AFTERMATH. 
by Mr. Bishop of Methven Castle, in a paper 
which was published among the Highland So- 
ciety’s Prize Essays in 1839, and is stated to have 
been put to the test of experiments the results 
of which excited the attention and the high 
gratification of several gentlemen in the vicinity. 
Mr. Bishop’s first combination of seeds consisted 
of 4 bushels of Italian ryegrass, Lolium Italicum, 
—8 lb. of broad-leaved Timothy-grass, Phlewm 
pratense,—4% pecks of fescue grasses, including 
24, pecks of meadow fescue, Mestuca pratensis,— 
20 lb. of crimson clover seed, 7rzfoliwm incarna- 
tum,—8 lb. red clover, Trifoliwm pratense,—and, 
to secure permanent pasturage, 12 lb. of white 
clover, Trifolium repens,—the whole sown on the 
Ath of May, on about 24 imperial acres of land ; 
| and so astonishingly did it grow that it yielded 
| a mowing for the food of horses on the 15th of 
August,—it was afterwards partly cut a second 
time,—and it continued to yield an abundant 
supply till the end of October. “The weight of 
green produce cut in a dry state on the 26th of 
September, yielded at the rate of 10 tons 7 cwt. 
per imperial acre, and in hay 2 tons 3 cwt.” 
Mr. Bishop’s combination, in the second year of 
his experiment, had also distinguished success ; 
and it differed from the first, by increasing the 
red clover to 7 lb., lessening the crimson clover 
_ to 71b., adding 4 lb. per acre to the Timothy 
grass, adding 4+ lb. per acre of meadow foxtail 
grass, Alopecurus pratensis, and, to secure a bet- 
ter form of permanent pasture, adding some 
| of the poa and festuca genera to the white clover. 
See articles Hay, Grass-Lanps, Mrapow, SHEEP, 
and Carrin—A. Young’s Farmers Kalendar.— 
Hunter's Georgical Essays. — Sinclair's Hortus 
Gramineus Woburnensis—Low’s Practical Agri- 
cultwre.—Loudon’s Encyclopedia of Agriculture — 
Rhanws Dictionary of the Farm—Sinclair’s Code 
of Agriculture.—Sproule’s Treatise on Agriculture. 
—Prize Essays and Transactions of the Highland 
Society. 
AFTERMATH. See Arrercrass. 
AGAMOUS PLANTS. That class of plants in 
which, it is supposed, that no process of fecun- 
dation takes place, or in which there are no floral 
organs, or only such as have hitherto eluded the 
research of the naturalist. See Acoryneponous 
PLANTS. 
AGAPANTHUS. See Arrican Liny. 
AGARIC. A white fungus, used in medicine 
and by dyers. The kind used in medicine is 
commercially called female agaric, and grows on 
larches; and the kind used by dyers is called 
male agaric, and grows on oaks. It was formerly 
used as a styptic, but is now chiefly used for pre- 
paring amadow or German tinder. 
AGARICUS. The portion of the great family 
of fungi, which is represented by the cultivated 
and edible mushroom. See Musuroom. ‘The 
species of Agarici indigenous to Great Britain are 
exceedingly numerous; and, except in a few in- 
stances, all are decidedly poisonous, A discovery 
was made, about five years ago, that two or three | 
of the species form by deliquescence an inky fluid, 
which dries into a bister-coloured mass, is capa- 
ble of being used as a water-colour for drawings, 
and retains its colour in defiance of all the com- 
mon chemical agencies. Dr. Coxe of America, 
who put the discovery completely to the test, 
is disposed to think that the deliquescent fungi 
might be prepared into an excellent India ink ; 
that its dried deposit mixed with oil, might pro- 
bably answer for engravings; and that, as the 
ink appears to be indestructible by any agency 
short of burning, it might be tried for the filling 
up of bank notes and other valuable papers. The 
kinds of Agarici which possess the inky property 
appear to be those designated ovatus, cylindricus, 
and porcellaneus. A property somewhat akin to 
that of these inky species exists, in a small de- 
gree, in most mushrooms, and affords a ready 
means of separating the large numbers of them | 
which are poisonous, from the few which are 
edible. If a silver spoon, a silver coin, or an 
onion, be dipped into a vessel of seething mush- 
rooms, it will be stained into a darkish colour | 
when the mushrooms are poisonous, and quite | 
unstained when the mushrooms are wholesome. 
Whenever a fungus is pleasant in flavour and 
odour, it may be considered wholesome ; if, on 
the contrary, it have an offensive smell, a bitter, 
astringent, or styptic taste, or even if it leave an 
unpleasant flavour in the mouth, it should not 
be considered fit for food. The colour, figure, and 
texture of these vegetables do not afford any 
characters on which we can safely rely ; yet it 
may be remarked, that in colour, the pure yel- 
low, gold colour, bluish pale, dark or lustre brown, 
wine red, or the violet, belong to many that are 
esculent ; whilst the pale or sulphur yellow, bright | 
or blood red, and the greenish, belong to few but 
the poisonous. 
quently a compact, brittle texture; the flesh is 
white ; they grow more readily in open places, 
such as dry pastures and waste lands, than in 
places humid or shaded by wood. In general, 
those should be suspected which grow in caverns | 
and subterraneous passages, on animal matter 
undergoing putrefaction, as well as those whose > 
flesh is soft or watery. 
AGAVE. See American ALoz. 
AGE OF ANIMALS. Hither the average total 
lifetime of any species of animals, or the succes- | 
The safe kinds have most fre- | 
sive or precise period of lifetime of any individual | 
of a species. In general, the term of life among 
the mammalia is in direct proportion to the time | 
which they severally take in arriving at their full 
growth, exclusive of the period of gestation. Buf- | 
fon calculated, from many observations, that they 
lived seven times the period of growth; but it is 
very often only six times this period. Among 
the most remarkable exceptions to the above rule, 
we find man, with whom the average duration of 
life is far less than that of other species, relative 
to his time of growth. As he does not attain his 
