W E A 



often very beneficin!. A man is required for the purpofe, in 

 autumn, winter, and fpring, when the bufinels is carried on 

 upon - Nrcje fcale. See Calf, Breeding, and Cattle. 



Alfo Cr.V KTEPING. 



The \w • . 7 of lambs is a matter of feme trouble and 

 difSculty 111 niauy cafes; it fliould be done towards the latter 

 end of the fummer, according to circumPances, but never 

 be delayed too Ic:ig, as the ewes may thereby be greatly 

 I'.'irt in different ways. After the Iambs are taken, or 

 lifted as it is fometimes called, from the mothers, they 

 'liould be allo\>'ed to pafs the night about the fold or place, 

 the fi Mowing mor:iing feme of them will begin to eat, 

 _..J teach the orhers to do the fame. They fhouH then 

 be removed to fume convenient loft graffy pafture, difturb- 

 j ing them as little as poifible, care being taken that they do 

 not wafte or cxhauil themfelves by running. If there be 

 ; any danger of their not refting quietly the fird night after 

 they are removed, it is faid that it may be effeftually pre- 

 vented by pafturing them with their mothers the night im- 

 mediately preceding their weaning, on their future pafture, 

 and driving them to the fold or other place direftly in that 

 road or way by which the lambs are to be removed from it. 

 In the courfe of ten or twelve days both the lambs and the 

 ewes may be paftured together again without inconve- 

 nience. See Lamb and Sheep. 



Store fwine fhould conftantly be weaned at the end of a 

 few weeks, as about fix or eight, otherwife they do much in- 

 jury to the few. The young pigs ftiouldbe well fedforfome 

 time afterwards, in order to pufh them on to their proper 

 growth, and prevent their becoming dwarfilh. The want 

 of attention to this often produces a poor ftunted fort of 

 pigs, worth little or nothing. See Swine. 



WEANLING, a term applied in fome diftrifts to the 

 inewly-weaned calf. See Weaning. 



WEAPONS. See Arm and Armour. 

 WsAPOti -Salve, a kind of unguent, fuppofed to cure 

 (wounds fympathetically, by being applied, not to the 

 wound, but to the weapon that made it. See Sympa- 

 Ithetic Powdrr, and Transplantation. 



WEAR, or Week, a great ftank, or dam in a river ; 

 fitted for the taking of fi(h, or for conveying the ftream to 

 the mill. See Fishing, and Weir. 

 Wear, in Geography. See Were. 

 WEARE, a townlliip of America, in New Hampfhire, 

 in the county of Kellftiorough, containing 2634 inhabitants ; 

 !l8 miles S.W. of Concord. 

 I WEARING, in S9a Language. See Veering. 



WEARY Bay, in Geography, a bay on the N.E. coaft 

 lof New Holland, S. of Endeavour river. 

 [ WEASEL, Weesel, Common, in Zoology, a fpeci^o of 

 [the muftela. See Mustela Vulgaris. 

 j The common weafel ufually refides in caTities under the 

 iroots of trees, as well as of banks near rivulets, &c. from 

 •which it occafionally fallies out in fearch of birds, and more 

 pfpecially of field-mice, great multitudes of which it de- 

 Sftroys. 



I In Norway, Sweden, Ruflia, and Siberia, the weafel 

 jalways changes to white at the approach of winter. In 

 jSiberia it is called lafmitjka ; and the Ikins are fold to the 

 IChinefe for three or four rubles per hundred. 

 I We have authentic accounts of this animal's being fo com- 

 ipletely tamed, as to exhibit every mark of attachment to its 

 ibenefaftors, and to be as familiar as a cat or lap-dog. A 

 lady took one of thefe animals under her proteftion ; and 

 |fed it from her hand with warm milk, and alfrf with veal, 

 'beef, or mutton. When it is fatisfied it generally goes to 

 I Vol. XXXVIII. 



