BATTEN. 
and at their joints, they strike root, and form 
large tubers; so that from one tuber, no fewer 
than 40 or 50 large tubers are produced. A few 
plants are raised as curiosities in the hothouses 
of Great Britain ; and some unsuccessful attempts 
have been made to bring them to maturity in the 
open ground. 
BATTEN. A scantlingof wood, one inch thick, 
and from 2 to 4 inches bread. 
BATTS. The flatulent colic in horses. See 
Cotte. 
BAVINS. Faggots or bundles of brushwood 
for fuel, made with full-length brushwood. 
BAVIN-TUG. A waggon used in many of the 
woodland districts of England for transporting 
bavins from the wood or coppice to the farmery. 
Tt carries, at one load, 150 bavins, each 4 feet in 
length and 3 feet in girth. It consists of a long, 
low frame, mounted on two axles, 14 feet apart ; 
and it can be used, without much risk of upset- 
ting, on even the narrow and almost impassable 
cross country roads of the weald of Kent, and 
neighbouring districts. 
BAY. An indentation of the sea or of a large 
lake upon the land; also, the part of a thrashing 
barn which is occupied by a mow; also, an ever- 
green tree of the laurel genus; also, a colour, in- 
clining to chestnut, and taking its name from a 
dried bay-leaf; also, bya figure of speech, a bay- 
coloured horse. See thearticles Barn, Bay-Horssz, 
and Bay-Tren. 
BAY-HORSEH. A horse whose entire or pre- 
vailing colour is bay. The dark-tinted bay colour 
approaches nearly to brown, but is more gay and 
shining. The bright bay-horse is exceedingly 
beautiful; for he generally has a reddish tint, 
with a gilded appearance, while his mane and his 
tail are black, and his back is streaked along the 
spine with a black or dark list. Many horses of 
medium-coloured bay have also black manes and 
tails, and the dark list along their back. Most 
dark bay-horses have their knees and pasterns 
black ; and several kinds of bays have the whole 
of their limbs black, from their knees or their 
thighs to their feet. Most bays which want the 
list along their back, have a black colour over 
their reins; and this goes off by an imperceptible 
gradation to a light colour toward their belly and 
flank. Some of these bays incline to brown, and 
are more or less dappled. Horses of all the 
different shades of bay present a pleasing appear- 
ance to the eye; and, unless they were spoiled by 
some accident when they were colts, they are 
generally well-formed and healthy. 
BAY-SALT. Common culinary salt, obtained 
by the evaporation of sea water or other saline 
water, in the open air, without the application of 
artificial heat. The crystals of it, in consequence 
of the slowness of the evaporation, have sufficient 
time to shoot, are much larger than those of 
artificially evaporated salt, and have the form of 
regular cubes, while those of the latter are hol- 
low four-sided pyramids. A cheap and easy 
BAY-TREH. 
375 
mode of obtaining it is afforded in natural hol- 
lows of the shore, overflowed only by spring-tides, 
in countries which enjoy much sunshine, and 
have long continued droughts. Bay-salt contains 
a smaller admixture of foreign materials, or a 
larger proportion of chloride of sodium, than any 
other kind of culinary salt, except rock salt ; and 
it is the best suited for the salting of both butter 
and provisions. Bay-salt from St. Ubes in Por- 
tugal, commonly called St. Ubes salt, and long held 
in high esteem by the provision-curers of Great 
Britain, contains 96 per cent. of chloride of sodium, 
2°8 of sulphates of lime and magnesia, ‘3 of chlor- 
ide of magnesia, and ‘9 of insoluble matter. 
principal places at which bay-salt is obtained are 
St. Ubes and Setubal in Portugal, the coasts of 
Brittany, Saintonge, and Pays D’Aunis in France, 
Porto Ferrajo in Italy, Trapani in Sicily, various 
other parts of the coasts of the Mediterranean, 
and in the island of Tortuga, near the coast of 
‘Terra Firma, in America, See the article Saur. 
BAY-TREE,—botanically Laurus nobilis. A 
hardy, ornamental, evergreen, small tree, of the 
laurel tribe. It is regarded by many writers as 
the true laurel, with which the ancient Romans 
crowned their successful generals; it is regarded 
by many scientific men as the type of the large 
and beautiful genera Zaurus and Cinnamomum, 
and indeed of the whole order Laurine ; and, in 
spite of the existence of both in almost every 
shrubbery or even villa-plot in Great Britain, it 
seems to be often confounded by loose observers 
with the cherry laurel. See article Laurent. 
Hither the true bay-tree, or some one of its con- 
geners, appears to have been introduced to Great | 
Britain by the Romans; but it probably was al- | 
lowed to die out; and it was re-introduced from 
Italy about the middle of the 16th century. 
Turner, who wrote in 1564, says, “The bay-tree 
in England is no great tree; but it thriveth there 
many parts better and is lustier than in Germany.” 
But so late as the second decad of the 18th cen- 
tury, it seems to have retained some tenderness | 
of habit, for Bradley says in 1716, “The bay-trees 
should be put in pots or cases, and housed in the 
winter, that their beauty may be preserved.” 
The bay-tree grows usually to the height of 
about 15 feet, and occasionally to the height of 
20 or 25; but it most commonly occurs in the | 
form and size of a bushy shrub of from 4 to 12 
feetin height. Its bark is smooth, greenish, and 
aromatic; its leaves are lanceolate, smooth, and 
leathery on both sides, about three inches long, 
and two inches broad, hard, rigid, and of a deep 
green colour, yet neither so rigid nor so leathery 
as those of the cherry laurel; its flowers are 
glandular, dotted, and yellowish-white, are pro- 
duced in clusters of four or six, and bloom in 
April and May ; and its fruit is black, oval, fleshy, 
and about the size of a large pea. It thrives best 
in deep, rich, old garden soil, and prefers shade 
to sunshine; yet it prospers in our hottest sands 
and gravels; and, after having surmounted the 
The | 
