T R A 



the rays of its back-tlii being remarkably rigid, and (harp 

 like prickles. 



Trachinus Lapis, in Natural H'tfiory, a ftone mentioned 

 by the writers of the middle ages, as poiTefling many great 

 medicinal virtues. It feems to have been a kind of lapis ne- 

 pkriticvs, being defcribed as bright, but not tranfparent, 

 and being of two kinds, the one blackifh, and the other 

 green. 



TRACHIS, in McicTU Geography, a town of Theffaly, 

 faid to have been built by Hercules at the foot of mount 

 Oeta, towards the mouth of the river Afopus. It derived 

 its name from its mountainous and rugged iltuation. On the 

 fcite of this town, which is mentioned by Homer, the Lace- 

 dxmonians built another, to which they gave the name of 

 Heraclea. 



TRACHOMA, (from Tfax*-:> rough,) a roughnefs of 

 the inner furface of the eyelids, caufed by hardened mucus 

 and fcabs. It implies the fame fort of dileafe as the Pforo- 

 phthalmy ; which fee. 



TR ACHON, in Jiuient dography, a plain which bounded 

 the territory of the king of the Cimmerian Bofphorus, on the 

 ■fide of Scythia. 



TRACHONES, the name of two hills fituated beyond 

 the town of Damafcus, in Syria. Strabo. 



TRACHONITjE Arabes, Arabs who inhabited Sac- 

 casa, at the foot of mount Alfadamus. Ptolemy. 



TRACHT, orTRACHTlN, in Geography, a town of Mo- 

 ravia, in the circle of Brunn ; 2 1 miles S. of Brunn. 



TRACHURUS, in Ichthyology, the name of a fiih of the 

 fcomber kind, called in Enghfh ifcad, and by feveral authors, 

 fure,faurus, and acsrtus marinut- See ScoMBER. 



Thachurus Brafliinfts, a name given by Mr. Ray to a 

 £ih of the fcomber kind, the fco-mher cardyla of Linnaeus, 

 known among writers on thefe fubjefts by its Brafilian name 

 g'jaraisreba. 



TRACHYNOTIA, in Botany, a genus of grades, fo 

 named by Michaux, firom tji^";, rough, and »i,-r^-, ths tack, 

 becaufe the gliimes are rough in that part. — Michaux Bo- 

 reali-Amer. v. i. 63. — This is the fame with Limnetls of 

 Richard and Perfoon, adopted by Purih, v. i. 25 and 59, 

 referred to Triaruirij Monogynla, and thus defined. 



EfT. Ch. Spike lateral-flowered ; flowers imbricated in 

 two ranks. Calyx of two valves ; one fmaller than the other. 

 Corolla of two valves, pointlefs, compreffed, keeled. Style 

 elongated Three fpecies are defcribed. 



1. T. junaa. Michaux v. i. 64. (Limnetis juncea ; 

 Purfh n. I. Daftyhs patens ; Ait. Hort. Kew. v. i. 160. 

 Donn. Cant. ed. 5. 20.) — " Leaves two-ranked, (hortilh, 

 convolute and tapering. Spikes few, remote, fpreading. 

 Calyx pointed ; its keels rough." — Common in dry f2t 

 meadows of North America. Perennial, flowering in July. 

 Purjh. 



2. T. cynofuTouks. Michaux ibid. (Limnetis cynofu- 

 roides ; Purfn n. 2.) — " Somewhat glaueous. Leaves very 

 long. Spikes numerous, alternate, turned one way. Calyx 

 pointed, awned ; its keels prickly." — Frequent on rocky 

 fea-(hores of North America. Perennial, flowering in July. 

 Purjh. 



3. T . polyftachya. Michaux ibid. (Limnetispolyftachya ; 

 Purfli n. 3. Da&yhs cynofuroides ; Linn. Sp. PI. 104, 

 excluding the fynonyms of Loefling and Ray. Willd. Sp. 

