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30 AEREOMETRIC BEADS. 
yet considerably differ from all known mineral 
substances in the crust of our world. They have 
a rough or granulated, unglossy, black-coloured 
surface ; they have an interior texture, greyish in 
colour, and more or less granulated ; and, judging 
from an analyzed specimen which fell in York- 
shire, they consist of 75 parts of silica in every 
162, of 37 parts of magnesia, of 48 parts of oxide 
of iron, and of 2 parts of oxide of nickel. Their 
origin has been a problem among philosophers ; 
and the place of it has been variously assigned to 
our own atmosphere, to the moon, and to some 
of the planets. 
AEREOMETRIC BEADS. Instruments for 
ascertaining the comparative richness of any spe- 
cimen of milk in the elements of butter and 
cheese. New milk, on account of containing the 
oily matter of butter, is lighter than skimmed 
milk; and skimmed milk, on account of containing 
the curdy matter of cheese, is heavier than whey. 
Now if any specimen of new milk, as soon as 
cooled, be tried by the aereometric beads, if the 
skimmed milk of it, immediately after the re- 
moval of the cream, be also tried, and if the whey, 
immediately after the extraction of the curds, be 
likewise tried, the difference of specific gravity 
which the beads indicate between the new milk 
and the skimmed will show the proportion of 
butter, and the difference of specific gravity which 
they indicate between the skimmed milk and the 
whey, will show the proportion of cheese. ‘These 
beads were invented in 1816 by Mrs. Lovi of Edin- 
burgh. See articles Lacromermr and Mirx. 
JSCULUS,—popularly Horse Cuestnut. A 
genus of deciduous trees, forming the type of the 
order Hippocastanee. The common horse chest- 
nut, dsculus hippocastanum, was brought from 
the northern parts of Asia to Hurope about the 
middle of the 16th century, and to England about 
the year 1683 or 1689; and, for sometime after 
its introduction, was in much greater favour than 
in recent times. It is a large and singularly 
handsome tree; it grows to the height of 70 or 
80 feet; and, though sending out long and large 
branches, it forms a close thickset head of beau- 
tiful parabolic outline. Its leaves are large, 
palmated, and of a dark green colour; and they 
appear very early in spring, and possess surpass- 
» 
ing beauty while in the process of unfolding. 
from the body; but they unhappily begin to fall 
at a correspondingly early period, and make a 
litter below the trees from the month of July till 
the branches become quite bare. Its flowers are 
eminently handsome; they stand thick and prom- 
inent among the foliage, in the form of fine spikes ; 
and, seen at even a brief distance, they appear 
almost to rival the oriental hyacinth. Young 
shoots start and grow with such rapidity and 
vigour, that instances of them have been observed 
18 inches in length, and covered with leaves 
within three weeks of the period of the tree’s ex- 
foliation. 
When the horse chestnut stands in isolated 
AHSCULUS. 
positions, or when it forms rounded groups in 
lawns and parks, it is one of the most eminently 
ornamental trees grown in Britain, and, for 
beauty of form, foliage, and flower, during the 
season of its bloom, is absolutely without a rival ; 
yet, in consequence of the litter made by its 
leaves throughout the autumn, it is an undesir- 
able tree for avenues or for the immediate vicinity 
of roads. Its uses, as a timber tree, are scarcely 
superior to those of the most common brush- 
wood. Its nuts or fruit, in this country, are | 
greedily eaten by deer, and have been used 
for the fattening of swine; in Turkey they are 
ground to powder, and mixed with the provender 
of horses, especially of such as are broken-winded 
or troubled with coughs; and in Switzerland, 
they are crushed as food for sheep, and given in 
meals of 2 pounds to each sheep morning and 
evening, and are said to be in universal repute, 
not only for the fattening of the animals, but for 
producing excellently flavoured mutton. 
The horse chestnut is propagated from the 
fruit. The best time for sowing is October; yet, 
in consequence of general inability to have ground 
then in readiness, the common time of sowing is 
early in spring. The nuts, when not sown in 
October, ought to be preserved in dry sand; and, 
as some of them are likely to lose their vitality, | 
they ought to be put in water, and only those 
taken for use which are found to sink. They 
should be sown in Grills, about two inches asun- 
der ; the seedlings may, next year, be transplanted 
toa nursery-bed ; and the young trees, when large 
enough to be removed to their final destination, 
ought to be placed with care in a well-prepared 
site, and protected by a proper local fence from 
cattle. After the trees are fairly in their place, | 
they should never be touched by knife or hatchet, 
but should be allowed, by thoroughly natural de- 
velopment, to form their fine parabolic heads, and 
assume their utmost beauty. 
A number of other varieties or species of the | 
horse chestnut than the common one are known 
to botanists and gardeners, and grown as orna- 
mental plants. The chief of these are the golden- 
striped, sculus hippocastanum foliis aureis,— | 
the silver-striped, A. hippocastanum folits argen- 
tevs,—the double-flowered, A. hippocastanum flore 
pleno,—the flesh-coloured, A. carnea,—the rose- 
coloured, A. rosea,—the red-coloured, A. rubicun- 
da,—the American, A. Americana,—the Ohio, A. 
Ohioensis,—the long-spiked, A. macrostachya,— 
the pale-coloured, A. pallida,—the yellow-colour- 
ed, A. flava,—the smooth-leaved, A. glabra,—the 
variegated-flowered, A. hybrida,—the dwarf, A. 
discolor,—the neglected, A. neglecta,—the lowly, 
A. humilis,—lLyon’s, A. Lyont,—and a kind called 
Whitley’s fine scarlet. But about one-half of 
these belong to the recently constituted genus 
Pavia. Though the kinds named carnea, rosea, 
and rubicunda, are sold as different species, 
or at least as well-marked varieties, they are 
really identical with one another; and though 
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