2 66 BRA 
after it has been melted twice, it will be no 
longer in a condition to bear the hammer at 
all: but in order to render it capable of being 
wrought, they put seven pounds of lead to 
an hundred weight of brass, which renders it 
more soft and pliable. 
1 he most important properties of brass are 
that its colour is much brighter and nearer 
approaching to gold than copper. It is also 
more fusible, and less subject to rust, and to 
be acted upon by a vast variety of substances 
which corrode copper : it is also more ca- 
pable of extension, anti peculiarly adapted 
for wire. Mr. Sineaton found that 12 inches 
in length of cast brass at 32°, expanded by 
180° of heat, d parts : brass wire under, 
the same circumstances, expanded 2 3 2 
... * 10000 
1 he expansion of hammered copper is only 
rl&hp but that of zinc is so that 
brass holds a middle place in this respect be- 
tween its two component metals. 
There is a vast variety in the proportions 
of the different species of brass used in com- 
merce ; nor is it easy to determine whether 
the perfection of this alloy depends on any 
certain proportion of the two metals. In ge- 
neral the extremes of the highest and lowest 
proportions of zinc are from 12 to 25 parts 
in the 100. The ductility of brass is not in- 
jured with the highest proportion. This me- 
tal is much used in the escapement wheels, 
and other nicer parts of watch-making ; and 
Bars of brass very carefully made will fetch 
for this work almost any price. 
The use of brass is of" very considerable an- 
tiquity. Most of the antieut genuine relics 
are composed of various mixtures of brass 
with tin and other metals, and are rather to 
be denominated bronzes. 
The best proportion for brass guns is said 
to be 1000 pounds of copper,- 900 pounds of 
tin, and 600 pounds of brass, in It or 12 
hundred weight of metal. 
The best brass guns are made of malleable 
metal, not of pure copper and zinc alone; 
but worse metals are used to make it run 
closer and sounder, as lead and pot-metal. 
See Cannon. 
Brass, Corinthian, has been famous in an- 
tiquity, and is a mixture of gold, silver, and 
copper. 
Brass-co/oz/t, one prepared by the bra- 
ziers and colourmen to imitate brass. There 
are two sorts of it, the red brass or bronze, 
and the yellow or gilt-brass: the latter is 
made only of copper-tilings, the smallest and 
brightest that can be found; with the for- 
mer they mix some red ochre, finely pulver- 
ized : they are both used with varnish. 
BRASSICA, the cabbage, a genus of the 
class and order tetradynamia siliquosa. The 
essential character is : calyx erect, converg- 
ing ; seeds globular ; a gland between the 
shorter stamens and the pistil, and between 
the longer and the calyx. 
There are sixteen species, viz. 
1 . Brassica orientalis ; perfoliate cabbage. 
2. Brassica austriaca ; Austrian cabbage. 
3. Brassica campestris ; yellow field cab- 
bage. 4. Brassica arvensis ; purple field 
cabbage. 5. Brassica alpina ; Alpine cab- 
bage. 6. Brassica napus ; wild cabbage, 
rape, or navew. 7. Brassica rapa; turnep. 
8. Brassica oleracea; common cabbage. 9. 
Brassica chinensis; Chinese cabbage. 10. 
JBi-assica violacea. 11. Brassica polymorpha. 
BRA 
12. Brassica erucastrum; wild rocket. 13. 
Brassica eruca; garden rocket. 14. Bras- 
sica vesicaria. 15. Brassica muralis; wall 
rocket. 16. Brassica Richerii. 
I lie first has the petals white; all the leaves 
smooth; stem-leaves ovate, blunt at the end, 
heart-shaped at the base, smooth, glaucous, 
perfectly entire; petals white with a tinge of 
straw-colour; sijiques slender, pointing up- 
wards, and approaching the stem ; root fusi- 
form. Mr. Hudson affirms, that this is very 
nearly allied to the campestris; and Dr. 
Stokes thinks it probable that the plant of 
liort. ups. supposed to be the B. orientalis of 
1 ournefort and our European species, are 
distinct. There is certainly great confusion 
in the three first species of brassica ; and in 
a genus so subject to vary, perhaps mere lo- 
cal differences may have been exalted into 
species. 
It is a native of corn-fields and cliffs, in 
the Levant, about Montpellier; in Germany, 
Switzerland, Austria, Carniola, Piedmont, 
&c. In England, near Harwich; Bardsev 
near Orford, Suffolk ; Godstone and Mares- 
lield, Sussex: annual, flowering in June. 
The second is a native of Austria, a bien- 
nial: root white, rather woody, sometimes' 
branched, about half a Foot long, very thin, 
with an acrid smell ; stem in the wild plant 
commonly single, in the cultivated or garden 
ones generally more, about two feet high ; 
leaves entire, rounded at the ends, thick, 
glaucous, embracing the stalk, very smooth; 
1'he flowers are yellow, and open in small 
numbers at once. The siliques are about 
three inches long, smooth, sharp, and paral- 
lel, or nearly so, with the stalk, standing in 
an upright manner. It is a plant which na- 
turally grows in rough. uncultivated places, 
and in fields. 
