GLOSSARY. 29d 



Arable Husbandry, where the raising of grain is the main object of 

 the cultivator, as in wheat-growing districts. 



Arator, a plougher ; a tiller of the ground ; the title of a book, by 

 John Taylor, an Agriculturist of Virginia. 



Arborculture, or planting, is the cultivation of useful trees and shrubs, 

 and is another term for rural embellishment. 



Arc, any part of a circle ; an arch. 



Archimedean, lever. Archimedes was the most celebrated among an- 

 cient geometricians, and was born about two hundred and eighty- 

 seven years before the birth of our Saviour. He is said to have 

 been the inventor of many mechanical powers, such as the com- 

 pound puUy, the endless screw, and others ; and is reported to 

 have said he would move the earth, if he had a point, or fulcrum, 

 without it, on which to stand, and place his lever. 



Areometer, or Hydrometer, a graduated glass instrument, with a bulb, 

 by wliich the specific gravity of liquids is taken. 



Argillaceous, of the nature of clay. 



Aroma, the odor which arises from certaiit vegetables, or their infu- 

 sions. 



Artery., a hollow tube, or vessel, which conveys the blood from the 

 heart to different parts of the body. 



Assimilation, in animal and vegetable economy, is that hidden, natu- 

 ral process, by which living animals and plants are enabled to con- 

 vert such bodies as have a certain affinity for them, or at least after 

 having undergone some preparation, and change of properties, into 

 their own substance and nature. 



Azote, or J^ltrogen, an invisible aeriform substance, or gas, which 

 composes four fifths of the atmosphere, and is a constituent part 

 of nitric acid, an)monia, &c. 



Banana, a species of the plantain tree, growing in South America, 

 and having a very nutritious fruit. 



Barometer, an instrument, which shows the variation of atmospheric 

 pressure, and measures the weight of the air. 



Basalt, a rock, which is often found in regular blocks, forming col- 

 umns, as in the Giant's Causeway, in Ireland. 



Basaltic, relating to basalt, composed or formed of basalt. 



Bean-stubble, the ground where beans have been raised. 



Bell metal, an alloy of tin and copper. 



Bent, a species of grass, of the genus Agrostis. 



Biennial, happening in, or lasting, two years. 



Biennial Plants, such as flower and seed the second year, and then 

 die, as the carrot, cabbage, onion. 



Bird^sfoot trefoil, or Bird's foot clover, a species of the genus Lotus. 



Bisulphuret, a double sulphuret ; a compound having two proportion- 

 als of sulphur. 



Bitumen, an inflammable mineral substance, resembling tar or pitch, 

 in its properties and uses. Among different bituminous substances, 

 the names naphtha and petroleum have been given to those which 

 are fluid ; maltha, to that which has the consistence of pitch ; and 

 asphaltum, to that which is solid. 



Bituitiinous, coutuining bitumen. 



