THE CULTIVATOR. 
15 
DICTIONARY OF TERMS 
Used in Agriculture and its Kindred Sciences. 
ERGOT. This is an elongated irregular excrescence, 
curved and dark colored, sometimes found growing on 
the heads of several of the cultivated grasses, particu¬ 
larly rye, and the smooth stalked June grass, ( Poa pra- 
tensis.) It is generally known by the name of spurred 
rye. By some this excrescence has been considered a 
disease, by some a fungus ; but the experiments of 
General Field, of Vermont, would seem to prove that 
if the young seed is punctured, no matter how, while 
it is soft, or before the fluid matter it originates begins 
to harden, the substance which would go to the forma¬ 
tion of the grain continues to force its way out, black¬ 
ens and hardens, and becomes ergot; and hence he in¬ 
fers that ergot in the grains or grasses arises from the 
puncture of the seeds by insects, or the bursting of their 
tender envelope from over accumulation of juices. How¬ 
ever it may be produced it is an active vegetable poison, ,, 
and it is singular that the same juices which, elaborated 
and retained, constitute the farinaceous and nutritive 
seed, should, when suffered prematurely to escape, pro¬ 
duce the offensive and poisonous ergot. This substance 
is an important article in the Materia, medica, but re¬ 
quires to be used with great caution, as it is found not 
always to be under the control of the practitioner, and 
its effects at times being durably pernicious. Gangrene 
of the feet, and occasionally death, have resulted from 
its use by those individuals who have fed upon bread 
made from grain containing large quantities of ergot, 
and in some seasons of scarcity in Germany, its effects 
over whole districts have been serious. To the agricul¬ 
turist ergot is principally interesting from the loss it oc¬ 
casions him when it occurs in his grain in quantity, by 
lessening its amount; or when by appearing on his 
grasses cut for hay, it affects his cattle, producing the 
formidable disease termed hoof-ail, and frequently de¬ 
stroying or rendering worthless to the farmer the most 
valuable part of his stock. Though some difference of 
opinion exists as to the efficiency of this excrescence in 
originating all the cases of disease called by the above 
name, and many of them may arise from other causes, 
such as freezing, &c. yet there is a mass of testimony 
of the most conclusive kind, and such as to preclude all 
reasonable doubt in the matter, that ergot will produce 
the hoof-ail in cattle, and as such, should be carefully 
guarded against. Its ellect seems to be to render the 
circulation in the extremeties, and in extreme cases, of 
the whole system, torpid and inactive ; the consequence 
of which is, in winter there is a tendency to freeze, and 
in the summer to ulcerate, mortify, and fall off. Ex¬ 
ercise, by promoting circulation, has the effect at times 
of preventing the natural effect of the poison taking 
place ; but safety can only be calculated upon, by free¬ 
ing the hay from the poison by a slight threshing be¬ 
fore it is given out. Instances have occurred in which 
farmers, whose meadows and pastures were principally 
composed of the Poa pratensis, losing many of their 
cattle year after year with the hoof-ail, who found them¬ 
selves at once freed from every vestige of the disease, 
by plowing their lands and substituting clover and timo¬ 
thy for the June grass. 
ERRATIC ROCKS. Rocks which have been moved 
from their original position, and transported to greater 
or less distance, by natural causes, are termed erratic. 
In some cases the cause of removal may be still opera¬ 
tive ; in others it appears to have ended before the com¬ 
mencement of the present order of things. In some of 
the ponds of this country and in Europe, large rocks 
are found which have moved considerable distances 
within a few years, but they are always found in situa¬ 
tions where they can be acted upon by ice, and to this 
agent their erratic propensities can clearly be traced. 
The removal of the erratic rocks or boulders which over¬ 
spread our whole country, and which may in almost every 
instance be traced to a more northern origin, is involv¬ 
ed in impenetrable mystery ; but they serve the agri¬ 
culturist as an excellent guide in the selection of soils, 
exercising as they do, by the gradual decomposition to 
which all stratified or other rocks are subject, no small 
influence on the earths, and pointing him to the place 
of their origin by their size or their frequency. In the 
United States, their course from their original position 
has been southward, and if the erratic blocks are of 
lime, greywacke, sandstone, or granite, deposits of the 
same kind may usually be found not far to the northward. 
