92S II O 11 
ranted to be sound, the seller sins against the 
law of morality and the law of the land ; but 
it he acknowledges him not to be sound, and 
sells him greatly under the value of a sound 
iiorse, as il he disposes of him for 25/. when 
he would have been worth 50/. if sound, such 
sale may be considered as fair and legal. 
It a horse which is warranted sound at the 
time ot sale is proved to have been at that 
time unsound, it is not necessary that he 
should be returned to the seller. 'No lapse 
of time elapsed after the sale will alter the 
nature of a contract originally false. Nei- 
ther is notice necessary to be given ;• though 
the not giving notice will be a strong pre- 
sumption against the buyer, that the" horse 
at the time ot sale had not the defect com- 
plained ot, and will make the proof on his 
part much more difficult. The bargain is 
com pleat; and if it is fraudulent on the part 
of the seller, lie will be liable to the buyer in 
damages, without either a return or notice. 
If on account of a horse warranted sound, 
the buyer shall sell him again at a loss, an 
action might perhaps be maintained against 
the original seller, to recover the difference 
of the price, i Hen. Black. 17. 
Slaughtering horses. G reat abuses having 
arisen, and many horses having been stolen, 
from the facility and safety of disposing of 
them to those who kept slaughter-houses for 
horses, some regulations and restrictions 
seemed absolutely necessary. It was no un- 
common thing for horses of great value to be 
sold for the purpose of making food for dogs; 
the thief rather choosing to receive 20s. for 
a stolen horse, without fear or danger of de- 
tection, than venture to dispose of him pub- 
licly, though he might possibly have found a 
purchaser who would have given as many 
pounds for him. These considerations in- 
duced the legislature to pass the act of 26 
Geo. ill. c. 71, for regulating these slaughter- 
houses. 
Killing nr maiming horses. Where any 
person shall in the night-time maliciously, 
unlawfully, and willingly kill or destroy any 
horses, sheep, or other cattle, of any person, 
every such offence shall be adjudged felony, 
and the offender shall suffer as in the case of 
felony. 22 and 23 Car. II. c. 7. 
Offenders may be transported for seven 
years, either at the assizes or at the sessions, 
by three justices of the peace, one to be of 
the quorum. 
By the 9th Geo. I. c. 22. commonly called 
the black-act, it is enacted, that if any per- 
son shall unlawfully and maliciously kill, 
luaim, or wound any cattle, every person so 
offending, being thereof lawfully convicted 
in any county of England, shall be adjudged 
guilty of felony, and shall suffer death, as in 
cases of felony, without benefit of clergy. 
But not to work corruption of blood, loss" of 
dower, nor forfeiture of lands or goods. 
Prosecution upon this statute shall or may 
be commenced within three years from the 
time of the offence committed* but not after. 
If an horse or other goods are delivered to 
an inn-keeper or iiis servants, he is bound to 
keep them safely, and restore them when his 
guest leaves the house. 2 Black. 45 1 . 
If an horse is delivered to an agisting far- 
mer, for the purpose of depasturing in his 
meadows, he is answerable for the loss of the 
horse, if it is occasioned by the ordinary ne- 
tt 0 R 
gleet of himself or his servants. Jones on 
Bailtn. 91. 
If a man rides to an inn, where his horse 
has eaten, the host may detain the horse till he 
is satisfied for the eating, and without mak- 
ing any demand. 14 Vin. Ain-. 437. But 
an horse committed to an inn-keeper can 
only be detained for his own meat, and not 
for that of his guest or any other horse ; for 
the chattels in such case are only in the cus- 
tody of the law for the debt which arises from 
the thing itself, and not for any other debt 
due from the same party. 2 Rol, Abr. 85. 
By the custom ot London and Exeter, if a 
man commits an horse to an inn-keeper, if 
he eats out his price, the inn-keeper may take 
him as his own, upon the reasonable appraise- 
ment of four ot his neighbours ; which was it 
seems a custom arising from the abundance 
of traffic with strangers, that could not be 
known so as to be charged with an action. 
But it has been holden, though an inn- 
keeper in London may, after long keeping, 
have the horse appraised and sell him, yet, 
"•'hen he has in such ease had him appraised, 
j he cannot justify the taking him to himself at 
the price he was appraised at. Yin. Abr. 233. 
HORTUS siccus, a dry garden, an ap- 
pellation given to a collection of specimens 
ot plants, carefully dried and preserved. The 
value of such a collection is very evident, 
since a thousand minutiae may be preserved 
in the well-dried specimens of plants, which 
the most accurate engraver would have omit- 
ted. 