W E A 



deep, and when it wakes, it amufes itfelf with various frolics, 

 and beftows the moft affeaionate careffes on its guardian. 

 It diftinguilhes the voice of its benefaarefs amidft twenty 

 people, and gives her a decided preference to all the reft. 

 Among other curious particulars which this lady has re- 

 cited, we cannot forbear mentioning the curiofity of this 

 animal ; it being impoflible, as fhe fays, to open a drawer or 

 a box, or even to look at a paper, which this little creature 

 will not alfo examine. Aldrovandus indeed confirms the 

 account given by Buffon ; exprefsly alTerting, that weafels 

 are eafily tamed, and that, when tame, they are remarkably 

 playful ; adding, at the fame time from Curdan, that if their 

 teeth are rubbed with garlick, they will not afterwards pre- 

 fume to bite. This writer alfo affirms, that the weafel 

 fometimes carries her young in her mouth from place to 

 place feveral times in a day, when (he fufpeds that they will 

 be i^olen from her ; refembling fome other animals in this 

 refpea. For other fpecies of weafel we refer to Mustela 

 and VivERRA ; and we fhall here add fome few fpecies, 

 mentioned by Dr. Shaw, which have not been noticed under 

 either of thofe articles. Such are the Viverra Touan, or 

 ferruginous weafel, white beneath, with the tail naked to- 

 wards the tip, tlie " Touan" of Buffon ; a native of 

 Cayenne, that lives in hollow trees, and feeds on worms and 

 infeas. The V. Cuja, or black weafel, with turned up 

 fnout, the " Cuja" of Molina, refembling the ferret in 

 (hape, manners, and teeth ; a native of Chili, and preying 

 upon mice. The V. Maculata, or du(l<;y weafel, fpotted 

 with white ; the " Spotted Martin" of governor Phillips, in 

 its form fomewhat refembling the foffane. There are alfo 

 fome other fpecies, not yet fufficiently defcribed, as the 

 grey-headed weafel, or " La Grande Marte de Giiiane," of 

 Buffon ; the South American weafel, or " La Fouine de 

 la Guiane," of Buffon ; the woolly weafel, or " La petite 

 Fouine de la Guiane," of Buffon ; the raulliy weafel of 

 Pennant, a native of Bengal ; and the flender-toed weafel 

 with a bufhy tail, defcribed, as well as the other, by 

 Mr. Pennant from a drawing ; this latter being a native of 

 Cochinchina. 



Weasel-Coo/, in Ornithology, the red-headed fmew, or 

 mergus minutus of Linnasus. 



Weather, in Agriculture, as denoting the flate or 

 difpofition of the atmofphere, in regard to heat and cold, 

 drought and moifture, fog, fair, or foul, wind, rain, hail, 

 froft, fnow, and other changes, is a fort of knowledge which 

 is of vaft utility and importance to the farmer, as the fecur- 

 ing of his different produce in a perfea manner greatly de- 

 pends upon it ; and it is in and by means of the atmofphere, 

 that plants are in fome meafure nourifhed, and that animals 

 live and breathe : any alterations or changes in its heat, 

 denfity, purity, or any other refpea, muit, of courfe, 

 neceflarily be attended with proportionable changes in the 

 ftate of thefe. 



The great but regular alterations which a little change of 

 weather makes in many parts and forts of inanimate matter, 

 is fully and ftrikingly fhewn in the common inftances and 

 cafes of barometers, thermometers, hygrometers, and other 

 fuch inftruments ; and it is owing partly to our inattention, 

 and partly to other caufes and circumftancss, that we, hke 

 other animals, do not feel as great and as regular ones in the 

 weight, preffure, and affeaions, in the tubes, chords, and 

 fibres of our own bodies. 



In order, however, fully to form and eflablifh a proper 



and con'Cftent theory or doarine of the weather, it would 



be neceffary to have accounts and regifters of it regularly 



and carefully kept, in divers parts of the ^lobe, for a long 



D d feriet 



