510 BRAND. 
their angle of deflection they are vertical, as 
when they go off at a very acute angle, and as- 
cend close to the stem,—or spreading, as when 
they form a wide angle with the stem,—or hori- 
zontal, as when they shoot and grow nearly at 
right angles with the stem,—or pendulous, as 
when they arch and droop in the manner of the 
weeping ash, or the weeping willow. 
But an orchardist or a forester looks on branches 
with a different eye, and classifies them in a differ- 
ent manner, from a botanist. Wood-branches are 
such large ones as are essential to the proper shape 
of the tree, and should be pruned from four to 
twelve inches, according to the degree of the tree’s 
vigour. Fruit-branches are more slender than 
wood-branches, and have the eyes or foci of the 
fruit-buds near to one another and large; and if 
they be too long, they should be topped; but 
_ when they are of proper length, they should have 
no more cut off than the mere point which 
forms their extremity. Half-wood branches are 
of medium size between wood-branches and fruit- 
branches; and they ought to be cut off at the 
length of two or three inches, in order to induce 
a better shoot, whether for wood or for fruit. 
Irregular branches are small and confused ; and 
| being fit for neither wood nor fruit, ought to be 
_ entirely cut away. False wood-branches shoot 
from true wood-branches, and have flat and dis- 
tant eyes; and, being useless for fruit and an in- 
cumbrance to the true wood-branches, they should 
be totally cut away. Luxuriant branches shoot 
from the large wood-branches, are long, tapering, 
and smooth, and have broad and mutually-distant 
eyes; and they also should be wholly cut away. 
Spurious wood-branches either do not shoot from 
the cuts of the preceding year, or are destitute 
of the proper form for becoming useful, mature 
branches, and ought likewise to be cut away. 
See the article Pruntne. 
BRAND. A diseased condition in plants, pre- 
senting an appearance as if they had been burned. 
When drops of dew or of rain rest on leaves, and 
are evaporated by a sudden rise of temperature, 
but especially by a sudden and continued play of 
strong sunshine, the spots on which they lay lose 
their verdure, assume a yellow or darkish colour, 
and lose their power of exhaling moisture and 
fixing carbon. ‘The drops of water seem to act 
jointly with heat and light, and probably with 
excited electricity, in destroying portions of the 
vegetable tissue; and when they occupy a large 
proportion of the surface, and lie on the bark as 
well as on the leaves, they sometimes occasion the 
utter ruin of plants. Brand occurs most fre- 
quently in the morning, when a twofold transi- 
tion is taking place,—of the atmosphere, from 
darkness and cold to light and heat,—and of the 
plant, from its sleep disengagement of oxygen to 
its active absorption of carbonic acid; and it hap- 
pens, not only by means of dew-dropsand rain-drops 
in the open air, but by means of condensed vapour 
under the glass-covers of hot-beds. Skilful and 
BRANDY. 
observing gardeners seem to have taken accurate 
practical note of its cause; for, before sunrise, 
they brush away the drops from their delicate 
plants. Popular opinion loosely ascribes brand, 
like smut and some other vegetable diseases, to 
some undefined atmospheric influence. 
BRANDING, or Bursting. The stamping 
upon sheep of their owner’s initials. One method 
is to burn in the initials with a hot iron,—and 
this is properly branding ; and another is to 
stamp them on with an iron dipped in a boiling 
mixture of tar and pitch,—and this is properly 
buisting. The branding-iron has the letters cut 
upon it in the form of a die, and requires to be 
made of prime iron in order to resist the effects 
of very frequent heating; and the buisting-iron 
has the letters in a form of entire relief, and does 
not require to be made of the best iron. 
BRANDY. An alcoholic liquid of some 50 per 
cent. strength, made by distilling wines. They 
are distinguished from each other by their pecu- 
liar flavour or aroma, arising in part from essen- | 
tial oil previously existing in the fruits from 
which they are derived, and in part from pro- 
ducts generated by fermentation and distillation. 
Hence a good judge of brandy can determine | 
from what place it is derived, in other words, 
from what fruit, and may even distinguish mi- 
nute shades of difference in the quality of differ- 
ent brandies from the same source. In Germany 
and elsewhere, the term brandy (Branntwein, 
burnt wine) is applied to distilled liquors gene- 
rally, derived from fermented grain, potatoes, — 
erapes, and other fruit, but in the United States | 
and in England it is usually restricted to dis- 
tilled wines, or the distilled marc of the grape. 
Among the ingredients in wines are sugar, 
gum, tartaric and acetic acids, free and combined, 
essential oils, extractive, &c. When they are 
distilled, an oily substance accompanies the alco- 
hol, called fowsel owl, which imparts a peculiar 
and usually disagreeable taste and odour to the 
liquor. This oil usually appears in greater quan- 
tity towards the end of a distillation, especially 
when a low temperature is employed, and hence 
may be obtained by distilling the residue after 
the alcoholic liquid is passed over. The fousel 
oil obtained by Aubergier was a clear liquid of a 
highly penetrating odour, a sharp and highly 
disagreeable taste, was soluble in 1,000 parts of 
water, and a single drop imparted the fousel 
taste to 15 gallons of well- flavoured brandy. 
Too little is known relative to this substance to 
remove it perfectly in the manufacture of brandy, 
and the probability is that fousel oil from differ- 
ent sources will prove very different in composi- 
tion and properties. Cognac and other French 
brandies owe their agreeable flavour to the 
smaller amount and less disagreeable nature of 
their fousel oil, so that the proper aroma of the 
wine is clearly perceptible in their odour and 
taste. Oinanthic ether is another constituent 
which imparts an agreeable aroma to wines, and 