EVERGREENS. Plants or trees that retain their 
verdure through the winter of northern latitudes are 
called evergreens, to distinguish them from those that 
shed their foliage, and remain leafless during our 
cold seasons. The most common evergreens are those 
belonging to the pine and spruce families, of which 
the white pine, hemlock, black spruce, and yew trees, 
may serve as specimens. In ornamental planting, ever¬ 
greens are very desirable; and where they can be success¬ 
fully transplanted constitute one of the greatest beau¬ 
ties of the landscape. Recent experiments would seem 
to show that evergreens can be most successfully re¬ 
moved as late as May or June, and that trimming off 
the branches must be avoided, for the double purpose 
of preventing the exudation of the gum, and keeping 
the trunk from the action of the sun. Trees of any 
kind, and evergreens in particular, when taken from a 
thick forest, are apt to have the bark burnt or injured by 
the direct rays of the sun, and close trimming at first, has 
a tendency to increase the evil. Evergreens are usually 
long lived, the cypress and the yew furnishing some of 
the greatest examples of longevity on record in the his¬ 
tory of trees. 
EXCRETIONS. Plants take up various substances 
from the earth. Some are intended to remain perma¬ 
nently ; some are retained for use at some other time ; 
and a third class are thrown off as superfluous, or nox¬ 
ious. It is this last class to which the term of excre¬ 
tion is applied. It was conjectured by De Candolle, 
that the superfluous matter in plants was thrown off by 
the roots ; and this conjecture would seem to have 
been rendered probable, particularly in those plants 
that ripen their seeds, by the experiments of Macaire. 
These were made on a variety of plants, such as the 
French bean, and common cabbage, and while the fact 
of excretion was established, it was also proved that 
the process was more active at night than in the day. 
The roots of the plant, experimented upon, after being 
carefully washed, were divided into two parts, one of 
which was placed in a diluted solution of some sub¬ 
stance, as acetate of lead, lime water, or muriate of 
soda, and the other in a vessel of pure water. After 
remaining in this situation several days, the water was 
examined, and it was found that the substance taken 
from the other vessel and rejected by the plant, had, in 
every instance been more or less of it deposited in the 
pure water vessel. Admitting the tact of such excre¬ 
tion to be fully established, it would seem to explain 
many things connected with agriculture most satisfac¬ 
torily, that have hitherto been very obscure, and fur¬ 
nish new arguments in favor of the improved system 
founded on a rotation of crops. All the rejected sub¬ 
stances must be unfavorable to the growth or nutrition 
of the plant, and as these must continue to accumulate 
in the soil so long as the particular plant is cultivated, 
the unfitness of the soil for that plant is constantly in¬ 
creasing, until it will not produce it at all. This theory 
is found in most instances to agree with the fact. Ex¬ 
perience shows that repeated croppings of the same 
vegetable more rapidly exhaust and render land unpro¬ 
ductive than the same number of crops where a rota¬ 
tion is observed. It has hence been inferred, that the 
excretion which was injurious to the parent plant, and 
all of the same kind, was harmless to plants of a dif¬ 
ferent species ; or in other words that the soil impreg¬ 
nated with the excretions of wheat to such a degree that 
that plant could no longer succeed, would be found good 
for barley, corn or potatoes. As, however, the theory 
of a specific food of plants explains these facts equally 
well, it would seem that more experiments were need¬ 
ed before the noxious nature of the excretions of plants 
could be fully admitted. 
EXOGENOUS. (See Endogenous.) 