Among the different methods adopted by 
botanists for obtaining a hortus siccus, the 
following appear to be the most practicable: 
1 . Lay the plants Hat between papers ; 
then place them between two smooth plates 
of iron screwed together at the corners: in 
this state they are to be committed to a ba- 
ker’s oven for two hours. After being taken 
out, they must be rubbed over with a mix- 
ture consisting of equal parts of brandy and 
vinegar, then pasted down on paper with a 
solution of gum-tragacanth in water, after 
which they are to be laid in a book, where 
they will adhere, and retain their original 
freshness. The following method is however 
more simple: 
2. Flatten the plant by passing a common 
smoothing-iron over the papers between 
which it is placed, and dry it slowly in a sand- 
heat. For this purpose the cold sand ought 
to be spread evenly, the smoothened plant 
laid gently on it, and sand sifted over so as 
to form a thick bed ; the fire is then to be 
kindled, and the whole process carefully 
watched, till the plant is gradually and per- 
fectly dried. Thus the colour of the tender- 
ed herb may be preserved, and the most de- 
licate flowers retain all their pristine beauty. 
3. Another and far more complete method 
was suggested by the ingenious Mr. Whate- 
ly. He directs those who intend to follow 
his plan, previously to procure— 1. A strong 
oak-box of the same size and shape as those 
employed for packing up tin p'ates; 2. a 
quantity of fine sifted sand, sufficient to fill 
the box; 3. a considerable number of pieces 
of pliant paper, from one to four inches 
square ; and 4. some small flat leaden 
weights, and a few small bound books. 
The plant is first to be cleared from the 
soil as well as the decayed leaves, and then ' 
laid on the inside of one of the leaves of a 
H O T 
sheet of common cap-paper. The upper- 
leaves and flowers are next to be covered, 
"hen expanded, by pieces of the prepared 
paper, and one or two of the leaden weights 
placed on them. The remainder of the plant 
is now to be treated in a similar manner. 
The weights ought next to be gently re- 
moved, and the other leaf of the sheet of 
paper folded over the opposite One, so as to 
contain the loose pieces of paper and plants 
between them. A book or two is now to be 
applied to the outside of the paper till the 
intended number of plants is thus prepared; 
when a box is to be filled with sand to the 
depth of an inch, one of the plants put in, 
and covered with sand sufficient to prevent 
the form of the plant from varying. 'I'fie 
other plants may then be placed in succes- 
sion, and likewise covered with a layer of 
sand, one inch thick between each; after 
which the whole is to be gentlyppressed 
dow n in a greater or less degree) according 
to the tenderness or firmness of the plants. 
The box is next to be carefully placed be- 
fore a fire, one side being occasionally a little 
raised, as may be most convenient ; the sides 
being alternately presented to the fire two or 
three times in the day, or the whole may be 
put into an oven gently heated. In* the 
course of tu-o or three days the plants will 
be perfectly dry, when the sand ought to be 
taken out and put into another box: the 
plants should likewise be removed to a sheet 
ot writing paper. 
HOSPITALERS, an order of religious 
knights, now known by the title of knights of 
Malta. 
HO B BEDS, in gardening, beds made with 
fresh horse-dung, or tanner’s bark, and co- 
vered with glasses to defend them from cold 
winds. 
According to the quantity and quality of 
the materials put together lor hot-beds, the 
heat will lie proportioned as to strength and 
duration; and by a judicious use in making, 
and the management afterwards, many ad- 
vantages may be obtained from them. ’The 
great point is, to suit the degree of heat to 
the nature of the different plants to be culti- 
vated, that the)' may have neither more nor 
less than is necessary to promote a regular 
vegetation. 
1 wo errors are common in the use of hot- 
beds, sowing or placing in the same bed 
things of a very different nature, as to the 
climate they grow best in, and forcing with 
too much heat even the tender est. Though 
it may not answer our often too hasty view's, 
the heat of a bed had better be slack than 
otherwise. A strong hot-bed that ought* at 
least to be made a fortnight before it is used, 
is sometimes furnished by impatience in a 
few days, and various ill consequences follow, 
which naturally frustrate expectation. 
'Eire place where hot-beds are worked 
should be open t© the full sun, catching it as 
early as possible in the morning, and having 
it as long as can be in the evening; and if 
not naturally sheltered, it should be screened 
from the north and north-east winds by a 
boarded fence or rsither one of reeds, as from 
a solid fence the wind reverberates ; but 
straw or flake-hurdles set endwise may do. 
A screen of some sort (and a close-dipt s 
hedge is as good as any) not only protects 
the inclosure from the harsher winds, and 
coniines the warm air, but keeps a rather un- 
