HOL 



HOL 



College, in Oxford, from Westminster 

 school. 



HOE, in country affairs, a tool made 

 like a cooper's adze, to cut upwards in 

 gardens, fields, &c. This tool is com- 

 monly called the hand-hoe. 



HOFFMANNIA, in botany, so named 

 in memory of Maurice Hoffman, a genus 

 of the Tetrandria Monogynia class and 

 order. Natural order of Stellatae. Ru- 

 biaceae, Jussieu. Essential character : 

 calyx tour-toothed ; corolla salver-shap- 

 ed, four-parted; filaments hone; berry 

 two-celled, many-seeded. There is only 

 one species, viz. H. pedunculata, a native 

 ot'Jamaica. 



HOG. See Scs. 

 HOG, hedge See ERIWACEUS. 

 HJKE, day, the Tuesday after Easter 

 week, which was the day on which the 

 English conquered and expelled the 

 Danes ; this was therefore kept as a day 

 of rejoicing, and a duty, called Hoke 

 Tuesday money, was paid to the landlord, 

 for giving his tenants and bondmen leave 

 to celebrate it. 



HOLCUS, in botany, a genus of the 

 Polygamia Monoecia class and order. Na- 

 tural order of Gramina or Grasses. Es- 

 sential character : hermaphrodite, calyx 

 glume, one or two-flowered : corolla 

 glume, awned, stamina three ; styles 

 two : seed one : male, calyx glume, two- 

 valve d ; corolla none; stamina three. 

 There are fifteen species. One of these, 

 the Holcus bicolor, is cultivated in some 

 parts of the United States, for making a 

 kind of beverage as a substitute for cho- 

 colate. The following account of this spe- 

 cies we take from a paper written by the 

 Professor of Botany in the University of 

 Pennsylvania, and published by order of 

 the Philadelphia Linnaean Society : 



Some account of the Holcus Bicolor, read 

 to the Philudeiplda Linncean Society, by 

 the president. Professor Barton. 



During a late visit to Lancastsr, I learn- 

 ed that the German inhabitants of the 

 Manor, in the county of Lancaster, near 

 the Susquehanna, cultivated a plant, from 

 the seeds of which they made a kind of 

 beverage, resembling, in colour, taste, 

 and nutritious qualities, common choco- 

 late. The first accounts I had of this be- 

 verage were received from Dr. Eberle, 

 and \Yilliam Barton, esquire, of Lancas- 

 ter. The latter informed me, he had 

 drank it once or twice, and that a mem- 

 ber of his family had breakfasted on it, 

 supposing it to be chocolate, without per- 

 ceiving the deception. 



From the information I received, re- 

 specting the stature, growth, and habit, 

 of the plant, I supposed that it was a spe- 

 cies of Sorghum. Learning, however, 

 that a quantity of the plant was growing in 

 a neighbouring garden, I procured a few 

 specimens of it, together with a quantity 

 of the seeds, then sufficiently ripe for use. 

 I found the plant belonging to the genus 

 Holcus, but having no books with me by 

 which I could ascertain the precise spe- 

 cies, I brought the specimens to Philadel- 

 phia, and after carefully comparing them 

 with the descriptions of the different spe- 

 cies offfolcus in Willdenow's work, I find 

 that it is the Holcus bicolor of that author, 

 and was known to Linnaeus. (Vide Man- 

 rma',301.) 



The generic character of Holcus, ac*. 

 cording to the Gen. Plant, is asfollows : 

 Holcus. HEHMAPH. Cal. Gluma !-sive 2- 

 flora. Cor. Gluma sub apice aristata. 

 Stam. 3. %A2. Sem. 1. 



MASCULI. Cal. Gluma 2-valvis. Cor. 

 0-s. 2-valvis. Stam. 3. 

 And, according to Pursh : 

 HOLCUS. Cat. 2-valvis. Cor. minor: valv. 

 altera aristata. JVectar. 2-partitum. Po- 

 lygamum . 



Linnaeus, Willdenow, Muhlenberg, and 

 others, have thrown the genus Holcus into 

 Polygamia Monaecia ; but Michaux and 

 Pursh have referred it to Triandria Digy. 

 via, where it truly belongs, and also to 

 Jussieu's " Graminex" 



The following is Willdenow's descri 

 tion of that species of Holcus, which is '' 

 subject of this paper : 

 Holcus bicolor. 



H. glumis glabris nigris, seminibus g 

 bosis albis aristatis. Man. 301. 



H. glumis glabris ; Hort. Cliffbrt. 468. 

 H. (Sorghum) panicula coarctata o 

 erecta, locustis hermaphroditis obov 

 pene glabris, subaristatis. Mieg. 

 helv. torn 8. p. 129. t. 4. f. 4. 



Milium arundinaceum, subrotundo 

 mine, sorgho nominatum. Bauhin. pi 

 26. Morris, hist. 3. p. 196. s. 8. t. 5. f. 7. 

 Habitat in Persia. D. Lerche. Q- H. V. 

 Zweyfarbiges Pferdegras W. 



Similimus ffolco Sorgho, distinctissimus 

 calycibus atris et seminibus niveis. 



The method of making the beverage, 

 which has a real or a fancied resemblance 

 to chocolate, is this : The seeds, which 

 are farinaceous, together with the glumes, 

 or, as they are commonly called, husks, 

 which are persistent and black are 

 ground in a common coffee mfll, into 

 grains somewhat smaller than ground cof- 

 fee. This coarse farina is then boiled over 

 a slow fire, with the addition of a suffick- 