EXTRACT. The vegetable extract of Davy, the humus 
of the German chemists, and the geine of Hitchcock and 
Dana, do not appear to differ materially from each other, 
as all understand by these terms that part of the vegeta¬ 
ble which being soluble has been used for nutriment and 
can be again used for that purpose. When extracted 
from plants, it has been considered as determining their 
nutritive power ; but we think that the results obtained 
from experience in feeding animals on the several plants 
commonly cultivated, do not correspond with those de¬ 
duced from chemical analysis ; a difference probably re¬ 
sulting from the imperfect manner in which chemical 
analysis is carried on in the laboratory compared with 
the same operation in the stomach of the living animal. 
That the productive power of any soil depends in a 
great measure on the quantity of vegetable extract, or 
geine, it contains, is very clear, since on this must the 
plant nearly rely for nutrition. Furnished to plants in 
too great quantities, or in a concentrated form, it is in¬ 
jurious, and is usually found in soils only in limited 
amount. Saussure was one of the first to make any 
experiments with any degree of accuracy to determine 
this quantity. He filled a vessel with the richest mould 
or turf he could procure, and saturated it with rain 
water. After five days the water was pressed out; 
10,000 parts by weight, filtered and evaporated to dry¬ 
ness, gave 26 parts of extract; and another experiment 
similarly conducted on earth from a well cultivated corn 
field, in 10,000 parts yielded four parts of extract. When 
treated with alkali or with the salts of lime, greater 
quantities of extract are yielded than when water 
alone is used ; and hence the nutritive power of any 
soil must be estimated by the solubility of the humus or 
geine contained in it, or the materials capable of effect¬ 
ing such solution. Thus the analysis of soils shows 
that those containing geine, or vegetable extract, and 
also some of the salts of lime, are the most productive ; 
and explains why ashes or other alkalies act with benefit 
on lands cultivated, since such usually contain more or 
less insoluble extract, but which is by the alkali rendered 
soluble and available to the nutrition of plants. 
FALLOW. In the best cultivated districts of England 
and Belgium, what is called a fallow is a portion of land 
plowed immediately after the crop is removed in autumn, 
and is frequently, as need requires, plowed, harrowed, 
and otherwise made fine, until the time of sowing ar¬ 
rives in the following year. It is thus for near twelve 
months in a state of movement and reration. The re¬ 
sult is, thcfe land is thoroughly freed from the roots 
of weeds ; that the seeds of weeds thus being made to 
germinate are destroyed ; and the eggs of insects being 
exposed, and the larvae being without roots or plants to 
feed upon, must, the most of them, perish. The land 
is also thoroughly pulverized, and the several parts well 
mixed together, inequalities removed, and the stones 
loosened for picking out. The great advantage, how¬ 
ever, in such thorough fallowing is found in the com¬ 
plete aeration or exposure to atmospheric influence eve¬ 
ry part receives, by which valuable chemical changes 
are produced in the soil, and the soil made warmer 
and more fit for the reception of seed and the pro¬ 
duction of a crop. But in a large part of every 
country, and particularly in this, a fallow is a piece 
of land intended for a crop of wheat, which is fed 
as long as possible in the spring, broken up perhaps 
in June, plowed and harrowed once or twice in the 
course of the summer, and the seed sown and harrow- 
ed in in autumn. In this process most of the ad\an- 
tages alluded to above are lost; few weeds or insects 
are killed ; the soil is not made fine or sufficiently warm¬ 
ed and aerated ; and it is not surprising that prejudice 
should have been excited against fallowing by such a 
half way course. Fallowing is doubtless the most el- 
fectual mode of cleaning land, and where it is iniested 
with noxious weeds, such as the Canada thistle, Johns- 
wort, &c. repeated plowings, or thorough fallowing, is 
the only mode that can be depended upon, to fit it for a 
crop. . , 
FARCY. This is a disease of the horse, occasioned 
by an obstruction of the absorbents of the skin. The 
earliest indication of the disease in most cases, previous 
to loss of appetite or drooping, is the appearance of lit¬ 
tle tumors called by the veterinarian, Farcy buds , close 
to some of the veins, following their course, and con¬ 
nected by a kind of cord called corded veins. The in¬ 
crease of these buds mark the progress of the disease— 
the tumors break and become ulcers, healed with diffi¬ 
culty ; larger tumors appear ; simeses form in all di¬ 
rections ; glanders speedily appear ; and death termi¬ 
nates the life and sufferings of the animal together. 
