AVE 
direction for the sowing of this grain. He 
says, “ most people allow four bushels of 
oats to. an acre, but I am convinced that 
three bushels are more than enough ; the 
usual produce is about 25 bushels to an 
acre, though I have sometimes known more 
than 30.” But 40 bushels and more are 
certainly no unusual crop. 
AVERAGE, in commerce, signifies the 
accidents and misfortunes which happen to 
ships and their cargoes, from the time of 
their loading and sailing to their return and 
unloading ; and is divided into three kinds : 
1 . The simple or particular average which 
consists in the extraordinary expenses in- 
curred for the ship alone, or for the mer- 
chandizes alone. Such is the loss of anchors, 
masts, and rigging, occasioned by the com- 
mon accidents at sea ; the damages which 
happened to merchandize by storm, prize, 
shipwreck, wet, or rotting ; all which must 
be borne and paid by the thing which suf- 
fered the damage. 2. The large and com- 
mon average being those expenses incurred, 
and damages sustained for the common good 
and security both of the merchandizes and 
vessels, consequently to be borne by the 
ship and cargo, and to be regulated upon 
the whole. Of this number are the goods 
or money given for the ransom of the ship 
and cargo, things thrown over-board for the 
safety of the ship, the expenses of unlading 
for entering into a river or harbour, and the 
provisions and hire of the sailors when the 
ship is put under an embargo. 3. The small 
averages which are the expenses for towing 
and pilotting the ship out, off, or into har- 
bours, creeks, or rivers, one third of which 
must be charged to the ship, and two-thirds 
to the cargo. 
Average is more particularly used for a 
certain contribution that merchants make 
proportionably towards their losses. It also 
signifies a small duty which those merchants 
who send goods in another man’s ship pay 
to the master for his care of them, over and 
above the freight. Hence it is expressed 
in the bills of lading, paying so much freight 
for the said goods with primage and aver- 
age accustomed. 
AVERRHOA, in botany, a genus of the 
Decandria Pentagynia class of plants, whose 
flower consists of five lanceolated petals, 
the fruit is an apple of a turbinated and ob- 
tuse pentagonal figure, containing five cells, 
wherein are disposed angular seeds, sepa- 
rated by membranes. There are two species, 
trees, natives only of India, and other warm 
parts of Asia: singular for the fruit growing 
AVE 
frequently on the flunk itself, below the 
leaves. The flower resembles that of the 
geranium ; but the fruit is totally different : it 
is a poma, five-celled, and containing many 
seeds. The A. bilimbi is described as a 
beautiful tree, with green flesh fruit, filled 
with a grateful acid juice : the substance 
and seeds not unlike those of a cucumber : 
it grows from top to bottom, at all the knots 
and branches. A syrup is made of the 
juice, and a conserve of the flowers. 
AVES, birds, the name of the second 
class of animals, according to the Linnaean 
system. They have been described as ani- 
mals having a body covered with feathers 
and down ; jaws protracted and naked : 
two wings, formed for flight, and two feet. 
They are aereal, vocal, swift, and light, and 
destitute of external ears, lips, teeth, scro- 
tum, womb, bladder, epiglottis, coitus callo- 
sum and its arch, and diaphragm .The feathers 
are disposed over each other in the form of 
a quincunx, intermixed with down, distinct 
from the quill and tail feathers, convex 
above, concave beneath, narrower on the 
outside, lax at the fore-end, hollow and 
horny at the base, with a central pith, and 
furnished on each side the elongated shaft 
with parallel, approximate, distinct, and 
flat laminae, composing the vane ; they vary 
in colour according to age, sex, season, or 
climate, except the quill and tail feathers, 
which are more constant and chiefly cha- 
racteristic. The eggs are various in num- 
ber, size, and colour, but always covered 
with calcareous shell, deposited in an arti- 
ficial nest, and hatched by the genial warmth 
of the parent. The body is oval, termi- 
nated by a heart-shaped rump, and furnished 
all over with aereal receptacles communi- 
cating with the lungs or throat, necessary 
for flight or song, and which may be filled 
or emptied at pleasure ; the rump has two 
glands, secreting an unctuous fluid, which 
is pressed out by the bill to anoint the dis- 
composed parts of the feathers ; the bill is 
horny, extending from the head, either 
hooked at the end for tearing the prey, or 
slender for searching in the mire, or flat and 
broad for gobbling ; and is used for building 
nests, feeding the young, climbing, or as 
an instrument of offence and defence ; eyes 
lateral, furnished with orbits, and nictitant 
membrane ; ears truncate without auricles ; 
wings compressed, consisting of moveable 
joints, and covered with quills and feathers; 
legs placed usually near the centre of gra- 
vity, with toes and claws of various shapes ; 
tail serving as the rudder or director of the 