 PI. V. I. 407. Linn. fil. iafc. I. t. 9.) — " Leaves broad, 

 flat. Spikes feveral, fpreading in «very direAion, long and 

 Enear. Keels prickly." — Common in fait marfhes, from 

 Canada to Flonda. Perecnial, flowering in Auguft. 



Purj%. 



T R A 



Thefe are very coarfe harfti graffes ; tne iaft is faid by 

 Clayton to have a rancid fmell. We mention them here, 

 becaufe Limnetis is accidentally omitted in its proper alpha- 

 betical order. Which of the two above names is to be pre- 

 ferred, might require conCderation ; but we have already 

 declared under Dactylis that we do not fee the neceflity 

 of dividing that genus. If otherwife, our Britifh D.JlriSd, 

 Fl. Brit. no. Engl. Bot. t. 380. KnappGram. t. 63,muft 

 be aCbciated with the above three American fpecies. 



TRACHYS Moxs, in Ancient Geography, a rootintair. of 

 the Peloponnefus, in Arcadia. Paufanias. 



TRACING, in Hujhandrj, a term ufed by our planter; 

 for the method of preferving the maize, or Indian com. 

 This being a large grain, is apt to fpoil, if not carefully i 

 preferred. 



Some threfli out the corn as foon as the ears are gathered, 

 and lay it up ia holes of the earth, which are their granaries ; 

 but thofe who have not opportunities of doing this, trace it, 

 that is, they leave it in the ear, and weave, or fallen together 

 a great number of ears by the ends of the hulks : thefe traces 

 of corn they hang up within doors, on fuch fupports as will 

 keep them from one another ; and they will, in this manner, 

 keep good the whole wmter. 



This ii a method of our introducing ; but their own, of 

 burying the clean corn, was at leaft as good, and was the fame 

 praftifed by the Egyptians of old, and by all the wifeft na- 

 tions of the Eaft at this time. But whether we have im- 

 proved their hufbandry in this particular, or not, it is certain 

 that we have greatly affifted them in the planting of this com, 

 which we do by the plough, inftead of the troublefome me- 

 thod they had of doing it with the hoe. The manner of our 

 planting it is this : we plough fingle furrows the whole 

 length of the field, and at about fix feet diftance one from 

 another ; we then plough others acrofs at the fame diftance, 

 and then, wherever the furrows meet, the com is thrown in ; 

 it is then covered either by the hoe, or by running another 

 furrow behind it with the plough ; and when the weeds begin 

 to overtop the corn, they plough the fpaces again, and by 

 this means deftroy and turn in all the weeds, and give the 

 earth a ftirring, that greatly affifts vegetation. 



The famous method of horfe-hoeing hufbandry, fo cele- 

 brated by Mr. Tull, in a book written on that fubjefk, is no 

 other than the bringing home this method of our American 

 planters, on the culture of the maize, and applying it to our 

 European com. The Indians, and our planters, join in the 

 method of railing a hill of earth round every ftalk of the 

 maize ; and when the ground is poor, or out of heart, they 

 bury two or three fiih, of a kind called by them the 

 aloofe, under every hill, and by this means they have a crop 

 double to what would otherwife have been produced. The 

 Enghfh have learned this manure from the Indians ; and in 

 New England, where they are near the fifhing-ftages, they 

 bury the heads and garbage of the cods, which fucceed as 

 well as the aloofe, and coil nothing but the carriage. 



The lands on which the maize or Indian corn lias grown, 

 are as well fitted for our European com as if they had been 

 laid fallow. The reafon of this is, that the plants of the In- 

 dian corn ilanding at fix feet diftance from each other, the far 

 greater part of the ground has remained unoccupied, and at 

 the fame time has had the advantage of often ploughing to 

 kill the weeds, which is a benefit equal to that of dung and 

 reft. All this, though it tends to prove the doftrine of horfe- 

 hoeing hu/bandry not new, yet it ftrengthens the fyftem 

 greatly. PhD. Tranf. No. 142. 



Tracing, among Mtmrs. §ee Trailing. 



TRACiJiG-ii/if, m S:a Lar.guags, a fraail cord geMraiiy 



paSing 