Farcy, like glanders, springs from infection, or from 
bad management. It is very prevalent in some parts 
of the country, and wherever it appears, should be treat¬ 
ed as a contagious disease of the worst kind; for 
though the matter of farcy must be applied directly, 
yet as all horses are fond of playing and biting, or 
rubbing against each other, one infected beast will most 
certainly communicate it to many. Instances have oc¬ 
curred in ivhich fatal farcy has been given by a scratch 
from a curry comb that had been used on a diseased 
horse. Glanders and farcy are nearly allied, and in 
bad cases frequently appear in the same horse. The 
treatment for this disease must vary Avith the form it 
assumes. In its first stages cooling and mild physic is 
beneficial; when the tumors form, they require to be 
cauterized by an iron at a dull red heat, and if they heal 
kindly, the danger cannot be considered as great. If 
they form ulcers, and the constitution becomes tainted, 
more decisive measures must be resorted to. Corrosive 
sublimate in doses of ten grains is found one of the 
best of alteratives, when mixed with two drachms of 
gentian and one of ginger, repeated morning and eve¬ 
ning ; but in all Auolent cases the experienced veterina¬ 
rian should be called to prescribe, and even then it will 
frequently terminate fatally. 
FARMER. FARMING. It is the remark in sub¬ 
stance of the celebrated Yon Thaer, “ that the man 
who expects to succeed as a farmer should unite ener¬ 
gy and activity to reflection, to experience, and to all 
necessary knowledge.” The experience of the present 
time proves that in none of the occupations of life is.a 
more varied and extensive knowledge required, than in 
that of agriculture. To be a thoroug'h farmer, and to be 
able to manage the business of farming in the best man¬ 
ner, a.n acquaintance with the most of the natural and 
chemical sciences is not only desirable, but indispensa¬ 
ble. The farmer lives in a grand laboratory ; and he 
should be able to aid or control many of the operations 
that are continually going on around him. To do this 
he must understand the nature of the processes requir¬ 
ed. Insects, plants, and animals are continually before 
him, and the habits of one, the structure and qualities 
of another, and the physiology of the third, should be 
known, to av r oid damage and secure profit. He must 
hav r e an inclination for the profession ; and if he has 
been brought up to the observation and practice of farm¬ 
ing, he will be more likely to succeed, provided the ba¬ 
sis of necessary knowledge has been laid broad and 
deep. Farming, too long has been considered an oc¬ 
cupation fit only for those who were good for nothing 
else ; and the odium which rested on the English serf 
of the feudal ages, and which attaches to the ignorant 
boor of Russia or Poland, is not entirely done aAA r ay 
from the minds of many when they think of the culti¬ 
vation of the soil. Times have changed and farmers 
and farming have changed with them. The most hono¬ 
rable, the most useful, the most independent of men, is 
the well informed farmer, who cultivates his OAvn soil, 
and enjoys the advantages that health, competence, and 
intelligence, are sure to bestow. This is not the place 
to lay down rules for the choice or management of a 
farm ; indeed none except such as are very general can 
be given ; and for these, recourse must be had to works 
devoted to such topics, or to the agricultural publica* 
tions of the day. 
Asiatic Fair. —The Fair of St. OnoufFree which lasts 
four weeks had a numerous attendance in 1840. 30,000 
wild horses Avere brought in from the plains of Tartary. 
50,000 cattle, 100,000 sheep, 10,000 sAvine, and 10,000 
horses of the best breeds were also collected. Horse 
racing Avas the great amusement; a Circassian horse 
gained a race of six French leagues, winning a stake 
of 500 ducats, and all the tAvelve horses which were run 
against hint. 
