QUI 



getable used in dyeing fustian ; all tlie va- 

 rieties of drabs and different shades of 

 brown, are made with oak saw-dust, vari- 

 ously managed and compounded. Oak 

 apples are also used in dyeing, as a substi- 

 tute for galls. See GALLS. 



Q. suber, cork-barked oak, or cork tree: 

 there are two or three varieties of this 

 species, one with a broad leaf, a second 

 with a narrow leaf, both ever green ; arid 

 one or two which cast their leaves in au- 

 tumn; the broad-leaved evergreen is the 

 most common ; the leaves of this are en- 

 tire, about two inches long, and an inch 

 and quarter broad, with a little down on 

 their under sides, oh short footstalks ; 

 these leaves continue green through the 

 winter till May, when they generally fall 

 off'just before the new leaves come out; 

 the acorns are very like those of the com- 

 mon oak. The exterior bark is the cork, 

 which is taken from the tree every eight 

 or ten years ; there is an interior bark 

 which nourishes them, so that stripping 

 off the outer bark is so far from injuring 

 the trees, that it is nepessary to continue 

 them ; for when the bark is not taken off', 

 they seldom last longer than fifty or sixty 

 years in health ; whereas trees which are 

 barked every eight or ten years, will live 

 one hundred and fifty years, or more- 



The uses of the cork are well known, 

 both by sea and land ; the poor people in 

 Spain lay broad planks of it by their bed- 

 side to tread on, as great persons use Tur- 

 key and Persian carpets, to defend them 

 from the floor; they frequently line the 

 walls and the inside of their houses, built 

 of stone, with this bark, which renders 

 them warm, and corrects the moisture of 

 the air. This tree is a native of the south 

 of Europe. 



QUERIA, in botany, so named from 

 Joseph Quer, professor of botany at Ma- 

 drid, a genus of the Triandria Trigynia 

 class and order. Natural order of Caryo- 

 phyllei. Caryophyllese, Jussieu. Essen- 

 tial character: calyx five-leaved ; corolla 

 none; capsule one-celled; seed one. 

 There are three species. 



QUICKSILVER. See MERCURY. 



QUILLS, are the large feathers taken 

 out of the end of the wings of geese, os- 

 triches, crows, &c. They are denominat- 

 ed from the order in which they are fixed 

 in the wing ; the second and third quills 

 being the best for writing, as they have 

 the largest, and roundest barrels. Crow 

 quills are chiefly used for drawing. In 

 order to harden a quill that is soft, thrust 

 the barrel into hot ashes, stirring it till it 

 is soft, and then taking it out, press it al- 



most flat upon your knee, with the back 

 of a penknife, and afterwards reduce it to 

 a roundness with your fingers Another 

 method to harden quills is, by setting wa- 

 ter and alum over the fire, and while it is 

 boiling, put in a handful of quills, the bar- 

 rels only, for a minute, and then lay them 

 by. Large quantities of quills are yearly 

 imported into Britain, from Germany and 

 Holland, The goodness of quills . are 

 judged by the size of the barrels, but par- 

 ticularly the weight ; hence the denomi- 

 nation of quills of fourteen, fifteen, &c. 

 loths, viz. the thousand consisting -of twelve 

 hundred quills, weighing fourteen, fifteen, 

 &c. loths. The loth is a German weight, 

 weighing somewhat more than an ounce. 

 Particular attention should be paid, on 

 purchasing quills, that they may not be 

 left-handed, that is, not out of the left 

 wing. 



QUILTING, a method of sewing two 

 pieces of silk, linen, or stuff, on each 

 other, with wool or cotton between them ; 

 by working them all over in the form of 

 chequer or diamond-work, or in flowers. 

 The same name is also given to the stuff 

 so worked. 



QUINCHAMALA, in botany, a genus 

 of the Pentandria Monogynia class and 

 order. Natural order of Elaeagni, Jussieu. 

 Essential character: caiyx inferior, five- 

 toothed ; corolla tubular, superior ; an- 

 thers sessile; seed one. There is only 

 one species, viz. Q. chilensis, a native of 

 Chili. 



QUINCUNX order, in gardening, a'plan- 

 tation of trees, disposed originally in a 

 square ; and consisting of five trees, one 

 at each corner, and a fifth in the middle : 

 or a quincunx is the figure of a plantation 

 of trees, disposed in several rows, both 

 length and breadthwise, in such a man- 

 ner, that the first tree in the second row 

 commences in the centre of the square 

 formed by the two first trees in the first 

 row, and the two first in the third, re- 

 sembling the figure of the five on cards. 



QUINDECAGON, in geometry, a plain 

 figure with fifteen sides and fifteen an- 

 gles ; which, if the sides be all equal, is 

 termed a regular quindecagon, and irre- 

 gular when otherwise. The side of a re- 

 gular quindecagon inscribed in a circle, is 

 equal in power to the half difference be- 

 tween the side of the equilateral triangle 

 and the side of the pentagon inscribed 

 in the same circle ; also the difference 

 of the perpendiculars let fall on both 

 sides, taken together. 



QUINTESSENCE, properly the fifth 

 essence, or the result of five successive 



J 



