160 SCYTHE. 
are known. The four indigenous species com- 
prise the main interest of the genus; and the 
most important one of these is noticed in the 
article Horsu-RapisH. 
The officinal scurvy-grass, Cochlearia officinalis, 
occurs on the sea-shores and on some of the up- 
lands of Britain, particularly in the north-west 
of England. It is a biennial, of fleshy texture 
and smooth surface, and varies greatly in height, 
yet is most frequently about 6 or 7 inches high. 
Its stem is angular, leafy, and branching; its 
radicle leaves stand on long footstalks, and are 
kidney-shaped, subdentate, and spreading; its 
cauline leaves are alternate, sessile or sheathing, 
oblong, and angularly sinuated ; its flowers grow 
in terminal corymbs, and have a white colour, 
and bloom in April and May; and its fruit are 
globose silicles, each crowned with a very short 
style and somewhat roughish. The fresh plant 
is eaten in the way of salad, as a stimulant, a 
diuretic, and an antiscorbutic; it has a bitter 
acrid taste, and emits a pungent odour when 
bruised; and it yields by distillation a volatile 
oil and sulphuretted hydrogen. The dried 
herb, however, whether in itself, or in powder, 
or in infusion, has none of the active properties 
or taste or flavour of the fresh herb. Two varie- 
ties of a somewhat ornamental character occur 
wild,—the smaller, C. 0. minor, and the round 
leaved, C. 0. rotundifolia. The plant is raised in 
the kitchen garden from seed, sown in a damp 
sandy soil, early in the autumn, in drills 8 inches 
apart. 
The English scurvy -grass, C. anglica, is an 
annual indigen of the sea-shores of Britain, and 
has a height of 6 or 7 inches, and blooms in May. 
—The Danish scurvy-grass, C. danica, is also an 
annual indigen of the sea-shores of Britain, and 
has a height of 3 or 4 inches, and blooms in May 
and June.—The Greenland scurvy-grass, C. gron- 
landica, is a biennial indigen of some of the lofty 
mountains of Scotland, and has flesh-coloured 
flowers and a height of 6 or 7 inches, and blooms 
in May and June.—All these three species, as well 
as the officinal scurvy-grass, have an economical 
character. . 
SCUTELLARIA. See Sxuuucap. 
SCYTHE. An implement for mowing. A 
general view, both of the common scythe for 
cutting down herbage crops, and of the cradle 
scythe for cutting down corn crops, has been 
given in the article Mowi1ne; and any particular 
account, descriptive of the many varieties and 
modifications of each kind, seems unnecessary ; 
for districts of country and individual mowers 
are so firm in their respective tastes and so 
wedded to their respective habits, that, for the 
most part, each works best with his own fa- 
vourite varieties of the implement. 
The common grass scythe does very well for 
mowing upright crops of oats and barley; but even 
when furnished with a bow, it cannot lay evenly 
down a heavy crop of wheat, or duly deposit it 
SHA-KALKE. 
at right angles with the standing corn for the 
convenience of the binders. The cradle scythe 
is much modified in its powers and action by 
the form and comparative length of the handle, 
and by the form and materials and mounting of 
the cradle. Drummond’s iron handled scythe is 
a very efficient implement in the hands of a good 
mower who likes it or has become accustomed 
to it, cutting down from 14 to 24 acres in the 
day, and serving equally well to “cut out” or 
to “cut in;” and the short-handled scythe of 
Aberdeenshire has a high provincial reputation, 
especially for the mowing of heavy or of lodged 
crops. The Hainault scythe, an implement of 
medium character between the true scythe and 
the sickle, is noticed in the article Harnaunr 
Scytue. See also the articles Reaprne, Hay- 
MAKING, and SIcKLE. 
SHA-BANK. See EMBAnKmeEnr. 
SEA-BLITE. See Goosrroor. 
SEA-BUCKTHORN. See Bucxtruorn (Sxa.) 
SEA-DAFFODIL. See Pancratium. 
SEA-HEATH. See Franxenta. 
SEA-HOLLY. See Eryneo. 
SEA-KALE,—botanically Crambe. <A diversi- 
fied genus of plants of the cruciferous order. 
One species grows wild in Britain; nearly a dozen 
species have been introduced from other coun- 
tries; and several other species are known. 
About one-half of the species in Britain are hardy 
tuberous-rooted herbs, and have the lower joint 
of the silicle thick and depressed; three or four 
are hardy annuals or biennials, and have the 
lower joint of the silicle elongated and cylindrical ; 
and two are greenhouse evergreen undershrubs, 
and have the lower joint of the silicle short and 
filiform. The tartarian species, Crambe tatarica, 
a tuberous-rooted, white-flowered herb, of about 
3 feet in height, blooming in June and July, and 
introduced to Britain about 60 years ago from 
Siberia, is a culinary plant; and the heart-leaved 
species, Crambe cordifolia, a tuberous - rooted, 
white-flowered herb, of 6 or 7 feet in height, 
blooming in May, and introduced about 26 years 
ago from Caucasus, possesses a somewhat orna- 
mental character; but all the other introduced 
species are comparatively uninteresting. 
The indigenous or common sea species, Crambe 
maritima, concentrates in itself the main interest 
of the genus, and often makes a complete mono- 
poly of itsname. This plant inhabits the shingles 
and rocks and cliffs and sandy downs of the 
shores of the south and west of England, of some 
parts of Scotland, and of Denmark and Sweden. 
Its roots are large, tuberous, fleshy, and much 
divided at the crown, and spread so much under- 
ground as rapidly to propagate the plant ; several 
stems rise from each root, or set of roots, and 
are branched, spreading, and leafy, and have a 
height of from 12 to 24 inches; the leaves are 
stalked, spreading or deflexed, large, undulated, 
toothed, of a leathery texture, very glaucous, 
smooth, and rather succulent,—the lowermost 
