AVE 
AVE 
toothed; corolla four-petalled ; berry one- 
seeded; female nectary none; nut one- 
celled. One species, a large tree of Ja- 
pan. 
AUDIENCE, is the name of a court of 
justice established in the West Indies by 
the Spaniards, answering in effect to the 
parliaments of France. 
These courts take in several provinces, 
called also audiences, from the names of the 
tribunal to which they belong. 
Audience is also the name of an ecclesi- 
astical court, held by the archbishop of Can- 
terbury, wherein differences upon elections, 
consecrations, institutions, marriages, &c. 
are heard. 
AUDITORY nerves, in anatomy, a pair 
of nerves arising from the medulla oblon- 
gata, with two trunks, the one of which is 
called the portio dura, hard portion; the 
other portio mollis, or soft portion. See 
Anatomy. 
AVENA, in botany, oat-grass ; class Tri- 
andria Digynia ; natural order, Gramina. 
Generic character: calyx, glume generally 
many-flowered, two-valved, loosely collect- 
ing the flowers ; valves lanceolate, acute, 
ventricose, loose, large, awnless ; corolla 
two-valved; lower valve harder than the 
calyx; the size of the calyx roundish, ventri- 
cose, acuminate at both ends, emitting from 
the back an awn, spirally twisted, reflex; 
nectary two-leaved ; leaflets lanceolate, gib- 
bous at the base ; stamina filaments three, 
capillary; anthers oblong, forked; pistil, 
germ obtuse : styles two, reflex, hairy ; 
stigma simple ; pericarp none ; corolla most 
firmly closed, grows to the seed and does 
not gape ; seed one, slender, oblong, accu- 
mulate at both ends, marked with a longi- 
tudinal furrow. There are many species, 
of which we notice A. sativa, cultivated 
oat. Of this there are four varieties, the 
white, black, brown, or red, and the blue 
oat; panicled; calyxes two-seeded; seeds 
very smooth, one-awned ; annual ; culm or 
straw upwards of two feet high ; panicle 
various in different varieties, but always 
loose and pendulous; the two glumes or 
chaffs of the calxy are marked with lines, 
pointed at the end, longer than the flower, 
and unequal; there are usually two flowers, 
and seeds in each calyx; they are alternate, 
conical, the smaller one is awnless, the 
larger puts forth a strong, two-coloured, 
bent awn, from the middle of the back. 
No botanist has been able to ascertain satis- 
factorily the native place of growth of this, or 
indeed of any other sort of grain now com- 
monly cultivated in Europe. The varieties 
mentioned above have been long known, 
and others have been introduced, as the 
Poland, the Friesland or Dutch, and the 
Siberian or Tartarian oat. The blue oat is 
probably what is called Scotch greys. The 
white sort is most common about London, 
and those countries where the inhabitants 
live much upon oat-cakes, as it makes the 
whitest meal. The black is more cultivated 
in the northern parts of England, asjt is 
esteemed a hearty food for horses. The red 
oat is much cultivated in Derbyshire, Staf- 
fordshire, and Cheshire ; it is a very hardy 
sort, and gives a good increase. The straw 
is of a brownish red colour, very heavy, and 
esteemed better food for horses than either 
of the former sorts. In Lincolnshire they 
cultivate the sort called the Scotch greys. 
The Poland oat has a short plump grain, but 
the thickness of the skin seems to have 
brought it into disrepute among farmers. 
Add to this the straw is very short. It was 
sown by Mr. Lisle in 1709. Friesland or 
Dutch oat affords more straw, and is thin- 
ner skinned, and the grains mostly double. A 
white oat, called the potatoe oat in Cumber- 
land, where it was lately discovered, pro- 
mises, from the size of the grain and the length 
of the straw, to be the most valuable we 
possess; it is now very generally bought for 
sowing. The oat is a very profitable grain, 
and a great improvement to many estates 
in the North of England, Scotland, and 
Wales; for it will thrive in cold barren 
soils, which will produce no other sort of 
grain; it will also thrive on the hottest 
land; in short, the re is no soil too rich or 
too poor, too hot or too cold for it ; and in 
wet harvests, when other grain is spoiled, 
this will receive little or no damage. The 
meal of this grain makes a tolerably good 
bread, and is the common food of the coun- 
try people in the north. It is also esteemed 
for pottage and other messes, and in some 
places they make beer with it. The best 
time for sowing oats is in February or 
March, according as the season is early or 
late. The black and red oats may be sown 
a month earlier than the white, because 
they are hardier. The advantage of early 
sowing is proved by experiment. White 
oats sown the last week in May have pro- 
duced seven quarters the acre ; and in Hert- 
fordshire they do not sow them till after 
they have done sowing barley, which is 
found to be a good practice ; this oat being 
more tender than the others. Mr. Marshall 
mentions the blowing of the sallow- as a 
