392 BEAST. 
the coach horse, as proved by the fact of either 
that or the crupper always giving way when he 
falls down. There are, however, teams in which 
it may be dispensed with, and the horses have an 
advantage in their working against hills.” 
BEAR’S BREACH. See Acanruus. 
BEAR’S EAR. See Avricuna. 
BEAST. Any quadruped which is Hee for 
labour or fed for the shambles. 
BEATERS. The parts of the thrashing- 
machine which beat out the grain, and the 
parts of any other machine which have a beat- 
ing action. 
BECCABUNGA, or Brooxiime, — botanically 
Veronica Beccubunga. A perennial, herbaceous, 
evergreen, aquatic plant, of the speedwell genus. 
It grows wild in the rivulets and clear ditches of 
Great Britain; and has been cultivated for medi- 
cal and esculent purposes. Its stem is procum- 
bent or floating, usually grows to the length of 
two feet, gives off from its joints long, simple, 
fibrous roots, and is round, leafy, smooth, and 
shining ; its leaves occur in mutually opposite 
pairs, stand on short footstalks, and are oval, 
serrated, somewhat fleshy, punctured, and of a 
pale green colour; and its flowers occur in oppo- 
site axillary clusters, stand on delicate footstalks, 
are of a blue colour, and bloom in July and Au- 
gust. The plant has no odour, but, when much 
chewed, has a bitterish and slightly astringent 
taste. It was formerly regarded by pharmaceu- 
tists as a good antiscorbutic ; but it has too feeble 
a power to be effective unless it were to be used 
as food. It may be eaten as a salad, but ought 
to be used fresh. 
BECKMANNIA. See Cynosurvs. 
BEDS. Long spaces occupied with corn, in 
the drill husbandry, and separated from one an- 
other by alleys; also small spaces of any extent, 
occupied with the minor crops of the garden, or 
forming the subdivisions of.large borders. 
BEDSTRAW,—botanically Galiwm. A numer- 
ous genus of herbaceous plants, of the madder 
tribe. Several of the best known species are 
popularly called cheese-rennet, ladies’ bedstraw, 
yellow ladies’ bedstraw, maid’s-hair, petty mug- 
wort, and yellow goosegrass. The common spe- 
cies or true cheese-rennet, Galiwm verum, grows 
wild, and in great abundance, in bushy places, 
in hedges, and by the sides of pastures, in Great 
Britain; and though a mere weed, possesses some 
little interest and value for its economical adap- 
tations. Its stem is smooth, slender, reclining, 
and about 18 inches in length; its leaves are 
linear, smooth, and dark green, and occur in 
eight together ; its flowers are monopetalous 
and bright yellow, occur in long, loose, terminal 
spikes, and bloom in July and August; and its 
roots are long and spreading. Its flowering 
tops, boiled in alum, dye a bright yellow colour : 
its roots yield a red dye quite equal to that of 
madder; and the whole of the plant, when 
bruised, has the property of curdling milk, and 
is sometimes used for both colouring and flavour- 
ing milk intended for cheese. 
name of cheese-rennet and its botanical name of 
galium allude to its property of curdling and 
colouring milk. It was at one time, by the re- 
commendation of the Committee of the Council 
for Trade, attempted to be cultivated as a sub- 
stitute for madder, and was found to produce 
about 12$ cwts. of dried roots per acre. It is 
eaten by sheep and goats, rejected by horses and 
swine, and not liked by black cattle; and it is 
said to possess the property of colouring the 
milk and the bones of such animals as eat it. 
It can be easily and rapidly propagated by the 
dividing of its roots in either spring or autumn; 
and it will grow in almost any soil or situation. 
Twelve other species of bedstraw are indigen- 
ous in Great Britain; and several of these, par- 
ticularly G. mollugo, G. sylvaticum, and G. boreale, 
possess the same economical properties as the 
common species, but not in so great a degree. 
Withering’s species, G. Witheringii, is a peren- 
nial weed, with white flowers, on the heathy 
grounds of England. The marsh species, G. ulz- 
ginosum, is a low, inconspicuous, creeping pe- 
rennial weed of British marshes. The great 
hedge species, G. mollugo, is a creeping perennial 
weed, with white flowers, and a stem two feet 
long, in British hedges. The small species, G. 
pusillum, is an inconspicuous perennial weed of 
the English mountains. The English species, G. 
anglica, is a low perennial weed, with yellow 
flowers, in England and Wales. The rock spe- 
cies, G. saxatile, is a small perennial weed, with 
white flowers, on British moors. The three- 
horned species, G. tricorne, is a small annual 
weed, with white flowers, on British moors. 
The spurious species, G. spurtwm, is a trailing 
annual weed, with green flowers, in British corn- 
fields. The northern species, G. doreale, is a 
trailing perennial weed, with white flowers, and 
a stem 18 inches long, on the British mountains. 
The species called the cleavers, G. aparine, 1s a 
twining annual weed, with white flowers, and a 
stem 3 feet long, in the hedges of Britain —Be- 
tween sixty and seventy species, some annual, 
but by far the greater number perennial, have 
been introduced from foreign countries; but none 
are suited to field cultivation, and only three or 
four—particularly G. tauricum, G. purpureum, 
and G. rubrum—are ornamental in the garden.— 
A hothouse evergreen undershrub from Mexico, 
and called by some botanists Hedysarum aparines, 
and by others Desmodium aparines, bears also the 
popular name of bedstraw. 
BEE. A species of hymenopterous insect, be- 
longing to the family Apiaria—The honey-bee is | 
universally celebrated for its singular instincts, 
and highly prized for the valuable products of its | 
industry. A vast number of interesting facts . 
have consequently been collected in relation to 
the economy of the species, for the detail of whose 
history a volume of considerable size would be 
Both its popular | 
Ea 
