SPA 



SPA 



being great, and fome other circumftances : but when the 

 men die, their families, it is faid, come to the parifti, greatly 

 increafed by the number of apprentices which they have 

 taken. Nothing, however, the writer of the report thinks, 

 can be fo prepofterous as a police of the poor, which per- 

 mits the benefits of commerce and manufaftures to load the 

 land with rates to the amount of 8j-. in the pound, when 

 ;i very fmall contribution by a box-club, or benefit fociety, 

 would readily prevent the evil. See Societies, Friendly. 



The following interefting account of the oj'i'.er-bulinefs 

 in the fame diftridt, is from Mr. Bennet Hawes of Merfea, 

 given as from his own local knowledge of the places where 

 it is carried on, in the above report. The number of 

 veflels which are employed in it, of from eight to forty 

 or fifty tons, is nearly two hundred, in which are em- 

 ployed from four hundred to five hundred men and boys. 

 A reflel carrying three men has one ihare and a half of all 

 the earnings, and the men one (hare each. Large veflels 

 have generally, it is faid, two (hares ; but none, it is be- 

 lieved, more than this. 



It is faid that the vefTels which are built at Eaft Dony- 

 land, Wivenhoe, Brightlingfea, Burnham, and Merfea, for 

 this bufinefs, will lall from thirty to forty years, when 

 proper care is taken of them. The writer was informed 

 by a perfon then living at Wivenhoe, that he had, within 

 the laft twenty years, built one hundred veflels for the 

 oyfter bufinefs alone. 



There has been an increafe of boats, and of courfe of 

 men, of more than one half within the laft thirty years. 



At Burnham they have feven dredging fmacks, belonging 

 to the company that hire the river of fir Henry Mildmay, 

 hefides four other private ones, and fome fmaller veffels. 

 The Imacks are from eighteen to twenty toni. And there 

 are only about one hundred fidiermen and failors about the 

 place, which are much too few, it is thought, for fo fine a 

 river. 



Moft of the vefTels of fixteen tons and upwards, go, it is 

 faid, to Portfmouth, or places adjacent, in the month of 

 March, to catch and carry oyilers ; thofe under twenty- 

 five tons being employed in catching them, and the larger 

 ones in carrying them into this county and Kent, to be 

 ufed as noticed above ; they generally return from tlience 

 in the month of June, when the large ones go after mac- 

 karel, herrings, and fprats, during the latter part of the 

 funimer, and in the enfuing winter, the fmaller ones to 

 the catching of oyltcrsin the breeding rivers, as above. 



The oylters are fold to London, Hamburgh, Bremen, 

 and, in time of peace, to Holland, France, and Flanders. 



The price has varied but little for tliefe lalt ten years. 



The quantity confumed in a feafon is fcarccly to be cal- 

 culated ; but it is fuppofed that it cannot be lefs than 

 12,000 or 15,000 bufhels. 



This fort of fifhery is fo much blended with the others, 

 that it is almoft impolTible to (late the capital which is em- 

 ployed in it, but it is fuppofed to be from 60,000/. to 

 80,000/. 



SpawninCt Mujliroom-Beds, in Gardening, the praftice 

 of planting or putting the mufhroom fpawn into the beds 

 or ridges formed for railing crops of this fort. It is per- 

 formed in feveral different manners, as by putting it into 

 the dungy matter immediately below the furfacc of the 

 beds, which is called fpawning in the dung ; by dcpofiting 

 It upon the furface of the dung, which is termed Ipawiiing 

 on tlic furface ; and by placing it in the mould by which 

 the beds have been previoufly covered, which is denomi- 

 nated fpawning in the earth. In all tliefc modes of per- 

 forming the work of fpawning the beds, they arc afterwards 



Vot, XXXIII. 



to be earthed or moulded over in a neat even manner, with 

 finely reduced rich, loamy, mellow, dry, mouldy earth, fo 

 as to perfeftly cover hi the planted fpawny fubllance, tliis 

 being done in the two firfl methods of planting, to a much 

 greater depth than in the laft mode, where an earthy coat, 

 or cafing, has been before fupplied ; an inch and a half, 

 or two inches in depth of mould, being neceffary in the 

 former cafes, while an inch or lefs may be fully iufficient 

 in the latter cafe. The fpawn is properly divided into 

 pieces, and put into the beds in all thefe modes in a regular 

 manner, at narrow diftances, both in the rows and fpaces 

 between them, as about fix or feven inches in each, over the 

 whole of the different fides and ends of them. There is 

 little difference in thefe modes of putting in the fpawn, 

 except that in the two firfl, and efpecially in the fecond, it 

 can be laid in rather more clofely than in the laft, by which 

 means, fometimes, a more forward and plentiful fupply of 

 mufhrooms is produced. 



After the earthing has been properly accompliflied in 

 thefe different cafes, the beds are ready for the reception of 

 the flraw coverings, as no light is ever requilite in the 

 growth of thefe crops. Thefe flraw coverings fhould in- 

 variably be applied as foon as ever the flate of the beds, in 

 regard to the lieat they produce and retain, will permit, 

 after the fpawning of them is finiflied. It fhould be done 

 to a confiderable thicknefs, efpecially where the beds are 

 not in fheds, but expofed to the effefts of the weather, in 

 order to aflbrd the fpawn a proper degree of heat and full 

 protection. Such ftravvy littery materials may be gra- 

 dually fliook upon them, from the thicknefs of half a loot, 

 to fuch depths as are fufficient to produce a fuitable warmth 

 for promoting the growth of the fpawny material. They 

 are to be ligiitly and regularly (hakcn on over the whole, 

 and to remain conftantlv, having in fome cafes other forts 

 of coverings laid over them, as no fort of moilture muit 

 come near the fpawn in thefe cafes. 



As little expofure to the full air as pofTible, after fpawn- 

 ing the beds, fhould take place in performing any fort of 

 work about them, as there is much injury and check pro- 

 duced by it in the growth of the fpawn, and, of courfe, in 

 the crops to be raifed by it. 



The proper running and knitting of the fpawn, which 

 may be feen by turning up a little of the flrawy coverings, 

 fhews the fpawning of the beds to have been fuccef^fuTly 

 performed ; but this fhould not be jmlgcd of too haflily, 

 as this fort of fpawn is fometimes flow in coming into 

 an active flate of vegetation. There is alfo a fine full 

 fmell of the mufliroom in all fuch cafes. See AcAnicus. 



SPAWS, mineral waters arifing out of the earth; im- 

 pregnated with nitre, fulphur, alum, bitumen, copperas, or 

 other mineral matter, in pafling through the Itrata thereof; 

 and hence endued with fome medicinal (in.-ilities, cathartic, 

 diuretic, emetic, alterant, or the like. See Mineral Wa- 

 ters and Sp.a. 



SPAX, a name given by fome authors to the common 

 taenia, a fmall fifh of the anguilliform kind, "frequent on the 

 fhorcs of Italy. 



SPAYING, in Rural Economy, tlie operation of cutting, 

 caftrating, or removing the female parts of dilfercnt kinds 

 of animals, as fows, heifers, marcs, &c. in order to prevent 

 any future conception, and promote their fattening. It is 

 ufnally performed by cutting them in the mid flank, on the 

 left fide, with a fharp knife or lancet, in order to extirpate 

 or cut off the parts delUncd to conception, and then Hitching 

 up the wound, anointing tlie part with tar-falvc, and keep- 

 ing the animal w.irm for two or three days. The general 

 way is to make the inciCon in a llopiiig manner, two inches 

 7, O and 



