May 



MEA 



eral in which metallic ores or choice 

 crystals are imbedded. 



MATTER. Anything that has 

 weight or sensible properties, as di- 

 visibility, impenetrability, extension. 

 It is organized or inorganic, element- 

 ary or compound. 



MATTOCK. The pickaxe. The 

 iron ends may be pointed or of the 

 figure of a chisel ; the handle of oak 

 or ash. 



MATURATION. Ripening. The 

 formation of pus in abscesses. 

 MAT WEED. The sea reed. 

 MAUL. A large mallet, or beetle, 

 to split wood. 



MAW. The stomach. Mate shin 

 is the prepared stomach for rennet. 



MAW SEED. The small Poppy, 

 which see. 



MAXILLA. The jaw. In zoolo- 

 gy, it means the upper jaw ; in ento- 

 mology, the inferior pair of jaws. 



MAXILLARY. Related to the 

 jaws, as the maxillary j^lands, ar- 

 teries. 



MAY. The most important agri- 

 cultural month. In the North, oats 

 being sowed, and the land manured 

 and in good tilth, corn planting is 

 commenced ; potatoes are also to be 

 set out ; meadows should be harrow- 

 ed where wanted, and manured ; 

 hemp and most crops are sown this 

 month ; everything is to be done out 

 of doors ; in the garden, cabbages, cu- 

 cumbers, melons, lettuce, &c., are 

 transplanted from the hot - beds ; 

 pease, beans, root crops, &c., sowed ; 

 spring budding and grafting are car- 

 ried on until trees are in leaf In the 

 South, tobacco is transplanted, the 

 young cotton plants are cleaned, 

 pease are sown in the corn-hills, the 

 sugar-cane is to be worked, and sweet 

 potato cuttings set out. 



MAY-APPLE. Podophyllum pcl- 

 tatum. Wild mandrake. An herlia- 

 ceous perennial, growing in moist 

 woods, bearing one stem with two 

 leaves ; the roots are cathartic : the 

 yellow fruit, often two and a half inch- 

 es long, is acid and pleasant : it is 

 worthy of cultivation. 

 MAY-TREE. The hawthorn. 

 MAY-WEED. Matricaria chamo- 

 430 



milla, and other plants. Perennial- 

 rooted, composite herbs, overrunning 

 rich cultivated lands ; they should be 

 mowed before flowering, and exter- 

 minated by cultivating hoed crops. 



MEAD. A wine made by ferment- 

 ing one part honey boiled in three 

 parts water, and flavoured with va- 

 rious aromatic herbs, according to 

 the taste. 



M E A D O W S. " Properly, low 

 grounds on the banks of rivers, which, 

 being kept moist by their situation, 

 and also occasionally flooded by the 

 rise of the waters, are best adapted 

 for the growth of grass, and are gen- 

 erally mown for hay. 



'• When meadows are private prop- 

 erty they become much more valua- 

 ble. The flooding is encouraged or 

 prevented, according to circumstan- 

 ces, and, in many cases, artificial ir- 

 rigation is adopted (see Irriffatwn). 

 If they are exposed to be too often 

 inundated, they are protected by 

 dams and sluices. 



" The herbage of low, wet mead- 

 ows is generally coarser and less 

 nutritious than that of those which 

 lie higher ; hence upland hay, as it is 

 called, is preferred for the better sort 

 of cattle. Good grass land, to which 

 the floods never rise, is often called 

 meadow land when the natural herb- 

 age is permanent, and frequently 

 made into hay. 



" Upland meadows are very valua- 

 ble wherever there is a demand for 

 good hay. A considerable degree of 

 attention is required to make them 

 most productive. Not being annual- 

 ly recruited by flooding, they would 

 soon degenerate if some pains were 

 not taken to keep up their natural fer- 

 tility. This may be done in various 

 ways : the most obvious is to recruit 

 them frequently with the richest ani- 

 mal and vegetable manure, which, 

 being spread over the surface at a 

 time when showers are abundant, 

 that is, either early in spring or im- 

 mediately after midsummer, is wash- 

 ed down to the roots of the grass. 

 A rapid growth is thus produced, 

 which is soon perceived by comparing 

 the appearance of a meadow which 



