, which falls after a season, as 



! in the willow. Amcnlum is the more 

 common designation. 



CATSUP. Mushroom catsup is 



J readily made by placing a bushel or 



