BABIANA. 
BAbBIANA. A genus of ornamental, bulbous- 
rooted plants, of the iris tribe. Nearly twenty 
species, all natives of the Cape of Good Hope, 
have been introduced to Great Britain. They 
grow to the height of from 6 to 12 inches; pro- 
duce blue, purple, puce, red, and variegated 
flowers; present a near resemblance to the ixias 
and the gladioli; require greenhouse culture; 
and are propagated from offsets. They agree 
best with sandy peat. Their name is of Dutch 
origin, and refers to the circumstance of their 
bulbs being greedily eaten by baboons. 
BACCHARIS,—popularly Ploughman’s Spike- 
nord. A genus of ornamental undershrubs, of the 
composite tribe. Upwards of one hundred species 
have been scientifically described ; but only about 
a dozen of these have been introduced to Britain. 
Two of the introduced species, the cluster-flowered 
and the halimus-leaved, are deciduous and hardy; 
and all the others are evergreen, and more or 
less tender. The two species long and best known, 
are the Iva-leaved and the halimus-leaved; they 
have, for nearly two centuries, been grown in the 
gardens of the curious; and they were exten- 
sively known, in Miller’s time, under the names 
of the African tree-groundsel, and the Virginian 
groundsel-tree. 
BACCIFEROUS PLANTS. Any trees, shrubs, 
or other plants which produce berries. When 
any fruit is round, principally soft, containing 
seeds in a pulpy substance, it is called acca or a 
berry ; and when it is principally of firm consis- 
tence, and contains its seeds in a fleshy substance, 
it is called a pomum, pome, or apple. The fruit 
of the strawberry plant, though universally and 
irretrievably called a berry, and though very 
closely resembling one in appearance, is really a 
receptacle, or organ of the same kind as the sole 
or base of any composite flower, and does not 
contain its seeds within a pulp and covering, but 
exhibits them on the exterior of a fleshy nodule. 
Familiar examples of bacciferous plants are cur- 
rant bushes, briony, lily of the valley, Solomon’s 
seal, asparagus, nightshade, and butcher’s broom. 
BACK. Thespine of an animal. The back of 
a horse consists of a chain of 18 bones, called 
the dorsal vertebrae. ‘This part of the animal 
bears all the weight of burden, and has been so 
wonderfully constructed by the Creator as to 
combine the greatest degree of strength with 
ease of locomotion. In order to prevent violent 
jolting, and to assist in turning, the back consists 
of a chain or series of bones with interpositions 
| of highly elastic cartilage ; and in order to occa- 
| sion the highest degree of strength, the bones 
BACKING. 
are inserted into one another somewhat in the 
manner of a rick of cups, the interposed carti- 
lage is more resistive of fracture than even the 
bones, and a series of powerful ligaments runs 
along the broad lower surface of the bones, 
lengthening and contracting in the same man- 
ner as the great ligament of the neck. A long- 
backed horse has speedy motion and easy paces, 
but is comparatively weak, and cannot’ bear a 
heavy burden; and a short-backed horse is strong 
and enduring, but wants both speed and ease of 
motion. An overworked or ill-used horse some- 
times suffers ossification in the ligaments of the 
spine, and becomes broken- backed. <A strong 
and beautiful horse, possessing the most desirable 
form of back, has a little depression behind the 
withers, and is nearly straight-lined thence to 
the loins; a saddle-backed horse has a compara- 
tively deep depression behind the withers, as if 
a hollow existed for the saddle, and he has easy 
paces, but wants strength and is apt to sprain; 
and a roach backed horse has a slightly arched 
spine, somewhat like the curvature in the back 
of a roach, and he is, in consequence, sadly defi- 
cient in at once beauty, strength, and practical 
adaptations. 
BACKING. The backward motion ofa draught- | 
horse, by command of his driver. Toteacha horse | 
to practise this motion with promptitude and 
steadiness, is an important. part of his training. 
—But backing also means the restive or vicious | 
backward motion of a horse, in circumstances 
where he ought to move forward. Some horses 
practise this trick only at starting, and others 
practise it on almost any sort of occasion; some 
acquire it by some act or process of bad break- 
ing, such as painful adjustment of the collar, 
pulling up hill, or sudden starting, and some ap- 
pear to practise it from laziness, caprice, or bad 
temper ; some may readily be cured of it by adroit 
management, gentle whipping, or the placing of 
strong obstacles in the way of backing, and others 
can scarcely or but temporarily be cured by such 
strong remedies as assigning them the middle 
place of an agricultural team of three or the 
near-wheeled place of a stage-coach yoke of four, 
where they will be dragged along by their com- 
panions till they find a forward draught much 
easier than a backing resistance. Backing, in 
this second sense, is also called gidbing.— But 
backing, in a third sense, means, the breaking or 
first mounting of a colt, or teaching him to re- 
ceive and endure a rider. No person ought to 
attempt this who has not a considerable know- 
ledge of the disposition and tricks of young 