3. Root annual ; root-leaves lyrate, slight- 
ly hispid ; stem-leaves smooth and even ; 
corolla yellow, never white. It grows among 1 
summer corn, in the north of Europe ; and 
in some parts of Sweden it is a common 
weed. 
4. Stem a foot high, smooth and even, 
flexuose, branched, perennial at bottom ; 
leaves smooth, quite blunt, rather fleshy ; 
calyx closed, smooth, with a double protu- 
berance at the base. Native of the south of 
Europe, in moist fields. 
5. This differs from the foregoing sort in 
having a narrower stem; the leaves more 
tender and longer ; those next the ground 
on long petioles : but it differs principally in 
having almost upright, white petals, and the 
small flower of a Turritis. Native of Ger- 
many and Sweden. 
6. Root biennial ; stem somewhat branch- 
ed, cylindrical, smooth, from a foot to two 
feet in height ; root-leaves lyrate ; stem- 
leaves smooth, glaucous, sessile, stem-clasp- 
ing, of an oblong heart-shaped figure, very 
slightly toothed on the edges ; calyx yel- 
lowish green, spreading as in Sinapis. The 
silique has frequently three or four warty ex- 
crescences. The roots, when cultivated, 
may be eaten, but have a stronger taste than 
the turnep. Under the title of rape or cole- 
seed, it is much cultivated in the isle of Ely, 
and some parts of England, for its seed, from 
which the rape-oil is drawn ; and for feeding 
cattle. What remains after the oil is ex- 
pressed, is called oil-cake or rape-cake. It 
is a very efficacious manure, and is sold from 
B K A 
four to six pounds a ton. It is not this but 
tiie lint-cake, or residuum of flax-seed, used 
in making lintseed-oil, that is used in fatting 
beasts. 
Linnaeus says that the navew grows wild 
on the sandy shores of Gotland, Holland, 
and England. With us it is found among 
corn, and on ditch-banks. 
7. The turnep, now so common in cultiva- 
tion, is sufficiently known bv its round fleshy 
roots. These, however, vary exceedingly in 
their form, size, and colour, in a cultivated 
state, in which only we are apt to view them. 
The variations of turnep are chiefly in the 
root, and arise from the different soils, situa- 
tions, and modes of cultivation. The varie- 
ties enumerated by Mr. Miller are, 1. the 
round, red, or purple-topped; 2. the green- 
topped ; 3. the yellow; 4. the black-rooted; 
5. the early Dutch. He allows that these 
may be varieties accidentally obtained from 
seeds, although he has sown them several 
years, and has always found them to retain 
their differences. The yellow turnep seems 
most unlikely to have been an accidental va- 
riety, because the roots are yellow within, 
whereas the others have white flesh, notwith- 
standing they are of different colours on the 
outside. He thinks that the long-rooted tur- 
nep is a distinct species ; the form of the root, 
and its manner of growth, being totally dif- 
ferent from those before enumerated. The 
roots are sometimes as long as those of the 
parsnep, and nearly of the same shape. 
The general use of this root tor the table 
and feeding of cattle is well known : and it 
has been a considerable improvement of lio-ht 
lands, particularly in the county of Norfolk, 
whence other counties have derived the cul- 
ture. The red-rooted turnep was formerly 
more cultivated in England than at present; 
but since the large green-topped turnep has 
been introduced, all skilful farmers prefer k 
to the others, because the roots grow to a 
large size, and continue much longer good. 
It also grows above ground more than any of 
the others, which renders it preferable for 
feeding cattle; and being the softest and 
sweetest, even when very large, it is most 
esteemed for the table. In very severe win- 
ters, however, this is in greater danger of 
suffering by frost than those whose roots lie 
deeper, especially if the ground is not cover- 
ed with snow' ; for when the roots are alter- 
nately frozen and thawed, they rot sooner 
than those w'hich are more covered, and less 
tender. We have known roots of this sort 
which were more than a foot in diameter, 
boiled, and were as sweet and tender as any r 
of the smallest roots. At Stowe, in Glou- 
cestershire, a farmer produced four turneps 
weighing an hundred weight ; and offered to 
produce, from a small given space, eighty 
turneps which should weigh a ton. 
The next in goodness to the green-topped 
is the red or purple-topped turnep, which 
will also grow' large, and be extremely good 
for some time; but the roots will become 
stringy much sooner than the others. The 
long-rooted, the yellow, and the black-rooted 
turneps are now rarely cultivated, except for 
the sake of variety, none of them being so 
good for the table or for feed as the red and 
green-topped sorts. 
The early Dutch turnep is chiefly sown in 
the spring, to supply the table before the 
others can be procured ; and when drawn off 
