AVE 



AV" 



one-celled. One species, a large tree of 

 Japan. 



AUDIENCE, is the name of a court of 

 justice, established in the West Indies by 

 the Spaniards, answering in effect to the 

 parliaments of France. 



These courts take in several provinces, 

 called also audiences, from the names of 

 the tribunal to which they belong. 



AUDIENCE, is also the name of an ec- 

 clesiastical court held by the archbishop 

 of Canterbury, wherein differences upon 

 elections, consecrations, institutions, mar- 

 riages, &c. are heard. 



AUDITORY nerves, in anatomy, a pair 

 of nerves arising from the medulla oblon- 

 gata, with two trunks, the one of which 

 is called iheportio dura, hard portion ; the 

 other portio molds, or soft portion. See 

 ANATOMY. 



AVENA, in botany, oat-grass t chiss 

 Triandria Digynia ; natural order, Grami- 

 na. Generic character ; calyx, glume 

 generally many-flowered, two-valved, 

 loosely collecting the flowers ; valves 

 lanceolate, acute, ventricose, loose, large, 

 awnless ; corolla two-valved ; lower valve 

 harder than the calyx ; the size of the 

 calyx roundish, ventricose, acuminate at 

 both ends, emitting from the back an awn 

 spirally twisted, reflex, nectary two-leav- 

 ed ; leaflets lanceolate, gibbous at the 

 base ; stamina filaments three, capillary ; 

 anthers oblong forked ; pistil germ ob- 

 tuse ; styles two, reflex, hairy ; stigma 

 simple ; pericarp none ; corolla most firm- 

 Jy closed, grows to the seed, and does not 

 gape ; seed one, slender, oblong, acumi- 

 nate at both ends, marked with a longitu- 

 dinal furrow. There are many species, 

 of which we notice A. sativa, cultivated 

 oat. Of this there are four varieties, the 

 white, black, brown, or red, and the blue 

 oat; panicled ; calyxes two-seeded ; seeds 

 very smooth, one-awned; annual; culm 

 or straw upwards of two feet high ; pani- 

 cle various in different varieties, but al- 

 ways loose and pendulous ; the two 

 glumes or chaffs of the calyx are marked 

 with lines, pointed at the end, longer than 

 the flower and unequal ; there are usually 

 two flowers, and seeds in each calyx ; 

 they are alternate, conical ; the smaller 

 one is awnless ; the larger puts forth a 

 strong, two coloured, bent awn, from the 

 middle of the back. No botanist has 

 been able to ascertain satisfactorily the 

 native place of growth of this, or indeed 

 of any other sort of grain now commonly 

 cultivated in Europe. The varieties men- 

 tioned above have been long known, and 

 others have been introduced, as the Po- 



land, the Friesland or Dutch, and the Si- 

 berian or Tartarian oat. The blue oat is 

 probably what is called Scotch greys. The 

 white sort is most common about London, 

 and those countries where the inhabitants 

 live much upon oat-cakes, as it makes the 

 whitest meal. The black is more culti- 

 vated in the northern parts of England, 

 as it is esteemed a hearty food for horses. 

 The red oat is much cultivated in Derby- 

 shite, Staffordshire, and Cheshire ; it is ft 

 very hardy sort, and gives a good increase. 

 The straw is of a brownish red colour, 

 very heavy, and esteemed better food for 

 horses than either of the former sorts. In 

 Lincolnshire they clutivate the sort called 

 the Scotch greys. The Poland oat has a 

 short plump grain, but the thickness of 

 the skin seems to have brought it into dis- 

 repute among farmers. Add to this, the 

 straw is very short. It was sown by Mr. 

 Lisle in 1709. Friesland or Dutch oat 

 affords more straw, and is thinner skin- 

 ned, and the grains mostly double. A 

 white oat, called the potatoe oat in Cum- 

 berland, where it was lately discovered, 

 promises, from the size of the grain anel 

 the length of the straw, to be the most 

 valuable we possess ; it is now very gene- 

 rally bought for sowing. The oat is a very 

 profitable grain, and a great improvement 

 to many estates in the north of England, 

 Scotland, and Wales ; for it will thrive in 

 cold barren soils, which will produce no 

 other sort of grain ; it will also thrive on 

 the hottest land; in short, there is no soil 

 too rich or too poor, too hot or too cold, 

 for it ; and in wet harvests, when other 

 grain is spoiled, this will receive little or 

 no damage. The meal of this grain makes 

 a tolerably good bread, and is the com- 

 mon food of the country people in the 

 north. It is also esteemed for pottage 

 and other messes, and in some places they 

 make beer with it. The best time for 

 sowing oats is in February or March, ac- 

 cording as the season is early or late. 

 The black and red oats may be sown a 

 month earlier than the white, because 

 they are hardier. The advantage of early 

 sowing is proved by experiment. White 

 oats sown the last week in May, have pro, 

 duced seven quarters the acre , and in 

 Hertfordshire they do not sow them till 

 after they have done sowing barley, which 

 is found to be a good practice, this oat 

 being Aore tender than the others. Mr. 

 Marshall mentions the blowing of the sal- 

 low as a direction for the sowing of this 

 grain. He says, most people allow four 

 bushels of oats to an acre, but I am con- 

 vinced that three bushels are more than 



