AGR 
I'al. The hints suggested will he Sufficient 
to evince its general and particular impor- 
tance, and induce some, perhaps, to follow 
up with care and correctness, a practice 
which alone can enable them to give the fail- 
results of interesting experiments, or qualify 
them to ascertain the particular causes of 
success or failure in general management. 
The obscurity and perplexity of conjecture 
can by such means alone be changed, for 
the clearness of fact and the beauty of order ; 
and, in short, they can thus' only decide 
with truth, and act with confidence. 
agrimonia, agrimony, in 'botany, a 
genus of Bodecamdria Digynia class and 
order : the calyx is one-leafed, permanent, 
perianthium fenced with an outer calyx ; 
the corolla has five petals ; the stamina are 
capillary filaments, shorter than the corolla ; 
the anthers are small ; the pistillum is a 
germ inferior ; the style simple ; tire stigmas 
obtuse; no pericardium; there are two 
roundish seeds. Of this genus there are 
five species : the A. parviflora grows in the 
borders of corn-fields, shady places, and 
hedges in Great Britain, and most parts of 
Europe; it is perennial, and flowers in 
June, and J uly. The root is sweet-scented ; 
an incision of it is used by the Canadians 
with success in burning fevers. Dr. Hill 
says, that an infusion of six ounces of the 
*crowi of the root in a quart of boiling wa- 
ter, sweetened with honey, and drank to 
•the quantity of half a pint, thrice a day, is 
a ewe for the jaundice. When the plant 
comes into flower, it will dye wool of a 
bright full nankeen colour ; if gathered in 
September, it yields a darker yellow. In 
itrassia it is used for dressing of leather. 
AGROSTEMA, the garland of the field, 
« botany, a genus of the Decandria Penta- 
gynia class and order: the calyx is one- 
ieafed ; the corolla has five petals ; the sta- 
mina are ten awl-shaped filaments ; the pis- 
tillum an ovate germ, with erect styles and 
simple stygmas; the pericarpium is one- 
celled; the seeds are numerous. There are 
four species, viz. 1. A. githago, corns cam- 
pion, or cockle : 2. A. coronaria, rose- 
campion: 3. A. flosjovis: and 4. A cceli 
rosa, smooth campion. The first species is 
a common annual weed in com fields, and 
flowers in June or July; the seeds are 
black, with a surface like shagreen, and 
appear in the microscope like a hedge-hog 
rolled up. The second species is biennial, 
a native of Italy, the Valais, and Siberia ; 
but so long an inhabitant of English gar- 
dens, that it is become a kind of weed. Of 
AGR 
this plant there are three varieties, one with 
deep red, another with flesh-coloured, and 
a third with white flowers ; but they are 
not much esteemed, as the double rose-cam- 
pion, which is a fine flower, has excluded 
the others from most good gardens. The 
single rose-campions are sufficiently propa- 
gated by the self-sown seeds. The v&riety 
with double -flowers, having no seeds, is 
propagated by parting the roots in autumn, 
and planting them in a border of fresh un- 
dunged earth, at the distance of about six 
inches ; they should be watered gently till 
they have taken root; afterwards wet, as 
well as dung, is injurious to them. In spring 
they should be removed into the borders of 
the flower-garden, where they will be very 
ornamental whilst they flower in July and 
August. The third species grows naturally 
on the Swiss and Piedmontese mountains, 
and in the Palatinate, and was cultivated 
in 1739, by Mr. Miller. It flowers in 
July, and the seeds ripen in September. It 
will thrive best in a moist soil, and a shady 
situation. The fourth species is annual. It 
is a native of Italy, Sicily, and the Levant, 
but being a plant of little beauty, it is pre- 
served in botanic gardens merely for variety. 
AGROSTIS, bent-grass, in botany, a ge- 
nus of the Triandria Digynia class of plants, 
the calyx of which is composed of a glume, 
consisting of two valves, and inclosing a 
single flower; it is of an acuminated figure; 
the corolla is also of an acuminated figure, 
and composed of two valves ; it is scarce 
so long as the cup, and one of the valves is 
larger than the other, and aristated; the 
corolla serves in place of a pericarpium ; 
it surrounds and every way incloses the 
seed, which is single, roundish, and pointed 
at each end. 
There are 42 species, distributed into 
two classes; the aristata?, or those with 
awns ; and the muticae, or naked without 
awns. The A. spica venti, silky bent grass, 
with entire petals, the outer one having a 
stiff, straight, and very long awn, and the 
panicle spreading ; is an annual, and com- 
mon in sandy corn-fields. It flowers in 
June and July, and is liable to be smutted. 
Horses and goats eat it, but sheep refuse 
it. The A. arundicea, furnished with a 
writhed awn ; is a native of many parts of 
Europe, and is a perennial. The Ivalmuc 
Tartars weave mats of it, and thatch their 
houses with it. The alba, or white bent- 
grass, is perennial, and grows in ditches, 
marshes, and moist meadows : there are 
four varieties, some of which are found 
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