102 RUSH. 
A number of the true rushes, or species of the 
genus juncus, occur largely in the moist pasture 
lands of Britain; and are significant indicators 
of wetness of the soil, and generally wasteful oc- 
cupants of ground which a proper course of drain- 
ing and georgical improvement might render 
highly productive. They are cropped, in their 
young state, by cattle,—and are converted, in 
upland districts, into hay; but they constitute 
very inferior herbage in all sorts of pastures and 
meadows, and are downright, destructive, abo- 
minable weeds in every kind of alternately grass 
and arable land. The extermination of them al- 
ways requires thorough subsoil draining,—and 
sometimes the application of saline or calcareous 
top-dressings, or of sand, road-scrapings, or some 
similar substances,—and, in the worst cases, a 
subsequent course of tillage; and it need never 
be attempted by merely breaking up the surface, 
—for though this may temporarily subdue them, it 
makes no true or vital impression on them, and 
will allow them to reappear in all their power 
and plenteousness as soon as the land is laid 
down again to grass. 
The conglomerated rush, J. conglomeratus, is 
one of the most frequent in the low meadows 
and moist low pastures of all parts of Britain ; 
and is often called the common rush. It has a 
height of about two feet, and blooms in June 
and July. This species and the next four which 
we shall name, are used fer making rush-lights 
and for a number of well-known economical pur- 
poses; but have, for a good number of years past, 
been mainly substituted in the latter by one of the 
most common of the club-rushes. See the article 
Cius-Rusu.—The soft or effuse rush, J. effusus, 
abounds in the same sort of situations as the 
conglomerated rush ; and has usually a height of 
about 3 feet, and blooms from May till August. 
This species is cultivated in some parts of Kast- 
ern Asia for making floor-mats.—The sea rush or 
lesser sharp sea rush, J. maritimus, occurs in salt 
marshes in various parts of Britain; and has 
usually a height of about 4 feet, and blooms in 
August.—The sharp rush or greater sharp sea 
rush, /. acutus, occurs on the sea coasts of various 
parts of Britain; and has usually a height of 
about 6 feet, and blooms in July and August.— 
The glaucous rush, J. glaucus, inhabits the 
same kind of situations as the conglomerated 
and the soft species, in some parts of England ; 
and has a height of two feet, and blooms in July ; 
but is comparatively scarce.—The sharp-flowered 
rush, or sharp-flowered jointed rush, or sprit, or 
sprat, J. acutiflorus, abounds in many sorts of 
moist ground in both the high and the low dis- 
tricts of Britain, and often forms the greater 
part of the herbage of bogs and peat-meadows ; 
and though not readily eaten by any of the graz- 
ing animals, except in the absence of better food, 
yet, when made into hay, is somewhat freely 
eaten by the hardier breeds of cattle. It usually 
has a height of about two feet, and blooms in 
RUST. 
July and August.—The other indigenous species, 
together with their respective heights and habi- 
tats, are the Baltic rush, 20 inches high, on the 
sea coast,—the filiferm rush, 6 inches high, in 
bogs,—the squarrose rush, 6 inches high, on sandy 
and gravelly heaths,—the shining-fruited rush, 
2 feet high, in meadows and moist pastures,— 
the blunt - flowered rush, 20 inches high,'in 
marshes and very wet meadows,—the three-flow- 
ered rush, 6 inches high, in upland bogs,—the 
two-flowered rush, 3 or 4 inches high, in upland 
bogs,—the bulbous rush, 12 inches high, in moist 
grounds,—the toad rush, an annual, the only 
indigenous species not perennial, 6 inches high, 
in wet shady ground,—the marsh rush, 12 inches 
high, in English turfy heaths,—the supine rush, 
6 inches high, on Scottish mountains,—the chest- 
nut rush, 12 inches high, in the Scottish High- 
lands,—the many-headed rush, 2 feet high, on 
Scottish mountains,—and the three-leaved rush 
and Gesner’s rush, both but a few inches high, 
on some mountains of the Scottish Highlands. 
Six species of the genus luzula are also indi- 
genous,—the hairy rush, 6 inches high, and the 
tall or greatest rush, 2 feet high, in the woods of 
Britain,—the field rush, 6 inches high, in the 
barren pastures of Britain,—FYorster’s rush, 10 
inches high, in the woods ef England,—and the 
spiked rush and the arched rush, respectively 6 
and 12 inches high, on the mountains of Scotland. 
RUSH-NUT. See Cyperus. 
RUSKY. A circular seed-basket, commonly 
made of rows of twisted straw, and provided with 
handles and a bottom-rim. It is used for carry- 
ing seed-corn to the sower, and is carried either 
on the head or in the arms. 
RUST. Oxidized iron. It rapidly forms on 
the surface of any iron which is exposed to the 
joint action of humidity and the atmospheric 
air. It mainly consists at first of the protoxide 
of iron; but it afterwards passes gradually into 
the hydrated peroxide. It always contains am- 
monia. The means of preventing the formation 
must be such as either to secure perfect and con- 
stant dryness or to exclude the access or resist 
the action of humidity. The common method 
of a coat of paint acts in the latter way. See 
the article Iron. 
RUST, Rep- Rac, Rep-Gum, and Rep- Rosry. 
Diseases of grasses and corn-plants, caused by 
minute fungi of the coniomycetous order. They 
are commonly ascribed by botanists to two spe- | 
cies of the genus Uredo,—JU. rubigo and U. line- 
aris; but they probably arise from mere varie- 
ties, or from various ages and conditions, of the 
mildew fungus. See the article Minpnew. They 
attack wheat at all stages of its growth; and 
are found sometimes on the young blade, occa- 
sionally on the stem, and very generally in the 
glumes and the pale, even after the grain is 
formed. The fungi have commonly a ferrugin- 
ous, a yellow, a brown, or an orange colour; and 
these which have spherical spores are usually 
